Beethoven Symphony No. 9

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

It seems composers after Beethoven were wary of the number “9”. After his mighty 8th Symphony, Mahler called his next major work DAS LIED VON DER ERDE - perhaps worried to even start a 9th (yet start it he did, thank goodness). Bruckner died whilst completing his 9th, and so it goes on….

The award for most triumphant 9th Symphony surely goes to Beethoven. The sheer size of the work in its day was monumental (it still is). It includes some of the most familiar music ever written - yet it is a challenging sing.

After the huge Mahler 2 project, John Warner and his Orchestra For The Earth brings us the final movement of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.

How It Works

As with other SIC projects, we shall learn the work LIVE in separate online voice part sessions, then we will record our voices (if you wish to) and combine all the voices in the studio with John Warner, our Course Director, and his orchestra: The Orchestra for the Earth.

Finally, we shall hold a LIVE online Concert performance where a performance of entire final movement piece will be broadcast with all voices included.

Course Timings

All sectional and full choir rehearsals are saved for you and we shall send all members of the choir a link to these. We then have until

12th March 2021 to record our own voices. We then require a month to combine all voices and instruments in the studio.

We shall then hold the Concert Premiere at a LIVE event on 10th April 2021.

Beethoven’s Approval

It is well known that Beethoven was unable to hear the orchestra at the premiere in Vienna in 1824 and that he conducted onstage along with conductor Michael Umlauf. The orchestra ignored Beethoven completely, which was a blessing as he was still “conducting” when it was all over. The contralto Caroline Unger had to walk over to the deaf composer and turn Beethoven around so that even if he could not hear the cheering, he could see their delight as the audience waved their handkerchiefs.

Would he approve of this new way of learning? Always an innovator in piano playing as well as composition, we are sure that he would approve of The Self-Isolation Choir learning the final movement of his great 9th Symphony in this novel way. And he is with us as we learn, record and perform this great work from our own homes under the expert and watchful eye of John Warner.