What is beyond question is that Brahms had said his farewell to them in a symphony of tremendous power, passion and nobility;  a work in which the opposing elements of symphonic logic and romanticism are finally and nobly reconciled, and one in which for the first time a major symphonic composer was to look back, in the great passacaglia of the last movement, to the rich legacy of baroque form.

There are no preliminaries.  The first movement opens directly with the deceptively simple first subject which covers all the notes of the diatonic scale;  a falling third being followed by a rising sixth, a falling octave by a rising third.  The interval of a falling third is in fact the dominant structural feature of the movement and a principal unifying factor in the work as a whole.  In this movement Brahms reverses the usual characteristics of the first and second subjects, the first being lyrical and the second, announced by 'cellos and horns, being strong and masculine in character.  A further unusual feature is that there is no double bar repeat.

The development section is much concerned with the harmonic changes inherent in the first subject's ninth bar, also the elaboration of the triplet fanfare and mysterious passage of held chords above rising string figures first heard near the end of the exposition.  The coda begins with a majestic restatement of the opening theme by 'cellos, double basses and horns, answered in canon by the rest of the orhcestra, and the music grows in intensity and power leading to a thrilling close.

The beautiful slow movement opens on the horns as if in C major, but the key of E major is established when the theme passes to clarinets over a steady pizzicato bass.  The spacious second theme, on the 'cellos, is one of the loveliest and most expressive tunes that Brahms ever composed.  This is followed by the extrovert third movement, which is a true symphonic scherzo in all but name, enlivened by the use of piccolo and triangle.

And so to the mighty finale, a passacaglia with an 8-note theme taken from the last chorus of Bach's church cantata no. 150.  Some years before, Von Bulow had said to Brahms that Bach could not build up the necessary climax on this theme with voices alone, and Brahms, agreeing, said that a symphonic movement could be written on it if the theme was given a slight chromatic alteration (the introduction of an A sharp).

The thirty variations on this short ground bass are one of the wonders of musical architecture and form a single mighty arch.  Gone are the frivolous piccolo and triangle and in their place, for the first time in this symphony are the solemn voices of the trombones, and with drum rolls and pizzicato chords the theme descends into the bass.  The ensuing variations are grouped into three sections, the first rhythmic and with strong contrasts, the second beginning with a wonderful flute solo. Exquisite woodwind exchanges, a solemn trombone passage and fierce subversion of the theme are just some of the landmarks of this colossal movement.

The 4th symphony is certainly sombre, but not, in the final analysis, tragic.  It fights to win, and ultimately succeeds.  Hanslick summed it up in his review of the first performance in 1884:- "it is like a dark well; the longer we look into it the more brightly the stars shine back".