When I was studying music performance at uni, it seemed like everybody had tendonitis, especially violinists (they were the most stressed out, so it figures). All of this led me to wonder how frequently similar-sounding problems were recorded in the Baroque era and earlier... back when violin technique was very different, violas were enormous (and no squishy ergonomic shoulder-rests for anybody!), cellos had no endpins and people arguably had a much rougher time of things health-and-safety wise. (For the record: I play Baroque viola and its medieval ancestor the vielle. Though I have never suffered an injury that forced me to stop playing, both definitely do a number on my forearms and shoulders. I recently went to see a physiotherapist about it and it occurred to me that this probably wasn't an option for people who played the same music I do back when it was new...)
This is an excellent question!
From Dawn Bennett's book:
Susan Harman identifies music injury literature published as long ago as Bernadino Ramazzini’s Diseases of Tradesmen (1713), followed by Poore’s 1887 research into musician’s cramp. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Essay on the True Art of Keyboard Playing, first published in 1753, warns of the hazards of repetitive bass lines during which the left hand can grow stiff and the muscles remain contracted. Bach also warns of the psychological strain associated with prolonged periods of performance: ‘assuming that one were hardened to such labor, even the most dependable musician would begin eventually to waver drowsily and unwittingly through fatigue’. One of the first books dedicated solely to musicians’ injuries is Kurt Singer’s (1932) Diseases of the Musical Profession: A Systematic Presentation of their Causes, Symptoms and Methods of Treatment.
Paderewski seriously injured himself during an insane concert tour (107 concerts in just 117 days), he was in pain and never recovered fully the use of his ring finger (he went for massages and jolts of electricity to be able to play).
I don't know of anything from before that 1713 work Harman references.
Current research clearly shows there are a hell of a lot of injured musicians in the world of classical music these days. We frequently assume that musical tradition connects us with musicians of yore, but I think it can be hard to speculate about what happened in the past because, as you mention, instruments and technique have changed. It is also important to consider performance practice and the whole life of the musician have changed a lot.
We might be having way more injuries because we have some completely different objectives, and work under completely different pressures. Musicians in the past were also under pressure and worked very hard, but listening to Paderewski's recording from only 75 years ago suggests us we are no longer in Kansas: when comparing to early recordings, current practices/audiences do seem to demand different things from performers.
There has been progress, but I think we might still live under the romantic stereotype of the omnipotent virtuoso. We are expected to work hard and develop an amazing technique to play the works of the great masters/virtuosi, but we are not always told the great masters/virtuosi themselves suffered from injuries: Rachmaninoff wrote (in his letters) in the summer of 1923 that he was about to start his "season of pain," that's how he called his concert season; Scriabin thought he had blown his chances of becoming a concert pianist after injuring himself practicing like a mad man.
Were musicians of the past living a similar situation (don't ask don't tell)? Was it not discussed not because it was not common, but because it was understood nothing could be done if it happened to you?
PS: nice username
I'm looking forward to more answers on this too!
I suppose you're already aware of Lully, who died of gangrene after infection set in a self-inflicted injury to his foot, caused by accidentally striking it during a performance with a long conducting staff - a precursor to the baton, which he was banging on the floor to keep time. Ironically the concert he was giving was to celebrate the King getting well after an illness of some sort.
I imagine hearing-impairment related issues would be one of the big ones though.
I love that you play the vielle... Very fascinating! Keep it up :)