10,000 Japanese Perform Beethoven Symphony No. 9 Ode to Joy

This video got me interested in exactly why 10 000 Japanese people would choose to perform a notoriously difficult piece, in German.

The Japanese call the piece Daiku and perform it every year in December. The largest of these gatherings is most likely the one in this video, "Suntory Presents Beethoven's 9th with a Cast of 10000," in the Osaka Castle Hall. It could also be the special concert from December 2011 which was dedicated to victims of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and in fact the pictures of that event look quite like this video.

It turns out that it is because in the first world war Japan was allied with Britain, and ended up with some German prisoners of war in Japan. In June 1918, German POWs gave a legendary concert in Naruto, Tokushima Prefecture, where they played the Ninth. Since then it has become quite popular in Japan.

There is an article from 2010 in www.japantimes.co.jp on this subject.

lucky760

says...

Fascinating. Thanks for all the info. I wish I could *quality your comment.

oritteropo

said:

This video got me interested in exactly why 10 000 Japanese people would choose to perform a notoriously difficult piece, in German.

The Japanese call the piece Daiku and perform it every year in December. The largest of these gatherings is most likely the one in this video, "Suntory Presents Beethoven's 9th with a Cast of 10000," in the Osaka Castle Hall. It could also be the special concert from December 2011 which was dedicated to victims of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and in fact the pictures of that event look quite like this video.

It turns out that it is because in the first world war Japan was allied with Britain, and ended up with some German prisoners of war in Japan. In June 1918, German POWs gave a legendary concert in Naruto, Tokushima Prefecture, where they played the Ninth. Since then it has become quite popular in Japan.

There is an article from 2010 in www.japantimes.co.jp on this subject.