Beethoven's 9th Symphony Analysis

Beethoven 's 9th Symphony is a very famous piece of 19th century music that is known around the world. Different people have different opinions on this piece, for example, a musician that has studied Beethoven and his music in detail may think differently compared to someone who is not so knowledgeable about the subject. These opinions, from two different perspectives, have been formed based on values that have been constructed and shaped by the society in which we live today. This essay will discuss some of the different perspectives that Beethoven 's 9th Symphony may be viewed from and the possible values that these view-points could hold. From a performance perspective, Beethoven 's 9th symphony was at first, in the 19th century, seen as

The diegetic music starts and there is an extreme close up of Beethoven 's face, this is followed by a series of jump cuts that are in time with the music and this could be seen to emphasise the importance of the music. The scene ends with dynamic cutting which is when a series of seemingly unrelated shots are shown in juxtaposition and this is representative of the rapist 'attaining release '. A film critic may see the music as very important in this scene as it emphasises what is going on visually. Many are aware that Beethoven 's 9th Symphony was rumoured to be representative of a rape so this piece of music makes the meaning of the scene slightly clearer. Film critics value creativity both visually and audibly and certainly when they interlink and emphasise one another just as they do in this

The ‘High Art vs Low Art’ divide is a 19th century construction that has been created by society. What constitutes as ‘high art’ is always changing, for example Jazz used to be classed as low art in the early 20th century. It was associated with black people and racism was very prominent in society during this time which made the genre unpopular but in modern-day culture it is now seen as high art. 'High art is appreciated by those with the most cultivated taste. Low art is for the masses, accessible and easily comprehended. ' (Matthew Plescher 2013). This means that high art is seen as serious and concerned with the mind and reason whereas low art is seen as quite the opposite and this shows that the culture we live in values objects that are difficult, intellectual and spiritual/transcendent over objects that are easy/simple and