Most thrilling after the first climax is the sonorous,
vibrant stroke of the bass in the
[Music: _Allegro appassionato_
(Strings, wood and horns)
(See page 308, line 10.)]
recurring melody. As it proceeds, a new line of bold tune is stirred
above, till the song ends at the highest in a few ringing, challenging
leaps of chord,--ends or, rather merges in a relentless, concluding
descent. Here, in a striking phrase of double
[Music: (Violins and clarinets in succession)
(Harp)
(Strings, the upper 3d doubled in higher reed)]
song, is a touch of plaint that, hushing, heralds the coming gentle
figure. We are sunk in a sweet romance, still of ancientest lore, with a
sense of lost bliss in the wistful cadence. Or do these entrancing
strains lead merely to the broader melody that moves with queenly tread
(of descending violins) above a soft murmuring of lower figures? It is
taken up
[Music: (Violins)
(Harp and wood doubled above)]
in a lower voice and rises to a height of inner throb rather than of
outer stress. The song departs as it came, through the tearful plaint of
double phrase. Bolder accents merge suddenly into the former impassioned
song. Here is the real sting of warrior call, with shaking brass and
rolling drum, in lengthened swing against other faster sounds,--a revel
of heroics, that at the end breaks afresh into the regular song.
Yet it is all more than mere battle-music. For here is a new passionate
vehemence, with loudest force of vibrant brass, of those dulcet strains
that preceded the queenly melody.
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