Films that contain "Ode to Joy"

[Balmli]

I am curious as to how many Movies have incorporated Beethoven's 9th or "Ode to Joy". I have come up with "Sister Act", "Dead Poet's Society" , "A Clockwork Orange", and "Die Hard",
but I wondered if there were others. Also who is responsible for the lyrics we know as "Ode to Joy".

[Joy]

The text was written by Friedrich von Schiller in 1785. It took Beethoven some 30 years to put his favourite poem down on paper but he had the famous tune in his head as far back as the 1790's but it was not performed until 1824 and just before that did he come up with the idea of how to insert the words and make the transition. Also he wasn't even sure if he should use the words as a symphony with lyrics had never been done before. Thank goodness for us he threw caution to the wind and decided to go for it. Here are the lyrics.

BARITONE (these words were written by Beethoven himself as a transition from instrumental to vocal).
Oh friends, not these tones!
Let us raise our voices in more
pleasing and more joyful sounds!

ODE TO JOY (Friedrich Schiller)

BARITONE, QUARTET, AND CHORUS
Joy, beautiful spark of the gods,
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter fire imbibed,
Heavenly, thy sanctuary.

Thy magic reunites those
Whom stern custom has parted;
All men will become brothers
Under thy gentle wing.

May he who has had the fortune
To gain a true friend
And he who has won a noble wife
Join in our jubilation!

Yes, even if he calls but one soul
His own in all the world.
But he who has failed in this
Must steal away alone and in tears.

All the world's creatures
Draw joy from nature's breast;
Both the good and the evil
Follow her rose-strewn path.

She gave us kisses and wine
And a friend loyal unto death;
She gave lust for life to the lowliest,
And the Cherub stands before God.

TENOR SOLO AND CHORUS
Joyously, as his suns speed
Through Heaven's glorious order,
Hasten, Brothers, on your way,
Exulting as a knight in victory.

CHORUS

Joy, beautiful spark of the gods,
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter fire imbibed,
Heavenly, thy sanctuary.

Be embraced, Millions!
This kiss for all the world!
Brothers!, above the starry canopy
A loving father must dwell.

Can you sense the Creator, world?
Seek him above the starry canopy.
Above the stars He must dwell.

Be embraced, Millions!
This kiss for all the world!
Brothers!, above the starry canopy
A loving father must dwell.

Can you sense the Creator, world?
Seek him above the starry canopy.
Above the stars He must dwell.

Joy, beautiful spark of the gods,
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter fire imbibed,
Heavenly, thy sanctuary.

Be embraced, Millions!
This kiss for all the world!
Brothers!, above the starry canopy
A loving father must dwell.

Can you sense the Creator, world?
Seek him above the starry canopy.
Above the stars He must dwell.

Be embraced, Millions!
This kiss for all the world!
Brothers!, above the starry canopy
A loving father must dwell.

Can you sense the Creator, world?
Seek him above the starry canopy.
Above the stars He must dwell.

Joy, daughter of Elysium
Thy magic reunites those
Whom stern custom has parted;
All men will become brothers
Under thy gentle wing.

Be embraced, Millions!
This kiss for all the world!
Brothers!, above the starry canopy
A loving father must dwell.

Joy, beautiful spark of Gods!,
Daughter of Elysium,
Joy, beatiful spark of Gods!.

------------------
'Truth and beauty joined'

[This message has been edited by Joy (edited 08-04-2004).]

[mrfixit]

Episode 24 of a anime called Evangelion contains Ode to Joy. The character who hums it ends up getting killed.

[lvbfanatic]

Originally posted by Balmli:
I am curious as to how many Movies have incorporated Beethoven's 9th or "Ode to Joy". I have come up with "Sister Act", "Dead Poet's Society" , "A Clockwork Orange", and "Die Hard",
but I wondered if there were others. Also who is responsible for the lyrics we know as "Ode to Joy".

This might be tangential to the query... but it is irresistable... a current TV ad for a the EUREKA vacuum cleaner product backgrounds excerpts from the 2nd movement of the 9th.

By the way... once I heard the Gloria and Credo of the sister work Missa Solemnis... I never again revered the Ode...



