2024-05-06 20:10:33
Happy Birthday, Nona! Symphony no. 9 of Ludwig van Beethoven celebrates 200 years, in fact it made its debut in Vienna on 7 May 1824 in a performance that was “interrupted several times by the enthusiastic exclamations of the audience”, as a critic wrote at the end of the concert in which the now completely deaf composer was also present. The fact that two centuries later this symphony would be recognized as a European anthem, and as the most classic of the masterpieces of classical music, was unpredictable at the time.
The unconventionality of the choice to add a choir to the symphonic part in which human voices join the orchestra and sing Schiller’s Ode to Joy was immediately forgiven to the composer: “Beethoven was perceived as an avant-garde”, said the conductor conductor Martin Haselböck to the German news agency dpa, adding that “he was the most modern of the moderns”. Among the thousands and thousands of celebrations planned for the 200th anniversary of the masterpiece, the one that will see the protagonist Haselböck is one of the most interesting for the scientific approach. Tomorrow and the day after he will conduct the Ninth in the Historische Stadthalle in Wuppertal (the German channel WDR will broadcast the first concert, which will also be on YouTube). The location was chosen by the project promoters, the Beethoven House institution in Bonn, the Beethoven Archive Research Center and the Institute of Musicology of the University of Vienna, for its acoustic characteristics which are very close to those of the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna, where the first performance took place. The intention is in fact to replicate the Ninth exactly as it was proposed to the Viennese public on May 7th two centuries ago. The Kärntnertortheater was the theater that preceded the State Opera in the Austrian capital. It was located on the site of the current Hotel Sacher and was where German and Italian opera was performed. It offered a huge hall, with seating for over 2,000 people, which was also exceptionally used for large concerts, as in the case of the premiere of Beethoven’s Ninth.
Which was not the only work by the great composer performed that evening: the symphony was followed by three parts of the Missa Solemnis (the Kyrie, the Creed, and the Agnus Dei) and the late overture The Consecration of the House. the Vienna Academy Orchestra conducted by Haselböck always plays with historical instruments, i.e. with instruments from Beethoven’s time, and this will also happen on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In the re-enactment of the premiere, the musicians and the choir will find themselves in exactly the same position as in 1824: “a special formation that takes up the custom of the time of placing the choir in front, embedded in the orchestra pit, and the orchestra on the stage. This has a strong acoustic effect, the voices are very evident”, explains one of the project’s leaders, Birgit Lodes of the Institute of Musicology of the University of Vienna, one of the leading Beethoven experts. The concert in the Historische Stadthalle in Wuppertal promises to be extraordinary. Aesthetically and in terms of content, the reconstructed program suggests that Beethoven wanted to appeal to the idea of eternal and global peace, an appeal that is more relevant than ever. Meanwhile, there are countless opportunities to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the masterpiece. In Berlin one of the key events: at the Staatsbibliothek of Berlin, the State Library which preserves it as the greatest of treasures in a vault at a constant temperature of 18 degrees and a humidity rate of 50%, the score is exceptionally exhibited to the public original of the symphony with Beethoven’s handwritten notes: a package of over 200 untrimmed sheets, also in different formats, to which only very few scholars normally have access.
Also exceptional is the exhibition in the musician’s house in Baden, the beautiful spa town 25 km from Vienna where Beethoven spent 15 summers, of the two letters from the Beethoven Birthplace museum in Bonn, in which the composer talks about the state of art of the symphony, testifying that in part, if not in large part, it was written right there, in Baden. It matters little if he lies about the progress of the work, claiming that the copying was already finished, it took another 5 months for the scores to be ready.
Now, this May 7, 2024 is for all of us, even for those who know nothing about classical music, it is the time to enjoy the harmony and words that universally celebrate brotherhood and peace, joy and friendship, parts of a complex work in which everyone can choose what they prefer.
2024-05-06 20:10:33