# Symphonies With Interconnected Movements



## TrazomGangflow (Sep 9, 2011)

I suppose that all movements in a particular symphony are interconnected through in some way but my favorite symphonies are those in which one movement foreshadows or points back to another. Dvoraks 9th is a prime example. Clearly in the 4th movement, the themes from the 1st and 2nd movement can be heard. 

What are some other symphonies in which this foreshadowing or flashback occurs? Perhaps it may even occur between multiple symphonies of a particular composer.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Philip Glass: all nine plus no. 10 and the one's that he is yet to write.

Beethoven: no. 5, no. 9.


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

Schumann - Symphony No. 4


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

Tchaikovsky 5 - The theme from the introduction of the first movement returns as one of the main themes of the final movement. I also think it is briefly quoted in one of the middle movements as well.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Listen to French music, much of it is cyclical in its form.

Examples:
Franck's Symphony
Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony
Debussy's La Mer


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

Olias said:


> Listen to French music, much of it is cyclical in its form.
> 
> Examples:
> Franck's Symphony
> ...


also Chausson's Symphony in B-flat


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## TrazomGangflow (Sep 9, 2011)

Olias said:


> Listen to French music, much of it is cyclical in its form.
> 
> Examples:
> Franck's Symphony
> ...


Quite true. I've just listened to the Organ Symphony and La Mer and these are great examples as well. I think I'll be more interested in the compositions of the French from now on.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I did a thread not long ago on this type of issue HERE. But it's about all genres, not just symphonies.

Some I would add:
- *Haydn* _Sym.#103 'Drumroll' _- the first symphony to bring anything back at the end, namely, the drumroll! (but it's more a texture than a theme, but still quite innovative)
- *Rimsky-Korsakov* _Scheherazade _- not called a symphony but a _symphonic suite_, but emphasis in this work is definitely on the thematic unity of a symphony, not the looser structure of a suite
- *Carlos Chavez* - _Symphony #4 'Sinfonia Romantica' _- all of his symphonies are thematically tight, but this one is especially so


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Mahler 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

violadude said:


> Mahler 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9.


Because the seventh is the best of the lot.


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

Liszt, Faust.


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## NightHawk (Nov 3, 2011)

Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 in d minor Op. 125 - 'The Choral' - all the first themes of movements 1,2 and 3 are showcased again in the first part of the 4th movement.


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## Andreas (Apr 27, 2012)

Many Bruckner symphonies qualify as well, particularly nos. 3, 4, 5 and 8.


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## Llyranor (Dec 20, 2010)

Tchaikovsky's 5th.

Elgar's 1st.


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## eorrific (May 14, 2011)

Shostakovich's 5th, I believe. The theme from the 1st movement is repeated in the 4th, and perhaps themes or motifs from the 2nd and 3rd is also repeated, but I forget.


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

This is slightly off topic, but interesting (maybe).

The second movement of Franz Berwald's third symphony (_Singulière_) is an adagio but, well before it is over, the third movement (scherzo) breaks in. Only when that has run its course is the adagio resumed from where it broke off. A remarkable structural device in a work written in 1845.


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## EarthBoundRules (Sep 25, 2011)

Berlioz' _Symphonie Fantastique_ and _Harold en Italie_ have themes that appear in every movement of their respective symphonies. His _Roméo et Juliette_ introduces themes in the long introduction that appear in other movements throughout the symphony, so I think that would be closer to the 'foreshadowing' that you're looking for.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

SuperTonic said:


> Tchaikovsky 5 - The theme from the introduction of the first movement returns as one of the main themes of the final movement. I also think it is briefly quoted in one of the middle movements as well.


It appears twice in the slow movement, at fortissimo climaxes, and it's quoted toward the end of the third movement. It's a 'motto' theme that appears in each movement. As is the 8-note motif in the first movement of Dvorak's 9th.

If you consider them symphonies, R. Strauss's Alpine Symphony has quite a few themes and motifs that recur throughout the work, and Messiaen's Turangalila-Symphonie has several recurring ideas.

Shostakovich's 7th, 11th and 12th symphonies also have recurring themes.

Re. posts 9 and 10: In Mahler's Seventh, part of the main theme from the Allegro risoluto returns at the end of the finale, slowed down, with bells and cowbells clanging in the background.


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

I can't help thinking that there is a difference between works whose movements share themes as a structural device (like most of the ones cited) and those works where the return of a theme from an earlier movement is intended to be some sort of coup de theatre, or to make some sort of emotional point. A good example of the latter is Bruckner 8, where the themes of all four movements return at the very end simultaneously.

However my favourite is Mahler 5, where one of the themes of the adagietto - which, there, is all emotional and everything - turns up, much faster, with an insouciant swagger, in the finale.

In the fourth movement, it is at 4:36 here:






In the fifth, it is at 6:34:


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

Thank you! I read in several programme notes about a theme from the Adagietto recurring in the finale, but I couldn't quite fathom out which specific section it was.

Another one to add to the list is Malcolm Arnold's 5th Symphony, where the (imo beautiful) Mahlerian main theme from the slow movement returns as a powerful climax in the finale.


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

maestro267 said:


> Thank you!


You're welcome. The point I take from this is that it isn't useful to be too reverential about "emotional", "spiritual" music. There is a side of this music which should be about joy, about playfulness.


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