Conductor Seiji Ozawa, in the winter Olympics, 1998 (Nagano, Japan), led “the largest electronic simulation of a concert hall ever imagined”, with simultaneous choirs singing along with the orchestra from NY, Berlin, Beijing China, Cape Town S. Africa, Sydney Australia, Nagano, Japan - 5 continents

Not without background: since 1956, the Ninth Symphony has been done at every Olympics
In the gen. public’s mind, there are 2 Ninths: 1) the choral hymn itself and 2) the complete symphony, w/ its long buildup to a climax

POLITICAL background

With the collapse of Napoleonic empire, return of monarchies to power (!), “retrenchment and repression closed in on Europe”

In other words, leaders did everything they could to repress the patriotic nationalist movements that were burgeoning in every country (esp. student movements that were sowing the seeds for the Revolutions of 1848)

all this taking shape against background of INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION -- which was irreversibly changing the way of life

European culture moving toward dominance of “bourgeoisie” (typified by Austrian/German “Biedermeier” culture
reflected the middle class economic comfort, politically conservative, interested in art primarily as ‘cultivated’ entertainment
In music this meant piano at home in the parlor, playing singing familiar works of the past -- easy amateur music

GREAT CHANGES taking place in society: increasingly stratified into highbrow and lowbrow in the age of industrialized capitalism

Liberals bitterly opposed harshly conservative gov’ts’ resurgence
In Britain, ECONOMIC MISERY (Dickens)...mass demonstrations in the year after Napoleon’s downfall, working-class demonstrations in Peterloo in 1819...(massacre)

Enraged by the violence, Shelley wrote “The Mask of Anarchy” a long poem of protest.

AUSTRIA under Metternich: very repressive

In 1815, (during Congress of Vienna) “perpetual spying was the order of the day” Artists such as Beethoven, who were known for their republican views were suspect, and the Conversation Books reflect the atmosphere of suspicion that ruled the city.
[An entry in 1820: “another time--just know the spy Haensl is here.”

Beethoven’s anxiety increasing:

[quote]: Venom and rancor raged in him. He defies everything and is dissatisfied with everything, blaspheming against Austria and especially Vienna...Everyone is a scoundrel. There is nobody one can trust. What is not down in black and white is not observed by anyone, not even by the man with whom you have made an agreement.

In a conversation book (1820) Anton Schindler wrote: Before the FR Revolution there was great freedom of thought and politics. The revolution made the government and the nobility distrust the common people, which has led to the current repression...The regimes, as they are now constituted, are not in tune with the needs of the time; eventually they will have to change or become more easy-going , that is, become a little different.

It is against such a background that we can take the measure of Beethoven’s decision to return in 1824-5 to his old idea of setting Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” and to present it, not as a solo song to be heard in the private salons of music lovers but as an anthem that could be performed on the grandest possible scale in the concert hall, the most public of settings.

Beethoven in his new symphony that would have Schiller’s ode as the centerpiece, meant to leave to posterity a public monument of his liberal beliefs. His decision to fashion a great work that would convey the poet’s utopian vision of human brotherhood is a statement of support for the principles of democracy at a time when direct political action on behalf of such principles was difficult and dangerous. It enabled him to realize in his own way what Shelley meant when he called poets the “unacknowledged legislators of the world.