Beethoven Virtually Still With Us

A visit to the Beethoven-Haus museum in Bonn goes much further than a fascinating walk through the birthing room where the great man came into this world, his instruments and manuscripts. Emma Cillekens reports.

The music is further accessible to the millions who make up Ludwig von Beethoven’s present-day following, through the Beethoven-Haus digital electronic section.

Introduced in 2004 this facility, looking like any other good computer laboratory, showcases 150 authentic documents and objects.

These include original scores and letters written by the master himself that can now be inspected via the internet.

A Bonn musician, and guide at the Beethoven-Haus, Gitta Schatz tells visitors the reason for the enduring success of the music with audiences is the timelessness of the emotion it brings.

“I think it goes directly into the heart of his music,” Gitta says.

“You can feel that he makes no compromise and he is very honest.”

And she says it is this honesty and the hardships he endured, through loss of hearing, that furthers the meaning in his music.

“He composed and he wrote in spite of his disability, because he has the music inside and he never loses hope.”

So; how long will Beethoven’s music endure?

Gitta Schatz is very sure: “Forever”, she says.

Not only that; one interesting detail concerns a famous song, “Fur Terse”, which was scribed wrongly and distributed worldwide as “Fur Elise”.

It seems set to remain that way for eternity.

Picture: Emma Cillekens pays her respects at the Beethoven-Haus.

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