Deaf at 44? Actually, Beethoven ‘could hear out of left ear’
HE was believed to have composed his final masterpiece while completely deaf. But an expert claims Ludwig van Beethoven could in fact hear out of his left ear.
Theodore Albrecht says contemporary evidence contradicts the widely held opinion that the composer was profoundly deaf by the age of 44.
Instead, the professor of musicology says scribbled-down conversations from Beethoven’s later years suggest he ‘could still hear something’ in 1824 – three years before his death aged 56.
Professor Albrecht, from Kent State University in the US, told The Observer: ‘This is going to send everybody scurrying to revise biographical concepts.’
Beethoven established himself as a virtuoso pianist in his twenties and composed his first symphony aged 31. But by 1798 his hearing was going and he was thought to be almost totally deaf by the age of 44 in 1814.
Yet, despite also suffering from tinnitus,
he continued to write music – including the Ninth Symphony, in 1824.
Legend has it that he conducted the masterpiece at its premiere despite being unable to hear the singers, orchestra or applause at its finale.
However, Professor Albrecht believes he has uncovered evidence that suggests Beethoven did not lose his hearing ‘to the very profound depths’ that musicologists had once assumed.
The academic has translated 139 booklets containing conversations between the composer and his companions from 1818 until his death in 1827. As his hearing worsened, Beethoven asked people to jot down conversations in notebooks.
Professor Albrecht said he has found 23 references to the subject of hearing, and estimates that others will show ‘he could still hear something’.
One key passage from 1823 reveals that he could in fact hear out of his left ear to some extent as it was ‘fairly preserved’. Professor Albrecht said: ‘Not only was Beethoven not completely deaf at the premiere of his Ninth Symphony in May 1824, he could hear, although increasingly faintly, for at least two years afterwards.’