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Scan 23
The Violin Music Of Beethoven, 1902
6 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1The third sonata of Op. 12 contains an Allegro con spirito in E flat, C time; an Adagio con molt' espression in C major, two-four time, and a Rondo in E flat, two-four, Allegro molto.
3The first movement is the least interesting one we have yet had to deal with. Much of the writing therein is of a somewhat conventional and commonplace description, measuring the composer by himself. The Adagio is more deeply felt. In these long drawn out melodies, Beethoven invariably sounded a note of deeper feeling than previous composers. Occasionally, indeed, with cheerful old papa Haydn, we come across a page of music so serious and "intense," that we wonder, as in the case of the fly in amber, how it got there. Let not the student confuse the Beethoven Adagio with the composer's own, or any other composer's Andantes. The true Beethoven Adagio is a profound reverie, very broad and sustained in style, with very slow beats. The frequent after division of the notes into those of the shortest duration, ought to be a sufficient indication of the slow and measured rhythm underlying the whole movement. Where there is no suggestion of change in the time, such passages in demisemiquavers or even shorter notes, however florid, were never meant to convey the idea that a rapid and brilliant presto was being played. An Adagio movement thus commenced in the spirit of an Andante will often lead the player into confusion when the more florid portions are reached, in the attempt to maintain a uniform tempo. A much less objectionable fault is the slight quickening of a movement intended to be bright and animated, such as an Allegro bordering on a Presto, provided, of course, the player's technique be fully equal to the occasion. But when a slow movement is made to feel like a quick one, or to convey that impression to the listener, the entire spirit of the music is lost, and we are rudely awakened from our dream of measureless content and repose.
5The Rondo, as in the two previous sonatas, begins with its first eight-bar section for the piano alone, repeated thus by the violin:—
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