Scan 246
Grove's dictionary of music and musicians ed. by J. A. Fuller Maitland, 1907
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1of which has three trios and the second two. The first minuet in D major is given to strings alone; the first trio (also in D major) is a quartet for the four horns; the second (in G) is a trio for flute, oboe, and bassoon; while the third (in D minor) is for the seven wind instruments in combination. After the last repetition of the minuet, a coda for all the instruments concludes the movement. The three trios are as strongly contrasted in musical character as in orchestral colour. Many similar instances might easily be given from the works of Mozart.
3To Beethoven we owe the transformation of the minuet into the Scherzo. Even in his first works this alteration is made. Of the three piano trios, op. 1, the first and second have a scherzo, and only the third a minuet. The examination of the different varieties of the scherzo will be treated elsewhere (SCHERZO); it will be sufficient here to explain that the difference between the minuet and the scherzo is one of character rather than of form. The time is frequently quicker; the rhythm is more varied (see, for instance, the scherzi in Beethoven's Fourth Symphony, in the Sonata, op. 28, and in the Bagatelle, op. 33, No. 2); and sometimes, as in the Seventh and Ninth Symphonies, the form itself is enlarged. Still Beethoven does not entirely abandon the older minuet. Out of sixty-three examples of the minuet or scherzo (not counting those in common time) to be found in his works, seventeen are entitled 'Minuet,' or 'Tempo di Minuetto.' Besides this, in two works (the Piano and Violin Sonata in G, op. 30, No. 3, and the Piano solo Sonata in Eb, op. 31, No. 3), the Tempo di Minuetto takes the place of the slow movement; in the Sonata, op. 49, No. 2, it serves as finale (as with Haydn and Mozart); and in the Sonata, op. 54, the first movement is a Tempo di Minuetto. In these minuets we sometimes find a grace akin to that of Mozart (Sonata, op. 10, No. 3; Septet), sometimes, as it were, a reflexion of the humour of Haydn (Sonata, op. 22); but more often the purest individuality of Beethoven himself. In some cases a movement is entitled 'Minuet,' though its character is decidedly that of the scherzo (e.g. in the First Symphony). The only one of the nine symphonies in which a minuet of the old style is to be seen is No. 8. Occasionally we meet in Beethoven with minuets simply entitled 'Allegretto' (e.g. Sonata quasi Fantasia, op. 27, No. 2; Trio in Eb, op. 70, No. 2): in other cases the same term is used for what is in reality a veritable scherzo (Sonatas, op. 14, No. 1, op. 27, No. 1). It may be said that with Beethoven the minuet reached its highest development.
5The transformation of the minuet into the scherzo, just adverted to, has had an important influence on modern composers. In the large majority of works produced since the time of Beethoven, the scherzo has replaced its predecessor. Occasionally the older form still appears, as in Mendelssohn's 'Italian Symphony,' the third movement of which is a genuine minuet, and in the second movement of Schumann's Eb Symphony; but with Beethoven the history of the minuet practically closes. One of the best specimens of a modern minuet will be seen in Sterndale Bennett's Symphony in G minor, [and as an instance of completely successful adaptation of the form in quite modern music may be cited the beautiful minuet in the last scene of Verdi's 'Falstaff.'] E. P.
7Minuets began to appear in English musical publications in the latter part of the 17th century; one is in Salter's Genteel Companion for the Recorder, 1683, and in the first half of the 18th century they were a feature in English dancing. The period of their greatest popularity here, was from about 1730 to 1770, owing, no doubt, to their Court patronage. Annually, on the King's birthday, a special Minuet was composed for the occasion, and this with the other French dances, was published in a small oblong volume issued yearly by such publishers as Walsh and Wright. Later, other music-sellers brought out similar yearly collections. The earliest of these issues of minuets with which the present writer is acquainted, is for 1716, and the latest, Thompson's for 1791. After that date the decline of the minuet as a dance caused such yearly sets to be abandoned. Though so greatly in favour, much of this minuet music was decidedly uninteresting, and as an example of the type common at the middle of the 18th century the following is appended; it is notable as having been used at the Coronation ball of George the Third in 1761—
9The Coronation Minuet.
10From Thompson's Minuets for 1762.
12Other minuets of greater musical quality were Martini's; that from 'Ariadne,' Foot's, etc.; these were in great favour for flute and fiddle pieces.
13F. K.
15MIOLAN. See CARVALHO, vol. i. pp. 475-6.
17MIRECOURT (Dep. Vosges), a small town in Lorraine, France, which rivals Markneukirchen in Saxony, and Mittenwald in Bavaria, as a centre for the manufacture of cheap musical instruments, principally of the violin class. Four centuries ago this Manchester of Musical-instrument-making—as Geo. Hart terms it—was the home of Tywerens the viol maker, of his pupil Nicolas Renauld (who was employed by
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