last refrain is a complete
restatement of the original canon and closes in A major with a still
more brilliant imitative treatment of the passage formerly in the
dominant. The last measures--with the high trill on the violin and
cutting dissonances on the pianoforte--are far too exciting for mere
verbal description.

SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS FOR PIANOFORTE AND ORCHESTRA

This is one of Franck's most significant works, containing all his
individual characteristics: melodic intensity, novel chromatic harmony
and freedom of form combined with coherence. Franck always claimed
that the variation form, rightly treated, was a perfect medium for
free, imaginative expression; surely this work is a manifestation of
his belief. A careful study will justify the statement that his style
is founded on that of Bach and Beethoven; for the naturalness of these
melodic variations can be compared only with the _Passacaglia in C
minor_, and the general structure of the work finds its prototype in
the Finale of the _Heroic Symphony_. It is a set of free variations,
or rather organic transformations of two themes; the first sombre,
entirely in the minor, the second brighter, with some passing emphasis
on the major. The variations are not numbered and there are no rigid
stops; though, of course, when objective points are reached, there is
natural punctuation. The two themes, as follows--a striking example of
Franck's peculiar harmonic scheme--should be carefully studied, _e.g._

[Music: 1st theme]

[Music: 2d theme]

The work opens with a series of restless dotted notes for the strings
_ff_ which diminish and retard to an entrance of the first theme, piu
lento, for the pianoforte; the two phrases of which are interrupted by
a passage, somewhat modified, from the introduction. Some preludial
measures, expanding the material presented, bring us at B[283] to a
premonitory statement of the second theme _pp_ (in wood-wind and
pizzicato strings) over a muffled roll of the kettle-drums on C-sharp,
_e.g._

[Music]

[Footnote 283: The indication by letters is the same in the full score
as in the version for two pianofortes.]

Then follows a long rhapsodic presentation of the first theme for
pianoforte solo--the melody in octaves and the accompaniment in the
widest arpeggios possible. This passage is one of great sonority and
reveals clearly the influence of the organ upon Franck's style. Some
further measures of general development, containi