Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)
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{{dablink|"Beethoven's Fifth" redirects here. For the 4th sequel to the movie, "[[Beethoven (film)|Beethoven]]", see [[Beethoven's 5th (film)]].}}
[[Image:Beethoven-Deckblatt.png|right|frame|The coversheet to Beethoven's 5th Symphony. The dedication to Prince [[F.J. von Lobkowitz|Lobkowitz]] and [[Andreas Razumovsky|Count Rasumovsky]] is visible.]]
[[Ludwig van Beethoven]]'s '''Symphony No. 5 in C minor, [[opus number|Op.]] 67''' was written in 1804–08. This [[symphony]] is one of the most popular and well-known [[musical composition|compositions]] in all of [[European classical music]], and one of the most often-played symphonies.<ref name="Schauffler">[[Robert Haven Schauffler|Schauffler, Robert Haven]]. Beethoven: The Man Who Freed Music. Doubleday, Doran, & Company. Garden City, New York. 1933; pg 211</ref> It comprises four [[Movement (music)|movement]]s: an opening [[sonata form|sonata allegro]], an [[andante]], and a fast [[scherzo]] which leads ''[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/attacca attacca]'' to the finale. First performed in [[Vienna]]'s [[Theater an der Wien]] in 1808, the work achieved its prodigious reputation soon afterwards. [[E.T.A. Hoffmann]] described the symphony as "one of the most important works of the time".
It begins by stating a distinctive four-note "short-short-short-long" [[Motif (music)|motif]] twice: ({{Audio|Beet5mov1bars1to5.ogg|listen}})
:: [[Image:Beethoven symphony 5 opening.svg|350Px]]
The symphony, and the four-note opening motif in particular, are well known worldwide, with the motif appearing frequently in [[popular culture]], from [[disco]] to [[rock and roll]], to appearances in film and television. During [[World War II]], the [[BBC]] used the four-note motif to introduce its radio news broadcasts because it evoked the [[Morse code]] letter "V" (for "victory") (dot-dot-dot-dash).
== History ==
=== Composition ===
[[Image:Beethoven 3.jpg|right|thumb|250 px|Beethoven in 1804, the year he began work on the Fifth Symphony. Detail of a portrait by W.J. Mähler]]
The Fifth Symphony is notable for the amount of time it spent in gestation. The first sketches date from 1804, following the completion of the [[Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)|Third Symphony]].<ref name="hopkins">Hopkins, Antony. ''The Nine Symphonies of Beethoven''. Scolar Press, 1977. ISBN 1-85928-246-6.</ref>. However, Beethoven repeatedly interrupted his work on the Fifth to prepare other compositions, including the first version of ''[[Fidelio]]'', the [[Piano Sonata No. 23 (Beethoven)|''Appassionata'' piano sonata]], the three [[String Quartets Nos. 7 - 9, Opus 59 - Rasumovsky (Beethoven)|''Razumovsky'' string quartets]], the [[Violin Concerto (Beethoven)|Violin Concerto]], the [[Piano Concerto No. 4 (Beethoven)|Fourth Piano Concerto]], and the [[Symphony No. 4 (Beethoven)|Fourth Symphony]]. The final preparation of the Fifth Symphony, which took place in 1807-1808, was carried out in parallel with the [[Symphony No. 6 (Beethoven)|Sixth Symphony]], which premiered at the same concert.
Beethoven was in his mid-thirties during this time; his personal life was troubled by increasing [[Hearing impairment|deafness]].<ref>[http://www.lvbeethoven.com/Bio/BiographyDeafness.html Beethoven's deafness]</ref> In the world at large, the period was marked by the [[Napoleonic Wars]], political turmoil in [[Austria]], and the occupation of [[Vienna]] by [[Napoleon]]'s troops in 1805.
=== Premiere ===
The Fifth Symphony was premiered on [[December 22]], [[1808]] at a mammoth concert at the [[Theater an der Wien]] in Vienna consisting entirely of Beethoven premieres, and directed by Beethoven himself.<ref>Kinderman, William. Beethoven. University of California Press. Berkeley, Los Angeles. 1995. ISBN 0-520-08796-8; pg 122</ref> The performance took more than four hours. The two symphonies appeared on the program named in the reverse of the order by which we know them today: the Fifth was numbered No. 6, and the Sixth appeared as No. 5.<ref>Parsons, Anthony. [http://www.lvbeethoven.com/VotreLVB/English_TromboneSociety.html Symphonic birth-pangs of the trombone]</ref> The program was as follows:
* the [[Symphony No. 6 (Beethoven)|Sixth Symphony]]
* Aria: "[[Ah, perfido]]", Op. 65
* The Gloria movement of the [[Mass in C major (Beethoven)|Mass in C Major]]
* the [[Piano Concerto No. 4 (Beethoven)|Fourth Piano Concerto]] (played by Beethoven himself)
* ''(intermission)''
* the Fifth Symphony
* the Sanctus and Benedictus movements of the C Major Mass
* a solo piano improvisation played by Beethoven
* the [[Choral Fantasy]]
Beethoven dedicated the symphony to two of his patrons, Prince [[Franz Joseph von Lobkowitz]] and [[Andreas Razumovsky|Count Rasumovsky]]. The dedication appeared in the first printed edition of April 1809.
[[Image:TheateranDerWienJakobAlt.jpg|right|thumb|250 px|The [[Theater an der Wien]] as it appeared in the early 19th century]]
=== Reception and influence ===
There was little critical response to the premiere performance, which took place under adverse conditions. The orchestra did not play well—with only one rehearsal before the concert—and at one point, following a mistake by one of the performers in the Choral Fantasy, Beethoven had to stop the music and start again.<ref>Landon, H.C. Robbins. Beethoven: His Life, Work, and World. Thames and Hudson. New York City. 1992; pg 149</ref> The auditorium was extremely cold and the audience was exhausted by the length of the 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 with dramatic imagery:
<blockquote>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.<ref>Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, July 1810</ref></blockquote>
The symphony soon acquired its status as a central item in the repertoire. As an emblem of classical music, as it were, the Fifth was played in the inaugural concerts of the [[New York Philharmonic]] on [[December 7]], [[1842]], and the [[National Symphony Orchestra (United States)|National Symphony Orchestra]] on [[November 2]], [[1931]]. Groundbreaking both in terms of its technical and emotional impact, the Fifth has had a large influence on composers and music critics,<ref>Moss, Charles K. [http://www.carolinaclassical.com/articles/beethoven.html Ludwig van Beethoven: A Musical Titan]. </ref> and inspired work by such composers as [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]], [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]] (his [[Symphony No. 4 (Tchaikovsky)|4th Symphony]] in particular),<ref>[http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=composition&composition_id=2135 Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 by Richard Freed]</ref> [[Anton Bruckner|Bruckner]], [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]], and [[Hector Berlioz]].<ref>Rushton, Julian. The Music of Berlioz; pg 244</ref> The Fifth stands with the [[Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)|Third Symphony]] and [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Ninth Symphony]] as the most revolutionary of Beethoven's compositions.
== Instrumentation ==
The symphony is scored for [[piccolo]] (fourth movement only), 2 [[flute]]s, 2 [[oboe]]s, 2 [[clarinet]]s in B flat and C, 2 [[bassoon]]s, [[contrabassoon]] (fourth movement only), 2 [[Horn (instrument)|horns]] in E flat and C, 2 [[trumpet]]s, 3 [[trombone]]s (alto, tenor, and bass, fourth movement only), [[timpani]] (in G-C) and [[string instrument|string]]s.
== Form ==
The work is in four movements:
=== First movement ===
{{sample box start variation 2|First movement}}
{{listen|filename=Ludwig van Beethoven - symphony no. 5 in c minor, op. 67 - i. allegro con brio.ogg|title=First movement: Allegro con brio|description=Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra. Music courtesy of [http://www.musopen.com Musopen]|format=[[Ogg]]}}
{{listen|filename=Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphonie 5 c-moll - 1. Allegro con brio.ogg|title=First movement: Allegro con brio|description=Performed by the Fulda Symphony|format=[[Ogg]]}}
{{sample box end}}
The first movement opens with the four-note [[motif (music)|motif]] discussed below, one of the most famous in western music. There is considerable debate among conductors as to the manner of playing the four opening bars. Some conductors take it in strict allegro [[tempo]]; others take the liberty of a weighty treatment, playing the motif in a much slower and more stately tempo; yet others take the motif ''molto ritardando'' (a pronounced slowing through each four-note phrase), arguing that the [[fermata]] over the fourth note justifies this.<ref name="Scherman570">Scherman, Thomas K, and Louis Biancolli. The Beethoven Companion. Double & Company. Garden City, New York. 1973; p. 570</ref>
The first movement is in the traditional [[sonata form]] that Beethoven inherited from his [[Classical music era|classical]] predecessors, [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] and [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] (in which the main ideas that are introduced in the first few pages undergo elaborate development through many keys, with a dramatic return to the opening section—the [[recapitulation]]—about three-quarters of the way through). It starts out with two dramatic fortissimo phrases, the famous motif, commanding the listener's attention. Following the first four bars, Beethoven uses imitations and sequences to expand the theme, these pithy imitations tumbling over each other with such rhythmic regularity that they appear to form a single, flowing melody. Shortly after, a very short ''fortissimo'' bridge, played by the horns, takes place before a second theme is introduced. This second theme is in E flat major, the relative major, and it is more lyrical, written ''piano'' and featuring the four-note motif in the string accompaniment. The codetta is again based on the four-note motif. The development section follows, using modulation, sequences and imitation, and including the bridge. During the recapitulation, there is a brief solo passage for [[oboe]] in quasi-improvisatory style, and the movement ends with a massive [[coda (music)|coda]].
=== Second movement ===
{{sample box start variation 2|Second movement}}
{{listen|filename=Ludwig van Beethoven - symphony no. 5 in c minor, op. 67 - ii. andante con moto.ogg|title=Second movement: Andante con moto|description=Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra. Music courtesy of [http://www.musopen.com Musopen]|format=[[Ogg]]}}
{{listen|filename=Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphonie 5 c-moll - 2. Andante con moto.ogg|title=Second movement: Andante con moto|description=Performed by the Fulda Symphony|format=[[Ogg]]}}
{{sample box end}}
The second movement, in A flat major, is a lyrical work in [[double variation]] form, which means that two themes are presented and varied in alternation. Following the variations there is a long coda.
The movement opens with an announcement of its theme, a melody in unison by violas and cellos, with accompaniment by the double basses. A second theme soon follows, with a harmony provided by clarinets, bassoons, violins, with a triplet [[arpeggio]] in the violas and bass. A variation of the first theme reasserts itself. This is followed up by a third theme, thirty-second notes in the violas and cellos with a counterphrase running in the flute, oboe and bassoon. Following an interlude, the whole orchestra participates in a fortissimo, leading to a series of [[crescendo]]s, and a coda to close the movement.<ref>Scherman, Thomas K, and Louis Biancolli. The Beethoven Companion. Double & Company. Garden City, New York. 1973; pg 572</ref>
=== Third movement ===
{{sample box start variation 2|Third movement}}
{{listen|filename=Ludwig van Beethoven - symphony no. 5 in c minor, op. 67 - iii. allegro.ogg|title=Third movement: Scherzo. Allegro|description=Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra. Music courtesy of [http://www.musopen.com Musopen]|format=[[Ogg]]}}
{{listen|filename=Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphonie 5 c-moll - 3. Allegro.ogg|title=Third movement: Scherzo. Allegro|description=Performed by the Fulda Symphony|format=[[Ogg]]}}
{{sample box end}}
The third movement is in [[ternary form]], consisting of a [[scherzo]] and trio. It follows the traditional mold of Classical-era symphonic third movements, containing in sequence the main scherzo, a contrasting trio section, a return of the scherzo, and a coda. (For further discussion of this form, see "Textual questions", below.)
