Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is arguably one of his greatest and most popular symphonies. As Beethoven’s last symphony, the Ninth contains many great musical ideas that takes the symphony to new levels while ensuring that its structure meets the traditional expectations of the symphony. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony represents the culmination of the Viennese Classical tradition through its increased emphasis on musical space, alteration in the ordering of the scherzo and slow movement, and the presence of voices in its finale. In the first movement of the Ninth Symphony, the manipulation of musical space is particularly apparent. In the opening measures of the first movement, the strings and horn begin playing in pianissimo. They are eventually accompanied by the rest of the instruments and crescendo together to the powerful theme. In slowly raising the volume and intensity of the music, Beethoven uses this method to demonstrate “the idea of rising gradually through an enormous musical space” (Lockwood 434). While the first movement adheres to the rounded binary form, the unique growing nature of the opening suggests that there is a greater musical space and that the listener is slowly pulled into an
In the first movement, the gradual opening expanded the listeners’ perception of musical space. From the second and third movement, the changed ordering and exceptional length exhibits the potential complexity of the symphony. In the finale, the inclusion of human voices drastically changed the expectations of the symphony. Nonetheless, the Ninth follows the general form of symphonies and is an extraordinary example of a symphony that pushes past boundaries. Not only did Beethoven’s last symphony represent the approach of the end of his life and musical growth, but the Ninth also represented a high point for the symphony as many others could not surpass