Beethoven's Ninth Symphony: A Surreal Moment at the Republican National Convention

In an evening filled with unconventional moments, the unexpected use of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony during Melania Trump's entrance at the Republican National Convention stood out as one of the most perplexing. The juxtaposition of the majestic classical music and the divisive rhetoric that characterized much of the event created a jarring and thought-provoking contrast.

Uniting Through Music, Dividing Through Politics

The Dramatic Entrance of Melania Trump

As the long, sweeping lines of Beethoven's Adagio from the third movement of his Ninth Symphony filled the air, the audience at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee was likely caught off guard. The vast majority of the music heard during the four-day event had been pop, rock, rap, or country – a sonic representation of American patriotism. The sudden shift to the classical masterpiece created a sense of wonder and expectation, setting the stage for the entrance of former First Lady Melania Trump.The dramatic effectiveness of this moment was akin to an actor beginning a monologue in a hushed voice, quieting the room and creating a striking contrast with the fiery rhetoric that had come before. The Adagio's majestic yet tender melodies, which unfold over more than 15 minutes, cleared away the clouds of the preceding movements and set the stage for the finale's choral "Ode to Joy" – perhaps the greatest symphonic music ever written.

Beethoven's Symphony: A Symbol of Unity and Belonging

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with its setting of a Friedrich Schiller poem celebrating love, brotherhood, and belonging, is often associated with moments of great hope and sometimes sorrow. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Leonard Bernstein's performance of the work in Berlin, with an orchestra of musicians from both sides of the Iron Curtain, remains one of the most moving musical events of the last half-century.The symphony's ability to create a sense of collective identity, melting away the ego lines between individuals, is part of what makes it so powerful. In a decent performance, the listener may find themselves "broadly in love with everyone around [them] during the tender passages" – a feeling that stands in stark contrast to the divisive rhetoric and partisan bashing that had characterized much of the Republican National Convention.

Beethoven's Symphony: A Perplexing Choice

The decision to use Beethoven's Ninth Symphony as the backdrop for Melania Trump's entrance was, at the very least, a perplexing one. Ordinary political advisers, steeped in the traditions of the American political process, might have advised against the use of music that so strongly evokes Europe's post-World War II quest for peace and dignity – a sentiment that seems at odds with the GOP's current isolationist tendencies and its opposition to the NATO alliance.Sensitive to accusations of elitism, they might have also avoided the use of classical music altogether, given its long-standing (but mostly baseless) association with listeners who are wealthy and educated. Even the few good reasons to use the music – such as the failed efforts by some in the convention to suggest a new, unifying tone – don't fully explain the choice.

Trumpian Aesthetics: Appropriating and Neutralizing Culture

The use of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at the Republican National Convention can be seen as a manifestation of Trumpian aesthetics, which often involve the appropriation of culture not to own it, but to neutralize it. Beethoven's symphony will never become Melania Trump's theme music, but its brief appearance at the convention makes it just one more surprise, one more dizzying moment in a deluge of the bizarre.When everything is weird, nothing is normal. When everything is an exception to the rule, then there are no rules. Melania Trump has consistently been the exception to almost all the received rules of what it means to be a first lady, and the use of Beethoven's music for her entrance underscores how she remains central to the Republican Party by consistently standing aside from it in symbolic ways.

The Surreal and the Hypocritical

The juxtaposition of Beethoven's message of brotherhood and compassion with the Republican Party's rhetoric of immigrant bashing and attacks on LGBTQ people is, at best, perversely hypocritical. At worst, it is a deliberate attempt to co-opt and neutralize the power of the music, reducing it to just another element in a dizzying array of surreal moments.If the audience at the Republican National Convention failed to recognize the oddity of this choice, it is likely because there was so much competition from other odd, hyperbolic, and hypocritical extremities of rhetoric. In a political landscape where the surreal has become the norm, the ability to be shocked or surprised has been eroded, leaving a sense of disorientation and a growing disconnect between the party's actions and the values it claims to represent.