Beethoven May Have Composed Masterpieces To His Own Irregular Heartbeat

Many who listen to Beethoven's masterpieces would describe them as deeply heartfelt -- and according to new research, this description may be surprisingly apt.

The unusual rhythms found in some of Beethoven's most iconic works may be linked to the heart condition cardiac arrhythmia, which he is suspected to have had, research from the University of Michigan and University of Washington suggests.

In a new paper published in the journal Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, the researchers -- a cardiologist, a medical historian and a musicologist -- investigated the link between the German composer's likely heart condition and his music.

"We started thinking about the ways that somebody's physical illnesses and physical body could manifest in the music they were making," one of the study's co-authors, Dr. Joel Howell, a medical historian and professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan, told The Huffington Post.
The researchers examined the rhythmic patterns of a number of Beethoven's compositions for clues of this condition, and indeed found that the rhythms of certain sections of his famous works reflect the irregular rhythms of cardiac arrhythmia.

Full article: Huffington Post

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