Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) is recognized the world over as one of the greatest composers of all time and is especially known for his musical triumphs in the face of increasing deafness, beginning around 1798.

In 1801 he confided his early hearing loss to Dr. Franz Wegeler in Bonn and schoolmaster/violinist Carl Amenda in Latvia, friends who had lived in Vienna but were now safely far away. By the summer of 1802 others were starting to perceive lapses in his hearing, and his fear and confusion are reflected in the Heiligenstadt Testament in October of that year. With more good days than bad, Beethoven's hearing slowly became weaker, although it had not yet interfered with his performing in public, even with orchestra on the marathon concert of December 22, 1808.

Between 1812 and 1816 he tried using ear trumpets (made for him by Johann Nepomuk Malzel and possibly his brother Leonhard, also an inventor) with varying, but largely disappointing, degrees of success. Between December 8, 1813, and February 27, 1814, Beethoven conducted (or attempted to conduct) four benefit concerts with an orchestra of ca. 113 professionals, causing considerable commentary about his exaggerated motions, some of which by now were the inevitable result of his weakened hearing. At the performances, which included the premieres of his Symphonies Nos. 7 and 8, as well as Wellington's Victory, Beethoven's motions were probably shadowed, much more accurately, by conductor Michael Umlauf. In the fall of 1814, as the Congress of Vienna assembled, Beethoven composed a cantata, Der glorreiche Augenblick, for the occasion. On October 10 the Prague pianist and pedagogue Johann Wenzel Tomaschek visited Beethoven, found sketches for the cantata on the piano, and reported that the composer “was especially hard of hearing this day, so that one had to shout, rather than speak, in order to be understood.” Tomaschek returned on November 24, just as the parts for the cantata were being copied: “Beethoven received me very politely, but appeared to be very deaf on this day, for I had to exert myself to the utmost to make myself understood.” Even though many of his other comments were caustic, Tomaschek did not report that any portion of their conversation took place in writing.