# Happy Beethoven's Birthday! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [December 16, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/1025755 "2025-12-16T15:26:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/1025755/1 "2025-12-16T15:26:13Z")
Give everyone a big kiss today! 😘 [![](https://i.redd.it/1545p2k68w581.png) ](https://i.redd.it/1545p2k68w581.png) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/1025755/2 "2025-12-16T15:37:12Z")
When I was 5, my parents took me to see the movie _Beethoven_ (about the dog.) The next day, my father brought in this cassette player and played classical music on it, and told me Beethoven had composed it. I had never heard of the person Beethoven before and I was stunned that a dog could compose. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/1025755/3 "2025-12-16T15:37:15Z")
All together now… [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HjGI6RjhwSU/hqdefault.jpg "Victor Borge - Happy Birthday - Beethoven") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjGI6RjhwSU) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/1025755/4 "2025-12-16T15:47:59Z")
**Fun Fact:** The Boston Tea Party took place on Beethoven’s third birthday! [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/Boston_Tea_Party-1973_issue-3c.jpg/1280px-Boston_Tea_Party-1973_issue-3c.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/Boston_Tea_Party-1973_issue-3c.jpg/1280px-Boston_Tea_Party-1973_issue-3c.jpg) The USPO made sure that the phase of the Moon shown in the upper right stamp was historically accurate. So now you know! ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/1025755/5 "2025-12-16T19:17:34Z")
He would be 255 had he lived. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/1025755/6 "2025-12-16T19:22:53Z")
I bet he’d be cool to talk to. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/1025755/7 "2025-12-16T19:48:39Z")
To quote the late Tom Stoppard: if Beethoven had died in an airplane crash at the age of 20, the history of music would have been completely different. As would the history of aviation. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/1025755/8 "2025-12-16T19:52:52Z")
I’ve always got to sing this song: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFjE1NnnAIQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFjE1NnnAIQ) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/1025755/9 "2025-12-16T19:57:20Z")
Beethoven was 12 on the day of the first recorded human flight, so that’s entirely possible: [Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier | First Flight, Hot Air Balloon, & Facts | Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Montgolfier-brothers) Assuming, of course, that someone was experimenting with heavier-than-air craft by the time he was 20. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/1025755/10 "2025-12-16T20:11:21Z")
What was Beethoven’s favorite birthday cake flavor? Ba – na – na – na! ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/1025755/11 "2025-12-16T22:19:59Z")
Beethoven composed a lot of music in his life, but he’s been decomposing ever since. Roll On (and over), Beethoven! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/1025755/12 "2025-12-16T22:31:09Z")
I’m not your sweet baboo!