Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)

The symphony is one of the most popular and well-known compositions in all of classical music, and is
frequently performed and recorded.

The symphony achieved its reputation soon after its first performance in 1808; it was described at the time by E.T.A. Hoffmann as "one of the most important works of the age."

The symphony is immediately recognizable by its four-note opening motif. Because of the motif's resemblance to the Morse code for the letter V (dot dot dot dash), it was used as a shorthand for the word "victory" to open the BBC's radio broadcasts during World War II, an idea of William Stephenson's.

Premiere and critical reception

The Fifth Symphony premiered December 22, 1808 during a mammoth concert, consisting entirely of Beethoven premieres, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. Other highlights were the Choral Fantasy, the Sixth Symphony, and the Fourth Piano Concerto. (The names of the Fifth and Sixth symphonies were mistakenly reversed on the program, due to the order of their performances).

There was little critical response of any sort to the symphony's first appearance, perhaps due to the poor playing of the orchestra (they had only one rehearsal before the concert) and the exhaustion of the audience from the long program. However, a year and a half later another performance resulted in a rapturous review by E.T.A. Hoffmann in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung. He described the music by writing, "Radiant beams shoot through the deep night of this region, and we become aware of gigantic shadows which, rocking back and forth, close in on us and destroy all within us except the pain of endless longing -- a longing in which every pleasure that rose up amid jubilant tones sinks and succumbs. Only through this pain, which, while consuming but not destroying love, hope, and joy, tries to burst our breasts with a full-voiced general cry from all the passions, do we live on and are captivated beholders of the spirits."

Movements and Scoring

The work is in four movements:

I. Allegro con brio
:II. Andante con moto
:III. Scherzo. Allegro
:IV. Allegro

First movement

Second movement

The second movement is a gentle, lyrical movement which follows a theme and variations form. This relatively relaxed and confident sequence is a respite from the darkness of the first movement. Near the end, the pulse of the music quickens as a mysterious mood is introduced, but the heroic, confident atmosphere returns to finish the movement.

Third movement

The third movement is a scherzo, which returns to the dark mood of the first movement. It opens with winds and strings tossing phrases between each other. Then the horns loudly announce the main theme of the movement, and the music proceeds from there. Near the end of the movement, the music drops to a whisper before slowly building in a huge crescendo and transitioning without interruption to the fourth movement. This final passage takes the music from C minor to the C major of the finale (Beethoven had tried a similar key change from B flat minor to B flat major at the opening of his Symphony No. 4).

Fourth movement

The allegro finale is pervaded by feelings of ecstatic glory. It is interrupted by a brief, haunting reprise of the scherzo theme before the symphony ends with repeated triumphant chords in C major.

Influence and legacy

Groundbreaking technically and emotionally, the Fifth Symphony had a large influence on composers and music critics. It specifically impacted on the works of Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Bruckner, and Mahler. The symphony stands with the Third Symphony and Ninth Symphony as the most revolutionary of Beethoven's symphonies, and indeed, all his compositions. The symphony is so popular that it is considered a war horse.

The symphony in popular culture

Not surprisingly given its fame, the Fifth Symphony has appeared frequently in popular culture.

• A disco version, called "A Fifth of Beethoven," was made by Walter Murphy & the Big Apple Band during the disco era of the 1970s. This version featured in the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.
• In turn, "A Fifth of Beethoven" was used as the backing track for "When I Get You Alone" by Californian R&B artist Thicke, released in 2002, with songwriting credits listed as "Walter Murphy / Robin Thicke".
• A short passage appeared in the 1970s disco medley "Hooked on Classics 1".
• The first movement also appeared in Disney's Fantasia 2000 in the sequence that opens the film. As with the much earlier Disney Beethoven Sixth in the original Fantasia, the music was severely cut. The animation depicts paper butterflies being chased by a storm of darker, evil paper butterflies.
  

  Media

  External links

• General discussion and reviews of recordings
• Brief structural analysis
• Analysis of the Beethoven 5th Symphony, The Symphony of Destiny on the All About Ludwig van Beethoven Page
  

  Source

• Bookspan, Martin (1973). 101 Masterpieces of Music and Their Composers, p. 50-52. New York: Doubleday & Company.