Can someone explain Beethoven to me?

Like, what does "5th symphony" or "Opus 27" mean?

Can someone explain Beethoven to me?performing arts center

Usually, a number designation like Fifth Symphony, Third Concerto or Twelfth Sonata is used to designate the order in which the pieces were composed relative to other pieces in that genre by the same composer. However, Beethoven (like many other composers) didn't always publish everything in the order that he wrote them in. The second piano concerto was actually written before the first, but published later; hence the title. It wouldn't do for the publisher to put out Beethoven's Second Concerto before there had been a first.

Usually, an Opus number is more helpful chronologically. Opus is latin for 'work' or, in the context of music, 'composition'. So it simply means composition number___. Some composers publish things out of the order they composed them in, but still assign opus numbers according to date. However, Beethoven assigned opus numbers in order of publication, which actually makes cataloguing his works much easier on paper. Unfortunately, I can't think of an example of somewhere a composer gave an opus lower opus number to a piece published later, but I can say that if Beethoven had assigned opuses according to composition date, the First Concerto (opus 15) would have a higher opus number than the Second (opus 19).

Not all composers used opus numbers, it is by no means something expected of a composer, but many of the notable ones did (Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Chopin, Dvorak, Grieg, Holst, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saens, Prokofiev, Khachaturian). Great composers like Bach, Mahler, Mozart, Debussy, Vaughan Williams, Liszt and Ravel all did not use opus numbers, but in many cases someone has come and catalogued their works (Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis for Bach, K?chel-Verzeichnis for Mozart, Searle number for Liszt, Lesure number for Debussy).

As someone else mentioned, Opus can also refer to a group of works which are published together. For example, Beethoven's Opus 31 encompasses the 16th and 17th piano sonatas; Opus 27 includes the 13th and 14th.

Actually, now that I think harder, I believe there was some incongruency in the catalogue of Dvorak's works, as an example. The complete works were catalogued by a man named Burghauser, and Opus numbers were only assigned to a limited number of those. So in a complete catalogue, pieces will be arranged by 'B.' and some of the opus numbers will be out of order, such as how the Fifth symphony is Opus 76, while the Sixth is Opus 60.

Can someone explain Beethoven to me?sunshine opera theater

you can search that up in wiki.answers.com, google.com, yahoo.com, ask.com, search.com, or wikipedia.com
The 5th Symphony was the fifth symphony that Beethoven wrote. Some of his symphonies have names such as the Choral (9th) and the Pastoral (6th).

Opus means the number of a group of works. See the link below for more information.
Beethoven wrote 9 symphonies - the fifth one was "The Fifth". Usually composers symphonies are numbered in order. Haydn for example wrote 104!

Most famous composer's works are catalogued and assigned as "opus" number. Opus is simply latin for "work." The compilers of these catalogues attempt to number the works in order that they were composed. Some composers have catalogues that are named according to the name of the guy who compiled the catalogue, Mozart for example, has a "K" or Kochel number for his works (from 1 to 626).
Opus 27, strictly speaking, means that it was the 27th thing Beethoven wrote. Because Beethoven was very organised, his opus numbers are usually in order. Other composers, who were not as organised, sometimes have their opus numbers out of sequence. Beethoven does have the occasional out-of-sequence work, such as his 2nd piano concerto, which was written first. It is known as his 2nd because he had it published and performed after he wrote what is known as his 1st.

'5th symphony' does indeed mean the fifth symphony he wrote. A symphony is a large work for orchestra, in three, four or sometimes five sections, called movements. The most famous movement of the fifth is the first movement. A symphony is different from other works for orchestra, such as a concerto, because there is no one 'main' instrument. Sometimes the instruments have solo sections but there is no overriding important instrument.