The Motivfuhrung and the Fifth Symphony-A detective story in 3-PARTS.

Part 1: What's the motive?

The Fifth Symphony of Beethoven is one of the most enduring and popular of his works . It is also one of the most over-analyzed. Such analyses can put one in a situation where you find new details in a work you have heard 50 times, but no new surprises. You already know how it ends. Let us put ourselves into the mindset of an audience hearing it for the first time, where everything was a surprise.

The work establishes a new level of what is known as the "Motivfuhrung", or motivic-leading. We open with a simple definition of motif. In music, this is often a pattern, formed by a handful of notes. Consider them like clues, or facts, in a detective story. So, like every detective, we begins by examining the most obvious facts, then parting company with the other investigators, as we discover what is behind the motives.

Here is the great performance of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony conducted by Wilhelm Furtwangler.

Movement 1: 0:00

Movement 2 8:14

Movement 3 18:49

Movement 4 24:36

It begins with the most famous motiv in the world, da da da DAH: Four notes, but only two tones, in a unique rhythmic pattern. It drops, by a third: GGG Eb. It is then followed by the same pattern, but down a scale-step: FFF D. Listen to the recording starting at 0:00.

It is fairly easy to hear that the next section forms an overlapping of that motive. GGG Eb, AbAbAb G, CCC B. So far so good.

At 0:59, after a sudden change, a second theme, or subject begins, that is contrasted. It is lyrical, singing, and tender. That is normal at this point, and it would also be normal for the main motiv to be absent. Something is sneaking around in the background though. The contrabasses play, very quietly, BbBbBb Eb. This time, the last note goes up, not down.

Why does Beethoven do that? The music would have worked without it! Is he dropping a clue that this work will not be "Normal?" How should we pursue it?

It is great fun to sharpen one's wits, and one's ears, by identifying all of the permutations of that motiv in this movement, and we urge you to do so, before advancing.

However, are we merely playing a game here? Is this the musical equivalent of of a comic book cartoon, " How many hidden airplanes can you find in this picture? "

Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow!