The Essay: Five Kinds of Beethoven

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The Essay: Five Kinds of Beethoven: Thangam Debbonaire

Thangam Debbonaire

Five Kinds of Beethoven

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Five Kinds of Beethoven, Thangam Debbonaire

Thangam Debbonaire MP shares what Beethoven means to her.

Thangam Debbonaire MP - cellist with Parliamentary string quartet The Statutory Instruments - shares what Beethoven means to her.

Beethoven is a towering figure in classical music, beloved by the musical profession. At the same time, it is important to engage with the full diversity and range of his admirers in the 21st century.  This series is not so much a classical examination of Beethoven, but rather an opening out and broader engagement with his work in a very modern context, demonstrating the extraordinary power  of his work and its enduring influence.   

253 years since Beethoven’s birth, an essay series that considers Beethoven now, in a thoroughly contemporary and highly personal context. Our eminent and unexpected thinkers respond to and share their personal interpretation of Beethoven, placing his influence in a modern framework and sharing their kind of Beethoven with radio 3 listeners. Each Essayist offers a uniquely personal insight into the scope of Beethoven’s work. 

What does Beethoven mean to you?  We put that very simple question to a wide range of  Essayists. The answers are unexpected, entertaining and informative. 
•	Thangam Debbonaire MP

Thangam plays with Parliamentary string quartet 'The Statutory Instruments' – they are currently learning Opus 18 No 1. Beethoven’s A major cello sonata has particular emotional links, as Thangam and her mum play it as their party piece. She has loved the string quartets from a young age and grew to love the symphonies whilst she had cancer a few years back. 


Thangam Debbonaire became the Member of Parliament for the Bristol West constituency in May 2015. She won the seat again in the December 2019 election with a vote of 47,028 – the highest of any constituency in the UK. Thangam started out as a professional cellist, but for the 25 years before she became an MP, her main focus was working locally, nationally and internationally to end domestic violence. She moved to Bristol to be Women’s Aid’s first ever National Children’s Officer, setting up support projects in refuges across the UK for children.  After diagnosis in June 2015, Thangam received treatment for breast cancer over the rest of 2015. 

She was Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport between January 2016 and June 2016; and in October 2016 was appointed a Labour Whip – a role she held until early 2020.
From January to April 2020 Thangam was shadow minister for the Department for Exiting the European Union. She is now Labour MP for Bristol West and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. 


Producer, Polly Thomas  
Executive producer, Eloise Whitmore

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Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Five different Beethovens - from a poet, an actor, an MP, a professor and a musician.

Five different Beethovens - writer Inua Ellams, actor Sophie Stone, MP Thangam Debbonaire, Professor Andrew Biswell and musician Nitin Sawhney share what Beethoven means to them.

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