ON BEETHOVEN’S OPINION OF CONTEMPORARY COMPOSERS.
To the EDITOR of the HARMONICON.
SIR,
Your last number contains some anecdotes of Beethoven, which must be interesting to every true lover of music. The opinions, however, of artists in regard to the works of others, are, from one cause or another, but too often tinctured by prejudice, and ought, therefore, to be received cautiously.—And I am induced to trouble you with these remarks in consequence of having read the opinions said to have been passed by that great master on the genius of Rossini and Weber. He is stated to have pronounced that ‘Rossini is a good scene painter, and nothing more.’ If the art of moving the mind by dramatic effect, either in music or poetry, rank no higher than that of a dauber of scenes, then is the observation applicable to Rossini, and equally so to Shakspeare.
To every unprejudiced person the motive of Beethoven’s comparison will be sufficiently obvious, and be easily pardoned on the score of disappointed feelings, and the comparative indifference to which it is to be feared he was unjustly doomed. But it is not to such that I would direct my observations. There is a numerous body of soi-disant amateurs and professional composers, who will receive as Gospel the casual remark of a mind enfeebled and irritated by misfortune and infirmity. The silly cry, once (in this country) so prevalent against Rossini, is not, among the ignorant and bigoted, yet wholly silent. And it is surely a grateful duty on the part of all admirers of his almost unparalleled genius to vindicate him against the cur-like assaults of his detractors. Let us not forget that in advocating the cause of Rossini, we are maintaining that of every young composer of talent—for the same spirit which prompts the pack to raise their ‘most sweet voices’ against him, would doubtless actuate them to cry down Beethoven himself, were he now beginning his career, and its blighting effects may, but too often, be noticed in the case of our native composers.
It may be asked, how Beethoven and Spohr escape? The answer is obvious. Beethoven is dead, and his reputation is securely established; while Spohr has much learning and a moderate portion of genius, and is not likely, therefore, to interfere with the solemn stupidity of our musical magnificos. I can remember, a few years back, hearing Beethoven’s symphony in C minor pronounced ‘an absurd piece of nonsense’ by one of the ignoramuses who now exalt it to the skies.[26]
JUSTUS.
ON CANON, BY L. VAN BEETHOVEN[27].
IN Canon, when written in the unison,—namely for like voices, or in the octave—the strictest imitation must be observed, from the first note to the last. But it may also be composed in all the other intervals, the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and ninth, in which, however, exceptions and deviations necessarily occur sometimes. Here is the true arena for the tricks of art, and for plodding subtilty.
The different kinds of Canon are—
1. The terminating (or finite) canon, when the melody closes with a perfect cadence.
2. The endless canon, (or infinite) which always begins over again, and in which the parts leave off arbitrarily, at a half or a whole cæsure.
3. The Canon by augmentation.
4. The Canon by diminution.
5. The Close Canon, when the coming in of the parts is only marked by signs, and the whole movement is written on in one staff, without rests.
6. The Open Canon, in which the parts are written one above the other, with the necessary rests before the appearance of each, therefore in the manner of a score.
7. The Retrogade Canon, or Canon Cancrizans.
8. The Double Canon, in four parts; the thrice-double, in six; and the four-times double, in eight.
9. The Canon Climax, (Polymorphus) the Circular Canon, the construction of which is explained by the name.
10. The Numerical and Enigmatic Canons, which, like everything that partakes of the nature of a riddle, are more easy to invent than to solve, and seldom yield the smallest compensation for the time and trouble bestowed on them. In former times people took a pride in racking their brains with such contrivances; the world is however grown wiser![28]
The Canon in the unison, for similar voices, is, properly speaking, nothing else than a complete duet, trio, quartet, &c., in which the parts come in one after the other, each commencing when the preceding one has finished the melody. The voice, or part, beginning second, is usually that which forms the base, and, conjoined with one or two parts, completes the whole. Example. [To which we have applied a stanza from Otway’s Enchantment.]
Plan of a terminating Canon in unison, for Three Treble Voices.
In the following manner it becomes a Close Canon, and the third part is written next after the first.[29][30]
In such alternation of the voices, the whole may be repeated as often as the singers please, or till the hearers are tired. As each must sing the whole quite through, the compass of the notes is to be well considered, so that no one lies too high or too low. As an Open Canon, this composition presents itself in the following form.
From the double bars, where the voices are united, they proceed in continued alternation.
Canon for Three Male Voices.
[To which, the composer having set no words to it, we have added a Grace, once in much use.]
N.B. It is better and more pleasing if the voices do not commence all at the same time. [This remark was unnecessary, as the voices in such canons never begin together.]
[The Author then gives the same Canon as a close and open one, but as these are similar in form to the first, it is not necessary to insert them.]
The same mode of treatment is adopted in writing canons of four or more parts, in unison.
[The Author has followed this observation by an example, but as it is not of an interesting kind, and exactly resembles in rule and order the preceding, we omit it.]
Canons in other intervals are more difficult of invention. In these it is usual to place the clefs of the several parts before the mark of time, in the order of their gradual succession; or to point out such order by means of figures, denoting the distance of the interval, placed above or below the note where it is intended that each part should commence[31]. See, for instance, the following four-part Canon, constructed on the lower fifth and lower octave.
[The Author gives this in score: we have reduced it to two staves to save space, and for the convenience of many who are not accustomed to music in parts. Beethoven leaves it without any termination: by means of the repeat the effect intended is produced, and thus a close is obtained. This will be found in score, with a Hallelujah, Amen, adapted to it, among the music of the present number.]
This, in the first way mentioned, would be written as a close Canon in the following manner—
By which those who understand the matter, will discover that the soprano commences; that at the second bar the alto follows in the lower fifth; at the fourth bar the tenor begins in the lower octave of the soprano; and finally that, at the fifth bar, the base comes in as lower fifth of the preceding part, or as lower octave of the alto. In the second way spoken of above, the same composition would have the following appearance—
The figures underneath indicate—5, the commencement of the alto in the lower fifth; 8, that of the tenor in the lower octave; and 12, that of the base voice in the Duodecima gravi.
The Chromatic Canon.
[We have also reduced the above to two staves, for the reasons before assigned.]
More mystical still appears the Enigmatic Canon. In such, generally, are found neither signs, figures, nor letters, and frequently even no clef. The problem is a matter of mere keen guess work, and pondering and poring over it, till, with the subtilty of an Œdipus, one arrives at the truth, and the correct solution presents itself in harmonic purity. In such cases it is necessary to try the subject by transposing it into every higher and lower interval; by inverting it and casting it into contrary motion; by interpolating longer or shorter rests; by trying it backwards; by augmenting or diminishing the value of the notes; and even by applying the obsolete clefs, the mezzo-soprano, and baritone or tenor-base, in order to undo the Gordian knot; a task, however, which is, unfortunately, not to be accomplished in the easy manner resorted to by the son of the Macedonian Philip. And what good can result from all this? Multum clamoris, parum lanæ! Possibly I may try my hand at it one of these days, when I have nothing of a more reasonable nature to occupy my time. At present, thank Heaven! I am not in that predicament, and it will be a tolerably long while, I suspect, before I am.