![\"Beethoven](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Copy-of-Dicover-Photo-Collage-1620x1080-2-1024x683.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBeethoven photo: Levi Clancy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBeethoven photo: Levi Clancy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n
Some say it captures the essence of Beethoven\u2019s profound impact on music<\/strong>. Others find it tucked away in an overly cemented square in a city that annually faces heat waves. But why is there a bronze statue of a pensive-looking Beethoven in Pershing Square<\/strong>?<\/p>\n To answer this question, we\u2019d have to go back to the founding of the Los Angeles Philharmonic<\/strong> in 1919 by L.A.\u2013based philanthropist William Andrews Clark Jr.<\/strong> An amateur violinist himself, Clark held Beethoven in high regard. So when the staff of the Philharmonic wanted to return the favor and thank him for his ongoing financial support<\/strong>, a statue of the founder\u2019s favorite composer was commissioned to be designed by Arnold Foerster.<\/p>\n The sculptor wanted to depict the by-then-deaf German composer in a contemplative state<\/strong>, walking through the forest around Vienna with his hands clasped behind his back as he composed the Ninth Symphony. The finished work was unveiled on October 15, 1932<\/strong> in a huge ceremony, initially placed facing the Philharmonic Auditorium on the other side of 5th Street.<\/p>\n Beethoven continues to impact the music world today<\/p>\n Beethoven\u2019s connection to the Philharmonic doesn\u2019t end there. Its Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel<\/strong> has conducted masterpieces by the German composer several times during his tenure. Much like Beethoven, the Venezuelan maestro thinks that music has the power to transform societies<\/strong>. Now in his final season, Dudamel has even staged a version of \u2018Fidelio\u2019<\/strong> by a choir of deaf people with the Deaf West Theatre.<\/p>\n The music of Beethoven is universal \u2013 his vision for a better future was rooted in a celebration of joy and shared humanity\u201d \u2013 Gustavo Dudamel<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Besides the classical world, Beethoven\u2019s influence is easily detected across a variety of music genres and film scores. If his music is not being played in movies like The King\u2019s Speech<\/strong> (2010), and The Breakfast Club<\/strong> (1985), it\u2019s in a mash-up with electronic music duo The Chemical Brothers<\/strong> and has inspired Nas<\/strong> (I Can<\/strong> samples Beethoven\u2019s F\u00fcr Elise).<\/p>\n Ludwig van Beethoven\u2019s works were emotive and bold in length \u2014 it\u2019s obvious he enjoyed the element of surprise. Still, music is highly subjective and many people might prefer the works of other composers like Mozart, Bach and Tchaikovsky<\/strong>, whose everlasting melodies you can catch at The Biltmore<\/a> in Downtown L.A. and the L.A. Equestrian Center<\/a> in Burbank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beethoven photo: Levi Clancy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Some say it captures the essence of Beethoven\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,1576,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-35678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-classical-music","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114790120040840898","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Music](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/joshua-olsen-2PzE1V10hf0-unsplash-1024x683.jpg\")
Credit: Unsplash\/Joshua Olsen<\/p>\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/FotoJet-3.jpg\")
Beethoven (left) Credit: Unsplash. Mozart (right) Credit: Pexels
\nBeethoven vs. Timeless Composers<\/p>\n