Although the idea of a musical ‘mainstream’ with Beethoven as a starting point or vanishing point is hardly valid any more, countless composers in the 20th and 21st centuries have also referred to Beethoven in their oeuvre or responded to him by creatively differentiating themselves from him. The present volume illustrates his enduring relevance by means of documents from the collections of the Paul Sacher Foundation.

The publication accompanying the exhibition of the same name in the Beethov...