[122] For extended comment, see the Oxford History of Music, Vol. V, p. 246, seq.
[123] We recommend especially the refreshing essay by Philip Hale in Famous Composers and Their Works; the chapter on Mozart in Beethoven and His Forerunners by D.G. Mason; and, as throwing light on aspects of his personality which are little known, "Mozart Revealed in his Own Words" by Kerst-Krehbiel (see especially the chapter on Mozart's religious nature, p. 142 and passim); the fascinating Reminiscences of Michael Kelly, a personal friend of the composer; and, above all, the monumental life of Mozart, unhappily as yet incomplete, by Wyzewa and St. Foix. The third chapter of Vol. II of The Art of Music is also well worth reading; and in Mozart's Operas, a Critical Study by E.J. Dent are found valuable comments on his dramatic style, so prominent a feature in many of his instrumental works.
[124] The first three compositions are not given in the Supplement, because readily available in several standard editions. The same recommendations, as given in connection with Haydn, apply to the performance of the G minor Symphony.
[125] This modification became a favorite with Beethoven, notable examples being the Slow movement of the Fifth Sonata, where the Development is represented by a single chord; the Slow movement of the D minor Sonata, op. 31; and, above all, the Allegretto Scherzando of the Eighth Symphony, where a series of contrasted accents keeps the interest alive and leads most deftly to the Recapitulation.
[126] In measures 20 and 21 may be found some striking syncopations—an anticipation of what now-a-days is known as "rag-time."
[127] See the Waltz movement of the Fifth Symphony and the second movement of the Sixth.
[128] This expanding of interest is distinctly felt in Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, in Brahms's First, in Tchaikowsky's Fifth and in that by César Franck.
[129] For a complete account of this development see Grove's Dict. Vol. III under Overture and the Oxford History, Vol. IV, page 286, seq.
[130] Its companion in modern literature is the Overture to the Bartered Bride (by the Bohemian composer Smetana), which also begins with a brilliant fugal treatment of the theme.
[131] For some illuminating comments on this subtle character of Mozart's creations see the Stanford-Forsyth History of Music, p. 254.
[132] Hence is given a more extended biographical account than in the case of former composers.
[133] The prefix van is not a symbol of nobility.
[134] See the two Beethoveniana by Nottebohm.
[135] The derivation of the word is worthy of note; it means moisture, juice, something not dry. Humor is certainly the juice of human nature.
[136] See Beethoven, Kerst-Krehbiel, p. 45.
[137] Read the appropriate essay in Beethoven and His Nine Symphonies by Sir George Grove.
[138] Vox populi, vox Dei.
[139] D'Indy, however, in his Beethoven (p. 61, English translation) dissents from this view; not at all convincingly, it would seem to us. For the basic rhythm of each movement is on a definite dance metre and the theme of the first movement is a regular Irish jig (Beethoven at one time being very much interested in Irish folk-dances) with its typical three final notes, e.g.
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[140] It was written, to use Beethoven's own words, in an "aufgeknöpft" (unbuttoned) condition, i.e., free, untramelled, rather than straight-laced, swaddled in conventions.
[141] These are based in this work and in all Symphonic compositions on the full orchestral score (in the Peters edition); the student is therefore recommended to adopt this practise. For in Beethoven and all orchestral writers the thought and expression are so integrally bound up with the tone color and idiom of the various instruments that when their works are reduced to another medium much of the eloquence is lost. For those who cannot handle an orchestral score there are adequate arrangements for 2 hands, 4 hands and for 2 pianofortes in several standard editions. Those who have an advanced pianoforte technique should certainly become familiar with the virtuoso-transcriptions of the Beethoven Symphonies by Franz Liszt.
[142] It is an excellent practise to number the measures of a score in groups of 10.
[143] D-flat being the enharmonic equivalent of C-sharp. [Transcriber's Note: In the original, the footnote marker is in the music notation, bar 3.]
