Before composer Ludwig van Beethoven died on March 27, 1827, it was his want that his illnesses be studied and shared so “as far as possible at least the world will be reconciled to me after my death.”
Now, researchers have taken steps to partially honor that request by analyzing Beethoven’s DNA from preserved locks of his hair and sequencing the composer’s genome for the primary time.
![A portrait of Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler was completed in 1820.](https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/e_blur:500,q_auto:low,w_50,c_fit/http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.cnn.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F230322115605-01b-beethoven-hair-samples-genome-portrait-full.jpg)
A portrait of Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler was accomplished in 1820. Credit: Beethoven-Haus Bonn
“Our primary goal was to shed light on Beethoven’s health problems, which famously include progressive hearing loss, beginning in his mid- to late-20s and eventually leading to him being functionally deaf by 1818,” mentioned research coauthor Johannes Krause, a professor on the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, in an announcement.
The 5 hair samples helped scientists uncover insights about household historical past, continual well being issues and what may need contributed to his loss of life on the age of 56.
Beethoven’s maladies
In addition to listening to loss, the famed classical composer had recurring gastrointestinal complaints all through his life, in addition to extreme liver illness.
Beethoven wrote a letter to his brothers in 1802 asking that his physician, Johann Adam Schmidt, decide and share the character of his “illness” as soon as Beethoven died. The letter is called the Heiligenstadt Testament.
![The Moscheles Lock, authenticated by the study, includes an inscription by former owner Ignaz Moscheles.](https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/e_blur:500,q_auto:low,w_50,c_fit/http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.cnn.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F230322092738-05-beethoven-hair-samples-genome-moscheles.jpg)
The Moscheles Lock, authenticated by the research, contains an inscription by former proprietor Ignaz Moscheles. Credit: Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies/San Jose State University
But Beethoven outlived his favourite physician by 18 years, and after the composer died, the testomony was found in a hidden compartment in his writing desk. In the letter, Beethoven admitted how hopeless he felt as a music composer scuffling with listening to loss, however his work saved him from taking his personal life. He mentioned he did not need to go away ”earlier than I had produced all of the works that I felt the urge to compose.”
Since his loss of life, questions have swirled round what ailed Beethoven and his true reason behind loss of life. Within the final seven years of his life, the composer skilled no less than two assaults of jaundice, which is related to liver illness, resulting in the overall perception that he died from cirrhosis.
Medical biographers have since combed via Beethoven’s letters and diaries, in addition to his post-mortem, notes from his physicians, and even notes taken when his physique was exhumed twice in 1863 and 1888, with the hopes of piecing collectively his difficult medical historical past.
But the researchers behind the brand new research took issues a step additional about eight years in the past once they got down to do a genetic evaluation of Beethoven’s hair. The samples they used included hair lower from his head within the seven years previous to his loss of life.
Genetic revelations
The group began by analyzing a complete of eight hair samples from private and non-private collections throughout the UK, Europe and the US. During their authentication work, they found that two did not come from Beethoven in any respect, whereas one other was too broken to investigate.
![These two locks of hair, including one delivered to pianist Anton Halm by Beethoven, were both authenticated by the study.](https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/e_blur:500,q_auto:low,w_50,c_fit/http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.cnn.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F230322115308-03-beethoven-hair-samples-genome-haim-thayer-and-bermann.jpg)
These two locks of hair, together with one delivered to pianist Anton Halm by Beethoven, have been each authenticated by the research. Credit: Kevin Brown
Previous work suggesting that Beethoven had lead poisoning was decided to be based mostly on a hair pattern that did not belong to him — one which as an alternative had belonged to a lady.
But 5 of the samples all got here from the identical European male and matched his German ancestry. Beethoven had hand delivered one of many locks himself to the pianist Anton Halm in April 1826, saying “Das sind meine Haare!” (“That is my hair!”)
The genetic evaluation noticed clues hiding within the composer’s DNA that might add context to his well being points.
“We were unable to find a definitive cause for Beethoven’s deafness or gastrointestinal problems,” Krause mentioned.
“However, we did discover a number of significant genetic risk factors for liver disease,” he added. “We also found evidence of an infection with hepatitis B virus in at latest the months before the composer’s final illness. Those likely contributed to his death.”
![Labwork on the Moscheles Lock was conducted at the University of Tübingen in Germany.](https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/e_blur:500,q_auto:low,w_50,c_fit/http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.cnn.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F230322092733-04-beethoven-hair-samples-genome-lab-work.jpg)
Labwork on the Moscheles Lock was performed on the University of Tübingen in Germany. Credit: Susanna Sabin
Beethoven’s genetic information additionally helped the researchers rule out different potential causes of his illnesses, corresponding to celiac illness, an autoimmune situation, lactose intolerance or irritable bowel syndrome.
Letters written by Beethoven, in addition to these of his buddies, present that the composer usually consumed alcohol. Although it is troublesome to inform how a lot he drank, a detailed good friend wrote that Beethoven had no less than a liter of wine with lunch every day.
Drinking alcohol, mixed with genetic danger components for liver illness and his hepatitis B an infection, may need been the right storm for Beethoven’s well being close to the top of his life.
“If his alcohol consumption was sufficiently heavy over a long enough period of time, the interaction with his genetic risk factors presents one possible explanation for his cirrhosis,” mentioned lead research creator Tristan Begg, Ph.D. scholar on the University of Cambridge.
But the researchers cautioned that the timing of all of those occasions was vital to understanding what contributed to Beethoven’s loss of life. Future analysis may reveal extra insights — together with the rationale behind his listening to loss, the authors mentioned.
![The researchers determined that the Hiller Lock, long attributed to Beethoven, was actually a hair sample from a woman.](https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/e_blur:500,q_auto:low,w_50,c_fit/http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.cnn.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F230322092742-06-beethoven-hair-samples-genome-hiller.jpg)
The researchers decided that the Hiller Lock, lengthy attributed to Beethoven, was truly a hair pattern from a lady. Credit: William Meredith
“We hope that by making Beethoven’s genome publicly available for researchers, and perhaps adding further authenticated locks to the initial chronological series, remaining questions about his health and genealogy can someday be answered,” Begg mentioned.
A secret within the DNA
Once the analysis group established Beethoven’s genetic profile, they in contrast it with the DNA of his residing family in Belgium. But in a twist, they weren’t in a position to decide a whole match.
While a number of the family shared a paternal ancestor via Beethoven’s household within the late 1500s and early 1600s, there was no match for the Y-chromosome in Beethoven’s hair samples.
This means that someplace within the household’s historical past, there was an extramarital affair on Beethoven’s father’s facet that resulted in a baby.
“Through the combination of DNA data and archival documents, we were able to observe a discrepancy between Ludwig van Beethoven’s legal and biological genealogy,” mentioned research coauthor Maarten Larmuseau, a genetic genealogist on the KU Leuven in Belgium.
The researchers suppose the affair occurred someday between the 1572 conception of Hendrik van Beethoven, an ancestor within the paternal Beethoven line seven generations faraway from the composer, and the conception of Beethoven in 1770.
Source: www.cnn.com