Page:Rolland - Beethoven, tr. Hull, 1927.pdf/147

 bass. It is not until the close, after the melody has been given at a slow rate on the wood-wind in its proper setting, that it is taken up triumphantly and carried victoriously into the coda. Beethoven used this particular theme four times—in a Contretanz, in his Finale to the Men of Prometheus, as the theme for his set of variations for piano, Opus 35 and in this Symphony. This curious method of writing a set of variations recurs 20 years later in the Ninth Symphony. A somewhat similar process has been adopted by Elgar in his Enigma Variations, as the theme used there is said to be the counter-subject of a concealed melody.

This happy and serene work has been undeservedly overshadowed by its two towering neighbours. Schumann has called it a slender Greek maiden between two Norse giants. The opening Adagio sounds the only dark mood in the Symphony