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diff --git a/12903.txt b/12903.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2d828f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/12903.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8982 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Symphonies and Their Meaning; Third Series, +Modern Symphonies, by Philip H. Goepp + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Symphonies and Their Meaning; Third Series, Modern Symphonies + +Author: Philip H. Goepp + +Release Date: July 13, 2004 [eBook #12903] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SYMPHONIES AND THEIR MEANING; +THIRD SERIES, MODERN SYMPHONIES*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Linda Cantoni, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations of the + parts of the musical scores referred to in the text. + See 12903-h.htm or 12903-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/9/0/12903/12903-h/12903-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/9/0/12903/12903-h.zip) + + + + + +SYMPHONIES AND THEIR MEANING + +THIRD SERIES: MODERN SYMPHONIES. + +by + +PHILIP H. GOEPP + +1913 + + + + + + + +PREFACE + + +Criticism of contemporary art is really a kind of prophecy. For the +appreciation of the classical past is an act of present perception, not +a mere memory of popular verdicts. The classics live only because they +still express the vital feeling of to-day. The new art must do +more,--must speak for the morrow. And as the poet is a kind of seer, the +true critic is his prophetic herald. + +It is with due humility that we approach a view of the work of our own +time, with a dim feeling that our best will be a mere conjecture. But we +shall the more cheerfully return to our resolution that our chief +business is a positive appreciation. Where we cannot praise, we can +generally be silent. Certain truths concerning contemporary art seem +firmly grounded in the recorded past. The new Messiah never came with +instant wide acclaim. Many false prophets flashed brilliantly on the +horizon to fall as suddenly as they rose. In a refracted view we see the +figures of the great projected in too large dimension upon their day. +And precisely opposite we fail to glimpse the ephemeral lights obscuring +the truly great. The lesson seems never to be learned; indeed it can, of +course, never be learned. For that would imply an eternal paradox that +the present generation must always distrust its own judgment. + +Who could possibly imagine in Schubert's time the sway he holds to-day. +Our minds reel to think that by a mere accident were recovered the +Passion of Bach and the symphonies of Schubert. Or must we prayerfully +believe that a Providence will make the best prevail? And, by the way, +the serious nature of this appreciation appears when we see how it was +ever by the greatest of his time that the future master was heralded. + +The symphony of the present age has perhaps fallen somewhat in estate. +It was natural that it should rush to a high perfection in the halcyon +days of its growth. It is easy to make mournful predictions of +decadence. The truth is the symphony is a great form of art, like a +temple or a tragedy. Like them it has had, it will have its special eras +of great expression. Like them it will stay as a mode of utterance for +new communities and epochs with varying nationality, or better still, +with vanishing nationalism. + +The tragedy was not exhausted with Sophocles, nor with Shakespeare nor +with Goethe. So the symphony has its fallow periods and it may have a +new resurgence under new climes. We are ever impatient to shelve a great +form, like vain women afraid of the fashion. It is part of our constant +rage for novelty. The shallower artist ever tinkered with new +devices,--to some effects, in truth. Such is the empiric course of art +that what is born of vanity may be crowned with highest inspiration. + +The national element will fill a large part of our survey. It marks a +strange trait of our own age that this revival of the national idea +falls in the very time when other barriers are broken. Ancient folk-song +grew like the flower on the battle-field of races. But here is an +anxious striving for a special dialect in music. Each nation must have +its proper school; composers are strictly labelled, each one obedient to +his national manner. This state of art can be but of the day. Indeed, +the fairest promise of a greater future lies in the morrow's blending of +these various elements in the land where each citizen has a mixed +inheritance from the older nations. + +In the bewildering midst of active spirits comes the irresistible +impulse to a somewhat partisan warfare. The critic, if he could view +himself from some empyraean perch, remote in time and place, might smile +at his own vehemence. In the clash of aims he must, after all, take +sides, for it is the tendency that is momentous; and he will be excited +to greater heat the stronger the prophet that he deems false. When the +strife is over, when currents are finally settled, we may take a more +contented joy in the impersonal art that remains. + +The choice from the mass of brilliant vital endeavor is a new burden and +a source almost of dismay. Why should we omit so melodious a work as +Moskowski's _Jeanne d'Arc_,--full of perhaps too facile charm? It was, +of course, impossible to treat all the wonderful music of the Glazounows +and the Kallinikows. And there is the limpid beauty of the Bohemian +_Suk_, or the heroic vigor of a _Volbach_. We should like to have +mentioned _Robert Volkmann_ as a later Romanticist; and _Gade_ has ever +seemed a true poet of the Scandinavian symphony. + +Of the modern French we are loth to omit the symphonies of _Chausson_ +and of _Dukas_. In our own America it is a still harder problem. There +is the masterly writing of a _Foote_; the older _Paine_ has never been +fully valued in the mad race for novelty. It would have been a joy to +include a symphony of rare charm by _Martinus van Gelder_. + +A critical work on modern art cannot hope to bestow a crown of laurels +among living masters; it must be content with a view of active +tendencies. The greatest classic has often come into the world amid +least expectation. A critic in the year 1850 must need have omitted the +Unfinished Symphony, which was then buried in a long oblivion. + +The present author prefers to treat the main modern lines, considering +the special work mainly as example. After all, throughout the realm of +art the idea is greater than the poet, the whole art more than the +artist,--though the particular enshrinement in enduring design may +reflect a rare personality. + +PHILIP H. GOEPP. + +NOTE: Especial thanks are owed to the Philadelphia Orchestra for a free +use of its library, and to Messrs. G. Schirmer Company for a like +courtesy.--P.H.G. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I.--The Symphony during the Nineteenth Century + +CHAPTER II.--Berlioz and Liszt + +CHAPTER III.--Berlioz. "Romeo and Juliet." Dramatic Symphony + +CHAPTER IV.--A Symphony to Dante's "Divina Commedia" + +CHAPTER V.--The Symphonic Poems of Liszt + "Les Preludes" + "Tasso" + "Mazeppa" + "Battle of the Huns" + +CHAPTER VI.--The Symphonic Poems of Saint-Saens + "Danse Macabre" + "Phaeton" + "The Youth of Hercules" + "Omphale's Spinning Wheel" + +CHAPTER VII.--Cesar Franck + Symphony in D minor + +CHAPTER VIII.--D'Indy and the Followers of Franck + D'Indy's Second Symphony + +CHAPTER IX.--Debussy and the Innovators + "The Sea"--Debussy + "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"--Dukas + +CHAPTER X.--Tschaikowsky + Fourth Symphony + "Manfred" Symphony + Fifth Symphony + +CHAPTER XI.--The Neo-Russians + Balakirew. Symphony in C + Rimsky-Korsakow + "Antar" Symphony + "Scherezade." Symphonic Suite + Rachmaninow. Symphony in E minor + +CHAPTER XII.--Sibelius. A Finnish Symphony + +CHAPTER XIII.--Bohemian Symphonies + Smetana. Symphonic Poem: "The Moldau River" + Dvorak. Symphony: "From the New World" + +CHAPTER XIV.--The Earlier Bruckner + Second Symphony + Fourth (Romantic) Symphony + Fifth Symphony + +CHAPTER XV.--The Later Bruckner + Ninth Symphony + +CHAPTER XVI.--Hugo Wolff + "Penthesilea." Symphonic Poem + +CHAPTER XVII.--Mahler + Fifth Symphony + +CHAPTER XVIII.--Richard Strauss. Symphonic Poems + "Death and Transfiguration" + "Don Juan" + "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" + "Sinfonia Domestica" + +CHAPTER XIX.--Italian Symphonies + Sgambati. Symphony in D major + Martucci. Symphony in D minor + +CHAPTER XX.--Edward Elgar. An English Symphony + +CHAPTER XXI.--Symphonies in America + Henry Hadley. Symphony No. 3 + Gustav Strube. Symphony in D minor + Chadwick. Suite Symphonique + Loeffler. "The Devil's Round." Symphonic Poem + + + + +SYMPHONIES AND THEIR MEANING + +MODERN SYMPHONIES + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE SYMPHONY DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY + + +After the long dominance of German masters of the musical art, a +reaction could not fail to come with the restless tendencies of other +nations, who, having learned the lesson, were yet jealous of foreign +models and eager to utter their own message. The later nineteenth +century was thus the age of refraction of the classic tradition among +the various racial groups that sprang up with the rise of the national +idea. We can see a kind of beginning in the Napoleonic destruction of +feudal dynasties. German authority in music at the beginning of the +century was as absolute as Roman rule in the age of Augustus. But the +seed was carried by teachers to the various centres of Europe. And, with +all the joy we have in the new burst of a nation's song, there is no +doubt that it is ever best uttered when it is grounded on the lines of +classic art. Here is a paramount reason for the strength of the modern +Russian school. With this semi-political cause in mind it is less +difficult to grasp the paradox that with all the growth of +intercommunication the music of Europe moves in more detached grooves +to-day than two centuries ago. The suite in the time of Bach is a +special type and proof of a blended breadth and unity of musical thought +in the various nations of Europe of the seventeenth century. In the +quaint series of dances of the different peoples, with a certain +international quality, one sees a direct effect of the Thirty Years' +War,--the beneficent side of those ill winds and cruel blasts, when all +kinds of nations were jostling on a common battle-ground. And as the +folk-dances sprang from the various corners of Europe, so different +nations nursed the artistic growth of the form. Each would treat the +dances of the other in its own way, and here is the significance of +Bach's separate suites,--English, French and German. + +Nationalism seems thus a prevailing element in the music of to-day, and +we may perceive two kinds, one spontaneous and full of charm, the other +a result of conscious effort, sophisticated in spirit and in detail. It +may as well be said that there was no compelling call for a separate +French school in the nineteenth century as a national utterance. It +sprang from a political rather than an artistic motive; it was the itch +of jealous pride that sharply stressed the difference of musical style +on the two sides of the Rhine. The very influence of German music was +needed by the French rather than a bizarre invention of national traits. +The broader art of a Saint-Saens here shines in contrast with the +brilliant conceits of his younger compatriots, though it cannot be +denied that the latter are grounded in classic counterpoint. With other +nations the impulse was more natural: the racial song of the +Scandinavians, Czechs and other Slavs craved a deliverance as much as +the German in the time of Schubert. In France, where music had long +flourished, there was no stream of suppressed folk-song. + +But the symphony must in the natural course have suffered from the very +fulness of its own triumph. We know the Romantic reaction of Schumann, +uttered in smaller cyclic forms; in Berlioz is almost a complete +abandonment of pure music, devoid of special description. Liszt was one +of the mighty figures of the century, with all the external qualities of +a master-genius, shaking the stage of Europe with the weight of his +personality, and, besides, endowed with a creative power that was not +understood in his day. With him the restless tendency resulted in a new +form intended to displace the symphony: the symphonic poem, in a single, +varied movement, and always on a definite poetic subject. Here was at +once a relief and a recess from the classic rigor. Away with sonata form +and all the odious code of rules! In the story of the title will lie all +the outline of the music. + +Yet in this rebellious age--and here is the significance of the +form--the symphony did not languish, but blossomed to new and varied +flower. Liszt turned back to the symphony from his new-fangled device +for his two greatest works. It has, indeed, been charged that the +symphony was accepted by the Romantic masters in the spirit of a +challenge. Mendelssohn and even Schumann are not entirely free from such +a suspicion. Nevertheless it remains true that all of them confided to +the symphony their fairest inspiration. About the middle of the century, +at the high point of anti-classical revolt, a wonderful group of +symphonies, by Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Liszt, were presented +to the world. With the younger Brahms on a returning wave of +neo-classicism the form became again distinctively a personal choice. +Finally, in the spontaneous utterance of a national spirit on broad +lines, as in the later Russian and Finnish examples, with the various +phases of surging resolution, of lyric contemplation and of rollicking +humor, the symphony has its best sanction in modern times. + +To return to the historical view, the course of the symphony during the +century cannot be adequately scanned without a glance at the music-drama +of Richard Wagner. Until the middle of the century, symphony and opera +had moved entirely in separate channels. At most the overture was +affected, in temper and detail, by the career of the nobler form. + +The restless iconoclasm of a Liszt was now united, in a close personal +and poetic league, with the new ideas of Wagner's later drama. Both men +adopted the symbolic motif as their main melodic means; with both mere +iteration took the place of development; a brilliant and lurid +color-scheme (of orchestration) served to hide the weakness of intrinsic +content; a vehement and hysteric manner cast into temporary shade the +classic mood of tranquil depth in which alone man's greatest thought is +born. + +But a still larger view of the whole temper of art in Europe of the +later century is needed. We wander here beyond the fine distinctions of +musical forms. A new wave of feeling had come over the world that +violently affected all processes of thought. And strangely, it was +strongest in the land where the great heights of poetry and music had +just been reached. Where the high aim of a Beethoven and a Goethe had +been proclaimed, arose a Wagner to preach the gospel of brute fate and +nature, where love was the involuntary sequence of mechanical device and +ended in inevitable death, all overthrowing the heroic idea that teems +throughout the classic scores, crowned in a greatest symphony in praise +of "Joy." + +Such was the intrinsic content of a "Tristan and Isolde" and the whole +"Nibelungen-Ring," and it was uttered with a sensuous wealth of sound +and a passionate strain of melody that (without special greatness of its +own) dazzled and charmed the world in the dramatic setting of mediaeval +legend. The new harmonic style of Wagner, there is good reason to +suppose, was in reality first conceived by Liszt, whose larger works, +written about the middle of the century, have but lately come to +light.[A] In correspondence with this moral mutiny was the complete +revolt from classic art-tradition: melody (at least in theory), the +vital quality of musical form and the true process of a coherent thread, +were cast to the winds with earlier poetic ideals. + +[Footnote A: The "Dante" Symphony of Liszt was written between 1847 and +1855; the "Faust" Symphony between 1854 and 1857. Wagner finished the +text of _Tristan und Isolde_ in 1857; the music was not completed until +1859. In 1863 was published the libretto of the _Nibelungen-Ring_. In +1864 Wagner was invited by King Ludwig of Bavaria to complete the work +in Munich.] + +If it were ever true that a single personality could change an opposite +course of thought, it must be held that Richard Wagner, in his own +striking and decadent career, comes nearest to such a type. But he was +clearly prompted and reinforced in his philosophy by other men and +tendencies of his time. The realism of a Schopenhauer, which Wagner +frankly adopted without its full significance (where primal will finds a +redemption in euthanasia), led by a natural course of thought to +Nietzsche's dreams of an overman, who tramples on his kind. + +In itself this philosophy had been more of a passing phase (even as +Schopenhauer is lost in the chain of ethical sages) but for its strange +coincidence with the Wagnerian music. The accident of this alliance gave +it an overwhelming power in Germany, where it soon threatened to corrupt +all the arts, banishing idealism from the land of its special +haunts.[A] The ultimate weakness of the Wagnerian philosophy is that it +finds in fatalism an excuse for the surrender of heroic virtue,--not in +the spirit of a tragic truth, but in a glorification of the senses; just +as in Wagner's final work, the ascetic, sinless type becomes a figure +almost of ridicule, devoid of human reality. It is significant that with +the revival of a sound art, fraught with resolute aspiration, is +imminent a return to an idealistic system of philosophy. + +[Footnote A: In literature this movement is most marked, as may be seen +by contrasting the tone of Goethe with that of Sudermann; by noting the +decadence from the stories of a Chamisseau and Immermann to those of a +Gottfried Keller; from the novels of Freytag to the latest of Frenssen +and Arthur Schnitzler; from the poems of Heine to those of Hoffmansthal, +author of the text of Strauss' later operas. + +Or, contrast merely the two typical dramas of love, Goethe's "Faust" and +Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde."] + +In the musical art even of Germany the triumph was never complete. The +famous feud of Brahms and Wagner partisans marked the alignment of the +classical and radical traditions. Throughout the second half of the +century the banner of a true musical process was upheld; the personal +meeting of the youthful Brahms with the declining Schumann is +wonderfully significant, viewed as a symbol of this passing of the +classic mantle. And the symphonies of Gustav Mahler seem an assurance of +present tendencies. The influence of Bach, revived early in the century, +grew steadily as a latent leaven. + +Nevertheless in the prevailing taste and temper of present German +music, in the spirit of the most popular works, as those of Richard +Strauss (who seems to have sold his poetic birthright), the aftermath of +this wave is felt, and not least in the acclaim of the barren symphonies +of a Bruckner. It is well known that Bruckner, who paid a personal +homage to Wagner, became a political figure in the partisan dispute, +when he was put forth as the antagonist of Brahms in the symphony. His +present vogue is due to this association and to his frank adoption of +Wagner idiom in his later works, as well as, more generally, to the +lowered taste in Germany. + +In all this division of musical dialect, in the shattering of the +classic tower among the diverse tongues of many peoples, what is to be +the harvest? The full symbol of a Babel does not hold for the tonal art. +Music is, in its nature, a single language for the world, as its +alphabet rests on ideal elements. It has no national limits, like prose +or poetry; its home is the whole world; its idiom the blended song of +all nations. + +In such a view there is less hope in the older than in the newer world. +No single, limited song of one nation can in the future achieve a second +climax of the art. It is by the actual mingling of them all that the +fairest flower and fruit must come. The very absence of one prevailing +native song, held a reproach to America, is in reality her strength; for +hers is the common heritage of all strains of song. And it may be her +destiny to lead in the glorious merging of them all. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +BERLIOZ AND LISZT + + +The path of progress of an art has little to do with mere chronology. +For here in early days are bold spirits whose influence is not felt +until a whole generation has passed of a former tradition. Nor are these +patient pioneers always the best-inspired prophets; the mere fate of +slow recognition does not imply a highest genius. A radical innovation +may provoke a just and natural resistance. Again, a gradual yielding is +not always due to the pure force of truth. Strange and oblique ideas may +slowly win a triumph that is not wholly merited and may not prove +enduring. + +To fully grapple with this mystery, we may still hold to the faith that +final victory comes only to pure truth, and yet we may find that +imperfect truth will often achieve a slow and late acceptance. The +victory may then be viewed in either of two ways: the whole spirit of +the age yields to the brilliant allurement, or there is an overweighing +balance of true beauty that deserves the prize of permanence. Of such a +kind were two principal composers of the symphony: Franz Liszt and +Hector Berlioz. Long after they had wrought their greatest works, others +had come and gone in truer line with the first masters, until it seemed +these radical spirits had been quite rejected. + +Besides the masters of their own day, Schumann and Mendelssohn, a group +of minor poets, like Raff and Goetz, appeared, and at last Brahms, the +latest great builder of the symphony, all following and crowning the +classical tradition. + +The slow reception of the larger works of Liszt strangely agrees with +the startling resemblance of their manner to the Russian style that +captivated a much later age. It seemed as if the spirit of the Hungarian +was suddenly revived in a new national group. His humor wonderfully +suited the restless and sensational temper of an age that began after +his death. + +The very harmonies and passionate manner that influence modern audiences +evoked a dull indifference in their own day.[A] They roused the first +acclaim when presented in the more popular form of the music-drama. It +may well be questioned whether Liszt was not the fountain source of the +characteristic harmonies of Wagner's later opera. + +[Footnote A: Compare the similarity of the themes of the Faust Symphony +of Liszt and of the _Pathetique_ of Tschaikowsky in the last chapter of +vol. ii, "Symphonies and Their Meaning."] + +Historically considered, that is in their relation to other music +preceding and following them, the symphonies of Liszt have striking +interest. They are in boldest departure from all other symphonies, save +possibly those of Berlioz, and they were prophetic in a degree only +apparent a half-century later. If the quality of being ahead of his time +be proof, instead of a symptom, of genius, then Liszt was in the first +rank of masters. The use of significant motif is in both of his +symphonies. But almost all the traits that startled and moved the world +in Tschaikowsky's symphonies are revealed in this far earlier music: the +tempestuous rage of what might be called an hysterical school, and the +same poignant beauty of the lyric episodes; the sheer contrast, half +trick, half natural, of fierce clangor and dulcet harmonies, all painted +with the broad strokes of the orchestral palette. Doubly striking it is +how Liszt foreshadowed his later followers and how he has really +overshadowed them; not one, down to the most modern tone-painters, has +equalled him in depth and breadth of design, in the original power of +his tonal symbols. It seems that Liszt will endure as the master-spirit +in this reactionary phase of the symphony. + +Berlioz is another figure of a bold innovator, whose career seemed a +series of failures, yet whose music will not down. His art was centred +less upon the old essentials, of characteristic melody and soul-stirring +harmonies, than upon the magic strokes of new instrumental grouping,--a +graphic rather than a pure musical purpose. And so he is the father not +only of the modern orchestra, but of the fashion of the day that revels +in new sensations of startling effects, that are spent in portraying the +events of a story. + +Berlioz was the first of a line of _virtuosi_ of the orchestra, a +pioneer in the art of weaving significant strains,--significant, that +is, apart from the music. He was seized with the passion of making a +pictured design with his orchestral colors. Music, it seems, did not +exist for Berlioz except for the telling of a story. His symphony is +often rather opera. A symphony, he forgot, is not a musical drama +without the scenery. This is just what is not a symphony. It is not the +literal story, but the pure musical utterance. Thus Berlioz's "Romeo and +Juliet" symphony is in its design more the literal story than is +Shakespeare's play. And yet there is ever a serious nobility, a heroic +reach in the art of Berlioz, where he stands almost alone among the +composers of his race. Here, probably, more than in his pictured +stories, lies the secret of his endurance. He was, other than his +followers, ever an idealist. And so, when we are on the point of +condemning him as a scene-painter, we suddenly come upon a stretch of +pure musical beauty, that flowed from the unconscious rapture of true +poet. As the bee sucks, so may we cull the stray beauty and the more +intimate meaning, despite and aside from this outer intent. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +BERLIOZ. "ROMEO AND JULIET." + +_DRAMATIC SYMPHONY_ + + +In the sub-title we see the growing impulse towards graphic music. A +"dramatic symphony" is not promising. For, if music is the most +subjective expression of the arts, why should its highest form be used +to dramatize a drama? Without the aid of scene and actors, that were +needed by the original poet, the artisan in absolute tones attempts his +own theatric rendering. Clearly this symphony is one of those works of +art which within an incongruous form (like certain ancient pictures) +affords episodes of imperishable beauty. + +Passing by the dramatic episodes that are strung on the thread of the +story, we dwell, according to our wont, on the stretches where a pure +musical utterance rises to a lofty height of pathos or of rarest +fantasy. + +In the first scene of the Second Part is the clear intent of a direct +tonal expression, and there is a sustained thread of sincere sentiment. +The passion of Romeo shines in the purity rather than in the intensity +of feeling. The scene has a delicate series of moods, with subtle +melodic touches and dramatic surprises of chord and color. The whole +seems a reflection of Romeo's humor, the personal (_Allegro_) theme +being the symbol as it roams throughout the various phases,--the sadness +of solitude, the feverish thrill of the ball. Into the first phrase of +straying violins wanders the personal motive, sadly meditative. + +[Music: _Allegro._ +(Choir of wood, with sustained chords of strings)] + +Sweeter dreams now woo the muser, warming into passion, pulsing with a +more eager throb of desire, in changed tone and pace. Suddenly in a new +quarter amid a quick strum of dance the main motive hurries along. The +gay sounds vanish, ominous almost in the distance. The sadness of the +lover now sings unrestrained in expressive melody (of oboe), in long +swinging pace, while far away rumbles the beat of festive drum. + +The song rises in surging curves, but dies away among the quick festal +sounds, where the personal motive is still supreme, chasing its own +ardent antics, and plunges headlong into the swirl of dance. + +II Penseroso (in his personal role) has glided into a buoyant, +rollicking Allegro with joyous answer. Anon the outer revel breaks in +with shock almost of terror. And now in climax of joy, through the +festal strum across the never-ceasing thread of transformed meditation +resound in slowest, broadest swing the + +[Music: _Larghetto espressivo_ +(Ob. with fl. and cl. and arpeggic cellos)] + +warm tones of the love-song in triumph of bliss.[A] As the song dies +away, the festal sounds fade. Grim meditation returns in double +figure,--the slower, heavier pace below. Its shadows are all about as in +a fugue of fears, flitting still to the tune of the dance and anon +yielding before the gaiety. But through the returning festal ring the +fateful motive is still straying in the bass. In the concluding revel +the hue of meditation is not entirely banned. + +[Footnote A: In unison of the wind. Berlioz has here noted in the score +"_Reunion des deux Themes, du Larghetto et de L'Allegro_," the second +and first of our cited phrases.] + +The Shakespearian love-drama thus far seems to be celebrated in the +manner of a French romance. After all, the treatment remains scenic in +the main; the feeling is diluted, as it were, not intensified by the +music. + +The stillness of night and the shimmering moonlight are in the delicate +harmonies of (_Allegretto_) strings. A lusty song of departing revellers +breaks upon the scene. The former distant sounds of feast are now near +and clear in actual words. + +[Music: _Adagio_ +(Muted strings) +(_Pizz._ basses an 8ve. lower)] + +There is an intimate charm, a true glamor of love-idyll about the +Adagio. On more eager pulse rises a languorous strain of horn and +cellos. The flow + +[Music: (Horn and cellos with murmuring strings)] + +of its passionate phrase reaches the climax of prologue where, the type +and essence of the story, it plays about the lovers' first meeting. As +lower strings hum the burden of desire, higher wood add touches of +ecstasy, the melting violins sing the wooing song, and all break into an +overwhelming rapture, as though transfigured in the brightness of its +own vehemence, in midst of a trembling mystery. + +The restless spirit starts (_allegro agitato_) in fearsome agitation on +quick nervous throb of melody; below, violas sing a soothing answer; +there is a clear dialogue of wistful lovers. + +Instead of the classic form of several verses led by one dominant melody +to varied paths and views, here almost in reverse we seem to fall from a +broader lyric mood to a single note of sad yearning that + +[Music: (Fl. with Eng. horn an 8ve. below) +(Muted violins with sustained lower strings)] + +grows out of the several strains. Upon such a motive a new melody sings. +The delicate bliss of early love is all about, and in the lingering +close the timid ecstasies of wooing phrase. But this is a mere prelude +to the more highly stressed, vehement song of love that follows on the +same yearning motive. Here is the crowning, summing phase of the whole +poem, without a return to earlier melody save that, by significant +touch, it ends in the same expressive turn as the former languorous +song. + +The first melody does not reappear, is thus a kind of background of the +scene. The whole is a dramatic lyric that moves from broader tune to a +reiterated note of sad desire, driven to a splendid height of crowned +bliss. The turbulence of early love is there; pure ardor in flaming +tongues of ecstasy; the quick turn of mood and the note of omen of the +original poem: the violence of early love and the fate that hangs over. + +Berlioz has drawn the subject of his Scherzo from Mercutio's speech in +Scene 4 of the First Act of Shakespeare's tragedy. He has entitled it +"Queen Mab, or the Fairy of Dreams," and clearly intends to portray the +airy flight of Mab and her fairies. But we must doubt whether this, the +musical gem of the symphony, has a plan that is purely graphic,--rather +does it seem to soar beyond those concrete limits to an utterance of the +sense of dreams themselves in the spirit of Mercutio's conclusion: + + "... I talk of dreams + Which are the children of an idle brain, + Begot of nothing but vain fantasy; + Which is as thin of substance as the air;" + +And we may add, as elusive for the enchanted mind to hold are these +pranks and brilliant parade of tonal sprites. It stands one of the +masterpieces of program-music, in equal balance of pure beauty with the +graphic plan. + +Imps they are, these flitting figures, almost insects with a +personality. In pace there is a division, where the first dazzling +speed is simply the fairy rhythm (halted anon by speaking pauses or +silences), and the second, a kind of idyll or romance in miniature. It +is all a drama of fairy actors, in a dreamland of softest tone. The main +figure leads its troop on gossamer thread of varied journey. + +[Music: (Violins) _Prestissimo_] + +Almost frightening in the quickest, pulsing motion is the sudden +stillness, as the weird poising of trembling sprites. Best of all is the +resonant beauty of the second melody in enchanting surprise of tone. + +[Music: (Strings without basses)] + +Anon, as in a varied dance, the skipping, mincing step is followed by a +gentle swaying; or the figures all run together down the line to start +the first dance again, or the divided groups have different motions, or +one shouts a sudden answer to the other. + +Much slower now is the main song (in flute and English horn) beneath an +ariel harmony (of overtones), while a quicker trip begins below of the +same figure. And in the midst is a strange concert of low dancing +strings with highest tones of harp,--strange mating of flitting sprites. + +We are suddenly back in the first, skipping dance, ever faster and +brighter in dazzling group of lesser figures. And here is the golden +note of fairy-land,--the horn in soft cheery hunter's lay, answered by +echoing voices. For a moment the call is tipped with touch of sadness, +then rings out brightly in a new quarter. Beautiful it sings between the +quick phrases, with a certain shock of change, and there is the terror +of a sudden low rumbling and the thrill of new murmuring sounds with +soft beat of drum that hails the gathering fairies. There is a sudden +clarion burst of the whole chorus, with clash of drum and clang of +brass, and sudden pause, then faintest echoes of higher voices. + +A new figure now dances a joyous measure to the tinkling of harp and the +sparkling strokes of high + +[Music: (Harp in higher 8ve.) +(Clarinet with chord of horns) +(Violas)] + +cymbals and long blown tone of horns. The very essence it is of fairy +life. And so the joy is not unmixed with just a touch of awe. Amidst the +whole tintinnabulation is a soft resonant echo of horns below, like an +image in a lake. The air hangs heavy with dim romance until the sudden +return to first fairy verse in sounds almost human. Once more come the +frightening pauses. + +The end is in a great crash of sweet sound--a glad awakening to day and +to reality. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A SYMPHONY TO DANTE'S "DIVINA COMMEDIA" + +_FOR ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS OF SOPRANOS AND ALTOS_ + + +The "Divina Commedia" may be said in a broad view to belong to the great +design by which Christian teaching was brought into relation with +earlier pagan lore. The subject commands all the interest of the epics +of Virgil and of Milton. It must be called the greatest Christian poem +of all times, and the breadth of its appeal and of its art specially +attest the age in which it was written, when classic pagan poetry broke +upon the world like a great treasure-trove. + +The subject was an ideal one in Dante's time,--a theme convincing and +contenting to all the world, and, besides, akin to the essence of pagan +poetry. The poet was needed to celebrate all the phases of its meaning +and beauty. This is true of all flashes of evolutionary truth. As in the +ancient epics, an idea once real to the world may be enshrined in a +design of immortal art. + +To-day we are perhaps in too agnostic a state to be absorbed by such a +contemplation. The subject in a narrower sense is true at most to those +who will to cherish the solace of a salvation which they have not fully +apprehended. And so the Liszt symphony of the nineteenth century is not +a complete reflection of the Dante poem of the fourteenth. It becomes +for the devout believer almost a kind of church-liturgy,--a Mass by the +Abbe Liszt. + +Rare qualities there undoubtedly are in the music: a reality of passion; +a certain simplicity of plan; the sensuous beauty of melodic and +harmonic touches. But a greatness in the whole musical expression that +may approach the grandeur of the poem, could only come in a suggestion +of symbolic truth; and here the composer seems to fail by a too close +clinging to ecclesiastic ritual. Yet in the agony of remorse, rising +from hopeless woe to a chastened worship of the light, is a strain of +inner truth that will leave the work for a long time a hold on human +interest. + +Novel is the writing of words in the score, as if they are to be sung by +the instruments,--all sheer aside from the original purpose of the form. +Page after page has its precise text; we hear the shrieks of the damned, +the dread inscription of the infernal portals; the sad lament of lovers; +the final song of praise of the redeemed. A kind of picture-book music +has our symphony become. The _leit-motif_ has crept into the high form +of absolute tones to make it as definite and dramatic as any opera. + + +I. INFERNO + +The legend of the portal is proclaimed at the outset in a rising phrase +(of the low brass and strings) + +[Music: (Doubled in two lower 8ves.) +_Lento_ +(3 trombones and tuba: violas, cellos and brass)] + + _Per me si va nella cit-ta do-lente; + Per me si va nell'eterno dolore;_ + +and in still higher chant-- + + _Per me si va tra la perduta gente._ + +Then, in antiphonal blast of horns and trumpets sounds the fatal doom in +grim monotone (in descending harmony of trembling strings): + +[Music: (Chant in octaves of trumpets and horns) +La-scia-te ogni spe-ran- - -za. +(Brass, wood and _tremolo_ strings)] + + _Lasciate ogni speranza mi ch' entrate!_[A] + +[Footnote A: + + "Through me the way is to the city dolent; + Through me the way is to eternal dole; + Through me the way among the people lost. + All hope abandon, ye who enter in!" + +--_From Longfellow's translation._] + +A tumult on a sigh (from the first phrase) rises again and again in +gusts. In a violent paroxysm we hear the doom of the monotone in lowest +horns. The fateful phrases are ringing about, while pervading all is +the hope-destroying blast of the brass. But the storm-centre is the +sighing motive which now enters on a quicker spur of passionate stride +(_Allegro frenetico, quasi doppio movimento_). In its winding + +[Music: _Alla breve_ +_Allegro frenetico (quasi doppio movimento)_ +(Theme in violins and cellos) +(Woodwind and violas)] + +sequences it sings a new song in more regular pace. The tempest grows +wilder and more masterful, still following the lines of the song, rising +to towering height. And now in the strains, slow and faster, sounds the +sigh above and below, all in a madrigal of woe. The whole is surmounted +by a big descending phrase, articulate almost in its grim dogma, as it +runs into the line of the first legend in full tumult of gloom. It is +followed by the doom slowly proclaimed in thundering tones of the brass, +in midst of a tempest of surging harmonies. Only it is all more fully +and poignantly stressed than before, with long, resonant echoes of the +stentorian tones of lowest brass. + +Suddenly we are in the dulcet mood (_Quasi Andante, ma sempre un poco +mosso_) 'mid light waving strings and rich swirling harp, and soothing +tones of flutes and muted horns. Then, as all other voices are hushed, +the clarinet sings a strain that ends in lowest notes of expressive +grief (_Recit., espressivo dolente_)--where we can almost hear the +words. It is answered by a sweet plaint of other wood, in + +[Music: _Quasi Andante, ma sempre un poco mosso_ +_dolce teneremente_ +(Clarinets and bassoons)] + +questioning accents, followed by the returning waves of strings and +harp, and another phrase of the lament; and now to the pulsing chords of +the harp the mellow English horn does sing (at least in the score) the +words,--the central text of all: + +[Music: _Poco agitato_ +(English horn, with arpeggic flow of harp) +Nes-sun mag-gior do-lo-re che ri-cor-dar-si del tem-po fe-li-ce.[A]] + +[Footnote A: "There is no greater sorrow than to be mindful of the happy +time in misery."--_From Longfellow's translation._] + +Other voices join the leader. As the lower reed start the refrain, the +higher enter in pursuit, and then the two groups sing a melodic chase. +But the whole phrase is a mere foil to the pure melody of the former +plaint that now returns in lower strings. And all so far is as a herald +to the passage of intimate sentiment (_Andante amoroso_) that lies a +lyric gem in the heart of the symphony. The melting strain is stressed +in tenderness by the languor of harmonies, the delicate design of +elusive rhythm and the appealing whisper of harp and two +violins,--tipped by the touch of mellow wood. + +[Music: _Andante amoroso. (Tempo rubato)_ +_dolce con intimo sentimento_ +(Melody in first violins; arpeggios of harp and violas; +lower woodwind and strings)] + +With the rising passion, as the refrain spreads in wider sequences, the +choirs of wood and strings are drawn into the song, one group answering +the other in a true love duet. + +The last cadence falls into the old sigh as the dread oracle sounds once +more the knell of hope. Swirling strings bring us to a new scene of the +world of shades. In the furious, frenetic pace of yore (_Tempo primo, +Allegro, alla breve_) there is a new sullen note, a dull martial trip +of drums with demonic growls (in the lowest wood). The sigh is there, +but perverted in humor. A chorus of blasphemous mockery is stressed by +strident accents of lower wood and strings.[A] + +[Footnote A: We are again assisted by the interpreting words in the +score.] + +Gradually we fall into the former frenzied song, amid the demon +cacchinations, until we have plunged back into the nightmare of groans. +Instead of the big descending phrase we sink into lower depths of gloom, +wilder than ever, on the first tripping motive. As the sighing strain +resounds below in the midst of a chorus of demon shrieks, there enters +the chant of inexorable fate. Mockery yields to a tinge of pathos, a +sense almost of majestic resignation, an apotheosis of grief. + + +II. PURGATORIO + +A state of tranquillity, almost of bliss, is in the opening primal +harmonies (of harp and strings and + +[Music: _Andante con moto quasi Allegretto. Tranquillo assai_ +(Oboe _molto espressivo_) +_Sempre piano e legato_ +(Full arpeggic harp and muted strings)] + +soft horns). Indeed, what else could be the mood of relief from the +horrors of hell? And lo! the reed strikes a pure limpid song echoed in +turn by other voices, beneath a rich spray of heavenly harmonies. + +This all recurs in higher shift of tone. A wistful phrase (_piu lento_, +in low strings) seems to breathe + +[Music: _Un poco meno mosso_ +(English horn, clarinets, bassoons, French horn)] + +a spoken sob. Then, as in voices of a hymn, chants a more formal liturgy +of plaint where the phrase is almost lost in the lowest voice. It is all +but articulate, with a sense of the old sigh; but it is in a calmer +spirit, though anon bursting with passionate grief (_lagrimoso_). + +[Music: _Lamentoso_ (In fugue of muted strings)] + +And now in the same vein, of the same fibre, a fugue begins of lament, +first in muted strings. + +It is the line of sad expressive recitative that heralded the plaint and +the love-scene. There is here the full charm of fugue: a rhythmic +quality of single theme, the choir of concerted dirge in independent +and interdependent paths, and with every note of integral melody. There +is the beauty of pure tonal architecture blended with the personal +significance of the human (and divine) tragedy. + +The fugue begins in muted strings, like plaintive human voices, though +wood and brass here and there light up the phrases. Now the full bass of +horns and wood strikes the descending course of theme, while higher +strings and wood soar in rising stress of (sighing) grief. + +[Music: (In double higher 8ves.) +_With lower 8ves._ +(Strings, with enforcing and answering wind)] + +A hymnal verse of the theme enters in the wood answered by impetuous +strings on a coursing phrase. The antiphonal song rises with eager +stress of themal attack. A quieter elegy leads to another burst, the +motive above, the insistent sigh below. The climax of fugue returns to +the heroic main plaint below, with sighing answers above, all the voices +of wood and brass enforcing the strings. + +Then the fugue turns to a transfigured phase; the theme rings triumphant +retorts in golden horns and in a masterful unison of the wood; the wild +answer runs joyfully in lower strings, while the higher are strumming +like celestial harps. The whole is transformed to a big song of praise +ever in higher harmonies. The theme flows on in ever varying thread, +amidst the acclaiming tumult. + +But the heavenly heights are not reached by a single leap. Once more we +sink to sombre depths not of the old rejection, but of a chastened, +wistful wonderment. The former plaintive chant returns, in slower, +contained pace, broken by phrases of mourning recitative, with the old +sigh. And a former brief strain of simple aspiration is supported by +angelic harps. In gentle ascent we are wafted to the acclaim of heavenly +(treble) voices in the _Magnificat_. A wonderful utterance, throughout +the scene of Purgatory, there is of a chastened, almost spiritual grief +for the sin that cannot be undone, though it is not past pardon. + +The bold design of the final Praise of the Almighty was evidently +conceived in the main as a service. An actual depiction, or a direct +expression (such as is attempted in the prologue of Boito's Mefistofele) +was thereby avoided. The Holy of Holies is screened from view by a +priestly ceremony,--by the mask of conventional religion. Else we must +take the composer's personal conception of such a climax as that of an +orthodox Churchman. And then the whole work, with all its pathos and +humanity, falls to the level of liturgy. + +The words of invisible angel-chorus are those of the blessed maid +trusting in God her savior, on a theme for which we are prepared by +preluding choirs of harps, wood and strings. It is sung on an ancient +Church tone that in its height approaches the mode of secular song. With +all the power of broad rhythm, and fulness of harmony and volume, the +feeling is of conventional worship. With all the purity of shimmering +harmonies the form is ecclesiastical in its main lines and depends upon +liturgic symbols for its effect and upon the faith of the listener for +its appeal. + +At the end of the hymn, on the entering _Hosanna!_ and _Hallelujah!_ we +catch the sacred symbol (of seven tones) in the path of the two vocal +parts, the lower descending, the higher ascending as on heavenly scale. +In the second, optional ending the figure is completed, as the bass +descends through the seven whole tones and the treble (of voices and +instruments) rises as before to end in overpowering _Hallelujah!_ The +style is close knit with the earlier music. A pervading motive is the +former brief phrase of aspiration; upon it the angelic groups seem to +wing their flight between verses of praise. By a wonderful touch the +sigh, that appeared inverted in the plaintive chant of the _Purgatorio_, +is finally glorified as the motive of the bass to the words of +exultation. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE SYMPHONIC POEMS OF LISZT + + +Liszt was clearly a follower of Berlioz in the abandon to a pictorial +aim, in the revolt from pure musical form, and in the mastery of +orchestral color. If we feel in almost all his works a charming +translation of story in the tones, we also miss the higher empyraean of +pure fancy, unlimited by halting labels. It is a descent into pleasant, +rich pastures from the cosmic view of the lofty mountain. Yet it must be +yielded that Liszt's program-music was of the higher kind that dwells in +symbols rather than in concrete details. It was a graphic plan of +symbolization that led Liszt to choose the subjects of his symphonic +poems (such as the "Preludes" and the "Ideals") and to prefer the poetic +scheme of Hugo's "Mazeppa" to the finer verse of a Byron. Though not +without literal touches, Liszt perceived that his subjects must have a +symbolic quality. + +Nevertheless this pictorial style led to a revolution in the very nature +of musical creation and to a new form which was seemingly intended to +usurp the place of the symphony. It is clear that the symphonic poem is +in very essence opposed to the symphony. The genius of the symphony lies +in the overwhelming breadth and intensity of its expression without the +aid of words. Vainly decried by a later age of shallower perception, it +achieved this Promethean stroke by the very magic of the design. At one +bound thus arose in the youngest art a form higher than any other of +human device,--higher than the epic, the drama, or the cathedral. + +Bowing to an impatient demand for verbal meaning, Liszt invented the +Symphonic Poem, in which the classic cogency yielded to the loose thread +of a musical sketch in one movement, slavishly following the sequence of +some literary subject. He abandoned sheer tonal fancy, surrendering the +magic potency of pure music, fully expressive within its own design far +beyond the literal scheme.