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

CHAPTER IX.

Chapter 263,370 wordsPublic domain

SONATA-FORM II.

I. HAYDN AND THE SONATA-FORM.

The type of musical structure which first took on definite shape in the work of Philip Emanuel Bach, the type which may be defined as consisting essentially of the exposition, development, and restatement of two contrasted themes, and to which the name of sonata-form is given, was not reduced to perfect clearness until the time of Haydn (1732-1809), who because of his labors in this field is often called "The father of the symphony."[25] Having the inestimable advantage of being concert-master, for a period of thirty years (1761-1791), to the princely house of the Esterhazys, where he had a small but good orchestra under his direction, and was expected constantly to produce new pieces for it to play, he was practically forced to write an astonishing amount of music, in all of which this form figured prominently. Hardly one of his hundred and twenty-five symphonies, and his seventy-seven string quartets, etc., is without one or more examples of sonata-form. Such constant practice enabled him to carry it far beyond the rather indeterminate state in which Philip Emanuel Bach left it, and to crystallize it as a structural type for all time.

Among the most important advances made by Haydn over the practice of his predecessor, as we saw it illustrated in the last chapter, were (1) the greater importance and individuality given to the second theme[26]; (2) the abolishment of merely rhapsodical passages, and the substitution of successions of chords marking off unmistakably the various sections of the movement; (3) increased definition at the end of the exposition section, in the "codetta," which, in some instances, even has a definite theme or themes of its own, called conclusion-themes; (4) greater clearness in the key-system of the whole movement, according to the principle of Duality-Plurality-Unity already discussed; (5) increased importance and extent of the coda, which sometimes grows to the proportions of a fourth section to the movement; (6) use of an introduction, generally in slow time and of a stately character, preparing the mind for serious attention. It will be noted that all these advances are in the direction of making the form more definite, clear-cut, and readily intelligible, as it was most important that it should be made in its early existence until it was perfectly familiar to the audience. Increased _variety_ came later, in the work of Mozart and Beethoven, and could come only after the typical structure was thoroughly understood by the public. Thus Haydn's function was that of a systematizer, an establisher of sure foundations on which more elaborate and free superstructures may later be built; and for this work his clear, simple, well-disciplined mind and his thorough rather than brilliant artistic technique admirably fitted him.

These points will be made clear by an analysis of an example of sonata-form, taken from the "Surprise" Symphony which he wrote for London audiences in 1791, toward the close of his career.

The general structure, as regards both themes and larger sections, may be conveniently shown in tabular form, thus:--

TABULAR VIEW OF STRUCTURE OF THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF HAYDN'S "SURPRISE" SYMPHONY.

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):

[Music: score] Germ (measures 44-45.)

[Music: score] Development (127 seq.)

FIGURE XXXVIIIa.

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

[Music: score] Inversion (133 seq.)

[Music: score] Later (136 seq.)

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]

TABULAR VIEW OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF MOZART'S G-MINOR SYMPHONY.

There is no slow introduction, as in Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony, but there is a short coda. A little detailed comparison with the Haydn movement will prove interesting. There is none of the rather meaningless passage work which Haydn uses in his transition from the first to the second theme; instead there is a subsidiary theme (measures 28-42) which in spite of its secondary formal importance is vigorous, strongly characterized music. Instead of an entirely new theme for conclusion (Haydn, 81-93) we find an adaptation of the characteristic rhythm of the first theme (72-88) fulfilling the function of conclusion theme--to emphasize the close of the first section of the movement--by harping constantly on the tonic and dominant chords. This adaptation of familiar matter to a new purpose is ingenious. The return to the first theme, after the development section, is beautifully managed. Over a held D in the bass, beginning at measure 160, the upper voices weave a gradually descending passage out of the motive of the first theme (three notes only). There is a slight retarding, a sense of decreasing momentum, until, with the unobtrusive entrance of the theme in measure 165, a new start is taken, and the recapitulation goes merrily onward. The apparently unpremeditated nature of this entrance (though of course it was carefully planned) is charming.

In the recapitulation, the subsidiary theme which first appeared at 28-42, enters at 191, and is made the subject of a considerable episode. It appears in the bass at 198. Note the sequence at 202-203, and 204-205. The second theme, on its second appearance (227), is not only put in the tonic key of G, but is changed from major to minor. This gives rise to an interesting change in its expression. Instead of being merely tender and ingenuous, as its first and major form was, it takes on now a certain air of mystery and of resignation or controlled pathos. The conclusion theme (260) is also now put into the minor mode. The coda is short, and contains first a final suggestion of the main subject of the movement, and the necessary cadences for closing it firmly in the home key.

III. MOZART'S ARTISTIC SKILL.

This movement affords a remarkable example of Mozart's power to infuse endless variety into the details of his work, without ever impairing its coherence and fundamental unity. He shows here, in short, that remarkable fecundity of imagination, constantly subordinated to the demands of clearness and musical logic, which gives all his music a fascinating variety that never degenerates into miscellaneousness.

