From childhood Beethoven was trained to become a great musician, and as such, from his early years he had learned to play on more instruments.
He had fair command of the violin and viola, at age of 18 he got a viola player position at the Bonn-court orchestra. He himself was not impressed by his own skills with these strings…
His true super-power laid with the keyboard. He was the first generation of musicians who had access to the novelty called piano. In his childhood he practiced on harpsichords and clavichords (forebears to piano), often on organ, because these were available and commonplace instruments.
As an adult he played and loved the piano. His piano play was legendary, his improvisations supreme. As a composer, he often experimented first on piano and formed the idea into orchestral version afterwards.
In summary, the piano was Beethoven’s favorite instrument!