[A] + +[Footnote A: Mendelssohn with perfect insight once declared,--"Notes +have as definite a meaning as words, perhaps even a more definite one."] + +The symphonic poems of Liszt, in so far as his intent was in destructive +reaction to the classic process, were precisely in line with the drama +of Wagner. The common revolt completely failed. The higher, the real +music is ever of that pure tonal design where the fancy is not leashed +to some external scheme. Liszt himself grew to perceive the inadequacy +of the new device when he returned to the symphony for his greatest +orchestral expression, though even here he never escaped from the thrall +of a literal subject. + +And strangely, in point of actual music, we cannot fail to find an +emptier, a more grandiose manner in all these symphonic poems than in +the two symphonies. It seems as if an unconscious sense of the greater +nobility of the classic medium drove Liszt to a far higher inspiration +in his melodic themes. + +Yet we cannot deny the brilliant, dazzling strokes, and the luscious +harmonies. It was all a new manner, and alone the novelty is welcome, +not to speak of the broad sweep of facile melody, and the sparkling +thrills. + + +_LES PRELUDES_ + +This work has a preface by the composer, who refers in a footnote to the +"_Meditations poetiques_" of Lamartine. + +"What else is our life than a series of preludes to that unknown song of +which the first solemn note is struck by death? Love is the morning glow +of every heart; but in what human career have not the first ecstasies of +bliss been broken by the storm, whose cruel breath destroys fond +illusions, and blasts the sacred shrine with the bolt of lightning. And +what soul, sorely wounded, does not, emerging from the tempest, seek to +indulge its memories in the calm of country life? Nevertheless, man will +not resign himself for long to the soothing charm of quiet nature, and +when the trumpet sounds the signal of alarm, he runs to the perilous +post, whatever be the cause that calls him to the ranks of war,--that he +may find in combat the full consciousness of himself and the command of +all his powers." + +How far is the music literally graphic? We cannot look for the "unknown +song" in definite sounds. That would defeat, not describe, its +character. But the first solemn notes, are not these the solemn rising +phrase that reappears in varying rhythm and pace all about the beginning +and, indeed, the whole course + +[Music: _Andante_ +(Strings, doubled in two lower 8ves.)] + +of the music. Just these three notes abound in the mystic first +"prelude," and they are the core of the great swinging tune of the +Andante maestoso, the beginning and main pulse of the unknown song. + +[Music: _Andante maestoso_ +(Basses of strings, wood and brass, doubled below; arpeggic +harmonies in upper strings; sustained higher wood)] + +Now (_dolce cantando_) is a softer guise of the phrase. For death and +birth, the two portals, are like + +[Music: (Strings, with arpeggic violins) +_dolce cantando_ +(_Pizz._ basses)] + +elements. Even here the former separate motive sounds, and so in the +further turn of the song (_espressivo dolente_) on new thread. + +The melody that sings (_espressivo ma tranquillo_) may well stand for +"love, the glow of dawn in every heart." Before the storm, both great +motives (of love and death) sound together very beautifully, as in + +[Music: _espress. ma tranquillo_ +_dolce._ +(Horns and lower strings, with arpeggic harp and violins)] + +Tennyson's poem. The storm that blasts the romance begins with the same +fateful phrase. It is all about, even inverted, and at the crisis it +sings with the fervor of full-blown song. At the lull the soft guise +reappears, faintly, like a sweet memory. + +The Allegretto pastorale is clear from the preface. After we are lulled, +soothed, caressed and all but entranced by these new impersonal sounds, +then, as if the sovereign for whom all else were preparing, the song of +love seeks its recapitulated verse. Indeed here is the real full song. +Is it that in the memory lies the reality, or at least the realization? + +Out of the dream of love rouses the sudden alarm of brass (_Allegro +marziale animato_), with a new war-tune fashioned of the former soft +disguised motive. The air of fate still hangs heavy over all. In +spirited retorts the martial madrigal proceeds, but it is not all mere +war and courage. Through the clash of strife break in the former songs, +the love-theme in triumph and the first expressive strain in tempestuous +joy. Last of all the fateful original motto rings once more in serene, +contained majesty. + +On the whole, even with so well-defined a program, and with a full play +of memory, we cannot be quite sure of a fixed association of the motive. +It is better to view the melodic episodes as subjective phases, arising +from the tenor of the poem. + + +_TASSO_ + +Liszt's "Tasso" is probably the earliest celebration, in pure tonal +form, of the plot of man's suffering and redemption, that has been so +much followed that it may be called the type of the modern symphony.[A] +In this direct influence the "Tasso" poem has been the most striking of +all of Liszt's creations. + +[Footnote A: We may mention such other works of Liszt as "Mazeppa" and +the "Faust" Symphony; the third symphony of Saint-Saens; Strauss' tone +poem "Death and Transfiguration"; Volbach's symphony, besides other +symphonies such as a work by Carl Pohlig. We may count here, too, the +Heldenlied by Dvorak, and Strauss' Heldenleben (see Vol. II).] + +The following preface of the composer accompanies the score: + + "In the year 1849 the one hundredth anniversary of Goethe's birth + was celebrated throughout Germany; the theatre in Weimar, where we + were at the time, marked the 28th of August by a performance of + 'Tasso.' + + "The tragic fate of the unfortunate bard served as a text for the + two greatest poets produced by Germany and England in the last + century: Goethe and Byron. Upon Goethe was bestowed the most + brilliant of mortal careers; while Byron's advantages of birth and + of fortune were balanced by keenest suffering. We must confess that + when bidden, in 1849, to write an overture for Goethe's drama, we + were more immediately inspired by Byron's reverential pity for the + shades of the great man, which he invoked, than by the work of the + German poet. Nevertheless Byron, in his picture of Tasso in prison, + was unable to add to the remembrance of his poignant grief, so + nobly and eloquently uttered in his 'Lament,' the thought of the + 'Triumph' that a tardy justice gave to the chivalrous author of + 'Jerusalem Delivered.' We have sought to mark this dual idea in the + very title of our work, and we should be glad to have succeeded in + pointing this great contrast,--the genius who was misjudged during + his life, surrounded, after death, with a halo that destroyed his + enemies. Tasso loved and suffered at Ferrara; he was avenged at + Rome; his glory still lives in the folk-songs of Venice. These + three elements are inseparable from his immortal memory. To + represent them in music, we first called up his august spirit as he + still haunts the waters of Venice. Then we beheld his proud and + melancholy figure as he passed through the festivals of Ferrara + where he had produced his master-works. Finally we followed him to + Rome, the eternal city, that offered him the crown and glorified in + him the martyr and the poet. + + "_Lamento e Trionfo_: Such are the opposite poles of the destiny + of poets, of whom it has been justly said that if their lives are + sometimes burdened with a curse, a blessing is never wanting over + their grave. For the sake not merely of authority, but the + distinction of historical truth, we put our idea into realistic + form in taking for the theme of our musical poem the motive with + which we have heard the gondoliers of Venice sing over the waters + the lines of Tasso, and utter them three centuries after the poet: + + "'Canto l'armi pietose e'l Capitano + Che'l gran Sepolcro libero di Christo!' + + "The motive is in itself plaintive; it has a sustained sigh, a + monotone of grief. But the gondoliers give it a special quality by + prolonging certain tones--as when distant rays of brilliant light + are reflected on the waves. This song had deeply impressed us long + ago. It was impossible to treat of Tasso without taking, as it + were, as text for our thoughts, this homage rendered by the nation + to the genius whose love and loyalty were ill merited by the court + of Ferrara. The Venetian melody breathes so sharp a melancholy, + such hopeless sadness, that it suffices in itself to reveal the + secret of Tasso's grief. It lent itself, like the poet's + imagination, to the world's brilliant illusions, to the smooth and + false coquetry of those smiles that brought the dreadful + catastrophe in their train, for which there seemed to be no + compensation in this world. And yet upon the Capitol the poet was + clothed with a mantle of purer and more brilliant purple than that + of Alphonse." + +With the help of the composer's plot, the intent of the music becomes +clear, to the dot almost of the note. The whole poem is an exposition of +the one sovereign melody, where we may feel a kindred trait of Hungarian +song, above all in the cadences, that must have stirred Liszt's patriot +heart. Nay,--beginning as it does with melancholy stress of the phrase +of cadence and the straying into full rhythmitic exultation, it seems +(in strange guise) another + +[Music: _Adagio mesto_ +(With rhythmic harp and horns)] + +of Liszt's Hungarian rhapsodies,--that were, perhaps, the greatest of +all he achieved, where his unpremeditated frenzy revelled in purest +folk-rhythm and tune. The natural division of the Hungarian dance, with +the sad _Lassu_ and the glad _Friss_, is here clear in order and +recurrence. The Magyar seems to the manner born in both parts of the +melody.[A] + +[Footnote A: A common Oriental element in Hungarian and Venetian music +has been observed. See Kretschmar's note to Liszt's "Tasso" (Breitkopf & +Haertel).] + +In the accents of the motive of cadence (_Lento_) we feel the secret +grief of the hero, that turns _Allegro strepitoso_, in quicker pace to +fierce revolt. + +In full tragic majesty the noble theme enters, in panoply of woe. In the +further flow, as in the beginning, is a brief chromatic strain and a +sigh of descending tone that do not lie in the obvious song, that are +drawn by the subjective poet from the latent fibre. Here is the modern +Liszt, of rapture and anguish, in manner and in mood that proved so +potent a model with a later generation.[A] + +[Footnote A: See note in the final chapter of Volume II.] + +The verse ends in a prolonged threnody, then turns to a firm, serenely +grave burst of the song in major, _Meno Adagio_, with just a hint of +martial grandeur. For once, or the nonce, we seem to see the hero-poet +acclaimed. In a middle episode the motive of the cadence sings +expressively with delicate harmonies, rising to full-blown exaltation. +We may see here an actual brief celebration, such as Tasso did receive +on entering Ferrara. + +And here is a sudden fanciful turn. A festive dance strikes a tuneful +trip,--a menuet it surely is, with all the ancient festal charm, vibrant +with tune and spring, though still we do not escape the source of the +first pervading theme. Out of the midst of the dance sings slyly an +enchanting phrase, much like a secret love-romance. Now to the light +continuing dance is joined a strange companion,--the heroic melody in +its earlier majestic pace. Is it the poet in serious meditation at the +feast apart from the joyous abandon, or do we see him laurel-crowned, a +centre of the festival, while the gay dancers flit about him in homage? + +More and more brilliant grows the scene, though ever with the dominant +grave figure. With sudden stroke as of fatal blast returns the earlier +fierce burst of revolt, rising to agitation of the former lament, +blending both moods and motives, and ending with a broader stress of the +first tragic motto. + +Now, _Allegro con brio_, with herald calls of the brass and fanfare of +running strings (drawn from the personal theme), in bright major the +whole song bursts forth in brilliant gladness. At the height the +exaltation finds vent in a peal of simple melody. The "triumph" follows +in broadest, royal pace of the main song in the wind, while the strings +are madly coursing and the basses reiterate the transformed motive of +the cadence. The end is a revel of jubilation. + + +_MAZEPPA_ + +The Mazeppa music is based upon Victor Hugo's poem, in turn founded upon +Byron's verse, with an added stirring touch of allegory. + +The verses of Hugo first tell how the victim is tied to the fiery +steed, how-- + + "He turns in the toils like a serpent in madness, + And ... his tormentors have feasted in gladness + Upon his despair. + + * * * * * + + "They fly.--Empty space is behind and before them + + * * * * * + + "The horse, neither bridle nor bit on him feeling, + Flies ever; red drops o'er the victim are stealing: + His whole body bleeds. + Alas! to the wild horses foaming and champing + That followed with mane erect, neighing and stamping, + A crow-flight succeeds. + The raven, the horn'd owl with eyes round and hollow, + The osprey and eagle from battle-field follow, + Though daylight alarm. + + * * * * * + + "Then after three days of this course wild and frantic, + Through rivers of ice, plains and forests gigantic, + The horse sinks and dies; + + * * * * * + + "Yet mark! That poor sufferer, gasping and moaning, + To-morrow the Cossacks of Ukraine atoning, + Will hail as their King; + + * * * * * + + "To royal Mazeppa the hordes Asiatic + Will show their devotion in fervor ecstatic, + And low to earth bow." + +In his splendid epilogue the poet likens the hero to the mortal on whom +the god has set his mark. He sees himself bound living to the fatal +course of genius, the fiery steed. + + "Away from the world--from all real existence + He is borne upwards, despite his resistance + On feet of steel. + He is taken o'er deserts, o'er mountains in legions, + Grey-hoary, thro' oceans, and into the regions + Far over the clouds; + A thousand base spirits his progress unshaken + Arouses, press round him and stare as they waken, + In insolent crowds + + * * * * * + + "He cries out with terror, in agony grasping, + Yet ever the mane of his Pegasus clasping, + They heavenward spring; + Each leap that he takes with fresh woe is attended; + He totters--falls lifeless--the struggle is ended-- + And rises as King!"[A] + +[Footnote A: The English verses are taken for the most part from the +translation of F. Corder.] + +The original _Allegro agitato_ in broad 6/4 time (aptly suggestive of +the unbridled motion) grows + +[Music: (In brass and strings with lower 8ve.) +(With constant clattering higher strings and +chord of low wind on the middle beat)] + +more rapid into an _alla breve_ pace (in two beats), with dazzling maze +of lesser rhythms. Throughout the work a song of primeval strain +prevails. Here and there a tinge of foreshadowing pain appears, as the +song sounds on high, _espressivo dolente_. But the fervor and fury of +movement is undiminished. The brief touch of pathos soon merges in the +general heroic mood. Later, the whole motion ceases, "the horse sinks +and dies," and now an interlude sings a pure plaint (in the strain of +the main motive). Then, _Allegro_, the martial note clangs in stirring +trumpet and breaks into formal song of war, _Allegro marziale_. + +[Music: (Brass and strings) +_Allegro marziale_ +(With lower 8ve.)] + +In the wake of this song, with a relentless trip and tramp of warrior +hordes, is the real clash and jingle of the battle, where the sparkling +thrill of strings and the saucy counter theme are strong elements in the +stirring beauty. + +There is a touch here of the old Goth, or rather the Hun, nearer akin to +the composer's race. + +At the height rings out the main tune of yore, transformed in triumphant +majesty. + +The musical design embraces various phases. First is the clear rhythmic +sense of the ride. We think of other instances like Schubert's +"Erl-King" or the ghostly ride in Raff's "Lenore" Symphony. + +The degree of vivid description must vary, not only with the composer, +but with the hearer. The greatest masters have yielded to the variety of +the actual graphic touch. And, too, there are always interpreters who +find it, even if it was never intended. Thus it is common to hear at the +very beginning of the "Mazeppa" music the cry that goes up as starts the +flight. + +We are of course entitled, if we prefer, to feel the poetry rather than +the picture. Finally it is probably true that such a poetic design is +not marred merely because there is here or there a trick of +onomatopoeia; if it is permitted in poetry, why not in music? It may be +no more than a spur to the fancy, a quick conjuring of the association. + + +_HUNNENSCHLACHT--"THE BATTLE OF THE HUNS"_ + +Liszt's symphonic poem, "Hunnenschlacht," one of the last of his works +in this form, completed in 1857, was directly inspired by the picture of +the German painter, Wilhelm Kaulbach, which represents the legend of the +aerial battle between the spirits of the Romans and Huns who had fallen +outside of the walls of Rome.[A] + +[Footnote A: A description of the picture is cited by Lawrence Gilman in +his book, "Stories of Symphonic Music," as follows: + +"According to a legend, the combatants were so exasperated that the +slain rose during the night and fought in the air. Rome, which is seen +in the background, is said to have been the scene of this event. Above, +borne on a shield, is Attila, with a scourge in his hand; opposite him +Theodoric, King of the Visigoths. The foreground is a battle-field, +strewn with corpses, which are seen to be gradually reviving, rising up +and rallying, while among them wander wailing and lamenting women."] + +The evidence of the composer's intent is embodied in a letter written in +1857 to the wife of the painter, which accompanied the manuscript of an +arrangement of the music for two pianos. In the letter Liszt speaks of +"the meteoric and solar light which I have borrowed from the painting, +and which at the Finale I have formed into one whole by the gradual +working up of the Catholic _choral_ 'Crux fidelis,' and the meteoric +sparks blended therewith." He continues: "As I have already intimated to +Kaulbach, in Munich, I was led by the musical demands of the material to +give proportionately more place to the solar light of Christianity, +personified in the Catholic _choral_ ... than appears to be the case in +the glorious painting, in order to win and pregnantly represent the +conclusion of the Victory of the Cross, with which I both as a Catholic +and as a man could not dispense." + +The work begins _tempestuoso_ (_allegro non troppo_), with a nervous +theme over soft rolling drums and + +[Music: _Tempestuoso. Allegro non troppo_ +(Bassoons with _tremolo_ cellos and roll of kettle-drums)] + +trembling low strings, that is taken up as in fugue by successive groups +and carried to a height where enters a fierce call of the horns. The +cries of battle spread with increasing din and gathering speed. At the +first climax the whole motion has a new energy, as the strings in +feverish chase attack the quickened motive with violent stress. Later, +though the motion has not lessened, the theme has returned to a +semblance of its former pace, and again the cries of battle (in brass +and wood) sound across its path. + +[Music: (Strings, _tremolo_, doubled above) +(Horns)] + +In the hush of the storm the full-blown call to arms is heard in lowest, +funereal tones. Of a sudden, though the speed is the same, the pace +changes with a certain terror as of a cavalry attack. Presently amid the +clattering tramp sounds the big hymn,--in the ancient rhythm that moves +strangely out of the rut of even time.[A] + +[Footnote A: Quoted on the following page.] + +A single line of the hymn is followed by a refrain of the battle-call, +and by the charge of horse that brings back the hymn, in high pitch of +trumpets. And so recur the former phases of battle,--really of threat +and preparation. For now begins the serious fray in one long gathering +of speed and power. The first theme here grows to full melodic song, +with extended answer, led by strepitous band of lower reed over a heavy +clatter of strings. We are in a + +[Music: (Trombones with lower 8ve) +_Marcato_] + +maze of furious charges and cries, till the shrill trumpet and the +stentorian trombone strike the full call in antiphonal song. The tempest +increases with a renewed charge of the strings, and now the more distant +calls have a slower sweep. Later the battle song is in the +basses,--again in clashing basses and trebles; nearer strike the broad +sweeping calls. + +Suddenly over the hushed motion in soothing harmonies sings the hymn in +pious choir of all the brass. Then the gathering speed and volume is +merged in a majestic tread as of ordered array (_Maestoso assai; +Andante_); a brief spirited prelude of martial motives is answered by +the soft religious strains of the organ on the line of the hymn: + + "Crux fidelis, inter omnes + Arbor una nobilis, + Nulla silva talem profert + Fronde, flore, germine. + Dulce lignum, dulces clavos, + Dulce pondus sustinet."[A] + +[Footnote A: + + Faithful cross, among the trees + Thou the noblest of them all! + Forest ne'er doth grow a like + In leaf, in flower or in seed. + Blessed wood and blessed nails, + Blessed burden that it bears!] + +As in solemn liturgy come the answering phrases of the organ and the big +chorus in martial tread. As the hymn winds its further course, violins +entwine about the harmonies. The last line ends in expressive strain and +warm line of new major tone,--echoed in interluding organ and violins. + +Suddenly a strict, solemn tread, with sharp stress of violins, brings a +new song of the _choral_. Strings alone play here "with pious +expression"; gradually reeds add support and ornament. A lingering +phrase ascends on celestial harmonies. With a stern shock the plain hymn +strikes in the reed, against a rapid course of strings, with fateful +tread. In interlude sound the battle-cries of yore. Again the hymn ends +in the expressive cadence, though now it grows to a height of power. + +Here a former figure (the first motive of the battle) reappears in a +new guise of bright major,[A] in full, spirited stride, and leads once +more to a blast of the hymn, with organ and all, the air in unison of +trumpets and all the wood. The expressive cadence merges into a last +fanfare of battle, followed by a strain of hymns and with reverberating +Amens, where the organ predominates and holds long after all other +sounds have ceased. + +[Footnote A: In the whole tonality we may see the "meteoric and solar +light" of which the composer speaks in the letter quoted above.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SYMPHONIC POEMS OF SAINT-SAENS + + +There is something charming and even ideal in a complete versatility, +quite apart from the depth of the separate poems, where there is a +never-failing touch of grace and of distinction. The Philip Sydneys are +quite as important as the Miltons, perhaps they are as great. Some poets +seem to achieve an expression in a certain cyclic or sporadic career of +their fancy, touching on this or that form, illuminating with an elusive +light the various corners of the garden. Their individual expression +lies in the _ensemble_ of these touches, rather than in a single +profound revelation. + +A symptom of the eminence of Saint-Saens in the history of French music +lies in his attitude towards the art as a whole, especially of the +German masters,--the absence of national bias in his perceptions. He was +foremost in revealing to his countrymen the greatness of Bach, Beethoven +and Schumann. Without their influence the present high state of French +music can hardly be conceived. + +It is part of a broad and versatile mastery that it is difficult to +analyze. Thus it is not easy to find salient traits in the art of M. +Saint-Saens. We are apt to think mainly of the distinguished beauty of +his harmonies, until we remember his subtle counterpoint, or in turn +the brilliancy of his orchestration. The one trait that he has above his +contemporaries is an inbred refinement and restraint,--a thorough-going +workmanship. If he does not share a certain overwrought emotionalism +that is much affected nowadays, there is here no limitation--rather a +distinction. Aside from the general charm of his art, Saint-Saens found +in the symphonic poem his one special form, so that it seemed Liszt had +created it less for himself than for his French successor. A fine +reserve of poetic temper saved him from hysterical excess. He never lost +the music in the story, disdaining the mere rude graphic stroke; in his +dramatic symbols a musical charm is ever commingled. And a like poise +helped him to a right plot and point in his descriptions. So his +symphonic poems must ever be enjoyed mainly for the music, with perhaps +a revery upon the poetic story. With a less brilliant vein of melody, +though they are not so Promethean in reach as those of Liszt, they are +more complete in the musical and in the narrative effect. + + +_DANSE MACABRE_ + +Challenged for a choice among the works of the versatile composer, we +should hit upon the _Danse Macabre_ as the most original, profound and +essentially beautiful of all. It is free from certain lacks that one +feels in other works, with all their charm,--a shallowness and almost +frivolity; a facility of theme approaching the commonplace. + +There is here an eccentric quality of humor, a daemonic conceit that +reach the height of other classic expression of the supernatural. + +The music is founded upon certain lines of a poem of _Henri Calais_ +(under a like title), that may be given as follows: + + Zig-a-zig, zig-a-zig-a-zig, + Death knocks on the tomb with rhythmic heel. + Zig-a-zig, zig-a-zig-zig, + Death fiddles at midnight a ghostly reel. + + The winter wind whistles, dark is the night; + Dull groans behind the lindens grow loud; + Back and forth fly the skeletons white, + Running and leaping each under his shroud. + Zig-a-zig-a-zig, how it makes you quake, + As you hear the bones of the dancers shake. + + * * * * * + + But hist! all at once they vanish away, + The cock has hailed the dawn of day. + +The magic midnight strokes sound clear and sharp. In eager chords of +tuned pitch the fiddling ghost summons the dancing groups, where the +single fife is soon followed by demon violins. + +Broadly sings now the descending tune half-way between a wail and a +laugh. And ever in interlude is the skipping, mincing step,--here of +reeds answered by solo violin with a light clank of cymbals. Answering +the summoning fifes, the unison troop of fiddlers dance the main step +to bright strokes of triangle, then the main ghostly violin trips in +with choir of wind. And broadly again sweeps the song between tears and + +[Music: _In waltz rhythm_ +(Flute) +(Harp, with sustained bass note of strings)] + +smiles. Or Death fiddles the first strain of reel for the tumultuous +answer of chorus. + +Now they build a busy, bustling fugue (of the descending song) and at +the serious moment suddenly + +[Music: (Solo violin) +_Largamente_ +(_Pizz._ strings)] + +they skip away in new frolicsome, all but joyous, tune: a shadowy +counterfeit of gladness, where the sob hangs on the edge of the smile. +As if it could no longer be contained, now pours the full passionate +grief of the broad descending strain. Death fiddles his mournful chant +to echoing, expressive wind. On the abandon of grief follows the revel +of grim humor in pranks of mocking demons. All the strains are mingled +in the ghostly bacchanale. The descending song is answered in opposite +melody. A chorus of laughter follows the tripping dance. The summoning +chords, acclaimed by chorus, grow to appealing song in a brief lull. At +the height, to the united skipping dance of overpowering chorus the +brass blows the full verse of descending song. The rest is a mad storm +of carousing till ... out of the whirling darkness sudden starts the +sharp, sheer call of prosaic day, in high, shrill reed. On a minishing +sound of rolling drum and trembling strings, sings a brief line of +wistful rhapsody of the departing spirit before the last whisking steps. + + +_PHAETON_ + +On a separate page between title and score is a "_Notice_,"--an epitome +of the story of Phaeton, as follows: + +"Phaeton has been permitted to drive the chariot of the Sun, his father, +through the heavens. But his unskilful hands frighten the steeds. The +flaming chariot, thrown out of its course, approaches the terrestrial +regions. The whole universe is on the verge of ruin when Jupiter strikes +the imprudent Phaeton with his thunderbolt." + +There is a solemn sense at first (_Maestoso_), a mid-air poise of the +harmony, a quick spring of resolution and--on through the heavens. At +the outset and always is the pervading musical charm. In the beginning +is the enchantment of mere motion in lightest prancing strings and harp +with slowly ascending curve. In farther journey comes a spring of the +higher wood and soon a firm note of horns and a blast of trumpets on a +chirruping call, till the whole panoply of solar brilliance is +shimmering. Now with the continuing pulse (of saltant strings) rings a +buoyant, + +[Music: _Allegro animato_ +(Violins) +_Marcato_ (Trumpets and trombones)] + +regnant air in the brass. A (canon) chase of echoing voices merely adds +an entrancing bewilderment, then yields to other symbols and visions. + +Still rises the thread of pulsing strings to higher empyraean and then +floats forth in golden horns, as we hang in the heavens, a melody +tenderly solemn, as of pent delight, or perhaps of a more fatal hue, +with the solar orb encircled by his satellites. + +Still on to a higher pole spins the dizzy path; then at the top of the +song, it turns in slow descending curve. Almost to Avernus seems the +gliding fall when the first melody rings anew. But there is now an +anxious sense that dims the joy of motion and in the + +[Music: (With trembling of violins in high B flat) +(Horns)] + +returning first motive jars the buoyant spring. Through the maze of +fugue with tinge of terror presses the fatuous chase, when--crash comes +the shock of higher power. There is a pause of motion in the din and a +downward flight as of lifeless figure. + +Now seems the soul of the sweet melody to sing, in purest dirge, without +the shimmer of attendant motion save a ghostly shadow of the joyous +symbol. + + +_THE YOUTH OF HERCULES_ + +The "Legend" is printed in the score as follows: + +"Fable tells us that upon entering into life Hercules saw the two paths +open before him: of pleasure and of virtue. + +"Insensible to the seductions of Nymphs and Bacchantes, the hero devotes +himself to the career of struggle and combat, at the end of which he +glimpses across the flames of the funeral pyre the reward of +immortality." + +We can let our fancy play about the score and wonderfully hit an +intention of the poet. Yet that is often rather a self-flattery than a +real perception. In the small touches we may lose the greater beauty. +Here, after all, is the justification of the music. If the graphic +picture is added, a little, only, is gained. The main virtue of it lies +in our better grasp of the musical design. + +In the muted strings, straying dreamily in pairs, is a vague line of the +motto,--a foreshadowing of the heroic idea, as are the soft calls of the +wind with wooing harp a first vision of delight. + +[Music: _Allegro moderato_ +(Strings)] + +Now begins the main song in sturdy course of unmuted strings. The wood +soon join in the rehearsing. But it is not all easy deciphering. The +song wanders in gently agitated strings while the horns hold a solemn +phrase that but faintly resembles the motto.[A] Lesser phrases play +about the bigger in rising flight of aspiration, crowned at the height +with a ray of glad light. + +[Footnote A: It is well to resist the vain search for a transnotation of +the story. And here we see a virtue of Saint-Saens himself, a national +trait of poise that saved him from losing the music in the picture. His +symphonic poems must be enjoyed in a kind of musical revery upon the +poetic subject. He disdained the rude graphic stroke, and used dramatic +means only where a musical charm was commingled.] + +As the dream sinks slowly away, the stern motto is buried in quick +flashes of the tempting call. These are mere visions; now comes the +scene itself of temptation. + +To ripples of harp the reed sings enchantingly in swaying rhythm; other +groups in new surprise of + +[Music: (Flutes, oboe, clarinets and harp)] + +scene usurp the melody with the languishing answer, until one Siren +breaks into an impassioned burst, while her sisters hold the dance. + +Straight upon her vanished echoes shrieks the shrill pipe of war, with +trembling drum. We hear a yearning sigh of the Siren strain before it is +swept away in the tide and tumult of strife. Beneath the whirl and +motion, the flash and crash of arms, we have glimpses of the heroic +figure. + +Here is a strange lay in the fierce chorus of battle-cries: the Siren +song in bright insistence, changed to the rushing pace of war. + +The scene ends in a crash. Loud sings a solemn phrase; do we catch an +edge of wistful regret? Now returns the sturdy course of the main +heroic melody; only it is slower (_Andante sostenuto_), and the high +stress of cadence is solemnly impassioned. + +As if to atone for the slower pace, the theme strikes into a lively +fugue, with trembling strings (_Allegro animato_). + +There is an air of achievement in the relentless progress and the +insistent recurrence of the masterful motive. An episode there is of +mere striving and straining, before the theme resumes its vehement +attack, followed by lusty echoes all about as of an army of heroes. +There is the breath of battle in the rumbling basses and the shaking, +quivering brass. + +At last the plain song resounds in simple lines of ringing brass, led by +the high bugle.[A] + +[Footnote A: Saint-Saens employs besides the usual 4 horns, 2 trumpets, +3 trombones and tuba, a small bugle (in B-flat) and 2 cornets.] + +Yet the struggle, the inner combat, is not over. At the very moment of +triumph sings on high over purling harp the mastering strain of Sirens, +is buried beneath martial clash and emerges with its enchantment. But +here the virile mood and motive gains the victory and strides on to +final scene. + +We remember how Hercules built and ascended his own funeral pyre. In +midst of quivering strings, with dashing harp and shrieking wood, a roll +of drum and a clang of brass sounds the solemn chant of the trombone, +descending in relentless steps. As the lowest is reached, there comes a +spring of freedom in the pulsing figures, like the winging of a spirit, +and a final acclaim in a brief line of the legend. + + +_OMPHALE'S SPINNING WHEEL_ + +Between title and score is this _Notice_: + +"The subject of this symphonic poem is feminine witchery, the triumphant +struggle of weakness. The spinning wheel is a mere pretext, chosen from +the point of view of rhythm and the general atmosphere of the piece. + +"Those persons who might be interested in a study of the details of the +picture, will see ... the hero groaning in the toils which he cannot +break, and ... Omphale mocking the vain efforts of Hercules." + +The versions of the story differ slightly. After the fulfilment of his +twelve labors Hercules is ordered by the oracle to a period of three +years' service to expiate the killing of the son of King Eurytus in a +fit of madness. Hermes placed him in the household of Omphale, queen of +Lydia, widow of Tmolus. Hercules is degraded to female drudgery, is +clothed in soft raiment and set to spin wool, while the queen assumes +the lion skin and club. + +In another version he was sold as slave to Omphale, who restored him to +freedom. Their passion was mutual. The story has a likeness to a similar +episode of Achilles. + +The spinning-wheel begins _Andante_ in muted strings alternating with +flutes and gradually hurries into a lively motion. Here the horn accents +the spinning, while another thread (of higher wood) runs through the +graceful woof. A chain of alluring harmonies preludes the ensnaring +song, mainly of woodwind above the humming strings, with soft dotting of +the harmony by the horns. The violins, to be sure, often enforce the +melody. + +[Music: _Andantino_ +(Fl. and muted violins) +_Grazioso_ +(Strings, muted)] + +In the second verse, with fuller chorus, the harp adds its touches to +the harmony of the horns, with lightest tap of tonal drum. Later a +single note of the trumpet is answered by a silvery laugh in the wood. +Between the verses proceeds the luscious chain of harmonies, as with the +turning of the wheel. + +Now with the heavily expressive tones of low, unmuted strings and the +sonorous basses of reed and brass (together with a low roll of drum and +soft clash of cymbals) an heroic air sings in low strings and brass, to +meet at each period a shower of notes from the harp. The song grows +intense with the + +[Music: (Wood and _trem._ violins doubled above) +(Horns) +_espress. e pesante_ +(Cellos, basses, bassoons and trombone, doubled below)] + +added clang of trumpets and roll of drums,--only to succumb to the more +eager attack of the siren chorus. At last the full effort of strength +battling vainly with weakness reaches a single heroic height and sinks +away with dull throbs. + +In soothing answer falls the caressing song of the high reed in the +phrase of the heroic strain, lightly, quickly and, it seems, mockingly +aimed. In gently railing triumph returns the pretty song of the wheel, +with a new buoyant spring. Drums and martial brass yield to the laughing +flutes, the cooing horns and the soft rippling harp with murmuring +strings, to return like captives in the train at the height of the +gaiety. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CESAR FRANCK + + +The new French school of symphony that broke upon the world in the +latter part of the nineteenth century had its pioneer and true leader in +Cesar Franck.[A] It was he who gave it a stamp and a tradition. + +[Footnote A: If language and association, as against the place of birth, +may define nationality, we have in Cesar Franck another worthy +expression of French art in the symphony. He was born at Liege in 1822; +he died in 1890.] + +The novelty of his style, together with the lateness of his acclaim (of +which it was the probable cause), have marked him as more modern than +others who were born long after him. + +The works of Franck, in other lines of oratorio and chamber music, show +a clear personality, quite apart from a prevailing modern spirit. A +certain charm of settled melancholy seems to inhere in his wonted style. +A mystic is Franck in his dominant moods, with a special sense and power +for subtle harmonic process, ever groping in a spiritual discontent with +defined tonality. + +A glance at the detail of his art discloses Franck as one of the main +harmonists of his age, with Wagner and Grieg. Only, his harmonic manner +was blended if not balanced by a stronger, sounder counterpoint than +either of the others. But with all the originality of his style we +cannot escape a sense of the stereotype, that indeed inheres in all +music that depends mainly on an harmonic process. His harmonic ideas, +that often seem inconsequential, in the main merely surprise rather than +move or please. The enharmonic principle is almost too predominant,--an +element that ought never to be more than occasional. For it is founded +not upon ideal, natural harmony, but upon a conventional compromise, an +expedient compelled by the limitation of instruments. This over-stress +appears far stronger in the music of Franck's followers, above all in +their frequent use of the whole tone "scale" which can have no other +_rationale_ than a violent extension of the enharmonic principle.[A] +With a certain quality of kaleidoscope, there is besides (in the +harmonic manner of Cesar Franck) an infinitesimal kind of progress in +smallest steps. It is a dangerous form of ingenuity, to which the +French are perhaps most prone,--an originality mainly in details. + +[Footnote A: Absolute harmony would count many more than the semitones +of which our music takes cognizance. For purpose of convenience on the +keyboard the semitonal raising of one note is merged in the lowering of +the next higher degree in the scale. However charming for occasional +surprise may be such a substitution, a continuous, pervading use cannot +but destroy the essential beauty of harmony and the clear sense of +tonality; moreover it is mechanical in process, devoid of poetic fancy, +purely chaotic in effect. There is ever a danger of confusing the novel +in art with new beauty.] + +And yet we must praise in the French master a wonderful workmanship and +a profound sincerity of sentiment. He shows probably the highest point +to which a style that is mainly harmonic may rise. But when he employs +his broader mastery of tonal architecture, he attains a rare height of +lofty feeling, with reaches of true dramatic passion. + +The effect, to be sure, of his special manner is somewhat to dilute the +temper of his art, and to depress the humor. It is thus that the +pervading melancholy almost compels the absence of a "slow movement" in +his symphony. And so we feel in all his larger works for instruments a +suddenness of recoil in the Finale. + +One can see in Franck, in analogy with his German contemporaries, an +etherealized kind of "Tristan and Isolde,"--a "Paolo and Francesca" in a +world of shades. Compared with his followers the quality of stereotype +in Franck is merely general; there is no excessive use of one device. + +A baffling element in viewing the art of Franck is his remoteness of +spirit, the strangeness of his temper. He lacked the joyous spring that +is a dominant note in the classic period. Nor on the other hand did his +music breathe the pessimism and naturalism that came with the last +rebound of Romantic reaction. Rather was his vein one of high spiritual +absorption--not so much in recoil, as merely apart from the world in a +kind of pious seclusion. Perhaps his main point of view was the +church-organ. He seems a religious prophet in a non-religious age. With +his immediate disciples he was a leader in the manner of his art, rather +than in the temper of his poetry. + + +_SYMPHONY IN D MINOR_ + +The scoring shows a sign of modern feeling in the prominence of the +brasses. With all contrast of spirit, the analogy of Franck with the +Liszt-Wagner school and manner is frequently suggestive. + +The main novelty of outer detail is the plan of merely three movements. +Nor is there a return to the original form, without the Scherzo. To +judge from the headings, the "slow" movement is absent. In truth, by way +of cursory preamble, the chronic vein of Cesar Franck is so ingrainedly +reflective that there never can be with him an absence of the meditative +phrase. Rather must there be a vehement rousing of his muse from a state +of mystic adoration to rhythmic energy and cheer.[A] + +[Footnote A: The key of the work is given by the composer as D minor. +The first movement alone is in the nominal key. The second (in B flat) +is in the submediant, the last in the tonic major. The old manner in +church music, that Bach often used, of closing a minor tonality with a +major chord, was probably due to a regard for the mood of the +congregation. An extension of this tradition is frequent in a long coda +in the major. But this is quite different in kind from a plan where all +of the last movement is in insistent major. We know that it is quite +possible to begin a work at some distance from the main key, leading to +it by tortuous path of modulation; though there is no reason why we may +not question the composer's own inscription, the controlling point is +really the whole tonal scheme. Here the key of the second movement is +built on a design in minor,--would have less reason in the major. For it +rests on a degree that does not exist in the tonic major. To be sure, +Beethoven did invent the change to a lowered submediant in a succeeding +movement. And, of course, the final turn to the tonic major is virtually +as great a license.] + +_Lento_ in basses of the strings a strain sounds like a basic motive, +answered with harmonies in the wood. In further strings lies the full +tenor of quiet reflection, with sombre color of tonal scheme. Motives +are less controlling probably in Franck than in any other +symphonist,--less so, at any rate, than his one + +[Music: _Lento_] + +special mood and manner. Yet nowhere is the strict figural plot more +faithful in detail than with Cesar Franck. + +The theme has an entirely new ring and answer when it enters Allegro +after the Lento prelude. The further course of the tune here is in +eccentric, resolute stride in the descending scale. Our new answer is +much evident in the bass. The Allegro seems a mere irruption; for the +Lento prelude reappears in full solemnity. Indeed, with all the title +and pace, this seems very like the virtual "slow" movement. A mood of +rapt, almost melancholy absorption prevails, with rare flashes of joyous +utterance, where the Allegro enters as if to break the thrall of +meditation. A very striking inversion of the theme now appears. The +gradual growth of phrases in melodious instalments is a trait of Franck +(as it is of Richard Strauss). The rough motto at each turn has a new + +[Music: _Allegro non troppo_ +(Strings) +(Wind)] + +phase and frequently is transfigured to a fresh tune. So out of the +first chance counter-figures somehow spring beautiful melodies, where we +feel the fitness and the relevance though we have not heard them before. +It is a quality that Franck shares with Brahms, so that in a +mathematical spirit we might care to deduce all the figures from the +first phrase. This themal manner is quite analogous to the harmonic +style of Franck,--a kaleidoscope of gradual steps, a slow procession of +pale hues of tone that with strange aptness reflect the dim religious +light of mystic musing. + +More and more expressive are the stages of the first figures until we +have a duet _molto cantabile_ in the strings. Much of the charm of the +movement lies in the balance of the new rhythms, the eccentric and the +flowing. By some subtle path there grows a song + +[Music: _Allegro. Molto cantabile_] + +in big tones of unison, wood and strings and trumpets, that is the real +hymnal refrain of the movement. Between this note almost of exultation +and all shades of pious dreaming the mood is constantly shifting. + +[Music: _Allegro_] + +Another phrase rises also to a triumphant height (the clear reverse of +the former tuneful melody) that comes now like a big _envoi_ of assuring +message. + +Though the whole movement is evenly balanced between Allegro and +Penseroso (so far as pace is concerned), the mood of reflection really +finds full vent; it has no reason for a further special expression. + +Simple as the Allegretto appears in its suggestion of halting dance, the +intent in the episodes is of the subtlest. The slow trip of strings and +harp is soon given a new meaning with the melody of English horn. +Throughout we are somehow divided between pure dance and a more +thoughtful muse. In the first departure to an episode in major, seems to +sing the essence of the former melody in gently murmuring strings, where +later the whole chorus are drawn in. The song moves on clear thread and +wing right out of the mood of the dance-tune; but the very charm lies in +the mere outer change of guise. And so the second episode is still far +from all likeness with the first dance beyond a least sense of the old +trip that does appear here and there. It is all clearly a true scheme of +variations, the main theme disguised beyond outer semblance, yet +faithfully present throughout in the essential rhythm and harmony. + +In the Finale, _Allegro non troppo_, we are really clear, at the outset, +of the toils of musing melancholy. + +[Music: _Allegro non troppo_ +_Dolce cantabile_] + +After big bursts of chords, a tune rolls pleasantly along, _dolce +cantabile_, in basses of wood and strings. Expressive after-phrases +abound, all in the same jolly mood, until the whole band break +boisterously on the simple song, with a new sonorous phrase of basses. +Then, in sudden remove, sounds the purest bit of melody of all the +symphony, in gentlest tones + +[Music: _Dolce cantabile_ +(In the brass)] + +of brass (trumpet, trombone and tuba). But, though in complete recoil +from the rhythmic energy of Allegro theme, it is even farther from the +reflective mood than the latter. It shows, in this very contrast, the +absence of the true lyric in the meditative vein, frequent with Cesar +Franck. The burst of melody blossoms ever fairer. In its later musing +the tune browses in the bass. A waving phrase grows in the violins, +which continues with strange evenness through the entrance of new song +where we are surprised by the strange fitness of the Allegretto melody. +And the second phase of the latter follows as if it belonged here. So, +almost listless, without a hair of rhythmic change (_les temps ont +toujours la meme valeur_), the Finale theme sings again most softly in +the strings. It has, to be sure, lost all of its color, without the +original throb of accompanying sounds. The phase of the movement is a +shadowy procession of former ideas, united in the dreamy haze that +enshrouds them. The stir that now begins is not of the first pale hue of +thought, rather the vein of big discussion, brewing a storm that breaks +finally in full blast on the gentle melody (of the brass) transfigured +in ringing triumph, in all the course of the song. Nor is the succeeding +phase the mystic habit of our poet; it is a mere farther digestion of +the meat of the melody that leads once more to a height of climax whence +we return to first course of themes, tuneful afterphrase and all, with +the old happy motion. The counterpoint here is the mere joyous ringing +of many strains all about. + +Against all rules comes a new chorusing paean on the theme of +Allegretto, led by stentorian basses, together with an enchanting +after-strain, which we might have remarked before. And still another +quarter, long hushed, is heard anew, as a voice sounds a faint reminder +of the hymn of the first Allegro. Indeed, the combining strains before +the close seem sprung all of one parental idea. The motto of the +beginning sings in fittest answer to the latest phrases. The very maze +of the concert forbids our turning to their first origin. The end is in +joyous chanting of the Finale melody. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +D'INDY AND THE FOLLOWERS OF FRANCK + + +Perhaps the noblest essay in symphonic music of the followers of Franck +is the second symphony of Vincent D'Indy.[A] His vein is indeed +throughout nearest akin of all the disciples to the serious muse of the +master. + +[Footnote A: Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris on March 27, 1852.] + +Though D'Indy is surpassed in a certain poetic originality by some of +his compatriot contemporaries, there is in this symphony a breadth of +design and detail, a clear melodic quality and a sustained lofty feeling +that seem to mark it the typical French symphony of its time. The +strength of the work lies in a unity that is not merely of figure and +outline. If we must measure a symphony mainly by the slow movement, we +cannot avoid, with all the languorous beauty, a certain conventionality +of mood, stressed with an exotic use of the appoggiatura, while in the +Scherzo is a refined savagery of modern cacophony. + +The directions are all in French; we are reminded of Schumann's +departure from the Italian fashion. + +Each movement, save the third, has its prelude: a gathering of threads +before the new story. The first notes of basses, together with the +answer on high, sound a prophetic legend of the whole. + +The harmonic lucubrations are profoundly subtle. Indeed the very nature +of the first phrase is of dim + +[Music: _Extremement Lent._ (Woodwind) +(Strings and harps)] + +groping; it ends in a climax of the answer and merges into the main song +of the Allegro (_tres vif_) in horns, with rapid trip of strings. + +[Music: _Tres vif_ (Horns) +(Strings)] + +Throughout (from a technical view) is a fine mastery of the device of +ornamental notes, and secondary harmonies; there is also a certain +modern sense of chords and their relations. Together with an infinite +brilliance of these resources there is not only no weakness in cogency +of form, but there is a rare unity of design. The movements are bound +together, at least in themal relation, as strictly as in any symphony. +While the first phrase of the Allegro theme may hark back to the answer +of original motto, the second is the main thread of narrative. + +[Music: (Flutes, oboes and clarinets) +_Sempre staccato_] + +Again and again is the climax rung on the first high note of the theme. +Then, in lieu of cadence, out of a bright dissonance the quick notes +dance upward in sturdy pace, the answer of the Allegro in sharp +disguise. And then from the height descends a refreshing spray of +subtlest discords, ending in another masterful burst of new harmony. + +The dainty, dazzling play is stopped by a rough thud of basses and a +fierce clang of chords. In the sharp blare of brass on the ascending +phrase is almost lost the original motto in lowest basses. It is now +heard in gradually quickened speed, while the rising phrase runs more +timidly. At last the quickened motto sinks gently into lulling motion, +_un peu plus modere_. Above, in strings and horns, the melody haunts us +with a dim sense that takes us to the first languishing answer of the +original legend. And the whole is strong-knit; for the very Allegro +theme began in resolute mood of a like figure. A counter-strain rises to +meet the main phrase. The whole episode is an intertwining of song in +the vein of the first answer of motto. + +The quick rising notes suddenly return with snatches of the main motive, +the chain of echoing phrases runs a gamut of moods, fitful, anxious, +soothed, until the bright upward trip begins anew, with the enchanting +burst of chord and descending harmonies. A climactic height is stressed +by a rough meeting of opposing groups, in hostile tone and movement, +ending in a trill of flutes and a reentry of the episode. + +In the returning Allegro the thread is still the same, though richer in +color and texture. Again there is the plunge into dark abyss, with +shriek of harp, and the ominous theme in the depths. The slow ascending +phrase here has a full song and sway. The end is in spirited duet of two +quick motives. + +The second movement, _moderement lent_, begins in revery on the answer +of original motive, and the stately pathos of the theme, in horns, +clarinets and violas, with rhythmic strings, grows naturally out of the +mood. + +_Plus anime_, in subtle change of pace (from 6/4 to 3/2), the episode +begins with eccentric stride of harps (and added woodwind), that serves +as a kind of + +[Music: _Moderement Lent._ +(Melody in horns, clarinets and violas) +(Acc'd in strings)] + +accompanying figure and foil for the sweeping song of the real second +melody (in oboe solo, succeeded by the clarinet). + +[Music: (Oboe solo) +_Tres espress._ +(Violins) +(Acc't in bassoons, horns, harps and basses)] + +In the clash of themes and harmonies of the climax, the very limits of +modern license seem to be invoked. Later the three themes are entwined +in a passage of masterly counterpoint. + +There is a touch of ancient harmony in the delicate tune of third +movement, which has the virtue of endless weaving. It is sung by solo +violin, mainly supported by a choir of lower strings. + +A final conclusive line is given by the solo flute. Besides the constant +course of varying tune, there is a power of ever changing harmony that +seems to lie in some themes. + +[Music: _Modere_ +(Viola solo) +_Tres simplement_] + +One can hardly call it all a Scherzo. It is rather an idyll after the +pathos of the Andante. Or, from another view, reversing the usual order, +we may find the quality of traditional Trio in the first melody and a +bacchanale of wild humor in the middle. For, out + +[Music: _Tres anime_ +(Woodwind and strings)] + +of a chance phrase of horns grows of all the symphony the boldest +harmonic phrase (repeated through ten bars). Above rings a barbarous +cry, in defiance of common time and rhythm. + +Suddenly we are surprised by the sound of the martial stride of the +second theme of the Andante which moves on the sea of rough harmony as +on a native element. One whim follows another. The same motion is all +there, but as if in shadow, in softest sound, and without the jar of +discord; then comes the fiercest clash of all, and now a gayest dance of +the first tune, _assez vif_, in triple rhythm, various figures having +their _pas seul_. A second episode returns, brilliant in high pace but +purged of the former war of sounds. At the end is the song of the first +tune, with new pranks and sallies. + +The beginning of the Finale is all in a musing review of past thoughts. +The shadow of the last tune lingers, in slower pace; the ominous dirge +of first motto sounds below; the soothing melody of the Andante sings a +verse. In solemn fugue the original motto is reared from its timid +phrase to masterful utterance, with splendid stride. Or + +[Music: _Modere et solennel_ +(Cellos and basses)] + +rather the theme is blended of the first two phrases, merging their +opposite characters in the new mood of resolution. The strings prepare +for the sonorous entrance of woodwind and horns. One of the greatest +fugal episodes of symphonies, it is yet a mere prelude to the real +movement, where the light theme is drawn from a phrase of latest +cadence. And the dim hue of minor which began the symphony, and all +overspread the prelude, at last yields to the clear major. There is +something of the struggle of shadow and light of the great third +symphony of Brahms. + +The continuous round of the theme, in its unstable pace (of 5/4), has a +strange power of motion, the feeling + +[Music: (Ob.) +(Strings)] + +of old passacaglia. To be sure, it is the mere herald and companion of +the crowning tune, in solo of the reeds. + +From the special view of structure, there is no symphony, modern or +classic, with such an overpowering combination and resolution of +integral themes in one movement. So almost constant is the derivation of +ideas, that one feels they must be all related. Thus, the late rush of +rhythm, in the Finale, is broken by a quiet verse where with enchanting +subtlety we are carried back somewhere to the idyll of third movement. + +Above, rises another melody, and from its simple outline grows a fervor +and pathos that, aside from the basic themes of the whole work, strike +the main feeling of the Finale. + +[Music: _Un peu moins vite_] + +The martial trip from the Andante joins later in the return of the +whirling rhythm. At last the motto strikes on high, but the appealing +counter-melody is not easily hushed. + +[Music: (Ob.) +(Cellos with _tremolo_ violins)] + +It breaks out later in a verse of exalted beauty and passion. The +struggle of the two ideas reminds us of the Fifth Symphony. At last the +gloom of the fateful motto is relieved by the return of the original +answer, and we seem to see a new source of latest ideas, so that we +wonder whether all the melodies are but guises of the motto and answer, +which now at the close, sing in united tones a hymn of peace and bliss. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +DEBUSSY AND THE INNOVATORS + + +At intervals during the course of the art have appeared the innovators +and pioneers,--rebels against the accepted manner and idiom. The mystery +is that while they seem necessary to progress they seldom create +enduring works. The shadowy lines may begin somewhere among the Huebalds +and other early adventurers. One of the most striking figures is Peri, +who boldly, almost impiously, abandoned the contrapuntal style, the only +one sanctioned by tradition, and set the dramatic parts in informal +musical prose with a mere strumming of instruments. + +It is not easy to see the precise need of such reaction. The radical +cause is probably a kind of inertia in all things human, by which the +accepted is thought the only way. Rules spring up that are never wholly +true; at best they are shifts to guide the student, inadequate +conclusions from past art. The essence of an art can never be put in +formulas. Else we should be content with the verbal form. The best +excuse for the rule is that it is meant to guard the element of truth in +art from meretricious pretence. + +And, we must not forget, Art progresses by slow degrees; much that is +right in one age could not come in an earlier, before the intervening +step. + +The masters, when they had won their spurs, were ever restive under +rules.[A] Yet they underwent the strictest discipline, gaining early the +secret of expression; for the best purpose of rules is liberation, not +restraint. On the other hand they were, in the main, essentially +conservative. Sebastian Bach clung to the older manner, disdaining the +secular sonata for which his son was breaking the ground. + +[Footnote A: Some of the chance sayings of Mozart (recently edited by +Kerst-Elberfeld) betray much contempt for academic study: "Learning from +books is of no account. Here, here, and here (pointing to ear, head, and +heart) is your school." On the subject of librettists "with their +professional tricks," he says: "If we composers were equally faithful to +our own rules (which were good enough when men knew no better), we +should turn out just as poor a quality in our music as they in their +librettos." Yet, elsewhere, he admits: "No one has spent so much pains +on the study of composition as myself. There is hardly a famous master +in music whom I have not read through diligently and often."] + +The master feels the full worth of what has been achieved; else he has +not mastered. He merely gives a crowning touch of poetic message, while +the lighter mind is busy with tinkering of newer forms. For the highest +reaches of an art, the poet must first have grasped all that has gone +before. He will not rebel before he knows the spirit of the law, nor +spend himself on novelty for its own sake. + +The line between the Master and the Radical may often seem vague. For, +the former has his Promethean strokes, all unpremeditated, compelled by +the inner sequence,--as when Beethoven strikes the prophetic drum in the +grim Scherzo of the Fifth Symphony; or in the Eroica when the horn +sounds sheer ahead, out of line with the sustaining chorus; or when Bach +leaps to his harmonic heights in organ fantasy and toccata; or Mozart +sings his exquisite clashes in the G Minor Symphony. + +As the true poet begins by absorption of the art that he finds, his +early utterance will be imitative. His ultimate goal is not the +strikingly new but the eternally true. It is a question less of men than +of a point of view. + +It seems sometimes that in art as in politics two parties are needed, +one balancing the weaknesses of the other. As certain epochs are +overburdened by the spirit of a past poet, so others are marred by the +opposite excess, by a kind of neo-mania. The latter comes naturally as +reaction from the former. Between them the poet holds the balance of +clear vision. + +When Peri overthrew the trammels of counterpoint, in a dream of Hellenic +revival of drama, he could not hope to write a master-work. Destructive +rebellion cannot be blended with constructive beauty. An antidote is of +necessity not nourishment. Others may follow the path-breaker and slowly +reclaim the best of old tradition from the new soil. The strange part of +this rebellion is that it is always marked by the quality of stereotype +which it seeks to avoid. This is an invariable symptom. It cannot be +otherwise; for the rejection of existing art leaves too few resources. +Moreover, the pioneer has his eye too exclusively upon the mere manner. + +A wholesome reaction there may be against excess. When Gluck dared to +move the hearts of his hearers instead of tickling their ears, he +achieved his purpose by positive beauty, without actual loss. In this +sense every work of art is a work of revolution. So Wagner, especially +in his earlier dramas,[A] by sheer sincerity and poetic directness, +corrected a frivolous tradition of opera. But when he grew destructive +of melody and form, by theory and practice, he sank to the role of +innovator, with pervading trait of stereotype, in the main merely adding +to the lesser resources of the art. His later works, though they contain +episodes of overwhelming beauty, cannot have a place among the permanent +classics, alone by reason of their excessive reiteration. + +[Footnote A: The "Flying Dutchman," "Lohengrin" and "Tannhaeuser" seemed +destined to survive Wagner's later works.] + +One of the most charming instances of this iconoclasm is the music of +Claude Debussy.[A] In a way we are reminded of the first flash of +Wagner's later manner: the same vagueness of tonality, though with a +different complexion and temper. Like the German, Debussy has his own +novel use of instruments. He is also a rebel against episodic melody. +Only, with Wagner the stand was more of theory than of practice. His +lyric inspiration was here too strong; otherwise with Debussy. Each +article of rebellion is more highly stressed in the French leader, save +as to organic form, where the latter is far the stronger. And finally +the element of mannerism cannot be gainsaid in either composer.[B] + +[Footnote A: Born in 1862.] + +[Footnote B: Some recurring traits Wagner and Debussy have in common, +such as the climactic chord of the ninth. The melodic appoggiatura is as +frequent in the earlier German as the augmented chord of the fifth in +the later Frenchman.] + +Among the special traits of Debussy's harmonic manner is a mingling with +the main chord of the third below. There is a building downward, as it +were. The harmony, complete as it stands, seeks a lower foundation so +that the plain tower (as it looked at first) is at the end a lofty +minaret. It is striking that a classic figure in French music should +have stood, in the early eighteenth century, a champion of this idea, to +be sure only in the domain of theory. There is a touch of romance in the +fate of a pioneer, rejected for his doctrine in one age, taken up in the +art of two centuries later.[A] + +[Footnote A: Rameau, when the cyclopaedic spirit was first stirring and +musical art was sounding for a scientific basis, insisted on the element +of the third below, implying a tonic chord of 6, 5, 3. Here he was +opposed by Fetis, Fux and other theoretic authority; judgment was +definitively rendered against him by contemporary opinion and prevailing +tradition. It cannot be said that the modern French practice has +justified Rameau's theory, since with all the charm of the enriched +chord, there is ever a begging of the question of the ultimate root.] + +A purely scientific basis must be shunned in any direct approach of the +art whether critical or creative,--alone for the fatal allurement of a +separate research. The truth is that a spirit of fantastic experiment, +started by the mystic manner of a Cesar Franck, sought a sanction in the +phenomena of acoustics. So it is likely that the enharmonic process of +Franck led to the strained use of the whole-tone scale (of which we have +spoken above) by a further departure from tonality.[A] And yet, in all +truth, there can be no doubt of the delight of these flashes of the +modern French poet,--a delicate charm as beguiling as the bolder, warmer +harmonies of the earlier German. Instead of the broad exultation of +Wagner there is in Debussy the subtle, insinuating dissonance. Nor is +the French composer wanting in audacious strokes. Once for all he stood +the emancipator of the art from the stern rule of individual vocal +procedure. He cut the Gordian knot of harmonic pedagogy by the mere +weapon of poetic elision. He simply omitted the obvious link by a +license ancient in poetry and even in prose. He devised in his harmonies +the paradox, that is the essence of art, that the necessary step somehow +becomes unnecessary. Though Wagner plunges without ceremony into his +languorous chords, he carefully resolves their further course. Debussy +has them tumbling in headlong descent like sportive leviathans in his +sea of sound. Moreover he has broken these fetters of a small punctilio +without losing the sense of a true harmonic sequence. Nay, by the very +riotous revel of upper harmonies he has stressed the more clearly the +path of the fundamental tone. When he enters the higher sanctuary of +pure concerted voices, he is fully aware of the fine rigor of its rites. +And finally his mischievous abandon never leads him to do violence to +the profoundest element of the art, of organic design.[B] + +[Footnote A: As the lower overtones, discovered by a later science, +clearly confirm the tonal system of the major scale, slowly evolved in +the career of the art,--so the upper overtones are said to justify the +whole-tone process. At best this is a case of the devil quoting +scripture. The main recurring overtones, which are lower and audible, +are all in support of a clear prevailing tonality.] + +[Footnote B: In the drama Debussy avoids the question of form by +treating the music as mere scenic background. Wagner, in his later +works, attempted the impossible of combining a tonal with the dramatic +plot. In both composers, to carry on the comparison beyond the technical +phase, is a certain reaching for the primeval, in feeling as in +tonality. Here they are part of a larger movement of their age. The +subjects of their dramas are chosen from the same period of mediaeval +legend, strongly surcharged in both composers with a spirit of fatalism +where tragedy and love are indissolubly blended.] + + +_"THE SEA." THREE SYMPHONIC SKETCHES_ + +_I.--From Dawn to Noon on the Sea._ In awesome quiet of unsoothing +sounds we feel, over a dual elemental motion, a quick fillip as of +sudden lapping wave, while a shadowy air rises slowly in hollow +intervals. Midst trembling whispers descending (like the soughing +wind), a strange note, as of distant trumpet, strikes in gentle +insistence--out of the other rhythm--and blows a wailing phrase. The +trembling whisper has sunk to lowest depths. Still continues the lapping +of waves--all sounds of unhuman nature. + +[Music: (Muted trumpet, with Eng. horns in lower 8ve.) +_Very slowly_ +_Espressivo_ +(Cellos with basses in lower 8ve.)] + +On quicker spur the shadowy motive flits faster here and there in a slow +swelling din of whispering, to the insistent plash of wave. Suddenly the +sense of desolation yields to soothing play of waters--a _berceuse_ of +the sea--and now a song sings softly (in horn), though strangely jarring +on the murmuring lullaby. The soothing cheer is anon broken by a shift +of new tone. There is a fluctuation of pleasant and strange sounds; a +dulcet air on rapturous harmony is hushed by unfriendly plash of chord. + +Back again in the quieter play of rhythm the strange, sweet song (of +horns) returns. + +In a ravishing climax of gentle chorus of quick plashing waves and +swirling breeze the song sings on and the trumpet blows its line of tune +to a ringing phrase of the clarinet. + +[Music: (Strings and horns) +_ad lib. faster_] + +When this has died down, the lapping waves, as in concert, strike in +full chord that spreads a hue of warmth, as of the first peep of sun. It +is indeed as though the waves rose towards the sun with a glow of +welcome. + +In the wake of the first stirring shock is a host of soft cheering +sounds of bustling day, like a choir of birds or bells. The eager +madrigal leads to a final blast (with acclaiming chorus of big rocking +waves), echoed in golden notes of the horns. One slight touch has +heightened the hue to warmest cheer; but once do we feel the full glow +of risen sun. + +The chilling shadows return, as the wistful air of hushed trumpet +sounds again. We hover between flashes of warming sun, until the waves +have abated; in soothing stillness the romantic horn[A] sings a lay of +legend. + +[Footnote A: English horn.] + +Now to friendly purling of playful wavelets, the sea moves in shifting +harmonies. In sudden climax the motion of the waves fills all the brass +in triumphant paean, in the gleam of high noon. + + +_II.--Play of the Waves._ There is a poetic background as for the play +of legend. We seem to be watching the sea from a window in the castle of +_Pelleas_. For there is a touch of dim romance in a phrase of the +clarinet. + +The movement of waves is clear, and the unconscious concert of +sea-sounds, the deeper pulse of ocean (in the horns), the flowing +ripples, the sharp dash of lighter surf (in the Glockenspiel), all with +a constant tremor, an instability of element (in trembling strings). We +cannot help feeling the illusion of scene in the impersonal play of +natural sounds. Anon will come a shock of exquisite sweetness that must +have something of human. And then follows a resonant clash with spray of +colliding seas. + +Here the story of the waves begins, and there are clearly two roles. + +To light lapping and cradling of waters the wood sings the simple lay, +while strings discourse in quicker, higher phrase. The parts are +reversed. A shower of chilling wave (in gliding harps) breaks the +thread. + +[Music: _Con anima_ +(Highest and lowest figure in strings. +Middle voices in octaves of wood)] + +Now golden tones (of horns) sound a mystic tale of one of the former +figures. The scene shimmers + +[Music: (With rhythmic harps and strings) +(Flutes) +(Eng. horn) _espressivo_ +(Strings) +(Horns)] + +in sparkling, glinting waters (with harp and trilling wood and strings). +But against the soothing background the story (of English horn) has a +chill, ominous strain. + +With the returning main song comes the passionate crisis, and we are +back in the mere plash and play of impersonal waves. + +On dancing ripples, a nixie is laughing to echoing horns and lures us +back to the story. + +[Music: (Strings with lower 8ve.) +(Cl.) _grazioso_ (Horns)] + +Later, it seems, two mermaids sing in twining duet. In a warm hue of +light the horns sound a weird tale. It is taken up by teasing chorus of +lighter voices. In the growing volume sounds a clear, almost martial +call of the brass. + +In a new shade of scene we recover the lost burden of song; the original +figures appear (in the slower air of trembling strings and the quicker +play of reed, harp and bells), and wander through ever new, moving +phases. A shower of chords (in strings and shaking brass) brings back +the ominous melody, amidst a chorus of light chatter, but firmly resting +on a warm background of harmony. And the strain roves on generous path +and rises out of all its gloom to a burst of profound cheer. + +[Music: (1st violins with lower 8ve.) +(2d violins; percussion with cellos below) +(Harp with violas) +(Flutes with higher 8ve.) +(See page 104, line 11.)] + +As in all fairy tales, the scene quickly vanishes. On dancing rays and +ripples is the laughing nixie; but suddenly breaks the first song of the +main figures. A climactic phrase of trumpets ends with a burst of all +the chorus on stirring harmony, where in diminishing strokes of bells +long rings the melodic note. + +The teasing motive of the nixie returns while the trumpet sounds a +shadowy echo of its phrase, again to dying peal of bells. A chorus of +eerie voices sing the mocking air, and again sounds the refrain of +trumpet as in rebuke. On a tumult of teasing cries flashes a delivering +burst of brilliant light, and we are back in the first scene of the +story. Only the main figure is absent. And there is in the eager tension +of pace a quivering between joy and doubt. Then, in answer to the +lighter phrase of the other, is the returning figure with a new song now +of blended longing and content that soars into higher flights until a +mighty chorus repeats the strain that rises to triumphant height of joy +and transforms the mocking motive to the same mood. + +But it is all a play of the waves. And we are left once more to the +impersonal scene where yet the fragrance of legend hovers over the dying +harmonies. + + +_III.--Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea._ Tumultuous is the humor of the +beginning; early sounds the stroke of wave of the first hour of the sea. +The muted trumpet blows a strain (to trembling strings) that takes us +back to the first (quoted) tune of the symphony in the wistful mood of +dawn. For a symphony it proves to be in the unity of themes and thought. +Now unmuted and unrestrained in conflict of crashing chords, the trumpet +blows again the motto of the roving sea. In various figures is the +pelagic motion, in continuous coursing strings, in the sweeping phrase +of the woodwind, or in the original wave-motion of the horns, now +unmuted. + +The main burden is a plaint + +[Music: (Woodwind in lower octaves +and touches of horns) +(_Animato_) _poco rit._ +(Strings in higher and lower octaves)] + +(in the wood) against the insistent surge (of strings), on a haunting +motive as of farewell or eventide, with much stress of pathos. It is +sung in sustained duet against a constant churning figure of the sea, +and it is varied by a dulcet strain that grows out of the wave-motive. + +Indeed, the whole movement is complementary of the first, the obverse as +it were. The themes are of the same text; the hue and mood have changed +from the spring of dawn to the sadness of dusk. The symbol of noontide +peace reappears with minor tinge, at the hush of eve. The climactic +motive of the sea acclaiming the rising sun is there, but reversed. + +The sea too has the same tempestuous motion (indeed, the plaintive song +is mainly of the wind), unrestrained by the sadder mood. At the +passionate climax, where the higher figure sinks toward the rising +lower, it is as if the Wind kissed the Sea. + +The concluding scene begins as in the first movement, save with greater +extension of expressive melody. And the poignant note has a long song +against a continuous rippling (of harps). + +More elemental figures crowd the scene; the first melody (of trumpet) +has a full verse, and the dulcet phrase (of wave-motive). + +Toward the end the plaintive song has an ever-growing chorus of +acclaiming voices. In the fever of united coursing motion the phrase +loses the touch of sadness until in eager, spirited pace, as of +galloping steeds, it ends with a shout of victory. + + +_DUKAS. "THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE"_ + +Chief among the companions of Claude Debussy in his adventures is Paul +Dukas.[A] Though he lags somewhat in bold flights of harmonies, he shows +a clearer vein of melody and rhythm, and he has an advantage in a +greater freedom from the rut of repeated device. + +[Footnote A: Born in 1865.] + +It is somehow in the smaller forms that the French composer finds the +trenchant utterance of his fancy. A Scherzo, after the ballad of Goethe, +"The Sorcerer's Apprentice," tells the famous story of the boy who in +his master's absence compels the spirit in the broom to fetch the +water; but he cannot say the magic word to stop the flood, although he +cleaves the demon-broom in two. + +After the title-page of the score is printed a prose version (by Henri +Blaze) of Goethe's ballad, "Der Zauberlehrling." + +Of several translations the following, by Bowring, seems the best: + + THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE + + I am now,--what joy to hear it!-- + Of the old magician rid; + And henceforth shall ev'ry spirit + Do whatever by me is bid: + I have watch'd with rigor + All he used to do, + And will now with vigor + Work my wonders, too. + + Wander, wander + Onward lightly, + So that rightly + Flow the torrent, + And with teeming waters yonder + In the bath discharge its current! + + And now come, thou well-worn broom, + And thy wretched form bestir; + Thou hast ever served as groom, + So fulfil my pleasure, sir! + On two legs now stand + With a head on top; + Water pail in hand, + Haste and do not stop! + + Wander, wander + Onward lightly, + So that rightly + Flow the torrent, + And with teeming waters yonder + In the bath discharge its current! + + See! he's running to the shore, + And has now attained the pool, + And with lightning speed once more + Comes here, with his bucket full! + Back he then repairs; + See how swells the tide! + How each pail he bears + Straightway is supplied! + + Stop, for lo! + All the measure + Of thy treasure + Now is right! + Ah, I see it! woe, oh, woe! + I forget the word of might. + + Ah, the word whose sound can straight + Make him what he was before! + Ah, he runs with nimble gait! + Would thou wert a broom once more! + Streams renew'd forever + Quickly bringeth he; + River after river + Rusheth on poor me! + + Now no longer + Can I bear him, + I will snare him, + Knavish sprite! + Ah, my terror waxes stronger! + What a look! what fearful sight! + + Oh, thou villain child of hell! + Shall the house through thee be drown'd? + Floods I see that widely swell, + O'er the threshold gaining ground. + Wilt thou not obey, + O thou broom accurs'd! + Be thou still, I pray, + As thou wert at first! + + Will enough + Never please thee? + I will seize thee, + Hold thee fast, + And thy nimble wood so tough + With my sharp axe split at last. + + See, once more he hastens back! + Now, O Cobold, thou shalt catch it! + I will rush upon his track; + Crashing on him falls my hatchet. + Bravely done, indeed! + See, he's cleft in twain! + Now from care I'm freed, + And can breathe again. + + Woe oh, woe! + Both the parts, + Quick as darts, + Stand on end, + Servants of my dreaded foe! + O ye gods, protection send! + + And they run! and wetter still + Grow the steps and grows the hall. + Lord and master, hear me call! + Ever seems the flood to fill. + + Ah, he's coming! see, + Great is my dismay! + Spirits raised by me + Vainly would I lay! + + "To the side + Of the room + Hasten, broom, + As of old! + Spirits I have ne'er untied + Save to act as they are told." + +In paragraphs are clearly pointed the episodes: the boy's delight at +finding himself alone to conjure the spirits; the invocation to the +water, recurring later as refrain (which in the French is not addressed +to the spirit); then the insistent summons of the spirit in the broom; +the latter's obedient course to the river and his oft-repeated fetching +of the water; the boy's call to him to stop,--he has forgotten the +formula; his terror over the impending flood; he threatens in his +anguish to destroy the broom; he calls once more to stop; the repeated +threat; he cleaves the spirit in two and rejoices; he despairs as two +spirits are now adding to the flood; he invokes the master who returns; +the master dismisses the broom to the corner. + +There is the touch of magic in the first harmonics of strings, and the +sense of sorcery is always sustained in the strange harmonies.[A] + +[Footnote A: The flageolet tones of the strings seem wonderfully +designed in their ghostly sound for such an aerial touch. Dukas uses +them later in divided violins, violas and cellos, having thus a triad of +harmonics doubled in the octave. + +The remaining instruments are: Piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, +bass-clarinet, 3 bassoons, contra-bassoon (or contra-bass sarrusophon); +4 horns, 2 trumpets (often muted); 2 cornets-a-pistons; 3 trombones; 3 +kettle-drums; harp; glockenspiel; big drum, cymbals and triangle.] + +After a mystic descent of eerie chords, a melodious cooing phrase begins +in higher wood, echoed from one voice to the other, while the +spirit-notes are still sounding. + +Suddenly dashes a stream of descending spray, met by another ascending; +in the midst the first phrase is rapidly sounded (in muted trumpet). As +suddenly the first solemn moment has returned, the phrase has grown in +melody, while uncanny harmonies prevail. Amidst a new feverish rush a +call rings + +[Music: (Wood and _pizz._ strings) +_Vivace_ +(Horns and trumpets)] + +loud and oft (in trumpets and horns) ending in an insistent, furious +summons. The silence that ensues is as speaking (or in its way as +deafening) as were the calls. + +After what seems like the grating of ancient joints, set in reluctant +motion, the whole tune of the first wooing phrase moves in steady gait, +in comic bassoons, to the tripping of strings, further and fuller +extended as other voices join. The beginning phrase of chords recurs as +answer. Ever the lumbering trip continues, with strange turn of harmony +and color, followed ever by the weird answer. A fuller apparition comes +with the loud, though muffled tones of the trumpets. The original tune +grows in new turns and folds of melody, daintily tipped with the ring of +bells over the light tones of the wood. The brilliant + +[Music: _Vivace_ +(Melody in 3 bassoons) +(Acc't in _pizz._ strings)] + +harp completes the chorus of hurrying voices. Now with full power and +swing the main notes ring in sturdy brass, while all around is a rushing +and swirling (of harps and bells and wood and strings). And still more +furious grows the flight, led by the unison violins. + +A mischievous mood of impish frolic gives a new turn of saucy gait. In +the jovial answer, chorussed in simple song, seems a revel of all the +spirits of rivers and streams. + +At the top of a big extended period the trumpet sends a shrill defiant +blast. + +But it is not merely in power and speed,--more in an infinite variety of +color, and whim of tune and rhythmic harmony, that is expressed the +full gamut of disporting spirits. Later, at fastest speed of tripping +harp and wood, the brass ring out that first, insistent summons, beneath +the same eerie harmonies--and the uncanny descending chords answer as +before. But alas! the summons will not work the other way. Despite the +forbidding command and all the other exorcising the race goes madly on. + +And now, if we are intent on the story, we may see the rising rage of +the apprentice and at last the fatal stroke that seemingly hems and +almost quells the flood. But not quite! Slowly (as at first) the hinges +start in motion. And now, new horror! Where there was one, there are now +two ghostly figures scurrying to redoubled disaster. Again and again the +stern call rings out, answered by the wildest tumult of all. The shouts +for the master's aid seem to turn to shrieks of despair. At last a +mighty call overmasters and stills the storm. Nothing is heard but the +first fitful phrases; now they seem mere echoes, instead of +forewarnings. We cannot fail to see the fine parallel, how the masterful +command is effective as was the similar call at the beginning. + +Significantly brief is the ending, at once of the story and of the +music. In the brevity lies the point of the plot: in the curt dismissal +of the humbled spirit, at the height of his revel, to his place as broom +in the corner. Wistful almost is the slow vanishing until the last +chords come like the breaking of a fairy trance. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +TSCHAIKOWSKY + + +The Byron of music is Tschaikowsky for a certain alluring melancholy and +an almost uncanny flow and sparkle. His own personal vein deepened the +morbid tinge of his national humor. + +We cannot ignore the inheritance from Liszt, both spiritual and musical. +More and more does the Hungarian loom up as an overmastering influence +of his own and a succeeding age. It seems as if Liszt, not Wagner, was +the musical prophet who struck the rock of modern pessimism, from which +flowed a stream of ravishing art. The national current in Tschaikowsky's +music was less potent than with his younger compatriots; or at least it +lay farther beneath the surface. + +For nationalism in music has two very different bearings. The concrete +elements of folk-song, rhythm and scale, as they are more apparent, are +far less important. The true significance lies in the motive of an +unexpressed national idea that presses irresistibly towards fulfilment. +Here is the main secret of the Russian achievement in modern music,--as +of other nations like the Finnish. It is the cause that counts. Though +Russian song has less striking traits than Hungarian or Spanish, it has +blossomed in a far richer harvest of noble works of art. + +Facile, fluent, full of color, Tschaikowsky seems equipped less for +subjective than for lyric and dramatic utterance, as in his "Romeo and +Juliet" overture. In the "Manfred" Symphony we may see the most fitting +employment of his talent. Nor is it unlikely that the special +correspondence of treatment and subject may cause this symphony to +survive the others, may leave it long a rival of Schumann's "Manfred" +music. + +With Tschaikowsky feeling is always highly stressed, never in a certain +natural poise. He quite lacks the noble restraint of the masters who, in +their symphonic lyrics, wonderfully suggest the still waters that run +deep. + +Feeling with Tschaikowsky was frenzy, violent passion, so that with all +abandon there is a touch of the mechanical in his method. Emotion as the +content of highest art must be of greater depth and more quiet flow. And +it is part or a counterpart of an hysterical manner that it reacts to a +cold and impassive mood,--such as we feel in the Andante of the Fourth +Symphony. + +The final quality for symphonic art is, after all, less the chance flash +of inspiration than a big view, a broad sympathy, a deep well of feeling +that comes only with great character. + +Nay, there is a kind of peril in the symphony for the poet of uncertain +balance from the betrayal of his own temper despite his formal plan. +Through all the triumph of a climax as in the first movement of the +Fourth Symphony, we may feel a subliminal sadness that proves how subtle +is the expression in music of the subjective mood. There is revealed not +the feeling the poet is conscious of, but, below this, his present self, +and in the whole series of his works, his own personal mettle. What the +poet tries to say is very different from what he does say. In a +symphony, as in many a frolic, the tinge of latent melancholy will +appear. + + +_SYMPHONY NO. 4_ + +Reverting to a great and fascinating question as to the content of art, +we may wonder whether this is not the real tragic symphony of +Tschaikowsky, in the true heroic sense, in a view where the highest +tragedy is not measured by the wildest lament. There may be a stronger +sounding of lower depths with a firmer touch (with less of a conscious +kind of abandon),--whence the recoil to serene cheer will be the +greater. + +There is surely a magnificent aspiration in the first Allegro, a +profound knell of destiny and a rare ring of triumph. Underlying all is +the legend of trumpets, _Andante sostenuto_ (3/4), with a dim touch + +[Music: _Andante sostenuto_ +(Horns and bassoons doubled in 8va.)] + +of tragedy. Opposite in feeling is the descending motive of strings, +_Moderato con anima_ (9/8). First gently expressive, it soon rises in +passion (the original + +[Music: _Moderato con anima_ +_in movimento di valse_ +(Strings and one horn, the melody doubled below)] + +motto always sounding) to a climax whence an ascending motive, in lowest +basses, entering in manner of fugue, holds a significant balance with +the former. Each in turn rears a climax for the other's + +[Music: (Horns doubled below) +(Cellos and bassoons)] + +entrance; the first, lamenting, leads to the soothing hope of the second +that, in the very passion of its refrain, loses assurance and ends in a +tragic burst. + +Suddenly a very new kind of solace appears _Dolce grazioso_, in a +phrase of the clarinet that leads to a duet of wood and _cantabile_ +strings, impersonal almost in the sweetness of its flowing song. + +[Music: _Moderato assai_ +(Oboe doubled in flute) +(Strings)] + +In such an episode we have a new Tschaikowsky,--no longer the subjective +poet, but the painter with a certain Oriental luxuriance and grace. It +is interesting to study the secret of this effect. The preluding strain +lowers the tension of the storm of feeling and brings us to the attitude +of the mere observer. The "movement of waltz" now has a new meaning, as +of an apparition in gently gliding dance. The step is just sustained in +leisurely strings. Above is the simple melodic trip of clarinet, where a +final run is echoed throughout the voices of the wood; a slower moving +strain in low cellos suggests the real song that presently begins, while +high in the wood the lighter tune continues. The ripples still keep +spreading throughout the voices, at the end of a line. The tunes then +change places, the slower singing above. + +With all the beauty, there is the sense of shadowy picture,--a certain +complete absence of passion. Now the lower phrase appears in two +companion voices (of strings), a hymnal kind of duet,--_ben sostenuto +il tempo precedente_. Here, very softly in the same timid pace, enters a +chorus, on high, of the old sighing motive. Each melody breaks upon the +other and + +[Music: _Bel sostenuto il tempo (moderato)_ +(Strings) +(Woodwind doubled above) +(Kettle-drums)] + +ceases, with equal abruptness. There is no blending, in the constant +alternation, until the earlier (lamenting) motive conquers and rises to +a new height where a culminating chorale sounds a big triumph, while the +sighing phrase merely spurs a new verse of assurance. + +[Music: (Strings and flutes) +(Doubled above and below)] + +A completing touch lies in the answering phrase of the chorale, where +the answer of original motto is transformed into a masterful ring of +cheer and confidence. + +As is the way with symphonies, it must all be sung and striven over +again to make doubly sure. Only there is never the same depth of lament +after the triumph. In a later verse is an augmented song of the answer +of trumpet legend, in duet of thirds, in slow, serene pace, while the +old lament sounds below in tranquil echoes and united strains. Before +the end, _molto piu vivace_, the answer rings in new joyous rhythm. + +Somewhat the reverse of the first movement, in the second the emotional +phase grows slowly from the naive melody of the beginning. Against the +main melody that begins in oboe solo (with _pizzicato_ strings), +_semplice ma grazioso_, plays later a rising + +[Music: _Andantino in modo di canzone_ +(Clarinet with lower 8ve.) +(Cello) +_Grazioso_ +(Bassoons, with _pizz._ basses)] + +counter-theme that may recall an older strain. The second melody, in +Greek mode, still does not depart + +[Music: (Strings, wood and horns)] + +from the naive mood, or lack of mood. A certain modern trait is in this +work, when the feeling vents and wastes itself and yields to an +impassive recoil, more coldly impersonal than the severest classic. + +A sigh at the end of the second theme is a first faint reminder of the +original lament. Of it is fashioned the third theme. A succeeding climax +strongly + +[Music: _Piu mosso_ +(Clarinet doubled below in bassoons) +(Strings)] + +brings back the subjective hue of the earlier symphony. A counter-theme, +of the text of the second melody of Allegro,--now one above, now the +other--is a final stroke. Even the shaking of the trumpet figure is +there at the height, in all the brass. Yet as a whole the first melody +prevails, with abundant variation of runs in the wood against the song +of the strings. + +The Scherzo seems a masterly bit of humor, impish, if you will, yet on +the verge always of tenderness. The first part is never-failing in the +flash and sparkle of its play, all in _pizzicato_ strings, with a +wonderful daemonic quality of the mere instrumental effect. Somewhat +suddenly the oboe holds a long note and + +[Music: _Pizzicato ostinato_ +_Scherzo Allegro_ +(Strings) +(_Pizzicato sempre_)] + +then, with the bassoons, has a tune that is almost sentimental. But +presently the clarinets make mocking + +[Music: (Oboes and bassoons)] + +retorts. Here, in striking scene, all the brass (but the tuba) very +softly blow the first melody with eccentric halts, in just half the old +pace except when they take us by surprise. The clarinet breaks in with +the sentimental tune in faster time while the brass all the while are +playing as before. There are all kinds of pranks, often at the same +time. The piccolo, in highest treble, inverts the second melody, in +impertinent drollery. The brass has still newer surprises. Perhaps the +best of the fooling is where strings below and woodwind above share the +melody between them, each taking two notes at a time. + +The first of the Finale is pure fanfare, as if to let loose the steeds +of war; still it recurs as leading idea. There is a kind of sonorous +terror, increased by the insistent, regular notes of the brass, the +spirited pace of the motive of strings,--the barbaric ring we often hear +in Slav music. At the height + +[Music: _Allegro con fuoco_ +(Wood doubled above and below) +(Violins) +(_Pizz._ strings)] + +the savage yields to a more human vein of joyousness, though at the end +it rushes the more wildly into a + +[Music: _Tutti_ +(Doubled above and below)] + +series of shrieks of trebles with tramping of basses. The real battle +begins almost with a lull, the mere sound of the second tune in the +reeds with light strum of strings and triangle. As the theme is +redoubled (in thirds of the wood), the sweep of strings of the first +motive is added, with chords of horns. A rising figure is now opposed to +the descent of the second melody, with shaking of woodwind that brings +back the old trumpet legend. Here the storm grows apace, with increasing +tumult of entering hostile strains, the main song now ringing in low +brass. + +In various versions and changes we seem to see earlier themes briefly +reappearing. Indeed there is a striking kinship of themes throughout, +not so much in outline as in the air and mood of the tunes. This seems +to be proven by actual outer resemblance when the motives are developed. +Here in a quiet spot--though the battle has clearly not ceased--is the +answer of old trumpet motto, that pervaded the first Allegro. There is a +strong feeling of the Scherzo here in the _pizzicato_ answers of +strings. The second theme of the Andante is recalled, too, in the +strokes of the second of the Finale. In the thick of the fray is a +wonderful maze of versions of the theme, diminished and augmented at the +same time with the original pace. Yet it is all a clear flow of melody +and rich harmony. The four beats of quarter notes, in the lengthened +theme, come as high point like the figure of the leader in battle. A +later play of changes is like the sport of the Scherzo. This insensibly +leads to the figure of the fanfare, whence the earlier song returns +with the great joyous march. + +The final height of climax is distinguished by a stentorian, fugal blast +of the theme in the bass, the higher breaking in on the lower, while +other voices are raging on the quicker phrases. It is brought to a +dramatic halt by the original prelude of trumpet legend, in all its +fulness. Though the march-song recurs, the close is in the ruder humor +of the main themes. + + +_THE "MANFRED" SYMPHONY_ + +Schumann and Tschaikowsky are the two most eminent composers who gave +tonal utterance to the sombre romance of Byron's dramatic poem.