Beethoven's Sixth will forever be tied to his Fifth, like twins who seemingly come from different families. These two symphonies were not only written contemporaneously, but they were premiered on the same day in 1808. Where the Fifth stamps its foot down, scattering the birds and clearing the landscape, the Sixth steps lightly along a brook, and it is the environment that crashes, finally, in the form a thunderous fourth movement. We find the composer grateful for the rain in the final movement, however. He is a true nature-lover and does not fail to see the beauty in all of her forms.
Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony
