The Pianoforte Sonata: Its Origin and DevelopmentShedlock, J. S. (John South)
History
The Pianoforte Sonata: Its Origin and Development
Shedlock, J. S. (John South)
Sonatas (Piano) -- History and criticism
In the matter of development, the Bach sonatas are in one respect
particularly striking; the composer seems to have resolutely turned
away from the fugal style, and in so doing probably found himself
somewhat hampered. Like the early Florentine reformers, Bach was
breaking with the past, and with a mightier past than the one on which
the Florentines turned their back; like them, he, too, was occupied
with a new form. Not the music itself of the first operas, but the
spirit which prompted them, is what we now admire; in E. Bach,
too,--especially when viewed in the light of subsequent history,--we
at times take the will for the deed.
We meet with much the same kinds of development as in Scarlatti:
phrases or passages taken bodily from the first section and repeated
on different degrees of the scale, extensions of phrases, and
passage-writing based on some figure from the exposition, etc. The
short development section of the Sonata in G (Collection No. 6) offers
examples of the three methods of development just mentioned. Bach,
like Scarlatti, was a master of his instrument, and even when--as was
said of Mendelssohn--he had nothing particular to say, he always
managed to say that little well. E. Bach has already much to suffer in
the inevitable comparison with Beethoven; and the fact that we have
the full message of the one, but not of the other, no doubt
accentuates the difference.
In many ways Bach reminds one of Beethoven. There are unexpected
fortes and pianos, unexpected crescendos and diminuendos. Of such, the
noble Larghetto in F minor of the Sonata in F (Collection 1779, No. 2)
offers, indeed, several fine examples. Particularly would we notice
the passage just before the return of the opening theme; it begins
_ff_, but there is a gradual decrease to _pp_; the latter seems
somewhat before its time, and therefore surprises. Then, again, we
meet with out-of-the-way modulations. Bach was extremely fond of
enharmonic transitions,[71] and the same can be said of Beethoven in
both his early and his late works. The means employed by the two
composers may be the same, but the effect is, of course, always more
striking in Beethoven, whose thoughts were deeper, and whose means of
expressing them were in every way more extended. And once again, in
some of the forms of melody, in figures and passages, traces can be
found of connection between the two masters. To our thinking the bond
of union between E. Bach and Beethoven is stronger than the
oft-mentioned one between the early master and Haydn: Haydn was
practically Bach's pupil; Beethoven, his spiritual heir. This it is
which gives interest to any outward resemblances which may be
detected, not the resemblances themselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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