Pianoforte Sonata in F minor, in the Finale
of Tchaikowsky's Fourth Symphony and, above all, in the Symphonic
Poems of Strauss, _Don Juan_ and _Till Eulenspiegel_, in which the
form is admirably adapted to the dramatic needs of these descriptive
works. Additional examples, which can be readily procured, are the
Slow Movement of the _Sonata Pathetique_, op. 13, Beethoven's
well-known _Andante in F major_--remarkable for its brilliant
Coda--and his Rondo, already cited, _On the Lost Farthing_. (See
Supplement No. 38). Although there is a certain stiffness in this form
these examples afford the student excellent rudimentary practise in
ease of listening.

CHAPTER VIII

THE VARIATION FORM

Monotony, as previously suggested, is more unendurable in music than
in any of the other arts. We should therefore expect to find musicians
inventing new devices to vary their thoughts so that the interest of
the hearer might be continually sustained and refreshed. Thus there
gradually grew up the form known as the Varied Air--a term meaning the
presentation of the same musical material under different aspects. As
far back as we can trace the development of instrumental structure,
there appears this instinct for varying a simple tune by
embellishments of a rhythmical and melodic nature. Examples abound in
the works of the early Italian masters, in the harpsichord pieces of
the English composers Byrd and Bull[80] and in the music of Couperin
and Rameau. But all these Variations, however interesting from a
historical point[81] of view, are very labored and lack any real
poetic growth. They are, moreover, often prolonged to an interminable
length--one example, as late as Handel, consisting of an Air with
sixty-two Variations; prolixity or "damnable iteration" being as bad a
blemish in music as in any of the other arts. In the early days of
instrumental composition, about all that composers could do was "to
put the theme through its paces." That is, there was no unfolding of
the poetic possibilities of the melody. The successive variations were
all in the same key; the harmonic basis was practically unchanged and
the treatment consisted of dressing up the theme with stereotyped
embellishment-figures and of systematic rhythmic animation--produced
by the addition of more and more notes to each time unit. A standard
illustration of this type of Variations is the so-called _Harmonious
Blacksmith_ of Handel from his _Suite in E Major_