The Music Plays On — Beethoven’s 250th Birthday
Probably born on this day in Bonn, Germany, in 1770, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sestercentennial is being celebrated around the world for his music and accomplishment, and justifiably so. His music had an incalculable impact on not only how music would be composed after him, but how music would be played. For really the first time we see in Beethoven a musical artist who takes political and philosophical stances and risks, bringing the artform and the musician into a relevance neither had really had until this point. And, there only a few in all of history who have overcome something so profound. For a composer to confront and conquer deafness in the way that Beethoven did is a feat that really has no equal.
For today I’d like to focus on a performance that was probably the last time Beethoven’s music reached a global audience, joining a joyous moment that had been completely unforeseen by all of the political leaders at the time. When the Berlin Wall was breached and began to be demolished on November 9, 1989, Leonard Bernstein lept into action. Bringing together musicians from the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Leningrad Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, New York…
