Page:Rolland - Beethoven, tr. Hull, 1927.pdf/203

Rh the opening Presto are not very distinguished. The composer seems to have felt this, and has consequently introduced an unusual amount of new matter into the development section. The gentle, placid Andante, with its eloquent rests, has some unusual passages, notably the bridge (bar 33) where a definite theme is treated fugally in three parts. The Finale, undefined, strange and unusual, possesses that weird note which so frequently sounds in Schumann's pieces. The key of A minor seems to possess the right key-colour for this bustling, indefinite, and somewhat uneasy sort of mood. In this direction, one calls to mind the Kreutzer Sonata, with which this movement has much in common. There are more subtle reminiscences; the new theme in semibreves, which plays such a great part in the middle of the Rondo, recalls the fugal Finale of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony. The powerful Coda recalls all the foregoing moods. The movement is very valuable from the psychological point of view, for Beethoven was at the age of 31 years.

This graceful and happy Sonata, also published in 1801 and dedicated, like its predecessor, to the Count Moritz von Fries, is the most popular in