BTHVN 2024
On 7 May 1824, the Ninth was performed for the first time in Vienna together with three movements from the Missa solemnis and the overture "Die Weihe des Hauses" in an academy, as large concerts were called at the time. It is one of the most frequently performed and best-known symphonies and the work in European music history that has been most politically appropriated. As a European anthem, the melody based on Schiller's poem "To Joy" in the final movement of the Ninth has taken on a special significance. "Anyone celebrating the Ninth is celebrating classical music itself and the idea of peaceful coexistence," explained Malte Boecker, Director of the Beethoven-Haus. "However, the anniversary also calls for an examination of the eventful history of its political instrumentalisation and the question of the relevance of utopian music in the present."
The focus of the anniversary events at the Beethoven-Haus were two celebratory concerts on 7 and 8 May 2024 in the Historische Stadthalle in Wuppertal. The concerts reconstructed the world premiere programme - with outstanding soloists, the Wiener Akademie Orchestra, one of the leading original sound orchestras, and the WDR Rundfunkchor under the direction of Martin Haselböck. "To mark its centenary, we are presenting the Ninth for the first time again in the sound of 1824 and in the probable instrumentation, line-up and programmatic constellation that Beethoven himself specified. This promises to be a unique experience," said a delighted Malte Boecker, Director of the Beethoven-Haus Bonn.
The celebratory concerts were framed by further events on the reception and relevance of the Ninth. The special exhibition "Bernstein's Beethoven - Ode to Freedom" was on display at the museum from 3 May to 19 August. With around 100 objects, it conveys the American pianist, conductor, author and producer's lifelong engagement with Beethoven. This culminated at Christmas 1989, shortly before Leonard Bernstein's death, in the Berlin performances of the Ninth, which became legendary as an "Ode to Freedom" in the context of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The exhibition provided access to Beethoven's work in general and to the Ninth in particular via one of the most influential musicians and music mediators of the 20th century.
On 3 May, a European film premiere took place in the chamber music hall of the Beethoven-Haus: In cooperation with ZDF and ARTE, among others, the Beethoven-Haus showed the documentary film "Beethoven's Nine - Ode to Humanity", which was made to mark the anniversary, before its regular broadcast. The deeply personal film is about Beethoven's hope for a better world, which he composed into his Ninth Symphony, and explores the question of how far we have come in terms of this hope in the two hundred years since it was written.
This was followed by an international academic conference from 4 to 6 May, conceived by the Beethoven Archive Research Centre and Birgit Lodes, Institute of Musicology at the University of Vienna. The conference brought together over 30 international experts and researchers at the Beethoven-Haus. They took an in-depth look at the cultural-historical background and reception history of the three works in the world premiere programme.
The anniversary week was concluded with the chamber music festival BTHVN WOCHE 2024 from 8 to 11 May under the artistic direction of Daniel Hope, President of the Beethoven-Haus. To mark the anniversary, Hope devoted five events entitled "Humanism" to the question of how music can be used to express a utopia or demonstrate an attitude.