Beethovenfest
Every year in September, the Beethovenfest in Bonn presents around 70 concerts by international orchestras, ensembles and soloists in over 20 venues in Bonn and other locations in the surrounding Rhineland . It is named after Ludwig van Beethoven , who was born in Bonn in 1770 .
History of the festival
The Beethovenfest took place for the first time in 1845 with a three-day music festival on the occasion of the composer's 75th birthday. Conductors were Franz Liszt and Louis Spohr , the visitors included the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. , The British Queen Victoria , Alexander von Humboldt and Hector Berlioz . The first Beethoven Hall was built from wood for this festival and then demolished again. In the following years there were irregular Beethoven festivals in Bonn. The second festival, which was to take place in 1870 for the 100th birthday, was held a year late due to the Franco-Prussian War - from August 20 to 24, 1871. Initiated by an association, chamber music festivals took place in 1890 and 1893. In 1894 all nine symphonies were performed for the first time. Another big Beethovenfest was celebrated on the 100th anniversary of his death in 1927. The composer was commemorated under the joint patronage of the German Reich President and the Austrian Federal President .
Beethoven festivals were held annually from 1931 until the war years. The chamber music festivals were organized by the Beethoven House Association until the end of the war. The festivals were increasingly co-opted by the National Socialists and increasingly integrated with orchestral and choral music.
The new beginning after the end of the war was shaped by the city of Bonn as the sponsor of the event and the artistic direction was the respective general music director. From 1947 the Beethovenfest took place every two years, alternating with the chamber music festival of the Beethoven-Haus association . With the opening of the Beethoven Hall in 1959 , Bonn joined the series of the world's most important, regularly held music festivals . A change in the concept took place from 1974. The festival was only held every three years and the content of Beethoven's music was increasingly juxtaposed with contemporary music. This repeatedly led to controversy.
In 1993 the council decided to cancel the subsidies for the Beethovenfest. The festival for the composer's 225th birthday was canceled in 1995. To protest against it, a citizens' initiative Citizens for Beethoven was founded . The latter organized a Beethoven marathon from 1996 to 1998 , the artistic direction of which was taken over by Kari Kahl-Wolfsjäger . The support from the citizens was so overwhelming that the council decided to revive the Beethoven Festival and in 1998, together with Deutsche Welle, founded the International Beethoven Festival Bonn gGmbH as the sponsoring company and organizer for an annual Beethoven Festival. Franz Willnauer was artistic director from 1999 to 2003 . He was followed by Ilona Schmiel in 2004 . Nike Wagner has been the artistic director and managing director of the Beethovenfest Bonn since 2014. In mid-2019 it was announced that she did not want to extend her contract, which ran until 2020.
Profile of the festival
With its concerts and an extensive supporting program with an annually changing motto, the Beethovenfest Bonn is a major musical event. The concept of the annual festival - according to the organizers, a space utilization of 92 percent was achieved in 2007 and 2008, 90 percent in 2009 and 86 percent in 2010 - is based on three constants:
- Beethoven's work is not the museum content of the festival, but an inexhaustible center of power for lively discussion.
- The program serves as a platform for encounters and artistic exchange between prominent "stars" and highly talented young musicians.
- The Beethovenfest takes place not only in Bonn itself, but also in numerous ambience venues in the Rhineland region.
Festival sponsor
The International Beethoven Festival Bonn gGmbH, founded and financially funded by the Federal City of Bonn, has been the sponsor of the music festival since 1998. The second partner is Deutsche Welle , whose media service ensures that the festival is spread around the world. In addition, there is close cooperation with the municipal Beethoven Orchestra Bonn , the Bonn Opera and the Beethoven House . In 1999 the first Beethovenfest took place under the new sponsorship.
budget
The total budget of the Beethovenfest 2015 was EUR 4.9 million. 32% of this was income from public grants from the city of Bonn and the Rhein-Sieg district . The city of Bonn's share is € 1.6 million annually. There is also project funding from the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Federal Foreign Office . The remaining funds - sponsorship money, contributions from foundations, the sale of tickets and media exploitation - are raised by the sponsor.
Directorship
In 2004 Ilona Schmiel took over from Franz Willnauer, who held this position from 1999 to 2003, in the directorship and management of the Internationale Beethovenfeste Bonn gGmbH. On January 1, 2014, Nike Wagner succeeded Ilona Schmiel, who is moving to the Tonhalle in Zurich. Dettloff Schwerdtfeger will be the commercial director from 2016.
