Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/590

578 contrasted in the modern quality and more simultaneous motion of the parts, with the elaborate fugal structure of the middle division. In the last movement of the Sonata in B♭ the corresponding sections are very short, but the effect is structurally satisfying and clear. In no case is the structural system of keys used with anything approaching the clearness of a pianoforte sonata. Material is contrasted with material, sometimes simply as subjects or figures, sometimes even in respect of style; as a chorale with recitative, chorale with fugal passages, or harmonic passages with contrapuntal passages. Sometimes these are kept distinct, and sometimes, as in the first movement of the Sonata in B♭, they are combined together at the end. The general laying out of the complete works, though based on the same broadest radical principles, is in actual order and manner quite distinct from that of pianoforte sonatas. The longer movements alternate with very short ones, which commonly resemble Romances, Lieder ohne Worte, or such expressive lyrical types; and occasionally the whole sonata concludes with a little movement of this sort, as no. 3 in A and no. 6 in D. They are generally in the simplest kind of primary form with a proportionately important coda. In point of actual style and treatment of the instrument there is a great diversity in different sonatas. In some the solid old contrapuntal style predominates, in similar proportion to that in the organ preludes, sonatas, etc. of Bach; but this rarely occurs without some intermixture of modern traits. The most completely and consistently modern in style is the Sonata in D major, no. 5, which is practically in three divisions. The first is a chorale, the second a kind of 'song without words' in B minor, and the third a species of fantasia, in which the sections are balanced by distinct figures, without more tonal structure than emphasis upon the principal key at the beginning and end, and variety of modulation with some thematic development in the middle. In other sonatas different modes of writing for the instrument are used as a means of enforcing the contrast between one movement and another. Thus in the 2nd Sonata the first division is a kind of prelude in a modern manner, chiefly homophonic and orchestral; the second corresponds to a distinct romance or 'song without words' with clearly defined melody and graceful and constantly flowing independent accompaniment. In the third movement, which though in 3-4 time has something of a march quality, the modern harmonic character is very prominent, and the last movement is a fugue. Similar distribution of styles and modes of writing are as clearly used in the 1st and 4th Sonatas; in the former more elaborately.

Among the few attempts which have been made to add something genuine to the literature of the Pianoforte Sonata, that in F♯, op. 11, by Schumann, first published under the pseudonym of Florestan and Eusebius, is most interesting. This was clearly an attempt to adapt to the sonata-form the so-called romantic ideas of which Schumann was so prominent and successful a representative. The outward aspect of the matter is twofold. First, the absolute subordination of the sectional distribution to the ideas contained, and, secondly, the interchange of the subject-matter so as to connect the movements absolutely as well as intrinsically. The first point is illustrated by the continuity of the Allegro Vivace and the constant shifting and swaying of modulation and changing of tempo; also by the variety of the subjects and the apparently irregular manner of their introduction, if judged from the point of view of the older sonatas. Thus the part which corresponds to the first section comprises a first subject, containing a figure which may be called the text of the movement, and many subsidiary features and transitions. The second section follows continuously, with new matter and allusions to the first subject, all in a constant sway of transition, till at the end of the first half of the movement a long continuous subject in A is reached, which in its sustained and earnest calmness seems to supply the point of rest after the long preceding period of activity. This same subject is the only one which is given with complete fullness at the end of the whole movement, the rest of the subject-matter, though all represented in the recapitulation, being considerably condensed and curtailed. The second point is illustrated by the connection between the introduction and the two following movements. The introduction itself is in an elaborate kind of primary form. Its impressive principal subject is reintroduced in the middle of the succeeding allegro; and the subject of the middle portion serves as the main staple of the beautiful aria which is the central movement of the whole sonata. The success of such things certainly depends on the way in which they are done, and mere description of them gives very little impress of their effectiveness in this case. There can hardly be a doubt that in these devices Schumann hit upon a true means of applying original thought to the development of the structural outlines, following the suggestion which is really contained in Beethoven's work, that the structure is perceptible through the disposition of the ideas, and not only by emphasising the harmonic sections. The actual distribution of the structure which is hidden under the multiplicity of ideas is remarkably careful and systematic. Even in the development portion there is method and balance, and the same is true of large expanses in the last movement. The freedom with which Schumann uses subordinate transitions makes the balance of keys a matter requiring great concentration; but it is remarkable in his work, as contrasted with similar modern examples by other composers, that he rarely makes random and unrestrained flights, but keeps within the bounds which make proportionate balance possible. It is no doubt a matter of very great difficulty to carry out such principles as this work seems to embody; but if the sonata form be really capable of any