early mendelssohn and late beethoven

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Early Mendelssohn and Late BeethovenAuthor(s): Joscelyn GodwinSource: Music & Letters, Vol. 55, No. 3 (Jul., 1974), pp. 272-285Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/734224

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EARLY MENDELSSOHN AND LATE

BEETHOVEN

BY

JOSCELYN

GODWIN

"EVERYTHING

here

is different,

ery

different

rom

anything

ever

heard

before,

ven from

hecomposer

himself.We

hope that

he

will

not

take it amiss

when we add

that

it does not

appear

an unimport-

ant work,

and as

it

seems

to

be well-ordered,

well-divided,

well-

formed, ts effect s all the more bizarre".1. t is withprecisely uch

thoughts

hatone is struck

n firstmeeting

with

certainof

Mendels-

sohn's early

works.

The 'conservative'

Mendelssohn-bastion

of

Victorian

respectability

r inheritor f Rococo

elegance,

depending

on

one's

point

ofview-is

seldomcredited

with

a

spirit

f adventure.

Yet

in

his

brilliant

youth

he wrote works

which

are astonishing

for

thisvery quality,

as

well

as for

the

fact

that theyshow

an appreci-

ation

and emulation

of certainfeatures

of Beethoven's

later works

that

must

be

unique

for

their time.

All

the

important

writers

on

Mendelssohnhave feltobliged to comment,at least briefly, n this.

But

in view

of the still

widespread

undervaluing

of

Mendelssohn,

I

think

t

pertinent

o

enlarge

upon

and

illustrate

his

aspect

of his

music.

The

works

concerned

are

the

piano

sonata

in E

major

(Op.

6),

the

fantasiesfor

piano

in

F$

minor

Op. 28)

and

E

major (Op.

15),

and

the

string uartet

in

A

minor

Op.

I

3).

By

the time

the

earliest

of

these

was written

E

major

sonata,

I826),

Mendelssohn

was

prob-

ably

acquainted

with all the

important

music of

his time:

as

Eric

Wernerhas pointed out, the composer'sfatherwas able, and inter-

ested

enough,

to

buy

him

copies

of

anything

ignificant.,

do

not

doubt,

therefore,

hat he knew

all the

pieces

I shall cite. To

avoid

confusion,

shall

call

Mendelssohn's

works

by

their

keys

and

Beet-

hoven's by

their

familiar

opus

numbers.

Robert

Schumann,

writing

n

I835,

detected

the

inspiration

of

the

opening

of the

E

major

sonata:

If the

first

movement

f

this

onata

reminds

ne of the

thoughtful

melancholy

f

Beethoven's

ast

A

major

sonata-though

the

last

movement ecallsWeber'smanner-yetthis s not causedbyweak

1

Allgenmeine

usikalische

eitung,

x

(i8i8),

p.

792;

quoted

from

Anton

Schindler,

'Beethoven

as I knew

him',

edited by

Donald

MacArdle

and

translated

by

Constance

Jolly

London,

I966).

This

quotation

s

actually

from

review

of Beethoven's

ate

cello

sonatas,

Op. I02.

2

This point

s made

in Werner's

Mendelssohn;

a New

Image

of

the

Composer

nd

his Age',

translated

by

Dika Newlin

(London,

I963),

p.

107.

Weiner's

book

and

Philip

Radcliffe's

Mendelssohn'

n

the

'Master

Musicians'

series

revised

d.,

London, 1967),

are

the only

useful

books

n English.

For

the

Mendelssohn

bibliography,

ee

the

article

on

him in

Die

Musik

n Geschichte

nd

Gegenwart'.

272






unoriginality,

ut rather

y

ntellectual

elationship"

E

major

onata,

Allegretto

on

espressione

VI

Fi

#$

PI

p

J,

J

PP

*

$r

P2

-#..'

do

t~~~~

P

P

op.

101,

'Etwas

ebhaft

nd

mit

er

nnigsten

mpfindung

Ti

1

7

The

question

of

deliberate,

accidental,

or

coincidental

relationship

arises

immediately.

Was

Mendelssohn

thinking

f

Op.

ioi,

was

he

so

imbued

with

it

that

this

ust

flowedfrom

him,

or

is

this

material

as

common

to

its

time

as

the

Alberti

bass?

I

hope

I have

excluded

instances

of

the

third

alternative.

Both of

the

others,

here

and

throughout hisstudy,are probable. Anyonewho has composed in

his

youth

may

remember

how

he

would

appropriate

an

occasional

feature

from

an

admired

composer-a

chord-progression

ere,

an

instrumentation

here-in

a

spirit

of

homage,

and

in

the

hope

that

a

happy

fertilization

might

thereby

occur.

