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Random House
June 2010
On Sale: June 15, 2010
240 pages
ISBN: 140006077X
EAN: 9781400060771
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
“All men become brothers . . .nBe embraced, ye millions!”n
nThe Ninth Symphony, a symbol of freedom and joy, was
Beethoven’s mightiest attempt to help humanity find its way
from darkness to light, from chaos to peace. Yet the work
was born in a repressive era, with terrified Bourbons,
Hapsburgs, and Romanovs using every means at their disposal
to squelch populist rumblings in the wake of the French
Revolution and Napoleon’s wars. Ironically, the premiere of
this hymn to universal brotherhood took place in Vienna, the
capital of a nation that Metternich was turning into the
first modern police state.nnThe Ninth’s unveiling, on May
7, 1824, was the most significant artistic event of the
year, and the work remains one of the most
precedent-shattering and influential compositions in the
history of music—a reference point and inspiration that
resonates even today. But in The Ninth, eminent music
historian Harvey Sachs demonstrates that Beethoven was not
alone in his discontent with the state of the world. Lord
Byron died in 1824 during an attempt to free Greece from the
domination of the Ottoman empire; Delacroix painted a
masterpiece in support of that same cause; Pushkin,
suffering at the hands of an autocratic czar, began to draft
his anti-authoritarian play Boris Godunov; and Stendhal and
Heine wrote works that mocked conventional ways of
thinking.nnThe Ninth Symphony was so unorthodox that it
amazed and confused listeners at its premiere—described by
Sachs in vibrant detail—yet it became a standard for
subsequent generations of creative artists, and its composer
came to embody the Romantic cult of genius. In this
unconventional, provocative new book, Beethoven’s masterwork
becomes a prism through which we may view the politics,
aesthetics, and overall climate of the era.nnPart
biography, part history, part memoir, The Ninth brilliantly
explores the intricacies of Beethoven’s last symphony—how it
brought forth the power of the individual while celebrating
the collective spirit of humanity.
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