The “Pastoral” Symphony: What Are Invariable and Variable Conditions?

Let us consider the following phrase: “Yesterday I was walking (on the beach, in the woods, in town, in the park); when evening came, I decided (to go home, to the theater, to the cafe), etc.” In this phrase, certain conditions can change, but others cannot without changing the entire meaning of the sentence, or its character in a given context. In other words, certain conditions can change without having to tell a different story. We can apply this primitive example to a musical phrase and structure. I will take Beethoven's “Pastoral.” We could isolate the first motive and analyze its specific material, but I will do this later. What really interests me is what comes next.

Typically, analyses instruct us how an entire composition is consciously developed and knitted together from the first motive. Yet each analysis goes a bit further. In these personalized statements, we get the feeling—through all the phraseology in which the work is wrapped—that all of the creative joy has disappeared and that everything is a mere calculation, or a game of construction with blocks. This opposes our view of musical creation and plainly shows that the work did not take shape this way. Therefore, we can offer a different point of view. Certainly, my statements will also be subjective, but in my opinion, they will come closer to the facts that each composer, whether it is Beethoven or someone else, will probably find true. Thus there is no reason a composer could not apply his statements in place of those “analyses” with which he disagrees.

In order to clarify my aims in this essay, I would like to note a number of things. Beginning a composition is a rather mysterious process that often cannot be described or determined by the composer and certainly not by someone who sees only the finished work. Up to now, most analyses have been purely deductive and have relied on speculations that are not supported by practical and concrete facts.