Instead of the former pageantry, here is the pure frenzy of
actual war. The trumpet melodies resound amidst the din of present
battle. Instead of the other gentler episodes, here is a more furious
raving of the mad Queen (in the hurried main motive), where we seem to
see the literal dogs of war let loose and spurred on,--each paroxysm
rising to a higher shock.
Great is the vehemence of speed and sound as the dull doom of
destruction drones in the basses against a grim perversion of the
yearning theme above, that overwhelms the scene with a final shriek.
Slowly the dream of love breathes again, rises to a fervent burst, then
yields to the fateful chant and ends in a whisper of farewell.
CHAPTER XVII
MAHLER[A]
[Footnote A: Gustav Mahler, 1860-1911.]
In Mahler the most significant sign is a return to a true counterpoint,
as against a mere overlading of themes, that began in Wagner and still
persists in Strauss,--an artificial kind of structure that is never
conceived as a whole.
While we see in Mahler much of the duophonic manner of his teacher,
Bruckner, in the work of the younger man the barren art is crowned with
the true fire of a sentient poet. So, if Bruckner had little to say, he
showed the way to others. And Mahler, if he did not quite emerge from
the mantle of Beethoven, is a link towards a still greater future. The
form and the technic still seem, as with most modern symphonies, too
great for the message.
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