????????between the creation of the 8th symphony in 1812 and the 9th one, there has an unusual silent period for Beethoven. During that time, he was brewing a symphony in d minor in his mind. He scribbled a simple theme in 1815 in his creative note, and it is exactly the embryo of the basic theme of the scherzo movement of the future 9th symphony.

????????貝多芬從創(chuàng)作《第八交響曲》（1812年）到創(chuàng)作《第九交響曲》，中間有一段不同尋常的沉默時期。在這個時期里，他的腦海里一直在醞釀著一部《d小調(diào)交響曲》。1815年，他在創(chuàng)作筆記中匆匆地寫下了一個簡潔的主題，這便是日后《第九交響曲》詼諧曲樂章基本主題的胚胎。

????????As for the general image of the 9th symphony, Beethoven by no means had a clear idea at the beginning. There used to be a plan for Beethoven to set Schiller's Ode to Joy word for word to music as early as he was 22. It is a regret that this idea, although haunted him all along, never became a reality over the past 30 years.

????????關(guān)于《第九交響曲》的整體形象，一開始的時候貝多芬并沒有一個清晰的認(rèn)識。早在22歲時，貝多芬就有過一個計(jì)劃，逐句逐段地把席勒的《歡樂頌》譜成曲子。30年來，這個念頭一直在他心頭若隱若現(xiàn)，但始終未能變成現(xiàn)實(shí)，讓他深感遺憾。

????????Schiller is one of the representatives of German Enlightenment Literature, an accepted great writer second only to Goethe in the history of German literature. In 1785, 26-year-old Schiller came to Leipzig to seek refuge with one of his friends and start writing the play Don Carlos. It is alleged that one morning, Schiller went by a river and rescued a seminary student jumping into the river in desperation. Good advice from the poet summoned up the student's courage for living. The incident touched Schiller and thus gave birth to the poem Ode to Joy. Although there is something in praise of friendship in it, what is more important is it conveyed the highest aspirations of "freedom, equality, fraternity" and "truth, goodness, beauty" Schiller was after. The reason why Ode to Joy inspired Beethoven is that the grace and vigor of the Sturm und Drang embodied in Schiller's poem was just in tune with Beethoven's feeling.

????????席勒是德國啟蒙文學(xué)的代表人物之一，被公認(rèn)為德國文學(xué)史上僅次于歌德的偉大作家。1785年，26歲的席勒來到萊比錫投奔友人，開始創(chuàng)作劇本《唐·卡洛斯》。據(jù)說有一天早晨，席勒路過一條河邊，救起了一位因走投無路而跳河自盡的神學(xué)院學(xué)生。詩人好言相勸，使那個學(xué)生重新鼓起了生活的勇氣。這個偶然事件觸動了席勒，他揮筆寫下了詩作《歡樂頌》。席勒創(chuàng)作這首詩有歌頌友誼的成分，但更主要的是它高度表達(dá)了席勒追求“自由、平等、博愛”和“真、善、美”的最高理想?！稓g樂頌》之所以能激發(fā)貝多芬的創(chuàng)作欲望，就在于席勒的這篇詩作體現(xiàn)了“狂飆突進(jìn)”運(yùn)動的氣度和風(fēng)骨，與貝多芬的情懷一拍即合。

????????However, it is by no means an easy job to translate Schiller's poetry into melody and harmony and introduce symphonic thinking into it. In Beethoven's eyes, Schiller's poem seemed like floating clouds in the sky, too elusive to be put into musical image. The first three movements of the 9th symphony ran rather smoothly, while he abandon himself to unprecedented distress when it came to the 4th one. He was unable to find a means of seamless counterpoint to bring Schiller's Ode to Joy into symphony. In essence, Beethoven's distress lay in the fact that he couldn't find a conjunction between German classical, romantic music and classical literature. It was not until 1809 that he gradually found a breakthrough for it. He penned in his creative note like this: "Laugh, beautiful spiritual spark, heavenly girl—write an overture", "it is no a coherent whole for punctuation such as beggars want to be the brother of a prince", "to integrate incoherent parts in Schiller's Ode to Joy into a whole."

