It was in this pulsing, urging, joyful mood that Daniel worked at and
completed the fifth movement of his symphony, a _scherzo_ of grand
proportions, beginning with a clarinet figure that symbolised laughing
_sans-souci_. All the possibilities of joy developed from this simple
motif. Nor was retrospection or consolation lacking. If the main themes,
mindful of their former pre-eminence, seemed inclined to widen the bed
of their stream, they were appeased and forced back into their original
channel by artistic and capriciously alternating means. Once all three
themes flowed along together, gaining strength apparently through their
union, rose to a wonderful fugue, and seemed to be just on the point of
gaining the victory when the whole orchestra, above the chord in D
sevenths, was seized by the waltz melody, those melancholy
sister-strains were taken up by the violins, and fled, dirge-like, to
their unknown abodes. Just before the jubilant crescendo of the finale,
a bassoon solo held one of them fast on its distant, grief-stricken
heights.
Daniel sketched the sixth movement in the following fourteen nights.
He was fully aware of the fact that he had never been able to work this
way before. When a man accomplishes the extraordinary, he knows it. It
seizes him like a disease, and fills him like a profound dream.
At times he felt as though he must tell some one about it, even if it
were only Herr Carovius. But once the flame had died down, he could not
help but laugh at the temptation to which he had felt himself subjected.
"Patience," he thought, feeling more assured than ever, "patience,
patience!"
Since his work on the manuscripts was completed and his connection with
the firm of Philander and Sons dissolved, he began to look around for
another position. He had saved in the course of the last few years four
thousand marks, but he wished to keep this sum intact.
He learned that the position of organist at the Church of St. AEgydius
was vacant; he went to the pastor, who recommended him to his superiors.
It was decided that he should play something before the church
consistory. This he did one morning in October. The trial proved
eminently successful to his exacting auditors.
He was appointed organist at St. AEgydius's at a salary of twelve hundred
marks a year. When he played on Sundays and holidays, the people came
into the church just to hear him.