]
_III.--4. Adagietto._[A] "Very slowly" first violins carry the
expressive song that is repeated by the violas.
[Footnote A: The Adagietto is scored simply for harp and strings; nor
are the latter unusually divided.]
[Music: _Adagietto_
(Strings and harp)]
A climax is reached by all the violins in unison. A new glow, with
quicker motion, is in the episode, where the violins are sharply
answered by the violas, rising to a dramatic height and dying away in a
vein of rare lyric utterance.
It is all indeed a pure lyric in tones.
_III.--5. Rondo-Finale._ The whole has the dainty, light-treading humor
that does not die of its own vehemence. Somewhat as in the Ninth
Symphony of Beethoven,--tyrant of classical traditions, the themes
appear right in the beginning as if on muster-roll, each in separate,
unattended song. A last chance cadence passes down the line of voices
and settles into a comfortable rhythm as prevailing theme, running in
melodious extension, and merging after a
[Music: (Clarinets, horns and bassoons) (Flutes and oboes)
_Allegro commodo_]
hearty conclusion in the jovially garrulous fugue.
Here the counter-theme proves to be one of the initial tunes and takes a
leading role until another charming strain appears on high,--a pure
nursery rhyme crowning the learned fugue. Even this is a guise of one
of the original motives in the mazing medley, where it seems we could
trace the ancestry of each if we could linger and if it really mattered.
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