Mats Norman wrote:

>Speaking about the march in Beethoven 9 - it is a great joke.  Imagine
>writing world historys most serious symphony, and then comes this!!  I
>consider it an example of the masters most contraversial humour - and
>humour is avalue in Beethoven.

John Elliott Gardiner in his notes on this Symphony mention that Beethoven
was purposely using French Revoltionary Band Marches to get a philosophical
point across (he cites the music of Mehul and Gossec as examples). Given
Beethoven's appreciation of the ideals of the French Revoltion, and the
concept of the final movement, this explanation makes a lot of sense.

"Kim Patrick Clow" <[log in to unmask]>