Influence
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Many later composers of the Romantic period and beyond were influenced specifically by Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
At Easter 1831 Richard Wagner completed a piano arrangement of Beethoven's 9th symphony. Wagner had to decide which instrumental lines in the original had to be omitted since the pianist cannot play all the orchestral parts, thus giving his reduction a personal signature.
An important theme in the finale of Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 1 in C minor is related to the "Ode to Joy" theme from the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth symphony. When this was pointed out to Brahms, he is reputed to have retorted "Any ass can see that!" Brahms's first symphony was, at times, both praised and derided as "Beethoven's Tenth".
Anton Bruckner used the chromatic fourth in his third symphony in much the same way that Beethoven used it in the first movement's coda. Bruckner also allued to the opening of the first movement in the openings of his fourth, seventh, eighth, and ninth symphonies.
Similarly, Gustav Mahler echoes the texture and mood of the first movement's opening in the opening of his first symphony.
In the opening notes of the third movement of his Symphony No. 9 (The "New World"), Antonín Dvořák pays homage to the scherzo of this symphony with his falling fourths and timpani strokes.
The church hymn, "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee", with words written in 1907 by Henry van Dyke, is sung to the "Ode to Joy" tune and is included in many hymnals, although not in the original key of D major.
One charming legend is that the Compact Disc was deliberately designed to have a 74-minute playing time in order to accommodate the length of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Kees Immink, Philips' chief engineer, who developed the CD, recalls that a commercial tug-of-war between the development partners, Sony and Philips, led to a settlement in a neutral 12-cm diameter format. The 1951 performance of the Ninth Symphony by Furtwängler was brought forward as the perfect excuse for the change.
Read more about this topic: Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
Famous quotes containing the word influence:
“Standing armies can never consist of resolute robust men; they may be well-disciplined machines, but they will seldom contain men under the influence of strong passions, or with very vigorous faculties.”
—Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)
“I am always glad to think that my education was, for the most part, informal, and had not the slightest reference to a future business career. It left me free and untrammeled to approach my business problems without the limiting influence of specific training.”
—Alice Foote MacDougall (1867–1945)
“We could not well camp higher, for want of fuel; and the trees here seemed so evergreen and sappy, that we almost doubted if they would acknowledge the influence of fire; but fire prevailed at last, and blazed here, too, like a good citizen of the world.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)