????????然而，要想把席勒的詩作轉(zhuǎn)化成旋律與和聲，引進(jìn)交響樂的思維，這絕不是一件容易的事情。在貝多芬看來，席勒的詩仿佛是高空中漂浮的云朵，飄飄忽忽，行蹤不定，無法化成音樂形象?！兜诰沤豁懬返那叭齻€樂章進(jìn)展得還算順利，在創(chuàng)作第四樂章時，他陷入了前所未有的苦惱之中。他無法找到一種天衣無縫的對位方法把席勒的《歡樂頌》引進(jìn)交響曲。實(shí)質(zhì)上貝多芬的苦惱就在于他沒有找到一個融合點(diǎn)，把德國古典派和浪漫派音樂同德國古典文學(xué)結(jié)合到一起。直到1809年，貝多芬才逐漸找到了突破點(diǎn)。他在創(chuàng)作筆記中這樣寫道：“美麗的神靈火花，歡笑吧，天堂的姑娘——寫出序曲”；“乞丐要成為公侯的兄弟這類斷句并不是一個整體”；“把席勒《歡樂頌》中的一些斷句組合成一個整體?！?br>

????????As Beethoven's friend Schindler described, one day Beethoven came into the house and blurted out the words on seeing him: "I found! I found!" With these words Beethoven opened his creative note and wrote like this: "Let's sing this immortal song by Schiller!"

????????根據(jù)貝多芬的好友申德勒的描述，有一天貝多芬走進(jìn)屋子，遇見了申德勒，劈頭蓋臉的一句話就是：“我找到了！我找到了！”說罷，貝多芬翻開創(chuàng)作筆記本，在上邊這樣寫道：“讓我們大家都來唱不朽的席勒寫的這首歌吧！”

????????Having been finished, the premiere of the 9th symphony was not going well. As stipulated the contract, this piece should have made its debut in London, while in Beethoven's opinion the music capital Vienna was no other than the best choice. But in those days, Beethoven's musical style was challenged by Rossini's opera and it was under attack for being outdated. In this case, Berlin captured Beethoven's fancy as the right place for premiere. As news broke, this painstaking musical work experienced a surge in interest from Vienna audience, who pressed for its debut in Vienna, a few of them went so far as to signed a letter to Beethoven. Faced with sincere urge from the audience, Beethoven changed his mind and began to plan the premiere of the 9th symphony in Vienna.

????????《第九交響曲》完成后，它的首演并不順利。按照合同，這部作品原本應(yīng)該放到英國倫敦去首演，但是貝多芬覺得音樂之都維也納才是最好的選擇。可是在當(dāng)時，貝多芬的音樂風(fēng)格在維也納受到了羅西尼歌劇的強(qiáng)大沖擊，有人甚至攻擊貝多芬的音樂過時了。面對著這種現(xiàn)實(shí)情況，貝多芬又打算把首演改到德國柏林。消息傳開后，維也納的聽眾對這部傾盡貝多芬數(shù)十年心血的作品興趣大增，紛紛強(qiáng)烈呼吁把《第九交響曲》放在維也納首演，很多人還為此聯(lián)名寫信給貝多芬。面對著廣大聽眾充滿真情的挽留，貝多芬回心轉(zhuǎn)意，開始籌劃《第九交響曲》在維也納舉行首次演出。

????????The playing of the 9th symphony from the first note to the last one lasts at least a hour. Not a few passages are too difficult to play, which entail solid foundation and excellent skills of the musician. Not only the performers in the orchestra dissatisfied Beethoven, but the singers prepared for the premiere irritated him in rehearsal, because they were flawed in the performance of these difficult passages. Beethoven was suggested to change some of them to be easier. Although the rehearsal for the first time was terrible, Beethoven, instead of making a concession, stuck to his pursuit of perfect art and by no means changed one note. For this reason, the rehearsal took a long time and the date of the presentation had to be put off time and again.

????????《第九交響曲》全曲從頭至尾至少需要演奏一個小時以上，有不少段落演奏起來頗具難度，需要樂手具有扎實(shí)的功底和出色的技巧。在排練過程中，不僅樂團(tuán)的樂手們讓貝多芬不夠滿意，那些預(yù)定參加首演的歌唱家們也讓貝多芬很惱火，他們在表現(xiàn)其中一些高難度的段落時不夠完美，有人便建議貝多芬對樂曲的某些段落做些改動，以減小表現(xiàn)上的難度。第一次合練的效果很差，但貝多芬并沒有讓步，他堅(jiān)持自己對藝術(shù)完美的追求，一個音符也沒有改動。因?yàn)檫@個原因，這部作品的排練時間拖得很長，演出日期不得不一改再改。

????????The 9th symphony was eventually premiered in K?rntnertor theater, Vienna on May 7th, 1824. Beethoven was the conductor. But actually, as marked on the programme, he only "took part in the conducting affair" as a result of his thorough deafness. He failed to hear rounds of applause from the audience for five times in succession. According to the rules of the time, it was only when the emperor came that three rounds were allowed. Police outside had no idea what's wrong with it, they couldn't help but hurry inside to keep order. Just then, Beethoven still stood beside the orchestra with his back to the audience. It was not until the contralto singer Unger took him by the hand to turn him around that he suddenly saw everyone stood up waving his hat and applauded like a crazy man. Beethoven was so touched by this extraordinary enthusiastic scene that he fainted on the stage then and there.

