History Music / OdeToJoy

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ode_to_joy_3970.gif]]

->''"Freude, schöner Götterfunken,\\
Tochter aus Elysium,\\
Wir betreten feuertrunken,\\
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum.\\
Deine Zauber binden wieder,\\
Was die Mode streng geteilt,\\
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,\\
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt"''.
-->-- ''What the choir is really singing during that one part. You know, '''that''' part.'' [[note]][[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._9_(Beethoven)#Text_of_the_fourth_movement A line-by-line translation over at The Other Wiki]][[/note]]

"Ode to Joy" (German: An die Freude) is a poem written by Friedrich Schiller. It describes the ideal of humanity united in joy and friendship, in the rather overheated fashion common to German romantic poetry.

The most well-known musical adaptation was written by Music/LudwigVanBeethoven, who used the text for the choral parts of his Ninth, or "Choral", Symphony. The title "Ode to Joy" is used in reference to Beethoven's melody, and indeed the Ninth as a whole, ([[AdaptationDisplacement more often than]]) it does Schiller's all-but-forgotten original poem. For those familiar with the piece, [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic it's not hard to understand why]].

"Ode to Joy" functions as the official anthem for UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion[[note]]technically Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (just the melody, officially) is the Anthem of ''Europe'' and not just the EU, but the Council of Europe -- the originators of the idea -- is the only other organization to get any use out of that fact[[/note]].

Songwriter Miguel Ríos created a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTv-t8-Ssdw version]] that is very popular in the Spanish-speaking world.

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!!Examples

[[AC: {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* The first episode of ''Anime/{{Classicaloid}}'' opens with "Ode To Joy" playing while Beethoven (yes, ''[[Music/LudwigVanBeethoven that]]'' Beethoven) passionately tries to make gyoza. This scene [[EstablishingSeriesMoment sets up the series' comedic tone]]. The song gets a remixed version in the season finale, bookending things.
* The OAV ''Manga/DragonHalf'' uses this in the closing credits... along with a slew of other Beethoven pieces.
* The heroines sing it in the original German while watching a meteor shower, at the end of the first ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'' anime. Their handlers can't help be amused as the sight of their brainwashed cyborg killing machines acting this way.
* The ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' episode "Battle Against the Dried-Up Demons at the Cultural Festival!" has a group of students singing about the Shikon jewel to the tune of "Ode To Joy".
* Yashiro Isana hums this several times in ''Anime/{{K}}'' [[spoiler:as does the Colorless King]], particularly notable [[SoundtrackDissonance in the murder video]]. Might be an homage to Kaworu, but it might also be because [[spoiler:he's actually German]].
* It appears twice in the {{LightNovel/Kampfer}} OVA, used hilariously to make an AssShove poke [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfqvgO01Sdo epic]].
* This is Kaworu Nagisa's {{leitmotif}} in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. He is also heard humming it in his and Shinji's first encounter. He also plays it on a piano during his introduction in the Manga. On the whole, Ode to Joy describes the plot and themes of ''Evangelion'' [[spoiler:(especially the [[AssimilationPlot Instrumentality]])]] in a rather scarily accurate, if ironic, way.
* Used a few times in Anime/PsychoPass for SoundtrackDissonance.
* In the ''Anime/ReadOrDie'' OVA, Yomiko is heard humming it, and is played when [[spoiler:The [[BrownNote Suicide Symphony]] is going to be broadcasted onto the entire world.]]
* Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" plays out, with original Japanese lyrics, over the closing credits of Creator/SatoshiKon's ''Anime/TokyoGodfathers''.



[[AC: ComicBooks]]
* ''ComicBook/JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'' is listening to "Ode to Joy" while massacring a coffee house - and pauses when the records skips.

