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Beethoven's 9th Symphony
A portion of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony working manuscript (AP) Email to friend
If you say you're going to listen to the Ninth Symphony, it's understood you mean the one that Beethoven wrote. Plenty of other composers have written a ninth symphony, but Beethoven's stands alone. It always has.
When he premiered the work in 1824, the public learned then that the composer couldn't hear a thing. He had to be turned toward the audience to see the tumultuous applause.
It was a symphony of firsts: the first to exceed an hour, and the first to include singers as well as musicians. Recently, the manuscript that Beethoven used the night of that premiere fetched three and a half million dollars at an auction.
Fans of the symphony the world over consider it priceless. The unquantifiable appeal of "Ode to Joy."
