| Symphony No. 6 | |
|---|---|
| byLudwig van Beethoven | |
 Part of a sketch by Beethoven for the symphony | |
| Other name | Pastoral Symphony |
| Key | F major |
| Opus | 68 |
| Composed | 1802 (1802)–1808 |
| Dedication | Prince Lobkowitz Count Razumovsky |
| Duration | About 40 minutes |
| Movements | Five |
| Premiere | |
| Date | 22 December 1808 |
| Location | Theater an der Wien,Vienna |
| Conductor | Ludwig van Beethoven |
TheSymphony No. 6 inF major,Op. 68, also known as thePastoral Symphony (German:Pastorale[1]), is asymphony composed byLudwig van Beethoven and completed in 1808. One of Beethoven's few works containing explicitlyprogrammatic content,[2] the symphony was first performed alongside hisfifth symphony in theTheater an der Wien on 22 December 1808 ina four-hour concert.[3][4]
Beethoven was a lover of nature who spent a great deal of his time on walks in the country. He frequently left Vienna to work in rural locations. He said that the Sixth Symphony is "more the expression of feeling than painting",[5] a point underlined by the title of the first movement.
The first sketches of thePastoral Symphony appeared in 1802. It was composed simultaneously with Beethoven's more famous Fifth Symphony. Both symphonies were premiered in along and under-rehearsed concert in the Theater at der Wien in Vienna on 22 December 1808.
Frank A. D'Accone suggested that Beethoven borrowed the programmatic ideas (a shepherd's pipe, birds singing, streams flowing, and a thunderstorm) for his five-movement narrative layout fromLe Portrait musical de la Nature ou Grande Symphonie, which was composed byJustin Heinrich Knecht (1752–1817) in 1784.[6]
The symphony is scored for the following instrumentation:
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The symphony has five, rather than the four movements typical of symphonies preceding Beethoven's time, although there are no pauses between the last three movements. Beethoven wrote a programmatic title at the beginning of each movement:
| No. | German title | English translation | Tempo marking | Duration | Key |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I. | Erwachen heiterer Empfindungen bei der Ankunft auf dem Lande | Awakening of cheerful feelings on arrival in the countryside | Allegro ma non troppo | 7-13 minutes | F major |
| II. | Szene am Bach | Scene by the brook | Andante molto mosso | 9-13 minutes | B♭ major |
| III. | Lustiges Zusammensein der Landleute | Merry gathering of country folk | Allegro | 2-6 minutes | F major |
| IV. | Gewitter, Sturm | Thunder, Storm | Allegro | 2-3 minutes | F minor |
| V. | Hirtengesang. Frohe und dankbare Gefühle nach dem Sturm | Shepherd's song. Cheerful and thankful feelings after the storm | Allegretto | 7-11 minutes | F major |
A performance of the work lasts about 35-46 minutes, depending on the choice of tempo and whether the repeats in the 1st and 3rd movements are omitted.
The symphony begins with a placid and cheerful movement depicting the composer's feelings as he arrives in the country. The movement, in2
4 meter, is insonata form, and itsmotifs are extensively developed. At several points, Beethoven builds up orchestral texture by multiple repetitions of very short motifs. Yvonne Frindle commented that "the infinite repetition of pattern in nature [is] conveyed throughrhythmic cells, its immensity through sustained pure harmonies."[7]
The second movement is another sonata-form movement, this time in12
8 and in the key of B♭ major, thesubdominant of the main key of the work. It begins with the strings playing a motif that imitates flowing water. The cello section is divided, with just two players playing the flowing-water notes onmuted instruments, and the remaining cellos playing mostlypizzicato notes together with the double basses.
Towards the end is acadenza for woodwind instruments that imitates bird calls. Beethoven helpfully identified the bird species in the score:nightingale (flute),quail (oboe), andcuckoo (twoclarinets).
The third movement is ascherzo in3
4 time, which depicts country folk dancing and reveling. It is in F major, returning to the main key of the symphony. The movement is an altered version of the usual form for scherzi, in that the trio appears twice rather than just once, and the third appearance of the scherzo theme is truncated. Perhaps to accommodate this rather spacious arrangement, Beethoven did not mark the usual internal repeats of the scherzo and the trio.Theodor Adorno identifies this scherzo as the model for the scherzos byAnton Bruckner.[8]
The final return of the theme conveys a riotous atmosphere with a faster tempo. The movement ends abruptly, leading without a pause into the fourth movement.
The fourth movement, inF minor and4
4 time, is the part where Beethoven calls for the largest instrumentation in the entire piece. It depicts a violent thunderstorm with painstaking realism, building from distant thunder (quiet tremolos on cellos and basses) and a few drops of rain (eighth-note passages on the violins) to a great climax with loud thunder (timpani), lightning (piccolo), high winds (swirling arpeggio-like passages on the strings), and heavy downpours of rain (16-note tremolo passages on the strings). With the addition of the trombones later in the movement, Beethoven makes an even more tremendous effect. The storm eventually passes, with an occasional peal of thunder still heard in the distance. An ascending scale passage on the solo flute represents a rainbow. There is a seamless transition into the final movement. This movement parallelsMozart's procedure in hisString Quintet in G minor K. 516 of 1787, which likewise prefaces a serene final movement with a long, emotionally stormy introduction.[9]
The finale, which is in F major, is in6
8 time. The movement is insonata rondo form, in an Intro-[A-B-A]-C-[A-B-A]-Coda structure. Like many finales, this movement emphasizes a symmetrical eight-bar theme, in this case representing the shepherds' song of thanksgiving.
The final A section starts quietly and gradually builds to an ecstatic culmination for the full orchestra (minus piccolo and timpani) with the first violins playing very rapid triplettremolo on a high F. There follows a ferventcoda suggestive of prayer, marked by Beethovenpianissimo,sotto voce; most conductors slow the tempo for this passage. After a brief period of afterglow, the work ends with two emphatic F-major chords.
Stephen Ledbetter suggests that the symphony isprogram music (as noted above) only in a fairly limited way:
One thing that aroused discussion of the new Symphony—a debate that lasted for decades—was the fact that Beethoven provided each movement of the work with a program, or literary guide to its meaning. His titles are really only brief images, just enough to suggest a setting. Manyromantic composers and critics saw in this program a justification for the most abstruse kinds of storytelling in symphonic writing, but the program is not necessary for an understanding of the music as Beethoven finally left it, for there is nothing here that departs from expectation simply for narrative reasons.[10]
He adds, "Much more important for an understanding of Beethoven’s view than the headings of the movements is the note that Beethoven caused to be printed in the program of the first performance: “Pastoral Symphony, more an expression of feeling than painting.”.
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