Ludwig van Beethoven performed Symphony No. 5, perhaps the world's most famous musical composition, for the first time in public in Vienna on this day in history, Dec. 22, 1808. Among other incredible ...

Although the Fifth Symphony is considered one of Beethoven's greatest musical works, at the time of its premiere the composer's contemporaries were still smitten with his Third Symphony (the "Eroica") ...

“He has … the power to make you feel at the finish: Something is right in the world.” That’s Leonard Bernstein on Beethoven during a segment of CBS’ 1950s ...

Beethoven's Fifth Symphony — with its famous, jolting first four-notes — broke expressive ground and overturned many of the formal concepts on which the classical symphony had been based. The scoring ...

Consider the warhorses: those pieces of music that have seemingly permanently wedged their way into the standard kit of Western cultural literacy, repeated and reprogrammed as if by reflex. And ...

The opening four notes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 are the most iconic in all of music. There’s an apocryphal story that Beethoven called those four notes “fate knocking at the door.” But the very ...

The Beethoven 9 as we explore the world of Beethoven through the lens of his symphonies with renowned classical biographer Jan Swafford. Each month is dedicated to a different symphony. Each week ...