Principal photography is underway on Poorhouse International’s documentary Pieces of Beethoven, which celebrates Beethoven’s bicentenary in 2027.
Filming to date includes Paavo Järvi conducting the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in previously unknown versions of the Eroica Symphony’s finale, and Gabriela Montero performing the Op. 35 Eroica Variations, whose theme and variations inspired the symphony.
Musicologists Alan Gosman and Lewis Lockwood describe the challenges of their seven-year project to make sense of the Eroica Sketchbook, while Harvard professor of neurobiology David Ginty offers a fascinating insight into his discovery that we can hear through our hands.
Still to come is Steven Osborne exploring the Diabelli Variations, with reference to his own passion for jazz—and his own experience of “hearing via the hands”.
The doc then moves to Vienna, exploring Beethoven’s emergence onto the musical scene against the backdrop of the French Revolution; his 70 or so moves around the city; the conversation books that reveal, among other things, his concerns about adulterated wine; and the walks in nature that inspired some of his music.
In Bonn, Beethoven’s manuscripts are digitally decoded by a brand new software that reconstructs his compositional process, including the first appearance of the Ode to Joy. Finally, the doc visits the University of Leuwen, where pioneering techniques reveal how a single hair can trace the progress of Beethoven’s final illness.
The documentary — shot in 4K — is produced by Senseless Films and Kloos & Co Medien and directed by Sheila Hayman. Set to be delivered at the end of 2026, the program is distributed worldwide by Poorhouse International.
Pictured: director Sheila Hayman, conductor Paavo Järvi, Poorhouse’s Reiner Moritz, and musicologist Alan Gosman.
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