Bach FAQ 30
What Caused the Death of Johann Sebastian Bach?..
Johann Sebastian Bach most likely died as a result of a combination of three different factors. He probably suffered from diabetes. After two eye surgeries and the medical treatment available at the time, he was completely exhausted. A stroke finished him off. Either the first one or a second one..
Let’s start earlier in Bach’s life. Johann Sebastian Bach likely suffered from poor eyesight his entire life. But that did not hinder his creativity. For if it had, his body of work would have been even more monumental. That is, of course, nonsense. Hardly anyone knows that the foremost Bach scholar suspects that the approximately 1,100 to 1,200 works by Bach that have survived represent only ten percent of the Thomas Cantor’s life’s work..
But back to Bach’s health. Bach went blind in 1750. Today, it is believed that his blindness was caused by undiagnosed diabetes. However, that wouldn’t have made any difference. Even if it had been diagnosed at the time. After all, effective treatments for “sugar,” as diabetes was also called, were not yet known around 1750. Other Bach scholars believe that Bach’s blindness was caused by an initial stroke..
It was precisely at this time, when Bach was going blind, that a famous British ophthalmologist – an oculist, or “eye surgeon” – was visiting Leipzig. Such experts traveled and practiced in various European cities during these trips. John Taylor operated on Bach. The first time, however, was completely unsuccessful. He then operated on Johann Sebastian Bach a second time. Again without success. That, however, was not the decisive factor in Bach’s declining health. After all, he could not see either before or after the surgery. But otherwise he was doing well. However, his “overall state of health” deteriorated significantly due to the treatment methods following the surgeries – which were still catastrophic at the time – and the lack of effective medications. Added to this was the fact that, even if medicine did not help, treatments such as bloodletting took a particularly heavy toll on a sick and weakened person..
Curiously Johann Sebastian Bach suddenly, half a year after his second operation, was able to see again. Just to suffer a second stroke (... when a first stroke caused the blindness six months earlier) or, well a first stroke, which weakened Bach terminally. He was still living for ten days, before he finally died..
After both operations, Bach was in very poor health for nearly six months. Not only was his health severely compromised. The enforced rest and the compulsion to remain inactive – which must have been almost unbearable for Bach – certainly did little to improve his health. Whether, as modern scholarship on Bach’s final year suggests, Johann Sebastian suffered from diabetes or his blindness was caused by a stroke is surely irrelevant. In any case, the surgeries would not have altered either of these potential future risks..
Strangely enough, Johann Sebastian Bach suddenly regained his sight about six months after his second operation. Only to suffer a second stroke on the very same day (... or, if a first stroke had caused his blindness) or, indeed, a first stroke, which naturally further weakened Bach in his already fragile condition. He lived for another ten days before he finally died.
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