Art Reveal October 2020

On October 6, 1802, in Heiligenstadt, a village near Vienna where he had sought peace and quiet in order to treat the hearing loss that had caused him psychological pain for several years, Beethoven signed a letter intended for his two brothers in which he voiced his despair. Never sent and secretly kept in a desk drawer, the “Heiligenstadt Testament” is one of the first manifestoes in music history on the subject of romantic interiority. It shares the depression of a man cut off from the outside world and powerless in front of his own tragic destiny. It is an even doubly tragic destiny, since Beethoven wrote that he was “ born with an ardent and lively temperament, even susceptible to the diversions of society “, but he had to lead a life of solitude to remain hidden and misunderstood by his contemporaries, because it was impossible for him to reveal his deafness.