Symphony no. 9 D minor op. 125 by Ludwig van Beethoven

Symphony no. 9 D minor op. 125 by Ludwig van Beethoven

With his famous Ninth Symphony, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) ventured into new musical dimensions. In the final movement, soloists and chorus join forces with the orchestra and the “Ode to Joy” by Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) to express a global aspiration, a declaration: “Alle Menschen werden Brüder! / All mankind becomes brothers!” The magnum opus premiered in Vienna on May 7th, 1824 before a packed house in what was Beethoven’s first onstage appearance in 12 years. It was received with jubilant, boisterous applause and Beethoven, who was now almost completely deaf and had to be turned around to face the audience, received five standing ovations as handkerchiefs and hats were thrown in the air.

The Anthem of Europe

During the Cold War, the "Ode to Joy" segment of the symphony was played in lieu of an anthem at the Olympic Games for the United Team of Germany between 1956 and 1968. In 1972, the main theme of the last movement was chosen by the Council of Europe as the European anthem and was adopted by the European Union in 1985 as its official anthem. In 2001 the manuscript was listed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. The large-format paper that Beethoven used for some passages already reveals its forcefulness. Alterations, sometimes reversed later, show how he wrestled with the final version of the musical text and refined it right down to the last detail. The various parts of the manuscript, like the rest of Germany, were divided in the aftermath of the Second World War and only reunited in 1990. Today, it is regarded as a one of the supreme achievements in the history of Western music.