Schubert, almost certainly. It recognized no boundaries, infecting both rich and poor. Other possible symptoms include the tumors which he had removed from his back and neck, frequent rashes all over his body, and pain in his chest. He is also credited with writing the Book of Satan. Scott Joplin, the "king of ragtime," was a composer who specialized in the jazz-like form that is characterized by syncopation, complex bass lines, and seemingly awkward stop times. One of these final compositions, an unusual piece known as Theme and Variation in E-flat Major, "Ghost Variations," is explored in this context. Despite physicians best efforts, nothing could stop the deadly spread of syphilis throughout the continent. In fact, Hills gonorrhea may have had a hand in the Confederates losing the Civil War, as his inflamed genitalia caused him to be ineffective at the Battle of Gettysburg and other, smaller battles. Its effects are more pronounced . He did not find serious evidence for Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Mozart, Brahms, Britten or Beethoven having been alcoholic, despite alternative claims.He says: If youre a true alcoholic, theres no way you can go around composing operas, symphonies or string quartets.. The composer had written up to the death of Li in Act 3 and had sketched out the remainder of the opera. Although the cause of his death was typhoid fever, many theories suggest that he died from syphilis. 2 - Hitler As such, therole of syphilis in history - and its potential explanatory power for these seemingly inexplicable behaviors - has been the subject of a great deal of historical speculation. An R Acad Nac Med (Madr). He contracted syphilis, possibly from one of the women that modeled for him, and was a known alcoholic. By 1580, the STD had become the worst epidemic to strike Europe since the Black Death. Few, if any, others should be added on a balance of probabilities, despite alternative mythology., He goes on to say: We all like a little bit of the salacious now and again. But he concludes that too many composers reputations have been unfairly tarnished by scandalous commentary based on flimsy evidence: This tendency to advance the potentially salacious, especially VD or alcohol, can render an awful disservice to the reputations of great men who deserve better., He adds: The literature regarding the illnesses of Beethoven and the death of Mozart are enormous the vast majority of it is sheer nonsense., Noting that in the cases of Mozart and Beethoven more than 100 diagnoses have previously been advanced, he criticises the appalling character assassination of the latter by the 20th-century musicologist Ernest Newman: A century after Beethovens death, Newman declared him to have been syphilitic, a drunkard and a ruthless cheat, allegations quoted over subsequent years. Medical Daily. Mug shot of John Dillinger around 1934. Biography.com. One prolonged look at basically any historical momentbrings into sighta plethoraof irrational and unstable behaviors on the partof significant historical figures. His personal relationships were often unfulfilling because his idea of romance didnt fit reality. Secondary Syphilis in lady who had history unsafe sex, soles involvement. He was intelligent, and yet capable of saying and doing the most foolish things. It certainly gives a new twist to his Sins of Old Age, doesnt it? Their previously enigmatic behavior has been rendered completely in line with the symptoms associated with the condition. Composer did not have a heart-valve problem that was related to syphilis, new research suggests. As we all know, syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease, but Columbus and his crew were unaware of it. Some consider him the first member of the 27 Club, a fairly prestigious list of musicians who died at 27. However, after the first four years following infection the majority of people (some 90%) self cure and will never experience the most horrific later-stage symptoms of tertiary syphilisthe ones that many of us saw in those high school sex-ed VD scare films. Hitler was deeply concerned with his health and kept several doctors within his inner circle. I know there's quite a few. He suffered from hoarseness, a common symptom of syphilis, which made him unable to project his voice on stage. FOIA Was van Goghs art created from the suffering he may have had from syphilis? Med Princ Pract. Sibelius was a chronic hypochondriac. And if he did why didnt he go blind, insane, and drop dead much sooner? He is best known for his lieder, German art songs for voice and piano. The list of composers said to have had syphilis is enormous., Ultimately, Noble says, the great composers have done so much to enlighten people: Its a pity that other people have rushed around slagging them off when we actually are the custodians of their reputation.'