On Sunday: UT Symphony Orchestra – Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

By Alan Sherrod

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Inarguably, it is the most recognizable four note motif in western music—da-da-da-DAH. And, when that pattern is repeated a bit lower and sustained, it is as if there is an ominous knocking on the door—and the masterpiece of drama that is Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony begins.

For the first time since 2008, the University of Tennessee Symphony Orchestra, under conductor James Fellenbaum, is taking up the drama of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in C minor this Sunday afternoon in their inaugural concert of the 2019-20 season. On this occasion, the impetus is the continuing worldwide celebration surrounding the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth that culminates in 2020.

Although Beethoven began sketches of the work as early as 1804, the Fifth Symphony did not receive a premiere until 1808 in Vienna at the now infamous “benefit to the composer” concert on December 22 of that year. That concert was notable for being badly under-rehearsed and for a broken heating system at the Theater an Der Wien where a shivering audience heard not only the Fifth Symphony, but also the premieres of the Sixth (“Pastoral”) Symphony and the Choral Fantasy, the first public performance of the Fourth Piano Concerto, movements from the Mass in C, and the concert aria Ah! perfido. In spite of the conditions endured at that event, the Fifth Symphony rapidly achieved a notoriety and was performed by major orchestra’s around the world, including the fledgling New York Philharmonic at its inaugural concert in 1842.

As a testament to Beethoven’s brilliance as a musical designer and constructor, the relative simplicity of the symphony’s rhythmic da-da-da-DAH motif is varied and expanded upon throughout the work. In the Scherzo – Allegro third movement, the horns state their version, followed by the full orchestra.  The Scherzo moves breathlessly without pause into the Fourth movement where all four movements are brought together in a grand unification. The finale, having moved from C minor to C major, and brightened by the addition of trombones and piccolos, is the quintessential triumph of victory over conflict.

The afternoon concert will open with Chinese composer Tan Dun’s Internet Symphony ‘Eroica’. The four-minute work was commissioned by Google and YouTube in 2008, with orchestral musicians invited to audition by submitting videos of their performance that would be judged by members of leading international orchestras. Winning performers were then invited to play as an assembled orchestra at New York City’s Carnegie Hall on April 15, 2009, with all expenses paid by YouTube.

In this UTSO performance of the Internet Symphony ‘Eroica’, the conductor will be Logan Campbell, a 2nd year Masters student in orchestral conducting. Campbell was recently appointed as the new conductor for the Knoxville Symphony Youth Chamber Orchestra ensemble.