To Joy
Welcome to the Ninth:
The young Beethoven burst into his dad's workplace and demanded half the pay to feed his siblings. Daddy was welcome to drink away the rest. He did not know then, but this was to be the story of his life. Triumph over the disadvantages of life, through determination and a sheer force of personality. A mother who died when he was young. A drunk father. An upbringing in provincial Bonn [10], away from the nerve center that was Vienna. And deafness. Creeping, terrifying, isolating, lonely deafness.
Beethoven's Ninth symphony is officially called The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125. It is also sometimes referred to as "Choral", because of its use of the human voice on par with instruments in the fourth movement [2]. However, it is most often referred to simply as "The Ninth". Composers who followed Beethoven in the 19th Century shriveled and died in his monumental shadow, unable to break or surpass his musical monuments. It would take until the 20th Century for classical music to break free and move on. The Ninth Symphony played a decisive role in cementing this tower of achievement.
There are many Ninth Symphonies, but till date, only one qualifies as "The Ninth". The Ninth has been used as the National Anthem of the East and West German athletes when they participated in various competitions as a united team. Same with the unified team of the former USSR after it broke up. It's fourth movement is used as the official anthem of the European Union [4]. Various snippets from the piece have been featured in countless movies, quite notably in Stanley Kubrik's "A Clockwork Orange", where the protagonist suffers from a Beethoven obsession. It was used by the German Nazis, the Soviet Communists, the democratic Chinese students in Tiananmen Square and now the liberal EU. A more complete political consensus is hard to imagine.
What is it about The Ninth that we find so alluring? Is it something powerful about the music itself? Would it still appeal to us if it had been composed by a nameless pauper whose story were lost to history? Or does its appeal stem from the story of Beethoven himself? Is it simply a musical representation of a biography?
Beethoven's story is often called one of triumph over obstacles. However, it is also one of an arrogant genius. The arrogance of the music appeals as much as its triumphalism. It is said that Mozart is the worlds Greatest Ever Composer during times of peace while Beethoven gets that title in times of war. I wonder if wars are but a manifestation of drums that beat deep within us. I wonder if Beethoven's music is window into that part of the soul, at once illuminating and frightening.
Eroica
So begins the letter of dedication that Bach sent along with his music to king Frederick. Bach was a genius of a scale unseen since while Frederick is a historical non-entity. Yet, Bach had to indulge in sycophancy and relentless self deprecation in front of contemporary royalty, currying favor and climbing the greasy pole.
Times change, but not as much as they should. Beethoven did not have to do everything Bach did to climb the greasy pole. It is doubtful he would have even if he did. Musicians were becoming the rock stars, while the star of kings was fast sinking into the miasma of the post Revolutionary Europe. However, like most musicians in Vienna, Beethoven's livelihood depended on royal patronage, specifically in the personage of Prince Lichnowsky. As such, we was expected to "compete" with other musicians advanced by other princes. The prize stud was expected to earn its keep by winning.
Daniel Steibelt challenged him with an intricate Piano piece. Beethoven contemptuously snatched the scores, placed it upside down and poked a few keys on the piano from the opening notes of Steibelts piece. He then tossed away the score and improved on the theme extemporaneously, destroying Steibelt's fledgling career. Beethoven was a piano master. However his victory rested on arrogance as much as on virtuosity. Within a few years, his hearing would go into a steep decline, putting a jarring end to his piano playing days. By the time of The Ninth, all that was left was arrogance.
Unlike Bach, Beethoven considered prostrated familiarity with aristocratic boots to be an abomination of his talent. When he saw a few princes walking towards him in a park, he held tightly onto his friend Goethe's hand walked straight into the royal crowd. Goethe lost his nerve and let go, stepping aside and bowing as the princes passed by. However, Beethoven did not miss a step, simply tipping his hat as he walked in the center of the path, forcing the princes to part and clear his way.
It is no wonder he loved Napoleon, leader of the Revolution for the common man. He decided to dedicate his Third Symphony to the French Revolutionary. Ironically, he chose those same four notes of Steibelts that he had contemptuously poked on the piano as the main theme of the symphony. This piece was well on its way to becoming known as the Napoleon Symphony, when something happened that shattered Beethoven's belief. Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of France. Beethoven flew into a rage, calling Napoleon a rascal. He marched into the music hall in Vienna where the official copy of the Third Symphony was kept and scratched furiously at the line that called it the Napoleon Symphony. His rage and violence are still plainly visible today on that page. He decided to proclaim Napolean dead, writing on the page "Heroic Symphony - Composed to celebrate the memory of a great man." This symphony has been known since that day as Eroica (Heroic) Symphony. The arrogance, political ideas and rage that crystallized at the end this time would all become inputs to the composition of The Ninth years later.
An Ode To Joy
Friedrich Schiller wrote a poem that he called An die Freude in 1785 [5]. By all accounts it was a smash it in Revolutionary France, as evidenced by Schiller being given honorary French Citizenship later in his life. Beethoven had wanted to set this poem to music as early as 1792. His chance came when he started working on the Ninth Symphony in 1818.
It had been six years since Beethoven had composed his last symphony. Most critics had decided that he had reached his peak in 1814, and that he was past his prime and in terminal decline. Beethoven spent most of this time fighting law suits over the custody of his brother's son [11]. His hearing problems had also progressively worsened over the years. He could hear barely anything when he started composing the Ninth. He could hear nothing at all when it finally premiered. The Choral part of the symphony advanced painstakingly over the years, undergoing many revisions in the process. It was all finally ready in 1823. The one change he made to Schiller's poem is illuminating. The original poem had a line that said "Beggars become princes' brothers". Beethoven changed it to "All people become brothers". It is not hard to believe that Beethoven did not even want to acknowledge a prince.
However, where to perform this opus? Vienna had long been home to Beethoven. However, there was a problem.
Beethoven does not seem to have liked Rossini much, telling his friend once that "Rossini would have been a great composer if his teacher had spanked him enough on his ass". Rossini for his part visited Beethoven in 1822 and was very public about how appalled he was about the unkempt nature of the place.
Beethoven was a rock star and Vienna had gone boy band on him. Fears of irrelevance, rejection and failure plagued him. However his well wishers, who were still numerous prevailed upon him to stay with Vienna for the premiere. However, the nervous Beethoven created an "alternative" pure instrumental ending for the 4th movement, just in case the audience were unable to stomach his revolutionary use of the human voice.
The Premiere
The Ninth Symphony was premiered on Friday, May 7, 1824 in the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna to a packed audience. From the first movement that starts with barely audible notes only to surprise the audience with unexpectedly loud entrance of the percussions and violins, to the end of the fourth movement when the chorus finally fades away, this symphony is an absolute delight. It is almost impossible to write about the music itself, because so much of it is tied to the emotional response it raises in the individual. For that reason, the musical experience of this piece is also likely to be very different [7].
The performers had been under-prepared and had only two full rehearsals. This was woefully inadequate for a revolutionary and complex symphony like The Ninth. By all accounts the premiere performance of The Ninth symphony would not make it to the list of great performances. However, in spite of the poor execution, the audience grasped the fact that they were in the midst of history being made. A revolution in music that was unleashed by Beethoven's earlier symphonies was finally reaching gale force that would sweep everything else away.
Since Beethoven could not hear anything, he could not conduct. The dress rehearsals had been chaotic because of the performers trying to follow Beethoven. During the actual performance, there was a different conductor and Beethoven was on stage acting out the role of the conductor. The singers and musicians had been instructed to ignore Beethoven. The music finished. The audience roared in applause. The tone deaf Beethoven was several measures off and was still conducting furiously. The music was not dead in his mind. Finally, one of the singers walked up and turned him around to face the applauding audience.
Beethoven turned around to face the silence. The roar of the audience was happening in a different world, one he did not share. He stared at them in incomprehension, wondering what was happening.
And then they started throwing their hats in the air to convey their appreciation. And then they gave him another ovation. And then a standing ovation. And then another. And then another. And then another. And then the police marched in [9]. Beethoven started crying, deeply moved. And then...
References:
[1] An advertisement on KDFC San Francisco radio station about a program about Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. "Shake it like a rag doll", is indeed a memorable metaphor.
[2] The use of the human voice on par with instruments was Beethoven's own innovation. Even he considered it to be a radical departure and thought about having an alternate ending for the fourth movement, just in case the audience was too appalled to be able to digest the Choral version. We should be grateful to the audience at the Ninth Symphony's Vienna premiere that this did not happen.
[3] The source for this information about the importance of the Ninth, is an article written by Leonard Bernstein at the website http://www.leonardbernstein.com/studio/element2.asp?id=399.
[4] Wikipedia at website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._9_(Beethoven) contains this and much other information about Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
[5] "An die Freude" translates to "To Joy" in English. However, most translations seem to prefer calling it "An Ode To Joy". Leonard Bernstein performed the Ninth Symphony in Berlin to celebrate the fall of the Berlin wall, and the world Freude (Joy) was substituted by Freiheit (Freedom). This is one of the most celebrated recordings of the Ninth Symphony.
[6] Source: http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/beethoven.html
[7] Beethoven's Ninth is best listened to actively. That is, do not hear it as background music. Do not try to do something else while letting this music "wash over you". Listen to it actively by concentrating on every note that is happening on the foreground and background of the music. Two well regarded recordings of the symphony are by Arturo Toscanini and Leonard Bernstein.
[8] Source: Beethoven's biography by Georg Grove
[9] The police broke up the crowd because it was customary for the Emperor to receive three standing ovations upon his entry to a ball room. That a mere commoner like Beethoven should receive more was considered to be an affront to royalty.
[10] Bonn was later to attain some prominence as the capital of West Germany during the cold war when Germany was partitioned into East and West. However, during Beethoven's time, it seems to have been no more than a minor provincial town.
[11] Beethoven did not have kids of his own and did not approve of his brother's choice of bride. After his brother's death, he fought lawsuits with his sister in law to get sole custody of his nephew. By all accounts he thoroughly messed up the kid psychologically.
The young Beethoven burst into his dad's workplace and demanded half the pay to feed his siblings. Daddy was welcome to drink away the rest. He did not know then, but this was to be the story of his life. Triumph over the disadvantages of life, through determination and a sheer force of personality. A mother who died when he was young. A drunk father. An upbringing in provincial Bonn [10], away from the nerve center that was Vienna. And deafness. Creeping, terrifying, isolating, lonely deafness.
It is said that music moves the soul. Sometimes, it also grabs it by both hands, shakes it up like a rag doll and take it for a wild ride. [1]
Beethoven's Ninth symphony is officially called The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125. It is also sometimes referred to as "Choral", because of its use of the human voice on par with instruments in the fourth movement [2]. However, it is most often referred to simply as "The Ninth". Composers who followed Beethoven in the 19th Century shriveled and died in his monumental shadow, unable to break or surpass his musical monuments. It would take until the 20th Century for classical music to break free and move on. The Ninth Symphony played a decisive role in cementing this tower of achievement.
That number nine is a magic number with composers; ever since Beethoven it has come to mean the crowning final output of a symphonic composer. Beethoven's ninth, as you must know, is the huge symphonic monument of his whole lifetime--his last symphony. And since then, it's become almost a tradition for a composer to crown his life with his ninth symphony.[3]
There are many Ninth Symphonies, but till date, only one qualifies as "The Ninth". The Ninth has been used as the National Anthem of the East and West German athletes when they participated in various competitions as a united team. Same with the unified team of the former USSR after it broke up. It's fourth movement is used as the official anthem of the European Union [4]. Various snippets from the piece have been featured in countless movies, quite notably in Stanley Kubrik's "A Clockwork Orange", where the protagonist suffers from a Beethoven obsession. It was used by the German Nazis, the Soviet Communists, the democratic Chinese students in Tiananmen Square and now the liberal EU. A more complete political consensus is hard to imagine.
What is it about The Ninth that we find so alluring? Is it something powerful about the music itself? Would it still appeal to us if it had been composed by a nameless pauper whose story were lost to history? Or does its appeal stem from the story of Beethoven himself? Is it simply a musical representation of a biography?
Beethoven's story is often called one of triumph over obstacles. However, it is also one of an arrogant genius. The arrogance of the music appeals as much as its triumphalism. It is said that Mozart is the worlds Greatest Ever Composer during times of peace while Beethoven gets that title in times of war. I wonder if wars are but a manifestation of drums that beat deep within us. I wonder if Beethoven's music is window into that part of the soul, at once illuminating and frightening.
