The composer himself asked his brothers about it.
Scientists from the Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology of the Max Planck Society analyzed DNA extracted from Ludwig van Beethoven's hair and were able to determine what ailed the great composer. A quarter of a century before his death, Beethoven wrote a letter to his brothers in which he asked to know what caused his condition, reports Science Alert.
It is no secret that the great composer lost his hearing by the age of 40. Therefore, he very much wanted the world to understand the reason for his deafness. And 200 years after Beethoven's death, a group of scientists decided to carry out his will in a way that he did not even dream of: through DNA analysis. DNA laboratories
“Our main goal was to shed light on Beethoven's health problems, which are known to include progressive hearing loss beginning around age 20 and eventually leading to functional deafness by 1818,” said biochemist Johannes Krause .
Even his attending physician, Johann Adam Schmidt, could not find the main cause of Beethoven's hearing loss. The disease began with tinnitus, gradually replaced by a decrease in tolerance to loud noise and, ultimately, hearing loss at high frequencies, which effectively put an end to his career as an artist-performer. This became a great tragedy for the musician, in a letter to his brothers he wrote that he was “hopelessly saddened” to the extent that he was thinking of suicide.
Beethoven suffered not only from hearing loss. Towards the age of 30, he experienced frequent stomach pains and suffered from bouts of diarrhea. Six years before his death, the first signs of liver disease appeared, a disease believed to be the cause of his death at the relatively young age of 56.
In 2007, scientists conducted a study of a lock of hair that was believed to belong to Beethoven. It showed that lead poisoning could hasten his death, and perhaps it caused most of the symptoms. But later it became known that it was not Beethoven's hair, but an unknown woman's.
But in a new study, scientists studied several strands that definitely belonged to the composer. They showed that his death was probably associated with the hepatitis B virus, aggravated by drunkenness and numerous risk factors for liver disease.
But, despite the answers, the study also raises new questions. It is not known how Beethoven contracted hepatitis. Why was a strand of women's hair considered the composer's hair? Why did Beethoven experience pain in his stomach and lost his hearing?
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DNA also revealed other unexpected details. Further research, comparing the Y-chromosome in hair samples with the chromosomes of modern relatives descended from Beethoven's paternal line, indicates a mismatch. It is likely that there were several illegitimate children in the generations preceding the composer's birth.
