Club spotlights Beethoven's almighty ninth

Terry is an experienced lecturer and a well-known figure in the musical life of southern England, and increasingly in Europe. He writes sleeve-notes for CDs and reports on musical subjects for major publications. His programmes ensure a full-house at the club, as was the case for his analysis of Beethoven's mighty Symphony no 9 in D min, op 125.

During the course of Terry's exploration of the five movements of this work, culminating in the final choral movement, he traced the beginnings of this revolutionary work.

When Beethoven was 20 years old still living in Bonn, he first had the idea of a cantata celebrating 'brotherhood'. As Terry said, Beethoven had already extended the range and scale of the symphony in the Fifth, with its motific 'fate' chords demanding the listener's instant attention, and in this final masterpiece he moved on to a conception more profound '“ the brotherhood of all mankind.

Beethoven had been forced to leave his birthplace of Bonn in 1790 when the Rhineland was invaded by Napoleon, and he accepted Haydn's invitation to become his pupil in Vienna.

Haydn introduced him to influential, wealthy patrons and his fame grew. Unfortunately, so did his deafness. By 1820 he was totally deaf, but when he read Schindler's Ode to Joy in 1823 he was inspired to begin the symphony.

The final choral movement sets the Ode to Joy using a tune that Beethoven first wrote as a song in 1793, and in 1809 as the Choral Fantasia in C, op 80.

By his detailed analysis of the other four movements, using more than one performance on different CDs, Terry illuminated contrasts and innovative uses of instruments of the orchestra so that his audience felt they were hearing it for the first time.

Terry pointed out that up to the final choral section, the symphony uses the classical format of four movements, but places the scherzo second (the only time Beethoven did this). He was not a romantic composer. But the effect of the tremendous burst of sound at the beginning of the fifth movement must have seemed shattering to Beethoven's audience in 1824.The club's next meeting will be held on February 5, for 'members' choice'. More details on 01243 827358.

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