Symphony No. 9 "Choral" (Beethoven)

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Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is a work for large orchestra and choir that is almost universally considered to be the composer's magnum opus and perhaps the greatest symphonic work ever written in the history of Western music. Known best for its sprawling fourth, and final movement in which Beethoven sets Friedrich Schiller's poem "An die Freude" (better known to English speakers as "Ode to Joy") to perhaps one of the world's most recognizable melodies, the Ninth Symphony is considered by some to represent the climax of humanism in European musical art, which would not be repeated, much less surpassed until the rise of Gustav Mahler nearly three quarters of a century later. The work has gone on to inspire countless musicians and artists with hope that one day their own art might achieve a similar level of greatness and human cultural impact that this singular work has achieved; and the many listeners who have had the opportunity to witness a full performance of Beethoven's Ninth since its Viennese debut in 1824 have come away from the experience transformed for the better because of it.