37. Beethoven and the Enlightenment

Presented in association with TORCH, with support from the Humanities Cultural Programme, and Worcester College 

This year marks the 250th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven. Although often denigrated as a song composer, who had no natural affinity for writing for the voice, Beethoven was a pioneer in song as he was in every other genre he turned his hand to. This is the case beyond his famous song cycle An die ferne Geliebte (‘To the Distant Beloved’), which was arguably the model for Schubert’s settings of Rellstab in Schwanengesang. This final Song Connections event is led by Laura Tunbridge, whose recent book Beethoven: A Life in Nine Pieces has been praised as ‘elegant and enquiring’ (The Evening Standard) and ‘pithy, different and welcome’ (The Guardian). In asking to what extent Beethoven can be perceived as an Enlightenment figure, Laura is joined by Ritchie Robertson, Taylor Professor of German Language and Literature at Oxford University, who provides a rich cultural context, and Joanna Raisbeck, Lecturer in German at Wadham College, who introduces some of the poets Beethoven chose to set.

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