Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth
Symphony in
C-minor,
opus 67 has four movements:
- Allegro con brio, running time 7:14
- Andante con moto - Piu moto, running time 10:01
- Allegro, running time 4:55
- Allegro - Presto, running time 8:57
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony includes what is perhaps the most well-known four notes in music at its opening: three quick Gs followed by a longer E-flat. This opening, reportedly called "
Fate knocking on the door" by Beethoven, begins this piece first played on
December 28, 1808 by a group who was essentially
sight reading this,
Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, and two other
hard musical pieces of Beethoven. Beethoven took over a
decade to write the Fifth Symphony.
The number of recordings of this symphony is too numerous to enumerate here. The one I will mention is that it served as the musical backdrop to one of Fantasia 2000's pieces. The opening four notes were used during World War II as "V for Victory", as V is dit dit dit dah in Morse Code.
Running times are from Deutsche Grammophon's recording of the Berliner Philharmonkier, directed by Herbert von Karajan.