# What's your favourite Beethoven Symphony, excluding the Fifth and Ninth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 5, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216 "2017-06-05T20:43:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216/41 "2017-06-09T14:15:29Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > Funny - I did that test and it said that I am a “6th symphony” type, and that Inwould go along well with a “7th symphony” type person ^.^ How did you get access to the test? I clicked on just about every link there and failed. Do you have to become a member or something? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216/42 "2017-06-09T20:43:28Z")
Ok, it’s Bach and not Beethoven. I still have to express my love for the Little Fugue in G Minor. I learned it in 10th grade orchestra and it’s still my favorite classical piece. Unusually versatile, it sounds equally good with organ, brass instruments or string instruments. Brass [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/E2p7I3zmcfc/maxresdefault.jpg "Little Fugue in G minor - J.S.Bach - Canadian Brass") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2p7I3zmcfc) Organ [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PhRa3REdozw/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGH8gRCgfMA8=&rs=AOn4CLCkeT9L0REVj4xBvAFGUJT1KTY_bQ "Bach - Fugue in G minor BWV 578") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhRa3REdozw) My personal favorite Strings [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Yj8Jo15S1qA/maxresdefault.jpg "Bach, "Little" Fugue (G minor, BWV 578)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj8Jo15S1qA) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216/43 "2017-06-09T21:27:42Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Ok, it’s Bach and not Beethoven. Any idea what the deal was with Bach’s [do?](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Bach_face.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216/44 "2017-06-09T22:58:54Z")
6th, then 3d. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216/45 "2017-06-10T01:30:26Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Any idea what the deal was with Bach’s [do?](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Bach_face.jpg) What the heck’s wrong with J.S’s doo??? It’s the same _doo_ I currently sport, and I consider myself cutting edge baroque! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216/46 "2017-06-10T02:33:17Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Ok, it’s Bach and not Beethoven. > > I still have to express my love for the Little Fugue in G Minor. I learned it in 10th grade orchestra and it’s still my favorite classical piece. > > Unusually versatile, it sounds equally good with organ, brass instruments or string instruments. > Brass > [https://youtu.be/E2p7I3zmcfc](https://youtu.be/E2p7I3zmcfc) > Organ > [https://youtu.be/PhRa3REdozw](https://youtu.be/PhRa3REdozw) > My personal favorite Strings > [https://youtu.be/Yj8Jo15S1qA](https://youtu.be/Yj8Jo15S1qA) This has nothing whatsoever to do with this thread. Why not start a new one? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216/47 "2017-06-10T04:58:49Z")
I just made a quick comment about a classical piece that I performed in school and still love. There’s no need for an extended discussion. I can’t recall if we did any Beethoven. The orchestra did some long pieces. I don’t think we did any full symphonies. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216/48 "2017-06-10T06:14:47Z")
Eroica probably, but it depends upon one’s mood. I have a soft spot for the first. I was discussing it with the conductor and some of the orchestra members a couple of weeks ago after a concert where it was played. It should be compulsory listening for any graduate student working on their thesis. It is a perfect PhD thesis in musical form. It has an introduction that sets the overall context. (1s movement.) It has an exposition on the state of the art and shows mastery of he state of the art. (2nd movement.) It has a statement of new contributions and ideas that extend the state of he art. (3rd movement.) It finishes with an exposition and development of those ideas in context. (4th movement.) Of course there was an undercurrent with his tensions with father figures and Hayden’s role in his life that probably contributed to his structuring it this way. It is a literal masterpiece. It isn’t his greatest work, but it is special. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216/49 "2017-06-10T11:41:45Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > It’s funny, although I’m a weak atheist, I hold out some hope that some sort of rectifying afterlife exists in order to rightfully compensate people like Beethoven (and Mozart…and scores of others) who gave so much to mankind, yet received so little in return during their lives, for their genius, yet tortured labor. > > By the time Beethoven composed his 9th symphony, I believe he had transcended humanity and was playing in the realm of the gods. > > Too bad we never got to hear his [hypothetical] 10th. Maybe that’s our punishment. I once calculated that Mozart never made less than $120,000/yr, equivalent, in his Vienna years and his best year of earnings, 1791, he was close to $500k equivalent. (Using data found in Solomon’s _Mozart: A Life_.) The man was universally recognized as a genius from the age of 4, had parents who dedicated themselves to his career, Handel said he was the greatest composer he ever knew… the boy partied, gambled, got laid with numbing regularity, and was just bad with money. Not that much of a “tortured genius”, really. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216/50 "2017-06-10T12:09:24Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > What the heck’s wrong with J.S’s doo??? > > It’s the same _doo_ I currently sport, and I consider myself cutting edge baroque! Not doo, do. Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. Sorry if my failure to capitalize mislead you. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216/51 "2017-06-10T14:44:09Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I once calculated that Mozart never made less than $120,000/yr, equivalent, in his Vienna years and his best year of earnings, 1791, he was close to $500k equivalent. (Using data found in Solomon’s _Mozart: A Life_.) > > The man was universally recognized as a genius from the age of 4, had parents who dedicated themselves to his career, Handel said he was the greatest composer he ever knew… the boy partied, gambled, got laid with numbing regularity, and was just bad with money. Not that much of a “tortured genius”, really. Nitpick: I think you mean Haydn, not Handel. Otherwise, I can’t argue with what you said. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216/52 "2017-06-10T14:58:22Z")
I adore the 6th. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216/53 "2017-06-10T15:08:42Z")
Haydn, yes. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216/54 "2017-06-10T18:00:33Z")
My favorite LVB symphony is the Eighth because it’s obvious that he had a whole lot of fun writing it. I love Ludwig, and too often he seems so sad and tortured. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216/55 "2017-10-24T08:09:58Z")
First off, I don’t care much for the _9th_. I definitely prefer the _7th_ and _6th_, in that order, so these would be my choices, along with the _5th_ of course. As for the remaining five, it depends on my mood. As noted above, the _1st_ and _2nd_ are often overlooked because they kind of pale in comparison to those that followed, but taken for what they are i.e. masterly summations of the Classical symphony, they’re pretty impressive. And they’ve got their quirks, too. The _3rd_ would be an obvious choice but again, I don’t really like it much either. It’s a very fine work, clearly more ambitious and epic than the first two but it doesn’t really move me. The _4th_ is an odd one. The probing, almost suspended introduction is extremely intriguing, it sounds way ahead of its time. Unfortunately, it quickly settles into something more conventional - for Beethoven that is - and isn’t the most memorable piece that he wrote. But those first 2-3 minutes are really striking. Finally the _8th_ always gets my attention. Again, it’s overlooked, stuck as it is between two masterpieces, but it’s actually quite good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-beethoven-symphony-excluding-the-fifth-and-ninth/788216.md?page=2)