Beethoven, the Beatles, and U2

I must admit that the last hour of my Western History lecturer is quite interesting. It is entitled the "Cultural Hour" and it is the time of the lecture in which we watch, or in today's case listen, to something that reflects the period of time that we have studied in the lecture. Today we studied Romanticism and afterwards we listened to Beethoven.

I found Beethoven's 9th symphony quite a powerful piece, one that moved gracefully from moments of fast paced rhythms to the slower and more peaceful parts of the piece. What I found most interesting was the text that followed the last movement. I sourced this from Wikipedia:

Joy, beautiful spark of the gods,

Daughter of Elysium,

We approach fire-drunk,

Heavenly One, your shrine.

Your magic reunites

What custom strictly divides;

All people become brothers

Where your gentle wing alights.

From my understanding the period of Romanticism was filled with so a great deal of optimism. That delighful frame of thinking that places the union of humnanity as priortity for the arrival of true peace and happiness. Throughout the lecture Dr Gentes introduced briefly the parallel between this Romantic point of view that ruled the early 1800's to the so called "hippy" movement of the 60's, reflected by the lyrics of the incredibly popular band "The Beatles." I found this interesting as it proves again just how much history repeats itself. The imaginary/Romantics vs the Rationalists seems to constantly crop up. In the early part of the 19th century the romantics was represented by musicians such as Beethoven, in the 60's the flag was held high and proud by the Beatles, and now it seems to be held by the Irish rock band U2.