It was May 7th, 1824.

The privileged audience sitting at the Vienna Theater, at that time the capital of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, could hardly imagine that they were about to hear the first audition of the greatest musical master piece in music History.

Despite the author being considered a celebrity and being welcomed by the audience with ovation typical of today's pop-stars, it was a surprising reaction.

The police commissary had to intervene to silence the explosion of applause with the arrival of the German musician: Ludwig Van Beethoven.

It was his first presentation of the Ninth Symphony.

After the applause, great strangeness.

Up until then, a symphony - the musical form established during the period known as classicism - per definition excluded human voices.

However on that day, 4 soloists and a choir divided in 4 groups were at the stage.

To increase the perplexity, the soloists and the choir remained silent while the instruments developed movements that exceeded the classic rationalism.

The soloists and the choir would come in only in the forth and last movement.

Beethoven, three years before his death, would realize a wish from the age of 22: to music the German poem Ode to joy from Schiller.

This is what he did in the last part of his performance, breaking the last barrier of the symphony model.

Oh friends, isn't it enough for these sounds? Let us sing something more pleasant and joyful! - vibrated the baritone in recitative.

The lows of the choir answered strongly: Joy, joy - so that, with the silenced orchestra, they could sing one of the best known themes of western music.

The theme proclaimed: All men will be brothers.

It was the universal fraternity poem, made music by the unquestionable geniality and feeling of Ludwig.

Let us hug each other! Send this kiss all over the world!

*   *   *

Art is beauty expressing good.

It is the expression of eternal beauty, a manifestation of the powerful harmony that rules the Universe.

To invite art to our daily lives is to have an excellent instrument of civilization and improvement at our disposal.

The influence of music on the soul and on its moral development is recognized by all. But the reason for this influence is usually ignored.

The reason is solely on this fact: harmony places the soul under the influence of a sentiment that dematerializes it.

       Spiritist Moment Team, from citations of chapter
A música espírita of the book Obras póstumas,
by Allan Kardec, publishing house: Feb.
August 26  2009