Here is how Romain Rolland describes Beethoven’s final day: "That day was tragic. There were heavy clouds in the sky… around 4 or 5 in the afternoon the murky clouds cast darkness in the entire room. Suddenly a terrible storm started, with blizzard and snow… thunder made the room shudder, illuminating it with the cursed reflection of lightning on snow. Beethoven opened his eyes and with a threatening gesture raised his right arm towards the sky with his fist clenched. The expression of his face was horrifying. His hand fell to the ground. His eyes closed. Beethoven was no more."
" He was an artist and a man, a man in the highest sense of the word. He was a loner, never finding a life partner to his stature. But his heart was up to the very end close to the whole of humanity. That is how he was, how he died and how he will always remain for eternity. Leave discontent behind and shroud yourselves in sublime feelings, all you who find yourselves standing here before the tomb of a man about whom we can say, as of no other man before him: he accomplished great deeds, he knew no foulness. Go home not sad, but full of peace. Take a small flower from his grave, in the memory of the man he was and the great things he accomplished. And in the future, when you will be overwhelmed by the power of his creation, call back in your mind the image of today… "
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