CORNELL

182 MODERN HARMONYcramping of the possibilities of the art, completely stultifying,„ its progress. The testimony of history is aU forProminence the broadest possible expression. Bach's "FortyofSonata Eight Preludes and Fugues " are as perfect and as«•"" » classical " in their forms as any of the Beethovenand Brahms Symphonies, Sonatas, and Quartets. Indeed, theelasticity and virility of the old Cantor's forms contrastrather strikingly with some of the mere "padding out" ofform in the works of both the later composers. Moreover,Beethoven himself shows his feeling of dissatisfaction withthe so-called "Sonata" forms, and breaks away completelyfrom the older traditions in his later Synaphonies, Sonatas,and Quartets. In aiming at a greater coherence and morefreedom in seK expression, the last vestiges of the early "dancesuite " disappear entirely, and his slow movement frequentlyappears as a link between the others. Already in his C minorSymphony, we feel he is striving for something behind anddeeper than the mere music, and in consequence he opens upagain the " programmatic " lines, formerly feebly attemptedby Johann Kuhnau in his "Bible Sonatas." Indeed, ProgrammeMusic is no new thing, and may be defined as amodern branch of thought grafted on to the musical mentalattitude of preceding generations.Beethoven's achievements in this direction thus openedout the way for the " symphonic poem " of Liszt, Berlioz, andStrauss. This form may have for its basis— (a) a^^*'^'^*^'musIc.""definite plot or drama, as is the case withLiszt's "Dante" Symphony and his "Mazeppa";Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique," his "Waverley" Overture,and " Les Franc Juges Dvorak's " Wild Dove," " The';Water-Fay," and "The Witch"; Saint-Saens's"Danse Macabre"and "Le Rouet d'Omphale"; Strauss's "Don Quixote," "TillEulenspiegel," and " Ein Heldenleben"; Tschaikowsky's" Romeo et Juliette " and " Francesca di Rimini "; and Elgar's"Cockaigne" and "Falstaff." Or (6) a more subtle psychologicalbasis, as with Liszt's " Les Preludes " and his " Orpheus";Strauss's "Tod und Verklarung," and "Also sprach Zarathustra"; and Scriabine's " Le Divin Po^me," or his " Prometheus" (Poem of Fire), which latter, the composer ascribes toa theosophic basis.In either case, how closely the plot is drawn together