SMETANA, BEDRICH

Smetana, Bedrich: translation

(1824-1884)

   A Czech composer who later in life suffered from hearing loss, possibly due to syphilis, and who reported * musical hallucinations in the form of two male voices singing in G major, as well as a chord in A's major. The chord in A's major, also referred to in the literature as a form of * tinnitus, appears as a piercing high-pitched tone in his symphony Ma Vlast (My Life).

   References

   Evers, S., Ellger, T. (2004). The clinical spectrum of musical hallucinations. Journal ofthe Neurological Sciences, 227, 55-65.

   Morgenstern, L. (2005). The bells are ringing. Tinnitus in their own words. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 48, 396-407.