Beethoven as a Bonn Citizen

BTHVN2020 is a worldwide event. But nowhere will people be as close to Beethoven as in Bonn, where an entire region will gather around its famous son.

The Beethoven Anniversary Society was founded to coordinate the BTHVN2020 Jubilee Year celebrating Beethoven’s 250th birthday. It receives subsidies from four authorities (the Federal Republic of Germany, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Rhine-Sieg District and the City of Bonn) and is responsible for dispensing the funds to qualified project partners. Additionally the Society initiates its own projects which contribute to the image of the international Jubilee Year.

Any project, whether eligible for subsidies or own projects, must, of course, relate to Ludwig van Beethoven. Therefore all projects should be orientated on the five main themes set down for the Jubilee programme. Beethoven occasionally signed his scores with the abbreviation 'Bthvn'. The main themes of BTHVN2020 take their bearing on these alphabetical characters: B (Bonn citizen), T (Tonkünstler = musician), H (humanist), V (visionary) and N (nature lover).

Ludwig van Beethoven spent the first 22 years of his life in Bonn, perfecting his musical skills and developing his values and ideals. Many historical Beethoven sites and memorials can still be seen in Bonn today. Central projects of the BTHVN2020 main theme 'Beethoven as a Bonn Citizen‘ are the new multi-media Beethoven tour, a new presentation and enlargement of the Beethoven-Haus, illuminations and art exhibitions througout Bonn as well as a people’s Beethoven festival.

The constantly updated BTHVN2020 programme can be seen on the website www.bthvn2020.de.