CHAPTER X.
THE SLOW MOVEMENT.
I. VARIETIES OF FORM.
In the classical sonata the usual arrangement of movements was as follows: (1) Allegro (in "Sonata-form"): (2) Adagio or Minuet: (3) Finale (usually a rondo).
Occasionally—as in Mozart's Piano Sonata in A-major—the slow movement, in the form of a theme and variations, was placed at the beginning, and in that case the order would be (1) Theme and Variations, (2) Minuet (3) Finale. The symphony, which, it must be remembered, was a sonata on a large scale—always began with a movement in sonata-form, and had four movements. Although the sonata was subject to many outside influences—most important of which were polyphony and the old overture and other operatic forms—its two main sources were dance tunes and folk-songs. The evolution of the dance tune through Bach's polyphonic gavottes, sarabandes, etc., has already been traced in Chapters IV, V, and VI, and the influence of the dance on the first movement in Chapters VIII and IX.
The slow movement is ultimately derived from the folk-song, and, while more subject to operatic influence than were the other movements, it still retains something of that simple lyric quality that distinguished it in its primitive form. Unlike the other movements of the sonata and symphony, however, the slow movement has no settled form: i. e., while we speak of first-movement, or sonata-form, of the rondo form, and of the minuet form, we do not speak thus of "slow movement form." For in the slow movement style rather than form is of greatest importance. On account of its slow tempo it is shorter than the first movement, and consequently not so dependent for intelligibility on formal structure. Its themes, also, are song-like in character, and song themes, being in themselves complete, do not lend themselves readily to development—do not generate new material—as has already been pointed out. As a consequence the slow movement is usually written in what we call a "sectional" form: i. e., a series of sections following one another according to whatever order or system the composer may choose. The most common use is, however, the form employed in the minuet. But in slow movements the long song themes, somewhat elegiac in style and full of sentiment, make the mood of each section of supreme importance, and throw the formal element into the background. So that, while the slow movement usually falls under some one of the common forms already discussed, it often modifies them in one way or another.
There are rare instances of developed ternary form in the slow movements of Mozart's pianoforte sonatas. The Andante of the Sonata in B-flat (no. 10 in Schirmer's edition), has a development section. It comprises only nineteen measures, however, and its effect as a section germinating from the exposition is somewhat lessened by the scheme of repeats, which is as follows: A :⎜⎜: B. A. :⎜⎜. The use of rondo form in the slow movement will be discussed in a later chapter.
II. SLOW MOVEMENTS OF PIANOFORTE SONATAS.
Reference has already been made in Chapters VI and VII to the lack of sustaining power in the tone of the pianoforte of Haydn and Mozart's day, and the consequent use of ornament in their pianoforte music. In Figure XLI (a) is shown the beginning of the andante of Mozart's sonata referred to above, and at (b) will be found the corresponding portion of the restatement in the same movement. These two quotations should be compared with the corresponding portions of the two pieces that serve as examples for analysis with this chapter. This comparison will reveal how much more highly ornamented was the music written for the piano than that for instruments with sustained tone.
(a)
(b)
FIGURE XLI.
It will be observed that this quotation from Mozart is in strophic form; each phrase of two measures constitutes, as it were, a poetic line, the second of which closes with a half cadence, and the last with a full cadence or period. In this respect it follows the old folk-song type, and, indeed, that model serves for the great majority of lyric themes in sonatas and symphonies. But in its initial qualities this melody shows a great advance over tunes like "Barbara Alien" and "Polly Oliver," an advance due to the flexibility to which both melody and harmony had attained in Mozart's time, and to that freedom of technique provided by the piano as compared with the voice.
These quotations from Mozart are from a sonata movement which is, on the whole, above the formal average of the pianoforte pieces of that period. Many of them were excessively ornamented. In Figure XLII are shown two quotations from a sonata of Haydn, in the latter of which the ornaments are profuse.
(a)
(b)
FIGURE XLII.
In spite of the somewhat artificial atmosphere that surrounds much of the pianoforte music of this period there is, in the best specimens of it, a charming formal beauty. It is within its own sphere genuine and true to life. One has to consider the kind of society that it represents, as well as the status of music in that society. The art was not, at that time, free enough, nor practical enough, to deal with deep emotions; people looked on it as a refined sort of amusement. Not until Beethoven had written his music did its possibilities as a vehicle for deep human feeling and experience become evident.
