Which composer wrote the Ninth Symphony, first performed in Vienna in 1824?

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote the Ninth Symphony, which was first performed in Vienna in 1824.

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, premiered on May 7, 1824, at the Theater am Kärntnertor. Beethoven was by then profoundly deaf, yet he participated in the premiere and reportedly stood beside the conductor. The work became one of the most influential compositions in Western classical music.

Its final movement uses voices and chorus, setting Friedrich Schiller’s poem “Ode to Joy.” That unusual symphonic ending helped make the piece especially famous, although the symphony’s four movements form a much larger musical design than the familiar melody alone.

The “Ode to Joy” theme has appeared in many political and cultural contexts. An arrangement of it became the official anthem of the European Communities in 1972 and later the European Union. Beethoven’s Ninth is also notable for influencing later composers who expanded the scale and ambitions of the symphony.