Anthem - Intellect

Signifying Europe
work like a chorus or refrain, reinforcing the impression of a folk ballad or street song,
and the repetition itself creates an insistent expression. The melody moves in a number
of arcs. Each odd bar in the A (and A’) sections climbs up four tones while each even bar
climbs down three or four tones again, so that a full four-bar A (or A’) section consists
of two two-bar arcs. In the B parts, each bar instead presents an arc-formed motif with
three or five tones, adding up to four one-bar arcs. Two syncopations are characteristic
even in the simplest standard versions. First, the last bar of each A (and A’) section
starts with a dotted crotchet note ( ). This little dance-like swing breaks off the
steady 4/4 walk ( ), lending emphasis and energy to each phrase conclusion.
Second, a syncopation is always made as the first note of the A’ section following after
a B section starts one unit earlier and is thus prolonged (
). This twist at
each transition from B to A’ sections help lending the tune a certain restless and eager
energy that avoids the otherwise threatening stomping character.
Rhythmically, Beethoven presents several varieties, some solemnly hymnlike,
other syncopated, energetic and march-like. Similar variations are made in
instrumentation and harmonisation. In the symphony, its various settings explore its
wide range of expressive potentialities, from the simple and steady folk-like hymn
singing, reminding of the Lutheran Reformation tunes that Bach turned into high art,
to the more urgent march of struggle and optimism in the ‘Turkish’ variation, as well
as a series of complex fugato treatments. In the symphony movement’s coda, there
is also a version that is reminiscent of the operatic anthem type, so that Beethoven
himself in his symphony suggested at least three of Boyd’s main anthem varieties:
hymn, march and opera. 400 The various rap and Roma variations mentioned above
have a similar function of exploring the signifying potentials of the core melody. But
certain modifications are made already in the standard versions presented as the
European anthem at various EU websites.
The French composer Christophe Guyard’s September 2000 arrangement of
the anthem, supported by the Council of Europe, has roughly the same tempo as
in Beethoven’s symphony movement (140 bpm). 401 Lucidly performed by a small
orchestra, its 41 seconds just include the main theme without any introduction or
ending, nor any repetition. It avoids the ceremonial as well as the march-like character
of other versions and appears more like a kind of relaxed cinematic background than
a hymn. It is drawn from Guyard’s 6’34” long ‘Rhapsodie sur l’Hymne Européen’,
where it is surrounded by a fluid rhapsody of intertwined voices. It does not interrupt
a chaotic torture like in Beethoven, but rather with light hand evolves from a playful
mix of musical ideas that gently crystallise into the hymn tune and ends with some
elegantly shimmering brass chords. This arrangement does not at all invite any singing
or explicitly reminds the listeners of the hidden lyrics, but may perhaps be heard as
a purely musical illustration of joyful happiness in the merging of different musical
voices.
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