Beethoven Unleashed programming announced for 2020

New programming includes a three-part series, Being Beethoven (w/t) for BBC Four which, instead of approaching the composer through the prism of his music, will seek to return Beethoven to the context of his own time and place. The series will tell Beethoven’s life story in the present tense, reimagining how might have experienced day-to-day life. BBC Four will also broadcast the upcoming production of Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, from the Royal Opera House.

On BBC Radio 3, presenter Donald Macleod will undertake a Beethoven marathon, with 125 hours of Composer Of The Week - the most ever dedicated to a single artist. Composer Of The Week will feature insights from Sir Simon Schama, conductor Marin Alsop and many more. The station has also commissioned a new drama, Beethoven Can Hear You, by Forest 404 creator Timothy X Atack, which will endeavour to give audiences the chance to follow Beethoven’s journey of hearing loss.

Context to Beethoven’s times will also be explored with Dr Kate Kennedy in Unseen Vienna on BBC Radio 3, which will shine a light on Beethoven’s female contemporaries who have since been largely overlooked by history. Also on Radio 3, Dissecting Beethoven will seek to learn more about the composer from the results of the autopsy carried out after his death, with presenter Georgia Mann joined by eminent neurosurgeon Henry Marsh CBE.

Live performances of Beethoven’s music from BBC orchestras and choirs around the UK will also feature alongside works by his contemporaries and new compositions inspired by the composer including a recreation of Beethoven’s famed four-hour long 1808 concert and David Lang’s new opera prisoner of the state, a modern re-telling of Beethoven’s opera Fidelio.

These are just some of the highlights in a year-long focus, as part of Beethoven Unleashed on BBC television, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds, with more content to be announced in due course.

Alan Davey, Controller Radio 3 & Classical Music at the BBC, says: “This unique celebration will offer audiences an opportunity to explore the achievements of Beethoven afresh and understand his continued relevance today. From the latest research into his life to concerts of excellence, there’s something for everyone.”

Jan Younghusband, Head of Commissioning BBC Music TV, says: “I am certain that many of us can relate to the struggles Beethoven faced in his personal life - from tumultuous relationships to his eventual loss of hearing affecting him profoundly both personally and professionally. With this in mind we have taken his anniversary as an opportunity to delve a little more deeply into the man behind the music, with our three-part series Being Beethoven on BBC Four delving into his life story, giving us further insight into his character and experiences that informed his ground-breaking musical compositions and the influence he has on the future of classical music.”

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BBC Four

Being Beethoven (w/t, 3x60’)

To mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth in 2020, new three-part series, Being Beethoven, on BBC Four will invite audiences to switch their focus from Beethoven’s work to the man behind the music.

Instead of approaching the composer through the prism of his music, this series will invite viewers to explore the life led by the complex, often difficult man who composed it. Returning Beethoven to the context of his own time and place, his life story will be told in the present tense as he would have experienced it.

Being Beethoven is expected to air on BBC Four in May 2020.

Being Beethoven was commissioned by Head of BBC Music TV Commissioning, Jan Younghusband and Owen Courtney, Commissioning Executive, for Cassian Harrison, Controller BBC Four. The Executive Producer is Ross Wilson, Creative Director at Matchlight.

Fidelio (1x120’)

Fidelio, Beethoven’s only opera, from the Royal Opera House starring tenor Jonas Kaufmann.

Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio is widely recognised as a masterpiece; an uplifting story of risk and triumph. In this new production, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano, tenor Jonas Kaufmann sings the role of the political prisoner Florestan with soprano Lise Davidsen as his wife Leonore (disguised as ‘Fidelio’) who daringly sets out to rescue him.

Fidelio was commissioned by Head of BBC Music TV Commissioning, Jan Younghusband, for Cassian Harrison, Controller BBC Four.

BBC Radio 3

The 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth will be marked with a year-long season comprised of five stand-out moments, Beethoven Unleashed, on BBC Radio 3.

Alan Davey, Controller of BBC Radio 3, the BBC Orchestras and Choirs and the BBC Proms, says: “Beethoven was a seminal composer in his own and for all time. His approach to music was revolutionary and disruptive. His innovations continue to influence many aspects of classical music today, from the way audiences listen to music, his use of orchestral colour and tone, and the sound and possibilities of the modern piano.

"I am looking forward to honouring Beethoven in a way that only the BBC can, with involvement from all our wonderful orchestras, a flagship year-long season on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds, and a television series delving into the life of the man himself.

"I hope audiences will enjoy the BBC as the ultimate destination to explore Beethoven’s life and music afresh this anniversary year.”

