Beethoven 7

At the beginning of the evening, Sasha Waltz takes up these themes and reinterprets them from a contemporary perspective to the live electronic sounds of the Chilean composer Diego Noguera with the title Freiheit/Extasis, which were commissioned and developed during the creation process. How do personal freedom and social constraints relate to each other?

Back in June 2021, Sasha Waltz devised a choreography to two movements from
Ludwig van Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony at the ancient temple in Delphi as part of the European broadcaster ARTE’s production Mit Beethoven durch Europa (Through Europe with Beethoven). The music has captivated the choreographer ever since.

In 1812, Beethoven noted in his diary “Are real, true people slaves to their environment or free?” and witnessed, to his own dismay, the political idea of freedom falter between the French Revolution and the European Restoration. Despite this, his work remains a definitive expression of an aesthetic idea of artistic freedom.