1824: Two masterworks are born

»The author of these lines is now sitting at his writing desk, but this moment will remain unforgettable; art and truth celebrate their most brilliant triumph here – and one could justifiably say: non plus ultra! – Who could possibly succeed in surpassing this unnameable passage?«

The anonymous reviewer from 1824, who describes his emotions at the first entry of the chorus in Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, probably never forgot this one moment. And even today – in times when thousands of recordings of the piece are available everywhere – who would think that body and soul could remain unmoved by the live experience of the Ninth?

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony celebrates its 200th premiere anniversary this year. A jubilee year for a piece that is still performed on the biggest festive occasions today and – in the form of the European anthem – provides the soundtrack for an entire democratic idea. The year 1824 itself was an extremely ambivalent one for the composer: on the one hand, the year of the great premieres, that of the Ninth in Vienna’s Kärntertortheater on 7 May 1824 and that of the »Missa solemnis« exactly one month earlier, on 7 April 1824 in Saint Petersburg. On the other hand, Beethoven was struggling with health problems. The profanity of everyday life, medication, worries about his decaying body. And then there was this eternal music on the other side, which Beethoven realised was truly eternal.  

The other 200th anniversary work – the »Missa solemnis– was recognised by Beethoven himself as immortal music. He initially described it as a »great work«, then as »one of my greatest works« and finally as »the greatest work I have ever written«. The insistent plea for peace at the end, the »Dona nobis pacem«, is a utopia of polyphonic agreement turned into sound. An idea that also underlies our social concepts today.

The Beethovenfest Bonn celebrates the anniversary works not only as traditional educational assets, but also as occasions for new creativity. The programme includes classical performances with world-class artists as well as projects that take the works as their starting point and seek their very own paths. Because Beethoven belongs to us all – and is more contemporary than ever.