Page 187 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

create great art. In the course of time, Beethoven’s hope has been realized: Ode to Joy has been sung at all of the Olympic Games since 1956, was performed to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall, and currently serves as the official anthem of the European Union.
Listening Cue
Ludwig van Beethoven, Ode to Joy from Symphony No. 9 in D minor (1824), Op. 125 Fourth movement (instrumental excerpt only)
Genre: Symphony
Form: Theme and variations
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what to listen for: Beethoven’s noble melody grows in magnificence from statement in basses and cellos (0:00), to variation 1 with bassoon counterpoint (0:48), to variation 2 with melody in first violins (1:38), to variation 3 with brasses leading the full orchestra (2:22).
ReAD . . . a detailed Listening Guide of this selection online. LiSTeN TO . . . this selection streaming online.
WATCH . . . an Active Listening Guide of this selection online. WATCH . . . a Stephen Malinowski animation of this selection online. DO . . . Listening Exercise 10.3, Beethoven, Ode to Joy, online.
What Is Forward Looking in Beethoven’s Music?
Beethoven was a cult figure during his own lifetime, and his image contin- ued to tower over all the arts throughout the nineteenth century. He had shown how personal expression might push against and break free from the confines of Classical form. He had expanded the size of the orchestra by calling for new instruments and had doubled the length of the symphony. He had given mu- sic “the grand gesture,” stunning effects like the crashing introduction of the “Pathétique” Sonata and the gigantic crescendo leading to the finale of the Sym- phony No. 5. And he had shown that pure sound—sound divorced from melody and rhythm—could be glorious in and of itself. The power and originality of his works became the standard against which composers, indeed all artists, of the Romantic era measured their worth. The painting shown earlier in this chapter (see Figure 10.1) depicts Franz Liszt at the piano surrounded by other writers and musicians of the mid-nineteenth century. A larger-than-life bust gazes down from Olympian heights. It is Beethoven, the prophet and high priest of Romanticism.
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