In the world of classical music, Ludwig van Beethoven’s death has been a mystery, even after his passing. The Max Planck Institute presents a new study based on DNA that has put forward new theories. From the composer’s deafness to hepatitis B, these are the main explanations for his death. Johannes Krause and Tristan Begg investigated further and analyzed the old studies of Johann Adam Schmidt, Beethoven’s doctor. These new ideas and research shed light on the composer’s genetics and have led to new discoveries. Read on to learn more.
How everything ended: Beethoven’s death
On a stormy Monday in March, 1827, the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven passed away after a protracted illness. Bedridden since the last Christmas, he was ravaged by jaundice, his limbs and abdomen swollen, and every breath a struggle.
As his associates went through personal possesions, they uncovered a document Beethoven. It was written a quarter of a century earlier. In facti, it was a will beseeching his brothers to make details of his condition known to the public. Nowadays, it is no secret that one of the greatest musicians the world has ever known was functionally deaf by his mid-40s. It was a tragic irony Beethoven wished the world understood, not just from a personal perspective, but a medical one.
Main scientific goal: “shed light on Beethoven’s health problems”
Biochemist Johannes Krause from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany explained in a press statement in 2023 what was their goal. More specifically, their main goal was to shed light on Beethoven’s health issues, which famously include progressive hearing loss, beginning in his mid- to late-20s and eventually leading to him being functionally deaf by 1818. The main cause of that hearing loss is unkown, not even to his personal physician Dr Johann Adam Schmidt.
What began as tinnitus in his 20s slowly gave way to a reduced tolerance for loud noise, At some point, the author lost his capability of hearing in the higher pitches. t. This could not be be more ironic for a musician. In a letter tha he sent to his brothers, Beethoven admitted he was “hopelessly afflicted”, to the point of contemplating suicide.
In addition, it wasn’t just hearing loss the composer had to deal with in his life. From at least the age of 22, it is widely known to have suffered severe abdominal pains and chronic bouts of diarrhea. Six years before he passed away, the first proves of liver disease appeared, an illness thought to have been, at least in part, responsible for his death.
In 2007 a forensic study into a lock of what presented a new idea: Beethoven’s hair suggested lead poisoning could have hastened his death. If not have been lately responsible for the symptoms that claimed his life. It’s hardly a surprising conclusion, because of the culture of drinking and questionable medical treatments.
The latest study that presents a new theory
This latest study, published in March 2023, presents a new theory. However, revealing that the hair never came from Beethoven in the first place, but rather a random woman. More importantly, many locks confirmed as far more probably to be from the composer’s head. It demonstrated his death was probably because of a hepatitis B infection, exacerbated by his drinking and numerous risk factors for liver disease,
“We were unable to find a definitive cause for Beethoven’s deafness or gastrointestinal problems,” said Krause.
There still being questions about his death
Currently, there still being some questions on the life and death of the famous classical composer. Where did he contract hepatitis? How did a lock of woman’s hair pass as Beethoven’s own for centuries? And just what was behind his gut pains and hearing loss?
Because of team inspiration of Beethoven’s desire for the world to understand his hearing loss, it’s an unfortunate outcome. Though there was one more surprise between his genes. Further investigation comparing the Y chromosome in the hair samples with those of modern relatives descending from Beethoven’s paternal line point to a mismatch. This suggests extramarital sexual activity in the generations leading up to the composer’s birth.
“This finding suggests an extrapair paternity event in his paternal line between the conception of Hendrik van Beethoven in Kampenhout, Belgium in c.1572 and the conception of Ludwig van Beethoven seven generations later in 1770, in Bonn, Germany,” said Tristan Begg, a biological anthropologist now at the University of Cambridge in the UK.
It could all be a little more than a younger Beethoven bargained for, considering the fateful request he put to paper. Never would he have dreamed of the secrets that were being preserved as his friends and associates clipped the hair from his body in the wake of that somber stormy Monday night in 1827.
In Current Biology you can find the complete research.
