Exploring Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

If you play the song, everyone knows it. As soon as you hear Beethoven, you go wow! He would never ever die out, but he's having a good life forever. Greatest symphony. If somebody comes from another planet and says, what is the human civilization? What you have to say is, it's better to play the Ninth Symphony. That is an evidence of the human civilization. It is like the Parthenon. It's like this. A non-monumental monument. Star conductor, rebel of the classical music world, is often described as a tyrant and a genius. Born in Greece, he started his career in Russia. He studied in St. Petersburg and became artistic director of the opera houses in Novosibirsk and Perm. Today he's in demand around the globe, including the Salzburg Festival, the world's most celebrated event for classical music. Corencius and his Russian orchestra Musica Eterna are among the big names. It's two days before their concert. Good morning. The point with the Ninth Symphony is that it's very famous, but even for the people that they know very well, the symphony is a little bit undiscovered. Because inside the symphony exists a very certain space that is not wide open. Everybody's there? You need a kind of revelation, a kind of apocalypses to... Get entered this space. It's not so easy. I need 20 seconds. How did we do that? Play quietly. You play louder. Dima, I need 20 seconds. Two chords here, Allegro assai. Can you do it? Can you? Please, all the winds fortissimo. Little less timpani. Fortissimo please, fortissimo. Here in the music department of the Berlin State Library lies a 200-year-old treasure. Its value is incalculable, its significance universal. It's a musical score, an autograph in the composer's hand, of a piece that unleashed a musical revolution and continues to move and inspire listeners to this day. Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 in D minor. This masterpiece is about 70 minutes long. Its climax is the famous fourth movement finale. Ode to Joy, with words by the poet Friedrich Schiller. Everyone knows these melodies. They convey a seemingly simple message. But in fact, to unravel the mystery of the Ninth Symphony, you have to travel the globe. Tan Dun is a composer of operas, orchestral works and film music. In 2001, he won an Oscar for his score for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. He grew up in rural China. Later, he studied in the United States, and his career has taken him around the world. His current project is called Choral Concerto 9, a work intended for performance with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The piece has been commissioned by the Beethoven Anniversary Society in Bonn and the Royal Philharmonic Society in London, for which Beethoven wrote his symphony 200 years ago. Sometimes you feel when you want to reach Beethoven here, you have to pass this, this, this book, that book, tradition. Then what to do with all those traditions come to Beethoven is here. Then here, it gets too complicated. And one day I was thinking to myself, Forget it. Forget about this. Forget about it. Forget it. Forget everything. Forget it. Just go to Beethoven. Here is Beethoven. Come on. Heart to heart. Eye to eye. Ear to ear. 200 years ago, Beethoven performed the Ninth Symphony. He was trying to talk to everybody. Of course, he may not imagine he was talking to me. I mean, 200 years later, I'm standing here in Shanghai. Listen, that's the heartbeat of Shanghai. And hear this, that's the wines and the blood moving. That's the people and the city. But to me, this is Beethoven. Da You can feel the whole world is vibrating. And the music from Beethoven actually had all the chords there already. And I'm trying to decode Beethoven. The rhythms. Jam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam. Wow. I dread the beginning of such grand works. I sit and I ponder and ponder. I have it in my mind for a long time, but it won't go onto the paper. Once I get started, then all's well. He has a music degree from Oxford University and works as a teacher and motivational coach. He was honored with the prestigious OBE Award by Queen Elizabeth. The Feel the Music project has brought Whitaker to Barcelona, where he's working with musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and hearing-impaired children. This musical encounter is taking place at the Palau de la Música Catalana concert hall. My name is... P, P, P, P, P. Pau. All right? Like you, I am deaf. I was born deaf. I play the piano, I play the organ and I work with MCO for six years. For me music is something that is open to anybody. It doesn't matter where you come from, whether you're deaf, whether you're hearing, whether you've got a disability, music is something that everyone can enjoy, that everyone can access. Obviously the question that people always ask is What? Beethoven was deaf, wasn't he? Yes, Beethoven was deaf, but there's a big difference. I was born deaf, so I have never heard properly. Whereas Beethoven didn't lose his hearing until he was in his late teens. And then I was fully deaf by his mid to late twenties. So he had the memory of music. He knew how to play, he knew the technicalities of different instruments, he knew how to compose. The amazing thing about music is that it transcends cultural barriers, it transcends language barriers. It's one of those things that can bring people together and Beethoven 9 is one of those few pieces that across the world has got that ability to unify people, talking about freedom, liberty and being as one. Every year an extraordinary event takes place in Osaka. Beethoven's 9th performed with no fewer than 10,000 singers. Chizuru Komatsu is singing for the first time in this choir made up of non-professionals. For the past 20 years, the mega concert has been conducted by Japanese maestro Yutaka Sato. The lyrics are about a song of joy. The lyrics are about joy, and from there, it's simply about happiness. It's a song that expresses joy. I think it's a song that we can naturally grasp and sing. In Japan, we call it daiku. Daiku is probably a symbol of Western culture, of European culture for Japanese people. I am MISERA. Japanese people have longed for German culture. Conductor Yutaka Sato has come to the provincial city of Naruta. It was here that the story of the Ninth Symphony in Japan began. The enthusiasm for Beethoven is mingled with stories of wartime. In 1914, Japanese troops conquered the German colony of Tsingtao in China. 4,600 German soldiers were held as prisoners of war. Around a thousand of them were interned in Naruto. But the prisoner of war camp offered the Germans some freedom. They had a bakery, a newspaper, and cultural events. Two orchestras provided entertainment. In June 1918, the prisoners staged a big concert. The first-ever performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Japan. Indeed, in all of Asia. For a long time, this chapter of German-Japanese history was forgotten. Today, it's documented in a museum and a memorial. We can use the pillars, make a stage, decorate it, and use it for musical performances. We can also use the floor as a place to study. The rest of the place is a living room. It's a living room with a roof. About 100 prisoners are imprisoned there. So, the prisoners were mostly men? Yes, they were all men. What about the chorus? The female part was rewritten into the male part. It was a record of the first time I played the lyre. I still remember the memories of that time. I remember the strength and sadness of the people. I have a lot of memories of that time. I remember that time very well. Beethoven dedicated the Ninth Symphony to a powerful