Humor y amor

While the Eighth is Beethoven's shortest and most ironic symphony, the Ninth is the most ambitious and ethical. Yet all of this has been prepared in a laboratory that experiments with compressing dramatic tensions and expanding festive energy. "Serious" quartets and "grace songs," along with trios such as the Ghost and the Archduke, have prepared the contrapuntic densities of the piano (Hammerklavier) and increasingly risky experiments, such as their last Sonata op. 111, not to mention the Solemn Mass. In other words, sonatas, quartets, and the rest of his work have become sketches to conjure the monument to peace and friendship that will be the Ninth Symphony.