Part 10 (1/2)
Of the thirty-two, as will be seen from the above table, eight have no dedication.
In the year 1792 Beethoven left Bonn and went to Vienna. There he studied counterpoint under Haydn, yet the lessons proved unsatisfactory. But the fame and influence of the veteran master no doubt prompted the young artist to dedicate to him the three sonatas, Op. 2. The t.i.tle-page of the oldest Vienna edition runs thus:--
Trois Sonates pour le Clavecin Piano-forte composees et dediees A Mr. Joseph Haydn Docteur en musique par Louis van Beethoven.
There was perhaps more of sarcasm than respect in the ”Docteur en musique”; Beethoven is related to have said that he had taken some lessons from Haydn, but had never learnt anything from him.
Nevertheless he paid heed to his teacher's music. There are in the sonatas one or two reminiscences of Haydn, which seem to us curious enough to merit quotation. One occurs in the sonata in C minor (Op.
10, No. 1). We give the pa.s.sage (transposed) from Haydn, and the one from Beethoven:--
[Music ill.u.s.tration: ”Letter V,” Pohl, No. 58.[97] HAYDN.]
[Music ill.u.s.tration: Op. 10, No. 1. BEETHOVEN.]
And another--
[Music ill.u.s.tration: ”In Native Worth” (_Creation_). HAYDN.]
[Music ill.u.s.tration: Op. 31, No. 1. BEETHOVEN.]
While speaking of reminiscences, a curious one may be mentioned. The theme of the slow movement of Beethoven's sonata in A (Op. 2, No. 2) strongly resembles the theme of the slow movement of his own Trio in B flat (Op. 97):--
[Music ill.u.s.tration: Op. 2, No. 2.]
[Music ill.u.s.tration: Trio, Op. 97. _Andante._]
In Op. 111, again, the second subject of the Allegro recalls a phrase in the Presto of the Sonata in C sharp minor.
Haydn, as the most ill.u.s.trious composer of that day, stands first; but the next name worthy of mention is Count Waldstein, a young n.o.bleman who had been a guide, philosopher, and friend to Beethoven during the Bonn days. The well-known entry in the young musician's Alb.u.m just before his departure for Vienna shows in what high esteem he was held by Waldstein. Count Ferdinand Waldstein died in 1823.
Prince Charles Lichnowsky was one of the composer's earliest patrons after the latter had settled in Vienna. The Prince, descended from an old Polish family, was born in 1758, and, consequently, was, by twelve years, Beethoven's senior. He lived mostly in Vienna. In 1789 he invited Mozart to accompany him to Berlin; and the King's proposal to name the latter his capellmeister is supposed to have been suggested by the Prince. Lichnowsky was also a pupil of Mozart's. His wife, Princess of Thun, was famous for her beauty, her kindly disposition, and for her skill as a musician. Beethoven had not been twelve months in Vienna when he was offered rooms in the Prince's house. It was there that the pianoforte sonatas Op. 2 were first played by their author in presence of Haydn. Beethoven remained in this house until 1800. In 1799 the ”Sonate Pathetique” was dedicated to the Prince, and in the following year the latter settled on him a yearly pension of 600 florins. In the year 1806 there was a rupture between the two friends. At the time of the battle of Jena, Beethoven was at the seat of Prince Lichnowsky at Troppau, in Silesia, where some French officers were quartered. The independent artist refused to play to them, and when the Prince pressed the request, Beethoven got angry, started the same evening for Vienna, and,--anger still burning in his breast,--on his arrival home, he shattered a bust of his patron. The composer's refusal to play to the French officers was grounded on his hatred to Napoleon, who had just won the battle of Jena. Beethoven, however, became reconciled with the Prince before the death of the latter in 1814. It should be mentioned that Beethoven's first published work, the three pianoforte Trios, was dedicated to Prince Lichnowsky.
The Archduke Rudolph (1788-1831) was one of the master's warmest friends, and one of his most devoted admirers. His uncle was Max Franz, Elector of Cologne, to whose chapel both Beethoven and his father had belonged. The Archduke was the son of Leopold of Tuscany and Maria Louisa of Spain; his aunt was Marie Antoinette, and his grandmother the famous Maria Theresa. He is supposed to have made the acquaintance of Beethoven during the winter of 1803-4, and then to have become his pupil. The pianoforte part of the Triple Concerto (Op.
58), commenced in 1804, and published in 1807, is said to have been written for him.
Concerning the Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, for whom Beethoven entertained a hopeless pa.s.sion, and the Countess Theresa of Brunswick, to whom he is said to have been secretly engaged for some years, there is no necessity to enter into detail. Everyone has probably heard of the famous love-letters, and of the discussion as to which of these two they were addressed. Maximiliane Brentano was a niece of the famous Bettine Brentano.
The Baroness Ertmann was an excellent performer on the pianoforte, and is said to have been unrivalled as an interpreter of Beethoven's music. Mendelssohn met her at Rome in 1831, and in a letter describes her playing of the C sharp minor and D minor Sonatas.
We must now turn to the sonatas, yet neither for the purpose of a.n.a.lysis nor of admiration. We shall briefly discuss how far Beethoven worked on the lines established by his predecessors, and how far he modified them. And, naturally, the question of music on a poetic basis will be touched upon.
The number of movements of which Beethoven's sonatas consist varies considerably: some have two, some three, others four. The three very early sonatas dedicated to Maximilian, Archbishop of Cologne, have only three movements (the second opens with a brief Larghetto, which, however, really forms part of the first movement). But the four Sonatas Op. 2 (Nos. 1, 2 and 3) and Op. 7 all have four movements--an Allegro, a slow movement, a Scherzo or Minuet and Trio, and a final Allegro or Rondo. There are examples in later sonatas of similar grouping; but it is an undeniable fact that in some of his greatest sonatas--Op. 31 (No. 2), Op. 27 (No. 2), Op. 53, Op. 57--he reverts to the three-movement sonata so faithfully adhered to by Emanuel Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and Clementi. And there is evidence that the omission of the Minuet or Scherzo in Op. 10 (Nos. 1 and 2), in Op. 13, and in others named above, was the result of reflection and not caprice.
Among sketches for the Sonatas, Op. 10, Beethoven writes: ”Zu den neuen Sonaten ganz kurze Menuetten” (to the new sonatas quite short Minuets); and also, a little further on, ”Die Menuetten zu den Sonaten ins kunftige nicht langer als von 16 bis 24 Takte” (in future the Minuets to the sonatas not to exceed from 16 to 24 bars). Then, again, there are two sketches for a movement of the Minuet or Scherzo kind, which were almost certainly intended for the Sonata No. 1 in C minor.
One of these was afterwards completed, and has been published in the Supplement to Breitkopf & Hartel's edition of Beethoven's works. Both these were finally rejected, yet Beethoven made still another attempt.
There is a sketch for an ”Intermezzo zur Sonate aus C moll,” and at the end of the music the composer writes: ”durchaus so ohne Trio, nur ein Stuck” (exactly thus without Trio, only one piece). So the Minuets were to be short; then the limit of length is prescribed; and, lastly, an Intermezzo _without_ Trio is planned. The composer proposed, but his [Greek: daimon] disposed; the Sonata in C minor finally appeared in print with only an Adagio between the two quick movements.
Schindler, in reference to the proposal made by Hoffmeister to Beethoven to edit a new edition of his pianoforte works, tells us that had that project been carried out, the master, in order to get a nearer approach to unity, would have reduced some of his earlier sonatas from four movements to three. And he adds: ”He would most certainly have cut out the Scherzo Allegro from the highly pathetic sonata for Pianoforte and Violin (Op. 30, No. 2; the first and third have only three movements), a movement in complete opposition to the character of the whole. He always objected to this movement, and, for the reason just a.s.signed, advised that it should be omitted. Had the scheme been carried out, a small number of Scherzos, Allegros and Menuets would have been 'dismissed.' In our circle, however, objections were raised against this proposal; for among these Scherzos, etc., each of us had his favourite, and did not like the idea of its being removed from the place which it had long occupied.
The master, however, pointed to the three-movement sonatas--Op. 10 in C minor, Op. 13, Op. 14, Op. 31 (Nos. 1 and 2), Op. 57, and others.
The last sonatas--Op. 106 and Op. 110--which contain more than three movements must be judged in quite a different manner” (_Life of Beethoven_, 3rd ed. vol. ii. pp. 215-16).