Plus, how a team of musicologists and computer scientists completed Beethoven’s unfinished 10th Symphony using AI. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
Throughout the project, Beethoven’s genius loomed.
Circe Denyer
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.
Comparing Beethoven to punk rockers is based on the composer’s attitude to tradition, but is it an accurate categorization?
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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.
Ludwig van Beethoven’s friendship with the Black composer George Bridgetower may have led to rumours of Beethoven being Black.
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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.
Happy birthday Beethoven, 250 this year. Here, artist Ottmar Hoerl’s sculptural tribute in Bonn, Germany.
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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.
The conductor’s role is to communicate with the performers and their audience. Their role is part artistic, part mathematical.
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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.
Beethoven monument on the Beethovenplatz square in Vienna, Austria. The monument was unveiled in 1880.
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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.
South African born pianist Daniel-Ben Pienaar.
Stephanus Muller