The work became an instant success and was performed 29 times the following season. Unfortunately, neither Vigano's choreography nor the original libretto were preserved; Beethoven's Opus 43 is all that remains.

Under the direction of conductor Jonathan Nott, the Bamberger Symphoniker and Bayerische Staatsphilharmonie performed Beethoven's "Creatures of Prometheus" in a special version containing spoken texts by Hanns Zischler. The concert in Bonn brought the 2008 Beethovenfest to a close.

It was originally intended to serve as the last movement of his Op. 130 quartet, but Beethoven later opted for a much shorter finale, leaving the Grosse Fuge to stand alone.

The Gewandhaus Quartet from Leipzig -- the world's oldest continuous string quartet -- performed the work in the chamber music hall next to Beethoven's birth house as part of the 2008 Beethovenfest in Bonn.

Not unlike "Ode to Joy" by Friedrich Schiller, which Beethoven later used in his Ninth Symphony, Tiedge's poem is an appeal to hope itself.

Bass Robert Holl and pianist Elena Bashkirova performed the song in the chamber music hall next to Beethoven's birth house as part of the 2008 Beethovenfest in Bonn.

The quintet is arranged in four movements, in the traditional quick-slow-scherzo-quick form.

Elena Bashkirova (piano), Guy Braunstein (violin), Michael Barenboim (violin), Amihai Grosz (viola) and Kyril Zlotnikov (cello) performed the quintet as part of the 2008 Beethovenfest in Bonn.

Passionate and picturesque, "Francesca da Rimini" is characterized by the juxtaposition of the light of love and the darkness of the inferno.

Under the direction of Sergei Stadler, the Anton-Rubinstein-Orchestra from the St. Petersburg Conservatory performed the symphony as part of the 2008 Beethovenfest in Bonn.

The young orchestra's concert was made possible by the sponsorship of Deutsche Welle.

Born in 1980, Kuzma represents a new generation of Russian composers that are turning away from the avant-garde and searching for a new national identity.

The Caprice was commissioned by Deutsche Welle and premiered by violinist Nikita Borisoglebski and the Anton-Rubinstein-Orchestra from the St. Petersburg Conservatory at the 2008 Beethovenfest in Bonn.

Under the direction of Sergei Stadler, the Anton-Rubinstein-Orchestra from the St. Petersburg Conservatory performed the symphony as part of the 2008 Beethovenfest in Bonn.

The young orchestra's concert was made possible by the sponsorship of Deutsche Welle.

Elena Bashkirova (piano), Karl-Heinz Steffens (clarinet), Guy Braunstein (violin) and Kyril Zlotnikov (cello) performed the work as part of the 2008 Beethovenfest in Bonn.

Karl-Heinz Steffens (clarinet), Guy Braunstein (violin), Michael Barenboim (Violin), Amihai Grosz (Viola) and Kyril Zlotnikov (cello) performed the quintet as part of the 2008 Beethovenfest in Bonn.

Carter's "Intermittences" for piano, written in 2005, tactfully parallels silence with sound.

It was performed by Russian pianist Elena Bashkirova as part of the 2008 Beethovenfest in Bonn.

Evident throughout the work are many passages that could best be described as musical jokes. He began the work in the summer of 1812, shortly after completing the Seventh Symphony, and finished it in only four months.

Performing is the Orchestre National de France, conducted by the legendary Kurt Masur. This concert was part of a series where the complete nine symphonies of Beethoven were presented as part of the 2008 Beethoven Festival in Bonn.

Nevertheless, it was written during one of the most difficult periods in Beethoven’s life. The Seventh Symphony was premiered in 1813, when the composer’s health and hearing were in decline. He would become completely deaf by 1814.

Performing is the Orchestre National de France, conducted by the legendary Kurt Masur. This concert was part of a series where the complete nine symphonies of Beethoven were presented as part of the 2008 Beethoven Festival in Bonn.

The work was first performed in Vienna in 1808 under the direction of Beethoven himself and it achieved its prodigious reputation soon afterwards. The Fifth Symphony remains one of the most popular symphonies of all time.

The composer had admired the ruler, but when the news came that he had declared himself Emperor, Beethoven ripped up the title page where he had written the dedication and produced another, giving it the new title Sinfonia Eroica, or the Heroic Symphony.

Performing is the Orchestre National de France, conducted by the legendary Kurt Masur. This concert was part of a series where the complete nine symphonies of Beethoven were presented as part of the 2008 Beethoven Festival in Bonn.

That Beethoven struggled with the idea of depicting these concepts in music can be seen in the fact that this is only one of four different overtures he wrote for the opera.

Performing is the German Chamber Philharmonic of Bremen, hailed by critics as "the best chamber orchestra in the world," under the baton of its principal conductor, Paavo Jarvi. They opened the 2008 Beethovenfest with the work at a gala concert on Aug. 29, 2008.

Hanns Eisler, the composer of the national anthem of the German Democratic Republic (former East Germany), based the work on texts by Bertold Brecht dealing with the war and Nazi terror. Impressive choruses and solo vocal sections drastically depict not only the suffering of Jews in the concentration camps but also the fate of soldiers abused as cannon fodder and sent back to the homeland in tin coffins.

HK Gruber, Austrian composer and the conductor of this performance, combined Eisler's "German Symphony" with music by Kurt Weill and one of his own orchestral works, entitled "Charivari." The name translates roughly as "Caterwauling." In the deconstruction of a polka melody, the work refers to the co-responsibility of Austrians for war and terror.

One of his earlier works, it has more Classical influence than his later concertos and resembles the music of Mozart.

It is performed here by Dmitri Demiashkin of Russia, who placed third in the Second International Beethoven Piano Competition in Bonn on Dec. 13, 2007.

It is performed here by the winner of the Second International Beethoven Piano Competition in Bonn, Yung Wook Yoo from South Korea. The winners' concert took place on Dec. 13, 2007, in the Beethovenhalle.

It is performed here by Keiko Hattori, who placed second in the Second International Beethoven Piano Competition in Bonn on Dec. 13, 2007.

When premiering his work in April 1800, in Vienna, the press wrote, "Nobody will reprove such freedom and characteristics to a genius artist like Beethoven, but such an onset does not fit into the opening of a grand concert."

By tradition, the second movement is a lyrical contrast to the rhetoric-dynamical main movement. The Andante cantabile con moto expresses strong influences by precursors Mozart and Haydn.

The concert took place on Sept. 21, 2007, in the Beethoven Hall in Bonn, as part of the Beethovenfest. The Beethoven Orchestra played under the leadership of the Ukrainian conductor Roman Kofman.

"Where does the Western World come from? Where is it going, if we continue the course of the past 1,000 years -- it is the history of Europeans fearing too strong neighbors."

No wonder then that the work is set off with warlike sounds: A continuously returning atmosphere that resolves into a nirvana-like happy ending at the end of the second movement. The course of the symphony gives away much about Gundermann's development as a composer, such as his stays in Beijing or New York, where the focus was movie music and multimedia.

Deutsche Welle is offering the first movement -- Vergangenheit (The Past) -- which was first performed on Sept. 21, 2007, in the Beethoven Hall in Bonn. The Beethoven Orchestra played under the leadership of the conductor Roman Kofman.

Within the classical-romantic, piano-trio repertoire, the piece is often referred to as the "monument." A possible reason for that is its unusual overall length of about 45 minutes.

The D 929 impresses with its masterly composition technique and wide emotional palette. In the opening movement, Robert Schumann identified both "deep rage," as well as "ebullient aspiration."

The Beaux Arts Trio payed this famous chamber oeuvre in the Beethoven House in Bonn on Sept. 20, 2007, as part of the Beethovenfest. The four movements are: Allegro, Andante con moto; Scherzando - Trio; Allegro moderato.

