# Happy Beethoven's Birthday! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2023, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680 "2023-12-16T05:14:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **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, 2023, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/1 "2023-12-16T05:14:48Z")
[![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Beethoven.jpg/498px-Beethoven.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Beethoven.jpg/498px-Beethoven.jpg) > [https://youtu.be/p3qfJQGngQc](https://youtu.be/p3qfJQGngQc) ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2023, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/2 "2023-12-16T05:16:29Z")
Beeth Oven! ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2023, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/3 "2023-12-16T07:05:35Z")
Thank you sir for the 7th Symphony, the Pathetique Sonata, the Moonlight, and 9th Symphony in particular. You raised the bar and showed what else music can be. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2023, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/4 "2023-12-16T08:38:48Z")
I think he would have regretted those works if he saw what modern music was like, perhaps wishing he had never written a symphony. As a matter of fact when his grave was opened they found him decomposing. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2023, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/5 "2023-12-16T09:05:52Z")
[Today’s _Peanuts_ cartoon](https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/2023/12/16) & [Chuck Berry’s effort\*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzYmAQMv5rw) & [Walter Murphy’s disco instrumental](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ouMaLRth-s) 😃 \*Interesting (to me, at least) note: [his sister, Lucy, monoplized the family piano to play classical music](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roll_Over_Beethoven#Inspiration_and_lyrics). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/6 "2023-12-16T14:38:59Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I think he would have regretted those works if he saw what modern music was like Beethoven’s favorite works include Mozart’s _Requiem_, Handel’s _Messiah_, and Bon Jovi’s _Slippery When Wet_. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/7 "2023-12-16T15:27:06Z")
He never got his picture on bubble gum cards, did he? ---
**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, 2023, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/8 "2023-12-16T17:18:41Z")
He would have been 253, had he lived. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2023, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/9 "2023-12-16T17:41:44Z")
And he would have a hearing aid. ---
**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, 2023, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/10 "2023-12-16T19:18:24Z")
And it would have worked. My classical pianist friend is an amateur expert on Ludwig, and says LVB’s hearing disorder is treatable nowdays. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2023, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/11 "2023-12-16T19:59:28Z")
Maybe he’d get cochlear implants. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2023, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/12 "2023-12-16T20:09:26Z")
Few things give me as much pleasure as Beethoven’s music. Desert-island wise, I would HAVE to have the symphonies, concertos, and sonatas at the very least. You have to wonder if he had any idea of how immortal his work would turn out to be. By several accounts he did know his worth, but…more than two centuries of being considered the enduring master; did he guess that? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2023, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/13 "2023-12-16T20:16:10Z")
He must have known he was creating unique works in his time. Others certainly appreciated him since he made a living by publishing and performing his music. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2023, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/14 "2023-12-16T20:18:22Z")
Very true. Supposedly he did have a pretty healthy ego; one quote attributed to him is: > [@](#): > > Prince, what you are, you are by the accident of birth; what I am, I am of myself. There are and there will be thousands of princes. There is only one Beethoven. ---
**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, 2023, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/15 "2023-12-16T20:32:48Z")
If Beethoven had died in an airplane crash at the age of 22, the history of music would have been very different. As would the history of aviation. (Hat tip: Tom Stoppard) ---
**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, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/16 "2023-12-16T20:36:17Z")
[![](https://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/schroederbeethoven.gif) ](https://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/schroederbeethoven.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2023, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/17 "2023-12-16T20:50:42Z")
I was a big Peanuts fan as a boy. My son was also. When he was in elementary school we used to read the strips out loud, each taking a part. (We did the same thing with Calvin and Hobbes.) He’s 35 now, and we still wish each other a happy Beethoven’s birthday. “Did someone mention Beethoven sweatshirts?” “What a party! What a party! Cut the cake! Cut the cake!” “All right, but I’ll just have a small glass.” “Oh, I almost forgot–I got an electric train. Now what am I going to do with an electric train?” ---
**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, 2023, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/18 "2023-12-16T20:57:20Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > Beeth Oven! You remember Vladimir Pozner, the Soviet apologist who was buddies with Phil Donahue? He was a media darling in the USSR and then the RF, and he always pronounced it that way. No amount of gentle persuasion could convince him it was wrong. ---
**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 17, 2023, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/19 "2023-12-17T01:45:49Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Maybe he’d get cochlear implants. Not likely in his case- the implants won’t process music. In any case, my friend said Beethoven’s ear disease/disease is now treatable. ---
**Author:** ![InfraBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infrablue/32/6366_2.png) [@InfraBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InfraBlue)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2023, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beethovens-birthday/994680/20 "2023-12-17T07:31:20Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6CK5AJzXdD8/maxresdefault.jpg "A Boy Named Charlie Brown - Piano Sonata no.8 (Beethoven)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CK5AJzXdD8) They treated B’s second movement of his eighth piano sonata very nicely in _A Boy Named Charlie Brown_. Disney’s treatment of B’s 6th Symphony in _Fantasia_ was sublime.