Although Beethoven could sit down and compose easily, his really great compositions did not come easily at all. They cost him a great deal of hard work and he always found it hard to satisfy himself.
When he was 28, he began to notice a strange noise in his ears. As it grew worse, he went to see doctors, and was told that he was going deaf. This was too much for any (36) to bear. 13eathoven was in (37) ; he was sure that he was going to die. He went to the countryside where he wrote a long (38) letter to his brothers, (39) how sad and lonely his deafness made him. He (40) to die, and said to death, "Come when you will, I shall meet you bravely."
In fact, Beethoven did something braver than dying. He (41) his courage and went on writing music, though he could hear what he wrote more and more (42) . He wrote the music for which we remember him best after he became deaf. This music was very different from any that had been composed before. Instead of the (43) and grand music that earlier com- posers had written for their wealthy listeners, (44) . His Heroic Symphony and Fifth Symphony both show his courage in struggling with his fate.
(45) . He was lonely and often unhappy, but in spite of this, he often wrote joyful music, such as his last symphony, the Ninth. (46) .