Classical Club June 2006: Beethoven's Sixth Symphony

[duchess of malfi]

I know I am posting this early, but I will be either very busy, or out of town and have no computer access for the next four weekends.

To begin with, here are some sites with background on Beethoven and/ or this particular piece of music:
inkpot.com/classical/beethsyms.html
and
park.org/Guests/Beethoven/6.htm

and I even found a weird spoof site:
www.brumm.com/music/Beethoven.html

Now on to my impressions of this piece of music and why I enjoy it.

But first I must get my inner fangirl gushing out of the way.

Beethoven's music is frigging amazing! He was a genius! He has so MUCH passion!!!



As you can tell, the music of Beethoven just does it for me.

My all time favorite piece of music in any genre is his Ninth Symphony, but I am afraid to even try to discuss that, as I am sure that with my nonmusical background I could never even begin to do it justice.

After the Ninth, it is a tossup as to whether I prefer the Fifth, Sixth, or Seventh.

But since it is springtime, I chose to talk about the Sixth this month.

Here in Michigan we have looooooooooong cold snowy winters. It is a rare and special occasion when we get to see the sun in the winter months. We have a lot of cloud cover in this part of the world during the winter. We dream of the sun, of being able to be outside without twenty gazillion layers of clothing, of being able to eat out on our decks, sleep on top of the grass in the sunshine, picnic next to a brook, hear the birds singing.

They must have plenty of crappy winter weather in parts of Germany and Austria, too, because Beethoven captures the great Michigander dream of a perfect spring/summer day out in the country in his Sixth Symphony. It is the musical equivalent of a gorgeous Impressionist painting of a spring day filled with flowers and water.

So come along on this beautiful June day for a picnic in the country. Listen to the babbling brook. Listen to the birds flying around and singing. Maybe a band will play for us, and we can dance. Maybe a storm will pass through ,and we can snuggle up together with a bottle of fine wine and watch the lightning. And then after the storm passes, we can relax some more with some sweet white wine and crusty French bread and delicious gourmet cheese, and plenty of dark chocolate and fresh fruit, and give thanks for our safety and happiness on a beautiful afternoon.

[safetyjedi]

Can I join Duchess? I will go out and get Beethoven's 6th this weekend and join the fun.

[duchess of malfi]

You are very welcome to join me on my dream picnic on a lovely summer day.

When I listen to this music, I think of this wonderful afternoon my family and I spent with Fist and his family at this beautiful swimming hole in the Catskill Mountains in New York called the Blue Hole.

Lovely mountain stream, picnic next to the water, good company.

No dancing or thunderstorm, though.

[safetyjedi]

As long as there's fishing in it, I'm there. Might as well make me cane or wheelchair free too.

[duchess of malfi]

You can fish and catch frogs with the boys. And you can be the finest dancer of us all.

[matrixman]

Duchess, let me just say, the spoof site is HILARIOUS!

I'm afraid the Pastorale is the Beethoven symphony I listen to the least, just as the Eroica is among your least favorite. Maybe it's because I'm used to Beethoven's symphonies being about storm and fury, therefore it feels odd to suddenly encounter pleasant weather. Even the thunderstorm in the 4th movement is brief and not particularly heaven-storming. Tornado? What tornado? (-from the parody) The dark clouds in this symphony are a minor nuisance, easily swept aside by the generously good cheer all around. Sparkling sunshine prevails.

It is the musical equivalent of a gorgeous Impressionist painting of a spring day filled with flowers and water.

That about sums it up for me, too.

I don't have a problem with "happy" music per se. I don't even think of this symphony as being especially happy in its feeling, just an overall sense of contentment...which may or may not be the same thing. It just feels weird coming from Beethoven, that's all.

[Worm of Despite]

Personally, I think it's a shame that Beethoven's only remembered for his heroic works. To get a full portrait of Beethoven as a man and composer requires more than the profound/angry image that is so often accepted. There was a warmer, more intimate side, and the 6th reflects this. You can feel his love of nature, his proclamation of its holiness. Heck, this is the guy who wrote the "Ode to Joy" and the playful 4th symphony. He combated deafness and personal ills through the triumph of his music.

Speaking of the 6th: definitely my most played, as the weather is all full of life and such. Beethoven was painting fluid pictures with music almost a century before the Impressionists came along. One might venture so far as to say the 6th anticipated ambient music of the 20th century, which evokes a sense of place/time/nostalgia. In any case, the B-man was on to something. Perhaps my favorite symphony, along with the 9th and 3rd.

