Musicians and software developers have created an algorithm that will finish the Ludwig van Beethoven’s uncompleted tenth symphony, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAZ) reported. The idea and funding for the project were provided by German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom for the Beethoven Year 2020, celebrating the composer’s 250th birthday. The work composed by computer will be performed in April by the Bonn Beethoven Orchestra.
The current version of Beethoven’s 10th in E flat major is a hypothetical work that was put together by British musicologist Barry Cooper from fragmented sketches Beethoven composed before his death in 1827. All the sketches were clearly intended for the same symphony, Cooper said, and there is consensus that Beethoven did intend to compose another symphony. Cooper’s score was first performed in 1988 by the Royal Philharmonic Society.