Alongside a series live concert broadcasts from the BBC Orchestras, Radio 3’s long-running programme Composer Of The Week will sit at the heart of the season, dedicating an unprecedented 25 weeks to the composer in 2020. These will run in alternate weeks throughout the year, totalling an unprecedented 125 hours of programming. (Further information included below).

Alongside Radio 3 In Concert and Composer Of The Week, the station will feature further in-depth complementary programming over the course of the year. Aimed at everyone from the Beethoven novice to aficionado; programmes will include:

• A brand-new specially-commissioned Drama On 3 by Forest 404 creator Timothy X Atack, Beethoven Can Hear You, in which audiences will follow Beethoven’s journey of hearing loss
• Sunday Feature documentaries on Radio 3 will range from exploring Beethoven’s female contemporaries in Vienna to what we can learn about the composer from his autopsy report
• A special edition of The Listening Service will see Tom Service present his ‘essential guide’ to the composer
• Artistic figures including playwright Inua Ellams and the actor Sophie Stone offer their personal view on Beethoven and his importance in a week of essays

Additional detail on Beethoven Unleashed programmes and series are included below. Further Beethoven Unleashed programming will be announced later in 2020.

Composer Of The Week

Central to Beethoven Unleashed programming on Radio 3 will be Composer Of The Week which will mark the anniversary with 25 weeks of the programme dedicated to Beethoven running in alternate weeks throughout the year.

Composer Of The Week on Beethoven will alternate between a narration of the composer’s life story, from his beginnings in Bonn, personal struggles and professional success in Vienna, to the examination of different themes. Themes will range from Beethoven as a composer for the piano, his symphonic works and his composition for voice and the impact of the composer on young composers today.

The series will see presenter Donald Macleod in conversation with a range of high-profile musicians including pianists Jonathan Biss and Dame Mitsuko Uchida, and experts including Dr Erica Buurman from the Centre of Beethoven Studies at San José University, California.

Composer Of The Week’s Beethoven marathon will launch on Monday 13 January, with historian Simon Schama and conductor Marin Alsop reflecting on Beethoven’s towering importance throughout history and his continued relevance today.

Radio 3 In Concert

Upcoming highlights include:

• On Sunday 19 January, Radio 3 In Concert will broadcast a recreation of Beethoven’s famed 1808 concert, performed jointly by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Welsh National Opera Orchestra, broadcast live from St David’s Hall, Cardiff. Beethoven’s 1808 concert was one of the most important of his lifetime - it lasted over four hours and featured the same number of premieres, including both the composer’s 5th and 6th Symphonies.
• The broadcast of David Lang’s opera prisoner of the state, a dark, futuristic retelling of Beethoven’s opera Fidelio, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers from London’s Barbican.
• From Sunday 17 - Thursday 21 May the BBC Scottish SO will be performing all of Beethoven’s symphonies across the week, broadcast live on Radio 3 In Concert.
• Radio 3 In Concert to feature Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony on World Environment Day on Friday 5 June
• Radio 3 In Concert to broadcast a special production of Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, conceived especially for children

The Listening Service: Getting To Grips With Beethoven
Thursday 23 January, 4.30-5pm

Beethoven: Deaf for most of his life, unbearable egotist, flagrant opportunist and musical anarchist whose music reaches the heights of ecstasy. Where do you start with this bundle of contradictions, probably the most admired composer in Western music, whose works have unfailingly filled concert halls for over 200 years? Tom Service goes in search of what makes Beethoven, Beethoven, and suggests a few key pieces to help unlock the man and his music.

• Producer: David Papp

Drama On 3: Beethoven Can Hear You by Timothy X Atack

In this original 90 minute Drama On 3, Beethoven is visited by a traveller from another time.

The traveller, who is deaf, is shocked to discover that Beethoven can hear; in this reality the composer never lost his hearing. Through their conversations Beethoven has to come to terms with the idea of his deafness. But it becomes a journey of discovery into a world of music in the abstract.

An immersive exploration of Beethoven’s hearing loss from writer, composer and sound artist Timothy X Atack (Forest 404).

• Producer: James Robinson for BBC Radio 3

Sunday Feature: Unseen Vienna

Kate Kennedy goes in search of the women who helped to shape the musical life of Beethoven's Vienna, who were celebrated in their time but have been lost from view.

While Beethoven was forging a new reality for mankind, what were conditions like for the other 50% in his home city, who composed their own music, were virtuoso performers or important patrons in Vienna at the time? Women like Leopoldine Blahetka, who judged by the number of her published works (64), was one of the most successful women composers of the 19th century - but is often just a footnote in musical history. Or wealthy cultured amateurs like Bettina von Arnim, who introduced the composer to Goethe, but also wrote her own settings of poems (her musical activities were curtailed by having seven children).

