[Etiology of the ear disease of the composer Bedrich Smetana].

As far back as 1964 Professor Dr. H. Feldmann, Director of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster claimed on the basis of his Prague studies that the Czechoslovakian composer Bedrich Smetana suffered from untreated syphilis with which he is said to have infected himself in 1874. The authors of the article presented here are members of the scientific research group of the Museum of Bohemian Music in Prague. On the occasion of the centenary of Smetana's death they were given an opportunity to examine and assess written and factual posthumous documents from Smetana's estate. This research did not yield any pointer towards Smetana's ear disease as being due to a luetic infection.