M.D. An article in the medical journal, Chest, reports that Johannes Brahms was overweight, stored fat primarily in his upper body, and made horrible sounds when he slept. These are signs of sleep apnea, a condition that causes a person to stop breathing for more than 30 seconds many times each night.
Sleep apnea makes a person irritable.
He died of pancreatic cancer, which is associated with diabetes and upper body obesity, common findings in sleep apnea. He never married probably because of the terrible sounds he made during sleep. Baritone, George Henschel, reported that Brahm's snoring drove him from a room they shared on a concert tour. Brahms drank heavily and used to fall asleep in his theater box. His neck was so large that he couldn't wear ties.