Deryk Barker responded to Edson Tadeu Ortolan:

>>Another question to increase the discussion: wasn't Beethoven an
>>african-dutch descendent?
>
>Oh no, not this again!  IIRC this is entirely based on a fundamental
>misconception that when Beethoven was referred to as "Die Schwartze"
>this implied african heritage.

Very true.  To be exact: in Bonn he sometimes was called "the Spaniard"
and in Vienna some of his friends referred to him as "the Moor", but both
expressions only point to the fact that he had a rather dark skin, dark
hair and dark eyes and in summer time the color of his skin was "worsened"
by his long walks outside.

>I don't believe there is any other evidence for this claim.

You're quite right.  Unfortunately the story is lingering on and on
and the defenders often point to the drawing and the engraving made
by respectively Hoefel and Letronne in 1814 and 1821.  For those who
too ardently wish to turn him into a black he looks a bit negro-like.
Conveniently those defenders prefer to overlook the life mask of 1812 and
the death mask.  Both prove beyond any doubt that Beethoven's features must
have been Caucasian indeed.  So IF (see the great, big IF) he had one or
two drops african blood in his veins, it didn't show.  And the Caucasian
look of his features is confirmed by his skull, of which we possess a
photograph and a plaster model, made in 1863, when he was exhumed.  I think
it's high time to throw that silly fairy tale about black Beethoven into
the dustbin forever.

Greetings,
Joyce Maier
www.ademu.com/Beethoven