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Sanitised versions of Gaelic songs were reinterpreted by Beethoven without the great composer realising their true meaning, a new documentary has uncovered.
The programme reveals Beethoven made classical arrangements of 47 Gaelic melodies from 1809 to 1820 for the Edinburgh-based folklore collector and publisher George Thomson.
German musicologist and Gaelic scholar Dr Michael Klevenhaus spent five years researching the origins of the compositions.
He became aware of the connection in 2015 while reading a scholarly work by piper Allan MacDonald who stated the song Enchantress Farewell, arranged by Beethoven with words by Sir Walter Scott, was based on Mhnathan a’ Ghlinne Seo (Women of the Glen).