The development of these contrasting materials is such that the outcome of their apparent struggle is uncertain until the final bars, when a hopeful major triad is pushed cruelly downward to its minor form by a pitiless trumpet. As the symphony s initial chapter closes, death seems triumphant. The next two movements present what we might think of as flashbacks to the recently ended life. The composer evokes this state in music reminiscent of Haydn. Its flowing melodies have undeniable charm, like the glittering things of this world, but at the same time, they convey a hint of decadence and the grotesque.
Life strikes one as meaningless, a frightful ghost.
The suggestion of a more noble kind of existence, heard in the stirring fanfare that suddenly appears midway through the movement, fails to alter the course of the music. At last there is a great cry of protest. The final parts of the symphony offer contrasting visions of resurrection. They stream forth, as Mahler described, in endless procession. The great and the small, kings and beggars, righteous and godless, in the long orchestral march that follows.