its kind produced up to that time, save alone those of Mozart; and the
advance is not only in method but in the essence of the idea itself.
There is a geniality and warmth about this music that marks a new era.
Bach was more profound, but more isolated; here we have simple human
sentiment and a kind of naïve charm that distinguished Haydn's music
from that of all other composers.
V. FORM OF HAYDN'S ADAGIO.
This Adagio of Haydn is a good illustration of what we have called
"sectional form." It may be tabulated as follows:
TABULAR VIEW OF SECTIONS IN HAYDN'S ADAGIO.
--------------------+-------------------+-------------------+-----------------
1 | 2 | 3 | 4
--------------------+-------------------+-------------------+-----------------
Section in E-flat | Section in the | Section of free | Double Section
measures 1-16 | dominant (B-flat) | modulation 30-54 | in E-flat 55-82
| 16-30 | | Coda 83-91
| | |
Duality | Plurality | Unity
----------------------------------------+-------------------+-----------------
Section four contains practically the same material as Sections 1
and 2, with its last half in the tonic instead of the dominant. It
will be observed that the harmonic plan of the movement is that of
"sonata-form," but that the first two sections (which would constitute
the exposition) are not repeated, as was the invariable custom in
Haydn's first movements. Yet the resemblance is quite close, for
the third part is like a development section and the fourth like a
restatement. Still there is not here that decided difference between
the three sections of exposition, development, and recapitulation that
is essential to sonata-form.
VI. MOZART AND THE CLASSIC STYLE.
The slow movements of the symphonies and string quartets of Mozart, who
represents the culmination of the classic type in music, are thoroughly
characteristic of the ideals of the classical period. Unlike the rustic
Haydn, Mozart was accustomed from his childhood to the atmosphere of
courts and lived in the favor of princes. His music is never brusque,
nor does it have the homely wit and sentiment of Haydn--it does
not smack of the soil--but it possesses a certain ideal beauty and
elegance, a certain finesse and finely pointed wit that were beyond
Haydn's powers. Yet these ideally beautiful compositions of Mozart
are absolutely spontaneous. We are never admitted into his work-shop;
we never trace a sign of his labor; his music seems to have sprung
full born from his brain. He is the type of the consummate artist
who deals with the language of music as easily as an ordinary mortal
deals with his native tongue. He was not a philosopher like Bach, nor
a great man like Beethoven. We find no evidences of his having been,
outside his music, particularly distinguished from his fellows, for his
improvidence and fondness for amusement are matters of record. When we
think of Beethoven's music we think of Beethoven; Mozart and his art
are distinct and separate.[33]
At this point the question naturally arises: "Just what do we mean
by classic beauty?" In a general way a book, a picture or a piece of
music becomes a "classic" when it is universally accepted as a model
of its kind. In this sense Grey's "Elegy in a Country Churchyard" is a
classic; so are Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the Sistine Madonna, and
the Apollo Belvedere. The same term is applied to Beethoven's Fifth
Symphony, and to Schumann's "Träumerei." These works of art represent
many varieties of mood, of style, and of structure, and the application
to them all of the term "classic" is a very broad usage. "Classic,"
as opposed to "Romantic," in music, means something quite different
and much more definite. It refers to purity of outline and simplicity
of harmony; to pure beauty of sound as opposed to luxuriance or the
poignancy produced by dissonances; to clear and translucent colors
and definite lines curved in beauty, rather than to picturesqueness.
Classical music tells its story clearly and definitely and does not
depend on suggestion, as does, for example, the romantic music of
Schumann.
Our illustrations from Haydn have revealed how this classic spirit
gradually approached its culmination. In his Andante with Variations
there is something of the classic spirit, though the occasional diffuse
ornamentation of the trio theme mars the purity of the composition.
In the movement from the "Surprise" Symphony there is too much that
is rustic to admit of its being considered altogether classic. But a
fine example of the classic type is afforded by the first movement of
Mozart's G-minor Symphony, discussed in Chapter IX. The distinction
may be made still more clear by reference to Figure XLIV, containing
(a) the opening phrases of the Finale of Tschaikowsky's "Pathétique"
Symphony, and (b) a short quotation from Schumann's Novelette, op. 21,
No. 1.
[Music: score]
(_a_)
[Music: score]
(_b_)
FIGURE XLIV.
The poignancy of the passage from Tschaikowsky is remarkable, and the
opening chord, modulating at once to another key than the tonic,
produces a feeling of unrest which is further intensified, as the
piece proceeds, by harsh dissonances. The quotation from Schumann's
Novelette is notable for its brusqueness, and for the roughness of
its dissonances. Effects like these would not have been tolerated in
Mozart's time, and illustrate the tendency of music to become more
personal and to seek to express a wider range of human feeling. A
comparison of these two quotations with the opening of the andante by
Mozart will reveal how far apart are the ideals of classic and romantic
music.
EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 16.
_Mozart: Andante from String Quartet_[34] _in C-major,
dedicated to Haydn._
In Chapter IX reference has been made to the influence of Haydn and
Mozart on each other. Mozart undoubtedly profited by Haydn's labors in
the quartet form, and Haydn, in turn, shows in his latest quartets that
he had learned something from his younger contemporary. Ever since this
form came into being it has been a favorite one with composers, for
in it they are able to express musical ideas in all their purity and
divested of extraneous influences. For this reason the quartet became
the medium for their most advanced ideas. Both Mozart and Beethoven
wrote quartets that were far in advance of their time, and that were
subjected to harsh criticism by their contemporaries. The introduction
to the quartet from which this andante is taken is a case in point.
The harmonies, within the space of a few measures, wander far from the
home key, and commit what were then unpardonable sins of cacophony.
A brief quotation from the beginning of this introduction is shown
in Figure XLV. The harsh dissonances between the A-flat in the first
measure of the viola part and the succeeding A-natural in the first
violin part should be noted.
[Music: score]
(_a_)
[Music: score]
(_b_)
FIGURE XLV.
The vague harmonies of this introduction serve as an admirable foil to
the bright opening of the first movement. The æsthetic purpose they
serve is one of which Beethoven also made constant use when he desired
to enhance the charm of a passage by vivid contrast of color. The
opening theme of the movement (shown at (b) in Figure XLV) will be seen
to be foreshadowed in the introduction (Figure XLV (a); viola part,
measure 3, first violin part, measures 4-5). From the point of view of
both harmony and thematic development this introduction is therefore
extremely modern.
[Music: score]
FIGURE XLVI.
Of this andante by Mozart we can say unreservedly that it is a perfect
specimen of pure classic beauty. Its translucent harmonies, its
exquisite curve of melody, its clear outlines, all make it a model of
its kind. The chief theme, extending to measure 12 (see Figure XLVI),
should be compared with those of Handel, Haydn and Mozart shown in
previous chapters. This comparison will reveal an important element
in the present theme, namely, the element of organization. In our
earliest musical examples quoted in the first two chapters there was a
conspicuous lack of variety. "Three Blind Mice" contented itself with
two motives, which were repeated over and over again. "Barbara Allen"
was made up of one rhythmic figure, constantly reiterated, and even in
the themes of Philip Emanuel Bach and Haydn there were many rhythmic
repetitions. In the Haydn quartet movement there were but two motives,
and while they were used with the greatest skill, the theme itself was
entirely constructed from them. In Mozart's theme, on the contrary,
there is hardly a single repetition of rhythm. An examination of the
melody will reveal how great a variety is imparted to it by the many
different rhythmic figures. Yet there is no sense of vagueness about
it; it holds together firmly. This quality distinguishes all highly
organized melodies, and is never found in folk-music. The same element
may be observed in a developed language in which words have come to be
flexible in their meaning, and more or less complicated sentences are
possible. In this theme one does not get the sense of what the composer
is trying to say until the melody ends; in simple themes, made up by
repeating the same motive, one can foresee the end long before it is
reached. Themes like this beautiful one of Mozart are possible only
after art has become well developed, and after people in general have
become sufficiently familiar with the phraseology of music to be able
to follow complicated musical sentences.
A further charm is added to this movement by the free and flowing
counterpoint of the several parts. This is an essential element in the
string quartet, since without it, there being little variety in the
tone of the four instruments, monotony would result.
VII. FORM OF MOZART'S ANDANTE.
Here, as in the Haydn slow movement, we find another example of
sectional form. It may be tabulated as follows:
TABULAR VIEW OF SECTIONS IN MOZART'S ANDANTE.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. | II.
--------------------------------------+-----------------------------------
Modulating from tonic to dominant | Modulating from dominant back to
and containing theme I, episode theme | tonic with the same succession of
(13) and theme II (26), 1-44. | themes. Coda (102), 54-114.
--------------------------------------+-----------------------------------
The sub-divisions of the above should be carefully noted (as indicated
by the entrance of the different themes). These sub-divisions break
the piece up into smaller sections, each distinct from the others. A
particularly interesting and beautiful effect is produced in the coda
(measures 103-5) by the augmentation of the phrase from measures 1-2,
which is reproduced in longer notes against a familiar counterpoint.[35]
SUGGESTIONS FOR COLLATERAL READING.
_C. H. H. Parry: "The Evolution of the Art of Music," Chapters XI and
XII. W. H. Hadow: "Sonata Form," Chapter X. D. G. Mason: "Beethoven and
His Forerunners," Chapters V and VI._
FOOTNOTES:
[31] The instruments employed in the string quartet are two violins
(first and second) viola, and violoncello.
[32] Published in miniature score, Payne edition, price 20 cents. This
quartet also appears among Haydn's works in the form of a sonata for
violin and piano.
[33] See Mason's "Beethoven and his Forerunners," pages 232-240.
[34] Published in miniature score, Payne edition, price 20 cents.
[35] A reference to the full score of this movement will reveal certain
crossings of the lower instruments over the upper by which interesting
effects of tone color are produced.
CHAPTER XI.
BEETHOVEN--I.
I. GENERAL CHARACTER OF BEETHOVEN'S WORK.
The reader who has attentively followed the story of the long and
gradual development of music from the folk-song and peasant dance up
to the point we have now reached, cannot but have been impressed by
the character of preparation for some supreme achievement of which
this development seems to partake throughout. All the laborious steps
lead on toward a goal which even in the splendid work of Haydn and
Mozart is not quite reached. Haydn crystallizes the form and style of
instrumental music; Mozart adds his peculiar aristocratic grace of
manner and classical beauty of substance, yet even in his work there
remains a certain coldness and conventionality--the body of the art is
perfect, but the spiritual passion of modern music as we know it is
still lacking. Even during the life-times of these great musicians,
however, the supreme genius who was to bring to its perfect flowering
the plant they had so carefully tended was preparing for his work. In
1791, when Mozart died, and when Haydn made his first journey to London
to produce his Salomon symphonies, Ludwig van Beethoven, born in 1770,
was just entering on his young manhood.
In order to understand the character and work of Beethoven, it is
necessary constantly to bear in mind the two-sided truth that
the greatest men are those who combine the utmost receptivity and
teachableness with a perfect self-dependence and fearless initiative.
Beethoven, who is equally remarkable for both, could never have done
what he did had he lacked either. Had he been merely "original"
he could not have securely founded himself on the work of his
predecessors, and, therefore, would probably not have surpassed them.
Had he been content always to imitate, had he never ventured beyond
what was sanctioned by tradition, he would never have inaugurated a
new epoch in music. It becomes, therefore, a matter of great interest
to trace these opposed but complementary traits of docility and
unconventionality, first in his character, and secondly in his music.
In what has been written of Beethoven, his eccentricities have been
so dwelt upon that his capacity for laborious study has hardly been
appreciated. It is true that he was a restive pupil. He was taught
for a while by Haydn, but soon quarreled with him. His teacher in
counterpoint, the learned pedagogue Albrechtsberger, said of him: "He
will never do anything according to rule; he has learnt nothing."
But Beethoven was essentially self-taught; and in his efforts, under
his own guidance, to master all the technical difficulties of his
art, he showed the most inexhaustible patience and subjected himself
to the most tireless labor. Never did the veriest dolt drudge more
faithfully at the A, B, C of his art than the "divine Beethoven." We
have proof of this in his sketch-books, many of which have been edited
and printed by Nottebohm. In them we see him jotting down his ideas,
often surprisingly trite in the first instance, and then returning,
day after day, to the task of developing them into the perfect themes
of his finished compositions. Nothing could be more salutary to those
who fancy that musical creation is entirely a matter of "inspiration"
than a perusal of these endless pages in which Beethoven slowly and
painfully separates the pure metal from the ore of his thought and
refines it to complete purity.[36]
Beethoven's wonderful certainty of touch, economy of material, and
logical coherence of ideas were doubtless attainable only by this
laborious method of working. He learned, by careful imitation, all
that the models left by his predecessors could teach him before he
ventured to push beyond them. Yet even in his early 'prentice work,
like the first two symphonies and the earlier piano sonatas, in which
the influence of Haydn and Mozart are constantly evident, there is a
vigor of execution, a ruggedness of style, and a depth of feeling, that
are all his own. In other words, his strong originality was already
coloring all that he did; even when he imitated, it was with a subtle
difference.
Later, as his powers developed and self-confidence grew, he became
more and more indifferent to tradition, more and more singly bent on
following his own genius wherever it might lead him. A strong dramatic
instinct began to possess him, showing itself in a love for sudden
changes of harmony and rhythm, for unexpected transitions from loud
to soft or from soft to loud, and in other such eccentricities. His
rhythms became more striking, his melodies broader and more various,
his harmonies and modulations so daring and unprecedented that the
conservatives of the day held up their hands in horror. His sense of
musical structure, of that combining of themes in long movements which
is akin to the architect's combination of pillars, arches, windows,
buttresses and colonnades in great buildings, became so powerful and
unerring that he created works of vaster proportions and more subtle
symmetry than had ever been dreamed of before--so great and complex
that they could be followed only by the highly trained ear and mind.
Such were the works of his maturity. Later still, as he became more and
more thrown in upon himself by poverty, pride, the terrible affliction
of deafness, and the failure of his contemporaries to understand him,
he came to live entirely in his own ideal world, and his music became
more and more markedly individual, and in some cases almost perversely
so. His latest works are not thoroughly understood, even to-day, except
after the most patient, exhaustive study.
The customary division of Beethoven's artistic life into three
periods[37] is based on these internal differences observable in his
works. Those of the first period, extending to about 1803, of which the
most important are the piano sonatas up to opus 53, the first three
piano concertos, the string quartets, opus 18, and the first and second
symphonies, show him under the influence of Haydn and Mozart, though
already more poignant, impassioned, and forcible than his models.
In the second period, the period of full and vigorous maturity,
extending from 1803 to 1813, he throws off all restricting traditions,
and stands forth a heroic figure, the like of which music had never
seen, and may never see again. The compositions of this decade, among
which may be specially mentioned the piano sonatas from the "Waldstein"
to opus 90, the fourth and fifth piano concertos, the unique concerto
for violin, the string quartets, opus 59 and opus 74, the overtures
"Coriolanus" and "Egmont," the opera "Fidelio," the great Mass in C,
and above all the six magnificent symphonies from the "Eroica" to the
eighth, are among the supreme achievements of human art. They combine
the utmost variety of form and style with a perfect unity; they are
models of structure for all time; and as to expression, one knows not
what to marvel at most, their rugged virility and intensity of passion,
their deep pathos and tender sentiment, their moods of effervescent
merriment, humor, and whimsical perversity, or their almost superhuman
moments of mystical elevation.
The third period, extending from 1813 to Beethoven's death in 1827, is
as we have said characterized by an almost excessive individuality,
and is difficult to relate to the normal progress of musical art.
Nevertheless it contains some of his greatest works--notably the Ninth
Symphony, the Mass in D, and the final sonatas and quartets. The
detailed study of it falls outside the province of this book.
With this brief and necessarily cursory survey of Beethoven's
achievement in its entirety, we may pass on to the examination of a
single typical work, hoping in the course of it to make clearer to
the student the two main facts about Beethoven on which we have been
trying to insist: his indebtedness to his predecessors in the matters
of general structure and style, and the indomitable originality by
virtue of which all that he does is infused with a novel beauty and
an unparalleled profundity of feeling. We shall choose for our first
example one of the finest compositions of his first period--the
"Pathétique Sonata," for piano, opus 13, taking up in later chapters
some typical examples of his more advanced style.
II. ANALYSIS OF A BEETHOVEN SONATA.
EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 17.
_Beethoven: Piano Sonata, Opus 13. First movement._
It will be noted that Beethoven adds to the three traditional sections
of the sonata-form an introduction in slow tempo (of which we saw an
earlier example in Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony) and a brief coda,
based on the main material of the movement, to round out the complete
movement satisfactorily. In his later work both of these additional
sections came often to figure very prominently, the increased
development he gave to them being indeed one of his most important
contributions to sonata-form. We shall see in his Fifth Symphony a fine
example of his treatment of the coda, which raises it to a dignity
equal to that of the other organic sections. The introduction of the
Fourth Symphony extends to thirty-eight measures of slow tempo, that
of the Seventh Symphony to sixty-two measures, with great variety of
treatment.
The general structure of this movement, which is in extended
sonata-form, is shown in the following tabular view:
TABULAR VIEW OF STRUCTURE OF FIRST MOVEMENT OF THE PATHÉTIQUE SONATA.
-------------------+---------------------------------------------+----------
Sections. | Themes. | Measures.
-------------------+---------------------------------------------+----------
Slow Introduction | | 1-10
-------------------+---------------------------------------------+----------
Exposition (A) | First theme, C minor | 11-27
| Transition, based on first theme | 27-50
Duality of | Second theme, E-flat minor | 51-88
Harmony | Codetta or Conclusion section, E-flat major | 89-134
| Consisting of |
| Conclusion-theme I | 89-112
| Conclusion-theme II | 113-120
| Reminiscence of theme I | 121-134
-------------------+---------------------------------------------+----------
Development (B) | Introduction-motive | 135-138
Plurality of | Theme I and Introduction-motive treated | 139-196
Harmony | |
-------------------+---------------------------------------------+----------
Recapitulation (A) | First theme, C minor | 197-209
| New transition | 209-222
Unity of | Second theme, F minor | 223-254
Harmony | Codetta, C minor | 255-296
-------------------+---------------------------------------------+----------
Coda | | 297-312
| Consisting of |
| Introduction motive | 297-300
| First theme, reminiscence | 301-311
-------------------+---------------------------------------------+----------
The motive of the introduction, shown in Figure XLVII, is a deeply
expressive bit of melody which at once establishes the mood to which
the sonata owes its name of "Pathetic." How incisive and seizing is
this very first measure! What a different world it takes us into--a
romantic world of personal feeling--from the classic realms of Haydn
and Mozart! The emotion thus suggested at the outset becomes deeper,
too, as we proceed, first with the higher utterance of the same motive
in the second measure, and then with the fragments of it in the third
and fourth, urging us on to a climax on the high A-flat. Finally,
in the fifth and succeeding measures, the pulsating rhythm of the
accompaniment adds a still greater agitation, while the melody climbs
ever higher and higher until it reaches the F of measure 9, after
which it dies away in preparation for the main theme. The intensity of
Beethoven's expression, by which his claim to the title of "romantic"
is most surely indicated, could hardly be better shown than by this
brief introduction of ten measures.
[Music: score]
(_a_) Motive of the Introduction, Pathétique Sonata.
[Music: score]
(_b_) Treatment of this motive in the Development.
FIGURE XLVII.
The body of the movement begins energetically, yet sombrely, with the
first theme, in minor key and strongly pronounced rhythm. This merges
quickly in the transition (27-50), which is neither a bit of empty
passage-work as often with Haydn, nor a new melody as with Mozart, but
contains constant references to the main theme (35-37, 39-41, 43-45).
