Gemma Ware, The Conversation and Daniel Merino, The Conversation
Plus, how a team of musicologists and computer scientists completed Beethoven’s unfinished 10th Symphony using AI. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
When Beethoven died, all he left behind were some sketches for his 10th Symphony. Now, thanks to the help of artificial intelligence, the composer’s vision is coming to life.
Assessing around 500 of the composer’s correspondence, we are able to see how a rise in sadness and other negative emotions resulted in increased creative productivity.
Audiences know what it’s like to listen to Beethoven’s iconic works - but to play his creations as a concert pianist is to grab the music with both hands and join the composer in a powerful battle.
Beethoven’s compositions combine power, rhythm and deeply felt meaning - and they did not come easily. The composer was ahead of his time, and he knew it, even then.
This year Ludwig van Beethoven turns 250. Though some of his creations have been overexposed, they are indisputably brilliant. And there are still others waiting to be discovered by music lovers.
A conductor’s role is about communication with performers and their audience. They do so using eye contact, dress, and of course, the fabled waving of the arms.
The last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony gave us ‘Ode to Joy’, one of the most famous tunes of all time. But the composer initially thought he’d made a grave mistake with it.