For convenience in analysis, we may briefly examine first the elements of variety and later the underlying unity (though it should be remembered throughout that in the work itself the two qualities are intertwined, so to speak, and affect us co-operatively). Thus in the capital matter of rhythm, for example, the real master of construction always takes care to maintain the unity of the fundamental meter with which he starts out, and builds up a variety of rhythms on this uniform basis by making different themes group the elementary beats in different ways: as Mozart, in this movement, keeps his measure of four quarter-notes throughout, but makes the rhythm of his first theme out of quarters and eighths, and that of his second theme largely out of dotted halves and quarters. _An actual change of measure_ in a new theme, such as we find in many modern composers, is often a sign of deficient mental concentration, a kind of incoherence in which variety is secured at the expense of unity. The true masters drive their unity and their variety, so to speak, abreast.

Note then in the first place, the contrasts between the three chief themes of the movement, viz.: the first theme, the subsidiary theme that does duty in the transition (28-42), and the second theme. Their rhythmic diversity may be noted at a glance in the following comparative table, in which the rhythm only of four measures of each theme is set down.

[Music: score] First.

[Music: score] Subsidiary.

[Music: score] Second.

FIGURE XL.

A reference back to the first movement of the Haydn "Surprise" Symphony will show Mozart's advance in respect of rhythmical diversity.

A parallel advance in diversity of style is noteworthy. Haydn's movement is steadily homophonic in style, and grows somewhat monotonous for that reason. Mozart sets off against his homophonic exposition section a delightfully clean-cut and vigorous polyphonic passage founded on the first theme in the development section of the movement (115-134), and another similar passage in the recapitulation (the new treatment of the subsidiary, 191-217.).

Again, Mozart uses skillfully the possibilities for variety opened up to the composer by modulation and setting off against one another of different keys. A radical and fascinating change of coloring is also obtained by transposing the second and conclusion themes, on their final appearance (227 and 260), from major to minor. They are thus exhibited, as it were, in a new light, while retaining their essential character sufficiently to be perfectly recognizable.

Underneath all this charming play of fancy, the fundamental plan of the movement is as clear as the outline of a mountain range under all the luxuriant foliage that clothes its slopes. This clearness of form is due chiefly to two causes, a fine logic in the use of themes, and a careful adjustment of keys. The closeness with which Mozart sticks to his thematic texts may in some cases at first sight escape us, but when we come to realize it through careful dissection, we cannot but be profoundly impressed by the intellectual grasp it indicates. Thus, the passage at measures 66-67 is not new, but is made from that of 48-49 _inverted_. The conclusion theme (72-88) is not made from new matter, as is usual with Haydn, but is derived from the little three-note motive of the first theme. The entire development is wrought out of new manipulations of the same theme, as is also the coda. The long transition in the recapitulation (191-225) is made entirely from the subsidiary. There is here, in a word, none of that "clattering of the dishes" between the courses. The economy of the master is everywhere observable; irrelevancies are excluded; there is no superfluity, no surplusage, no prolixity and wordiness. Every measure fulfils its purpose in the simplest and most direct way, and justifies its presence by its reference to the essential thematic ideas of the work.

Unity of key is secured by a careful observation of the main traditions of the sonata-form in the matter of the distribution of tonalities. The exposition shows the customary quality of key, tonic (G-minor) being contrasted with relative major (B-flat major).[30] The development, as we have already seen, exemplifies plurality of key. The recapitulation emphasizes throughout the home key of G-minor, thus ending the movement with the fitting impression of tonal unity. A glance at measures 38-42, 72-99, 134-138, 146-165, 221-225, and 260-307 will show how much pains Mozart has taken to emphasize his keys at all important points in the design. The emphasis, as in the case of Haydn, is superfluous for modern ears, but was very necessary for the audiences addressed by the early advocates of so complex a scheme of musical design.

Altogether then, we see in such a movement as the present, Mozart taking the sonata-form a step in advance of where Haydn had left it, and while preserving its essential outline, filling it with the wealth of detail which his luxuriant fancy suggested. Later it will become clear that he was thus preparing it for the still further elaboration of an even greater master of construction--Beethoven.

SUGGESTIONS FOR COLLATERAL READING.

_D. G. Mason: "Beethoven and His Forerunners," Chapters V and VI. C. H. H. Parry: "The Evolution of the Art of Music," Chapter XI. E. Dickinson: "The Study of the History of Music," Chapters XXIV and XXV._ _W. H. Hadow: "Sonata Form."_

FOOTNOTES:

[25] A symphony, as we have seen, is only a sonata, on a large scale, for orchestra.

[26] Even in Haydn, however, the second themes remain generally rather rudimentary (see the analysis of his "Surprise Symphony," later in this chapter). In many cases his second theme is hardly more than a variant of the first; as for example in the two pianoforte sonatas in E-flat major. In the first movement of his "Paukenwirbel" Symphony, however, there is a very distinct second theme, and in many other movements the student will note a marked tendency toward definition.

[27] Published for piano, two or four hands, by Peters, Leipzig. For convenience of reference number all measures, and parts of measures, consecutively. The numbers will run to 258.

[28] See Mason's "Beethoven and His Forerunners," page 218.

[29] Arrangement for piano, two hands, in the Peters edition. Number the measures throughout. There are three hundred and seven. The general structure will be seen at a glance in the appended tabular view.

[30] This is according to custom in movements written in minor keys. The second theme is in such cases usually put in the relative major instead of in the dominant. (See the chapter on "Folk-Song.")