Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/583

SONATA. sonatas as among the very first in which the genuine qualities of modern pianoforte music on a large scale are shown. They begin to approach to that broad and almost orchestral style which is sometimes said to be characteristic of Beethoven; and the use of octaves and fuller combinations of sound, and the occasional irruption of passages which bring into play stronger muscles than those of the fingers, are all in the direction of modern usage. In respect of structure, it is not necessary to consider more than that he commonly accepted the three movement type of sonata, beginning with a movement in binary form and ending with a rondo, and having a slow movement in the middle. His handling is free and at the same time thoroughly under control. One of his characteristics is the love of importing little touches of learning or scientific ingenuity into the treatment; as in the Sonata in G (of four movements) in which two canons in direct and contrary motion take the place of the minuet and trio. In another sonata, in F, one figure is woven through the whole substance of the first movement, appearing in the different sections diminished and inverted, and in various phases of expression which quite alter its aspect. His slow movements are sometimes equally simple and expressive, but also frequently of that ornamental order which has been sufficiently commented on.

In one celebrated case he anticipated the modern taste for programme by calling one of his longest and most pretentious sonatas 'Didone abbandonata. Scena tragica.' But appearance of dramatic purpose does not turn him aside from regularity of form any more than in other sonatas. His style is not exempt from the family likeness which is observable in all composers of the latter part of the century. His ideas are large and broad, and not unworthy to have exerted some influence upon both Mozart and Beethoven. A certain dryness and reticence makes him unlikely to be greatly in favour in modern times, but his place as an important figure in the development of the sonata in its relation with the pianoforte is assured.

One further composer who deserves some consideration in connection with the sonata before Beethoven's time is J. L. Dussek, who was born ten years after Clementi, and soon after Mozart. His most noteworthy characteristics are an individual though not incisive style, and an instinct of a high order for the qualities and requirements of the pianoforte. There is some diversity in point of value between his early and his later sonatas. The former are rather narrow in idea and structure, whereas the latter, such as Opus 70 in A♭, are quite remarkable for freedom and elaboration of form and subject. Both in this sonata and in the Opus 77 he makes use of the hitherto almost unknown device of extending the effect of the first sections by subordinate transitions as well as by accessory subjects. In the first movement of Opus 70 there is the unusual feature of a happy modulation out and back again in the actual substance of the second subject—a characteristic which is common enough in the works of such moderns as Schumann and Brahms, but was exceedingly rare in Dussek's time. Another characteristic which Dussek has in common with more modern writers is the infusion of a certain amount of sense and sentiment even into his passages and flourishes, which with his immediate predecessors had been too commonly barren. He also takes thought to enliven his recapitulations by variation or ingeniously diversified transposition of order in the ideas (as in Opus 77). His writing for the instrument is brilliant and sparkling, and has certain premonitions of Weber in it. The ideas are sometimes, even in his best works, trite and vapid, but more often delicate and attractive. The slow movements have a sustained and serious manner, also unusual in his time, and said to be derived from his having studied the organ considerably in his younger days. He stands historically with giants on either hand, and this has contributed to make him appear somewhat of a parenthesis in the direct course of sonata development. Their vastness of artistic proportion did not however suppress his personality, or extinguish his individuality, which is still clear in his own line, and has exerted some influence both upon the modern style of playing, and also upon the style of musical thought of a few modern composers for the pianoforte to whom the giants did not strongly appeal.

The direct line of development after Haydn, Mozart, and Clementi, is obviously continued in Beethoven. As we have pointed out, the changes which took place after Emmanuel Bach's labours were less rapid and remarkable than in times preceding. The finishing touches had been put to the structural system, and men were so delighted with its perfection as structure, that they were content to hear it repeated over and over again without calling for variety or individuality in the treatment, and very often without caring much about the quality of the thing said. The other side of development was technical. The pianoforte being a new instrument, the manner of musical speech best adapted to it had to be discovered. With the earlier composers forms of expression better suited to other instruments were adopted; but by degrees experiments in effect and assiduous attention to the capabilities of the hand, such as Clementi gave in his early years, had brought the mechanism of expression to a tolerably consistent and complete state; so that when Beethoven appeared he was spared the waste of force incident to having to overcome elementary problems of instrumental technique, and the waste of effect incidental to compromises, and was enabled to concentrate all his powers upon the musical material.

Beethoven's works introduce a new element into the problem, and one that complicates matters immeasurably. With his predecessors structural simplicity had been a paramount consideration, and often straitened somewhat the freedom of the idea. The actual subjects seem