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The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824 Hardcover – Deckle Edge, June 15, 2010

by Harvey Sachs (Author)

4.2 83 ratings

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“All men become brothers . . .
Be embraced, ye millions!”

The Ninth Symphony, a symbol of freedom and joy, was Beethoven’s mightiest attempt to help humanity find its way from darkness to light, from chaos to peace. Yet the work was born in a repressive era, with terrified Bourbons, Hapsburgs, and Romanovs using every means at their disposal to squelch populist rumblings in the wake of the French Revolution and Napoleon’s wars. Ironically, the premiere of this hymn to universal brotherhood took place in Vienna, the capital of a nation that Metternich was turning into the first modern police state.

The Ninth’s unveiling, on May 7, 1824, was the most significant artistic event of the year, and the work remains one of the most precedent-shattering and influential compositions in the history of music—a reference point and inspiration that resonates even today. But in The Ninth, eminent music historian Harvey Sachs demonstrates that Beethoven was not alone in his discontent with the state of the world. Lord Byron died in 1824 during an attempt to free Greece from the domination of the Ottoman empire; Delacroix painted a masterpiece in support of that same cause; Pushkin, suffering at the hands of an autocratic czar, began to draft his anti-authoritarian play Boris Godunov; and Stendhal and Heine wrote works that mocked conventional ways of thinking.

The Ninth Symphony was so unorthodox that it amazed and confused listeners at its premiere—described by Sachs in vibrant detail—yet it became a standard for subsequent generations of creative artists, and its composer came to embody the Romantic cult of genius. In this unconventional, provocative new book, Beethoven’s masterwork becomes a prism through which we may view the politics, aesthetics, and overall climate of the era.

Part biography, part history, part memoir, The Ninth brilliantly explores the intricacies of Beethoven’s last symphony—how it brought forth the power of the individual while celebrating the collective spirit of humanity.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Beethoven wasn't always a cultural icon. At least one critic attending the 1824 premiere of his Symphony No. 9 in D Minor likened what he heard to a hideously writhing wounded dragon. Just why the composer and his works endure is the question behind this absorbing book by music historian Sachs (Toscanini). Through detailed musical analysis and condensed readings of cultural politics and 19th-century history, Sachs ponders what role so-called high culture played, plays, and ought to play in civilization. Using the year 1824 and the premiere of the Ninth as ground zero, Sachs reviews the literary, artistic, and social movements of the time, noting how Beethoven's innovative symphony (the first with a vocal score) and its themes of equality and redemption no doubt challenged the resurgent conservatism among Europe's monarchies. Sachs places Beethoven alongside Pushkin, Byron, and other prominent romantics, whose talents he finds linked to a common quest for freedoms—political, artistic, and above all of the mind and spirit. After first presenting the Ninth as a Viennese social event and then as emblematic of Beethoven's artistic process, Sachs shines with a close reading of the Ninth's musical score, interpreting its techniques and emotive narrative. Readers will want a recording nearby. In the book's last chapter, Sachs deals with the impact and legacy of Beethoven's masterwork and explains what makes his music universal. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

The aspect of The Ninth that most consistently impressed critics is Sachs's explanation of this musical masterpiece in a way that is accessible to all readers. They disagreed somewhat on the value of the work's attempt at historical and cultural contextualization, however. A few reviewers found that Sachs overreaches a bit by providing commentary on Beethoven's life from various perspectives, setting him in his historical context, analyzing his music, and then also examining his wider impact. But on the whole, reviewers praised The Ninth as an excellent introduction to the symphony and the man who created it. As the Washington Post noted, "it will send readers to their CD players."

