Program notes for BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY NO. 9
By Emily Reese


Overture in C, Op. 124, “Consecration of the House”
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125
Ludwig van Beethoven
b. Bonn, Germany 16 December 1770
d. Vienna, Austria 26 March 1827

In many ways, Beethoven realized at an early age that there were no rules in classical music. Even with this understanding, Beethoven managed to keep a firm grasp on the Classical forms and ideals of his forefathers while bursting open Romantic ideals.  So many of his compositions reflect this basic fact about Beethoven; even his First Symphony raised some eyebrows. He held on to sonata form, but eventually chose to manipulate the harmonic structure of that form. He threw out the idea of a minuet and trio as the second movement of a traditional classical symphony and replaced it with a scherzo, forward thinking in his invention of a new form, but still loyal to the idea of a four-movement symphony. He made significant changes and advancements to the genres of string quartet, piano concerto, piano sonata, and more. The list continues throughout Beethoven’s entire career. It is as though everything Beethoven chose to abandon was replaced by something more important; likewise, the Classical principals he continued to incorporate into his music were exactly the right choices in the history of music.

The list of Beethoven’s innovations are impressive, and include, of course, his Ninth and final symphony. The length of the symphony, the number of musicians required to perform it, and the marriage of choral and orchestral elements had never been attempted, let alone achieved so successfully.

As Beethoven aged, he withdrew further from the public. He last appeared on stage as soloist in the premiere of his Piano Concerto No. 4 in 1808. In addition to his crippling deafness, Viennese patrons were so taken with the Italian operas of Rossini there was virtually no place for Beethoven’s music, contributing to his isolation.

His Viennese friends knew of his dissatisfaction with the culture of the arts in Vienna, but they also knew he completed his 9th Symphony. They knew he was considering a premiere outside of the city, and they desperately wanted the work to be premiered in Vienna. They sent him a letter telling him so:

“Do not withhold longer from popular enjoyment, do not keep any longer from the distressed sense of that which is great and perfect, a performance of the latest masterworks of your hand. We know that a grand sacred composition has been associated with that first one in which you have immortalized the emotions of a soul... We know that a new flowers glows in the garland of your glorious, still unrivaled symphonies... we have waited and hoped to see you distribute new gifts from the abundance of your wealth to the circle of your friends... Need we tell you with what regret your retirement from public life has filled us? Need we assure you that at a time when all glances were hopefully turned towards you, all perceived with sorrow that the one man whom all of us are compelled to acknowledge as foremost among living men in his domain, looked on in silence as foreign art took possession of German soil.”

It was enough. The premiere of Symphony No. 9 took place at the Kärntnertor Theater in Vienna on May 7, 1824. Beethoven also premiered portions of the Missa Solemnis, and performed the “Consecration of the House” Overture.

As early as 1793, Beethoven discussed with a friend the idea of setting Friedrich Schiller’s poem An die Freude (literally, To Joy) to music. Elements of the melody most notably appear in his Choral Fantasia of 1808, as well as the song “Gegenliebe” from the late 18th century. By 1813, Beethoven began toying with the idea of writing a D minor symphony, but he didn’t begin sketches until 1818. He worked on it on and off, all but setting it aside in 1823 to finish the Missa Solemnis.

In many ways, the Ninth is an expanded version of the tragedy-to-triumph formula developed in the Fifth Symphony. Unlike the Fifth, however, the Ninth begins softly. The crown jewel of the Ninth, much like the Fifth, is the Adagio; Beethoven again wrote an absolutely sublime slow movement, often overshadowed by the power of the final movement.

At its premiere, Kapellmeister Michael Umlauf helped lead the ensemble. Umlauf informed the players to watch him, not Beethoven. When the orchestra played the final notes of the Ninth, Beethoven was still beating time, unaware they had finished. The audience erupted into rabid applause that Beethoven couldn’t hear; one of the singers had to turn him around so he could see how much the audience loved the symphony.

Beethoven wrote the “Consecration of the House” Overture in 1822, commissioned by the poet and librettist Karl Friedrich Hensler. The overture was written for the reopening of the Josephstadt Theater in Vienna, now the oldest theater in operation in the city. The piece, heavily influenced by Handel and Haydn, was a big success, and was subsequently performed three more times.

Although Beethoven wrote and premiered “Consecration of the House” two years prior to his Ninth Symphony, the two pieces work well together. They are naturally paired, demonstrating two very different angles of Beethoven’s compositional gifts.