BACH, MOZART, AND BEETHOVEN COMPARED.
The present program brings together a few representative
selections from the two greatest masters already
noticed, for the purpose of bringing out more clearly
the individualities of their style and the predominant
flavor of their work. In this comparison we are not as
yet undertaking to represent either Bach or Beethoven
in their moments of greatest and most impassioned
abandon. The so-called "Moonlight Sonata"
approaches this point in the case of Beethoven, but if it
had been desired to perform the same service for Bach
larger works would have been taken, such as the
"Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue," the "Fantasia and Fugue in
G minor" for organ (arranged for piano by Liszt), and
the like. And for Beethoven the sonatas in F minor,
opus 57, "Appassionata," the opus 106 in B-flat, and
opus 111 in C minor. All these go much farther in the
untrammeled expression of deep feeling than any of the
works brought together upon the present program, even
the "Moonlight Sonata," although the finale of this is
distinctly representative of Beethoven in the impassioned
and strong. As for Mozart, this headlong passion was
not at all in his line. But for the sake of showing the
peculiar sweetness of his imagination in contrast with
the more concentrated expression customary with Bach
and Beethoven, his Fantasia in C minor is here included.
Before entering upon the actual acquaintance with the
works in the program, it is advisable for the hearer to
be disabused at the outset of certain prepossessions
likely to be harmful. The most important of these is
that which regards Bach as having had a higher idea of
his art than later composers had, and of having intended
to illustrate in his works a very high degree of skill,
contrapuntal cleverness, and the like. This prepossession
is included in the phrase which describes all serious music
as "classical," as contradistinguished from that which is
merely beautiful and pleasing.
Bach had, indeed, great originality, but he came by it
honestly. His mental activity in musical directions was
of such a spontaneous character that immediately a
theme presented itself all sorts of possible treatment
occurred to him. If the theme pleased him he
immediately began to develop it, and in the course of this one
happy thought after another presented itself, without
having been sought for or worked out in the slightest.
Thus his highest and largest works have a good deal the
character of play, so easily were they composed. True,
they do not present to the player of the present day
nearly so much of this quality, for the technic required
to play them well is not quite that of the ordinary
pianist. Bach expects the hands to play melodiously and
very fluently, and the player to think in fugue; _i.e._, be
able to follow the answering voices in a fugue without
becoming confused when there are three, four, or five,
and without losing any one of the threads. This habit of
thought--for this is what it amounts to--is not natural
to the present generation, since nearly all our music is
more or less monodic (having one leading melody and
an accompaniment.) Therefore the art of playing Bach
has to be diligently mastered by much playing and
a great deal of hard study.
PROGRAM.
Bach, Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp major. Clavier, No. 3.
Beethoven, Sonata in C-sharp minor ("Moonlight"), opus 27, No. 2.
Bach, Fantasia in C minor.
Mozart, Fantasia in C minor (from Sonata and Fantasia).
Bach, Allegro from Italian Concerto.
Beethoven, Sonata in E minor, opus 90.
Bach, Prelude and Fugue in G major. Clavier, No. 15.
Beethoven, Sonata in D minor (Shakspere's "Tempest"), opus 31, No. 2.
Every art-work, in whatever line, has to satisfy three
prime conditions: unity, symmetry, and variety. There
can not be an impression of beauty into which these
three qualities do not at the same time enter, but the
beauty will differ in quality according as one or the other
element preponderates. In the successful music of Johann
Sebastian Bach (and he wrote unsuccessful music as well
as other men) we find all these qualities represented,
but not in the modern way. A prelude or a fugue of
Bach is essentially a "monody," a composition of one
idea, which preponderates so decidedly as to enforce its
character and individuality upon the work; nay, it is the
work. Variety and symmetry are always present, but
the variety is to be found in the modulatory treatment
and in the counterpoint--the various accessory ideas
which appear in the course of the work for better setting
off the leading idea forming the substance of the
composition. Hence we have in Bach, along with a
unity which pervaded every single idea and every
succession of ideas, a variety also going on at the same
time (as in the melody of the different voices, rhythm,
etc.); and symmetry, which also expresses itself as
between ideas heard simultaneously and between ideas and
paragraphs introduced successively. A Bach work,
therefore, is rather complicated almost always, and needs
to be studied a little, and the art of hearing it
appreciatively has to be acquired; but once we have mastered it,
there are no works in music which are more fresh or
permanently pleasing.
The Bach selections upon the present program include
three preludes and fugues, those of C-sharp major, C
minor, and G major, all from the first volume of the
"Clavier." There is no necessary connection between
the prelude and the fugue following, except that in
Bach's idea they somehow corresponded or contrasted
in such a manner that they could be heard agreeably in
connection.
