Podcasts · Classical For Everyone

Beethoven's 9th Symphony

9 Feb 2026 · 1 h 25 min

It's Classical For Everyone's 1st Birthday, so here's a personal favourite. This was the first time a choir and soloists had been added to a 'symphony'. Choral and orchestral music had been combined before but at the time there were quite rigid expectations of what a 'symphony' should be. That said there was a fascination amongst some parts of the Viennese audience with the way Ludwig van Beethoven seemed to be frequently tearing down traditions and replacing them with what somehow very often seemed to have been an innovation that was music's next natural step. And with the final movement of this symphony, Beethoven took that step. Suddenly there was singing. [Episode Image: Alfred Eiesnstaedt; Beethoven's Birth Room Bonn (1934)]

The episode on the publisher’s site ↗ (opens in a new tab)