on of the most intoxicating kind. We may picture an
enthusiastic gathering, with hats thrown aloft and shouts of triumph
ringing from every throat. It is of historical interest to know that
the theme of this Finale must have been a favorite with Beethoven, for
he had used it in three former works: a _Contre-dance_, as the basis
for a set of _Pianoforte Variations_ and in the _Ballet Music to
Prometheus_. It may not be too fanciful to trace a dramatic
relationship between its use in portraying the daring spirit who first
stole fire from Heaven and as the crowning message of a work meant to
glorify all heroic endeavor. A thorough familiarity with this movement
will repay the student not only as exemplifying Beethoven's freedom of
expression but indeed as a point of departure for so many modern works
in free variation form. See Supplement No. 45.

To illustrate Beethoven's Pianoforte compositions we shall now analyze
the _Seventh Sonata in D major_, op. 10, No. 3. Only wholesale
hero-worshipers consider all of the thirty-two Sonatas of equal
significance. It is true that, taken as a whole, they are a storehouse
of creative vitality and that in each there is something, somewhere,
which strikes a spark; for everything which Beethoven wrote was
stamped with his dominating personality. But the fire of genius burns
more steadily in some of the Sonatas than in others. It is the very
essence of genius to have its transcendent moments; only mediocrity
preserves a dead level. It is therefore no spirit of fault finding
which leads us to centre our attention upon those Sonatas which have
best stood the test of time and which never fail to convince us of
their "raison d'etre": the _Appassionata_, the _Waldstein_, the
_C-sharp minor_, the _Pathetique_, the _Sonata in G major_, op. 14,
No. 2, and _all_ the last five, especially the glorious one in _A-flat
major_, op. 119. It is futile to deny that some of the early sonatas
are experimental and that certain others do not represent Beethoven at
his best, being more the result of his constructive power than of an
impelling message which had to be expressed. The D major Sonata has
been selected for study because, though composed in Beethoven's first
period, it is thoroughly characteristic, and because its performance
is within the powers of the average intelligent amateur. The full
beauty of the later Sonatas can be realized only by great virtuosi who
devote to them years of study. The work