Current Events > Woah. It's possible that all of Beethoven's later music was in the wrong pitch.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I don't mean the known phenomenon of how pitch is different now than it was in the classical period. Beethoven was deaf, but obviously had perfect pitch, but people who grow old tend to lose their perfect pitch or it goes down a half step.

My dad had perfect pitch and then lost it in his 60s, for example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bA2V0jZMo4

TL;DR - basically, Beethoven wrote the 9th symphony, and may have heard it different in his head to how it's played today, even in periodic orchestra setups.

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I knew Ode to Joy was too upbeat for Old Beethoven

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Meanwhile Beethoven got mad when people were like "I can play Moonlight Sonata" so he made a third Movement

https://youtu.be/BV7RkEL6oRc


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DarkRoast posted...

Meanwhile Beethoven got mad when people were like "I can play Moonlight Sonata" so he made a third Movement

https://youtu.be/BV7RkEL6oRc

I always like this one.

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id remain skeptical of this for a couple reasons, namely that beethoven wasnt that old when he died, and even less old when he wrote the ninth symphony/much of his late works, and also Beethoven was never completely deaf. Up until 1812 he could hear mostly normally (that is, he could still hear the whole of music and speech, just a little less clearly), and he died in 1827; he also could hear low tones and super loud sounds up until his death, so i doubt his concept of pitch would have drastically shifted

it is an interesting thought, though

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