Beethoven's Meaning of Life - The double fugue in the ninth symphony

[@5BBassist4Christ]

Beethoven's 9th is the highest mountain of all music history, and the double fugue is its top peek.

[@LordWyatt]

*peak I agree, if only Beethoven could’ve blessed us with more of his art. Hopefully he is conducting in Heaven:)

[@raminagrobis6112]

To think that he essentially heard the 9th's double fugue in his mind only. It is indeed possible to hear music that way, but to reach this level of complexity and near perfection with so little material hearing to confirm is quite extraordinary. Yes, he was a tormented genius, but for all the good reasons.

[@felixfourcolor]

I think the highest mountain is Bach's Matthew Passion, and the peak is the opening chorus.

[@doktorkritzisch]

This is why, to me, this is the greatest piece of music ever written.

[@lindaross783]

Takes my breath away...every time. Nothing is greater, nothing. Its hard to stay out of the cosmos while listening to this.

[@JohannRosario1]

*I pray that on my death bed, this entire piece of music, Beethoven’s 9th, is played for me. It would mean that I lived a good life for which I hope to have been worthy of living.*

[@lindaross783]

I hope for that for you!

[@hape3862]

I think Beethoven would love that it became the anthem of Europe. This totally reflects his (and Schiller's!) intentions.

[@enjoyclassicalmusic6006]

I agree

[@ES-ge7bb]

Deserted on an island, Beethoven's music is what would keep me happy.

[@brianvanderspuy4514]

Ever since childhood, long before I had even heard the term "fugue," I have found that bit ecstatically beautiful. Truly intoxicating, and perhaps that's the whole idea. :-)

[@Jalcolm1]

You can’t hear and be unmoved. He wasn’t saying “I will convince you that all men are brethren “… he was making it impossible not to feel unified through the music with all mankind. Because the music is ecstatic. Art is for transformation, not appreciation.

[@mrz80]

I've been madly fascinated by this music ever since we selected the 4th movement (the "Joy" theme w/o the singing) as the bridal processional at our wedding. :D

[@jeremykeller211]

"This deaf man listened to the infinite. " V. Hugo

[@jdhed.mcpack6947]

This is definitely cliche, but I'll say it. I absolutely love the 9th! The symphony's entire theme is just so perfectly in tune with the philosophy of life and existence I've had even before I liked classical music. The coincidence is just extremely insane for me, the symphony's absolutely beauty and the way how my philosophy in life just is just coincidentally the main focus of it makes me feel ecstatic once I listen to it. I couldn't possibly think of a work that would be able to beat big Beet's 9th for me, it just fits every criteria there is for me

[@chessematics]

If ninth is at all a cliché, it's rightfully so.

[@DeflatingAtheism]

@@chessematics Great works of art are often accused of being cliché, for the simple fact they _created_ the cliché in the first place!

[@jdhed.mcpack6947]

@@chessematics I mean well if you think about it, the best things would probably the more popular ones since if something's good, then it would make more sense that a lot of people would like it as opposed to just a small group

[@chessematics]

@@jdhed.mcpack6947 well that's true to some extent? But what about things like Für Elise, Moonlight Sonata? I'm pretty sure Beethoven has written things far better than Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor and Sonata Quasi una Fantasia in C# minor op. 27 no. 2.

[@jeffreyjeziorski1480]

Music by the meme master

[@Michaelhendersonnovelist1]

Brilliant analysis. I've been listening to this for 50 years, and I never thought of it that way. Thanks.

[@rikjanvanschothorst1645]

That was beautiful mate! Just one of my reasons why Ludwig is my favorite artist to have ever lived!

[@speedbag1]

Beautiful interpretation and insights for one of the single most beautiful pieces ever written.

[@colinadevivero]

Excellent work. Please keep it up. You make the internet a better place with your work

[@ELISPOTTS-xc6qx]

Even as a Second violin, Beethoven nine is one of the hardest things I have ever had to learn. The coordination you need for the fast passages in the first fugue is crazy. The ending is also super hard.

