Beethoven's 9th Symphony

While my aim for symmetry and mathematical appeal might suggest any of a number of pieces from a guy who damn well better be drafted, Beethoven's 9th Symphony is a uniquely mighty piece of music that occupies a place in not just Western but human culture unlike any other. While German in origin, it has been selected to represent the entire European Union as its anthem, and it has become a traditional part of Japanese New Year's preparations. It achieved this stature by taking listeners on an epic journey of sound and emotion. The first movement explores dynamic range and tonality in the context of a regular sonata. The second, once again a sonata, explores rhythm and dance, straddling a feel of being both in 3 and in 4. The third, a slow, sweeping section that takes a stated theme and repeats it in varied fashions.

And finally, the fourth, a symphony in its own right consisting of four distinct parts, culminates the piece. After brief quotes of the preceding movements interrupted by foreshadows of the movement to come, our first vocalist is heard, extolling the mass of humanity behind him to engage in a more joyous exclamation. And exclaim they do. They pull out an excellent undrafted poem set to a magnificently simple tune that gets explored in several different musical ways to put together the finest piece ever written. The patch where the soloists come together for the first time is just about the finest 60 seconds of music ever composed.

The fairest criticism of the 9th is that it's music that's too big and too boisterous, exactly the sort of music that a man of failing health and especially failing hearing would write. It's true, especially in the 4th movement, that he sometimes has the musicians just wailing on the very high and very low notes, which were at that point all he could really hear. For me, that's part of the humanity and the importance of the piece. One cannot fully understand the music without some empathy for the genius near the end of his life when he wrote it. That might not be understood to the aliens, but for them, I say go big or go home. Let's just beat them over the head with the best humanity has to offer.


Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen
Durch des Himmels prächt'gen Plan,
Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn,
Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen.