# Be Embraced, You Millions...



## Muddy (Feb 5, 2012)

I first listened to Beethoven's 9th 35 years ago. I have always loved the work. I finally saw it performed live by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra last week. Wow. Just...Wow! "Be embraced you millions, this kiss is for the whole world" indeed! I believe that sentence applies to Beethoven's entire output. What a tremendous Giant of Music!


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

Ooh, how exciting!
I'm going to see it on the 18th.


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## DaDirkNL (Aug 26, 2013)

MoonlightSonata said:


> Ooh, how exciting!
> I'm going to see it on the 18th.


Ha, funny. On the 18th I'll be going to another great ninth, Schubert's.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

I share the excitement of your experience. I had what I think was an identical sort of thrill when I heard that same orchestra, years ago, with the orchestra's chorus, perform the complete Ravel _Daphnis et Chloe._

Recollection makes me muse if that even without text, a stirring masterpiece for full orchestra and chorus will elicit a very near same uplifting experience... I think for me, and gauged by the general reaction in the hall, for many in that audience that night, hearing Daphnis et Chloe was a near-to-identical epiphany!


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Ah yes, now much I would love to attend a live performance of Beethoven's Ninth. I will be attending Messiah and Mendelssohn's Elijah in the next several months.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Thread closed for repairs.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

The thread is now open again. We've deleted some posts that were either off-topic or otherwise inappropriate.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I've been afraid I'd be disappointed seeing it live for some reason. It's sort of like being afraid to consummate a relationship. I think the symphony needs larger forces than might be used locally, but I'd love to be proven wrong. Has anyone seen the Nashville Symphony perform it? I know they did a couple of years back. I did not see it, but I had been a little disappointed in their _Messiah_.

On the other hand I'm still looking for a "definitive" recorded version if there is such a thing. The 9th probably remains my top musical experience. I seldom listen so as not to become desensitized. Hmmm -- maybe it's time to dust it off!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I've heard some live Beethoven Ninths. What I really want to hear live, and it is at the very top of my bucket list, to book a flight and hotel someday, would be Mahler's Eighth Symphony with great orchestra, soloists and conductor, say at Carnegie Hall.

Be embraced, you millions indeed!


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## MagneticGhost (Apr 7, 2013)

hpowders said:


> I've heard some live Beethoven Ninths. What I really want to hear live, and it is at the very top of my bucket list, to book a flight and hotel someday, would be Mahler's Eighth Symphony with great orchestra, soloists and conductor, say at Carnegie Hall.
> 
> Be embraced, you millions indeed!


I'm desperate to see a live Mahler 8. I've been looking out for one for some time. Seems to be rarely performed. It's about time it was performed at the Proms. There's been a performance of the 2nd virtually every other year - or it feels like there has.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

MagneticGhost said:


> I'm desperate to see a live Mahler 8. I've been looking out for one for some time. Seems to be rarely performed. It's about time it was performed at the Proms. There's been a performance of the 2nd virtually every other year - or it feels like there has.


Every year, I scan Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall in NYC for a performance. Nothing yet. Still hopeful.
I figure I still have 10-15 good years of music listening before they strap me down to a bed.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Weston said:


> I've been afraid I'd be disappointed seeing it live for some reason. It's sort of like being afraid to consummate a relationship. I think the symphony needs larger forces than might be used locally, but I'd love to be proven wrong. Has anyone seen the Nashville Symphony perform it? I know they did a couple of years back. I did not see it, but I had been a little disappointed in their _Messiah_.


I was there. What I remember was the first-chair of the second violinists, Zeneba Bowers. She had her hair up like the Bride of Frankenstein, and she was fun to watch: gesticulating robotically in the scherzo; bowing her dramatically during "er schluch leben, millionen."

I don't remember much about the performance in the way of musical epiphanies; it sounded the way I expected it to.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I went to one Messiah performance. I believe it was either Hogwood or Pinnock conducting in NYC and got very uncomfortable when everyone stood for the H chorus. Never again!


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

hpowders said:


> Every year, I scan Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall in NYC for a performance. Nothing yet. Still hopeful.
> I figure I still have 10-15 good years of music listening before they strap me down to a bed.


Broaden the search to include Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, and / or the schedules of several European orchestras. Once on a plane, a few more hours makes not that much difference....


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

PetrB said:


> Broaden the search to include Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, and / or the schedules of several European orchestras. Once on a plane, a few more hours makes not that much difference....


Okay. Thanks! I will. It has become my "white whale".


