hen leaning upon his staff to watch the rising sun. As
it appears, it is welcomed by trio and chorus with the exultant shout,
"Hail, O glorious Sun!" As noon approaches, the music fairly becomes
radiant. A series of recitatives and arias follow, bringing out in a
vivid and picturesque manner the oppressive, exhaustive heat and the
longing for rest and shade, leading at last to an ominous silence as the
clouds begin to gather and the sky darkens. A short recitative prepares
the way. A crash of thunder is heard upon the drums: it is the prelude to
the storm-chorus ("Hark! the deep tremendous Voice"), which has been the
model for nearly all the storm-descriptions written since Haydn's time.
It is worked up to a tremendous climax of tumult and terror, of pouring
rain, flashing lightning, and pealing thunder. At last the tempest dies
away, and in the trio and chorus, "Now cease the Conflicts," night comes
on, with its song of the quail,--which Beethoven subsequently utilized in
his Pastoral Symphony,--the chirp of the crickets, the croaking of the
frogs, the distant chime of the evening bells, and the invocation to
sleep. Of the frog episode, Nohl says:--

"He particularly disliked the croaking of the frogs, and realized how
much it lowered his art. Swieten showed him an old piece of Gretry's in
which the croak was imitated with striking effect. Haydn contended that
it would be better if the entire croak were omitted, though he yielded
to Swieten's importunities. He declared afterwards, however, that the
frog passage was not his own. 'It was urged upon me,' he said, 'to
write this French croak. In the orchestral setting it is very brief,
and it cannot be done on the piano. I trust the critics will not treat
me with severity for it. I am an old man, and liable to make
mistakes.'"

After a quaintly melodious prelude the third part opens with a terzetto
and chorus ("Thus Nature ever kind rewards"), an invocation to virtue and
industry, and a quaintly sentimental duet ("Ye gay and painted Fair").
The next number, an aria by Simon ("Behold along the dewy Grass"),--which
gives us a picture of the hunter and his dog pursuing a bird,--prepares
the way for the great hunting chorus ("Hark! the Mountains resound"), one
of the most graphic and stirring choruses of this description ever
written. The whole scene,--the vales and forests resounding with the
music of the horns, the finding of the quarry, the flying stag