[@DeflatingAtheism]

I’ve heard people complain that they consider the 9th Symphony an anti-climax- that from the first to the third movements, the symphony goes progressively more “inwards”, and then ends in what is effectively a populist beer hall song. That is to say, the promise of the first three movements could only be topped by something akin to Op. 111 Mvmt. 2, or the Heiliger Dankgesang- late Beethoven at his most hermetic and rarefied. Aside from any qualitative assessments (the 9th symphony is my favorite piece of music, bar none,) I think these people fail to appreciate the differing demands brought by differing musical genres. The symphony is an inherently _extrovert_ genre, and the allegedly superior examples they cite are chamber works meant for private audiences. Secondly, Beethoven already had his transcendent slow movement in the Adagio molto e cantabile, which was as radical in its Medieval tempo as the Heiliger Dankgesang was in its choice of Medieval mode. I agree with this video’s assessment that the choral movement represents a union of the Earthly and the Heavenly, and would add that it also represents a union of the private and the public- the idea that our private transcendent experiences must at some point be merged in public celebration.

[@freyc1]

I have rarely heard Schiller being described as a populist beer hall songwriter.

[@ianbatty3947]

....a populist beer hall song. Please, can I get the address of that beer hall and get drunk? Who knows, I might even order a beer!

[@Tolstoy111]

@@freyc1 He meant the tune.

[@freyc1]

@@Tolstoy111 Fair enough! But "populist" is a weird adjective for a tune, especially about a "song". And I can't remember ever hearing the tune being described that way either!

[@Tolstoy111]

@@freyc1 it’s a very simple melody. By design I think. Around this folk like melody, Beethoven builds a cathedral.

[@composernotes]

Good explanation. An excellent observation that the earthly and heavenly themes are combined. By the way, at 3:42 the cellos are marked as having theme 2 when they have theme 1. It is the orchestral basses that have theme 2 with the chorus basses

[@beethoven2351]

Excellent! I've always felt that the latter part of the fourth movement takes place "above the starry vault." There's really nothing better in the history of music than this universally loved symphony, IMO.

[@bruceweaver1518]

This was the first piece of Classical Music I ever heard. It mesmerized me when I was a boy. I think this analysis strengthens the idea that The Master put into his ending masterpiece . The Universal Brotherhood of man is depicted with power, compassion, and spirituality. After The Double Fugue, The Master uses 11 of the 12 tones of our chromatic system to display that The Lord God also works in this Brotherhood “unrooted in Earth” to borrow a quote from Leonard Bernstein. A masterpiece that brings tears to my eyes Everytime I hear it.

[@michaeledwards1172]

Beethoven seeming almost to anticipate 12-tone note rows? I think I know this symphony quite well, but I can't think where this "nearly 12-tone passage" could be. Could you please tell me where in the score this occurs? Thank you.

[@bruceweaver1518]

@@michaeledwards1172 During the “Ode To Joy” there is an orchestral passage depicting “the chariot ride” of Orpheus to the skies. After that, the first stanza of the poem is repeated . Beginning with “Seid umslungen” in the basses and tenors there is an elaborate mystical harmony with chorus and orchestra depicting the canopy of stars in the firmament. After it’s conclusion, Beethoven uses a trotting rhythm, almost like a horse’s gallop, and it is here for a brief moment, that he uses 11 of all the chromatic tones in about 5 or 6 measures, then the natural harmony does return with “ Bruder.” Of course it is difficult to describe and point out when you listen to it, and I probably have made a few mistakes since I don’t have the score in front of me. Consult Bernstein’s series “The Unanswered Question” where he brilliantly equates music with language. In Lecture #5 “The Twentieth Century Crisis” he briefly explains this after demonstrating that all 12 chromatic tones are present at the climax of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” These lectures are widely available in book form and on dvd. See “Bernstein at Harvard: The Unanswered Question.” I think that the company Kultur Carries it. Look under “Movies Unlimited.”

[@michaeledwards1172]

@@bruceweaver1518 I think I found it - thanks. Yes, every degree of the chromatic scale except for B. Do you think Beethoven did that deliberately, or might it be simple coincidence arising from his use of a chromatic line generally?

[@loganfruchtman953]

The double fugue is so triumphant

[@alanpotter8680]

And to think that Beethoven was mocked for his orchestration skills....

[@enricochestri]

Very interesting hypothesis! Had never realized that those were the two themes (subjects) of the double fugue. So the philosophical conclusion is really verisimilar and I agree with it. Also I like the instrumental fugue at the end of the exposition of the joy anthem, just before the vocal part begins....

[@telemachus53]

Now you know why, at the end of the 9th all the sopranos rush into the dressing room and take a deep drink of water before collapsing.

[@Kring.]

Really great video. keep up the good work!!

[@daddyblondlegs_]

Very well made. Appreciate the effort you put into this.

