Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/575

SONATA. Alte Meister, which deserves consideration for the light it throws on a matter which is sometimes said to be a crucial distinction between the early attempts at form and the perfect achievement. In many of the early examples of sonata-form, the second section of the first part is characterised by groups of figures which are quite definite enough for all reasonable purposes, but do not come up to the ideas commonly entertained of the nature of a subject; and on this ground the settlement of sonata-form was deferred some fifty years. Hasse was not a daring originator, neither was he likely to strike upon a crucial test of perfection, yet in this movement he sets out with a distinct and complete subject in B♭ of a robust Handelian character:—

and after the usual extension proceeds to F, and announces by definite emphasis on the Dominant the well-contrasted second subject, which is suggestive of the polite reaction looming in the future:—

The movement as a whole is in the binary type of the earlier kind.

The period now approaching is characterised by uncertainty in the distribution of the movements, but increasing regularity and definition in their internal structure. Some writers follow the four-movement type of violin sonata in writing for the clavier; some strike upon the grouping of three movements; and a good many fall back upon two. A sonata of Galuppi's in D illustrates the first of these, and throws light upon the transitional process. The first movement is a beautiful Adagio of the Arioso type, with the endings of each half corresponding, after the manner traced from Corelli; the second is an Allegro not of the fugal or Canzona order, but clear binary of the older kind. A violin sonata of Locatelli's, of probably earlier date, has an Allemande of excellent form in this position, but this is not sufficiently definite in the inference it affords to throw much light on any transition or assimilation of violin sonata-form to clavier sonata-form. Galuppi's adoption of a movement of clear sonata-qualities in this place supplies exactly the link that was needed; and the fugal or canzona type of movement being so supplanted, nothing further was necessary but expansion, and the omission of the introductory Adagio (which probably was not so well adapted to the earlier keyed instruments as to the violin), to arrive at the principle of distribution adopted in the palmiest days of formalism. Later, with a more powerful instrument, the introductory slow movement was often reintroduced. Galuppi's third movement is in a solid march style, and the last is a Giga. All of them are harmonically constructed, and the whole work is solid and of sterling musical worth.

Dr. Arne was born only four years after Galuppi, and was amenable to the same general influences. The structure of his sonatas emphasises the fact above mentioned, that though the order of movements was passing through a phase of uncertainty their internal structure was growing more and more distinct and uniform. His first sonata, in F, has two movements, Andante and Allegro, both of which follow harmonically the lines of binary form. The second, in E minor, has three movements, Andante, Adagio, Allegrissimo. The first and last are on the binary lines, and the middle one in simple primary form. The third Sonata consists of a long vague introduction of arpeggios, elaborated in a manner characteristic of the time, an Allegro which has only one subject but is on the binary lines, and a Minuet and two Variations. The fourth Sonata is in some respects the most interesting. It consists of an Andante, Siciliano, Fuga, and Allegro. The first is of continuous character but nevertheless in binary form, without the strong emphasis on the points of division between the sections. It deserves notice for its expressiveness and clearness of thought. The second movement is very short, but pretty and expressive, of a character similar to examples of Handel's tenderer moods. The last movement is particularly to be noticed, not only for being decisively in binary form, but for the ingenuity with which that form is manipulated. The first section is represented by the main subject in the treble, the second (which is clearly marked in the dominant key) has the same subject in the bass, a device adopted also more elaborately by W. Friedemann Bach. The second half begins with consistent development and modulation, and the recapitulation is happily managed by making the main subject represent both sections at once in a short passage of canon. Others of Arne's sonatas afford similar though less clear examples which it is superfluous to consider in detail, for neither the matter nor the handling is so good in them as in those above described, most of which, though not rich in thought or treatment, nor impressive