THe Powerof
the Ninth
Here are some examples
of the global impact of
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
highlighted in the documentary
“Following the Ninth.”
China
Hall describes the
piece as one that is
technically demanding
of both the symphony
and chorus. Players
and singers are tasked
with performing from
the very top to the
very bottom of their
ranges, to play loudly
and quickly.
In 1989, protesting students who were
on a hunger strike in Tianamen Square
played the Ninth’s final movement,
“Ode to Joy,” in an effort to drown
out the Chinese Communist Party’s
broadcasted messages after they had
declared martial law. The Ninth symbolized solidarity and hope for the students.
tape of Beethoven’s Ninth in the cassette player. the Ninth’s final movement. (The Ninth was
“It was so overwhelming and powerful, I was groundbreaking in its time as the first symphony to include a chorus.) According to Hall,
won over on the spot,” Candaele recalls.
As he researched the music, Candaele became the Ninth’s familiarity is one of its challenges.
interested in the stories he heard about the piece “We’re used to hearing recordings of this piece
and the global impact of Beethoven. The result or seeing performances live or on YouTube,” he
became “Following the Ninth: In the Footsteps states. “People have a notion of what it should
sound like and there’s a lot to be
of Beethoven’s Final Symphony.”
compared to.”
The documentary, released in
Hall describes the piece as
2013, follows the stories behind
one that is technically demandthe playing of the Ninth during
ing of both the symphony and
the student protests in Tiananchorus. Players and singers are
men Square, outside dissident
tasked with performing from
prisons in Pinochet’s Chile, and
at the fall of the Berlin Wall,
the very top to the very bottom
of their ranges, to play loudly
as well as the phenomenon of
and quickly. “Even though
daiku, the annual performance
Tom Hall
Baltimore
Choral
Arts
Music
Director
of the Ninth across Japan by
the choral part of the piece is
about 20 minutes, it’s a fast
everyone from symphonies and
and furious 20 minutes,” Hall states.
amateur choral groups to karaoke rooms.
Despite its pervasiveness, the Ninth is music
“I was interested in how this symphony
moves people, how it heals people, how it re- of which no one tires due to the universality of
pairs people, as one person put it, how it shields the message that all people can be “brothers,”
people, and how it transforms people’s lives as it a utopian aspiration as timeless as it is elusive.
As Candaele explains, the music sheds a light on
did mine,” says Candaele.
The Ninth Symphony is ubiquitous. In ad- the desire of all people to “err on the side of hope
dition to the episodes cited in Candaele’s film, and not cynicism.”
Hall himself has performed the Ninth “too
the symphony has been played at the Olympics, it is frequently played around the New many times to count,” and several times with
Year to see out the old and bring in the new on the BSO. “It’s hard to describe the feeling one
a positive note Today it is the official anthem gets upon hearing it, but it’s almost always a feeling of great elation and exuberance,” says Hall.
for the European Union.
“It’s a complex mix of passion and optimism.
Tom Hall is music director of the Balti- When those literary elements are added to the
more Choral Arts Society, which will provide musical genius of Beethoven, it’s a wonderful,
the 120-person symphonic chorus required in combustible combination.”
Ste ve Wi lcoxso n ( Balti m o r e Ch o r al Arts , To m HAll); Ch r is Lee ( Th e BSO).