That Jealous Demon, My Wretched Health: Disease, Death and Composers

528 Pages·2018·23.002 MB·English

by  Jonathan Noble

That That
That
Jealous Jonathan
Jealous
Jealous
Noble
Demon, Demon,
My Demon, My
T
h Wretched
Wretched
a
My
JONATHAN NOBLE t Health
Health
is a retired surgeon, who has J
D
e
spent many years researching Disease, Death
i a
the illnesses and deaths of Disease, Death s Wretched
l and Composers
composers. He is a Fellow of e o
and Composers
the Royal College of Surgeons a u
and was President of the British s s Health
Association of Knee Surgeons as e D The health – and especially deaths – of
, composers excite controversy. Was Mozart
well as the British Orthopaedic
D e really poisoned? Did Tchaikovsky commit
Sports Trauma Association.
m suicide? How did Beethoven lose his
e Disease, Death
He looked after Test cricketers, hearing? Much good previous scholarship
a
Manchester United, and dancers o has been sullied by unsubstantiated views,
t n and Composers
and musicians in the North h and many composers’ reputations have
of England. The author, a renowned orthopaedic surgeon, has treated his subject , been unfairly tarnished by scandalous
matter as he would a patient coming for a consultation, considering a M commentary, often involving alcoholism
all the information available to him. His treatment of seventy n or syphilis.
y
d
composers provides a series of fascinating and revealing stories.

W This book, by a Fellow of the Royal College
This opportunity to consider their health as a matter of fact, C
of Surgeons, charts the disturbed physical
rather than ‘colour’ burnished by time will surely help us o r and mental health of 70 great composers.
e
appreciate their lives more, and understand their music better. m It attempts to unpick the evidence
t
COVER IMAGES c forensically and to defi ne the cause of
Front cover: Mozart’s ear (centre), Autograph – PETROC TRELAWNY p h death based on the legal paradigm of
File M, Houghton Library, Harvard University; o a balance of probabilities. The author
anatomical engraving of an eye (bottom left), e
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; anatomical etching s d reviews where the composer was when
e
of a hand (bottom right), Rijksmuseum, the fi nal illness or death overtook him and

Amsterdam, Gift of C.E. Daniels, Amsterdam; r H considers how many of them would have
Cholera cultures grown in petri dishes (top s
right), Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Purchased e fared with modern treatment. Chapters
with the support of the Mondriaan Stichting, a are organised thematically, by illness;
the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, the l and numerous misconceptions, such as
VSBfonds, the Paul Huf Fonds/Rijksmuseum t madness fuelling creativity, are challenged.
Fonds and the Egbert Kunstfonds. h
The book relates the nature of composition
Front fl ap: Anatomical engraving of a ribcage, : to composers’ suff ering, showcasing much
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
triumph in adversity, and, importantly,
Jonathan Noble
Back cover: Anatomical engraving of a skull, rehabilitates reputations.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
COVER DESIGN
www.stay-creative.co.uk
Foreword by Petroc Trelawny

That Jealous Demon,
My Wretched Health
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
That Jealous Demon,
My Wretched Health
DISEASE, DEATH AND COMPOSERS
Jonathan Noble
Foreword by
Petroc Trelawny
THE BOYDELL PRESS
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© Jonathan Noble 2018
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner

The right of Jonathan Noble to be identified as
the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
First published 2018
The Boydell Press, Woodbridge
ISBN 978 1 78327 258 7
The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620–2731, USA
website: www.boydellandbrewer.com
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy
of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate
This publication is printed on acid-free paper
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To my family, especially my beloved and indulgent wife, Joan. Also to
two dear friends, Joyce and the late Michael Kennedy, without whose
inspiration and guidance this would have been impossible.
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Contents
List of Illustrations x
Foreword by Petroc Trelawny xii
Acknowledgements xiii
Medical Glossary xv

Introduction 1
1
The Frailty of Youth 7
MOZART 9
BELLINI 36
BIZET 39
Pergolesi 41
Purcell 41
2
A Triumphant Old Age 43
JOSEPH HAYDN 44
SAINT-SAËNS 46
ELGAR 49
SIBELIUS 55
Monteverdi 59
Verdi 60
Johann Strauss II 61
Janáček 62
R Strauss 63
Vaughan Williams 64
3
Iatrogenic Afflictions 67
J. S. BACH 69
HANDEL 72
HOLST 77
GERSHWIN 82
RAVEL 86
 viii  Contents
4
Syphilis 97
SCHUBERT 102
SMETANA 109
DELIUS 112
WOLF 118
Donizetti 121
Chabrier 122
5
Alcoholism 125
Arnold 129
Lambert 130
Field 131
Satie 132
MUSORGSKY 135
GLAZUNOV 140
6
Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and Suicide 143
SCHUMANN 145
BRUCKNER 159
TCHAIKOVSKY 165
Gesualdo 183
Jeremiah Clarke 184
Warlock (aka Heseltine) 184
7
Nerves Beyond the Edge:
Other Afflictions of the Nervous System 187
SHOSTAKOVICH 189
PROKOFIEV 197
BERLIOZ 202
Gluck 210
Gounod 211
MENDELSSOHN 213
Copland 217
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Contents  ix 
8
Broken Hearts 219
LISZT 222
WAGNER 226
DVOŘÁK 230
MAHLER 233
NIELSEN 241
BRITTEN 244
Borodin 253
Rimsky-Korsakov 254
Poulenc 255
9
Breathless: Respiratory Diseases 257
WEBER 260
CHOPIN 264
GRIEG 272
STRAVINSKY 276
Vivaldi 281
Schoenberg 281
10
Cancer 285
ROSSINI 287
DEBUSSY 293
BRAHMS 298
PUCCINI 307
RACHMANINOV 310
BARTÓK 313
FINZI 317
Massenet 320
11
The Ultimate Blow: Deafness 321
BEETHOVEN 323
FAURÉ 346
Epilogue and Coda 351
Appendix: Accidental and/or Violent Deaths 363
References 366
Bibliography 439
Index 465
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