llection No. 6) offers
examples of the three methods of development just mentioned. Bach,
like Scarlatti, was a master of his instrument, and even when--as was
said of Mendelssohn--he had nothing particular to say, he always
managed to say that little well. E. Bach has already much to suffer in
the inevitable comparison with Beethoven; and the fact that we have
the full message of the one, but not of the other, no doubt
accentuates the difference.
In many ways Bach reminds one of Beethoven. There are unexpected
fortes and pianos, unexpected crescendos and diminuendos. Of such, the
noble Larghetto in F minor of the Sonata in F (Collection 1779, No. 2)
offers, indeed, several fine examples. Particularly would we notice
the passage just before the return of the opening theme; it begins
_ff_, but there is a gradual decrease to _pp_; the latter seems
somewhat before its time, and therefore surprises. Then, again, we
meet with out-of-the-way modulations. Bach was extremely fond of
enharmonic transitions,[71] and the same can be said of Beethoven in
both his early and his late works. The means employed by the two
composers may be the same, but the effect is, of course, always more
striking in Beethoven, whose thoughts were deeper, and whose means of
expressing them were in every way more extended. And once again, in
some of the forms of melody, in figures and passages, traces can be
found of connection between the two masters. To our thinking the bond
of union between E. Bach and Beethoven is stronger than the
oft-mentioned one between the early master and Haydn: Haydn was
practically Bach's pupil; Beethoven, his spiritual heir. This it is
which gives interest to any outward resemblances which may be
detected, not the resemblances themselves.
In Bach's six sonatas of 1742 the movements are detached. But the
opening movement (an Andante in sonata form) of the 2nd Sonata of the
Leipzig Collection of 1779 ends with a few bars in canonic form (and
with quaint Bebung effect), leading without break to the following
Larghetto. The next sonata also connects the second with the third
movement. In the above case the change was merely from the key of
tonic major to that of minor; but here the movement is in G minor, and
an enharmonic modulation leads to the dominant of B minor, key of the
final movement. The sonata begins in B minor, and the choice of the
remote key of G minor for the middle movement is somewhat curious.
Sonata No.
|