Beethoven and Cesar Franck

7/25/2019 Beethoven and Cesar Franck

1/15

Beethoven and Cesar FranckAuthor(s): R. V. DawsonSource: Music & Letters, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Apr., 1930), pp. 110-123Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/726340.

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2/15

BEETHOVEN

AND

CESAR

FRANCK

The

Church

whichwas

once

the mother

f

poets

no

less

than

of

saints,during he last twocenturieshas relinquishedo aliensthe

chief

gloriesof

poetry

f the chief

glories

of

holiness

she has

pre-

servedforher

own. The

palmn

nd

the

laurel,

Dominic

and

Dante,

sanctity

nd

song,grew

together

n her

soil;

she

has retained

he

palrn, but

forgone

he

laurel.

Poetry

in

its widest

sense,

and

when not

professedly

rreligious,

as

been

too

much

and too

long

among,

many

Catholics either

nisprised

r

distrusted;

too

much

and

too

generallyhe

feeling

as

been that

it is att est

superfluous,

at worst

pernicious,

most

often

dangerous.

AND n theveryyear thatFrancis Thompsonwrote hosewords,Cesar

Franck

was

blending

sanctity

and

song, and

entwining palm and

laurel.

After

years

of

conscientious

oil

and

humble

aspiration,

his

poetic

spirit

was

at last

bringing

orth

he fruit

f

sinmple

aith,

and

fusing

holiness

and

beauty.

In

the

next

year he

died,

little

known nd

still

less

understood,

but

leaving

a

small

band

of

disciples

through

whose

devotion

nd

energy

his

music

has

becorne

known

throughout

theworld.

And

this

understanding

as made

men

take

neasure

of his

stature,

and

speculate as

to

his

spiritual

ancestry.

The natureof his work,both n inspiration nd form, nvitescom-

parison

with

Beethoven,

and

Vincent

d'IIidy

immediately

grasped

such

affinities

s

may be

discerned; but

true

as

his

observations

may

be,

he

does not

express

the

fundamental

difference

etween

the

spiritual

experiencesof

the

two

composers.

He

approaches

his

com-

parison

from

the

point

of view

of

form,

and

argues that

Franck

trod a

new

path

only

roughly

ndicated

in

certain

of

Beethoven's

latest

works;

but

although

he

says

that

Franck

only

wrote

when

he

had

some

experience

o

embody,

he

does

not

interrelatehe

spiritual

and formalaffinitiesnd

divergencesof

the two

composers.

It

so

happensthat

the

comparison

f

Beethoven

and

Franck

forms

most

illuminating

ommentary n

the

transfusion f

spiritual

environment

and

the

inspiration

f

genius,

and,

at

the

same

time,

from

more

intimately

musical

point of

view,

illustrates

he

reaction

of

content

on

form.

The

most

significant

works

of both

these

musicians

are

inspired

by

the

deepest

penetrative

perception,and

reveal

unsur-

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3/15

BEETHOVEN AND CESAR FRANCK

111

passed

sincerity

nd faith,

but by most dissimilarpaths was

spiritual

affirmationttained. And

so, in form, he classical structure

which

bothuse is made plastic by the warmth f their creativegenius, and

bears the unmistakable mpress

f their

differences.

I

The extent

to which Beethoven and Franck represent he spirit of

their age, and the degree

n which they help to form his

spirit, are

questions ncapable of preciseanswer; for the genius perceives what

is

implicit

n.

hiis

spiritual

nvironment,

nid

yet

is the leader of those

same people of whom his

environments composed. It is as though

the artist pluimibshe subconscious of a people, revealing

deas and

tendencieswhich only became assimilated nto the ordinary

material

of

consciousness y a mostgradual process.

And

even then

the artist's

perceptions ecome

coloured

n

tlle process of expression

by his own

mnostntimate nd individual ntrospection. And it is

on the degree

of this

particularly

ndividual

element

that

the

fundamental ifteren-

tiationbetweenromantic nd classicalreallyrests. The classical mind

is

characterised

y

a

greater elf-effacement,

nd

in

its

finer

momentts

works from the widest possible

foundation;

t

grasps

the most per-

manent elements

and winnowsout

the

transient;it

conceives

these

elements

as

the

product

f

the

largermind,

the

mind of the

age,

and

does not

strive

to

leave the impress

of

individuality

writ

large,

but

leaves

it,

almost

unconsciously, ubtly

and

surely

writ. In conse-

quence,

the classical

forms

re

clearlv

defined,

but

slightly

flexible-

highly crystallised,yet

keenily

ensitive.

The romantic

is in

his

extremestmoments he antithesis f this. The mind,thespirituality

of

his

environment,

e sees in his

own,

or

refracted

hrough

his

own,

and

often

fails

to

dissociate

the

one

from

the other.

Instead of

his

spiritual process being synithetic

nd

basically

rational,

it becomes

analytical and intuitive;

t

tends mostly

to

emotionalism,

nd often

attains

a

morbid querulousness.

So

if

the

classical

attitudehas the

virtueof

breadth

of

view and

comprehenisiveness,

he

romantic

may

claim

a

greater ntimacy

nd

depth;

but neither

of these

tendencies

carried o

an

extreme

s

healthy.

