(This was published on YouTube already two days ago for New Year's Eve.)
Here in Bavaria, there's a — in my opinion — lovely tradition on the radio: Every day, exactly at midnight, selected stations play the Bavarian state anthem, followed by the anthem of the Federal Republic of Germany and, eventually, the anthem of the European Union.
To enjoy the great finale just in time at midnight, I recommend to start the playback exactly at 11:54pm. The recording contains the following pieces:
- The Bavarian Anthem (first stanza) based on the melody of Konrad Max Kunz (BTW and to current knowledge, an ancestor of my buddy and YouTube subscriber "FossegrimVidar"),
- a short improvised prelude to the German anthem,
- followed by the actual German national anthem based on the melody of Joseph Haydn,
- the Prelude from "Te Deum" by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (also known as the "Eurovision Fanfare"), repeated in two variations with increasing dynamics,
- an introduction to "Ode to Joy" from Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th symfony and finally
- the actual anthem of the European Union (besaid "Ode to Joy").
For those who own a 7.1 surround system, an 8-channel FLAC file can be picked up here to get an impression of what it will sound like in my living room:
- URL: http://via.woody-mc.de/to/njrSzNcaUmuNc9PA
- Player: Current versions of Media Player Classic are able to properly play multi-channel FLAC files.