"Ode to Joy"

GRAND RAPIDS SYMPHONY PRESENTS BEETHOVEN’S TRIUMPHANT “ODE TO JOY” NOV. 21 AND 22

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. Nov. 6, 2008–Audiences and performers love it. Unlike some masterworks, which grew in popularity over time, this piece was revered the first time it was performed. The Grand Rapids Symphony performs Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, featuring his euphoric “Ode to Joy,” on Nov. 21 and 22 at 8 p.m. in DeVos Performance Hall. The Richard and Helen DeVos Classical Series concerts are led by Music Director David Lockington. The concert also includes Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements.
“What I love about Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is its message that we need to look beyond discord to a spirit of harmony,” says Lockington. “We are performing this at a time when the United States needs to come together and that vision may be propelled by Beethoven’s miraculous Symphony.”
      This much-loved melody has been recorded by hundreds of orchestras and is found in church hymnals with the lyrics, “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.” The musical work features acclaimed guest vocalists soprano Kishna Davis, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Lane, tenor Robert Bracey, baritone Jason Grant and the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus.
   Along with being groundbreaking in its monumental popularity, the piece was the first symphony written to include vocal soloists and a large chorus. Before its premier in 1824, every symphony written was for orchestra alone.
   Ironically, Beethoven wrote his Ninth Symphony with its grand finale, “Ode to Joy,” during one of the saddest periods of his life. At that time, his hearing loss was so profound that when the piece premiered he could not hear the audience’s thunderous applause.   Fortunately, one of the soloists tapped him on the shoulder and turned him around to face the audience, which had risen for a wildly appreciative standing ovation. There were handkerchiefs and hats in the air and raised hands. The theatre house had never seen such an enthusiastic display of appreciation. Deeply spiritual in nature, the work is based on a beautiful poem by the German poet Friedrich Schiller titled “Ode to Joy.”
   According to the online source Wickipedia, as a further testament to this work’s prominence, an original manuscript of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony sold for $3.3 million at Sotheby’s auction house in London in 2003. Stephen Roe, the head of Sotheby’s manuscripts department, described the symphony as “one of the highest achievements of man, ranking alongside Shakespeare’s Hamlet and King Lear.”
   The concert program opens with Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements.
Lockington says Beethoven and Stravinsky are linked by the shadow of war. “During the years Beethoven was living in Vienna it was occupied by the French at least twice and though it was some time before he wrote his works such as his Symphony No. 9, it was still part of his memory,” Lockington says. “Likewise, Stravinsky was writing under the influence of World War II. So, both composers knew of the harsh reality of war.”
Stravinsky is best known for works he wrote in his late 30s: “The Firebird,” “Petrushka” and “The Rite of Spring.” Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, he moved to the United States while in his 60s and settled in California. Though he insisted that a piece of music is not about anything, he did write that his Symphony in Three Movements was inspired at least partly by the War. “He wrote this piece just before World War II started, in response to the international tensions that were flying around,” Lockington says. “In the last movement there are stepping marches meant to mimic the Nazi soldiers.”
   Living in California, Stravinsky also did some composing for the movies, and material for the second movement comes from a score he wrote to accompany a scene from the film: “The Song of Bernadette.” As he matured, he changed his style, but in this work the listener can still hear the hallmarks of those works that made him famous.

    Tickets start at $18 and can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 616/456-3333, online at ticketmaster.com or in person at the Symphony office, open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, at 300 Ottawa NW, Suite 100.
“Upbeat,” a free pre-concert conversation sponsored by BDO Seidman, LLP, is at 7 p.m. in the DeVos Place Recital Hall.