ruler, the Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm III. Time and again, the work has been played in a political context. In 1942, Wilhelm Furtwängler conducted the Berlin Philharmonic in a performance of the symphony to mark Adolf Hitler's birthday. In the audience, propaganda minister Josef Goebbels and other high-ranking Nazis. Beethoven, touching the hearts of the heartless? During the Cold War division of Germany, the 9th became a kind of substitute national anthem. From 1956 to 1964, East and West Germany competed together at the Olympic Games, with athletes from both countries forming a single team. Beethoven as a symbol of unity. In southern Africa, the racist white minority regime of Rhodesia, the country that is now Zimbabwe, made the melody of the Fourth Movement its national anthem. Beethoven's music misused by oppressors. But the oppressed have also found their voice through Beethoven. In 1986, during the military dictatorship in Chile, women demonstrated against the dictator Augusto Pinochet to the Ode to Joy, as they called for the release of political prisoners. In June 1989, Chinese students protested in Tiananmen Square in Beijing to the strains of the Ninth Symphony. Beethoven as an expression of hope. After the Berlin Wall fell later that year, the symphony became part of the soundtrack of German reunification. The American conductor Leonard Bernstein performed the Ninth in the eastern and western parts of the once divided city. He changed the text from joy to freedom. Some experts believe that may have been the word Schiller originally wrote. Since 1985, the Ode to Joy melody has been the official anthem of the European community, now the European Union. It stands for the common values of the member states, freedom, peace and solidarity. To avoid favouring one language over any other, an instrumental version was chosen as the European anthem. This guy was crazy. This little joke was brutal. What I understand about Beethoven is that he was a man of feelings and joy. He was crazy about music too. He was really crazy. Because if you listen to their songs, even if you play it, you see that it becomes something that really ripples in your body. It's not... So... Deep down in your heart, you really feel that there is something of joy, of feeling towards Beethoven. The Orchestre Symphonique Kembanguiste is an extraordinary success story. It was founded in 1994 by a former pilot who had taught himself music. With around 200 amateur musicians, he built up Central Africa's only symphony orchestra. The Democratic Republic of Congo has around 85 million inhabitants and is one of the poorest countries in the world. To this day, the orchestra rehearses and performs in the capital, Kinshasa. Here, Beethoven's 9th has a very special sound. Even at the beginning of the first violin, the string is really soft. You have to go down a little more. Then we will go up in the second violin. Yes, that's it. I start by saying, be careful. Here, it's a music of emotions. Of surprises. What did he imagine? He wanted to get there, he wanted to express something. Because you can feel it. There's something about this music. But you don't know what to say. I was 10 years old when my father said he wanted to go out with me. That's when I started going out. I was moved that 10,000 people would come together. I'm happy to see Sado-san. I want to see him as much as possible. I want to see him in person. When Sado-san gives advice, everyone's voice changes. Even the voice that didn't come out before, today, it's coming out right here. That's what Sado-magic is. Please show your entry certificate. Hello. Please follow me. Thank you. Thank you. A choir rehearsal with a thousand singers. In two weeks, ten times that number will perform in the big concert staged by a television channel. There were 15,000 applicants. They had to be chosen in a lottery. Each of the singers has paid the equivalent of 700 euros to take part. This is their first rehearsal with conductor Yutaka Sato. Thank you. I'm very happy to be able to practice the 12,000-yen drum. This is my 20th time to perform the 12,000-yen drum. How many of you have sung more than 20 times? That's wonderful. Who is the first? There are quite a few people. Let's go. Please stand up. Each person has their own specific feelings. We live in different ways. It's better to have a million of them. Let's go again. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Floyd. Wow, wonderful! I'm impressed. Next year, shall we hold hands? Yes, let's be aware that everyone is connected. Yes, let's go again. Then, four times. Message, right? Yes, that's fine. It's a melody that anyone can sing. It's written on purpose. From children to the elderly, Beethoven wanted everyone to sing this melody. But the important thing is... It's a message that makes everyone feel the power of the Dainetserbel. It's a message that you can't just play as a melody. You have to convey the message like a march. Let's let go of our hands. Let's go. It's a Javel-Aff. I want to make a drum that will surprise Beethoven. Beethoven left us a work that will surprise us, but I feel like we are the ones who will surprise Beethoven. No! We are back to the end! We are back to the end! Crying, crying, crying! We are back to the end! When I was asked to play the first verse of the song from the TV station, I resisted and refused. I thought it was stupid to make a symphony with 10,000 people. Every day, there's a lot of really big news coming out. But if we make music together, if we make music together with 10,000 people, people of all ages will be able to see it differently. I'm thinking of something else, but I think that music is a kind of temple of sound. With those words from 1818, Beethoven outlined the basic idea for a new symphony. Years later, it would become known as his Ninth. Never before had there been a symphony with a choir and vocal soloists. For the text, he used a well-known poem written more than 30 years earlier, An die Freude, or Ode to Joy, by Friedrich Schiller. Beethoven shortened it and moved around some of the lines. He added a sentence, and, using Schiller's simple words, he composed a symphony with worldwide appeal. Menschen. Make the crescendo together. And then... Manchen, Manchen Always is Manchen Just like that Manchen Filden Brüder If we want to make the legato, articulated legato, we need to sing Brüder, Brüder This is it. How can you do it? I don't think you can do it. From the most famous first shot, I can't do it. This is the best part. What is Freud? What was it again? 喜び Schöner Schöner It's like umlaut I learned umlaut at university It's a world where people will live without differences, without saying that they come from a particular country. People will live in a community, people will share what they have. I think that's the world that Beethoven made in Lyon. So it's not religious anymore, it's universal. Everything is positive, it's not a happy happy song. That's what I think. It's from the first, second, and third grade. And so, I don't think Beethoven would have thought that he could so easily make all people one. I feel like he's writing this song in a state that I don't think he would have. It's not about Schiller, it's not about the words of that, it's not even about the story of a person that is completely deaf and composes this symphony. This is very touching for, of course, all these stories. It's to defend the humanity in front of God. That's what Beethoven is doing. He's the lawyer and the advocate of humanity. You're still gonna stop us, or what's it gonna be? Yeah. Bum-pum-pum-pum! Yeah. That's cool. Yeah, so that... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But we're gonna sing. So... Excellent. Alright. Gabriel Prokofiev is an English DJ and composer. He's the grandson of Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. Gabriel has composed Beethoven 9 Symphonic Remix, a work for orchestra and electronics. For the German premiere, performed with the Music Eyes ensemble at the Beethovenfest Bonn, Prokofiev himself is accompanying the orchestra on the sampler. I thought this is a really... Risky, audacious, dangerous thing to try and do a symphonic remix. But as I studied Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, he reminded me how powerful his influence is on the music that follows. And a lot of the techniques and approaches he used, particularly his climactic finales and his codas and the drama and the sense of energy and drive he had, we find that everywhere, especially in dance music and electronic music. I think there are a lot of things that have just become part of our culture that actually they started in Beethoven symphonies. The beautiful region where I came into this world is still so beautiful and clear in my mind. I will regard this time as one of the happiest in my life. Bonn's best-known sun has left an indelible mark on the former West German capital. Ludwig van Beethoven was born here in December 1770. The Beethoven House is the former home of the composer's family. Today it is a museum and a research institute. Its aim is to bring people closer to Ludwig van Beethoven the man. Young Ludwig had extraordinary musical gifts. At an early age he began learning the piano and was also taught composition. The boy was soon able to play better than his teachers. He gave his first public performance when he was seven. Beethoven's beloved mother died aged 40. His father was an alcoholic. In 1914, Beethoven became a church organist and, as head of the family, took care of his siblings. When he was 22, he left Bonn and moved to Vienna, the self-proclaimed world capital of music. He lived there until his death in 1827. I'm inspired by him. I'm inspired by his dedication, you know, his complete... absorption in his music. There's often these stories about him You know, composing in his room half naked and then standing outside and not realising he wasn't dressed because he's so in the music or soaking himself in water to freshen himself up, get some inspiration, singing, mumbling all the time, all these things. It's always reassuring to hear about someone so in their music because I think most composers, you know, we just get in our world, we love it and we just, we feel this feeling of excitement and this magic when you create. His fingers have just rubbed away at some of the keys, it's incredible. This is his last piano and he's used it. Really used it. With these small, these short little keys. And the strings are very... The bass strings are just so thin compared to now. He preferred D... D minor to C major. Well, no, maybe not because here the C is quite hard and the E here, interesting. Perceived music partly through vibration but more so by relying on what I see on the score. When I take my hearing aid out I hear nothing at all, nothing. But the moment I have a score, I open that up, read that and I know in my head exactly what that sounds like. When I press a key down on the piano, the hammer hits the string and the vibrations travel back up your arm and every note feels different. I know that that note, is that one there on the music, that one, is that one there? So it's very easy to relate what I see to what I feel and to what I do. Being able to hear but then suddenly losing it is a massive thing for anybody. It's definitely when you're a musician and a composer. It's obvious that he became more isolated. Yes, he still had friends, he still had visitors, but deafness has that effect on you. If you think about Viennese culture in the 1800s, people would meet in coffeehouses. That's where they would find out the news, that's where they would find out about politics. And if you don't hear that, you don't pick up the conversations, you do feel very, very left out. The isolation is the thing that I struggle with most. The Great Anguish of Beethoven's Life The great anguish of Beethoven's life was his hearing problem. He began to go deaf at the age of 28. As his affliction worsened, Beethoven was plunged into deep despair. At 32, he wrote his will and contemplated suicide. I live in misery. I avoid all society. Because I cannot say to people, speak louder, shout, since I am deaf. Doctors were unable to help. He used aids such as ear trumpets to enable him to hear at least something. But he was no longer able to perform as a pianist. By the time he composed the Ninth Symphony, he was completely deaf. The slow movement is so painful for me. I mean, my God. To have a hope where there is no hope at all. When there is darkness and there is no hope, to bring the light there. When he goes... He was not a difficult person. It was a difficult time. Every person in a difficult time becomes a difficult person. How is it to be easy with all this talent in between stupid people? Can you imagine that? How he suffers, my God, with all this talent. To be in a round of, in a branch of untalented, rude people that rule the world. My prince, what you are, you are because of chance and birth. What I am, I am because of myself. There have been and will be many princes, but there is only one Beethoven. It's awesome! I think the dream of every orchestra musician is to play Beethoven's Ninth. To be able to do this, the way it will be, that gigantic orchestra, that choir, when the choir comes in, I'm sure you have to hold it so you don't cry, because it's very exciting. Just to hear it, you're listening, you're not participating, you're all shivering, imagine playing together. Wow, it's going to be awesome. Heliopolis is the largest favela in Sao Paulo. Crime and drugs dominate everyday life here. The fact that Beethoven can now be heard in these streets is thanks to a music school, the Instituto Bacarelli. More than a thousand children and young adults, most of them from poor families, are getting a musical education here. The trigger for this inspirational story was a huge fire in Heliopolis in 1996. Conductor Silvio Baccarelli wanted to help the reconstruction effort, and did so in his own way. He offered music tuition for children at the local primary school. Today, the Instituto Baccarelli is home to four orchestras, 14 choirs, and more than 40 other music groups. The best young musicians play in the Sinfonica Heliopolis Orchestra, which enables them to earn some money. Just play this part of the mystery The mystery, which is... 626 626 And... I'm thanking God. Lord, praise... Praise these young people. Praise these young people. Go. So... That's it. I get scared when I do something beautiful. Go. Look at this. 626. And... Separate, separate Too much, too much It's very small things that Beethoven writes that if he didn't have that, it would be very lacking, it makes a total difference. Small things that he writes, even if it's a sudden piano that he puts, that you get, wow, an chord that he changes, that gives that feeling of something bigger. How was your test at college? It was... Thank you. It changed everything. You see? In her life, it was very good. She participated in the Bacarela because it was to commemorate her, her body, her mind. Everything is very good, everything is wonderful. And even more so because being part of the orchestra, not everyone is that lucky, right? You see? Nobita! Nobita! Nobita! We leave bad things behind. We want to move forward today. It may seem a little scary, you know? But we get used to it too. It may seem like, wow, a palace, you know? But