Beethoven had first encountered Schiller' s poem "An die Freude" over thirty years before he completed the Ninth Symphony. The poem had first appeared in print in 1785， and from that time on was quite popular in the German states. Evidence suggests that Beethoven may have set the text to music as early as 1792. Other attempts were made in 1808 and 1811， when Beethoven' s notebooks include remarks to himself concerning possible settings for the familiar text. These years of toying with Schiller' s ode were also years of personal and professional growth. When he first came to know the poem， he was an optimistic young artist who had not yet composed his First Symphony， yet Beethoven' s third approach to the poem， in 1812， came with the completion of the Eighth Symphony. Perhaps the professional experience he had gained in those decades led him to consider that a poem of such spiritual power required an equally powerful setting， for he soon embarked on the creation of his Ninth Symphony， the work in which Schiller' s words would be given glorious flight.