Sacred Music Sunday: Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee

I credit my love of music to my father. He doesn’t sing or play a musical instrument, but he has a keen appreciation for classical music, and he shared it with me. When I was four years old, I knew what a bassoon was because there was a bassoon concerto he liked to listen to. But his favorite composer was Beethoven, and his favorite symphony was Beethoven’s 9th. At least once a week, he would put the record on the record player and listen to it. I always loved the final movement when the choir joined in. Since I don’t speak German, I didn’t understand the words, but I knew it was called Ode to Joy, and the joy came through even across the language barrier.

It’s a widely used piece of music. The European Union uses it (without the lyrics) as its anthem. Several hymns have also been written to use the tune. One that I like is Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee. It’s definitely not an English translation of Beethoven’s German lyrics (which are fairly pagan), but it captures a similar joyful spirit in a Christian context.

Life is hard sometimes. For me, it’s been an especially hard year. (Or, let’s be real, an especially hard three years.) But I can still belt out some classical music and remember to find joy.