Beethoven was a famous German composer and pianist born in 1770 who went deaf in his later years yet overcame this adversity to compose some of the greatest and most influential works in classical music, including 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos, 32 piano sonatas, and his only opera, Fidelio. He expanded the scope of the symphony, piano sonata, and quartet, and his later works introduced a dramatic intensity and a bold, heroic style that was a precursor to Romanticism. Beethoven was a pivotal figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music.