Beethoven’genome has been deciphered

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This was in my Facebook newsfeed this morning.

Beethoven's genome deciphered
New study offers clues to composer's health and family history. Results of an international research project with participation of Beethoven-Haus Bonn
Bonn, 22 March 2023 - Beethoven's genome has been deciphered using five genetically matching locks of the well-known composer's hair. The research project was carried out by an international team. Participants were the University of Cambridge, the Beethoven Center San Jose and the American Beethoven Society, KU Leuven, FamilyTreeDNA, the University Hospital Bonn and the University of Bonn, the Beethoven-Haus Bonn and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. The study, published in the journal Current Biology, uncovers important information about the composer's health and raises new questions about his ancestry.

In 1802, Beethoven asked his doctor to describe his illness examined by his doctor after his death and to make this record pubic. The composer's state of health and cause of death have been debated ever since. But for the first time, it was now possible to use modern archaeogenetic investigation methods.

The study's main aim was to gain new insights into Beethoven's health problems, which famously include progressive hearing loss, beginning in his mid- to late-20s and eventually led to him being functionally being de facto deaf by 1818. The team also investigated possible genetic causes for Beethoven's chronic gastrointestinal complaints, and a severe liver disease that culminated to his death in 1827. Cirrhosis has long been viewed as the most likely cause of death at age 56.

The study shows that Beethoven had a genetic predisposition for liver disease and was infected with hepatitis B. The research team suggests that this infection might have driven the composer's severe liver disease, exacerbated by his alcohol intake and his genetic predisposition. In addition, the comparison of Beethoven's genetic material with that of relatives living today revealed evidence of an extramarital relationship in Beethoven's paternal line.

Detailed press release

Event notice:

Tuesday | 28 March 2023 | 7:00 pm
Unsiversitätsclub Bonn

Ludwig van Beethoven's genome - a source of knowledge?

Prof. Dr. Martin Nöthen,Director of the Institute for Human Genetics at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB)
Dr. Axel Schmidt, Doctor in further training at the Institute of Human Genetics at the UKB
Prof. Dr. Christian Strassburg, Director of the Medical Clinic and Polyclinic 1 at the UKB
Malte Boecker, Director and Executive Board of the Beethoven-Haus Bonn
Curator of the Collections of the Beethoven-Haus Bonn