Spring Is Coming, Can You Hear The Music?

As the seasons change, so do the sounds around us.

While winter classics such as Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and Handel’s Messiah resonated in music halls across the country, now that spring is near so will be seasonally appropriate music to fill our ears.

They say all music is rooted in nature. As Shakespeare put it: “The earth has music for those who listen.”

As lovers of music it’s not hard to concentrate and hear the rhythms that the world around us presents, be it sounds of the city, the weather or animals going about their day. If we take the time to listen, surely we’ll hear the music. Ambient sounds repeat – making beats; a bird sings – creates a melody; a horn pierces the air – adding a dramatic twist.

Composers get their inspiration from the environment and either get influenced by it or write music as tributes to it.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, also known as the Pastoral Symphony is a perfect example of nature influencing music and a great soundtrack for the coming of spring. It also presents the use of traditional instruments mimicking the sounds of nature.

Completed in 1808, the symphony was influenced by Beethoven’s frequent visits to the Vienna countryside, where he worked in rural locations and took inspiration from his surroundings.

Beethoven believed that the images in his symphony would be so distinct that he even wrote notes on some of his sketches for the piece: “The hearers should be allowed to discover the situations,” and “All painting in instrumental music is lost if it is pushed too far.”

Being only one of two symphonies that Beethoven intentionally titled, perhaps he wanted to give us an opportunity to accurately dramatize the music ourselves.

And dramatic it is, from the very beginning the symphony opens up like the opening credits to a motion picture, complete with sections fit for a montage.

The Image

Below I am going to type the images each movement paints in my mind. Maybe they’ll paint different ones in yours. I’ll start with the first movement:

I. Allegro ma non troppo (“Awakening of Happy Feelings on Arriving in the Country.”)

If you were to say one thing about the first movement it is that it sounds like one long crescendo from beginning to end, it’s as if a giant is halfway waking up from a slumber and falling back asleep, and with each failed attempt to get up the music gets louder.

The strings open up like the rising sun, starting with a soothing alarm, then woodwinds singing like birds, the flute’s gentle sound piercing the atmosphere.

Dry creeks and rivers flow once again as the earth warms up, melting snow.

Strings move from side to side gradually getting louder, perhaps the swaying of trees, fresh leaves dancing or water flowing down a mountainside.

II. Andante molto mosso (“Scene by a Brook.”)

Again the gentle sounds of flutes and the waving motion of the strings.
French horns occasionally pop up, much like a gophers poking their heads from their holes.

This movement ends with the woodwinds making bird calls: the nightingale played by a flute, a quail by an oboe and a cuckoo by a couple of clarinets. A sure sign of that spring is here.

III. Allegro (“Joyful Gathering of the Country Folk.”)

A march as life picks up, the shepherd moves his flock across pastures. Thousands stomp across rolling hills while a bird of prey soaring high surveys the intricacies of spring waking everything up. Flowers bloom, bees do their work.

IV. Allegro (“Thunder. Storm.”)

As the piece continues more images conjure up in our minds. This movement sounds different from the rest. It is suspenseful, as if something has been given chase. If we allow ourselves the imagination one can picture a wolf or eagle hunting, or a spring storm, a stampede of livestock.

V. Allegretto (“Shepherds’ Song: Happy and Thankful Feelings After the Storm.”)

And as quickly as the suspense came, it quiets down again. A sign of relief, whatever happened has passed and similar sounds from the beginning are reintroduced. We must not let a little darkness ruin the moment.

Music Moves

One of my favorite things about classical music is its ability to take you places. Not that other genres don’t, but with classical music I feel it is its purpose. Sometimes you feel as if being lifted and taken to another place – that other place being the state of mind that the composer was in while writing the music or to the state of mind he or she wishes you felt while listening.

Some compositions swallow you whole, chew you up and spit you out feeling devastated (looking at you Mahler’s 9th). Others have the power to heal, moving you from a (possibly) negative emotional state to a more joyous one or simply amplifying your already good mood.

I know Beethoven’s 6th Symphony heals, it takes you on a dramatic ride in the countryside but at the end of it, it drops you off gently, leaving you feeling like a warm boulder in the middle of a blooming meadow.

Spring Music

Perhaps this is why certain music is more popular than others depending on the time of year. Afterall, it is natural to feel down when the sky is dark and the weather is cold. During those months you stay indoors more, rest, your only true objective is to remain comfortable.

On the flip side, you feel energized when the days are longer and the weather is warm. I know my body flourishes during these early months when it’s not too hot or too cold.

Not to say that music associated with the fall or winter is inherently negative, but the music of spring is like an explosion of colors and good feelings.

When the calendar year is coming to an end there comes a time when one must reflect upon the events that have passed, not to mention it’s the holiday season and thoughts are usually with loved ones. When asked about a diet you say – what diet? It is a time of contentment as we say ‘we just want the season to end without massacre.’ When the winter is over we learn from our mistakes and hope for a better year. This is what Beethoven’s 6th Symphony makes me feel – exciting optimism.

I say this as I remember the many times I listened to this symphony while working on this post. How delightful my drives were, especially when combined with clear blue skies and vibrant flora and busy fauna.

Conclusion

I hope that with the help of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 you were able to visualize some scenes of spring in your mind. If you were able to – know you would’ve made Beethoven proud as that was his intention with this symphony.

I encourage you, the reader, to keep listening to classical music and exploring the feelings and pictures that it makes you want to feel and imagine.

This was just one of a many “spring” compositions suitable for this time of year. The other one that comes to mind is Stravinky’s Rite of Spring, which given the opportunity also creates some wicked imagery.