All'enigmatica e controversa
Grande fuga in Si bemolle maggiore op. 133 di Beethoven, e alle difficili condizioni esistenziali e di salute del compositore nei suoi ultimi anni di vita,
Elliott Sharp ha dedicato l'opera multimediale
Die Grösste Fuge, presentata per la prima volta a Bonn quattro anni fa e ora pronta per il debutto newyorkese al
Roulette tra qualche giorno. Ad essa è rivolto il primo episodio della serie
Studio zOaR Podcasts, con vari estratti musicali e il racconto dello stesso Sharp: "With the loss of the physical sensation of hearing, Beethoven's musical creativity would be channeled into his 'inner ear', the true voice of his seemingly boundless sonic imagination. Fueled by the poetry and philosophies of Goethe and Schiller as well as Egyptian and Indian mythology, energized by news of scientific advances, he remained utopian in his outlook despite the pain of his existence. Beethoven revered the infinitude of the natural universe and it inspired many of the thoughts underlying his compositional approach. He created
Die grösse Fuge in an act of separation from his
String Quartet Nr. 13 (Opus 130) and in the light of history, it may be seen as a work that leaps out from the classical age and into the timeless future, the first 20th century String Quartet."
