2. Andante quasi larghetto
PART II. PARTING
3. MARCH TEMPO; Agitato
PART III. REUNION IN DEATH
(Introduction and Ballad After Bürger's "LENORE")
4. Allegro
Of this symphony in three divisions (composed at Wiesbaden in 1872) only the last part, strictly speaking, is based on Bürger's [118] celebrated ballad "Lenore." The first two parts illustrate phases of the experience of the two lovers which antedate the beginning of the story told by the poem.
In Bürger's poem the maid Lenore laments the absence of her lover William, who has gone to war "on Prague's dread battle-field";
"Nor had he sent to tell
If he were safe and well." [119]
The war ends, yet still no tidings come from the missing swain. Lenore, frenzied by doubt and longing, utters blasphemies. But that night a horse and rider draw up at the gate, and a knock summons her to the door. It is William. He bids her "bind her dress" and mount upon his horse behind him,