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diff --git a/old/54999-8.txt b/old/54999-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 7da9d78..0000000 --- a/old/54999-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3422 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Music and Its Masters, by O. B. (Otis Bardwell) Boise - -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/license - - -Title: Music and Its Masters - -Author: O. B. (Otis Bardwell) Boise - -Release Date: June 28, 2017 [EBook #54999] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MUSIC AND ITS MASTERS *** - - - - -Produced by Andrés V. Galia and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - MUSIC & ITS MASTERS - - - - - _Uniform with this Volume_ - - SYMPHONIES - AND THEIR MEANING - - BY PHILIP H. GOEPP - - _12mo. 407 pages. Cloth, $2.00_ - - - This work, now in its third edition, - has demonstrated its great - usefulness. - - Taking up the representative - symphonies of the great composers, - and illustrating his remarks with - excerpts from the score, the author - shows the individuality, the special - intention of the master, and, where - possible, the underlying purpose of - his art. - - As an aid in the study of the - symphony, and as a companion at - symphony concerts, the book is - without a rival. - - - [Illustration: WAGNER] Page 134 - By permission of E. H. Schroeder, Berlin - - - - - MUSIC & ITS MASTERS - BY - O. B. BOISE - - [Illustration] - - WITH SIX PORTRAITS - - PHILADELPHIA & LONDON - J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY - 1902 - - - _Copyright, 1901 - By J. B. Lippincott Company_ - - _Electrotyped and Printed by - J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U.S.A._ - - - TO - GEORGE W. STOCKLEY, ESQ. - - - - - PREFACE - - -I have endeavored through showing the true nature of music, and -the conditions that are essential to its growth in breadth and -significance, to incite amateurs to a more respectful consideration of -its claims. - - O. B. B. - -BERLIN, March 1, 1901. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF MUSIC 13 - - II. MUSIC'S FIRST ERA, AND THE INFLUENCES - WHICH WERE OPERATIVE IN VARIOUS LANDS - DURING ITS CONTINUANCE 26 - - III. BIBLICAL MENTION OF MUSIC 61 - - IV. MUSIC FROM THE INVENTION OF NOTATION TO - DATE 80 - - V. WAGNER AND THE MUSIC DRAMA 134 - - VI. WHAT ARE THE INFLUENCING FACTORS IN - DECIDING MUSICAL DESTINIES? WHO IS TO - BE OUR SEVENTH HIGH-PRIEST? 169 - - VII. A SUMMARY OF MUSIC'S ATTRIBUTES. WHAT - CONSTITUTES MUSICAL INTELLIGENCE? 188 - - - - - ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - - WAGNER _Frontispiece_ - - PALESTRINA 92 - - BACH 99 - - BEETHOVEN 106 - - SCHUBERT 109 - - SCHUMANN 114 - - - - - MUSIC & ITS MASTERS - - - - - CHAPTER I - THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF MUSIC - - -A glance backward over the course of music's evolution suffices to -show that, until in very recent times, it furnishes no pregnant data -for the historian. The first era of music's evolution began before the -advent of historic man, for the earliest races of whom we know anything -had a well-defined appreciation of its significance, but no noteworthy -landmarks appear until after music came in touch with modern culture; -indeed, no great advancement is traceable until after the invention of -notation. The first record of melodies produced is supposed to have -been made in the fourth century (A.D. ),--viz., that of three Greek -hymns,--to Apollo, Nemesis, and Calliope,--which, however, possess -meagre means of proving their authenticity. From this shadowy period -until harmonies enter the field, nearly a thousand years later, the -historian finds no fruitful material, no verified accomplishments. - -The march of material events was amply recorded, but melodies were -passed from mouth to mouth and ear to ear, necessarily changing -their outlines in the process, for the line that connects memory and -expression seems, in most of humankind, to run so near that which -leads from imagination to expression, as to engender inaccuracy in -transmission. (This crossed-line influence is recognizable in the -productions of most composers. Memories become entangled in their -fancies.) Although our modern melody has doubtless come down to us -through long lines of heritage, yielding to the prevailing influences -of each successive stage in transmission, there is no statistical light -on its line of development. - -It would be interesting to know in what form the first musical -intuition manifested itself, and then to trace an unbroken chain of -cause and effect from that first manifestation to date, but that -knowledge would not materially benefit music, which is the only art -whose career does not follow well-defined cycles,--the features of -periods reproducing themselves with the recurrence of conditions. - -In sculpture, poetry, and architecture we have seasons of reverting -to the antique, and with good results. These arts dealt with tangible -material, could be kept present to the eye and mind, and therefore -developed quickly. We return to their ancient forms, so restful in -their conformity to natural adjustment, for relief from the tireless -ingenuity of modern producers, and to find bases for new flights. - -Music is, however, so essentially intangible that it required ages -to discover sufficient of its underlying principles to afford the -foundation for an art. Nothing within our ken has been as slow in -evolving, and yet nothing has shown such an unwavering tendency -forward and upward. These characteristics, and its insidious influence -upon man's nature, entitle it to be called the divine art. It is in -course of evolution from its original germ, but the outlines of its -early technical forms have no significance for the nineteenth-century -composer. - -For the above reasons statistics will be avoided when they are not -essential in locating and verifying conditions. Some periods were too -influential in broadening and defining the scope of musical expression -to be ignored. I shall endeavor to make my theories in regard to the -origin and growth of music accord with its inherent qualities, as well -as with man's devious and changing nature. The greater the music the -more direct is its appeal to our imaginations, and the stronger its -effect upon our emotions. Each intrinsically great composition has its -distinguishing mood or temperament, which is the sequential expression -and perpetuation of an emotion. This mood is first announced by the -chosen themes, and then its varied phases and the cumulative intensity -essential to sustained expression are secured through the logical -manipulation of these themes. - -I would divide music into two classes, natural and artificial. The -latter class is, as the name assigned to it implies, a mechanical -combination of musical means, the result of purely intellectual -processes, incited by will force, and not by inspiration. It lacks all -reason for being, and I shall dismiss it without further ceremony. It -is to natural music, which springs from our imaginations, is formulated -for purpose by intellect, appeals to the sympathies, and sways the -emotions, that I shall devote my attention. The music of the barbarous -races, although developed little beyond the initial stage, is adapted -in its character to their habits and sensibilities, and is among them -quite as powerful an agency for stimulating the passions as is our -nineteenth-century music among the people of this Western civilization. -Their musical exercises are purely emotional, and therefore natural. - -Natural music is composed of two species, that which is earnest and -edifying, and that which is entertaining only. These diverse growths -are equally spontaneous, and each develops form, substance, and -proportions in keeping with the intellectual soil by which it is -nurtured. - -The world requires that music shall suit its varying moods. Some of -Johann Strauss' waltzes are quite as genuine music as are Beethoven's -symphonies, and each in its own way contributes to the pleasure and -benefit of mankind. Which would be the greater loss, were it blotted -out of existence, is unquestionable, for the resultant deprivation must -be measured by the comparative numbers who would feel the lack of each. -The great majority of the public, and even some of music's devotees, -derive more pleasure from entertaining than from earnest (so-called -classical) music. This is partly because earnest music is quite often -abstruse, requiring well-directed mental effort to understand its full -significance; but a more generally prevailing reason for this condition -(especially when dance music is concerned) is to be found in its -cheering and exhilarating effect. - -I think it pure affectation for musical persons to express a lack of -respect for a good piece of dance music. A large percentage of those -who do so are not sincere. They fear to discredit their appreciation -of the classical, thinking wrongly that there would be something -incongruous in liking both. The artist's ideals should embrace the -whole gamut of human feeling, and music that strikes our sensibilities -at any point in this line is genuine, whether it be a symphony, a love -song, or a waltz. - -If music be the language of the emotions, its germs must be those -sounds through which joy, grief, love, fear, rage, wonder, and longing -find natural, unpremeditated, and often involuntary expression. The -fact that the import of these sounds, whether produced by man, beast, -or bird, is unmistakable, has led some writers to accord music the -honor of having been the initial means of intercourse between members -of the human family,--the original language. This is hardly consistent, -for life is mostly unrhythmic monotone, punctuated only here and there -by episodes fruitful in musical germs. - -Scientific observation has established the fact that all of the higher -species of living things have forms of vocal intercommunication. Like -human beings, animals have forms of speech comporting with their -degrees of intelligence and needs, but quite apart from these forms, -they and man have mutually intelligible codes of emotional expression. -These codes are not identical in less essential details, nor are they -equally comprehensive, but they spring from a common source. They vary -in character according to the qualities of instinctive feeling, refined -or coarse, that dominate the creatures that employ them. - -The lowest grade of animal life which possesses vocal apparatus is -susceptible of but three emotions--anger, longing, and fear--in such -measure as to elicit expression. The higher grades feel joy, love, -sorrow, anger, fear, and longing. - -Music has significance only when fraught with messages from the -composer to the hearer. Therefore those sounds which most clearly -voice strong emotions are the most pregnant musical germs. Isolated -shouts of triumph, rage, and joy, or cries of pain, fear, and entreaty, -appeal to our sensibilities, but they do not suggest music, although -its line of development from these primal elements is traceable. It -began with the first intellectual recognition of the adequacy of tonal -expression, when those sounds which had been involuntarily produced as -the result of sensations, were placed by the human mind in the category -of expressive means. - -At this point our germs came under the influence of deliberate purpose. -Intellect took spontaneous shouts, cries, and moans in hand, and has -gradually endowed them with continuity, life pulsation (rhythm), and -_form_; has made them express sentiments surcharged with emotions, -creating a definitely significant atmosphere (_stimmung_). This -pervading atmosphere or mood, which is a vital element in successful -musical effort, must be in no wise confounded with the situations -incident to and arising through the descriptive (_program_) composer's -art. The first is personal, a heart mood; the second is impersonal, a -brain picture. - -From this first step in musical evolution intellect has been more and -more closely associated with emotion, as the composer's intentions have -become more definite and his _forms_ more extended. - -Music's progress has not been uniform, for it is most sensitive, and -the conditions have often been unfavorable. It has followed, to a -great degree, the tidal fluctuations of refinement and fine sensibility -in the masses; for although its growth is dependent upon certain -conditions, these necessary conditions, if confined within narrow -limits, or when found only in isolated persons, will not suffice. - -It must breathe a free air, full of sympathetic feeling and impulse, -and it must have a broad, deep soil in which to spread its roots, for -it aspires heavenward, up through the material into the ideal. - -The growth of music from its initial stage to an art is quite -analogous, except in time consumed, to the growth of each talent to -maturity, or of each musical conception to full expression. They all -move on towards realization, impelled by art instinct and imagination. -The composer of to-day has a legendary past, full of romance and -heart-throbs, and a warm, sympathetic present, to stimulate his fancy, -but it required ages of joy, sorrow, love, and culture to quicken and -refine man's stoical nature. The soil which nourishes our imaginations -has been made fertile by the blood and tears of countless generations. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - MUSIC'S FIRST ERA, AND THE INFLUENCES - WHICH WERE OPERATIVE IN VARIOUS - LANDS DURING ITS CONTINUANCE - - -There are two distinct eras in the course of the evolution of music. -The first ended and the second began with the invention and adoption of -notation. This mechanical device so revolutionized musical production -and taste, that we may properly concede to it the honor of having -made possible the formulation of our art, for it chronicled the -accomplishments of each generation, thus furnishing its successors with -suggestive models. These were virtually lacking in the first era, which -accounts amply for the little advancement made during its continuance. - -That early career of music is shrouded in utter darkness, unbroken by a -single luminous episode, and the lights which we are enabled to throw -back upon it are entirely deductive. - -They are not sufficiently strong to bring details into relief, but -they suffice to develop outlines which are ample for the purposes of -my sketch. The fact that the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Chinese -devoted much attention to what some are pleased to call the science, -or technic, of music is to me no indication of the condition of music -existing at that time. Their libraries contained numerous volumes -devoted to music, but their treatises considered melody (harmony was -not known) from a purely mathematical stand-point. This vital element -of music, which should be as free as air, was fettered by pedantry. - -I feel convinced that the evolution of music was seriously delayed by -this too early association with science. China has perpetuated this -system of vassalage, the result being that her present temple melodies, -which also serve as folk-songs, are utterly devoid of plastic grace and -spontaneity. The fallibility of long lines of oral transmission casts -doubt upon the Chinaman's claim that he inherits at least a portion of -these songs, in their original form, from a period four thousand years -back; still, there is one feature of the situation which, in a measure, -substantiates it,--viz., the instinct for imitation that distinguishes -this race from all others. - -Evolution involves removal from an elementary state, and we measure -its advancement through placing the present outlines and qualities, of -whatever may be concerned, over against those that characterized some -known previous condition. - -China has produced some great scholars, and her civilization, such as -it is, endures like the everlasting hills, and seems subject to little -more change than they, but her people are not emotional, imaginative, -nor susceptible to influences from without. The great wonder is not -that real art feeling has never manifested itself in China, nor that -she has repulsed all attempts to introduce the fruits of European -musical culture, but that the Chinaman, with his nature, should have -ever evoked our muse. China has contributed nothing to the development -of music, and we cannot draw one spark of light from her for our -investigations. The Mongolian race treated their feeble first musical -impulse as they still do the feet of high-caste female children,--viz., -they wrapped it so tightly in pedantic cerements that it could not -grow; and, being an impulse, and not flesh and bones, it failed to -endure the repression. - -Although these ancient scientific treatises afford no clues to the -actual spirit and form of contemporaneous musical utterances, they do -bespeak the presence of interest and respect. As I have shown, this -condition was of no service in China, but as the Egyptian and Greek -people and culture were of a quite different substance and mould, we -may safely infer that their efforts were important features in this -preparatory era. - -The light which we are enabled to throw backward over the line of -musical evolution is drawn from the following sources: 1, the nature of -music itself, and the first purposeful use of its germs; 2, its present -condition among barbarous peoples; 3, profane history of ancient -Egypt; 4, its development in pace with that of the Aryan race; and, 5, -Biblical references (to which I shall devote a separate chapter). - - - NATURE OF MUSIC - -It is a gross misconception to regard music as merely a "concord of -sweet sounds," for that would be a barren art which had no contrasting -features. Much great music is not beautiful, for it may be tragical, -sombre, or may voice any of the moods incident to life. Euphony was -doubtless one of the last developed qualities, for it springs from joy, -love, or reverence. We must look among the coarser emotions for the -germ which was first used in tone expression. - -In that prehistoric time, at the beginning of what might be called -soul tenantry, man, whether created or evolved, being the first of -his line, had no fruits of human experience to guide him, and his -emotional status could therefore have differed little from that of the -higher grades of soulless creatures. We learn from history that since -it began its annals animal nature has remained virtually unchanged, -whereas man, because possessed of a higher grade of intellect and a -definite recognition of Deity, in one form or another, has refined and -broadened the scope of his impulses and understanding. As it is the -first subjective, and not objective, manifestation of tone expression -that we are seeking, we cannot do better than to scan this feature of -animal life. - -Such manifestations result from the sequential co-operation of -emotion, reason, and impulse. Animals have their growls, roars, and -trumpetings of anger and defiance, and many of them have forms of -expressing affection, but these latter are acquired through experience, -whereas they instinctively appeal to agencies outside themselves for -relief from pain or want, employing means the efficacy of which they -recognize. If we turn to humankind, we find that the new-born babe -will express its desire for food long before it becomes responsive to -its mother's endearments. - -I, therefore, assume that pleading was the first purposeful, -premeditated form of tonal communication, and, consequently, that it -was the nucleus about which experience and culture have gathered such -ample resources. (This term, tonal communication, applies equally well -to our formulated art, for music is invariably addressed by its creator -to some intelligence, whether it be a person, the world, or God.) - -This first developed element has never relinquished its prominence, -for it is the mood which most often pervades the composer's tone -pictures. We find it depicted, as prompted by each and all phases of -human insufficiency, appealing to appropriate sources for relief,--the -oppressed entreating the tyrant, the lover the object of his affection, -and the finite world, prostrate before Infinity, pouring its hopes and -aspirations into the Divine ear. - -Now occurs a period of unmeasurable time upon which we can throw no -light. It extends from this first manifestation up to that stage in -evolution which produced forms of tonal expression like those now -employed by the lowest savage races. Some time during this unexplorable -period, man having appropriated a fuller vocabulary from nature's -store, and having adopted more sustained, and at the same time -articulate, forms, was led to feel pulsations,--incipient rhythm. -Whether this primitive conception of metre