Monophonic Style and the Sonata
Corelli and his violin style--C. P. E. Bach and his
departures from polyphony--General plan and purpose of the
early sonata--Haydn and his two principal themes--Mozart
and song-melody--Clementi and the influence of his
style--Beethoven's improvements in sonata form--His employment
of instrumental music for emotional expression.
The fundamental difference between the sonata and the polyphonic forms
is that the sonata is written in the monophonic style. Polyphony is,
indeed, occasionally employed, but the reigning style is that in which a
melody, song-like in character and sung by a single part, is accompanied
by other parts written in chord harmonies. The necessary repetition of
the melodic ideas is made, not by the process of imitation, as in the
fugue, but by what is called the cyclical method. In this a tune or a
composition always returns to a restatement of the original theme from
which it started. We have seen how this melodic style entered
instrumental music in the days of Giovanni Gabrieli, and how Domenico
Scarlatti transferred to the harpsichord the aria of the opera. From
this time forward the monophonic style developed gradually from the
initial impulse of the vocal solo. Composers who had not Bach's peculiar
insight into polyphonic writing and profound genius for it naturally
sought a form which would give their melodies coherence and
intelligibility. The rapid development of the violin as a solo
instrument was one of the influences in directing them along certain
lines of construction. The violin naturally lent itself to a flowing,
song-like style, yet it is easy to see how easily such a style would
fall into monotony. The early violin composers, in their search after a
form which would embrace coherency, variety, and contrast, did much
toward assisting piano writers to reach the true method of composing.
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) was the most influential of these early
violin composers. He endeavored to unite in his works the attractive and
popular features of church music, song, and the dances of his time. The
attractiveness of making compositions out of different kinds of dance
movements in alternation had presented itself to composers at an early
date. Morley, in his "Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music"
(1597), says: "It is effective to alternate pavanes with galliards,
because the former are a kind of staid music ordained for grave dancing,
and the latter for a lighter and more stirring kind of dancing." This
alternation of dances is what first suggested to composers the plan of
following a slow movement with a lively one, or _vice versa_. As these
different kinds of dances differed in rhythm,--the pavanes, for
instance, being in common and the galliard in triple measure,--composers
grasped the idea that changes in rhythm would heighten the contrast
between movements. The one thing that did not seem to be settled at the
outset--and that was due to the newness of harmonic as opposed to
polyphonic style--was the matter of key contrasts. Sometimes these early
writers put all their dance movements in one key, making what we now
call a "suite," and sometimes they did not.
Corelli wrote his sonatas most frequently in four movements. The
composers who immediately succeeded him wrote more often in three
movements, but preserved the alternation of rhythm and tempo. Corelli
used only one subject in each movement, and the development of it was of
a simple nature compared to the developments found in subsequent works.
Later composers found that in order to secure the necessary amount of
contrast and variety, together with those points of repose which are
essential to artistic form in music, it was necessary to have two
principal themes of contrasting nature. The development of these themes
was confined to the first movement, while the other movements were less
complex in design. The Germans were not wholly idle in advancing the
sonata, but it is extremely difficult to ascertain how their work and
that of the Italians affected one another. We know that a violin sonata
by H. J. F. Biber, published in 1681, shows a well ordered sequence of
contrasting movements. The first was a very slow one (largo), in
contrapuntal style; the second, a passacaglia (theme and variations);
the third, rhapsodical and declamatory; and the fourth, a gavotte. Dr.
Parry has pointed out that Biber received his suggestions for the first
movement from church polyphony, for the second and fourth from dances,
and for the third from operatic declamation. This sonata, however, shows
nothing of that methodic repetition of subjects and definite
distribution of keys now regarded as indispensable; and in some respects
Corelli's sonatas were of a distinctly higher type. Following the
admirable analysis of Dr. Parry, I may state here that as early
composers gradually perceived the possibilities of the sonata form, they
evolved this scheme for their alternation of movement:--
1. Summons to attention, followed by appeal to intelligence
through display of design.
2. Slow movement--appeal to the emotions.
3. Finale--lively reaction after emotion.
This treatment of the character of the movements grew out of the crude
attempts of the earliest writers and was formulated in the concertos of
Sebastian Bach, but more clearly in the piano sonatas of his son Carl
Philip Emmanuel Bach. Previous to that, however, something had been done
toward a definite arrangement of the distribution of keys. To this
Domenico Scarlatti, who has already been mentioned, made some important
contributions. His compositions called sonatas have a distinct melodic
subject, and this is preserved throughout. His first movements
foreshadow the shape which the first movements of the classical sonatas
subsequently assumed. These movements are divided plainly into two
parts, and each part is repeated. Each of them opens with an
announcement of the melodic subject in the tonic key of the sonata.
After stating his subject Scarlatti passes into a key closely related to
that of the sonata, and gives a bit of what is called "passage work;"
that is, florid or ornamental piano writing without a complete tune. The
second part embarks upon a brief musical development of the subject by
means of simple musical changes in its original shape, then modulates
back into the original key, restates the beginning of the movement and
comes to an end. One of the peculiarities of his works is that sometimes
in the musical development ("working out," as it is called) of his theme
he introduces a new melody, different from the first. Later writers
caught at this idea and raised this second melody to an importance equal
to that of the first.
Scarlatti's great contemporary, Johann Sebastian Bach, did not stand in
the direct line of development of the piano sonata. As I have tried to
show in writing of clavichord works, his sympathies when composing for a
keyboard instrument were governed largely by his immense genius for the
organ and his profound insight into the nature and scope of polyphonic
composition. Nevertheless, his violin sonatas, the result of a close and
admiring study of those of Corelli and Vivaldi, show a leaning toward
the modern form. He followed the lines laid down by Corelli. All but one
of his violin sonatas are in four movements, the first and third slow,
and the second and fourth lively. The slow movements, as one would
naturally expect from Bach, are intense in their emotional eloquence.
But Bach's manner of development was almost always polyphonic, and this
was hostile to the sonata method, which was radically monophonic.
Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach (born, Weimar, March 14, 1714; died, Hamburg,
Dec. 14, 1788), the third son of Sebastian Bach, was by nature and
artistic taste fitted for the work which his father did not attempt. We
have already noticed his theory that one should play the clavichord and
write for it in the singing style. It was his feeling for this style and
his keen insight into the capabilities of his instrument which made him,
though not a composer of genius, a powerful agent in the establishment
of the modern sonata form,--so powerful, indeed, that he has been called
the father of the sonata. We owe something, however, to the demands of
public taste. Music-lovers have usually, with the exception of the few,
preferred the purely sensuous beauty of music to its intellectual
qualities. They grew weary in those days of the severity of the fugue
form; and the composers of the time naturally endeavored to supply them
with what they desired, something easily, rhythmically pleasing. For
years after Emmanuel Bach's day it continued to be the aim of composers
to write with elegance and taste.
Emmanuel Bach excluded polyphonic writing from his sonatas, and adopted
a style entirely monophonic. He contributed toward the development of
the sonata in the direction of clearness and symmetry, and he insisted
upon a well-regulated contrast of keys and of the characters of the
different movements. In short, he established the outline of the sonata,
with the exception of duality of themes, determined the direction in
which it was to develop, and gave it a powerful impulse. The first
sonatas in which Emmanuel Bach showed his ability were six published in
1742, and dedicated to Frederick the Great.[10.1] The opening movement of
each is in the sonata form, as it existed then. The principal theme is
properly announced, there is a short section of "working out," and a
conclusion with the principal theme in the tonic key. In the working out
the composer does not use the principal key, and thus in returning to it
in his conclusion gets the effect of repose. In at least one of these
sonatas, the second, there is a clearly marked second theme in the first
part. There are touches of humor here and there in these sonatas, and
some of the slow movements are full of feeling. The finales are all
light and lively.
[10.1] The author desires to acknowledge his indebtedness at
this particular point to "The Pianoforte Sonata," by J. S.