Eroica
In deepest humility I dedicate herewith to Your Majesty a musical offering, the noblest part of which derives from Your Majesty's own august hand. ...
So begins the letter of dedication that Bach sent along with his music to king Frederick. Bach was a genius of a scale unseen since while Frederick is a historical non-entity. Yet, Bach had to indulge in sycophancy and relentless self deprecation in front of contemporary royalty, currying favor and climbing the greasy pole.
Times change, but not as much as they should. Beethoven did not have to do everything Bach did to climb the greasy pole. It is doubtful he would have even if he did. Musicians were becoming the rock stars, while the star of kings was fast sinking into the miasma of the post Revolutionary Europe. However, like most musicians in Vienna, Beethoven's livelihood depended on royal patronage, specifically in the personage of Prince Lichnowsky. As such, we was expected to "compete" with other musicians advanced by other princes. The prize stud was expected to earn its keep by winning.
Daniel Steibelt challenged him with an intricate Piano piece. Beethoven contemptuously snatched the scores, placed it upside down and poked a few keys on the piano from the opening notes of Steibelts piece. He then tossed away the score and improved on the theme extemporaneously, destroying Steibelt's fledgling career. Beethoven was a piano master. However his victory rested on arrogance as much as on virtuosity. Within a few years, his hearing would go into a steep decline, putting a jarring end to his piano playing days. By the time of The Ninth, all that was left was arrogance.
Unlike Bach, Beethoven considered prostrated familiarity with aristocratic boots to be an abomination of his talent. When he saw a few princes walking towards him in a park, he held tightly onto his friend Goethe's hand walked straight into the royal crowd. Goethe lost his nerve and let go, stepping aside and bowing as the princes passed by. However, Beethoven did not miss a step, simply tipping his hat as he walked in the center of the path, forcing the princes to part and clear his way.
It is no wonder he loved Napoleon, leader of the Revolution for the common man. He decided to dedicate his Third Symphony to the French Revolutionary. Ironically, he chose those same four notes of Steibelts that he had contemptuously poked on the piano as the main theme of the symphony. This piece was well on its way to becoming known as the Napoleon Symphony, when something happened that shattered Beethoven's belief. Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of France. Beethoven flew into a rage, calling Napoleon a rascal. He marched into the music hall in Vienna where the official copy of the Third Symphony was kept and scratched furiously at the line that called it the Napoleon Symphony. His rage and violence are still plainly visible today on that page. He decided to proclaim Napolean dead, writing on the page "Heroic Symphony - Composed to celebrate the memory of a great man." This symphony has been known since that day as Eroica (Heroic) Symphony. The arrogance, political ideas and rage that crystallized at the end this time would all become inputs to the composition of The Ninth years later.
An Ode To Joy
Friedrich Schiller wrote a poem that he called An die Freude in 1785 [5]. By all accounts it was a smash it in Revolutionary France, as evidenced by Schiller being given honorary French Citizenship later in his life. Beethoven had wanted to set this poem to music as early as 1792. His chance came when he started working on the Ninth Symphony in 1818.
It had been six years since Beethoven had composed his last symphony. Most critics had decided that he had reached his peak in 1814, and that he was past his prime and in terminal decline. Beethoven spent most of this time fighting law suits over the custody of his brother's son [11]. His hearing problems had also progressively worsened over the years. He could hear barely anything when he started composing the Ninth. He could hear nothing at all when it finally premiered. The Choral part of the symphony advanced painstakingly over the years, undergoing many revisions in the process. It was all finally ready in 1823. The one change he made to Schiller's poem is illuminating. The original poem had a line that said "Beggars become princes' brothers". Beethoven changed it to "All people become brothers". It is not hard to believe that Beethoven did not even want to acknowledge a prince.
However, where to perform this opus? Vienna had long been home to Beethoven. However, there was a problem.
Musical taste in Vienna had changed during the first decades of the 19th century; the public were chiefly interested in light Italian opera (especially Rossini) and easygoing chamber music and songs, to suite the prevalent bourgeois tastes. [6]
Beethoven does not seem to have liked Rossini much, telling his friend once that "Rossini would have been a great composer if his teacher had spanked him enough on his ass". Rossini for his part visited Beethoven in 1822 and was very public about how appalled he was about the unkempt nature of the place.
