The Ninth on the Seventh

A red letter day in the cultural history of the world today--190 years ago, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony got its premiere, in Vienna.   The stone-deaf Beethoven insisted on conducting but was placed to the side with someone else actually doing it as he waved his arms out of time.  When it was over the crowd behind him went nuts but he could not hear them, so someone had to turn him around to see (if not hear) that.  Then he was carried off by the crowd, some say.  And since then?  See our acclaimed current film and book about the Ninth's amazing cultural and political influence today.