Hazzard's A Thousand Naked Strangers

In Bonn, on December of 1770, a child was born to a lower middle class Finnish couple; Johann and Maria. Given the name Ludwig after his grandfather, a choirmaster, this child would grow to continue the name of the musically inclined Beethoven family, and eventually supersede its reputation with his own genius. As a deaf composer and musician, Ludwig von Beethoven is one of the greatest paradoxes in the realm of music. From his upbringing, his triumph over his disability, and his world renowned success in music, it is still proclaimed that he is one of the most influential and well known classical musicians in the world.

Beethoven had reached complete deafness in the 1810’s. At this time he piano playing and conducting were deteriorating. At the age of 44 he was no longer able to play in public, but insisted on conducting still. Often times the performances were chaotic and he was hard to comprehend by musicians. He had a custody battle for his nephew Karl, in which he won. This caused disaster as Beethoven craved attention and companionship. After 1818, Beethoven conducted some of his greatest works even though he was completely deaf. Beethoven’s music was influenced by Haydn and Mozart although he had his own unique style. He was one of the greatest composers ever and had to overcome his complete deafness and suffering to put out these great works.

One myth about Beethoven involves the rumors around his deafness. It is true that by the time he finished his last symphony he was deaf, but he had a lifetime of writing music to develop the skills necessary to write, even when he could no longer hear. Beethoven began losing his hearing in 1801. Musical Style Beethoven was one of the greatest composers of the Classical period. His music overlaps two time periods, as he helped to define and expand the Classical period into the Romantic period.

Ludwig van Beethoven was a deaf German pianist/composer of Classical music and was a very important musical figure between Classical and Romantic eras. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest composers of all time and became a musical innovator of his era by widening the scope of not only symphony, but also concert, sonata, and quartet. He defined his struggle against deafness and even composed some of his most important works during the last 10 years of his life, in which he was completely deaf. Beethoven's actual date of birth was not recorded and is unknown, but it is assumed that he was probably born on December 16, 1770, since it was law and custom at the time that children were baptized within the first 24 hours of life, and Beethoven

Beethoven already started to lose his hearing way before his dedication to Napoleon. Becoming deaf made his life miserable, but he tried to come to terms with his condition. The most likely reason for his loss of hearing is probably because of lead poisoning. There were high amounts of lead found in his hair. Beethoven was often irascible and may have suffered from bipolar disorder and irritability brought on by chronic abdominal pain that has been attributed to possible lead poisoning Over time his hearing loss

Later in his life, Beethoven discovered that he was having trouble hearing. He struggled to come to terms that he was going deaf, even though he knew it was the reality. Beethoven persevered through this illness and composed some of his greatest pieces today, despite being deaf. Whether related to being deaf or not, Beethoven also had an extremely short temper. He often felt lonely as well, possibly because he was never married, as stated above.

INTRODUCTION Attention getter: Whether in spite of, or because of his father’s excessive harsh and abusive methods of teaching, Beethoven was an extraordinary musician from an early age. He showed creative musicianship and imagination that reach further than any other composer ever has or possibly ever will.

Beethoven’s hearing was getting so bad, he could not hear orchestras in theaters unless he was sitting really close, he struggled with hearing the voices of singers, and he had difficulty hearing the high notes (50). Away from music, Beethoven struggled with hearing people that spoke in low tones and people that spoke very softly (50). Beethoven did not want the word to get out that he was losing his hearing, he believed his music career would be tainted if people knew about his hearing condition. Beethoven was able to hear some music and speech up to about 1812, but at the age of 44 Beethoven had little to no hearing, he could not hear speech or music (51).

Beethoven, one of the worlds most skilled musicians, was among the deaf community. Being a musician and composer, you would probably consider hearing to be the most important sense for him to have, but Beethoven actually wrote some of his most successful pieces while he was deaf, such as the 9th symphony. His love for music started when he was very young. His father, Johann van Beethoven, was a violin and piano teacher, as well as a tenor. He was the one who first introduced Beethoven to music.

What caused his deafness is unknown, therefore many people theorized many ideas. Then when Beethoven goes to a doctor for his hearing, he finds out he is losing his hearing permanently. The effects of Beethoven becoming deaf are when he stopped going out with his friends, many people thought he was rude, grumpy, and moody because he wouldn't usually respond back since he has no idea what they are saying, Beethoven started dressing sloppy and from there on he would start to care less about his appearance in front of others, and Beethoven stopped himself from committing suicide. Instead of allowing deafness to overwhelm him, he started to continue playing and writing his own music

Throughout the course of history there has never been a more influential, creative and versatile composer as Ludwig Van Beethoven. If not for his ability to expand the way in which music is created, played and heard, current music would lack the polyphonic sound that is needed in order to create texture and depth. Beethoven is believed to be purely a classical composer. However, to the contrary he can also be considered purely romantic. His compositions consisted of a form that was never heard before and in turn inspired future artists to copy him. This form was believed to have created the basis for music during the Romantic Era. Ludwig Van Beethoven’s ability to break compositional boundaries, ultimately created an everlasting sound because the forms and style in which he wrote in, are still used and applied to music today.

Ludwig van Beethoven is known for much of his musical accomplishments. One of his most famous is that he is deaf and yet one of the best musical composers of the classical and romanic area. Beethoven has always been one of my personal favorite composers. When I grew up and started taking piano, Beethoven 's Fur Elise was my first large classical piece. Ever since that point on I insisted that when we were in Germany we see his home, and that we did. In this essay I will be explaining Ludwigs Youth, Growing Reputation, and master Composer Times.

Regrettably, though in the late 1790s Beethoven began to lose his hearing. Then at the start of the 1800s Beethoven changed the way he created music and his personality because of the increasing deafness. Prior to the increasing loss of hearing Beethoven had been full of pride and independent, though a little odd. When his hearing started to go he changed, he became more apprehensive and ill tempered. Despite becoming absolutely deaf by the end of his life Beethoven’s works were still brilliant. It was on March 26, 1827 when Beethoven died, the cause was a simple cold that turned into pneumonia and then later dropsy.

In order to more effectively investigate whether or how deafness may have influenced Beethoven 's music, it will be helpful for us to first briefly examine the nature of his deafness and its progression. Beethoven 's deafness did not occur abruptly; instead it progressed gradually. Beethoven first mentioned hearing loss in a letter written to his physician in June of 1801: "For the last three years," he writes, "my hearing loss has grown steadily weaker." He continued by addressing his symptoms, which included difficulty hearing the high notes of the orchestra, experiencing bilateral

The depression however, did not last and Beethoven continued carrying on as a young musician. In 1790, Beethoven, just 19 years old, received a remarkable honor of composing a musical memorial for the death of the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. With no reasons known, this piece was never played. “However, more than a century later, Johannes Brahms discovered that Beethoven had in fact composed a ‘beautiful and noble’ piece of music entitled ‘Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II.’ It is now considered his earliest masterpiece” (“Biography”). Just under two decades old, this man was pronouncing himself in the world. As Mozart said before, he was giving the world amazing music to talk about.