diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24622-8.txt | 2904 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24622-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 62307 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24622-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 67561 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24622-h/24622-h.htm | 3153 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24622.txt | 2904 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24622.zip | bin | 0 -> 62256 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
9 files changed, 8977 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/24622-8.txt b/24622-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7dac45a --- /dev/null +++ b/24622-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2904 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pianolist, by Gustav Kobbé + +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: The Pianolist + A Guide for Pianola Players + +Author: Gustav Kobbé + +Release Date: February 16, 2008 [EBook #24622] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PIANOLIST *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Bryan Ness and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | + | been preserved. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | + | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + +THE PIANOLIST + + + + +THE PIANOLIST + +A GUIDE FOR PIANOLA PLAYERS + +BY + +GUSTAV KOBBÉ + +AUTHOR OF "HOW TO APPRECIATE MUSIC," ETC. + +NEW YORK +MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY +1907 + + + + +COPYRIGHT 1907, BY +MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY +NEW YORK + +Published November, 1907 + + +PRESS OF +THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY +LANCASTER, PA + + + + +_TO MY FRIEND_ +JOSEPH HUTCHISON STEVENSON + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I. THE TITLE AND PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK 1 + +II. THE CHARM OF PLAYING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT YOURSELF 10 + +III. FIRST STEPS OF THE MUSICAL NOVICE 39 + +IV. THE THRILL OF THE GREAT MASTERS 83 + +V. AN "OPEN SESAME" TO CHOPIN 117 + +VI. NOTES ON SOME OTHER MASTERS 141 + +VII. EDUCATIONAL FACTORS 150 + +VIII. A FEW "DON'TS" FOR PIANOLISTS 159 + + + + +I. THE TITLE AND PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK + + +My book, "How to Appreciate Music," in the chapter devoted to the +pianoforte, contains a paragraph relating to the Pianola and its +influence in popularizing music and stimulating musical taste. I +confess that before I started that paragraph I was puzzled to know +what term to use in designating the instrument I had in mind. +"Mechanical piano-player" is a designation which not only does not +appeal to me, but, furthermore, fails to do justice to the instrument, +which, although mechanical in its working, is far from being +mechanical in its effects. + +The result?--I took a cross cut and arrived straight at the word +Pianola as being the name of the most widely known piano-player, and +happily derived from the name of the most widely known instrument, the +pianoforte or, as it is more popularly termed, the piano. For this +reason the term Pianola was used in the paragraph referred to and now +is employed in this book; and, for the same reason, this book is +called "The Pianolist." It is believed to be the title least requiring +explanation, if, indeed, it requires any explanation at all. Right +here, however, I must add that the company which manufactures the +Pianola objects to the use of the word as a generic term. + +So much for the title. Now for the purpose of this book. + +Soon after the publication of "How to Appreciate Music" I discovered +that the paragraph concerning this new musical instrument had made a +hit. It was widely quoted as evidence of the "up-to-dateness" of the +book and I began to receive letters from pianola owners who were +pleased that the merits of the instrument should have been recognized +in a serious book on music. Among these was a letter from a Mr. Harry +Mason, of Detroit, suggesting that I should write a book for the use +of those who owned piano-players. Mr. Mason and myself never have met. +He knows me merely as an author of a book on music. All I know of him +is that he is one of the editors of a druggists' trade paper in +Detroit. Yet from him has come the suggestion which has led me to +write this book, although, to judge from his letter, he had not been +deeply interested in music until he began to use a "player" and, +through it, was led to ask for a book which would tell him, in +untechnical language, something about an art that was beginning to +have eloquence and meaning for him. To me this is highly significant, +for there must be thousands of others like him all over the country, +to whom, in the same way, the great awakening just is coming through +the pianola--at first a means of amusement, then an educator with the +element of amusement, but of a higher order, left in! + +Shortly after I received Mr. Mason's letter an incident added greatly +to the force of his suggestion. I always have been very fond of +Schubert's "Rosamunde" impromptu. The first person I heard play it +publicly was Annette Essipoff, a Russian pianist and one of the very +few great women pianists of the world. Frequently I have heard it +since then, but never so charmingly interpreted excepting--But that is +the most interesting part of the story. + +One night I was at my desk in my study, when, suddenly, I heard the +strains of this impromptu, which is an air with variations, from the +direction of the drawing room. It was sweet and tender, graceful and +expressive, according to the character of the variations; and, when +the last variation began with a crispness and delicacy that made me +wonder what great virtuoso was at my pianoforte without my knowing it, +I hurried to the drawing room and, entering it--found my fourteen year +old daughter seated at a pianola. The instrument had arrived only a +short time before from the house of a friend who had gone South for +the winter. My daughter never had had a music lesson, never had heard +Schubert's "Rosamunde" impromptu. Yet she had, without any effort, +been the first to take me back to Essipoff's playing of Schubert's +charming work! It would have been ludicrous had it not meant so much. +In fact it was ludicrous because, a few days before, when the +instrument had just been delivered and set up, I had been deceived in +much the same manner by her playing of a composition by Grieg. + +But to return to the Schubert impromptu. Essipoff, my young daughter, +the associate editor of a druggist' paper in Detroit, and myself; the +first a great virtuoso, the second a schoolgirl, the third a writer on +a trade paper, the fourth a music critic--what a leveller of +distinctions, what a universal musical provider the pianola is! Ten +years ago the virtuoso and the music critic would have been the only +ones concerned. The schoolgirl and the trade paper editor wouldn't +have been "in it." Now, the schoolgirl was playing like a virtuoso and +the writer on drugs and druggists was giving hints to the music +critic. A great leveller, placing the musical elect and those who +formerly would have had to remain outside the pale, on a common +footing! This may not always appeal to the musical elect, but think +what it means to the great mass of those who are genuinely musical but +have lacked the opportunity for musical study or to those whose taste +for music never has been brought out. + +To paraphrase a few sentences from my "How to Appreciate Music" that +have been much quoted:-- + +"'Are you musical?' + +"'No,' nine persons out of ten will reply; 'I neither play nor sing.' + +"'Your answer shows a complete misunderstanding of the case. Because +you neither play nor sing, it by no means follows that you are +unmusical. If you love music and appreciate it, you may be more +musical than many pianists and singers; or latent within you and only +awaiting the touchstone of music there may be a deeper love and +appreciation of the art than can be attributed to many virtuosos. For +most of a virtuoso's love and appreciation is apt to be centered upon +himself. And when you say, 'I cannot play,' you are mistaken. You are +thinking of the pianoforte. You may not be able to play that. But you +or any one else can play the pianola, and that instantly places at +your command all the technical resources of which even the greatest +virtuosos can boast." + +One purpose of this book thus is to bring home to people an +appreciation of what this modern instrument is, whether it is regarded +as a toy with which the business man amuses himself with two-steps and +ragtime after business hours, or as a serious musical instrument. + +Another purpose, and a large one, is to furnish pianolists with a +guide to the music which they play, or might play if their attention +were directed to it and to some of its characteristics, and to point +out the importance of the instrument in developing a love of good +music. + +I also have in writing this book a purpose which I may describe as +personal. I believe I was the first American to publish an analysis of +the Wagner music dramas that seemed to be what the public wanted, and +the first to contribute to a magazine of general circulation an +article on Richard Strauss. It is a matter of pride with me always to +be found on the firing line--even if it is the privilege of those who +watch the battle from a safe distance to dictate the despatches and +take the credit for the result to themselves. And so, I wish to be the +first to write a book on the pianola, an instrument of such importance +to the progress and popular spread of music that, at the present time, +we can have but a faint glimmering of the great part it is destined to +play. + + + + +II. THE CHARM OF PLAYING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT YOURSELF + + +How I wish I could play like that! What is more common than this +exclamation from people who are listening to a great virtuoso or even +only to a fairly clever amateur? They realize that, no matter how much +they may enjoy a performance, there is much greater fascination in +being the performer. Not a musical person but would play if he could. +Why, however, that "if"? It no longer exists. It has been eliminated. +The charm, the fascination of playing a musical instrument yourself +can be yours, and the only "if" to it is--if you have intelligence +enough to appreciate what that means. + +What formerly was an insuperable obstacle, the lack of technical +facility--the real inability to play--absolutely has been done away +with. There is no excuse for anybody's not playing who wants to. The +pianola furnishes the technique, the dexterity, the finger facility, +or whatever you may choose to call it. So far as this is concerned the +instrument itself makes you a virtuoso--places you on a par with a +Liszt, Paderewski or Rosenthal. It does so mechanically, yet without +the sharpness and insistent preciseness of a machine. Its action is +pneumatic and the effect of the compressed air is to impart to its +"touch"--the manner in which its "fingers" strike the keys--an +elasticity which at least is comparable with the touch of human +fingers. As a friend of mine, a lawyer, who has owned three pianolas +and who actually has been made musical through them, expresses +it:--"When you've got a mechanical device as good or nearly as good as +a virtuoso, you've got something of enormous importance to the whole +world." And so you have. + +I find a great feature of the so-called mechanical piano-player lies +in what it allows you to do yourself. It provides you with technique, +but, to use a colloquial phrase, "you can still call your soul your +own." The technique, the substitute for that finger facility which +only years of practice will give, is the pianola's; but the +interpretation is _yours_! The instrument provides the devices for +accelerating or retarding the time and for making the tone loud or +soft, but when to whip up the time or to slow down, when to use the +sustaining or the soft lever or when to swell through a crescendo from +pianissimo to fortissimo--all that is left to your own taste, judgment +and discretion. There is, indeed, among the improvements introduced in +the pianola a contrivance, of which more hereafter, by which complete +directions are given for the interpretation of the roll of music that +is being played. These directions, however, are not compulsory. They +are, in each instance, based on high authority and are of great value +even to persons who are thoroughly familiar with the music, but they +need not be followed if the player does not want to follow them. He is +likely in the beginning to accept the directions, the so-called +metrostyle marking, as he would the instruction of a high class +teacher, while, later on, he may incline to regard the metrostyle as +indicating the general spirit in which the piece should be +interpreted, but vary it in detail as his mood or fancy dictates. The +metrostyle may, in fact, be called the pianolist's "coach," giving him +the kind of hints and directions which even the greatest players and +singers value. Something, however, of the pianolist himself, something +of his own thought and feeling goes into every interpretation. That +this is so is proved by the fact that no two pianolists interpret the +same composition alike. There are differences, more or less marked, +just as there are when the same piece is played by two pianists. In +the broader outlines, in general spirit, the interpretations may be +the same, but they will be distinguished by subtle shadings that +indicate temperamental differences. The perspective of a landscape +varies when viewed from different windows; so does life when observed +from different points of view; so does the interpretation of a +composition when played by different people on the pianola. + +Were the instrument purely a mechanical device to wind up and set +going, the artistic results of which it is capable never would have +been obtained, and, I may add, this book never would have been +written. The fact that artistic expression instead of machine-like +precision has been its aim is what has caused its possibilities as a +musical instrument to appeal to me. It cannot be sufficiently urged +that in this country, as in every other, there is an immense amount of +latent musical taste awaiting only the touchstone of hearing music or, +better still, the fascination of personally producing music, to assert +itself. Before the invention of the piano-player hearing music was the +only touchstone; through the piano-player there is added the +fascination of being yourself a participator in producing the music +you hear. When Theodore Thomas said "Nothing so awakens interest in +music as helping to make it," he hit the nail on the head. "After +playing all this music I want to go to concerts next winter. I'd like +to hear how the 'Fifth Symphony' sounds on the orchestra," said my +little girl after the pianola had been in the house only a week. "All +this music?" Yes indeed. More than she could have become familiar +with in six months' concert-going and instruction. And we always had +said that she wasn't musical! + +This fascination of personally producing music is such a great factor +in the spread of musical taste that it is well worth looking into +further. There always is more pleasure in doing something than in +watching some one else do it. Take the average amateurs who get +together for music. They enjoy what they play a thousand-fold more +than if they were listening to the greatest virtuosos playing the same +program. Why? Because always there is more satisfaction in doing the +thing itself than merely in contemplating the result of what some one +else is doing. And so, with music, "to experience the full fascination +the divine art can exercise on us mortals, we must take an active part +in the making of it." Through the pianola the opportunity of taking an +active part in the making of it is open to everybody. Remember what +my friend said. It is worth repeating. "When you've got a mechanical +device as good, or nearly as good as a virtuoso, you've got something +of enormous importance to the whole world." Mechanical, remember, only +in a certain sense. Were it wholly mechanical it never could be "as +good, or nearly as good, as a virtuoso." + +Now let us see how this personal affiliation of pianola and pianolist, +of instrument and player, has been worked out, so that the player is +not a mere human treadmill pumping air into a cabinet on castors, +but--whether he be a lawyer, merchant, financier, dressmaker, +milliner, or society leader; one of the Four Hundred or one of the +eighty million--a musical artist with an unlimited repertory. + +The pianoforte is the most universal musical instrument of the +civilized world. I once turned the old question, "What is home without +a mother," into "What is home without a pianoforte?" Practically no +household that makes claim to refinement is without one. Only too +often, however, even in such homes, it is merely an article of drawing +room furniture, because no member of the household can play it. There +it stands waiting for the chance visitor who can strike the keys and +make the strings vibrate with music. + +Imagine that you are a member or let us say the head of that +household. You can't play a note and yet you are "fond of music." This +"fondness for music" manifests itself in different degree in different +people and somewhat according to their opportunities. You may be a +hardworking business man and when you come home from business, you +want diversion, amusement. For some one to suggest a classical +concert to you would make you feel like being asked to begin the day's +work all over again without a night's rest in between. As for Wagner, +that would be worse than straightening out an intricate account after +a day spent in poring over a ledger. No. Music without any tune to it +may be all right for some people, but comic opera is "good enough" for +you. You like that coon song you heard the other night. How you would +enjoy playing it on the pianoforte if you only knew how! But you +don't, so you have to pay a speculator three dollars for a seat if you +want to hear it again. + +Suppose the days of miracles weren't past and, by some miracle, you +suddenly found yourself in command of the technique of the +pianoforte--able to play whatever you wanted to. You'd buy that coon +song and some other pieces of light music, and then you'd hurry home +to your pianoforte and play them off as fast as you could, while the +family stood around and listened and marvelled. + +That is precisely the miracle the pianola performs for you. It gives +you, from the moment it enters your house, control over the keyboard +of the pianoforte that so long has stood mute in your home. All you +have to do is to put in the perforated music roll, work the +pedals--and the music begins. Supposing it is that coon song from the +comic opera you liked so much. The first time you play it, you may be +so interested in the instrument's accurate reproduction of the tune +that you don't stop to think of the expression. The chances are, +however, that your delight over what you have accomplished will lead +you to play the song right over again. Now you begin to realize that +there was something more than mere accuracy in the delivery of the +melody when you heard it at the theatre. There was interpretation, +that something which the individual artist puts into everything he +does. You will recall that while the piece was taken pretty fast as a +whole, some phrases were taken faster, others more slowly. You have +been told that by moving a little lever to the right or left, you can +produce these effects. You try it. When you come to a phrase that +should be taken a little faster, you move the lever slightly to the +right--and the pianoforte responds. It is the same when you move the +lever to the left for the slower phrases--the pianoforte responds and +the phrase is retarded. Two other levers control the volume of sound +so that you can play any part of the piece louder or softer if you +want to. It is not at all unlikely that you may vary these details to +suit yourself, instead of simply being guided by your recollection of +what you heard at the theatre. In a word you yourself become on the +spot an interpreter of music, put something of yourself into what you +play. The instrument instead of being merely a machine that grinds out +music is a machine only in so far as it takes the place of technique, +of finger facility. The expression, the real interpretation, that +which gives one the fascination of playing, is your own. + +That's your first experience with the instrument. Pretty soon you are +apt to have another experience that is even more valuable. You stocked +up pretty well with the music of the day, the current Broadway comic +opera and musical comedy successes. Gradually, however, that pet coon +song of yours will begin to pall on you a little. The very jingle to +the tune that made it catch your fancy so quickly causes you to tire +of it, and so it goes with the other pieces whose rhythm is so marked +and continued with such great precision and whose tunefulness was so +obvious that they made an instantaneous impression upon your musically +untrained sense of hearing. You are beginning to find out what any one +who is trained in any art is bound to discover sooner or later. The +things most easily understood are not apt to give the most lasting +pleasure. Some one suggests to you that you try one of the lighter +classical pieces. You don't like that word "classical," it suggest +heaviness, lack of tunefulness, the kind of thing that "may be all +right for some people," but never, you think, would suit you. At last, +however, you yield. You inquire for something of the kind and are +advised to try Mendelssohn's "Spring Song." Much to your surprise you +don't find it heavy at all. In fact you recall once having heard it +played between the acts in a theatre and having thought it rather +pretty. Its rhythm isn't as persistently emphatic as that of ragtime, +nor does its melody stand out in such sharp relief, but instead of +wearying you on repetition, you like it better every time you play it. + +Encouraged by this experience you next purchase the same composer's +"Spinning Song." This may not appeal to you so much at first. It seems +to run along very rapidly without any very clearly defined melody. +Still, it is by the same composer as the "Spring Song," so it may be +worth trying over again. It is more familiar now, and you begin to +associate the rapid, whirring phrases with its title--with the idea of +"spinning." How clear it suddenly becomes. You even conjure up in your +mind the picture of some young woman in quaint garb seated at a +spinning wheel in an old-fashioned room--and you find yourself +experiencing all the pleasure that comes from association of ideas, +the keenest enjoyment that art affords. You are making rapid progress +now, so rapid that it is as impossible as unnecessary to follow you +step by step. The main point is that you are becoming truly musical +and at the same time enjoying it. What might be "all right for some +people" has become all right for you too. You have been repaid a +thousand-fold for the little effort it cost you to discover through +the gradual development of a taste that had lain dormant, the kind of +music that "lasts." The same thing is true of your whole family. It +has become musical, and in an incredibly short space of time. The +pianola has done it, and done the same thing in thousands of other +cases. + +Now take the case of some one whose musical taste, to begin with, is +more advanced. Supposing that, instead of having had your musical +horizon bounded by coon songs and comic operas, you were an attendant +at orchestral concerts, song and pianoforte recitals and grand opera. +You are a genuine music lover, genuinely musical, but you can't play. +You long to reproduce and express at home the music you have heard +elsewhere. If only, after hearing Paderewski play your favorite Chopin +nocturne, which, as with so many other music lovers, is the exquisite +one in G major, Opus 37, No. 2, you could go to your own pianoforte +and play it! You think it is one of the most beautiful compositions in +the whole repertory, and of all pianists whom you have heard, +Paderewski, in your opinion, plays it better than any other. There are +pieces that sound more difficult and you have been told that it +doesn't call for advanced technique as much as it does for soul. That +is what your favorite virtuoso seems to you to put into it--soul, his +own soul, interpreting himself, unconsciously expressing his own +thoughts and feelings, through those of the composer. That is what you +are convinced you could do, if only you knew how to play; for you are +musical, very musical, almost, in fact, to your finger tips. But +these, alas, never have been trained to command the keyboard. You are +getting along well in business, making money and all that; and yet you +look upon your life as half a failure because, although you have the +temperament artistic, you are unable to gratify fully your passion for +music. You can listen, but you can't play. You can hear Paderewski +interpret your favorite nocturne, but you can't go home to your own +pianoforte and let your fingers conjure up memories of it on the +keyboard. You have a beautiful pianoforte in your house--for the use +of others. You'd be willing to mortgage half your income for life, if +you could learn to play it yourself. But it's too late for that now. +So you think. + +But one day you drop in at a friend's house and from the drawing room +come strains of your favorite Chopin nocturne. Something about it +reminds you of the way Paderewski plays it. Who can it be? You know +that your friend doesn't play the pianoforte. But, as you stand in the +doorway, hesitating whether to go in or not, it is he who looks out at +you from behind the instrument and nods to you to come in. You drop +into a chair and listen and wonder. The nocturne comes to an end, your +friend rises, greets your wondering look with a smile, and meets your +amazed query with one word: "Pianola!" + +"It sounded like Paderewski," you stammer in a dazed sort of way. + +"Why shouldn't it? Practically, I have been taught how to play it by +that great artist." He takes out the roll and brings it over for you +to look at. On it you see, reproduced in facsimile this autographed +certification: + + "The line on this roll indicates the tempo according to my + interpretation. + + "I.J. Paderewski." + +The roll, as the expression goes, has been "metrostyled" by the +virtuoso himself. + +"I didn't know you had one of these instruments. Why haven't you told +me?--How long have you had it?" + +"About a week," he answers. + +"And you can make it sound like that?" + +"Of course I can. Nothing easier. Just stand behind me and watch." + +He replaces the music roll and, as he pedals and it unrolls, he shows +you how easy it is with the metrostyle to follow the red line marked +by Paderewski to indicate how he plays the piece. + +"According to my idea," continues your friend, "he plays some parts of +the second melody a little too slowly--makes it too sentimental, +instead of poetically expressive. You may observe that I don't always +follow the line. That's one of the great things about the instrument. +You can profit by the directions just as much as you want to, but you +can disregard them whenever you have a mind to. It may seem +presumptuous to differ, even in a small detail, from a great virtuoso +like Paderewski, but every virtuoso has his idiosyncrasies and we, +who, after all, have been listening to music all our lives and have +heard all the great pianists from Rubinstein to 'Paddy' himself and +all the women pianists from Essipoff to Bloomfield-Zeisler, are +entitled to some ideas of our own. As I just said, one of the great +things about the instrument is that it allows us this latitude. I call +it a cinch! + +"Now here's something else. We know Richard Strauss' big tone poems, +the biggest things in music since Wagner. But did you know that he's +written some charming little pieces for pianoforte? Just listen to +this. It's a 'Träumerei' or 'Revery,' a delicious little dreamy +improvisation. He 'metrostyled' it himself and, as I've never heard +anyone play it, I'm only too glad to have his directions. They give +you the general hang of the thing 'right off the reel,' so to speak. +But later on, when I become more familiar with it, if I want to vary +the interpretation according to my own mood of the moment, I can. It's +a great thing, though, to find out how famous living composers, like +Richard Strauss, Grieg--here are a couple of rolls from his 'Peer +Gynt' suite metrostyled by himself--Saint-Saëns, Elgar, or even +composers of first rate lighter music, like Moszkowski and Chaminade, +conceive that they want to have their works interpreted; or how great +virtuosos, like Paderewski, Rosenthal and other pianists, play them; +or gifted instructors in music, like Carl Reinecke, would have them +performed. It's like taking lessons in interpretation from these +people. + +"There's another matter that will interest you. Take pieces like +Rubinstein's 'Melody in F' or the best known selection from his +'Kammenoi, Ostrow,' where the melody lies, in the former in between +the accompaniment, in the latter below it--you recall, of course, how +the accompanying figure hovers above it. In pieces like these it is +important that the melodic line should be clearly distinguished, +otherwise it will be smothered. Fortunately an attachment to the +instrument, the themodist, enables you to bring out the melody and, +at the same time does not prevent your retarding or accelerating the +general movement of the piece or of varying the volume of sound as +much as you like. + +"While I've had the instrument only a little while, I've been struck +with something else. I find that you can accomplish a good deal +through what I may call 'foot-technique,' varying the degree of +strength with which you use the pedals that pump in the air. By this +means you can play louder or softer at will and by a sharp pressure +emphasize individual chords and phrases. This, I find, makes the +interpretation seem more personal than when I use the sustaining and +soft levers alone. Altogether I'm beginning to look upon myself as a +virtuoso, and the best thing you can do, old man, is to take my advice +and become one too." + +Fortunately you are musical enough and intelligent enough to +appreciate the philosophy and significance of the instrument--that it +supplies what you haven't got, the technique, but that you give it the +expression, the soul; that although it is not a pianoforte, but an +attachment to that instrument, nevertheless, in playing it, you +express something of yourself, something of your inner being, +something of your higher artistic nature through it. + +There is a large class of people to whom the "piano-player" is or +should be a great boon. I mean those who play the pianoforte, but not +well enough to play publicly or professionally. To this class belong +the thousands of music teachers and the amateurs. The majority of them +may be more truly musical than many of the virtuoso pianists, but they +are lacking in technique. For the technical standard is growing higher +every year. Comparatively few music teachers have much opportunity of +hearing music, the result being that they find it difficult to keep up +with the times. They become old-fashioned, and in these progressive +days to become old-fashioned means to be forced to "drop out." They +lack the technique to run through the modern repertoire, and the time +to hear others in it. It hardly is necessary to point out what the +pianola, which gives them complete technical mastery of the keyboard, +should be to them. + +As regards the amateur I can cite my own case as an example. I had +progressed on the pianoforte until I was able to play Liszt's +arrangement of the Spinning Song from Wagner's "Flying Dutchman." It +is a difficult piece, but there is a great deal of pianoforte music +that is more difficult and that was entirely beyond me. Moreover the +fact that I was able to play this composition after much assiduous +practice, did not mean that I could play equally difficult or even +considerably less difficult music with ease by sight. The repertoire +of even the best amateur is apt to be a small one. He gains his +general knowledge of music from what he hears. + +With me, in time, as with so many amateurs, pianoforte playing had to +yield first place to my regular work. I took up writing and that +became paramount. I began to lose my pianoforte technique, and I +should not like to say how many years it is since I lost the ability +to play Liszt's arrangement of the Spinning Song from the "The Flying +Dutchman," the "Butterfly" etude of Chopin and other works that I had +had at my fingers' ends. Often, when I went to pianoforte recitals and +heard these compositions played, I grieved over what I had +lost--through sacrificing the pianoforte to the pen. + +I grieve no longer. I have acquired a perfect technique, the technique +of a great virtuoso--through the pianola. It is a key that has +unlocked for me the whole repertory of music. With it I can play the +most difficult work ever written as easily as I can a five-finger +exercise. It gives me the technique, but all that is summed up in the +one word "expression," I am at liberty to put into the music myself. + +In the whole world there are perhaps two, at the most three pianoforte +virtuosos who really deserve to be called great. To listen to them is +the acme of musical delight. But right next to this comes the +performance of any musical person, whether a child or grown up, on the +pianola. It is better than the playing of any virtuoso not absolutely +of the very first rank, and infinitely preferable to the playing of +the most gifted amateur, while the performance of the average amateur +almost is juvenile compared with it. Moreover there are pieces of +which the Liszt "Campanella," the Mendelssohn "Rondo Capriccioso" and +the "Rosamunde" impromptu of Schubert, are examples, that, when played +on the pianola by a musical person, sound just as well as if they came +from under the fingers of the greatest living virtuoso--possibly +better. + +These are not dreams, they are facts; and discoverable in due time by +everyone who is made musical through the instrument of which I am +writing; and, in an incredibly short time by any one, already musical, +who takes it up. Moreover they are facts readily susceptible of +explanation, and here it is:--All technical difficulties being +eliminated by the pianola, the player is free to give his whole +attention to interpretation, to that subtle something which we call +"expression," and which constitutes the supreme quality of a musical +performance. + + + + +III. FIRST STEPS OF THE MUSICAL NOVICE + + +I confess that when I first thought of writing this book my intention +was to plan it somewhat on the same lines as the usual "How to Listen +to Music" book, but to make it somewhat simpler. As the catalogue of +pianola music includes everything from Bach to Richard Strauss it +seemed to me that it would be easy to give the reader a course in +musical development, beginning with the simpler pieces of Bach, like +the bourrées and gavottes; then taking up the sonatas of Mozart and +Beethoven; the compositions of the romantic school from Schubert to +Chopin; and ending with the modern school of Wagner, Liszt and Richard +Strauss--in other words giving a survey of the whole evolution of +music. + +This would coincide with the ordinary course of musical instruction, +which naturally ranges from what are considered the easier and +simpler pieces to the more difficult ones, early music being less +complicated and making less demand upon the player's technique than +music of the present day. But I had forgotten one important point +which is, that on the pianola nothing is difficult, that with this +modern instrument the question of difficulty entirely disappears, and +that the most hair-raising, breath-catching exploits of virtuosity are +as easy for the pianolist as the most commonplace five-finger +exercises are for the pianist. In other words, the pianolist can +approach music from a wholly new standpoint. For him music exists +simply as music. Its history, its evolution, which latter after all is +a matter purely technical, need not concern him at all. + +I was brought to this view by a rather startling discovery. I think it +will seem equally startling to any one who has studied music in the +usual way--the laborious technical development involved in acquiring +the mastery of a musical instrument, generally the pianoforte. In +discussing Chopin's "Etude" in A flat, Op. 10, No. 10, one of the +greatest virtuosos of his day, Hans van Bülow, said that "he who can +play this study in a really finished manner may congratulate himself +on having climbed to the highest pinnacle of the pianist's Parnassus, +as it is perhaps the most difficult piece of the entire set. The whole +repertory of piano music does not contain a study of perpetual +movement so full of genius and fancy as this particular one is +universally acknowledged to be, excepting perhaps Liszt's 'Feux +Follets' (Will-o'-the wisps)." In looking over the catalogue of music +for the mechanical piano-player I find that this immensely difficult +study by Liszt, so difficult that Von Bülow classes it with the +Chopin study, "the highest pinnacle of the pianist's Parnassus," is +listed with the "popular" pieces. Thus a composition which taxes the +resources of the greatest virtuosos to the utmost and which few if any +amateurs can play at all, presents no difficulties whatsoever to the +pianolist and actually becomes "popular." The same thing is true of +the Liszt "Bell Rondo" (La Campanella). This delicate, dainty yet +immensely difficult work, which most amateurs know only from hearing +it played in pianoforte recitals because they themselves can do no +more than stumble through it, is, like the "Feux Follets," a popular +piece in the repertory of the pianolist. Such an astounding result is +possible only upon the pianola which absolutely eliminates all +technical difficulties and leaves the player free to select his music +without regard to such difficulties. + +Another matter connected with the pianolist's repertory opens up a +field for speculation into which, fortunately, it is quite possible +for the layman to follow the musician and to appreciate the point I +wish to make. As many purchasers of pianolas are people who never have +received musical instruction, it might be supposed that the most +popular selections for the instrument would be either bits of musical +slang like twosteps and ragtime, or, at the best, simple pieces in the +recognized classical forms. But the result of the spread of musical +taste through this new instrument is wholly different and wholly novel +from the standpoint of conventional musical experience. The public, +the great musical public created by an instrument which does away with +all considerations of technique and leaves the player free to select +what he wants to play, no matter how difficult it may be when played +on the pianoforte, sweeps aside all conventions which learned +commentators, critics and writers on the history and evolution of +music have sought to establish and in fact have succeeded in +establishing for those who have been obliged to study music in the +ordinary way, and boldly selects as first choice from the vast array +of compositions Liszt's "Rhapsodie Hongroise" No. 2, with the +"Tannhäuser" overture of Wagner a close second. In other words the +musical public when left to itself and not led--or led astray--by +pedants begins at the right end of musical evolution which is the end, +the supreme efflorescence, and not the beginning. Conceding that the +evolution of the human race began with the monkey and ends with +ourselves, it may be said, metaphorically, that the musical public, +when left to itself, declines to monkey with the monkey, but at once +proceeds to pluck the full flower of evolution, the human. For if any +musical compositions are human documents that term is applicable to +the "Second Rhapsody" and to the "Tannhäuser" overture. Each tells a +vivid story and tells it according to the canons of art, life and +truth. The unfortunate student of music, shackled by instruction that +aims mainly at teaching him how to play an instrument and ignores the +higher side of art, plods through the classical repertory until he +gets an idea that music consists of nothing but symphonies and +sonatas, which is as absurd as it would be to say that poetry consists +of nothing but sonnets, whereas a couple of dozen good sonnets are +enough for the literature of any language. + +Indeed, while instruction in the other arts steadily is being +modernized and steadily aims to familiarize the student with their +higher aspects, little progress has been made in the teaching of +music. It still is in a state comparable only with that which existed +in the teaching of languages when instruction in these was given +according to the system of Ollendorf, with its series of foolish +questions and answers:-- + +"Is this the sword of the grandfather?" + +"No, it is the false curl of the grandmother." + +A five finger exercise, or an old-fashioned technical study with its +dry little theme in the treble and its foolish little answer in the +bass, always suggests to me something along the lines of the +Ollendorfian phraseology:-- + +"Is this musical phrase beautiful?" + +"No, but it is great for limbering up the little finger." + +Often since giving thought to the new instrument which wholly +eliminates the question of technique from pianoforte playing, I have +wondered if the importance attached to "limbering up the little +finger" has not given us a wrong musical perspective; whether +compositions musically of little value have not assumed enormous +importance in the curriculum and been retained there, because they +developed finger facility in certain directions. For example to a +pianist the "School of Velocity" by Czerny and the "Gradus ad +Parnassum" by Clementi, two series of famous technical studies, mean +everything. To the pianolist they mean nothing--need mean nothing. As +for the "School of Velocity" he can by simply moving the tempo lever +to the right make the pianola play so fast that, if old Czerny still +were alive, he would lose his breath listening to it. As for the +"Gradus ad Parnassum," the difficulties which Clementi piled up in the +pianist's path, the pianolist overleaps as lightly and casually as if +wholly unaware of their existence. He may never have heard of these +technical works yet, if he has natural musical instinct or has +developed it through the piano-player, he will be as correct in his +judgment of what to play and how to play it, as if he had devoted his +whole life to an arduous study of pianoforte technique. The +pianolist's experience with music is wholly musical, while the +pianist's is largely technical. For observe, that while a music +teacher often selects a piece for his pupil, not so much because it is +beautiful but because it follows up and supplements the technical +exercise which the pupil has been practicing, the pianolist's point of +view in choosing his repertory is not obscured by any consideration of +this kind. Scratch a Russian and you find a Tartar; scratch musical +instruction of the average kind and you find technique. The +pianolist's progress is determined by music's appeal to his soul; the +average music pupil's by what he can accomplish with his fingers. In +this way, as I already have suggested, certain pieces have acquired an +importance far out of proportion to their musical value, and have +retained their position not only in the curriculum but, unfortunately, +even in the concert repertory. + +There is a lot of this dry wood in music and the unfortunate student +is compelled to chop it until, when he sees a real tree, he thinks it +is all wrong because it has green leaves instead of withered ones and +strong, sappy branches instead of little twigs that snap off at the +least touch. This is the reason that modern music, although it is the +most natural music ever written, has to be "explained"--because +students prejudiced by pedantic instruction have become so accustomed +to the artificial that they cannot appreciate what is natural; just +as experts in primitive art fail to appreciate the beauty of the later +schools of painting. + +To me it is positively exhilarating that the great mass of those +people who have become devotees of the mechanical piano-player do not +stop to ask what is the relation of this or that composition to the +development of music or its place in musical evolution; but, taking +music simply as music, confidently place pieces like the "Second +Rhapsody" or the "Tannhäuser" overture on the pianola and are thrilled +by the artistic realism of these compositions. Unconsciously they are +supporting the contention of those advanced thinkers in music who +place the expression of life and truth above artificial form. Suppose +a paint brush were invented which would give complete mastery of the +technique of painting to the person in whose hand it was placed. +Would that person go to work copying the old masters? No. He would +paint the sea, the low meadow land, the foot hills, the mountains, the +waving grain, the forest, the man he admired, the woman he loved. And +so it is that the player who has the technical mastery of the +pianoforte placed, so to speak, at his disposal, is led by instinct +toward the most modern expression of musical thought and genius. + +In his book, "The Temple of Art," Ernest Newlandsmith has a chapter on +musical education in which he points out that after all a pianist's +fingers and muscles are simply mechanical contrivances for striking +the keys, and that to gain complete control or mastery of this +mechanical process requires incessant drudgery and labor, such mastery +being attained only by very few people. "The average pianist never +gains the power of even striking the notes in really difficult music; +yet for an artist to infuse the exact expression of his feeling into a +work, he must not only be able to do this, but must also be able to +vary this striking of notes by the most minute and subtle degrees of +intensity, and that without experiencing any difficulty whatever, so +that his entire attention may be devoted to his feeling." All this the +pianolist gains without any of that drudgery so apt to obscure correct +musical perspective, so that, to quote again from Mr. Newlandsmith, +"it is a matter of wonder that any one can be found to speak against +mechanical piano-players, when they remember that they are only +mechanical to the extent that a pianist has to be. They are not +intended to play of themselves, like a musical box, but are controlled +by the performer's feeling." + +The first steps in music are apt to be "two-steps." Marches and dances +of a popular kind and the seemingly inevitable coon-song may be +regarded as the infant's food of the musical novice. For a person +whose love of music still is latent, may not "arrive" at once at the +"Second Rhapsody" or the "Tannhäuser" overture. The friend to whom I +have dedicated this book began with the lightest kind of music, the +kind he now regards as "trash." For from knowing nothing at all about +music, he has become, through the piano-player, an ardent lover of all +that is good in the art. Nevin's "Narcissus" happened to be included +in his first set of rolls. He tried it over, but thought it dull. +After a while, however, when the other rolls began to pall on him, he +played it again and found in it something that he missed in the +others. This was the first step toward better things, and step by +step thereafter he gained in musical taste until now his judgment is +unerring. + +Nevin whose death six years ago and at a comparatively early age, was +a distinct loss to music, was one of the small number of composers who +have written music of the lighter kind which yet is thoroughly good, +music that is pleasing without being trivial, melodious without a +suggestion of the commonplace, and thoroughly sound in workmanship. +This American composer was exceptionally apt at reproducing in music a +mood or fancy and at painting in tone the charms of a romantic +locality. Possibly no gentler rise from what is known as the "light +classic" to the classic can be provided than through him. Therefore I +begin with him, although he is a thoroughly modern composer, my aim +being gradually to lead the pianolist from enjoyment of lighter works, +of the kind, however, which possess genuine musical merit, to an +appreciation of the greater masterpieces. Sometimes I have selected +only one work by a composer and, except in the case of Chopin, never +more than a few examples from any composer. But the works which I cite +and describe in more or less detail, should suffice to stimulate the +pianolist to explore more fully the range of the composers I mention, +and of others. I give merely a taste; the catalogue of music rolls +supplies the full menu. + +To some this arrangement may seem haphazard. Nevertheless it has +system and purpose. The usual method followed in books that aim to be +musical guides would have been much easier. Mine I believe best +adapted to the needs of the average pianolist, who, it may be assumed, +at the time he purchases his instrument, knows little or nothing about +music of the higher kind; whose taste, in fact, still is to be +developed. + +I cannot imagine any one so obtuse to musical impressions as not to +find Nevin's "Valse Caprice," Op. 6, No. 1, thoroughly delightful. It +is the first of a set of several pieces comprised in his sixth work, +this fact being expressed by the designation Opus 6, No. 1. The piece +is full of pretty sentiment and I always like to imagine that it +describes an episode during a dance. It has charming melodies. +Ornamental figurations in the accompaniment, now above, now below, +give the effect of whispered questions and answers during the dance. +The questions--put by the man--are pressing and ardent, the +answers--from the girl--playful and parrying. Sometimes they even +ripple with chaff. Yet, toward the end of the dainty little +composition, they become tinged with sentiment, as if she were afraid +she might have gone a little too far and might "spoil things" and +thought it just as well to let him know in time that, after all, she +was not turning a wholly deaf ear to his pleading. + +This piece I would follow with Nevin's "Intermezzo," Op. 7, No. 3. +Although it belongs to an entirely different work I enjoy playing it +immediately after the waltz and imagining that it relates to the same +young couple--that he has led her out into the conservatory or on to a +terrace overlooking a moonlight garden and under these romantic +circumstances, is urging his suit more persistently than before. She, +however, is a little too fond of flirting to let her real sentiments +be known at once. But when, as if giving up the riddle in her dancing +eyes and seemingly mocking smile, he appears about to lead her back +into the ballroom, there is, at least so I like to read the music, a +pretty little laugh, as much as to say, "Can't you read my real +feelings under my mask of banter," a tender glance indicated by a +retard on a charmingly expressive little turn of the melody--and she +is in his arms. + +Now I would repeat the waltz, to indicate that, carried away by their +happiness, they have gone back into the ballroom and thrown themselves +heart and soul into the dance. And there you have a little Nevin suite +telling a pretty story. + +To me one of this composer's most fanciful tone paintings is, "In my +Neighbor's Garden," Op. 21, No. 2. This is one of a series of pieces +the complete title of which is "May in Tuscany," and which he composed +during a sojourn in Florence. You can hear a bird sing all through +this piece, and that the composer so intended it, became clear to me +when I found that its original title was "Rusignuolo," Italian for +nightingale. + + Make haste to mount, thou wistful moon, + Make haste to wake the nightingale: + Let silence set the world in tune + To harken to that wordless tale + Which warbles from the nightingale. + +Those lines from Christina Rosetti's "Bird Raptures," seem to me +perfectly reflected in Nevin's composition, and equally so are these +lines from the same poet's "Twilight Calm":-- + + Hark! that's the nightingale, + Telling the self-same tale + Her song told when this ancient earth was young: + So echoes answered when her song was sung + In the first wooded vale. + +Or this from Byron's "Parisina":-- + + It is the hour when from the boughs + The nightingale's high note is heard; + It is the hour when lovers' vows + Seem sweet in every whisper'd word. + +Nevin's "Barcarolle" is another beautiful composition, which conveys +the listener to Venice with its picturesque canals and ancient +palaces. It is a night scene, and reminds me of Wagner's description +of the singing of the gondoliers at night in one of his letters from +Venice: "Ah, music on the canal. A gondola with gaily colored lights, +singers and players. More and more gondolas join it. The flotilla, +barely moving, gently gliding, floats the whole width of the canal. At +last, almost imperceptibly, it makes the turn of the bend and +vanishes. For a long while I hear the tones beautified by the night. +Finally the last sound, dying away, seems to dissolve itself into the +moonlight, which beams softly on, like a visible realm of music." + +There is an entire Venetian suite by Nevin which he composed during a +stay in the Italian city. One day he gave his gondolier a day off, +and the boatman took his sweetheart, who lived on the mainland and +never had been in Venice, through the waterways. It was this which +suggested to Nevin the composition of the suite, which he entitled "A +Day in Venice." The best known number from it is the "Venetian Love +Song." + +Moskowszki is another good composer of light music, and like Nevin, +what he writes is thoroughly original. His "Serenata" Op. 15, No. 1, +is one of the prettiest of modern pieces, and a perfect example of +what a serenade should be--a graceful melody over an accompaniment of +guitarlike chords. There is an intervening part with much +ornamentation, which has the effect of improvising, a delicious little +run leading back to the first melody which now should be played very +softly and with slight retardations, as if the serenader were +departing and the music dying away. "From Foreign Parts," +Moskowszki's Op. 23, is one of the best known modern compositions. It +consists of several numbers each representing a country and composed +in true national style and with as much success as if, were such a +thing possible, the composer were a native of each of these countries +and were thoroughly imbued with its spirit. Of these separate numbers +I am inclined especially to recommend to the pianolist "Germany," with +its beautiful, broad, sustained melody, thoroughly German in contour +and expression, and among the most beautiful melodies composed in +modern times; and "Spain," one of the most brilliant little rolls for +the piano-player--gay, spirited and full of snap and go, the movement +never flagging from beginning to end. Moskowszki has shown himself +most happy in catching the spirit of Spanish music. He has a book of +Spanish dances and two Spanish albums full of music of most varying +mood, yet every mood characteristic of Spain and its people, now gay, +now languorous, now dashing, now subdued, now softly whispering, now +full of verve and passion, like the "Bolero," the fifth of the +"Spanish Dances," Op. 12, with its sharply accentuated rhythm and +dashing melody, which toward the end fairly swirls with excitement. + +A "Moment Musical," Op. 7, No. 