Cavallera GM, Giudici S, Tommasi L. Shadows and darkness in the brain of a genius: aspects of the neuropsychological literature about the final illness of Maurice Ravel (1875-1937).
Med Sci Monit 2012;
18:MH1-8. [PMID:
23018361 PMCID:
PMC3560563 DOI:
10.12659/msm.883470]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2012] [Accepted: 04/04/2012] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
In 1948 the famous French neurologist Théophile Alajouanine published the article "Aphasia and artistic realization", a landmark in the field of research about aphasia, which discussed the case of the composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). Since then, many researchers have explored the final illness of the composer. In 2003 Medical Science Monitor published 2 articles about the case. In this article we intend to present works published on the Ravel case, to discuss them, and to suggest a general overview on the topic. Many hypotheses have been proposed by researchers, but complete diagnosis is still an enigma, since no post-mortem was made. The most up-to-date perspective seems to point to comorbidity of superimposed elements, which might date back to the composer's fragile youth.
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