Ode To Joy

Ludwig van Beethoven composed Symphony No. 9 in D minor ten years after he went deaf. First performed in Vienna on May 7, 1824, the symphony is regarded by many as Beethoven's greatest work; a supreme achievement in the history of western music, it is used as the anthem of the European Union.

Beethoven was one of the first composers to use voices in a symphony, adopting "Ode to Joy,"  a poem by Friedrich Schiller (1759 – 1805) and sung during the 4th and final movement of the symphony. Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright who first titled the poem “Ode to Freedom” (An die Freiheit), before changing the name to “Ode to Joy” (An die Freude). 

I am certain many of you have listened to this symphony multiple times, but I invite you to try again, and this time keep in mind the original name of the poem, and the fact that Beethoven was a Freemason, encouraging us to "Go on, brothers, Joyful, like a hero to victory.”

One of the items I have had the good fortune to cross off my bucket list is to listen to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in a Masonic Temple on a Solstice night. If there is such a thing as celestial music, this is it.