2, was the composition which gave +Moskowszki his first taste of international fame, but in spite of much +that is genuinely beautiful, especially in its opening melody, I think +the work suffers from undue length. By all means, however, the +pianolist should not neglect this composition. Were I asked, however, +to select the work which seems to me to bring out in the most +favorable relief Moskowszki's traits as a composer it would be his +"Waltz," Op. 34, No. 1. It has an introduction beginning with a +phrase in the bass like a man asking the honor of a dance with an +attractive girl, followed by a little upward run, the gleam of the +smile with which she gives assent. Then there are short, crisp, bright +phrases, as though she enjoyed the knowledge that every one is looking +at her as he leads her out and whispers compliments. + +The introduction with all these interesting preliminaries over, the +waltz itself opens with a melody full of sentiment and almost personal +in its persistent suggestion of wooing. At the same time it has a +graceful swing that carries it along like an undercurrent, with rising +and falling inflections, and, like the Nevin waltz, with much dainty +ornamentation, as if the couple were conversing in low tones while +dancing. Then there is a brilliant episode when individuals seem lost +sight of in the general vividness of the scene with its gaily colored +costumes and flash of jewels. There are alternating sentimental +passages until, toward the end, the first melody bursts into a +fortissimo--a great rising inflection, insistent and impassioned--then +a final pitch of excitement as all seem to throw themselves into the +whirl and the waltz reaches a brilliant end. While Nevin in the waltz +which I selected from among his works, appears to tell the story of +two people, Moskowszki here places before our eyes a vivid ballroom +scene with one particularly handsome couple as the center of +attraction, without, however, letting us wholly into their secret. The +waltz, though long, is of never-flagging interest. + +This composer's opus 34 is an orchestral suite ("Première Suite d' +Orchestre") of which the second number is an "Allegretto giojoso," a +playful, sportive, chic and graceful movement, with a tender melody in +the middle part, at first heard alone, then with a sparkling +accompaniment. This piece having originally been scored for orchestra, +it is quite possible to detect orchestral instruments like flutes and +clarionets in some of the brilliant runs. The pianola roll is a +reproduction of an arrangement for four hands, that is, for two +players at one piano, yet only one player is required to produce the +full effect of a pianoforte duet arranged from an orchestral +composition. + +Moskowszki is a prolific composer, and it is well worth the +pianolist's while to thoroughly explore the catalogue of his works. +Much modern music merely echoes what has gone before and may be summed +up as watered Chopin. Therefore, even if Moskowszki's compositions are +in the lighter forms, their originality and melodiousness make them +worthy of ranking high among modern salon pieces. + +One of the prettiest and deservedly popular little works in the modern +repertory is the Paderewski "Minuet," Op. 14, No. 1. Modern minuets +are echoes of the classical period. Compositions of this kind are to +be found in the sonatas and symphonies of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven +and even further back in the suites of Bach. Accordingly the +Paderewski "Minuet," in keeping with the form, is simple and clear-cut +and gracefully melodious. At the same time, however, it is modern in +the brilliant ornamentation introduced in the middle part of the +composition which in a minuet is called the trio. + +The minuet was a stately dance. The word is derived from the French +menu meaning small and referring to the short steps taken in the +dance. Originally the music to it was brief, but as a complement, a +second minuet was added which, in time, became the trio, so-called, +because it was written in three part harmony. This was followed by a +repetition of the first minuet. While the designation trio has been +retained to this day, the three part harmony no longer is considered +obligatory. The minuet is one of the very few of the older dance forms +which have not become obsolete. + +It was a square dance, the steps consisting of a coupée (a salute to +one's partner, while resting on one foot and swinging the other +backward and forward) a high step and a balance. In the Paderewski +minuet the stately, ceremonious character of this dance is preserved +together with its old fashioned, naïve grace and charm. It is quite +possible while playing it to see the dancers at a French court ball or +in the ballroom of some chateau, the women, beauties of their day, in +high pompadour with puffs and curls powdered white, with petites +mouches, little moon and star-shaped beauty spots, on their faces; +square cut bodices, lace stomachers, paniers over brocaded skirts with +lace panels; feet encased in high heel satin slippers with jewelled +buckles; and gracefully managing their ostrich feather fans as they +curtsy to their partners; the latter wearing wigs also powdered white, +long coats of brocade, elaborately embroidered waistcoats with lace +jabots, satin knee breeches, silk stockings and a garter with jewelled +buckle on the right leg, and helping themselves to snuff out of gold +or silver boxes during brief pauses in the dance. Such is the picture +that can be conjured up in imagination while playing the Paderewski +minuet. + +Quite different yet equally effective in its way is his "Cracovienne +Fantastic," Op. 14, No. 6. The cracovienne is a Polish dance for a +large and brilliant company and just as Paderewski recalled in his +minuet the stately assemblage of days long past, so in his +cracovienne he gives us a brilliant picture of a ballroom scene in his +native Poland when that country was still in its glory and not +partitioned among three nations of Europe. The reiteration of its +characteristic rhythm gives it peculiar fascination. It is clearly and +distinctly melodious, with bright, flashing runs giving it brilliancy. + +Again different in style from any of the preceding are the works of +Cécile Chaminade. Not only is this composer a woman, she is a French +woman and, like a French woman, essentially clever and chic. She may +be a trifle more superficial than the composers I have mentioned, but +her music is clean-cut, clear as a crystal, and, like everything about +a refined woman, the quintessence of neatness. It is quite as if Mme. +Chaminade's maid laid out her musical thoughts as well as her dresses, +being sure to have every frill and furbelow in its place, whether it +be the robe d' interieur which she is to wear at breakfast, her robe +de ville for calling, or her robe de soirée. True it is that serious +musicians are apt to wear a somewhat supercilious expression at +mention of her music and to pronounce it clever rather than deep, yet +it is equally true that it takes its place among the best salon pieces +of the day and gains value if only from the fact that this bright +French woman has skillfully refrained from attempting flights for +which her graceful wings are not strong enough. Most of her music is +characterized by a fascinating archness and coquetry and requires +quick and sudden changes in time for its proper interpretation. While +rarely attempting the larger musical forms, she has been an +industrious student of the best music, so that all her compositions +are what is called "well made," correct according to the rules of +musical science, yet in melodic and harmonic inspiration characterized +by originality and musical inventiveness. She writes with judgment, +refinement and taste, avoiding on the one hand the pitfall of +pretentiousness, and, on the other, the monotony of platitude found in +the works of those who compose in the larger forms but lack the +originality to fill them with new and interesting matter. It is a +great thing to know your limitations, yet to be able to do vivid and +original work within them. + +Brief as is Chaminade's "Serenade," Op. 29, its melody is charming, it +is ably harmonized and it appeals to the heart. There is not a +commonplace bar in it. It is one of those delicate bits of inspiration +which survive other and seemingly grander works, the grandeur of +which, however, is in course of time, discovered to be mere hollow +pretentiousness. It is a capital example of the manner in which this +composer writes in the small genre--delicate, refined and sensitive. + +She has been highly successful in compositions in dance form, managing +these without a suggestion of the trivial. Thus her "Air de Ballet," +Op. 30, No. 1, is full of brilliancy and nervous energy without ever +degenerating into vulgar noisiness. Another "Air de Ballet" by her +from the ballet "Callirhoe," to which her widely known "Scarf Dance" +also belongs, is crisp, bright and dainty. "Callirhoe" is a +ballet-symphonique for stage performance and its production showed her +to be so well grounded in her art that it does not suffer even under +the pressure of rapid composition, or of being obliged to work "on +time." The commission for this ballet was offered to Godard, a +well-known French composer. He was, however, occupied with an opera +and declined the work, at the same time recommending that the +commission be offered to Chaminade. It was accepted by her and within +six weeks from the day when she began work upon it, it was completed +even to the scoring for orchestra. + +While the pianolist hardly can go amiss in choosing from among the +list of Chaminade's compositions I may mention as especially +characteristic her "Arabesque," "Humoresque," La Lisonjera (Flatterer) +"Pierrette," "Scaramouche" (Mountebank) and "Spinning Wheel." + +Chaminade's compositions are so popular in this country yet so little +is known about her personally, that I have secured a few personal data +concerning her from my friend, Mr. Percy Mitchell, who is attached to +the staff of an American paper in Paris. Mme. Carbonel-Chaminade has a +shock of dark, curly, short-cropped hair which gives her a boyish +aspect, a touch of masculinity further emphasized by a tailor-made +costume with stiff, white, turned-down collar and loosely tied scarf. +Beyond this aspect, however, there is nothing mannish about her. She +cares neither for sport nor exercise in general; her principal +occupation is musical composition, her chief relaxation practicing the +pianoforte two hours a day; and she reads an immense amount of poetry +from which she carefully selects the words for her songs. Society she +abhors, but she attends scrupulously to her large correspondence. Very +many of these letters come from America, and in a practical spirit +truly American seek information regarding the interpretation of her +works. "How should your 'Serenade' be phrased?--I am learning the +'Scarf Dance.' By this same mail I am sending you a copy of it. Would +you kindly mark the phrasing in it and return it to me?" In +connection with questions of this kind it is interesting to note that +practically all of Chaminade's compositions have been metrostyled for +the pianola by the composer herself. The pianolist at least will not +find it necessary to trouble her with questions like the above. + +Probably no composer has had one set method of work. It is apt to vary +according to surroundings. So with Chaminade. She may write while +seated at her pianoforte, testing her thoughts on the keyboard and +even working them out in detail before putting them on paper. Or she +may sit at her table, a vast velvet-covered affair taking up nearly +half of her studio. Sometimes an idea that has haunted her for weeks +may take definite shape while she is speeding on a train to fulfill a +concert engagement and she will jot it down in spite of the roar and +vibration of railway travel. As the train rushes on the composition +may be completely worked out in the composer's mind before the +journey's end, and so retentive is Chaminade's memory that, when she +returns to her villa in Vésinet, near the forest of St. Germain not +far from Paris, she can seat herself at her table and copy the work +from that mental vision of it which she had on the train. + +Some years ago during a semi-professional tour which she made through +Roumania, Servia and Greece, she was invited to play for the students +of the Athens conservatory. When she stepped on the stage she saw row +after row of young people armed with the printed music of what she was +about to play and prepared in a cold-blooded, business-like way to +open the music of the first number on the program and to follow the +concert note for note from the printed scores from beginning to end. +Imagine the effect upon her nerves produced by the rustling of one +hundred pages all being turned at the same instant at intervals during +the concert; and even now she laughingly confesses that she was nearly +overcome with stage fright and prays she may never have to endure +again such an ordeal as the music students of Athens unwittingly +prepared for her. + +With the exception of Nevin, the composers whose works I have +mentioned are living and actively engaged in composition. The piece to +which I now desire to call the pianolist's attention belongs to the +dawn of the romantic period in music. It was composed by Weber who +died in 1826, is entitled "Invitation to the Dance," was written a few +months after his happy marriage with the opera singer Caroline Brandt, +and is dedicated to "My Caroline." Because Weber was one of the first +composers who rank as great to give distinctly descriptive titles to +compositions, and because of certain other characteristics in his +works, he is regarded as the founder of the romantic school of +music--music which is not simply sufficient unto itself but has a +secondary meaning that adds immeasurably to its interests; music which +seeks to suggest a definite mood and even to throw a realistic picture +of some scene in nature or some human experience upon a background of +harmony and instrumental coloring; and which cares less for the +artifices of form than for the expression of the true and the +beautiful from the standpoint of modern art. + +The "Invitation to the Dance" derives further interest from the fact +that it was the first composition to lift the waltz, which up to that +time had been employed simply as an accompaniment for dancing, to the +level of other legitimate and recognized artistic musical forms. The +composition opens with an introduction in slow time, the first phrase +unmistakably being the voice of the man conveying to the lady an +invitation to dance. You hear her playful objection--undoubtedly she +wants to be asked a second time--the repetition of his invitation, her +assent, the short dialogue as the two step out on the floor; brief, +but resonant preluding chords; then the free, elastic rhythm of the +waltz followed by its gay, dashing melody. There is an exuberance of +runs and ornamentations until the first feeling of elation lapses into +a second dreamy, languorous waltz melody, as if the dancers were +floating on the scented atmosphere of the ballroom. In portions of +this there is a sentimental colloquy between the couple whom we met in +the introduction, the two voices being clearly differentiated. The +little duet between them adds to the beauty and interest of this +portion of the work, the melody of which simply is exquisite. Then +everything whirls and sparkles again and, when the dance has ceased, +there is a briefer recapitulation of the introduction, the lady is led +back to her seat, and the episode comes to an end. + +The pianolist may now place Liszt's "Campanella" (Bell rondo) on the +instrument. Originally this was composed by the famous violinist +Paganini, Liszt transcribed it for the pianoforte and so successfully +that now it is better known in his version than in its original form. +It is a piece which can be described only by one word--delicious. Its +title is immediately understood by the unmistakable silvery tinkle of +a bell in the high treble, constantly recurring, but always with added +instead of diminishing, beauty. On the pianoforte it demands +virtuosity of the highest rank, yet for the pianolist it is as easy +to play as is the simplest pianoforte piece intended for a beginner. + +And so, having begun this chapter with Nevin, one of the lighter +composers of pronounced merit, the pianolist already finds himself +playing a work by Weber and another by Liszt, two of the most famous +figures in musical history. Even if, as I trust will be the case, he +becomes so interested in the works I have cited in this chapter, as to +try much other music by the same composers, he will, in an almost +incredibly short space of time, be ready for the thrill of the great +masters--which shows that, after all, the sequence I am following in +this book is not as haphazard as some may think. + + + + +IV. THE THRILL OF THE GREAT MASTERS + + +In his choice of music the pianolist need not pause to consider the +slow evolution of the art from the simple to the more complex, since +for him nothing is complex. Thus he is free to disregard all +traditions, even such an absurd one, for example, as that which +insists that a sonata or symphony should be played as a whole, that, +if a work in this form consists of three or four movements, none of +these should be "lifted" out of the whole and played as a separate +composition. + +The pianolist calmly looks upon these movements as so many different +pieces and chooses between them. Thus among the hundred classical +compositions most in demand by pianolists, the slow movement of +Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony" ranks seventeenth, while the first is as +far down on the list as thirty-seventh, and the roll with the last +two movements as sixty-fifth. That in future the consensus of opinion +of thousands of music lovers who are unhampered by pedantic tradition, +will have immense influence in determining the standard of composers +and of their several works, and will have immense effect in hastening +the introduction and appreciation of works by new composers, in spite +of opposition from the ultra-conservative element, goes without +saying, and will be one of the most important factors in the +revolution this new musical instrument is destined to effect. + +All this readily can be appreciated when the attitude of this great +musical public toward Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsodies" is taken into +account. For years the critical camp has been divided on Liszt, some +considering him a composer whose unequalled greatness as a player of +the pianoforte led him to write music that was superficially +brilliant but barren of genuine musical inspiration. Others, like +Henry T. Finck and that band of advanced commentators on music among +whom I am proud to number myself, unhesitatingly rank him with the +greatest composers. This phase of musical life, this warring of +factions, the pianolist happily ignores entirely, and following his +unbiased intuition, places Liszt's second "Hungarian Rhapsody" at the +head of the repertory, closely follows it with the twelfth and +fourteenth, and, all told, includes nine of these fifteen compositions +in the top list of one hundred pieces of serious music which have +proved most popular with pianola players. The pianolist is not aware +of the fact, but that most inexorable of all critics, time, most +emphatically justifies his choice. + +Liszt brought out these rhapsodies fifty-three years ago. They are not +compositions which suddenly are offering themselves as candidates for +popular favor. For more than half a century has passed over these +master works, which still are as fresh and modern as if they had been +struck off but yesterday in the white heat of inspiration. Their roots +go back even further than fifty-three years. As long ago as 1838 Liszt +published them as short transcriptions of Hungarian tunes. Then he +worked them over and, in 1846, issued them in somewhat more elaborate +form as "Melodies Hongroises." Still further elaborated they became in +1854 the "Rhapsodies Hongroises" as we know them. + +These rhapsodies reflect the weird romanticism of that most mysterious +and fascinating of races, the Gypsies, as successfully as Chopin's +music reflects the crushed aspirations of his unhappy country, Poland. +Although they are called Hungarian, they are neither derived from nor +founded upon national Hungarian music, but are purely of Gypsy origin. +The Hungarians, however, have adopted the Gypsies as their national +musicians, and it is by reason of this adoption, or, in order to +express through the title this mutual assimilation, that Liszt has +called these rhapsodies "Hungarian." With a Gypsy parentage so +authentic that he speaks of the melodies on which they are based, as +"the songs without words" of the Gypsies, his rhapsodies form the only +channel through which the intense inner life and mystic idealism of +this strange race has found expression. They are the long suppressed +cry of souls struggling for self utterance and they constitute nothing +less than an epic, the "Iliad," of that strange race which centuries +ago cast itself upon the continent of Europe like a wave coming, none +knew from where or whither bound. + +This race, as Liszt describes it in his book on Gypsy music, brought +no memories, betrayed no hope; possessed no country, religion, +history. Divided into tribes, hordes and bands, wandering hither and +thither, following each the route dictated by chance, they still +preserve under the most distant meridian, the same infallible rallying +signs, the same physiognomy, the same language, the same traditions. +The ages pass. The world progresses. Countries make war or peace, +change masters and manners, but this people that shares the joys, the +sorrows, the prosperity and the misfortunes of none other; that laughs +at the ambitions, the tears, the combats of civilization; still +obstinately clings to its hunger and its liberty, its tents and its +tatters, and still exercises, as it has exercised for centuries, an +indescribable and indestructible fascination upon poetic minds, +passing it on as a mysterious legacy from age to age. + +Such is the race of which Liszt recites the epic in the "Hungarian +Rhapsodies." They portray the life, the scenes, the mood of the Gypsy +camp, vividly, brilliantly, yet with an undercurrent of tragedy--the +tragedy of homeless wanderers. Because they represent life, because +they are true to life, because they depict life with a wonderful union +of realism and beauty, they will, in spite of critical detraction, +live as long as the Bach fugues, the Beethoven sonatas or the Wagner +music dramas. + +An elaborate musical analysis of these wonderful works would be +futile. They are too racial, and in parts too pictorial to be +dissected in narrative style. What I have said of the race from which +they derive their characteristics should serve as a general +explanation of their purport. The second, twelfth and fourteenth +rhapsodies are admirable examples of the series. In general these +"Hungarian Rhapsodies" open with a few brief bars suggestive of tragic +recitative, which leads into a broad yet strongly marked and searching +rhythm, upon which is built a slow, stately yet mournful melody, +broken in upon here and there by strange weird runs and rapid +passages. These latter serve a double purpose. They imitate the +curious æolian harp effects of the most characteristic instrument of +the Gypsy orchestra, the cembalon, a large, shallow box with strings +about as numerous as those of the pianoforte, and played with two +little mallets, with which the player produces the weird arpeggios or +rapid, broken chords and the improvised runs characteristic of +Hungarian Gypsy music; and they also prepare the player and listener +for the rapid movement into which the slow melody passes over, finally +to dash into the very frenzy of emotional and physical excitement. + +These three divisions, the slow movement introduced by a recitative, +the rapid movement following, and the still more rapid one with which +the rhapsodies generally end, are based upon three distinct kinds of +melodies of the Gypsies, and their startling contrast contributes to +the effectiveness of the composition. The slow melody in the first +part of the rhapsodies (a different melody in each rhapsody of course) +is the "lassan," a sad song giving utterance to the pathos of the +race. The dance music that follows, so full of playful humor, grace, +caprice, coquetry and dashing contrast, is the "frischka"; while the +delirium, almost demoniac in its fury, with which the rhapsody rushes +to its intoxicating finale, and compared with which the Italian +tarantella and even the Dervish dance of the East are tame, is the +"czardas." In playing these rhapsodies one must try to imagine a Gypsy +camp, the flicker of firelight in the deep forest or on the wild +plains of Hungary, a sense of loneliness or of vast distance, forms of +swarthy men and women suddenly appearing from a shadowy background to +be illumined for a moment in the light of the fire, their swaying, +whirling forms vanishing the next, back into the vague darkness from +which they issued. Of the "Hungarian Rhapsodies" hostile critics may +say what they please; he who plays them understandingly, will feel in +them the thrill of a great master. + +A composition of impassioned, yet mournful beauty is Liszt's +"Liebestraum" (Dream of Love) one of a set of three nocturnes, this +one being based upon a well known German poem, Freiligrath's, + + O love as long as love thou canst, + O love as long as love will keep; + The day will come, the day will come, + When at a grave you stand and weep. + +Liszt's "At the Spring" is a charming composition somewhat in the same +style as the "Campanella," but instead of describing silver-toned +chimes of bells, reproducing the purl of a bosky spring. One hears the +clear rippling water and sees its sparkling jets in glints of +sunlight, as it dashes against the stones, and its shimmering spray. +The work is the forerunner and model of numerous similar pieces, all +of them, however, lacking its freshness and originality and its high +order of musicianship. + +The pianolist who is led by the examples of Liszt's music which I have +cited to choose liberally from the numerous compositions by him in the +catalogue of music rolls, hardly can go amiss. If, however, he prefers +to leave this for some other time, and to turn to another composer, he +will find Mendelssohn's "Rondo Capriccioso," Op. 14, a capital roll. +This rondo was composed in 1826, the same year in which he wrote the +overture to Shakespere's "Midsummer Night's Dream," with its wonderful +depiction of fairy life. The "Rondo Capriccioso" might be part of the +"Midsummer Night's Dream" music, it is so much in the same character. +Nothing could be more crisp and dainty. It seems to depict elves +romping through the forest by moonlight. Nor is it without romantic +moods, as if love-making were going on even among these light-footed, +light-hearted revelers. But when this is said, it still is all touch +and go; a breath, a sigh, the iridescence of the moonglade on a +woodland lake--then off and away:-- + + Over hill, over dale, + Through brush, through brier, + Over park, over vale, + Through flood, through fire, + I do wander everywhere, + Swifter than the moon's sphere; + And I serve the fairy queen, + To dew her orbs upon the green. + +or + + Light as any wind that blows + So fleetly did she stir, + The flower she touch'd on dipt and rose, + And turned to look at her. + +This "Rondo Capriccioso" is indeed a fascinating piece, written in its +composer's most facile vein. It is one of the finest rolls from among +which the pianolist can select. There can be no doubt that Mendelssohn +has been losing ground as compared with the enormous popularity which +he enjoyed in his lifetime. But the pendulum has swung too much the +other way. Certain of his compositions have been too much neglected. +The "Rondo Capriccioso" is one of them. As it actually sounds crisper +and daintier on the pianola than on the pianoforte no matter by whom +played, it enjoys well merited popularity in the pianolist's repertory +and may contribute toward restoring the appreciation of Mendelssohn's +music to its proper balance. + +I would be greatly surprised if a beautiful work like Schubert's +"Rosamunde" impromptu were not among the most popular pieces of the +pianolist's choice. The word impromptu is sufficiently +self-explanatory, but it needs to be pointed out that this work of +Schubert's differs from the usual impromptu in being an air with +variations, the variations, however, giving the impression of free +fantasies or improvisations on the original air. There are five +variations and the composition ends with a repetition of the air. + +The work is written in the truest Schubertian style. I like to fancy +that the melody with its serene, lyric beauty is a picture of the +fair Rosamunde herself. The first variation, a plaintive melody over +an agitated accompaniment, I should be inclined, still referring to +Rosamunde and regarding each variation as expressing an experience in +her life, to entitle "Moods." The second variation is more playful in +character but without any loss of romantic charm, and I should say +that we might call it an expression of her "Fancies." The third an +impassioned meditation, a cry from the heart, Rosamunde's heart, may +be called "Love." The fourth variation, which again is frankly playful +like the second, is "Hope." The fifth, as brilliant as a cascade on +which the sun is shining, is "Joy." It ends suddenly without coming to +a full stop in the musical sense, and, after a pause, the original air +now couched in broad and beautiful chords, begins in the lower +register, rises successively to the middle and higher ones, then dies +away--an exquisite ending. Is this not Rosamunde, the more charming +for the romance of which she is the heroine; Rosamunde, looking at her +engagement ring, musing on the past and trustful of the future? + +Schubert was one of the most famous song composers and Liszt in +addition to being an original composer, rendered a great service to +music by transcribing, in most admirable style, many of Schubert's +most famous songs for pianoforte. Widely known as they are for voice, +they have through these transcriptions become almost as familiar for +pianoforte. The delicate and dainty "Hark, Hark the Lark" is a +favorite work in Paderewski's repertory. So spontaneous was Schubert's +inspiration that he wrote the music of this song at a tavern where he +chanced to see the poem in a book which he was examining. "If only I +had some music paper!" he exclaimed. One of his friends promptly ruled +lines on the back of his bill of fare and Schubert, with the varied +noises of the tavern going on about him, jotted down the song then and +there. + +Another splendid Schubert song that has been made popular on the +pianoforte through Listz's transcription is "The Erlking." As it ranks +among the greatest songs, and by many people actually is considered +the greatest, the illustration it affords of the rapidity with which +Schubert worked is most interesting. Two friends calling upon him one +afternoon, toward the close of the year 1815, found him all aglow +reading "The Erlking" aloud to himself. Having read the poem, he +walked up and down the room several times, book in hand, then suddenly +dropped into a chair, and, without a moment's pause and as fast as his +pen could travel over the paper, composed the song. Schubert had no +pianoforte, so the three men hurried over to the school where formerly +he had been trained for the Imperial choir--this was in Vienna--and +there "The Erlking" was sung the same evening and received with +enthusiasm. Afterwards the Court organist played it over himself +without the voice, and, some of those present objecting to the +dissonances which depict the child's terror of the Erlking, the +organist struck these chords again and explained how admirably they +expressed the situation described in the poem and how well they were +worked out musically. Schubert was only thirty-one when he died and +was only eighteen when he set this poem of Goethe's to music, yet the +whole song is almost Wagnerian in its descriptive and dramatic +qualities, and its climax thrilling. + +The work of Beethoven's which seems most to appeal to the pianolist +is the "Moonlight" sonata. Possibly the attractive title, which, +however, Beethoven probably did not give to it, may have something to +do with its selection. But why not attribute its popularity to the +fact that the music bears out the title? + +A sonata is a composition in several movements, usually four, and +follows a clearly outlined, in fact, an almost rigid form, not to say +formula. It attained its highest development during the classical +period and left its impress upon all the larger compositions of that +time, for a symphony is nothing more than a sonata composed for +orchestra, instead of for the pianoforte, and trios, quartets, and +other pieces of chamber music of the classical period are sonatas for +the corresponding combination of instruments. + +The "Moonlight Sonata," however, is less rigid in form than the +average sonata. In it, in fact, Beethoven may be said to have broken +away from form, for after the word sonata he adds the qualifying +phrase "quasi una fantasia," signifying that, although he calls the +work a sonata, it has the characteristics of a free fantasy. + +Instead of opening with the usual rapid movement, the work begins with +a broad and beautiful slow one, a sustained melody, a poem of profound +pathos in musical accents. This is followed by a lighter allegretto +which Liszt called "a flower 'twixt two abysses," the second "abyss" +being the last movement, which is one of Beethoven's most impassioned +creations. At the end both of the first movement and of the allegretto +the usual wait between the divisions of a sonata is omitted, Beethoven +giving the direction "attacca subito il sequente," literally meaning +"attack suddenly the following," indicating an inner relationship +between the movements so close that there must be only the briefest +possible pause between them. + +This sonata is a true drama of life, a story of unrequited passion. It +is dedicated to one of the great beauties of Beethoven's time, the +Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. Although it is known that the composer +subsequently was deeply in love with her cousin, the Countess Therese +Brunswick, he is believed to have been in love with Giulietta at the +time he wrote the "Moonlight Sonata." The countess was not insensible +to his passion. She already was engaged to Count Gallenberg, but one +day, coming excitedly into the presence of her cousin Therese, she +threw herself at the latter's feet, "like a stage princess," and +exclaimed: "Counsel me, cold, wise one! I long to give Gallenberg the +mitten and marry the wonderfully ugly, wonderfully beautiful +Beethoven, if only it did not involve lowering myself socially." And +so she gave up Beethoven and led a life, none too happy, with her +Count. Connecting the "Moonlight Sonata" with this episode in +Beethoven's life, the first movement of the sonata may appropriately +be regarded as a song of love, deeply pathetic because no response is +evoked by the longing it expresses. The second movement, the graceful +allegretto, is the coquetish Giulietta who would not "lower herself +socially" by marrying a genius. The third movement is the rejected +lover crying out his passion and despair to the night. + +From Beethoven to Grieg, from Vienna to Norway, from the greatest +master of the classical period to a composer who still is living and +who has been called not inaptly, "the Chopin of the North," may seem a +long step. But the pianolist can travel with seven league boots. +Grieg's most widely known compositions are four of the pieces of +incidental music which he wrote to Ibsen's drama "Peer Gynt." Peer +Gynt is the Faust of Norwegian literature. Without attempting here to +follow up this parallel, it may be said that he is a curious +combination of ne'er-do-well, dreamer and philosopher, with a +pronounced streak of impishness running through his character and +giving a touch of the extravagant and grotesque to many of his actions +and to some of them even a suggestion of the weird and supernatural. + +"Peer Gynt" has its roots in Norwegian folklore and was written by +Ibsen in Italy when he was about thirty-seven years old, and it +precedes the problem plays by which he is best known, although Peer's +character is in itself a complex problem. Grieg in his incidental +music, adroitly avoids the difficult task of interpreting or even +hinting at the curiously contradictory nature of the principal rôle +in the play, one of the most interesting psychological studies in +modern literature. His music deals with the more superficial aspects +of the story and is pictorial rather than intellectual or profoundly +emotional. The principal selections for the piano-player from the +"Peer Gynt" music, are contained on two rolls with two selections to +each roll. One of them gives the music of "Anitra's Dance" and "In the +Hall of the Mountain King"; the other the scenes "Daybreak" and "Death +of Aase." Were these selections to be arranged in the order in which +they occur in the drama it would be necessary to begin with the "The +Hall of the Mountain King" and follow this, in the order mentioned, +with "Aase's Death," "Anitra's Dance" and "Daybreak." On the rolls, +however, the pieces are not arranged in the order of their occurrence +in the play, but in the sequence which is most effective from a +musical standpoint--just as in this book I have purposely refrained +from following any set, historical sequence, but have adopted a purely +musical method of guiding the pianolist from music of the lighter kind +to that of a more serious character. + +"Anitra's Dance" is an episode of the drama laid in Morocco which Peer +has reached in the course of his wanderings. Anitra is a lithe-limbed +daughter of the East who entrances Peer with her dancing, and, when he +promises to endow her with a soul, promptly informs him that she would +rather have the opal from his turban; gradually coaxes all his jewels +from him; then swiftly throws herself upon his horse and gallops away, +showing herself a true exemplar of the "eternal feminine," so called, +I presume, because it eternally is getting the better of the eternal +masculine. Be that as it may, "Anitra's Dance" is the very essence of +witchery and grace. In the scene "In the Hall of the Mountain King" +the trolls gather for the marriage of Peer to the Troll King's +daughter. When Peer, at the last moment, refuses to go through the +ceremony, the trolls dash at him. One bites himself fast to his ear. +Others strike him. He falls. They throw themselves upon him in a heap. +At this critical moment, when he is writhing beneath them in torture, +the sound of distant church bells is heard, the trolls take to flight, +the palace of the Mountain King collapses and Peer is standing alone +on a mountain. The scene may be construed as one of his supernatural +experiences, as a nightmare, or as the allegory of a stricken +conscience. "Daybreak" which opens the second roll is in Egypt, Peer +standing before the statue of Memnon in the first hush of dawn and +waiting for the rays of the rising sun to evoke the music which +according to tradition many thousand years old, is drawn from the +statue by the sunrise. In this number Grieg paints the colors of an +Oriental daybreak rather than attempts to convey the thrill of an +ancient sculpture, on the edge of the great desert, thrilling with +song at the first kiss of the rising sun. In the "Death of Aase" Peer +watches his mother's life slowly ebb away and seeks to divert her mind +from death by grotesque tales, even throwing himself astride a chair +and persuading her through subjective suggestion, that he is the +forerider of a beautiful chariot in which she is seated, so that the +poor woman, who all her life long has felt the pinch of penury, dies +with a vision of wealth and glory before her eyes created for her by +the son, worry over whom has hastened her death. In keeping with the +lyric trend of his genius, Grieg has ignored the grotesque and ghastly +humor of the situation, and has contented himself with portraying its +sombre and tragic aspect, his music being in character somewhat like a +funeral march. + +The pianolist will find a characteristic Norwegian touch in Grieg's +"Bridal Procession Passing By," Op. 19, No. 2, from his "Sketches from +Norwegian Life." It begins with a curiously droning rhythm, played +softly as though the procession were approaching from a distance. Over +this rhythm is introduced a piquant march figure, hopping and skipping +along as if the musicians were dancing at the head of the marchers. As +the procession approaches and the music becomes louder, one hears in +the bass an accentuation of the characteristic rhythm, like the tap of +a bass drum. When the march has swelled to a forte, it sinks to a +brief piano, as if the winding path had led the procession away again. +Then there is another brief outburst, this time fortissimo, as if the +marchers were quite near; and then a pianissimo, as if they had passed +behind a hill and almost out of hearing. The music grows loud again, +the procession goes by, and there is a delicious effect as the march +dies away in the distance, the rhythmic beats with which it opened +becoming softer and softer, while the little hopping and skipping +march-figure, somewhat curtailed, flutters over it. + +Grieg's "Peer Gynt" suite was composed for orchestra, but was arranged +for pianoforte by the composer. Notwithstanding the fact that in its +original form the suite is intended to be played by a large body of +instruments of different tone coloring and that arrangements for +pianoforte of orchestral works usually are so complex that even great +pianists find difficulty in rendering them effectively, the "Peer +Gynt" selections are among the most attractive in the pianolist's +repertory. For, through the instrument on which he plays, he is able +to overcome the most complicated chords and the most difficult and +complex runs, as easily as if they were music of the simplest kind. If +the pianola sometimes is called mechanical, the injustice thus done it +is due to its superhuman capacity of playing with perfect ease things +that are wholly beyond the fingers even of the greatest virtuosos, yet +can be rendered fluently and also expressively by the pianolist who +has genuine feeling for music. + +It is this combination of technique and expression that gives to +Liszt's enormously difficult pianoforte transcription of Saint-Saëns' +symphonic poem, "Danse Maccabre," which even for orchestra is an +extremely difficult piece, its place in the pianolist's repertory. +This is one of the most interesting of modern compositions, and most +graphically descriptive of its subject, which is the "Dance of Death," +"maccabre" being derived from the Arabic "makabir," which signifies a +place of burial. Both in the literature and in the painting of the +Middle Ages in Europe and particularly in church decoration, figures +the legend that once a year on Hallowe'en the dead arose from their +graves for a wild and hideous dance, with King Death himself as master +of ceremonies. Saint-Saëns' symphonic poem realistically describes +these scenes, and, as if to attribute the inspiration for his music to +its precise origin, the composer has placed above his score a poem by +Henri Cazalis. Mr. Edward Baxter Perry has made a free transcription +of this poem, which, at the same time, serves capitally as a +description of the music: + + On a sounding stone, + With a blanched thigh-bone, + The bone of a saint, I fear, + Death strikes the hour + Of his wizard power, + And the specters haste to appear. + + From their tombs they rise + In sepulchral guise, + Obeying the summons dread, + And gathering round + With obeisance profound, + They salute the King of the Dead. + + Then he stands in the middle + And tunes up his fiddle, + And plays them a gruesome strain. + And each gibbering wight + In the moon's pale light + Must dance to that wild refrain. + + Now the fiddle tells, + As the music swells, + Of the charnal's ghastly pleasures; + And they clatter their bones + As with hideous groans + They reel to those maddening measures. + + The churchyard quakes + And the old abbey shakes + To the tread of that midnight host, + And the sod turns black + On each circling track, + Where a skeleton whirls with a ghost. + + The night wind moans + In shuddering tones + Through the gloom of the cypress tree, + While the mad rout raves + Over yawning graves + And the fiddle bow leaps with glee. + + So the swift hours fly + Till the reddening sky + Gives warning of daylight near. + Then the first cock crow + Sends them huddling below + To sleep for another year. + +The composition opens weirdly with the hollow strokes of the hour. +There is a light, staccato passage suggesting the spectres tiptoeing +from their graves to take their places in the fantastic circle. Then +comes one of the most strikingly realistic passages in the +composition--Death attempting to tune up his fiddle, an effect that is +repeated at intervals throughout the composition. After reading the +poem, the pianolist will not require a detailed description of the +work. He will recognize the details even to the moaning of the night +wind and the crowing of the cock, the scurry of the spectres and their +final wail, as the grave closes upon them for another year. + + + + +V. AN "OPEN SESAME" TO CHOPIN + + +The goal of all pianists is Chopin. As the list of one hundred +favorite compositions for the pianola includes no less than twenty-six +works by this composer, he would seem to be the goal of the pianolist +as well. + +Chopin now is recognized universally as one of the great composers. +But during his lifetime he was much criticised, called morbid and +effeminate and a composer of small ideas because he wrote almost +entirely in the smaller forms. As if size had anything to do with the +beauty of a work. In every art the best work of each great man should +be ranked with the best of all other great men. Some geniuses express +themselves on a larger, but not necessarily on a greater scale, than +others. In poetry, for example, Poe's "Raven" is not to be ranked +below Milton's "Paradise Lost" because shorter; nor in music need a +Chopin ballad be placed below a Beethoven symphony because not so +extended as the latter. Every genius, however, must expect to be +condemned until Time silences criticism of his work. For ever since +men began to create rare and beautiful things, there have been other +men who, having failed therein, have found a bitter consolation in +sitting in crabbed and ill-tempered judgment upon their successful +betters. + +Another point raised against Chopin was, that practically he confined +himself to composing for pianoforte. A sufficient answer to this is, +that his music made the pianoforte what it is. For he was the first +composer who appreciated the genius of the instrument, discovered its +latent tone colors and developed its resources to their full capacity +for artistic beauty and expression. Chopin was the first to make the +pianoforte both shimmer and sing. Rubinstein said that the art of +music could go no further than Chopin and called him the pianoforte +bard, rhapsodist, mind and soul. "How he wrote for it I do not know, +but only an entire passing over of one into the other could call such +music into life." George Sand (Mme. Dudevant) the famous French +authoress with whom Chopin had a love affair that was one of the +tragedies of his life, said that "he made the instrument speak the +language of the infinite. He did not need the great material methods +of the orchestra to find expression for his genius. Neither saxophone +nor ophicleide was necessary for him to fill the soul with awe. +Without church organ or human voice he inspired faith and enthusiasm." + +Although Chopin figures on almost every pianoforte recital program the +average amateur has comparatively slight knowledge of the range of +his genius. Only the player able to go over his works in person can +acquire such knowledge, and the number of amateurs possessed of +sufficient technique to play Chopin's music is very small. "But +to-day," writes Mr. Ashton Johnson in his "Hand-Book to Chopin's +Works," "owing to the invention of the pianola and the fact that all +Chopin's works, including even the least important of the posthumous +compositions, are now available for that instrument, the whole domain +of his music is, for the first time, open to all. Those who wish may +pass the portal hitherto guarded by the dragon of technique and roam +at will in his entrancing music land." + +Chopin was a native of Poland. He was born near Warsaw in 1810. When +the Poles lost their country it was as if their grief and the +melancholy of their exile found expression through Chopin's music. He +became the musical poet of an exiled race. The most significant years +of his life he spent in Paris surrounded by the aristocracy of his own +country, who yet had no country, and by the aristocrats of art. Liszt, +Heine, Meyerbeer, Bellini and other famous men, as well as famous +women, were his personal friends. + +The affair with George Sand left on his music the imprint of sorrow, +poignant grief, and a pathos reaching down into the depths of tragedy. +Different in character was his idealization of the beautiful Countess +Delphine Potocka. The episode is fully set forth in my "Loves of the +Great Composers." One of Chopin's favorite musical amusements, when a +guest in the house of intimate friends, was to play on the pianoforte +"musical portraits" of the company. One evening in the salon of +Delphine's mother, he played the portraits of the two daughters of +the house. When it came to Delphine he gently drew her light shawl +from her shoulders, and then played through it, his fingers, with +every tone they produced, coming in touch with the gossamer like +fabric, still warmed and hallowed for him from its contact with her. +It was Delphine who soothed his last hours by singing for him as he +lay upon his death bed. + +She was one of the very few people to whom he dedicated more than one +of his works. Both his second concerto (in F minor, Op. 21) and his +most familiar waltz, the Op. 64, No. 1, bear her name. Chopin as a +pianist, showed decided preference for the slow movement of the +concerto, a movement which is of almost ideal perfection, "now radiant +with light and anon full of tender pathos," to quote from Liszt. It is +indeed, an exquisite idyll, beautifully melodious and replete with +delicate ornamentation. Because of its beauty and its association +with Delphine, I would suggest that the pianolist begin with this +larghetto. There is another reason for the suggestion. In its +ornamentation it illustrates to perfection that characteristic of +Chopin's music known as the "tempo rubato." Much of Chopin's music has +in addition to inspired melody, an iridescence as if produced by +cascades of jewels. These are ornamental notes which yet are not +ornamental in the limited meaning of the word; for in spite of all +their light and shade and their play of changeable colors, they form +part of the great undercurrent of melody. There are various technical +definitions of tempo rubato, but Liszt described it poetically and yet +exactly when he said, "You see that tree? Its leaves move to and fro +in the wind and follow the gentlest motion of the air; but its trunk +stands there immovable in its form." Or the effect might be compared +with the myriad shafts from the facets of a jewel, vibrating +brilliance in all directions, while the jewel itself remains +immovable, the center of its own rays. These effects readily are +discoverable in the larghetto of the Potocka concerto. + +The pianolist should then take up the valses of Chopin beginning with +Op. 64, No. 1, like the concerto, dedicated to Delphine. This is the +most familiar of all the Chopin waltzes, so familiar that it +frequently is referred to in a derogatory way as hackneyed. Yet, when +properly played, it is one of the most effective of his compositions +in this genre. Of the Chopin waltzes in general, it should first be +said that they are not dance-tunes but expressions, alternately +brilliant, charming and sad, of the intimacy of the ballroom, and that +they possess an innate grace which no other composer has been able to +impart to the form. They have been characterized as salon music of +the noblest kind and were well described by Schumann when he said that +if they were played for dances, half the ladies present should be +countesses--which exactly hits off the distinguished quality of these +valses. To play them is like looking at a dance through a fairy lens; +they seem like improvizations of a musician during a dance and to +reflect the thoughts and feelings that arise as he looks on, playing +the waltz rhythm with the left hand, while the melody and the +ornamental note groups indicate his fancy--love, a jealous plaint, +joy, ecstasy and the tender whisperings of enamored couples as they +glide past. + +"Gliding" is the word that has been applied to the smooth brilliance +of the Potocka valse. There runs a story regarding this composition +that George Sand had a little dog that used to chase its own tail +around in a circle, and that one evening, she said to Chopin, "If I +had your talent, I would improvise a valse for that dog," whereupon +the composer promptly seated himself at the pianoforte and dashed off +this fascinating little improvisation. It is Parisian in its grace and +coquetry and ends with a rapid run, the last note of which is like the +rhythmic tap of the foot with which a dainty ballet dancer might +conclude a lightly executed _pas_. + +In striking contrast to this is the "Valse," Op. 34, No. 2. This is in +a minor key and instead of representing the abandon of the dance, it +seems rather to depict a melancholy lover allowing his eyes to travel +slowly around the ballroom in a futile search of his heart's desire. +The prevailing tone of the composition rather is that of an elegy--the +burial of fond hopes. Stephen Heller, pianist and composer, tells of +meeting Chopin in the store of a Paris music publisher. Heller had +come in to order all the valses. Thereupon Chopin asked him which he +liked best, and when Heller mentioned this sad one in slow time, +Chopin exclaimed, "I am glad you like that one, for it also is my +favorite," and he invited Heller to have luncheon with him. + +Perhaps the most brilliant and extended of the valses is Op. 42. In +this Chopin imposes upon the triple waltz time, a melody that is in +double time--that is, while you count "one, two, three" for the +accompaniment, "one, two" will suffice for the melody above it. The +effect of this device has been described as indicative in this waltz +of the loving, nestling and tender embracing of the dancing couples. +It is followed in the music by sweeping motions free and graceful like +those of birds. The prolonged trill with which the piece begins, seems +to summon the dancers to the ballroom, while the waltz itself, is an +intermingling of coquetry, hesitation and avowal, with a closing +passage that is like an echo of the evening's events. + +These three waltzes, if played in the order in which I have mentioned +them, make a capital valse suite, and another could be made by taking +in the following order, the dashing "Posthumous Waltz" in E minor, the +C minor, Op. 64, No. 2, with its veiled, sad beauty; and the brilliant +Op. 34, No. 1. + +In his "Nocturnes" those sombre poems of night, Chopin seems weaving +his own shroud. But if, like Robert Louis Stevenson, Chopin loved the +darkness and its melancholy murmuring, and if there was a touch of +morbidness in his nature, yet, like Stevenson, he had in him a strain +of chivalry. Mr. Huneker, therefore, in his book on Chopin, is quite +right when he says of the nocturnes that if they were played with +more vigor, a quickening of the time pulse and a less languishing +touch, they would be rescued from a surplus of lush sentiment. + +Undoubtedly, the most popular of the nocturnes is the one in E flat, +Op. 9, No. 2. In fact it is so popular that when any one is asked to +play "Chopin's Nocturne," this one is meant. Because it is popular, it +is sneered at by some critics, but it possesses a lyric beauty quite +its own and "sometimes surprises even the weary teacher with a waft of +unexpected freshness, like the fleeting odor from an old and much used +school book in which violets have been pressed." A sustained love +song, it ends with a cadence that should be played with a rippling +delicacy suggestive of moonlight on a lake in the garden of an old +chateau. + +There are nocturnes of Chopin's composed on a larger scale than the +Opus 37, No. 2, but to my taste there is none more beautiful. It +bears a striking resemblance to a passage in George Sand's diary +describing a voyage with Chopin to the island of Majorca. "The night +was warm and dark, illumined only by an extraordinary phosphorescence +in the wake of the ship; everybody was asleep on board except the +steersman, who, in order to keep himself awake, sang all night, but in +a voice so soft and so subdued that one might have thought he feared +to arouse the men of the watch. We did not weary of listening to him, +for his singing was of the strangest kind. He observed a rhythm and +modulation totally different from those we are accustomed to, and +seemed to allow his voice to go at random, like the smoke of the +vessel carried away and swayed by the breeze. It was a reverie rather +than a song, a kind of careless floating of the voice, with which the +mind had little to do, but which kept time with the swaying of the +ship and the faint lapping of the dark water, and resembled a vague +improvization restrained, nevertheless, by sweet and monotonous +forms." + +How suggestive this is of the nocturne! The undulating accompaniment, +the scintillation of the treble, suggests the gliding, gently rocking +motion of the vessel and the phosphorescence in its wake; while the +second theme of the nocturne would, even without any suggestion from +the passage in George Sand's diary, be taken for a barcarolle, a +reverie sung at night, now rising, now dying away, but with the pulse +of a musical poet throbbing through every note--the most beautiful +melody, I think, Chopin ever wrote. + +And speaking of this melody as an improvization, reminds me of those +other improvizations by Chopin, the "Impromptus," in which he has +displayed his genius as convincingly as in any of his other works. +They are fresh and untrammeled in their development, and as full of +sunlight as the nocturnes are of darkness. The one in A flat major was +dedicated to the Countess de Loban as a wedding present, and was a +farewell to her as a pupil. Brilliant, joyous and iridescent in its +opening and closing sections, that in the middle voices vague and +tender regret. The composition sometimes is spoken of as the "Trilby" +impromptu. It is the one Du Maurier made Trilby sing under the +hypnotic influence of Svengali. + +Had Chopin's directions for the destruction of certain of his +manuscripts after his death been carried out, the world would be the +poorer by the loss of his "Fantaisie Impromptu," published as Op. 66. +It is difficult to understand why he should have wanted this work +destroyed, since it produces a sinuous, interwoven, flowing effect, +interrupted by a middle melody of much sentiment and beauty. It has +been very well described by Mr. Perry in a brief poem entitled "The +Fantaisie Impromptu": + + The sigh of June through the swaying trees, + The scent of the rose, new blown, on the breeze, + The sound of waves on a distant strand, + The shadows falling on sea and land; + All these are found + In this stream of sound, + This murmuring, mystical, minor strain. + + And stars that glimmer in misty skies, + Like tears that shimmer in sorrowing eyes, + And the throb of a heart that beats in tune + With tender regrets of a happier June, + When life was new + And love was true, + And the soul was a stranger to sorrow and pain. + +A reading of this poem conveys to the player the correct mood in which +to interpret the impromptu. + +By way of contrast I follow these careless raptures--careless only in +their effect of spontaneity--with the famous "Marche Funèbre," the +funeral march which forms the third movement of Chopin's sonata in B +flat minor, Op. 35. This has been called the best funeral march ever +written for the pianoforte. At Chopin's own funeral it was played +scored for orchestra. In my opinion it is not only "the best funeral +march ever written for the pianoforte," but the most intrinsically +beautiful and sad funeral march ever composed. Its opening suggests +the solemn tolling of great bells, the heavy march rhythm gives the +effect of the slow procession of mourners; and the dirgelike music, +soft and muffled at first, grows in power like the measured, +inflexible rhythm of fate. Then it seems as if the mourners had +arrived at the open grave, for the music voices a weeping melody, pure +and tender and sweet; then the march rhythm makes itself heard again +and the procession leaves the grave, the music dying away in the +distance. This is the funeral march of a nation, of Chopin's own +beloved Poland. + +Chopin wrote two sets of twelve "Etudes." They gave an entirely new +significance to the term. For the Chopin etudes not only are supreme +as studies. They are supreme as music as well. Before they were +published the usual musical study was something very dry and set. How +different these superb compositions are from studies such as are +comprised in Czerny's "School of Velocity," which make you feel like +employing the "velocity" you have acquired to run away as quickly as +possible from the "school," whereas the Chopin etudes are so full of +melody and of the rarest and the most beautiful musical effects, that +to play any one of them suffices to whet the appetite for the others. +The pianolist might well go through the entire two sets of twelve. It +would open up a new musical world to him. Here I can only point out +three. Opus 10, No. 5, is the "Black Key" etude, so called because all +the notes of the right hand are on black keys. This is a brilliant +study with a very charming ending. Opus 25, No. 9, is the so called +"Butterfly Wings" etude, a designation which expresses its general +characteristic of lightness and grace, but fails to make allowance for +the accent of passion in the rising and descending passage that occurs +about the middle and which should be brought out when it is correctly +interpreted--which usually it is not. The greatest of all the etudes +is the "Revolutionary," Op. 10, No. 12. It was written by Chopin in +1831, when he heard the news that Warsaw had been taken by the +Russians, and it expresses the tornado of emotion that swept over him +when he realized that Poland was about to sink beneath the triple +onslaught of Russia, Austria and Germany. This composition which, mind +you, goes by the simple name of "study," is one of the most tremendous +outbursts of wrath in music--a storm of the soul without even such +lyric episodes as those which form islands of calm in the torrential +last movement of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata." Well may Mr. Huneker +say that the end "rings out like the crack of creation. It is +elemental." + +This etude, certain of the "Polonaises," the "Scherzos," the +"Ballades" and the "Fantaisie" in F minor, reveal a fire, passion and +virile power that will surprise those who have formed their estimate +of Chopin from the mournful nocturnes and brilliant waltzes. The +so-called "Military Polonaise," Op. 40, No. 1, is so replete with the +spirit of war that in the middle portion it is easy to hear the roll +of drums and the clash of battle. It was of this polonaise Chopin +said, "If I had the strength to play it as it should be played I would +break all the strings of the pianoforte." + +The most effective of the polonaises, his opus 53, also breathes forth +martial ardor and defiance. It begins with a stirring call to arms, +followed by the swinging measure of the polonaise proper with a melody +that suggests soldiery on prancing steeds and with flashing sabres, +defiling in review before battle. This is followed by a "trio" in +which a rapid octave figure in the bass, beginning softly and growing +louder and louder until it reaches a crashing climax, with strains +like a bugle call ringing out above it, depicts a cavalry charge +coming from the distance, drawing nearer and nearer and sweeping past +with a mighty roar. There is a story that while Chopin was composing +this polonaise, he was so affected when playing over the nearly +completed work, that, seized by a peculiar hallucination, he saw the +walls of the room open and, approaching from the outer night, a band +of medieval Polish knights mounted and in armor, as if they had risen +from their ancient graves and ridden on the clouds to appear in +response to the summons of his music. The somewhat vague passage which +follows the climax of the cavalry charge and leads back to the main +subject possibly may be accounted for by this strange experience. + +Unfortunately there is no opportunity here to take up the "Scherzos," +so unlike the coquettish, bantering pieces of the same name by other +composers, Chopin seemingly representing tragedy mocking itself, as +any one playing the B flat minor "Scherzo," Op. 31, may hear for +himself; the "Ballades," so eloquently narrative of love and +adventure, the A flat major and the G minor being especially popular +in the pianolist's repertory; and the "Fantaisie," in F minor, one of +the greatest compositions for pianoforte. As for the "Mazurkas" and +"Preludes," pieces that are among their composer's happiest creations, +I can do no more than call the pianolist's attention to their +existence and advise him not to neglect them. + + + + +VI. NOTES ON SOME OTHER MASTERS + + +Besides those composers, one or more of whose works I have described +in some detail, there are others who at least should be touched on, +always bearing in mind, however, that one of the aims of this book is +to stimulate the pianolist to explore for himself. Bach, Händel, Haydn +and Mozart can be studied most profitably in connection with the +courses that are referred to in the chapter on Educational Factors +which follows. There too will be found reference to the thorough +courses on Wagner, one a general course on that composer, the other a +special course on his "Ring of the Nibelung." + +A line of composers that may well interest the pianolist has come to +the front in Russia. Rubinstein, whose "Melody" in F and "Kammenoi, +Ostrow," No. 17, are among the popular selections in the pianolist's +repertory was a Russian, who, however, from a musical standpoint, +expressed himself in German. To a certain extent the same is true of +Tschaikowsky. His music is "universal" rather than national. It has, +nevertheless, the Russian tang to a greater degree than Rubinstein's, +and Tschaikowsky is classed correctly as the head of the Russian +school and one of the greatest of modern composers. His "Pathetic +Symphony," which has been metrostyled by Edouard Colonne, a +distinguished French orchestral conductor, is a noble work. Among +smaller pieces which the pianolist readily will appreciate, are the +"Song without Words," Op. 2, No. 2; an attractive "Valse à cinq +Temps," with its oddly extended rhythm; the very characteristic +"November, in the Troika," Op. 37, No. 11; an expressive "Barcarolle" +and the selections from his "Casse Noisette" (Nutcracker) ballet +suite. + +Next to Tschaikowsky's "Song without Words" the most widely known +short piece for pianoforte by a Russian composer is Rachmaninoff's +"Prelude," Op. 3, No. 2, a broad and sonorous work with a splendid +climax. A little "Waltz," Op. 10, No. 2, is captivating; and a +"Serenade," Op. 3, No. 5, has an originality and charm quite its own. +A very beautiful "Moment Musical," Op. 16, No. 5, does not seem to +have been included as yet in the catalogue of music rolls, an honor to +which it clearly is entitled. Arensky, Balakirew, César Cui, +Glazounow, Karganoff, Liapounow, Rimsky-Korsakow, Sapellnikoff and +Taneiew are other interesting figures of the "New-Russian" school of +which so much is heard at present. + +Dvorak who was a Bohemian wrote much music distinctly and +fascinatingly characteristic of his native land. He was, however, +broad enough in his tastes to recognize, during his sojourn of three +years in America, the beauty of the Negro plantation melodies and to +compose upon several of these as themes, his symphony "From the New +World," sometimes called more briefly the "American Symphony." This +symphony, two works of chamber music, also composed during his +residence in America, and his compositions in his native Bohemian +musical idiom usually are ranked higher than his more cosmopolitan +efforts. His "Humoreske," Op. 101, No. 5, the "Slavic Dances" and "On +the Holy Mount" are among his compositions unmistakably Bohemian in +origin. + +While Saint-Saëns, having worked more successfully in the larger +orchestral forms, is ranked first among contemporary French composers, +and Chaminade leads as a composer of clever salon music, the +pianolist can add some attractive pieces to his repertory from the +compositions of Delibes and Godard. Delibes is the composer of the +opera "Lakmé," and the Airs de Ballet from this, as well as the +selections from his "Coppelia" and "Sylvia" ballets, will be found +spontaneous and original. In fact in all instances in which music +composed in dance forms has survived, this will be found due to a +decided strain of individuality and resulting originality in the +composer. The Valse Lente from the "Coppelia" ballet is among the +hundred most popular pieces in the pianolist's repertory; and well up +in the same list is Godard's graceful "Second Mazurka," Op. 54. + +Among the most distinguished modern composers is the American, Edward +Alexander MacDowell. He is living, but his work is over; for, +unfortunately, his mind has given way. His "Scotch Poem" with its +graphic musical representation of the sea beating against a rockbound +coast and its lyric episode consisting of a trist Scotch ballad, is +highly dramatic, while his "Sea Pieces" are among the most poetic of +contemporary compositions for pianoforte. His "Witches' Dance" is +highly descriptive, and in whatever direction the pianolist may +familiarize himself with the music of MacDowell, he will be found a +highly original, eloquent and expressive composer, whose fame, already +established, is bound to grow with the lapse of time. + +This chapter may fittingly be concluded with a brief reference to two +great German composers, Schumann and Brahms. Although "popular" is not +a word ordinarily associated with Schumann, two of his shorter pieces, +"Träumerei" (Revery) and "Warum" (Why) are great favorites. Schumann +did much for the development of music that has a distinct meaning and +his works frequently bear titles that are suggestive of some mood or +scene, like "At Evening," "Soaring" (Aufschwung, sometimes translated +as Excelsior), "Carnaval," a series of twenty-one pieces descriptive +of carnival scenes; and the "Novelettes." + +Brahms is far more of a melodist than his critics give him credit for, +but his clearness of expression is interfered with by the relentless +scientific accuracy with which he works out his ideas, to which method +he is apt to sacrifice only too often the innate beauty of his +thoughts. He seems, however, to be slowly gaining ground, but more +through his songs than through his instrumental works excepting those +of chamber music. Yet any one who will seriously study Brahms and +begin with the shorter pianoforte pieces, Op. 76 and Op. 116-119, will +find mines of purest musical gold, where, perhaps, he least expected +to discover them. Entirely different in style from Brahms' other works +are his "Hungarian Dances," in which he has taken dance themes of the +Hungarian Gypsies and skillfully worked them up into pieces that are +melodiously and rhythmically fascinating and unreservedly popular. +They are much played by pianolists. + +Let me point out again, here, that, however unsystematic the +arrangement of this book may seem to the musical pedant, I have +followed a certain sequence--one of my own devising and which seemed +to me best adapted to give the pianolist a bowing acquaintance with +some of the great composers that would lead him to wish for a closer +intimacy with these and others. What I have kept in mind, and very +clearly, is the fact that I am dealing with a player for whom all +technical difficulties have been eliminated by the very instrument on +which he plays. The complete control it gives him of all technical +resources is what makes the old method of analyzing pieces according +to their historical sequence not only unnecessary but futile in a book +of this kind. Nevertheless, so perfectly does this instrument adapt +itself to all music, that any one who desires to trace up the +technical evolution of the art from Bach to the present day, will find +it the readiest means for accomplishing his purpose, especially if he +uses in conjunction with it the educational courses referred to in the +next chapter. + + + + +VII. EDUCATIONAL FACTORS. + + +It is not overstating the case to say that the pianola is the first +practical means ever devised in history through which people in +general, whether they have had previous instruction in music or not, +can become familiar with the world's best musical compositions. Not +only can they familiarize themselves with the past, they are able to +keep up with the present. For example, many of Richard Strauss's +works, including selections from "Salome," are to be found on the +rolls prepared for this modern instrument. In fact every new composer +whose work has any significance is represented in the catalogue of +music rolls. Supposing a pianolist is planning to attend an opera or a +concert. It would have to be a very peculiar opera or a very peculiar +concert program which he could not obtain and try over beforehand. +Needless to say that, by trying it over beforehand, his appreciation +of the performance would be increased a thousandfold. + +Singers who cannot accompany themselves on the pianoforte, will find +this new instrument a boon. For there is a special list of +accompaniments in which the principal works in the vocalist's +repertory are represented. Lovers of chamber music in which the +pianoforte figures, will find pieces like sonatas for pianoforte and +violin or violoncello, trios for pianoforte, violin and violoncello, +pianoforte quartets, quintets and similar works, arranged so that the +pianolist can play the pianoforte part. "This is the first time I ever +have heard every note of the pianoforte part of the Schumann quintet," +said the first violinist of a well known string quartet to Mr. E.R. +Hunter, a professional pianolist, after a performance of this famous +work with Mr. Hunter at the pianola. + +The importance of the educational value of this new instrument is +recognized by many of the leading educators in music. Harvard, Yale, +Columbia, the University of California, the University of Michigan, +Vassar and many other institutions of learning use the instrument in +connection with their musical courses. At Harvard, in connection with +the lectures on music, the students are not only allowed but +encouraged to go in groups of six or eight to the hall in which the +instruments are installed, and play for themselves the symphonies of +Beethoven, the music dramas of Wagner and other music that has formed +the subjects of the lectures. "As a self-educator," writes Henry T. +Finck, "this instrument is worth more than all other instruments +combined, for the reason that any one can, without practice, play on +it any piece ever written." + +Under the editorship of Carroll Brent Chilton, assisted by a staff of +musicians and writers on music, among them Paul Morgan and Edward +Ziegler, thorough educational courses for pianolists have been +devised. The courses collectively are known as "The New Musical +Education," and are conducted in connection with the Music-Lovers +Library of music rolls. These courses are admirably arranged. There is +a "Popular Course on the Great Composers" with a supplementary one on +the "Modern Great Composers." The former is divided into five lessons: +Bach and Händel; Haydn and Mozart; Beethoven and Schubert; Schumann +and Mendelssohn; and Chopin and Wagner. The course on the modern great +composers also is divided into five lessons: Liszt and Wagner; Chopin +and Brahms; Tschaikowsky, Dvorak and Paderewski; Saint-Saëns, +Moskowszki and Chaminade; and Grieg and MacDowell, the last named the +most distinguished among American composers. + +Care has been taken in arranging these two courses not to aim above +the head of the musical novice. For example, in dealing with Bach and +Händel, two of their lighter pieces are taken up and analyzed. +Biographical data are given and, in addition to the pieces that are +analyzed, supplementary rolls of seven compositions by Bach and five +compositions by Händel are given, together with lists of reference +books. The other lessons in these two courses are planned in the same +popular style. They give the pianolist a bird's-eye-view of music and +its development from Bach to Wagner. + +The "New Musical Education" also takes up the great composers +separately and gives most thorough-going courses on them. The +Beethoven course, for example, is arranged in twelve lessons. The +course furnishes the student with the Beethoven biography by Crowest; +with twelve "lesson pamphlets," each pamphlet relating to a division +of the course and written by Thomas Whitney Surette; with twelve +scores, orchestral and pianoforte; and sixty-two "educational" music +rolls. The scores correspond with the twelve works discussed in the +twelve lessons, each lesson being devoted to the analysis of one +composition. The rolls include not only those which give the works +complete, but also special rolls with music quotations illustrating +the points made in the lesson pamphlets. The various musical forms +employed by Beethoven are explained and analyzed, and in the complete +rolls the different sections characteristic of each form are clearly +indicated in print, so that the student, having read the analysis, can +follow it intelligently on the roll. There are many other practical +details of this kind in all the courses and which go to enhance their +value to the pianolist-student. + +There are two splendid Wagner courses to which I direct special +attention because of the frequent performances of his works in opera +and concert, and because a comprehensive knowledge of the development +of his theories adds so greatly to the enjoyment of his music. The +first course begins with his early opera "Rienzi" and ends with +"Parsifal." All his works for the stage are embraced in this course +which consists of ten lessons, each lesson having, in addition to the +ordinary rolls, a "quotation roll," illustrating the points in the +lesson pamphlets, and in the case of the music-dramas, giving the +"leading motives," so that the student can familiarize himself with +these, and with their significance in the drama, and readily recognize +them when he hears them, while playing the complete rolls or at a +performance. + +The second Wagner course relates to the "Ring of the Nibelung." It +takes up consecutively the four great divisions of the work, +"Rhinegold," "The Valkyr," "Siegfried" and "Dusk of the Gods," +devoting a lesson to each. Each lesson contains a quotation roll of +leading motives and the following examples from the scores:--Lesson +I., "Rhinegold." Prelude and scene of the Rhine-Maidens, Loge's +Narrative, and the finale of the work. Lesson II., "The Valkyr." +Siegmund's Love Song, Ride of the Valkyries, and the Magic Fire Spell. +Lesson III., "Siegfried." Forge Song, Siegfried and the Forest Bird, +Siegfried and Brünnhilde. Lesson IV., "Dusk of the Gods." Siegfried's +Rhine Journey, Song of the Rhine-Maidens, Siegfried's Funeral March. I +know from the experience of one of my pianolist friends, how admirable +this course is. He took it before hearing the "Ring" for the first +time, with the result that he knew the music and the names of all the +leading motives, recognized them whenever they occurred in the score, +and in consequence, enjoyed the performance as much as if he had +become familiar with it through repeated hearings. I may add that the +catalogue of music rolls contains a complete collection of Wagner's +works, making the music of this composer accessible to the pianolist +whether he wishes to play it for study or enjoyment. + +The pianolist holds in his hand the future of the development of music +in this country. The instrument on which he plays is the only +practical means as yet devised of making the great masterpieces of +music penetrate to the minds and hearts of the masses. Art has to +advance on its own shoulders. "I cannot rest contentedly on the past, +I cannot take a step forward without its aid." The pianolist has both +the past and present of music at his command. + + + + +VIII. A FEW "DON'TS" FOR PIANOLISTS. + + +By way of postscript I give here a few hints to pianolists. General +directions on how to play the pianola are provided in pamphlets and +circulars which can be obtained without charge, and I do not propose +to traverse these. The instrument is capable of great brilliancy and +great power, greater than lie in the ten fingers of any pianist. This +very fact is what has caused the instrument to be called "mechanical." +But in reality it is the fault of the player, because, carried away by +the capacity of the instrument, he is apt in the beginning to play too +loudly and too brilliantly. One of the first don'ts for the pianolist +is that he refrain from putting the instrument to the full test of +its--not really mechanical but superhuman--capacity for brilliancy and +power. + +Indeed, not only the beginner, but all pianolists should bear in mind +that the chief distinction of the instrument lies in its exceeding +delicacy. No virtuoso can play as delicately and lightly and, at the +same time, as distinctly as can the pianolist those rapid pianissimo +runs and those exquisite traceries and ornamentations which are found +in modern music; all of which does not mean that the pianolist never +should play loudly and brilliantly, but that he should not allow +himself to be carried away by the possibilities of the instrument in +these directions. + +Certain refinements of interpretation which the pianist long has made +his own also should be observed. Don't start a trill and keep it up +with an evenly sustained strength of tone and rapidity from beginning +to end. Begin it a shade slower and a shade more softly than the tempo +and dynamic signs indicate, let it swell and grow louder, then taper +down, and slightly retard the turn which leads back to the melodic +phrase. This is not a hard-and-fast rule, but one which usually it is +safe to follow. The pianolist can execute his trills with a +combination of delicacy and clearness that is absolutely unique. + +Don't rip off runs as if you were tearing cloth. Come down with +decision on the first note, begin somewhat slower than the indicated +tempo and then increase the time to the proper acceleration. This is +the true virtuoso effect, adopted, no doubt, because on the pianoforte +it is easier to execute a run in this manner; and so, however +erroneously, it has come to be considered the genuine musical +way--showing that even in art we are creatures of habit. + +Don't use the sustaining pedal too frequently, not even as frequently +as indicated on the rolls. The pedal directions on the rolls follow +those of the printed sheets too closely. The pianist often is obliged +to use the sustaining pedal to hold a note that he cannot keep down +because his fingers are otherwise employed. But the music rolls are +cut so that every sustained note is held down as long as the composer +directs that it should be. Remember too that the term "loud pedal" as +applied to the sustaining pedal, as it properly is called, is +incorrect. This pedal sustains but does not increase the power of the +sound that is produced. That effect is secured by a stronger pressure +of the feet upon the pumping pedals. In fact by varying the degree of +pressure of the feet on the pumping pedals the pianolist can vary the +degree of sound from a whispered pianissimo to the strongest +fortissimo. + +The pianolist should remember that, as the instrument on which he +plays relieves him of all burdens of technique and enables him to +play anything, no matter how difficult, with absolute technical +accuracy, it is all the more his duty to play with as much expression +as he can call forth from his inner nature. Emotion, the power of +expression, the art of interpretation, can be developed by practice as +well as any other latent capacity. It is an excellent plan for the +beginner to take one piece, the Nevin waltz that I have described, for +example, and play it over many times, not necessarily at the same +sitting, in fact better not; but without attempting anything else. +Each time let the pianolist try to get more meaning, more expression +out of it than he did before. He will find, if he does this, that, +when he takes up another composition, the expression, the art of +interpretation, will come to him more naturally and more quickly, +until, from an ignorant beginner, he soon will have developed into a +musical artist who can give himself and hundreds of others the most +exalted pleasure--that of listening to music, not to mere playing. + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 21: "other more slowly" replaced with | + | "others more slowly" | + | Page 34: atachment replaced with attachment | + | Page 46: base replaced with bass | + | Page 112: Saint-Säens replaced with Saint-Saëns | + | Page 113: Saint-Säens replaced with Saint-Saëns | + | Page 144: Saint-Säens replaced with Saint-Saëns | + | Page 149: unnecesary replaced with unnecessary | + | Page 153: Saint-Säens replaced with Saint-Saëns | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pianolist, by Gustav Kobbé + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PIANOLIST *** + +***** This file should be named 24622-8.txt or 24622-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/2/24622/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Bryan Ness and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +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. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/24622-8.zip b/24622-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..205cc18 --- /dev/null +++ b/24622-8.zip diff --git a/24622-h.zip b/24622-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5cb850a --- /dev/null +++ b/24622-h.zip diff --git a/24622-h/24622-h.htm b/24622-h/24622-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a56f296 --- /dev/null +++ b/24622-h/24622-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3153 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Pianolist, by Gustav Kobbé. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .5em; + text-indent: 1em; + } + h1 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h5,h6 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h2 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* centered and coloured */ + } + h3 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* centered and coloured */ + } + h4 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + a {text-decoration: none} /* no lines under links */ + div.centered {text-align: center;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 2 */ + ul {list-style-type: none} /* no bullets on lists */ + ul.nest {margin-top: .15em; margin-bottom: .15em; text-indent: -1.5em;} /* spacing for nested list */ + li {margin-top: .15em; margin-bottom: .15em;} /* spacing for list */ + + .cen {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} /* centering paragraphs */ + .sc {font-variant: small-caps;} /* small caps, normal size */ + .noin {text-indent: 0em;} /* no indenting */ + .hang {text-indent: -2em;} /* hanging indents */ + .block {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 40%; padding-top: .5em; padding-bottom: .5em;} /* block indent */ + .right {text-align: right; padding-right: 2em;} /* right aligning paragraphs */ + .totoc {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 75%; text-align: right;} /* Table of contents anchor */ + .totoi {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 75%; text-align: right;} /* to Table of Illustrations link */ + .img {text-align: center; padding: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} /* centering images */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 1em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + .tdr {text-align: right; padding-right: .5em;} /* right align cell */ + .tdc {text-align: center;} /* center align cell */ + .tdl {text-align: left;} /* left align cell */ + .tdlsc {text-align: left; font-variant: small-caps;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tdrsc {text-align: right; font-variant: small-caps;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tdcsc {text-align: center; font-variant: small-caps;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tr {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 1em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} /* transcriber's notes */ + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + color: silver; + background-color: inherit; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers */ + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 90%;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right; font-size: 90%;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: text-top; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 15%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 1em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.pn { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + color: silver; background-color: inherit; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers in poems */ + + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pianolist, by Gustav Kobbé + +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: The Pianolist + A Guide for Pianola Players + +Author: Gustav Kobbé + +Release Date: February 16, 2008 [EBook #24622] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PIANOLIST *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Bryan Ness and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen" style="font-weight: bold;">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<br /> +<p class="noin">Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has been preserved.</p> +<p class="noin" style="text-align: left;">Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. +For a complete list, please see the <span style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="#TN">end of this document</a>.</span></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h1>THE PIANOLIST</h1> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<h1>THE PIANOLIST</h1> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h3>A GUIDE FOR PIANOLA PLAYERS</h3> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h3>GUSTAV KOBBÉ</h3> + +<h5>AUTHOR OF "HOW TO APPRECIATE MUSIC," ETC.</h5> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5>NEW YORK<br /> +MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY<br /> +1907</h5> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<h5><span class="sc">Copyright 1907, by</span><br /> +MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY<br /> +<span class="sc">New York</span><br /> +<br /> +Published November, 1907</h5> +<br /> +<br /> +<h5 class="sc">Press of<br /> +The New Era Printing Company<br /> +Lancaster, PA</h5> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4><i>TO MY FRIEND</i><br /> +JOSEPH HUTCHISON STEVENSON</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdr" width="10%">I.</td> + <td class="tdlsc" width="70%"><a href="#TITLE_AND_PURPOSE">The Title and Purpose of this Book</a></td> + <td class="tdr" width="20%">1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">II.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHARM_OF_PLAYING">The Charm of Playing a Musical Instrument Yourself</a></td> + <td class="tdr">10</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">III.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#FIRST_STEPS">First Steps of the Musical Novice</a></td> + <td class="tdr">39</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">IV.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#THE_THRILL">The Thrill of the Great Masters</a></td> + <td class="tdr">83</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">V.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#OPEN_SESAME">An "Open Sesame" to Chopin</a></td> + <td class="tdr">117</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VI.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#OTHER_MASTERS">Notes on Some Other Masters</a></td> + <td class="tdr">141</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#EDUCATIONAL_FACTORS">Educational Factors</a></td> + <td class="tdr">150</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VIII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#A_FEW_DONTS">A Few "Don'ts" for Pianolists</a></td> + <td class="tdr">159</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="TITLE_AND_PURPOSE" id="TITLE_AND_PURPOSE"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>I. THE TITLE AND PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + + +<p>My book, "How to Appreciate Music," in the chapter devoted to the +pianoforte, contains a paragraph relating to the Pianola and its +influence in popularizing music and stimulating musical taste. I +confess that before I started that paragraph I was puzzled to know +what term to use in designating the instrument I had in mind. +"Mechanical piano-player" is a designation which not only does not +appeal to me, but, furthermore, fails to do justice to the instrument, +which, although mechanical in its working, is far from being +mechanical in its effects.</p> + +<p>The result?—I took a cross cut and arrived straight at the word +Pianola as being the name of the most widely known <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>piano-player, and +happily derived from the name of the most widely known instrument, the +pianoforte or, as it is more popularly termed, the piano. For this +reason the term Pianola was used in the paragraph referred to and now +is employed in this book; and, for the same reason, this book is +called "The Pianolist." It is believed to be the title least requiring +explanation, if, indeed, it requires any explanation at all. Right +here, however, I must add that the company which manufactures the +Pianola objects to the use of the word as a generic term.</p> + +<p>So much for the title. Now for the purpose of this book.</p> + +<p>Soon after the publication of "How to Appreciate Music" I discovered +that the paragraph concerning this new musical instrument had made a +hit. It was widely quoted as evidence of the "up-to-dateness" of the +book and I began to receive letters <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>from pianola owners who were +pleased that the merits of the instrument should have been recognized +in a serious book on music. Among these was a letter from a Mr. Harry +Mason, of Detroit, suggesting that I should write a book for the use +of those who owned piano-players. Mr. Mason and myself never have met. +He knows me merely as an author of a book on music. All I know of him +is that he is one of the editors of a druggists' trade paper in +Detroit. Yet from him has come the suggestion which has led me to +write this book, although, to judge from his letter, he had not been +deeply interested in music until he began to use a "player" and, +through it, was led to ask for a book which would tell him, in +untechnical language, something about an art that was beginning to +have eloquence and meaning for him. To me this is highly significant, +for there must be thousands of others like him all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>over the country, +to whom, in the same way, the great awakening just is coming through +the pianola—at first a means of amusement, then an educator with the +element of amusement, but of a higher order, left in!</p> + +<p>Shortly after I received Mr. Mason's letter an incident added greatly +to the force of his suggestion. I always have been very fond of +Schubert's "Rosamunde" impromptu. The first person I heard play it +publicly was Annette Essipoff, a Russian pianist and one of the very +few great women pianists of the world. Frequently I have heard it +since then, but never so charmingly interpreted excepting—But that is +the most interesting part of the story.</p> + +<p>One night I was at my desk in my study, when, suddenly, I heard the +strains of this impromptu, which is an air with variations, from the +direction of the drawing room. It was sweet and tender, graceful and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>expressive, according to the character of the variations; and, when +the last variation began with a crispness and delicacy that made me +wonder what great virtuoso was at my pianoforte without my knowing it, +I hurried to the drawing room and, entering it—found my fourteen year +old daughter seated at a pianola. The instrument had arrived only a +short time before from the house of a friend who had gone South for +the winter. My daughter never had had a music lesson, never had heard +Schubert's "Rosamunde" impromptu. Yet she had, without any effort, +been the first to take me back to Essipoff's playing of Schubert's +charming work! It would have been ludicrous had it not meant so much. +In fact it was ludicrous because, a few days before, when the +instrument had just been delivered and set up, I had been deceived in +much the same manner by her playing of a composition by Grieg.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>But to return to the Schubert impromptu. Essipoff, my young daughter, +the associate editor of a druggist' paper in Detroit, and myself; the +first a great virtuoso, the second a schoolgirl, the third a writer on +a trade paper, the fourth a music critic—what a leveller of +distinctions, what a universal musical provider the pianola is! Ten +years ago the virtuoso and the music critic would have been the only +ones concerned. The schoolgirl and the trade paper editor wouldn't +have been "in it." Now, the schoolgirl was playing like a virtuoso and +the writer on drugs and druggists was giving hints to the music +critic. A great leveller, placing the musical elect and those who +formerly would have had to remain outside the pale, on a common +footing! This may not always appeal to the musical elect, but think +what it means to the great mass of those who are genuinely musical but +have lacked the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>opportunity for musical study or to those whose taste +for music never has been brought out.</p> + +<p>To paraphrase a few sentences from my "How to Appreciate Music" that +have been much quoted:—</p> + +<p>"'Are you musical?'</p> + +<p>"'No,' nine persons out of ten will reply; 'I neither play nor sing.'</p> + +<p>"'Your answer shows a complete misunderstanding of the case. Because +you neither play nor sing, it by no means follows that you are +unmusical. If you love music and appreciate it, you may be more +musical than many pianists and singers; or latent within you and only +awaiting the touchstone of music there may be a deeper love and +appreciation of the art than can be attributed to many virtuosos. For +most of a virtuoso's love and appreciation is apt to be centered upon +himself. And when you say, 'I cannot play,' you are mistaken. You are +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>thinking of the pianoforte. You may not be able to play that. But you +or any one else can play the pianola, and that instantly places at +your command all the technical resources of which even the greatest +virtuosos can boast."</p> + +<p>One purpose of this book thus is to bring home to people an +appreciation of what this modern instrument is, whether it is regarded +as a toy with which the business man amuses himself with two-steps and +ragtime after business hours, or as a serious musical instrument.</p> + +<p>Another purpose, and a large one, is to furnish pianolists with a +guide to the music which they play, or might play if their attention +were directed to it and to some of its characteristics, and to point +out the importance of the instrument in developing a love of good +music.</p> + +<p>I also have in writing this book a purpose <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>which I may describe as +personal. I believe I was the first American to publish an analysis of +the Wagner music dramas that seemed to be what the public wanted, and +the first to contribute to a magazine of general circulation an +article on Richard Strauss. It is a matter of pride with me always to +be found on the firing line—even if it is the privilege of those who +watch the battle from a safe distance to dictate the despatches and +take the credit for the result to themselves. And so, I wish to be the +first to write a book on the pianola, an instrument of such importance +to the progress and popular spread of music that, at the present time, +we can have but a faint glimmering of the great part it is destined to +play.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHARM_OF_PLAYING" id="CHARM_OF_PLAYING"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>II. THE CHARM OF PLAYING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT YOURSELF<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>How I wish I could play like that! What is more common than this +exclamation from people who are listening to a great virtuoso or even +only to a fairly clever amateur? They realize that, no matter how much +they may enjoy a performance, there is much greater fascination in +being the performer. Not a musical person but would play if he could. +Why, however, that "if"? It no longer exists. It has been eliminated. +The charm, the fascination of playing a musical instrument yourself +can be yours, and the only "if" to it is—if you have intelligence +enough to appreciate what that means.</p> + +<p>What formerly was an insuperable obstacle, the lack of technical +facility—the real inability to play—absolutely has been done away +with. There is no excuse for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>anybody's not playing who wants to. The +pianola furnishes the technique, the dexterity, the finger facility, +or whatever you may choose to call it. So far as this is concerned the +instrument itself makes you a virtuoso—places you on a par with a +Liszt, Paderewski or Rosenthal. It does so mechanically, yet without +the sharpness and insistent preciseness of a machine. Its action is +pneumatic and the effect of the compressed air is to impart to its +"touch"—the manner in which its "fingers" strike the keys—an +elasticity which at least is comparable with the touch of human +fingers. As a friend of mine, a lawyer, who has owned three pianolas +and who actually has been made musical through them, expresses +it:—"When you've got a mechanical device as good or nearly as good as +a virtuoso, you've got something of enormous importance to the whole +world." And so you have.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>I find a great feature of the so-called mechanical piano-player lies +in what it allows you to do yourself. It provides you with technique, +but, to use a colloquial phrase, "you can still call your soul your +own." The technique, the substitute for that finger facility which +only years of practice will give, is the pianola's; but the +interpretation is <i>yours</i>! The instrument provides the devices for +accelerating or retarding the time and for making the tone loud or +soft, but when to whip up the time or to slow down, when to use the +sustaining or the soft lever or when to swell through a crescendo from +pianissimo to fortissimo—all that is left to your own taste, judgment +and discretion. There is, indeed, among the improvements introduced in +the pianola a contrivance, of which more hereafter, by which complete +directions are given for the interpretation of the roll of music that +is being played. These <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>directions, however, are not compulsory. They +are, in each instance, based on high authority and are of great value +even to persons who are thoroughly familiar with the music, but they +need not be followed if the player does not want to follow them. He is +likely in the beginning to accept the directions, the so-called +metrostyle marking, as he would the instruction of a high class +teacher, while, later on, he may incline to regard the metrostyle as +indicating the general spirit in which the piece should be +interpreted, but vary it in detail as his mood or fancy dictates. The +metrostyle may, in fact, be called the pianolist's "coach," giving him +the kind of hints and directions which even the greatest players and +singers value. Something, however, of the pianolist himself, something +of his own thought and feeling goes into every interpretation. That +this is so is proved by the fact that no two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>pianolists interpret the +same composition alike. There are differences, more or less marked, +just as there are when the same piece is played by two pianists. In +the broader outlines, in general spirit, the interpretations may be +the same, but they will be distinguished by subtle shadings that +indicate temperamental differences. The perspective of a landscape +varies when viewed from different windows; so does life when observed +from different points of view; so does the interpretation of a +composition when played by different people on the pianola.</p> + +<p>Were the instrument purely a mechanical device to wind up and set +going, the artistic results of which it is capable never would have +been obtained, and, I may add, this book never would have been +written. The fact that artistic expression instead of machine-like +precision has been its aim is what <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>has caused its possibilities as a +musical instrument to appeal to me. It cannot be sufficiently urged +that in this country, as in every other, there is an immense amount of +latent musical taste awaiting only the touchstone of hearing music or, +better still, the fascination of personally producing music, to assert +itself. Before the invention of the piano-player hearing music was the +only touchstone; through the piano-player there is added the +fascination of being yourself a participator in producing the music +you hear. When Theodore Thomas said "Nothing so awakens interest in +music as helping to make it," he hit the nail on the head. "After +playing all this music I want to go to concerts next winter. I'd like +to hear how the 'Fifth Symphony' sounds on the orchestra," said my +little girl after the pianola had been in the house only a week. "All +this music?" Yes indeed. More than <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>she could have become familiar +with in six months' concert-going and instruction. And we always had +said that she wasn't musical!</p> + +<p>This fascination of personally producing music is such a great factor +in the spread of musical taste that it is well worth looking into +further. There always is more pleasure in doing something than in +watching some one else do it. Take the average amateurs who get +together for music. They enjoy what they play a thousand-fold more +than if they were listening to the greatest virtuosos playing the same +program. Why? Because always there is more satisfaction in doing the +thing itself than merely in contemplating the result of what some one +else is doing. And so, with music, "to experience the full fascination +the divine art can exercise on us mortals, we must take an active part +in the making of it." Through the pianola the opportunity of taking an +active <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>part in the making of it is open to everybody. Remember what +my friend said. It is worth repeating. "When you've got a mechanical +device as good, or nearly as good as a virtuoso, you've got something +of enormous importance to the whole world." Mechanical, remember, only +in a certain sense. Were it wholly mechanical it never could be "as +good, or nearly as good, as a virtuoso."</p> + +<p>Now let us see how this personal affiliation of pianola and pianolist, +of instrument and player, has been worked out, so that the player is +not a mere human treadmill pumping air into a cabinet on castors, +but—whether he be a lawyer, merchant, financier, dressmaker, +milliner, or society leader; one of the Four Hundred or one of the +eighty million—a musical artist with an unlimited repertory.</p> + +<p>The pianoforte is the most universal <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>musical instrument of the +civilized world. I once turned the old question, "What is home without +a mother," into "What is home without a pianoforte?" Practically no +household that makes claim to refinement is without one. Only too +often, however, even in such homes, it is merely an article of drawing +room furniture, because no member of the household can play it. There +it stands waiting for the chance visitor who can strike the keys and +make the strings vibrate with music.</p> + +<p>Imagine that you are a member or let us say the head of that +household. You can't play a note and yet you are "fond of music." This +"fondness for music" manifests itself in different degree in different +people and somewhat according to their opportunities. You may be a +hardworking business man and when you come home from business, you +want diversion, amusement. For some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>one to suggest a classical +concert to you would make you feel like being asked to begin the day's +work all over again without a night's rest in between. As for Wagner, +that would be worse than straightening out an intricate account after +a day spent in poring over a ledger. No. Music without any tune to it +may be all right for some people, but comic opera is "good enough" for +you. You like that coon song you heard the other night. How you would +enjoy playing it on the pianoforte if you only knew how! But you +don't, so you have to pay a speculator three dollars for a seat if you +want to hear it again.</p> + +<p>Suppose the days of miracles weren't past and, by some miracle, you +suddenly found yourself in command of the technique of the +pianoforte—able to play whatever you wanted to. You'd buy that coon +song and some other pieces of light music, and then <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>you'd hurry home +to your pianoforte and play them off as fast as you could, while the +family stood around and listened and marvelled.