My forty-fifth birthday celebration started three days early this year, when my sister unexpectedly came into town on family business. Wednesday evening, October 5th became a combination birthday OctoberFest celebration in San Francisco, a day before heading to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Suppenkuche, located on the west end of Hayes Valley, is the place to be anytime anyone is yearning for delicious German beer and food.

During Octoberfest, it is San Francisco's preeminent destination for dinner. The kids love their potato pancakes with homemade apple sauce. My preferred selection was their grilled cured pork chop served with sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and a tall glass of Hefeweizen.

We were lucky to get a table for five at the last minute. Especially knowing now the treat that was ahead.

During our delicious dinner, the restaurant was entertained by a surprise visit from an international band of four. (For those in San Francisco who are interested in joining in the Octoberfest celebration beginning today at Fort Mason and ending on Sunday, October 16th, all the details can be found at OktoberfestByTheBay.com.)

After two-or-three sing-alongs, we gave a rousing final "Prost" and then hurried off to hear The San Francisco Symphony perform Beethoven's 5th.

Da-Da-Da-Daaah, As Good As "Happy Birthday To You"

The No. 5 performance, led by SFS Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt, is a #1 favorite to these young ears.

As two lefties ourselves, my sister and I also very much enjoyed pianist Leon Fleisher's American premiere of Paul Hindemith's long lost Concerto using his left Hand.

Both pieces were a blessing to hear and experience live.

Blomstedt, another Beethoven aficiondao, San Francisco Symphony's current Director and the New World Symphony's Artistic Director, Michael Tilson Thomas and other musicians around the world, must be in heaven after hearing that a missing manuscript of Ludwig's turned up this week in a school in Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, Thomas is busy preparing for the New World Symphony's Opening Night of The Immortal Beethoven.

For details, please go to:

Beethoven's Missing Manuscript

So, what is the buzz about the 80-page missing manuscript handwritten by Beethoven that was recently discovered in a religious school in Philadelphia?

Evidently, Heather Carbo, the Palmer Theological Seminary's librarian, discovered it this past July, when she was conducting an inventory of the seminary's archives.

The manuscript, Beethoven's work-in-progress score of Grosse Fuge, was found in a dusty basement file cabinet.

The former Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary -- now renamed the Palmer Theological Seminary -- has struck musical gold twice now. In 1990, a Mozart manuscript was discovered on the campus.

Seminary President Wallace Charles Smith said:

At that time we called it the 'Mozart miracle'.

It seems appropriate that this time we are thankful for the 'Beethoven blessing'.

The last time a missing Beethoven manuscript was discovered it was 1999 in Cornwall.

In 2003, an original manuscript of a movement from one of Ludwig van Beethoven's Opus 127 string quartet sold for more than $2 million.

Sotheby's auction house sold it to a private buyer who bid by telephone and asked not to be identified.

Grosse Fuge in B Flat Major

The manuscript, which had been missing for 115 years, has since been turned over to Sotheby's.

The score dates from 1826, the year before Beethoven died. It was intended to be part of the finale for his String Quartet in B flat major.

This December, the auction house will put it up for sale.

Dr Stephen Roe, head of Sotheby's manuscript department, said:

This discovery is an amazing find.

It has never before been seen or described by Beethoven scholars.

Its rediscovery will allow a complete reassessment of this extraordinary music.

Sotheby's says the score, which was last seen at an auction in Berlin in 1890, is "the most important Beethoven manuscript to appear in recent memory".

For further information, please go to:

Inspire & Be Inspired.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, "a German Octoberfest with a lifetime of 're'percussions" living!

~ Jennifer Carolyn King, Rugged Elegance, LLC