Er... yep. Supposedly. I've read that when the bodies were exhumed in the 1880s that photographs were taken. Do these photographs still survive? I assume that by that time both would have been only the skeletal remains, but I am curious as to whether these photographs were preserved. And also a bit curious as to why this was done. I don't think they had sufficient equipment or processes to determined much of value by examining the skeletons in that time. I'm sure they could discover a little bit, but I'm not really sure what. Maybe it was one of those phrenology things; all I've seen is that it was for "scientists" to examine the bodies.
This was news to me, but a quick Internet search shows that Beethoven was dinsinterred twice — the first time in 1863, when he was reburied in a more secure casket inside a brick vault, and again on June 22, 1888, when he was exhumed from the Währinger Cemetery, measured and moved to the Central Cemetery in Vienna, Austria. His skull was photographed at this time, and a cast was made:
(http://images.usatoday.com/tech/_photos/2005/12/07/ludwig180.jpg)
Schubert was disinterred and reburied along with him each time.
There's one photo. Thanks!
I hear that Bruckner actually held Beethoven's skull in 1888.
Quote from: Joe Barron on June 05, 2007, 07:17:50 AM
This was news to me, but a quick Internet search shows that Beethoven was dinsinterred twice ? the first time in 1863, when he was reburied in a more secure casket inside a brick vault, and again on June 22, 1888, when he was exhumed from the Währinger Cemetery, measured and moved to the Central Cemetery in Vienna, Austria. His skull was photographed at this time, and a cast was made:
(http://images.usatoday.com/tech/_photos/2005/12/07/ludwig180.jpg)
Schubert was disinterred and reburied along with him each time.
Was he found with the score of the 10th? ;D
FWIW:
Beethoven's "life-mask", made by Franz Klein in 1812, when the composer was 42 years old.
(http://dienstleistungen.freepage.de/cgi-bin/feets/freepage_ext/41030x030A/rewrite/language/FaceMask1812.jpg)
Quote from: Steve on June 05, 2007, 10:53:26 AM
Was he found with the score of the 10th? ;D
He was too busy
decomposing.
Josh, my internet sources say Bruckner held Schubert's skull before it was reinterred in 1888. It may be he held Beethoven's, too.
This from the web:
Schubert, Andreas Theodor, b Vienna 7th Nov 1823, d 1893
Financial Councillor
Andreas was Schubert's stepbrother, aged just 5 at his death. Mind you, this didn't stop him from identifying a picture (the 'chalk picture') of a youth as being Schubert at 16. He does seem to have been more than a little irreverent - he took a tooth from Schubert's skull when it was exhumed, and destroyed the manuscript of Der Tod und das Mädchen, D531; by cutting it up into 8 pieces for souvenirs. He was also apparently the source of the rumour that Schubert was banned from the family home. He became a financial councillor, and married Anna Fleurriet.
Beethoven's Graves:
http://www.lvbeethoven.com/MeetLvB/AustriaViennaGraves.html
Bruckner sure liked dead bodies.
Here's a graceful website for corpses lovers:
http://www.findagrave.com/
Quote from: Doctor_Gradus on June 05, 2007, 02:56:14 PM
Here's a graceful website for corpses lovers:
http://www.findagrave.com/
Interesting site. Thanks for the link :)
Quote from: Bogey on June 05, 2007, 11:18:47 AM
FWIW:
Beethoven's "life-mask", made by Franz Klein in 1812, when the composer was 42 years old.
(http://dienstleistungen.freepage.de/cgi-bin/feets/freepage_ext/41030x030A/rewrite/language/FaceMask1812.jpg)
(http://images.usatoday.com/tech/_photos/2005/12/07/ludwig180.jpg)
I think the skull bones of Beethoven seems wider in the head than the death mask.
.
What a macabre but gruesomely interesting thread. More skulls and death masks of great (and minor) composers please!
Wasn't there studies of lead poisoning done from the bones of the skull?
Oyez! Oyez! Bring out you're dead.
Quote from: Churchmouse on May 23, 2011, 03:19:34 AM
Wasn't there studies of lead poisoning done from the bones of the skull?
Hair, I thought.
Bump in honor of Halloween.
The mask depicted is actually a cast (inverse cast?) of the living Beethoven as said in the post. Of course, there's also a death mask where he looks considerably more... dead?
(http://www.beethoven.li/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/totenmaske-beethoven1.jpg)