Deaf composer's thank-you note for friends

Through a distinguished career, his symphonies and concertos have been performed in New York, Paris - at the famous Notre Dame Cathedral - and London.

Tonight he will attend the premiere in Edinburgh of music from his most ambitious work to date.

Sections of his latest work, The Christ Church Sequence, will be performed at Edinburgh’s Christ Church, in Morningside Road. The sequence consists of 75 pieces of music, the most he has written for one work.

Every piece was written as a personal thank-you to the friends and family who have supported and inspired Mr Douglas since he went deaf after contracting a chronic ear infection in 1991.

The 72-year-old grandfather now "feels" the music by watching musicians play.

He can lip read and is able to remember the sound of notes from before he lost his hearing.

Mr Douglas is helped by the fact that even when he was able to hear, he composed his music by writing it rather than playing it.

A group called The Glorious Sequence, which includes Mr Douglas on the piano, will perform the music as well as pieces by Handel and Charpentier.

Mr Douglas, of Dalrymple Crescent, in the Grange, has been a professional composer all his working life, writing more than 2000 pieces for a variety of instruments.

This latest collection of 75 pieces took him three years to write, and each of them has been dedicated to a person or a group.

Amongst those who have had music dedicated to them are his three granddaughters, Susannah, Madeline and Isabel Douglas. Their grandfather also composed pieces for each of them when they were born.

Mr Douglas’ daughter Katherine Simpson, who will sing soprano at the concert, said: "Music has always been a part of his life, despite the odds."

Even before illness left him completely deaf, Mr Douglas had only had partial hearing in one ear from the age of seven. But he said it never affected his ability to write music.

"I never used to play the piano when I compose anyway, I always wrote it in my head, just like Mozart.

"I hear all of the instruments in my head, which is a great gift."

Mr Douglas added: "This is my way of saying thank-you. I suffer from various illnesses and friends and family have given me a lot of help.

"This is music which is approachable and full of melody, it is for ordinary people who want to enjoy some nice music."

• The concert begins at 7.30pm and tickets cost 6/4. A CD featuring part of the Christ Church Sequence entitled The City Never Sleeps will be sold at the concert

Ludwig led way

THE music of Ludwig van Beethoven is widely held to be among the greatest ever written.

Born in Bonn, Germany in 1770, he was taught music by his father at an early age.

By the time he was 31, Beethoven was going deaf, while composing such works as the Moonlight Sonata and Piano Concerto No 3.

He continued to compose after he went completely deaf, almost ten years before his death in 1827.

Beethoven’s deafness has served to underline his status as one of the greatest composers, making his musical achievements all the more remarkable.