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Ode to Joy – Beethoven’s Evergreen  

Ode to Joy – Beethoven’s Evergreen  

Today is European Music Day. We invite you to perform Ode to Joy from your home at 6pm. This is a tribute to the Frontline workers who have been through so much. Visit www.odetojoy.ie for more information

What brought about “Ode to Joy?

1. Friedrich Schiller wrote Ode to Joy as a celebration for the brotherhood between man and nature in 1785. It was published for the first time in Thalia the year after. The poem was revised several times by Schiller, and the final version was published in 1808.

2. In the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Beethoven used Ode to Joy. It was first performed in Vienna 1824. He was a great admirer of Schiller’s philosophical work, as well as the works of Goethe & Kant, whose ideals and ideas he supported. Beethoven’s beliefs are closely aligned with the Ode’s themes about humans as rational and free beings, and the sanctity and brotherhood of brotherhood and peaceful.

3. Beethoven used the poem as a starting point for a symphony. This was not a popular move at the time. Giuseppe Verdi, an Italian composer, complained to Clara Maffei, his patron, that the symphony had been’marvellous’ in the first three movements and’very badly set’ in the final.

4. Time has proven its critics wrong, as it has seen a significant increase in popularity. The Ode to Joy has also grown in popularity along with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 was added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, which recognizes its importance.

5. In 1972, the Council of Europe made the Ode to Joy its anthem. It became the official anthem for the European Community in 1985, and later the EU. It was adopted with no lyrics to avoid giving preference to any one language. Unofficial translations include Latin and Esperanto.

6. Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, a protest song and celebration of music, has been a constant throughout the years. The piece was performed by protestors in Chile during a demonstration against Pinochet’s dictatorship, and broadcast live at Tiananmen Square by Chinese students. It was also performed by Leonard Bernstein at a concert in Berlin on Christmas Day following the fall of Berlin Wall. Bernstein also changed Schiller’s Ode to Joy to Ode to Liberty from ‘Freude’ to ‘Freiheit’ on that occasion.

Interpretation of Ode: To Joy

Joy, the beautiful spark of Divinity (or: of Gods),

Daughter of Elysium

We enter, drunken with fire.

Heavenly One, Thy Sanctuary!

Your magic is strong again

Which custom is strictly divided?

All people are brothers.

Your gentle wing will always be there

The great success stories of those who have succeeded in this great endeavor are:

To be a friend’s buddy

The man who has the most beautiful wife is the winner.

You can add yours to the joy!

Yes. And also for anyone with just one soul.

To be his own person in this world!

He who has never done it should not try.

Weeping in this union

All living things drink joy

Nature’s breasts.

All the Good, all the Evil

Follow her path of roses.

We were given her kisses and she also gave us grapevines.

A friend, proven in death.

The worm was the first to feel lust

The cherub stands in front of God.

He is glad, His suns fly!

Through the grand plan of the heavens

Brothers, journey along your path.

Joyful, like a hero of victory.

Millions of people need to be embraced!

All the world, this is your kiss!

Brothers, Above the Starry Canopy

A loving Father must be present.

Are you collapsing, millions?

Are you able to sense the creator and world?

Look for him high above the starry canopy

He must dwell above the stars.

Kurz bio

Original title An die Freude

Written 1785

Germany Country

German Language

Form Ode

Thalia, Publisher

Publication date 1786, 1808

Ode to Joy Sheet Music