//------------------------------// // Chapter 47: Moving on in E b Major. // Story: Beethoven's Tenth // by CrackedInkWell //------------------------------// Riot at the Theater! Beethoven’s Experimental Music Causes Uproar. Audience and Critics Opinions Split Down the Middle. Canterlot, Equestria. Last night, the Canterlot Philharmonic hosts its annual charity concert in which it ended with a string quartet (see above) plays Ludwig van Beethoven’s newest pieces for the first time. The quartet was carefully hoof chosen by the composer himself to exhibit his latest six movements in which he composed during his time in Equestria. Many audience and critics agree that the first five movements were extraordinary, a work of genius even at the masterful skills of the musicians. That was until the last movement in which the quartet played a fugue that nopony could agree if it’s too avant-garde or just plain bad. Within the first minute of the fifteen-minute-long fugue, the audience was jeering loudly, declaring it a masterpiece or trying to quiet everyone else down. “For me, I could barely hear a thing,” said Fancy Pants. “To be honest, with the entire ruckus that everyone was making, it’s amazing anyone could hear it at all, even with Princess Twilight’s attempt to calm everyone.” “That right there,” said Caesar, a Canterlot socialite who agreed for a comment right after the performance. “Hast to be the worst piece of garbage that I’ve ever heard, and I thought that techno music was bad.” “Yes, I agree,” stated Upper Crust. “If anypony has any doubt that the giant is at all deaf, this is not only proof of that, but all the reason to send the creature into a lunatic asylum!” But not everypony agreed. “From what I’ve heard tonight, was the most original, most marvelous thing of what music is capable of,” Said Strotvinsky, an upcoming composer from Applewood. “If the audience was quieter, I would say that this fugue is a breath of fresh air for art. Beethoven is a pioneer for modern music in Equestria!” “It’s a curious piece at the end, in a good way.” A stallion named Paganeighni, a tourist commented. “If anything, especially for those violinists, all the movements, including the one at the end is truly an eye-opener of what those simple instruments are capable of. I believe that with what we’ve heard, music may never be the same again.” The critics who went to the performance during the time of the riot were, like the audience, split as to Beethoven’s newest pieces. While both sides were appalled at the behavior on behalf of the audience, they are just equally divided on their thoughts of the music that caused the riot. Pop music critic, Techno Beat wrote: “For a string quartet that was being played live, Beethoven has really known how to keep the thing going for a good fourteen to sixteen minutes. For a guy who grew up in a society that is two hundred years ago from ours, what I heard was incredible! The intensity of the fugue could easily rival the sickest beats of DJPON3. For the opening and closing parts, it really sounds just like rave music, something that for a giant who can’t hear, is in this critic’s opinion, surprisingly ahead of his own time!” Other classical critics were not so forgiving. The music critic Counterpoint wrote: “Words cannot describe of what I have heard tonight. I’m still trying to process what just happened that even now at my desk I keep asking myself, ‘What was that?’ As much as I love Beethoven’s revolutionary symphonies and piano works, the fugue at the end of the program has to be the most grotesque, ugly, dizzying, confusing scratches ever put to paper. It’s absolutely mystifying to me that the Giant of Ponyville has given masterpiece after masterpiece, has given to the world something so amateurish and messy; I can only compare it to reading the mad writings on the walls of a madhouse. I really do hope that the composer hasn’t lost his touch, but tonight was something that justifies the riot it caused.” Beethoven declined to comment on the riot as he left in a rage before he could be questioned by any reporter. The Canterlot Philharmonic is proceeding to premiere the giant’s next work in which would be using a choir of voices for the first time. While it was originally planned that Braeburn Apple was going to take an important role in this work, he has declared that he planned on quitting and giving the role over to a young upcoming violinist, who goes by the name of Bow. Beethoven crumpled up the newspaper and threw it across his studio apartment. What happened last