... as profoundly affected by his deafness as was his life. While there is much controversy among doctors and experts as to whether he was completely deaf or how much his hearing loss impacted his music, there is little argument that the music he wrote in the latter period of his life ... audiences at the time. While it is impossible to know if his musicianship would have matured into the pieces he wrote had he not been deaf, it is reasonable to assume that his inability to hear both the music and his critics gave Beethoven a certain freedom to compose the music ... be caused by the conditi...

• Word Count: 1557
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... . Wherever this system has been successfully used, it has been by composers who were already well trained enough to distinguish the musical results. In 1804, Ludwig van Beethoven began growing deaf. He had begun composing at age seven and would compose another twenty-five years after his impairment took to full effect. Creating music in a state of inaudibility, Beethoven had to ... experimentation molded modern musical practices, instruments, and music itself into what it is today. What Pythagoras found so wonderful was that his elegant, abstract train of thought produced something that ...

• Word Count: 1354
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate