ABSTRACT. Fétis writes that sonatas and other works of classical and regular form have disappeared to make way for sorts of sketches embellished on known melodies and operatic airs. Liszt explains that songs should have a simple ac- companiment and avoid any unnecessary modulation. McClary affirms that closure is a far more absolute condition in classical music than in most other arts (literary narratives often play with degrees of closure). Marpurg emphasizes that one would have to lack confidence in the insight of musical connoisseurs if one were to tell them that in the Art of Fugue are contained the most hidden beauties possible in the art of music.