Beethoven's ninth and last symphony is judged by most musicians and music lovers to be among the greatest of all compositions for orchestra.

The symphony's genesis
Beethoven's first eight symphonies occupied him over a twelve year period, but it was twelve years more before the ninth appeared. Its roots can be found in two separate sources: a commission from the London Philharmonic Society in 1816 for a new symphony, and a wish first expressed as far back as 1793 to set Schiller's ode An die Freude ("To Joy"). The symphony was far advanced, as was the setting of the ode, before Beethoven decided that they should be one and the same.

It is possible to trace its genesis through Beethoven's surviving sketchbooks, and recognisable fragments can be found in sketchbooks from 1815, 1816 and 1818. At this time he was planning two symphonies, one in D minor with an instrumental finale, and the other with choir. Work was interrupted for a few years while he worked on other compositions (including the Mass in D and the late piano sonatas) and he picked up the threads again in 1822, when he formally accepted the commission from the London Philharmonic Society. Considerable progress was made on the first and second movements, but he still planned an instrumental finale. It was only in 1823 that he rejected this (he eventually used the theme in the finale of his A minor string quartet) and finally decided on the choral setting of Schiller's ode.

Beethoven's circumstances
During all this period Beethoven was to all intents stone deaf, and his personal life frankly chaotic. His illnesses were becoming more frequent and debilitating, and were not helped by the "remedies" his doctors proposed. His incompetence in financial matters, including such vital ones as accepting commissions and negotiating with his publishers, was astonishing. He tried to play off publishers against each other, and was surprised when they turned him down. He was eccentric and irregular in his domestic habits; he changed lodgings frequently and domestic servants could rarely cope with his behaviour for longer than a few weeks. At one point he was paying rent for three lodgings at the same time!

He was well aware that much of this chaos was of his own making: "Everything I do apart from music is badly done and stupid" he is reported as saying. And in a touching letter which survives he admitted that ".. Beethoven can compose, thank God, though he can do nothing else in this world."

To add to his difficulties, his brother had died in 1815, leaving his widow and Beethoven joint guardians of his son Karl. The following five years were taken up with a law-suit to oust his sister-in-law and gain sole responsibility for his nephew, and then to form some kind of stable environment for him.

Performance and publication
The symphony was finally completed in February 1824, and Beethoven emerged from the stresses and creative whirlwind of the previous few years. He had both the Mass in D (the Missa Solemnis) and the Symphony completed, and sought performances of both.

The original plan was to perform both for the first time in a single concert. [What an event that would have been!! - and what a length!!!] In the event, the programme comprised a new overture - The Consecration of the House, three movements of the mass - the Kyrie, Credo and Agnus Dei, and the new symphony. It was held on 7th May 1824 in the Karntnerthor Theatre in Vienna, and while it was a huge success with the public, did not generate as much profit for the composer as he had hoped.

He offered both mass and symphony to three publishers (simultaneously!) for a total of 1,600 florins - about £2,000 at today's prices. This was despite having offered the London Philharmonic Society "exclusive rights" for 18 months! It was a further year before this tangle was unravelled with publication of both works by Schotts of Mainz.

The symphony
The symphony is unprecedented in its scale and its huge breadth of scope. It takes about twenty minutes longer than the previous longest symphony - Beethoven's own Eroica. And it was to be fifty years before anyone wrote a major symphony of equal length (Anton Bruckner). The comprehensiveness was also new, with its effects such as juxtaposing the sublime chorus with military band music in the finale - much criticised during the 19th century, until Mahler went even further in reflecting every aspect of life in his vast symphonies eighty years later.

The first movement is almost relentlessly in D minor and on a large scale. Paradoxically, it is also dense and concise, without a wasted note or phrase. The themes are almost mere motives, a few bars long only, and yet rich in potential for development.

The opening was unique and novel in its day (though much imitated by later composers, Bruckner especially) - a shimmer of strings above which a theme based on a falling arpeggio emerges. The main theme is presented twice and followed by a number of other ideas. The development of them becomes gradually more complex, particularly in a fugal section with three simultaneous themes woven together. The climax is unmistakable and colossal, forcing the main theme through several keys above a constant battering D in the timpani. The coda which ends the movement has its own surprises, with a new theme and a tragic mood like a funeral march. The closing bars are intense and brutal.

The second movement, though again on a large scale, is more straightforward. The scherzo is fast, highly charged and dramatic, and is dominated by the dotted rhythm of the opening bars. These eight introductory bars, a late addition judging by Beethoven's sketchbooks, are a stroke of genius - bold and arresting, like a bolt of lightning. The Viennese audience loved it. Indeed Beethoven's use of the timpani in this movement, as in the first, is almost deliberately shocking. The trio is just as fast, but is smoother and more flowing. The scherzo is repeated in full.

We've had the intellectual power and drama of the first movement, and the massive energy of the second - the third movement offers the human emotions of love and tenderness. This is a glorious unfolding of pure song, in the form of alternating variations on two themes. The first is hymn-like, calm and detached, while the second is tender, compassionate and involving.

Variations of the first theme take the form of concerto-like passages for the first violins and, for the big horn solo, Beethoven unusually specifies that it is the fourth horn who should play it. The variations on the second theme mostly feature the wind section. A fanfare like climax results in a surprise modulation (down a third - F to D-flat), which anticipates a similar modulation in the finale. There, it is on the word "God" - significant, perhaps? The movement ends in tranquil calm.

The fourth movement is Beethoven's enormous setting of Schiller's Ode To Joy. After a discordant summons, a recitative on cellos and basses guides us through a review of the themes of the previous three movements. Each is rejected; the wind offer the idea for a new tune - and it is accepted. The main "Joy" theme is given us on cellos and basses alone, followed by three variations: first on violas & cellos with a wonderful bassoon counter melody, secondly on the full string section, and thirdly on the full orchestra. The music holds back, as if struck by a thought ....

... and the discordant introduction starts the movement again! This time the bass soloist sings the recitative (to Beethoven's own words), and then we hear the first three full verses of the ode. The first is sung by the bass solo, the second and third by all four soloists, with the second half of each verse repeated by the chorus. The end of the third verse results in a huge climax, (".. stand before God") and a startling drop of tonality down a third (from A to F this time).

Silence ... out of which emerges a grotesque march, banal and bouncy. The tenor soloist sings the short fourth verse, with the men of the chorus. When this ends, the orchestra bursts in with a complex and energetic development of the same material. This is hugely energetic, and every bit as difficult as it sounds! It works its way through obscure keys to massive repeated notes in unison, which drop away leaving the horns hanging ... and then lead us back to the main theme; a massive restatement of the first verses, accompanied by storming unison quavers for the entire string section.

A sudden stop, another key change bring us to the emotional heart of the movement. A new theme, serious and solemn, but with a note of awe and humility, too - "above the heavens, a loving father must surely live" - "he must live above the stars." The music is left suspended, as if it too were "above the stars", and on the brink of a great revelation.

Revelation comes as an ecstatic and jubilant double fugue, on the previous theme and the "Joy" theme together. This culminates in a huge climax (with 12 bars of top A's for the sopranos - cruel!). The chorus ask again "Do you fall down before him?", and end on a quiet pause ...

... which leads into the closing sections. This is an increasingly excited jubilation, three times checked but only to break out again with an impetus that sweeps everything before it. The soloists begin it, and the chorus takes over; the first check is very brief; the second hold up is almost a cadenza for the solo quartet. The pace accelerates again; the third brief check is almost like a Handel oratorio in its pomp, but nothing can prevent the final ecstatic headlong rush.