Symphonies and their meaning . 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 in
Symphonies and their meaning . 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. • • •. It is, of course, a prank at masquerading thefirst tune. Some touches defy telling. Righthere, in the next bar, the strings try to run off to 395 SYMPHONIES AND THEIR MEANING another key, another play-ground. The woodwont let them. The strings urge, the woodrefuse. Then they run off and for a momentplay strutting soldiers. But it is all too lightfor heavy words. On returning, the first waltz-like dance has a new, delicate pathos, where asecond voice discourses sweetly in flowingmeasure fitted to the slow glide of the theme. A rough bit of barbaric play interrupts inreckless Presto. It jangles in our Westernears. We lose our sense of tonal bearings, andare glad to return once more to the gentler paceof the German dance. Allegro con Spirito. In the Finale is undoubtedly the historiccolor and the mediaeval swing of the all the danger of finding fixed meanings,there is no doubt of this, that Brahms, of course,all unconscious in the creating, stands in thehighest branch of t
Size: 2522px × 991px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherlondonjblippincott
