Background
Beethoven was a lover of nature who spent a great deal of his time on walks in the country. He frequently left Vienna to work in rural locales.
The first sketches of the Pastoral Symphony appeared in 1802. It was composed simultaneously with Beethoven's more famous—and more fiery—Fifth Symphony. Both symphonies were premiered in a long and under-rehearsed concert in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, on 22 December 1808.
The composer said that the Sixth Symphony is "more the expression of feeling than painting", a point underlined by the title of the first movement ("Awakening of cheerful feelings...").
Read more about this topic: Symphony No. 6 (Beethoven)
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