Yesterday, Brexit party MEPs led by Nigel Farage turned their backs while the anthem of the European Union played at a ceremony to mark the opening of the European Parliament. Their behaviour has been met with disdain by many, with #notinmyname trending on Twitter. This was an emotionally provocative act at a time of political sensitivity, and there is something about the shunning of the anthem itself, an instrumental arrangement of the Ode to Joy from the final movement of Beethoven’s iconic Ninth Symphony, that makes the demonstration particularly inflammatory.

The symphony has a long and chequered history: it has been a symbol of both dark and light. A favourite work of Hitler’s (he liked to hear it on birthdays), the Ninth was also used in Nazi propaganda films, and the closing choral section was performed at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It was also chosen as the national anthem of the Republic of Rhodesia under the racist administration of Ian Smith. This darkness has been appropriated in film soundtracks: the symphony is associated with extreme violence in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, and is a recurring motif representing Alan Rickman’s cultured villain Hans Gruber in Die Hard.

Yet the Ninth also has redemptive connotations. At the same time as Hitler appropriated the Ninth, it was also used to oppose him, even played in concentration camps by an orchestra of prisoners. Music was used by the SS to control and humiliate, but prisoners also used music as a survival tool. In 2000, the Vienna Philharmonic gave a moving performance of it at Mauthausen, a Nazi concentration camp, in front of an audience of survivors. Given its history (and also that of the Vienna Philharmonic), the choice of the Ninth was controversial. Nonetheless, Beethoven, as a symbol of the new Europe at the turn of the millennium, was seen as the appropriate choice by many people and the Ninth has been reclaimed as a powerful, sublime symbol of love and humanitarianism. So, how has this transformation come about?

Beethoven’s final symphony was mythologised from its premiere on 7 May 1824. The completely deaf composer was present on the stage and had to be physically turned around to face the audience to see the cheers and applause. The idea of the Ninth was inextricably bound with the way the composer himself is remembered as the heroic, suffering artist, the deaf genius who shunned the world to create the most sublime transcendental music.

Also known as the “Choral” symphony because of its groundbreaking inclusion of lyrics and voices in the final movement, its joyful words include a setting of Friedrich Schiller’s 1785 poem, An die Freude, which speaks of all men becoming brothers: “Alle Menschen werden Brüder.”

The symphony traces a trajectory of struggle and triumph. It takes the listener on a journey from the dramatic buildup in intensity in the first movement to the energetic scherzo of the second movement, the idyllic lyricism of the third movement, and finally the glorious, visionary redemption in the choral conclusion that is so powerful because it is hard won. Beethoven’s musical choices create drama. There are extreme contrasts of sound. There are frenzied bursts of activity and repeated rhythms that drive the music forward. There are also dramatic silences and disruptions. This is music that is created on a grand scale, using the whole expressive range of the orchestra.

Yet the music, the composer and the symphony’s associations with universal brotherhood and redemption are only part of the story that makes the Brexit party’s demonstration so provocative. The Ninth is intimately associated with Europe as a single entity.

Soon after his death, German-born Beethoven, who lived most of his adult life in Vienna, was claimed by Europe as a whole. Different traditions grew in European centres, where his symphonies were adapted to suit local tastes and customs. In England, for example, they were arranged as hymn tunes and heard in cathedrals and played by brass bands. Beethoven became part of our own musical vernacular as, simulataneously, he became part of other European musical traditions. He was also treated with reverence over and above any other composer. One particularly flamboyant French 19th-century conductor, Louis Jullien, donned white gloves and used a jewelled baton that was presented to him on a cushion every time he conducted Beethoven’s symphonies.

A statue of the composer was erected in Bonn, his birthplace, in 1845. The King of Prussia attended the unveiling, as did Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The British press was there in force, alongside the French and German press. There was some friction. The French contingent became annoyed because there was no toast to the absent King Louis Philippe. A group of European musicians and heads of state gathered in Vienna in 1927 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the composer’s death and next year, the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death will be celebrated not only in Europe but around the world, so universal is Beethoven’s appeal.