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## Muddy (Feb 5, 2012)

I would love to hear Mahler's 2nd or 8th live by a world class orchestra. I will be hearing Mahler's 5th next week! Bruckner's 8th is on the agenda next spring. After hearing the CSO perform the 9th, I have no concerns about performance!


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## Guest (Oct 5, 2014)

With Mahler, it is especially important to get the pre-TC moderation versions. You know, the versions with all the off-topic and inappropriate bits left in.

Unless you're in a hurry, of course, in which case the 30 minute 8th symphony and the 21 minute 2nd symphony may be exactly what you want.:devil:

But of course, in those cases, it's not really Mahler any more, wild, profligate, messy, exhilarating--a whole world--but a sanitized and dishonest version of that master.:angel:


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Muddy said:


> Be embraced you millions, this kiss is for the whole world...


Thank you! Thank you!


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

Muddy said:


> "Be embraced you millions..."


Beethoven must have had really long arms.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

Well, I went to the concert:
AMAAAAAAZING.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I last heard the Ninth live on April 28, 2013 in Pittsburgh with Manfred Honek conducting. I recall that my very first live experience of the symphony was a William Steinberg radio broadcast with the Pittsburgh Symphony ... quite a while ago.

My next excursion to a Pittsburgh Symphony Beethoven concert will be in December when the PSO under Honek will perform both the Fifth and Seventh. It's a Beethoven Fest.

I can't seem to get enthused about attending a Mahler Eighth performance. I would probably sign up for eight other Mahler symphonies before I signed up for the Eighth. Sure, I recognize this work as a masterpiece, I listen to one of my several recordings of it every so often, and I have the score to the piece and have studied it. Still, it remains my least favorite Mahler symphony ... which in no way means I don't like it.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

hpowders said:


> I've heard some live Beethoven Ninths. What I really want to hear live, and it is at the very top of my bucket list, to book a flight and hotel someday, would be Mahler's Eighth Symphony with great orchestra, soloists and conductor, say at Carnegie Hall.
> 
> Be embraced, you millions indeed!


I saw Mahler's Eighth performed live by the Vancouver Symphony about 25 years ago. It was pretty good as I recall, but no stars in the show. I've seen LvB ninth a couple of times. Next spring my local orchestra will perform it, I'll probably be on second violin.


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## kikko (Jun 19, 2014)

I saw what you did there Strauss...


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

senza sordino said:


> I saw Mahler's Eighth performed live by the Vancouver Symphony about 25 years ago. It was pretty good as I recall, but no stars in the show. I've seen LvB ninth a couple of times. Next spring my local orchestra will perform it, I'll probably be on second violin.


Lucky! I'm still watching and waiting. I would also consider the Mahler 2.

NYC, Chicago, SF, LA, Boston, Cleveland and Philadelphia are on my radar screen.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Muddy said:


> I first listened to Beethoven's 9th 35 years ago. I have always loved the work. I finally saw it performed live by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra last week. Wow. Just...Wow! "Be embraced you millions, this kiss is for the whole world" indeed! I believe that sentence applies to Beethoven's entire output. What a tremendous Giant of Music!


I don't want to be pedantic, but I'd like to highlight that the ode *An die Freude* is by Friedrich Schiller, one of the greatest German poets and together with Goethe, possibly the greatest German romantic poet. 
Schiller published it in the year 1786, when Beethoven was only 16 years old...

In the 9th symphony, only the few initial words are by Beethoven:
_O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!
Sondern laßt uns angenehmere
anstimmen und freudenvollere.
_
and Beethoven changed the original Schiller's
_Was der Mode Schwert geteilt;_
_Bettler werden Fürstenbrüder,_

with the following verses:
_Was die Mode streng geteilt;_
_Alle Menschen werden Brüder,_

Just in case.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

_



GioCar: I don't want to be pedantic, but I'd like to highlight that the ode An die Freude is by Friedrich Schiller, one of the greatest German poets and together with Goethe, possibly the greatest German romantic poet.

Click to expand...

_Poet. . . and _dramatist_.

I thank God he was born of course for his dramatic _oeuvre_ championing individual freedom; but also of course for inspiring Beethoven; and most especially for inspiring Verdi to write his dramatic masterpiece, _Don Carlo(s)_.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

Marschallin Blair said:


> Poet. . . and _dramatist_.
> 
> I thank God he was born of course for his dramatic _oeuvre_ championing individual freedom; but also of course for inspiring Beethoven; and most especially for inspiring Verdi to write his dramatic masterpiece, _Don Carlo(s)_.


And the Erlking!


