The symphony begins with a soft roll on the timpani followed by a slow ascending syncopated C major scale (starting on the timpani's G) in the strings which leads to an unexpected chord in the remote key of A-flat minor. The interval of a minor sixth between the initial note of G and the final note of E♭ has been interpreted as a reference to the beginning of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde": the passage is followed by chords taken from that work.