Ludwig van Beethoven spent the spring and summer of 1802 in the small town of Heiligenstadt, just outside Vienna. It was an attempt at relaxation, but out of it came an extraordinary declaration of spiritual and artistic defiance: the so-called Heiligenstadt Testament. In this letter addressed to his brothers (but never sent) he wrote: “For six years I have been a hopeless case, aggravated by senseless physicians, cheated year after year in the hope of improvement, finally compelled to face the prospect of a lasting malady.”The malady was encroaching deafness and it was incurable. Beethoven felt he was suffering twice over, because at the same time as losing his hearing he was too ashamed to seek company. “I was compelled early to isolate myself,

Source: The Times September 04, 2020 16:07 UTC