Ludwig Lives! - Beethoven in Pop

25/03 – 03/10/2021 (scheduled for 2020)

Even during his lifetime, this man was already a star. And the desire for Ludwig has not diminished since. E.T.A. Hoffmann, Richard Wagner and Thomas Mann were just as engaged with Ludwig van Beethoven and his work as Chuck Berry, Stanley Kubrick and the rapper Nas. In pop, the Beethoven myth exploded and ultimately opened up its very own Beethoven reference space in music, films, cartoons, literature and pop art in many parts of the world, which was tapped more extensively than ever before. The issues that preoccupied Beethoven during his lifetime - violence and pathos, genius and masculinity, the role that Beethoven plays in national and international interests - are probably more pressing these days than they have ever been. With the exhibition “Ludwig lebt! Beethoven im Pop” (Ludwig lives! Beethoven in Pop) on the occasion of the composer’s 250th anniversary of the composer's birth highlights some of the obvious and surprising traces of Beethoven in pop, starting with his Fifth Symphony, which was sent on an infinite mission into space in the Voyager space probe. Ludwig lebt! features Beethoven's traces in bands like the Beatles, Accept, Electric Light Orchestra, Die Toten Hosen and artists such as Helge Schneider or Judith Holofernes, in films like A Clockwork Orange and Elephant or Inglorious Basterds, as well as in cartoons such as Peanuts and Goofy. The rock’n’popmuseum’s special exhibition is curated by a nationwide team of experts. An academic exhibition catalogue complements the exhibition theme.

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