On the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth, Musicology Professor Theodore Albrecht concludes that the world-renowned composer – thought to have been completely deaf before debuting his Ninth Symphony in 1824 – retained some hearing in his left ear before dying three years later.
Record-Courier reporter David Dix published a story recently in his "Along the Way" column about Albrecht’s Beethoven research and his finding that Beethoven could still hear a little before his death in 1827. Dix’s full column is re-printed below.