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Completed in 1824, it includes part of the ode An die Freude (" Ode To Joy") by Friedrich Schiller, as text sung by soloists and a chorus in the last movement. It is the first example of a major composer using the human voice on the same level with instruments in a symphony.
The symphony may be the best known of all works of classical music, and plays a prominent cultural role in modern society. An adapted form of Beethoven's setting of Schiller's ode was chosen to be the anthem of the European Union. Students in Beijing's Tiananmen Square protest broadcast the symphony through loudspeakers in 1989 as a statement against tyranny. A famous performance conducted by Leonard Bernstein on December 25, 1989 celebrated the fall of the Berlin Wall. It substituted Freiheit ("freedom") for Freude ("joy") in the sung text.
The symphony seems to have taken particularly deep root in Japan, where it is widely performed during December as part of the annual celebration of the new year.
Schiller's "Ode to Joy" was written in 1785. Beethoven had made plans to set this poem to music as far back as 1793, when he was only 22 years old. Beethoven's sketchbooks show that bits of material that ultimately appeared in the symphony were written in 1811, 1815, and 1817.
The symphony also can be seen gradually emerging in some other pieces by Beethoven that, while completed works in their own right, are also in some sense sketches for the future symphony. The Choral Fantasy Opus 80 (1808), basically a piano concerto movement, brings in a chorus and vocal soloists near the end to form the climax. As in the Ninth Symphony, the vocal forces sing a theme first played instrumentally, and this theme is highly reminiscent of the corresponding theme in the Ninth Symphony. Going further back, an earlier version of the Choral Fantasy theme is found in the song "Gegenliebe" ("Returned Love"), for piano and high voice, which dates from 1794.
Thus, in one sense Beethoven was working on the Ninth Symphony off and on for much of his adult life. However, the final composition of the work took place in the years 1822-1824, as the result of a commission from the Royal Philharmonic Society of London.
The Ninth Symphony was premiered May 7, 1824 in the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna. The conductor was Michael Umlauf , the musical director of the theater, who was assisted by the composer standing at his side. The assistance must have been largely at the level of the overall conception, since Beethoven was quite deaf by this point in his life, and at the conclusion of the performance he had to be forcibly turned around to accept the audience's cheers and applause.
Testimony of the participants suggests that the premiere was underrehearsed (there were only two full rehearsals) and rather scrappy in execution. However, the performance was buoyed by the audience's feeling for Beethoven, who by that time in his career was venerated much as he is today. According to one witness, "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, often during sections, and repeatedly at the end of them."
The Ninth Symphony is scored for piccolo, 2 fluteThis article pertains to the musical instrument. For the sailing ship class that has a variant spelling using this word, see Fluyt. The flute (technically transverse flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. A musician who plays the flute is ss, 2 oboeThe Oboe is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. It is a descendant of the shawm. The word "oboe" is derived from the French word hautbois meaning "high woods". It so-named because of the instrument's rather high and reedy sound. A musician who pls, 2 clarinetThe clarinet (sometimes historically spelled clarionet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. A person who plays the clarinet is called a clarinettist. Professional clarinets are made from African hardwood, often grenadilla or (rarely) Honduran rs, 2 bassoonThe bassoon is the tenor member of the woodwind family. Like the oboe it has a double reed and overblows an octave higher. It is considered to have a tone color similar to that of the human voice, particularly in the central and upper register. The bassoos, contrabassoonThe contrabassoon or double bassoon is a larger version of the bassoon sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few notable differences: The reed is considerably larger, at 70-75 mm in total length as compared to 53, 4 hornFor the instrument—i. French horn see horn (instrument). Horn" is also used as a slang term for any wind instrument. A horn is a hollow, pointed projection of the skin of various animals. In ruminant artiodactyls, the horns are paired and take various fors, 2 trumpetThe trumpet is a brass instrument. It is the highest in register, above the tuba, euphonium, trombone, sousaphone, and french horn. A person who plays the trumpet is sometimes called a trumpeter but more often a trumpet player. The trumpet is made of brass, 3 tromboneNever look at the trombones. It only encourages them. Richard Strauss The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. It is pitched lower than the trumpet, and higher than the tuba. A person who plays the trombone is called a trombonist. A trombs, timpani, triangle, cymbals, bass drum, a string section consisting of the usual first and second violins, violas, cellos, double basses, four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), and a chorus singing in four parts (soprano, alto, tenor, bass). These are by far the largest forces needed for any Beethoven symphony; at the premiere Beethoven expanded them further by assigning two players to each wind part.
The symphony is in four movements, marked as follows:
This arrangement of movements adopts a slightly unusual Classical pattern, with the scherzo movement in second (rather than the normal third) position. Beethoven was familiar with this arrangement from Haydn's work and had used it on various occasions throughout his career (the quartets Op. 18 no. 4-5, the "Archduke" piano trio Op. 97, the "Hammerklavier" piano sonata Op. 106).