[[AC: {{Film}}]]
* Featured in ''Film/AClockworkOrange''; once with a woman singing the piece through a vocoder while Alex and his gang are relaxing at the Korova Milkbar, again during Alex's romp in a music store and once more during the Ludovico treatment. Incidentally, the piece, along with the ''Ninth Symphony'' as a whole, is one of Alex's personal favorites and freaks when the government scientists (inadvertently) use it against him during the Ludovico Treatment, robbing him of the pleasure he once had of the piece when he used it for his ultra-violent fantasies.
* Used in ''Film/DieHard'' when Hans and his men open and loot the vault to the Nakatomi Corporation. Referencing this scene, trailers for later ''Film/DieHard'' films would play the song over StuffBlowingUp. Its usage as the villains theme is a direct reference to Stanley Kubrick's classy ultraviolence.
-->'''Michael Kamen:''' Our bad guys were [[WickedCultured lineal descendants]] of the bad guys in ''Film/AClockworkOrange''.
* The above scene from ''Die Hard'' is parodied in ''Film/FourAgainstTheBank'' when the film's eponymous German bank robbers open the safe to the famous tune.
* The climax of ''Film/FulltimeKiller'' features this tune.
* ''Film/GetSmart'' uses an edited version in the climax, where a bomb wired to the piano will go off at the end of the piece, killing the President and many others.
* In the Beatles ''Film/{{Help}}'', the boys sing "Ode To Joy" to tame a tiger.
* Very common piece in movie trailers, particularly if a film is critically and/or financially successful, for instance the ''Die Hard'' and ''Film/HotTubTimeMachine'' films.
* This song is used in Scrat's storyline in ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeContinentalDrift''.
* Used in ''Immortal Beloved'''s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qWbcosJdtU amazing scene]] of the debut of the Ninth Symphony. Young Beethoven blending into the stars that were reflected off the lake really captures, in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZJ1Tgf4JL8 Leonard Bernstein's words]], the "the child (Beethoven) that never grew up".
* In ''Film/JohnWick'', the tune is played on an organ in a church as the main character enters.
* An electronic rendition of the piece plays over the climactic scenes in the Bulgarian animated film ''Animation/PlanetataNaSakrovishtata''.
* ''Film/RaisingArizona'' uses an unusual (but still pleasant) banjo/yodeling arrangement.
* The Christian hymn "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" is sung to the tune of Ode to Joy and plays a key role in sequel to ''Film/SisterAct''.
* Used at the end of ''Film/{{Stalker}}'', which is quite odd in context, considering the dour and depressing tone of the film and the grim surroundings.
* In ''Film/{{Unknown 2006}}'', the tune is being whistled by the group at some point.
* Used as the background music during the training montage, as well as [[spoiler: Brendan's walkout music]] during the War on the Shore in [[{{Film/Warrior}} Warrior]].


[[AC: {{Literature}}]]
* Used in ''Literature/AClockworkOrange'' in much the same fashion as in its film adaptation. Of note is that, unlike in the film, Alex's dismay at its use during the Ludovico procedure originates in his respect for the piece, and his perception that it's sullied by use as a soundtrack to scenes of torture and violence.
* Robert Fulghum loves this song. His ''All I Really Need to Know I Learned In Kindergarten'' series contains [[AuthorAppeal many mentions]] of this. He suggests combining it with a modified version of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itsy_bitsy_spider "Itsy Bitsy Spider"]] song to form the fight song of the human race.
** Furthermore, in ''Kindergarden'' he says that someday he'll hire an orchestra and conduct Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. In his later book ''Maybe, Maybe Not'' he tells the story of the time an orchestra actually asked him to come along for a tour so he could live his dream and give them some free publicity. It took a lot of work to learn how to actually conduct an orchestra, but he did it and said that he had the time of his life.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* At one point in ''Series/DueSouth'', Ray is fireman-carrying a blinded and partially crippled Frasier through the wilderness; Frasier is singing Ode To Joy, [[TheCastShowoff rather well]]. Ray, hearing something that ''isn't'' Frasier singing, tells Frasier to stop it; Frasier's indignant response is "It's BEETHOVEN! [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And Shiller!]]" Another time, we see the same situation... only now Ray is singing California Dreaming, and not entirely sure about the words.
* Used in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAxb0lzwnyY intro]] for the BBC's live sports coverage of Euro 96.
* Used in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mSD8R-_uhA second season intro]] of ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond''.
* It's the opening theme for ''[[Series/RetroGameMaster Game Center CX]]''.
* Episode 29 of ''[[Series/KamenRiderBuild Kamen Rider Build]]'' has this playing in the opening as an actual orchestra conducted by [[spoiler:Nanba disguised as Mido, of all people]] rather than its usual PreviouslyOn segments, and as this happens, [[spoiler:Stalk is creating the [[EldritchLocation Pandora Tower]], and the resulting devastation kills hundreds, knocking them through the air or burying them under tons of rubble.]] [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids Most certainly something]] [[SarcasmMode you want your kids watching]].
** Later on, [[spoiler:Kamen Rider Evol's Driver plays [[DarkReprise a techno remix of the chorus]] during the transformation sequence.]]
* This is the tune of "To The Rescue" in ''Series/TheNoddyShop'' episode "Little Swap of Horrors".
* Creator/RowanAtkinson is singing the song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWGZdYNpaSo here]]. After the first verse though, he notices that the rest of the lyrics are missing. So what does he do? He fakes his way through the end, [[GratuitousGerman using every random German word he happens to know]].
* The favourite song of Veronica's parents in ''Series/SirArthurConanDoylesTheLostWorld''. It helps her to identify the former guide of her parents. And it's quite a MomentKiller where Roxton and Marguerite are concerned.
* ''Series/WinBenSteinsMoney'' used this as its show intro, and to herald a contestant victory in the [[BonusRound Best of Ten Test of Knowledge]]. [[PublicDomainSoundtrack Other classical pieces were used to go to commercial and come back from commercial.]]

