Bonn’s autumn leaves fall to the quavering tones of Beethoven during the annual festival season. Lilting music seeps not just from Beethoven Hall and the chamber music hall of Beethoven House but also from many churches, smaller venues and castles and fortresses along the Rhine river.

Inaugurated in 1845 to celebrate the composer’s 75th birthday, in 1999 the event was fixed on the international calendar and swelled to incorporate a programme of around 55 different concerts from top international orchestras and ensembles and the best new and established artists. The festival’s atmosphere is thick with art and culture but this is a lively event, a celebration featuring not just Beethoven’s compositions but new works by writers he has influenced so expect modern as well as historic.

Beethoven was born in Bonn, so make sure you pay your respects to the great man in bronze on Münsterplatz.

Beethoven Festival Website (in German).

Written by  Kat Mackintosh.

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