Overture Magazine - 2015-2016 Season September-October 2015 | Page 25

program notes {
the heart of this symphony and one
of Beethoven’s most sublime creations.
Arpeggios on muted cellos, violas and
second violins conjure the murmuring
sounds of the brook at Mödling, which
pervade the entire movement. The lovely
themes unfold in leisurely, repetitious
fashion in music that is as lazy and
intoxicating as a summer day. Real
birdcalls appear in an exquisite passage
near the end, in which the solo flute,
oboe and clarinet mimic, respectively,
the nightingale, quail and cuckoo.
Movement 3 (“Merry gathering of
country folk”): In this scherzo movement, we finally meet the people who
populate Beethoven’s pastoral landscape.
According to his amanuensis Anton
Schindler, there was an amateur band that
played at The Three Ravens Tavern near
Mödling, one of the composer’s favorite
summer haunts. These musicians weren’t
the world’s most polished ensemble, but
Beethoven loved them and even composed waltzes for them. Their spirit and

Beethoven

style influenced this jovial peasant-dance
movement. The middle or trio section
has two parts: a pert melody introduced
by solo oboe and a boisterous dance that
sounds like a real Austrian hoedown.
Movement 4 (“Thunderstorm”):
In the “Pastoral”’s most overtly descriptive
passage, the dance is suddenly interrupted
by the ominous rumbling of thunder in
the cellos and double basses. The timpani,
in its only appearance in the symphony,
imitates the crack of thunder, the piccolo

shrieks overhead, and two trombones
add to the ruckus. The frightening sound
deep in the orchestra is produced by
cellos playing rapid five-note patterns
clashing against four-note patterns in the
double basses.
Movement 5 (“Shepherd’s Song:
Glad and grateful feelings after the
storm”): The storm subsides, and a
rainbow appears in the rain-cleansed air.
Beethoven opens his uplifting finale with
the yodeling call of a ranz des vaches or
Swiss shepherd’s song, from which his
“Hymn of Thanksgiving” principal theme
immediately develops. When this theme
reappears near the end, it gradually sheds
its folk simplicity and grows in grandeur
to a sublime apotheosis.
Instrumentation: Two flutes, piccolo,
two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons,
two horns, two trumpets, two trombones,
timpani and strings.
Notes by Janet E. Bedell, Copyright ©2015

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SEPTEMBER– OCTOBER 2015 |

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