unrivalled.[130]

[Footnote 129: For a complete account of this development see Grove's
Dict. Vol. III under _Overture_ and the Oxford History, Vol. IV, page
286, _seq._]

[Footnote 130: Its companion in modern literature is the Overture to
the _Bartered Bride_ (by the Bohemian composer Smetana), which also
begins with a brilliant fugal treatment of the theme.]

The last illustration from Mozart is his _Adagio in B minor_ (see
Supplement No. 43) an independent piece, far too little known, in
complete Sonata-form. The haunting pathos in the theme, the exquisite
loveliness in the whole fabric instantly reach the hearer's heart.
Analytical comment seems quite unnecessary; a child can "follow" the
music, but only he with a ripe knowledge of human life can begin to
fathom its deep mystery.[131] When we see such modern passages as the
following, _e.g._

[Music]

[Footnote 131: For some illuminating comments on this subtle character
of Mozart's creations see the Stanford-Forsyth History of Music, p.
254.]

Tchaikowsky's love for Mozart's music is readily understood. Indeed,
we cannot refrain from urging everyone to cultivate such a love
himself; for in the works of Mozart are found a purity, a sanity and a
delight in creation which keep them alive and make them in very truth
"things of beauty and a joy forever."

CHAPTER XI

BEETHOVEN, THE TONE-POET

As Beethoven was such an intensely subjective composer, a knowledge of
his personality and environment is indispensable for a complete
appreciation of his works.[132]

[Footnote 132: Hence is given a more extended biographical account
than in the case of former composers.]

Beethoven, Ludwig van (1770-1827), born at Bonn on the Rhine, though
his active career is associated with Vienna, may be called the first
thinker in music; for at last the art is brought into correlation with
man's other powers and becomes a living reflex of the tendencies and
activities of the period. Notwithstanding the prodigious vitality of
Bach's work, we feel that his musical sense operated abstractly like a
law of Nature and that he was an unconscious embodiment, as it were,
of the deep religious sentiment of his time and of the sturdy
independence of his race. At any period and in any place Bach would
have been Bach. Beethoven's music, however, in its intense personality
and as a vivid expression of the ideals of his fellow men, was
different from any the world had heard before.