Symphony No.5 in C minor, Op.67
Allegro con brio
Andante con moto
Allegro-
Allegro-Presto
Written in 1807-8, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is the central work of its composer’s so-called "Middle Period", the high noon of his creative maturity. To this period belongs a string of his most original and powerful masterpieces; he had overcome the creative crisis of 1801-2, when his deafness had first become apparent, and as the affliction deepened in the years 1802-1811 he responded to it with music of unique strength and feeling. There seems to have been no particular reason why this symphony should have emerged as it did and when it did; indeed, Beethoven was working on it simultaneously with his sixth, and most gentle, symphony, the Pastoral, which was original numbered the fifth! But this Symphony in C minor has become, without question, the most famous symphony ever written, not only the definitive expression of Beethoven’s personal struggle but a pivotal masterpiece in the history of western music. The Fifth Symphony, for the first time, made a simple musical process – the transition from the key of C minor to the key of C major – express the most powerful human emotion in the most unambiguous terms. Every significant symphony since has been written under the influence of this achievement or in reaction against it; a list of symphonies founded directly upon it would begin with Beethoven’s own Ninth and include those of Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Elgar, Sibelius, Nielsen, Shostakovich and countless more. The idea that this symphony expresses with unprecedented force – that of the individual’s struggle for self-realization – would become the defining ideal of the entire 19th Century Romantic movement, itself at the root of today’s ideal of liberal democracy. Even today, the impact of Beethoven’s artistic revolution, epitomized by this symphony, can be felt – contemporary "minimalist" composers such as John Tavener and Steve Reich write music which represents a conscious attempt to escape from the idea of the symphonic argument as personal struggle. For most listeners, though, it continues to be the means by which music can speak to them more directly and personally than any other art form.
Unsurprisingly, then, Beethoven’s Fifth has acquired an almost mythical status. Legends about it abound: a Napoleonic veteran leapt involuntarily to his feet and cried "C’est l’Empereur!" at the opening of the Finale, the composer Hector Berlioz witnessed fellow audience members fainting and gasping for breath at its first Paris performances. For the German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann, the symphony "unfolded Beethoven’s romantic spirit in a climax rising straight to the end and carried the listener away irresistibly into the wondrous spirit world of the infinite…the sensitive listener will not be able to escape from that magical spiritual realm where he is surrounded by torment and joy depicted in sounds". Beethoven himself said of the opening bars "Thus Fate knocks at the door". By co-incidence, the Morse code symbol for "V" has exactly the same rhythm as those famous bars. And so they were broadcast throughout occupied Europe during World War II as the call-sign for the BBC’s underground service. For this reason, the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu incorporated them in his wartime orchestral lament "Memorial to Lidice"; and even in our time they remain one of the most powerful of musical symbols. "Da Da Da Daaa – it’s fate knocking at the door. That’s one of the biggest hits in history. There’s no video to it, he didn’t need one!"(Billy Joel, 1990).
It’s easy to forget, then, that this symphony is above all pure music, an extraordinary structure in sound. It is in standard classical symphonic form; two sonata-form movements framing an Andante and a Scherzo and Trio.
It received its première in Vienna on 22nd December 1808, in a concert that also included the premières of Beethoven’s 6th Symphony, 4th Piano Concerto, Choral Fantasy, and excerpts from his Mass in C.
1. Allegro con brio. The rhythm of the famous opening figure underpins this entire torrential movement, and also recurs at crucial points in later movements. As it grows into tense and powerful musical paragraphs, it becomes clear that a tragic emotional conflict is under way. Beethoven heightens the power of the drama by contrasting moments of sweetness and reflection – the lyrical second subject, for example, and the poignant oboe cadenza that briefly halts the recapitulation at its most relentless.
2. Andante con moto. One of Beethoven’s most personal re-workings of an established form, a set of double variations after the manner of Haydn. The lilting main theme, initially presented by violas and ‘cellos, was originally sketched as a minuet. The flowing A-flat major calm is broken three times by triumphant bursts of C major, subsiding each time, through mysterious key changes, to the initial calm. The movement ends with a confident gesture.
3. Allegro. This scherzo opens in minor-key shadow. A quiet figure rises from the basses, hesitates, and is swept aside by a fierce march to the rhythm of the symphony’s opening motif. The trio section brings C-major relief with scurrying fugato basses, Beethoven’s finest black humour, but the return of the scherzo marks a strange transformation. Quiet pizzicato strings take the place of braying horns – the atmosphere is now one of hushed mystery and as the scherzo ends the inner strings hold a sustained chord. The timpani tap out a gentle rhythm, the violins toy with wisps of the scherzo, the tension builds to breaking point and with a tremendous crescendo the music sweeps headlong into –
4. Finale: Allegro – Presto. A great blaze of C major. Trombones and piccolo enter for the first time in any symphony: trombones were traditionally sacred or dramatic instruments, so their entry here reinforces what the music makes unambiguously clear – that this is the moment of spiritual triumph. The movement is a fully worked-out sonata-allegro of celebration, hesitating only as the scherzo theme briefly re-appears just before the recapitulation. This sinister presence acts as a reminder of just how hard won the victory has been, and so gives a guarantee of truth to the symphony’s jubilant and emphatic close.
Richard Bratby, 1999
Copyright Classical Notes.co.uk 2000
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