Beethoven began work on his Fifth Symphony in the spring of 1804 during a particularly productive period that yielded many of his most well-known compositions, including the Fourth and Sixth symphonies, Fourth Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, Mass in C, "Razumovsky" string quartets, and two versions of his only opera, Fidelio. Although the Fifth doesn't have explicit extramusical references, like the “Pastoral” or “Eroica” Symphonies, many hear a large-scale narrative in its four movements. When Beethoven first disclosed his increasing deafness in the fall of 1801, he wrote in a letter that he would "seize Fate by the throat; it shall not bend or crush me completely." It is this struggle with fate that seems to propel the Fifth Symphony. As he famously told his assistant, Anton Schindler, the motive for which the symphony begins is “Fate knocking at the door”—and from those four notes, an epic life struggle seems to unfold. As Hector Berlioz wrote, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony “emanates directly and solely from the genius of Beethoven. It is his intimate thought that is developed; and his secret sorrows, his pent-up rage, his dreams so full of melancholy oppression, his nocturnal visions, and his bursts of enthusiasm furnish its entire subject, while the melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, and orchestral forms are there delineated with essential novelty and individuality, endowing them also with considerable power and nobility.”