quality:correction
III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace – Trio

The third movement is a lively scherzo with trio in rapid time. It is between 5 and 6 minutes long.

The A theme of the outer scherzo section appears pianissimo in the dominant key of B ♭ (mm. 7, 21), then piano in the secondary dominant key of F which is when the B part of the outer scherzo is heard (m. 41). This is followed by a pianissimo restart in B ♭ (m. 73), which is when the A theme is heard again, leading to a full fortissimo statement in the tonic key of E ♭ (m. 93). Later, a downward arpeggio motif with sforzandos on the second beat is played twice in unison, first by the strings (mm. 115–119) and then by the full orchestra (mm. 123–127). This is followed by a syncopated motif characterized by descending fourths (m. 143), leading to the repeat.

The trio section features three horns, the first time this had appeared in the symphonic tradition. The scherzo is then repeated in shortened form, except that very notably the second occurrence of the downward unison motif is changed to duple time (mm. 381–384). The movement ends with a coda (m. 423) – with Beethoven marking the word in the score which was unusual for him – that quickly builds from pianissimo to fortissimo, encapsulating the pattern of the whole movement.