Sacreligious folderol. Beethoven’s Ninth — particularly the Chorale — is the finest piece of music ever written. Bar none.
Beethoven did not write the libretto. It was derived from a poem — “An die Freude” (”Ode to Joy”) — by Friedrich Schiller in 1785. Beethoven adopted the sentiments of the poem to extoll a vision of a world united in brotherhood and the sheer splendor of life itself — the commonality of humanity. Just because the paltry humans of the early nineteenth century (and our own) cannot rise to the glorious vision in those words doesn’t mean we shouldn’t aspire to them.
It strikes me that this author is tired of being reminded of his own inadequacy, and is seeking to stifle the voices that prod his conscience.
I once believed that.
Then I heard the Verdi Requiem.
Live.
When it ended, the entire audience sat, utterly silent, stunned, pinned to their seats, for about 5 seconds … then simultaneously erupted into the greatest standing ovation I have ever witnessed.
Now I am not so presumptuous as to label anything the finest piece of music ever written.
But I will admit Beethoven #9 is in the (no order) top five.
Beethoven’ 9th is the magnum opus of he human race; he ultimate artistic achievement of mankind.
This writer is on the vanguard of the militant cultural left, proclaiming to his bleating followers what is “decadent art,” unfit for the post-revolutionary age.
Virtually all art created by straight, white males is on their hit list.
BTW, the Ode to Joy isn’t so much about unity as it is equality.