Symphony No.5 in C minor, Op.67

What the Viennese audience thought of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony when it was first performed, at the Theater-an-der-Wien on 22 December 1808, it is difficult to imagine. We know that it was very cold, that the concert was very long (four hours), very loud, and badly performed by musicians who had refused to give Beethoven their full co-operation. Since the programme also included the first performance of the Pastoral Symphony and the Choral Fantasia, as well as the Fourth Piano Concerto and movements from the Mass in C minor, the audience must have been in a turmoil of ill-digested impressions and accumulated emotions. Bur, certainly, the mood of Beethoven’s Fifth found a ready response in his contemporaries, for it quickly established (and long retained) a position as the most popular of his symphonies.

As early as 1810 E.T.A. Hoffmann - who was as perceptive a critic as he was a novelist - had noticed not only the “immense and infinite” qualities in the work but also the way in which the first movement is constructed out of one short theme. It was not long before that four-note theme gathered its legends around it - that, for example, it was derived from the song of the yellowhammer or that Beethoven said it represented “Fate knocking at the door.” Birdsong or Fate motif, the rhythmic pattern of the first four notes certainly holds the opening Allegro con brio in a very firm grasp. In fact, it is so obsessive - under-lying the E flat major second subject as well as dominating the development - that the one bar which eludes its steely fingers, the tiny oboe cadenza just before the recapitulation, can be the most moving in the whole first movement.

In the Andante con moto in A flat major Beethoven seems at first to have discarded percussive energy in favour of lyrical grace. But, between the first and second variations, the obsessive rhythmic pattern can be heard persistently if quietly nagging at the C string of the cellos. It is noticeable, too, that as the variations proceed the figuration (not the basic tempo) becomes gradually more hurried, that A flat minor intrudes at one point before it is loudly corrected, and that not far from the end of the movement a quicker tempo does briefly establish itself.

So, having had his slow movement and at the same time having kept the tension alive, Beethoven offers a scherzo haunted by C minor phantoms and driven by a forceful theme on two horns. It has been said that there is “no connection” between this theme and the opening of the symphony. True, the rhythm is not quite the same, but the thematic and emotional allusions are glaringly obvious. The same writer insists that the return of this theme in the finale “suggests an extra-musical motivation…the reason must be a programme.” The reason, a structural one, is that Beethoven saw the last two Allegros as one movement. Having achieved the marvellous unbroken transition from the C minor shadows of the scherzo to the brighter light of C major in the finale, he recalls it later. He reminds us how far we have progressed from the fate-obsessed beginning of the symphony, even though he allows the four-note rhythm to persist beyond the beginning of the Presto coda.

Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony did not get the best start in life when it was first performed in Vienna in December 1808. It was very cold, the concert was very long - the four-hour programme also included the first performances of the Pastoral Symphony and the Fourth Piano Concerto as well as movements from the Mass in C minor - and it was badly performed by musicians who had refused to give the composer their full co-operation. Even so, it quickly established a reputation as the most inspired of the Beethoven symphonies written so far.

As early as 1810 the writer and composer E.T.A. Hoffmann had noted not only the “immense and infinite” qualities in the work but also the way in which the first movement is constructed out of one short theme. The enigmatic quality of that four-note theme became a source of much speculation - to which Beethoven is said to have responded by declaring at one time that it was derived from the song of the yellowhammer and at another time that it represented “Fate knocking at the door.” Birdsong or Fate motif, the rhythmic pattern of the first four notes certainly holds the opening Allegro con brio in a very firm grasp. In fact, it is so obsessivedevelopment - that the one bar which eludes its steely fingers, the tiny oboe cadenza just before the recapitulation, can be the most moving in the whole first movement.

In the Andante con moto Beethoven seems at first to have discarded percussive energy in favour of lyrical grace. But, between the first and second variations, the obsessive rhythmic pattern can be heard persistently if quietly nagging at the bottom string of the cellos. It is noticeable, too, that as the variations proceed the figuration (not the basic tempo) becomes gradually more hurried, that worrying harmonies intrudes at one point before they are loudly corrected, and that not far from the end of the movement a quicker tempo does briefly establish itself.

