Which pianist went deaf?

Beethoven Beethoven began losing his hearing in his mid-20s, after already building a reputation as a musician and composer. The cause of his deafness remains a mystery, though modern analysis of his DNA revealed health issues including large amounts of lead in his system.

californiasymphony.org - The Whole Story of Beethoven's Deafness - The California Symphony

What type of math is used in music?

You can use different mathematical phenomena in music. These include geometry, signal processing, differential calculus, and even trigonometry. In...

Last updated Apr 14, 2021

Can you learn from Simply Piano?

With your Simply Piano subscription, you are given access to a whole range of courses starting from the basics and moving up to more advanced...

Last updated Feb 18, 2021

Join almost HALF A MILLION Happy Students Worldwide

Promotion

“How he dealt with this deafness is one of the great stories of humanity, not just of music.” — Music Director Donato Cabrera

By California Symphony Music Director Donato Cabrera

Imagine directing an orchestra you can’t hear. Or playing a soundless piano for a staring audience. Most know classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven struggled with deafness — but many don’t realize how much of a struggle it was. Beyond composing without hearing a note, Beethoven grappled with living in the 1800s when few understood deafness, hindering his ability to communicate, work as a musician and even find a place to live. How he dealt with this deafness is one of the great stories of humanity, not just of music.

Losing Sound

Beethoven began losing his hearing in his mid-20s, after already building a reputation as a musician and composer. The cause of his deafness remains a mystery, though modern analysis of his DNA revealed health issues including large amounts of lead in his system. At the time, people ate off of lead plates — they just didn’t know back then. Continuing to compose and conduct, he changed lodgings constantly in Vienna, which could be due to Beethoven’s landlords’ frustration with him pounding on his piano at all hours. Beethoven even continued performing publicly as a musician, which was necessary for many composers of the age: That’s how they got their pieces out, not just composing but performing. For the longest time he didn’t want to reveal his deafness because he believed, justifiably, that it would ruin his career. His condition didn’t go unnoticed, however. Composer Louis Spohr reacted to watching Beethoven rehearse on piano in 1814: “…the music was unintelligible unless one could look into the pianoforte part. I was deeply saddened at so hard a fate.” Once his hearing was fully gone by age 45, Beethoven lost his public life with it. Giving up performing and public appearances, he allowed only select friends to visit him, communicating through written conversations in notebooks. His deafness forced him to become a very private, insular person over the course of time.

Composing in Silence

A common question is how Beethoven continued composing without his hearing, but this likely wasn’t too difficult. Music is a language, with rules. Knowing the rules of how music is made, he could sit at his desk and compose a piece of music without hearing it. Beethoven’s style changed, however, as he retreated from public life. His once-vivacious piano sonatas began to take on a darker tone. His famous Sixth Symphony also reflects his different life in deafness. Also known as the Pastoral Symphony, the musical work conveys the peace of the countryside, where Beethoven escaped city life after losing his hearing. In terms of his deafness, this was a very important symphony, reflecting the importance as an individual to keep his sanity by being in the country. “How delighted I shall be to ramble for a while through bushes, woods, under trees, through grass, and around rocks” — Beethoven in a letter written in May of 1810 This and other pieces from his soundless years reflect his incredible grasp of composition. Beethoven was a master of the language of music, which is about the creation of sound, not about listening.

This article originally appeared on the Las Vegas Smith Center’s blog.

Can you learn piano with a book?

With piano method books, you can enjoy more personalized learning, and you can learn at your own pace. Using a piano method book for self-teaching...

Last updated Apr 22, 2022

What piano Do pianists use?

Steinways More than 98 percent of concert pianists choose to perform on Steinways, according to figures collected by, not surprisingly, Steinway...

Last updated Jun 29, 2018

Join almost HALF A MILLION Happy Students Worldwide

Pianoforall is one of the most popular online piano courses online and has helped over 450,000 students around the world achieve their dream of playing beautiful piano for over a decade.

Learn More »

Promotion

Did Beethoven write Für Elise for a woman?

The song is thought to be written for Therese, a woman that Beethoven wanted to marry in 1810, however his handwriting was misspelt undergoing transcription, allowing the piece to be known as Fur Elise rather the Fur Therese.

simple.wikipedia.org - Für Elise - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Für Elise" (German for For Elise) is the common name of the "Bagatelle in A minor", written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1810. The song is thought to be written for Therese, a woman that Beethoven wanted to marry in 1810, however his handwriting was misspelt undergoing transcription, allowing the piece to be known as Fur Elise rather the Fur Therese. Therese did not want to marry him. The piece of music, which was written for the piano, was not published until 1865, a long time after Beethoven’s death. It is one of the most well-known pieces of piano music in the world. The piece is in rondo form. There is a main section (A) which appears three times. Between these three sections there are two other sections (B and C), so the form of the piece can be described as: A B A C A. The main section has a time signature of 3/8. It is based on arpeggios which flow from one hand to the other. This is the section that many beginner pianists want to play. The two middle sections are harder to play at the correct speed. They have fast scales, arpeggios and left hand demisemiquavers (32nd notes). Woodstra, Chris. et al. 2005. All Music Guide to Classical Music. All Media Guide, LLC. p. 104. ISBN 0-87930-865-6

https://www.classicfm.com/composers/beethoven/fur-elise-meaning-who-is-elise/

Other websites [ change | change source ]

Für Elise - and other Beethoven resources (includes the free sheet music)

Is Entertainer hard to play?

When a student begins piano lessons, The Entertainer by Scott Joplin is a popular piece many students want to learn how to play. Rhythmically, it's...

Last updated May 16, 2020