HealthScout - Beethoven Revealed as Heavy-Metal Artist

Beethoven Revealed as Heavy-Metal Artist

Hair sample reveals severe lead poisoning

By Neil Sherman
HealthScout Reporter

TUESDAY, Oct. 17 (HealthScout) -- Ludwig van Beethoven's music wasn't leaden, but his body was -- literally.

Researchers announced today that many of medical problems the composing genius fought through his adult life can be explained by lead poisoning, and they've got his hair to prove it.

Scientists at the Health Research Institute in Naperville, Ill., analyzed eight strands of Beethoven's hair from a lock of 582 snipped by a fan immediately after the composer's death on March 26, 1827. They say they found "unusually high" levels of lead.

But they did not find any mercury, which could nix the notion that Beethoven suffered from syphilis. Mercury was used as an antibiotic and treatment for syphilis in the 19th century.

"We got the owner's of the hairs permission to destroy two of the hairs, a brown strand and a gray strand," says William Walsh, chief scientist at the institute and an expert in hair and chemical analysis. "And we found detectable levels of 43 elements, including very high levels of lead. The average lead concentration was about 60 parts per million."

Walsh says the institute routinely tests for lead, and "out of 6,205 people we tested, only 11 had higher levels than Beethoven, and they were very sick people."

Experts have debated what caused Beethoven's chronic illness and death since the composer died in Vienna during a thunderstorm at age 56. People who knew Beethoven say he suffered from bad digestion, chronic abdominal pain and diarrhea, irritability and depression.

"Our conclusion is that we are quite certain that lead was responsible for his lifelong illnesses and that lead impacted his personality," Walsh says. "He was famous for his irritability, his social isolation, his hot temper. He was quite a grouch, and these are all classic signs of lead poisoning. It is also possible that lead poisoning contributed to his death."

Walsh presented the findings of the four-year chemical analysis at a press conference in Naperville.

Not implicated in deafness

Walsh doesn't think exposure to lead early in his life contributed to Beethoven's deafness.

"It's virtually certain that he was not exposed to the toxic metal as a young child. He was too brilliant for that. Early exposure affects a child's mental ability and cognitive development. In adults, it makes them sick. It can turn them into grouches, but it doesn't affect their intelligence," Walsh says.

Dr. Michael Donnenberg, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine who analyzed Beethoven's medical history as part of an annual pathology conference in May, calls the new findings "extremely exciting. Lead poisoning could explain a lot of his complaints, his irritability and his gastrointestinal complaints."

Donnenberg says that Beethoven suffered from abdominal pain, joint pain and headache, all classic signs of lead poisoning. "But anemia is also a symptom of lead poisoning, and Beethoven was described as having a dark, swarthy complexion."

Donnenberg says the toxic metal does not explain the composer's death. "Beethoven died of liver failure, and lead poisoning does not explain his liver failure." (He also suffered from pneumonia shortly before he died.)

Donnenberg thinks Beethoven's hair may yet have one more secret to reveal. "Some people have suggested that Beethoven suffered from hemochromatosis," an iron overload, genetic blood disease. "That does cause liver failure. Now that we are analyzing his hair we could answer the question of whether he had the genetic mutations that are known to cause this disease."

Walsh says, "It is one of the things to look at. Our hope is that medical experts and scholars will use this evidence to find out where this exposure came from and how it affected Beethoven's life."

What To Do

For more on lead poisoning, check Brain.com or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Interested in the artist? Check this Beethoven page (His Fifth Symphony plays as soon as you open it).

SOURCES: Interviews with William Walsh, Ph.D., chief scientist, Health Research Institute, Naperville, Ill.; Dr. Michael Donnenberg, medical professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore; Health Research Institute press release

Last updated 10/17/00.

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