Beethoven’s Hair: Da Truth Revealed!

🎼🔬💇‍♂️ Tristan Begg, Da Beethoven Fanatic, Unmask Da Fake Hair

Tristan Begg, one anthropology student at UC Santa Cruz an’ Beethoven fanatic, wen’ volunteer as one docent at San Jose State University’s Beethoven centah in da summah of 2009. 🎓🎶🌞

He wen’ pull out da drawah wea get one lock of hair an’ tell da visitors, “Dis stay fo’ real” an’ dat dis hair wen’ come from da greatest composah who evah lived, da guy who wen’ change Begg’s life wen he wen’ hea da firs’ notes of Moonlight Sonata on one Christmas morning wen’ he stay 17. 🎹🌙🎄

“Was one instant t’ing. I stay blown away. Neva’ did hea anyt’ing like dat,” he wen’ say. “Wen’ become one instant kine obsession.” 🤯🎵💖

Da Research Project Dat Shook Da Beethoven World 🌍🧪📚

Now, 14 years latah, Begg, one Ph.D. student at da University of Cambridge, stay da lead author on one genome research study dat wen’ debunk da story he once wen’ tell. Da hair stay one fake. 😲🧬🦲

Da findings, wen’ come out dis week in da journal Current Biology, wen’ show new t’ings ’bout da life an’ death of Ludwig van Beethoven. Five oddah locks of hair wen’ get da green light, including one oddah one recently wen’ get by San Jose State. Jus’ no da one Begg wen’ show da visitors more den one decade ago. 📝🔎🎻

“Da project wen’ turn into one real serious experience fo’ learn no trust yoa gut,” Begg wen’ say in one phone talk from England, talking ’bout how he wen’ feel bummed out ’bout da lost link to da lock — an’ why he wen’ start listen to da Ghostbusters theme instead of his fav’rite symphonies. “Jus’ go wit’ da data, an’ no mo’ fun dat way.” 🇬🇧📞👻

Da Truth ‘Bout Da Hair 🧐🔍💡

Fo’ real, da genetic data wen’ show, da hair dat wen’ suppose to be from Beethoven’s famous wild head stay come from one unknown wahine wit’ Jewish heritage. 🧬🎼👩‍🦱

Da imposter — wen’ call um da “Hiller Lock” fo’ da guy who wen’ suppose to be da firs’ one fo’ get um — now stay in one vault at San Jose State. 🤥🔐🏛️

An’ Russell Martin, da author of “Beethoven’s Hair,” one book ’bout da San Jose State hair an’ wen’ get translated into 19 languages, might need fo’ update his 2000 book. 📚✍️🌐

Da Beethoven Studies Centah An’ Da Ongoing Journey Fo’ Da Truth 🏫🔬🎶

Da t’ings stay on da fifth floor of San Jose State’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library in da Ira F. Brilliant Centah fo’ Beethoven Studies, wea get da bigges’ collection of Beethoven stuffs outside of Europe. 📚🎼🇪🇺

William Meredith, da firs’ directah of da Beethoven Centah, wen’ get da “Hiller Lock” in 1994 wen’ get one auction at Sotheby’s in London — one of plenny locks of Beethoven’s hair dat wen’ cut from da composah’s head by his friends wen’ he stay dying as one remembahance. ✂️🧔🕰️

Ferdinand Hiller, one young musician guy an’ only 15, wen’ cut da maestro’s hair da day aftah he wen’ mahke. Hiller wen’ give um to his son, Paul, who in 1911 wen’ move um to one new reliquary. 🎹🧑‍🦱🎁

Back in da early 1990s, neva’ had one good kine DNA testing fo’ locks of hair, an’ even tho’ get some space in da hair’s history, four San Jose State donors, including da late Ira Brilliant an’ Dr. Alfred Guevara in Texas, wen’ buy um fo’ $7,300. 💸🔬🧬

Dey wen’ say, “We gotta find out everyt’ing we can from da lock of hair,” Meredith wen’ say. “Dey not jus’ lookin’ at um as one relic, but wat dat can tell us ’bout Beethoven’s life?” 🕵️‍♂️🤔🎶

Dey wen’ try fo’ get one DNA sample from da hair in 1999 but neva’ could, so da Hiller Lock wen’ stay on display, an’ aftah dat, Begg — da young volunteah — an’ oddahs wen’ keep showin’ um to da visitors. 🧪🔍🖼️

Da Final Outcome An’ Da Mystery Dat Stay 🤷‍♂️🧐🔮

By 2014, Begg wen’ grad student studying geometric morphometrics at da University of Tubingen in Germany, an’ he stay lookin’ fo’ one research project. As one student in da Ancient DNA department, he wen’ come up wit’ one plan. 🇩🇪📐🧬

“Dis stay my craziest idea yet,” he wen’ tell his adviser. “But I wen’ used to volunteah at dis Beethoven centah, an’ maybe we can sequence his locks of hair.” 💡🤪🔬

Da idea neva’ stay so crazy aftah all, his adviser wen’ say, so Begg wen’ fly home to San Jose, wea he wen’ grow up an’ graduate from Lynbrook High. He wen’ meet wit’ Meredith at da Flames restaurant next to da library, an’ da research wen’ start. ✈️🏫🍽️

T’ru auctions an’ private sales, Meredith an’ da researchers wen’ get or borrow seven mo’ hair samples. An’ couple hairs from da Hiller Lock wen’ put undah da microscope. 🔬🔎📈

Begg wen’ do plenny of da lab work himself in da German university’s cleanroom, wit’ Beethoven’s music all loud, as da hair samples wen’ dissolve in solution. Get one strong feelin’ of bein’ togeddah wen’