Some of the greatest music ever written, including the Ninth Symphony, was composed by a man who could no longer hear it. How did Beethoven compose when he was deaf? The answer says a lot about how musicians read and hear music.
A slow loss
Beethoven began losing his hearing in his late twenties, around 1798. It got worse over many years. By around 1818 he was almost completely deaf, and visitors wrote their questions in notebooks, his conversation books, many of which survive.
The Heiligenstadt Testament
In 1802, aged 31, Beethoven wrote a letter to his brothers from the village of Heiligenstadt. He described his despair at hiding his deafness and wrote that only his art held him back from ending his life. He never sent the letter. It was found after his death, and it marks the moment he chose to keep composing.
Hearing with the eyes
Trained musicians can hear music in their heads while reading or writing it. Beethoven had decades of experience, and he worked out his ideas in sketchbooks, page after page, refining them on paper. For him the score itself was the sound.
The Ninth Symphony
At the premiere of the Ninth Symphony in Vienna in 1824, Beethoven stood on stage beside the conductor. When the music ended he could not hear the applause, and one of the singers turned him around so he could see the audience cheering.
What it means for readers
Beethoven's story is the strongest case for reading: notation lets us hear music with our eyes. The easier the page is to read, the sooner that inner hearing comes. That is the idea behind iCanPiano Style, where the black keys are visible in the notes themselves.
Frequently asked questions
When did Beethoven go deaf?
His hearing began to fail around 1798, in his late twenties, and he was almost completely deaf by around 1818.
Was Beethoven completely deaf when he wrote the Ninth Symphony?
Almost completely. The symphony was first performed in 1824, and he could not hear the audience's applause.