His last words are subject to debate. Here are some conjectures:
"Pity, pity...too late."
"Applaud, my friends, the comedy is finished." (Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est.; the formula traditionally used to end a performance of commedia dell'arte.)
"I shall hear in Heaven."
"I feel as if up to now I had written no more than a few notes."
(To his friend Johann Hummel, who was at his bedside): "Is it not true, Hummel, that I have some talent after all?"
"There, do you hear the bell? Don't you hear it ringing? The curtain must drop. Yes! My curtain is falling."
One biographer says he said nothing, simply shook his fists defiantly as a thunderstorm raged outside.
Listen to the whole lineup of symphonies:
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