Choral symphony Choral symphony A choral symphony is a musical composition for orchestra, choir, and sometimes solo vocalists that, in its internal workings and overall musical architecture, adheres broadly to symphonic musical form. The term "choral symphony" in this context was coined by Hector Berlioz when he described his "Roméo et Juliette" as such in his five-paragraph introduction to that work. The direct antecedent for the choral symphony is Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Beethoven's Ninth incorporates part of the "Ode an die Freude" ("Ode to Joy"), a poem by Friedrich Schiller, with text sung by soloists and chorus in the last
Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven) the first melody is resumed and elaborated upon in a strict fugato. The third movement is a scherzo in F major and trio in D major. Here, the trio (based on an Austrian pilgrims' hymn) is played twice rather than once. This expansion of the usual A–B–A structure of ternary form into A–B–A–B–A was quite common in other works of Beethoven of this period, such as his Fourth Symphony, "Pastoral Symphony", and String Quartet Op. 59 No. 2. The last movement is in sonata form. According to music historian Glenn Stanley, Beethoven "exploited the possibility that a string section can