The image of the Ninth as a powerful symbol of European unity was perhaps claimed in most iconic fashion on Christmas day in 1989 when Leonard Bernstein conducted the last movement of the Ninth to celebrate the fall of the Berlin wall with an orchestra consisting of members from East and West Germany as well as the four allied powers: France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the US.

When, in 1972, the Council of Europe decided on its anthem, Beethoven was seen as the obvious choice. EU leaders then adopted the Ninth in 1985 as the official anthem of the European Union. Given, its meaning of unity and its long association with European history, it represented not only the EU, but also Europe in a wider sense.

It is all of this (sometimes painful) shared history, as well as its joy and optimism for the future, that the Brexit Party MEPs reject when they shun the Ninth.
•Dr Joanne Cormac is a research fellow at the University of Nottingham. </s> STRASBOURG (Reuters) - The European Parliament opened for a new term on Tuesday with the highest number of women ever but short of three pro-independence Catalan members who were barred from joining as hundreds protested over their exclusion outside the building.

Further controversy arose when 29 members of Britain’s anti-EU Brexit Party turned their backs as the European Union anthem - Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” - was played live at the opening ceremony - a gesture that other lawmakers denounced as disgraceful and pathetic.

The parliament convened for the first time as national EU leaders gathered in Brussels for a third consecutive day to hash out who will get the bloc’s top jobs under the new mandate. EU-wide elections in May returned a fragmented 751-member parliament, which was set to elect its president on Wednesday.

Catalan separatist leaders Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comin and Oriol Junqueras have not been able to take their seats in Strasbourg as the Spanish electoral authority has not recognized them as members.

Puigdemont and Comin have lived in self-imposed exile since warrants were issued for their arrest in Spain after a failed bid for secession for Catalonia in 2017.

Instead of traveling to Spain to pledge allegiance to the Spanish constitution in person, as is required to take seats in the Strasbourg assembly, both sent in written statements of allegiance, which were not accepted.

Junqueras, imprisoned in Spain, was not allowed to leave jail to take the pledge and, along with Puigdemont and Comin, was left off Spain’s list of members, which numbered 51 rather than 54.

Hundreds gathered outside the parliament in Strasbourg, many waving pro-independence Catalan flags, to protest against the exclusion of the three Catalan separatist leaders.

The EU General Court on Monday dismissed an application by Puigdemont and Comin to take their seats at the start of the session while challenges to decisions by the Spanish authorities and the parliament to bar them are considered.

“Any future parliament president would certainly have to also look into this, because it’s also a matter of how do you defend the rights of those who have been elected into the European Parliament,” Ska Keller, co-leader of the Greens/European Free Alliance party, of which Junqueras is a member, told reporters.

The seats of the Catalan separatist leaders will remain empty until they either take their oaths or leave their places to other members of their list. Should they become members of the European Parliament, they would receive immunity.

The Brexit Party kicked off the term by gathering outside the parliament holding “BeLeave in Britain” signs and marching into the chamber en masse. They turned their backs when the EU anthem was played.

From the other end of Britain’s political spectrum, several lawmakers from the strongly pro-EU Liberal Democrats wore yellow T-shirts marked “Stop Brexit” and “Bollocks to Brexit”.

Britons voted narrowly in a 2016 referendum to leave the EU but the departure has been delayed by deadlock in the London parliament over the terms of Brexit.

There is one less political party represented in the new EU parliament as the European Freedom and Direct Democracy - largely made up of Italy’s 5-Star Movement and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), whose leader, Nigel Farage, now heads the Brexit Party - has disbanded.

Instead, the Brexit Party’s 29 members and the 5-Star’s 14 are among the 55 considered unaffiliated in the parliament.

To form a political group in the chamber, 25 members from at least a quarter of the EU’s nations have to sign on.

