27 April 2020 press release

"Inside Beethoven!" The Walk-In Ensemble
30 July to 22 August at the German National Library in Frankfurt am Main
27 August to 3 November at the German National Library in Leipzig

What does it sound like to be part of an orchestra? The walk-in sound exhibition “Inside Beethoven!” combines the latest musicological research with modern sound engineering to create a spectacular experience of being right inside the music – a perspective which is normally a closed book for the public and reserved for the musicians themselves.

Visitors are invited to walk between the digital music stands and put themselves in the musicians’ shoes – an unusual, enriching experience for amateurs and professionals alike. This will shed light on the music itself, its polyphonic structure, the part played by each individual instrument, its contribution to the overall sound and its significance in the music as a whole.

Visitors will hear Ludwig van Beethoven’s Septet in E flat major op. 20, both the version for winds and strings and Beethoven’s own trio arrangement for piano, clarinet and cello. Each individual part can be followed at digital music stands as the music plays.

“Inside Beethoven!” is an innovative joint project undertaken in the field of digital humanities and was realized at Detmold University of Music in commemoration Beethoven’s 250th birthday. The exhibition will be touring Germany and Austria during 2020 and 2021.

The installation can be experienced at the German National Library in Frankfurt am Main from Thursday 30 July to Saturday 22 August 2020 and in the German National Library in Leipzig from Thursday 27 August to Saturday 3 November 2020.

The German National Library is hosting the exhibition, which is sponsored by the Minister of State for Culture and the Media, as part of its activities marking Germany's current presidency of the Council of the European Union (www.dnb.de/europe); these will also include the accompanying digital conference “Beethoven 2020/2030: Music in the Digital Present and Future”, which will take place on 22 October 2020.

Background

The German National Library collects, documents and archives all written publications and sound recordings issued in Germany since 1913 together with works in German and about Germany published worldwide; it then makes them available to the public. The DNB offers a comprehensive range of services at its site in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main along with digital services that can be accessed all over the world. The German National Library also holds extensive and extremely valuable special collections in the German Exile Archive 1933–1945 and the German Museum of Books and Writing.

Contact

Image material

Images for editorial use in connection with “Inside Beethoven!”