:+: To My Friends :+:

For me,
The meeting with you
Has been like a dream
I never hope
To wake up from

I was alone in my olden days
With no place to go
No place to call home
And don't know where I'm going to

I was lost in the time
I was wandering
I lost track of time
I lost track of warmth

With no place to go
With all my senses lost
I was drifting alone
Into nothingness

It was like a dream
When I finally meet you

I was alone, and you gave me a family
I was lost, and you became a beacon for me
I was cold, and you warmed my soul
I was wrong, and you changed me
I wanted to die, and you make me wish for life
I wanted nothingness, and you made me wish for existence

You might never realize
How much you meant to me
What you bring into my life
How that you might even have saved my life

Though our journey together might be coming to an end
And it might already be the time to go our own ways

Even though we're apart
I will always be
Eternally grateful to you
And as a friend I shall be

For had I not met you,
I would never be the person I am now.
As a cherished part of my life,
You shall be.

Friend, thank you..
I am no longer alone...

08/06/2009

:+: Graduation Day :+:

The clock is ticking
The dawn is breaking
Only seconds remaining
Till its time for parting

We don our black robes
We put on our pentagon caps
Into the hall we went
For a final ceremony

It's where our journey begins
As younglings almost four years ago
It's where our journey ends
On this day, as seasoned travellers

Of love, friendship and life
Many has we learned when we were together
Love we found, love we lost
Friendships come and go
As our season's coming to a close
Right on this day

Cause today is our graduation day
A day when a part of our journey ends
And another journey began anew
Our own life's journey
As members of this one big family

We were once little birds
Growing wings and learning to fly
It's now our time to fly on our own
On this big, wide world
And create our own life's story

One day,
You might soar high as an eagle
Or run fast as an ostrich
You might also be as a crow,
With no place where you belong
But never forget this one thing,
That you always have a home here

Many years from this day
It will be a day we look back to
When we were young birdlings learning to fly
Let only laughter remains
Of our time in this academy

The hall doors now open
The caps we have tossed
The music quieted down
Our graduation ceremony is over

One by one we walk out the hall
Pictures we have taken
With our friends, that who knows
When we will meet again

To a new sky we head
To our destinies we fly
But deep within our souls,
We will always be member of this family

When the time is right,

Let's one day meet again...

:+: Ode To Joy :+:

This post is the continuation of my post about Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. I will give you the lyrics to the vocal part of the Symphony No. 9. It is a poem written by Friedrich Schiller, with some part added by Beethoven to be used in his composition. Here goes.

German Version

An Die Freude

O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!
Sondern laßt uns angenehmere anstimmen,
und freudenvollere.
Freude! Freude!

Freude, schöner Götterfunken
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!
Deine Zauber binden wieder
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt

Wem der große Wurf gelungen,
Eines Freundes Freund zu sein;
Wer ein holdes Weib errungen,
Mische seinen Jubel ein!
Ja, wer auch nur eine Seele
Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund!
Und wer's nie gekonnt, der stehle
Weinend sich aus diesem Bund!

Freude trinken alle Wesen
An den Brüsten der Natur;
Alle Guten, alle Bösen
Folgen ihrer Rosenspur.
Küße gab sie uns und Reben,
Einen Freund, geprüft im Tod;
Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben,
Und der Cherub steht vor Gott.

Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen
Durch des Himmels prächt'gen Plan,
Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn,
Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen.

Seid umschlungen, Millionen!
Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt!
Brüder, über'm Sternenzelt
Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen.
Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen?
Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt?
Such' ihn über'm Sternenzelt!
Über Sternen muss er wohnen.

Finale repeats the words:
Seid umschlungen, Millionen!
Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt!
Brüder, über'm Sternenzelt
Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen.
Seid umschlungen,
Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt!
Freude, schöner Götterfunken
Tochter aus Elysium,
Freude, schöner Götterfunken

English Translation :

Ode To Joy

Oh friends, not these tones!
Rather, let us raise our voices in more pleasing
And more joyful sounds!
Joy! Joy!

Joy, beautiful spark of gods
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter drunk with fire,
Heavenly one, your sanctuary!
Your magic binds again
What custom strictly divided.
All men become brothers,
Where your gentle wing rests.

Whoever has had the great fortune
To be a friend's friend,
Whoever has won a devoted wife,
Join in our jubilation!
Indeed, whoever can call even one soul,
His own on this earth!
And whoever was never able to, must creep
Tearfully away from this band!

Joy all creatures drink
At the breasts of nature;
All good, all bad
Follow her trail of roses.
Kisses she gave us, and wine,
A friend, proven in death;
Pleasure was to the worm given,
And the cherub stands before God

Glad, as His suns fly
Through the Heaven's glorious design,
Run, brothers, your race,
Joyful, as a hero to victory.

Be embraced, millions!
This kiss for the whole world!
Brothers, above the starry canopy
Must a loving Father dwell.
Do you bow down, millions?
Do you sense the Creator, world?
Seek Him beyond the starry canopy!
Beyond the stars must He dwell.

Finale repeats the words:
Be embraced, you millions!
This kiss for the whole world!
Brothers, beyond the star-canopy
Must a loving Father dwell.
Be embraced,
This kiss for the whole world!
Joy, beautiful spark of gods,
Daughter of Elysium,
Joy, beautiful spark of gods

(The italicized words are Beethoven's addition)

If you are interested to listen to this grand masterpiece, I have uploaded it for you in Indowebster to ensure fast downloads for you in Indonesia. Please click the link below to access the download page.

Alberto Lizzio & London Festival Orchestra - Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op. 125 "Choral - Ludwig Von Beethoven

The password is freude

It consists of four mp3s, one for each part of the symphony, each about 13-24 minutes long, and the total length of the full performance is about an hour. The total size is about 78MB. 

So, that's it about Beethoven's 9th Symphony. I enjoy this music very much, and I hope you do too. Enjoy and see you next time!

:+: Ludwig von Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 "Choral" :+:

These days I'm really in the mood for some classics. One particular classic that I really enjoy is Beethoven's  Symphony No 9 "Ode to Joy". This piece has been my favorite classical music since I was still in high school.

I first knew this symphony from the manga "Dragon Voice", by Yuriko Nishiyama that Elex used to publish back then. This symphony was in the final volume, when the protagonist sung it in some kind of World Peace concert, as a song to rally the world into hold hands together in unity and peace. The lyrics has captivated my attention back then, as it was in German, and I was really interested in all things German. By some lucky chance during my trip to Singapore in the year 2004, I found a Beethoven's collection CD that costs only 5 SGD, so I just bought it and take it home. When I arrived home, I played the CD, and skipped right to Track 7, the Symphony No. 9. 

I became a fan instantly.

For me, the piece evoked a lot of feelings. It was beautiful, full of freedom, full of hope, energy and peace, and if you close your eyes when listening to it, you can almost feel the grandeur of the orchestra hall, and the culture of the Romantic Age in Europe. OK, I might be waxing rhapsodic about it, but it was what I truly feel about this piece. It was THAT good. 

Some people said that music is good when it can arouse people's feelings and emotions, and let people imagine things. This piece did exactly that. It was like a refreshing breeze to me. It enlightens my heart whenever I hear it, and it gives me energy like warm sunlight in the morning. No music has ever done this to me before.

So, I really recommend this piece of beauty to you, my readers. With such a lot of music types in the market right now, sometimes it's good for us to take a look in the past, and enjoy the masterpieces of the great composers of the world. It is a reminder of an era when music is taken really seriously, and carefully made into a masterpiece that stay in popularity for close to 200 years now, a feat which I believe none of the new songs now will ever get close to, considering how the new songs are made, and what they are like.

For the uninitiated, however, I give you a short history of this symphony. It is taken from Wikipedia, with a bit of adjustment here and there.

What is Beethoven's Symphony No 9?

The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 "Choral" is the final symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire and is considered one of Beethoven's greatest masterpieces.

The symphony was the first example of a major composer using voices in a symphony. The words are sung during the final movement by four vocal soloists and a chorus. They were taken from the "Ode to Joy", a poem written by Friedrich Schiller in 1785 and revised in 1803 (of which the 'Ode to Joy' is penned), with additions made by the composer.

The symphony is in four movements, marked as follows:

1. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso
2. Scherzo: Molto vivace - Presto
3. Adagio molto e cantabile - Andante Moderato - Tempo I - Andante Moderato - Adagio - Lo Stesso Tempo
4. Recitative

Beethoven changes the usual pattern of Classical symphonies in placing the scherzo movement before the slow movement (in symphonies, slow movements are usually placed before scherzi). This was the first time that he did this in a symphony, although he had done so in some previous works (including the quartets Op. 18 no. 5, the "Archduke" piano trio Op. 97, the "Hammerklavier" piano sonata Op. 106). Haydn, too, had used this arrangement in a number of works.

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was an influence on the development of the compact disc. Philips, the company that had started the work on the new audio format, originally planned for a CD to have a diameter of 11.5 cm, while Sony planned a 10 cm diameter needed for one hour of music. 

The Ninth Symphony in the Modern Age

During the division of Germany in the Cold War, the Ode to Joy segment of the symphony was also played in lieu of an anthem at the Olympic Games for the Unified Team of Germany between 1956 and 1968. In 1972, the musical backing (without the words) was adopted as the Anthem of Europe by the Council of Europe and subsequently by the European Communities (now the European Union) in 1985.[19] In 1985, the European Union chose Beethoven's music as the EU anthem.[20] When Kosovo declared independence in 2008, it lacked an anthem, so for the independence ceremonies it used Ode to Joy, in recognition of the European Union's role in its independence. It has since adopted its own anthem. Additionally, the Ode to Joy was adopted as the national anthem of Rhodesia in 1974 as Rise O Voices of Rhodesia.

I'll write about the vocal parts, the "Ode to Joy" in a separate post, because it was a poem, (or a lyric), and I prefer to keep that kind of things separate from a prose styled writing like this.

I'll also include the link to my Symphony No 9 upload in the next post. It is currently uploading right now, and it will take about an hour or so to complete..

See you in next post!