Anthem - Intellect

Anthem
The more well-known original arrangement made by Herbert von Karajan in 1972
is much more solemn, dark and dense than Guyard’s, with a Romantic nineteenth
century feel, and definitely leaning towards the hymn type rather than the mid-tempo
march that is more prominent in Beethoven’s original setting. 402 Karajan recorded one
vocal version and one with wind orchestra; the latter is in focus here. The tempo is
also considerably slower (115–128 bpm) than in Beethoven’s original version (140–
160 bpm). 403 The total time length of 2’14” (in some versions 2’07”) includes four
introductory bars with the five first notes of the melody performed twice, rising up
against a G major chord; then the 24-bars anthem melody twice in C major, first piano,
then forte with full winds and percussion; and finally a 4 bars coda. The first hymn
performance is presented with soft and quiet woodwinds, the second with louder
percussion and brass instruments added as well. There is no transition in between,
but they follow immediately after one another. The second repetition has some very
slight echoes of Beethoven’s alla Turca version, in the celebratory triangle and flute,
but not at all in any noisy or rough way, rather adding festivitas to the solemn joy this
arrangement expresses. The whole arrangement signals an almost sacrally serious,
ceremonial, officious and pompous art music that seems to invite a reverential
procession and/or communal hymn singing. Karajan’s arrangement thus effectively
downplays the Dionysic element, reinforcing the effect of omitting Schiller’s lyrics.
Some existing 1’00” versions of Karajan’s arrangement only have one verse plus the
coda. There are also other versions with Karajan’s sound, for instance a 2’27” vocal
one where the hymn is after a slightly different introduction repeated three times in
different keys, resulting in a forward-oriented progression with a stepwise release of
tension (F#BGC), and with shifting transitions between each part, probably
intended to increase the climactic progression effect. 404
Different sources thus offer shifting versions of the anthem, but some elements
remain roughly constant, compared to its original symphony setting.
1. All of them place the tune in completely different context, either without any
introduction and ending at all, or sometimes with just a couple of bars of brief
intro and fade-out. Esteban Buch laconically notes that Karajan has made
a kind of cut and paste exercise from Beethoven’s movement, adding a clear
beginning and end to keep it within a strictly confined two minutes format. 405
This decontextualisation cancels every hint of the ode as rising from the ruins
of chaotic aggression that was so crucial for Beethoven as well as for the EU
founding myth discussed in relation to Europe Day above.
2. The musical narrative is linearised, as all musical parameters are accumulated and
heightened with each repetition, leading up to a unique moment of apotheosis
where the anthem simply ends. 406 While Beethoven went through a series of
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