How Beethoven went deaf... and still wrote some of the greatest music in history | Rick Beato

And the fact that he's conducting deaf and he wrote this whole thing deaf. I was reading a lot about his process and he just edits and edits and edits and edits. So the fact that he had to edit in his head is just insane. I mean Beetho was sick all the time too. I mean there a lot of people were sick all the time. It was very common. What would motivate you to write music, this beautiful music that you can never actually hear except for in your head, >> right? Like why the amount of time it takes to write to write a 35 minute 40minut piece all the parts you got to hear all the orchestration in your head you're editing you're doing all these things. Where do you get the motivation when you can't hear the actual finished work? Well, and people would say, "Well, he's here. Here's in his head." But what kind of enjoyment is it? You want to hear the orchestra. I mean, it's really profound that he that that he was inspired to do this. There's a thing called the Hiligos Testament that he wrote. It was a letter to his brothers in from 1802. I think they found it in his desk after Beethoven died. And he felt a sense of shame and humiliation because of his hearing loss. And he said that he was afflicted with this thing where him of all people that someone standing next to him could hear a flute that he could not hear or a shepherd singing in the field that and he could not hear this. And and of all the people, why him where hearing played such an important part? Another person that would had to have had perfect pitch because you could never do this. >> Mhm. >> If you didn't have perfect pitch, which I think all these great composers for the most part, Brahms didn't from what I know. But all the rest of them for sure had perfect pitch. So they could hear these things in their head and that's how they composed. >> I mean, you love sound and music. What do you think it was like gradually losing your hearing for Beth Hovind? It must have been terrible. I mean, I just terrible. I mean, I've heard things where he had would have a stick in his mouth and and put it on the soundboard of the piano and you could feel the vibrations in his skull and things like that. >> Desperately trying to >> Yeah. I just but also there's what is what is that that he's able to write like one of the greatest symphonies ever while deaf. So that there's something about that we mentioned darkness but torment that he's going through and ultimately owe to joy like not a cynical thing but call for the positive. >> Yeah. Yeah. That's that's uh I I I've devoted many many hours thinking about that. And plus Napoleon broke his heart because he was a supporter of Napoleon because Napoleon was supposed to represent >> the French Revolution. This this hopeful future of no more kings, no more monarchs, no more authoritarian regimes. And Napoleon ended up becoming a century king, >> right? >> Uh becoming an authoritarian. and behind um sort of famously was critical of that. Nevertheless, I think maintained a fascination with Napoleon throughout his life but sort of a kind of more sophisticated complex view of human nature and human civilization. So becoming more cynical like seeing more clearly that the world disappoints you the dreams get shattered and through that is able to still do this call for a hopeful future. All right. So, okay. So, Beethovven, one of the greats for sure

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