Anthem of Europe Anthem of Europe "Anthem of Europe" is the anthem of the Council of Europe and the European Union. It is based on "Ode to Joy" from 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
Symphony No. 1 (Beethoven) the real key (or home key) of the symphony. In correlation to the tradition, however, the first movement is composed exemplarily in sonata form. Here, as a new element, Beethoven uses the more lyrical second subject to display and intertwine the woodwind with the string instruments. The development is elaborate and mainly based on the first subject of the movement and explores a long harmonic progression (starting from A major, reaching F major, passing F major at the end); it also refines the juxtaposition and combination of the orchestral instruments (woodwinds and strings); the recapitulation is almost coherent with the