Ludwig van Beethoven's Protest Song (1818-1824)

Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, 4th Movement (1818-1824)

Whether Beethoven’s adaptation of Friedrich Schiller’s poem “Ode to Joy” was actually intended as any sort of protest remains open to debate — the origins of the theory seem to center on an editor’s footnote in a novel called Das Musikfest by Robert Griepenkerl.

Still, that Schiller wrote his ode to freedom and subsequently switched it to joy for fear of retribution from a Prussian government that was hardly welcoming to revolutionary thinkers remains an attractive theory.

That Beethoven would choose to incorporate such a text at the same time Metternich’s Carlsbad Decrees were suppressing artists in the German Confederacy certainly seems a bold statement addressing such oppression.

The European Union’s 1971 adoption of the work as the European Anthem would seem to take the wind out of the sails of any revolutionary power it once had, but the late 1980s would resurrect its power as a protest song.

“Ode to Joy” was broadcast in Tiananmen Square during the famous protests of 1989, and its performance was conducted by Leonard Bernstein at the fall of the Berlin Wall later that year (with “joy” changed to “freedom” — freude to freiheit) reaffirmed the revolutionary power of Beethoven’s masterpiece.

Even if Beethoven’s intent were simply to express the wonder of living, the joy he felt at being able to continue composing even though by then he was completely deaf, he would likely be pleased with the powerful meaning ascribed to his magnum opus.

– Mike Schiller

Source: @ fair use

Performance: © Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen at the Beethovenfest Bonn 2009.

The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, also known as Beethoven's 9th, is the final complete symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, composed between 1822 and 1824. One of the best-known works in common practice music Beethoven‘s Symphony No. 9 in D minor is regarded by many critics and musicologists as one of Beethoven's greatest works and one of the supreme achievements in the history of western music.

The first, second and third movements are each given a brief reintroduction, each is rejected. "Freunde, nicht diese Töne!" (Friends, not these tones!) sings a baritone, then vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra all join forces in the musical setting of Friedrich Schiller's "Ode to Joy." A celebration of creation, and more: an invitation to join in a universal brotherhood of man: "Seid umschlungen, Millionen!" (Be embraced, ye millions!). The symphony was the first example of a major composer using voices in a symphony.

Deutsche Welle and Unitel Classica present Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen recorded at the Beethovenhalle Bonn 2009.