"To Joy" (An die Freude in German, in English often familiarly called the Ode to Joy) is an ode written in 1785 by the German poet, playwright and historian Friedrich Schiller. It is best known for its musical setting by Ludwig van Beethoven in the fourth and final movement of his Ninth Symphony (completed in 1824), a choral symphony for four solo voices, chorus, and orchestra.

Less famous musical settings of the poem include:

• Johann Gottlieb Naumann (1786)
• Christian Gottfried Körner (1786)
• Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1796)
• Johann Friedrich Hugo Dalberg (1799)
• Franz Schubert (1815, for voice and piano, unpublished until his death in 1829, labeled as "D 189" by Otto Erich Deutsch's chronological catalogue)
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (for solo singers, choir and orchestra in a Russian translation, 1865)

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

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