_Mässiges Zeitmass_ (_moderato_), D major, 4-4. Don Quixote plunged
himself deeply in his reading of books of knighthood, “and in the end,
through his little sleep and much reading, he dried up his brains in
such sort, as he lost wholly his judgment. His fantasy was filled with
those things that he read, of enchantments, quarrels, battles,
challenges, wounds, wooings, loves, tempests, and other impossible
follies.”[49] The first theme (wind instruments) foreshadows the typical
Don Quixote motive, and is here typical of knight-errantry in general.
The next section (strings) represents the idea of knightly gallantry,
and the whole theme ends with the passages that include the strange
harmonies and portray his madness. These strange progressions recur
frequently throughout the work. “He does not dream,” says Mr. H. W.
Harris, “that his reasoning is at fault or that he is the victim of
self-delusion; on the contrary, he ascribes all such discrepancies to
magic, by which he believes himself to be persecuted, which is clearly
being employed to make things appear otherwise than his judgment assures
him they really should be.”
The first section of the first theme is ornamented (violas). Don Quixote
grows more and more romantic and chivalric. He sees the Ideal Woman, his
lady-love (oboe). The trumpets tell of a giant attacking her and her
rescue by a knight. “In this part of the Introduction, the use of mutes
on all the instruments—including the tuba, here so treated for the first
time—creates an indescribable effect of vagueness and confusion,
indicating that they are mere phantasms with which the Knight is
concerned, which cloud his brain.” A Penitent enters (muted violas
_fortissimo_). Don Quixote’s brain grows more and more confused. The
orchestral themes grow wilder. An augmented version of the first section
of the theme (brass), followed by a harp _glissando_, leads to shrill
discord—the Knight is mad. “The repeated use of the various sections of
the first theme shows that his madness has something to do with
chivalry.” Don Quixote has decided to be a knight-errant.