The Fourth Symphony is probably Beethoven’s least well known, probably because it is sandwiched between the Third Symphony, at that time the largest and most complex symphony ever composed, and the powerful and uplifting Fifth Symphony.

In September, 1806, Beethoven was a visitor at the home of Count Franz von Oppersdorff in Upper Silesia (now in Poland), where he was treated to a performance by the court orchestra of his own four-year-old Second Symphony. A great fan of that work Oppersdorff commissioned a new symphony and, despite having already begun the Fifth, Beethoven set it aside in favor of the work that was to become the Fourth.

Haydn’s influence surely lies behind the symphony’s opening, though it is doubtful whether he ever composed a symphonic slow introduction quite so searching and ambiguous. A more likely inspiration might have been the ‘Representation of Chaos’ that begins Haydn’s oratorio The Creation. A bold Allegro vivace follows leaving the dark opening behind.

The second movement is a tender Adagio with some angry and unexpected outbursts. The third movement is in the form of a scherzo in which Beethoven decided for the first time to expand the form so that the bounding first section is heard three times and the second (in this case a lilting tune for the winds) twice. The humorous mood continues into the finale, a movement again in the spirit of Haydn.