</p> + +<p>That is precisely the miracle the pianola performs for you. It gives +you, from the moment it enters your house, control over the keyboard +of the pianoforte that so long has stood mute in your home. All you +have to do is to put in the perforated music roll, work the +pedals—and the music begins. Supposing it is that coon song from the +comic opera you liked so much. The first time you play it, you may be +so interested in the instrument's accurate reproduction of the tune +that you don't stop to think of the expression. The chances are, +however, that your delight over what you have accomplished will lead +you to play the song right over again. Now you begin to realize that +there was something more than mere <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>accuracy in the delivery of the +melody when you heard it at the theatre. There was interpretation, +that something which the individual artist puts into everything he +does. You will recall that while the piece was taken pretty fast as a +whole, some phrases were taken faster, others more slowly. You have +been told that by moving a little lever to the right or left, you can +produce these effects. You try it. When you come to a phrase that +should be taken a little faster, you move the lever slightly to the +right—and the pianoforte responds. It is the same when you move the +lever to the left for the slower phrases—the pianoforte responds and +the phrase is retarded. Two other levers control the volume of sound +so that you can play any part of the piece louder or softer if you +want to. It is not at all unlikely that you may vary these details to +suit yourself, instead of simply being guided by your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>recollection of +what you heard at the theatre. In a word you yourself become on the +spot an interpreter of music, put something of yourself into what you +play. The instrument instead of being merely a machine that grinds out +music is a machine only in so far as it takes the place of technique, +of finger facility. The expression, the real interpretation, that +which gives one the fascination of playing, is your own.</p> + +<p>That's your first experience with the instrument. Pretty soon you are +apt to have another experience that is even more valuable. You stocked +up pretty well with the music of the day, the current Broadway comic +opera and musical comedy successes. Gradually, however, that pet coon +song of yours will begin to pall on you a little. The very jingle to +the tune that made it catch your fancy so quickly causes you to tire +of it, and so it goes with the other pieces whose <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>rhythm is so marked +and continued with such great precision and whose tunefulness was so +obvious that they made an instantaneous impression upon your musically +untrained sense of hearing. You are beginning to find out what any one +who is trained in any art is bound to discover sooner or later. The +things most easily understood are not apt to give the most lasting +pleasure. Some one suggests to you that you try one of the lighter +classical pieces. You don't like that word "classical," it suggest +heaviness, lack of tunefulness, the kind of thing that "may be all +right for some people," but never, you think, would suit you. At last, +however, you yield. You inquire for something of the kind and are +advised to try Mendelssohn's "Spring Song." Much to your surprise you +don't find it heavy at all. In fact you recall once having heard it +played between the acts in a theatre and having <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>thought it rather +pretty. Its rhythm isn't as persistently emphatic as that of ragtime, +nor does its melody stand out in such sharp relief, but instead of +wearying you on repetition, you like it better every time you play it.</p> + +<p>Encouraged by this experience you next purchase the same composer's +"Spinning Song." This may not appeal to you so much at first. It seems +to run along very rapidly without any very clearly defined melody. +Still, it is by the same composer as the "Spring Song," so it may be +worth trying over again. It is more familiar now, and you begin to +associate the rapid, whirring phrases with its title—with the idea of +"spinning." How clear it suddenly becomes. You even conjure up in your +mind the picture of some young woman in quaint garb seated at a +spinning wheel in an old-fashioned room—and you find yourself +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>experiencing all the pleasure that comes from association of ideas, +the keenest enjoyment that art affords. You are making rapid progress +now, so rapid that it is as impossible as unnecessary to follow you +step by step. The main point is that you are becoming truly musical +and at the same time enjoying it. What might be "all right for some +people" has become all right for you too. You have been repaid a +thousand-fold for the little effort it cost you to discover through +the gradual development of a taste that had lain dormant, the kind of +music that "lasts." The same thing is true of your whole family. It +has become musical, and in an incredibly short space of time. The +pianola has done it, and done the same thing in thousands of other +cases.</p> + +<p>Now take the case of some one whose musical taste, to begin with, is +more advanced. Supposing that, instead of having <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>had your musical +horizon bounded by coon songs and comic operas, you were an attendant +at orchestral concerts, song and pianoforte recitals and grand opera. +You are a genuine music lover, genuinely musical, but you can't play. +You long to reproduce and express at home the music you have heard +elsewhere. If only, after hearing Paderewski play your favorite Chopin +nocturne, which, as with so many other music lovers, is the exquisite +one in G major, Opus 37, No. 2, you could go to your own pianoforte +and play it! You think it is one of the most beautiful compositions in +the whole repertory, and of all pianists whom you have heard, +Paderewski, in your opinion, plays it better than any other. There are +pieces that sound more difficult and you have been told that it +doesn't call for advanced technique as much as it does for soul. That +is what your favorite <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>virtuoso seems to you to put into it—soul, his +own soul, interpreting himself, unconsciously expressing his own +thoughts and feelings, through those of the composer. That is what you +are convinced you could do, if only you knew how to play; for you are +musical, very musical, almost, in fact, to your finger tips. But +these, alas, never have been trained to command the keyboard. You are +getting along well in business, making money and all that; and yet you +look upon your life as half a failure because, although you have the +temperament artistic, you are unable to gratify fully your passion for +music. You can listen, but you can't play. You can hear Paderewski +interpret your favorite nocturne, but you can't go home to your own +pianoforte and let your fingers conjure up memories of it on the +keyboard. You have a beautiful pianoforte in your house—for the use +of others. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>You'd be willing to mortgage half your income for life, if +you could learn to play it yourself. But it's too late for that now. +So you think.</p> + +<p>But one day you drop in at a friend's house and from the drawing room +come strains of your favorite Chopin nocturne. Something about it +reminds you of the way Paderewski plays it. Who can it be? You know +that your friend doesn't play the pianoforte. But, as you stand in the +doorway, hesitating whether to go in or not, it is he who looks out at +you from behind the instrument and nods to you to come in. You drop +into a chair and listen and wonder. The nocturne comes to an end, your +friend rises, greets your wondering look with a smile, and meets your +amazed query with one word: "Pianola!"</p> + +<p>"It sounded like Paderewski," you stammer in a dazed sort of way.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>"Why shouldn't it? Practically, I have been taught how to play it by +that great artist." He takes out the roll and brings it over for you +to look at. On it you see, reproduced in facsimile this autographed +certification:</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"The line on this roll indicates the tempo according to my +interpretation.</p> + +<p class="right">"I.J. Paderewski."</p> +</div> + +<p>The roll, as the expression goes, has been "metrostyled" by the +virtuoso himself.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know you had one of these instruments. Why haven't you told +me?—How long have you had it?"</p> + +<p>"About a week," he answers.</p> + +<p>"And you can make it sound like that?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I can. Nothing easier. Just stand behind me and watch."</p> + +<p>He replaces the music roll and, as he pedals and it unrolls, he shows +you how easy it is with the metrostyle to follow the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>red line marked +by Paderewski to indicate how he plays the piece.</p> + +<p>"According to my idea," continues your friend, "he plays some parts of +the second melody a little too slowly—makes it too sentimental, +instead of poetically expressive. You may observe that I don't always +follow the line. That's one of the great things about the instrument. +You can profit by the directions just as much as you want to, but you +can disregard them whenever you have a mind to. It may seem +presumptuous to differ, even in a small detail, from a great virtuoso +like Paderewski, but every virtuoso has his idiosyncrasies and we, +who, after all, have been listening to music all our lives and have +heard all the great pianists from Rubinstein to 'Paddy' himself and +all the women pianists from Essipoff to Bloomfield-Zeisler, are +entitled to some ideas of our own. As I just said, one of the great +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>things about the instrument is that it allows us this latitude. I call +it a cinch!</p> + +<p>"Now here's something else. We know Richard Strauss' big tone poems, +the biggest things in music since Wagner. But did you know that he's +written some charming little pieces for pianoforte? Just listen to +this. It's a 'Träumerei' or 'Revery,' a delicious little dreamy +improvisation. He 'metrostyled' it himself and, as I've never heard +anyone play it, I'm only too glad to have his directions. They give +you the general hang of the thing 'right off the reel,' so to speak. +But later on, when I become more familiar with it, if I want to vary +the interpretation according to my own mood of the moment, I can. It's +a great thing, though, to find out how famous living composers, like +Richard Strauss, Grieg—here are a couple of rolls from his 'Peer +Gynt' suite metrostyled by himself—Saint-Saëns, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>Elgar, or even +composers of first rate lighter music, like Moszkowski and Chaminade, +conceive that they want to have their works interpreted; or how great +virtuosos, like Paderewski, Rosenthal and other pianists, play them; +or gifted instructors in music, like Carl Reinecke, would have them +performed. It's like taking lessons in interpretation from these +people.</p> + +<p>"There's another matter that will interest you. Take pieces like +Rubinstein's 'Melody in F' or the best known selection from his +'Kammenoi, Ostrow,' where the melody lies, in the former in between +the accompaniment, in the latter below it—you recall, of course, how +the accompanying figure hovers above it. In pieces like these it is +important that the melodic line should be clearly distinguished, +otherwise it will be smothered. Fortunately an attachment to the +instrument, the themodist, enables you to bring out <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>the melody and, +at the same time does not prevent your retarding or accelerating the +general movement of the piece or of varying the volume of sound as +much as you like.</p> + +<p>"While I've had the instrument only a little while, I've been struck +with something else. I find that you can accomplish a good deal +through what I may call 'foot-technique,' varying the degree of +strength with which you use the pedals that pump in the air. By this +means you can play louder or softer at will and by a sharp pressure +emphasize individual chords and phrases. This, I find, makes the +interpretation seem more personal than when I use the sustaining and +soft levers alone. Altogether I'm beginning to look upon myself as a +virtuoso, and the best thing you can do, old man, is to take my advice +and become one too."</p> + +<p>Fortunately you are musical enough and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>intelligent enough to +appreciate the philosophy and significance of the instrument—that it +supplies what you haven't got, the technique, but that you give it the +expression, the soul; that although it is not a pianoforte, but an +attachment to that instrument, nevertheless, in playing it, you +express something of yourself, something of your inner being, +something of your higher artistic nature through it.</p> + +<p>There is a large class of people to whom the "piano-player" is or +should be a great boon. I mean those who play the pianoforte, but not +well enough to play publicly or professionally. To this class belong +the thousands of music teachers and the amateurs. The majority of them +may be more truly musical than many of the virtuoso pianists, but they +are lacking in technique. For the technical standard is growing higher +every year. Comparatively few music <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>teachers have much opportunity of +hearing music, the result being that they find it difficult to keep up +with the times. They become old-fashioned, and in these progressive +days to become old-fashioned means to be forced to "drop out." They +lack the technique to run through the modern repertoire, and the time +to hear others in it. It hardly is necessary to point out what the +pianola, which gives them complete technical mastery of the keyboard, +should be to them.</p> + +<p>As regards the amateur I can cite my own case as an example. I had +progressed on the pianoforte until I was able to play Liszt's +arrangement of the Spinning Song from Wagner's "Flying Dutchman." It +is a difficult piece, but there is a great deal of pianoforte music +that is more difficult and that was entirely beyond me. Moreover the +fact that I was able to play this composition after much assiduous +practice, did not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>mean that I could play equally difficult or even +considerably less difficult music with ease by sight. The repertoire +of even the best amateur is apt to be a small one. He gains his +general knowledge of music from what he hears.</p> + +<p>With me, in time, as with so many amateurs, pianoforte playing had to +yield first place to my regular work. I took up writing and that +became paramount. I began to lose my pianoforte technique, and I +should not like to say how many years it is since I lost the ability +to play Liszt's arrangement of the Spinning Song from the "The Flying +Dutchman," the "Butterfly" etude of Chopin and other works that I had +had at my fingers' ends. Often, when I went to pianoforte recitals and +heard these compositions played, I grieved over what I had +lost—through sacrificing the pianoforte to the pen.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>I grieve no longer. I have acquired a perfect technique, the technique +of a great virtuoso—through the pianola. It is a key that has +unlocked for me the whole repertory of music. With it I can play the +most difficult work ever written as easily as I can a five-finger +exercise. It gives me the technique, but all that is summed up in the +one word "expression," I am at liberty to put into the music myself.</p> + +<p>In the whole world there are perhaps two, at the most three pianoforte +virtuosos who really deserve to be called great. To listen to them is +the acme of musical delight. But right next to this comes the +performance of any musical person, whether a child or grown up, on the +pianola. It is better than the playing of any virtuoso not absolutely +of the very first rank, and infinitely preferable to the playing of +the most gifted amateur, while the performance of the average <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>amateur +almost is juvenile compared with it. Moreover there are pieces of +which the Liszt "Campanella," the Mendelssohn "Rondo Capriccioso" and +the "Rosamunde" impromptu of Schubert, are examples, that, when played +on the pianola by a musical person, sound just as well as if they came +from under the fingers of the greatest living virtuoso—possibly +better.</p> + +<p>These are not dreams, they are facts; and discoverable in due time by +everyone who is made musical through the instrument of which I am +writing; and, in an incredibly short time by any one, already musical, +who takes it up. Moreover they are facts readily susceptible of +explanation, and here it is:—All technical difficulties being +eliminated by the pianola, the player is free to give his whole +attention to interpretation, to that subtle something which we call +"expression," and which constitutes the supreme quality of a musical +performance.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="FIRST_STEPS" id="FIRST_STEPS"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>III. FIRST STEPS OF THE MUSICAL NOVICE<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>I confess that when I first thought of writing this book my intention +was to plan it somewhat on the same lines as the usual "How to Listen +to Music" book, but to make it somewhat simpler. As the catalogue of +pianola music includes everything from Bach to Richard Strauss it +seemed to me that it would be easy to give the reader a course in +musical development, beginning with the simpler pieces of Bach, like +the bourrées and gavottes; then taking up the sonatas of Mozart and +Beethoven; the compositions of the romantic school from Schubert to +Chopin; and ending with the modern school of Wagner, Liszt and Richard +Strauss—in other words giving a survey of the whole evolution of +music.</p> + +<p>This would coincide with the ordinary course of musical instruction, +which naturally ranges from what are considered the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>easier and +simpler pieces to the more difficult ones, early music being less +complicated and making less demand upon the player's technique than +music of the present day. But I had forgotten one important point +which is, that on the pianola nothing is difficult, that with this +modern instrument the question of difficulty entirely disappears, and +that the most hair-raising, breath-catching exploits of virtuosity are +as easy for the pianolist as the most commonplace five-finger +exercises are for the pianist. In other words, the pianolist can +approach music from a wholly new standpoint. For him music exists +simply as music. Its history, its evolution, which latter after all is +a matter purely technical, need not concern him at all.</p> + +<p>I was brought to this view by a rather startling discovery. I think it +will seem equally startling to any one who has <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>studied music in the +usual way—the laborious technical development involved in acquiring +the mastery of a musical instrument, generally the pianoforte. In +discussing Chopin's "Etude" in A flat, Op. 10, No. 10, one of the +greatest virtuosos of his day, Hans van Bülow, said that "he who can +play this study in a really finished manner may congratulate himself +on having climbed to the highest pinnacle of the pianist's Parnassus, +as it is perhaps the most difficult piece of the entire set. The whole +repertory of piano music does not contain a study of perpetual +movement so full of genius and fancy as this particular one is +universally acknowledged to be, excepting perhaps Liszt's 'Feux +Follets' (Will-o'-the wisps)." In looking over the catalogue of music +for the mechanical piano-player I find that this immensely difficult +study by Liszt, so difficult that Von Bülow classes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>it with the +Chopin study, "the highest pinnacle of the pianist's Parnassus," is +listed with the "popular" pieces. Thus a composition which taxes the +resources of the greatest virtuosos to the utmost and which few if any +amateurs can play at all, presents no difficulties whatsoever to the +pianolist and actually becomes "popular." The same thing is true of +the Liszt "Bell Rondo" (La Campanella). This delicate, dainty yet +immensely difficult work, which most amateurs know only from hearing +it played in pianoforte recitals because they themselves can do no +more than stumble through it, is, like the "Feux Follets," a popular +piece in the repertory of the pianolist. Such an astounding result is +possible only upon the pianola which absolutely eliminates all +technical difficulties and leaves the player free to select his music +without regard to such difficulties.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>Another matter connected with the pianolist's repertory opens up a +field for speculation into which, fortunately, it is quite possible +for the layman to follow the musician and to appreciate the point I +wish to make. As many purchasers of pianolas are people who never have +received musical instruction, it might be supposed that the most +popular selections for the instrument would be either bits of musical +slang like twosteps and ragtime, or, at the best, simple pieces in the +recognized classical forms. But the result of the spread of musical +taste through this new instrument is wholly different and wholly novel +from the standpoint of conventional musical experience. The public, +the great musical public created by an instrument which does away with +all considerations of technique and leaves the player free to select +what he wants to play, no matter how difficult it may be when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>played +on the pianoforte, sweeps aside all conventions which learned +commentators, critics and writers on the history and evolution of +music have sought to establish and in fact have succeeded in +establishing for those who have been obliged to study music in the +ordinary way, and boldly selects as first choice from the vast array +of compositions Liszt's "Rhapsodie Hongroise" No. 2, with the +"Tannhäuser" overture of Wagner a close second. In other words the +musical public when left to itself and not led—or led astray—by +pedants begins at the right end of musical evolution which is the end, +the supreme efflorescence, and not the beginning. Conceding that the +evolution of the human race began with the monkey and ends with +ourselves, it may be said, metaphorically, that the musical public, +when left to itself, declines to monkey with the monkey, but at once +proceeds to pluck <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>the full flower of evolution, the human. For if any +musical compositions are human documents that term is applicable to +the "Second Rhapsody" and to the "Tannhäuser" overture. Each tells a +vivid story and tells it according to the canons of art, life and +truth. The unfortunate student of music, shackled by instruction that +aims mainly at teaching him how to play an instrument and ignores the +higher side of art, plods through the classical repertory until he +gets an idea that music consists of nothing but symphonies and +sonatas, which is as absurd as it would be to say that poetry consists +of nothing but sonnets, whereas a couple of dozen good sonnets are +enough for the literature of any language.</p> + +<p>Indeed, while instruction in the other arts steadily is being +modernized and steadily aims to familiarize the student with their +higher aspects, little progress has been made <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>in the teaching of +music. It still is in a state comparable only with that which existed +in the teaching of languages when instruction in these was given +according to the system of Ollendorf, with its series of foolish +questions and answers:—</p> + +<p>"Is this the sword of the grandfather?"</p> + +<p>"No, it is the false curl of the grandmother."</p> + +<p>A five finger exercise, or an old-fashioned technical study with its +dry little theme in the treble and its foolish little answer in the +bass, always suggests to me something along the lines of the +Ollendorfian phraseology:—</p> + +<p>"Is this musical phrase beautiful?"</p> + +<p>"No, but it is great for limbering up the little finger."</p> + +<p>Often since giving thought to the new instrument which wholly +eliminates the question of technique from pianoforte playing, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>I have +wondered if the importance attached to "limbering up the little +finger" has not given us a wrong musical perspective; whether +compositions musically of little value have not assumed enormous +importance in the curriculum and been retained there, because they +developed finger facility in certain directions. For example to a +pianist the "School of Velocity" by Czerny and the "Gradus ad +Parnassum" by Clementi, two series of famous technical studies, mean +everything. To the pianolist they mean nothing—need mean nothing. As +for the "School of Velocity" he can by simply moving the tempo lever +to the right make the pianola play so fast that, if old Czerny still +were alive, he would lose his breath listening to it. As for the +"Gradus ad Parnassum," the difficulties which Clementi piled up in the +pianist's path, the pianolist overleaps as lightly and casually <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>as if +wholly unaware of their existence. He may never have heard of these +technical works yet, if he has natural musical instinct or has +developed it through the piano-player, he will be as correct in his +judgment of what to play and how to play it, as if he had devoted his +whole life to an arduous study of pianoforte technique. The +pianolist's experience with music is wholly musical, while the +pianist's is largely technical. For observe, that while a music +teacher often selects a piece for his pupil, not so much because it is +beautiful but because it follows up and supplements the technical +exercise which the pupil has been practicing, the pianolist's point of +view in choosing his repertory is not obscured by any consideration of +this kind. Scratch a Russian and you find a Tartar; scratch musical +instruction of the average kind and you find technique. The +pianolist's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>progress is determined by music's appeal to his soul; the +average music pupil's by what he can accomplish with his fingers. In +this way, as I already have suggested, certain pieces have acquired an +importance far out of proportion to their musical value, and have +retained their position not only in the curriculum but, unfortunately, +even in the concert repertory.</p> + +<p>There is a lot of this dry wood in music and the unfortunate student +is compelled to chop it until, when he sees a real tree, he thinks it +is all wrong because it has green leaves instead of withered ones and +strong, sappy branches instead of little twigs that snap off at the +least touch. This is the reason that modern music, although it is the +most natural music ever written, has to be "explained"—because +students prejudiced by pedantic instruction have become so accustomed +to the artificial that they cannot <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>appreciate what is natural; just +as experts in primitive art fail to appreciate the beauty of the later +schools of painting.</p> + +<p>To me it is positively exhilarating that the great mass of those +people who have become devotees of the mechanical piano-player do not +stop to ask what is the relation of this or that composition to the +development of music or its place in musical evolution; but, taking +music simply as music, confidently place pieces like the "Second +Rhapsody" or the "Tannhäuser" overture on the pianola and are thrilled +by the artistic realism of these compositions. Unconsciously they are +supporting the contention of those advanced thinkers in music who +place the expression of life and truth above artificial form. Suppose +a paint brush were invented which would give complete mastery of the +technique of painting to the person in whose hand it was placed. +Would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>that person go to work copying the old masters? No. He would +paint the sea, the low meadow land, the foot hills, the mountains, the +waving grain, the forest, the man he admired, the woman he loved. And +so it is that the player who has the technical mastery of the +pianoforte placed, so to speak, at his disposal, is led by instinct +toward the most modern expression of musical thought and genius.</p> + +<p>In his book, "The Temple of Art," Ernest Newlandsmith has a chapter on +musical education in which he points out that after all a pianist's +fingers and muscles are simply mechanical contrivances for striking +the keys, and that to gain complete control or mastery of this +mechanical process requires incessant drudgery and labor, such mastery +being attained only by very few people. "The average pianist never +gains the power of even striking the notes in really difficult <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>music; +yet for an artist to infuse the exact expression of his feeling into a +work, he must not only be able to do this, but must also be able to +vary this striking of notes by the most minute and subtle degrees of +intensity, and that without experiencing any difficulty whatever, so +that his entire attention may be devoted to his feeling." All this the +pianolist gains without any of that drudgery so apt to obscure correct +musical perspective, so that, to quote again from Mr. Newlandsmith, +"it is a matter of wonder that any one can be found to speak against +mechanical piano-players, when they remember that they are only +mechanical to the extent that a pianist has to be. They are not +intended to play of themselves, like a musical box, but are controlled +by the performer's feeling."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>The first steps in music are apt to be "two-steps." Marches and dances +of a popular kind and the seemingly inevitable coon-song may be +regarded as the infant's food of the musical novice. For a person +whose love of music still is latent, may not "arrive" at once at the +"Second Rhapsody" or the "Tannhäuser" overture. The friend to whom I +have dedicated this book began with the lightest kind of music, the +kind he now regards as "trash." For from knowing nothing at all about +music, he has become, through the piano-player, an ardent lover of all +that is good in the art. Nevin's "Narcissus" happened to be included +in his first set of rolls. He tried it over, but thought it dull. +After a while, however, when the other rolls began to pall on him, he +played it again and found in it something that he missed in the +others. This was the first step toward better things, and step by +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>step thereafter he gained in musical taste until now his judgment is +unerring.</p> + +<p>Nevin whose death six years ago and at a comparatively early age, was +a distinct loss to music, was one of the small number of composers who +have written music of the lighter kind which yet is thoroughly good, +music that is pleasing without being trivial, melodious without a +suggestion of the commonplace, and thoroughly sound in workmanship. +This American composer was exceptionally apt at reproducing in music a +mood or fancy and at painting in tone the charms of a romantic +locality. Possibly no gentler rise from what is known as the "light +classic" to the classic can be provided than through him. Therefore I +begin with him, although he is a thoroughly modern composer, my aim +being gradually to lead the pianolist from enjoyment of lighter works, +of the kind, however, which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>possess genuine musical merit, to an +appreciation of the greater masterpieces. Sometimes I have selected +only one work by a composer and, except in the case of Chopin, never +more than a few examples from any composer. But the works which I cite +and describe in more or less detail, should suffice to stimulate the +pianolist to explore more fully the range of the composers I mention, +and of others. I give merely a taste; the catalogue of music rolls +supplies the full menu.</p> + +<p>To some this arrangement may seem haphazard. Nevertheless it has +system and purpose. The usual method followed in books that aim to be +musical guides would have been much easier. Mine I believe best +adapted to the needs of the average pianolist, who, it may be assumed, +at the time he purchases his instrument, knows little or nothing about +music of the higher <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>kind; whose taste, in fact, still is to be +developed.</p> + +<p>I cannot imagine any one so obtuse to musical impressions as not to +find Nevin's "Valse Caprice," Op. 6, No. 1, thoroughly delightful. It +is the first of a set of several pieces comprised in his sixth work, +this fact being expressed by the designation Opus 6, No. 1. The piece +is full of pretty sentiment and I always like to imagine that it +describes an episode during a dance. It has charming melodies. +Ornamental figurations in the accompaniment, now above, now below, +give the effect of whispered questions and answers during the dance. +The questions—put by the man—are pressing and ardent, the +answers—from the girl—playful and parrying. Sometimes they even +ripple with chaff. Yet, toward the end of the dainty little +composition, they become tinged with sentiment, as if she were afraid +she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>might have gone a little too far and might "spoil things" and +thought it just as well to let him know in time that, after all, she +was not turning a wholly deaf ear to his pleading.</p> + +<p>This piece I would follow with Nevin's "Intermezzo," Op. 7, No. 3. +Although it belongs to an entirely different work I enjoy playing it +immediately after the waltz and imagining that it relates to the same +young couple—that he has led her out into the conservatory or on to a +terrace overlooking a moonlight garden and under these romantic +circumstances, is urging his suit more persistently than before. She, +however, is a little too fond of flirting to let her real sentiments +be known at once. But when, as if giving up the riddle in her dancing +eyes and seemingly mocking smile, he appears about to lead her back +into the ballroom, there is, at least so I like to read <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>the music, a +pretty little laugh, as much as to say, "Can't you read my real +feelings under my mask of banter," a tender glance indicated by a +retard on a charmingly expressive little turn of the melody—and she +is in his arms.</p> + +<p>Now I would repeat the waltz, to indicate that, carried away by their +happiness, they have gone back into the ballroom and thrown themselves +heart and soul into the dance. And there you have a little Nevin suite +telling a pretty story.</p> + +<p>To me one of this composer's most fanciful tone paintings is, "In my +Neighbor's Garden," Op. 21, No. 2. This is one of a series of pieces +the complete title of which is "May in Tuscany," and which he composed +during a sojourn in Florence. You can hear a bird sing all through +this piece, and that the composer so intended it, became clear to me +when I found that its original <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>title was "Rusignuolo," Italian for +nightingale.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Make haste to mount, thou wistful moon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Make haste to wake the nightingale:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let silence set the world in tune<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To harken to that wordless tale<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which warbles from the nightingale.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Those lines from Christina Rosetti's "Bird Raptures," seem to me +perfectly reflected in Nevin's composition, and equally so are these +lines from the same poet's "Twilight Calm":—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Hark! that's the nightingale,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Telling the self-same tale<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her song told when this ancient earth was young:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So echoes answered when her song was sung<br /></span> +<span class="i4">In the first wooded vale.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Or this from Byron's "Parisina":—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is the hour when from the boughs<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The nightingale's high note is heard;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is the hour when lovers' vows<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Seem sweet in every whisper'd word.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>Nevin's "Barcarolle" is another beautiful composition, which conveys +the listener to Venice with its picturesque canals and ancient +palaces. It is a night scene, and reminds me of Wagner's description +of the singing of the gondoliers at night in one of his letters from +Venice: "Ah, music on the canal. A gondola with gaily colored lights, +singers and players. More and more gondolas join it. The flotilla, +barely moving, gently gliding, floats the whole width of the canal. At +last, almost imperceptibly, it makes the turn of the bend and +vanishes. For a long while I hear the tones beautified by the night. +Finally the last sound, dying away, seems to dissolve itself into the +moonlight, which beams softly on, like a visible realm of music."</p> + +<p>There is an entire Venetian suite by Nevin which he composed during a +stay in the Italian city. One day he gave his gondolier <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>a day off, +and the boatman took his sweetheart, who lived on the mainland and +never had been in Venice, through the waterways. It was this which +suggested to Nevin the composition of the suite, which he entitled "A +Day in Venice." The best known number from it is the "Venetian Love +Song."</p> + +<p>Moskowszki is another good composer of light music, and like Nevin, +what he writes is thoroughly original. His "Serenata" Op. 15, No. 1, +is one of the prettiest of modern pieces, and a perfect example of +what a serenade should be—a graceful melody over an accompaniment of +guitarlike chords. There is an intervening part with much +ornamentation, which has the effect of improvising, a delicious little +run leading back to the first melody which now should be played very +softly and with slight retardations, as if the serenader were +departing and the music dying away. "From <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>Foreign Parts," +Moskowszki's Op. 23, is one of the best known modern compositions. It +consists of several numbers each representing a country and composed +in true national style and with as much success as if, were such a +thing possible, the composer were a native of each of these countries +and were thoroughly imbued with its spirit. Of these separate numbers +I am inclined especially to recommend to the pianolist "Germany," with +its beautiful, broad, sustained melody, thoroughly German in contour +and expression, and among the most beautiful melodies composed in +modern times; and "Spain," one of the most brilliant little rolls for +the piano-player—gay, spirited and full of snap and go, the movement +never flagging from beginning to end. Moskowszki has shown himself +most happy in catching the spirit of Spanish music. He has a book of +Spanish dances and two Spanish albums <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>full of music of most varying +mood, yet every mood characteristic of Spain and its people, now gay, +now languorous, now dashing, now subdued, now softly whispering, now +full of verve and passion, like the "Bolero," the fifth of the +"Spanish Dances," Op. 12, with its sharply accentuated rhythm and +dashing melody, which toward the end fairly swirls with excitement.</p> + +<p>A "Moment Musical," Op. 7, No. 2, was the composition which gave +Moskowszki his first taste of international fame, but in spite of much +that is genuinely beautiful, especially in its opening melody, I think +the work suffers from undue length. By all means, however, the +pianolist should not neglect this composition. Were I asked, however, +to select the work which seems to me to bring out in the most +favorable relief Moskowszki's traits as a composer it would be his +"Waltz," Op. 34, No. 1. It has an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>introduction beginning with a +phrase in the bass like a man asking the honor of a dance with an +attractive girl, followed by a little upward run, the gleam of the +smile with which she gives assent. Then there are short, crisp, bright +phrases, as though she enjoyed the knowledge that every one is looking +at her as he leads her out and whispers compliments.</p> + +<p>The introduction with all these interesting preliminaries over, the +waltz itself opens with a melody full of sentiment and almost personal +in its persistent suggestion of wooing. At the same time it has a +graceful swing that carries it along like an undercurrent, with rising +and falling inflections, and, like the Nevin waltz, with much dainty +ornamentation, as if the couple were conversing in low tones while +dancing. Then there is a brilliant episode when individuals seem lost +sight of in the general vividness <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>of the scene with its gaily colored +costumes and flash of jewels. There are alternating sentimental +passages until, toward the end, the first melody bursts into a +fortissimo—a great rising inflection, insistent and impassioned—then +a final pitch of excitement as all seem to throw themselves into the +whirl and the waltz reaches a brilliant end. While Nevin in the waltz +which I selected from among his works, appears to tell the story of +two people, Moskowszki here places before our eyes a vivid ballroom +scene with one particularly handsome couple as the center of +attraction, without, however, letting us wholly into their secret. The +waltz, though long, is of never-flagging interest.</p> + +<p>This composer's opus 34 is an orchestral suite ("Première Suite d' +Orchestre") of which the second number is an "Allegretto giojoso," a +playful, sportive, chic and graceful movement, with a tender melody in +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>middle part, at first heard alone, then with a sparkling +accompaniment. This piece having originally been scored for orchestra, +it is quite possible to detect orchestral instruments like flutes and +clarionets in some of the brilliant runs. The pianola roll is a +reproduction of an arrangement for four hands, that is, for two +players at one piano, yet only one player is required to produce the +full effect of a pianoforte duet arranged from an orchestral +composition.</p> + +<p>Moskowszki is a prolific composer, and it is well worth the +pianolist's while to thoroughly explore the catalogue of his works. +Much modern music merely echoes what has gone before and may be summed +up as watered Chopin. Therefore, even if Moskowszki's compositions are +in the lighter forms, their originality and melodiousness make them +worthy of ranking high among modern salon pieces.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>One of the prettiest and deservedly popular little works in the modern +repertory is the Paderewski "Minuet," Op. 14, No. 1. Modern minuets +are echoes of the classical period. Compositions of this kind are to +be found in the sonatas and symphonies of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven +and even further back in the suites of Bach. Accordingly the +Paderewski "Minuet," in keeping with the form, is simple and clear-cut +and gracefully melodious. At the same time, however, it is modern in +the brilliant ornamentation introduced in the middle part of the +composition which in a minuet is called the trio.</p> + +<p>The minuet was a stately dance. The word is derived from the French +menu meaning small and referring to the short steps taken in the +dance. Originally the music to it was brief, but as a complement, a +second minuet was added which, in time, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>became the trio, so-called, +because it was written in three part harmony. This was followed by a +repetition of the first minuet. While the designation trio has been +retained to this day, the three part harmony no longer is considered +obligatory. The minuet is one of the very few of the older dance forms +which have not become obsolete.</p> + +<p>It was a square dance, the steps consisting of a coupée (a salute to +one's partner, while resting on one foot and swinging the other +backward and forward) a high step and a balance. In the Paderewski +minuet the stately, ceremonious character of this dance is preserved +together with its old fashioned, naïve grace and charm. It is quite +possible while playing it to see the dancers at a French court ball or +in the ballroom of some chateau, the women, beauties of their day, in +high pompadour with puffs and curls powdered white, with petites +mouches, little moon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>and star-shaped beauty spots, on their faces; +square cut bodices, lace stomachers, paniers over brocaded skirts with +lace panels; feet encased in high heel satin slippers with jewelled +buckles; and gracefully managing their ostrich feather fans as they +curtsy to their partners; the latter wearing wigs also powdered white, +long coats of brocade, elaborately embroidered waistcoats with lace +jabots, satin knee breeches, silk stockings and a garter with jewelled +buckle on the right leg, and helping themselves to snuff out of gold +or silver boxes during brief pauses in the dance. Such is the picture +that can be conjured up in imagination while playing the Paderewski +minuet.</p> + +<p>Quite different yet equally effective in its way is his "Cracovienne +Fantastic," Op. 14, No. 6. The cracovienne is a Polish dance for a +large and brilliant company and just as Paderewski recalled in his +minuet the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>stately assemblage of days long past, so in his +cracovienne he gives us a brilliant picture of a ballroom scene in his +native Poland when that country was still in its glory and not +partitioned among three nations of Europe. The reiteration of its +characteristic rhythm gives it peculiar fascination. It is clearly and +distinctly melodious, with bright, flashing runs giving it brilliancy.</p> + +<p>Again different in style from any of the preceding are the works of +Cécile Chaminade. Not only is this composer a woman, she is a French +woman and, like a French woman, essentially clever and chic. She may +be a trifle more superficial than the composers I have mentioned, but +her music is clean-cut, clear as a crystal, and, like everything about +a refined woman, the quintessence of neatness. It is quite as if Mme. +Chaminade's maid laid out her musical thoughts as well as her dresses, +being <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>sure to have every frill and furbelow in its place, whether it +be the robe d' interieur which she is to wear at breakfast, her robe +de ville for calling, or her robe de soirée. True it is that serious +musicians are apt to wear a somewhat supercilious expression at +mention of her music and to pronounce it clever rather than deep, yet +it is equally true that it takes its place among the best salon pieces +of the day and gains value if only from the fact that this bright +French woman has skillfully refrained from attempting flights for +which her graceful wings are not strong enough. Most of her music is +characterized by a fascinating archness and coquetry and requires +quick and sudden changes in time for its proper interpretation. While +rarely attempting the larger musical forms, she has been an +industrious student of the best music, so that all her compositions +are what is called "well made," correct <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>according to the rules of +musical science, yet in melodic and harmonic inspiration characterized +by originality and musical inventiveness. She writes with judgment, +refinement and taste, avoiding on the one hand the pitfall of +pretentiousness, and, on the other, the monotony of platitude found in +the works of those who compose in the larger forms but lack the +originality to fill them with new and interesting matter. It is a +great thing to know your limitations, yet to be able to do vivid and +original work within them.</p> + +<p>Brief as is Chaminade's "Serenade," Op. 29, its melody is charming, it +is ably harmonized and it appeals to the heart. There is not a +commonplace bar in it. It is one of those delicate bits of inspiration +which survive other and seemingly grander works, the grandeur of +which, however, is in course of time, discovered to be mere hollow +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>pretentiousness. It is a capital example of the manner in which this +composer writes in the small genre—delicate, refined and sensitive.</p> + +<p>She has been highly successful in compositions in dance form, managing +these without a suggestion of the trivial. Thus her "Air de Ballet," +Op. 30, No. 1, is full of brilliancy and nervous energy without ever +degenerating into vulgar noisiness. Another "Air de Ballet" by her +from the ballet "Callirhoe," to which her widely known "Scarf Dance" +also belongs, is crisp, bright and dainty. "Callirhoe" is a +ballet-symphonique for stage performance and its production showed her +to be so well grounded in her art that it does not suffer even under +the pressure of rapid composition, or of being obliged to work "on +time." The commission for this ballet was offered to Godard, a +well-known French composer. He was, however, occupied with an opera +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>declined the work, at the same time recommending that the +commission be offered to Chaminade. It was accepted by her and within +six weeks from the day when she began work upon it, it was completed +even to the scoring for orchestra.</p> + +<p>While the pianolist hardly can go amiss in choosing from among the +list of Chaminade's compositions I may mention as especially +characteristic her "Arabesque," "Humoresque," La Lisonjera (Flatterer) +"Pierrette," "Scaramouche" (Mountebank) and "Spinning Wheel."</p> + +<p>Chaminade's compositions are so popular in this country yet so little +is known about her personally, that I have secured a few personal data +concerning her from my friend, Mr. Percy Mitchell, who is attached to +the staff of an American paper in Paris. Mme. Carbonel-Chaminade has a +shock of dark, curly, short-cropped hair which gives her a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>boyish +aspect, a touch of masculinity further emphasized by a tailor-made +costume with stiff, white, turned-down collar and loosely tied scarf. +Beyond this aspect, however, there is nothing mannish about her. She +cares neither for sport nor exercise in general; her principal +occupation is musical composition, her chief relaxation practicing the +pianoforte two hours a day; and she reads an immense amount of poetry +from which she carefully selects the words for her songs. Society she +abhors, but she attends scrupulously to her large correspondence. Very +many of these letters come from America, and in a practical spirit +truly American seek information regarding the interpretation of her +works. "How should your 'Serenade' be phrased?—I am learning the +'Scarf Dance.' By this same mail I am sending you a copy of it. Would +you kindly mark the phrasing in it and return <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>it to me?" In +connection with questions of this kind it is interesting to note that +practically all of Chaminade's compositions have been metrostyled for +the pianola by the composer herself. The pianolist at least will not +find it necessary to trouble her with questions like the above.</p> + +<p>Probably no composer has had one set method of work. It is apt to vary +according to surroundings. So with Chaminade. She may write while +seated at her pianoforte, testing her thoughts on the keyboard and +even working them out in detail before putting them on paper. Or she +may sit at her table, a vast velvet-covered affair taking up nearly +half of her studio. Sometimes an idea that has haunted her for weeks +may take definite shape while she is speeding on a train to fulfill a +concert engagement and she will jot it down in spite of the roar and +vibration of railway travel. As the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>train rushes on the composition +may be completely worked out in the composer's mind before the +journey's end, and so retentive is Chaminade's memory that, when she +returns to her villa in Vésinet, near the forest of St. Germain not +far from Paris, she can seat herself at her table and copy the work +from that mental vision of it which she had on the train.</p> + +<p>Some years ago during a semi-professional tour which she made through +Roumania, Servia and Greece, she was invited to play for the students +of the Athens conservatory. When she stepped on the stage she saw row +after row of young people armed with the printed music of what she was +about to play and prepared in a cold-blooded, business-like way to +open the music of the first number on the program and to follow the +concert note for note from the printed scores from beginning to end. +Imagine the effect <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>upon her nerves produced by the rustling of one +hundred pages all being turned at the same instant at intervals during +the concert; and even now she laughingly confesses that she was nearly +overcome with stage fright and prays she may never have to endure +again such an ordeal as the music students of Athens unwittingly +prepared for her.</p> + +<p>With the exception of Nevin, the composers whose works I have +mentioned are living and actively engaged in composition. The piece to +which I now desire to call the pianolist's attention belongs to the +dawn of the romantic period in music. It was composed by Weber who +died in 1826, is entitled "Invitation to the Dance," was written a few +months after his happy marriage with the opera singer Caroline Brandt, +and is dedicated to "My Caroline." Because Weber was one of the first +composers who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>rank as great to give distinctly descriptive titles to +compositions, and because of certain other characteristics in his +works, he is regarded as the founder of the romantic school of +music—music which is not simply sufficient unto itself but has a +secondary meaning that adds immeasurably to its interests; music which +seeks to suggest a definite mood and even to throw a realistic picture +of some scene in nature or some human experience upon a background of +harmony and instrumental coloring; and which cares less for the +artifices of form than for the expression of the true and the +beautiful from the standpoint of modern art.</p> + +<p>The "Invitation to the Dance" derives further interest from the fact +that it was the first composition to lift the waltz, which up to that +time had been employed simply as an accompaniment for dancing, to the +level of other legitimate and recognized <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>artistic musical forms. The +composition opens with an introduction in slow time, the first phrase +unmistakably being the voice of the man conveying to the lady an +invitation to dance. You hear her playful objection—undoubtedly she +wants to be asked a second time—the repetition of his invitation, her +assent, the short dialogue as the two step out on the floor; brief, +but resonant preluding chords; then the free, elastic rhythm of the +waltz followed by its gay, dashing melody. There is an exuberance of +runs and ornamentations until the first feeling of elation lapses into +a second dreamy, languorous waltz melody, as if the dancers were +floating on the scented atmosphere of the ballroom. In portions of +this there is a sentimental colloquy between the couple whom we met in +the introduction, the two voices being clearly differentiated. The +little duet between them adds to the beauty <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>and interest of this +portion of the work, the melody of which simply is exquisite. Then +everything whirls and sparkles again and, when the dance has ceased, +there is a briefer recapitulation of the introduction, the lady is led +back to her seat, and the episode comes to an end.</p> + +<p>The pianolist may now place Liszt's "Campanella" (Bell rondo) on the +instrument. Originally this was composed by the famous violinist +Paganini, Liszt transcribed it for the pianoforte and so successfully +that now it is better known in his version than in its original form. +It is a piece which can be described only by one word—delicious. Its +title is immediately understood by the unmistakable silvery tinkle of +a bell in the high treble, constantly recurring, but always with added +instead of diminishing, beauty. On the pianoforte it demands +virtuosity of the highest rank, yet <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>for the pianolist it is as easy +to play as is the simplest pianoforte piece intended for a beginner.</p> + +<p>And so, having begun this chapter with Nevin, one of the lighter +composers of pronounced merit, the pianolist already finds himself +playing a work by Weber and another by Liszt, two of the most famous +figures in musical history. Even if, as I trust will be the case, he +becomes so interested in the works I have cited in this chapter, as to +try much other music by the same composers, he will, in an almost +incredibly short space of time, be ready for the thrill of the great +masters—which shows that, after all, the sequence I am following in +this book is not as haphazard as some may think.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THE_THRILL" id="THE_THRILL"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>IV. THE THRILL OF THE GREAT MASTERS<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>In his choice of music the pianolist need not pause to consider the +slow evolution of the art from the simple to the more complex, since +for him nothing is complex. Thus he is free to disregard all +traditions, even such an absurd one, for example, as that which +insists that a sonata or symphony should be played as a whole, that, +if a work in this form consists of three or four movements, none of +these should be "lifted" out of the whole and played as a separate +composition.</p> + +<p>The pianolist calmly looks upon these movements as so many different +pieces and chooses between them. Thus among the hundred classical +compositions most in demand by pianolists, the slow movement of +Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony" ranks seventeenth, while the first is as +far down on the list as thirty-seventh, and the roll with the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>last +two movements as sixty-fifth. That in future the consensus of opinion +of thousands of music lovers who are unhampered by pedantic tradition, +will have immense influence in determining the standard of composers +and of their several works, and will have immense effect in hastening +the introduction and appreciation of works by new composers, in spite +of opposition from the ultra-conservative element, goes without +saying, and will be one of the most important factors in the +revolution this new musical instrument is destined to effect.</p> + +<p>All this readily can be appreciated when the attitude of this great +musical public toward Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsodies" is taken into +account. For years the critical camp has been divided on Liszt, some +considering him a composer whose unequalled greatness as a player of +the pianoforte led him to write music that was superficially +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>brilliant but barren of genuine musical inspiration. Others, like +Henry T. Finck and that band of advanced commentators on music among +whom I am proud to number myself, unhesitatingly rank him with the +greatest composers. This phase of musical life, this warring of +factions, the pianolist happily ignores entirely, and following his +unbiased intuition, places Liszt's second "Hungarian Rhapsody" at the +head of the repertory, closely follows it with the twelfth and +fourteenth, and, all told, includes nine of these fifteen compositions +in the top list of one hundred pieces of serious music which have +proved most popular with pianola players. The pianolist is not aware +of the fact, but that most inexorable of all critics, time, most +emphatically justifies his choice.</p> + +<p>Liszt brought out these rhapsodies fifty-three years ago. They are not +compositions <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>which suddenly are offering themselves as candidates for +popular favor. For more than half a century has passed over these +master works, which still are as fresh and modern as if they had been +struck off but yesterday in the white heat of inspiration. Their roots +go back even further than fifty-three years. As long ago as 1838 Liszt +published them as short transcriptions of Hungarian tunes. Then he +worked them over and, in 1846, issued them in somewhat more elaborate +form as "Melodies Hongroises." Still further elaborated they became in +1854 the "Rhapsodies Hongroises" as we know them.</p> + +<p>These rhapsodies reflect the weird romanticism of that most mysterious +and fascinating of races, the Gypsies, as successfully as Chopin's +music reflects the crushed aspirations of his unhappy country, Poland. +Although they are called Hungarian, they are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>neither derived from nor +founded upon national Hungarian music, but are purely of Gypsy origin. +The Hungarians, however, have adopted the Gypsies as their national +musicians, and it is by reason of this adoption, or, in order to +express through the title this mutual assimilation, that Liszt has +called these rhapsodies "Hungarian." With a Gypsy parentage so +authentic that he speaks of the melodies on which they are based, as +"the songs without words" of the Gypsies, his rhapsodies form the only +channel through which the intense inner life and mystic idealism of +this strange race has found expression. They are the long suppressed +cry of souls struggling for self utterance and they constitute nothing +less than an epic, the "Iliad," of that strange race which centuries +ago cast itself upon the continent of Europe like a wave coming, none +knew from where or whither bound.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>This race, as Liszt describes it in his book on Gypsy music, brought +no memories, betrayed no hope; possessed no country, religion, +history. Divided into tribes, hordes and bands, wandering hither and +thither, following each the route dictated by chance, they still +preserve under the most distant meridian, the same infallible rallying +signs, the same physiognomy, the same language, the same traditions. +The ages pass. The world progresses. Countries make war or peace, +change masters and manners, but this people that shares the joys, the +sorrows, the prosperity and the misfortunes of none other; that laughs +at the ambitions, the tears, the combats of civilization; still +obstinately clings to its hunger and its liberty, its tents and its +tatters, and still exercises, as it has exercised for centuries, an +indescribable and indestructible fascination upon poetic minds, +passing it on as a mysterious legacy from age to age.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>Such is the race of which Liszt recites the epic in the "Hungarian +Rhapsodies." They portray the life, the scenes, the mood of the Gypsy +camp, vividly, brilliantly, yet with an undercurrent of tragedy—the +tragedy of homeless wanderers. Because they represent life, because +they are true to life, because they depict life with a wonderful union +of realism and beauty, they will, in spite of critical detraction, +live as long as the Bach fugues, the Beethoven sonatas or the Wagner +music dramas.</p> + +<p>An elaborate musical analysis of these wonderful works would be +futile. They are too racial, and in parts too pictorial to be +dissected in narrative style. What I have said of the race from which +they derive their characteristics should serve as a general +explanation of their purport. The second, twelfth and fourteenth +rhapsodies are admirable examples of the series. In <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>general these +"Hungarian Rhapsodies" open with a few brief bars suggestive of tragic +recitative, which leads into a broad yet strongly marked and searching +rhythm, upon which is built a slow, stately yet mournful melody, +broken in upon here and there by strange weird runs and rapid +passages. These latter serve a double purpose. They imitate the +curious æolian harp effects of the most characteristic instrument of +the Gypsy orchestra, the cembalon, a large, shallow box with strings +about as numerous as those of the pianoforte, and played with two +little mallets, with which the player produces the weird arpeggios or +rapid, broken chords and the improvised runs characteristic of +Hungarian Gypsy music; and they also prepare the player and listener +for the rapid movement into which the slow melody passes over, finally +to dash into the very frenzy of emotional and physical excitement.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>These three divisions, the slow movement introduced by a recitative, +the rapid movement following, and the still more rapid one with which +the rhapsodies generally end, are based upon three distinct kinds of +melodies of the Gypsies, and their startling contrast contributes to +the effectiveness of the composition. The slow melody in the first +part of the rhapsodies (a different melody in each rhapsody of course) +is the "lassan," a sad song giving utterance to the pathos of the +race. The dance music that follows, so full of playful humor, grace, +caprice, coquetry and dashing contrast, is the "frischka"; while the +delirium, almost demoniac in its fury, with which the rhapsody rushes +to its intoxicating finale, and compared with which the Italian +tarantella and even the Dervish dance of the East are tame, is the +"czardas." In playing these rhapsodies one must try to imagine a Gypsy +camp, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>flicker of firelight in the deep forest or on the wild +plains of Hungary, a sense of loneliness or of vast distance, forms of +swarthy men and women suddenly appearing from a shadowy background to +be illumined for a moment in the light of the fire, their swaying, +whirling forms vanishing the next, back into the vague darkness from +which they issued. Of the "Hungarian Rhapsodies" hostile critics may +say what they please; he who plays them understandingly, will feel in +them the thrill of a great master.</p> + +<p>A composition of impassioned, yet mournful beauty is Liszt's +"Liebestraum" (Dream of Love) one of a set of three nocturnes, this +one being based upon a well known German poem, Freiligrath's,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O love as long as love thou canst,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O love as long as love will keep;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The day will come, the day will come,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When at a grave you stand and weep.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>Liszt's "At the Spring" is a charming composition somewhat in the same +style as the "Campanella," but instead of describing silver-toned +chimes of bells, reproducing the purl of a bosky spring. One hears the +clear rippling water and sees its sparkling jets in glints of +sunlight, as it dashes against the stones, and its shimmering spray. +The work is the forerunner and model of numerous similar pieces, all +of them, however, lacking its freshness and originality and its high +order of musicianship.</p> + +<p>The pianolist who is led by the examples of Liszt's music which I have +cited to choose liberally from the numerous compositions by him in the +catalogue of music rolls, hardly can go amiss. If, however, he prefers +to leave this for some other time, and to turn to another composer, he +will find Mendelssohn's "Rondo Capriccioso," Op. 14, a capital roll. +This rondo was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>composed in 1826, the same year in which he wrote the +overture to Shakespere's "Midsummer Night's Dream," with its wonderful +depiction of fairy life. The "Rondo Capriccioso" might be part of the +"Midsummer Night's Dream" music, it is so much in the same character. +Nothing could be more crisp and dainty. It seems to depict elves +romping through the forest by moonlight. Nor is it without romantic +moods, as if love-making were going on even among these light-footed, +light-hearted revelers. But when this is said, it still is all touch +and go; a breath, a sigh, the iridescence of the moonglade on a +woodland lake—then off and away:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Over hill, over dale,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Through brush, through brier,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Over park, over vale,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Through flood, through fire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I do wander everywhere,<br /></span><span class='pn'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Swifter than the moon's sphere;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And I serve the fairy queen,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To dew her orbs upon the green.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>or</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Light as any wind that blows<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So fleetly did she stir,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The flower she touch'd on dipt and rose,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And turned to look at her.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This "Rondo Capriccioso" is indeed a fascinating piece, written in its +composer's most facile vein. It is one of the finest rolls from among +which the pianolist can select. There can be no doubt that Mendelssohn +has been losing ground as compared with the enormous popularity which +he enjoyed in his lifetime. But the pendulum has swung too much the +other way. Certain of his compositions have been too much neglected. +The "Rondo Capriccioso" is one of them. As it actually sounds <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>crisper +and daintier on the pianola than on the pianoforte no matter by whom +played, it enjoys well merited popularity in the pianolist's repertory +and may contribute toward restoring the appreciation of Mendelssohn's +music to its proper balance.</p> + +<p>I would be greatly surprised if a beautiful work like Schubert's +"Rosamunde" impromptu were not among the most popular pieces of the +pianolist's choice. The word impromptu is sufficiently +self-explanatory, but it needs to be pointed out that this work of +Schubert's differs from the usual impromptu in being an air with +variations, the variations, however, giving the impression of free +fantasies or improvisations on the original air. There are five +variations and the composition ends with a repetition of the air.</p> + +<p>The work is written in the truest Schubertian style. I like to fancy +that the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>melody with its serene, lyric beauty is a picture of the +fair Rosamunde herself. The first variation, a plaintive melody over +an agitated accompaniment, I should be inclined, still referring to +Rosamunde and regarding each variation as expressing an experience in +her life, to entitle "Moods." The second variation is more playful in +character but without any loss of romantic charm, and I should say +that we might call it an expression of her "Fancies." The third an +impassioned meditation, a cry from the heart, Rosamunde's heart, may +be called "Love." The fourth variation, which again is frankly playful +like the second, is "Hope." The fifth, as brilliant as a cascade on +which the sun is shining, is "Joy." It ends suddenly without coming to +a full stop in the musical sense, and, after a pause, the original air +now couched in broad and beautiful chords, begins in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>lower +register, rises successively to the middle and higher ones, then dies +away—an exquisite ending. Is this not Rosamunde, the more charming +for the romance of which she is the heroine; Rosamunde, looking at her +engagement ring, musing on the past and trustful of the future?</p> + +<p>Schubert was one of the most famous song composers and Liszt in +addition to being an original composer, rendered a great service to +music by transcribing, in most admirable style, many of Schubert's +most famous songs for pianoforte. Widely known as they are for voice, +they have through these transcriptions become almost as familiar for +pianoforte. The delicate and dainty "Hark, Hark the Lark" is a +favorite work in Paderewski's repertory. So spontaneous was Schubert's +inspiration that he wrote the music of this song at a tavern where he +chanced to see the poem in a book which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>he was examining. "If only I +had some music paper!" he exclaimed. One of his friends promptly ruled +lines on the back of his bill of fare and Schubert, with the varied +noises of the tavern going on about him, jotted down the song then and +there.</p> + +<p>Another splendid Schubert song that has been made popular on the +pianoforte through Listz's transcription is "The Erlking." As it ranks +among the greatest songs, and by many people actually is considered +the greatest, the illustration it affords of the rapidity with which +Schubert worked is most interesting. Two friends calling upon him one +afternoon, toward the close of the year 1815, found him all aglow +reading "The Erlking" aloud to himself. Having read the poem, he +walked up and down the room several times, book in hand, then suddenly +dropped into a chair, and, without a moment's pause and as fast as his +pen could travel over the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>paper, composed the song. Schubert had no +pianoforte, so the three men hurried over to the school where formerly +he had been trained for the Imperial choir—this was in Vienna—and +there "The Erlking" was sung the same evening and received with +enthusiasm. Afterwards the Court organist played it over himself +without the voice, and, some of those present objecting to the +dissonances which depict the child's terror of the Erlking, the +organist struck these chords again and explained how admirably they +expressed the situation described in the poem and how well they were +worked out musically. Schubert was only thirty-one when he died and +was only eighteen when he set this poem of Goethe's to music, yet the +whole song is almost Wagnerian in its descriptive and dramatic +qualities, and its climax thrilling.</p> + +<p>The work of Beethoven's which seems <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>most to appeal to the pianolist +is the "Moonlight" sonata. Possibly the attractive title, which, +however, Beethoven probably did not give to it, may have something to +do with its selection. But why not attribute its popularity to the +fact that the music bears out the title?</p> + +<p>A sonata is a composition in several movements, usually four, and +follows a clearly outlined, in fact, an almost rigid form, not to say +formula. It attained its highest development during the classical +period and left its impress upon all the larger compositions of that +time, for a symphony is nothing more than a sonata composed for +orchestra, instead of for the pianoforte, and trios, quartets, and +other pieces of chamber music of the classical period are sonatas for +the corresponding combination of instruments.</p> + +<p>The "Moonlight Sonata," however, is less rigid in form than the +average sonata. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>In it, in fact, Beethoven may be said to have broken +away from form, for after the word sonata he adds the qualifying +phrase "quasi una fantasia," signifying that, although he calls the +work a sonata, it has the characteristics of a free fantasy.</p> + +<p>Instead of opening with the usual rapid movement, the work begins with +a broad and beautiful slow one, a sustained melody, a poem of profound +pathos in musical accents. This is followed by a lighter allegretto +which Liszt called "a flower 'twixt two abysses," the second "abyss" +being the last movement, which is one of Beethoven's most impassioned +creations. At the end both of the first movement and of the allegretto +the usual wait between the divisions of a sonata is omitted, Beethoven +giving the direction "attacca subito il sequente," literally meaning +"attack suddenly the following," indicating an inner relationship +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>between the movements so close that there must be only the briefest +possible pause between them.</p> + +<p>This sonata is a true drama of life, a story of unrequited passion. It +is dedicated to one of the great beauties of Beethoven's time, the +Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. Although it is known that the composer +subsequently was deeply in love with her cousin, the Countess Therese +Brunswick, he is believed to have been in love with Giulietta at the +time he wrote the "Moonlight Sonata." The countess was not insensible +to his passion. She already was engaged to Count Gallenberg, but one +day, coming excitedly into the presence of her cousin Therese, she +threw herself at the latter's feet, "like a stage princess," and +exclaimed: "Counsel me, cold, wise one! I long to give Gallenberg the +mitten and marry the wonderfully ugly, wonderfully beautiful +Beethoven, if only it did <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>not involve lowering myself socially." And +so she gave up Beethoven and led a life, none too happy, with her +Count. Connecting the "Moonlight Sonata" with this episode in +Beethoven's life, the first movement of the sonata may appropriately +be regarded as a song of love, deeply pathetic because no response is +evoked by the longing it expresses. The second movement, the graceful +allegretto, is the coquetish Giulietta who would not "lower herself +socially" by marrying a genius. The third movement is the rejected +lover crying out his passion and despair to the night.</p> + +<p>From Beethoven to Grieg, from Vienna to Norway, from the greatest +master of the classical period to a composer who still is living and +who has been called not inaptly, "the Chopin of the North," may seem a +long step. But the pianolist can travel with seven league boots. +Grieg's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>most widely known compositions are four of the pieces of +incidental music which he wrote to Ibsen's drama "Peer Gynt." Peer +Gynt is the Faust of Norwegian literature. Without attempting here to +follow up this parallel, it may be said that he is a curious +combination of ne'er-do-well, dreamer and philosopher, with a +pronounced streak of impishness running through his character and +giving a touch of the extravagant and grotesque to many of his actions +and to some of them even a suggestion of the weird and supernatural.</p> + +<p>"Peer Gynt" has its roots in Norwegian folklore and was written by +Ibsen in Italy when he was about thirty-seven years old, and it +precedes the problem plays by which he is best known, although Peer's +character is in itself a complex problem. Grieg in his incidental +music, adroitly avoids the difficult task of interpreting or even +hinting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>at the curiously contradictory nature of the principal rôle +in the play, one of the most interesting psychological studies in +modern literature. His music deals with the more superficial aspects +of the story and is pictorial rather than intellectual or profoundly +emotional. The principal selections for the piano-player from the +"Peer Gynt" music, are contained on two rolls with two selections to +each roll. One of them gives the music of "Anitra's Dance" and "In the +Hall of the Mountain King"; the other the scenes "Daybreak" and "Death +of Aase." Were these selections to be arranged in the order in which +they occur in the drama it would be necessary to begin with the "The +Hall of the Mountain King" and follow this, in the order mentioned, +with "Aase's Death," "Anitra's Dance" and "Daybreak." On the rolls, +however, the pieces are not arranged in the order of their occurrence +in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>the play, but in the sequence which is most effective from a +musical standpoint—just as in this book I have purposely refrained +from following any set, historical sequence, but have adopted a purely +musical method of guiding the pianolist from music of the lighter kind +to that of a more serious character.</p> + +<p>"Anitra's Dance" is an episode of the drama laid in Morocco which Peer +has reached in the course of his wanderings. Anitra is a lithe-limbed +daughter of the East who entrances Peer with her dancing, and, when he +promises to endow her with a soul, promptly informs him that she would +rather have the opal from his turban; gradually coaxes all his jewels +from him; then swiftly throws herself upon his horse and gallops away, +showing herself a true exemplar of the "eternal feminine," so called, +I presume, because it eternally is getting the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>better of the eternal +masculine. Be that as it may, "Anitra's Dance" is the very essence of +witchery and grace. In the scene "In the Hall of the Mountain King" +the trolls gather for the marriage of Peer to the Troll King's +daughter. When Peer, at the last moment, refuses to go through the +ceremony, the trolls dash at him. One bites himself fast to his ear. +Others strike him. He falls. They throw themselves upon him in a heap. +At this critical moment, when he is writhing beneath them in torture, +the sound of distant church bells is heard, the trolls take to flight, +the palace of the Mountain King collapses and Peer is standing alone +on a mountain. The scene may be construed as one of his supernatural +experiences, as a nightmare, or as the allegory of a stricken +conscience. "Daybreak" which opens the second roll is in Egypt, Peer +standing before the statue of Memnon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>in the first hush of dawn and +waiting for the rays of the rising sun to evoke the music which +according to tradition many thousand years old, is drawn from the +statue by the sunrise. In this number Grieg paints the colors of an +Oriental daybreak rather than attempts to convey the thrill of an +ancient sculpture, on the edge of the great desert, thrilling with +song at the first kiss of the rising sun. In the "Death of Aase" Peer +watches his mother's life slowly ebb away and seeks to divert her mind +from death by grotesque tales, even throwing himself astride a chair +and persuading her through subjective suggestion, that he is the +forerider of a beautiful chariot in which she is seated, so that the +poor woman, who all her life long has felt the pinch of penury, dies +with a vision of wealth and glory before her eyes created for her by +the son, worry over whom has hastened her death. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>In keeping with the +lyric trend of his genius, Grieg has ignored the grotesque and ghastly +humor of the situation, and has contented himself with portraying its +sombre and tragic aspect, his music being in character somewhat like a +funeral march.</p> + +<p>The pianolist will find a characteristic Norwegian touch in Grieg's +"Bridal Procession Passing By," Op. 19, No. 2, from his "Sketches from +Norwegian Life." It begins with a curiously droning rhythm, played +softly as though the procession were approaching from a distance. Over +this rhythm is introduced a piquant march figure, hopping and skipping +along as if the musicians were dancing at the head of the marchers. As +the procession approaches and the music becomes louder, one hears in +the bass an accentuation of the characteristic rhythm, like the tap of +a bass drum. When the march has swelled to a forte, it sinks to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>a +brief piano, as if the winding path had led the procession away again. +Then there is another brief outburst, this time fortissimo, as if the +marchers were quite near; and then a pianissimo, as if they had passed +behind a hill and almost out of hearing. The music grows loud again, +the procession goes by, and there is a delicious effect as the march +dies away in the distance, the rhythmic beats with which it opened +becoming softer and softer, while the little hopping and skipping +march-figure, somewhat curtailed, flutters over it.</p> + +<p>Grieg's "Peer Gynt" suite was composed for orchestra, but was arranged +for pianoforte by the composer. Notwithstanding the fact that in its +original form the suite is intended to be played by a large body of +instruments of different tone coloring and that arrangements for +pianoforte of orchestral works usually are so complex that even great +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>pianists find difficulty in rendering them effectively, the "Peer +Gynt" selections are among the most attractive in the pianolist's +repertory. For, through the instrument on which he plays, he is able +to overcome the most complicated chords and the most difficult and +complex runs, as easily as if they were music of the simplest kind. If +the pianola sometimes is called mechanical, the injustice thus done it +is due to its superhuman capacity of playing with perfect ease things +that are wholly beyond the fingers even of the greatest virtuosos, yet +can be rendered fluently and also expressively by the pianolist who +has genuine feeling for music.</p> + +<p>It is this combination of technique and expression that gives to +Liszt's enormously difficult pianoforte transcription of Saint-Saëns' +symphonic poem, "Danse Maccabre," which even for orchestra is an +extremely <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>difficult piece, its place in the pianolist's repertory. +This is one of the most interesting of modern compositions, and most +graphically descriptive of its subject, which is the "Dance of Death," +"maccabre" being derived from the Arabic "makabir," which signifies a +place of burial. Both in the literature and in the painting of the +Middle Ages in Europe and particularly in church decoration, figures +the legend that once a year on Hallowe'en the dead arose from their +graves for a wild and hideous dance, with King Death himself as master +of ceremonies. Saint-Saëns' symphonic poem realistically describes +these scenes, and, as if to attribute the inspiration for his music to +its precise origin, the composer has placed above his score a poem by +Henri Cazalis. Mr. Edward Baxter Perry has made a free transcription +of this poem, which, at the same time, serves capitally as a +description of the music:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">On a sounding stone,<br /></span><span class='pn'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +<span class="i0">With a blanched thigh-bone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The bone of a saint, I fear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Death strikes the hour<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of his wizard power,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the specters haste to appear.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From their tombs they rise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In sepulchral guise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Obeying the summons dread,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And gathering round<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With obeisance profound,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They salute the King of the Dead.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then he stands in the middle<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And tunes up his fiddle,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And plays them a gruesome strain.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And each gibbering wight<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the moon's pale light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Must dance to that wild refrain.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now the fiddle tells,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As the music swells,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the charnal's ghastly pleasures;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And they clatter their bones<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As with hideous groans<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They reel to those maddening measures.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The churchyard quakes<br /></span><span class='pn'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +<span class="i0">And the old abbey shakes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the tread of that midnight host,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the sod turns black<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On each circling track,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where a skeleton whirls with a ghost.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The night wind moans<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In shuddering tones<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through the gloom of the cypress tree,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While the mad rout raves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Over yawning graves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the fiddle bow leaps with glee.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">So the swift hours fly<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till the reddening sky<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gives warning of daylight near.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then the first cock crow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sends them huddling below<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To sleep for another year.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The composition opens weirdly with the hollow strokes of the hour. +There is a light, staccato passage suggesting the spectres tiptoeing +from their graves to take their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>places in the fantastic circle. Then +comes one of the most strikingly realistic passages in the +composition—Death attempting to tune up his fiddle, an effect that is +repeated at intervals throughout the composition. After reading the +poem, the pianolist will not require a detailed description of the +work. He will recognize the details even to the moaning of the night +wind and the crowing of the cock, the scurry of the spectres and their +final wail, as the grave closes upon them for another year.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="OPEN_SESAME" id="OPEN_SESAME"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>V. AN "OPEN SESAME" TO CHOPIN<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>The goal of all pianists is Chopin. As the list of one hundred +favorite compositions for the pianola includes no less than twenty-six +works by this composer, he would seem to be the goal of the pianolist +as well.</p> + +<p>Chopin now is recognized universally as one of the great composers. +But during his lifetime he was much criticised, called morbid and +effeminate and a composer of small ideas because he wrote almost +entirely in the smaller forms. As if size had anything to do with the +beauty of a work. In every art the best work of each great man should +be ranked with the best of all other great men. Some geniuses express +themselves on a larger, but not necessarily on a greater scale, than +others. In poetry, for example, Poe's "Raven" is not to be ranked +below Milton's "Paradise Lost" <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>because shorter; nor in music need a +Chopin ballad be placed below a Beethoven symphony because not so +extended as the latter. Every genius, however, must expect to be +condemned until Time silences criticism of his work. For ever since +men began to create rare and beautiful things, there have been other +men who, having failed therein, have found a bitter consolation in +sitting in crabbed and ill-tempered judgment upon their successful +betters.</p> + +<p>Another point raised against Chopin was, that practically he confined +himself to composing for pianoforte. A sufficient answer to this is, +that his music made the pianoforte what it is. For he was the first +composer who appreciated the genius of the instrument, discovered its +latent tone colors and developed its resources to their full capacity +for artistic beauty and expression. Chopin was the first to make the +pianoforte <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>both shimmer and sing. Rubinstein said that the art of +music could go no further than Chopin and called him the pianoforte +bard, rhapsodist, mind and soul. "How he wrote for it I do not know, +but only an entire passing over of one into the other could call such +music into life." George Sand (Mme. Dudevant) the famous French +authoress with whom Chopin had a love affair that was one of the +tragedies of his life, said that "he made the instrument speak the +language of the infinite. He did not need the great material methods +of the orchestra to find expression for his genius. Neither saxophone +nor ophicleide was necessary for him to fill the soul with awe. +Without church organ or human voice he inspired faith and enthusiasm."</p> + +<p>Although Chopin figures on almost every pianoforte recital program the +average amateur has comparatively slight knowledge of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>the range of +his genius. Only the player able to go over his works in person can +acquire such knowledge, and the number of amateurs possessed of +sufficient technique to play Chopin's music is very small. "But +to-day," writes Mr. Ashton Johnson in his "Hand-Book to Chopin's +Works," "owing to the invention of the pianola and the fact that all +Chopin's works, including even the least important of the posthumous +compositions, are now available for that instrument, the whole domain +of his music is, for the first time, open to all. Those who wish may +pass the portal hitherto guarded by the dragon of technique and roam +at will in his entrancing music land."</p> + +<p>Chopin was a native of Poland. He was born near Warsaw in 1810. When +the Poles lost their country it was as if their grief and the +melancholy of their exile found expression through Chopin's music. He +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>became the musical poet of an exiled race. The most significant years +of his life he spent in Paris surrounded by the aristocracy of his own +country, who yet had no country, and by the aristocrats of art. Liszt, +Heine, Meyerbeer, Bellini and other famous men, as well as famous +women, were his personal friends.</p> + +<p>The affair with George Sand left on his music the imprint of sorrow, +poignant grief, and a pathos reaching down into the depths of tragedy. +Different in character was his idealization of the beautiful Countess +Delphine Potocka. The episode is fully set forth in my "Loves of the +Great Composers." One of Chopin's favorite musical amusements, when a +guest in the house of intimate friends, was to play on the pianoforte +"musical portraits" of the company. One evening in the salon of +Delphine's mother, he played the portraits of the two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>daughters of +the house. When it came to Delphine he gently drew her light shawl +from her shoulders, and then played through it, his fingers, with +every tone they produced, coming in touch with the gossamer like +fabric, still warmed and hallowed for him from its contact with her. +It was Delphine who soothed his last hours by singing for him as he +lay upon his death bed.</p> + +<p>She was one of the very few people to whom he dedicated more than one +of his works. Both his second concerto (in F minor, Op. 21) and his +most familiar waltz, the Op. 64, No. 1, bear her name. Chopin as a +pianist, showed decided preference for the slow movement of the +concerto, a movement which is of almost ideal perfection, "now radiant +with light and anon full of tender pathos," to quote from Liszt. It is +indeed, an exquisite idyll, beautifully melodious and replete with +delicate ornamentation. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>Because of its beauty and its association +with Delphine, I would suggest that the pianolist begin with this +larghetto. There is another reason for the suggestion. In its +ornamentation it illustrates to perfection that characteristic of +Chopin's music known as the "tempo rubato." Much of Chopin's music has +in addition to inspired melody, an iridescence as if produced by +cascades of jewels. These are ornamental notes which yet are not +ornamental in the limited meaning of the word; for in spite of all +their light and shade and their play of changeable colors, they form +part of the great undercurrent of melody. There are various technical +definitions of tempo rubato, but Liszt described it poetically and yet +exactly when he said, "You see that tree? Its leaves move to and fro +in the wind and follow the gentlest motion of the air; but its trunk +stands there immovable in its form." Or the effect might <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>be compared +with the myriad shafts from the facets of a jewel, vibrating +brilliance in all directions, while the jewel itself remains +immovable, the center of its own rays. These effects readily are +discoverable in the larghetto of the Potocka concerto.</p> + +<p>The pianolist should then take up the valses of Chopin beginning with +Op. 64, No. 1, like the concerto, dedicated to Delphine. This is the +most familiar of all the Chopin waltzes, so familiar that it +frequently is referred to in a derogatory way as hackneyed. Yet, when +properly played, it is one of the most effective of his compositions +in this genre. Of the Chopin waltzes in general, it should first be +said that they are not dance-tunes but expressions, alternately +brilliant, charming and sad, of the intimacy of the ballroom, and that +they possess an innate grace which no other composer has been able to +impart to the form. They <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>have been characterized as salon music of +the noblest kind and were well described by Schumann when he said that +if they were played for dances, half the ladies present should be +countesses—which exactly hits off the distinguished quality of these +valses. To play them is like looking at a dance through a fairy lens; +they seem like improvizations of a musician during a dance and to +reflect the thoughts and feelings that arise as he looks on, playing +the waltz rhythm with the left hand, while the melody and the +ornamental note groups indicate his fancy—love, a jealous plaint, +joy, ecstasy and the tender whisperings of enamored couples as they +glide past.</p> + +<p>"Gliding" is the word that has been applied to the smooth brilliance +of the Potocka valse. There runs a story regarding this composition +that George Sand had a little dog that used to chase its own tail +around <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>in a circle, and that one evening, she said to Chopin, "If I +had your talent, I would improvise a valse for that dog," whereupon +the composer promptly seated himself at the pianoforte and dashed off +this fascinating little improvisation. It is Parisian in its grace and +coquetry and ends with a rapid run, the last note of which is like the +rhythmic tap of the foot with which a dainty ballet dancer might +conclude a lightly executed <i>pas</i>.</p> + +<p>In striking contrast to this is the "Valse," Op. 34, No. 2. This is in +a minor key and instead of representing the abandon of the dance, it +seems rather to depict a melancholy lover allowing his eyes to travel +slowly around the ballroom in a futile search of his heart's desire. +The prevailing tone of the composition rather is that of an elegy—the +burial of fond hopes. Stephen Heller, pianist and composer, tells of +meeting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>Chopin in the store of a Paris music publisher. Heller had +come in to order all the valses. Thereupon Chopin asked him which he +liked best, and when Heller mentioned this sad one in slow time, +Chopin exclaimed, "I am glad you like that one, for it also is my +favorite," and he invited Heller to have luncheon with him.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most brilliant and extended of the valses is Op. 42. In +this Chopin imposes upon the triple waltz time, a melody that is in +double time—that is, while you count "one, two, three" for the +accompaniment, "one, two" will suffice for the melody above it. The +effect of this device has been described as indicative in this waltz +of the loving, nestling and tender embracing of the dancing couples. +It is followed in the music by sweeping motions free and graceful like +those of birds. The prolonged trill with which the piece begins, seems +to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>summon the dancers to the ballroom, while the waltz itself, is an +intermingling of coquetry, hesitation and avowal, with a closing +passage that is like an echo of the evening's events.</p> + +<p>These three waltzes, if played in the order in which I have mentioned +them, make a capital valse suite, and another could be made by taking +in the following order, the dashing "Posthumous Waltz" in E minor, the +C minor, Op. 64, No. 2, with its veiled, sad beauty; and the brilliant +Op. 34, No. 1.</p> + +<p>In his "Nocturnes" those sombre poems of night, Chopin seems weaving +his own shroud. But if, like Robert Louis Stevenson, Chopin loved the +darkness and its melancholy murmuring, and if there was a touch of +morbidness in his nature, yet, like Stevenson, he had in him a strain +of chivalry. Mr. Huneker, therefore, in his book on Chopin, is quite +right when he says of the nocturnes that if they were played with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>more vigor, a quickening of the time pulse and a less languishing +touch, they would be rescued from a surplus of lush sentiment.</p> + +<p>Undoubtedly, the most popular of the nocturnes is the one in E flat, +Op. 9, No. 2. In fact it is so popular that when any one is asked to +play "Chopin's Nocturne," this one is meant. Because it is popular, it +is sneered at by some critics, but it possesses a lyric beauty quite +its own and "sometimes surprises even the weary teacher with a waft of +unexpected freshness, like the fleeting odor from an old and much used +school book in which violets have been pressed." A sustained love +song, it ends with a cadence that should be played with a rippling +delicacy suggestive of moonlight on a lake in the garden of an old +chateau.</p> + +<p>There are nocturnes of Chopin's composed on a larger scale than the +Opus 37, No. 2, but to my taste there is none more beautiful. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>It +bears a striking resemblance to a passage in George Sand's diary +describing a voyage with Chopin to the island of Majorca. "The night +was warm and dark, illumined only by an extraordinary phosphorescence +in the wake of the ship; everybody was asleep on board except the +steersman, who, in order to keep himself awake, sang all night, but in +a voice so soft and so subdued that one might have thought he feared +to arouse the men of the watch. We did not weary of listening to him, +for his singing was of the strangest kind. He observed a rhythm and +modulation totally different from those we are accustomed to, and +seemed to allow his voice to go at random, like the smoke of the +vessel carried away and swayed by the breeze. It was a reverie rather +than a song, a kind of careless floating of the voice, with which the +mind had little to do, but which kept time <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>with the swaying of the +ship and the faint lapping of the dark water, and resembled a vague +improvization restrained, nevertheless, by sweet and monotonous +forms."</p> + +<p>How suggestive this is of the nocturne! The undulating accompaniment, +the scintillation of the treble, suggests the gliding, gently rocking +motion of the vessel and the phosphorescence in its wake; while the +second theme of the nocturne would, even without any suggestion from +the passage in George Sand's diary, be taken for a barcarolle, a +reverie sung at night, now rising, now dying away, but with the pulse +of a musical poet throbbing through every note—the most beautiful +melody, I think, Chopin ever wrote.</p> + +<p>And speaking of this melody as an improvization, reminds me of those +other improvizations by Chopin, the "Impromptus," in which he has +displayed his genius as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>convincingly as in any of his other works. +They are fresh and untrammeled in their development, and as full of +sunlight as the nocturnes are of darkness. The one in A flat major was +dedicated to the Countess de Loban as a wedding present, and was a +farewell to her as a pupil. Brilliant, joyous and iridescent in its +opening and closing sections, that in the middle voices vague and +tender regret. The composition sometimes is spoken of as the "Trilby" +impromptu. It is the one Du Maurier made Trilby sing under the +hypnotic influence of Svengali.</p> + +<p>Had Chopin's directions for the destruction of certain of his +manuscripts after his death been carried out, the world would be the +poorer by the loss of his "Fantaisie Impromptu," published as Op. 66. +It is difficult to understand why he should have wanted this work +destroyed, since it produces a sinuous, interwoven, flowing effect, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>interrupted by a middle melody of much sentiment and beauty. It has +been very well described by Mr. Perry in a brief poem entitled "The +Fantaisie Impromptu":</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The sigh of June through the swaying trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The scent of the rose, new blown, on the breeze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sound of waves on a distant strand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The shadows falling on sea and land;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">All these are found<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In this stream of sound,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This murmuring, mystical, minor strain.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And stars that glimmer in misty skies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like tears that shimmer in sorrowing eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the throb of a heart that beats in tune<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With tender regrets of a happier June,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When life was new<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And love was true,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the soul was a stranger to sorrow and pain.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>A reading of this poem conveys to the player the correct mood in which +to interpret the impromptu.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>By way of contrast I follow these careless raptures—careless only in +their effect of spontaneity—with the famous "Marche Funèbre," the +funeral march which forms the third movement of Chopin's sonata in B +flat minor, Op. 35. This has been called the best funeral march ever +written for the pianoforte. At Chopin's own funeral it was played +scored for orchestra. In my opinion it is not only "the best funeral +march ever written for the pianoforte," but the most intrinsically +beautiful and sad funeral march ever composed. Its opening suggests +the solemn tolling of great bells, the heavy march rhythm gives the +effect of the slow procession of mourners; and the dirgelike music, +soft and muffled at first, grows in power like the measured, +inflexible rhythm of fate. Then it seems as if the mourners had +arrived at the open grave, for the music voices a weeping melody, pure +and tender <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>and sweet; then the march rhythm makes itself heard again +and the procession leaves the grave, the music dying away in the +distance. This is the funeral march of a nation, of Chopin's own +beloved Poland.</p> + +<p>Chopin wrote two sets of twelve "Etudes." They gave an entirely new +significance to the term. For the Chopin etudes not only are supreme +as studies. They are supreme as music as well. Before they were +published the usual musical study was something very dry and set. How +different these superb compositions are from studies such as are +comprised in Czerny's "School of Velocity," which make you feel like +employing the "velocity" you have acquired to run away as quickly as +possible from the "school," whereas the Chopin etudes are so full of +melody and of the rarest and the most beautiful musical effects, that +to play any one of them suffices to whet the appetite <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>for the others. +The pianolist might well go through the entire two sets of twelve. It +would open up a new musical world to him. Here I can only point out +three. Opus 10, No. 5, is the "Black Key" etude, so called because all +the notes of the right hand are on black keys. This is a brilliant +study with a very charming ending. Opus 25, No. 9, is the so called +"Butterfly Wings" etude, a designation which expresses its general +characteristic of lightness and grace, but fails to make allowance for +the accent of passion in the rising and descending passage that occurs +about the middle and which should be brought out when it is correctly +interpreted—which usually it is not. The greatest of all the etudes +is the "Revolutionary," Op. 10, No. 12. It was written by Chopin in +1831, when he heard the news that Warsaw had been taken by the +Russians, and it expresses the tornado of emotion that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>swept over him +when he realized that Poland was about to sink beneath the triple +onslaught of Russia, Austria and Germany. This composition which, mind +you, goes by the simple name of "study," is one of the most tremendous +outbursts of wrath in music—a storm of the soul without even such +lyric episodes as those which form islands of calm in the torrential +last movement of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata." Well may Mr. Huneker +say that the end "rings out like the crack of creation. It is +elemental."