Beethoven 9th: Great or Not?
While searching through the New York Philharmonic archives, I managed to find an article from a newspaper. The article is from 1927, a while after the 9th Symphony was written.
https://archives.nyphil.org/index.php/artifact/174564b1-ac47-4d0f-aa6a-e021329ce510-0.1
The article almost immediately states how bored the author, J.M.C., was during the performance of Beethoven’s 9th by the Philharmonic. They say how when they looked around the audience, as one does when bored at a performance, they noticed that “about one out of six looked as though he was paying the least attention to the music.” I thought this was weird because when I listened to the Symphony, especially while Dr. Mugmon was describing it and adding details, I was very interested in it.
J.M.C. says that what they saw, only confirms a suspicion that they have had for a while. That the 9th Symphony is “one of the most absurd myths” that anyone has heard of, and that it is basically overrated. Strangely, for someone who seems disinterested in and even spiteful of Beethoven’s Ninth, J.M.C. states that they go once or twice a year “out of curiosity” to listen to the symphony.
J.M.C. calls Beethoven’s Ninth a “tedious, empty grind from beginning to end.” I wonder why J.M.C. continues to see and listen to people perform Beethoven’s Ninth, if they are so bored of it.
Interestingly, J.M.C. brings religion into it. They say that it “endorses God.” It is strange because Beethoven was not a very religious person. J.M.C. says that a possibility as to why Beethoven’s Ninth might captivate the religious of the population is because when the endorsement of God comes from someone who is not very religious, it makes them feel that maybe there is something in religion after all. I thought it was interesting that religion was brought into Beethoven’s Ninth, as we had not previously discussed God in relation to this Symphony during class.
At the end of the article, J.M.C. makes a very bold statement of “I move you that a law be passed making performances of the Ninth Symphony illegal.” I kind of laughed at this because, despite all their complaining about this particular symphony, I never thought that J.M.C. hated it enough to try to ban it. J.M.C. also says that continuing to perform the Ninth Symphony is “an affront to Beethoven” which also made me laugh.
Source: 1927 Stadium Scrapbook (Part 2 of 2), 25 Jul 1927–22 Jan 1928, Folder 555–010–03, Communications/Public Relations Records, New York Philharmonic Leon Levy Digital Archives.
https://archives.nyphil.org/index.php/artifact/174564b1-ac47-4d0f-aa6a-e021329ce510-0.1