[144] The variations are not numbered and the demarcations indicated only by certain cadential objective points.
[145] By Beethoven everything is carefully planned. Note in performance the contrast of mood suggested by these final chords and the sombre register of the opening chords of the Slow Movement.
[146] According to d'Indy it is more truly pathetic than the entire so-called Pathetic Sonata.
[147] A frequent confusion of thought is shown in the use of the words "discord" and "dissonance." A discord is an unrelated noise, as when one bangs with both fists on the key-board. A dissonance is a logical introduction of intervals or chords made up of jarring factors for their stimulating effect upon the imagination.
[148] Two of the greatest innovators in this direction, Scryabin and Stravinsky, have been working in our own day, and there is no doubt that by their daring experiments they have enlarged the expressive powers of music. While it is obvious that the dramatic effect of to-day stimulates the experimentation of tomorrow, contrariwise, the immediate contribution of each innovator is to render more clear the work of his predecessor, up to that moment the confessed iconoclast.
[149] For a very clear tabular view of the structure of this Sonata see d'Indy's Cours de Composition Musicale, Book II, p. 332.
[150] This is not given in the Supplement. See preceding remarks apropos of the Third Symphony. The comments are based, as usual, on the full orchestral score.
[151] This interpretation of d'Indy is based upon the prevalence in the movement of the conventional martial rhythm music and carries, we must acknowledge, considerable weight. It is, however, distinctly subjective and prevents no one from gaining quite a different impression. We should be more inclined to accept the views of the noted French scholar had he not been so wide of the mark, while speaking of the Seventh Symphony, as to deny any appearance of dance-rhythm in the first movement But the Irish composer, Villiers Stanford, has shown conclusively that the theme is based upon the rhythm of an Irish Hornpipe. Thus do the wise ones disagree! Meanwhile, we others have the music itself.
[152] Beethoven and his Nine Symphonies by Sir George Grove.
[153] Beethoven's favorite mark of tempo and expression.
[A] There are also some p holding notes on the bassoons. [Transcriber's Note: In the original, the footnote marker is in the music notation, bar 6.]
[154] Free, in that they are not numbered and are not separated by rigid cadences; in that episodical passages—often of a rhapsodic nature—are interpolated.
[155] The tempo is often taken by conductors too slowly, thus losing much of its buoyancy.
[156] While listening to this passage one is instinctively reminded of Keats's "Bright and steadfast star, hung aloft the night."
[157] Taken separately, the movements are perfectly normal; the Scherzo in the usual Three-part form and the Finale in complete Sonata-form.
[158] There are traces of this striving for organic unity in several of the early Sonatas, notably in the Sonata Pathétique, where the motive of the first theme of the Finale is identical with that of the second theme of the opening movement e.g.
1st Movement
Finale
Also in the C-sharp minor Sonata, op. 27, we find a case of melodic relationship between a phase in the introductory meditation and the main theme of the Minuet.
[159] A Symphonic Poem is a descriptive composition for orchestra which incorporates many of the customary symphonic moods; but the form is free, largely dependent on the poetic basis, and the structure is without stops, being one continuous whole.
[160] His exact words are—"Le milieu (the trio) ressemble assez aux ébats d'un éléphant en gaieté—mais le monstre s'éloigne et le bruit de sa folle course se perd graduellement."
[161] Its motto might well be Browning's famous lines: "How good is man's life, how fit to employ all the heart and the soul and the senses forever in joy."
[B] This pianoforte figure being a very inadequate substitute for the restless tremolo of the violas, i.e., music. [Listen (MP3)] [MusicXML] [Transcriber's Note: In the original, the footnote marker is in the music notation, bar 1.]
[162] For suggestive comments by the noted critic E.T.A. Hoffmann, one of the first to realize the genius of Beethoven, and for a complete translation of his essay on the Fifth Symphony see the article by A.W. Locke in the Musical Quarterly for January, 1917.
