Beethoven is remembered as one of history’s greatest composers, but his life wasn’t always as upbeat and light as his music. Throughout much of his adult life, Beethoven lived with a series of chronic ...

Caitlin O'Kane is a New York City journalist who works on the CBS News social media team as a senior manager of content and production. She writes about a variety of topics and produces "The Uplift," ...

NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly 200 years after Ludwig van Beethoven’s death, researchers pulled DNA from strands of his hair, searching for clues about the health problems and hearing loss that plagued him.

In the autumn of 1802, some 25 years before his death, Ludwig van Beethoven wrote a letter to his brothers. The famous composer, distraught about his encroaching loss of hearing, implored them to seek ...

A portrait of Ludwig Van Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler, painted in 1820. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons German composer Ludwig van Beethoven began losing his hearing in his 20s, a fact that ...

On a stormy Monday in March, 1827, the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven passed away after a protracted illness. Bedridden since the previous Christmas, he was ravaged by jaundice, his limbs and ...