The second theme is both more lyrical in character and more extended
than the first. It is not in the traditional key of the relative major
(see Chapters II and III), but oscillates between E-flat minor and
D-flat, coming into E-flat major (the relative of C-minor) only as it
closes and debouches into the first conclusion theme (89-112). The
closing section or codetta is, however, almost entirely in E-flat, and
is moreover fairly long and important. It consists of two independent
themes and of a reminiscence of the first theme at measures 121-135. A
fine instance of melodic germination is found in the first conclusion
theme, where the gradually rising melody twice builds itself up into
a long phrase of eight measures (93-100, and 105-112) with splendidly
sustained effect. The great variety of rhythm embodied in the codetta
should be especially noticed.
The development begins with a restatement of the poignant
introduction-motive, so managed that it leads into the remote key of
E-minor. Now begins, with the resumption of the allegro tempo, a rather
short but most interesting treatment of the first theme, continued with
an ingenious variant of the introduction-motive (measures 142-143,
148-149: see Figure XLVII (_b_)), followed by the transference of the
fragment of the first theme to the bass, where it is thrice repeated,
amid constant modulation. Then, in the measure following 169, comes
one of those inimitably hushed, mysterious passages so peculiar to
Beethoven, through which, like fountains from a sombre pool, rise
fragments of the first theme. Then, with a rapidly descending passage,
the movement plunges into its recapitulation.
This section the reader will have no difficulty in analyzing for
himself, not failing to note the felicity with which a new transition,
from first to second themes (209-222), is made to germinate from
the last two measures of the main theme. The coda, very brief,
contains nothing but a final announcement of fragments of the
introduction-motive and a single sentence of the first theme.
EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 18.
_Beethoven: Piano Sonata, opus 13. Second movement._
This slow movement, a beautiful _adagio cantabile_ in Beethoven's
tranquilly serious mood, takes on the sectional form of the rondo,
consisting of a theme (_A_), an episode (_B_), recurrence of the theme
(_A_), a second episode (_C_), second recurrence of the theme (_A_),
and brief codetta.
[Music: score]
FIGURE XLVIII.
The theme itself, filling only eight measures, but repeated at a higher
pitch in the second eight measures, is a fine example of the variety
in unity of Beethoven's melodies, secured only after much laborious
sketching. It is shown in Figure XLVIII, and should be examined
carefully. Almost every measure of it presents a new rhythm, so that
there is none of the monotony of those themes which endlessly repeat
a single rhythmic figure. (Compare the tunes of primitive savages
shown in Chapter I.) Yet the whole melody is so deftly composed that
its final impression of unity is perfect. The sequence form which the
harmonies of the last four measures take contributes in no small degree
to this impression of unity.
The theme being in the key of A-flat, both episodes are planned to give
variety of key, the first (B--measures 17-28) being in the relative
minor, F-minor, and the second (C--measures 37-50), beginning in A-flat
minor and modulating, through E-major, back to the home-key.
With the third entrance of the main theme, the accompaniment takes the
more animated rhythm of triplets; and these continue through the brief
but delightful codetta (66-73).
EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 19.
_Beethoven: Piano Sonata, opus 13. Third movement._[38]
This movement is an example of rondo form, being, like the Mozart rondo
we have already studied, based on the alternation of a chief theme,
with sections containing other material. The tabular view on the next
page exhibits the complete structure.
The first theme, sprightly and energetic, and recalling in its melodic
curve the second theme of the first movement, is in strophic form,
with its last half repeated, and the cadence extended for greater
emphasis. The sequences in measures 6-7 and 10-11 should be noted.
The transition also starts off with a sequence, measures 23-26,
corresponding to 19-22. Our old familiar, the device of imitation, also
figures in measures 38 and 39. It is interesting to see Beethoven using
these tools of the polyphonic style (see Chapters I and III) in a work
so far removed from it, and with such ingratiating freshness.
TABULAR VIEW OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE FINALE OF THE PATHÉTIQUE SONATA.
---------+---------------------------------------------------+--------
Sections.| Themes. |Measures.
---------+---------------------------------------------------+--------
A. | First theme, C-minor | 1-18
| Transition | 19-26
---------+---------------------------------------------------+--------
B. | Second theme, E-flat major | 26-44
| Closing theme (Codetta) | 44-52
| Transition (on motive from close of second theme) | 52-62
---------+---------------------------------------------------+--------
A. | First theme, C-minor | 62-79
---------+---------------------------------------------------+--------
C. | Third theme, A-flat | 80-108
| Florid passage work | 108-121
---------+---------------------------------------------------+--------
A. | First theme, C-major | 121-135
---------+---------------------------------------------------+--------
B. | Second theme, C-minor | 135-154
| Closing theme (codetta) | 155-171
---------+---------------------------------------------------+--------
A. | First theme, C-minor | 172-183
| Codetta, extended | 183-203
| Final suggestions of first theme | 203-211
---------+---------------------------------------------------+--------
The second theme enters for only eight measures, after which the
gay little imitations are again resorted to, and carry us to the
re-entrance of the main theme.
The episode (C), based on a new theme in the key of A-flat major, for
the sake of the harmonic variety so essential to the middle part of a
movement, is again in sequence form, and in strict polyphonic style,
first with two voices and later with three. In measures 100-103 we have
the theme in the right hand, and set against it in the left a staccato
counterpoint in eighth-notes; in the next four measures this scheme is
just reversed. A rather florid passage, which may be compared to the
cadenza in the rondo from Mozart analyzed in Chapter VI, leads over to
the return of the first theme.
[Music: score]
FIGURE XLIX.
The appearance of the second theme, on its return, in the key of
C-major instead of E-flat major, imparts organic solidity to the
movement by its insistence on the tonic key, as in similar cases in the
sonata-form (compare again Chapter VI). It is also this time made to
germinate into eight additional measures (see Figure XLIX).
In the final section A (172-end) the little motive of the transitions
does further duty, and a new figure is introduced in measure 194. After
the pause of measures 202-203, we have brief hints, piano, of the main
theme, and then with one of the sudden fortissimos Beethoven loves so
well, a precipitous downward scale ends the movement with vigor.
III. SUMMARY.
The "Pathétique Sonata" illustrates most vividly the general truths
about its composer's first period which we have tried to bring out
above. The similarity to the style of Haydn and Mozart is most
striking. Not only do we find the general types of structure developed
by them applied with great fidelity, but there are many details of
style, such as the accompaniment figures and the ornamentation, which
recall them. Yet the strings, so to speak, are all tightened, there
is not a trace of flabbiness or diffuseness, everything irrelevant is
omitted, and the style is at once more varied and more unified than
theirs. The vigor and individuality of all the themes is consummate;
the organic beauty of such themes as that of the Adagio is supreme.
The transitions are notable for their pertinency and derivation from
the thematic materials of the movement--there are no empty scales
and arpeggios. The developments give the impression of inevitability,
of growing from the primary motives as naturally as plants grow
from their seeds. Contrast in rhythm, in melody, in harmony, and in
style (as exemplified in the use of polyphonic style in the finale)
abounds. There is never a dull moment, yet interest is never secured
at the expense of unity. Above all, the virility, profundity, and
earnestness of the expression, surprise us; there is here none of the
detachment, the cool remoteness, of classic art; every note throbs with
personal feeling--music has left the innocence and transparent gaiety
of childhood behind it, and begun to speak with the deeper and more
moving, if less serene, accents of maturity.
In the next chapters we shall trace this progress further.
SUGGESTIONS FOR COLLATERAL READING.
_E. Dickinson: "The Study of the History of Music," Chapter XXVI. C.
H. H. Parry: "The Evolution of the Art of Music," Chapter XII. D. G.
Mason: "Beethoven and His Forerunners," Chapters VII, VIII, and IX._
FOOTNOTES:
[36] See for quotations from the sketch-books, Mason's "Beethoven and
His Forerunners," pp. 304-314. Several of the complete sketch-books,
edited by Nottebohm, are published by Breitkopf and Härtel.
[37] See Von Lenz's "Beethoven et ses trois styles."
[38] In numbering the measures, begin with the first (partial) measure,
even though it is incomplete.
CHAPTER XII.
BEETHOVEN--II.
I. FORM AND CONTENT.
Our study of the Pathétique Sonata has shown how closely Beethoven
followed the models of Haydn and Mozart, at the same time infusing
into them a new spirit. The first movement of that sonata does not
differ materially in form from the first movement of Mozart's G-minor
Symphony, discussed in Chapter IX, yet Beethoven takes us into a new
world, far removed from that world of pure impersonal beauty in which
Mozart dwelt. Beethoven is the man struggling, fighting, working out
his own individuality, learning through bitter experience; Mozart
is the artist not so much turning his own experience into music, as
creating outside himself imperishable works of an almost superhuman
beauty. In many of Beethoven's works there is this same regularity of
form coupled with freedom of expression. The brusqueness of his style
led his contemporaries to think him an iconoclast; and it was not till
many years after works like the Fifth Symphony were produced that the
public began to understand how orthodox they are.
This free individual expression, now a characteristic of art generally
and evident enough in all phases of human life--this assertion of the
personal point of view--began with Beethoven and has been increasing
ever since his day, until we now have music in which certain phrases
or themes no longer please us as beautiful sounds, but exist for some
ulterior and individual purpose.
[Music: score]
(_a_)
[Music: score]
(_b_)
FIGURE L.
This change was perhaps only a part of that more general transformation
of society by which the composer, who had previously been subject
to the favor of princely patrons, became an independent individual,
living in direct contact with the public at large. Music, thus freed
and given an independent existence, became an expressive art and took
deeper root in human experience. It lost, in this process, something of
that calm, ethereal beauty it had possessed, but it gained greatly in
expressiveness. In Beethoven's hands it became plastic; he enlarged the
range of harmonic combinations far beyond that of Mozart, and created
themes that were of wider application to human feeling. In illustration
of this there will be found in Figure L, (_a_) a quotation from the
slow movement of Beethoven's piano sonata, op. 2, no. 2, and in (_b_)
a quotation from the slow movement of his sonata, op. 10, no. 3. These
should be compared with the theme from Mozart's piano sonata in Figure
XLI. The difference between the themes of Beethoven and that of Mozart
is in their content rather than in their form.
The purpose of Mozart's theme is beauty; the purpose of Beethoven's
themes is expressiveness, the conveyance of deep emotion. They are
lacking in one essential quality of melodic beauty, namely, outline, or
curve.[39] These two quotations are not representative of Beethoven's
lyric genius, for he has left us many fine melodies, but they reveal
a general tendency of his to seek in music an outlet for his deepest
thoughts and feelings, and to sacrifice, if necessary, that beauty of
outline that characterizes Mozart's finest tunes.
II. BEETHOVEN'S STYLE.
One peculiarity of Beethoven's music, due to his constant search
after expressiveness rather than mere formal symmetry, is a unity
and conciseness of style notably superior to that of Mozart. Many of
his themes lack the perfect balance of phrases, in exact thesis and
antithesis, found in Mozart's, their structure resulting rather from a
logical development of the leading motive, which, by a favorite device
of his, presses on, in constant repetition and with increasing vigor,
to an emotional climax. The contrast between this method of treating a
theme and the method of Mozart may be seen in Figure LI.
[Music: score]
(_a_) From Mozart's G-minor Symphony.
[Music: score]
(_b_) From Beethoven's first piano Sonata.
[Music: score]
(_c_) From Beethoven's String Quartet, op. 59, No. 1.
FIGURE LI.
In the quotation from Mozart's symphony it will be observed that the
two-measure phrases exactly balance each other, but that the second
phrase is melodically unrelated to the first, and is, furthermore, a
somewhat trivial figure. One feels in listening to the whole theme
that the real significance of it lies in the opening phrase, and this
conclusion is justified by reference to the development section of the
movement, where the composer altogether discards the second phrase. The
style of this theme is, therefore, largely dictated by the convention
of perfect phrase balance. The style of the two Beethoven themes, on
the contrary, is vigorous and terse. The outward symmetry is dictated
by the inner sense.
In the sonata theme Beethoven presses home his idea with greater
and greater intensity until the climax is reached, after which the
tension is gradually abated; in the theme from the string quartet an
almost identical method is pursued. For a further illustration of the
terseness of Beethoven's style reference may be made to the development
sections of this sonata and string quartet, where most interesting
use is made of the short motives from which these themes are derived.
These methods of writing give evidence of the fine economy Beethoven
continually displays. There is, in his music, nothing redundant--no
unnecessary word--and it is this quality of style that produces such an
effect of life and vigor.
Beethoven carries out these methods in whole movements, and even in
complete symphonies. We have already seen how, in the Pathétique
Sonata, a theme in the finale is derived from one in the first
movement, but a much more interesting example of the process[40] may be
found in the Fifth Symphony.
EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 20.
_Beethoven: The Fifth Symphony._[41] _First movement._
[Music: score]
(_a_)
[Music: score]
(_b_)
[Music: score]
(_c_)
[Music: score]
(_d_) From the Scherzo.
FIGURE LII.
In Figure LII will be found quotations from the three themes of the
first movement of the Fifth Symphony, and from the secondary theme of
the scherzo.
It will be observed that the first motive in theme I--consisting of
three short notes followed by a long one--is the germ from which both
the conclusion theme and scherzo theme spring, and that the same motive
serves as the bass to the second theme. This motive, in fact, dominates
the entire first movement, the extraordinary vitality of which is
largely due to the incisive quality of the motive itself and to the
occasional thunderous proclamations of it by the entire orchestra.
Here we have the virility of Beethoven's style admirably illustrated;
no time is given to platitudes, no single measure wanders away from
the chief issues. At times this first motive is extended into a
succession of loud chords from the full orchestra; again the prevailing
two-measure rhythm is interrupted by a measure of silence that shifts
the accents dramatically from one place to another, dislocating the
whole passage.[42] This intensity of utterance--each phrase hammered
home--gives to the whole work a quite unique place among symphonies.
The complete movement may be tabulated as follows:
TABULAR VIEW OF STRUCTURE OF FIRST MOVEMENT OF BEETHOVEN'S
FIFTH SYMPHONY.
----------------+---------------------------------------------------+---------
Sections. | Themes. |Measures.
----------------+---------------------------------------------------+---------
Introduction. | On motive from theme I | 1-5
----------------+---------------------------------------------------+---------
Exposition (A) | First theme, C-minor | 6-56
| Transition consisting of a chord of modulation | 58
Duality of | Introduction to theme II based on original motive | 59-62
Harmony | Second theme in E-flat major | 63-95
| Codetta or Conclusion-section consisting of |
| Conclusion-theme | 95-119
| Reminiscence of theme I | 110-124
----------------+---------------------------------------------------+---------
Development (B) | Motive from theme I treated | 125-179
| Introduction to theme II lengthened and treated |
| in sequence (G-minor and C-minor) | 179-195
Plurality of | Half note phrase pass the same extended into |
Harmony | long passage finally losing its contour and |
| retaining only its rhythm | 195-240
----------------+---------------------------------------------------+---------
Recapitulation | Further treatment of theme I | 240-252
(A) | First theme, C-minor | 253-300
| Transition leading to C-major | 302
Unity of | Introduction to theme II | 303-306
Harmony | Second theme in C-major | 307-346
| Conclusion-theme C-major | 346-374
----------------+---------------------------------------------------+---------
Coda | Theme I treated | 374-397
| Introduction to theme II with new counterpoint | 398-406
| Motive from the same in diminution (basses) | 406-415
| Motive from theme II treated | 416-469
| Motive from theme I treated | 469-502
----------------+---------------------------------------------------+---------
The foregoing table should be compared with those in Chapters VIII and
IX in order to get a comprehensive view of the gradual development
of sonata-form. It will be seen that Beethoven destroys nothing, but
that the changes he makes in the older models are changes such as
the nature of his themes and the length of the movement demand. The
chief difference in themes is that the first theme is less lyric than
those of Mozart, and more suited to development; a better contrast
between themes I and II is thereby provided. The coda is extended far
beyond that of the old model, and becomes an important part of the
structure--important, because at this stage of the development of
sonata form (audiences having become accustomed to listening to long
pieces of pure music) the repetition of the whole first section (A) is
a little too obvious, and the introduction of a dramatic coda after the
recapitulation section provides fresh interest at the point where it is
most needed.
Sir Hubert Parry[43] writes of Beethoven's innovations in this phase
of musical development as follows: "It was his good fortune that the
sonata-form had been so perfectly organized and that the musical
public had been made so perfectly familiar with it, that they were
ready to follow every suggestion and indication of the principle of
form; and even to grasp what he aimed at when he purposely presumed on
their familiarity with it to build fresh subtleties and new devices
upon the well known lines; and even to emphasize the points by making
progressions in directions which seemed to ignore them."
But most important of all is the close reasoning (if we may use the
term) displayed throughout this movement. There is hardly a single note
in it that has not some direct bearing on the subject matter, the two
chords in the transitions being the only portions not derived from
the themes proper. With all these elements of strength, and the added
cohesion resulting from the similarity of themes, this movement stands
as a model of what a symphonic first movement should be.
III. THE DRAMATIC ELEMENT IN BEETHOVEN'S MUSIC.
[Music: score]
(_a_)
[Music: score]
(_b_)
[Music: score]
(_c_)
FIGURE LIII.
We have referred in Chapter VIII to that process of development whereby
a theme becomes gradually changed, losing its physiognomy little by
little until it is only a shadow of its former self. In the quotation
in Figure LIII this process might almost be said to be the opposite
of development, since the theme is gradually denuded of its melodic
curve, until nothing but its rhythm remains; but the effect, at least,
is to produce something quite new out of a germinal motive, and to
relieve, for a moment, that insistence on melody that characterizes
the first section. The device is a favorite one with Beethoven, and in
this movement he makes interesting use of it. The passage begins at
measure 195 ((_a_) in the figure) with the phrase used to introduce
the second theme, as if it intended going on with the theme as before,
but instead there enters a long passage of half-notes, (_b_), in which
the _outline_ of the half-note phrase is preserved for a while, after
which the rhythm only is retained, and the passage becomes a series of
chords floating mysteriously, and dimly outlined as in a cloud ((_c_)
in the figure). The original motive crashes through (measure 228) for
a moment, the soft chords sound again, and then the whole orchestra
rushes rapidly to the end of the section.
The effect of this cessation of the rapid movement that has thus far
animated the music is very dramatic, and the startling interruption of
its peaceful flow by the loud chords at measures 228-231--as if they
were impatient to begin the turmoil again--gives the whole passage a
peculiarly vivid effect. This device is analogous to that employed in
the novel when the author prepares his readers, by a page or two of
peaceful narrative, for his most dramatic episode. The significance of
this passage is, of course, due to its connection with the introductory
phrase from which it sprang, but it should be noted that the whole
passage is a re-creation from the original motive and not a restatement
of it in another key. And its position in the movement is exactly at
the point where some relief is needed from what might otherwise be a
too great insistence on the first theme, and just before the beginning
of the recapitulation, where the first theme is to appear in its
original form. It will be found that such passages are usually placed
in this position.
The themes in Beethoven's finest works are not only hammered out, as
it were, from the rough metal, but we may say of them--as we cannot
say of those of Haydn's and Mozart's--that they are pregnant with
possibilities which are not fully realized until the composition is
finished. With Haydn and Mozart the development section is usually
a string of different versions of the original theme--as is the
latter's G-minor symphony, first and last movements. With Beethoven the
development section reveals what was latent in the original theme, but
what had not been before realized. In the development section of the
Fifth Symphony he not only convinces us by his logic, but overpowers us
by the sweep of his eloquence.
IV. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF THE FIFTH SYMPHONY.
It is impossible to express in words the significance of this music,
but it runs almost the complete gamut of human feeling. The opening
theme is so incisive and has such a tremendous energy that it takes
us into a new world. If we compare it with Mozart's first movement
themes we realize at once that it deals with things that music had
never attempted to express before. The second theme is not by any
means a fine melody, being made up of a constantly reiterated phrase,
but it has an appealing beauty of its own that we would not exchange
for perfection. Occasionally the terrible asserts itself, as in those
ominous chords with empty fifths in the coda (measures 481-482), while
the whole movement seems to have been struck off at white heat.
That this was not the case, however, but that on the contrary even the
first theme itself took its present shape only after a laborious effort
of the composer's mind, we know from the evidence of his sketch-book.
The theme first appears there in the following form.
[Music: score]
FIGURE LIV.
This commonplace theme evidently lay generating in Beethoven's mind for
a long period. Various sketches on it appear from time to time, and it
was only after much thought that it finally emerged in its permanent
form. This was always his method of composition. Unlike Mozart, who
wrote music with the utmost fluency and rapidity, Beethoven rewrote his
themes many times before they satisfied him, and the process caused
him actual mental agony. With him composing was a struggle, a fight;
he stamped, and sang, and shouted over the composition of some of his
larger works, and finally emerged from his solitude exhausted.
There is no doubt but that Beethoven was affected by the prevailing
social unrest of his time--by the revolutionary ideas that were then
stirring. Although we cannot attempt to translate into words the
significance of the fifth symphony, there is no mistaking its language
as that of independence and freedom from conventional shackles.
"Writing in a period of revolution," says Mr. Hadow,[44] "himself an
ardent revolutionary, he broke in upon the politeness of the Austrian
court with an eloquence as tempestuous as that of Mirabeau or Danton."
So that, looking at his music as a whole, we are not only struck by
its significance, but by the close relation in which it stands to the
life of Beethoven's period. Never before had music been so untrammeled,
so free. The medium itself--harmony, melody, rhythm--had become more
plastic, and the old incubus of tradition had been thrown off. Not only
that, but the various elements in composition were fused for the first
time in Beethoven's music. Polyphony takes its place as a means and
not an end; pure melody--even folk-melody--becomes a part of the larger
scheme in which its beauty is set off against contrasting elements--and
is thereby enhanced; rhythm becomes a means of expression in itself,
and not merely a vehicle; harmony is made an important part of the
general design, and its latent possibilities as a means of expression
are realized.
All these threads were gathered together by Beethoven, and woven into
the complex fabric of his music. Great men are usually born at just the
right moment, and Beethoven was no exception to the rule; for he found
the art at just the point where a master spirit was needed to take its
various elements and fuse them. Under his hands all the inessential
parts dropped away, and the essentials were placed in such relation to
each other that a completely organic work of art resulted.
SUGGESTIONS FOR COLLATERAL READING.
_"Oxford History" Vol. III: Chapters X and XI. Grove's "Beethoven and
His Nine Symphonies." Grove's "Dictionary of Music and Musicians:"
articles "Beethoven," "Symphony," and "Form." Mason's "Beethoven and
His Forerunners," Chapters VII, VIII, and IX._
FOOTNOTES:
[39] An examination of any one of the best folk-songs quoted in
Chapter II, or the melodies of Bach, Handel, Haydn or Mozart quoted in
succeeding chapters, will show how important an element of melody is
this curve or outline.
[40] The themes in the minuet and finale of Haydn's "Emperor" quartet
have a slight similarity of contour.
[41] Published for piano, two or four hands, by Peters, Leipzig. For
convenience of reference, number all measures and parts of measures
consecutively.
[42] The presence of measure 389--which is silent--has been a subject
of discussion among musicians: it is sometimes omitted in performance.
[43] "Evolution of the Art of Music," Chapter XII.
[44] "Oxford History of Music."
CHAPTER XIII.
BEETHOVEN--III.
I. THE SLOW MOVEMENT BEFORE BEETHOVEN.
The slow movements of the sonatas and symphonies of Haydn and Mozart
were essentially lyric pieces in which the composer relied for his
effect on the beauty of his melodies. These melodies, usually two in
number, were varied by being presented in different keys and by being
ornamented with passing-notes, scale passages, trills, etc. Each
section was clearly separated from the others by cadence chords, so
that the total effect was of a series of separate divisions, each, as
it were, independent and complete in itself. There are, of course,
exceptions to this method of procedure, particularly in the string
quartets of Haydn and Mozart, which are more highly developed than is
usual in their piano sonatas, but as a general rule this was their way
of treating slow movements.
This lyric, sectional form of slow movement served as a foil to the
more involved first movement. The lovely, serene melodies were not
disturbed by passion, nor sacrificed for picturesque effect of any
kind. In the string quartets and symphonies they were enlivened by a
certain amount of polyphony (see Chapter X), and in the piano sonatas
they occasionally departed from the simple regular form, but they
seldom dealt with tragedy and seldom presented any evidence of that
idiosyncrasy and intense individuality that marks the slow movement of
later times.
II. THE SLOW MOVEMENTS OF BEETHOVEN'S EARLY SYMPHONIES.
The early sonatas and symphonies of Beethoven are largely constructed
on the old model. The first piano sonata, referred to in Chapter XII,
has a sectional slow movement that might almost have been written by
Mozart. The slow movement of the first symphony is simplicity itself,
both in form and content; and even the adagio of the Pathétique Sonata
(see Chapter XI) is a straightforward sectional piece with a lyric
melody presented several times, with varying accompaniment, and with
the usual contrasting middle section.
[Music: score]
(_a_)
[Music: score]
(_b_)
[Music: score]
(_c_)
[Music: score]
(_d_)
[Music: score]
(_e_)
[Music: score]
(_f_)
[Music: score]
(_g_)
FIGURE LV.
In Figure LV is shown the first theme of the andante of the first
symphony, (_a_) themes from the larghetto of the second symphony,
(_b_) and (_e_) and portions of the middle section of the same (_c_),
(_d_), (_f_), and (_g_). Each of these themes is distinctly strophic;
each has perfect phrase balance, charm of contour or outline, and
simplicity of harmonization. Not so highly organized as the theme from
the Pathétique Sonata (see Chapter XI, Figure XLVII) they resemble the
themes of the older masters, but bear, nevertheless, some evidence
of the individuality that so fully characterizes Beethoven's later
music. But in the treatment of the theme from the second symphony that
individuality is clearly manifested. Instead of a mere restatement
varied by new harmonization or by elaboration of the theme itself,
there is a free play of fancy, one or two short motives from the
first theme being tossed about in the orchestra from one instrument to
another in delightful by-play.
All sorts of devices are resorted to to keep the interest of the
listener at its height. The chief motive (Figure LV, (_b_)) passes from
calm serenity to playfulness, and again to splendid sonorous grandeur;
a phrase from this same motive becomes the subject of an almost crabbed
discussion (Figure LV, (_d_)), while the charming secondary theme
(Figure LV, (_e_)), whose whimsical gayety animates the early part of
the movement, is given a plaintive quality by a change to minor (Figure
LV, (_f_)) and the touching contrapuntal phrases that are set against
it. A little later a single phrase from the same theme becomes the
subject of a bit of vigorous by-play between the different instruments
(Figure LV, (_g_)).
Thus the slow movement, even in Beethoven's early works, becomes
vivified by his intense individuality. In his more mature compositions
in this form the whole body of the music pulsates with life--no single
part stagnates.
EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 21.
_Beethoven: The Fifth Symphony, Slow movement._
We have already pointed out in Chapter X that the slow movement is
usually written in some sectional form. Beethoven followed the old
models in this respect in the majority of his slow movements, but
his enrichment of the content of the music and his skill in avoiding
conventional endings and other platitudes makes his pieces less rigid
in effect than those of Haydn and Mozart. He was particularly fond of
leaving his listeners until the last moment in doubt of the ultimate
conclusion of a passage, leading them away from his point and coming
back to it by an unexpected modulation or turn of phrase; he frequently
ends the section of a movement with one or two brusque chords suddenly
inserted after a passage full of sentiment. In short, his sectional
movements are less obvious in design, and more flowing and continuous,
than was the custom before his day.
The andante of the Fifth Symphony is in free variation form, the
divisions--unlike those in the variations referred to in Chapter
VII--not being clearly marked nor regular in form. The theme has
two parts, but Beethoven skillfully avoids that prolixity sometimes
evident in Haydn's "Andante with Variations;" nor does he lengthen
his two themes to such an extent as to make them a little doubtful as
proper subjects for variation treatment, as did Haydn. Furthermore,
although the second part of Beethoven's theme is a better subject
than Haydn's "Trio" theme, being more terse and more characteristic,
Beethoven presents it in nearly its original form each time it appears,
making the first and more important subject serve as the basis of his
variations. Such changes as do occur in the second theme will be noted
later. The complete movement may be tabulated as follows:
TABULAR VIEW OF STRUCTURE OF THE ANDANTE OF THE FIFTH SYMPHONY.[45]
---------+----------------------------------------------------+---------
Sections.| Themes. |Measures.
