Beethoven's death in the light of his DNA

Researchers have now used a novel technique to shed new light on the German composer's untimely demise: by analyzing his DNA from strands of his hair.

Their study, published Wednesday in the scientific journal Current Biology, revealed strong genetic predispositions to liver disease, as well as infection with the hepatitis B virus at the end of his life, two factors that likely contributed to his death, most certainly from cirrhosis, aggravated by alcohol consumption.

But unfortunately they could not explain the cause of his progressive deafness, which caused so much pain to the author of the 9th Symphony.

In 1802 the composer had expressed his wishes, in a letter to his brothers, written in a moment of despair, that his illness be described after his death and made public.

"We sought to meet this wish," Tristan Begg, a researcher at the University of Cambridge and lead author of the study, told a news conference.

And even if the mystery still lingers around some of the many pathologies from which Beethoven suffered, "we were extremely lucky (...) to achieve such fascinating results," said Begg, who initiated the project that started in 2014.

Five wicks

Until now, research into Beethoven's health has come mainly from his correspondence, his diary, his doctors' notes, or an autopsy report.

This time, the scientists looked at eight strands of hair presented as belonging to Beethoven, and from public or private collections.

They determined that five of them came from the same male individual, with alterations showing that they did indeed date from the early 19th century.

Among these five wicks, the history of transmission for two centuries is uninterrupted for two of them, and supported by a rich documentation. One was given in 1826 by Beethoven himself to a musician friend, and the second came from a family friend who organized his funeral -- until it was sold at auction in 2016.

These five locks, which cover the last seven years of Beethoven's life, are almost certainly authentic, according to the researchers.

Three others were disqualified, including one that had been used to support the hypothesis of a death from lead poisoning, but actually belonging to a woman.

The DNA sequencing then took place in Germany, in the laboratory of the Max Plank Institute for Anthropology in Leipzig, where prehistoric men are usually studied.

Unlike bone analysis, "in hair, DNA is very degraded," explained Johannes Krause, head of the genetics department at this institute, and co-author of the study. "It was difficult to harvest enough DNA to assemble the genome."

Several meters of hair were used, and finally, three-quarters of the genome (all the genes of a living being) could be mapped.

Marital discrepancy

Beethoven, who experienced at least two episodes of jaundice, the first in 1821, had "considerable genetic predisposition" to liver disease, the study concludes.

It also reveals that Beethoven had an infection with the hepatitis B virus, at least during the last months of his life, but which may have been earlier. Chronic infection is one of the major causes of cirrhosis.

It is also known that Beethoven was a heavy drinker.

"We therefore believe that his disease stems from an interaction" between these three factors, explained Markus Nöthen, also co-author of the study.

On the other hand, the researchers could not draw a definitive conclusion for the composer's intestinal problems (but lactose intolerance is excluded), nor especially for his deafness, which could have been caused by otosclerosis or Paget's disease.

To conclude their work, the scientists compared Beethoven's DNA with that of five Belgian men sharing with the composer a distant relative who lived in the 16th century, Aert van Beethoven.

Surprise: the Y chromosome of these five men does not match that of the musician.

According to researchers, the only possible explanation is an extramarital affair, somewhere between the seven generations separating this common ancestor and the birth of Beethoven, in Bonn in 1770.

"You cannot rule out that Beethoven himself is illegitimate," Begg said. "It's a possibility."

© 2023 AFP