Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor was written in 1804-1807. In the catalog of Beethoven's works it is Opus 67. The work was dedicated to Prince Lobkowitz and Count Rasumovsky. Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptized December 17, 1770 – March 26, 1827) was a German composer of Classical music, the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. ... Opus is a Latin word which means work (in the sense of a work of art). Some composers musical pieces are identified by opus numbers which generally run either in order of composition or in order of publication. ... Portrait of Andreas Razumovsky Count, later Prince Andrey Kyrillovich Razumovsky, or: Rasumovsky (November 2, 1752 – September 23, 1836) was a Russian diplomat who spent many years of his life in Vienna. ...

The symphony is one of the most popular and well-known compositions in all of classical music, and is frequently performed and recorded. A musical composition is a piece of original music designed for repeated performance (as opposed to strictly improvisational music, in which each performance is unique). ...

The symphony achieved its reputation soon after its first performance in 1808; it was described at the time by E.T.A. Hoffmann as "one of the most important works of the age." 1808 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... ETA Hoffman Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (January 24, 1776 - June 25, 1822), was a German romantic and fantasy author and composer. ...

The symphony is immediately recognizable by its four-note opening motif. Because of the motif's resemblance to the Morse code for the letter V (dot dot dot dash), it was used as a shorthand for the word "victory" to open the BBC's radio broadcasts during World War II, an idea of William Stephenson's. Morse code is a system of representing letters, numbers and punctuation marks by means of a code signal sent intermittently. ... ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Sir William Samuel Stephenson, C.C., M.C., D.F.C. (January 11, 1896–January 31, 1989) was a Canadian soldier, airman, businessman, inventor, spymaster, and the senior representative of British intelligence for the entire western hemisphere during World War II. Stephenson is best-known by his wartime intelligence codename...

Premiere and critical reception

The Fifth Symphony premiered December 22, 1808 during a mammoth concert, consisting entirely of Beethoven premieres, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. Other highlights were the Choral Fantasy, the Sixth Symphony, and the Fourth Piano Concerto. (The names of the Fifth and Sixth symphonies were mistakenly reversed on the program, due to the order of their performances). The Theater an der Wien is a historic theater in Vienna. ... This article is about the city and federal state in Austria. ... Ludwig van Beethovens Symphony No. ...

There was little critical response of any sort to the symphony's first appearance, perhaps due to the poor playing of the orchestra (they had only one rehearsal before the concert) and the exhaustion of the audience from the long 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 by writing, "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."

Movements and Scoring

The work is in four movements:

I. Allegro con brio

II. Andante con moto

III. Scherzo. Allegro

IV. Allegro

First movement

The first movement is in sonata form and opens with a four-note motif, one of the most famous in western music: Sonata form refers to both the standard layout of an entire work and more specifically to the standardized form of the first movement. ... In music, a motif is a perceivable or salient reoccurring fragment or succession of notes that may used to construct the entirety or parts of complete melodies, themes. ...

This opening statement has been described as "Fate knocking at the door", which serves to give imagery to the dark, tense, and energetic mood of the movement. The motif starts a headlong rush to the end of the first movement, giving off an aura of inevitability. The four-note motif is repeated in various forms throughout the symphony and unites it thematically.

Second movement

The second movement is a gentle, lyrical movement which follows a theme and variations form. This relatively relaxed and confident sequence is a respite from the darkness of the first movement. Near the end, the pulse of the music quickens as a mysterious mood is introduced, but the heroic, confident atmosphere returns to finish the movement. In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition; reiteration with changes. ...

Third movement

The third movement is a scherzo, which returns to the dark mood of the first movement. It opens with winds and strings tossing phrases between each other. Then the horns loudly announce the main theme of the movement, and the music proceeds from there. Near the end of the movement, the music drops to a whisper before slowly building in a huge crescendo and transitioning without interruption to the fourth movement. This final passage takes the music from C minor to the C major of the finale (Beethoven had tried a similar key change from B flat minor to B flat major at the opening of his Symphony No. 4). A scherzo (plural scherzi) is a name given to a piece of music or a movement from a larger piece such as a symphony. ... A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument in which sound is produced by blowing through a mouthpiece against an edge or by a vibrating reed, and in which the pitch is varied by opening or closing holes in the body of the instrument. ... A string instrument (also stringed instrument) is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. ... A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose tone is produced by vibration of the lips as a player blows into a tubular resonator. ... In musical notation, crescendo means that the notes are gradually getting louder. ... The Symphony No. ...