was suggested by associated -word successions, or was incident to the extension of tonal expression -itself, we can only conjecture, but rhythmic impulse is evident in, -and it is the main feature of, the crudest musical efforts. - - - MUSIC OF THE SAVAGE RACES - -Science has long busied itself with race origin. It has approached -the problem from every side, and has accomplished so much towards its -solution as to afford grounds upon which to base the assumptions that -the diverse types of mankind, as they now exist, are each physically, -morally, and mentally the outcome of conditions of which climate, soil, -and degrees of isolation have been the most potent factors; and that -these branches which have spread out to cover the world spring from one -common family trunk. Even within the limits of historic time migrations -have been caused either by climatic changes or by the dissensions -incident to over-population. - -When the savages of the South Sea Islands became detached, and -whether of their own volition or through a dispensation of Providence, -which caused the Pacific Ocean to isolate them from less pestiferous -humanity, will never be known. It must, however, have taken place after -the idea of at least limited tone expression had taken a firm hold on -mankind and had become a transmittible instinct, for these savages -evince little more disposition or capacity for originating than the -more intelligent species of animals. I cite these people and their -lyric status to mark the lowest ebb in things human and musical of -which we have any knowledge. - -Their music and habits are alike crossed by the line which separates -the human from the animal, and it is needless to say which quality -contributes the larger portion. Their songs are, like their language, -ejaculatory, showing little exercise of reason in their forms, and -voicing the baser emotions solely. Rude rhythms are the only features -that attest their origin in musical impulse. Music in its course of -evolution had necessarily to pass through this primitive stage. In more -congenial environments it passed on and out, but these barbarians, -being neither emotionally nor intellectually capable of imparting the -impetus requisite to the development of finer and broader significance, -have for thousands of years used their present crude forms. Their stage -comes in touch with music's line of evolution at a period countless -years before David sang. - -From a letter in response to my inquiries as to the musical status of -these barbarians, written by Count Pfeil, who has most closely observed -their customs during twenty years spent in exploring the dark continent -and these darker islands, I infer that their barbarism has grades -analogous to those that exist in the culture of civilized nations. - -In speaking of the two musical instruments in use Graf Pfeil says, -"They are the 'Tutupele' on New Britain and Duke of York, and a sort -of pan pipe or flute on the Solomon Islands. The former may hardly be -called an instrument. It is used in connection with the superstitious -ceremonies of the Dult-Dult practice, and is supposed to herald the -appearance of the spirits. Two pieces of wood are carved down till they -sound two neighboring notes, such as c-d, g-a, or f-g. They are then -placed over a little hollow dug in the ground, and are beaten with -small club sticks.... - -"The other instrument is used by the Solomon Islanders. They assemble -three or four men, each armed with his flute, of which the largest pipe -is about three feet in length, with a two-inch internal diameter. There -are five of these pipes in each instrument. They are made of bamboo, -and played by being raised to the lips and strongly blown into. The -sound, especially when heard from a long distance, which robs it of its -harshness, is not at all unpleasant, but has rather a melodious, though -sad, character. The few men who play these instruments begin turning -round and round, and others, wishing to join in the dance, gather -round them, also moving in a circle. When a hundred dancers perform, -those on the outside run at a headlong speed, while those forming the -centre spin, but very slowly. The dancers accompany the players by very -curious half-whistling sounds, which sound like the twitter of birds. -The louder and shriller the sounds the prettier they are thought to -be.... - -"On the Duke of York, boys have a curious, cruel way of procuring -music. They take a large beetle and break off one of its legs. In the -remaining stump they push a lot of elastic gum, of which they hold the -other end. The beetle is now made to fly, but not being able to get -away from the boy's hand, keeps circling round and round it, emitting a -loud whirring or humming sound.... - -"All these races sing. Their songs are very monotonous, but are -defined, like our own. You can ask them to sing such or such a song, -and they will always sing it exactly as they sang it before. All songs -are sung in a subdued voice, as the melancholy and suspicious character -of the people prevents all loud demonstrations of mirth.... I have -never heard their songs accompanied by any instrument, excepting at -a dance, when, to my sorrow, combined vocal and instrumental efforts -served as an accompaniment to the dance." - -The North American Indians, despite the demoralizing influences of -traders, agencies, and fire-water, are noble men as compared with -the cannibals just considered. Many of their less amiable traits are -doubtless the fruits of white intruders' avarice, which has from the -first set aside equity when dealing with the red man. They live having -a future state in view in the happy hunting-grounds, which stimulates -in them a strict, but not too comprehensive, moral consciousness. Those -conditions of life which mould race characteristics have in the case of -the North American Indian developed bodily activity, close observation, -bravery, and reasoning faculties, though crude. They lack delicate -sensibility and imagination, but still in them we find nomadic manhood -at its best, and their music mirrors their character. - -Their war, funeral, and joyous songs are alike monotonous to modern -Aryan ears, for they are devoid of romance and fine feeling, and -are composed of repetitions _ad libitum_, instead of progressive -developments. Their climaxes are produced through increased unction in -delivery rather than through sequential means. They mark the primary -pulsations of their songs through swaying the body, dancing, and -through the use of rude instruments, and in so doing work themselves -up to a remarkable state of exaltation. This result of their musical -exercises must not be construed as indicating the presence of a strong, -emotional element in the Indian character. They are, on the contrary, -so stolid that few things can ruffle their equanimity. Their ecstasies -are purposeful and self-induced. - -Their phenomenal capacity for reading and interpreting nature's -chronicle of the movements of living things, and its continual -exercise, have blinded them, in a great degree, to the beauties -of landscape. They devote themselves to the analysis of details -instead of to the contemplation of the Creator's harmonious ensemble, -and they consequently develop little sense for the beautiful. The -fundamental manifestation of this sense is, in normally endowed man, -an appreciation of the forms and colors of material things. Upon this -sense we may build responsiveness to the intangible and ideal, but -without it we have no foundation for æsthetic taste. I can think of -nothing more incongruous than an atmosphere of Bach fugues or Beethoven -symphonies for a man who sees only tons of hay, feet of lumber, -water-power, etc., while gazing upon nature's grand panorama. The music -of the North American Indian is neither euphonious nor romantic, but -it is distinctly more human than that of the South Sea Islanders, and -its varying tribal phases permit the inference that it has, in their -keeping, accumulated resources, however slight they may seem. - -The Indian's character and music throw light upon the course of -evolution during the first era, inasmuch as they, contrasted with -those of the cannibal races, tend to substantiate my claim that sound -expression takes its cue from attendant culture, advancing in pace with -it. - - - PROFANE HISTORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT - -At that remotest period upon which the historian can throw light (about -3000 B.C. ) the Valley of the Nile was the scene of undertakings the -fruits of which have ever since excited the wonder of the world. The -Pyramids, the somewhat later-built Palace of Karnak, and Temples -of Luxor and Ipsambul stand first among the phenomenal conceptions -of human architects; and the mechanical skill required in handling -the massive blocks and pillars of which they are composed would -severely test the appliances of our practical and inventive age. -These monumental buildings, their consistent environments, and the -deciphered records of scientific and literary accomplishments in those -earliest historic times, bespeak broad culture. As we possess no record -of a race from whom the Egyptians could have drawn either stimulus -or knowledge itself, their culture was presumably indigenous, and -therefore of slow growth. The Palace of Karnak, for instance, marks the -climax of accomplishment in a line of architectural endeavor which may -have begun soon after the Nile commenced making her alluvial deposits. - -The persistent and audacious ambition which this long course of -development attests, and the art feeling expressed in their works, -endows Egyptian interest in music, as evinced through the scientific -treatises mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, with especial -significance. They were more learned and less pedantic than the -Chinese, and were, besides, emotional and imaginative, although sadly -superstitious. Had that high enlightenment permeated all classes of -the people, Egypt would have been an Elysium for our art, but it was, -unfortunately, confined to the upper social grades, which embraced the -priests, and to a certain extent the warriors. - -The masses, in company with prisoners of war and slaves from Central -Africa, were mere servitors to the monarchs and priests in executing -their ambitious schemes. Although their labor built up indubitable -testimony to the greatness of their masters, the burdens imposed -upon them century after century finally wore away their fealty; -therefore the decadence and downfall of great Egypt. There could not -possibly have been anything like art enthusiasm among a people so -oppressed. Despite this vital lack, ancient Egypt did more, directly -and indirectly, to foster music, and to give it an onward impulse, -than all other agencies of the first era combined. This was somewhat -attributable to the fact that then, for the first time, tone expression -was associated with rhythmic texts; still, I infer that their music -was merely an accessory to euphonious declamation,--subservient to -poetry,--for had their melodies possessed independent import, those -resourceful people would have found some way of recording them. These -relations between music and poetry were perpetuated in Greece; indeed, -our art was not accorded equality as a contributive element in song -until in quite modern times. There have been several distinct epochs in -this relationship,--viz., that in which tone expression, because of -its little understood capacities was held in vassalage to her sister -art; music's equality (dating from the adoption of notation), during -which she greatly extended and beautified her forms; her ascendency, -which characterized the vocal works of the early part of the present -century; and now the Wagner school, in which the two are again made to -collaborate on equal terms. - -The ancient Egyptians employed pan pipes, flutes, horns, instruments -of percussion, and small harps. Mural pictures of the fourth dynasty -represent players blowing upon pipes of different lengths, and -consequently of different pitches, which is a dumb declaration that -at least some principles regulating the simultaneous use of tones -had been recognized. Outside this pictorial record, we can find no -intimation that anything analogous to modern harmony was known and -practised by this people. In the absence of specific data we are -forced to predicate the condition of music in that stupendous, though -exclusive, civilization, upon the elements of the atmosphere from which -it drew its impulse. As the more prominent of these elements were -profound religious feeling, scientific learning, insatiable ambition, -and a clearly pronounced lyric tendency, their melodies must have been -coherent and expressive. - - - ARYAN RACE - -As the instincts and capacities of the Aryan race have always been -unique, it may prove instructive to glance at those features of its -prehistoric existence in Asia which have been brought to light through -comparative philology and mythology. In the first place, these sciences -establish the fact that we of the West (Greeks, Italians, Germans, -English) and the Hindoos of the East are of common origin. Our -ancestors listened to the same legends, ballads, and mythical tales -while gathered as children about one and the same mother, and they -have handed them down to this generation of the descendants of each -so little changed as to furnish ample proof of family relationship. -Many of the more important words of the various Aryan languages are -suggestively similar, and this in spite of the five thousand years of -transmission, and of the diverse conditions incident to the growth of -widely separated clans into great nations. - -The Aryans were worshippers of Nature in her more spectacular and -heroic forms and moods,--in storms, fire, sunset, and dawn, but looked -upward for their Supreme Deity. The sky, with its fathomless depths -of blue and its star mysteries, was their Zeus. From this it will be -seen that they were, in a way, idolaters, but their idolatry was not -degrading; it was, indeed, ennobling. They contemplated Nature, and in -her processes saw the hand of an all-pervading, beneficent power,--a -God. They worshipped the God thus, and in no other way, revealed to -them through His works. - -Their conceptions of family and community organization have served, -and still serve, as models to civilized nations. They were paternal, -the clans being large families with patriarchal heads, and elected -councillors. They were pastoral, cultivating the soil and herding -cattle, sheep, horses, and pigs; but they were at the same time good -warriors. They wore leathern shoes, garments woven from wool, and they -had at least a rudimentary knowledge of the sciences. - -From all this I infer that the early Aryans were a race of freemen, -not subject to the class discrimination that ruined Egypt. - -Their appreciation of nature, and their reverence, ambition, and -pertinacity fitted them to become the especial guardians of the -arts, and their comparative class equality enabled them to fulfil -the requirements of my theory that music can only flourish in a -widely diffused interest and knowledge. It must breathe a genial and -suggestive atmosphere. - -Our main business is with Aryan music after it came under the influence -of Egyptian culture, but it may interest my readers to flash, for a -moment, the light of analogy back upon its earlier period. We have -found the early Aryans less learned than the Egyptian scholar class, -but also less superstitious and less pedantic. They were normal human -beings in their occupations, susceptibilities, and social life. With -such a picture in view it is quite natural for our imaginations to -hear its complement in expressive sounds,--peaceful lullabies, songs of -praise and love, and sonorous rejoicings. - -In remote times the region which is supposed to have been the original -home of the Aryans must have been fertile, for early poets were -enthusiastic in describing its charms. The climatic changes that made -the soil arid as it is to-day may have suggested, or may even have -necessitated, migration; still, what condition or combination of -conditions induced the Aryans to abandon Central Asia can never be -positively known; but it is certain that they, like irresistible tidal -waves, rolled westward and southward, destroying, carrying before them, -or absorbing and dominating all peoples and institutions in their -course. - -One of the streams of Aryan migration flowed towards the south and -formed the Hindoo and Persian nations, and another came into Europe -by way of the Hellespont and took up its abode in Greece and Italy. -Three others, the Celtic, Teutonic, and Slavonic, followed in the order -named, passing to the north of the Black Sea, and occupied respectively -Western, Central, and Eastern Europe. - -Of all the nations who have developed from these original nuclei, the -Hindoos show least evidence of close intercourse with the world's -great teacher, whereas the Greeks, perhaps because of their proximity -to Egypt, were led to avail themselves of her tuition to the fullest -extent. - -The ancient Hindoos were less scientific than the Chinese or -Egyptians, and isolation has prevented them from advancing with modern -civilization. Their music is less the fruit of theories than it is of -natural Aryan impulse. They do not look upon it as a science, but as -a matter of the emotions, the result of, and intended to quicken, the -imagination. I have seen Hindoo melodies which exhibited a correct -appreciation of rhythmic adjustment, still their accomplishments do not -entitle them to a place among the potent factors in musical evolution. - -Now we come to the climax of our first era. Such a true conception of -beauty, such perfect symmetry, and such far-reaching imagination and -lofty aspiration as are present in, and have made ancient Greek art and -literature luminous for all time, bespeak conditions that would have -carried music to fruition during their continuance had she not been -so intangible, and therefore necessarily slow in developing. Had her -nature been less coy, we might have ancient Greek music as monumental -as the Iliad or the Parthenon. - -The Greeks were quick to recognize the virtues of Egyptian learning, -and Greece soon became great Egypt's greater pupil. Still, we should -accord Egypt first place among the factors that built up modern -civilization and led to the formulation of musical art, for she -originated the vital impulse. - -That period of Greek culture supremacy dispensed no laurels to its -mothers, wives, and daughters. Woman was regarded as an inferior -being, and she took no honorable part in intellectual social life. -Boys were exhaustively educated, while girls were neglected. This was -the one blot on the glory of those times, and we, besides deprecating -the injustice it involved, must regret that these ancient art-workers -denied themselves that highest earthly source of inspiration, -intercourse with the delicate enthusiasm, the keen perceptions, and art -instinct of educated and loved womanhood; for to what heights might -their achievements have attained but for this misconception of woman's -nature and capacities! - -One would think that Sappho's lyrics, which induced Plato to call -her the "Tenth Muse," would have suggested the existence, in woman's -purer and more sensitive nature, of a subtle vein of beautiful -intellectuality, but such was not the case. Judging from what we have -seen of early Aryan family life, this unpractical and debasing idea of -suppressing woman must have been imbibed with Egyptian learning. - -Music was taught in the Greek schools, and youths were thus fitted -to join in the sacred choruses, and to appreciate the significance -of poetry. The immortal bards sang their creations, and they often -remained unwritten for generations. The drama developed from songs and -dances. Music was a prominent feature of their symposiums, the lyre -being passed from guest to guest, each contributing of his best to the -intellectual feast. Banquets were brought to a close by singing hymns. -Music pervaded each function of Hellenic life. - -Their choruses were unisons, and their instrumental accompaniments -were either purely rhythmic (regardless of pitch) or they followed the -voice, for the Greeks had no discoverable conception of harmony. In -contemplating the marvellous erudition and the poetic sense of ancient -Greece, and the important _rôle_ played by music in the period of her -glory, I can but feel that the failure to chronicle her melodies is a -misfortune. They may not have been rich in variety of tone succession -or in rhythm, but they doubtless were vigorous, expressive, and -logically rounded, and they therefore mark the brightest point reached -in the first era. - -Greece succeeded Egypt as the world's teacher, and her precepts gain -significance as advancing culture enables us to better comprehend -the fine adjustment of imagination to nature which they embody. Her -sculpture, architecture, and literature are the highest models that -we have, and those of our architects who appreciate the import of -monumental buildings look to ancient Greece for appropriate inspiration. - -Is it not reasonable and logical to assume that the spirit of Greece's -unwritten musical forms has been preserved, passed from nation to -nation, and from generation to generation, and that it underlies -our present classical school? I say spirit in speaking of musical -transmission, for music's resources and outward forms were, in the -Homeric period, and still are, in course of development. - -It would be a waste of space to discuss the musical doings of other -European nations during this period. Those that did least to prepare -the way have been most active since our art took shape. As great as -Italy's services have been since the sixteenth century (A.D. ), she did -little for music previous to that time. St. Ambrose, of Milan (384 A.D. -), and St. Gregory, of Rome (590 A.D. ), ordained rituals, prayers, -music, etc., but there is no detailed record of their achievements, -therefore no authentic Gregorian chants. - - - - - CHAPTER III - BIBLICAL MENTION OF MUSIC - - -The Old Testament is a chronicle of the growth, movements, physical -and mental habits, and religious status of the great Jewish race. -Its religion with one Godhead, whose immediate presence was often -felt, its music addressed to this presence, and its family, tribal, -and racial organizations were all Jewish. The great moving lever of -Jewish existence was a religion whose creed prohibited the making of -"graven images," so painting and sculpture were not cultivated; it -recognized the direct agency of supreme will in moulding daily events, -and prescribed oft-repeated praise and prayer, and thus created the -atmosphere of exalted devotional feeling which we find recorded in -many of the books of the Bible, and which climaxed in David's Psalms. - -The ancient Hebrews were in no measure a scientific people. Their one -intellectual aspiration found vent in beautifying the worship of God. -They were religious teachers, who have directly or indirectly shaped -the creeds of the civilized world. - -According to the conditions upon which I have thus far based my -theories of musical evolution, early Jewish songs could not have been -equal, in artistic merit, to the texts with which they were associated, -for there was an utter lack, in this race, of such general culture and -art sense as we found prevailing in ancient Egypt; but the Hebrews were -a race apart, and their unique instincts may have made their music an -exception to all rules. - -Their song-impulse was confined to one line, but it was so strong -that it projected itself from conception, in religious enthusiasm, to -a high grade of fulfilment without touching the low plane of their -general culture; nevertheless, the above-mentioned short-comings and -the subsequent decadence of race nationality relegate Hebrew music to a -low place as an influence upon the world's song. - -They had men who devoted themselves to the playing of instruments -as an accompaniment to song, and the Bible mentions more varieties -of instruments than can be found in profane history of those times. -Worship was such an important feature of Jewish life, and praise -was so essential an element in their worship, that the masses must -have learned and sung those great lyrics which to-day represent the -culmination of human awe, reverence, prayer, and thanksgiving. It is -impossible to imagine David singing his psalms to crude or inadequate -musical settings. - -Here we have a situation apparently full of vital contradictions. -Most of the influences which have proven themselves necessary to the -development of music were wanting, and still there is evidence that it -had grown to be an expressive means. The Jews were actuated by profound -religious feeling and by an exquisite sense of nature's forms. No poet -has yet equalled David's simple but beautiful appreciation of the -universe, and of its influence upon mankind. - -The Jews of Poland, Spain, and Germany have diverse musical settings of -the Psalms, so there is no traceable line of inheritance from David. -This line has been obliterated by the changes incident to generations -of unassisted memory. That there may be rare exceptions to this rule -of change in form during extended oral transmission was abundantly -proven recently by a German Hebrew musician and scholar. He played me -an unwritten Passover hymn which his father had always sung at that -festival time, and told me that he had not long before been entertained -by a Spanish Hebrew, who sang the same melody tone for tone. This -gentleman's hearing and memory are so absolute that there is no -question to be raised as to this case; but as far as my investigations -have gone, it stands alone. - -The composer of the nineteenth century can nowhere else find such -earnest and suggestive texts as in the Old Testament. They voice the -hopes, sorrows, despair, reverence, and joys of our hearts just as -aptly as they did those of the Hebrew bards who wrote them thousands of -years ago. Their natural and direct method of expressing the emotions, -and their incomparable elevation of spirit, make them appeal especially -strongly to the musician, whose flights of imagination start from these -emotions. - -We are denied the privilege of scanning the forms and substance of -Biblical melodies or chants, and must content ourselves with tracing -the more prominent features of the _rôle_ which was assigned to music -during that older era, and the mechanical devices which were employed -to enhance rhythmic precision and sonority. - -Some writers have endeavored to solve the problem presented by Hebrew -music in the midst of incongruous conditions by attributing its -development to the influence of presumable intercourse with prehistoric -Egyptian civilization. This does not appear logical, for Hebrew music -seems to have been little, if at all, affected by the continued direct -contact during the long sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt. - -The Jewish and Egyptian characters were so diametrically opposed (as -was evinced in their beliefs, habits, and aspirations) that their -emotional forms of expression could not possibly have followed common -lines. - -Intercourse with Egyptians did not impart even a scientific impulse to -the Hebrew mind. It is therefore safe to conclude that my previously -mentioned hypothesis--that the force of their impulses carried Jewish -music and poetry to unique positions, as compared with those of their -other arts and branches of learning--is worthy of credence. - -The first mention of music is made in Genesis iv. 21. Jubal, the son -of Lamech and Adah, is described as the "father of all such as handle -the harp and organ." Jubal was of the seventh generation of Adam's -descendants, and the world was, according to Biblical records, in its -second century of existence. These "harps and organs" were doubtless -similar to those depicted in pictures painted in the fourth Egyptian -dynasty. The first named were frames upon which one or, at most, a -very limited number of strings were stretched, and the "organs" were -pan-pipes (a series of reeds of graded lengths, bound together, and -played by blowing into them as they were passed back and forth across -the lower lip). The pan-pipes were probably played in unison with -the voice, whereas the primitive harp was used, with the existing -instruments of percussion, to mark rhythms only. - -All historians agree in their deductions as to the order in which the -several classes of instruments made their appearance on the musical -stage. As rhythm is the heart pulsation of music, it naturally -took hold of the first singers of in any measure formulated melody, -leading to swaying of the body, clapping of the hands, stamping of -the feet, and quickly suggested the employment of other resonant -means for marking its progress. Our drums were at first only hollow -pieces of wood, our cymbals, triangle, and gong may have had double -duties,--musical and culinary,--and our harp and piano were anticipated -by single strings stretched to yield a sonorous tone regardless of -pitch. - -Next came the wind instruments,--at first single reeds blown to -mark rhythms, then pan-pipes, and much later single pipes provided -with finger-holes like the unimproved flute. Last of all came the -instruments from which the tones are drawn by passing a bow over the -strings. The idea of adapting the vibrating length of strings to a -desired pitch, through pressing them down upon a fingerboard, is -comparatively modern. These general classes took on numerous forms and -were made from various materials. - -The existence of Jubal and his musical line of descendants bespeaks a -wide-spread interest in and use of song, but Genesis yields no further -enlightenment, no texts, nor any other allusions to the subject of -music. - -Exodus xv. furnishes the next mention. The treacherous quicksands of -the Red Sea having swallowed up the Egyptians, Moses and the children -of Israel join in a song of rejoicing and thanksgiving to God, to -whose direct interposition they ascribe their deliverance. The song -as recorded is too circumstantial to have been spontaneous. Moses, -in writing his account of the occurrence, doubtless embodied the -sentiments which burst forth from the hearts of his people in the -presence of the event in a more orderly and more amplified form. The -sentiments are lofty, and the effect produced by the singing of that -vast chorus of just rescued was, beyond compare, the grandest focus -of human enthusiasm that the world has witnessed; for Moses had six -hundred thousand fighting men alone. - -"Miriam the prophetess," after the song, or during lapses in the -singing, to incite the throng to renewed efforts, "took a timbrel -in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and -dancing. And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath -triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the -sea." The timbrels were drums, probably much like our tambourines in -size and shape. - -The trumpet is mentioned three times in the nineteenth and twentieth -chapters of Exodus in connection with the delivery to Moses of -the Commandments. The last occasion is after the consummation of -this universe-shaping ceremony,--viz., "And all the people saw the -thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the -mountain smoking." - -The thirty-second and thirty-third chapters of Deuteronomy contain one -of the Bible's most sombre lyrics. Moses, whose life has been devoted -to the welfare of the Israelites, who has for forty years struggled to -overcome in them the demoralization incident to centuries of bondage, -sings there a parting song to his people, for they are about to enter -into possession of the promised land, which happiness is denied him. -Could a sadder picture be imagined than this good man, so little -confident in the fruits of his past teaching, exhorting the Israelites -for the last time? - -It would make my sketch tiresome to burden it with the less important -musical events chronicled in sacred history, like the songs of -Deborah, Hannah, etc., so I shall skip four centuries, the musical -exercises of which seem to have been marked by no extraordinary -occurrences, unless we accept the fall of Jericho as a musical -phenomenon. - -At the end of this period we come upon David, who might appropriately -be called the Isaiah of our art, for his songs voice the conception of -a full, free, resourceful musical fruition, unmeasured as yet by even -the greatest composers who have given them settings. I. Samuel xvi. -makes the first mention of David's musical capacity,--viz., "And Saul -said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and -bring him to me.... And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God -was upon Saul, that David took a harp, and played with his hand: so -Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from -him." David's first recorded "psalm of thanksgiving" is in II. Samuel -xxii. Its power, vivid imagery, and conception of omnipotence have -never been surpassed by the mind of man. It is musically suggestive and -inspiring, but a composer capable of grasping its import might be awed -into silence, for our art is still feeble to attempt such flights. A -careful reading of verses five to eighteen, inclusive, will yield an -understanding of my feelings in regard to this song. - -There is in much earnest music a substratum of "ecclesiastical tone," -for the deeper strings of cultivated human responsiveness are attuned -to worship. Our relation as creatures to God, the Creator, is the prime -factor in inducing this condition, but next to it Biblical song most -influences the trend of high musical aspiration. These influences are -insidious, and their fruits do not necessarily betoken design on the -part of the composer, who may be not at all devout; but he, having -imbibed, in common with civilized mankind, the spirit of religion, it -permeates, and to some extent characterizes, his highest efforts. - -As long as man continues to write music David will not cease to be one -of the moving levers in shaping his conceptions. This ecclesiastical -tone, when present, does not usually manifest itself in themes, nor -in their contrapuntal development, but in the harmonic outlines upon -which these elements rest. David is supposed to have written the larger -number of the one hundred and fifty Psalms that have come down to us, -and it may be interesting to trace some of the musical colors suggested -by his more clearly manifested moods. They mirror the deepest recesses -of his God-fearing and paternal heart. - -The thirteenth Psalm is a wail of sorrow, which is saved from sinking -to despair by David's memory of past mercies. This latter element is -analogous in this case to the major harmonies in our modern minor -keys, which lend suggestions of coming brightness to our darkest tone -pictures. - -In the nineteenth Psalm, which begins, "The heavens declare the glory -of God, and the firmament sheweth his handiwork," we find a spirit -of contented contemplation, for which these quoted lines strike the -key-note, and announce the _theme_ with no uncertain sound. - -The twenty-third consists of pastoral similes, which follow each -other with quiet but ever-increasing intensity. It is as full of -restful confidence and self-contained energy as the slow movement of -Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. It is too sustained in its sequential -progress to afford the contrasts so essential to composers of mediocre -ability, which may account for the desecrations of which it has been -the subject. Nothing so tests the calibre of a musician as logically -growing continuity. This Psalm would have found an ideal setting in -Bach's lofty serenity. - -The spirit of exultation in the praise of the Almighty, which is -present in even the sadder moments of David's song, flashing light -through its doubts and sorrows, breaks into effulgent glory in the -ninety-eighth Psalm, which has probably received more attention from -composers than any other Biblical text. It has inspired much wonderful -music, but a misconception of the spirit which prompted the last verse -has become traditional. - -The psalmist did not invoke the floods to clap their hands, and the -hills to be joyful together before the Lord, in order to propitiate -God, but to express the joy he felt in anticipating the advent of -Him who should "judge the people with equity." To be consistent, -the composer should set this sentiment in broad grandeur, as the -culmination of his musical scheme. - -These examples will suffice to illustrate, in a superficial way, the -suggestive richness of David's Psalms. - -Isaiah, in chapter v. 12, says, "And the harp and the viol, the tabret -and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts;" indeed, the prophet makes -repeated references to music, but not in such manner as to endow his -chronicle with special import to us. - -I will close this chapter with two instances from the New Testament. -The first occurred in connection with the Lord's Supper,--viz., after -the administration of the sacrament, and when they had sung a hymn they -went out into the Mount of Olives. This quiet hymn will not cease to -echo through the universe until we are enabled to realize St. John's -vision of heavenly music, which as described in Revelation (fifth -chapter) would form a fitting climax to earthly musical effort. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - MUSIC FROM THE INVENTION OF NOTATION TO DATE - - -The sweep of events in this new era has been so grand in its cumulative -momentum and high tendency, that one is quite as much embarrassed by -its richness in data as by the poverty of the older period. - -At the opening of its second era music began to make history, and -many painstaking and erudite men have devoted the best years of their -lives to collating her records; we are therefore amply supplied with -books of reference, which fact would seem to justify me in still -further pursuing the path marked out by my individual impressions. My -deductions and theories may not always follow beaten paths; indeed, I -am only led to discuss the well-known events of this era by the hope -that these digressions may afford my readers new points of view, and -thus, perhaps, incite them to acquire a more intimate knowledge of the -nature of music. - -Before commencing our explorations I should like to emphasize the -theory advanced in Chapter II.,--viz., that the progress of musical -evolution is more or less rapid as the quality of its culture -environment is better or less well suited to its requirements. Great -composers are not eccentric growths, but they are the natural fruits of -the conditions into which they are born and in which they create. - -Acorns thrown upon bare rocks will decay; planted in sands exposed to -the violent winds from the sea, they grow into gnarled scrubs; but if -they fall into a soil possessing qualities calculated to expand their -inherent germs, they become noble oaks, differing in size according to -the assertive vitality of their several germs and to the impulses which -they receive from earth and sky. These conditions also mould their -forms, for their branches reach out for sunlight and rain just as their -root-tendrils seek more substantial, but no more necessary, sustenance. -This quest gives direction to their growth. - -The forest giants are like our Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, and -Wagner; they, like these musical giants, tower above their fellows. Our -musicians spread their roots out into the past (into the knowledge of -what others have achieved), their aspirations are warmed into activity -by the sunlight of widely diffused culture, and their creations take -form from their surroundings. - -To illustrate my theory: if Beethoven were now living and composing -music, it would necessarily differ as much from that which he did -produce, in form and means, as our life conditions and modes differ -from those of seventy-five years ago, for such a genius would be -quick to feel the presence of new elements in either his material -surroundings or art atmosphere. - -Some of these new elements are helpful to the composer, while others -tend to stifle his spontaneity or to distort the outlines and too -much brighten the colors of his tone pictures. In the first class -I would put the universal increase of musical intelligence; the -mechanical devices, which, as applied to the organ, piano, and most of -the orchestral wind instruments, greatly increase their efficiency; -Berlioz's idea of color integrity, which has revolutionized orchestral -writing; the decrease of conventionality in form; the greater intensity -in harmonic successions; and the somewhat Bach-like import with which -the writer of to-day attempts to endow the bass and middle voices. - -At the head of the second class (harmful elements) I should place the -immense practicality of our age, which intrudes its steam ploughs upon -our rural pictures, and, with its unending procession of mechanical -innovations, crowds poetic fancy into dark recesses, where she -survives but does not thrive; then comes the feverish haste to become -rich or famous, which so dominates our generation as to disturb the -contemplative moods of the artist, imparting sometimes a suggestion of -prosaic utility to his creations, and in other cases endowing them with -incongruous form and colors; and last, but not least, comes the modern -habit of self-introspection, which, springing from a laudable desire to -reason philosophically, smothers spontaneity. - -Beethoven would have rebelled against these adverse conditions, but -he would nevertheless have been influenced by them. His spirit will -defy time, but his models and methods have become antiquated. A modern -composer, however gifted, could not follow them without sacrificing his -claims to recognition. - -We willingly allow Bach and Beethoven to transport us back into their -times, and we draw refreshment from the natural atmosphere that -pervades them, but would reject a modern product which embodied similar -elements; for they would, in such case, be artificial, not the elements -suggested by and characteristic of an emotional mood. - -Notation, which defined musical achievements, and thus fitted each -stage of development to serve as a stepping-stone to formulated art, -was unaccountably long in coming. - -There is no absolute certainty as to who invented our present system -of writing music, but the honor is usually accredited to Huchbold, of -Flanders (840-930). He was a learned Benedictine monk and an ardent -worker in the field of music. Huchbold certainly employed a form of -notation at least suggestive of that now in use, but, according to -some historians, Huchbold's own writings mention the device as if not -original with him. He left examples of part writing, which, however, -mark no improvement on the implied methods of the ancient Egyptians -(suggested through the mural paintings referred to in Chapter II.), -for his voices progress in parallel fourths, fifths, and octaves, and -consequently have no independent significance. - -The earliest example of modern notation is to be seen in the Winchester -Cathedral. It is the setting of a prayer, and is supposed to have been -written in 1016 A.D. England also claims to have furnished the first -example of contrapuntal composition,--a four-voiced canon with two -free _bassi_, written in, or prior to, 1240. If this be authentic, it -is a phenomenon, like "thunder out of a clear sky," for there was not -at that time, nor for three hundred years afterwards, any manifest -scientific tendency in England's musical methods. This piece may have -been a direct or indirect product of the Flanders school, of which -Huchbold was the progenitor. - -This learned priest, who strove to materialize and co-ordinate musical -means (not its spirit), may be taken as an index of the intellectual -bent of his time in the Netherlands, whose people, undaunted by human -foes, or by the more merciless sea, which was a perpetual menace to -their very existence, devoted much attention to the development of the -arts and sciences and to building up industries. Their intelligent and -persistent enterprise walled out the North Sea and made it a tractable -servant, and created on those reclaimed marshes a civilization which -for several hundred years represented the highest attainments of man. - -This earnestness of character and high culture were congenial elements -to the growth of music, and there is abundant evidence that their -complement, a distinct sense for sound expression, was not wanting, -for Taine, in his "Art in the Netherlands," says, "Other people -cultivate music; to them it seems an instinct." It is not strange -that this instinct, coupled with the perpetuated spirit of Huchbold, -should have produced a formulated art at that propitious stage in -music's evolution. Music itself had become a ripe impulse, ready and -waiting for just such conditions. The Flanders school adjusted tone -relationships and invented counterpoint and canon. John Osteghem -and his pupil Despres were the greatest masters of that initial -school, which for nearly two centuries, beginning with the middle -of the fourteenth, furnished all the European courts with singers, -instrumentalists, and composers. - -Their more elaborate music was written for the Church, and a damper -was consequently put upon production by the Reformation, which greatly -simplified religious observances and closed choir doors to the -composers of ambitious works. - -Before the development of opera and the institution of the concert -orchestra and chorus, the Church was the sole patron of high musical -endeavor. Fortunately, the Netherlands musicians had forestalled -the calamitous results of this religious revolution through the -establishment of conservatories of music in Venice and Naples. They -transplanted their knowledge and high aspirations into sunny and -Catholic Italy, where they flourished and bore fruit after their native -land had ceased to be musically supreme. - -A new art is unavoidably over-conservative. The natural laws, upon -which it is founded, hold its devotees to literal conformity until -experience has evolved a sense of their broader meaning. - -They are in reality but rigid outlines, drawn in accordance with -fundamental art adjustments, the recognition of which saves the curved -lines of our fancy's pictures from abnormity and chaos. They are quite -analogous to the anatomical knowledge which is essential to the artist, -who conforms to its general requirements and still endows his figures -with individual character. - -The Netherland music of that period was more intellectual than -emotional; therefore, taking the comparative characteristics of the -two peoples into account, we can but regard the migration of the focus -of musical activity to Italy as an extremely fortunate event; beside -the fact that this change of base avoided delay in evolution, or -possible decadence. - -The emotional Italians would not have made music's foundation as deep -or as broad, but they were well fitted to contribute grace and beauty -to its superstructure. The sensuous element in music is almost wholly -a reflex of Italian temperament. We northern peoples, recognizing the -power inherent in this quality, cultivate it with more or less success, -but it is an exotic in our colder natures. - -Under the influence of Italian character music soon began to assume -more graceful lines, purer euphony, and richer significance. Science -was further developed, but it was treated as a means, subject to -individual conceptions. The success of this school transplanted from -the Netherlands to Italy culminated in the production of Palestrina -(1524-1594), the first high-priest of our finally clarified art. - -The inherent qualities of music, which were considered at some length -in Chapters I. and II., make our art exclusive. They wall it about, -forming an outer temple, an inner temple, and a holiest of holies. The -first is accessible to all sincere and responsive adherents of the -musical faith. The second is for those who minister, priests dedicated -to the service. To the innermost sanctuary, which holds the presence -of our musical goddess, Aaron-like high-priests alone are admitted, -but the song incense which they bring forth diffuses itself, filling -the inner and the outer temples to their farthermost recesses. It is -primarily to the ministrations of these high-priests that we owe the -widely diffused musical culture of to-day. It shall therefore be one -of my tasks to trace the characteristic influence of each one of this -line, whose creations will endure throughout time. In the course of -music's refining she had necessarily become more and more exclusive, -less accessible in her ever higher estate to coarse and uncultivated -mankind. This exclusiveness had from the first step in evolution been -raising the walls of our now finished temple. - - [Illustration: PALESTRINA] - By permission of E. H. Schroeder, Berlin - -Although most of Italy's early music, like that of the Netherlands, -was written for the Church, Palestrina was the first composer to -strike a clear ecclesiastical tone. The tendency had been towards -brilliancy, with a seasoning of unbecoming sentimentality, and Pope -Marcelli, realizing the inappropriateness of such musical settings, -conferred with this rising genius, and commissioned him, in 1563, to -write a mass consistent with the spirit of worship. Palestrina's third -attempt resulted in the great "Pope Marcelli Mass," which is to-day as -acceptable a model for church music as it was in the sixteenth century. - -I have chosen Palestrina as the first high-priest because he, like his -successors, Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, and Wagner, was a -creator, and because his works, like theirs, exhale the incense of the -holiest of holies; an incense which, unlike all others, gains power -with the passage of time. - -Palestrina's works are characterized by lofty purpose and by logically -audacious methods. His voice leading was so smooth and melodic as to -prompt one of the most erudite of living musicians, who was at first -an anti-Wagnerite, to say that "Wagner began with Meyerbeer and ended -with Palestrina;" meaning in the latter comparison to pay the highest -possible tribute to the contrapuntal skill and musical methods of the -writer of "Die Meistersinger." - -Besides Palestrina, Scarlatti and Pergolesi were the only early Italian -composers whose music outlived the generation in which it was written. -Scarlatti wrote operas, but it is through his piano-forte music that -his name has been kept alive. Pergolesi, who appeared on the scene -nearly two hundred years later than Palestrina, wrote operas which were -received with wild enthusiasm. - -During the period of Italy's supremacy (1500-1700) many forms of -composition were originated, and many mechanical devices for recording -and performing music were invented or perfected. Among the former -were the fugue, the oratorio, the latter of which was at first -responsive (alternating music and reading), but soon assumed its -present character, the mass, and the opera. (It is astonishing that -Monteverde's operas "Arianna" and "Orfeo," produced in 1607-8, embody -to some degree Wagner's idea of consistent musical drama.) The organ, -violin, and piano-forte were improved, the flageolet, clarionet, -bassoon, music type, punches, and metal plates were invented, the first -opera-house was built (in Venice), and the elements of modern orchestra -(wind, stringed, and percussion instruments) were formally combined. - -Flanders' light had shone into France and England, had awakened the -people of those lands to a sense of music's latent possibilities, and -we find them working intelligently and with good results; but our -present aim is to follow the main stream of musical development, guided -by the successive "beacon-lights" of achievement, along its course. We -will later trace these lesser tributaries. - -At the beginning of the eighteenth century two lights of dazzling -brilliancy draw our gaze from Italy to Germany. The direct influence of -the Netherlands, which made a deep and lasting impression on the slow, -but earnest, intellectual, and song-loving Germans, had quickened their -susceptibilities, and had made them responsive to the riper musical -development of Italy. - -The Teutonic character is less emotional and impulsive than the -Italian, but it is more methodical, more romantic, and deeper. It is -more like that of the Netherlanders, but in measuring their status we -must not forget that at the period of which I write two hundred years -had passed since the beginning of music's decadence in the northern -first home. The Reformation, which had such a depressing effect upon -that initial art, incited these less scientifically musical people -to song. Luther, who co-ordinated the modern German language, also -struck a song tone, which set the hearts of his race into sympathetic -vibration. - -The choral voices the deepest strata of German character, and its -spirit echoes through their more earnest works,--in the substratum, -mentioned in Chapter III.,--so the Reformation marks the beginning of -Germany's musical culture, which under direct and indirect guidance -and incitement from Italy grew substantially and broadened until the -eighteenth century, when the appearance of Händel and Bach evidences a -northward turn in the stream of development. - -The Italians had contributed the most potent qualities of their -nature to this stream, and now the Germans added their deep feeling, -intellectual force, and somewhat later their romance. As will be seen, -Italy had not entered an inactive era, but Germany at this period -took first place among the factors of evolution, a place she still -holds. - - [Illustration: BACH] - -My theory in regard to the essential character of widely diffused -interest in music finds full endorsement in the conditions which -prevailed at that time, and still continue in Germany. Luther's chorals -were written for and were sung by the people. Each worshipper found in -them a conveyance for his devotional feelings. This feature of church -service, this song essence, gradually permeated every-day life and -bore wonderful fruit; produced a really musical nation, out of which -our second high-priest, Johann Sebastian Bach, and his less German -contemporary, George Frederick Händel, could arise. - -Before the advent of these giants Germany had written and performed -numerous operas, and had in various ways manifested high aspirations, -but her musicians had composed no monumental works. - -Her early troubadours, of whom Walther von der Vogelweide was the -greatest, and the "Meistersänger," of whom Hans Sachs, who lived -1494-1576, was the most gifted, left no record of their melodies. The -very existence of these Meistersänger guilds for hundreds of years -shows vitality of purpose and high aim. Spurred on to ever higher -accomplishment by friendly rivalry, these guilds doubtless contributed -much to the lyric strain in the German nature, and therefore to the -ultimate greatness of their "Fatherland." The last of these guilds was -disbanded at Ulm in 1836. - -Bach was the mightiest man who has composed music. A writer who saw him -says, "His black eyes, shining out of his massive head, looked like -flames bursting from a rock." He was the descendant of a line that was -both mentally and physically stalwart. His remotest traceable ancestor -was a baker who migrated from Hungary to Saxony, and his son, Johann -Sebastian's great-grandfather, was a carpet-weaver and musician. The -two succeeding generations devoted themselves exclusively to music, -and they furnished half Thuringia with capable musicians. Their -conscientious work, however, gave no premonition of the coming sublime -climax in their family achievements. - -Johann Sebastian Bach inherited an iron will, self-abnegation, and -devotion to art. His conceptions soared so far above the existing -traditions, and he did so little to attract public attention, that -he was but slightly heeded during his lifetime; indeed, it required -a century after his death and the appreciation of a Mendelssohn to -make the world realize that a veritable god had lived among men. -The modest cantor of Leipzig's St. Thomas' school was obliged to -struggle to support his large family, but he made no concessions to -prevailing taste; he did not depart from the lines of his ideal to -secure popularity. He patiently submitted to whatever teaching-drudgery -was necessary to earn bread for his children, but when seated on his -organ-bench or when he took his quill in hand he admitted no other -allegiance than that to art, and no other impulse than that which -prompted him to serve her with his fullest powers. - -The force, dignity, simple loveliness, pathos, and grandeur which in -turn characterize his conceptions are so wonderful, when considered -as products of the eighteenth century, that they and his serene -indifference to recognition stamp him a unique man,--a musical Messiah. - -Bach's versatility, facility, and physical endurance were as remarkable -in their way as was the quality of his creations. He wrote for organ, -piano, violin, for voices unaccompanied and with organ or orchestra, -and asserted his mastery in each and all of these fields. His preserved -writings would busy a copyist ten hours per day for fourteen years, -and still Bach, in the absence of other outlets, found time to engrave -much of his own music. It is to be hoped that the tardy appreciation -of his character and works, which have at last filled the world with -adoration, may penetrate the Beyond and warm his heart towards mankind, -who during his life so little fathomed the depths of his emotions and -failed to see the loftiness of his ideals. - -Händel was also great, unless compared with his greater contemporary. -His best work was the oratorio "Israel in Egypt." His style was a -mixture of Italian grace and German vigor. He was a master of vocal -resources, and his works are therefore strong in sonority, and -grateful to both singers and hearers. Händel wrote fluently, but with -a less sustained earnestness than Bach, and his compositions have done -more to foster chorus singing than have all other agencies combined; -for which reason the musical world is but discharging a just debt in -assigning to him the place of honor on its vocal repertoires. - -Of these two masters, Händel wrote less involvedly. Bach depended upon -the legitimate development of his themes, whereas Händel often resorted -to tone masses,--was more harmonic than contrapuntal. - -Soon after the middle of the eighteenth century the ever-rising flood -of musical culture became highest in Vienna. This resulted quite as -much from the city's contiguity to Italy, whose lyric springs had by -no means run dry, as from the stream of northern influence. Musical -intelligence had by this time become so diffused that bright lights -showed themselves at many points on the horizon, but Vienna was made -resplendent by a galaxy that illumined her musical life and prepared -her for our third and fourth high-priests, Beethoven and Schubert. - -The most brilliant of this galaxy were Haydn, Mozart, and Gluck, each -and all of whom bequeathed treasures to the world surpassed in value -only by those with which our priestly line endowed us. "Papa Haydn" -gave expression to his pure aspirations and childlike simplicity in -symphonies, stringed quartets, and other ensemble works, and in large -vocal compositions. The "Creation" and "Seasons" are his most ambitious -writings. Few of Haydn's works have great intellectual power, but they -are as refreshing as rural scenes or well-told tales. Mozart and Gluck -will be necessarily discussed in Chapter V., so I will pass them now. - -Beethoven was our third high-priest, because his somewhat earlier -appearance entitles him to precedence over his later coadjutor. The -Vienna school had originated or evolved the sonata form, had endowed -music with more sustained and more clearly defined melody, richer -harmonic color, and dramatic power, and had greatly enriched the -orchestra; so Beethoven began his work with far ampler resources at his -command and more fertile traditions in which to root his art than had -any of his predecessors. - -Beethoven was like Bach in many of his characteristics; he was -self-reliant, manfully tender, and forcible without violence. His best -conceptions are so high and noble that they leave human frailties -far behind and suggest the music of the spheres, but he was less -constant in his fidelity to art than Bach; not because he yielded to -pressure from without, but because of his impatient nature, which at -times impelled him to follow routine rather than wait for inspiration -to outline his course. This resulted in lapses, which will, when awe -has given place to discriminating judgment, lead the musical world to -discard some of his now blindly accepted works. This is to be desired, -for those who profess to, or actually do, derive pleasure from all -of Beethoven's works are either untrue to themselves, or they are -incapable of responsiveness to his supreme moments, which produced such -wonders of tonal expression as "Fidelio" and the "Eroica." - - [Illustration: BEETHOVEN] - -It will not matter what forms music may assume in the course of her -further evolution, Beethoven's more intensely individual creations -will retain their monumental character, looking serenely upon passing -generations of mankind like the Pyramids, but even less perishable than -they. - -In scanning Beethoven's methods and the spirit which pervades his -compositions, as compared with those of Bach, we must take cognizance -of the different social and musical conditions which prevailed in their -respective periods. Europe was, at the beginning of the nineteenth -century, shaking off her powdered wigs and their attendant austerity. -Culture was becoming more confident and audacious, and music reflected -the features of her new environment in increased geniality and breadth -of scope. Beethoven's methods were quite opposed to those employed -by Bach. The former drew a grand sweep of outline, and then used -counterpoint as a contributive element, whereas thematic