Beethoven stands at the pinnacle of development in the history of music. Many lines lead up to him; many lead away from him. He absorbed the different trends of thought of the 18th century and brought them to completion. At the same time he struggled towards a new language in music which was to have a fundamental influence on the trends in style of the 19th century and which is still discernible in their development in the 20th century. Thus Beethoven occupies a position of the greatest significance in the history of music: he completes one epoch and begins another and the music historians of the 19th and 20th centuries unanimously acknowledge his double rôle.