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Philip Ewell, Professor of music theory, Hunter College

Was Beethoven truly the greatest?

A portrait of the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven in 1818. 12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

On May 7, 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony premiered in Vienna, Austria. On its 200th anniversary, much was made about this seminal achievement of a composer routinely touted as the greatest master who ever lived.

In an essay for The New York Times, conductor Daniel Barenboim wrote that Beethoven was “the master of bringing emotion and intellect together.”

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