Sir, – Living in Vienna has always been expensive, but I was astonished to read that a six-word shopping list penned by Ludwig van Beethoven was auctioned for €60,000 last year (“Letter highlights Beethoven’s misery”, Breaking News, January 10th).
Surely, at €10,000 a word, we could have been informed what the items were?
Whether the lifelong bachelor was partial to Wiener Schnitzel or Apfelstrudel is of more than musicological interest. – Yours, etc,