This section, limited to sixteen bars, is not only an early, but a notable specimen of programme-music; it is realistic, but not in the least ridiculous. Rapid passages with points of imitation tell of the flight of the Philistines. A bright movement (still in C) bears the superscription, "The joy of the Israelites at their victory"; in it there is an allusion to the pastoral movement. Maidens then advance, with timbrels and instruments of music, to meet the victor, and the sonata concludes with a stately Minuet, similar in character to the Minuet in the Overture to Handel's Samson; the people are dancing and singing for joy.
The 2nd Sonata presents to us a very different picture. Here we have the melancholy of Saul driven away by means of music. There are a few realistic effects, such as the paroxysms of madness of Saul, and the casting of the javelin; but the subject is one which readily lends itself to real musical treatment. The music of the 1st Sonata was principally objective; here, however, it is principally subjective. In the first part of the work the music depicts, now the sadness, now the rage of the monarch. The opening is worthy of Bach, and presents, indeed, a foreshadowing of the opening of the 16th Prelude of the "Well-tempered Clavier." Spitta mentions the fine fugue, with the subject standing for the melancholy, the counter-subject for the madness of the king; and he justly remarks that these two images of Saul "contain the poetical germ of a truly musical development." The "dimly brooding" theme of the fugue brings to one's mind the "Kyrie eleison" fugue of Mozart's Requiem; also the theme of the Allegro of Beethoven's Sonata in C minor (Op. 111), notwithstanding the fact that Kuhnau's is slow and sad, but Beethoven's, fast and fiery. Here is the first half of the former—
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Let not our readers be deceived by the word "fugue." The movement is no mere formal scholastic piece of writing such as one might expect; the preluding of David on his harp, the "javelin" episode, the paroxysms of rage give to it rather the character of a free fantasia. One word with regard to the paroxysm passages. We quoted above a sentence from the preface respecting the violation of the rule respecting consecutive consonances by certain "poet musicians." Kuhnau, under this plural mask, was, as we have mentioned, certainly referring to himself, for in another part of the preface he specially calls attention to the consecutive fifths by which he depicts the disordered mind of King Saul. This first movement, opening in G minor, ends on the chord of G major. We now come to a movement (B flat) entitled "The Refreshing Melody from David's Harp." The following is part of David's soothing theme:—
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At first it is not heard in its entirety. The sweet singer of Israel plays it, or sometimes only the first two bars, in various keys, and with varied harmonisation, as if watching the king and trying the effect on him of different modulations. Besides in the principal key, it appears several times, and in succession, in the relative minor, then in the minor key of the supertonic. The key of the subdominant enters with refreshing effect; after that, a return is made to the principal key, which continues until the close of the movement. Between each delivery of the theme, occur passages similar to the following:—