The 'Symphony No. 9 in D minor,
Op. 125 "Choral"' is the last complete
symphony composed by
Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the Ninth Symphony is one of the best known works of the Western repertoire, considered both an icon and a forefather of
Romantic music, and one of Beethoven's greatest masterpieces.
By the time the composer began work on the symphony, he was completely deaf.
Symphony No. 9 incorporates part of the ''Ode an die Freude'' ("
Ode to Joy"), a poem by
Friedrich Schiller, with text sung by
soloists and a
chorus in the last movement. It is the first example of a major composer using the human voice on the same level with instruments in a symphony, creating a work of a grand scope that set the tone for the Romantic symphonic form. The symphony was first published with the
German title "Sinfonie mit Schlusschor über Schillers Ode 'An die Freude' für großes Orchester, 4 Solo und 4 Chorstimmen componiert und seiner Majestät dem König von Preußen
Friedrich Wilhelm III in tiefster Ehrfurcht zugeeignet von Ludwig van Beethoven, 125 tes Werk"; however, it is more commonly called the Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 or the "Choral" symphony.
Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 plays a prominent cultural role in the world today. In particular, the music from the fourth movement (Ode to Joy) was rearranged by
Herbert von Karajan into what is now known as the official
anthem of the
European Union. Further testament to its prominence is that an original manuscript of this work sold in 2003 for $3.3 million USD at
Sotheby's,
London. The Head of the Manuscripts Department, Dr. Stephen Roe stated, "it is one of the highest achievements of man ranking alongside
Shakespeare's Hamlet and
King Lear."
History
Writing of the symphony
The Philharmonic Society of London (later the
Royal Philharmonic Society) originally commissioned the symphony in 1817. Beethoven supposedly started work on his last symphony in 1818 and finished it early in 1824. This was roughly twelve years after his eighth symphony. However, Beethoven started working on this piece much earlier. Beethoven wanted to set the ''Ode an die Freude'' to music as early as 1793. He did that as a piece, but unfortunately that piece has been lost forever. The theme for the scherzo can be traced back to a fugue written in 1815.
The introduction for the vocal part of the symphony caused many difficulties for Beethoven. Indeed it was the first time he had used a vocal component in one of his symphonies. Beethoven's friend,
Anton Schindler, later said: "When he started working on the fourth movement the struggle began as never before. The aim was to find an appropriate way of introducing Schiller's ode. One day he [Beethoven] entered the room and shouted 'I got it, I just got it!' Then he showed me a sketchbook with the words 'let us sing the ode of the immortal Schiller'". However, that introduction did not make it into the work, and Beethoven spent a great deal of time rewriting the part until it had reached the form recognizable today.
Premiere
Beethoven was eager to have his work played in
Berlin as soon as possible after finishing it. He was thinking that musical taste in Vienna was dominated by Italian composers such as
Rossini. When his friends and financiers heard this, they urged him to
premiere the symphony in
Vienna.
The Ninth Symphony was premiered on
May 7 1824 in the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna. The work was premiered along with the overture ''
Die Weihe des Hauses'' and the first three parts of the ''
Missa Solemnis''. This was the composer's first on-stage appearance in twelve years; the hall was packed. The soprano and alto parts were interpreted by two famous young singers:
Henriette Sontag and
Caroline Unger.
Although the performance was officially directed by Michael Umlauf, the theatre's
Kapellmeister, Beethoven, shared the stage with him. However two years earlier, Umlauf had watched as the composer's attempt to conduct a dress rehearsal of his opera ''
Fidelio'' ended in disaster. So this time, he instructed the singers and musicians to ignore the totally deaf Beethoven. At the beginning of every part, Beethoven, who sat by the stage, gave the
tempos. He was turning the pages of his
score and was beating time for an
orchestra he could not hear.
There are a number of anecdotes about the premiere of the Ninth. Based on the testimony of the participants, there are suggestions that it was under-rehearsed (there were only two full rehearsals) and rather scrappy in execution. On the other hand, the premiere was a big success. In any case, Beethoven was not to blame, as violist Josef Bohm recalled, "Beethoven directed the piece himself; that is, he stood before the lectern and gesticulated furiously. At times he raised, at other times he shrunk to the ground, he moved as if he wanted to play all the instruments himself and sing for the whole chorus. All the musicians minded his rhythm alone while playing".
