The Beethovenhalle in Bonn was inaugurated on Tuesday (December 16th) after almost ten years of renovation. The concert hall was reopened with a long “Beethoven Night”, an almost four-hour event. Around 1,600 guests took part in the event, including Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who gave an emotional speech.
Business card of the city of Bonn
After the end of the Second World War, Germany was destroyed, divided and isolated. Bonn became the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany, a small university town on the banks of the Rhine and the birthplace of the great composer Ludwig van Beethoven.
At that time there were many destroyed buildings, such as the old municipal Beethovenhalle from the 19th century, which was bombed in 1944. Ten years later, more than 100 architects took part with their projects in the competition to build a new Beethoven Hall. Siegfried Wolske, 29, was able to convince the jury. He was a prisoner of war, but after returning from the war he completed his high school diploma at the age of 21 and studied at the university. “The city of Bonn had the courage to entrust him with the overall management of the work,” said Constanze Falke, monument conservator and architectural historian.
Three and a half years later the Beethovenhalle was finished. For the next 60 years it became the “assembly hall” of German democracy. More than 15,000 events of all kinds took place there. Over time, the building aged and the city of Bonn decided to carry out a comprehensive renovation.
A jewel of post-war modernity
For Constanze Falke, the Beethoven Hall is a “unique example of post-war modern architecture”, an example of so-called “organic building”, the architectural philosophy that is primarily associated with Hans Scharoun. “Wolske was actually a student of Scharoun at the Technical University of Berlin and applied the lessons from his master’s degree here,” said the expert.
The ideas that underpinned this philosophy, developed during the Bauhaus era, fit perfectly into the post-war period: they moved away from ostentation and rigidity and were more oriented towards simple functionality, a counterpoint to National Socialism. It was a conscious break with the National Socialist gigantomania to create harmony between building and landscape, between form and function.
The simplicity of the exterior contrasts with the richness of the interior: Italian marble, Swedish granite and fine woods from West Africa and Japan. But the renovation and adaptation of the rooms, which were originally designed in a completely different time, to modern technical requirements and expectations also took years and millions. In the end, the bill came to over 220 million euros. Wolske, on the other hand, got by on just under 10 million German marks.
“If we have a monument that is important for its time, then it is our duty to protect it accordingly, preserve it and make it accessible to future generations as evidence of the past,” said Falke.
Inauguration with Beethoven and Mahler
The Beethoven Hall will regain its original purpose: to continue to be a place for music enjoyment and once again to be the home of the Beethoven Orchestra.
For the director of the Beethoven Orchestra, Dirk Kaftan, the Beethovenhalle should “reflect the diversity of the city through music, culture, lecture programs, participatory and community projects, youth work and music education.”
“Beethoven Night” celebrates the German composer’s 255th birthday and the reopening of the majestic building. For this purpose, works were carefully selected, including the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 by the city’s most famous son, played by Bonn’s star pianist Fabian Müller.
“But the heart of the evening is Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection,” Dirk Kaftan told DW, “an allusion, but actually a very small one, because this piece is about the things that remain, even when we are no longer here.”
(rmr/gs)
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