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Beethoven and the London Pianoforte School
Author(s): Alexander L. Ringer

Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 56, No. 4, Special Issue Celebrating the Bicentennial of
the Birth of Beethoven (Oct., 1970), pp. 742-758
Published by: Oxford University Press
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Accessed: 24-09-2018 12:48 UTC
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BEETHOVEN AND THE
LONDON PIANOFORTE SCHOOL
By ALEXANDER L. RINGER
N the spring of 1787, when Beethoven left Bonn on his f

trip to Vienna, the Josephine era was gaining its final
Reactionary forces eventually reversed many of the reform
Marie-Antoinette's progressive brother, Joseph II. Still, in
especially in the late seventeen-eighties, Austria in genera
particular enjoyed the artistic and intellectual fruits of u
freedom.' In terms of subsequent events it is of relatively litt
whether or not Beethoven actually succeeded in meeti
originally planned; far more significant historically is
Mozart's Vienna made a lasting impact on the sensitive te
provincial Bonn, who returned five years later to rec
Waldstein's famous words, "the spirit of Mozart from
Haydn." By 1792 Mozart, whose artistic maturity had bee
ably tied to the liberating spirit of the Josephine era, w
longer among the living. As for Haydn, who agreed to
hoven's Viennese mentor after examining his dramatic fu
written on the death of Joseph II in 1790, that musical s
ditional eighteenth-century values never even tried to bridge t
gap. Before long Beethoven found it expedient to entrust
guidance of lesser but more accessible men like the popul
Schenk and the solid but conventional craftsman Albrecht
In post-Josephine Vienna the true "spirit of Mozart" w
to flourish, As so often in history, political and military
abroad, both real and imagined, spawned political oppress
Beethoven, a young idealist who believed in man's dut
whenever one can, to love liberty above all else, never
1 Cf. Alexander L. Ringer, "Mozart and the Josephian Era: Som
nomic Notes on Musical Change," Current Musicology, IX (1969),
742
Beethoven and the London Pianoforte School 743
truth, even though it be before the throne," 2 reacted to this reg

atmosphere at times with undisguised cynicism. "I believe," he
to Simrock in 1794, "that so long as an Austrian can get his brow
and his little sausages, he is not likely to revolt." 3 What saved him
complete disillusionment were such steadfast personal friends as
Wegeler and Karl Amenda, slightly older companions of his y
Bonn, and the von Breuning family, ever dedicated to his welfare
over, as a fashionable pianist "on the make," young Beethoven en
a vogue among some of Vienna's most beautiful and cultivated w
But on the musical scene, only the indestructible Haydn continu
create works of outstanding interest, though by this time mostly
choral field. It was thus nothing less than a matter of artistic su
which forced a composer of Beethoven's progressive tendencies t
creative models elsewhere. That he found them primarily in repu
France and protodemocratic England was virtually inevitable in v
the historical circumstances.
With very few exceptions, the English composers who aroused Beet-
hoven's curiosity were English by cultural adaptation rather than birth.
Like other European capitals, including Paris and Vienna, eighteenth-
century London attracted superior musicians irrespective of national ori-
gin because it offered economic and artistic opportunities unavailable
elsewhere, in conformance with a historical rule that applies no less to
Berlin between the two world wars or the court of Burgundy in the early
fifteenth century. It was thanks to an unusually rich concert life, adven-
turous publishing houses, a pianoforte industry unmatched in quality and
efficiency - in short, to the many novel opportunities offered by Eng-
land's budding capitalistic society - that outstanding musicians of such
diverse national backgrounds as the Italian-born Clementi, the Bohe-
mian Dussek, the German Cramer, and the Irishman Field became part
and parcel of the London musical scene in the seventeen-nineties. That
the singular role of London in the development of instrumental music
after Mozart has been ignored to the point where a leading contem-
porary scholar can still speak with impunity of an alleged Komponisten-
not in late-eighteenth-century England merely testifies to the stubborn
persistence of the nationalistic fallacy in musical historiography.4
2 Emily Anderson, ed. and trans., The Letters of Beethoven (London, 1961), I, 6.
s Ibid., I. 18.
4Cf. Georg Knepler, Musikgeschichte des 19. Jahrhunderts (Berlin, 1961), I,
412. Knepler explains this alleged dearth of composers in Marxist terms as part of a
"faulty circle of bad thoughts and good business" (ibid., p. 413). On the "capitalis-
tic" side William S. Newman relegates his discussion of "Dussek and other early
744 The Musical Quarterly
Increasingly dominated by the growing fortunes of

middle class, the British capital offered music, "the fa
middle classes," s the art in which middle-class emotions
direct and unhampered expression, an entirely new ma
to which this middle class market motivated immediate and drastic musi-
cal changes is illustrated nowhere more dramatically than in the stylistic
peculiarities of the "London Pianoforte School." Whereas continental
Europe was ready for the pathos and sonorous splendor of Schumann
or Chopin only in the wake of a whole series of socio-economic convul-
sions, the middle-class predilection for harmonic texture of the type
characterized by Wagner half a century later as a sea into which "man
dives to yield himself again, radiant and refreshed, to the light of day," 6
motivated "the prophecies of Dussek" in England well before 1800.'
And in their own individual ways the melodic-rhythmic eccentricities of
Clementi, the glittering passagework of Cramer, and the often self-in-
dulging sentimental elegance of Field all satisfied the passion for novelty
and built-in obsolescence, the gullibility and escapist mentality, of the
new product-oriented society. On the whole, the English public, antici-
pating its Continental counterparts by more than a generation, favored
a domesticated type of musical art catering to short-range emotional
effects, often at the expense of structural solidity and logic. For music,
not unlike the Gothic novel, was to provide an affective counterweight
to the highly rationalized behavioi that produced the urban middle
classes' ever-increasing material affluence.
Dussek, Clementi, and their followers thus developed distinct stylistic
characteristics no less unique than those associated with their far better
known and justly famous Viennese contemporaries. This is not to say
that these two schools of musical thought exerted no mutual influence.
On the contrary, just as the London Pianoforte School could not have
done without the pioneering work of Haydn and Mozart, the Viennese
composers soon put to good use the textural innovations of their col-
leagues across the Channel. The very opening chords of Haydn's Sonata
Czech romantics" to the last quarter of The Sonata Since Beethoven (Chapel Hill,
N. C., 1969) apparently convinced that "Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary" oc-
cupied peripheral positions in European musical history in time as well as space.
5 Arnold Hauser, The Social History of Art (New York, 1958), III, 82.
6Richard Wagner, Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft, trans. in Oliver Strunk, ed.,
Source Readings in Music History (New York, 1950), p. 884.
7 Cf. Eric Blom, "The Prophecies of Dussek," in his Classics: Major and Minor
(London, 1958), pp. 88-117 (originally published in installments in Musical Opinion,
1927-28).
in E-flat (No. 52), written after Dussek lent him his own piano of la
English manufacture, are proof that such direct influences were rea
acknowledged. By the same token, Dussek assumes the stature o
prophet only in the eyes of those who think of European history in u
lateral and evolutionistic terms, insensitive to the high degree of arti
diversification typical of sophisticated societies, separately and collectively
depending upon a variety of frequently incompatible socio-econo
factors.
Even though Haydn's mature works reflect his eventual close link
with the musical life of London in many unmistakable ways, it
Beethoven who produced the first, perhaps also the last, synthesis o
stylistic-aesthetic elements associated with revolutionary Paris as well
the Vienna-London axis. If Paris left its traces primarily in his drama
output, both symphonic and operatic, London made decisive contribu
tions toward the great choral compositions and, above all, the thirty-
piano sonatas. The Ninth Symphony, which was written explicitly for
London Philharmonic Society, bears eloquent witness to what struck
visitor Johann Andreas Stumpff in 1824 as Beethoven's "exaggera
opinion of London and its highly cultured inhabitants." 8 The sonori
of the last piano sonatas, in turn, would be unthinkable withou
the remarkable qualities of the Broadwood piano that he received fro
England in 1818. By then, however, Beethoven looked back to a quar
of a century of intimate acquaintance with music especially written
instruments of English manufacture. The contributor to the Encyclo
paedia Britannica, who in 1797 claimed the pianoforte as "a natio
instrument,.., an English contrivance," " surely exaggerated in ascribi
its invention to William Mason. But he did have a point when he pra
the English pianoforte for "its superior force of tone, its adequate sw
ness, and the great variety of voice of which our artists have made
susceptible." 10 Beethoven, for one, was highly appreciative of that "g
variety of voice," especially as promoted by Muzio Clementi, the Lond
Pianoforte School's titular head. His by no means extensive musi
library contained nearly all of Clementi's sonatas, "the most beautifu
the most pianistic of works." n And it was mainly because of a manif
8 Cf. Alexander Wheelock Thayer, Life of Beethoven, ed. Elliot Forbes (Prin
ton, N. J., 1964), II, 919.
9 Edwin M. Ripin, "A Scottish Encyclopedist and the Pianoforte," The Mus
Quarterly, LV (1969), 496.
10 Ibid.
11 Cf. Anton Felix Schindler, Beethoven As I (Knew Him, ed. Donald W. M

