01-Auswärts Dresdner Philharmonie : 01.04.2017

• Titel: 01-Auswärts
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2017-04-01
• Sprache: Deutsch
• Vorlage: Philharmonie Dresden
• Digitalisat: Philharmonie Dresden
• Digitalisat: SLUB Dresden
• Rechtehinweis: Urheberrechtsschutz 1.0
• Nutzungshinweis: Freier Zugang - Rechte vorbehalten 1.0
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-db-id880545186-20170401014
• PURL: http://digital.slub-dresden.de/id880545186-2017040101
• OAI: oai:de:slub-dresden:db:id-880545186-2017040101
• Sammlungen: Projekt: Bestände der Philharmonie Dresden
• Sammlungen: Musik
• Sammlungen: LDP: Bestände der Philharmonie Dresden
• Sammlungen: Performance Ephemera
• Sammlungen: Saxonica
• Strukturtyp: Ausgabe

beyond the canopy of the stars. It is not surprising that this celebratory Ode should have fired Beethoven’s Imagination in the white heat of the French Revolution but it is perhaps more remarkable that he should have held so firmly to these ideals despite all that had happened in the intervening thirty years after Europe had been ravaged by the Napoleonic Wars, and political oppression had become the new reality of post-1815 Vienna. Beethoven was once asked which was his favourite amongst his symphonies, and he replied without hesitation: the Eroica. Admittedly, this reported conversation took place in 1818 before he had embarked on the Ninth. Later, I suspect that his answer would remain the same despite completing the Ninth: the Eroica was his artistic credo and fully captures the energy and essence of his character; it was composed whilst in his prime, celebrating his victory over what could have been literally overwhelming circumstances at the time. When discussing what might be the ‘greatest’ symphony, there will always remain doubts about any symphony that includes voices, although that arguable principle would halve Mahler’s Symphonie Output. Wagner chose the Ninth to celebrate the laying of the foundation stone of his theatre at Bayreuth and Brahms readily admitted the influence of the Ode to Joy on the great theme in the finale of his own First Symphony: thus both musical camps claimed the Ninth as their starting point for their differing visions for the future of music in the nineteenth Century. With the tragedy and drama of the opening movement, the energy and rough humour of the scherzo, the spiritual calm and human warmth of the slow movement and the all encompassing celebration of joy and universal brotherhood of the finale, the Ninth Symphony undoubtedly meets Mahler’s credentials of a symphony ’being like the world, containing everything’. And yet, at the same time, we can appreciate the Ninth’s 'strietness, concentration and profound logic’ (particularly in the opening movement), qualities asserted by Sibelius as essential for the Symphonie form in that famous conversation between Mahler and Sibelius in 1907. Perhaps Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is a symphony for special occasions rather than everyday listening, but in the heady days of November 1989 as the Berlin Wall came tumbling down and we witnessed the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia it is little wonder that the Ninth’s message rang so true once more. The Missa Solemnis had celebrated his inner faith and doubts with a deeply personal Statement; with the Ninth Symphony Beethoven proclaims his faith for the world, expressing his heartfelt love for all; surely its message of eternal hope remains more important than ever for us today as we enter a post-truth world... © Timothy Dowling January 2017