Page:Rolland - Beethoven, tr. Hull, 1927.pdf/179

 March on the death of a hero." The March is said to have been written as a set-off to the popular one of that day in Paer's opera, Achilles.

It is not a lamentation, but rather a tragic elegiac picture set in an impressive frame. One feels the throb of brass, the blare of trumpets, the roll of muffled drums, the impressive pageantry of death. The opening Andante is beautiful, and in the variations the theme breathes as it were through a thin lovely veil. The technique looks backwards rather than forwards, and the movement ends with a calm phrase. The final Rondo bubbles with life ceaselessly until it disappears in a faint whisper.

This Sonata was first published together with the following one in C sharp minor on March 3rd, 1802. They were both composed in 1801, the happy year of the composer’s love for Countess Giuletta Guicciadi. The term Fantasia by no means implies formlessness, but rather a departure from the ordinary Sonata form. The first movement—an