W (iou) and Beethoven, Ludwig van (sh)

W (iou)

W, w.
The twenty-third letter of the modern English alphabet, originating from a ligature of the Roman letter represented by U and V of modern alphabets. The sound normally represented by the letter is the bilabial semivowel [w], closely resembling the value of Roman consonantal U or V. The sound was at first represented by uu, but in Old English and early Middle English the runic character wynn was widely used, this in turn being replaced in Middle English by the ligature w. Consonantal w is now silent initially and medially before r and may be silent before h (see WH) and (in some words as answer, sword, two) after s and t. It may also be elided in the unstressed 2nd elem. of a compound, as in place-names (Norwich) and in certain nautical terms (forward, gunwale). Vocalic w results from the Middle English mutation of g and y (cf. YOGH) and medially and terminally forms a digraph with the preceding stressed vowel (as in bow); also from Middle English w was freq. used instead of u as 2nd elem. of Other digraphs (as in paw, yew). Pl. W's, Ws.
I.
The letter and its sound.
The shape of the letter.
W-shaped adjective having a shape or a cross-section like the capital letter W.
II. Symbolical uses.
Used to denote serial order; applied e.g. to the twenty-third (or often the twenty-second, either I or J being omitted) group or section, sheet of a book, etc.
Genetics. (Cap. W.) Denoting the female-determining sex chromosome in species in which the female rather than the male is the heterogametic sex (as in birds and some insects).
Particle Physics. [Initial letter of weak.] (Cap. W.) Denoting a heavy charged vector boson that is probably the quantum of the weak interaction.
III.
Abbrevs.: W = west(ern); watt(s); Welsh; (Chemistry) [mod. Latin] wolframium tungsten; women('s size). w. = wicket(s); wide(s); wife; with.

Beethoven, Ludwig van (sh)

(baptized Dec. 17, 1770, Bonn, archbishopric of Cologne
died March 26, 1827, Vienna, Austria) German composer.

Born to a musical family, he was a precociously gifted pianist and violist. After nine years as a court musician in Bonn, he moved to Vienna to study with Joseph Haydn and remained there for the rest of his life. He was soon well known as both a virtuoso and a composer, and he became the first important composer to earn a successful living while forsaking Employment in the church or court. He uniquely straddled the Classical and Romantic eras. Rooted in the traditions of Haydn and Mozart, his Art also encompassed the new spirit of humanism expressed in the works of German Romantic writers as well as in the ideals of the French Revolution, with its passionate concern for the freedom and dignity of the individual. His astonishing Third (Eroica) Symphony (1803) was the thunderclap that announced the Romantic century, and it embodies the titanic but rigorously controlled energy that was the hallmark of his style. He began to lose his hearing from с 1795; by с 1819 he was totally deaf. For his last 15 years he was unrivaled as the world's most famous composer. In musical form he was a considerable innovator, widening the scope of sonata, symphony, concerto, and string quartet. His greatest achievement was to raise instrumental Music, hitherto considered inferior to vocal, to the highest plane of Art. His works include the celebrated 9 symphonies; 16 string quartets; 32 piano sonatas; the opera Fidelio (1805, rev. 1814);2 masses, including the Missa Solemnis (1823); 5 piano concertos; a violin concerto (1806); 6 piano trios; 10 violin sonatas; 5 cello sonatas; and several concert overtures.

Sites

Pest Star