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Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
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===Premiere=== Although most of Beethoven's major works had been premiered in Vienna, the composer planned to have his latest compositions performed in Berlin as soon as possible, as he believed he had fallen out of favor with the Viennese and the current musical taste was now dominated by [[Chronological list of Italian classical composers#Classical era|Italian operatic composers]] such as [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]].<ref name="The Ninth">{{harvnb|Sachs|2010|p={{page needed|date=September 2019}}}}</ref> When his friends and financiers learned of this, they pleaded with Beethoven to hold the concert in Vienna, in the form of a petition signed by a number of prominent Viennese music patrons and performers.<ref name="The Ninth" /> [[File:Kärntnertortheater 1830.jpg|left|thumb|[[Theater am Kärntnertor]] in 1830]] Beethoven, flattered by the adoration of the Viennese, premiered the Ninth Symphony on 7 May 1824 in the [[Theater am Kärntnertor]] in Vienna along with the overture ''[[The Consecration of the House (overture)|The Consecration of the House]]'' ({{lang|de|Die Weihe des Hauses}}) and three parts (Kyrie, Credo and Agnus Dei) of the ''[[Missa solemnis (Beethoven)|Missa solemnis]]''. This was Beethoven's first onstage appearance since 1812 and the hall was packed with an eager and curious audience with a number of noted musicians and figures in Vienna including [[Franz Schubert]], [[Carl Czerny]], and the Austrian chancellor [[Klemens von Metternich]].<ref name="Levy David">{{harvnb|Levy|2003|p={{page needed|date=September 2019}}}}</ref><ref name=Morrisroe>{{cite news|author=[[Patricia Morrisroe]]|title=The Behind-the-Scenes Assist that Made Beethoven's Ninth Happen|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=8 December 2020|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/arts/music/beethoven-ninth-symphony-classical-music.html|access-date=25 March 2025}}</ref> The premiere of the Ninth Symphony involved an orchestra nearly twice as large as usual<ref name="Levy David" /> and required the combined efforts of the Kärntnertor house orchestra, the Vienna Music Society ([[Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde]]), and a select group of capable amateurs. While no complete list of premiere performers exists, many of Vienna's most elite performers are known to have participated.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kelly|first=Thomas Forrest|author-link=Thomas Forrest Kelly|year=2000|title=First Nights: Five Musical Premieres|chapter=3. Ludwig van Beethoven, Ninth Symphony|pages=108–179|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=9780300091052}}</ref><ref name=Morrisroe /> The [[soprano]] and [[alto]] parts were sung by two famous young singers of the day, both recruited personally by Beethoven: [[Henriette Sontag]] and [[Caroline Unger]]. German soprano Henriette Sontag was 18 years old when Beethoven asked her to perform in the premiere of the Ninth.<ref>{{cite book|title=Life of Henriette Sontag, Countess de Rossi|publisher=Stringer & Townsend|location=New York|year=1852|url={{Google books|id=eSIWAAAAYAAJ|plainurl=yes}}}}</ref> 20-year-old [[contralto]] Caroline Unger, a native of Vienna, had gained critical praise in 1821 appearing in Rossini's ''[[Tancredi]]''. After performing in Beethoven's 1824 premiere, Unger then found fame in Italy and Paris. Italian opera composers [[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini]] and [[Gaetano Donizetti|Donizetti]] were known to have written roles specifically for her voice.<ref>[[Michael Kennedy (music critic)|Kennedy, Michael]] and Bourne, Joyce (1996). ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music''. Oxford University Press, 2007.{{Page needed|date=May 2021}}</ref> [[Anton Haizinger]] and [[Joseph Seipelt]] sang the [[tenor]] and [[Bass (voice type)|bass]]/[[baritone]] parts, respectively. [[File:Beethoven 6.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Portrait of Beethoven in 1824, the year his Ninth Symphony was premiered. He was almost completely deaf by the time of its composition.]] [[File:CarolineUngher.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Caroline Unger]], who sang the contralto part at the first performance and is credited with turning Beethoven to face the applauding audience]] Although the performance was officially conducted by [[Michael Umlauf]], the theatre's [[Kapellmeister]], Beethoven shared the stage with him. Because two years earlier, Umlauf had watched as the composer's attempt to conduct a [[dress rehearsal]] for a revision of his opera ''[[Fidelio]]'' ended in disaster, Umlauf instructed the singers and musicians to ignore the almost completely deaf composer. At the beginning of every part, Beethoven, who sat by the stage, gave the tempos. He was turning the pages of his score and beating time for an orchestra he could not hear.{{sfn|Cook|1993b|p={{page needed|date=January 2021}}}} There are a number of anecdotes concerning the premiere of the Ninth. Based on the testimony of some of the participants, there are suggestions that the symphony was under-rehearsed (there were only two complete rehearsals) and somewhat uneven in execution.<ref>{{harvnb|Sachs|2010|p=22}}</ref> On the other hand, the premiere was a great success. In any case, Beethoven was not to blame, as violinist [[Joseph Böhm]] recalled: <blockquote>Beethoven himself conducted, that is, he stood in front of a conductor's stand and threw himself back and forth like a madman. At one moment he stretched to his full height, at the next he crouched down to the floor, he flailed about with his hands and feet as though he wanted to play all the instruments and sing all the chorus parts. – The actual direction was in [Louis] Duport's{{refn|group=n|Presumably, Böhm meant the conductor [[Michael Umlauf]].}} hands; we musicians followed his baton only.<ref>{{harvnb|Cook|1993|p=22}}</ref></blockquote> Reportedly, the [[scherzo]] was completely interrupted at one point by applause. Either at the end of the scherzo or the end of the symphony (testimonies differ), Beethoven was several bars off and still conducting; the contralto Caroline Unger walked over and gently turned Beethoven around to accept the audience's cheers and applause. According to the critic for the ''Theater-Zeitung'', "the public received the musical hero with the utmost respect and sympathy, listened to his wonderful, gigantic creations with the most absorbed attention and broke out in jubilant applause, often during sections, and repeatedly at the end of them."<ref>{{harvnb|Cook|1993|p=23}}</ref> The audience acclaimed him through [[standing ovation]]s five times; there were handkerchiefs in the air, hats, and raised hands, so that Beethoven, who they knew could not hear the applause, could at least see the ovations.<ref>{{harvnb|Sachs|2010|pp=23–24}}</ref>
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