Beethoven's Symphony of DestinyBeethoven's Symphony in C minor, the first four notes (Op. 67) are strong and heavy, like the sound of fate knocking on the door. This work has been called the Symphony of Destiny.

The Fifth Symphony is a representative work of Beethoven's artistic style, with a rigorous and complete structure, concise and bright techniques, compact and balanced development, and a vivid and vivid theme. As a heroic symphony, its contradictions, emotional opposition, and tense drama are more focused, unified, and acute than previous works. The close internal connection between the various movements makes the whole piece emotionally exciting and has a strong artistic appeal. This unifying majesty represents Beethoven's artistic style. Someone once said, "It was in this symphony that Beethoven became a giant." ”

The Fifth Symphony is divided into four movements.

1st movement: Passionate Allegro, 2/4 time, sonata style.

This movement depicts a scene of struggle, and the music symbolizes the power of the people as a torrent of overwhelming force against the forces of darkness. The powerful and dynamic four notes that appear at the beginning of the piece, which Beethoven called the "fate" knock, are the main theme.

Beethoven begins the symphony with a thought-provoking warning: "Fate is knocking at the door", which is cited as the symphony's attractive title. This theme of the work runs through the whole piece, making people feel an indescribable moving and shocking. Beethoven had already had the inspiration to compose the Third Symphony before it was completed, and it took five years to complete it. The music embodies the author's lifelong struggle with fate, "I want to choke fate, he can't make me completely submit", this is a magnificent triumphant song of heroic will over fatalism and light over darkness. Engels once praised this work as the most outstanding musical work. The whole work is concise, concise, and the structure is complete and unified.

This theme is a musical image that strikes forward, driving the music to evolve and to appear and develop in subsequent movements. This theme is passionate and powerful, with a courageous and indomitable momentum, showing thrilling scenes of struggle, expressing Beethoven's indignation and strong will to challenge the feudal forces.

After the various instruments imitate the cycle of tension one after another, the horn plays a variant of the fate motive, which expresses a confidence in victory.

This is a connecting phrase, which leads to a singing second theme from the previous tense and majestic musical scene, which is a lyrical melody with a gentle and beautiful and bright tone that contrasts with the previous one, which expresses people's feelings of longing and pursuing a happy life. Here, the grim motive of fate recedes into the bass part and emerges in an accompanying form, giving the gentle music an unsettling tinge that pushes the music forward. The piece ends with a decisive and enthusiastic sound in a bright atmosphere.

After an expressive two-bar break, the music returns to an uneasy tone as the fate motive enters the development section, and the hard struggle begins again. The first theme is very active at this time, it repeats endlessly, the tonality is constantly changing, the intensity is constantly increasing, and then the second theme is clear and powerful. These two themes alternate and develop in various ways, such as contrasting polyphony, frequent transposition, etc., which increase the instability of the music and make the music richer. Finally, the motive of fate breaks in and repeats itself in the strongest sound, forming a dramatic climax of the development department, and the music goes directly into the reproduction department.

In the reproduction department, the scene of the struggle in the presentation department reappears. Between the first theme and the connector, the oboe plays a slow, mournful tone, and the development of the first theme is abruptly interrupted. However, the agitation immediately returned, and only calmed down a little when the second theme appeared. However, the struggle between light and darkness does not end and grows more and more intense in the colossal epilogue. At this time, the momentum of the musical development is unstoppable, with sharp contrasts of dynamics and tense harmonic developments, forming the climax of the whole movement. At the end of the movement, the strong sound of the first theme motive further portrays the heroic character of the courage to challenge, showing the strong confidence of the people to defeat the dark forces.

2nd movement: BA minor, slightly faster Andante, 3/8 time, variations on a double theme. It is a beautiful lyric poem, magnificent and splendid, which contrasts with the first movement. It embodies the world of people's feelings, where the meditation after the battle is intertwined with the longing for a beautiful ideal, and finally transformed into a firm determination.

At the beginning of the piece, the viola and cello play the first theme, accompanied by the plucked strings of the double bass, which is deep, serene and beautiful, and contains deep strength and yearning for a better life. Immediately afterwards, the clarinet and bassoon play a second theme with a call to battle. The pitch of this theme is close to the first theme and has a tonal connection to the songs of the French Revolution period. This is the heroic theme of the march style, which is lyrical and contemplative at first, and when it is played by the whole orchestra in C major, it becomes a majestic triumphal march full of fiery vigor and inspiring people to move forward forever. Later musical development is six different variations alternating between these two themes.

