ines of the form. Haydn leads up to his
objective points in a clear-cut, logical way and there is little of
"running off into the sand" or of those otherwise aimless passages so
prevalent in Emmanuel Bach. In his best works, notably in many of the
Quartets, there is also more individuality secured for the second
theme;[114] although for highly personified and moving second themes
we have to await the greater genius of Mozart and Beethoven. Whenever
we are inclined to call Haydn's style old-fashioned we must remember
that he wrote before the note of intense personal expression--the
so-called subjective element, prominent in Beethoven--had come to the
fore. The time just prior to Haydn had been called the "Pig-tail
period" (Zopf-Periode) in reference to the stiff and precise dress and
manners which had their counterpart in formality of artistic
expression. Only towards the end of his career do we feel that breath
of freedom in life and art which was generated by the French
Revolution (beginning in 1791) and by the many political and social
changes of that stirring period. From Haydn on, much more attention
should be paid to the content and meaning of the music than to the
formal handling of the material. In all worthy music, in fact, the
chief point of interest is the _music itself_ which speaks to us in
its own language of sound and rhythm. A knowledge of form is but a
means to an end: for the composer, that he may express himself clearly
and convincingly, and for the listener, that he may readily receive
the message set forth. In Haydn's music we find the expression of a
real personality--though of an artless, child-like type, without great
depth of emotion or the tragic intensity of a Beethoven. Haydn was not
a philosopher, or a man of broad vision. During his epoch, artists
hardly dared to be introspective. His imagination gave birth to music,
simple though it was, as freely as the earth puts forth flowers; but,
although he wore a wig, he had a heart which was in good working
operation even in his sixty-fourth year when, during his London visit,
he fell in love with a charming widow, Madame Schroeter, whom he would
have married had not his wife been still alive.

[Footnote 114: In many cases Haydn's second theme is merely a varied
version of the first.]

We should acquire the catholic taste to enjoy every composer for what
he really was and not criticise him for what he was not--a state which
would imply necessarily