A classicism

forgetting

hat a

sense

IL

hlumours essentialto a sense ofhumanity, s cold and sterile, ts

bleak

and

uncompromising

solation

will

attract but

few,

and them

often

for

effect

r

from

a

sense

of

curiosity.

It

is,

in

fact,

a

false

classicism,

as

false

as

the

romanticism

whose

introspection,

owever

penetrative,

ecomes circumscribed

nd

morbid,

nd whose

landscape

becomes a

parade ground

forfantastic

magery.

But

departing

from

extremes,

there

is

a

space

wherein a balanced

judgment

can blend



4/15

112

MUSIC AND

LETTERS

the classical

nd

romantic

lements otheirmutual

dvantage.

Such

artists

s

Milton

nd Mozart

tandat

the

classical xtreme

f

such

a fusion, ettheir ympathiesindpersonalitiesre implicitn their

works.

Standing

earer

o

romanticism,

nd

surveying

ankind

ith

perhaps

profounder

enetrationhan

either

Milton or

Mozart,

s

Beethoven,

who

rested

ecure

n

a

position

where none

but the

greatest

enius ould

tand,

nd

remained ecause e

could ee

beneath

the

ephemeral

lements f

his

ideologicalnvironment.

is

insight

gave

him

just

view

of human

progress,

viewas

unassailable

nd

even

more

prophetic,

han

that which

ame

before

with

Rousseau's

constructivedeas

of

human

ociety,

r

that

which

ame

later

with

Darwin ndthedevelopmentfscience. In Beethovenheromantic

and

classical

elements,

he

subjective

nd

objective

ttitudes,

eem

to

be blended

n

perfect

roportions,

ut

Franck,

n

spite

of

his

adherence

o,

and

adaptation

f

classical

form,

was much

more

individualisticn

content,

nd

had

not

nearly o

mighty

mind s

Beethoven.

Turning

o

the

surroundingsn which

Beethoven

as cast

such

light,

there

s

revealed

Europe

more

minutely

nalysed

han at

any otherperiod. It is impossible o crystallisell the significant

events nd

ideas

into

few

entences, ut

t

is

essential

o

point o

more

general

endencies

f

the

century,s

a

prelude o

the

compre-

hensionf

Beethoven's

utlook.

The

period s

conventionally

egarded

as

one

of

spiritual

eclineon

the

one

hand,

and

of

rather

ncom-

promising

ationality

n

the

other, n

fact,

the age

of

reason.

Superficially

his

s

so,

but

the

mplications

f

uch

view re

unsatis-

factory,

or

heypoint

o an

eternal

onflict

f reason

nd

soul,

and

thisbased

on

the

assumption

hat

piritual

nsight

s

insusceptible

f

rational ffort,nd that the intellectmustbe lulled,rather han

quickened

yspiritual

motion.

Such

a

view,

rom

he

spiritual

ngle,

is

clearly

repared o

countenance

dhesion

o

outworn

radition

nd

dogma,

nd

apart

from

uch

a

passive tate

of

mind

being

cceptable

to

priests,

t found

o

effective

enial

mong

he

rationalists.

orso

keen

were

hey

o establish

he

omniscience

f

reason

hat

hey

ver-

looked

he

higher

nd

more

bstract

ctivities

f the

intellect,hose

activitieswhichwe

regard

s

merging nto

the

perceptions

f

the

soul.

And

the cause

of

rationalists

as

further

itiated

by

their

ideas becomings dogmaticnd rigid s thedogmas ftheChurch

they

derided;

yet

for hose

deas

men

made a

revolution

s

deep

and

far-reaching

s

any

precipitatedn

the

cause

of

the

Church.

'La

Revolution

era donc

deologique

t

dogmatique,'

t was

remarked,

and ike ll

causes

fought

or

rinciples,

elentless,

ogical

nd humour-

less,

t

wrought

tremendous

onvulsionn

all

but

man

himself.

But

those

years

which

were

forminghe

material

or

Beethoven's



5/15

BEETHOVEN

AND CESAR

FRANCK 113

spiritualynthesis

id see a

positive

ecline

n the

spirituality

f

the

Church, quite

unconnectedwith

the direct

challenge

of

the

Philosophes. The great eaders,Fenelon ndBossuet,for nstance,

had

been replaced y smaller

men,while

he Church s

a

whole

was

divided

ythe

ction

f

Josephism,

allican ndFebronian

endencies,

and

the germane

ntagonismf

deas of

the

supremacy

f

the

Bishop

ofRome nd of

papal nfallibility.

n

its

moredomestic

spectslso,

it was

losinggrip.

The

life

of the

upper

lergy

was

one

of

luxury;

services

were

becoming

xcuses

for

concerts,

nd

preaching

was

declining.

Louis XVI once remarked

fter

sermon,

If the

Abbe

had

only aid a little bout

Christianity

here

s

no

subject

which

he

wouldhaveleftuntouched.'As Dr. Pullansays, Amid hepeach-

coloured

marble,

he

gilded

cornices,

the

floating

herubs,

and

columns wistinghemselves

n

sympathy

ith

tatues f

saints

who

writhe

n

eloquence

r

ecstasy,

t.

Benedict nd

St.

