Busts of Ludwig van Beethoven for sale in a souvenir shop in Bonn, Germany in 2019. The composer … [+]
DNA extracted from Ludwig van Beethoven's hair has already revealed intriguing details about the famous classical composer's many medical ailments. Scientific analysis of his locks has now yielded new insight: Beethoven suffered from lead poisoning, but not at levels high enough to kill him, as some medical biographers had previously theorized.
The diagnosis comes from experts in laboratory medicine led by Harvard Medical School biochemist Nader Rifai. The team conducted a toxin analysis of two authenticated Beethoven hairs and discovered a lead concentration 64 times the normal amount in one strand and 95 times the standard in the other. Based on these numbers, the team estimated that the composer's blood lead level would have been several times higher than what is considered normal for adults.
“Although the concentrations determined do not support the idea that lead exposure caused Beethoven's death, it may have contributed to the documented illnesses that plagued him for most of his life,” Rifai said in a statement Lead levels like those seen in Beethoven are commonly linked to gastrointestinal upset, kidney and liver disease, and hearing loss, all of which affected the influential composer. High levels of the toxic metal are also associated with other traits for which Beethoven is known: a short temper, memory errors and chronic clumsiness.
The scientists describe their findings in a letter to the editor published Monday in the journal Clinical Chemistry as one of Beethoven's masterpieces celebrates a milestone. Two hundred years ago, on May 7, the composer's Ninth Symphony, which culminates in the triumphant “Ode to Joy,” was performed for the first time in Vienna.
The results of the research are remarkable given the enduring fascination with the German composer and pianist and the wide speculation about what led to his death in 1827, aged 56. public after death. Since then, medical experts have proposed many hypotheses, including a number of hereditary conditions.
The latest research also shows high levels of arsenic and mercury levels in Beethoven's hair. But it is the protagonist that stands out for its close correlation with Beethoven's health problems and the clues he might offer as to what caused them.
Beethoven's two authenticated hairs that revealed high levels of lead, arsenic and … [+]
The new research is not the first to suggest that Beethoven suffered from lead poisoning.
In 2000, researchers identified exorbitantly high levels of lead in hair thought to belong to Beethoven and assumed that toxicity had killed him. But further analysis of that hair sample revealed that it belonged to someone else, a woman with genes found in Ashkenazi Jewish populations.
The latest claim that Beethoven had lead poisoning, however, comes from the analysis of two hair fragments authenticated as his as part of a genomic analysis published last year by a team of international researchers. Studying eight locks of his hair, they discovered, among other things, that Beethoven had a predisposition to liver disease and had been infected with hepatitis B. Rifai's team studied the hair using mass spectrometry, a technique used to measure the load mass. ion ratio.
Who saved the composer's hair?
As Beethoven's health declined toward the end of his life, it was not uncommon for friends, admirers, and acolytes to request a cut of his gray and dark brown hair as a keepsake. Some of these valuable surviving locks from nearly 200 years ago ended up in public institutions like the Library of Congress, which houses 26 fragments, while others landed in private collections.
Some threads were even named after those who acquired them. One of the threads examined by Rifai's team, for example, is known as the Halm-Thayer Lock. Evidently, the composer gave the key to the pianist Anton Halm in 1826, and Alexander Wheelock Thayer wrote the first scholarly biography of Beethoven.
Kevin Brown, an Australian businessman and Beethoven aficionado, owns both the Halm-Thayer lock and the other piece of hair used in the studio, the Bermann lock.
Probable causes of high lead in Beethoven's system
Previous studies of lead toxicity around Beethoven's time suggest that the composer may have imbibed the metal through cheap wine sweetened or preserved with it or fermented in leaded vessels (Beethoven reportedly loved a good drink). Beethoven may also have been prescribed medicines and ointments containing lead.
With genomic confirmation of the hair samples belonging to Beethoven, the primary analysis is essentially definitive, said Ivan Kempson, an associate professor of biophysics at the University of South Australia who was not involved in the research. What's less certain, he added in an interview, is how the levels in his hair correspond to those in his blood.
“There are huge challenges in correlating hair lead with blood,” Kempson said. “We have analyzed the hair of lead smelter workers and found that there is too much contamination, which cannot be washed out, to be able to infer blood lead concentrations. There are also several personal traits that can greatly affect absorption of lead, for example, hair color, which influences how much lead enters the hair through blood or external contamination.”
In their letter, the researchers also note that hair analysis is subject to error due to external lead contamination, but say they followed a method consistent with that recommended by the Society of Hair Testing, which includes the use of solvents aqueous with detergent to remove external contaminants.
Regardless, both Kempson and the researchers say the confirmation of lead poisoning represents an intriguing addition to our knowledge of the legendary artist.
“We believe this is an important piece of a complex puzzle,” the letter says, “and will allow historians, physicians and scientists to better understand the great composer's medical history.”
