In Beethoven's alleged birth room in Bonn there is no longer a plaster bust with a laurel wreath. Instead, a contemporary, technically sophisticated neon installation. In this Beethoven year almost prevented by Corona, without too much Beethoven music being played live, the figure, which has long since become historical, has comfortably shrunk to eye level. The titan, the revolutionary, the reformer, the furious, the loner seem swept away. Beethoven has finally arrived in the 21st century. It's been modernized, but it wasn't that difficult. And yet it has retained its size and singularity. Alongside Kant, Goethe, Bach and Wagner, it remains one of the landmarks of the German intellectual nation. Which you can rub or measure yourself much better against in the future. Or that you can just love.