If I wanted to listen to all of Beethoven's symphonies in order, each on the anniversary of the day it was premiered, how long would it take me?

Eolena

It would take you 2 years, 1 month and 5 days. Specifically, you would be listening to the symphonies as follows (premiere year noted in brackets): Symphony #1 April 2 [1800] Symphony #2 April 5 [1803] Symphony #3 April 7 [1805] Symphony #4 March [1807](haven't found exact day) Symphony #5 December 22 [1808] Symphony #6 December 22 [1808] Symphony #7 December 8 [1813] Symphony #8 February 27 [1814] Symphony #9 May 7 [1824] My source for the dates: http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~simonj/lvb/symphonies.html Jan 03 06, 3:22 PM

Arpeggionist

Good call! Well detailed! Now, have you taken into account that the 5th and 6th were premiered in reverse order (thus adding another year to the process)? Jan 03 06, 3:39 PM

Eolena

Why would reversing the performance order of the 5th and 6th symphonies add another year? The anniversary is the same regardless. That is, unless one of them is over 24 hours long, they could still be performed on the same day. Jan 03 06, 4:21 PM

Arpeggionist

Yes. That was a bad joke. But some purists would insist on adding the year simply because the symphonies were not performed in the order of publication (some say the 6th was even written first, though it matters little). Jan 04 06, 4:42 AM