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diff --git a/76594-0.txt b/76594-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9fb81aa --- /dev/null +++ b/76594-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19068 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76594 *** + + + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + +In the plain text version Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. +Small caps are represented in UPPER CASE. The sign ^ represents a +superscript; thus e^ represents the lower case letter “e” written +immediately above the level of the previous character. + +The musical files for the musical examples discussed in the book have +been provided by Jude Eylander. Those examples can be heard by clicking +on the [Listen] tab. This is only possible in the HTML version of the +book. The scores that appear in the original book have been included as +“jpg” images. + +In some cases the scores that were used to generate the music files +differ slightly from the original scores. Those differences are due +to modifications that were made by the Music Transcriber during the +process of creating the musical archives in order to make the music +play accurately on modern musical transcribing programs. These scores +are included as PNG images, and can be seen by clicking on the [PNG] +tag in the HTML version of the book. + +Obvious punctuation and other printing errors have been corrected. + +New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the +public domain. + + + * * * * * + + + + + THE ART OF MUSIC + + + The Art of Music + + A Comprehensive Library of Information + for Music Lovers and Musicians + + Editor-in-Chief + DANIEL GREGORY MASON + Columbia University + + + Associate Editors + + EDWARD B. HILL LELAND HALL + Harvard University Past Professor, Univ. of Wisconsin + + + Managing Editor + + CÉSAR SAERCHINGER + Modern Music Society of New York + + In Fourteen Volumes + Profusely Illustrated + + [Illustration] + + NEW YORK + THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC + + + [Illustration: The Singing Angels] + _Altar piece by Hubert and Jan van Eyck_ + + + + + THE ART OF MUSIC: VOLUME SIX + + Choral and Church Music + + ROSSETTER GLEASON COLE, M.A. + + Introduction by + FRANK DAMROSCH, Mus. Doc. + + Director Institute of Musical Art in the City of New York + Conductor, Musical Art Society of New York, etc. + + + [Illustration] + + + NEW YORK + THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC + + + Copyright, 1915, by + THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC, Inc. + [All Rights Reserved] + + + + + PREFATORY NOTE + + +The field of choral and church music is so vast and the subject so +inclusive that the author has felt the constant pressure of the +necessity for sifting and abbreviating and condensing the voluminous +material at hand in order not to go far beyond the prescribed limits +of this volume. He has resolutely shut his eyes to the allurements of +the many by-paths that constantly beckoned away from the historical +highway he was appointed to tread; and he has endeavored to keep this +object constantly in mind--to trace the development of the forces and +tendencies from which have sprung the various musical forms that have +gone to make up the literature of choral and church music as century +followed century. In this volume, therefore, the great personalities +of musical history will receive far less attention than the particular +musical forms and art-tendencies that flowed from their, oft-times, +combined creative activities. + +While a large number of choral and organ works of every class have been +analyzed with much detail and a still larger number given definite +classification, it is hoped that the historical summaries and the +discussions of styles and periods, scattered throughout this volume, +will be even more helpful to the reader in enabling him to place +any given musical work in its true musical, as well as historical, +perspective. It is a matter of some regret that from sheer lack +of space several interesting and wholly relevant topics--such as +hymnology, contemporaneous church music, the whole relation of music to +the present-day church, etc.--must be left untouched. In the chapters +on contemporaneous choral music, it was necessary for the same reason +to shut out of consideration the whole field of short cantata (for +church choirs, and for female and male chorus), though the number of +really fine works here is quite amazing. Contemporaneous choral music +is fully discussed in three chapters and a large number of works are +adequately described, though for obvious reasons critical estimates are +in the main impossible from the very propinquity of these works. + +Grateful acknowledgment is here made to Mr. Frederick H. Martens and to +Mr. Reginald L. McAll for the contribution of the comprehensive chapter +on the history of the organ (Chapter XIV), at the end of which their +initials will be found; also to Mr. Wilhelm Middelschulte, organist +of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, for many critical suggestions, +especially on the organ-works of Bach, Widor and Reger. In this +connection the author wishes to give full and grateful recognition to +the valuable assistance of his wife in gathering and verifying much +historical material. + + ROSSETTER G. COLE. + +Chicago, August, 1915. + + + CHORAL AND CHURCH MUSIC + + + + + INTRODUCTION + + +“And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly +host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth +peace, good will toward men.” + +This choir of angels (for can we conceive of a multitude of angels +announcing this message otherwise than in well-ordered song?) typifies +the mission of choral singing. + +Whenever human beings unite in expressing noble thoughts in noble +music, their message also is one of good will. Their speech is rendered +in rhythmic cadence, intoned in harmonious concord and made expressive +by melody; they are bound together in amicable union for a common +purpose; they willingly submit to the discipline of a controlling mind; +their object is to put beauty into the world and the peace and harmony +which are required to make their work effective are communicated to +those who hear them and whose souls they cause to vibrate in unison +with their music. + +It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the practice of choral +singing dates back to very early times. Not, of course, in the way in +which we understand the term to-day, as an art-form, but in cruder +forms of singing or chanting in unison such as may still be heard among +uncivilized or half-civilized tribes. + +The desire to unite in the performance of religious rites, in prayers +for rain or in praise of the deity; in the mutual encouragement to do +battle against a common foe; in the celebration of seasonal changes, +in rejoicing over the gifts of nature or the fruits of their toil