Life of Beethoven Part 19

Beethoven's manner of holding down particular notes, combined with a kind of soft gliding touch, imparted such a vivid colouring, that the hearer could fancy he actually beheld the lover in his living form, and heard him apostrophising his obdurate mistress. In the following groups of semiquavers--

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he strongly accented the fourth note of each group, and gave a joyous expression to the whole pa.s.sage, and at the succeeding chromatic run he resumed the original time, and continued it till he arrived at this phrase,--

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which he gave in _tempo andantino_, beautifully accenting the ba.s.s, and the third notes of the upper part of the harmony, as I have marked them in the two last bars of the subjoined example, thereby rendering distinct to the ear the separation of the two principles. On arriving at the ninth bar,--

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he made the ba.s.s stand out prominently, and closed the succeeding cadence on the dominant in the original time, which he maintained without deviation to the end of the first part.

In the second part Beethoven introduced the phrase in A flat major, by a _ritardando_ of the two preceding bars. He attacked this phrase vigorously, thus diffusing a glow of colour over the picture. He gave a charming expression to the following phrase in the treble by strongly accenting and holding down longer than the prescribed time the first note in each bar,--

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whilst the ba.s.s was played with gradually increasing softness, and with a sort of creeping motion of the hand.

The pa.s.sage next in succession was touched off brilliantly; and in its closing bars the _decrescendo_ was accompanied by a _ritardando_. The following phrase was begun in _tempo andante_:--

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At the fifth bar there was a slight _accellerando_, and an increase of tone. At the sixth bar the original time was resumed. Throughout the remainder of the first movement Beethoven observed the same time as that which he had taken in the opening bars.

Various as were the _tempi_ which Beethoven introduced in this movement, yet they were all beautifully prepared, and if I may so express myself, the colours were delicately blended one with another. There were none of those abrupt changes which the composer frequently admitted in some of his other works, with the view of giving a loftier flight to the declamation. Those who truly enter into the spirit of this fine movement will find it advisable not to repeat the first part: by this allowable abridgment the gratification of the hearer will be unquestionably increased, whilst it may possibly be diminished by the frequent repet.i.tion of the same phrases.

It would lead me too far to describe circ.u.mstantially the princ.i.p.al points in all the three movements of this Sonata; and so with others.

The shades of expression are so various and important that I can only lament the impossibility of conveying any adequate idea of them by words. Perhaps it is only by the publication of a new edition of these and other compositions, that the manner in which Beethoven did or would have executed them can be rendered perfectly obvious to the performer, as well as their right comprehension facilitated to those lovers of the art whose cultivated perception may enable them to recognise poetic ideas clothed in a musical garb.

With regard to the second Sonata in E major (Op. 14), the subject of which is similar to that of the second, I shall confine myself to the description of Beethoven's manner of performing a very few pa.s.sages. In the eighth bar of the first _allegro_ movement--

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as well as in the ninth bar, he r.e.t.a.r.ded the time, touching the keys more _forte_ and holding down the fifth note, as marked above. By these means he imparted to the pa.s.sage an indescribable earnestness and dignity of character.

In the tenth bar--

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the original time was resumed, the powerful expression being still maintained. The eleventh bar was _diminuendo_ and somewhat lingering.

The twelfth and thirteenth bars were played in the same manner as the two foregoing.

On the introduction of the middle movement--

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the dialogue became sentimental. The prevailing time was _andante_, but not regularly maintained, for every time that either principle was introduced a little pause was made on the first note, thus:--

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At the following phrase--

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a joyous character was expressed. The original _tempo_ was taken, and not again changed till the close of the first part.

The second part, from this pa.s.sage

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forward, was characterised by an increased breadth of rhythm, and augmented power of tone, which, however, was further on shaded into an exquisitely delicate _pianissimo_; so that the apparent meaning of the dialogue became more perceptible without any over-strained effort of imagination.

The second movement _Allegretto_ was, as performed by Beethoven, more like an _Allegro furioso_; and, until he arrived at the single chord--

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on which he made a very long pause, he kept up the same _tempo_.

In the _Maggiore_, the _tempo_ was taken more moderately, and played by Beethoven in a beautifully expressive style. He added not a single note; but he gave to many an accentuation which would not have suggested itself to any other player. On the subject of accentuation I may state, as a general remark, that Beethoven gave prominent force to all appoggiaturas, particularly the minor second, even in running pa.s.sages; and in slow movements his transition to the princ.i.p.al note was as delicately managed as it could have been by the voice of a singer.

In the Rondo of the Sonata to which I am here referring, Beethoven maintained the time as marked until he arrived at the bars introducing the first and third pauses. These bars he made _ritardando_.

The two Sonatas in Op. 14, the first Sonata (F minor) in Op. 2; the first Sonata (C minor), Op. 10; the Sonate pathetique (C minor), Op. 13; the Sonata quasi Fantasia in C sharp minor, Op. 27, and some others, are all pictures of feeling; and in every movement Beethoven varied the time according as the feelings changed.

I will now endeavour to make the reader acquainted with the effect which Beethoven intended should be given to particular phrases or whole movements of his Symphonies. That orchestral music does not admit of such frequent changes of time as chamber music, is, of course, an understood fact. But it is equally well known that in orchestral performances the greatest and most unexpected efforts may be produced by even slight variations of time.

Pa.s.sing over the first Symphony, I shall proceed to notice the second.

In the first movement the prescribed time must not be altered, and it must by no means be taken faster than is understood by the direction _allegro_. By too fast a _tempo_ the intrinsic dignity of the movement would be utterly lost.

The second movement, _Larghetto_, requires a frequent change of measure.

The first _tempo_ is kept up to the phrase--

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where the time is gradually quickened, by which the character of the movement acquires a greater degree of warmth and spirit.

The pa.s.sage immediately following--

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is like the echo of a very melancholy wail, and is given more slowly than the original time, which is resumed only with the succeeding cadence. The same variation of time should be observed on the repet.i.tion of the same phrases in the second part of the movement.

To afford at a glance an idea of the right mode of playing these phrases, and to show that their accurate performance is perfectly practicable by a well-trained orchestra, I subjoin the whole in a connected form, together with the requisite marks for the changes of the _tempi_:--

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