During Beethoven’s mother’s traumatic death due to tuberculosis, Beethoven began showing symptoms of hearing loss. His symptoms continued to escalate until he became deaf at the age of 28. Beethoven did not stop working while he went through the process of going deaf. In 1792, Beethoven studied with the world famous, Joseph Haydn and in 1796 Beethoven got to tour in Prague and Berlin. Beethoven did all of this while slowly going deaf. Two years after being diagnosed with a hearing disability, Beethoven wrote the Heiligenstadt Testament, which was Beethoven’s suicide letter. However, Beethoven decided not to commit suicide and try to trudge through this horrible stump in his life. Beethoven continued to compose well into the next ten years and during this time he wrote some of his best symphonies. In 1815, Beethoven’s brother committed suicide, leaving his son Karl behind. Beethoven gained guardianship of Karl and Beethoven was pleased to have a son figure in his life. Beethoven took Karl under his wing while he wrote the most popular symphony he wrote- Symphony No. 9. Beethoven’s life ended in 1827 because of lead poisoning due to doctor …show more content…
During Beethoven’s late adult life, the music he wrote was based on the events of the French Revolution. Beethoven was interested in the war and politics because his job was to play for the people that ran his country. Beethoven wanted to use his voice in music to express how the citizens and soldiers of Vienna felt about the war. When he came to Vienna he took everyone’s breath away. Beethoven was a pianist and he expressed the events of his time by banging on his keys until the strings would snap. Beethoven intervened in politics by dedicating his piece to Napoleon Bonaparte, a French military leader, on the night of the premier of Symphony No. 3. However, Beethoven decided in the autumn of 1804 to withdraw his dedication and rededicate the symphony to Prince Joseph Franz Maximilian Lobkowicz, a man with social power and a patron of Beethoven. When Beethoven originally dedicated the symphony to Napoleon, he did not know that Napoleon would soon claim himself Emperor. When he heard from his assistant the news of the Emperor, he threw a fit and decided to rededicate the symphony to someone of more worth. That is why he dedicated the symphony to Lobkqicz. Beethoven did not dedicate anymore symphonies to anyone, but the fact that he did it in the first place shows how strongly he cared for the well-being of his country. A few years later