Beethovens choral fantasy & turkish march

We are tracing the amazing development of the 4th movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony step by step, and relating it to the symphony as a whole, as we proceed. We urge readers to follow and listen to the development of the movement, from the beginning, and more than once a sheet music version is again posted below as a visual aid. You will find it well worth your while!

In this exploration, we turn our attention to two of Beethoven's remarkable compositions: the Choral Fantasy and the Turkish March.

Many people have followed a play, or a novel all the way through. It is less common with great music, since it is almost a foreign language to many of us. It is however, an enriching experience. Part 1: discussed the poem, and creating universal brotherhood through the spread of joy: specifically the joy associated with reason, love, and creativity.

Part 2: compared the work to the Apollo Project, in that it was necessary to provide optimism in a time of great trouble that required new discoveries and breakthroughs. Beethoven has to develop something that had never been done before. Part 3: discussed how Beethoven shared his method of creative discovery with the world, in his unprecedented introduction to the movement that shared his search for a higher idea.

Part 4: discussed how Beethoven, after that introduction, rather than proceeding with the Ode to Joy theme as perfected, presented it as an hypothesis, to be tested and proven through a set of variations. It ended with a cliff hanger: why did he interrupt the process and return to the opening dissonance? Part 5: addressed that question by demonstrating that the human voice still had to be introduced.

It was something new and revolutionary in a symphony. A one minute recitative by a solo baritone voice, condenses the much longer introduction into a single line of music.