The Pianoforte Sonata Part 20

DEAR SIR,--

I have lately composed three Quartettos for two Violins, Tenor and Violoncello, and confess to you that I think this work above all that I have composed, they are neither in the Stile of Mozart, or Haydn, nor that of Pleyel, they are in the Stile of Dussek and I will hope make some noise in the Musical World--the Price for the Propriety of them in Britain is 60 guineas, wich I think highly moderate considering the scarcity of good new Quartettos--I have particularly chosen you Sir for the publication of this work, because I allways found you very reasonable in the few Business I have had the pleasure to make with you, and as my Contract with Clementi & Co. finishes the 4th November this year, I should be very glad to continue with you the publication of all my Works in futur--These Quartettos are for you a publication so advantagous that I have not the least doubt but you will make the Bargain of them, since there is such a long time that nothing has been published of my composition--I wish them to appear about the middle of January, and to be dedicated _to His Royal Highness the Prince Louis of Prussia_ with whom I am at this moment at the Army against the French--If you wish to write to me, give the letter to the Gentelmen who shall deliver to you the quartettos--I beg You to give my best greetings to Mr. Cra.s.sier, Sheener, Tonkinson and all Those that remember me, and believe me,

Your very obedient Servant,

and sincere friend,

DUSSEK,

Privy Secretary to His Royal H^s. the Prince Louis of Prussia.

The above letter is addressed to Mr. Birchal, Music Seller, New Bond Street, London.

[87] _Musical Times_, September and October 1877.

[88] Here is one, in the 8th Variation--

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

[89] Mendelssohn, too, complained that Dussek was a prodigal.

[90] The one in D minor has often been performed at the Popular Concerts.

[91] 1822-1892.

[92] The original t.i.tle is: "Sonata per il Cembalo Fortepiano di F.W. Rust, 1788."

[93] It is curious to note that in the supplement of the Breitkopf & Hartel edition of Beethoven's works there are two little pieces ent.i.tled "l.u.s.tig und Traurig."

[94] E. Bach published six easy clavier sonatas in 1765, but Neefe probably refers to earlier and more important works.

[95] Besides those mentioned, he published in 1774 six new sonatas, also variations on the theme "Kunz fand einst einen armen Mann."

[96] "As your Royal Highness seemed to be pleased with the sonata in C minor, I thought it would not appear too bold to surprise you with the dedication of it."

[97] The opening theme of that same symphony--

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

recalls, curiously, the last movement of Beethoven's 8th Symphony; and still more so in the form in which he first sketched it--

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

[98] Schindler, by the way, relates in his _Biography of Beethoven_ (3rd ed. 2nd Part, p. 212) that, already in 1816, when there was a proposal made by Hoffmeister to Beethoven to issue a new edition of his pianoforte music, the master conceived the intention of indicating the poetic idea ("Poetische Idee") underlying his various works. And the biographer adds: "This term (_i.e. poetic idea_) belongs to Beethoven's epoch, and was used by him as frequently as was, for example, the expression 'poetic contents' by others--in opposition to works which only offer an harmonic and rhythmic play of tones. Writers on aesthetics of our day declaim against the latter term; _with_ good reason, if it refer to programme-music; _without_ reason, if they extend their negation to all Beethoven's music, and deny its poetic contents. Whence that tendency, which so frequently manifests itself, and that strong desire to give pictorial explanations, especially of the Beethoven symphonies and sonatas, if they contained nothing but a well-ordered harmonic and rhythmic play of tones, and if they--or, at least, some of them--were not based on some special idea? What other composer creates this almost irresistible desire?"

[99] Mr. E. Pauer, in his preface to Ernst von Elterlein's _Beethoven's Pianoforte Sonatas explained for the lovers of the musical art_,--a valuable and interesting book,--remarks: "Herr von Elterlein's design is not so much to describe the beauties of Beethoven's sonatas, as to direct the performer's attention to these beauties, and to point out the _leading and characteristic features of each separate piece_" (the italics are ours).

[100] The Finale of a Sonata in A flat by Cramer, one of three dedicated to Haydn, is said to have suggested to Beethoven the Finale of _his_ Sonata in A flat (Op. 26). Dr. Erich Prieger, who has recently published a facsimile of the autograph of Beethoven's sonata, in his preface quotes some pa.s.sages from the Cramer Finale, which certainly seem to show that the Bonn master was to some extent influenced by his predecessor. Here is the second of the three pa.s.sages quoted:--

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

[101] Woelfl's "Ne plus Ultra" Sonata would have long been forgotten but for Dussek's "Plus Ultra." See chapter on "Predecessors of Beethoven."

[102] In Steibelt's two sonatas (Op. 62), for instance, the airs "If a body meet a body," "Jesse Macpharlane," and "La Chrantreuse"

[Transcriber's Note: So in original, perhaps should be "Chartreuse"]

are introduced. In his Op. 40 we also find "The Caledonian Beauty,"

"The Maid of Selma," "'Twas within a mile of Edinbro' town," and "Life let us cherish." Woelfl's sonatas (Op. 35, 38) also contain Scotch airs, and his "Ne plus Ultra" has variations on "Life let us cherish."

[103] 1773-1853, court organist at Heldburghausen.

[104] 1766-1826, court organist at Freising.

[105] Notice, in each case, the falling interval in the second and fourth bar.

[106] Verstohlen geht der Mond auf, blau, blau Blumelein, etc.

[107] The long arpeggio leading up to the first note is omitted.

[108] In the British Museum copy the "XII. Sonate da Chiesa, Opera Quinta" of Ba.s.sani are bound up with "Sonate a Tre" by Giacomo Sherard. In plain English, the latter composer was a certain James Sherard, an apothecary by profession. The Ba.s.sani sonatas here mentioned were published at Amsterdam. Hawkins tells us that "an ordinary judge, not knowing that they were the work of another, might mistake them for compositions of Corelli." The first violin book has the following entry:--"Mr. Sherard was an apothecary in Crutched Friars about the year 1735, performed well on the violin, was very intimate with Handel and other Masters." This copy, which possibly belonged to Sherard, contains also the following, written apparently by the person into whose hands the book pa.s.sed:--"Wm. Salter, surgeon and apothecary, Whitechapel High Street." The various sonatas, too, are marked in pencil--some as _good_; others, _very good_. The date, 1789, is also given--the year, probably, in which the volumes became the property of W. Salter.

[109] These sonatas were afterwards published at Amsterdam as Corelli's, being marked as his Opera Settima. On the t.i.tle-page was written "Si crede che Siano State Composte di Arcangelo Corelli avanti le sue altre Opere."

[110] See chapter on Haydn.

[111] She was surely the daughter of Francois Hippolite Barthelemon (son of a Frenchman and of an Irish lady), who was on intimate terms with Haydn, to whom the sonata above mentioned is dedicated.

[112] Samuel Wesley (1766-1837), nephew of the Rev. John Wesley, was a gifted musician, and is specially remembered for his enthusiastic admiration of John Sebastian Bach. The letters which he wrote to Benjamin Jacob on the subject of his favourite author were published by his daughter in 1875. He also, in conjunction with C.F. Horn, published an edition of Bach's "Wohltemperirtes Clavier."

[113] He is described on the t.i.tle-page as "formerly Composer to several Cathedral Churches in France." Buee's name is neither in Fetis nor the Pougin Supplement.