Evening star., 1936-12-12

immediate predecessors had considered
as most important. And Immediately
the question raises itself: Was this
gain for art? Is the final purpose Of
music to be human rather than purely
and principally matter of beauty OF
sound and Of form?
Beethoyen's heart was great and
pure and deep-feeling. and it beat In
sympathy with humanity's hardships
and its sorrows. This, however, is first
of all a matter of human tendencies, of
the human soul. The artist Beethoven
had to create forms, and his proverbial
wrestling and struggling may well
have been nothing else but the at
tempts to put his human (that is,
sometimes non-musicaD experiences in
musical form. However, he succeeded
in this, and that constitutes part Of
his greatness.
Beethoven's ideals we're the ideals
Of the best ones of all times and zones,
and which our world of today, alas,
has too often trod under foot. His was
the desire for freedom, for redemption
of human failings and weakness
through love, for the fraternity among
peoples and nations. Liberty, equality,
fraternity. Beethoven is direct result
in art of 1893. He is the first great
democrat in music. He wanted music
to be serious, and life to be happy and
beautiful, and this makes his work
often full of rebellion and anger, be-
cause life, alas, is not h. ppy and beau
tiful. With fine longing for this reali-
zation, he again and again starts from
the premises Of suffering, angry and
rebellious: Non per portas, per muros.
per muros";; "musz es sein, es musz
SEM; "Oh, friends, not these tones!"
etc.
SOMETIMES when we look at his
work from a purely artistic stand
point We are slightly disappointed, and
even bit bored by this eternal pride,
by this constant desire to resolve misery
into joy-often with q hard-headed-
ness which makes us believe that al
though the heart was "in the right
place" the head, sometimes. does not
seem correspondingly disciplined. This
may sound like heresy because since
hundred years any argument about
Beethoven is considered heresy. But
it may be well at times to approach
even one as great as Beethoven in
spirit Of respectful criticism If only
so as to succeed in more conscious
admiration Of his greatness.
We then begin to understand
Goethe's objections to some of Bee
thoven's work, objections which are
often mentioned to Goethe's dis
paragament, and which, especially if
We consider Goethe's amazing under
standing Of such men as Mozart. and
of Goethe's greatness in general.
should on the contrary make us pause
and think. OF course we must not
forget on the other hand that Goethe
judged Beethoven only from those
works which he heard 1t is doubt
full whether this knowledge included
Beethoven's greatest works, the ones
which he wrote towards the end of
his life. especially the last of his piano
sonatas, the D major cello-sonata,
and the string quartets of the final
period. In those Beethoven achieved
a spiritual release such as few artists
have been able to accomplish. For
in these he succeeded in purifying
and resolving his human problems
in the flame of his art. and by &C.
complishing this he approached di-
vinity. He combines here the great
ness of Bach at his best with the
added quality of a purely human
element. transfigured until his utter
ings become of q superhuman, non-
material, liberated quality, so power
full, so irresistible in their poignancy
that they evoke in any sensitive listen
er reverent reaction, an undying
gratitude for having been allowed to
listen to these utterances of the very
greatest of all our creators.
TN DIFFERENT other ways some
OF Beethoven'S predecessors had
been greater, although this has been
denied by the too fervent adulators
of his undoubted eminence Today.
from point Of view further removed,
We can without fear of immediate
damnation conclude that Bachs har-
mony, for instance, is bolder and
richer, that Mozart's orchestra is
more transparent, that Haydn's quar-
tet form is purer. Beethoven's very
greatness, his intensity, his "furor
Teutonicus" made him often grasp
beyond that which even the gifts of
genius could achieve.
But when we have said this. when
We are all through weighing and
measuring, there is still one quality
in his work which ever and again
sweeps away all arguments, and this
is the quality for which he deserves
to be regarded, even with his faults,
as the giant he remains That quail
ity was his constant and fanatic sim
cerity. For his humanity and for his
sincerity, which showed constantly in
every possible instance, does he take
the place which not only the artists,
but the whole of humanity has given
him, and before which any human
being worthy Of the name will always
reverently bow the knee.
The concert of tomorrow will con-
tain. first. the deeply moving "Corio-
lanus Overture"-the second theme of
which, expressing as it does the love
of Coriolanus for his mother, is un-
doubtedly one of Beethoven's greatest
melodic inspirationS. especially in its
contrast to the stern and harsh char
acter of the main Coriolanus theme.
The brooding pianissirno ending after
the superb development of the over
ture puts the stamp of Beethoven's
genius on the work as nothing else
could.
The third piano concerto, once a
great favorite, has in the course of
time given way to the fourth snd the
Emperor Concerto" as far as popular
appeal goes. But it has qualities Of
depth and strength In the first two