Robert Peters <[log in to unmask]> explained:

>Not exactly. I remember a quotation where Beethoven links his deafness
>to the condition of "mein Unterleib" (my abdomen).

I already was afraid that this quotation is the so-called reference to
syphilis.  As if every complaint about a sick abdomen should point to
syphilis!  Giggle...  It's not difficult to make a list of tens and tens
of other diseases that will cause abdomen troubles, from the simple
irritable bowel syndrome (a very well-fitting diagnosis for Beethoven's
kind of complaints) to liver cancer and everything in between.  This is
what Beethoven wrote:  "es soll von den Umstanden meines Unterleibs
herruhren." Not a word about a possible venereal disease.  In his teens he
began to suffer from oversensitive bowels and he often complained about
diarrhoea and attacks of severe pain.  These complaints hardly changed over
the years.  He wrote the above-quoted line in 1801 and already in 1802 he
doubted the connection deafness-abdomen troubles, as can be read in the
Heiligenstadt Testament.  He often changed his view and so did his many
doctors.  That's why they removed the bones of the inner ear:  for more
examination.  Because they didn't know the cause of the deafness.
Unfortunately those bones got lost and without them it's not possible to
come to a final conclusion.  There's always room for doubt, notwithstanding
the fact that there's surely a lot to say for sensorineural loss of
hearing.  But what was the cause? Good question.  And now for the answer...

Joyce Maier (mail to: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask])
www.ademu.com/Beethoven