note on the symphony can only hope to bring to attention certain key points and does not pretend to be an exhaustive analysis of the work. Between 1800 and 1812 Beethoven composed his first eight symphonies at relatively regulär intervals and they mark his progress through what has been termed his ‘heroic period’. Whilst completing his Seventh and Eighth Symphonies he mentioned ideas for a new symphony in D minor and initial sketches for themes of the opening two movements appear in sketchbooks as early as 1856-16 but he did not develop these fully until he worked in earnest on the symphony on completion of the Missa Solemnis in early 1823. Beethoven rarely used the key of D minor, the only other significant whole composition sharing the same key Signatare being his Piano Sonata No. 17, The Tempest. The dramatic central movement of the Piano Trio Opus 70 No. 1, The Ghost, is also in D minor - both dramatic works with semi- Shakespearean Connections. Beethoven also composed cadenzas for Mozarts D minor Piano Concerto. Ideas for the finale of the Ninth Symphony date back 30 years when he first mooted the idea of setting Friedrich von Schiller’s poem An die Freude in the early 1790s. Schiller wrote the poem in 1785 and it obviously had significant meaning for Beethoven who supported the revolutionary ideas emanating from France after 1789. Beethoven continued to express his wish to set these words but did not tackle it seriously until he came to work on his Ninth Symphony and even then he had misgivings about a choral finale. In the meantime Schiller’s Ode to Joy had been set to music frequently by several minor composers and also by the 18-year-old Schubert in 1815, admittedly in a rather non-descript song of less than two minutes duration. At this point it is worth stressing the published title of the Ninth Symphony. It is offen referred to as ‘the Choral Symphony’ but this unnecessarily belittles the role of the orchestra in this work which is without voices for over 70% of the time. And so it is best to stay with Beethoven’s own title of 'Symphony with final Chorus on Schiller's Ode to Joy’. Beethoven thought originally about an instrumental finale, the main theme of which, he later used for his A minor String Quartet, published as Opus 132. The Quartet’s finale is also introduced by a recitative passage very reminiscent of the string recitative at the start of the Ninth’s final movement. Even after the triumphant premiere of the Ninth in May 1824 Beethoven considered substituting an instrumental finale but he did not work further on this idea. Beethoven had similar doubts about the finales of two other compositions from this period: he suggested that the Hammerklavier Sonata could be published as two separate works, with the fugal finale being separated from the rest of the sonata as an independent work; the short second movement being then moved to form the finale of a three-movement sonata. The original four-movement layout of the Hammerklavier is not questioned today.
