Exhibitions
Current Exhibition
Beethoven Piano Sonatas in the Marketplace: Supply and Demand Over Two Centuries
November 10, 2025 – February 10, 2026
Exhibition Hall, 5th Floor of the Martin Luther King Jr Library
Curated by Patricia Stroh
Exhibit Hall Hours:
Monday: 10:00am-6:00pm
Tuesday: 9:45am-6:00pm
Weds: 11:00am- 6:00pm
Thurs: 9:45am-6:00pm
Friday: 11:00 am-6:00pm
Sat: 1:00pm- 6:00pm
Sunday: Closed
Please note the exhibit hall hours are not the same as the Beethoven Center's hours.
Beethoven composed his piano sonatas over a span of nearly forty years. He completed the three “Kurfürsten” sonatas, WoO 47, in 1783, when he was only twelve years old, and the last sonata, Opus 111, in 1822. As a group, the sonatas represent the remarkable evolution of his approach to composition, and individually they have inspired countless concert pianists, teachers, students, and listeners. Since Beethoven’s lifetime to the present day, no fewer than 235 collected editions of these sonatas have been published, prepared by more than 160 different editors. Why so many? This exhibit, which features a select set of these editions, highlights competing efforts of publishers to meet the demand from pianists and teachers, and editors who sought to provide new perspectives on these iconic works. The exhibit is based on the forthcoming book, Beethoven GPS: A Bibliographic Guide to Collected Editions of the Piano Sonatas by Patricia Stroh (A-R Editions, 2026)
With assistance from Peter Adams, Ethan Ling, Roslyn Lydick, and Jeffrey Nguyen
Funded by the American Beethoven Society
Past Exhibitions at the Beethoven Center
Beethoven's Chamber Music Exhibit
January 21 - April 15, 2023
An exhibit celebrating Beethoven's chamber music featuring items from the collection of the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies.
Funded by the SJSU College of Humanities and the Arts
Special thanks to the American Beethoven Society and Galen Lemmon
Beethoven Beyond Borders: Anniversary Celebrations, Politics, and Global Impact since 1870
A virtual exhibition of the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, San Jose State University
The year 2020 marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, an event whose significance extends far beyond the composer’s native Germany. Beethoven’s impact on global culture rests not only in his musical compositions, but also in his iconic status as the archetypal creative genius and defiant artist. This image of Beethoven has been shaped not only by the events in his life, but also by the way he has been appropriated as a cultural symbol in different national and political contexts over the past two centuries.
This exhibition explores Beethoven as a cultural figure not only in today’s global landscape, but also at previous anniversary celebrations since the centenary of his birth in 1870. Just as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted on the Beethoven events that took place in 2020, previous Beethoven celebrations were also shaped by historical circumstances, from the unification in Germany in the nineteenth century to the events of the Cold War. The exhibition features images, music, video lectures, and artifacts from the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, presented for the first time in virtual reality.
There are two ways to access the exhibition:
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(High performance version link): With this link, you can experience the whole exhibition as a single space. Note that due to the size of the exhibit some devices will not be able to run this version. If you encounter difficulties accessing the high performance version, please follow the instructions for accessing the low performance version.
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(Low performance version): You are able to use the links below to navigate each room of the exhibit. Alternatively, you can visit the lobby and there will be links to each room.
Here are helpful instructions to navigate the virtual exhibition and here you can view a walkthrough video of the exhibition on YouTube.
Credits
Curators: Dierdre Brennan, Erica Buurman, Randyn Gries, Patricia Stroh
Historian: David B. Dennis
Music curator: Muskan Parashar
Artist/VR Designer: Tyler Stannard
VR Consultant: Jon Oakes
Funded by an Artistic Excellence Grant from San José State University’s College of
Humanities and the Arts
Online Exhibitions
Maelzel's Panharmonicon
This project brings to life one of the most celebrated creations of the German inventor
Johann Nepomuk Maelzel (1772–1838): the Panharmonicon. This virtual reconstruction
of the Panharmonicon was created from surviving images and descriptions of the instrument.
Beethoven’s Vienna
An exploration of the city as Beethoven knew it, featuring art prints and other rare materials from the Beethoven Center’s collection.
Prodigy to Progeny: Beethoven as Pupil, Teacher, and Paradigm
An exploration of Beethoven’s path as a music student, teacher, and his legacy, following the paths of selected teachers and their students.
Schulz’s Beethoven, Schroeder’s Muse
An exploration of Beethoven’s music and image in Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts” cartoon and his Beethoven-loving character Schroeder.
