Note
In speaking of the first four notes of the opening movement, Beethoven said, some time after he had finished the Fifth Symphony: “So pocht das Shicksal an die Pforte” (“Thus Fate Knocks at the Door”); and between that opening knock, and the tremendous rush and sweep of the Finale, the emotions which come into play in the great conflicts of life are depicted.
—From Upton’s Standard Symphonies.