Exhibitions

As his hearing deteriorated, Beethoven suffered a blow of fate that is almost impossible to imagine as a composer and musician. Few people realise that he also suffered from numerous other ailments, which he treated with almost as much meticulous care as he applied to his compositions. Throughout his life, he suffered from stomach problems, including severe cramps and indigestion. The exhibition focuses on Beethoven’s specific ailments and introduces his doctors, who were leading authorities in the field of medicine in his day. The treatments ranged from Danube baths and drinking cures to almond oil ear drops and horseradish-soaked cotton wool, right through to the then-novel methods of electrotherapy, thus also highlighting Beethoven’s interest in technical innovations.

An international team of researchers has succeeded in decoding Beethoven’s genome using five strands of hair. The exhibition, marking the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death, also explains the methods used and the findings of this study, which were presented in 2023.