Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven) a symphony (thus making it a choral symphony). The words are sung during the final movement by four vocal soloists and a chorus. They were taken from the "Ode to Joy", a poem written by Friedrich Schiller in 1785 and revised in 1803, with text additions made by the composer. In 2001, Beethoven's original, hand-written manuscript of the score, held by the Berlin State Library, was added to the United Nations Memory of the World Programme Heritage list, becoming the first musical score so designated. The Philharmonic Society of London originally commissioned the symphony in 1817. The main composition work
Stephen I of Hungary 1989. A popular hymn, still sung in the churches, was first recorded in the late . It hails King St. Stephen as "radiant star of Hungarians". Ludwig van Beethoven composed his "King Stephen Overture" for the inauguration of the Hungarian theatre in Pest in 1812. According to musician James M. Keller, "[t]he descending unisons that open the "King Stephen Overture" would seem to prefigure the opening of the "Ninth Symphony" [a]nd then a later theme, introduced by flutes and clarinets, seems almost to be a of the famous "Ode 'To Joy"' melody of the Ninth Symphony's finale". Hungarian composer Ferenc