Heather Professor of Music Inaugural Lecture | Professor Laura Tunbridge FBA

Free - registration required before 2pm on Thursday 12 February.

All are warmly invited to the inaugural lecture of the University of Oxford's Heather Professor of Music, Professor Laura Tunbridge FBA.

Titled Everyday Beethoven, Professor Tunbridge's lecture will feature live musical excerpts performed by Music Faculty students.  

2026 marks 400 years since the establishment of the Heather Professor, the first Chair of Music in the country. This event provides a fitting opportunity to celebrate the University’s contributions to music over the past four centuries and to affirm its continuing commitment to promoting the vital importance of music as an academic subject and in everyday life. 

Dress code: business dress. University members may wear academic gowns. Please bring your Bodleian card (if a University member) or other ID with you.

Abstract

As the 200th anniversary of his death approaches in 2027, Ludwig van Beethoven remains ubiquitous: his music still dominates concerts, films and advertising, while his image continues to serve as shorthand for struggling male genius. Beethoven would not have come to prominence, however, without the composer establishing a network of friends and colleagues with whom he could collaborate, and by writing marketable as well as remarkable music. This lecture sets Beethoven in the everyday, exploring the musical relationships that enabled him to come to prominence.