Beethoven 5 - The Deepest Dive

[@DB_SouthernExtract]

I absolutely love hearing large/ensemble pieces like this transcribed to keyboard. I learn so much about the essentials of the composition, and hear harmonies better the next time I listen to that composition in full orchestration. You are a wonderful teacher. As ever, thank you!

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you! Yes, sometimes hearing things on a piano helps to clarify the details.

[@clavichord]

My thoughts exactly! Liszt's transcription of Beethoven's 6th symphony is one of my favourites. Although not a piano transcription, Beethoven's arrangement of his second symphony for piano trio also gives a different "view" of the symphony.

[@ericleiter6179]

I for one, would love to see more of these real time/live analysis to the symphonic works of Beethoven...the whole would be preferrable but at least the Coriolan Overture, the Egmont Overture, thd Leonore/Fidelio overtures, etc plus the 1st movement of the 8th, the thunderstorm of the 6th Pastorale 4th mvt, parts of Fidelio, the first two movements of the 9th, the entire 7th and 4th symphonies...I could go on, but seriously this was a great breakdown of a great work

[@themusicprofessor]

That's a hell of a lot of work! I'll be doing a 9th Symphony part 2 soon.

[@4034miguel]

We will need a second video for the rest of the symphony. This is one of those symphonies where every movement is simply magnificent. Thanks for this deep dive.

[@aldeayeah]

The transition from the third movement to the major key finale is my favorite part.

[@jesus.glez_]

Please!!!

[@donaldhires4156]

True genius is discovered over time - if you can uncover new aspects after 3 centuries, that's genius.

[@Stashi1808]

This is one of the best Beethoven videos I've ever watched! I loved the Yellow Hammer bit. Would you please do a video all about the orchestration of this symphony? Like only orchestration? That would be so helpful as well.❤❤❤

[@bachissimp1792]

I saw the title, in that moment I was the happiest man alive

[@slimtim9570]

Yes I was so excited I writhed

[@blee3ee]

The best part of these deep dives is the perspective of people living during the times during which these pieces were composed and consumed. Amazing to hear how people responded in similar ways that we still do two centuries later. Thanks Professor!

[@kaloarepo288]

People were astonished how loud and wild Beethoven's music was and many declared that it was nothing but a cacophony.

[@blee3ee]

@@kaloarepo288 A cacophony that future space faring civilizations end up sending into deep outer space to communicate with other intelligent life :)

[@kaloarepo288]

@@blee3ee I believe that the Voyager space craft contained a recording of some of Bach's music, some jazz, some native American Indian music (I think) but I didn't know there was some Beethoven too?

[@620Ramsey]

Beautiful x you helped me hear new, thrilling connections in the movement that I’d never noticed before (or had pointed out), and I love hearing you think through the music on the keyboard too. Great stuff - one vote for more of this kind of thing! But variety is the spice x

[@dialecticsjunkie7653]

beautiful, beautiful breakdown. I'm in tears! I know you got a lot on your plate so no pressure but it would be a dream come true to hear you breakdown Beethoven's late quartets. I love listening to them but I don't have enough music theory to really understand the formal innovations that he's explored in his late style even though I can hear the marvelous eccentricity that's still clearly grounded in the mastery of developing microscopic motifs, a sort of method in the madness. I'd love to dive deeper into that

[@themusicprofessor]

I'd love to do the late quartets. Some of my favourite pieces.

[@martagarcia206]

Loki feels your love for him and for music. Thank you again ❤

[@andrewlord3398]

Goodness me that was captivatingly brilliant. I got home from rugby one Saturday as a teenager, stuck the tv on and watched Bernstein talk through the first movement of the 6th symphony. I was too tired to get up and change channels ( this was the 70s....!) and thank goodness I didn't. After those 2 hours, I re-tuned my transistor radio to Radio 3 ( UK). My birthday present was a record of Beethoven's 5th. I still remember playing at top volume in my bedroom. I had no idea why it was so great - except that it blew me away. Some say it is impossible to recapture that feeling the first time you hear something like this - but you came close!!! THANK YOU

[@dn00dles]

Want more. Love this. This is what the internet is for.

