That jealous demon, my wretched health : disease, death and composers
Noble, J. (Jonathan), 1942-2018
Books
The health - and especially deaths - of composers excite controversy. Was Mozart really poisoned? Did Tchaikovsky commit suicide? How did Beethoven lose his hearing? Much good previous scholarship has been sullied by unsubstantiated views, and many composers' reputations have been unfairly tarnished by scandalous commentary, often involving alcoholism or syphilis. This text, by a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, charts the disturbed physical and mental health of 70 great composers. It attempts to unpick the evidence forensically and to define the cause of death based on the legal paradigm of a balance of probabilities. The author reviews where the composer was when the final illness or death overtook him and considers how many of them would have fared with modern treatment.
Main title:
That jealous demon, my wretched health : disease, death and composers / Jonathan Noble.
Author:
Noble, J. (Jonathan), 1942-, author
Imprint:
Martlesham : The Boydell Press, 2018.
Collation:
526 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm
Audience:
Specialized.
ISBN:
9781783272587 (hbk. :)
Dewey class:
780.922
Local class:
780.922
Language:
English
BRN:
2263001