The Deaf Composer: How Beethoven wrote music he couldn’t hear

Summary

Summary of "The Deaf Composer: How Beethoven Wrote Music He Couldn't Hear"

Podcast: Twenty Thousand Hertz
Host: Dallas Taylor
Episode Title: The Deaf Composer: How Beethoven Wrote Music He Couldn't Hear
Release Date: April 30, 2025

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Introduction: Beethoven's Struggle and Genius

In this poignant episode of Twenty Thousand Hertz, host Dallas Taylor delves into the extraordinary life of Ludwig van Beethoven, exploring how the legendary composer continued to create breathtaking music despite his progressive hearing loss. Drawing from historical letters, expert insights, and dramatic narratives, the episode paints a comprehensive picture of Beethoven's resilience and innovation in the face of adversity.

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Beethoven's Early Life and Musical Ascent

Beethoven was born in 1790 in Bonn, Austria, into a tumultuous household. His father, Karl Beethoven, was a musician and an aggressive alcoholic, pushing young Ludwig into early piano lessons in the hopes of molding him into a prodigy akin to Mozart. As Laura Tunbridge, a professor of music at the University of Oxford, explains, Beethoven's childhood was fraught with hardship:

“Beethoven's father wanted his son to be successful and I think, wanted him to be more of a prodigy than he actually was.”
— Laura Tunbridge [05:16]

Despite these challenges, Beethoven's talent flourished. Moving to Vienna in his early twenties to study under Joseph Haydn, he quickly integrated into the city's aristocratic circles. His reputation as a composer grew steadily as he ventured into various genres, including piano sonatas, chamber music, symphonies, opera, and choral works.

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The Onset of Hearing Loss and Personal Turmoil

Beethoven's ascending career was marred by the gradual loss of his hearing, which began in his mid-twenties. By the age of 26, he started experiencing tinnitus and difficulty hearing higher pitches. His desperation is palpable in his own words from a letter to a close friend:

“My ears are buzzing and ringing perpetually, day and night. I must confess that I lead a miserable life. For almost two years, I have ceased to attend any social functions just because I find it impossible to say to people I am deaf.”
— Ludwig van Beethoven [09:58]

This condition led to profound isolation and depression. Following medical advice, Beethoven retreated to Heiligenstadt, a small Austrian town, where he penned the infamous Heiligenstadt Testament—a heartfelt letter revealing his despair and contemplation of suicide. However, amidst his suffering, his unwavering dedication to music provided a lifeline.

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Coping Mechanisms and Musical Innovation

Beethoven's determination to compose despite his deafness led him to experiment with various strategies:

1. Conversation Books: To communicate, Beethoven used notebooks where others would write messages, and he would respond verbally. This method allowed him to maintain personal and professional relationships despite his inability to hear.

2. Physical Sensations: Beethoven relied heavily on the tactile experience of playing instruments. He could feel the vibrations through the piano keys, enabling him to sense the music's progression even without auditory feedback.

3. Innovative Instruments: Collaborating with piano makers, Beethoven sought to enhance his ability to perceive sound. Andre Stein, a piano maker, worked with Beethoven to develop a "hearing machine"—a device designed to amplify sound vibrations through physical contact. Although replicas built by researchers in 2017 showed limited effectiveness, this innovation underscores Beethoven's relentless pursuit of musical excellence.

4. Ear Trumpets: Beethoven utilized various sizes of ear trumpets to aid his hearing, attempting to amplify surrounding sounds. These devices, resembling reverse megaphones, were a testament to his ingenuity in overcoming physical limitations.

Laura Tunbridge remarks on how Beethoven's innovations bridged his internal musical vision with his external environment:

"There is a sense in the symphony that he's breaking new ground in terms of taking a conventional form and making it more dynamic, more dramatic."
— Laura Tunbridge [12:20]

Beethoven's Third Symphony, the Eroica Symphony, exemplifies this spirit. Originally dedicated to Napoleon, whom Beethoven later denounced for declaring himself emperor, the symphony marked the beginning of his "heroic" middle period. Its groundbreaking length and dynamic contrasts showcased Beethoven's ability to push musical boundaries, even as his hearing deteriorated.

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The Ninth Symphony and Beethoven's Enduring Legacy

One of Beethoven's crowning achievements, the Ninth Symphony, premiered in 1824, a decade after his initial compositions had dwindled. Despite being completely deaf by this time, Beethoven's passion for music propelled him to conduct, relying on a colleague to follow along with the score. An anecdote from the premiere illustrates his deep immersion in the music:

“At that point, perhaps nobody would have expected applause in the middle of the symphony. So you can tell that in this challenging premiere environment, you have Beethoven standing next to the conductor, something of a distraction, and himself lost in the music, then being turned around to realize how appreciative the audience have been.”
— Laura Tunbridge [27:38]

Beethoven's final years were plagued by health issues, culminating in his death in March 1827. His funeral was a grand event in Vienna, attended by thousands and featuring performances of his own compositions alongside works by Mozart and Schubert. Posthumously, Beethoven's legacy was solidified, with myths and legends enhancing his image as the archetypal tortured genius.

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Conclusion: Beethoven's Unyielding Passion

Dallas Taylor reflects on Beethoven's enduring impact:

“We can only imagine what Beethoven's fate would have been if he were around today. He might be using state-of-the-art hearing aids powered by AI, or he might get surgery to get a cochlear implant which can stimulate the auditory nerve directly. But of course, he didn't have access to any of that. And yet, even after the world around him faded to silence, Beethoven kept creating. The passion that fueled him just wouldn't let him stop.”
— Dallas Taylor [30:18]

Beethoven's ability to compose some of the most timeless and beautiful music in history, despite his inability to hear, stands as a testament to his extraordinary resilience and genius. His story inspires not only musicians but anyone facing formidable challenges, highlighting the profound connection between passion and creativity.

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Additional Insights and Reflections

Laura Tunbridge offers a nuanced perspective on how Beethoven's life has been romanticized:

"Beethoven in some ways becomes the composer who most obviously embodies that because he has a personal struggle to overcome in order to create great works."
— Laura Tunbridge [29:40]

This blend of documented facts and emerging myths continues to fascinate scholars and enthusiasts alike, ensuring Beethoven's place as a central figure in the annals of classical music.

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Credits:
Produced by Daniel Sima and Casey Emerling, with assistance from Grace East. Sound design and mixing by Graham Grant and Colin Davarney. Special thanks to guest Laura Tunbridge for her invaluable insights.

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Note: This summary intentionally omits advertisements, promotional content, and non-relevant segments to focus solely on the episode's core content.

Transcript

[Dallas Taylor]

Hey listeners. First, an exciting announcement. 20,000Hz just won a Webby Award in the Science and Education category. Now, most of our awards through the years have centered around production and sound design, and while I'm super proud of that aspect too, it means a lot for 20,000 Hertz to be recognized for its educational value and not just its production polish. The award was for our episode about whalesong and undersea noise pollution. It's called Sounds of the Deep, Mysteries and Threats Beneath the Waves, and it came out last May, so if you haven't heard it, scroll back and give it a listen. Secondly, a reminder that our Soundoff Story competition is open until May 7th. If you're an audio storyteller of any kind or just interested in audio storytelling, this is your chance to craft your own mini 20,000Hz episode. It doesn't have to be perfect, just do your best. We just want the story to be around five minutes or less and relate to sound in some way. It can include interviews, music, sound design, or any other creative elements that help the narrative. We'll count down the winning stories in a special episode this summer. The top creator will also get a private feedback session with our team plus a hundred dollar credit to our online store. To see the full details and submit your story, visit 20k.org soundoff there's also a link in the show notes before we get started. This episode is clean as always, but discusses Beethoven's experience with isolation, depression, and thoughts of giving up on life. If you have younger listeners who may not be ready for that kind of discussion, you may want to preview it first. You're listening to 20,000 hertz. I'm Dallas Taylor. I grew up playing trumpet in the school band, and for 15 years music was my purpose, my biggest passion, and my escape from a difficult home life. It also sparked my lifelong love of classical music. Then in college, I decided to pursue conducting. During that time, I did a work study in the music library. Now keep in mind, this was long before Spotify, YouTube, or even Napster, so having thousands of classical recordings at my fingertips felt magical. I'd spend hours getting lost in pieces by Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Bach, and of course, Beethoven. In Beethoven's music, I could hear pain and joy, struggle and triumph. And those themes became even more powerful when I learned that Beethoven lost his hearing. And yet he kept composing all the way until his death. As someone who's devoted my life to sound, I've always wondered, how did that loss affect Beethoven? How did he compose music he could never hear? I'd heard different stories over the years. But with any legendary figure, it's hard to separate the truth from the legend. To begin to understand someone, the best place to start is with their own words.

[Ludwig van Beethoven]

Heiligenstadt, October 6, 1802. For my brothers, Karl and Johann Beethoven, to be read and executed after my death.

[Dallas Taylor]

It's the autumn of 1802, in a small Austrian town called Heiligenstadt. Ludwig van Beethoven is at the height of his composing career at only 31 years old. Now his home is in the bustling city of Vienna. But for the last five months, at the recommendation of his doctor, he's been staying here in Heiligenstadt. On October 6, Beethoven sits down and writes a letter to his.

[Ludwig van Beethoven]

Oh, you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me? You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you. For six years now, I have been hopelessly afflicted, made worse by senseless physicians from year to year, deceived with hopes of improvement, finally compelled to face the prospect of a lasting malady whose cure will take years or perhaps be impossible.

[Dallas Taylor]

Beethoven's despair is clear in his words. And the thing that's agonizing him is that he's losing his hearing. He's worried that he won't be able to compose anymore.

[Ludwig van Beethoven]

What a humiliation for me when someone standing next to me heard a flute in the distance and I heard nothing. Or someone heard a shepherd singing and again I heard nothing. Such incidents drove me almost to despair. A little more of that and I would have ended my life.

[Dallas Taylor]

Beethoven never sent that letter. It was only discovered years later, after his death. But what drove him to that point? And how could he ever get past it?

[Laura Tunbridge]

Beethoven had quite a tumultuous upbringing.

[Dallas Taylor]

That's Laura Tunbridge.

[Laura Tunbridge]

I'm a professor of music at the University of Oxford and author of Beethoven a life in nine pieces.

[Dallas Taylor]

Beethoven was born in 1790 in the Austrian city of Bonn. His mother had seven children, four of whom died as infants.

[Laura Tunbridge]

His father was a musician and was also an alcoholic who was quite aggressive when drunk. And a young Beethoven found that he had to really find his own way in the world and then also to look after his family.

[Dallas Taylor]

At age 5, his father started teaching him to play piano.

[Laura Tunbridge]

Beethoven's father wanted his son to be successful and I think, wanted him to be more of a prodigy than he actually was.

[Dallas Taylor]

For instance, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was 15 years older than Beethoven, was considered a prodigy by age 6.

[Laura Tunbridge]

One of the early stories we have of Beethoven's childhood is of his father making his son seem younger than he was in order to sell him as a prodigy in the style of Mozart. So whilst Beethoven was a talented young musician, he wasn't quite of Mozart's class.

[Dallas Taylor]

Beethoven started his musical career as more of a performer than a composer. He was a talented pianist who would play in church and in private performances for aristocrats.

[Laura Tunbridge]

In his early years, I think Beethoven primarily was writing for his own instrument, the piano. This was music for him to play. It wasn't necessarily music to be published that would be shared more widely, but was very much a showcase for him.

[Dallas Taylor]

In his early 20s, Beethoven moves to Vienna to study with composer Joseph Haydn.

[Laura Tunbridge]

He finds a way into the aristocratic circles of Vienna and gradually finds himself working in genres such as piano sonatas, chamber music, symphonies, opera, choral music.

[Dallas Taylor]

Slowly but surely, his reputation as a composer grows. He starts publishing his compositions and getting more funding from wealthy backers. People see him as the successor to Mozart, who had died when Beethoven was 20. But not everything in his life is going so well. In 1801, Beethoven falls in love with one of his piano students, a young woman named Julie Guicciardi. His Moonlight Sonata, which you're hearing right now, was dedicated to her. But Julie ended up marrying another man. It was a pattern that would happen several times throughout Beethoven's life.

[Laura Tunbridge]

Beethoven fell in and out of love quite rapidly as a young man, and quite often he was besotted with women who married other people.

[Dallas Taylor]

But along with his romantic struggles, he also continually struggled with his health.

[Laura Tunbridge]

Beethoven suffered from a variety of ailments throughout his life. His digestion was always an issue, and also as a young man, he suffered from asthma.

[Dallas Taylor]

He had smallpox as a child, which left him with facial scarring. In 2024, samples of Beethoven's hair were tested and they showed high levels of toxic lead. In his 20s, it's believed he had typhoid fever, which would help explain the issue he's most known for. Hearing loss.

[Laura Tunbridge]

From what we know, Beethoven began to experience hearing loss in his mid-20s, from around the age of 26. And it seems that he began to experience problems with his left ear and to struggle with hearing higher pitches and words. He also suffered from tinnitus and also from what's called loudness recruitment.

[Dallas Taylor]

Tinnitus is when a person hears a sound that doesn't come from anything in the real world. It's often experienced as a continuous high pitched ringing, but it can also be perceived as a low buzz or A hiss. And it can come and go seemingly at random. The other condition, called loudness recruitment, is where sounds are perceived as louder than they really are.

[Laura Tunbridge]

By his early 30s, he's beginning to talk about this to friends and also seeking medical advice. And we have letters to friends admitting that he was struggling with his hearing.

[Ludwig van Beethoven]

That jealous demon. My wretched health has put a nasty spoke in my wheel. And it amounts to this that for the last three years, my hearing has become weaker and weaker.

[Dallas Taylor]

This is from a letter that Beethoven wrote to a close friend.

[Ludwig van Beethoven]

My ears are buzzing and ringing perpetually, day and night. I must confess that I lead a miserable life. For almost two years, I have ceased to attend any social functions just because I find it impossible to say to people I am deaf. In any other profession, this might be more tolerable. But in mine, such a condition is truly frightful.

[Dallas Taylor]

One of the doctors Beethoven was seeing recommended that he go away for a while, take some time out of the city and rest in the country air. That's what brings him to Heiligenstadt, the small town where he writes that anguished letter to his brothers. It became known that as the Heiligenstadt Testament.

[Laura Tunbridge]

It's a long letter that in some ways serves as a will. It's explaining to them that the reason he's been so difficult and unsociable is because of his hearing loss. And he discusses the trauma that's causing him.

[Ludwig van Beethoven]

No longer can I enjoy recreation in social intercourse, refined conversation or mutual outpourings of thought. Completely isolated, I only enter society when compelled to do so. I must live like an exile in company. I am assailed by the most painful apprehensions, from the dread of being exposed to the risk of my condition being observed.

[Laura Tunbridge]

But then begins to explain how, despite all of this, he's still determined to carry on living and to carry on composing and devoting his life to music.

[Ludwig van Beethoven]

It was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt called upon me to produce. And so I endured this wretched existence.

[Dallas Taylor]

The art that held Beethoven back from going over the edge would be some of the deepest, most groundbreaking music in history, like his Third Symphony, also known as the Eroica Symphony, meaning heroic. Beethoven started composing it right around the time he wrote that letter.

[Laura Tunbridge]

It's often discussed as being a piece that marks the beginning of what's called his heroic style or his middle period. And there is a sense in the symphony that he's breaking new ground in terms of taking a conventional form and making it more dynamic, more dramatic.

[Dallas Taylor]

Dramatic dynamics are a signature feature of Beethoven's music. The loud sections are very loud and the quiet parts are very quiet, and they're often right next to each other.

[Laura Tunbridge]

One thing that really helps us get to the experience of music for Beethoven, as somebody who's struggling with his hearing, is actually the sounds that he asks instruments to make. And so really extreme contrasts and dynamics can be ways in which you think, well, actually if this is at the edge of your hearing, what do you think that music is trying to do? Or if you have really loud passages, how does that respond to a visceral experience that one might have of sound?

[Dallas Taylor]

The Third Symphony was radical for a lot of reasons. At 50 minutes, it was longer than any symphony before it. It did things with rhythm and harmony that no one else had even tried before. Beethoven originally dedicated it to Napoleon, but then retracted that dedication when he learned that Napoleon had declared himself himself an emperor. But to me, the thing that's most impressive about this piece is the sheer musical power that it brings out of an orchestra. You can imagine Beethoven standing in the center of these musicians, feeling the sound waves vibrate through his body and all the way up through the rafters. The Eroica Symphony helped solidify Beethoven's place as one of the greats like Bach and Mozart. But for him, it was getting harder and harder to make this music.

