On the occasion of tricentenary of the birth of the great philosopher from Königsberg, this year's exhibition of music manuscripts at the Jagiellonian Library, which accompanies the 28th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, has been organized under the motto “Beethoven and the Philosophers”.
The main ideological source of Ludwig van Beethoven's work was the Enlightenment. It shaped not only the composer’s creative views and aspirations, but also his world view and his entire personality. Of particular importance to him were the writings of Immanuel Kant, whose famous quote – “the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me” – Beethoven inscribed in one of his conversation notebooks.
Beethoven's two symphonies, the Third and the Ninth, are often cited as examples of his masterpieces that are clearly imbued with Enlightenment ideas such as the pursuit of freedom, progress, tolerance, and the brotherhood of mankind. The guiding theme around which the content of the Third Symphony revolves is the heroic struggle for human freedom.
On the other hand, in the last symphony Beethoven completed, the Ninth, the ideological message was explicitly expressed in the work’s finale, for which, in addition to the symphony orchestra, a mixed chorus and four solo singers were assembled to perform the text of Friedrich Schiller's “Ode to Joy”.
This year's exhibition features music manuscripts of works by Ludwig van Beethoven, including sketches for the Third and Ninth Symphonies and for the incidental music to the drama Egmont, as well as autographs of works by J. S. Bach, W. A. Mozart, J. Haydn, F. Mendelssohn, F. Chopin, J. Brahms, H. Wolf, and A. Bruckner. Alongside the music manuscripts there are also manuscripts of 18th and 19th-century philosophers: J.-J. Rousseau, I. Kant, M. Mendelssohn, J. G. Fichte, G. W. F. Hegel, F. W. J. von Schelling, A. Schopenhauer, and F. Nietzsche. The exhibits on display are from the collections of the former Prussian State Library in Berlin and the Jagiellonian Library.
Author: Dr. Michał Lewicki
Graphic design: Danuta Dąbrowska-Siemaszkiewicz