Such

appears

to

be

the

case

here.

The

early piano

works

re

full

of

such

similarities,

howing

3

Quoted

from

Robert

Schumann,

Music

and

Musicians',

second

series, ranslated

by

Fanny

Raymond

Ritter

4th

ed.,

London,

n.d.),

p.

253.

273






that the

youngcomposer

was

fully

s

steeped

n

the Beethoven

sonatas

s

hewasin

Bach's

48'.

In

the

E

major

onata,

or

xample,

there

re

also

clearechoes f

Beethoven's

p.

go

and

Op.

8

a:

ED

major

onata,

(cf.

Op. 90,

fi,

ars

0

and

49)

l

z*^vw

_

IL

_-

I

ht e

~~~~~~~~~~~FT

I

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A

m

)

?

1:e 1

1' 1-k W I I I i~~~~~~~~~~~11 fI

( si:

$fi$$-

- 1-

e SJJ

JJl 'I J

\ _ e q - -_ - :-. 2 . _ ,

ei

t:-

w

0

4

77

P F

I

.I 1

RP~

~ ~

(|

~~~~~~~legato

dlce

P

*P

*P

simile

\

~~

~~~~~~~Imin

una

corda,

p

e dolce

274






Andante

Allegretto on espressione

*

diTLm____t@_

. i n

_PP_

UL

*10,

6

OP

P.CP

sempre

These

four elementsare then repeated in different eys, makingan

alternating orm

eminiscentfOp.

09, i

and Op.

I1I,

iii.

As for

the musical substance, Op.

31,

no. 2, i, comes readily

enough

to

mind; and perhapsOp.

I06G

iii iS lurking omewheren Mendels-

sohn's unconscious:'

Op. 106, iii

l.rnaorda

crese. ltue

e

corde

(1

"""$"glli-

'ifuii S

11~~~~~~~~~I-]

.

':

P

dimin.-___--?_I?'

P * P

*

Was it not a ghost of this that we heard at bar

I

I6

of the E major

sonata, ? The same passage recurs

t

the very

nd of the

sonata,

culminating

n three

inal hordswhich cite as an example fthe

more

conscious

borrowing f an effect:

4

Werner,op. cit.,pp. Io8-9,

gives a letter

fromMendelssohn

o his sister,

ated

8 November 825,

in which

he

mentions impersonating

eethoven

himself)

hat he is

sending

her his sonata in

B, major,Op. Io6;

"I

did not write he sonataout

of

thin

air.

Play it only

fyouhave ample

time,

which s indispensable

or t".

276






E

major Sonata,

iv

ending)

Op. 106,

iii

(ending)

r7N

(

h K01 l |

Eltuttedle

The E major

sonata

shows adventurousness

n form to a

rare

degree, using a

motto

theme in three different

movementsas

well

as a

reminiscence

of the opening

theme

near the end

of the

finale

(not quoted here). Surely the young Mendelssohn was the first o

experiment

with

'cyclic'

form to this

degree. He may

have

known

Schubert's

'Wanderer Fantasie',

but

his practice is not

so

much

a

thematic

transformation,

uch

as was to

be

used by Liszt

and

Franck,

as an

extension

of

the

principle

of

literal quotation

found

in

Beet-

hoven's fifth

nd

ninth

symphonies nd

late piano sonatas.

Of

Mendelssohn's other

earlysonatas,

Op.

I

05

in G

minor( 82

I)

and Op. io6

in BI

major

(I827),

the first

raws its inspiration

from

Mozart. Both

were

published

posthumously

i868) byJulius

Rietz,

who was surely guilty of cynicism in his assignmentof the opus

number io6

to a piano

sonata in B,

major which

begins:

Bb

major

Sonata,

i

(opening)

Allegro

vivace

.

P

*

modulates to

G

for

ts second

subject,

and

begins the

development

with

ajugato.The

resemblance

ends

there.

Two

years

later

(I829)

we find

the

remarkable

F#

minor Phan-

tasie',

Op.

28,

an

ambitious

work

in

three

movements, rich

in

Beethovenian reminiscences.

I am

continually

surprised by

the

number of non-specialist authors who, doubtless parroting each

other,

call

the

'Variations Serieuses'

Mendelssohn's only

significant

large-scale

piano

work.5

The

F#

minor

Phantasie'

seems to me to

have an

equal

claim,

not

so much

for ts

perfection n

technique as

6

Only

Radcliffe,

p.

cit.,

.

78,

sees

the virtues f

this

work,

mentioning

he

"stormy

and

grandiose eturn f ts

highly

haracteristic

main

theme

..

In

this

work,

s

elsewhere,

the

key

of

F

sharp

minor seems

to have

stimulated

Mendelssohn o

an

unusually

high

level

of

ntensity".

277






for

ts continuity,

igour,

passion

and absence

of the cloying

harmo-

nies

of the

later

work. Late Beethoven

does not come

into

question

here (though

some

may

hear

Op.

IO9,

i in

the plunge into

the

first

Allegro),

but

the

influence

of the

middle-period

sonatas

is much

in

evidence: the third movernent Presto) is like a combination of

ideas

from

the finales of Op.

3I,

no.

2

and Op.

8Ia, together

with

the

m

J

motif

f Op.

57,

(not

shown

here):

F#

minor hantasie,

ii

51

Op.

81a,

ii

b

j,

l

K:

~~cresc.-_____

__________

F69

6s?

3=

{2

F#

minor

hantasie,

ii

15

o

maecalonr

Op.

31 no.

2,

i

F283

-7

sf

dim.

p

Despite

appearances

Mendelssohn

shows

himself

worthypupil

of

the

great

man,

and

no

mere

compiler:

he visits Beethoven's

in-

exhaustible

fount

of

ideas for

inspiration

and

refreshment,

ot

for

lack

of

his own

initiative.

278






The

last

piano

work

which

concernsus

is the

Fantaisie

sur

une

Chanson

Irlandaise', Op.

I5

(I833),

based

on the

song

'The

Last

Rose of

Summer'.

Doomed to silence in

our

unsentimental

age,

this one-movement

essay

has

its

remarkable

moments.

It

harks

back to Beethoven's Op.

IO9

(and is in the same key):

Fantasian

E major

cf. Op. 109, ,bars 5

foll.)

n

x

