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

CHAPTER XII.

Chapter 292,887 wordsPublic domain

BEETHOVEN--II.

I. FORM AND CONTENT.

Our study of the Pathétique Sonata has shown how closely Beethoven followed the models of Haydn and Mozart, at the same time infusing into them a new spirit. The first movement of that sonata does not differ materially in form from the first movement of Mozart's G-minor Symphony, discussed in Chapter IX, yet Beethoven takes us into a new world, far removed from that world of pure impersonal beauty in which Mozart dwelt. Beethoven is the man struggling, fighting, working out his own individuality, learning through bitter experience; Mozart is the artist not so much turning his own experience into music, as creating outside himself imperishable works of an almost superhuman beauty. In many of Beethoven's works there is this same regularity of form coupled with freedom of expression. The brusqueness of his style led his contemporaries to think him an iconoclast; and it was not till many years after works like the Fifth Symphony were produced that the public began to understand how orthodox they are.

This free individual expression, now a characteristic of art generally and evident enough in all phases of human life--this assertion of the personal point of view--began with Beethoven and has been increasing ever since his day, until we now have music in which certain phrases or themes no longer please us as beautiful sounds, but exist for some ulterior and individual purpose.

[Music: score] (_a_)

[Music: score] (_b_)

FIGURE L.

This change was perhaps only a part of that more general transformation of society by which the composer, who had previously been subject to the favor of princely patrons, became an independent individual, living in direct contact with the public at large. Music, thus freed and given an independent existence, became an expressive art and took deeper root in human experience. It lost, in this process, something of that calm, ethereal beauty it had possessed, but it gained greatly in expressiveness. In Beethoven's hands it became plastic; he enlarged the range of harmonic combinations far beyond that of Mozart, and created themes that were of wider application to human feeling. In illustration of this there will be found in Figure L, (_a_) a quotation from the slow movement of Beethoven's piano sonata, op. 2, no. 2, and in (_b_) a quotation from the slow movement of his sonata, op. 10, no. 3. These should be compared with the theme from Mozart's piano sonata in Figure XLI. The difference between the themes of Beethoven and that of Mozart is in their content rather than in their form.

The purpose of Mozart's theme is beauty; the purpose of Beethoven's themes is expressiveness, the conveyance of deep emotion. They are lacking in one essential quality of melodic beauty, namely, outline, or curve.[39] These two quotations are not representative of Beethoven's lyric genius, for he has left us many fine melodies, but they reveal a general tendency of his to seek in music an outlet for his deepest thoughts and feelings, and to sacrifice, if necessary, that beauty of outline that characterizes Mozart's finest tunes.

II. BEETHOVEN'S STYLE.

One peculiarity of Beethoven's music, due to his constant search after expressiveness rather than mere formal symmetry, is a unity and conciseness of style notably superior to that of Mozart. Many of his themes lack the perfect balance of phrases, in exact thesis and antithesis, found in Mozart's, their structure resulting rather from a logical development of the leading motive, which, by a favorite device of his, presses on, in constant repetition and with increasing vigor, to an emotional climax. The contrast between this method of treating a theme and the method of Mozart may be seen in Figure LI.

[Music: score] (_a_) From Mozart's G-minor Symphony.

[Music: score] (_b_) From Beethoven's first piano Sonata.

[Music: score] (_c_) From Beethoven's String Quartet, op. 59, No. 1.

FIGURE LI.

In the quotation from Mozart's symphony it will be observed that the two-measure phrases exactly balance each other, but that the second phrase is melodically unrelated to the first, and is, furthermore, a somewhat trivial figure. One feels in listening to the whole theme that the real significance of it lies in the opening phrase, and this conclusion is justified by reference to the development section of the movement, where the composer altogether discards the second phrase. The style of this theme is, therefore, largely dictated by the convention of perfect phrase balance. The style of the two Beethoven themes, on the contrary, is vigorous and terse. The outward symmetry is dictated by the inner sense.

In the sonata theme Beethoven presses home his idea with greater and greater intensity until the climax is reached, after which the tension is gradually abated; in the theme from the string quartet an almost identical method is pursued. For a further illustration of the terseness of Beethoven's style reference may be made to the development sections of this sonata and string quartet, where most interesting use is made of the short motives from which these themes are derived. These methods of writing give evidence of the fine economy Beethoven continually displays. There is, in his music, nothing redundant--no unnecessary word--and it is this quality of style that produces such an effect of life and vigor.

