Although Beethoven could sit down and compose easily, his really great compositions did not come easily at all. They cost him a great deal of hard work and he always found it hard to satisfy himself. When he was 28, he began to notice a strange noise in his ears. As it grew worse, he went to see doctors, and was told that he was going deaf. This was too much for any({U)} (36) ({/U)}to bear. Beethoven was in({U)} (37) ({/U)}; he was sure that he was going to die. He went to the countryside where he wrote a long({U)} (38) ({/U)}letter to his brothers, ({U)} (39) ({/U)}how sad and lonely his deafness made him. He({U)} (40) ({/U)}to die, and said to death, "Come when you will, I shall meet you bravely." In fact, Beethoven did something braver than dying. He({U)} (41) ({/U)}his courage and went on writing music, though he could hear what he wrote more and more({U)} (42) ({/U)}. He wrote the music for which we remember him best after he became deaf. This music was very different from any that had been composed before. Instead of the({U)} (43) ({/U)}and grand music that earlier composers had written for their wealthy listeners, ({U)} (44) ({/U)}. His Heroic Symphony and Fifth Symphony both show his courage in struggling with his fate. ({U)} (45) ({/U)}. He was lonely and often unhappy, but in spite of this, he often wrote joyful music, such as his last symphony, the Ninth. ({U)} (46) ({/U)}.