☰

How Beethoven’s 5th

Symphony put the
classism in classical
music
Beethoven’s most famous work
changed the way we listen, and how
we’re supposed to listen.
By Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding on September 16, 2020 2:11
pm

Iris Gottlieb

If you buy something from a Vox link, Vox Media may

earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony starts with an

anguished opening theme — dun dun dun
DUNNNN — and ends with a glorious, major-key
melody. Since its 1808 premiere, audiences have
interpreted that progression from struggle to
victory as a metaphor for Beethoven’s
personal resilience in the face of his
oncoming deafness.

FEATURED VIDEOS FROM VOX

Putin's war on Ukraine, explained

Or rather, that’s long been the popular read

among those in power, especially the wealthy
white men who embraced Beethoven and turned
his symphony into a symbol of their superiority
and importance. For some in other groups —
women, LGBTQ+ people, people of color —
Beethoven’s symphony may be predominantly a
reminder of classical music’s history of exclusion
and elitism. One New York City classical music
fan wrote in the 1840s, for example, that he
wished “all women shall be gagged by officers
duly licensed for the purpose before they’re
allowed to enter a concert room.”

Before Beethoven’s time, classical music culture

looked and sounded quite different. When
Mozart premiered his Symphony 31 in the late
1700s, it was standard for audiences to clap,
cheer, and yell “da capo!” (Italian for “from the
beginning!”) in the middle of a performance.
After Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony debuted in
the early 1800s, these norms changed — both
because the rising industrial merchant class
took ownership of concert halls and because of
shifts in the music itself.

As we explored in episodes I and II of the

Switched On Pop podcast series The 5th, the
musical complexity of Beethoven’s symphony
required a different kind of listening. The Fifth’s
four-note opening theme occurs and recurs in
variations throughout the symphony, slowly
shifting from minor to major keys and mirroring
Beethoven’s experience with deafness. The
Fifth’s creative rule-breaking — subverting the
classical sonata form in the first movement, for
example — requires close listening to fully grasp.

In Mozart’s day, each movement in a symphony

was self-contained, like a collection of short
stories. Beethoven’s Fifth acted more like a
novel, asking audiences to follow a single story
that unfolded over an entire four-movement
symphony. New norms of concert behavior
developed in turn. Sitzfleisch, or “sitting still,”
became the ultimate desideratum for showing
one’s understanding of the new language of
classical music. Over time, these norms
crystallized into a set of etiquette rules (e.g.,
“don’t clap mid-piece”) to enhance the new
listening experience.

In the third episode of The 5th, we explore how

Beethoven’s symphony was used to generate
the strict culture of classical music — and the
politics that undergird those norms of behavior.

Though concert etiquette that evolved in

response to the Fifth may have had the goal of
venerating the music, it can also act as a source
of gatekeeping. “Polite society” first emerged as
a set of cultural standards developed during the
mid-18th century as bourgeois class signifiers. In
Beethoven’s time, new social etiquette extended
into the concert hall.

Today, some aspects of classical culture are still

about policing who’s in and who’s out. When you
walk into a standard concert hall, there’s an
established set of conventions and etiquette
(“don’t cough!”; “don’t cheer!”; “dress
appropriately!”) that can feel as much about
demonstrating belonging as appreciating the
music.

For classical music critic James Bennett II,

Beethoven’s popularity and centrality in classical
culture is part of the problem. “As you
perpetuate the idea that the giants of the music
all look the same, it conveys to the ‘other’ that
there’s not a stake in that music for them,” he
says.

New York Philharmonic clarinetist Anthony

McGill, one of the few Black musicians in the
ensemble, agrees that Beethoven’s
inescapability can make classical music appear
monolithic and stifling. He likens the
inescapability of the Fifth Symphony to a “wall”
between classical music and new, diverse
audiences.

“If you pretend like there’s no other music out

there, that Beethoven is the greatest music that
ever will matter,” says McGill, then orchestras will
alienate new listeners, since “we’re not
promoting any of the composers alive today that
are trying to become the Beethovens of their
day.”

Find out how Beethoven’s Fifth went from

symbolizing freedom to a more complicated
legacy — and how the symphony’s original
meaning might be recovered — in Movement III
of The 5th, available now.

Subscribe to Switched on Pop wherever you find

podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google
Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.

Update, September 16: This article has been

updated to clarify some of the historical views of
the Fifth Symphony and problems of
representation in classical music.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory

journalism?

Millions turn to Vox to understand what’s

happening in the news. Our mission has never
been more vital than it is in this moment: to
empower through understanding. Financial
contributions from our readers are a critical part
of supporting our resource-intensive work and
help us keep our journalism free for all. Please
consider making a contribution to Vox today.

More From Vox

When justice isn’t served, how do we find
forgiveness?

The limits of forgiveness

How to forgive someone who isn’t sorry

Everyone wants forgiveness, but no one is

being forgiven

The promise — and problem — of restorative

justice

The impossible task of truth and

reconciliation

Back to top ↑

Terms of Use / Privacy Notice

© 2022 Vox Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved