Beethoven in Vermont

Beethoven in Vermont tells the story of the inauguration of the Marlboro Music Festival, first held in Marlboro, Vermont, in the summer of 1951, not long after World War II, and organized by three German refugees, musicians Adolf Busch, Hermann Busch, and Rudolf Serkin. For the festival’s first concert, they decided to inaugurate what they felt was a gamble that summarized their artistic union and their lives generally, from their rejection of Nazism to their voluntary exile in the United States, with Beethoven, the musician who best embodied the ideals of dialogue and brotherhood among the world’s peoples.