Le tremblement permanent du moi-fantôme ..., a commission by the French vocal ensemble Musicatreize for the programme Twelve Letters to Elise marking the Beethoven Year 2020, raises the question of who we are today and what remains of Beethoven's ideals, his belief in enlightenment, equality, justice and freedom?

What is the task of music, of art today - if it is not, according to Kant, directed at reason but rather at the 'affective involvement' of the recipient, if it aims to 'infect'? In...