Once he was condemned to death by the Luebeck council. But
even here it was his enemies, whom he had defrauded, that sought
revenge. The others excused the tricks and applauded his escape. Even in
death the scandal and mischief do not cease.
The directions in Strauss' music are new in their kind and dignity. They
belong quite specially to this new vein of tonal painting. In a double
function, they not merely guide the player, but the listener as well.
The humor is of utmost essence; the humor is the thing, not the play,
nor the story of each of the pranks, in turn, of our jolly rogue. And
the humor lies much in these words of the composer, that give the lilt
of motion and betray a sense of the intended meaning.
[Music: _Gemaechlich_]
The tune, sung at the outset _gemaechlich_ (comfortably), is presumably
the rogue _motif_, first in pure innocence of mood. But quickly comes
another, quite opposed in rhythm, that soon hurries into highest speed.
These are not the "subjects" of old tradition.
[Music: (Horn)]
And first we are almost inclined to take the "Rondo form" as a new
roguish prank. But we may find a form where the subjects are independent
of the basic themes that weave in and out unfettered by rule--where the
subjects are rather new grouping of the fundamental symbols.[A]
[Footnote A: It is like the Finale of Brahms' Fourth Symphony, where an
older form (of _passacaglia_) is reared together with a later, one
within the other.
Pages:
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227