Beethoven first noticed a 'ringing and buzzing' in his ears about the age of 26 or 27. An annoyance at first, his concerns grew as the condition persisted and two years later, around 1799, he began consulting with doctors. Though numerous treatments were prescribed, none seemed to help.

In the winter of 1801-02 Beethoven sought the council of a new physician, Doctor Johann Schmidt. In the course of his treatment, Schmidt advised the composer to go easy on his hearing and the following April would find Beethoven resting in the village of Heiligenstadt, on the outskirts of Vienna. The atmosphere of the little village was both restful and conducive to work and Beethoven's stay there would prove productive. Letters from this time as well as biographical accounts indicate life as usual. Walks in the country, composing, negotiations with publishers and lessons, all in a quiet and leisurely setting. Unknown to anyone at that time, was the anguish that was consuming Beethoven as the season wore on and his hearing had not improved.

In late September or early October, Beethoven felt compelled to draft a last will and testament, a document that has come to be known as the Heiligenstadt Testament. It is addressed to his brothers Carl and Johann, though Johanns name is strangely absent with a blank space in its stead. As we would expect of the document, Beethoven bequeaths his belongings to his siblings but not until he writes at length of his illness, pleading for understanding. He goes on to reveal that he has considered suicide but that his art has prevented him taking that course. The language of the Testament is fraught with pain and in reading it one can feel the despondency that possessed the writer.

Beethoven was never to reveal this document to anyone and had it in his possession when he died. By then it had been superceded by other wills and its value would turn out to be that of a snapshot in time.

What does a will have to do with the Eroica? Its revelation has helped to explain, psychologically, Beethoven's sudden and drastic stylistic change around 1803. Immediately following Heiligenstadt Beethoven's music suddenly becomes more daring. The learned rules of his teachers were cast aside as he struck out on a new path with the Eroica as the frontispiece of this change. Within weeks, perhaps days, of signing the will, Beethoven jotted down the first sketches of the Sinfonia Eroica. That his bold new style and the traumatic events of the fall of 1802 occur at precisely the same point in time is no mere coincidence. The Heiligenstadt Testament and the Eroica are inseparably linked and may in a sense be the same creation.