April 18, 2023: The Beethoven genome paper that was published in March generated an astonishing amount of publicity in the media. Cambridge University tallied over 2,000 media stories in the first 24 hours. Many of the print articles contained material from interviews with researchers involved in the project but also outside experts who were queried about the project. Here are a few of the stories. Unfortunately, many are behind “pay walls.”
- DNA From Beethoven’s Hair Unlocks Medical and Family Secrets (New York Times)
- DNA From Beethoven’s Hair Unlocks Family Secret (Wall Street Journal)
- Beethoven’s Hair: Unlocking Ludwig’s DNA (Cambridge University)
- How Did Beethoven Die? (History.com)
- DNA From Beethoven’s Hair Reveals Clues About His Death (Smithsonian Magazine)
- Scientists sequence Beethoven’s genome for clues into his painful past (NPR)
- Beethoven’s genome (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft)
- New study of Beethoven’s genome was launched from San Jose (San Francisco Chronicle)
March 22, 2023: For many years the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn has published important volumes of new research in a series titled Bonner Beethoven-Studien. The latest volume, no. 13, recently appeared in 2022. The articles in Bonner Beethoven-Studien are published in the original languages of the authors in most cases. This issue contains eight important articles in English by Theodore Albrecht, Luigi Bellafatto, Erica Buurman, Timothy Gibbons, Lewis Lockwood, Megan Ross, Rita Steblin (posthumous publication), and John Wilson on a wide range of fascinating topics. The volume is available through the shop of the Beethoven-Haus for 42 euros plus shipping:
https://www.beethoven.de/en/shop/beethoven-studies/bonner-beethoven-studien-13
Future volumes will appear as in an open access online journal, which will greatly facilitate the dissemination of the work of these scholars.
- Ulrich Konrad zum 65 Geburtstag
- Vorwort
- Claudio Albrecht, Omid Kokabi, und Stefan Weinzierl: “Der Jahnsche Saal in der Wiener Himmelpfortgasse. Rekunstruktion Einer Konzertstätte der Mozart- und Beethovenzeit”
- Theodore Albrecht: “Hyperbole and High Drama. The Chronology and First Performance of Beethoven’s Oratorio Christus am Ölberge, Op. 85”
- Luigi Bellofatto: “Alexander Wheelock Thayer and the Beethoven-Haus Bonn. A Contribution to Thayer’s 200th Birthday, 2017”
- Erica Buurman: “Beethoven’s Waltzes in Contemporary British Keyboard Publications”
- Anna-Katharina Dämgen und Maria Rößner-Richarz: “’Lieber Herr Baurat!’ Vier Briefe Heinrich Hasselbachs an Theodor Wildeman vom Februar/März 1945”
- Timothy Gibbons: “A Puzzling Presto. The Content and History of Beethoven’s Sketches for WoO 52” [Bagatelle in C Minor, 1795/98]
- Martella Gutiérrez-Denhoff: “Annotationen zu einem Notationsblatt”
- Hans-Joachim Hinrichsen: “Beethovens Hammerklaviersonate und die Idee der ästhetischen Grenzüberschreitung”
- Arnold Jacobshagen. “Beethoven und Rossini: eine musikalische Phantomdebatte”
- Lewis Lockwood: “Expression and Structure in Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte”
- Megan Ross: “The Late Quartets and Wagner’s 1870 Beethoven Essay Revisited”
- Marioa Rößner-Richarz: “Neuerwerbung: Briefe an den Schweizer Sammler Samuel Geiser”
- Dörte Schmidt: “Paiks Beethoven”
- Rita Steblin: “Beethoven’s Relationship with Marie Bigot: A New Interpretation”
- Christiane Tewinkel: “Ein Vögelchen, eine Grande Sonate: Die Seinfeld Episode. The Pez Dispenser (1992)”
- John Wilson: “Music Papers in Electoral Bonn, 1770-1794. Some New Findings from the Bonn Manuscripts in Modena, and Their Implications for the Dating of Beethoven’s Early Compositions”
- Christine Siegert unter Mitwirkung von Susanne Cox, Jens Dufner, Yuval Dvoran, Friederike Grigat, Beate Angelika Kraus, Julia Ronge, Maria Rößner-Richarz und Jana Seifert: Mitteilungen aus dem Beethoven-Archiv