Letters: Celebrate Beethoven’s 250th anniversary with his music; Allen Street should be kept open

Celebrate Beethoven’s 250th anniversary with his music

I regret your piece on Monday’s opinion page by Andrea Moore, an assistant professor of music at Smith College. While she may be a distinguished (apparently young) scholar, her idea to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th anniversary by omitting his music is, frankly, deplorable. Moreover this essay is particularly galling in your newspaper, which habitually exhibits complete indifference and ignorance toward classical music. Why trot it out now? While there may be audiences so jaded as to have become bored by repetition of certain works, by far the great majority worldwide are not so intimately acquainted, say, with each of the nine symphonies. Most Americans especially, unless they are professional musicians or longtime subscribers to a major orchestra, could not recall the specifics of one Beethoven symphony or concerto compared to another, much less string quartets, or my particular specialty, piano sonatas or variations. Yet these are among mankind’s greatest accomplishments. Should we have observed Leonardo’s 500th death-commemoration in 2019 by refusing to look at his paintings? Should we have marked the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible in 2011 by declining to read the Bible for a year? Beethoven, like Shakespeare, Bach, and Rembrandt, is for all the ages, and all the peoples of the world. He’s a colossus in general and in the specifics of his great works. Use 2020 to spread the word: listen to this.

Allen Street should be kept open

I shop downtown. I used to park on Beaver Avenue near the center of town, but those parking spots disappeared. I used to park on Fraser Street, when I went into the Nittany Quill, but those parking spaces are gone. I used to park on the corner of Beaver Avenue and Allen Street, but those parking spots are now a rain garden. At least I can still park on South Allen Street when I want to run in and pick up theater tickets, go to The Corner Room, get flowers at Woodring’s, or shop at Rapid Transit and The Animal Kingdom. I hope the newly elected Borough Council will not take away more street parking in town and I was sorry to read in the Centre Daily Times that the Council is going to revisit the “Summers on Allen” proposal, even though it was voted down. Allen Street is the main artery for traffic between Beaver and College avenues and should be kept open. What if families do come to the new $135,000 macadam “pop-up park” in the center of town, where are they going to park? The proposed summer entertainment activities could take place on the Martin Luther King Plaza, next to the parking garage, and in the already established Sidney Friedman Park. I would hope the new Council will focus on preserving, supporting and encouraging downtown retail businesses, many of which are on or near Allen Street, and not block access to them.