Neurology of the Musical Masters

ICNC2024
Neurology Through Art and Time

Neurology of the Musical Masters
Phillip L. Pearl

This lecture-concert will explore the role of neurology in the work and lives of great musical masters, spanning from the classical period to modern music. The acquired, progressive sensorineural deafness of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) remains unsolved but the clinical course and autopsy data, with the composer’s body having been exhumed twice, derive a full differential diagnosis with Paget disease being the most likely explanation. The erratic productivity and untimely death of the Romantic period composer Robert Schumann (1810-1856) was arguably attributable to a combination of bipolar affective disorder and tertiary neurosyphilis. His widow Clara Schumann (1819-1896), a magnificent pianist and composer of complex works, suffered rheumatism and strokes yet buoyed by her platonic relationship with Johannes Brahms. The familial dementia of Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was accurately described in Brain by the great neurologist Alajounine. Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1974), arguably the greatest composer for piano of the 20th Century, suffered a neurodegenerative disorder most consistent with prolonged ALS. Cole Porter (1891-1964), the prolific contributor to the Great American Song Book, suffered severe phantom limb pain following amputation for traumatic nerve injuries. A clinicopathologic correlation of the tumor of George Gershwin (1898-1937) will demonstrate the herniation pattern and pathologic misdiagnosis of perhaps the greatest melodist of all time.