Main focus of the festivals
2005
In 2005 the festival lasted from September 8th to October 2nd. Liberté - the key word of the Enlightenment and battle cry of the French Revolution - was the motto. After the Bohemian - Moravian focus in the previous year, the organizers this time focused on the relationship between Beethoven and French music. In 64 events and an extensive supporting program, the festival gave an insight into the great importance that the revolutionary ideas and upheavals had on Ludwig van Beethoven and his music, but also illuminated the creative treatment of the French composers with Beethoven's work from Hector Berlioz to Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel to this day.
2006
In 2006 the Beethovenfest Bonn took place from August 31st to October 1st. The motto of the program was Russia .
2007
The Beethovenfest Bonn 2007 took place from August 24th to September 23rd. The organizers dedicated it to the music nation Great Britain. The motto of the festival was Joy . Ludwig van Beethoven's contacts to Great Britain were based to a not insignificant extent on old Bonn connections: Ferdinand Ries , like Beethoven born in Bonn and Beethoven's piano student in Vienna, went to London as a celebrated pianist in 1813. He later became one of the directors of the London Philharmonic Society , which commissioned Beethoven for his 9th symphony in 1822 .
British ensembles such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra , the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and the Philharmonia Orchestra London made guest appearances in Bonn. In addition belonged War Requiem by Benjamin Britten to the program. There were also discoveries to be made, such as a selection of Beethoven's seldom performed Scottish, Irish and Welsh songs.
On September 2, the opera had Freax by Moritz Eggert as part of the classical music festivals premiere.
2008
The Beethovenfest Bonn 2008 took place from August 29th to September 28th in Beethoven's birthplace. Power. Music. - Under this motto, the festival addressed the ideological appropriation and exclusion of composers of classical music and their works in the 20th century in 60 concerts based on Beethoven's political legacy. Beethoven's works were heard, which he wrote with a political and social connotation. On the one hand, these were juxtaposed with compositions that arose as a reaction to political currents; on the other hand, the Beethovenfest Bonn 2008 was dedicated to ostracized composers, whose music was composed in Theresienstadt , among other places , and works in the context of exile and persecution.
Top-class musicians performed such as Hélène Grimaud , Annette Dasch , Claudia Barainsky , Daniel Hope , Martin Grubinger and András Schiff , Max Raabe and Die Prinzen , while Esther Schweins , Hannelore Elsner , Christoph Waltz , Ulrich Matthes and Hanns Zischler traveled from the acting industry .
In addition, top orchestras made guest appearances at the Beethovenfest Bonn 2008 such as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Lorin Maazel , the London Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding , the Orchester National de France under Kurt Masur , the Gewandhausorchester under Riccardo Chailly , the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Paavo Järvi and the Bamberger Symphony Orchestra under Jonathan Nott .
2009
The Beethovenfest Bonn 2009 took place from September 4th to October 3rd, 2009. “In the light” was the motto of the festival this year. "Beethoven's influence not only shaped the music of the Romantic period, in which almost all musical genres related to Beethoven's work," wrote the director of the Beethoven Festival, Ilona Schmiel. “During Beethoven's lifetime, the soloist also developed into an increasingly independent musical personality. This was the starting point for the romanticist ideal of the artist: the cult of star and genius emerged, which characterizes our music world today. "
Against this background, the motto "In the light" was to be understood, which focused on artistic positions. Among the artists who were on the program in 2009 were Paavo Järvi and Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen , Kent Nagano, Ingo Metzmacher , Sol Gabetta , Valery Gergiev , Gustavo Dudamel and Maurizio Pollini .
2010
The Beethovenfest 2010 took place from September 10th to October 9th 2010 and had the motto "Into the open - utopia and freedom in music". The patronage was taken over by José Antonio Abreu , the founder of the Venezuelan "El Sistema", the national system of youth and children's orchestras in Venezuela . For the first time, the Chancellor's bungalow could be used as a venue for a concert.
As part of the concert he conducted with the Bavarian State Orchestra on September 12, 2010 , Kent Nagano received the 2010 Wilhelm Furtwängler Prize at the Beethoven Festival in Bonn.
2011
In the Liszt year , the Beethovenfest Bonn looked back on its long tradition: In 1845, Franz Liszt organized a three-day music festival for the inauguration of the Beethoven monument on Münsterplatz on the occasion of the composer's 75th birthday. In 2011 the festival took place from September 10th to October 9th. It was under the motto “Music of the future. Beethoven, Liszt and the New in Music ”.
