Beethoven in Person His Deafness, Illnesses, and Death

Subjects:

• The Arts » Classical Music
• Health/Medicine » Health/Medicine (General)

Reviews:

• ...not only detailed, technical coverage of all of Beethoven's medical problems but also backgroound on medical practice and prominent physicians of Beethoven's time. the book is thoroughly documented and draws on a wide range of primary and secondary musical and medical sources. Recommended for large collections; all levels.
  —Choice January 2002
• Dr. Davies makes a most valuable contribution in this book by helping us to gain a greater understanding of Beethoven, the man and his music- and, at the same time, providing an excellent account of the state of affairs in medicine in Vienna during the composer's lifetime. He also illuminates the interaction between illness and creativity, and the extraordinary progress that medicine has made in the past 150+ years. Medical historians, students in music and medicine, physicians, and music lovers will all enjoy this book.
  —Bull. Hist. Med. 2003
• Davies' book contains a great deal of valuable and interesting material, and one suspects that its collection and assembly have been a labour of love carried out with great diligence and devotion over a long period of time...a detailed and thoroughly referenced compilation of facts about Beethoven's health interpreted cautiously and, probably, as correctly as it is possible to do so long after his death.
  —Health and History 2002
• The illnesses and cause of death of the world's great composers have been a favorite subject for the medical sleuth, who usually aims to explain their illnesses on the basis of a multi-system disorder. In 1989 Peter Davies, an Australian gastroenterologist and medical historian, published his authoritative work Mozart in Person. Now he has turned his attention to Beethoven and this new book will undoubtedly take its place as the definitive medical text relating to this musical genius.
  —Journal of Medical History 2002

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• Beethoven's Physicians and Their Treatments
• The Accounts of Beethoven's Deafness
• Beethoven's Appearance
• Final Illness, Death, and Burial
• The Autopsy
• The Exhumations
• The Question of Venereal Disease: A Critical Reevaluation
• The Cause of Beethoven's Deafness
• The Gastrointestinal Disorders
• Liver Disease
• The Respiratory Catarrhs
• Beethoven's Rheumatic Complaints
• Beethoven's Headaches
• Beethoven's Eye Disorder
• The Cause of Beethoven's Death
• Appendix 1: Beethoven's Conversations with Herr Sandra
• Appendix 2: Beethoven's Compositions
• Bibliography
• Glossary of Medical Terms
• Index of Beethoven's Works in This Volume
• General Index