Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/543

SKETCHES.

The Sonata, in its present form, consisting of the Allegro, and the Rondo, with a short 'Introduzione'—of which no Sketch has as yet been found—interposed between them, was published, as Op. 53, in May 1805, and the Andante, in a separate form, as Op. 35, in May 1806. The Sketches belong, in all probability, to the year 1803: and the volume which contains them is even richer in records of the 'Eroica Symphony'; besides furnishing valuable memoranda for the treatment of the First Act of 'Fidelio,' the Pianoforte Concerto in G major, the Symphony in C minor, and other works of less importance. The Sketches for the Eroica Symphony exceed in interest almost all the others we possess; but we have thought it better to illustrate our subject by those for the Sonata, because, being both less voluminous, and more easily compared with the finished work, these 'vestiges of creation' exhibit the peculiar phase of productive power we are now studying in a more generally intelligible form than any others that we could have selected, and, while forcibly reminding us of the process carried out by Raffaelle, in designing the 'Bella Giardiniera,' very clearly exemplify the points in which Beethoven's plan of action diverged from that pursued by other Classical Composers.

Schubert's method of working differed entirely both from Mozart's, and Beethoven's. He neither prepared a perfect mental copy, like the former; nor worked out his ideas, as did the latter, from a primordial germ; but wrote almost always on the spur of the moment, committing to paper, as fast as his pen could trace them, the ideas which presented themselves to his mind at the instant of composition—proceeding, in fact, as ordinary men do when they sit down to write a letter. This being the case—and there is ample proof of it—we are not surprised to find that he was no Sketcher, though we cannot but regard with astonishment the remarkable freedom of his Scores from evidences of afterthought. It is true, we do sometimes find important modifications of the first idea. There is an autograph copy of 'Der Erlkönig' in existence—probably an early one—in which the Accompaniment is treated in Quavers, in place of Triplets. Important changes have been discovered in the Score of the Mass in A♭. Others are found in the Symphony in C major, No. 10; the original MS. of which gives proof, in many places, of notable changes of intention. A singularly happy improvement is effected in the opening Theme, for the Horns, by the alteration of a single note. The Subject of the Allegro is far more extensively changed; and scratched through with the pen, at every recurrence, for the introduction of the later modification. New bars—and very beautiful ones—have been added to the Scherzo; and there is more or less change in the Adagio. But, these cases are far from common. As a general rule, he committed his ideas to paper under the influence of uncontrollable inspiration, and then cast his work aside, to make room for newer manifestations of creative power. By far the greater number of his MSS. remain, untouched, exactly in the condition in which they first saw the light: monuments of the certainty with which true genius realises the perfect embodiment of its sublime conceptions. In no case is this certainty more forcibly expressed than in the unfinished Score of the Symphony in E, No. 7, now in the possession of the Editor of this Dictionary. Schubert began to write this, with the evident determination to complete a great work on the spot. At first, he filled in every detail; employing, for the expression of his ideas, the resources of an Orchestra consisting of 2 Violins, Viola, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets in A, 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns in E, 2 Horns in G, 3 Trombones, 2 Trumpets in E, Drums in E, B, Violoncello, and Contra-Basso. This portion of the Symphony opens thus—

After a farther development, of 30 bars duration, the Adagio breaks into an Allegro in E major:—