a rude rumbling phrase of the basses of wood and strings, while the oboe
sings in the treble an expressive answer of ascending notes. A conflict
is

[Music: (_Molto vivace_)
(cello _molto espressivo_)
(Violas)
(Basses and bassoons with upper 8ve.)
(Oboe) _espressivo_]

evident, of love and ambition, of savage and of gentle passion, of chaos
and of beauty. At the height, the lowest brass intrude a brutal note of
triumph of the descending theme. To the victory of Pride succeeds a
crisis of passionate yearning. But at the very height is a plunge into
the fit of madness, the fatal descending phrase (in trombones) is ever
followed by furious pelting spurts in the distorted main theme.

At last the paroxysm abates, throbbing ever slower, merging into the
tender song of the Dream that now rises to the one great burst of
love-passion. But it ends in a wild rage that turns right into the
war-song of the beginning. And this is much fuller of incident than
before. Violins now ring an hostile motive (the former rumbling phrase
of basses) from the midst of the plot against the main theme in
trumpets. Instead of the former pageantry, here is the pure frenzy of
actual war. The trumpet melodies resound amidst the din of present
battle. Instead of the other gentler episodes, here is a more furious
raving of the mad Queen (in the hurried main motive), where we seem to
see the literal dogs of war let loose and spurred on,--each paroxysm
rising to a higher shock.

Great is the vehemence of speed and sound as the dull doom of
destruction drones in the basses against a grim perversion of the
yearning theme above, that overwhelms the scene with a final shriek.

Slowly the dream of love breathes again, rises to a fervent burst, then
yields to the fateful chant and ends in a whisper of farewell.

CHAPTER XVII

MAHLER[A]

[Footnote A: Gustav Mahler, 1860-1911.]

In Mahler the most significant sign is a return to a true counterpoint,
as against a mere overlading of themes, that began in Wagner and still
persists in Strauss,--an artificial kind of structure that is never
conceived as a whole.

While we see in Mahler much of the duophonic manner of his teacher,
Bruckner, in the work of the younger man the barren art is crowned with
the true fire of a sentient poet. So, if Bruckner had little to say, he
showed the way to others. And Mahler, if he did not quite emerge from
the mantle of Beethoven, is a link towards a still grea