About a decade ago, scientists made a startling discovery: Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5 in C minor” kills cancer.
Naturally this finding made its way through social media, even catching the attention of a few news outlets.
Beethoven believed in the transformative power of composition, that it could — and ought to — change the world.
Upon further investigation, the story did seem to have a legitimate origin: an institute of biophysics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
These scientists explored how music might affect biological processes beyond its emotional and psychological impacts. They exposed breast cancer cells to Beethoven, Mozart, and Ligeti. Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Ligeti’s “Atmosphères” seemed to have cancer-fighting properties.
In fact, Beethoven’s broody masterpiece was said to kill 20% of the cancerous cells.
Mozart’s “Sonata for Two Pianos” didn’t. Neither did silence.
Mortal beloved
This is the kind of story that resurfaces every once in a while; it was recently shared by the Beethoven Facebook page.
Unfortunately, as is often the case with such stories, there’s less here than meets the eye.
While the study did suggest that Beethoven’s music impacted the health of the cells, it didn’t explain how or why this occurred. The team was unable to pinpoint which aspects of the music caused the effect.
Nor could the researchers determine how healthy tissue might react to the same exposure. It’s one thing to see cancer cells die in a controlled, isolated experiment — it’s another to claim Beethoven can cure an entire population suffering from the disease.
Worse still, the 20% figure often cited in connection with the study was fabricated, as the researchers admitted their methods didn’t allow them to accurately measure cell death.
No real data, no conclusive findings. In short, it was pop science dressed up as legitimate research.
‘Fire from the heart of man’
Beethoven believed in the transformative power of composition, that it could — and ought to — change the world. That as a human endeavor, it ranked higher than philosophy.
“Music,” he once said, “should strike fire from the heart of man and bring tears from the eyes of woman.” He described it as “the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks, and invents,” called it “the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.”
There’s something undeniably compelling about the notion that music holds the potential to heal.
In his pursuit of musical perfection, Beethoven sought a deeper truth, one that might transcend human suffering. Whether or not he succeeded in discovering the cure for cancer, there is no doubt that his work continues to inspire, to uplift, and to connect us with something much larger than ourselves.
Music, as an art form, has always held a magical quality. It operates on a plane that remains barely accessible and beyond comprehension.
How exactly does an invisible disruption of air launch us into every possible emotion? How can notes on a page vanish into instruments and reappear as a work of art capable of shaping human civilization?
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is an enduring testament to this power. We remember it today, two centuries after it was composed, not just because it’s a sublime piece of music but because it resonates with something deeply human.
Music as ‘moral law’
The power of music has long been a subject of philosophical contemplation. Plato referred to music as the “moral law” — a force that gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, and flight to the imagination.
He believed that music was more than entertainment, that it was a law unto itself, a force that shaped the good and the beautiful. Aristotle, too, understood music as a direct imitation of the passions, a means of channeling the deepest emotions and truths of the soul.
For thinkers like Schopenhauer, music stands as the highest form of art, one that speaks directly to the human spirit in ways no other medium can. It transcends the limits of language and logic, speaking instead to a deeper truth that, perhaps, we can only access in fleeting moments of transcendent beauty.
And, best of all, this animating force is part of us at the most fundamental level. I mean, our DNA literally sings.
Fear not the Spirit
What is it about music that elevates it above all other forms of art? It’s not just the way it sounds, but the way it makes us feel. Music is a form of expression — an ancient language, a shared vocabulary that transcends barriers and unites people.
As the philosopher and poet Walter Pater once wrote, all art aspires to the condition of music. Its power is so vast that it can move us in ways words alone cannot.
Perhaps best of all, it arguably serves as proof of God, the breeze of the Holy Spirit. It is the unseen captured by the unseen. It exists on a plane we have only partial access to, like a voice from the kingdom of paradise.
Jesus himself compared the Spirit to the breeze: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).
Music, in a similar way, exists on a plane we can only partially access — an otherworldly force that reaches us even when we don’t fully understand it.
So does Beethoven hold the cure for cancer? In one sense, perhaps he does. His music, like all great art, has the power to heal — if not the body, then certainly the soul.
Maybe that’s the true gift the great composer gave us: not a cure for disease, but a reminder that there’s omething beyond the material, something that moves us, shapes us, and connects us to the greater mysteries of the universe.
Music, Beethoven, Cancer, Kevin ryan, Medicine, Mozart, Culture
