Volume 216, 2015, Pages 305–316
Music, Neurology, and Neuroscience: Historical Connections and Perspectives
Chapter 14 – Georg Friedrich Händel: a case of large vessel disease with complications in the eighteenth century
Abstract
Georg
Friedrich Händel was not only one of the greatest musical giants ever
but also he was probably the first composer who was also the manager and
promoter of his own works. Various myths embellish his various
biographies. This is also true for his pathography: several articles
written by authors from various specialties suggested him having
suffered from psychiatric diseases, like cyclothymia or mania, and
rheumatologic disorders, like arthritis, while others tended to
interpret his recurrent palsies as typical sequelae of ischemic strokes.
More recently, reports proposing lead poisoning as the main source of
disease in Händel gained the attention of musical and lay press. During
his last years of life, Händel was struck with blindness, which in his
era had been interpreted as being due to cataracts. This led to three
“coucher” operations, all of them without any lasting effect. Although a
definite diagnosis cannot be proven from the original sources, the most
plausible explanation for Händel's palsies and visual impairment may be
based on one single context, i.e., cerebrovascular disease. The
possible differential diagnosis will be discussed in this chapter.
Keywords
- Georg Friedrich Händel;
- stroke;
- blindness;
- cerebrovascular disease;
- carotid stenosis
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
