Beethoven: new analyzes clarify the causes of death, but leave other mysteries

In March 1827, the famous German composer Ludwig van Beethoven passed away after a long illness. A quarter of a century earlier, he had expressed a desire for the details of his condition to be made known to the public. Today we know that he suffered from deafness, a tragic irony for a musician, which however did not prevent him from writing the music that was created by his mind and which, we presume, he felt from tactile vibrations.

Nearly two centuries later, a team of researchers analyzed DNA from Beethoven's hair samples, trying to shed light on his health problems. The main objective was to understand the cause of his progressive hearing loss, which began in his twenties and culminated in functional deafness in 1818. His doctor recorded that as soon as he was young, in his twenties, the composer had a annoying “Tinnitus”, a progressive tinnitus that led to deafness. Today we know that the causes of this disorder can be multiple, even for serious pathologies.

Beethoven also suffered from severe abdominal pain and chronic diarrhea, and six years before his death the first signs of liver disease appeared, probably linked to his death at just 56 years old.

A previous study had suggested lead poisoning as a possible cause, but the latest research disproves this theory, revealing that the hair analyzed did not belong to Beethoven, but to an unknown woman. Authentic samples instead indicate hepatitis B infection, aggravated by alcohol and other risk factors for liver disease. The use of alcohol was an accepted social factor at the time and one of the few ways to reduce pain, only in his case the use was probably fatal.

Authentic Beethoven hair lock

At the time, the concept of a virus was still a long way off. Bacteria or viruses were not known, and even the concept of contagiousness of diseases was extremely vague. The concept of viral disease dates back to the discoveries of Russian biologist Dmitry Ivanovski in 1896.

The causes of the deafness and gastrointestinal problems remain unknown, leaving open many questions about the composer's life and death.

A further discovery concerns Beethoven's lineage: comparison of the Y chromosome in hair samples with that of modern relatives suggests an extramarital paternity event in the generations preceding his birth. However, this should not be surprising: at the time it was said that "The mother is always certain, the father never".

So now there is more clarity on the causes of the great composer's death, but an explanation for his youthful deafness is missing. Unfortunately, it will still take time and, perhaps, the possibility of being able to carry out other analyzes before we can resolve this mystery too. All this does not prevent us from admiring his work.