When the audience applauded - testimonies differ over whether at the end of the
scherzo or the whole symphony - Beethoven was several measures off and still conducting. Because of that, the
contralto Caroline Unger walked over and turned Beethoven around to accept the audience's cheers and applause. According to one witness, "the public received the musical hero with the utmost respect and sympathy, listened to his wonderful, gigantic creations with the most absorbed attention and broke out in jubilant applause, often during sections, and repeatedly at the end of them." The whole audience acclaimed him through
standing ovations five times; there were handkerchiefs in the air, hats, raised hands, so that Beethoven, who could not hear the applause, could at least see the ovation gestures. The theatre house had never seen such enthusiasm in applause.
At that time, it was customary that the Imperial couple be greeted with three ovations when they entered the hall. The fact that five ovations were received by a private person who was not even employed by the state, and moreover, was a musician (a class of people who had been perceived as lackeys at court), was in itself considered almost indecent. Police agents present at the concert had to break off this spontaneous explosion of ovations. Beethoven left the concert deeply moved.
The repeat performance on May 23 in the great hall of the Fort was, however, poorly attended.
There was much negative criticism of the symphony and its "dissonances" at the time.
Instrumentation
The symphony is scored for
piccolo (fourth movement only), 2
flutes, 2
oboes, 2
clarinets in B-flat and C, 2
bassoons,
contrabassoon (fourth movement only), 2
horns (1 and 2) in D and B-flat, 2
horns (3 and 4) in B-flat (bass), B-flat and E-flat, 2
trumpets in D and B-flat, 3
trombones (alto, tenor, and bass, second and fourth movements only),
timpani,
triangle (fourth movement only),
cymbals (fourth movement only),
bass drum (fourth movement only), and strings.
The vocal parts consist of
soprano solo,
alto solo,
tenor solo,
baritone solo, and
choir in four parts (soprano, alto, tenor [divided briefly into Tenor I and Tenor II] and bass).
'Note:' These are by far the largest forces needed for any Beethoven symphony; at the premiere, Beethoven augmented them further by assigning two players to each wind part.
Form
The symphony is in four movements, marked as follows:
# Allegro ma non troppo, un poco
maestoso
# Molto
vivace
# Adagio molto e
cantabile
#
Recitative: (Presto – Allegro ma non troppo – Vivace – Adagio cantabile – Allegro assai – Presto: ''O Freunde'') – Allegro assai: ''Freude, schöner Götterfunken'' – Alla marcia – Allegro assai vivace: ''Froh, wie seine Sonnen'' – Andante maestoso: ''Seid umschlungen, Millionen!'' – Adagio ma non troppo, ma divoto: ''Ihr, stürzt nieder'' – Allegro energico, sempre ben
marcato: (''Freude, schöner Götterfunken'' – ''Seid umschlungen, Millionen!'') – Allegro ma non tanto: ''Freude, Tochter aus Elysium!'' – Prestissimo: ''Seid umschlungen, Millionen!''
Beethoven adopts the slightly unusual pattern of
Classical symphonies in placing the
scherzo movement before the slow movement. This was the first time that he did this in a symphony, although he had done so in some previous works (including the
quartets Op. 18 nos. 4 and 5, the "Archduke"
piano trio Op. 97, the
"Hammerklavier" piano sonata Op. 106). Haydn, too, had used this arrangement in a number of works.
First movement
The first movement is in
sonata form, and the mood is often stormy. The opening theme is played ''pianissimo'' over string tremolandos. This first subject later returns ''fortissimo'' at the outset of the
recapitulation section, in D major, rather than the opening's D minor. The coda employs the
chromatic fourth interval.
This is the first appearance of a quartet of
horns in a Beethoven symphony.