Ensemble Zefiro performed the Octet in the La Redoute villa near Bonn as part of the 2007 Beethovenfest. The Italy-based group specializes in 18th century woodwind music and plays on original instruments or replicas of period instruments.

Listen for the horns at the end of the piece. They echo the refrain with specially made mutes modelled after originals from the period.

Ensemble Zefiro performed the Rondino in the La Redoute villa near Bonn as part of the 2007 Beethovenfest. The Italy-based group specializes in 18th century woodwind music and plays on original instruments or replicas of period instruments.

Still, the piece is charged with vitality and humor. Upon its premiere in Vienna in 1803, critics called the symphony "eccentric." Today's listeners can decide for themselves.

The Cairo Conservatory of Music Orchestra performed Beethoven's D Major Symphony under the direction of Ivan Filev as part of the 2007 Beethovenfest.

The light and capricious third movement, Scherzo - Allegro, gives no indication of the composer's personal hardship.

The Cairo Conservatory of Music Orchestra performed Beethoven's D Major Symphony under the direction of Ivan Filev as part of the 2007 Beethovenfest. The third movement, presented here, was repeated as an encore.

The second movement of the D Major suite, the Air, gained in popularity when 19th century German violinist August Wilhelmj arranged the piece for solo violin. His version is known as Air on a G String.

The Cairo Conservatory of Music Orchestra performed Bach's Air from the D Major Suite under the direction of Ivan Filev as part of the 2007 Beethovenfest.

The Cairo Conservatory of Music Orchestra performed the Simple Symphony under the direction of Ivan Filev as part of the 2007 Beethovenfest.

The piece expresses his anticipation of meeting her again in the afterlife.

Basha's roots in the Egyptian musical tradition and his fondness for western rock music are evident in the orchestral composition, which was commissioned by Deutsche Welle for the 2007 Beethovenfest.

As part of the festival, Basha conducted the world premiere of "Entizar," performed by the Cairo Conservatory of Music Orchestra, in the Beethovenhalle in Bonn.

Composer, pianist and publisher Muzio Clementi printed the score to the variations, which proved to be a prosperous business venture.

Austrian pianist Gottlieb Wallisch performed Beethoven's Variations on "God Save the King" as part of the 2007 Beethovenfest in the chamber music hall attached to the house where the composer was born.

British composer and pianist John Field (1782-1837) was a student of Muzio Clementi. Field toured with his mentor throughout Europe to demonstrate the pianos the elder composer and entrepreneur aimed to sell. Passing through Russia with Clementi, the young musician decided to stay behind and make Moscow his home.

Austrian pianist Gottlieb Wallisch performed Field's E Minor nocturne in the Beethovenhaus as part of the 2007 Beethovenfest.

By his early 20s, Clementi had not only become a celebrated pianist, conductor and composer, he was also a prosperous businessman. One of the few musicians of his time who had a hand for making money, Clementi earned a small fortune by selling pianos and printing musical scores.

He composed over 60 sonatas for piano. Austrian pianist Gottlieb Wallisch performed Opus 40 in the Beethovenhaus as part of the 2007 Beethovenfest.

Opus 111, the last of the composer's 32 sonatas for piano, consists of two antithetic movements and concludes with the same C Major chord with which he'd begun his first sonata 27 years earlier in 1795.

British pianist Paul Lewis performed Opus 111, along with Opus 109 and 110, in the chamber music hall attached to the composer's birth house as part of the 2007 Beethovenfest.

The "Cool" fugue, the mambo and the song "Somewhere" are among the excerpts he focused on.

Under the direction of Thomas Clamor, the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble showed off their versatility -- even adding in song and dance -- in their performance at the 2007 Beethovenfest.

Zequinha de Abreu's composition for brass ensemble musically depicts a sassy "tico-tico" (little bird) who wants to eat up all the "fuba" (grain) in the silo. This catchy melody became the Brazilian composer's greatest hit, which enjoyed popularity throughout Latin America and beyond.

Thomas Clamor conducted the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble in an arrangement for solo trumpet and brass ensemble by John Ivenson.

The individual pieces -- each representing a painting -- bear fanciful titles like "The Gnome," "Dispute Between Children at Play," or "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks."

Originally written for solo piano, the work has been arranged numerous times. As part of the 2007 Beethovenfest, the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble performed a virtuosic version for brass and percussion by British composer Elgar Howarth. Thomas Clamor conducted.

Though the work was written late in Beethoven's career, he adopted the traditional style of the French overture, with a slow introduction followed by a vigorous fugue. Conceived for efficiency's sake as an alternative overture to his earlier work "The Ruins of Athens" (Op. 113), "Consecration of the House" is stylistically reminiscent of Baroque composers before him, particularly Handel.

The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, conducted by Paavo Järvi, performed the overture in the Beethovenhalle in Bonn as part of the 2007 Beethovenfest.

Inspired by the pianist and composer Muzio Clementi, Beethoven rewrote Opus 61 for piano in 1807, adding two quite virtuosic cadences.

Finnish pianist Olli Mustonen, accompanied by the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, performed Beethoven's piano concerto on Aug. 26 in the Beeethovenhalle Bonn as part of this year's Beethovenfest. Paavo Jarvi conducted.

The first movement, Allegro ma non troppo, is available as podcast or audio-on-demand.

The Free Association for Palestrina's Music gave the impetus for the composition of "Cantus supra librum for symphony orchestra," which was written in 1998. Three years later the work received the DW Composition Prize.

Its intuitive reactions and free forms draw a connection to medieval principles of improvisation, where the theme is passed between singers and slightly varied each time.

"My form of harmonization is based on the principles of the mathematical group theory," said the composer. "This allowed me to create different ensembles within the orchestra."

Sergei Pilyutikov was born in Uzin, Ukraine in 1965. Since completing his composition studies at the Academy of Charkov he has made his home in Kiev. There he founded Ensemble Ricochet, a group of young musicians specializing in contemporary music. Pilyutikov is the director of the International Youth Music Forum in Kiev.

The performance by the Ukrainian National Music Academy's symphony orchestra was part of the Beethovenfest Bonn and took place in the Beethovenhalle.

It is no coincidence that the protea, which has over 300 subspecies, was chosen as the national flower for a country that is characterized by diversity and has a long history of apartheid.

South African composer Hans Huyssen incorporated elements of traditional African music in his orchestral work "Proteus Variations," commissioned by the Deutsche Welle for the 2006 Beethoven Festival. Like his country, the piece is rich with variety and as colorful as a flower.

The South African National Youth Orchestra (SANYO), made of the country's most promising young musicians, were invited to the Beethoven Festival in Bonn for the world's first performance of Huyssen's "Proteus Variations."

Click on the link below to listen to a recording of the world premiere on September 9, 2006 in Bonn's Beethovenhalle.

Beethoven himself conducted the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, performed together with the Sixth Symphony ("Pastorale"), in Vienna on Dec. 22, 1808 -- which didn't arouse much interest. Since then, however, it has become one of classical music's most popular works.

Guided by its powerful opening motif, the C Minor Symphony conveys one of the fundamental elements of European culture by steering the listener "from night to light," from defeat to triumph.

The troop of 14- to 20-year-old musicians from South Africa performed Beethoven's legendary "Fate Symphony" at the Beethoven Festival and Deutsche Welle's Orchestra Campus with utmost professionalism -- and at a fierce tempo. The orchestra and its conductor, Conrad von Alphen, were met with enthusiastic applause from the predominantly youthful audience.

Listen to a live recording from the Beethoven Festival concert on Sept. 9, 2006 at the Beethovenhalle in Bonn.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5, C Minor, Op. 67, "Fate":

Allegro con brio

Andante con moto

Allegro

Allegro