Hi - an interesting movie - much of it invented - but I did not watch the lot, got tired of trying to identify the palaces and streets and it never fitted quite, until I checked and found out, it was almost entirely filmed in Prague - grrrr - but Prague is a beautiful city, thanks to the Habsburg emperors, one of whom, Rudolf II, who had made Prague his permanent place of residence, and Prague was not bombed like Vienna during WWII and most certainly it is not as busy as Vienna and probably still cheaper. So its a good choice for filmmakers, many films have been made there, foremost 'Amadeus' (a wonderful film IMO). I am not sure about this one - too much noise, too much argument - I did not like it, sorry.
Yes, Beethoven had a temper and his untidiness, noise and temper got him banished by many landladies - there are at least 1 dozen 'Beethoven' houses in Vienna where he was a tenant and he often left after quarreling with the land lord/lady, over the 'noise' and his untidiness and late hours. Beethoven was a man who in his youth dressed carefully and looked after himself, but eventually became what we would call a 'slob' - and his eating habits were atrocious - he most likely died from liver disease - caused by alcoholism (lead poisoning) or just bad diet.
He wrote more than one letter to his immortal beloved, who was most likely Josephine von Brunswick (born in Pressburg, which was then in Hungary), - he may even have fathered the last of her children. They met when he was a young man trying to make his way in Vienna - and he was engaged as a piano teacher to the Brunswick sisters, and he fell in love with both of them, but it seems Therese became his favorite. The Brunswick girls had to marry rich men, as they were nobility and their father had died young - so fortunes had to be restored, so Therese married the wealthy and old Count Daym, but he, being so much older, died and left her with three young children. Altogether she had 9 children, some from different fathers - so - I daresay - she would not have been coy! The youngest child, a daughter, is supposed to be Beethoven's.
Sadly, Josephine died several years before Beethoven - hence he may have been inclined to call her 'unsterblich' - un-dying or immortal. Beethoven wrote his most magnificent works in the last years before his death (which was most likely caused by the fortified wine he liked to drink - the sugar of which contained lead).
I remember being enchanted by the first Beethoven piece I had to learn the 'Adagio favori' - and it turns out it was dedicated to Josephine - the first 4 notes rhyming with her name - in German pronounced as 'Jo-se-phiii-neh' - the 'J' being pronounced like the 'Y' on 'Yes'
But his last Testament was in favour of his useless and ungrateful nephew, who was family. Taurisk