Ardle (Chapel Hill, N. C., 1966), p. 379.
lack of enthusiasm for Clementi that Carl Czerny, Beetho

was eventually dismissed as his nephew's piano teacher. T
in which he held Cramer, on the other hand, speaks
persuasion from the marginal comments he inserted in hi
of the Cramer Etudes.12
While the importance of Clementi as a "forerunner of
has not gone unrecognized,13 the general assumption seem
that his direct influence remained limited to "first peri
Actually, Clementi never disappeared from the master's
panding musical horizons. If the beginning of Opus 7 bet
edge of Clementi's Opus 12, No. 4 (Ex. 1), and its fina
menti's Opus 24, No. 2, the conclusion of the Sonata
even more clearly indebted to that of Clementi's Opus 3
Ex. 1 Clementi, Op. 12, No. 4, first mvt., mm. 1-4
A i- : .I A A -I,,,k " N I. .
Beethoven, Op. 7, first mvt., mm. 1-6
p IIf 4i
E B.e2tCle ent, Op. 76,No.ir ,thr mvt., conclusio

Ex.
A 2i Clementi, a
05k P k17
L 11 '- l ,,H
,- , ., ... .. .. _,-.. 1
12 The Beethoven Cramer Studies, ed. John S. Shedlock (London, 1893).

13 See among others, J. S. Shedlock, The Pianoforte Sonata (London, 1895),
pp. 131-39; Adolf Stauch, Muzio Clementis Klavier-Sonaten im Verhiltnis zu den
Sonaten von Haydn, Mozart u. Beethoven (Oberkassel bei Bonn, 1930); Georges de
Saint Foix, "Clementi, Forerunner of Beethoven," The Musical Quarterly, XVII
(1931), 84-92.
Beethoven, Op. 57, third mvt., conclusion
(i1f)
In 1823, about to conclude his life's work as a keyboa

hoven paid Clementi a last characteristic homage by
16 and 17 of the 1817 edition of the Gradus ad Parnassum in his Dia-
belli Variations. Retaining Clementi's general idea and structural outline
he substituted broken octaves for Clementi's simple scale patterns and, as
an added touch, employed the same numbers but in reverse order (Ex. 3).
Ex. 3 Clementi, Gradus ad Parnassum, No. 17, mm. 1-2
A I I- .-II T
f
Clementi, Gradus ad Parnassum, No. 16, mm. 1-2
ClBeethoventi, GDiabelli Variationssum, No. 16, mm. 1-2
f eethoven, Diabelli Variations, No 17, mm. 1
10)
According to his pupil Ludwig Berger, Clementi con

