{"id":2069,"date":"2023-01-26T14:56:01","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T13:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/?p=2069"},"modified":"2023-01-28T19:52:09","modified_gmt":"2023-01-28T18:52:09","slug":"beethovens-fifth-symphony-in-world-war-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/beethovens-fifth-symphony-in-world-war-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Beethoven\u2019s Fifth Symphony in World War II"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Morse code, the letter V and the opening four notes of Beethoven\u2019s Fifth Symphony saved the world in World War II? Read on to find out!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Morse code<\/h3>\n

In the 19th-century news and information still travelled slowly. There was desperate need for faster communication! Three Americans, Samuel F. B. Morse, Joseph Henry, and Alfred Vail<\/a>, a painter, a physicist and a mechanical engineer, came up with an idea. They used electrical signals and simple devices to send and receive them. The invention was a package: the idea of using electrical pulses and silence as communication, the devices to make and receive these signals, and finally a code table with corresponding alphabet. They started working on the invention in the 1830s and the first telegram was sent in 1844.<\/p>\n

The pulses are two kinds, short (a dot) and long (a dash). As it happens, in the Morse code the letter V is created by three short and one long pulse:
\n. . . –<\/p>\n

Di-di-di-dah. Familiar\u2026?<\/p>\n

\"first<\/p>\n

The letter V in the Second World War<\/h3>\n
\"v-for-victory-beethoven\"
A postcard showing the V and the first four notes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It all started with the exiled Belgian politician Victor de Laveleye<\/a>. In 1941, he was a guest on one of BBC\u2019s European Service broadcasts and proposed to use the letter V as a symbol for resistance, freedom and ultimately victory. Initially, he was thinking about his people only, the Belgians, who were under Nazi occupation. He called for Vs chalked everywhere to show the occupiers the force of the resistance.<\/p>\n

The sign V soon was everywhere! First, in occupied territories, including France and The Netherlands. Realizing the propaganda value in this simple sign, by the proposal of Douglas Ritchie<\/a> (Colonel Britton), the BBC launched their own campaign called V for Victory<\/em>. The V spread like wild fire. It was on walls, on cloths, tanks…everywhere!<\/p>\n

Nobody made bigger impact in this campaign than Winston Churchill<\/a>, who started using the V as a hand gesture (two-finger form) from July 1941. He said, \u201cThe V sign is the symbol of the unconquerable will of the occupied territories and a portent of the fate awaiting Nazi tyranny.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The first four notes in Beethoven\u2019s Fifth combined with the V<\/h3>\n

It was only natural, that soon the letter V, and what it symbolizes, combine forces with Beethoven\u2019s Fifth Symphony. As it turns out, the Fate Symphony<\/a> really has something to do with fate!<\/p>\n

Letter V in Morse code is di-di-di-dah<\/em>, which happens to be the opening motif of Beethoven\u2019s Fifth Symphony, which happens to be a symphony about struggle and victory, which symphony also happens to be his fifth, that is V in roman letters! Destiny? Fate? Coincidence?<\/p>\n\nhttps:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/first-four-notes.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

The V and its audio companion became part of everyday life during the war. From simple knocking on doors, to calling the waiter in a restaurant, teachers clapping to silence children, even church bells. The V and Beethoven was everywhere! Most importantly, it was the radio signal of BBC broadcasts all over the world, sending the di-di-di-dah<\/em> hundreds of times every day! Before long, it became the universal symbol of the Allied war effort.<\/p>\n

Listen to the original BBC signal made with timpani!<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Recording-1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nazi Germany, always clever and crafty with propaganda, could not manage the situation. Initially they banned the V and even considered using it a sabotage. More annoying was the fact that now Beethoven, whom Nazis tried to use as symbol of German power and creativity, was on the other side!<\/p>\n

One famous adaptation of the V comes form France, where Maurice van Moppes, during the worst German bombing of London in 1941, made lyrics to the Fifth and called it \u2018La chanson des V\u2019<\/em> (The song of V).<\/p>\n

\"La
La chanson des V<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The original lyrics in French (first stanza)<\/p>\n

Il ne faut pas
\nD\u00e9sesp\u00e9rer
\nOn les aura
\nIl ne faut pas
\nVous arr\u00eater
\nDe r\u00e9sister
\nN’oubliez pas
\nLa lettre V
\nEcrivez la
\nChantonez l\u00e0
\nV, V, V, V<\/p>\n

It is interesting to observe how present and contemporary Beethoven is in history. When the Berlin Wall had fallen down in 1989, again ending an era of tyranny, Leonard Bernstein conducted a historic concert to celebrate the event. It was Christmas Day and it was Beethoven\u2019s Ninth Symphony. What else could it be?<\/p>\n

\n

Related articles<\/h3>
  1. \"What<\/a><\/div>
    What is Beethoven's Fifth Symphony called?<\/a><\/div><\/li>
  2. \"Golden<\/a><\/div>
    Interstellar Beethoven: the Golden Record in space<\/a><\/div><\/li>
  3. \"Tempo<\/a><\/div>
    The tempo in Beethoven\u2019s Fifth Symphony<\/a><\/div><\/li>
  4. \"What<\/a><\/div>
    What is special about Beethoven's Fifth Symphony?<\/a><\/div><\/li>
  5. \"Interesting<\/a><\/div>
    Interesting facts on Beethoven\u2019s Fifth Symphony<\/a><\/div><\/li>
  6. \"The<\/a><\/div>
    The instrumentation of Beethoven\u2019s Fifth Symphony<\/a><\/div><\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    How Morse code, the letter V and the opening four notes of Beethoven\u2019s Fifth Symphony saved the world in World War II? Read on to find out! The Morse code In the 19th-century news and information still travelled slowly. There was desperate need for faster communication! Three Americans, Samuel F. B. Morse, Joseph Henry, and Alfred Vail, a painter, a … <\/p>\n

    Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2070,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[92,9,87],"class_list":["post-2069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discover","tag-beethovens-symphony-5","tag-beethovens-musical-legacy","tag-music-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}