Second movement
The second movement, a
scherzo, is also in D minor, with the opening theme bearing a passing resemblance to the opening theme of the first movement, a pattern also found in the
Hammerklavier piano sonata, written a few years earlier. It uses propulsive rhythms and a
timpani solo. At times during the piece Beethoven directs that the beat should be one downbeat every three bars, perhaps because of the very fast pace of the majority of the movement which is written in triple time, with the direction ''ritmo di tre battute'' ("rhythm of three bars"), and one beat every four bars with the direction ''ritmo di quattro battute'' ("rhythm of four bars").
The contrasting trio section is in D major and in duple (cut) time. The trio is the first time the
trombones play in the work.
Third movement
The lyrical slow movement, in B flat major, is in a loose
variation form, with each pair of variations progressively elaborating the rhythm and melody. The first variation, like the theme, is in 4/4 time, the second in 12/8. The variations are separated by passages in 3/4, the first in D major, the second in G major. The final variation is twice interrupted by episodes in which loud fanfares for the full orchestra are answered by double-stopped octaves played by the first violins alone. A virtuosic
horn solo is assigned to the fourth player.
Trombones are
tacet for the movement.
Fourth movement
You can find a longer version on
EU website
The famous choral
finale has been characterized by
Charles Rosen as a symphony within a symphony, containing four movements played without interruption.
[1] This "inner symphony" follows the same overall pattern as the Ninth Symphony as a whole. The scheme is as follows:
★ First "movement": theme and variations with slow introduction. Main theme which first appears in the cellos and basses is later "recapitulated" with voices.
★ Second "movement": 6/8 scherzo in military style (begins at "Alla marcia," words "Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen"), in the "
Turkish style." Concludes with 6/8 variation of the main theme with chorus.
★ Third "movement": slow meditation with a new theme on the text "Seid umschlungen, Millionen!" (begins at "
Andante maestoso")
★ Fourth "movement":
fugato finale on the themes of the first and third "movements" (begins at "
Allegro energico")
The movement has a thematic unity, in which every part may be shown to be based on either the main theme, the "Seid umschlungen" theme, or some combination of the two.
The first "movement within a movement" itself is organized into sections:
★ An introduction, which starts with a stormy ''
Presto'' passage. It then briefly quotes all three of the previous movements in order, each dismissed by the cellos and basses which then play in an instrumental foreshadowing of the vocal
recitative. At the introduction of the main theme, the cellos and basses take it up and play it through.
★ The main theme forms the basis of a series of
variations for orchestra alone.
★ The introduction is then repeated from the ''Presto'' passage, this time with the bass soloist singing the recitatives previously suggested by cellos and basses.
★ The main theme again undergoes variations, this time for vocal soloists and chorus.
Text of fourth movement
Words written by Beethoven (not
Schiller) are shown in italics.
| :'German original':''O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!'':''Sondern laßt uns angenehmere'':''anstimmen und freudenvollere.'':Freude! Freude!:Freude, schöner Götterfunken:Tochter aus Elysium,:Wir betreten feuertrunken,:Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!:Deine Zauber binden wieder:''Was die Mode streng geteilt;'':''Alle Menschen werden Brüder,'':Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.:Wem der große Wurf gelungen,:Eines Freundes Freund zu sein;:Wer ein holdes Weib errungen,:Mische seinen Jubel ein!:Ja, wer auch nur eine Seele:Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund!:Und wer's nie gekonnt, der stehle:Weinend sich aus diesem Bund!:Freude trinken alle Wesen:An den Brüsten der Natur;:Alle Guten, alle Bösen:Folgen ihrer Rosenspur.:Küsse gab sie uns und Reben,:Einen Freund, geprüft im Tod;:Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben,:Und der Cherub steht vor Gott.:Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen:Durch des Himmels prächt'gen Plan,:Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn,:Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen.:Seid umschlungen, Millionen!:Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt!:Brüder, über'm Sternenzelt:Muß ein lieber Vater wohnen.:Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen?:Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt?:Such' ihn über'm Sternenzelt!:Über Sternen muß er wohnen.:''Finale repeats the words:'':Seid umschlungen, Millionen!:Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt!:Brüder, über'm Sternenzelt:Muß ein lieber Vater wohnen.:Seid umschlungen,:Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt!:Freude, schöner Götterfunken:Tochter aus Elysium,:Freude, schöner Götterfunken | :'English translation':''Oh friends, not these tunes!'':''Rather let us sing more'':''cheerful and more joyful ones.'':Joy! Joy!:Joy, beautiful spark of the gods,:Daughter of Elysium,:We approach fire-drunk,:Heavenly One, your shrine.:Your magic reunites:''What custom strictly divides;'':''All people become brothers'':Where your gentle wing alights.:Whoever succeeds in the great attempt:To be a friend of a friend,:Whoever has won a lovely woman,:Let him add his jubilation!:Yes, whoever calls even one soul:His own on the earth's globe!:And who never has, let him steal,:Weeping, away from this group.:All creatures drink joy:At the breasts of nature;:All the good, all the evil:Follow her roses' trail.:Kisses gave she us, and wine,:A friend, proven unto death;:Pleasure was to the worm granted,:And the cherub stands before God.:Glad, as his suns fly:Through the Heavens' glorious plan,:Run, brothers, your race,:Joyful, as a hero to victory.:Be embraced, you millions!:This kiss for the whole world!:Brothers, beyond the star-canopy:Must a loving Father dwell.:Do you bow down, you millions?:Do you sense the Creator, world?:Seek Him beyond the star-canopy!:Beyond the stars must He dwell.:''Finale repeats the words:'':Be embraced, ye millions!:This kiss for the whole world!:Brothers, beyond the star-canopy:Must a loving Father dwell.:Be embraced,:This kiss for the whole world!:Joy, beautiful spark of the gods,:Daughter of Elysium,:Joy, beautiful spark of the gods |
Influence of the Symphony
The Ninth Symphony struck the changing and newly Romantic world of Western music with force. Partially due to the scope, ambition, and import of this work, Beethoven is considered the forefather of Romantic music. His Symphony No. 9 was to prove extremely influential on the Western tradition, not just in specific compositional form (and length), but in much more general ways, for its forging of new ground beyond the Classical symphonic mould of purely
"absolute music". It is an early icon and declaration of the Romantic idealistic tradition of
Bildung.
Many later composers of the Romantic period and beyond were influenced specifically by Beethoven's final symphony:
An important theme in the finale of
Johannes Brahms'
Symphony No. 1 in C minor is related to the "Ode to Joy" theme from the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth symphony. When this was pointed out to Brahms, he is reputed to have retorted "Any fool can see that!", which suggests the imitation was intentional. Brahms's first symphony was sometimes jokingly referred to as "Beethoven's Tenth". (Brahms happened to be born on the ninth anniversary of the premiere of Beethoven's Ninth symphony.)
Anton Bruckner used the
chromatic fourth in his
third symphony in much the same way that Beethoven used it in the first movement's coda.
In the opening notes of the third movement of his
Symphony No. 9 (The 'New World' Symphony),
AntonÃn Dvořák pays homage to the
scherzo of this symphony with his falling fourths and timpani strokes.
[2]
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony also influenced the development of the
compact disc.
Philips, the company that had started the work on the new audio format, originally planned for a CD to have a diameter of 11.5 cm (needed for one hour of music). But when
Sony, the other company involved, insisted in 1979 that it should be possible for one disc to contain the entire Ninth, the diameter was increased to 12 cm to allow 74 minutes of recording; the longest recording of the symphony in the archives of Philips' recording company
PolyGram was 74 minutes.
[3][4]
The Curse of the Ninth
Using modern numbering, several composers beside Beethoven have completed no more than nine symphonies. This has led certain subsequent composers, particularly
Gustav Mahler, to be superstitious about composing their own ninth or tenth symphonies, or to try to avoid writing them at all. This phenomenon has become known as the
Curse of the Ninth.
Performing the symphony
Lasting more than an hour, the Ninth was an exceptionally long symphony for its time. Like much of Beethoven's later music, his Ninth Symphony is demanding for all the performers, including the choir and soloists.
Beethoven's own
metronome markings for his Ninth Symphony are controversial. Historically, conductors have tended to take a slower tempo than Beethoven marked for the slow movement, and a faster tempo for the military march section of the finale. Conductors in the historically informed performance movement, notably
Roger Norrington, have used Beethoven's suggested tempos, to mixed reviews.
