Vienna, 1824

I have quoted enough extracts from the reviews that followed the premiere, and a repeat performance given a fortnight later, for their general tone to be clear: despite the shortcomings in the orchestra and chorus, the critics agreed, the great Beethoven had again proved himself to be at the height of his creative powers. But how did these earliest critics of the Ninth Symphony actually hear the music? How did they respond to its sonorities, themes, and forms? Some of them seem to have been too overcome to enter into details: ‘After a single hearing of these immense compositions’, wrote the Theater-Zeitung correspondent, ‘one can scarcely say more than that one has heard them. To engage in an illuminating discussion is impossible for anyone who only attended the performance.’ But other critics were prepared to attempt the impossible, writing unusually long and detailed reports on the music. Of these, Kanne was probably the only one who had seen the score; he visited Beethoven in late May to look at it.

In what follows, I shall try to set these critics' responses into the context of the musical form as it might be seen today.

First movement

The correspondent for the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung described the opening movement as