Beethoven Fifth Symphony Music

I can still remember the first time I heard those first 4 beats of Beethoven’s fifth symphony. I was a little girl watching the original Parent Trap. A Disney movie that focused on twins reunited at summer camp. Sharon was the classically trained one and she chose to play this piece of music for the family. I remember thinking that it matched her personality well, the music sounded strict and serious.
The dramatic tone in this piece can be explained by the composer’s personal struggles as he attempts to come to terms with his hearing loss. The famous tune that begins the exposition is in a minor key which gives me a feeling of dread. As those four beats are repeated and a harmony is added the music accelerates and crescendos to a fortissimo that adds a sense of frenzy to the music. Just then, trumpets herald in the second theme which slows down to an adagio tempo with a quieter mezzo piano dynamic, the major key here provides a lighter feeling of peace and calm briefly before building excitement is created through another crescendo and tempo acceleration.
The music runs through the development with a mixture of both themes in major and minor chords before experiencing a thematic degradation. Here the tempo moves from largo to grave creating feelings of
The music turns triumphant and joyful and is set at a happily content moderato tempo. A third theme is introduced during the coda which does little to tie the piece together for a conclusion, instead it provides a sense of confusion. Instruments seem to be conversing back and forth looking for which direction to go. A second recapitulation of the first theme clears up any uncertainty and brings the symphony to the ending it was searching for. The return of the original melody in its minor key provides a grim finality, punctuated by a few additional forte notes to give the piece an absolute feeling of