Famous Composers – Diseases Reloaded

180 Pages·2022·7.803 MB·English

by  Andreas Otte

Famous Composers –
Diseases Reloaded
Andreas Otte
123
Famous Composers – Diseases Reloaded
Andreas Otte
Famous
Composers – Diseases
Reloaded
Andreas Otte
Peter Osypka Institute of Medical Engineering
Department of Electrical Engineering
Medical Engineering and Computer Science
Offenburg University
Offenburg, Germany
ISBN 978-3-031-06670-2 ISBN 978-3-031-06671-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06671-9
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For Karina and for Laura Emily
Preface
Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi
Finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios
Temptaris numeros. Ut melius, quidquid erit, pati,
Seu pluris hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam,
Quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare
Tyrrhenum, sapias: vina liques et spatio brevi
Spem longam reseces. Dum loquimur, fugerit invida
Aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.1
Q. Horatius Flaccus, Carmen 1,11
Not only the life and death, but also the creative work of famous musicians is closely
linked to their personal medical histories. In “Famous Composers – Diseases
Reloaded,” these case histories are reconstructed on the basis of authentic biograph-
ical testimonies. Besides, latest research findings on the pathophysiology of these
composers are woven into the overall picture.
Was Paganini’s “devilishness” caused by a hereditary disease?
Did Scarlatti have strange signs of illness on his fingers?
What did Bach really die of and what can the alleged skeleton of him tell us today?
How did “Christel” change Schumann’s entire life?
What aggravated Ravel’s underlying illness so that he did not complete a single
composition in the last 5 years before his death?
How did Tárrega manage to play the guitar again after his stroke with hemiplegia?
Did the Brazilian Villa-Lobos’ worldwide reputation help him live longer, thanks
to the best treatment available to him?
1 So do not ask (it is wrong to know) when the gods will have put an end to me, when to you, Leuconoe,
and leave Babylonian arithmetic. How much better, you endure whatever will be. Whether Jupiter
grants more winters or whether it is the last that now breaks the Tyrrhenian Sea through obstructive
rocky clefts, be wise: clarify the wine and let be the long hope because of the short time. As we speak,
time flees enviously: enjoy the day and trust as little as possible in the next. [transl. by the author]
vii
viii Preface
This book is a little different: it does not want to be a compilation of life endings,
but it aims to tell stories from the lives of the composers because it is the stories that
make history. It also tries to place these stories in the global historical framework
and to think outside the box.
The scores of the lives of these great musicians are before us, aspects of times
gone by, remarkable colorful life pictures that can give us comfort and insight in a
time when values, culture, peace, and history are fading and we are stranded in the
sea—insight about life in general, about its meaning in particular, and about the
search for creativity and for recognition that is peculiar to us as human beings.
Offenburg, Germany Andreas Otte
Acknowledgments
I am very happy that this book is published by one of the premier publishers in the
field. This guarantees a high quality of production and allows for the inclusion of
many color figures.
I would like to thank Mrs. Corinna Hauser from Springer for her help and input
during the development of this book.
ix
Contents
1 Diseases of Famous Composers Put into Context of Their General
Historical Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 The Fascination About Diseases of Famous Composers . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 The Difficulties of Retrodiagnoses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2.1 Diagnostic and Therapeutic Possibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.2 Interpretation of Symptoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2.3 Absence of Suspected Diagnosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2.4 Later Appearance of Information About Diseases . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2.5 Present-Day Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2.6 Retrodiagnosis as Retrospective Diagnosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2.7 Source Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.3 The Change of Diseases Over Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.4 The Composer in the General Historical Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.5 The Timelessness of Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.6 How the Great Composers Feel About Their Illnesses . . . . . . . . . . . 19
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2 Bach’s Diseases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.3 Bach’s Skeleton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.3.1 The Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.3.2 His’ Photography of the Skeleton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3.3 Overall View of the Skeleton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.3.4 The Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.3.5 The Feet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.4.1 Conclusions on the Presumed Cataract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.4.2 Conclusions on the Presumed Skeletal Physiognomy . . . . . . 44
2.5 Bach’s Musical Œuvre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.6 Appendix: Additional Material on Johann Sebastian Bach . . . . . . . . 45
2.6.1 The Nekrolog of Johann Sebastian Bach in Original
Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
xi
xii Contents
2.6.2 E xtract on Johann Sebastian Bach from
Walther´s “Musicalisches LEXICON oder
Musicalische Bibliothec, … Leipzig, 1732” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2.6.3 Extract on Johann Sebastian
Bach from “The Bach Genealogy” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
2.6.4 E xtract from His´ Report Submitted to the
City Council of Leipzig in 1895 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3 Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.2 Scarlatti’s Diseases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.3 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.4 Scarlatti’s Musical Œuvre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4 Nicolò Paganini (1782–1840) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.2 Paganini’s Diseases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.2.1 Syphilis and Tuberculosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.2.2 Marfan’s Syndrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.3 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.4 Paganini’s Musical Œuvre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
5 Robert Schumann (1810–1856) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.2 Schumann’s Diseases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
5.3 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.4 Schumann’s Musical Œuvre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
6 Francisco Tárrega (1852–1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
6.2 Tárrega’s Diseases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
6.3 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
6.4 Tárrega’s Musical Œuvre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
6.5 Appendix: Additional Material on
Francisco Tárrega . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
6.5.1 Texts About Tárrega . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
6.5.2 Letters from Tárrega . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
7 Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
7.2 Ravel’s Diseases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132