Beethoven Archive

Ludwig van Beethoven was one of the most influential musicians of all time. He was born in December 1770.  Beethoven gave his first public performance at the age of 7 in Cologne, Germany. At the age of 21 he moved to Vienna and started to study composition. In 1800 he gave his first

symphony (arguably his most notable) in Vienna. By 1801 he confessed he was slowly becoming deaf. Beethoven was always seen as “the liberator of the people” during this time. He composed 10 symphonies during his lifespan which are still talked about today. He passed away in 1827 due to an illness. Beethoven, the musician, the entertainer, the liberator, and an interesting human being. His works of art have influenced many different artists to create musical works of their own. Making this archive would be beneficial to many different types of people. This will help younger people learn more about classical music. It will also make it easier to access all different types of Beethoven’s musical works. By making this archive, it would make his works accessible to everyone. Digital humanists can create works of musical history, like Beethoven’s, to be accessible to everyone.

In our archive, we will include all different types of Beethoven’s works. It will include all of Ludwig van Beethoven symphonies, all of his concerto’s and all of his sonatas. We will include both the scripts of the original works and recordings of each composition. We will also include the many different

portraits of Beethoven. Beethoven kept a diary of his day to day activities. This will be included in our archive. We will also include the conversation books that he kept after going deaf. There hundreds and hundreds of compositions created by Beethoven. It will take a long time to digitalize his works. All of his scripts were created in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Therefore, they are very delicate and need to be handled with care. As archivist, we need to be careful and respectful of his work. We will have use gloves when interacting with his different scripts. We will have to work fast because the light could cause them to deteriorate. This archive will help keep art and music alive!