[The Pathography and Art of Beethoven, Revisited]

The musician Ludwig van Beethoven suffered from progressive hearing loss and abdominal pain, both of which can be explained by lead intoxication. With genomic analyses, Begg et al. (2023) have confirmed that the five locks of hair attributed to Beethoven were authentic. Moreover, the possible cause of his severe liver disease was revealed. Rifai et al. (2024) have observed unusually high lead levels in authenticated locks of hair from Beethoven. Based on the new pieces of evidence, we conclude that his hearing loss and gastrointestinal complaints were caused by plumbism.