[A] It is +interesting to remember that Byron expressly demanded the assistance of +music for the work. If we wish to catch the exact effect that is sought +in the original conception, Schumann's setting is the nearest approach. +It is still debated whether a scenic representation is more impressive, +or a simple reading, reinforced by the music. + +[Footnote A: Prefixed are the familiar lines: + + "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, + Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."] + +Tschaikowsky's setting is a "symphony in four pictures, or scenes (_en +quatre tableaux_), after Byron's dramatic poem." In the general design +and spirit there is much of the feeling of Berlioz's "Fantastic" +Symphony, though the manner of the music shows no resemblance whatever. +There is much more likeness to Liszt's "Faust" Symphony, in that the +pervading recurrence of themes suggests symbolic labels. Moreover, in +the very character of many of the motives, there is here a striking line +of descent. + +_Lento lugubre_, the first scene or picture, begins with a theme in +basses of reeds: + +[Music: _Lento lugubre_ +(Woodwind) +(Strings)] + +with later _pizzicato_ figure of low strings. + +An answering strain is one of the most important of all the melodies: + +[Music] + +On these, a bold conflict and climax is reared. If we care to indulge in +the bad habit of calling names, we might see "Proud Ambition" in the +first motives, intertwined with sounds of sombre discontent. The pace +grows _animando_,--_piu mosso_; _moderato molto_. Suddenly Andante sings +a new, expressive song, with a dulcet cheer of its own, rising to +passionate periods and a final height whence, _Andante con duolo_, a +loudest chorus of high wood and strings, heralded and accompanied by +martial tremolo of low wood, horns, basses, and drums, sound the fateful +chant that concludes the first scene, and, toward the close of the work, +sums the main idea. + +[Music: (Strings and flutes) +(Basses, wood and horns) +(Same continuing rhythm)] + +The apparition of the Witch of the Alps is pictured in daintiest, +sparkling play of strings and wood, with constant recurrence of mobile +figures above and below. It seems as if the image of the fountain is +fittest and most tempting for mirroring in music. Perhaps the most +beautiful, the most haunting, of all the "Manfred" music of Schumann is +this same scene of the Witch of the Alps. + +Here, with Tschaikowsky, hardly a single note of brass intrudes on this +_perpetuum mobile_ of light, plashing spray until, later, strains that +hark back to the first scene cloud the clear brilliancy of the cascade. +Now the play of the waters is lost in the new vision, and a limpid song +glides in the violins, with big rhythmic chords of harps, is taken up in +clarinets, and carried on by violins in new melodic verse, _con +tenerezza e molto espressione_. Then the whole chorus sing the tune in +gentle volume. As it dies away, the music of the falling waters plash as +before. The returning song has phases of varying sadness and passion. At +the most vehement height,--and here, if we choose, we may see the stern +order to retire,--the fatal chant is shrieked by full chorus in almost +unison fierceness. + +Gradually the innocent play of the waters is heard again, though a +gloomy pall hangs over. The chant sounds once more before the end. + +The third, "Pastoral," scene we are most free to enjoy in its pure +musical beauty, with least need of definite dramatic correspondences. It +seems at first as if no notes of gloom are allowed to intrude, as if the +picture of happy simplicity stands as a foil to the tragedy of the +solitary dreamer; for an early climax gives a mere sense of the awe of +Alpine nature. + +Still, as we look and listen closer, we cannot escape so easily, in +spite of the descriptive title. Indeed, the whole work seems, in its +relation to the poem upon which it is based, a very elusive play in a +double kind of symbolism. At first it is all a clear subjective +utterance of the hero's woes and hopes and fears, without definite +touches of external things. Yet, right in the second scene the torrent +is clear almost to the eye, and the events pass before us with sharp +distinctness. Tending, then, to look on the third as purest pastoral, +we are struck in the midst by an ominous strain from one of the earliest +moments of the work, the answer of the first theme of all. Here notes of +horns ring a monotone; presently a church-bell adds a higher note. The +peaceful pastoral airs then return, like the sun after a fleeting storm. + +The whole of this third scene of Tschaikowsky's agrees with no special +one in Byron's poem, unless we go back to the second of the first act, +where Manfred, in a morning hour, alone upon the cliffs, views the +mountains of the Jungfrau before he makes a foiled attempt to spring +into the abyss. By a direction of the poet, in the midst of the +monologue, "the shepherd's pipe in the distance is heard," and Manfred +muses on "the natural music of the mountain reed." + +The last scene of the music begins with Byron's fourth of Act II and +passes over all the incidents of the third act that precede the hero's +death, such as the two interviews with the Abbot and the glorious +invocation to the sun. + +From Tschaikowsky's title, we must look for the awful gloom of the +cavernous hall of Arimanes, Byron's "Prince of Earth and Air." The gray +figure from most ancient myth is not less real to us than Mefistofeles +in "Faust." At least we clearly feel the human daring that feared not to +pry into forbidden mysteries and refused the solace of unthinking faith. +And it becomes again a question whether the composer had in mind this +subjective attitude of the hero or the actual figures and abode of the +spirits and their king. It is hard to escape the latter view, from the +general tenor, the clear-cut outline of the tunes, of which the +principal is like a stern chant: + +[Music: (Wood, strings and horns)] + +The most important of the later answers lies largely in the basses. + +[Music: (Low wood) +(Rhythmic chords in strings)] + +There is, on the whole, rather an effect of gloomy splendor (the +external view) than of meditation; a sense of visible massing than of +passionate crisis, though there is not wanting a stirring motion and +life in the picture. This is to speak of the first part, _Allegro con +fuoco_. + +The gloomy dance dies away. _Lento_ is a soft fugal chant on elemental +theme; there is all the solemnity of cathedral service; after the +low-chanted phrase follows a tremendous blare of the brass. The +repeated chant is followed by one of the earliest, characteristic themes +of the first scene. And so, if we care to follow the graphic touch, we +may see here the intrusion of Manfred, at the most solemn moment of the +fearful revel. + +As Manfred, in Byron's poem, enters undaunted, refusing to kneel, the +first of the earlier phases rings out in fierce _fortissimo_. A further +conflict appears later, when the opening theme of the work sounds with +interruptions of the first chant of the spirits. + +A dulcet plaint follows, _Adagio_, in muted strings, answered by a note +of horn and a chord of harp. + +[Music: _Adagio_ +(Muted strings answered by horn and harp)] + +It all harks back to the gentler strains of the first movement. In the +ethereal _glissando_ of harps we see the spirit of Astarte rise to give +the fatal message. The full pathos and passion of the _lento_ episode of +first scene is heard in brief, vivid touches, and is followed by the +same ominous blast with ring of horn, as in the first picture. + +A note of deliverance shines clear in the final phrase of joined +orchestra and organ, clearer perhaps than in Manfred's farewell line in +the play: "Old man! 'tis not so difficult to die." To be sure, Schumann +spreads the same solace o'er the close of his setting, with the Requiem. +The sombre splendor of romance is throughout, with just a touch of +turgid. In the poignant ecstasy of grief we feel vividly the +foreshadowing example of Liszt, in his "Dante" and "Faust" Symphonies. + + +_FIFTH SYMPHONY (E MINOR)_ + +With all the unfailing flow of lesser melodies where the charm is often +greatest of all, and the main themes of each movement with a chain of +derived phrases, one melody prevails and reappears throughout. The +fluency is more striking here than elsewhere in Tschaikowsky. All the +external sources,--all the glory of material art seem at his command. We +are reminded of a certain great temptation to which all men are subject +and some fall,--however reluctantly. Throughout there is a vein of +daemonic. The second (Allegro) melody grows to a high point of +pathos,--nay, anguish, followed later by buoyant, strepitant, dancing +delight, with the melting answer, in the latest melody. The daemon is +half external fate--in the Greek sense, half individual temper. The end +is almost sullen; but the charm is never failing; at the last is the +ever springing rhythm. + +[Music: _Andante_ +_pesante e tenuto sempre_ +(Clarinet) +(Low strings)] + +The march rhythm of the opening Andante is carried suddenly into a quick +trip, _Allegro con anima_ (6/8), where the main theme of the first +movement now begins, freely extended as in a full song of verses. New +accompanying figures are added, contrasting phrases or counter-melodies, +to the theme. + +[Music: _Allegro con anima_ +Solo clarinet (doubled below with solo bassoon.) +(Strings)] + +One expressive line plays against the wilder rhythm of the theme, with +as full a song in its own mood as the other. A new rhythmic motive, of +great charm, _un pocchetino piu animato_, is answered by a bit of the +theme. Out of it all grows, in a clear + +[Music: _Molto espr._ +(Strings)] + +welded chain, another episode, where the old rhythm is a mere gentle +spur to the new plaint,--_molto piu tranquillo, molto cantabile ed +espressivo_. + +[Music: _Molto piu tranquillo_ +_Molto cantabile ed espr._] + +To be sure, the climax has all of the old pace and life, and every voice +of the chorus at the loudest. In the answering and echoing of the +various phrases, rhythmic and melodic, is the charm of the discussion +that follows. Later the three melodies come again in the former order, +and the big climax of the plaintive episode precedes the end, where the +main theme dies down to a whisper. + + +_Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza._ After preluding chords in +lowest strings a solo horn begins a + +[Music: _Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza_ +(Horn) +_dolce con molto espr._ +(Strings)] + +languishing song, _dolce con molto espressione_. It is a wonderful +elegy, a yearning without hope, a swan-song of desire, sadder almost +than the frank despair of the Finale of the _Pathetique_ +symphony,--pulsing with passion, gorgeous with a hectic glow of +expressive beauty, moving too with a noble grace. Though there is a foil +of lighter humor, this is overwhelmed in the fateful gloom of the +returning main motto. + +The abounding beauty with all its allurement lacks the solace that the +masters have led us to seek in the heart of a symphony. The clarinet +presently twines a phrase about the tune until a new answer sounds in +the oboe, that now sings in answering and chasing duet with the horn. +The phrase of oboe proves to be the main song, in full extended +periods, reaching a climax with all the voices. + +[Music: _Con moto_ +(Solo oboe) +_dolce espr._] + +Well defined is the middle episode in minor reared on a new theme of the +clarinet with an almost fugal polyphony that departs from the main lyric +mood. + +[Music: _Moderato con anima_ +(Solo clar.) +(Strings)] + +At the height all the voices fall into a united chorus on the original +motto of the symphony. The first melodies of the Andante now return with +big sweep and power, and quicker phrases from the episode. The motto +reappears in a final climax, in the trombones, before the hushed close. + +We must not infer too readily a racial trait from the temper of the +individual composer. There is here an error that we fall into frequently +in the music of such men as Grieg and Tschaikowsky. The prevailing mood +of the Pathetic Symphony is in large measure personal. Some of the more +recent Russian symphonies are charged with buoyant joyousness. And, +indeed, the burden of sadness clearly distinguishes the last symphony of +Tschaikowsky from its two predecessors, the Fourth and the Fifth. + +The tune of the _valse_, _Allegro moderato_, is first played by the +violins, _dolce con grazia_, with accompanying strings, horns and +bassoon. In the second part, with some loss of the lilt of dance, is a +subtle design--with a running phrase in _spiccato_ strings against a +slower upward glide of bassoons. The duet winds on a kind of _crescendo_ +of modulations. Later + +[Music: (_Spiccato_) +(Strings) +(Horns) +(Bassoon)] + +the themes are inverted, and the second is redoubled in speed. The whole +merges naturally into the first waltz, with a richer suite of adorning +figures. The dance does not end without a soft reminder (in low +woodwind) of the original sombre phrase. + +Almost for the first time a waltz has entered the shrine of the +symphony. And yet perhaps this dance has all the more a place there. It +came on impulse (the way to visit a sanctuary), not by ancient custom. +But with all its fine variety, it is a simple waltz with all the +careless grace,--nothing more, with no hidden or graphic meaning (as in +Berlioz's Fantastic Symphony). + +The middle episode, though it lacks the dancing trip, is in the one +continuing mood,--like a dream of youthful joys with just a dimming hint +of grim reality in the returning motto. + +In the Finale the main legend of the symphony is transformed and +transfigured in a new, serener mood, and is brought to a full melodic +bloom. Indeed, here is the idealization of the original motto. _Andante +maestoso_ it begins in the tonic major. When the theme ceases, the brass +blow the rhythm on a monotone, midst an ascending _obligato of strings_. + +[Music: (Brass and lower woodwind) +(See page 139, line 1.)] + +In answer comes a new phrase of chorale. Later the chorale is sounded +by the full band, with intermediate beats of rhythmic march. + +Once more there is a well-marked episode, with a full share of melodic +discussion, of clashing themes, of dramatic struggle. First in the tonic +minor a theme rises from the last casual cadence in resonant march, +_Allegro vivace_. Then follows a duet, almost + +[Music: _Allegro vivace_ +(Strings and low wood) +(Trill of kettle drums)] + +a harsh grating of an eccentric figure above against + +[Music: (Solo oboe) +(Strings) +(Low wood) +(_Pizz._ cellos)] + +the smoother course of the latest Allegro motive. The themes are +inverted. Presently out of the din rises a charming canon on the +prevailing smoother phrase, that soars to a full sweep of song. A new + +[Music: (Violins) +(Wind) +(Basses 8va.) (Low strings)] + +hymnal melody comes as a final word. Though the main motto returns in +big chorus, in full extension, in redoubled pace and wild abandon, still +the latest melody seems to contend for the last say. Or, rather, + +[Music: (Woodwind doubled above and below) +_espr._ +(Strings) +(See page 141, line 2.)] + +it is a foil, in its simple flow, to the revel of the motto, now grown +into a sonorous, joyous march. And we seem to see how most of the other +melodies,--the minor episode, the expressive duet--have sprung from bits +of the main text. + +To return for another view,--the Finale begins in a mood that if not +joyous, is religious. Out of the cadence of the hymn dances the Allegro +tune almost saucily. Nor has this charming trip the ring of gladness, +though it grows to great momentum. As a whole there is no doubt of the +assurance, after the earlier fitful gloom, and with the resignation an +almost militant spirit of piety. + +In the dulcet canon, an exquisite gem, bliss and sadness seem +intermingled; and then follows the crowning song, broad of pace, +blending the smaller rhythms in ecstatic surmounting of gloom. In +further verse it doubles its sweet burden in overlapping voices, while +far below still moves the rapid trip. + +But the motto will return, in major to be sure, and tempered in mercy. +And the whole hymn dominates, with mere interludes of tripping motion, +breaking at the height into double pace of concluding strain. Before +falling back into the thrall of the legend the furious race rushes +eagerly into the deepest note of bliss, where in sonorous bass rolls the +broad, tranquil song. And though the revel must languish, yet we attend +the refrain of all the melodies in crowning rapture. Then at last, in +stern minor, sounds the motto, still with the continuing motion, in a +loud and long chant. + +In blended conclusion of the contending moods comes a final verse of the +legend in major, with full accoutrement of sounds and lesser rhythm, in +majestic pace. And there is a following frolic with a verse of the +serene song. The end is in the first Allegro theme of the symphony, in +transfigured major tone. + +We must be clear at least of the poet's intent. In the Fifth Symphony +Tschaikowsky sang a brave song of struggle with Fate. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE NEO-RUSSIANS + + +For some mystic reason nowhere in modern music is the symphony so +justified as in Russia. Elsewhere it survives by the vitality of its +tradition. In France we have seen a series of works distinguished rather +by consummate refinement than by strength of intrinsic content. In +Germany since the masterpieces of Brahms we glean little besides the +learnedly facile scores of a Bruckner, with a maximum of workmanship and +a minimum of sturdy feeling,--or a group of "heroic" symphonies all cast +in the same plot of final transfiguration. The one hopeful sign is the +revival of a true counterpoint in the works of Mahler. + +Some national song, like the Bohemian, lends itself awkwardly to the +larger forms. The native vein is inadequate to the outer mould, that +shrinks and dwindles into formal utterance. It may be a question of the +quantity of a racial message and of its intensity after long +suppression. Here, if we cared to enlarge in a political disquisition, +we might account for the symphony of Russians and Finns, and of its +absence in Scandinavia. The material elements, abundant rhythm, rich +color, individual and varied folk-song, are only the means by which the +national temper is expressed. Secondly, it must be noted as a kind of +paradox, the power of the symphony as a national utterance is increased +by a mastery of the earlier classics. With all that we hear of the +narrow nationalism of the Neo-Russians, we cannot deny them the breadth +that comes from a close touch with the masters. Mozart is an element in +their music almost as strong as their own folk-song. Here, it may be, +the bigger burden of a greater national message unconsciously seeks the +larger means of expression. And it becomes clear that the sharper and +narrower the national school, the less complete is its utterance, the +more it defeats its ultimate purpose. + +The broad equipment of the new Russian group is seen at the outset in +the works of its founder, Balakirew. And thus the difference between +them and Tschaikowsky lay mainly in the formulated aim.[A] + +[Footnote A: In the choice of subjects there was a like breadth. +Balakirew was inspired by "King Lear," as was Tschaikowsky. And amid a +wealth of Slavic legend and of kindred Oriental lore, he would turn to +the rhythms of distant Spain for a poetic theme.] + +The national idea, so eminent in modern music, is not everywhere equally +justified. And here, as in an object-lesson, we see the true merits of +the problem. While one nation spontaneously utters its cry, another, +like a cock on the barnyard, starts a movement in mere idle vanity, in +sheer self-glorification. + +In itself there is nothing divine in a national idea that needs to be +enshrined in art. Deliberate segregation is equally vain, whether it be +national or social. A true racial celebration must above all be +spontaneous. Even then it can have no sanction in art, unless it utter a +primal motive of resistance to suppression, the elemental pulse of life +itself. There is somehow a divine dignity about the lowest in human +rank, whether racial or individual. The oppressed of a nation stands a +universal type, his wrongs are the wrongs of all, and so his lament has +a world-wide appeal. And in truth from the lowest class rises ever the +rich spring of folk-song of which all the art is reared, whence comes +the paradox that the peasant furnishes the song for the delight of his +oppressors, while they boast of it as their own. Just in so far as man +is devoid of human sympathy, is he narrow and barren in his song. Music +is mere feeling, the fulness of human experience, not in the hedonic +sense of modern tendencies, but of pure joys and profound sorrows that +spring from elemental relations, of man to man, of mate to mate. + +Here lies the nobility of the common people and of its song; the +national phase is a mere incident of political conditions. The war of +races is no alembic for beauty of art. If there were no national lines, +there would still be folk-song,--merely without sharp distinction. The +future of music lies less in the differentiation of human song, than in +its blending. + +Thus we may rejoice in the musical utterance of a race like the Russian, +groaning and struggling through ages against autocracy for the dignity +of man himself,--and in a less degree for the Bohemian, seeking to hold +its heritage against enforced submergence. But we cannot take so +seriously the proud self-isolation of other independent nations. + + +_BALAKIREW.[A] SYMPHONY IN C_ + +[Footnote A: Mili Alexeivich Balakirew was born at Nizhni-Novgorod in +1836; he died at St. Petersburg in 1911. He is regarded as the founder +of the Neo-Russian School.] + +The national idea shines throughout, apart from the "Russian Theme" that +forms the main text of the Finale. One may see the whole symphony +leading up to the national celebration. + +As in the opening phrase (in solemn _Largo_) with + +[Music: (Lower reed, with strings in three 8ves.) +_Largo_] + +its answer are proclaimed the subjects that presently + +[Music: (Flute and strings)] + +appear in rapid pace, so the whole movement must be taken as a big +prologue, forecasting rather than realizing. There is a dearth of +melodic stress and balance; so little do the subjects differ that they +are in essence merely obverse in outline. + +Mystic harmonies and mutations of the motto lead to a quicker guise +(_Allegro vivo_). Independently of themes, the rough edge of tonality +and the vigorous primitive rhythms are expressive of the Slav feeling. +Withal there is a subtlety of harmonic manner that could come only +through the grasp of the classics common to all nations. Augmentation +and diminution of theme abound, together with the full fugal manner. A +warm, racial color is felt in the prodigal use of lower reeds.[A] + +[Footnote A: Besides the English horn and four bassoons there are four +clarinets,--double the traditional number.] + +In all the variety of quick and slower melodies a single phrase of five +notes, the opening of the symphony, pervades. In all kinds of humor it +sings, martial, solemn, soothing, meditative, or sprightly. Poetic in +high degree is this subtle metamorphosis, so that the symphony in the +first movement seems to prove the art rather than the national spirit of +the Neo-Russians. + +Of the original answer is wrought all the balance and foil of second +theme, and like the first it reaches a climactic height. But the first +is the sovereign figure of the story. It enters into the pattern of +every new phase, it seems the text of which all the melodies are +fashioned, or a sacred symbol that must be all-pervading. In a broader +pace (_Alla breve_) is a mystic discussion of the legend, as of dogma, +ending in big pontifical blast of the answering theme. + +The whole movement is strangely frugal of joyous abandon. Instead of +rolling, revelling melody there is stern proclamation, as of oracle, in +the solemn pauses. The rhythm is purposely hemmed and broken. Restraint +is everywhere. Almost the only continuous thread is of the meditative +fugue. + +A single dulcet lyric verse (of the motto) is soon + +[Music: (Cellos with _tremolo_ of lower strings)] + +banished by a sudden lively, eccentric phrase that has an air of forced +gaiety, with interplay of mystic symbols. At last, on a farther height, +comes the first + +[Music] + +joyous abandon (in a new mask of the motto), recurring anon as recess +from sombre brooding. + +Here the second subject has a free song,--in gentle chase of pairs of +voices (of woodwind and muted strings and harp) and grows to alluring +melody. As + +[Music: (Lower reed, with _tremolo_ of lower strings)] + +from a dream the eccentric trip awakens us, on ever higher wing. At the +top in slower swing of chords horn and reeds chant the antiphonal +legend, and in growing rapture, joined by the strings, rush once more +into the jubilant revel, the chanting legend still sounding anon in +sonorous bass. + +The climax of feeling is uttered in a fiery burst of all the brass in +the former dulcet refrain from the motto. In full sweep of gathering +host it flows in unhindered song. Somehow by a slight turn, the tune is +transformed into the alluring melody of the second theme. When the +former returns, we feel that both strains are singing as part of a +single song and that the two subjects are blended and reconciled in +rapture of content. + +A new mystic play of the quicker motto, answered by the second theme, +leads to an overpowering blast of the motto in slowest notes of brass +and reed, ending in a final fanfare. + +All lightness is the Scherzo, though we cannot escape a Russian vein of +minor even in the dance. A rapid melody has a kind of perpetual motion +in the strings, with mimicking echoes in the wood. But the strange part +is how the natural accompanying voice below (in the bassoon) makes a +haunting melody of + +[Music: _Vivo_ +(Violins doubled below in violas) +(Bassoon) +(_Pizz._ cellos)] + +its own,--especially when they fly away to the major. As we suspected, +the lower proves really the principal song as it winds on in the +languorous English horn or in the higher reed. Still the returning dance +has now the whole stage in a long romp with strange peasant thud of the +brass on the second beat. Then the song rejoins the dance, just as in +answering glee, later in united chorus. + +A quieter song (that might have been called the Trio) has still a +clinging flavor of the soil,--as of a folk-ballad, that is not lost with +the later madrigal nor with the tripping figure that runs along. + +Strangely, after the full returning dance, an epilogue + +[Music: (Trio) _Poco meno mosso_ +(Strings)] + +of the ballad appears over a drone, as of bagpipe, through all the +harmony of the madrigal. Strangest of all is the playful last refrain in +the high piccolo over the constant soft strumming strings. + +The Andante, in pure lyric mood, is heavily charged with a certain +Oriental languor. The clarinet + +[Music: (Clarinet) +_Andante_ +(Strings with harp)] + +leads the song, to rich strum of harp and strings, with its note of +sensuous melancholy. Other, more external signs there are of Eastern +melody, as in the graceful curl of quicker notes. Intermediate strains +between the verses seem gently to rouse the slumbering feeling,--still +more when they play between the lines of the song. The passion that is +lulled in the languor of main melody, is somehow uttered in the later +episode,--still more in the dual song of both + +[Music: (Violins doubled below) +(Horns and bassoons doubled above in wood) +(Strings and horns)] + +melodies,--though it quickly drops before a strange coquetry of other +strains. Yet the climax of the main song is reached when the lighter +phrase rings fervently in the high brass. Here the lyric beauty is +stressed in a richer luxuriance of rhythmic setting. Once more sings the +passionate tune; then in midst of the last verse of the main song is a +quick alarm of rushing harp. The languorous dream is broken; there is an +air of new expectancy. Instead of a close is a mere pause on a passing +harmony at the portals of the high festival. + +With a clear martial stress the "Russian Theme" is sounded (in low +strings), to the full a national + +[Music: _Allegro moderato_ +Finale _Theme Russe_ +(Cellos with basses in lower 8ve.)] + +tune of northern race. Enriched with prodigal harmony and play of lesser +themes it flows merrily on, yet always with a stern pace, breaking out +at last in a blare of warlike brass. + +Nor does the martial spirit droop in the second tune, though the +melodies are in sheer contrast. In faster rhythm, the second is more +festal so that the first returning has a tinge almost of terror. An + +[Music: (Cl't) +(Strings)] + +after-strain of the second has a slightest descent to reflective +feeling, from which there is a new rebound + +[Music: (Cellos) +(Strings and harp with sustained chord of horns)] + +to the buoyant (festal) melody. + +Here in grim refrains, in dim depths of basses (with hollow notes of +horns) the national tune has a free fantasy until it is joined by the +second in a loud burst in the minor. + +Now the latter sings in constant alternation with the answering strain, +then descends in turn into the depths of sombre musing. There follows a +big, resonant dual climax (the main theme in lower brass), with an edge +of grim defiance. In the lull we seem to catch a brief mystic play of +the first motto of the symphony (in the horns) before the last joyous +song of both melodies,--all with a power of intricate design and a +dazzling brilliancy of harmony, in proud national celebration. + +A last romp is in polacca step on the tune of the Russian Theme. + + +_RIMSKY-KORSAKOW.[A] "ANTAR," SYMPHONY_ + +[Footnote A: Nicholas Rimsky-Korsakow, Russian, 1844-1908.] + +The title-page tells us that "the subject is taken from an Arabian tale +of Sennkowsky." Opposite the beginning of the score is a summary of the +story, in Russian and in French, as follows: + + I.--Awful is the view of the desert of Sham; mighty in their + desolation are the ruins of Palmyra, the city razed by the spirits + of darkness. But Antar, the man of the desert, braves them, and + dwells serenely in the midst of the scenes of destruction. Antar + has forever forsaken the company of mankind. He has sworn eternal + hatred on account of the evil they returned him for the good which + he intended. + + Suddenly a charming, graceful gazelle appears. Antar starts to + pursue it. But a great noise seems pulsing through the heavens, and + the light of day is veiled by a dense shadow. It is a giant bird + that is giving chase to the gazelle. + + Antar straightway changes his intent, and attacks the monster, + which gives a piercing cry and flies away. The gazelle disappears + at the same time, and Antar, left alone in the midst of ruins, soon + goes to sleep while meditating on the event that has happened. + + He sees himself transported to a splendid palace, where a multitude + of slaves hasten to serve him and to charm his ear with their song. + It is the abode of the Queen of Palmyra,--the fairy Gul-nazar. The + gazelle that he has saved from the talons of the spirit of darkness + is none other than the fairy herself. In gratitude Gul-nazar + promises Antar the three great joys of life, and, when he assents + to the proffered gift, the vision vanishes and he awakes amid the + surrounding ruins. + + II.--The first joy granted by the Queen of Palmyra to Antar are the + delights of vengeance. + + III.--The second joy--the delights of power. + + IV.--Antar has returned to the fallen remains of Palmyra. The third + and last gift granted by the fairy to Antar is the joy of true + love. Antar begs the fairy to take away his life as soon as she + perceives the least estrangement on his side, and she promises to + do his desire. + + After a long time of mutual bliss the fairy perceives, one day, + that Antar is absent in spirit and is gazing into the distance. + Straightway, divining the reason, she passionately embraces him. + The fire of her love enflames Antar, and his heart is consumed + away. + + Their lips meet in a last kiss and Antar dies in the arms of the + fairy. + +The phases of the story are clear in the chain of musical scenes, of the +movements themselves and within them. In the opening Largo that recurs +in this movement between the visions and happenings, a melody appears +(in violas) that moves in all the + +[Music: (Violas) _Largo_ +(Woodwind)] + +acts of the tragedy. It is clearly the Antar motive,--here amidst ruin +and desolation. + +The fairy theme is also unmistakable, that first plays in the flute, +against soft horns, _Allegro giocoso_, + +[Music: (Flute) _Allegro giocoso_ +(Horns) (Harp)] + +and is lost in the onrushing attack, _furioso_, of a strain that begins +in murmuring of muted strings. + +Other phrases are merely graphic or incidental. But the Antar motive is +throughout the central moving figure. + +The scene of the desert returns at the end of the movement. + +In the second (_Allegro_, rising to _Molto allegro_, returning +_allargando_) the Antar motive is seldom absent. The ending is in long +notes of solo oboe and first violins. There is no trace of the fairy +queen throughout the movement. + +The third movement has phases of mighty action (as in the beginning, +_Allegro risoluto alla Marcia_), of delicate charm, and even of humor. +The Antar melody plays in the clangor of big climax in sonorous tones of +the low brass, against a quick martial phrase of trumpets and horns. +Again there is in this movement no sign of the fairy queen. + +In the fourth movement, after a prelude, _Allegretto vivace_, with light +trip of high flutes, a melody, of actual Arab origin, sings _Andante +amoroso_ in the + +[Music: (Arabian melody) +_Andante amoroso_ +(Eng. horn) +(Bassoon)] + +English horn, and continues almost to the end, broken only by the +dialogue of the lover themes. At the close a last strain of the Antar +melody is followed by the fairy phrase and soft vanishing chord of harp +and strings. + + +_"SCHEREZADE," AFTER "A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS." SYMPHONIC SUITE_ + +Prefixed to the score is a "program," in Russian and French: "The Sultan +Schahriar, convinced of the infidelity of women, had sworn to put to +death each of his wives after the first night. But the Sultana +Scherezade saved her life by entertaining him with the stories which she +told him during a thousand and one nights. Overcome by curiosity, the +Sultan put off from day to day the death of his wife, and at last +entirely renounced his bloody vow. + +"Many wonders were told to Schahriar by the Sultana Scherezade. For the +stories the Sultana borrowed the verses of poets and the words of +popular romances, and she fitted the tales and adventures one within the +other. + +"I. The Sea and the Vessel of Sindbad. + +"II. The Tale of the Prince Kalender. + +"III. The Young Prince and the Young Princess. + +"IV. Feast at Bagdad. The Sea. The Vessel is Wrecked on a Rock on which +is Mounted a Warrior of Brass. Conclusion." + +With all the special titles the whole cannot be regarded as close +description. It is in no sense narrative music. The titles are not in +clear order of events, and, moreover, they are quite vague. + +In the first number we have the sea and merely the vessel, not the +voyages, of Sindbad. Then the story of the Prince Kalender cannot be +distinguished among the three tales of the royal mendicants. The young +prince and the young princess,--there are many of them in these Arabian +fairy tales, though we can guess at the particular one. Finally, in the +last number, the title mentions an event from the story of the third +Prince Kalender, where the vessel (not of Sindbad) is wrecked upon a +rock surmounted by a warrior of brass. The Feast of Bagdad has no +special place in any one of the stories. + +The truth is, it is all a mirroring in tones of the charm and essence of +these epic gems of the East. It is not like the modern interlinear +description, although it might be played during a reading on account of +the general agreement of the color and spirit of the music. But there is +the sense and feeling of the story, _das Maerchen_, and the romance of +adventure. The brilliancy of harmony, the eccentricity and gaiety of +rhythm seem symbolic and, in a subtle way, descriptive. As in the +subject, the stories themselves, there is a luxuriant imagery, but no +sign of the element of reflection or even of emotion. + +_I._--The opening motive, in big, broad rhythm, is clearly the Sea. Some +have called it the Sindbad motive. But in essence these are not very +different. The Sea is here the very feeling and type of adventure,--nay, +Adventure itself. It is a necessary part of fairy stories. Here it +begins and ends with its rocking theme, ever moving onward. It comes in +the story of the Prince Kalender. + +The second of the main phrases is evidently the motive of the fairy tale +itself, the feeling of "once upon a time," the idea of story, that leads +us to the events themselves. It is a mere strumming of chords of the +harp, with a vague line, lacking rhythm, as of musical prose. For rhythm +is the type of event, of happenings, of the adventure itself. So the +formless phrase is the introduction, the narrator, _Maerchen_ in an +Oriental dress as Scherezade. + +The first number passes for the most part in a rocking of the motive of +the sea, in various moods and movements: _Largo e maestoso, Allegro non +troppo,--tranquillo_. At one time even the theme of the story sings to +the swaying of the sea.[A] + +[Footnote A: We remember how Sindbad was tempted after each fortunate +escape from terrible dangers to embark once more, and how he tells the +story of the seven voyages on seven successive days, amid luxury and +feasting.] + +_II._--In the tale of the Prince Kalender Scherezade, of course, begins +the story as usual. But the main thread is in itself another interwoven +tale,--_Andantino Capriccioso, quasi recitando_, with a solo in the +bassoon _dolce e espressivo_,--later _poco piu mosso_, in violins.[A] +There is most of happenings here. A very strident phrase that plays in +the brass _Allegro molto_, may be some hobgoblin, or rather an evil +jinn, that holds the princess captive and wrecks the hero's vessel. The +sea, too, plays a tempestuous part at the same time with the impish +mischief of the jinn. + +[Footnote A: In the old version the word "Calender" is used; in the new +translation by Lane we read of "The Three Royal Mendicants." In certain +ancient editions they are called "Karendelees,"--i.e., "miserable +beggars." Each of the three had lost an eye in the course of his +misfortunes. The story (of the Third Kalender) begins with the wreck of +the prince's vessel on the mountain of loadstone and the feat of the +prince, who shoots the brazen horseman on top of the mountain and so +breaks the charm. But there is a long chain of wonders and of troubles, +of evil enchantments and of fateful happenings.] + +_III._--The third number is the idyll,--both of the stories and of the +music. Here we are nearest to a touch of sentiment,--apart from the mere +drama of haps and mishaps.[A] But there are all kinds of special +events. There is no prelude of the narrator. The idyll begins +straightway, _Andantino quasi allegretto_, winds through all kinds of +scenes and storms, then sings again _dolce e cantabile_. Here, at last, +the Scherezade phrase is heard on the violin solo, to chords of the +harp; but presently it is lost in the concluding strains of the love +story. + +[Footnote A: The story, if any particular one is in the mind of the +composer, is probably that of the Prince Kamar-ez-Zeman and the Princess +Budoor. In the quality of the romance it approaches the legends of a +later age of chivalry. In the main it is the long quest and the final +meeting of a prince and a princess, living in distant kingdoms. Through +the magic of genii they have seen each other once and have exchanged +rings. The rest of the story is a long search one for the other. There +are good and evil spirits, long journeys by land and sea, and great +perils. It is an Arab story of the proverbial course of true love.] + +_IV._--The last number begins with the motive of the sea, like the +first, but _Allegro molto_, again followed by the phrase of the story +teller. The sea returns _Allegro molto e frenetico_ in full force, and +likewise the vague motive of the story in a cadenza of violin solo. Then +_Vivo_ comes the dance, the pomp and gaiety of the Festival, with +tripping tambourine and strings and the song first in the flutes.[A] +Presently a reminder of the sea intrudes,--_con forza_ in lower wood and +strings. But other familiar figures flit by,--the evil jinn and the +love-idyll. Indeed the latter has a full verse,--in the midst of the +carnival. + +[Footnote A: We may think of the revels of Sindbad before the returning +thirst for adventure.] + +Right out of the festival, rather in full festal array, we seem to +plunge into the broad movement of the surging sea, _Allegro non troppo e +maestoso_, straight on to the fateful event. There are no sighs and +tears. Placidly the waves play softly about. And _dolce e capriccioso_ +the siren Scherezade once more reappears to conclude the tale. + + +_RACHMANINOW. SYMPHONY IN E MINOR_[A] + +[Footnote A: Sergei Rachmaninow, born in 1873.] + +_I._--The symphony begins with the sombre temper of modern Russian art; +at the outset it seems to throb with inmost feeling, uttered in subtlest +design. + +The slow solemn prelude _(Largo)_ opens with the + +[Music: _Largo_ +(Strings)] + +chief phrase of the work in lowest strings to ominous chords, and treats +it with passionate stress until the main pace of Allegro. + +[Music: _Espr_. (Violins) +(Wood and horns)] + +But the germ of prevailing legend lies deeper. The work is one of the +few symphonies where the whole is reared on a smallest significant +phrase. The first strain (of basses) is indeed the essence of the +following melody and in turn of the main Allegro theme. But, to probe +still further, we cannot help feeling an ultimate, briefest motive of +single ascending tone against intrinsic obstacle, wonderfully expressed +in the harmony, with a mingled sense of resolution and regret. And of +like moment is the reverse descending tone. Both of these symbols +reappear throughout the symphony, separate or blended in larger melody, +as principal or accompanying figures. Aside from this closer view that +makes clear the tissue of themal discussion, the first phrase is the +main melodic motto, that is instantly echoed in violins with piquant +harmony. In the intricate path of deep musing we feel the mantle of a +Schumann who had himself a kind of heritage from Bach. And thus we come +to see the national spirit best and most articulate through the medium +of ancient art. + +The main Allegro melody not so much grows out of the Largo prelude, as +it is of the same fibre and + +[Music: _Allegro moderato_ +4 times +_molto expr._ (Violins) +(Wood with _tremolo_ strings) +(Strings with clarinets and bassoons)] + +identity. The violins sing here against a stately march of harmonies. +Such is the fine coherence that the mere heralding rhythm is wrought of +the first chords of the Largo, with their descending stress. And the +expressive melody is of the same essence as the original sighing motto, +save with a shift of accent that gives a new fillip of motion. In this +movement at least we see the type of real symphony, that throbs and +sings and holds us in the thrall of its spirit and song. + +Moments there are here of light and joy, quickly drooping to the darker +mood. Following the free flight of main melody is a skein of quicker +figures, on aspirant pulse, answered by broad, tragic descent in minor +tones. + +Milder, more tranquil sings now the second melody, a striking embodiment +of the sense of striving ascent. Chanted in higher reeds, it is +immediately + +[Music: (Oboes and clarinets) +(Violins) (Oboes and clar'ts) +(Horns) (Bassoons) +_dolce_ +(_Pizz._ strings)] + +followed and accompanied by an expressive answer in the strings. On the +wing of this song we rise to a height where begins the path of a brief +nervous motive (of the first notes of the symphony) that with the +descending tone abounds in various guise. As a bold glance at the sun is +punished by a sight of solar figures all about, so we feel throughout +the tonal story the presence of these symbols. An epilogue of wistful +song leads to the repeated melodies. + +The main figure of the plot that follows is the first melody, now in +slow, graceful notes, now in feverish pace, though the brief (second) +motive moves constantly here and there. A darkest descent follows into +an Avernus of deep brooding on the legend, with an ascending path of the +brief, nervous phrase and a reverse fall, that finally wears out its own +despair and ends in a sombre verse of the prelude, with new shades of +melancholy, then plunges into an overwhelming burst on the sighing +phrase. Thence the path of brooding begins anew; but it is now +ascendant, on the dual pulse of the poignant motto and the brief, +nervous motive. The whole current of passion is thus uttered in the +prelude strain that at the outset was pregnant with feeling. At the +crisis it is answered or rather interwoven with a guise of the second +theme, in hurried pace, chanted by stentorian brass and wood in +hallooing chorus that reaches a high exultation. To be sure the Russian +at his gladdest seems tinged with sense of fate. So from the single +burst we droop again. But the gloom is pierced by brilliant +shafts,--herald calls (of brass and wood) that raise the mood of the +returning main melody, and in their continuous refrain add a buoyant +stimulus. And the verse of quicker figures has a new fire and ferment. +All absent is the former descent of minor tones. Instead, in solemn hush +of tempest, without the poignant touch, the tranquil second melody +returns with dulcet answer of strings. A loveliest verse is of this +further song where, in a dual chase of tune, the melody moves in +contained rapture. In the cadence is a transfigured phase of the +ascending tone, mingled with the retiring melody, all woven to a +soothing cadence. + +But the struggle is not over, nor is redemption near. The dulcet phrases +sink once more to sombre depth where there is a final, slow-gathering +burst of passion on the motto, with a conclusive ring almost of fierce +triumph. + +_II._--The second movement, _Allegro molto_, is a complete change from +introspection and passion to an + +[Music: _Allegro molto_ +(Insistent strum of strings) +_Marcato_] + +abandon as of primitive dance. Strings stir the feet; the horns blow the +first motive of the savage tune; the upper wood fall in with a dashing +jingle,--like a stroke of cymbals across the hostile harmonies. + +Whether a recurring idiom is merely personal or belongs to the special +work is difficult to tell. In reality it matters little. Here the +strange rising tone is the same as in the former (second) melody. In +the rude vigor of harmonies the primitive idea is splendidly stressed. + +Right in the answer is a guise of short, nervous phrase, that gets a new +touch of bizarre by a leap of the seventh from below. In this figure +that moves throughout the symphony we see an outward symbol of an inner +connection.--Bells soon lend a festive ring to the main tune. + +In quieter pace comes a tranquil song of lower voices with a companion +melody above,--all in serene major. Though it grew naturally out of the +rude + +[Music: _Molto cantabile_] + +dance, the tune has a contrasting charm of idyll and, too, harks back to +the former lyric strains that followed the second melody. When the dance +returns, there is instead of discussion a mere extension of main motive +in full chorus. + +But here in the midst the balance is more than restored. From the dance +that ceases abruptly we go straight to school or rather cloister. On our +recurring nervous phrase a fugue is rung with all pomp and ceremony +(_meno mosso_); and of the dance there are mere faint echoing memories, +when the + +[Music: _Meno mosso_ +(Oboe) _molto marcato_ +(Violins) staccato] + +fugal text seems for a moment to weave itself into the first tune. + +Instead, comes into the midst of sermon a hymnal chant, blown gently by +the brass, while other stray + +[Music: _Leggiero_] + +voices run lightly on the thread of fugue. There is, indeed, a playful +suggestion of the dance somehow in the air. A final tempest of the +fugue[A] brings us back to the full verse of dance and the following +melodies. But before the end sounds a broad hymnal line in the brass +with a dim thread of the fugue, and the figures steal away in solemn +stillness. + +[Footnote A: It is of the first two notes of the symphony that the fugal +theme is made. For though it is longer in the strings, the brief motion +is ever accented in the wood. Thus relentless is the themal coherence. +If we care to look closer we see how the (following) chant is a slower +form of the fugal theme, while the bass is in the line of the +dance-tune. In the chant in turn we cannot escape a reminder, if not a +likeness, of the second theme of the first movement.] + +_III._--The Adagio has one principal burden, first borne by +violins,--that rises from the germ of earlier + +[Music: _Adagio_ +(Strings with added harmony in bassoons and horns)] + +lyric strains. Then the clarinet joins in a quiet madrigal of tender +phrases. We are tempted to find here an influence from a western +fashion, a taint of polythemal virtuosity, in this mystic maze of many +strains harking from all corners of the work, without a gain over an +earlier Russian simplicity. Even the Slavic symphony seems to have +fallen into a state of artificial cunning, where all manners of greater + +[Music: (Solo clarinet) +_espress._ +(Divided strings) _dolce_] + +or lesser motives are packed close in a tangled mass. + +It cannot be said that a true significance is achieved in proportion to +the number of concerting themes. We might dilate on the sheer inability +of the hearer to grasp a clear outline in such a multiple plot. + +There is somehow a false kind of polyphony, a too great facility of +spurious counterpoint, that differs subtly though sharply from the true +art where the number entails no loss of individual quality; where the +separate melodies move by a divine fitness that measures the perfect +conception of the multiple idea; where there is no thought of a later +padding to give a shimmer of profound art. It is here that the symphony +is in danger from an exotic style that had its origin in German +music-drama. + +From this point the Rachmaninow symphony languishes in the fountain of +its fresh inspiration, seems consciously constructed with calculating +care. + +There is, after all, no virtue in itself in mere themal +interrelation,--in particular of lesser phrases. One cogent theme may +well prevail as text of the whole. As the recurring motives are +multiplied, they must lose individual moment. The listener's grasp +becomes more difficult, until there is at best a mystic maze, a sweet +chaos, without a clear melodic thought. It cannot be maintained that the +perception of the modern audience has kept pace with the complexity of +scores. Yet there is no gainsaying an alluring beauty of these waves of +sound rising to fervent height in the main melody that is expressive of +a modern wistfulness. + +But at the close is a fierce outbreak of the first motto, with a +defiance of regret, in faster, reckless pace, brief, but suddenly +recurring. Exquisite is this + +[Music: (Ob.) _cantabile_ +(Strings, wood and horns)] + +cooing of voices in mournful bits of the motto, with a timid upper +phrase in the descending tone. + +On we go in the piling of Ossa on Pelion, where the motto and even the +Scherzo dance lend their text. Yet all is fraught with sentient beauty +as, rising in Titanic climb, it plunges into an overwhelming cry in the +Adagio melody. Throughout, the ascending and descending tones, close +interwoven, give a blended hue of arduous striving and regret. + +After a pause follow a series of refrains of solo voices in the melody, +with muted strings, with mingled strains of the motto. In the bass is an +undulation that recalls the second theme of former movement. And the +clarinet returns with its mystic madrigal of melody; now the Adagio +theme enters and gives it point and meaning. In one more burst it sings +in big and little in the same alluring harmony, whence it dies down to +soothing close in brilliant gamut as of sinking sun. + +_IV.