Acute-on-chronic subdural hematoma: the death of the famous XIX century soprano Maria Malibran—a study of the sources

Abstract

Maria Malibran (1808–1836) is one of the most famous sopranos of the nineteenth century. In 1825, along with her father, the renowned tenor Manuel Garcia, she introduced the Italian opera in America for the first time. The European debut in Paris (1828) definitively crowned her as a star. Thus, she was requested by the most famous European theaters. In July 1836, during an equestrian excursion in London, she fell from her horse dashing her head against the ground, resulting in a state of insensibility. Since that accident, she had suffered from continual headache and nervous attacks, but she continued to work. In September 1836, she attended a music festival in Manchester, but her health rapidly worsened: episodes of nervous attacks, headache, and fainting occurred with higher frequency. At the end of a representation, she was attacked by violent convulsions. In the following days, she was laid in a kind of stupor. Afterward, she died at the age of 28. The hypothesis that prolonged efforts during her performance could have provoked a rebleeding of a pre-existent chronic subdural hematoma should be taken into account as a possible cause of death.