Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in popular culture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Since the Ninth Symphony is such a widely known work of classical music, it has frequently been adapted for use in works of popular culture, particularly film scores, television, and popular music. The following is a partial list of such adaptations:
Contents |
- Beethoven's music was adopted as a national anthem by the UDI regime of Rhodesia. In 1974 it was put to words. (See Rise O Voices of Rhodesia.)[1]
- Students in Beijing's Tiananmen Square protest broadcast the symphony through loudspeakers in 1989 as a statement against tyranny.
- A famous performance, conducted by Leonard Bernstein on December 25, 1989 celebrated the fall of the Berlin Wall. It substituted Freude ("joy") with Freiheit ("freedom") in the sung text. The orchestra and chorus were drawn from both East and West Germany, the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States.[2]
- The Ode to Joy is an unofficial anthem of Nicaragua's FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional).[citation needed]
- In his report on a visit to the breakaway state of Biafra, Kurt Vonnegut wrote that the Ninth was the country's anthem.
- It is widely believed, although it is almost certainly untrue, that the playback time specifications of the Sony/Philips Compact Disc were influenced by a desire to accommodate performances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on a single disc, without interruption. This requirement has been variously attributed to Herbert von Karajan (a Deutsche Grammophon artist with access to Sony chairman Akio Morita), to Morita's wife, and to Sony president Norio Ohga. The urban legends investigators at snopes.com consider this to be "undecided." According to Philips, it was indeed Ohga who suggested extending the capacity enough to accommodate Beethoven's 9th[1]. More on the possibility of the 9th determining the size of the Compact Disc can be found in CD; it is highly unlikely that this was actually the reason.
- The fourth movement is the primary opening theme of the U.S. game show Win Ben Stein's Money.[citation needed]
- An electronic arrangement of the beginning of the second movement, the Scherzo, is used in the theme of Keith Olbermann's program Countdown on MSNBC.[citation needed]
- The opening measures of the second movement were used as the theme music for an American news broadcast in the 1960s, the Huntley-Brinkley Report.[3]
- The fourth movement's main theme was used in the milk commercial to the lyrics of "Drink Milk, Love Life" in the 1990's.[citation needed]
- The beginning of the 4th movement is used as one of the transitional segments that is played in-between songs and usually to a voice saying "XM...Classics" on XM radio's "XM Classics" station.
- The fourth movement is used as the theme song to the second season of Michael Moore's TV show, The Awful Truth.
- In The Beatles movie Help!, the Tiger from the Zoo could be settled down by singing the tune of Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
- In the movie Equilibrium, Agent John Preston starts a LP album and starts to cry as he listens to the beginning of the first movement.
- In Clockwork Orange the main character Alex Delarge is very fond of the symphony and plays it before sleep every night.
- In Civilization II, when there's a "We Love" celebration, "Ode to Joy" is played.
- In Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas, the opening of the Second Movement, the Scherzo, is used in a radio commercial for the fictional product, Kilimanjaro.
