Beethoven: Symphony # 5 op. 67

Tonality

Do minor. The triumphant end passes to major.

Instruments

• 2 flutes and flautin (this only in the end)
• 2 oboes
• 2 clarings
• 2 fages and contrafagot (this only in the end)
• 2 tubes
• 2 trumpets and timbals
• 3 thrombons (only in the end)
• Rope (violins, violas, cello and contrabajes)

From the atril

The four initial notes of the Fifth are probably the most famous motive in music history. It premiered in December 1808 at the Theater an der Wien, in a marathon concert of more than four hours, in an ice-cold room, next to the Sixth Symphony, the Fourth piano concert and the coral Fantasy. It is said that Beethoven described those four notes as «the fate that knocks at the door», although the anecdote comes from its secretary, not always reliable.

The whole symphony is a journey from darkness to light, from the minor to the major. The first movement is built almost whole on that motive of three short notes and a long one, with an unrelenting concentration. The walker alternates lirism and fanfare. The mysterious scherzo unfolds without pause, through a passage of growing tension over a timbal reduke, in the triumphal end, where for the first time in a symphony there are thrombons, flautin and contrafagot. That step from the scherzo to the end is one of the most electrinating moments an orchestra can live.

What to hear

• The reason for four notes.
• The passage of the scherzo at the end over the timbal reduke.
• The entry of the thrombons in the end.