Search

The cause of the early death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) at the age of 35 has been the source of much discussion in the medical community. Investigators attributed to Mozart nearly 150 different medical diagnoses. However, the neurosurgical aspect of the early death of Mozart has yet to be well-analyzed, and this subject was investigated herein. The key words “Mozart” and “Mozart’s death” were searched in PubMed as well as the libraries of universities. The main source was the archive and website of Internationale Stiftung MOZARTEUM/Salzburg (www.mozarteum.at) and the cranium stored in the Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum in Salzburg/Austria. The linear fracture of the cranium is important, since it shows the neurosurgical aspect of the early death of Mozart. Mozart’s disease was most likely a neurotraumatologic one. His fracture likely occurred several months before his death, as evidenced by signs of healing. Intense headaches and declining musical performance in his last year may have been influenced by intracranial hemorrhage induced by the linear fracture. His final disease therefore may have been chronic postconcussion syndrome depending on chronic calcified epidural hematoma.

Background The human brain can respond to and participate in music. Learning to play a musical instrument requires complex multimodal skills involving the simultaneous perception of several sensory modalities. In case of brain damage, the musician and nonmusician brains may have different capacities for reorganization and neural remapping. We aimed to investigate the effect of music on patients who had a brain tumor and/or underwent a neurosurgical procedure, comparing the recovery of those who had a musical background with those who did not. Methods A literature review was performed to search for any evidence on this issue. We divided the cases into two groups: as group I consisted of the nonmusician patients, while group II consisted of musicians with a neurosurgical disease. Studies were rated from 0 (no effect) to 4 (high effect). Results We found seven published studies as well as case reports. It was observed that the outcomes and quality of life of the musician group were better than those of the control groups or nonmusician patients in all of the investigated studies, but no statistical difference between musicians and nonmusicians was found. Conclusion Music-related structural changes in the brain may occur in musicians. However with limited number of cases, it cannot be assorted the improved recovery in musicians after neurosurgical disease or procedures by his or her enhanced plasticity. There are limited number of cases, for that reason, it cannot be assorted the improved recovery in musicians after neurosurgical disease or procedures by his or her enhanced plasticity. Professional musicians, who are making a living through their musical abilities, may also have a strong motivation to undergo stressful and enduring rehabilitation. An early restart of the musical activity in musicians with neurosurgical disease may lead to better outcomes, better quality of life, and better psychological parameters, in a shorter time than in nonmusicians.

Patienten mit chronischen Erkrankungen wie Diabetes mellitus konnen vom Singen oder Spielen eines Musikinstruments in vielerlei Hinsicht profitieren. Allerdings mussen bei der Wahl des Musikinstruments, beim Planen des Unterrichts, von Proben oder einer Orchesterfreizeit einige Besonderheiten der Erkrankung berucksichtigt werden.

Clara Haskil (January 7, 1895-December 7, 1960) was one of the most famous female pianists of the 20th century. In her life and work she set new standards in piano playing. However, her career was beset by poor health and the adversities of two world wars. In her lifetime Haskil had three major disorders: juvenile scoliosis requiring treatment in her adolescence, a tumor of the sellar region requiring surgery at age 47 years, and a traumatic brain injury causing her death at the age of 65. Her medical history illustrates the development of surgical methods and rehabilitation in medicine before and after World War II. At an early age, she spent a year in a nursing home for orthopedic diseases due to scoliosis. In 1942, when she was 47 years old, she displayed the first symptoms of a suprasellar brain tumor: headache and hemianopsia. The famous surgeon Marcel David performed surgery on her without general anesthesia while Haskil mentally played a Mozart piano concerto as a neuronal representation to control her memory and mental abilities. Only 3 months after that operation she played a Mozart piano concerto at a concert that began her career as a great interpreter of Mozart. Her neurologic rehabilitation was remarkable and highlighted new methods in the field. In 1960, she traveled to Brussels for a concert. In the train station she stumbled on the stairs and hit her head on one of the steps. Skull fracture and intracranial hematoma were diagnosed. Doctors tried to operate on her but she lost consciousness and died. Haskil created new styles in piano playing, and her medical history offers indications of new concepts in neurosurgery.