2012
Under the motto “Obstinacy. In 2012 the Beethovenfest Bonn took place from September 7th to October 7th. The focus was on musicians who, like Beethoven, are ahead of their time with their ideas and undeterred on their way. The Beethovenfest Bonn develops exclusive programs with these cross-border commuters, many of whom have been closely associated with the festival for years.
2013
The Beethovenfest of 2013 took place from September 5th to October 5th. The motto of the 67 individual events was “Transformations”. The main program included an open-air concert in which Otto Sauter and his trumpeter ensemble Ten of the Best & Friends translate well-known melodies from his operas into American and Caribbean musical styles in the Richard Wagner anniversary year, as well as an English concert with the soprano Miah Persson and the NDR Youth Symphony Orchestra , performing for the first time abroad, under the direction of its founder Thomas Hengelbrock .
2014
The 2014 Beethoven Festival had the motto "Spark of Gods". From September 6th to October 6th, 60 events should show how music touches the audience and what music can move the audience to - how the "divine spark" jumps over. The motto completed a three-year exploration, which began in 2012 with a look at the artist - "Stubbornness" - and in 2013 illuminated the processes of change in the artist and work - "Metamorphoses".
2015
The Beethovenfest of 2015 took place from September 4th to October 4th in 54 events under the motto "Changes". It was the first Beethovenfest that Nike Wagner was responsible for. In addition to large orchestral works, there was a focus on " Diabelli Variations " and, for the first time, dance theater with choreographies by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui , Saburo Theshigawara and Stephanie Thiersch.
2019
The Beethovenfest 2019 took place from September 6th to September 29th and was under the motto "Moonlight"
2020
The next Beethovenfest was to take place in two parts on the occasion of Beethoven's 250th birthday. Events with the motto “Be embraced” were planned for the period from March 13 to 22, 2020. They were deliberately placed in the month of March that Beethoven died and were canceled on March 11, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic .
The second part should take place from September 4 to 27, 2020 and largely canceled due to the pandemic on May 5, 2020. Only a concert without spectators in Cologne Cathedral and an artistic site tour of the Beethoven Hall, which is currently under renovation, will take place.
2021
Most of the events canceled in 2020 should be rescheduled for the Beethovenfest 2021 from August 20 to September 10, 2021.
Web links
- Website Beethovenfest Bonn.
- Georg Beck: Who should pay for what nobody wants anyway? In: new music newspaper. 2009, accessed January 18, 2014 .
swell
- ↑ Manfred van Rey: On the history of the Beethovenhalle. Archived from the original on June 4, 2009 ; Retrieved January 18, 2014 .
- ^ "Citizens" put Beethoven in the right light , Bonner Generalanzeiger , August 28, 2002
- ↑ Manfred van Rey: Bonn citizens save Beethoven's festival , Bonn 2004, p. 12.
- ↑ Beethovenfest Bonn ( Memento of the original from September 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 26, 2014.
- ^ Jan Brachmann: Farewell to the Beethovenfest. In: www.faz.net. July 5, 2019, accessed July 6, 2019 .
- ↑ Beethovenfest 2010 in brief. (PDF; 46 kB) Beethovenfest Bonn, accessed on January 18, 2014 .
- ↑ Bachfest director Schwerdtfeger moves to Bonn. welt.de, June 24, 2015, accessed December 10, 2015.
- ↑ Obstinacy. About the truth in art. (PDF; 67 kB) Press release. Beethovenfest Bonn, March 13, 2012, accessed on January 18, 2014 .
- ↑ On the 2019 motto: »Moonlight«. Retrieved June 12, 2019 .
- ↑ Beethovenfest 2019 between “moonlight” and cultural politics. In: Deutsche Welle. September 30, 2019, accessed October 22, 2019 .
- ↑ On the March 2020 motto: "Be embraced". International Beethoven Festival Bonn, accessed on October 22, 2019 .
- ↑ Beethovenfest in Bonn canceled due to Corona. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. March 11, 2020, accessed June 22, 2020 .
- ↑ Beethovenfest. In: nrw-tourismus.de. Retrieved June 22, 2020 .
- ↑ Currently 2020. In: beethovenfest.de. International Beethoven Festival, accessed on June 22, 2020 .
- ↑ Postponed to 2021. In: beethovenfest.de. International Beethoven Festival, accessed on June 22, 2020 .
