meaning, and he alters it whenever the latter requires. The theme of the first fugue suffers such a change upon its re-appearance as subject. The response has led it towards the dominant, which naturally does not admit of the entrance of the subject; a transition of even half a measure seems scarcely in harmony with the idea, and Schumann therefore does not hesitate to introduce the theme:

rhythmically changed for the second time:

in the same shape it again takes up the bass towards the end of the first working-out, thereby acquiring such importance that it appears alternately with the original theme in the second working-out, which enters after a short interlude made up of motives borrowed from the first theme. The stretto affixed to this ("gradually faster and louder") is another of those innovations hitherto foreign to the fugue, which find their full excuse in the peculiar nature of the theme. The first half only of the theme is worked out in it; the second forms the counter-subject appearing in the stretto, the whole composition thus closing with the broadest and fullest of harmonic pictures.

The theme of the second fugue is also developed and worked out in the spirit of Bach. Here we are particularly interested in the interludes obtained from the altered construction of the first part of the theme, because they proceed from the idea of the necessity of contrast, as

manifested in modern instrumental music, but not in the old fugue form. This idea of contrast has taken such strong hold of our master in this instance, that he feels obliged to give us the time within the time, a novelty which is again caused by his desire to combine the old technics with the new spirit.

The third fugue has scarcely higher value than that of a study. It is hard to justify the fact that the theme appears in two parts on its first entrance, without in any way affecting its farther working-out, but the great monotony of the predominant rhythm

more than anything else, prevents the development of the whole into greater significance. The theme is chiefly harmonized in chords, and the intermezzi are correspondingly treated.

The last three fugues are much more important. After two closely united workings-out, the fourth fugue offers us new workings-out, in which the theme also appears in contrary motion, but only a few times, as lies in the nature of this fugue. All the expedients of the modern tendency are expended upon its form as derived from the name of Bach, and again more particularly towards the close. The theme of the fifth fugue is also derived in the spirit of the new school, and then worked out in harmony with the old laws of form. Here, too, Schumann contrives to shape the form in the style of modern instrumental music, while he conceives the theme in its augmentation wholly in accordance with the canons of the old school, and then sets it in actual contrast to the first theme. In the last fugue, finally, where the theme is again more simply constructed and then worked out with all the materials of fugue work, it is the counter-subject particularly, planned wholly in the new spirit of the romantic school as it is, which displays the form in the light of that new tendency. The next great instrumental work, sketched during the

same year, and finished in the following year (1846), the second' symphony (in C major, printed as Op. 61,) shows the extraordinary value which these contrapuntal studies had for the artistic and perfect composition of larger orchestral works. Their influence was especially beneficial upon the finale of this symphony, as is seen in the counter-subjects opposed to the principal subject, which grow out of the scholastic contrapuntal treatment of a motive in direct as well as in contrary motion:

as also in the simple counterpoint, reminding us more cf the old school, upon which the principal subject of the scherzo rests, and which is often apparent in the second trio in that movement, and in the adagio as well as in the closing movement, not only lending greater formal strength to the separate movements, but also helping to give them

1 Really the third symphony; the D minor symphony, composed in 1841, at the same time as the B major symphony, but not rewritten until 1851, and then published as Op. 120, preceded it. The first performance of this C major symphony took place, Nov. 5, 1846, at a subscription concert given at the Gewandhaus under Mendelssohn's direction; it was repeated on Nov. 16, at a concert given by Clara Schumann, also under the direction of Mendelssohn.

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greater unity and coherence. This general effect of unity was especially necessary to him on this occasion. separate movements have not only a close ideal affinity, but they also often refer to each other in point of form. The constant and almost monotonous adherence to the original keynote, C, seems worthy of note from this point of view. The introduction, the first, second, and final movements are founded on the key of C major; the beginning of the adagio is in the gloomy C major, changing into the C minor key and back to C major at the close. It is one of the most distinctive features of the new school, that it not only ceased to retain and practise that means of asserting the key sanctioned by the old school and the old masters, but actually created and shaped new methods of work for itself in this regard. Schubert, especially, had a far deeper and broader conception of the tonality than his predecessors, and he found a multitude of novel means of working it out more richly and with greater subjective truth. In more than one instance we have tried to show how Schumann adapted this apparatus to his own uses, expanding and transforming it in an original manner. this symphony the new construction put upon the term tonality finds the widest application in the field of instrumental music. The introduction first takes the key of C major from the sub-dominant (F major); it also shows a transition from the latter to the tonic, and the first movement also, which opens with the tonic, is based far more upon the sub-dominant than on the dominant. The latter is only reached at the close of the first part by a real modulation. The first part ends with a half cadence on the dominant; the third part soon reverts to the mediant -E flat major-whereby the entire movement receives a somewhat minor character, for the most natural rise from the minor is the transition to the mediant.

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The same criticism holds good for the scherzo, save that there the transition to the mediant is even more decided from the outset. The tonic at first appears much more like the dominant of F minor. The severe dominant key is purposely avoided, but the G minor key is introduced in its place. In the first trio the dominant of the keynote at first prevails, but not so distinctly as to efface all memory of the upper mediant.

In the second trio, which appears after the repetition of the actual scherzo, the A minor key is generally maintained with a strongly marked transition to the great mediant of the keynote-E minor. This second trio joins in the second repetition of the principal subject, and the key of C major is then more strongly marked in the appended Coda, but chiefly by the aid of the chord in the minor ninth, and of the chord in the diminished seventh derived from it. The adagio follows the old order of modulation of C minor, but repeats its second part in C major and also closes in that key, although it is, for the most part, taken as the sub-dominant of F major, that is, plagally.

The last movement then opens at once with a vigorous transition to the dominant, in which the first theme also enters; but when it appears in the tonic, C major, the composer has gained such firm control over that key that he never really lets it go again. All the strange modulations which he takes up only confirm the value of the key as tonic. This movement, however, thus acquires a proud, triumphant character scarcely to be found in any other orchestral movement written by Schumann, still less in any written by any more recent master. If we consider more minutely the way in which the movements are bound together and how closely each is related to the other, the ideal meaning of this masterpiece will be made clear to us without the aid of any special programme.