the sonatas in his Opus 34 orchestrally, the first as a p
second as a symphony." No doubt several others publis
enteen-eighties, especially those with slow introductio
indirect fruits of this symphonic preoccupation sparke
nomenal London successes.'5 Whatever their exact mot
the best of his works from that period display the aesth
corresponding tight motivic organization as well as th
sions that typify the mature eighteenth-century symphon
keyboard counterpart. The G minor Sonata, Opus 34
thematically pregnant opening largo offers a brilliant d
the kind of symphonically inspired structure that must
mind of the critic J. B. Schaul who wrote in 1809: "Al
a direct outgrowth of the dominating idea which is never l
Indeed, no eighteenth-century keyboard composer ant
ven's concept of the "underlying idea" more explicitly
stone put it with specific reference to Opus 34, No. 2,
could teach Beethoven to satisfy that craving for unit
brought with him into music." 17
Unlike Clementi's, Dussek's contributions to Beethove
senal have been virtually ignored. His solitary cham
extolled Dussek primarily for his "prophecies" of ro
idioms. While none would wish to deny Dussek's often
pations of stylistic traits identified with nineteenth-ce
from Schumann to Brahms, one wonders how Blom co
notice the extent to which, for example, Dussek's sona
influenced Beethoven's Opus 22 in matters of texture
well as structure (Ex. 4)."8
14 Max Unger, Muzio Clementis Leben (Langensalza, 1914), p
15 Cf. Georges de Saint-Foix, "Les Symphonies de Clement
cologie, VIII (1924), 2.
1e Quoted in Adolf Stauch, op. cit., p. 49.
17 C. M. Girdlestone, "Muzio Clementi," Music and Letters
Cf. also Alexander L. Ringer, "Clementi and the Eroica," The Musical Quarterly,
XLVII (1961), 454-55.
18 Donald Francis Tovey, Beethoven, ed. Hubert J. Foss (London, 1965), p. 106,
calls Opus 22 "the most conventional of all Beethoven's works" and characterizes the
main subject of its first movement as a "locus classicus for masterful perfunctoriness."
J. Racek and V. J. S'kora in their three-volume edition of the Dussek sonatas
(Prague, 1960) refer to both Opus 9 and Opus 10 as "compositions for piano solo."
The original Sieber editions, however, suggest violin accompaniment. While it is, of
course, possible that the French publisher simply followed established tradition in this
respect, the fact remains that the violin was dropped from all editions published after
Ex. 4 Dussek, Op. 9, No. 1, second mvt., mm. 49-51
A '.
PP IL . . .
A complete accounti
sion, outright borrow
Dussek is quite beyon
tively small sampling
his death in 1812. Th
an admittedly very t
tions had been fully
by Beethoven, the t
pointed out in his cri
menti, Dussek and Fie
tion step by step, now
trast to Beethoven who tended to force the issues.'" How Beethoven re-
acted to such "suggestions" can he seen from a comparison of his Opus
10, No. 3, with Dussek's Opus 31, No. 2, an accompanied keyboard
sonata published ca. 1795. Neither the melodic-rhythmic characteristics
of Beethoven's materials nor their phrasing and dynamics, leave any
doubt as to their origins (Ex. 5). Moreover, since Beethoven rarely, if
ever, limited his sources to a single work, his Opus 10, No. 3, also
draws heavily on Dussek's Opus 35, No. 2. That Dussek set the pace not
only rhythmically, harmonically, and dynamically, but also structurally
follows from the obvious similarities in the preparation and initiation of
Dussek left France for England. Mr. Jerald Graue, who is currently working on a
University of Illinois dissertation exploring the achievements of the London Pianoforte
School as a whole, agrees that the so-called complete edition of Breitkopf & Hiirtel
(1813-17) and the later Dussek publications by Litolff, the Czech editors' primary
sources, are quite unreliable in matters of titles as well as musical texts of the earlier
sonatas.
19 Eric Blom, "John Field," in op. cit., p. 125.
the recapitulation in the respective first movement

that relatively early stage of his career, it would se
ready to go to great lengths to enhance his grow
sparkling young virtuoso, even if this meant copyin
mannerisms of established colleagues.,s
Ex. 5 Dussek, Op. 31, No. 2, first mvt., mm. 142-47
Beethoven, Op. 10, No. 3, first mvt., mm. 74-79

