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Date: | Fri, 21 Jul 2000 16:29:49 -0700 |
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DIAGNOSIS
A Composer's Sleep Apnea Lullaby
By JOHN O'NEIL
Johannes Brahms may have had a good reason for writing lullabies:
he may have suffered from a sleep disorder, according to an article
published last week in the journal Chest.
Dr. Mitchell L. Margolis, a pulmonologist at the Philadelphia
Veterans Administration Medical Center, wrote that the composer may
have suffered from sleep apnea, a condition involving the interruption
of breathing during sleep with consequences that can range from
annoying to life-threatening.
Heavy snoring is the most common clue to sleep apnea, but because
Brahms never married, the most common form of documentation is missing.
A traveling companion, however, once complained bitterly of the noise
that Brahms made.
But Dr. Margolis said that Brahms exhibited other common symptoms,
including falling asleep at odd times and places (the sight of Brahms
asleep in a Viennese cafe was common enough to draw tourists), an
obese neck (the composer wore collarless shirts after age 50) and
irritability. (Brahms is said to have announced once, "If there is
anyone here I have not offended, I apologize.")
"One wonders if the disorder contributed to lifelong alienation
from friends and marriage," Dr. Margolis wrote, "thereby indirectly
nurturing his determined devotion to the creation of his immortal
music."
(c) 2000, New York Times
Dave
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http://www.classical.net/
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