The trio is a fiery Fugato with strange outbursts on the basses. The curious hesitations on its re-appearance and the weird bridge passages at the end, with the long sustained chord on the strings and the mysterious drum tapping, cause the movement to veer gradually round to the fiery march-like coda, with its light, graceful, contrasted episodes. The Scherzo theme insinuates itself into the Finale near the coda, which is of amazing brilliancy, ending with a Presto which fairly sweeps the hearer away with it.
The orchestra is the largest the composer has used so far. It includes three trombones, double bassoon, and piccolo, which, however, are only used for the brilliant Finale.
6th Symphony (Pastoral) in F, Opus 68.
Dedicated to Prince von Lobkovitz and Count von Rasumovsky.
Pastoral Symphony, or a recollection of country life.
More an expression of feeling than a painting.
Allegro ma non troppo—Andante molto moto—Allegro—Allegretto.
This Symphony, often slighted on account of its so-called realisms and its classification amongst "programme music," is, nevertheless, one of the finest pieces in the whole range of absolute music. The labelling of the various movements by Beethoven—"Joyous sensations roused by arrival in the country," "Scene by the brook," "Merry gathering of country peasants," "Thunderstorm," "Glad and grateful feeling after the storm"—is quite superfluous. How artistically Beethoven has introduced the bird calls—the quail, the nightingale, and the cuckoo—into just the right place—the coda of the Andante. And the thunder-storm. What a magnificent introduction to the Finale it makes! Beethoven has never once transgressed the great principles of form and balance in this Symphony.
The opening movement is a true country picture, full of the tonics and dominants of summer happiness.
