Symphonies and their meaning . 3—*—J- JTi ^ sd X- ^JJi fi] 3r i^ ;^ ^4 4 S^ -&? p—» Once more the questioning, grubbing spiritis roused, rearing now a stormy whirl of rebel-lious doubts. He is laid by a last, calm, broadverse of the main song. Allegretto Grazioso (§>uasi Andantino). In Andantes there is a new Brahms. Archi-tectural depth must yield there to lyric direct- 393 SYMPHONIES AND THEIR MEANING ness. In the slow movement is the true poetwho shows that German folk-song is not ex-hausted, as he does elsewhere in his gloriousLieder; that it has new strains, which come fromthe bo
Symphonies and their meaning . 3—*—J- JTi ^ sd X- ^JJi fi] 3r i^ ;^ ^4 4 S^ -&? p—» Once more the questioning, grubbing spiritis roused, rearing now a stormy whirl of rebel-lious doubts. He is laid by a last, calm, broadverse of the main song. Allegretto Grazioso (§>uasi Andantino). In Andantes there is a new Brahms. Archi-tectural depth must yield there to lyric direct- 393 SYMPHONIES AND THEIR MEANING ness. In the slow movement is the true poetwho shows that German folk-song is not ex-hausted, as he does elsewhere in his gloriousLieder; that it has new strains, which come fromthe border-land of newer races. In these song-movements is tested the sentiment of the poet;in the Allegros, the broad view and structuralpower. In the Scherzos there is a second departure,almost as great as in the first. The humor ofBrahms seems largely an expression of Hun-garian lightness. There is complete absenceof polyphony. He begins with child-likedance with odd accent: Allegretto gracioso (Quasi andantino). TV. f>izz. Cellos. There is much, too, of Tyrolese drollery. Itis all a jolly bourgeois, not to say peasant is none of the serious humor of Beetho-ven. Yet we do not mean at all that it does 394 SYMPHONIES AND THEIR MEANING not belong as justly in the symphony. Suchprohibition would be intolerable. A symphonyeven can bear no philosophic intent, unless itbe quite unconscious. In the lightness ofBrahmss pleasant frolic there is much realpoetry. The humor is in all kinds of smallest touches;sometimes it is a teasing play of voices; atothers, of groups of instruments,—a humor oforchestration. You would not catch it in apiano arrangement, as there are sudden modula-tions or surprises of accent. From the daintywaltz melody of the beginning there darts outa queer, quick dance in even time: Presto ma non , Violas, and Cellos. • • •
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