</p> + +<p>This etude, certain of the "Polonaises," the "Scherzos," the +"Ballades" and the "Fantaisie" in F minor, reveal a fire, passion and +virile power that will surprise those who have formed their estimate +of Chopin from the mournful nocturnes and brilliant waltzes. The +so-called "Military Polonaise," Op. 40, No. 1, is so replete with the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>spirit of war that in the middle portion it is easy to hear the roll +of drums and the clash of battle. It was of this polonaise Chopin +said, "If I had the strength to play it as it should be played I would +break all the strings of the pianoforte."</p> + +<p>The most effective of the polonaises, his opus 53, also breathes forth +martial ardor and defiance. It begins with a stirring call to arms, +followed by the swinging measure of the polonaise proper with a melody +that suggests soldiery on prancing steeds and with flashing sabres, +defiling in review before battle. This is followed by a "trio" in +which a rapid octave figure in the bass, beginning softly and growing +louder and louder until it reaches a crashing climax, with strains +like a bugle call ringing out above it, depicts a cavalry charge +coming from the distance, drawing nearer and nearer and sweeping past +with a mighty roar. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>There is a story that while Chopin was composing +this polonaise, he was so affected when playing over the nearly +completed work, that, seized by a peculiar hallucination, he saw the +walls of the room open and, approaching from the outer night, a band +of medieval Polish knights mounted and in armor, as if they had risen +from their ancient graves and ridden on the clouds to appear in +response to the summons of his music. The somewhat vague passage which +follows the climax of the cavalry charge and leads back to the main +subject possibly may be accounted for by this strange experience.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately there is no opportunity here to take up the "Scherzos," +so unlike the coquettish, bantering pieces of the same name by other +composers, Chopin seemingly representing tragedy mocking itself, as +any one playing the B flat minor "Scherzo," Op. 31, may hear for +himself; the "Ballades," so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>eloquently narrative of love and +adventure, the A flat major and the G minor being especially popular +in the pianolist's repertory; and the "Fantaisie," in F minor, one of +the greatest compositions for pianoforte. As for the "Mazurkas" and +"Preludes," pieces that are among their composer's happiest creations, +I can do no more than call the pianolist's attention to their +existence and advise him not to neglect them.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="OTHER_MASTERS" id="OTHER_MASTERS"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>VI. NOTES ON SOME OTHER MASTERS<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>Besides those composers, one or more of whose works I have described +in some detail, there are others who at least should be touched on, +always bearing in mind, however, that one of the aims of this book is +to stimulate the pianolist to explore for himself. Bach, Händel, Haydn +and Mozart can be studied most profitably in connection with the +courses that are referred to in the chapter on Educational Factors +which follows. There too will be found reference to the thorough +courses on Wagner, one a general course on that composer, the other a +special course on his "Ring of the Nibelung."</p> + +<p>A line of composers that may well interest the pianolist has come to +the front in Russia. Rubinstein, whose "Melody" in F and "Kammenoi, +Ostrow," No. 17, are among the popular selections in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>pianolist's +repertory was a Russian, who, however, from a musical standpoint, +expressed himself in German. To a certain extent the same is true of +Tschaikowsky. His music is "universal" rather than national. It has, +nevertheless, the Russian tang to a greater degree than Rubinstein's, +and Tschaikowsky is classed correctly as the head of the Russian +school and one of the greatest of modern composers. His "Pathetic +Symphony," which has been metrostyled by Edouard Colonne, a +distinguished French orchestral conductor, is a noble work. Among +smaller pieces which the pianolist readily will appreciate, are the +"Song without Words," Op. 2, No. 2; an attractive "Valse à cinq +Temps," with its oddly extended rhythm; the very characteristic +"November, in the Troika," Op. 37, No. 11; an expressive "Barcarolle" +and the selections from his "Casse Noisette" (Nutcracker) ballet +suite.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>Next to Tschaikowsky's "Song without Words" the most widely known +short piece for pianoforte by a Russian composer is Rachmaninoff's +"Prelude," Op. 3, No. 2, a broad and sonorous work with a splendid +climax. A little "Waltz," Op. 10, No. 2, is captivating; and a +"Serenade," Op. 3, No. 5, has an originality and charm quite its own. +A very beautiful "Moment Musical," Op. 16, No. 5, does not seem to +have been included as yet in the catalogue of music rolls, an honor to +which it clearly is entitled. Arensky, Balakirew, César Cui, +Glazounow, Karganoff, Liapounow, Rimsky-Korsakow, Sapellnikoff and +Taneiew are other interesting figures of the "New-Russian" school of +which so much is heard at present.</p> + +<p>Dvorak who was a Bohemian wrote much music distinctly and +fascinatingly characteristic of his native land. He was, however, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>broad enough in his tastes to recognize, during his sojourn of three +years in America, the beauty of the Negro plantation melodies and to +compose upon several of these as themes, his symphony "From the New +World," sometimes called more briefly the "American Symphony." This +symphony, two works of chamber music, also composed during his +residence in America, and his compositions in his native Bohemian +musical idiom usually are ranked higher than his more cosmopolitan +efforts. His "Humoreske," Op. 101, No. 5, the "Slavic Dances" and "On +the Holy Mount" are among his compositions unmistakably Bohemian in +origin.</p> + +<p>While Saint-Saëns, having worked more successfully in the larger +orchestral forms, is ranked first among contemporary French composers, +and Chaminade leads as a composer of clever salon music, the +pianolist <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>can add some attractive pieces to his repertory from the +compositions of Delibes and Godard. Delibes is the composer of the +opera "Lakmé," and the Airs de Ballet from this, as well as the +selections from his "Coppelia" and "Sylvia" ballets, will be found +spontaneous and original. In fact in all instances in which music +composed in dance forms has survived, this will be found due to a +decided strain of individuality and resulting originality in the +composer. The Valse Lente from the "Coppelia" ballet is among the +hundred most popular pieces in the pianolist's repertory; and well up +in the same list is Godard's graceful "Second Mazurka," Op. 54.</p> + +<p>Among the most distinguished modern composers is the American, Edward +Alexander MacDowell. He is living, but his work is over; for, +unfortunately, his mind has given way. His "Scotch Poem" with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>its +graphic musical representation of the sea beating against a rockbound +coast and its lyric episode consisting of a trist Scotch ballad, is +highly dramatic, while his "Sea Pieces" are among the most poetic of +contemporary compositions for pianoforte. His "Witches' Dance" is +highly descriptive, and in whatever direction the pianolist may +familiarize himself with the music of MacDowell, he will be found a +highly original, eloquent and expressive composer, whose fame, already +established, is bound to grow with the lapse of time.</p> + +<p>This chapter may fittingly be concluded with a brief reference to two +great German composers, Schumann and Brahms. Although "popular" is not +a word ordinarily associated with Schumann, two of his shorter pieces, +"Träumerei" (Revery) and "Warum" (Why) are great favorites. Schumann +did much for the development of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>music that has a distinct meaning and +his works frequently bear titles that are suggestive of some mood or +scene, like "At Evening," "Soaring" (Aufschwung, sometimes translated +as Excelsior), "Carnaval," a series of twenty-one pieces descriptive +of carnival scenes; and the "Novelettes."</p> + +<p>Brahms is far more of a melodist than his critics give him credit for, +but his clearness of expression is interfered with by the relentless +scientific accuracy with which he works out his ideas, to which method +he is apt to sacrifice only too often the innate beauty of his +thoughts. He seems, however, to be slowly gaining ground, but more +through his songs than through his instrumental works excepting those +of chamber music. Yet any one who will seriously study Brahms and +begin with the shorter pianoforte pieces, Op. 76 and Op. 116-119, will +find mines of purest musical gold, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>where, perhaps, he least expected +to discover them. Entirely different in style from Brahms' other works +are his "Hungarian Dances," in which he has taken dance themes of the +Hungarian Gypsies and skillfully worked them up into pieces that are +melodiously and rhythmically fascinating and unreservedly popular. +They are much played by pianolists.</p> + +<p>Let me point out again, here, that, however unsystematic the +arrangement of this book may seem to the musical pedant, I have +followed a certain sequence—one of my own devising and which seemed +to me best adapted to give the pianolist a bowing acquaintance with +some of the great composers that would lead him to wish for a closer +intimacy with these and others. What I have kept in mind, and very +clearly, is the fact that I am dealing with a player for whom all +technical difficulties have been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>eliminated by the very instrument on +which he plays. The complete control it gives him of all technical +resources is what makes the old method of analyzing pieces according +to their historical sequence not only unnecessary but futile in a book +of this kind. Nevertheless, so perfectly does this instrument adapt +itself to all music, that any one who desires to trace up the +technical evolution of the art from Bach to the present day, will find +it the readiest means for accomplishing his purpose, especially if he +uses in conjunction with it the educational courses referred to in the +next chapter.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="EDUCATIONAL_FACTORS" id="EDUCATIONAL_FACTORS"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>VII. EDUCATIONAL FACTORS.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>It is not overstating the case to say that the pianola is the first +practical means ever devised in history through which people in +general, whether they have had previous instruction in music or not, +can become familiar with the world's best musical compositions. Not +only can they familiarize themselves with the past, they are able to +keep up with the present. For example, many of Richard Strauss's +works, including selections from "Salome," are to be found on the +rolls prepared for this modern instrument. In fact every new composer +whose work has any significance is represented in the catalogue of +music rolls. Supposing a pianolist is planning to attend an opera or a +concert. It would have to be a very peculiar opera or a very peculiar +concert program which he could not obtain and try over beforehand. +Needless to say that, by trying it over beforehand, his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>appreciation +of the performance would be increased a thousandfold.</p> + +<p>Singers who cannot accompany themselves on the pianoforte, will find +this new instrument a boon. For there is a special list of +accompaniments in which the principal works in the vocalist's +repertory are represented. Lovers of chamber music in which the +pianoforte figures, will find pieces like sonatas for pianoforte and +violin or violoncello, trios for pianoforte, violin and violoncello, +pianoforte quartets, quintets and similar works, arranged so that the +pianolist can play the pianoforte part. "This is the first time I ever +have heard every note of the pianoforte part of the Schumann quintet," +said the first violinist of a well known string quartet to Mr. E.R. +Hunter, a professional pianolist, after a performance of this famous +work with Mr. Hunter at the pianola.</p> + +<p>The importance of the educational value <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>of this new instrument is +recognized by many of the leading educators in music. Harvard, Yale, +Columbia, the University of California, the University of Michigan, +Vassar and many other institutions of learning use the instrument in +connection with their musical courses. At Harvard, in connection with +the lectures on music, the students are not only allowed but +encouraged to go in groups of six or eight to the hall in which the +instruments are installed, and play for themselves the symphonies of +Beethoven, the music dramas of Wagner and other music that has formed +the subjects of the lectures. "As a self-educator," writes Henry T. +Finck, "this instrument is worth more than all other instruments +combined, for the reason that any one can, without practice, play on +it any piece ever written."</p> + +<p>Under the editorship of Carroll Brent Chilton, assisted by a staff of +musicians and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>writers on music, among them Paul Morgan and Edward +Ziegler, thorough educational courses for pianolists have been +devised. The courses collectively are known as "The New Musical +Education," and are conducted in connection with the Music-Lovers +Library of music rolls. These courses are admirably arranged. There is +a "Popular Course on the Great Composers" with a supplementary one on +the "Modern Great Composers." The former is divided into five lessons: +Bach and Händel; Haydn and Mozart; Beethoven and Schubert; Schumann +and Mendelssohn; and Chopin and Wagner. The course on the modern great +composers also is divided into five lessons: Liszt and Wagner; Chopin +and Brahms; Tschaikowsky, Dvorak and Paderewski; Saint-Saëns, +Moskowszki and Chaminade; and Grieg and MacDowell, the last named the +most distinguished among American composers.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>Care has been taken in arranging these two courses not to aim above +the head of the musical novice. For example, in dealing with Bach and +Händel, two of their lighter pieces are taken up and analyzed. +Biographical data are given and, in addition to the pieces that are +analyzed, supplementary rolls of seven compositions by Bach and five +compositions by Händel are given, together with lists of reference +books. The other lessons in these two courses are planned in the same +popular style. They give the pianolist a bird's-eye-view of music and +its development from Bach to Wagner.</p> + +<p>The "New Musical Education" also takes up the great composers +separately and gives most thorough-going courses on them. The +Beethoven course, for example, is arranged in twelve lessons. The +course furnishes the student with the Beethoven biography by Crowest; +with twelve "lesson <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>pamphlets," each pamphlet relating to a division +of the course and written by Thomas Whitney Surette; with twelve +scores, orchestral and pianoforte; and sixty-two "educational" music +rolls. The scores correspond with the twelve works discussed in the +twelve lessons, each lesson being devoted to the analysis of one +composition. The rolls include not only those which give the works +complete, but also special rolls with music quotations illustrating +the points made in the lesson pamphlets. The various musical forms +employed by Beethoven are explained and analyzed, and in the complete +rolls the different sections characteristic of each form are clearly +indicated in print, so that the student, having read the analysis, can +follow it intelligently on the roll. There are many other practical +details of this kind in all the courses and which go to enhance their +value to the pianolist-student.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>There are two splendid Wagner courses to which I direct special +attention because of the frequent performances of his works in opera +and concert, and because a comprehensive knowledge of the development +of his theories adds so greatly to the enjoyment of his music. The +first course begins with his early opera "Rienzi" and ends with +"Parsifal." All his works for the stage are embraced in this course +which consists of ten lessons, each lesson having, in addition to the +ordinary rolls, a "quotation roll," illustrating the points in the +lesson pamphlets, and in the case of the music-dramas, giving the +"leading motives," so that the student can familiarize himself with +these, and with their significance in the drama, and readily recognize +them when he hears them, while playing the complete rolls or at a +performance.</p> + +<p>The second Wagner course relates to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>"Ring of the Nibelung." It +takes up consecutively the four great divisions of the work, +"Rhinegold," "The Valkyr," "Siegfried" and "Dusk of the Gods," +devoting a lesson to each. Each lesson contains a quotation roll of +leading motives and the following examples from the scores:—Lesson +I., "Rhinegold." Prelude and scene of the Rhine-Maidens, Loge's +Narrative, and the finale of the work. Lesson II., "The Valkyr." +Siegmund's Love Song, Ride of the Valkyries, and the Magic Fire Spell. +Lesson III., "Siegfried." Forge Song, Siegfried and the Forest Bird, +Siegfried and Brünnhilde. Lesson IV., "Dusk of the Gods." Siegfried's +Rhine Journey, Song of the Rhine-Maidens, Siegfried's Funeral March. I +know from the experience of one of my pianolist friends, how admirable +this course is. He took it before hearing the "Ring" for the first +time, with the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>result that he knew the music and the names of all the +leading motives, recognized them whenever they occurred in the score, +and in consequence, enjoyed the performance as much as if he had +become familiar with it through repeated hearings. I may add that the +catalogue of music rolls contains a complete collection of Wagner's +works, making the music of this composer accessible to the pianolist +whether he wishes to play it for study or enjoyment.</p> + +<p>The pianolist holds in his hand the future of the development of music +in this country. The instrument on which he plays is the only +practical means as yet devised of making the great masterpieces of +music penetrate to the minds and hearts of the masses. Art has to +advance on its own shoulders. "I cannot rest contentedly on the past, +I cannot take a step forward without its aid." The pianolist has both +the past and present of music at his command.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="A_FEW_DONTS" id="A_FEW_DONTS"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>VIII. A FEW "DON'TS" FOR PIANOLISTS.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>By way of postscript I give here a few hints to pianolists. General +directions on how to play the pianola are provided in pamphlets and +circulars which can be obtained without charge, and I do not propose +to traverse these. The instrument is capable of great brilliancy and +great power, greater than lie in the ten fingers of any pianist. This +very fact is what has caused the instrument to be called "mechanical." +But in reality it is the fault of the player, because, carried away by +the capacity of the instrument, he is apt in the beginning to play too +loudly and too brilliantly. One of the first don'ts for the pianolist +is that he refrain from putting the instrument to the full test of +its—not really mechanical but superhuman—capacity for brilliancy and +power.</p> + +<p>Indeed, not only the beginner, but all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>pianolists should bear in mind +that the chief distinction of the instrument lies in its exceeding +delicacy. No virtuoso can play as delicately and lightly and, at the +same time, as distinctly as can the pianolist those rapid pianissimo +runs and those exquisite traceries and ornamentations which are found +in modern music; all of which does not mean that the pianolist never +should play loudly and brilliantly, but that he should not allow +himself to be carried away by the possibilities of the instrument in +these directions.</p> + +<p>Certain refinements of interpretation which the pianist long has made +his own also should be observed. Don't start a trill and keep it up +with an evenly sustained strength of tone and rapidity from beginning +to end. Begin it a shade slower and a shade more softly than the tempo +and dynamic signs indicate, let it swell and grow <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>louder, then taper +down, and slightly retard the turn which leads back to the melodic +phrase. This is not a hard-and-fast rule, but one which usually it is +safe to follow. The pianolist can execute his trills with a +combination of delicacy and clearness that is absolutely unique.</p> + +<p>Don't rip off runs as if you were tearing cloth. Come down with +decision on the first note, begin somewhat slower than the indicated +tempo and then increase the time to the proper acceleration. This is +the true virtuoso effect, adopted, no doubt, because on the pianoforte +it is easier to execute a run in this manner; and so, however +erroneously, it has come to be considered the genuine musical +way—showing that even in art we are creatures of habit.</p> + +<p>Don't use the sustaining pedal too frequently, not even as frequently +as indicated on the rolls. The pedal directions on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>rolls follow +those of the printed sheets too closely. The pianist often is obliged +to use the sustaining pedal to hold a note that he cannot keep down +because his fingers are otherwise employed. But the music rolls are +cut so that every sustained note is held down as long as the composer +directs that it should be. Remember too that the term "loud pedal" as +applied to the sustaining pedal, as it properly is called, is +incorrect. This pedal sustains but does not increase the power of the +sound that is produced. That effect is secured by a stronger pressure +of the feet upon the pumping pedals. In fact by varying the degree of +pressure of the feet on the pumping pedals the pianolist can vary the +degree of sound from a whispered pianissimo to the strongest +fortissimo.</p> + +<p>The pianolist should remember that, as the instrument on which he +plays relieves him of all burdens of technique and enables <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>him to +play anything, no matter how difficult, with absolute technical +accuracy, it is all the more his duty to play with as much expression +as he can call forth from his inner nature. Emotion, the power of +expression, the art of interpretation, can be developed by practice as +well as any other latent capacity. It is an excellent plan for the +beginner to take one piece, the Nevin waltz that I have described, for +example, and play it over many times, not necessarily at the same +sitting, in fact better not; but without attempting anything else. +Each time let the pianolist try to get more meaning, more expression +out of it than he did before. He will find, if he does this, that, +when he takes up another composition, the expression, the art of +interpretation, will come to him more naturally and more quickly, +until, from an ignorant beginner, he soon will have developed into a +musical <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>artist who can give himself and hundreds of others the most +exalted pleasure—that of listening to music, not to mere playing.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Typographical errors corrected in text:</p> +<br /> +Page 21: "other more slowly" replaced with "others more slowly"<br /> +Page 34: atachment replaced with attachment<br /> +Page 46: base replaced with bass<br /> +Page 112: Saint-Säens replaced with Saint-Saëns<br /> +Page 113: Saint-Säens replaced with Saint-Saëns<br /> +Page 144: Saint-Säens replaced with Saint-Saëns<br /> +Page 149: unnecesary replaced with unnecessary<br /> +Page 153: Saint-Säens replaced with Saint-Saëns<br /> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pianolist, by Gustav Kobbé + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PIANOLIST *** + +***** This file should be named 24622-h.htm or 24622-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/2/24622/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Bryan Ness and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +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. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/24622.txt b/24622.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0fd07b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/24622.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2904 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pianolist, by Gustav Kobbé + +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: The Pianolist + A Guide for Pianola Players + +Author: Gustav Kobbé + +Release Date: February 16, 2008 [EBook #24622] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PIANOLIST *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Bryan Ness and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | + | been preserved. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | + | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + +THE PIANOLIST + + + + +THE PIANOLIST + +A GUIDE FOR PIANOLA PLAYERS + +BY + +GUSTAV KOBBE + +AUTHOR OF "HOW TO APPRECIATE MUSIC," ETC. + +NEW YORK +MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY +1907 + + + + +COPYRIGHT 1907, BY +MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY +NEW YORK + +Published November, 1907 + + +PRESS OF +THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY +LANCASTER, PA + + + + +_TO MY FRIEND_ +JOSEPH HUTCHISON STEVENSON + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I. THE TITLE AND PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK 1 + +II. THE CHARM OF PLAYING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT YOURSELF 10 + +III. FIRST STEPS OF THE MUSICAL NOVICE 39 + +IV. THE THRILL OF THE GREAT MASTERS 83 + +V. AN "OPEN SESAME" TO CHOPIN 117 + +VI. NOTES ON SOME OTHER MASTERS 141 + +VII. EDUCATIONAL FACTORS 150 + +VIII. A FEW "DON'TS" FOR PIANOLISTS 159 + + + + +I. THE TITLE AND PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK + + +My book, "How to Appreciate Music," in the chapter devoted to the +pianoforte, contains a paragraph relating to the Pianola and its +influence in popularizing music and stimulating musical taste. I +confess that before I started that paragraph I was puzzled to know +what term to use in designating the instrument I had in mind. +"Mechanical piano-player" is a designation which not only does not +appeal to me, but, furthermore, fails to do justice to the instrument, +which, although mechanical in its working, is far from being +mechanical in its effects. + +The result?--I took a cross cut and arrived straight at the word +Pianola as being the name of the most widely known piano-player, and +happily derived from the name of the most widely known instrument, the +pianoforte or, as it is more popularly termed, the piano. For this +reason the term Pianola was used in the paragraph referred to and now +is employed in this book; and, for the same reason, this book is +called "The Pianolist." It is believed to be the title least requiring +explanation, if, indeed, it requires any explanation at all. Right +here, however, I must add that the company which manufactures the +Pianola objects to the use of the word as a generic term. + +So much for the title. Now for the purpose of this book. + +Soon after the publication of "How to Appreciate Music" I discovered +that the paragraph concerning this new musical instrument had made a +hit. It was widely quoted as evidence of the "up-to-dateness" of the +book and I began to receive letters from pianola owners who were +pleased that the merits of the instrument should have been recognized +in a serious book on music. Among these was a letter from a Mr. Harry +Mason, of Detroit, suggesting that I should write a book for the use +of those who owned piano-players. Mr. Mason and myself never have met. +He knows me merely as an author of a book on music. All I know of him +is that he is one of the editors of a druggists' trade paper in +Detroit. Yet from him has come the suggestion which has led me to +write this book, although, to judge from his letter, he had not been +deeply interested in music until he began to use a "player" and, +through it, was led to ask for a book which would tell him, in +untechnical language, something about an art that was beginning to +have eloquence and meaning for him. To me this is highly significant, +for there must be thousands of others like him all over the country, +to whom, in the same way, the great awakening just is coming through +the pianola--at first a means of amusement, then an educator with the +element of amusement, but of a higher order, left in! + +Shortly after I received Mr. Mason's letter an incident added greatly +to the force of his suggestion. I always have been very fond of +Schubert's "Rosamunde" impromptu. The first person I heard play it +publicly was Annette Essipoff, a Russian pianist and one of the very +few great women pianists of the world. Frequently I have heard it +since then, but never so charmingly interpreted excepting--But that is +the most interesting part of the story. + +One night I was at my desk in my study, when, suddenly, I heard the +strains of this impromptu, which is an air with variations, from the +direction of the drawing room. It was sweet and tender, graceful and +expressive, according to the character of the variations; and, when +the last variation began with a crispness and delicacy that made me +wonder what great virtuoso was at my pianoforte without my knowing it, +I hurried to the drawing room and, entering it--found my fourteen year +old daughter seated at a pianola. The instrument had arrived only a +short time before from the house of a friend who had gone South for +the winter. My daughter never had had a music lesson, never had heard +Schubert's "Rosamunde" impromptu. Yet she had, without any effort, +been the first to take me back to Essipoff's playing of Schubert's +charming work! It would have been ludicrous had it not meant so much. +In fact it was ludicrous because, a few days before, when the +instrument had just been delivered and set up, I had been deceived in +much the same manner by her playing of a composition by Grieg. + +But to return to the Schubert impromptu. Essipoff, my young daughter, +the associate editor of a druggist' paper in Detroit, and myself; the +first a great virtuoso, the second a schoolgirl, the third a writer on +a trade paper, the fourth a music critic--what a leveller of +distinctions, what a universal musical provider the pianola is! Ten +years ago the virtuoso and the music critic would have been the only +ones concerned. The schoolgirl and the trade paper editor wouldn't +have been "in it." Now, the schoolgirl was playing like a virtuoso and +the writer on drugs and druggists was giving hints to the music +critic. A great leveller, placing the musical elect and those who +formerly would have had to remain outside the pale, on a common +footing! This may not always appeal to the musical elect, but think +what it means to the great mass of those who are genuinely musical but +have lacked the opportunity for musical study or to those whose taste +for music never has been brought out. + +To paraphrase a few sentences from my "How to Appreciate Music" that +have been much quoted:-- + +"'Are you musical?' + +"'No,' nine persons out of ten will reply; 'I neither play nor sing.' + +"'Your answer shows a complete misunderstanding of the case. Because +you neither play nor sing, it by no means follows that you are +unmusical. If you love music and appreciate it, you may be more +musical than many pianists and singers; or latent within you and only +awaiting the touchstone of music there may be a deeper love and +appreciation of the art than can be attributed to many virtuosos. For +most of a virtuoso's love and appreciation is apt to be centered upon +himself. And when you say, 'I cannot play,' you are mistaken. You are +thinking of the pianoforte. You may not be able to play that. But you +or any one else can play the pianola, and that instantly places at +your command all the technical resources of which even the greatest +virtuosos can boast." + +One purpose of this book thus is to bring home to people an +appreciation of what this modern instrument is, whether it is regarded +as a toy with which the business man amuses himself with two-steps and +ragtime after business hours, or as a serious musical instrument. + +Another purpose, and a large one, is to furnish pianolists with a +guide to the music which they play, or might play if their attention +were directed to it and to some of its characteristics, and to point +out the importance of the instrument in developing a love of good +music. + +I also have in writing this book a purpose which I may describe as +personal. I believe I was the first American to publish an analysis of +the Wagner music dramas that seemed to be what the public wanted, and +the first to contribute to a magazine of general circulation an +article on Richard Strauss. It is a matter of pride with me always to +be found on the firing line--even if it is the privilege of those who +watch the battle from a safe distance to dictate the despatches and +take the credit for the result to themselves. And so, I wish to be the +first to write a book on the pianola, an instrument of such importance +to the progress and popular spread of music that, at the present time, +we can have but a faint glimmering of the great part it is destined to +play. + + + + +II. THE CHARM OF PLAYING A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT YOURSELF + + +How I wish I could play like that! What is more common than this +exclamation from people who are listening to a great virtuoso or even +only to a fairly clever amateur? They realize that, no matter how much +they may enjoy a performance, there is much greater fascination in +being the performer. Not a musical person but would play if he could. +Why, however, that "if"? It no longer exists. It has been eliminated. +The charm, the fascination of playing a musical instrument yourself +can be yours, and the only "if" to it is--if you have intelligence +enough to appreciate what that means. + +What formerly was an insuperable obstacle, the lack of technical +facility--the real inability to play--absolutely has been done away +with. There is no excuse for anybody's not playing who wants to. The +pianola furnishes the technique, the dexterity, the finger facility, +or whatever you may choose to call it. So far as this is concerned the +instrument itself makes you a virtuoso--places you on a par with a +Liszt, Paderewski or Rosenthal. It does so mechanically, yet without +the sharpness and insistent preciseness of a machine. Its action is +pneumatic and the effect of the compressed air is to impart to its +"touch"--the manner in which its "fingers" strike the keys--an +elasticity which at least is comparable with the touch of human +fingers. As a friend of mine, a lawyer, who has owned three pianolas +and who actually has been made musical through them, expresses +it:--"When you've got a mechanical device as good or nearly as good as +a virtuoso, you've got something of enormous importance to the whole +world." And so you have. + +I find a great feature of the so-called mechanical piano-player lies +in what it allows you to do yourself. It provides you with technique, +but, to use a colloquial phrase, "you can still call your soul your +own." The technique, the substitute for that finger facility which +only years of practice will give, is the pianola's; but the +interpretation is _yours_! The instrument provides the devices for +accelerating or retarding the time and for making the tone loud or +soft, but when to whip up the time or to slow down, when to use the +sustaining or the soft lever or when to swell through a crescendo from +pianissimo to fortissimo--all that is left to your own taste, judgment +and discretion. There is, indeed, among the improvements introduced in +the pianola a contrivance, of which more hereafter, by which complete +directions are given for the interpretation of the roll of music that +is being played. These directions, however, are not compulsory. They +are, in each instance, based on high authority and are of great value +even to persons who are thoroughly familiar with the music, but they +need not be followed if the player does not want to follow them. He is +likely in the beginning to accept the directions, the so-called +metrostyle marking, as he would the instruction of a high class +teacher, while, later on, he may incline to regard the metrostyle as +indicating the general spirit in which the piece should be +interpreted, but vary it in detail as his mood or fancy dictates. The +metrostyle may, in fact, be called the pianolist's "coach," giving him +the kind of hints and directions which even the greatest players and +singers value. Something, however, of the pianolist himself, something +of his own thought and feeling goes into every interpretation. That +this is so is proved by the fact that no two pianolists interpret the +same composition alike. There are differences, more or less marked, +just as there are when the same piece is played by two pianists. In +the broader outlines, in general spirit, the interpretations may be +the same, but they will be distinguished by subtle shadings that +indicate temperamental differences. The perspective of a landscape +varies when viewed from different windows; so does life when observed +from different points of view; so does the interpretation of a +composition when played by different people on the pianola. + +Were the instrument purely a mechanical device to wind up and set +going, the artistic results of which it is capable never would have +been obtained, and, I may add, this book never would have been +written. The fact that artistic expression instead of machine-like +precision has been its aim is what has caused its possibilities as a +musical instrument to appeal to me. It cannot be sufficiently urged +that in this country, as in every other, there is an immense amount of +latent musical taste awaiting only the touchstone of hearing music or, +better still, the fascination of personally producing music, to assert +itself. Before the invention of the piano-player hearing music was the +only touchstone; through the piano-player there is added the +fascination of being yourself a participator in producing the music +you hear. When Theodore Thomas said "Nothing so awakens interest in +music as helping to make it," he hit the nail on the head. "After +playing all this music I want to go to concerts next winter. I'd like +to hear how the 'Fifth Symphony' sounds on the orchestra," said my +little girl after the pianola had been in the house only a week. "All +this music?" Yes indeed. More than she could have become familiar +with in six months' concert-going and instruction. And we always had +said that she wasn't musical! + +This fascination of personally producing music is such a great factor +in the spread of musical taste that it is well worth looking into +further. There always is more pleasure in doing something than in +watching some one else do it. Take the average amateurs who get +together for music. They enjoy what they play a thousand-fold more +than if they were listening to the greatest virtuosos playing the same +program. Why? Because always there is more satisfaction in doing the +thing itself than merely in contemplating the result of what some one +else is doing. And so, with music, "to experience the full fascination +the divine art can exercise on us mortals, we must take an active part +in the making of it." Through the pianola the opportunity of taking an +active part in the making of it is open to everybody. Remember what +my friend said. It is worth repeating. "When you've got a mechanical +device as good, or nearly as good as a virtuoso, you've got something +of enormous importance to the whole world." Mechanical, remember, only +in a certain sense. Were it wholly mechanical it never could be "as +good, or nearly as good, as a virtuoso." + +Now let us see how this personal affiliation of pianola and pianolist, +of instrument and player, has been worked out, so that the player is +not a mere human treadmill pumping air into a cabinet on castors, +but--whether he be a lawyer, merchant, financier, dressmaker, +milliner, or society leader; one of the Four Hundred or one of the +eighty million--a musical artist with an unlimited repertory. + +The pianoforte is the most universal musical instrument of the +civilized world. I once turned the old question, "What is home without +a mother," into "What is home without a pianoforte?" Practically no +household that makes claim to refinement is without one. Only too +often, however, even in such homes, it is merely an article of drawing +room furniture, because no member of the household can play it. There +it stands waiting for the chance visitor who can strike the keys and +make the strings vibrate with music. + +Imagine that you are a member or let us say the head of that +household. You can't play a note and yet you are "fond of music." This +"fondness for music" manifests itself in different degree in different +people and somewhat according to their opportunities. You may be a +hardworking business man and when you come home from business, you +want diversion, amusement. For some one to suggest a classical +concert to you would make you feel like being asked to begin the day's +work all over again without a night's rest in between. As for Wagner, +that would be worse than straightening out an intricate account after +a day spent in poring over a ledger. No. Music without any tune to it +may be all right for some people, but comic opera is "good enough" for +you. You like that coon song you heard the other night. How you would +enjoy playing it on the pianoforte if you only knew how! But you +don't, so you have to pay a speculator three dollars for a seat if you +want to hear it again. + +Suppose the days of miracles weren't past and, by some miracle, you +suddenly found yourself in command of the technique of the +pianoforte--able to play whatever you wanted to. You'd buy that coon +song and some other pieces of light music, and then you'd hurry home +to your pianoforte and play them off as fast as you could, while the +family stood around and listened and marvelled. + +That is precisely the miracle the pianola performs for you. It gives +you, from the moment it enters your house, control over the keyboard +of the pianoforte that so long has stood mute in your home. All you +have to do is to put in the perforated music roll, work the +pedals--and the music begins. Supposing it is that coon song from the +comic opera you liked so much. The first time you play it, you may be +so interested in the instrument's accurate reproduction of the tune +that you don't stop to think of the expression. The chances are, +however, that your delight over what you have accomplished will lead +you to play the song right over again. Now you begin to realize that +there was something more than mere accuracy in the delivery of the +melody when you heard it at the theatre. There was interpretation, +that something which the individual artist puts into everything he +does. You will recall that while the piece was taken pretty fast as a +whole, some phrases were taken faster, others more slowly. You have +been told that by moving a little lever to the right or left, you can +produce these effects. You try it. When you come to a phrase that +should be taken a little faster, you move the lever slightly to the +right--and the pianoforte responds. It is the same when you move the +lever to the left for the slower phrases--the pianoforte responds and +the phrase is retarded. Two other levers control the volume of sound +so that you can play any part of the piece louder or softer if you +want to. It is not at all unlikely that you may vary these details to +suit yourself, instead of simply being guided by your recollection of +what you heard at the theatre. In a word you yourself become on the +spot an interpreter of music, put something of yourself into what you +play. The instrument instead of being merely a machine that grinds out +music is a machine only in so far as it takes the place of technique, +of finger facility. The expression, the real interpretation, that +which gives one the fascination of playing, is your own. + +That's your first experience with the instrument. Pretty soon you are +apt to have another experience that is even more valuable. You stocked +up pretty well with the music of the day, the current Broadway comic +opera and musical comedy successes. Gradually, however, that pet coon +song of yours will begin to pall on you a little. The very jingle to +the tune that made it catch your fancy so quickly causes you to tire +of it, and so it goes with the other pieces whose rhythm is so marked +and continued with such great precision and whose tunefulness was so +obvious that they made an instantaneous impression upon your musically +untrained sense of hearing. You are beginning to find out what any one +who is trained in any art is bound to discover sooner or later. The +things most easily understood are not apt to give the most lasting +pleasure. Some one suggests to you that you try one of the lighter +classical pieces. You don't like that word "classical," it suggest +heaviness, lack of tunefulness, the kind of thing that "may be all +right for some people," but never, you think, would suit you. At last, +however, you yield. You inquire for something of the kind and are +advised to try Mendelssohn's "Spring Song." Much to your surprise you +don't find it heavy at all. In fact you recall once having heard it +played between the acts in a theatre and having thought it rather +pretty. Its rhythm isn't as persistently emphatic as that of ragtime, +nor does its melody stand out in such sharp relief, but instead of +wearying you on repetition, you like it better every time you play it. + +Encouraged by this experience you next purchase the same composer's +"Spinning Song." This may not appeal to you so much at first. It seems +to run along very rapidly without any very clearly defined melody. +Still, it is by the same composer as the "Spring Song," so it may be +worth trying over again. It is more familiar now, and you begin to +associate the rapid, whirring phrases with its title--with the idea of +"spinning." How clear it suddenly becomes. You even conjure up in your +mind the picture of some young woman in quaint garb seated at a +spinning wheel in an old-fashioned room--and you find yourself +experiencing all the pleasure that comes from association of ideas, +the keenest enjoyment that art affords. You are making rapid progress +now, so rapid that it is as impossible as unnecessary to follow you +step by step. The main point is that you are becoming truly musical +and at the same time enjoying it. What might be "all right for some +people" has become all right for you too. You have been repaid a +thousand-fold for the little effort it cost you to discover through +the gradual development of a taste that had lain dormant, the kind of +music that "lasts." The same thing is true of your whole family. It +has become musical, and in an incredibly short space of time. The +pianola has done it, and done the same thing in thousands of other +cases. + +Now take the case of some one whose musical taste, to begin with, is +more advanced. Supposing that, instead of having had your musical +horizon bounded by coon songs and comic operas, you were an attendant +at orchestral concerts, song and pianoforte recitals and grand opera. +You are a genuine music lover, genuinely musical, but you can't play. +You long to reproduce and express at home the music you have heard +elsewhere. If only, after hearing Paderewski play your favorite Chopin +nocturne, which, as with so many other music lovers, is the exquisite +one in G major, Opus 37, No. 2, you could go to your own pianoforte +and play it! You think it is one of the most beautiful compositions in +the whole repertory, and of all pianists whom you have heard, +Paderewski, in your opinion, plays it better than any other. There are +pieces that sound more difficult and you have been told that it +doesn't call for advanced technique as much as it does for soul. That +is what your favorite virtuoso seems to you to put into it--soul, his +own soul, interpreting himself, unconsciously expressing his own +thoughts and feelings, through those of the composer. That is what you +are convinced you could do, if only you knew how to play; for you are +musical, very musical, almost, in fact, to your finger tips. But +these, alas, never have been trained to command the keyboard. You are +getting along well in business, making money and all that; and yet you +look upon your life as half a failure because, although you have the +temperament artistic, you are unable to gratify fully your passion for +music. You can listen, but you can't play. You can hear Paderewski +interpret your favorite nocturne, but you can't go home to your own +pianoforte and let your fingers conjure up memories of it on the +keyboard. You have a beautiful pianoforte in your house--for the use +of others. You'd be willing to mortgage half your income for life, if +you could learn to play it yourself. But it's too late for that now. +So you think. + +But one day you drop in at a friend's house and from the drawing room +come strains of your favorite Chopin nocturne. Something about it +reminds you of the way Paderewski plays it. Who can it be? You know +that your friend doesn't play the pianoforte. But, as you stand in the +doorway, hesitating whether to go in or not, it is he who looks out at +you from behind the instrument and nods to you to come in. You drop +into a chair and listen and wonder. The nocturne comes to an end, your +friend rises, greets your wondering look with a smile, and meets your +amazed query with one word: "Pianola!" + +"It sounded like Paderewski," you stammer in a dazed sort of way. + +"Why shouldn't it? Practically, I have been taught how to play it by +that great artist." He takes out the roll and brings it over for you +to look at. On it you see, reproduced in facsimile this autographed +certification: + + "The line on this roll indicates the tempo according to my + interpretation. + + "I.J. Paderewski." + +The roll, as the expression goes, has been "metrostyled" by the +virtuoso himself. + +"I didn't know you had one of these instruments. Why haven't you told +me?