[[AC: ProfessionalWrestling]]
* Before he became a [[Wrestling/DGenerationX degenerate]], [[Wrestling/TripleH Hunter Hearst Helmsley]] had Ode to Joy as an entrance theme between late 1996 and the fall of 1997.

[[AC: VideoGames]]
* The entire fourth movement of Beethoven's 9th appears in ''VideoGame/{{Forza}} Horizon 3'' as part of the in-game classical music station Timeless FM. It's also hands down [[EpicRocking the longest track in the game]].
* "Ode to Joy" plays when the last orange peg in any of the stages in ''VideoGame/{{Peggle}}'' or ''Peggle Nights''. In ''Peggle 2'', it's only Bjorn's theme.
* The song features on 102.4 Klassic FM in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' as part of the tracklist.
* An excerpt from the song shows up at the very end of the credits song in ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}''. For bonus points, the song itself is even called "An Die Freude".

[[AC: WebOriginal]]
* What some English speakers hear when they [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRYUkjMONTk listen to Ode to Joy]]...
* Beaker of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' would like to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpcUxwpOQ_A perform Ode to Joy]].
* A flash-mob in Sabadell, Catalonia (Spain) produced [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbJcQYVtZMo this awesome version of Ode to Joy]].
* The song briefly plays in WebVideo/JonTron's review of Japanese shoot 'em up games when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQxvsunYrSs his reaction to the game Samurai Zombie Nation is showcased]].
* A number of {{Pop Station}}s start up with a MIDI version of the Ode to Joy that WebVideo/StuartAshen has dubbed the "Ode to Pain" because of how bad the reproduction is. See just one example [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXxttqyOGWU&t=2m37s in this video]].
* Used during the climax of ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries: The Movie'', playing over [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J12zTCrF1U#t=5m28s Kaiba's uber-dragon laughing off the Big Bad's attack and counter-attacking with a massive beam of light]]. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments The effect is only improved]] by the giant "'''BUY YU-GI-OH CARDS TODAY'''" superimposed over the whole thing.

[[AC: WesternAnimation]]
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'' had Clam ''play'' this song ''on a bottle.''
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'', the computer downloads itself into Muriel's body and engages in death-defying stunts. Computer!Muriel's leitmotif is this tune.
* Briefly played at the end of an episode of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' where Hank is able to relieve himself after a bout with constipation.
* This played at the end of the ''[[WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow Ren and Stimpy]]'' episode, "Stimpy's Cartoon Show", when Ren, Stimpy, and Wilbur Cobb get sentenced to the electric chair.
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[[Film/AClockworkOrange "I was cured alright."]]

* This song is used in Scrat's storyline in ''WesternAnimation/IceAge4ContinentalDrift''.