Page:Scottishartrevie01unse.djvu/239

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NOTTEBOHM'S 'BEETHOVENIANA'
201


cally allied idea are carried out on pages facing eadi other in the sketch-book. First we have : —

Sinfonia Allegro Fresto. sketch-book of 1800 the and immediately following, this — Cotuert. tempo 7noderato.

Nottebohm says rightly that whereas in the first form the motive in its primitive shape is rounded off and complete in itself, it becomes in its second application part of a melody of wider dimensions. Another example of the same kind of relation between compositions of widely different scope and purport may be traced in the last movement of the same concerto and the prisoners' chorus in Fidelio. With all the details of Beethoven's work before us, probably many similar cases might be foimd. But though the inference that without the symphony the concerto might not have come into existence, and that but for the concerto the chorus might have assumed a different shape, may be quite correct, it has to be remembered that the phenomenon of thematic relationship is in Beethoven's music con- tinually before us. The suggestive nature of the themes, and the fact that several themes so often have their source in a common stock is entirely characteristic of Beethoven, and is one explanation of the sense of logical cohesion, of completeness and of organic unity produced by his compositions. The difference in the cases referred to above lies in the same thematic germ being used for two distinct works, instead of being, as is more generally the case, used in different movements of the same work.

The main subjects of the first and second move- ments of the Fifth Symphony are, in their primitive shape, at once strangely like and strangely unlike the finished version. In his Thematic Catalogue Thayer quotes from a following passages:—

Others seem to suggest a possible connection in Beethoven's mind between a passage first thought of as 'Trio' for this 'Menuetto' movement, and the Finale of the symphony. The opening sub- ject had little in the first instance of that stern emphasis which Beethoven himself in the end felt to be like the inexorable summons of Fate. There is no pause on the first note of the second bar, no indication of the orchestra in unison, both of which last touches were added after many experiments with a subject, the full power of which only gradually unfolded itself The startling effect with which the symphony opens, which arrests the hearer with something like the awe-inspiring effect of an unexpected thunderclap, was arrived at in fact by the slow processes of thought, labour, and reflection. The sketches quoted by Nottebohm are numerous, but there is no means of determining at what pre- cise stage of development the full significance of his subject was pei-ceived, nor at what point the best means of enforcing its meaning became clear. One thing only is certain, and that is that the music which of all others is in its effect most intensely direct and spontaneous, was not the result of sudden impulse, but of a long series of tentative efforts, of elaboration and repeated experiment. The sketches for the third and fourth movements show first, that originally the third movement was meant to end abruptly thus —

and in the second place, that when the passage of transition and connection dawned on his mind, its ultimate elaboration cost infinite trouble. For once a dim side-light is thrown by the sketches on a passage which, at first regarded as a wilful, eccentric, and unlovely transgression of law, has come to be regarded as unique in effect, a veritable inspiration of genius, the daring of which is justified by the result. The passages which show us the gradual growth of the section preceding the outburst in