[@matthewwilson3305]

Wouldn't exactly be the deepest dive without the other 3 movements. Great work professor! Yes, another video linking the rhythmic themes together would be splendid.

[@N-JKoordt]

Well done dog - fully anticipated Hoffman, from the first minute - oh the metaphors!

[@johnchessant3012]

amazing! it's a classic for a reason and it's always good to analyze more closely - hadn't noticed the perfect meter of the development before!

[@drstrangeglove2831]

Dark, brooding and romantic in its outlook and wild as a storm, yet constructed meticulously from the simplest motifs. Endlessly repeating but never tiring for all its rhythmic variation. Epic in proportion, we feel the composer battling to control huge forces that swirl around him, yet in the eye of this maelstrom we hear the poignant, melancholy of the solo oboe. The music is instantly compelling, masterful, direct and inspiring. Surely one of the clearest and most convincing conceptions in all of music. As you say it could be no other way. Though I have heard it so many times it always moves me. Thank you for your insightful and engaging analysis. I especially liked how you counted out the 4/4 rhythm whilst playing to highlight the rhythmic disparity in the magnificent development section. I hope you will continue to explore the other movements and I always look forward to your next instalment. Thank you for sharing your passion with us, you are a great educator.

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you for that fabulous comment!

[@JimCullen]

It's an excellent testinony to your clear delivery of this essay that I realised the passage in the coda was a Bachian tocatta style just before you made that connection explicit. You had already made it clear inevitably that that must be the case. One of my favourite details that went overlooked in this video (because the Liszt arrangement leaves it out) is the oboe part immediately _after_ its solo. F falling to Eb, B rising to C, over 8 bars. It sits just under the main stretti motif, but I find it so compelling. I also love the use of bassoon for the transition into the secojd subject. The idea that the bassoon's sound is weaker, signalling that ultimately in this movement the dark first theme is going to win out over the triumphant second theme. Of course there's some question of whether Beethoven would have wanted bassoons rather than horn if given modern valved instruments-the crooks were on stage anyway for the 4th movement, but would have required time to change over, so he perhaps just used the bassoon out of convenience. Nevertheless, I think the choice of bassoon is a superb one for the music.

[@katttttt]

Seeing you playing it while talking about it is so exciting to watch (you kind of share your joy)

[@kyleethekelt]

I'm with Hoffmann. I listen to Beethoven when I need questions asked of my soul.

[@TheloniousCube]

Really great! Very emotionally affecting even in the midst of all the analysis. Looking forward to more on the fifth and the ninth

[@billcook4768]

Beethoven’s annoying physicist neighbor: Ludwig? Ludwig?

[@barnardow]

Absolutely loved this! The four bar groupings being disrupted in the development is such a great analysis, very cool. Would love a video on Beethoven's 3rd, as its so amazing and so bonkers

[@themusicprofessor]

I'd love to do the Eroica like this some time. We have done a video about the amazing bit in the development section: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6vXh36Yi9ygrpYsi=R7esp1woPblWeS1Z

[@barnardow]

@@themusicprofessor ah fab! thanks for the link. Wonderful, I'll look forward to it if you do make one like this too. Thanks for the videos you make, all really insightful

[@ultimateconstruction]

Yeah, The 3rd is much better than The 5th.

[@marianojavierbocci978]

The best way to learn about music !!!! Double satisfaction !!!! Earring and understanding !!! Tanks !! Congratulation . I love this video!

[@CaseStreetHome]

This dissection ... disassembly? ... really drives me to a deeper appreciation of the emotive syntax Beethoven employs. I feel, after listening/watching this, that I am learning the language that he was speaking. "Thank you" cannot adequately convey my sense of joy and appreciation for you teaching these words? to me. Please keep going!

[@pb6270]

Excellent! I didn't think I needed to listen to the first movement of Beethoven's 5th again, until now.

[@franticpeacock7478]

This was so insightful and very inspiring as a music student!! I would love to see the other movements too :)

[@deonmurphy6383]

Carry on, analysis like this gives better understanding of what the composer (Beethoven) may have been thinking as he created the work.

