DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

444 HUMMEL HUMMEL
days was very great. Every kind of elaboration
was required, and every phase of art-form suitable
to tlie instrument used, from a simple
melody up to a complete fugue, had to be well
understood and readily expressed. To succeed in
this branch oF the art necessitated a nmsician
far removed from a mere skilful designer or
artful player. Hummel did not achieve his
reputation as a pianist by performing his own
compositions only, and therefore he must have
had tlie 'gift of interpretation,' as well as the
gift of speech ; and in tliis connection it is
pleasant to remember that the symphonies of
Beethoven became known to many people, and
perhaps were only known, tiirough the medium
of the excellent arrangements for Piano Duet,
which were made by Hummel, Tliis fact shows
that on Hunmiel's part there was no narrow
prejudice against Beethoven's work. His production
of the great Mass in C strengthens this
conclusion, and honour is due to a musician,
who arranged or produced the work of an artist
of wliom even Albrechtsberger said, ' He has
learnt nothing, and will never do anything well '
while Weber wrote, ' He
the asylum. ' How
is now quite ready for
little can a glorious mountain
peak be appreciated by most of those who live
so close to it that they cannot see its noble proportions
! In his later years Hummel published
his celebrated Piano School (1824), in which
he advocates a rational system of fingering.
Although of course not free from the tradition
that the thumb should be forbidden to play
upon the black keys, he argued that, apart from
this restriction, the same shaped passage or
figure should be fingered in the same way
wherever it occurred, thus foreshadowing tlie
modern method of fingering, alike in all keys.
He tried to alter the manner of playing the
trill (which had hitherto followed the tradition
of C. P. E. Bach, in beginning upon the
auxiliary note) by insisting that it should commence
upon the principal note : and when the
Bach.
Hummel.
tT.
principal note is an essential note of the melody,
common sense would seem to be in Hummel's
favour. He also tried to reverse the accepted
meaning of the direct turn ~, and the inverted
turn S, and to reverse the accent in the ' simplified
trill ' when accompanied by holding notes as
in the Rondo of the ' Waldstein ' Sonata. The
object of these last two changes is not so obvious
B- f^^^^m
Bninmel.
asthat of thefirst, though the third was suggested
by the desirability of all the accents beiug placed
upon the notes which would have sounded with
the nielody note, had there been no trill ;
a view
which would certainly meet with the approval
of harmonists. Hummel also suggested the use
of tliis mark /^ to indicate the use of the
' Celeste ' Pedal, invented in its present form
by Sebastien Erard, as distinguished from the
' shifting ' Pedal, first used by Stein, which
permitted the use of one, two, or three strings,
at will. (' Nach und nach mehre Saiten,' Beethoven
Sonata, op. 101.) The Piano School
altogether was a decided advance upon the
previous methods, and a valuable contribution to
the more logical development of the technique,
which, already raised to a high degree of excellence
by Clementi, was soon to receive such
vast improvement from the methods of Czerny,
Liszt, Schumann^ and Chopin. It should be
remembered that Czerny was the pupil of Beethoven
and Hummel, that the playing of Hummel
was a 'revelation to him,' and that he was
the teacher of Liszt, so that modern pianists,
whilst acknowledging their indebtedness to C. P.
E. Bach and Clementi, owe a gi'eat deal to the
Viennese School and to Hummel in particular.
Hummel's compositions, which number 127,
contain the following items, of which those
marked with a * are still played, the remainder
having become practically obsolete. There are
a great many more without opus numbers, and
in many cases the same number is attached to
two difterent compositions (see Quellen-Lexiko^i).
1. Variations.
2. 3 Sonatas Bb. and G-, with
Flute, VioloDcello, in C for
Piano Solo.
3. Scotch Country Dances,
i-
5. 3 Sonatas Bf, F, Viola, Eb
with Violin.
6. Caprices.
7. 3 Fugues for PF.
8. E ice rcare.
jq' >Two Caprices.
II*. Eondo in Eb.
12. Trio in Eb.
13. Sonata in Ef. Piano.
14. VariationB. Piano and Violin.
15. Variutiona.
16. 6 Balli Tedeechi.
17. Concerto. Piano and Violin
in G.
18. Rondo (? Grand Fantasia) in
Eb. Piano.
19. Sonata for Piano and Viola.
20. Sonata in F minor. Piano.
21. VariationB.
22. Trio in F.
23. Balll Ongaresi.
24. 12 Minuetaand Trios.
25.
26. Ht-l^ne et Paris, Ballet.
27. 12 Minuets.
28. 12 Deutsche Tiinze.
29. 12 RedowaB.
30. String Quartets in C, G, Eb.
31. Tiinze f. d. Apollo Saale.
33! Das belebte Gtmalde, Ballet.
34. Piano Concerto in C.
35. 4 Songs [Trio in G].
37. Pi(>ce8
38. Sonata in C. Piano.
39. Variations.
40. Variations (12 Beutache
Tanze).
41.
42«. 6 Pieces trfis faciles.
. Music to Jobann von Gnmland
(or Finnland).
. 12 Deutsche Tiinze.
. Tanze fiir dem Apollo SaaJe.
. PantouDime, ' Der Zanbetring.'
&•. Rondo in F (f Caprice).
0. Sonata for PF. and Flute.
1. Duet Sonata in Ep or Divertissement.
Plajio.
2*. Rondoletta.
3. Potpourri in G minor. PF.
and Violin.
4. Variations for Clarinet and.
Piano.
5*. La Bella Capricciosa.
6. Kondo in A.
'1*. Variations.
'B. Sappho, BsUlet H^roique.
9.
0. Uebung-StUcke from 'Piano
School' (also opera, 'Die
Eaelshaut ').
1. Die gute Nachricht.
2. Patriotic Choruses.
3. No. 1 Serenade.
4. Sonata for PF. and Flut«.
5. Trio in G.
6. No. 2 Quartet for Piano,
Guitar. Clarinet, and Bassoon
[also called Serenade].
7. Preludes.
S. Sfi-ppho de MityWne.
9. Riickfahrtdes Kaisers, Opera,
0. 6 Polonaises,
1. La Sentinelle. PianOi Toicei.
violin, guitar.
2.
3. Concertino in D.
4*. Septett.
5. Adagio. Varlationand&ondo.
6. Variations.
7*. Mass in Bb.
8. Adagio, etc., for PF.
9.
0*. MasB in Eb.