Composed 1808; Duration: 36 minutes
First BPO Performance: January 10, 1937 (Franco Autori, conductor)
Last BPO Performance: September 24-25, 2021 (JoAnn Falletta, conductor)
Can we change our destiny? Are we bound by fate?
A child of the Enlightenment, Beethoven grew up sympathetically witnessing social and political upheaval across the Western world. He came of age in the time of Haydn, but his progressive political thinking set him apart from the Classicists as he pondered new moral values in music in the age of revolution, war, and Napoleon. Beethoven’s success as a pianist and composer blossomed while his hearing simultaneously faded, and by 1802, he was near-suicidal. Was this to be his fate? With personal and political turmoil at hand, the “Eroica” composer opened the door to the nineteenth century, and with his fifth symphony, confronted these questions head-on.
Fate raps on the door as we hear the most famous four notes in music: “da-da-da-DUM!” The first three short notes lead into the long fourth note, but the situation is ambiguous. The first three notes imply that the beats are organized in groups of threes like a waltz (as in his third symphony), but because the three notes are weak and lead into the strong fourth, we eventually realize that the music is organized in beats of two. The symphony is in C minor, but that’s not clear for another several measures. Fate is knocking, but we do not yet know what it wants.
Beethoven obsesses over fate as the four-note figure twists, turns, and crashes forward while other, longer melodies take shape above. The strings are pitted against the winds as pastoral daydream melodies are constantly interrupted by incessantly distracting thoughts. A metaphor for Beethoven’s mind, the development section of the first movement is expanded, wandering into new musical territory. The coda inventively serves as another, entirely new section of development. This abrupt conclusion withholds resolution, leaving many questions regarding fate unanswered.
After the monumental Allegro con brio, the Andante con moto offers a dynamic set of variations on a sprightly melody as a transformation of the inevitable fate motive politely hides in the accompaniment. In the Scherzo, a choir of horns can be heard proclaiming “Da-da-da-DAH! Da-da-da-DAH!” Now the fate motive is in a powerful triple-meter, replacing its earlier metric ambiguity with audacious demand. The movement ends as the barely audible motive pulsates in the timpani to make way for the fortissimo finale. In the symphony’s final Allegro, the orchestra bursts forward in an abundance of new melodies. The four-note refrain is heard embedded in these new melodies as the C minor symphony finally proclaims victory over fate in brilliant C major. In the finale, and for the first time in a Beethoven symphony, we hear piccolo, trombones, and contrabassoon expand the orchestra’s range and add to its dense textures.
The fate motive woven throughout the symphony is manipulated to indicate a developing narrative. Beethoven used this repetitive device to expand the scope of the symphony beyond what audiences had ever experienced. Foreshadowing musical innovations to come, the fifth symphony was a quantum leap toward the new century that embraced novel Romantic ideals as musical objectives: the struggle for freedom, the rebellion against fate. In 1802, Beethoven grappled with the reality of a life without sound when he wrote: “Ah, it seemed to me impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me.”