Deaf ?

[Corryn Howden]

I am currently teaching my students about Beethoven, one of them found an internet article that mentions that he became blind.In all my research I have not found any info. supporting this. Please help!

[ann hathaway]

to Corryn,

There is no documentation about Beethoven becoming blind, I am sure he did not loose his eyesight, though his eyesight may have deteriorated as he wore spectacles.
However, it is a known fact that sadly, George Frideric Handel became blind.

I am sure other members on this site will
have more information on the subject.

[Andrea]

I have never heard or read anywhere that Beethoven went blind. Are you sure this article was about Beethoven? Maybe it was Johann Sebastian Bach whose eyesight bagan to fail in 1749 and he soon became completely blind. But 10 days before his death on 28 July 1750, his sight returned.

I would like to know where this student found this article on the internet. Just curious...

[Peter]

Originally posted by Corryn Howden:
I am currently teaching my students about Beethoven, one of them found an internet article that mentions that he became blind.In all my research I have not found any info. supporting this. Please help!

No he didn't lose his sight, but in 1823 he developed Opthalmia (inflammation of the eye). Interestingly Bach and Handel both lost their eyesight and were treated (not surprisingly without success) by the same surgeon.

------------------
'Man know thyself'

[Joy]

That's right, he did have problems with his eys, but blind, no. I did read that he used to put comppresses on his eyes to soothe them as they used to hurt and be sore.

Joy

[ann hathaway]

Could it be possible that Corryns student has heard the story of Beethoven teaching a young blind girl to play the piano.


The story goes;-

Late one afternoon the composer Beethoven visited a shoemaker; whilst standing in the shop waiting to have his shoes mended he heard some music being played on a piano in the back room of the shop.
Beethoven smiled knowing that the music was one of his own compositions.
"It is my daughter who is playing " said the shoemaker, but she cannot play very well because she is blind and has to play from memory.

May I play the piano for your daughter? I am a musician myself, asked Beethoven.
"certainly" said the shoemaker not knowing who his customer was.
Beethoven slowly rehearsed the music with the girl, and began to practice other pieces he had written, (although the girl was not aware that her teacher was in fact, the composer.
Beethoven did not realize that the hours had passed. Then he noticed the way the moonlight had begun to stream its gentle light through the window of the room.

Beethoven returned home, he could not get to sleep . The thought of how the girl was disabled by blindness, struggling to do her best whilst others took it for granted, and the thought of the great joy that music brought her and remembered the room in which they had played music and in the way the moonlight streamed through the open window. He realized that he could see the moonlight and she could not.
Beethoven got out of bed and started to play the piano, expressing his feelings through the music.
What he produced is thought by many to be one of the most touching pieces of music.
In memory of the blind girl, he called the new piece, "The moonlight Sonata"


Fanciful or true, this is a truly touching and beautiful story.
I would rather like to believe it is true.

As an added interest, there are two picture postcards of Beethoven and the Blind woman, one by, F.Armin. and the other particularly beautiful one by, Wenzel Tormoe.
I have them in my picture gallery.


Others may have heard about the above story.

[Ron Vojacek]

Your story is very interesting. I have been trying to find out more information on a print I have owned for over 20-years, but didn't do any research until now. It is the Wenzel Tormoe scene of Beethoven with the blind girl. My print is in a wooden frame and has a wooden back. I think it might be something that is old. A name in small print at the top of the print is Carl Stenders. I think he may have been some type of distributor. Do you have any feedback. I just bought a piano for my daughter and I am going to hang it above the piano. Some of the border of the print has yellowed, so I had thought about getting it matted. I then thought maybe I should get some info first.

Thanks.

Ron

Originally posted by ann hathaway:


Could it be possible that Corryns student has heard the story of Beethoven teaching a young blind girl to play the piano.


The story goes;-

Late one afternoon the composer Beethoven visited a shoemaker; whilst standing in the shop waiting to have his shoes mended he heard some music being played on a piano in the back room of the shop.
Beethoven smiled knowing that the music was one of his own compositions.
"It is my daughter who is playing " said the shoemaker, but she cannot play very well because she is blind and has to play from memory.

May I play the piano for your daughter? I am a musician myself, asked Beethoven.
"certainly" said the shoemaker not knowing who his customer was.
Beethoven slowly rehearsed the music with the girl, and began to practice other pieces he had written, (although the girl was not aware that her teacher was in fact, the composer.
Beethoven did not realize that the hours had passed. Then he noticed the way the moonlight had begun to stream its gentle light through the window of the room.

Beethoven returned home, he could not get to sleep . The thought of how the girl was disabled by blindness, struggling to do her best whilst others took it for granted, and the thought of the great joy that music brought her and remembered the room in which they had played music and in the way the moonlight streamed through the open window. He realized that he could see the moonlight and she could not.
Beethoven got out of bed and started to play the piano, expressing his feelings through the music.
What he produced is thought by many to be one of the most touching pieces of music.
In memory of the blind girl, he called the new piece, "The moonlight Sonata"


Fanciful or true, this is a truly touching and beautiful story.
I would rather like to believe it is true.

As an added interest, there are two picture postcards of Beethoven and the Blind woman, one by, F.Armin. and the other particularly beautiful one by, Wenzel Tormoe.
I have them in my picture gallery.


Others may have heard about the above story.

