melody,i.e., musical expression suited to various instruments
that should be unhampered by the too definite balance of the
dance forms, by polyphonic complexities or by the conventional
artifices of operatic style. But though he wrote skilfully for his
instrument and though his style has a certain quaint charm, on
the whole it is lacking in genuine melodic warmth and feeling.
These qualities alone keep works immortal.[105]
[Footnote 103: Those interested in this development should con-
sultThe Pianoforte Sonata by J.S. Shedlock, and above all,
d’Indy’sCourse of Musical Composition, Part III.]
[Footnote 104: This, according to d’Indy, was so-called because
pleasing to the ladies who played an important part in the elab-
orate court ceremonial of that day.]
[Footnote 105: Six of P.E. Bach’s Sonatas edited by von Bülow
are readily accessible and some excellent comments upon the
most significant ones may be found in Shedlock (see above).]
In Josef Haydn (1782-1809) we are face to face with a musician
of a different type. Haydn is popularly known as the father
of the Sonata, the Symphony and the String-Quartet; but, ac-
cording to Edward Dickinson,[106] this estimate is something
of an exaggeration, for “it overlooks the fact that a large num-
ber of composers were struggling with the same problem and
working along similar lines. Haydn was simply the greatest in
geniusof the instrumental writers of his day. His works have
lived by virtue of the superiority,i.e., the greater spontaneity
and vitality, of their contents. He should be called the ‘foster-
father,’ rather than the father of the symphony and quartet for
he raised them from feebleness to strength and authority.” To
him must be given the honor of establishing the types of instru-
mental composition which became the foundations of modern
music. Haydn, moreover, was the first musician since Sebastian
Bach who had a real personality which may be felt in his works.
To speak of a piece of music as “Haydnish” conveys as distinct
a meaning as to refer to a poetic stanza as “Miltonic.” When
Haydn arrived on the scene, music—through the labors of many
earnest workers—had become a language of definite expression,
with a logical grammar and with principles of structure. The
time was ripe for the use of this language in a more artistic way,
i.e., for a more intense personal expression and for more subtle
treatment of the material. The composer could count upon the