SERENADE
NO. 2 in A MAJOR FOR SMALL ORCHESTRA, OP. 16
Recording: London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michael
Tilson Thomas [Sony SK 47195]
Published
1860, revised 1875.
The Second Serenade was completed in
1859, Brahms having worked on it during his last season at the
Detmold court, a year after the First Serenade and the First Piano
Concerto. The experience with those two pieces had
been his first extended engagement with orchestral
composition, and the results were mixed. Audiences
certainly embraced the serenade more warmly than the concerto
(whose gestation and first performances were notoriously
difficult), but its sprawling six-movement quasi-Mozartian
layout would generate criticism. The A-major work is
more tightly argued and modest in proportion (around 32
minutes), and as far as its scoring is concerned, extremely
innovative. The designation “for small orchestra” refers
to the complete absence of violins. This naturally
results in a largely wind-driven sound, but the retention of
the lower strings lends the piece a warmth and richness that
winds alone would not be able to provide. The wind
scoring itself is limited to pairs of flutes, oboes,
clarinets, bassoons, and horns, with a piccolo added to the
last movement. The violas obtain prominence as the
leading string voice, although the strings are generally
placed in an accompanying role. Brahms would later omit
violins from the first movement of the German Requiem.
The challenges of balance, color, and overall sonic landscape
Brahms created for himself with this ensemble, and his
solutions to those challenges, certainly contributed to his
growth as an orchestrator. The five-movement structure
has a pleasing symmetry, with a scherzo and a minuet framing
the atmospheric and dark-hued slow movement. The
sonata-form first movement unfolds with restrained subtlety
before flowering forth with its abundant triplet
rhythms. The exposition is not repeated, but Brahms
gives the illusion of a repeat by starting the development
section with the opening music (a device he most notably would
employ in the Fourth
Symphony). The following scherzo movement in C
major is short but exuberant, with the character of a village
dance. Its contrasting trio section in F is notable for
the persistent “pedal point” C in the strings. The
central slow movement in A minor has a level of profundity
almost incongruous to its surroundings. The “movable
ground bass” in the strings lends a mysterious sound that is
mirrored in the wind melodies. The broad 12/8 meter
creates a sense of spaciousness. The movement is cast in
ternary form, but the two transitional passages are so
extensive that it is almost a five-part design. The
first one intensifies the dark sound of the opening, such that
the respite of the middle section in A-flat major is
hard-earned. The gentle, halting opening of the “quasi
menuetto” in D major seems cautiously to lead out of the slow
movement’s crepuscular milieu. Its trio section in
F-sharp minor returns to that mysterious realm, with isolated
melodic notes from the oboe almost timidly poking out of a
rustling background. With the finale, in a tight
sonata-rondo form, Brahms fully releases the bucolic, joyous
pastoral exuberance that had been previewed in the scherzo
movement. The addition of the piccolo, whose piercing
sound is given unusual prominence, lends the movement a
radiant brilliance that banishes any lingering darkness from
the slow movement. The first performance in Hamburg in
1860 was a few weeks before that of the First Serenade.
The revisions in 1875 did not affect the structure or content
and were primarily concerned with dynamics.
IMSLP WORK PAGE
ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (First
Edition from Brahms-Institut Lübeck)
ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (from
Breitkopf & Härtel Sämtliche
Werke)
1st Movement: Allegro moderato (Sonata-Allegro
form). A MAJOR, Cut time [2/2].
EXPOSITION
0:00 [m. 1]--Theme 1. The clarinets and bassoons
gently present the first four measures, in harmony and exactly
doubled. Two rising gestures are followed by a falling
figure, then another rising leap. The flutes enter and
take over the leading voice in the fifth measure, playing more
rising figures. The horns enter at the same time,
holding notes before gradually leaping down. The
clarinets and bassoons now provide counterpoint to the flutes
and become independent of each other, the latter adding
distinct downward trailing lines. The phrase moves to
the “dominant” harmony.
0:13 [m. 9]--The first flute and clarinet are doubled
on the continuation, which is more smoothly flowing, still
incorporating a distinctive downward leap. The violas
and cellos make their first entrance here in harmony, the
violas initially echoing the opening clarinet/bassoon
melody. The flute drops out after four measures, and the
clarinets take over with some gentle chromatic motion.
The violas and cellos still evoke the opening melody under
this. The clarinets arrive at a sighing cadence on the
“dominant” E major, and this cadence is immediately echoed by
the flutes, supported by an oboe. The violas, supported
by cellos, then have a longer, stretched out echo of the
cadence figure, supported by bassoons and horns.
0:31 [m. 20]--The cellos now have a continually plucked
“dominant” E as the flute and oboe spin out a melody in broad
triplets and turn to the home “natural” minor key. They
are supported by the clarinets in clashing duple “straight”
rhythm. The flute holds a note, and the oboe drops
out. The melody with triplets continues, introducing the
chromatic note D-sharp, arching leaps (including an octave
leap on E), and mild syncopation within the measure. The
horn and bassoons support the continually plucked E in the
cellos. The flute melody closes off with a series of
four winding triplet figures, and the cellos cut off their
“straight” plucked E. The clarinet, violas, and bowed
cellos, in succession, echo this closing figure.
0:42 [m. 28]--Transition. The clarinets and
bassoons play their opening gesture, but they are cut off
after two measures by the last triplet figure, now a ninth
lower in the cellos. The flute, oboes, and bassoons then
play the opening figures at a new harmonic level, the
“subdominant” D major. After reaching the high point, a
chord is held out as the cellos and basses (making their
second entry after two notes that preceded the plucked cello
E’s) pluck out upbeat-downbeat motion on D. These
plucked notes then move down to C-natural and finally to B
(the “dominant” in E minor and major, where the Theme 2
complex will be set).
0:55 [m. 38]--Over a continually plucked B in the
cellos in “straight” rhythm, the flutes again spin out the
triplet figures, now fully in E major and at a stronger
volume. The oboes and bassoons provide supporting
contrary-motion harmonies in clashing duple or “straight”
rhythm. The horns take over the upbeat-downbeat
motion. After two similar downward-winding patterns that
each break with two sighing downward motions of a step and a
leap, a third deviates with a “diminished seventh”
harmony. This last pattern cuts off as the violas enter
on the upbeat for the following E-minor passage. The
target key center has arrived, but the material is not new.
1:09 [m. 48]--In E minor, the violas and clarinets play
the sighing downward motion that had followed the triplet
patterns. The cellos move to E for their plucked notes,
supported on downbeats by horns and basses. The violas
and first clarinet continue with the triplets while the first
bassoon and second clarinet have “straight” downward
motion. The oboe joins for a second sequence. Here
the bass moves down to D and the sighing motion is played in G
major (“relative” to E minor). Instead of moving to the
triplets, the oboe and horn hold a high F-sharp. The
clarinet and violas slide from C-natural to C-sharp and
D-sharp, then to a descending “dominant” arpeggio while the
plucked bass slides down from D to C-sharp, C-natural, and B.
1:22 [m. 58]--The oboe and horn slide up, then play an
arching arpeggio in E major as the plucked bass again moves to
E. With the earlier motion, that bass now briefly breaks
halfway through each measure. The clarinet and violas
respond to the oboe/horn arpeggio with a descent. The
previous pair play another arching arpeggio that incorporates
a chromatic E-sharp and moves higher. The bass slides to
E-sharp and F-sharp. The clarinet and violas play
another descent that also shifts the pattern upward. The
oboe/horn pair then plays two arpeggios in a row that continue
to shift up. All of this is over an extended crescendo.
1:31 [m. 64]--The clarinet and violas respond again as
the bass moves up to G. This time, the descents continue
two more bars, the plucked bass moves to G-sharp, A, and
A-sharp, then the oboe and horn lead down to a hramonized
arrival on B, the “dominant” note, where the bass also finally
lands. The volume rapidly diminishes. The flutes
now join the oboes in an ascent using double-dotted rhythm
(exaggerated long-short). This ascent leads to a strong
cadence in E major, supported by clarinets, bassoons, horn,
and all strings. The arrival marks Theme 2, which is
based on this double-dotted rhythm.
1:39 [m. 70]--Theme 2 (E major). The strings, all
plucked, establish a pattern of arpeggios where a bass
downbeat is followed by upward motion in cellos and
violas. Against this, the clarinets, harmonized in
thirds, play continuously rocking dolce motion in the
exaggerated long-short (double-dotted) rhythm. The
clarinets gradually move upward, as do the plucked string
arpeggios. At the high point, the clarinet harmonies
expand to include fifths and fourths. They arch down,
then again undulate with harmonies in thirds. Also at
the high point, the basses drop out, and the violas continue
the arpeggios along before being joined by cellos. The
basses join again, and the original pattern returns before the
arrival point.
1:55 [m. 81]--The clarinets descend to an arrival point
on G-sharp minor, then flutes and bassoons take over the
theme, also harmonized in thirds. They are soon joined
by the oboes. The clarinets, who first presented the
idea, take a break. The theme works upward again, but
then halts briefly at the high point, with the instruments
holding two longer harmonies over bar lines and briefly
swelling. The first of these is a dissonant “tritone”
and the second is a chromatic C-major intrusion. The
plucked string arpeggio pattern continues under all of
this. The winds descend in mild syncopation, and then
the flutes lead to another arrival point, a descending
arpeggio landing on a full and satisfying cadence with horn
support.
2:10 [m. 92]--The plucked string arpeggio pattern
continues. Now the first oboe, supported harmonically by
second oboe (on the downbeats) and first bassoon, has a
chromatic descent in long notes moving halfway through each
measure. The harmonies follow this oboe descent, briefly
suggesting the area of C and F. This continues over six
measures, with the oboe moving down by half-step from B to G,
the volume swelling at the end. At that point, the
harmony is wrenched back toward E, where the oboes lead to
another lilting cadence.
2:21 [m. 100]--The last pattern is presented again, now
with a horn taking the prominent chromatic descent, supported
by clarinets. There is now an added leading element from
the flute, a double-dotted upper neighbor figure played with
the horn descent. The oboe joins at the end and doubles
the flute in the lilting cadence.