So, having had his slow movement and at the same time having kept the tension alive, Beethoven offers a scherzo haunted by phantoms and driven by a forceful theme on two horns. Although the rhythm is not quite the same, the horn theme is clearly related to the four-note motif that dominated the Allegro con brio and which now extends its grasp to the third movement too. When that theme returns, however, after the grotesquely playful activity of the cellos and basses in the middle section, it does so very quietly, without horns this time, and eventually disappears into the shadows of a prolonged pianissimo drum beat - which is where the bright light of the last movement comes in, its opening theme brilliantly scored for the whole orchestra and radiantly harmonised.

The ghost of the fateful four-note theme has not been definitively exorcised at this point. It has gone underground and, while the march-like material of the Allegro last movement is being introduced and developed, that is where it stays. But, just before the recapitulation, the tempo and metre of the scherzo are unmistakably if only briefly recalled, the four-note theme putting in a sinister reappearance on strings, woodwind and horns. This time, however, it cannot resist the positive force of the march and, as its rhythm can be heard actually encouraging the celebrations in the Presto coda, the triumph of affirmative faith over inimical Fate is finally confirmed.

Peter Clifford©

Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony did not get the best start in life when it was first performed in Vienna in December 1808. It was very cold, the concert was very long - the four-hour programme also included the first performances of the Pastoral Symphony and the Fourth Piano Concerto as well as movements from the Mass in C minor - and it was badly performed by musicians who had refused to give the composer their full co-operation. Even so, it quickly established a reputation as the most inspired of the Beethoven symphonies written so far.

As early as 1810 the writer and composer E.T.A. Hoffmann had noted not only the “immense and infinite” qualities in the work but also the way in which the first movement is constructed out of one short theme. The enigmatic quality of that four-note theme became a source of much speculation - to which Beethoven is said to have responded by declaring at one time that it was derived from the song of the yellowhammer and at another time that it represented “Fate knocking at the door.” Birdsong or Fate motif, the rhythmic pattern of the first four notes certainly holds the opening Allegro con brio in a very firm grasp. In fact, it is so obsessive - under-lying the E flat major second subject as well as dominating the development - that the one bar which eludes its steely fingers, the tiny oboe cadenza just before the recapitulation, can be the most moving in the whole first movement.

In the Andante con moto in A flat major Beethoven seems at first to have discarded percussive energy in favour of lyrical grace. But, between the first and second variations, the obsessive rhythmic pattern can be heard persistently if quietly nagging at the C string of the cellos. It is noticeable, too, that as the variations proceed the figuration (not the basic tempo) becomes gradually more hurried, that A flat minor intrudes at one point before it is loudly corrected, and that not far from the end of the movement a quicker tempo does briefly establish itself.

So, having had his slow movement and at the same time having kept the tension alive, Beethoven offers a scherzo haunted by C minor phantoms and driven by a forceful theme on two horns. Although the rhythm is not quite the same, the horn theme is clearly related to the four-note motif that dominated the Allegro con brio and which now extends its grasp to the third movement too. When that theme returns, however, after the grotesquely playful activity of the cellos and basses in the middle section, it does so very quietly, without horns this time, and eventually disappears into the shadows of a prolonged pianissimo drum beat - which is where the bright light of the last movement comes in, its opening theme brilliantly scored for the whole orchestra and radiantly harmonised in C major.

The ghost of the fateful four-note theme has not been definitively exorcised at this point. It has gone underground and, while the march-like material of the Allegro last movement is being introduced and developed, that is where it stays. But, just before the recapitulation, the tempo and metre of the scherzo are unmistakably if only briefly recalled, the four-note theme putting in a sinister reappearance on strings, woodwind and horns. This time, however, it cannot resist the positive force of the C major march and, as its rhythm can be heard actually encouraging the celebrations in the Presto coda, the triumph of affirmative faith over inimical Fate is finally confirmed.

Gerald Larner©