Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

530 SONATA
No. 6 in D. They are generally in the simplest
kind of primary form with a proportionately
important coda. In point of actual style and
treatment of the instrument there is a great
diversity in different sonatas. In some the solid
old contrapuntal style predominates, in similar
proportion to that in the organ preludes, sonatas,
etc. of Bach ; hut this rarely occurs without
some intermixture of modern traits. The most
completely and consistently modern in style is
the Sonata in D major, No. 5, which is practically
in three divisions. The first is a chorale,
the second a kind of song without words ' ' in B
minor, and the third a species of fantasia, in
which the sections are balanced by distinct
figures, without more tonal structure than
emphasis upon the principal key at the beginning
and end, and variety of modulation with some
thematic development in the middle. In other
sonatas different modes of writing for the instrument
are used as a means of enforcing the
contrast between one movement ?.nd another.
Thus in the second Sonata the first division is
a kind of prelude in a modern manner, chiefly
homophonic and orchestral ; the second corresponds
to a distinct romance or song without
'
words ' with clearly defined melody and graceful
and constantly flowing independent accompaniment.
In the third movement, which though
in 3-4 time has something of a march quality,
the modern harmonic character is very prominent,
and the last movement is a fugue. Similar
distribution of styles and modes of writing are
as clearly used in the first and fourth Sonatas ;
in the former more elaborately.
Among the few attempts which have teen
made to add something genuine to the literature
of the Pianoforte Sonata, that in Ffi minor, op.
11, by Schumann, first published under the
pseudonym of Florestan and Eusebius, is most
interesting. This was clearly an attempt to
adapt to the sonata-form the so-called romantic
ideas of which Schumann was so prominent and
successful a representative. The outward aspect
of the matter is twofold. First, the absolute
subordination of the sectional distribution to the
ideas contained, and, secondly, the interchange
of the subject-matter so as to connect the movements
absolutely as weU as intrinsically. The
first point is illustrated by the continuity of the
Allegro Vivace and the constant shifting and
swaying of modulation and changing of tempo ;
also by the variety of the subjects and the apparently
irregular manner of their introduction,
if judged from the point of view of the older
sonatas. Thus the part which corresponds to
the first section comprises a first subject, containing
a figure which may be called the text of
the movement, and many subsidiary features and
transitions. The second section follows continuously,
with new matter and allusions to the
first subject, all in a constant sway of transition,
till at the end of the first half of the movement
a long continuous subject in_A is reached, which
in its sustained and earnest calmness seems to
supply the point of rest after the long preceding
period of activity. This same subject is the only
one which is given with complete fulness at the
end of the whole movement, the rest of the
subject-matter, though all represented in the
recapitulation, being considerably condensed
and curtailed. The second point is illustrated
by the connection between the introduction and
the two following movements. The introduction
itself is in an elaborate kind of primary form.
Its impressive principal subject is reintroduced
in the middle of the succeeding allegro ; and the
subject of the middle portion serves as the main
staple of the beautiful aria which is the central
movement of the whole sonata. The success of
such tilings certainly depends on the way in
which they are done, and mere description of
them gives very little impress of their effectiveness
in this case. There can hardly be a doubt
that in these devices Schumann hit upon a true
means of applying original thought to the development
of the structural outlines, following
the suggestion which is really contained in Beethoven's
work, that the structure is perceptible
through the disposition of the ideas, and not
only by emphasising the harmonic sections. The
actual distribution of the structure which is
hidden under the multiplicity of ideas is remarkably
careful and systematic. Even in the development
portion there is method and balance,
and the same is true of large expanses in the last
movement. The freedom with whicli Schumann
uses subordinate transitions makes the balance
of keys a matter requiring great concentration ;
but it is remarkable in his work, as contrasted
with similar modem examples by other composers,
that he rarely makes random and unrestrained
flights, but keejjs within the bounds
which make proportionate balance possible. It
is no doubt a matter of very great difficulty to
carry out such principles as this work seems to
embody ; but if the sonata form he really capable
of any fresh extension it will prohably be to a
great extent on sudi lines.
Schumann's second Sonata, in G minor, op.
22, though written during almost the same
period, seems to be a retrogression from the
position taken up by that in Fj minor. It is
possibly a more effective work, and from the
pianist's point of view, more capahle of being
made to sound convincing. And yet in detail
it is not so interesting, nor is it technically so
rich, nor so full and noble in soimd. He
seems to aim at orthodoxy with deliberate purpose,
and the result is that though vehement
and vigorous in motion, it is not, for Schumann,
particularly warm or poetical. The second
suhjects of tlie first and last movements are
characteristic, and so is a great part of the
peculiarly sectional and epigrammatic scherzo.
The andantino also has remarkable points about