This comment by Goblinono originally appeared in response to "What Does Beethovens Ninth Symphony Mean?" published at - http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/09/what-does-beethovens-ninth-symphony-mean/62556/
"The little deaf fella' who pumped out this masterpiece on a piano with no legs had long admired the overtures of Scottish songsters. Beethoven was never comfortable with the resonance of the human voice and wrote this to be presented so near the top of the vocal range that it tends to outwit the performers. His inspiration was from poetry by Friedrich Schiller and he was probably trying to depict scenes of rapturous romance attuned to chaos and arousal. Unfortunately he died whilst working on his tenth symphony, which may have surpassed all his previous works because by now he was determined to overcome the restrictions of popular tonal laws. In considering his musical development he may well have topped himself trying to depict orgasm as his crowning achievement"
