Symphony 6

A long-standing Friend of the Norfolk Symphony Orchestra, who had watched the excellent "Eroica" film on TV, recently asked me to explain the significance of Beethoven over and above the obvious musical one. Put simply, Beethoven was the first musician to assume a social standing which took him out of the realm of the composer as an employee, demanding an importance in society commensurate with his genius. Both his predecessors, Haydn and Mozart, relied on an employed position for their livelihood, a situation which Haydn accepted but Mozart didn't. He struggled against the bonds of employment which was unsympathetic to his talent, eventually failing to break free and ending his life in penury. It was left to Beethoven to establish the "artist's" status in society solely on the strength of his music. Indeed, as the TV film showed, Beethoven, at times extremely abrasive, had scant regard for his "superiors" on the social ladder. It was his tearing apart of the social hierarchy that gave all composers the right to be equal with their fellows on the strength of their ability rather than birth. By coincidence, this is the basis of Gilbert and Sullivan's opera "Iolanthe". Beethoven's symphonies show an extraordinary diversity.

Who could have imagined, hearing the almost conservative "classical" form of the First Symphony, that it would be followed by the intensity of the "Eroica", the strength of the Fifth, the passion of the Seventh and the transcendental depths of the "Choral" with its magnificent "Ode to Freedom"? In between these seminal symphonies, Beethoven wrote strongly contrasted but much more traditional works, none more revered than today's descriptive "Pastoral". The following was inscribed on the back of the title page of the first violin part: "Pastoral Symphony or a recollection of Country-life. (An expression of feeling rather than painting)".

Each movement is headed with a descriptive caption: "Cheerful impressions on arriving in the country": "By the brook": "Peasants merry-making": "Tempest and Storm": "The Shepherd's Hymn - Thanksgiving after the Storm". The music, although less powerful than the third, fifth, seventh and ninth symphonies, was certainly innovative in having a definite "programme" of events, paving the way for other composers such as Berlioz and Mahler to base some of their works on an almost literary concept rather than on purely musical ideas. However, as ever, it is the strength of the music itself rather than any programme, which stands paramount. Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony" is full of invention and charm, making its effect by inspiration and form as well as using such novelties as the imitation of the songs of the nightingale, quail and cuckoo in the second movement.