The belief that Beethoven's "late" or "third-period" works represent the pinnacle of his achievement is at odds with the earliest critical views of these pieces. In the decades just following the composer's death, critics could not separate the perceived musical problems of the late style from Beethoven's physical ailments. While the common explanation for the elevation of these last pieces to their current position of privilege has been a musical one-the works were written before their time, demanding considerable study before they were fully understood and appreciated-I propose that it was a new understanding of Beethoven's biography that led to their veneration. Richard Wagner, in his 1870 Beethoven essay, radically reinterpreted the influence of deafness, claiming that it was in fact the source of Beethoven's creativity and genius. This paper explores Wagner's romanticization of Beethoven's deafness and speculates as to why such a paradoxical position may have appealed not just to Wagner, but to the critics who followed him.