Beethoven manuscript sold

A manuscript of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, scattered with the composer’s frenzied revisions and comments scribbled in the margins, sold Thursday in London for 2.13 million pounds -- $3.5 million -- but failed to set a record for the most expensive musical manuscript, according to Reuters. Sotheby’s, which auctioned the 575-page document, predicted it might sell for 3 million pounds, which would have broken the record still held by a collection of nine Mozart symphonies, auctioned in 1987 for 2.58 million pounds. According to musical legend, by the time of the Ninth Symphony’s 1824 premiere in Vienna, Beethoven was so deaf he had to be turned around by a friend to acknowledge the enthusiastic applause.