Beethoven's Hair : An Extraordinary Historical Odyssey and a Scientific Mystery Solved (Hardcover)

by Russell Martin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
A well-publicized 1994 Sotheby's auction listed, among other musical artifacts and ephemera on the block, a lock of Beethoven's hair. The high-bidders of the hair, two Beethoven enthusiasts, were easy enough to identify by their oddball names: one was a doctor named Che Guevara, the other a retired real estate developer named Ira Brilliant. But the real story, as author Russell Martin attempts to explain in this book, is how did the lock end up on the auction block? More important, can we learn anything from a 175-year-old snippet of hair? Somehow, author Russell Martin attempts to weave biographical information about Beethoven's life with scientific findings about his hair (the two buyers had the lock DNA-tested), as well as trace the path the hair took, from the great composer's head right into the present.

It's a tall order and one at which Martin partially succeeds. His facts about Beethoven and Ferdinand Hiller (the original keeper of the lock) are solid, but he hypothesizes at length about how the hair ended up in a small port town in Denmark during the Nazi occupation. Likewise, he spends nearly the entire second half of the book describing the lives of Guevara and Brilliant, occasionally sounding more like a press agent than a journalist. Subtitled "An Extraordinary Historical Odyssey and a Musical Mystery Solved," Beethoven's Hair doesn't truly solve any musical mysteries, but it is a fascinating, original read for Beethoven-philes who want to learn a little bit more about their favorite composer. --Jason Verlinde

From Publishers Weekly
Six years ago an improbable pairDretired real-estate developer Ira Brilliant and a Mexican-American doctor named (remarkably) Che GuevaraDgot together to buy a lock of hair that was snipped from Beethoven's head on his deathbed by a young musician. The hair, enclosed in a glass locket, passed through the musician's family, then, during WWII, into the possession of a Danish doctor who helped smuggle Jews through Denmark into safety in Sweden. When the doctor's daughter put the locket up for sale through Sotheby's in London, Brilliant and Guevara, ardent collectors of Beethoven memorabilia, pooled their resources to buy it. They acquired it for a little over $7,000. After recounting these events in detail, Martin moves on to the "newsy" last third of the book: the two collectors submitted the hair to the most up-to-date DNA analysis, with results they and their publisher regarded as so earth shaking that the book was originally embargoed, lest word of its revelations should leak prematurely. The results, however, do not seem particularly startling, though they shed an interesting light on Beethoven's artistic integrity and the cause of his lifelong ill health. For one thing, the analysts found no trace of morphine, suggesting that the composer, often in great pain, foreswore its use so as to keep his mind clear for his work. They also found abnormally high concentrations of lead, indicating that at some time in his life Beethoven may have been subjected to lead poisoning, which would account for many of his health problems, including his deafness. That's hardly enough to make a book, however, and Martin's account is padded with a great deal of repetitious material on the collectors themselves, a long passage on the Jewish escape from Denmark and familiar tales from the composer's life. Ultimately, the book comes off as a scholarly article that got out of hand. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (October 17, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767903501
• ISBN-13: 978-0767903509
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #268,361 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #11 in	Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( B ) > Beethoven, Ludwig
  #16 in	Books > Entertainment > Music > Musical Genres > Classical > Composers > Beethoven, Ludwig van
  #58 in	Books > Entertainment > Music > Musical Genres > Opera > Composers

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh, it would be so lovely to live a thousand lives., November 16, 2000

By	taking a rest - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

The quote is from Ludwig Van Beethoven, which was a part of a letter to Franz Wegeler.

Mr. Russell Martin has crafted a beautiful piece of work that is much more complex than it initially appears. The difference between writing a book on a subject this narrowly defined and having it succeed, and producing nothing more than a mind numbing recitation of facts, is extremely fine. In this case the Author did a brilliant job. My only wish is that a few photographs were included, as they would have added to the work. This criticism is very minor, and the book is outstanding.

