Ludwig van Beethoven, Homeopathy, and the Music That Was Born from Healing - Body of Harmony

Ludwig van Beethoven, Homeopathy, and the Music That Was Born from Healing

by: Payam Hakimi
March 2026
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By Dr. Payam Hakimi, D.O. | Body of Harmony Institute of Health & Healing

The Greatest Composer in History Had a Homeopathic Doctor — And He Wrote Music to Prove It

Ludwig van Beethoven, Homeopathy, and the Music That Was Born from Healing

“My doctor saved me, because I could no longer write music, but now I can write notes which help to relieve me of my troubles.” — Ludwig van Beethoven, August 1825

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) is widely regarded as the greatest composer in the history of Western music. His symphonies, sonatas, and string quartets have shaped the course of classical music for over two centuries. But behind the legend lies a story that few people know: in the final years of his life, Beethoven’s health — and his ability to compose — was restored by a homeopathic physician. And in gratitude, Beethoven did something extraordinary: he immortalized his doctor in two musical canons, and channeled the entire experience of illness and recovery into one of the most profound pieces of music ever written.

This is that story.

A Genius Brought to His Knees

By the early 1820s, Beethoven was already profoundly deaf — a cruel irony for the world’s foremost composer. But deafness was not his only battle. Increasingly isolated from friends and family, he complained bitterly about those closest to him. Servants recalled him wandering in fields, waving his arms, scribbling in notebooks, moving erratically between slow and fast paces. His shabby appearance and erratic behaviour even led to his detention by police in 1825, who mistook him for a vagrant.

He suffered from a range of serious illnesses throughout his life, and over the years had sought the care of numerous conventional physicians, whom he famously referred to as “medical asses” (Hayden, 2003). He was not a man who gave his trust easily — to doctors, or to anyone.

Between 1820 and 1826, Beethoven’s physician was Dr. Anton Braunhofer, a professor of biology at the University of Vienna who practiced homeopathic medicine. The relationship between these two men would prove to be one of the most consequential doctor-patient relationships in the history of music.

The Spring of 1825: A Near-Death Crisis

The spring of 1825 was not good to Beethoven. In late April, he developed a serious intestinal illness — an inflammation of the bowel. By May, he was spitting blood. His condition deteriorated so rapidly that he wrote to the writer and critic Ludwig Rellstab at the start of May:

“Forgive me in consideration of my very delicate health. As perhaps I may not see you again, I wish you every possible prosperity. Think of me when writing your poems.” — Beethoven, early May 1825

He could no longer compose. He could no longer write a single musical note. The man who had given the world the Moonlight Sonata, the Fifth Symphony, and the Ode to Joy was, in his own words, dying.

Dr. Braunhofer ordered him away from Vienna for rest at the nearby spa of Baden, and prescribed a homeopathic regimen that included dietary guidance — avoidance of wine, coffee, and spices — and a homeopathic dose of Cinchona officinalis (Peruvian bark, the natural source of quinine). He counselled Beethoven against coffee specifically, explaining that while its stimulant effect might seem to offer temporary relief, it would ultimately damage his stomach and nerves over the long term — a perspective that aligns precisely with modern functional medicine.

Beethoven’s nephew Karl described Dr. Braunhofer’s approach as homeopathic medicine, noting that “he too follows fashions in medicine” — a backhanded remark that nonetheless confirms the nature of the treatment.

Under Dr. Braunhofer’s care, something remarkable happened. Beethoven recovered. By summer, he was back at work and completed one of the greatest string quartets ever written: the String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132, finished in July 1825. In August of that year, he wrote to his associate Anton Schindler:

“Mein Arzt half mir, denn ich konnte keine Noten schreiben; nun aber schreibe ich Noten welche mir aus den Nöten helfen.” (“My doctor saved me, for I could no longer write a single note, but now I am writing notes that will help me out of my distress.”) — Beethoven, August 1825

The German wordplay here is intentional and characteristic of Beethoven’s wit: the word “Note” in German means both a musical note and a state of distress or need (“Not”). Musical notes and rescue from distress — intertwined in a single sentence, just as they were in his life.

The Heiliger Dankgesang: A Holy Song of Thanksgiving Born from Healing

It was during this same period of illness and recovery in Baden that Beethoven composed what many consider one of the most profound pieces of music in all of Western history: the third movement of his String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132 — the Heiliger Dankgesang, or the Holy Song of Thanksgiving.

Beethoven’s own inscription on the score reads: “Holy Song of Thanksgiving of a Convalescent to the Deity, in the Lydian Mode.” It is a declaration of faith, of survival, and of gratitude — written at the very moment when Dr. Braunhofer’s homeopathic care was restoring him to health.

The Heiliger Dankgesang was composed in the same weeks that Beethoven was under Dr. Braunhofer’s homeopathic care in Baden. His recovery and this music were born together.

