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Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Imagine, being a great musician and composer and you can't even hear your own music! Ludwig van Beethoven was able to put his deafness behind him and still play wonderful music.Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany on December 16, 1770. At a young age Beethoven played violin. His father, Johann, taught Beethoven to play music. In 1787 Beethoven went to Vienna and played for Mozart. Mozart was quoted as saying, "He will give the world something worth listening to."
Beethoven wrote nine symphonies. He wrote two symphonies from 1780-1800 and his third through eighth symphonies were written from 1800-1815. His 9th symphony was called, "Ode To Joy" and is still famous today.
In the late 1790's Ludwig van Beethoven started to lose his hearing. In the 1800's his hearing loss became permanent. The hearing loss changed his personality. His relationships with his two brothers turned bad. They had many quarrels. Beethoven's brother Karl died in 1815 leaving a nine year old son in Beethoven's care. Beethoven's bitterness led Karl's son to rebel. Though Beethoven's hearing loss changed how he appeared it didn't change his music. All of his best music happened after the lost of his hearing. Beethoven had the memories of how everything sounded so when he looked at the written notes he knew how they would sound. Beethoven died on March 26, 1827 of a bad cold that turned worse.
Ludwig van Beethoven didn't let his deafness get in the way of his wonderful music. Many deaf people can learn a lesson from Beethoven because you shouldn't let a disability interfere with something you love to do.