in the lyrical

in the lyrical

third movement the chapel bat

swoops with the music

For our final performance of Beethoven’s Symphony Number Nine, the choir of 120 singers was seated in half of the balcony while the Southeast Iowa Orchestra and four soloists filled the stage of the Iowa Wesleyan College Chapel. Three of the four movements of the famous Ninth are often loud and sometimes dissonant. However, during the quiet, lyrical third movement, a bat began swooping around the auditorium, flying gracefully in time to the music, over the audience, the orchestra and the singers. No one shrieked and the musicians kept playing. Toward the end of that movement, the bat flew up to the highest point of the ceiling and disappeared. Maybe it went to put on earplugs before the rousing finale. I like to call this unrehearsed part of the program BAThoven!