The movement returns to the opening key of C minor and begins with the following theme, played by the cellos and double basses: ({{Audio|Beet5mov3bars1to4.ogg|listen}})
[[Image:BeethovenSymphonyNo5Mvt3Opening.PNG|center||500 px|]]
The 19th century musicologist [[Gustav Nottebohm]] first pointed out that this theme has the same sequence of pitches (though in a different key and range) as the opening theme of the final movement of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s famous [[Symphony No. 40 (Mozart)|Symphony No. 40]] in G minor, K. 550. Here is Mozart's theme: ({{Audio|Mozart40bars1to3.ogg|listen}})
[[Image:MozartSymph40Mvt4Opening.png|center||500 px|]]
(The derivation emerges more clearly if one listens first to Mozart's theme, then Mozart's theme transposed to Beethoven's key and range, then Beethoven's theme, thus: {{Audio|Beethoven5thSymphonyMozartBorrowing.ogg|listen}}.)
While such resemblances sometimes occur by accident, this is unlikely to be so in the present case. Nottebohm discovered the resemblance when he examined a sketchbook used by Beethoven in composing the Fifth Symphony: here, 29 measures of Mozart's finale appear, copied out by Beethoven.<ref>Nottebohm, Gustav (1887) ''Zweite Beethoviana''. Leipzig: C. F. Peters, p. 531.</ref>
The opening theme is answered by a contrasting theme played by the [[woodwind instrument|winds]], and this sequence is repeated. Then the [[horn (instrument)|horn]]s loudly announce the main theme of the movement, and the music proceeds from there.
The trio section is in [[C major]] and is written in a contrapuntal texture. When the scherzo returns for the final time, it is performed by the strings [[pizzicato]] and very quietly.
"The scherzo offers contrasts that are somewhat similar to those of the slow movement in that they derive from extreme difference in character between scherzo and trio ... The Scherzo then contrasts this figure with the famous 'motto' (3 + 1) from the first movement, which gradually takes command of the whole movement." <ref>Lockwood, Lewis. Beethoven: The Music and the Life. W.W. Norton & Company. New York. ISBN 0-393-05081-5; pg 223</ref>
=== Fourth movement ===
{{sample box start variation 2|Fourth movement}}
{{listen|filename=Ludwig van Beethoven - symphony no. 5 in c minor, op. 67 - iv. allegro.ogg|title=Fourth movement: Allegro|description=Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra. Music courtesy of [http://www.musopen.com Musopen]|format=[[Ogg]]}}
{{listen|filename=Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphonie 5 c-moll - 4. Allegro.ogg|title=Fourth movement: Allegro|description=Performed by the Fulda Symphony|format=[[Ogg]]}}
{{sample box end}}
The triumphant and exhilarating finale begins without interruption after the scherzo. It is written in an unusual variant of [[sonata form]]: at the end of the [[Musical development|development]] section, the music halts on a [[dominant (music)|dominant]] cadence, played fortissimo, and the music continues after a pause with a quiet reprise of the "horn theme" of the scherzo movement. The recapitulation is then introduced by a crescendo coming out of the last bars of the interpolated scherzo section, just as the same music was introduced at the opening of the movement. The interruption of the finale with material from the scherzo was pioneered by [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]], who had done the same in his [[Symphony No. 46 (Haydn)|Symphony No. 46]] in B, from 1772. It is not known whether Beethoven was familiar with this work.
The Fifth Symphony finale includes a very long coda, in which the main themes of the movement are played in temporally compressed form. Towards the end the tempo is increased to [[presto]]. The symphony ends with 29 bars of C major [[chord (music)|chords]], played [[Dynamics (music)|fortissimo]]. [[Charles Rosen]], in ''The Classical Style''<ref>Rosen, Charles (1997) ''The Classical Style'', 2nd ed. New York: Norton, p. 72</ref> suggests that this ending reflects Beethoven's sense of Classical proportions: the "unbelievably long" pure C major cadence is needed "to ground the extreme tension of [this] immense work."