--Allegro vivace._ Throwing aside the clinging + +[Music: _Allegro vivace_ +_Molto marcato_ +(Strings, wood and horns with reinforced harmonies)] + +fragments of fugue in the prelude we rush into a gaiety long sustained. +Almost strident is the ruthless merriment; we are inclined to fear that +the literal coherence of theme is greater than the inner connection of +mood. At last the romp hushes to a whisper of drum, with strange patter +of former dance. And following and accompanying it is a new hymnal (or +is it martial) line, as it were the reverse of the other + +[Music: (Reeds and horns) +(Strings with the quicker dance phrase of 2d movement)] + +chant. The gay figures flit timidly back,--a struggle 'twixt pleasure +and fate,--but soon regain control. + +If we cared to interpret, we might find in the Finale a realized +aspiration. The truth is the humors of the themal phrases, as of the +movements, jar: they are on varying planes. The coarser vein of the last +is no solace to the noble grief of the foregoing. + +Again the change or series of moods is not clearly defined. They seem a +parade of visions. The hymn may be viewed as a guise of the former chant +of the Scherzo, with the dance-trip in lowest bass. + +Straight from the rush and romp we plunge anew into a trance of sweet +memories. The lyric vein here binds together earlier strains, whose +kinship had not appeared. They seemed less significant, hidden as +subsidiary ideas. If we care to look back we find a germ of phrase in +the first Prelude, and then the answer of the second (Allegro) theme of +first movement. There was, too, the sweep of dual melody following the +rude dance of Scherzo. Above all is here the essence and spirit of the +central Adagio melody of the symphony. + +The answering strain is of high beauty, with a melting sense of +farewell. From the sad ecstasy is a + +[Music: (Strings with higher and lower 8ve.) +(Wood and horns in 8ves.) +(Basses of strings and reeds)] + +descent to mystic musing, where abound the symbols of rising and falling +tones. More and more moving is the climactic melody of regret with a +blended song in large and little. Most naturally it sinks into a full +verse of the Adagio tune--whence instantly is aroused a new battle of +moods. + +While the dance capers below, above is the sobbing phrase from the heart +of the Adagio. The trip falls into the pace of hymnal march. The shadows +of many figures return. Here is the big descending scale in tragic minor +from the first movement. Large it looms, in bass and treble. Answering +it is a figure of sustained thirds that recalls the former second +(Allegro) melody. And still the trip of dance goes on. + +Sharpest and strongest of all these memories is the big sigh of sombre +harmonies from the first Largo prelude, answered by the original legend. +And the dance still goes tripping on and the tones rumble in descent. + +The dance has vanished; no sound but the drone of dull, falling tones, +that multiply like the spirits of the sorcerer apprentice, in large form +and small, with the big rumbling in a quick patter as of scurrying mice. + +Suddenly a new spirit enters with gathering volume and warmer harmony. +As out of a dream we gradually emerge, at the end with a shock of +welcome to light and day, as we awake to the returning glad dance. And +here is a new entrancing counter-tune above that crowns the joy. + +Once again the skip falls into the ominous descent with the phantom of +Scherzo dance in basses. Now returns the strange hymnal line of march +and the other anxious hue. + +But quickly they are transformed into the tempest of gaiety in full +parade. When a new burst is preparing, we see the sighing figure all +changed to opposite mood. The grim tune of Scherzo dance enters +mysteriously in big and little and slowly takes on a softened hue, +losing the savage tinge. + +After the returning dance, the farewell melody sings from full throat. +Before the ending revel we may feel a glorified guise of the sombre +legend of the symphony. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +SIBELIUS. A FINNISH SYMPHONY[A] + +[Footnote A: Symphony No. 1, in E minor, by Jan Sibelius, born in 1865.] + + +We must expect that the music of newer nations will be national. It goes +without saying; for the music comes fresh from the soil; it is not the +result of long refined culture. There is the strain and burst of a +burden of racial feeling to utter itself in the most pliant and eloquent +of all the languages of emotion. It is the first and noblest sentiment +of every nation conscious of its own worth, and it has its counterpart +in the individual. Before the utterance has been found by a people, +before it has felt this sense of its own quality, no other message can +come. So the most glorious period in the history of every country (even +in the eyes of other nations) is the struggle for independence, whether +successful or not. + +All on a new plane is this northernmost symphony, with a crooning note +almost of savage, and sudden, fitful bursts from languorous to fiery +mood. The harmony, the turn of tune have a national quality, delicious +and original, though the Oriental tinge appears, as in Slav and Magyar +music, both in bold and in melancholy humor. Though full of strange and +warm colors, the harmonic scheme is simple; rather is the work a tissue +of lyric rhapsody than the close-woven plot of tonal epic. A certain +trace of revery does find a vent in the traditional art of contrary +melodies. But a constant singing in pairs is less art than ancient +folk-manner, like primal music in the love or dance songs of savages. + +The symphony begins with a quiet rhapsody of solo clarinet in wistful +minor, clear without chords, though there is a straying into major. +There is no accompaniment save a soft roll of drum, and that soon dies +away. + +[Music: _Andante, ma non troppo_ +_espress._ +(Clarinet)] + +The rhapsody seems too vague for melody; yet there are motives, one in +chief, winding to a pause; here is a new appealing phrase; the ending is +in a + +[Music] + +return to the first. Over the whole symphony is cast the hue of this +rhapsody, both in mood and in the literal tone. + +All opposite, with sudden spring of buoyant strings, strikes the +Allegro tune ending in a quick, dancing trip. The first voice is +immediately pursued by another + +[Music: _Allegro energico_ +(2d violins) +_Piu forte_ +(Violins with higher 8ve.) +(Cellos with higher 8ve. in violas)] + +in similar phase, like a gentler shadow, and soon rises to a passionate +chord that is the main idiom of the movement. + +[Music: (Strings, wood and horns)] + +A second theme in clear-marked tones of reed and horns, as of stern +chant, is taken up in higher wood and grows to graceful melody in +flowing strings. + +[Music: _marcato_] + +There is a series of flights to an ever higher perch of harmony until +the first Allegro motive rings out in fullest chorus, again with the +companion tune and the cadence of poignant dissonance. + +A new episode comes with shimmering of harp and strings, where rare and +dainty is the sense of primal + +[Music: _marcato_ +(Flutes) +(Strings with chord of harp)] + +harmony that lends a pervading charm to the symphony. Here the high +wood has a song in constant thirds, right from the heart of the +rhapsody, all bedecked as melody with a new rhythm and answer. Soon this +simple lay is woven in a skein of pairs of voices, meeting or diverging. +But quickly we are back in the trance of lyric song, over palpitating +strings, with the refrain very like the former companion phrase that +somehow leads or grows to a + +[Music: _Tranquillo_ +(Oboe, with other wood) +(Strings with higher E)] + +rhythmic verse of the first strain of the rhapsody. Here begins a long +mystic phase of straying voices (of the wood) in the crossing figures of +the song, in continuous fantasy that somehow has merged into the line of +second Allegro theme, winging towards a brilliant height where the +strings ring out the strain amid sharp cries of the brass in startling +hues of harmony and electric calls from the first rhapsody. + +From out the maze and turmoil the shadowy melody rises in appealing +beauty like heavenly vision and lo! is but a guise of the first strain +of rhapsody. It rises amid flashes of fiery brass in bewildering blare +of main theme, then sinks again to the depth of brooding, though the +revery of the appealing phrase has a climactic height of its own, with +the strange, palpitating harmonies. + +In a new meditation on bits of the first Allegro theme sounds suddenly a +fitful burst of the second, that presently emerges in triumphant, +sovereign song. Again, on a series of flights the main theme is reached +and leaps once more to impassioned height. + +But this is followed by a still greater climax of moving pathos whence +we descend once more to lyric meditation (over trembling strings). +Follows a final tempest and climax of the phrase of second theme. + +The movement thus ends, not in joyous exultation, but in a fierce +triumph of sombre minor. + +The Andante is purest folk-melody, and it is strange how we know this, +though we do not know the special theme. We cannot decry the +race-element as a rich fount of melody. While older nations strive and +strain, it pours forth by some mystery in prodigal flow with less +tutored peoples who are singing their first big song to the world. Only, +the ultimate goal for each racial inspiration must be a greater +universal celebration. + +The lyric mood is regnant here, in a melody that, springing from distant +soil, speaks straight to every heart, above all with the concluding +refrain. It is of the purest vein, of the primal fount, deeper than mere +racial turn or trait. Moreover, with a whole coronet of gems of modern +harmony, it has a broad swing and curve that gives the soothing sense of +fireside; + +[Music: _Andante ma non troppo lento_ +(Muted violins) +(Sustained horns and basses with lower 8ve.; constant stroke of harp) +(Clarinets)] + +it bears a burden of elemental, all-contenting emotion. In the main, the +whole movement is one lyric flight. But there come the moods of musing +and rhapsodic rapture. In a brief fugal vein is a mystic harking back to +the earlier prelude. In these lesser phrases are the foil or +counter-figures for the bursts of the melody. + +It is the first motive of the main tune that is the refrain in ever +higher and more fervent exclamation, or in close pressing chase of +voices. Then follows a melting episode,--some golden piece of the melody +in plaintive cellos, 'neath tremulous wood or delicate choirs of +strings. + +But there is a second tune, hardly less moving, in dulcet group of +horns amid shimmering strings and harp, with a light bucolic answer in +playful reed. + +[Music: _Molto tranquillo_ +(Violins) +_dolce_ (Horns) +(With arpeggic harp)] + +And it has a glowing climax, too, with fiery trumpet, and dashing +strings and clashing wood. + +Gorgeous in the warm depth of horns sound now the returning tones of the +first noble melody, with playful trill of the wood, in antiphonal song +of trumpets and strings. And there are revels of new turns of the tune +(where the stirring harmony seems the best of all) that will rise to a +frenzy of tintinnabulation. A quicker counter-theme lends life and +motion to all this play and plot. + +A big, solemn stride of the middle strain (of main melody) precedes the +last returning verse, with all the tender pathos of the beginning. + +The Scherzo is wild race-feeling let loose--national music that has not +yet found a melody. Significantly the drums begin the tune, to a dancing +strain of _pizzicato_ strings. The tune is so elemental that the + +[Music: _Allegro_ +(Violins) +(_Pizz._ cellos double above in violas)] + +drums can really play it; the answer is equally rude,--an arpeggic +motive of strings against quick runs of the higher wood. Out of it grows +a tinge of tune with a fresh spring of dance,--whence returns the first +savage motive. This is suddenly changed to the guise of a fugal theme, +with new close, that starts a maze of disputation. + +Right from the full fire of the rough dance, sad-stressed chords plunge +into a moving plaint with much sweetness of melody and higher +counter-melody. Then returns again the original wild rhythm. + +[Music: _Lento ma non troppo_] + +In the last movement the composer confesses the "Fantasy" in the title. +It begins with a broad sweep of the returning rhapsody, the prologue of +the symphony, though without the former conclusion. Now it sings in a +strong unison of the strings _largamente ed appassionato_, and with +clang of chord in lower brass. The appealing middle phrase is all +disguised in strum as of dance. The various strains sing freely in +thirds, with sharp punctuating chords. Throughout is a balance of the +pungent vigor of harmonies with dulcet melody. + +In sudden rapid pace the strumming figure dances in the lower reed, then +yields to the play (in the strings) of a lively (almost comic) tune of a +strong national tinge,--a kind that seems native to northern countries +and is not unlike a strain that crept into + +[Music: _Allegro molto_] + +American song. A tempest of pranks is suddenly halted before the +entrance of a broad melody, with underlying harmonies of latent passion. +The feeling of fantasy is in the further flow, with free singing chords +of harp. But ever between the lines creeps in the strumming phrase, from +the first prelude, returned to its earlier mood. + +[Music: _Andante assai_ +(Violins) _cantabile ed espressivo_ +(Horns) +(Clarinets) +(_Tremolo_ cellos, with lower C in basses)] + +With baffling mystery anon come other appealing phrases from the +beginning, that show the whole to be the woof almost of a single figure, +or at least to lie within the poetic scope of the prologue. A fugal +revel of the comic phrase with the quick strum as counter-theme ends in +a new carnival,--here a dashing march, there a mad chase of strident +harmonies. Now sings the full romance and passion of the melody through +the whole gamut from pathos to rapture. It ends with poignant stress of +the essence of the song, with sheerest grating of straining harmonies. +In the midst, too, is again the mystic symbol from the heart of the +prelude. Then with a springing recoil comes a last jubilation, though +still in the prevailing minor, with a final coursing of the quick theme. + +The whole is a broad alternation of moods, of wild abandon and of tender +feeling,--the natural dual quality of primal music. So, at least in the +Finale, this is a Finnish fantasy, on the very lines of other national +rhapsody. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +BOHEMIAN SYMPHONIES + + +In the music of modern Bohemia is one of the most vital utterances of +the folk-spirit. The critic may not force a correspondence of politics +and art to support his theory. Yet a cause may here be found as in +Russia and Finland. (Poland and Hungary had their earlier song). There +is a sincerity, an unpremeditated quality in Bohemian music that is not +found among its western neighbors. The spirit is its own best proof, +without a conscious stress of a national note. Indeed, Bohemian music is +striking, not at all in a separate tonal character, like Hungarian, but +rather in a subtle emotional intensity, which again differs from the +wild abandon of the Magyars. An expression it must be of a national +feeling that has for ages been struggling against absorption. Since +ancient times Bohemia has been part of a Teutonic empire. The story of +its purely native kings is not much more than legendary. Nor has it +shared the harder fate of other small nations; for the Teuton rule at +least respected its separate unity. + +But the long association with the German people has nearly worn away the +racial signs and hall-marks of its folk-song. A Bohemian tune thus has a +taste much like the native German. Yet a quality of its own lies in the +emotional vitality, shown in a school of national drama and, of late, in +symphony. It is not necessary to seek in this modern culmination a +correspondence with an impending danger of political suppression. Art +does not follow history with so instant a reflection. + +The intensity of this national feeling appears when Smetana himself, the +minstrel of the people, is charged at home with yielding to the foreign +influence. Here again is the hardship of the true national poet who +feels that for the best utterance of his message he needs the grounding +upon a broader art; here is the narrow Chauvinism that has confined the +music of many lands within the primitive forms. + +Two types we have in Bohemian music of later times: one, Smetana, of +pure national celebration; a second, Dvorak, who with a profound +absorption of the German masters, never escaped the thrall of the +folk-element and theme. + + +_SMETANA. SYMPHONIC POEM, "THE MOLDAU RIVER"_[A] + +[Footnote A: Friedrich Smetana, 1824-1884, foremost among Bohemian +dramatic composers, wrote a cycle of symphonic poems under the general +title "My Country." Of these the present work is the second.] + +Simplicity is uppermost in these scores; yet the true essence is almost +hidden to the mere reader. With all primitive quality they are more +difficult than many a classic symphony. The latent charm of folk humor +and sentiment depends more on tradition and sympathy than on notation. + +The naively graphic impulse (that we find throughout the choral works of +Bach) that merely starts a chance themal line, as here of the first +branch of the Moldau, does not disturb the emotional expression. And +while the feeling is sustained, the art is there, not to stifle but to +utter and set free the native spring of song. + +It must be yielded that the design is not profound; it smacks of the +village fair rather than of grand tragedy. Song is ever supreme, and +with all abundance of contrapuntal art does not become sophisticated. +The charm is not of complexity, but of a more child-like, sensuous kind. + +It must all be approached in a different way from other symphonic music. +The minstrel is not even the peasant in court costume, as Dvorak once +was called. He is the peasant in his own village dress, resplendent with +color and proud of his rank. + +We cannot enjoy the music with furrowed brow. It is a case where music +touches Mother Earth and rejuvenates herself. Like fairy lore and +proverbs, its virtue lies in some other element than profound design. +For any form of song or verse that enshrines the spirit of a people and +is tried in the forge of ages of tradition, lives on more surely than +the fairest art of individual poet. + +The stream is the great figure, rising from small sources in playful +flutes, with light spray of harp and + +[Music: _Allegro commodo non agitato_ +_lusingando_ +(Flute with chord of _pizz._ strings)] + +strings. The first brook is joined by another (in clarinets) from a new +direction. Soon grows the number and the rustle of confluent waters. The +motion of the strings is wavelike, of a broader flow, though underneath +we scan the several lesser currents. Above floats now the simple, happy +song, that expands + +[Music: _dolce_ +(Reeds and horns with waving strings and stroke of triangle)] + +with the stream and at last reaches a glad, sunny major. + +Still to the sound of flowing waters comes the forest hunt, with all the +sport of trumpets and other brass. + +It is descriptive music, tonal painting if you will; but the color is +local or national. The strokes are not so much of events or scenes as of +a popular humor and character, which we must feel with small stress of +each event. The blowing of trumpets, the purling of streams, the swaying +of trees, in primal figures, all breathe the spirit of Bohemia. + +The hunt dies away; emerging from the forest the jolly sounds greet us +of a peasant wedding. The + +[Music: _Tempo moderato_ +(Reeds and strings)] + +parade reaches the church in high festivity and slowly vanishes to +tinkling bells. + +Night has fallen; in shifted scene the stream is sparkling in the +moonlight still to the quiet sweet harmonies. But this is all background +for a dance of nymphs, while a dulcet, sustained song sounds through the +night. At last, to the golden horns a faintest harmony is added of +deeper brass. Still very softly, the brass strike a quicker phrase and +we seem to hear the hushed chorus of hunt with the call of trumpets, as +the other brass lead in a new verse that grows lustier with the livelier +song and dance, till--with a flash we are alone with the running stream +with which the dance of nymphs has somehow merged. + +On it goes, in happy, ever more masterful course, a symbol of the +nation's career, surging in bright major and for a moment quieting +before the mighty Rapids of St. Johann. Here the song of the stream is +nearly lost in the rush of eddies and the strife of big currents, with +the high leaps of dashing spray,--ever recurring like unceasing battle +with a towering clash at the height of the tempest. At last all meet in +overpowering united torrent, suddenly to hush before the stream, at the +broadest, rushes majestically along in hymnal song of exalted harmonies +and triumphant melody, with joyous after-strains. + +As the pilgrim to his Mecca, so the waters are wafted into the climactic +motive of the Hradschin, the chant of the holy citadel. The rest is a +long jubilation + +[Music: _Motiv Vyserad_ +(Full orchestra, with rapid figures in the strings)] + +on quicker beats of the chant, amid the plash of waters and the shaking +of martial brass. Strangely, as the other sounds die away, the melody of +the stream emerges clear and strong, then vanishes in the distance +before the jubilant Amen. + +In the general view we must feel a wonderful contrast here with the +sophomoric state of the contemporary art in other lands where the +folk-song has lost its savor,--where the natural soil is exhausted and +elegant castles are built in the air of empty fantasy, or on the sands +of a vain national pride. + + +_DVORAK. SYMPHONY, "FROM THE NEW WORLD."_[A] + +[Footnote A: Anton Dvorak, 1841-1904.] + +It is a much-discussed question how far Dvorak's American symphony is +based on characteristic folk-song. Here are included other questions: to +what extent the themes are based on an African type, and whether negro +music is fairly American folk-song. Many, perhaps most people, will +answer with a general negative. But it seems to be true that many of us +do not really know the true negro song,--have quite a wrong idea of it. + +To be sure, all argument aside, it is a mistake to think that folk-song +gets its virtue purely from a distinctive national quality,--because it +is Hungarian, Scandinavian, or Slavonic. If all the national modes and +rhythms of the world were merged in one republic, there would still be a +folk-song of the true type and value. There is a subtle charm and +strength in the spontaneous simplicity, all aside from racial color. It +is here that, like Antaeus, the musician touches Mother Earth and renews +his strength. So, when Dvorak suddenly shifts in the midst of his New +World fantasy into a touch of Bohemian song, there is no real loss. It +is all relevant in the broad sense of folk feeling, that does not look +too closely at geographical bounds. It is here that music, of all arts, +leads to a true state of equal sympathy, regardless of national +prejudice. What, therefore, distinguishes Dvorak's symphony may not be +mere negro melody, or even American song, but a genuine folk-feeling, in +the widest meaning. + +In one way, Dvorak's work reminds us of Mendelssohn's Scotch Symphony: +both exploit foreign national melody in great poetic forms. One could +write a Scotch symphony in two ways: one, in Mendelssohn's, the other +would be to tell of the outer impression in the terms of your own +folk-song. That is clearly the way Mendelssohn wrote most of the Italian +Symphony,--which stands on a higher plane than the Scotch. For folk-song +is the natural language of its own people. It is interesting to see the +exact type that each theme represents; but it is not so important as to +catch the distinction, the virtue of folk-song _per se_ and the purely +natural utterance of one's own. Of course, every one writes always in +his folk-tones. On the other hand, one may explore one's own special +treasures of native themes, as Dvorak himself did so splendidly in his +Slavic Dances and in his Legends. So one must, after all, take this +grateful, fragrant work as an idea of what American composers might do +in full earnest. Dvorak is of all later masters the most eminent +folk-musician. He shows greatest sympathy, freedom and delight in +revelling among the simple tones and rhythms of popular utterance, +rearing on them, all in poetic spontaneity, a structure of high art. +Without strain or show, Dvorak stood perhaps the most genuine of late +composers, with a firm foot on the soil of native melody, yet with the +balance and restraint and the clear vision of the trained master.[A] + +[Footnote A: The whole subject of American and negro folk-song is new +and unexplored. There are races of the blacks living on the outer reefs +and islands of the Carolinas, with not more than thirty whites in a +population of six thousand, where "spirituals" and other musical rites +are held which none but negroes may attend. The truest African mode and +rhythm would seem to be preserved here; to tell the truth, there is +great danger of their loss unless they are soon recorded.] + +In a certain view, it would seem that by the fate of servitude the +American negro has become the element in our own national life that +alone produces true folk-song,--that corresponds to the peasant and serf +of Europe, the class that must find in song the refuge and solace for +its loss of material joys. So Dvorak perhaps is right, with a far seeing +eye, when he singles the song of the despised race as the national type. + +Another consideration fits here. It has been suggested that the +imitative sense of the negro has led him to absorb elements of other +song. It is very difficult to separate original African elements of song +from those that may thus have been borrowed. At any rate, there is no +disparagement of the negro's musical genius in this theory. On the +contrary, it would be almost impossible to imagine a musical people that +would resist the softer tones of surrounding and intermingling races. +We know, to be sure, that Stephen Foster, the author of "The Old Folks +at Home," "Massa's in the Cold, Cold Ground," and other famous ballads, +was a Northerner, though his mother came from the South. We hear, too, +that he studied negro music eagerly. It is not at all inconceivable, +however, Foster's song may have been devoid of negro elements, that the +colored race absorbed, wittingly or unwittingly, something of the vein +into their plaints or lullabies,--that, indeed, Foster's songs may have +been a true type that stirred their own imitation. From all points of +view,--the condition of slavery, the trait of assimilation and the +strong gift of musical expression may have conspired to give the negro a +position and equipment which would entitle his tunes to stand as the +real folk-song of America. + +The eccentric accent seems to have struck the composer strongly. And +here is a strange similarity with Hungarian song,--though there is, of +course, no kinship of race whatever between Bohemians and Magyars. One +might be persuaded to find here simply an ebullition of rhythmic +impulse,--the desire for a special fillip that starts and suggests a +stronger energy of motion than the usual conventional pace. At any rate, +the symphony begins with just such strong, nervous phrases that soon +gather big force. Hidden is the germ of the first, undoubtedly the chief +theme of the whole work. + +It is more and more remarkable how a search will show the true +foundation of almost all of Dvorak's themes. Not that one of them is +actually borrowed, or lacks an original, independent reason for being. + +Whether by imitation or not, the pentatonic scale of the Scotch is an +intimate part of negro song. This avoidance of the seventh or leading +tone is seen throughout the symphony as well as in the traditional +jubilee tunes. It may be that this trait was merely confirmed in the +African by foreign musical influence. For it seems that the +leading-note, the urgent need for the ascending half-tone in closing, +belongs originally to the minstrelsy of the Teuton and of central +Europe, that resisted and conquered the sterner modes of the early +Church. Ruder nations here agreed with Catholic ritual in preferring the +larger interval of the whole tone. But in the quaint jump of the third +the Church had no part, clinging closely to a diatonic process. + +The five-toned scale is indeed so widespread that it cannot be fastened +on any one race or even family of nations. The Scotch have it; it is +characteristic of the Chinese and of the American Indian. But, +independently of the basic mode or scale, negro songs show here and +there a strange feeling for a savage kind of lowering of this last note. +The pentatonic scale simply omits it, as well as the fourth step. But +the African will now and then rudely and forcibly lower it by a +half-tone. In the minor it is more natural; for it can then be thought +of as the fifth of the relative major. Moreover, it is familiar to us in +the Church chant. This effect we have in the beginning of the Scherzo. +Many of us do not know the true African manner, here. But in the major +it is much more barbarous. And it is almost a pity that Dvorak did not +strike it beyond an occasional touch (as in the second quoted melody). A +fine example is "Roll, Jordan Roll," in E flat (that opens, by the way, +much like Dvorak's first theme), where the beginning of the second line +rings out on a savage D flat, out of all key to Caucasian ears. + +We soon see stealing out of the beginning _Adagio_ an eccentric pace in +motion of the bass, that leads to the burst of main subject, _Allegro +molto_, with a certain + +[Music: _Allegro molto_ +(Strings) +(Horns) +_Pizz._ (Strings) +(Clarinets doubled below in bassoons) +(Strings)] + +ragged rhythm that we Americans cannot disclaim as a nation. The working +up is spirited, and presently out of the answer grows a charming jingle +that somehow strikes home. + +[Music: (Violins, with harmony in lower strings)] + +It begins in the minor and has a strange, barbaric touch of cadence. +Many would acknowledge it at most as a touch of Indian mode. Yet it is +another phase of the lowered seventh. And if we care to search, we find +quite a prototype in a song like "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel." Soon +the phrase has a more familiar ring as it turns into a friendly major. +But the real second theme comes in a solo tune on the flute, in the +major, + +[Music: (Solo flute) +(Strings)] + +with a gait something like the first.[A] Less and less we can resist the +genuine negro quality of these melodies, and, at the same time, their +beauty and the value of the tonal treasure-house in our midst. + +[Footnote A: Again it is interesting to compare here the jubilee song, +"Oh! Redeemed," in the collection of "Jubilee and Plantation Songs," of +the Oliver Ditson Company.] + +The whole of the first Allegro is thus woven of three melodious and +characteristic themes in very clear sonata-form. The second, Largo, +movement is a lyric of moving pathos, with a central melody that may not +have striking traits of strict African song, and yet belongs to the type +closely associated with the negro vein of plaint or love-song. The +rhythmic + +[Music: _Largo_ +(English horn solo)] + +turns that lead to periods of excitement and climaxes of rapid motion, +are absent in the main melody. But + +[Music: (Oboe and clarinets) +(Basses _pizz._ with _tremolo_ figures in violins)] + +they appear in the episode that intervenes. Even here, in the midst, is +a new contrast of a minor lament that has a strong racial trait in the +sudden swing to major and, as quickly, back to the drearier mode. This +is followed by a rhapsody or succession of rapid, primitive phrases, +that leads to a crisis where, of a sudden, three themes sing at once, +the two of the previous Allegro and the main melody of the Largo, in +distorted pace with full chorus. This excitement is as suddenly lulled +and soothed by the return of the original moving song. + +The Scherzo starts in a quick three-beat strum on the chord we have +pointed to as a true model trait of negro music, with the lowered +leading-note. The + +[Music: _molto vivace_ (Fl. and oboes) +(Strings) (Cl't.)] + +theme, discussed in close stress of imitation, seems merely to mark the +rapid swing in the drone of strange harmony. But what is really a sort +of Trio (_poco sostenuto_) is another sudden, grateful change to major, +perfectly true to life, so to speak, in this turn of mode and in the +simple lines of the tune. The lyric mood all but suppresses the dance, +the melody sounding like a new verse of the Largo. The trip has always +lingered, but not too much for the delicious change when it returns to +carry us off our feet. + +The Scherzo now steals in again, quite a piece, it seems, with the Trio. +As the rising volume nears a crisis, the earliest theme (from the first +Allegro) is heard in the basses. In the hushed discourse of Scherzo +theme that follows, the old melody still intrudes. In mockery of one of +its turns comes an enchanting bit of tune, as naive an utterance as any, +much like a children's dancing song. And it returns later with still new +enchantment of rhythm. But the whole is too full of folk-melody to trace +out, yet is, in its very fibre, true to the idea of an epic of the +people. + +Presently the whole Scherzo and Trio are rehearsed; but now instead of +the phase of latest melodies is a close where the oldest theme (of +Allegro) is sung in lusty blasts of the horns and wood, with answers of +the Scherzo motive. + +In the last movement, _Allegro con fuoco_, appears early a new kind of +march tune that, without special + +[Music: _Allegro con fuoco_ +(Horns and trumpets with full orchestra)] + +trick of rhythm, has the harsh note of lowered leading-note (in the +minor, to be sure) in very true keeping with negro song. The march is +carried on, with flowing answer, to a high pitch of varied splendor and +tonal power. The second theme is utterly opposed in a certain pathetic +rhapsody. Yet it rises, at the close, to a fervent burst in rapid +motion. We + +[Music: (Solo clarinets) +(_tremolo_ strings)] + +may expect in the Finale an orgy of folk-tune and dance, and we are not +disappointed. There is, too, a quick rise and fall of mood, that is a +mark of the negro as well as of the Hungarian. By a sudden doubling, we +are in the midst of a true "hoe-down," in jolliest jingle, with that +naive iteration, true to life; it comes out clearest when the tune of +the bass (that sounds like a rapid "Three Blind Mice") is + +[Music: (Strings, wood and brass) +(See page 205, line 9.)] + +put in the treble. A pure idealized negro dance-frolic is here. It is +hard to follow all the pranks; lightly as the latest phrase descends in +extending melody, a rude blast of the march intrudes in discordant +humor. A new jingle of dance comes with a redoubled pace of bits of the +march. As this dies down to dimmest bass, the old song from the Largo +rings high in the wood. Strangest of all, in a fierce shout of the whole +chorus sounds twice this same pathetic strain. Later comes a redoubled +speed of the march in the woodwind, above a slower in low strings. Now +the original theme of all has a noisy say. Presently the sad second +melody has a full verse. Once more the Largo lullaby sings its strain +in the minor. In the close the original Allegro theme has a literal, +vigorous dispute with the march-phrase for the last word of all. + +The work does less to exploit American music than to show a certain +community in all true folk-song. Nor is this to deny a strain peculiar +to the new world. It seems a poet of distant land at the same time and +in the same tones uttered his longing for his own country and expressed +the pathos and the romance of the new. Dvorak, like all true workers, +did more than he thought: he taught Americans not so much the power of a +song of their own, as their right of heritage in all folk-music. And +this is based not merely on an actual physical inheritance from the +various older races. + +If the matter, in Dvorak's symphony, is of American negro-song, the +manner is Bohemian. A stranger-poet may light more clearly upon the +traits of a foreign lore. But his celebration will be more conscious if +he endeavor to cling throughout to the special dialect. A true national +expression will come from the particular soil and will be unconscious of +its own idiom. + +The permanent hold that Dvorak's symphony has gained is due to an +intrinsic merit of art and sincere sentiment; it has little to do with +the nominal title or purpose. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE EARLIER BRUCKNER[A] + +[Footnote A: Anton Bruckner, born at Annsfelden, Austria, 1828; died in +Vienna in 1896.] + + +Whatever be the final answer of the mooted question of the greatness of +Bruckner's symphonies, there is no doubt that he had his full share of +technical profundity, and a striking mastery of the melodious weaving of +a maze of concordant strains. The question inevitably arises with +Bruckner as to the value of the world's judgments on its contemporary +poets. There can be no doubt that the _furore_ of the musical public +tends to settle on one or two favorites with a concentration of praise +that ignores the work of others, though it be of a finer grain. Thus +Schubert's greatest--his one completed--symphony was never acclaimed +until ten years after his death. Even his songs somehow brought more +glory to the singer than to the composer. Bach's oratorios lay buried +for a full century. On the other hand, names great in their day are +utterly lost from the horizon. It is hard to conceive the _eclat_ of a +Buononcini or a Monteverde,--whose works were once preeminent. There are +elements in art, of special, sensational effect, that make a peculiar +appeal in their time, and are incompatible with true and permanent +greatness. One is tempted to say, the more sudden and vehement the +success, the less it will endure. But it would not be true. Such an +axiom would condemn an opera like "Don Giovanni," an oratorio like the +"Creation," a symphony like Beethoven's Seventh. There is a wonderful +difference, an immeasurable gulf between the good and the bad in art; +yet the apparent line is of the subtlest. Most street songs may be poor; +but some are undoubtedly beautiful in a very high sense. It is a problem +of mystic fascination, this question of the value of contemporary art. +It makes its appeal to the subjective view of each listener. No rule +applies. Every one will perceive in proportion to his capacity, no one +beyond it. So, a profound work may easily fail of response, as many +works in the various arts have done in the past, because the average +calibre of the audience is too shallow, while it may deeply stir an +intelligent few. Not the least strange part of it all is the fact that +there can, of necessity, be no decision in the lifetime of the poet. +Whether it is possible for obscure Miltons never to find their meed of +acclaim, is a question that we should all prefer to answer in the +negative. There is a certain shudder in thinking of such a chance; it +seems a little akin to the danger of being buried alive. + +The question of Bruckner's place can hardly be said to be settled, +although he has left nine symphonies. He certainly shows a freedom, ease +and mastery in the symphonic manner, a limpid flow of melody and a sure +control in the interweaving of his themes, so that, in the final +verdict, the stress may come mainly on the value of the subjects, in +themselves. He is fond of dual themes, where the point lies in neither +of two motives, but in the interplay of both; we see it somewhat +extended in Richard Strauss, who uses it, however, in a very different +spirit. The one evident and perhaps fatal lack is of intrinsic beauty of +the melodic ideas, and further, an absence of the strain of pathos that +sings from the heart of a true symphony. While we are mainly impressed +by the workmanship, there is no denying a special charm of constant +tuneful flow. At times this complexity is almost marvellous in the clear +simplicity of the concerted whole,--in one view, the main trait or trick +of symphonic writing. It is easy to pick out the leading themes as they +appear in official order. But it is not so clear which of them +constitute the true text. The multiplicity of tunes and motives is +amazing. + +Of the Wagner influence with which Bruckner is said to be charged, +little is perceptible in his second symphony. On the contrary, a strong +academic tradition pervades. The themes are peculiarly symphonic. +Moreover they show so strikingly the dual quality that one might say, as +a man may see double, Bruckner sang double. Processes of augmenting and +inverting abound, together with the themal song in the bass. Yet there +is not the sense of overloaded learning. There is everywhere a clear and +melodious polyphony. + +But with all masterly architecture, even enchanting changes of harmony +and a prodigal play of melody, the vacuity of poetic ideas must preclude +a permanent appeal. Bruckner is here the schoolmaster: his symphony is a +splendid skeleton, an object lesson for the future poet. + +In the FOURTH (ROMANTIC) SYMPHONY the main light plays throughout on the +wind. The text is a call of horns, that begins the work. It is a +symphony + +[Music: _In tranquil motion_ +(Horns, _espressivo_) +(Strings)] + +of wood-notes, where the forest-horn is sovereign,--awakening a widening +world of echoes, with a murmuring maze of lesser notes. One has again +the feeling that in the quiet interweaving of a tapestry of strains lies +the individual quality of the composer,--that the _forte_ blasts, the +stride of big unison figures are but the interlude. + +In the Andante the charm is less of tune than of the delicate changing +shades of the harmony and of the colors of tone. We are ever surprised +in the gentlest way by a turn of chord or by the mere entrance of a horn +among the whispering strings. The shock of a soft modulation may be as +sudden as of the loud, sudden blare. But we cannot somehow be consoled +for the want of a heart-felt melody. + +The Scherzo is a kind of hunting-piece, full of the sparkle, the color +and romance of bugles and horns,--a spirited fanfare broken by hushed +phrases of strings or wood, or an elf-like mystic dance on the softened +call of trumpets. The Trio sings apart, between the gay revels, in soft +voices and slower pace, like a simple ballad. + +The Finale is conceived in mystical retrospect, beginning in vein of +prologue: over mysterious murmuring strings, long sustained notes of the +reed and horn in octave descent are mingled with a soft carillon of +horns and trumpets in the call of the Scherzo. In broad swing a free +fantasy rises to a loud refrain (in the brass) of the first motive of +the symphony. + +In slower pace and hush of sound sings a madrigal of tender phrases. A +pair of melodies recall like figures of the first Allegro. Indeed, a +chain of dulcet strains seems to rise from the past. + +The fine themal relevance may be pursued in infinite degree, to no end +but sheer bewilderment. The truth is that a modern vanity for subtle +connection, a purest pedantry, is here evident, and has become a baneful +tradition in the modern symphony. It is an utter confusion of the letter +with the spirit. Once for all, a themal coherence of symphony must lie +in the main lines, not in a maze of unsignificant figures. + +Marked is a sharp alternation of mood, tempestuous and tender, of +Florestan and Eusebius. The lyric phase yields to the former heroic +fantasy and then returns in soothing solace into a prevailing motive +that harks back to the second of the beginning movement. The fantasy, +vague of melody, comes + +[Music: (Wood and horns) +(Strings)] + +(in more than one sense) as relief from the small tracery. It is just to +remember a like oscillation in the first Allegro. + +When the prologue recurs, the phrases are in ascent, instead of descent +of octaves. A climactic verse of the main dulcet melody breaks out in +resonant choir of brass and is followed by a soft rhapsody on the +several strains that hark back to the beginning. From the halting pace +the lyric episode rises in flight of continuous song to enchanting lilt. +Now in the big heroic fantasy sing the first slow phrases as to the +manner born and as naturally break into a paean of the full motive, +mingled with strains of the original legend of the symphony, that flows +on to broad hymnal cadence. + +In mystic musing we reach a solemn stillness where the prologue phrase +is slowly drawn out into a profoundly moving hymn. Here we must feel is +Meister Bruckner's true poetic abode rather than in the passion and +ecstasy of romance into which he was vainly lured.[A] + +[Footnote A: Bruckner's Fifth Symphony (in B flat) is a typical example +of closest correlation of themes that are devoid of intrinsic melody. + +An introduction supplies in the bass of a hymnal line the main theme of +the Allegro by inversion as well as the germ of the first subject of the +Adagio. Throughout, as in the Romantic Symphony, the relation between +the first and the last movement is subtle. A closing, jagged phrase +reappears as the first theme of the Finale. + +The Adagio and Scherzo are built upon the same figure of bass. The theme +of the Trio is acclaimed by a German annotator as the reverse of the +first motive of the symphony. + +In the prelude of the Finale, much as in the Ninth of Beethoven, are +passed in review the main themes of the earlier movements. Each one is +answered by an eccentric phrase that had its origin in the first +movement and is now extended to a fugal theme. + +The climactic figure is a new hymnal line that moves as central theme of +an imposing double fugue.] + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE LATER BRUCKNER + + +In Bruckner's later works appears the unique instance of a discipline +grounded in the best traditions, united to a deft use of ephemeral +devices. The basic cause of modern mannerism, mainly in harmonic +effects, lies in a want of formal mastery; an impatience of thorough +technic; a craving for quick sensation. With Bruckner it was the +opposite weakness of original ideas, an organic lack of poetic +individuality. It is this the one charge that cannot be brought home to +the earlier German group of reaction against the classic idea. + +There is melody, almost abundant, in Wagner and Liszt and their German +contemporaries. Indeed it was an age of lyricists. The fault was that +they failed to recognize their lyric limitation, lengthening and padding +their motives abnormally to fit a form that was too large. Hence the +symphony of Liszt, with barren stretches, and the impossible plan of the +later music-drama. The truest form of such a period was the song, as it +blossomed in the works of a Franz. + +Nor has this grandiose tendency even yet spent its course. A saving +element was the fashioning of a new form, by Liszt himself,--the +Symphonic Poem,--far inferior to the symphony, but more adequate to the +special poetic intent. + +Whatever be the truth of personal gossip, there is no doubt that +Bruckner lent himself and his art to a championing of the reactionary +cause in the form that was intrinsically at odds with its spirit. Hence +in later works of Bruckner these strange episodes of borrowed romance, +abruptly stopped by a firm counterpoint of excellent quality,--indeed +far the best of his writing. For, if a man have little ideas, at least +his good workmanship will count for something. + +In truth, one of the strangest types is presented in Bruckner,--a pedant +who by persistent ingenuity simulates a master-work almost to +perfection. By so much as genius is not an infinite capacity for pains, +by so much is Bruckner's Ninth not a true symphony. Sometimes, under the +glamor of his art, we are half persuaded that mere persistence may +transmute pedantry into poetry. + +It seems almost as if the Wagnerians chose their champion in the +symphony with a kind of suppressed contempt for learning, associating +mere intellectuality with true mastery, pointing to an example of +greatest skill and least inspiration as if to say: "Here is your +symphonist if you must have one." And it is difficult to avoid a +suspicion that his very partisans were laughing up their sleeve at their +adopted champion. + +We might say all these things, and perhaps we have gone too far in +suggesting them. After all we have no business with aught but the music +of Bruckner, whatever may have been his musical politics, his vanity, +his ill judgment, or even his deliberate partisanship against his +betters. But the ideas themselves are unsubstantial; on shadowy +foundation they give an illusion by modern touches of harmony and rhythm +that are not novel in themselves. The melodic idea is usually divided in +two, as by a clever juggler. There is really no one thought, but a +plenty of small ones to hide the greater absence. + +We have merely to compare this artificial manner with the poetic reaches +of Brahms to understand the insolence of extreme Wagnerians and the +indignation of a Hanslick. As against the pedantry of Bruckner the style +of Strauss is almost welcome in its frank pursuit of effects which are +at least grateful in themselves. Strauss makes hardly a pretence at +having melodic ideas. They serve but as pawns or puppets for his +harmonic and orchestral _mise-en-scene_. He is like a play-wright +constructing his plot around a scenic design. + +Just a little common sense is needed,--an unpremeditated attitude. Thus +the familiar grouping, "_Bach_, _Beethoven_ and _Brahms_" is at least +not unnatural. Think of the absurdity of "_Bach_, _Beethoven_ and +_Bruckner_"![A] + +[Footnote A: A festival was held in Munich in the summer of 1911, in +celebration of "Bach, Beethoven and Bruckner."] + +The truth is, the Bruckner cult is a striking symptom of a certain +decadence in German music; an incapacity to tell the sincere quality of +feeling in the dense, brilliant growth of technical virtuosity. In the +worship at the Bayreuth shrine, somehow reinforced by a modern national +self-importance, has been lost a heed for all but a certain vein of +exotic romanticism, long ago run to riotous seed, a blending of hedonism +and fatalism. No other poetic message gets a hearing and the former may +be rung in endless repetition and reminiscence, provided, to be sure, it +be framed with brilliant cunning of workmanship. + +Here we feel driven defiantly to enounce the truth: that the highest +art, even in a narrow sense, comes only with a true poetic message. Of +this Bruckner is a proof; for, if any man by pure knowledge could make a +symphony, it was he. But, with almost superhuman skill, there is +something wanting in the inner connection, where the main ideas are +weak, forced or borrowed. It is only the true poetic rapture that +ensures the continuous absorption that drives in perfect sequence to +irresistible conclusion. + + +_SYMPHONY NO. 9_ + +_I.