Born in 1770, Ludvig van Beethoven was one of only three of his parents’ seven offspring children to survive infancy Yet the world of music owes this chance event an immeasurable amount, because he would go on to be one of a handful of composers to grace the art form with a style and quality that is truly unique

Although the precise origins of the classical guitar are open to debate, there is plenty of evidence of the existence of similar instruments dating back as early as 5000 years ago The idea of a hollow body with tensed strings anchored between two points is seen in many instruments, including the violin family, sitar, piano and harp; they all use the string’s vibrations to resonate the body and produce sounds

Acoustic guitars and their various musical relatives can be traced back thousands of years, but the idea of a guitar using electric currents to amplify its sound had to wait until the 1930s to start to take root Necessity was, perhaps, the mother of invention here, as the volume of the guitar, used previously in blues and jazz, could not compete with the new sounds of the big band and the shriek of brass instruments

The music of The Beatles The Beatles had a relatively short career by the standards of many of the bands of the era, many of which survive today But in their decade of prominence their music followed an identifiable path that took in mainstream pop, psychedelia and some quite challenging arrangements

Along with Beethoven, Bach and Strauss, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of only a handful of classical composers who are universally known by all society, even those without any interest in music older than a few years Many people will know several Mozart melodies without even knowing who they were written by, such is the Austrian composer’s penetration into the human psyche