Beethoven’s Ninth (Symphony No. 9 in D minor) was his last complete symphony but it also happens to be regarded by many musicologists as his greatest work and one of the supreme achievements in the history of music. Not bad for a last major work, considering how many artists generally peak at some point earlier in their careers and tail off somewhat towards the end. It was composed between 1822 and 1824 and was the first example of a major composer using voices in a symphony. The final movement features four vocal soloists and a chorus, with words adapted from the poem by Friedrich Schiller, Ode to Joy (lending the tune its famous common name).
There are a number of anecdotes about the premiere of the Ninth, at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna on the 7th May 1824, based on the testimony of some of the participants. There are suggestions that it was under-rehearsed and a bit scrappy, but regardless it was an enormous success. In any case, Beethoven was not to blame, since he was by now deaf and although he was ostensibly conducting so as to be present for the audience, it was actually co-conductor Louis Duport whose baton was followed by the musicians. Violinist Joseph Böhm recalled:
“[Beethoven] stood in front of a conductor’s stand and threw himself back and forth like a madman. At one moment he stretched to his full height, at the next he crouched down to the floor, he flailed about with his hands and feet as though he wanted to play all the instruments and sing all the chorus parts.”
When the audience applauded Beethoven was several bars off and still conducting, so contralto Caroline Unger walked over and turned Beethoven around to accept the audience’s applause. According to the critic for the Theater-Zeitung, “the public received the musical hero with the utmost respect and sympathy, listened to his wonderful, gigantic creations with the most absorbed attention and broke out in jubilant applause.” The audience gave him five standing ovations; there were handkerchiefs and hats in the air, and raised hands, so that Beethoven, who they knew could not hear the applause, could at least see the ovations.
Here’s an excerpt from the Ode to Joy played by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
