How to Listen to Music, 7th ed. | Page 8

period of two members, the latter repeating the thought of the
former. A musical analyst might find in it an admirable analogue for
the first period of a simple melody. He would divide it into four
motives: "Rebuke me not | in thy wrath | neither chasten me | in thy hot
displeasure," and point out as intimate a relationship between them as
exists in the Creole tune. The bond of union between the motives of the
melody as well as that in the poetry illustrates a principle of beauty
which is the most important element in musical design after repetition,
which is its necessary vehicle. It is because this principle guides the
repetition of the tone-groups that together they form a melody that is
perfect, satisfying, and reposeful. It is the principle of key-relationship,
to discuss which fully would carry me farther into musical science than
I am permitted to go. Let this suffice: A harmony is latent in each
group, and the sequence of groups is such a sequence as the experience
of ages has demonstrated to be most agreeable to the ear.
[Sidenote: The rhythmical stamp.]
[Sidenote: The principle of Unity.]
In the case of the Creole melody the listener is helped to a quick
appreciation of its form by the distinct physiognomy which rhythm has
stamped upon it; and it is by noting such a characteristic that the
memory can best be aided in its work of identification. It is not
necessary for a listener to follow all the processes of a composer in
order to enjoy his music, but if he cultivates the habit of following the
principal themes through a work of the higher class he will not only
enjoy the pleasures of memory but will frequently get a glimpse into
the composer's purposes which will stimulate his imagination and
mightily increase his enjoyment. There is nothing can guide him more

surely to a recognition of the principle of unity, which makes a
symphony to be an organic whole instead of a group of pieces which
are only externally related. The greatest exemplar of this principle is
Beethoven; and his music is the best in which to study it for the reason
that he so frequently employs material signs for the spiritual bond. So
forcibly has this been impressed upon me at times that I am almost
willing to believe that a keen analytical student of his music might
arrange his greater works into groups of such as were in process of
composition at the same time without reference to his personal history.
Take the principal theme of the C minor Symphony for example:
[Music illustration]
[Sidenote: A rhythmical motive pursued.]
This simple, but marvellously pregnant, motive is not only the kernel of
the first movement, it is the fundamental thought of the whole
symphony. We hear its persistent beat in the scherzo as well:
[Music illustration]
and also in the last movement:
[Music illustration]
More than this, we find the motive haunting the first movement of the
pianoforte sonata in F minor, op. 57, known as the "Sonata
Appassionata," now gloomily, almost morosely, proclamative in the
bass, now interrogative in the treble:
[Music illustration]
[Sidenote: Relationships in Beethoven's works.]
[Sidenote: The C minor Symphony and "Appassionata" sonata.]
[Sidenote: Beethoven's G major Concerto.]
Schindler relates that when once he asked Beethoven to tell him what

the F minor and the D minor (Op. 31, No. 2) sonatas meant, he received
for an answer only the enigmatical remark: "Read Shakespeare's
'Tempest.'" Many a student and commentator has since read the
"Tempest" in the hope of finding a clew to the emotional contents
which Beethoven believed to be in the two works, so singularly
associated, only to find himself baffled. It is a fancy, which rests
perhaps too much on outward things, but still one full of suggestion,
that had Beethoven said: "Hear my C minor Symphony," he would
have given a better starting-point to the imagination of those who are
seeking to know what the F minor sonata means. Most obviously it
means music, but it means music that is an expression of one of those
psychological struggles which Beethoven felt called upon more and
more to delineate as he was more and more shut out from the
companionship of the external world. Such struggles are in the truest
sense of the word tempests. The motive, which, according to the story,
Beethoven himself said indicates, in the symphony, the rappings of
Fate at the door of human existence, is common to two works which
are also related in their spiritual contents. Singularly enough, too, in
both cases the struggle which is begun in the first movement and
continued in the third, is interrupted by a period of calm reassuring,
soul-fortifying aspiration, which in the symphony as well