Beethoven: 9th Symphony - 4th Movement, abridged (Synthesized)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 ต.ค. 2024
- WENDY CARLOS / A CLOCKWORK ORANGE TRIBUTE
The German lyrics can be found at the bottom of this note.
This work is my cover of Wendy Carlos’ “March from A Clockwork Orange” intended for use in Kubrick’s 1971 film.
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is a choral symphony, the final complete symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, composed between 1822 and 1824 when all of the Maestro’s sketches crystallized (6 years worth of work!) and he completed the orchestration a few months before its premiere in Vienna on 7 May 1824. The symphony is regarded by many critics and musicologists as a masterpiece of Western classical music and one of the supreme achievements in the history of music. One of the best-known works in common practice music, it stands as one of the most frequently performed symphonies in the world.
The Ninth was the first example of a major composer scoring vocal parts in a symphony. The final (4th) movement of the symphony, commonly known as the “Ode to Joy,” features four vocal soloists and a chorus in the parallel modulated key of D major. The text was adapted from the "An die Freude (Ode to Joy)," a poem written by Friedrich Schiller in 1785 and revised in 1803, with additional text written by Beethoven.
The movement is also unconventional in that it does not follow any of the established music forms. It is not developed through an exposition-development-recapitulation structure for Sonata form, a theme-variations form for variation form, nor does it use an ABACADA structure for Rondo form. Even Beethoven had difficulty describing the finale himself.
Despite its innovative form, it is still well organized and brilliantly planned. The whole movement is composed to move the spirit and trend toward a higher point. It’s an absolutely titanic work of art, which has become a symbol of the enduring human spirit and universal brotherhood.
Lots of interesting history and facts about this symphony:
- The longest (over 1 hour), and the largest (by instrumentation) symphony ever written at its time, and still today one of the longest ever.
- “Officially” took 6 years to complete, though, counting to when back-burner planning and sketching began, Beethoven spent 31 years on it.
- When Sony and Phillips were developing the compact disc, the length of the symphony was considered as a basis for how long they should be - it is legend that it was decided that the CD should be at least long enough to hold the entire symphony but the reality is that the companies settled on a neutral 12-cm diameter, 74 minute format.
- Beethoven had long been completely deaf when he composed it, but still conducted (or attempted to) the premiere performance of it. Although the symphony was officially directed by Michael Umlauf, the theatre's Kapellmeister, Beethoven shared the stage with him but the musicians only followed Umlauf's baton.
- The premiere performance received such a long ovation in Vienna that police had to break it up, because it was exceeding the customary length of ovation required for royalty.
- Just prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, American composer Leonard Bernstein conducted the symphony on back-to-back nights in Berlin, once on each side of the wall, with a special orchestra comprised of musicians from all over the world, and replaced the German word for “joy” (freude) to essentially make it “Ode to Freedom” (freiheit).
- In Japan, is performed annually as a New Year’s Eve tradition.
- An instrumental arrangement of the chorus was adopted by the Council of Europe to be the official anthem of the European Union.
- Adapted as the Christian hymn “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.”
The text from the abridged 4th movement follows (without the many repeats included in the score):
Freude!
Freude!
Freude, schöner Götterfunken
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!
Deine Zauber binden wieder
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.
Wem der große Wurf gelungen,
Eines Freundes Freund zu sein;
Wer ein holdes Weib errungen,
Mische seinen Jubel ein!
Ja, wer auch nur eine Seele
Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund!
Und wer's nie gekonnt, der stehle
Weinend sich aus diesem Bund!
Freude trinken alle Wesen
An den Brüsten der Natur;
Alle Guten, alle Bösen
Folgen ihrer Rosenspur.
Küsse gab sie uns und Reben,
Einen Freund, geprüft im Tod;
Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben,
Und der Cherub steht vor Gott.
Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen
Durch des Himmels prächt'gen Plan,
Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn,
Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen.
Freude, schöner Götterfunken
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!
Deine Zauber binden wieder
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.
The use of headphones will greatly enhance the listening experience.
