"It’s said that when Beethoven became deaf, the music he missed above all was birdsong. The ‘Pastoral’ Symphony is a tender, affectionate picture of the countryside he loved so much, from a babbling brook to a violent thunderstorm. But it’s not merely pictorial. In this very personal music, Beethoven pours out his joy at being in nature.
Photo: Supplied by APO
The joy in the Seventh Symphony is all about rhythm. Wagner referred to this work as the ‘apotheosis of the dance’. He was right. This irresistible music skips and springs and leaps with vigour, yet also with miraculous lightness and grace." - APO
Programme:
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No 6 in F Op 68, Pastoral;
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No 7 in A Op 92
Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Giordano Bellincampi
Find out more and listen to this performance here:
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No 6 in F Op 68, Pastoral
Performed by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Giordano Bellincampi
Beethoven's walk in nature, by Julius Schmid. Photo: Public Domain
Beethoven was a lover of nature. Long daily walks were a feature of his life. His diary records his wonder in the outdoors: "Almighty in the forest! I am happy, blissful in the forest: every tree speaks through you … In such a wooded scene in the heights there is calm, calm in which to serve Him."
The 6th Symphony holds several novelties: descriptive titles, a programmatic element, and pictorial details like the bird calls in the slow movement and the village band in the scherzo. Beethoven, though, believed that beyond these features the work could generally speak for itself. He prefaced his one and only set of movement titles with the tempered heading: "Pastoral Symphony, more an expression of feeling than painting."
His headers continued:
"1st piece: pleasant feelings which awaken in men on arriving in the countryside. 2nd piece: scene by the brook. 3rd piece: merry gathering of country people, interrupted by 4th piece: thunder and storm, into which breaks 5th piece: salutary feelings combined with thanks to the Deity."
Programme Note: Kevin Keys
Recorded by RNZ Concert in Auckland Town Hall, 29 July 2021
Engineer: Adrian Hollay; Producer: Tim Dodd
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No 7 in A Op 92
Performed by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Giordano Bellincampi
Giordano Bellincampi conducts the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Photo: Adrian Malloch
By the mid-1810s Beethoven was widely acknowledged as Europe's preeminent composer. This didn't make him the continent's most popular or accessible. For many, his music, like his personality, seemed difficult – as summed up in Goethe's observation:
"His talent amazed me; unfortunately, he is an utterly untamed personality, who is not altogether in the wrong in holding the world to be detestable, but surely does not make it any the more enjoyable either for himself or for others by his attitude."
With his 7th Symphony however, he seemed to capture the need for an almost Bacchanalian release for a Viennese public who'd suffered at the military whims of Napoleon for the past decade.
The 1813 premiere, for the benefit of wounded soldiers, received only plaudits from public and critics alike. The symphony was played three times in the 10 weeks following. One newspaper described applause rising to "the point of ecstasy" while another reported that "the reception was as animated; the [second movement], the crown of modern instrumental music, as at the first performance, had to be repeated."
Even Beethoven was, however briefly, content, calling it "one of the happiest products of my poor talents".
Programme Note: Kevin Keys
Recorded by RNZ Concert in Auckland Town Hall, 29 July 2021
Engineer: Adrian Hollay; Producer: Tim Dodd