--How long have you had it?" + +"About a week," he answers. + +"And you can make it sound like that?" + +"Of course I can. Nothing easier. Just stand behind me and watch." + +He replaces the music roll and, as he pedals and it unrolls, he shows +you how easy it is with the metrostyle to follow the red line marked +by Paderewski to indicate how he plays the piece. + +"According to my idea," continues your friend, "he plays some parts of +the second melody a little too slowly--makes it too sentimental, +instead of poetically expressive. You may observe that I don't always +follow the line. That's one of the great things about the instrument. +You can profit by the directions just as much as you want to, but you +can disregard them whenever you have a mind to. It may seem +presumptuous to differ, even in a small detail, from a great virtuoso +like Paderewski, but every virtuoso has his idiosyncrasies and we, +who, after all, have been listening to music all our lives and have +heard all the great pianists from Rubinstein to 'Paddy' himself and +all the women pianists from Essipoff to Bloomfield-Zeisler, are +entitled to some ideas of our own. As I just said, one of the great +things about the instrument is that it allows us this latitude. I call +it a cinch! + +"Now here's something else. We know Richard Strauss' big tone poems, +the biggest things in music since Wagner. But did you know that he's +written some charming little pieces for pianoforte? Just listen to +this. It's a 'Traeumerei' or 'Revery,' a delicious little dreamy +improvisation. He 'metrostyled' it himself and, as I've never heard +anyone play it, I'm only too glad to have his directions. They give +you the general hang of the thing 'right off the reel,' so to speak. +But later on, when I become more familiar with it, if I want to vary +the interpretation according to my own mood of the moment, I can. It's +a great thing, though, to find out how famous living composers, like +Richard Strauss, Grieg--here are a couple of rolls from his 'Peer +Gynt' suite metrostyled by himself--Saint-Saens, Elgar, or even +composers of first rate lighter music, like Moszkowski and Chaminade, +conceive that they want to have their works interpreted; or how great +virtuosos, like Paderewski, Rosenthal and other pianists, play them; +or gifted instructors in music, like Carl Reinecke, would have them +performed. It's like taking lessons in interpretation from these +people. + +"There's another matter that will interest you. Take pieces like +Rubinstein's 'Melody in F' or the best known selection from his +'Kammenoi, Ostrow,' where the melody lies, in the former in between +the accompaniment, in the latter below it--you recall, of course, how +the accompanying figure hovers above it. In pieces like these it is +important that the melodic line should be clearly distinguished, +otherwise it will be smothered. Fortunately an attachment to the +instrument, the themodist, enables you to bring out the melody and, +at the same time does not prevent your retarding or accelerating the +general movement of the piece or of varying the volume of sound as +much as you like. + +"While I've had the instrument only a little while, I've been struck +with something else. I find that you can accomplish a good deal +through what I may call 'foot-technique,' varying the degree of +strength with which you use the pedals that pump in the air. By this +means you can play louder or softer at will and by a sharp pressure +emphasize individual chords and phrases. This, I find, makes the +interpretation seem more personal than when I use the sustaining and +soft levers alone. Altogether I'm beginning to look upon myself as a +virtuoso, and the best thing you can do, old man, is to take my advice +and become one too." + +Fortunately you are musical enough and intelligent enough to +appreciate the philosophy and significance of the instrument--that it +supplies what you haven't got, the technique, but that you give it the +expression, the soul; that although it is not a pianoforte, but an +attachment to that instrument, nevertheless, in playing it, you +express something of yourself, something of your inner being, +something of your higher artistic nature through it. + +There is a large class of people to whom the "piano-player" is or +should be a great boon. I mean those who play the pianoforte, but not +well enough to play publicly or professionally. To this class belong +the thousands of music teachers and the amateurs. The majority of them +may be more truly musical than many of the virtuoso pianists, but they +are lacking in technique. For the technical standard is growing higher +every year. Comparatively few music teachers have much opportunity of +hearing music, the result being that they find it difficult to keep up +with the times. They become old-fashioned, and in these progressive +days to become old-fashioned means to be forced to "drop out." They +lack the technique to run through the modern repertoire, and the time +to hear others in it. It hardly is necessary to point out what the +pianola, which gives them complete technical mastery of the keyboard, +should be to them. + +As regards the amateur I can cite my own case as an example. I had +progressed on the pianoforte until I was able to play Liszt's +arrangement of the Spinning Song from Wagner's "Flying Dutchman." It +is a difficult piece, but there is a great deal of pianoforte music +that is more difficult and that was entirely beyond me. Moreover the +fact that I was able to play this composition after much assiduous +practice, did not mean that I could play equally difficult or even +considerably less difficult music with ease by sight. The repertoire +of even the best amateur is apt to be a small one. He gains his +general knowledge of music from what he hears. + +With me, in time, as with so many amateurs, pianoforte playing had to +yield first place to my regular work. I took up writing and that +became paramount. I began to lose my pianoforte technique, and I +should not like to say how many years it is since I lost the ability +to play Liszt's arrangement of the Spinning Song from the "The Flying +Dutchman," the "Butterfly" etude of Chopin and other works that I had +had at my fingers' ends. Often, when I went to pianoforte recitals and +heard these compositions played, I grieved over what I had +lost--through sacrificing the pianoforte to the pen. + +I grieve no longer. I have acquired a perfect technique, the technique +of a great virtuoso--through the pianola. It is a key that has +unlocked for me the whole repertory of music. With it I can play the +most difficult work ever written as easily as I can a five-finger +exercise. It gives me the technique, but all that is summed up in the +one word "expression," I am at liberty to put into the music myself. + +In the whole world there are perhaps two, at the most three pianoforte +virtuosos who really deserve to be called great. To listen to them is +the acme of musical delight. But right next to this comes the +performance of any musical person, whether a child or grown up, on the +pianola. It is better than the playing of any virtuoso not absolutely +of the very first rank, and infinitely preferable to the playing of +the most gifted amateur, while the performance of the average amateur +almost is juvenile compared with it. Moreover there are pieces of +which the Liszt "Campanella," the Mendelssohn "Rondo Capriccioso" and +the "Rosamunde" impromptu of Schubert, are examples, that, when played +on the pianola by a musical person, sound just as well as if they came +from under the fingers of the greatest living virtuoso--possibly +better. + +These are not dreams, they are facts; and discoverable in due time by +everyone who is made musical through the instrument of which I am +writing; and, in an incredibly short time by any one, already musical, +who takes it up. Moreover they are facts readily susceptible of +explanation, and here it is:--All technical difficulties being +eliminated by the pianola, the player is free to give his whole +attention to interpretation, to that subtle something which we call +"expression," and which constitutes the supreme quality of a musical +performance. + + + + +III. FIRST STEPS OF THE MUSICAL NOVICE + + +I confess that when I first thought of writing this book my intention +was to plan it somewhat on the same lines as the usual "How to Listen +to Music" book, but to make it somewhat simpler. As the catalogue of +pianola music includes everything from Bach to Richard Strauss it +seemed to me that it would be easy to give the reader a course in +musical development, beginning with the simpler pieces of Bach, like +the bourrees and gavottes; then taking up the sonatas of Mozart and +Beethoven; the compositions of the romantic school from Schubert to +Chopin; and ending with the modern school of Wagner, Liszt and Richard +Strauss--in other words giving a survey of the whole evolution of +music. + +This would coincide with the ordinary course of musical instruction, +which naturally ranges from what are considered the easier and +simpler pieces to the more difficult ones, early music being less +complicated and making less demand upon the player's technique than +music of the present day. But I had forgotten one important point +which is, that on the pianola nothing is difficult, that with this +modern instrument the question of difficulty entirely disappears, and +that the most hair-raising, breath-catching exploits of virtuosity are +as easy for the pianolist as the most commonplace five-finger +exercises are for the pianist. In other words, the pianolist can +approach music from a wholly new standpoint. For him music exists +simply as music. Its history, its evolution, which latter after all is +a matter purely technical, need not concern him at all. + +I was brought to this view by a rather startling discovery. I think it +will seem equally startling to any one who has studied music in the +usual way--the laborious technical development involved in acquiring +the mastery of a musical instrument, generally the pianoforte. In +discussing Chopin's "Etude" in A flat, Op. 10, No. 10, one of the +greatest virtuosos of his day, Hans van Buelow, said that "he who can +play this study in a really finished manner may congratulate himself +on having climbed to the highest pinnacle of the pianist's Parnassus, +as it is perhaps the most difficult piece of the entire set. The whole +repertory of piano music does not contain a study of perpetual +movement so full of genius and fancy as this particular one is +universally acknowledged to be, excepting perhaps Liszt's 'Feux +Follets' (Will-o'-the wisps)." In looking over the catalogue of music +for the mechanical piano-player I find that this immensely difficult +study by Liszt, so difficult that Von Buelow classes it with the +Chopin study, "the highest pinnacle of the pianist's Parnassus," is +listed with the "popular" pieces. Thus a composition which taxes the +resources of the greatest virtuosos to the utmost and which few if any +amateurs can play at all, presents no difficulties whatsoever to the +pianolist and actually becomes "popular." The same thing is true of +the Liszt "Bell Rondo" (La Campanella). This delicate, dainty yet +immensely difficult work, which most amateurs know only from hearing +it played in pianoforte recitals because they themselves can do no +more than stumble through it, is, like the "Feux Follets," a popular +piece in the repertory of the pianolist. Such an astounding result is +possible only upon the pianola which absolutely eliminates all +technical difficulties and leaves the player free to select his music +without regard to such difficulties. + +Another matter connected with the pianolist's repertory opens up a +field for speculation into which, fortunately, it is quite possible +for the layman to follow the musician and to appreciate the point I +wish to make. As many purchasers of pianolas are people who never have +received musical instruction, it might be supposed that the most +popular selections for the instrument would be either bits of musical +slang like twosteps and ragtime, or, at the best, simple pieces in the +recognized classical forms. But the result of the spread of musical +taste through this new instrument is wholly different and wholly novel +from the standpoint of conventional musical experience. The public, +the great musical public created by an instrument which does away with +all considerations of technique and leaves the player free to select +what he wants to play, no matter how difficult it may be when played +on the pianoforte, sweeps aside all conventions which learned +commentators, critics and writers on the history and evolution of +music have sought to establish and in fact have succeeded in +establishing for those who have been obliged to study music in the +ordinary way, and boldly selects as first choice from the vast array +of compositions Liszt's "Rhapsodie Hongroise" No. 2, with the +"Tannhaeuser" overture of Wagner a close second. In other words the +musical public when left to itself and not led--or led astray--by +pedants begins at the right end of musical evolution which is the end, +the supreme efflorescence, and not the beginning. Conceding that the +evolution of the human race began with the monkey and ends with +ourselves, it may be said, metaphorically, that the musical public, +when left to itself, declines to monkey with the monkey, but at once +proceeds to pluck the full flower of evolution, the human. For if any +musical compositions are human documents that term is applicable to +the "Second Rhapsody" and to the "Tannhaeuser" overture. Each tells a +vivid story and tells it according to the canons of art, life and +truth. The unfortunate student of music, shackled by instruction that +aims mainly at teaching him how to play an instrument and ignores the +higher side of art, plods through the classical repertory until he +gets an idea that music consists of nothing but symphonies and +sonatas, which is as absurd as it would be to say that poetry consists +of nothing but sonnets, whereas a couple of dozen good sonnets are +enough for the literature of any language. + +Indeed, while instruction in the other arts steadily is being +modernized and steadily aims to familiarize the student with their +higher aspects, little progress has been made in the teaching of +music. It still is in a state comparable only with that which existed +in the teaching of languages when instruction in these was given +according to the system of Ollendorf, with its series of foolish +questions and answers:-- + +"Is this the sword of the grandfather?" + +"No, it is the false curl of the grandmother." + +A five finger exercise, or an old-fashioned technical study with its +dry little theme in the treble and its foolish little answer in the +bass, always suggests to me something along the lines of the +Ollendorfian phraseology:-- + +"Is this musical phrase beautiful?" + +"No, but it is great for limbering up the little finger." + +Often since giving thought to the new instrument which wholly +eliminates the question of technique from pianoforte playing, I have +wondered if the importance attached to "limbering up the little +finger" has not given us a wrong musical perspective; whether +compositions musically of little value have not assumed enormous +importance in the curriculum and been retained there, because they +developed finger facility in certain directions. For example to a +pianist the "School of Velocity" by Czerny and the "Gradus ad +Parnassum" by Clementi, two series of famous technical studies, mean +everything. To the pianolist they mean nothing--need mean nothing. As +for the "School of Velocity" he can by simply moving the tempo lever +to the right make the pianola play so fast that, if old Czerny still +were alive, he would lose his breath listening to it. As for the +"Gradus ad Parnassum," the difficulties which Clementi piled up in the +pianist's path, the pianolist overleaps as lightly and casually as if +wholly unaware of their existence. He may never have heard of these +technical works yet, if he has natural musical instinct or has +developed it through the piano-player, he will be as correct in his +judgment of what to play and how to play it, as if he had devoted his +whole life to an arduous study of pianoforte technique. The +pianolist's experience with music is wholly musical, while the +pianist's is largely technical. For observe, that while a music +teacher often selects a piece for his pupil, not so much because it is +beautiful but because it follows up and supplements the technical +exercise which the pupil has been practicing, the pianolist's point of +view in choosing his repertory is not obscured by any consideration of +this kind. Scratch a Russian and you find a Tartar; scratch musical +instruction of the average kind and you find technique. The +pianolist's progress is determined by music's appeal to his soul; the +average music pupil's by what he can accomplish with his fingers. In +this way, as I already have suggested, certain pieces have acquired an +importance far out of proportion to their musical value, and have +retained their position not only in the curriculum but, unfortunately, +even in the concert repertory. + +There is a lot of this dry wood in music and the unfortunate student +is compelled to chop it until, when he sees a real tree, he thinks it +is all wrong because it has green leaves instead of withered ones and +strong, sappy branches instead of little twigs that snap off at the +least touch. This is the reason that modern music, although it is the +most natural music ever written, has to be "explained"--because +students prejudiced by pedantic instruction have become so accustomed +to the artificial that they cannot appreciate what is natural; just +as experts in primitive art fail to appreciate the beauty of the later +schools of painting. + +To me it is positively exhilarating that the great mass of those +people who have become devotees of the mechanical piano-player do not +stop to ask what is the relation of this or that composition to the +development of music or its place in musical evolution; but, taking +music simply as music, confidently place pieces like the "Second +Rhapsody" or the "Tannhaeuser" overture on the pianola and are thrilled +by the artistic realism of these compositions. Unconsciously they are +supporting the contention of those advanced thinkers in music who +place the expression of life and truth above artificial form. Suppose +a paint brush were invented which would give complete mastery of the +technique of painting to the person in whose hand it was placed. +Would that person go to work copying the old masters? No. He would +paint the sea, the low meadow land, the foot hills, the mountains, the +waving grain, the forest, the man he admired, the woman he loved. And +so it is that the player who has the technical mastery of the +pianoforte placed, so to speak, at his disposal, is led by instinct +toward the most modern expression of musical thought and genius. + +In his book, "The Temple of Art," Ernest Newlandsmith has a chapter on +musical education in which he points out that after all a pianist's +fingers and muscles are simply mechanical contrivances for striking +the keys, and that to gain complete control or mastery of this +mechanical process requires incessant drudgery and labor, such mastery +being attained only by very few people. "The average pianist never +gains the power of even striking the notes in really difficult music; +yet for an artist to infuse the exact expression of his feeling into a +work, he must not only be able to do this, but must also be able to +vary this striking of notes by the most minute and subtle degrees of +intensity, and that without experiencing any difficulty whatever, so +that his entire attention may be devoted to his feeling." All this the +pianolist gains without any of that drudgery so apt to obscure correct +musical perspective, so that, to quote again from Mr. Newlandsmith, +"it is a matter of wonder that any one can be found to speak against +mechanical piano-players, when they remember that they are only +mechanical to the extent that a pianist has to be. They are not +intended to play of themselves, like a musical box, but are controlled +by the performer's feeling." + +The first steps in music are apt to be "two-steps." Marches and dances +of a popular kind and the seemingly inevitable coon-song may be +regarded as the infant's food of the musical novice. For a person +whose love of music still is latent, may not "arrive" at once at the +"Second Rhapsody" or the "Tannhaeuser" overture. The friend to whom I +have dedicated this book began with the lightest kind of music, the +kind he now regards as "trash." For from knowing nothing at all about +music, he has become, through the piano-player, an ardent lover of all +that is good in the art. Nevin's "Narcissus" happened to be included +in his first set of rolls. He tried it over, but thought it dull. +After a while, however, when the other rolls began to pall on him, he +played it again and found in it something that he missed in the +others. This was the first step toward better things, and step by +step thereafter he gained in musical taste until now his judgment is +unerring. + +Nevin whose death six years ago and at a comparatively early age, was +a distinct loss to music, was one of the small number of composers who +have written music of the lighter kind which yet is thoroughly good, +music that is pleasing without being trivial, melodious without a +suggestion of the commonplace, and thoroughly sound in workmanship. +This American composer was exceptionally apt at reproducing in music a +mood or fancy and at painting in tone the charms of a romantic +locality. Possibly no gentler rise from what is known as the "light +classic" to the classic can be provided than through him. Therefore I +begin with him, although he is a thoroughly modern composer, my aim +being gradually to lead the pianolist from enjoyment of lighter works, +of the kind, however, which possess genuine musical merit, to an +appreciation of the greater masterpieces. Sometimes I have selected +only one work by a composer and, except in the case of Chopin, never +more than a few examples from any composer. But the works which I cite +and describe in more or less detail, should suffice to stimulate the +pianolist to explore more fully the range of the composers I mention, +and of others. I give merely a taste; the catalogue of music rolls +supplies the full menu. + +To some this arrangement may seem haphazard. Nevertheless it has +system and purpose. The usual method followed in books that aim to be +musical guides would have been much easier. Mine I believe best +adapted to the needs of the average pianolist, who, it may be assumed, +at the time he purchases his instrument, knows little or nothing about +music of the higher kind; whose taste, in fact, still is to be +developed. + +I cannot imagine any one so obtuse to musical impressions as not to +find Nevin's "Valse Caprice," Op. 6, No. 1, thoroughly delightful. It +is the first of a set of several pieces comprised in his sixth work, +this fact being expressed by the designation Opus 6, No. 1. The piece +is full of pretty sentiment and I always like to imagine that it +describes an episode during a dance. It has charming melodies. +Ornamental figurations in the accompaniment, now above, now below, +give the effect of whispered questions and answers during the dance. +The questions--put by the man--are pressing and ardent, the +answers--from the girl--playful and parrying. Sometimes they even +ripple with chaff. Yet, toward the end of the dainty little +composition, they become tinged with sentiment, as if she were afraid +she might have gone a little too far and might "spoil things" and +thought it just as well to let him know in time that, after all, she +was not turning a wholly deaf ear to his pleading. + +This piece I would follow with Nevin's "Intermezzo," Op. 7, No. 3. +Although it belongs to an entirely different work I enjoy playing it +immediately after the waltz and imagining that it relates to the same +young couple--that he has led her out into the conservatory or on to a +terrace overlooking a moonlight garden and under these romantic +circumstances, is urging his suit more persistently than before. She, +however, is a little too fond of flirting to let her real sentiments +be known at once. But when, as if giving up the riddle in her dancing +eyes and seemingly mocking smile, he appears about to lead her back +into the ballroom, there is, at least so I like to read the music, a +pretty little laugh, as much as to say, "Can't you read my real +feelings under my mask of banter," a tender glance indicated by a +retard on a charmingly expressive little turn of the melody--and she +is in his arms. + +Now I would repeat the waltz, to indicate that, carried away by their +happiness, they have gone back into the ballroom and thrown themselves +heart and soul into the dance. And there you have a little Nevin suite +telling a pretty story. + +To me one of this composer's most fanciful tone paintings is, "In my +Neighbor's Garden," Op. 21, No. 2. This is one of a series of pieces +the complete title of which is "May in Tuscany," and which he composed +during a sojourn in Florence. You can hear a bird sing all through +this piece, and that the composer so intended it, became clear to me +when I found that its original title was "Rusignuolo," Italian for +nightingale. + + Make haste to mount, thou wistful moon, + Make haste to wake the nightingale: + Let silence set the world in tune + To harken to that wordless tale + Which warbles from the nightingale. + +Those lines from Christina Rosetti's "Bird Raptures," seem to me +perfectly reflected in Nevin's composition, and equally so are these +lines from the same poet's "Twilight Calm":-- + + Hark! that's the nightingale, + Telling the self-same tale + Her song told when this ancient earth was young: + So echoes answered when her song was sung + In the first wooded vale. + +Or this from Byron's "Parisina":-- + + It is the hour when from the boughs + The nightingale's high note is heard; + It is the hour when lovers' vows + Seem sweet in every whisper'd word. + +Nevin's "Barcarolle" is another beautiful composition, which conveys +the listener to Venice with its picturesque canals and ancient +palaces. It is a night scene, and reminds me of Wagner's description +of the singing of the gondoliers at night in one of his letters from +Venice: "Ah, music on the canal. A gondola with gaily colored lights, +singers and players. More and more gondolas join it. The flotilla, +barely moving, gently gliding, floats the whole width of the canal. At +last, almost imperceptibly, it makes the turn of the bend and +vanishes. For a long while I hear the tones beautified by the night. +Finally the last sound, dying away, seems to dissolve itself into the +moonlight, which beams softly on, like a visible realm of music." + +There is an entire Venetian suite by Nevin which he composed during a +stay in the Italian city. One day he gave his gondolier a day off, +and the boatman took his sweetheart, who lived on the mainland and +never had been in Venice, through the waterways. It was this which +suggested to Nevin the composition of the suite, which he entitled "A +Day in Venice." The best known number from it is the "Venetian Love +Song." + +Moskowszki is another good composer of light music, and like Nevin, +what he writes is thoroughly original. His "Serenata" Op. 15, No. 1, +is one of the prettiest of modern pieces, and a perfect example of +what a serenade should be--a graceful melody over an accompaniment of +guitarlike chords. There is an intervening part with much +ornamentation, which has the effect of improvising, a delicious little +run leading back to the first melody which now should be played very +softly and with slight retardations, as if the serenader were +departing and the music dying away. "From Foreign Parts," +Moskowszki's Op. 23, is one of the best known modern compositions. It +consists of several numbers each representing a country and composed +in true national style and with as much success as if, were such a +thing possible, the composer were a native of each of these countries +and were thoroughly imbued with its spirit. Of these separate numbers +I am inclined especially to recommend to the pianolist "Germany," with +its beautiful, broad, sustained melody, thoroughly German in contour +and expression, and among the most beautiful melodies composed in +modern times; and "Spain," one of the most brilliant little rolls for +the piano-player--gay, spirited and full of snap and go, the movement +never flagging from beginning to end. Moskowszki has shown himself +most happy in catching the spirit of Spanish music. He has a book of +Spanish dances and two Spanish albums full of music of most varying +mood, yet every mood characteristic of Spain and its people, now gay, +now languorous, now dashing, now subdued, now softly whispering, now +full of verve and passion, like the "Bolero," the fifth of the +"Spanish Dances," Op. 12, with its sharply accentuated rhythm and +dashing melody, which toward the end fairly swirls with excitement. + +A "Moment Musical," Op. 7, No. 2, was the composition which gave +Moskowszki his first taste of international fame, but in spite of much +that is genuinely beautiful, especially in its opening melody, I think +the work suffers from undue length. By all means, however, the +pianolist should not neglect this composition. Were I asked, however, +to select the work which seems to me to bring out in the most +favorable relief Moskowszki's traits as a composer it would be his +"Waltz," Op. 34, No. 1. It has an introduction beginning with a +phrase in the bass like a man asking the honor of a dance with an +attractive girl, followed by a little upward run, the gleam of the +smile with which she gives assent. Then there are short, crisp, bright +phrases, as though she enjoyed the knowledge that every one is looking +at her as he leads her out and whispers compliments. + +The introduction with all these interesting preliminaries over, the +waltz itself opens with a melody full of sentiment and almost personal +in its persistent suggestion of wooing. At the same time it has a +graceful swing that carries it along like an undercurrent, with rising +and falling inflections, and, like the Nevin waltz, with much dainty +ornamentation, as if the couple were conversing in low tones while +dancing. Then there is a brilliant episode when individuals seem lost +sight of in the general vividness of the scene with its gaily colored +costumes and flash of jewels. There are alternating sentimental +passages until, toward the end, the first melody bursts into a +fortissimo--a great rising inflection, insistent and impassioned--then +a final pitch of excitement as all seem to throw themselves into the +whirl and the waltz reaches a brilliant end. While Nevin in the waltz +which I selected from among his works, appears to tell the story of +two people, Moskowszki here places before our eyes a vivid ballroom +scene with one particularly handsome couple as the center of +attraction, without, however, letting us wholly into their secret. The +waltz, though long, is of never-flagging interest. + +This composer's opus 34 is an orchestral suite ("Premiere Suite d' +Orchestre") of which the second number is an "Allegretto giojoso," a +playful, sportive, chic and graceful movement, with a tender melody in +the middle part, at first heard alone, then with a sparkling +accompaniment. This piece having originally been scored for orchestra, +it is quite possible to detect orchestral instruments like flutes and +clarionets in some of the brilliant runs. The pianola roll is a +reproduction of an arrangement for four hands, that is, for two +players at one piano, yet only one player is required to produce the +full effect of a pianoforte duet arranged from an orchestral +composition. + +Moskowszki is a prolific composer, and it is well worth the +pianolist's while to thoroughly explore the catalogue of his works. +Much modern music merely echoes what has gone before and may be summed +up as watered Chopin. Therefore, even if Moskowszki's compositions are +in the lighter forms, their originality and melodiousness make them +worthy of ranking high among modern salon pieces. + +One of the prettiest and deservedly popular little works in the modern +repertory is the Paderewski "Minuet," Op. 14, No. 1. Modern minuets +are echoes of the classical period. Compositions of this kind are to +be found in the sonatas and symphonies of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven +and even further back in the suites of Bach. Accordingly the +Paderewski "Minuet," in keeping with the form, is simple and clear-cut +and gracefully melodious. At the same time, however, it is modern in +the brilliant ornamentation introduced in the middle part of the +composition which in a minuet is called the trio. + +The minuet was a stately dance. The word is derived from the French +menu meaning small and referring to the short steps taken in the +dance. Originally the music to it was brief, but as a complement, a +second minuet was added which, in time, became the trio, so-called, +because it was written in three part harmony. This was followed by a +repetition of the first minuet. While the designation trio has been +retained to this day, the three part harmony no longer is considered +obligatory. The minuet is one of the very few of the older dance forms +which have not become obsolete. + +It was a square dance, the steps consisting of a coupee (a salute to +one's partner, while resting on one foot and swinging the other +backward and forward) a high step and a balance. In the Paderewski +minuet the stately, ceremonious character of this dance is preserved +together with its old fashioned, naive grace and charm. It is quite +possible while playing it to see the dancers at a French court ball or +in the ballroom of some chateau, the women, beauties of their day, in +high pompadour with puffs and curls powdered white, with petites +mouches, little moon and star-shaped beauty spots, on their faces; +square cut bodices, lace stomachers, paniers over brocaded skirts with +lace panels; feet encased in high heel satin slippers with jewelled +buckles; and gracefully managing their ostrich feather fans as they +curtsy to their partners; the latter wearing wigs also powdered white, +long coats of brocade, elaborately embroidered waistcoats with lace +jabots, satin knee breeches, silk stockings and a garter with jewelled +buckle on the right leg, and helping themselves to snuff out of gold +or silver boxes during brief pauses in the dance. Such is the picture +that can be conjured up in imagination while playing the Paderewski +minuet. + +Quite different yet equally effective in its way is his "Cracovienne +Fantastic," Op. 14, No. 6. The cracovienne is a Polish dance for a +large and brilliant company and just as Paderewski recalled in his +minuet the stately assemblage of days long past, so in his +cracovienne he gives us a brilliant picture of a ballroom scene in his +native Poland when that country was still in its glory and not +partitioned among three nations of Europe. The reiteration of its +characteristic rhythm gives it peculiar fascination. It is clearly and +distinctly melodious, with bright, flashing runs giving it brilliancy. + +Again different in style from any of the preceding are the works of +Cecile Chaminade. Not only is this composer a woman, she is a French +woman and, like a French woman, essentially clever and chic. She may +be a trifle more superficial than the composers I have mentioned, but +her music is clean-cut, clear as a crystal, and, like everything about +a refined woman, the quintessence of neatness. It is quite as if Mme. +Chaminade's maid laid out her musical thoughts as well as her dresses, +being sure to have every frill and furbelow in its place, whether it +be the robe d' interieur which she is to wear at breakfast, her robe +de ville for calling, or her robe de soiree. True it is that serious +musicians are apt to wear a somewhat supercilious expression at +mention of her music and to pronounce it clever rather than deep, yet +it is equally true that it takes its place among the best salon pieces +of the day and gains value if only from the fact that this bright +French woman has skillfully refrained from attempting flights for +which her graceful wings are not strong enough. Most of her music is +characterized by a fascinating archness and coquetry and requires +quick and sudden changes in time for its proper interpretation. While +rarely attempting the larger musical forms, she has been an +industrious student of the best music, so that all her compositions +are what is called "well made," correct according to the rules of +musical science, yet in melodic and harmonic inspiration characterized +by originality and musical inventiveness. She writes with judgment, +refinement and taste, avoiding on the one hand the pitfall of +pretentiousness, and, on the other, the monotony of platitude found in +the works of those who compose in the larger forms but lack the +originality to fill them with new and interesting matter. It is a +great thing to know your limitations, yet to be able to do vivid and +original work within them. + +Brief as is Chaminade's "Serenade," Op. 29, its melody is charming, it +is ably harmonized and it appeals to the heart. There is not a +commonplace bar in it. It is one of those delicate bits of inspiration +which survive other and seemingly grander works, the grandeur of +which, however, is in course of time, discovered to be mere hollow +pretentiousness. It is a capital example of the manner in which this +composer writes in the small genre--delicate, refined and sensitive. + +She has been highly successful in compositions in dance form, managing +these without a suggestion of the trivial. Thus her "Air de Ballet," +Op. 30, No. 1, is full of brilliancy and nervous energy without ever +degenerating into vulgar noisiness. Another "Air de Ballet" by her +from the ballet "Callirhoe," to which her widely known "Scarf Dance" +also belongs, is crisp, bright and dainty. "Callirhoe" is a +ballet-symphonique for stage performance and its production showed her +to be so well grounded in her art that it does not suffer even under +the pressure of rapid composition, or of being obliged to work "on +time." The commission for this ballet was offered to Godard, a +well-known French composer. He was, however, occupied with an opera +and declined the work, at the same time recommending that the +commission be offered to Chaminade. It was accepted by her and within +six weeks from the day when she began work upon it, it was completed +even to the scoring for orchestra. + +While the pianolist hardly can go amiss in choosing from among the +list of Chaminade's compositions I may mention as especially +characteristic her "Arabesque," "Humoresque," La Lisonjera (Flatterer) +"Pierrette," "Scaramouche" (Mountebank) and "Spinning Wheel." + +Chaminade's compositions are so popular in this country yet so little +is known about her personally, that I have secured a few personal data +concerning her from my friend, Mr. Percy Mitchell, who is attached to +the staff of an American paper in Paris. Mme. Carbonel-Chaminade has a +shock of dark, curly, short-cropped hair which gives her a boyish +aspect, a touch of masculinity further emphasized by a tailor-made +costume with stiff, white, turned-down collar and loosely tied scarf. +Beyond this aspect, however, there is nothing mannish about her. She +cares neither for sport nor exercise in general; her principal +occupation is musical composition, her chief relaxation practicing the +pianoforte two hours a day; and she reads an immense amount of poetry +from which she carefully selects the words for her songs. Society she +abhors, but she attends scrupulously to her large correspondence. Very +many of these letters come from America, and in a practical spirit +truly American seek information regarding the interpretation of her +works. "How should your 'Serenade' be phrased?--I am learning the +'Scarf Dance.' By this same mail I am sending you a copy of it. Would +you kindly mark the phrasing in it and return it to me?" In +connection with questions of this kind it is interesting to note that +practically all of Chaminade's compositions have been metrostyled for +the pianola by the composer herself. The pianolist at least will not +find it necessary to trouble her with questions like the above. + +Probably no composer has had one set method of work. It is apt to vary +according to surroundings. So with Chaminade. She may write while +seated at her pianoforte, testing her thoughts on the keyboard and +even working them out in detail before putting them on paper. Or she +may sit at her table, a vast velvet-covered affair taking up nearly +half of her studio. Sometimes an idea that has haunted her for weeks +may take definite shape while she is speeding on a train to fulfill a +concert engagement and she will jot it down in spite of the roar and +vibration of railway travel. As the train rushes on the composition +may be completely worked out in the composer's mind before the +journey's end, and so retentive is Chaminade's memory that, when she +returns to her villa in Vesinet, near the forest of St. Germain not +far from Paris, she can seat herself at her table and copy the work +from that mental vision of it which she had on the train. + +Some years ago during a semi-professional tour which she made through +Roumania, Servia and Greece, she was invited to play for the students +of the Athens conservatory. When she stepped on the stage she saw row +after row of young people armed with the printed music of what she was +about to play and prepared in a cold-blooded, business-like way to +open the music of the first number on the program and to follow the +concert note for note from the printed scores from beginning to end. +Imagine the effect upon her nerves produced by the rustling of one +hundred pages all being turned at the same instant at intervals during +the concert; and even now she laughingly confesses that she was nearly +overcome with stage fright and prays she may never have to endure +again such an ordeal as the music students of Athens unwittingly +prepared for her. + +With the exception of Nevin, the composers whose works I have +mentioned are living and actively engaged in composition. The piece to +which I now desire to call the pianolist's attention belongs to the +dawn of the romantic period in music. It was composed by Weber who +died in 1826, is entitled "Invitation to the Dance," was written a few +months after his happy marriage with the opera singer Caroline Brandt, +and is dedicated to "My Caroline." Because Weber was one of the first +composers who rank as great to give distinctly descriptive titles to +compositions, and because of certain other characteristics in his +works, he is regarded as the founder of the romantic school of +music--music which is not simply sufficient unto itself but has a +secondary meaning that adds immeasurably to its interests; music which +seeks to suggest a definite mood and even to throw a realistic picture +of some scene in nature or some human experience upon a background of +harmony and instrumental coloring; and which cares less for the +artifices of form than for the expression of the true and the +beautiful from the standpoint of modern art. + +The "Invitation to the Dance" derives further interest from the fact +that it was the first composition to lift the waltz, which up to that +time had been employed simply as an accompaniment for dancing, to the +level of other legitimate and recognized artistic musical forms. The +composition opens with an introduction in slow time, the first phrase +unmistakably being the voice of the man conveying to the lady an +invitation to dance. You hear her playful objection--undoubtedly she +wants to be asked a second time--the repetition of his invitation, her +assent, the short dialogue as the two step out on the floor; brief, +but resonant preluding chords; then the free, elastic rhythm of the +waltz followed by its gay, dashing melody. There is an exuberance of +runs and ornamentations until the first feeling of elation lapses into +a second dreamy, languorous waltz melody, as if the dancers were +floating on the scented atmosphere of the ballroom. In portions of +this there is a sentimental colloquy between the couple whom we met in +the introduction, the two voices being clearly differentiated. The +little duet between them adds to the beauty and interest of this +portion of the work, the melody of which simply is exquisite. Then +everything whirls and sparkles again and, when the dance has ceased, +there is a briefer recapitulation of the introduction, the lady is led +back to her seat, and the episode comes to an end. + +The pianolist may now place Liszt's "Campanella" (Bell rondo) on the +instrument. Originally this was composed by the famous violinist +Paganini, Liszt transcribed it for the pianoforte and so successfully +that now it is better known in his version than in its original form. +It is a piece which can be described only by one word--delicious. Its +title is immediately understood by the unmistakable silvery tinkle of +a bell in the high treble, constantly recurring, but always with added +instead of diminishing, beauty. On the pianoforte it demands +virtuosity of the highest rank, yet for the pianolist it is as easy +to play as is the simplest pianoforte piece intended for a beginner. + +And so, having begun this chapter with Nevin, one of the lighter +composers of pronounced merit, the pianolist already finds himself +playing a work by Weber and another by Liszt, two of the most famous +figures in musical history. Even if, as I trust will be the case, he +becomes so interested in the works I have cited in this chapter, as to +try much other music by the same composers, he will, in an almost +incredibly short space of time, be ready for the thrill of the great +masters--which shows that, after all, the sequence I am following in +this book is not as haphazard as some may think. + + + + +IV. THE THRILL OF THE GREAT MASTERS + + +In his choice of music the pianolist need not pause to consider the +slow evolution of the art from the simple to the more complex, since +for him nothing is complex. Thus he is free to disregard all +traditions, even such an absurd one, for example, as that which +insists that a sonata or symphony should be played as a whole, that, +if a work in this form consists of three or four movements, none of +these should be "lifted" out of the whole and played as a separate +composition. + +The pianolist calmly looks upon these movements as so many different +pieces and chooses between them. Thus among the hundred classical +compositions most in demand by pianolists, the slow movement of +Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony" ranks seventeenth, while the first is as +far down on the list as thirty-seventh, and the roll with the last +two movements as sixty-fifth. That in future the consensus of opinion +of thousands of music lovers who are unhampered by pedantic tradition, +will have immense influence in determining the standard of composers +and of their several works, and will have immense effect in hastening +the introduction and appreciation of works by new composers, in spite +of opposition from the ultra-conservative element, goes without +saying, and will be one of the most important factors in the +revolution this new musical instrument is destined to effect. + +All this readily can be appreciated when the attitude of this great +musical public toward Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsodies" is taken into +account. For years the critical camp has been divided on Liszt, some +considering him a composer whose unequalled greatness as a player of +the pianoforte led him to write music that was superficially +brilliant but barren of genuine musical inspiration. Others, like +Henry T. Finck and that band of advanced commentators on music among +whom I am proud to number myself, unhesitatingly rank him with the +greatest composers. This phase of musical life, this warring of +factions, the pianolist happily ignores entirely, and following his +unbiased intuition, places Liszt's second "Hungarian Rhapsody" at the +head of the repertory, closely follows it with the twelfth and +fourteenth, and, all told, includes nine of these fifteen compositions +in the top list of one hundred pieces of serious music which have +proved most popular with pianola players. The pianolist is not aware +of the fact, but that most inexorable of all critics, time, most +emphatically justifies his choice. + +Liszt brought out these rhapsodies fifty-three years ago. They are not +compositions which suddenly are offering themselves as candidates for +popular favor. For more than half a century has passed over these +master works, which still are as fresh and modern as if they had been +struck off but yesterday in the white heat of inspiration. Their roots +go back even further than fifty-three years. As long ago as 1838 Liszt +published them as short transcriptions of Hungarian tunes. Then he +worked them over and, in 1846, issued them in somewhat more elaborate +form as "Melodies Hongroises." Still further elaborated they became in +1854 the "Rhapsodies Hongroises" as we know them. + +These rhapsodies reflect the weird romanticism of that most mysterious +and fascinating of races, the Gypsies, as successfully as Chopin's +music reflects the crushed aspirations of his unhappy country, Poland. +Although they are called Hungarian, they are neither derived from nor +founded upon national Hungarian music, but are purely of Gypsy origin. +The Hungarians, however, have adopted the Gypsies as their national +musicians, and it is by reason of this adoption, or, in order to +express through the title this mutual assimilation, that Liszt has +called these rhapsodies "Hungarian." With a Gypsy parentage so +authentic that he speaks of the melodies on which they are based, as +"the songs without words" of the Gypsies, his rhapsodies form the only +channel through which the intense inner life and mystic idealism of +this strange race has found expression. They are the long suppressed +cry of souls struggling for self utterance and they constitute nothing +less than an epic, the "Iliad," of that strange race which centuries +ago cast itself upon the continent of Europe like a wave coming, none +knew from where or whither bound. + +This race, as Liszt describes it in his book on Gypsy music, brought +no memories, betrayed no hope; possessed no country, religion, +history. Divided into tribes, hordes and bands, wandering hither and +thither, following each the route dictated by chance, they still +preserve under the most distant meridian, the same infallible rallying +signs, the same physiognomy, the same language, the same traditions. +The ages pass. The world progresses. Countries make war or peace, +change masters and manners, but this people that shares the joys, the +sorrows, the prosperity and the misfortunes of none other; that laughs +at the ambitions, the tears, the combats of civilization; still +obstinately clings to its hunger and its liberty, its tents and its +tatters, and still exercises, as it has exercised for centuries, an +indescribable and indestructible fascination upon poetic minds, +passing it on as a mysterious legacy from age to age. + +Such is the race of which Liszt recites the epic in the "Hungarian +Rhapsodies." They portray the life, the scenes, the mood of the Gypsy +camp, vividly, brilliantly, yet with an undercurrent of tragedy--the +tragedy of homeless wanderers. Because they represent life, because +they are true to life, because they depict life with a wonderful union +of realism and beauty, they will, in spite of critical detraction, +live as long as the Bach fugues, the Beethoven sonatas or the Wagner +music dramas. + +An elaborate musical analysis of these wonderful works would be +futile. They are too racial, and in parts too pictorial to be +dissected in narrative style. What I have said of the race from which +they derive their characteristics should serve as a general +explanation of their purport. The second, twelfth and fourteenth +rhapsodies are admirable examples of the series. In general these +"Hungarian Rhapsodies" open with a few brief bars suggestive of tragic +recitative, which leads into a broad yet strongly marked and searching +rhythm, upon which is built a slow, stately yet mournful melody, +broken in upon here and there by strange weird runs and rapid +passages. These latter serve a double purpose. They imitate the +curious aeolian harp effects of the most characteristic instrument of +the Gypsy orchestra, the cembalon, a large, shallow box with strings +about as numerous as those of the pianoforte, and played with two +little mallets, with which the player produces the weird arpeggios or +rapid, broken chords and the improvised runs characteristic of +Hungarian Gypsy music; and they also prepare the player and listener +for the rapid movement into which the slow melody passes over, finally +to dash into the very frenzy of emotional and physical excitement. + +These three divisions, the slow movement introduced by a recitative, +the rapid movement following, and the still more rapid one with which +the rhapsodies generally end, are based upon three distinct kinds of +melodies of the Gypsies, and their startling contrast contributes to +the effectiveness of the composition. The slow melody in the first +part of the rhapsodies (a different melody in each rhapsody of course) +is the "lassan," a sad song giving utterance to the pathos of the +race. The dance music that follows, so full of playful humor, grace, +caprice, coquetry and dashing contrast, is the "frischka"; while the +delirium, almost demoniac in its fury, with which the rhapsody rushes +to its intoxicating finale, and compared with which the Italian +tarantella and even the Dervish dance of the East are tame, is the +"czardas." In playing these rhapsodies one must try to imagine a Gypsy +camp, the flicker of firelight in the deep forest or on the wild +plains of Hungary, a sense of loneliness or of vast distance, forms of +swarthy men and women suddenly appearing from a shadowy background to +be illumined for a moment in the light of the fire, their swaying, +whirling forms vanishing the next, back into the vague darkness from +which they issued. Of the "Hungarian Rhapsodies" hostile critics may +say what they please; he who plays them understandingly, will feel in +them the thrill of a great master. + +A composition of impassioned, yet mournful beauty is Liszt's +"Liebestraum" (Dream of Love) one of a set of three nocturnes, this +one being based upon a well known German poem, Freiligrath's, + + O love as long as love thou canst, + O love as long as love will keep; + The day will come, the day will come, + When at a grave you stand and weep. + +Liszt's "At the Spring" is a charming composition somewhat in the same +style as the "Campanella," but instead of describing silver-toned +chimes of bells, reproducing the purl of a bosky spring. One hears the +clear rippling water and sees its sparkling jets in glints of +sunlight, as it dashes against the stones, and its shimmering spray. +The work is the forerunner and model of numerous similar pieces, all +of them, however, lacking its freshness and originality and its high +order of musicianship. + +The pianolist who is led by the examples of Liszt's music which I have +cited to choose liberally from the numerous compositions by him in the +catalogue of music rolls, hardly can go amiss. If, however, he prefers +to leave this for some other time, and to turn to another composer, he +will find Mendelssohn's "Rondo Capriccioso," Op. 14, a capital roll. +This rondo was composed in 1826, the same year in which he wrote the +overture to Shakespere's "Midsummer Night's Dream," with its wonderful +depiction of fairy life. The "Rondo Capriccioso" might be part of the +"Midsummer Night's Dream" music, it is so much in the same character. +Nothing could be more crisp and dainty. It seems to depict elves +romping through the forest by moonlight. Nor is it without romantic +moods, as if love-making were going on even among these light-footed, +light-hearted revelers. But when this is said, it still is all touch +and go; a breath, a sigh, the iridescence of the moonglade on a +woodland lake--then off and away:-- + + Over hill, over dale, + Through brush, through brier, + Over park, over vale, + Through flood, through fire, + I do wander everywhere, + Swifter than the moon's sphere; + And I serve the fairy queen, + To dew her orbs upon the green. + +or + + Light as any wind that blows + So fleetly did she stir, + The flower she touch'd on dipt and rose, + And turned to look at her. + +This "Rondo Capriccioso" is indeed a fascinating piece, written in its +composer's most facile vein. It is one of the finest rolls from among +which the pianolist can select. There can be no doubt that Mendelssohn +has been losing ground as compared with the enormous popularity which +he enjoyed in his lifetime. But the pendulum has swung too much the +other way. Certain of his compositions have been too much neglected. +The "Rondo Capriccioso" is one of them. As it actually sounds crisper +and daintier on the pianola than on the pianoforte no matter by whom +played, it enjoys well merited popularity in the pianolist's repertory +and may contribute toward restoring the appreciation of Mendelssohn's +music to its proper balance. + +I would be greatly surprised if a beautiful work like Schubert's +"Rosamunde" impromptu were not among the most popular pieces of the +pianolist's choice. The word impromptu is sufficiently +self-explanatory, but it needs to be pointed out that this work of +Schubert's differs from the usual impromptu in being an air with +variations, the variations, however, giving the impression of free +fantasies or improvisations on the original air. There are five +variations and the composition ends with a repetition of the air. + +The work is written in the truest Schubertian style. I like to fancy +that the melody with its serene, lyric beauty is a picture of the +fair Rosamunde herself. The first variation, a plaintive melody over +an agitated accompaniment, I should be inclined, still referring to +Rosamunde and regarding each variation as expressing an experience in +her life, to entitle "Moods." The second variation is more playful in +character but without any loss of romantic charm, and I should say +that we might call it an expression of her "Fancies." The third an +impassioned meditation, a cry from the heart, Rosamunde's heart, may +be called "Love." The fourth variation, which again is frankly playful +like the second, is "Hope." The fifth, as brilliant as a cascade on +which the sun is shining, is "Joy." It ends suddenly without coming to +a full stop in the musical sense, and, after a pause, the original air +now couched in broad and beautiful chords, begins in the lower +register, rises successively to the middle and higher ones, then dies +away--an exquisite ending. Is this not Rosamunde, the more charming +for the romance of which she is the heroine; Rosamunde, looking at her +engagement ring, musing on the past and trustful of the future? + +Schubert was one of the most famous song composers and Liszt in +addition to being an original composer, rendered a great service to +music by transcribing, in most admirable style, many of Schubert's +most famous songs for pianoforte. Widely known as they are for voice, +they have through these transcriptions become almost as familiar for +pianoforte. The delicate and dainty "Hark, Hark the Lark" is a +favorite work in Paderewski's repertory. So spontaneous was Schubert's +inspiration that he wrote the music of this song at a tavern where he +chanced to see the poem in a book which he was examining. "If only I +had some music paper!" he exclaimed. One of his friends promptly ruled +lines on the back of his bill of fare and Schubert, with the varied +noises of the tavern going on about him, jotted down the song then and +there. + +Another splendid Schubert song that has been made popular on the +pianoforte through Listz's transcription is "The Erlking." As it ranks +among the greatest songs, and by many people actually is considered +the greatest, the illustration it affords of the rapidity with which +Schubert