[163] A complete account of this development may be found in the first two chapters of Niecks's Programme Music.
[164] For an excellent description of this piece, as well as others of the period, see the volume by Krehbiel The Pianoforte and Its Music.
[165] A comprehensive and invaluable description of the works and style of Couperin and Rameau may be found in the History of the Pianoforte and its Players by Oscar Bie. For an early example of what is now called "poetic atmosphere" everyone should know Couperin's piece Les Barricades Mystérieuses which is more suggestive when played on the claveçin with its delicate tone.
[166] A favorite term of opprobrium is that the program is a "crutch."
[167] There are several essays which will help the student toward clear thinking on this important subject: the valuable essay Program Music in Newman's Musical Studies, the article on the subject in Grove's Dictionary, and the exhaustive volume by Niecks; some of his views, however, are extreme and must be accepted with caution. Above all should be read Wagner's interpretation of Coriolanus in his essay on the Overture (English translation by W.A. Ellis).
[168] Twenty-five years' experience as a college teacher, however, has proved that too much may be taken for granted!
[169] It is unfortunate that the diminished seventh chord does not sound so fierce to our modern ears as it undoubtedly did in Beethoven's time, but that is simply because we have become accustomed to more strident effects.
[170] See, however, the octave leaps of the kettle-drums in the Scherzo of the Ninth Symphony.
[171] Suggestive comments from a literary point of view may also be found in these works: Studies in the Seven Arts, Symonds; Beethoven by Romain Rolland—with an interesting though ultra-subjective introduction by Carpenter; The Development of Symphonic Music by T.W. Surette; Beethoven by Walker; Beethoven by Chantavoine in the series Les Maîtres de la Musique. As to the three successive "styles" under which Beethoven's works are generally classified there is an excellent account in Pratt's History of Music, p. 419.
[172] This passage is to be found in the Life in Grove's Dictionary.
[173] For a more complete historical account see the article "Romantic" in Grove's Dictionary and the introduction to Vol. VI of The Oxford History of Music. Rousseau and Romanticism by Professor Irving Babbitt presents the latest investigations in this important field.
[174] Some very sane comments may be found in Pratt's History of Music, pp. 427, 501, 502.
[175] "A classic is properly a book"—and the same would be true of a musical composition—"which maintains itself by that happy coalescence of matter and style, that innate and requisite sympathy between the thought that gives life and the form that consents to every mood of grace and dignity, and which is something neither ancient nor modern, always new and incapable of growing old."
Lowell, Among My Books.
[176] Compare also the definition of genius by Masters in the Spoon River Anthology:
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"In youth my wings were strong and tireless, But I did not know the mountains. In age I knew the mountains But my weary wings could not follow my vision— Genius is wisdom and youth." |
[177] Schubert was of incredible versatility and fecundity; he literally tried his hand at everything: operas, church-music, ensemble combinations. Since, however, he exercised little power of selection or revision much of this music has become obsolete. The joke is well-known that he could set a theatre notice to music, and his rule for composing was "When I have finished one song I begin another."
[178] For an original, though at times rhapsodic, study of Schubert's vocal style see H.T. Finck's Songs and Song Writers, and the last chapter of the Fifth Volume of the Oxford History.
[179] Schubert did compose a number of Pianoforte Sonatas in the conventional form, but with the exception of the one in A minor they seem diffuse and do not represent him at his best; they certainly have not held their own in modern appeal.
[180] For the account of its exciting discovery in Vienna by Schumann in 1838, after a neglect of ten years, see the life of Schubert in Grove's Dictionary.
[181] For lack of space no one of these compositions is cited in the Supplement, but they are all readily available.
[182] This tendency is prevalent in folk-music, especially that of the Russians and Scandinavians. Schubert, however, was the first to make such systematic and artistic use of the effect. For a beautiful modern example see the Spanish folk-dance by Granados, e.g.,
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[[Listen (MP3)] [MusicXML]
[183] So appropriately called by Berlioz the "heroine of the orchestra."
