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