Bernard

ould

only

have come

as

visitors,

ll

at

ease

if not

ndignant.'

Nor

was

Protestantism

n a

more

healthy tate,

while

on

the other ide

the

sons

of

the

ge ofreasonwere

ccumulatingnowledge

nd

contesting

their

deas with

ssiduity

nd conviction.And on a humbler

lane

than that of philosophy,deas of freedomnd social justicewere

finding

xpression.One has

only

to

look into

the

highways nd

byways

f

iterature,

nd to

recall

xamples

uch

as

Marivaux's

Jeu

de l'Amour t

du

Hasard

where

parental

uthority

s

disregarded,

or

Beaumarchais's Barbier

de

Seville

'

whereCount

Almaviva's

rank

is impotent ithout

he

cunning

f

Figaro.

There were, hen,

two main

sources

of inspiration, he

direct

spirituality

f

the Church,

arrnished

y neglect

nd

crusted ver

with

dogma ikely

o repelthosenot

prepared o

movepatientlynd

go deep,andthe ntellectualspiration fthePhilosophes,ttractive

equally

to

the

dilettante

nd

the seriousthinker.

The

practical

experience f the Church xtended ver

centuries, ut

much of it

had

been rejected r

ill-garnered;he

Philosophes

ad ranged nly

overthe

fields

f

verbiage

nd

theory.

Moreover,oth

ystems ad

deficienciesn

common, hey

were

two narrow

nd toorigid; but

while

hey ontended

itterly,eethoven

ameto

manhoodn a world

which

ought hefusion

f

ntellect nd

soul,whichwas

finding irst

principles

nd

despairing

superstructure,nd

whichwas

eeking ruth

alongtheroadof abstract erfectibility,ather han that ofhuman

progress.

Beethoven'sntellect ecame

the focusof two

seemingly

opposed

endencies,

nd

by

abstractinghespirit

f Christ

rom he

encumbrance

f

he

Church,

nd

dissociating

eason rom

ts

attendant

materialism

nd

idolatry,

t

brought

ogether purified

pirit nd

an

ennobled

eason or

heprocreationf

a

love-begottenaith nd a

hope

unmoved y the

ephemeral

isillusion fevents.



6/15

114

MUSIC AND

LETTERS

Cesar

Franckwas bornfive

years

before eethovern's

eath,

and

into

a world

eacting

n

almost

ll

its aspects

ronm

he one

in

which

Beethoven ad lived. Following 815, theyears hatshattered ew

hopes brought ack old faiths, nd gave the world

n

place of

a

spiritual evaluation, religious evival. During hose

years,

men

sought o derive uture

spiration

rom

ast xperience,ndtosubsti-

tute a readjustmentora revolution.They would

brookno com-

promisewith he

anti-god heyhad defeated, nd spurned he prin-

cipleswhichhad been

parodied y their

xponents-liberty

hat

had

degeneratednto icence, quality

hat had

merely

hifted

he

centre

of

gravity

rom

ristocracy

o

bourgeoisie,

nd

fraternity

vershadowed

bytheguillotine.The ruleofthe deologistsadfaded n thetwilight

of

theirgods, and

war-worni

ations elt

that the old is

good.

The

volcano,men hoped,

was extinct, ertainlydormant,

nd

kings,

statesmen nd prelates

nited

o

uproot

ll

tracesof

the eruption.

But

sedulous s they

were

n

bringing ack theancien

regime n its

outwardorms hey ouldnot

revive

ts

spirit. There was

a

feeling

thatmankind

ad entered

pon

a

new

era,

had inherited ew

hopes

and aspirations.Andmoreover,herevolutionary

lement as almost

moredangerousn defeat han thad been n victory. t had been

driven nder,

but

was chastened

y experiencend realised he

dis-

parity

etween

ts

philosophy

nd

man's psychology.Aware f its

deficienciesoth

n word

nd deed, t moved

orward

ore autiously,

ramifyinghrough hewhole amut f man's activities.

The revolu-

tionary ttitude

recipitatedutbreaks ll over Europe,and loosed

pent-up ationalities,

ut t was n the ntellectualnd

spiritual

man-

cipation

f

mankind hatthe

deepest ignificancef the

centuryay.

Rationalism hat et

out

s a crudeutilitarianismecame

efinednd

enlighteneds yearswentby. The scientificpirit, s weunderstand

it, applied ts infinite

iligence

nd

critical cumen oevery spect

of

life.

But

at

firstt

was

a

rough ool,roughly sed,

and

sought oreduce

the wholerange

of

man's

experience

o

concreteaws. It fell nto

conflict ith

he

Church,

nd

goodCatholicslosed he

door ndretired

within

heir

wn

house;

and

they

had a

worthy

ouse.

The

vitality

of the Catholic

hurch

hroughout

he nineteenth

entury

as

almost

greater

han

n

the

days

of Hildebrand

r

of

the

Counter-Reformation,

for t survived conflictmoreprofoundhan any precipitatedy

thepoliticalntagonism

f

he

mediwval

tate,

r

thedoctrinal

ttitude

of

Protestantism.

t was faced

by positive rreligion

nd

a

grossness

of

outlook

which vershadowed

iner

erceptions,

nd

certainly

rove

some of

the

keenest

ensibilities ithin

he

Church.

They

felt hat

they perceived

omething

mightier

han the works f

reason,

nd

found

he Church

trongy

o withstand

ssmlt,

for

t

emerged

rom



7/15

BEETHOVEN

AND

CE:SAR

FRANCK

115

the shadows f Napoleonic

omination

ith

he

set

purpose

f

resus-

citating

ts

weakened

ingdom

ver the souls of men. There

was

thepoliticalspect fthisrevival,herestorationfthePapal States,

thereligious actor

n

the

BelgianRevolution,

he

Sonderbund

nd

theKulturkampf,

hen

ven

Bismark

was

remindedf

Canossa.

But

the

day

of a

political

hurch

ad

gone,

nd

the re-establishment

f

the

Jesuits as

a

more owerfuline

of attack. More

ignificanttill,

however,

as the influence

f

Alphonsus iguori, ulminating

n

the

proclamationy his disciple,

he

renowned

io

Nono,

of

thedoctrine

of

Papal

Infallibility.

nd at

the same

time,

ome

of

the

most

dis-

tinguishedrenchwriters,

hateaubriand,

e

Maistre,

e Bonald nd

Lamennaisweredevotiingheir bilitiesothedefencefChristianity,

and

seeking

o catholicise

iberalism;

while

n

Germany

here

was

an

opposite endency,most

marked

n

the writingsfDollinger,

o

intellectualiseatholicism.

But

the lasting victory ay

with

the

authoritarianrinciples

fUltramontanismnd

the

closing

f

thedoor

to the

ntellectualnd national haracteristicsf the

century.

So,

as

in

Beethoven's

ime,

here

were

wo

broad

urrentsf

mental

and

spiritual

ctivity,

eeminglymutually xclusive,

ut

here

the

choicewasmoredifficult. n the one handwas an intellectualism

stabilised y experience,

onvincing,

nd

day by day ustifyingtself

byworks;

on the

other

hand was

the

Church,

watchfulnd

active,

visiblymanifesting

he

Kingdom

f

God

that

t

preached,

nd

ustify-

ing

tself

y

faith.

n

this

tmosphere

esar

Franck

grew p. Eight

years

after

his

birth,Belgium

evolted

gainst

her

arbitrary

nd

anomalous nion

with

Holland,

nd

religion

was

a

leadingfactor

n

the

revolt. During is earlymanhood e sawin

Francethe gradual

victoryfUltramontanism

ver he Gallican

radition,fter conflict

extendingverforty earsfromheRestorationf1814. And n his

music, ranck

xpresses spiritualtatewhichmust

havebeen hat f

many sincere

Catholics

uring hose anxiousyears-the doubt, he

yearning,

hedawningnsight

nd theglorious

ffirmation.e stands

as a supremeexample of

intuitive onviction f the

beauty and truth

of the

Church's

eaching,

conviction otpassively ssumed,but

mysticallyttained.

The

differencesetweenhe religious erceptions

f Beethovennd

Franck,

nd

their pproachhereto eem most

xpressivelymbodied

in the words Seek andye shall find: Knock nd it shall be opened

untoyou.'

There re,

after

ll, only woways fattaining aith, he

one

by

building

t

up stepby step,

the

other

by

waiting eceptively

and

acceptingnquestioningly. he former

rocess s infinitelyhe

rarer,

nd

also themore

aluable, or t makes positive ontribution

to the

spiritual eritage fcivilisationy extending

omeelement f

Vol.

1.

3



8/15

116

MUSIC

AND

LETTERS

originality,

f

not

n

basis,

certainly

n

synthesis.

There s

profound

truth

n what

rofessor hitehead

as

said:

There is

very ittle

real first-hand

xpression

n

the

world.

By

this

I

mean that most

expression s what

may

be termed

respon-

sive

expression,

namely, expression

which

expresses

intuitions

elicited by the

expressionsof others. This

is as

it

should

be;

since

in

thisway what

s

permanent,mportant

nd widely

pread,

receives

more nd more

clear

definition.

But there is need

for something

more

than

this

responsive

expression.

For

it

is

not true that

there s

easy

apprehension f

the

great

formative

eneralities.

They are

embedded

under the

rubbish

of

irrelevant

etail.

Men

knew a

lot

about

dogs

before

theythoughtof backbones and of vertebrates. The great intui-

tionswhich

n

their

respective

rovinces et

all

things

ight, awn

but slowly upon

history.

With

this

prevalenceof

responsive

xpression,we tare

sed

to

a

learned

literature

and

to

imitative

conduct.

When we get

anything

which

is

neither

earned

nor

imitative,

t

is

often

very

evil.

But sometimes

t is

genius.

Now

in

the light of

this,

the

differentiationf

Beethoven and

Franck

becomes more

clear.

Beethoven built

up his

faith on the

widest possible foundations, he revaluation of accepted ideas, the

widening f

conceptions

nd the

deepeningof

penetration. His

work

is typicalof the mind

which

submitsthe

notions

of a past age

to the

criticism

f

present

knowledge,

nd

thereby

osters

constant djust-

ment and

a

gradual

process

of

evolution.

