Page:Rolland - Beethoven, tr. Hull, 1927.pdf/149

 It has a charmingly tender trio and a coda of exquisite poetry ending with Schumann's "Just one more question for the horn to put" before the final crash. This is one of the longest movements which Beethoven has written in this form. The bright, sunny mood of the opening movements increases in the radiant Finale. There the modulations are surprising and the touches of humour delightful. The little skirmish on the part of the bassoon just before the return, the whimsical little notes on the flutes and violins, the augmentation of the subject as it fades away into the stealthy questionings between the violins and bassoons near the end, are but a few of the many little quips and sallies.

This famous Symphony with its rugged first movement, its lovely Andante, its mysterious Scherzo and its proud, fiery Finale, was first performed together with the so-called Sixth Symphony on December 22nd, 1808. The Pastoral Symphony No. 6 was probably written before the 5th.