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The Documentary: Dissecting Beethoven

Dissecting Beethoven

20/12/2020 GMT

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Dissecting Beethoven

A look at theories that health problems may explain Beethoven’s suffering and his music.

It is 250 years since the birth of Beethoven. He is thought of as the revolutionary genius who tragically lost his hearing, but the autopsy carried out after his death reveals a far more complex story about Beethoven’s health.
 
BBC presenter Georgia Mann and neurosurgeon Henry Marsh explore the theories that alcoholism, congenital syphilis, an irregular heart beat and even ADHD may explain some of Beethoven’s suffering, and the music he wrote, music which resounds across the ages and the world.

(Photo: German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) composing the Missa Solemnis, February-April 1820. Oil painting by August Klober. Credit: Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

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