2:32 [m. 108]--There are now several reiterations of
the last notes from the lilting cadence, the first two from
the oboe with horn support and the next two from the bassoon
with mildly dissonant flute support. The fifth and sixth
reiterations are from the clarinet, with the mildly dissonant
support in the bassoons. Finally, the two bassoons
stretch out the figure, doubling it in length, and play it in
overlap. The plucked string arpeggio finally breaks at
this point. The bassoons are isolated on an octave E for
a full measure, and then the violas enter with an open fifth
on A and E, shifting back to A major and ending the
exposition.
DEVELOPMENT
2:49 [m. 119]--The illusion is given of an exposition
repeat. The first eight measures of Theme 1 are played
as at the beginning, with the same instrumentation, the only
change being at the very end where a chord is held over a bar
line and the arrival on “dominant” harmony is delayed by half
a measure. A transitional chord that had led to the
following material is also omitted. From that point,
there is deviation, and the development properly begins.
3:00 [m.127]--After a plucked bass lead-in, the
clarinets enter using the prominent triplet melody initially
heard at 0:31 [m. 20], followed by the oboe and violas, with
support from horn and bassoon. A minor is suggested at
first, but after a strong buildup and the entry of the flutes
on a high C, there is more emphatic motion to F major.
The cellos enter, doubling the violas. The triplets
continue in wave-like arching motion, with brief digressions
to harmonies suggesting G minor and B-flat major, but after
the arrival of forte, F major is even more strongly
hammered home. This hammered arrival is reiterated, and
a third repetition seems to begin, but it is diverted to a
harmony on E-flat as the dynamic swells to fortissimo.
3:18 [m. 140]--The arching waves continue, shifting
back to F major, which is confirmed by two powerful
descents. The flutes, oboes, and violas then play a
syncopated arpeggio, still in the triplet rhythm, while the
other instruments pulse. The lower strings play a
different and clashing hemiola pattern, also in
triplet rhythm. The violas and clarinets reiterate the
previous powerful descents, but they become quieter. The
violas and clarinets, then the bassoons, trail down in the
syncopated arpeggio. The strings are then isolated with
softer pulsations on F (the cellos and basses still in the
clashing hemiola division). These pulsations dip
down a step to E-flat.
3:31 [m. 149]--The strings dip again to D-flat, then
drop out. In the key of D-flat major, the bassoons begin
a gentle statement of Theme 1, and are joined after two
measures by the clarinets, who take the lead. The
statement breaks off, and the flutes, in thirds, play the
thematic rising gesture. The violas, with plucked
support from cellos and basses, enter gently with a diversion
up another level to G-flat, as the clarinets play the rising
gesture. The violas emerge into the familiar winding
triplet melody in G-flat, as the rising gesture is passed
again from bassoons to clarinets, with oboes bridging to a
flute gesture.
3:42 [m. 158]--Overlapping with the flute gesture, the
violas begin another statement of the triplet melody, having
risen from G-flat to A-flat minor. The rising gestures
are played by clarinets, then bassoons, then clarinets again,
with oboes bridging to flutes doubled by clarinets. The
violas, now joined by cellos, seem to begin a third statement
of the triplet melody in B-flat, but it is abbreviated.
Rising gestures are heard in clarinets, doubled by bassoons,
with oboes again bridging to flutes doubled by
clarinets. The key shifts up to C major. The
shorter statement is heard a second time, shifting to D
minor. The clarinet/bassoon gesture is followed by the
oboes, but the flute/clarinet gesture is omitted.
3:52 [m. 165]--Suddenly flowering in forte, the
winds (without oboes, who drop out after holding their
harmony) play upward arching gestures in straight rhythm and
in D minor. Meanwhile, the violas and cellos continue
the triplet rhythm in a new, broadly sweeping form with
descending octave leaps, rising arpeggios, and stepwise
descents. This is played twice in a descending
sequence. A third sequence seems to begin, but the
rising arpeggio is isolated in a brief diversion to A
minor. The flutes and the entering oboes emerge in a
forceful ascent harmonized in thirds, moving to triplet
rhythm. At the same time, the violas and cellos change
to straight rhythm leading to another strong cadence in D
minor.
4:04 [m. 173]--The volume is again fortissimo.
The horns make a powerful, blasting entrance as the flutes,
oboes, and violas arch down and back up in triplet rhythm with
octave leaps harmonized in thirds (except in the
violas). The clarinets and bassoons arch up against them
in straight rhythm while the cellos and basses have slower
octave leaps on D. After two measures, the volume
suddenly drops to piano, and the leaping figures are
on F, harmonized as the “dominant” in B-flat major, the
harmonic shift as abrupt as the dynamic one. The
clarinets move to a slow long-short pulsation, and the oboes
drop out. The whole pattern is given a second
time. The flutes and violas now continue, moving fully
to B-flat as the bassoons join the clarinets.
4:18 [m. 183]--The oboe takes the lead in a colorful
lead-in back to the home key. It descends twice with a
long F leading to a shorter E-flat and D-flat. The
harmonies in clarinets, bassoons, and horn suggest B-flat
minor, then a preparatory “dominant” in G-flat.
Meanwhile, the violas continue their downward-arching
triplets, incorporating fifths and fourths as well as octaves
and supporting the wind harmony, as do held bass notes in
lower strings. The oboe then moves up in long notes from
F to G to G-sharp, the underlying harmony suggesting motion
toward F as the volume builds. The bass line, meanwhile,
slides from D-flat to C to B-flat. The “outward” motion
between oboe and bass (G-sharp and B-flat) arrives on A.
4:29 [m. 191]--Re-transition. A major is
established in a long transition over a long bass “pedal
point” before the return of Theme 1. The violas continue
their arching triplets. The oboe continues as the
leading voice in a gently arching line after the colorful
arrival, still supported by clarinets and bassoons. The
flute then takes over in response with a winding line in
triplet rhythm, supported by oboes and horns. This
pattern is given a second time, with the oboe passing the
melody to the flute triplets. The harmonic motion is
primarily on A major and its confirming “dominant.”
4:40 [m. 199]--The first note of the oboe line now
moves down a step with a mild suggestion of the “subdominant”
D. This is confirmed with a gentle clarinet response,
which is in straight rhythm, and new cello harmony. The
violas are still playing their arching triplets and the bass
still holds on the “pedal” A. The first two notes of the
oboe line shift down another step, with “diminished” harmony
moving to another confirmation of A major, and the response in
straight rhythm is now in the cellos, shifted from the
“subdominant” clarinet response.
4:50 [m. 207]--The entire previous pattern is stated a
second time, but now the cellos have a more active line coming
out of the response they have just played. When the
pattern reaches that cello response again, it is extended
downward over two measures to lead into the recapitulation and
the main theme, with the oboe adding gently rising
thirds. Through all of this, the basses have held their
“pedal” A and the violas have maintained their arching
triplets, though these viola triplets change to straight
rhythm for this last cello extension, which also diminishes in
volume. This whole extended re-transition is an unusual
prolongation of A major before the actual arrival of the
recapitulation.
RECAPITULATION
5:04 [m. 217]--Theme 1. The first eight measures
match the exposition, but in the first four of them, the theme
is only played by bassoons without the oboes and, most
significantly, the violas, returning to their persistent
triplet rhythm from the development section, add a decorative
line that shadows the thematic melody. The harmonic
motion at the ending of the phrase more closely matches the
statement at the beginning of the development section from
2:49 [m. 114].
5:14 [m. 225]--The passage from 0:13 [m. 9] is omitted,
and the one from 0:31 [m. 20] follows directly. It
mostly follows the pattern, except that the oboe doubles the
“straight” clarinet line before it drops out instead of the
flute melody in triplets. The plucked cello E is now
coupled with a leaping octave E from the violas, persisting in
their triplet rhythm, which now matches the flute
melody. At the very end of the phrase, the last of the
closing figures, the one from the cellos, makes a surprising
change from the pattern, sliding up by half-step instead of
echoing the three previous winding gestures. This change
leads into the new transition passage. The violas
finally cut off their continuous triplets at the closing
figures.
5:25 [m. 233]--Transition. The passage from 0:42
[m. 28] is replaced by a shorter bridge that omits the
references to the opening. The cello’s sliding change to
the triplet pattern has shifted the harmonic implication, and
the original triplet figure is played in overlap by flute,
clarinet, and violas on G. The cellos, now with horn,
slide up again from G to B. The same overlapping entries
follow, now brought up a half-step to land on G-sharp.
The violas now continue, harmonizing the cellos a sixth above
as they slide up again from B to D. The oboes in harmony
double both the violas and cellos. This leads to the
following music, which is up a fourth from the exposition, the
sequence having led back to A major.
5:31 [m. 237]--Analogous to 0:55 [m. 38]. The
plucked notes in the cellos, with doubling on downbeats and
upbeats from basses, is now on E. The triplet figures
are now spun out by the principal oboe instead of the
flutes. The supporting harmonies in clashing “duple”
rhythm are in second oboe and bassoons. The horn joins
these harmonies on the second winding pattern, breaking
briefly from the upbeat-downbeat punctuation. The
“diminished seventh” harmony arrives with the third pattern,
as before, cutting off before the following passage, which is
now in A minor.
5:44 [m. 247]--Analogous to 1:09 [m. 48]. The
violas and clarinets play the sighing downward motion in A
minor, joined here by bassoons. The plucked cellos move
to A. The violas are now joined by first bassoon on the
triplets while the clarinets and second bassoon have the
“straight” downward motion. The flutes join for the
second sequence instead of the oboe. The bass moves to
G-natural, and the sighing motion is played in C major.
The high note, now a B, is held by flute and clarinet with
lower harmony. The violas are now joined by cellos with
the sliding motion from F to F-sharp to G-sharp and the
descending “dominant” arpeggio, the plucked descent (G,
F-sharp, F-natural, E) now in basses supported by second
bassoon.
5:58 [m. 257]--Analogous to 1:22 [m. 58]. The
flute and clarinet (instead of oboe and horn) slide up, then
play the arching arpeggio in A major as the plucked bass again
moves to A. The bass breaks in each measure as
before. The responding descent is from violas and
cellos. The next arching arpeggio includes a chromatic
A-sharp. The bass slides to A-sharp and B. The
next descent follows from violas and cellos. The
flute/clarinet pair play two further arpeggios shifting up as
before. As before, there is a long buildup.
6:06 [m. 263]--Analogous to 1:31 [m. 64].
