This year, the federal city of Bonn, located very close to us, will shine out into the whole world in the splendor of the celebrations for Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday! Beethoven is regarded as the most frequently played classical composer. He was a radical artist who constantly pushed the boundaries of music and challenged bourgeois society. For the anniversary year, the non-profit Beethoven Jubiläums GmbH was specially established to coordinate the anniversary and communicate it under the banner BTHVN2020. The aim is to promote his oeuvre to interested parties and enhance Bonn’s reputation as the city of Beethoven.
The musical genius
Beethoven (1770 to 1827) was a Bonn native and showed his musical talent early on. Already as a child he played the piano with virtuosity. When he became deaf in later years, he concentrated on composing. Mozart was a great inspiration for him, he learned composing from Haydn, had contact with Franz Schubert, Goethe and also Brentano. The latter, by the way, also originates from our vicinity, namely from the Ehrenbreitstein district of Koblenz, just like Beethoven’s mother Mary Magdalene. The house in which she was born is now a museum and hosts an exhibition on the biography of Ludwig van Beethoven’s mother in Ehrenbreitstein and Bonn, on the composer’s relations with Koblenz, and on the musical life of Koblenz in the 18th and 19th centuries. In any event, little Ludwig was born with musicality right from the very beginning. Already his father and grandfather were respected vocalists and music teachers in their time.
Beethoven, women and life
Despite massive health restrictions (caused, among other things, by excessive alcohol consumption), Beethoven was fond of the good things in life. Women played a major role in his life – not only as lovers, but also as friends and trusted confidantes, as interpreters or dedicatees. It is known that there was a special, but unknown woman in his life (“Letter to the Immortal Beloved”), with whom, however, a relationship was impossible due to great obstacles. This unknown situation, the disputes about the guardianship of his nephew, money worries and the worsening of his hearing loss led to a deep life crisis in 1812. In 1827, Beethoven died in Vienna.
Honors
So, how do we commemorate him? Since January, there has been an 80 cent special issue stamp – in a record first edition, by the way. There is also a new sweet created especially for it, namely the “Beethoven Cube”, which, with its different layers, is very similar to the domino. The Coppeneur manufactory in Bad Honnef developed the cube to express their attachment to the region and to underline the composer’s complexity with the different layers of the cube. But one can also enjoy Beethoven on a spiritual level: as BeethovenBot on twitter under @lettersofludwig, famous quotes from the rebellious ponderer appear regularly. A permanent exhibition in the “New Beethoven House” in Bonn is available for the haptic experience. And it can already be seen that the interest is gigantic: Whereas in normal years about 100,000 visitors come to Bonn just for the composer, an increase of at least 30 percent is expected during the anniversary year. Inquiries about the numerous concerts come from all over the world.
LTS AG is proud of this great artist from the region. The passion that unites the two, as well as the great respect for art, has prompted LTS to become a sponsor. Are you interested in LTS and its products? Then click here.
image: © Federal city of Bonn
