On This Day!

[Joy]

On May 20, 1846 The four-year-old New York Philharmonic performs Beethoven's Ninth Symphony for the first time.

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'Truth and beauty joined'

[Amalie]

Originally posted by Joy:
On May 20, 1846 The four-year-old New York Philharmonic performs Beethoven's Ninth Symphony for the first time.

It would be interesting to compare the reception of the first performance in America with the first performance in England.
It seems that the first performance of the Beethoven's 9th in England was not a success because the English were not prepared in the sense that they could not cope with the scale of the forces that was involved, which was even of course on a greater scale than his earlier symphonies.


As we know the 9th was written expressly for the Philharmonic Society (now the Royal Philharmonic Society), and was conducted by Sir George Smart, on March 21st, 1825.
It was the first performance in England.
Smart was apprehensive about the readiness of the performers and advised a postponement in the hope of inducing Beethoven to come to London and conduct the work himself. However, such hopes were in vain and the performance took place as scheduled.
In an unusual move the 'Harmonicon' provided a preliminary review on the basis of trial rehearsals during the preceding month. The review after the concert was more extensive but basically no different from the first:

The new Symphony of Beethoven, composed for and purchased at a liberal price by this society, was now first publicly produced. In our last number we mentioned it, and we see no reason for altering the opinion we there offered. We must, however, correct our statements as to its duration. At rehearsals, when so many interruptions occur, it is next to impossible to ascertain exactly the length of a piece: we now find this to be precisely one hour and five minutes: a fearful period indeed! which puts the muscles and lungs of the band, and the patience of the audience to a severe trial.
In the present symphony we discover no diminution of Beethoven's creative talent; it exhibits many perfectly new traits and in it's technical formation shows amazing ingenuity and unabated vigour of mind.
But with all the merits that it unquestionably possess, it is at least twice as long as it should be; it repeats itself and the subjects in consequence become weak by reiteration. The last movement, a chorus, is heterogeneous, and though there is much vocal beauty in parts of it, yet it does not, and no habit will every make it, mix up with the first three movements.
The chorus is a hymn to joy, commencing with a recitative, and relieved by may soli passages. What relation it bears to the symphony we could not make out; and here, as well as in other parts, the want of intelligent design is too apparent. In quitting the present subject, we must express our hope that this new work by the great Beethoven may be put into a producable form; that the repetitions may be ommited, and the chorus removed altogether; the sympnony will then be heard with unmixed pleasure , and the reputation of its author will, if possible, be further augmented.

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( I can just imagine Beethoven's reaction to this review, probably something along the lines of - Dummkopf Englander's!!, Verfluchter Kerls!!! ).


The reception in England is not surprising, considering its revolutionary format and unprecedented length.
Some of the opinions expressed in the Quarterly musical Magazine and Reviews:
It's length is not compensated by any beauty or unity of design, It contains crude, wild and extraneous harmonies, with ludicrous passages.

***
In truth, the 9th was beyond them as Beethoven was always intellectually ahead of them musically.

Our view of the 9th is very different today!



[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited 05-20-2004).]

[Gurn Blanston]

Yes, I like it.


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Regards,
Gurn
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That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
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[Tony John Hearne]

Originally posted by Amalie:
It would be interesting to compare the reception of the first performance in America with the first performance in England.
It seems that the first performance of the Beethoven's 9th in England was not a success because the English were not prepared in the sense that they could not cope with the scale of the forces that was involved, which was even of course on a greater scale than his earlier symphonies.


As we know the 9th was written expressly for the Philharmonic Society (now the Royal Philharmonic Society), and was conducted by Sir George Smart, on March 21st, 1825.
It was the first performance in England.
Smart was apprehensive about the readiness of the performers and advised a postponement in the hope of inducing Beethoven to come to London and conduct the work himself. However, such hopes were in vain and the performance took place as scheduled.
In an unusual move the 'Harmonicon' provided a preliminary review on the basis of trial rehearsals during the preceding month. The review after the concert was more extensive but basically no different from the first:

The new Symphony of Beethoven, composed for and purchased at a liberal price by this society, was now first publicly produced. In our last number we mentioned it, and we see no reason for altering the opinion we there offered. We must, however, correct our statements as to its duration. At rehearsals, when so many interruptions occur, it is next to impossible to ascertain exactly the length of a piece: we now find this to be precisely one hour and five minutes: a fearful period indeed! which puts the muscles and lungs of the band, and the patience of the audience to a severe trial.
In the present symphony we discover no diminution of Beethoven's creative talent; it exhibits many perfectly new traits and in it's technical formation shows amazing ingenuity and unabated vigour of mind.
But with all the merits that it unquestionably possess, it is at least twice as long as it should be; it repeats itself and the subjects in consequence become weak by reiteration. The last movement, a chorus, is heterogeneous, and though there is much vocal beauty in parts of it, yet it does not, and no habit will every make it, mix up with the first three movements.
The chorus is a hymn to joy, commencing with a recitative, and relieved by may soli passages. What relation it bears to the symphony we could not make out; and here, as well as in other parts, the want of intelligent design is too apparent. In quitting the present subject, we must express our hope that this new work by the great Beethoven may be put into a producable form; that the repetitions may be ommited, and the chorus removed altogether; the sympnony will then be heard with unmixed pleasure , and the reputation of its author will, if possible, be further augmented.

****

( I can just imagine Beethoven's reaction to this review, probably something along the lines of - Dummkopf Englander's!!, Verfluchter Kerls!!! ).


The reception in England is not surprising, considering its revolutionary format and unprecedented length.
Some of the opinions expressed in the Quarterly musical Magazine and Reviews:
It's length is not compensated by any beauty or unity of design, It contains crude, wild and extraneous harmonies, with ludicrous passages.

***
In truth, the 9th was beyond them as Beethoven was always intellectually ahead of them musically.

Our view of the 9th is very different today!

[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited 05-20-2004).]

Amalie, your depth of knowledge and ability to communicate in this forum truly never ceases to amaze and delight me

Many thanks

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Love from London

[Amalie]

Originally posted by Tony John Hearne:
Amalie, your depth of knowledge and ability to communicate in this forum truly never ceases to amaze and delight me

Many thanks

T J,
I am very grateful for knowledge I have gained from this marvellous Beethoven Site pretty well since its inception. With all the contributors it has been a learning curve for me and stimulates my interest further. An effective spur for learning more.




[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited 05-21-2004).]