sf Sf
Af p
ir
con espressO legato
Beethoven, Op.10, No. 3, first mvt., mm. 131-34
6. -0
Historically, the issue is, of course, much less
alone plagiarism, than of musical conditioning
20 Tovey in op. cit., p. 92, wondered whether Beetho
have been acceptable to orthodox musicians in 1798." W
exactly what is meant here by "orthodox," no well-info
of Clementi by that time. And it was precisely Clement
the "rhetorical gestures and pauses" to which Tovey r
p. 417.
Dussek's Opus 39, No. 3, may serve to illustrate this crucial point
Blom dismissed that particular sonata with the remark that "a st
the first movement is almost profitless." 21 Had he been less single-mi
about the supposed nature of his hero's "prophecies," he surely wo
have missed the uncanny resemblance of its beginning to that of
hoven's Opus 10, No. 1 (Ex. 7). Since the two works appeared
simultaneously, it would be difficult to furnish proof positive f
generative primacy of either. Even so, one is hard put to believe that B
hoven was totally unfamiliar with the Dussek piece at the time h
posed his own. For all we know, he may have seen it in manu
or, more likely, heard it performed by one of the many itinerant
saries of the London Pianoforte School.
Ic
Beethoven, Op. 1
'610,J
.f_.!1 z air0
P tf
-: _
Dussek's Opu
special impres
10 through
fugal developm
of the three s
that the clim
brought to fr
be expected t
Beethoven's m
Sonata, Opus
Opus 53 (Ex.
C minor Sonat
sionata especia
accents.
21 Eric Blom, "The Prophecies of Dussek," in op. cit., p. 106.
Ex. 8 Dussek, Op. 35, No. 2, first mvt., mm. 131ff.
a.A4 b
a. Beethoven, Op. 53, third mvt., mm. 183ff. b.
A I I i -i I "nt.-,
Ex. 9 Dussek, Op. 35, No. 2, second mvt., mm. 1-2
Beethoven, Op. 28, fourth mvt., mm. 2-4
W b,
A.4J i=
T. r %Jk h
Paul Bekker remarked well over half a cent

Opus 81a, The Farewell, is saddled with a prog
original in conception as its musical realizatio
failed to note that both the program and the
deal to Dussek's The Farewell, Opus 44. A
motivic and textural cues from Dussek witho
tion, adopting freely some of Dussek's most ch
10). Years earlier, in Opus 27, No. 1, such a di
sek's sonata Opus 9, No. 2) had produced th
22 Paul Bekker, Beethoven (Berlin, 1921), p. 175. Be
title Les Adieux, which the publishers, Breitkopf und
permission. Farewell, he wrote to them in October, 181
from 'Les Adieux.' The first is said in a warm-hearted
other to a whole assembly, to entire towns." Cf. The
ian" exchanges of clearly defined thematic material and decora

urations between the two hands. As can be seen in Ex. 11, both
and Beethoven add sonorous "fillers" whenever the thematic material
Ex. 10 Dussek, Op. 44, second mvt., mm. 38-40
Beethoven, Op. 81a, second mvt., mm. 15-17
ramm. 43-5
Beethoven, Op. 27, No 1, third mvt., mm. 10
ramm 112-15
fA
appears in the treble range. But, somehow, Dussek s

