Adventures with Beethoven

Scene Three

Beethoven without hearing loss?

In the podcast Decomposed, presenter Jade Simmons discussed Beethoven in the episode “There is Only One Beethoven.” In it she presented a question to ponder. Beethoven was well-known as a performer and conductor and earned more through these activities than for his compositions. She wondered if Beethoven was such a great composer not “in spite of” his hearing loss, but rather “because of” it. Simmons, and some other scholars, think that if Beethoven had not lost his hearing, he may have continued performing and conducting, leaving him less time to devote to composition. 

What would those works have been like? Perhaps he might have focused solely on piano compositions so that he could perform his own works. In such a scenario, perhaps there would have been even more Beethoven piano sonatas. Maybe he would have written his symphonies no matter what because the musical ideas were in his head and needed to come out. But maybe, he might not have gotten around to writing another symphony after his second, written in 1802 during his stay in Heiligenstadt. 

There will never be an answer to this question, since Beethoven did ultimately lose his hearing and therefore turned his attention more fully to composition. However, it makes one wonder what could have been and if in a different reality, there was never a Symphony No. 9. It’s hard to imagine a world without this singular piece of music.