The Deaf Beethoven

Two of music history’s saddest images are the deaf Beethoven and the blind Handel.

Beethoven lived for years unable to hear a single note—yet during that time he produced some of his mightiest works.

At the first performance of his Ninth Symphony, he conducted. But he couldn’t hear the orchestra or chorus at all. When the final chord ended and the audience erupted, Beethoven didn’t even know—until the alto soloist turned him around to face the crowd, so he could see hands clapping.

It was a heartbreaking moment: a man who had given people music, forced to *watch* the applause he could no longer hear.