Branches of

dogma that

had withered nd ceased

to be

fruitful,

e

cut

away,

unrestrained

y

any

access of

sentimentality,nd in

consequence of his

perceptions,

he

stands among

the great

geniuses of

the

world. Without

dding a

factto man's stockofknowledge, e took, as Shakespeare did, all that

mankind

grasped, and

made

it

new. He

gatheredup

all

the

attain-

ments

and

aspirations

ike

so

many

threads,

and

wove their

diversity

into a

wonderful ew

fabric.

He gave

the world

re-examination

nd

a

new

synthesis,

new

expression voking ts

proper

response.

How

different

as

the

faith

f

Franck His

expression

s

responsive

expression,

ess

comprehensive,

more

intimate,

but

not

nearly

so

significant.

His

view

was

limited

by

the

Church;

he

accepted

its

dogmas and

traditions.

His

attitude

then,

is

not

synthetic,

or he

acceptsmeeklythesynthesishe is given,the synthesis fthe Roman

Catholic

Church,

and

awaits

patiently

the

affirmation

f

its truth.

His

contribution

ould

not

be

to the

comprehensive

spect

of

spiritual

life; he

was not

synthetic,

ut

analytic.

And

here

he

cannot

ead,

he

can

only

affirm he fact

of

affirmation.

His

expression

s

responsive

expression

it

by

his own individualattainment.

He cannot

take

his

faith

and show the

process

by

which

it

was

built

up,

but

he

can



9/15

BEETHOVEN AND

C-ESAR

FRANCK

117

take

the

faithhe

has

received

nd

disclose ts

beauty

and

its

holiness.

He can

persuade others

to wait

patiently

until revelation

comes

to

them,he cannotlead themto revelation. He is intuitive,mystical,

and

only

to be

approached

n

the

spirit

of his

own

works,

with

patience

and with

humbleness of

heart.

It must

not

be

inferred,

however,

that

Franck was

in

any

sense

a

thorough-going

omantic,

for

had

he been

he

would have

been

drawn

to

the vital

romantic

orms

bout

him,

instead

of

being

moved

to

classical

expression

which

had

been

continued,

but

only

slightly

developed

since

Beethoven's

time.

But

it

seems clear

from

the

nature

of

his

individualism

hat

he

had

a

pronounced omantic train

in his thought. His

singular

naivete

and that

intensely

personal

idiom

are

unmistakable

igns of it.

But

along

with

these elements

of

romantic

egoism,

there

seem

to

be

traces

of

another

egoism,

a

classical

egoism

which Mr.

Lascelles

Abercrombie

as

differentiated.

In

'

Romanticism'

he

says:

In

this

matter

of

egoism,

some

comparison

seems

possible

between

classicism

and

romanticism.

For oftenenough we

hear

of egoism in poets pre-enminentorthe classicism of their art:

Milton and

Goethe,for

example.

But

this

is not

the

egoism

we

have

ust been

considering;

ot the

poet's

sense

of

such

importance

in

himself

hat he

forgets

r

discredits he

importance f

the world

he

must

inhabit;

or

perhaps

mnakes

ts

importance

epend

on

its

ability,o

nourish

his

regard for

himself.

Milton

and

Goethe

(I

exclude

the

latter's

adolescent

egoism) were

interested

n

them-

selves,

and

deeply concerned

o

cultivate

themselves,

precisely n

order

that

they

might

be fit and

able

to

make

the

world

their

topic.

They

devotedtheir

rt

to

the

truth

f

t, and

to the

destiny

of

its

people;

and

just

because

they felt

themselves

apable of

an

adequate consciousness fthe worldwerethevso vividly onscious

of

themselves.

So

with

Beethoven,

but

Franck's

'

adequate

consciousness

was

limited

o

the

Church, nd

this

classical

egoism

he

blended

with

that

other

egoism

of an

intensely

personal

type.

His

general

experience

seems

to be

not

unrelated

o

that of

St.

Francis of

Assisi, and

uncon-

sciously

he

wove

into

the

fabric of

Catholic

Christianity

hreads of

what

Dean

Inge

has

distinguished

s a

third

type

of

Christianity,

the Platonic or mysticaltype. Beethoven had

much

more

of

the

classical

and

less of

the

romantic

element,

almost

to

the

entire

exclusion

of

mysticism,

nd

even if

one

sees

this

in

his

latest

works,

it

is

because

he

has

completed

his

synthetic

rocess,

and

had

turned

to

the

analysis

of

all

its

implications.

Franck

received

a

faith

and

justified t

before

himself,

Beethoven

built

up a

faith

and

justified

it

before

mankind.

But

Franck

seemed

to

be

clingingto

a

passing



10/15

118

MUSIC,

AND

LETTERS

order f

hings. As

Deain

nge

says,

cclesiasticismas been

from

he

highest oint

f

view

failure, nd

there s a

pronounced

ovement

from uthorityo experience,nd a craving or faithunafraid f

scientific

rogress.

Franck

blended

elements of

authority

nd

experience,

ut

Beethovenooked

to

a

higher

authority

han an

obscurantist

nstitution,

nd found

t to

be based

uipon

he

cumula-

tive

experience

f

mankind.

