When their Y chromosomes were compared against the Y chromosome extracted from Beethoven’s authenticated hair, the chromosomes did not match. The divergence was not minor: the genetic distance between the living relatives’ Y chromosomes and Beethoven’s Y chromosome was more than would be expected from even a long time period of normal mutation. This indicates a genuine break in the paternal line at some point, rather than simply the expected accumulation of random mutations over multiple generations.
The interval the researchers identified—1572 to 1770, approximately seven generations—is specific enough to constrain the question considerably. The Beethoven family’s history between these dates is partially documented; there are birth records, marriage records, and religious documents that allow the family tree to be traced, though not perfectly. Which specific generation the discrepancy occurred in cannot be determined from the genomic evidence alone, and the historical record does not contain documentary evidence of an extra-pair paternity event in any particular generation.
The researchers emphasized that this kind of finding is not rare. Estimates of historical extra-pair paternity rates vary by population and period, but studies of European genealogical DNA databases have consistently found that a measurable percentage of documented family lines contain at least one such event. The Beethoven family’s seven-generation interval makes it statistically quite plausible that one event occurred somewhere in the chain—and the genomic evidence shows that it did.
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## Beethoven and the Medical Record: Doctors, Remedies, and Autopsies
Beethoven was treated by numerous physicians during his lifetime, and the surviving medical records—which include physicians’ accounts, letters referencing treatments, and the autopsy report conducted after his death—provide a historical medical record of unusual depth for a figure of his era.