The violas and cellos have the response as the basses move up
to C. These responding descents continue as the bass
shifts to C-sharp, D, and D-sharp. The flute and
clarinets now lead to the arrival on the harmonized “dominant”
note E, and the bass also lands there. The ascent in
double-dotted rhythm is played by flutes and clarinets, with
the clarinets harmonizing the flutes (previously the flutes
and oboes doubled the melody and harmony). This leads to
a strong cadence in A major marking the arrival of Theme 2.
6:15 [m. 269]--Theme 2 (A major). Analogous to
1:39 [m. 70]. The entire arpeggio pattern is now played
by the bassoons instead of plucked strings. The rocking
dolce motion in double-dotted rhythm is now shifted to
the violas and cellos (with bows) harmonized in thirds.
The patterns continue as in the exposition with this greatly
altered instrumentation, the bassoons continuing to take all
the original plucked string material and the violas and cellos
continuing as the clarinets had done before.
6:30 [m. 280]--Analogous to 1:55 [m. 81]--The violas
and cellos descend to the expected arrival point, now on
C-sharp minor. The continuation of the theme is now
taken by the original instruments, the clarinets, at the point
where flutes and bassoons had played it before. The
clarinets are supported by the horns, who intermittently play
in thirds with them, and bassoons provide foundational
support. The arpeggio pattern is now in plucked strings,
as in the exposition. At the high point, the flutes
join, supplanting the horns, and the two harmonies are held
over bar lines as expected. The dissonant tritone is
followed by the chromatic intrusion, now F major. The
syncopated descent is followed by the full cadence. The
oboes are absent.
6:46 [m. 291]--Analogous to 2:10 [m. 92]--The first
oboe once again leads the chromatic descent in long notes, but
it is now supported by the clarinets, the first clarinet
playing on downbeats. The areas of F and B-flat are
suggested. The oboe now moves down by half-step from E
to C. The harmony is forced back to A major, with the
lilting cadence from oboe and clarinets. The plucked
string arpeggios continue, the violas having added rolled
chords that were not indicated in the exposition.
6:58 [m. 299]--Analogous to 2:21 [m. 100]--The last
pattern is presented again, but instead of the horn taking
over the chromatic descent, the oboe has it again, now doubled
by second oboe. Clarinets and bassoons provide
support. The flute has a double-dotted upper neighbor
figure, as before. Flutes, oboes, and clarinets are all
doubled on the lilting cadence.
7:10 [m. 307]--Analogous to 2:32 [m. 108]--The flute
now has the first two reiterations of the last notes from the
cadence, with oboe support. The next two are from the
clarinet with flute support, all a change from the
exposition. The fifth and sixth are from the horn with
clarinet support, the horn providing a fresh new sound
here. The stretched out, overlapping figures are now
played by one bassoon and one horn. The plucked string
arpeggios break here as expected. The bassoon and horn
are isolated on an octave A for a measure. Instead of
the open fifth heard from the violas that ended the
exposition, an oboe now joins the bassoon and horn on the A
for another held measure. This leads directly into the
coda.
CODA
7:28 [m. 318]--The horn, then the bassoon drop out,
leaving the oboe to hold the sustained A. The violas and
cellos then enter in harmony with the opening gesture from the
main theme and a colorful shift to F major. As they do,
the oboe moves from the A and spins out an expressive line
that leaps up before descending on a “dominant” arpeggio in F
(the harmony also held by the strings), adding chromatic
half-steps at the end. The harmony then shifts again to
a “dominant” based on A but suggesting D (minor or
major). The bassoons enter with a single Theme 1
gesture, and the oboe reaches up to play the descending
“dominant” arpeggio in D, again with the chromatic half-steps
at the end.
7:40 [m. 324]--The clarinet and oboe have two identical
exchanges, the clarinet dipping a third and rising a
half-step, then the oboe reaching up a ninth and falling a
step. Under these exchanges, the strings and bassoons
have active harmonic motion. The familiar Theme 1
gesture is passed between the violas/cellos in harmony and the
bassoons in harmony. The string bass line descends from
D to C to B-flat, then a half-step to A. The harmony
begins with D minor, then moves through B-flat to F. The
volume is quiet.
7:47 [m. 328]--There are now two more clarinet/oboe
exchanges, the first a fifth higher than the previous
two. The clarinet figures are as before, but the oboe
now imitates the clarinet a step lower and then extends the
line, rising with chromatic half-step motion. The second
exchange is a step lower than the first. The viola/cello
group and the bassoons still alternate on their gestures, but
the bassoons hold their upper notes through a measure as the
oboe completes the extended line. The basses now descend
by half-step through A-flat G (extended), G-flat, and F
(extended). The harmony moves from F major and minor
through implied C through E-flat minor and implied B-flat.
7:59 [m. 334]--After a half-measure pause, the
woodwinds come together with cellos and basses on a colorful
chord (a so-called “augmented sixth” sonority). The
clarinets and bassoons, both in octaves, move as the others
hold the chord over a bar line, the clarinets down and the
bassoons up. The chord is reiterated, and then all the
instruments become active with a strong crescendo.
The flute and oboe rise together an octave apart, holding
notes over bar lines, while the low strings descend, at first
by half-step and then, after a leap, by step. The
clarinets and bassoons, after holding, move down together in
thirds. A horn enters at the high point. The
chords move through harmonies from A minor to G major to the
“dominant” E.
8:10 [m. 339]--At the high point, the volume reaches forte,
and the “dominant” harmony leads to a soaring A-major cadence
led by flute and oboe, with an octave leap in the cellos and
basses and internal motion from second oboe and bassoon.
The volume rapidly diminishes again, and the flute and oboes
trail down at the cadence. As they do, the cellos and
basses begin the familiar rocking double-dotted rhythm from
Theme 2. At the same time, the clarinets and bassoons
play the rising gesture from Theme 1. The oboes follow
with that gesture as the rocking cellos and basses move down
from A to G-natural. In a second exchange, as the low
strings drop to F-sharp and F-natural, the violas and
clarinets are followed by oboes.
8:22 [m. 345]--The rocking low strings drop to E and
then D-sharp as the clarinets have a new figure harmonized in
thirds, with harmonic support from bassoons and horn.
They rise an octave, then the top note drops a half-step,
creating a “diminished seventh” harmony with the other
instruments. As the rocking strings continue to drop,
now to D-natural and C-sharp, the first oboe rises a fifth and
drops a step, all instruments landing on an A-major
harmony. All of this is over another crescendo.
8:29 [m. 349]--The low strings end their descent, and
now play a downward neighbor-note figure, still in the
double-dotted rhythm, starting on B. A short descent
from oboe and bassoon, harmonized in sixths, is repeated, and
then those instruments, now forte, leap up to another
descent as the neighbor figure in the low strings leaps up to
E. The violas play punctuating harmonies halfway through
each bar, and a clarinet and second bassoon provide support
for the oboe/bassoon melody. The volume diminishes
quickly to piano.
8:38 [m.353]--A rising chromatic note in the oboe
melody is held through a bar line and rises, as the basses and
second bassoon drop to A with the rocking motion and the
flutes play the rising Theme 1 gesture. The clarinets
follow with the gesture, and the rocking motion, now on
G-natural, is played by violas and cellos. A second
flute/clarinet exchange is played on different harmonies, and
the underlying motion in strings and second bassoon moves from
A to F-natural.
8:43 [m. 357]-- The pattern from 8:22 [m. 345] is
played by the flutes and oboes, with additional harmonies from
clarinets, bassoons, and an entering horn, the rocking
alternation moving from basses on A to violas and cellos on
D-sharp, again to basses on A, and then violas and cellos on
C-sharp. The melodies and harmonies in the winds follow
the pattern, including the “diminished seventh,” and there is
another crescendo.
8:50 [m. 361]--The descent from 9:29 [m. 349] follows
as expected, but a melodic alternation of the top note from D
to D-sharp creates a brief shift to E major. The descent
is led by flutes and horn, doubled and supported by oboe,
clarinets, and bassoons. The neighbor-note figure, now
in all strings, is on the same notes as it was previously (B
and E). After the descent is repeated a third higher,
the flutes drop out, and the remaining winds and horn, forte,
with the altered note moving back down to D-natural, lead a
new continuation of the line to another A-major cadence as the
volume rapidly diminishes to the piano level.
8:58 [m. 365]--The low strings have settled on A, with
motion on the upbeats down to the “leading” G-sharp. The
violas drop out. Flutes and oboes have a gentle upward
motion in the double-dotted rhythm, harmonized in
thirds. They are followed by the clarinets in sixths,
then the bassoons in thirds, then the clarinets in sixths an
octave lower than before.
9:07 [m. 369]--The final pianissimo gesture has
the harmony in flutes, bassoons, and violas rising, then
holding over two bar lines, the violas leaping up before the
second bar line. The low string bass line moves to
G-sharp on the first downbeat between these two held
harmonies, creating a ‘half-diminished seventh” chord.
After the low strings move back to A on the second downbeat
between the held harmonies, the flutes and bassoons move back
down to the last A-major harmony, the violas leaping back
down. This progression is a variant of the “plagal”
cadence. This final harmony, with the melodic note on
the fifth of the chord (E) is repeated on the downbeat to end
the movement in an extremely calm and serene mood.
9:21--END OF MOVEMENT [372 mm.]
2nd
Movement: Scherzo - Vivace; Trio (Scherzo and Trio). C
MAJOR, 3/4 time.
SCHERZO
0:00 [m. 1]--Part 1. All instruments start
forcefully with the two-note upbeat that pervades the whole
scherzo, the melody leaping up. The flutes, clarinets,
and bassoons, supported by horns, then continue more gently
with distinctive turning figures harmonized in thirds, two
short notes preceding a longer one. After two of these,
the strings and oboes forcefully enter again with the upbeat
figure, and the turning figures follow once again.
0:04 [m. 5]--Another upbeat figure shifts to the
“dominant” G major. All woodwinds continue with leaping
octaves using figures with two repeated notes, accenting the
top note, and holding its repetition over a bar line.
Leaping string octaves, also with repeated-note units,
dovetailing from low to high, punctuate the held note, and the
winds descend to a cadence in G. The material from the
leaping wind octaves is then repeated, including the
punctuating string octaves. After the second cadence,
the clarinets, harmonized in sixths, descend with the turning
figures, and lead back from G major. The bassoons
quickly join the clarinets. The transition is supported
by horns and leaping viola octaves.
