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Beethoven’s not altogether trustworthy friend, Anton Schindler, presumably quoted the
composer as saying it represented Fate knocking at the door. Schindler, however, had
a reputation for not letting facts get in the way of a good story, and the conversation in
which he quoted Beethoven took place years after Beethoven finished the symphony,
which makes it a bit suspect. Accounts also say that Beethoven would say nearly
anything to rid himself of annoying questioning about his compositions. Nevertheless,
this statement began a never-ending stream of interpretations of the symphony.

Whether it has a programmatic significance or not, unquestionably the phrase has
definite importance musically, as it recurs throughout the entire symphony. The
repetition of this phrase differs from a later named technique called “cyclical form”
in which a well-defined melody is stated in one movement, and retaining its original
identity, is quoted and reused in another. Beethoven’s method is to use his musical
phrase as a germinal idea that generates new phrases, which resemble the original
but are not identical with it. He begins with G and E-flat for the notes of the opening
motive: these are two of the three notes that make up a C minor chord. This way he
establishes the key of his symphony; with the rhythmic motif, which repeats throughout
the work, he unites the symphony’s four movements.

Beethoven began to compose Symphony No. 5 in 1804, just after finishing Symphony No.
3, but he put it aside to complete Symphony No. 4; after that, he worked simultaneously
on the next two symphonies. He completed Symphony No. 5 early in 1808 and Symphony
No. 6 in autumn of the same year. On December 22, 1808, Beethoven gave a concert in
which his latest works were premiered. The program included Symphonies Nos. 5 and
6, the concert aria Ah, Perfido! a Latin hymn, the “Sanctus” from the Mass in C Major,
a fantasia for piano solo, the Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, for piano, chorus, and orchestra,
and Piano Concerto No. 4. Beethoven conducted and also played the solo piano parts
for this monumentally long concert. Originally, Symphony No. 6, the Pastorale, bore
the number 5, and Symphony No. 5 was numbered Symphony No. 6. A contemporary
observer said the concert lasted for over four hours. The occasion was memorable
and stressful: the theater was unheated, the orchestra was under-rehearsed, and the
soprano soloist had a bad case of stage fright. The orchestra stopped mid-composition
several times, and the soprano who sang the aria was given a sedative for her nerves.
Nevertheless, the Symphony No. 5 soon gained its designation as a masterwork.
Somewhere between performance and publication, Beethoven renumbered the two
symphonies. The C minor became the Symphony No. 5, and the F Major became the
Symphony No. 6, and thus they remain today.

Beethoven perhaps intended the opening movement, Allegro con brio, to be mysterious
yet powerfully dramatic. The thematic statement of the famous four-note motif appears
first in the clarinet and violins; in the recapitulation, the whole orchestra joins in with
the same figure. An unexpected oboe cadenza at the end of the movement, according

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