The story behind Beethoven’s “hymn to joy”

Almost two centuries have passed and the Hymn of Joy Beethoven’s work continues to be a symbol of hope, peace and camaraderie. It is a masterful musical celebration capable of making everyone who listens to it feel almost instantly filled with a torrent of positive emotions. Life always seems beautiful when this piece plays.

For its creator it was more of a hymn to rage and redemption. At a time when sounds no longer existed for him and he felt devastated by the worst curse for a musician, composing this anthem was an ode to effort and artistic survival. He managed to erect a colossal work. On the day of its premiere, not even he was aware of how the public cheered, applauded and became excited. He couldn’t hear anything.

It was one of the musicians who had to tell him about the public’s reaction, at which point he stopped to thank him for the reaction. He was still at the end of the second movement and had a good part of the work ahead of him…

The Ode to Joy became the anthem of the Council of Europe in 1972. In 1985, it became the official anthem of the European Community and its successor, the European Union.

This is how the Hymn to Joy was created

When he was still just a teenager, Ludwig van Beethoven fell under the spell of transcendental idealism and the foundations of the Enlightenment. In fact, it was common to see it in the lectures that Immanuel Kant gave at the University of Bonn. It was also here that he discovered something that immediately resonated with him: the poetry of Friedrich Schiller.

He was just over 15 years old when he was captivated by the “Ode to Joy.”, a poem that represented the essence of the movement that was experienced in Europe in those years. Schiller wanted to emphasize the values ​​that should move the spirit of the Enlightenment, such as freedom, justice and human happiness. The well-being and happiness of the citizen had to be at the center of politics, only then would peace and social harmony be possible.

That poem was, according to its author, a kiss for everyone. Beethoven desired, even then, to be the lips that gave voice to that poem, the music that universally transmitted those noble purposes…

When darkness fell on Europe and on Beethoven

The dream of the Enlightenment and its promise of happiness remained little more than a mirage. A few decades later, France fell into the Reign of Terror and more than ten thousand heads rolled. Friedrich Schiller died considering his “Ode to Joy” an absolute failure, an absurd entelechy and something of which he was ashamed under the circumstances.

That idealistic fantasy ended up colliding with harsh reality. Not even art, writing and poetry had the power to transform the minds of men, always so eager for violence. The revolutionary times that Europe was experiencing were so dark that even the music of the young Beethoven stopped being fresh and light. to acquire more turbulent chords.

He was just over 30 years old when he wrote what is known as the Heiligenstadt Testament, with which he explained his despair to his brothers. He was going deaf early, something so unthinkable and heartbreaking for a musician that he even considered taking his own life. But he did not.

Beethoven always considered that he had to contribute something revolutionary and unique to the musical world. From that moment, and faced with the progressive and irreparable hearing loss, he turned obsessively and feverishly to composition. The Ode to joy of Schiller echoed again in his mind.

Beethoven’s Hymn to Joy or Chorale manages to awaken our positive emotions and sense of hope.

The Himno to Joy and the desire to enlighten humanity (and himself)

Symphony No. 9 or Hymn to Joy was the latest in his musical career. When he wrote it he had lost his hearing and was navigating isolation, illness, a broken heart from several lost loves, depression and suicidal ideation. His creation and obsession with creating a piece of music from Schiller’s poem became his driving force. The one that would allow him to emerge from the darkness.

Beethoven longed for his Hymn to Joy It will enlighten humanity and resurrect the values ​​of hope, freedom and peace among all peoples. Her music had to pulsate enough to reach the heavens and the hearts of all people. Likewise, it should be noted that his symphony also acted as an internal beacon for himself.

It is said that, on one occasion, engrossed as he was in giving musical life to Schiller’s poem 27 years after falling under its spell, he lost track of time. He began to walk absorbed, with hardly any clothes and immersed in his thoughts. The authorities ended up locking him in jail because they believed he was a deranged vagabond.

The mayor himself picked him up with apologies, taking him back to his house in a carriage. When he got home, his mind was buzzing with ideas. His inspiration was so voracious, electric and incandescent, that he managed to finish the work. And he did it, From his own darkness he managed to illuminate the world with hope with his now unforgettable Hymn to Joy.

Editorial credit main image: Ernando Febrian / Shutterstock.com

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