And Kate explores a fact often forgotten in Viennese music history: That women were in fact important in cultural life there, because the foremost musical establishment in the city grew out of a women's organisation founded to promote regular concert life: The Society of Aristocratic Women. In a year of Beethoven celebrations Kate Kennedy traces those women who made a mark as composers in their lifetimes in the centre of music in the Western world, but have been overlooked in the writing of history.

• Producer: Megan Jones for BBC Radio 3

Sunday Feature: Dissecting Beethoven

In Dissecting Beethoven, a Sunday Feature presented by the eminent neurosurgeon Henry Marsh CBE and Radio 3’s Georgia Mann, Beethoven’s autopsy is used as a key to an exploration to his health.

Beethoven’s struggles with numerous physical ailments took him very close to suicide; with this in mind, Georgia and Henry explore everything from Beethoven’s fibrotic liver, which could indicate alcoholism, to the levels of lead that have been found in his hair - could lead poisoning explain his agonising abdominal pain?

Henry and Georgia tell Beethoven’s story through the body which caused him such grief, and assess the impact it had on the extraordinary music he wrote, as the turbulence of the Napoleonic era played out around him.

• Producer: Georgia Mann for BBC Radio 3

The Essay: Why Beethoven Matters

A series of The Essay which considers Beethoven the artist today, in a thoroughly contemporary and highly personal context.
Five leading modern performers from beyond the classical music world their offer personal interpretation of Beethoven, placing his influence in a modern framework. Essayists include the poet and playwright Inua Ellams and the actor Sophie Stone.

BBC orchestras and choirs

Across the year the BBC's orchestras and choirs will be exploring Beethoven’s extraordinary output across the orchestral and choral spheres. From full symphonic cycles in Glasgow and Manchester to a recreation of the epic 1808 concert in Cardiff and a contemporary examination of his only opera Fidelio in London, there is much to celebrate his life and work.

• The BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers kick off the Beethoven celebrations on Saturday 11 January as they join forces with the Barbican to present the European premiere of David Lang’s one-act opera prisoner of the state, a dark, futuristic retelling of the story behind Beethoven’s opera Fidelio - a woman’s struggle to rescue her partner from unjust imprisonment and execution - which asks searching contemporary questions about the price of liberty and the pursuit of truth in an oppressive state. Directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer and conducted by Ilan Volkov with soloists Claron McFadden, Jarrett Ott, Alan Oke and Davóne Tines prisoner of the state uses original text material written by Lang, as well as scraps of Beethoven's original librettos
• Another cornerstone of the Barbican’s Beethoven celebrations will be Richard Farnes conducting one of Beethoven’s most personal works, Missa Solemnis with the combined forces of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (4 March)
• On Sunday 19 January, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and WNO Orchestra recreate Beethoven’s epic 1808 concert at St David’s Hall. The concert featured his greatest works up to that date, premiering his 5th and 6th symphonies, as well as his 4th piano concerto - in which he was the soloist. It was an event which lasted over four hours and was one of the most remarkable moments in his career. Hannah French presents this momentous event live on BBC Radio 3, joined by special guests, including Ron Merlino who explores Beethoven's close relationship with wine, and pianists Zoe Rahmen and David Rees Williams re-create Beethoven's famous improvisation duels - 21st century style.
• On Friday 13 March, BBC NOW perform Beethoven’s ground-breaking ‘Eroica’ Symphony (No 3) preceded by Strauss’ romantic elegy for 23 string soloists Metamorphosen which memorialises Germany’s past by quoting from the Eroica symphony
• The BBC Philharmonic team up once again with their neighbours the Hallé to present Beethoven’s complete symphony cycle. Opening on 30 January with Beethoven symphony No 9 the cycle includes a conductor swap when Ben Gernon, Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, leads the Hallé in Symphony No 8 on 27 February, and Sir Mark Elder, Music Director of the Hallé, concludes the cycle conducting the BBC Philharmonic in Symphony No 6 on 16 May.
• From 17-21 May, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra presents Beethoven Roots Festival, a survey of his symphonies alongside works of his contemporaries. The festival features works by his teacher Haydn alongside forgotten masterpieces by Eybler, Eberl, Gossec, and Méhul. The entire festival is conducted by the BBC SSO’s Chief Conductor, Thomas Dausgaard

Key dates for Beethoven Unleashed

• Beethoven Unleashed: The Beginning (12-18 January)
• Beethoven Unleashed: Love And Loss (15-24 May)
• Beethoven Unleashed: Celebrity Beethoven (13-19 July)
• Beethoven Unleashed: Beethoven For All (21-25 September)
• Beethoven Unleashed: Beethoven And Beyond (14-18 December)