[184] A striking illustration of this progression (surely Weber's most characteristic mannerism) is naïvely supplied by Weingartner; when, in his own orchestral arrangement of Weber's Invitation to the Dance, for the final climax he assembles all the leading themes in combination—an effect made possible only by their common harmonic basis.
[185] This whole article is well worth reading and may be found in that breezy though somewhat erratic volume called Old Scores and New Readings.
[186] Not given in the Supplement since good arrangements for two and four hands are numerous. To gain the real effect the student is strongly advised to consult the orchestral score.
[187] The genesis of so many similar effects in modern music, notably in Wagner.
[188] Perhaps the whirligig of time may restore them; who can say?
[189] The life in Grove's Dictionary is well worth while; there are essays by Krehbiel and others and, above all, the biographical and critical accounts in the two French series: Les Musiciens Célèbres, and Les Maîtres de la Musique.
[190] Because of an unfortunate accident to one of his fingers this ambition, however, had to be abandoned. The world thereby gained a great composer.
[191] As the music is readily procurable the student should make himself familiar with the entire set.
[192] A beautiful contrast may be made by playing the section in F major with the "una corda" pedal throughout.
[194] These chords are an amusing example of a "paper effect," for unless you watch the conductor's beat, it is impossible to feel the syncopation. There being no first beat proper, the chords are syncopated against the air!
[195] For pertinent comments on this point see Newman's essay on Program Music, pp. 134-135, in his Musical Studies.
[196] In studying this work consult, if possible, the orchestral score. For those who need a condensed two-hand arrangement, the Litolff edition is to be recommended.
[197] It is more than a matter of mere chronology to realise that the D minor Symphony was composed in the same year as the B-flat major. It was afterwards revised and published as No. 4, but the vitality and spontaneity of its themes come from the first gush of Schumann's inspiration.
[198] We find traces of this tendency in the First Symphony, where the Slow Movement and the Scherzo are linked together, likewise in the Second, where the motto of the first movement is repeated at the end of the Scherzo.
[199] The analysis is based, as usual, on the orchestral score; for class-room study there are excellent editions for two and four hands.
[200] Concert-goers may well be reminded that there should be no applause between the movements of this work. One of the most pernicious ideas of the public is that as soon as the music ceases, handclapping should begin; whereas a complete silence is often the very means the composer employs for intensifying what has been said and preparing for what is to come. Let us ponder the cryptic remark attributed to Mozart that "the rests in music are more important than the notes."
[201] This was afterwards withdrawn as impracticable. What a pity that Schumann wrote before the harp as a member of the orchestra had come into its own. For the mood which he was trying to establish compare the scoring of this Romanza with that in the Slow movement of Franck's Symphony.
[202] In Brahms, who was something of a conservative as to freedom of form, there is a striking example in the connection between the second movement and the Finale of the Third Symphony.
[203] Schumann was a true poet in the spontaneity of his themes, but often an unsuccessful architect when connecting them.
[204] For a detailed and illuminating study of this symphony and of Schumann's style in general see the last essay in Preludes and Studies by W.J. Henderson. Another excellent essay may be found in Studies in Modern Music by W.H. Hadow.
[205] Several of these were constantly played by both Paderewski and De Pachman, two of the greatest virtuosi of our day: surely a convincing tribute!
[206] See the Oxford History of Music, Vol. VI, pp. 80-84. Anyone who cares to see what Wagner owed to Mendelssohn may compare the opening theme, and its treatment, of the Fair Melusine Overture with the music of the Rhine Maidens in the Rheingold.
[207] See his treatise on Orchestration, p. 194.
[208] This is exceptionally effective in the four-hand version—in fact, it was often played as a pianoforte duet by his sister Fanny and himself—although the real poetic effect is inseparably connected with the orchestral treatment.
