May 7 marked 200 years since Ludwig von Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, the “Choral Symphony,” premiered in Vienna. Even if you know nothing about Beethoven, you likely are familiar with this work–its fourth and final movement contains the “Ode to Joy,” a tune that permeates our culture even today.
Beethoven was born in 1770 in Bonn and died in 1827 in Vienna. He is considered the predominant musical figure of the early 18th century, as music was moving from the Classical period of Mozart and Joseph Haydn to the Romantic era of Chopin and Tchaikovsky. Most astonishing about this great composer is that by the time he wrote this masterpiece, he was completely deaf and unable to hold a conversation except by writing notes.
According to his biography, Beethoven had heard music and played music for the first 30 years of his life so he knew how instruments and voices sounded and how they worked together. His hearing loss progressed over time, so once he was deaf, he could still imagine what his compositions would sound like.
The Symphony No. 9 was the first to integrate a choral work with an orchestral composition. Beethoven took as his inspiration a popular poem written by Friedrich Schiller, an 18th century German writer, the “Ode an die Freude,” or “Ode to Joy.”
When the Ninth premiered that May evening, Beethoven was so deaf, he was unable to conduct the orchestra. Instead, he stood next to the conductor, his back to the audience, beating out the time of his piece for the musicians. When it ended, he couldn’t hear the applause, so one of the singers turned him around to face the standing ovation of the audience.
To mark the bicentennial of the Choral Symphony, there have been a number of videos posted on YouTube and Facebook where orchestras stage various “flash mobs” of the Symphony No. 9. Two of these, the “Evenord-Bank Flashmob,” which took place in Nuremburg, Germany in 2014, and the Spanish “Sabadell Banco in Barcelona,” filmed in 2012, start with one instrument playing the start of the fourth movement, with additional instruments joining in from different directions. Violins, flutes, French horns, bassoons, even tympani. Suddenly, a conductor appears to direct the performance and as the music builds, a chorus of voices start singing the Schiller lyrics. It’s all in German, of course, but you don’t need to know German to understand what’s happening here. People are singing, people are playing, people are happy.
Beethoven grew up in a world not unlike our own today. He witnessed the French Revolution, the rise of Napoleon, the bloody wars that consumed Europe, and finally Napoleon’s defeat. He saw the rise and fall of the monarchy under Napoleon, the restoration of the monarchy after Napoleon’s defeat, and the start of the Industrial Revolution. His music, like the writers, philosophers, and artists of his generation, reflected these chaotic times.
Watching these flash mobs made me wonder how it is that we cannot unite around the joy in our world, the things that bind us together rather than those that drive us apart. We should focus on the joy in life, striving to be kind to everyone, regardless of how their beliefs or lifestyles conflict with our own. I think we find that joy in treating others the way we’d want them to treat us, with kindness and respect.
Looking at Beethoven’s greatest work through a lens of tolerance, of service to others, of kindness is a great place to start in our search for joy.
Somehow, I think Beethoven would have liked that.
See the Flash Mob videos here:
Nuremburg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBaHPND2QJg
Barcelona: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a23945btJYw
SQUIBS 