Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Beethoven's 9th Symphony

Episode Date: June 5, 2021

On May 7th, 1824, in Vienna, Austria, the musical world changed forever. The assembled crowd in the Theater am Kärntnertor heard one of the most groundbreaking and revolutionary musical performances in history. However, there was one person in attendance who didn’t hear the performance. The composer, Ludwig van Beethoven. Learn more about Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and how it changed the musical landscape forever, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On May 7, 1824, in Vienna, Austria, the musical world changed forever. The assembled crowd in the Cantator Theater heard one of the most groundbreaking and revolutionary musical performances in history. However, there was one person in attendance who didn't hear the performance. The composer, Ludwig von Beethoven. Learn more about Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and how it changed the musical landscape forever on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night.

And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. This episode is sponsored by Audible.com. My audiobook recommendation today is Beethoven, Anguish and Triumph by Jan Sofford. Jan Sofford's biographies have established him as a revered music historian, capable of bringing his subjects vibrantly to life. His magnificent biography of Ludwig von Beethoven peels away layers of legend to get to the living, breathing human who composed some of the world's most iconic music.

Sofford mine's sources never used before in English-language biographies to reanimate the revolutionary ferment of Enlightenment-era Bonn, where Beethoven grew up and imbibed the ideas that would shape all of his future work. Sawford then tracks his subject to Vienna, the capital of European music, where Beethoven built his career in the face of critical incomprehension, crippling ill health, romantic rejection, and his ever-encroaching deafness. You can get a free one-month trial to Audible and two free audiobooks by going to audibletrial.com slash everything everywhere,

or by clicking on the link in the show notes. Even if you don't know anything about classical music, You have probably heard at least parts of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, even if you didn't know it. It's one of the most famous pieces of music in history, and widely considered to be the greatest, if not the greatest symphony. Orchestra is consider it the good china that you bring out for special occasions. They'll often play it for the opening and finale of their seasons. It's played during the Olympic ceremonies and on New Year's Eve. It's been used as the national anthem for countries, television commercials, and was played when the Berlin Wall came down.

The story of the Ninth Symphony and how this work came to be is one that is highly improbable. When he was 26 years old, Beethoven began to experience hearing loss. In his letters from that time period, he had reports of ringing in his ears. In 1801 at the age of 31, it's estimated that he already lost 60% of his hearing. At the age of 46, in 1816, he was already completely deaf. It was a particularly cruel affliction for a musician and a composer. By the time the 1820s rolled around, Beethoven was already famous and successful. He had written eight symphonies, one opera, and many other pieces for solo and smaller groups.

At this point, he had already composed the vast majority of the musical works he would write in his lifetime. Much of his time during his late 40s and early 50s were spent dealing with family matters, which in many respects was him sticking his nose into the affairs of his brothers and nephew when it wasn't warranted. In 1817, he received a commission to compose a symphony for the Philharmonic Society of London. He basically did nothing with the symphony for five years, or at least he didn't put anything to paper. One thing which Beethoven had always wanted to do was to put his favorite poem to music, On de Freida, which was written by Friedrich Schiller.

In English, it's called The Ode to Joy. The Ode to Joy is in German, and it was written to be a hymn to the Brotherhood of Man. Even though he couldn't hear, Beethoven could still hear music in his head. Over his career, he had written many smaller pieces with various themes which never left him. They were all still floating around inside of him. In 1822, he began formally working on the composition. He knew that this was going to be the accumulation of his life's work. This was going to be his masterpiece.

In 1824, he was ready for the premiere. While the symphony was commissioned by the Philharmonic Society of London, Beethoven wanted to premiere the symphony in Berlin. He felt that Vienna had become too enamored with Italian composers such as Rossini. However, his friends managed to draft a petition which was signed by other high-profile members of the Viennese music community. This convinced Beethoven to keep the location of the premiere in Vienna. The Carnotaur Theater was chosen as the location for the premiere. It had been 12 years since Beethoven was last on stage, and many people wanted to see what the maestro had in store.

The performance required the largest orchestra which Beethoven had ever assembled. They had both the house orchestra for the theater, the Viennese Musical Society, and many other esteemed soloists in the city who all wanted to take part in the performance. However, the thing that set this symphony apart, and the thing which had never been done before, was the addition of a choir. Prior to this performance, a choir had never been used with a symphony. This may not seem like a big deal now, but at the time it was revolutionary. and it's for this reason that the Ninth Symphony is often called the choral.

