Beethoven · Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven Symphony No. 6 in F major, "Pastoral"
A country walk with even the titles written into the score
- Key
- F major
- Composed
- 1808
- Premiere
- 1808 Vienna
- Duration
- about 39 min
- Movements
- 5 movements
- Instrumentation
- Woodwinds 2·2·2·2 (+ piccolo) · Brass 2·2·2·0 · Timpani · Strings
The story behind this piece
Beethoven loved nature dearly and enjoyed walks along country paths. He wrote this piece in 1807–08 right alongside No. 5, "Fate," and the two premiered together at the same concert on December 22, 1808. Unlike the dark, intense Fifth, it's a bright, relaxed companion piece.
Each of the five movements has a title: "Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arrival in the country," "Scene by the brook," "Merry gathering of country folk," "Thunder, storm," and "Shepherd's song: happy, thankful feelings after the storm." Even so, Beethoven insisted that the piece is "more an expression of feeling than painting."
The idea of portraying nature in five movements actually appeared in a similar form in an 1784 work by a composer named Knecht.
What to listen for
- End of the 2nd movement: the flute is a nightingale, the oboe a quail, and the two clarinets cuckoos! Beethoven even wrote the birds' names into the score
- 3rd movement: a scene of a clumsy village band playing with gusto
- Storm in the 4th movement: the timpani, piccolo, and trombones, saved up in earlier movements, make thunder and lightning
Listen · Score
Credits