OPPapers.com

Sir

Elapsed time
0:00 The movement opens agitatedly as the orchestra picks up fragments of one theme after another
from the previous three movements, as if seeking a satisfactory vehicle for its expression; but each is
discarded in turn.
1:15 The first seven notes of the main theme to come are tentatively uttered, but it too is abandoned
as the search continues.
2:17 Once again the theme begins, this time in the woodwinds, but it soon breaks off.
2:46 Finally, the theme emerges decisively in the basses for a subdued first statement.
3:24 The second statement is calm, tranquil, confident, and the theme continues onward in the
various voices of the orchestra, broad and flowing.
4:38 The winds make a strong statement of the theme.
5:49 The flow of the music abruptly halts--there are rapid shifts--great agitation, until
6:02 the orchestra introduces the baritone singing the first three lines of the poem, rejecting the
feverish discords of the previous passage, calling for a different music, whose nature is suggested by
the strings beneath his voice:
O Freunde, nicht diese Töne,
O friends, not these notes!
sondern lasst uns angenehmere
Rather let us take up something more
anstimmen, und freudenvollere.
pleasant, and more joyful.
6:43 The chorus echoes his "Freude!" and he is off through the first part of the ode on the main
theme:
Freude, schöner Götterfunken
Joy, lovely divine light,
Tochter aus Elysium
Daughter of Elysium
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
We march, drunk with fire,
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum.
Holy One, to thy holy kingdom.
Deine Zauber binden wieder,
Thy magic binds together
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
What tradition has strongly parted,
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
All men will be brothers
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.
Dwelling under the safety of your wings.
7:12 The chorus recapitulates the last four lines of this section.
7:30 The theme is now presented by a vocal quartet, which continues the ode:
Wem der grosse Wurf...