The other Beethoven ... the folkie

The great German composer’s Irish and Scottish ‘airs’ will be played at the Kilkenny Arts Festival.

MOST people know the outline of Ludwig van Beethoven’s story. He was one of the world’s greatest composer. He wrestled with deafness, and he had bad luck in love — he fell for unattainable, aristocratic women, and died a bachelor. What’s less known is that he had connections with Ireland, which will be celebrated by Beethoven Quest (see panel) at the Kilkenny Arts Festival.

Beethoven was born in 1770 in Bonn, a sleepy outpost of the former Holy Roman Empire, but settled in Vienna to pursue his career in music and died there in 1827. The American composer and author, Jan Swafford, who this month is publishing a biography of Beethoven, the product of 10 years’ work, says Beethoven was capricious.