Ode to Joy Ode to Joy "Ode to Joy" (German: ), is an ode written in the summer of 1785 by German poet, playwright, and historian Friedrich Schiller and published the following year in "Thalia". A slightly revised version appeared in 1808, changing two lines of the first and omitting the last stanza. "Ode to Joy" is best known for its use by Ludwig van Beethoven in the final (fourth) movement of his Ninth Symphony, completed in 1824. Beethoven's text is not based entirely on Schiller's poem, and introduces a few new sections. His tune (but not Schiller's words) was adopted as the
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven) by the Ninth Symphony. An important theme in the finale of Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 1 in C minor is related to the "Ode to Joy" theme from the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. When this was pointed out to Brahms, he is reputed to have retorted "Any fool can see that!" Brahms's first symphony was, at times, both praised and derided as "Beethoven's Tenth". The Ninth Symphony influenced the forms that Anton Bruckner used for the movements of his symphonies. His Symphony No. 3 is in the same D-minor key as Beethoven's 9th and makes substantial use of