When a piece of music is considered a masterpiece, it frequently receives numerous performances by well-rehearsed orchestras in the world’s finest concert halls. But what is often true is that these great works started their musical lives in less than ideal circumstances. Beethoven’s miraculous Fifth Symphony is a case in point. Here is the story a premiere fraught with problems.
In Vienna in the end of the 18th century and the earliest years of the 19th, most orchestral concerts were either lighter summer offerings or winter concerts designed to raise money for a charity or for the benefit of a particular composer. Mozart is well-known for presenting these concerts; they were called “Academies”.
In 1807, a series of concerts was started that was solely for the musical enjoyment of the performers and listeners. The orchestra members tended to be dilettantes and the audience was primarily members of noble families. The performances were called Liebhaber-Konzerte, or Concerts for Music Lovers. Twenty such concerts were given in 1807-08, and Beethoven was one of the featured composers.
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