     Beethoven used dramatic changes in dynamics to give his symphonic writing a unique flavor.  No composer before Beethoven had such orchestration skills.  He fashioned aggressive orchestral tuttis injecting a percussive quality greater than either Haydn's or Mozart's works.  The four-note motive, which has been described as "fate knocking at the door," opens the symphony as a unison statement.  The ensuing  first thematic area is a pyramid of the motive.  The first movement is in a sonata-allegro form with an enlarged development section.  The basic motive proves so organic that even the coda of the work acts as another development section. 
     
     Another unique feature is the short oboe solo which acts as a  cadenza, not at all a common occurrence in a symphony.  The forte entrance by the French horn which announces the upcoming recapitulation is likewise an innovation; so much so, it was once thought of as an error in the score. The development section is brilliant in that the motive is not only a building block, it is itself broken down to a two note idea.  This movement expanded previous notions of motivic development and symphonic form.

     The second movement is in 3/8 and is a theme and variation (see Part I for a diagram).  In this movement the rhythmic four note motive supplies the accompaniment in slow repetitive statements.  As in the third movement which is also three beats to the measure, the motive takes all three beats of one measure and ends over the bar line with the emphasis on the down beat, the fourth note.  If you count as the orchestra plays, you will feel the motive and hear it appear everywhere.  

     The third movement is a scherzo which means joke. The minuet form is  traditionally the third movement of a symphony.  The only difference here, is that the word "minuet" in the form is replaced by the word "scherzo."   The minuet which gave birth to the scherzo was a dance with a lilting 3/4 meter.  The scherzo is no longer dance-like; perhaps this is the joke.  It moves with aggression and builds powerfully and connects to the last movement without stopping.  The transition to the last movement is one of the most dramatic moments in the work.  The last two movements blend into a soaring and heroic finale.  The movement from the key of C minor to C major underscores the victory.