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© Copyright 1998, Jim Loy
I am going to try to do something very difficult. I want to give you some clue about why Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is so great.
OK. It has got this little melodic fragment, Ta-ta-ta-daaaa. Is that great? Personally, I don't think so. It is not much, is it? Tchaikovsky wrote hundreds of melodies that are prettier. It does have something going for it. It is energetic. It is assertive. And Beethoven does wonderful things with it. Only Beethoven could create a symphony from something so sparse. Maybe that is it. Beethoven is doing something that no one could ever do, create amazing power from almost nothing. It is a hint of what God could do with one word.
There is more to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, than this little four note theme. There is beauty in it. There is humor in it, when you think the first movement should end, but it seems to start all over again, then it ends. And, I think that it sounds fairly good, even when played badly. And, when it is played well, it can be a thrill.