Beethoven ninth
| Symphony No. 9 | |
|---|---|
| by Ludwig van Beethoven | |
A page (leaf 12 recto) from Beethoven's manuscript
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| Key | D minor |
| Opus | Op. 125 |
| Genre | Choral symphony |
| Style | Classical period |
| Text | Friedrich Schiller's "Ode to Joy" |
| Language | German |
| Composed | 1822–1824 |
| Duration | about 70 minutes |
| Movements | Four |
| Scoring | Orchestra with SATB chorus and soloists |
| Premiere | |
| Date | May 7, 1824 |
| Location | Theater am Kärntnertor, Vienna |
| Conductor | Michael Umlauf |
| Performers | Kärntnertor house orchestra, Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde with soloists: Henriette Sontag (soprano), Caroline Unger (alto), Anton Haizinger (tenor), and Joseph Seipelt (bass) |
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony by the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven, composed between 1822 and 1824. It was first performed in Vienna on 7 May 1824. The symphony is one of the best-known works in common practice music. It is widely viewed by critics as one of Beethoven's greatest works and one of the greatest compositions in the western musical canon. In the 2010s, it stands as one of the most performed symphonies in the world.
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 movement 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 the composer.
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 Programme Heritage list, becoming the first musical score so honoured.
The Philharmonic Society of London originally commissioned the symphony in 1817. The main composition work was done between autumn 1822 and the completion of the autograph in February 1824. The symphony emerged from other pieces by Beethoven that, while completed works in their own right, are also in some sense "sketches" (rough outlines) for the future symphony. The Choral Fantasy Opus. 80 (1808), basically a piano concerto movement, brings in a choir and vocal soloists near the end for the climax. The vocal forces sing a theme first played instrumentally, and this theme is reminiscent of the corresponding theme in the Ninth Symphony (for a detailed comparison, see Choral Fantasy).
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