Haare Ludwig van Beethovens

Strands of hair of deceased famous people were a popular and appreciated memory of the person in the 19th century. Very often they had been enclosed in pieces of jewellery and people kept them over generations. Strands of Beethoven's hair, too, were in great demand by the composer's friends and admirers. After Beethoven's death, numerous visitors came to his apartment, to pay their last respects to him. Apparently, many of them took the opportunity to cut a strand of hair from the head of Beethoven's corpse. Gerhard von Breuning, the son of one of Beethoven's oldest friends, Stephan von Breuning, said: "On March 29, when I went over to Beethoven's apartment with my father to clip some strands of Beethoven's hair - father had allowed me to do that only towards the end of the laying out, so the physical appearance [of Beethoven] would not be ruined earlier -, we saw, that strangers had already cut all of his strands of hair." (Memories of Beethoven: From the House of the Black-robed Spaniards, by Gerhard von Breuning. Vienna 1874)(S.B.)