European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 06, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Beethoven sonata by Richard Haydan staff writer n the United states Rock musicians sing Roll Over Beethoven but in Bonn it s still Roll on Beethoven Roll on yes Bonn still has love and Kidisse for the native son who ushered an age of German supremacy in music who not Only was a Brilliant composer but also the greatest pianist of his time one of music s major revolutionaries. This month Bonn is climaxing its Celebration of the 150th anniversary of the death of the shake Speare of symphony with a special series of Beethoven concerts plus performances of his opera Fidelia the musical events Are at night so during the Day it s possible for visitors to the baroque town of Bonn on the Banks of the Rhine to tour the House where he was born to learn More of Beethoven the Man brilliantly Crea Tive but tortured by his own nonconformity and physical affliction. Even today s musical Avant Gardiss genuflect before Beethoven recognizing a Kindred spirit impatient with the forms and traditions of his Day determined to create new forms for new ideas. The House at Bon Gasse 20 where Beethoven was born in 1770, now a museum is almost lost amid the. Storefronts Only a Small Bronze plaque identifies the unassuming beige building in the West German capital. It almost was torn Down in 1889, but a Small group of Rich music lovers saved it after the City refused to buy it. Beethoven House As it is known is actually two houses. One is a four Story building fronting on Bon Gasse. The other Only accessible through the entry Hall of the first is a beige plastered three Story cottage with Green shut ters. The Beethoven lived in the rear cottage s top two floors. A room in Bonn House where Beethoven was born in 1770, with a musical instrument of the period. Ear trumpets made for Beethoven by Johann Nepomuck Smalzel the inventor of the metronome. Poge 14 the stars and stripes stepping inside leaves the crowds the Street vendors and bratwurst stands behind and helps bring images of the 18th Century into focus. Busts sketches and paintings portray a proud grim and intense Beethoven with wild flowing hair Broad forehead and piercing Black eyes. One of the finest busts stands alone on a tall pillar in the Middle of a Little Low Ceil need room with a gabled window which is on the top floor at the end of a narrow winding staircase. Beethoven was born in this room on dec. 16,1770. Besides Many of his original scores there Are collections of personal belongings and correspondence locks of hair and a death mask. Perhaps the most tragic mementos Are four ear horns of varying sizes Beethoven used in desperate attempts overcome the deafness which began assail ing him at 28. By the time he was 32, the Ever thickening folds of Beethoven s shroud of silence drove him to consider suicide. Instead he turned to the limited technology of the Cen Tury. To augment the ear horns he ordered a special grand piano now on display with four strings per note in Stead of three and equipped with a special resonance Box to increase the tone. His efforts were futile. Soon deafness swathed his ears so that the Only music he could hear was in his own imagination. Still he continued composing and conducting. In 1824, he insisted on conducting his ninth symphony. At the conclusion it was necessary for a member of the orchestra to turn Beethoven around to at least see the thunderous applause he could not hear. It was his last Public performance. He died three years later. Despite his Handicap Beethoven s unbridled and unt amenable creativity produced some of the most moving and original music Ever composed. His swirling notes of emotion eroded the sober formulas of 17th Century classical composers and made room for music which reflected the Joys and sorrows of the artist. Most classical composers were Content to produce music within rigidly controlled patterns or forms governed by strict rules. Beethoven s mind was too turbulent to be contained by these rules. He shattered the sonata form allowing his ideas to dictate Structure. Many of his original scores Are in the manuscript room at Beethoven House including the one directors of the House describe As the most valuable the 6th sym phony in f major opus 68, or pastoral symphony. Another notable manuscript is of the pianoforte sonata in c Sharp minor better known As the Moonlight sonata. Dedicated to countess Giuletta Guicciardi it is a sublimely sublimated Symbol of one of Beethoven s Many lost loves. As the first of the super individuals of music he not Only reshaped music he also reshaped what the composer stood for. One of the major differences Between Beethoven an musicians before him was that Beethoven looked upon � himself As an artist and he insisted on his rights As a artist. Where Mozart moved in the Periphery of the aristocratic world anxiously knocking but never really admitted Beethoven 14 years Mozart s Junior stormed in and made himself at  was a special Breed and he knew it music critics have written of Beethoven. And he had what poor Mozart lacked a powerful personality that frightened All who came in Contact with  Beethoven according to music critic Harold Schonberg it was not a matter of adapting himself tothe world and its ways. As with Wagner later on it was a matter of the world adapting its ways to him. He seize society by the Throat and made it listen to what he had to  this High voltage kind of personality coupled wit equally High voltage order of Genius made it possible for Beethoven to dictate to life much on his own terms except for the deafness that began to overtake him about 1800. By 1817 he was All but Stone deaf. The cause of his affliction has not been established. The same unbridled spirit and sensitivity which inspired musical masterpieces made him a social Bear. He had Little patience with etiquette pretence or rank an was known for his arrogance quarrels meness slovenly habits and sheer  merest insult real or imagined could throw him into terrible fits of anger for which he often profusely apologized later. Copy of 1819 painting of Beethoven by Karl Josef Stieler. The Moonlight sonata countess. And his isolation. He died unmarried and alone i Vienna where he had moved As a Young Man in 1792 on March 28,1827. Reportedly 20,000 people attended his funeral in Vienna. Bonn erected a statue to Beethoven in 1845. It still stands in the Minster Totz serving As landmark for lovers to meet by and As a strange contrast for the Street musicians of the City. The schedule for Bonn s 29th Beethoven festival sept. 10-30 lists 16 concerts and two opera performances and includes Leonard Bernstein conducting the Vienna Phil harmonic and Karl Richter conducting the Munich Phil harmonic. The opening event is a concert sept. 10 in the Beethoven Halle featuring the orchestra de Paris with piano virtuoso Daniel Barenboim As conductor and soloist. Bonn becomes the musical Mecca for youth orchestras of four countries sept. 25-30. At the finale sept. 30, All the Young musicians join at the marketplace in front of the City Hall to form one orchestra and play Beethoven s ninth symphony. For details of performances and booking information As Well As free tourist brochures of Bonn Contact the Bonn City tourist office Moltke Strasse 66, d-5300 Bonn phone 02221 830545 or 830662. It s across the Street from the Railroad station. Old print shows cantankerous deaf composer at work. Progressive deafness increased his irritability death mask of one of music s major revolutionaries. Tuesday september 6,1977 he w\5 Short of 5tatvre, Hap wrap 5houldek5, a Short neck a lar6e head amp a Kjep nose he sows kind of cute Beethoven u Ascot cute in City tourist Opict Beethoven House in Bonn is really two houses family lived in rear Structure s top floors. The stars and stripes Page 15