Joyce Maier wrote: >>Not exactly. I remember a quotation where Beethoven links his deafness >>to the condition of "mein Unterleib" (my abdomen). > >I already was afraid that this quotation is the so-called reference to >syphilis. As if every complaint about a sick abdomen should point to >syphilis! Giggle... To me the quotation sounded quite convincing. Being a native German I instantly understood the phrase "mein Unterleib" to be a euphemism. Beethoven wouldn't have been too shy to write things like "mein Magen" if he really meant his abdomen. Robert