Happy Birthday Beethoven (and Baylor)

Beethoven was on the precipice of complete deafness when he began to compose his 9th and final symphony. His hearing had been diminishing for many years and when his 9th Symphony premiered in 1824, despite not being the principal conductor, Beethoven stood beside conductor Michael Umloff and also conducted the orchestra, though they followed their principal conductor and not the deaf composer. By the time the crowd was applauding, Beethoven was so far off the tempo of the primary conductor that one of the soloists had to stop his conducting and turn him around to accept the standing ovation his work had elicited. The crowd was largely aware of his deafness and, according to lore, made their praise of his work as visual as possible, waving handkerchiefs and hats. 

I often visualize these Vienna premieres in my mind when I get to hear Beethoven's works performed. After listening to primarily Karajan's Beethoven cycle for many years with his manic last movement of the 9th, it was refreshing last night to get to hear the 9th Symphony performed at a tempo that I think Beethoven would have himself appreciated. 

It is difficult to attempt to walk in Beethoven’s shoes for any length. There is a sad irony of Everest proportion to the thought that the greatest composer to ever live wrote what many today consider to be one of the finest works ever written...and he did it while deaf. This is made ever more profound when considering the piece is themed on “Joy.” I thoroughly enjoyed reading Robin Wallace's notes in the program last night. (They provided an explanation of much of the music, that the joy comes out of chaos, and give hope that even he had found peace...) I have to imagine that "chaos" has to be be exactly how Beethoven felt in the latter years of his life. I often wonder if the wellspring of music inside of him actually ever stopped, or the symphony in his head simply continued becoming ever more personal. How many works of genius is it possible were lost because, in his depression, they simply didn’t get scribed? This work conclusively proved that the music never stopped, and maybe after a few hundred years of analysis, we can say that it was actually profoundly more genius and more personal than his previous works. 

This year is Baylor’s 175th birthday, but it is also Beethoven’s 250th birthday and the whole world is celebrating. Baylor University’s School of Music added to the symphonic worldwide celebration in concert last night performing a full program of his material with the addition of a piece by Kevin Puts that is a musical tale of Beethoven’s life, followed by Beethoven's Romance No. 2 in F with a faculty violin soloist, Patricia Shih, that was, in a word, perfect. The entire night's performance, in preparation to perform it at the Texas Music Educator's Association,  was masterful and as I often find myself at Baylor School of Music events, I had to forcibly remind myself that I wasn’t listening to a major metropolitan symphony, but a group of students in Waco, Texas. Baylor is always a place of surprises. And I don’t mean that as any sort of slight to our students. I simply don’t expect students anywhere to perform to the level that we get the honor of witnessing here. The faculty vocal soloists were also jaw-dropping. It's no wonder our students are this good! 

Whether walking the halls of the art department, watching our athletes score point after point, or listening to the absurdly good performances emanating from Jones Performance Hall, “Baylor” should be on the mouths of anyone looking to synonymize “excellence.” And I should probably realign my expectations. I've been to enough concerts now in my almost 4 years here to know better. Bottom line: you never need to leave Waco, Texas, to find an evening that is filled with this much talent...and joy. 
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Congratulations to the Baylor men and women who would have made Beethoven proud last night! Here is the fourth movement of Symphony #9 in its entirety, recorded in Jones Hall on the Baylor campus, February 8, 2020: