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the works of either Haydn or Mozart, and hitherto it has been followed—at least, with success—only by Mendelssohn, whose Lobgesang, or "Hymn of Praise," is an example of the same class of composition as the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven. In the Eroica Symphony (1804), Beethoven had shown how splendidly and appropriately a series of variations could be treated in the orchestra as the Finale to a work of the greatest grandeur, just as in Op. 26 he had shown, two years before, how the same form could be employed for the opening movement of a sonata for piano-forte solo. In the Choral Fantasia (1808) again, he had shown with what effect a chorus, in a succession of variations, could be employed for a Finale; and he was now to go a step further and employ the same means in a symphony for full orchestra. The work holds the same position among orchestral compositions that the Choral Fantasia does among those for the piano-forte; and it should be remembered not only that there is a strong resemblance between the vocal portions of the two, but that Beethoven himself actually describes the Symphony as being "in the style of the Piano-forte Choral Fantasia, but on a far larger scale."
It is almost incredible to find him starting in his musical life with the same intention which he carried out only near its close. And yet we discover in a letter from Fischenich to Schiller's sister
