For many, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and in particular the finale “Ode to Joy”, is synonymous with the term “Classical music”.
It represents a huge achievement in the symphonic repertoire of the Classical Era, and poses some instrumental excerpts that still pose a challenge to cellists today.
One of the iconic cello excerpts, which frequently appears on cello auditions, is the recitative that we play in measure 8.
Before we dig into it, let’s watch a quick introduction from Eric Kim’s tonebase course on this exact excerpt:
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The content of this post is largely based on learnings from this course, so if you want to get the full picture we highly encourage you to check it out!
Continuing ahead, we find that the recitative that we play in m. 8 is later sung by the basso baritone (the vocal soloist with the lowest voice).
The words come largely from Friedrich Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” and are printed here, translated into English. Think about how you might play these words musically:
There are six entrances at the beginning of this fourth movement. It’s important to note that the celli are together with the basses.
This means that, while we have some freedom, it’s not easy to move forward when we’re together with another section, especially an instrument as large as the double bass. In an orchestra setting, Kim usually asks the principal bassist to lead the motion from his chair.
Our first entrance interrupts the orchestral tutti that started the movement. Kim’s bowing changes on this entrance – he uses an up-bow on the first A, which creates a sense of direction toward the downbeat. Playing two down-bows can feel even stronger. The ideal balance is to use a strong up-bow for a sense of direction to the downbeat.
The second entrance, at m. 24, is also an interruption, and has a very similar character. The first one ends in a question, while the second ends emphatically.
At Allegro ma non troppo, we return to the very opening of the first movement.
The third entrance in m. 38 is an expanded version of our first entrance at m. 8 – Kim separates the two eighth notes at the start so they sound like a pick-up.
{{trip-wire}}
Our fourth entrance at m. 56 is another interruption that ends in a question mark. After that, at Tempo I (m. 65), we have our first non-invasive entrance, though the character changes mid-phrase into a very declamatory and emphatic ending.
The last phrase is the Tempo I at m. 81. We begin with the gesture from our first entrance, but develop in a different direction. Your sound here should be open and warm, never angry
Conclusion
And there you have it, you should now be better equipped to handle this famous yet tricky cello excerpt.
If you want to learn more about the best practice approaches for repertoire just like this, be sure to check out tonebase Cello.
You’ll find courses with the biggest names in cello, such as Mischa Maisky, Jan Vogler, Tina Guo, and more.
And as a bonus, you’ll receive invitations to weekly live events, a forum of passionate cellists, and custom annotated scores and workbooks like the excerpts shown above.
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