tech
December 17, 2025
Even Happy Birthday has a dark side: my quest to tell the history of the world in 50 pieces of music
The Nazis adopted Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. Happy Birthday hides a tale of corporate greed. And Putin uses Shostakovich’s Leningrad symphony as a call to arms. That’s why I put them in my soundtrack to the complexities of human existence
TL;DR
- The book "A History of the World in 50 Pieces" focuses on the concept of a "piece of music" as something shared and reinterpreted, rather than existing in a definitive version.
- Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, particularly the "Ode to Joy," has been adopted by various ideologies, from democratic movements to oppressive regimes like Nazi Germany and apartheid Rhodesia.
- The "Happy Birthday" melody, originally "Good Morning to All," became a global tune but also a subject of corporate greed until a 2016 court ruling declared it public domain.
- Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony, "the Leningrad," composed during the siege, has been used both as a symbol of resistance against autocracy and, more recently, for nationalistic propaganda by Putin's regime.
- These musical examples illustrate how tunes for the 'whole world' encapsulate humanity's complexities, for better and for worse, reflecting collective history and diverse interpretations.
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