Beethoven 5th facts
While investigating facts about Beethoven 5th, I found out little known, but curios details like:
"Smoke on the Water" riff is an interpretation of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, Played Backwards.
When pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli couldn't go through with his performance of Beethoven's 5th piano concerto, Glenn Gould was given a call to replace him the day before. In a few hours, he rehearsed the concerto he hadn't touched in four years and performed it flawlessly.
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 7 of the best facts about Beethoven 5th I managed to collect.
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Walter Murphy, the composer of the Disco adaptation of Beethoven's 5th symphony known as "A Fifth of Beethoven", has also served as one of the main composers for the TV show Family Guy since 1999
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Beethoven's 5th symphony was also known as the Victory Symphony. Coincidentally, the Roman numeral V is 5. Also, V in Morse code is short-short-short-long, similar to the opening motif.
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The riff from the song 'Smoke on the Water' by Deep Purple is Ritchie Blackmore's "interpretive inversion" of Beethoven's 5th, wanting to "get across to the people" similarly to the styles of The Kinks and The Who.
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A writer asked Beethoven about the reason for the unusual opening for the 5th symphony and its meaning. Beethoven answered: "‘The beginning sounds and means: You are too dumb.’"
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In the movie V for Vendetta, the letter "V" is hidden everywhere: Fireworks, bloodstain, flags, clock... My favorite one is in the 4 first musical notes of Beethoven's 5th Symphony. ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ = "V" in morse code
