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Symphony No. 9 Op. 125 (Choral)
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Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 Op. 125 (Choral) was written between 1817
and 1823. Ther period of eleven years that elapsed between the completion
of the Eighth and Ninth Symphonies can perhaps be partly explained by the
circumstances of the composer's life. Beethoven had reached the zenith
of his fame about 1814, but he found himself most appreciated by the
public at large for the third-rate score, his Willington's Victory
Symphony While his Seventh Symphony had been well enough recieved, his
Eighth had been pretty much ingored, which must have rankled.
Beethoven's lie at that time was, as Grove put it, a "maze of excitement
- lawsuites, fetes, quarrels, concerts, production of the opera [a
revival of Fidelio], interviews with emperors." So, it is not all that
surpising that his production should of fallen off that and that so many
years should have elapsed between symphonies.
Friedrich von Schiller's poem "Ode to Joy" had aroused Beethoven's
republican instincts even in youth: In 1793, at the age of twenty-two, he
had intended, according to a contemporary source, to set the poem "verse
by verse." In 1811 some of the poem's words are found in sketchs for the
Seventh and Eighth Symphonies, alone with a note describing a planned
four-movement symphony using the Schiller text for the finale. The
famous choral melody itself evolved painstakingly over many years from
sketchbook to sketchbook, assuming its final form only in 1822.
Nevertheless, there is evidence that, as late sa 1823, while composing
the choral finale of teh Ninth Symphony, Beethoven was also considering a
purely intrumental ending for the work.
The Ninth Symphony had its first performace on May 7,1824, at
Vienna's Karntnertorm Theater. By this time Beethoven was totally deaf,
so there could be no question of his conducting the premiere. However he
did stand next to the conductor during the performance to indicate the
proper tempi. The music was recieved with a great deal of emotion, not
only by the audience but, more unusually, but the orchestra (some of the
players reportedly wept). Grove vividly described the pathos of the scene:
The master, though placed in the midst of this confluence of
music, heard nothing of it all and was not even sensible of the
applause of the audience at the end of his great work, but
continued standing with his back to the audience, [and beating
that time,] till Fraulien Ungher, who had sung the contralto part,
turned him, or induced him to turn around and face the people,
who were still clapping their hands, and giving way to the
greatest demonstrations of pleasure. 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, which was
repeated again and again, and seemed as if it would never end.
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