Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93

I. Allegro vivace e con brio: the symphony opens without introduction, launching straight into a bouncing theme that immediately gets loud and soft answers, as if two groups are arguing about how to play it.

II. Allegretto scherzando: a ticking, staccato accompaniment (said to imitate a metronome) underpins a playful tune; listen for the way the joke of the steady ticking never quite lets up.

III. Tempo di menuetto: instead of the fast scherzo Beethoven usually favored, he goes back to the old-fashioned stately minuet, complete with a horn-and-clarinet trio section that sounds like a rustic serenade.

IV. Allegro vivace: a rushing, whispering finale full of abrupt outbursts, including a startling loud note that seems to land in the wrong place, and a coda that keeps threatening to end before it actually does. Throughout, the piece trades grandeur for wit, packing surprises into a smaller frame than the symphonies on either side of it.

Beethoven composed his Eighth Symphony in 1812, during the same productive stretch that produced the Seventh, while spending time at the Bohemian spa town of Teplitz. He led its premiere in Vienna in 1814 on a program that also included the Seventh Symphony, which drew far more attention that night. Beethoven is said to have preferred the Eighth to its more celebrated neighbor, reportedly asking why the Seventh was liked so much more, since the Eighth was "so much better." Coming after the weighty Fifth and expansive Seventh, its compact size and comic touches puzzled some early listeners expecting another grand statement, but it has since become valued precisely for its wit and concision.