Ray Bayles wrote:

>>I thought Beethoven did a lot of "poetic translation" on the Ode to Joy...
>>He couldn't make the Schiller work fit the music, so he translated the
>>poetry to fit his music.

And Sam Kemp replied:

>The remainder of the work is not too difficult to extricate from the text,
>although if you have a version of the complete Ode, I think you'll find
>that only about half of it is set in the work.

Less.  The whole ode, as written by Schiller, is a very lengthy and IMHO
far from impressive (from a poetic point of view) poem.  I even wouldn't
hesitate to call it a somewhat silly piece of art.  Beethoven used only a
few stanzas, obviously fitting to his taste, and he added a few words.
The beginning:

   "O Freunde, nicht diese Tone!
   Sondern lasst uns angenehmere anstimmen
   Und freudenvollere!"

and twice the word "Bruder".

Joyce Maier
www.ademu.com/Beethoven