== Lore ==
A great deal has been written about the Fifth Symphony in books, scholarly articles, and program notes for live and recorded performances. This section summarizes some themes that commonly appear in this material.
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=== Fate motif ===
The initial motif of the symphony has sometimes been credited with symbolic significance as a representation of Fate knocking at the door. This idea comes from Beethoven's secretary and factotum [[Anton Felix Schindler|Anton Schindler]], who wrote, many years after Beethoven's death:
<blockquote>The composer himself provided the key to these depths when one day, in this author's presence, he pointed to the beginning of the first movement and expressed in these words the fundamental idea of his work: "Thus Fate knocks at the door!"<ref>Jolly, Constance. Beethoven as I Knew Him; London: Faber and Faber, 1966; as translated from Schindler's 'Biographie von Ludwig van Beethoven', 1860</ref></blockquote>
Schindler's testimony concerning any point of Beethoven's life is disparaged by experts (he is believed to have forged entries in Beethoven's conversation books).<ref>Cooper, Barry. ''The Beethoven Compendium,'' Ann Arbor, MI: Borders Press, 1991, ISBN 0-681-07558-9.; pg 52</ref> Moreover, it is often commented that Schindler offered a highly romanticized view of the composer. Thus, although we cannot know whether Schindler actually fabricated this quotation, it seems a strong possibility.
There is another tale concerning the same motif; the version given here is from [[Antony Hopkins]]'s description of the symphony<ref name="hopkins"/>. [[Karl Czerny]] (Beethoven's pupil, who premiered the "Emperor" Concerto) claimed that "the little pattern of notes had come to [Beethoven] from a [[yellowhammer|yellow-hammer]]'s song, heard as he walked in the [[Prater]]-park in Vienna." Hopkins further remarks that "given the choice between a yellow-hammer and Fate-at-the-door the public has preferred the more dramatic myth, though Czerny's account is too unlikely to have been invented."
Evaluations of these interpretations tend to be skeptical. "The popular legend that Beethoven intended this grand exordium of the symphony to suggest 'Fate Knocking at the gate' is apocryphal; Beethoven's pupil, [[Ferdinand Ries]], was really author of this would-be poetic exegesis, which Beethoven received very [[sarcasm|sarcastically]] when Ries imparted it to him."<ref name="Scherman570" /> [http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/contributors.html#s Elizabeth Schwarm Glesner] remarks that "Beethoven had been known to say nearly anything to relieve himself of questioning pests"; this might be taken to impugn both tales.<ref>Classical Music Pages. [http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/beethoven_sym5.html Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No.5, Op.67]</ref>
=== Beethoven's choice of key ===
The [[Key (music)|key]] of the Fifth Symphony, [[C minor]], is commonly regarded as a [[Beethoven and C minor|special key for Beethoven]], specifically a "stormy, heroic tonality".<ref>Wyatt, Henry. [http://www.masongross.rutgers.edu/mgpresents/14June03_notes.html Mason Gross Presents - Program Notes: 14 June 2003]. Mason Gross School of Arts.</ref> Beethoven wrote a number of works in C minor whose character is broadly similar to that of the Fifth Symphony. Writer Charles Rosen says, "Beethoven in C minor has come to symbolize his artistic character. In every case, it reveals Beethoven as Hero. C minor does not show Beethoven at his most subtle, but it does give him to us in his most extroverted form, where he seems to be most impatient of any compromise".<ref>[[Charles Rosen|Rosen, Charles]]. Beethoven's Piano Sonatas: A Short Companion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002, p. 134</ref>
=== Repetition of the opening motif throughout the symphony ===