night was a disaster. A catastrophe of how his equine audience reacted to the fugue that he painstakingly crafted. No doubt that his new reputation in Equestria has been tarnished by this one movement, that someone like Spengallop is probably dancing at the reviews that are in circulation at this point. The door to his apartment opened up to which Octavia stepped through. “Ah, Fräulein Melody, what brings you here?” He reached over to the nightstand for the magic scroll. “Here to bring even more bad news?” When Ludwig unrolled the scroll, she replied, “On the contrary, I came on behalf of the orchestra. It’s about the piece we’re doing in Vanhoover.” “Yes? What about it?” “Frist of all, we don’t have a choir or voices to fill for the singing parts yet.” “Then get one.” Octavia was taken aback at this, “Mr. Beethoven, the concert in Vanhoover is roughly a month away. Just how exactly is anyone going to organize a choir to rehearse within a month on such short notice? Who would do that sort of a-” “What about Opera companies?” the giant interrupted. “Where I came from, performers were able to memorize an opera of mine in three weeks. If we act now, we should be able to get them to sing a Mass in no time.” “Even so, that only brings up my second point. The lyrics are in a language that nopony understands, we have no clue what it says nor its meaning, or even how to pronounce it.” With a free hand, Ludwig placed it on his forehead and sighed. “Then what exactly do you want me to do about it?” “I was talking with Vinyl about that, and she suggested that since you’re the one who wrote the thing, chances are, you might know how to speak it and its meaning of it. Mr. Beethoven, with your permission, once we get a choir and singers organized; may we record your voice reading the text, and perhaps give a translation of it?” Beethoven groaned, “How long will this take?” “That depends on how long you want to do this. If you want, Vinyl can have this all recorded and ready to go before we go off to our holiday, in which we will be gone for a week. And before you object, don’t worry; I’ll make sure I set some time to rehearse my parts while I’m gone. Don’t worry, I’ll have Horseshoepin act as messenger colt to either come to you in person or write to you what’s going on with the orchestra.” Ludwig looked out one of his windows to judge the light of the shadows, “Well, since it’s not quite a noon, I suppose I could read somewhat before I return to work. After all, even with our failures, we need to move onto what’s next. Tell me, do you have the score with you?” “It’s at our home,” Octavia said. “Come to think of it, maybe I should invite Princess Twilight along, knowing her, I’m sure she would be interested in you speaking in an unknown language.” “What? Latin?” Beethoven got up to put on his winter coat, “Oh no, I don’t speak Latin.” The cellist blinked. “Hold on, you wrote a piece of music, in a language that you can’t speak?” “What did you say?” Ludwig looked back at the scroll, “I didn’t see what you were saying.” The gray mare repeated her question to him before Ludwig set the scroll down on the only piano that has its legs. “I don’t. But I was taught these words and their meaning since I was a little boy. They’re all prayers you see, and we had to learn them whenever we go to our worship services. Latin is the original language that’s been used since its founding.” “Okay…?” Octavia raised an eyebrow, “But you still know what the words say?” “I do. I wrote it from the heart, and when you hear it, may it return to the heart.” _*_ Days later, thanks to Princess Twilight pulling some strings to getting the Canterlot Opera company to assist in performing the choir piece, rehearsals began right away. The music is being provided for this newly formed choir had the pronunciation of the Latin text as well as the translation of it. Of course, there were ponies that were rather confused at some of the meaning and characters mentioned in the piece. Others shrugged and with the help of Sea Sharp, they sang with the orchestra. Hours later into the rehearsal, after making notes and going over several bars, the Opera Company started to sing from their books the end of one of the sections called, The Credo. “Et vitam ventúri sǽculi,” the choir tried to sing. For the first few minutes into that particular part, the group could sing it without a problem as the strings; winds and brass tried their best to follow along. Then suddenly, the music became faster, the singers found that the notes were flying faster than they were