Beethoven composed his 9th Symphony in D minor in the summers between 1822 and 1824. It was premiered in Vienna, Austria in the winter of 1824.  The 9th symphony is one of, if not the most recognizable works written by Beethoven in his time. Certain critics and musicologists regard it as “the greatest accomplishment in classical music”. In an international orchestral survey in 2010, it stands as the most commonly played orchestral work.

The symphony was the first example of a major composer using voices in a symphony (thus making it a choral symphony). The words are sung during the final (4th) movement of the symphony by four vocal soloists and a chorus. They were taken from the “Ode to Joy”, a poem written by Friedrich Schiller in 1785 and revised in 1803, with text additions made by Beethoven. In 2001, Beethoven’s original, hand-written manuscript of the score, held by the Berlin State Library, was added to the United Nations Memory of the World Heritage list, becoming the first musical score to be named as such. 

The first movement, Allegro ma non troppo, is written in traditional sonata form without an expositional repeat. The piece begins with the tonic chord of d minor before going into sets of oscillating 5ths. In measure 301, the piece shifts from the minor key into D major, altering the mood and tone of the movement. The movement then proceeds into a lengthy coda.

The second movement, Molto vivace, is written as a fast and lively movement. The movement is written in a compound ternary design in which the specific sections repeat but get noticeably shorter each time they are repeated. At times during the piece, Beethoven specifies one downbeat every three measures—perhaps because of the fast tempo—with the direction ritmo di tre battute (rhythm of three beats) and one beat every four measures with the direction ritmo di quattro battute (rhythm of four beats). Beethoven had been criticized in his more recent symphonies for failing to adhere to standard Classical form for his compositions. He used this movement to answer his critics and reintroduce a considerably older idea.

The third movement is an Adagio, written in F sharp major. The movement itself is slow to progress and acts as more of a catalyst into the 4th movement.

Finally, the 4th movement, Finale, is presented. The movement starts in the low strings with one of the most recognizable melodies in classical music, the “Ode to Joy”. The piece then proceeds to play on different sections imitating the movement that came before. The movement ends with a majestic set of chords that characterize the piece in a royal fashion.

Unfortunately, this was the last of Beethoven’s complete symphonies. An attempt to write the 10th one was made. However, it was never finished. Next week, we will look into what was written of the 10th symphony and investigate the different interpretations of which critics and musicologists tried to complete it with.