Beethoven's Hearing Loss & Its Effect On His Music - Research Paper Example

? Beethoven's Hearing Loss & Its Effect On His Music [Pick the Ludvig van Beethoven was a well-known and colossal German artist and pianist who are known for his captivating symphonies and befitting compositions. His passion for the music and piano became evident when his father, Johan started to teach him music and art lesson. Ludvig not only played the best performances of the time, he had 9 symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatas, and 16 string quartets. He was an enthusiast young pianist and he started to learn virtuoso pianist classes when he used to Vienna. The major detrimental consequence this great artist had to face in his life was the deafness and inability to hear anything. He was born in 1770 and in around 1800, his hearing sense started to deplete with every passing day and in some years, he was totally deaf to hear anything around him. This sorrowful event in his life did not only affect his life, rather his whole career was at the stake and he had to abandon the pianist classes and performances. Ludvig continued to compose different lyrics for music and shows but his art of singing and performing live was depleting swiftly. He was of the view the music is being affected badly by his performance being deaf. Dissonant harmonies are a must to feel and hear when you are performing on a public platform to imbibe and integrate the learning capacity in music. He as not unable to hear anything thus he had to leave singing and performing in the general masses1. The early strike of deafness isolated Ludvig Beethoven because of the fact that this great artist was at the peak of his career when the deafness started. Experts are of the view that if this deafness would not have been struck Ludvig , he would have become a great director and virtuoso pianist. Ludvig was a man of a few words form the very first day and his aim was only to performance rather than to speak but deafness forced him to stay out of any social circle. The deafness was very slow and growing erratically. The slow augmentation of hearing problems broke the heart of Beethoven and pushed him to leave his career. Many artists tried to make Ludvig understand the fact that there is a peculiar originality in hiswork because when person hears other sounds, there is an increased chance and tendency of copying the content whereas in case of Ludvig, there was uniqueness and creativity not only in his work but also in his style, his pianist approach, his lyrics but all these motivation could not inject the sense of performing and singing in front of people because he thought it would affect the music itself. When Ludvig was 26 years old, in the year of 1796, he started to experience the symptoms of deafness when he heard the tinnitus, a "ringing" in his ears. According to the letter written by Beethoven to his friendin 1801, it is depicted that Beethoven always wanted to continue his career at the start when the magnitude of the deafness was not known to anyone. He wrote to his friends that these days heis suffering from hear loss symptoms and how he is much worried about the effect of this problem on his profession. Beethoven continued to go for the musical concerts and public events despite of the deteriorating hearing condition. In the stage performance of his Ninth Symphony, he had to move his face towards the audience to experience the big applause on his performance. He was so shocked on this that he wept in front of the whole audience2. Many experts and historians are of the view that Beethoven wanted to appear in pubic even after the depletion of his hearing power because at the start, he said that hearing has nothing to do with singing and I can continue with my career. But after a failed public attempt in 1811 to perform his own Piano Concerto No. 5 (the "Emperor"), he never tried to perform in public again and his perception about the links between deafness and singing were revamped. He said that due to the inability to understand and evaluate one’s performance with his own ear, it is not possible to keep in playing the piano or keep singing. He said that you have to listen what you produce for continuous refinement and that was something absent from the Beethoven’s career now. Beethoven started to write very deep and heart touching symphonies when he felt that he is being considered as deaf by the general masses. The depletion of his career climax was a time when he was at its peak and the sudden medical problems forced him to make a pause in his all dedicated life for the art and music and give some time to think about his health. Different hearing aids and other devices were also attached to him which was also a great hindrance in his music playing process. A study showed that Beethoven ceased to use middle and low frequency notes in his symphonies after the deafness symptoms in his life. This choice of notes not only effected his performance, it was not welcoming attitude form the general public also who were always wanting for something lively and extra ordinary from the great pianist3. Ludwig van Beethoven was not able to show his skills as a pianist publically due to his 's deafness. He was not only shy of being there in the public, he all flourished career forced him to cease giving ordinary performances in public. Beethoven became isolated from the society and especially musicians after he realized that he was becoming deaf with the passage of time4. Some of the greatest works of Ludvig Beethoven were after the deafness period but it should be noted that all these colossal works were in the field or composition writing. He started to focus all his attention on writing instead of singing and this is the main reasons why his singing was abandoned after the complete deafness strike on his health. It has been depicted in his numerous letters to his friends the Beethoven was always shy of this problem and he wanted to keep this problem in secret. As he said in a letter “I beg of you to keep the matter of my deafness a profound secret to be confided to nobody, no matter whom”5. But when things got out of control and there were no stopto the sickness, he decided to remain out of the sight of the people especially in the public shows where the hearing is a necessary factor in the performance of the artist. Especially in the year when he completely lost his hearing power, Beethoven did not strived to be in the race of the artists rather he denied many requests to come in the shows to perform. He continued to write the symphonies and compositions though and it was his interest. Beethoven always believed that music can only be learnt if it is heard and it must be based on self-assessing skills. When he ceased to hear form his natural senses and the doctors gave him the hearing aids , his interest in the public performances slowed down because of the fact that he could not be able to assess and evaluate his singing skills. His career in the art industry was not vanished, he wrote a great composition in his last years but as far as the singing is concerned, the career was finished because of the deafness problem. Deafness did not only vanish the career of the great artist, there were many skills which were revamped because of the loss of hearing. Beethoven started to write state of the art and most interesting compositions after the loss of hearing in his last days. When he lost his hearing power completely, he came up with some very deep and befitting compositions. He always wanted his presence to be felt so the great artist of the western American art always sent his compositions in different shows to be read and sung. The main reason behind the low frequency notes is because of the fact that he always wanted to produce something which can be perceived by his sensory organs. When he started to feel that his ears are not getting the full voice of the music being produced by his lips, he lowered the frequency notes in order to inculcate the self being of his skills6. The last days of the great artist were spent writing some of the great compositions. Beethoven focused on some of the most befitting writing pieces of all time. He was sincere with the music industry and that is the main reason he did not tried to make his place even with the deaf ears. He wrote in a letter in his last days that people think him absent minded but they are unable to imbibe the fact that I cannot hear. These were thefactors that were responsible for the depletion of his career. The deafness had a very damaging effect on his career. Bibliography Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Top of Form Bachus, Nancy, and Daniel Glover. The Classical Piano: The Influence of Society, Style, and Musical Trends on the Great Piano Composers. Van Nuys, CA: Alfred Publishing, 2006. Bento, Ricardo Ferreira. "Beethoven’s Deafness, the Defiance of a Genius." 1999 DeNora, Tia. Beethoven and the Construction of Genius: Musical Politics in Vienna, 1792 - 1803. Berkeley [u. a.]: Univ. of California Press, 1997. Gue?rard, Carlos Kjell. Beethoven and the Archetypal Light: A Unique Multidisciplinary Insight into the Composer's Process. Raleigh, N. C.: Lulu], 2007. Harrison, P. "The effects of deafness on musical composition." Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 81, no. 10 (1988): 598. Saccenti, Edoardo, Age K. Smilde, and Wim HM Saris. "Beethoven’s deafness and his three styles." BMJ 343 (2011). Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More