[@martynhaggerty2294]

Often, analysis of great works of art destroys the ability to appreciate the thing in its fullness. You have managed to increase the appreciation rather than destroy it. Like every great work of art in any form, whether visual , word, or sound, there is always the intangible and inexplicable element, which allows us to discover something new each time.

[@rwdestefano]

Absolutely wonderful once again, Prof! Thank you.

[@mortonbaychestnut4072]

Magnificent analysis! Many thanks!!

[@erics3317]

I'd love a deep dive into the funeral march of the Eroica Symphony.

[@katrinat.3032]

I’d love a deep dive into all of Eroica. I don’t understand why it was so pivotal

[@erics3317]

@@katrinat.3032 It was ground breaking for its time. It was the first symphony of it's length and arguably of its depth as well. You really feel like Beethoven has stepped out of Haydn's shadow for the first time with this symphony.

[@dabeamer42]

@@katrinat.3032 Like @erics3317 says, part of its specialness can be seen just in its length. It is longer than any of his other symphonies, time-wise, except for the Ninth. I read one wag who wrote, once upon a time, who said that the Romantic Period in music starts on the C# in the cellos in the seventh bar of the first movement. It's SO unexpected, and gives Beethoven a whole new color palate to work with. The slow movement is absolutely paralyzing in its intensity. Who writes a Funeral March for orchestra? *Nobody* before the Eroica.

[@dialecticsjunkie7653]

Amazing discovery you made about how Beethoven in the development section adheres to the 4 bar phrase length while gradually subtly displacing the accent beat further and further forward! This might be a weird comparison but this almost feels like how Jazz musicians incorporate rhythm, where they adhere to the 4/4 that's common to 99% of jazz while within that structure improvising to shift the syncopations and disguising the regularity of the larger structure.

[@themusicprofessor]

Not a weird comparison at all; a very logical one.

[@talamioros]

Beethoven, jazz composer was not a take I expected to see today, but it's totally fitting xD

[@JcFiscus42]

So many amazing insights you did provide. I had not known of the yellowhammer connection. I also seriously enjoyed the counting of the bars and showcase of the syncopation and how it eventually lands back on 1. I didn’t know Beethoven had a habit of associating each bar with a beat, that’s an interesting observation! And I appreciated when you provided the example from an earlier work, the first sonata. An excellent and enjoyable half hour experience. Your dog barking after the music stops made me laugh pretty hard 😂

[@Antoineduval159]

Professor, thank you hugely for your masterly lecture on, in my view, the greatest piece of music in the western world... amazing. Heavens I learned so much/ May I also say that you are without doubt the best music teacher I never had..... How I envy your students.

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you so much!

[@kenolsen13]

Fascinating deep dive, Professor. I’ve always heard about the theme as “fate knocking on the door” throughout my musical studies and considered it as more or less fact. First time I’m made aware of Czerny stating the Yellowhammer being the inspiration of the motif! After hearing the audio clip, it struck me as most similar to the opening of the 4th Piano Concerto. However, your analysis convinced me that-like Beethoven’s music itself-there seems to be no other explanation and can be the only way forward. Keep up the great work and please consider making further deep dives into the subsequent movements of this iconic score.

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you!

[@pascalgalipeau1796]

Not sure about the others, but I would love more of this content.

[@stuart_elliott]

Great video! an analysis of Beethoven's 7th Symphony, second movement would be fantastic

[@themusicprofessor]

Yes - that would be fun. That movement is the topic of this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jH-qZaaLq85seK8si=PPdYjq6X_6obUtdb

[@ThalesF75]

Absolutely made me become a Patreon supporter! Now I am officially on the boat and looking forward to what's coming next! Cheers!

[@themusicprofessor]

Brilliant. Thank you.

