When members of the Brexit party turned their backs on a small group of young musicians performing the EU’s anthem at the opening of the European Parliament in July, the party’s leader Nigel Farage said it was “irrelevant” that the music in question was written by Beethoven. But “Ode to Joy” was composed with the dream of European peace and unity very much at its heart.
“Ode to Joy” appears like a burst of sunlight in the fourth and final movement of Beethoven’s stormy Ninth (and final) Symphony. The composer’s decision to bring a choir into the piece was revolutionary, giving soaring voice to a poem that had thrilled Beethoven as a young man: Freidrich Schiller’s “An die Freude”. Written in 1785 — on the brink of the French Revolution — the popular poem expressed a yearning for peace and egalitarianism: “All men will become brothers … Be embraced, you millions!”
As soon as he heard Schiller’s words, the young Beethoven imagined setting them to music. Like many liberal, cosmopolitan youths of the time, the German composer was excited by the ideals of the French Revolution and dedicated his Third Symphony to Napoleon Bonaparte before scratching out the name of his former hero on learning that Napoleon had declared himself emperor.
Beethoven was disappointed by more than politics in a life that included an abusive musical education by his father, a series of romantic rejections and the almost complete loss of his hearing by the age of 44. The Ninth, completed in 1824, received a standing ovation at its premiere in Vienna but Beethoven — still flailing his arms at the silent orchestra — had to be turned around to face the applause.
Since then, the powerful emotions aroused by the symphony have been harnessed for good and ill. Hitler had it played on birthdays and included it in Nazi propaganda films. Japan’s imperial government used it to raise morale during the second world war. Beethoven’s melody was re-worded to become the Republic of Rhodesia’s anthem towards the end of Ian Smith’s racist administration.
But it has also given heart to protesters. In 1957 miners in south Wales invited black American socialist singer Paul Robeson to their annual Eisteddfod, but the US authorities banned him from travelling. In a deep, beautiful voice, he sang his own version of the song as a kind of hymn down the phone to them.
During the Pinochet regime in Chile, women sang the “Himno a la Alegría” (“Hymn to Happiness”, popularised by Miguel Ríos) in the streets outside prisons to give hope to prisoners inside. Chinese protesters played it over loudspeakers during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. On Christmas Day 1989, Leonard Bernstein conducted a performance to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall. The orchestra was drawn from East and West Germany as well as the UK, France, the Soviet Union and the US. The lyrics were changed from a celebration of “Joy” (Freude) to “Freedom” (Freiheit).
“Ode to Joy” was adopted as the organisational anthem of Europe — not to overrule national anthems but to celebrate shared values between nations — in 1972. In 1985 it became the official anthem of the European Community, then the European Union, from 1993. In 2008 it became the temporary Kosovan anthem because of the EU’s role in its independence from Serbia.
It’s had quite the ride in pop culture too. It backs the sociopathic violence of Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film A Clockwork Orange (as it does in Anthony Burgess’s original 1962 novella). The film’s synthesiser and vocoder version was played by Wendy Carlos, whose 1968 Switched-On Bach album began the 1970s vogue for synth versions of classical music. In the film, the anti-hero Alex is conditioned against Beethoven’s Ninth when he is exposed to it during his “Ludovico” treatment. There’s also a sweetly silly comic version by Rowan Atkinson, in the role of a baritone who has forgotten his music and is forced to freestyle a series of popular German phrases: “Achtung, Liebfraumilch im Porsche, oompa, Vorsprung durch Technik.”
Rock and pop musicians haven’t been so engaged. But it’s worth checking out New Order’s dystopian electro version (1982) and the fist-pumping rock-out by Stranglers bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel (1980). But the best indie version is Bright Eyes’ “Road to Joy”: an uncharacteristically noisy blast of disillusionment with the state of the world in lyrics that run: “The sun came up with no conclusions… Let’s f*** it up boys, make some noise!”
What are your memories of ‘Ode to Joy’? Let us know in the comments section below.
‘The Life of a Song Volume 2: The fascinating stories behind 50 more of the world’s best-loved songs’, edited by David Cheal and Jan Dalley, is published by Brewer’s.
Music credits: Crimson; Fantastic Voyage; Parlophone Spain; Parlophone UK; Saddle Creek
Picture credit: API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images