Sandra Beane wrote:

>I think that Beethoven's deafness is not something that would have
>hindered his music.  The majority of his works were written while he was
>deaf.

Huh? That's far too pessimistic.  Yes, the first signs of deafness appeared
when he was still in his twenties, but the disease was a very, very slow
process and even on his deathbed he was able to hear something, though not
much.  Not until 1817/8, when he was 46/7, his deafness had become so
severe that he couldn't converse anymore without the help of the famous
conversation books.  He played the piano in public until 1808, when he had
already composed the first 5 symphonies, the first 4 piano concertos, the
violin concerto, quite a lot of piano sonatas and chamber music and, last
but not least, Fidelio.  In 1812, after he had finished the 7th symphony
and had made the first sketches for the 8th, he played the piano for
Goethe, who wrote about it in a rather positive way.  Beethoven adored
Goethe as an almost divine personality.  He never would have played if he
had been uncertain about the quality of his playing.  One of the problems
with Beethoven's deafness is that it was very variable.  On some days his
hearing was rather good, on other days very bad, all in the same period.
We have testimonies about that same year 1812, who contradict each other.
Spohr's experiences with Beethoven's hearing in that year were very bad,
but Starcke's were quite the opposite.  He writes in his memoirs that
Beethoven's pp was "vorzueglich" (excellent).

Regards,
Joyce Maier ([log in to unmask])