[@johnboyd9854]

Thank you Professor for another fascinating musical adventure. I love Beethoven and think he was totally enlightened when he wrote/improvised music. There is a wakefulness to his music that shines through in so many ways, where he can take a simple idea and take everyone along on a long crazy ride through all kinds of scenery with it. It is incredibly intimate in terms of someone having the skill to express so many feelings through music that is also so personally revealing in a way that hadn’t really been done before. We also have the benefit of knowing more about what was really going on for him and the things he was dealing with during this time (deafness, etc.) which makes his music from the Eroica onward especially poignant. Some thoughts I’ve had about the so-called ‘fate’ motif of the 5th Symphony…..the times Beethoven turns the last note up a minor third it seems to turn it into a question as opposed to a sense of finality/fate when it drops down to the minor third. Also, this sense of the 4 beat motif as fate knocking on your door, it does seem that way but not necessarily in a bad way but rather as something that must be dealt with and can’t be ignored. The insistence and repetition of that motif throughout the first movement implies something that keeps intruding upon your awareness and particularly in the passages where it gets repeated more than just the four times it really hammers that message home.

[@blinkingmanchannel]

Well! I’ve heard this piece many times. And I’ve had music theory class as an undergrad. But I’ve never HEARD Beethoven’s discussion of life, the universe, and everything until RIGHT NOW. I’m 61 now. Maybe that’s why I can hear it. I maybe can understand why Le Sueur didn’t want to talk just then. (as you read at 7:39) By the end of the video I’m fascinated that I can’t decode this stuff any more than I can a bird call. But when you deconstruct the code, the oboe in particular (38:48) gets right through to me.👀 Nice work by the way!👍

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you!

[@edwardwright7329]

Enjoyed the analysis! Almost was getting inspiration to go practice (Joplin, actually) but then felt too emotionally drained so I went downstairs to put a topcoat on some shelves … yellowhammer motives followed me.

[@eamonnmorris5331]

Years ago, upon being forced to as a music student, I became familiar and entranced with the whole of the fifth symphony, most of it less well known. This is a work well worth exploring in its entirety, especially the blast movement.

[@RobertSmith-le8wp]

I believe that Franz Liszts transcription of all 9 of Beethovens symphonies to piano “reduction” has to be the greatest piece written in the past 200+ years. The scope and breadth of the work is absolutely monumental. I feel like it’s something only Liszt could do. Keeping in mind he has over 1400 individual pieces to his name that’s saying a lot

[@themusicprofessor]

It's certainly a prodigious achievement.

[@ultimateconstruction]

Why reduction in quotes? It *is* a reduction since all the colours and timbers are lost when played on the piano.

[@ultimateconstruction]

And no lmao, liszt's reductions can't be considered «the greatest pieces written», transcribing doesn't take nearly as much skill as composing.

[@Curramcarmerruc]

I would love to have an deep dive into Beethoven's symphony #7 which is my favorite, especially the 2nd movement.

[@jmolofsson]

Indeed! 😍

[@JepdT]

We want more of this kind of thing! I don't understand much of what you say, but it makes me happy hearing you say it.

[@shaunmifsud4159]

Amazing explanation!

[@xavierignatiuscordeiro8336]

What a fascinating video. I always find pieces or symphonies far more engaging and enthralling when I understand a bit more about them, and this was brilliant! Also, your Piano playing is excellent!

[@soutteruk1]

I really think that that dog is really incredible. More please!

[@jaydenfung1]

I must say that despite all the drama of such music, I find myself smiling with admiration when explained to me or just (humbly) observed by myself is the genius of it all. Here Beethoven presents us simple yet powerful aural weaponry that paradoxically expands by fragmentation not unlike the Ship of Theseus without its reparation. Such music "ought not to be written" in a sense because Beethoven wrote very little here. He wrote three or so distinct ideas and grew them into nonexistence, yet there is that oboe. It makes me think of a passage from Jeff VanderMeer's 𝘈𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: “The effect of this cannot be understood without being there. The beauty of it cannot be understood, either, and when you see beauty in desolation it changes something inside you. Desolation tries to colonize you.”

[@MouzafphaerrePostal]

Thanks Professor. And Loki of course, where would we be without Loki!

[@henniedevilliers7570]

A dog is a stupid salivating animal with eyes without whit. You will always find them on the wrong side of a door.