Introduction: The education of a musician may have an effect on the neuronal functions and organization of the brain, promote brain plasticity, resulting in functional and structural changes. A var...

Die Oper „Die Gezeichneten“ des osterreichischen Komponisten Franz Schreker reflektiert die Entstehung der Psychoanalyse Freuds und thematisiert die gesellschaftlichen Wandlungen zum Zeitpunkt ihrer Entstehung. Ihre Figuren verkorpern zahlreiche von Freund beschriebene psychoanalytische Begriffe. Die Figuren leben zum einen ihre Triebe hemmungslos aus, gleichzeitig werden im Verlauf psychische Mechanismen wie Triebsublimierung, Konsumption oder Verdrangung herausgearbeitet. Das Werk Schrekers ist als Reaktion auf die Psychoanalyse Freuds zu sehen, die sich zum Zeitpunkt der Entstehung des Werkes als wissenschaftliche Methode etablierte. Der Stoff fuhrt dem Horer gleichsam die Psychopathologie einer Gesellschaft vor Augen, die blind ihrem eigenen Untergang entgegengeht. Anhand der Figuren der Oper und ihrer Handlungsmotive sollen einige der zentralen Begriffe der Psychoanalyse dargestellt und ihre kunstlerische Umsetzung erlautert werden.

Currently, neurosurgery has gone through moments of great renewal, however, in the first half of the 20th century, unwanted outcome after surgical approach had occurred. The aim of this historical overview of a picture of the musicians is to show the development of Neurosurgery in 20 century.History of neurosurgery in the first half of the 20th century and the current was investigated through PubMed. A brief tour of some of the major landmarks of contemporary neurosurgery was also made.A musician picture was found which taken in 1928. Two of the musicians suffered neurosurgical disorder, and operated in 1937, both immediately died without gaining conscious at early postoperative period.We described the role of neurosurgery in the lives of two famous musicians, George Gershwin and Maurice Ravel. A picture taken 1928, shows the developing of Neurosurgery from first half of 20th century to current.

Background The nervous system works like a great orchestra. Specifically, the music of Mozart with its “Mozart effect” is appropriate to use in neurosurgery. We investigated the relationship between Mozart's music and neurosurgery. Material and Methods We used digital catalogs like “PubMed” and the libraries of universities. Key words were “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” and “neurosurgery and music.” Results In the first half of the 20th century, performing neurosurgery on some musicians, such as Maurice Ravel, Josef Hassid, and George Gershwin, resulted in a fatal outcome. The cause of this is probably that neurosurgery had not been developed yet in the first half of the 20th century. In the past 3 decades, the neurosurgical operations of musicians show that musicians have rich associations among auditory, somatic, and sensorial systems. Conclusion It is clear that we have much to learn from studies about music and brain function that derive from our surgical experiences with patients. The neuronal plasticity of musicians' brains may be different from that of nonmusicians' brains. Musicians with enhanced motor skills have greater capacity for plasticity because of enriched interhemispheric connections. Listening to music and the effect of Mozart in neurosurgical practice, intensive care, or rehabilitation were documented in many studies. As authors, we mean something different: Its effectiveness should be studied. We concluded that in current neurosurgical practice, Mozart has an effect. More research and clinical studies are needed.

Background There has been no study of craniotomies of famous musicians throughout history. This subject was investigated. Methods The key search words were "neurosurgery and music" and the names of composers. We used digital catalogs such as PubMed as well as university libraries. Results We found 4 musicians from the twentieth century with different neurosurgical diseases: Maurice Ravel, George Gershwin, Clara Haskil, and Pat Martino. Conclusions Neurosurgical operations affected the musical careers and lives of mentioned musicians and two of them died. Neurosurgeons can understand the effect of limited diagnostic tools such as magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography at the time on the poor outcome of 2 musicians.