[Laura Tunbridge]

We know that he began to struggle to hear some of the higher pitched wind instruments in rehearsal. So it's also a way in which you can think about how Beethoven's medical situation begins to impact his professional life.

[Dallas Taylor]

But Beethoven was determined to keep making music. So he started experimenting with unique inventions to work around his hearing loss. And this is where the fact and fiction around Beethoven really starts to blur. That's coming up after the break. Cloud computing bills are a lot like other online subscriptions. They seem manageable at first, but slowly but surely, the costs creep up and you wind up paying way more than you expected. If you want to keep your cloud computing costs under control, then you need Oracle Cloud Infrastructure or oci. It's designed to handle any workload, whether it's day to day operations or advanced AI projects. The result is better performance at significantly lower cost. How much lower? OCI customers typically spend 50% less on computing, 70% less on storage, and 80% less on networking compared to other providers. With those kind of savings, you'll have more room to grow your business and invest those savings into other opportunities. Companies like Modal Uber and Skydance Animation have all upgraded to OCI and saved. And right now Oracle has a special promotion for 20,000 Hz listeners until May 31st. You can cut your cloud bill in half when you move to oci. This offer is only for new OCI customers in the US with a minimum financial commitment. Visit oracle.com 20k that's oracle.com20k Congratulations to Matthew Stoss for getting last episode's mystery sound right. That's the start of We Are the Dinosaurs by the Laurie Berkner band. Released in 2006, it was one of the first kids songs that became a viral hit in the Internet era. Here's Laurie describing how it came to.

[Laurie Berkner]

Be I wrote We Are the Dinosaurs, which was pretty much the first kid song I ever wrote because I said, what do you guys want to sing about? You don't like any of the songs I'm bringing in? And one kid yelled dinosaurs. And I was like oh. And then every all the rest of the kids said yeah, dinosaurs. We are the dinosaurs Marching, marching, We are the dinosaurs.

[Dallas Taylor]

What do you think of that? And here's this episode's Mystery Sound. If you know that sound, submit your guess at the web address mystery.2000.org. Anyone who guesses it right will be entered to win one of our super soft 20,000Hz T shirts. And finally, a quick reminder that 20,000Hz by the exact same team that makes up my sound agency, Defacto Sound. And we put the same amount of care into every project as we do into this podcast. So if you work in advertising, television, film, video games, or any medium that needs great sound, then head over to defactosound.com or follow defacto Sound on Instagram. When you start to notice your hair thinning, it's easy to ignore it. Then suddenly six months have gone by and your hair has gotten noticeably thinner. Now imagine you started using HIMS today. In six months you could have visibly thicker, fuller hair. HIMS makes treating hair loss simple and convenient. They offer the same safe, FDA approved solutions that doctors recommend. The process is easy and completely online, meaning no awkward doctor's appointments. You just answer a few quick questions and a medical provider determines if treatment is right for you. Start your free online Visit [e-mail] 20k or that's hims.com 20k for your personalized hair loss treatment options. Hims.com 20k results vary based on studies of topical and oral minoxidil and finasteride prescription products require an online consultation with a healthcare provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate, restrictions apply. See the website for full details and important safety information. Right now, you're hearing what we call here in the podcast world a Midroll ad. For us here at 20,000 hertz, that usually means a one minute message from a company who wants to reach our thoughtful and engaged audience. Throughout this summer and fall, we have a handful of ad opportunities available, both pre rolls which run at the top of the show, and midrolls which run here in the middle. And if you or someone you know represents a company that would pair Naturally with 20,000 hertz, we would love to hear from you. We also offer special partnerships where a single brand can sponsor all of the ads in an episode that aligns closely with their product or service. These are the things we love to brainstorm about. If you'd like to explore advertising or partnership opportunities with us, just send A note to grace20k.org that's gracerok.org by the start of the 19th century, Ludwig van Beethoven had become one of the most famous composers in Europe. He had taken the mantle from Mozart and Haydn and was revolutionizing what orchestras could do. At the same time, he was dealing with a profound personal struggle. His hearing was getting worse and worse, making him anxious, withdrawn, and unable to connect with people. But his passion for music kept him going.

