Ode To Joy

[bayswater]

It’s the 200th anniversary of the first performance of Beethoven’s 9th

[stubbsonic]

Seems like only yesterday....

[cuttime]

There was a good NYT article yesterday that I won’t post a link to because it’s behind a paywall, but the gist of it was that new analysis of Beethoven's hair showed massive amounts of lead. The reason given was that cheap wine of the day was sweetened with lead salts to make it taste better, also that lead was used on the corks to make them firmer. It also stated that the wine was fermented in containers with lead soldering that leached into the acidic wine. The conclusion was that LVB definitely suffered from lead poisoning, but it may not have been the cause of all his maladies or his deafness.

[stubbsonic]

Wow! That is interesting. I have to imagine that lead poisoning has been a pernicious force throughout history, both before and after we figured out how toxic it is. (See PFAS)

[bayswater]

As per BBC4 show earlier today, it was the longest symphony at the time, the first with a chorus, and was performed after only two rehearsals very soon after it was written.

(And he did the score in Performer V0.001b)

[mikehalloran]

As per BBC4 show earlier today, it was the longest symphony at the time, the first with a chorus, and was performed after only two rehearsals very soon after it was written.

(And he did the score in Performer V0.001b)

Wow! That is interesting. I have to imagine that lead poisoning has been a pernicious force throughout history, both before and after we figured out how toxic it is. (See PFAS)

Much evidence that lead poisoning, especially wine, was a major health issue for the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, they didn't know this at the time.