I’ve run this one before – now again, just to show the power
of joy as Beethoven catches it in his "Ode to Joy.” The kids on the street in Som
Sabadell square, just north of Barcelona, Spain, seem to have got the idea. One
tosses some coins in a hat and steps back in expectation; another climes a lamp
post. But they all participate in joy – never shy, always boastful. I try to
imagine Beethoven tossing on his pillows with this blast of joy trumpeting his
blood. Joy, which seeks unity, blows all lesser emotions to smithereens.
When first performed in Vienna, Beethoven, then almost
totally deaf, had been beating out measures with his back turned to the
audience. Unable to contain itself, the audience exploded prematurely in applause
before the piece had ended. His contralto, Caroline Unger, personally recruited
by Beethoven, then walked over and turned Beethoven around to face the audience’s
cheers. One witness wrote, “the public received the musical hero with the
utmost respect and sympathy, listened to his wonderful, gigantic creations with
the most absorbed attention and broke out in jubilant applause, often during
sections, and repeatedly at the end of them." There were five standing
ovations, all unheard. The audience knew this. So at the end, they raised their
hands and threw handkerchiefs and hats in the air -- so that Beethoven could
see the ovations.
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