The New International Encyclopædia/Pastoral Symphony, The

PASTORAL SYMPHONY, The, or Recollections of Country Life. The title of Beethoven's sixth symphony, F major, opus 68, written in the country in 1807, and produced December 22, 1808, at Vienna in the An der Wien Theatre. It belongs to Beethoven's so-called second period, and is representative of the free, joyous music which characterizes his compositions of the years 1800-15. See Beethoven.