Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

SONATA 531
but is not so fascinating as the slow move-
it,
ment of the Ft minor Sonata.
The principles indicated in the sonata opus
11 reappear later with better results, as far as
the total impi'ession is concerned, in larger forms
of instrumental music, and also in the D minor
Sonata for vioiin and pianoforte. In this there
is a close connection between the introduction
and the most marked feature of the succeeding
quick movement, and simOar linking of scherzo
and slow movement by means of a reference to
the subject of the former in the progress of the
latter, with a distinctly poetic purpose. The
Sonata, in A minor for the same combination of
instruments is not on such an elaborate scale,
nor has it as many external marks to indicate a
decided purpose ; but it is none the less poetical
in eiTect, which aiises in the first movement
from the continuity of sfroeture and the mysterious
sadness of spirit which it expresses, and
in the slow movement from its characteristic
tenderness and sweetness.
Liszt, in his remarkable Sonata in B minor
dedicated to Schumann, undoubtedly adopts
the same principles of procedure, and works
them out with more uncompromising thoroughness.
He knits the whole sonata inix) an unbroken
unity, with distinct portions passing
into one another, representing the usual separate
movements. The interest is oonqentrated upon
one principal idea, to whicTi the usual second
subjects and accessories serve as so many
commentaries and antitheses, and express the
influences 'winch react upon its course. This is
further illustrated by the process sometimes
defined as ' transformation of themes,* already
referred to in connection with Beethoven's
Sonatas in B|> and Al> ; which is really no more
than a fresh way of applying that art of variation
which had been used from almost the earliest
times of sonata- writing, in recapitula.tingsnbjects
in the progress of a movement, as well as in regular
set themes and variations ; tliough it had not
been adopted before to serve apoetioalor idealconception
pervading and unifying the whole woA.
In the actual treatment of the subject-matter,
Liszt adopts, as Beethoven had done, the various
opportunities afforded not only by harmonic
structural principles, Tjut by the earlier fngal
and contrapuntal devices, and by recitative,
adapting them with admirable breadth and
freedom to a thoroughly modern style of tliought.
It seems almost superfluous to add that the
purpose is carried out with absolute mastery of
technical resource, in respect both of the instrument
and of the dispoation of the parts of the
movement.
The pianoforte sonatas of Brahms are as
astounding specimens of youthfiil power and
breadth and dignity of style as exist in the whole
range of the art ; but it must at present be considered
doubtful if they represent his maturer
convictions. All three appear to have been
written before he arrived at the age of twenty ;
and it is certain that he was then more influenced
by the romantic theories w;hich Schumann
represented, than he was in his latei' works.
His adoption of shorter and more individual
forms, such ascappriccios, intermezzi, rhapsodies,
in his mature age, lends at least indirect countenance
to the view that the tendfincy of music
is to subordinate form to idea ; and that if the
classical form of the sonata is not expansible
enough, other forms must be accepted -which
will admit of more freedom of development.
This impUes a question as to the proper meaning
of the word ' sonata,' and a doubt as to its being
legitimately assimilable to the tendency to centralise
the interest upon the idea, as a contrast
to the old practice of making an equal balance
between two main subjects as a means of structural
eflFeet.
If the word is to be so restricted,
it will only be another conventional limitation,
and, It may be added, must before long put an
end to further enrichment of the literature of
so-(alled sonatas.
In tlie finest of Brahms's three early sonatas,
that im F minor, op. 5, the first slow movement
is headed hy a quotation from a poem ofSternau,
and another movement is called Riickblick.
These are clearly external marks of a poetical
intention. In the actual treatment of the
subjects there is no attempt to connect the
movements ; but ihe freedom of transitixm, even
in the actual progress of a subject (see the second
subject of the first movement), is eminently
characteristic of the composer, and of a. liberal
liew of sonata development. In the last movement—a
Hondo—^the most noticeable external
mark of continuity is the elaborately ingenious
treatment of the subject of the second episode
in the latter part of the movement. Brahms
added no more to the list of solo pianoforte
sonatas, but he illustrated the tendency to look
for fresh opportunities in combinations of solo
instruments, as in his pianoforte quartets and
quintet, which are really just as much sonatas
as those usually so designated ; in fact, one of
the versions of the quintet, -which stands as a
duet for two pianofortes, is in that form published
as a 'sonata.' The three for pianoforte
and violin require notice as the work of a, great
master, but thiow very little ligTit on any sort
of extension of the possibilities of sonata-form.
There seems to be a sort of poetic design in the
complicated arrangement of the first half of the
first movement in the first Sonata, op. 78, in
which the characteristic figures of the first
subject reappear, as if to connect each section
with the centre of interest ; and the half concludes
with a complete restatement of the first
subject simply and clearly in the original key,
as is the case also in the same composer's Serenade
in A for small orchestra. It may be
observed in passing that this device curiously
recalls the early composite form, in which the