The new parliament also registered its highest number of women yet with 40% of the members, as the bloc faces pressure to improve the gender balance in its top jobs. </s> STRASBOURG — The European Parliament opened for a new term on Tuesday with the highest number of women ever but short of three pro-independence Catalan members who were barred from joining as hundreds protested over their exclusion outside the building.

Further controversy arose when 29 members of Britain’s anti-EU Brexit Party turned their backs as the European Union anthem – Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” – was played live at the opening ceremony – a gesture that other lawmakers denounced as disgraceful and pathetic.

The parliament convened for the first time as national EU leaders gathered in Brussels for a third consecutive day to hash out who will get the bloc’s top jobs under the new mandate. EU-wide elections in May returned a fragmented 751-member parliament, which was set to elect its president on Wednesday.

Catalan separatist leaders Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comin and Oriol Junqueras have not been able to take their seats in Strasbourg as the Spanish electoral authority has not recognized them as members.

Puigdemont and Comin have lived in self-imposed exile since warrants were issued for their arrest in Spain after a failed bid for secession for Catalonia in 2017.

Instead of traveling to Spain to pledge allegiance to the Spanish constitution in person, as is required to take seats in the Strasbourg assembly, both sent in written statements of allegiance, which were not accepted.

Junqueras, imprisoned in Spain, was not allowed to leave jail to take the pledge and, along with Puigdemont and Comin, was left off Spain’s list of members, which numbered 51 rather than 54.

Hundreds gathered outside the parliament in Strasbourg, many waving pro-independence Catalan flags, to protest against the exclusion of the three Catalan separatist leaders.

The EU General Court on Monday dismissed an application by Puigdemont and Comin to take their seats at the start of the session while challenges to decisions by the Spanish authorities and the parliament to bar them are considered.

“Any future parliament president would certainly have to also look into this, because it’s also a matter of how do you defend the rights of those who have been elected into the European Parliament,” Ska Keller, co-leader of the Greens/European Free Alliance party, of which Junqueras is a member, told reporters.

The seats of the Catalan separatist leaders will remain empty until they either take their oaths or leave their places to other members of their list. Should they become members of the European Parliament, they would receive immunity.

The Brexit Party kicked off the term by gathering outside the parliament holding “BeLeave in Britain” signs and marching into the chamber en masse. They turned their backs when the EU anthem was played.

From the other end of Britain’s political spectrum, several lawmakers from the strongly pro-EU Liberal Democrats wore yellow T-shirts marked “Stop Brexit” and “Bollocks to Brexit.”

Britons voted narrowly in a 2016 referendum to leave the EU but the departure has been delayed by deadlock in the London parliament over the terms of Brexit.

There is one less political party represented in the new EU parliament as the European Freedom and Direct Democracy – largely made up of Italy’s 5-Star Movement and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), whose leader, Nigel Farage, now heads the Brexit Party – has disbanded.

Instead, the Brexit Party’s 29 members and the 5-Star’s 14 are among the 55 considered unaffiliated in the parliament.

To form a political group in the chamber, 25 members from at least a quarter of the EU’s nations have to sign on.

The new parliament also registered its highest number of women yet with 40% of the members, as the bloc faces pressure to improve the gender balance in its top jobs. (Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis Editing by Mark Heinrich) </s> STRASBOURG, July 2 (Reuters) - The European Parliament opened for a new term on Tuesday with the highest number of women ever but short of three pro-independence Catalan members who were barred from joining as hundreds protested over their exclusion outside the building.

Further controversy arose when 29 members of Britain's anti-EU Brexit Party turned their backs as the European Union anthem - Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" - was played live at the opening ceremony - a gesture that other lawmakers denounced as disgraceful and pathetic.

The parliament convened for the first time as national EU leaders gathered in Brussels for a third consecutive day to hash out who will get the bloc's top jobs under the new mandate. EU-wide elections in May returned a fragmented 751-member parliament, which was set to elect its president on Wednesday.