0:10 [m. 1]--Part 1 repeated. Two-note upbeats
and turning figures, as before.
0:14 [m. 5]--Shift to G major, leaping octaves with
descents to cadence, then transition away from G.
0:21 [m. 11]--Part 2. The two-note upbeat now
leads to a different downbeat. The turning figures and
their repetition after another upbeat are now heard in A minor
(“relative” to C major), from the same instruments. The
strings now play throughout, with violas followed by cellos,
then basses on both statements. The strings drop out as
the winds continue, using the pervasive two-note slurs to rise
and fall, moving to D major and reaching a cadence
there. In another quick transition, the strings again
enter with leaping octaves dovetailing from low to high on
D. Oboes and bassoons take up the leaping octaves on G,
leading to the original upbeat in C major.
0:30 [m. 19]--The first four measures of Part 1 are
played again, with stronger scoring on the initial
upbeat. The next upbeat follows, seeming to lead to G
major as before, but it is cut off by leaping octaves in
violas and cellos. These slide up from G to G-sharp
(strengthened by oboes as they do), preparing a shift to a
different, unexpected key.
0:35 [m. 25]--The upbeats and turn figures are now
played vigorously in E major (complete with a key signature
change), the volume reaching fortissimo. The
strings drop out, and the winds continue with falling figures,
harmonized in thirds and sixths, leading to a full cadence in
E major like the previous cadences in G and D. The
string transition in leaping octaves now moves quickly from E
to G, leading again to the original C-major upbeat.
0:43 [m. 33]--The first four measures of Part 1 are
played again, now with stronger, more exuberant scoring.
In addition to strings playing throughout, the horns now join
prominently on the turning figures. The next upbeat does
not lead to G major, but briefly points to F, which is treated
simply as the “subdominant” in the home key of C. The
leaping wind octaves with notes held over bar lines are now
played in C major and with string participation
throughout. As before, two leaping gestures are followed
by descents to a cadence, now in C instead of G. The
final C is reiterated in a dovetailing descent through the
woodwinds from high to low, the violas intruding between
clarinets and bassoons.
0:54 [m. 43]--In a two-bar transition to the Trio
section, the strings, with cellos followed by dovetailing
violas in two-beat units obscuring the bar line, begin a
“pedal point” on a low C using the familiar repeated-note
figure. They are marked leggiero.
TRIO (F major)
0:56 [m. 45]--Part 1. Although the Trio is in F
major, it is underpinned throughout by a “pedal point” on the
“dominant” C, with violas and cellos continuing the pattern
started in the transition. The basses add punctuation,
at first separated by two bars and then, from the fifth bar,
on every downbeat. The Trio theme itself is presented by
clarinets and bassoons harmonized in sixths. They begin
with an upbeat held over a bar line, then continue with an
expressive descending line. This leaps up to a
long-short rhythm followed by the descending line in two
rising sequences. They are supported by a horn, which
briefly joins the melody in the last sequence. The oboes
then take over in a rising line leading to a “dominant”
arrival on C.
1:05 [m. 45]--Part 1 repeated.
1:13 [m. 53]--Part 2. The “pedal point” strings
continue without the basses. The clarinets lead on an
upward arpeggio that shifts to F minor. They are
harmonized in sixths and quickly pass the arpeggio to the
oboes in thirds. The clarinets continue with a sighing
gesture after the oboes enter, and the oboes also imitate
this. Still in F minor, an oboe and both clarinets wind
their way down in a zigzag pattern with chromatic notes,
including a “Phrygian” G-flat, reaching an F-minor cadence
with the clarinets trailing.
1:21 [m. 61]--The flute enters and takes the lead with
the oboe, harmonized by clarinets and bassoons. The
basses again join the string “pedal point” as before.
Shifting back to major, the flute and oboe are doubled on a
version of the melodic line from Part 1. It starts a
fifth higher than it was there, then expands a step on the two
rising sequences to a sixth and a seventh above where it was
in Part 1. The second flute joins. A buildup leads
to a sighing gesture and cadence in the flutes, the other
winds trailing. After a descending flute arpeggio, the
cadence is reiterated an octave lower for the first ending (m.
70a).
1:32 [m. 53]--Part 2 repeated. Passage in F
minor, as at 1:13.
1:40 [m. 61]--Closing phrase and cadence in F major, as
at 1:21. In the second ending (m. 70b), the sighing
gesture is reiterated before the second cadence, which merges
into the transition.
1:51 [m. 71]--Transition to reprise of Scherzo.
The flutes lead the harmonized winds down an arpeggio as the
string “pedal point” breaks and the patterns plunge down,
outlining the F-major chord. The strings then keep up
their rhythmic patterns, but oscillate between G and F.
Flutes, clarinets, and bassoons play two alternations of the
“dominant” chord in C major (based on G) and the F-major
chord. The strings then shoot up an octave on G and are
imitated by a wind group of the horn, bassoon, and
clarinet. This imitation is reiterated twice, the second
time expanded as the strings and winds play their octave leaps
in opposite directions. There is a strong crescendo,
and the partial m. 80 leads into the upbeat of the main
Scherzo.
SCHERZO REPRISE
2:00 [m. 1]--Part 1. Two-note upbeats and turning
figures, as at the beginning and 0:10.
2:04 [m. 5]-- Shift to G major, leaping octaves with
descents to cadence, then transition away from G, as at 0:04
and 0:14. The repeat is omitted in the reprise.
2:10 [m. 11]--Part 2. Passage beginning in A
minor, moving to D major and then back toward C major, as at
0:21.
2:18 [m. 19]--First four measures of Part 1 with
stronger scoring, then shift toward E major, as at 0:30.
2:24 [m. 25]--Passage in E major with buildup to fortissimo,
then motion back to C major, as at 0:35.
2:32 [m. 33]--First four measures of Part 1 with strong
horn support, then closing in C major, as at 0:43. A
sign indicating a jump to the coda comes before the two-bar
transition that led into the Trio, and a version of that
transition will begin the coda.
CODA
2:42 [m. 81]--The string “pedal point” on C begins as
in the transition to the coda. It will remain in force
to the end. In the second measure, the bassoons play a fortissimo
scale in triplet rhythm suggesting the F major of the
Trio. They hold the note B-flat, doubled by the entering
horns. The flutes and oboes, harmonized in thirds, play
the turning figures from the scherzo before turning up in a staccato
scale and quickly rejecting the suggested F major to arrive on
C, the bassoons and horns moving to B-natural and C.
This entire sequence is repeated, but now the bassoons are
doubled by the clarinets on the rising triplet scale.
The horns join the flutes and oboes on the turning figures and
staccato scale, where they turn down.
2:51 [m. 90]--The clarinets and bassoons have a
downward scale in thirds, followed by the flutes, oboes, and
horns in an upward scale (the horns turning down). The
clarinets and bassoons repeat their downward scale, and then
the clarinets join the flutes and oboes on rapidly turning
scale patterns that include yet another chromatic
B-flat. The bassoons and horns play long chords.
Finally, the flutes, oboes, and clarinets shoot up in one last
scale, reaching a top G, which has more internal motion under
its powerful reiterations. The basses now strongly
punctuate the “pedal point” on each beat, having moved to
upbeats and downbeats as they did in the Trio. All
instruments, including strings, punctuate the powerful final
C-major chord.
3:06--END OF MOVEMENT [97 (+42) mm.]
3rd Movement: Adagio non troppo (Ternary form or
ABA’ with large transitions). A MINOR, 12/8 time.
FIRST MAIN
SECTION (A)
0:00 [m. 1]--The strings, in unison, set up what will
be a persistent pattern in the A section, a sort of
movable ground bass. It ominously sways in a
long-short rhythm, reaching up and snaking back down over
two measures. At the end of the first measure, the
first flute and first clarinet enter on the upbeat, holding
it over the bar line. They play the main theme, a
tragic, expressive melody with a distinctive ornament, also
using the swaying long-short rhythm. At the end of the
measure, the strings begin their pattern again, and the
second clarinet enters to imitate the melody.
Meanwhile, the flute and first clarinet reach high, then
wind back down. The second clarinet plunges, and all
approach an A-minor cadence that is cut off.
0:26 [m. 5]--The string pattern moves up a fourth,
and the previous wind instruments are joined by the first
oboe, who plays with the first flute. The clarinets
are now in unison, playing a counterpoint to the main melody
that moves contrary to it. The flute and oboe reach to
a high A, and they shift the key toward the minor key on the
“dominant” note, E minor. A cadence there is also
aborted. The string pattern moves up another
step. The bassoons join the second clarinet on the
opening of the main melody in E minor. They reach an
arrival there as the string pattern moves back to its
original level. Rising in harmonized thirds, the
bassoons lead back to A minor.
0:57 [m. 10]--The flutes, with clarinet, lead on the
melody, the bassoons playing harmonies underneath. At
another upward reach, as the string pattern now moves up a
third above the original level, the flute is joined by oboe,
and the clarinets join the bassoon harmonies. Building
in intensity, the flute and oboe emerge brightly into the
“relative” major key, C major. After reaching a
cadence there, the melody is extended with mild syncopation
as the string pattern is moved up another fourth.
There is a second cadence in C major and yet another
extension, this time dropping to a lower level in pitch and
volume as the string pattern is played again at this
level. The pattern finally breaks as the flute leads
to a third quiet, pulsing cadence.
TRANSITION
1:44 [m. 18]--Halfway through the cadence measure,
the cellos pulsate on C and build rapidly. In a
wailing outburst, the flute and oboe shift to minor over a
colorful “diminished seventh” harmony. The first horn
has now entered, and it imitates the wailing descent.
The other strings join the pulsations and move as
needed. The bassoons and clarinets then suddenly quiet
down and shift to E minor with a desolate response.
The two wailing outbursts from flute/oboe and horn are heard
again on E minor (again over a “diminished seventh”).
This time, the clarinets and bassoons make a different
harmonic shift, sliding down to E-flat, which will prepare
the way for the A-flat of the B section.
