> On Nov 12, 2017, at 11:03 AM, John Mardinly <[email protected]> wrote: > > Of course, there is that other widely held theory that Beethoven suffered > from syphilus, which in it’s tertiary stage can cause all sorts of > neurological and physical degeneration. Beethoven, like Schubert, frequently > visited prostitutes,
The Beethoven-prostitute angle is another pseudobiographical tidbit for which there is no actual evidence, much as it gets bandied about by authors who add two and two and get six. A rather more interesting theory is that Beethoven suffered from congenital syphilis, acquired from his father. There’s no real evidence to support this either (other than B’s symptoms appearing in his twenties, which is typical of congenital syphilis), but nobody has any problem believing anything bad about B’s dad. Here’s a succinct refutation of the syphilis theory from Francois Mai: "Beethoven did NOT die of syphilis. People who die of syphilis have changes in their heart, arteries and brain. At Beethoven's autopsy these organs were normal. There were major changes in his liver, spleen and kidneys consistent with cirrhosis, likely alcoholic in origin. See my book "Diagnosing Genius: The Life and Death of Beethoven" McGill-Queens UP 2007" > which put them at high risk for contracting this infection. Schubert’s was > diagnosed and treated with mercury, but he died shortly after being one of > Beethoven’s pallbearers. Yes, it was a very heavy casket. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
