Today it is 40 years ago that American pianist Gary Goldschneider played all 32 Beethoven sonatas in one outdoor concert, on the Leidseplein in central Amsterdam. This obviously entirely crazy venture was promoted as the Beethoven Marathon, which was perhaps ill-advised, as it emphasized the athletic rather than the artistic. The August 19th 1984 marathon concert nonetheless had a huge impact. It changed The Netherlands, at least for that month, but perhaps even the decade. An estimated 10.000 people attended, and it was front cover news in pretty much all Dutch newspapers and magazines. It even made the prestigious six o’clock national TV news.

Mention in the overview of the most important events of 1984 in Panorama magazine, January 1985

The concert was so unique, outrageous and attention-grabbing, that pretty much every Dutch person who was on the day of the concert in The Netherlands and old enough to read the press would remember it years, and even decades, later. Today many older Dutch people will still recall the event. I organized the concert, in six weeks, starting with absolutely nothing but an ambitious, outrageous, seemingly unattainable vision.

Dutch prime time TV crew on stage during the concert

I already posted a brief blog about the Beethoven Marathon on this site on April 24, 2022,  describing the main details of the event itself. That blog only scratched the surface of what really happened. In fact, I have two stories to tell about the Beethoven Marathon. One is the story of how it came into being. This story traces what I was doing from the moment I first had the idea for the Beethoven Marathon, early May 1984 at 8am in a cafe in San Francisco, sitting at a table with someone who looked and talked like a madman, claiming that he was a reincarnation of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven (no less), a genius (obviously) and had done two Beethoven Marathons, one in Philadelphia, and one in Nevada City, northern California.

Goldschneider during the marathon

The other story partly overlaps with this one, but is far longer, and more personal. The Beethoven Marathon was the culmination of an epic one and a half year journey, both inward and outward. I’d spent that time hitchhiking around Europe and the US, encountering many more people who said and did things that were at prima facie completely pretty bonkers, but who also had slivers of truth and genius. Many of the dreamers, poets, and madmen I met on my journey, including one house-hold name rock star, seemed as sane if not saner  than most of the Dutch people I knew back home, and while they often told me things that seemed completely bizarre, some of it made perfect sense.

Add many meaningful coincidences, similar to the ones I encountered while organizing the Beethoven Marathon, and it led me to dramatically re-evaluate the deeply materialistic worldview I had until that point. I realized that I knew far less than I had hitherto assumed, and that I had to re-asses pretty much everything I had taken for granted. It taught me the value of ‘I don’t know,’ and to suspend judgment. Beginner’s Mind is the first requirement when hanging out with dreamers and poets, and particularly seeming madmen.

Altogether, the experiences were life-changing. For one and a half years I lived in a reality that was completely different to the one I came from in The Netherlands. I was exploring undiscovered territory and along the way discovering many inexplicable things that nonetheless seemed to be valuable. In some respects my journey was similar to that described in Joseph Campbell’s seminal book, The Hero With A Thousand Faces.

An essential part of a journey into the unknown, is having something to show for it when returning. In my case that was organizing the Beethoven Marathon. It gave substance to all the strange discoveries I had made, and to what otherwise would just have been a set of improbable stories and wild ideas without any consequence.

I have long thought of writing a book about my journey, and how it culminated in the Beethoven Marathon. Instead I wrote a book about Miles Davis, and was for a long time busy writing, playing music, and raising kids. Now, as the kids are about to leave home and I have more time on my hands, it’s time to write down my story. It’ll be in the form of a series of blogs, with photos. Do return here soon if you want to read these blogs, and my story…