at +harvest time--all these common feelings induce a common expression and +stimulate choral singing. + +The development from these crude forms to the art-forms of the present +has not only extended over a long period, but has been affected and +influenced by many and various factors. For purposes of discussion we +may divide these into two main classes: the Church and the Folk-song. +These two factors have brought to the evolution of choral singing +certain elements which, though diametrically opposed, yet most happily +complement each other, namely, obedience to law and freedom of +expression. + +In the nature of things music in the Church--the Roman Catholic and +the Greek Orthodox--had to adapt itself to the strict canons of the +Liturgy. As the service became more and more elaborate and it was +realized that music exerted a strong spiritualizing influence, its use +was extended until it became one of the principal features in the Mass +and required the participation of not only the regular clergy, but of +numerous trained auxiliaries. Thus it came to pass that the Church, to +satisfy its need for canonic music--that is, for music which met the +liturgic requirements, preserved the dignity of the text and enhanced +the devotional attitude--stimulated the efforts toward greater beauty, +variety, and dignity of expression. Every monastery, every cathedral +contributed something to this evolutionary process until this primary +stage of choral development culminated in the work of Palestrina. This +was accomplished by slow stages. The art of counterpoint, which forms +the basis of this art-form, grew very gradually from the combination +of two voices to that of three, four, or more and incidentally caused +to be discovered certain art-forms, such as the canon and the fugue, +based upon the principle of imitation, which have been employed by all +the great masters of musical composition to the present day. + +Let us now, for a moment, leave this field of choral development and +go into a small village in Russia. It is evening. The villagers are +assembled under the spreading branches of an old linden tree whose +blossoms perfume the still air as the moon rises above the forest. +Presently one of the villagers intones a song. It is known to all, has +been handed down from generation to generation. No one knows whence +it came--it seems always to have been there and it is interwoven with +the memories and emotions of all the people of the village and of the +whole countryside. In a word--it is a folk-song. One after another +the villagers join in, some in unison with the tune, but others, +finding the range too high, endeavor to find tones which sound in +pleasing consonance, and so, gradually, there is evolved a full harmony +accompanying the melody of the song. Has anyone taught the villagers +the science of harmony? Of course not, but, just as the beautiful +melody grew out of the people’s hearts and in the course of generations +molded itself into a perfect tune, so gradually the sense for good +harmony grew and caused the elimination of unpleasing progressions. +Sometimes such a song tells a story which is developed in many stanzas. +Then a ‘foresinger’ will chant the stanzas and the villagers will sing +a choral refrain, thus taking active part in the recital. + +This, then, is the other source of choral singing which, meeting the +stream coming from the church, soon united with it and helped to create +and to develop this form of musical art. + +In order to obtain a survey of the whole field of choral music as it +has grown from these two principal sources, let us enumerate it under +three divisions: + +1. As an expression of popular emotions and +thoughts. + + a. Folk-songs and refrains. + b. Dance songs. + c. Marching and war songs. + d. Work songs. + e. National songs. + + +2. For religious purposes. + + a. Masses, motets, chorales, and other church-music. + b. Cantatas and oratorios. + +3. Miscellaneous forms for choral art. + + a. Part-songs, glees, madrigals, etc. + b. Secular cantatas. + c. As adjuncts to symphonic music. + d. As component parts of the opera. + + +This shows the wide scope of choral singing and its possibilities for +coming into close relationship to every phase of human life. + +Whenever men come together for a common purpose involving the +expression of deep feelings or of their ideals, ordinary speech seems +inadequate and recourse to united musical expression, that is, choral +singing, seems most appropriate. Hence, the choral folk-songs and +dance-songs found in Russia, Scandinavia, Germany, and many other +nations and races; the marching and war-songs which cause the heart to +beat faster and to enliven the spirits, which would otherwise droop +from physical fatigue and hardships. Even where no spiritual element +seems in evidence on the surface, as in the work in the fields, in the +hauling of barges against the current of a great river, such as the +Volga in Russia, in the cigar factories in Florida and in Cuba, or +in heaving on a rope aboard ship, the mere working together of many +in a common task causes them to lighten their labor by utterance of +united song. There is little doubt that labor is better done with +the accompaniment of singing by happy and contented workers. No +discontented workman is inclined to sing. And when a great assemblage +of people unites in the national hymn of its country, it must be a +callous soul and cold heart that does not try to join with ardor and +enthusiasm. + +All these manifestations of musical expression by popular singing +may be executed by comparatively untrained individuals. Even some +quite unusual and interesting harmonic progressions, the result of +generations of experiment and selection, as for instance in Finland, +Scandinavia, and among our Southern negroes, are not the result of +individual training, but part of the general racial instinct for +musical expression. The other classes of choral singing which we +have enumerated above require considerable training of individuals +in order to produce satisfactory results. In other words, whereas +the folk-songs, dance, marching, and national songs were either the +spontaneous expression of the people themselves or composed in the +style of the people’s or folk-song whose chief centre of interest +is the tune or melody while its harmonization is of secondary +importance, the choral art-songs, to which belong part-songs, glees, +madrigals, motets, cantatas, and all larger forms of choral music, +employ a much more elaborate style of composition. The different +voice-parts--soprano, alto, tenor, and bass--and their subdivisions +often progress in rhythmic independence of each other. The voice-parts +may enter the song at different times, in different sequence, in +different metrical and rhythmical figures; they may sing different +words simultaneously and therefore give different expression; sometimes +one voice-part requires dynamic