2:08 [m. 22]--At the end of the preceding measure,
the clarinet and bassoon have a sequence of rising
thirds. In the next measure, the oboes reverse this
sequence. Meanwhile the strings have thinned back to
the cello pulsations, but the violas now enter with an
oscillating trill-like pattern. The flutes begin the
sequence of rising thirds, now harmonized, but do not
complete it. Instead, the two horns play loud calls in
descending fifths as the key signature changes to four
flats. After two calls, the horns rise, partly using
the thirds, then play two more calls an octave higher than
before. Accompanied by woodwind harmonies, the horn
plays an arching line that touches the minor before a
stretched-out call landing on E-flat.
2:29 [m. 26]--At the horn’s powerful plunge to
E-flat, the bassoon and clarinet play the rising third
sequence again. The flutes and oboes join in
counterpoint on the rising thirds. The volume has
settled down, and the oscillation in the violas briefly
expands to a sixth before returning to thirds and
seconds. Building again, the flute and oboe emerge on
the descending “call” figures that had been played by the
horns, harmonized by clarinets and bassoons. They move
to the arching line, which is altered, leading to two
straight octave leaps on F. The viola oscillation
expands again to sixths and fifths. The flutes and
oboes, with clarinets and bassoons in contrary motion,
settle to an extended arrival on A-flat.
SECOND MAIN SECTION (B), A-flat major
2:57 [m. 30]--At the cadence on the second beat of
the bar, the strings completely drop out. The oboe
leads a yearning melody, molto espressivo,
accompanied by clarinets and horn. It works up, then
after an upward octave leap, descends to A-flat with a
tender turning ornament. The melody then continues
with leaps and sighs, mostly in long-short rhythm. The
bassoons join the accompaniment. The oboe phrase ends
with a brief inflection to minor and a questioning gesture.
3:20 [m. 34]--The clarinet takes over the melody, the
oboe and horn dropping out. Beginning lower and with
immediate chromatic alterations, the clarinet turns the
melody toward E-flat minor and B-flat minor. After the
turning ornament, the oboe takes over again, playing the
opening phrase and reiterating the turning ornament,
changing the notes such that the descent is a third lower
than it played before. The oboe line turns first to
B-flat major, then back to A-flat major, the melody landing
on the “dominant” note E-flat.
3:43 [m. 38]--The oboe now emerges into a series of
descending fourths in “duplet” rhythm. These work
their way down, then leap back up to begin another sequence
a step lower. The descending fourths are highly
chromatic. Against them, the first clarinet plays
winding figures in the prevailing 12/8 with three notes to a
beat. The horns play downward leaping octaves on the
“dominant” E-flat. These horn leaps are followed by
the second clarinet and first bassoon leaping down an
octave, with harmony of a third between them. The
bassoon slides up at the end of the first sequence, and the
clarinet slides at the end of the second.
3:53 [m. 40]--A third sequence of the descending
fourths from the oboe is again a step lower. This
time, the horn leap is followed by a harmonized octave
descent from both bassoons rather than bassoon and
clarinet. They both slide up (as does the oboe, now
joined by its partner), and all the winds now play in
“duplet” rhythm to close off the phrase over one last
descending octave horn leap. The cellos and basses
sneak in with plucked notes at the end.
4:04 [m. 42]--The violas enter with distinctive
syncopated figures that leap up a fifth to repeated
notes. The second clarinet plays rising three-note
figures, beginning on A-flat with a chromatic inflection on
the second note to B-natural. The first clarinet then
enters, molto espressivo, with a passionate new
phrase that begins with a long note, then descends, ending
with a turning ornament. The key shifts to the
“relative” F minor. The melody leaps widely for the
continuation, building strongly. The rising second
clarinet lines and the syncopated viola figures move from
their positions, the latter expanding to octaves and
sixths. Bassoons and cellos enter in support, slowly
descending in half-steps.
4:21 [m. 45]--With the arrival of the forte
level, the first clarinet melody soars and sways. The
slowly descending cello line, with basses taking over for
bassoons, shifts the harmony toward C major, then D-flat
major. The horns and flutes enter to support the
harmony with the bassoons, who have left the chromatic
descent to cellos and basses. The rising second
clarinet figures and the syncopated viola patterns
continue. Finally, the first clarinet melody becomes
syncopated and works its way to an arrival at home on
A-flat, the final descent in two-note “duplet” rhythm
groups.
4:41 [m. 49]--After the cadence, halfway through m.
48, the viola line changes from syncopation to straight
oscillation, and the rising figures from the second clarinet
come to an end. The low instruments, cellos, basses,
and bassoons, play the passionate phrase in F minor.
The first clarinet joins for the continuation, which
proceeds as expected before a new upward shift. The
second bassoon and basses move to the descending chromatic
line. That bass line now moves faster as the oboes
enter to take over the melody, which deviates from the
previous pattern and continues to build strongly, touching C
major.
5:01 [m. 52]--At the climax on the “dominant” in
A-flat, the horns enter with powerful repeated octaves,
doubling the viola oscillation. The oboes, clarinets,
and bassoons, all harmonized almost entirely in thirds,
rapidly diminish in strength. Led by the oboes, these
woodwind pairs continue with sighing long-short motion,
gently rise, then descend, adding some syncopation in the
harmony. The phrase settles to its conclusion.
Approaching the cadence, the oboes and clarinets on weak
beats follow the bassoons and horns on strong beats.
The viola oscillation contracts to a half-step before the
subdued and satisfying cadence. The final A-flat is
reiterated softly by the strings to lead into the
re-transition.
RE-TRANSITION
5:31 [m. 57]--The re-transition is largely in C
minor, with the key signature of three flats. The last
low string A-flat slides down to G, and then the violas
begin the bass pattern from A. It will not
support the theme but will instead serve as the subject for
a passage of counterpoint. The violas make an
unexpected upward turn in the second measure, and then the
oboe enters with a new element, a series of detached
two-note figures that begin off the beat and fall before
turning up at the end of the measure. The bassoons
enter in the next bar with the bass pattern, imitating the
violas a fourth higher. The violas continue in
harmonic counterpoint with the bassoons. The oboe
interjections continue, with alternating down and up motion.
5:48 [m. 60]--The patterns continue in bassoons,
violas, and oboe, and halfway through the bar, the cellos
and basses enter with the bass pattern, an octave lower than
the violas had begun. The oboe interjections
continue. On the next downbeat, the flute enters to
double the oboe an octave above. The bassoons and
violas cut off here as the lower strings continue the bass
line. The bassoons quickly enter again halfway through
the bar, now doubled by clarinet. In the next measure,
the detached two-note figures are passed from flute and oboe
to violas and cellos, with the basses on long notes.
They are quickly passed back to the flute and oboe halfway
through the bar as violas and cellos take the bass pattern.
6:03 [m. 63]--They key has shifted to G minor.
The two-note interjections are passed briefly to clarinet
and bassoon, who have not played them before. Those
instruments quickly move to the bass pattern, passing the
interjections back to the flute and oboe. The string
basses slide down by half-step, shifting toward F
minor. Violas and cellos again take the two-note
interjections, then move to the bass pattern, which now
starts in E-flat minor. The flute and oboes now have a
new element, a smooth winding figure that begins high and
reaches down. This continues as the clarinet and
bassoon enter in counterpoint to the violas and
cellos. The horns make an entry here, playing long
supporting notes with the second bassoon and basses.
6:20 [m. 66]--A buildup has started, and the previous
patterns continue. The descending bass line initially
supports the continuation of E-flat minor, but this quickly
shifts to the suggestion of C-flat major, the first
suggestion of the major mode in this spectral
re-transition. All four woodwind pairs (flutes, oboes,
clarinets, and bassoons) now emerge into a smooth and highly
chromatic undulation while the violas and cellos have upward
octave leaps, which themselves gradually slide upward.
All of this culminates in a forte arrival point and
a strong motion back to C minor, the main key of the
re-transition.
6:31 [m. 68]--The violas emerge alone from the
powerful C-minor arrival. They again begin the
familiar bass pattern, but now in its original form. A
solo horn mournfully intones the expressive main melody of
the A section in C minor. It is cut off after
one measure as the cellos and basses take over from the
violas and slide down. The entire woodwind section
then interjects forcefully with a turning figure from the
theme, abruptly shifting the key to D minor. A descent
in that key is passed from oboe and clarinet to bassoon and
violas to cellos and basses, gradually receding. There
is then another loud woodwind interjection that shifts the
key up another level to E minor.
6:54 [m. 72]--The descent, now in E minor, is again
passed from oboe and clarinet to bassoon and violas to
cellos and basses, now remaining forte. In a
new extension, the woodwinds (led by oboe, without flutes),
continue the pervasive long-short rhythm, changing the key
from E minor to its “relative” G major, remaining forte
as the low strings descend. Further chromatic motion
in the woodwinds and low strings slides the key back home to
A minor, the arrival point marking the full return of the A
section material.
THIRD MAIN SECTION (A’)
7:09 [m. 75]--The first four measures are analogous
to the opening of the movement, but the bass pattern is now
transformed into a continuous upward-winding motion and
assigned to the violas alone, supported by the lower strings
and bassoon interjections. The first flute and first
clarinet present the main melody, as they did at the
beginning, but now they are imitated by the cellos and
basses instead of the second clarinet. These low
strings closely follow the former second clarinet line, with
some alterations at the end. The second clarinet
itself, notably, joins the bassoon interjections. The
cadence is cut off as before.
7:31 [m. 79]--Analogous to 0:26 [m. 5]. The
melody in the flute and oboe in the first two measures is as
it was in the initial presentation. The violas
continue their winding patterns, and the lower strings have
the contrary-motion counterpoint, which does not exactly
match the previous clarinet line. The second clarinet
and bassoons continue with their interjections. After
the aborted cadence in E minor, the strings transition to
the original ground bass pattern, including the
violas. The next three measures are as they were in
the first A section, except that the second bassoon
does not join until the rising thirds leading back to A
minor and strikingly, the violas and cellos change to pizzicato
in the last measure (the basses are still bowed).
7:58 [m. 84]--Analogous to 0:57 [m. 10]. The
flute and clarinet take the lead, accompanied by bassoons as
before, but the violas and cellos continue to pluck the
ground bass. Halfway through the first measure, there
is an adjustment to the melody and the ground bass, which
continues in the two following measures as the oboe joins
the melody and the clarinets join the accompaniment.
These adjustments are made to ensure that the melody remains
in A minor (passing through D minor) rather than making the
bright turn to C major. The syncopated extension and
cadence follow, again coloring A minor with touches of D
minor. In the second extension, the winds are thinned
to clarinets and bassoons, and the basses join the pizzicato.
