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Beethoven essay written by local seventh-grader at Bret Harte school wins

By Anne Gelhaus

Although he won an essay contest inspired by Beethoven's hair, Jeffrey Haung is more interested in the composer's music.

Jeffrey, a seventh-grader at Bret Harte Middle School, wrote his winning essay for a contest co-sponsored by the San José Unified School District, the San Jose Jewish Film Festival and the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies at San Jose State University. Jeffrey penned a 250-word comparison of Beethoven and Mozart, composers whose works he dubbed "the pinnacle of the entire Classical period."

Along with the grand-prize winners from SJUSD elementary and high schools, Jeffrey got a private viewing of both the film Beethoven's Hair and the lock from the composer's pate that the movie documents. The Oct. 28 screening was part of this year's Jewish film festival.

Jeffrey says he enjoyed the film, which traces the 167-year journey of the hair from Europe to the Beethoven center at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, where it's now permanently housed.

"I thought it had a good plotline, amazing graphics and pictures, and it was a really fun experience," Jeffrey says.

A musician himself, Jeffrey plays piano and guitar. He says he prefers Beethoven to Mozart "because of his true talent and also his ability to create music without his hearing."

In his essay, Jeffrey writes that Beethoven's "gloomy and despairing life" was reflected in his music.

"Beethoven played and wrote emotional songs; some of them were about fiery rage, and some others about sorrow and despair. Mozart himself composed simpler music with a sturdy and noticeable beat."

Clipped from Beethoven's head the day after his death in 1827, the hair has its own complex story, which takes it through Europe over more than a century until World War II, when it was given to a Danish doctor in gratitude for helping Jews escape the Nazis. In 1994, the hair was purchased at a Sotheby's auction by Ira Brilliant and Arizona doctor Alfredo "Che" Guevara and given to the Beethoven center, where the lock is now known as the Guevara Lock of Beethoven's Hair.

Besides getting to see the hair and the movie, Jeffrey received a certificate for his winning essay at the Oct. 28 event, a fundraiser for the Jewish film festival. Guests also toured the Beethoven center, which houses a collection of the composer's personal letters and music, as well as the Guevara Lock.

Director Larry Weinstein led a discussion about his film.

Another Bret Harte student, Lochan Shah, was one of six first-prize winners in the essay contest.