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.

        贝多芬从创作《第八交响曲》（1812年）到创作《第九交响曲》，中间有一段不同寻常的沉默时期。在这个时期里，他的脑海里一直在酝酿着一部《d小调交响曲》。1815年，他在创作笔记中匆匆地写下了一个简洁的主题，这便是日后《第九交响曲》诙谐曲乐章基本主题的胚胎。

        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.

        关于《第九交响曲》的整体形象，一开始的时候贝多芬并没有一个清晰的认识。早在22岁时，贝多芬就有过一个计划，逐句逐段地把席勒的《欢乐颂》谱成曲子。30年来，这个念头一直在他心头若隐若现，但始终未能变成现实，让他深感遗憾。

        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.

        席勒是德国启蒙文学的代表人物之一，被公认为德国文学史上仅次于歌德的伟大作家。1785年，26岁的席勒来到莱比锡投奔友人，开始创作剧本《唐·卡洛斯》。据说有一天早晨，席勒路过一条河边，救起了一位因走投无路而跳河自尽的神学院学生。诗人好言相劝，使那个学生重新鼓起了生活的勇气。这个偶然事件触动了席勒，他挥笔写下了诗作《欢乐颂》。席勒创作这首诗有歌颂友谊的成分，但更主要的是它高度表达了席勒追求“自由、平等、博爱”和“真、善、美”的最高理想。《欢乐颂》之所以能激发贝多芬的创作欲望，就在于席勒的这篇诗作体现了“狂飙突进”运动的气度和风骨，与贝多芬的情怀一拍即合。

        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，要想把席勒的诗作转化成旋律与和声，引进交响乐的思维，这绝不是一件容易的事情。在贝多芬看来，席勒的诗仿佛是高空中漂浮的云朵，飘飘忽忽，行踪不定，无法化成音乐形象。《第九交响曲》的前三个乐章进展得还算顺利，在创作第四乐章时，他陷入了前所未有的苦恼之中。他无法找到一种天衣无缝的对位方法把席勒的《欢乐颂》引进交响曲。实质上贝多芬的苦恼就在于他没有找到一个融合点，把德国古典派和浪漫派音乐同德国古典文学结合到一起。直到1809年，贝多芬才逐渐找到了突破点。他在创作笔记中这样写道：“美丽的神灵火花，欢笑吧，天堂的姑娘——写出序曲”；“乞丐要成为公侯的兄弟这类断句并不是一个整体”；“把席勒《欢乐颂》中的一些断句组合成一个整体。”

        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!"

        根据贝多芬的好友申德勒的描述，有一天贝多芬走进屋子，遇见了申德勒，劈头盖脸的一句话就是：“我找到了！我找到了！”说罢，贝多芬翻开创作笔记本，在上边这样写道：“让我们大家都来唱不朽的席勒写的这首歌吧！”

        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.

        《第九交响曲》完成后，它的首演并不顺利。按照合同，这部作品原本应该放到英国伦敦去首演，但是贝多芬觉得音乐之都维也纳才是最好的选择。可是在当时，贝多芬的音乐风格在维也纳受到了罗西尼歌剧的强大冲击，有人甚至攻击贝多芬的音乐过时了。面对着这种现实情况，贝多芬又打算把首演改到德国柏林。消息传开后，维也纳的听众对这部倾尽贝多芬数十年心血的作品兴趣大增，纷纷强烈呼吁把《第九交响曲》放在维也纳首演，很多人还为此联名写信给贝多芬。面对着广大听众充满真情的挽留，贝多芬回心转意，开始筹划《第九交响曲》在维也纳举行首次演出。

        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.

        《第九交响曲》全曲从头至尾至少需要演奏一个小时以上，有不少段落演奏起来颇具难度，需要乐手具有扎实的功底和出色的技巧。在排练过程中，不仅乐团的乐手们让贝多芬不够满意，那些预定参加首演的歌唱家们也让贝多芬很恼火，他们在表现其中一些高难度的段落时不够完美，有人便建议贝多芬对乐曲的某些段落做些改动，以减小表现上的难度。第一次合练的效果很差，但贝多芬并没有让步，他坚持自己对艺术完美的追求，一个音符也没有改动。因为这个原因，这部作品的排练时间拖得很长，演出日期不得不一改再改。

        The 9th symphony was eventually premiered in Kärntnertor 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，《第九交响曲》终于在维也纳克伦特纳托尔戏院首次公演，由贝多芬亲自指挥，实际上正像节目单上所注明的那样，他是“参与指挥事宜”，因为他完全聋了。他没有听见全场观众一次又一次地热烈鼓掌，连续鼓了五次掌。按照当时的规定，只有皇帝来到会场时，才允许鼓掌三次，场外的警察不知道出了什么乱子，连忙跑进来维持秩序。这时候，贝多芬还背对着观众站在乐队旁边，直到女低音歌唱演员翁格尔牵着他的手转过身来，让他面对听众，他才突然看见全场起立，挥舞着帽子，发疯一般地向他鼓掌。贝多芬被这超乎寻常的热情场面所感动，竟然晕倒在台上。

        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.

        《第九交响曲》一共四个乐章，但贝多芬打破了传统的束缚，大大地加长了篇幅。他还为第四乐章安排了一段漫长的引子。第一乐章的旋律跌宕起伏，时而压抑，时而悲壮，人们似乎看到勇士们不断地冲击关口，前仆后继，去夺取胜利。第二乐章通常应该是慢板，而贝多芬却用了极活泼的快板，表现出明朗振奋的主题。第三乐章是慢板乐章，但贝多芬有意在编排上加以创新，用平缓的旋律来表现柔美，使之具有强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.

        第四乐章是《第九交响曲》的精髓。它通常被划分为两个部分——序奏以及人声。在序奏中，前三个乐章的基本主题依次重现，最后用木管徐徐引出了《欢乐颂》，作品的主题终于出现了！在这里，贝多芬并没有照搬席勒的原诗，只选用了全诗的第一节、第二节的前半部分，第三节和第四节的后半部分，不仅表达了原诗的精神气度，而且还超过了席勒原诗的境界。伴随着激情澎湃的唱词和急速雄壮的旋律，在四个不同声部人声的独唱、重唱以及大合唱团的合唱下，《欢乐颂》唱出了人们对“自由、平等、博爱”精神的渴望，“对人类充满爱”的主题得到了升华。“亿万人民，团结起来，大家永远要相爱。朋友们，在那天堂上，仁爱上帝眷顾我们。”在第四乐章的最后，壮丽肃穆的气氛被推到极致，在一片无比光明、无比辉煌的情景中，《欢乐颂》登上了整个交响曲的顶峰，唱响了整个宇宙。

        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，《第九交响曲》已经被公认为贝多芬在交响乐领域里的最高成就，有很多作曲家、音乐家甚至认为不再会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.

        贝多芬写完了《第九交响曲》后不久就去世了，留下尚未完成的《第十交响曲》。在他之前，莫扎特写了41部交响曲，海顿写了104部交响曲；而在贝多芬之后，很少有人能写完10首交响曲。这就是音乐史上有名的“第九交响曲综合征”。

        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.

        贝多芬在病中时，奥地利作曲家舒伯特曾经到医院看过他。贝多芬辞世只有一年的光景，舒伯特在写完了他的《第九交响曲》后就去世了。半个世纪以后，奥地利作曲家安东·布鲁克纳也是写完他的《第九交响曲》就死了。奥地利作曲家及指挥家古斯塔夫·马勒担心这个诅咒在自己身上应验，就把自己写的第九交响曲起名为《大地之歌》。他以为这样一来，就可以把实际上的第十部交响曲说成是他的第九部交响曲，可是第十部交响曲还没完成，他就在1911年死了。俄罗斯作曲家阿尔弗雷德·施尼特凯一生创作了六部大协奏曲、四部小提琴协奏曲、两部大提琴协奏曲以及其他一些室内乐、芭蕾、声乐作品和四部歌剧，但他只写了九部交响曲。直到他1998年去世时，这部第九交响曲还没有写完。

        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.

        此外还包括瑞典作曲家科特·艾特博格、美国作曲家罗杰·塞欣斯、英国作曲家沃恩威廉斯·拉尔夫等人，不管他们平生创作了多少其它形式的作品，但交响曲统统最多只有九部。更为有趣的是，俄罗斯作曲家亚历山大·康士坦钦诺维奇·格拉祖诺夫在1910年就创作出了第九交响曲的第一乐章，此后经过26年直到他去世也没有动手写完这部交响曲。芬兰作曲家让·西贝柳斯在1924年完成了第八部交响乐后，就不再写交响曲了。他一直活到了92岁。

        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.

        细数一下，有幸躲过“第九交响曲综合征”的似乎只有苏联作曲家德米特里·德米特里耶维奇·肖斯塔科维奇。1953年，他写完他的第九交响曲，本来不打算继续写下去了，这时候斯大林死了，他又奋笔写了六部交响曲。