Fourth movement

The allegro finale is pervaded by feelings of ecstatic glory. It is interrupted by a brief, haunting reprise of the scherzo theme before the symphony ends with repeated triumphant chords in C major. In music and music theory a chord (from the middle English cord, short for accord) is three or more notes sounding simultaneously, or near simultaneously over a period of time. ...

Influence and legacy

Groundbreaking technically and emotionally, the Fifth Symphony had a large influence on composers and music critics. It specifically impacted on the works of Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Bruckner, and Mahler. The symphony stands with the Third Symphony and Ninth Symphony as the most revolutionary of Beethoven's symphonies, and indeed, all his compositions. The symphony is so popular that it is considered a war horse. Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (May 7, 1833 – April 3, 1897) was a German composer of classical music. ... Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky  listen (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский, sometimes transliterated as Piotr, Anglicised as Peter Ilich), (May 7, 1840 – November 6, 1893 (N.S.); April 25, 1840 – October 25, 1893 (O.S.)) was a Russian composer of the Romantic era. ... Anton Bruckner Anton Bruckner (September 4, 1824 – October 11, 1896) was an Austrian composer of the Romantic era. ... Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (July 7, 1860 – May 18, 1911) was best known in his own time as one of the leading Austrian conductors of his day, but is now remembered as an important composer linking the late 19th century with the modern musical period, particularly for his vast symphonies... The Symphony No. ... The Symphony No. ... War horses are horses specially trained for use in battle or individual combat (see also: Jousting). ...

The symphony in popular culture

Not surprisingly given its fame, the Fifth Symphony has appeared frequently in popular culture. Popular culture, or pop culture, is the vernacular (peoples) culture that prevails in a modern society. ...

• A disco version, called "A Fifth of Beethoven," was made by Walter Murphy & the Big Apple Band during the disco era of the 1970s. This version featured in the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.
• In turn, "A Fifth of Beethoven" was used as the backing track for "When I Get You Alone" by Californian R&B artist Thicke, released in 2002, with songwriting credits listed as "Walter Murphy / Robin Thicke".
• A short passage appeared in the 1970s disco medley "Hooked on Classics 1".
• The first movement also appeared in Disney's Fantasia 2000 in the sequence that opens the film. As with the much earlier Disney Beethoven Sixth in the original Fantasia, the music was severely cut. The animation depicts paper butterflies being chased by a storm of darker, evil paper butterflies.

Discothèque redirects here. ... Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track was the soundtrack album from the blockbuster film Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta. ... Disney - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... Fantasia 2000 is an animated film produced by Disney and first released on December 17, 1999. ... Ludwig van Beethovens Symphony No. ... Fantasia has other uses, see Fantasia (disambiguation) Fantasia (1940) is a motion picture which was a Walt Disney experiment in animation and music. ...

Media

File links The following pages link to this file: Apollo 8 Accordion Antonio Vivaldi Aramaic language Symphony No. ... Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphonie 5 c-moll - 1. ... Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphonie 5 c-moll - 2. ... Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphonie 5 c-moll - 3. ... Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphonie 5 c-moll - 4. ...

External links

• General discussion and reviews of recordings (http://www.classicalnotes.net/classics/fifth.html)
• Brief structural analysis (http://imperial.park.org/Guests/Beethoven/5.htm)
• Analysis of the Beethoven 5th Symphony, The Symphony of Destiny  (http://www.all-about-beethoven.com/symphony5.html) on the All About Ludwig van Beethoven (http://www.all-about-beethoven.com) Page

File links The following pages link to this file: Abu Dhabi Abraham Lincoln Australia Adolf Hitler Animation Andorra Alaska Anatomy Asia Albert Einstein Asterales Automobile Aircraft Alexander Graham Bell Apple Computer American Civil War Ancient Egypt Asteraceae Alps Arches National Park Aarhus Almond Caesar Augustus Acacia Acropolis Acupuncture Amaranth Alexander... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free images, sound and other multimedia files. ...

Source

• Bookspan, Martin (1973). 101 Masterpieces of Music and Their Composers, p. 50-52. New York: Doubleday & Company.