Joyce Maier wrote:

>...  Beethoven's sketches show that he wanted to express the high starry
>sky where God is supposed to live by putting notes as high as possible
>to that sentence "Ueber Sternen muss er wohnen." Singers often complain
>about those notes.  I can understand that very well, but here once again
>Beethoven stretched the possibilities of the human voice because he
>considered the expression more important than those tortured vocal
>chords.

For whatever reason that section of the 9th finale has always evoked the
image of the starry sky to me.  I never examined where the association
came from.  I really don't care.  It's a lovely moment that has always
meant a lot to me, as so much else does in Beethoven.

Bill S