[44] "Oxford History of Music."
CHAPTER XIII.
BEETHOVEN—III.
I. THE SLOW MOVEMENT BEFORE BEETHOVEN.
The slow movements of the sonatas and symphonies of Haydn and Mozart were essentially lyric pieces in which the composer relied for his effect on the beauty of his melodies. These melodies, usually two in number, were varied by being presented in different keys and by being ornamented with passing-notes, scale passages, trills, etc. Each section was clearly separated from the others by cadence chords, so that the total effect was of a series of separate divisions, each, as it were, independent and complete in itself. There are, of course, exceptions to this method of procedure, particularly in the string quartets of Haydn and Mozart, which are more highly developed than is usual in their piano sonatas, but as a general rule this was their way of treating slow movements.
This lyric, sectional form of slow movement served as a foil to the more involved first movement. The lovely, serene melodies were not disturbed by passion, nor sacrificed for picturesque effect of any kind. In the string quartets and symphonies they were enlivened by a certain amount of polyphony (see Chapter X), and in the piano sonatas they occasionally departed from the simple regular form, but they seldom dealt with tragedy and seldom presented any evidence of that idiosyncrasy and intense individuality that marks the slow movement of later times.
II. THE SLOW MOVEMENTS OF BEETHOVEN'S EARLY SYMPHONIES.
The early sonatas and symphonies of Beethoven are largely constructed on the old model. The first piano sonata, referred to in Chapter XII, has a sectional slow movement that might almost have been written by Mozart. The slow movement of the first symphony is simplicity itself, both in form and content; and even the adagio of the Path?ique Sonata (see Chapter XI) is a straightforward sectional piece with a lyric melody presented several times, with varying accompaniment, and with the usual contrasting middle section.
(a)