In these six variations, Beethoven uses different rhythmic patterns, tonal shifts, instrument changes and other techniques to express the hero's contemplation after a fierce struggle and his firm belief in overcoming darkness, as well as his energetic passion. For example, the first variation uses successive sixteenth notes of the first theme to make the music undulating and agitated. The second variation appears in succession, enhancing the dynamics and showing the hero's unwavering belief in overcoming darkness. The final variation, like a heroic triumphant song, with heroic heroism and optimism, concludes with a simple unfolding of the first theme, showing strength from reflection and confidence in future victories.

3rd movement: C minor, Allegro, 3/4 time, scherzo. Written in a complex trilogy, the movement returns to a turbulent mood in tonality, as if the hard struggle continues, and it is a transition and transition to the fourth movement. The main section is composed of two contrasting themes, the first of which has two elements: the first is a rapid upward melody played by cellos and double basses, which has the power to move forward, but seems a little hesitant. Another factor is the corresponding sentence on this basis, which consists of a series of chords, which is calm, suppressed, and shows uneasiness.

After these two times, the horn plays a very lively, horn-like new theme, and the familiar rhythm makes us immediately sure that the theme of the first movement appears here in a different image, majestic, steady, and characteristic of a march. Two sharply contrasting themes with different temperaments appear in turn, showing scenes of turmoil and hard struggle, and each time it becomes more and more sharp, complex, and full of dramatic effect.

The middle part takes the warm German-Austrian folk dance music as the central theme, from C minor to bright C major, the music adopts the contrast technique of polyphonic fugue and major key harmony, the mood is warm and optimistic, first played by cello and double bass, it contrasts with the previous music, there is an irrepressible force, causing a storm to surge, showing the power of the people wave after wave and the belief in victory stronger and stronger.

The third part is the dynamic reproduction part. Both themes in the first part are played in muted tones, reproduced and developed. The basic motive rhythm of the timpani beating indicates the continuation of the conflict, which is the accumulation of strength to prepare for the final sprint. Then, the first theme appears softly, the music stretches freely upward, and the band's vocal range expands, the dynamics from weak to strong, and the tonal colors from dark to light, gradually developing into an irrepressible force, and the loud chord notes lead into the glorious final movement.

Fourth movement: Allegro in 4/4 time, sonata style. The grand fourth movement is full of light and joy, and is a warm scene of jubilant victory. The main theme of the Presentation consists of two parts, the first of which begins with a majestic triumphal march with full chords and a positive melody, which is played by the whole orchestra. The mood of the second part of the music is coherent with the previous part, played by horns and woodwinds, the timbre is bright and soft, the rhythm of the march, and the mood is joyful and singing.

The minor theme is played by stringed instruments, built in G major. This is a joyful dance music with a three-tone rhythm and a relaxed and undulating rhythm. In the final section of the presentation section, a new melody appears associated with the presentation section.

The opening section is based on the extensive and active development of the second theme, and the rising music, like an endless crowd, merges into a sea of joy. Towards the climax, the "Fate" pattern is inserted again, but it is no longer resolute and powerful, but rather a reminiscence of past struggles, echoing the first movement. The reproduction section basically repeats the music of the presentation section, but the new power is slightly increased. This new theme, like a huge wave flowing from the bottom of the hero's heart, is confident, heroic and courageous. The gigantic coda is accompanied by a glorious triumphal march in C major, which has an overwhelming momentum and expresses the incomparable joy of the people who have finally won the victory after the struggle.

Beethoven's Symphony of Destiny expresses a fierce fighting enthusiasm with great contagion. When the Spanish contralto Mari Brandin heard Beethoven's Symphony of Fate for the first time, she was so frightened that she had to retire. Napoleon, an old guard, listened to the theme at the beginning of the fourth movement and couldn't help jumping up and shouting: "This is the Emperor!"

Berlioz sees the thrilling scenes of struggle in Beethoven's Symphony of Fate as "the terrible fury of Othello when he listened to Egu's slander and mistook Desdemona for adultery." "

Schumann said: "Although you hear this symphony from time to time, it always has an unchanging power on you – just as the phenomena of nature, though they occur all the time, always make people feel frightened." "

Romain Rolland had a great portrayal.

"It's a huge mural where the battlefield of heroes expands to the borders of the universe. And in this mythical battle, the smashed-up giant regains its shoulders like the great lizard before the flood, and the theme of the will is again thrown into the fire and smelted, hammered on the anvil, it is broken into pieces, stretched, expanded......