He

grasped he

fundamental

ecessity

of

fusing

ntellect nd

soul,that

the one

may

support,

nd

the

other

uplift; nd to all who

realise

this

necessity,

eethoven

must

be

a

mighty

rophet,

evealing

ll

thathad

ain

mplicit

n

Christ's

eaching

of

human

rotherhood,nd

pointing

ut

the

broad

oad

to attainment.

But whatevermaybe the relative alue of theirrespectivex-

periences, e

rest

profoundly

onvinced

hat

each

of

them

found

y

his own

path,

he

affirmation

f

his

faith,

hat

he who

ought

ound,

and

to him

that

knocked

t

was

opened.

II

Turningnow

from

he

spiritual

nvironmentnd

perceptionsf

Beethoven nd

CesarFranck

to the

works

n which

hey

mbodied

these

perceptions, e

realise

thatnot

only

werethey

menof

keen

insight

whohad

somethingo

express,

ut artists

eeply

oncerned

withthe

actual

expression. They

were

both

artists

redominantly

classical

n

their

onceptionsf

form; nd in

his

essayon

'

Brahms

and

the

Classical

Tradition,' ir

Henry

Hadow has

describedhe

classical

omposers

'

one

whopays

hehighest

egard

ohis

medium,

whoaims before ll things t perfectionf phraseand structure,

whose deal

is

simple

beauty, nd

whosepassion

he

love of

style.'

Clearly

uch statement

an

only

pply

n

entirety

o such

classicist

as

Mozart,

nd

even

he,

in

his

latest

days, seemsto

have added

to

this

particularly

absolute

aspiration

certain

piritual

ontent.

But

Beethoven

nd

Franckboth

had

something

erypositive o

say,

and

much of

their

greatness

ies in

their

having

adapted

form

o

content

ith

he

minimum

eparture

rom

he

dignitynd

lucidity f

classical

tyle.

But

the

very

factof their

having

omethingo

say

militatedgainsttheiradoption f a purely lassicalstructure,or

the

ultimate

oal

of

the classical

omposer

s

beauty,where

ontent

and

form

re

one. But

beauty,

bsolute

eauty,

s

always

beyond,

elusive

ven to

him

who

pursues

eauty

or

beauty's

ake,

who

feels

it

is

the

be-alland the

end-all

here,

and

for

whom

eauty s

truth.

Such

a

one

is

the

lover

of

Mozart,

ut the

poet

has

told

us

more,

'

Beauty

s

truth,

ruth

eauty-truth

is

beauty,

nd in

thisturn



11/15

BEETHOVEN

AND

CESAR FRANCK

119

of phrase there is enfolded the difference between Mozart

and

Beethoven. The one soughtbeauty and disclosed ts truth, he other

pursued truth nd revealed ts beauty. For beauty and truth re one

only where the two roads meet, and when the day is bright and

the

horizon clear

there

is

sometimes keen second

of

exquisite oy,

when we seem to see theirmeeting.

Beethoven and Franck, and the former articularly ecause of

his

explicit nunciation, re inclined to make the more profound ppeal,

for ruthhas always been associated withChristianity, hereasbeauty

as an end in itselfhas frequently een associatedwith pagan outlook.

So

narrow

view

is

declining,

but

there

s

still a desire

among

some

to derive frommusic an emotional uplift s remote fromreligionas

fromthe higher paganism. But when Beethoven came upon the

classical style, it was tending, except in the hands of Haydn

and

Mozart, to become a formula. Beethoven had to infuse a new

vitality, nd he did it by humanising the intellectualand spiritual

aspiration

to

beauty, just

when it was in

danger

of

becoming

too

rarefied nd of osing tself n the vacuousnessof llimitable pace. He

introduced

n

element of

emotion such as

is

inseparable

from

pro-

foundconviction, eplacedconventionalwit by spontaneoushumour,

and

grace by majesty.

His

structural daptations arred one by

one

on

the sensibilities of his hearer, but they ceased only

with

his

death;

and

now we

can

see

that

he entirely ransformedhe Mozartian

sonata form,yet left unimpaired ts fundamental rinciple

of

clearly

defined

contrast

of

movements. The noblest example

of

this,

the

FifthSymphony, mbodiedmany of his changes, but it has withstood

the

wolfings

f

hungry

riticism nd

now

scarcely

feels

the

impotent

pecking f

academic

bills.

The

fulfilment

f

his

blended spiritual

nd

artistic aim culminatedin the Choral Symphony,and up to the

momentof its

completion,

he

had

been mainly concerne'd

with

the

sonata

form,

but

the latest quartets and sonatas reveal a constant

attention

o

two othergreat forms, he variation nd the fugue,while

there

is

found

a

cyclical

treatment

based

on

melodic, harmonic

and

rhythmic

elations.

And

here

it

is,

in

these

latest

innovations,

that

Vincent D'Indy saw the beginning f the road his mastertrod.

Beethoven,

the

noble

outcome of

classic force,who began by

writing urelyformal ymphonicworks,beforehe won the place

of

a

genius

in the

upward progressof his art, marked out by

the

works

f

his

third

period 1815-1827)

new

road, and although

he himself

did

not travel

far

along it, he left t open for such of

his

successors

s

were

endowed

with a

sufficientlyobust empera-

ment

to

force

their

way along it, knowing

lso

how to avoid the

dangers heymight ncounter.

