5. Beethoven, the Young Traveler

Compared with Joseph Haydn and many of his other contemporaries, Beethoven did not often travel outside of Vienna once he settled there in 1792. However, during his youth in Bonn he made several trips with his parents and even ventured mostly alone on a three-month trip to Vienna when he was barely sixteen. In 1791, he went on tour with Bonn's court orchestra to Aschaffenburg and Mergentheim. This section of the exhibition explores these travels—where he went and possible sights along the way—and how he likely got there, either overland or by the main waterway: the Rhine River. On this subject, we are indebted to Michael Ladenburger's book, Beethoven auf Reisen, published by the Beethoven-Haus Bonn in 2016.