Beethoven 2027: marking the bicentenary of the composer’s death
Explore works from the Boosey & Hawkes and Sikorski catalogues inspired by the iconic example of Ludwig van Beethoven. Read work notes outlining the Beethoven connections for programmers, conductors and performers and listen to our playlist.
Ludwig van Beethoven is the composer’s composer. Though later luminaries such as Mahler, Ravel, Stravinsky, or Messiaen may loom large in a personal pantheon, it is Beethoven that many composers look to as the archetypal figure exemplifying the creative will. Signalling the break from aristocratic patronage, he took the new classical style and moulded it into an individual idiom with an enhanced sense of freedom and bold expressive power.
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> Listen to our Beethoven 2027 playlist
Composers have for two centuries been naturally attracted to Beethoven’s craftsmanship and his struggle to achieve perfection, but also to the modernism of his late works, which explore a splintering of language and continuity that has become increasingly relevant in later centuries. Beethoven’s dynamic energy and driving motives are precursors of minimalism and his expansion of references from classical beauty to the world around him have proved influential long beyond the Romantic era. Many composers are simply drawn to Beethoven the man, with his stormy personality, battles against personal adversity, and political aspirations for humankind, driven forward by his belief that “music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy”.
The bicentenary of the composer’s death, falling in March 2027, offers orchestras, festivals, and broadcasters the chance to set this titanic figure in the context of music from later centuries. Modern works can be selected to explore specific aspects of Beethoven and his oeuvre, offering imaginative pairings for his symphonies, concertos, and chamber music, and widening the audience’s perspective beyond the well-earned familiarity of Beethoven’s classic scores.