Of the Piano Quartetts, that in E♭, an arrangement of the piano and wind Quintett, op. 16, should be mentioned. The other Piano Quartetts are, comparatively, of little value. There are also the String Quintetts, of which that in C major, op. 29, is familiar as a splendid example of this master. The Sextett, op. 81B, for strings and two horns, with the delightful adagio, and that for two clarinets, two horns, and two bassoons, op. 71, may be named; also the well-known Septett in E♭, op. 20, for strings and wind, both in its original form and arranged by the composer for clarinet or violin, ’cello, and piano; and the Octett, op. 103, for wind instruments, based on the Quintett, op. 4, for strings.

Beethoven’s Sonatas for piano and violin are among the more familiar of his works. Of these there are ten in number, and for the same instruments, a rondo in G, and a set of Variations in F. For the piano and ’cello he wrote five Sonatas, all of which are of great interest, and three sets of Variations, one being that on the well-known Handelian air, “See the conquering hero comes.” A Sonata for piano and French horn, op. 17, and three duets for clarinet and bassoon, may also be referred to, although they are of no great importance.

The Distinction in Beethoven’s Chamber Music

The great distinction in Beethoven’s works, especially those of his later years, is their high emotional expression. This it is which mainly differentiates him from his predecessors, and which makes him a romantic as well as, what by common consent he also is, a classical composer. This was, no doubt, the thought in Richard Wagner’s mind when, in his report to King Ludwig II. upon the establishment of a German music school in Munich, he wrote: “Through these last, and to us still unknown works of our wondrous master [Beethoven’s posthumous quartetts], of all others, the powers of musical expression has taken a direction from which the music of earlier periods was often bound to hold deliberately aloof; I will here call that direction the tenderly and deliberately passionate, through whose expression music has first raised herself to an equal height with the poetry and painting of the greatest periods of the past. Whilst Dante, Shakespeare, Calderon, and Goethe, like the great masters of painting in Italy and the Netherlands, with this expression took fee of every portrayable object in the world and man; and whilst it was this that first enabled them to paint the world and man: in music there had ruled an axiom which openly degraded her as a branch of Art, an axiom borrowed from the purely physical pleasure, the purely sensuous entertainment to be found in her. To what a point this narrow view of music’s mission still wanders to this day, particularly under the terrifying impression of the un-understood last works of Beethoven, we may perceive from the flat assertions of modern æsthetes when setting up their theories of ‘the Beautiful in Music.’ Us it behoves, on the contrary, to first take true and full possession of the whole rich heritage bequeathed us by our great masters, and, through full knowledge of the powers developed by music hitherto, to procure ourselves due light on what development is still before her.”

CHAPTER VI.

SCHUBERT, MENDELSSOHN, SCHUMANN, AND SPOHR.

Schubert as song-writer — Schubert’s chamber music — Mendelssohn — Mendelssohn’s position in England — Mendelssohn’s character — Mendelssohn’s chamber music — Schumann — Schumann as absolute musician — The E♭ Piano Quintett — Piano trios — Spohr’s opinion of Beethoven’s work — Characteristics of his compositions.

Schubert as Song-writer

Schubert’s fame rests chiefly on his songs, but in the domain of instrumental music he also did some remarkable work, although it can hardly be said that he fundamentally influenced the art in this direction. He lived (1797-1828) in Vienna at the same time as Beethoven, and many of his compositions show distinctly how much he was influenced by the genius of that great musician. Schubert’s works are distinguished by a spontaneous flow of beautiful melody. He possessed, by right of nature, the utmost artistic opulence, but unfortunately, owing chiefly to his birth and early circumstances, this was not consolidated by that profounder culture which is necessary for the fullest expression of human capacity. Not that Schubert failed to reach a most exalted position, for works like the B♭ Piano Trio, the C major Quintett, that noble fragment the B minor Symphony, and especially his best songs, proclaim him unsurpassed by any musician of modern times; but out of the very profusion of his ideas, combined with a certain want of restraint and self-criticism, arose an artistic danger, the result of which is most evident in his larger works. This, too, is probably the reason why he was so great as a composer of songs, for he had all the means ready at hand for the expression which the text required, and the form being necessarily free, he could and did work in an unfettered fashion, with the most wonderful results. That this is so, such Lieder as “The Erl King,” “Gretchen at the Spinning-wheel,” “The Wanderer,” and many others, abundantly prove. Liszt, who greatly advocated his works, called Schubert “the most poetical of all the musicians,” and Schumann characteristically writes thus of the Piano Trio in B♭:—“One glance at this trio, and all the pitiful clouds of life disperse and the world shines again as fresh and bright as ever. This work is indeed a precious legacy. Many and beautiful as are the things which time brings forth, it will be long ere it produces another Schubert.”