The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: December fifteenth, celebrating Beethoven's Birthday in Bonn.

Two hundred thirty years ago tomorrow, Ludwig van Beethoven was born in a cramped room at the rear of a modest building on an alley in the town of Bonn, on Germany's Rhine River. The simple structure is the only remaining of several homes in which the young Beethoven lived before moving to Vienna in 1792 to study with Josef Haydn. A century ago, the 12-room building became the Beethoven Museum.

Renovated extensively four years ago, the museum's collection of Beethoven memorabilia ranges from the composer's viola and grand piano to his brass hearing aids, walking stick and compass. One room contains the famous Bodmer collection, with Beethoven's workdesk and hundreds of his handwritten letters and musical scores. In another room there's a copy of the Heiligenstadt Testament, the 1802 document in which the composer first alluded to the agonies of his increasing deafness. Original scores include the Moonlight Sonata and Sixth Symphony. A detailed time-line puts the composer's life and works into perspective. There are many portraits of Beethoven, his family and his friends.

All the splendid artifacts not-withstanding, the museum is also a reminder that great genius can spring from the most humble origins. It's poignant, especially on an anniversary of Beethoven's birth, to pass through the doorway under his death mask and enter the low-ceilinged room where he first saw light.

FMI Beethoven's Museum is at 1-26 Bonngasse in Bonn, Germany. It is open daily throughout the year, though times change in the winter.

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