Beethoven Frieze

The frieze begins on the first longitudinal wall showing female figures gliding along horizontally, which is referred to in the Beethoven exhibition catalog as "Die Sehnsucht nach dem Glück" (The Longing for Happiness).

The outstretched arms of the female figures float as if in water along the top edge of the frieze, while the areas below remain completely empty.

The first group of figures that the floating figures meet are an upright nude woman and a similarly nude kneeling couple. According to the exhibition catalog, these three figures symbolize "Die Leiden der schwachen Menschheit" (The Suffering of Weak Mankind).

The "Suffering of Weak Mankind" group turns pleadingly towards a knight, the "Wohlgerüsteten Starken" (Knight in Shining Armor), who stands before them. He is shown wearing medieval armor and carrying a mighty sword.

Behind the golden knight appear two allegorical female characters, who are referred to in the catalog as "Ehrgeiz" (Ambition)" and "Mitleid" (Compassion). They are meant to act as "inner driving forces" to motivate the knight to "take up the struggle for happiness" in the name of humanity.

The knight's challenging gaze focuses on the subsequent scene, which stretches across the entire end wall where the "hostile forces" are gathered.

In the center of the group lurks "the giant Typhoeus," a giant monkey-like monster, which according to mythology is the offspring of the earth goddess, Gaia, and the god of the underworld, Tartaros. To his left side are "his daughters, the three Gorgons: sickness, madness, and death."

Klimt's contemporaries were particularly worked up about the three Gorgons, with their total nudity and lasciviousness, and vehemently protested against them.

Above the Gorgons, the skeletal female figure of death lurks in unmatched dramatism.

"… never has lust been more infamous, madness more appalling, innocence more touching, and sorrow more heartbreaking in its portrayal." Quote from: Hermann Ubell, "Klinger's Beethoven in the Vienna Secession," in: "Die Gegenwart" (The Present) (1902).

On his right side, Typhoeus's other daughters appear: "lust, unchastity and intemperance."

In addition to her bodily abundance, "Intemperance" displays a wealth of sculptural decoration, including glass stones, which were applied directly to the wall.

"… the representation of 'Unchastity' on the end wall of the hall is among the utmost obscene art that has ever been created. These are the Klimt-like paths that should lead us to Beethoven!" Quote from: Dr. Robert Hirschfeld, Frankfurt, April 20, 1902, cited in: Hermann Bahr, "Gegen Klimt" (Against Klimt), Vienna, 1903, p. 68.

Away from the crowded figures, in front of the ugly snake body, and the mighty wings of the monster, crouches the "Nagender Kummer" (Gnawing Grief), a meager female figure whose expressiveness is particularly striking.

The "Sehnsüchte und Wünsche der Menschheit" (Longings and Desires of Mankind) return on the connecting longitudinal wall as a horizontal floating procession and move on until they are stopped by the lonely figure of "Poetry."

Here "the longing for happiness finds its end in poetry." Klimt presents the figure of Poetry in a manner inspired by ancient examples. Klimt also draws on the repertoires of ancient, Egyptian, and archaic cultures in many other of the frieze's motifs.

A vertical group of crouching women, called "Die Künste" (The Arts), reach from floor to ceiling like a living pillar, leading to the "Chor der Paradiesesengel" (Choir of Angels from Paradise).

The Choir of Angels from Paradise essentially corresponds to Beethoven's closing chorus of Schiller's „Ode an die Freude“ (Ode to Joy). With raised hands and closed eyes, the floating female figures sing the song of joy.
In the exhibition catalog, Klimt's female choir is characterized as follows: "The arts lead us into the ideal kingdom, which is the only place we can find pure joy, pure happiness, and pure love. 'Joy, thy purest spark divine, this kiss to all the world'."

His pictorial representation of the "kiss to all the world" manifests itself in the form of an embracing naked couple, which also signals the climax and finale of the frieze.

Klimt's symbolic union corresponds to Schiller's verse "Joy, thy purest spark divine. This kiss to all the world!" as set to music by Beethoven in the fourth movement of the Ninth Symphony.