One Stormy MondayIn March 1827, German composer Ludwig von BeethovenAfter a long illness, he passed away. He was bedridden since Christmas the year before, and his abdomen, limbs, and lungs were swollen. Each breath was a struggle.
As his associates went about the task of sorting through personal belongings, they uncovered a document Beethoven had written a quarter of a century earlier – a will beseeching his brothers make details of his condition known to the public.
It is not a secret today that one of the most famous musicians in history was deaf-blind by the time he reached his 40s. Beethoven was aware of the tragic irony he wished people understood. Not just from his personal perspective but also medically.
Beethoven would live nearly two decades longer than his doctor, but close to two hundred years after his death, a team set out to honor his testament by genetically analysing the DNA of authenticated hair samples.
Our primary goal was shed light on Beethoven’s health issues, which include progressive hearing loss that began in his mid to late 20s, and led to him becoming functionally deaf as early as 1818. The following are some of the ways to get in touch with each otherJohannes Krause, biochemist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Germany).
Not even his personal doctor Dr Johann Adam Schmidt knew the cause of the hearing loss. The tinnitus he experienced in his 20s gradually progressed to a decreased tolerance for loud sounds and eventually, loss of hearing in higher pitches. His career as a performer was effectively over.
It is ironic that a musician would find this situation so frustrating. Beethoven acknowledged in a note to his brothers that he felt “hopelessly afflicted” to the point where he contemplated suicide.
The composer’s adult life was not just a matter of hearing loss. He was said to have suffered from chronic diarrhea and severe abdominal cramps since he was 22 years old.
Six years before his passing, the first symptoms of liver failure appeared. It is believed that this illness was at least partly responsible for his premature death at 56.
In 2007,The forensic analysis of a piece of hair that was thought to be Beethoven’s suggests lead poisoning might have caused his symptoms, or even hastened the death.
It’s not surprising that this conclusion was reached, given the cultural practice of drinking from vessels made of lead and the medical treatments at the time which involved lead.
This latest study from March, this year, disproves the theory. Instead, it reveals that the hair actually came from an unknown female.
The fact that several locks were confirmed to be the work of the composer’s brain, and not his body, shows his death was likely the result a hepatitis B, which had been exacerbated by the composer’s drinking, as well as other risk factors.
What about his other ailments?
We were unable find a cause for Beethoven’s deafness and gastrointestinal issues.” The following are some of the ways to get in touch with each other Krause.
There are still many unanswered questions regarding the life and demise of the classical composer. Where did he get hepatitis from? How could a woman’s lock of hair be mistaken for Beethoven’s for centuries? What caused his hearing loss and gut pains?
This is a sad outcome, given that the team was motivated by Beethoven’s desire to make the world understand his hearing impairment. Although there was another surprise in his genes.
A mismatch was found when comparing the Y chromosomes in the hair samples to those of relatives who descend from Beethoven’s fatherly line. There was some extramarital flirting in the generations that preceded Beethoven’s birth.
“This finding suggests that an extrapair event occurred in his paternal family between the conceptions Hendrik van Beethoven (in Kampenhout Belgium) in 1572 and Ludwig van Beethoven in Bonn Germany in 1770 seven generations later,” The following are some of the ways to get in touch with each otherTristan Begg – a biological Anthropologist at the University of Cambridge, UK.
The fateful request that Beethoven made on paper could have been more than the young Beethoven had bargained for. He could never have imagined the secrets being preserved when his friends and colleagues shaved the hair off his body on that stormy, somber Monday night of 1827.
This research has been published in Current Biology.
A previous version of this article appeared in March 2023.
