Before all involved in the preparation of the Beethoven anniversary year 2020 raise their hands in frustration and everybody in Bonn gets rid off their Beethoven CDs on Ebay: What the Dutch newspaper „De Volkskrant“ prints in black and white - namely that Ludwig Beethoven was not born in Bonn but in the small town of Zutphen in the Gelderland province - is neither confirmed information nor a new rumour. And it is not the first try to alienate Beethoven from us.

Billy Wilder already joked, as Austria became an unoccupied country again through the treaty long before Germany did: „The Austrians are brilliant people. They made the world believe that Hitler was a German and Beethoven an Austrian.“

And yet, the story from Zutphen is more than just another summer story. There is a „new museum in the city, in which Beethoven might have been born“ as the newspaper article is titled, which an alert reader sent in to us. The curator, Jurn Buisman, rakes up an old speculation - which you can read about with many question marks on the homepage of the Geelvinck Musik Museum - and quotes: „Until the 19th century, it stated in the school books that Beethoven was born in Zutphen.“ He added: „Beethoven himself always claimed he wasn’t born in 1770 but in 1772. There are indications that his parents were in Zutphen with a music society and that a Ludwig was born in the French guesthouse in the city.“ Ludwig apparently got the baptismal certificate of his brother of the same name who was born in Bonn and deceased.

Already nine years after Beethoven’s death, the speculations were flying. A certain Mister van Marwijk voiced his doubts about Beethoven being born in Bonn and informed the lord mayor of Bonn, that Beethoven was born in the guesthouse „De Fransche tuin“ in Zutphen. The Dutch Wikipedia webdsite lists this under „trivia“.

It’s all rubbish! The music scientist Christine Sieger, head of the Beethoven archives at the Beethoven house reacts rather indignantly: „The story is much older, and it always resurfaces. I don’t understand, why.“ She explains: „The entry about Ludwig van Beethoven clearly states December 17, 1770 as his date of baptism. The argument, that Beethoven had an older brother and the baptism note should be connected to him, is wrong, because his biography can also be documented in detail.“

In the Geelvinck Musik Museum in Zutphen, in which 120 (orphaned) discarded pianos found a new home, visitors can play the piano themselves, as we read on in „De Volkskrant“ (translated kindly by our colleague Anna Maria Beekes). On the homepage you can see Beethoven’s silhouette float over Zutphen. Is this a sign?

There is also a small exhibition about Beethoven but not in the shape of his biography - it is a collection of record sleeves. Fancy. Birthplace or not - maybe Zutphen is worth a trip.

More information at: www.geelvinck.nl

(Original text: Thomas Kliemann; Translation: Mareike Graepel)