The great musical genius Ludwig van Beethoven was born 250
years ago this month. Although I made a blog
post about Beethoven in 2017, I am writing about him again and especially
about his marvelous Ninth Symphony.
Here is the image of his portrait that Joseph Karl Stieler painted 200 years ago, in 1820, when Beethoven was 50 years old:
Composing the Ninth
Beethoven’s compositions
consist of 722 works written over forty-five years, from his earliest work in 1782,
when he was only twelve years old, until his last work just before his death in
Vienna in 1827.
Beginning with
Symphony No. 1, which was first performed in 1800, Beethoven composed nine
symphonies. He composed No. 9, also called the “Choral” Symphony, between 1822
and 1824.
His Ninth Symphony
is regarded by many critics and musicologists as Beethoven's greatest work and
one of the supreme achievements in the history of music.
One amazing aspect
of Beethoven’s composing the Ninth Symphony is that he was completely deaf during
that time. He began to lose his hearing when he was still in his early 30s, and
by 1815 he was totally deaf.
How one of the world’s
greatest composers could write his greatest work, a complete four-part symphony,
while being totally deaf is almost beyond comprehension.
Performing the Ninth
Beethoven’s Symphony
No. 9 was first performed in
Vienna in 1824, and since then it has been one of the most performed symphonies
in the world.
At that initial
performance, it seems that Beethoven was not the main conductor, but he was on
the stage facing the orchestra. When the performance concluded, the contralto
went over to Beethoven and turned him toward the loudly cheering audience whom
he could not hear.
The Ninth is still being performed by premier
orchestras around the world—and a number of those performances are, happily,
available on YouTube.
In preparation for writing this article, I listened to the performances
of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO, here), which has been
viewed over 25,600,000 times since 2015, and the (audio only) London Symphony Orchestra
(here), accessed an inexplicable
106 million times since 2010.
There is a long tradition of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony being
performed in Japan since it was first introduced there by German prisoners
during WWI. The CSO’s
website reports that in 2016 the Ninth was performed 175 times in Japan.
In Osaka, there is now a 20-year-old tradition of performing
Beethoven’s Ninth with 10,000 musicians! (Here is the link to the
fourth movement of their 2012 performance.)
Enjoying the Ninth
It is the fourth movement of Symphony No. 9 that makes it so enjoyable
to so many people. In that movement, Beethoven used Friedrich Schiller’s
1785 poem "Ode to Joy,” in which he enthusiastically celebrated the kinship
and unity of all humankind.
That fourth movement
later morphed into one of my very favorite hymns, “Joyful,
Joyful We Adore Thee,"
the hymn text written by Henry van Dyke in 1907.
A year ago, there were plans for many performances of the
Ninth in this 250th anniversary year of Beethoven’s birth, including
a performance of “All Together: A Global Ode to Joy” in Carnegie Hall this
month. But, alas, the covid-19 pandemic has caused cancellations of most
performances.
Nevertheless, thanks to the Internet, we can enjoy the Ninth
in the comfort (and safety) of our own homes this month—and there are lessons
we can learn from Beethoven along with enjoying his exquisite music.
A year ago, before the beginning of the pandemic, Arthur C. Brooks
wrote about a lesson we can all learn from Beethoven: “Deafness freed Beethoven
as a composer because he no longer had society’s soundtrack in his ears.
Perhaps therein lies a lesson for each of us.”
Further, an article in the Nov. 21 issue of The
Economist points out that like the pandemic-hit celebrations of his 250th
birthday this year, Beethoven’s career was a struggle against adversity. Yet,
“Fate has amplified Beethoven’s voice not as a struggler, but as a healer.”
So this month (and later), let’s listen expectantly (and
repeatedly) to Beethoven’s stirring Ninth Symphony and enjoy deeply the encouragement
found there, finding joy and hope in spite of the solemn times in which we now live.
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