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Rh The theme of 1815 stood as follows: —

.and is very shortly afterwards associated with an analoii'oiH i)hrase also intended to be treated as a fugue:- SEiE3ni rtz^r: Both tlienies reappear many times with varied aspect while the symphony was in process of comple- tion, but it will be seen at once that the absence of the introductory bars, and the weakness of the con- clusion of the phrase in its first form, show how far oft" the jottings of 1815 and 1817 were from the final realisation of the movement as the integral part of a great musical organism. Soon after 181 7, when the plan of the symphony began to consolidate itself, the idea of connecting Schiller's jioem with the work must have presented itself, for we find, even at that early stage, first, the following passage: Siiifotiic aJlcmaiid cntwedcr mil variation iiac/i dir (?) Choy. iiiiPJii§iiiiil¥ilii^t= Freu de, schuncr Gtittci- - funkcn Tochtcr, mis E - ly - si - um. and, shortly after, this curious brief summary of the thematic material of three movements: Comincia, s pli^silPlEliaEfi 2 tcs Stikk. 3 Adagio. Pnslo. ig^sgigSiing ^ 4 tes etc. 5 tes etc. from which it is evident that, though the connection of the poem and sympliony was not irrevocably fixed till the last, it certainly had been thought of at a very early stage. And this is just what might have been expected, for in spite of Beetlioven's hesitation, the association of Schiller's poem with the work was neithei- an arbitrary nor haphazard act, and there exists a deeply-rooted inner relationshi]3 be- tween the first and last movements of the symplumy, not perhaps so easily demonstrable on black and white as the affinities of thematic material, but none the less certainly present. What the short sketches quoted prove is, that no sooner had the key-note of a passionate renunciation of Happiness been struck in the first movement, than at once the idea of cele- brating in the conclusion the final triumph of Joy over sorrow suggests itself as a necessary consecjuence. The fragments cited are the merest crude begin- nings; the subsequent development of the tlienies cannot be followed here. The work proceeded slowly, interruiited at intervals by the composition of the last sonatas, the Mass in 1), and the (juar- tetts. As it progresses, the memoranda in the note- books increase in length and importance, and the reader watches with keenest interest the great genius at work on the raw material, out of which has been fashioned one of the most imposing works of art the world possesses. Through the jiages of these pre- liminary studies we pass, eager and fascinated, till that culminating point is reached where, hushed, and not without a sense of being an unbidden guest in the sanctuary, we are made witnesses of that final struggle to solve the problem of welding together the instrumental and choral sections into one indi- visible whole. Of that struggle the finished work itself tells us something, but whatever is there left to the imagination the sketch-book amply supplies. There the altcniations of effort and failure are laid bare, and the broken ejaculations of the artist, and the admission of a profound despair as the ground- work of the lir.st ])art, all combine in producing a painful sense in the reader's mind of having seen that which was intended for the artist's eye only. The lessons to be learned from the methods of workiiiir we have described are unmistakable. On every page of the sketch-books we encounter the same lofty aims. The same indomitable energy and tenacity of purjjose, and the same unsiiaring self- criticism. What we do not find, and of this we are abundantly warned by the editor, is any mechani- cally contrived system or scheme by means of which ideas might be either manufactured or their absence and jioverty disguised. Beethoven was consistent in the intense earnestness of his ])urpose, but apart from the confirmed habit of jotting down the musical material with which his mind was overburdened, he had no fixed rule in working. The expansion and working out of his material is rarely indicated, and then only in the vaguest way. Those who approach the sketch-books in the hope of finding there a vadc mecum by means of which they may be able to turn out, according to the pernicious modern fashion, ' music to order,' will find the sketch-books either pitilessly silent, or, if they have eyes to see, vehement in mute protest. With Beethoven, the luicoutrollable artistic impulse itself was the one and only motive for the creation of art work, and the untiring effort at all and every price to secure its greatest perfection, his first and most sacred duty. That is the great lesson of his life and work, which all may learn who choose, and one on which artists who are less than ever inclined to content themselves with small gains, simple living, and endurance for art's sake, have great need to meditate. Lkonoua Youxo.