It seems as if the poet, after his
rude jest, wanted, half in amends, half on pure impulse, to utter a
strain of true fancy in the strange new idiom.
A new, grateful sound has again the big conclusive phrase that merges
into more pranks of the jaunty tune in the biggest revel of all, so that
we suspect the jolly jester is the real hero and the majestic figures
are, after all, mere background. And yet here follows the most tenderly
moving verse, all unexpected, of the quiet episode.
The end is a pure romp, _molto vivace_, mainly on the skipping phrase.
To be sure the stately figures after a festive height march in big,
lengthened pace; but so does the jolly tune, as though in mockery. He
breaks into his old rattling pace (in the Glockenspiel) when all the
figures appear together,--the big ones changing places just before the
end, where the main theme has the last say, now in the bass, amidst the
final festivities.
_LOEFFLER.[A] LA VILLANELLE DU DIABLE_
_(The Devil's Round)_
(After a poem by M. Rollinat. Symphonic poem for Orchestra and Organ)
[Footnote A: Charles Martin Loeffler, born in Alsace in 1861.]
Few pieces of program music are so closely associated with the subject
as this tone picture of the Devil's Round. The translation of M.
Rollinat's "Villanelle," printed in the score is as follows:[A]
Hell's a-burning, burning, burning. Chuckling in clear staccato,
the Devil prowling, runs about.
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