Episode 3 finds the composer unmoored and - personally and creatively - desperate to regain control in his every aspect of his life. In 1815, the death of his brother is the catalyst for a long and bitter legal battle for custody of Beethoven's nephew, Karl. What follows is a protracted period during which the composer's desire for love and family tip over into obsession. Beethoven will, of course, embark on the extraordinary flowering of the late music - the Missa solemnis, the late quartets and the Ninth 'Choral' Symphony - but he doesn't know that yet.
D2HW Television 28th May, 2024