. However, much to their chagrin, Barrymore found his calling in the theater and began what would become a family dynasty. "In the 12-step community, if meth was your thing, everybody had syphilis," he says. A brief overview on the psychiatric ailments of many great composers reveals suicide attempts and more or less severe depression following external events. However, like every other news site, we have costs to bear and are urging readers to help share them. The claim was based on hearsay and an elderly doctor who had nothing to do with Brittens care. One of them, TheodorMorell, was an acknowledged expert on treating syphilis. 1999-2022 ClassicsToday.com. His demise may have been sped along by syphilis. Just among composers - Franz Schubert, Bedrich Smetana, Scott Joplin, Hugo Wolf, Gaetano Donizetti, and Frederick Delius all had syphilis, and even more are rumored to have had it, but remain contested. In middle age, suffering the effects of tertiary . His paintings, though, were imbued with more realism, such as depictions of sex workers where they may have generally stood on the street. (Yech!). In 1916, a year before he died, Joplin suffered from a condition known as dementia paralytica, a severe disease in which both his mental and physical faculties completely broke down. Throughout all of this, van Goghs paintings became darker and more bizarre. January 12, 2000. Since anonymous STD testing was not available at that time we probably won't find out. We may speak of these facts jocularly, but the social cost of all of this was, of course, incalculable. -, Arch Intern Med. Scott Joplin, the king of ragtime, was a composer who specialized in the jazz-like form that is characterized by syncopation, complex bass lines, and seemingly awkward stop times. British-American actor Maurice Barrymore. Many of his psychological and physical symptoms, such as frequent migraines, could also be attributed to syphilis. Just wondering. Scott Joplin. Scott Joplin grew up in Texas and began his career as a big-name performer when he played at the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, while he was studying music in Missouri. For example, assuming a basic similarity in behavior, why did some composers survive their early maturity while others did not? 1847. It's not sure if it was only through his father or his mother also. Main composers of the Romantic period from 1815 to the end of the 1800s, include Beethoven, Schubert, Verdi, Wagner, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Brahms and Tchaikovsky, For a while, sometimes a long while, ones brain can adjust to heavy substance abuse, since new neural connections form and one can still be functional. In America, syphilis was common at the time because there was no protection from the disease and no real cure. And that was that. (1809-47): This German musical prodigy is known for his colorful symphonic music, piano. He traveled to the United States during World War I and worked on propaganda for both Germany and Italy. After logging in you can close it and return to this page. Hint. Patients with Pagets disease (osteitis deformans) present with a progressive bone deformity that would not be missed at autopsy even if the syndrome (a consistent combination of symptoms and medical signs) was not described the 1870s. Most newborns with congenital syphilis have no symptoms, although some experience a rash on the palms of their hands and the soles of their feet. The biography states that when Britten's surgeon . I could write a book! Hugo Wolff. He would be struck by bouts of illness throughout the Civil War, which sidelined him and forced his unit to fall under different leadership. Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien/Wilhelm August Rieder/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain. His symphonic work . Answer (1 of 5): My God of music - Ludwig van Beethoven most probably had inherited syphilis. He also had a falling out with his prestigious patron and fled to France to avoid his creditors. Famous people with syphilis include high-profile artists, such asLudwig van Beethoven,and rulers, like Henry VIII. The reason is simple. 3. 8600 Rockville Pike Its second-phase rash, which most people will get several weeks after the initial chancre sore disappears, is disgusting, but its worth remembering that life in the days before deodorant and toilet paper was pretty disgusting anyway, so it may be that fewer people noticed. Goss relates that Sibelius assured his wife-to-be, Aino, who was well aware of her fiancs reputation, that he had received this inoculation before they were married. Encyclopedia Britannica. Crowley returned to Britain during the 1930s and died destitute and in squalor. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the J. Edgar Hoover, director of the nascent FBI, assigned a special team to apprehend Dillinger. In the last sixteen years of his brief life, this composer of really unparalleled lyric gifts composed, among other works: 8 finished and "unfinished" symphonies (not 9, which is the number typically bandied about); 10 orchestral overtures; 22 piano sonatas; 6 masses; 17 operas; over 1000 works for solo piano and piano four-hands; around . In the pre-antibiotics era, syphilis was an extremely common disease. From a personally assembled database of 13,859 classical musicians, What Killed the Great and not so Great Composers delves into the medical histories of a wide variety of composers from both a musical and medical standpoint. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. Beau Brummel was possibly the first modern celebrity and had the scars to prove it. Later, Herndon speculated that syphilis may have caused the Lincoln children to die prematurely. Before Charles-Henri Valentin Alkan. Schubert, Donizetti, Schumann, Smetana, Wolf, Joplin, Deliusall were likely victims of syphilis. Smetana. Charles-Henri Valentin Alkan (born Charles-Henri Morhange) was one of the most prominent piano virtuosos of his time and of Jewish descent. He is actually the great-grandfather of actress Drew Barrymore. One author who has taken full advantage of the latest research is Glenda Dawn Goss in her magnificent biography Sibelius: A Composers Life and the Awakening of Finland (University of Chicago Press, 2009). Sign up for our weekly newsletter and get them delivered straight to your inbox. He is working on several projects, but until he finishes one, he will write for Listverse for his bread and butter. Romance was hence difficult for the composer, and it is said that was why he turned to prostitutes. The recommended treatment for primary, secondary or early-stage latent syphilis which refers to an infection within the last year is a single injection of penicillin. As author D.H. Lawrence wrote: I am convinced that some of Shakespeares horror and despair, in his tragedies, arose from the shock of his consciousness of syphilis.. Franzen C. Syphilis in composers and musicians: Mozart, Beethoven, Born into prestige and surrounded by affluent circles, yet plagued by isolation and mental illness, he aspired to become a writer. 2018 Nov;76(11):791-794. doi: 10.1590/0004-282X20180122. Now we know that the reality wasnt quite so simple. Still, it is quite reasonable to assume that many historical figures were affected by syphilis. He believes Schubert is one of only six of the major composers who had assured cases of syphilis. Semin Neurol. However many do not reach the point where too much of the brain is destroyed and always stay functional, although seldom at the level of functioning the person would have had he/she not had the heavy substance abuse. As a young man, he fought to marry the pianist he had fallen in love with, finally taking his future father-in-law to court, and championed the work of other composers. Being involved in the theater, Shakespeare was believed to have had a vigorous sexual appetite, so thats one way he might have become infected. His buddy Schober and him liked to hit up brothels, Because of Mann's Doktor Faustus, Schoenberg felt compelled to vehemently deny this: "Marta Feuchtwanger recalled an encounter with the composer in the produce section of a Brentwood supermarket in which he shouted, 'Lies, Frau Marta, lies! He was killed in a firefight with FBI officers. Although Christopher Columbus is generally credited with discovering America, at least one of his other discoveries was less than noble. These infections can cause a wide range of symptoms. The syphilis theory is somewhat discounted because most of the evidence is circumstantial. Via Wikimedia The death of the American pianist Leon Fleisher (1928-2020)1 whose brilliant career as a piano soloist was upended in his mid-thirties by the development of a crippling movement disorder affecting his right hand, brings to mind the composer By mid-January, 1917, he had to be hospitalized, and was soon transferred to a mental institution where he died on April 1, 1917. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Biography, by biography.com editors. Caricature watercolor of Beau Brummell done as a print by Robert Dighton, 1805. Goss book is both biography and social history; it seeks to place the composer in his context, and along the way it provides a wealth of facts large and small that might otherwise have gone unobserved. When Columbus returned to Europe, he presented many interesting gifts and other curiosities.