????????1824年5月7日，《第九交響曲》終于在維也納克倫特納托爾戲院首次公演，由貝多芬親自指揮，實(shí)際上正像節(jié)目單上所注明的那樣，他是“參與指揮事宜”，因?yàn)樗耆@了。他沒有聽見全場觀眾一次又一次地?zé)崃夜恼?，連續(xù)鼓了五次掌。按照當(dāng)時的規(guī)定，只有皇帝來到會場時，才允許鼓掌三次，場外的警察不知道出了什么亂子，連忙跑進(jìn)來維持秩序。這時候，貝多芬還背對著觀眾站在樂隊(duì)旁邊，直到女低音歌唱演員翁格爾牽著他的手轉(zhuǎn)過身來，讓他面對聽眾，他才突然看見全場起立，揮舞著帽子，發(fā)瘋一般地向他鼓掌。貝多芬被這超乎尋常的熱情場面所感動，竟然暈倒在臺上。

????????There are altogether four movements in the 9th symphony, in spite of the fact that by breaking the tie of tradition, Beethoven prolonged the length greatly and arranged a lengthy introduction for the 4th movement. There are many ups and downs in the melody of the first movement, now depressed, now solemn and stirring, it seemed as though warriors charge a pass over and over again, one steps into the breach as another falls to win. The second movement should have been an adagio, but Beethoven took advantage of molto vivace to express a clear, uplifting theme. He was innovatory in the orchestration of the third movement, albeit it is adagio, expressed softness with gentle melody and bestowed it intense lyricism and philosophic consideration.

????????《第九交響曲》一共四個樂章，但貝多芬打破了傳統(tǒng)的束縛，大大地加長了篇幅。他還為第四樂章安排了一段漫長的引子。第一樂章的旋律跌宕起伏，時而壓抑，時而悲壯，人們似乎看到勇士們不斷地沖擊關(guān)口，前仆后繼，去奪取勝利。第二樂章通常應(yīng)該是慢板，而貝多芬卻用了極活潑的快板，表現(xiàn)出明朗振奮的主題。第三樂章是慢板樂章，但貝多芬有意在編排上加以創(chuàng)新，用平緩的旋律來表現(xiàn)柔美，使之具有強(qiáng)烈的抒情性和哲理性。

????????The fourth movement is the quintessence of the 9th symphony. It is generally divided into two parts: the prelude and the vocal part. In the prelude, the themes of the first three movements reappear in sequence, at the end of it, Ode to Joy is introduced by slow woodwinds, and in this way the main theme arises! In this respect, Beethoven, instead of copy Schiller's source poem, selected the first half of the first, second section and the second half of the third, fourth section, not only manifested the rhyme of it, but got even beyond the realm of Schiller's poetry. With impassioned words, presto and magnificent melody, solo, duet and chorus within the four parts, Ode to Joy sang people's longing for "freedom, equality and fraternity" out, exalted the theme of "bursting with love for humanity". "Unite here, hundreds of millions of people, we must love each other forever. Come on friend, there exists a benevolent God favors us in heaven." At the end of the fourth movement, the magnificent and solemn atmosphere was driven to the climax, Ode to Joy got to the top of the symphony in an infinite bright and brilliant scene and rang through the universe.?

????????第四樂章是《第九交響曲》的精髓。它通常被劃分為兩個部分——序奏以及人聲。在序奏中，前三個樂章的基本主題依次重現(xiàn)，最后用木管徐徐引出了《歡樂頌》，作品的主題終于出現(xiàn)了！在這里，貝多芬并沒有照搬席勒的原詩，只選用了全詩的第一節(jié)、第二節(jié)的前半部分，第三節(jié)和第四節(jié)的后半部分，不僅表達(dá)了原詩的精神氣度，而且還超過了席勒原詩的境界。伴隨著激情澎湃的唱詞和急速雄壯的旋律，在四個不同聲部人聲的獨(dú)唱、重唱以及大合唱團(tuán)的合唱下，《歡樂頌》唱出了人們對“自由、平等、博愛”精神的渴望，“對人類充滿愛”的主題得到了升華?！皟|萬人民，團(tuán)結(jié)起來，大家永遠(yuǎn)要相愛。朋友們，在那天堂上，仁愛上帝眷顧我們?！痹诘谒臉氛碌淖詈?，壯麗肅穆的氣氛被推到極致，在一片無比光明、無比輝煌的情景中，《歡樂頌》登上了整個交響曲的頂峰，唱響了整個宇宙。

????????At present, the 9th symphony has already been acknowledged as Beethoven's highest achievement in symphony sphere. It is even considered insurmountable by a number of composers and musicians.

