Moreover, in
the very character of many of the motives, there is here a striking line
of descent.
_Lento lugubre_, the first scene or picture, begins with a theme in
basses of reeds:
[Music: _Lento lugubre_
(Woodwind)
(Strings)]
with later _pizzicato_ figure of low strings.
An answering strain is one of the most important of all the melodies:
[Music]
On these, a bold conflict and climax is reared. If we care to indulge in
the bad habit of calling names, we might see "Proud Ambition" in the
first motives, intertwined with sounds of sombre discontent. The pace
grows _animando_,--_piu mosso_; _moderato molto_. Suddenly Andante sings
a new, expressive song, with a dulcet cheer of its own, rising to
passionate periods and a final height whence, _Andante con duolo_, a
loudest chorus of high wood and strings, heralded and accompanied by
martial tremolo of low wood, horns, basses, and drums, sound the fateful
chant that concludes the first scene, and, toward the close of the work,
sums the main idea.
[Music: (Strings and flutes)
(Basses, wood and horns)
(Same continuing rhythm)]
The apparition of the Witch of the Alps is pictured in daintiest,
sparkling play of strings and wood, with constant recurrence of mobile
figures above and below. It seems as if the image of the fountain is
fittest and most tempting for mirroring in music. Perhaps the most
beautiful, the most haunting, of all the "Manfred" music of Schumann is
this same scene of the Witch of the Alps.
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