New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-07-17
Beethoven's Deafness:
Strange Story of Its Origin
Contradictory Accounts Neither Cold nor Typhus
Vexation Caused by Pertinacious Tenor;
Excerpts From Forthcoming Biography

the patient. They are, therefore, alike
significant for what they contain and
Tor what they omit. No hypothesis as
{ to the cause of the evil can be enter
tanned which Is discordant with them
Reserving them, however, for their
proper places IN the order of time, a
story or two inconsistent with them
raay here be disposed of.
The so-called F'ischoff Manuscript
| says:
an the year 1876, Beethoven. on
hot summer day, came greatly over
/ heated to his home, threw open doors
and windows, disrobed down to his
trousers and cooled himself in a draft
at the open window. The consequence
vas dangerous sickness which, on his
convalescence, settled in mis- organs of
hearing, and from this time his deaf
ness steadily increased"
! II this passage both the date and the
averment are irreconcilable with the
letters to Wegeler
/ Dr.. Weissenbach, in his REESE yum
Congress (1814), gives what appears to
be the same story, but in fewer words
He (Beethoven) once endured fear
full attack of typhus. From this time
dates the decay of his nervous system,
and probably also the, to him, great
misfortune of the loss of hearing"
Neither typhus nor typhoid fever
is matter Of few days or weeks If
! severe, and the chronology of our mar
rstive is, to say the least, so far fixed
and certain as to exclude the POSSIBLE
ity of his having passed through any
very serious illness of that nature since
he came to Vienna. But it is not al all
/ improbable that in 1854 or 1885 he may
/ have been victim of this frightful
disorder, and that it may have been
the cause of his melancholy condition
| of health at the time of his mothers
death and of the chronic diarrhea
with which he was so long troubled.
Ixne, there is no record of such an
illness, but that proves nothing. There
is no record that he passed through an
attack Of smallpox, except that which
the disease left upon his face.
But the most extraordinary and in
applicable account of the origin of his
deafness is that given by Beethoven
himself to the English pianist, Charles
Neate, in 1915. Mr.. Neate was once
urging Beethoven to visit England, and
mentioned as a further inducement the
great skill of certain English physi-
clans in treating diseases of the ear,
assuring him that he might cherish
hopes of relief. Beethoven replied in
substance as follows:
mo. l have already had all sorts of
medical advice. I shall never be cured
Il will tell you how it happened. was
once busy writing an opera"-
Neate-"Fidelio'
Beethoven-"No. 1t was not Fidelio.'
l had a very ilI-tempered, troublesome
primo tenore to deal with. I had al
ready written two grand airs to the
same text with which he was dissats-
fed, and now n third, which upon trial
he seemed to approve and took away
with him. l thanked the stars that
was at length rid of him and sat down
Immediately to work which l had
laid aside for those airs and which
was anxious to finish. / had not been
half an hour at work when | heard a
knock at my door, which l at once
recognized as that of my primo tenore
1 sprang up from my table under such
an excitement of rage that, as the man
entered the room, | threw myself upon
the floor as they do upon the stage
(here B. spread out his arms and made
gesture Of illustration), coming down
upon my hands. When I arose l found
myself deaf and have been so ever since
The physicians say the nerve is in
jured."
That Beethoven really. related this
strange story cannot be questioned;
the word of the venerable Charles Neate
to the author is sufficient on that point.