s Liszt
sonata stands, however, as a bold attempt to modify a form which, as
we have seen, Schumann thought exhausted (was it for that reason that
Liszt dedicated the work to him?), and one in which so many soulless
compositions were written during the second quarter of the present
century. "La sonate," says Charles Soullier in his _Nouveau
Dictionnaire de Musique Illustre_ "est morte avec le dix-huitieme
siecle qui en a tant produit." Is Liszt's sonata a Phoenix rising from
its ashes? Shall we be able to say "La sonate est morte! Vive la
sonate!" Time will tell. Hitherto Liszt's work has not borne fruit.

CHAPTER X

THE SONATA IN ENGLAND

In previous chapters we have been occupied with Italy and Germany.
Without reference to those countries a history of the pianoforte
sonata would be impossible. Italy was the land of its birth; Germany,
that of its growth, and, apparently, highest development. During the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries England furnished notable
composers for the harpsichord. William Byrd and Dr. John Bull are not
only among the earliest, but at the time in which they flourished,
they were the greatest who wrote for a keyboard instrument. At the
beginning of the seventeenth century English music was indeed in a
prosperous state; it was admired at home, and its merits were
acknowledged abroad. H. Peacham, in his _Compleat Gentleman_,
published in the reign of James I., says of Byrd: "For motets and
musicke of piety, devotion, as well as for the honour of our nation,
as the merit of the man, I preferre above all others our Phoenix, Mr
William Byrd, whom in that kind I know not whether any may equall. I
am sure none excell, even by the judgement of France and Italy, who
are very sparing in their commendation of strangers, in regard of that
conceipt they hold of themselves. His 'Cantiones Sacrae,' as also his
'Gradualia,' are mere angelicall and divine; and being of himselfe
naturally disposed to gravity and piety his veine is not so much for
light madrigals or canzonets; yet his 'Virginella,' and some others in
his first set, cannot be mended by the first Italian of them all."
Then at the end of the seventeenth century came Purcell, a genius who
seemed likely to raise English music still higher in the estimation of
foreign musicians. But, alas! he departed ere his powers were matured;
by his death English art sustained a grievous loss, and from that time
declined. The history of instrumenta