the melody like a guiding star.[156] A passage of special signifi-
cance is that in measures 123-146, where Beethoven indulges in
a touching soliloquy upon his main theme. It is mysteriously
introduced by the repetition, eight times,pp, of the dominant
chord (the simplest medium of suspense) which seems to say
“Hush, I have something most intimate reveal.” The Coda (Più
Moto) begins with a mood of wistful reverie, but the clouds are
soon dispelled and the movement ends in radiant sunshine.
[Footnote 156: While listening to this passage one is instinc-
tively reminded of Keats’s “Bright and steadfast star, hung aloft
the night.”]
The salient structural feature in the last two movements[157]
is that they are merged together; there is no pause after the
Scherzo; and the movements are further interlocked by an inter-
polation, in the middle of the Finale, of a portion of the preced-
ing Scherzo—a kind of inter-quotation or cross reference. This
composite movement is a striking example of the organic re-
lationship which Beethoven succeeded in establishing—between
the different movements of the symphony. Prior to him, it is fair
to say—to use a homely simile—that a sonata or a symphony
resembled a train of different cars merely linked together, one
after the other; whereas the modern work, as foreshadowed by
Beethoven, is a vestibuled train: one indivisible whole from be-
ginning to end.[158] But before the Fifth Symphony there had
been no such systematic unification; for it is not too much to
say that the whole work is based upon the persistent iteration of
a single note in varied rhythmic groups. Thus in the first move-
ment we find continually the rhythm [Music]; in the second, in
several places [Music]; in the Scherzo [Music]; and in the Finale
[Music]. Furthermore a C, repeated by the kettle-drums for fifty
measures, is the chief factor in the connecting link between the
Scherzo and the Finale. We shall observe this tendency to in-
terconnection still further developed by Schumann in his Fourth
Symphony, by Liszt in the Symphonic Poem[159] (to be treated
later), and a climax of attainment reached in such highly unified
works as César Franck’s D minor Symphony and Tchaikowsky’s
Fifth. To return to the Scherzo, well worthy of note is the Trio,
in free fugal form (its theme announced by the ponderous dou-
ble basses), because it is such a convincing illustration of the
humorous possibilities inherent in fugal style. The way in which
the voices chase each other about—compared by Berlioz[160]