Beethoven Fifth And Sixth Colonies Similarities

Although Beethoven’s Fifth and Sixth symphonies sound very different, they both originated during the same time period and are closely related in many ways. In the first movement of the Fifth and Sixth symphonies, the relationships between the two can already be identified. While their similarities reveal the new ideas that Beethoven wanted to use in his symphonies at the time, their differences reveal the different paths that Beethoven chose for each symphony. Though the first movements of the Fifth and Sixth symphonies are similar in their use of meters and fermatas, the movements of the two symphonies differ in their topics, harmonic ranges, and endings. An interesting similarity that is present in both first movements of the Fifth and Sixth symphonies is the use of the 2/4 meter and the fermata in the very first measures. As Lockwood points out, “Both first movements employ 2/4 …show more content…
The Fifth Symphony is in C minor with dramatic themes and a timpani part, which all combine to create a suspenseful and serious mood; Lockwood describes the Fifth Symphony as “unleash[ing] a tragic power in the symphonic domain that audiences had not known before”(219). However, the Sixth Symphony is in F major, and it is known as the Pastoral Symphony because its topic is nature and the countryside (Lockwood 225). Whereas the Fifth had no predetermined topic, the Sixth Symphony was considered to be “program” music because Beethoven had a story he wanted to attach to the symphony. Moreover, he gave a title to every movement of the symphony, and the title of the first movement is “‘The awakening of joyous feelings on getting out into the countryside’” (Lockwood 226). The two symphonies seem to be at opposite sides of a spectrum and tend to evoke vastly different emotions; the Fifth seems a little frightening, but the Sixth is rather relaxing to listen