April 2002 - Nr. 4
Bonn Pays Tribute to Beethoven
TWIG - Officials in Bonn held a brief ceremony at the monument to Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) on Tuesday (March 26) to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the death of the city’s most illustrious son. While works by the composer could be heard in concert halls across the city this week, the museum at Beethoven’s birthplace is marking the occasion with a special exhibition on the cult that surrounded Beethoven at the time of his death. Organized in cooperation with the Kassel Museum for Sepulchral Culture, the exhibit opened Tuesday and runs until September 8.
"Beethoven’s funeral was that of a prince, unlike anything Mozart or Haydn had," says museum director Michael Ladenburger. "His remains were honored like those of a saint." Included in the exhibit are a lock of Beethoven’s hair taken shortly after his death, a series of death masks, the key to his coffin and the autopsy report from his doctors. Some 120 objects on loan from London, Berlin, Vienna and Kassel recall the final days of the celebrated composer, who is said to have died during a thunderstorm while shaking his fist at the sky.
The Beethoven-Haus has also commissioned two new pieces in honour of the anniversary. The first is scheduled to premiere in June in Bonn. The museum’s next special exhibit, on Beethoven and Liszt, will open during the International Beethoven Festival in mid-September.
