Beethoven or Brexit? Battle for chart domination shows UK's divided soul
Adam Behr , Newcastle University Two songs were vying for the top spot in the UK’s music charts last month. Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, also the EU’s “Anthem for Europe”, and 17 Million F**k O*** , by pro-Brexit comedian, writer and commentator Dominic Frisby. The competition between these two pieces signified a much starker divide than a merely musical one. The melodic passage of the final movement of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony – originally the setting for a vocal rendition of Friedrich Schiller’s poem Ode to Joy – had been adopted as the European anthem by the Council of Europe in 1972 and in 1985 by the European Community. Pro-Europeans in the UK launched a campaign to get the song into the charts, settling on a recording by André Rieu, with the Johann Strauss Orchestra . O friends, no more these sounds! Let us sing more cheerful songs, more full of joy! Joy, bright spark of divinity, Daughter of Elysium, Fire-inspired we tr...