It really wasn't possible to tell if you read the article or not from what you wrote, the author didn't seem make the point that you reacted to. Also, your post

It really wasn't possible to tell if you read the article or not from what you wrote, the author didn't seem make the point that you reacted to. Also, your post seemed to ignore the great pains Beethoven went through to "hear" through vibration after he lost his hearing. He clearly desired to hear and presumably it added value to whatever mental model of the piece he created. Nobody disagrees he did some of the most staggering compositions in history after he lost his hearing, so clearly you are correct about him composing music in his head. I don't have the knowledge to know if it was something in his deafness, the emotional trauma of losing his hearing, or something else entirely that's responsible. I agree artists of all media (written, visual, musical) seem to become more abstract as they age, and probably that boredom plays some part in it.