counterpoint -was the substance of Bach's creations,--the tissue which gave them -form. Each was a reflex of the noblest tendencies of his time. - - [Illustration: SCHUBERT] - By permission of E. H. Schroeder, Berlin - -I approach Schubert, our fourth high-priest, whose ministrations, -coming in conjunction with those of Beethoven, make their epoch the -most remarkable one in music's career, with wonder for his achievements -and regret for his half-lived life. That which was so beautifully said -of Keats, "Life of a long life condensed to a mere drop, and fallen -like a tear upon the world's cheek, to make it burn forever," would -apply equally to Schubert. He was born into a period that had already -manifested lyric tendencies, but he was an inexhaustible spring, from -which limpid melody gushed in ever-increasing volume, filling his every -musical scheme to repletion. Nature made Schubert the greatest musical -genius the world has seen, and had his life but reached completeness, -he would, perhaps, have drawn from his emotional well-spring greater -symphonies than the "C major" and the "Unfinished." - -Schubert was virtually the originator of the modern song, which has -been, and always will be, a great solace to mankind. It is at the -same time the most practical, because the most easily understood, -means of educating musical instinct into sympathy with the spirit that -pervades more elaborate forms. The associated texts make clear their -musical import, and the appreciation of one really good composition -places us on a vantage-ground from which we can better comprehend -others. Schubert required the song as a ready outlet for his lyric -productiveness, and wrote twelve hundred of them without redundancies -and with always definite and distinguishing significance. - -Many gifted composers have put their most felicitous fancies into this -fireside form, but although some have sung more impassionedly, and -others have placed their melodies in richer settings, no one has been -so uniformly adequate as Franz Schubert. Schumann, Franz, and Jensen -always please, and they often excite our wonder by the beauty and -adaptability of their song conceptions, but Schubert's songs do not -express, they embody, moods and sentiments. His flow of melody was so -fresh and strong that in instrumental compositions it often carried him -to uncommon length. The Germans call his C major symphony "The Symphony -of Heavenly Length." This phrase quite aptly describes the work, for -an idea of its proportions, and of the quality which prevents them -from being prohibitory, are both voiced by the expressive adjective -employed, Schubert scarcely lived to maturity, but he dispensed such -unalloyed benefits that his name will be forever enshrined in the -hearts of those who love pure music. - -During all this time culture had been making great strides, and a -comprehensive glance, at the time of Schubert's death, would have -revealed all Europe aflood with musical enthusiasm. Orchestras were -multiplied and improved, grand chorus organizations were founded, and -institutions for the education of musical aspirants were established -under the patronage of various governments. - -Out of this condition come two bright lights that rivet our attention -upon Cantor Bach's old home as the centre of influence. Our stream -of development, which was a rivulet as it flowed from Flanders, soon -became a mighty river, and has now overflowed its banks and formed a -great sea of culture. - -Mendelssohn was one of the most genial characters that we meet in the -annals of music. His education and temperament made the adequate -adjustment of resources to the fulfilment of his schemes almost -intuitive; but his conceptions themselves, although invariably round -and poetic, usually lack the bold lines and the deep import that have -distinguished the creations of our high-priests. Human characters, -like forest-trees, seem to need exposure to trying winds, which if -successfully weathered only strengthen their fibres and loosen the soil -about their roots, so that they may spread out and extend downward to -fresh and deeper sources of impulse. It may be that Mendelssohn's life -conditions were too peaceful, that he was too much sheltered from care -and adversity to fully develop the depth and nobility of his nature, -which flashes out in some parts of "Saint Paul" and "Elijah," and -pervades the "Walpurgis Night." - -His happy disposition found its most characteristic expression -in inimitable scherzi and works of that less emotional class. -Mendelssohn's elegance of style, richness of color, and his personality -caused a wave of imitation to set across musical production, but it -soon subsided, for only the most stalwart methods endure the dilution -incident to their adoption by lesser talent without degenerating to -insipid weakness. Mendelssohn's greatest service to the musical world -was rendered in his persistent advocacy of Bach. - -Schumann, our fifth high-priest, had to encounter the difficulties of -life in the open field, having had no social nor financial breastworks -from behind which he could ignore the "arrows of outrageous fortune." -His path was strewn with thorns, and was unlighted by recognition until -near its end. Schumann was not so consummate a master of counterpoint -as was Mendelssohn, but his stronger individuality and deeper -sensibility filled his fancies with epoch-making qualities. Our art had -during the previous quarter century taken on more intensity, greater -freedom in voice leading, and, last of all, a well-defined romantic -vein. - - [Illustration: SCHUMANN] - By permission of E. H. Schroeder, Berlin - -The first two appealed strongly to Schumann's nature, as is evidenced -by his writings, for the pictures of his imaginings are not peaceful -pastoral scenes, but depict storms of passion and emotional struggles. -Romance shows itself at times, but it is not a distinguishing element. -Schumann wrote four symphonies, of which the last one heard is always -the best. They rank among the few immortal works in this epic form, -but entirely because of the individual character of their schemes and -the richness of their musical texture, for their instrumental colors -are not adequate. He succeeded equally well in ensemble, chorus, and -piano-forte music, and his songs almost rival those of Schubert, but -strange to say, the orchestra seems to have been a closed book to our -fifth high-priest. - -Schumann had, in his impatience to overcome the weakness of his fourth -or ring fingers, employed a mechanical appliance which permanently -lamed his hands, thereby dashing his hopes of becoming a piano -virtuoso. This is the only recorded case in which violent methods have -produced desirable fruits; for they usually deaden the nerves only, -and result in strength without facility, and tone without beauty; in -other words, in wooden pianists. In this case they produced entire -disability, and forced Schumann into his proper sphere,--creation,--in -which he accomplished lasting good, whereas the benefits to art of even -the highest grade of virtuosity are comparatively ephemeral. - -His love for the piano-forte led him to study its capacities -and limitations most thoroughly, the consequence being that his -compositions for that instrument are more grateful to the fingers and -ears of pianists than those of any other classical composer. - -Schumann's music is more involved than Beethoven's or Schubert's, -and his restless passion found expression in broken rhythms and in -dissonant compounds, which, however they may at first impress us, gain -natural and deep significance with close familiarity. He was the first -composer to feel and apply the immense, expressive resources inherent -in rhythm. - -Schumann's quintet for strings and piano-forte is one of the greatest -pieces of ensemble music that has been written, and his piano concerto -in A minor is, to my mind, without a rival. Of his songs, the "Frauen -Liebe und Leben" cyclus are, when the numbers are considered singly, -and then in their respective relations to his beautifully rounded -conception of womanliness, the most remarkable, although the "Dichter -Liebe" is full of gems, and the "Spring Night" is a picture which is -more suggestive of a magic wand than of a human intellect. - -Our fifth high-priest was not alone a musician; he was a philosopher -and the ablest critic the musical world has seen. He was so broad that -he could be generous as well as just, as was shown by his laudatory -writings in regard to his rival,--Mendelssohn. He estimated Wagner's -cruder stage correctly, and would doubtless have become an adherent of -the new faith had he lived to see its riper fruits; for he was always -susceptible to manifestations of genuine creative ability and logical -reasoning. - -The consideration of Wagner, the sixth in line, involves entering -upon a somewhat new field, and it will require so much space that I -will give him, his forms, and his methods a separate chapter. Before -undertaking that task it may be well to trace some of the tributary -influences which, following collateral lines, have helped to swell the -tide of musical culture. It will facilitate the accomplishment of this -purpose to scan the achievements of each nation separately, mentioning -only such individuals and events as were active agents in furthering -the cause. - -France evinced a very marked interest in music early in its second era, -but her good intentions were several hundred years in crystallizing. -The establishment of an Academy of Music in Paris (1672) was the first -really noteworthy event in the history of French music. Tulli, who was -its first director, was a very able man. He wrote operas, which were -sung in French, and he created the chrysalis from which our symphony -was later developed. - -Although the next hundred years were not productive of great men, -Paris had at the end of that period become attractive and congenial to -such masters as Gluck, Cherubini, and Piccini. This shows that she had -educated a generation of intelligent listeners, and at least a portion -of the executants necessary to the performance of grand opera. - -In 1795 the Conservatory was founded, which event marked the beginning -of that earnest, organized effort that has given the world so many rare -instrumentalists and vocalists. The finesse of the French school is -delicious when applied with intellectual breadth sufficient to prevent -its becoming finical. France has also produced numberless composers, -but few who have attained to more than passing fame. Her people are -quick in their perceptions, and deft and dainty in all that appertains -to æsthetics. They are enthusiastic lovers of such music as does not -require them to think earnestly while following it, but they are -emotionally volatile. - -Berlioz is the only French composer who successfully resisted the -pressure of this environment. He was made of stern stuff, and followed -the promptings of his muse without wavering, although she often -dictated courses and methods that precluded immediate success with the -public. In his Requiem Mass, which looks bizarre to a casual observer -of the score, he uses each and all of the executive forces, an immense -orchestra with all possible accessories, auxiliary brass corps, chorus, -and _soli_, with such keen appreciation of individual quality and -such unerring judgment as to the appropriate rôle for each quality -in the grand ensemble, that the effects he attains not only disarm -criticism, they fill one with awe. Still, if we scrutinize Berlioz's -works closely, we find that he was more a Rubens than a Rembrandt, for -while his diction was often more erratic than sequential, his sense -of tone color was so acute that it led him to inaugurate the movement -that is still in progress for purging music of pernicious _unisons_ -reinforcements. - -Of the other notable French composers, Gounod is delightfully -melodious, but is too sweet to be entirely wholesome, and Saint-Saëns -(half German in instinct and manner) is a phenomenal master of -instrumentation, and he is very ingenious, but one is seldom convinced -that his compositions have grown from emotional germs. Massenet, Bizet, -and others have written, or are writing, charming music, but it has -little substantiality. Its charms are liable to effervesce, like the -emotions of the Paris public. The French seem to reserve all of their -earnestness for the more tangible arts, and for science, to all of -which they have contributed their full share. - -England's musical career has been unique. The people of that snug -little island across the channel should be an enthusiastically happy -race, for nature endowed their land with fertility and beauty, and -centuries of skillful cultivation have enhanced these virtues until -Albion's rural loveliness is to-day unequalled. They have exceptionally -rich traditions, their prowess in arms and achievements in literature, -science, pictorial art, and industry furnish abundant grounds for -their national pride, but it is a pity that their blessings have not -made them more demonstrative, for stoical complacency is not good soil -in which to grow an emotional art. For this reason recorded English -composition, which began so unprecedentedly well in the sixteenth -century with the invention of the madrigal, has not fulfilled the -promise implied by that event. - -The English are a sturdy race, and their climate and out-of-door -amusements have endowed their voices with uncommonly mellow and tuneful -qualities. It is therefore quite natural that their musical activities -should have been so largely centred in chorus singing, which they make -peculiarly sonorous and artistically adequate. - -This choral virtuosity is not a recent growth, for it attracted Händel -in the eighteenth century. It was also recognized by Mendelssohn. This -love for song has been materially fostered by the Established Church, -whose elaborate services have furnished composers with both incitement -and outlet. Most of England's choral works are dignified and smooth, -but they lack intensity. - -There is an element in English (and American) musical life the evil -influence of which cannot be easily over-estimated: it is the popular -ballad. In them the best lyric texts in any language are associated -with musical conceptions which are usually so devoid of artistic -qualities and significance, that no one at all musical would endure -them were it not for the halo cast about their imbecility by the poet's -art, which they profane. - -The Scandinavian countries, and Russia, Poland, and Hungary, each with -its distinctive folk-song treasury and romantic traditions, have, -during this century, awakened to great musical activity, and each of -them has produced one or more composers who have made an impression on -art evolution. - -The first named have given us Svendsen, Grieg, and Hamerik, not to -mention the artistic but less stalwart Gade, with their weird and at -times grotesque rhythms, melodic contour, and harmonies. The sensation -produced by these Scandinavian song characteristics when first brought -to the notice of the outside world, impelled these talented men to -incorporate them into their art. This was a mistake, for great music -is as broad as the universe, whereas the vein of national song is -narrow and only limitedly fruitful. Had Svendsen escaped infection from -this northern piquancy, he might possibly have fitted himself to wear -high-priestly robes, for his endowments were of the highest, and his -début as a composer was startlingly brilliant. - -Russia's musical type is less pronounced than the Scandinavian. Her -producers have therefore developed on cosmopolitan lines. Tschaikowski, -who was beyond compare the most gifted composer that Russia has given -to the world, may with the passage of time be recognized as the -natural heir of our priestly line. His emotional power, clean-cut -individuality (originality), fine sense of rhythmic values and color -combinations, and his inexhaustible lyric invention place him at the -head of symphonists of his time. - -An event which reflected honor on the empire of the Czar was the birth -within her borders of that giant of all pianists, Anton Rubinstein. -I speak of him as a pianist rather than as a composer, for while he -often showed the possession of uncommon creative faculties, he was too -diffuse, seldom focussed his tonal diction to such coherent strength as -would make his writings comparable with his playing. - -Poland gave us Chopin, who is the one exception to the rules by which -I have endeavored to trace the successive stages of musical evolution. -All other composers have taken inherited forms and means, and have -moulded them into shapes comporting with the spirit of their individual -conceptions, and even these conceptions were to a considerable extent -reflections of their environment. Beethoven was a mighty genius, but he -did not create an art type, and was therefore not, in a broad sense, -original, whereas Chopin was radically so, his works seeming to owe -no allegiance to schools, and seldom to nationality, but only to his -poetic soul, of which they were the legitimate offspring. - -His fancies are sometimes more graceful than strong; they even, now and -then, verge on the sentimental; so Chopin is not entitled to a place -among the giants, although he revolutionized composition for the piano, -and wrote some things so beautiful that they excite ever fresh wonder. -The small form seemed to best suit his spontaneous style; therefore op. -10 and op. 25, and the preludes, undoubtedly better represent Chopin's -individuality than do any other of his works. - -Franz Liszt was born in Hungary, and in his less serious moments made -use of the gypsy-like rhythms, twists, and spasmodic utterance of her -national music. At other times he wrote universal music, which he made -characteristic through breathing into it his own rich individuality. -The Abbé Doctor was more fêted and less spoiled thereby than any -successful artist of modern times. He led a life of triumph from youth -to old age, and through it all preserved a simple modesty of manner, -interest in new talents and accomplishments, and an indescribable -intellectual fascination. - -Nothing afforded Liszt more pleasure than to give advice to, or to -use his influence for the benefit of, talent struggling to clarify -its own conceptions, or seeking indispensable publicity. The list of -his protégés includes many who have made world records, like Raff, -Bülow, Tausig, and Wagner. But for "Meister" Liszt's early perception -of Wagner's then undeveloped genius, we should have had no sixth -high-priest to record, and no Bayreuth festivals. - -America has only recently entered the lists, for the conditions -attendant upon a new civilization make artistic achievement impossible. -These conditions were emphatically bad in our land, and they yielded -reluctantly to art requirements. The religious bigotry of a large -portion of those who first came to America, seeking freedom of -conscience (for those who thought and believed as they thought and -believed), was deadly to art impulse. They looked upon any music not -set to sacred words as a frivolity that would imperil their souls, and -they exercised little judgment in selecting such music as they did use. -This narrow view of our art greatly delayed the advent of musical -intelligence, and it called a species of "psalm-smiters" into being, -who, with inappropriate adaptations of secular melodies, and worse -attempts at composition, debased both music and the services of the -church, and sapped the vitality of art tendency when it first became -manifest. America still harbors some of these vampires, but the day of -art is breaking over our land, and these creatures of darkness will -soon disappear. - -Our progress was at first slow, but there have been no backward steps, -and the past fifty years have witnessed a magical advance in general -intelligence and in creative capacity. - -Before closing this chapter I must return to Germany and trace some of -the subsidiary sources of her present supremacy. - -The name "Robert Franz," which was years ago adopted by a timid young -musician as his _nom de plume_, was formed by combining the first -names of his ideal tone poets, Schumann and Schubert. His success was -immediate, and he soon became so identified with this name that his own -almost passed out of use. Robert Franz was a pure lyrist, and his songs -must be given place little below those of his great models. He served -to perpetuate the spirit of song, and placed the world under tribute by -his Bach researches. - -Raff was a man of startling routine, and of no less astounding -inequalities in merit. Some of his symphonies are replete with sensuous -melody and fresh harmonic, contrapuntal, and instrumental color, while -others are incomprehensibly dull. "Leonora" and "Im Walde" represent -Raff at his best, and they are so strong and beautiful that they will -keep their creator's name before the musical world for many years. No -one can predict how long Raff's mastery of methods and forms will exert -a salutary influence upon composers. - -Schumann was Brahms' musical god-father, and he predicted great results -from the development of his godson's talent. There is much difference -of opinion as to whether Schumann's prophecy was fulfilled, but many -capable critics are on the affirmative side. Brahms has, in one way -at least, shown the possession of absolutely great qualities,--viz., -his productivity did not exhaust, but increased the vitality of his -conceptions. He was an artist with whom future generations will have to -do, but he was not an epoch-maker. - - - - - CHAPTER V - WAGNER AND THE MUSIC DRAMA - - -It is quite proper to devote a chapter to Richard Wagner, for his -later works are not only examples of the most skillful and purposeful -employment of the contrapuntal and instrumental resources which he, in -common with his contemporaries, inherited from the past, but they show -how audacious genius may safely pursue its purposes out beyond beaten -paths into unexplored regions of tonal expression. - -Why may genius do this, which is so uniformly fatal to the less gifted? -It is because of its comprehensive grasp of logical sequence and its -intuitive choice of adaptable means. - -Ripe genius is a definite talent which has been subjected to -exhaustive discipline, which is familiar with traditions, and takes -full cognizance of pedantic forms, but is guided by an art feeling -engendered by this knowledge, and not by the knowledge itself. - -It is a law unto itself. It conceives a picture, a poem, or a musical -sentiment, and communicates it to us through means that are often as -unfamiliar as is the effect of the whole original; for it usually -avoids the ruts of travelled ways, its clear view of the objective goal -enabling it to follow the less frequented stream-side or mountain-top -paths. - -Wagner was, in the last thirty years of his life, a ripe genius. He was -the sixth of our musical high-priests, and he filled the art temple -with a characteristic song incense which will pervade its atmosphere as -long as human passions continue to furnish art impulse. - -There is a class of pedants who still take satisfaction in calling -Wagner's music artificial; but these short-sighted critics cannot or -will not properly survey the field of his activity and its fruits. No -human mind could, unless impelled by natural, sequential feeling and -virile imagination, write even one of his later dramas without manifold -exhibitions of weakness in redundancies and lapses in significance. -The fact that Wagner's works, from the "Meistersinger" on, show few, -if any, such barren moments, adequately evidences their natural growth -from musical germs. - -A great creator always incites a large number of lesser lights to -imitate his methods, but few of them do so successfully. Wagner is not, -however, answerable for the vague effects of his dramatic means, when -they are transplanted into Wagnerish overtures and symphonic poems. He -evolved situations that made these means legitimate and significant; -isolated, they fall into bizarre artificiality. Although we cannot fail -to be influenced by the elements which Wagner added to tonal resources, -they, like all other elements, must be applied because most adaptable -to the development of the musical scheme in hand, and not because of -their newness. - -"A prophet is not without honor save in his own country." This was -strikingly exemplified by the attitude of professional Leipzig towards -Wagner during the earlier stages of his career. Leipzig was at that -time regarded by the outlying world as the musical centre of the -universe, a Mecca with a magic balm, dispensed by a priesthood whose -Mahomet was Mendelssohn. - -The town had been a prominent seat of learning since the first part -of the fifteenth century, had possessed Bach as cantor of its -"St. Thomas' school," had for a long series of years maintained -its "Gewandhaus" concerts, and was the greatest of all book- and -music-selling marts. - -These circumstances combined to make Leipzig stand out in bold relief -on the world's map, but it required Mendelssohn's magnetism to make its -attractions irresistible. - -The Conservatory faculty of those days included all the most prominent -musicians domiciled in Leipzig, for the town was too small to furnish -adherents for such contra-minded parties or factions as exist in -larger cities. Mendelssohn had enlisted his forces with well-directed -regard for harmony, but their creed, although properly placing Bach -as the corner-stone of musical faith, was too narrow in its tenets -to admit those to communion whose fancy led them outside the pale of -traditional forms. They were even lukewarm towards Schumann, who -had lived among them, had created a period,[A] and had contributed -treasures to musical literature so luminous with genius that, as -the mists of prejudice clear away, they will eclipse forever all -contemporaneous productions in the various forms which they followed. -The rugged boldness of originality was in the esteem of the Leipzig -pedagogue but an exhibition of crude ignorance. Those who could not or -would not recognize Schumann's great throbbing heart in his writings, -because he, in expressing his individuality, did not always follow -prescribed formulæ, would naturally have rejected Wagner, for his -earlier works were not cast in classic moulds. - -[A] Composers who originate forms or methods that recommend themselves -to the musical world because they voice recognizable advance in art -expression, create periods. Mendelssohn was in his more earnest moods a -modernized Bach. He did not originate forms, but adapted those of his -great ideal to our nineteenth century habits of thought and feeling. He -did this inimitably, but he was more finished than forceful or bold, -and his impress on art was consequently not deep, although extremely -salutary. - -Those of Wagner's creations which had been before the public previous -to 1860 were characterized by few departures from Weber and Meyerbeer -in scheme. Wagnerian harmonies were, however, too strong for the -Leipzig critic, but the public flocked to hear them, and was pleased. - -Original ideas often find first recognition among the non-professional, -because musical leaders are so saturated with pedantry that sparks of -genius cannot quickly kindle them to enthusiasm. - -In 1862 the Gewandhaus directors made a great concession; they invited -Richard Wagner to conduct his "Tannhäuser Overture" at one of their -concerts. This was a fatal mistake, for his triumph was complete, -and their influence as opponents of the "music of the future" was -correspondingly weakened. I have discussed Leipzig at such length, -not because it was Wagner's birthplace, but because from this town, -with all its intolerance and smallness, started the only short road to -success. Leipzig's endorsement was a universally accepted voucher. - -Wagner had found this direct path barred, and his wanderings in -surmounting or circumventing obstacles lasted for a long series of -years, but his faith remained steadfast, and he reached the goal of -his ambition a far stronger man because of the difficulties he had -overcome. His appearance at the Gewandhaus was only a station on his -course to already assured success, and not his starting-point. - -Wagner found opera a succession of solo, ensemble, and chorus pieces, -strung upon plots often too slender to give them coherence. - -Texts had been made subservient to music, and that, in turn, to the -singer's convenience and ambition for display. Operas were written as -early as the thirteenth century, but Cherubini was the first Italian, -and Gluck the first German, to produce works that have survived. -Cherubini was followed by Rossini, a man of genius, but too indolent -to fully develop his gifts. Had his beautiful sensuous melodies been -put into richer settings, had more earnest thought been added to his -spontaneity, his operas would have taken their places among the undying -creations. - -Flashes of genius ultimately tire. It is the steady light of genius, -fed by knowledge and earnestness (as in Beethoven, Schubert, and -Schumann), that can hold the world's attention restfully, which means -perpetually. - -Bellini, with "Norma" and "Sonnambula," and Donizetti, with "Lucia di -Lammermoor" and "Lucretia Borgia," still hold a place on the operatic -stage, but their grasp is weakening. Verdi was the best equipped of all -Italian opera composers, and his "Trovatore," with it rare gems, will -crown his memory to the end of musical time. His later works, "Aida," -"Othello," and "Falstaff," written under the influence of the Wagner -period, are quite different from his earlier operas in instrumentation -and in treatment of themes. In them he is more logical and stronger, -but less sensuous. They furnish the first instances of Italian music -dressed in foreign garb; of Italian music written under pressure from -without. It has until recently been Italy's province to shed influence -over the musical world. I construe Verdi's concessions to Wagner as -the strongest possible endorsement of the latter's ideas. No other -composer was in position to pay such tribute to Wagner's forceful and -far-reaching art sense. - -The Italian composers of the new school are musical brigands, who for a -brief space succeeded in taking tribute from the musical world. Their -leader, Mascagni, made such a sensational raid with his "Cavalleria -Rusticana" that young Italy jumped into the breach he made, and -evidently thought to take possession of our temple, regardless of their -lack of equipment and discipline. Although but few years have elapsed -since this assault on art, its episodes have already been relegated to -the realm of disturbing memories. - -"Cavalleria Rusticana," the first and best of its class, has some -merits; it is short, melodious, and dramatic, but its melodies are -often sentimental, and its dramatic points are usually made through the -audacious employment of crude means. The direct influence of this work -and its reception, conspired for harm to art. - -Gluck was a Teuton, and although educated in Italy and adopted by -France, can with propriety be called the father of German opera. -His "Iphigenia in Tauris" and "Orpheus and Eurydice" will always -be regarded as classic models of lyric writing. Gluck's schemes -differed little from those of the Italian school, but his harmonic and -instrumental methods were German. - -Mozart was a phenomenal combination of inconsistencies. His routine and -creative genius were of the highest order, his spontaneity and finish -make his music delightful alike to amateurs and musicians, but he -seldom seems to take matters seriously. "Don Juan," the "Requiem," and -his string quartets are exceptions, for in these he is earnest and does -his genius full justice. - -Beethoven gave us "Fidelio." He was equally endowed with Mozart, but -was actuated in what he did by earnest, deep feeling. "Fidelio," -although built on the old and now discarded lines, will only take -second place (musically) when some genius arises capable of writing -symphonies to supersede Beethoven's nine. In "Fidelio" we still have -the string of well-defined pieces, but they are rich in harmonization -and polyphony. - -Weber made a great impression on opera. His audacious use of the -orchestra and of modulation, opened up new fields of possibility, and -there is a doubt as to whether modern German opera would have become -what it is, had Weber not lived. He was gifted with an inexhaustible -store of melody, was equal to all dramatic situations, however -exacting, and could court popular favor without belittling his art,--a -very rare quality. Weber was at first Wagner's model, and "Rienzi" and -"Der Fliegende Holländer" bear a distinct Weber impress. - -Meyerbeer was a German, but early adopted Italian methods. He was an -excellent business man, possessed ample means, and therefore secured -deserved recognition early in his career, instead of having lived -almost a life of deferred hopes, as is usually the good musician's -lot. Meyerbeer is melodious, and is often dramatic, but unlike Weber, -sometimes belittles his art in catering to public tastes. His pageant -and ballet music are the most characteristic and impressive features of -his operas. - -Wagner expressed contempt for Meyerbeer, but evidently recognized the -grandeur of the operatic pageantry of which he was the creator. We see -evidences of this phase of Meyerbeer's influence until we pass the -"Lohengrin" stage. - -Many other good operas were produced during the first half of this -century, but as they were not potential factors in operatic evolution, -I shall mention them only in passing. - -Adam wrote "Postillion;" Auber, "Fra Diavolo," "Die Stumme von -Portici," etc.; Flotow, "Martha" and "Alessandro Stradella;" -Hérold, "Zampa;" Kreutzer, "Nachtlager von Granada;" Lortzing, "Der -Waffenschmied," "Der Czar und Zimmermann," etc; Marschner, "Hans -Heiling," "Der Templer und die Jüdin," and "Der Vampyre;" Nicolai, "The -Merry Wives;" Spohr, "Jessonda" and "Faust," and Schumann, "Genoveva." -All of these operas are still given at least occasionally, and most of -them are excellent musical compositions. - -The situation at the time when Wagner first manifested a defined -tendency towards the music drama was as follows: Gluck had given the -world his two great works, and they, together with "Fidelio," "Don -Juan," "The Magic Flute," "The Marriage of Figaro," "Der Freischutz," -and "Oberon" of the German, and "Trovatore," "William Tell," "Norma," -"Lucia di Lammermoor," "La Sonnambula," "Robert le Diable," "Der -Prophet," and "Die Hugenotten" of the Italian, were the most prominent -and best examples of operatic writing. - -Although the first steps towards the emancipation of opera from -inconsistencies were the result of conditions rather than of -premeditation, Wagner had sufficient genius to appreciate the power -inherent in logical sequence: a power which, when compared with that -resulting from eccentric modes, is as the progress of the ages to -that of a leaf borne by the wind. Logical sequence moves onward with -irresistible momentum, whereas fragmentary diction is blown about by -every wind of caprice. - -The condition which most influenced Wagner's conceptions was his -relation as poet to his musical undertakings. He was in each instance -first poet and then composer, and nothing could have been more natural -than his early evinced disposition to guard his texts from distorted, -disconnected renderings. This disposition grew, as through experience -his grasp became more and more comprehensive. There were no backward -steps in his career. It was like his schemes,--consequent,--advancing -unwaveringly from inception to full realization in "Parsifal" and -"Tristan und Isolde." - -Wagner had courage adequate to sustain him in following his -conceptions through ridicule, want, and almost utter friendlessness. -No discouragement could divert him from the even tenor of his chosen -course. His early operas, although their texts were treated with -unwonted respect, gave little intimation of the revolution which was -to be accomplished by their author, and it is extremely doubtful -whether Wagner at this period had a shadowy conception even of that -later ideal, which time and experience developed, in which music and -the pictorial element were not only to collaborate with, but were to -reproduce the situations and sentiments of his poems. - -This kind of tone painting, in which the composer endeavors to endow -his musical phrases with definite significance, is justifiable and -effective when they are so closely associated in performance with the -motive text as to derive directness from its more tangible character. -Such efforts must not be classed with so-called program music. - -"Der Fliegende Holländer", "Rienzi," and "Tannhäuser" might have -been produced through the co-operation of Weber and Meyerbeer, with -Wagner's individuality as a flavor. In them the voices are given -melodies in clear-cut form, and they contain pompous Meyerbeerisms -almost approaching the bizarre. This Wagner flavor, which consisted -largely of a disregard of harmonic laws and key relationships, as -dictated by the pedantic school, caught the public, but it aroused the -violent opposition of older musicians. They denounced Wagner as a crazy -ignoramus and his operas as abominations. - -Viewed from a theoretical stand-point, there was that in Wagner's -earlier works which in a measure justified his critics. He was not a -good contrapuntist, and he consequently violated tenets of musical -structure when conformity would have been more adequate. - -The relations borne by plastic musical diction to the elementary rules -of tonal science are so little understood, and a clear understanding of -these relations is so important, that I feel justified in reiterating -in different form what was said in a former chapter,--viz., that -musical theory as a whole is but the codification of nature's -adjustments. Extraordinary requirements license exceptional means and -modes, but when composers abandon the letter of musical tenets and -substitute therefor the higher law of compensation, they enter upon -a field in which pitfalls abound, and through which nothing but keen -judgment, founded upon experienced erudition, can safely guide them. - -This law of compensation allows us to disregard elementary laws, when -the nature of the situation in hand is such as to warrant and reconcile -our musical sense to combinations or successions, which would without -this justification sound crude and faulty. The habit of what is called -free writing is most pernicious, for compensation must legitimize each -irregularity or we lapse into incoherency. - -Wagner was a firm, but an equally thoughtful man, and while apparently -undisturbed by the cyclone of criticism evoked by his compositions, -saw his vulnerable points, and at once set about fortifying them. -He studied counterpoint exhaustively, taking Bach as his model, and -memorizing many of that master's most characteristic works. He then -gave the world "Die Meistersinger" as the fruit of his labor, and -therewith forever silenced honest cavillers who had based their adverse -criticisms on his ignorance, for that work is a sublime example of -contrapuntal virtuosity, and it marks the beginning of a new era in -Wagner's development as a musician. His orchestral settings having -kept pace with his musical growth, had ripened, had become tempered, -consequently "Die Meistersinger" is one of the most beautiful -compositions of any time, and in it we have the clear announcement of -the new dispensation. - -There have been tons of literature printed, having as subjects "The -Music of the Future," "Wagner," and "The Music-drama," some of the -authors of which have been properly equipped (good musicians and -liberally educated men), but more have been literary scavengers. The -former class, having been on a war footing ever since Wagner became -a bone of contention, are only just now beginning to discuss his -creations dispassionately. Most of them were quite naturally arrayed -against Wagner, for the most pungent flavor of the educated critic's -writing is pedantry. He prefers traditions without originality to -originality which does nor conform to traditions. - -Wagner's first works almost paralyzed these gentlemen, and they were -a long time forgetting and forgiving the shock. Their criticisms were -terribly acrid, but, as I have before mentioned, were instrumental in -creating the music-drama, inasmuch as through pointing out veritable -faults and weaknesses they led Wagner to broaden his scholarship. These -critics find it hard to lay down their arms, although the battle is -over, and Wagner died in full possession of the field. The few who were -from the outset in sympathy with Wagner were quite as intemperate in -their laudations as were his opponents in their strictures. They were -blind idolaters, and Wagner was their musical "golden calf." - -The essence of the creed upon which the new dispensation is based -is logical consistency. Poetry, music, and "stage business" are by -it required to co-operate in expressing sentiments and in carrying -the threads of dramatic schemes. Each of these arts is entirely -essential to Wagner's creations. His texts are statues, which music, -stage-setting, and action imbue with life. For this reason no one can -hope to follow Wagner intelligently who starts without having made -himself conversant with his poems. His later texts are heroic epics -of no mean order. Their adaptability