Your Daily Beethoven for Thursday, May 30, 2024.
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony premiered in May of 1824. The composer was by this time profoundly deaf and had not appeared on stage for the last twelve years. At the performance, he shared the stage with Michael Umlauf, who conducted the performance while Beethoven gave the tempos for each movement and beat the time.
There is a famous story that after one of the movements Beethoven was several bars off and still conducting, while the audience was already wildly applauding. Caroline Unger, the contralto soloist, walked over and turned him around so that he could see the standing ovation. At this, the audience members, who were aware of Beethoven’s deafness, added to their applause by tossing their hats and handkerchiefs into the air.
The Ninth Symphony, composed to the immortal words of Friedrich Schiller’s Ode to Joy, is celebrated worldwide as an testament to the brotherhood of mankind. Here is a performance from March 1942 with Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic.
Preview YouTube video Furtwängler dirigiert: 9. Symphonie d-moll (Beethoven) - März 1942
Furtwängler dirigiert: 9. Symphonie d-moll (Beethoven) - März 1942
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John Scialdone published this page in Daily Beethoven 2024-05-29 20:50:40 -0400