It is commonly asserted that the opening four-note rhythmic motif (short-short-short-long; see above) is repeated throughout the symphony, unifying it. According to Web, "it is a rhythmic pattern (dit-dit-dit-dot*) that makes its appearance in each of the other three movements and thus contributes to the overall unity of the symphony" (Doug Briscoe, [http://www.bostonclassicalorchestra.org/prognotes/03-04notes-main.html]); "a single motif that unifies the entire work" (Peter Gutmann, [http://www.classicalnotes.net/classics/fifth.html]); "the key motif of the entire symphony" ([http://www.all-about-beethoven.com/symphony5.html]) ; "the rhythm of the famous opening figure ... recurs at crucial points in later movements" (Richard Bratby, [http://www.symphony5.com/en/sn5.htm]). The ''[[New Grove]]'' encyclopedia cautiously endorses this view, reporting that "[t]he famous opening motif is to be heard in almost every bar of the first movement – and, allowing for modifications, in the other movements."<ref>"Ludwig van Beethoven." ''Grove Online Encyclopedia.'' [http://www.grovemusic.com/shared/views/article.html?section=music.40026.15#music.40026.15 online] (subscription required).</ref>
There are several passages in the symphony that have led to this view. The one most commonly noted occurs in the third movement, where the horns play the following solo in which the short-short-short-long pattern occurs repeatedly:
: [[Image:BeethovenSymphony5Mvt3Bar19HornPart.PNG|Center||600 px|]]
In the second movement, an accompanying line plays a similar rhythm ({{Audio|BeethovenSymphony5Mvt2Bar76.ogg|listen}}):
: [[Image:BeethovenSymphony5Mvt2Bar76.png|Center||600 px|]]
In the finale, Doug Briscoe (cited above) suggests that the motif may be heard in the [[piccolo]] part, presumably meaning the following passage ({{Audio|BeethovenSymphony5Mvt4Bar244.ogg|listen}}):
: [[Image:BeethovenSymphonyNo5Mvt5M244.png|Center||650 px|]]
Later, in the coda of the finale, the bass instruments repeatedly play the following ({{Audio|BeethovenSymphony5Mvt4Bar362.ogg|listen}})::
: <!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:BeethovenSymphonyNo5Mvt4M372.PNG|center||600 px|]] -->
On the other hand, there are commentators who are unimpressed with these resemblances and consider them to be accidental. Antony Hopkins, <ref name="hopkins"/> discussing the theme in the scherzo, says "no musician with an ounce of feeling could confuse [the two rhythms]", explaining that the scherzo rhythm begins on a strong musical beat whereas the first-movement theme begins on a weak one. [[Donald Francis Tovey]]<ref>Tovey, Donald Francis (1935) ''Essays in Musical Analysis, Volume 1: Symphonies''. London: Oxford University Press.</ref> pours scorn on the idea that a rhythmic motif unifies the symphony: "This profound discovery was supposed to reveal an unsuspected unity in the work, but it does not seem to have been carried far enough." Applied consistently, he continues, the same approach would lead to the conclusion that many other works by Beethoven are also "unified" with this symphony, as the motif appears in the [[Piano Sonata No. 23 (Beethoven)|"Appassionata" piano sonata]], the [[Piano Concerto No. 4 (Beethoven)|Fourth Piano Concerto]] <small>({{Audio|BeethovenPianoConcertoNo4Opening.ogg|listen}})</small>, and in the [[String Quartet No. 10 (Beethoven)|String Quartet, Op. 74]]. Tovey concludes, "the simple truth is that Beethoven could not do without just such purely rhythmic figures at this stage of his art."
To Tovey's objection can be added the prominence of the short-short-short-long rhythmic figure in earlier works by Beethoven's older [[Classical music era|Classical]] contemporaries [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] and [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]. To give just two examples, it is found in Haydn's [[Symphony No. 96 (Haydn)|"Miracle" Symphony, No. 96)]] (({{Audio|HaydnSymphony96Mvt1Excerpt.ogg|listen}}) and in [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s [[Piano Concerto No. 25 (Mozart)|Piano Concerto No. 25, K. 503]] (({{Audio|MozartPianoConcertoNo25ShortShortShortLongMotif.ogg|listen}}). Such examples show that "short-short-short-long" rhythms were a regular part of the musical language of the composers of Beethoven's day.