The Architecture of Illness and Recovery

The movement is structured around two alternating musical worlds, and understanding them is essential to understanding what Beethoven was expressing:

• The Convalescent Music — Written in the ancient F Lydian mode (a scale without sharps or flats), this section moves glacially, almost like a meditation. Musicologists describe it as sounding like being trapped in an infinite space — similar to the sensation of lying in a sickbed, day after day, with no sense of time passing. It is music of stillness, prayer, and waiting.

• Neue Kraft fühlend — Feeling New Strength. Then, without warning, the world shifts. The austere stillness suddenly breaks open into an entirely different musical universe — warm harmonies, optimistic trills, the feeling of light returning. Musicologists describe this as one of the most shattering and unique contrasts in all of Beethoven’s output. It is the sound of a body beginning to heal.

But Beethoven does not simply move from sickness to health and stop there. The movement alternates between these two worlds — illness returning, then strength again, then stillness once more — as though he is truthfully depicting what recovery actually feels like: not a straight line, but a back-and-forth between fragility and renewal.

At the very end, the slow convalescent music returns one final time — but only briefly. The original eight-note chorale is slowly reduced to five notes, then three, then two, then one. At the same time, the simple accompanying passages grow increasingly complex, until the entire soundscape dissolves into what Beethoven himself instructs musicians to play with “the utmost, deepest, and sincerest feeling.”

“It is clearly a statement of faith. You observe that in people who have had extremely hard lives — they have found that attitude of gratitude.” — Edward Dusinberre, First Violinist, Takács Quartet

The Music That Healed Others Too

The Heiliger Dankgesang has resonated with composers, musicians, and listeners across the centuries precisely because it captures something universal: the experience of being seriously ill, the fear of death, and the extraordinary gift of recovery.

When the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók was battling leukaemia in the final months of his life in 1945, he quoted the Heiliger Dankgesang in his last piano concerto. After surviving a violent heart attack, Arnold Schoenberg may have drawn on the movement in composing his 1946 string trio. The British poet Ruth Padel has read her poem inspired by the Heiliger Dankgesang at funerals, finding in its music a language for navigating loss.

Edward Dusinberre of the Takács Quartet, one of the world’s foremost interpreters of Beethoven’s late string quartets, has described performing the movement during times of collective crisis as giving “inner peace” — a sense that even in the midst of uncertainty, illness, and death, music carries hope.

Even T.S. Eliot was transformed by Beethoven’s late quartets. In 1933, he wrote that he wanted to get “beyond poetry, as Beethoven in his later works, strove to get beyond music” — and his celebrated Four Quartets were directly inspired by Op. 132.

The Two Canons: Music Written for a Homeopathic Doctor

Beethoven’s gratitude to Dr. Braunhofer was not merely personal — it was artistic. Of the 43 canons Beethoven composed across his entire lifetime, he dedicated two specifically to his homeopathic physician. These small, intimate works stand alongside the monumental Heiliger Dankgesang as evidence of what this healing relationship meant to Beethoven.

Canon No. 1 — WoO 189 (May 11, 1825)

Four-Part Canon in C Major: “Doktor, sperrt das Tor dem Tod”

German: “Doktor, sperrt das Tor dem Tod, Note hilft auch aus der Not.”

English: “Doctor, bar the gate to death; notes save from distress.”

Beethoven wrote this canon on May 11, 1825, in Baden, and enclosed it with a playful letter to Dr. Braunhofer. The original manuscript, bearing that date, is preserved in the archive of the Society of the Friends of Music in Vienna. The text is the same wordplay he used in his letter to Schindler: “Note” means both musical notes and distress. Music and medicine, rescue and gratitude, all folded into a single phrase.

Dr. Braunhofer was reportedly very pleased. Beethoven’s nephew Karl confirmed it. And well he should have been — to receive a canon from Ludwig van Beethoven, written in your honor, is perhaps the greatest testimonial any physician has ever received from a patient.

🎵 Listen to and explore WoO 189:

🎵 Beethoven-Haus Bonn — Official Archive (WoO 189) — Manuscript, score & listening samples

🎵 Beethoven Music Research Center — Full historical notes and context

🎵 Presto Music — Recordings Catalog — Available recordings

🎵 Classical Music Online — Stream or download

Canon No. 2 — WoO 190 (June 1825)

Two-Part Canon in C Major: “Ich war hier, Doktor, ich war hier”

German: “Ich war hier, Doktor, ich war hier.”

English: “I was here, Doctor, I was here.”

Written just weeks after the first canon, in June 1825, this brief two-part piece is Beethoven’s quieter, more tender acknowledgment of his doctor’s presence during the crisis. The words are simple to the point of vulnerability: “I was here.” Coming from a man who rarely showed vulnerability to anyone, this is a profound statement. It is Beethoven saying: you were there for me, when no one else was.

The dedication to Dr. Anton Braunhofer is preserved in the official Beethoven-Haus archive in Bonn, Germany, the world’s foremost center for Beethoven scholarship.