[@James-ll3jb]

"The purpose of evolutiin is to produce a creature who will one night lean back, look up into the stars,....and LAUGH!" - Nietzsche

[@anticoolkid67]

That was very goofed! Thank you for this video!

[@Sergio1Rodrigues]

I love your channel so much

[@Snookbone]

Well done on Liking The Thing

[@משחקניטוס]

Great video!!!

[@Noam_.Menashe]

Good video!!! Not enough dancing babies....

[@alv2617]

Lol

[@hoangkimviet8545]

Good video!

[@hmhparis1904]

Hello ! Great and funny video ! Is it too much asked to know who was the cast of the audio ? Great chorus by the way !

[@Bent-Ed]

Which recording is this? The brass rocks

[@belindadrake5487]

BEETHOVEN IS GOD! 🎹👊🏾😈✨

[@pablopupo4688]

Great video! There is one wrong note in the 1:24 because it shows G and plays F… doesn’t rlly matter though

[@lucasgust7720]

What recording did you used for this video?

[@katrinat.3032]

Do you know what piece I never understood? Eroica. I mean parts of sound like the Hero especially the finale where the tempos that of galloping horses coming home to a hero’s welcome. And other parts maybe the hero is reflecting,. I love symphony #3 but it doesn’t have a hero theme overall for me. Just my thoughts.

[@DeflatingAtheism]

The Eroica was _dedicated_ to a man whom Beethoven- at the time- considered a hero, but as far as I’m aware, Beethoven didn’t conceive of the symphony as a program piece in the same way that- say- the 6th Symphony is a musical description of bucolic life. To my ears, the prevailing mood of the first movement- in spite of the furious forward motion and crashing dissonances- is actually one of _serenity,_ so if you want to relate that to a heroic theme, you could say it’s a musical description of the mental state of the hero- an unfailing, unflappable determination in the face of the calamities he encounters.

[@katrinat.3032]

@@DeflatingAtheism cool, thanks for the explanation. Yes that dissonance in the first movement I always felt that was grief. But it was like internal grief that a General had, knowing he was sending his men into battle. I guess I was thinking of it as a program piece when it wasn’t meant to be. Thank you for the discussion

[@classicore22]

@@katrinat.3032The symphony’s full subtitle is “Symphony to Commemorate a Great Man” or something to that effect, so it’s both heroic and tragic.

[@Tolstoy111]

It's about the Romantic hero...getting through various setbacks and brooding about it.

[@craigbrush5784]

It would be nice if for newcomers like me if you could explain what a fugue is in the first place

[@enjoyclassicalmusic6006]

I have a video for that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIWXhGOCYs2CnNE

[@tulliusagrippa5752]

Which performance is this?

[@themeaningoflifeexpert]

I found the answer...

[@Turkmen2005]

I get Evangelion flashbacks.

[@Waltricus]

What is this interpretation?

[@HenrySosenite]

Great music has the meaning of life infused into its being, not in the rhythm or melody on their own, nor even in their interplay, and certainly not in the lyrics. Beethoven was a great composer, no doubt, but for symphonies I'm thinking of Schubert's 9th and Bruckner and sometimes Shostakovich understood how to express the meaning of life in their music. Beethoven took the symphony to its logical conclusion. His work is about logic, not life.

[@sarahjohnson4296]

Gyip guiip guilde glides dandes denders greaters bitcies maners

[@countluke2334]

Did they even hire Altos? 😂 It's always the Altos you can barely hear. Seems the sound masters hate them. My first girl friend was an Alto, she was very angry with recordings like that.

[@RobertSmith-es4hz]

Couldn’t follow.

[@enjoyclassicalmusic6006]

The music or the thought?

[@noscrubbubblez6515]

Too much nose-bleed high strident sopranos.

[@Lasselucidora]

Beethoven only used what was needed. Clean the video. Take away worst jokes. :D

[@pinkfloydhomer]

Beethoven is a clumsy, tedious composer in general. For fugues, give me Bach any day.

[@ralphmarrone3130]

That’s what makes Beethoven human. Bach, whom I love, was a machine. Beethoven wasn’t.

[@pinkfloydhomer]

@@ralphmarrone3130 Bach was deeply human and connects us to all of the human condition and every kind of emotion and thought. Listen to the passions, or any work really.

[@Tolstoy111]

The sense of drama and conflict that Beethoven presents is without equal. He was from another dimension,

[@katrinat.3032]

GREAT VIDEO! I love the technical aspects, you explained them really well. And I love how you brought it the meaning and what LVB may have been trying to communicate to us. Here’s me while listening 🥲