Beethovenian in this instance than Beethoven himself.
Opus 81a belongs with the Choral Fantasy and the keyboard fan-
tasy Opus 77, the Pastoral Symphony, the Mignon songs, the cello so-
nata Opus 69, the two trios Opus 70, and the piano sonata Opus 78 to
Beethoven's most "romantic" period. Its contribution toward the un-
precedented structural freedom of his later years can hardly be exag-
gerated, if only because it was one of the first works in which the for-
mally dialectical treatment of his celebrated "two principles" gave way
to subtler shadings and gradations. The pairing of entire, expressively
complementary, compositions like the loosely knit "Harp" Quartet and
the tersely organized F minor Quartet represented a final attempt to stay
nominally within the limits of the classical matrix. Thereafter, tradi-
tional devices, though by no means rejected out of hand, had to yield,
whenever necessary, to the intrinsic requirements of Beethoven's truly
revolutionary conception of musical form as psychological process. Inter-
estingly enough, this radical reappraisal of traditional patterns of freedom
and restraint found its first artistic realization in the final group of key-
board sonatas, written after the arrival of the Broadwood piano from
England and after music by Clementi's prize pupil, John Field, had be-
come readily available.23 Whether Beethoven had occasion to acquaint
himself with the work of the quickly forgotten George Frederick Pinto as
well is imposible to ascertain. But to judge by the stunning parallels
between Pinto's Sonata in E-flat minor and the first movement of Beet-
hoven's Opus 110, one would be inclined to think so.24
Though born of an Italian mother whose maiden name he assumed,
Pinto was the only native English member of the London Pianoforte
School. Tragically short lived - he died in 1806 at the age of twenty -
he was also its most daring representative. At a time when Beethoven had
barely moved into his "second period" young Pinto, together with his but
slightly older friend Field, went a long way toward the transformation of
23 Field's first three nocturnes were published by Peters in 1814 and may well be
responsible for some of the nocturne-like passages in Beethoven's later sonatas, for
example the first variation in the final movement of Opus 109. It may not be en-
tirely without interest in this connection that his nephew Karl was playing a Dussek
sonata while Beethoven was working on that particular composition. Cf. Joseph
Czerny's remark in Ludwig van Beethovens Konversationshefte, ed. Georg Schiinemann
(Berlin, 1942), II, 144.
24 The Pinto sonata has been made available in a modern edition by Nicholas
Temperley (London, Stainer and Bell: 1963). Current awareness of Pinto is due
almost entirely to Dr. Temperley's efforts. Cf. "George Frederick Pinto," Musical
Times, CVI (1965), 265-70.
Dussek's rich keyboard idiom into the fully developed musical lan
of nineteenth-century Continental Romanticism. Pinto may or m
have enjoyed Dussek's formal guidance for a while. It hardly mat
for by 1803, when Pinto's sonatas were published well ahead of D
most "romantic" works, the aesthetic die was solidly cast.
Circumstantial evidence suggests at least the possibility that B
hoven was not unaware of what his young English colleague was
to accomplish. Johann Peter Salomon, with whom Pinto studied
and who referred to his protege as "the English Mozart," had
Beethoven since his early Bonn days and stayed in touch with hi
his death in 1815. Shortly after the turn of the century Beethoven
to be represented on one of Salomon's programs, sent him a copy
Septet "purely out of friendship." Among Salomon's close associa
London was Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven's one-time pupil and l
correspondent. Above all, Clementi passed through Vienna in 180
year after the publication of Pinto's two piano sonatas Opus 3, w
though "printed for the author," list Clementi and Company am
principal sales agents.' It may also be worth recalling in this conte
Beethoven received numerous visitors from London while working
last keyboard works. In 1818, the year of the "Hammerklavier" S
Beethoven repeatedly saw Cipriani Potter as well as Johann A
Stumpff and Sir Julius Benedict.
As a "prophet" of keyboard things to come Pinto is virtually w

peers. In contrast to Clementi, whose idiom retained certain orch
affinities throughout, Pinto thought "pianistically" in the ninet
century sense from the very outset. To cite but one persuasive in
the middle section of the slow movement in Opus 3, No. 2, could
pass for early Chopin (Ex. 12).26 The corresponding movement
Ex. 12 Pinto, Op. 3, No. 2, second mvt., mm. 37-41
[Poco adagio affetuoso]
A.L
. . . . . .-
25In 1807 Clementi and Beethoven

cation accord. Two years later they d
Viennese banker. Cf. The Letters of Be
26 The author is indebted to Nichola
most unusual excerpt.
E-flat minor Sonata, on the other hand, adds further

tention that Beethoven, far from rejecting convent
make careful selective use of a broadly based repert
ideas representing a great variety of stylistic strains
Viennese predecessors assumed less and less significan
process was an inevitable function of his ever ke
swiftly changing times in which he lived.
Essentially monothematic, the sonata Opus 110
among the most sublime studies in thematic expansi
Pinto's sonata, too, thrives on a minimum of motiv
inevitably at a much lower level of sophistication
similarities between the two sonatas are, however, n
nature. They pertain rather to melodic, harmonic, a
going well beyond the uncanny thematic resembla
hoven's opening movement and Pinto's adagio in t
key (Ex. 13). Thus, Pinto's measures 34-37 read almo
of Beethoven's measures 18-19: nearly identical chor
wide skip in the bass, nearly identical figurational pa
identical points of harmonic arrival (Ex. 14). And bo
Ex. 13 Pinto, Op. 3, No. 1, second mvt., mm. 1-4
Adagio con gusto
Moderato cantabile molto espressivo -"
pcon amabilitd
Ex. 14 Pinto, mm. 34-37
z cresc. dim.
-IF Is WK A-r
Beethoven, mm. 18-19
I F i l l 1' ' IF ! I I 1II
their recapitulations through arpeggiation in the left hand, a device of

which Pinto was particularly fond. Pinto similarly anticipated the melo-
dic contour as well as the repeated chord accompaniment of a particu-
larly beautiful passage in the third movement of Opus 110 (Ex. 15).
Ex. 15 Beethoven, third mvt., mm. 17-19
L- - -t-.-. -. - . .. . .
1- pi:j : ASA 1 ! I
Pinto, second mvt., mm. 24-28

