Beethoven's Spectacles

[spaceray]

Did Beethoven own glasses ?I read a quote from Seyfried that talked about Beethoven's weak eyes,Ries speaks of Beethoven's lorgnette ,but there's never a mention of ,or an image of Beethoven wearing glasses.Was his eyesight poor?

[Amalie]

Originally posted by spaceray:
Did Beethoven own glasses ?I read a quote from Seyfried that talked about Beethoven's weak eyes,Ries speaks of Beethoven's lorgnette ,but there's never a mention of ,or an image of Beethoven wearing glasses.Was his eyesight poor?

Apparently Space, Beethoven sufferred from eye inflamation in 1823. Here is a picture of his specs and hearing aids on this site.
http://www.kingsbarn.freeserve.co.uk/miscellaneous.html

I shall try to look up more information.

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~ Unsterbliche Geliebte ~

[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited 07-05-2004).]

[Michael]

Beethoven's duet for viola and cello, written around 1796, has the whimsical title: "Duet with two obliggato eyeglasses". It is believed to have been written for B's friend, Baron Zmeskall, who was an accomplished cellist while B played the viola at the Bonn court. Both men wore spectacles.

Michael

[~Immortal Beloved~]

space- I have only one picture of Beethoven wearing glasses working at his desk. I don't remember were I found it. I'll show it to you if you like.

[spaceray]

Thank you all for help with this.I suppose the picture of Beethoven at his desk wearing his glasses must be a fanciful portrait of the composer after his death .I understand Beethoven was short sighted so would be using glasses to see distance,therefor not require him to wear glasses while composing ,but as my old friend says ,I could very well be wrong about this.
Muriel

[Michael]

Originally posted by ~Immortal Beloved~:
space- I have only one picture of Beethoven wearing glasses working at his desk. I don't remember were I found it. I'll show it to you if you like.

I've seen that picture too. I think it's a drawing by an artist called Batt who did illustrations for the "Oxford Companion to Music". It's one of my favourite depictions of B even though it was not drawn from life.

Michael

[Joy]

If memory serves me correctly (and it doesn't always) I seem to remember reading that Beethoven wore glasses in his younger years for a short time and then again wore them in his later years in the 1820's. He had very sore eyes during that time and even had to sit in the dark for periods of time as the light would bother them. When I saw an exhibit of Beethoven's memorabilia they had a pair of his glasses on display as well as some hearing aids.

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'Truth and beauty joined'

[~Immortal Beloved~]

Originally posted by Michael:
I've seen that picture too. I think it's a drawing by an artist called Batt who did illustrations for the "Oxford Companion to Music".
Michael

Wow I thought I was the only one. I guess that's the name of guy that draw him.

[~Immortal Beloved~]

Originally posted by spaceray:
Thank you all for help with this.

Anytime Space!