A collage with texts by Franz Grillparzer
by Angelika Messner
2003 Literary prize of the Theodor Kery foundation
One night in March of 1827. Grillparzer has received an order to write Beethoven’s eulogy. A personal crisis makes the completion of this task seem impossible. While confronting his own thoughts he realizes that he is not capable of true love, notices the negative impact of his father’s behavior in his youth and feels responsibility for his mother’s suicide which he had previously denied. Through his love to Beethoven’s music and the realization that the composer had himself bravely defied the conventions of the time, Grillparzer manages to let go of his negative emotions and write the eulogy.