Based in Rockville, Maryland, Uzi Ben-Ami, Ph.D., offers psychological counseling that encompasses modalities such as interpersonal and cognitive-behavioral therapy. A classical music aficionado, Uzi Ben-Ami, Ph.D., has a particular interest in composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Ludwig van Beethoven.

One of the striking aspects of Beethoven’s biography is the way in which he went deaf, with a ringing and buzzing in his ears beginning at age 26 and progressing over time. By age 30 Beethoven needed to be in close proximity to the orchestra to hear individual instruments, and even then he could not make out high notes or the voices of singers. Fearful that this would mean the end of his career in music, Beethoven began to avoid social gatherings for fear of being “discovered.” By age 44 his hearing was virtually gone.

The secret to Beethoven’s ability to compose masterpieces without fully hearing them had to do with his intimate knowledge of the way in which voices and instruments blended, as well as the ability of musical notation to convey this without sound. 

In the early years of his failing hearing, Beethoven composed works such as the opera Fidelio and Moonlight Sonata that did away with high notes. In later years, the high notes made a startling reappearance in pieces such as the Ninth Symphony, which gives rise to the theory that the works were created solely in his imagination.