Catalan separatist leaders Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comin and Oriol Junqueras have not been able to take their seats in Strasbourg as the Spanish electoral authority has not recognised them as members.

Puigdemont and Comin have lived in self-imposed exile since warrants were issued for their arrest in Spain after a failed bid for secession for Catalonia in 2017.

Instead of travelling to Spain to pledge allegiance to the Spanish constitution in person, as is required to take seats in the Strasbourg assembly, both sent in written statements of allegiance, which were not accepted.

Junqueras, imprisoned in Spain, was not allowed to leave jail to take the pledge and, along with Puigdemont and Comin, was left off Spain's list of members, which numbered 51 rather than 54.

Hundreds gathered outside the parliament in Strasbourg, many waving pro-independence Catalan flags, to protest against the exclusion of the three Catalan separatist leaders.

The EU General Court on Monday dismissed an application by Puigdemont and Comin to take their seats at the start of the session while challenges to decisions by the Spanish authorities and the parliament to bar them are considered.

"Any future parliament president would certainly have to also look into this, because it's also a matter of how do you defend the rights of those who have been elected into the European Parliament," Ska Keller, co-leader of the Greens/European Free Alliance party, of which Junqueras is a member, told reporters.

The seats of the Catalan separatist leaders will remain empty until they either take their oaths or leave their places to other members of their list. Should they become members of the European Parliament, they would receive immunity.

The Brexit Party kicked off the term by gathering outside the parliament holding "BeLeave in Britain" signs and marching into the chamber en masse. They turned their backs when the EU anthem was played.

From the other end of Britain's political spectrum, several lawmakers from the strongly pro-EU Liberal Democrats wore yellow T-shirts marked "Stop Brexit" and "Bollocks to Brexit".

Britons voted narrowly in a 2016 referendum to leave the EU but the departure has been delayed by deadlock in the London parliament over the terms of Brexit.

There is one less political party represented in the new EU parliament as the European Freedom and Direct Democracy - largely made up of Italy's 5-Star Movement and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), whose leader, Nigel Farage, now heads the Brexit Party - has disbanded.

Instead, the Brexit Party's 29 members and the 5-Star's 14 are among the 55 considered unaffiliated in the parliament.

To form a political group in the chamber, 25 members from at least a quarter of the EU's nations have to sign on.

The new parliament also registered its highest number of women yet with 40% of the members, as the bloc faces pressure to improve the gender balance in its top jobs. (Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis Editing by Mark Heinrich) </s> STRASBOURG (Reuters) - The European Parliament opened for a new term on Tuesday with the highest number of women ever but short of three pro-independence Catalan members who were barred from joining as hundreds protested over their exclusion outside the building.

Further controversy arose when 29 members of Britain’s anti-EU Brexit Party turned their backs as the European Union anthem - Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” - was played live at the opening ceremony - a gesture that other lawmakers denounced as disgraceful and pathetic.

The parliament convened for the first time as national EU leaders gathered in Brussels for a third consecutive day to hash out who will get the bloc’s top jobs under the new mandate. EU-wide elections in May returned a fragmented 751-member parliament, which was set to elect its president on Wednesday.

Catalan separatist leaders Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comin and Oriol Junqueras have not been able to take their seats in Strasbourg as the Spanish electoral authority has not recognized them as members.

Puigdemont and Comin have lived in self-imposed exile since warrants were issued for their arrest in Spain after a failed bid for secession for Catalonia in 2017.

Instead of traveling to Spain to pledge allegiance to the Spanish constitution in person, as is required to take seats in the Strasbourg assembly, both sent in written statements of allegiance, which were not accepted.

Junqueras, imprisoned in Spain, was not allowed to leave jail to take the pledge and, along with Puigdemont and Comin, was left off Spain’s list of members, which numbered 51 rather than 54.

Hundreds gathered outside the parliament in Strasbourg, many waving pro-independence Catalan flags, to protest against the exclusion of the three Catalan separatist leaders.

Protesters hold Catalan flags during a demonstration asking for the Parliament inclusion of the 3 Catalan elected MEP's Carles Puigdemont, Oriol Junqueras and Toni Comin in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, July 2, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

BAN BEING CHALLENGED

The EU General Court on Monday dismissed an application by Puigdemont and Comin to take their seats at the start of the session while challenges to decisions by the Spanish authorities and the parliament to bar them are considered.

“Any future parliament president would certainly have to also look into this, because it’s also a matter of how do you defend the rights of those who have been elected into the European Parliament,” Ska Keller, co-leader of the Greens/European Free Alliance party, of which Junqueras is a member, told reporters.

The seats of the Catalan separatist leaders will remain empty until they either take their oaths or leave their places to other members of their list. Should they become members of the European Parliament, they would receive immunity.

The Brexit Party kicked off the term by gathering outside the parliament holding “BeLeave in Britain” signs and marching into the chamber en masse. They turned their backs when the EU anthem was played.

From the other end of Britain’s political spectrum, several lawmakers from the strongly pro-EU Liberal Democrats wore yellow T-shirts marked “Stop Brexit” and “Bollocks to Brexit”.

Britons voted narrowly in a 2016 referendum to leave the EU but the departure has been delayed by deadlock in the London parliament over the terms of Brexit.

There is one less political party represented in the new EU parliament as the European Freedom and Direct Democracy - largely made up of Italy’s 5-Star Movement and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), whose leader, Nigel Farage, now heads the Brexit Party - has disbanded.

Slideshow (3 Images)

Instead, the Brexit Party’s 29 members and the 5-Star’s 14 are among the 55 considered unaffiliated in the parliament.

To form a political group in the chamber, 25 members from at least a quarter of the EU’s nations have to sign on.

The new parliament also registered its highest number of women yet with 40% of the members, as the bloc faces pressure to improve the gender balance in its top jobs. </s> (CNN) As the current leader of the G20, Angela Merkel gets to call the tune, and the German Chancellor appears to be sending a musical message to some of her guests in Hamburg this week.

On Friday evening, while the musicians at the Elbphilharmonie tune up and tighten strings, some of the world's most powerful men and women will settle into their seats for a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

While they will have traded the conference room for the concert hall, the day's politicking will continue.

A German government spokesman told CNN that Merkel herself selected the Ninth Symphony ("a substantial part of German culture"), whose final movement, better known as the "Ode to Joy," is "a hymn to humanity, peace and international understanding."

After US President Donald Trump's first trip to Europe in May, is Merkel trying to make nice with music? Or is she looking to score points off a man who has previously conceded that symphonies aren't really his thing?

"I have to admit that my knowledge of classical music is limited," Trump wrote in his 2004 book "How to Get Rich."

Idealistic vision of unity

Completed in 1824, Beethoven's final symphony sets the idealistic words of German poet Friedrich Schiller to music; together, they look forward to a time of joyful unity, when "All people become brothers."

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"The piece was written ... at a time of repression and counter-revolution," says Nicholas Baragwanath, head of the music department at the UK's University of Nottingham. "The [French] Revolution, this great experiment, had failed and it was a police state, effectively."

Given the troubled times it was created in, the symphony has long been seen as "a cry for freedom," Baragwanath says.

But John Deathridge, emeritus professor of music at Kings College London, says the original poem was toned down to make it less revolutionary: "In the original, it has the line 'Beggars become princes' brothers,' suggesting all levels of society come together. That becomes ... more abstract."

The Ninth Symphony was Ludwig van Beethoven' final major work -- the composer was deaf by the time it was completed.

And he says "the idea that Beethoven was a democrat," using his music to argue that power should be in the hands of the people, is "rubbish."

"He believed in a kind of benign authoritarianism," Deathridge says. "He was a monarchist at the end of the day. He wanted everyone together, but not in the democratic spirit as we think of it today."

Music used for political ends

Whatever Beethoven's original intentions, the 150-plus years since the Ninth Symphony's debut have seen it — and in particular the "Ode to Joy" — co-opted by a string of political causes, some of which would be considered far from utopian today.

