Norman Lebrecht

Why I hate Beethoven’s Pastoral symphony

Norman Lebrecht doubts even Beethoven liked this piece of travel journalism, a parody of country life

Why did Beethoven retract the original movement titles for the Pastoral symphony? Was he recoiling from what he had made of rural living? Credit: Lebrecht Music Arts / Bridgeman Images 
issue 21 January 2023

I loved music before I could walk. It seemed I could harmonise anything my sisters were singing. I had perfect pitch, a mixed blessing since wrong notes made me cry.

I hated music when I first heard Beethoven’s Pastoral symphony. 

I was nine years old. My mother had died when I was two and my father got remarried to a Hitler refugee, half unhinged by exile.

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