Joseph Haydn's encephalopathy: new aspects

Abstract

With increasing age, Joseph Haydn complained of progressive forgetfulness preventing him from composing for about the last 8 years of his life. He spent his days more and more inactive and immobilized, suffering from a disabling gait disturbance. Still, most biographers consider diffuse atherosclerosis and congestive heart failure to be reasons for Haydn's medical condition and physical decline during the last years of his life. A more sophisticated and detailed inspection of documents and sources, however, leads to the diagnosis of subcortical vascular encephalopathy (SVE), caused by progressive cerebral small vessel disease. Important features of the disease are mood changes, urinary symptoms, and in particular a characteristic gait disturbance, while dementia is only mild and occurs later in the course. Haydn was severely disabled by the symptoms of SVE for several years and often reported difficulties in the completion of his last oratorio "Die Jahreszeiten" (The Seasons). Subsequently, the disease prevented him from composing another large oratorio, "Das jüngste Gericht" (The last judgement), which had been already drafted. Finally, the progress of SVE stopped his long career as a composer and conductor at the age of 73 years.

Keywords: Haydn; depression; dyspraxia; emotional lability; gait disorder; lacunar strokes; small vessel disease; subcortical vascular encephalopathy; white matter lesions.