Music library › Classical themes
Symphony No. 5 (opening)
Ludwig van Beethoven, 1808. Excerpt, written out for reading practice.
- Music
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Date
- 1808
- Key
- C minor
- Time
- 2/4
- Clef
- Treble
- Level
- Easy
- Length
- Excerpt
About the music
The four-note opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony may be the most famous motif in Western music. The symphony was first performed in Vienna in December 1808, in a marathon four-hour concert in a freezing theatre. Beethoven builds the whole first movement out of this short-short-short-long idea.
It is in C minor, with three flats in the key signature. The notes are written here as the violins play them. In the orchestra, the long notes have pauses (fermatas) over them, held as long as the conductor wishes.
Reading tips
- The music starts after an eighth rest. Feel the downbeat silently, then play on the “and”.
- With three flats, E means E♭: the long note in bar 2 is E♭.
- The second motif is the same shape one step lower: F, F, F, D.
How to practice it
Read the piece through once without playing, naming the starting note and looking for patterns and repeats. Then press Play and follow the notes as they light up. When you are ready, choose Practice this piece: it opens in the practice tool, where you can slow it down, play along on the on-screen piano, a MIDI keyboard or your voice, and have every note checked.