8:31 [m. 90]--The winds in the second extension are
reduced to bassoons alone, and they make a new turn at the
end, accompanied by the strings, who take their bows and
play a syncopated figure. The sound is hushed and
haunting. The harmony turns again to D minor, more
emphatically, but not quite completely, as the note A
remains in the bass and there is no “leading tone.”
The other woodwinds join the bassoons with descending pianissimo
harmonies in an unusual “plagal” cadence as the D-minor
harmony is wrenched back to A. The last chord is A
major, not minor, using the C-sharp that had helped suggest
D minor to give the ending an unexpectedly warm turn.
The chord is reiterated twice by bassoons and strings, then
held.
9:10--END OF MOVEMENT [93 mm.]
4th Movement: Quasi Menuetto; Trio (Minuet and
Trio). D MAJOR, 6/4 time.
MENUETTO
0:00 [m. 1]--Part 1. After a downbeat D from the
plucked strings, a lilting, halting melody is presented by
clarinets and bassoons, harmonized in thirds. The
strings, still plucked and in unison, punctuate it on the
downbeats and weak beats. After two sequential gestures,
the clarinets and bassoons expand the harmonies to sixths and
reach higher, then descend while the strings take their bows
and play a rising line. Closing off the section, the
clarinets and bassoons play two gentle upbeat-downbeat
figures. The bassoons play two more with the violas and
cellos, and then a last one with the clarinets. These
last three extend the phrase to nine bars, creating a sense of
imbalance, and emphasize the “dominant” note A.
0:16 [m. 1]--Part 1 repeated. The first ending
includes a plucked string upbeat A leading into the first
downbeat D, and the second ending has a bowed G-natural on the
upbeat, leading into the key change that begins Part 2.
0:32 [m. 10]--Part 2. The bowed strings slide
down to F-sharp. The remaining pairs of winds (flutes
and oboes), join the others. The key has abruptly and
strikingly shifted up a third to F-sharp major. There,
the winds play more lilting gestures, dolce. The
cellos and basses hold a low F-sharp, but the violas have
rising interjections that support the wind lines. After
two gestures, a new wind figure with an upward leap followed
by a descent is led by oboe and clarinet, with a flowing viola
line and some motion in the lower strings. This is
stated twice over three bars. Finally, a gently arching
line in thirds from all woodwinds except the clarinets,
supported by the violas, reaches a cadence in F-sharp, the
melody landing on A-sharp.
0:51 [m. 20]--After the cadence, the clarinets and
bassoons in unison have two gentle echoes of the main lilting
figure. The harmony shifts to F-sharp minor under the
second of these, and the echo itself, on the notes A-natural
and F-sharp, leads naturally back to D major.
0:55 [m. 22]--The strings play a held D. The
oboes and bassoons (beginning briefly with clarinets), then
play a new phrase derived from the previous ones, accompanied
by all the strings in unison lines. It gradually builds,
leading to a syncopation on the dissonant note
C-natural. Two accented descents lead to the re-entry of
the flutes and clarinets. Another accent on a held
harmony precedes a descent and full cadence in D. Two
upbeat-downbeat figures from the winds (without bassoons) are
followed by two from clarinets and strings, then a final one
from winds without bassoons. The last gestures create an
imbalanced eleven-bar phrase. The first ending has an
upbeat D-E from strings leading to F-sharp for the repeat.
1:15 [m. 10]--Part 2 repeated. Passage in F-sharp
major, as at 0:32.
1:34 [m. 20]--Echoes leading to F-sharp minor and back
to D major, as at 0:51.
1:37 [m. 22]--Closing phrases and upbeat-downbeat
figures, as at 0:55. The second ending has an upbeat
C-sharp that will lead to the downbeat F-sharp that begins the
Trio section.
TRIO (F-sharp minor)
1:57 [m. 33]--Part 1. The violas establish a
persistent tremolo in fast triplet rhythm, beginning
on a third, creating a rustling effect. The bassoons
sustain the harmony implied by the viola tremolo.
The main melody, espressivo dolce, is almost hidden in
the oboe. Two detached notes are followed by a swaying
gesture reminiscent of the Minuet theme. That gesture
decorates the melody in detached notes alternating between the
flutes and plucked cellos. The oboe melody is played in
a lower sequence, briefly suggesting G major, and the viola tremolo
widens before contracting again.
2:11 [m. 41]--The oboe flourishes upward in two
reaching gestures. The flute decorations obtain harmony
in thirds and are supported by the plucked cellos, who
continue after their “alternations.” The clarinet enters
to play rising octaves in a quasi-imitation of the oboe.
The viola tremolo ranges wider. A third, higher
upward reach from the oboe builds before it descends, and the
basses join the plucked cellos. The flutes, bassoons,
and plucked low strings now support the oboe melody, which is
harmonized by a clarinet. At the end, the melody turns
from F-sharp minor to the “dominant” C-sharp major in a
decorated turn.
2:25 [m. 49]--The oboe drops out, and the clarinet has
dolce C-sharp-major “echoes” in the figures derived
from the Minuet theme. These are separated by flute
harmonies and syncopated bowed cellos. The viola tremolo
continues, moving and expanding as needed. After the
third “echo,” which is altered to omit the “leading tone,” the
clarinet steadily descends with two more figures, remaining in
C-sharp major. The volume settles back down. The
bowed cellos and basses, with syncopated C-sharps, lead into
the repeat, with C-sharp now functioning as a “dominant”
lead-in to the main F-sharp-minor key.
2:38 [m. 33]--Part 1 repeated. Initial oboe
gestures with descending sequence, as at 1:57.
2:51 [m. 41]--Upward reaching gestures, buildup, and
turn to C-sharp major, as at 2:11.
3:04 [m. 49]--Clarinet echoes with syncopated C-sharps
in bowed low strings, as at 2:25.
3:17 [m. 57]--Part 2. The strings slide up to
D. The key turns back to F-sharp minor, but the harmony
is a “diminished seventh.” The viola tremolo
continues. The oboe again has two gestures in sequence,
rising this time, and the flute punctuations on the “Minuet”
gesture are balanced by plucked D-sharps from the
cellos. They take their bow to play a “Minuet” gesture
between the two oboe statements. The first gesture
suggests G major, which had been touched on before. The
second gesture moves more quickly to the “Minuet” gesture,
which it repeats with a bowed cello/bass gesture. It
suggests the remote C major, with C-sharp functioning as a
chromatic upper neighbor as well as a “dominant” to pull the
music back to F-sharp.
3:30 [m. 65]--The flutes and oboes have a strong
descent harmonized in thirds. The clarinets and
bassoons, who entered to support the last oboe gesture, rise
against them. The cellos move to fast triplets matching
the viola tremolo on a “pedal point” C-sharp, which
the basses also play without the triplet rhythm. The
flutes and basses, then the oboes, drop out, leaving the
clarinets to continue the descent and the bassoons the
countering ascent. The cellos slow to “straight”
rhythm. One clarinet and one bassoon then descend
chromatically in sixths, the clarinet doubled with repeated
notes from the violas (still in fast pulsing triplets) and the
bassoon by cellos (in “straight” notes), diminishing rapidly.
3:37 [m. 69]--The descent arrives on F-sharp, the
clarinet and violas having added a mild syncopation and
leading tone. After this arrival, the first eight
measures of Part 1 are given with a mild variation involving
added chromatic motion in the bassoons, viola tremolo,
and plucked cello interjections.
3:50 [m. 77]--The upward oboe reaches from 2:11 and
2:51 [m. 41] are heard largely as before, but the third upward
reach is doubled by flute and harmonized by clarinets and
bassoons. Plucked cellos and basses also support the
following descent. That descent continues where it had
slowed down, and its harmony, including the supporting
instruments and the viola tremolo, remains in F-sharp
instead of moving to C-sharp. A strong cadence in
F-sharp minor is changed to major at the arrival point.
4:03 [m. 85]--The clarinet and flute are now doubled on
the “Minuet” echoes. They are in F-sharp major and
punctuated by bowed syncopations on F-sharp in cellos and
basses, supported by bassoon harmonies. After the second
exchange, the third echo is altered to avoid the “leading
tone.” After a quick repetition up a third, it ends with
two upward reaches of C-sharp and F-sharp, which punctuate a
full arrival on F-sharp major. The viola tremolo
finally ends, and the bowed cellos and basses echo the
“Minuet” figure twice, the second time turning it back to
minor and extending the phrase by a measure [m. 93].
These notes, F-sharp and A, are converted to the upper two
notes of the D-major chord, leading seamlessly to the Minuet
reprise.
MENUETTO REPRISE
4:19 [m. 1]--Part 1, as at the beginning and
0:16. The repeat is omitted, and the second ending is
played.
4:36 [m. 10]--Part 2. Passage in F-sharp major,
as at 0:32 and 1:15.
4:54 [m. 20]--Echoes leading to F-sharp minor and back
to D major, as at 0:51 and 1:34.
4:58 [m. 22]--Closing phrases and upbeat-downbeat
figures, as at 0:55 and 1:37. The measure used for both
the first and second endings (m. 32) is replaced by the first
measure of the coda.
5:16 [m. 94]--Coda. It is placed after the Trio
in the notation with an indication to skip there. The
first measure is the same as the second ending of Part 2
except for the last beat, on which the “dominant” chord is
reiterated and then held over the bar line, punctuated by
strong motion from the “dominant” A to D in plucked
strings. At that point, the woodwinds strongly emphasize
the “subdominant” G major, as do the plucked strings. A
full “dominant” motion toward G is played in both, the flutes
and oboes dipping down and back up. Finally, the G-major
chord leads to a serenely held D-major chord, punctuated by
plucked strings, creating a “plagal” cadence. The first
and third movements also ended with such a cadence.
5:31--END OF MOVEMENT [98 (+31) mm.]
5th Movement: Rondo - Allegro (Sonata-Rondo
form). A MAJOR, 2/4 time.
