There is a big, simple question every conductor and analyst has to ask themselves about the Fifth Symphony, and that question is- “how many movements are there in this symphony?” Is it four? Three? Two? Hmmm. Sibelius’ constant evolution of thematic ideas forces him to abandon the very idea of recapitulation in the Fifth Symphony, trading closure for culmination. He said of the Fifth that it was “in a new form… the whole, if I may say so, a spirited intensification to the end.” creating a pivotal structural crisis (moving away from the tonic for the second theme of a sonata allegro movement), exploring the ramifications of that crisis (the development) then solving it (by staying in or strengthening the tonic in the recapitulation). In a work like the Fifth Symphony, Sibelius had moved away forever from the Brahmsian, or better yet Beethovenian, idea of formal closure– i.e. However, where Brahms’ motivic development is always carefully ensconced in classical forms, Sibelius takes Brahms’ approach one step farther, and makes the very musical form itself a manifestation of the development of the material. Perhaps only Brahms is equally rigorous in his constant development of motivic cells. It is well known that Sibelius’ approach to symphonic composition was intensely organic- in his mature music everything in a given piece grows from the same little bit of musical DNA.
You’ll want to have a score of the piece handy while working through this essay.
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