Chapter I: Front Matter

THE APPRECIATION OF MUSIC

VOL. I.

THE APPRECIATION OF MUSIC CLOTH $1.50

_By Thomas Whitney Surette and Daniel Gregory Mason_

SUPPLEMENTARY VOLUME OF MUSICAL ILLUSTRATIONS $1.00

VOL. II.

GREAT MODERN COMPOSERS CLOTH $1.50

_By Daniel Gregory Mason_

VOL. III.

SHORT STUDIES IN GREAT MASTERPIECES

_By Daniel Gregory Mason_

OTHER WORKS

BY

DANIEL GREGORY MASON

A GUIDE TO MUSIC. A BOOK FOR BEGINNERS CLOTH $1.25

ORCHESTRAL INSTRUMENTS AND WHAT THEY DO,
WITH TWENTY-SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS AND
ORCHESTRAL CHART CLOTH $1.25

THE
APPRECIATION OF MUSIC

VOLUME I

BY

THOMAS WHITNEY SURETTE

AND

DANIEL GREGORY MASON

_NINTH EDITION_

_Supplementary Volume of Musical Illustrations
Price $1.00_

NEW YORK

THE H. W. GRAY CO.

SOLE AGENTS FOR

NOVELLO & CO., LTD.

COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY
THE H. W. GRAY COMPANY

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

PREFATORY NOTE.

This book has been prepared in order to provide readers who wish to listen to music intelligently, yet without going into technicalities, with a simple and practical guide to musical appreciation written from the listener's rather than from the professional musician's standpoint.

The authors believe that there is at the present moment a genuine need for such a book. Teachers in schools, colleges, and universities, educators in all parts of the country, and the music-loving public generally, are every day realizing more vividly the importance of applying to music the kind of study which has long been fruitfully pursued in the other arts; and with the adoption, in 1906, by the College Entrance Examination Board, of musical appreciation as a subject which may be offered for entrance to college, this mode of studying music has established itself firmly in our educational system. Yet its progress is still hampered by the lack of suitable text-books. The existing books are for the most part either too technical to be easily followed by the general reader, or so rhapsodical and impressionistic as to be of no use to him.

In the following pages an effort has been made, first, to present to the reader in clear and untechnical language an account of the evolution of musical art from the primitive folk-song up to the symphony of Beethoven; second, to illustrate all the steps of this evolution by carefully chosen musical examples, in the form of short quotations in the text and of complete pieces printed in a supplement; third, to facilitate the study of these examples by means of detailed analysis, measure by measure, in many cases put into the shape of tabular views; and fourth, to mark out the lines of further study by suggesting collateral reading.

Too much stress cannot be laid on the fact that the music itself is the central point of the scheme of study, to which the reader must return over and over again. Carefully attentive, concentrated listening to the typical pieces presented in the supplement is the essence of the work, to which the reading of the text is to be considered merely as an aid. These pieces are for the most part not beyond the reach of a pianist of moderate ability.

At the same time, the authors have realized that some readers who might profit much by such study will not be able to play, or have played for them, even these pieces. For them, however, the music will still be accessible through mechanical instruments.

In view of the fact that one of the chief difficulties in the study of musical appreciation is the unfamiliarity of classical music to the ordinary student, the use of an instrument by the students themselves should form an important part of the work in classes where this book is used as a text-book. It is hoped that with such practical laboratory work by all members of the class, and with the help of collateral reading done outside the class under the direction of the teacher, and tested by written papers on assigned topics, the course of study outlined here will be found well-suited to the needs of schools and colleges, as well as of general readers.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

ELEMENTS OF MUSICAL FORM. 1

I. INTRODUCTORY 1

II. WHAT TO NOTICE FIRST 3

III. MUSICAL MOTIVES 4

IV. WHAT THE COMPOSER DOES WITH HIS MOTIVES 6

V. THE FIRST STEPS AS REVEALED BY HISTORY 10

VI. A SPANISH FOLK-SONG 12

VII. BALANCE OF PHRASES 13

VIII. SUMMARY 14

CHAPTER II.

FOLK-SONGS. 16

I. FOLK-SONGS AND ART SONGS 17

II. AN ENGLISH FOLK-SONG 20

III. KEY AND MODULATION 21

IV. BARBARA ALLEN 22

V. NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS IN FOLK-SONGS 25

VI. AN IRISH FOLK-SONG 26

VII. A GERMAN FOLK-SONG 28

VIII. SUMMARY 30

CHAPTER III.

THE POLYPHONIC MUSIC OF BACH. 31

I. WHAT IS POLYPHONY 32

II. AN INVENTION BY BACH 33

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 1.

_Bach: Two-voice, Invention. No, VIII, in F-major_ 34

III. A FUGUE BY BACH 37

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 2.

_Bach: Fugue No. 2, in C-minor, in three voices.
"Well-tempered Clavichord," Book I_ 38

IV. GENERAL QUALITIES OF BACH'S WORK 43

CHAPTER IV.

THE DANCE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT. 48

I. MUSICAL CHARACTER OF DANCES 48

II. PRIMITIVE DANCES 52

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 3.

