Late Beethoven: Beethoven Re-imagined

Feeling the music through vibrations – it’s said that this is how Beethoven was able to continue composing even when he became deaf. Dancers Antoine Hunter and Zahna Simon take this to an extreme, demonstrating just how well it’s possible. Despite their deafness, they have learned to interpret the vibrations of the music and express themselves through a mix of jazz ballet and urban dance. Together with the Calder Quartet, Hunter and Simon choreograph a performance to Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 13 and the Grosse Fuge.

In Jan Caeyers’ excellent Beethoven biography, the chapter on the late string quartets is called ‘The Discovery of Heaven’. And with good reason: like Mulisch’s novel, these quartets open up a world that goes beyond all understanding. Better than words, Beethoven’s music here conveys the essence of love and pain. At the peak of his creativity, he explores the border between thinking and feeling, between matter and spirituality.