Rehearsals begin tomorrow for a Champaign Urbana Symphony Orchestra concert that includes Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. I have played the piece several times over the past twenty years (or more), but as I make my way through the viola part I suddenly feel something in the substance of the music that I have never really understood before.
It may have to do with the fact that I have been spending a great deal of time with Beethoven through his piano sonatas, or it may have something to do with basic growth as a musician, which, I am happy to report, is still finding new paths of expression in familiar material. Or it may be due to the fact that we are living in a time that echoes the revolutionary battles, both physical and intellectual, that Beethoven and countless enlightment-inspired European people had with the Napoleon-ruled First French Empire during the first decade of the 19th century.
I can observe and read about what is happening during this new (and unwelcome) phase of American government. Amid my feelings of despair, I do my best to find and hold onto a sense of resistance. I am somehow surprised that practicing Beethoven's Fifth Symphony helps me connect with those feelings in a way that feels productive. Being surrounded by and interacting with all the other voices is sure to be a deeply emotional experience for me and my fellow musicians, and I am eager to share the experience of revolution that Beethoven infused in this symphony with the people in the audience.
The pitches, rhythms, dynamics, harmonies, phrases, melodies, and orchestration of this music may not change from performance to performance, but the human condition of the people playing and the people listening does. Getting in touch with our collective strength and collective humanity through music transcends time and location.
This is one reason that it is so important to play concerts, and a reminder that we need Beethoven now more than ever.
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