Word: beethoven
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...Beethoven the "greatest composer in musical history...
...achievement of his career. An orchestra and chorus had finally mastered the then "superhuman" difficulties of the score. The great concert hall in Vienna was packed to overflowing; tears came to the performers' eyes as the music started; the performance was frequently interrupted by thunders of the applause. But Beethoven himself heard nothing. He was 'deaf. It was not until his friend Unger wheeled him around that he saw the enthusiasm of the audience...
...seemed to many in the audience that all this frantic striving after gigantic effects did not, could not, fulfil Beethoven's expectations for his magnum opus. The Master was straining every nerve to be really Heaven-storming. Not content with a mere orchestra, he had to have a quartet of solo-singers and a huge choir: something decidedly new and revolutionary for his time. He treated the voices brutally: made them sing a series of long high notes that are almost unmanageable...
...possible that Beethoven, for all his reported genius, and for all the inspiration that overwhelms the listener to his Fifth, was near the end of his life merely a platitudinous Dr. Frank Crane of music...
Sunday afternoon in Symphony Hall, Mme Schumann-Heink will sing songs of Mozart, Liszt, Schubert, Beethoven and Wagner. To comment on Mme. Schumann-Heink's artistry would be superfluous...