Beethoven Center

BBC Beethoven Unleashed

This week on the BBC you can hear our director Erica Buurman and Beethoven biographer Jan Swafford discuss Beethoven's private documents, including sketches, the Immortal Beloved letter, and the conversation books. Programs available for streaming shortly after broadcast.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000kfjb

Beethoven Conversations, no. 5.

The second movement of Beethoven’s Quartet op. 132 includes four bars in duple meter marked “l’istesso tempo.” The original second violinist, Karl Holz, indicated a metronome mark for this passage that is different from how modern quartets perform it. What do you think?. What did Beethoven Beethoven actually mean?

Check out the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10lj5HikBoc

Postponed - Beethoven Ball

We’ve taken the sad but inevitable decision to postpone our September Beethoven Ball until 2021. 

Beethoven Conversations, no. 4

Ed Dusinberre shares some of his insights into how the Takács Quartet makes interpretative decisions about Beethoven’s curious performance markings.

Check out the link below:

https://youtu.be/sLKhXO0cnVk

Beethoven Conversations, no. 3

Beethoven Conversations, no. 3.

Was Beethoven making a joke about bad waltzing in the second movement of his String Quartet op. 132?

Check out the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC9CDZ0pDtc

Beethoven Conversations, no. 2

Beethoven Conversations, no. 2. Hurdy gurdy supplied by the Beethoven Center's own Eric Gjovaag.

Check out the link below:

https://youtu.be/nGF-Wyk6tWg

Beethoven Conversations, no. 1

Our chamber music symposium was postponed due to COVID-19, but even a pandemic can’t stop us talking about Beethoven online. Our director Erica Buurman chats to Ed Dusinberre (Takács Quartet) and Nick Mathew (UC Berkeley) about Austrian folk fiddling and the Alla danza tedesca from Beethoven’s Quartet Opus 130.
Look out for more in the coming weeks!

Check out the link below:

https://youtu.be/KAtv5zb1Sek

Beethoven's 250th birthday in 2020

Major events are in the works to celebrate the life of Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the most valued and gifted composers in human history.

More information

The Beethovens on the Rhine: Exploring Beethoven's Love of Nature Exhibition - CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. The exhibition will be extended when library reopens.

January 21 - extended indefinitely

Learn about the Beethoven family in Bonn and the natural world of Beethoven's childhood home.

Check out this video to learn more about our exhibit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=LdMff1Scs0w

New library catalog launched!

Find out about changes to the Beethoven Gateway

See what's new in the Beethoven Center's

Image Database

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Join the American Beethoven Society