Memorabilia
Locks of Beethoven鈥檚 Hair
In 1995 the Beethoven Center acquired the so-called Hiller lock of Beethoven鈥檚 hair, which was the subject of Russell Martin鈥檚 bestselling book Beethoven鈥檚 Hair (2000). Tests on this lock of hair showed unusually high lead content, which led to a theory that Beethoven may have suffered from lead poisoning. However, a 2023 study published in , which analyzed DNA from several surviving locks of Beethoven鈥檚 hair, determined that the Hiller lock was inauthentic.
The Center owns the lock of Beethoven鈥檚 hair, which was cut from Beethoven鈥檚 head by Anton Felix Schindler on March 24, 1827 and given to Ignaz Moscheles after Beethoven's death. This lock was one of five authentic locks of hair used to decode Beethoven鈥檚 DNA. Results of the revealed that Beethoven had a hepatitis B infection and had a genetic predisposition for liver cirrhosis, which鈥攃ombined with his heavy drinking鈥攎ay have contributed to his death from liver disease.
In 2012 the Center acquired a collection of materials from the descendants of the composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel, which includes a attributed to Beethoven, Goethe, the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, Duchess Amalia of Saxony-Weimar, and eight members of the Hummel family, along with two quill pens attributed to Beethoven and Johann Gottfried Herder.
