Beethoven skull fragments bolster theory of his death
Published 9:00 pm Saturday, November 19, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO – A California businessman said Thursday that skull fragments very likely came from German composer Ludwig van Beethoven, his great-great-uncle.
Paul Kaufmann made the announcement at the Center for Beethoven Studies at San Jose State University, which helped coordinate forensic testing aimed at authenticating the fragments and determining what killed Beethoven at age 56.
The center already has a lock of the composer’s hair, which showed he suffered from lead poisoning, among other ailments, when he died in 1827. One of Kaufmann’s fragments, submitted for testing at the Argonne National Laboratory, showed similarly high levels of lead, Kaufmann said.
Kaufmann, 68, said he found out only in 1986 during a visit with an aging relative in France that some of Beethoven’s remains had been passed down through his family for generations. He inherited them in 1990.
The skull fragments – two large pieces and 11 smaller ones – were contained in a pear-shaped metal box etched with the name “Beethoven” on top. Kaufmann started working with the Center for Beethoven Studies after a writer doing a book on the composer tracked him down in Danville.
