Happy Birthday, Ludwig!!!
Today happens to be Beethoven’s Birthday … So, Happy Birthday, Ludwig!!!
Actually, to be honest, no-one knows exactly when Beethoven was born. He was baptised on 17 December and his family celebrated his birthday on that date, but there is no documentary evidence that his birth was actually on 16 December.
Now, considering how many postcards I write commemorate Anniversaries and Birthdays, it sometimes comes as a surprise to many people that, personally, I don’t like and rarely “celebrate” such events myself. It’s not just personal anniversaries like Birthdays … it’s also the major holidays like Christmas and New Year …
I often joke that because I work in a hotel which operates 24/7/365, (workdays, weekends and holidays included), to me – these days are just “another day” in the normal round of life.
That’s not to say that I don’t mark the occasion at all … We’ll have, for example, a cake today to commemorate Beethoven’s Birthday … and at Christmas we do put up some decorations in the office and the apartment and I will take the trouble to cook a “special” dinner for Christmas … but it may not have “all the trimmings”.
I first came across the date in the Peanuts comic strip … one of the characters, Schroeder, is a great fan of Beethoven’s and celebrates the occasion every year … there’s often a party with cake and games and as well as singing “Happy Birthday” the party goers are expected to join in a rendition of the Ninth Symphony.
Now, although I appreciate Beethoven and his music, I wouldn’t say that that I was a fan on the same scale as Schroeder … although I did take up the idea of celebrating this birthday from the comic strip. Every year, for example, I would I take a cake into school and play examples of his music during the break times. Over the years it became a tradition, but I suspect that I after I left the tradition died. When I came here, I continued the “tradition” – and we’ll have a cake today.
In a way, it’s all fairly academic and arbitrary … the Calendar is fairly arbitrary, with various different systems operating over the centuries – each undergoing refinement and revision from time to time. For example, when looking at some dates – for example, those in Kyrgyzstan before 1918 – when the Soviet Union followed most of the rest of the world and adopted the Gregorian Calendar.
Even if we know the actual date when it supposed to have happened – like the assassination of Julius Caesar on the “ides of March” – then the current 15th March is not necessarily a precise number of years following the event.
But, as I said, we don’t really know when Beethoven was born, (or Jesus for that matter – and it’s almost certain that we aren’t celebrating Christmas on the right date). What’s more, Beethoven is no longer around and so celebrating his Birthday isn’t a case congratulating him on passing some “milestone” in his life … but it does, on the other hand, offer us a focal point each year to remember the people, their achievements, the events and their significance.
And it’s not just true for Beethoven’s Birthday, but can apply to almost any famous or notable character in history – or event.
That’s part of the reason why I tend to feature so many Birthdays and Anniversaries in the postcards.
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In the meantime – Happy Beethoven’s Birthday … why not take the opportunity to sit back and relax … listen to and enjoy his music … and contemplate the story of his life and his achievements, especially how he fought and overcame adversity, such as losing his hearing, and what lessons we may learn from that story today.
Bishkek