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The Fifth
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The immeasurably magnificent and profound Symphony in C minor ... irresistibly draws the
listener in an ever rising climax into the spirit-realm of the infinite. Nothing could be simpler than
the main idea of the opening Allegro, consisting of only two bars and initially in unison, so that
the listener is not even certain of the key. The mood of the anxious, restless yearning created by
this subject is heightened even further by the melodious secondary theme. The breast, constricted
and affrighted by presentiments of enormity and annihilation, seems to be struggling for air with a
series of stabbing chords, when suddenly a friendly figure moves forward and shines brilliantly
through the dreadful darkness of night (the attractive theme in G major that was first touched on
by the horns in E flat major). How simple - let it be said once more - is the theme on which the
composer has based his entire movement, but how wonderfully all the secondary elements and
transition passages are related to it by their rhythmic content, so that they serve to reveal more
and more facets of the Allegro's character which the main theme by itself only hints at! All the
phrases are short, almost all of them consisting merely of two or three bars, and are also
consisting merely of two or three bars, and are also constantly exchanged between winds and
strings. One would think that such ingredients could result only in something disjointed and
impossible to follow, but on the contrary it is precisely this overall pattern, and the constant
repetition of phrases and single chords, which intensifies to the highest possible degree the feeling
of ineffable yearning. Quite apart from the fact that the contrapuntal treatment betokens profound
study of the art, the transition passages and constant allusions to the main theme demonstrate how
the whole movement with all its impassioned features was conceived in the imagination and
clearly thought through.
Does not the lovely theme of the Andante con moto in A flat major sound like the voice of a
propitious spirit that fills our breast with hope and comfort? But even here the awful phantom
that seized out hearts in the Allegro threatens at every moment to emerge from the storm-cloud
into which it disappeared, so that the comforting figures around us rapidly flee from its lightening-flashes.
What am I to say about the minuet? Listen to the distinctive modulations, the closes on
the dominant major, which is taken up by the bass as the tonic of the following theme in the minor
mode, the theme itself, repeatedly extended by a few bars at a time! Does that restless, ineffable
yearning, that presentiment of a magical spirit-world, in which the composer excels, not seize hold
of you again? But like a shaft of blinding sunlight the full orchestra bursts forth in joyful jubilation
with the splendid theme of the final movement. What wonderful contrapuntal intricacies are
woven into the overall texture again here! It may well all sweep past many like an inspired
rhapsody, but the heart of every sensitive listener is certain to be deeply stirred by one emotion,
that of nameless, haunting yearning, and right to the very last chord, indeed for some moments
after it, he will be unable to emerge from the magical spirit-realm where he has been surrounded
by pain and pleasure in the form of sounds.
The internal disposition of the movements, their working-out, orchestration, the way in which
they succeed each other, all is directed towards a single point. But it is particularly the close
relationship of the themes to each other which provides the unity that alone is able to sustain one
feeling in the listener. This relationship frequently becomes clear to the listener when he hears it
in the similarity between two passages, or discovers a bass pattern which is common to two
different passages; but often a deeper relationship that is not demonstrable in this way speaks only
from the heart to the heart, and it is this kind which exists between the subjects of the two
Allegros and the minuet, and which brilliantly proclaims the composer's rational genius.
-- E.T.A. Hoffmann --
Kreisleriana
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