It seems likely that whether or not Beethoven deliberately, or unconsciously, wove a single rhythmic motif through the Fifth Symphony will (in Hopkins's words) "remain eternally open to debate."<ref name="hopkins"/>
=== Trombones and piccolos ===
While it is commonly stated that the last movement of Beethoven's Fifth is the first time the [[trombone]] and the [[piccolo]] were used in a concert symphony, it is not true. The Swedish composer [[Joachim Nicholas Eggert]] specified trombones for his Symphony in E-flat major written in 1807<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trombone-society.org.uk/resources/articles/kallai.php|title=Revert to Eggert|accessdate=2006-04-28|first=Avishai|last=Kallai}}</ref>, and examples of earlier symphonies with a part for piccolo abound, including [[Michael Haydn]]'s Symphony no. 19 in C major composed in August 1773.
== Textual questions ==
=== Third movement repeat ===
In the autograph score (that is, the original version from Beethoven's hand), the third movement contains a repeat mark: when the scherzo and trio sections have both been played through, the performers are directed to return to the very beginning and play these two sections again. Then comes a third rendering of the scherzo, this time notated differently for pizzicato strings and transitioning directly to the finale (see description above). Most modern printed editions of the score do not render this repeat mark; and indeed most performances of the symphony render the movement as ABA' (where A = scherzo, B = trio, and A' = modified scherzo), in contrast to the ABABA' of the autograph score.
The repeat mark in the autograph is unlikely to be simply an error on the composer's part. The ABABA' scheme for scherzi appears elsewhere in Beethoven, in the Bagatelle for solo piano, Op. 33, No. 7 (1802), and in the [[Symphony No. 4 (Beethoven)|Fourth]], [[Symphony No. 6 (Beethoven)|Sixth]], and [[Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven)|Seventh]] Symphonies. However, it is possible that for the Fifth Symphony Beethoven originally preferred ABABA', but changed his mind in the course of publication in favor of ABA'.
Since Beethoven's day, published editions of the symphony have always printed ABA'. However, in 1978 an edition specifying ABABA' was prepared by [[Peter Gülke]] and published by [[Peters]]. In 1999, yet another edition by [[Jonathan Del Mar]] was published by Bärenreiter<ref>''Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor'', edited by Jonathan Del Mar. Kassel: Bärenreiter (1999), ISMN M-006-50054-3</ref><ref><!-- HTML link http://www.britac.ac.uk/pubs/review/02-99b/24-delmar.html appears to be broken; replaced with PDF -->{{cite web|url=http://www.britac.ac.uk/pubs/review/_pdfs/02/24-delmar.pdf|publisher=British Academy Review|author=Del Mar, Jonathan|authorlink=Jonathan Del Mar|year=1999|month=July-December|title=Jonathan Del Mar, New Urtext Edition: Beethoven Symphonies 1-9|accessdate=2008-02-23}}</ref> which advocates a return to ABA'. In the accompanying book of commentary,<ref>''Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor; Critical Commentary'', edited by Jonathan Del Mar. Kassel: Bärenreiter (1999)</ref> Del Mar defends in depth the view that ABA' represents Beethoven's final intention; in other words, that conventional wisdom was right all along.
In concert performances, ABA' prevailed until fairly recent times. However, since the appearance of the Gülke edition conductors have felt more free to exercise their own choice. The conductor [[Caroline Brown]], in notes to her recorded ABABA' performance with the [[Hanover Band]] (Nimbus Records, #5007), writes:
<blockquote>Re-establishing the repeat certainly alters the structural emphasis normally apparent in this Symphony. It makes the scherzo less of a transitional make-weight, and, by allowing the listener more time to become involved with the main thematic motif of the scherzo, the side-ways step into the bridge passage leading to the finale seems all the more unexpected and extraordinary in its intensity. </blockquote>
Performances with ABABA' seems to be particularly favored by conductors who specialize in [[authentic performance]] (that is, using instruments of the kind employed in Beethoven's day). These include Brown, as well as [[Christopher Hogwood]], [[John Eliot Gardiner]], and [[Nikolaus Harnoncourt]]. ABABA' performances on modern instruments have also been recorded by the [[Tonhalle Orchester Zurich]] under [[David Zinman]] and by the [[Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra]] under [[Claudio Abbado]].
