Friedrich Schiller van Beethoven said that a great poem is more difficult to set to music than a merely good one because the composer must rise higher than the poet – "who can do that in the case of Schiller? In this respect Goethe is much easier," wrote Beethoven. There are relatively few famous musical settings of Schiller's poems. Notable exceptions are Beethoven's setting of "An die Freude" ("Ode to Joy") in the final movement of his Ninth Symphony, Johannes Brahms' choral setting of "Nänie" and "Des Mädchens Klage" by Franz Schubert, who set 44 of Schiller's poems as Lieder, mostly for
Beethoven Lives Upstairs implores Christoph to give him a chance. Kurt mentions that Beethoven is working on his Ninth Symphony, which Christoph hopes will be his last. When Christoph's mother enters Beethoven's room, Beethoven is writing music on the shutters, presumably having run out of paper. Seeing her shock, he suggests she could sell the shutters as collectors items. He asks her about her musical background, and she plays "Für Elise" for him, beginning to see his softer side. While working with musicians on the Ninth Symphony in his room, Beethoven needs to write down changes, but all the pens have been destroyed