a harpsichord player, and
seems to have invented a position of the hand like Bach's, or to have
copied it from that master. Forkel tells us the movement of Bach's
fingers was so slight as to be scarcely noticeable; the position of
his hands remained unchanged throughout, and the rest of his body
motionless. Speaking of Handel's harpsichord playing, Burney says that
his fingers "seemed to grow to the keys. They were so curved and
compact when he played that no motion, and scarcely the fingers
themselves, could be discovered." Scarlatti's significance lies
chiefly in an extension of the technique of his time so as to give
greater individuality to the instrument. He indulged freely in
brilliant passages and figures which sometimes call for a crossing of
the hands, also in leaps of over an octave, repetition of a note by
different fingers, broken chords in contrary motion, and other devices
which prefigure modern pianoforte music.

[Sidenote: _The sonata._]

That Scarlatti also pointed the way to the modern sonata, I have
already said. The history of the sonata, as the term is now
understood, ends with Beethoven. Many sonatas have been written since
the last one of that great master, but not a word has been added to
his proclamation. He stands, therefore, as a perfect exemplar of the
second period in the scheme which we have adopted for the study of
pianoforte music and playing. In a general way a sonata may be
described as a composition of four movements, contrasted in mood,
tempo, sentiment, and character, but connected by that spiritual bond
of which mention was made in our study of the symphony. In short, a
sonata is a symphony for a solo instrument.

[Sidenote: _Haydn._]

When it came into being it was little else than a convenient formula
for the expression of musical beauty. Haydn, who perfected it on its
formal side, left it that and nothing more. Mozart poured the vessel
full of beauty, but Beethoven breathed the breath of a new life into
it. An old writer tells us of Haydn that he was wont to say that the
whole art of composing consisted in taking up a subject and pursuing
it. Having invented his theme, he would begin by choosing the keys
through which he wished to make it pass.

"His exquisite feeling gave him a perfect knowledge of the
greater or less degree of effect which one chord produces
in succeeding another, and he afterward imagined a little
romance which might furnish him with