and musical suggestiveness are -phenomenal. They could have been produced only by a musician-poet who -had his completed pictures in view while writing them. - -They contain a vast amount of a species of word-painting,--viz., the -use of words the very sounds of which are expressive. I remember well -the hilarity caused among the anti-Wagnerites by the "Nibelungen" text, -which was published some years before the operas were performed. -Satires and parodies were written; Wagner was described wooing his muse -arrayed in fanciful vestments suiting the character of the subject -under treatment. That was a happy time for his opponents. Opera texts -that were not sentimental lyrics were incomprehensible. The "Call of -the Walküre" was to them the climax of inanity; but those who have -heard its musical setting will readily understand how its performance -hushed these scoffers into respectful silence. I mention this "call" -because most musical persons have heard it, and wondered at its -adaptability. - -Wagner bestowed the utmost care upon each and every task which -he undertook; his effects are, therefore, less accidental than -those of any other composer. He was in the habit of making three -manuscripts,--viz., a sketch in which the outlines of form and -character were defined, then a score in which contrapuntal and -instrumental material were developed, and, lastly, a manuscript in -which, after ample weighing and filing, each detail of dynamic marking, -etc., was not approximately but precisely indicated. A Wagnerian -crescendo or decrescendo must begin and end with the notes and dynamic -force prescribed by the master, or we miss the full realization of -his pictures. In securing instrumental color he was liable to mark -the various parts played together differently, ranging from forte -to pianissimo, according to the combination and registers of the -instruments employed. - -Wagner left little or nothing to the conductor's discretion. -Nevertheless, there are few who have the keen, delicate perception -requisite to understanding his aims, and still fewer who have it in -their power to so control their forces as to secure their fulfilment. - -We will now look at some of Wagner's methods of musical treatment. -In the first place, we find the Overture replaced by the Vorspiel -(prelude or introduction). The former, in its independent completeness, -complying more or less with the exactions of the sonate form, was -quite in place when operas consisted of detached pieces; whereas -the "Vorspiel," which is analogous to the dramatic prologue, is -better adapted to the newer form. It is composed of, or at least it -introduces, the pivotal themes of the drama which it precedes. In the -prelude to "Parsifal," which begins with the _communion_ theme, Wagner -has accorded to it, and to the _grail_ and _faith_ motives, places of -honor. They are, indeed, the foundation upon which the whole drama -rests, and are the keys to its situations. We find the traditional -closing form (Coda) conspicuous by absence, the prelude leading up to -and closing in the opening tones of the first act. This omission is -grateful, for all careful musical listeners must have been disturbed -time and again by the long-drawn, fanfare effects that custom has -placed at the end of musical pieces. They are relics of barbarism to -which even Beethoven's genius could not impart logical significance. -The composer who, having finished the development of his themes, having -said what he had to say, appends a closing form composed of either new -material or of old inconsequently presented, sacrifices symmetry and -vital force. - -If custom required poets to attach Hallelujah-Hosanna verses to their -finished poems, the result would not be intrinsically more incongruous -than that produced by the average musical coda. A piece of music should -end roundly, with a peroration, but this peroration must be adapted -to the character and length of that which has preceded it, must grow -out of the themes from which the piece has been developed, and form an -integral part of the whole. The oft-mentioned intangibility of our art -seems to induce timidity among her devotees, and unfortunately this -timidity is often greatest among those who are best fitted to introduce -innovations. - -We will next consider the vocal treatments of Wagner's texts. Following -his course from the beginning, we find the singer's parts grow less -and less melodic, but the listener, if not the singer, has more than -adequate compensation for this loss of lyric quality in the dramatic -power gained. Reverting to our simile of the statue, the stage setting -and orchestra provide an atmosphere, and the singer breathes into the -text the breath which launches it into life. - -In his later dramas Wagner makes the vocal parts purely musical -declamation. He endeavors to, and usually succeeds in intensifying -the elocutionary effects through changes of pitch and expressive -rhythm, but gives the singer's convenience and voice limitations -little attention. The singer's parts are, therefore, very difficult to -learn and exhausting to sing, and they afford so little opportunity -for display that only a love of art, strongly flavored with -self-abnegation, could induce singers to attempt them. - -My study of Wagner's works has greatly increased my respect for -the intellects of Wagnerian singers. Any man or woman who can sing -a leading part in one of the music-dramas acceptably, must have -been endowed with strong throat and lungs, and must have acquired a -faultless vocal method. - -It is almost needless to say that the texts are set without any of -those old-time illogical repetitions in which composers indulged, in -order that happy thoughts--good musical episodes--might be amplified. -Wagner never lost sight of his central idea, and made everything bend -to its fullest realization. - -His orchestra does not accompany, in the common acceptation of that -term, but sings into its many-voiced melody the sentiments and moods -suggested by the text. The principal means used in the attainment of -this end is the "Leit Motif." Its auxiliaries are the countless shades -of harmonic and instrumental color which Wagner commanded. - -These "Leit Motifs" (leading and characteristic themes) constituted -Wagner's vocabulary. They expressed to him personalities, moods, or -sentiments, as the case required, and they were consequently chosen -to impersonate these in his schemes. They sometimes consist of a -few tones, and again of phrases. They appear in varied forms to suit -changing conditions, but their impersonations are only made clearer -through their elastic adaptability. These themes seldom appear in -the vocal parts, but Wagner makes them, through adaptation and -instrumentation, express each shade, from sunlight to storm, from love, -trust, and worship, to wrath, fear, and hate, and in this way follows -his text on parallel lines,--music by the side of and reinforcing -poetry. - -Wagner's demands on the stage-carpenter and scene-painter are so great -that none but large theatres with ample means can properly realize his -ideas of pictorial illustration. He possessed remarkable talent for -inventing scenic effects, and disregarded cost. - -Wagner originated the idea of having the stage overshoot the space -allotted to the orchestra, the effect of which has been good in -most instances where applied. It has two advantages over the common -placing,--viz., it brings the singer nearer his audience, which -facilitates his task of making himself understood, and it has a -grateful tendency to suppress obstreperous brass, who have a way, when -placed in front of the stage, of making singers forgotten. I have seen -singers struggle with tense muscles and swelling veins to make a vocal -climax with no other result than an heroic spectacle. - -When a conductor allows his brass to bury the more modest elements -of his orchestra under their clangor, he shows incapacity,--either a -lack of control or a coarse conception of their mission,--and as this -incapacity is quite common, any mechanical device which will insure -moderation on the part of our assertive friends who play the trumpets -and trombones is worthy of commendation. - -Now let us see what can be done towards putting ourselves still more -closely in sympathy with the master, and to better prepare ourselves to -follow his creations intelligently. Following intelligently does not -imply merely the recognition of episodes of especial significance or -beauty, but much more: it implies the loss of no contributive detail -and an easy grasp of the combined means. - -Exhaustive study alone can make this possible. Its importance must -serve to excuse my reverting to the subject of texts. One should -never take a book into an opera-house, but should make it superfluous -through earnest and repeated readings at home. We should at least so -familiarize ourselves with the text of works worthy of hearing, that -we can anticipate situations and keep in touch with each and every -detail of action and shade of meaning. This having been accomplished, -and having made ourselves acquainted with the more important Leit -Motifs, we shall be intellectually equipped to follow the master in the -development of his music-drama on the lines and through the methods we -have considered. - -I do not wish to claim that the most favorable conditions would enable -us to fully understand intentions, or to discover all points of beauty -and strength in one hearing; our study should, however, have placed -us quite inside the cold curiosity line. We would be entitled to a -creative sense akin to that felt by a co-worker: our natures would have -been made acoustically receptive and responsive. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - WHAT ARE THE INFLUENCING FACTORS IN DECIDING MUSICAL DESTINIES? - WHO IS TO BE OUR SEVENTH HIGH-PRIEST? - - -For reasons inherent both in music itself and in man's sluggish and -prejudiced perceptions, really great composers have usually to wait -longer for recognition than do those of mediocre capacities. Music -that is worthy of consideration is as individual as its composer's -features or his unconscious habits. It is a tonal utterance of his most -intimate nature, an inarticulate but clear expression of his strongest -emotions,--a shadow-picture of his very soul. The more intense the -nature, the stronger the emotions; and the deeper the soul of the -composer, the less quickly can we apprehend the full import of his -writings, for they are characteristic of him and foreign to us. Each -period-maker adds so much to art resources and so materially modifies -art methods, that he may be said to originate a musical dialect, with -which our ears and minds have to become familiar before his poetic -schemes can assume for us sustained and clear significance. - -Because of this alien character of pronounced originality, -high-priestly honors are usually posthumous, for they are bestowed -only upon those who have convinced the musical world of their fitness -through the life-long, patient, and intelligent use of supreme -endowments. It is the musical world only that has the power to confer -high-priestly honors, for that office is not at the disposal of -composers' friends or adherents, nor of parties or clans. One must -have gained universal recognition as a beneficent and radically new -factor in art in order to secure the requisite suffrages, and that -requires so much time that but two of our six high-priests lived to -realize the honor. Even Beethoven did not live to feel full assurance -of immortality, but Wagner did. He knew that his innovations had -been accepted by the world, that his achievements broadened the -foundations of art and opened new channels for musical thought, that -his individuality shone brightly across the broad sea of modern -culture, a "beacon-light" of resplendent brightness, and that he was -a period-maker, whose impress upon art was too deep to wear away, for -he was a musician who abated not one jot or tittle of that which he -thought was art's due. - -This working throughout life for posthumous honors is not so depressing -as it would seem at first glance, for any man, however modest, if -blessed with supreme endowments, must feel his power, and be buoyed up -by the certainty of ultimate recognition. The art love, steadfastness, -ambition, individuality, and imagination of truly great men are proof -against the struggles and discouragements of the artist's existence. - -Time is then our final tribunal, the only adjuster of musical values -who makes no errors in judgment. The individual judge gauges the -merits of contemporaneous composers, guided by his or her personal -impressions. Time gathers composite impressions made upon races of -music-lovers during decades, and her verdicts, based upon these -impressions, are final. We are sometimes nonplussed, and even -rebellious, when the success of our favorite composer, or of some -especially sympathetic piece of music, proves ephemeral, but the -fittest always survives, and the fittest is the composer or work -which, in addition to the indispensable technical and æsthetic -qualities, is pervaded by the richest vein of altruistic individuality. - -If time be our final tribunal, then professional critics are the -advocates who present the claims of artists at the bar of her court. -These advocates differ widely in ability and in character. A few of -them have great learning, acute perceptions, and honesty; they will -advocate no cause that is prejudicial to the interests of art, our muse -having, as it were, endowed them with a super-retainer. Such advocacy -embodies the highest and best of which the limitations of individuality -admit. From this ideal standard professional critics grade downward -until they reach assertive, prejudiced, and sometimes malicious -ignorance. In passing down the scale we first find capacity without -the essential confidence in convictions (timid ability is always a -weak factor in adjusting affairs, whether artistic or material), then -honesty and good-will unsupported by capacity, then capacity biassed by -prejudice or self-interest, and last and worst, the pettifogger. These -classes show arrogance, and attract attention (temporarily) in inverse -ratio to their abilities. If we scan the history of our tribunal, we -find that the more assertive the advocate the smaller his sphere of -influence. - -The great public is the jury in this court, and its decisions, although -ultimately wise and just, are always so delayed by the babel of pleas -that dins in its ears, that I feel justified in devoting a little space -to these "moulders of opinion," and to facilitate my purpose will use -a simile drawn from nature, which is less whimsical and more reliable -than man. - -Music is like a sensitive plant,--it flourishes only when each and -every condition is favorable to its growth. For this reason those -who find pleasure, edification, and comfort in its subtle qualities -should imitate the skilled gardener in his watchful and discriminating -culture of flowers. A professional gardener is to horticulture what a -critic should be to art. Each is supposed to bring trained faculties to -his task, but the gardener, familiar with the principles that govern -flower growth, studies the natures of his germs, and then adapts soil, -temperature, etc., to the requirements of each. He thus starts out with -one material advantage over his art _confrère_, in that his experience -enables him to recognize the genera of his germs and to anticipate -results. He deals with seeds, roots, slips, and bulbs; the art critic -with the mysteries of individuality, of which he most often judges from -the impressions made upon his susceptibilities by a momentary contact -of its outward manifestations. These manifestations are seldom full and -trustworthy indexes of creative capacity, especially in the cases of -young composers, because of the unfavorable conditions that so often -attend upon their development and presentation. - -Communities are gardens in which music thrives, barely exists (the -most common condition), or entirely fails to take root. Propagation is -the crucial test of vitalizing qualities. A community that can produce -new varieties, really audacious talents, must possess a high degree of -fertility. The composers to be found living and creating in any given -place are therefore reflections of their musical environment, for the -faculties of musical organisms are more sensitive even than music -itself. Transplanted music will continue to exist under conditions that -afford no incitement to earnest creation, nor the elements from which -virility may be drawn. Beethoven's works interest communities in which -his faculties would have remained latent. - -The legitimate functions of criticism are to seek out and to nurture -true talent and to guide public discrimination in its initial judgment. -Critics and reviewers are experts to whose expressed opinions the -printing-press imparts degrees of convincing power not always -comportable with their merit, and spreads them broadcast for good or -ill. Printed criticism, because of this cogent quality, and because -it appeals, and may repeatedly appeal,--being in fixed form,--to so -broad a radius of intelligence, should be the most powerful as well as -the most active agency in creating the conditions essential to musical -growth; but a careful review of the past and present relations of -criticism to art culture would, to my mind, convince any unbiassed -thinker that the decision of our court had been delayed and not -facilitated by the average advocate, and that the productivity of our -garden had never been increased by the ministrations of professional -gardeners. - -Nevertheless, printed criticism has a momentary influence. We do -not necessarily surrender when confronted by criticisms at variance -with our own ideas, but the undue weight with which printed matter -is endowed often causes even expert opinion to waver, protest to the -contrary as it may. - -Printed news is not always authentic, nor are printed opinions on -finance, political economy, sports, weather, etc., infallible, although -usually written by specialists; but these matters, being material, -adjust themselves, and their editorial short-comings seldom do -irreparable harm; whereas our sensitive art, the elements of which are -emotional, and the supersensitive organisms which are blessed with art -productivity, are less capable of recovering from the shock incident to -misconception and misrepresentation. - -Wagner was unique in this respect, for he endured years of calumny -and injustice without flinching. His nature was dual, as if his art -instinct had been grafted into an heroic character, like a noble oak, -from which it drew vitality, and whose wide-spread roots imparted -stability to its convictions without infusing into them any other -suggestion of its stern elements. Were all talented composers as firmly -rooted as Wagner, there would be less reason for protesting against -ignorance and carelessness in print. - -The second question propounded in the headlines of this chapter can -be discreetly considered, but it can receive no conclusive answer -until time's verdict is rendered. We can weigh the impressions made -upon our individual susceptibilities by the qualities of the more -prominent candidates for high-priestly honors, and compare these with -like individual conceptions of ideal attributes, but the result of -our speculations must necessarily partake more of the character of a -weather-vane, subject to the caprice of changing conditions, than of a -finger-post, giving reliable direction to our anticipations. - -Of all the composers of recent times, Brahms attracted the largest -following of musicians, and with right, for the volume of his worthy -creations is larger than that produced by any of his contemporaries. He -wrote a vast number of songs, ensemble pieces for a great variety of -instrumental combinations, accompanied and unaccompanied piano-forte -pieces, and symphonies, overtures, etc., for the grand orchestra. -His work is usually characterized by rich harmonies, melodic -voice-leading, transparent form, and a varying amount of spontaneity -that at times fails to conceal evident effort. This effort makes itself -felt in peculiar and even grotesque harmonic successions and rhythms, -and it is traceable through all periods of his career. These, which -to me are forced methods, are the only features that individualize -Brahms' music. He is greatest when self-forgetful, and these unnatural -features bespeak self-consciousness. Schumann, who was, as I said in -a previous chapter, Brahms' musical god-father, was a genius with a -clearly defined individuality, the complete and natural expression -of which obliged him to invent means to supplement those that he had -inherited from his