Notes on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

The symphony is in four movements, marked as follows:

1.  Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso

2.  Scherzo: Molto vivace – Presto

3.  Adagio molto e cantabile – Andante moderato – Tempo primo – Andante moderato – Adagio – Lo stesso tempo

4.  Recitative: (Presto – Allegro ma non troppo – Vivace – Adagio cantabile – Allegro assai – Presto: O Freunde) – Allegro molto assai: Freude, schöner Götterfunken – Alla marcia – Allegro assai vivace: Froh, wie seine Sonnen – Andante maestoso: Seid umschlungen, Millionen! – Adagio ma non troppo, ma divoto: Ihr, stürzt nieder – Allegro energico, sempre ben marcato: (Freude, schöner Götterfunken – Seid umschlungen, Millionen!) – Allegro ma non tanto: Freude, Tochter aus Elysium! – Prestissimo, Maestoso, Molto prestissimo: Seid umschlungen, Millionen!

Beethoven changes the usual pattern of Classical symphonies in placing the scherzo movement before the slow movement (in symphonies, slow movements are usually placed before scherzo).  This was the first time that he did this in a symphony, although he had done so in some previous works (including the quartets Op. 18 no. 5, the "Archduke" piano trio Op. 97, the Hammerklavier piano sonata Op. 106).  Haydn, too, had used this arrangement in a number of his own works such as the String Quartet No. 30 in E-flat major.


First movement - Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso

The first movement is in sonata form, and the mood is often stormy.  The opening theme, played pianissimo over string tremolos, so much resembles the sound of an orchestra tuning, many commentators have suggested that was Beethoven's inspiration—but from within that musical limbo emerges a theme of power and clarity that later drives the entire movement.  At the outset of the recapitulation section, the theme returns fortissimo in D major, rather than the opening's D minor. The introduction also uses the mediant to tonic relationship, which further distorts the tonic key until, finally, the bassoon plays in its lowest possible register.   The coda employs the chromatic fourth interval.

Second movement - Scherzo: Molto vivace – Presto.

The second movement, a scherzo and trio, is also in D minor, with the introduction bearing a passing resemblance to the opening theme of the first movement, a pattern also found in the Hammerklavier piano sonata, written a few years earlier.  At times during the piece, Beethoven specifies one downbeat every three measures—perhaps because of the fast tempo—with the direction ritmo di tre battute ("rhythm of three beats"), and one beat every four measures with the direction ritmo di quattro battute ("rhythm of four beats").

Beethoven had been criticized before for failing to adhere to standard form for his compositions.  He used this movement to answer his critics.  Normally, a scherzo is in triple time.  Beethoven wrote this piece in triple time, but punctuated it in a way that, when coupled with the tempo, makes it sound as if it were in quadruple time.

While adhering to the standard ternary design of a dance movement (scherzo-trio-scherzo, or minuet-trio-minuet), the scherzo section has an elaborate internal structure; it is a complete sonata form.  Within this sonata form, the first group of the exposition starts out with a fugue before modulating to C major for the second part.  The exposition then repeats before a short development section.  The recapitulation further develops the exposition, also containing timpani solos.  A new development section leads to the repeat of the recapitulation, and the scherzo concludes with a brief codetta.

The contrasting trio section is in D major and in duple time.  The trio is the first time the trombones play in the movement.  Following the trio, the second occurrence of the scherzo, unlike the first, plays through without any repetition, after which there is a brief reprise of the trio, and the movement ends with an abrupt coda.


Third movement - Adagio molto e cantabile – Andante Moderato – Tempo Primo – Andante Moderato – Adagio – Lo Stesso Tempo.

The lyrical slow movement, in B-flat major, is in a loose variation form, with each pair of variations progressively elaborating the rhythm and melody.  The first variation, like the theme, is in 4/4 time, the second in 12/8.  The variations are separated by passages in 3/4, the first in D major, the second in G major.  The final variation is twice interrupted by episodes in which loud fanfares for the full orchestra are answered by octaves played by the first violins alone.  A prominent horn solo is assigned to the fourth player.  Trombones are tacet for the movement.


Fourth movement - Presto; Allegro molto assai (Alla marcia); Andante maestoso; Allegro energico, sempre ben marcato.





The famous choral finale is Beethoven's musical representation of Universal Brotherhood. American pianist and music scholar Charles Rosen has characterized it as a symphony within a symphony, played without interruption. This "inner symphony" follows the same overall pattern as the Ninth Symphony as a whole. The scheme is as follows:

• First "movement": theme and variations with slow introduction. The main theme, which first appears in the cellos and basses, is later recapitulated with voices.


• Second "movement": 6/8 scherzo in military style (begins at "Alla marcia," words "Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen"), in the "Turkish style"—and concludes with a 6/8 variation of the main theme with chorus.


• Third "movement": Slow meditation with a new theme on the text "Seid umschlungen, Millionen!" It begins at Andante maestoso (m. 595).


• Fourth "movement": fugato finale on the themes of the first and third "movements" (begins at "Allegro energico")
The movement has a thematic unity, in which every part is based on either the main theme, the "Seid umschlungen" theme, or some combination of the two.

The first "movement within a movement" itself is organized into sections:

• An introduction, which starts with a stormy Presto passage. It then briefly quotes all three of the previous movements in order, each dismissed by the cellos and basses, which then play in an instrumental foreshadowing of the vocal recitative. At the introduction of the main theme, the cellos and basses take it up and play it through.
• The main theme forms the basis of a series of variations for orchestra alone.
• The introduction is then repeated from the Presto passage, this time with the bass soloist singing the recitatives previously suggested by cellos and basses.
• The main theme again undergoes variations, this time for vocal soloists and chorus.