The silent crusader

He fought debilitating illness, luckless love and unfortunate losses, yet Ludwig Van Beethoven continued to compose timeless melodies; symphonies which he could not hear but would be heard centuries later by millions after his death. A lot of us hear Beethoven’s tunes in our day-to–day lives yet may be unaware of them. Wether it is a tune in the elevator, a movie’s background track, the reverse tune of your car, the famous Tom & Jerry, or an Aquaguard singing while pouring water, his music is everywhere.

Now, a play, Beethoven — Sounds of Silence, based on the life of this legendary composer of western classical music, who lived in the 18th century, will be performed in the city depicting a series of events in this artiste’s life, known or unknown to some of us. Director Poonam Sareen belives that the musician’s life was no bed of roses and it has something for everybody. “Beethoven’s life is such a fairy tale where the villain is his physical deafness and superhero his divine music. Self belief, faith in the fact that he was larger than his body, efforts to practice no matter what, and courage to act, inspite of fear, are what make him so relatable as a subject to all of us in the present day,” she says.

A man with great talent, but nearly deaf towards 30 years of age and completely deaf there on, and how he successfully overcame this barrier of sound and presented some of his best work in the form of his popular symphonies.

Sandeep Prabhakar, who plays Beethoven in the play, says, “Playing the maestro has been exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. The man was a creative genius and a workhorse and yet had great trouble when it came to relationships. The desire to achieve the highest pinnacle of creative ability was another of his pursuits. At the start itself I could relate to his character like a glove as I could find more or less similar qualities in myself too...but as the rehearsals progressed I found myself delving deeper into what drove the man to his spent end... In a sense the role also has imparted a few life lessons to me as well. I will cherish this role as one of the finest opportunities of my life.”

His love, passion and music are brought to life as his life saga unfolds from a nine-year-old boy to the ebb of his life- deaf, sick, yet composing the best work of his life.

“Understanding and watching Beethoven’s life unfold on stage has changed my perspective towards life. It depicts that every dark cloud has its silver lining,” says actor Ashish Thadani who plays Johann, Beethoven’s brother. The play opens at St Andrews Auditorium in Bandra this Sunday.