Sunday of Blind Composers

Johann Sebastian Bach became increasingly blind towards the end of his life. Apparently, whilst suffering from seriously impaired vision, he dictated the scores of his final works and revisions to one of his colleagues to write for him.
Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit, BWV668a Egon Petri Piano Deutsche Grammophon  November 15, 2011
 Johann Sebastian Bach: Präludium und Fuge G-Dur BWV 541 (Eisenbarth-Orgel St. Leonhard Asenham)

Maria Theresa von Paradis, 1759-1824, had an accident causing total blindness when she was just four years old. Born in Vienna, she was a friend of Mozart. She sang opera at an early age, and composed a number of operas, and classical works, working entirely from memory and faultlessly dictating the scores, without the need for revisions.
Morgenlied Eines Armen Mannes Patrice Michaels Soprano David Schrader Piano Cedille January 1, 2000

George Frideric Handel (German: Georg Friedrich Händel;   (23 February 1685, Halle – 14 April 1759, London) In August 1750, on a journey back from Germany to London, Handel was seriously injured in a carriage accident between The Hague and Haarlem in the Netherlands In 1751 one eye started to fail. The cause was a cataract which was operated on by the great charlatan Chevalier Taylor. This did not improve his eyesight, but possibly made it worse^. He died eight years later in 1759 at home in Brook Street, at age 74. The last performance he attended was of Messiah. Handel was buried in Westminster Abbey.  More than three thousand mourners attended his funeral, which was given full state honors.

Messiah, HWV56 (standard version), Part 1 - 11.Aria (Bass): The people that walked in darkness

Robert Lloyd, Bass, Sir Neville Marriner Conductor Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chorus

Jean Langlais was born in La Fontenelle (Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany), a small village near Mont Saint-Michel, France. Langlais became blind due to glaucoma when he was only two years old, and was sent to the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles (National Institute for Blind Children) in Paris, where he began to study the organ, with André Marchal. From there, he progressed to the Paris Conservatoire, obtaining prizes in organ, which he studied with Marcel Dupré, composition, which he studied with Paul Dukas. He also studied improvisation with Charles Tournemire

Jean Langlais: Incantation pour un jour Saint (Mathis-Orgel St. Josef Marktredwitz). 

Jacob van Eyck (ca. 1590 – 26 March 1657) was a Dutch nobleman and musician. He was one of the best-known musicians in The Netherlands in the seventeenth century as a carillon player, expert in bell casting and tuning, organist, recorder virtuoso, and composer. Van Eyck was born blind into a noble family in the small town of Heusden. In 1625 he left home and became carillon player of the Dom Tower of Utrecht, in 1628 he became the Director of the Carillons of Utrecht. René Descartes, Isaac Beeckman and other scientists praised his knowledge of acoustics, bell casting and tuning and bell players came to Utrecht to study with him. He died in Utrecht.

Erik Bosgraaf , recorder, plays Jacob van Eyck's “Comagain”

Pablo Bruna (1611-1679) was born in Daroca, Aragón, and permanently blinded by illness at the age of five. He served for more than forty years at the church of Santa María la Mayor in his home town: as organist from 1631 and as maestro de capilla from 1669. His Tiento de dos tiples exploits the divided keyboard of the 17th-century Spanish organ: the two upper parts act as solo voices, accompanied by quieter registration in the two lower parts. Characteristics of the organ tiento include abundant use of melodic and harmonic sequences, and the exploration of varied rhythms.

José Suárez, organist, in January 1998 at the convent of San Jerónimo Tlacochahuaya.

Miguel de Fuenllana (c.1500–1579) Little is known of his life. It is assumed from his name that his roots lie in the municipality of Fuenllana, in the province of Ciudad Real, although he was born in Navalcarnero, Madrid. Blind from birth, he composed a Libro de música para vihuela intitulado Orphenica Lyra (Seville, 1554), dedicated to Philip II of Spain. At the arrival of Isabel de Valois, third wife of Philip II, she brought with her a group of French instrumental musicians who wished to stay in the Spanish court; Fuenllana alternated with this group and his musical works were performed together with those of foreign artists. At the death of the queen in 1568 he continued serving in the Spanish court. He died in Valladolid. This Fantasia (Orphenica Lyra, Fo. CV) is one of many polyphonic masterworks of this great renaissance composer. Lawrence Johnson, guitarist

Jaroslav Ježek  (September 25, 1906 – January 1, 1942) was a Czech composer, pianist and conductor, author of jazz, classical, incidental and film music. Ježek was born in the Prague quarter of Žižkov to the family of a tailor. He was almost blind from a young age. He studied composition at the Prague Conservatory as a pupil of Karel Boleslav Jirák (1924–1927), at the master school of composition with Josef Suk (1927–1930), and shortly also with Alois Hába (1927–1928). Ježek met the playwrights/comedians Jan Werich and Jiří Voskovec (aka George Voskovec), leaders of the Osvobozené divadlo (Prague Liberated Theatre) in Prague, and took up the post of main composer and conductor for the theatre. During the next decade (from 1928 to 1939), he composed incidental music, songs, dances, and ballets for the comic and satirical plays of Voskovec and Werich. In 1934 he became a member of Czech Group of Surrealists. Forced to leave Czechoslovakia following the Nazi occupation, Ježek, Voskovec and Werich went into exile in New York City. He worked as a piano teacher and choirmaster there, and continued to work with Voskovec and Werich. In 1942, the long-ill Ježek died of chronic kidney disease in New York. On December 29, 1941, two days before his death, Ježek married Frances Bečáková.
He collaborated with many avant-garde artists of pre-war Czechoslovakia, such as Vítězslav Nezval and E. F. Burian.

Jaroslav Ježek (arranged by Charley Gerard) You Don't know What Are the Dark Ages (Vy nevíte, co je středověk)Charley Gerard, alto saxophone, James King, bass, Lenny Robinson, drums, Carl Banner, piano, Jared Dubin, trombone, Jackie Coleman, trumpet.

Turlough O'Carolan,(1670 – 25 March 1738) was a blind early Irish harper, composer and singer whose great fame is due to his gift for melodic composition. He was the last great Irish harper-composer and is considered by many to be Ireland's national composer.
Jeff Carter, guitar - O'Carolan: Si Bhig Si Mhor