Q: Why did Beethoven get rid of all of his chickens?
A: All they ever said was, “Bach, Bach, Bach!”

Explanation: Beethoven is one of the most famous classical composers.  He was born in Bonn in 1770. Bach is also a famous classical composer; he was born in Eisenach in 1685, and died about 20 years before Beethoven was born.

If you say, “Bach, Bach, Bach” it sort of sounds like the noise that a chicken makes.  In English, animal sounds are written/said in certain ways: Dogs bark, cats meow, birds chirp and tweet.  Typically, in English chickens cluck. Of course, in other languages the way animal sounds are written/said are different.  (In Spanish there is a song that says, “Los pollitos dicen pio, pio, pio.  Translated that is, “The little chickens say pio, pio, pio.”  In English, no one would ever say that a chicken says “pio.”)

This joke is funny because you can imagine a famous classical composer not wanting to hear the name of his competition all day long.  There is no indication, that I am aware of, that Beethoven and Bach were competitors.  Both were brilliant, and very different.

Here is one of Beethoven’s most famous works: