BBC R3 - Total Eclipse - Occulist

BBC R3 Documentary - 'Total Eclipse'

Broadcast in the 'Twenty Minutes' Series

Presented by Simon Heighes

Broadcast August 20, 2009

Coded from a digital source at 128/44.1



BBC Blurb

Simon Heighes and Professor Daniel M Albert, an ophthalmic surgeon

with a special interest in the history of medicine, discuss the story of the

flamboyant English 'doctor' who blinded the two greatest figures in

Baroque music - Bach and Handel.



John Taylor was a charlatan - a charismatic, womanising practitioner who

lied his way to treat popes, royalty and anyone else who could afford his

high fees. He treated Bach, after the composer's failing sight prevented

him from continuing to work on The Art of Fugue, performing a procedure

known as 'couching' - using a needle to pierce the composer's eyes and

displace his cataracts. Some months after his operation - after days filled

with pain, fever and vivid hallucinations - Bach died, leaving his great

work incomplete.



When Taylor was called upon to treat the eyes of London's foremost

musical celebrity, Handel, he completely blinded him and the composer

never wrote music again.

BBC Blurb unquote

___________________________

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Taylor_(oculist)