[209] Originally these tones were played by the Ophicleide or Serpent (now obsolete).
[210] This, after all, is a rather subtle point for a boy of seventeen to be called upon to consider. Perhaps if he had been that kind of a boy he might not have written the Overture at all!
[211] The ecclesiastical formula for an Amen being the so-called Plagal cadence of subdominant and tonic chords.
[212] He was born of a Polish mother and a French father, and these mixed strains of blood account fundamentally for the leading characteristics of his music. From the former strain came the impassioned, romantic and at times chivalrous moods, prominent in all Polish life and art; and from the latter the grace, charm and finish which we rightly associate with the French nature. For side-lights on Chopin's intimacy with George Sand see the well-known essays by Henry James and René Doumic.
[213] The few exceptions being the Polish Songs, the Trio for Violin, 'Cello and Pianoforte and the orchestral accompaniment to the two Concertos.
[214] There will occur to every one numerous passages in which the pianoforte is expected to be a kettle-drum, or where the figuration is far better suited to the violin than to the hand in connection with keys.
[215] This by reason of its combined powers in melody, harmony and rhythm. Some of these qualities it shares, to be sure, with the organ; but the organ is inherently lacking in rhythm, and its solid, block-like tones do not exercise the same fascination upon the imagination as do the fleeting sounds of the pianoforte. It is, of course, possible and desirable to enjoy both instruments—each in its own proper sphere, and each for its characteristic effects.
[216] It is understood that all the comments are based on the action of a concert-grand pianoforte, since on an upright or a square—because of mechanical limitations of space—the effects are quite different.
[217] In this connection, even at the risk of seeming to preach, let the advice be given that nothing should ever be put on top of a grand pianoforte: neither flowers, afternoon tea-sets, bird-cages, books, nor even an aquarium! For the lid is not merely a cover, but an additional sounding-board, and must always be in readiness to be so used. The pianoforte as a coloristic instrument, in short, is completely itself only when played with the lid raised.
[218] An instrument designed to reinforce these upper tones, so that they may be clearly heard, is to be found in any Physical Laboratory. That these tones really vibrate "sympathetically" may be proved by striking ff this note With damper pedal and then pressing down very lightly the keys of G and E just above middle C, thus removing the individual dampers of these notes. In a quiet room the tones are distinctly audible. For another rewarding experiment of the same nature, see the Introduction to the first volume of Arthur Whiting's Pedal Studies and the well-known treatise of Helmholtz.
[219] For a complete and illuminating treatise on the pedals and their artistic use, see the aforesaid two volumes of Pedal Studies by Arthur Whiting (G. Schirmer, New York).
[220] The term dates from the period when this pedal controlled three shifts: una corda, due corde and tre corde; the hammer striking respectively one, two or three strings. The whole mechanism is well implied in the German word Verschiebung, i.e., the shoving along—so frequent in Schumann's works, e.g., the middle part of his Vogel als Prophet from the Waldscenen, op. 82, No. 7.
[221] American pianofortes also have a middle pedal called the "sustaining pedal," by which tones in the lower register may be prolonged. It has not proved to be of great value, though there are occasional passages, e.g., the closing measures of the second movement of César Franck's Violin Sonata, where it may be effectively employed.
[222] For a commentary on this passage see D.G. Mason's essay on Chopin in The Romantic Composers.
[223] For a detailed analysis of many special features of style see the volume by Edgar Stillman Kelly, Chopin the Composer.
[224] To save space, no one of these pieces except the Barcarolle is given in the Supplement, since they are readily accessible. The Barcarolle, however, is given in order to make it better known; for although it is one of the most inspired and beautifully expressed of all Chopin's works, it is heard comparatively seldom. The best editions of the works are those of Kullak, Mikuli and Klindworth.
[225] For an account of its origin see the chapter in Huneker's book and the article on the Polonaise in Grove's Dictionary.