This is really FREE speech!
Volume 2 #4 February 21, 2000
Ludwig Van Beethoven. Perhaps the greatest artiste of music the world will ever know. His work and treasures that he gave to us will live on forever. He was a complex man, as is his music. He accepted gifts from female patrons to make his rent. To purchase paper on which to compose. I think he had very mixed feelings concerning women. He loved them, used them and misused them. His only true loyal trusting love was his ability to create music. He was appreciated by the multitudes of wealthy who attended his concerts. They applauded him with empty hands. The aristocracy extended him no money. They wanted performance after performance. They had no interest in the man or how he survived. Then, one of the most infamous tragedies occurred. He began to lose his hearing. That is the most disastrous thing that can afflict musicians. At first, it went and then came back. But eventually it went. Not totally. He could still hear muffled sounds. It made him quite understandably angry. The hearing loss was due to a childhood beating. His hearing was stolen. Beethoven was a man of many moods. He could not have taken this curse with no questions. I feel sorrow for him. But I don't believe he would have liked it. I play his music on piano and love it. Perhaps that pleases him.
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