buries most of the natural expansion in such directions out of sight. The resources of the pianoforte were hardly adequate to his purposes in this line; and though he wrote some very successful and graphic examples for the instrument, his most brilliant achievements are in the symphonies, quartetts, and trios, where either variety of colour or the crystalline clearness of violin tone afforded him better opportunities. The element of design is of such pre-eminent importance in his works that it must inevitably be discussed in some detail; since the effect they produce depends so much upon his marvellous concentration and self-control in that respect. Very few people realise the paramount importance of systematic design, and the extent to which it can be carried; for though they cannot fail to see how important it is in small things, they do not follow out their observation to its logical consequences, and see that it is equally important in great. Even people of little intelligence can perceive that when one chord or figure has been going on for a long while, it is a relief to have it changed; and it does not take any great powers of mind to realise that there is a right place and a wrong for the change to come. But even when that much is seen, and it is realised that the proper management of the successions of chords and keys is the basis of modern instrumental design, people still seem to forget that what applies to one little part applies to the whole; and that in a highly organised work of art there is a right place and a wrong for every change of harmony, and for every rise and fall of the melody throughout a long piece of music. The full effect of every great stroke of art in such cases depends upon the perfect control of the motion, direction, and even the colour of every successive moment in the work. Beethoven often makes a stroke which is only intelligible by its relation to some other passage that is some hundreds of bars away in another part of the movement; but he manages it so perfectly that an auditor over whom he has cast his spell can instantly seize his drift. The extraordinary degree of concentration in this respect is such as no other composer has ever approached. With all Mozart's skill in design, his work is often very loose in texture compared with that of his successor. A short discussion of an obvious parallel may help to make this clearer. It so happens that both Beethoven and Mozart used the same root idea-the former in his first sonata, and the latter in the last movement of his G minor symphony. The gist of the idea is an energetic upward leap through a rhythmic arpeggio to a strongly emotional high note. MOZART. (a) BEETHOVEN. The high note, as the crisis, naturally requires something to round it off. Mozart makes the emphatic point subside into a sentimental harmony; Beethoven cuts it off sharply by an emphatic turn. MOZART. BEETHOVEN. Mozart then simply breaks off and continues the proceedings by a new phrase, which has no striking significance, but is sufficient in relation to the style of the rest of the movement to complete the sentence appropriately. Beethoven, on the contrary, keeps firm hold of his text; and enforces it by repeating it in another position in the scale, which makes his emotional point rise a step higher. Then taking his emotional point and its characteristic appendage, he drives it home by repeating it with strong accent, rising higher each time to give it extra intensity.* And only when the highest point of the crisis is reached does he relax the tension, and a softer and more yielding version of the turn is moulded on to the cadence which concludes his sentence; which therefore stands in its entirety : Thus the whole of Beethoven's first sentence is knit together in the closest bonds by insistence upon his emotional point. Mozart, having given his root idea and its counter idea to balance it, repeats them in the same order, but with the order · Compare the Irish folk-tune on page 79 for the principle. of the harmony reversed, taking dominant first and tonic to answer it, and so concludes: In Beethoven, over and above the close consistency with which he uses his idea, unifies the whole passage of eight bars by the skilful use of his bass, which marches up step by step from the leading note next below the tonic starting-point to the dominant above it; thereby helping the mind to grasp the principle of design and to feel the close unity of the whole sentence. Mozart's passage the alternation of tonic and dominant is easily grasped, and is the means whereby the tonality of the passage is made clear. In Beethoven's passage the alternation of tonic and dominant is equally present and equally regular, but the motion of bass happily disguises it, while it also serves as an additional indication of the structure of the passage. To show the whole artistic purpose and skill of the first twelve bars would require a chapter to itself, for with Beethoven nearly every progression has several aspects. All that can be attempted here is to show how the process is carried on, in such a manner that each step becomes the necessary outcome of the impulse which is expressed at the moment of starting. The end of the first sentence above quoted in full leaves the hearer in the air, as it were; for it ends only on a relatively final chord, the dominant. Further proceedings are therefore necessarily expected; and Beethoven resumes his subject in the bass by way of contrast, and in a position of the scale which for the moment is purposely obscure. He does not wish to reveal his intentions all at once; so the key seems to be C minor, though it is intended to lead to Ab. When the emotional point in the resumed subject-figure is reached, it is immediately pushed on, together with the turn which makes it identifiable, by an unexpected discord. This of course requires its resolution, which is made in such a way as to produce another discord; and so by the neces‐ sities of each resolution the music is pushed on step by step till the dominant of the new and contrasting key is reached, and the circuit of this first division of the movement is completed. The root idea has never for a moment been lost sight of; so from both points of view—idea and design alike-no step is without its significance and its bearing. And all the rest of the movement is carried out on the same principles. To avoid misconception, it is as well to point out that Mozart, in the parallel case above quoted, also uses his materials very consistently, and develops them into new phases; though not with the close concentration even of Beethoven's earliest work.* Of the almost endless devices and subtleties Beethoven uses to make his design intelligible, the most familiar is a steady progress of the bass by tones or semitones up or down in accordance with the spirit which the moment requires. Where subsidence from a crisis is wanted, it goes down, where extra animation is wanted it rises; and always so as to direct the mind towards the point which it is essential to recognise. One of the most remarkable instances is in the middle of the first movement of the great Appassionata Sonata. The course of events has brought about a point of repose in the key of D; and for the purposes of design it is necessary to modulate back to the principal key, F minor, and to concentrate attention upon the chord immediately preceding the step which finally announces that * It may also be well to point out that the object of this detailed comparison is not to emphasise Beethoven's greatness at the expense of Mozart, but to show the general tendencies of evolution. In this particular case Beethoven's treatment of his subject-matter admits of closer scrutiny than Mozart's. But there are other cases in which Mozart undoubtedly has the advantage; as in the parallel cases of "Batti batti," and the slow movement of Beethoven's quintett in Eb for pianoforte and wind-instruments. |