From Booklist

On May 7, 1824, the premier of Beethoven’s ninth and last symphony pushed symphonic music into Romanticism. Napoleon had been overthrown. Byron, Pushkin, and Stendhal had advanced poetry and prose fiction; Delacroix, painting. Maturing as such political and artistic ferment mounted, Beethoven had discovered the “Ode to Joy” of Romantic literary forefather Friedrich Schiller 30 years earlier and employed it to sum up his art. Sachs discusses each movement of the Ninth in detail, from the terror and despair of the first to the anger and acceptance in the second to the peace of the third. The fourth begins with quotations from the its predecessors. Then, the bass vocal soloist interrupts to launch the movement into joy and hope. The Ninth influenced all subsequent nineteenth-century composers, who from Berlioz to Meyerbeer to Wagner built upon the foundations laid by Beethoven. This discussion of the cornerstone of Romantic music, whose influence extended deep into the twentieth century, is concise, thorough, and written from the heart of a great biographer, musicologist, and lover of fine music. --Alan Hirsch

Review

"This book is a great read for expert musicians and for people who can’t read a note of music. It is a very personal, loving view of Beethoven and his last symphony, but it also presents a fascinating historic panorama." – Plácido Domingo

"Harvey Sachs brings to the fabled Ninth Symphony the broadest range yet of cultural and artistic testimony about Beethoven and about art." – Scott Burnham, Professor of Music History, Princeton University and author of Beethoven Hero

"Harvey Sachs has written excellent books about music and musicians. Here he turns his—and our—attention to one of the great monuments of music. We think we know this symphony quite well. How wrong we are! This book will help us to understand it better." —András Schiff

"Harvey Sachs is a superb writer, a fine musical mind, scholar, and an astute cultural historian. His new book on Beethoven’s Ninth, written within the world of 1824, is a dazzling display of erudition—and high entertainment!" —David Dubal, professor, The Julliard School, and author of Evenings with Horowitz

About the Author

Harvey Sachs is a writer and music historian and the author or co-author of eight previous books, of which there have been more than fifty editions in fifteen languages. He has written for The New Yorker and many other publications, has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fellow of the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, and is currently on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He lives in New York City.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House; First Edition (June 15, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 140006077X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1400060771
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.08 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.55 x 0.9 x 9.55 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #467,256 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #760 in Classical Music (Books)
- #938 in Music History & Criticism (Books)
- #5,343 in European History (Books)

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4.2 83 ratings

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J. Groen

"A thank you note to Beethoven"

Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2010

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Beethoven is arguably the greatest composer of all time and his Ninth Symphony is aguably his greatest composition. Within the book, the author mentions that other composers didn't see one composer as being better than another, but for us mere mortals, we should be allowed this opportunity. And there are reasons to believe of Beethoven's greatness. For years after his death, his works were studied and revered. Berlioz (as mentioned in the book) comments on the greatness of the Ninth. Wagner studied the Ninth (as mentioned in the book), marveled on it, and played movements from it on the piano. He opened the Bayreuth site with a playing of the Ninth and in 1951, the Bayreuth site was reopened that way. And then there is Brahms (not mentioned in the book) who struggled with his first symphony because of Beethoven's greatness and then released a beautiful symphony (that was called by some critics of the time "Beethoven's tenth).

Much of the book is a review of what transpired prior to Beethoven in music composition (e.g. Bach, Mozart, Hayden, etc.) and Beethoven's own years prior to the Ninth and then the impact of the Ninth on the composers after Beethoven (the ones mentioned above and Schumann, Schubert, etc.). This is good reading but not easy reading as the author gets somewhat technical at times especially when quoting others.

However, in my opinion, the essence of the book is the author's analysis of each movement (in the section "Imagining the Ninth") and part of the Ninth Symphony. Since I have been fortunate to hear the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Choir perform this beautiful piece of music two times (the most recent with Bernard Haitink conducting), this write-up provided a lot of value to me. And, I believe that any lover of Beethoven and the Ninth will get the same value from this section. This section appears to be based upon the best input from other conductors (for example, Sir George Solti is mentioned), and is truly written as a "thank you note to Beethoven".

For all lovers of Beethoven music and his Ninth Symphony, this is a must have book. For all those who haven't heard the Ninth, and haven't experienced the greatest music ever written, let me suggest that you buy a CD of the Ninth and read this book. If you let it, the CD of the Ninth and this book, will transform you just as it was meant to.

