Was Beethoven Black?
Was Beethoven Black?
Music history is filled with Black geniuses.
There’s Jimi. There’s Coltrane, Jimi, Nas, MJ, Aretha, Prince, Whitney, Stevie. Drake. Just joking. Pac, Nina, Louis, Ye, Jay, Bey. Everyone knows these black icons, but what if there is another icon? What if the king of classic, Ludwig van himself, belonged to this group? What if Beethoven was black?
At the turn of the 20th century, British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor started to notice some physical similarities between him and Beethoven. Being mixed race himself, with a white mother and a black father, Taylor speculated that maybe Beethoven was also black. Having returned from the deeply segregated USA, Taylor jabbed that “If the greatest of all musicians were alive today, he would find it impossible to obtain hotel accommodation in certain American cities.” This is on account of the USA being… let’s just say... deeply messed up at the time.
In the thirties, black press began reporting on the possibility of Beethoven’s blackness. This is likely where civil rights leaders such as Stokely Carmichael picked up on the idea. To a Seattle crowd, Carmichael said, “Beethoven was as black as you and I, but they don’t tell you that.” Malcolm X also voiced a similar idea, claiming that Beethoven’s dad was “one of the blackamoors that hired themselves out in Europe as professional soldiers.” Rolling Stone magazine even published a story in 1969 which was headlined: “Beethoven was black and proud!” In 2007, Nadine Gordimer published a series of short stories titled “Beethoven Was One Sixteenth Black.”
But was he? If proof is in the pudding, there might not be enough for dessert. Evidence is hard to com by. The entire claim relies on the belief that Beethoven’s Flemish ancestors married Spanish moors of African descent. That, or Beethoven’s mother had an affair.
It’s not like this comes from nowhere though. Beethoven was a bit of a black sheep to his contemporaries, which frequently called out his dark complexion, some going as far as saying he looked “swarthy.” His nickname at school was the “the Spaniard.” Prince Anton Esterhazy called him a “Moor.” That is coming from this guy who might be the whitest person in history.
Clearly, Beethoven’s race wasn’t so black and white. The truth is that those who tried to paint Beethoven black weren’t really making a scientific or historical claim. The civil rights refrain of “Beethoven was black” served more as a metaphor, as an exercise in reimagining the “canonical way of thinking. Had Beethoven been black, would he have been classed as a canonical composer? And what about other black composers lost to history?”
We all know about Beethoven, but what about his brilliant friend George Bridgetower? Bridgetower, an Afro-European, was a genius musician in his own right. Beethoven dedicated a violin sonata to him, a piece so difficult many gave up learning it. Had Bridgetower shared the complexion of his good friends and contemporaries Haydn and Beethoven, would more people know him today?
We don’t have to pretend black is white. Today, the refrain of “Beethoven Was Black” is less about 23 and Me and more a reminder to celebrate lesser known Black composers. At worst, “Beethoven Was Black” is a white lie. It should remind us of the many geniuses who deserve a listen or two. Why not add the likes of Samuel Coleridge Taylor or George Bridgetower or Edmond Dede or Amanda Aldridge to your Spotify playlist? Exploring these lesser known artists are worth the effort. What else are you going to do, listen to Beethoven's fifth for the fifth time?
0:00 Introduction - Black Legends
0:45 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Theory
2:00 Lack of Evidence
3:26 George Bridgetower
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