Shedlock.
Emmanuel Bach is best known by six collections of sonatas and other
compositions published at Leipsic between 1779 and 1787. In these
sonatas the composer's resolute and final departure from the old
polyphonic style is fully demonstrated. To enter wholly into the
monophonic method of writing was no small undertaking, and we meet with
many evidences of effort in these works. But the "working out" part of
the sonata is always monophonic. The composer takes passages or phrases
from his original melody, and treating them with changes of pitch,
harmonic modulation, and bits of passage-writing, founded on figures
previously used in the statement of the theme, he makes a musical
exposition of his original idea. This is precisely what later composers
did, but they had better command of the monophonic style, and hence
produced better music than Emmanuel Bach.
[Music: OPENING OF A MOVEMENT BY E. BACH, SHOWING
CHANGE FROM POLYPHONIC STYLE.]
The reader should now be in a position to understand that it is expected
that at least one of the three or four contrasting movements of a sonata
should be in what is called sonata form. This is almost always the first
movement, in accordance with the general design of movements already
given. This movement consists of three parts, which may be called
proposition, discussion, and conclusion. The propositional part proposes
a theme or themes; the discussion subjects the theme or themes to every
device of musical treatment; and the conclusion restates the themes in
their original form and brings the movement to a restful finish. Up to
the point at which we have now arrived composers proposed, as a rule,
only one theme for discussion. Occasionally a second was introduced, but
it seems to have been merely episodal. We now come to the time when two
themes were employed systematically, and from that time dates the
establishment of the complete outline of the present sonata form. All
the changes since made are in details. The composer by whom this
important work was done was Haydn.
Josef Haydn was born April 1, 1732, in Rohrau, Austria. He studied first
at home and afterward at Vienna. In 1759 he became conductor of a small
orchestra maintained by Count Morzin, and in 1760 he married a
wigmaker's daughter, who had been his pupil. In 1761 Haydn became
conductor of the orchestra of Prince Esterhazy at Eisenstadt, where he
remained thirty years industriously composing. He became acquainted with
Mozart, for whom he entertained the highest admiration. In 1790 he
visited London and was received with great enthusiasm, so that he made a
second visit in 1794. He died May 31, 1809, eighteen years before the
death of Beethoven, and four years before the birth of Wagner. His
music, therefore, brings us into close connection with the present
period. His music is accessible to players of the piano, and there are
good editions of his sonatas.
Haydn has been called the father of the symphony and the string quartet,
and his most important compositions are in these departments. But a
symphony is simply a sonata for orchestra, and a quartet is one for four
instruments. Hence we shall find that Haydn's piano sonatas show the
same advances in form as his symphonies and quartets. In the first
movements of three of his earliest sonatas (op. 22, 24, and 29) he uses
in the propositional part two principal themes, wholly different from
one another. He did not, however, in the works of his middle life follow
this plan, but in his English symphonies he used second themes
invariably and in a manner which allows no room for doubt as to his
definite purpose. The form of his first movements is clear and
symmetrical. It is in three parts, the proposition, discussion, and
conclusion being plainly distinguished. The working out part is shorter
and simpler than those found in later sonatas, such as Beethoven's. But
Haydn's first movements convince the hearer of their claims to
consideration as works of art on lines of design carefully planned. The
systematic use of the second theme was adopted by all subsequent
composers, and was the means of raising the sonata from an experiment to
the most satisfactory and convincing of all musical forms.