predecessors. These invented means were peculiar -harmonic compounds and erratic accents. Schumann usually employed -these devices with grateful results; for he makes us feel that they are -essential to the development of full significance in his tonal schemes. -Genius has a magical power over resources and modes, often transforming -eccentricities into felicitous, expressive means, and endowing that -which would be chaotic in other hands with logical import. - -Brahms seems to have been dazzled by these extreme manifestations -of his great prototype's individuality. He not only adopted, but -exaggerated these, and made them the distinguishing features of his -style. He was a masterly contrapuntist, had a clear sense of form, -handled the orchestra well, although he never exhausted its resources, -and was always a logical thinker. His skill in the treatment of themes -was so astounding that he often imparted significance to trivial -motives (_vide_ the "Academic Overture" and his sets of variations), -but he was not a great initial inventor (an originator of pregnant -themes) nor was he a resourceful colorist. - -As I said before, Brahms was greatest when self-forgetful, for at such -times the artificial element dropped out of his diction and he became -a masterful musician, possessed of all the qualities but one that have -characterized our priestly line. This missing quality is to my mind the -most essential of all,--viz., a natural, distinguishing, and pervading -individuality. - -Tschaikowski received brief mention while we were considering Russia's -services to art in the fourth chapter. Because of Russia's half-closed -door her art has, until recent times, been very much isolated. For -this reason Tschaikowski's claims have not even now been fully laid -before our tribunal. It is a peculiar but characteristic circumstance -that America anticipated Europe by several years in her knowledge and -appreciation of this great creator. America is constantly eager for -novelty, and has not learned to seek it at home; Germany, and in a less -degree the other European countries, feel complacency in their own -achievements, and corresponding distrust and intolerance of foreign -products. - -It was but six years ago that Germany was made aware of the fact that -a great genius had lived, created, and died outside of her sphere -of direct influence, and almost without her knowledge. Tschaikowski -had naturally been known in a way to well-read German musicians, but -it required such a blow as was struck by Professor Leopold Auer to -draw from our tocsin a peal sufficiently vibrant to penetrate to the -farthermost confines of the musical world and to herald the coming of a -new hero. Never was an act of justice and love more conscientiously and -adequately accomplished. Auer showed rare judgment in the selection -of his programme. His evident desire was to display as many features -of Tschaikowski's versatile genius as possible. He therefore chose -the scholarly second, instead of the more assertively emotional sixth -symphony. The violin concert, the "Nutcracker" suite, and the symphonic -poem "Francesca da Rimini" followed. I know of no other composer of any -time whose works could furnish an equal variety of defined moods, each -bearing the unmistakable stamp of his individuality. - -Professor Auer conducted the orchestral works and played the concerto -with a skill which drew its inspiration from the reverent memory of -his lost friend. His exaltation infected the orchestral players, and -finally the audience, making the evening memorable, and sending out -waves of enthusiasm that have carried Tschaikowski's name and music to -the remotest corners of the musical world. - -In my previous mention of Tschaikowski I accorded him virtues that -"place him at the head of symphonists of his time." He had, however, -two frailties, one of which more or less pervades his works, while -the other shows itself but seldom. The former is a too great fealty -to his themes as at first announced, and the latter is an occasional -tendency to be melodramatic. Plastic compositions must be true to the -spirit, but not to the initial form of their themes, for pregnant -themes possess many phases of suggestiveness, and the more of these -phases a composer feels and displays, the richer the homogeneity of his -creations. - -Were it not for these slight weaknesses in Tschaikowski's work I should -not hesitate to predict that time would make him her choice for our -seventh high-priest, and he may win the honor in spite of them, for -his great qualities are overpowering. - -There are no known candidates who are worthy of comparison with these -two giants, Brahms and Tschaikowski, one mechanically and the other -emotionally musical. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - A SUMMARY OF MUSIC'S ATTRIBUTES. - WHAT CONSTITUTES MUSICAL INTELLIGENCE? - - -Although some of the attributes of our art have received repeated -mention in previous chapters, I feel that a short summary of their -distinguishing qualities might serve to throw the outlines of my sketch -into clearer relief. I shall seek this background without resorting to -technical analysis. - -Before undertaking this task I should like to emphasize the -oft-announced fact that music is a thing apart. It, like language and -the other arts, follows lines that lead from individuality to outside -intelligence. In the case of music, these lines start in the innermost -recess of the composer's emotional nature, and connecting with lines -that lead through our intellects into the equally secret chambers of -our natures, bring to us sentiments intelligible, but too intimate to -endure analysis. - -Civilized nations have long associated rhythms and moods,--_i.e._, -a marked four-quarter measure has always been characteristic of the -march, etc., but rhythm, although it is music's heart-pulsation, is -only the metre for musical thought. - -Scientists teach us that certain sounds are adapted to conjunctive use -as chords because of the mathematical relation existing between the -vibrations, of which they are the audible results. They go on from this -beginning through the gamut of musical learning, and close without -having given us a key to interpretation; so music is, and must remain, -an untranslatable language of the soul, producing effects and inducing -emotions, using the intellect as a medium only. - -Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "Music which is translatable is -necessarily of a low order." This sentiment is true, and it voices -a fine sense of music's nature and limitations, remarkable in a -layman, for there exists a disposition to pull the creations of the -great masters down to earth, and to make them tell tales of earthly -experiences. - -Music's purity, strength, and beauty are always sacrificed through -attempts to materialize it, for great music results from the natural -development and the felicitous expression of characteristic musical -thought, and not in the ingenious tonal illustrations of scenes or -sentiments, which have been, or might better be, expressed in words, -because of their material character. - -Pure, complete conceptions cannot take form in other than sensitive -natures; sensitive to the influences of life's surroundings, receiving -impressions from the bird's song, the flower's perfume, the storm's -might, the mountain's grandeur, the rippling stream, the peaceful -valley, and filled, at least for the time, with love for God and man; -nor could such conceptions pass to expression through intellects -that had not been tempered, refined, and broadened to grasp all the -resources that tonal science offers. - -It is in artificial music only,--born of purpose and not of -inspiration,--or in the work of unripe musicians, that science obtrudes -itself. In other words, when the means are noticeable, they have -either been unskillfully employed, or the composer has been actuated -by the ambition to display scholarly qualities regardless of æsthetic -considerations. - -How often we hear works in which any possible sparks of sensibility -and spontaneity have been smothered beneath loads of counterpoint and -thematic development, which are devoid of significance because not -evolved in logical sequence! Drawing and anatomy are to painting and -sculpture, and grammar, rhetoric, and metre are to poetry, what musical -science is to musical art, inasmuch as in each the capacity to produce, -or to appreciate what others have produced, is largely proportioned to -one's knowledge of these structural laws. - -Temperament, natural endowments, culture, and habit play such important -rôles in creating individual conceptions of beauty that we can only -consider as our criterion the judgment of people existing in our own -environment. - -The first essential of beauty is symmetry. A rose cannot be beautiful -unless gracefully formed and poised. The Creator's hand may have -tinted it incomparably, may have distilled the daintiest fragrance for -its portion, but these will avail naught if it has inherited ungraceful -proportions, or if the world has distorted it during its period of -growth. - -As the rose requires color and perfume to perfect its charms, so each -animate and inanimate creation in this world requires its suitable -accessories to symmetry. - -According to our standard, woman should have a lithe, plastic form, -with fluctuating color and an all-pervading fragrance of intellectual -modesty; whereas man should have a sinewy form, bold and strong, -the color of perfect health, and the fragrance of intellectual -fearlessness. Each must possess clearly defined individuality. - -God's creations are never exact duplicates, and still we have numerous -beautiful roses and women and Apollo-like men, each with appropriate -attributes, and each satisfying the æsthetic taste of some one person -or class of persons, because of the affinity to that object of the -personal ideal which was implanted in this person or these persons by -God, and which has been nurtured by conditions of life. - -As in everything else that lays claim to beauty, so in music, symmetry -must underlie all other attributes. The laws regulating musical -symmetry are so rigid, when viewed from one stand-point, and are -so elastic when viewed from another and higher, that it is not at -all strange that young composers stand aghast when they reach the -neutral point of receptivity from which these apparently contradictory -conditions first manifest themselves. But these conditions are -not really contradictory, for prescribed form is but a properly -proportioned and adjusted skeleton, an outlining framework, subject to -such modifications as will adapt it to the character of our schemes. -These modifications must not, however, involve the use of eccentric -lines, or the omission of essential members of the body musical, for -such action would result in malformations. - -The composer, having articulated his form, clothes it in such melodic -and harmonic material, moulded into such shape, as will realize his -fancy's ideal. The outcome of exhaustive knowledge, directed with -justifiable freedom, is musical symmetry. - -The next attribute is, as in the case of the rose, color; which in -music is more or less attractive according to the richness of the -material applied and the artistic skill and care bestowed upon its -arrangement. - -There are several sources to which the tone painter may resort for -what might be termed primary colors,--viz., the human voice, the -characteristic qualities of instruments, harmonic compounds, and -rhythm, the combining and blending of these primary colors so as to -produce the most effective shade for each episode, not only when -considered by itself, but also in its relations to the whole panoramic -succession of the finished picture, is the problem that so few solve. -Most composers seem to feel quite satisfied if they succeed in -startling us with uncommon combinations, however crude and irrelevant. - -Next comes sentiment, which is to music what fragrance is to the -rose, and what intellectuality is to woman. All three would be hollow -mockeries without this parallel endowment. A piece of music must -express a human desire, a belief, or an emotion, otherwise it is but -empty sound. - -These three attributes--symmetry, color, and sentiment--are at the -command of all talented musicians, but the all-pervading individuality -that so adjusts form, so arranges color, and gives such adequate -expression to each shade of feeling as to create natural but unique -tone pictures, is possessed by few composers of any given generation. - -So-called original music may be nothing more than the fruit of good -taste displayed in the arrangement of laboriously sought peculiarities -of means and modes, and it is therefore only outwardly individual; but -music whose themes spring from a pronounced individual feeling, which -feeling moulds its form and makes each contributive detail conform to -the spirit of the initial impulse, is truly original. Individual music -is then radically original, but original music is not necessarily -individual. - -A spark of individual genius, because of its clean brilliancy, sends -out its rays into illimitable space; whereas a whole bonfire of -purposeful eccentricities curtains its flames with non-radiating -elements, illuminating but a small field. - -Now we must step backward beyond that point where science begins to -shed her light upon natural laws. What agency produces life, starts -and keeps in motion the machinery of our bodies, and places a soul -behind our features? The same agency must guide us in the conception -of musical ideas, or they will lack all living elements. This power -is God: God in us,--a well-spring of inspiration for those whose -susceptibilities are sufficiently acute to feel its influence. - -Science can teach us to produce rich harmonic successions and -instrumental colors, but it cannot impart the magical power -of spontaneous and sequential growth that characterizes great -compositions, nor can it show us how to identify the spirit which -pervades such works. Any one can prepare himself to weigh the -intellectual properties of a musical work, but the spirit which -these properties are supposed to clothe will not materialize for -unsympathetic souls. Herein exists the reason for differences of -opinion entertained by cultured and honest critics. - -Some works possessing all the attributes of greatness must be often -heard before they begin to enlist our sympathies. Others, equally -inspired, fail to awaken responsiveness in certain persons. Differently -constituted natures cannot be expected to vibrate in unison, and as -real music is soul vibration made audible, it seeks responsiveness in -our natures, as any given tone lays hold of objects whose vibrations -are sympathetic, causing them to emit consonant sounds. - -The impression made by music can only be similar even--in character -and intensity--where the hearers are equally endowed and cultured, -and are equally conditioned mentally to surrender themselves to its -influence. As long as each member of the human family is distinguished -by individuality, so long will the impressions made by the intangible -elements in art be diverse. - -Suggestiveness is the highest quality with which a poet, an orator, -a painter, a sculptor, or a musician can endow his productions. -Its existence implies a clear conception, rooted in sentiment and -adequately expressed through adaptable means, but well within the line -of demarcation which separates logical terseness from redundancy. - -Who can listen to Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, or Wagner and not find -himself in a dreamland, peopled not so much by children of the great -master's brain, as by the offspring of his own fancy? These results -are the fruits of suggestiveness. - -Routine often leads to diffuseness; the lack of it always results in -illogical and inadequate expression; but routine directed by genius -seldom fails to discover the vital line which marks the boundary of -completeness. On one side of this line we have inland waters, flowing -from the author's fancy: on the other, and fed therefrom, the open sea -of semi-conscious cerebration, with its capricious winds and tidal -currents. - -If a writer succeed in enlisting our sympathies, the flow of his -thoughts will impart the impetus requisite to carry us beyond this -line; but here his direct influence ceases, for the stream of his -fancies becomes merged in the ocean of each of our lives' memories, -hopes, and experiences, and each having received an impulse comporting -with his receptivity and habits of mind, sails away upon his course -propelled by unfettered imagination. - - - MUSICAL INTELLIGENCE. - -A symphony is like an epic poem; its salient points rather than its -rounded whole appeal to the average reader or listener. The striking -episodes of unfamiliar compositions in large form, are prone to come -out into undue prominence, and so blind us to their true significance -as phases of sequential development. The sustained effort, and -experience demanded by a symphony, are the supreme tests of a composer. -We therefore have no right to an opinion in regard to the merits or -demerits of a large earnest work until study and hearing have, in our -understanding, joined its episodes and given them importful continuity. - -Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, and Wagner were endowed with great -talent, which indefatigable energy advanced to genius. They worked -upon a plane far above other men. We cannot hope to feel what they felt -while creating, but we can work, the while knowing that as we approach -their level in knowledge and experience our minds will better assist -our understanding of their conceptions. Their joys, their sorrows, -their triumphs, their every sentiment should find response in our -hearts; but the impression made by music can only be distinct after -we have made ourselves acoustically receptive, after our natures have -become attuned like æolian harps to responsiveness when waves of melody -strike upon them. - -Our minds can be sounding-boards, which gather and reflect upon our -souls the tone pictures we hear. A wooden surface must be smooth, -properly formed, and perfectly poised, or it will not collect, focus, -and reflect sound effects. In the same way our mental sounding-boards -must be properly prepared, or they will not collect details and reflect -sentiments. This preparation involves the use of all available means -for shaping, refining, and poising. The earnest study of any branch of -learning broadens, and the contemplation of the beautiful in nature and -art quickens, the perceptions. - -Pedantry--another name for self-sufficient ignorance--will warp and so -distort our reflector as to mar its efficiency, making it unjust alike -to the subject and to us. - -The ear should be capable of transmitting correctly, and if possible in -detail. Some persons are endowed with absolute pitch. These fortunates, -if they persist in careful listening, can become able to follow an -intricate composition, in its modulations, thematic development, -etc., more easily, as well as more accurately, through hearing than -through reading the printed page. This ability marks a long stride -towards sympathy with the composer, especially as its exercise involves -undivided attention to the subject in hand. - -The absence of absolute pitch is no indication of lack of talent, -and those who cannot acquire it have no reason for discouragement. -Every ordinarily gifted student can educate his hearing to recognize -intervals (seconds, thirds, etc.) and the tendency of chords, as -based on the relations existing between the tones of which they are -composed--to each other and to the key. - -We should strive to make ourselves good mediums. Refined creations -cannot appeal to crude natures. The savage, although sometimes -possessing poetic instincts, prefers his own music, with its monotonous -weirdness, to that which more civilized communities can offer. Our -right to pass judgment upon others' creations will therefore depend -largely on the distance we are removed from the savage in the process -of evolution. - - - THE END - - * * * * * - - TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES - -Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. - -A number of words in this book have both hyphenated and non-hyphenated -variants. For those words, the variant more frequently used was -retained. In some cases there was no predominant variant. The -hyphenated variant was chosen in those cases. - - -Obvious punctuation and printing errors, which were not detected during -the printing of the original book, have been corrected. - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Music and Its Masters, by -O. B. 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