Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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SUBJECT SUBSIDIARY 735
IX. Very dilferent from this was the next
manifestation of progressive power. Taking the
lines of tlie AUemande as the limit of the general
contour, the first experimenters in ' Sonata-form
(see Sonata) used a primary Subject, of comparatively
limited dimensions, as the foundation
of a movement of gi-eater length and higher
development than any previously attempted.
For this form a good Subject was of paramount
importance ; but its office was that of a text,
and nothing more ; the real interest of the
movement lay in the completeness of its treatment.
The essential features of the most beautiful
form that the art has yet shown have been
treated in the articles Form, Sonata.
There remains another class of Subjects to
which we' have as yet made no allusion, but
which, nevertheless, plays a very important
part in the economy of musical composition.
We allude to the Subjects of dramatic movements,
both vocal and instrumental. It is
obvious that in Subjects of tliis kind the most
important element is the peculiar form of
dramatic expression necessary for each individual
theme. And because the varieties of dramatic
expression are practically innumerable, it is
impossible to fix any limit to the varieties of
form into which such Subjects may be consistently
cast. At certain epochs in the history
of the,lyric drama consistency has undoubtedly
been violated, and legitimate artistic progress
seriously hindered by contracted views on this
point. In the days of Hasse, for instance, a
persistent determination to cast all Melodies,
of whatever character, into the same stereotyped
foiin, led to the petrifaction of all natural expression
in the most unnatural of all mechanical
contrivances—the so-called 'Concert- Opera.'
Against this perversion of dramatic truth all
true artists conscientiously rebelled. Gluck,
with a larger orchestra and stronger chorus at
command, returned to the principles set forth
by Peii and Caccini in the year 1600. Mozart
invented Subjects, faultlessly proportioned, yet
, always exactly suited to the character of the
'
dramatic situation, and the peculiar form of
passion needed for its expression. These Subjects
he wrought into movements, the symmetry
of which equalled that of his inost finished
concertos and symphonies, while their freedom
of development and elaborate construction
not only interposed no hindrance to the most
perfect scenic propriety, but, on the contrary,
caiTied on the action of the drama with a
power which has long been the despair of his
most ambitious imitators. Moreover, in his
greatest work, 'II Don Giovanni,' he used the
peculiar form of Subject now known as the
In 'Der Freischiitz,' Weber followed up this
idea with great effect ; inventing, among other
striking Subjects, two constantly -reciuTing
themes, which, applied to the heroine of the
piece and the Demon, invest the scenes in
which they appear with special interest.
[In the later works of Wagner the use of the
Leitmotiv or Leading Subject was developed
to the greatest possible extent, and almost all
dramatic music since his day illustrates the
principle he brought to such perfection. Not
merely the characters and the external, tangible
objects of the di-ama were identified with special
musical phrases, but the inner dramatic factor's,
the ' motives ' in the non-musical sense, were
provided with themes, and in thefinest instances,
as throughout 'Tristan,' 'Die Meistersinger,'
or ' Parsifal,' the themes are not arbitrarily
associated with the elements of the play, but
are inherently eloquent, so that the heai'er who
is not acquainted with the labels tacked on to
the various themes feels unconsciously how
greatly they enhance the appeal of the drama.]
The different forms of Subject thus rapidly
touched upon constitute but a very small proportion
of those in actual use ; but we trust
that we have said enough to enable the student
to judge for himself as to the characteristics of
any others with which he may meet, during the
course of his researches, and the more so, since
many Subjects of importance are described in.
the articles on the special forms of composition
to which they belong. w. s. K.
SUBMEDIANT. The sixth note of the scale
rising upwards. The note next above the dominant,
as A in the key of C. The submediant of
anymajor scaleis chiefly brought into prominence
as the tonic of its relative minor. 0. H. H. p.
SUBSIDIARY, in a, symphonic work, is a
theme of inferior importance, not strictly forming
part of either first or second subject, but
subordinate to one or the other. The spaces
between the two subjects, which in the early days
before Beethoven were filled up by ' padding ' in
the shape of formal passages and modulations,
are now, in obedience to his admirable practice,
occupied by distinct ideas, usually of small scope,
but of definite purport. [See vol. i. p. 263.]
The ' Eroica ' Symphony affords early and striking
examples of subsidiary subjects in various
positions. Thus, on the usual dominant passage
precedingthe secondsubject appears theplaintive
melody :
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etc.
' Leading Theme with unapproachable effect ' ;
entrusting to it the responsibility of bringing
out the point of deepest interest in the Drama
—a duty which it performs with a success too
well known to need even a passing comment.
much importance in the
which becomes of so
second part. And the same title belongs also
to the fresh subject which appears transiently
during the 'working-out' with so much effect :