Episode 25 – The Human Voice

Beethoven once said, “When I hear sounds in my head, they are the sounds of the orchestra”. This week, John examines the music Beethoven composed for the human voice. John discovers why Beethoven had an uneasy relationship with a composer who was teaching him to write for voices, Antonio Salieri. He will also play a rare piece that was part of a Beethoven song cycle; the first written by any major composer, and reveals why Beethoven also became the first to include the human voice in a symphony. But when it came to perform that work for the first time, why did the soloists complain? And why were the early rehearsals a disaster? John reveals the real story behind Beethoven’s Symphony No.9, the Choral. All the Beethoven pieces featured in this podcast are taken from the 90-disc Naxos box set, the Complete Beethoven Edition. You can buy yours by heading to Presto Classical and Europadisc.