Ninth Symphony since the 19th century
The Ninth Symphony has frequently been incorporated into film scores, television, and popular music.
★ At most
Olympic Games during the second half of the 20th century, the fourth movement was performed as part of ceremonial processions, and as the national anthem of the United Team of
East and
West Germany, at the
1956,
1960 and
1964 Summer Olympics. It was also used as the anthem for the
Unified Team of the former
USSR during the
1992 Winter Olympics in
Albertville and the
1992 Summer Olympics in
Barcelona.
★ In 1989, the Ninth Symphony was performed in Berlin to celebrate the dismantling of the
Berlin Wall. Performed as an "Ode to Freedom", every occurrence of the word "joy" in Schiller's poem was changed to "freedom".
★ The symphony seems to have taken particularly deep root in
Japan, where it is widely performed during December as part of the annual celebration of the new year.
[5]
★ Owing to the popularity of the symphony in Japan, the story goes that in order to fit the complete 74 minutes of a performance onto a
Audio CD, its diameter of 120 mm was chosen by
Sony's vice-president.
[6] This, however, is denied by
Kees Immink, who co-invented the CD.
[7]
★
Wendy Carlos recorded an electronic version in 1971 for the film ''
A Clockwork Orange''; in that film, both the second and fourth movements of the 9th are heard. The film's main character, Alex DeLarge, is a big fan of Beethoven, and listens to the symphony every night.
★ The ''Ode to Joy'' was adopted as
Europe's anthem by the
Council of Europe in 1972, with an official arrangement for orchestra written by
Herbert von Karajan.
[1]
★ The ''Ode to Joy'' was adopted as the
national anthem of
Rhodesia in 1974 as ''
Rise O Voices of Rhodesia''.
★ In 1985, the
European Union chose Beethoven's music as the EU anthem
[2], without German lyrics, because of the many different languages used within the European Union. The ideal of human brotherhood is stated in more universal terms in Beethoven's adaptation ("All persons become brothers") than in Schiller's original, which states that "Beggars become princes' brothers".
Notable recordings
★
Felix Weingartner conducting the
Vienna Philharmonic in 1935.
★
Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting the
Berlin Philharmonic in March 1942.
★
Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting the
Bayreuth Festival Orchestra in 1951. This concert re-opened the Bayreuth Festival after the Allies temporarily suspended it following the Second World War.
★
Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1952.
Robert Shaw, Toscanini's regular assistant, was chorusmaster.
★
Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting the
Philharmonia Orchestra in
Lucerne in 1954.
★
Otto Klemperer conducting the
Philharmonia Orchestra in November 1957. Released by BBC Testament.
★
Ferenc Fricsay conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in 1958, the first stereo recording of the 9th.
★
Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philmarmonic in 1962 and 1977, as part of complete Beethoven symphony cycles.
★
George Szell conducting the
Cleveland Orchestra. Recorded in 1961 and released on CD in 1991 by Sony.
★
Rafael KubelÃk conducting the
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Recorded in
1975 and released on CD by
Deutsche Grammophon
★
Karl Böhm conducting the
Vienna Philharmonic in 1981 with
Jessye Norman and
Plácido Domingo among the soloists. At 79 minutes, this is among the longest ninths recorded.
★
Robert Shaw conducting the
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and chorus. Recorded in 1985.
★
Günter Wand conducting the
North German Radio Symphony Orchestra. Recorded in 1986 and released in 2001 by RCA Red Seal.
★
Leonard Bernstein conducted a version of the 9th, with "Freiheit" ("Freedom") replacing "Freude" ("Joy"), to celebrate the fall of Berlin wall during Christmas 1989. This concert was performed by an orchestra and chorus made up of many nationalities: from
Germany, the
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the Chorus of the
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, and members of the
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden; from the
Soviet Union, members of the Orchestra of the
Kirov Theatre, from the
United Kingdom, members of the
London Symphony Orchestra; from the
USA, members of the
New York Philharmonic, and from
France, members of the
Orchestre de Paris. Soloists were
June Anderson, soprano,
Sarah Walker, mezzo-soprano ,
Klaus König, tenor, and
Jan-Hendrik Rootering, bass.
