My question is, "Why does it matter?" Is it because only whites can write
great music? Only blacks? Seems to me either question invites a ridiculous
answer.  Reducing it to the even further absurd: yes, Beethoven, Bach,
Brahms, Wagner, Strauss, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Josquin, Monteverdi, Verdi,
Stravinsky, and so on were all black, since it appears that the earliest
homo sapiens were black (or at least located in Africa, or has that theory
been blown up as well?).  Ultimately, it's not an interesting answer,
either yes or no. Neither explains the existence or qualities of
Beethoven's music.  If you didn't know who wrote a particular piece, you
probably couldn't infer from the music the ethnicity of the composer
anyway.

Steve Schwartz