Daniel Barenboim.
In Monday’s (5/6) New York Times, conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim writes, “Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was first performed exactly 200 years ago Tuesday and has since become probably the work most likely to be embraced for political purposes. It was played at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin; it was performed in that city again on Christmas 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall …; the European Union adopted the symphony’s “Ode to Joy” theme as its anthem…. Beethoven might have been surprised at the political allure of his masterpiece. He was interested in politics, but only because he was deeply interested in humanity. The story goes that he originally wanted to dedicate his ‘Eroica’ symphony to Napoleon … but he changed his mind after Napoleon abandoned the ideals of the French Revolution and was crowned emperor. I don’t believe, however, that Beethoven was interested in everyday politics. He was not an activist. Instead, he was a deeply political man in the broadest sense of the word. He was concerned with moral behavior and the larger questions of right and wrong affecting all of society. Especially significant for him was freedom of thought and of personal expression.”
