The Fifth Symphony in C minor is one of the best-known symphonies Beethoven composed in his middle period. As mentioned before, it carried a “heroic” style throughout the piece and it is well-known for using a simple four-note motive as a theme that reoccurs throughout the piece. He structured this composition in a way that developed the theme through “‘modulation,’ that is, a change in the feeling of the home key, through a variety of keys or harmonic regions” (Beethoven’s Musical Style and Innovation” par. 16). Although Haydn had used the same technique in his later works, Beethoven took a step further by innovating his style through “juxtaposing different keys and unexpected notes to join them” (Beethoven’s Musical Style and Innovation” par. 16). Ultimately, a political figure in
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Moreover, another factor influenced the style of Beethoven’s composition and tormented both his life and career was his progressive hearing impairment. In Discovering Music, Todd indicates that there were psychological influences from his hearing loss that affect his compositions in this period (267). In fact, in a scholarly article published in the British Medical Journal, Edoardo Saccenti uncovers the progression of Beethoven’s hearing impairment by analyzing the use of high notes in his compositions. In Saccenti’s research, he considered notes above G6, which is about 1568 Hz, as high notes and counted the high notes in the exposition from the first violin part of each string quartets. Furthermore, he divided Beethoven’s quartets in four groups instead of examining each quartet. The first group focused on early period from 1798 to 1800 including Opus 18, the second group ranged in the middle period from 1805 to 1806 including Opus 59, the third group also ranged in the middle period from 1810 to 1811 with Opus 74 and 95, and the forth group focused on his late period from 1824 to 1826 including Opus
Moreover, another factor influenced the style of Beethoven’s composition and tormented both his life and career was his progressive hearing impairment. In Discovering Music, Todd indicates that there were psychological influences from his hearing loss that affect his compositions in this period (267). In fact, in a scholarly article published in the British Medical Journal, Edoardo Saccenti uncovers the progression of Beethoven’s hearing impairment by analyzing the use of high notes in his compositions. In Saccenti’s research, he considered notes above G6, which is about 1568 Hz, as high notes and counted the high notes in the exposition from the first violin part of each string quartets. Furthermore, he divided Beethoven’s quartets in four groups instead of examining each quartet. The first group focused on early period from 1798 to 1800 including Opus 18, the second group ranged in the middle period from 1805 to 1806 including Opus 59, the third group also ranged in the middle period from 1810 to 1811 with Opus 74 and 95, and the forth group focused on his late period from 1824 to 1826 including Opus