April 19, 2018 Program Notes: Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven oratorio-like setting of text for solo commissioned to commemorate the and its array of orchestral and choral voices and chorus. victims of 9/11), it shared the program forces. It even encouraged a new Born December 16, 1770, in Bonn; with Beethoven Number Nine. approach to writing about music. Mere died March 26, 1827, in Vienna • Beethoven’s chosen text is a paraphrasing or description was no revolutionary ode by his contemporary, The first audience to hear the Ninth— longer adequate to convey the often Symphony No. 9 the poet, playwright, and philosopher at a Friday evening spring concert confusing power of this experience; in D minor, Op. 125 Friedrich Schiller. The work’s message of in Vienna in 1824, three years before it had to be interpreted. universal embrace in opposition to the Beethoven’s death—must have realized Composed: 1822-24 (drawing on “divisions” of the old conventional order they were experiencing something Not all of the Ninth’s influence has sketches dating back to 1817, when the has been an inspiration during turning unprecedented, even though time had been positive. Its inescapable power work was originally commissioned) points in world history, but it has also only allowed for two full rehearsals. was often inhibiting for generations First performance: May 7, 1824, in been abused. In fact, Vienna didn’t even have a of composers tack and given vent to Vienna symphony orchestra proper at the gleeful iconoclasm. In his diary, the • The Ninth is about much more than time. Throughout his career, Beethoven American composer Ned Rorem lashes Duration: approximately 65-70 minutes that concluding “Ode to Joy”—the organized programs employing out at the Ninth as “the first piece of first movement alone is one of the In addition to solo vocal quartet freelancers from the various theater junk in the grand style.” On a much most impressive musical expressions (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) orchestras to present his latest darker note, an artwork so inextricably of tragedy, and the spectrum and four-part chorus (in the fourth compositions and bring in income linked to utopian vision has been Beethoven traces across the work movement only), the Ninth Symphony and was even responsible for his own co-opted as a political symbol to justify anticipates something of Mahler’s is scored for 2 flutes and piccolo, 2 marketing. the most hateful forces in history all-encompassing concept of the oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons and as well: the Nazis used this music to symphony. The model of a permanent, self- contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, celebrate Hitler’s birthday, and even standing orchestra devoted to concert 3 trombones, timpani, triangle, bass e live in the valley of the the unfulfilled promise of universal music had developed sporadically in drum, cymbals, and strings. Ninth,” the Berkeley-based brotherhood has been interrogated as “W other cities like Paris and London but what we might call today a suspicious, musicologist Joseph Kerman once did not become standard until after In sum: “neoliberal” diversion. remarked, referring to the impact Beethoven’s death. A footnote: the • Beethoven’s Ninth is a cultural artifact of Ludwig van Beethoven’s final initial spur to compose the Ninth was Thomas Mann even has the protagonist that has long exerted its powerful symphony. The Ninth has cast its triggered by a commission from one composer of his late novel Doctor influence far outside the concert hall as shadow not just over the composer’s of those rare metropolitan orchestras Faustus declare his desire to “revoke” well as on the history of Western music. successors but on our culture as a of the time, the Philharmonic Society the Ninth and its associated bad faith. • Written after a gap separating his whole. From the trivial—commercials of London (established as recently Some of that response is tied to the previous symphonic works, the Ninth and ringtones, New Year rituals as 1813), which commissioned a new complications of German idealism is cast on a scale unprecedented by between swigs of eggnog and symphony from Beethoven in 1817. and, specifically, the poetry and the Classical symphony. Beethoven champagne—to the world historical, Indeed, the Ninth itself played a pivotal thought of Beethoven’s contemporary thinks here on a grand new scale, in the Ninth is somehow always present. part in shaping the role of the modern Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805), whose terms of his overall architecture and When John Adams’ On the Transmigration professional conductor, fostering new revolutionary poem An die Freude sound world, but also by fusing what of Souls was premiered by the New standards of rehearsal thanks to its (“Ode to Joy”) from the eve of the was a purely instrumental genre with York Philharmonic (having been unprecedented technical demands French Revolution celebrates a

April 18, 2018 April 18, 2018 message of universal connection simple pattern of a descending D minor prevailing very slow tempo and the strange humor: the moment of the that has resonated in moments of chord). second with a more flowing motion, gruff contrabassoon that “recharges” political crisis. shifting to D major (the key of the final the music after it has run aground, It’s one of the most awing examples of movement as well). brought to a sudden halt. What follows And the Ninth Symphony seems to this composer’s genius for constructing is an eccentric variation featuring the encompass extremes of experience. vast, intricate structures from such By introducing the human voice, the tenor solo (in very high range) against Many tend to think of this music in primal material. Even the lyrical grace Ninth’s finale crossed an aesthetic clanging cymbals and other gestures terms of the finale alone, reducing of the contrasting, stepwise theme that Rubicon that claimed new territory that, to European ears of the time, it to an “ode to joy,” yet the vast first follows—it foreshadows the “joy” theme for the symphony. Just as remarkable evoked stereotypes of a Turkish military movement stands as an unsurpassed — is the way in which Beethoven stages to come in the finale gets swept away band. Another extreme is found in the expression of tragedy and pathos, the emergence of that voice from the in the oceanic surge of the development. elevated tone of the music associated venturing even beyond the dark drama of the purely instrumental music The moment of reprise resounds with a transcendent Being “beyond the intensity of Beethoven’s Fifth. What, we hear in the opening minutes. The with a thunderously apocalyptic starry firmament,” where Beethoven too, to make of the Scherzo with its finale begins with a terrifying chord of intensification, reinforced by the timpani engages with feelings of sacred awe. elemental energy and odd rhythmic (a key instrumental “protagonist” in this dissonance—evoking the chaos out of Pioneering as the Ninth Symphony is, gestures (and, in its contrasting trio score). As a further surprise, Beethoven which the Ninth had come into being in the very first movement. Here, though, this music also pays homage to the section, yet another kind of “joy”)? wraps up the movement with a lengthy, the chaos is violent and anguished riches of the past: in particular, to the And where does the unearthly, suspenseful coda, ratcheting up the rather than mysteriously amorphous. choral music of Handel’s magnificent transcendent beauty of the Adagio tension yet again via an unrelenting, Beethoven then has the orchestra oratorios, which Beethoven praised fit into a work whose destination is gradual crescendo. thought to be joy? Well before Mahler reminisce over the ideas that have highly. Rather than merely present cultivated the symphony as a form that The rhythmic insistence of the main been presented up to this point in the his ideas as a string of contrasting “must be like the world” and “embrace theme and several additional ones in work. But the wordless insistence of variations, Beethoven also relies on everything,” Beethoven was creating the first movement subliminally prepare the low strings rejects each of these as age-old techniques of counterpoint, a cosmos of his own from what he had the ground for the Scherzo—positioned insufficient. How then to move forward, fusing his disparate ideas into a larger, inherited from Haydn and Mozart— here as the second rather than third to find the promised land? unified complex. movement, the only time Beethoven with the help of Schiller’s poetry. The chord of terror reappears, as if all Music this powerful carries with it does this in his symphonies. The energy that has been achieved is worthless. But attendant dangers for abuse. “Some What to listen for here has a densely concentrated quality, now the solo baritone breaks into the enshrine it, others attempt to tear it with elementary motifs tracing repetitive Emerging out of an ambiguous void, soundscape with a cry to try something down,” writes David Benjamin Levy the Ninth seems to start with a “slow” patterns in a way that anticipates different. The instruments being the in his detailed study of the Ninth introduction. But we’re already inside something of the Minimalist aesthetic. way, developing the “joy theme” via Symphony and its background. But in the “real time” of the first movement For all their contrasts—epic sprawl successive layering, and then allowing our present era of disillusion