Anthem - Intellect

Anthem
means to ‘win throught to the light’ after so long suffering in darkness. If there is any
sense of dislocation here, it is not in geographic terms, but rather an image of Europe
as not having been at home or at ease with itself, as deeply disturbed but now finally
wanting to find peace.
(2) Besides the anthems of other nations and continents, comparisons may also be
made with songs linked to other and more specific European organisations.
Figure 7.4. A theme from Georg Friedrich Handel’s Coronation Anthem Zadok the Priest, the basis for
the UEFA Champions League anthem.
The heroic ‘Grand March’ from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Aida (1871) and other
famous tunes of classical music have through the years been used at European sports
events, not least in football with its particularly strong link to Europe. However, the
associated sports clubs of UEFA have selected an anthem of the hymn type. This may
sound surprising for an organisation that deals with such physical practice, but it may
well be precisely that which motivates the choice of something more elevated, in order
to add necessary dignity and gravity. Händel’s dignified Coronation Anthem Zadok
the Priest is always performed at the key moment of British coronations (Figure 7.4).
Händel himself was German but in his music heavily influenced by the innovative
and effective Italian styles of his time, and he spent his last and most productive years
in London. There, his four Coronation Anthems were composed for the coronation
of King George II and Queen Caroline in Westminster Abbey in 1727. Both of them
were like Händel also Germans in today’s terms—George belonged to the House of
Hanover. Like with Beethoven for the EU, this transnational identity is eminently
suitable for a pan-European association such as UEFA, and considering the old
English roots of the football game, and the continued strength of English teams, the
choice of British coronation music has an evident symbolic value.
Händel’s original work had biblical lyrics: just a brief excerpt from the First Book
of Kings (1: 39–40), which had been sung on every English coronation since King
Edgar in 973 ad. The song lines do not immediately present any very clear melodic
or rhythmic figure, and the setting is simple. In the beginning, a sharply rising violin
arpeggio over repeated low chords sets the tone, before the choir enters after one
and a half minute or so, singing ‘Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed
Solomon king and all the people rejoiced’. A dramatic suspense effect is created by
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