Beethoven composed his Ninth Symphony when he was almost completely deaf.
His hearing began failing in his late twenties and was nearly gone by the time the Ninth premiered in 1824. At the end of the performance he had to be turned around to see the audience applauding.
Why is this true?
He could still hear music in his mind and worked from the score, sometimes cutting the legs off his piano so he could feel the vibrations through the floor. The symphony's Ode to Joy is now the anthem of the European Union.
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