Beethoven Symphony no.6 (Pastoral)

Date

1808

Movements

1. Allegro awakening of arrival in country. 2. Scene by the brook. 3. Scherzo - peasents merrymaking. 4. Allegro storm. 5. Allegretto song of thanksgiving after the storm.

Overview

Very gentle and pastoral. Very programmatic. Explicit narrative.

Overall form

5 mvts driven partly by pastoral narrative. Traditional symphony pattern if storm is excluded. Many later 5 mvt symphonies adopt this plan of traditional symphony + an extra just before final

Mvt3 (menuet)

More rustic peasent dance than minuet. Unusuall as trio is played twice although last repeat of scherzo is shortened.

Development of orchestra

Innovative effects used - for example lower strings making thunder and higher woodwind making lightning. however the orchestra is no larger than that for his 5th symphony.

Harmony/tonality

Diminished 7ths play major role in beginning of storm mvt.

Drama/programme

Each mvt loosely depicts a scene from nature. Slow mvt has bird calls and a representation of a village band in the 3rd.

Folk + nationalism

Use of simple folk-like melodies often over drones and pedals in 1st and last mvts. Pastoral keys (F major) and metres such as 6/8 are common with folk. 3rd mvt - “Merry Dances of the Countryfolk” is very folk. Last mvt has a specific type of Shepherds song called “Call to the cows”. R

Rhythm

Rhythm is used for programmatic effect. In 3rd mvt, oboe gets one beat out from accompaniment making it unusually syncopated. In storm mvt, thunder is created with quintuplet semiquavers against normal semiquavers.