Regrettably, though, I don't listen to his symphonies that much anymore. It's been mostly his later, more mature works: string quartets, piano sonatas, and the Missa Solemnis. Comparing his symphonies with them is like comparing the bicycle with a space shuttle. In any case, I won't deny their passion, but they've ceased being the "end-all-be-all" of his works for me. While the 3rd movement of the 9th symphony still enthralls me, it was the 3rd movement of String Quartet No. 15--the Heiliger Dankgesang--that nearly made me cry.

String Quartet No. 14 is my favorite, though, as far as overall consistency. Got to agree with Schubert when he said: "After this, what is left for us to write?"

[matrixman]

I might take exception to your bicycle-space shuttle comparison, LF. Well, maybe it just means you're a more "mature" listener than I am, heh. Seriously, I think that you, as a musician with a musician's ear, probably do grasp any given piece of music quicker than us non-musicians. Which is why you're able to quickly move on to Beethoven's other works, whereas someone like me is still absorbing the symphonies. It's pretty obvious from your postings in Vespers over the years that you're a kind of person who goes through a lot of music, and I envy your ability to keep all of it straight in your head. I'm not built like that. My rate of music appreciation goes a lot slower.

I've only listened once to the Missa Solemnis, and I'm sorry to say it didn't do much for me. Yes, the shocking truth: not everything Beethoven wrote was magic to my ears. Maybe I would get more out of the music if I heard it in concert, but that's debatable. Like I said, maybe you're able to perceive the music better because of your musician's ear.

On the other hand, if we're talking contemporary classical music, I think my passion would run as deep as your love of Beethoven's late period stuff.

[Worm of Despite]

I might take exception to your bicycle-space shuttle comparison, LF. Well, maybe it just means you're a more "mature" listener than I am, heh. Seriously, I think that you, as a musician with a musician's ear, probably do grasp any given piece of music quicker than us non-musicians. Which is why you're able to quickly move on to Beethoven's other works, whereas someone like me is still absorbing the symphonies. It's pretty obvious from your postings in Vespers over the years that you're a kind of person who goes through a lot of music, and I envy your ability to keep all of it straight in your head. I'm not built like that. My rate of music appreciation goes a lot slower.

Ha, I wish I had a musician's ear! I have a "I-took-one-music-appreciation-class-and-made-some-crappy-albums-ear!":lol: But thanks much for the compliments. I suppose I will own up to my high-speed consumption of music. It stems from an old belief that I'm going to die soon. I guess it's true, if one considers geological time.

But really: sorry if I sound like I insulted the symphonies back there. Trust me: they're amazing, and I'm still trying to unravel those monsters. It's just that the quartets and the sonatas had an indescribable effect on me. I'm still stumbling away from them, stunned. Bach was my favorite composer--and maybe he still is--but now Beethoven is butting heads with him in my mind because of those late pieces. Oh, and Mahler's symphonies have also been battling Beethoven's for my personal favor.

It's very similar to me changing from a favorite band, really. If I'm forced to compare Pink Floyd with the Beatles, then I might talk disparagingly about the former in order to boost the latter in my mind. But I love them both, in reality.

On the other hand, if we're talking contemporary classical music, I think my passion would run as deep as your love of Beethoven's late period stuff.

No doubt! My interest in classical music stops at Bartok; from there, I'm a rock and roll guy. Might go in for Phillip Glass and John Cage and the minimalists one day, but it's a huge mountain range and I'm not ready yet.

Oh, saw a cool thing in London: at the Tate Modern gallery they were playing John Cage on every floor. It was so weird; you'd walk in a room containing paintings by Picasso, and there in the corner would be the Kreutzer Quartet playing Cage's music! In another floor might be four people playing brass instruments, and on another might be people just talking nonsense. There was also one kid who walked around the Gallery holding a stereo that was playing some spoken-word piece by Cage! Exciting stuff, and they only did it for a day or two I think.

[safetyjedi]

The Pastorale to me is one of Beethoven's most significant works. The subtleties present throughout the entire symphony are even mre astounding considering that Beethoven was nearly completely deaf. I do have a hard time listening to it if I'm the least bit tired because it is very relaxing. I just love it though!