owe to the genius of Beethoven. The same effect with a slightly
different dramatic purpose is found at the end of theCoriolanus
Overture.
The Scherzo, allegro vivace, in triple time, but markedonebeat
a measure = 116 (almost two measures per second!), is unsur-
passed for sustained brilliancy and daring rhythmic changes. It
is so idiomatically conceived for orchestra that only the barest
idea can be gained from a pianoforte transcription. The pre-
vailing background is a mass of shimmering strings, marked by
Beethoven “sempre pp e staccato” and against this stands out a
buoyant, folk-song type of melody on the oboe. After some mys-
terious and fantastic modulations aff climax is reached which
leads to the famous syncopated passage where the orchestra
seems to hurl itself headlong into space,e.g.
[Music]
The Trio, with its three hunting horns, gives a fresh, wood-
land note typifying Beethoven’s love of nature. Some mysteri-
ous modulations lead us back from the dim recesses of the forest
to the sparkling animation of the Scherzo. In this part of the
movement Beethoven plays one of his characteristic practical
jokes; for, just where we expect the same syncopated effect as
before, the time is changed from 3/4 to 2/2, the duration of the
measure remaining the same,e.g.
[Music]
This effect may be likened to the uproarious guffaws of a giant.
The Coda has a clear reminiscence of the dramatic C-sharp in
the main theme of the first movement,e.g.
[Music][143]
[Footnote 143: D-flat being the enharmonic equivalent of C-
sharp. [Transcriber’s Note: The music notation contains a D-
flat.]]
Such an organic connection between movements begins to be
very frequent in Beethoven’s works.
The Finale, Allegro molto, has caused considerable difficulty to
the commentators for reasons known only to themselves. Dif-
ferent forms are assigned to it by different critics; one regrets
the falling off of inspiration, another asserts that the movement
“does not fulfill the requirements which the human mind makes