Program Notes: Beethoven Pastoral Symphony

CHARLES COREY 
Together, This Journey 
BORN: November 17, 1984 
WORK COMPOSED: 2019–2020 
PREMIERE: February 9, 2023, with the Seattle Symphony, conducted by Lee Mills 

A note from the composer:

"The story of Together, This Journey is one of inclusivity. 

"The musical material for this score was generated during a series of collaborative musical workshops I presented to a group comprised of clients from the Northwest Center — an organization dedicated to helping people of all abilities — and staff and musicians from the Seattle Symphony. Over several sessions, we developed compelling sounds, shared ideas about orchestration and built a formal structure. More importantly, over several sessions, we developed relationships, shared ideas through improvisation and built a community. 

"While Together, This Journey uses every bit of material chosen by this group, it draws even more on the environment of these workshops, evoking the sense of building something together, of helping one another, of experiencing joy, and of anticipating the next gathering." 

Charles Corey © 2020 

JOÃO GUILHERME RIPPER 
Cinco poemas de Vinicius de Moraes 
BORN: August 20, 1959 
WORK COMPOSED: 2013 
PREMIERE: May 30, 2013, with the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Alondra de la Parra 

If you are unfamiliar with the name Vinicius de Moraes, you’ve likely experienced his work. The laid-back cool of “The Girl from Ipanema,” the sonic touchstone of bossa nova, is his; he co-wrote it with composer and guitarist Antônio Carlos Jobim. Upon his death in 1980, Moraes left behind a corpus of poems that ranged from modernist experimentation to sensorial reflections of everyday life, and is remembered as one of the creators of bossa nova via his work as a lyricist. And Moraes’ poetry found its way into music.

Whether working in 19th century Germany or 20th century Brazil, classical composers turned to the craft and imagery of poets for inspiration and expression, a tradition João Guilherme Ripper continues through his song cycle, Cinco Poemas de Vinicius de Moraes (“Five Poems by Vincius de Moraes”). Educated in Brazil, Argentina and France, Ripper has created repertoire for every classical genre, and currently serves as president of the Brazilian Academy of Music and director of Sala Cecilia Meireles. His “Five Poems by Vincius de Moraes” was commissioned in 2013 by the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (OSESP), which debuted the composition with soprano Carmen Monarca and conductor Alondra de la Parra.  

The first movement, Uma música que seja, is luscious and uncertain, the soprano supported by the gentle interplay of the orchestra. The second, O poeta aprendiz, is a playful, skewed scherzo with a contrasting lyrical section. This movement is full of pointed articulations and quirky angularity, the timbral introduction of a drum set harkening to the poet’s connection to jazz and bossa nova. Poema dos olhos da amada is a somber and rapturous third movement, the vocalist leading the emotional arch. The fourth, Lapa da Bandeira, returns to the skewedness of the second movement, but is more serious and reflective. The fifth and final movement, A partida, is triumphant, and features a wide range of orchestral colors and energetic virtuosity from the vocalist. Overall, “Five Poems by Vincius de Moraes” shows the emotive impact of music inspired by poetry and the vibrancy of timbres the symphony orchestra can produce. 

A. Kori Hill © 2023 

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN 
Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Opus 68, “Pastoral” 
BORN: December 16, 1770, in Bonn, Germany 
DIED: Vienna on March 26, 1827, in Vienna, Austria 
WORK COMPOSED: 1803–1808 
PREMIERE: December 22, 1808, in Vienna

What to Listen For: 

• Picturesque musical figures convey aspects of country scenes throughout the “Pastoral” Symphony: birdcalls in the second movement, rustic dancing in the third, a thunderstorm in the fourth. 

• The finale brings a grateful hymn in one of Beethoven’s most radiant melodies. 

Beethoven’s love of nature has been amply documented. Many of the composer’s acquaintances recalled the joy he seemed to find in woods and meadows. “He loved to be alone with nature, to make her his only confidante,” reported one of Beethoven’s closer companions. Another acquaintance asserted that he “had never met anyone who so ... thoroughly enjoyed flowers or clouds or other natural objects.” Each summer, Beethoven moved his lodging to a rural area outside of Vienna, where he habitually took long walks through the fields and forests, an activity that seldom failed to lift his spirits. “It seems as if in the country every tree said to me ‘Holy! Holy!’,” the composer once confessed. “Who can give complete expression to the ecstasy of the woods?” 

Who, indeed, if not Beethoven himself? In 1803, the composer made preliminary sketches for a symphony intended to convey the glories of a sylvan landscape, but five years passed before this work took final shape. Beethoven completed his Sixth Symphony in the summer or early autumn of 1808. The composer himself devised the title “Pastoral Symphony, or a recollection of country life.” He also provided the descriptive headings that precede each of the five movements. Even without these guides, there could hardly be any mistaking the pictorial qualities of this composition. The symphony draws on a well-established repertory of musical onomatopoeia to convey specific phenomena such as birdcalls, a storm and more, figuration that already had a long and illustrious history. Vivaldi’s quartet of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons, for example, use variants of many of the devices we find in the “Pastoral” Symphony. 

But Beethoven evidently worried that listeners would give too much attention to these picturesque elements, for he appended a caveat to the symphony’s title: “More an expression of feelings than tone painting.” The qualification is important. Nature clearly meant more to Beethoven than just a pleasing landscape or woodland sounds that could be imitated through clever musical imagery. It was, rather, a wellspring of purity and beauty, something to be held in reverence. And it is the composer’s great feeling for nature, far more than musical allusions to flowing water and birds and a storm, that lies at the heart of the “Pastoral” Symphony. 

The first movement, entitled Awakening of cheerful feelings on arriving in the country, seems expansive and unhurried despite its Allegro ma non troppo tempo indication. Certain critics have complained of a static quality in this music, and superficially it does seem that very little happens. Harmonies remain unchanged for dozens of measures at a time, and motifs are repeated over and over without variation. But in fact, a great deal happens. The repeated figures never lack a strong sense of direction and are dappled with ever-changing orchestral colors. The slow harmonic motion lends each change of chord heightened significance. Despite its relaxed character, the movement is carefully and handsomely shaped. 

The final three movements (Happy gathering of villagers: Allegro—, Lightning, Thunderstorm: Allegro— and Shepherd’s Song; cheerful and thankful feelings after the storm: Allegretto) are linked by a continuous dramatic thread. The scherzo third movement has the robust quality of the peasant dances Beethoven encountered on his walks through the countryside. But this “merry gathering” is interrupted by an ominous rumbling in the low strings, and a tempest breaks out in full symphonic fury. 

Calls from clarinet and horn signal the end of the storm and lead to a radiant theme in the strings, the principal subject of the finale. This melody is child-like in its simplicity, entailing almost nothing but the outlines of the most primary chords yet it seems almost divine in its beauty. It conveys innocent gratitude and transcendent joy. Beethoven attributes these feelings to his imaginary shepherd but they are, of course, his own.  

And it is these feelings and others already expressed, all very human feelings, that distinguish the “Pastoral” Symphony from countless other musical depictions of nature penned by composers throughout the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries. By now, the significance of this landmark composition comes clearly into focus. The traveler arriving in the countryside, the peasants dancing, the shepherd singing after the storm — throughout his symphony, Beethoven, that great humanist, celebrates not just nature, but mankind in nature. 

Paul Schiavo © 2023