prominence, sometimes another, while +the other voices subordinate themselves. All this requires that the +individual singer must have a musical voice and true ear and a good +sense of rhythm; that he should understand the rudimentary science of +music and of notation; and that his eye should be able to recognize +the symbols which indicate the pitch and time value of sounds and +translate them instantly into the sounds themselves. Also, it requires +that the individuals submit to the strictest discipline in obeying +the directions of the leader. Only complete, intelligent, and instant +obedience to the director on the part of every member of the chorus +will produce good results. In other words, only team-work of the +highest type secures mastery. + +Efficiency in the performance of choral works of art, therefore, +demands the following conditions: First, a leader who is a thorough, +trained musician; cultured and well-educated; of good character and +with high ideals and noble aims; of good personality, courteous but +strict in discipline; critical but not discouraging; energetic and +enthusiastic, but always within the limits of dignity. Second, a +chorus composed of singers who sing because they love to sing (paid or +unpaid), who are gladly willing to obey the leader’s direction, and +who will concentrate themselves upon their work throughout the period +of rehearsal or performance. Their degree of vocal excellence, musical +qualities, individual musical knowledge and training will determine the +magnitude of the task upon which the leader may direct their efforts +and also the degree of excellence which their performance can attain. + +In the United States there exist innumerable organizations devoted +to the study of choral music in its various forms, and it may be of +interest to enumerate some of the principal kinds. + + +1. The church congregation which sings hymns either in unison + or in four-part harmony in a more or less happy-go-lucky + fashion. + +2. The church choir composed of male and female voices or + of boys’ and men’s voices. + +3. The societies devoted to the study of oratorios and cantatas. + +4. The societies devoted to the study of unaccompanied choral + singing (_a cappella_, as it is called), such as madrigals, + glees, motets, etc. + +5. Male choruses, such as the German singing societies and the + glee clubs. + +6. Choruses of women’s voices. + +7. Opera choruses. + +8. Choruses of school-children. + + +The great majority of these organizations consists of amateurs, +that is, of people who love music and who find in choral singing an +opportunity to gratify their desire to take an active part in its +performance. + +Even those whose voices are of mediocre quality and have had little or +no training can learn to do excellent work in large choruses in which +the individual voice is merged in the mass. An example of this may be +found in the People’s Singing Classes and in the People’s Choral Union +of New York. Applicants to the former are admitted without vocal or +musical examination. They are taught to sing from notes, to follow the +bâton of the leader, to phrase and enunciate correctly, and to produce +a musical quality of tone. After two seasons they are promoted into the +Choral Union and are capable of singing the choruses of the oratorios +by Handel, Mendelssohn, and the modern masters. Their work has been +highly praised by the principal music critics and they have given and +are still giving pleasure to thousands of people at their concerts. + +Societies like the Oratorio Society of New York, the Handel and Haydn +of Boston, the Apollo Club of Chicago, and numerous similar ones in +nearly every city are also composed of amateurs, but admission is +obtained only after proof of good vocal material and ability to sing at +sight has been given. This enables such organizations to perform with a +high degree of artistic finish and to produce a number of large works +every season. + +The male societies, such as glee clubs and _Deutsche Gesangvereine_, +cultivate a lighter class of music, but they sometimes reach a high +degree of vocal excellence and finish in diction and phrasing. They +afford a welcome relief from work, business cares, and mental strain to +many men who like to sing and who enjoy the weekly rehearsals and the +social intercourse with congenial men which usually follows the drill. + +The women’s choruses are not as numerous nor as popular as the +men’s, but seem to be growing more so every year. It is difficult to +understand why male choral singing should have developed more quickly +and more widely, as women are usually more interested in music than the +average man. Perhaps there is a psychological reason for it! + +Choruses of children’s voices are among the most delightful +manifestations in the realm of music when they are well trained. Our +public schools throughout the country have the best possible machinery +for their development, and wherever this is guided by a good musician +and competent organizer the results are very beautiful. It is a great +pity, therefore, that the start in the direction of choral singing +given in the schools to hundreds of thousands of children every year +should not be systematically followed up by providing municipal evening +singing classes, either in the school buildings or in other suitable +halls provided by the city. Such classes would tend enormously to +uplift the young people who are just beginning life by giving them +opportunity to meet their friends under clean and pleasant conditions, +to enjoy the study of beautiful music and thereby to put into their +lives something which will help to lift them above the purely material +thoughts and commonplace existence which are so often the lot of the +wage-earner. + +There remains only the consideration of the various kinds of +professional choruses. Of these, the church choir is the most +frequently met with. As a rule, it is little better than the average +amateur chorus, the members receiving a nominal fee, chiefly in order +to insure their regular attendance at rehearsals and services. But +there are some notable exceptions in the case of wealthy congregations +who spend whatever may be necessary to secure a highly gifted +and thoroughly competent choir-master, good voices, and frequent +rehearsals. In some cases there have been established richly endowed +choir schools in which boys gifted with good voices receive not only +musical training, but an excellent general education sufficient to +prepare them for college. + +The grand opera choruses have, until recently, been largely recruited +from Italy and Germany, but now they include many young American men +and women whose fresh voices and intelligent application are looked +upon as welcome additions both by the conductors and the public. As +interest in opera grows and as operatic institutions are established in +a larger number of cities, this career will attract many young people +whose voices are not of such quality as to promise success as soloists, +but who are musical and prefer work along artistic lines to the more +mechanical business or trade occupations. + +Finally, mention must be made of a kind of choral singing which, at its +best, is to vocal music what chamber music is to instrumental, namely, +_a cappella_ singing. + +Dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when the old +Italian and Flemish masters of church music laid the foundations of +their wonderful contrapuntal style which culminated in the work of +Palestrina, this form of unaccompanied choral singing has flourished +to the present day, producing exquisite blossoms in every succeeding +age and in nearly every country which has cultivated a love of music. +Much of this class of music requires highly skilled singers, thorough +musical training and expert leadership, and it is therefore desirable +to secure professional singers when this is possible. The Musical +Art Society of New York and other societies with similar aims devote +themselves to this type of choral singing. Their choirs usually consist +of professional singers and their programs embrace works by Palestrina, +Orlando di Lasso, and their contemporaries and successors--Bach, +Gibbons, Morley, Wilbye, and other English madrigalists; the masters +of the German romantic school; Russian, Scandinavian, and Celtic +part-songs; Cornelius, Brahms, and the modern composers of all nations. + +From the foregoing recital of the wide scope of this important branch +of musical art and its general practice by all classes of people, it +would appear that choral singing is that form of music which is best +adapted to popular use and that it is one of the easiest and best means +to promote the love and culture of good music in the community. + +Through the musical experience gained in the study of choral works +and because of the pleasure it gives to the participants, interest is +aroused in other forms of musical art. Those who are engaged in trying +to awaken the American people to the appreciation of music by means +of recitals by singers, pianists, and violinists; by chamber music, +symphony concerts, and opera, will find more ready response from people +who have entered the field of music apprehension through choral singing +than through any other medium except the thorough training of a good +music school, and this contingent is, as yet, comparatively small. It +is to be hoped that, as the value of choral singing as a community +asset becomes more generally recognized, public education boards and +civic societies will give the fullest encouragement to its practice by +the people at large. It is not too much to say that twenty per cent. +of the adults of every city could become qualified to take part in +choral singing, and this opens up marvellous possibilities. + +Such civic choruses could assist in the celebration of the national +holidays, of festivities in memory of great events, in exercises +designed to honor a famous man; in short, they would be a true people’s +voice expressing a people’s emotions, aspirations, and ideals. What +more fitting then than that the great republic of America should foster +the art and cultivate the practice of choral singing in order the more +effectively to proclaim to all the world its message of well ordered +liberty, of enlightenment and progress, and of peace to men of good +will? + + FRANK DAMROSCH + +New York, May, 1915. + + + + + CONTENTS OF VOLUME SIX + + + PAGE + + PREFATORY NOTE vii + + INTRODUCTION BY DR. FRANK DAMROSCH ix + + + PART I. CHORAL MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES + + CHAPTER + + I. MUSIC OF THE EARLY AND MEDIÆVAL CHURCH AND EARLY + SECULAR MUSIC 1 + + The music of the earliest Christian church as evolved + from contemporary practices and systems; the alliance of + the Roman liturgy with music; the _Schola Cantorum_--St. + Ambrose and liturgical music; his hymns; Gregory the + Great and his reforms; the Gregorian antiphonary; + sequences and tropes--Progress in musical methods in + the northern countries; Hucbald and _organum_; Guido of + Arezzo; Franco of Cologne and measured music; growth of + part-singing--Early secular music; the Troubadours and + Trouvères; Adam de la Hâle; the Minnesingers and the + Mastersingers; mediæval secular forms; The early + madrigal and its precursors, the _chanson_ and + _frottola_; ‘Sumer is icumen in’; relation of folk-music + to art-music. + + II. THE POLYPHONIC PERIOD 36 + + The Gallo-Belgic School; the Netherlanders; the mass + and its liturgical significance; the use of secular + subjects--Conditions that fostered continuity of + development: the ‘Mass of Tournay’; Dufay and Okeghem; + Hobrecht’s _Parce Domine_; Josquin des Près’ masses + and motets; his expressive style--The motet as an + extra-liturgical form; its development; its later + characteristic style; distinction between sacred and + secular music--Orlando di Lasso’s ‘Penitential Psalms’; + his tendency toward a simpler style; his _Gustate et + Videte_ and other compositions--Palestrina’s reforms, + methods, and style; his masses, _Papæ Marcelli_, + _Brevis_, and _Assumpta est Maria_; his motets and other + compositions: Vittoria and others--Madrigal writers of + the sixteenth century: Festa, Arcadelt, Willaert, Byrd, + Morley, etc. + + III. THE FIRST CENTURY OF PROTESTANT CHURCH MUSIC 76 + + Martin Luther; the chorale as the nucleus of German + Protestant church music--Early Reformation composers: + Walther, Eccard, Prætorius; influence of church choir + schools in Germany during the Reformation + period--English Protestant music, music of the Anglican + liturgy: the anthem, its early history and style--The + spread of congregational song; psalms and hymns. + + + PART II. THE CANTATA AND OTHER SHORT FORMS + + IV. THE EARLY ITALIAN SECULAR CANTATA, THE GERMAN CLASSICAL + CANTATA, THE ENGLISH ANTHEM, AND OTHER SHORT + CHORAL FORMS 99 + + The entrance of dramatic tendencies into music--Carissimi + and the early cantata; Rossi, Cesti, and Legrenzi--A. + Scarlatti, the culminating point in cantata-writing in + Italy; later developments of the Italian cantata--The + German church cantata and its relation to the Lutheran + service; cantata-texts of Neumeister and others--Bach + in the service of the church; his church cantatas--G. + F. Handel; Joseph Haydn; W. A. Mozart--English church + music in the eighteenth century; the anthem: Croft, + Greene, Boyce, and others--Later history of this motet in + England, Italy, and Germany; decadence of the madrigal; + the glee, the part-song, the masque and the ode. + + V. THE CANTATA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 142 + + Conflict of tradition and progress--Ludwig van Beethoven: + ‘Ruins of Athens,’ ‘Glorious moment’; Andreas Romberg--C. + M. von Weber; Franz Schubert; Ludwig Spohr--Mendelssohn: + ‘First Walpurgis Night,’ etc.; 95th Psalm; _Lauda Sion_, + etc.--Hector Berlioz: ‘Damnation of Faust’--Robert + Schumann: ‘Paradise and the Peri’; ‘Pilgrimage of the + Rose’; Miscellany--Ferdinand Hiller; Niels W. Gade: + ‘Crusaders,’ ‘Erl-King’s Daughter,’ ‘Christmas Eve,’ + ‘Comala,’ etc.--Félicien David: ‘The Desert’; Minor + cantata writers in Germany and England: Benedict, Costa, + Macfarren, Smart, Bennett--Anglican ritual-music and the + German evangelical motet in the nineteenth century; the + part-song. + + VI. THE MODERN CANTATA 189 + + Wagner: ‘The Love Feast of the Apostles’; Liszt: ‘The + Bells of Strassburg,’ ‘Prometheus’--Brahms: ‘Song of + Triumph,’ ‘Song of Destiny’--Max Bruch: ‘Frithjof,’ + ‘Fair Ellen,’ ‘The Cross of Fire,’ ‘The Lay of the + Bell,’ etc.--Rheinberger; Dvořák; Hofmann; Goetz--Grieg; + Gounod; Sullivan: ‘The Golden Legend’; Barnby’s Gaul; + Stainer; Cowen--Parry; Mackenzie; Stanford--Elgar: + ‘King Olaf’; ‘Caractacus’; ‘The Black Knight’-- + Coleridge-Taylor: ‘Hiawatha’ cycle--Dudley Buck: + ‘The Golden Legend’; ‘The Light of Asia’; Horatio + Parker and other cantata writers in the United States. + + + PART III. THE ORATORIO AND THE MASS + + VII. Early and Classical Oratorios 223 + + Origin of oratorio in the sacred drama of + Italy--Cavalieri: ‘The Representation of Soul and + Body’--Carissimi: ‘Jephthah’--Scarlatti; Stradella; + other early oratorio writers--Development of oratorio + in Germany; Passion-music and its development; Schütz: + ‘The Seven Last Words of Christ’; ‘The Passion + Oratorio’; ‘The Resurrection’--J. S. Bach: ‘Christmas + Oratorio’; ‘Passion according to St. Matthew’; Graun: + ‘The Death of Jesus’; other writers of Passion-music-- + Handel and the oratorio; ‘The Messiah’--‘Israel in + Egypt’; ‘Judas Maccabæus’; ‘Samson,’ etc.--Haydn: ‘The + Creation’; ‘The Seasons.‘ + + VIII. THE ORATORIO FROM BEETHOVEN TO BRAHMS 264 + + Beethoven: ‘The Mount of Olives’; Spohr: ‘The Last + Judgment’ and ‘Calvary’--Mendelssohn: ‘St. Paul’--‘Elijah’ + and ‘Hymn of Praise’--Liszt: ‘St. Elizabeth’ and + ‘Christus’--Oratorio in England; Sterndale Bennett: + ‘The Woman of Samaria’; Costa’s ‘Eli’--Oratorio in + France; Lesueur; Berlioz’s _L’enfance du Christ_--Gounod: + ‘The Redemption’; _Mors et Vita_. + + IX. THE MODERN ORATORIO 292 + + Brahms: ‘German Requiem’; Dvořák: ‘St. Ludmila’--César + Franck: ‘The Beatitudes’;--Tinel: ‘Franciscus’; Benoît: + ‘Lucifer’--Saint-Saëns: ‘Christmas Oratorio’; ‘The + Deluge’; Massenet: _Ève_; _Marie Madeleine_; Dubois: + ‘Paradise Lost’--Oratorio in England; Mackenzie: ‘The + Rose of Sharon’; ‘Bethlehem’; Parry: ‘Judith’; ‘Job’; + ‘King Saul’--Stanford: ‘The Three Holy Children’; ‘Eden’; + Sullivan: ‘The Prodigal Son’; ‘The Light of the World’; + Cowen--Oratorio in America; Paine: ‘St. Peter’; Horatio + Parker: _Hora Novissima_; ‘The Legend of St. Christopher.’ + + X. THE MODERN MASS 318 + + The adaptation of liturgical forms to extra-liturgical + purposes; Mass; Requiem Mass--Stabat Mater; Magnificat; + Te Deum--Musical masses and the Roman service--Bach: + ‘B minor Mass’--Bach‘s ‘Magnificat in D’; Pergolesi‘s + _Stabat Mater_; Handel‘s Te Deums; Graun‘s ‘Prague _Te + Deum_’; Haydn’s church music--Mozart: the _Requiem_ and + other masses--Cherubini: _Requiem_ and other masses; + Schubert’s masses--Beethoven: _Missa Solemnis_; Weber’s + masses--Berlioz: _Requiem_; _Te Deum_; Rossini’s _Stabat + Mater_; Liszt: ‘Graner Mass’ and ‘Hungarian Coronation + Mass’--Gounod: ‘St. Cecilia Mass’ and other masses; + Dvořák: _Requiem_ and _Stabat Mater_; Verdi: ‘The Manzoni + _Requiem_’--The masses of Rheinberger, Henschel and + others. + + + PART IV. MODERN CHORAL MUSIC + + XI. CONTEMPORANEOUS CHORAL MUSIC IN GERMANY 347 + + Contemporaneous Choral Music in Germany--Richard Strauss: + _Wanderers Sturmlied_; _Taillefer_; Motets--Taubmann: + _Eine Deutsche Messe_; _Sängerweihe_; Georg Schumann: + _Ruth_; _Totenklage_ and other works--Max Reger’s + choral compositions; Schönberg: _Gurrelieder_; + ‘Transfigured Night’; _Pierrot lunaire_--Other choral + writers of the present; Felix Draeseke’s _Christus_; + Wolfrum’s _Weihnachtsmysterium_; Albert Fuchs; Wilhelm + Platz; August Bungert’s _Warum? Woher? Wohin?_ Felix + Woyrsch: _Totentanz_ and other works; Wilhelm Berger’s + _Totentanz_; Karl Ad. Lorenz: _Das Licht_; other + contributors to modern German choral literature. + + XII. CONTEMPORANEOUS CHORAL MUSIC IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA 359 + + Elgar: ‘The Light of Life’; ‘The Dream of Gerontius’; + ‘The Apostles’; ‘The Kingdom’; ‘The Music + Makers’;--Parry: ‘War and Peace’; ‘The Vision of + Life’; ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’; Mackenzie; Cowen; + Coleridge-Taylor--Bantock: ‘The Fire Worshippers’; ‘Omar + Khayyam’ and other choral works--Holbrooke: ‘The Bells,’ + ‘Byron’ and other works; Grainger and others; Walford + Davies: ‘Everyman’; ‘The Temple’ and other works; minor + English choral writers--Horatio Parker: ‘Morven and + the Grail’ and smaller works; Chadwick: ‘Judith’ and + ‘Noël’--Henry Hadley: ‘Merlin and Vivian’ and short + works; F. S. Converse: ‘Job’; other American choral + writers. + + XIII. CONTEMPORARY CHORAL MUSIC IN FRANCE, ITALY, RUSSIA AND + ELSEWHERE 386 + + Debussy: _L’enfant prodigue_, _La demoiselle élue_ + and _Le martyre de Saint-Sébastien_; Reynaldo Hahn: + _La pastorale de Noël_; Gabriel Pierné: _La croisade + des enfants_; _Les enfants de Bethlehem_; _Les + fioretti de Saint-François d’Assisi_--Florent Schmitt: + Psalm XLVII; Vincent d’Indy: _Chant de la cloche_, + etc.--Renaissance of oratorio in Italy; Perosi and + his oratorios; Bossi: _Canticum canticorum_; _Il + Paradiso perduto_; Wolf-Ferrari: _La Vita Nuova_ and + other works--Scandinavia; choral music in Russia; + Moussorgsky; Rimsky-Korsakoff; Glazounoff; Glière; + Arensky and others; choral composition in Poland, + Bohemia, Hungary, Spain. + + + PART V. THE ORGAN AND ITS MUSIC + + XIV. THE ORGAN FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT 397 + + The ancestor of the modern organ; pneumatic and + hydraulic organs of classical antiquity--The organ + in early mediæval times--The tenth and eleventh + centuries: cloister and minster organs; the twelfth and + thirteenth centuries: introduction of the ‘portative’ + organ and balanced keys; the fourteenth century: + chromatic keyboard; pedals; organ blowing--Fifteenth + and sixteenth centuries; cathedral and church organs; + the _Rückpositiv_; the Spanish _partida_; builders--The + seventeenth century: mechanical development; tuning; + union of manuals; the eighteenth century; the ‘Swell’; + English builders; the Silbermanns--_Rococo_ adornment + of cases; the nineteenth century and the birth of the + modern instrument--Pneumatic action; electric action; + the Universal Air Chest; duplex stop control; tonal + improvements--the chamber organ; the concert organ. + + XV. EARLY ORGAN MUSIC 415 + + The old Italian masters: Landino to Frescobaldi--Early + German masters; the forerunners of Bach; Hassler, + Pachelbel, Buxtehude--J. S. Bach: the toccatas, the + preludes and fugues, the sonatas and other works--The + early French composers: Couperin and Rameau; Spain and + Portugal; the Netherlands--The early English masters; + Tye, Tallis, Byrd, Bull, Gibbons, etc.--Purcell; + Handel. + + XVI. ORGAN MUSIC AFTER BACH AND HANDEL 456 + + The eclipse of organ music after Bach; Bach’s pupils + and other organ masters of the classic period--Organ + composers of the romantic period: Mendelssohn, Liszt, + Rheinberger and others--Great French organists of the + nineteenth century--English organists since Handel. + + XVII. MODERN ORGAN MUSIC 479 + + Supremacy of modern French organ music; Saint-Saëns; + Guilmant: sonatas and smaller works--Widor: organ + symphonies; Dubois; Gigout and other French + organ-writers--German organ composers; Piutti; + Klose; Reger; chorale-fantasias; Karg-Elert and + others--Organ music in Italy; Capocci; Bossi; Busoni + and others--English organ composers since 1850--Organ + music in the United States; early history; Dudley + Buck; Frederick Archer and Clarence Eddy; contemporary + American organ composers. + + LITERATURE 503 + + INDEX 507 + + + CHORAL AND CHURCH MUSIC + + + + + CHAPTER I + + MUSIC OF THE EARLY AND MEDIÆVAL CHURCH AND EARLY SECULAR MUSIC + + + The music of the earliest Christian church as evolved + from contemporary practices and systems; the alliance of + the Roman liturgy with music; the _Schola Cantorum_--St. + Ambrose and liturgical music; his hymns; Gregory the Great + and his reforms; the Gregorian antiphonary; sequences + and tropes--Progress in musical methods in the northern + countries; Hucbald and _organum_; Guido of Arezzo; Franco of + Cologne and measured music; growth of part-singing--Early + secular music; the Troubadours and Trouvères; Adam de la + Hâle; the Minnesingers and the Mastersingers; mediæval + secular forms; The early madrigal and its precursors, the + _chanson_ and _frottola_; ‘Sumer is icumen in’; relation of + folk-music to art-music. + + + I + +Accustomed as we are in the present age to rapid progress and swift +development, it seems difficult to understand why it should have +required so many centuries to develop among human beings a feeling +for the necessity of more than a single melody or voice-part in music +expression. The earliest music of which we have any knowledge is +monophonic, a single melody sung by a single voice, or by a number +of voices in unison or in octaves. This characteristic prevails not +only in the music of primitive races, ancient or modern, but also in +the music of those ancient nations that attained a high degree of +civilization--Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Assyrians, Hebrews. The Greeks +and Egyptians understood thoroughly the theory of intervals and they +possessed an adequate comprehension of intervals in the melodic sense, +where tone follows tone. But it seems never to have occurred to them to +apply this knowledge of intervals to sounds of different pitch heard +simultaneously, certainly never seriously enough to lead them to make +experiments in the use of these intervals for the purpose of evolving +two or more independent melodies or voice-parts sounding at the same +time. Even the crude device of having two melodies move in parallel +fifths or fourths, as in the _organum_ of Hucbald, was not employed +until the tenth century of the Christian era. And, the principle of +discant or added parts to a given melody having been once established, +it required nearly six centuries more of constant experimentation +with vocal part-writing before there emerged any clear or conscious +feeling for what we call harmony or a progression of chord-units. Since +the sixteenth century, however, musical progress has unfolded with +constantly accelerated pace. + +Until about the beginning of the seventeenth century, when secularity +entered the domain of music and received such important consideration +in the development of dramatic and instrumental music, practically the +whole creative energy of art-music had been expended in the interest +of religion. From the earliest times the most important music of +the Greeks, Egyptians, Assyrians, and Hebrews was associated with +their respective religious rites and ceremonies. Roman civilization +contributed nothing of importance to the musical knowledge or practices +of its time, for militant Rome was far more interested in assimilating +from the culture of conquered countries than in originating and +developing practices of her own. Even the dawn of the Christian era, +with the tremendous dynamics of its new moral and ethical ideals and +its prophecy of intellectual freedom, did not usher in any essential +departure from the old musical usages. The early Christians merely +selected from current musical systems and contemporaneous melodies +those elements that were best suited to the services of the new +religion and to the religious home life of its adherents. Until the +period of open persecution set in, the converts to the new religion +did not in general follow a social or economic life that differed in +any essential respects from that of their neighbors who still paid +homage to the old forms and trod the old paths of religious worship. +The believers in the new and the old forms of religion mingled freely +in the daily rounds of their various duties and pleasures. Just as the +early Christian art did not differ in principle from the best Pagan +models, so the music of the early Christian congregations was absorbed +into their services from the musical practices of the communities from +which the converts came. Those in the East naturally turned for their +musical material to the noble melodies of the Hebrew synagogue and to +the more chaste Greek melodies whose association was farther removed +from sensual Pagan rites. Those in the West borrowed freely from +current Græco-Roman music, employing, of course, only those melodies +that were purest and most refined in character and association. + +From this point of contact with the old civilization, the music of +the early Christian worship gradually developed along the line of its +own inherent and individual needs and kept pace with the internal +unfoldment of the liturgic idea that at an early date imbedded itself +firmly in all branches of the church services. The line of continuity +in passing from the old to the new, however, was unbroken. Public +ceremonials and priestly sacrifices have always produced conditions +exceedingly favorable to the development of rituals and liturgies. +This was conspicuously true of the Hebrew religion, as well as the +Pagan religions which were practised in the opening centuries of the +Christian era. It is not altogether surprising, then, that many Pagan +ideas, forms, and ceremonials were incorporated into the ritual and +liturgy of the early church, especially after the third century, when +Christianity was received into the favor of the