Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 107 "Reformation"

The symphony moves through four connected sections that build toward a hymn tune many listeners will recognize by the end.

I. Andante, Allegro con fuoco: A slow, solemn introduction quotes an old church melody called the "Dresden Amen," a rising phrase later famous from Wagner's Parsifal. The music then breaks into a stormy, fast main section in D minor, full of urgent string figures and sudden accents.

II. Allegro vivace: A light, dance-like movement in a major key offers relief after the drama of the first movement, built from a simple bouncing tune passed between sections of the orchestra.

III. Andante: A short, songful slow movement, mostly for strings, functions almost like a quiet held breath before the finale. It leads without a real pause into the last movement.

IV. Andante con moto, Allegro vivace, Allegro maestoso: A solo flute quietly introduces "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," Martin Luther's own hymn. The orchestra takes up the tune piece by piece, building through faster music until the full ensemble delivers the hymn in a broad, triumphant statement to close the symphony.

Listeners unfamiliar with the hymn will still hear its long, stepwise phrases return and grow more insistent, giving the piece a clear sense of arrival.

Mendelssohn composed this symphony in 1830 for the planned tercentenary celebrations of the Augsburg Confession, the founding document of Lutheran Protestantism presented in 1530. He was in his early twenties and deeply versed in Bach and the German Protestant musical tradition. The anniversary festivities were canceled, and the symphony did not receive its premiere until 1832, in Berlin, under the composer's own direction. Mendelssohn later grew dissatisfied with the piece and did not push for its publication during his lifetime. It appeared in print only in 1868, more than twenty years after his death, and was numbered fifth among his symphonies even though it was actually composed before symphonies later numbered lower. Today it is valued for the youthful energy of its outer movements and its unusual use of a Lutheran chorale as a symphonic finale.