dy for clarinets, which is
developed into a short form. Then follows the second menuetto, which
many would have called a trio, excepting that it really is a complete
little minuet, the leading idea of which is given by the second
violins; after this the first menuetto returns.

Then follows another scherzo, in D major, the subject being given out
by the horns, accompanied by the 'cellos.

In the trio the same combination takes precedence, but the 'cello
figures are twice as fast.

The work concludes with a rondo, the principal subject of which is very
sprightly in character, given out by the clarinets and bassoons,
accompanied by the lower strings. This movement is carried out with
great spirit. The work as a whole is of singularly genial character.

It happened to the writer to enter the rehearsal once during one of the
movements. He was expecting something by Tschaikowsky or Richard
Strauss. As he listened, the simplicity and naivete of the ideas
suggested Mozart; but presently there was an earnestness foreign to
Mozart, and Beethoven was recalled. Just then the counterpoint took a
turn which was plainly not Beethoven, but surely the work of some late
master, and the question was, Who could have done a thing of this kind
so delightfully, with such reserve? All at once the author's name
occurred. "Surely," he said, "it is Brahms"; and it was. It is the
beauty of an unpretending work of this character by so great a master
that the hearer is able to follow it with so much enjoyment and from
purely musical motives, without making himself unhappy in the effort to
realize a story or some great and mysterious power. It is genius in
its moments of pure enjoyment.

The Symphony in E minor was first published in 1885, and immediately
was pronounced by advanced musicians the most significant of Brahms,
because showing the composer's nature more completely and, so to say,
more spontaneously. This opinion, says Dr. Kretschmar, is based upon
the elevation of the work and the fact that in it Brahms for the first
time fully displays his many-sided individuality and genius in the
province of symphony. "The singer of the great German requiem stands
before us." Like its predecessors, it is developed out of a small
number of fundamental ideas, but with a degree of complexity beneath
its apparent simplicity which makes it a rich field for musical
analysis.

The first movement is marked allegro non assai (quick, but not