All of the great sonatas and symphonies are of this wonderfully varied
form of writing. How full it can be of expressiveness you know from
the Songs without Words by Mendelssohn, and the Nocturnes of Chopin;
how full of flickering humor you hear in the Scherzo of a Beethoven
symphony; how full of deep solemnity and grief one feels in the
funeral marches.[50]
This school of composition has been followed by both the greater and
the lesser masters. Every part is made to say something as naturally
and interestingly as possible, being neither too restricted nor too
free. Then, in playing, both hands must be equally intelligent, for
each has an important part assigned to it.
The great good of study in harmony and counterpoint is that it
increases one's appreciation. As soon as we begin to understand the
spirit of good writing we begin to play better, _because we see more_.
We begin, perhaps in a small way, to become real music-thinkers. By
all these means we learn to understand better and better what the
meaning of true writing is. It will be clear to us that a composer is
one who thinks pure thoughts in tone, and not one who is a weaver of
deceits.
CHAPTER XV.
MUSIC AND READING.
"Truly it has been said, a loving heart is the beginning of all
knowledge."--_Thomas Carlyle._
A beautiful thing in life is the friendship for books.
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