The gay little theme is composed of two motives, as indicated in Figure XXI, in which the long brackets show the theme and its imitation by the second voice to enter, and the short brackets show its component motives, of contrasting character. In measures 5 and 6 the theme is again imitated by the third voice (left hand part). In the course of the development a still more lively figure makes its appearance in measures 19, 23, 24 and 25.
The now familiar sequences are found at every turn. The form is binary (Part I, measures 1-26; Part II, measures 27-60). The inversion of the theme, shown in Figure XXI, makes the subject of the second half. The key-system is perfectly simple. Part I modulates from the tonic, E-flat, to the dominant, B-flat; Part II begins there and returns to the home-key.
III. THE HISTORIC IMPORTANCE OF THE SUITE.
In the course of the eighteenth century the suite gradually waned in popularity, and gave place to the more highly organic sonata. Modern suites, notable among which are such delightful works as Bizet's "L'Arlesienne," Grieg's "Peer Gynt," Dvor?'s Suite for small orchestra, opus. 39, Tschaikowsky's "Nut-Cracker Suite," and Brahms's "Serenades" for orchestra, are, after all, exceptional and infrequent, and not the inevitable mould in which the composer casts his ideas.
But the historical importance of the suite was great, and it fell into disuse only after its lessons had been thoroughly learned. Through it musicians developed the dance element which must always be one of the two main strands of all music; through it they learned to substitute for the ancient polyphonic style which is suitable to voices the homophonic style best adapted to the capacities and the limitations of instruments; and through it they became familiar with those simple binary and ternary forms in which such instrumental music is most conveniently and effectively cast.
Thus the suite formed the bridge between, on the one hand, (a) crude folk-songs, (b) primitive dances, and (c) strict polyphonic forms such as the invention and the fugue, and on the other, the sonatas, quartets, concertos, and symphonies of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
SUGGESTIONS FOR COLLATERAL READING.
Dickinson: "The Study of the History of Music," Chapters XIII and XIV. Parry: "Evolution of the Art of Music," Chapters VIII and IX; Mason: "Beethoven and His Forerunners," Chapter IV.
FOOTNOTES:
[12] Edward Dickinson, "The Study of the History of Music," page 84.