it's cool. We live very united here too. It was very difficult to buy, but thanks to Bacarela I did it. After that, I knew that this is what I wanted for my life. I can't imagine my life without the plane. It's not possible. I make music with her, I work with her. My life is based on her. Everything I do is with her. So I can't imagine, like, not even one day I keep imagining... I'm scared, for example, of falling and hurting my arm. And then how am I going to play? It's not possible. I'm scared, for example, that this happens, because I can't live without it. The The Nine Nine in Chinese pronounced like Jiu Jiu has three meanings. One is the nine, digital nine. One, two, three, four. Now, two jiu, it means the spirit of wine, the wine. Three jiu means everlasting. The first poetry and the first poet of China is Qu Yuan. It's about more than 2,000 years ago. The title, Jiu Ge, the Song of Nine. Then I thought, from a Qu... to Sheila. From me, a slave of Beethoven, talk to my master Beethoven. It's a great game. It's a great spiritual game. Why not start with the nine songs? It's the final rehearsal of the 9th Symphony at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona. Daniele Gatti is conducting the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Oh! Eh? I always listen to music because my ear has vibrations on the other side and I listen to it a little. When I was little I used to listen to music and I want to play it. I feel emotional before, many times. Sometimes a sad girl always cries because if she stings, she is emotional. I only heard the body and the brain. The brain has emotions in the hand because it has a tip. Because before the first time I heard the tip of the foot. I feel emotional. Wow, wow, I've never seen this before. Well, until now, always. Not only the ear, the shoulder. I heard it and it always moves. Because the heart is very strong, it thinks very well. And I'm always very happy. I was born in a church. Before Beethoven, I was more focused on other composers. But little by little I realized that... Beethoven has something a little bit special. I have already played several of his symphonies, I have not yet played all of them, but I have played a large part of them, and I realize that he has something special. All of them. We need to also have good reflection. For the people of Uganda, we are convinced that we have the same conditions to also have good work. Beethoven carried around his ideas for a new, large-scale symphony for many years. In 1823, he finally put his Ninth Symphony down on paper over a period of nine months. The preparations for the first performance in Vienna in 1824 were soured by bitter arguments. The concert was postponed several times. Beethoven was furious about careless copyists, obstinate singers, and too little pay. The composer cancelled, but then relented. My friends, not these sounds. Let us instead strike up more pleasing and more joyful ones. On Friday, May 7th, 1824, the concert was finally held in the Hoftheater am Kärntnertor. Expectations were high. It was Beethoven's first public appearance in years. The posters announced Mr. Ludwig van Beethoven himself will take part in the event. Beethoven stood on the stage with his back to the audience. The performance was a triumph. The crowd of more than 2,000 was thrilled. But Beethoven could not hear the applause. Only when he turned around did he realize people were cheering. The fourth movement has these seven... Sections, I even made them into seven movements actually in my remix. And of course a famous section in the fourth movement is this Turkish march, which to be honest I never found that Turkish, but the exciting thing in Beethoven's time... was that he introduced the cymbals and the bass drum, which, you know, we can't believe it now. Previously were never used in symphonies. Symphony was just the timpani. So he brought these exciting new Turkish instruments because actually that's where the cymbals were being manufactured. That's where they come from. So I thought, what does that mean? Why did he do a Turkish march? And the way I can see it is there was a fascination with Turkish culture. They were the other of his time. They were the kind of the enemy, the Ottoman Empire. But also, I think he wanted to extend a hand. to Turkish culture. I think, for my interpretation, in the Ninth Symphony, it's a gesture of goodwill to have the Turkish march. And I thought, well, now, in this current time, who is the other? Where is the tension in the world? We have to say it's between the West and the Islamic world and the Arabic world. So I thought, well, the Turkish march, not very far actually, should become an Arabic march. It starts with the same bassoon little pulses but then there's some clapping and then the rhythm turns into really a kind of Egyptian style rhythm with the Ode to Joy melody corrupted and changed and using an Egyptian scale. It's Roy! Good morning! Good morning! Please wait a moment. I've been doing Taiko for about 10 years now. I've been doing Taiko for about 10 years now. I've been doing Taiko for about 10 years now. I've been doing Taiko for about 10 years now. Since then, I've been doing Taiko for about 10 years. Since then, I've been doing Taiko for about 10 years now. Since then, I've been doing Taiko for about 10 years now. I wanted to come out, but I didn't have the opportunity. It's my first time. I'm so excited. I'm so happy to be able to come out here. Thank you very much. Please turn right. Please clap your shoulders. Please do it with all your heart. Please introduce yourself. I am very happy to be here. What would I be without art? I don't know. But I shudder when I see what hundreds and thousands are without it. Welcome to the Pará-Galamantio that it is not permitted to take pictures or to make any recordings. Please turn off your mobile phones and any other electronic devices. Thank you very much. It's not an easy piece to follow structurally. Key words, there's so much new stuff going on. I would love to have been in the audience at the first performance and watched people's reactions. We've never heard anything like this before. It's a symphony, there's a choir, there are soloists. What is this Beethoven guy doing? He is obliged to fight. And what we see through history is the fighter. But we don't see so much the purity. But he is a pure person. Because he takes the decision not to belong. ...to the periods of the musical history. You know, it's not classicism and it's not Romantism. It's Beethoven. It's himself, another period. With Beethoven, I think most Western composers have some debt. And we're all...we're kind of all many different roots coming off his legacy in some way or another, particularly in the drama that he brought to classical music. He opened up this more personal, human aspect to music. You know, we always joke as composers, you know, oh, Beethoven is just so luxury. And he hold the chorus as a hostage of spirit. Hold, hold, hold, hold, only until last moment. Boom! Well, there are 10,000 people gathering here today. In that sense, we have to accept it and we have to make a statement. There is a special pressure. People ask me, Tantun, what's the status now? Have you finished some line? Have you blah blah blah? Have you composed the first song? Have you figured out blah blah blah? I said... I cannot go on. It's difficult because when you write something everybody is watching. It becomes impossible because composing is a very, very personal business. This sort of frustration, how I start my line, my first sentence of denying. How? Now, I find the answer. Spiritually, talking to the Beethoven is not me. It's the nature. It's the people. It's the East. Oh

If you play the song, everyone knows it. As soon as you hear Beethoven, you go wow! He would never ever die out, but he's having a good life forever.

Greatest symphony. If somebody comes from another planet and says, what is the human civilization? What you have to say is, it's better to play the Ninth Symphony. That is an evidence of the human civilization.

It is like the Parthenon. It's like this. A non-monumental monument.

Star conductor, rebel of the classical music world, is often described as a tyrant and a genius. Born in Greece, he started his career in Russia. He studied in St. Petersburg and became artistic director of the opera houses in Novosibirsk and Perm. Today he's in demand around the globe, including the Salzburg Festival, the world's most celebrated event for classical music. Corencius and his Russian orchestra Musica Eterna are among the big names.

It's two days before their concert. Good morning. The point with the Ninth Symphony is that it's very famous, but even for the people that they know very well, the symphony is a little bit undiscovered. Because inside the symphony exists a very certain space that is not wide open. Everybody's there?

You need a kind of revelation, a kind of apocalypses to... Get entered this space. It's not so easy.

I need 20 seconds. How did we do that? Play quietly. You play louder.

Dima, I need 20 seconds. Two chords here, Allegro assai. Can you do it?

Can you? Please, all the winds fortissimo. Little less timpani. Fortissimo please, fortissimo.

Here in the music department of the Berlin State Library lies a 200-year-old treasure. Its value is incalculable, its significance universal. It's a musical score, an autograph in the composer's hand, of a piece that unleashed a musical revolution and continues to move and inspire listeners to this day. Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 in D minor.

This masterpiece is about 70 minutes long. Its climax is the famous fourth movement finale. Ode to Joy, with words by the poet Friedrich Schiller.

Everyone knows these melodies. They convey a seemingly simple message. But in fact, to unravel the mystery of the Ninth Symphony, you have to travel the globe. Tan Dun is a composer of operas, orchestral works and film music. In 2001, he won an Oscar for his score for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

He grew up in rural China. Later, he studied in the United States, and his career has taken him around the world. His current project is called Choral Concerto 9, a work intended for performance with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

The piece has been commissioned by the Beethoven Anniversary Society in Bonn and the Royal Philharmonic Society in London, for which Beethoven wrote his symphony 200 years ago. Sometimes you feel when you want to reach Beethoven here, you have to pass this, this, this book, that book, tradition. Then what to do with all those traditions come to Beethoven is here.

Then here, it gets too complicated. And one day I was thinking to myself, Forget it. Forget about this. Forget about it.

Forget it. Forget everything. Forget it. Just go to Beethoven.

Here is Beethoven. Come on. Heart to heart.

Eye to eye. Ear to ear. 200 years ago, Beethoven performed the Ninth Symphony.

He was trying to talk to everybody. Of course, he may not imagine he was talking to me. I mean, 200 years later, I'm standing here in Shanghai.

Listen, that's the heartbeat of Shanghai. And hear this, that's the wines and the blood moving. That's the people and the city.

But to me, this is Beethoven. Da You can feel the whole world is vibrating. And the music from Beethoven actually had all the chords there already. And I'm trying to decode Beethoven.

The rhythms. Jam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam. Wow. I dread the beginning of such grand works.

I sit and I ponder and ponder. I have it in my mind for a long time, but it won't go onto the paper. Once I get started, then all's well.

He has a music degree from Oxford University and works as a teacher and motivational coach. He was honored with the prestigious OBE Award by Queen Elizabeth. The Feel the Music project has brought Whitaker to Barcelona, where he's working with musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and hearing-impaired children.

This musical encounter is taking place at the Palau de la Música Catalana concert hall. My name is... P, P, P, P, P. Pau.

All right? Like you, I am deaf. I was born deaf. I play the piano, I play the organ and I work with MCO for six years.

For me music is something that is open to anybody. It doesn't matter where you come from, whether you're deaf, whether you're hearing, whether you've got a disability, music is something that everyone can enjoy, that everyone can access. Obviously the question that people always ask is What?

Beethoven was deaf, wasn't he? Yes, Beethoven was deaf, but there's a big difference. I was born deaf, so I have never heard properly. Whereas Beethoven didn't lose his hearing until he was in his late teens.

And then I was fully deaf by his mid to late twenties. So he had the memory of music. He knew how to play, he knew the technicalities of different instruments, he knew how to compose. The amazing thing about music is that it transcends cultural barriers, it transcends language barriers.

It's one of those things that can bring people together and Beethoven 9 is one of those few pieces that across the world has got that ability to unify people, talking about freedom, liberty and being as one. Every year an extraordinary event takes place in Osaka. Beethoven's 9th performed with no fewer than 10,000 singers.

Chizuru Komatsu is singing for the first time in this choir made up of non-professionals. For the past 20 years, the mega concert has been conducted by Japanese maestro Yutaka Sato. The lyrics are about a song of joy.

The lyrics are about joy, and from there, it's simply about happiness. It's a song that expresses joy. I think it's a song that we can naturally grasp and sing. In Japan, we call it daiku.

Daiku is probably a symbol of Western culture, of European culture for Japanese people. I am MISERA. Japanese people have longed for German culture. Conductor Yutaka Sato has come to the provincial city of Naruta.

It was here that the story of the Ninth Symphony in Japan began. The enthusiasm for Beethoven is mingled with stories of wartime. In 1914, Japanese troops conquered the German colony of Tsingtao in China. 4,600 German soldiers were held as prisoners of war.

Around a thousand of them were interned in Naruto. But the prisoner of war camp offered the Germans some freedom. They had a bakery, a newspaper, and cultural events.

Two orchestras provided entertainment. In June 1918, the prisoners staged a big concert. The first-ever performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Japan. Indeed, in all of Asia.

For a long time, this chapter of German-Japanese history was forgotten. Today, it's documented in a museum and a memorial. We can use the pillars, make a stage, decorate it, and use it for musical performances.

We can also use the floor as a place to study. The rest of the place is a living room. It's a living room with a roof. About 100 prisoners are imprisoned there.

So, the prisoners were mostly men? Yes, they were all men. What about the chorus?

The female part was rewritten into the male part. It was a record of the first time I played the lyre. I still remember the memories of that time. I remember the strength and sadness of the people. I have a lot of memories of that time.

I remember that time very well. Beethoven dedicated the Ninth Symphony to a powerful ruler, the Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm III. Time and again, the work has been played in a political context. In 1942, Wilhelm Furtwängler conducted the Berlin Philharmonic in a performance of the symphony to mark Adolf Hitler's birthday. In the audience, propaganda minister Josef Goebbels and other high-ranking Nazis.

