After 200 years, the discovery of toxic substances in two locks of hair of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) could finally solve the mystery of the legendary composer’s deafness, which manifested itself when he was not yet thirty years old: it would have been caused by the high concentration of lead in the blood, which he would have acquired by continuously drinking poor quality wine, where it was added to make it more pleasant. This is what a new American study published in “Clinical Chemistry” hypothesizes, which also excluded a popular theory: lead poisoning as the cause of the death of the author of the “Ninth Symphony”.
The research group led by Nader Rifai, professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School, found very high doses of lead in the composer’s hair, which was identified as the cause of his premature deafness and his repeated gastrointestinal and renal disorders. The result of the analyzes was surprising: one of Beethoven’s locks had 258 micrograms of lead per gram of hair and the other 380 micrograms. A normal level in hair is less than 4 micrograms of lead per gram. Beethoven’s hair also has arsenic levels 13 times higher than normal and mercury levels 4 times higher than normal. But high amounts of lead, in particular, may have caused many of his ailments.
The research team recently authenticated several strands of the composer’s hair, as part of a project to sequence Beethoven’s genome. Among these were two strands of hair, known as the Bermann and Halm-Thayer strands. Both locks were previously in the possession of Alexander Wheelock Thayer, a famous Beethoven scholar. The Halm-Thayer lock is notably the only lock of hair that has a fully documented chain of custody, passing from Beethoven to Austrian composer Anton Halm, before becoming part of Thayer’s collection. Bermann and Halm-Thayer’s locks were re-analyzed and revealed lead concentrations approximately 64 and 95 times higher than the normal lead content in hair. Using formulas constructed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers estimated that Beethoven’s blood lead concentration would likely have been between 69-71 µg/dL (micrograms per deciliter). “This is a level many times higher than normal for adults and is associated with various gastrointestinal and kidney disorders, as well as hearing problems. However, these levels are not high enough to be considered the sole cause of death of the composer,” said Dr. Paul Jannetto, director of the research laboratory.
David Eaton, a toxicologist and professor emeritus at the University of Washington who was not involved in the study, told the New York Times that Beethoven’s gastrointestinal problems “are entirely consistent with lead poisoning.” As for Beethoven’s deafness, he added, “high doses of lead affect the nervous system and may have destroyed his hearing.” Whether the chronic dose was sufficient to kill him is difficult to say,” Dr. Eaton added .
No scholar suggests that the composer was poisoned deliberately. But Jerome Nriagu, an expert on lead poisoning in history and professor emeritus at the University of Michigan, told the New York Times that in 19th-century Europe, lead was used in wines and foods, as well as in medicines and ointments. One likely source of Beethoven’s high lead levels was cheap wine. Lead, in the form of lead acetate, also called “lead sugar”, has a sweet taste. In Beethoven’s time it was often added to poor quality wine to make it more palatable. The wine was also fermented in kettles soldered with lead, which would leach out as the wine aged, Nriagu said. Furthermore, he added, wine bottle corks were soaked in lead salt to improve sealing.
Beethoven drank copious amounts of wine, about a bottle a day, and later in his life even more, believing it to be good for his health and also because he had become addicted to it. In the last days before his death, his friends gave him wine by the spoonful. His secretary and biographer, Anton Schindler, described the deathbed scene: “This death struggle was terrible to see, because his general constitution, especially his chest, was gigantic. He drank some more of your Rüdesheimer wine by spoonfuls until I die.”
“Although the concentrations detected do not support the idea that lead exposure caused Beethoven’s death, it is possible that it contributed to the documented ailments that afflicted him for much of his life,” Rifai said. “We believe this is an important piece of a complex puzzle and will allow historians, doctors and scientists to better understand the medical history of the great composer.”
So what killed Beethoven, if not lead poisoning? Recent genomic studies found that the composer had a strong genetic risk for liver disease, which may have been exacerbated by alcohol use and a known hepatitis B infection. Combining the knowledge gained from these genomic studies with further analysis of the composer’s hair composer, researchers hope to narrow down a more precise assessment of disease risk and possible cause of death.