Beethoven and Sympnony no. 9 MUSC App. Essay PDF

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Kayla Jones 16 April 2018 Mr. Cantwell MUSC 1100-03 Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer who lived from December 1770 to March 26, 1827. He was a transitional figure between the Classical and Romantic periods and he expanded the symphony, sonata, concerto, and quartet. He composed many pieces, some of which are “Symphony no. 3”, which he composed in honor of Napoleon Bonaparte, “Symphony no. 5”, “Fur Elise”, and his last piece, “Symphony no. 9”. His ninth symphony is very well known for its fourth movement which includes four soloists and a chorus singing Freidrich Schiller’s poem “Ode to Joy”. This last symphony is possibly one of the most well-known pieces of music in history and one of Beethoven’s greatest achievements (Ludwig; 2017). Beethoven was born in the city of Bonn in the Electorate of Cologne and was baptized soon after his birth. His father was the first person to begin teaching him music, but his methods of teaching were very brutal. Because of the way he was forced to learn music, he was extremely talented from a very early age. After many hours of studying and practicing music, he became one of the most famous virtuo pianists and composers and is considered by many to be the greatest of all time. He was also one of the first composers to combine instruments and vocals in his musical pieces (Ludwig; 2017). He composed a substantial amount of works, many of which he composed while he was going deaf. He was very ashamed of this handicap and rarely ever told anyone about it because it was important for him to be able to hear in his profession. Even though he was losing his

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hearing, he still composed many works at a rapid pace. In fact, from 1803 to 1812, which is known as his “heroic” period, he composed an opera, six symphonies, four solo concerti, five string quartets, six string sonatas, seven piano sonatas, five sets of piano variations, four overtures, four trios, two sextets, and seventy-two songs. His hearing eventually became so poor that he would struggle to make out words spoken to him in conversation. Unfortunately, after a life of great accomplishments and success, Beethoven died at the age of fifty-six and an autopsy revealed that the cause of his death was post-hepatitic cirrhosis of the liver (Ludwig; 2017). Beethoven’s ninth and final symphony is a four-movement composition with the last movement being a choral finale. He did not originally plan to have any vocals in this symphony because he thought it would sound crazy to suddenly introduce a chorus after three movements that were strictly instrumental. The idea he came up with was to introduce the voices gradually beginning with a solo singer and eventually having four solo singers and a chorus at the very end. The poem that Beethoven used for the final movement was a cheerful drinking song “Ode to Joy” which was written by a famous poet named Freidrich Schiller in 1785 (Mitchell). Originally, he began thinking about setting the poem to music in 1793 when he was only twentytwo years old (Nelson; 2012). The lyrics of the poem talk about uniting all people and mentions to be happy instead of focusing on sad things (Mitchell). The story of the first performance of Beethoven’s ninth symphony is quite moving. The first performance was on May 7, 1824 at the beginning of the Romantic period. The citizens of Vienna convinced Beethoven to have the first performance in their city at the Kärnnertor Theater. The orchestra for the symphony was so large, additional musicians and a chorus of ninety people had to join the performance so that everything would be equally balanced. By this time, Beethoven was almost completely deaf, and he would not be able to hear the piece he was

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conducting. Luckily, another conductor stood off to the side to help the musicians and vocalists keep time. The conductor also instructed the performers not to pay attention to Beethoven, which was a good idea considering, “he stood in front of the conductor’s stand and threw himself back and forth like a madman”. Once the symphony was finished, Beethoven continued to stand facing the orchestra because he could not hear the roaring applause and praise from the crowd behind him. One of the soloists, Caroline Unger, had to have Beethoven turn around so he could see the crowd’s response. Many people in the audience and some of the performers had tears in their eyes because they realized how bad Beethoven’s deafness was (Nelson; 2012). When Beethoven was leaving the performance, he also shed a tear because he was so moved by the astounding response he got from the audience. The ninth symphony includes three flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, three bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, and three trombones as well as the timpani, crash cymbals, the triangle, the bass drum, four soloists, and a chorus (Fischer). There were many elements in this piece from both the Classical and Romantic periods. For one, the melody is very singable, especially during the fourth movement when the soloists and chorus begin to sing Schiller’s poem. Throughout the movements of the symphony, different rhythms can be heard as they are more complex in these periods. For example, the first movement begins with a very slow rhythm and starts to become faster as the movement goes on. The mood is also an outstanding element within this piece because there are mood shifts in the different movements as well. All four movements initially have different moods to them. For example, the second movement sounds as though there is conflict going on, and in the fourth movement, the mood becomes very joyful and happy, especially as the vocals come in.

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Personally, I enjoyed listening to Beethoven’s ninth symphony because there were so many changes in elements such as the melody, harmony, rhythm, and mood. It is a piece that anyone could listen to and they would most likely recognize at least one of the four movements and never get bored because they would not know what they would hear next. Also, I believe it is an amazing accomplishment for Beethoven to be able to compose and participate in the first performance of this piece considering he was deaf at this time. Beethoven is without a doubt one of the most accomplished composers of his time and one of the greatest in history. His last symphony perfectly resembles the transition from the Classical to the Romantic period and shows how extremely hard he worked in his profession.

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Works Cited Fischer, Thierry. “Beethoven- Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125, Choral”. Utah Symphony. n.pag. http://www.utahsymphony.org/insight/program-notes/1187-beethoven-symphonyno-9-in-d-minor-op-125-choral. Accessed 10 April. 2018. “Ludwig van Beethoven Biography”. A&E Television Networks. Sept. 2017. n.pag. Biography. https://www.biography.com/people/ludwig-van-beethoven-9204862. Accessed 10 April. 2018. Mitchell, Sebastian. “Beethoven’s 9th Symphony- The Glorious Choral Masterwork”. Favorite Classical Composers. n.pag. http://www.favorite-classical-composers.com/beethovensymphony-9.html. Accessed 10 April. 2018. Nelson, David. “The Unique Story of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony”. In Mozart’s Footsteps: Uncommon Musical Travel. 2 Aug. 2012. n.pag. http://inmozartsfootsteps.com/2472/theunique-story-of-beethovens-ninth-symphony/. Accessed 10 April. 2018....