In the whole range of
music there is nothing like it elsewhere. It is peculiar to Beethoven,
and is another example of the many-sidedness of the great composer.
"Happiness is a new idea in Europe," said St. Just, speaking of the
period immediately following the French Revolution. Whether or not
Beethoven ever met with this remark, its significance at least was taken
to heart. The word Scherz--joke, sport, is sufficiently obvious. He goes
much farther at times than simply to play pranks, however. A wide range
of expression is possible in the Scherzo when manipulated by a
master-mind like that of Beethoven. The satirical, sarcastic humor which
escaped him in social intercourse at times, is vented on a colossal
scale in the Scherzo, in which he often makes sport of humanity itself,
making it the subject of his jest, his ridicule--its foibles being
shown up, its follies exposed. When projected in this mood, the movement
calls for intellectual co-operation, and is of equal importance with the
others.
Humor has been defined as the outcome of simplicity and philosophy in
the character.
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