New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-08-14
THE PIANOFORTE and IT'S MUSIC
The Significance of Eeethoen Farther History of the Sonata
Vrtuosi as Compo -(lcmenti Dussek, Cramer and
EummG-<ln0her of the Great Bach.
Copyright, 1910, by III. f. krehb:el.

It was Beethoven who breathed the breath OF
2 new life into that which had been little else
than q convenient formula for the expression
cf merely sensUous beauty. Beethoven was at
once the end of the old dispensation and the
beginning of the new; the connecting lllih pe-
tween classicism and romantlclsm; cohsefNator
and regenerator; historian and seer; master
huiIder and arch destroyer To him l purpose
70 devote a separate article Grouped arouho
antedating and postdating him, influencing
him and receiving influence from him, are the
eDig0a0i who titled the ground prepared by the
classic composers. 1t is significant of the period
and the stvle of their writing that the best OF
them were yirtuosi whose influence was most
enduring in the department of plano1orte teen
mics Manner rather than matter DISTINGUISHED
their compositions They We're vastly proouc-
tive for they found their models at hand, ana
lofty thought and deep emotion mad not begun
to assert themselves as essentials Witch 'heS
hogan their careers They numerous
band and the burden of their Importance hes
IN the department of study to which hope TO
aaz,ote nv final chapter A few, however,
,oust have mention here. and l have chosen
Muzio Clement 1752- 1922, Johann Nepomuk
Hummel 071S-lS:1), Johann Ludwig E''Ssek
n161-1S12) and Johann Baptist Cramer l't-
1859 as representatives of the class 1Ho o'hef
hen may first enlist our passing after ION ana
k-nDathetlc interest because OF tiltli ieie'oii-
thip one physical, the other spiritual, to the
rfant who was the elimination of the preceding
order. Johann Christian Bach shared only the
family name with his great father Johann
Sebastian Like Handel, he went out into the
world Of fashion, yielded to its sway, and be
came an elegant musician. Italy set It's seal on
him when he became organist of Milan Cathe-
dral, married an Italian prirna donna and set
his heart Oh operate composition. He spent
the last twenty three years of his life in Lon
lon where he became Music Master to the
Queen There the boy Mozart sat on his knees
and improvised duets with him The Bach ira
9tions did not live in him they did in one
between whom and their creator there eX-
listed no ties of blood. Frederick Wilhelm Rust
113q-11 1850 was only eleven years old when Ola
Bach died. but at thirteen he was already able
20 play all the Forty eight Preludes and Fugues
by heart Bach's music was his delight He
vent to the sons Friedemann and Emanuel for
,cssons in composition and organ and claV1er
rlayfng His son, Wilhelm Karl enjoyed the
friendship of Beethoven, and his grandson, DE-
Wilhelm Rust GS22-1 S92), who edited some of
his works with modern additions as Mr.. Shed
ocIl regrctfully chronicles) appropriately be-
,anle successor of Bach as Cantor OF ST
Thomass, in Lepsic Dr. L. Prieger has hailed
+ W Rust as Elm VorgdHger BecthOrenS, a
precursor of Beethoven.
with the exception of MoZart's sonata in G
1,,inari Haydn'S 'Genziger' and London SON
stas both III E-fiat also some of Rusts
there are to our thinking, meme which in spirit
comes nearer to Beethoven than some of Glenn
entis" says Mr.. ShedlCck in his admira bic book
on the history of the sonata. (''The Pianoforte
Sonata: lis origin and Development" by ]. S.
Sncdock b. A. London Methuen & Co, 1880
"Cionenti represents the sonata proper from
beginning to end is Edward Dannreuther's
dictum in his article printed in Groves Die
tiOnary" Scholars frequently hold such Opin-
ions touching works which to the of mu-
scians in our eager, impatient and self-sufIi-