1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

A World Without Beethoven?

July 29, 2020

DW is celebrating Ludwig van Beethoven's 250th birthday! The two-part series asks viewers to ponder "a world without Beethoven" to reveal how his innovations continue to influence music far beyond classical genres today.

https://p.dw.com/p/3g88W
Beethoven Joseph Karl Stieler 1820 Ausschnitt
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Stieler

Sarah Willis, a French horn player in Berlin's philharmonic orchestra, looks at what the world would be like had Beethoven not existed. She talks to film music composer John Williams and asks Wynton Marsalis to explain the syncopated challenges of jazz Singer-songwriter Van Dyke Parks tells her about pop-music's conceptual albums and rockers Ian Anderson and Rudolf Schenker agree that the Fifth Symphony's famous "da-da-da-dum" is the mother of all rock riffs.

 

Broadcasting Hours: 

Part 1: 

DW English

WED 16.09.2020 – 01:15 UTC
WED 16.09.2020 – 05:15 UTC
THU 17.09.2020 – 09:15 UTC
SAT 19.09.2020 – 02:15 UTC
SUN 20.09.2020 – 08:15 UTC

Cape Town UTC +2 | Delhi UTC +5,5 | Hong Kong UTC +8
Lagos UTC +1 | Cape Town UTC +2 | Nairobi UTC +3 
San Francisco UTC -7 | Edmonton UTC -6 | New York UTC -4
London UTC +1 | Berlin UTC +2 | Moscow UTC +3

DW Deutsch+

THU 17.09.2020 – 09:15 UTC
SUN 20.09.2020 – 08:15 UTC 

Vancouver UTC -7 | New York UTC -4 | Sao Paulo UTC -3 

 

Part 2: 

DW English

WED 23.09.2020 – 01:15 UTC
WED 23.09.2020 – 05:15 UTC
THU 24.09.2020 – 09:15 UTC
SAT 26.09.2020 – 02:15 UTC
SUN 27.09.2020 – 08:15 UTC

Cape Town UTC +2 | Delhi UTC +5,5 | Hong Kong UTC +8
Lagos UTC +1 | Cape Town UTC +2 | Nairobi UTC +3 
San Francisco UTC -7 | Edmonton UTC -6 | New York UTC -4
London UTC +1 | Berlin UTC +2 | Moscow UTC +3

DW Deutsch+

THU 24.09.2020 – 09:15 UTC
SUN 27.09.2020 – 08:15 UTC 

Vancouver UTC -7 | New York UTC -4 | Sao Paulo UTC -3