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Researchers find high levels of lead, mercury and arsenic in Beethoven's hair

smithsonianmag.com

101–104 of 104 posts

Re: Researchers find high levels of lead, mercury and arsenic in Beethoven's hair

#101

Beethoven wrote a letter to his brothers that he never sent but it’s often referred to as a suicide note. It’s interesting — apparently he hid his bad hearing for a long time and considered it a humiliation. From the letter it also sounds like he was a real dick to people around him as a result, but they weren’t aware. So it serves as a sort of confession, apology and goodbye. You can read it here it’s pretty short.…

Better than just reading the letter is to listen to the musical change in Beethoven's works. Beethoven's music is usually divided into 3 periods. The first is really classical sounding, like late Mozart. In fact, Beethoven was a fan of Mozart and some sources say that Mozart appreciated Beethoven's compositions too. Go listen to string quartet no. 1, or symphony no. 1 for a bit. StructureStructured, restrained, even…

> Now go out and impress your friends at dinner parties with your deep knowledge of Beethoven! Tune in next time for Bach: the original "ba-rock" star.

That is Bach, and it rocks. It's a rock block of Bach, that he learned in a school called the School of Hard Knocks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Nf_MD5gHXk&t=30s

Re: Researchers find high levels of lead, mercury and arsenic in Beethoven's hair

#102

"It was so incredibly tragic that he couldn’t hear this majestic music that he created." He couldn't physically hear the performance of it, but it's possible he could "hear" what it would sound like - and he very possibly heard it in his head before writing a single note down on paper (or however he recorded his music). I'm not sure everyone has this ability, but whenever I've written/recorded music, I almost literal…

Me too!

What to play next occurs to me and my hands just do it.

Have not checked if this Ted talk[1] holds up but for me playing instruments is very unlike anything else. Woodworking and cooking, while I enjoy them, do not have the same holistic euphoria to them.

[1] https://youtu.be/R0JKCYZ8hng?si=Of64EvoR1_iu818G

Re: Researchers find high levels of lead, mercury and arsenic in Beethoven's hair

#103

"It was so incredibly tragic that he couldn’t hear this majestic music that he created." He couldn't physically hear the performance of it, but it's possible he could "hear" what it would sound like - and he very possibly heard it in his head before writing a single note down on paper (or however he recorded his music). I'm not sure everyone has this ability, but whenever I've written/recorded music, I almost literal…

Beethoven's deafness may have influenced his compositions in unique ways, leading him to focus more on the emotional part of music..

Re: Researchers find high levels of lead, mercury and arsenic in Beethoven's hair

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't reckon so, we know a great deal about Mozart and that he was incredibly productive throughout his working career which spanned 30 of his 35 years. Thanks to Köchel and others essentially Mozart's entire life's work is very well documented and that over those 30 years he produced about 626 musical works most of which are of the highest standard, and of those some rank as works of sheer genius, not only have th…

This is a beautiful comment, and I couldn't agree more. There is only one standard of accomplishment and it's set by people like Mozart. Accepting that is humbling, but it's required to know yourself and grow. My contributions probably won't amount to much, but Mozart (et al) have shown us what good looks like and it's fun to strive.

And thank you very much for your most welcome comment. It's nice to know one's posts are read but also that some appreciate them. :-)
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