Scientists have discovered that Beethoven had a diseased liver. This was probably caused by excessive alcohol consumption and hepatitis B. A group of scientists at the University of Cambridge have sequenced the DNA of German composer Ludwig van Beethoven, but they haven’t been able to pinpoint the cause of his untimely death.
A group of researchers led by Tristan Begg analyzed strands of Beethoven’s hair from private collections (there were a total of 8 strands, but only 5 were considered authentic) and, based on the genetic sequence, came to conclusions about the diseases the composer suffered from. Born in Bonn in 1770, Beethoven began to lose his hearing at the age of 30, and by the age of 48 he had lost it almost completely. Nevertheless, he continued to compose music even though he could no longer play the piano. The composer died in Vienna in 1827 at the age of 56.
The reasons for the composer’s death were debated almost immediately after his death, but over the course of two centuries it has still not been possible to reach a definitive conclusion. The Cambridge scientists could not prove this with complete certainty, but they did find that Beethoven had a genetic predisposition to liver disease (exacerbated by his alcoholism) and was infected with hepatitis B at the end of his life.
According to Tristan Begg, after studying the composer’s records from the last 10 years of his life, scientists concluded that Beethoven regularly consumed alcohol, but it is difficult to estimate the amount consumed. “Although most of his contemporaries claim that his drinking was moderate by the standards of early 19th-century Vienna, they were most likely referring to doses of alcohol that are now considered harmful to the liver,” he said. “If alcohol consumption was significant over a long period of time, combined with genetic predisposition, it could be a cause of cirrhosis.”
Scientists suggest that the actual cause of death may be a combination of factors, and further research will be able to determine this more accurately. The treatment of drug addiction and alcoholism has long since become a branch of medicine in its own right and has spawned an entire industry, but scientists still have a poor understanding of how painful addiction develops.