I read an article that stated that the legendary composer Ludwig Von Beethoven had cardiac arrhythmias and this came across in his compositions. (in terms of creativity...)

 

Is there some causative link between the two ?

 

Please opine.

 

 

I very much doubt it cardiac arrhythmias are really common it doesn't make somebody particularly good at playing music. It will increase the risk factors of the patient developing blood clots etc also they can be sporadic you can be normal most of the day then have occasional irregularities. In fact if it were just cardiac arrhythmias that gave beethoven his talents then we would all be beethoven because everybody has them at some point in their lives

Edited January 10, 201511 yr by fiveworlds

You are referring to this paper:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25544329.

 

It depends what kind or arrhythmia it is, and are we talking about a condition which produces altered state of consciousness affecting creativity, or something that *somehow* harmonises with the heart frequency and is reflected in the music?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25207803.

 

Seems far fetched to me.

You are referring to this paper:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25544329.

 

It depends what kind or arrhythmia it is, and are we talking about a condition which produces altered state of consciousness affecting creativity, or something that *somehow* harmonises with the heart frequency and is reflected in the music?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25207803.

 

Seems far fetched to me.

My own rather far fetched conclusion :

 

I think Beethoven suffered from bipolar disorder which in turn was co-related with his arrythmias (tachycardias corresponding to manic states and bradycardias corresponding to depressive states) . This produced his "eccentric streak", as it were. This can also be seen in personalities like Van Gogh and Leonardo da Vinci although, but whether they also experienced arrythmias is doubtful. The common theme in all these cases is the enhanced creativity of the person concerned, as is evident.

Being deaf

 

I very much doubt it cardiac arrhythmias are really common it doesn't make somebody particularly good at playing music. It will increase the risk factors of the patient developing blood clots etc also they can be sporadic you can be normal most of the day then have occasional irregularities. In fact if it were just cardiac arrhythmias that gave beethoven his talents then we would all be beethoven because everybody has them at some point in their lives

The talent and ability has to be there in the first place which he had in spades. As he receded from external sounds, his internal rythmmic sensations, like breathing and heart rate, gained more prominence in his everday awareness. It is pausible imo that he found inspiration in the rythmns of his arythmmic heart.