the enharmonic equivalent of C-sharp.
[Transcriber's Note: The music notation contains a D-flat.]]

Such an organic connection between movements begins to be very
frequent in Beethoven's works.

The Finale, Allegro molto, has caused considerable difficulty to the
commentators for reasons known only to themselves. Different forms are
assigned to it by different critics; one regrets the falling off of
inspiration, another asserts that the movement "does not fulfill the
requirements which the human mind makes of art; it leaves us
confused." Poor Beethoven! But why all this pother? If the inner
evidence of the music itself be any justification for structural
classification, this wonderful, inspired Finale is a series of free
Variations[144] on a double theme of which the parts are related to
each other as Soprano and Bass, _e.g._

[Music]

[Footnote 144: The variations are not numbered and the demarcations
indicated only by certain cadential objective points.]

By beginning the first two variations with the less important of the
two melodies (_i.e._, the _bass_) Beethoven is simply indulging in his
fondness for piquing the fancy of the hearer by starting him on a
false trail--not giving away, as it were, his real purpose too soon.
Yet from the first announcement of the leading melody in the Third
Variation it assumes increasing importance, through successive
appearances in E-flat major, B minor, D major and C major, until after
a long fugal development we reach the inspired passage (Poco Andante
con espressione), _e.g._,

[Music]

in which the main theme is stated first in its noble simplicity and
then enhanced by an obligato melody on the oboe. It is one of the most
eloquent passages in all symphonic literature. At its last appearance
the real theme comes fully to its own--for the _first_ time in the
_bass_, that fundamental voice--where it is declaimed _ff_ in gorgeous
splendor by all the lower instruments of the orchestra. It is evident
that not even the most inspired genius can sustain such a flight for
ever, and after this magnificent paean the workings of Beethoven's
imagination resemble those of Nature herself. Following a tranquil
intermediary passage in A-flat major we enter upon one of those long,
mysterious periods of hushed suspense which may be compared to a long
expanse of open country or to the fading lights on the sea at sunset.
The last page, beginning with the Presto, is sheer orchestral
jubilati