DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

INTRUDUCTION INTRODUCTION 489
lias been carried out by great masters, and the
more inqtortaiic relations which seem to subsist
between a movement and its Introduction in
their works.
In the first place there are many examples of
simple signals to attention ; such as the single
independent chord which opens Haydn's Quartet
in Eb (Trautwein, No. 33) ; the simple cadence
which introduces his Quartet in C, op. 72
(Trautwein, No. 16), and the group of chords
with cadence which precedes the t^uartet in Br>,
op. 72 (Trautwein, No. 12). These have no
other relation to the movement than that of
giving notice that it is about to commence, and
are appropriate enough to the clear and simple
form of the Haydn Quartet. Similar examples are
to be remarked in very ditferent kinds of music ;
as for inst-ance at the commencement of the
Eroica Symphony, where the quiet soberness of
the beginning of the movement seems to call
for some signal to attention, "while its supreme
interest from the very first seems to indicate
that introductory elaboration would be out of
place. In Chopin's Nocturne in B major, op.
62, No. 1, again, it is not difficult to see the
reason for the adoption of the two simple forte.
chords witli which it is introduced ; since the
commencement of the Nocturne proper is so
quiet and delicate that without some such signal
theop?ning notesmightbolostupontheaudieuce ;
whilst a more developed Introduction would
clearly be disproportionate to the dimensions of
the piece.
In great orchestral works, such as symphonies,
Haydn usually commences with a set and formal
Introduction in a slow tempo, which marks the
importance of the work, and by remaining so
close to the principal key of the movement as
hardly ever to pass the limits of the tonic and
dominant keys, assists the audience to realise
the tonality. Mozart did not follow the exam pie
of Haydn in this respect, as many of his symphonies
are without Introductions,— especially
the well-known ones in G (Jupiter) and G
minor. In quintets, quartets, sonatas, and such
forms of chamber-music he is also sparing of
Introductions, but there is an example of some
extent in the quintet for pianoforte and wind
in Eb (Kochel, 452), in which the harmonic
successions are simple, and there is a more
celebrated one to the string quartet in C, in
which the harmonic bases vary more freely than
in other examples of that period which can be
adduced.
Beethoven began from the first to follow up
this point, and it is said that some pedants never
foi-gave him for opening the Introduction to his
Symphony in C (No. l)with chords which ap])ear
not to belong to that key. The Symphony in D
again (No. 2) has a very important Introduction,
in which there is free modulation, such as to Bb
and F, and many passages and figures of great
beauty and interest. In the Symphony in Bb
the introductory Adagio is in the highest degree
beautiful and impressive, and contains modulation
even to the degree of an enharmonic change.
In the Symjjhony in A the idea of the independent
Introduction culminates. It has a decidedly
appreciable form and two definite subjects. It
opens with gi'eat dignity and decision in A major,
and passes thence to CJ, the key of the minor third
above, in which a clear and beautiful second subject
is given ; after this the figures of the opening
are resumed and a short transition is made back
to the original key, passing on from thence to F
major, the key of the third below, in which the
second subject again appears. From this key
the transition to E, the Dominant of the original
key, is at the same time easy and natural, and
sufficiently interesting ; and considerable stress
being laid upon this note both by its continuance
in the harmonies and its reiteration individually,
it thoroughly prepares the delhiite counuencement
of the Vivace.
In the above instances the Introduction is
practically an independent mo^'cment, both as
regards the substance and the clear division
which is made between it and the succeeding
movement by a full or half close. In many of
his later works Beethoven made an important
change in respect of the connection between the
Introduction and the movement introduced ; by
abolishing the marked break of continuity, by
the use of figures which are closely related in
both, and by carrying the subject matter of
the Introduction into the movement which
follows.
One of the clearest and most interesting examples
of his later treatment of the Introduction
is in the first movement of the Sonata in Eb,
op. 81 a, in which the introductory adagio opens
with the text of the movement, which is constantly
reiterated in the ' w^orking out ' of the
Allegro, and yet more constantly and persistently
and with many transformations in the long and
beautiful coda. Rubinstein has adopted the
same device in his Dramatic Symphony in D
minor ; in wdiich also the first subject of the
first movement proper is a transformed version
of the opening subject of the Introduction.
In several of his later Quartets Beethoven
makes the most important material of the Introduction
appear in the movement which follows
it, in difi'erent ways—as in the Quartet in Eb,
op. 127, and that in Bb, op. 130, and A minor,
op. 132, in the last two of wdiich the subjects of
the Introduction and the first movement are
very closely intermixed. In the Eb Concerto
also the Introduction reappears with certain
variations of detail in the latter part of the
movement previous to the ' recapitulation ' of
the subject. In its intimate connection with
the movement which follows it, the Introduction
to the first movement of the Ninth Symphony is
most remarkable. It commences mysteriously
with the open fifth of the Dominant, into which