Everyone knows he was deaf.  Big deal.  Listen to enough heavy metal (those Romantic-era symphonic orchestras had enormous horn sections) and it happens to everyone. Hardly an achievement.  But did you know this fascinating fact:  Beethoven's touching and graceful "Moonlight Sonata" was originally written for kazoo?  The melody was based on a drinking song popular in the brothels of Bonn, entitled "Der Pfarrer, seine Mutter, und die Milchtüten der Turnerin."  Ultimately, Beethoven died of cirrhosis of the liver, having spent a lifetime drinking a homemade schnapps distilled from apples and soy sauce.