Beethoven's Silent Symphony (Replay)
HISTORY This Week
The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
4.5 • 4.2K Ratings
🗓️ 2 May 2022
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
History repeats itself this week with an episode from the HISTORY This Week archives: May 7, 1824. One of the great musical icons in history, Ludwig Van Beethoven, steps onto stage at the Kärntnertor Theater in Vienna. The audience is electric, buzzing with anticipation for a brand new symphony from the legendary composer. But there’s a rumor on their minds, something only a few know for certain... that Beethoven is deaf. He is about to conduct the debut of his Ninth Symphony—featuring the now-famous ‘Ode to Joy’—yet Beethoven can barely hear a thing. How was it possible for him to conduct? And more importantly, how could he have composed one of the greatest works in the history of classical music?
Special thanks to Jan Swafford, author of Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph.
Audio from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is provided courtesy of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and Riccardo Muti Music.
"Beethoven - Piano Concerto No.3, Op.37 - III. Rondo. Allegro" by Stefano Ligoratti is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://bit.ly/35uhbRw).
"Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 - IV. Presto - Allegro Assai (For Recorder Ensemble and Chorus - Papalin)" by Papalin is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://bit.ly/2YukIxM).
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The History Channel, Original Podcast. |
| 0:30.0 | May 7th, 1824. |
| 0:37.0 | I'm Sally Hone. |
| 0:43.0 | In the Cairnator Theatre in Vienna, the orchestra is warming up. |
| 0:48.0 | Violins, obos, trombones, even the humble triangle. |
| 0:54.0 | They're preparing to play a new piece of music. |
| 0:58.0 | It's extremely difficult and they've only had one day of rehearsal. |
| 1:03.0 | So they're taking these last minutes to go over their parts, get some deep breaths in, |
| 1:08.0 | before they go in front of an audience, and the conductor taps his baton. |
| 1:14.0 | There are actually two conductors tonight. |
| 1:17.0 | One of them is the real conductor. |
| 1:19.0 | The one the musicians will be looking at to keep the time. |
| 1:22.0 | But the composer has insisted on conducting too. |
| 1:27.0 | He's extremely famous, known to be kind of a handful. |
| 1:31.0 | His name is Ludwig von Beethoven. |
| 1:37.0 | So as the orchestra is tuning, Beethoven is there too in the concert hall, conducting but not listening. |
| 1:48.0 | Because he can't actually hear the sounds. |
| 1:55.0 | At this point in his life, Beethoven is almost completely deaf. |
| 2:01.0 | And yet, he has just written and is about to unveil what might be his greatest work. |
| 2:13.0 | Today, the debut of Beethoven's ninth symphony, |
| 2:18.0 | one of the most important and recognizable pieces in the history of music. |
| 2:23.0 | Beethoven's genius is legendary, and so is his deafness. |
... |
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