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Symphony no.6: 1st movement (Allegro man non troppo)
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bars 1-4
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Right at the beginning the pastoral mood is expressed by the sustained fifth (in the celli and violas), whereas the violins intone a rural theme of 4 bars. This F-major main theme of the movement is based on the melody of a Croatian dance-song.
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bars 9-33
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In the 9th bar a new theme occurs, a secondary theme, also in F major, whose last bar assumes a kind of independence: it is repeated 10 times before the return to the main theme. In just a few bars - to quote Beethoven - it is not nature that is painted, but man’s mood on confronting nature, i.e. warmth, ease, peace. The artistic means he uses to achieve this are the sostenuto bass and the brief themes.
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bars 67-82
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Here the secondary theme is not used as a contrast to the main theme, but as a reinforcement of the existing mood.
The same purpose - reinforcing the prevalent mood - is served by the closing group of the movement.
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bars 151-178
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In the development Beethoven becomes a painter of moods. The 2nd bar of the main theme is given a special prominence and with it he modulates from B-flat major without any transition.
He applies the same technique to that very bar when he modulates from G major to E major.
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bars 243-270
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In 27 bars - with just one interruption by the main theme - this one motif (2nd bar of the main theme) is used.
In the development the secondary theme is reintroduced. It is expanded to a fortissimo and forms the brilliant ending of this section, which initiates the recapitulation by a trill on G.
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bars 428-453
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In the Coda Beethoven resumes the main theme and the motif of the epilogue. The independent triplet rhythm of the latter is well suited to the poetic idea of the movement. The symphonic structure does not rely on a play of contrasts, but on the transformation and re-arrangement of small melodic phrases.
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bars 476-512
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The 2nd bar of the main theme initiates the real closure of the movement, i.e. an idyll in which the clarinet is the leading instrument and the bassoon the accompaniment.
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