[@Namuchat]

We would still be inside doing things at the piano, wouldn't we-

[@CaligulaCa3sar]

Loki loves that low key. ... I'll get me coat.

[@leeturner1202]

Thank you for this video. I truly enjoyed it. i agree with you very strongly about how the piece should be thought of with each measure being one of a larger 4 bar measure. I always felt that that is how I would conduct it if I ever had such a chance. I was especially interested in how you showed that the development section continues in syncopated four bar phrases, and eventually comes out on the downbeat at the end. I always thought of it as if there were occasional 2 bar phrases inserted into the usual 4 bar scheme, to eventually arrive at the same point at the recap. Anyway, I hope Loki enjoyed it too. It's hard to tell how he feels about it.

[@themusicprofessor]

Thanks. I think Loki's relatively indifferent to Beethoven.

[@DoubleAviolin]

Just a vote form "more of this king of thing".

[@davidwhite2949]

Wonderful analysis. Also love the piano, an inkling of what it might’ve been like as Beethoven composed this masterpiece.

[@ellentewkesbury5936]

Wonderful! Thank you.

[@bigol7169]

You’re an amazing teacher, thank you. I played Beethoven 5 in 2017 at the Australian Youth Orchestra National Music Camp. I met my first love there, at just 17, and we played this together. She was the oboe you speak of. The falling woodwind’s theme that she played in the second movement, following the cello’s opening, was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever heard, and it came to represent my love for her. It’s still one of my fondest memories. Beethoven 5 is the pinnacle of classical music for a reason. It’s the height of humanity’s genius. Like you said, every creative decision is set in stone… ‘could it have been any other way?’ “It’s as if he had a telephone to heaven, and God was dictating every note” - Bernstein

[@noelleggett5368]

The oboe solo in the recapitulation of the first movement was the 'siren's call' for you!

[@susanfleming3128]

Great video!

[@guytouquet]

Find out why you like this, why you can hear it over and over and never get tired of it.

[@katrinat.3032]

For me it gets better with time. I’m not kidding it really does. Also the more different performances I see, the better it gets

[@tomhenninger4153]

Love the shirt! Wearing a motif is a cool thought! Thank you! Very insightful!

[@gunterangel]

Thank you very much for this very illuminating deep dive into Beethoven's 5th., first movement ! I'd like to add a little amusing anecdote I've once read about this music : The young Felix Mendelssohn had once played this movement for the old Goethe on the piano in the poet's house. His intention was to demonstrate and hopefully open Goethe for Beethoven"s revolutionary genius, because all of his life Goethe wasn't fond of Beethoven's music, as he still much prefered Mozart over him, considering the older master the absolute hallmark of a musical genius, yes, he prefered even Zelter. Obviously Mendelssohn's enthusiasm as he played the music ( similar to the Music Professor's in this video ) was contagious to Goethe, because when Mendelssohn had ended, he commented something along the line: " This is really just awe-inspiring ! It sounds like the house is crumbling down."

[@themusicprofessor]

Great story!

[@razvan_3008]

Hi! Amazing video of the great Ludwig as always. I'd very much appreciate a video about the recap of the 1st movement in his 9th symphony

[@adamkhalil5524]

So excited to watch this. Because of the thumbnail, I'm going to now hear that motif as "Shouldn't Exist"

[@justintroyka8855]

This symphony was my introduction to classical music as a kid. I read about sonata form, and then I listened to the first movement on CD over and over again until I could hear all the keys and themes and sections. It's a perfect exemplar of the form as a vehicle for intense artistic expression. I can't believe your deep dive into just the first movement is as long as the entire symphony - but at the same time, one could talk for days about this movement and still just be scratching the surface. I had felt the hypermeter as a kid before seeing the sheet music, but I later taught myself to hear it the way it appears in the sheet music, in 2/4 only. I never realized how rigidly Beethoven sticks to the hypermeter of 4 bars. Your analysis of the development as being offset by one bar (hyperbeat) is fascinating to me. I'm not sure I hear it - surely there must be a bar (hyperbeat) missing in the passage before the second theme re-enters, and another bar (hyperbeat) inserted again towards the end of the development. I'll have to listen more. Beethoven has these enormous codas, and this one is a perfect example. If we understand musical form, then we understand the path through the exposition, development, and recapitulation, although we will be astonished and delighted at what we encounter along the path; but then the coda is where the path ends and we fall off the end of the earth. Anything can happen. One thing I noticed recently about the coda of the 5th: the "implacable" "crotchet" passage feels like it has different phrasing the first time versus the second time! I think this is partly because of the alternation between winds and strings which happens the second time only and happens on bar 4 of each phrase instead of bar 1. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to think more about this exquisite piece of music, and thank you for giving me a space to share my thoughts about it.

[@ericrakestraw664]

Interestingly, Beethoven does a similar thing to the oboe solo at 38:48 in the first movement of the "Tempest" Piano Sonata in D minor where he introduces recitative-like passages at the start of the recapitulation.

[@allanlees299]

Most definitely "more of this kind of thing" please. Plus, I wonder if you'd ever consider talking about Rameau's operas, particularly Les Indes Galantes and Dardanus? By the way, did you know that he almost certainly composed the rondo we know today as Frere Jacques, for his dining group?

[@davidwhite2949]

I'd love to see more in-depth analyses like this. Specifically, interested in examinations of Beethoven's symphonies, focusing on their structure. While there are numerous tutorials on sonata form, I'd appreciate insight into crafting a cohesive musical and emotional journey across multiple movements - essentially, the big-picture perspective.

[@sax5055]

Thank you. I no longer play advanced piano. But for whatever reason (mainly personal enjoyment), I will play Moonlight Sonata (Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2) for 2-3 hours about once or twice a week. Arthritis is a hard task master. Regardless, leaning deep into Beethoven is always a joy and frightening at the same time. Thanks again for the thoughts and wonderful music. Now I’m going to go listen to the 5th by a good orchestra, and I’m better prepared to appreciate it.

[@JepdT]

Loved this!

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

My Radiology Professor was Lindsay Rowe, an amazing teacher and an historian. he was responsible for the majority for Essentials of Skeletal Radiology by Yochum and Rowe, the best selling X-Ray textbook for decades, written at the time by two Chiropractic Doctors. Lindsay went on to become an MD since in Radiology, he wanted to be able to do the invasive procedures not practiced by Chiropractors. When Lindsay presented Paget's Disease, he used Luigi as his example. Paget's is an abnormal growth of bone tissue after adulthood. The first complaint is often that the patient complains that his hat has gotten smaller, as the cranial bones grow bigger. Unfortunately the tiny auditory canals started growing bone, gradually putting more and more pressure on the auditory nerves. He started with tinnitus, constant ringing in his head. Then onto decreased hearing and finally complete deafness. But he most likely suffered the martyr since his major articulations also had bony growth.

[@dabeamer42]

Multiple comments for the price of none: First, and least important, the main thing missing from your T-shirt isn't anything you (or the lady) mentioned...it's the missing bar line. It has never occurred to me that the repeat of the opening, coming after that big E-flat cadence at the end of the exposition, could be heard in E-flat instead of C minor. To me, a stunning revelation. Fascinating idea about the 4-bar phrases going on and on in the development. I have to admit that as you counted thru them, I was not convinced...and not convinced...and not convinced...and then the out-of-the-blue D-major chord comes in ON ONE. *That's* when you convinced me. Entirely separate thing...Bernstein did one of his "Children's Concert" kind of lectures about various rejected sketches for this movement. (He gave the impression that is was his own research...) He presents two or three "alternate takes" of bits and pieces here and there, from Beethoven's own hand(?), but "buried under the crossing out", that (to me, anyway) give a very interesting glimpse into a parallel universe of what Beethoven had to go thru, and throw away, in order to get the state of affairs we have, where every note is completely foreordained, could-not-be-any-other-way. I had a flimsy acetate recording of it back in the 60's, and then recently rediscovered it -- it's here on YT somewhere. Highly recommended, even if he is completely wrong. I'll fetch you a link if you're interested. Thanks! Yes, more please. I'm especially fond of the slow movement. It tends to get lost amongst the bombast.

