Phillip Dannels

9/8/09

MUS 101 Beethoven Symphony #5

Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 (in C minor, Op. 76) is focused on a cohesive succession of movements held together by narrative and thematic connections. Even among Beethoven's output, this work is notable for it's tightly bound structure and sharply defined form. The entire work can be seen as a narrative of the triumph of light over dark in its gradual ascent from the stormy first movement to the triumphal finale. In addition, the four note motif introduced at the symphony's outset is the connective tissue holding the entire work together it is liberally used in all four movements. Above all, it is a work of extreme genius.

The first movement is thoroughly saturated in the four note short-short-short-long motif introduced at the symphony's outset. It's stormy character is enhanced by the terse and single-minded concentration the movement exhibits. Even when the second theme arrives, its more relaxed and sweet character is quickly swept aside. The sonata-allegro form is held to precisely, with the different sections of the work being remarkably similar in dimension and length. Of particular note is the free oboe cadenza introduced at the main theme's recapitulation, a foreshadowing of the symphony's last movement.

The second movement is in the key of A-flat major Beethoven's usual key for slow movements in a C-minor context. It is in double-variation form, with the second theme again foreshadowing shadowing the symphony's triumphant finale in it's heroic rising character. The four-note motif appears on a single not in the basses after every cycle of variations, tying the movement into the symphony proper. The culmination of the movement is a tremendous statement of the movement's main theme, which then trails off. After a bridging passage, the end of the main theme is presented with a full orchestration, and resolving in a different way a touchingly gorgeous moment.

The third movement is a very Beethoven-ian scherzo. Starting quietly in the basses, it swells to a C-minor theme, again thoroughly saturated in the four note motif. Soon, however, it breaks off into a fugato beginning in the basses. Full of brusque humor, it grows to encompass the entire orchestra before vanishing to the clucking voice of the bassoon on the main theme. Twilight comes in an unexpected A-flat major chord, under which the timpani incessantly taps. A truly magical moment occurs as the violins, on the head of the main theme, ascend and grow into the major key of the triumphal last movement, which beginnings without pausing.

The last movement represents a triumph of the C-major tonality over the minor so prevalent in the preceded movements. It is full of figures suggesting military music grand marches, fanfares, and melodies of heroic proportions. Another thread of unity in this work is cast when the music briefly retreats to a soft piano, over which the strings repeat the dark theme of the scherzo. An oboe solo (tying back to the oboe cadenza in the first movement) gradually brings the movement back to its recapitulation. The grandiose last moments speed up the preceding music to breakneck speed, before ending with numerous repetitions of a C major chord necessary to structurally offset the C-minor of the earlier movements. By ending in this way, the victory of the major tonality is made complete.

To me, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is an essay in his own triumph the victory over the deafness that would have ended the career of a less determined composer. His deafness was part of what inspired him to go down the path he blazed with the Eroica symphony. Without his determination, the multitude of glorious symphonies, sonatas, and quartets would never have come into existence. In many ways, this symphony is him telling the story of his deafness despair and anger yielding to determination and victory.