KNOW YOUR CLASSICS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 520, 10 June 1949, Page 26

KNOW YOUR CLASSICS

"THIS is one of a further series of articles written for "The Listener"

* by

BESSIE

POLLARD

As with the preceding series, published

some time ago, the aim is to help the student and the interested listener towards a more complete appreciation of good music,

(23) Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 ("Choral") Beethoven ()VER 10 years passed between the completion of Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony and the appearance of the Ninth. As early as 1793 Beethoven had contemplated setting to music Schiller’s Ode to Joy, feeling that it was an expression of his own dream of the brotherhood of man. The Ninth was completed in ‘the winter of 1823, was fully scored by the spring of 1824, and received its first performance in Vienna on May 7 of that year. It is as well to remember (as Romain Rolland reminds us).that this is not a Choral symphony in the strict sense of the word, but rather a symphony with final chorus. Its choral Finale was Be by Beethoven in a separate MSS. "The colossal first movement-Allegro ma non troppo-has moods of great passion and wonderful tenderness. After a veiled introduction, the mighty opening ‘subject appears in bar 17 ("A" below), played by full orchestra; this is discussed at length until in bar 74 the second theme, announced by woodwind, is cast in a ‘more thoughtful mould ("B" below). :

The thematic material is given a development of Gargantuan proportions. The second movement-Molto vivace-is a Scherzo, one of Beethoven’s longest and certainly one of his finest. It all grows out of the tiny germ theme of three notes marked with a bracket in "A" below. The Trio section of this movement-Presto-is built on a double theme ("B" and "C" below).

The slow movement-Adagio-begins with a melody of "the greatest nobility and serenity, and perfect in curve ("A" below). A sudden, modulation brings a new subject in D Major, and in 3/4 time ("B" below). The form of this movement (in essence} a series of variations on two themes) is original, even for Beethoven, 2 ee

In the Finale he very cleverly inserts the main themes of the first three movements, and then we hear the famous principal subject given out by ‘cellos and basses-

a ~ bee Suddenly a discordant hubbub displaces the main theme, and the solo baritone enters with these words ... ‘"O brothers, no longer sound these sad tones; let us now raise our voices and sing of Joy." ‘The choral passages in this movement include the recitative (the baritone’s opening exhortation), a quartet and chorusthe first rendering of the Joy theme, tenor solo and chorus, then two choruses followed by a quartet and chorus and ending with a final chorus-prestissimo. Beethoven's Symphony in D Minor, Op. 125 ("Choral") will be heard from ‘Station 1YC at 8.0 p.m. on Tuesday, June 14.