Symphony No.6 in F major (Pastoral), Op.68

Awakening of happy feelings on

arrival in the countryside: Allegro ma non troppo

Scene by the brook: Andante molto mosso

Peasants’ merrymaking: Allegro -

Storm: Allegro -

Shepherds’ song - glad, thankful feelings after the storm: Allegretto

Beethoven was faced by a dilemma. On the one hand, he disapproved of programme music, which he regarded as trivial; on the other hand, his love of nature had inspired in him the desire to write a symphony which would reflect his delight in the countryside. It took him at least as long as five years - from 1803, when he wrote the first sketches for the Pastoral Symphony, to 1808, when he completed it - to resolve the dilemma. As the subtitle indicates - “Recollection of country life (more an expression of feeling than painting)” - the solution was to avoid description of the countryside scene and to communicate instead the emotions it aroused in him.

So the first movement is based on an unpretentious country dance tune with an attractive skip in its step. Since it would be incongruous to subject this to sophisticated development processes, the theme (or at least its skip motif) is simply and tirelessly repeated, giving rise to two other main themes and never losing its freshness or its innocence.

One of the earliest sketches for the Pastoral Symphony is a few bars of music under the heading “Murmuring of the brooks.” It is this music, atmospherically scored for strings, which runs throughout the slow movement almost without interruption. The patch of birdsong towards the end - nightingale on the flute, quail on the oboe, cuckoo on the clarinet - though obviously descriptive is admitted because such imitation is a long established musical convention.

Beethoven, who is said to have written country dances for the band at The Three Ravens near Mödling, knew all about peasant merrymaking. His very authentic scherzo, with a country-dance trio related to the first movement by the skip in its step, is interrupted by a brilliantly scored Storm - another accepted musical convention which his audience would have recognised immediately.

The last movement is even more daring in its simplicity, in its tonal stability and thematic uniformity, than the first. But inevitability is not the same thing as predictability: Beethoven is always one inspiration ahead, right up to the touching personal prayer of thanksgiving just before the final muted horn call.

Awakening of happy feelings on

arrival in the countryside: Allegro ma non troppo

Scene by the brook: Andante molto mosso

Peasants’ merrymaking: Allegro -

Storm: Allegro -

Shepherds’ song - glad, thankful feelings after the storm: Allegretto

“No one can love the country as much as I do,” Beethoven once remarked. He regularly spent his summers in the countryside round Vienna and he certainly found inspiration there, sometimes composing as he walked, notebook in hand. Even so, as a composer he was clearly aware that his relationship with nature was far from straightforward. Although his Pastoral Symphony was conceived as an expression of his delight in nature, he disapproved of illustrative music, which he regarded as trivial, even in parts of Haydn’s Seasons and Creation. It took him at least as long as five years - from 1803, when he wrote the first sketches for the Pastoral Symphony, to 1808, when he completed it - to resolve the dilemma. As the subtitle of the work indicates - “Recollection of country life (more an expression of feeling than painting)” - the solution was to avoid description of the pastoral scene and to communicate instead the emotions it aroused in him.

The first movement - which Beethoven headed “Awakening of happy feelings on arrival in the countryside” - is based almost exclusively on an unpretentious country dance with an attractive skip in its step. There are other themes but they receive little attention in comparison with the dance tune so modestly introduced by violins in the opening bars. Since it would be scarcely appropriate to involve such an innocent tune in sophisticated development processes, still less to subject it to dramatic key changes, the main theme (or at least its skip motif) is tirelessly repeated in a variety of shapes and colours and slowly changing harmonies. Right up to its last appearance on a solo flute it never loses its freshness.

One of the earliest sketches for the Pastoral Symphony is a few bars of music under the heading “Murmuring of the brooks.” It is this music, atmospherically scored for strings, which runs throughout the slow movement (“Scene by the brook”) almost without interruption. The patch of birdsong towards the end - nightingale on the flute, quail on the oboe, cuckoo on the clarinet - is obviously illustrative but is admitted because such imitation was a long-established convention, part of the material of music.

Beethoven, who is said to have written country dances for the band at The Three Ravens near Mödling, knew all about peasant merry-making, the subject of the third movement. His very authentic scherzo, with a village-band episode and a country-dance trio related to the first movement by the skip in its step, is interrupted by a brilliantly scored “Storm” - another accepted musical convention which his audience would have recognised immediately for what it is.

The “Shepherds’ song - glad, thankful feelings after the storm,” which magically follows the “Storm” without a break, is even more daring in its simplicity, its tonal stability and thematic uniformity than the first movement. But inevitability is not the same thing as predictability: Beethoven is always one inspiration ahead, right up to the touchingly personal prayer of thanksgiving just before the final muted horn call.