Published 23 March 2023 at 18.09
Cultural news. Through genetic analysis, German researchers have now been able to disprove the theories that Ludwig van Beethoven would have had African ancestry.
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In the study, the researchers at The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig studied preserved locks of hair from Beethoven.
The result shows that at least 99 percent of the great composer's ancestors came from Western and Central Europe. However, he had zero African ancestry.
Also read: Unique mummy study – ancient Egyptians were closely related to Europeans and had no relation to black Africans
Several other interesting things emerge in the study. Among other things, that Beethoven was in fact not a “real Beethoven” – somewhere in his family line, someone must have had an affair that resulted in an illegitimate child.
The researchers also show that Beethoven had a genetic predisposition to liver disease . Metagenomic analyzes further revealed that he had a hepatitis B infection before his death.
This, along with the consistent descriptions of his extensive alcohol consumption, provide “the likely explanation for Beethoven's severe liver disease, which culminated in his death” at age 56, the researchers write.
“Bet that he is more like me”
Afro singer Roberto Blanco caused a stir in the fall of 2021 by demanding that the mayor of Vienna exhume Ludwig van Beethoven's body to conduct a DNA test. This would show that the composer was in fact African, according to Blanco.
In a clip on Youtube, Blanco addressed the mayor and said that through a DNA test of Beethoven “we can see if he's more like you or me”.
– I bet he's more like me , continues Blanco, who is an Afro-Cuban German-language schlager artist who was popular in the 1950s and beyond.
Accused of “whitewashing”
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany and died in Vienna in 1827. Since 2015, theories have been advanced that the composer was of African descent.
Left-wing activists have claimed that it is so-called “whitewashing” when you claim that Beethoven was white. The Concordian, a student newspaper in Minnesota, has confirmed this, citing contemporary descriptions of Beethoven as having a “wide mouth with thick lips, a short, thick nose, and a proud arched forehead”.
Theories about Beethoven's possible exotic provenance has circulated in the past. Most available documents have previously shown that Beethoven's had a Flemish background. However, proponents of the race theory have suggested that the composer's mother, Maria Magdalena, was of Moorish descent.
Called “the Spaniard”
Beethoven expert John Suchet commented in 2020 that it was possible that Beethoven had Moorish blood, but then “probably on the sword side rather than on his mother's side”.
According to Suchet, Beethoven's dark complexion was often commented on when he was alive.
When he went to school in Bonn, Beethoven was nicknamed the Spaniard. Shortly after he arrived in Vienna when he was in his twenties, Prince Anton Esterhazy is said to have called him “the mother”.