[8]
★
Roger Norrington conducting the London Classical Players. Recorded with period instruments. Released in 1987 by EMI Records (re-released in 1997 under the Virgin Classics label).
★
Sir Charles Mackerras recorded the Ninth as the first symphony in his
EMI cycle of the Beethoven symphonies with the
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir in 1991. His soloists included
Bryn Terfel,
Della Jones, Joan Rodgers and Peter Bronder. This version was among the first to incorporate many of Jonathan Del Mar's corrections.
★
Benjamin Zander made a 1992 recording of the Ninth with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and noted soprano Dominique Labelle (who first performed the work with the late Robert Shaw), following Beethoven's own metronome markings.
★ Sir
John Eliot Gardiner recorded his
period-instrument version of the Ninth Symphony, conducting his
Monteverdi Choir and
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique in 1992. It was first released by
Deutsche Grammophon in 1994 on their early music Archiv Produktion label as part of his complete cycle of the Beethoven symphonies. His soloists included
Luba Orgonasova,
Anne Sofie von Otter,
Anthony Rolfe Johnson and
Gilles Cachemaille.
★
David Zinman's 1997 recording with the
Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra was a modern instrument recording that used the Baerenreiter edition edited by Jonathan Del Mar.
★
Philippe Herreweghe recorded the Ninth with his
period-instrument Orchestre des Champs-Elysèes and his Collegium Vocale chorus for
Harmonia Mundi in 1999.
★
Sir Simon Rattle conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker. Recorded in 2003 as part of the complete Beethoven symphony cycle on EMI Classics.
★
Bernard Haitink conducting the
London Symphony Orchestra. Recorded in April 2006 as part of the complete Beethoven symphony cycle on LSO Live. These recordings are noted for the orchestra's flawless performances. Bernard Haitink's Beethoven Symphony cycle has been nominated for Best Classical Album at the 2007 Grammy Awards.
References
1. Rosen, Charles. "The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven". page 440. New York: Norton, 1997.
2. Steinberg, Michael. "The Symphony: a listeners guide". page 153. Oxford University Press, 1995.
3. How the CD was developed, BBC News
4. Roll over, Beethoven, Snopes
5. Lockwood, Lewis. "Beethoven: The Music and the Life". page 412. New York: Norton, 2003.
6. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony of greater importance than technology Philips
7.
The CD Story Kees A. Schouhamer Immink
8. Ode To Freedom - Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (NTSC) Naxos This is the publisher's catalogue entry for a DVD of Bernstein's Christmas 1989 "Ode to Freedom" concert.
Bibliography
★
Richard Taruskin, "Resisting the Ninth", in his ''Text and Act: Essays on Music and Performance'' (Oxford University Press, 1995).
★ David Benjamin Levy, "Beethoven: the Ninth Symphony," revised edition (Yale University Press, 2003).
★ Esteban Buch, ''Beethoven's Ninth: A Political History'' Translated by Richard Miller, ''ISBN 0-226-07824-8'' (University Of Chicago Press)
[3]
★ ''
A Clockwork Orange'', written by
Anthony Burgess, published in 1962 by William Heinemann ''ISBN 0-434-09800-0''
External links
★
Schott Musik International 31st and last publisher of Beethoven & copyright holder
[4]
★
[5] choir version
★
★
Original manuscript (site in German)
★
Recording featuring Maximianno Cobra directing the Europa Philharmonia Budapest Orchestra & Choir
★ The William and Gayle Cook Music Library at the Indiana University School of Music's has posted a
score for the symphony.
★ Alcove Music Publications'
simpler score.
★
Sound samples and other info from the Classical Music Pages
★
Text/libretto, with translation, in English and German
★
EU official page about the anthem
★ Analysis of the
Beethoven Symphony No. 9 on the
All About Ludwig van Beethoven Page
★
A guided tour of Beethoven's 9th Symphony by Rob Kapilow on
WNYC's ''Soundcheck''
★
Program note from the Kennedy Center with more information about the symphony's finale as it might have been, and is
★
Complete performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra.
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