????????如今，《第九交響曲》已經(jīng)被公認(rèn)為貝多芬在交響樂領(lǐng)域里的最高成就，有很多作曲家、音樂家甚至認(rèn)為不再會有哪部作品能超越它的成就。

????????Beethoven passed away not long after he finished his 9th symphony with the half-finished 10th symphony. Before him, Mozart wrote 41 symphonies and Haydn 104; But after him, few succeeded in completion of 10 symphonies, and that is the well-known "syndrome of the 9th symphony" in music history.

????????貝多芬寫完了《第九交響曲》后不久就去世了，留下尚未完成的《第十交響曲》。在他之前，莫扎特寫了41部交響曲，海頓寫了104部交響曲；而在貝多芬之后，很少有人能寫完10首交響曲。這就是音樂史上有名的“第九交響曲綜合征”。

????????Austrian composer Schubert had ever visited Beethoven in the hospital during his illness. Beethoven passed away within one year, Schubert breathed his last just after he had finished his 9th symphony. Likewise, half a century later Austrian composer Anton Bruckner died in the same condition. Worrying this curse comes true upon himself, Austrian composer and conductor Gustav Mahler gave his 9th symphony the name "Song of the Earth", believed in this way he could brand his 10th one as the 9th, nonetheless he never imagined his death before the accomplishment of it in 1911. Russian composer Alfred Schnittke originated 6 concerti grossi, 4 violin concertos, 2 cello concertos, chamber music, ballet, vocal music and 4 operas during his lifetime, while he wrote no more than 9 symphonies. This 9th symphony had not yet been finished until his death in 1998.

????????貝多芬在病中時，奧地利作曲家舒伯特曾經(jīng)到醫(yī)院看過他。貝多芬辭世只有一年的光景，舒伯特在寫完了他的《第九交響曲》后就去世了。半個世紀(jì)以后，奧地利作曲家安東·布魯克納也是寫完他的《第九交響曲》就死了。奧地利作曲家及指揮家古斯塔夫·馬勒擔(dān)心這個詛咒在自己身上應(yīng)驗(yàn)，就把自己寫的第九交響曲起名為《大地之歌》。他以為這樣一來，就可以把實(shí)際上的第十部交響曲說成是他的第九部交響曲，可是第十部交響曲還沒完成，他就在1911年死了。俄羅斯作曲家阿爾弗雷德·施尼特凱一生創(chuàng)作了六部大協(xié)奏曲、四部小提琴協(xié)奏曲、兩部大提琴協(xié)奏曲以及其他一些室內(nèi)樂、芭蕾、聲樂作品和四部歌劇，但他只寫了九部交響曲。直到他1998年去世時，這部第九交響曲還沒有寫完。

????????In addition, composers such as the Swedish Kurt Atterberg, the American Roger Sessions, the British Ralph Vaughan Williams are also included in. No matter how many works beside symphony they composed in their lives, they couldn't originate more than 9 symphonies. What is more interesting is that although Russian composer Alexander Konstantinowitsch Glasunow had already written the first movement of his 9th symphony in 1910, he never took up the pen to finish the rest during the following 26 years before his death. Having completed his 8th symphony in 1924, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius never set foot in this realm anymore, and in this way he lived to the ripe old age of 92.

????????此外還包括瑞典作曲家科特·艾特博格、美國作曲家羅杰·塞欣斯、英國作曲家沃恩威廉斯·拉爾夫等人，不管他們平生創(chuàng)作了多少其它形式的作品，但交響曲統(tǒng)統(tǒng)最多只有九部。更為有趣的是，俄羅斯作曲家亞歷山大·康士坦欽諾維奇·格拉祖諾夫在1910年就創(chuàng)作出了第九交響曲的第一樂章，此后經(jīng)過26年直到他去世也沒有動手寫完這部交響曲。芬蘭作曲家讓·西貝柳斯在1924年完成了第八部交響樂后，就不再寫交響曲了。他一直活到了92歲。

????????Throughout history, The only one had the privilege to escape "syndrome of the 9th symphony" is Soviet composer Dmitriy Dmitriyevich Shostakovich. He finished his 9th symphony in 1953 and didn't mean to go on writing. Just then, Stalin died and the incident contributed to his extra 6 ones.

????????細(xì)數(shù)一下，有幸躲過“第九交響曲綜合征”的似乎只有蘇聯(lián)作曲家德米特里·德米特里耶維奇·肖斯塔科維奇。1953年，他寫完他的第九交響曲，本來不打算繼續(xù)寫下去了，這時候斯大林死了，他又奮筆寫了六部交響曲。