- ~~~~~~-

-

;----

P

cresc.

Mendelssohn's

treatment of

the

song itself,

especially when it

returns

ransformed

t theend, is

close in

texture

nd general

feeling

to

the theme

ofOp.

io9,

iii. In the

middle of

the

Fantasia,

however,

another

influence

appears, that

of Op.

i

io, iii,

with its

hesitant

alternationsbetween

recitativeand

stricter

hythms.

Note that the

Mendelssohn

extract

below) closes

with the

same pair of

diminished

seventhchordsas itspresumedmodel:

Fantasian E

major

cf.Op.

109, ii,bars

-7)

Recitativo

Recitativo

A A

i2

S-l

dim

l~~~~a

tempo

f

-.

Recitativo

pp

|f

cresc.1

279






~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-0

F7-7(vlc.)

(C,

Ez

"

confuoco

F= F

r

4 Lj i

1

-Ls-

Mendelssohn

Beethoven

bar

bar

I

Slow

introduction

I

I9

Semiquaver ransition

9

23 Principal heme

a)

II

42 Semiquaver

ransition

37

5'

Transition

Transitional heme

40

59 Secondary heme b) 48

77

Cadential theme c) 57

93

Development

73

124

Recapitulation iI9

225-251

Coda

195-264

Beethoven

is more of

a

developer:

his

expositorysections

are

compressed

in

favour of

a

long development

and

coda,

whereas

with Mendelssohn

development

is

reduced to

a

fairly nsignificant

role.

The

two

codas,

for

example,

are

articulated thus:

Mendelssohn

Beethoven

bar bar

225

Coda

begins Principal heme urther

developed 195

Transitional heme

urther

developed

214

Secondary heme urther

developed

223

233 Principal

heme

developed

over

semiquavers 232

239

crescendo

some

new melodicmaterial

241

244

diminuendoo p

248

245-251

crescendo

o end 257-264

For

all

that,

Mendelssohn's

movement is

thematically unified,

permeated

with the

Ist es

wahr?'

rhythm,

n

contrast o the wealth

28I






of disparate ideas that flood in one after another (yet with what

miraculous nevitability ) n

Op.

I32,

i. Mendelssohn had obviously

been impressed by more than the

textures nd rhythmswhich are

all that our shortexamples can show adequately: he was also aware

of the principlesof motivic unity at work.

For the slow movement of the

A minor quartet Mendelssohn

chooses the same F keynote as Beethoven's 'Heiliger Dankgesang'.

The mood at which

he aims is evidently

one of serenity nd pro-

fundity, erhaps with Op. I30, iv

and Op.

