Absent-Minded

Focus is a superpower for a composer—but in Beethoven’s case it sometimes turned into full‑blown absent‑mindedness.

While working on the “Pastoral” Symphony, he once went into a restaurant and ordered dinner. The kitchen was slow, and his thoughts drifted back to music. When the waiter finally arrived with the meal, Beethoven waved him off: “Thank you, I have dined.” He left the price of the dinner on the table and walked out—having apparently forgotten he hadn’t eaten at all.

A friend later gifted him a fine horse. Beethoven did what anyone would do: he rode it around town a few times. Then he forgot the animal existed and went back to walking or taking a coach.

His servant, however, did not forget. Realizing Beethoven never asked for the horse, the man quietly took it over, kept it stabled, paid the bills (carefully, so the receipts wouldn’t jog the master’s memory), and even hired it out when he could—pocketing the money. Beethoven’s genius was expensive in more ways than one.