Beethoven as Bacchus, Part II

By

Ron Merlino

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Volume 06, Forest for the Trees •
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In the first movement of this piece, we looked at the origins of Ludwig van Beethoven’s interest in wine and the critical role this played in shaping the composer’s musical career. Here, we trace his path through Vienna’s living landscape, to find multiple points of intersection between past and present in his music and in some of the city’s defining wines. We then head south to the Austrian spa region of Baden, where Beethoven drank, and composed, masterpieces. As we will find, his music comes more vividly to life when appreciated within the context of the vines and landscapes in which it was written…

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Ron Merlino is a certified sommelier, and owner and manager of MusicVine Performing Arts and Wine Consulting. He is at work on an extensive history of wine in the lives of the great Viennese composers from the 18th to the early 20th century — from Mozart and Haydn through Beethoven and Schubert to Brahms, Mahler and beyond. Ron is developing a televised series on wine and the great composers of Germany with MDR Radio and Television Leipzig and is a contributor to BBC Radio 3. He is also collaborating with the Beethoven Haus Bonn in Germany on an extended project highlighting the narrative of wine in Beethoven’s life. BBC Radio 3 and the National Symphony Orchestra of Wales hosted a live event with him on Beethoven and his wines in January 2020. Prior to his professional work as an artist manager, Ron served as Director of Artistic Planning for the San Francisco Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in addition to positions on the artistic staffs of the Baltimore Symphony, the American Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.

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