III. THE STRING QUARTET.
It was not until the time of Haydn that the string quartet[31] came into being; a fact for which we may easily account by examining the instrumental parts of orchestral compositions before Haydn's time. We shall find the 'cello, for example, playing for the most part merely the bass notes that support the superstructure of the orchestra, and consequently entirely unaccustomed to individual parts of any difficulty. Another obstacle in the path of the string quartet was the slow development of the viola, which only gradually emerged from the older and more cumbersome types, such as the viola d'amour and viola da braccio. Haydn began by writing little quartets of the simplest possible kind—the first movement of the first quartet contains only twenty-four measures—but by constant practice throughout his long life he attained a complete mastery of the form. In his early quartets he usually wrote five movements, two of them minuets, but he soon settled on the regular four movement form which has remained ever since as the usually accepted model.
EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 15.
Haydn: Adagio in E-flat major from the String Quartet[32] in G-major, op. 77, No. 1.
This Adagio is thoroughly characteristic of Haydn's best style of writing. It is without the elaborate and somewhat diffuse treatment we observed in the trio of his "Andante with Variations" (See Chapter VII), nor does it depend for its effect on the much more artistic use of ornament employed by Mozart in the Andante quoted in Figure XLI. Almost everything in this composition germinates from the two motives given out in measures 1-2 and 3-4, and it should be noted that each of these motives is sufficiently pronounced in character to serve the purposes of generation, and that the theme, as a whole, is not by any means a perfect lyric melody such as will be found in our second example for analysis.
FIGURE XLIII.
The first of these motives (see Figure XLIII, measures 1-2) is easily traced throughout the whole composition, since the changes that are made in it are largely changes in key, but the second motive (measures 3-4) almost immediately evolves into something new. This may be observed in measure 11, where the rhythm of the passage at measure 3 is changed, the melody being given to the left hand. The second part (or stanza) of the melody, beginning at measure 13, uses chiefly the phrase from measure 2, which will be found again in the dominant—to which key this section tends—at measures 21-22. Even the passage at 23 is an elaboration of that at 11, and this same original motive is lengthened into a delightful bit of by-play at measures 35-37. The close in C-major at 42, with its accents transferred to the fourth beat of the measure, should be noted, while the sudden change of key after the pause was, at that time, almost a revolutionary modulation, and sounds more like Beethoven than Haydn (see, for example, the sudden and complete change of key in the coda of the first movement of the "Eroica" Symphony). The use of the motive from measure 2 at 45-54 and the gradual elimination of its melodic quality until only its rhythm remains (53-54) is an interesting example of a familiar process in music (see Chapter VIII). This gradual dying away and ceasing of motion is also a familiar process at this point in a movement, providing as it does a sense of expectancy and preparation for the re-entrance of the main theme. The restatement begins at measure 55 and as is customary retains the original key instead of modulating to the dominant as did the first section. The coda begins at 82 and, according to Haydn's usual plan, presents a kind of reminiscence of the main subject, as if in tender farewell.
IV. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.
While this movement does not reach the heights of lyric beauty attained by Mozart in the Andante which we shall analyze in a moment, it is, nevertheless, a thoroughly interesting and really beautiful piece of music. Our attention is constantly enlisted by fresh glimpses of the theme, or by new harmonies; the ornamentation all grows naturally out of the structure and is not laid on for its own sake, and the melody itself is expressive and tender. Furthermore, the themes and their treatment are characterized by a perfect adaptability to the string quartet, for even in the pianoforte version, we can observe how interesting is the part given to each instrument. Here, just as in a perfect story or a perfect poem, there is nothing redundant, nothing that has not some part in the main purpose of the work. And this combination of placid beauty with perfection of form makes what is called the "Classic" in music. Especially do we find here an entire absence of those perfunctory passages that occur in the movement of the "Surprise" Symphony discussed in the last chapter.
Taken as a whole, this piece is immeasurably finer than any movement of 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 na?e 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: