"Pay no attention to Beethoven (if you can)"

Synopsis

To say that Beethoven "conducted" the premiere performance of his monumental Ninth Symphony on today's date in 1824 would be stretching the truth a little.

The orchestra and soloists had been rehearsed under the composer's supervision, but for the actual performance everyone had been instructed to ignore Beethoven if they could, and follow the beat of his assistant conductor Michael Umlauf. By 1824, Beethoven was for all practical purposes completely deaf.

Still, Vienna's Kärtnertor Theater was packed on May 7th, 1824, since Beethoven hadn't arranged a concert of his music in some ten years. By 7 p.m., the scheduled start time for the concert, friends and admirers, and those who were just plain curious to see and hear what the famous Beethoven would cook up for the occasion, were all in their places.

After a performance of his concert overture "The Consecration of the House," and three movements from his "Missa solemnis," it was probably well after 8 p.m. that the audience got to hear the mysterious opening chords of Beethoven's Ninth, and getting on towards 10 p.m. before they hear the grand choral finale, Beethoven's now familiar setting of Schiller's "Ode to Joy."

The concert was a great success, and even though Beethoven lost money in the venture, a repeat performance was arranged, and over the decades to come, this strange and difficult new symphony would establish itself as one of the quintessential and most familiar works in the entire classical repertory.

Music Played in Today's Program

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) Symphony No. 9 in d (Choral) Wiener Singverein; Berlin Philharmonic; Herbert von Karajan, cond. DG 453 701

On This Day

Births

• 1833 - German composer Johannes Brahms, in Hamburg;

• 1840 - Russian composer Pyotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, in Votkinsk, district of Viatka (Julian date: April 25);

• 1850 - Hungarian conductor Anton Seidl, in Budapest; He was Wagner assistant at the first Bayreuth Festival performances of the "Ring" operas in 1876-79, was engaged to conduct the German repertory at the Metropolitan Opera in 1885, and in 1891 as the permanent conductor of the New York Philharmonic; He conducted the American premieres of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" in 1886 and the world premiere of Dvorák's "New World" Symphony in 1893; He died of ptomaine poisoning in 1898;

Deaths

• 1793 - Italian composer and violinist Pietro Nardini, age 71, in Florence;

• 1818 - Bohemian composer Leopold (Jan Antonín, Ioannes Antonius)Kozeluch (Kotzeluch, Koželuh), age 70, in Vienna;

• 1825 - Italian composer Antonio Salieri, age 74, in Vienna;

Premieres

• 1824 - Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 ("Choral") at the Kärntnertor Theater in Vienna, with the deaf composer on stage beating time, but with the performers instructed to follow the cues of Beethoven's assistant conductor, Michael Umlauf;

• 1888 - Lalo: "Le Roi d'Ys" (The King of Ys) at the Opéra Comique, in Paris;

• 1926 - Milhaud: opera "Les malheurs d'Orphée" (The Sorrows of Orpheus), in Brussels at the Théatre de la Monnaie;

• 1944 - Copland: "Our Town" Film Music Suite (revised version), by the Boston Pops conducted by Leonard Bernstein; An earlier version of this suite aired on CBS Radio on June 9, 1940, with the Columbia Broadcasting Symphony conducted by Howard Barlow;

• 1947 - Virgil Thomson: opera "The Mother of Us All," at Columbia University in New York City;

• 1985 - David Ward-Steinman: "Chroma" Concerto for multiple keyboards, percussion, and chamber orchestra, in Scottsdale, Ariz., by the Noveau West Chamber Orchestra conducted by Terry Williams, with the composer and Amy-Smith-Davie as keyboard soloists;

• 1988 - Stockhausen: opera "Montag von Licht" (Monday from Light), in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala;

• 1988 - Michael Torke: ballet "Black and White," at the New York State Theater, with the NY City Ballet Orchestra, David Alan Miller conducting;

• 1993 - Harrison Birtwistle: "Five Distances for Five Instruments," in London at the Purcell Room, by the Ensemble InterContemporain;

• 1998 - Joan Tower: "Tambor," by the Pittsburgh Symphony, Mariss Jansons conducting;

• 1999 - Robert X. Rodriguez: "Bachanale: Concertino for Orchestra," by the San Antonio Symphony, Wilkins conducting;

Others

• 1747 - J.S. Bach (age 62) visits King Frederick II of Prussia at his court in Potsdam on May 7-8; Bach improvises on a theme submitted by the King, performing on the King's forte-piano; In September of 1747 Bach publishes a chamber work based on the royal theme entitled "Musical Offering."

• 1937 - The RKO film "Shall We Dance?" is released, with a filmscore by George Gershwin; This film includes the classic Gershwin songs "Beginner's Luck," "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," "They Can't Take That Away from Me" and an instrumental interlude "Walking the Dog" (released as a solo piano piece under the title "Promenade").