Beethoven, one of the world’s most-loved composers, is famous for his nine symphonies. Before he died, he began a new symphony, but never finished it. Computer scientists and musicians have now used artificial intelligence to finish his 10th Symphony.
Ludwig van Beethoven was born over 250 years ago, yet his music is still played daily around the world.
Nine symphonies
Beethoven is famous for his nine symphonies.
When Beethoven died in 1827, he had some ideas for a 10th Symphony. But all that he left behind were some notes about the piece and a few 'sketches' – short bits of written music.
In 2019, a special team of musicians, computer scientists, and historians was formed. Their goal: to try to complete Beethoven’s 10th Symphony to celebrate his 250th birthday. The team didn’t just want to complete the symphony, they wanted to come as close as possible to producing the symphony that Beethoven meant to write. That’s where deep learning or Artificial Learning (AI) came in.
To train an AI to help with the symphony, the team turned every piece of music that Beethoven ever wrote into a form the computer could understand.
By feeding the program all of Beethoven’s music, the AI could look for patterns in the way Beethoven wrote. This included, for example, how he re-used simple melodies all through a piece to create a theme, or how he moved between different parts of the symphony. Other members of the team studied Beethoven’s notes and sketches, and worked to figure out what Beethoven was planning to do. One early test told the team they were on the right track. They played a few minutes of music created by the AI for Beethoven experts, musicians, and reporters. No one could tell which parts had been written by Beethoven and which parts the AI made up.
Challenge
Finally, the AI had the challenge of trying to connect the little musical bits into a symphony. It took over two years, but the team was able to complete Beethoven’s 10th Symphony.
Not simply a melody, but 40 minutes of music for a full orchestra – a large group of musicians playing everything from string instruments, like violins, to trumpets, flutes, drums, and piano. Recently the piece was performed for the first time ever by the Beethoven Orchestra in Bonn, Germany.
Source: News for kids