Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 “Pastoral”
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Allegro ma non troppo – The Awakening of Joyful Impressions on Arrival in the Country
Andante molto mosso – Scene by the Brook
Allegro – Joyful Gathering of Country Folk
Allegro – Tempest, Storm
Allegretto – Shepherd’s Song, Glad and Thankful Feelings After the Storm
If Beethoven’s Fifth is built around a rhythmic motif, his Sixth overflows with melody and harmony. Both works made their debuts in the same chilly Viennese concert hall in December of 1808, and the “Pastoral” Symphony led off the four hour concert. Over the course of five movements—the final three played without pause—the music celebrates the simple pleasures of rural life and the wonder of nature. Alongside the drone of a bagpipe and a rustic dance, the sounds of a babbling brook, the calls of a cuckoo, a nightingale and a quail are heard. Ironically, Beethoven’s hearing had deteriorated enough by this time that such sounds were but a distant memory. Beethoven briefly expresses rage with a summer storm: the wind, thunder, and lightning tossing the music into evermore distant keys, before returning to F major. The sunlight returns, and the bucolic mood is restored with the shepherd’s song and we are left grateful for sharing this musical journey. As Beethoven once said, “No one can love the country as much as I do. For surely woods, trees, and rocks produce the echo which man desires to hear.”