- It appears in The Simpsons' episode Dog of Death, when Mr. Burns transforms Santa's Little Helper into a "vicious, soulless killer" à la A Clockwork Orange, by forcing him to view a film montage of atrocities being committed against canines.[4] It also appears in the episode Bart Has Two Mommies, when Rod and Tod Flanders discover the joys of the see-saw.[citation needed]
- Portions of the first and second movements were used in Don Hertzfeldt's animated short film Rejected.[5]
- The anime Neon Genesis Evangelion used the fourth movement as a thematic device in its 24th episode, culminating with much of the fourth movement being used in the climactic final battle; when one-off character Kaworu Nagisa enters the series, he is humming the tune, and even declares the movement the greatest work in human history.[citation needed]
- Satoshi Kon used the fourth movement in his anime film Tokyo Godfathers jokingly when a father reunites with his daughter, and at the end of the film when a Japanese synthesizer version is heard as buildings in Tokyo 'dance' to it.[citation needed]
- The fourth movement is used prominently in the Read or Die OVA.[citation needed]
- The anime Gunslinger Girl used the fourth movement at the climax of the 13th and final episode as a main character dies as the others watch a meteor shower.[citation needed]
- Song of Joy by Miguel Rios is a pop song adaptation of Beethoven's 9th. It was released in 1970 in the Spanish speaking world and 1971 saw its English translation. Song of Joy was a global hit.[citation needed]
- German Neo-Medieval Folk/Industrial-Metal band Tanzwut did a rendition of "Ode to Joy" under the title "Götterfunken", with metal guitars, orchestra, and bagpipes. The song is featured on their LP "Labyrinth der Sinne".[citation needed]
- The Andy Williams track Words, recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, uses original lyrics set to the melody of the fourth movement.[citation needed]
- Ritchie Blackmore's band Rainbow record the final Ode to Joy movement for their 1980 album Difficult to Cure, renaming it to be the title track.[citation needed]
- The music of the symphony was also used in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's album Beethoven's Last Night (most specifically in the song "A Last Illusion").[citation needed]
- The Ninth Symphony is also heard in "Memory (Dead Winter Dead)", from Savatage's Dead Winter Dead album.[citation needed]
- A portion of the 4th movement is used in the opening of the song "Will you be there" by Michael Jackson.[citation needed]
- While the song has a generally religious theme, it is not specific to any religion. In 1907, Reverend Henry van Dyke wrote a specifically Christian hymn to the main theme music. Its first verse reads: Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee / God of glory, Lord of love / Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee / Opening to the sun above / Melt the clouds of sin and sadness / Drive the dark of doubt away / Giver of immortal gladness / Fill us with the light of day.[citation needed]
- Both the fourth movement and a parody of Friedrich Schiller's title for it are used in the song 'Road to Joy' on Bright Eyes' album I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning.[citation needed]
- The song Akeome by 4 Skips (a Japanese trance artist), is a trance remix of Ode to Joy.[citation needed]
- Part of Ode to Joy was mixed in as a backbeat to End of the Century, one of the songs produced by Naoki Maeda (under the pseudonym "No. 9") for Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMIX.[citation needed]
- Part of the second movement was used in the opening sequence of U2's ZooTV Tour.
- Billy Joel used the last several measures (the Prestissimo) to open his Millennium Concert on December 31, 1999 at Madison Square Garden.[citation needed]
- During the FIFA World Cup 2006 the South Korean supporters used Ode to Joy as their main chant supported by drums.[citation needed]
- Football fans at a stadium soccer game will often spontaneously chant the famous melody from the fourth movement ("Freude, schöner Götterfunken...") to cheer on the players, albeit usually without the lyrics. It was for example often heard in the background of televised games of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.[citation needed]
- Professional wrestler Triple H used the Ode to Joy section of the fourth movement as his entrance music during the period when he portrayed a snobby blueblood character.[citation needed]
- American telecasts of the Olympic Games often feature a portion of the Fourth Movement near the end of the telecast during the montage of video highlights from the Games.[citation needed]
- 9 Beet Stretch is a recording of Beethoven's 9th by Leif Inge, slowed to run for 24 hours without pitch distortion.[citation needed]
- In 1964 Maurice Béjart and his Ballet du XXe siècle gave an acclaimed performance of "IXe symphonie", a ballet based on the Ninth Symphony.[citation needed]
- The second movement has been used as a sample track by Microsoft in its Windows XP operating system.
- ^ Bristow, Michael Jamieson (2006). Rhodesia. Retrieved on February 3, 2007.
- ^ Naxos (2006). Ode To Freedom - Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (NTSC). Naxos.com Classical Music Catalogue. Retrieved on November 26, 2006. This is the publisher's catalogue entry for a DVD of Bernstein's Christmas 1989 "Ode to Freedom" concert.
- ^ Schlect, Chris (1996). "Freude, Schöner Götterfunken". Credenda/Agenda 8 (2). Retrieved on 2006-12-08.
- ^ Chen, Raymond (1994). Dog Of Death. Retrieved on January 3, 2007.
- ^ Bitterfilms.com. Rejected. Retrieved on January 3, 2007.