Events of the day matter less in a study of Beethoven (1770-1827) than they do in most other composers. However, certain factors need to be taken into consideration when one is looking at his composition method. He never moved from Vienna and only ever left the city for any lengthy period either to take a summer holiday - which was only a holiday in the sense that he could devote himself to composition more entirely without interruption - or to visit Baden and elsewhere for the sake of his general health or in his attempts to find a cure for h ....