FIGURE XXVI-d.
FIGURE XXVI-e. Form adopted
Beethoven’s method of drafting and re-drafting his subjects enabled him to bring them at last to a formal perfection undreamed of by less painstaking composers. His best themes combine almost the highest possible degree of variety and unity, and therefore attain almost the highest possible degree of beauty. We saw, in connection with the Quintet of Mozart (Figure XVIII), how high synthetic powers of mind enable a composer to combine different motifs in one theme in such a way as to attain great variety of parts with final unity of impression. Beethoven exhibits constantly, in his best work, an even higher degree of this synthetic power than Mozart was master of. He knew how to build the most diverse materials into a compact, indissoluble organism. His briefest themes often discover this power as strikingly as his long and elaborate movements. The first theme of the Sonata in A-major for Violoncello and Piano, which appears in Figure XXVII, is an example of the way the faculty shows itself within narrow limits. Here are six measures, each containing a different scheme of time values; yet the theme as a whole is as compelling in its unity and certainty of intention as it is engaging in its variety.
