Beethoven Symphony 9--what do we say?
Sure we all are familiar with famous “Ode To Joy.” That is certainly appropriate for the day and age when all sin abounds, which is what the main passage in “Ode to Joy” is about—the cleansing of sin for all who believe in Christ. The beginning of the symphony however with its back and forth relationships of the fourth and fifth in nature. It is so stark and striking that it is definitely something that we haven’t heard in a long time. It is such an outstanding introduction to the history of classical music that stands the test of time in European classical music. This intro gives way to a dazzling fanfare of D major, A major, then D minor chords which put on a fascinating show. It is one of the last gasps of Beethoven at his most serious in nature. There is a brief break in the middle for a swift passage in D major that descends into more serious chromatic tones. It’s fascinating color at its best. The sounds of longing permeate throughout the piece as if to say, “This is my final bow—take it or leave it.”
The second movement is a swift moving, triplet feel of a movement that stays in the same key of D minor, very atypical of the traditional sonata form. By this time, conventional classical sonata form was significantly varied as composers started to move to various different ways of experimenting with different keys, delays of key changes—anything to make symphonies not sound so vanilla. Beethoven was indeed one of the best at this. One has to love the repeated octaves in the strings. It certainly gives it a march like feel.
Now for the moment we’ve all been waiting for: The Ode. It starts plainly enough with the whole orchestra miming the melody of the soon impending chorus that everyone knows. Following is a murky silence and then the lower strings pointing out the whole ode melody to us to start things off. Then a flash of brilliance ensues when the choir bursts out singing how they’ve been cleansed. Aw, how sweet Europe used to be…And apparently was Beethoven.
