Why the World Loves Beethoven's Ninth

“All men become brothers”: Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 expresses a longing for peace and freedom for many people in the world. What makes its message so pressing and why is it so popular today? Why does it move people so much in so many places - from Tokyo to Kinshasa to Lviv? We visit conductor Oksana Lyniv in Ukraine and Chinese composer Tan Dun to unlock the secrets of the ninth.
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00:00 Introduction
00:51 Why the World Loves this Symphony
01:57 The Ninth and the War
05:15 The Timeless Message of Beethoven's Ninth
07:55 A Stroke of Genius is Born
10:46 Beethoven Moves the World
12:55 A Revolution for Choir and Orchestra
17:07 Jubilation
19:44 The Politics of Beethovens's Ninth
22:53 For a Better World

[@LauradeVasconcelos]

Music is the mediator between spiritual and sensual life. -Ludwig van Beethoven.

[@katrinat.3032]

So perfect

[@Noel-ji8nm]

@@katrinat.3032 Nonsense.

[@goonhoongtatt1883]

My love for Beethoven's Ninth drove me to learn German. And I had the privilege of singing it a number of times. Eine lebensverändernde Erfahrung.

[@andredelacerdasantos4439]

Me too!!

[@arad7685]

Ninth Symphony is really a masterpiece forever!

[@stefanoraz27]

It's exactly 200 years ago today!

[@sinanortho1981ok]

"Beethoven's music lives on eternally, resonating with millions of people around the world. His genius has transcended time, and his melodies will continue to inspire generations to come."

[@stevedolesch9241]

What can I say. I was born in Hungary in 1955 before the Soviets came. I came to Canada in 1965. This world needs the Ninth!

[@baroque-rg1eq]

The symphony starts with simplicity and reaches a climax of complexity. Unimaginable composition of the genious.

[@RRoommmeell]

Happy 200th Birthday Beethoven's Ninth Symphony 🎼🎶🎵🎶🎵😺💐💐💐

[@pythagore4350]

Thank you Oksana, thanks a lot. Never again will I listen to this masterful symphony without thinking of you, your orchestra and your message Congrats, congrats 💛💙

[@martyisokay]

My mother gave me a tape of Beethoven's 9th in the 80s because she didn't like me listening to rap. I listened to it and my love for classical music took off from there. I still listen to rap, though. I still have that tape.

[@kokomanation]

I really loved this symphony when I was 16 years old especially it really made me feel incredible emotions.I remember I had bought the Deutsche Grammophon Herbert von Karajan CD with the ninth then

[@bruceweaver1518]

Beethoven’s Ninth was the first piece of Classical Music I ever really heard. The Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy opened the floodgates of Classical Music into my soul. Beethoven has always remained my musical king. No matter how many times I hear this music, it moves me to the very depths of my soul.

[@hja1891]

One should mention Schiller more! The Power of the 4 . Movement is in my opinion unthinkable without the powerful poem of Schiller...

[@Untilitpases]

YES! Schiller and Hegel, Kant, Goethe... Germany had it going... 😢 It's depressing that we as humanity no longer make Beauty.

[@DWHistoryandCulture]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[@vavilovasvetlana9044]

Huge thank to your channel for the detailed explanation of this wonderful symphony ,but my favorite the fifth symphony;I can listen to it all the time.Thanks a lot to your channel for the masterpieces of classical music.

[@DWHistoryandCulture]

We're glad you liked it! Make sure to follow for the latest uploads.

[@erdalonurhan8056]

Simply the Ninth of our Green World. May one day we all achieve his ideals.. No composition will ever surpass it as it is beyond us all..

[@mosestekper7659]

Greatest music ever written.❤

[@stevenbaker7696]

Ludwig 200!🎼🎶👑

[@davidhocde007]

Vive Beethoven.

[@baroque-rg1eq]

Before everyday violin practice I play Ode to joy.

[@tomm187ab]

On Christmas Day, December 25, 1989, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a commemorative concert was held at the Schauspielhaus in East Berlin. This orchestra is specially formed by members of six orchestras, led by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and includes choirs and soloists from East and West Germany, as well as soloists from England and the United States, and the concert will be conducted by Leonard Bernstein, this is always covered in the media around the world. In Japan, in accordance with German tradition, performed one year later, on October 2, 1990, the day before the German Unification Ceremony, with the addition of a church choir and the Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Kurt Masur. is considered to be more important in German history. A month after this performance, Masur and the Gewandhaus Orchestra became the last East Germans to perform in Japan.

[@DWHistoryandCulture]

Thanks for sharing these historical insights with us!

[@___beyondhorizon4664]

Will this be play during the Olympics? Tge fact that this genius composor was sp brooke that he cannot affort shoes but produced this master piece gives me hopes for all possiblity 🙏

[@gunterangel]

Indeed, it would be great, if the 'Ode to Joy' would be played at the Paris Olympics again. But that anecdote about Beethoven being too poor to own a pair of shoes is definitely a grotesque exaggeration. In fact he was one of the best earning composers of his time and he died as one of Vienna's wealthiest citizens. He could afford to take an annual summer vacation on the countryside in one of the rural suburbs of Vienna or in famous ( and expensive ! ) spa towns, like Karlsbad or Töplitz, which he loved very much and often extented to several months and in the case of his holidays in Töplitz or Karlsbad only the aristocracy and other social upper classes could afford at that time. He was also wealthy enough to permanently employ personal staff like messengers and house maidens. At times he had up to three lots at the same time, for which he would pay rent. Furthermore he paid for the expensive schools and internats of his nephew, Karl, after he had gained the custody of him. He left six bank stocks for his nephew in his last will, which would be worth around 250.000 € in todays money. Naturally his expensive lifestyle brought him often in dire straits of cash and the hyperinflation after the Napoleon wars had also reduced the worth of his income to some extent, what he often complained about. But as said he was far from being poor. There is an record of Beethoven's personal assistant, Anton Schindler, who helped Beethoven in the tiresome preparations of the premiere of the ninth symphony, where Schindler wrote something along the line in Beethoven's conversation book : " Sigh ! Great maestro, you have no black tuxedo in your fortune, and the new one will not be ready until the premiere, so your green one must be good enough....!" Maybe that's what the conductor had vaguely in mind and told this anectode with an slight exaggeration.

[@chrisaguilera1564]

Die Hard. That's the first time I ever heard this song. It was a commercial for Die Hard in 1988. I was just a kid.

[@belmont8792]

ARTS UNVEILED ❤

[@NewVoiceMMI]

Ode of joy. Joy in freedom. Freedom in Ukraine, freedom in Shanghai, Freedom to all mankind in brotherhood. Truth set us free. “If the Son set you free, you shall be free indeed.”

[@antoninazaytseva7012]

Thank you from Ukraine

[@Diossvk]

Because it is a masterpiece. Beethoven and Schiller combined.

[@stephan3077]

As the documentary shows, the Ninth is very popular in Asia, especially in Japan. Do you know when it was first performed in Asia? This is a story worth of its own documentary, and if you are ever in the city of Tokushima on the Japanese island of Shikoku, stop by at the "Naruto German House", a museum where I happened to learn about it. It was staged on June 1, 1918 by German prisoners in the Japanese prisoner-of-war camp at Bando (yes, Germany and Japan were on opposing sides during the First World War), partly played on instruments made by themselves.

[@DWHistoryandCulture]

Thank you for sharing your insights with us and our community!

[@diegoandres2906]

Wonderful documentary!

[@grafneun]

Great Video

[@DWHistoryandCulture]

We're glad you liked it! Make sure to follow for the latest uploads.

[@martianbuilder5945]

Mark your calendars, it turns 200 on 7 May!

[@miguelacostavalverde6439]

Me siento emocionado y conmovido. Admiro más a Oksana y los jóvenes músicos y cantantes de Ucrania. Quisiera saber que están están en esta invasión. 🙏

[@annasavchenko2734]

Браво , пані Оксана!!! Аплодуємо вам, стоячи !

[@TheGloryofMusic]

A neophyte watching this might get the idea that Beethoven himself wrote the text of the Ode to Joy. It was actually a drinking song written by Friedrich Schiller (final version published in 1808).

[@user-ns4cw2vz2g]

Оксано, ви молодець! Наша Україна буде вільною! Українці незламні! Бетховен із Дев'ятою нині актуальний, як ніколи.

[@guillaume.4093]

Because i have watched A Clockwork of Orange.

