Beethoven took the musical world into which he was born, mastered it, and then yelled, “Hey, everybody, follow me!”as he transformed the Classical era into the Romantic Era. Grove’s Dictionary of Music describes him as “… probably the most admired composer in the history of Western music” and for good reason. He lived a tragic life, but gave us gifts that we treasure still, and the emotion in his music is unrivaled. We’ll delve into his life and some of those gifts.

NASA once approached a famous musicologist and said, “We’re planning to launch a rocket into deep space, and want to include a sample of the music of Earth. What would you suggest we send?” He replied, “I would suggest the complete works of J.S. Bach… but that would be bragging.” - and how right he was. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the book (literally and figuratively) on how music works. He explored and refined chord progressions, harmony, form, and much of the music theory we still use today, three hundred years later. Join us to learn about his world and some of his most monumental works!