In Haydn's three-movement sonatas the appeal to the intelligence by the
opening allegro is always followed by an appeal to the emotions in a
slow movement, with broad melody and harmony and much sentiment. His
finales are always bright and lively, and frequently sparkle with
gayety. In form the finale is usually a rondo, an early cyclical form in
which a single melodic subject is periodically repeated, the repetitions
being separated by passages of new matter. When Haydn wrote a sonata in
four movements, he introduced as the third the minuet, a piece of music
in dance rhythm. Emmanuel Bach had used this form in one or two of his
sonatas, but it is easy to see that the idea was originally suggested by
the alternation of different kinds of dances in the archaic sonatas of
Biber and Corelli. The minuet, being a graceful and elegant dance in
triple rhythm, formed a most excellent bridge between an emotional slow
movement and a jocund finale. The minuet movement consists, as a rule,
of two parts, called minuet and trio. In the old dance it was customary
to give relief to the first melody by a second, always written in
three-part harmony and hence called "trio." This plan, except the
adherence to three-part harmony, was followed by the artistic composers
when they adopted the minuet as part of the sonata. In addition to what
has been said, two important facts must be noted. Haydn was intimately
acquainted with the simple, fluent melody of Italian music, and he was
not acquainted with Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavichord." The result was
that his themes are all essentially song-like in character. They are
more extended and more definite in shape than Emmanuel Bach's, and they
helped to fix more firmly the distinctive character of monophonic
composition.
After Haydn was born, and before he died, Mozart lived. Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart was born at Salzburg, Jan. 27, 1756. He received his early
tuition from his father, an excellent musician, and speedily developed
into a "wonder child." He made several tours through Europe as a
pianist, but finally settled in Vienna, where he married and spent the
remainder of his brief life in pouring out operas, quartets, songs,
sonatas, and other compositions, some of which were certainly made to
sell, but all of which display something of his marvellous genius. It
cannot fairly be said of Mozart that he contributed a great deal that
was new to the mere technics of sonata writing. Mozart had little of the
spirit of the explorer, and less of that of the reformer. He was content
to take musical forms as he found them and instil into them a vitality
which was inseparable from serious attempts at composition. Some of his
works, indeed, show the evil results of that fatal facility which is a
menace to art; but nearly all of them display a fecundity of invention,
a grace and freedom of style, and a sense of artistic elegance which did
much to influence subsequent writers.
Mozart's piano sonatas are worthy of the pianist's attention, but they
cannot be said to have done anything toward the advancement of the form
which Haydn's did not. Mozart learned the sonata form from Haydn's
works. He gave something back to his teacher, but it was chiefly in the
shape of suggestions as to instrumental treatment, for Mozart was a
master pianist, and Haydn was only a respectable performer. Mozart's
sonatas show wonderful cleverness in adapting to the idiom of the piano
the vocal style of the contemporaneous Italian opera, of which Mozart
was the finest composer. His C minor sonata, written in 1784, is his
greatest piano work. It is so fine that, except for the comparative
baldness of its instrumental style, it ranks with the works of
Beethoven's middle period.
The reader must bear in mind the important fact that instrumental music,
pure and simple, was still young, and that composers were chiefly
engaged in developing musical beauty. The technics of instrumental
writing were not sufficiently advanced to admit of high emotional
expression. The reader will remember that in the old schools of church
counterpoint the technics of the art were developed by Okeghem, after
which Josquin des Prés showed how to write beautifully, and the masters
of the last period discovered how to make beauty go hand in hand with
expression. So the early writers of the sonata were chiefly engaged in
experimenting with the technics of their new form and the instruments
for which they wrote, and this paved the way for Haydn and Mozart, when
once the former had established the sonata form, to seek for pure
beauty. This they found, and Mozart's works in particular abound with
it. The time was now at hand when the sonata form was to be made the
vehicle for the expression of the most profound human emotion. But
before it could achieve that end, something had to be added to its
technic and its organization. Part of this addition was made by
Clementi.
Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) was born before Beethoven and died after him.
His works show that he at first influenced Beethoven but was afterward
influenced by him. Clementi's masculine treatment of the piano, which we
have already noticed, went far toward leading Beethoven away from the
thin style of Haydn and Mozart. There are many passages in Clementi's
early sonatas which are similar in construction to passages afterward
written by Beethoven. Again, Clementi extended and elaborated the
"working out" part, and sometimes introduced into the body of a movement
phrases from its introduction. But the works of Beethoven speedily
superseded those of Clementi, and it is to these we must now turn our
attention. Fortunately they call for only brief discussion, for
Beethoven's sonatas are more remarkable for their content than for their
form.
