Note 18 — IV THE ÆSTHETIC VIEW OF THE ART OF SINGING
William Henry Furness translation
The friends of this style of music (programme music so called) appeal to the authority of Beethoven, who, it is claimed, opened the way for it when he introduced into his Pastoral Symphony interlineations which should suggest the right sentiment to the hearer. But, although Beethoven allowed himself to approach the uttermost limits in this direction, he never overstepped them. It was only in his Pastoral Symphony that he introduced these interlineations, and they do not entirely contradict the peculiar character of the music, as so many of our modern programmes do.
Agreeable sensations upon visiting the country.
Scene at a brook’s side.
Merry gathering of country people.
Thunder and storm.
Happy and grateful emotions after the storm. More emotional than descriptive. Expression rather than representation of feeling.
D major. Allegro. Portrait of the German character,—its capability of elevation, proneness to Reflection, Gentleness and Valor, as contrasts that blend with and permeate one another in manifold ways—overpowering proneness to meditation.
D minor. Allegro molto vivace. In the open air, in the German grove, with the sound of horns, Away to the fields, with the songs of the people.
D major. Larghetto. Gathering round the domestic hearth, transfigured by love and the Muses.
G minor. Allegro-dramatico. Ineffectual struggle to establish the unity of the fatherland.
D minor. Lament. D major. Allegro trionfale. Opening of a new and elevated era.
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