'GGT finds matching DNA segments and matching ancestor locations that are validated by three or more customers. Paul Maier, population geneticist at FamilyTreeDNA and coauthor on the paper. 'Some of our shared DNA can be erroneous, so we have to be careful' says Dr. Called 'Geo-Genetic Triangulation' (GGT), it searches for customers who match the sample's autosomal DNA. Of course, the team also validated that the DNA was male, and has DNA damage patterns consistent with Beethoven's age.įamilyTreeDNA also invented a new genetic method to validate the hair sample. It is unlikely that the same fraud was committed five independent times. They set the bar high with numerous expectations that must be met.įor example, they required multiple (five) hair locks to have identical DNA, each with independently strong provenance showing how they were collected from Ludwig van Beethoven at different points in his life. Validating Ludwig's Hair Given the nature of this major revelation, the research team wanted to be absolutely sure that the hair-lock DNA belonged to Ludwig van Beethoven. Luckily, an ever-increasing number of people are testing their Y-DNA, so it may simply be a waiting game. Until more van Beethoven descendants test their Y-DNA, we can't pinpoint the exact source of Ludwig van Beethoven's true biological patrilineage.

Further supporting this idea is the fact that Maria's son (Ludwig's father) Johann has no known baptismal record. Lodewijk's wife Maria Ball suffered from alcoholism and was treated at the local monastery. He later remarried with Petronella Geerts and fathered his youngest son Jan late in life.Īssuming Aert was Hendrik's true father, perhaps Ludwig's grandfather Lodewijk was not his true biological grandfather. Aert could do nothing to save his wife, but was allowed to keep half of their confiscated family property, after paying for the cost of the arrest, interrogation, torture, and burning.

His first wife Josyne Vlasselaer and the presumed mother of Lambert and Hendrik was burned at the stake in 1595 after having been condemned for witchcraft. The team showed that Aert was indeed the father of his two sons Jan and Lambert, but could not definitively prove Aert was the father of Hendrik, Ludwig's 4th great-grandfather.Īert experienced quite a trauma in his own love life. The secret suitor might have acted in any one of seven possible generations, from Ludwig's father up to his 5th great-grandfather Aert. The Hunt for Ludwig's Paternal Ancestry One of Ludwig's paternal ancestors wasn't his real biological ancestor. Somewhere, starting with Ludwig's father Johann and going up his family tree to his 5th great grandfather Aert, one of these Beethovens wasn't a biological ancestor to Ludwig. This strongly indicates that there was an extra-pair-paternity ('EPP') event in Ludwig's father's line. Those two father lines are separated by over 45,000 years, since around the time humans left Africa. Surprisingly, they were not a match! The five present-day descendants of Aert van Beethoven belong to haplogroup R1b, whereas Ludwig van Beethoven belongs to haplogroup I1. Because the Y chromosome is passed down from father to son with few changes each generation, the Y-DNA from Ludwig's hair locks and the patrilineal descendants of Aert should be a close match. Five descendants of Aert agreed to take a DNA test. The research team contacted living descendants of Aert van Beethoven (1535–1609), Ludwig's supposed 5th great-grandfather. Together with researchers at FamilyTreeDNA in Texas, the team planned a routine analysis of Ludwig's paternal line by examining his Y chromosome. Back in 2020, researchers at Cambridge University and the Max Planck Institute sequenced the DNA from several locks of hair attributed to Ludwig. Now, researchers have used DNA to show that Ludwig, the most famous Beethoven, is not genetically related to other living Beethovens.Ī Musical Mystery Ludwig's generally established genealogy traces his father's line back to van Beethoven ancestors in Belgium. His father Johann van Beethoven is well known to have been an erratic, alcoholic, and at times abusive parent, who would wake his teary-eyed young son and make him practice until dawn. Ludwig's virtuosity emerged from a challenging youth, however. The name 'van Beethoven' is synonymous with some of the most beautiful and innovative sonatas, symphonies, and concertos ever composed.

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