Intended for healthcare professionals

  1. News & Views
  2. “Compulsive plague!...
  3. “Compulsive plague! pain without end!” How Richard Wagner played out his migraine in the opera Siegfried
Feature Christmas 2013: Medical Histories

“Compulsive plague! pain without end!” How Richard Wagner played out his migraine in the opera Siegfried

BMJ 2013; 347 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f6952 (Published 12 December 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;347:f6952
Author Information

Please note:
  • Rapid responses are electronic comments to the editor. They are not journal articles. The BMJ reserves the right to remove responses which are being wilfully misrepresented as published articles.
  • Your name will be published with your response. Include your email address in the text of your response if you want others to see it.
  • Once posted, you will not have the right to remove or edit your response. The BMJ may remove or edit responses at its absolute discretion, including when it is brought to our attention that a response spreads misinformation.
  • A proportion of responses will, after editing, be published online and in the print journal as letters, which are indexed in PubMed. Rapid responses are not indexed in PubMed
  • Rapid responses have their own URL and are retrievable in an advanced search of thebmj.com in perpetuity.
  • If patients could recognise themselves, or anyone else could recognise a patient from your description, please obtain the patient's written consent to publication before sending your response. See our patient consent form.
  • The word limit for rapid responses is 600 words (excluding references).
  • By submitting this rapid response your are agreeing to our full rapid response requirements.
  • Please do not include original data in your response, unless it has already been published in a peer reviewed journal and you are able to include a reference.

Note: this will be visible to readers on the site. Please only include information you are comfortable with being published.

Statement of Competing Interests

A competing interest exists when professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such as patients' welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain or personal rivalry). Find out more.

Compose response

Note: avoid using generic titles like 'in response to the authors' - be specific.

More information about text formats

Plain text

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Terms and Conditions

Read terms and conditions

Vertical Tabs

Back to top