# Review of Beethoven concert

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/review-of-beethoven-concert/293252>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 6, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/review-of-beethoven-concert/293252 "2005-03-06T22:19:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/review-of-beethoven-concert/293252/1 "2005-03-06T22:19:17Z")

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We sang at two performances over the weekend for the opening of the Sydney Symphony’s 2005 season. It was a Beethoven gala: a re-creation of a concert that Beethoven himself conducted on 22 December 1808. It was a mammoth programme, starting at 7.00pm and ending just before midnight.

The choir didn’t have a lot to do - just the \*Gloria \* and \*Sanctus \* from the _Mass in C_ and the final chorus in the _Choral Fantasy_. But the [review](http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12460933%255E26117,00.html) in today’s \*Australian \* is pretty good (for the choir, at least).

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**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/review-of-beethoven-concert/293252/2 "2005-03-06T23:48:55Z")

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Wow, sounds like your part in the mammoth event was superbly played. Congratulations!

I’ve heard that Beethoven’s vocal music can be fiendishly difficult to sing. Is this true?

On the other hand, when the soloists and the choir gets it right, his vocal music will grab you by the throat and lift you right out of your seat. Must make all the hard work worth it.

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**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/review-of-beethoven-concert/293252/3 "2005-03-07T00:25:13Z")

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> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#):
>
> I’ve heard that Beethoven’s vocal music can be fiendishly difficult to sing. Is this true?
> 
> On the other hand, when the soloists and the choir gets it right, his vocal music will grab you by the throat and lift you right out of your seat. Must make all the hard work worth it.

The stuff we had to do over the weekend was pretty straightforward. Some of his choral music however can be extremely difficult, both musically and physically e.g. the final fugues in the \*Gloria \* and the \*Credo \* of the _Missa Solemnis_. They’re very challenging.

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**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/review-of-beethoven-concert/293252/4 "2005-03-07T01:49:35Z")

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Oh, yeh, the _Credo_ of the _Missa Solemnis_ is a mind-boggler, I can’t imagine trying to follow one’s singing line through that incredible tangle.

Isn’t that what Beethoven was working on when, according to legend, he came stomping and screaming out of his room, scaring his landlady half to death?