Where to Start With Beethoven

7 essential masterworks

Beethoven’s music is so ubiquitous that it borders on the cliché. The famous four note “da-da-da-dummm” of his Symphony No. 5 is the musical version of Shakespeare’s “to be, or not to be” — a cultural trope so familiar that it undermines the profound meaning and implications of the original work.

For this reason, it is remarkably easy to overlook Beethoven. Yet, like Shakespeare, the monumental impact of his creative genius is near impossible to overstate.

Beethoven didn’t just change music in his time, but forever altered the way we understand and experience it. As one conductor put it: “We listen to music with ears tuned by Beethoven.”

Today, we examine Beethoven’s impact on our experience of music, and seven essential pieces of his work — happy listening!