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## Giordano (Aug 10, 2014)

MoonlightSonata said:


> Well, I went to the concert:
> AMAAAAAAZING.


Who were performing?


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## Giordano (Aug 10, 2014)

SONNET CLV said:


> I last heard the Ninth live on April 28, 2013 in Pittsburgh with *Manfred Honek* conducting.
> 
> My next excursion to a Pittsburgh Symphony Beethoven concert will be in December when the PSO under Honek will perform both the Fifth and Seventh. It's a Beethoven Fest.


I like this conductor. (Honeck, btw.)


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## Muddy (Feb 5, 2012)

GioCar said:


> I don't want to be pedantic, but I'd like to highlight that the ode *An die Freude* is by Friedrich Schiller, one of the greatest German poets and together with Goethe, possibly the greatest German romantic poet.
> Schiller published it in the year 1786, when Beethoven was only 16 years old...
> 
> In the 9th symphony, only the few initial words are by Beethoven:
> ...


I am well aware that Schiller's poem is the source material for the Ode to Joy. Had Beethoven never used the poem, no one (pretty much) would pay attention to it today. It lives on because of Ludwig.


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## Guest (Oct 19, 2014)

Nah. I think it lives on because of Ludwig-Wilhelm Tepper de Ferguson's setting of it. That's the real stuff right there.:lol:


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Muddy said:


> I am well aware that Schiller's poem is the source material for the Ode to Joy. Had Beethoven never used the poem, no one (pretty much) would pay attention to it today. It lives on because of Ludwig.


I agree.

Even though it was anything but obscure in Beethoven's time. 
Here's the Schubert version, a Lied written in 1815, almost ten years before B9 was completed.

Schubert - An die Freude D189

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore


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## Guest (Oct 20, 2014)

Thanks for trampling all over my nice joke, there, GloCar. Maybe give me a papercut now and rub some salt in it!*

But, since we're being all serious now, let me offer a speculation that the überberühmter Schiller would still be just as famous had Beethoven never existed. And even that poem would be still well-known, by the people who know that kind of thing.

[P.S.--we're calling Beethoven's symphony "B9" now? Hmmm. Guess I'll put some M2 on, then, just because I can.:devil:]

*If you do not catch this reference, you have missed out on seeing a really cool movie. You should probably rectify that as soon as possible.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

some guy said:


> Thanks for trampling all over my nice joke, there, GloCar. Maybe give me a papercut now and rub some salt in it!*
> 
> But, since we're being all serious now, let me offer a speculation that the überberühmter Schiller would still be just as famous had Beethoven never existed. And even that poem would be still well-known, by the people who know that kind of thing.
> 
> ...


I thought it was "pour lemon juice on it"...maybe we're thinking of different movies. 

*edit* - *Lemon juice it is*. Really cool movie indeed.


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## Guest (Oct 20, 2014)

Lemon juice it is!!

It's obviously time for me to watch that movie again.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Hi some guy, sorry this was not my intention...and I won't use any more B9 but only Symphony No. 9 in D minor Op. 125 by Ludwig van Beethoven if that pleases you more.
Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed today?
No, I don't know which movie you are referring to, but maybe I can guess what is about.

And my name is GioCaro, not GloCar...


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## Guest (Oct 20, 2014)

Not my day today, GioCaro.

But yeah, Symphony No. 9 in D minor Op. 125 by Ludwig van Beethoven does please me more.

And wrong side of the bed is particularly troublesome in my current case--it's attached to the wall, so there's only one side ever to exit it. If I get up on the wrong side, I just smash my nose against the wall.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

some guy said:


> Not my day today, GioCaro.
> 
> But yeah, Symphony No. 9 in D minor Op. 125 by Ludwig van Beethoven does please me more.
> 
> And wrong side of the bed is particularly troublesome in my current case--it's attached to the wall, so there's only one side ever to exit it. If I get up on the wrong side, I just smash my nose against the wall.


Not my day either, since I added a "o" to my name....


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

some guy said:


> Lemon juice it is!!
> 
> It's obviously time for me to watch that movie again.


Hey no worries some guy, its probably not _that_ important. I only know that film so well because my younger sister watched it seemingly hundreds of times when we were younger, so certain lines are really etched in my memory... Like this classic.


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## SilverSurfer (Sep 13, 2014)

GioCar said:


> Not my day either, since I added a "o" to my name....


... resulting in how much we appreciate you: Caro Gio.


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## Guest (Oct 20, 2014)

The cliffs of insanity, eh?

Now what does that remind me of? Well, it'll come to me, eventually....


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