Mark Landson wrote:

Robert Peters wrote:

>>...  In a feature on my favourite German classical radio program someone
>>said that Beethoven himself saw the cause of his deafness in a venereal
>>disease.  Was he right?
>
>Probably not.  There has been alot of speculation on Beethoven having
>syphilis, but there was a recent analysis on some of Beethoven's hair, and
>it showed no traces of the chemicals used to treat syphilis at the time.

Very true.  There's not the slightest trace of a proof that Beethoven
himself saw the cause of his deafness (started in about 1796/7!) in a
venereal disease.  However, at least once in his life he seemed to have
pondered about a possible venereal infection (in 1814!), but he never
connected it to his deafness.  He simply hadn't the foggiest idea about the
cause of the deafness, in 1797 and in 1827 as well.  However, speculations
about a venereal disease as the cause of the deafness appeared very soon
after his death and at least a handful of biographers (Thayer!), some of
them also medical experts (Frimmel, Schweisheimer), considered it a
possibility.  They erred.  Unfortunately the myth obviously is still alive.
Annoying.

>There was, however, a large concentration of lead, which sggested that
>Beethoven suffered for a good deal of his life from lead poisoning.
>This explains some of the health problems, like stomach problems, and
>irritability that Beethoven experienced.

If you are interested in the ongoing and heated discussion on this:
see the latest issue of The Beethoven Journal, published about a month
ago in San Jose.  Very entertaining indeed.  I find it very unlikely that
the high amount of lead in Beethoven's hair (I don't doubt the results of
the researchers) had anything to do with actual lead poisoning, since
Beethoven didn't show the usual symptoms, like paralysis of the hands
(Beethoven?!), the blueish/greenish/greyish color of the gums and the teeth
(contemporaries mentioned his beautiful white teeth, even as a 55-year-old)
and other striking symptoms.  It's a fact that a high amount of lead in the
blood often doesn't give symptoms of lead poisoning.  Some people are more
vulnerable to these symptoms than others.

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