Classic FM

Armed forces and children sing Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ in stirring D-Day commemoration

On the 80th anniversary of a pivotal moment in history, veterans and world leaders gathered to perform Beethoven’s most powerful symphonic work. 80 years after Allied forces made landfall in ...
The Telegraph

How Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ became the European Union anthem

The great composer was seen as a European personality, his symphonies expressive of freedom, peace and solidarity- the values upheld by the union Portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven, dated around 1805 ...
The Guardian

The EU anthem: Ode to Joy – archive, 1972

Ahead of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, we look back at the significance of the EU’s adoption of Ode to Joy from his Ninth Symphony 20 January 1972 The Council of Europe has selected the ...