The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 (sometimes known simply as "the Choral"), is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827).

A page from Beethoven's manuscript of the 9th Symphony

Quotes

  • O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!
    Sondern lasst uns angenehmere anstimmen,
    und freudenvollere.
    Freude!
    • Oh friends, not these sounds!
      Let us instead strike up more pleasing
      and more joyful ones!
      Joy!
    • Beethoven's Prologue to Schiller's “Ode to Joy”

Quotes about Symphony No. 9

  • Of all the works in the mainstream repertory of Western music, the Ninth Symphony seems the most like a construction of mirrors, reflecting and refracting the values, hopes, and fears of those who seek to understand and explain it … From its first performance [in Vienna in 1824] up to the present day, the Ninth Symphony has inspired diametrically opposed interpretations.
    • Nicholas Cook, Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (Cambridge Music Handbooks), Preface
  • I forswore my model, Beethoven; his last Symphony I deemed the keystone of a whole great epoch of art, beyond whose limits no man could hope to press, and within which no man could attain to independence.
This article is issued from Wikiquote. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.