After Reading: Harvey Sachs: The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824 (Random House)
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Ludwig van Beethoven is paraphrased as having said, “Difficulty is beautiful, good,
great.” How does this symphony represent this idea? Where can you hear difficulty
as “beautiful, good, great” in Beethoven’s music? In what ways might this apply to
Beethoven’s own life generally, and specifically, in 1824?
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Harvey Sachs: “In his last works, Beethoven carried the process of universalizing the
intimate so far as and probably further than any other musician had or has ever done.”
What do you think Sachs means by “universalizing the intimate”? Do agree with
Sachs’ statement?
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Berlioz said Beethoven’s “vast musical poem” was equally as reasonable and beautiful
for the religious and non-religious alike. In what ways is the message of Beethoven’s
Ninth Symphony universal and timeless?
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DISCUSSION
Guide
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Enjoy.
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program notes for and listen to excerpts from
A Survivor from Warsaw and the Beethoven Symphony No. 9
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Beethoven 9 Discussion Questions
“A Survivor from Warsaw” Discussion Questions
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Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 was one of his late works, written when he was completely deaf. While he was unable
to physically hear the music, he clearly felt driven to communicate emotions inspired by Friedrich Schiller’s poem,
“Ode to Joy.” As a listener, how does the emotional power of both the musical work and the text connect with you?
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A Survivor from Warsaw is the first piece on the CSO’s concert program. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 will also be
per formed at these concerts. Why might these two pieces be performed on the same concert program? What story
is being told?
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In listening to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, what ideas/emotions/themes come to mind? What in the music affects
you this way?
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What emotions can you hear through this music of Schoenberg? What is the strongest emotional element of
this piece for you?
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Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is a large work for orchestra and chorus. How does the size of the ensemble contribute
to the work? How might the impact be different if the ensemble were smaller?
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Schoenberg uses text from the Shema Yisrael, a prayer urging Jews to not forget the law of loving their G-d. The
piece ends with the reminder (from the prayer) to remember this “upon lying down, and upon rising up.” Besides this
being a religious prayer, what else might Schoenberg be trying to urge people to remember?
•
In Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, the chorus does not enter until the fourth (final) movement. Why might Beethoven
have waited until the last movement to have the chorus sing rather than having them sing throughout?
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Beethoven, especially with the 9th Symphony, is seen as a transition between the Classical period and the Romantic
period. The very last word sung by the chorus is “Götterfunken!” or “Spark of the gods!” What might he have been
trying to convey at this point in the piece, especially considering the transition taking place into the Romantic period?
How does Beethoven represent this in the music?
For more information on issues of tolerance, inclusion and social justice based on
lessons learned from the Holocaust, please visit holocaustandhumanity.org.
Additional Resources
After Reading: Edmund Morris: Beethoven: The Universal Composer (Atlas Books/Harper Collins)
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Maynard Solomon: In his final works, Beethoven “forever enlarged the sphere of
human experience available to the creative imagination.” What human experiences
do you hear in the music? Are you able to hear both the experience of an
individual person as well as the collective experience of humankind? How
does the poem by Friedrich Schiller, which Beethoven used in the Symphony
No. 9, relate to this idea?
•
E.T.A. Hoffmann: Beethoven was “a pure Romantic” whose music “sets in
motion the lever of fear, of awe, of horror, of suffering, and awakens that
infinite longing which is the essence of Romanticism.” Others see him as a
transitional figure partly in the Classical era and partly in the Romantic era.
Which of these positions do you agree with and why?