[@OleeveeyaChakraborty]

What does Mozart think of this Symphony? I mean, you, Mozart...aren't you? : D

[@guillaume.4093]

@@OleeveeyaChakraborty I love it and also the 40 (Mozart)

[@OleeveeyaChakraborty]

@@guillaume.4093 Yeah, I also like Symphony no. 40 by Mozart! Thanks Mr. Mozart...(anyway, I like your profile picture)

[@guillaume.4093]

@@OleeveeyaChakraborty Thank you, i'm glad you like my music and my pictures

[@OleeveeyaChakraborty]

@@guillaume.4093 You're most welcome, Mr. Mozart

[@TheSalem777]

The 9th Symphony its so Metal! \m/, (►_◄) , \m/, Beetho was ahead of his time!

[@user-un9it7wg5h]

Gemeinsam Mannschaft, ich liebe dich meine Freuden Deutsch, neun Beethoven Sinfonie

[@AWD1001]

YES 🩷‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ Beethoven & Schiller In Japan, January 2, 2012, 10,000 Japanese tribute。。。美しいです🩷 Thank you for this presentation 。

[@Pasha8204]

Need 4k

[@user-uj5yo8tx9c]

Politics shouldn’t be involved. Let us leave Ucraine and Russia war for a moment. Let us concentrate in that formidable ninth Symphony and its creator, the great Ludwig

[@leoperarm]

There’s a need for more high-quality documentaries about Haydn. Beethoven is fine but a little bit cliché

[@D_isco_D_ancer]

Beethoven is German icon way more work to praise that the last video of Kant.

[@D_isco_D_ancer]

SLAVA UKRAINI, Oksana your country will be free.

[@janklaas6885]

📍17:07

[@tommonk7651]

Slava Ukraini! I was just on iTunes and saw the Vienna Philharmonic's new recording of the 9th and purchased it moments ago.

[@lucianasalles7272]

😙🎇

[@timthomson5674]

The World? All cultures? All social strata? Hopefully!

[@tombloom99]

Wonderful. But I would have liked to hear more from the African performance.

[@stephenkz498]

In April 1942, Furtwängler conducted a performance of Beethoven's 9th with the Berlin Philharmonic for Hitler's birthday.

[@kitkat253]

So?

[@kitkat253]

So?

[@tarekmohamed3263]

How is that Beethoven's fault?

[@TTCanadaJapan]

a

[@nikolaskolonias3235]

When you colonized Greece you didn’t realized how big mistake it was

[@katrinat.3032]

I have no idea what this means

[@Chocwise]

You can keep Greece. It's too hot there and too close to Turkey anyway.

[@nikolaskolonias3235]

@@katrinat.3032 all German culture and philosophy is based on Greece. In all modernity they tried to colonize land culture and economy music theater to philosophy. But now they are cursed for their ivris

[@pekingerleben]

"Ode to peace"? Wasnt it Ode to Joy? Or is it now the "political correct" new name? Anybody enlighten me pls.

[@OleeveeyaChakraborty]

Up to my knowledge, it was Ode to joy.

[@_.Sir_Isaac_Newton._]

Learn some fuming english

[@katrinat.3032]

Freude=Joy

[@juliejules7780]

I like it except the singing part

[@katrinat.3032]

Oh, I love both parts. Maybe it’ll grow on you. Go on KZbin. This is just a suggestion, but you could go on KZbin and look it up with English lyrics. Maybe that will help you too enjoy the singing part more.

[@robertwilkscomposer3726]

Love the scherzo movement. The rest - not so much - rather long and formless. Its appeal is more in the extra-musical ideas.

[@katrinat.3032]

Wow! I respect your opinion and I really do but believe me I don’t love this symphony because of political meanings or any other meanings. I absolutely love the music and the singing.

[@orcharddweller1109]

I used to like it before the EU adopted it.

[@bingeltube]

Politically correct DW selected a female director. Her gymnastics is excessive!

[@adelaferreira4575]

Ah the divas …of course ,it’s not gimnástics is the natural feeling of the music flowing through the conductor ,male directors do it all the time ,just take a look at Dudamel !

[@captainhaddock6435]

Politically incorrect incel doesn't miss a chance to hate on women, how predictable

[@ricardovelasco3976]

I hate the 9th Symphony, specifically the part where they sing (or rather shout).

[@TheAlfPia]

It's very annoying that @DW include its Ukraine propaganda even in culture programs!

[@MrRepose]

I wonder what would beethoven would might have thought of the genocide in Gaza and the shameful German involvement

[@chungchihsu2000]

Son of god, heart of Europe.