Legend holds that the combined orchestra only rehearsed twice before the performance. The quality of the premiere probably wasn't anywhere near as good as modern performances of the ninth. Beethoven insisted on being on stage, even though it was officially conducted by Michael Umlouf. The problem was Beethoven's inability to hear made it impossible for him to properly keep time. Umlouf, knowing this was going to be a problem, told the orchestra beforehand to ignore Beethoven and just focus on himself. The house was packed, save for the Emperor's Imperial Box and many of the other boxes of the nobility. They had already left the city for the summer. The concert opened with the Viennese premiere of Beethoven's Missa Solemnus, which had been

performed a month earlier in St. Petersburg, as well as his consecration of the House overture. However, the real reason everyone was there was for the main event, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. During the symphony itself, the crowd was very loud. Several times the police had to quiet people down. However, when it was over, the crowd went nuts. There was a rousing standing ovation. However, Beethoven didn't know it. He couldn't hear them clapping.

One of the vocal soloists, Caroline Unger, reportedly had to turn Beethoven around so he could acknowledge the crowd. The crowd gave Beethoven five standing ovations, and for each one they waved handkerchiefs and hats in their hands, knowing that he couldn't hear them. Music critics almost instantly and unanimously felt that this was one of Beethoven's greatest works, if not his greatest. However, there was some dissension regarding the fourth movement, which was the corral.

Many of the critics couldn't get their heads around a choir and an orchestra together. However, such complaints were minor and very short-lived. The symphony went on to premiere in Berlin, London, and the rest of the world. Beethoven died without ever completing another symphony. He was working on his 10th symphony when he died, but he hadn't gotten very far. Over time, the symphony developed a legendary status. Famed conductors such as Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, Leonard Bernstein, and Herbert von Kierrezan,

all had the Ninth Symphony as one of their favorite pieces to conduct. The symphony's fourth movement, the Odejoy, became the national anthems for several countries. It was the national anthem for Rhodesia from 1974 to 1979. When East and West Germany had a unified team at the Olympics from 1956 to 1968, they used the O'Don to Joy. they used the Ode Joy as their anthem at metal ceremonies. In 1972, the music without lyrics was adopted as the anthem of Europe, and in 1985 it was adopted as the anthem for the European Union. It has become a tradition for many orchestras to play Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on New Year's Eve.

The tradition has especially taken hold in Japan, where there are over 50 performances that take place every New Year's Eve. The piece has become known as the Daiku, which is the Japanese word for 9th. The tradition took hold from German prisoners of war during World War I who would perform it. The Japanese National Broadcasting Company, NHK, began performing it in the 1920s and through World War II on the radio. Some of the Daiku performances in Japan have lotteries for people to take part in the choir. They actually pay money for a lottery ticket so they can take part in their performance. And some performances have as many as 10,000 people in the choir.

Most of the Japanese performances start at 11 p.m. on December 31st, so they'll will hit the fourth movement right around midnight. These mega performances are often held in arenas where half of the people in attendance are performing. After Beethoven completed his ninth symphony, there developed something among composers known as the curse of the ninth. It's a superstition that holds that a ninth symphony will be a composer's last. Schubert, Devorak, Ralph von Williams, and Mahler all died before they could compose their 10th symphony. American composer Philip Glass actually released his 10th Symphony before his 9th just to avoid the curse of the 9th. There are, of course, many composers that have written well more than 9 symphonies,

but the superstition still exists. There is one final story about the 9th Symphony, which deserves addressing, the role of Beethoven's 9th Symphony in the creation of the compact disc. In the early 1980s, Sony and Phillips had both developed digital storage formats which could be read by lasers. However, their formats had some serious differences. They came together to try to hammer out a standard that both companies could agree on. The key point of contention was the size of the disc, mainly if it should be 11.5 centimeters in diameter or 12 centimeters. The defining piece of music which was used to determine the length of a CD was Beethoven's 9th Symphony. The longest version of the symphony they could find was 74 minutes, so 74 minutes became the standard for the compact disc. Supposedly, it was

the wife of Sony CEO, Akio Marita, who was the strong advocate of getting the entire 9th Symphony, on a single disc. I had heard this story years ago, and I also heard that it was an urban legend. However, in researching the story, there's actually more to support it than there is against it. Either way, even though the CD could hold 74 minutes of music, there wasn't a 74-minute version of the Ninth Symphony released until 1997,

primarily because the tapes which were used in the studio masters were only 72 minutes long, and because most versions of the 9th are less than 74 minutes. If you've never sat down and listened to the entire Ninth Symphony, I'd recommend it. It's now readily available on every music streaming service, and there are several versions on YouTube. But if you ever get a chance to see it performed live, I especially recommend it. It'll be something that you'll never forget. The associate producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Thor Thompson. If you'd like to support the show, please donate over at patreon.com.

There is content only available to supporters, merchandise, and even opportunities. for a show producer credit. If you know someone you think would enjoy the show, please share it with them. Also remember, if you leave a five-star review, I'll read your review on the show.