bakethatlinguist:

meganphntmgrl:

A pretty shocking overview of how Beethoven’s racial heritage has been pretty much totally erased from history in favor of a whitewashed popular image.

Why didn’t I know this?! He’s one of my favorite composers!!!! I had to write papers on him for orchestra!

Man…This is just like when I found out that the dude who wrote the Comte of Monte Cristo was bi-ethnic!!

Very interesting read, but in essence it’s just conjecture piled upon conjecture. It seems Beethoven was considerably darker that the popular image we have of him, judging by both his looks in the one portrait that we know him to have preferred and his description by contemporaries. However the connection to the African Moors of Spain is very sketchy, the “fact” that his mother mother was Moorish is presented without a shred of evidence. There’s no way to rule out his having African elements to his background, and the article presents a conceivable path whence these elements may have come. But in the end, there’s no facts at all. 

The article then descends into looking at some of Beethoven’s pieces, and trying to draw connections between them and some African/African American dominated music styles of today. This is of course sheer nonsense, even if he had African blood, he grew up in White European Germany. To suggest that Beethoven’s use of unusual syncopated rhythms had anything to do with his heritage is totally insane. Rhythms of specific cultures are not carried on the DNA.

Having said that, still read it and make up your own mind. It’s still very interesting. But have a good read of the comments for a more critical look at the matter.