Summary When the composer Ludwig van Beethoven dies in Vienna at the age of 56, a will turns up that he had written 25 years before his death. It reveals: Beethoven is already practically deaf at the age of 31, even before he has composed most of his groundbreaking works and written music history. A deaf composer? How is such a thing possible? The film investigates this mystery and explores the connections between the musical genius's illness and his work. Irascible, irascible, grouchy - that is the common image of Ludwig van Beethoven, the composer with the wild lion's mane. But the film shows that there is also another Beethoven - young and bubbling over with wit and temperament, fun-loving and, above all, combative. What gives Beethoven the strength to take up the fight against his progressive illness? To what extent is his fate reflected in his music and what influence does deafness have on his work? Beethoven experts such as biographer Jan Caeyers, conductor Simone Young, pianist Lars Vogt and musicologist Julia Ronge from the Beethoven-Haus Bonn comment on the extraordinary creative frenzy with which Beethoven reacts to his diagnosis and provide insights into the close links between the composer's life, suffering and work.

• Documentary
• Biography
• History
• Music