It comes out finely in his creative
work in the sonatas and the Scherzo movements of his symphonies. He
originated, invented the Scherzo, developing it from the simple minuet
of the earlier composers. The primary object of the Scherzo was
recreation pure and simple. It was introduced with the object of resting
the mind.
The evolution of humor in music is an interesting subject of study. It
is something foreign to it, an exotic, of slow growth, gaining but
little in the hands of the earlier composers from Bach on. Even with
Haydn it never advanced much beyond geniality. They had essayed it
chiefly in the minuet, but succeeded only in producing something
stately, in which the element of fun or humor, to modern ways of
thinking is hardly appreciable. It found a sudden and wonderful
expansion, an efflorescence in Beethoven, with whom every phase of the
art was developed to colossal proportions. He has made of the Scherzo a
movement of such importance that it lends a distinctive character to his
symphonies. In this form he is unapproachable.
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