Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)

The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is a choral symphony and the last complete symphony Ludwig van Beethoven wrote. He worked on it between 1822 and 1824. Its first performance took place in Vienna on 7 May 1824. Many critics and musicologists consider it a masterpiece of Western classical music and one of the highest achievements in music history. It is among the best-known works of the common practice period and is one of the most frequently performed symphonies globally.

This symphony was the first major example of a composer including vocal parts in a symphony. Its fourth and final movement, often called the Ode to Joy, uses four vocal soloists and a chorus in the parallel key of D major. The text comes from Friedrich Schiller’s poem "An die Freude (Ode to Joy)," written in 1785 and revised in 1803, with additional words by Beethoven. In the 20th century, an instrumental version of the chorus was adopted by the Council of Europe and later the European Union as the Anthem of Europe. In 2001, UNESCO added Beethoven’s original handwritten manuscript, held by the Berlin State Library, to its Memory of the World International Register, making it the first musical score to receive that designation.

**History**

**Composition** The Philharmonic Society of London commissioned the symphony in 1817. Beethoven made early sketches later that year, setting the key as D minor and already planning vocal participation. He did most of the composition work between autumn 1822 and the completion of the autograph in February 1824. The symphony grew out of earlier Beethoven pieces that, though complete works, are forerunners to it. The Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, from 1808, is essentially an extended piano concerto movement that brings in a choir and vocal soloists for its climax. The vocal forces sing a theme first played by instruments, and this theme resembles the corresponding theme in the Ninth Symphony. An even earlier version of the Choral Fantasy theme appears in the song "Gegenliebe" for piano and high voice, dating from before 1795. According to Robert W. Gutman, Mozart’s Offertory in D minor, "Misericordias Domini," K. 222, written in 1775, contains a melody that foreshadows the "Ode to Joy."

**Premiere** Although most of Beethoven’s major works had premiered in Vienna, he planned to have his latest compositions performed in Berlin as soon as possible. He believed he had lost favor with the Viennese, whose musical taste was now dominated by Italian opera composers like Rossini. When his friends and financiers learned of this, they pleaded with him to hold the concert in Vienna, sending a petition signed by many prominent Viennese music patrons and performers. Flattered by this adoration, Beethoven premiered the Ninth Symphony on 7 May 1824 at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna, alongside the overture *The Consecration of the House* and three parts of the *Missa solemnis* (Kyrie, Credo, and Agnus Dei). This was Beethoven’s first onstage appearance since 1814. The hall was packed with an eager, curious audience, including noted musicians and figures such as Franz Schubert, Carl Czerny, and Austrian chancellor Klemens von Metternich.

The premiere used an orchestra nearly twice the usual size, requiring the combined forces of the Kärntnertor house orchestra, the Vienna Music Society, and a select group of capable amateurs. No complete list of performers exists, but many of Vienna’s most elite musicians are known to have participated. The soprano and alto parts were sung by two famous young singers personally recruited by Beethoven: Henriette Sontag and Caroline Unger. German soprano Sontag was 18 when Beethoven asked her to perform. Twenty-year-old contralto Unger, a Viennese native, had gained critical praise in 1821 for appearing in Rossini’s *Tancredi*. After the 1824 premiere, Unger found fame in Italy and Paris, with Italian opera composers Bellini and Donizetti writing roles specifically for her voice. Anton Haizinger and Joseph Seipelt sang the tenor and bass/baritone parts, respectively.

Though the performance was officially conducted by Michael Umlauf, the theatre’s Kapellmeister, Beethoven shared the stage with him. Two years earlier, Umlauf had watched Beethoven’s attempt to conduct a dress rehearsal for a revision of his opera *Fidelio* end in disaster. For the Ninth’s premiere, Umlauf instructed the singers and musicians to ignore the almost completely deaf Beethoven. At the start of each part, Beethoven, who sat by the stage, gave the tempos. He turned the pages of his score and beat time for an orchestra he could not hear.

Several anecdotes surround the premiere. Based on participant testimony, the symphony was under-rehearsed (only two complete rehearsals) and somewhat uneven in execution. Nevertheless, the premiere was a great success. Beethoven was not to blame, as violinist Joseph Böhm recalled: Beethoven himself conducted, standing in front of a conductor’s stand and throwing himself back and forth like a madman. At one moment he stretched to his full height, at the next he crouched to the floor, flailing with his hands and feet as though he wanted to play all the instruments and sing all the chorus parts. The actual direction was in Louis Duport’s hands; the musicians followed his baton only. Reportedly, the scherzo was completely interrupted at one point.