Ludwig van Beethoven was born at Bonn, Dec. 16, 1770. He studied music
in his native city and in Vienna, receiving a few lessons and much
encouragement there from Mozart. He was for a time in the service of the
Elector of Cologne, but in 1792 he went to Vienna to study under Haydn,
and there he finished his life, dying March 26, 1827. In Beethoven's
youth the technics of sonata composition had reached the point of
complete beauty, and the young man soon set about making the sonata the
vehicle of personal expression. In doing so he introduced some
improvements into the form. First of all he leaped to a greater freedom
in the use of keys. He not only wandered into more remote keys than his
predecessors within the limits of a movement, but he made wider changes
of key in passing from one movement to another. He elaborated the slow
introduction which preceded many of his first movements (by no means
all) and made it of high significance. He constructed the passage work
leading from the first theme to the second out of material taken from
the first theme, thus making a logical connection. He sometimes
introduced in the "working out" part new thoughts, derived from the
original matter. He made intentional and highly expressive use of the
practice of running one movement into another without a pause, a device
which had been employed by Emmanuel Bach for purely musical effect.
Beethoven used it for purposes of emotional expression. The complete
first movement form, as developed by Beethoven, is as follows:--
FIRST PART.
Slow introduction (not always used): first theme, in the tonic:
connecting passage: second theme, in a related key: concluding
passage. [Repeat first part.]
MIDDLE PART.
"Working out"--a free fantasia on both themes, developing all
their musical possibilities and dramatic expression by devices of
instrumental color, harmony, counterpoint, etc.
THIRD PART: RECAPITULATION.
First theme, in the tonic: connecting passage: second theme, in
the tonic: coda.
In place of the old minuet movement Beethoven introduced the scherzo.
Scherzo means joke, and the scherzo was originally a light, genial
composition not to be taken seriously. Haydn in writing his minuets took
the stateliness out of their movement and imbued them with humor.
Beethoven, preserving the form and rhythm of the minuet, so changed its
tempo and its melodic style that it became a new kind of writing, which
he called scherzo. But from a merely jocular movement this grew in his
hands to be one of grim humor, and even, as in the C minor symphony, of
mystery and awe.
The slow movement usually follows the first movement. If there are four
movements, the scherzo is generally third, and the finale, instead of
being merely bright and lively, is raised to an emotional importance
nearly as great as that of the first movement, which it frequently
follows in form. Beethoven's music has been divided into three styles,
that of his earliest works showing distinctly the influence of Haydn and
Mozart. Then comes a transition, to which the "Kreuzer" sonata and the
"Eroica" symphony belong, and after that comes the second period,
containing the works of the master's maturity, such as the piano sonata
in D minor, the "Appassionata," and the fifth and seventh symphonies.
The third style embodies the sorrow and bitterness of Beethoven's
unhappy last years, and includes the ninth symphony and the last five
piano sonatas.
In the presence of Beethoven's music I always feel the helplessness of
analysis or critical study. It is useless to try to reveal the why and
wherefore, but it cannot be denied that Beethoven's sonatas convey to
the hearer not only the presence of an imposing personality, but the
conviction that the expression of the music is not simply individual,
but general. There is a breadth and a depth to the utterance of these
works which belong not to one man but to humanity. Beethoven succeeded
in introducing into instrumental music that direct, sweeping,
overwhelming proclamation of emotion which had previously been regarded
as the exclusive property of the singer's voice. Beethoven's music is
essentially the dramatization of pure tones. His intense expression was
not the result of accident. He hungered for it and studied the means of
imparting it to his music. In doing so he solidified the structure of
the sonata in such a way that he made it the most symmetrical, highly
organized, and yet elastic of all musical forms, and paved the way for
the whole school of romantic composers who followed him, and who tried
not only to make music express the great elementary emotions, as he did,
but also to make it tell complete stories. Their purposes are best
exemplified in their orchestral works, and I must defer discussion of
them till after the reader has accompanied me in a review of the
development of the orchestra and orchestral music.