worked is most interesting. Two friends calling upon him one +afternoon, toward the close of the year 1815, found him all aglow +reading "The Erlking" aloud to himself. Having read the poem, he +walked up and down the room several times, book in hand, then suddenly +dropped into a chair, and, without a moment's pause and as fast as his +pen could travel over the paper, composed the song. Schubert had no +pianoforte, so the three men hurried over to the school where formerly +he had been trained for the Imperial choir--this was in Vienna--and +there "The Erlking" was sung the same evening and received with +enthusiasm. Afterwards the Court organist played it over himself +without the voice, and, some of those present objecting to the +dissonances which depict the child's terror of the Erlking, the +organist struck these chords again and explained how admirably they +expressed the situation described in the poem and how well they were +worked out musically. Schubert was only thirty-one when he died and +was only eighteen when he set this poem of Goethe's to music, yet the +whole song is almost Wagnerian in its descriptive and dramatic +qualities, and its climax thrilling. + +The work of Beethoven's which seems most to appeal to the pianolist +is the "Moonlight" sonata. Possibly the attractive title, which, +however, Beethoven probably did not give to it, may have something to +do with its selection. But why not attribute its popularity to the +fact that the music bears out the title? + +A sonata is a composition in several movements, usually four, and +follows a clearly outlined, in fact, an almost rigid form, not to say +formula. It attained its highest development during the classical +period and left its impress upon all the larger compositions of that +time, for a symphony is nothing more than a sonata composed for +orchestra, instead of for the pianoforte, and trios, quartets, and +other pieces of chamber music of the classical period are sonatas for +the corresponding combination of instruments. + +The "Moonlight Sonata," however, is less rigid in form than the +average sonata. In it, in fact, Beethoven may be said to have broken +away from form, for after the word sonata he adds the qualifying +phrase "quasi una fantasia," signifying that, although he calls the +work a sonata, it has the characteristics of a free fantasy. + +Instead of opening with the usual rapid movement, the work begins with +a broad and beautiful slow one, a sustained melody, a poem of profound +pathos in musical accents. This is followed by a lighter allegretto +which Liszt called "a flower 'twixt two abysses," the second "abyss" +being the last movement, which is one of Beethoven's most impassioned +creations. At the end both of the first movement and of the allegretto +the usual wait between the divisions of a sonata is omitted, Beethoven +giving the direction "attacca subito il sequente," literally meaning +"attack suddenly the following," indicating an inner relationship +between the movements so close that there must be only the briefest +possible pause between them. + +This sonata is a true drama of life, a story of unrequited passion. It +is dedicated to one of the great beauties of Beethoven's time, the +Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. Although it is known that the composer +subsequently was deeply in love with her cousin, the Countess Therese +Brunswick, he is believed to have been in love with Giulietta at the +time he wrote the "Moonlight Sonata." The countess was not insensible +to his passion. She already was engaged to Count Gallenberg, but one +day, coming excitedly into the presence of her cousin Therese, she +threw herself at the latter's feet, "like a stage princess," and +exclaimed: "Counsel me, cold, wise one! I long to give Gallenberg the +mitten and marry the wonderfully ugly, wonderfully beautiful +Beethoven, if only it did not involve lowering myself socially." And +so she gave up Beethoven and led a life, none too happy, with her +Count. Connecting the "Moonlight Sonata" with this episode in +Beethoven's life, the first movement of the sonata may appropriately +be regarded as a song of love, deeply pathetic because no response is +evoked by the longing it expresses. The second movement, the graceful +allegretto, is the coquetish Giulietta who would not "lower herself +socially" by marrying a genius. The third movement is the rejected +lover crying out his passion and despair to the night. + +From Beethoven to Grieg, from Vienna to Norway, from the greatest +master of the classical period to a composer who still is living and +who has been called not inaptly, "the Chopin of the North," may seem a +long step. But the pianolist can travel with seven league boots. +Grieg's most widely known compositions are four of the pieces of +incidental music which he wrote to Ibsen's drama "Peer Gynt." Peer +Gynt is the Faust of Norwegian literature. Without attempting here to +follow up this parallel, it may be said that he is a curious +combination of ne'er-do-well, dreamer and philosopher, with a +pronounced streak of impishness running through his character and +giving a touch of the extravagant and grotesque to many of his actions +and to some of them even a suggestion of the weird and supernatural. + +"Peer Gynt" has its roots in Norwegian folklore and was written by +Ibsen in Italy when he was about thirty-seven years old, and it +precedes the problem plays by which he is best known, although Peer's +character is in itself a complex problem. Grieg in his incidental +music, adroitly avoids the difficult task of interpreting or even +hinting at the curiously contradictory nature of the principal role +in the play, one of the most interesting psychological studies in +modern literature. His music deals with the more superficial aspects +of the story and is pictorial rather than intellectual or profoundly +emotional. The principal selections for the piano-player from the +"Peer Gynt" music, are contained on two rolls with two selections to +each roll. One of them gives the music of "Anitra's Dance" and "In the +Hall of the Mountain King"; the other the scenes "Daybreak" and "Death +of Aase." Were these selections to be arranged in the order in which +they occur in the drama it would be necessary to begin with the "The +Hall of the Mountain King" and follow this, in the order mentioned, +with "Aase's Death," "Anitra's Dance" and "Daybreak." On the rolls, +however, the pieces are not arranged in the order of their occurrence +in the play, but in the sequence which is most effective from a +musical standpoint--just as in this book I have purposely refrained +from following any set, historical sequence, but have adopted a purely +musical method of guiding the pianolist from music of the lighter kind +to that of a more serious character. + +"Anitra's Dance" is an episode of the drama laid in Morocco which Peer +has reached in the course of his wanderings. Anitra is a lithe-limbed +daughter of the East who entrances Peer with her dancing, and, when he +promises to endow her with a soul, promptly informs him that she would +rather have the opal from his turban; gradually coaxes all his jewels +from him; then swiftly throws herself upon his horse and gallops away, +showing herself a true exemplar of the "eternal feminine," so called, +I presume, because it eternally is getting the better of the eternal +masculine. Be that as it may, "Anitra's Dance" is the very essence of +witchery and grace. In the scene "In the Hall of the Mountain King" +the trolls gather for the marriage of Peer to the Troll King's +daughter. When Peer, at the last moment, refuses to go through the +ceremony, the trolls dash at him. One bites himself fast to his ear. +Others strike him. He falls. They throw themselves upon him in a heap. +At this critical moment, when he is writhing beneath them in torture, +the sound of distant church bells is heard, the trolls take to flight, +the palace of the Mountain King collapses and Peer is standing alone +on a mountain. The scene may be construed as one of his supernatural +experiences, as a nightmare, or as the allegory of a stricken +conscience. "Daybreak" which opens the second roll is in Egypt, Peer +standing before the statue of Memnon in the first hush of dawn and +waiting for the rays of the rising sun to evoke the music which +according to tradition many thousand years old, is drawn from the +statue by the sunrise. In this number Grieg paints the colors of an +Oriental daybreak rather than attempts to convey the thrill of an +ancient sculpture, on the edge of the great desert, thrilling with +song at the first kiss of the rising sun. In the "Death of Aase" Peer +watches his mother's life slowly ebb away and seeks to divert her mind +from death by grotesque tales, even throwing himself astride a chair +and persuading her through subjective suggestion, that he is the +forerider of a beautiful chariot in which she is seated, so that the +poor woman, who all her life long has felt the pinch of penury, dies +with a vision of wealth and glory before her eyes created for her by +the son, worry over whom has hastened her death. In keeping with the +lyric trend of his genius, Grieg has ignored the grotesque and ghastly +humor of the situation, and has contented himself with portraying its +sombre and tragic aspect, his music being in character somewhat like a +funeral march. + +The pianolist will find a characteristic Norwegian touch in Grieg's +"Bridal Procession Passing By," Op. 19, No. 2, from his "Sketches from +Norwegian Life." It begins with a curiously droning rhythm, played +softly as though the procession were approaching from a distance. Over +this rhythm is introduced a piquant march figure, hopping and skipping +along as if the musicians were dancing at the head of the marchers. As +the procession approaches and the music becomes louder, one hears in +the bass an accentuation of the characteristic rhythm, like the tap of +a bass drum. When the march has swelled to a forte, it sinks to a +brief piano, as if the winding path had led the procession away again. +Then there is another brief outburst, this time fortissimo, as if the +marchers were quite near; and then a pianissimo, as if they had passed +behind a hill and almost out of hearing. The music grows loud again, +the procession goes by, and there is a delicious effect as the march +dies away in the distance, the rhythmic beats with which it opened +becoming softer and softer, while the little hopping and skipping +march-figure, somewhat curtailed, flutters over it. + +Grieg's "Peer Gynt" suite was composed for orchestra, but was arranged +for pianoforte by the composer. Notwithstanding the fact that in its +original form the suite is intended to be played by a large body of +instruments of different tone coloring and that arrangements for +pianoforte of orchestral works usually are so complex that even great +pianists find difficulty in rendering them effectively, the "Peer +Gynt" selections are among the most attractive in the pianolist's +repertory. For, through the instrument on which he plays, he is able +to overcome the most complicated chords and the most difficult and +complex runs, as easily as if they were music of the simplest kind. If +the pianola sometimes is called mechanical, the injustice thus done it +is due to its superhuman capacity of playing with perfect ease things +that are wholly beyond the fingers even of the greatest virtuosos, yet +can be rendered fluently and also expressively by the pianolist who +has genuine feeling for music. + +It is this combination of technique and expression that gives to +Liszt's enormously difficult pianoforte transcription of Saint-Saens' +symphonic poem, "Danse Maccabre," which even for orchestra is an +extremely difficult piece, its place in the pianolist's repertory. +This is one of the most interesting of modern compositions, and most +graphically descriptive of its subject, which is the "Dance of Death," +"maccabre" being derived from the Arabic "makabir," which signifies a +place of burial. Both in the literature and in the painting of the +Middle Ages in Europe and particularly in church decoration, figures +the legend that once a year on Hallowe'en the dead arose from their +graves for a wild and hideous dance, with King Death himself as master +of ceremonies. Saint-Saens' symphonic poem realistically describes +these scenes, and, as if to attribute the inspiration for his music to +its precise origin, the composer has placed above his score a poem by +Henri Cazalis. Mr. Edward Baxter Perry has made a free transcription +of this poem, which, at the same time, serves capitally as a +description of the music: + + On a sounding stone, + With a blanched thigh-bone, + The bone of a saint, I fear, + Death strikes the hour + Of his wizard power, + And the specters haste to appear. + + From their tombs they rise + In sepulchral guise, + Obeying the summons dread, + And gathering round + With obeisance profound, + They salute the King of the Dead. + + Then he stands in the middle + And tunes up his fiddle, + And plays them a gruesome strain. + And each gibbering wight + In the moon's pale light + Must dance to that wild refrain. + + Now the fiddle tells, + As the music swells, + Of the charnal's ghastly pleasures; + And they clatter their bones + As with hideous groans + They reel to those maddening measures. + + The churchyard quakes + And the old abbey shakes + To the tread of that midnight host, + And the sod turns black + On each circling track, + Where a skeleton whirls with a ghost. + + The night wind moans + In shuddering tones + Through the gloom of the cypress tree, + While the mad rout raves + Over yawning graves + And the fiddle bow leaps with glee. + + So the swift hours fly + Till the reddening sky + Gives warning of daylight near. + Then the first cock crow + Sends them huddling below + To sleep for another year. + +The composition opens weirdly with the hollow strokes of the hour. +There is a light, staccato passage suggesting the spectres tiptoeing +from their graves to take their places in the fantastic circle. Then +comes one of the most strikingly realistic passages in the +composition--Death attempting to tune up his fiddle, an effect that is +repeated at intervals throughout the composition. After reading the +poem, the pianolist will not require a detailed description of the +work. He will recognize the details even to the moaning of the night +wind and the crowing of the cock, the scurry of the spectres and their +final wail, as the grave closes upon them for another year. + + + + +V. AN "OPEN SESAME" TO CHOPIN + + +The goal of all pianists is Chopin. As the list of one hundred +favorite compositions for the pianola includes no less than twenty-six +works by this composer, he would seem to be the goal of the pianolist +as well. + +Chopin now is recognized universally as one of the great composers. +But during his lifetime he was much criticised, called morbid and +effeminate and a composer of small ideas because he wrote almost +entirely in the smaller forms. As if size had anything to do with the +beauty of a work. In every art the best work of each great man should +be ranked with the best of all other great men. Some geniuses express +themselves on a larger, but not necessarily on a greater scale, than +others. In poetry, for example, Poe's "Raven" is not to be ranked +below Milton's "Paradise Lost" because shorter; nor in music need a +Chopin ballad be placed below a Beethoven symphony because not so +extended as the latter. Every genius, however, must expect to be +condemned until Time silences criticism of his work. For ever since +men began to create rare and beautiful things, there have been other +men who, having failed therein, have found a bitter consolation in +sitting in crabbed and ill-tempered judgment upon their successful +betters. + +Another point raised against Chopin was, that practically he confined +himself to composing for pianoforte. A sufficient answer to this is, +that his music made the pianoforte what it is. For he was the first +composer who appreciated the genius of the instrument, discovered its +latent tone colors and developed its resources to their full capacity +for artistic beauty and expression. Chopin was the first to make the +pianoforte both shimmer and sing. Rubinstein said that the art of +music could go no further than Chopin and called him the pianoforte +bard, rhapsodist, mind and soul. "How he wrote for it I do not know, +but only an entire passing over of one into the other could call such +music into life." George Sand (Mme. Dudevant) the famous French +authoress with whom Chopin had a love affair that was one of the +tragedies of his life, said that "he made the instrument speak the +language of the infinite. He did not need the great material methods +of the orchestra to find expression for his genius. Neither saxophone +nor ophicleide was necessary for him to fill the soul with awe. +Without church organ or human voice he inspired faith and enthusiasm." + +Although Chopin figures on almost every pianoforte recital program the +average amateur has comparatively slight knowledge of the range of +his genius. Only the player able to go over his works in person can +acquire such knowledge, and the number of amateurs possessed of +sufficient technique to play Chopin's music is very small. "But +to-day," writes Mr. Ashton Johnson in his "Hand-Book to Chopin's +Works," "owing to the invention of the pianola and the fact that all +Chopin's works, including even the least important of the posthumous +compositions, are now available for that instrument, the whole domain +of his music is, for the first time, open to all. Those who wish may +pass the portal hitherto guarded by the dragon of technique and roam +at will in his entrancing music land." + +Chopin was a native of Poland. He was born near Warsaw in 1810. When +the Poles lost their country it was as if their grief and the +melancholy of their exile found expression through Chopin's music. He +became the musical poet of an exiled race. The most significant years +of his life he spent in Paris surrounded by the aristocracy of his own +country, who yet had no country, and by the aristocrats of art. Liszt, +Heine, Meyerbeer, Bellini and other famous men, as well as famous +women, were his personal friends. + +The affair with George Sand left on his music the imprint of sorrow, +poignant grief, and a pathos reaching down into the depths of tragedy. +Different in character was his idealization of the beautiful Countess +Delphine Potocka. The episode is fully set forth in my "Loves of the +Great Composers." One of Chopin's favorite musical amusements, when a +guest in the house of intimate friends, was to play on the pianoforte +"musical portraits" of the company. One evening in the salon of +Delphine's mother, he played the portraits of the two daughters of +the house. When it came to Delphine he gently drew her light shawl +from her shoulders, and then played through it, his fingers, with +every tone they produced, coming in touch with the gossamer like +fabric, still warmed and hallowed for him from its contact with her. +It was Delphine who soothed his last hours by singing for him as he +lay upon his death bed. + +She was one of the very few people to whom he dedicated more than one +of his works. Both his second concerto (in F minor, Op. 21) and his +most familiar waltz, the Op. 64, No. 1, bear her name. Chopin as a +pianist, showed decided preference for the slow movement of the +concerto, a movement which is of almost ideal perfection, "now radiant +with light and anon full of tender pathos," to quote from Liszt. It is +indeed, an exquisite idyll, beautifully melodious and replete with +delicate ornamentation. Because of its beauty and its association +with Delphine, I would suggest that the pianolist begin with this +larghetto. There is another reason for the suggestion. In its +ornamentation it illustrates to perfection that characteristic of +Chopin's music known as the "tempo rubato." Much of Chopin's music has +in addition to inspired melody, an iridescence as if produced by +cascades of jewels. These are ornamental notes which yet are not +ornamental in the limited meaning of the word; for in spite of all +their light and shade and their play of changeable colors, they form +part of the great undercurrent of melody. There are various technical +definitions of tempo rubato, but Liszt described it poetically and yet +exactly when he said, "You see that tree? Its leaves move to and fro +in the wind and follow the gentlest motion of the air; but its trunk +stands there immovable in its form." Or the effect might be compared +with the myriad shafts from the facets of a jewel, vibrating +brilliance in all directions, while the jewel itself remains +immovable, the center of its own rays. These effects readily are +discoverable in the larghetto of the Potocka concerto. + +The pianolist should then take up the valses of Chopin beginning with +Op. 64, No. 1, like the concerto, dedicated to Delphine. This is the +most familiar of all the Chopin waltzes, so familiar that it +frequently is referred to in a derogatory way as hackneyed. Yet, when +properly played, it is one of the most effective of his compositions +in this genre. Of the Chopin waltzes in general, it should first be +said that they are not dance-tunes but expressions, alternately +brilliant, charming and sad, of the intimacy of the ballroom, and that +they possess an innate grace which no other composer has been able to +impart to the form. They have been characterized as salon music of +the noblest kind and were well described by Schumann when he said that +if they were played for dances, half the ladies present should be +countesses--which exactly hits off the distinguished quality of these +valses. To play them is like looking at a dance through a fairy lens; +they seem like improvizations of a musician during a dance and to +reflect the thoughts and feelings that arise as he looks on, playing +the waltz rhythm with the left hand, while the melody and the +ornamental note groups indicate his fancy--love, a jealous plaint, +joy, ecstasy and the tender whisperings of enamored couples as they +glide past. + +"Gliding" is the word that has been applied to the smooth brilliance +of the Potocka valse. There runs a story regarding this composition +that George Sand had a little dog that used to chase its own tail +around in a circle, and that one evening, she said to Chopin, "If I +had your talent, I would improvise a valse for that dog," whereupon +the composer promptly seated himself at the pianoforte and dashed off +this fascinating little improvisation. It is Parisian in its grace and +coquetry and ends with a rapid run, the last note of which is like the +rhythmic tap of the foot with which a dainty ballet dancer might +conclude a lightly executed _pas_. + +In striking contrast to this is the "Valse," Op. 34, No. 2. This is in +a minor key and instead of representing the abandon of the dance, it +seems rather to depict a melancholy lover allowing his eyes to travel +slowly around the ballroom in a futile search of his heart's desire. +The prevailing tone of the composition rather is that of an elegy--the +burial of fond hopes. Stephen Heller, pianist and composer, tells of +meeting Chopin in the store of a Paris music publisher. Heller had +come in to order all the valses. Thereupon Chopin asked him which he +liked best, and when Heller mentioned this sad one in slow time, +Chopin exclaimed, "I am glad you like that one, for it also is my +favorite," and he invited Heller to have luncheon with him. + +Perhaps the most brilliant and extended of the valses is Op. 42. In +this Chopin imposes upon the triple waltz time, a melody that is in +double time--that is, while you count "one, two, three" for the +accompaniment, "one, two" will suffice for the melody above it. The +effect of this device has been described as indicative in this waltz +of the loving, nestling and tender embracing of the dancing couples. +It is followed in the music by sweeping motions free and graceful like +those of birds. The prolonged trill with which the piece begins, seems +to summon the dancers to the ballroom, while the waltz itself, is an +intermingling of coquetry, hesitation and avowal, with a closing +passage that is like an echo of the evening's events. + +These three waltzes, if played in the order in which I have mentioned +them, make a capital valse suite, and another could be made by taking +in the following order, the dashing "Posthumous Waltz" in E minor, the +C minor, Op. 64, No. 2, with its veiled, sad beauty; and the brilliant +Op. 34, No. 1. + +In his "Nocturnes" those sombre poems of night, Chopin seems weaving +his own shroud. But if, like Robert Louis Stevenson, Chopin loved the +darkness and its melancholy murmuring, and if there was a touch of +morbidness in his nature, yet, like Stevenson, he had in him a strain +of chivalry. Mr. Huneker, therefore, in his book on Chopin, is quite +right when he says of the nocturnes that if they were played with +more vigor, a quickening of the time pulse and a less languishing +touch, they would be rescued from a surplus of lush sentiment. + +Undoubtedly, the most popular of the nocturnes is the one in E flat, +Op. 9, No. 2. In fact it is so popular that when any one is asked to +play "Chopin's Nocturne," this one is meant. Because it is popular, it +is sneered at by some critics, but it possesses a lyric beauty quite +its own and "sometimes surprises even the weary teacher with a waft of +unexpected freshness, like the fleeting odor from an old and much used +school book in which violets have been pressed." A sustained love +song, it ends with a cadence that should be played with a rippling +delicacy suggestive of moonlight on a lake in the garden of an old +chateau. + +There are nocturnes of Chopin's composed on a larger scale than the +Opus 37, No. 2, but to my taste there is none more beautiful. It +bears a striking resemblance to a passage in George Sand's diary +describing a voyage with Chopin to the island of Majorca. "The night +was warm and dark, illumined only by an extraordinary phosphorescence +in the wake of the ship; everybody was asleep on board except the +steersman, who, in order to keep himself awake, sang all night, but in +a voice so soft and so subdued that one might have thought he feared +to arouse the men of the watch. We did not weary of listening to him, +for his singing was of the strangest kind. He observed a rhythm and +modulation totally different from those we are accustomed to, and +seemed to allow his voice to go at random, like the smoke of the +vessel carried away and swayed by the breeze. It was a reverie rather +than a song, a kind of careless floating of the voice, with which the +mind had little to do, but which kept time with the swaying of the +ship and the faint lapping of the dark water, and resembled a vague +improvization restrained, nevertheless, by sweet and monotonous +forms." + +How suggestive this is of the nocturne! The undulating accompaniment, +the scintillation of the treble, suggests the gliding, gently rocking +motion of the vessel and the phosphorescence in its wake; while the +second theme of the nocturne would, even without any suggestion from +the passage in George Sand's diary, be taken for a barcarolle, a +reverie sung at night, now rising, now dying away, but with the pulse +of a musical poet throbbing through every note--the most beautiful +melody, I think, Chopin ever wrote. + +And speaking of this melody as an improvization, reminds me of those +other improvizations by Chopin, the "Impromptus," in which he has +displayed his genius as convincingly as in any of his other works. +They are fresh and untrammeled in their development, and as full of +sunlight as the nocturnes are of darkness. The one in A flat major was +dedicated to the Countess de Loban as a wedding present, and was a +farewell to her as a pupil. Brilliant, joyous and iridescent in its +opening and closing sections, that in the middle voices vague and +tender regret. The composition sometimes is spoken of as the "Trilby" +impromptu. It is the one Du Maurier made Trilby sing under the +hypnotic influence of Svengali. + +Had Chopin's directions for the destruction of certain of his +manuscripts after his death been carried out, the world would be the +poorer by the loss of his "Fantaisie Impromptu," published as Op. 66. +It is difficult to understand why he should have wanted this work +destroyed, since it produces a sinuous, interwoven, flowing effect, +interrupted by a middle melody of much sentiment and beauty. It has +been very well described by Mr. Perry in a brief poem entitled "The +Fantaisie Impromptu": + + The sigh of June through the swaying trees, + The scent of the rose, new blown, on the breeze, + The sound of waves on a distant strand, + The shadows falling on sea and land; + All these are found + In this stream of sound, + This murmuring, mystical, minor strain. + + And stars that glimmer in misty skies, + Like tears that shimmer in sorrowing eyes, + And the throb of a heart that beats in tune + With tender regrets of a happier June, + When life was new + And love was true, + And the soul was a stranger to sorrow and pain. + +A reading of this poem conveys to the player the correct mood in which +to interpret the impromptu. + +By way of contrast I follow these careless raptures--careless only in +their effect of spontaneity--with the famous "Marche Funebre," the +funeral march which forms the third movement of Chopin's sonata in B +flat minor, Op. 35. This has been called the best funeral march ever +written for the pianoforte. At Chopin's own funeral it was played +scored for orchestra. In my opinion it is not only "the best funeral +march ever written for the pianoforte," but the most intrinsically +beautiful and sad funeral march ever composed. Its opening suggests +the solemn tolling of great bells, the heavy march rhythm gives the +effect of the slow procession of mourners; and the dirgelike music, +soft and muffled at first, grows in power like the measured, +inflexible rhythm of fate. Then it seems as if the mourners had +arrived at the open grave, for the music voices a weeping melody, pure +and tender and sweet; then the march rhythm makes itself heard again +and the procession leaves the grave, the music dying away in the +distance. This is the funeral march of a nation, of Chopin's own +beloved Poland. + +Chopin wrote two sets of twelve "Etudes." They gave an entirely new +significance to the term. For the Chopin etudes not only are supreme +as studies. They are supreme as music as well. Before they were +published the usual musical study was something very dry and set. How +different these superb compositions are from studies such as are +comprised in Czerny's "School of Velocity," which make you feel like +employing the "velocity" you have acquired to run away as quickly as +possible from the "school," whereas the Chopin etudes are so full of +melody and of the rarest and the most beautiful musical effects, that +to play any one of them suffices to whet the appetite for the others. +The pianolist might well go through the entire two sets of twelve. It +would open up a new musical world to him. Here I can only point out +three. Opus 10, No. 5, is the "Black Key" etude, so called because all +the notes of the right hand are on black keys. This is a brilliant +study with a very charming ending. Opus 25, No. 9, is the so called +"Butterfly Wings" etude, a designation which expresses its general +characteristic of lightness and grace, but fails to make allowance for +the accent of passion in the rising and descending passage that occurs +about the middle and which should be brought out when it is correctly +interpreted--which usually it is not. The greatest of all the etudes +is the "Revolutionary," Op. 10, No. 12. It was written by Chopin in +1831, when he heard the news that Warsaw had been taken by the +Russians, and it expresses the tornado of emotion that swept over him +when he realized that Poland was about to sink beneath the triple +onslaught of Russia, Austria and Germany. This composition which, mind +you, goes by the simple name of "study," is one of the most tremendous +outbursts of wrath in music--a storm of the soul without even such +lyric episodes as those which form islands of calm in the torrential +last movement of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata." Well may Mr. Huneker +say that the end "rings out like the crack of creation. It is +elemental." + +This etude, certain of the "Polonaises," the "Scherzos," the +"Ballades" and the "Fantaisie" in F minor, reveal a fire, passion and +virile power that will surprise those who have formed their estimate +of Chopin from the mournful nocturnes and brilliant waltzes. The +so-called "Military Polonaise," Op. 40, No. 1, is so replete with the +spirit of war that in the middle portion it is easy to hear the roll +of drums and the clash of battle. It was of this polonaise Chopin +said, "If I had the strength to play it as it should be played I would +break all the strings of the pianoforte." + +The most effective of the polonaises, his opus 53, also breathes forth +martial ardor and defiance. It begins with a stirring call to arms, +followed by the swinging measure of the polonaise proper with a melody +that suggests soldiery on prancing steeds and with flashing sabres, +defiling in review before battle. This is followed by a "trio" in +which a rapid octave figure in the bass, beginning softly and growing +louder and louder until it reaches a crashing climax, with strains +like a bugle call ringing out above it, depicts a cavalry charge +coming from the distance, drawing nearer and nearer and sweeping past +with a mighty roar. There is a story that while Chopin was composing +this polonaise, he was so affected when playing over the nearly +completed work, that, seized by a peculiar hallucination, he saw the +walls of the room open and, approaching from the outer night, a band +of medieval Polish knights mounted and in armor, as if they had risen +from their ancient graves and ridden on the clouds to appear in +response to the summons of his music. The somewhat vague passage which +follows the climax of the cavalry charge and leads back to the main +subject possibly may be accounted for by this strange experience. + +Unfortunately there is no opportunity here to take up the "Scherzos," +so unlike the coquettish, bantering pieces of the same name by other +composers, Chopin seemingly representing tragedy mocking itself, as +any one playing the B flat minor "Scherzo," Op. 31, may hear for +himself; the "Ballades," so eloquently narrative of love and +adventure, the A flat major and the G minor being especially popular +in the pianolist's repertory; and the "Fantaisie," in F minor, one of +the greatest compositions for pianoforte. As for the "Mazurkas" and +"Preludes," pieces that are among their composer's happiest creations, +I can do no more than call the pianolist's attention to their +existence and advise him not to neglect them. + + + + +VI. NOTES ON SOME OTHER MASTERS + + +Besides those composers, one or more of whose works I have described +in some detail, there are others who at least should be touched on, +always bearing in mind, however, that one of the aims of this book is +to stimulate the pianolist to explore for himself. Bach, Haendel, Haydn +and Mozart can be studied most profitably in connection with the +courses that are referred to in the chapter on Educational Factors +which follows. There too will be found reference to the thorough +courses on Wagner, one a general course on that composer, the other a +special course on his "Ring of the Nibelung." + +A line of composers that may well interest the pianolist has come to +the front in Russia. Rubinstein, whose "Melody" in F and "Kammenoi, +Ostrow," No. 17, are among the popular selections in the pianolist's +repertory was a Russian, who, however, from a musical standpoint, +expressed himself in German. To a certain extent the same is true of +Tschaikowsky. His music is "universal" rather than national. It has, +nevertheless, the Russian tang to a greater degree than Rubinstein's, +and Tschaikowsky is classed correctly as the head of the Russian +school and one of the greatest of modern composers. His "Pathetic +Symphony," which has been metrostyled by Edouard Colonne, a +distinguished French orchestral conductor, is a noble work. Among +smaller pieces which the pianolist readily will appreciate, are the +"Song without Words," Op. 2, No. 2; an attractive "Valse a cinq +Temps," with its oddly extended rhythm; the very characteristic +"November, in the Troika," Op. 37, No. 11; an expressive "Barcarolle" +and the selections from his "Casse Noisette" (Nutcracker) ballet +suite. + +Next to Tschaikowsky's "Song without Words" the most widely known +short piece for pianoforte by a Russian composer is Rachmaninoff's +"Prelude," Op. 3, No. 2, a broad and sonorous work with a splendid +climax. A little "Waltz," Op. 10, No. 2, is captivating; and a +"Serenade," Op. 3, No. 5, has an originality and charm quite its own. +A very beautiful "Moment Musical," Op. 16, No. 5, does not seem to +have been included as yet in the catalogue of music rolls, an honor to +which it clearly is entitled. Arensky, Balakirew, Cesar Cui, +Glazounow, Karganoff, Liapounow, Rimsky-Korsakow, Sapellnikoff and +Taneiew are other interesting figures of the "New-Russian" school of +which so much is heard at present. + +Dvorak who was a Bohemian wrote much music distinctly and +fascinatingly characteristic of his native land. He was, however, +broad enough in his tastes to recognize, during his sojourn of three +years in America, the beauty of the Negro plantation melodies and to +compose upon several of these as themes, his symphony "From the New +World," sometimes called more briefly the "American Symphony." This +symphony, two works of chamber music, also composed during his +residence in America, and his compositions in his native Bohemian +musical idiom usually are ranked higher than his more cosmopolitan +efforts. His "Humoreske," Op. 101, No. 5, the "Slavic Dances" and "On +the Holy Mount" are among his compositions unmistakably Bohemian in +origin. + +While Saint-Saens, having worked more successfully in the larger +orchestral forms, is ranked first among contemporary French composers, +and Chaminade leads as a composer of clever salon music, the +pianolist can add some attractive pieces to his repertory from the +compositions of Delibes and Godard. Delibes is the composer of the +opera "Lakme," and the Airs de Ballet from this, as well as the +selections from his "Coppelia" and "Sylvia" ballets, will be found +spontaneous and original. In fact in all instances in which music +composed in dance forms has survived, this will be found due to a +decided strain of individuality and resulting originality in the +composer. The Valse Lente from the "Coppelia" ballet is among the +hundred most popular pieces in the pianolist's repertory; and well up +in the same list is Godard's graceful "Second Mazurka," Op. 54. + +Among the most distinguished modern composers is the American, Edward +Alexander MacDowell. He is living, but his work is over; for, +unfortunately, his mind has given way. His "Scotch Poem" with its +graphic musical representation of the sea beating against a rockbound +coast and its lyric episode consisting of a trist Scotch ballad, is +highly dramatic, while his "Sea Pieces" are among the most poetic of +contemporary compositions for pianoforte. His "Witches' Dance" is +highly descriptive, and in whatever direction the pianolist may +familiarize himself with the music of MacDowell, he will be found a +highly original, eloquent and expressive composer, whose fame, already +established, is bound to grow with the lapse of time. + +This chapter may fittingly be concluded with a brief reference to two +great German composers, Schumann and Brahms. Although "popular" is not +a word ordinarily associated with Schumann, two of his shorter pieces, +"Traeumerei" (Revery) and "Warum" (Why) are great favorites. Schumann +did much for the development of music that has a distinct meaning and +his works frequently bear titles that are suggestive of some mood or +scene, like "At Evening," "Soaring" (Aufschwung, sometimes translated +as Excelsior), "Carnaval," a series of twenty-one pieces descriptive +of carnival scenes; and the "Novelettes." + +Brahms is far more of a melodist than his critics give him credit for, +but his clearness of expression is interfered with by the relentless +scientific accuracy with which he works out his ideas, to which method +he is apt to sacrifice only too often the innate beauty of his +thoughts. He seems, however, to be slowly gaining ground, but more +through his songs than through his instrumental works excepting those +of chamber music. Yet any one who will seriously study Brahms and +begin with the shorter pianoforte pieces, Op. 76 and Op. 116-119, will +find mines of purest musical gold, where, perhaps, he least expected +to discover them. Entirely different in style from Brahms' other works +are his "Hungarian Dances," in which he has taken dance themes of the +Hungarian Gypsies and skillfully worked them up into pieces that are +melodiously and rhythmically fascinating and unreservedly popular. +They are much played by pianolists. + +Let me point out again, here, that, however unsystematic the +arrangement of this book may seem to the musical pedant, I have +followed a certain sequence--one of my own devising and which seemed +to me best adapted to give the pianolist a bowing acquaintance with +some of the great composers that would lead him to wish for a closer +intimacy with these and others. What I have kept in mind, and very +clearly, is the fact that I am dealing with a player for whom all +technical difficulties have been eliminated by the very instrument on +which he plays. The complete control it gives him of all technical +resources is what makes the old method of analyzing pieces according +to their historical sequence not only unnecessary but futile in a book +of this kind. Nevertheless, so perfectly does this instrument adapt +itself to all music, that any one who desires to trace up the +technical evolution of the art from Bach to the present day, will find +it the readiest means for accomplishing his purpose, especially if he +uses in conjunction with it the educational courses referred to in the +next chapter. + + + + +VII. EDUCATIONAL FACTORS. + + +It is not overstating the case to say that the pianola is the first +practical means ever devised in history through which people in +general, whether they have had previous instruction in music or not, +can become familiar with the world's best musical compositions. Not +only can they familiarize themselves with the past, they are able to +keep up with the present. For example, many of Richard Strauss's +works, including selections from "Salome," are to be found on the +rolls prepared for this modern instrument. In fact every new composer +whose work has any significance is represented in the catalogue of +music rolls. Supposing a pianolist is planning to attend an opera or a +concert. It would have to be a very peculiar opera or a very peculiar +concert program which he could not obtain and try over beforehand. +Needless to say that, by trying it over beforehand, his appreciation +of the performance would be increased a thousandfold. + +Singers who cannot accompany themselves on the pianoforte, will find +this new instrument a boon. For there is a special list of +accompaniments in which the principal works in the vocalist's +repertory are represented. Lovers of chamber music in which the +pianoforte figures, will find pieces like sonatas for pianoforte and +violin or violoncello, trios for pianoforte, violin and violoncello, +pianoforte quartets, quintets and similar works, arranged so that the +pianolist can play the pianoforte part. "This is the first time I ever +have heard every note of the pianoforte part of the Schumann quintet," +said the first violinist of a well known string quartet to Mr. E.R. +Hunter, a professional pianolist, after a performance of this famous +work with Mr. Hunter at the pianola. + +The importance of the educational value of this new instrument is +recognized by many of the leading educators in music. Harvard, Yale, +Columbia, the University of California, the University of Michigan, +Vassar and many other institutions of learning use the instrument in +connection with their musical courses. At Harvard, in connection with +the lectures on music, the students are not only allowed but +encouraged to go in groups of six or eight to the hall in which the +instruments are installed, and play for themselves the symphonies of +Beethoven, the music dramas of Wagner and other music that has formed +the subjects of the lectures. "As a self-educator," writes Henry T. +Finck, "this instrument is worth more than all other instruments +combined, for the reason that any one can, without practice, play on +it any piece ever written." + +Under the editorship of Carroll Brent Chilton, assisted by a staff of +musicians and writers on music, among them Paul Morgan and Edward +Ziegler, thorough educational courses for pianolists have been +devised. The courses collectively are known as "The New Musical +Education," and are conducted in connection with the Music-Lovers +Library of music rolls. These courses are admirably arranged. There is +a "Popular Course on the Great Composers" with a supplementary one on +the "Modern Great Composers." The former is divided into five lessons: +Bach and Haendel; Haydn and Mozart; Beethoven and Schubert; Schumann +and Mendelssohn; and Chopin and Wagner. The course on the modern great +composers also is divided into five lessons: Liszt and Wagner; Chopin +and Brahms; Tschaikowsky, Dvorak and Paderewski; Saint-Saens, +Moskowszki and Chaminade; and Grieg and MacDowell, the last named the +most distinguished among American composers. + +Care has been taken in arranging these two courses not to aim above +the head of the musical novice. For example, in dealing with Bach and +Haendel, two of their lighter pieces are taken up and analyzed. +Biographical data are given and, in addition to the pieces that are +analyzed, supplementary rolls of seven compositions by Bach and five +compositions by Haendel are given, together with lists of reference +books. The other lessons in these two courses are planned in the same +popular style. They give the pianolist a bird's-eye-view of music and +its development from Bach to Wagner. + +The "New Musical Education" also takes up the great composers +separately and gives most thorough-going courses on them. The +Beethoven course, for example, is arranged in twelve lessons. The +course furnishes the student with the Beethoven biography by Crowest; +with twelve "lesson pamphlets," each pamphlet relating to a division +of the course and written by Thomas Whitney Surette; with twelve +scores, orchestral and pianoforte; and sixty-two "educational" music +rolls. The scores correspond with the twelve works discussed in the +twelve lessons, each lesson being devoted to the analysis of one +composition. The rolls include not only those which give the works +complete, but also special rolls with music quotations illustrating +the points made in the lesson pamphlets. The various musical forms +employed by Beethoven are explained and analyzed, and in the complete +rolls the different sections characteristic of each form are clearly +indicated in print, so that the student, having read the analysis, can +follow it intelligently on the roll. There are many other practical +details of this kind in all the courses and which go to enhance their +value to the pianolist-student. + +There are two splendid Wagner courses to which I direct special +attention because of the frequent performances of his works in opera +and concert, and because a comprehensive knowledge of the development +of his theories adds so greatly to the enjoyment of his music. The +first course begins with his early opera "Rienzi" and ends with +"Parsifal." All his works for the stage are embraced in this course +which consists of ten lessons, each lesson having, in addition to the +ordinary rolls, a "quotation roll," illustrating the points in the +lesson pamphlets, and in the case of the music-dramas, giving the +"leading motives," so that the student can familiarize himself with +these, and with their significance in the drama, and readily recognize +them when he hears them, while playing the complete rolls or at a +performance. + +The second Wagner course relates to the "Ring of the Nibelung." It +takes up consecutively the four great divisions of the work, +"Rhinegold," "The Valkyr," "Siegfried" and "Dusk of the Gods," +devoting a lesson to each. Each lesson contains a quotation roll of +leading motives and the following examples from the scores:--Lesson +I., "Rhinegold." Prelude and scene of the Rhine-Maidens, Loge's +Narrative, and the finale of the work. Lesson II., "The Valkyr." +Siegmund's Love Song, Ride of the Valkyries, and the Magic Fire Spell. +Lesson III., "Siegfried." Forge Song, Siegfried and the Forest Bird, +Siegfried and Bruennhilde. Lesson IV., "Dusk of the Gods." Siegfried's +Rhine Journey, Song of the Rhine-Maidens, Siegfried's Funeral March. I +know from the experience of one of my pianolist friends, how admirable +this course is. He took it before hearing the "Ring" for the first +time, with the result that he knew the music and the names of all the +leading motives, recognized them whenever they occurred in the score, +and in consequence, enjoyed the performance as much as if he had +become familiar with it through repeated hearings. I may add that the +catalogue of music rolls contains a complete collection of Wagner's +works, making the music of this composer accessible to the pianolist +whether he wishes to play it for study or enjoyment. + +The pianolist holds in his hand the future of the development of music +in this country. The instrument on which he plays is the only +practical means as yet devised of making the great masterpieces of +music penetrate to the minds and hearts of the masses. Art has to +advance on its own shoulders. "I cannot rest contentedly on the past, +I cannot take a step forward without its aid." The pianolist has both +the past and present of music at his command. + + + + +VIII. A FEW "DON'TS" FOR PIANOLISTS. + + +By way of postscript I give here a few hints to pianolists. General +directions on how to play the pianola are provided in pamphlets and +circulars which can be obtained without charge, and I do not propose +to traverse these. The instrument is capable of great brilliancy and +great power, greater than lie in the ten fingers of any pianist. This +very fact is what has caused the instrument to be called "mechanical." +But in reality it is the fault of the player, because, carried away by +the capacity of the instrument, he is apt in the beginning to play too +loudly and too brilliantly. One of the first don'ts for the pianolist +is that he refrain from putting the instrument to the full test of +its--not really mechanical but superhuman--capacity for brilliancy and +power. + +Indeed, not only the beginner, but all pianolists should bear in mind +that the chief distinction of the instrument lies in its exceeding +delicacy. No virtuoso can play as delicately and lightly and, at the +same time, as distinctly as can the pianolist those rapid pianissimo +runs and those exquisite traceries and ornamentations which are found +in modern music; all of which does not mean that the pianolist never +should play loudly and brilliantly, but that he should not allow +himself to be carried away by the possibilities of the instrument in +these directions. + +Certain refinements of interpretation which the pianist long has made +his own also should be observed. Don't start a trill and keep it up +with an evenly sustained strength of tone and rapidity from beginning +to end. Begin it a shade slower and a shade more softly than the tempo +and dynamic signs indicate, let it swell and grow louder, then taper +down, and slightly retard the turn which leads back to the melodic +phrase. This is not a hard-and-fast rule, but one which usually it is +safe to follow. The pianolist can execute his trills with a +combination of delicacy and clearness that is absolutely unique. + +Don't rip off runs as if you were tearing cloth. Come down with +decision on the first note, begin somewhat slower than the indicated +tempo and then increase the time to the proper acceleration. This is +the true virtuoso effect, adopted, no doubt, because on the pianoforte +it is easier to execute a run in this manner; and so, however +erroneously, it has come to be considered the genuine musical +way--showing that even in art we are creatures of habit. + +Don't use the sustaining pedal too frequently, not even as frequently +as indicated on the rolls. The pedal directions on the rolls follow +those of the printed sheets too closely. The pianist often is obliged +to use the sustaining pedal to hold a note that he cannot keep down +because his fingers are otherwise employed. But the music rolls are +cut so that every sustained note is held down as long as the composer +directs that it should be. Remember too that the term "loud pedal" as +applied to the sustaining pedal, as it properly is called, is +incorrect. This pedal sustains but does not increase the power of the +sound that is produced. That effect is secured by a stronger pressure +of the feet upon the pumping pedals. In fact by varying the degree of +pressure of the feet on the pumping pedals the pianolist can vary the +degree of sound from a whispered pianissimo to the strongest +fortissimo. + +The pianolist should remember that, as the instrument on which he +plays relieves him of all burdens of technique and enables him to +play anything, no matter how difficult, with absolute technical +accuracy, it is all the more his duty to play with as much expression +as he can call forth from his inner nature. Emotion, the power of +expression, the art of interpretation, can be developed by practice as +well as any other latent capacity. It is an excellent plan for the +beginner to take one piece, the Nevin waltz that I have described, for +example, and play it over many times, not necessarily at the same +sitting, in fact better not; but without attempting anything else. +Each time let the pianolist try to get more meaning, more expression +out of it than he did before. He will find, if he does this, that, +when he takes up another composition, the expression, the art of +interpretation, will come to him more naturally and more quickly, +until, from an ignorant beginner, he soon will have developed into a +musical artist who can give himself and hundreds of others the most +exalted pleasure--that of listening to music, not to mere playing. + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 21: "other more slowly" replaced with | + | "others more slowly" | + | Page 34: atachment replaced with attachment | + | Page 46: base replaced with bass | + | Page 112: Saint-Saeens replaced with Saint-Saens | + | Page 113: Saint-Saeens replaced with Saint-Saens | + | Page 144: Saint-Saeens replaced with Saint-Saens | + | Page 149: unnecesary replaced with unnecessary | + | Page 153: Saint-Saeens replaced with Saint-Saens | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pianolist, by Gustav Kobbé + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PIANOLIST *** + +***** This file should be named 24622.txt or 24622.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/2/24622/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Bryan Ness and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +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. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/24622.zip b/24622.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..15888b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/24622.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0cbf1ac --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #24622 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24622) |