--Solenne._ Solemn mystery is the mood, amid trembling strings on +hollow unison, before the eight + +[Music: _Misterioso_ +(Eight horns with _tremolo_ strings on D in three octaves)] + +horns strike a phrase in the minor chord that in higher echoes breaks +into a strange harmony and descends into a turn of melodic cadence. In +answer is another chain of brief phrases, each beginning + +[Music: (1st violins) +(Lower reeds with strings _tremolo_ in all but basses)] + +with a note above the chord (the common mark and manner of the later +school of harmonists[A]) and a new ascent on a literal ladder of +subtlest progress, while hollow intervals are intermingled in the pinch +of close harmonies. The bewildering maze here begins of multitudinous +design, enriched with modern devices. + +[Footnote A: See Vol. II, note, page 104.] + +A clash of all the instruments acclaims the climax before the unison +stroke of fullest chorus on the solemn note of the beginning. A favorite +device of Bruckner, a measured tread of _pizzicato_ strings with +interspersed themal motives, precedes the romantic episode. Throughout +the movement is this alternation of liturgic chorale with tender melody. + +[Music: _Molto tranquillo_ +(Strings) _espressivo_ +(Oboes and horns)] + +Bruckner's pristine polyphonic manner ever appears in the double strain +of melodies, where each complements, though not completes the other. +However multiple the plan, we cannot feel more than the quality of +_unusual_ in the motives themselves, of some interval of ascent or +descent. Yet as the melody grows to larger utterance, the fulness of +polyphonic art brings a beauty of tender sentiment, rising to a moving +climax, where the horns lead the song in the heart of the madrigal +chorus, and the strings alone sing the expressive answer. + +[Music: (Violins doubled in 8ve.) +(Strings, woods and horns)] + +A third phrase now appears, where lies the main poetry of the movement. +Gentle swaying calls of + +[Music: _Tranquillo_ (Wood and violins) +(4 horns in 8ve.) +(Horns) +(Strings with bassoons)] + +soft horns and wood, echoed and answered in close pursuit, lead to a +mood of placid, elemental rhythm, with something of "Rheingold," of +"Ossian" ballad, of the lapping waves of Cherubini's "Anacreon." In the +midst the horns blow a line of sonorous melody, where the cadence has a +breath of primal legend. On the song runs, ever mid the elemental +motion, to a resonant height and dies away as before. The intimate, +romantic melody now returns, but it is rocked on the continuing pelagic +pulse; indeed, we hear anon a faint phrase of the legend, in distant +trumpet, till we reach a joint rhapsody of both moods; and in the never +resting motion, mid vanishing echoes, we dream of some romance of the +sea. + +Against descending harmonies return the hollow, sombre phrases of the +beginning, with the full cadence of chorale in the brass; and beyond, +the whole prelude has a full, extended verse. In the alternation of +solemn and sweet episode returns the tender melody, with pretty +inversions, rising again to an ardent height. The renewed clash of +acclaiming chorus ushers again the awful phrase of unison (now in octave +descent), in towering majesty. But now it rises in the ever increasing +vehemence where the final blast is lit up with a flash of serene +sonority. + +This motive, of simple octave call, indeed pervades the earlier symphony +in big and little. And now, above a steady, sombre melodic tread of +strings it rises in a fray of eager retorts, transfigured in wonderful +harmony again and again to a brilliant height, pausing on a ringing +refrain, in sombre hue of overpowering blast. + +A soft interlude of halting and diminishing strings leads to the +romantic melody as it first appeared, where the multiple song again +deepens and ennobles the theme. It passes straight into the waving, +elemental motion, where again the hallowed horn utters its sibyl phrase, +again rising to resonant height. And again merges the intimate song with +the continuing pulse of the sea, while the trumpet softly sounds the +legend and a still greater height of rhapsody. + +Dull brooding chords bring a sombre play of the awing phrase, over a +faint rocking motion, clashing in bold harmony, while the horns surge in +broader melody. The climactic clash ends in a last verse of the opening +phrase, as of primal, religious chant. + +_II.--Scherzo._ In the dazzling pace of bright clashing harmonies, the +perfect answers of falling and rising phrases, we are again before the +semblance, at + +[Music: _Vivace_ +(Flute with _pizz._ violins) +(Flute) +(_Pizz._ strings)] + +least, of a great poetic idea. To be sure there is a touch of stereotype +in the chords and even in the pinch and clash of hostile motives. And +there is not the distinctive melody,--final stamp and test of the shaft +of inspiration. Yet in the enchantment of motion, sound and form, it +seems mean-spirited to cavil at a want of something greater. One stands +bewildered before such art and stunned of all judgment. + +A delight of delicate gambols follows the first brilliant dance of main +motive. Amid a rougher trip of unison sounds the sonorous brass, and to +softest jarring murmur of strings a pretty jingle of reed, + +[Music: _grazioso_ +(Oboe) +(_Pizz._ strings with soft chord of wind and rhythmic bassoon)] + +with later a slower counter-song, almost a madrigal of pastoral answers, +till we are back in the ruder original dance. The gay cycle leads to a +height of rough volume (where the mystic brass sound in the midst) and a +revel of echoing chase. + +In sudden hush of changed tone on fastest fairy trip, strings and wood +play to magic harmonies. In calming motion the violins sing a quieter +song, ever + +[Music: _Piu tranquillo_ +_Dolce_ +(Violins) +(Oboe) +(Violins) +(Oboes with sustained strings)] + +echoed by the reed. Though there is no gripping force of themal idea, +the melodies are all of grateful charm, and in the perfect round of +rhythmic design we may well be content. The original dance recurs with a +full fine orgy of hostile euphony. + +_III.--Adagio._ _Feierlich,--awesome_ indeed are these first sounds, and +we are struck by the originality + +[Music: _Molto lento (Solenne)_ +(Violins, G string) +_broadly_ +(Strings with choir of tubas, later of trombones and contrabass-tuba)] + +of Bruckner's technic. After all we must give the benefit at least of +the doubt. And there is after this deeply impressive _introit_ a +gorgeous Promethean + +[Music: (Woodwind and low brass with _tremolo_ strings) +(3 trumpets) +(4 horns)] + +spring of up-leaping harmonies. The whole has certainly more of concrete +beauty than many of the labored attempts of the present day. + +The prelude dies down with an exquisite touch of precious +dissonance,--whether it came from the heart or from the workshop. The +strange and tragic part is that with so much art and talent there should +not be the strong individual idea,--the flash of new tonal figure that +stands fearless upon its own feet. All this pretty machinery seems +wasted upon the framing and presenting, at the moment of expectation, of +the shadows of another poet's ideas or of mere platitudes. + +In the midst of the broad sweeping theme with a + +[Music: (Strings, with cl't and oboe) +_Very broadly_ +(G string)] + +promise of deep utterance is a phrase of horns with the precise accent +and agony of a _Tristan_. The very semblance of whole motives seems to +be taken from the warp and woof of Wagnerian drama. And thus the whole +symphony is degraded, in its gorgeous capacity, to the reechoed rhapsody +of exotic romanticism. It is all little touches, no big thoughts,--a +mosaic of a symphony. + +[Music: (Horns)] + +And so the second theme[A] is almost too heavily laden with fine detail +for its own strength, though + +[Music: (Violins, reeds and horns) +_Poco piu lento_ +_dolce_ +(_Pizz._ of lower strings)] + +it ends with a gracefully delicate answer. The main melody soon recurs +and sings with a stress of warm feeling in the cellos, echoed by glowing +strains of the horns. Romantic harmonies bring back the solemn air of +the prelude with a new counter melody, in precise opposite figure, as +though inverted in a mirror, and again the dim moving chords that seem +less of Bruckner than of legendary drama. In big accoutrement the double +theme moves with double answers, ever with the sharp pinch of harmonies +and heroic mien. Gentlest retorts of the motives sing with fairy +clearness (in horns and reeds), rising to tender, expressive dialogue. +With growing spirit they ascend once more to the triumphant clash of +empyraean chords, that may suffice for justifying beauty. + +[Footnote A: We have spoken of a prelude, first and second theme; they +might have been more strictly numbered first, second and third theme.] + +Instead of the first, the second melody follows with its delicate grace. +After a pause recurs the phrase that harks from mediaeval romance, now +in a stirring ascent of close chasing voices. The answer, perfect in its +timid halting descent, exquisite in accent and in the changing hues of +its periods, is robbed of true effect by its direct reflection of +Wagnerian ecstasies. + +As if in recoil, a firm hymnal phrase sounds in the strings, ending in a +more intimate cadence. Another chain of rarest fairy clashes, on the +motive of the prelude, leads to the central verse, the song of the first +main melody in the midst of soft treading strings, and again descends +the fitting answer of poignant accent. + +And now, for once forgetting all origin and clinging sense of +reminiscence, we may revel in the rich romance, the fathoms of mystic +harmony, as the main song sings and rings from the depths of dim legend +in lowest brass, amidst a soft humming chorus, in constant shift of +fairy tone. + +A flight of ascending chords brings the big exaltation of the first +prophetic phrase, ever answered by exultant ring of trumpet, ending in +sudden awing pause. An eerie train of echoes from the verse of prelude +leads to a loveliest last song of the poignant answer of main song, over +murmuring strings. It + +[Music: (_Tremolo_ violins with lower 8ve.) +(Reeds) +(Horns) +(Violas)] + +is carried on by the mystic choir of sombre brass in shifting steps of +enchanting harmony and dies away in tenderest lingering accents.[A] + +[Footnote A: In place of the uncompleted Finale, Bruckner is said to +have directed that his "_Te Deum_" be added to the other movements.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +HUGO WOLFF[A] + +_"PENTHESILEA." SYMPHONIC POEM_[B] + +[Footnote A: Hugo Wolff, born in 1860, died in 1903.] + +[Footnote B: After the like-named tragedy of Heinrich von Kleist.] + + +An entirely opposite type of composer, Hugo Wolff, shows the real +strength of modern German music in a lyric vein, sincere, direct and +fervent. His longest work for instruments has throughout the charm of +natural rhythm and melody, with subtle shading of the harmony. Though +there is no want of contrapuntal design, the workmanship never obtrudes. +It is a model of the right use of symbolic motives in frequent +recurrence and subtle variation. + +In another instrumental piece, the "Italian Serenade," all kinds of +daring suspenses and gentle clashes and surprises of harmonic scene give +a fragrance of dissonant euphony, where a clear melody ever rules. +"Penthesilea," with a climactic passion and a sheer contrast of tempest +and tenderness, uttered with all the mastery of modern devices, has a +pervading thrall of pure musical beauty. We are tempted to hail in Wolff +a true poet in an age of pedants and false prophets. + + + +PENTHESILEA.--A TRAGEDY BY HEINRICH VON KLEIST.[A] + +[Footnote A: German, 1776-1811.] + +As Wolff's work is admittedly modelled on Kleist's tragedy, little known +to the English world, it is important to view the main lines of this +poem, which has provoked so divergent a criticism in Germany. + +On the whole, the tragedy seems to be one of those daring, even profane +assaults on elemental questions by ways that are untrodden if not +forbidden. It is a wonderful type of Romanticist poetry in the bold +choice of subject and in the intense vigor and beauty of the verse. +Coming with a shock upon the classic days of German poetry, it met with +a stern rebuke from the great Goethe. But a century later we must surely +halt in following the lead of so severe a censor. The beauty of diction +alone seems a surety of a sound content,--as when Penthesilea exclaims: + + "A hero man can be--a Titan--in distress, + But like a god is he when rapt in blessedness." + +An almost convincing symbolism has been suggested of the latent meaning +of the poem by a modern critic,[A]--a symbolism that seems wonderfully +reflected in Wolff's music. The charge of perverted passion can be based +only on certain lines, and these are spoken within the period of madness +that has overcome the heroine. This brings us to the final point which +may suggest the main basic fault in the poem, considered as art. At +least it is certainly a question whether pure madness can ever be a +fitting subject in the hero of a tragedy. Ophelia is an episode; +Hamlet's madness has never been finally determined. Though the Erinnys +hunted Orestes in more than one play, yet no single Fury could, after +all, be the heroine of tragedy. Penthesilea became in the crisis a pure +Fury, and though she may find here her own defense, the play may not +benefit by the same plea. On the other hand, the madness is less a +reality than an impression of the Amazons who cannot understand the +heroine's conflicting feelings. There is no one moment in the play when +the hearer's sympathy for the heroine is destroyed by a clear sense of +her insanity. + +[Footnote A: Kuno Francke. See the notes of Philip Hale in the programme +book of the Boston Symphony Orchestra of April 3-4, 1908.] + +For another word on the point of symbolism, it must be remembered that +the whole plot is one of supernatural legend where somehow human acts +and motives need not conform to conventional rule, and where symbolic +meaning, as common reality disappears, is mainly eminent. It is in this +same spirit that the leading virtues of the race, of war or of peace, +are typified by feminine figures. + +The Tragedy is not divided into acts; it has merely four and twenty +scenes--upon the battle-field of Troy. The characters are Penthesilea, +Queen of the Amazons; her chief leaders, Prothoe, Meroe and Asteria, and +the high priestess of Diana. Of the Greeks there are Achilles, Odysseus, +Diomede and Antilochus. Much of the fighting and other action is not +seen, but is reported either by messengers or by present witnesses of a +distant scene. + +The play begins with the battle raging between Greeks and Amazons. +Penthesilea with her hosts amazes the Greeks by attacking equally the +Trojans, her reputed allies. She mows down the ranks of the Trojans, and +yet refuses all proffers of the Greeks. + +Thus early we have the direct, uncompromising spirit,--a kind of +feminine Prometheus. The first picture of the heroine is of a Minerva in +full array, stony of gaze and of expression until--she sees Achilles. +Here early comes the conflict of two elemental passions. Penthesilea +recoils from the spell and dashes again into her ambiguous warfare. For +once Greeks and Trojans are forced to fight in common defence. + + "The raging Queen with blows of thunder struck + As she would cleave the whole race of the Greeks + Down to its roots.... + + * * * * * + + "More of the captives did she take + Than she did leave us eyes to count the list, + Or arms to set them free again. + + * * * * * + + "Often it seemed as if a special hate + Against Achilles did possess her breast. + + * * * * * + + "Yet in a later moment, when + His life was given straight into her hands, + Smiling she gave it back, as though a present; + His headlong course to Hades she did stay." + +In midst of the dual battle between Achilles and the Queen, a Trojan +prince comes storming and strikes a treacherous blow against the armor +of the Greek. + + "The Queen is stricken pale; for a brief moment + Her arms hang helpless by her sides; and then, + Shaking her locks about her flaming cheeks, + Dashes her sword like lightning in his throat, + And sends him rolling to Achilles' feet." + +The Greek leaders resolve to retreat from the futile fight and to call +Achilles from the mingled chase of love and war. + +Achilles is now reported taken by the Amazons. The battle is vividly +depicted: Achilles caught on a high ledge with his war-chariot; the +Amazon Queen storming the height from below. The full scene is witnessed +from the stage,--Penthesilea pursuing almost alone; Achilles suddenly +dodges; the Queen as quickly halts and rears her horse; the Amazons fall +in a mingled heap; Achilles escapes, though wounded. But he refuses to +follow his companions to the camp; he swears to bring home the Queen +wooed in the bloody strife of her own seeking. + +Penthesilea recoils with like vehemence from the entreaties of her +maids, intent upon the further battle, resolved to overcome the hero or +to die. She forbids the Festival of Roses until she has vanquished +Achilles. In her rage she banishes her favorite Prothoe from her +presence, but in a quick revulsion takes her back. + +In the next scene the high priestess and the little Amazon maids prepare +the Feast, which Penthesilea had ordered in her confident attack upon +the fleeing Greeks. One of the Rose-maidens recounts the passing scene +of the Queen's amazing action. The indignant priestess sends her command +to the Queen to return to the celebration. Though all the royal suite +fling themselves in her path, Penthesilea advances to the dual +battle.[A] + +[Footnote A: The law of the Amazons commanded them to wage war as told +them by the oracle of Mars. The prisoners were brought to the Feast of +Roses and wedded by their captors. After a certain time they were sent +back to their homes. All male children of the tribe were put to death.] + +In a renewal of her personal contest, regardless of the common cause, +and in her special quest of a chosen husband, Penthesilea has broken the +sacred law. + +The flight now follows of the Amazon hosts. When the two combatants meet +in the shock of lances, the Queen falls in the dust; her pallor is +reflected in Achilles' face. Leaping from his horse, he bends o'er her, +calls her by names, and woos life back into her frame. Her faithful +maids, whom she has forbidden to harm Achilles, lead her away. And here +begins the seeming madness of the Queen when she confesses her love. For +a moment she yields to her people's demands, but the sight of the +rose-wreaths kindles her rage anew. Prothoe defends her in these lines: + + "Of life the highest blessing she attempted. + Grazing she almost grasped. Her hands now fail her + For any other lesser goal to reach." + +In the last part of the scene the Queen falls more and deeper into +madness. It is only in a too literal spirit that one will find an +oblique meaning,--by too great readiness to discover it. In reality +there seems to be an intense conflict of opposite emotions in the +heroine: the pure woman's love, without sense of self; and the wild +overpowering greed of achievement. Between these grinding stones she +wears her heart away. A false interpretation of decadent theme comes +from regarding the two emotions as mingled, instead of alternating in a +struggle. + +Achilles advances, having flung away his armor. Prothoe persuades him to +leave the Queen, when she awakes, in the delusion that she has conquered +and that he is the captive. Thus when she beholds the hero, she breaks +forth into the supreme moment of exaltation and of frenzied triumph. The +main love scene follows: + +Penthesilea tells Achilles the whole story of the Amazons, the conquest +of the original tribe, the rising of the wives of the murdered warriors +against the conquerors; the destruction of the right breast (_A-mazon_); +the dedication of the "brides of Mars" to war and love in one. In +seeking out Achilles the Queen has broken the law. But here again +appears the double symbolic idea: Achilles meant to the heroine not love +alone, but the overwhelming conquest, the great achievement of her life. + +The first feeling of Penthesilea, when disillusioned, is of revulsive +anger at a kind of betrayal. The Amazons recover ground in a wild desire +to save their Queen, and they do rescue her, after a parting scene of +the lovers. But Penthesilea curses the triumph that snatches her away; +the high priestess rebukes her, sets her free of her royal duties, to +follow her love if she will. The Queen is driven from one mood to +another, of devoted love, burning ambition and mortal despair. + +Achilles now sends a challenge to Penthesilea, knowing the Amazon +conditions. Against all entreaty the Queen accepts, not in her former +spirit, but in the frenzy of desperate endeavor, in the reawakened rage +of her ambition, spurred and pricked by the words of the priestess. + +The full scene of madness follows. She calls for her dogs and elephants, +and the full accoutrement of battle. Amidst the terror of her own +warriors, the rolling of thunder, she implores the gods' help to crush +the Greek. In a final touch of frenzy she aims a dart at her faithful +Prothoe. + +The battle begins, Achilles in fullest confidence in Penthesilea's love, +unfrightened by the wild army of dogs and elephants. The scene, told by +the present on-lookers, is heightened by the cries of horror and dismay +of the Amazons themselves. + +Achilles falls; Penthesilea, a living Fury, dashes upon him with her +dogs in an insane orgy of blood. The Queen in the culminating scene is +greeted by the curses of the high priestess. Prothoe masters her horror +and turns back to soothe the Queen. Penthesilea, unmindful of what has +passed, moves once more through the whole gamut of her torturing +emotions, and is almost calmed when she spies the bier with the hero's +body. The last blow falls when upon her questions she learns the full +truth of her deed. The words she utters (that have been cited by the +hostile critics) may well be taken as the ravings of hopeless remorse, +with a symbolic play of words. She dies, as she proclaims, by the knife +of her own anguish. + +The last lines of Prothoe are a kind of epilogue: + + "She sank because too proud and strong she flourished. + The half-decayed oak withstands the tempest; + The vigorous tree is headlong dashed to earth + Because the storm has struck into its crown."[A] + +[Footnote A: Translations, when not otherwise credited, are by the +author.] + +The opening scene--"Lively, vehement: Departure of the Amazons for +Troy"--begins impetuous and hefty with big strokes of the throbbing +motive, + +[Music: (_Tutti_ with higher 8ves.) +(Piccolo in 8ve.) +(Bass in 8ve.)] + +the majestic rhythm coursing below, lashed by a quicker phrase above. +Suddenly trumpets sound, somewhat more slowly, a clarion call answered +by a choir of other trumpets and horns in enchanting retort of changing +harmonies. Ever a fresh color of + +[Music: (Flutes and oboes) +(Answering groups of brass) +(Lower strings _pizz._)] + +tone sounds in the call of the brass, as if here or yonder on the +battle-field. Sometimes it is almost too sweetly chanting for fierce +war. But presently it turns to a wilder mood and breaks in galloping +pace into a true chorus of song with clear cadence. + +[Music: (Flutes with reeds in lower 8ve.) +(Violins with upper 8ve.) +(Lower strings and brass with lower 8ve.)] + +The joyful tinge is quickly lost in the sombre hue of another phase of +war-song that has a touch of funeral trip (though it is all in 3/4 +time): + +[Music: (Muted strings) +(Horns and bassoons)] + +A melody in the minor plays first in a choir of horns and bassoons, +later in united strings, accompanied by soft rolls of drums and a touch +of the lowest brass. Harp and higher woodwind are added, but the volume +is never transcendent save in a single burst when it is quickly hushed +to the first ominous whisper. Out of this sombre song flows a romance of +tender sentiment, _tranquillo_ in strings, followed by the wood. The +crossing threads of expressive melody + +[Music: _Tranquillo_ +(Strings) +(In the midst enters a strain of solo horn)] + +rise in instant renewal of stress and agitation. The joy of battle has +returned, but it seems that the passion of love burns in midst of the +glow of battle, each in its separate struggle, and both together in one +fatal strife. The sombre melody returns in full career, dying down to a +pause.[A] + +[Footnote A: In a somewhat literal commentary attributed to Dr. Richard +Batka, the Amazons here, "having reached their destination, go into +night-encampment--as represented by the subdued roll of the +kettle-drums, with which the movement concludes."] + +_Molto sostenuto_, in changed rhythm of three slow beats, comes +"Penthesilea's Dream of the Feast of Roses." Over a thick cluster of +harmonies in harp and strings the higher wood sing a new song in long +drawn lyric notes with ravishing turns of tonal color,--a + +[Music: _Molto sostenuto_ +(Flutes, oboes and clarinets) +(Rapid arpeggic figures of harps and muted strings)] + +dual song and in many groups of two. The tranquil current of the dream +is gradually disturbed; the main burden is dimmed in hue and in mood. +Faster, more fitful is the flow of melody, with hostile intruding motive +below; it dashes at last into the tragic phase--Combats; Passions; +Madness; Destruction--in very rapid tempo of 2/2 rhythm. + +In broad, masterful pace, big contrary figures sweep up and down, +cadencing in almost joyous chant, gliding, indeed, into a pure hymn, as +of triumph (that harks back to the chorussing song in the beginning). + +Throughout the poem the musical symbols as well as the motives of +passion are closely intertwined. Thus the identity of the impetuous +phrase of the very beginning is clear with the blissful theme of the +Dream of the Feast of Roses. Here, at the end of the chorussing verse is +a play or a strife of phrases where we cannot escape a symbolic intent. +To _tremolo_ of violas the cellos hold a tenor of descending melody over +a rude rumbling phrase of the basses of wood and strings, while the oboe +sings in the treble an expressive answer of ascending notes. A conflict +is + +[Music: (_Molto vivace_) +(cello _molto espressivo_) +(Violas) +(Basses and bassoons with upper 8ve.) +(Oboe) _espressivo_] + +evident, of love and ambition, of savage and of gentle passion, of chaos +and of beauty. At the height, the lowest brass intrude a brutal note of +triumph of the descending theme. To the victory of Pride succeeds a +crisis of passionate yearning. But at the very height is a plunge into +the fit of madness, the fatal descending phrase (in trombones) is ever +followed by furious pelting spurts in the distorted main theme. + +At last the paroxysm abates, throbbing ever slower, merging into the +tender song of the Dream that now rises to the one great burst of +love-passion. But it ends in a wild rage that turns right into the +war-song of the beginning. And this is much fuller of incident than +before. Violins now ring an hostile motive (the former rumbling phrase +of basses) from the midst of the plot against the main theme in +trumpets. Instead of the former pageantry, here is the pure frenzy of +actual war. The trumpet melodies resound amidst the din of present +battle. Instead of the other gentler episodes, here is a more furious +raving of the mad Queen (in the hurried main motive), where we seem to +see the literal dogs of war let loose and spurred on,--each paroxysm +rising to a higher shock. + +Great is the vehemence of speed and sound as the dull doom of +destruction drones in the basses against a grim perversion of the +yearning theme above, that overwhelms the scene with a final shriek. + +Slowly the dream of love breathes again, rises to a fervent burst, then +yields to the fateful chant and ends in a whisper of farewell. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +MAHLER[A] + +[Footnote A: Gustav Mahler, 1860-1911.] + + +In Mahler the most significant sign is a return to a true counterpoint, +as against a mere overlading of themes, that began in Wagner and still +persists in Strauss,--an artificial kind of structure that is never +conceived as a whole. + +While we see in Mahler much of the duophonic manner of his teacher, +Bruckner, in the work of the younger man the barren art is crowned with +the true fire of a sentient poet. So, if Bruckner had little to say, he +showed the way to others. And Mahler, if he did not quite emerge from +the mantle of Beethoven, is a link towards a still greater future. The +form and the technic still seem, as with most modern symphonies, too +great for the message. It is another phase of orchestral virtuosity, of +intellectual strain, but with more of poetic energy than in the +symphonies of the French or other Germans. + +In other forms we see this happy reaction towards ancient art, as in the +organ music of a Reger. But in the Finale of Mahler's Fifth Symphony +there is a true serenity, a new phase of symphony, without the climactic +stress of traditional triumph, yet none the less joyous in essence. + +We cannot help rejoicing that in a sincere and poetic design of +symphony is blended a splendid renaissance of pure counterpoint, that +shines clear above the modern spurious pretence. The Finale of Mahler's +Fifth Symphony is one of the most inspired conceptions of counterpoint +in all music. In it is realized the full dream of a revival of the art +in all its glorious estate. + + +_SYMPHONY NO. 5_ + + I.--1. _Funeral March._ + 2. _In stormy motion (with greatest vehemence)._ + II.--3. _Scherzo (with vigor,--not too fast)._ +III.--4. _Adagietto (very slowly)._ + 5. _Rondo-Finale (allegro)._ + +Mahler's Fifth Symphony, whatever be its intrinsic merit, that can be +decided only by time and wear, undoubtedly marks a high point of +orchestral splendor, in the regard of length and of the complexity of +resources. By the latter is meant not so much the actual list of +instruments as the pervading and accumulating use of thematic +machinery.[A] + +[Footnote A: The symphony is probably the longest instrumental work that +had appeared at the time of its production in 1904. The list of +instruments comprises 4 flutes, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets, 2 bassoons, +contra-bassoon, 6 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, kettle-drums, +cymbals, bass-drum, snare-drum, triangle, glockenspiel, gong, harp and +strings. + +Compared with D'Indy's Second Symphony, the Fifth of Mahler has a larger +body of brass as well as of woodwind.] + +The plan of movements is very original and in a way, two-fold. There are +three great divisions, of which the first comprises a Funeral March, +and an untitled Allegro in vehement motion. The second division has +merely the single movement, Scherzo. In the third are an Adagietto and a +Rondo Finale. + +_I.--1. Funeral March._--A call of trumpet, of heroic air and tread, is +answered by strident chords ending in a sonorous motive of horns that +leads to the funeral trip, of low brass. The mournful song of the +principal melody appears presently in the strings, then returns to the +funeral trip and to the strident chords. The first trumpet motive now +sounds with this clanging phrase and soon the original call abounds in +other brass. The deep descending notes of the horns recur and the full +song of the funeral melody much extended, growing into a duet of cellos +and high woodwind, + +[Music: (Strings, bassoons and clarinets)] + +and further into hymnal song on a new motive. + +[Music: (Wood, horns and strings) +(Bass notes in lowest wood and strings)] + +So the various melodies recur with new mood and manner. Suddenly, in +fierce abandon, a martial tramp of the full band resounds, in gloomy +minor, + +[Music: _Suddenly faster. Impassioned_ +(Rapid descending figure in violins) +(Trumpet) +(Trombones) +(Tuba and strings)] + +the violins in rapid rage of wailing figure: the trumpet strikes the +firm note of heroic plaint. + +Wild grief breaks out on all sides, the strings singing in passionate +answer to the trumpet, the high wood carrying on the rapid motion. At +the height of the storm the woodwind gain control with measured rhythm +of choral melody. Or perhaps the real height is the expressive double +strain, in gentle pace, of the strings, and the wood descending from on +high. + +[Music: (Woodwind doubled below) +(Strings doubled above) +_espressivo_ +(Brass and strings)] + +The duet is carried on in wilder mood by most of the voices. + +A return to the solemn pace comes by imperceptible change, the softer +hues of grief merging with the fiercer cries. Now various strains sound +together,--the main funeral melody in the woodwind. + +In the close recurs the full flow of funeral song, with the hymnal +harmonies. In the refrain of the stormy duet the sting of passion is +gone; the whole plaint dies away amid the fading echoes of the trumpet +call. + +_I.--2._ The second movement, the real first Allegro, is again clearly +in two parts. Only, the relative paces are exactly reversed from the +first movement. In tempestuous motion, with greatest vehemence, a +rushing motive of the basses is stopped by a chord of brass and +strings,--the chord itself reverberating to the lower rhythm. + +[Music: _In stirring motion. With greatest vehemence_ +(Brass and strings) +(Bass of wood and string) +(Trumpets)] + +Throughout the whole symphony is the dual theme, each part spurring the +other. Here presently are phrases in conflicting motion, countermarching +in a stormy maze. It is all, too, like noisy preparation,--a manoeuvring +of forces before the battle. Three distinct figures there are before a +blast of horn in slower notes, answered by shrill call in highest wood. +There enters a regular, rhythmic gait and a clearer tune, suggested by +the call. + +[Music: (Horns, oboes and 1st violins, G string) +(Strings and wood) +(Tuba and strings) +(Second violins)] + +In the brilliant medley there is ever a new figure we had not perceived. +So when the tune has been told, trumpets and horns begin with what seems +almost the main air, and the former voices sound like mere heralds. +Finally the deep trombones and tuba enter with a sonorous call. Yet the +first rapid trip of all has the main legend. + +As the quicker figures gradually retire, a change of pace appears, to +the tramp of funeral. Yet the initial and incident strains are of the +former text. Out of it weaves the new, slower melody: + +[Music: _Much slower_ (in the tempo of the former funeral march) +(Oboes) +(Flutes and clarinets) +(Cellos) +_molto cantando_] + +Throughout, the old shrill call sounds in soft lament. Hardly like a +tune, a discourse rather, it winds along, growing and changing naively +ever to a new phrase. And the soft calls about seem part of the melody. +An expressive line rising in the clarinet harks back to one of the later +strains of the funeral march. + +The second melody or answer (in low octaves of strings) is a scant +disguise of the lower tune in the stormy duet of the first movement. Yet +all the strains move in the gentle, soothing pace and mood until +suddenly awakened to the first vehement rhythm. + +Before the slower verse returns is a long plaint of cellos to softest +roll of drums. The gentle calls that usher in the melody have a +significant turn, upwards instead of down. All the figures of the solemn +episode appear more clearly. + +On the spur of the hurrying main motive of trumpets the first pace is +once more regained. + +A surprise of plot is before us. In sudden recurrence of funeral march +the hymnal song of the first movement is heard. As suddenly, we are +plunged into the first joyful scene of the symphony. Here it is most +striking how the call of lament has become triumphant, as it seems +without a change of note. And still more wonderful,--the same melody +that first uttered a storm of grief, then a gentle sadness, now has a +firm exultant ring. To be sure, it is all done with the magic trip of +bass,--as a hymn may be a perfect dance. + +Before the close we hear the first fanfare of trumpet from the opening +symphony, that has the ring of a motto of the whole. At the very end is +a transfigured entrance,--very slowly and softly, to a celestial touch +of harp, of the first descending figure of the movement. + +_II.--3. Scherzo._ Jovial in high degree, the Scherzo begins with the +thematic complexity of modern fashion. In dance tune of three beats +horns lead off with a jolly call; strings strike dancing chords; the +lower wind play a rollicking answer, but together with the horns, both +strains continuing in dancing duet. Still the saucy call of horns seems +the main text, though no single tune reigns alone. + +[Music: (Horns) +_Scherzo. With vigor, not too fast_ +(Strings and flutes) +(Strings) +(Clarinets and basses)] + +The violins now play above the horns; then the cellos join and there is +a three-part song of independent tunes, all in the dance. So far in +separate voices it is now taken up by full chorus, though still the +basses sing one way, trebles another, and the middle horns a third. And +now the high trumpet strikes a phrase of its own. But they are all in +dancing swing, of the fibre of the first jolly motive. + +A new episode is started by a quicker _obligato_ of violins, in +neighboring minor, that plays about a fugue of the woodwind on an +incisive theme where the cadence has a strange taste of bitter sweet +harmony in the modern Gallic manner. + +[Music: (Clarinets) +(Violas) +(Violins) +(Bass of brass and wood)] + +Horns and violins now pursue their former duet, but in the changed hue +of minor where the old concords are quaintly perverted. But this is only +to give a merrier ring to the bright madrigal that follows in sweetly +clashing higher wood, with the trip still in the violins. Thence the +horns and violins break again into the duet in the original key. Here +the theme is wittily inverted in the bass, while other strings sing +another version above. + +So the jolly dance and the quaint fugue alternate; a recurring phrase is +carried to a kind of dispute, with opposite directions above and below +and much augmented motion in the strings. + +In the dance so far, in "three time," is ever the vigorous stamp on the +third beat, typical of the German peasant "_Laendler_." Here of a sudden +is a change as great as possible within the continuing dance of three +steps. "More tranquil" in pace, in soft strings, without a trace of the +_Laendler_ stamp, is a pure waltz in pretty imitation of tuneful theme. + +[Music: _More gently_ (G string) (D string) +(Strings) +acc't _pizzicato_] + +And so the return to the vigorous rough dance is the more refreshing. +The merry mood yields to a darker temper. "Wild" the strings rush in +angry fugue on their rapid phrase; the quaint theme is torn to shreds, +recalling the fierce tempest of earlier symphony. + +But the first sad note of the Scherzo is in the recitative of horn, +after the lull. A phrase of quiet reflection, with which the horn +concludes the episode as with an "_envoi_," is now constantly rung; it +is wrought from the eerie tempest; like refined metal the melody is +finally poured; out of its guise is the theme now of mournful dance. + +"Shyly" the tune of the waltz answers in softest oboe. In all kinds of +verses it is sung, in expressive duet of lower wood, of the brass, then +of high reeds; in solo trumpet with counter-tune of oboe, finally in +high flutes. Here we see curiously, as the first themes reappear, a +likeness with the original trumpet-call of the symphony. In this guise +of the first dance-theme the movements are bound together. The _envoi_ +phrase is here evident throughout. + +At this mystic stage, to pure dance trip of low strings the waltz +reenters very softly in constant growing motion, soon attaining the old +pace and a new fulness of sound. A fresh spur is given by a wild motion +of strings, as in the fugal episode; a new height of tempest is reached +where again the distorted shreds of first dance appear, with phrases of +the second. From it like sunshine from the clouds breaks quickly the +original merry trip of dance. + +The full cycle of main Scherzo returns with all stress of storm and +tragedy. But so fierce is the tempest that we wonder how the glad mood +can prevail. And the sad _envoi_ returns and will not be shaken off. +The sharp clash of fugue is rung again and again, as if the cup must be +drained to the drop. Indeed, the serious later strain does prevail, all +but the final blare of the saucy call of brass.[A] + +[Footnote A: In the Scherzo are chimes, accenting the tune of the dance, +and even castanets, besides triangle and other percussion. The second +movement employs the harp and triangle.] + +_III.--4. Adagietto._[A] "Very slowly" first violins carry the +expressive song that is repeated by the violas. + +[Footnote A: The Adagietto is scored simply for harp and strings; nor +are the latter unusually divided.] + +[Music: _Adagietto_ +(Strings and harp)] + +A climax is reached by all the violins in unison. A new glow, with +quicker motion, is in the episode, where the violins are sharply +answered by the violas, rising to a dramatic height and dying away in a +vein of rare lyric utterance. + +It is all indeed a pure lyric in tones. + +_III.--5. Rondo-Finale._ The whole has the dainty, light-treading humor +that does not die of its own vehemence. Somewhat as in the Ninth +Symphony of Beethoven,--tyrant of classical traditions, the themes +appear right in the beginning as if on muster-roll, each in separate, +unattended song. A last chance cadence passes down the line of voices +and settles into a comfortable rhythm as prevailing theme, running in +melodious extension, and merging after a + +[Music: (Clarinets, horns and bassoons) (Flutes and oboes) +_Allegro commodo_] + +hearty conclusion in the jovially garrulous fugue. + +Here the counter-theme proves to be one of the initial tunes and takes a +leading role until another charming strain appears on high,--a pure +nursery rhyme crowning the learned fugue. Even this is a guise of one +of the original motives in the mazing medley, where it seems we could +trace the ancestry of each if we could linger and if it really mattered. +And yet there is a rare charm in these subtle turns; it is the secret +relevance that counts the most. + +The fugue reaches a sturdy height with one of the first themes in lusty +horns, and suddenly falls into a pleasant jingle, prattling away in the +train of important figures, the kind that is pertinent with no outer +likeness. + +[Music: _Grazioso_ +(Strings, bassoons and horns)] + +Everywhere, to be sure, the little rhythmic cadence appears; the whole +sounds almost like the old children's canon on "Three Blind Mice"; +indeed the themal inversion is here the main tune. Then in the bass the +phrase sounds twice as slow as in the horns. There are capers and +horseplay; a sudden shift of tone; a false alarm of fugue; suddenly we +are back in the first placid verse of the rhythmic motive. + +Here is a new augmentation in resonant horns and middle strings, and the +melodious extension. A former motive that rings out in high reed, seems +to have the function of concluding each episode. + +A new stretch of fugue appears with new counter-theme, that begins in +long-blown notes of horns. It really is no longer a fugue; it has lapsed +into mere smooth-rolling motion underneath a verse of primal tune. And +presently another variant of graceful episode brings a delicious +lilt,--_tender, but expressive_. + +[Music: _Grazioso_ +_espressivo_ +(Strings)] + +With all the subtle design there is no sense of the lamp, in the gentle +murmur of quicker figure or melodious flow of upper theme. Moving is the +lyric power and sweetness of this multiple song. As to themal +relation,--one feels like regarding it all as inspired madrigal, where +the maze and medley is the thing, where the tunes are not meant to be +distinguished. It becomes an abandoned orgy of clearest counterpoint. +Throughout is a blending of fugue and of children's romp, anon with the +tenderness of lullaby and even the glow of love-song. A brief mystic +verse, with slow descending strain in the high wood, preludes the +returning gambol of running strings, where the maze of fugue or canon +is in the higher flowing song, with opposite course of answering tune, +and a height of jolly revel, where the bright trumpet pours out the +usual concluding phrase. The rhythmic episode, in whimsical change, here +sings with surprise of lusty volume. So the merry round goes on to a big +resonant _Amen_ of final acclaim, where the little phrase steals out as +naturally as in the beginning. + +Then in quicker pace it sounds again all about, big and little, and +ends, after a touch of modern Gallic scale, in opposing runs, with a +last light, saucy fling. + +Mahler, we feel again, realizes all the craving that Bruckner breeds for +a kernel of feeling in the shell of counterpoint. Though we cannot deny +a rude breach of ancient rule and mode, there is in Mahler a genuine, +original, individual quality of polyphonic art that marks a new stage +since the first in Bach and a second in Beethoven. It is this bold revel +in the neglected sanctuary of the art that is most inspiriting for the +future. And as in all true poetry, this overleaping audacity of design +is a mere expression of simplest gaiety. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +RICHARD STRAUSS[A] + +[Footnote A: Born in 1864.] + + +Much may be wisely written on the right limits of music as a depicting +art. The distinction is well drawn between actual delineation, of figure +or event, and the mere suggestion of a mood. It is no doubt a fine line, +and fortunately; for the critic must beware of mere negative philosophy, +lest what he says cannot be done, be refuted in the very doing. If +Lessing had lived a little later, he might have extended the principles +of his "Laocoeon" beyond poetry and sculpture into the field of music. +Difficult and ungrateful as is the task of the critical philosopher, it +must be performed. There is every reason here as elsewhere why men +should see and think clearly. + +It is perhaps well that audiences should cling to the simple verdict of +beauty, that they should not be led astray by the vanity of finding an +answer; else the composer is tempted to create mere riddles. So we may +decline to find precise pictures, and content ourselves with the music. +The search is really time wasted; it is like a man digging in vain for +gold and missing the sunshine above. + +Strauss may have his special meanings. But the beauty of the work is +for us all-important. We may expect him to mark his scenes. We may not +care to crack that kind of a nut.[A] It is really not good eating. +Rather must we be satisfied with the pure beauty of the fruit, without a +further hidden kernel. There is no doubt, however, of the ingenuity of +these realistic touches. It is interesting, here, to contrast Strauss +with Berlioz, who told his stories largely by extra-musical means, such +as the funeral trip, the knell of bells, the shepherd's reed. Strauss at +this point joins with the Liszt-Wagner group in the use of symbolic +motives. Some of his themes have an effect of tonal word-painting. The +roguish laugh of Eulenspiegel is unmistakable. + +[Footnote A: Strauss remarked that in _Till Eulenspiegel_ he had given +the critics a hard nut to crack.] + +It is in the harmonic rather than the melodic field that the fancy of +Strauss soars the freest. It is here that his music bears an individual +stamp of beauty. Playing in and out among the edges of the main harmony +with a multitude of ornamental phrases, he gains a new shimmer of +brilliancy. Aside from instrumental coloring, where he seems to outshine +all others in dazzling richness and startling contrasts, he adds to the +lustre by a deft playing in the overtones of his harmonies, casting the +whole in warmest hue. + +If we imagine the same riotous license in the realm of tonal +noise,--cacophony, that is, where the aim is not to enchant, but to +frighten, bewilder, or amaze; to give some special foil to sudden +beauty; or, last of all, for graphic touch of story, we have another +striking element of Strauss's art. The anticipation of a Beethoven in +the drum of the Scherzo of the Fifth Symphony, or the rhythmic whims of +a Schumann in his Romantic piano pieces suggest the path of much of this +license. Again, as passing notes may run without heed of harmony, since +ancient days, so long sequences of other figures may hold their moving +organ-point against clashing changes of tonality. + +Apart from all this is the modern "counterpoint," where, if it is quite +the real thing, Strauss has outdone the boldest dreams of ancient school +men. But with the lack of cogent form, and the multitude of small +motives it seems a different kind of art. We must get into the +view-point of romantic web of infinite threads, shimmering or jarring in +infinite antagonism (of delayed harmony). By the same process comes +always the tremendous accumulation towards the end. As the end and +essence of the theme seems a graphic quality rather than intrinsic +melody, so the main pith and point of the music lies in the weight and +power of these final climaxes. + + +_TOD UND VERKLAeRUNG (DEATH AND TRANSFIGURATION), TONE POEM_ + +It may be well to gather a few general impressions before we attempt the +study of a work radical in its departure from the usual lines of tonal +design. + +There can be no doubt of the need of vigilance if we are to catch the +relevance of all the strains. To be sure, perhaps this perception is +meant to be subconscious. In any case the consciousness would seem to +ensure a full enjoyment. + +It is all based on the motif of the Wagner drama and of the Liszt +symphonies, and it is carried to quite as fine a point. Only here we +have no accompanying words to betray the label of the theme. But in the +quick flight of themes, how are we to catch the subtle meaning? The +interrelation seems as close as we care to look, until we are in danger +of seeing no woods for the trees. + +Again the danger of preconception is of the greatest. We may get our +mind all on the meaning and all off the music. The clear fact is the +themes do have a way of entering with an air of significance which they +challenge us to find. The greatest difficulty is to distinguish the +themes that grow out of each other, as a rose throws off its early +petals, from those that have a mere chance similarity. Even this +likeness may have its own intended meaning, or it may be all beside the +mark. But we may lose not merely the musical, but even the dramatic +sequence in too close a poring over themal derivation. On the other hand +we may defy the composer himself and take simply what he gives, as if on +first performance, before the commentators have had a chance to breed. +And this may please him best in the end. + +We must always attend more to the mood than to themal detail as +everywhere in real music, after all. Moments of delight and triumph we +know there are in this work. But they are mere instants. For it is all +the feverish dream of death. There can be no earlier rest. Snatches they +are of fancy, of illusion, as, says the priest in Oedipus, is all of +life. + +It may be worth while, too, to see how pairs of themes ever occur in +Strauss, the second in answer, almost in protest, to the first. (It is +not unlike the pleading in the Fifth Symphony of the second theme with +the sense of doom in the first.) So we seem to find a motive of fate, +and one of wondering, and striving; a theme of beauty and one of +passion,--if we cared to tread on such a dangerous, tempting ground. +Again, we may find whole groups of phrases expressive of one idea, as of +beauty, and another of anxious pursuit. Thus we escape too literal a +themal association. + +Trying a glimpse from the score pure and simple, we find a poem, +opposite the first page, that is said to have been written after the +first production. So, reluctantly, we must wait for the mere +reinforcement of its evidence. + +_Largo_, in uncertain key, begins the throb of irregular rhythm (in +strings) that Bach and Chopin and Wagner have taught us to associate +with suffering. The first figure is a gloomy descent of pairs of chords, +with a hopeless cry above (in the flutes). In the recurrence, the turn +of chord is at last upward. A warmer hue of waving sounds (of harps) is +poured about, and a gentle vision appears on high, shadowed quickly by +a theme of fearful wondering. The chords return as at first. A new +series of descending tones + +[Music: (Flute an 8ve. higher) (Oboe) +_Largo_ +_dolce_ +(Harp with arpeggio groups of six to the quarter)] + +intrude, with a sterner sense of omen, and yield to a full melodic +utterance of longing (again with the + +[Music: (Solo violin muted) +(Horns) +(Harp with arpeggio groups of six to the quarter)] + +soothing play of harp), and in the midst a fresh theme of wistful fear. +For a moment there is a brief glimpse of the former vision. Now the +song, less of longing than of pure bliss, sings free and clear its +descending lay in solo violin, though an answering phrase (in the horns) +of upward striving soon rises from below. The vision now appears again, +the wondering monitor close beside. The melancholy chords return to dim +the beauty. As the descending theme recedes, the rising motive sings a +fuller course on high with a new note of eager, anxious fear. + +All these themes are of utmost pertinence in this evident prologue of +the story. Or at least the germs of all the leading melodies are here. + +In sudden turn of mood to high agitation, a stress of wild desire rings +out above in pairs of sharp ascending chords, while below the wondering +theme rises in growing tumult. A whirling storm of the two phrases ends +in united burst like hymn of battle, on the line of the wondering theme, +but infused with + +[Music: _Alla breve_ +_Tutti_ +(Bass doubled below)] + +resistless energy. Now sings a new discourse of warring phrases that +are dimly traced to the phase of the blissful melody, above the theme of +upward striving. + +[Music: (Theme in woodwind) +_espress._ +(Strings) +(Answer in basses)] + +They wing an eager course, undaunted by the harsh intruding chords. Into +the midst presses the forceful martial theme. All four elements are +clearly evident. The latest gains control, the other voices for the +nonce merely trembling in obedient rhythm. But a new phase of the +wistful motive appears, masterful but not o'ermastering, fiercely +pressing upwards,--and a slower of the changed phrase of blissful song. +The former attains a height of sturdy ascending stride. + +In spite of the ominous stress of chords that grow louder with the +increasing storm, something of assurance comes with the ascending +stride. More and more this seems the dominant idea. + +A new paroxysm of the warring themes rises to the first great climax +where the old symbol of wondering and striving attains a brief moment +of assured ecstatic triumph. + +In a new scene (_meno mosso_), to murmuring strings (where the theme of +striving can possibly be caught) the blissful melody sings in full song, +undisturbed save by the former figure that rises as if to grasp,--sings +later, too, in close sequence of voices. After a short intervening +verse--_leicht bewegt_--where the first vision appears for a moment, the +song is resumed, still in a kind of shadowy chase of slow flitting +voices, _senza espressione_. The rising, eager phrase is disguised in +dancing pace, and grows to a graceful turn of tune. An end comes, _poco +agitato_, with rude intrusion of the hymnal march in harsh contrast of +rough discord; the note of anxious fear, too, strikes in again. But +suddenly, _etwas breiter_, a new joyous mood frightens away the birds of +evil omen. + +Right in the midst of happenings, we must be warned against too close a +view of individual theme. We must not forget that it is on the +contrasted pairs and again the separate groups of phrases, where all +have a certain common modal purpose, that lies the main burden of the +story. Still if we must be curious for fine derivation, we may see in +the new tune of exultant chorus the late graceful turn that now, +reversing, ends in the former rising phrase. Against it sings the first +line of blissful theme. And the first tune of graceful beauty also finds +a place. But they all make one single blended song, full of glad bursts +and cadences. + +Hardly dimmed in mood, it turns suddenly into a phase of languorous +passion, in rich setting of pulsing harp, where now the later figures, +all but the blissful theme, vanish before an ardent song of the +wondering phrase. The motive of passionate desire rises and falls, and +soars in a path of "endless melody," returning on its own line of +flight, playing as if with its shadow, catching its own echo in the +ecstasy of chase. And every verse ends with a new stress of the +insistent upward stride, that grows ever in force and closes with big +reverberating blasts. The theme of the vision joins almost in rough +guise of utmost speed, and the rude marching song breaks in; somehow, +though they add to the maze, they do not dispel the joy. The ruling +phase of passion now rumbles fiercely in lowest depths. The theme of +beauty rings in clarion wind and strings, and now the whole strife ends +in clearest, overwhelming hymn of triumphant gladness, all in the +strides of the old wondering, striving phrase. + +[Music] + +The whole battle here is won. Though former moments are fought through +again (and new melodies grow out of the old plaint), the triumphant +shout is near and returns (ever from a fresh tonal quarter) to chase +away the doubt and fear. All the former phrases sing anew, merging the +tale of their strife in the recurring verse of united paean. The song at +last dies away, breaking like setting sun into glinting rays of +celestial hue, that pale away into dullest murmur. + +Still one returning paroxysm, of wild striving for eluding bliss, and +then comes the close. From lowest depths shadowy tones sing herald +phrases against dim, distorted figures of the theme of beauty,--that +lead to a soft song of the triumphant hymn, _tranquillo_, in gentlest +whisper, but with all the sense of gladness and ever bolder straying of +the enchanting dream. After a final climax the song ends in slow +vanishing echoes. + +The poet Ritter is said to have added, after the production of the +music, the poem printed on the score, of which the following is a rather +literal translation: + + In the miserable chamber, + Dim with flick'ring candlelight, + Lies a man on bed of sickness. + Fiercely but a moment past + Did he wage with Death the battle; + Worn he sinks back into sleep. + Save the clock's persistent ticking + Not a sound invades the room, + Where the gruesome quiet warns us + Of the neighborhood of Death. + O'er the pale, distended features + Plays a melancholy smile. + Is he dreaming at life's border + Of his childhood golden days? + + But a paltry shrift of sleep + Death begrudges to his victim. + Cruelly he wakes and shakes him, + And the fight begins anew,-- + Throb of life and power of death, + And the horror of the struggle. + Neither wins the victory. + Once again the stillness reigns. + + Worn of battle, he relapses + Sleepless, as in fevered trance. + Now he sees before him passing + Of his life each single scene: + First the glow of childhood dawn, + Bright in purest innocence, + Then the bolder play of youth + Trying new discovered powers, + Till he joins the strife of men, + Burning with an eager passion + For the high rewards of life.-- + To present in greater beauty + What his inner eye beholds, + This is all his highest purpose + That has guided his career. + + Cold and scornful does the world + Pile the barriers to his striving. + Is he near his final goal, + Comes a thund'rous "Halt!" to meet him. + "Make the barrier a stepping, + Ever higher keep your path." + Thus he presses on and urges, + Never ceasing from his aim.-- + What he ever sought of yore + With his spirit's deepeth longing, + Now he seeks in sweat of death, + Seeks--alas! and finds it never. + Though he grasps it clearer now, + Though it grows in living form, + He can never all achieve it, + Nor create it in his thought. + Then the final blow is sounded + From the hammer-stroke of Death, + Breaks the earthly frame asunder, + Seals the eye with final night. + But a mighty host of sounds + Greet him from the space of heaven + With the song he sought below: + Man redeemed,--the world transfigured. + + +_DON JUAN. (TONE POEM.)_ + +A score or more of lines from Lenau's poem of the same title stand as +the subject of the music. + + O magic realm, illimited, eternal, + Of gloried woman,--loveliness supernal! + Fain would I, in the storm of stressful bliss, + Expire upon the last one's lingering kiss! + Through every realm, O friend, would wing my flight, + Wherever Beauty blooms, kneel down to each, + And, if for one brief moment, win delight! + + * * * * * + + I flee from surfeit and from rapture's cloy, + Keep fresh for Beauty service and employ, + Grieving the One, that All I may enjoy. + + My lady's charm to-day hath breath of spring, + To-morrow may the air of dungeon bring. + When with the new love won I sweetly wander, + No bliss is ours upfurbish'd and regilded; + A different love has This to That one yonder,-- + Not up from ruins be my temple builded. + Yea Love life is, and ever must be now, + Cannot be changed or turned in new direction; + It must expire--here find a resurrection; + And, if 'tis real, it nothing knows of rue! + Each Beauty in the world is sole, unique; + So must the love be that would Beauty seek! + So long as Youth lives on with pulse afire, + Out to the chase! To victories new aspire! + + * * * * * + + It was a wond'rous lovely storm that drove me: + Now it is o'er; and calm all round, above me; + Sheer dead is every wish; all hopes o'ershrouded,-- + It was perhaps a flash from heaven descended, + Whose deadly stroke left me with powers ended, + And all the world, so bright before, o'erclouded; + Yet perchance not! Exhausted is the fuel; + And on the hearth the cold is fiercely cruel.[A] + +[Footnote A: Translation by John P. Jackson.] + +In the question of the composer's intent, of general plan and of +concrete detail, it is well to see that the quotation from Lenau's poem +is twice broken by lines of omission; that there are thus three +principal divisions. It cannot be wise to follow a certain kind of +interpretation[A] which is based upon the plot of Mozart's opera. The +spirit of Strauss's music is clearly a purely subjective conception, +where the symbolic figure of fickle desire moves through scenes of +enchantment to a climax of--barren despair. + +[Footnote A: In a complex commentary William Mauke finds Zerlina, Anna +and "The Countess" in the music.] + +To some extent Strauss clearly follows the separate parts of his +quotation. Fervent desire, sudden indifference are not to be mistaken. + +The various love scenes may be filled with special characters without +great harm, save that the mind is diverted from a higher poetic view to +a mere concrete play of events. The very quality of the pure musical +treatment thus loses nobility and significance. Moreover the only +thematic elements in the design are the various "motives" of the hero. + +_Allegro molto con brio_ begins the impetuous main theme in dashing +ascent, + +[Music: _Allegro molto con brio_ +(Unison strings) +(Doubled in higher 8ve.)] + +whimsical play + +[Music: (Woodwind doubled in higher 8ve.)] + +and masterful career. + +[Music: (Doubled in higher 8ve.)] + +The various phases are mingled in spirited song; only the very beginning +seems reserved as a special symbol of a turn in the chase, of the sudden +flame of desire that is kindled anew. + +In the midst of a fresh burst of the main phrase are gentle strains of +plaint (_flebile_). And now a tenderly sad motive in the wood sings +against the marching phrase, amidst a spray of light, dancing chords. +Another song of the main theme is spent in a vanishing tremolo of +strings and harp, and buried in a rich chord whence rises a new song +(_molto espressivo_) or rather a duet, the first of the longer +love-passages. + +The main melody is begun in clarinet and horn and instantly followed (as +in canon) by violins. The climax of this impassioned scene is a titanic +chord of minor, breaking the spell; the end is in a distorted strain of +the melody, followed by a listless refrain of the (original) impetuous +motive (_senza espressione_). + +The main theme breaks forth anew, in the spirit of the beginning. It +yields suddenly before the next episode, a languorous song of lower +strings (_molto appassionato_), strangely broken into by sighing phrases +in the high wood (_flebile_). After further interruption, the love song +is crowned by a broad flowing melody (_sehr getragen und +ausdrucksvoll_)--the main lyric utterance of all. It has a full length +of extended song, proportioned to its distinguished beauty. The dual +quality is very clear throughout the scene. Much of the song is on a +kindred phrase of the lyric melody sung by the clarinet with dulcet +chain of chords of harp. + +Here strikes a climactic tune in forte unison of the four horns (_molto +espressivo e marcato_). It is the clear utterance of a new mood of the +hero,--a purely + +[Music: (Four horns in unison) (Full orchestra)] + +subjective phase. With a firm tread, though charged with pathos, it +seems what we might venture to call a symbol of renunciation. It is +broken in upon by a strange version of the great love song, _agitato_ in +oboes, losing all its queenly pace. As though in final answer comes +again the ruthless phrase of horns, followed now by the original theme. +_Rapidamente_ in full force of strings comes the coursing strain of +impetuous desire. The old and the new themes of the hero are now in +stirring encounter, and the latter seems to prevail. + +The mood all turns to humor and merrymaking. In gay dancing trip serious +subjects are treated jokingly (the great melody of the horns is +mockingly sung by the harp),--in fits and gusts. At the height the +(first) tempestuous motive once more dashes upwards and yields to a +revel of the (second) whimsical phrase. A sense of fated renunciation +seems to pervade the play of feelings of the hero. In the lull, when the +paroxysm is spent, the various figures of his past romances pass in +shadowy review; the first tearful strain, the melody of the first of the +longer episodes,--the main lyric song (_agitato_). + +In the last big flaming forth of the hero's passion victory is once more +with the theme of renunciation,--or shall we say of grim denial where +there is no choice. + +Strauss does not defy tradition (or providence) by ending his poem with +a triumph. A final elemental burst of passion stops abruptly before a +long pause. The end is in dismal, dying harmonies,--a mere dull sigh of +emptiness, a void of joy and even of the solace of poignant grief. + + +_TILL EULENSPIEGEL'S MERRY PRANKS_ + +_In the Manner of Ancient Rogues--In Rondo Form_ + +Hardly another subject could have been more happy for the revelling in +brilliant pranks and conceits of a modern vein of composition. And in +the elusive humor of the subject is not the least charm and fitness. +Too much stress has been laid on the graphic purpose. There is always a +tendency to construe too literally. While we must be in full sympathy +with the poetic story, there is small need to look for each precise +event. We are tempted to go further, almost in defiance, and say that +music need not be definite, even despite the composer's intent. In other +words, if the tonal poet designs and has in mind a group of graphic +figures, he may nevertheless achieve a work where the real value and +beauty lie in a certain interlinear humor and poetry,--where the labels +can in some degree be disregarded. + +Indeed, it is this very abstract charm of music that finds in such a +subject its fullest fitness. If we care to know the pranks exactly, why +not turn to the text? Yet, reading the book, in a way, destroys the +spell. Better imagine the ideal rogue, whimsical, spritely, all of the +people too. But in the music is the real Till. The fine poetry of +ancient humor is all there, distilled from the dregs of folk-lore that +have to us lost their true essence. There is in the music a daemonic +quality, inherent in the subject, that somehow vanishes with the +concrete tale. So we might say the tonal picture is a faithful likeness +precisely in so far as it does not tell the facts of the story. + +Indeed, in this mass of vulgar stories we cannot help wondering at the +reason for their endurance through the centuries, until we feel +something of the spirit of the people in all its phases. A true mirror +it was of stupidity and injustice, presented by a sprite of owlish +wisdom, sporting, teasing and punishing[A] all about. It is a kind of +popular satire, with a strong personal element of a human Puck, or an +impish Robin Hood, with all the fairy restlessness, mocking at human rut +and empty custom. + +[Footnote A: On leaving the scene of some special mischief, Till would +draw a chalk picture of an owl on the door, and write below, _Hic fuit_. +The edition of 1519 has a woodcut of an owl resting on a mirror, that +was carved in stone, the story goes, over Till's grave.] + +It is perhaps in the multitude of the stories, paradoxical though it +seem, that lies the strength. In the number of them (ninety-two +"histories" there are) is an element of universality. It is like the +broom: one straw does not make, nor does the loss of one destroy it; +somewhere in the mass lies the quality of broom. + +In a way Till is the Ulysses of German folk-lore, the hero of trickery, +a kind of _Reinecke Fuchs_ in real life. But he is of the soil as none +of the others. A satyr, in a double sense, is Till; only he is pure +Teuton, of the latter middle ages. + +He is every sort of tradesman, from tailor to doctor. Many of the +stories, perhaps the best, are not stories at all, but merely clever +sayings. In most of the tricks there is a Roland for an Oliver. Till +stops at no estate; parsons are his favorite victims. He is, on the +whole, in favor with the people, though he played havoc with entire +villages. Once he was condemned to death by the Luebeck council. But +even here it was his enemies, whom he had defrauded, that sought +revenge. The others excused the tricks and applauded his escape. Even in +death the scandal and mischief do not cease. + +The directions in Strauss' music are new in their kind and dignity. They +belong quite specially to this new vein of tonal painting. In a double +function, they not merely guide the player, but the listener as well. +The humor is of utmost essence; the humor is the thing, not the play, +nor the story of each of the pranks, in turn, of our jolly rogue. And +the humor lies much in these words of the composer, that give the lilt +of motion and betray a sense of the intended meaning. + +[Music: _Gemaechlich_] + +The tune, sung at the outset _gemaechlich_ (comfortably), is presumably +the rogue _motif_, first in pure innocence of mood. But quickly comes +another, quite opposed in rhythm, that soon hurries into highest speed. +These are not the "subjects" of old tradition. + +[Music: (Horn)] + +And first we are almost inclined to take the "Rondo form" as a new +roguish prank. But we may find a form where the subjects are independent +of the basic themes that weave in and out unfettered by rule--where the +subjects are rather new grouping of the fundamental symbols.[A] + +[Footnote A: It is like the Finale of Brahms' Fourth Symphony, where an +older form (of _passacaglia_) is reared together with a later, one +within the other.] + +After a pause in the furious course of the second theme, a quick piping +phrase sounds _lustig_ (merrily) in the clarinet, answered by a chord of +ominous + +[Music: _Molto allegro_ +(Clar.) +_lustig_] + +token. But slowly do we trace the laughing phrase to the first theme. + +And here is a new whim. Though still in full tilt, the touch of demon is +gone in a kind of ursine clog of the basses. Merely jaunty and clownish +it would be but for the mischievous scream (of high flute) at the end. +And now begins a rage of pranks, where the main phrase is the rogue's +laugh, rising in brilliant gamut of outer pitch and inner mood. + +At times the humor is in the spirit of a Jean Paul, playing between +rough fun and sadness in a fine spectrum of moods. The lighter motive +dances harmlessly about the more serious, intimate second phrase. There +is almost the sense of lullaby before the sudden plunge to wildest +chaos, the only portent being a constant trembling of low strings. All +Bedlam is let loose, where the rogue's shriek is heard through a +confused cackling and a medley of voices here and there on the running +phrase (that ever ends the second theme). The sound of a big rattle is +added to the scene,--where perhaps the whole village is in an uproar +over some wholesale trick of the rogue. + +And what are we to say to this simplest swing of folk-song that steals +in naively to enchanting strum of rhythm. We may speculate about the +Till as the + +[Music: (_Gemaechlich_)] + +people saw him, while elsewhere we have the personal view. The +folk-tunes may not have a special dramatic role. Out of the text of +folk-song, to be sure, all the strains are woven. Here and there we +have the collective voice. If we have watched keenly, we have heard how +the tune, simply though it begins, has later all the line of Till's +personal phrase. Even in the bass it is, too. Of the same fibre is this +demon mockery and the thread of folk legend. + +We cannot pretend to follow all the literal whims. And it is part of the +very design that we are ever surprised by new tricks, as by this saucy +trip of dancing phrase. The purely human touches are clear, and almost +moving in contrast with the impish humor. + +An earlier puzzle is of the second theme. As the composer has refused to +help us, he will not quarrel if we find our own construction. A possible +clue there is. As the story proceeds, aside from the mere abounding fun +and poetry, the more serious theme prevails. Things are happening. And +there come the tell-tale directions. _Liebegluehend_, aflame with love, a +melody now sings in urgent pace, ending with + +[Music: _Liebegluehend_] + +a strange descending note. Presently in quieter mood, _ruhiger_, it +gains a new grace, merely to dash again, _wuetend_, into a fiercer rage +than before. Before long we cannot escape in all this newer melody a +mere slower outline of the second theme. A guess then, such as the +composer invites us to make, is this: It is not exactly a Jekyll and +Hyde, but not altogether different. Here (in the second theme, of horn) +is Till himself,--not the rogue, but the man in his likes and loves and +suffering. The rogue is another, a demon that possesses him to tease +mankind, to tease himself out of his happiness. During the passionate +episode the rogue is banned, save for a grimace now and then, until the +climax, when all in disguise of long passionate notes of resonant bass +the demon theme has full control. But for once it is in earnest, in dead +earnest, we might say. And the ominous chord has a supreme moment, in +the shadow of the fulfilment. + +A new note sounds in solemn legend of lowest wood, sadly beautiful, with +a touch of funeral pace.[A] + +[Footnote A: Strauss told the writer that this was the march of the +jurymen,--"_der Marsch der Schoeffen_." Reproached for killing Till, he +admitted that he had taken a license with the story and added: "In the +epilogue,--there he lives."] + +The impish laugh still keeps intruding. But throughout the scene it is +the Till motive, not the rogue, that fits the stride of the death-march. +To be sure the rogue anon laughs bravely. But the other figure is in +full view. + +[Music: (Lowest woodwind)] + +The sombre legend is, indeed, in a separate phase, its beauty now +distorted in a feverish chase of voices on the main phrase. It is all a +second climax, of a certain note of terror,--of fate. In the midst is a +dash of the rogue's heartiest laugh, amid the echoes of the fearful +chord, while the growing roar of the mob can be heard below. Once again +it rings out undaunted, and then to the sauciest of folk-tunes, +_leichtfertig_, Till dances gaily and jauntily. Presently, in a mystic +passage, _schnell und schattenhaft_ + +[Music: _Leichtfertig_ +(Strings reinforced by clarinets and horns)] + +(like fleeting shadow) a phantom of the rogue's figure passes +stealthily across the horizon. + +_Etwas gemaechlicher_, a graceful duet weaves prettily out of the Till +motive, while the other roars very gently in chastened tones of softest +horns. + +[Music] + +The first course of themes now all recurs, though some of the roguery is +softened and soon trips into purest folk-dance. And yet it is all built +of the rascal theme. It might (for another idle guess) be a general +rejoicing. Besides the tuneful dance, the personal phrase is laughing +and chuckling in between. + +The rejoicing has a big climax in the first folk-song of all, that now +returns in full blast of horns against a united dance of strings and +wood. After a roll of drum loud clanging strokes sound threatening +(_drohend_) in low bass and strings, to which the rascal pipes his theme +indifferently (_gleichgueltig_). The third time, his answer has a +simulated sound (_entstellt_). Finally, on the insistent thud comes a +piteous phrase (_klaeglich_) in running thirds. The dread chords at last +vanish, in the strings. It is very like an actual, physical end. There +is no doubt that the composer here intends the death of Till, in face of +the tradition. + +Follows the epilogue, where in the comfortable swing of the beginning +the first melody is extended in full beauty and significance. All the +pleasantry of the rogue is here, and at the end a last fierce burst of +the demon laugh. + + +_"SINFONIA DOMESTICA."_ + +The work followed a series of tone-poems where the graphic aim is shown +far beyond the dreams even of a Berlioz. It may be said that Strauss, +strong evidence to the contrary, does not mean more than a suggestion of +the mood,--that he plays in the humor and poetry of his subject rather +than depicts the full story. It is certainly better to hold to this view +as long as possible. The frightening penalty of the game of exact +meanings is that if there is one here, there must be another there and +everywhere. There is no blinking the signs of some sort of plot in our +domestic symphony, with figures and situations. The best way is to lay +them before the hearer and leave him to his own reception. + +In the usual sense, there are no separate movements. Though "Scherzo" is +printed after the first appearance of the three main figures, and later +"Adagio" and "Finale," the interplay and recurrence of initial themes is +too constant for the traditional division. It is all a close-woven drama +in one act, with rapidly changing scenes. Really more important than the +conventional Italian names are such headings as "Wiegenlied" +(Cradle-song), and above all, the numerous directions. Here is an almost +conclusive proof of definite intent. To be sure, even a figure on canvas +is not the man himself. Indeed, as music approaches graphic realism, it +is strange how painting goes the other way. Or rather, starting from +opposite points, the two arts are nearing each other. As modern painting +tends to give the feeling of a subject, the subjective impression rather +than the literal outline, we can conceive even in latest musical realism +the "atmosphere" as the principal aim. In other words, we may view +Strauss as a sort of modern impressionist tone-painter, and so get the +best view of his pictures. + +Indeed, cacophony is alone a most suggestive subject. In the first place +the term is always relative, never absolute,--relative in the historic +period of the composition, or relative as to the purpose. One can hardly +say that any combination of notes is unusable. Most striking it is how +the same group of notes makes hideous waste in one case, and a true +tonal logic in another. Again, what was impossible in Mozart's time, may +be commonplace to-day. + +You cannot stamp cacophony as a mere whim of modern decadence. Beethoven +made the noblest use of it and suffered misunderstanding. Bach has it in +his scores with profound effect. And then the license of one age begets +a greater in the next. It is so in poetry, though in far less degree. +For, in music, the actual tones are the integral elements of the art. +They are the idea itself; in poetry the words merely suggest it. + +A final element, independent of the notes themselves, is the official +numbering of themes. Strauss indicates a first, second and third theme, +obviously of the symphony, not of a single movement. The whole attitude +of the composer, while it does not compel, must strongly suggest some +sort of guess of intending meaning.[A] + +[Footnote A: At the first production, in New York, in obedience to the +composer's wish, no descriptive notes were printed. When the symphony +was played, likewise under the composer's direction, in Berlin in +December, 1904, a brief note in the program-book mentions the three +groups of themes, the husband's, the wife's and the child's, in the +first movement. The other movements are thus entitled: + +II.--_Scherzo._ Parents' happiness. Childish play. Cradle-song (the +clock strikes seven in the evening). + +III.--_Adagio._ Creation and contemplation. Love scene. Dreams and cares +(the clock strikes seven in the morning). + +IV.--_Finale._ Awakening and merry dispute (double fugue). Joyous +conclusion.] + +The "first theme" in "comfortable" pace, gliding + +[Music: 1st Theme +_Pleasantly_ +(Cellos and fagots) +_Dreamily_ +(Oboe) +(Cellos, bassoons and horns)] + +into a "dreamy" phrase, begins the symphony. Presently + +[Music: _Peevishly_ +(Clarinets)] + +a "peevish" cry breaks in, in sudden altered key; then on a second, +soothing tonal change, a strain sings "ardently" in upward wing to a +bold climax and down to gentler cadence, the "peevish" cry still +breaking in. The trumpet has a short cheery + +[Music: _With fire_ +(Strings)] + +call (_lustig_), followed by a brisk, rousing run in wood and strings +(_frisch_). A return of the "comfortable" phrase is quickly overpowered +by the "second theme," in very lively manner (_sehr lebhaft_), with an +answering phrase, _grazioso_, and light trills above. + +[Music: 2d Theme _With great spirit_ +(Strings, wood, horns and harps) +_grazioso_] + +The incidental phrases are thus opposed to the main humor of each theme. +The serene first melody has "peevish" interruptions; the assertive +second yields to graceful blandishments. A little later a strain appears +_gefuehlvoll_, "full of feeling," (that plays a frequent part), but the +main (second) theme breaks in "angrily." Soon a storm is brewing; at the +height the same motive is sung insistently. In the lull, the first +phrase of all sings gaily (_lustig_), and then serenely (_gemaechlich_) +in tuneful tenor. Various + +[Music: (Largely in strings)] + +parts of the first theme are now blended in mutual discourse. + +Amidst trembling strings the oboe d'amore plays the "third theme." "Very +tenderly," "quietly," the + +[Music: 3d Theme _Quietly_ (Strings) +(Oboe d'Amore)] + +second gives soothing answer, and the third sings a full melodious +verse. + +Here a loud jangling noise tokens important arrivals. Fierce, hearty +pulling of the door-bell excites the parents, especially the mother, who +is quite in hysterics. The father takes it decidedly more calmly. The +visitors presently appear in full view, so to speak; for "the aunts," in +the trumpets, exclaim: "Just like Papa," and the uncles, in the +trombones, cry: "Just like Mama" (_ganz die Mama_). There can be no +questioning; it is all written in the book. + +It is at least not hazardous to guess the three figures in the domestic +symphony. Now in jolly Scherzo (_munter_) begin the tricks and sport of +babyhood. There is of course but one theme, with mere comments + +[Music: _Gaily. Scherzo_ +(Oboe d'Amore) +(Strings)] + +of parental phrases in varying accents of affection. Another noisy scene +mars all the peace; father and child have a strong disagreement; the +latter is "defiant"; the paternal authority is enforced. Bed-time comes +with the stroke of seven, a cradle-song (Wiegenlied) (where the child's +theme hums faintly below). Then, "slowly and very quietly" sings the +"dreamy" phrase of the first theme, where + +[Music: _Rather slowly_ (Cradle song) (Clarinets singing) +(Oboe d'Amore) +(Fagots)] + +the answer, in sweeping descent, gives one of the principal elements of +the later plot. It ends in a moving bit of tune, "very quietly and +expressively" (_sehr ruhig und innig_). + +Adagio, a slow rising strain plays in the softer + +[Music: _Very quietly and expressively_ +(Strings)] + +wood-notes of flute, oboe d'amore, English horn, and the lower +clarinets; below sings gently the second theme, quite transformed in +feeling. Those upper notes, with a touch of impassioned yearning, are +not new to our ears. That very rising phrase (the "dreamy" motive), if +we strain our memory, was at first below the more vehement (second) +figure. So + +[Music: _Adagio_] + +now the whole themal group is reversed outwardly and in the inner +feeling. Indeed, in other places crops out a like expressive symbol, and +especially in the phrase, marked _gefuehlvoll_, that followed the second +theme in the beginning. All these motives here find a big concerted song +in quiet motion, the true lyric spot of the symphony. + +Out of it emerges a full climax, bigger and broader now, of the first +motive. At another stage the second has the lead; but at the height is a +splendid verse of the maternal song. At the end the quiet, blissful tune +sings again "_sehr innig_." + +_Appassionato_ re-enters the second figure. Mingled in its song are the +latest tune and an earlier expressive phrase _(gefuehlvoll)_. The storm +that here ensues is not of dramatic play of opposition. There are no +"angry" indications. It is the full blossoming in richest madrigal of +all the themes of tenderness and passion in an aureole of glowing +harmonies. The morning comes with the stroke of seven and the awakening +cry of the child. + +The Finale begins in lively pace (_sehr lebhaft_) with + +[Music: (Double Fugue) 1st theme +(Four Bassoons) +_marcato_] + +a double fugue, where it is not difficult to see in the first theme a +fragment of the "baby" motive. The second is a remarkably assertive +little phrase from the cadence of the second theme (quoted above). The +son is clearly the hero, mainly in sportive humor, although he is not +free from parental interference. The maze and rigor of the fugue do not +prevent a frequent appearance of all the other themes, and even of the +full melodies, of which the fugal motives are built. At the climax of +the fugue, in the height of speed and noise, something very delightful +is happening, some furious romp, perhaps, of father and son, the mother +smiling on the game. At the close a new melody that we might trace, if +we cared, in earlier origin, has a full verse "quietly and simply" +(_ruhig und einfach_) in wood and horns, giving the crown + +[Music: _Quietly and simply_ (Woodwind and horns) +(With sustained chord of cellos)] + +and seal to the whole. The rest is a final happy refrain of all the +strains, where the husband's themes are clearly dominant. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +ITALIAN SYMPHONIES + + +The present estate of music in Italy is an instance of the danger of +prophecy in the broad realm of art. Wise words are daily heard on the +rise and fall of a nation in art, or of a form like the symphony, as +though a matter of certain fate, in strict analogy to the life of man. + +Italy was so long regnant in music that she seems even yet its chosen +land. We have quite forgotten how she herself learned at the feet of the +masters from the distant North. For music is, after all, the art of the +North; the solace for winter's desolation; an utterance of feeling +without the model of a visible Nature. + +And yet, with a prodigal stream of native melody and an ancient passion +of religious rapture, Italy achieved masterpieces in the opposite fields +of the Mass and of Opera. But for the more abstract plane of pure tonal +forms it has somehow been supposed that she had neither a power nor a +desire for expression. An Italian symphony seems almost an anomaly,--as +strange a product as was once a German opera. + +The blunt truth of actual events is that to-day a renascence has begun, +not merely in melodic and dramatic lines; there is a new blending of the +racial gift of song with a power of profound design.[A] Despite all +historical philosophy, here is a new gushing forth from ancient fount, +of which the world may rejoice and be refreshed. + +[Footnote A: In the field of the _Lied_ the later group of Italians, +such as Sinigaglia and Bossi, show a melodic spontaneity and a breadth +of lyric treatment that we miss in the songs of modern French composers. + +In his Overture "_Le Baruffe Chiozzote_" (The Disputes of the People of +Chiozza) Sinigaglia has woven a charming piece with lightest touch of +masterly art; a delicate humor of melody plays amid a wealth of +counterpoint that is all free of a sense of learning.] + +In a SYMPHONY BY GIOVANNI SGAMBATI,[A] IN D MAJOR, the form flows with +such unpremeditated ease that it seems all to the manner born. It may be +a new evidence that to-day national lines, at least in art, are +vanishing; before long the national quality will be imperceptible and +indeed irrelevant. + +[Footnote A: Born in 1843.] + +To be sure we see here an Italian touch in the simple artless stream of +tune, the warm resonance, the buoyant spring of rhythm. The first +movement stands out in the symphony with a subtler design than all the +rest, though it does not lack the ringing note of jubilation. + +The Andante is a pure lyric somewhat new in design and in feeling. It +shows, too, an interesting contrast of opposite kinds of slower +melody,--the one dark-hued and legend-like, from which the poet wings +his flight to a hymnal rhapsody on a clear choral theme, with a rich +setting of arpeggic harmonies. A strange halting or limping rhythm is +continued throughout the former subject. In the big climax the feeling +is strong of some great chant or rite, of vespers or Magnificat. Against +convention the ending returns to the mood of sad legend. + +The Scherzo is a sparkling chain of dancing tunes of which the third, of +more intimate hue, somehow harks back to the second theme of the first +movement. + +A Trio, a dulcet, tender song of the wood, precedes the return of the +Scherzo that ends with the speaking cadence from the first Allegro. + +A Serenata must be regarded as a kind of Intermezzo, in the Cantilena +manner, with an accompanying rhythm suggesting an ancient Spanish dance. +It stands as a foil between the gaiety of the Scherzo and the jubilation +of the Finale. + +The Finale is one festive idyll, full of ringing tune and almost bucolic +lilt of dance. It reaches one of those happy jingles that we are glad to +hear the composer singing to his heart's content. + + +_GIUSEPPE MARTUCCI. SYMPHONY IN D MINOR._[A] + +[Footnote A: Giuseppe Martucci, 1856-1911.] + +The very naturalness, the limpid flow of the melodic thought seem to +resist analysis of the design. The listener's perception must be as +naive and spontaneous as was the original conception. + +There is, on the one hand, no mere adoption of a classical schedule of +form, nor, on the other, the over-subtle workmanship of modern schools. +Fresh and resolute begins the virile theme with a main charm in the +motion itself. It lies not in a tune here or there, but in a dual play +of responsive phrases at the start, and then a continuous flow of +further melody on the fillip of the original rhythm, indefinable of +outline in a joyous chanting of bass and treble. + +A first height reached, an expressive line in the following lull rises +in the cellos, that is the essence of the contrasting idea, followed +straightway by a brief phrase of the kind, like some turns of peasant +song, that we can hear contentedly without ceasing. + +[Music: (Cellos) +(Lower reed, horns and strings)] + +Again, as at the beginning, such a wealth of melodies sing together that +not even the composer could know which he intended in chief. We merely +feel, instead of the incisive ring of the first group, a quieter power +of soothing beauty. Yet, heralded by a prelude of sweet strains, the +expressive line now enters like a queenly figure over a new rhythmic +motion, and flows on through delighting glimpses of new harmony to a +striking climax. + +[Music: (Flute and oboe, doubled below in clarinet) +(Horn) +(Strings)] + +The story, now that the characters have appeared, continues in the main +with the second browsing in soft lower strings, while the first (in its +later phase) sings above in the wood transformed in mildness, though for +a nonce the first motive strikes with decisive vigor. Later is a new +heroic mood of minor, quickly softened when the companion melody +appears. A chapter of more sombre hue follows, all with the lilt and +pace of romantic ballad. At last the main hero returns as at the +beginning, only in more splendid panoply, and rides on 'mid clattering +suite to passionate triumph. And then, with quieter charm, sings again +the second figure, with the delighting strains again and again +rehearsed, matching the other with the power of sweetness. + +One special idyll there is of carolling soft horn and clarinet, where a +kind of lullaby flows like a distilled essence from the gentler play--of +the heroic tune, before its last big verse, with a mighty flow of + +[Music: _dolce e tranquillo_ +(Horn) (Two horns) +(Clarinet)] + +sequence, and splendidly here the second figure crowns the pageant. At +the passionate height, over long ringing chord, the latter sings a +sonorous line in lengthened notes of the wood and horns. The first +climax is here, in big coursing strains, then it slowly lulls, with a +new verse of the idyll, to a final hush. + +The second movement is a brief lyric with one main melody, sung at first +by a solo cello amidst a weaving of muted strings; later it is taken up +by the first violins. The solo cello returns for a further song in duet +with the violins, where the violas, too, entwine their melody, or the +cello is joined by the violins. + +Now the chief melody returns for a richer and varied setting with horns +and woodwind. At last the first violins, paired in octave with the +cello, sing the full melody in a madrigal of lesser strains. + +An epilogue answers the prologue of the beginning. + +Equally brief is the true Scherzo, though merely entitled Allegretto,--a +dainty frolic without the heavy brass, an indefinable conceit of airy +fantasy, with here and there a line of sober melody peeping between the +mischievous pranks. There is no contrasting Trio in the middle; but just +before the end comes a quiet pace as of mock-gravity, before a final +scamper. + +A preluding fantasy begins in the mood of the early Allegro; a wistful +melody of the clarinet plays more slowly between cryptic reminders of +the first theme of the symphony. In sudden _Allegro risoluto_ over +rumbling bass of strings, a mystic call of horns, harking far back, +spreads its echoing ripples all about till it rises in united tones, +with a clear, descending answer, much like the original first motive. +The latter now continues in the bass in large and smaller pace beneath a +new tuneful treble of violins, while the call still roams a free course +in the wind. Oft repeated is this resonation in paired harmonies, the +lower phrase like an "obstinate bass." + +Leaving the fantasy, the voices sing in simple choral lines a hymnal +song in triumphal pace, with firm cadence and answer, ending at length +in the descending + +[Music: _Allegro risoluto_ +_deciso_ +(Strings, with added wood and horns)] + +phrase. The full song is repeated, from the entrance of the latter, as +though to stress the two main melodies. The marching chorus halts +briefly when the clarinet begins again a mystic verse on the strain of +the call, where the descending phrase is intermingled in the horns and +strings. + +There is a new horizon here. We can no longer speak with +half-condescension of Italian simplicity, though another kind of primal +feeling is mingled in a breadth of symphonic vein. We feel that our +Italian poet has cast loose his leading strings and is revealing new +glimpses through the classic form. + +Against a free course of quicker figures rises in the horns the simple +melodic call, with answer and counter-tunes in separate discussion. Here +comes storming in a strident line of the inverted melody in the bassoon, +quarrelling with the original motive in the clarinet. Then a group sing +the song in dancing trip, descending against the stern rising theme of +violas; or one choir follows on the heels of another. Now into the play +intrudes the second melody, likewise in serried chase of imitation. + +The two themes seem to be battling for dominance, and the former wins, +shouting its primal tune in brass and wood, while the second sinks to a +rude clattering rhythm in the bass. But out of the clash, where the +descending phrase recurs in the basses, the second melody emerges in +full sonorous song. Suddenly at the top of the verse rings out in +stentorian brass the first theme of all the symphony to the opening +chord of the Finale, just as it rang at the climax in the beginning. + +A gentle duet of violins and clarinet seems to bring back the second +melody of the first movement, and somehow, in the softer mood, shows a +likeness with the second of the Finale. For a last surprise, the former +idyll (of the first Allegro) returns and clearly proves the original +guise of our latest main melody. As though to assure its own identity as +prevailing motto, it has a special celebration in the final joyous +revel. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +EDWARD ELGAR. AN ENGLISH SYMPHONY[A] + +[Footnote A: Symphony in A flat. Edward Elgar, born in 1857.] + + +There is a rare nobility in the simple melody, the vein of primal hymn, +that marks the invocation,--in solemn wood against stately stride of + +[Music: (_Andante nobilmente e semplice_) +(Woodwind) +(Basses of strings, _staccato_)] + +lower strings. A true ancient charm is in the tune, with a fervor at the +high point and a lilt almost of lullaby,--till the whole chorus begins +anew as though the song of marching hosts. Solemnity is the essence +here, not of artificial ceremony nor of rhymeless chant,--rather of +prehistoric hymn. + +In passionate recoil is the upward storming song (Allegro) where a group +of horns aid the surging crest of strings and wood,--a resistless motion +of massed melody. Most thrilling after the first climax is the sonorous, +vibrant stroke of the bass in the + +[Music: _Allegro appassionato_ +(Strings, wood and horns) +(See page 308, line 10.)] + +recurring melody. As it proceeds, a new line of bold tune is stirred +above, till the song ends at the highest in a few ringing, challenging +leaps of chord,--ends or, rather merges in a relentless, concluding +descent. Here, in a striking phrase of double + +[Music: (Violins and clarinets in succession) +(Harp) +(Strings, the upper 3d doubled in higher reed)] + +song, is a touch of plaint that, hushing, heralds the coming gentle +figure. We are sunk in a sweet romance, still of ancientest lore, with a +sense of lost bliss in the wistful cadence. Or do these entrancing +strains lead merely to the broader melody that moves with queenly tread +(of descending violins) above a soft murmuring of lower figures? It is +taken up + +[Music: (Violins) +(Harp and wood doubled above)] + +in a lower voice and rises to a height of inner throb rather than of +outer stress. The song departs as it came, through the tearful plaint of +double phrase. Bolder accents merge suddenly into the former impassioned +song. Here is the real sting of warrior call, with shaking brass and +rolling drum, in lengthened swing against other faster sounds,--a revel +of heroics, that at the end breaks afresh into the regular song. + +Yet it is all more than mere battle-music. For here is a new passionate +vehemence, with loudest force of vibrant brass, of those dulcet strains +that preceded the queenly melody. An epic it is, at the least, of +ancient flavor, and the sweeter romance here rises to a tempest more +overpowering than martial tumult. + +It is in the harking back to primal lore that we seem to feel true +passion at its best and purest, as somehow all truth of legend, proverb +and fable has come from those misty ages of the earth. The drooping +harmonies merge in the returning swing of the first solemn hymn,--a mere +line that is broken by a new tender appeal, that, rising to a moving +height, + +[Music: (Strings) +_teneramente_] + +yields to the former plaint (of throbbing thirds). + +A longer elegy sings, with a fine poignancy, bold and new in the very +delicacy of texture, in the sharp impinging of these gentlest sounds. In +the depths of the dirge suddenly, though quietly, sounds the herald +melody high in the wood, with ever firmer cheer, soon in golden horns, +at last in impassioned strings, followed by the wistful motive. + +A phase here begins as of dull foreboding, with a new figure stalking in +the depths and, above, a brief sigh in the wind. In the growing stress +these figures sing from opposite quarters, the sobbing phrase below, +when suddenly the queenly melody stills the tumult. It is answered by a +dim, slow line of the ominous motive. Quicker echoes of the earlier +despond still flit here and there, with gleams of joyous light. The +plaintive (dual) song returns and too the tender appeal, which with its +sweetness at last wakens the buoyant spirit of the virile theme. + +And so pass again the earlier phases of resolution with the masterful +conclusion; the tearful accents; the brief verse of romance, and the +sweep of queenly figure, rising again to almost exultation. But here, +instead of tears and recoil, is the brief sigh over sombre harmonies, +rising insistent in growing volume that somehow conquers its own mood. A +return of the virile motive is followed at the height by the throbbing +dual song with vehement stress of grief, falling to lowest echoes. + +Here begins the epilogue with the original solemn hymn. Only it is now +entwined with shreds and memories of romance, flowing tranquilly on +through gusts of passion. And there is the dull sob with the sudden +gleam of joyous light. But the hymn returns like a sombre solace of +oblivion,--though there is a final strain of the wistful romance, ending +in sad harmony. + +_II.