Beethoven Frieze (plate 8, right wall): Yearning for happiness is assuaged in poetry

The eighth and final plate of the Beethoven Frieze's right wall shows the resolution of the entire narrative arc — yearning for happiness assuaged in poetry and artistic experience. This section of the frieze famously culminates in an embracing couple surrounded by angelic choir figures, representing the consolation and transcendence that art — specifically music — provides against the hostile powers of the world. The right wall's joyful resolution completes the frieze's programmatic movement from longing through obstacle to fulfillment, embodying the Wagnerian reading of Beethoven's Ninth.

The resolution section introduces the most ornate and celebratory use of gold leaf in the entire frieze, with the embracing central couple surrounded by a richly decorative setting of angular ornament and angelic figures. The colour temperature shifts to warm gold and warm flesh tones after the cooler, more unsettling centre wall.