I was going through literature about surgeons who were musicians and came across this interesting information. In this write-up, I am going to discuss the association between Billroth, a surgeon and Brahms, a composer.
Billroth is known to surgeons as the pioneer and founding father of abdominal surgery. I know him from his association with gastrectomy. I did not know that he was also a proficient musician. He wanted to study music but was persuaded to take up medicine by his family. He played both the piano and violin. He never considered science and music to be in conflict with each other. He attempted to apply scientific principles to musicality and wrote research articles on this subject. He organized small concerts at his home.
Johannes Brahms was a noted composer in Vienna. Along with Bach and Beethoven , he was considered musical royalty (3’B’ s).Practically all of his compositions were played first in Billroth’s home.
Billroth and Brahms developed a close friendship. They met in Zurich and their association continued lifelong.
Billroth believed that the study of music aided his surgical abilities. Although he was pessimistic regarding the future of music, thankfully he has been proved wrong.
There are several associations between physicians and artists. In Greek mythology, Phoebus- Apollo is considered to be the God of both medicine and music. Here is a piece of Billroth's music.
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