The Beethoven Monument

The statue was unveiled nearly a century ago, and upon it’s reveal to the world, Golden Gate Park was enlivened by crowds in their Sunday’s best, as a symphony played Ludwig Van Beethoven. The German flag and the American flag covered the statue on this day in August, 1915, and underneath stood a gift from Germany to our nation to celebrate the German-American Alliance. After a brief speech, the flags were pulled off to uncover the Beethoven monument, which still stands to this day.

The statue stands fifteen feet tall and portrays Beethoven with his lion-like hair and intense facial expression, intended to reflect his musical ability. At the base of the granite pedestal, on which a likeness of Beethoven’s head is perched, stands a bronze allegorical figure holding a lyre, personifying the “Genius of Music.” This monument is a work of art created by German sculptor Henry Baerer, who came to the United States in 1854 and has contributed numerous sculptures to the parks of New York, Queens, and San Francisco.

We often erect statues or monuments to commemorate something, whether it be a past historical event, a person, or a celebration of some sort. In this case, it was to commemorate not only Beethoven and his extraordinary musical talent, but the alliance between two countries: Germany and the United States.

It has seen the world around it transform, as San Francisco grew, and is still growing. It has been witness to deaths and births, and the time-tainted transformation upon this world. Today, the bronze of Beethoven’s face is corroding away, a white, powdery residue dripping down his face, strikingly resembling tears on his already expressive face. This is undoubtedly a result of acid rain, “the byproducts of industrial expansion,” as Gray Brechin states in his work titled Imperial San Francisco. And just as the statue has observed the city develop and expand, the city’s growth is leaving its evidence on Beethoven’s face. Rain as acidic as lemon juice is falling from our skies and raining down upon our greatest material commemorations, our grand creations to honor even more grandiose peoples of the past. Somehow, this idea of all our monuments and statues and buildings being destroyed by what we are creating seems so wrong, it’s like a slap in the face to all those artists and to those to whom these monuments mean something. Our obsession with growth and development and urban expansion is proving to be so detrimental, it is corroding granite and bronze and marble. Just imagine what this must be doing to plants and trees and even our own skin. It has to hit close enough to home in order for a big enough change to stop the harm we’re inflicting upon our planet. Maybe if our skin starts corroding away like the metal and rock skins of our idols and heroes, we will find, and bring, change.

It seems these statues, like the Beethoven Monument in San Francisco, are the one static thing in such a rapidly changing imperialistic environment. Our understandings of our intentions for building such monuments seemed to have faded with time, as we regard these statues with reverie only for their face value and their aesthetics. They no longer strike up the feelings within us that they did when the entire city celebrated the unveiling of such significant statues. The statues themselves seem to become forgotten in the corners of our imperial cities, tucked away and ignored. We ignore this beauty, just as we ignore the beauty of our earth by destroying it and letting it be destroyed.

What is it that we have forgotten when looking upon our various commemorations?

When will we learn that enough is enough?