Beethoven's "Song of Sacrifice", a little-known masterpiece

[fpb]

This short (eight minutes) but stupendous song for solo soprano, chorus and wind instruments was composed around the time of the Ninth, the Solemn Mass and the Diabelli Variations, and frankly, even in their mighty company it does not look bad. I think it is Beethoven's own view of what his life really amounted to: a sacrifice - and God knows his

Comments

[filialucis]

I have one minor quibble with your translation: the sense of the final line is actually "the beautiful in addition to the good", which is not quite the same thing as your rendering. But that's a nitpick. I love Beethoven, but I'd never heard this; thank you for drawing my attention to it.

The "beauty is truth" theme certainly seems to figure large in Beethoven's works and thought. The Op. 80 Choral Fantasy (aka the "Little Ninth") uses text along similar lines. Here's a good version of it on Youtube (good because, well, Barenboim -- 'nuff said): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96W26dNiQyY

[fpb]

I actually have Barenboim's Youtube version downloaded on my video folder, but thanks anyway.