Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

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The final movement of Beethoven’s ninth symphony is a compilation of everything that has already been heard with the addition of a new theme and a choir. Beethoven created a miniature symphony within the fourth movement. The four miniature movements are each their own tempo and time signature and have distinguishable characteristics. There is a caesura and two quick, noticeable pauses that simulate the spaces between movements in a symphony. The first miniature movement is about noticing the themes that have come before and those that will soon be played. Beethoven wants you to be able to recognize passages that have already been played before because uses this technique in multiple ways throughout the fourth movement. The very beginning of…show more content…
In the first ten seconds the winds and timpani create a frenzy that the celli and basses then try to resolve through calming tones. The frenzy is then repeated, triumphing over the celli and basses to make you realize that it is still there under the surface. At 1:02 the violins and celli repeat the theme from the first movement. The celli and basses then interrupt to foreshadow the vocalists that will sing later. At 1:46 the flutes and oboes repeat the theme from the second movement, but they are also cut short by the celli and basses who once again foreshadow the vocalists. At 2:14 the flutes and oboes play the theme from the third movement and are once more interrupted by the cello and bass. It isn’t until three minutes in (3:04) that the oboes first play the new theme, but they are soon interrupted by the vocal…show more content…
The flutes play the countermelody while the basses play the upbeats. The basses help in creating a more upbeat version of the second stanza, almost as if to make a variation on the now familiar theme. When the soloists finish singing the stanza the choir repeats previous behavior and sings the second half of the stanza again. The orchestra plays with them with the exception of the flutes who play a (insert musical term I can’t think of that starts with a c), and the timpani who responds to the orchestra. The tenor and bass soloists start the third stanza off as a duet, then the mezzo soprano joins in to create a trio, then finally at 10:40 the soprano soloist joins in creating a quartet. By building the voices up one by one Beethoven is hinting at resolution, but the choir continues the need for resolution by singing the end of the stanza again and building up even more tension. The resolution is found at 11:32, at the end of a tutti fortissimo, with a
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