Past Exhibits
2020-2025
January 17, 2023 - April 15, 2023: "Beethoven's Chamber Music Exhibit" This exhibit celebrated Beethoven's chamber music featuring items from the collection of the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies.
February 21, 2022 - June, 2022: "Beethoven at the Ball" This exhibit explored the Viennese ball culture that Beethoven would have been familiar with, from the opening of the first public ballrooms, to the costumes and music, and the various dance forms that include the earliest forms of waltzing.
2015-2019
August 23 - December 21, 2019: Beethoven's Hair:The Schindler-Moscheles Lock and Beethoven Portrait by Felix Moscheles and the Hummel Lock of Beethoven's Hair and Beethoven's Quill Pen. An exhibit that explored one of Beethoven's hairs as well as delved into the stories behind these two different special mementos of Beethoven.
January 7 - March 31, 2019: "A Short Biography of Beethoven" an exhibit exploring Beethoven's life and works using rare materials from the Beethoven Center's collection, including manuscripts, first editions, rare books, and 19th-century engravings
October 15-December 15, 2018: “Beethoven Loves the Brentanos,” featuring the newly-acquired first edition score of the 7th Symphony inscribed by the composer to Antonie Brentano (possibly his “Immortal Beloved”).
April 2-July 31, 2018. Signature exhibit: Beethoven’s Piano Mystique. King Library, Special Collection Exhibit Hall and Beethoven Center, 5th floor. Sponsored in part by SVCreates, the Office of Cultural Affairs of the City of San Jose, and a San Jose State University Artistic Excellence Grant from the College of Humanities and the Arts.
January 16-March 23, 2018. The Many Moods of Beethoven. Curated by Megan Ross and Patricia Stroh. Beethoven Center.
August 1-December 20, 2017. The Deaf Composer: Beethoven after 1817. Curated by Megan Ross and Patricia Stroh. Beethoven Center.
April 8-July 8, 2017. Beethoven@Home. King Library 5th floor (special collections exhibit hall and Beethoven Center). Sponsored by a College of Humanities and the Arts Global Grant and the Office of Cultural Affairs of the City of San José.
May 16-December 17, 2016. Beethoven in Love. King Library 5th floor (special collections exhibit hall and Beethoven Center).
August 22-December 23, 2015. “Beethoven at Home,” an exhibit of engravings and woodblock prints of Beethoven’s houses and flats in and around Vienna.
January 19-April 30, 2016. "Beethoven’s Legacy,” an exhibit devoted to Beethoven’s influence on Czerny, Liszt, Mendelssohn, and other pianist-composers, in honor of Gwendolyn Mok’s new recording on the historical keyboard instruments at SJSU.
February 23-July 2015. Beethoven's Politics, Politics' Beethoven. An exhibit from the collections of the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies. King Library 5th floor (special collections exhibit hall and Beethoven Center).
2010-2014
January 26 - May 29, 2013. Exhibit, "Beethoven's Vienna." King Library Special Collections exhibit hall & the Beethoven Center.
October 1-December 21, 2011. Exhibit, "America's Beethoven." King Library Special Collections exhibit hall & the Beethoven Center.
September 25-December 11, 2010. 25 Treasures for 25 Years. Exhibit celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Beethoven Center. King Library Special Collections exhibit hall & the Beethoven Center.
2005-2009
May 1 - August 1, 2009. Schulz's Beethoven, Schroeder's Muse. King Library Special Collections exhibit hall & the Beethoven Center.
August 16, 2008 - January 26, 2009. Schulz's Beethoven, Schroeder's Muse. An exhibit at the Charles M. Schulz Museum, Santa Rosa, California.
October 14, 2005. Spokane Symphony and Gonzaga University, Beethoven concert.
April 30, 2005. Santa Rosa Symphony Beethoven Festival.
2000-2004
December 10-11, 2004. Santa Barbara Music Club, Second Annual Beethovenfest.
May 2-4, 2003. "Beethoven and the Creative Process," a conference organized by William Kinderman and sponsored by the University of Illinois School of Music and the Spurlock Museum, Urbana, Illinois. An exhibit of materials loaned by the Beethoven Center was on display from March 29-May 4, 2003.
Feb. 7-8, 2003. "Beethoven: Resonant Genius," sponsored by Humanities West. Herbst Theater, San Francisco.
June 6-10, 2002. "Focus on Piano Literature: Beethoven." Symposium and exhibit sponsored by School of Music, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
January 3-18, 2002. Phoenix Symphony Beethoven Festival. Exhibit of materials for concerts featuring the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Symphonies.
October 23, 2000-April 20, 2001. Exhibit: "The 'Guevara Lock' of Beethoven's Hair." Beethoven Center, San Jose State University. Open 1:00-5:00 p.m. Monday-Friday. Free admission.
1995-1999
Exhibit, January 20-March 21, 1999, Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, California. "Beethoven: Musical Treasures from the Age of Revolution & Romance," displays objects from the collections of America's Shrine to Music Museum, University of South Dakota at Vermillion, and The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, at San José State University.
"Beethoven: The Age of Revolution and Romance." Festival and exhibit organized by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art.
December 2, 1996-January 31, 1997. Composers' Autograph Letters from Beethoven to Zwilich. Beethoven Center.
March 19, 1996. Exhibit of manuscripts and first editions at Hunter College, New York, for the New York chapter of the American Beethoven Society.
March 12-April 5, 1996. Loan of materials for the New York Philharmonic Archives for an exhibit for the concert series of Beethoven's Piano Concertos, with Alfred Brendel and the New York Philharmonic.
February 10-18, 1996. Exhibit of materials at the Schubertiade, "Opposites Attract. Schubert and Beethoven," held at the 92nd Street Y Tisch Center for the Arts, New York, NY.
May 21, 1995. Exhibit for a concert by the Artaria String Quartet, sponsored by the San Jose Chamber Music Society.
October 13-14, 1995. Exhibit for the San Jose Symphony.
September 15-16, 1995. Exhibit for the San Jose Symphony.
February 5, 1995. Exhibit for a concert ty the Stanford String Quartet, sponsored by the San Jose Chamber Music Society.
January 15, 1995. Exhibit for a concert by the Anchor Chamber Players, sponsored by the San Jose Chamber Music Society.
1990-1994
November 13, 1994. Exhibit for a concert by the Streicher Trio, sponsored by the San Jose Chamber Music Society.
September 1994. Exhibit of first editions, facsimiles of manuscripts, and iconography at the Merkin Concert Hall, New York, New York.
April 14-17, 1994. Beethoven Festival, Historical Keyboard Society of Wisconsin. Loan of manuscripts, first editions, and iconographic materials for exhibit.
April, 1991. Beethoven Festival, Colorado Springs Symphony. Loan of three first and early editions, five reproductions of portraits and other illustrations, and exhibit cards for their one-week festival.
October, 1990. Beethoven Festival, New World Symphony, Miami, Florida. Loan of twelve first and early editions, two books, and Beethoven's life mask, for exhibit in the symphony hall during their two-week festival.
July, 1990. Beethoven Festival, San Francisco Symphony. Loan of manuscript facsimiles, first editions, and Beethoven's life mask for exhibit in lobby of Davies Symphony Hall during the three-week festival, which included an entire weekend devoted to the Missa solemnis.
