Christopher Webber wrote:

>The irony is, that the "cussed", cantankerous, arrogant, bad-tempered
>and self-absorbed qualities resonate with many of us, and the way he
>transcends these negative moods is often inspiring.  Beethoven is good
>*because* he's a b**tard -- like nearly all the rest of us!

Personally I don't think he was a bastard - that would be Wagner -
but even if he did behave badly, how would the rest of us behave in
his circumstances?  Possessed of a monumental musical talent and going
deaf in his early thirties?

It would certainly have made me bad-tempered.

And, although I think there's a case to be made that at least some of
his greatness was essentially forced upon him by his encroaching deafness,
I still believe that his triumph in the face of such appalling adversity
is one of the greatest testaments to the human spirit I know.

deryk barker ([log in to unmask])

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