i just love this symphony. it consists of 3 movements which represent the 3 character of goethes faust: 1. movement (faust), 2. movement (gretchen) and 3. movement (mephistopheles). in the first movement liszt composed 3 guiding themes for faust: all themes are derived from the augmented chorda although they sound differently because they are different in melody and rhythm but have the same feeling. he starts with strings on Ab to introduce his first very chromatic theme (the main theme of this movement and faust himself) playing an augmented chord on G, then F#, F and finally E. so every tone of the chromatic scale is played once (this was the first 12 tone theme in music history, although it has nothing to do with dodecaphonism). the other two themes has the idea of augmented chord as well, but second theme starts with a falling 7th for example. the devil or mephistopheles has material consisting of the deminished chord (tritone = diabolo in musica) and therefore correspond with fausts character in a musical way. this first movement works like a sonata - it has an ABA' form and synthesizes the two forms which kinda represents the whole symphony. the main key is c-minor (although its very blurred in the beginning because of the augmented triads, playing all notes of chromatic scala), so A is eventful and in c-minor, B is "cantabile" (sorry, dont know the english word) in e-major and A' is maestoso and e-major too (listen to the finale of the symphony, its very solemn/pathetic). the second movement represents gretchen and is a slow movement. the oboe is playing a beautiful melody accompanied by solo viola (oboe = natural, countrified feeling), it symbolizes gretchens innocence. bit by bit fausts themes supervenes into the movement until there is some kind of "love duet" between gretchen and fausts musical material. its musical form is also ABA' (in part B faust themes come along). the third and last movement of this symphony represents mephistopheles, a scherzo. the beginning "allegro vivace ironico" is a musical qoute of berlioz' symphony fantastique (the esbat part) ...(liszt met berlioz in person through goethes faust)... this movement works like a reprise and has alot of the characteristics from faust themes (the devil dont create own themes, he steals other and deforms them in a diabolic way -> diminiched chord). only gretchens themes are spared, they sound the same, because the devil is powerless to her innocence. liszt composed two different endings: first ending is an answer on gretchens theme, a 10-bar-cadence with the "grandioso"-theme in basses (so gretchen wins over the spirit of mephistopheles) and the other ending (which is more popular, liszt composed it afterwards) a choir finale "chorus mysticus". so now we have a 4th movement. the choir consisting of men sings 8 lines out of goethes faust...

charles ives did alot of musical quotes in his career (almost everything he did are quotes). this piece he wrote as a student of composition in yale. the first movement "allegro" is a sonata, like always. but he used the second theme of schuberts unfinished symphony as his first theme and the first as his second. the second movement "adagio molto" is inspired by dvoraks new world symphony which were written 5 years before (to that time), already really popular and famour for its "american style", although there werent really genuine american elements in it. he was a really big fan of modulation but he wasnt allowed to overdo it, so he wrote polytonality very hidden. the introduction is written in f-major, but the melody is playing in c-major, which explains the lydian 4th. he copied the orchestration from dvorak, even the mutes. he always did these kind of things, always modulation (some parts remind of beethoven if he keeps on modulation as transition). the last two movements "scherzo vivace" and "allegro molto" are not only fast but rhythmically complicated so the orchestra failed at the premiere. there he was inspired by tchaikovsky btw...

dvoraks new world symphony is a must know in classical music, and then you know the reference ives made in his first one. the melody in 3:52 is very catchy and famous. this piece has a great influence on all following music, especially when it comes to describing something foreign (musically ofc). so this piece is used in alot of soundtracks, most famous "lord of the rings". if you listen to the second movement "largo" (around the 14th minute) you will notice a similarity to howard shores track for describing the world of hobbits (i used same language to make clear how this reference work with regards to this content, and i think the piece is called "concerning hobbits" if im not wrong). even the metal band rhapsody used the 4th movement "allegro con fuoco" (39:22). btw the conductor sergiu celibidache is one of the best and underestimated conductors of all time. he conducted the berlin philharmonic before karajan did, but all people only know karajan (which wasnt half as good) ;)

and also schuberts unfinished symphony is very famous. you probably heard it somewhere. and maybe you are able to hear ives quote as well. although he changed it a little bit. it isnt quite clear why schubert didnt finish this piece but the most believeable reason is... all composer in that area were under a great pressure to be at least equal in quality to beethoven. he simply mastered the musical form "symphony". schubert just wrote two movements and he got too close too beethoven in his third "scherzo" (just wrote 20 bars). and because he couldnt reinvent the wheel and already said what he wanted to say in his first two movements he stopped writing. although there are a few nice and unusual ideas, especially in the first movement.