Synopsis
No four notes in classical music are more familiar than those that open Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Their powerful psychological resonance has often extended beyond music into overtly political contexts.
For example, on today’s date in 1941, the British Broadcasting Company began using those notes as a theme for radio shows beamed across Europe to boost morale during World War II. In Morse Code, the “dit-dit-dit-DAH” that opens the symphony stood for the letter “V,” which in turn stood for “victory.” At the end of the war, in celebratory radio concerts on V-E Day and V-J Day, Arturo Toscanini conducted performances of Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 5 and No. 3.
Some decades later, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 was performed at the end of the Cold War, when, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Leonard Bernstein conducted moving performances in East and West Berlin utilizing an orchestra with members drawn from Eastern and Western Europe, Israel and the U.S.
For those performances, which were recorded and broadcast around the world, Bernstein asked the chorus to substitute the word “freiheit” (freedom) for the word “freude” (joy) in the choral setting of Schiller’s poem, Ode to Joy, which closes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
Music Played in Today's Program
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 5 & Symphony No. 9; Vienna Philharmonic; Simon Rattle, conductor; EMI 57445
On This Day
Births
1922 - American composer and pianist George Walker, in Washington, D.C.
1932 - British composer Hugh Wood, in Parbold, near Wigan, Lancashire
1958 - Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg, in Helsinki
Deaths
1729 - French composer and harpsichordist Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet de LaGuerre, 64, in Paris
1948 - Expatriate American composer and watercolorist George Templeton Strong, 92, in Geneva
Premieres
1985 - Dave Brubeck: dramatic scene Voice of the Holy Spirit (Tongues of Fire), at the National Association of Pastoral Musicians Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, with Richard Gloyd conducting
1990 - Michael Torke: Mass for baritone, chorus and orchestra, at the New York State Theater, with baritone William Stone, the Trinity Church Choir, and the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Gordon Boelzner conducting
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About Composers Datebook®
Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.
He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.
