I ventured to remark that Chopin had no special talent for the sonata form.
But this is not to say that Beethoven had gone beyond the sonata form.
Their relation to the development of the sonata form has already been pointed out.
This clever Italian gives us the early beginnings of the sonata form.
The sonata form, as perfected by him, is a monument to his genius.
Fugue form is an artificial thing which a man can learn: sonata form is a living thing which a man must feel.
The gradual application of this rule is simply another name for the growth of the sonata form.
He also developed the sonata form so that Beethoven found it ready moulded for his genius.
As it is, the changes which have been made in sonata form since his day are merely changes of detail.
The sonata form is not desperately evaded, and in the rondo of the E minor Concerto he overtops Hummel on his native heath.