Beethoven, touching the hearts of the heartless? During the Cold War division of Germany, the 9th became a kind of substitute national anthem. From 1956 to 1964, East and West Germany competed together at the Olympic Games, with athletes from both countries forming a single team.

Beethoven as a symbol of unity. In southern Africa, the racist white minority regime of Rhodesia, the country that is now Zimbabwe, made the melody of the Fourth Movement its national anthem. Beethoven's music misused by oppressors. But the oppressed have also found their voice through Beethoven. In 1986, during the military dictatorship in Chile, women demonstrated against the dictator Augusto Pinochet to the Ode to Joy, as they called for the release of political prisoners.

In June 1989, Chinese students protested in Tiananmen Square in Beijing to the strains of the Ninth Symphony. Beethoven as an expression of hope. After the Berlin Wall fell later that year, the symphony became part of the soundtrack of German reunification. The American conductor Leonard Bernstein performed the Ninth in the eastern and western parts of the once divided city.

He changed the text from joy to freedom. Some experts believe that may have been the word Schiller originally wrote. Since 1985, the Ode to Joy melody has been the official anthem of the European community, now the European Union. It stands for the common values of the member states, freedom, peace and solidarity.

To avoid favouring one language over any other, an instrumental version was chosen as the European anthem. This guy was crazy. This little joke was brutal.

What I understand about Beethoven is that he was a man of feelings and joy. He was crazy about music too. He was really crazy. Because if you listen to their songs, even if you play it, you see that it becomes something that really ripples in your body.

It's not... So... Deep down in your heart, you really feel that there is something of joy, of feeling towards Beethoven.

The Orchestre Symphonique Kembanguiste is an extraordinary success story. It was founded in 1994 by a former pilot who had taught himself music. With around 200 amateur musicians, he built up Central Africa's only symphony orchestra.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has around 85 million inhabitants and is one of the poorest countries in the world. To this day, the orchestra rehearses and performs in the capital, Kinshasa. Here, Beethoven's 9th has a very special sound.

Even at the beginning of the first violin, the string is really soft. You have to go down a little more. Then we will go up in the second violin. Yes, that's it. I start by saying, be careful.

Here, it's a music of emotions. Of surprises. What did he imagine?

He wanted to get there, he wanted to express something. Because you can feel it. There's something about this music. But you don't know what to say.

I was 10 years old when my father said he wanted to go out with me. That's when I started going out. I was moved that 10,000 people would come together. I'm happy to see Sado-san. I want to see him as much as possible.

I want to see him in person. When Sado-san gives advice, everyone's voice changes. Even the voice that didn't come out before, today, it's coming out right here. That's what Sado-magic is. Please show your entry certificate.

Hello. Please follow me. Thank you. Thank you. A choir rehearsal with a thousand singers.

In two weeks, ten times that number will perform in the big concert staged by a television channel. There were 15,000 applicants. They had to be chosen in a lottery.

Each of the singers has paid the equivalent of 700 euros to take part. This is their first rehearsal with conductor Yutaka Sato. Thank you. I'm very happy to be able to practice the 12,000-yen drum.

This is my 20th time to perform the 12,000-yen drum. How many of you have sung more than 20 times? That's wonderful.

Who is the first? There are quite a few people. Let's go. Please stand up. Each person has their own specific feelings.

We live in different ways. It's better to have a million of them. Let's go again. Let's go.

Let's go. Let's go. Floyd. Wow, wonderful!

I'm impressed. Next year, shall we hold hands? Yes, let's be aware that everyone is connected.

Yes, let's go again. Then, four times. Message, right?

Yes, that's fine. It's a melody that anyone can sing. It's written on purpose.

From children to the elderly, Beethoven wanted everyone to sing this melody. But the important thing is... It's a message that makes everyone feel the power of the Dainetserbel. It's a message that you can't just play as a melody. You have to convey the message like a march.

Let's let go of our hands. Let's go. It's a Javel-Aff. I want to make a drum that will surprise Beethoven.

Beethoven left us a work that will surprise us, but I feel like we are the ones who will surprise Beethoven. No! We are back to the end! We are back to the end! Crying, crying, crying!

We are back to the end! When I was asked to play the first verse of the song from the TV station, I resisted and refused. I thought it was stupid to make a symphony with 10,000 people.

Every day, there's a lot of really big news coming out. But if we make music together, if we make music together with 10,000 people, people of all ages will be able to see it differently. I'm thinking of something else, but I think that music is a kind of temple of sound. With those words from 1818, Beethoven outlined the basic idea for a new symphony. Years later, it would become known as his Ninth.

Never before had there been a symphony with a choir and vocal soloists. For the text, he used a well-known poem written more than 30 years earlier, An die Freude, or Ode to Joy, by Friedrich Schiller. Beethoven shortened it and moved around some of the lines.

He added a sentence, and, using Schiller's simple words, he composed a symphony with worldwide appeal. Menschen. Make the crescendo together. And then... Manchen, Manchen Always is Manchen Just like that Manchen Filden Brüder If we want to make the legato, articulated legato, we need to sing Brüder, Brüder This is it.

How can you do it? I don't think you can do it. From the most famous first shot, I can't do it. This is the best part.

What is Freud? What was it again? 喜び Schöner Schöner It's like umlaut I learned umlaut at university It's a world where people will live without differences, without saying that they come from a particular country. People will live in a community, people will share what they have. I think that's the world that Beethoven made in Lyon.

So it's not religious anymore, it's universal. Everything is positive, it's not a happy happy song. That's what I think.

It's from the first, second, and third grade. And so, I don't think Beethoven would have thought that he could so easily make all people one. I feel like he's writing this song in a state that I don't think he would have.

It's not about Schiller, it's not about the words of that, it's not even about the story of a person that is completely deaf and composes this symphony. This is very touching for, of course, all these stories. It's to defend the humanity in front of God. That's what Beethoven is doing. He's the lawyer and the advocate of humanity.

You're still gonna stop us, or what's it gonna be? Yeah. Bum-pum-pum-pum!

Yeah. That's cool. Yeah, so that... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But we're gonna sing.

So... Excellent. Alright. Gabriel Prokofiev is an English DJ and composer. He's the grandson of Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev.

