Conducting in Silence

By 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven had been profoundly deaf for years. He hadn't heard music, conversation, or the sound of his own playing in nearly a decade. Yet from within that silence, he was completing what many consider the greatest symphony ever written: his Ninth. On the night of its Vienna premiere, Beethoven stood at the edge of the stage, moving his arms in time to the music only he could feel.…