Writing Science (EFE).- In 1802, Ludwig van Beethoven asked his doctor, JA Schmidt, to publicly describe his progressive hearing loss and gastrointestinal problems after his death so that “as far as possible, at least the The world will be reconciled with me.
Since then, the causes of Beethoven’s death have been a mystery.
Now, more than two centuries later, a team of scientists has fulfilled his wish and, after analyzing the DNA of five locks of his hair -previously authenticated-, has not found an explanation for his deafness or his gastrointestinal problems, but has discovered that the celebrated composer had a genetic predisposition to liver disease.
Details of the research, carried out by the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), the Beethoven Center San Jose and the American Beethoven Society of California (United States), the KU Leuven University (Belgium), the University of Bonn, the Beethoven- Haus de Bonn, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Germany), are published this Wednesday in the journal Current Biology.
“Our aim was to shed light on Beethoven’s health problems, including progressive hearing loss, which began in his mid to late 20s and led to functional deafness in 1818,” explains Johannes Krause, from the Max Planck Institute.
In addition, the team also searched for the possible genetic origin of Beethoven’s chronic gastrointestinal complaints and severe liver disease (possibly cirrhosis) that culminated in his death in 1827, aged 56.
Beethoven’s hearing loss and other illnesses leading up to his death
The DNA found no answer to any of these health problems but did uncover genetic factors for liver disease and evidence that he had suffered from a hepatitis B virus infection in the months before his death that was aggravated by alcohol and risk Composer genetics.
“We can deduce from Beethoven’s ‘conversation books’, which he used for the last decade of his life, that his alcohol consumption was very regular, although it is difficult to estimate the volumes consumed,” explains Tristan Begg, lead author of the study and researcher at Cambridge.
And while most sources point to moderate consumption by early 19th-century Viennese standards, it likely reached amounts of alcohol known today to be harmful to the liver.
Regarding the hearing loss, the DNA analysis failed to identify a clear genetic basis, although the researchers caution that the study is not sufficient to rule out this hypothesis.
The authors also found no genetic explanation for Beethoven’s gastrointestinal problems, but note that celiac disease and lactose intolerance “are highly unlikely.”
“We can’t say definitively what killed Beethoven but now we can at least confirm the presence of a significant hereditary risk and hepatitis B virus infection,” Krause concludes.
“Given the known medical history, it is highly likely that it was some combination of these three factors, including his alcohol use, acting in concert, but future research will need to clarify the extent to which each factor was involved.” Begg.
An extramarital “event” in the family
In addition, Beethoven’s DNA held another surprise: His Y chromosome does not match that of any of the five current relatives who bear his last name and share, according to genealogical records, a common paternal ancestor.
That is, at some point in the generations on the part of Beethoven’s father there was an extramarital “event”, the study concludes.
“This finding suggests an extraparental paternity event in his paternal line between the conception of Hendrik van Beethoven in Kampenhout (Belgium) around 1572 and the conception of Ludwig van Beethoven seven generations later, in 1770, in Bonn (Germany),” he concludes. Begg.