Sir, In his piece (June 1st) on the various approaches to coverage of Euro 96 by the television networks, Hugh Linehan describes BBC's choice of theme music as "Beethoven's Ode to Joy (better known to us Irish as the little bit of music that comes up before the Eurovision)".
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (also known as the Choral Symphony) is actually better known to us Irish as the little bit of music associated with the European communities. The final chorus of this work is a partial settin to music of Schiller's poem of to Joy and has, as Mr Linehan remarks, been adopted by the EC as a kind of supranational anthem.
The piece of music heard before the Eurovision each year is in fact the opening part of Charpentier's setting of the Te Deum. Yours, etc., Clonkeen Road, Dean's Grange, Co Dublin.