FIGURE XXIII. STRUCTURAL PLAN OF COUPERIN'S "LES MOISSONEURS."

An examination of this rondo will reveal that the subsidiary portions—B. C. and D.—are episodes rather than distinct themes. Their melodies, instead of being entirely new as in the more highly developed rondos of Haydn and Mozart, are either literal copies of the chief melody, or close imitations of it, in related keys; so that the chief variety imparted by them is a variety of harmony. The plan of these harmonies should be carefully noted, particularly the use of the home key in the section marked D. This method of unifying a melody or a whole piece, by coming back to the original key at the end, embodying as it does an important ?thetic principle, has been pointed out several times already. We may say, then, that the structure of this piece is "harmonic" rather than "thematic." In all instrumental music of any consequence this harmonic element is of great importance.

The use of the word "Couplet" to describe the episodes seems to indicate the derivation of these rondos from the old song and chorus like the "Carol of the Flowers." In fact, one gets from this piece a decided impression as of a fixed[17] part in somewhat rigid form, and with comparatively full "harmonies," alternating with verses (couplets) in which the right hand plays, as it were, a solo melody against an unobtrusive accompaniment.

III. FROM COUPERIN TO MOZART.

This form of the rondo[18] persisted until the time of Haydn and Mozart, and our next example for analysis is from that period. During the century that elapsed between Couperin and Mozart the piano was so perfected as to displace the harpsichord. The invention of the damper pedal entirely changed the style of writing for the piano, and the necessity for filling out the melody with elaborate ornamentation no longer existed. The greater power and better action of the new instruments also afforded composers a much wider scope.

But more important still, during this century Philip Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) had written some pianoforte works that advanced the art into a new realm. In the eighth chapter we shall study one of his pianoforte sonatas, but it may be said here that both Haydn and Mozart freely acknowledged their great debt to him. This study is postponed for the moment because he did not affect the form of the rondo.

Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809), who spent many years as Kapellmeister to Prince Esterhazy and who, in consequence, lived more or less isolated from the world, made many interesting experiments with musical forms. He may be said to be the father of the symphony and the string quartet, and several of his piano sonatas contain movements that are obviously attempts at creating new forms or combining old ones in new ways.

His ninth[19] piano sonata, for example, has for its finale a curious and interesting combination of the rondo and the variation form, while the finale to the third sonata is marked "Tempo di Minuetto." Such experiments are always to be found when we examine the work of creative minds.

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FIGURE XXIV.

Haydn's sonatas thus provide us with a link in the chain that binds Mozart to his predecessors. The foregoing quotation from Haydn's second sonata will illustrate the primitive nature of some of his rondo themes (Figure XXIV). This theme is, in effect, a jolly dance tune without pretensions to dignity, and against it is placed a conventional pattern accompaniment.

Another rondo theme from Haydn may be cited to illustrate his gentle humor.

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FIGURE XXV.

This has for its first episode, or secondary theme, the following vividly contrasting passage:

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FIGURE XXVI.

These two quotations illustrate the childlike na?et? of Haydn's nature. He is never tragic; his pieces are like delightful pictures of rural life painted by an artist who was himself country born and bred and who feels the natural charm of the simplest, commonest things. Haydn's pictures are flooded with sunlight.

IV. A RONDO BY MOZART.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), aside from his supreme greatness as a composer, represents the culmination of what is called the "Classical" period. The tendency away from strict polyphony and towards a free homophonic style has already been noted. It was the peasant-born Haydn who first subordinated polyphony, producing long instrumental pieces based on song melodies. His symphonies and string quartets are bubbling over with melodiousness. Often frankly adopting folk tunes, or inventing themes in the same style, he produced great works that depend hardly at all on the interweaving of themes, but have as their basis rather the exposition of single melodies as the raison d'?re of the music. Not by any means lacking in erudition, Haydn turns to na?e melody as his natural means of expression.

Along with this element, and as a component part of what we call "classic," is that perfection of form and style that particularly distinguishes the music of Mozart.

"His works are often cited as the most perfect illustrations of the classic idea in music,—this term referring in a general way to the absence of individualism in conformity to a general type of style and form, na?et? as opposed to self-consciousness, symmetry of outline, highest finish of detail, purity of sound, loftiness and serenity of mood."—Dickinson, "The Study of the History of Music."

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 9.

Mozart: Rondo from Piano Sonata in B-flat major.

This rondo is the last of the three movements of this characteristic sonata. Mozart's piano sonatas seldom have more than three movements, and of these the rondo is last, the plan being to present the more highly organized movements first, and to end, as in the suite, with a bright and cheerful piece. The rondos of this period were lively and rhythmically energetic. While not essentially dance-like, they nevertheless were ultimately derived from the dance, and lacked the meditative and sentimental qualities to be found in slow movements. It is from one of these two sources—the dance tune and the folk-song—that all these sonata movements sprang. Contributory streams entered here and there—the polyphonic influence is discernible; Italian opera lends its fluent vocal style and occasionally its love of display in elaborate cadenzas; and, of course, the idiom of the piano—the peculiar manner of writing that the instrument requires—is always present.

The first theme of this movement, for example, suggests motion; one can almost imagine the opening section (measures 1-16) as suited to the first evolution in a dance, and the second (beginning at measure 16) as the strain intended for a new set of dancers, while the chords in measure 17 quite vividly suggest the steps of a dance. The left hand part is largely in the familiar idiom of the piano of Mozart's time, though there is occasionally polyphonic treatment—as in measures 1-8. The various divisions of the piece are strongly marked by cadences, sometimes preceded by formal patterns of scales, or other meaningless passages, as at 144-147, such as Wagner likened to "the clatter of dishes at a royal banquet." Sequences, so familiar in the music of Bach, frequently appear here, and were, indeed, a part of the phraseology of the time. The passage between measures 189 and 193 is, in this respect, especially notable because of the harsh dissonance between E-flat and D at measure 191.

The cadenza is an interesting and unusual factor in this rondo. A cadenza always occurred in certain types of operatic arias, and in the concerto was introduced to display the skill of the performer, but it is unusual to find one in a rondo.