There is no authentic record of the date of his birth; however, the registry of his baptism, in a Catholic service at the Parish of St. Regius on 17 December 1770, survives. As children of that era were traditionally baptised the day after birth in the Catholic Rhine country, and it is known that Beethoven’s family and his teacher Johann Albrechtsberget celebrated his birthday on 16 December, most scholars accept 16 December 1770 as Beethoven’s date of birth.

16 December 1770 – 26 March 1827