--Allegro molto._ The Scherzo (as we may venture to call it) begins +with a breath of new harmony, or is it a blended magic of rhythm, tune +and chord? Far more than merely bizarre, it calls up a vision of Celtic +warriors, the wild, free spirit of Northern races. The rushing jig or +reel is halted + +[Music: _Allegro molto_ +(Strings with kettle-drum)] + +anon by longer notes in a drop of the tune and instantly returns to the +quicker run. Below plays a kind of drum-roll of rumbling strings. Other +revelling pranks appear, of skipping wood, rushing harp and dancing +strings, till at last sounds a clearer tune, a restrained war-march with +touch of terror in the soft subdued chords, suddenly growing to +expressive + +[Music: (Violas and clarinets) +(Wood, basses and strings)] + +volume as it sounds all about, in treble and in bass. + +At last the war-song rings in full triumphant blast, where trumpets and +the shrill fife lead, and the lower brass, with cymbals and drums (big +and little) mark the march. Then to the returning pranks the tune roars +in low basses and reeds, and at last a big conclusive phrase descends +from the height to meet the rising figure of the basses. + +Now the reel dances in furious tumult (instead of the first whisper) and +dies down through the slower cadence. + +An entirely new scene is here. To a blended tinkle of harp, reeds and +high strings sounds a delicate air, quick and light, yet with a tinge of +plaint that may be a part of all Celtic song. It were rude to spoil + +[Music: (Woodwind, with a triplet pulse of harp and rhythmic strings)] + +its fine fragrance with some rough title of meaning; nor do we feel a +strong sense of romance, rather a whim of Northern fantasy. + +Over a single note of bass sings a new strain of elegy, taken up by +other voices, varying with the + +[Music: (Clarinets)] + +tinkling air. Suddenly in rushes the first reel, softly as at first; but +over it sings still the new sad tune, then yields to the wild whims and +pranks that lead to the war-song in resonant chorus, joined at the +height by the reel below. They change places, the tune ringing in the +bass. In the martial tumult the tinkling air is likewise infected with +saucy vigor, but suddenly retires abashed into its shell of fairy sound, +and over it sings the elegy in various choirs. The tinkling melody falls +suddenly into a new flow of moving song, rising to pure lyric fervor. +The soft air has somehow the main say, has reached the high point, has +touched the heart of the movement. Expressively it slowly sinks away +amid echoing phrases and yields to the duet of elegy and the first reel. +But a new spirit has appeared. The sting of war-song is gone. And here +is the reel in slow reluctant pace. After another verse of the fairy +tune, the jig plays still slower, while above sings a new melody. Still +slower the jig has fallen almost to funeral pace, has grown to a new +song of its own, though, to be sure, brief reminders of the first dance +jingle softly here and there. And now the (hushed) shadow of the +war-song in quite slower gait strides in lowest basses and passes +quietly straight into the Adagio. + +[Music: (Strings with lower reeds and horns) +_Adagio_ +_cantabile_] + +_III._--Assured peace is in the simple sincere melody, rising to a glow +of passion. But--is this a jest of our poet? Or rather now we see why +there was no halt at the end of the Scherzo. For the soothing melody is +in the very notes of the impish reel,--is the same tune.[A] Suddenly +hushing, the song hangs on high over delicate minor harmonies. + +[Footnote A: There seems to be shown in this feat at once the +versatility of music as well as the musician in expressing opposite +moods by the same theme. The author does not feel bound to trace all +such analogies, as in the too close pursuit we may lose the forest in +the jungle.] + +In exquisite hues an intimate dialogue ensues, almost too personal for +the epic vein, a discourse or madrigal of finest fibre that breaks (like +rays of setting sun) into a melting cadence of regret. We are doubly +thrilled in harking back to the sweet, wistful romance, the strain of +the first movement. + +[Music: (Harp, wood and strings)] + +Across the gauzy play, horns and wood blow a slow phrase, like a motto +of Fate in the sombre harmony, with one ardent burst of pleading. + +In clearer articulation sings a dual song, still softly o'ercast with +sweet sadness, ever richer in the harmonies of multiple strings, tipped +with the light mood,--and again the wistful cadence. Siren figures of +entrancing grace that move amid the other melody, bring enchantment that +has no cheer, nor escape the insistent sighing phrase. Once more come +the ominous call and the passionate plea, then assurance with the +returning main melody in renewed fervor. Phases of dual melody end again +with the wistful cadence. The tranquil close is like one sustained fatal +farewell, where the fairy figures but stress the sad burden. + +_IV._--The beginning is in lowest depths (Largo). First is the stalking +figure of earliest movement, from the moment of despond. It is answered +by a steadily striding theme, almost martial, save for the + +[Music: _Lento_ +(_Pizz._ cellos with _stacc._ bassoons)] + +slowness of pace. Not unlike the hymn of the first prologue in line of +tune, it bears a mood of dark resignation that breaks presently into the +touching plea of the wistful cadence. + +The whole is a reflective prologue to the Finale: a deep meditation from +which the song may roll forth on new spring. The hymn has suddenly +entered with a subtly new guise; for the moment it seems part of the +poignant sigh; it is as yet submerged in a flood of gloom and regret; +and the former phrases still stride and stalk below. In a wild climax of +gloom we hear the former sob, earlier companion of the stalking figure. + +Hymnal strains return,--flashes of heavenly light in the depths of hell, +and one passionate sigh of the melting cadence. + +_Allegro_,--we are carried hack to the resolute vigor of the earlier +symphony, lacking the full fiery charm, but ever striving and stirring, +like Titans rearing mountain piles, not without the cheer of toil +itself. At the height comes a burst of the erst yearning cadence, but +there is a new masterful accent; the wistful edge does not return till +the echoing phrases sink away in the depths. + +A new melody starts soaring on the same wing of + +[Music: (Strings and clarinets) +_Allegro_ +_cantabile_ +(_Staccato_ strings _con 8ve._)] + +blended striving and yearning of which all this song is fraught. In its +broader sweep and brighter cheer it is like the queenly melody of the +first movement. + +The Titan toil stirs strongly below the soft cadence; the full, fierce +ardor mounts heavenward. Phases now alternate of insistent rearing on +the strenuous motive and of fateful submission in the marching strain, +that is massed in higher and bigger chorus. As gathers the stress of +climax, the brass blowing a defiant blast, the very vehemence brings a +new resolution that is uttered in the returning strenuous phrase. + +Again rises the towering pile. At the thickest the high horns blow loud +a slow, speaking legend,--the farewell motive, it seems, from the end of +Adagio, fierce energy struggling with fatal regret gnawing at the heart. + +Gripping is the appeal of the sharp cry almost of anguish into which the +toiling energy is suddenly resolved. Again the fateful march enters, now +in heroic fugue of brass and opposite motion of strings and reed,--all +overwhelmed with wild recurring pangs of regret. + +And so "double, double, toil and trouble," on goes the fugue and follows +the arduous climb (into the sad motto in the horns), each relieving the +other, till both yield again to the heart-breaking cry. + +The cheerier melody here re-enters and raises the mood for the nonce. +Soon it falls amid dim harmonies. Far in the depths now growls the dull +tread, answered by perverted line of the hymn. + +A mystic verse sounds over pious chords of harp in the tune of the +march, which is sung by antiphonal choirs of strings,--later with fuller +celestial chorus, almost in rapture of heavenly resignation. Only it is +not final; for once again returns the full struggle of the beginning, +with the farewell-legend, and in highest passion the phrase of regret +rung again and again--till it is soothed by the tranquil melody. The +relentless stride of march too reaches a new height, and one last, +moving plaint. When the fast chasing cries are in closest tangle, +suddenly the hymn pours out its benediction, while the cries have +changed to angelic acclaim. Here is the transfigured song in full +climactic verse that fulfils the promise of the beginning. A touch of +human (or earthly joy) is added in an exultant strain of the sweeping +melody that unites with the hymn at the close. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +SYMPHONIES IN AMERICA + + +When we come to a view of modern music in symphonic design, written in +America, we are puzzled by a new phase of the element of nationalism. +For here are schools and styles as different as of far corners of +Europe. Yet they can be called nothing else than American, if they must +have a national name. In the northern centre whence a model orchestra +has long shed a beneficent influence far afield, the touch of new French +conceits has colored some of the ablest works. Elsewhere we have cited a +symphony more in line with classical tradition.[A] + +[Footnote A: A symphony by Wm. W. Gilchrist. Vol. II, Appendix.] + +Perhaps most typical is a symphony of Hadley where one feels, with other +modern tradition, the mantle of the lamented MacDowell, of whom it may +be said that he was first to find in higher reaches of the musical art +an utterance of a purely national temper. + + +_HENRY HADLEY. SYMPHONY NO. 3, B MINOR._[A] + +[Footnote A: Opus 60, Henry Hadley, American, born 1871.] + +With virile swing the majestic melody strides in the strings, attended +by trooping chords of wood and brass, all in the minor, in triple +rhythm. In + +[Music: _Moderato e maestoso_ +(Harp and wind) +(All the trebles) +(Strings with lower 8ve.)] + +the bass is a frequent retort to the themal phrase. For a moment a +dulcet line steals in, quickly broken by the returning martial stride of +stentorian horns, and of the main theme in full chords. Strange, though, +how a softer, romantic humor is soon spread over the very discussion of +the martial theme, so that it seems the rough, vigorous march is but the +shell for the kernel of tender romance,--the pageant that precedes the +queenly figure. And presently, _piu tranquillo_, comes the fervent lyric +song that may indeed be the chief theme in poetic import, if not in +outer rank. After a moving verse in the strings, + +[Music: _Piu tranquillo_ +(Strings) +(_Pizz._ basses _8va._) (Added woodwind)] + +with an expressive strain in some voice of the woodwind or a ripple of +the harp, it is sung in tense chorus of lower wood and horns,--soon +joined by all the voices but the martial brass, ending with a soft echo +of the strings. + +Now in full majesty the stern stride of first theme is resumed, in +faster insistence,--no longer the mere tune, but a spirited extension +and discussion, with retorts between the various choirs. Here the +melodious march is suddenly felt in the bass (beneath our feet, as it +were) of lowest brass and strings, while the noisy bustle continues +above; then, changing places, the theme is above, the active motion +below. + +Long continues the spirited clatter as of warlike march till again +returns the melting mood of the companion melody, now sung by the +expressive horn, with murmuring strings. And there are enchanting +flashes of tonal light as the song passes to higher choirs. The lyric +theme wings its rapturous course to a blissful height, where an +intrusion of the main motive but halts for the moment the returning +tender verse. + +When the first vigorous phrase returns in full career, there is somehow +a greater warmth, and the dulcet after-strain is transfigured in a glow +greater almost than of the lyric song that now follows with no less +response of beauty. In the final spirited blending of both melodies the +trumpets sound a quicker pace of the main motive. + +In the Andante (_tranquillo_) the sweet tinkle of church-bells with +soft chanting horns quickly defines the scene. Two voices of the +strings, to the + +[Music: (Bells and harp in continuous repetition) +_Andante tranquillo_ +_Espress._ (Cellos) +(Strings, with added choir of lower reeds)] + +continuing hum of the bells, are singing a responsive song that rises in +fervor as the horns and later the woodwind join the strings. Anon will +sound the simple tune of the bells with soft harmonies, like echoes of +the song,--or even the chant without the chimes. + +In more eager motion,--out of the normal measure of bells and hymn, +breaks a new song in minor with a touch of passion, rising to a burst of +ardor. But it passes, sinking away before a new phase,--a bucolic + +[Music: _Poco piu mosso_ +(Oboe) +(Clar'ts & horns) +(Strings)] + +fantasy of trilling shepherd's reed (in changed, even pace), supported +by strumming strings. The sacred calm and later passion have yielded to +a dolorous plaint, like the dirge of the Magyar plains. Suddenly the +former fervor returns with strains of the second melody amidst urging +motion (in the triple pace) and startling rushes of harp-strings. At the +height, trumpets blare forth the first melody, transformed from its +earlier softness, while the second presses on in higher wood and +strings; the trombones relieve the trumpets, with a still larger chorus +in the romantic song; in final exaltation, the basses of brass and +strings sound the first melody, while the second still courses in treble +voices. + +Of a sudden, after a lull, falls again the tinkle of sacred chimes, with +a verse each of the two main melodies. + +The Scherzo begins with a Saltarello humor, as of airy faun, with a +skipping theme ever accompanied by a lower running phrase and a prancing +trip of + +[Music: _Allegro con leggerezza, ben sostenuto_ +(Cl.) +(_Pizz._ strings) +(Bassoon)] + +strings, with a refrain, too, of chirruping woodwind. Later the skipping +phrase gains a melodic cadence. But the main mood is a revel of gambols +and pranks of rhythm and harmony on the first phase. + +In the middle is a sudden shift of major tone and intimate humor, to a +slower pace. With still a semblance of dance, a pensive melody sings in +the cellos; the graceful cadence is rehearsed in a choir + +[Music: _Poco meno mosso_ +(Strings) +(Cello)] + +of woodwind, and the song is taken up by the whole chorus. As a pretty +counter-tune grows above, the melody sings below, with a blending of +lyric feeling and the charm of dance. At a climactic height the horns, +with clumsy grace, blare forth the main lilting phrase. + +The song now wings along with quicker tripping counter-tunes that slowly +lure the first skipping tune back into the play after a prelude of high +festivity. New pranks appear,--as of dancing strings against a stride of +loud, muted horns. Then the second (pensive) melody returns, now above +the running counter-tune. At last, in faster gait, to the coursing of +quicker figures, the (second) melody rings out in choir of brass in +twice slower, stately pace. But the accompanying bustle is merely +heightened until all four horns are striking together the lyric song. At +the end is a final revel of the first dancing tune. + +The Finale, which bears the unusual mark _Allegro con giubilio_, begins +with a big festive march that may seem to have an added flavor of old +English merrymaking. But as in the other cantos of the poem there + +[Music: _Allegro con giubilio_ +_Tutti_ +(Basses in 8ve.)] + +is here, too, an opposite figure and feeling. And the more joyous the +gaiety, the more sweetly wistful is the recoil. Nay there is in this +very expressive strain, beautifully woven in strings, harp, woodwind and +horns, a vein of regret that grows rather than lessens, whenever the +melody appears alone. It is like the memory, in the midst of festival, +of some blissful moment lost forever. + +Indeed, the next phase seems very like a disordered chase of stray +memories; for here a line of martial air is displaced by a pensive +strain which in + +[Music: (Cello and harp with harmony of wood, horns and strings) +_Piu tranquillo_ +_Molto espress._] + +turn yields to the quick, active tune that leads to a height of +celebration. + +But here is a bewildering figure on the scene: Lustily the four horns +(helped by the strings) blow in slow notes against the continuing motive +an expressive melody. Slowly it breaks upon our ears as the wistful air +that followed the chimes of Sunday bells. It has a stern, almost sombre +guise, until it suddenly glows in transfigured light, as of a choir of +celestial brass. + +Slowly we are borne to the less exalted pitch of the first festive +march, and here follows, as at first, the expressive melody where each +hearer may find his own shade of sadness. It does seem to reach a true +passion of regret, with poignant sweet sighs. + +At length the sadness is overcome and there is a new animation as +separate voices enter in fugal manner in the line of the march. Now the +festive tune holds sway in lower pace in the basses; but then rings on +high in answer--the wistful melody again and again, in doubled and twice +redoubled pace. + +When we hear the _penseroso_ melody once more at the end, we may feel +with the poet a state of resigned cheer. + + +A remarkable work that shows the influence of modern French harmony +rather than its actual traits, is a SYMPHONY BY GUSTAV STRUBE.[A] It is +difficult to resist the sense of a strain for bizarre harmony, of a +touch of preciosity. The real business of these harmonies is for +incidental pranks, with an after-touch that confesses the jest, or +softens it to a lyric utterance. It cannot be denied that the moving +moments in this work come precisely in the release of the strain of +dissonance, as in the returning melody of the Adagio. Only we may feel +we have been waiting too long. The desert was perhaps too long for the +oasis. _Est modus in rebus_: the poet seems niggardly with his melody; +he may weary us with too long waiting, with too little staying comfort. +He does not escape the modern way of symbolic, infinitesimal melody, so +small that it must, of course, reappear. It is a little like the +wonderful arguments from ciphers hidden in poetry. + +[Footnote A: Of Boston,--born in Germany in 1867.] + +It cannot he denied that the smallness of phrase does suggest a +smallness of idea. The plan of magic motive will not hold _ad +infinitesimum_. As the turn of the triplet, in the first movement, +twists into a semblance of the Allegro theme, we feel like wondering +with the old Philistine: + + ... "How all this difference can be + 'Twixt tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee!" + +But there is the redeeming vein of lyric melody with a bold fantasy of +mischievous humor and a true climax of a clear poetic design. One reason +seems sometimes alone to justify this new license, this new French +revolution: the deliverance from a stupid slavery of rules,--if we would +only get the spirit of them without the inadequate letter. Better, of +course, the rules than a fatal chaos. But there is here in the bold +flight of these harmonies, soaring as though on some hidden straight +path, a truly Promethean utterance. + +It is significant, in the problem of future music, that of the +symphonies based upon recent French ideas, the most subtly conceived and +designed should have been written in America. + +_I._--In pale tint of harmony sways the impersonal phrase that begins +with a descending tone. We may + +[Music: _Andante_ (Melody in flute and violas) +(Violins) +(Cellos with basses in lower 8ve.)] + +remember[A] how first with the symphony came a clear sense of tonal +residence. It was like the age in painting when figures no longer hung +in the gray air, when they were given a resting-place, with trees and a +temple. + +[Footnote A: See Vol. I, Chapter I.] + +Here we find just the opposite flight from clear tonality, as if +painting took to a Japanese manner, sans aught of locality. Where an +easy half-step leads gently somewhere, a whole tone sings instead. +Nothing obvious may stand. + +It marks, in its reaction, the excessive stress of tonality and of +simple colors of harmony. The basic sense of residence is not abandoned; +there is merely a bolder search for new tints, a farther straying from +the landmarks. + +Soon our timid tune is joined by a more expressive line that rises in +ardent reaches to a sudden tumult, with a fiery strain of trumpets where +we catch a glimpse of the triplet figure. After a dulcet lullaby + +[Music: (Flute with _tremolo_ of high strings) +(New melody in ob. and violas) +(Cellos with sustained lower B of basses)] + +of the first air, the second flows in faster pace (_Allegro commodo_) as +the real text, ever with new blossoming variants that sing together in a +madrigal of tuneful voices, where the descending note still has a part +in a smooth, gliding pace of violins. + +In gayer mood comes a verse of the inverted (Allegro) tune, with other +melodic guises hovering about. When the theme descends to the bass, the +original Andante phrase sings in the trumpet, and there is a chain of +entering voices, in growing agitation, in the main legend with the +quicker sprites dancing about. At the height, after the stirring song +of trumpets, we feel a passionate strife of resolve and regret; and +immediately after, the descending tone is echoed everywhere. + +A balancing (second) theme now appears, in tranquil + +[Music: (Horn) +_Allegro dolce_ +(Violas & cellos) +(Sustained harmony in violins, bassoons and flute)] + +flow, but pressing on, at the end, in steady ascent as to Parnassian +summit. Later comes a new rejoinder in livelier mood, till it is lost in +a big, moving verse of the Andante song. But pert retorts from the +latest new tune again fill the air, then yield in attendance upon the +returning Allegro theme. Of subtle art is the woof of derived phrases. A +companion melody, that seems fraught of the text of the second subject, +sings with rising passion, while the lower brass blow lustily in +eccentric rhythm of the Allegro phrase and at the height share in the +dual triumph. + +We feel a kinship of mood rather than of theme, a coherence that we +fear to relate to definite figures, though the descending symbol is +clear against the ascending. An idyllic dialogue, with the continuing +guise of the Allegro phrase turns to a gayer revel in the original pace, +with a brilliant blare of trumpets. + +The free use of themes is shown in the opposite moods of the triplet +phrase, of sadness, as in Andante, or buoyant, in Allegro. Here are both +in close transition as the various verses return from the beginning, +entwined about the first strain of the Andante, gliding through the +descending tone into the second soothing song with the Parnassian +ascent. + +A full verse of the first Andante melody sings at the heart of the plot, +followed by the strange daemonic play that keeps the mood within bounds. +Indeed, it returns once more as at first, then springs into liveliest +trip and rises to an Olympian height, with a final revel of the triplet +figure. + +_II._--With a foreshadowing drop of tone begins the prelude, not unlike +the first notes of the symphony, + +[Music: _Adagio, ma non troppo_ +(_espressivo_ Clar.) +(Strings) +(Clar'ts and bassoons)] + +answered with a brief phrase. On the descending motive the main melody +is woven. + +Tenderly they play together, the melody with the main burden, the +lighter prelude phrase in graceful accompaniment. But now the latter +sings in turn a serious verse, rises to a stormy height, the horns +proclaiming the passionate plea amid a tumultuous accord of the other +figures, and sinks in subdued temper. In a broader pace begins a new +line, though on the thread of the descending motive, and with the +entering phrase of the prelude winds to a climax of passion. The true +episode, of refuge and solace from the stress of tempest, is in a song +of the trumpet through a shimmering gauze of strings with glinting harp, +to a soft murmuring in the reeds. + +[Music: _Animando_ (Violins) +(_Trem._ violins doubled above in oboes) +(Cellos with sustained lower B of basses) +Main melody in trumpets] + +In a new shade of tone it is echoed by the horn, then in a fervent close +it is blended with a guise of the prelude phrase, that now heralds the +main melody, in a duet of clarinet and violins. At last in the home +tone the horn sings amid the sweet tracery the parting verse, and all +about sounds the trist symbol of the first (descending) motive. + +_III._--The Scherzo is in one view a mad revel of demon pranks in a new +field of harmonies. Inconsequential though they may seem, there is a +real coherence, and, too, a subtle connection with the whole design. + +To be sure, with the vagueness of tune that belongs to a school of +harmonic exploits a certain mutual relation of themes is a kind of +incident. The less defined the phrases, the easier it is to make them +similar. + +Undoubted likeness there is between the main elfin figure and the first +phrase of the symphony. + +[Music: (Oboes, with lower 8ve. and higher 8ve. of piccolo) +_Allegro vivace_ +(Strings)] + +The triplet is itself a kind of password throughout. With this multiple +similarity is a lack of the inner bond of outer contrast. + +The mood of demon humor finds a native medium in the tricks of new +Gallic harmony. Early in the prelude we hear the descending tone, a +streak of sadness in the mirth. Answering the first burst is a strange +stroke of humor in the horn, and as if in + +[Music: (_Tremolo_ 1st violins) +(1st horn) (Clarinets doubled above in strings)] + +serious balance, a smooth gliding phrase in the wood. Now the first +figure grows more articulate, romping and galloping into an ecstasy of +fun. A certain spirit of Till Eulenspiegel hovers about. + +Out of the maze blows a new line in muted trumpets, that begins with the +inverted triplet figure, and in spite of the surrounding bedlam rises +almost into a tune. At the height the strange jest of the horns reigns +supreme. + +From the mad gambols of the first figure comes a relief in sparkling +calls of the brass and stirring retorts in pure ringing harmonies. In +the next episode is a fall into a lyric mood as the latest figure glides +into even pace, singing amid gentlest pranks. Most tuneful of all +sounds is the answer in dulcet trumpet while, above, the first theme +intrudes softly. + +The heart of the idyll comes in a song of the clarinet + +[Music: (Cl. _espressivo_) +(_Pizz._ strings with higher 8ve. of upper voice) +(Wood and horn and strings) (Clar. and bassoons)] + +against strange, murmuring strings, ever with a soft answer of the lower +reed. + +New invading sprites do not hem the flight of the melody. But at the +height a redoubled pace turns the mood back to revelling mirth with +broken bits of the horn tune. Indeed the crisis comes with a new rage of +this symbol of mad abandon, in demonic strife with the fervent song that +finally prevails. + +The first theme returns with a new companion in the highest wood. A +fresh strain of serious melody is now woven about the former dulcet +melody of trumpet in a stretch of delicate poesy, of mingled mirth and +tenderness.--The harmonies have something of the infinitesimal sounds +that only insects hear. With all virtuous recoil, here we must confess +is a masterpiece of cacophonic art, a new world of tones hitherto +unconceived, tinkling and murmuring with the eerie charm of the +forest.--In the return of the first prelude is a touch of the descending +tone. From the final revelling tempest comes a sudden awakening. In +strange moving harmony sings slowly the descending symbol, as if +confessing the unsuccessful flight from regret. Timidly the vanquished +sprites scurry away. + +_IV._--The first notes of the Finale blend and bring back the main +motives. First is the descending tone, but firm and resolute, with the +following triplet in + +[Music: _Allegro energico_ (Higher figure in strings & wood) +(Wood, horns and lower strings) (Strings and wood)] + +inversion of the Scherzo theme. + +It is all in triumphant spirit. From the start the mood reigns, the art +for once is quite subordinate. Resonant and compelling is the motive of +horns and trumpets, new in temper, though harking back to the earlier +text, in its cogent ending. Splendid is + +[Music: (Strings) +(Wood & strings doubled below) +(Horns and trumpets)] + +the soaring flight through flashes of new chords. There is, we must +yield, something Promethean, of new and true beauty, in the bold path of +harmonies that the French are teaching us after a long age of slavish +rules. + +The harking back is here better than in most modern symphonies with +their pedantic subtleties: in the resurgence of joyous mood, symbolized +by the inversion of phrase, as when the prankish elfin theme rises in +serious aspiration. + +Out of these inspiriting reaches sings a new melody in canon of strings +(though it may relate to some shadowy memory), while in the bass rolls +the former ending phrase; then they romp in jovial turn of rhythm. + +[Music: (Oboes, doubled below in bassoons) (Strings, doubled below) +(Horns) (_Pizz._ cello doubled below)] + +A vague and insignificant similarity of themes is a fault of the work +and of the style, ever in high disdain of vernacular harmony, refreshing +to be sure, in its saucy audacity, and anon enchanting with a ring of +new, fiery chord. As the sonorous theme sings in muted brass, picking +strings mockingly play quicker fragments, infecting the rest with +frivolous retorts, and then a heart-felt song pours forth, where the +accompanying cries have softened their mirth. Back they skip to a joyous +trip with at last pure ringing harmonies. + +At the fervent pitch a blast of trumpets rises in challenging phrase, in +incisive clash of chord, with the early sense of Parnassian ascent. At +the end of this brave fanfare we hear a soft plea of the descending tone +that prompts a song of true lyric melody, with the continuing gentlest +touch of regret, all to a sweetly bewildering turn of pace. So tense + +[Music: (Continuing organ pt. of violins) (Fl. & clar. _dolce_) +_Animando_ +(Melody in ob. _dolce_) +(Strings)] + +and subtle an expression would utterly convert us to the whole harmonic +plan, were it not that just here, in these moving moments, we feel a +return to clearer tonality. But it is a joy to testify to so devoted a +work of art. + +With the last notes of melody a new frisking tune plays in sauciest +clashes of chord, with an enchanting stretch of ringing brass. A long +merriment ensues in the jovial trip, where the former theme of horns has +a rising cadence; or the tripping tune sings in united chorus and again +through its variants. After a noisy height the dulcet melody (from the +descending tone) sings in linked sweetness. In the later tumult we rub +our eyes to see a jovial theme of the bass take on the lines of the +wistful melody. Finally, in majestic tread amid general joyous clatter +the brass blow the gentle song in mellowed tones of richest harmony. + + +_CHADWICK.[A] SUITE SYMPHONIQUE (IN E FLAT)._ + +[Footnote A: George W. Chadwick, American, born in 1854.] + +With a rush of harp and higher strings the Suite begins on ardent wing +in exultant song of trumpets (with horns, bassoons and cellos) to quick +palpitating violins that in its higher flight is given over to upper +reeds and violas. It is answered by gracefully drooping melody of +strings and harps topped by the oboes, that lightly descends from the +heights with a cadence long delayed, like the circling flight of a great +bird before he alights. Straightway begins a more pensive turn of phrase +(of clarinet and lower strings) in distant tonal scene where now the +former (descending) answer sings timidly in alternating groups. The +pensive melody returns for a greater reach, blending with the original +theme (in all the basses) in a glowing duet of two moods as well as +melodies, rising to sudden brilliant height, pressing on to a full +return of the first exultant melody with long, lingering, circling +descent. + +The listener on first hearing may be warned to have a sharp ear for all +kinds of disguises of the stirring theme and in a less degree, of the +second subject. What seems a new air in a tranquil spot, with strum of +harp,--and new it is as expression,--is our main melody in a kind of +inversion. And so a new tissue of song continues, all of the original +fibre, calming more and more from the first fierce glow. A tuneful +march-like strain now plays gently in the horns while the (inverted) +expressive air still sounds above. + +[Music: (Oboe with 8ve. flute) (Oboe) +(Horns) _Calmato ed espressivo assai_] + +When all has quieted to dim echoing answers between horn and reed, a +final strain bursts forth (like the nightingale's voice in the +surrounding stillness) in full stress of its plaint. And so, in most +natural course, grows and flows the main balancing melody that now +pours out its burden in slower, broader pace, in joint choirs of wood +and strings. + +[Music: _Meno mosso e largamente_ +(Woodwind above, strings below) +(_pizz._ basses)] + +It is the kind of lyric spot where the full stream of warm feeling seems +set free after the storm of the first onset. In answer is a timid, +almost halting strain in four parts of the wood, echoed in strings. A +new agitation now stirs the joint choirs (with touches of brass), and +anon comes a poignant line of the inverted (main) theme. It drives in +rising stress under the spurring summons of trumpets and horns to a +celebration of the transfigured second melody, with triumphant cadence. +Nor does the big impulse halt here. The trumpets sound on midst a +spirited duet of inverted and original motives until the highest point +is reached, where, to quicker calls of the brass, in broadest pace the +main subject strikes its inverted tune in the trebles, while the bass +rolls its majestic length in a companion melody; trombones, too, are +blaring forth the call of the second theme. + +Brief interludes of lesser agitation bring a second chorus on the +reunited melodies in a new tonal quarter. + +In mystic echoing groups on the former descending answer of main theme +the mood deepens in darkening scene. Here moves in slow strides of +lowest brass a shadowy line of the second melody answered by a poignant +phrase of the first. Striking again and again in higher perches the dual +song reaches a climax of feeling in overpowering burst of fullest brass. +In masterful stride, still with a burden of sadness, it has a solacing +tinge as it ends in a chord with pulsing harp, that twice repeated leads +back to the stirring first song of main theme. + +Thence the whole course is clear in the rehearsal of former melodies. +Only the pensive air has lost its melancholy. Here is again the lyric of +warm-hued horns with plaintive higher phrase, and the full romance of +second melody with its timid answer, where the nervous trip rouses +slowly the final exultation. Yet there is one more descent into the +depths where the main melody browses in dim searching. Slowly it wings +its flight upwards until it is greeted by a bright burst of the second +melody in a chorus of united brass. And this is but a prelude to the +last joint song, with the inverted theme above. A fanfare of trumpets on +the second motive ends the movement. + +The Romanze is pure song in three verses where we cannot avoid a touch +of Scottish, with the little acclaiming phrases. The theme is given to +the saxophone (or cello) with obligato of clarinet and violas; the bass +is in bassoons and _pizzicato_ of lower strings. One feels a special +gratitude to the composer who will write in these days a clear, simple, +original and beautiful melody. + +The first interlude is a fantasy, almost a variant on the theme in a +minor melody of the wood, with a twittering phrase of violins. Later the +strings take up the theme in pure _cantilena_ in a turn to the +major,--all in expressive song that rises to a fervent height. Though it +grows out of the main theme, yet the change is clear in a return to the +subject, now in true variation, where the saxophone has the longer notes +and the clarinet and oboe sing in concert. + +There follows a pure interlude, vague in motive, full of dainty touches. +The oboe has a kind of _arioso_ phrase with trilling of flutes and +clarinets, answered in trumpets and harp. + +Later the first violins (on the G string) sing the main air with the +saxophone. + +A double character has the third movement as the title shows, though in +a broadest sense it could all be taken as a Humoreske. + +With a jaunty lilt of skipping strings the lower reeds strike the +capricious tune, where the full chorus soon falls in. The answering +melody, with more of sentiment, though always in graceful swing with +tricksy attendant figures, has a longer song. Not least charm has the +concluding tune that leads back to the whole melodious series. +Throughout are certain chirping notes that form the external connection +with the Humoreske that begins with strident theme (_molto robusto_) of +low strings, the whole chorus, xylophon and all, clattering about, the +high wood echoing like a band of giant crickets,--all in whimsical, +varying pace. The humor grows more graceful when the first melody of the +Intermezzo is lightly touched. The strange figure returns (in roughest +strings and clarinet) somewhat in ancient manner of imitation. Later the +chirruping answer recurs. Diminishing trills are echoed between the +groups. + +Slowly the scene grows stranger. Suddenly in eerie harmonies of newest +French or oldest Tartar, here are the tricks and traits where meet the +extremes of latest Romantic and primeval barbarian. In this motley +cloak sounds the typical Yankee tune, first piping in piccolo, then +grunting in tuba. Here is Uncle Sam disporting himself merrily in +foreign garb and scene, quite as if at home. If we wished, we might see +a political satire as well as musical. + +After a climax of the clownish mood we return to the Intermezzo +melodies. + +The Finale begins in the buoyant spirit of the beginning and seems again +to have a touch of Scotch in the jaunty answer. The whole subject is a +group of phrases rather than a single melody. + +Preluding runs lead to the simple descending line of treble with +opposite of basses, answered by the jovial phrase. In the farther course +the first theme prevails, answered with an ascending brief motive of +long notes in irregular ascent. Here follows a freer flow of the jolly +lilting tune, blending with the sterner descending lines. + +Balancing this group is an expressive melody of different sentiment. In +its answer we have again the weird touch of neo-barbarism in a strain of +the reed, with dancing overtones of violins and harp, and strumming +chords on lower strings. Or is there a hint of ancient Highland in the +drone of alternating horns and bassoons? + +Its brief verse is answered by a fervent conclusive line where soon the +old lilting refrain appears with new tricks and a big celebration of its +own and then of the whole madrigal of martial melody. It simmers down +with whims and turns of the skipping phrase into the quiet +(_tranquillo_) episode in the midst of the other stress. + +[Music: (With lower 8ve.) +_Tranquillo_ +(With _pizz._ quarter notes in basses and strings)] + +The heart of the song is in the horns, with an upper air in the wood, +while low strings guard a gentle rhythm. A brief strain in the wind in +ardent temper is followed by another in the strings, and still a third +in joint strings and wood. (Again we must rejoice in the achievement of +true, simple, sincere melody.) The final glowing height is reached in +all the choirs together,--final that is before the brass is added with +a broader pace, that leads to the moving climax. As the horns had +preluding chords to the whole song, so a single horn sings a kind of +epilogue amid harmony of strings and other horns. Slowly a more vigorous +pulse is stirred, in an interlude of retorting trumpets. + +Suddenly in the full energy of the beginning the whole main subject +sounds again, with the jolly lilt dancing through all its measures, +which are none too many. The foil of gentle melody returns with its +answer of eerie tune and harmonies. It seems as if the poet, after his +rude jest, wanted, half in amends, half on pure impulse, to utter a +strain of true fancy in the strange new idiom. + +A new, grateful sound has again the big conclusive phrase that merges +into more pranks of the jaunty tune in the biggest revel of all, so that +we suspect the jolly jester is the real hero and the majestic figures +are, after all, mere background. And yet here follows the most tenderly +moving verse, all unexpected, of the quiet episode. + +The end is a pure romp, _molto vivace_, mainly on the skipping phrase. +To be sure the stately figures after a festive height march in big, +lengthened pace; but so does the jolly tune, as though in mockery. He +breaks into his old rattling pace (in the Glockenspiel) when all the +figures appear together,--the big ones changing places just before the +end, where the main theme has the last say, now in the bass, amidst the +final festivities. + + + +_LOEFFLER.[A] LA VILLANELLE DU DIABLE_ + +_(The Devil's Round)_ + +(After a poem by M. Rollinat. Symphonic poem for Orchestra and Organ) + +[Footnote A: Charles Martin Loeffler, born in Alsace in 1861.] + +Few pieces of program music are so closely associated with the subject +as this tone picture of the Devil's Round. The translation of M. +Rollinat's "Villanelle," printed in the score is as follows:[A] + + Hell's a-burning, burning, burning. Chuckling in clear staccato, + the Devil prowling, runs about. + + He watches, advances, retreats like zig-zag lightning; Hell's + a-burning, burning, burning. + + In dive and cell, underground and in the air, the Devil, prowling, + runs about. + + Now he is flower, dragon-fly, woman, black-cat, green snake; Hell's + a-burning, burning, burning. + + And now, with pointed moustache, scented with vetiver, the Devil, + prowling, runs about. + + Wherever mankind swarms, without rest, summer and winter, Hell's + a-burning, burning, burning. + + From alcove to hall, and on the railways, the Devil, prowling, runs + about. + + He is Mr. Seen-at-Night, who saunters with staring eyes. Hell's + a-burning, burning, burning. + + There floating as a bubble, here squirming as a worm, the Devil, + prowling, runs about. + + He's grand seigneur, tough, student, teacher. Hell's a-burning, + burning, burning. + + He inoculates each soul with his bitter whispering: the Devil, + prowling, runs about. + + He promises, bargains, stipulates in gentle or proud tones. Hell's + a-burning, burning, burning. + + Mocking pitilessly the unfortunate whom he destroys, the Devil, + prowling, runs about. + + He makes goodness ridiculous and the old man futile. Hell's + a-burning, burning, burning. + + At the home of the priest or sceptic, whose soul or body he wishes, + the Devil, prowling, runs about. + + Beware of him to whom he toadies, and whom he calls "my dear sir." + Hell's a-burning, burning, burning. + + Friend of the tarantula, darkness, the odd number, the Devil, + prowling, runs about. + + --My clock strikes midnight. If I should go to see Lucifer?--Hell's + a-burning, burning, burning; the Devil, prowling, runs about. + +[Footnote A: A few translated verses may give an idea of the original +rhythm: + + Hell's a-burning, burning, burning. + Cackling in his impish play, + Here and there the Devil's turning, + + Forward here and back again, + Zig-zag as the lightning's ray, + While the fires burn amain. + + In the church and in the cell + In the caves, in open day, + Ever prowls the fiend of hell. + +But in the original the first and last lines of the first verse are used +as refrains in the succeeding verses, recurring alternately as the last +line. In the final verse they are united.--The prose translation is by +Philip Hale.] + +In the maze of this modern setting of demon antics (not unlike, in +conceit, the capers of Till Eulenspiegel), with an eloquent use of new +French strokes of harmony, one must be eager to seize upon definite +figures. In the beginning is a brief wandering or flickering motive in +furious pace of harp and strings, ending ever in a shriek of the high +wood. Answering + +[Music: _Presto (il piu possibile)_ +(Woodwind) +(Strings with rhythmic chords in the tonic) +(With opposite descending chords)] + +is a descending phrase mainly in the brass, that ends in a rapid jingle. + +[Music: (Brass with quicker figures in strings and wood)] + +There are various lesser motives, such as a minor scale of ascending +thirds, and a group of crossing figures that seem a guise of the first +motive. To be sure the picture lies less in the separate figures than in +the mingled color and bustle. Special in its humor is a soft gliding or +creeping phrase of three voices against a constant trip of cellos. + +After a climax of the first motive a frolicking theme begins (in English +horn and violas). If we were forced to guess, we could see here the +dandy devil, with pointed mustachios, frisking about. It is probably +another guise of the second motive which presently appears in the bass. +A little later, _dolce amabile_ in a madrigal of wood and strings, we +may see the gentlemanly devil, the gallant. With a crash of chord and a +roll of cymbals re-enters the first motive, to flickering harmonies of +violins, harp and flutes, taken up by succeeding voices, all in the +whole-tone scale. Hurrying to a clamorous height, the pace glides into a +_Movimento di Valzer_, in massed volume, with the frolicking figure in +festive array. + +To softest tapping of lowest strings and drums, a shadow of the second +figure passes here and there, with a flash of harp. Soon, in returning +merriment, it is coursing in unison strings (against an opposite motion +in the wood). + +At the height of revel, as the strings are holding a trembling chord, a +sprightly Gallic tune of the street pipes in the reed, with intermittent +flash of the harp, and, to be sure, an unfamiliar tang of harmonies and +strange perversions of the tune.[A] In the midst is the original +flickering figure. As the whole chorus is singing the tune at the +loudest, the brass breaks into another traditional air of the +Revolutionary Song of 1789.[B] While the trip is still ringing in the +strings, a lusty chorus breaks into the song[C] "La Carmagnole," against +a blast of the horns in a guise of the first motive. + +[Footnote A: "A la villette," a popular song of the Boulevard. Mr. +Philip Hale, who may have been specially inspired, associates the song +with the word "crapule," "tough," as he connects the following +revolutionary songs, in contrapuntal use, with the word "magister," +"teacher,"--the idea of the pedagogue in music. It may be less remote to +find in these popular airs merely symbols or graphic touches of the +swarming groups among which the Devil plies his trade.] + +[Footnote B: The famous "Ca ira."] + +[Footnote C: In the wealth of interesting detail furnished by Mr. Hale +is the following: "The Carmagnole was first danced in Paris about the +liberty-tree, and there was then no bloody suggestion.... The word +'_Carmagnole_' is found in English and Scottish literature as a nickname +for a soldier in the French Revolutionary army, and the term was applied +by Burns to the Devil as the author of ruin, 'that curst carmagnole, +auld Satan.'"] + +Grim guises of the main figures (in inverted profile) are skulking about +to uncanny harmonies. A revel of new pranks dies down to chords of muted +horns, amid flashing runs of the harp, with a long roll of drums. Here +_Grave_ in solemn pace, violas and bassoon strike an ecclesiastical +incantation, answered by the organ. Presently a Gregorian plain chant +begins solemnly in the strings aided by the organ while a guise of the +second profane motive intrudes. Suddenly in quick pace against a fugal +tread of lower voices, a light skipping figure dances in the high wood. +And now loud trumpets are saucily blowing the chant to the quick step, +echoed by the wood. And we catch the wicked song of the street (in the +English horn) against a legend of hell in lower voices.[A] + +[Footnote A: The religious phrases are naturally related to the "priest +or sceptic." In the rapid, skipping rhythm, Mr. Hale finds the +tarentella suggested by the "friend of the tarantula."] + +In still livelier pace the reeds sound the street song against a trip of +strings, luring the other voices into a furious chorus. All at once, the +harp and violins strike the midnight hour to a chord of horns, while a +single impish figure dances here or there. To trembling strings and +flashing harp the high reed pipes again the song of the Boulevard, +echoed by low bassoons. + +In rapidest swing the original main motives now sing a joint verse in a +kind of _reprise_, with the wild shriek at the end of the line, to a +final crashing height. The end comes with dashes of the harp, betwixt +pausing chords in the high wood, with a final stifled note. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SYMPHONIES AND THEIR MEANING; THIRD +SERIES, MODERN SYMPHONIES*** + + +******* This file should be named 12903.txt or 12903.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/9/0/12903 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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