[Laura Tunbridge]

One of the interesting things about Beethoven's hearing loss, despite all of the distress it obviously caused him, was that he was still determined to compose. He never really considers giving up composing and making music. He knows that he has to find a way to work around his hearing loss to do so.

[Dallas Taylor]

So Beethoven started trying different things to mitigate his hearing loss. For communication, he started carrying around what he called conversation books. These were notebooks where people would write down what they wanted to say to him and he would respond using his voice.

[Laura Tunbridge]

Beethoven from 1818 conducted a number of conversations through these notebooks. So we have one sided conversations remaining where we can tell the subject of conversations that Beethoven was having with various visitors and friends and family.

[Dallas Taylor]

When it came to composing, Beethoven could draw from a deep knowledge of musical theory. This meant that he could write out ideas away from the piano and still hear them in his head. He also learned to rely on the physical sensation of music. When he would improvise for hours on the piano, he had a sense of when the music felt right under his fingers and he could feel when the instrument was resonating the way he wanted it to.

[Laura Tunbridge]

One of the things I find really compelling about some of the work on Beethoven's later music is the dependence on vibration, on the tactile experience of instruments that might, in some ways, be sensed within, say, the late piano sonatas.

[Dallas Taylor]

There are also accounts of Beethoven sitting in the middle of a string quartet as they rehearsed a new piece he had written.

[Laura Tunbridge]

It's not necessarily that he can hear everything, but he can tell from gestures and following the score and his musical knowledge what's in time where a fingering won't work, how something might come together in a more synchronous way. You can tell that he's still very much in the inner workings of his music.

[Dallas Taylor]

But Beethoven also looked for help in the latest technologies, as he's losing his hearing.

[Laura Tunbridge]

He is somebody who is always interested in inventions, and amongst them is an idea of using ear trumpets.

[Dallas Taylor]

An ear trumpet is a handheld metal tube. It has a small hole at one end for your ear and a large open cone at the other end for sound to come in.

[Laura Tunbridge]

These are basically like reverse megaphones, so they collect and direct sounds to the listener. We know that Beethoven had a collection of these of different scales in terms of size. Some he could wear via a headband so that he could have his hands free whilst he played at the piano.

[Dallas Taylor]

Beethoven was also at the forefront of keyboard technology. Piano makers in England and France would send their latest models directly to him. Some of these featured larger hammers and thicker soundboards, which is what amplifies the sound of vibrating strings. The result was louder, more resonant pianos.

[Laura Tunbridge]

And then, later on, in 1820, the piano maker Andre Stein works with Beethoven on creating what's translated as a hearing machine.

[Dallas Taylor]

The exact hearing machine that Stein built has been lost to history, but there are some clues about what it looked like. Some of these come from the writings that Stein left in Beethoven's conversation books. For instance, there were some early ideas of a wooden box with a couple of horns pointed at the player's ears. In the end, they settled on a kind of arched tube over the body of the piano, with the open end pointing towards Beethoven.

[Laura Tunbridge]

Basically a half dome that's put over a keyboard so that you can capture more of the sound and more of the vibrations of the instruments.

[Dallas Taylor]

In 2017, a group of researchers at the Orpheus Institute in Belgium built several replicas of Beethoven's hearing machine. According to researchers, the hearing machine produced an overall volume boost of about 3 to 4 decibels. That's about 23 to 32% higher in perceived volume. It also boosted frequencies down around 125Hz and up around 4,000Hz. Over the years, there have been lots of stories about the things Beethoven did to cope with his hearing loss. One of these showed up in the 1995 film Mr. Holland's Opus, starring Richard Dreyfuss. In the movie, Dreyfuss plays a high school music teacher whose son is born deaf. In one scene, he addresses his class as Beethoven's 7th Symphony plays in the background.

[Richard Dreyfuss]

There is a story that in order to write his music, Beethoven literally sawed the legs off his piano so that he could lay the body flat on the ground. And then he would lay down on the ground next to the piano with his ear pressed to the floor, and he would pound the keys with his fingers in order to hear his music through the vibrations of the floor.

