Beethoven’s Music
Genius, Curiosity, Liver Disease, and Lead
Larry S. Sherman and Dennis Plies
In our book, Every Brain Needs Music: The Neuroscience of Making and Listening to Music, we discuss the contributions of curiosity to creating music. Curiosity is a trait that can be described as “a state of information seeking that can be internally motivated.” When we compose music, we seek new musical ideas, constantly exploring how a theme or musical phrase can fit into what we are creating. In our book, we look at how curiosity drove a certain, famous German composer to create some of his enduring works.
Just over 196 years ago, Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna, Austria, at the age of 56. Toward the end of his life, he suffered from chronic pain. A recent study found that Beethoven had a genetic predisposition for liver disease and that he had a hepatitis B infection during the last months of his life.[i] By most accounts, Beethoven was a serious drinker as well. This study suggests, therefore, that between his genetic liability for liver disease, his drinking, and his hepatitis B infection, Beethoven’s chronic pain and death were likely due in large part to liver disease.
No matter what the cause of his chronic pain and hearing loss, there is little doubt that Beethoven’s many maladies contributed to how he approached music and his composing process.
This study could not, however, explain Beethoven’s well-known hearing loss. Beethoven began to lose his hearing at age 28 and, by the time he was 44, he was completely deaf. As we discuss in the book, there is some evidence to support the idea that Beethoven was exposed to lead throughout his life (through high levels of lead in the wine that he drank, from a goblet made partially of lead, and in the mineral water at a spa that he frequented). It turns out that lead exposure over time can induce changes to the cochlea, a part of our hearing apparatus that transmits sound to our auditory cortex. These lead-induced changes can cause noise-induced hearing impairment like the kind that may occur through long-term exposure to loud music.[ii]
No matter what the cause of his chronic pain and hearing loss, there is little doubt that Beethoven’s many maladies contributed to how he approached music and his composing process. Indeed, music may have been a way to escape his maladies. In our book, we discuss how musical performance, especially in groups like symphonies or large choirs, can generate endorphins and release dopamine in parts of our brains. One of the effects of the release of endorphins is a reduction in our perception of pain. Thus, while Beethoven’s music most certainly evolved because of his curiosity for finding new musical ideas, it is entirely possible that he was driven to create music as a response to—if not to gain relief from—the pain and increasing disabilities that he suffered. If so, we can be thankful for Beethoven’s perseverance as it brought us some of humanity’s greatest music.
Larry S. Sherman and Dennis Plies are the coauthors of Every Brain Needs Music: The Neuroscience of Making and Listening to Music. Sherman is a professor of neuroscience at the Oregon Health and Science University. Plies, who was for many years a music professor at Warner Pacific University, has been involved with music for his entire life.
[i] Tristan James Alexander Begg et al., “Genomic Analyses of Hair from Ludwig van Beethoven,” Current Biology 33, no. 8 (2023): 1431-1447, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.02.041.
[ii] Samson Jamesdaniel et al., “Chronic Lead Exposure Induces Cochlear Oxidative Stress and Potentiates Noise-induced Hearing Loss,” Toxicology Letters 292 (2018): 175-189.