ellato, strepitoso and
_fff_), which is rather difficult to reconcile with the poetic
subject. Perhaps a mighty wind is roaring through the trees! In
measure 61 the theme is once more presented in amplified form by the
right hand, piu mosso and molto appassionata, and worked up to a
brilliant climax--ending with an interlocking trill and a long,
descending passage of delightful sensuous effect. The closing
measures, una corda and dolcissimo, afford a reminiscence of the
haunting appeal of the chief melody. All in all, in spite of a certain
admixture of alloy, here is a poetic composition, a real tone-picture
of the woods and of the effects implied by the title. Certainly a
piece which, in its picturesque suggestiveness and pianistic
treatment, may fairly be called the ancestor of much that is beautiful
in such modern composers as Debussy and Ravel.

As a final estimate of Liszt and as a suggestion for the student's
attitude we cite from Niecks the following quotation, since, in our
opinion, it is true and forcibly expressed:

"Liszt's works are too full of originality and striking expressiveness
to deserve permanently the neglect that has been their lot. Be,
however, the ultimate fate of these works what it may, there will
always remain to Liszt the fame of a daring striver, a fruitful
originator and a wide-ranging quickener."

CHAPTER XVI

BRAHMS

After the novel and brilliant work of the Romanticists had reached its
height in the compositions just studied, it seemed as if there were
nothing more for music to do. Wagner, with his special dramatic aims
and gorgeous coloring, loomed so large on the horizon that for a time
all other music was dwarfed. It is, therefore of real significance
that just in this interregnum two men, born in the early years of the
19th century, were quietly laying the foundations for eloquent works
in absolute or symphonic music. These men were Johannes Brahms
(1833-1897) and Cesar Franck (1822-1890). Following a few preliminary
remarks about the significance of symphonic style in general, the next
chapters will be devoted to an account of their works and influence.

A striking feature in the development of music since 1850 is the
number of symphonies produced by the representative composers of the
various nations; and the manner in which these works embody certain
phases of style and manifest national tendencies is a subject of great
interest. Ever since Beethoven, there has bee