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you for this fascinating comment.

[@mendyman]

That was thrilling. Thank you LvB and MK.

[@robinhillyard6187]

Yellowhammer song: generally described as “a little bit of bread and no cheeese”

[@Blimey2342]

Absolutely stunning video! If you would, please also do the other movements of the Yellowhammer Symphony! And yes, please also the 7th and 9th and the Choral Fantasia.

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you!

[@notmyworld44]

Loki and your distracting interactions with him (her?) is really quite charming. No problem at all. Nearly everyone loves a cute little doggy.

[@seajaytea9340]

Hello and thank you! This was excellent and most entertaining. And just in time for Beethoven's birthday! I suspect you have a sense of humor from watching this and others of your videos, so I'm inclined to wonder if you've ever heard Peter Schickele's very funny piece that compares a symphonic outing to a ball game? It's called "New Horizons in Music Appreciation Beethoven's Fifth Symphony." If you've not heard it, I commend it to you. There is also a very funny moment involving the "oboe solo" in the recording. While your analysis was wonderfully academic and enriching, Schickele always makes me laugh.

[@themusicprofessor]

I'll check him out.

[@duncanmckeown1292]

Hoffman and that high romantic style seem to be a perfect impression (if not really a description?) of this music. Highly informative (and amusing) treatment of the fifth. I will never think of the yellowhammer the same way again! Have you done a similar discussion of the seventh? "The apotheosis of the dance"? That would be fascinating material.

[@jamesboswell9324]

I already wrote a long and more laborious comment which I'll leave below. But actually I want to say something else instead. I really loved the way you played that section at the end of the exposition (I think) with such gusto and finally almost tore the page off as you flicked it defiantly over - probably around 28:00 mins in. Because that's really what this symphony is all about, isn't it? Pure energy! Triumphant energy! (I'm thinking here in William Blake's terms) Out of darkness comes blazing light. Musical romanticism begins (in one sense - if you'll pardon forgetting the Eroica for a moment, apologies) and then instantly reaches its apogee! (Since nothing ever exceeds this music in ebullience or in Romantic expression.) Staggering stuff. Anyway, now my original ponderings: The Fifth with its dot-dot-dot-dash of the opening motif might be placed alongside Hamlet and his famous soliloquy and/or the Mona Lisa with her iconic smile. Their universally acknowledged artistic greatness and reputation, while entirely justified, generally gets in the way of our proper appreciation of these masterpieces. To be or not to be becomes a cliche and the start of endless silly jokes. The face of Mona Lisa features on a million T-shirts and (aptly enough) mugs. Beethoven's thundering four-note motif is likewise so ingrained in our modern consciousness that it's hard to imagine any time when it hadn't existed. And it's impossible to imagine the shock of first hearing it now, or, as you say, to be fully objective about this work. But definitely fun trying... And your deep dive is absolutely fascinating throughout. Thx. Definitely more please - and I'm very much looking forward hearing to the rest your analysis on the other mmts of the 9th. Incidentally, as a child with an interest in birds I also remember learning the yellowhammer song as "little bit of bread and no cheese" which I guess is seven dots and a dash. (But who's counting?)

[@themusicprofessor]

Fabulous comment. Thank you. You are absolutely right: these artworks, originally so thrilling, so overwhelming, are in danger of losing all their potency.

[@MikeU128]

I'd never really thought about the Baroque feel in that final section before, but yes I see it now! As a parallel to this, I've always felt that the apocalyptic fugue in the final movement of the Hammerklavier sonata is like "Bach on drugs".

[@luke9947]

The other movements are also great. I have a soft spot for the 2nd in particular.

[@themusicprofessor]

Yes. They're all wonderful.

[@ze_rubenator]

My lament is how the first movement seems to completely overshadow the other three in the public consciousness. They all have absolutely wondrous things in them. For example, I absolutely love how the main theme in the second movement initially gets faster for each variation, entirely transforming its character.

[@themusicprofessor]

Yes. That is a shame. It's pretty typical of our atomised, low attention era!

