{"id":69451,"date":"2020-10-21T09:45:16","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T13:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=69451"},"modified":"2020-10-21T09:45:16","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T13:45:16","slug":"feature-beethoven-at-250-an-icon-at-risk-of-overexposure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2020\/10\/21\/feature-beethoven-at-250-an-icon-at-risk-of-overexposure\/","title":{"rendered":"FEATURE | Beethoven At 250: An Icon At Risk Of Overexposure?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year marks Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday. Though some of his creations have been overexposed, there are still others waiting to be discovered.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I<\/span>n the centre of Bonn, a bronze statue<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>stands on a pedestal in the M\u00fcnsterplatz.<\/p>\n

The figure is dressed in typical early 19th-century garb, cravat and jacket visible beneath a heavy outer cloak. Protruding from the rough folds, the left hand clutches an open notebook. The right hand holds a pen at arm\u2019s length, the gesture suggesting action momentarily suspended by thought. Above the collar, a face framed by a shock of hair frowns into the middle distance.<\/p>\n

This memorial to Bonn\u2019s greatest musical son has been in place since 1845, a reminder that paying tribute to Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), whose 250th birthday is celebrated this year, is a practice with its own lengthy history.<\/p>\n

The Bonn statue, the first erected to any musician in Germany, was unveiled on the 75th anniversary of Beethoven\u2019s birth. It would not be the last statuary tribute to the composer, whose reputation grew ever greater as the 19th century advanced. Thirty-five years later, his adoptive city of Vienna unveiled an even more substantial\u00a0Beethoven monument<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was followed by Max Klinger\u2019s 1902 sculpture for the Viennese Secession, in which the\u00a0bare-torso composer<\/a><\/span>\u00a0is literally enthroned. Today, 3D representations in the form of busts and even\u00a0action figures\u00a0are widely available.<\/p>\n

The ubiquity of Beethoven imagery reflects his status as a true icon, one of a handful of creative personalities whose achievements have become bywords for the supreme capacities of the human spirit. As he turns 250, Beethoven has been\u00a0lauded<\/a><\/span>\u00a0as \u201cnot just [\u2026] history\u2019s greatest composer, but also one of its greatest human beings\u201d.<\/p>\n

Overcoming tragedy<\/h2>\n

Even before we try to grasp what makes Beethoven\u2019s musical creations so special, the fact that he continued to write music in spite of his\u00a0worsening hearing<\/a><\/span>\u00a0has enshrined him in the broader cultural imaginary as a martyr-magician.<\/p>\n

Beethoven\u2019s deafness may have contributed to his legend, but several of works have achieved iconic status in their own right, often spawning complex reception traditions of their own. Some of the most popular, including the Fifth and Ninth Symphonies, trace a struggle-to-victory trajectory, on one level a musical metaphor for the way the composer triumphed over his disability.<\/p>\n

The Ninth Symphony begins in a dark D minor, and concludes with a D-major setting of Schiller\u2019s Ode to Joy<\/em>, usually seen as a paean to universal brotherhood. As such, it was a fitting choice for a historic December 1989\u00a0concert<\/a><\/span>\u00a0to celebrate the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. Yet this work has also been interpreted as a celebration of violence, as was brilliantly but subversively\u00a0brought out<\/a><\/span>\u00a0in Stanley Kubrick\u2019s 1971 film of\u00a0A Clockwork Orange<\/em>\u00a0(based on Anthony Burgess\u2019s novel).<\/p>\n