Ludwig van Beethoven ( ) was a German composer who helped to bridge what would become known as the Classical and Romantic eras in music. During his lifetime, he enjoyed a certain amount of celebrity for his work. Today, he is highly regarded as one of the most gifted composers in history, and his music continues to appear in "popular" venues, thanks to its exposure in film, television and advertising. The man himself is also widely recognized as a figure of musical importance and has often been portrayed in biographical context as well as parody. His acclaim even outside scholarly circles is often attributed to the fact that he continued to compose in his later years as he slowly lost his hearing. He most famously composed the entirety of his Ninth Symphony (“Ode to Joy" -- one of the first symphonies to incorporate a chorus) while completely deaf. Sawing off the legs of his piano to bring the instrument closer to the floor allowed him to feel its vibrations, since he could not hear the notes played. He died from a long illness three years after the premiere of what would be his last completed symphony.
The Muppets are no exception to the public's recognition of his immense output of work. The Muppet Show’s resident pianist, Rowlf the Dog, was a proponent of Beethoven's music, having played a number of pieces in concert -- usually to some humorous effect. Sometimes these performances were accompanied by a Bust of Beethoven which often sat upon Rowlf‘s baby grand piano making disparaging remarks. The Bust also appeared in the background in a number of sketches.
In episode 324, the Bust stated clearly that he was not Beethoven, merely a bust of the composer. However, in episode 405, when Victor Borge plays Beethoven's “Moonlight Sonata" and Fozzie thinks the pianist made a mistake, the Bust assures him, "No, that's the way I wrote it."
On three occasions, Rowlf has also performed a song written about Beethoven, “Eight Little Notes." Its original performance on The Muppet Show has been featured in home video compilations and was recorded for an album released years later.
Beethoven wrote nine symphonies, nine concertos, and a variety of other orchestral music, ranging from overtures and incidental music for theatrical productions to other miscellaneous "occasional" works, written for a particular occasion. Of the concertos, seven are widely known (one violin concerto, five piano concertos, and one triple concerto for violin, piano, and cello); the other two are an unpublished early piano concerto and an arrangement of the Violin Concerto for piano and orchestra.
Stanko Božanović Nemanja Mitrović Lazar Vasković