In March 1827, as a storm raged over Vienna, the life of Ludwig van Beethoven ended after a long and painful illness. His final months were marked by intense suffering: jaundice, swelling, and difficulty breathing. After the composer’s death, a letter was found among his belongings, written a quarter of a century earlier, in which he asked for the details of his ailments to be revealed to the world.
Today, hardly anyone is unaware that by the age of forty Beethoven had almost completely lost his hearing. This tragedy was not only a personal ordeal, but also a medical mystery he entrusted to future generations to solve. Nearly two centuries later, scientists set out to fulfill his request, using methods the composer could never have imagined: they analyzed DNA extracted from authentic strands of his hair.
In Search of the Truth
The main goal for researchers was to uncover the cause of Beethoven’s progressive deafness, which began in his twenties and by 1818 had resulted in complete hearing loss. Despite the efforts of his personal physician Johann Adam Schmidt, an exact diagnosis was never made.
The first symptoms appeared as tinnitus—a constant ringing in the ears—which gradually developed into a sensitivity to loud sounds and a loss of high frequencies. This essentially ended his career as a performer. In letters to his brothers, Beethoven admitted that the illness had driven him to despair and thoughts of suicide.
Medical Mysteries
However, hearing problems were not his only ailment. From the age of twenty-two, the composer suffered from severe abdominal pain and chronic diarrhea. Six years before his death, he began to show signs of serious liver disease, which, according to many experts, was ultimately the cause of his early death at the age of 56.
In 2007, experts suggested that Beethoven might have died from lead poisoning: analysis of a lock of his hair revealed a high concentration of this metal. At the time, lead was commonly used in tableware and medicine, making this theory quite plausible.
Debunking Myths
However, a recent study published in 2023 disproved this hypothesis. It turned out that the hair previously analyzed did not belong to Beethoven at all, but to an unknown woman. Meanwhile, other locks whose authenticity has been verified led to sensational conclusions: the composer was most likely infected with the hepatitis B virus, and his fondness for alcohol and other factors only worsened the progression of the disease.
Geneticists also discovered that Beethoven had a hereditary predisposition to liver disease. However, none of the known genetic causes of deafness or digestive problems were found. Thus, the exact origin of his hearing and gastrointestinal troubles remains unclear.
Family Secrets
In their research, scientists compared the composer’s Y chromosome, taken from his hair, with the DNA of living male-line descendants. The results were unexpected: they found a mismatch indicating an extramarital conception in one of the generations between 1572 and 1770. This discovery adds yet another layer of intrigue to Beethoven’s biography, whose life continues to surprise researchers even after his death.
Questions remain: where exactly could Beethoven have contracted hepatitis? Why was a stranger’s lock of hair considered his for almost two centuries? And what really caused his agonizing pain and hearing loss?
In case you didn’t know, Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the greatest composers in history, author of nine symphonies and numerous sonatas and quartets. His work had a profound impact on the development of global music. Despite suffering from severe illness and near total deafness, Beethoven continued to compose until his final days. His personality and fate still spark interest among scholars, musicians, and classical music lovers around the world.