The prelude in C-sharp, which opens the program,
consists of a long leading idea (eight measures) which
is repeated completely six times in the course of the
work. After it has been heard four times,--in the
keys of C-sharp, G-sharp, D-sharp minor, and A-sharp
minor,--it is relieved by a modulatory interlude,
constructed out of new material (measures 33 to 46). Then
the original theme is resumed in the subdominant of the
principal key (F-sharp major) and is given entire in the
original key of C-sharp, the repetition being exact. In
measure 63 the conclusion begins. It consists of a pedal
point upon G-sharp, treated very pleasantly, and relieved
and developed in measures 75 to 91 by interesting
matter of a more impassioned character. At measure 91
the pedal figure returns, and is abandoned only at
measure 101, after which the end speedily follows. (Before
playing the piece have the parts played and explained
separately, each division as here marked, and then the
whole prelude entire.) The work as a whole is singularly
light and pleasing.
The fugue is built upon the subject in the soprano at
the beginning, running two measures. This subject is
repeated entire ten times, and fragments are used over
and over again.
In immediate contrast with this work is placed the
so-called "Moonlight Sonata"--the title affixed not by
Beethoven but by some fanciful writer. The first
movement of this is quite as much a monody as anything of
Bach's, but with a difference. Little is attempted in the
way of modifying the harmony of the theme except to
carry it through several different keys, nor is there much
accessory matter employed as filling. It is practically a
song,--an ode if you like,--of a melancholy, grieving
character. Its structure will be understood by aid of the
following analysis: It begins with a prelude of four
measures, after which the leading idea enters in the key
of C-sharp minor, closing in E-major, four measures.
After a measure of accompaniment the subject resumes
in C major, proceeding immediately to B minor, after a
cadence in which an accessory melodic bit is introduced,
having the character of suspending the action, eight
measures, ending in F-sharp minor. The leading idea
now enters in F-sharp, five measures, and three little
melodic bits followed by eleven measures of arpeggio
matter hold back the action for the return of the theme
in measure 42 (first accent in 43). Everything in this
movement grows out of the leading melody, and the
movement has no skeleton or orderly arrangement of
parts except in a very general manner.
The allegretto which follows is practically a sort of
scherzo, in song-form with trio. Then comes the very
dramatic finale, consisting of three main elements handled
in the style of a sonata-piece. The Principal extends to
the first beat of the twentieth measure. On the second
beat of this the Second enters and runs twenty-three
measures. With the second eighth note of this measure
a movement of eighth notes in chords enters, which
forms the concluding piece. This carries us to the
double bar, after which a free fantasia follows upon the
same material. The free fantasia extends to two
measures of whole notes, thirty-six measures in all, where
the original theme returns and the first part is recalled
in different keys. At the end there is an added coda of
thirty-four measures counting from the end of the piece.
The Prelude in G major of Bach is another pleasing
illustration of his manner. It is very simple in
construction and needs only to have the first two measures and a
half played in advance for defining the subject, and the
fourth measure once, to define the second leading idea.
Everything else is developed out of these ideas. In
measure 11 some new material is introduced and treated
with excellent effect.
The fugue is rather an elaborate one. After the
subject has been carried through the first time, the subject
is introduced in a new form, in inversion (measure 43,
alto), all ascending passages in the original being now
imitated in downward directions and by the same
interval. This taken as a new subject affords ground for
much additional development, and later on the fugue
becomes very complicated and interesting. When well
played, however, the complication is only an incident of
a very playful and varied composition. In the entire
work there is no lyrical idea; everything comes thematically.
In the Beethoven sonata which I have chosen for
contrast, D minor, opus 31, No. 2, the thematic mode of
construction is also marked, but the contrast of subjects
is very much greater than in the Bach work, and the
effect of the whole impassioned to a high degree.
Beginning with a slow arpeggio chord (two measures) the
first theme follows only to be interrupted in the sixth
measure. In the seventh the Principal subject is resumed,
and in measure 10 a new motive appears in the
vigorously ascending bass theme, which is immediately
answered by a soprano counter theme, measures 11, 12,
14. This carries us forward to measure 30, where an
episode comes in not unrelated to the first theme, and
again in measure 44 a passage of chords practically
forming a pedal point, and the conclusion proper in
measure 55. In the elaboration these themes are delightfully
treated, and the entire movement has much the character
of an improvisation. The slow movement continues the
rhapsodical spirit of the first movement. The finale is
one of the most delightful examples of charming effect
reached by means of composition essentially thematic.
The Sonata, opus 90, in E, is one of the most pleasing
of Beethoven, and, aside from a certain figure in tenths
for the bass (measures 55 to 58, and again later on), it
presents no serious difficulties for the player. The
second movement is a delightful song, which is carried out
at great length.
The first movement of Bach's Italian concerto is much
more modern in style than the other pieces of Bach in
this program. Without ever quite reaching the
modern conception of the lyric, it at least approaches it
closely at times, and produces a beautiful effect.
Of the Mozart fantasia there is not room to speak in
detail. Note, however, the very clever modulatory
treatment of the leading idea in the first two pages, and
the entrance of the lovely slow melody in D major near
the end of the second page. The latter is Mozart-like
in the extreme.