EXPOSITION
0:00 [m. 1]--Theme 1 (Rondo Theme). Like a
signal, a short upbeat E rising to a held A is sounded
forcefully in all instruments except horns. The new
addition of the piccolo already makes its presence
felt. From there, the clarinets quietly begin the
jaunty theme in “horn fifth” harmonies, with two-note
upbeats and solid downbeats. They are accompanied by
violas and cellos, who play two notes on downbeats and then
short upbeats. After the first four bars, the
clarinets pass to the oboes for the continuation, which uses
distinctive downward-arching triplet figures and comes to a
full cadence, still with the viola/cello patterns.
0:10 [m. 11]--Overlapping the cadence, the theme is
now restated by flutes, clarinets, and bassoons. The
violas and cellos now play repeated-note triplets on the
downbeats, and the basses support them with plucked notes in
“straight” rhythm. For the continuation with
downward-arching triplets, the piccolo and oboes brightly
join, and the clarinets drop out. This time the
cadence leads to a very brief pause.
0:18 [m. 19]--A new pattern is begun by violas and
cellos, with stamping triplet figures on downbeats.
These leap down, then march back up in straight
rhythm. After a half-step motion on the second
pattern, the clarinets take over the figure starting a sixth
higher as the violas and cellos continue to march up in
straight rhythm, shifting briefly to the “relative” F-sharp
minor. It is then passed to flutes and oboe, again a
sixth higher, moving back to A major, as clarinets and
bassoons, harmonized in thirds, join the upward-marching
violas and cellos. A steady, strong buildup begins.
0:23 [m. 25]--The piccolo enters, the oboe briefly
drops out, and all remaining instruments stall and oscillate
on the stamping triplets except bassoons, who play in
straight rhythm. After two measures, the pattern leaps
up a fourth (touching on D major) and the basses join in
straight rhythm. The buildup becomes even stronger,
and suddenly the instruments all emerge into a powerful
downward-plunging scale in the triplet rhythm, the piccolo
soaring brightly. The oboes join here, and the
clarinets drop out in preparation for their next thematic
statement. The plunging scale again brings the harmony
back to A.
0:28 [m. 31]--The clarinets have another presentation
of the main theme, now joined by the oboe with a repeated E
decorated by an upper grace note. The violas and
cellos again have the repeated-note triplets, with the
plucked basses in straight rhythm. The oboes take the
continuation with downward-arching triplets as expected,
moving from their grace note-decorated E’s. After the
oboes finish their statement, the other woodwinds all take
over and repeat the continuation passage, replacing its
straight upbeat with a rising triplet.
0:39 [m. 43]--Transition. Overlapping with the
cadence, and forte, the oboes, clarinets, and
strings play a variant of the stamping triplets, continuing
with an upward arch. They shift the key toward the
“dominant” E. After this first statement, the horns,
powerfully making their first entrance, take over for a
second statement as the oboes and clarinets move to repeated
B’s with the strings. The upward arch is now passed
between two groups: clarinets and bassoons with violas and
cellos, and oboes with horns. While one group takes
the arching figure, the other moves to repeated B’s.
After the first exchange, the piccolo and flutes join the
oboes and horns.
0:46 [m. 51]--The whole instrumental group now stalls
for two bars, flutes with piccolo and horns reaching up in
triplets while oboes, clarinets, and bassoons stamp in
straight rhythm. Violas and cellos reach down in
triplets while the basses, who have thus far not deviated
from the triplet and held B’s, now join the instruments in
straight rhythm. There is a punctuated, forceful
arrival on E from the whole group, followed by a brief
pause.
0:50 [m. 55]--The clarinets and bassoons now have
what could be called a mysterious “transition theme” in E
minor. The clarinets begin on the previous upbeat,
then wind down and back up, harmonized in thirds, with
faster notes on upbeats and longer notes on downbeats.
The bassoons imitate the clarinets a measure behind
them. After two winding gestures, the clarinets repeat
a descent, then reach up and move down in straight quarter
notes. The bassoons break their imitation and rise in
straight quarter notes against this. Both pairs arrive
on D-major harmony. At that point, the strings in
unison forcefully enter with repeated-note triplets on
upbeats, steadily moving down and settling back to E minor
for a second statement.
1:01 [m. 67]--The cellos and basses thump out one
more repeated-note triplet on B as a restatement of the
“transition theme” begins. This time the instruments
are reversed, with the bassoons leading the clarinets.
The patterns of the previous statement are followed until
the sixth measure, where the bassoons reach up for a descent
instead of repeating one. The rising oboes are also
adjusted at the end. These changes direct the harmony
so that it leads to B, functioning as a preparatory
“dominant” in E.
1:09 [m. 75]--All winds (except oboes) and horns play
a held chord based on B. The strings enter with a
highly agitated oscillation, with repeated notes in the
violas and cellos. The oscillation alternates between
A-G-sharp half-steps and ever widening leaps down from
A. The winds play accented short chords (E minor, then
E major, then a “diminished seventh”) on upbeats leading
back to the B “dominant” chord. On the last of the
three, the buildup becomes stronger, and the churning string
oscillation has widened to an octave. After this
climax, flutes and clarinets descend to mark a delayed
E-major cadence before Theme 2.
1:16 [m. 83]--Theme 2 (Episodic Theme in E
major). At the cadence, the strings begin a quiet, but
churning accompaniment, with two-note viola figures in
double-stops following downbeat notes from cellos and
basses. The horns briefly support this. On the
following upbeat, a solo oboe (omitted from the previous
buildup) is given the initial presentation of the new
theme. It is joyous and full-hearted, with upbeats
leading into downbeats, then winding and descending figures,
all separated by pauses. The bassoons enter in
support. In a descent, the cellos briefly but
beautifully harmonize the oboe melody. The first
phrase ends with a turn figure notated as a five-note group,
then a half-close.
1:24 [m. 91]--While the churning accompaniment
continues in basses and violas, the horn and cellos in
unison start the next phrase of the theme, breaking off
after two bars. Dolce upbeat figures then
alternate between bassoons and clarinets over a held horn
note. The strings change their pattern, with violas
and cellos playing plucked upward arpeggios after the
downbeats. After two bassoon/clarinet exchanges
hinting back at A major, they move strongly to the expected
descent with the horns. The first clarinet and first
bassoon play the five-note turn figure. Instead of
pausing, the theme builds, with piccolo, flutes, and oboes
joining for a higher statement of the descent and turn
figure, leading to a powerful E-major cadence.
1:36 [m. 104]--The strings once again move to the
oscillating patterns that preceded Theme 2, still using
half-steps and leaps, but without a static top note.
The winds have strong and exuberant upbeat-downbeat figures
before a reiteration of the E-major cadence decorated by a
trill. The piccolo again pierces through the
texture. At this cadence, the winds, mostly in unison
with some harmony and a few chromatic notes, move to a
steady marching pattern while the strings play
upbeat-downbeat figures. This culminates in four
rising figures in the winds against descents and trills in
the strings. The volume rapidly diminishes.
1:46 [m. 115]--The winds pause after the last rising
figure, then reiterate and harmonize a rising third
(G-sharp-B), at first holding the B out twice over bar
lines, then quickly leaping down and back up, then holding
it again twice (now within the measure) before more quick
leaps. The strings accompany this, punctuating the
longer-held B’s with trills. The volume continues to
diminish, arriving at pianissimo. After one
last held B, the cellos and basses quietly descend from E to
B.
1:52 [m. 122]--Closing material based on rondo
theme. The horns, who have paused through the previous
cadential material, now enter with a variant of the main
rondo theme that is distinguished by a short turning figure
in the third full measure. They are accompanied by
half-steps on B and A-sharp in the cellos and basses, the
B’s being held out. The theme then continues with
piccolo and oboe, who also add a new element in the third
full measure, a turning figure decorated by grace
notes. Against the piccolo and oboe, the violas and
cellos move to downward-arching triplets closely resembling
those associated with the oboes from the theme. The
basses pluck B’s on downbeats and upbeats.
2:00 [m. 130]--The horns again begin the rondo theme
variant, but at the new turning figure, they are now joined
by oboes. The piccolo and oboe then restate their
continuation with the decorated turn figure, played against
downward-arching triplets from violas and cellos. The
piccolo and oboe now reiterate the last gesture, an upbeat B
rising to an E, three times, holding the last one out.
The plucked basses shift from B to G-sharp and E. This
marks the end of the exposition. The viola triplets
change from arches to repeated descents, leading into the
“signal” that starts the development section.
DEVELOPMENT
2:11 [m. 142]--Rondo Theme. The hybridization
of rondo and sonata form is in evidence here, with the first
and second themes deployed in rondo-like fashion
superimposed on a development. At first, the loud
opening “signal” is heard as at the beginning, and then the
theme is presented by clarinets in the home key. The
only major difference is that the accompanying figures now
alternate between the viola/cello group, now plucked, and a
flute/bassoon pair. This alternation persists through
the oboe continuation.
2:20 [m. 152]--The theme is interrupted by what
appears to be the loud “signal” again, but instead of
leaping from E to A, it slides up a half-step to
E-sharp. At the same time, the strings, now all bowed,
play a triplet group on the note C-sharp. At that
point, the opening of the rondo theme is presented by
piccolo, flutes, and bassoons in the key of C-sharp
major. The accompanying figures are now triplets and
alternate between the viola/cello group and an oboe/clarinet
pair.
2:26 [m. 158]--Instead of the triplet continuation,
one instrument of each wind pair, including piccolo (except
oboes, who drop out) begins to slide down by half-step with
syncopated notes, alternating with the partner instruments,
which play upward-sliding figures. The strings now
continuously alternate the triplet rhythm, which also slides
down by half-step. Violas and cellos alternate with
cellos (dipping an octave) and basses. The slide
continues for five levels, until the strings reach a bass
C-sharp and the wind group a C-sharp harmony. Pairs of
flutes, clarinets, and bassoons then play four continuously
descending upbeat-downbeat figures in thirds, the flutes
dropping out after the first two, over the triplet C-sharp
in low strings.
2:35 [m. 168]--Episodic Theme (Theme 2 in F-sharp
minor). Its arrival coincides with the fourth
upbeat-downbeat figure from clarinets and bassoons. It
is again played by oboe, but transformed to minor (F-sharp
minor, “relative” to the home key of A major). The
oboe is accompanied by the familiar churning patterns from
the strings. The cellos harmonize with the oboe at the
same point where they did before, and the oboe reaches its
five-note turn figure leading to a half-close.
