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It may not be widely known out of Japan that Beethoven's
9th symphony is a seasonal event in Japan's December.

In December--the last month of the year--so many concerts
of Beethoven's 9th symphony are held in Japan.

In particular, in Tokyo, which is one of the major cities
of classical music in the world, Beethoven's 9th symphony
is performed somewhere almost every night. This is an annual
tradition. It is a very peculiar tradition in Japan.

The reason Beethoven's 9th symphony is performed so often
in Japan's December is not clearly known. It is said, however,
that this tradition is a postwar phenomenon and that this
tradition has its reason that Japanese orchestras began to
perform Beethoven's 9th symphony in December since they
needed money in December, when all Japanese need money to
prepare Nwe Years Days, after the war. There were not many
orchestras in Japan in late 1940s and 1950s. In the early
postwar era, there were not as many orchestras as there are
now. So, this tradition may have its origin in a particular
orchestra's tradition.

Anyway, it is December now.
So, I go to listen the 9th symphony too.

(To be continued)

Nori

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