References to Beethoven's Abdominal Problems in Two of His Letters from 1801

Since we know from testing of the strands from the Guevara Lock of Beethoven's Hair (collected by Ferdinand Hiller off Beethoven's corpse in 1827) at the McCrone Research Institute and Argonne National Laboratories and one of the skull fragments (given to Dr. Romeo Seligmann in 1863) at Argonne National Laboratories that Beethoven suffered from lead poisoning, we would like to discover the origin and date of the lead poisoning.

For a useful introduction to the subject of lead poisoning and what is called the "body burden" of lead stored in bones, see:

http://www.aafp.org/afp/980215ap/stauding.html

In this website Dr. Kevin Staudinger and Dr. Victor Roth state:

"It is a particularly insidious hazard with the potential for causing irreversible health effects, including hypotension, central nervous system problems, anemia and diminished hearing acuity before it is clinically recognized. Characteristic features of lead toxicity, including anemia, colic, neuropathy, nephropathy, sterility and coma, were noted by Hippocrates and Nikander in ancient times, as well as Ramazzini and Hamilton in the modern era."

The earliest somewhat detailed descriptions of Beethoven's abdominal problems come in two letters from 1801 that he wrote to friends. In these letters he confesses both his growing deafness-whose first symptoms began to appear in 1798--and his problems with his abdomen, stomach, and belly (he uses different words at different times in the letters). As you can see below, Beethoven complains of a "miserable abdomen," "violent diarrhea," debilitating weakness, and colic.

Unfortunately, Beethoven was not exact about the date of the beginning of his abdominal problems in this letter. In her edition of the complete letters, Emily Anderson translated the phrase ""der schon damals wie Du weist elend war" to mean his abdomen "was wretched even before I left Bonn." She added the word "Bonn" to the translation, interpreting "damals" to refer to Beethoven's Bonn days. However, the German phrase is not that specific and it may instead mean that the abdominal problems date back to 1798 or the period from 1794-96 as well. My translation below is based on the definition of "damals schon" as "already then" in the Neues Hand-Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache für die Engländer und der Englischer Sprache für die Deutschen, ed. Johannes Ebers (Halle: Renger, 1802), II: 361.

Dr. Wegeler was in Vienna from 1794-1796 and saw Beethoven almost every day. He reported that Beethoven was "suffering at the time [of the premiere of the first piano concerto in 1795] from the rather severe colic which plagued him frequently. I helped him with minor remedies as best I could." (See Beethoven Remembered: The Biographical Notes of Franz Wegeler and Ferdinand Ries, trans. Frederick Noonan, Arlington, VA: Great Ocean Publishers, 1987, p. 38.)

Thus, we know from Wegeler's first-hand account that Beethoven's abdominal problems date from no later than 1795 when the composer was 24.

In Peter Davies' Beethoven in Person: His Deafness, Illnesses, and Death (Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 2001), he stated that "Beethoven suffered his first bouts of abdominal disorder in Bonn" (p. 164). Davies, however, based that conclusion on Wegeler's report that, when Abbe Georg Joseph Vogler visited Bonn in 1790 or 1791, Wegeler was seated "at Beethoven's sickbed." While Beethoven's illness on that occasion may well have been abdominal, there is unfortunately no information about the exact nature of the illness.

Newly translated to be as close to the original text as possible by William Meredith.

(1.) Letter from Beethoven to Franz Gerhard Wegeler in Bonn from June 29, 1801.

German critical edition: Brandenburg no. 65, vol. 1, pp. 79-80

English collected edition: Anderson no. 51, vol. 1, 59-60

"... but that jealous demon, my bad health, has thrown a wicked hindrance my way: for three years my hearing has been getting ever weaker, and this is supposed to be on account of my abdomen [Unterleib], which, as you know, was already miserable then [der schon damals wie Du weist elend war], but here it has become worse because I was constantly burdened with diarrhea [Durchfall], and because of it an extraordinary weakness has developed, [Dr. Peter] Frank wanted to tone [Beethoven used the word Ton and underlined it, perhaps as a pun] my abdomen [leib] again with strong medicines and my hearing through almond oil, however prosit, nothing came of it, my hearing became ever worse, and my abdomen [Unterleib] always remained in its previous state, that continued until fall of last year when I was often in despair, since a medical asinus advised me to take cold baths for my condition, a more reasonable doctor [recommended] the usual lukewarm Danube baths, that did wonders, my belly [Bauch] became better[,] my hearing remained [bad] or became even worse, this winter things were truly wretched for me, since I had truly frightful colic [Koliken], and I sank once again back into my former condition; and so it remained until about four weeks ago when I went to [Dr.] Vering [Wering] because I thought that this condition also required a surgeon [Wundartz] at the same time, and in any case I had always trusted him, he succeeded in stopping this violent diarrhea [heftigen Durchfall] almost completely, he prescribed lukewarm Danube baths, to which I must always add a flask of strengthening ingredients, [he] gave me absolutely no medicines until about four days ago when he gave me pills for my stomach [Magen] and a tea for the ears, and on account of these I can say that I am stronger and better[,] only my ears, which whistle [sausen] and roar [Brausen] away day and night; I can say that my life has become miserable, for almost two years I have avoided all society because for me it is not possible now to say to people 'I am deaf[.]'"

(2.) Letter from Beethoven to Karl Amenda in Mirben, Courland, from July 1, 1801

German critical edition: Brandenburg no. 67, vol. 1, p. 85

English collected edition: Anderson no. 53, vol. 1, 63-64

" know that my hearing, my most precious part, has greatly deteriorated, when you were with me, I already felt the symptoms but kept silent, now it has become even worse, it still remains to be seen whether or not it can be restored, it is supposed to be caused by the condition of my abdomen [Unterleibs], as concerns it [my abdomen], I am almost completely cured, whether or not my hearing will now become better, that I hope indeed but with difficulty, such illnesses are the hardest to heal, how sad is the life I now must live, everything that was lovely and dear to me has fled from me "

*****

Additional note:

In her edition of Beethoven's letter to Franz Gerhard von Wegeler of May 29, 1797 (Anderson no. 20; Brandenburg no. 30), Anderson translates an important phrase in the letter to refer to Beethoven's health. The original German reads:

"-mir geht's gut, und ich kann sagen immer besser, glaubst du, daß es jemand freuen wird, so gruß von meiner seite.-"

Anderson translated the passage as:

"I am well and I may say that my health is steadily improving. Give my greetings to anyone to whom you think they would give pleasure."

Again, while Beethoven may have meant to refer only to his health and not to his progress or career, the letter is not completely clear on that point.