The
folk-tunes may not have a special dramatic role. Out of the text of
folk-song, to be sure, all the strains are woven. Here and there we
have the collective voice. If we have watched keenly, we have heard how
the tune, simply though it begins, has later all the line of Till's
personal phrase. Even in the bass it is, too. Of the same fibre is this
demon mockery and the thread of folk legend.
We cannot pretend to follow all the literal whims. And it is part of the
very design that we are ever surprised by new tricks, as by this saucy
trip of dancing phrase. The purely human touches are clear, and almost
moving in contrast with the impish humor.
An earlier puzzle is of the second theme. As the composer has refused to
help us, he will not quarrel if we find our own construction. A possible
clue there is. As the story proceeds, aside from the mere abounding fun
and poetry, the more serious theme prevails. Things are happening. And
there come the tell-tale directions. _Liebegluehend_, aflame with love, a
melody now sings in urgent pace, ending with
[Music: _Liebegluehend_]
a strange descending note. Presently in quieter mood, _ruhiger_, it
gains a new grace, merely to dash again, _wuetend_, into a fiercer rage
than before. Before long we cannot escape in all this newer melody a
mere slower outline of the second theme. A guess then, such as the
composer invites us to make, is this: It is not exactly a Jekyll and
Hyde, but not altogether different.
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