14 DAY TRIAL // Having taken the time to analyze several of Ludwig van Beethoven’s greatest works, researchers believe to have found evidence that some of the late composer’s masterpieces follow his cardiac arrhythmia.
Otherwise put, specialist Joel Howell with the University of Michigan in the US and colleagues believe that the rather chaotic rhythms identifiable in some of Beethoven’s works were inspired by the composer’s own irregular heartbeat.
As Joel Howell put it, “When your heart beats irregularly from heart disease, it does so in some predictable patterns. We think we hear some of those same patterns in his music.”
Identifying signs of cardiac arrhythmia in Beethoven’s music
In a report in the journal Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, the University of Michigan researchers behind this investigation explain that cardiac arrhythmia boils down to the fact that people's heart beats too slow, too fast or irregularly.
Joel Howell and colleagues say that the striking rhythms of several of the composer’s works, i.e. the String Quartet in B-flat Major, Opus 130, the Piano Sonata in A-flat major, Opus 110, and the Les Adieux Sonata, match the asymmetrical patterns linked to cardiac arrhythmia.
Thus, parts of these compositions have a rather unbalanced rhythm that the specialists believe was inspired by Beethoven’s hectic heartbeat. The researchers add that, being deaf, the composer was even more aware of his cardiac arrhythmia and was, therefore, influenced by it.
If it is indeed true that some of Ludwig van Beethoven’s greatest works were inspired by his cardiac arrhythmia, this would mean that, in a way, they kind of, sort of count as electrocardiograms. Otherwise put, their beat reveals the composer’s heart trouble.
“The works we describe may be ‘musical electrocardiograms,’ the readout of modern heart rhythm testing equipment. There is a possibility that in certain pieces his beating heart could literally be at the heart of some of the greatest masterpieces of all time,” said researcher Zachary D. Goldberger.
Beethoven experienced plenty of health trouble during his life
Based on historical records documenting his life, Ludwig van Beethoven has so far been linked to all sorts of health problems. Admittedly, deafness is the one most often described, but liver disease, kidney trouble, abnormal bone destruction and inflammatory bowel disease are also included on the list.
The thing is that, for the time being at least, scientists cannot say for sure whether or not the composer was indeed affected by the aforementioned conditions, or if maybe he experienced other health issues that caused him to experience symptoms similar to the ones linked to these diseases.
Not to waste your time or anything of the sorts, but if you have a few minutes to spare, perhaps you might want to have a listen to the Ludwig van Beethoven works referenced in this article. You can find them below.
