letter he wrote to his brothers in 1802, the so called . This hearing disorder seems to have affected his social life to a great extent. He became difficult to handle in social interactions and could suddenly burst into outbreaks of anger and show bad temper where he usually insulted someone. If that is the reason for his troubles with women, or if their is something traumatic hidden in his childhood, I don't know, but the fact is that he never got involved with a woman in a normal relation. Beethoven seems to have been attracted to women he couldn't get, or at least was hard to get. An example is Antoine Brentano, with whom he had a relationship, but who broke up with him to marry a friend. It is she who is known as the in letters addressed to her from Beethoven in 1812. Around the same time, as this wasn't enough, his deafness reached the stage where he no longer could perform. Now came a couple of years without much creative work. Instead he was tormented by personal matters concerning his nephew of which he tried to gain custody when the brother died in 1815. But Beethoven didn't have the capacity of a domestic human being, and even though he did win the struggle for custody, Beethovens relation with the nephew was tense and burdensome and it reached the point where little Karl tried to take his own life in 1826. This is also the so called late period inBeethovens musical career. His music is described as less dramatic and more introvert, but also, I would like to add, more mature and secure. It has a flavour of the genius growing old and an obvious attitude. Listen for example to symphony Nr. 9 - it is complete! There is really not much to add as I see it. The above mentioned piece gave him, at last, at bit of economical success and he could live his last years in relative wellfare. But this period is still characterized by his lack of funds, much because isformer patrons no longer could support him. Maybe the lifelong poverty is...
