Beethoven's 5th

Chinese Adage: “人生無常, 死生有命, 富貴在天”. It is the Fate that something human being can not control. The whole world is a subject of probability. How do we exist? Why are we here? These are some questions most people ask sometime in their lifetime. If we think logically, it all boils down to a matter of probability. Here is one scenario most people agree. If for some reason on the day of our conception, our parents had a bad day & deviated or diverted from their routines, we would have vanished into a thin air & the history after that will be quite different. Let’s imagine what history would have been if there were no Muhammad, Genghis Kahn, Napoleon or Hitler. Since the existence of every human being is a random event, the history is also a result of a sequence of random events. Of course, the world will keep going on without Napoleon or Hitler. It is like Brownian movement. Microscopically, it is a different moving pattern for each individual molecule. However, macroscopically it is the same old liquid exhibits the same properties to the outside universe. Because of the random nature, people very often feel powerless. People pray when they encounter something unpredictable or face something unknown to them. To whom do people pray? It has to be something supreme and so the creation of god and religion.

Even we are powerless facing so many unknowns such as when we will die, we still manage to live a decent life, work, play, make fun & achieve something we call milestone or breakthrough. It is in this context, we will listen to Beethoven’s 5th & offer some consolation & interpretation.

Beethoven is considered immortal mainly due to his three major compositions: Symphony #3, #5 & #9. The 5th may not be the best, however, it is the most well-known & famous symphony. It is the emblem of the classical music. If you don’t know anything about a particular symphony, you can safely assume it has four movements although there are some exceptions. The 5th is no exception. Sometime people think it has three movements. This is mainly due to the confusion caused by the missing of a pause between 3rd & 4th movement. In other words, there is just a long note between the end of the 3rd movement & the beginning of the 4th movement. Here I pick the version performed by Herbert von Karajan, a famous German conductor. The link is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P08rkJ5Ugf0

Note: It is better to open another window (window explorer) to play music, so you can cross reference between the text and music time line.

The 1st movement

To our remote ancient ancestors, the Mother Nature imposed on them a lot of unknowns. They were under a tremendous pressure to survive. The imposition is called Fate. Here Beethoven’s motif: . . . -, Fate knocks the door. It is everywhere throughout the movement. The second theme is the response of our ancestors to the Fate. It is soft, fragile, timid and subservient.
0:00-0.45: 開門見山,命運之神以排山倒海之勢,充塞四方. It came down to knock people’s door.
0.46-1.07: It was a soft response of human being, timid and subservient.
1.08-1.24: There was no negotiation between the Fate & our ancestors.
1.25-1.50: Fate prevailed and come to knock the door again.
2.08: 人類在命運之神的肆威下, 委曲求全.
2.49: 人們喘一口氣, reposed and stood up again.
3.54: 人與命運之對話及 negotiatioon.
4.26: Led by oboe, 人與命運維持短暫的和平.
4.40: Fate imposed again and people responded meekly.
5.00: 人與命運之對話 again.
5.25: Fate walked away arrogantly and people followed sheepishly.
6.40: Fate had a last say.
6.53-7.07: Fate had a last word indeed.

The 2nd movement

Our ancestors found the solace from the religion. They found the God & interpret it in different ways. They found the way to live harmoniously with the universe. They created, invented things and produced offspring.
7:10: People escaped and found god.
8:03: They praised the god, sang hymns and prayed.
8:20: They seemed to get the response from god. They elated and thanked graciously.
8:40: People meditated and maintained faith.
9:54: Repeat the experience of 8:03. People enforced their faith.
10:32: People led decent lives with new faith.
10:58: They built temple, cathedral, mosque, and synagogue.
12:00: People searched for the true meaning of god.
12:51: Reformation, rejuvenate the belief and faith.
13:15: God had different meaning to different people. People tried to find their own god.
14:13: People found their own god.
15:03: Revelation and thankful to god
15:53-16:37: Resurrection

The 3rd movement

Our ancestors found themselves. They entered Renaissance, discovered new lands and the New World. They created the age of reason and enlightenment. However, they were groping to find a way to harness the nature to relieve the human labor and his relative position in the universe.

16:45: The theme represents the grope and probe by people.
17:02: French horns reiterate the Fate theme, but with a softer tone, more manageable fashion.
18:24: People found time to enjoy life and do something fun. They entered Renaissance and found classical music.
19:04: They found true human spirit and the meaning of Reason, liberty, equality, fraternity and all men are created equal.
19:45: People were groping and probing for something new.
20:01: Fate reasserted itself but with its mellow tone.
20:49: The end of the 3rd movement and enter the 4th movement, a new age for human being.

The 4th movement
Our ancestors eventually found way to harness the power of nature and the origin of species.

21:00: Something was being developed. People groped & probed in the dark. Went right, left, up, down and gradually found a way out of the pit.
21:23: Finally, human being found a new way to harness energy, a steam engine. A triumph of a new technology led to the Industrial Revolution. Here Beethoven gave us the Ode To Triumph.
22:00: Human being also discovered the evolution, the origin of species.
22:26: All other applications followed, locomotive, train, steamship, social Darwinism etc.
22:48: This was the joyful dance of human beings.
23:04: People found the impressionism in art.
23:30: People found the romanticism in music.
24:57: Something was being developed again.
25:10: People were groping again in the bottom of the pit, Oersted, Ampere, Henry, Gauss, Lenz.
25:29: Finally, Faraday, Maxwell, Hertz and Marconi came out of the pit. It was the age of electricity and radio, another Ode To Triumph.
25:54: This was another breakthrough for human being.
26:06: All sorts of applications followed.
26:35: People dance joyfully.
26:57: People kept charging ahead and forward.
27:56: Here came the six loud chords. They represented the six milestones of the civilization: Relativity/Quanta, bulb/phonograph/movie, car/airplane, double helix/DNA, moon landing, computer/Internet.
28:03: People found a new birth of freedom. Ahead was a grand, wide-open field extended to the horizon.
28:22: Music had to reach an end. The emotion and crescendo dealing with the Fate were built so high.
28:50: Here Beethoven put the brake to the music.
29:18: The start of the ending.
29:28: It requires about 30 loud chords to defuse the emotion. No other symphonies dare to exceed this number.
29:58: The true ending of the human drama.


The Beethoven’s 5th, 史詩般的交響曲, is the epitome in the world of symphony, a jewel of classical music. This symphony was etched on a gold record stored inside the Voyager spacecraft sailing outside the solar system since 1978. We don’t know when & where it will be picked up by some intelligent beings, perhaps some million years later in a remote corner of some other galaxy. At the moment of the Voyager leaving the solar system, it took a final photo of our solar system. The photo shows a tiny Pale Blue Dot in a completely void background. It is the Earth, a planet covered with water & the lands are just some little mountains & hills. It looks so tiny & lonely in the sea of universe. It is our home, a home sweet home.

人類雖然創造了燦爛的文明, 但仰望星空, 無垠無边. 時間空間, 沒有起始, 沒有終場. 我們深覺人類的 渺小和無助, 感恩節前夕, 這种感觸 特別深刻. 在浩翰的宇宙中,這一小藍點的存在似乎是一個奇蹟, 也是一种恩典. 在此讓我們 以最誠摯的心, 感謝上蒼, 這命運之神.