Although it's only speculation that composer Ludwig Van Beethoven suffered from an irregular heartbeat, a new study suggests that this was the case and that his heartbeat even influenced much of his music.
Beethoven's music is known for its compelling rhythms, and a team of researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of Washington suggest that some of these rhythms came directly from Beethoven's own heart.
Suggesting that the connection between our minds and bodies often influences us, specifically in the arts, the researchers spent time listening to several of Beethoven's compositions and studying the rhythms of each. They then compared those rhythms to what someone with cardiac arrhythmia experiences, when the heart beats too fast, too slow or irregularly.
"When your heart beats irregularly from heart disease, it does so in some predictable patterns," says Joel Howell, M.D., Ph.D, a professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. "We think we hear some of those same patterns in his music."
History speculates about Beethoven's health and attributes several conditions to him, including cardiac disease. However, he's most known for his deafness, and researchers believe that made him more attuned to his other senses, and particularly more sensitive to the feeling of his own heartbeat.
Of course, there is no evidence that Beethoven suffered from any ailments, and medical diagnostics in the 18th century wasn't advanced enough to detect most of these conditions. However, the truth might just be in the music, at least in confirming health problems with Beethoven's heart.
One piece of music that researchers studied was the final movement "Cavatina" in the composer's String Quartet in B-flat Major, Opus 130. This piece is often referenced as full of dark emotion, music that causes disorientation and even "shortness of breath," something associated with cardiac arrhythmia.
Researchers uncovered similar findings for other pieces written by Beethoven, pointing to a link between Beethoven's heart and his music, making his work literally heartfelt.
"The symptoms and common association of an abnormal heartbeat with so many diseases makes it a reasonable assumption that Beethoven experienced arrhythmia - and the works we describe may be 'musical electrocardiograms,' the readout of modern heart rhythm testing equipment," says Howell. "While these musical arrhythmias may simply manifest Beethoven's genius, 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."
[Photo Credit: Wiki Commons]