Beethoven carries out these methods in whole movements, and even in complete symphonies. We have already seen how, in the Pathétique Sonata, a theme in the finale is derived from one in the first movement, but a much more interesting example of the process[40] may be found in the Fifth Symphony.

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 20.

_Beethoven: The Fifth Symphony._[41] _First movement._

[Music: score] (_a_)

[Music: score] (_b_)

[Music: score] (_c_)

[Music: score] (_d_) From the Scherzo.

FIGURE LII.

In Figure LII will be found quotations from the three themes of the first movement of the Fifth Symphony, and from the secondary theme of the scherzo.

It will be observed that the first motive in theme I--consisting of three short notes followed by a long one--is the germ from which both the conclusion theme and scherzo theme spring, and that the same motive serves as the bass to the second theme. This motive, in fact, dominates the entire first movement, the extraordinary vitality of which is largely due to the incisive quality of the motive itself and to the occasional thunderous proclamations of it by the entire orchestra. Here we have the virility of Beethoven's style admirably illustrated; no time is given to platitudes, no single measure wanders away from the chief issues. At times this first motive is extended into a succession of loud chords from the full orchestra; again the prevailing two-measure rhythm is interrupted by a measure of silence that shifts the accents dramatically from one place to another, dislocating the whole passage.[42] This intensity of utterance--each phrase hammered home--gives to the whole work a quite unique place among symphonies.

The complete movement may be tabulated as follows:

TABULAR VIEW OF STRUCTURE OF FIRST MOVEMENT OF BEETHOVEN'S FIFTH SYMPHONY.

The foregoing table should be compared with those in Chapters VIII and IX in order to get a comprehensive view of the gradual development of sonata-form. It will be seen that Beethoven destroys nothing, but that the changes he makes in the older models are changes such as the nature of his themes and the length of the movement demand. The chief difference in themes is that the first theme is less lyric than those of Mozart, and more suited to development; a better contrast between themes I and II is thereby provided. The coda is extended far beyond that of the old model, and becomes an important part of the structure--important, because at this stage of the development of sonata form (audiences having become accustomed to listening to long pieces of pure music) the repetition of the whole first section (A) is a little too obvious, and the introduction of a dramatic coda after the recapitulation section provides fresh interest at the point where it is most needed.

Sir Hubert Parry[43] writes of Beethoven's innovations in this phase of musical development as follows: "It was his good fortune that the sonata-form had been so perfectly organized and that the musical public had been made so perfectly familiar with it, that they were ready to follow every suggestion and indication of the principle of form; and even to grasp what he aimed at when he purposely presumed on their familiarity with it to build fresh subtleties and new devices upon the well known lines; and even to emphasize the points by making progressions in directions which seemed to ignore them."

But most important of all is the close reasoning (if we may use the term) displayed throughout this movement. There is hardly a single note in it that has not some direct bearing on the subject matter, the two chords in the transitions being the only portions not derived from the themes proper. With all these elements of strength, and the added cohesion resulting from the similarity of themes, this movement stands as a model of what a symphonic first movement should be.

III. THE DRAMATIC ELEMENT IN BEETHOVEN'S MUSIC.

[Music: score] (_a_)

[Music: score] (_b_)

[Music: score] (_c_)

FIGURE LIII.

We have referred in Chapter VIII to that process of development whereby a theme becomes gradually changed, losing its physiognomy little by little until it is only a shadow of its former self. In the quotation in Figure LIII this process might almost be said to be the opposite of development, since the theme is gradually denuded of its melodic curve, until nothing but its rhythm remains; but the effect, at least, is to produce something quite new out of a germinal motive, and to relieve, for a moment, that insistence on melody that characterizes the first section. The device is a favorite one with Beethoven, and in this movement he makes interesting use of it. The passage begins at measure 195 ((_a_) in the figure) with the phrase used to introduce the second theme, as if it intended going on with the theme as before, but instead there enters a long passage of half-notes, (_b_), in which the _outline_ of the half-note phrase is preserved for a while, after which the rhythm only is retained, and the passage becomes a series of chords floating mysteriously, and dimly outlined as in a cloud ((_c_) in the figure). The original motive crashes through (measure 228) for a moment, the soft chords sound again, and then the whole orchestra rushes rapidly to the end of the section.

The effect of this cessation of the rapid movement that has thus far animated the music is very dramatic, and the startling interruption of its peaceful flow by the loud chords at measures 228-231--as if they were impatient to begin the turmoil again--gives the whole passage a peculiarly vivid effect. This device is analogous to that employed in the novel when the author prepares his readers, by a page or two of peaceful narrative, for his most dramatic episode. The significance of this passage is, of course, due to its connection with the introductory phrase from which it sprang, but it should be noted that the whole passage is a re-creation from the original motive and not a restatement of it in another key. And its position in the movement is exactly at the point where some relief is needed from what might otherwise be a too great insistence on the first theme, and just before the beginning of the recapitulation, where the first theme is to appear in its original form. It will be found that such passages are usually placed in this position.

The themes in Beethoven's finest works are not only hammered out, as it were, from the rough metal, but we may say of them--as we cannot say of those of Haydn's and Mozart's--that they are pregnant with possibilities which are not fully realized until the composition is finished. With Haydn and Mozart the development section is usually a string of different versions of the original theme--as is the latter's G-minor symphony, first and last movements. With Beethoven the development section reveals what was latent in the original theme, but what had not been before realized. In the development section of the Fifth Symphony he not only convinces us by his logic, but overpowers us by the sweep of his eloquence.

IV. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF THE FIFTH SYMPHONY.

It is impossible to express in words the significance of this music, but it runs almost the complete gamut of human feeling. The opening theme is so incisive and has such a tremendous energy that it takes us into a new world. If we compare it with Mozart's first movement themes we realize at once that it deals with things that music had never attempted to express before. The second theme is not by any means a fine melody, being made up of a constantly reiterated phrase, but it has an appealing beauty of its own that we would not exchange for perfection. Occasionally the terrible asserts itself, as in those ominous chords with empty fifths in the coda (measures 481-482), while the whole movement seems to have been struck off at white heat.

That this was not the case, however, but that on the contrary even the first theme itself took its present shape only after a laborious effort of the composer's mind, we know from the evidence of his sketch-book. The theme first appears there in the following form.

[Music: score] FIGURE LIV.

This commonplace theme evidently lay generating in Beethoven's mind for a long period. Various sketches on it appear from time to time, and it was only after much thought that it finally emerged in its permanent form. This was always his method of composition. Unlike Mozart, who wrote music with the utmost fluency and rapidity, Beethoven rewrote his themes many times before they satisfied him, and the process caused him actual mental agony. With him composing was a struggle, a fight; he stamped, and sang, and shouted over the composition of some of his larger works, and finally emerged from his solitude exhausted.

There is no doubt but that Beethoven was affected by the prevailing social unrest of his time--by the revolutionary ideas that were then stirring. Although we cannot attempt to translate into words the significance of the fifth symphony, there is no mistaking its language as that of independence and freedom from conventional shackles. "Writing in a period of revolution," says Mr. Hadow,[44] "himself an ardent revolutionary, he broke in upon the politeness of the Austrian court with an eloquence as tempestuous as that of Mirabeau or Danton." So that, looking at his music as a whole, we are not only struck by its significance, but by the close relation in which it stands to the life of Beethoven's period. Never before had music been so untrammeled, so free. The medium itself--harmony, melody, rhythm--had become more plastic, and the old incubus of tradition had been thrown off. Not only that, but the various elements in composition were fused for the first time in Beethoven's music. Polyphony takes its place as a means and not an end; pure melody--even folk-melody--becomes a part of the larger scheme in which its beauty is set off against contrasting elements--and is thereby enhanced; rhythm becomes a means of expression in itself, and not merely a vehicle; harmony is made an important part of the general design, and its latent possibilities as a means of expression are realized.

All these threads were gathered together by Beethoven, and woven into the complex fabric of his music. Great men are usually born at just the right moment, and Beethoven was no exception to the rule; for he found the art at just the point where a master spirit was needed to take its various elements and fuse them. Under his hands all the inessential parts dropped away, and the essentials were placed in such relation to each other that a completely organic work of art resulted.

SUGGESTIONS FOR COLLATERAL READING.

_"Oxford History" Vol. III: Chapters X and XI. Grove's "Beethoven and His Nine Symphonies." Grove's "Dictionary of Music and Musicians:" articles "Beethoven," "Symphony," and "Form." Mason's "Beethoven and His Forerunners," Chapters VII, VIII, and IX._

FOOTNOTES:

[39] An examination of any one of the best folk-songs quoted in