State. + +While the organization of the early Christian church was still +simple and its government more or less democratic in character, +the congregation took an active part in the musical portion of the +service. But the gradual development of elaborate liturgies and +ceremonies, the transformation of the clergy from representatives of +the people to mediatorial functionaries, and the general hierarchical +tendencies of the times--all contributed in bringing about a condition +distinctly unfavorable to free congregational singing. Indeed, this was +specifically forbidden in all liturgical services by the Council of +Laodicea (343-381), and while the transfer of the office of song from +the people to the clergy was not immediately effective, congregational +singing in the apostolic sense passed out of existence in the fourth +century. It is true that in private worship and in non-liturgical +services the singing of hymns and psalms by the general body of +worshippers was permitted, but the rapid growth of sacerdotalism +irresistibly led to the corresponding withdrawal of initiative from the +individual worshippers, until the clergy in all liturgical services +finally assumed all the offices of public worship, inclusive of song, +which was regarded as an integral part of the office of prayer. + +The establishment of the priestly liturgic chant marks the real +beginning of the history of music in the Christian church, for music +after that event became a matter of special qualifications and +preparation on the part of the performers, and of rigid adherence to +prescribed formulas and regulations in all details of performance. It +followed with utmost logic from the doctrine of the universality and +immutability of the church that its liturgy, rites, and ceremonies +should not only remain unchanged from age to age, but should be uniform +in all countries and localities where her authority was recognized. + +In the study of the Roman Catholic liturgy its alliance with music +must be kept constantly in mind, for in inception and in development it +was and always has been a musical liturgy. In working out the problems +of securing the desired uniformity in respect to musical settings for +different localities and of handing down to succeeding generations +the musical forms that had gained the sanction of church authority, +the church fathers were confronted with difficulties the magnitude +of which it is not easy for us to comprehend. It was not until the +eleventh century that a system of staff notation was devised whereby +the exact pitch of notes could be accurately represented, and a full +century elapsed after this vital invention before an adequate system of +measured music was evolved whereby the exact relative duration of notes +could be represented. A detailed account of the slow and laborious +development of the elementary material out of which the fair edifice of +modern music was finally to be reared will be found in Vol. I of this +series. It will suffice here to say that the authorized versions of the +various chants, as the liturgy was gradually taking definite and final +shape during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, had to be taught +and preserved by ‘word of mouth,’ this process being somewhat aided, +through visual association, by means of a kind of musical shorthand +called ‘neumes,’ consisting of dots, short lines and combinations +of lines written over the syllables to be sung, which indicated the +general direction of the melody but not the exact intervals between +its tones as it fluctuated up and down in pitch. Even this crude +system of representing pitch relations by visual symbols was of great +assistance to the singers, for in principle it sought to serve the same +purpose that our modern notation accomplishes in suggesting to the +eve the outline of the melody. Indefinite as it was in not indicating +exact intervallic relations, it greatly aided in recalling to mind the +melodies already memorized, assistance which was greatly appreciated +by the singers, for as many as a thousand different melodies were used +during the church year, many of them for a single occasion only. + +To eliminate conflicting traditions and to bring about uniformity in +all branches of the service, singing schools were established by order +and under the direction of ecclesiastical authorities (the first one in +314 at Rome by Pope Sylvester), in which the clerical singers received +thorough instruction and training not only in the exact forms of all +the chants to be used, but also in all matters of intonation, qualities +of tone suited to different chants, enunciation, etc. These schools +(_scholæ cantorum_) brought about as much uniformity and permanency +as were possible in the absence of more exact notational means. But +even with these great handicaps, a wealth of musical material was +accumulated even before the twelfth century, whose plenitude and +affluent beauty it would seem have never been rightly appreciated +or exploited by the Catholic Church itself. The difficulties in +deciphering the vague neumes in the mediæval manuscripts have +undoubtedly operated to keep these treasures hidden away in their +original depositories; yet the results of the labors of occasional +enthusiasts in translating some of them into modern notation would +indicate that here are unexplored channels for the permanent enrichment +of the literature of Catholic music. In his _motu propria_ of November +22, 1903, Pope Pius X turned the attention of the Catholic world back +to the glories of the mediæval Gregorian music and, indirectly, to the +old manuscripts, treasure-stores of long forgotten melodies of the +old church singers that are still hidden away in the monasteries and +abbeys of Europe and northern Africa, as well as in the more accessible +museums and libraries of Europe. + +The earliest known manuscripts date from the eighth, possibly the +sixth, century. But aside from the traditional music of the liturgy, +handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth and +preserved intact, in Rome at least, by the severe discipline of the +singing schools, we possess very few examples of music whose origin can +with certainty be placed before the eleventh century, when our present +staff notation came into being. Yet even with so little actual music +of the period at hand we know with great definiteness the character of +ecclesiastical music from contemporary writings, edicts, and decrees. + + + II + +When early Christian music finally freed itself from the influence +of Pagan models in the interest of its own internal necessities, it +opened the way for the first time in history for the development of a +purely vocal art, dispensing with the assistance of the instruments +that formed such an essential part of the musical practices allied with +Pagan religious rites and ceremonies. For the first fifteen centuries +of the Christian era almost the only art-music