Heiligenstadt village at around the time of Beethoven’s residence in the early 1800s. His doctors recommended rural tranquillity to save what was left of his hearing, and the bucolic scene with the view across the Danube to the foothills of the Carpathians on the horizon must have afforded him solace.

CREDIT: THE ART ARCHIVE / HISTORISCHES MUSEUM (MUSEEN DER STADT WIEN) VIENNA / GIANNI DAGLI ORTI