Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/787

BEETHOVEN. sonata form. From the point at which Haydn and Mozart had left the symphony, he developed it to an extraordinary degree. The 'working out' became more free and extended; he added the coda; and, above all, he made the form such a vehicle for expressing emotion as his predecessors had not even dimly imagined. Wagner says, of the Ninth Symphony, that in the movement preceding the Ode to Joy, instrumental music speaks its last word, and that any attempt to go further would be to go backward. Indeed, upon this view Wagner rests his device of the music drama — viz., that, instrumental music having reached its climax with Beethoven, the only way for music to progress was in its union with dramatic and pictorial art. Without going as far as Wagner in giving Beethoven the last word in instrumental music, he did speak the last word so far as the Classical School is concerned, just as Bach did with the Contrapuntal School. Beyond Beethoven the Classical had nothing to say; and the way was clear for the Romantic School and for Wagner, with whom and Bach Beethoven forms the groat triumvirate of music, each focusing upon himself an epoch. How advanced he was for his time is shown by his use of the opening theme of the Fifth Symphony (which is said to have been characterized by him as 'Fate knocking at the door') with much of the plasticity of a leading motive. In the first movement, though the main theme, it is used also as the accompanying figure to the second theme. In the scherzo (the first allegro) it becomes gay, almost chic; in the final allegro, again tragic. The scherzo, as a symphonic movement, is a Beethoven creation, usually substituted for the minuet.

The allegretto scherzando of the Eighth Symphony is perhaps in one respect the most exquisite specimen of his art. While everything Beethoven composed has its own characteristics, it also bears his personal impress. The nine symphonies differ from one another, yet all are unmistakably the work of Beethoven. This is, however, true in a less degree of the first and second, which show traces of Haydn's and Mozart's influence. From the Eroica to the Eighth, inclusive, the symphonies are Beethoven as the world best knows him. With the Ninth a more subjective treatment is employed, and the form is larger, owing to the addition of vocal effects.

Beethoven's three styles or periods, as indicated above, are as obvious in his sonatas and chamber music as in his symphonies, though there may not be an exact correlation of year and opus number.

The Last Quartets and the Last Sonatas (following Opus 106) are, like the Ninth Symphony, subjectively treated, and with this symphony are ranked by most musicians as his greatest works. His chamber music is constantly played. The modern masters of pianoforte composition (e.g. Chopin), who wrote with due regard for the capacity and limitations of the instrument, have caused Beethoven's pianoforte sonatas to be less valued from the purely pianistic point of view. Beethoven's thought was essentially orchestral, and the sonatas show this. At one time a pianist stood or fell by his ability to play Beethoven. Now the more modern repertoire is taken as the test. It must not be inferred from this that Beethoven's sonatas have disappeared from concert programmes: but they figure more rarely, and recital programmes made up wholly of Beethoven sonatas are not as frequently attempted as formerly.

Among his songs, the lovely Adelaïde and the cycle To the Absent Beloved are the best known. In church compositions, Beethoven composed The Mount of Olives (Christus am Oelberge); a mass in C and one in D, the latter one of his most advanced works. "What have you been up to now?" asked Prince Eszterházy, in whose chapel the Mass in C was first performed. The free and even personal treatment of sacred themes, which in a still greater degree characterizes the Missa Solennis (D), seemed utterly strange to Beethoven's patron.

Fidelio is still in the German repertoire, and is occasionally revived in the United States for some great prima donna, to whom the aria Abscheulicher and the dramatic side of the title rôle offer great scope. The effect of the work as a whole is greatly lessened by its mediocre libretto, and by the fact that, with his orchestral habit of thought, Beethoven wrote orchestrally even for the voice; so that it is only when a great climax is reached, as in the Abscheulicher aria, that the voice breaks through the limitations of his method.

To sum up, then, Beethoven's service to music, it must again be insisted that it lies mainly in the emotional warmth and life with which he endowed the sonata form, especially as found in the orchestral symphony. In doing this he amplified the scope of every orchestral instrument, and to his successors he left an orchestra capable of responding to every modern demand. Wagner's orchestra, essentially, is Beethoven's, with a larger number of instruments in each group. There are also certain grand personal traits reflected in his music – an intellectual balance which gives stability to his work and inspires reverence for his art.

The standard biography of Beethoven is that of A. W. Thayer, an American, who, however, did not live to complete the work. The book (3 volumes) so far, although written in English, is published only in German translation. Consult, also, for minor biographies: Crowest, Life of Beethoven, in "Great Tone Poets" (London, 1881); Rudall, Life and Works of Beethoven, "Great Musicians Series" (London, 1889); Nohl, Beethoven Depicted by His Contemporaries (Eng. trans., London, 1880), and Life and Works of Beethoven, translated by J. J. Lalor (London, 1881); Schindler, Biographie von Beethoven, with many personal letters and characteristics (Münster, 1860); and Beethoven's Letters (1790-1826), translated by Lady Wallace (London and New York, 1866). For critical works, consult: Wagner, Essay on Beethoven, translated by Parsons (New York, 1883); Elterlein, Beethoven's Pianoforte Sonatas, translated by Hill and Grove (London, 1875); Beethoven and His Nine Symphonies (London, 1896). Fiction: Rau, Beethoven (Frankfort, 1859); Wagner, A Pilgrimage to Beethoven, translated by Weyer (Chicago, 1897). Many Beethoven relics are to be found in his birthplace in Bonn, a house which in 1889 was converted into a Beethoven Museum.