Composer and Musician - the Magnificent Deaf Master

Have you heard the story of the magnificent deaf master?

He is none other than the great German musician cum composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, of Flemish ancestry.

Ludwig van Beethoven exact date of birth is not known. It might have happened anytime from 15 to 16 December 1770. The family lived in an attic apartment along Bonngasse in Bonn, Germany.

Both his grandfather Ludwig and his father Johann were musicians. When Beethoven was about five years old, his father gave him his earliest music lessons on the piano.

Beethoven gave his first public performance when he was eight years old. The talented young prodigy had his first music published in 1782. Ten years later, he relocated to Vienna to study counterpoint and composition under some of the most renowned composers and pedagogues such as Franz Joseph Haydn, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger and Antonio Salieri.

He worked very hard to establish himself as a composer and virtuoso pianist. He was the first composer without an official position during his adult life. His good relations with the town’s aristocracy guaranteed him a secured income.

Things had actually started to become bad around 1796 when Beethoven began to suffer from a severe form of tinnitus. The ringing sound in his ears made it difficult and almost impossible for him to hear and appreciate music. There were times when it became so bad that he was thinking of ending his life to get out of his misery and despair.

During the period around 1800, his works include many of his most popular compositions and masterworks. Within this decade, Beethoven produced countless masterpieces in every genre. It started with the Eroica which has became a landmark in his musical development. Others were Symphony No.4, Piano Sonata Op.57, the Emperor Concerto and the Egmont Overture. His only opera Fidelio was also the most heroic of his masterpieces.

Gradually, Beethoven enhanced on his high classical style to become more dynamic and individualistic. His ventures into new undiscovered grounds had made crucial evolutionary contributions in the development of tonal music. His joys, pains and sufferings of real life were reflected in this completely original style of music. Beethoven has always been described as a transition figure in the history of western music.

By 1820, Beethoven was almost totally deaf and slightly mad. But he continued to produce great notable masterpieces with a density of musical thoughts that surpassed all his previous compositions. They were combinations with a wider range of harmony and texture.

This final chapter of Beethoven’s musical life included the last of his supreme achievements such as his last five Piano Sonatas and String Quartets, the Ninth Symphony with its choral finale as well as the Missa Solemnis. They represented him at the peak of his powers.

The hearing disorder had also affected his social life. He faced difficulties in social interactions with sudden outbursts of anger or bad tempers. These subsequently led him into isolation from the outside world as he became troubled and tormented with personal problems.

Beethoven health and mental state continued to deteriorate and he caught a serious cold in the fall of 1826. This developed into pneumonia and he died on 26 March 1827.

Beethoven had devoted his heart and his mind to the writing of his compositions. He was someone who can immerse himself in his work completely and be transported into another world during the compositional period. Although he was in deep depression and even contemplated suicide in the later part of his life, he was able to let his musical imaginations grow beyond normal circumstances.

His greatest achievement was to be able to write notable masterworks despite of not being able to hear. The pair of ears is the most important to any musicians or composers but Beethoven was able overcome this enormous challenge.

When faced with life’s challenges, would you be able to overcome all obstacles just like Beethoven or are you still living in a world that no sounds can penetrate through?