[Hofrat]

Originally posted by ann hathaway:


What he produced is thought by many to be one of the most touching pieces of music.
In memory of the blind girl, he called the new piece, "The moonlight Sonata"

Fanciful or true, this is a truly touching and beautiful story. I would rather like to believe it is true.

Others may have heard about the above story.

Dear Ann;

The C# minor sonata was was written in 1801 and first performed in 1802. During the course of Beethoven's life, this sonata was know simply as "the C# minor sonata!" In 1831, the music critic Ludwig Rellstab wrote that the first movement of "the C# minor sonata" reminded him of the moonlight reflecting off Lake Lucerne. Ever since 1831, which is 30 years after its composition and 4 years after Beethoven's death, the sonata carries the nickname "Moonlight" and pianists have tried to put a "ripple" into their interpretatioms of the sonata.

So the story of the blind girl, as touching as it may be, is the figment of someone who knows nothing about music history. This is now the fifth time I heard ths story.

BTW, Beethoven affixed nicknames to two sonatas only: Opus 13 "Pathetique" and opus 81a "Farewell."


Hofrat

[MontrealPianist]

Originally posted by ann hathaway:


Could it be possible that Corryns student has heard the story of Beethoven teaching a young blind girl to play the piano.


The story goes;-

Late one afternoon the composer Beethoven visited a shoemaker; whilst standing in the shop waiting to have his shoes mended he heard some music being played on a piano in the back room of the shop.
Beethoven smiled knowing that the music was one of his own compositions.
"It is my daughter who is playing " said the shoemaker, but she cannot play very well because she is blind and has to play from memory.

May I play the piano for your daughter? I am a musician myself, asked Beethoven.
"certainly" said the shoemaker not knowing who his customer was.
Beethoven slowly rehearsed the music with the girl, and began to practice other pieces he had written, (although the girl was not aware that her teacher was in fact, the composer.
Beethoven did not realize that the hours had passed. Then he noticed the way the moonlight had begun to stream its gentle light through the window of the room.

Beethoven returned home, he could not get to sleep . The thought of how the girl was disabled by blindness, struggling to do her best whilst others took it for granted, and the thought of the great joy that music brought her and remembered the room in which they had played music and in the way the moonlight streamed through the open window. He realized that he could see the moonlight and she could not.
Beethoven got out of bed and started to play the piano, expressing his feelings through the music.
What he produced is thought by many to be one of the most touching pieces of music.
In memory of the blind girl, he called the new piece, "The moonlight Sonata"


Fanciful or true, this is a truly touching and beautiful story.
I would rather like to believe it is true.

As an added interest, there are two picture postcards of Beethoven and the Blind woman, one by, F.Armin. and the other particularly beautiful one by, Wenzel Tormoe.
I have them in my picture gallery.


Others may have heard about the above story.

I find this story hard to believe. Beethoven was not one to improvise his compositions. All his pieces are of an unatteinable intelligence and structure(especially those of his third composition period). I've played the moonligh sonata and the first mouvement could not have been a simple improvisation. The melodic structure is too complicated in its simplistic harmony to be a mere top of the head composition. We are talking about a philosopher in music, not about Chopin here.

[Peter]

Originally posted by MontrealPianist:

I find this story hard to believe. Beethoven was not one to improvise his compositions. All his pieces are of an unatteinable intelligence and structure(especially those of his third composition period). I've played the moonligh sonata and the first mouvement could not have been a simple improvisation. The melodic structure is too complicated in its simplistic harmony to be a mere top of the head composition. We are talking about a philosopher in music, not about Chopin here.

Beethoven was the greatest improvisor of his day, probably ever, and some claimed that his improvisations even surpassed his written works! There are many passages in the sonatas and works such as the fantasia Op.77 that give a good idea of Beethoven's improvisational powers.

------------------
'Man know thyself'

[MontrealPianist]

Originally posted by Peter:
Beethoven was the greatest improvisor of his day, probably ever, and some claimed that his improvisations even surpassed his written works! There are many passages in the sonatas and works such as the fantasia Op.77 that give a good idea of Beethoven's improvisational powers.

Yes I know, but the improvisations at the time were basic harmonic structures like I IV V I. They were still at a classic state of mind so I find it normal to think people thought his improvisations were better then his compositions since his works were very complex for the time.

[Peter]

Originally posted by MontrealPianist:
Yes I know, but the improvisations at the time were basic harmonic structures like I IV V I. They were still at a classic state of mind so I find it normal to think people thought his improvisations were better then his compositions since his works were very complex for the time.

I don't follow the logic of this - look at Op.77 (a written work, yes but considered as representative of his improvisational style), it isn't at all I IV V I - instead there are bold modulations into remote keys and adbrupt changes of mood G minor, F minor, Db/Ab,(within 6 bars!) Bb, D minor, B minor/major, C major then finishing in B major - not exactly typical of any of his written sonata movements.

------------------
'Man know thyself'

[MontrealPianist]

Originally posted by Peter:
I don't follow the logic of this - look at Op.77 (a written work, yes but considered as representative of his improvisational style), it isn't at all I IV V I - instead there are bold modulations into remote keys and adbrupt changes of mood G minor, F minor, Db/Ab,(within 6 bars!) Bb, D minor, B minor/major, C major then finishing in B major - not exactly typical of any of his written sonata movements.

I havent checked on op.77 yet, I'll have to get the partition, but I'm very interesting in what you're saying there.