The

question nvolved

no

less than the transformation,r rather

the

renovation,

f the sonata

form,

that

admirable basis of all



12/15

120

MUSIC

AND

LETTERS

symphonic rt

which

had

been

accepted

by

all musicians

from

he

seventeenth

entury onward

by

virtue

of its

hiarmonious

ogic.

Beethoven

indicated

the

manner of this

renovation, omewhatunconsciouslyperhaps, but not the less surely,by associating

with'the

architectural

lan

of the

sonata

two other

forms

which

had,

so far,

been

essentially

divided

from

t.

One,

namely the

fugue,

had

enjoyed,

with

J. S.

Bach

and

his

predecessors nd

contemporaries,

moment f

neffable

plendour;

the

other,

the

great

variation-form-which,

et

me

say

at

once,

has

nothing

in

common

with

the "theme

and

variations

('

theme

varie )

which

was

the

joy

of

Haydn's

audiences, and

the despairof

pianists

of

the romantic

chool-had already

been

anticipated

y

that universal

pirit,

J.

S.

Bach,

anrid

n

a

few

very

rare nstancesby someother omposers.These

two

forms,

traditional

perhaps, but

from

which

the

vitality

appeared to

be

gradually

ebbing

away,

were

employed

by Beethoven

to

revivify

he

languishing

orm

f

the

sonata, and

this was

the

point

of

departure

f a

new

system

of

musical

struc-

ture which

was,

however,

olidly

based

upon

classical

tradition.

Now

when

Beethoven

had

built

up

his

faith in

the

freedomof

mankind,when he had

completed

the

comprehensive

ynthesis,

he

turned nuponhimself nd explored ubjectivelyhe mplications fhis

faith; he

employed,

quite

naturally,

two

forms

which are

funda-

mentally

nalytic,

the

fugue

and

the

grand

variation,

and he

unifidd

the

aspects of

his

contemplation

v elements

of a

cyclical

treatment.

Then

came

Franck

some

years

later with

an

objective

faith

subjec-

tively

ustified, nd

a

spiritual

process

broadly

consonant

with

that

of

Beethoven in

his

last

years.

Naturally, he

too

used

analytical

forms

o

investigate he faith

he

had

received, and

developed sonata

form

on

these

new

lines.

But

Brahms,

whose

spiritual

outlook was

somewhatakin to that of Beethoven beforethose last years, pre-

servedthe

essentials of

sonata

form,or

as

d'Indy

prefers,

ontinued

sonata

form,while

Cesar

Franck

developed t.

But

it

is

not

mpossible

to

opine

that

Franck

developed

away

from

it,

and

by

destroying

the

contrastof

movements,

approached

a

form of

monologue and

took

a

step from

ymphony

o

symphonic

oem.

Few

composers of

high

standing

have

written

o

much

that is

unworthy

s

did

Franck,but

neglecting

his

dross, we

may

single

out

both fromhis works and those of Beethoven, the ones whichhave

immediate

bearing

on

spiritual

development. With

the

otherswe

are

not

concernedhere,

except

perhaps

to

mention

Psyche

where

the

Christian

ymbolism

hat Franck

found n

the

classical

myth

serves

rather

to

indicate

that his

faithwas

at

times

more

an

obsession

than

a

possession, than

to

vindicate

any

originality

f

treatment.

But

reverting

o

the

works of

profounder

meaning,

Beethoven's

progress



13/15

BEETHOVEN

AND

CESAR

FRANCK

121

to

affirmation

eems to halt

briefly

n three

succeeding peaks

of

attainment,

the Third, Fifth

and

Ninth

Symphonies.

The

Third

representsthe firstphase of his belief in the goodness of a freed

mankind.

It

was

writtenwhen

French

revolutionary

deas

pervaded

Europe,

and

at

a

time when

Beethoven

was

still

regarding

uonaparte

as a hero

and

deliverer.

Consequently

his thoughtwas of

a

political

and

social

freedom,

freedomborn

of

justice and

equality,

and

the

spiritual

spect of

a

heroismby

which

this was to be

accomplished

e

enshrined

in

the

Eroica.

But

by

the time

he

wrote

his

Fifth

Symphony

he

had

been

disillusioned

nd

fetterswere

again

clinging

to

man, but

there

was still a

freedom

within

his

grasp,

a

freedom f

will. And it is the essence of the conflicts f freewill which he

expresses in the

Fifth

Symphony.

Whether

or not we

attach

any

significance o his

specific

mention

of fate

in

connection

with

the

opening

phrase,

there s

little

doubt hat

his

Europe must

have

seemed

in

the hands

of a

fate,a

fate

that had inflicted

he

defeatsof

Ulm

and

Austerlitz,

Jena,

Auerstadt

and

Friedland in

twenty

months.

And

even

ignoring his fateful

nvironment, ne

must remember

he

had

reached

that

period of

his life

comparable

to

Shakespeare's

tragic

period,

nd

quite

apart from

hat

he was

undergoing n

intellectual nd

spiritualevolutionwhichwas bound some day to bringhim face

to

face

with

the

idea

of fate.

