Found online:
Cool Beethoven Facts
* According to Psychology Today Beethoven’s was the highest IQ of any known person in history
* Beethoven suffered hearing loss – modern medicine could have easily cured it
* Students who study a band orchestra instrument in high school have an extraordinary high rate of college success
Hmmm …
1) I can’t find a source for the high IQ. I found one source that states his IQ may have fallen between 125 and 155, and another that says it was 165. But I couldn’t find a source saying it was the highest ever. Maybe my IQ is too low and I’m unable to locate that information because of that?
2) I suffer hearing loss. Modern medicine can’t cure it. Rats. Maybe this is because of my lower IQ?
3) I’m still trying to figure out what a “band orchestra” is. Must be my stupid low IQ.
😉
The same website talks about the recently discovered Beethoven Oboe Concerto snippet and says that it
“includes an unusually high (and difficult) oboe note; in fact it would have been nearly impossible for oboists in Beethoven’s day to accomplish.”
What note would that be? Mozart wrote a high F, so I’m assuming the Beethoven must go higher. Do tell!
Well, regarding the IQ question, I think it’s kind of silly. The very notion of “Intelligence Quotient” — a numerical value describing an individual’s intelligence — is historically a pretty recent one (from the first decade or so of the 20th century, I believe), and kind of a dubious one anyway. I don’t believe there was any real attempt at measuring intelligence until long after Beethoven was gone. So, the only thing this article could have been addressing would be the more vague question of “how smart do we assume Beethoven was?”. To which we could give only the vague answer: REALLY smart!
Aw, I was gonna say he was “Super Smart,” myself … 😉