[@ultimateconstruction]

​@@themusicprofessor21st century is known as Century of Degradation for a reason...

[@MonsieurFeshe]

I like how to title matches the famous fate motif lol. Beethoven fiiiiiiiiveeeeee. The deepest diiiiiiiiiiiveeeee. It worksss

[@mcrumph]

Yes, please. May I have another?

[@Jon-xw9om]

A while ago radio 3 or 4, did a podcast on the sketches Beethoven did in preparation for the fifth. If you can find it, it's well worth listening to because it kind of answers the question "could he have done something else"? He did. But they never made it to the final piece. There's no point in me trying to explain what the differences are, it's obviously something that has to be heard to be understood. But it is very strange to hear the way a piece 'set in granite' was carved.

[@eupraxis1]

More!!!!!!

[@jimhorwath990]

Loved it

[@pseudotonal]

One characteristic of great music is its seemingly bottomless depths that can be plumbed.

[@peteannells4218]

Yellow Hammer: "Little bit of bread and no cheese". Maybe fate was hungry !

[@aronhidman1]

Yes, do more, please.

[@izzyk867]

Loki, you’re wrong! Beethoven is exciting! 😅

[@catrionahall8435]

Loved this

[@simonragnarson22]

Another masterpiece of a video.

[@albiepalbie5040]

It’s strange It’s probably one of the most recorded pieces of music in classical music I have gone to concerts for more than 50 years but for some reason I’ve only heard it live 3 times Is it so rarely programmed because it’s almost too popular? Or my bad luck not being in the right place at the right time ? As a live experience it has always been an amazing experience - it works so well Overwhelming ! Far far more so than any of the great recordings I have Played by far more illustrious performers It’s just the most amazing formal creation that transcends the formal genius and control your explaining so beautifully in your vid It’s a truely uplifting experience Loved the Yellowhammer inspiration

[@noelleggett5368]

The first movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony has had two incarnations in contemporary pop music! First was the hit (mainly in North America and Australia and New Zealand) disco track, 'A Fifth of Beethoven', recorded by Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band in 1976. It became the basis for Robin Thicke's hit song (particularly in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands), 'When I get You Alone', in 2002.

[@5kyfall2017]

Just subscribed to the Patreon! Hoping others do as well, this is great work!

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you so much!

[@ScottSV1VrV2]

More please. And please continue with the 9th!

[@kerndeorksen5828]

Totally agree. I will second that motion. More please.

[@davidhowe6905]

I remember John Eliot Gardiner being adamant the opening motif was quoting a French revolutionary song. I favour the yellowhammer, whose song has always struck me as having a lower final note, even before learning of the Beethoven 5 connection.

[@themusicprofessor]

I think he was talking about the tune in the finale.

[@davidhowe6905]

@@themusicprofessor You got me intrigued enough to search out the reference! A documentary 'The Secret of Beethoven's 5th Symphony' presented by Ian Hislop on the BBC. The claim is that the opening of the first movement quotes from Cherubini's 'Hymne du Pantheon'. I perhaps overstated JEG's dogmatism though. Thanks for the video, I'd definitely enjoy your covering the other movements.

[@josephciolino5493]

"Inevitability" is a common theme throughout Beethoven's work, as I'm sure you know.

[@edgarreitz7067]

I think what Beethoven renewels here is that the main theme can be everything, thats the weird thing. Abstract unisono "slow Introduction", recitativo, melodic singing "main" passage, fugal passage, counterpoint, development, accompaignment, closing passage, cadence and in the coda, what i love most: pure texture, misty mood. Really spooky! And it sounds different everytime! And i agree on the oboe solo its so remarkable! While it sounds so right in place, the main theme always sounds kind of deplaced everywhere, which makes the modernist aspect of Beethoven for me.

[@ricardopena4961]

Wonderful!

[@giacomorolma5481]

Interesting point sir. Apart from fate and birds, I can’t quite think of diving deep into a symphony (especially the Fifth) by considering the first movement only…

[@themusicprofessor]

OK fine - but the whole symphony would have taken a very long time indeed! I do intend to come back to the other movements in later videos.