and jaded (which Beethoven indicates to be versus an eternally circling primal the individual voices of the solo quartet hopes, Beethoven’s final symphony, played un poco maestoso: “a bit majestic,” dance—the first two movements share to join in. For his text, Beethoven premiered almost two centuries ago, “in a dignified way”—the maestoso a sense of colossal forces at play. adapted excerpts from Schiller’s feels as urgently necessary as ever. “[T] directive comes up twice again in the he mountain remains,” Levy notes, “and, With the Adagio, Beethoven enters an lengthy poem. finale, as well). as is the case with revelation itself, the entirely new realm of contemplation. From this point on, the final movement essential truth of the Ninth Symphony We hear thematic shards that begin to Structurally, the movement unfolds as unfolds as a loose series of variations on can be neither proven nor disproven. coalesce until, with a mighty increase in a set of double variations, that is, based the new theme. Here, too, Beethoven’s Coming to terms with the work involves volume and power, Beethoven hammers on two very different themes presented cosmic idea of what a symphony a kind of leap of faith.” these together into the titanic main in alternation. Each inhabits its own key can express is worked out. At one theme (itself centered around the and has its own pacing: the first in the extreme, the variations encompass —©2018 Thomas May

April 18, 2018 April 18, 2018 Text for An die Freude (Ode to Joy) Freude trinken alle Wesen All creatures drink of joy An den Brüsten der Natur; At natures breast. by Friedrich Schiller Alle Guten, alle Bösen All who are good, all who are bad Folgen ihrer Rosenspur. Follow her trail of roses; Küsse gab sie uns und Reben, Nature gave us kisses and wine, Translation, Marika Kuzma Einen Freund, geprüft im Tod; A tried and true friend even in death; (Soloist) (Soloist) Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben, Even the worm is given bounty, O Freunde, nicht diese Töne! O friends, no more of these sounds! Und der Cherub steht vor Gott. And the cherub stands before God! Sondern laßt uns angenehmere Let us give voice to something more anstimmen, cheerful, und freudenvollere. More full of joy! (Tenor soloist and men) (Tenor soloist and men) Freude! Joy! Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen Gladly, just as his suns fly Durch des Himmels prächt’gen Though the glorious paths of the Plan, heavens; (Soloists and chorus) (Soloist and Chorus) Laufet, Brüder, eure So you, brothers, you should run your Freude! Joy! Bahn, course, Freude, schöner Götterfunken Joy, beautiful spark of divinity, Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen. Giddy like a hero toward victory! Tochter aus Elysium, Daughter of Elysium,* Wir betreten feuertrunken, We tread as if fire-inspired, (Chorus) (Chorus) Himmlische, dein Heiligtum! Heavenly one, into your sanctuary. Seid umschlungen, Millionen! Be embraced, you millions Deine Zauber binden wieder Your magic power re-unites Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt! By this kiss of the whole world! Was die Mode streng geteilt; All that custom has strongly divided, Brüder, über’m Sternenzelt Brothers, above the starry canopy Alle Menschen werden Brüder, All men shall become brothers, Muß ein lieber Vater wohnen. There must dwell a loving father. Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt. Wherever your gentle wings sway. Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen? Do you fall in worship, you millions? Wem der große Wurf gelungen, Whoever has succeeded in Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt? Do you sense the Creator, O world? Eines Freundes Freund zu sein; Becoming a friend to a friend, Such’ ihn über’m Sternenzelt! Seek Him above the canopy of stars; Wer ein holdes Weib errungen, Whoever has gained a loving spouse, Über Sternen muß er wohnen. Above the stars must he dwell. Mische seinen Jubel ein! Let him join in our joyful song. Ja, wer auch nur Yes! And whoever lay claim to a (Fugue: verses combined) (Fugue: texts combined) eine Seele steadfast soul Seid umschlungen, Millionen Be embraced, you millions Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund! In this wide world! Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt! By this kiss of the whole world! Und wer’s nie gekonnt, der stehle But whoever has never been able to Freude, schöner Götterfunken Joy, beautiful spark of divinity, Weinend sich aus diesem must creep away tearfully from this Tochter aus Elysium, Daughter of Elysium, Bund! gathering. Wir betreten feuertrunken, We tread as if fire-inspired, *Heavenly afterlife. Himmlische, dein Heiligtum! Heavenly one, into your sanctuary.

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