In October 2021, the Beethoven Orchestra in Bonn performed the first movement of Beethoven's unfinished 10th symphony, which was completed using artificial intelligence. A team of computer scientists, music historians, musicologists and composers developed 'Beethoven AI' to analyze Beethoven's musical style and life, using the sketches he left behind for the 10th symphony, as well as works by other composers who had a significant influence on his life, such as Johann Sebastian Bach, to create pieces that reflect what he himself would have composed.
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Beethoven AI, like other AI-powered composition programs, produces music in the same way that ChatGPT produces results. It uses machine learning and algorithms to analyze musical data and patterns, and genetic models to produce music based on input prompts.
The AI tool was trained by the team of experts and provided with all the necessary information to understand, contextualize, and ultimately create something that Beethoven himself could have written. This achievement raises an important question that is becoming increasingly relevant: as technology becomes more capable of initiating creativity, what remains uniquely human in the world of classical music?
Can artificial intelligence replace the sensitivity and humanity needed to compose, interpret, convey emotions or communicate the composer's message? Classical music has historically been a field for the few. It was born as a natural successor to choral music. Only the most privileged, those with noble origins or family connections to music, could dedicate their lives to the study of an instrument or composition, and only those who belonged to the aristocracy had the privilege of enjoying it.
Over time and thanks to globalization and the mass dissemination of information, classical music has expanded, allowing millions of people around the world to enjoy it.
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Digital platforms like Spotify and YouTube offer audiences the opportunity to access a vast array of compositions and recordings from history, democratizing classical music. At the same time, social media allows traditional or innovative artists to showcase their interpretations, whether it’s a classic interpretation of Paganini’s Campanella or a modern take on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, played as a trap variation.
The introduction of modern technologies has presented an opportunity for the classical music industry to find innovative ways to remain relevant in a rapidly evolving world. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra has launched a digital concert hall, a streaming platform for users to access multiple recordings and on-demand content. Similarly, the Philharmonia Orchestra is using Virtual Reality to create an immersive experience, allowing audiences to enjoy concerts on stage, among the musicians.
However, new technologies also symbolize a challenge and introduce concerns about the future of human creativity for creative industries, including the world of classical music. AyseDeniz Gokcin, a Turkish pianist, uses artificial intelligence to adapt pieces by iconic composers, adapting them to contemporary trends or what they might have produced if they were alive today, which risks displacing contemporary composers trying to establish their own voice.
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From a symphony completed with artificial intelligence to the experience of listening to an orchestra on stage or the ability to hear your favorite composer in a modern, personalized style, technology brings clear advantages to classical music.
