The Appreciation of Music - Vol. 1 (of 3)

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 13.

Haydn:[27] "Surprise Symphony" the first movement. Two-hand piano arrangement of twelve Symphonies of Haydn.

The first thing that strikes us about the general character of this movement is its admirable clearness, in which it is representative of all Haydn's work. In spite of its being so much larger and more complex than the sonata of Philip Emanuel Bach, its structure is so obvious that a child could hardly go astray in following it. This is in large measure due to the pains the composer takes to emphasize each key and each change of key by means of scale-passages and chords. (See, for example, measures 59-67, emphasizing the key of D-major, and the entire conclusion-portions of both the exposition and the recapitulation (67-108) and (185-259), one insisting on D-major, the other on G-major.) Such passages as these have been much criticised for their conventionality and lack of melodic interest, but when we realize how they punctuate the movement, so to speak, and what a perfect clearness they give it, we realize how important they were to the early stage of development of the sonata-form, when its principles had not become as universally familiar as they are now. They are an immense advance over the vague rhapsodizings of Philip Emanuel Bach in parallel places.

The key-relationships of the movement follow the usual practice. In the exposition we find duality of key: G-major and D-major. In the development there is ample plurality.

In the recapitulation the home key, G-major, dominates throughout.

Haydn's second theme, though more definite than Philip Emanuel Bach's, is still somewhat lacking in individuality. It is hardly more than a string of chords and scales having more tonal interest than melodic life. It is certainly far from being a lyrical melody strikingly contrasted with the more energetic first theme. The conclusion theme, full of Haydnish amiability, grace, and good cheer, is much more definitely melodious.

Another symptom of the crudity inseparable from early stages of artistic evolution is the shortness and rather mediocre interest of the development section. The first theme is briefly but monotonously treated in measures 109-126. Then comes (127-132) a little playing, in the bass, with the small figure which first appeared in (44-45):

Germ (measures 44-45.)

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Development (127 seq.)

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FIGURE XXXVIIIa.

and later (133-135), an inversion of this:

Inversion (133 seq.)

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Later (136 seq.)

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FIGURE XXXIX.

The rhythmic figure thus established is made to do duty in the extended modulation that immediately follows (136-143), after which comes (144-155) a reminiscence of the passage first used just before the second theme; and with this Haydn returns to his first theme and enters on the recapitulation. It is thus almost as if, after stating his themes, he was at a loss what to do with them, and after a brief dalliance, from which little novelty results, hurried on to the restatement, much as an unimaginative preacher tries to make up by the vehemence with which he reasserts his text for his failure to give it vivid illustration and suggestive elucidation. In Beethoven's symphonies the development is usually the point of greatest interest. But it is of course not fair to expect of a pioneer the last fruits of culture. Haydn lays down in such movements as the present one the essential principles of form in instrumental music; to have done that, with whatever minor shortcomings, is a sufficient claim upon our admiration and gratitude.

The shortcomings of Haydn's work are those natural to his circumstances as a pioneer and to certain emotional limitations of his temperament. Compared with Beethoven he is lacking both in profundity of feeling and in variety of style; he is less brilliant and less polished than Mozart. But on the other hand, Haydn has a homely simplicity, a sort of childlike charm, all his own; he lives in a world of artistic truth untainted by sophistry, uncomplicated by oversubtlety; he is always clear, sincere, straightforward, and he often rises to nobility and true dignity. Above all, he has the peculiar merit of having taken up a sort of music which was fragmentary and immature, and of having elevated it into a new, an essentially modern, and an infinitely promising type of art. Such a fundamental work can never be discredited by the more brilliant exploits of later workers who have the indispensable advantage of building upon it.

II. MOZART AND THE SONATA-FORM.

Though Haydn (1732-1809) was not only by many years the senior of Mozart (1756-1791), but also outlived him, the relations between the two were most cordial and close. Haydn had done much of his best work before 1788, when Mozart wrote his three greatest symphonies, and so may be said to have served as Mozart's model. Yet he in turn learned much from his younger but more brilliant friend, and did not write his own greatest symphonies (the twelve so-called "Salomon" symphonies, which were written for Salomon, a London orchestral conductor, in 1791 and 1794, and of which the "Surprise" is one) until after Mozart's untimely death. How thoroughly each man respected the other, we know from their own words. Mozart in dedicating his six finest string quartets to Haydn, said: "It was due from me, for it was from him that I learned how quartets should be written." As for Haydn, he once put an end to an argument on the merits and defects of "Don Giovanni" by remarking: "I cannot decide the questions in dispute, but this I know, that Mozart is the greatest composer in the world."

Mozart not only had the great advantage of building on Haydn's secure foundations, but he brought to the task a genius much more supreme than his predecessor's. From his earliest composition, a minuet written when he was only five years old,[28] to the three great symphonies in G-minor, E-flat major, and C-major ("Jupiter") produced at the end of his career, a movement from the first of which we shall presently study, all his work shows a spontaneity of inspiration, a graciousness of melody, a stoutness and symmetry of musical construction, a finish of style, a depth of emotional expression, and a classical lucidity and purity, perhaps not to be found all together in the work of any other musician. Especially does he excel Haydn in profundity of feeling, versatility of resource, and a certain aristocratic distinction. All these qualities are shown in his great G-minor Symphony, one of his supreme masterpieces.

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 14.

Mozart: Symphony in G-minor, the first movement. [29]