![]() ![]() In 2016, for example, a trio of doctors, Avraham Z. That said, many other doctors and armchair pathologists are not content with simply writing off Beethoven’s sickly nature to lead exposure. They, too, concluded that “Beethoven’s chronic consumption of wine tainted with lead is a better explanation of his hearing loss than other causes.” Crofts of the University of Utah - published a paper on Beethoven’s medical history in The Laryngoscope. ![]() Stevens, Teemarie Jacobsen, and Alicia K. More recently, in 2013, a team of ear surgeons - Michael H. The journey of Beethoven’s hair, its sale at auction, and the medical analysis of it became the subject of a best-selling book, “Beethoven’s Hair: An Extraordinary Historical Odyssey and a Scientific Mystery Solved” by Russell Martin. The original last grand piano of Ludwig van Beethoven is seen inside his birth house ahead of his 250th birth anniversary in Bonn, Germany, on Dec. It should also be noted that wine of that era often contained lead as a sweetener. Further studies suggest he probably drank from a goblet containing lead. ![]() There was no trace of morphine, mercury or arsenic but there was an abnormally elevated lead level, potentially indicating chronic lead poisoning, which could have caused Beethoven’s deafness, even though it does not explain his multiple other disorders. They put the brown, gray and white strands through a number of imaging, DNA, chemical, forensic and toxicology tests. Guevera and Ira Brilliant, a real estate developer, collector and university benefactor, then pursued the question of how Beethoven became deaf. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies at San Jose State University in California. The remaining 422 strands were donated to the Ira F. It was purchased by an Arizona urologist named Alfredo Guevera for about $7,000. Fremming the lock of Beethoven’s hair or used it as a payment of some kind.Īt any rate, the doctor bequeathed the lock, consisting of 582 strands, to his daughter, who subsequently put it up for auction in 1994. The theory is that one of these Jewish refugees, perhaps a relative of Ferdinand Hiller, either gave Dr. ![]() The doctor helped save the lives of hundreds of Jews escaping Denmark and the Nazis for Sweden, which was about 10 miles across the Øresund Strait, the narrow channel separating the two nations. The lock stayed within the Hiller family for nearly a century before somehow making its way to the tiny fishing village of Gilleleje, in Nazi-controlled Denmark and into the hands of the local physician there, Kay Fremming. An autopsy revealed severe cirrhosis and dilatation of the auditory and other related nerves in the ear.Ī young musician named Ferdinand Hiller snipped off a lock of hair from the great composer’s head as a keepsake - a common custom at the time. Bedridden for months, he died in 1827, most likely from liver and kidney failure, peritonitis, abdominal ascites, and encephalopathy. This last problem, given his prodigious drinking, may have been the final domino that toppled him into the grave. In Beethoven’s case, the list included chronic abdominal pain and diarrhea that might have been due to an inflammatory bowel disorder, depression, alcohol abuse, respiratory problems, joint pain, eye inflammation, and cirrhosis of the liver. Like many men of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, he suffered from a plethora of other illnesses and ailments. ![]()
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