The proscenium arch at Boston's famed Symphony Hall, inaugurated in 1900, is decorated with a number of empty plaques. When the time came to engrave them with the names of the greatest composers whose music would fill the hall in the years to come, the directors struggled to agree on which names would prove to be truly timeless, and the plaques have remained blank ever since—except one.
The only name that met with unanimous approval—the sole composer among all others whose legacy seemed certain enough to be etched into gold, right above the center of the stage—was, of course, Beethoven.
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn in 1770—which means that in 2020, we have the honor of celebrating 250 years of the great one.
