Learning to Fly: The Journey of the Fate Symphony

The Romantic symphony is typically about Fate: the artist is first knocked about by Fate ( in the First Movement), introspects (in the Second Movement) and strengthens himself (in the Third Movement) , before dealing Fate the knockout punch (in the Grand Finale). The trick is simple, but vital and inspiring, which is, of course, why it works everytime!

The first and greatest Fate symphony is of course Beethoven’s 5^th: the composer himself said of the Ta-ta-ta-tum motif that “Fate knocks at the Door.” From there to the wild jubilation of the Finale is one of music’s greatest journeys which can leave few people unmoved. Because the Fate symphony not just opens up the composer’s anguish to the listener, but also the listener’s own anguish to himself, and thereby  forms a connection which makes one able to relate to the music.

Even if it is ultimately a form, a device, but the reason it works (most of the time) is the genuineness of the emotions depicted, the way they reflect what we all feel and would express if only we could know how to notate for trumpets and trombones and oboes and timpani!

Two of my own favourite Fate symphonies are Brahms’ 1^st and Tchaikovsky’s 5^th (though it is his 4^th which is actually called the “Fate Symphony”). In the 19^th century, if you loved Brahms you could not love Tchaikovsky but thankfully in 2011, you can, and these two works both work because of the masterly way they express  angst and build up the emotional connect before  resolving it in grand jubilant finale. (If you want a “Fate Concerto” by the way, Rachmaninov is your man!)

Sometimes, though the struggle and its aftermath would be more ambiguous: what does one make of the quiet ending of Tchaikovsky’s 6^th (Pathetique) symphony?: here the artist has clearly lost at the end. In Shostakovich’s 5^th and 7^th symphonies, probably the two most popular “big” works of the 20^th century, the Finale is not a victory at all, more about surviving than conquering Fate, reaching a compromise to live rather than smashing Death to pieces...