The 1902 Beethoven Exhibition The 1902 Beethoven Exhibition Since 1986, the wall cycle, on permanent loan to the Secession from the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, has been on public display in the building for which it was originally created. Excavations for the Klimt Room in the basement of Secession, Photo: Margherita Spiluttini The dimensions of this room were carefully chosen to allow for the optimum climate conditions required for the frieze’s conservation and make it possible to present the work separately from the Secession’s ongoing exhibition programming.
Gustav Klimt, Beethoven Frieze: detail of Poetry, state before restoration, Photo: Federal Office of Monumentsįinally, as part of the general renovation of the Secession in 1985, a room was created in the basement for the Beethoven Frieze. Upon acquisition by the Republic of Austria, it was restored in a ten-year effort by a team led by Manfred Koller of the Vienna branch of the Federal Office of Monuments.
In 2013, Erich Lederer’s heirs applied for restitution of the work the Art Restitution Advisory Board carefully examined the case in light of the 2009 Art Restitution Act and, in 2015, issued a recommendation not to restitute the Beethoven Frieze.Īfter several relocations and many years in storage, the work was in poor condition. The Republic of Austria purchased the work in 1972 after Chancellor Bruno Kreisky personally helped broker an agreement. The Beethoven Frieze was placed in “state custody” and not officially returned to the ownership of August and Serena’s heir Erich Lederer, who had settled in Geneva, until after World War II. In 1938, the Lederer family, like so many other families of Jewish origin, was expropriated. With his wife Serena, Lederer was one of Klimt’s most important supporters and owner of what was probably the most extensive and important private collection of Klimt’s works at the time. In 1903, the arts patron and collector Carl Reinighaus purchased the frieze, which was cut into eight pieces to be removed from the wall and stored for twelve years in a furniture depot in Vienna until, in 1915, Reinighaus sold the frieze to the industrialist August Lederer. It was only owing to fortunate circumstances that the frieze was not destroyed as planned: the Secession had scheduled a major Klimt retrospective for the following year (XVIIIth exhibition, 1903), and it was decided to leave the work of art in place. It was originally intended as an ephemeral work of art like the other decorative paintings, it was to be removed after the closing of the exhibition.
History & Criticism History of the Beethoven Friezeīetween the sensational first presentation as part of the XIVth exhibition of the Association of Visual Artists in 1902 and its permanent installation in the Secession’s basement, Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze had a turbulent history. The final movement of the 9th Symphony also features the Singverein, conducted by Johannes Prinz, and the soloists Anja Kampe, Daniel Sindram, Burkhard Fritz, and René Pape. The works were performed in the Golden Hall of the Wiener Musikverein under the direction of the orchestra’s principal conductor, Philippe Jordan. This unique experience will enhance their enjoyment of Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze by giving them an intuitive grasp of the musical inspiration that went into the work: Gustav Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze, on permanent display at the Secession, was created as a translation of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony into visual art.įor their project The Road to Beethoven, the Wiener Symphoniker have produced their first-ever complete set of recordings of Beethoven’s symphonies. 20 min.) in an award-winning recording by the Wiener Symphoniker conducted by Philippe Jordan. 125 ( Finale Presto-Allegro assai, duration ca. Using headphones, they will hear the fourth movement of the Symphony No. For the first time, our visitors will now be able to experience the Beethoven Frieze with musical accompaniment. In 2020, the Secession partnered with the Wiener Symphoniker to celebrate Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday with a singular multimedia experience.
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