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Scan 36
The Violin Music Of Beethoven, 1902
6 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1soul rest in peace) in a meagre chapter on variation writing in a work on form, concludes with this remarkable N.B.: "In making variations the original bass should never be altered"(!) Variations constructed on this principle would speedily bring us into agreement with those who in our own time find the form itself tedious! It may be exceedingly so, but in the hands of genius is capable of infinite development and variety, if we grasp the idea, that, in metamorphosis of theme combined with great rhythmic variety, rather than in mere embellishment of melody, lies the chief interest. As a modern instance, we may, in passing, refer to the wonderful example in Tschaïkowsky's A minor Trio, where movements of the most varied character, including a Waltz, a Fugue and a Mazurka spring from a simple theme, the last variation being expanded into a finale which in itself is an organic whole, regarded as a separate movement.
3But to return to the theme which caused this digression. Beethoven originally intended the finale of the "Kreutzer" sonata to form the finale of the sonata we have just been discussing. But he considered this finale too brilliant (i.e., as forming too great a contrast to the previous movements) and therefore substituted this theme with variations as being more in keeping with the rest. We have evidence here how deeply Beethoven pondered over, not merely the finish of each separate movement, but the æsthetic effect of each sonata as a whole.
5The sonata in C minor, No. 2, Op. 30, is esteemed by musicians as one of the finest, nay, as the only one of the ten which rivals the "Kreutzer" in actual merit, if not in popularity. It has the following four movements:— Allegro con trio in C minor, common time; Adagio cantabile in A flat, common time; Scherzo-allegro in C, three-four time; Finale-allegro in C minor, common time. In the first movement, as in the "Pathetique" sonata, and the thirty-second for the piano alone, Beethoven storms along in quite a symphonic style. Surging billows seem to rise and fall in the development section, and the depths are troubled. The dainty second theme in E flat,
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