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A Calm Sea and A Prosperous Voyage

[spaceray]

I don't think this American reviewer writing for The Orchestra ,London 1868 enjoyed the Ninth very much.
" The whole orchestral part of Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony I found very wearying indeed.
Several times I had great difficulty in keeping awake...It was a great relief when the choral part was arrived at ,of which I had great expectations. It opened with eight bars of a commonplace theme ,very much like Yankee-Doodle...As for this part of the famous Symphony ,I regret to say that it appeared to be made up of the strange,the ludicrous,the abrubt,the ferocious,and the screechy,with the slightest possible admixture here and there,of an intelligible melody.As for following the words printed in the program ,it was quite out of the question,and what was all the noise about,it was hard to form any idea.The general impression it left on me is that of a concert made up of war-whoops and angry wildcats."

Beethoven was not his cup of tea at all.

[stude_ham]

Indeed... there are a lot of anonymous remarks deprecating any of the Beethoven magnificent outputs. Most apparently seem to stem from apparently English sources of the 19th century variety where it appears that strong hostilities existed towards anything German.

The critique from the 1868 review is a quote that appears to be untraceable to a specific publication ... if so the author of the quote would have been known. Consequently I would conclude that the source was fabricated to hide the true identity of the the alleged "quotee".

Here are a few more examples of the anti-Beethoven remarks which can easily be found on the net...

We found Beethoven's Ninth Symphony to be precisely one hour and five minutes long; a fearful period indeed, which puts the muscles and lungs of the band, and the patience of the audience to a severe trial ... . The symphony we could not make out; and here, as well as in other parts, the want of intelligible design is too apparent.
-- The Harmonicon, London, 1825

We heard lately in Boston the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven. The performance was technically most admirable. ... But is not the worship paid this Symphony mere fetishism? ... I admit the grandeur of the passage 'und der Cherub steht vor Gott.' But oh, the unspeakable cheapness of the chief tune, 'Freude, Freude'! Do you believe way down in the bottom of your heart that if this music had been written by Mr. John L. Tarbox, now living in Sandown, N. H., any conductor here or in Europe could be persuaded to put it in rehearsal?
-- Philip Hale, Boston Music Record, 1899

Beethoven always sounds to me like the upsetting of bags of nails, with here and there an also dropped hammer.
--John Ruskin to John Brown, 1881

Another conclusion which I would venture is that none of the alleged critics ever had access to any decent performance of LVB's masterful genius.

Even today live performances of the Beethoven works very often leave much to be desired.

[spaceray]

Stude,
Here is one from the Zeitung fur die Elegent Welt,Vienna, May 1804.
"Beethoven's Second Symphony is a crass monster,a hideously writhing wounded dragon,that refuses to expire,and though bleeding in the Finale,furiously beats about
with its tail erect."

and this written by August von Kotzebue,Der Freimutige ,Vienna September 11th, 1809
" Recently there was given the Overture to Beethoven's opera Fidelio, and all impartial
musicians and music lovers were in perfect aggrement that never was anything as incoherent,shrill,chaotic and ear splitting produced in music . The most piercing dissonances clash in a really atrocious harmony, and a few puny ideas only increase the disagreeable and deafening effect."

Don't be fooled into thinking just because
it's published in an English or American paper that it's English or American .It could be from anywhere,even Canada!.I expect the folks writing the scathing music reviews were the same folks who were writing the positive reviews.

[rmns2bseen]

[/B] [/QUOTE]

We heard lately in Boston the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven. The performance was technically most admirable. ... But is not the worship paid this Symphony mere fetishism? ... I admit the grandeur of the passage 'und der Cherub steht vor Gott.' But oh, the unspeakable cheapness of the chief tune, 'Freude, Freude'! Do you believe way down in the bottom of your heart that if this music had been written by Mr. John L. Tarbox, now living in Sandown, N. H., any conductor here or in Europe could be persuaded to put it in rehearsal?
-- Philip Hale, Boston Music Record, 1899

Beethoven always sounds to me like the upsetting of bags of nails, with here and there an also dropped hammer.
--John Ruskin to John Brown, 1881

Another conclusion which I would venture is that none of the alleged critics ever had access to any decent performance of LVB's masterful genius.

Even today live performances of the Beethoven works very often leave much to be desired.

[/B][/QUOTE]

I love Beethoven and his music, but think it's also healthy when sentiments like those expressed by Philip Hale above are given some "air-time" (even though in this case the sentiments are 105 years old- and I dare say that these days no one would have the guts to say such things, even if they were an honest, heartfelt opinion). One sure way to kill some great works of art is to expect everyone to accept their greatness as self-evident.