---------+----------------------------------------------------+---------
1. | Theme I in A-flat major | 1-23
| Theme II in A-flat and C-major | 23-50
---------+----------------------------------------------------+---------
2. | First variation of theme I, A-flat major | 50-72
| Second part of theme I as before but with |
| more elaborate accompaniment | 72-99
---------+----------------------------------------------------+---------
3. | Second variation of theme I, A-flat major |
| (theme given out three times: cellos, | 99-124
| violins and basses) |
| Episode, founded on initial motive from theme I | 124-148
| Theme II in C-major (first two phrases lengthened) | 148-158
| Episode, founded on motive from theme I | 158-167
| Theme I in A-flat minor | 167-177
| Transition passage leading to return of theme I | 177-186
---------+----------------------------------------------------+---------
4. | Theme I, A-flat major | 186-206
---------+----------------------------------------------------+---------
5. | Coda | 206-248
---------+----------------------------------------------------+---------
The foregoing table may be compared with that of the Haydn variations
in Chapter VII. While the general scheme is the same--for the two
themes are in each case presented several times--the Beethoven
variations are much more concise, and at the same time much more fully
expressive and illustrative of the original theme. Haydn's variations
are naïve; Beethoven's are conscious. Beethoven presents his themes
from widely different points of view; Haydn presents charmingly
elaborate versions of the same melodies. "Composers did not for a
long while," says Parry,[46] "find out the device of making the same
tune or 'theme' appear in different lights, so as to make studies of
different aspects of the same story under changing conditions, as in
Robert Browning's _Ring and the Book_."
These entirely distinct presentations of the original idea give to this
movement an especial charm, placing it far above any of Haydn's or
Mozart's variations.
III. INDIVIDUALITY OF THE ANDANTE OF THE FIFTH SYMPHONY.
The peculiar charm of this andante lies not so much in its melodies,
beautiful as they are, as in the individuality of their treatment. The
first version of the theme as it appears in Beethoven's sketch-book is
shown in Figure LVI (_a_), and at (_b_) is given the first part of the
completed theme.
[Music: score]
(_a_)
[Music: score]
(_b_)
FIGURE LVI.
It will be observed that the original idea was somewhat mechanical in
its rhythm, and lacked that variety imparted to the completed theme
by the tied note at the beginning of measure 3 and at the middle of
measure 5. Beethoven's original intention must have been quite at
variance in other ways with what he finally evolved, for he marks his
first sketch, "Andante quasi Minuetto," _i. e._ "in the style of the
minuet," and of this there is left no evidence whatever.
Each variation of this theme is quite distinct from the original,
particularly in its mood. While the original theme has a calm and even
pensive beauty, full of sentiment, the two variations of it are less
serious and, at times, verge on the humorous and playful (as at measure
108), or on the grotesque (as at measure 115). But in the episodes
that occur between the variations--in the transitions or links between
the different parts--Beethoven's fancy has fullest play. He ranges all
the way from comedy to tragedy, from delicate gaiety to lumbering,
Brobdingnagian heaviness. Simple raillery seizes him when, at measure
160, he allows the violin to take up the familiar motive and toss it
to the basses and take it back again, or when he amuses himself with
weaving thirds up and down (134), crossing and recrossing, spinning out
the little three-note motive into a fine web, which is finally torn
apart as the whole orchestra thunders out the secondary theme (148).
These two passages (portions of which are shown in Figure LVII) in
their freedom from restraint and their expression of the composer's
idiosyncrasies, are quite beyond what had ever been attempted before.
We see working here a mind full of resource and capable of sounding
the greatest depths of the subject.
[Music: score]
[Music: score]
FIGURE LVII.
And this highly imaginative method of treating the transitions or
connecting passages is one of the fundamental differences between the
variations of Haydn and Mozart and those of Beethoven "_A priori_,"[47]
says Mr. Hadow, "it would be easy to conjecture that the variation form
is unsatisfactory. It affords little scope for structural organization,
little for episode or adventure, it seems to have no higher aim than
that of telling the same story in the largest possible number of
different words. Indeed, composers before Beethoven are often in
evident straits to maintain its interest." An examination of any set
of variations by an inferior composer will reveal just the defects
Mr. Hadow refers to. But Beethoven not only tells the story in quite
different words, but finds opportunity for all sorts of interesting
episodes and adventures, so that the structural weakness of the form
is quite lost sight of. With him the connecting passages skillfully
avoid too great stress on pure melody--with which the listeners would
otherwise be surfeited--and, at the same time, they never degenerate
into unmeaning passages of empty chords and scales such as often
occurred in the music of Haydn and Mozart.
IV. THE HARMONIC PLAN.
The recurrence in the same key of the theme in the variation form
gives to it a certain monotony of harmonization unless the episodes
are treated with great harmonic freedom. As was pointed out in Chapter
II, harmony sometimes becomes an important element of structure,
particularly in the rondo and variation forms, and in Haydn's and
Mozart's variations the harmonic plan is not sufficiently varied to
provide this much needed contrast. Beethoven, however, always much more
free in the use of modulation than his predecessors, imparts to these
variations almost at the outset great variety of key, and in all his
episodes ranges freely about, unhampered by limitations. In measure
28, for example, he suddenly starts towards the key of B-flat minor,
only to emerge a moment later in C-major. The passage, beginning at
measure 39, not only provides that relief from too great insistence
on melody which we have already referred to as characteristic of his
episodes, but its harmonies are purposely vague, leaving us in doubt
until the last moment as to their ultimate conclusion. An interesting
and beautiful effect is again produced, at measures 167-177, by the
changes of key, while the scale passages that follow introduce further
harmonic variety. At measure 206 begins a passage that seems to intend
the key of D-flat, but again our expectations are not realized. So that
the total impression we receive from the harmony of this movement is
of a more complete unity and variety than is produced by the themes
themselves.
It must also be noted in general that this freedom of harmony is one of
the signs of advancement in the art of music, and that at the present
time the combination of chords is much less restricted than was the
case in Beethoven's day. And this steady advance has been as steadily
opposed by theorists. When we remember that Monteverde (1567-1643) was
bitterly criticised for introducing in a chord the unprepared dominant
seventh, making thereby a dissonance almost as familiar to modern ears
as is the simple major triad--we can easily realize how difficult it
was for people in Beethoven's time to understand his far-reaching
modulations. The steady progress is further illustrated by Wagner's
music-dramas, which were considered when they first appeared as almost
cacophonous in their harmonization, but which now seem perfectly simple
and normal.
V. THE UNIVERSALITY OF BEETHOVEN'S GENIUS.
A piece of music like this is a human document. It embraces so many
phases of human feeling, and it places them all, as it were, in
such proper focus that we feel in listening to it as though we had
come in contact with elemental human experience. This music is not
unapproachably grand; we hear in it echoes of our own strivings, hopes,
and despairs. And it is this sense of proportion, this wideness of
vision, that makes Beethoven's music so universal. For in the last
analysis the effect of any work of art depends on the artist's sense
of values; a fine situation in a novel is all the finer for being set
against a proper background; a tragedy must have moments of relief;
beauty alone, whether in a painting or a piece of music, soon palls
upon us; in the greatest works of art this sense of values--this
feeling for proportion--is always present to save the situation
(whatever it may be) from the deadly sin of being uninteresting.
Beethoven continually gives evidence of his mastery over this important
element in composition. The beauty of his melodies never palls. Before
that point is reached there is some sudden change of feeling, some
unexpected turn of melody or modulation, some brusque expression that
shocks us out of our dream. He is particularly fond of the latter
device, and frequently lulls us into a fancied quiet only to awaken
us abruptly when we least expect it. With him everything has its
proportionate value, so that we get a clearly defined impression of
the whole work, just as in a fine novel the values are so carefully
preserved that we feel the locality of every incident, and come to
know the characters as we know our own friends.
One who is thoroughly familiar with the andante of the Fifth Symphony
feels this quality as predominant. We are not enraptured by the theme
itself, as we are by that of Mozart's andante from the string quartet
(referred to in Chapter X), but we feel the charm of incident and
by-play, we are just as much interested in the connecting passages as
we are in any other part of the piece; and we think of it all as we
do of a finely written play, where one incident hangs on another, and
nothing happens that does not bear on the plot.
Thus, judging music from the standpoint of universal human feeling,
Beethoven reaches the highest point in its development. No other
composer, before or since, has equalled him in this particular, and the
more we study him the more we find in him. Repeated hearings do not
dim the luster of his genius, nor have the great composers who have
followed him had as broad a survey of human life as he possessed.
SUGGESTIONS FOR COLLATERAL READING.
_Hadow: "Oxford History," Vol. V. Parry: "Studies of Great Composers."
Mason: "Beethoven and His Forerunners," Chapters VII, VIII, and IX._
FOOTNOTES:
[45] Number the measures and parts of measures consecutively from
beginning to end--making 248 measures in all.
[46] "Oxford History," Vol. III, p. 85.
[47] "Oxford History of Music," Vol. V, p. 272.
CHAPTER XIV.
BEETHOVEN--IV.
I. BEETHOVEN'S HUMOR.
One of Beethoven's most prominent characteristics, without a special
consideration of which no account of him would be at all complete, was
his humor. In the three foregoing chapters we have had passing glimpses
of it: we have noted his distaste for the obvious, the trite, the
conventional, and his fondness for breaking in on the tranquillity of
his audience, sometimes in danger of lapsing into inattentive dullness,
with all manner of shocks and surprises--clashing chords in the midst
of soft passages, unexpected modulations to distant keys, piquant
interruptions of rhythm, long holds, sudden spasms of wild speed.
All such tricks were dear to him as means of avoiding the monotony
which is the one unpardonable sin of an artist, and of attaining
constant novelty and a kaleidoscopic diversity of effect. None of his
predecessors, and perhaps none of his successors, carried to such
lengths as he did this peculiar kind of musical humor. It is one of the
most essentially "Beethovenish" of all his qualities.
The particular form of movement in which his humor attained its freest
scope (though it is hardly ever entirely absent in anything that he
wrote) was the minuet of his earlier, and the scherzo of his later
sonatas and symphonies. The minuet of Haydn and Mozart, which we have
discussed in Chapter VII, though not entirely lacking in the element of
whim and perversity which gives rise to humor, was primarily stately,
formal, and suave. When we listen to a minuet of this old school, our
mind's eye conjures up the picture of a group of eighteenth century
dames and cavaliers, hoop-skirted and bewigged, gravely going through
the set evolutions of their dance with unfailing dignity and courtly
grace. From such a scene a Beethoven scherzo whisks us in a moment
to some merry gathering of peasants, where all is wild conviviality,
boisterous rejoicing, and unrestrained high spirits.
