The following information was published by Peter Langston.  Do any of you
know the information about the blind composers mentioned in the post?

   Subject: Blind composers
   Date: Fri, 29 Oct 99 11:33:23 -0700
   From: Peter Langston <[log in to unmask]>

   From: Todd Larason

   David Helder wrote:

   >A friend told me the other night that 3 composers were blinded in
   >botched surgeries by the same eye doctor.  One of the composers was
   >Bach.  The story is fascinating, but is it true or urban legend?
   >Anyone know?

   I can't find anything related in the alt.folklore.urban archives or
   the related websites.

   According to

     http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1186.htm

   Bach was already mostly blind when the doctor (John Taylor) operated
   twice; Taylor is credited with finishing off the last of Bach's sight
   and with killing him.  Handel also underwent surgery from Tayler,
   with unspecified poor results.

   Another page,

     http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~tas3/handel.html

   says that that both Bach and Handel suffered from cateracts, and died
   "from sepsimia induced as a consequence of un-sterile instruments
   employed to push the cataract covered lense back into the eyeball"
   following surgery performed by John Taylor.

   The FDA chimes in, in

     http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/995_glaucoma.html

   with a diagnosis of acute glaucoma rather than cateracts, and adds
   a claim that for a few days following the first surgery, Bach had
   his eyesight back.

   Not very conclusive, but might give some more pointers for research.

Jane Pierce <[log in to unmask]>