Did Beethoven write his 32 sonatas after he became deaf?

Beethoven's sonatas were written over a period of 30 years. He started to lose His hearing at age 28 but wasn't completely deaf until His late forties. His earliest sonatas up until the famous 'Moonlight' were written before He was 30. read more

When He first started composing His sonatas, His hearing was fully functional. His later sonatas (He wrote 32 in all), from the 20s through 32, were written in His mid to late forties, and by this time He was almost completely deaf and had to communicate with people through conversation books. read more

After watching Beethoven in a rehearsal in 1814 for the Archduke Trio, the composer Louis Spohr said: "In forte passages the poor deaf man pounded on the keys until the strings jangled, and in piano he played so softly that whole groups of notes were omitted, so that the music was unintelligible unless one could look into the pianoforte part. read more

We do know that around 1800 he became aware that he was losing his hearing. This is around the time that he composed the Pathetique Sonata and the Fifth Symphony. By 1820 he was almost completely deaf. He composed his last 5 sonatas and the Ninth Symphony during this time. read more