“However, we did discover a number of significant genetic risk factors for liver disease,” he added. “We were unable to find a definitive cause for Beethoven’s deafness or gastrointestinal problems,” Krause said. The genetic analysis spotted clues hiding in the composer’s DNA that could add context to his health issues. Beethoven had hand delivered one of the locks himself to the pianist Anton Halm in April 1826, saying “Das sind meine Haare!” (“That is my hair!”) Previous work suggesting that Beethoven had lead poisoning was determined to be based on a hair sample that didn’t belong to him - one that instead had belonged to a woman.īut five of the samples all came from the same European male and matched his German ancestry. These two locks of hair, including one delivered to pianist Anton Halm by Beethoven, were both authenticated by the study.

The letter is known as the Heiligenstadt Testament. In addition to hearing loss, the famed classical composer had recurring gastrointestinal complaints throughout his life, as well as severe liver disease.īeethoven wrote a letter to his brothers in 1802 asking that his doctor, Johann Adam Schmidt, determine and share the nature of his “illness” once Beethoven died. The five hair samples helped scientists discover insights about family history, chronic health problems and what might have contributed to his death at the age of 56. “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,” said study coauthor Johannes Krause, a professor at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, in a statement. A portrait of Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler was completed in 1820.

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