[Smt-talk] Beethoven's inner ear

[David Froom]

> Yes, most would have similar assumptions. It is more complicated, though. Beethoven, like most composers, used rules while composing. Analysis of the scores shows this. Analysis of Beethoven’s scores from different times also shows that most rules were the same or similar across the second half of his lifetime. So, when he wrote down notes after having lost his normal hearing, how many of his decisions were based on auditory imagination and how many were based on the application of rules?
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> The ratio might have been 20/80, 10/90, or 2/98. We have no way of knowing.

What we have no way of knowing is if there is a clean distinction between "auditory imagination" and "application of rules." It is, I think, more likely that rules follow imagination, or that the two are inextricably intertwined. Even noting Beethoven's use of the piano as a compositional tool -- was this for the tactile sensation? for the pleasure? for a last check of effect? an opportunity to try to improvise a more creative solution to a particular problem? Beethoven also composed away from the piano.

David Froom, composer
St. Mary's College of Maryland