Re: "Mis-) appropriations of the Ninth

Ted McIrvine (McIrvine@ix.netcom.com)
Fri, 09 Apr 1999 11:53:25 -0700

To me, the two most interesting aspects of Beethoven 9th (beyond the
music itself!!! Why not lecture on that?) are the far reaching effects
of the 9th into the 19th Century, and the nominal problems of genre.
Beethoven's 9th doesn't meet the normal definition of "symphony genre,"
in fact it is safe to say that it altered it radically.

I do think that an audience will be more aware of misappropriated
versions of the 9th Symphony than of the original. That might be a good
springboard to why it is such a famous and well-known composition.

Ted McIrvine

> I am down to give a pre-concert lecture on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, April
> 18. One of the things I thought I would touch on is how difficult it is to
> hear this music with anything approaching "fresh" ears, this particularly in
> light of ways in which this music seems to be a favorite for television
> advertisements.
> 

-- 
McIrvine@Ix.Netcom.Com
College of Staten Island/CUNY
http://www.csi.cuny.edu/academia/programs/mus.html
http://www.csi.cuny.edu/arts/calendar.html