Study Found Beethoven's 5th Symphony Destroyed 20% of Cancer Cells in Lab Tests — Or Did It?

For years, a rumor has circulated that Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth Symphony had been shown to kill 20% of cancer cells in lab tests without affecting healthy cells. For example, someone posted about it on Facebook on Dec. 23, 2024 (archived):

Researchers found that Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 destroyed 20% of cancer cells in lab tests:
Scientists at the Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are exploring whether music could play a role in cancer treatment. 

Led by Dr. Márcia Alves Marques Capella, the team exposed both healthy and cancerous cell cultures to different music genres. Remarkably, Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 destroyed about 20% of cancer cells in just a few days, while leaving healthy cells unaffected. A similar effect was observed with György Ligeti's Atmosphères, though Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos showed no measurable impact.

The exact mechanism behind these effects remains unknown, but researchers speculate that rhythm, frequency, or intensity could be key factors. Further experiments, including Brazilian Samba and Funk, are planned to uncover more about this intriguing phenomenon. While the research is in its early stages, it offers a fascinating glimpse into the potential of music as a noninvasive cancer therapy.

This post had garnered 66,000 reactions as of this writing, as well as 26,000 reshares. But the claim is not new. A search revealed such claims have been circulating since at least 2011. 

The rumor originated from a 2011 article published in O Globo, a daily newspaper in Brazil. The article said that when exposed to a half hour of Beethoven's Fifth, one in five cells in a culture of MCF-7 cells — an estrogen-, progesterone- and glucocorticoid- receptive human breast cancer cell line isolated in 1970, and one of the most studied cancer cells in the world — had died. Among surviving cells, many had shrunk or lost "granularity," or complexity. 

Ligeti's "Atmosphères" had similar results, the story added, though the first movement of Mozart's Sonata for two pianos barely had any effect.

The article asserted that the experiment could open new avenues for cancer treatment. "We were happy with the result," the article quoted the lead researcher, Dr. Márcia Alves Marques Capella, as saying. "We believed that the symphonies would only provoke metabolic alterations, not cancer cell death."

The news story said that the team would soon move on to studying the effects of samba and Brazilian funk on the same cells.

Later, the story was picked up by Improbable Research, a website that compiles unusual research in science, medicine and technology and hands out, every year, the Ig Nobel Prizes.

However, the article in O Globo did not link to published research articles describing the experiment or its results, which were published years later. A Snopes email exchange with Capella revealed that while the story had reported some facts correctly, it had exaggerated their implications, and also conveyed false information. 

What the Experiment Actually Showed

Capella shared the article published after the experiment. It appeared in 2013 in the journal Noise and Health. A second one appeared in 2016 after another experiment on MDA-MB-231 cells — a "triple negative" aggressive breast cancer cell line, meaning it is not receptive to estrogen or progesterone and does not have a certain protein on its surface. The latter was published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a journal that ceased publication in 2024 after being delisted from Clarivate's Web of Science, a database of academic journals, because of quality concerns.

The research was based on previous findings that suggested the effects of music may not be solely emotional and through auditory cells. Instead, some evidence existed that the pressure of sound on fluids that surround cells could affect non-auditory cells. Capella and her team set out to show whether music could affect "cellular morpho-functional parameters, such as cell size and granularity." 

The team exposed cancer cell cultures in petri dishes to the three musical pieces via speakers, as well as to silence as an experimental control. The researchers repeated each experiment at least four times to confirm the results. They reported finding a statistically significant increase in cell death and a reduction in size and granularity in cells exposed to Beethoven's Fifth, as well as to Ligeti's Atmosphères, but not for the controlled condition of silence or for Mozart's Sonata. In a first, the research suggested that music or sound can get in the way of how "hormones bind to their targets," affecting physiological processes.

Neither journal article had reported on the number of dead cells, nor did they make claims about the therapeutic power of these musical pieces on cancer. Neither claimed to have tested the music on healthy cells. Both articles said that the cell lines in the experiments shared characteristics with epithelial cells — which line various parts of the body and act as a first barrier to prevent infections — making them good models to test. The research team wrote that the experiments merely aimed to "better understand the direct effects of acoustic vibrations in the form of music in human cells in culture."

In her emailed response, Capella emphasized that she and her team had conducted these experiments on cells in petri dishes, and that the results "could not be extended to human beings." In other words, while the musical piece was shown to kill cancer cells in a controlled lab setting, this did not mean the music could be used to treat cancer.

Further, she said that it was not correct that one in five (or 20%) cells had died after being exposed to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. "The methods we used did not allow us to quantify cellular death," she said. 

Lastly, she told Snopes that she had never planned further experiments with Brazilian funk or samba.

Capella added that, after these claims went viral, she gave an interview to CNN Radio to dispel the confusion, adding that the reach of the CNN interview had been much smaller than that of the viral claims. Then, she stopped investigating the effects of music on cells because she said it became difficult to find funding. Snopes could not find the CNN interview with Capella. 

Snopes also reached out to Renato Grandelle, the journalist who wrote the initial report. He said in a WhatsApp exchange that he remembered finding out about the study on EurekAlert.org, a nonprofit news-release distribution platform operated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. News releases on EurekAlert are shared by "universities, journal publishers, medical centers, government agencies, corporations, and other organizations engaged in all disciplines of scientific research," and can include findings before they are published in peer-reviewed journals. EurekAlert does not guarantee the accuracy of the news releases. 

Grandelle told Snopes that no one from the Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho had contacted him to correct the story after its publication.

Snopes could not find the original EurekAlert news release. We contacted the press department of the institute asking if they had kept a press release about this in their archives and will update the story should they respond.