5th Symphony in C minor, Opus 67.
Dedicated to the Prince von Lobkovitz and the Count von Rasumovsky.
Allegro con brio—Andante con moto—Scherzo and Trio—Finale Allegro.
This famous Symphony with its rugged first movement, its lovely Andante, its mysterious Scherzo and its proud, fiery Finale, was first performed together with the so-called Sixth Symphony on December 22nd, 1808. The Pastoral Symphony No. 6 was probably written before the 5th.
The first movement opens without introduction with the famous phrase of four unison notes which Beethoven once explained as "Thus fate knocks at the door."
From this tiny germ the whole of this fierce stormy movement is evolved. Not even the beautiful tender second subject, nor the lovely little unbarred oboe cadenza can win it away from this rugged fierce mood. When this second subject appears in the recapitulation, still in the minor, the atoning major outburst which immediately follows is quickly brushed aside by the impatience of the reinstated first theme. Even the limitations of the old-fashioned horns and trumpets in those days seemed to be turned to advantage in the colossal bare thirds and fourths of the "Fate" notes.
The chief theme of the Andante, wonderfully sad, yet wonderfully beautiful, is further enhanced by one of those majestic marching subjects which only Beethoven could conceive. The beauty of the wood-wind work is remarkable and the coda is full of strange fancies.
The Scherzo has some eloquent bass passages, and its rhythmic horn figures are full of veiled mystery and heavy with some dark foreboding.
The trio is a fiery Fugato with strange outbursts on the basses. The curious hesitations on its re-appearance and the weird bridge passages at the end, with the long sustained chord on the strings and the mysterious drum tapping, cause the movement to veer gradually round to the fiery march-like coda, with its light, graceful, contrasted episodes. The Scherzo theme insinuates itself into the Finale near the coda, which is of amazing brilliancy, ending with a Presto which fairly sweeps the hearer away with it.
The orchestra is the largest the composer has used so far. It includes three trombones, double bassoon, and piccolo, which, however, are only used for the brilliant Finale.