Gabriel has composed Beethoven 9 Symphonic Remix, a work for orchestra and electronics. For the German premiere, performed with the Music Eyes ensemble at the Beethovenfest Bonn, Prokofiev himself is accompanying the orchestra on the sampler. I thought this is a really... Risky, audacious, dangerous thing to try and do a symphonic remix. But as I studied Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, he reminded me how powerful his influence is on the music that follows.

And a lot of the techniques and approaches he used, particularly his climactic finales and his codas and the drama and the sense of energy and drive he had, we find that everywhere, especially in dance music and electronic music. I think there are a lot of things that have just become part of our culture that actually they started in Beethoven symphonies. The beautiful region where I came into this world is still so beautiful and clear in my mind. I will regard this time as one of the happiest in my life.

Bonn's best-known sun has left an indelible mark on the former West German capital. Ludwig van Beethoven was born here in December 1770. The Beethoven House is the former home of the composer's family. Today it is a museum and a research institute.

Its aim is to bring people closer to Ludwig van Beethoven the man. Young Ludwig had extraordinary musical gifts. At an early age he began learning the piano and was also taught composition. The boy was soon able to play better than his teachers. He gave his first public performance when he was seven.

Beethoven's beloved mother died aged 40. His father was an alcoholic. In 1914, Beethoven became a church organist and, as head of the family, took care of his siblings. When he was 22, he left Bonn and moved to Vienna, the self-proclaimed world capital of music. He lived there until his death in 1827. I'm inspired by him.

I'm inspired by his dedication, you know, his complete... absorption in his music. There's often these stories about him You know, composing in his room half naked and then standing outside and not realising he wasn't dressed because he's so in the music or soaking himself in water to freshen himself up, get some inspiration, singing, mumbling all the time, all these things. It's always reassuring to hear about someone so in their music because I think most composers, you know, we just get in our world, we love it and we just, we feel this feeling of excitement and this magic when you create.

His fingers have just rubbed away at some of the keys, it's incredible. This is his last piano and he's used it. Really used it.

With these small, these short little keys. And the strings are very... The bass strings are just so thin compared to now. He preferred D... D minor to C major.

Well, no, maybe not because here the C is quite hard and the E here, interesting. Perceived music partly through vibration but more so by relying on what I see on the score. When I take my hearing aid out I hear nothing at all, nothing. But the moment I have a score, I open that up, read that and I know in my head exactly what that sounds like.

When I press a key down on the piano, the hammer hits the string and the vibrations travel back up your arm and every note feels different. I know that that note, is that one there on the music, that one, is that one there? So it's very easy to relate what I see to what I feel and to what I do.

Being able to hear but then suddenly losing it is a massive thing for anybody. It's definitely when you're a musician and a composer. It's obvious that he became more isolated.

Yes, he still had friends, he still had visitors, but deafness has that effect on you. If you think about Viennese culture in the 1800s, people would meet in coffeehouses. That's where they would find out the news, that's where they would find out about politics.

And if you don't hear that, you don't pick up the conversations, you do feel very, very left out. The isolation is the thing that I struggle with most. The Great Anguish of Beethoven's Life The great anguish of Beethoven's life was his hearing problem. He began to go deaf at the age of 28. As his affliction worsened, Beethoven was plunged into deep despair. At 32, he wrote his will and contemplated suicide.

I live in misery. I avoid all society. Because I cannot say to people, speak louder, shout, since I am deaf.

Doctors were unable to help. He used aids such as ear trumpets to enable him to hear at least something. But he was no longer able to perform as a pianist. By the time he composed the Ninth Symphony, he was completely deaf.

The slow movement is so painful for me. I mean, my God. To have a hope where there is no hope at all. When there is darkness and there is no hope, to bring the light there.

When he goes... He was not a difficult person. It was a difficult time.

Every person in a difficult time becomes a difficult person. How is it to be easy with all this talent in between stupid people? Can you imagine that?

How he suffers, my God, with all this talent. To be in a round of, in a branch of untalented, rude people that rule the world. My prince, what you are, you are because of chance and birth. What I am, I am because of myself.

There have been and will be many princes, but there is only one Beethoven. It's awesome! I think the dream of every orchestra musician is to play Beethoven's Ninth.

To be able to do this, the way it will be, that gigantic orchestra, that choir, when the choir comes in, I'm sure you have to hold it so you don't cry, because it's very exciting. Just to hear it, you're listening, you're not participating, you're all shivering, imagine playing together. Wow, it's going to be awesome. Heliopolis is the largest favela in Sao Paulo.

Crime and drugs dominate everyday life here. The fact that Beethoven can now be heard in these streets is thanks to a music school, the Instituto Bacarelli. More than a thousand children and young adults, most of them from poor families, are getting a musical education here.

The trigger for this inspirational story was a huge fire in Heliopolis in 1996. Conductor Silvio Baccarelli wanted to help the reconstruction effort, and did so in his own way. He offered music tuition for children at the local primary school. Today, the Instituto Baccarelli is home to four orchestras, 14 choirs, and more than 40 other music groups.

The best young musicians play in the Sinfonica Heliopolis Orchestra, which enables them to earn some money. Just play this part of the mystery The mystery, which is... 626 626 And...

I'm thanking God. Lord, praise... Praise these young people.

Praise these young people. Go. So... That's it.

I get scared when I do something beautiful. Go. Look at this. 626. And... Separate, separate Too much, too much It's very small things that Beethoven writes that if he didn't have that, it would be very lacking, it makes a total difference.

Small things that he writes, even if it's a sudden piano that he puts, that you get, wow, an chord that he changes, that gives that feeling of something bigger. How was your test at college? It was... Thank you. It changed everything.

You see? In her life, it was very good. She participated in the Bacarela because it was to commemorate her, her body, her mind. Everything is very good, everything is wonderful.

And even more so because being part of the orchestra, not everyone is that lucky, right? You see? Nobita!

Nobita! Nobita! We leave bad things behind.

We want to move forward today. It may seem a little scary, you know? But we get used to it too.

It may seem like, wow, a palace, you know? But it's cool. We live very united here too. It was very difficult to buy, but thanks to Bacarela I did it.

After that, I knew that this is what I wanted for my life. I can't imagine my life without the plane. It's not possible.