2:41 [m. 175]--The cellos and violas now begin a
statement of the theme, with accompanying figures and later
full harmonization from clarinets and bassoons. They
also reach the same five-note turn figure and half-close in
F-sharp minor.
2:48 [m. 182]--The first oboe now begins a
development of the theme, at first hinting at the major
key. Its figuration is accompanied by the second oboe
and the bassoon pair, along with the low strings, who at
first rise by half-step, then descend in larger
intervals. The oboe figuration makes two theme-like
gestures, then moves to continuous upward-arching groups
before finally landing again on F-sharp minor.
2:56 [m. 190]--Another sequence of development
begins, with the oboes and bassoons in harmony and joined by
the flutes, now building in volume. The accompanying
figures are now played by violas and cellos as the basses
march up. This time, an arching gesture leads to a
forceful cadence in F-sharp with long-short rhythm.
The arching gesture and the forceful cadence are immediately
repeated.
3:07 [m. 202]--At the point of the second cadence in
F-sharp, the volume suddenly becomes quiet and the
clarinets, dolce, merge into a statement of the main
rondo theme in D major, F-sharp minor leading seamlessly to
that key. This statement, however, is “augmented,” or
stretched out with doubled note values. It is
accompanied by arpeggios from bassoon and violas,
alternating with the other bassoon and flutes, and played
over a repeated “drone fifth” on D in the cellos. The
result is a “bagpipe” effect. After the expected
opening pattern, it is spun out and extended where the
triplet continuation would be expected.
3:22 [m. 217]--The last clarinet gesture is repeated
twice with new syncopation. At the same time, the bass
drone ends and the bass line itself begins to move, as do
the accompanying arpeggios from flutes, bassoons, and
violas, which now come together. The syncopated
clarinets are joined by oboe on two successively higher
reaching gestures. Finally, the accompanying arpeggios
take over and speed up. The key makes a highly
chromatic motion from D major to E major, with descending
half-steps in the cellos and basses. Through all of
this, there is a very strong buildup from the gentle
clarinet statement to a forte arrival.
3:29 [m. 226]--Re-transition. The cellos and
basses now establish a pulsing drone on E. The horns
enter quietly in that key, playing the first part of the
main rondo theme. The oboes then enter with a new
continuation, with harmonized thirds moving in a stepwise
manner up and down, beginning to build. The horns move
to leaping octaves and fifths. Flutes, clarinets, and
bassoons then take over from the oboes and continue to build
with the stepwise motion harmonized in thirds. The low
strings move from their drone to a repeated E, then to
leaping octaves on A. The melodic motion introduces
the chromatic note E-sharp, briefly suggesting the key of
F-sharp minor as the music builds again to fortissimo.
3:43 [m. 242]--All strings (the violas having joined
at the end of the buildup) plus flutes and bassoons stretch
out the climax with an angular passage in steady unison
motion. In addition to E-sharp, the note B-sharp is
introduced. The preceding E-major passage has been a
“dominant” preparation. As the unison instruments
continue to wind upward, they again arrive at the note
E-sharp, but this time it is diverted to a very grand
arrival on A major, heralding the recapitulation.
RECAPITULATION
3:53 [m. 253]--Theme 1 (Rondo Theme). The first
part of the theme having been presented at the outset of the
development section, what arrives here, most satisfyingly,
is the triplet continuation originally played by
oboes. It is given by flutes, clarinets, and bassoons
with drone-like accompaniment from the strings. Now
the piccolo truly makes its presence felt, decorating the
theme with high trills connected by a rushing scale
figure. The triplets are presented as they were in the
passage at 0:28 [m. 31], with a repetition that is joined by
oboes, along with violas and cellos moving to
triplets. The piccolo also moves to the triplets,
piercing through, and passing its trills and scale figure to
the regular flutes.
4:01 [m. 261]--The passage from 0:18 [m. 19] is now
heard in almost the same presentation with the notable
exception that it starts out forte rather than
building from piano. The oboes and piccolo
also make an earlier entrance.
4:06 [m. 267]--As at 0:23 [m. 25], the instruments
stall and oscillate on the stamping triplets, then move to a
powerful unison descending scale.
4:12 [m. 273]--This passage begins analogously to
0:28 [m. 31], but diverges from it, becoming a new
transition. The theme is played by flutes, clarinets,
and bassoons, with the stamping triplets from violas and
cellos in alternation against plucked basses, the horns also
adding punctuation. Above it all, the piccolo plays
another piercing trill. At the motion to the triplet
continuation, the figures are passed from flutes and
bassoons to oboes and clarinets twice, with two more shorter
trills from the piccolo. The whole triplet pattern
seems to begin a repetition, but halfway through, it moves
up where a downward motion would be expected, and the bass
also becomes active, emphasizing the “dominant” on E.
4:23 [m. 285]--The triplet figures now steadily and
breathlessly work up, beginning in piccolo, flutes, oboes,
and bassoons. The clarinets start with quarter-note
pulsations. The horns and basses provide eighth-note
punctuation in clashing straight rhythm while the violas and
cellos play downward-arching leaps (broken octaves in
cellos) in triplet rhythm. After two bars, a clarinet
joins the triplets, and the pulsations are in the first
oboe, second clarinet, and bassoons. At this same
point, with the piccolo soaring very high, the triplets
reach the “dominant” E. The instruments stall there
for two more measures of repeated triplets, then cut off,
and the strings punctuate the note E (also in triplets) in
preparation for the “transition theme.”
4:28 [m. 291]--“Transition theme,” analogous to 0:50
[m. 55], now in A minor, but still with clarinets leading
bassoons as before. They end on a G-major harmony, and
then the strings in unison settle back to A minor with
repeated-note triplets on upbeats, matching the earlier
passage.
4:39 [m. 303]--Restatement of “transition theme,”
analogous to 1:01 [m. 67]. The patterns are the same,
but the instrumentation is new and surprising. Instead
of simply reversing the bassoons and clarinets, this
restatement leaves out both pairs. The violas and
cellos (in the same harmonies) lead the oboes, creating an
entirely new sound for the mysterious theme. It leads
toward E, the “dominant” in A major.
4:46 [m. 311]--Buildup passage, analogous to 1:09 [m.
75]. The string oscillation begins on D and C-sharp,
widening down from D. The wind patterns are mostly the
same, but the first short chord replaces the expected A
minor with a more dissonant “diminished seventh.” The
oboes enter at the end, doubling the flutes where the
clarinets had done so before. Flutes and oboes descend
into the statement of Theme 2 in the home key.
4:54 [m. 319]--Theme 2 (Episodic Theme in A major),
analogous to 1:16 [m. 83]. The oboe presents the
theme, as before. The main difference here, other than
the key, is that the double-stop viola figures are replaced
by ascending triplet arpeggios dovetailed between the two
clarinets. Also, with the higher key, the brief
harmonization comes from the violas instead of the cellos.
5:01 [m. 327]--Second phrase of theme, analogous to
1:24 [m. 91]. The clarinets continue their triplet
arpeggios. The violas alone start the phrase, then
break off. The dolce upbeat figures now
alternate between violas and oboes (hinting at D
major). The bassoons enter with supporting
harmony. The descent comes from flutes and
oboes, with the first flute and first oboe playing the
five-note turn figure. The piccolo joins for the
higher statement and cadence in A major. The higher
level necessitates a downward shift in register at the very
end, resulting in a somewhat different effect from the
exposition statement.
5:15 [m. 340]--Analogous to 1:36 [m. 104].
String oscillations with exuberant upbeat-downbeat figures
from the winds, then reiterations of the cadence decorated
by trills. The winds again move to a steady marching
pattern, mostly in unison, against upbeat-downbeat figures
from the strings, culminating in rising figures against
descents and trills with rapidly diminishing volume
5:23 [m. 351]--Analogous to 1:46 [m. 115].
Reiteration of rising third (C-sharp-E), with the same
pattern of held harmonies and fast leaps up and down,
punctuated by string trills. The volume diminishes to
pianissimo and beyond. The cellos and basses
descend from A to E.
5:29 [m. 358]--Closing material based on rondo theme,
analogous to 1:52 [m. 122]. The horns, being tuned in
E, are less ideal for the statement of the variant in A, at
least on their own. Instead, it is played by bassoons
with the first horn. The cellos and basses accompany
with half-steps on E and D-sharp. The piccolo and oboe
play the continuation, as they did before. The violas
and cellos move to downward-arching triplets, as before,
with the basses plucking E’s.
5:37 [m. 366]--Analogous to 2:00 [m. 130]. The
bassoons and horn begin the rondo theme variant, joined by
oboes at the new turning figure. The clarinets in
octaves now play the continuation instead of the piccolo and
oboe. There are new harmonies from bassoons and
punctuation from the horns. At the decorated turn
figure, the first horn doubles the clarinets. From
that point, there is deviation from the exposition merging
into the very brief coda. The reiterations leading to
the opening “signal” are omitted.
5:44 [m. 373]--Coda. The deviation into this
breathless coda begins with a new syncopated figure from the
clarinets and horn, which is immediately repeated with the
oboes joining in. The flutes now join as the
syncopated figure is played three more times in a rising
sequence that builds strongly, the horn moving back to the
punctuation. The downward-arching triplets continue in
violas and cellos, as does the persistent plucked E in the
basses, which descends to D against the last syncopated
figure.
5:48 [m. 378]--The piccolo joins as the buildup
reaches forte, and the syncopated figure is
developed into a joyous chromatic descent with chords in
bassoons and horns. The triplets in violas and cellos
change to upward-turning patterns, and the basses, now
bowed, are more active. The buildup in volume
continues. The chromatic descent is followed by a
downward-winding figure, then an upward leap of a seventh
and a full repetition of the pattern. This leads to
three bars of powerful fortissimo quarter-note
cadential wind chords against the continuing turning
patterns from violas and cellos, the basses holding firm on
E.
5:58 [m. 389]--The chords in all instruments move to
upbeat-downbeat patterns except for the piccolo, which plays
two high trills to connect the chords. The piccolo,
whose sound has been vital for the character of this finale,
is joined by violas and cellos on a longer trill against
three straight E-major chords leading to the very high
A-major cadence. This cadence is reiterated by two
lower chords, a short one with C-sharp in the top voices and
finally a held chord with A (an octave lower than the
initial cadence) in the top voices.
6:13--END OF MOVEMENT [396 mm.]
END OF SERENADE
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