Ludwig Van Beethoven was and still is today a renowned classical composer. Beethoven struggled all through out his life with depression, anger, and isolation, and it often reflected in his music:

  On Tuesday evening the program for the first faculty concert of the series featured works representing Beethoven’s heroic style. Introducing the concert, Scott Burnham, a professor of music at Princeton University and the author of “Beethoven Hero” (Princeton University Press), said that associating Beethoven with the heroic is natural.

The composer “became the paradigm of the suffering artist” and also created a distinctive style that can be heard in works including the Symphony No. 5, “Fidelio,” the “Emperor” Piano Concerto and the “Eroica” Symphony.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/arts/music/mannes-beethoven-institute-faculty-concert-at-mannes-college.html?ref=ludwigvanbeethoven&_r=1&

When Beethoven's mother passed away he lost his best friend and his support system. Shortly after his mothers death Beethoven suffered from hearing loss. He no longer had ambition to live, let alone to compose music.

Beethoven did not give up, he pushed forward and dove right back into composing. Beethoven's struggles in life lead him to compose some of his most famous pieces of music:

The “Ghost” Piano Trio (Op. 70, No. 1) and the “Kreutzer” Violin Sonata (Op. 47), also composed during Beethoven’s middle period, represented new milestones in the genres. “We can hear Beethoven galvanizing chamber music,” Mr. Burnham said, adding that the “Kreutzer” should really be called the “Bridgetower.” The eerie mood is conveyed with slow crescendos and diminuendos, abrupt silences and, in particular, the impressionistic use of tremolando to evoke a sinister effect. The ensemble aptly conveyed the movement’s dark ambience.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/arts/music/mannes-beethoven-institute-faculty-concert-at-mannes-college.html?ref=ludwigvanbeethoven&_r=1&

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