BEETHOVEN’S “ODE TO JOY”
Ludwig van Beethoven (Bonn 1770 – Vienna 1827)
Beethoven was one of the greatest musicians of all time. Born in Germany, he spent his adult life in Vienna, Austria, where he became famous as a pianist and composer. He was a meticulous worker, frequently revising and rewriting his music until he was really satisfied with it and only then releasing it for performance. Some of his music took years to develop. He was a most unfortunate person, however, because he suffered from increasing deafness and by the time he wrote his last Symphony, No. 9, he was totally deaf and could hear none of the marvellous music he was creating.
The Ninth Symphony takes over an hour to perform and is the first to have a choral final movement. For this, Beethoven chose to set the “Ode to Joy” by the German poet Friedrich Schiller (1759 – 1805), giving the poem long-lasting fame it would never otherwise have achieved. Beethoven obviously had been thinking about this novel idea as his melody turns up in a couple of earlier works. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was first performed on May 7th, 1824, to a packed house in a leading Viennese theatre, the Kärntnertor; even Franz Schubert was present, as was the Austrian Chancellor, Prince von Metternich. Beethoven attempted to conduct but, being unable to hear a note, he soon lost his way and another conductor, who was standing by, undertook the actual direction of the performance, which was an immense success. Its triumph was soon repeated across Europe and continues to this day.
In 1972 the Council of Europe decided to create an Anthem for Europe taking Beethoven’s melody as its source. Later, in 1985, the European Union adopted the melody as its Anthem, too. The famous conductor Herbert von Karajan was commissioned to provide three non-vocal settings: for piano, for wind instruments and for symphony orchestra; he also conducted the official recording. Music is a universal language so the Ode can be enjoyed by all European countries. However, no words were officially adopted for the Anthem, as so many languages would be involved, but it is normal practice to use Schiller’s poem or a translation of it, depending on the country and language involved on each occasion.
© Ian Fox 2023