I35,

iii in mind:

A

minor uartet,i

Adagio on ento

cantabile

-F

#F

n

%r rpYr

.

,

J

NJ.n

;;i

J

1

-

1.v

T.J

A

melancholyfugal passage

follows

his,recalling the opening fugue

of

Op.

I3I

in its

intensity

nd the

strangenessof

its

harmonies.

Eric

Werner sees

these as "the most excessive chromaticisms ver

writtenbeforeTristan"-an opinionwhich I would modifywiththe

suggestion

that

Mendelssohn

knew

Bach's 'Chromatic

Fantasy

and

Fugue'.

Some

might

see

in

the

subject

a

remembrance-surely

unconscious-of the slow

movement

of Beethoven's

seventh

sym-

phony:

A

minor

uartet,

i

l vlaw l

Z~~~~~

~~

~nd

n.

e

espress.

The

chromaticisms

ecome much more

pronounced

later

on,

when

all

four

parts

have entered:

then the

fugue

melts

beautifully

nto

a

more

cheerful theme

with

accompaniment,

a

spiritual

child of

282






A minor

uartet,v cf.Op.

132,

v,

bars 5

foll.,

ndOp. 31

no. 2,

,

bars144

foll.)

Presto

?

ad libitum

itri-emvv

tempo

0

_

use tococue

te wor

in thetonicmao.

After o much

strif

and

95,ivand,

v-effects

whcha

empo

to hert Betoe

is onc

mor reclle,

alot

ltraly

inth

ej

0

doesc

/

im

Tusends

hcocudheAiorki athet.oEic

Wej'rn

ferasof

it:stie

n

thnisn

is

cones

f bnsnatrtheosangenou

ofedlshn'

compositonsO.

Chrceie

by a

breat-takn

poinac

an matr

of

inte- v

_indeed

a

M,

efelssohn

b

toemaintain

te evienlo thien

o

a

Beethoven

'

o

es

ry

Wemaynwonder

whyrte h

i

n_ t.

th.

_

inkl

fact

tha

Mncldelsshn

stoppe

ntearoning

taooroo.

ste

longa

uhstie

wasd

stenimulte

byhisimscovaeriesoin

Bfeethoen

ande

ach

he

woas

xcitin

to~~~~~~

ert

Betoe

isoci-ercle

lms ieal,i

h

final~~~~~

~~~

imrs:p

ands

orighA

minohi

re

ine crpeta.

f. tem:e

wy

fnitnsv

uc

comparative,l

t

work

as

the

magnien

Ao

ao

rgan

ata.s

of pa

Bt hofen,

we

h mn

w

n

fat

ha

Mendlsoh

stpe

leringtoson.

As

log

ash.a

adoiial

in

his

eineprttin

of

he:

winssee

sc

comparativel

fathe

oras

th

magenio

icentdelssohn'

rgnponatao

ofO.e5

But

oftenr

when is mindwa

ot.

ehikth

raon

omes

t

leas

7Werner,

op.

cit.,

.

II8.

284






partially

intellectual

problem,

such as the

incorporation

of

the

Baroque style,

the

assimilation

of

Beethoven's

'difficult'

works,

or

the

achievement of

unity by

connected movements and

thematic

reminiscences,writing music became

too

easy

for

him-with

the

result hatmade him so beloved ofQueen Victoria and so unfashion-

able today. The works with

which

I

have

dealt,

on

the

other

hand,

could

be regarded

as valid

interpretations

f their

models

for

the

Biedermeierage, such as

might

have

led

their

audiences

gently

to

an

appreciation of

the

originals.8

f

Mendelssohn's

studies had led

him

further, ay to

an

understandingof

Beethoven's

fugues, or of

why

Beethoven

could

so often

dispense

with

song-like

themes, his

music as a whole

might interest us more. But

just as he

played

Beethoventoo fast, o

he grew up, and

lived, too fastto take

stock of

his assets and liabilities. Perhaps we may hear in the late F minor

quartet,

Op. 8o,

a sense of

this oss of

opportunity, nd a

longing to

regain some of the

profundity f

his earlymaster.

8

The

AmZ's reviews f

the

E

major

sonata

(xxix,

827,

col.

122-3) and the

A

minor

quartet

(xxxiii,

831,

col.

524-7)

are

wholeheartedly

pproving,

nd

say

nothing

ither

about what seem

to us the

strange ualities

ofthese

works, or about

their

kinshipwith

Beethoven.

285

early mendelssohn and late beethoven

Documents