[12/24/2011] Sunday Classics bonus: The complete finale of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony

Jon Vickers

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125: iv. Finale: Presto; Allegro assai

[Time cues are for the (1) Monteux and (2) Maazel recordings.]

Bass [6:52, 6:24]
O friends, not these sounds, rather
let us strike up pleasanter
and more joyful ones.
beginning of Schiller's ode "To Joy" [7:35, 7:15]
Joy, fair offshoot of the gods,
daughter from Elysium,
we step drunk with fire,
heavenly one, into your sanctuary.
Bass and Chorus [8:12, 7:48]
Your spells reunite
what convention rigorously parted;
all men become brothers
where your gentle wing tarries.
Soloists [8:36, 8:10]
He who has had the great fortune
to be friend to a friend,
he who has won a lovely wife,
let him join his exultation with ours!
Soloists and Chorus [9:07, 8:36]
Yes, whoever has even one soul
to call his own on the earth's globe!
And he who has never succeeded in that, may he
take himself off, weeping, from this fellowship.
Soloists [9:30, 8:56]
All beings drink of joy
at Nature's breasts;
all the good, all the bad
follow in her rosy path.
Soloists and Chorus [10:02, 9:23]
Kisses she gave us, and vines,
and a friend tested unto death;
voluptuousness was given to the worm,
and the cherub stands before God.
Tenor and Chorus [10:42, 10:05]
Happily, as his suns fly
across the heavens' splendid expanse,
run, brothers, your course,
joyfully, like a hero toward victory.
Orchestral interlude [12:32, 11:45]
Chorus [14:20, 13:30]
Joy, fair offshoot of the gods,
daughter from Elysium,
we step drunk with fire,
heavenly one, into your sanctuary.
Your spells reunite
what convention rigorously parted;
all men become brothers
where your gentle wing tarries.
[15:12, 14:30]
Be embraced, o millions!
This kiss for the whole world!
Brothers! Beyond the canopy of the stars
a loving Father must dwell.
[17:03, 16:01]
Do you fall to your knees, millions?
Do you sense the Creator, world?
Look for him beyond the canopy of the stars,
beyond stars he must dwell.
[18:31, 17:26]
Be embraced, o millions!
This kiss for the whole world!
[19:05, 17:46]
Joy, fair offshoot of the gods,
daughter from Elysium,
we step drunk with fire,
heavenly one, into your sanctuary.
Do you fall to your knees, millions?
Do you sense the Creator, world?
Look for him beyond the canopy of the stars,
brothers! Beyond the canopy of the stars
a loving Father must dwell.
Soloists and Chorus [21:21, 20:17]
Daughter from Elysium,
your spells reunite
what convention rigorously parted;
all men become brothers
where your gentle wing tarries.
Chorus [23:43, 22:46]
Be embraced, o millions!
This kiss for the whole world!
Brothers! Beyond the canopy of the stars
a loving Father must dwell.
Be embraced, o millions!
This kiss for the whole world!
Joy, fair offshoot of the gods,
daughter from Elysium,
joy, fair offshoot of the gods.

-- translation by Bernard Jacobson

Elisabeth Söderström, soprano; Regina Resnik, mezzo-soprano; Jon Vickers, tenor; David Ward, bass-baritone; London Bach Choir, London Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux, cond. Westminster/MCA/DG, recorded June 1962
Lucia Popp, soprano; Elena Obraztsova, mezzo-soprano; Jon Vickers, tenor; Martti Talvela, bass; Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel, cond. CBS/Sony, recorded Oct. 13-15, 1978


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Wie seine Sonnen fliegen" and Handel's "Comfort ye"


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