Algorithms fine-tuned - The digital journey taken by Beethoven's unfinished Tenth Symphony
Budapest, October 1, 2021 12:00
It has taken close to two hundred years and the cooperation of man and technology to complete Beethoven's unfinished Tenth Symphony . In course of the international project initiated by Deutsche Telekom, artificial intelligence composed pieces of more than 2 million notes in total in the style of the composer, and it took 730 days for international experts to complete and reveal to the world the musical composition that has existed only in sketches, so far.
Close to two hundred years ago, during the last years of his life, Beethoven started working on another musical composition, which he never had the chance to complete, so the unfinished work, which has intrigued so many since, remained in the form of sketches. On the occasion of the 250 th anniversary of the famous s composer's birth, a group of international scholars, composers, music historians and technology experts, encouraged by Telekom, decided to make an attempt to complete the work with the help of artificial intelligence, starting from the existing pieces. The symphony created as a result of the unique cooperation between man and AI will premiere in Beethoven's birthplace, Bonn, Germany.
Can AI be an artist?
Many people will surely ask whether the work completed bases on existing fragments really reflects the composer giant's original intentions. To bring to life the completed work in 730 days, AI had learned the composer's total oeuvre, as well as his creative methods and characteristic style, as a result of which, even people very familiar with classical music feel that they are listening to a work by Beethoven. The system used had been developed by Prof. Dr. Ahmed Elgammal and Dr. Mark Gotham, who had exploited the similarities between music and language and perfected the algorithm based on that principle. However, human factor was not a negligible aspect in the effort made to complete the symphony. Especially, as the monotonous, machine-like sound of the sequences composed by AI had to be brought to life by someone. When the work of the AI was completed, Austrian composer, Walter Werzova was charged with the task to breath life into the music, by changes of tempo, among other techniques.
Art and technology
Beethoven's symphony is not the first creative product implemented by AI. Completed versions of Schubert's and Mahler's unfinished pieces, Beatles songs, and even works of fine arts have been delivered by machines. In recent years, we have seen many examples of technology making our lives easier. Now, the Beethoven X AI Project gives us a whole new perspective on the merge of human and digital worlds. All this proves that unprecedented, wonderful creative works and major progress can result from the cooperation of man and machine, said Magyar Telekom's Chief Commercial Officer, Melinda Szab .
We shall look behind the scenes of the Beethoven X AI Project on October 13 with the help of an expert panel, hosted by Alinda Veiszer and consisting of Music Historian d m B sze, Head of Partner Relations, Artificial Intelligence International Lab Gergely Szirtes and Magyar Telekom's Brand Communications Director B la Szab . Cambridge Mobile Telematics AI expert Rich rd Nagyfi will deliver the keynote speech and guide the audience behind the stage of machines composing music. The duo of Ditta Rohmann and Mih ly Berecz will play some of the most classic works of Beethoven, and the evening will conclude by a short video of a rendition of the tenth Symphony by world-famous organist Cameron Carpenter and the Bonn Philharmonic Orchestra.
Attendance is free of charge, but subject to registration: https://bit.ly/Telekom_Beethoven_XThe digital journey of the unfinished symphony video: https://youtu.be/DQsBJ7Tjg5o
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
Algorithms fine-tuned - The digital journey taken by Beethoven's unfinished Tenth Symphony 