_Corelli: Gavotte in F-major_ 56

III. A BACH GAVOTTE 57

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 4.

_Bach: Gavotte in D-minor, from the Sixth English Suite_ 57

CHAPTER V.

THE SUITE. 62

I. DERIVATION OF THE SUITE 62

II. THE SUITES OF BACH 65

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 5.

_Bach: Prelude to English Suite, No. 3, in G-minor_ 65

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 6.

_Bach: Sarabande in A-minor, from English Suite, No. 2_ 68

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 7.

_Bach: Gigue, from French Suite, No. 4, in E-flat_ 71

III. THE HISTORIC IMPORTANCE OF THE SUITE 72

CHAPTER VI.

THE RONDO. 74

I. DERIVATION OF THE RONDO 75

II. A RONDO BY COUPERIN 79

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 8.

_Couperin: "Les Moissonneurs" ("The Harvesters")_ 80

III. FROM COUPERIN TO MOZART 83

IV. A RONDO BY MOZART 86

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 9.

_Mozart: Rondo from Piano Sonata in B-flat major_ 87

CHAPTER VII.

THE VARIATION FORM--THE MINUET. 93

I. VARIATIONS BY JOHN BULL 94

II. A GAVOTTE AND VARIATIONS BY RAMEAU 97

III. HANDEL'S "HARMONIOUS BLACKSMITH" 100

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 10.

_Handel: "The Harmonious Blacksmith,"
from the Fifth Suite for Clavichord_ 101

IV. HAYDN'S ANDANTE WITH VARIATIONS, IN F-MINOR 103

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 11.

_Haydn: Andante with Variations, in F-minor_ 104

V. THE MINUET 108

CHAPTER VIII.

SONATA-FORM, I. 110

I. COMPOSITE NATURE OF THE SONATA 110

II. ESSENTIALS OF SONATA-FORM 111

III. A SONATA BY PHILIP EMANUEL BACH 114

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 12.

_Philip Emanuel Bach: Piano Sonata in F-minor,
first movement_ 115

IV. HARMONY AS A PART OF DESIGN 125

V. SUMMARY 126

CHAPTER IX.

SONATA-FORM, II. 128

I. HAYDN AND THE SONATA-FORM 128

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 13.

_Haydn: "Surprise Symphony," first movement_ 131

II. MOZART AND THE SONATA-FORM 134

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 14.

_Mozart: Symphony in G-minor, first movement_ 136

III. MOZART'S ARTISTIC SKILL 138

CHAPTER X.

THE SLOW MOVEMENT. 143

I. VARIETIES OF FORM 143

II. SLOW MOVEMENTS OF PIANO SONATAS 145

III. THE STRING QUARTET 148

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 15.

_Haydn: Adagio in E-flat major, from the String Quartet
in G-major, op. 77, No. 1_ 149

IV. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 151

V. FORM OF HAYDN'S ADAGIO 152

VI. MOZART AND THE CLASSIC STYLE 153

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 16.

_Mozart: Andante from String Quartet in C-major_ 156

VII. FORM OF MOZART'S ANDANTE 159

CHAPTER XI.

BEETHOVEN--I. 161

I. GENERAL CHARACTER OF BEETHOVEN'S WORK 161

II. ANALYSIS OF A BEETHOVEN SONATA 166

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 17.

_Beethoven: Pathétique Sonata, first movement_ 166

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 18.

_Beethoven: Pathétique Sonata, second movement_ 170

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 19.

_Beethoven: Pathétique Sonata, third movement_ 171

III. SUMMARY 174

CHAPTER XII.

BEETHOVEN--II. 176

I. FORM AND CONTENT 176

II. BEETHOVEN'S STYLE 178

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 20.

_Beethoven: The Fifth Symphony, first movement_ 181

III. THE DRAMATIC ELEMENT IN BEETHOVEN'S MUSIC 185

IV. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF
THE FIFTH SYMPHONY 187

CHAPTER XIII.

BEETHOVEN--III. 191

I. THE SLOW MOVEMENT BEFORE BEETHOVEN 191

II. THE SLOW MOVEMENTS OF BEETHOVEN'S EARLY SYMPHONIES 192

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 21.

_Beethoven: The Fifth Symphony. Slow movement_ 195

III. INDIVIDUALITY OF THE ANDANTE OF THE FIFTH SYMPHONY 198

IV. THE HARMONIC PLAN 201

V. THE UNIVERSALITY OF BEETHOVEN'S GENIUS 203

CHAPTER XIV.

BEETHOVEN--IV. 205

I. BEETHOVEN'S HUMOR 205

II. SCHERZOS FROM BEETHOVEN'S SONATAS 209

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 22.

_Beethoven: Scherzo from the Twelfth Sonata_ 209

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 23.

_Beethoven: Scherzo from the Fifteenth Sonata_ 210

III. THE SCHERZOS OF BEETHOVEN'S SYMPHONIES 211

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 24.

_Beethoven: Scherzo from the Fifth Symphony_ 218

IV. GENERAL SUMMARY 221

THE APPRECIATION OF MUSIC