Angry Note From Beethoven Auctioned

LONDON — An angry letter written by Beethoven, complaining about not being paid for a day’s work, was sold for $25,160 at Sotheby’s.

The auctioneers said the German composer, in an undated letter to a friend, wrote that he had proof of his presence in the Imperial Court theater in Vienna that day and said he had consulted his lawyers on the matter.

In one passage Beethoven says he wishes he were a bear so that he could knock down all the “asses” around him. He describes the directors of the theater as “vandals.”