Beethoven 9 : Wall 0

On 9 November 1989, at a few minutes past seven in the evening, news began to circulate that the border between East and West Berlin had been dissolved. By the end of the evening, images of people dancing on the Berlin Wall were being broadcast to televisions around the world, and the events of that night would set in motion a process culminating in the reunification of Germany. Twenty-five years later, how does one even begin to mark the anniversary of such a momentous occasion. For the people of Berlin, the answer would appear to be: Beethoven.

Beethoven was present almost as soon as the Wall had come down. A quickly-organised concert given by the Berlin Philharmonic under Daniel Barenboim only three days later welcomed East Berliners to the West with Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto and his Seventh Symphony. The following month,…