France: Burgundy, Pays de la Loire

The tour of France takes us to Burgundy, to the Pays de la Loire, to Franche-Comt and elsewhere and includes glimpses of the 17th-century Chteau de Cheverny, with its hunting museum and souvenirs of the chase, and the Chteau d’Arlay, with its site for falconry. The Chteau de Bussy-Rabutain was rebuilt in the middle of the 17th century by Count Roger of Bussy-Rabutain, exiled from the French court after his scandalous Histoire amoureuse de Gaules, a literary preoccupation reflected in his collection of pictures. The restored gardens of the Chteau de Villandry are seen in their formal lay-out. The music chosen to accompany the tour of the fertile and varied landscape of France is by Beethoven and consists principally of his Pastoral Symphony, a work that reflects his feelings, as he recollects a visit to the countryside. The symphony includes elements of realism in its versions of bird-calls and its depiction of a storm, followed by a song of the thanksgiving, when the storm has passed. Also included is the Romance in G, a single movement for solo violin and orchestra, possibly intended for a violin concerto that was never written.