III. THE DRAMATIC ELEMENT IN BEETHOVEN'S MUSIC.
(a)
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(b)
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(c)
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FIGURE LIII.
We have referred in Chapter VIII to that process of development whereby a theme becomes gradually changed, losing its physiognomy little by little until it is only a shadow of its former self. In the quotation in Figure LIII this process might almost be said to be the opposite of development, since the theme is gradually denuded of its melodic curve, until nothing but its rhythm remains; but the effect, at least, is to produce something quite new out of a germinal motive, and to relieve, for a moment, that insistence on melody that characterizes the first section. The device is a favorite one with Beethoven, and in this movement he makes interesting use of it. The passage begins at measure 195 ((a) in the figure) with the phrase used to introduce the second theme, as if it intended going on with the theme as before, but instead there enters a long passage of half-notes, (b), in which the outline of the half-note phrase is preserved for a while, after which the rhythm only is retained, and the passage becomes a series of chords floating mysteriously, and dimly outlined as in a cloud ((c) in the figure). The original motive crashes through (measure 228) for a moment, the soft chords sound again, and then the whole orchestra rushes rapidly to the end of the section.
The effect of this cessation of the rapid movement that has thus far animated the music is very dramatic, and the startling interruption of its peaceful flow by the loud chords at measures 228-231—as if they were impatient to begin the turmoil again—gives the whole passage a peculiarly vivid effect. This device is analogous to that employed in the novel when the author prepares his readers, by a page or two of peaceful narrative, for his most dramatic episode. The significance of this passage is, of course, due to its connection with the introductory phrase from which it sprang, but it should be noted that the whole passage is a re-creation from the original motive and not a restatement of it in another key. And its position in the movement is exactly at the point where some relief is needed from what might otherwise be a too great insistence on the first theme, and just before the beginning of the recapitulation, where the first theme is to appear in its original form. It will be found that such passages are usually placed in this position.
The themes in Beethoven's finest works are not only hammered out, as it were, from the rough metal, but we may say of them—as we cannot say of those of Haydn's and Mozart's—that they are pregnant with possibilities which are not fully realized until the composition is finished. With Haydn and Mozart the development section is usually a string of different versions of the original theme—as is the latter's G-minor symphony, first and last movements. With Beethoven the development section reveals what was latent in the original theme, but what had not been before realized. In the development section of the Fifth Symphony he not only convinces us by his logic, but overpowers us by the sweep of his eloquence.
IV. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF
THE FIFTH SYMPHONY.
It is impossible to express in words the significance of this music, but it runs almost the complete gamut of human feeling. The opening theme is so incisive and has such a tremendous energy that it takes us into a new world. If we compare it with Mozart's first movement themes we realize at once that it deals with things that music had never attempted to express before. The second theme is not by any means a fine melody, being made up of a constantly reiterated phrase, but it has an appealing beauty of its own that we would not exchange for perfection. Occasionally the terrible asserts itself, as in those ominous chords with empty fifths in the coda (measures 481-482), while the whole movement seems to have been struck off at white heat.
That this was not the case, however, but that on the contrary even the first theme itself took its present shape only after a laborious effort of the composer's mind, we know from the evidence of his sketch-book. The theme first appears there in the following form.
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FIGURE LIV.
This commonplace theme evidently lay generating in Beethoven's mind for a long period. Various sketches on it appear from time to time, and it was only after much thought that it finally emerged in its permanent form. This was always his method of composition. Unlike Mozart, who wrote music with the utmost fluency and rapidity, Beethoven rewrote his themes many times before they satisfied him, and the process caused him actual mental agony. With him composing was a struggle, a fight; he stamped, and sang, and shouted over the composition of some of his larger works, and finally emerged from his solitude exhausted.
There is no doubt but that Beethoven was affected by the prevailing social unrest of his time—by the revolutionary ideas that were then stirring. Although we cannot attempt to translate into words the significance of the fifth symphony, there is no mistaking its language as that of independence and freedom from conventional shackles. "Writing in a period of revolution," says Mr. Hadow,[44] "himself an ardent revolutionary, he broke in upon the politeness of the Austrian court with an eloquence as tempestuous as that of Mirabeau or Danton." So that, looking at his music as a whole, we are not only struck by its significance, but by the close relation in which it stands to the life of Beethoven's period. Never before had music been so untrammeled, so free. The medium itself—harmony, melody, rhythm—had become more plastic, and the old incubus of tradition had been thrown off. Not only that, but the various elements in composition were fused for the first time in Beethoven's music. Polyphony takes its place as a means and not an end; pure melody—even folk-melody—becomes a part of the larger scheme in which its beauty is set off against contrasting elements—and is thereby enhanced; rhythm becomes a means of expression in itself, and not merely a vehicle; harmony is made an important part of the general design, and its latent possibilities as a means of expression are realized.
All these threads were gathered together by Beethoven, and woven into the complex fabric of his music. Great men are usually born at just the right moment, and Beethoven was no exception to the rule; for he found the art at just the point where a master spirit was needed to take its various elements and fuse them. Under his hands all the inessential parts dropped away, and the essentials were placed in such relation to each other that a completely organic work of art resulted.
SUGGESTIONS FOR COLLATERAL READING.
"Oxford History" Vol. III: Chapters X and XI. Grove's "Beethoven and His Nine Symphonies." Grove's "Dictionary of Music and Musicians:" articles "Beethoven," "Symphony," and "Form." Mason's "Beethoven and His Forerunners," Chapters VII, VIII, and IX.
FOOTNOTES:
[39] An examination of any one of the best folk-songs quoted in Chapter II, or the melodies of Bach, Handel, Haydn or Mozart quoted in succeeding chapters, will show how important an element of melody is this curve or outline.
[40] The themes in the minuet and finale of Haydn's "Emperor" quartet have a slight similarity of contour.
[41] Published for piano, two or four hands, by Peters, Leipzig. For convenience of reference, number all measures and parts of measures consecutively.
[42] The presence of measure 389—which is silent—has been a subject of discussion among musicians: it is sometimes omitted in performance.
[43] "Evolution of the Art of Music," Chapter XII.
[44] "Oxford History of Music."