beethoven - symphony no. 6 "pastoral"

composed symphony to describe his love of the countryside

considered the symphony as ‘the expression of feeling than painting’

programmatic symphony

1- allegro ma nom troppo - f major- sonata form

ii- andante molto mosso’scene by the brook’ (bflat)

iii- scherzo - allegro ‘peasants merrymaking’ (b flat) - based on dance like melodies , end abruptly as peasants notice a storm is about to break and is interrupted by 4th movement

iv- allegro ‘storm’ (fm) - most programmatic

v- allegretto ‘song of thanksgiving after the storm’ (F) - sonata rondo

teh third, fourth and fifth movements are segued together - no break between

beethoven symphony no.6 “pastoral”

allegro ma nom troppo 1st movement

• f major

• simple joyful melody

• 2/4 time

• begins on anacrusis and consists of balanced rising then falling movement- quaver 2 semi , 2 quaver rhythm

• simple rhythmic motifs - typical of beethoven- motif seems to repeat endlessley

• much use of quite dynamics

• generally quiet dynamics , slow harmonic range and simple , joyful melody- represents how beethoven felt regarding the countryside

II - anadante molto mosso ‘scene by the brook’ (bflat - subdominant) - sonata fprm

• andante molto mosso

• 12/8 - flowing legato quzvers or semiquavers - sense of movement / flowing water

• very slow rate of ahrmonic change - sense of calm

• geberally quiet dynamic with ebbs and flows in texture and dynamics

• extensive us eof solo flute

• descripive bird cadenza at the end of secobd movement

  III scherzo allegro - peasanst meerrymaking

• beethoven replaced trad 3rd movement minuet w more kively boisterous scherzo

• beethoven changes the structure ti scherzo-trio - shortened scherzo (cut off by stormrather than standard scherzo trio scherzo

• movement represd ts village musicians and dancers

• scherzo allegro ¾ - dance like beginning feats - pizz,descending patterns in f - alt w more lyrical melody in d

• us eof hemiola in oboe melody from bar 91 - palyed by horns - imitating village band instruments

• rustic 2/4 trio with much us eof folk like drones /pedaks over simple lively melody suggesting villagers dancing

• presto ending of 3rd repeat of scherzo - leads straight into 4th movement storn with no gap between the movements - the storm interrupting the villagers festivities

  IV allegro storm - most programmatic of the movements

• interrupts scherzo -rapid stprm approaching

• churning of four against five in the double basses and celos

• electrci currents of piccolo , timpani and trombone

• alllegro 4/4

• opens w ominous pp tremolo cello and double bass on d flat (semitone above c chords (dominant of f) which ends the scherzp - creates a sense of unease through disonanace

• bass line then rises chromatically , finally reaching fm tonic in bar 21 w tutti ff chord

• quiet for forts 20 bars - building of storm

• lost of quaver / tripley quaver / semiquaver movement - cretaes a sense of momentum

• texture and dynamics build and then diminish - like a changing storm

• off beat sf accents create drama

• piercing high piccolo like flashes of lightning

• timpani roll- sense of grandeur and d alike thrunder

• ends quietly in c major (dominant) w reduction in texture and dynamics as storm subsides

• rising fluet scale leads directly to final movement with no gap

  V - allegretto ‘song of thanksgiving after the storm- (f) sonata rondo

• allegreto in f

• 6/8

• opens with viola repeated open fifths - like folk musid drone udner triadic clarinet motif , then echoed by horn

• lyrical and uplifting triadic, rising vl1 melody - repeated 8ve below by 2nd violins then played by clarinet and horns in tutti orchestration - creates sens eof climax and building sens eof well being

• slow harmoic rhythm - stately , joyful feel

• ebbs and flows in dynamics and texture ( as in other movemenys) in sonata rondo form which keeps returninh to the joyful main melody

• quiet ending leads to final ff tonic chords