(b) DANCE OF DRYADS
(Allegro assai)
(Poco meno mosso)
3. At Night
SILENT RUSTLING OF THE WOODS AT NIGHT. ENTRANCE AND EXIT OF THE WILD HUNT WITH FRAU HOLLE (HULDA) AND WOTAN. DAYBREAK
(Allegro)
Raff, an astonishingly prolific composer, wrote twelve symphonies,[115] of which "In the Woods" (Im Walde) is one of the two that have most conspicuously survived the winnowing processes of time.
Im Walde was composed at Wiesbaden in 1869. The programmatic bases of its different movements may be indicated as follows:
I. In the Daytime
IMPRESSIONS AND SENSATIONS (Allegro)
"The first movement represents in a general manner the feelings of a lover of nature in the forest on a summer day." The Introduction evokes the spirit of the woods "with the nameless charm of rustling branches and the glintings of sunlight." The mood is developed at length in its musical expression; the close "brings to its end this charming picture of the quiet surprises of the woodland in an autumn day."