Beethoven was a rock star and Vienna had gone boy band on him. Fears of irrelevance, rejection and failure plagued him. However his well wishers, who were still numerous prevailed upon him to stay with Vienna for the premiere. However, the nervous Beethoven created an "alternative" pure instrumental ending for the 4th movement, just in case the audience were unable to stomach his revolutionary use of the human voice.
The Premiere
The Ninth Symphony was premiered on Friday, May 7, 1824 in the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna to a packed audience. From the first movement that starts with barely audible notes only to surprise the audience with unexpectedly loud entrance of the percussions and violins, to the end of the fourth movement when the chorus finally fades away, this symphony is an absolute delight. It is almost impossible to write about the music itself, because so much of it is tied to the emotional response it raises in the individual. For that reason, the musical experience of this piece is also likely to be very different [7].
The performers had been under-prepared and had only two full rehearsals. This was woefully inadequate for a revolutionary and complex symphony like The Ninth. By all accounts the premiere performance of The Ninth symphony would not make it to the list of great performances. However, in spite of the poor execution, the audience grasped the fact that they were in the midst of history being made. A revolution in music that was unleashed by Beethoven's earlier symphonies was finally reaching gale force that would sweep everything else away.
Since Beethoven could not hear anything, he could not conduct. The dress rehearsals had been chaotic because of the performers trying to follow Beethoven. During the actual performance, there was a different conductor and Beethoven was on stage acting out the role of the conductor. The singers and musicians had been instructed to ignore Beethoven. The music finished. The audience roared in applause. The tone deaf Beethoven was several measures off and was still conducting furiously. The music was not dead in his mind. Finally, one of the singers walked up and turned him around to face the applauding audience.
Beethoven turned around to face the silence. The roar of the audience was happening in a different world, one he did not share. He stared at them in incomprehension, wondering what was happening.
His turning around, and the sudden conviction thereby forced on everybody that he had not done so before [because he could not hear what was going on,] acted like an electric shock on all present, and a volcanic explosion of sympathy and admiration followed [8]
And then they started throwing their hats in the air to convey their appreciation. And then they gave him another ovation. And then a standing ovation. And then another. And then another. And then another. And then the police marched in [9]. Beethoven started crying, deeply moved. And then...
References:
[1] An advertisement on KDFC San Francisco radio station about a program about Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. "Shake it like a rag doll", is indeed a memorable metaphor.
[2] The use of the human voice on par with instruments was Beethoven's own innovation. Even he considered it to be a radical departure and thought about having an alternate ending for the fourth movement, just in case the audience was too appalled to be able to digest the Choral version. We should be grateful to the audience at the Ninth Symphony's Vienna premiere that this did not happen.
[3] The source for this information about the importance of the Ninth, is an article written by Leonard Bernstein at the website http://www.leonardbernstein.com/studio/element2.asp?id=399.
[4] Wikipedia at website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._9_(Beethoven) contains this and much other information about Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
[5] "An die Freude" translates to "To Joy" in English. However, most translations seem to prefer calling it "An Ode To Joy". Leonard Bernstein performed the Ninth Symphony in Berlin to celebrate the fall of the Berlin wall, and the world Freude (Joy) was substituted by Freiheit (Freedom). This is one of the most celebrated recordings of the Ninth Symphony.
[6] Source: http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/beethoven.html
[7] Beethoven's Ninth is best listened to actively. That is, do not hear it as background music. Do not try to do something else while letting this music "wash over you". Listen to it actively by concentrating on every note that is happening on the foreground and background of the music. Two well regarded recordings of the symphony are by Arturo Toscanini and Leonard Bernstein.
[8] Source: Beethoven's biography by Georg Grove
[9] The police broke up the crowd because it was customary for the Emperor to receive three standing ovations upon his entry to a ball room. That a mere commoner like Beethoven should receive more was considered to be an affront to royalty.
[10] Bonn was later to attain some prominence as the capital of West Germany during the cold war when Germany was partitioned into East and West. However, during Beethoven's time, it seems to have been no more than a minor provincial town.
[11] Beethoven did not have kids of his own and did not approve of his brother's choice of bride. After his brother's death, he fought lawsuits with his sister in law to get sole custody of his nephew. By all accounts he thoroughly messed up the kid psychologically.
Comments