Today is the 250th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven, or at least the anniversary of the day he was baptised, but he has been celebrating all year; though like everyone else, he had to cancel all his live concerts and parties. So today’s window opens in Germany once more, to a very special Christmas performance and plenty of Freude!
Freude! Freude! … Alle Menschen warden Brüder. / Joy! Joy! … All men shall become brothers.
On December 23rd 1989, only a month and a half after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Leonard Bernstein led a concert in West Berlin. Two days later, on Christmas Day, he led an identical concert across the border, in what was previously East Germany. The music was Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Ode to Joy was first written in 1785 by German poet Friedrich Schiller as a celebration of the brotherhood of man. Beethoven set the words for the final, choral movement of the Symphony completed in 1824. Having soloists and a choir burst into joyful singing in a symphony was revolutionary, but it has obviously stood the test of time.
Bernstein made one change for this two-concert series: he directed the choir to sing “Freiheit” (freedom) instead of “Freude” (joy).
The Ode to Joy is also the anthem of The European Union; an instrumental ( and much shorter ! ) version for a continent of many languages. Alas for British Remainers, this music is now a bitter reminder of the Brexit disaster and all that we are about to lose. Luckily Tidalscribe will be remaining in the European Union and adhering to Schiller and Beethoven’s optimism and belief in the brotherhood of man – brotherhood in the figurative inclusive sense .
Times and Tides of a Beachwriter 
It’s funny, I only really listened to him over the last few years, but it is not surprising he is regarded as one of the greats.
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My Mum and Dad’s first date was at the proms; he asked her what she would like to do, not expecting to enjoy going to a concert, but it was Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto and Dad was hooked, so the rest is history, and we were all brought up on Beethoven etc
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My dad took my mum to see Dr No! She fell asleep!
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one of the all-time classic songs I never knew it was the anthem of the EU. And I love the subtle, yet powerful, one word change by Bernstein…
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Yes, apparently some think Schiller originally wrote freedom then changed it to joy.
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My mum always played a lot of Beethoven. I grew to like classical music before I became aware of the pop charts. Thanks Janet for adding this post to ‘Click & Run’.
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It shows I have never taken much notice when the EU national anthem was played I didn’t connect the dots …
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Thank you. I love that Ode to Joy is the anthem for the EU. Perfect. So sad the UK is leaving.
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Oh yes – we have roused from the Covid nightmare to realise we are still actually doing Brexit!
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