Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven’s 5^th Symphony

Movement I

2:15-2:30: it goes from the violins to the just the horns and the dynamics drop and it goes into a soft melody. The horns sound like a prince or a king is entering the room. Then the soft music and instruments seem to begin a dance begins.

Movement II

00:58- 1:18 The music is starts to crescendo. It sounds like an inspiring moment as though something great is about to happen. Then the drum rolls and the horns get louder and it is as if the grand moment is occurring, followed by some procession.

Movement III

2:15- 2:24 Just the strings begin to play starting with the cellos. The deep sound of the cello coupled feels like a break in the music. The violins and other strings begin to come in and add more contrast but they also seem to chase each other as well.

Movement IV

5:20-5:36: The music before this time has just ended in what sounds like a procession. But starting around here, the strings are played softly as though a whisper is being imitated and followed by a quick dissonant notes played louder almost to imitated a sharp response to the whisper.

Throughout Beethoven’s life I found the end particularly striking. The multitude of pain he suffered and the various illnesses he could have had is astounding to me. The ending of his life, which probably turned out to be just a “brain irritation” from his liver failure is quite astounding. Even more so than that, it was not until the last 10 years of his life in his deafness, that he composed his most famous and greatest works. The harder Beethoven’s life was the more brilliant he became. Then again, his life started out with quite a bit of difficulty considering the abuse from his father.