"Few great works of art have spent so much time with such unappealing people," wrote music and arts critic Igor Toronyi-Lalic n The Times in 2009 . "For much of its history, the ode has been a companion to the most murky and murderous of political extremes."

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That, says Deathridge, is both the work's genius and its weakness: "It creates this empty space that you can put all sorts of things into. You can interpret the desire for unity as something authoritarian, or as a protest against authoritarianism."

The piece has also been used at times of great celebration in Germany. During the early part of the Cold War (from 1956 to 1968) "Ode to Joy" was the de facto anthem of the combined East and West German teams at the Olympic Games.

Since the 1970s, "Ode to Joy" has also been the anthem of what is now the European Union , chosen because it "expresses the European ideals of freedom, peace and solidarity."

UK Prime Minister Theresa May, currently negotiating the terms of Britain's departure from the EU, may also be uncomfortable in her seat at such a celebration of European unity — some Scottish MPs have used the tune as a means of protesting Brexit

Apt choice of music?

US President Donald Trump's music taste favors crooners over classical tunes.

So when conductor Kent Nagano taps his baton to signal the start of the performance, will Trump be in the auditorium? A recital of the Ninth Symphony typically lasts for over an hour, and its best-known section, the "Ode to Joy," comes at final movement.

Given the US President's infamously short attention span , the idea of him sitting through the whole concert is "extraordinary," says John Deathridge. "Perhaps he'll come late."

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It would be a shame for him to miss it, says Deathridge, insisting it is a very apt piece of music for Trump.

"I think there is actually something fitting about the choice," he says. "Donald Trump is behaving like a monarch ... it's like going backwards to monarchical times when leaders had absolutely no conscience, so in a way it is a very suitable piece for him."

But if Merkel's US visitor doesn't enjoy his evening's entertainment, Trump's own history suggests he won't hesitate to show his displeasure.

"In the second grade ... I punched my music teacher because I didn't think he knew anything about music," Trump claimed in "The Art of the Deal," his 1987 book. "The difference now is that I like to use my brain instead of my fists." </s> Latvian newly elected President Egils Levits speaks at front of the Parliament in Riga, Latvia May 29, 2019. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

RIGA (Reuters) - Latvia’s parliament elected former European Court of Justice judge Egils Levits as the Baltic country’s next president on Wednesday, a largely ceremonial role that also brings with it limited political powers.

Levits won the support of 61 lawmakers in the 100-seated parliament. He will serve four years starting on July 8, when incumbent president Raimonds Vejonis’ term comes to an end.

The president of Latvia has mostly ceremonial functions but can propose new bills and nominate candidates for prime minister. The president is appointed through the parliament votes rather than popular elections. </s> RIGA, May 29 (Reuters) - Latvia's parliament elected former European Court of Justice judge Egils Levits as the Baltic country's next president on Wednesday, a largely ceremonial role that also brings with it limited political powers.

Levits won the support of 61 lawmakers in the 100-seated parliament. He will serve four years starting on July 8, when incumbent president Raimonds Vejonis' term comes to an end.

The president of Latvia has mostly ceremonial functions but can propose new bills and nominate candidates for prime minister. The president is appointed through the parliament votes rather than popular elections. (Reporting by Gederts Gelzis, writing by Johan Ahlander; editing by Niklas Pollard) </s> Latvia’s parliament has elected former European Court of Justice judge Egils Levits as the next president on Wednesday, a role that brings with it limited political powers.

Levits won the support of 61 lawmakers in the 100-seat parliament of the Baltic country, Reuters said. He will serve four years starting on July 8, when incumbent president Raimonds Vejonis’ term comes to an end.

The president of Latvia performs mostly ceremonial functions but can propose new bills and can nominate candidates for prime minister.

The president is appointed through a parliamentary vote rather than by popular election.
The Ninth European Parliament starts its term.