But

fate

is not a

spiritual

conception,

it

is

not a

source of

strength, ut

a

confession

f

weakness,

and it

offers

n

explanationonly

to

thosewho

will

not look

beyond

t,

but

denies that

fundamental

reedom

or which

Beethoven

was

seeking.

So he

met this

unspiritual

antagonist

and

vindicatedthe

freedom

of

his

will.

After

hree

symphonies

f joy

such

as one

might

expect

after such

a

triumph,

came

the last,

the

Ninth,

perhaps

the

most

comprehensiveutteranceever made by man. Sixteen years after

the Fifth,

and ten

after

the

Eightlh

Symphony,

t

came

when his

outlook

was

matured,

his soul

revealed and

his

experience

garnered.

And

then

he

surveyed

the

whole

scene of

life, its

decisions and

conflicts,

ts

moments

of

abysmal

darkness,

the

holiness

of

dawning

light,

and the

transcending

oy

of

affirmation.Can

one

wonder

that

the

sonata

form

was

suited to

the

embodiment f

his

experience?

It

allowed

him

to

build

up and

express ividly

ach phase

of the

problem

he

was

facing; it was

a

synthetic

tructure

with

synthetic

content.

Franck's

most

significant

workswere

written

n

the latest

period

of his

life,

and

even

had

he built

up a

faith

we should

be

unable

to

trace

the stages.

But his

life

and his

works ell us

that

he

received

a

faith, and

his

entire

spiritual

process

was

the

passage from

doubt

to

certainty. It is

a state

revealed n

most of

his best

works, nd

the

differences

etween

them exist

not

in

problem

but in

musical

presen-



14/15

122

MUSIC

AND

LETTERS

tation,

nd

so,

as

he

analysed

his

ccepted

elief

ntil

t

became

n

ingrown

aith,

e

expressed

imself

n

analytical

orms

nd

developed

cyclical xpression.To emphasisehis sameness fhis process ne

has

only

to

recall

those

complaining,

oubting,

uestioning

hemes

with

which

his

works

egin,

or

nstance,

he quintetallegro

of

the

first

movement),

A

the

symnphonic

ariations,

and

the

symphony,

EX

3

while n each case therefollows ne of thosethemeswhichhave

been described

s

moonlit.

And

then

pervading

verything

s

the

Franck

diom,

but

beautiful

nd mystical

hough

t

be,

we

cannot

help

remembering

hatFranck

wrote language

of

his

own

and

spoke

bouthimself;

eethoven

eveloped

he

language

f

his

time

and

spoke

about

mankind.

This

means

no

disparagement

f

either

Franck

or

his

art,

forhe

infused

ll

his

music

with

he

goodness

f

his

soul,

and

even

his

defects,

is

occasional

iffuseness

nd

heavi-

ness,

resulted

rom

his

conscientious

orkmanship.

And

he

who

wouldunderstandhe fullness f Franck'smessagemustwait as

Franck

did,patiently

nd

receptively,

ntil

ll

is

revealed;

ut

t

will

be

revealed

ofew,

nd

they

will

ive

n

a faith

which

was

clouded

ut

never

clipsed,

nd

which

hone

forth

ot

with

flood

f

glory,

ut

with

serene

pervasive

ight,

uffusing

hatsoever

is

hands

found

to

do,

with

simple

ove

whose

radiance

asseth

ll

understanding.

Of

all

this

he told

in

a

symphony,

hose

oveliness

eems

hardly



15/15

BEETHOVEN

AND

CESAR

FRANCK

123

consistent

withdoubt,

but how

different

s

that openingtheme

from he

one

which

bursts

from

he

mysteriously

regnant

ntro-

duction fBeethoven'sNinth ymphony.And thenhowconsonant

is

the nterweaving

f the

slow

movement

nd

scherzo

with

he

out-

lookthat

has

never

known

he blackness f despair,nor the

almost

blinding

lory

f sudden

realisation,

nd

how remote hat

delicate

scherzo

heme

romhe headlong, rantic ushof Beethoven's

econd

movement.

Finally,

here

s that

yclical

weaving

fthemes

inding

the

last

movement

o those

which

had

preceded

t, and

wholly

different

rom

he

reminiscences

f the

past that Beethoven

ncor-

porated

n the

choral

finale.

There

eems

no

shadow

fdoubt

hat

in broadmanipulationf symphonic orm,both Beethovenand

Franck

worked

rimarily

t the

dictate

f

theirnner xperience,

nd

theme

y theme

we

can

see contrasted

he

spiritual

dventurer

nd

thespiritual

ome-lover,

he

character

f

'Ex

and

of

Ex s

And so,

in

this

comparison

f

Franck nd Beethoven,

e

see how

close

each

was

to

his environment,

ow

they

used he

aspirations

f

theirspiritual

nsight

nd

artistic

enius,

how the derivation

nd

development

f

Franck

fromBeethoven

may

be more fully

under-

stood

n

spiritual

han

on

purely

musical onsiderations,

nd

finally,

how

they

howed hat by

the

most

diverse

outes

may

men

attain

what lone

s

wholly

orth ttaining, living

aith.

B.

V. DAWSON.

Beethoven and Cesar Franck

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