Doubtless this contrast was in some measure due, as Sir George Grove
points out in an interesting passage, to the differences of the social
conditions under which the composers lived. "The musicians of the
eighteenth century," he says, "were too commonly the domestic servants
of archbishops and princes, wore powder and pigtails, and swords, and
court dresses, and gold lace, dined at the servants' table, and could
be discharged at a moment's notice like ordinary lackeys. Being thus
forced to regulate their conduct by etiquette, they could not suddenly
change all their habits when they came to make their music, or give
their thoughts and feelings the free and natural vent which they would
have had, but for the habits engendered by the perpetual curb and
restraint of their social position. But Beethoven had set such social
rules and restrictions at naught. It was his nature, one of the most
characteristic things in him, to be free and unrestrained. Almost with
his first appearance in Vienna he behaved as the equal of everyone he
met, and after he had begun to feel his own way his music is constantly
showing the independence of his mind."[48]
Whatever the causes of this mental independence of Beethoven, whatever
part of it was due to changed social conditions, and what to his purely
personal character, there is ample testimony to its existence in his
biography. The man who could throw a badly cooked stew at the head of
the waiter, who could in a fit of temper publicly shake his fist under
the window of one of his best friends and patrons, who could haughtily
refuse to make the ordinary salutations to his emperor and empress on
a chance meeting, lest he appear servile, and who when he was asked
whether he were of noble blood answered proudly that his nobility lay
in his head and in his heart, was not likely to pay exaggerated respect
to traditions, whether in life or in art. Indeed, perhaps the deepest
secret of his greatness was that while, as his sketch-books signally
prove, he spared no pains or labor to conform his work to those great
natural laws which are above all individual wills, he paid not the
slightest respect to mere rules and conventions, and held especially
in contempt the arbitrary codes of pedants and pedagogues. "It is not
allowed?" he inquired quizzically, when some such dogmatist objected to
a passage he had written: "Very well, then, _I_ allow it."
[Music: score]
(_a_)
[Music: score]
(_b_)
FIGURE LVIII.
Little wonder is it, then, that such a daring spirit, such a hater of
the timid and the droning, such a passionate lover of the individual,
the striking, the bizarre, and even the grotesque, found a congenial
task in infusing humor and irresponsibility into the classic minuet.
This form, already the lightest part of the sonata and symphony,
already consecrated to the expression of the composer's gayest and most
graceful thoughts, needed only to be made plastic enough to include
fantasy and banter in order to give free scope to Beethoven's most
frolicsome moods. To the task of thus aerating the symphonic minuet he
applied himself very early. Take, as an instance, the minuet of the
very first piano sonata, opus 2, number 1. As a whole it breathes the
polite graciousness of Mozart. The first cadence, especially, recalls
the sweetly formal manner of the old school. (See Figure LVIII (_a_).)
Yet a moment later Beethoven begins to play with this very cadence in
true scherzo fashion, like a cat with a mouse, twice pawing it gently,
so to speak, and then pouncing on it with fury: ((_b_) in the same
figure.)
In the other two sonatas bearing the same opus number he adopts the
name scherzo--which is an Italian word meaning "joke" or "jest"--and
with it introduces still more of the playful spirit; and as the sonatas
progress we find this tendency growing, until in opus 26 and opus 28 we
have full-fledged, though rather brief, examples of the real Beethoven
scherzo. Let us look at these more carefully.
II. SCHERZOS FROM BEETHOVEN'S SONATAS.
EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 22.[1]
_Beethoven: Scherzo_[49] _from the Twelfth Sonata, opus 26._
We note first of all that though the time-signature is three-four, as
in the old minuet, the pace is much more rapid--"allegro molto"--so
that a sense of bustle and restless activity is substituted for the
well-bred deliberateness of the minuet. This acceleration of time is
observable in most of the scherzos.
Again, the theme (measures 1-17) is of most energetic character, which
is even further intensified, on its re-entrance in the bass at measure
46, by a rushing accompaniment in eighth-notes.
A characteristic passage precedes this return of the theme. To make the
excitement more welcome when it comes Beethoven has one of his "lulls"
for sixteen measures (31-46), during which the motion dies out and all
seems to stagnate for a moment. This sort of quiescence, in which one
takes breath for a new access of energy, is always consummately managed
by Beethoven, who has made the "lull" a famous device.
The trio calls for no particular comment. It is in binary form, while
the scherzo itself is ternary.
EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 23.
_Beethoven: Scherzo from the Fifteenth Sonata, opus 28._
The tempo is again brisk--"allegro vivace."
The theme is exceedingly whimsical: long notes jumping down through
four octaves--first single notes, then thirds, then sixths--followed
each time by a quaint little cadence in which the staccato touch is
prominent.
The section of contrast after the double-bar (measures 33-48) takes the
form of a sequence, in which the left hand part carries the original
theme.
In the return of the theme we find one of those violent dynamic
contrasts so beloved by Beethoven, the theme in measures 49-53 being
sounded in a mild _piano_ and then, without warning, in measures 58-61,
pealed forth _fortissimo_ in large chords.
The trio is again inconspicuous, save for its charming harmonization.
These two scherzos give a good idea of how Beethoven gives play to
his whimsicality in his piano sonatas,[50] but to get the Beethoven
scherzo at its highest power we must go to the symphonies. There he
has all the wondrous potentialities of instrumental coloring to fire
his imagination, and a canvas broad enough to afford scope for endless
ingenuity. It is a fascinating study to trace out how he gradually
advanced in the power to utilize all these possibilities.
III. THE SCHERZOS OF BEETHOVEN'S SYMPHONIES.
The third movement of the first symphony, though called "Minuetto,"
is marked "allegro molto e vivace," and with its spirited theme,
fascinating harmonies, and striking rhythms, is essentially a scherzo.
Perhaps the most interesting single feature of it is the completely
Beethovenish means adopted for getting back to the theme and the home
key of C-major after the section of contrast.
[Music: score]
FIGURE LIX.
The passage is shown in Figure LIX, and merits careful study. From
D-flat major, a key far distant from C, return is made by imperceptible
degrees. At the same time there is a crescendo of power, until finally
the theme breaks out vigorously in the home-key. It will be noted that
the brief phrases played by the left hand in this passage are made from
the first two notes of the theme itself. Thus closely does Beethoven
stick to his text.
The forcible syncopated rhythms and dissonant harmonies near the end
of this movement also deserve notice. They give it a rugged character
strangely at variance with its title of "minuet."
In the second symphony the name scherzo is adopted, and the phials
of mirth are freely opened. Sudden alternations of loud and soft are
especially conspicuous, as will be seen by referring to the theme,
quoted in (_a_) in Figure LX. Each new measure, here, brings something
unexpected and deliciously piquant.
Violent shifts of accent on to ordinarily unimportant parts of the
measure will be noticed in the twenty-first and twenty-fifth measures,
affording relief from what might without them become monotonous.
A little later, after the reappearance of the theme, Beethoven
indulges in one of those passages which puzzle us and pique our
curiosity (Figure LX (_b_).) Where is he going? we ask ourselves,
what will he do next? But after a few moments' suspense, in which
the music seems to be spinning about in an eddy, so to speak, it
falls into the current again, and all goes cheerfully to the end.
[Music: score]
(_a_)
[Music: score]
(_b_)
FIGURE LX.
In the trio, the student should note the whimsicality of the long hold
on an F-sharp through six entire measures, _pianissimo_, followed by a
sudden loud chord on A.
Indeed, the prankishness of the entire movement is inexhaustible.
We do not reach the full stature of the Beethoven scherzo, however,
until we get to that of the third or "Eroica" symphony. In this
wonderful movement we have a perfect masterpiece of irresistible,
tireless, kaleidoscopic humor, a great epic of irresponsibility which
must be ranked with such unique expressions of the humorous spirit
in literature as Shakespeare's Falstaff plays, Sterne's "Sentimental
Journey," or Stevenson's "New Arabian Nights." Well may Sir George
Grove say of it, that it is "perhaps the most _Beethovenish_ of all
his compositions," and that in it "the tragedy and comedy of life are
startlingly combined."
It begins with a stealthy, soft succession of staccato chords in the
strings, uniformly pianissimo and yet most insistent in rhythm. Against
this is presently outlined the most piquant little theme by the oboe
((_a_) in Figure LXI); the chords go on again, and then sounds above
them once more this incisive little theme. In the contrast section
after the double-bar comes first more playing with the rapid soft
chords, and then a charming bit of "imitation" of the theme from one
voice to another ((_b_) in Figure LXI). The note D is finally reached
in this way, and then Beethoven, instead of making some trite and
uninteresting modulation back to E-flat, whither he wishes to go in
order to begin his restatement, simply goes on sounding D for ten
measures, _piano_, and then without warning drops down to B-flat,
_pianissimo_, for four measures, and therewith proceeds with his theme
again. The mystery and charm of this return to key are indescribable;
the persistent _pianissimo_ adds much to its extraordinary
effectiveness.
[Music: score]
(_a_)
[Music: score]
(_b_)
[Music: score]
(_c_)
[Music: score]
(_d_)
FIGURE LXI.
Now, however, with the return of the theme, we at last get a good
ear-filling fortissimo, the whole orchestra taking part in a vigorous
game of musical tag (the theme made into a canon--(_c_) in Figure LXI).
A fine climax is reached in a passage of bold leaping melody in the
strings, in which the accents are dramatically placed on the second
instead of the first beats of the measures, followed and completed by
staccato chords on the wood-wind instruments ((_d_) in Figure LXI).
This is enormously vigorous, and makes a fitting culmination for
this first part of the movement, besides giving an opportunity for
still greater effect later, as we shall see in a moment. After it, a
cadence is soon reached, though not before the strings and wood-wind
instruments have had a brief whimsical dialogue on the subject of the
staccato chords.
