Music Man

Ta-ta-ta-TUM, ta-ta-ta-TUM.  You know what that is, don't you?  Yes, the iconic opening of Beethoven's 5th.  The last of the great Classical symphonies.  Somehow it's become fashionable to play it down these days, to suggest that it's not a masterpiece any more.  But it is, it is.  The first movement is about as perfect a piece of classical sonata-form as you could wish for.  The second movement hints at the Romanticism to come, the third is back to classical again, and the fourth is full-on Beethoven bringing it all to a climax - what's not to like?  And of course it just so happens that dit-dit-dit-dah is Morse code for "V" so the first four notes became the wartime symbol of "V for victory" on the BBC, hence the symphony's nickname of The Victory.  One of the great symphonies - let it be.