Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven reshaped Western music while progressively losing his hearing, composing the Ninth Symphony when he was almost completely deaf. In 2023 his genome was sequenced from authenticated locks of his hair, revealing a strong genetic predisposition to liver disease and a hepatitis B infection in his final months. The same study uncovered a surprise: an extra-pair paternity event somewhere in his direct paternal line.

The genome-wide data behind this entry was published in Genomic analyses of hair from Ludwig van Beethoven.

Every Ancestrify Global25 report includes the free Notable Matches lens: your coordinates are compared to every sequenced member of every catalog entry, and the distance to the closest member is reported — a Euclidean distance in the same 25-dimensional space the Distance lens uses. Because this is a single real individual, not a population average, distances naturally run larger than population distances — that is expected, not a poor result. And one thing is never claimed: a small distance means similar ancestry composition, not that Ludwig van Beethoven is your ancestor. See how it looks in the live demo or read about the full G25 analysis.

• 01

  Who was Ludwig van Beethoven?

  Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827 CE, Bonn/Vienna) is one of the Historical figures entries in our Notable Matches catalog, represented by one sequenced ancient genome published in the study "Genomic analyses of hair from Ludwig van Beethoven".

• 02

  What does "matching" Ludwig van Beethoven mean?

  Your Global25 coordinates are compared to the entry's sequenced members and the distance to the closest one is reported — a Euclidean distance in the same 25-dimensional reference space the Distance lens uses. A notable entry is one person or one small burial group, not a population average, so distances naturally run larger than population distances.

• 03

  Is Ludwig van Beethoven my ancestor?

  No — and no DNA test can show that. A small distance means your genome sits near this individual's in a shared reference space: similar ancestry composition, not descent. Ancestrify never claims a notable individual is your ancestor or relative.

• 04

  How do I see my own distance to Ludwig van Beethoven?

  Notable Matches is a free lens on every Ancestrify Global25 report — never sold separately. Order the G25 analysis (29.99 EUR), and your report ranks your coordinates against the full catalog, with a portrait, dossier and map for every entry. The public demo shows the lens with example data.

The catalog holds every published entry across three tiers — browse the full Notable Matches directory. Nearby entries:

• The Fallen of Le MansDecember 1793 CE

• Jean-Paul Marat1743–1793 CE

• The Grande Armée of VilniusDecember 1812 CE

• Gregor Mendel1822–1884 CE

• The Kronan Sailor1 June 1676 CE

• George Bähr1666–1738 CE

• The Soldiers of the Reapers' War1652 CE

• Philip Calvert1626–1682 CE

• Bishop Peder Winstrup1605–1679 CE

• The Cretans of 19411941 CE

• The Báthory Family1550–1600 CE

• Prince Christophorus Corvinus1499–1505 CE