To have written as narrowly on a subject as suggested by the title would have never merited a book. Mr. Russell gently sways the time frame from the current year, and then as far back as Beethoven's years as a child, and the transitions are seamless. He builds the book in layers, Beethoven's life, illnesses, loves, and his introduction to Mozart. He narrates the custom of taking a lock of hair as a memento, in this case Beethoven's, from days after the great man's death, to the most sophisticated forensic examinations currently available. He writes of the men who purchased the relic, the passion that catalyzed their purchase, and all that resulted from it.

All of this joyfully fascinates, until the great mystery of the hand off of the relic to a Doctor, who risked his life saving Jews from the Nazis darkly enters the story. And it is here the Author transforms the book from a documentation of a historical curiosity, to an important work, by including the remarkable events in Gilleleje Denmark.

The events that surrounded the relics' travels all illustrate the veneration this man and his music have had, and will continue to have for as long as we have a future. His music was played for the amusement of concentration camp staff, the vermin that were Hitler's creatures. The hideous ironies of the music being played by those that were condemned to die. Can you imagine a scene where a group that knows death is their only future plays a requiem, a requiem that literally is to be theirs? I cannot.

His most recognizable symphonic opening was used by the allies because of what it translated into, using...but that would be a spoiler.

The quote that begins these comments is probably the greatest irony of all. When you read of how ill this man was, the decades of pain and barely imaginable discomfort, the deafness many know of seems minor by comparison. The contemporary part of this tale puts myths about his death to rest, provides evidence of what may have been responsible for the misery that was his "health", and ponders what did his horrendous health have to do with what he wrote.

The premise of the book does not indicate just how much lies within. It is a biography of a man, of musical and human history, and of scientific marvels. It is the examination of why this man's music resonates uniquely to this day.

I cannot think of any reader who would not enjoy this work.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gordian story about the most complex artist of the ages, August 23, 2002

By	R. Tiedemann "Sunnye" (Bellevue, NE USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Beethoven's Hair: An Extraordinary Historical Odyssey and a Scientific Mystery Solved (Paperback)

I'm amazed to discover that this may turn out to be my favorite book ever. It sat around here for a couple of years before I read it; the title turned me off. What could possibly be interesting about the hair of the man who created some of the most powerful, affecting and effective music ever written?

However, the tale of what happened to a lock of Beethoven's hair, severed from his head the day after his death by a 15-year-old boy, is a story of honor, love, courage, hope, friendship, man's inhumanity to man, and man's triumph over the worst kinds of adversity. It's also a picture of how 20th century technology can penetrate secrets of the ages.

Martin interweaves several diverse narratives with a biography of Beethoven's health rather than one of his entire life because it's his health that is the issue here. The question involves what we can learn about the terrible physical suffering Beethoven endured from DNA testing of his hair. This question is posed against the background of what happened to the sample from the time of Beethoven's death until it reached the laboratory. The first is familiar; the second is amazing.

Martin treats his material with a sure hand, weaving the stories in and out as he takes us back and forth between the centuries and the characters. I found that I was holding my breath while reading about how the Danes helped the Jews as the Nazis breathed down their collective throats.

This is an amazing and unusual story, told with intelligence and finesse. It's not a book to be skimmed; if you do, it will look disjointed and you'll become confused. It's a book to be reveled in and thoughtfully digested. If you crave perfection, play a CD of Beethoven's last quartets while you read.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Account, October 18, 2001

By	Michael Gethin Williams (Port Talbot, South-Wales) - See all my reviews

'Beethoven's Hair' was truly a 'good read'. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed reading how the lock of hair found its way to the auction, and then into the hands of the two researchers. The structure of the book is rather humorous and relates to a musical form, tossing and turning between two different time periods: Beethoven's chronological life, and the modern (including W.W.II) time of research. Indeed, the book gives you plenty of spice and reveals much about Nazism and scientology, specific to the findings in the lock of hair, but be warned... if you expect a biography of Beethoven, the one you'll get is very weak, especially in terms of his compositions. I think, though, that this would suit any reader: teachers, music-listeners, doctors, miners, and literate persons alike that can take an interest in the history of such a great genious.