able to read. Voices became messy and ugly chords clashed with one another to the point where the choir forced themselves to stop. “What’s wrong?” the conductor asked as she turned around to face them in their seats. “We can’t sing this,” A blue unicorn mare with a pulled up yellow mane got up from her seat. She held up her copy of the score. “The tempo is way too fast and the ties between the notes require us to give more breath than anypony could possibly sing. Even as a professional Soprano-like me, this is extremely difficult.” “I have to agree with Mrs. Pitch here,” a tan earth pony stallion too stood up. “Even for the Tenor parts, and all the time I’ve spent in the Opera, I’ve never seen anything as impossibly complex as this. I could hardly read this thing since there are so many markings.” The rest of the company agreed. “Everypony,” the unicorn conductor lifted her hoof. “Everypony, listen to me, this is only our first rehearsal. Yes, I know perfectly well that Mr. Beethoven’s music is difficult to work with. Believe me; this music is just as hard to deal with as the giant himself.” Here, she got some laughs in the theater. “I’ll tell you what, let’s just get through this score as much as we can, and when we come back, we’ll focus on this. We’ll take it slowly to understand how to perform this and increase the tempo after that. After all, the week before we head off to Vanhoover, the composer will come here to inspect his work beforehoof. Knowing him, he would want to make sure that it’s all up to standard.” There were murmurings in the theater. “Come on now,” the conductor faced her copy of the enormous score. “We have still much to get through before the day is out. Let’s try to pick up at bar four-hundred-and-thirty and we’ll go from there.” _*_ Svengallop propped his hindlegs on his desk, a smirk on his face as he read the newspaper. “Beethoven’s record sales are finally going down,” he read off from the text. It’s been weeks since the famous incident in Canterlot, and by the looks of things, or as much as the manager hopes, his fortunes are finally changing. “All I need is for him to make another mistake and the Countess is set for life.” There was a knock on the office door. Putting the paper and his legs down, he said, “Come in,” before the door opened. “Ah Countess, what brings you here?” “Well, I just had an idea that I really want to talk to you about – something to do with what I might be singing in the near future.” “Okay honey, I’m all ears.” “I want, at least just this once, to sing for Beethoven.” Her manager frowned, “Come again?” “Well, rumor has it that after the Equestrian Games, Ludwig is going to practice his Ninth Symphony in which there will be voices, and I was hoping if I could somehow be a part of it.” The singer smiled, “I mean, think of it, besides the fact that I love his music, I think it would be good for us too to have a celebrity singer like me to play some role in Beethoven’s music.” “Countess…” her manager sighed, “I don’t know. Considering what’s going on with that giant right now, I’m not sure it’s a good idea.” “Why? What’s wrong?” “The problem is that since the scandal in Canterlot when Beethoven show off his latest work, it caused such an uproar that his record sales are dropping.” “Oh that’s terrible,” the Countess said sympathetically. “What’s he doing now?” “From what I’ve read? He’s still writing his tenth while practicing for some other work. The…” he looked to his paper on the desk. “Apparently it’s some choir piece called the ‘Missa solemnis,’ whatever that is.” He looked back up at his client. “I personally wouldn’t advice cooperating with him if things go south for the giant. After all, he might become unpopular by the time the games roll around.” The Earth Pony singer hummed in thought, “I see your point. But if things do turn out better for him, could you get him to have me audition so I could take part in his ninth.” “I won’t make any promises on the outcome… but if that were to happen, I’ll try to get into contact with Mr. Beethoven.” “Oh thank you Sevn,” she got up, walked around her desk to hug him, “You’re truly the best.” “Thank you. Now if you please excuse me, I still have work to be taken care of.” “Sure thing,” the countess started to leave his office. “Remember, we’re heading off to Manehatten in a couple of hours.” “I haven’t forgotten,” he replied as the door was closed. The manager smiled again as he picked up the newspaper, crumpled it up, and tossed it into the garbage can. “As if the tone-deaf giant can redeem himself.”