Ludwig Van Beethoven is arguably the most famous and well-known classical musician and composer in all of history, but his true identity and ethnicity have been a falsehood and obscurity for many years. Society has depicted him as a white male with either blonde or brunette hair, shown in drawings, paintings, and illustrations all over the world.

But in reality, Beethoven was labeled by many as a “Mulatto” or “Black Spaniard.” According to Gabriel Scott, historian and author of The Chosen Ones: Perception of Malcolm and Martin, his father was a white German and his mother was a “Moor.”

At the time, the term “Moors” referred to a group of Muslim Northern Africans or, generally speaking, people of African descent. In society, with the Black gene being the most dominant, he was often referred to as a Black man by his friends and acquaintances. Several people documented him as having brown skin, black frizzy hair, a thick nose, and a short neck.

Some resources, like Gabriel Scott, a respected lecturer and historian, claim that Beethoven was pressured to wear white powder on his face to hide his ethnic origin in public. He allegedly also used body doubles for portraits, with “Euro-centric” historians obscuring the truth of his genetic heritage.

Nevertheless, Beethoven’s story is very interesting and inspirational. At the young age of 21, he moved from Germany to Italy to study composition and quickly gained a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. However, in his late 20s, his hearing began to deteriorate, and he eventually became almost completely deaf.

But his disability did not end his music career. In fact, during the last 15 years of his life, he composed and published many of his most admired works in classical music. His compositions include nine symphonies, about a dozen pieces of “occasional” music, seven concertos, as well as four shorter works that include soloists accompanied by orchestra. His only opera was Fidelio.

Most interesting is that this musical genius, who people have thought for centuries was a white man, was actually, in fact… Black.