Beethoven's 9th and Christmas Tree Lights

We targeted today, December 28th, as the day to dispose of our Christmas tree. Taking off the lights is the most tedious part. As I take off each string of lights from the tree, I inspect the string for burned out light bulbs. I do this by plugging the lights into an extension cord and checking each bulb. I replace the burned out bulbs with a good one from a stash of bulbs collected from a dead string with a few good bulbs. I then wrap the lights up in a compact way that protects them.

While doing this, I was listening to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Beethoven's Ninth is rich for me, not only because I love the music, which is skillfully crafted, each segment building on the previous that washes over me unlike any other symphony -- but also because I have many memories associated with the Ninth.

• In second grade, I saw The Bell Telephone Science series "Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays" where Dr. Research (in real life, Dr. Frank Baxter, an English professor at the University of Southern California) introduced me to the mysteries of cosmic rays (as known when the film was made in 1957). In that program, part of the choral music of Beethoven's Ninth was at a pivotal point pondering the mysteries of the cosmos -- and that music burned into my conscious fabric about the universe. I didn't know then where the music came from, but I wanted to find it.
• One day, a couple of years later, while listening to my favorite music station in Los Angeles, 92.3 KFAC FM, I heard Beethoven's Ninth for the first time. I heard the NBC Nightly News music in the second movement -- and then the hauntingly beautiful music of the "Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays" revealed itself in the choral section of the last movement. I had loved Beethoven's other symphonies and his ninth was instantly my favorite.
• Soon I wanted to buy all of Beethoven's nine symphonies and finally did it when I about 10 years old. I saved up my allowances and gift money and purchased a collection of vinyl LPs. I treasured that set.
• Growing up in church, on occasion we'd sing the hymn, "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee", or I'd hear it in a performance, all along knowing the music came from the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth, with the words substituted in place of Friedrich Schiller's Ode to Joy that Beethoven used. I love that hymn.
• In high school, in German class, the German teacher wanted a class devoted to listening to German cultural music and asked if anyone had any music. I volunteered Beethoven's Ninth symphony. The teacher played the last movement in class; I regretted it for two reasons. First, the teacher played my LP on a school record player, and I cringed at what it must be doing to my precious album. Secondly, a cute girl who sat next to me (who never talked to me before) leaned over and said, "This must take a special temperament to listen to this." I looked around the class and saw boredom in everyone's expressions. Big mistake.
• I attended my first live concert of Beethoven's Ninth when I was in college. The Riverside Symphony Orchestra played the symphony. I loved it.
• The love of my life loves "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" and she wanted to come down the aisle to it in our wedding. So Beethoven's Ninth showed up at our wedding.
• We transitioned from vinyl LPs to CDs. I decided to give up my Beethoven vinyl collection - a difficult thing for me to do, but we weren't going to keep a turntable just to play them. I no longer have a complete collection of Beethoven symphonies. Someday I'd like to have all nine symphonies again. I do have two different CDs of Beethoven's Ninth.
• On Christmas Day in 1989, we watched on PBS as Leonard Bernstein conducted Beethoven's Ninth in Berlin. The Berlin wall had just come down weeks before. I was a child of the Cold War and this performance put a capstone on that Cold War period.
• On rare occasions, very rare now, I will humorously pontificate in song my fractured edition of the opening chorus words of Beethoven's Ninth, humming out the orchestral part between the words -- all in German (well, my ridiculous attempt at German). It has become part of our family lore and tradition, one that our new sons-in-law had to endure at least once.

So, if I ever appear distracted when Beethoven's Ninth is being played, the beautiful music and the memories it evokes are the cause...

Oh yes, I need to finish those Christmas lights.