On 26 March 2027, it will be 200 years since the death of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), an anniversary already at the centre of international initiatives brought together under the banner BTHVN2027. These celebrations invite us to reflect on the extraordinary persistence of Beethoven’s life and work in the cultural imagination over the past two centuries. The Beethoven-Haus in Bonn has chosen to present 2027 not simply as an occasion for commemoration, but as an opportunity to explore how the music and personality of this celebrated composer continue to resonate in the present.

Suoni. Journal on Soundscapes and Musico-Literary Studies seeks to investigate this enduring presence through the deliberately broad notion of the Beethoven soundscape. This encompasses not only the actual presence of Beethoven’s compositions within an environment, but also the processes of reinterpretation — through listening practices, quotations, transcriptions, silences, images and narratives — by which Beethoven has become a cultural soundscape in his own right.

Certain fragments of his music are instantly recognisable and capable of activating a shared acoustic memory: the opening of the Fifth Symphony, with its vast accumulation of symbolic meanings surrounding the theme of ‘fate’; the ‘Ode to Joy’ from the Ninth Symphony, which has gradually evolved from a symphonic experience into a public, ceremonial and political sound associated with Europe; the Sonata quasi una fantasia, Op. 27 No. 2, known in reception history as the Moonlight Sonata; and numerous other works reworked in literature, cinema, advertising and popular culture.

Paradoxically, the Beethoven soundscape can be evoked even by the absence of sound. Consider the composer’s deafness: one of the figures who did most to shape the musical experience of modernity is also the subject around whom Western culture has constructed one of its most powerful imaginaries of silence, interrupted listening and music turned inward.

The artist’s image is thus refracted through literary, theatrical, cinematic and graphic works, extending to the latest forms of digital culture and giving rise to real and virtual sonic worlds in which Beethoven’s music, life story and mythology are revisited, reinterpreted and transformed.

Particular consideration will be given to multi- and transmedial contributions exploring the relationship between Beethoven and soundscapes, as well as the processes through which his music is evoked, experienced anew or even withheld from listening. From this perspective, Suoni welcomes proposals on the following topics, among others:

• Beethoven and soundscapes: Beethoven’s music as soundmark, keynote or signal — in R. Murray Schafer’s terminology — within real and imagined acoustic environments, spanning public and private spaces.
• The construction of sound: verbal, theatrical, graphic, audiovisual and digital strategies through which Beethoven is made to ‘sound’ on the page, on stage and on screen.
• Beethoven in literature and theatre, from the nineteenth century to the present day.
• The narrative, symbolic and affective functions of Beethoven’s music, whether described or evoked.
• The Fifth Symphony and the cultural construction of ‘fate’: quotation, recognisability, reuse and stereotype.
• The Ninth Symphony and the Ode to Joy, in relation to utopia, political memory, European ceremony, appropriation and counter-signification.
• Deafness, silence, the body and disability studies: impossible listening and the cultural construction of the deaf composer, including silence as a constituent element of the Beethoven soundscape.
• Beethoven in comics, graphic novels and manga, with particular attention to the strategies used to make music and sound perceptible through graphic means, including onomatopoeia, lettering, drawn scores and accompanying playlists.
• Beethoven in relation to cinema, television, advertising, Pop Art, animation, video games and social media.
• Beethoven as a brand and material object: philately, numismatics, posters, T-shirts, gadgets, merchandise and the consumption of the ‘genius’ image.
• Languages of publication: English and Italian. Proposals in other languages will also be considered, subject to prior agreement with the editorial team.

Submission guidelines: Authors are invited to submit an abstract of approximately 300–500 words, five keywords and a short biographical note (100–150 words maximum) to suoni@ilsileno.it.

Deadlines: Abstract submission: 15.12.2026

Notification of acceptance: 30.12.2026

Full paper submission: 30.03.2027

For further information, please see the extended call for papers:

EXTENDED CALL FOR PAPERS

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Although this call focuses on the themes outlined above, the journal remains open to submissions on other topics, provided they are consistent with its scholarly aims. Such contributions may be considered for a dedicated miscellaneous section.