Beethoven – Symphony No.6 in F major ‘Pastoral’ (1808)

It was on 22 December 1808 that Beethoven held a concert that had the following programme:

Symphony 6 in F major ‘Pastoral’

‘Ah! Perifido’ (a concert aria for soprano)

Gloria from the Mass in C major

Piano Concerto No.4 in G major

[Interval]

Symphony 5 in C minor

Sanctus from the Mass in C major

Improvised solo from Beethoven

Choral Fantasy for piano, choir, and orchestra

Today’s choice opened the first half of this mammoth event. How explicit is the ‘pastoral’ (or countryside) in this work? Beethoven said that this symphony is “more the expression of feeling than painting” of the countryside, although it has programmatic elements in the thunderstorm movement, and the sound of shepherd’s pipe, country dances, and birdsong. Perhaps this hasn’t been helped by Disney’s depiction of the work in

The movements are:

• Allegro ma non troppo ‘Erwachen heiterer Empfindungen bei der Ankunft auf dem Lande’ (Awakening of cheerful feelings on arrival in the countryside)
• Andante molto mosso ‘Szene am Bach’ (Scene by the brook)
• Allegro ‘Lustiges Zusammensein der Landleute’ (Merry gathering of country folk)   
• Allegro ‘Gewitter, Sturm’ (Thunder, Storm)
• Allegretto ‘Hirtengesang: Frohe und dankbare Gefühle nach dem Sturm’ (Shepherd’s song: Cheerful and thankful feelings after the storm)

Despite the gentle nature of the work, Beethoven doesn’t stray too far – the first two movements are in sonata form, the third is a scherzo, and the fifth a sonata form rondo.

It’s the fourth movement which uses the most interesting orchestration and is worth listening to for the thunder in the cellos and double basses, the drops of rain in the violins, thunder on timpani, lightning in the piccolo, and addition of trombones for fuller effect.