=== Reassigning bassoon notes to the horns ===
In the first movement, the passage that introduces the second subject of the [[sonata form|exposition]] is assigned by Beethoven as a solo to the pair of [[horn (instrument)|horn]]s.
: [[Image:BeethovenSymphonyNo5Mvt1SecondTheme.PNG]]
At this location, the theme is played in the key of E flat major. When the same theme is repeated later on in the [[sonata form|recapitulation]] section, it is given in the key of C major. As Antony Hopkins notes<ref name="hopkins"/>, "this ... presented a problem to Beethoven, for the horns [of his day], severely limited in the notes they could actually play before the invention of valves, were unable to play the phrase in the 'new' key of C major. Beethoven therefore had to give the theme to a pair of [[bassoon]]s, who, high in their compass, were bound to seem a less than adequate substitute. In modern performances the heroic implications of the original thought are regarded as more worthy of preservation than the secondary matter of scoring; the phrase is invariably played by horns, to whose mechanical abilities it can now safely be trusted."
In fact, since Hopkins wrote this passage (1981), conductors have experimented with preserving Beethoven's original scoring for bassoons. This can be heard on the performance conducted by Caroline Brown mentioned in the preceding section, as well as in a recent recording by [[Simon Rattle]] with the [[Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra|Vienna Philharmonic]]. Although horns capable of playing the passage in C major were developed not long after the premiere of the Fifth Symphony (according to [http://www.public.asu.edu/~jqerics/lewy_beethoven.htm this source], 1814), it is not known whether Beethoven would have wanted to substitute modern horns, or keep the bassoons, in the crucial passage.
There are strong arguments in favor of keeping the original scoring even when modern valve horns are available. The overall structure of the movement posits a programatic light-to-dark progression from minor to major, with the topically heroic theme dispelling the darkness of the minor first theme group and ushering in the major second theme group. However, in the development section, Beethoven systematically fragments and dismembers this heroic theme in bars 180-210. Thus he may have rescored its return in the recapitulation for a weaker sound to foreshadow the essential expositional closure in minor. Moreover, the horns used in the fourth movement are natural horns in C, which can easily play this passage. If the instruments were on stage, Beethoven easily could have written "muta in c" in the first movement, similar to his "muta in f" instruction in measure 412 of the first movement of Symphony no.3.
== Notes and references ==
{{reflist}}
== Editions ==
* The edition by Jonathan Del Mar mentioned above was published as follows: Ludwig van Beethoven. ''Symphonies 1–9. Urtext.'' Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1996–2000, ISMN M-006-50054-3
* An inexpensive version of the score has been issued by [[Dover Publications]]. This is a 1989 reprint of an old edition (Braunschweig: Henry Litolff, no date). Reference: ''Symphonies Nos. 5, 6, and 7 in Full Score (Ludwig van Beethoven)''. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-26034-8.
== External links ==
* [http://www.classicalnotes.net/classics/fifth.html General discussion and reviews of recordings]
* [http://imperial.park.org/Guests/Beethoven/5.htm Brief structural analysis]
* Analysis of the [http://www.all-about-beethoven.com/symphony5.html Beethoven 5th Symphony, The Symphony of Destiny] on the [http://www.all-about-beethoven.com All About Ludwig van Beethoven] Page
* [http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=composition&composition_id=2135 Program notes] for a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington, DC.
* {{IMSLP2 | id=Symphony_No.5_%28Beethoven%2C_Ludwig_van%29 | cname=5th symphony (PDF)}}
* [[Project Gutenberg]] has two [[MIDI]]-versions of Beethoven's 5th symphony: [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/117 Etext No. 117] and [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/156 Etext No. 156]
* [[Mutopia project]] has a [http://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/make-table.cgi?preview=1&searchingfor=Symphony+no.+5&Composer=BeethovenLv&Instrument=&Style=&timelength=1&timeunit=week&lilyversion= piano reduction score of Beethoven's 5th Symphony]
* [http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/scores/bgp5237/large/index.html Full Score] of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
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