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Back in 1902, a group of artists in the composer\u2019s adopted city planned a homage to Beethoven<\/a> like no other: an ambitious fusion of art and design, sculpture and architecture, probing the notion of the composer\u2019s role \u2013 and that of any artist \u2013 as a moral force. Here is the extraordinary story… of the Beethoven frieze.<\/strong><\/p> True, the Ninth Symphony<\/a><\/strong> was a catalyst, even briefly (if enduringly) implicating Gustav Mahler<\/a><\/strong>, but the 1902 \u2018Beethoven Exhibition\u2019 presented by the Vienna Secession<\/a><\/strong> artists’ movement was destined to cause a scandal. And to the scandal-loving Viennese \u2013 many thousands of whom had turned out to Beethoven\u2019s funeral<\/a><\/strong> 75 years earlier \u2013 this one had the lot: sex, scorn for modern art and the opportunity to take a pop at the director of the Court Opera, Mahler.<\/p> Sex, scorn for modern art and more: the story of the Beethoven frieze<\/h2>