Leonore Overture No. 3 in C major op. 72b

For the second version of Fidelio, Beethoven’s only theatrical foray, this overture, named after the opera’s female protagonist, was prepared. The story of Leonore, who struggles against political oppression, even disguises herself as a man (Fidelio) and even goes so far as to be hired as a guard in order to be reunited with her wrongfully imprisoned husband, resembles a portentous 19th-century retelling of the myth of Orpheus seeking Eurydice in Hades. The triumphant conclusion of the overture leaves no doubt as to the path from imprisonment to freedom won by Florestan thanks to Leonora’s love and tenacity.

Symphony No. 6 in F major op. 68 Pastoral

In addition to its sublime music, the strength of the “Pastoral” lies in its philosophical vision: with every note, one breathes reconciliation between Man and Nature, between gaze and landscape. Far from offering a reassuring vision of festively attired shepherds, Beethoven becomes the narrator of a new way of relating art and nature: he is no longer an eighteenth-century composer who observes atmospheric phenomena and reproduces their sounds onomatopoeically; but neither is he the wayfarer that Caspar David Friedrich would paint, to whom nature presents itself as an uncontrolled, wild force. Having loosened the rigid scheme of the traditional symphonic form, the “Pastorale” thus takes flight dictating a tempo all its own, which is the inner tempo of the composer-narrator, immersed and at times stupefied in feeling part of the miracle of the world.