Kevin Sutton wrote,

>Huh? I am loathe to question Mr. Newberry, but, in the several Beethoven
>bios I have read, none mention him being in dire staits at the end of
>his life.  . . .  it took Beethoven a while to become the success he was,
>but I am fairly certain that he died if not wealthy, at least secure.

Beethoven's estate was valued at 10,000 pounds.  Given the vastly different
cost structures of Beethoven's time, it is hard to render that into a
current dollar sum, but the most conservative estimate I've read suggests
it would have about the same clout as $400,000 would have in today's United
States.  Other estimates range to a couple million dollars.  Another
perspective is that a good orchestral musician in Beethoven's Vienna earned
about 50 pounds a year.

Yet Beethoven was in one sense in dire straights in his later years.  Like
a lot of elderly people, he was horrified of drawing on his savings and
tried to live on the interest, a very modest interest in those days,
instead.

"Richard Todd" <[log in to unmask]>