[Dallas Taylor]

It's a great story, but there's not much evidence that it happened exactly like that. However, several people who knew Beethoven wrote about him pressing his ear against the piano while he played, especially to hear the high notes. About 60 years after Beethoven's death, a doctor in France made another interesting claim. He wrote that Beethoven would attach one end of a wooden drumstick to his piano and hold the other end between his teeth as he played. This would allow the piano's vibrations to travel through his teeth into his inner ears via bone conduction. If this is true, it's brilliant, but again, there isn't much evidence for it. Another well known story is set on the premiere night of Beethoven's Ninth and Final Final Symphony. The premiere took place on May 7, 1824 at a prestigious theater in Vienna. It had been over a decade since Beethoven had published a symphony or even performed piano in public. By that point, it was well known that he was completely deaf, which only added to the anticipation. While Beethoven was officially billed as the conductor that night, there was another conductor on stage next to him who the music musicians were told to follow. According to the story, when the music ended, Beethoven kept conducting, not knowing they were finished. Then one of the singers tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw the audience giving a huge standing ovation. According to Laura, this one probably isn't too far off.

[Laura Tunbridge]

Now, it seems from other accounts of the premiere that actually it was after the Scherzo movement that Beethoven was tapped on the shoulder.

[Dallas Taylor]

That's a little less than halfway through.

[Laura Tunbridge]

At that point, perhaps nobody would have expected applause in the middle of the symphony. So you can tell that in this challenging premiere environment, you have Beethoven standing next to the conductor, something of a distraction, and himself lost in the music, then being turned around to realize how appreciative the audience have been.

[Dallas Taylor]

The Ninth Symphony would be one of Beethoven's last compositions. He was 53 years old and his health was rapidly declining.

[Laura Tunbridge]

Beethoven suffered from a variety of illnesses throughout his life, and these increased through the 1820s. It seems that he suffered in the end primarily from liver disease. And after a summer of relative happiness and productivity, in 1826, he became ill, returned to Vienna, took to his bed and spent the last few months there until he died in March 1827.

[Dallas Taylor]

Beethoven's funeral was a huge procession through the streets of Vienna. Around 10,000 people attended. During the procession they performed pieces by Mozart, Schubert, and this trombone piece by Beethoven himself. Almost immediately after his death, the myth around Beethoven started to grow. And this only increased with the discovery of unsent letters like the Heiligenstadt Testament, as well as a love letter to someone he called the immortal Beloved.

[Laura Tunbridge]

Beethoven came of age in some ways during a time when myths about great men were particularly popular. It's the period when romantic authors are really blurring the divide between life and art. And Beethoven in some ways becomes the composer who most obviously embodies that because he has a personal struggle to overcome in order to create great works. And then we have the alluring combination of a lot of documentation about Beethoven's life and a lot of gaps.

[Dallas Taylor]

We can only imagine what Beethoven's fate would have been if he were around today. He might be using state of the art hearing aids powered by AI, or he might get surgery to get a cochlear implant which can stimulate the auditory nerve directly. But of course he didn't have access to any of that. And yet, even after the world around him faded to silence, Beethoven kept creating. The passion that fueled him just wouldn't let him stop. And those creations stand as some of the most beautiful, timeless pieces of music ever composed.

[Laura Tunbridge]

So the possibility of imagining yourself into the mind of a composer who can't hear, of somebody who's often in the love but never marries, of somebody who overcomes all kinds of difficulties in order to create. All of these things are immensely attractive to writers, to listeners. They allow a way into the music, but also encourage us to think imaginatively about what it must be to create.

[Dallas Taylor]

20,000 Hz is produced out of the sound design studios of Defacto Sound. Hear [e-mail] this episode was written and produced by Daniel Sima and Casey Emerling with help from Grace East. It was sound designed and mixed by Graham Grant and Colin Davarney. Thanks to our guest, Laura Tunbridge. Laura's book is called A Life in Nine Pieces. You can get it wherever books are sold, and it's also available as an audiobook. I'm Dallas Taylor. Thanks for listening. Before we go, a quick reminder to support us by using our sponsor codes and discounts. Visit oracle.com 20k to cut your cloud computing bill in half. Start your free online visit for hair loss [e-mail] 20k finally, don't forget that our Soundoff story competition ends on May 7, so submit your story as soon as possible. The full details and submission form can be [e-mail] soundoff or by following the link in the show Notes. Thanks.