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"To Joy" (German: An die Freude, first line: "Freude, schöner Götterfunken", in English often called Ode to Joy) is an ode written in 1785 by the German poet, playwright and historian Friedrich Schiller. The poem celebrates the ideal of unity and brotherhood of all mankind.

It is best known for its musical setting by Ludwig van Beethoven in the final movement of his Ninth Symphony (completed in 1824), a choral symphony for orchestra, four solo voices, and choir.

Other musical settings of the poem include:

• Johann Gottlieb Naumann (1786)
• Christian Gottfried Körner (1786)
• Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1796)
• Johann Friedrich Hugo von Dalberg (1799)
• Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg (1803)
• Franz Schubert's song "An die Freude" D 189 (1815), for voice and piano
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1865), for solo singers, choir and orchestra in a Russian translation
• "Seid umschlungen, Millionen!" (1892), waltz by Johann Strauss II
• Z. Randall Stroope (2002), for choir and four-hand piano

[edit] See also

• Anthem of Europe
• Rise O Voices of Rhodesia

[edit] External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Ode to Joy

• Schiller's ode "An die Freude" in its original, 1785 version with English translation
• Text in German, English, Dutch, French; list of musical settings
• A more stylized English translation