Page:Rolland - Beethoven, tr. Hull, 1927.pdf/152



This Symphony, often slighted on account of its so-called realisms and its classification amongst "programme music," is, nevertheless, one of the finest pieces in the whole range of absolute music. The labelling of the various movements by Beethoven—" Joyous sensations roused by arrival in the country," "Scene by the brook," "Merry gathering of country peasants," "Thunderstorm," "Glad and grateful feeling after the storm "—is quite superfluous. How artistically Beethoven has introduced the bird calls the quail, the nightingale, and the cuckoo-into just the right place—the coda of the Andante. And the thunderstorm. What a magnificent introduction to the Finale it makes! Beethoven has never once transgressed the great principles of form and balance in this Symphony.

The opening movement is a true country picture,