Beethoven, the World’s Most Famous Classical Musician, Was a Black Man!
Ludwig Van Beethoven is undoubtedly the most famous and well-known classical musician and composer in history, yet for many years, his exact identity and ethnicity remained a mystery. He has been shown in drawings, paintings, and illustrations all over the world as a white male with either blonde or brunette colored hair.
However, many people referred to Beethoven as a “Mulatto,” or “Black Spaniard.” But why is that? His father was a white German, while his mother was a “Moor,” according to Gabriel Scott, historian and author of The Chosen Ones: Perception of Malcolm and Martin.
The word “Moors” was then used to describe a group of Muslim Northern Africans… or, more broadly, persons of African heritage or even Negros. Because the Black gene is the most prevalent in society, he was frequently referred to as a Black man by his friends and associates. In reality, he was described as having brown skin, black frizzy-wooly hair, a large, wide nose, and a short neck by multiple witnesses.
According to certain authorities, such as Gabriel Scott, a well-known lecturer and historian, Beethoven was frequently compelled and/or pressured to wear white powder on his face in public to mask his ethnic origin. He is also accused of using body doubles for photographs and “euro-centric” historians to conceal his genetic heritage.
Beethoven‘s life, though, is both fascinating and inspiring. He traveled from Germany to Italy at the age of 21 to study composition and immediately established himself as a superb pianist. His hearing began to degrade in his late twenties, and he eventually became almost entirely deaf.
His infirmity, however, did not put an end to his musical career. In reality, he created and published many of his most admired pieces in classical music during the last 15 years of his life. In total, he composed nine symphonies, roughly a dozen pieces of “occasional” music, seven concerti, and four shorter works featuring soloists supported by orchestra. Fidelio was his only opera.
But what’s most intriguing is that this musical talent, who had been mistaken for a white guy for generations, was actually… Black.
