[HN Gopher] I Think Beethoven Encoded His Deafness in His Music
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       I Think Beethoven Encoded His Deafness in His Music
        
       Author : grzm
       Score  : 24 points
       Date   : 2021-01-16 20:48 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nytimes.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nytimes.com)
        
       | pmoriarty wrote:
       | I read somewhere that Beethoven could hear by biting down on a
       | piece of metal (on his piano?) that acted like a bone-
       | conduction[1] hearing aid.
       | 
       | If this is true, then the popular conception of Beethoven being
       | completely unable to hear while composing his masterpieces is
       | mistaken.
       | 
       | I'd love to learn more (or be corrected) from anyone who knows
       | more about this.
       | 
       | [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_conduction
        
         | idoubtit wrote:
         | His most famous sonata were published in 1798, 1801
         | (Moonlight), and 1803. By then, he suffered from tinnitus and
         | knew he was to loose his audition, but he could still hear. He
         | gradually lost his audition during the 1810s and was deaf by
         | the end of the decade.
         | 
         | TL;DR Beethoven wrote his masterpieces sonata at a time were he
         | could certainly hear them.
        
           | andrepd wrote:
           | Many of Beethoven's greatest works were composed when he was
           | fully deaf (most famously his 9th Symphony, but also the Late
           | Quartets, Grosse Fugue, etc.)
        
         | black6 wrote:
         | I recall a story about him having the legs sawn off a grand
         | piano so that he could lay with his head on the floor while
         | playing to "hear" the notes.
        
           | jacquesm wrote:
           | Typically they are attached with screws, so no need to use a
           | saw. Also, it would be far more efficient to somehow make a
           | connection to the bridge because that's where the signal is
           | the strongest, the case doesn't carry all that much sound
           | though it does reflect it if the lid is up.
        
           | aae42 wrote:
           | sounds like something from Mr. Holland's Opus
        
       | idoubtit wrote:
       | I fail to see any interest in this article. It looks to me that
       | someone projected her beliefs on Beethoven, with an
       | oversimplification and little regards to the various influences
       | on Beethoven's composition. He composed music at a time where
       | musical trends emerged (notably romanticism), he suffered big
       | professional failures, he was influenced by other composers...
       | Did Beethoven's music become more complex in his last years
       | because he could not hear? Maybe so, but Bach had no hearing
       | problem yet his later music evolved in a similar way (Musical
       | offering, The Art of the Fugue).
       | 
       | One could build a theory that Bach's piano works were influenced
       | by his reading of the Odysseus, or by his growing taste for
       | coffee. There certainly are arguments that could justify these
       | theories. There are arguments against it, and anyway nothing can
       | be established. Well, as long as some people enjoy writing or
       | reading theories, why not.
        
       | npunt wrote:
       | Very cool to think about the spatial properties of composition
       | like hand position changing as Beethoven went deaf. It suggests
       | there's broader discoveries to be made in finding the patterns
       | underneath things we thought we already understood.
       | 
       | Also love the author's insight that one can work on the technique
       | of composition before turning on her hearing aids and being able
       | to hear it, using her deafness as a sort of focus superpower.
        
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       (page generated 2021-01-16 23:00 UTC)