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 [log in to unmask] http://www.classical.net/