So far all is bantering merriment, iridescent color, and energetic high
spirits. But in the trio, one of the most wonderful of all Beethoven's
strokes of genius, the mood changes, and while the quick three-four
measure is still felt underneath, the long notes, and the deep mellow
tones of the horns, give an almost tragic quality to the music. The
theme, given out by three horns alone, with a brief cadence by the
strings, does not reach its full stature until its recurrence near the
end of the trio. In its second phrase the lowest horn reaches, and
holds for two measures, a D-flat which is of almost unearthly solemnity
of effect. This passage repays careful study, so wonderfully does it
use the simplest means to gain the highest beauty. Sir George Grove
well says of it: "If ever horns talked like flesh and blood, they do it
here."
The scherzo, on its return, goes on much as at first. Yet Beethoven
still has one last shot in reserve, as we suggested a moment back.
When he comes to that splendidly proud passage of descending leaps in
the strings (Figure LXI, _d._), instead of repeating it, as he did at
first, in the same rhythm, he suddenly transforms it into even half
notes, which crash downwards like an avalanche, quite irresistible.
(See Figure LXII.) The effect is again indescribable in words; its
gigantesque vigor is of a kind to be found nowhere but in Beethoven,
and in him only in his inspired moments.
[Music: score]
FIGURE LXII.
In this wonderful movement the Beethoven scherzo first reaches its full
stature. It may be questioned whether he ever achieved anything finer.
Yet in its own way the scherzo of the Fifth Symphony[51] is equally
original and characteristic, and as we have already analyzed two
movements of that symphony we will now make a detailed analysis of this
movement too.
EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 24.
_Beethoven: Scherzo from the Fifth Symphony._
This scherzo is interlinked with the finale, into which it is merged
by a famous passage derived from the scherzo itself, and leading
up from the softest pianissimo to a grand outburst of the full
orchestra. We shall, however, end our analysis where this passage
begins. The complete scherzo, therefore, omitting this link-passage,
will have three hundred and thirty measures, which should be numbered
continuously for easy reference (counting the first partial measure as
one, as well as the incomplete measures at the beginning of the trio).
The theme is of a very curious character, certainly nothing like the
usual bustling scherzo theme, but on the contrary mysterious, vague,
groping. Berlioz says of it: "It is as fascinating as the gaze of
a mesmerizer." After seventeen measures of this, a more energetic,
rhythmic theme succeeds (20-45) given out by the horns, fortissimo,
with rugged chords in accompaniment, in which we recognize a new
variant of that motive of three short notes and a long, which was so
prominent in the first movement (see Chapter XII). The remainder of
the scherzo proper is worked up out of these two contrasting strains,
thus: 46-71, from the first, mysterious one; 72-97, from the second,
energetic one; 98-133, beginning softly in mystery with the first, and
later (116) continuing with it a new, more lively melody (note how the
phrase of measures 3 and 4 persists in the bass all through this part);
134-141, concluding cadence, on the second strain.
The trio, measures 142 to 238, is irresistibly ludicrous in the
elephantine antics through which the unwieldy double-basses are
put. They announce (142-148) a scrambling fugue theme, which is
"answered"--in imitation--several times at higher pitches (measures
148, 154, 156) by the other and more agile stringed instruments. A
sonorous close is reached at the double bar.
Then comes a most grotesque and amusing passage, in which, three
several times, these poor lumbering double basses hurl themselves upon
the theme, twice only to give up in despair after the first measure
and pause as if for breath. The effect of this brave attack and utter
failure to "keep up the pace" is irresistibly comic. But the third time
proverbially never fails, and in the measures following 168 they hold
to their effort with bull-dog tenacity, and succeed in reaching a safe
haven in the G of measure 173. Thereupon the theme enters once more
above them, and is once more carried through an exciting fugal chase,
the entrances, which the student should trace out carefully, occurring
in measures 176, 180, 182, and 184, each time a little higher up.
The cadence is reached in 200, and the entire passage from the inept
onslaughts of the basses is almost literally repeated (200-227), except
that now it becomes quieter and quieter, and finally leads back to the
mysterious scherzo theme (239-257).
This time the ruggedness of the second strain of the scherzo has all
disappeared, and it remains delicate, almost ethereal, through measures
258 to 330, with which the scherzo proper ends. As has been stated, no
complete pause is reached before the finale, but instead of the cadence
we have placed at the end, there is a long passage leading over into
the splendid march-like theme of the last movement. How this passage is
made out of the themes of the scherzo itself will be seen by referring
to Figure LXIII.
[Music: score]
FIGURE LXIII.
With this scherzo from the Fifth Symphony we may take our farewell of
Beethoven for the present, and also of the art in which he represents
one of the great culminating points. After him it seemed to musicians
for a while as if the triumphs of organic musical structure could no
further go, and they turned their attention in other directions, and
sought for other kinds of interest. But to follow them on these new
paths is not a part of our present undertaking.
IV. GENERAL SUMMARY.
We have now followed the continuous and unbroken course of the
development of music from the most primitive sounds grouped together
in rude patterns by savages, up to the symphonies of Beethoven, which
must always remain among its most wonderful and perfect monuments. We
have seen how all music, which has any beauty or interest, is based
on certain short characteristic groups of tones called motives, and
how these are made to take on variety, without losing unity, by being
"imitated," "transposed," "restated after contrast," "inverted,"
"augmented" or "diminished," "shifted in rhythm," and otherwise
manipulated. We have examined simple cases of this treatment of musical
ideas in representative folk-songs. We have seen how the polyphonic
style of Bach, in which these bits of melody occur everywhere
throughout the tissue of the music, arose and reached its perfection.
We have studied the simple dances which, adopted by the musicians of
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, were developed by them and
combined in "suites." Then, proceeding to a higher stage of artistic
evolution, we have examined the various plans which composers devised
for making longer pieces in which variety and unity were still able to
coexist--such forms as the minuet, the theme and variations, the rondo,
and the sonata-form. In conclusion, we have analyzed representative
examples of music composed in these typical forms during the great
classical period of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
Yet all this study and analysis, which may often have seemed to
the reader uselessly detailed and dully scientific, has been made
with an ulterior aim in view, and unless that aim has been in some
degree attained, our work has been futile indeed. The great object
of musical analysis must always be to concentrate the attention
of the music-lover, to focus his mind as well as his ears on the
melodies, and their developments, which he hears, and so eventually
to increase his pleasure in music, and to help him to substitute for
that "drowsy reverie, relieved by nervous thrills," an active, joyful,
vigorous co-operation with composers, through which alone he can truly
appreciate their art.
That, and that alone, is the object of the analytic study of music.
For what shall it profit a man if he can tell a second theme from a
transition-passage, or a minuet from a set of variations, if he has not
meanwhile, through this exercise, got into vital contact with the music
itself? But that he can do, no matter how great his natural sensibility
to sound, only by learning how to listen.
FOOTNOTES:
[48] Grove's "Beethoven and His Nine Symphonies," page 35.
[49] For convenience of reference number the measures and partial
measures consecutively. There will be 69 in the scherzo proper, and 31
in the trio.
[50] The student should also study the interesting scherzo of the
Eighteenth Sonata, which is not in minuet form but in regular
sonata-form. It is carried out with immense spirit.
[51] The Fourth Symphony has again, like the First, a minuet, though a
most active one.
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42. Summary of Musical History _C. H. H. Parry_ 1.00
43. Musical Gestures _J. F. Bridge_ 1.00
43A. Rudiments in Rhyme _J. F. Bridge_ .35
44. Basses and Melodies _Ralph Dunstan_ 1.25
45. First Steps at the Pianoforte. _Francesco Berger_ 1.25
46. A Dictionary of Pianists and Composers for the Pianoforte
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49. Fifty Three-part Studies _J. E. Vernham_ .75
50. Choral Society Vocalisation _J. Stainer_ 1.00
50A. Choral Society, the Exercises arranged and adapted for
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51. Two-part Solfeggi _James Higgs_ .50
52. Short History of the Pianoforte _A. J. Hipkins_ 1.25
53. Scales and Arpeggios _Franklin Taylor_ 1.00
54. Sonata-Form _W. H. Hadow_ 1.25
55. A Dictionary of Violin Makers _C. Stainer_ 1.25
56. The Forty-eight Preludes and Fugues of J. S. Bach
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60. Five-part Harmony _F. E. Gladstone_ 1.00
61. The Viola _Berthold Tours_ 1.00
62. Harmonics and Resultants _C. E. Lowe_ .50
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64. The Choir-boy's Elements of Music _G. J. Bennett_ .50
65. First Steps for the Violin _E. Kreuz_ .75
65A. First Steps for the Violin, Part II. The pieces for
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71. Voice Culture for Children. Part I. Instructions
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72. Voice Culture for Children. Part 11.
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73A. Voice Culture for Children in Tonic Sol-fa Notation
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74. The Choir-boy's Guide to the Cathedral Psalter
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76. Harmony for Schools _F. E. Gladstone_ 1.25
77. Key to ditto .75
78. Elementary Score Reading _A. H. Peppin_ .75
79. Figured-Bass Playing _J. R. Tobin_ .75
80. Tenor Voice Exercises _E. D. Palmer_ .50
81. Three-part Studies _Hugh Blair_ .35
82. Music in its Relation to the Intellect and the Emotions
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83. A Military Band Primer _George Miller_ 1.00
84. Equal Temperament _H. Spain_ .50
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TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
A number of words in this book have both hyphenated and non-hyphenated
variants. It was also detected that some words have two different
spellings, both of which are correct. For the words with both variants
present the one used more times has been kept.
Obvious punctuation and other printing errors have been corrected.
It was noted that the label FIGURE XXXVIII was used in two different
places in the original book. The label was used in page 124 and in page
132 of the original. In this transcription the latter was changed to
FIGURE XXXVIIIa. The reference made in the text to the latter figure was
consistently changed to take into account the modification made.
During the formatting process some of the tables have been transposed
from their original lay-out due to their width. This was done to avoid
excessively long lines or unsupported display.