The Napa Valley Symphony is about to climb the Mt. Everest of music, Beethoven’s supernal 9th Symphony. And the 109 musicians, soloists and chorus under the guidance of maestro Carlo Ponti Jr. invite you to enjoy this pinnacle of performances on Saturday evening, April 12 at 8 p.m., or Sunday afternoon, April 13 at 3 p.m. at the Lincoln Theater in Yountville.

While internationally celebrated today, Beethoven’s majestic work did not come to him easily, for it required more than a decade of consideration, planning and difficult work. The upside was a composition that has since become the icon for the Romantic period that followed. The downside was the composer was by then totally deaf and could not hear his towering creation. He died three years later.

Napa Valley audiences will hear the work in four sections, the first beginning with a trembling of strings followed by the percussive beats that are its major theme. This is followed by a series of softened variations, each repetition rhythmically and lyrically developed, concluding with an emphatic orchestral restatement.

The second movement, however, is in contrast, with toe-tapping syncopation. This raised eyebrows when first heard in 1824 Vienna, for most composers would have put this “scherzo” or dance-like section third. But Beethoven knew what he wanted, and that was a new concept over conformity. The result is a flawless flow of intrumental interplay. The audience should also listen for the trombones joining the brass, an instrument that was not then ordinarily featured.

The third section is one of the loveliest pieces of music this composer ever wrote, slow, elegant and contemplative with a haunting blend of horns, strings and winds that bear the matchless Beethoven sound. If he had composed no other section, surely this would have been celebrated for its many lyrical beauties.

However, it is the spiritual grandeur of the choral finale that sets this symphony apart, an immense achievement, and one of the most influential musical creations known.  

Audiences should listen for the subtle review of the major themes, and then the slow transition to the vocal setting of Beethoven’s near-contemporary, Friedrich Schiller’s “An die Freude” or “Ode to Joy.” “Oh, friends, sing not these tunes!” commands the baritone voice, rather let there be the cry of “Freude! Freude!” (Joy! Joy!). The chorus soon takes up this decree, later adding “Let all men on earth become brothers” (“Alle Menschen werden Brüder”), a line added by Beethoven himself. Soprano, mezzo and tenor voices then blend with the chorus in continuing the admonition, emphasizing the words “Freudig” (joyful), “Brüder” (brother), “Töchter” (daughter), and repeating the ever-important “Freude”.  

What audiences want to listen for is Beethoven’s overarching musical architecture surmounting the many simultaneous strands of voices and instruments. There follows a lively musical development, the singing going silent while the orchestra reiterates its theme in ever increasing complexity. The work then concludes with the heraldic rejoicing of “Freude, schöner Götterfunken!” (Joy, the most beautiful idea radiated from the gods!), vigorously sung by all.

Soloists for these performances will be soprano Heidi Melton, a commanding second-year Adler Fellow with San Francisco Opera; the award-winning mezzo-soprano Katherine Tier, also an Adler Fellow and a past winner of a Joan Sutherland scholarship; bass-baritone Bojan Knezevic, who has been highly regarded for his roles at Festival Opera as well as at San Francisco Opera; and tenor Matthew O’Neill, who local audiences will remember for his fine singing in “Don Giovanni” and “The Turn of the Screw” both at Lincoln Theater.

The singers will be joined by the 48-voices of the highly acclaimed Pacific Mozart Ensemble, a past Grammy-award winner.

Just as Beethoven needed assistance to help conduct the initial performance because of its rhythmic and sonic complexity, so does this work still depend upon strong interpretive leadership. Our Napa Valley orchestra will certainly be in good hands under the assured baton of Maestro Ponti.  

The current principal conductor for the San Bernardino Symphony, Ponti is perhaps best remembered here for his galvanizing performances with the Russian National Orchestra for the Festival del Sole at Lincoln Theater.  

After his critically acclaimed debut with the Maggio Musicale in Florence in 2006, he was also awarded Italy’s highest commendation for musical excellence, the “Premio Galileo”. Maestro Ponti will now bring those considerable conducting skills to our musicians.

Wherever this symphony has been played, it has often been an occasion of special significance: It has opened past historic Olympic games, been played at the opening of every significant opera house since WWII, was prominently heard at the fall of the Berlin Wall (where the conductor Leonard Bernstein substituted the word “Freiheit” or “Freedom” for “Freude”), played in Britain as a tribute to the U.S.following the attacks of 9/11, and the choral finale recently adopted as the official anthem of the European Union. Now it concludes our Napa Valley Symphony’s 75th year of cultural community contribution.

But a word of caution: Audiences are normally asked not to applaud until the entire symphony has been completed, after more than an hour of listening. This was not the case at the premiere, where the audience was so pleased it interrupted each section. In fact, Beethoven received five standing ovations, something at the time accorded only to royalty. Should our local audiences get similarly excited, they will be merely following precedence.

Such a cultural event as this should not be missed. Tickets to hear this musical summit are currently on sale by calling the Napa Valley Symphony box office at (707) 226-8742, or online at napavalleysymphony.org.