32 people found this helpful

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Charles T. Bauer

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Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2012

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I have to admit that over the years I've developed my own relationship with the 9th, and with late Beethoven in general, and my own experience of the 9th is completely different from the experience of the piece he describes in the book. It's probably a good picture of the author's own experience of the piece, but to me it's totally devoid of subtlety, to a point way past the point of banality. For one thing, I experience the whole interplay of light and darkness in the piece is very dynamic, ongoing, and subtle in the piece, and although there are moments when one end of the spectrum gets strong emphasis, it's more like a yin/yang thing - there's never total yin or yang - within the confines of the form when yang or yin reaches a maximum point, it transforms into its opposite, and you never have one without the other. How Beethoven manages to do this is quite amazing, and, to me, that's what gives the piece life - that is it's life - in fact, that's life! Also, although the author spends a good deal of time describing the historic context from which the piece arose, he poo-poos the whole idea of the historically accurate performance, especially, or at least specifically, attempts like those of Roger Norrington to use Beethoven's specified tempos in performance, or to try to figure out what Beethoven's own expectations for the performance of his piece were and to honor them, as far as it's possible to do so, and, to me, that's a big mistake. I mean, just because Georg Solti didn't have the courage to use Beethoven's specified tempo for the first movement of the 9th, is that really a good reason not to use it? Anyway, after reading Sachs' description of the piece, I began to wonder exactly what piece of music he was talking about. I wound up listening to each movement several times after reading Sachs' exposition of it, then going back to Sachs' description of it, and wound up writing off Sachs' description as a piece of fluff - in fact, I began to wonder about how reliable his descriptions of Byron, Heine, Stendahl, and everything else was, if that was the best he could do with Beethoven himself. Still, it made me think. The whole Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic period is interesting and important, and I need to learn more about it. The book was a start.

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GesundheitsFanatiker

Beautifully written

Reviewed in Germany on June 28, 2017

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The author truly loves Beethoven, no question. He delivers interesting facts and stories around the great composer and his 9th symphony, not to be found in any other work, not even in German volumes. He must have spent a hell of a time on the manuscript.

HOWEVER, his publisher should be ashamed of squeezing such a fountain of lively information into a poorly designed layout, not to mention the paper quality. The contents deserve better.

Nevertheless a good book.

Georges Sicherman

Fort intéressant!

Reviewed in France on January 10, 2018

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L'auteur nous conduit dans une enquête très complète sur les circonstances de la création de la 9° symphonie qui inaugure la dernière phase créative du compositeur, proche de sa mort. Il met en relief le contraste radical entre les idéaux révolutionnaires célébrés dans le chœur sur l'ode à la joie du dernier mouvement et le monde où est composé cette oeuvre, celui d'une Europe où vient d'être rétabli au congrès de Vienne après la défaite finale de Napoléon, l'ancien régime et son absolutisme. L'auteur montre aussi que cette oeuvre fut incomprise du public, issu de la haute société qui la trouvait touffue, redondante, trop longue, défauts imputables à la surdité totale du compositeur. Ce chef d'oeuvre finit par être unanimement reconnu, mais une unanimité équivoque englobant Hitler et les nazis. Chacun entend la musique à sa façon.

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Tomfrom66

Music for our time

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 5, 2012

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This is a book worth perservering with, since it reveals it's holistic approach to the arts of the time slowly and rather discursively.

However, its message to the world of 2012 is of the utmost importance: namely, that human beings are more that mechanisms to be manipulated for profit, drones to be worked to breaking point, and then thrown on the scrap heap.

The Beethoven-Schiller message is that another world is possible, but, for different reasons, it will be as difficult to realise as it was in their day.

Read this book, and ponder the future.

One person found this helpful

Tess

Skip this

Reviewed in Canada on March 26, 2018

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Long-winded. The book is divided into four sections. The first is good; the second, alright; the third, horrendous, and by the fourth, you'll want the book to be over.

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Frank

A great and informative read, putting Ludwig Van B in context

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 25, 2014

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Love music and history, but not formally educated in either and still find this a great, fun read that at the same time reveals so much about Beethoven, his music, the world during his life and his interactions with it.
Fascinating and very hard to put down - especially given its nominally educative nature - for this avid thriller reader.

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