One who is thoroughly familiar with the andante of the Fifth Symphony feels this quality as predominant. We are not enraptured by the theme itself, as we are by that of Mozart's andante from the string quartet (referred to in Chapter X), but we feel the charm of incident and by-play, we are just as much interested in the connecting passages as we are in any other part of the piece; and we think of it all as we do of a finely written play, where one incident hangs on another, and nothing happens that does not bear on the plot.
Thus, judging music from the standpoint of universal human feeling, Beethoven reaches the highest point in its development. No other composer, before or since, has equalled him in this particular, and the more we study him the more we find in him. Repeated hearings do not dim the luster of his genius, nor have the great composers who have followed him had as broad a survey of human life as he possessed.
SUGGESTIONS FOR COLLATERAL READING.
Hadow: "Oxford History," Vol. V. Parry: "Studies of Great Composers." Mason: "Beethoven and His Forerunners," Chapters VII, VIII, and IX.
FOOTNOTES:
[45] Number the measures and parts of measures consecutively from beginning to end—making 248 measures in all.
[46] "Oxford History," Vol. III, p. 85.
[47] "Oxford History of Music," Vol. V, p. 272.