And what are we to say to this simplest swing of folk-song that steals in naively to enchanting strum of rhythm.  We may speculate about the Till as the

[Music:  (Gemaechlich)]

people saw him, while elsewhere we have the personal view.  The folk-tunes may not have a special dramatic role.  Out of the text of folk-song, to be sure, all the strains are woven.  Here and there we have the collective voice.  If we have watched keenly, we have heard how the tune, simply though it begins, has later all the line of Till’s personal phrase.  Even in the bass it is, too.  Of the same fibre is this demon mockery and the thread of folk legend.

We cannot pretend to follow all the literal whims.  And it is part of the very design that we are ever surprised by new tricks, as by this saucy trip of dancing phrase.  The purely human touches are clear, and almost moving in contrast with the impish humor.

An earlier puzzle is of the second theme.  As the composer has refused to help us, he will not quarrel if we find our own construction.  A possible clue there is.  As the story proceeds, aside from the mere abounding fun and poetry, the more serious theme prevails.  Things are happening.  And there come the tell-tale directions. Liebegluehend, aflame with love, a melody now sings in urgent pace, ending with

[Music:  Liebegluehend]

a strange descending note.  Presently in quieter mood, ruhiger, it gains a new grace, merely to dash again, wuetend, into a fiercer rage than before.  Before long we cannot escape in all this newer melody a mere slower outline of the second theme.  A guess then, such as the composer invites us to make, is this:  It is not exactly a Jekyll and Hyde, but not altogether different.  Here (in the second theme, of horn) is Till himself,—­not the rogue, but the man in his likes and loves and suffering.  The rogue is another, a demon that possesses him to tease mankind, to tease himself out of his happiness.  During the passionate episode the rogue is banned, save for a grimace now and then, until the climax, when all in disguise of long passionate notes of resonant bass the demon theme has full control.  But for once it is in earnest, in dead earnest, we might say.  And the ominous chord has a supreme moment, in the shadow of the fulfilment.

A new note sounds in solemn legend of lowest wood, sadly beautiful, with a touch of funeral pace.[A]

[Footnote A:  Strauss told the writer that this was the march of the jurymen,—­“der Marsch der Schoeffen.”  Reproached for killing Till, he admitted that he had taken a license with the story and added:  “In the epilogue,—­there he lives.”]

The impish laugh still keeps intruding.  But throughout the scene it is the Till motive, not the rogue, that fits the stride of the death-march.  To be sure the rogue anon laughs bravely.  But the other figure is in full view.