AT THE TIME, Bettenhoven was Dutch territory, near the city of Maastricht. Now it sits just across the border in Belgium, part of the town of Borgworm, but back then Belgium did not exist. Mechelen, same thing. That was in fact so Dutch, and so involved in the independence war against the Spanish king, that at school we learned about Mechelen-Zutphen-Naarden. Those were the first three cities that were devastated by the duke of Alva’s son, as reprisal after Dutch rebels had taken Den Briel.
Grandpa Lodewijk van Beethoven, his name an adjusted spelling of the town where the family had lived for generations before moving to Mechelen, was a good singer, his voice a bass. So good that they offered him a contract to come and perform in Bonn. It ran in the family. His son Jan was a tenor who could also play the piano, and when he himself had a son, that boy proved to be very talented as well. Jan named him after his dad, in German, Ludwig.
AND THERE he is, today standing prominently in Central Park, a handsome bust. Beethoven, in capital letters. Without Van. He overlooks what used to be a bandshell, once a podium for concerts. Schiller is a little farther away, but Van Beethoven occupies the central spot. Rightly so, because he was the first composer ever to be performed in America professionally. What Rembrandt and Vermeer are for America’s fascination with Dutch Master painting, Van Beethoven is to classical music.
The first time America was treated to a Van Beethoven concert was in Charleston, South Carolina, and that was no coincidence. Two hundred years ago, it was head and shoulders the country’s most prosperous city. Nine of America’s ten richest men lived there, names like Mey, Vandiver (formerly Van de Veer), Laurens, mainly exporters of rice and importers of Delftware and slaves. Off South Carolina the Atlantic Gulf Stream curves east, towards Europe, naturally creating a fast trade lane, especially to Amsterdam. Charleston had by far the nation’s most accessible port. Hence its wealth, and that is why it became the first town with an orchestra formed by professional musicians. Their very first performance was a Van Beethoven oratorio.
NOBODY knows exactly what was played, partly because in those days the word oratorio could mean anything. But it was the time when pianos arrived left and right in homes between Boston and Philadelphia, with all those families of Dutch descent. Daughters in particular received piano lessons, and the demand for sheet music boomed. Van Beethoven was the bestseller.
He still is. America loves the former Loetje van Bettenhoven with his wonderful head of hair. The fact that he became deaf along the way only adds to his popularity. Everywhere in America you now find roads, avenues, boulevards, lanes, circles and courts named after him. There are Beethoven schools from sea to shining sea, Beethoven restaurants, there is a Camper Van Beethoven rock band, and half a century ago Chuck Berry urged Van Beethoven to roll over in his grave.
That did not happen, though. Stone deaf.