I make music with her, I work with her. My life is based on her. Everything I do is with her. So I can't imagine, like, not even one day I keep imagining...

I'm scared, for example, of falling and hurting my arm. And then how am I going to play? It's not possible. I'm scared, for example, that this happens, because I can't live without it. The The Nine Nine in Chinese pronounced like Jiu Jiu has three meanings.

One is the nine, digital nine. One, two, three, four. Now, two jiu, it means the spirit of wine, the wine.

Three jiu means everlasting. The first poetry and the first poet of China is Qu Yuan. It's about more than 2,000 years ago.

The title, Jiu Ge, the Song of Nine. Then I thought, from a Qu... to Sheila.

From me, a slave of Beethoven, talk to my master Beethoven. It's a great game. It's a great spiritual game. Why not start with the nine songs? It's the final rehearsal of the 9th Symphony at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona.

Daniele Gatti is conducting the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Oh! Eh? I always listen to music because my ear has vibrations on the other side and I listen to it a little.

When I was little I used to listen to music and I want to play it. I feel emotional before, many times. Sometimes a sad girl always cries because if she stings, she is emotional. I only heard the body and the brain. The brain has emotions in the hand because it has a tip.

Because before the first time I heard the tip of the foot. I feel emotional. Wow, wow, I've never seen this before.

Well, until now, always. Not only the ear, the shoulder. I heard it and it always moves.

Because the heart is very strong, it thinks very well. And I'm always very happy. I was born in a church.

Before Beethoven, I was more focused on other composers. But little by little I realized that... Beethoven has something a little bit special.

I have already played several of his symphonies, I have not yet played all of them, but I have played a large part of them, and I realize that he has something special. All of them. We need to also have good reflection. For the people of Uganda, we are convinced that we have the same conditions to also have good work.

Beethoven carried around his ideas for a new, large-scale symphony for many years. In 1823, he finally put his Ninth Symphony down on paper over a period of nine months. The preparations for the first performance in Vienna in 1824 were soured by bitter arguments. The concert was postponed several times. Beethoven was furious about careless copyists, obstinate singers, and too little pay.

The composer cancelled, but then relented. My friends, not these sounds. Let us instead strike up more pleasing and more joyful ones.

On Friday, May 7th, 1824, the concert was finally held in the Hoftheater am Kärntnertor. Expectations were high. It was Beethoven's first public appearance in years. The posters announced Mr. Ludwig van Beethoven himself will take part in the event. Beethoven stood on the stage with his back to the audience.

The performance was a triumph. The crowd of more than 2,000 was thrilled. But Beethoven could not hear the applause. Only when he turned around did he realize people were cheering.

The fourth movement has these seven... Sections, I even made them into seven movements actually in my remix. And of course a famous section in the fourth movement is this Turkish march, which to be honest I never found that Turkish, but the exciting thing in Beethoven's time...

was that he introduced the cymbals and the bass drum, which, you know, we can't believe it now. Previously were never used in symphonies. Symphony was just the timpani.

So he brought these exciting new Turkish instruments because actually that's where the cymbals were being manufactured. That's where they come from. So I thought, what does that mean?

Why did he do a Turkish march? And the way I can see it is there was a fascination with Turkish culture. They were the other of his time. They were the kind of the enemy, the Ottoman Empire.

But also, I think he wanted to extend a hand. to Turkish culture. I think, for my interpretation, in the Ninth Symphony, it's a gesture of goodwill to have the Turkish march. And I thought, well, now, in this current time, who is the other?

Where is the tension in the world? We have to say it's between the West and the Islamic world and the Arabic world. So I thought, well, the Turkish march, not very far actually, should become an Arabic march. It starts with the same bassoon little pulses but then there's some clapping and then the rhythm turns into really a kind of Egyptian style rhythm with the Ode to Joy melody corrupted and changed and using an Egyptian scale.

It's Roy! Good morning! Good morning!

Please wait a moment. I've been doing Taiko for about 10 years now. I've been doing Taiko for about 10 years now. I've been doing Taiko for about 10 years now. I've been doing Taiko for about 10 years now.

Since then, I've been doing Taiko for about 10 years. Since then, I've been doing Taiko for about 10 years now. Since then, I've been doing Taiko for about 10 years now.

I wanted to come out, but I didn't have the opportunity. It's my first time. I'm so excited.

I'm so happy to be able to come out here. Thank you very much. Please turn right. Please clap your shoulders. Please do it with all your heart.

Please introduce yourself. I am very happy to be here. What would I be without art? I don't know.

But I shudder when I see what hundreds and thousands are without it. Welcome to the Pará-Galamantio that it is not permitted to take pictures or to make any recordings. Please turn off your mobile phones and any other electronic devices. Thank you very much. It's not an easy piece to follow structurally.

Key words, there's so much new stuff going on. I would love to have been in the audience at the first performance and watched people's reactions. We've never heard anything like this before.

It's a symphony, there's a choir, there are soloists. What is this Beethoven guy doing? He is obliged to fight.

And what we see through history is the fighter. But we don't see so much the purity. But he is a pure person.

Because he takes the decision not to belong. ...to the periods of the musical history. You know, it's not classicism and it's not Romantism.

It's Beethoven. It's himself, another period. With Beethoven, I think most Western composers have some debt. And we're all...we're kind of all many different roots coming off his legacy in some way or another, particularly in the drama that he brought to classical music.

He opened up this more personal, human aspect to music. You know, we always joke as composers, you know, oh, Beethoven is just so luxury. And he hold the chorus as a hostage of spirit.

Hold, hold, hold, hold, only until last moment. Boom! Well, there are 10,000 people gathering here today.

In that sense, we have to accept it and we have to make a statement. There is a special pressure. People ask me, Tantun, what's the status now?

Have you finished some line? Have you blah blah blah? Have you composed the first song? Have you figured out blah blah blah? I said...

I cannot go on. It's difficult because when you write something everybody is watching. It becomes impossible because composing is a very, very personal business. This sort of frustration, how I start my line, my first sentence of denying. How?

Now, I find the answer. Spiritually, talking to the Beethoven is not me. It's the nature.

It's the people. It's the East. Oh

Transcript for:Exploring Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

Transcript for:
Exploring Beethoven's Ninth Symphony