A wedding ode that reached beyond life
Published: 11 Apr. 2025, 00:05
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
The author is a music critic and director of the classical music brand Poongwoldang.
“O Joy, beautiful spark of the gods, daughter from Elysium! Drunk with fire, we enter your sanctuary.” These exalted lines from Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony” — Choral — originate from “Ode to Joy,” a poem by Friedrich Schiller. But before it became the anthem of universal brotherhood, it was first written as a wedding ode. One wonders: Whose union was honored with such resplendent language?
German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805). Portrait by Anton Graff.
The poem was dedicated to the marriage of Christian Gottfried Körner, a senior official in the religious affairs office of Dresden, Germany. Körner had offered refuge and unwavering support to Schiller, who at the time was a fugitive for writing plays critical of monarchical despotism. Körner was only 28, and Schiller three years younger. One imagines the two young men embracing their newfound friendship with the fervor of shared ideals and perilous times. Yet Schiller, being on the run, had little with which to repay such generosity.
Then, an opportunity presented itself. Not long after, Körner was to wed his fiancee, Minna. Schiller — his only possession the written word — poured the fire in his heart onto the page. The resulting ode bore little resemblance to the tender love songs or platitudes of “till death do us part” often heard at weddings today. In fact, the sixth line of the first stanza carried a radical charge: “Beggars become the brothers of princes.” In a world governed by rigid class hierarchies, the line was nothing short of incendiary. Schiller’s poem did not merely celebrate the joy of the bride and groom — it insisted that this joy must also extend to the oppressed and downtrodden.
Forty years later, Beethoven immortalized Schiller’s words in what would become one of the most monumental works in musical history. Joy, he believed, must be expanded into joy for all humankind. In the Choral symphony, however, Beethoven chose a later, revised version of Schiller’s line: “All men become brothers.” And yet, one cannot help but wonder — what stirs the soul more deeply? A world where beggars and princes become friends, or a world where all humankind is bound in brotherhood? Which dream is more joyous? Which hope more worth striving for?
Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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