Joyful Ode to the World

Oh my – a misleading subtitle! Of course, these two fantastic German composers could never have met in real life. Beethoven was born eleven years after Händel had already passed. But the lovely thing about music is that it allows us to breathe new life into familiar pieces. Here Händel as representative of the baroque period, Beethoven helming the classical faction.

In this arrangement we have joined the two musically. Each composer stays true to his own composition, but leaves a few measures for his counterpart. It’s amazing how this interwoven web almost sounds like its own piece at the end. A nice touch is that audiences are likely familiar with both!

For us, people with such a big heart for music (professional and non-professional) 2020 has been marked by the pandemic. No concerts, not even during the Christmas season. But we wanted to write a piece for the coming years that captures what this year has meant for us musicians, even if we could not rehearse or perform.

In March, musicians in all of Germany would play Beethoven’s Ode to Joy at 6 p.m. on Sundays, be it from the window or in one’s garden. We arranged it for a free download on the Exklusiv-Noten webpage so that people who may usually not play together, but were neighbors, could spontaneously form socially-distanced quartets. With this current arrangement we want to commemorate this year in musical harmony and close the chapter on 2020. Both of the original pieces and their amalgamation perfectly capture our hope to be able to play live music again in the coming year.

Händel’s Joy to World is a popular Christmas song in most English-speaking countries. But there is no evidence that it was originally written as such, in fact fragments were borrowed from the Messiah Oratorio. But its title is perfect because of the hope it encapsulates. As for the Ode to Joy, which enjoys worldwide recognition, is closely connected to 2020 for us German musicians.

Inspired by a choir’s performance we chose to combine the themes of these two great composers with one another. The resulting piece is deeply familiar, but maintains the ability to surprise. Any audience will want to keep on listening for this re-imagination.

Tempo 140, a lot of sound and a pleasure to play because two outstanding melodies are competing for attention and yet always leave some room “for the other”. We truly enjoyed arranging this and hope that we can pass on our Joyful Ode to The World to you.