Beethoven is everywhere, an icon who has left an infinite mark.
His music is reused in many contexts and situations. It can be found in jazz, pop or rock arrangements, in auteur cinema, but also in advertising, played on a loop in elevators or as a ringtone on telephones. An arrangement of the Ode to Joy from his Ninth Symphony was even adopted as the anthem of the European Community, symbolically becoming a call for peace.
His personality is also strongly represented in iconography and the figurative arts, such as Andy Warhol’s image, Klimt’s Frieze or Antoine Bourdelle’s sculptures.
Want to find out more? Discover our selection of documents.
And don’t forget Medici.tv, accessible on the BCUL’s public stations or remotely via crypto for UNIL members, which features several concerts, documentaries and master classes dedicated to Beethoven.