🎵 Listen to and explore WoO 190:

🎵 Beethoven-Haus Bonn — Official Archive (WoO 190) — Manuscript, dedication & listening samples

🎵 Muziekweb — International Recordings Catalog — Available recordings worldwide

A Homeopathic Principle Immortalized in Opera

The connection between music’s greatest figures and homeopathy does not end with Beethoven. Richard Wagner, the towering German opera composer, credited a homeopathic physician with saving his life from typhoid fever in 1839, writing in his autobiography: “It was to a splendid homeopathic physician, Dr. Prutzer, that I owed my recovery and my life.”

And in what may be the most extraordinary artistic tribute to homeopathic philosophy ever created, Wagner wove the central principle of homeopathy directly into the plot of his final opera, Parsifal (1882). In the story, the hero Amfortas is wounded by a sacred spear. He suffers for years — until Parsifal retrieves the very same spear and uses it to heal the wound it originally caused.

The spear that wounds is the spear that heals. This is a direct and intentional metaphor for the foundational homeopathic principle: Similia Similibus Curentur — Like cures Like. That Wagner encoded this into his final and most spiritual opera suggests how deeply homeopathic thinking had penetrated the consciousness of the 19th century’s greatest creative minds.

What This Tells Us About Homeopathy — and About Medicine

Beethoven was not a true believer in any particular medical system. He was a pragmatist — a man who had dismissed and mocked many conventional physicians. What he cared about was results. And when Dr. Braunhofer’s homeopathic treatment restored his ability to compose, Beethoven responded the only way he knew how: with music.

The three works he created in the summer of 1825 — the Heiliger Dankgesang, Canon WoO 189, and Canon WoO 190 — form an extraordinary trilogy of gratitude. Together they tell us several important things:

• Belief is not required. Beethoven was deeply skeptical of medicine in general. His recovery demonstrates that homeopathic treatment can be effective regardless of the patient’s prior belief — an important point when homeopathy is dismissed as merely placebo.

• The greatest minds embraced it. Beethoven joins a remarkable cohort of world leaders, literary giants, scientists like Charles Darwin, and cultural icons who sought and benefited from homeopathic care throughout history.

• The doctor-patient relationship matters profoundly. Dr. Braunhofer’s care was holistic — combining homeopathic remedies with dietary guidance, attentive monitoring, and genuine concern for his patient’s wellbeing. This integrative approach is precisely what we practice at Body of Harmony.

• Gratitude expressed in the highest form. That Beethoven — a man who called conventional physicians “medical asses” — composed three works of music for and about his homeopathic doctor is perhaps the most eloquent and enduring testimonial in the history of medicine.

• Healing inspires creation. The Heiliger Dankgesang has comforted composers, poets, and listeners across two centuries. It was born from illness and recovery — and the homeopathic care that made that recovery possible.

At Body of Harmony Institute of Health & Healing, we carry forward this tradition every day. Homeopathy, functional medicine, hormone health, and osteopathic care are not separate systems — they are different expressions of the same truth: that healing requires seeing the whole person, not just the disease. Beethoven’s story is not a historical curiosity. It is a reminder that the right physician, at the right moment, with the right tools, can change everything — and that sometimes, the gratitude that follows takes the form of a symphony.

A Note for Video Viewers

If you would like to hear the music discussed in this article, we encourage you to listen to the Heiliger Dankgesang — the Holy Song of Thanksgiving — from Beethoven’s String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132. Close your eyes. Listen for the moment the slow, ethereal “convalescent music” suddenly gives way to the joyful section marked Neue Kraft fühlend — Feeling New Strength. That is the sound of homeopathic healing, expressed by the greatest composer who ever lived.

References & Further Reading

• Hayden, D. Pox: Genius, Madness, and the Mysteries of Syphilis. New York: Basic Books, 2003.

• Mai, F. Diagnosing Genius: The Life and Death of Beethoven. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University, 2007.

• Hellenbroich, A. In Celebration of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 225th Birthday, Fidelio, Winter 1995.

• Albrecht, T. Letters to Beethoven and Other Correspondence. Vol. 3: 1824–1828. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1996.

• Beethoven-Haus Bonn — WoO 189 & WoO 190 Official Archive. beethoven.de

• Ullman, D. The Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People and Cultural Heroes Choose Homeopathy. Berkeley: North Atlantic, 2007.

• Schweisheimer, W. Beethoven’s Physicians. Musical Quarterly, 1945, 31:289–298.

• Valentino, A. The Holy Song of Thanksgiving. BBC Culture, 2020.

• Kapilow, R. Composer and Musical Commentator — cited in BBC Culture feature on the Heiliger Dankgesang.

• Dusinberre, E. First Violinist, Takács Quartet — cited in BBC Culture feature on the Heiliger Dankgesang.

• Wagner, R. My Life, Volume I. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1911.

Dr. Payam Hakimi, D.O. | Body of Harmony Institute of Health & Healing | bodyofharmony.com

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