Written by Anna Vorhes

BORN: Probably December 16, 1770 as he was baptized December 17, Bonn, Germany

DIED: March 26, 1827

INSTRUMENTATION: two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, triangle, cymbals, bass drum, and strings, plus (in the finale) soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and bass soloists, and four-part mixed chorus

COMPOSED: First considered 1812, active composition 1822-24

WORLD PREMIERE: May 7, 1824. Michael Umlauf conducted (Beethoven assisting to indicate tempos), at Vienna’s Kärntnertor Theater

DURATION: Approximately 70 minutes

SOMETHING INTERESTING TO LISTEN FOR: While the most famous melody of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony doesn’t enter until the final movement, there are many other familiar and interesting sounds through the work. Beethoven’s love of themes built on motives (small groups of notes rather than sweeping symmetrical phrases that sound like questions and answers in Mozart or Haydn) is evident throughout. He uses instruments in ways that help us know he is thinking of a particular sound, and that which instrument he chooses is important to him. Listen for the conversations between the winds and the strings, tossing the same motives from one to the other. Even the timpani get a turn to have a say! Beethoven’s changes in the character of the music are also fascinating to observe. From a first movement that sounds serious and weighty to the second movement which is playful Beethoven seems to consider the whole human experience. When we get to the final movement listen as the cellos and basses finally find their way to the melody known the world over. The presentation of this melody in the lowest voices allows for a stunning slow build through the orchestra before the chorus finally gets involved.

PROGRAM NOTES

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is a fitting culmination to his symphonic work as he developed and expanded the genre. While it is the conclusion of his symphonic works, sketches exist for a tenth symphony he didn’t complete. Numerous other composers have been greeted with approval on the introduction of a new and significant work by being told the composition is fitting to be Beethoven’s tenth, so strong is the effect this work had and still has on the world of music. 

A typical symphony in the Classical era of composition lasted twenty to forty minutes. Beethoven’s Ninth is almost forty-five minutes in the first three movements. The forces required for a symphonic performance in the eighteenth century were modest. Always the two to three dozen string players, plus a couple flutes, a couple oboes, a couple bassoons, and with Mozart a couple clarinets might be added. The brass forces rarely called for more than a horn or two and a pair of trumpets. The percussion section involved timpani, and for special effect a bass drum and triangle and cymbal. If there was a military effect desired, a snare drum might be added. And symphonies were always instrumental, never vocal!

Beethoven was not constrained by the expected, however. He gives us the full gamut of the classical orchestra at its largest, and then adds vocal soloists in each of the operatic ranges (soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone) and a full choir. He does use the four movement pattern his audience found familiar, but the movements are expansive and take us different directions. The fact that he was profoundly deaf by the time he wrote this work is interesting to contemplate. Did his ability to only experience the music inside his own head allow him to compose in such an unusual fashion? He certainly was beyond actually hearing his contemporaries’ latest compositions. 

The first movement begins in a most unusual fashion. The music seems to grow out of thin air. Musicologist Leo Treitler says, “The silence is not broken; it is gradually replaced by sound. The listener is not drawn into this piece; he is surrounded by it as the orchestra fills and expands its space.” The movement is a slower tempo than we would expect, exploring short motivic melodies. The rhythms are extremely specific, an unusual requirement among Beethoven’s peers. Double dotted notes challenged the ability of the classical era orchestra, but produced the effect Beethoven desired. By the end of this movement, we are aware that we are being asked to consider weighty matters. Entertainment is not the motive for the composition. This is an examination of the human experience in the cosmos.

When this first movement with its length and restrained tempo ends, we expect a slow movement which might have weighed down the entire experience. Beethoven chooses a vivace tempo scherzo, a form he has used in other works in place of the third movement minuet favored by his predecessors. The change in tempo is effective. The audience at the premier couldn’t even wait till the end of the movement to applaud – they broke into the music several times to express their delight and approval. We may be exploring the human experience, but it isn’t without joy.

The third movement adagio is poignant. Beethoven’s talent for variation is apparent as he approaches the two melodic themes of the movement. It ends dramatically with a loud dominant chord resolved with a soft tonic chord. This chord becomes the opening of the final movement, with the addition of a dissonant note. 

After such exquisite music in the long first three movements, it is hard to imagine a finale that will live up to the music that has preceded it. Beethoven meets the challenge. The finale could be a symphony in itself, complete with changes of tempo, counterpoint developments, and a melody that has become part of the shared human experience of people around the world. First the ideas of the previous movements are offered as a direction to take the finale. Each is rejected by an angry-sounding orchestral response. Even the quiet third movement is quoted, and met with the gentlest of the responses, but that idea is also rejected.

The low strings explore melodic ideas, finally settling on a melody that entices the rest of the orchestra. It is attractive, memorable, and singable enough to become part of our cultural consciousness. While the low strings are given the unusual honor of presenting the melody first, the entire orchestra takes it up in variations, soaring in power and sound. When they have begun experimenting with more dissonance, we finally meet the vocalists. The tenor rejects this dissonance. It becomes obvious why the choir and soloists have been waiting patiently for their turn to participate. Beethoven introduces the text that has intrigued him for some time. He began trying to set Schiller’s Ode to Joy in 1812 before succeeding in this symphony in 1824. The wait was worthwhile. This setting of the text invites our hearts to exult. With his inimitable skill Beethoven brings us to the height of emotion, only to pull back and build again. In between we’ll enjoy hearing a Turkish military band with cymbals and triangle, and we’ll hear word painting worthy of a renaissance composer. We’ll experience both a melody presented simply and monophonically, with no accompaniment, and the complexity of a double fugue. Beethoven neglects nothing that might emphasize his delight in these ideas. The final result is an inspiring work that expresses the joy Beethoven felt would be the true salvation of mankind. After hearing this magnificent composition live we find perhaps he was right. Joy is a powerful and worthy emotion.