The Beethoven of the Woods

It was under cover of darkness just before the twinkling growing light from early dawn when I decided to grab my nylon bag filled with hiking necessities and headed out my front door. I tossed the sack of supplies into the passenger seat of my car, which let out a soft thump when the bag hit the fabric-covered chair. I then climbed in behind the flung object, sat in the driver’s seat, and let out a subtle yawn while starting the parked vehicle engine. I allowed the computerized system to find and accept the radio waves emitting from my smartphone so that I could listen to my collection of stored music amplified through the surrounding speakers. As I pulled out of the parking space, the randomized shuffle from the stored music in my iTunes Library spat out a loud and unexpected booming sound that snapped me out of my previously sleepy state and left my heart racing.

I fumbled to turn down the volume that had been left on high, but I immediately recognized the powerful curation of four notes that swirled around the car cabin in an electrifyingly melodic alarm. The deep energetic entrance of three short Gs followed by a long E-flat of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 5th Symphony had blasted through the speakers. The famous German composer and pianist, who later became deaf in life, still holds a firm grasp on popular culture despite being born 250 years ago in December of 1770. Even his ideas about life rang…