![J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050 - 1. Allegro [2022 Revisit] (Synthesized)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8JqI3m14PhU/mqdefault.jpg)
You answered my prayers with a remake of this! Wendy Carlos would be proud i think
Thanks so much Noel. I had started experiments with the Scherzo a number of years ago but got bored and spent a lengthy time manually sequencing Carlos’ abridged arrangement of her March from A Clockwork Orange. The work was very tedious with so many tracks of instruments and vocalists to create sounds for. I’d had it on the back-burner for a few years but I revisited the project last month and it all sort of took off on its own. I’m still in a bit of awe that I was able to accomplish this very complex project… especially as a sincere homage to WC.
This is incredibly work you’ve done here!
Thanks very kindly.
Mr. Meltz, "Deine Zauber binden wieder Was die Mode streng geteilt..."
You ALWAYS create something that is EXCEPTIONAL. Love the graphics also !
Thanks Geo. Those graphics were almost as tedious to create as was the music. 😆
Carey! Brilliant and Amazing! ❤
Thanks so much Harvey. I’d been working on it here and there for a couple of years (the manual note input was brutal) and then it sort of took off on its own and came together over a few weeks. I am really proud of this one as it is the most complex project I’ve worked on to date. It came out exactly as I always hoped it would… a real tribute to the version Wendy Carlos created for A Clockwork Orange.
HORROR SHOW!!! You are one righteous chelovick for this to have come out of your gulliver.
LOL thanks!
I was cured, all right
😆
A clockwork orange the movie may not that great but the soundtrack was something else
Thank you very much and congratulations on your excellent version of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. It sounds excellent, and it seems like a great success to do it using Wendy Carlos's style and color of sound. I imagine it must have taken many hours of work, but it was worth it. I would like to know the instrumentation you have chosen for this project, that is, the synthesizers you have used and the sequencer you have used. The work on the voices with vococer seems brilliant to me. I encourage you to continue surprising us with your versions and to continue doing so with an open mind as you have approached this work. I mention it because there are sounds that remind me of Isao Tomita and that option seems like a success to me. Thank you for the decision to do it and carry it out and thank you for the music.
Thank you for your thoughtful and detailed comment. It did indeed take many hours to produce and I completed it over a couple of years - the sequencing alone (manual note entry) was brutal! It is my cover of Wendy Carlos' version so I tried to emulate her sound as much as I could. This project was sequenced using Finale and the instrument sounds were created easily with the free synthesizer plug-ins that come with Mixcraft. The "whistle" isn't a nod to Tomita in this piece - it is the flute line in the March portion that Carlos made a whistle to represent the movie's protagonist Alex.
Wow - I missed seeing this one Carey - again a stupendous performance ! Alive, exciting, and brilliant sounds and vocodering (?) A total joy to listen too
Thank you so much Simon. It’s possibly the most complex project I’ve undertaken and sequenced it years ago. I was really pleased how quickly it seemed to all come together when I decided to take it on again. I’m very proud of this work.
And it IS like, for seven minutes Oh My Brothers, some great bird has flown into my TH-cam feed. This is like a bird of rarest spun Heaven Metal.
Thank You for this. So beautiful. So horrowshow My Brother.
Bravissimo Stupendo Maestro
Wow Carey What to Say !!!
We have just listened to this while having our dinner on the mobile.
I'm sure it will even more mind blowing through our sound system.
Dax said that's nice what is it I SAID ITS CAREY 🤣
Well done mate this is so intricate I'll have to listen many times to hear everything 🙏
So glad you enjoyed! I’m sure we’ll chat in private. Take care.
Viddy well, brother! Viddy well!
LOL thanks. 😊
magnificent thumbnail. oh, and great synthesising too :P
Thanks so much. I created the graphics too. (Well, modified the one I made for my other A Clockwork Orange piece “La Gazza Lara”).
oh, what a treat. being a native german speaker, the voice sounds pretty uncanny, but pretty. weird accent. nonetheless, thank you!
The German singing without a German accent certainly would give it a strange accent to you. 😆 It was a conscious decision to do so - giving the voices more of a robotic quality as Wendy Carlos did in her original version.
@@CareyRMeltzi always wondered how Wendy achieved the timbre of the vocoder voice in her original version.
Évidemment like
Bises bravo.
It is singing German with an American accent !!!!! :-(
Exactly as was in Carlos’ version. 😊