BBC expands Rise Of A Genius with three-part series marking the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's death
BBC Arts has announced Beethoven: Rise of a Genius, a new three-part series for BBC Two and iPlayer marking the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death, which falls in spring 2027.
Combining Beethoven’s written testimony with innovative sound design and lived experience and expertise from Deaf people, the series will immerse viewers in Beethoven’s sound world as never before. It follows on from previously acclaimed Rise of a Genius series about Mozart, Shakespeare and Jane Austen.
When he was 27 years old, Ludwig van Beethoven began to experience progressive hearing loss. At the same moment, he began to produce his first musical masterpieces. By the time he died in Vienna three decades later - on 26 March 1827 - Beethoven had become deaf, and was considered the greatest musical genius of all time. This series tells the story of how he did it.
The series combines documentary and drama to chart Beethoven’s life, from ambitious young virtuoso to visionary genius and tormented artist. It explores his personal struggles alongside his artistic triumphs, asking how his music might provide deeper insight into his life, including his volatile temper and impossible perfectionism, his desperate search for a cure for his deafness, his lifelong quest for love, and his enduring battle between despair and creation.
It also explores Beethoven’s personal relationships, including: his doomed relationship with the aristocratic woman he describes as his “Immortal Beloved”; the difficult relationship with his nephew Karl, who Beethoven takes into his home after the death of his brother; and his troubled relationship with the Viennese aristocracy who he relies on for money but also resents for treating him initially like a servant.
Through these struggles, Beethoven produced music that would change the world, from the Moonlight Sonata to the Fifth Symphony and the extraordinary Ninth Symphony’s Ode to Joy, which has become an anthem for freedom, protest and political change over the last 200 years.
The series uses immersive sound design to explore Beethoven’s changing relationship with his hearing loss as it progresses. His character is further brought to life with excerpts from his letters and conversation books – produced in the last nine years of his life when he preferred to communicate through written conversation. Archive footage is drawn upon to explore Beethoven’s legacy in popular culture, and how his music continues to inspire audiences today.
The series draws on the expertise and lived experience of deaf people and experts, including LumoTV, the world’s only commissioning body dedicated to sign language content, and The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), the national charity supporting the more than 18 million people who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus.
On- screen interviewees include musician and songwriter Jon Batiste, actor Sir Simon Russell Beale, percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, and composer and conductor Sir George Benjamin, while his musical masterpieces are brought to life by musicians including Jeremy Denk, Isata Kanneh-Mason, Jonathan Biss and Nicky Spence.
Suzy Klein, Head of BBC Arts and Classical Music TV, says: “The return of BBC Arts’ critically acclaimed series Rise of a Genius is a wonderful opportunity to explore the life and music of Beethoven, 200 years after his death. For me, Beethoven is the musician who speaks most directly to the human soul – to our loves, losses, triumphs and tragedies – in a musical language that transcends its time and place.
"That he encapsulates such a range of human experience is a testament to Beethoven’s dazzling empathy, profound musical invention and his own resilience. Our intention in this series was to shed new light on Beethoven’s astonishing creativity alongside the loss of his hearing, in an era where deafness was little understood.
"We are grateful for the support and advice of experts at LumoTV and RNID, as well as many musicians and interviewees, who together take us closer than ever before to Beethoven’s own experience of the world, as a musician living with profound hearing loss. Together, they and the team at 72 Films have created something really special.”
David Glover, co-Founder and CEO, 72 Films says: "It's the story of a person whose life goes through profound and significant change - he becomes deaf, he loses his health, his money, his family, the woman he loves. And as everything in his life gets worse, his music becomes greater and greater. He channels his deafness into his music and he uses his music to express his innermost feelings.”
Further BBC content to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death will include a special edition of You’re Dead to Me dedicated to the composer, which will be recorded for radio and TV at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, featuring presenter Greg Jenner, comedian Mike Wozniak, musicologist Laura Tunbridge, and conductor Levon Parikian for BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3, BBC Sounds, BBC Four and BBC iPlayer.
Additionally, CBBC’s Horrible Histories: Banging Beethoven Special will celebrate the life and legacy of Beethoven in a special programme featuring the BBC Concert Orchestra and starring James McNicholas. Packed with the series’ trademark humour, the programme will explore the composer’s remarkable story, uncover weird and wonderful facts about his life, and feature some of Beethoven’s greatest musical hits.
Further TV and radio programming to mark the anniversary will be announced in due course.
