while the stream of piano and chamber works went on. But amid all this success he had increasing trouble with his hearing, which by 1802 reached a point where it menaced his mental balance, as is evidenced by the passionate letter, addressed to his brothers, which is commonly called his 'Will'—one of the few intimate revelations in words of his inner life.
Notwithstanding many serious drawbacks to be named, the dozen years before 1815 were indescribably fruitful and brilliant. The flow of inspiration was at its height, and leading publishers were ready to transmit its products to the world. The sequence of only the greater works can be noted here, the dates given being, as far as possible, those of composition rather than of publication. Of the piano-sonatas, Nos. 12-15 were written in 1801, Nos. 16-20 in 1802, Nos. 21 and 23 ('Waldstein' and 'Appassionata') in 1804, No. 22 in 1805, No. 25 in 1808, Nos. 24 and 26 in 1809, and No. 27 in 1814. The 'Kreutzer' sonata for violin belongs to 1803 and the 'cello-sonata in A probably to 1808. The three 'Rasumowsky' quartets date from 1806-7, the sextet in E from 1809, the quartet in F minor from 1810. The triple concerto comes from 1804, the fourth piano-concerto from about 1805 and the fifth from 1809. The Third or 'Heroic' symphony (originally planned in honor of Napoleon) was completed in 1804, the Fourth in 1806, the Fifth and Sixth ('Pastoral') in 1808, the Seventh and Eighth in 1812. The overture to Coriolanus belongs to 1807, the music for Egmont to 1810, that for The Ruins of Athens and for King Stephen to 1811. The Mass in C was composed about 1807 and the cantata Der glorreiche Augenblick in 1814. The opera Fidelio was perhaps begun in 1803, but first given in 1805, just after the French occupied Vienna, and, after successive revisals, in 1806 and 1814. When one considers the magnitude and variety of these many works, and especially the essential novelty of their contents, it is easy to see with what an astonishing decade the century opened.
The turmoil of artistic creation—always extreme in Beethoven's case—was intensified by several complications. The catastrophe of his deafness steadily became more oppressive and disabling, inducing physical and mental irritation, shutting him off from society and friendship, and from 1814 bringing his career as a public virtuoso to a close. He was again and again desperately in love, in two or three cases with women of the upper classes, but was always thwarted by the fact of his low origin, the uncertainty of his fortune or the infelicities of his temperament. The management of practical affairs, from the securing of lodgings to the performance and publication of compositions, occasioned him infinite discomfort and worry. He held no official position and had no fixed income. In 1808 Jerome Bonaparte invited him to be choirmaster at Cassel. This led a trio of noblemen in 1809 to assure him an annual stipend of about $2,000, if he would remain at Vienna, to continue until he should receive, as was hoped, a post at the court. The struggle with France, however, so depreciated the Austrian currency that the net amount soon shrank to $800 and finally to $550, and part of this involved prolonged lawsuits. In spite, therefore, of the extraordinary brilliance of these years, Beethoven was subjected to extreme strain and his health was often far from good. Just before 1815, however, matters improved and it seemed as if a happier period was to follow.
