One of my friends sent me this video and I was enthralled. I had not heard the piece in decades and how it was done was almost magical. Not bad for a an almost 200 year old tune!
It was in seventh grade when I was subjected to Music Theory and History, a class I almost failed for I lack any sense of rhythm or ability to translate scratches on a musical bar sheet into finger positions - AT ALL! I was a first in Germany! The teacher had a nervous breakdown as he could not conceive of someone with No ability in music! However, because of my art abilities I was used for coping all of the sheet music for the class - yeah, pre-xerox machine days. So, I passed the class because I drew the most perfect treble cleft he had ever seen. Yeah, Mr. Eliot, you are still remembered with great stress and fear!
I liked the music, in fact I felt it was probably the greatest piece I have ever heard. And we are talking music, not the words.
Written between 1822 and 1824, based upon earlier works he had done, Ludwig Von Beethoven, plagiarized himself in creating the conclusion of his 9th Symphony. Its first performance was in a beer hall because the local church would not allow what it considered secular music to be practiced in the local cathedral. The response was overwhelming and the Viennese Opera was petitioned for the rights to rehearse there and for performance. The crowds went crazy!
This piece of music was then given the words from Friedrich Schiller's, Ode To Freedom. Yeah, what we know as the Ode To Joy of Man's Desire was really about Freedom - and that was the only word change (one word in German, a bunch in English!) when it went into the music. Schiller was terrified of his writings becoming a political rallying cry and so stripped the idea of freedom from the Ode.
And, Schiller hated the result.
It truly is one of Beethoven's master works. Sit back and enjoy the most novel approach used with this tune, I have ever seen ...
And Mr. Eliot, if you are still alive, are you amazed at how much I have remembered almost 45 years after your class?
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