St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Beethoven’s Ninth – Ode to Joy

In a cramped apartment, a man hunches over papers. At 52, Beethoven looks older—he is in constant pain, and rarely appears in public. He is poring over a copy of the popular poem “Ode to Joy” by Friedrich Schiller. His new symphony will be an ambitious, experimental, political work. It will be without precedent, written for orchestra, chorus, and soloists. Its joyful celebration of community will cross the globe. It will change music forever.