osers and by
the tendency exemplified in the Symphonic Poem (to be explained in due
season). The general validity of Restatement, as shown in the
Recapitulation of the Sonata-Form, cannot be questioned; for that
depends, as so often pointed out, upon the human craving to enjoy once
more, after intervening contrast, something which has originally given
pleasure. Furthermore this sound psychological principle finds an
analogy in our own life: with its early years of striving, its middle
period of development and its closing years of climactic retrospect
and satisfaction. There is a corresponding structural treatment in the
denoument of a drama. In the classic composers, the Recapitulation is
almost always a literal repetition of the Exposition, although
Beethoven began to be freer, _e.g._, in the climax of the Coriolanus
overture, where he modifies the form to meet the dramatic needs of the
subject.[101] Modern composers, however, have felt that much of this
repetition was superfluous; and when they do repeat both themes, one
or the other is freely varied and made still more eloquent. For
examples, see the resume of the first movements of Franck's
_Symphony_, of Brahms's _First Symphony_ and of Tchaikowsky's
_Sixth_. The Recapitulation is often abridged by omitting the first
theme altogether and dwelling exclusively on the second; as for
example, in the Finale of Schumann's _Fourth Symphony_ and in
Sinigaglia's Overture, _Le Baruffe Chiozzotte_.[102]

[Footnote 100: See Gretry's amusing comments on the Sonata-Form cited
by Romain Rolland in the essays _Musicians of Former Days_.]

[Footnote 101: See also Wagner's comments on the _Third Leonora
Overture_, cited by Ernest Newman in his _Musical Studies_, pp.
134-135.]

[Footnote 102: Additional illustrations of this treatment may be found
in Chabrier's Overture to _Gwendoline_ and in the first movement of
F.S. Converse's _String Quartet_.]

It remains to speak of the beginning and end of the Sonata-Form. With
Haydn it became the custom, not necessarily invariable, to introduce
the body of the movement by a Prelude which, in early days, was of
slight texture and import--often a mere preliminary "flourish of
trumpets," a presenting of arms. In Mozart we find some examples of
more artistic treatment, notably in the Overture to the _Magic Flute_
and in the prelude to the C major Quartet with its stimulating
dissonances. But in this case, as in so many others, it was Beetho