Ludwig van Beethoven suffered from lead poisoning, which may have accounted for his erratic behavior, lifelong ailments – including deafness – and contributed to his death, a four-year study of his hair has found.
The chemical analysis of the composer’s hair turned up a surprisingly high concentration of lead – 100 times normal, researchers at the Health Research Institute in suburban Chicago said yesterday.
They said Beethoven was exposed to lead as an adult, perhaps through the mineral water he swam in and drank during his stays at spas.
Beethoven died at age 56 in 1827 from what is believed to have been complications from pneumonia.
He also suffered from a variety of ailments, including intense stomach pains and, in his final years, deafness.
His medical decline has long fascinated scientists and music buffs, and in 1996, work began on analyzing the hair – 582 strands of 3 to 6 inches in length that had been bought for $7,300 at Sotheby’s auction house in London.
At first, the scientists, using an electron accelerator that creates state-of-the-art X-rays, were looking for traces of mercury, the 19th century’s treatment for syphilis.
They found virtually no mercury – and no trace of the painkiller metabolites.
“This implies that he decided to keep his mind clear for his music” during his long and painful death, said William Walsh, director of the institute’s Beethoven project.
But the researchers were struck by the extraordinary lead traces, virtual proof of poisoning.
“It was a surprise, but it stood out like a sore thumb in the analysis,” Walsh said.
Lead poisoning may explain Beethoven’s mood swings.
Some friends described the composer as having such “unpredictable, very erratic behavior that you’d never know what to expect when you’d visit him,” said William Meredith, director of the Center for Beethoven Studies at San Jose State University.