3
ff fII. fI -p
A3
fz . .y, .-----7
Like Beethoven, Pinto makes abund

but his simple points of imitation a
gal technique. There is indeed a cur
uct and the skeletal ideas found in so
same token the Englishman's musi
the seamless unfolding of organic mo
the crest of his structural imaginatio
When all is said and done, theref
suggested here in no way endanger
ure: they rather add to a growing
brated originality derived not so m
invention as from a matchless pow
the widest possible variety of mus
the vicissitudes of the human condition, Beethoven w

artist who ranges freely over the whole cultural spec
in his supreme quest for unlimited spiritual freedom
scend all convention. And this, one suspects, is why h
human heart for all who are human" has himself be
heritage to the whole world." "2
27 From Franz Grillparzer's funeral oration, as quoted in M

and trans., Beethoven: Letters, Journals and Conversations
1960), p. 277.

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Oxford University Press The Musical Quarterly: This Content Downloaded From 69.43.75.64 On Mon, 24 Sep 2018 12:48:48 UTC

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Beethoven and the London Pianoforte School

Author(s): Alexander L. Ringer

N the spring of 1787, when Beethoven left Bonn on his f

truth, even though it be before the throne," 2 reacted to this reg

Increasingly dominated by the growing fortunes of

11 Cf. Anton Felix Schindler, Beethoven As I (Knew Him, ed. Donald W. M

lack of enthusiasm for Clementi that Carl Czerny, Beetho

Beethoven, Op. 7, first mvt., mm. 1-6

E B.e2tCle ent, Op. 76,No.ir ,thr mvt., conclusio

12 The Beethoven Cramer Studies, ed. John S. Shedlock (London, 1893).

Beethoven, Op. 57, third mvt., conclusion

In 1823, about to conclude his life's work as a keyboa

Clementi, Gradus ad Parnassum, No. 16, mm. 1-2

ClBeethoventi, GDiabelli Variationssum, No. 16, mm. 1-2

f eethoven, Diabelli Variations, No 17, mm. 1

According to his pupil Ludwig Berger, Clementi con

Ex. 4 Dussek, Op. 9, No. 1, second mvt., mm. 49-51

Beethoven, Op. 22, first mvt., mm. 22-23

19 Eric Blom, "John Field," in op. cit., p. 125.

the recapitulation in the respective first movement

Beethoven, Op. 10, No. 3, first mvt., mm. 74-79

Ex. 6 Dussek, Op. 35, No. 2, first mvt., mm. 156-59

con espressO legato

Beethoven, Op.10, No. 3, first mvt., mm. 131-34

Ex. 7 Dussek, Op. 39, No. 3, first mvt., mm. 1-4

21 Eric Blom, "The Prophecies of Dussek," in op. cit., p. 106.

a. Beethoven, Op. 53, third mvt., mm. 183ff. b.

Ex. 9 Dussek, Op. 35, No. 2, second mvt., mm. 1-2

Beethoven, Op. 28, fourth mvt., mm. 2-4

Paul Bekker remarked well over half a cent

ian" exchanges of clearly defined thematic material and decora

Beethoven, Op. 81a, second mvt., mm. 15-17

Ex. 11 Dussek, Op. 9, No. 2, first mvt., mm. 39-41

Beethoven, Op. 27, No 1, third mvt., mm. 10

appears in the treble range. But, somehow, Dussek s

As a "prophet" of keyboard things to come Pinto is virtually w

25In 1807 Clementi and Beethoven

E-flat minor Sonata, on the other hand, adds further

Ex. 13 Pinto, Op. 3, No. 1, second mvt., mm. 1-4

Adagio con gusto

Beethoven, Op. 110, first mvt., mm. 1-5

Moderato cantabile molto espressivo -"

Ex. 14 Pinto, mm. 34-37

Beethoven, mm. 18-19

I F i l l 1' ' IF ! I I 1II

their recapitulations through arpeggiation in the left hand, a device of

Ex. 15 Beethoven, third mvt., mm. 17-19

Pinto, second mvt., mm. 24-28

Like Beethoven, Pinto makes abund

the vicissitudes of the human condition, Beethoven w

27 From Franz Grillparzer's funeral oration, as quoted in M

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