Beethoven’s Number Five

Written between 1804 and 1804, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor is arguably the most popular and well-known composition in all of European classical music. In nearly every poll, Beethoven’s Fifth tops the list of favorites. It is clearly a piece of music that is ageless in significance and one that reverberates with meaning to every listener, regardless of his or her musical background.

It was Beethoven’s bold harmonic and structural invention that ushered in the Romantic era in music, a type of music intentionally meant to express personal feelings which had hitherto been repressed through the conventional musical form. Beethoven’s Fifth was also quite innovative and experimental. Variations were built upon dual themes, two movements were joined together, the reprise of an earlier passage appears in the finale and, most characteristically, that famous single motif unifies the entire piece.

And what a grabber those first few seconds are! The Fifth’s famous four-note opener is known the world over, of course, and appears frequently and regularly in works of popular culture, film, television, disco and rock and roll. It could in fact be the most memorable musical phrase of all time.

Ironically, there was not very much critical response to the premiere performance, which took place under adverse conditions. The orchestra did not play well, it is said, having had only one rehearsal before the concert, and one mistake made by one musician was so bad that Beethoven had to stop the music and start all over again. The auditorium was also extremely cold and the audience was exhausted due to the length of the program. But just a year and a half later, another performance resulted in a review by German author E.T.A. Hoffmann so rapturous that the legend of the Fifth was born. And the symphony’s power, as all of us who have heard it know, has endured to this day.

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