成人快手

Who was Beethoven?

A cartoon of Beethoven.

Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most well-known of all time.

He was born in 1770 in Germany and died in 1827.

He composed amazing pieces of music. From and , to and pieces.

A cartoon of Beethoven pointing to the text on the left.

Beethoven started to go deaf at the age of 28. Soon he could only hear music by imagining the sounds in his head.

He tried lots of inventions to help him hear but sadly none of them worked.

Despite this, he still managed to compose incredible music.

A cartoon of Beethoven pointing to the text on the left.
A cartoon of a boy pointing to the words 'Did you know?'.

The beginning of his '5th symphony' is perhaps one of the most famous movements in all orchestral music ever written!

Also, the end of his '9th symphony' is thought by many, to be the greatest ever written!

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What is Beethoven's 5th symphony?

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A symphony is a piece of music for an orchestra to play, that is usually split into four sections.

Beethoven's 'Symphony No.5' begins with one of the famous in the history of music. It has even been used in pop songs!

A motif is a short musical idea. In 'Symphony No.5', the short motif at the start is three short notes, followed by one long note.

A cartoon of a girl thinking.
A cartoon of Beethoven pointing to a pattern of sounds of different lengths with a girl thinking.
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Watch: Lightning Jelly - Duration and tempo

Lightning Jelly meet Beethoven, who explains why duration and tempo are important in his 5th symphony.

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Listen: Beethoven's 'Symphony No.5'

A cartoon of a girl pointing.

Have a listen to this performance of Beethoven's 'Symphony No.5'. How many times can you hear the short, short, short, long motif?

Listen as this motif is then passed around the different instruments of the orchestra.

Watch the 成人快手 National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Thomas S酶nderg氓rd, perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 (1st movement). This performance is from 成人快手 Ten Pieces.

You can find out more about Beethoven with 成人快手 Ten Pieces.

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Activities

Listening challenge

A cartoon of a boy in a wheelchair thinking.

After listening to the orchestra playing Beethoven's 5th symphony, try and answer these questions. Think about how Beethoven uses dynamics, tempo, rhythm and pitch to answer.

  • How did the music make you feel?
  • What is it about the music that made you feel that way?
A cartoon of a boy in a wheelchair thinking.
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Quiz

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Bitesize Primary games. game

Play fun and educational primary games in science, maths, English, history, geography, art, computing and modern languages.

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More on Listening

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