Classical music lovers have for the first time the possibility of listening to the complete Beethoven X Symphony, thanks to the completion made by artificial intelligence of the handwritten sketches left by the musical genius.

Artificial Intelligence served as an instrument for musicologists and classical music experts to complete Beethoven’s X Symphony.

A known fact is that Beethoven left his tenth symphony unfinished, for some experts what would have been his masterpiece.

But on October 9, 2021, the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn performed the complete work under the baton of its conductor Dirk Kaftan.

How was it possible? Well, through the collaboration of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

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Ever since Ludwig van Beethoven died in 1827, the notation of his 10th Symphony, which was only written in handwritten sketches in the year of his death, has been nicknamed «the Unfinished».

One year after the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, an attempt has been made with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) to transfer the composition fragments into a fully formulated work.

The 10th Symphony, as heard on this recording by the Bonn Beethoven Orchestra under the baton of its conductor Dirk Kaftan, is a dialogue-based collaboration between man and machine, in which the AI’s artificial neuronal networks were challenged to be creative in their own right, but the human being continued to be responsible for the final score.

This recording is thus a snapshot that reflects the state of cooperation between man and machine today, without the claim to have completed a «real» 10th Symphony, as it would have flowed analogously from Beethoven’s scratchy pen.

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I.A. you did not do the work on your own

This Tenth Symphony entitled “Beethoven X – The A.I. Project ” will be available from November 14, 2021 on CD.

Deutsche Telekom AG distributes the disc under exclusive license from BMG Rights Management GmbH.

Ahmed Elgammal, professor and director of the Art and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Rutgers University, led the artificial intelligence portion of the project.

He was summoned to the group in early 2019 by Dr. Matthias Röder, director of the Karajan Institute in Salzburg. Röder’s team also included Austrian composer Walter Werzowa, who was in charge of integrating what Beethoven did with the creation of the I.A.

Elgammal explained in The Conversation how Beethoven’s entire work and creative process were taught to a machine. That process included «teaching» the machine how Beethoven constructed the Fifth Symphony from a four-note ground motif.

Huxley was also taught to take a melodic line and harmonize it, learn to put two sections of music together, and compose a coda.

The project passed its litmus test when a pianist performed the work for journalists, music scholars, and Beethoven experts.

“We challenged the audience to determine where Beethoven’s sentences ended and where the A.I. extrapolation began. They couldn’t, ”Engammal said.

Surely many will not agree with the method and perhaps would have preferred to continue dreaming about what Beethoven could have done.

However, the challenge seems very valid, part of an Artificial Intelligence development path that is just beginning.

Now you can rate the result.

Inside Music

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