Anthem of Europe
A page from Beethoven's original manuscript
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Official anthem of European Union  *Council of Europe *(on behalf of Europe as a whole) |
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| Also known as | European Anthem |
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| Lyrics | None |
| Music | Ludwig van Beethoven, 1824 |
| Adopted | 1972 and 1985 |
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"Ode to Joy" is the anthem of Europe, also called the European anthem. It has been adopted by both the Council of Europe and the European Union. Due to the Council's intention that, as a semi-modern composition with a mythological flair, it does represent Europe as a whole, rather than any organisation. It is based on the final movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony composed in 1823, and is played on official occasions by both organisations.
Friedrich Schiller wrote the poem "An die Freude" ("To Joy") in 1785 as a "celebration of the brotherhood of man". In later life, the poet was contemptuous of this popularity and dismissed the poem as typical of "the bad taste of the age" in which it had been written. After Schiller's death, the poem provided the words for the choral movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
In 1971 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe decided to propose adopting the prelude to the "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's 9th Symphony as the European anthem, taking up a suggestion made by Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi in 1955. Beethoven was generally seen as the natural choice for a European anthem. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe officially announced the European Anthem on 19 January 1972 at Strasbourg: the prelude to "Ode to Joy", 4th movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th symphony. In 1974 the same piece of music was adopted as the National Anthem of Rhodesia.
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