Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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522 SONATA
the minor of the principal key, and makes a
complete whole of that also, and so on right
through, alternating his main tune with one or
more others all equally complete. Under such
circumstances his principle of giving variations
at each return of the theme or repetition of an
episode is almost indispensable to avoid monotony.
Mozart rarely makes any point of this
plan of adopting variations in his sonata-rondos,
because it is not required. He does not often
cast his theme in such extremely distinct out-
Unes. In structure it is more what an ordinary
binary subject would be ; that is, complete and
distinct in itself as an idea, without being so
carried out as to make its connection with the
rest of the movement a. matter of secondary
rather than intriusic consequence. Haydn's
conception is perfectly just and rational, but
Mozart's is more mature. The theme and its
episodes are more closely interwoven, and tire
development of the whole has a more consistent
and uniform texture. Mozart does not avoid
varying his theme ; on the contrary, he constantly
puts in the most delicate strokes of detail
and of graceful adornment, and sometimes resorts
todelightfullyreadydevelopmentof itsresources;
but with him it is not so indispensable, because
his conception of the form gives it so much more
freedom and elasticity.
The central movement of his three-movement
sonatas is almost invariably a, slow one, commonly
in the key of the subdominant. The style
of these is characteristic of the time ; that is,
rather artificial and full of graces, which require
to be given with a somewhat conscious elegance
of manner, not altogether consonant with the
spirit of later times. They rarely touch the point
of feeling expected in modern movements of the
kind, because the conception formed of the
proper function of the slow movement in his
time was clearly alien to that of the 19th century.
As specimens of elegance and taste,
however, Mozart's examples probably attain the
highest point possible in their particular genus.
The technique of his sonatas, from the point of
view of instrumental resource, is richer and fuller
than Haydn's, but still thin and rather empty in
sound to ears that are accustomed to the wonderful
development of the resources of the modern
pianoforte ; but the refinement and self-containment
of his style make him particularly acceptable
to artists who idealise finish and elegance in solo
performance, and nicety of ensemble in works
for combined instruments, as the highest and
most indispensable condition of art. His instinct
for adapting his thouglits to instrumental
idiosyncrasies was of a very high order when the
instruments were familiar and properly developed.
This with the pianoforte was not yet achieved,
and consequently some of his forms of expression
are hardly adapted to its nature, and seem in
these days to be rather compromises than perfectly
suitable utterances.
With regard to the technical matter of the
development of the resources of the pianoforte,
Mozart's contemporary, MuzioClementi, occupies
a, most important position. Clementi, in his
early days, according to his own admission,
applied himself rather to the development of
the resources of playing than to the matter to
be played, and attained a degree and a kind of
mastery which no one before his time had heard
the like of. When he began to apply himself
more to the matter, this study served him in
good stead ; and his divination of the treatment
most appropriate to the instrmnent, expanded
by this means in practical application, marks
his sonatas as among the very first in which
the genuine qualities of modern pianoforte music
on a large scale are shown. They begin to
approach to that broad and almost orchestral
style which is sometimes said to be characteristic
of Beethoven ; and the use of octaves and
fuller combinations of sounds, and the occasional
irruption of passages which bring into play
stronger muscles than those of the fingers, are
all in the direction of modern usage. In respect
of structure, it is not necessary to consider more
than that he commonly accepted the threemovement
type of sonata, beginning with a
movement in binary form and ending with a
rondo, and having aslow movementinthe middle.
His handling is free and at the same time
thoroughly under control. One of his characteristics
is the love of importing little touches of
learning or scientific ingenuity into the treatment
; as in the Sonata in G (of four movements)
in which two canons in direct and contrary
motion take the place of the minuet and
trio. In another sonata, in F, one figure is
woven through the whole substance of the first
movement, appearing in the different sections
diminished and inverted, and in various phases
of expression which quite alter its aspect. His
slow movements are sometimes equally simple
and expressive, but also frequently of that
ornamental order which has been sufficiently
commented on.
In one celebrated case he anticipated the
modern taste for programme by calling one of
his longest and most pretentious sonatas Didone
'
abbandonata. Scena tragica. ' But appearance
of dramatic purpose does not turn him aside
from regularity of form any more than in other
sonatas. His style is not exempt from the
family likeness which is observable in all composers
of the latter part of the century. His
ideas are large and broad, and not unworthy to
have exerted some influence upon both Mozart
and Beethoven. A certain dryness and reticence
makes him unlikely to be greatly in favour in
modern times, but his place as an important
figure in the development of the sonata in its
relation with the pianoforte is assured.
One further composer who deserves some
consideration in connection with tlie sonata