Ode to joy - what do you feel?

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I have loved "Ode to joy" since the first time I heard it. It was one of the preprogrammed 5 songs on my keyboard, so at first I only knew it as "Beethoven (choral)". When I years later learned it was called "Ode to joy", I was a little confused by the title. I felt it was way more a proud melody, it could have been a national anthem for all its marchy pride and strength.

Has anyone else felt it should've been called something other than "joy"?

Isn't that the same thing as Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring?

Skilpadde, I agree Ode to Joy would make a good national anthem, and I believe it has been chosen as the anthem for the EU. (Sacrilege!)

I don't think Ode to Joy is an inappropriate title though. I find it an uplifting tune.
My old music teacher didn't like it at all though. She found it a bit plodding. She was more of a Mozart fan.

Aimless, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring is one of my favourites, but it's a different piece - it's by Bach.

I have always loved that piece. It hits me (like some other musical pieces do) in a very visceral way. The lyrics were one of the first German poems I learned in school, over 40 years ago, and one of the ones I still remember. Music is very tricky for me--certain pieces can have a very powerful effect. "Ode to Joy" is very uplifting for me, and I can't help stopping what I'm doing and being somewhat paralyzed while I'm listening to it.

Ode to Viscera?

Hey, might work! Wonder how that would translate into other languages...

I find the tune very uplifting, though I do think it's a bit plodding. On the other hand, that doesn't matter, it sounds like a triumphal march onwards. You expect marches to be plodding.

However, when I learned German I found I couldn't take the song so seriously anymore... the lyrics are very twee... well meant, no doubt, but I'm too much of a cynic to enjoy the lyrics.

I still like the music very much, I must admit, for all it's ploddingness it surpasses the lyrics, which were only secondary to Beethovan's genius after all.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrC_dNUtMGk[/youtube]

For all that I am a performer, I don't really connect to music on an emotional level. (One of those great Aspie traits!) I am very much a technician, rather than a musician.

This is one of the reasons that I am much more attuned to the Baroque than to any other period. The rigid time, terraced dynamics, and analytical counterpoint all allow me to see the patterns in the music quite distinctly. The complexity all resolves into a clear, unified piece.

The classical period certainly engages me--though Mozart more than Haydn or Beethoven. The 9th is a massive musical piece, but I don't 'feel' anything from it more than the first movement of the 6th, or Dvorak's 9th.

I think it is a wounderful tune, I recall when I was a student I once heard a workman who was singing the song as he worked.

The song also features in the sound track of "a clockwork orange", in a bar a woman sings it with great skill.

This sums up my feelings about a lot of classical music with lyrics - when the lyrics are poor they detract from the piece as a whole unless I hear them as nothing more than a "vocal instrument", which I don't like to do because I follow lyrics more than tune.

It is not the same piece as Bach "Jesu, joy of mans desiring".

Both are great pieces.

Ode to Joy is very exhilerhating.

It has been used as a national anthem by not only the European Union, but by a number of other countries-mostly pacific islands and other very small countries.

But it is a natural choice for a national anthem for a number of reasons. One of thses being that it is very conjunctive. The notes are close together on the scale so untrained singers can sing it. A crowd can join in and do a rousing version of the song- like those french refugees who broke out into the "Le Marsailles" in Rick's Cafe in the movie "Casablance". "La Marsailles " is also very conjunctive.

In contrast 'the star spangled banner" is very disjunctive. The notes are far apart on the scale.So most of us sound like crap when we try to sing America's national anthem.

What about technicality as in playing difficulty?

I'm surprised you don't like romantic period best.

That's my one hehe.

Liszt and Chopin FTW!

If you can find find it on video, look up "Immortal Beloved". It's a biography of Beethoven, and the last reel is all about "Ode to Joy".
It will leave you in tears.

As has been stated, no it is not. One is by Beethoven and the other by Bach, just for starters.

I couldn't find a full clip of it that could do it justice, but this curious clip from "Immortal Beloved" says volumes.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRruynDmTsU[/youtube]

I consider "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" to be on the same level with this piece. I know others may not agree, but I find both leave me with the same "hand of God" feeling... Though one is decidedly shorter.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mn1ibFdXDU[/youtube]

Now I have to say, I actually got the chance to sing the Ode to Joy with a big choir gathered from churches throughout Southern California in August of 1997. I don't do a lot of professional singing... okay, none. They mentioned it at our humble church choir practice (we weren't much of a choir, honestly, week to week), that they were looking for people to come and sing just the Ode to Joy with some orchestra at the LA. Arboretum. I couldn't believe it. They were taking an awful chance. I am so glad they did, because I have far more desire than talent when it comes to music. I could sing just well enough to come to practice and sing alto and do something I thought I'd never in my life have the opportunity to do. I was 7 months pregnant when we performed it (mercifully in the cool of the evening) and how the baby thrashed when we sang. It was thunderous, more than loud enough for her to detect even in there. And the memory of it ranks up with, or at any rate near, her birth as treasured memories go.

Last thing... never assume something is an Aspie trait just because you have it. An above poster named their lack of emotional connection to music as an Aspie trait. I think you'll find people here who would say otherwise. Starting with me. If e didn't connect to music emotionally, then the music folder would be exclusively about the technical aspects of sound... and it's not.

I remember a number of years ago hearing on NPR (I believe the program was called Adventures in Good Music), that the Ode to Joy chorus is based upon a German drinking song.

One of the most emotional performances I ever saw of this piece was by the Cedar Rapids Symphony. They held the concert outdoors and it was the first concert since the 2008 flood devestated our city. I couldn't think of a better piece to bring together a sense of community.