was that which was +cultivated by and for the church, and since the church during this +period persistently frowned upon the use of instruments, the history of +the music of the period is the history of choral music. + +But while in Italy the use of instruments was rigidly forbidden and +any deviation from prescribed practices was a punishable offense, +greater difficulty was experienced in enforcing this church law in +those countries of Europe, now known as France, Germany, and England, +which had more recently been won to the standard of Christianity by +the militant missionaries of Rome, but which still retained a rugged +independence that clung tenaciously to many local customs. In some of +these localities instruments were freely used and in the monastery +of St. Gall in Switzerland festival occasions were graced by a band +of harps, flutes, cymbals, a seven-stringed psaltery, and an organ. +Notwithstanding a few noteworthy exceptions, the music of the Roman +Church can be characterized as pure vocal music until near the end of +the sixteenth century at least. And when instruments were occasionally +used--the organ more and more toward the end of the sixteenth +century--it was for the purpose of doubling the voice-parts in order to +gain greater sonority. + +After the office of song was restricted to specially trained +clericals, thus bringing music within the domain of culture and +laying the foundation for its development as an art, the first name +of importance among those who strove to bring order and increased +effectiveness into the chaotic conditions of liturgical music was St. +Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (340?-397). Much that was attributed to him +until a few decades ago has been proved to be apocryphal and legendary. +We may with much certainty, however, affirm that his enthusiastic +interest in the music of the liturgy resulted (1) in carefully sifting +the material that had been gradually accumulating, and (2) in bringing +into the ritual of the Western church from the Eastern three elements +of great value to its further development--antiphonal singing of psalms +by two alternating choirs, responsorial singing, and Greek hymnody. His +great interest in the last-named field led him not only to translate +many of the finest Greek hymns into Latin, but inspired him to write +new Latin hymns to be sung, probably to simple melodies, after the +Greek fashion. Among the hymns (about ten in number) from his own pen +may be named _Veni Redemptor Gentium_ and _Eterna Christi Munera_ +(‘Hymnal Noted,’ Nos. 12 and 36). + +St. Ambrose’s innovations soon found favor elsewhere. Antiphonal +psalmody was introduced into the service at Rome by Pope Celestine +(pope from 422 to 432), and in a short time was quite generally adopted +throughout the domains of the church. St. Augustine (354-430), who +was a friend of St. Ambrose and a collaborator with him, and who is +said to have made a collection of Ambrosian melodies for the use of +the church, bears touching testimony to their emotional effect: ‘How +I wept at thy hymns and canticles, pierced to the quick by the voices +of thy melodious church! Those voices flowed into my ears, and the +truth distilled into my heart, and thence there streamed forth a +devout emotion, and my tears ran down, and happy was I therein.’ (St. +Augustine, ‘Confessions,’ Book 9, chap. 6.) + +The so-called Ambrosian collection vied in importance with the +Gregorian for several centuries and many of its finest features +were undoubtedly incorporated into the later and more comprehensive +collection. So important a place does St. Ambrose fill in the history +of ecclesiastical music that the term Ambrosian is still applied to +usages, both liturgical and musical, of the Church of Milan, which +distinguish its service in certain respects from the Roman service, and +which are supposed to have been originated by the great Milanese bishop. + +After St. Ambrose the next prelate to impress himself profoundly on +the course of development of church-music was Pope Gregory the Great +(pope from 590 to 604). While recent research[1] has proved beyond +doubt that a multitude of reforms and innovations attributed to him +by mediæval legends and repeated by later history belong in reality +to a much later period, it is well established that he manifested an +enthusiastic and well-directed interest in the music of the service, +that he introduced many corrective measures to curb the growing +danger of secularizing church-music through the use of unauthorized +embellishments and licenses in singing the chants, and that he brought +about a thorough and far-reaching reorganization of the singing +schools. When he became pope in 590, the liturgy was practically +completed as far as its actual material was concerned. Since the +earliest practices of the church had encouraged a musical liturgy, +he found in actual use a vast number of chants and musical settings +for various parts of the services. These musical settings differed +in different localities. In conformity with his definitely conceived +policy of establishing in reality one universal church for all peoples +and races, with centralized power and highly-organized form of +government, he set about to accomplish a definite systematization and +an authoritative organization of all liturgic functions, together with +the necessarily similar regulation of the music associated with the +liturgy. This reform was in the nature of a codification of existing +material, and while he did not finish the great work, he brought it +within the bounds of uniformity as regards both liturgy and musical +settings, and gave to these results of his labors all the permanency +that the solemn law of the church could command. The liturgical portion +was called _Sacramentarium Gregorianum_ and the musical portion +_Antiphonarium Gregorianum_, and from the seventh century these two +books are always met with side by side. + +The interesting and fanciful stories of Pope Gregory’s labors as +composer of chants and as teacher in the _Schola Cantorum_ must be +discarded as wholly unproven legends, and to the same category belongs +the tradition that after compiling the Antiphonary he caused a copy +of it to be chained to the altar of St. Peter’s, as containing the +only music authorized by the church. One of the direct results of his +reorganization of the singing school, however, was the establishment +on a permanent basis of the Sistine Chapel,[2] or papal choir, at +Rome. This organization, the oldest choral body in the world, was +for centuries the court of final resort in all matters pertaining to +the traditions of Gregorian chant and it maintained a practically +continuous existence from that far-off age until the temporal power of +the pope came to an end in 1870, when it was practically disbanded. +Since that date, however, its members have from time to time been +called together to sing in the Sistine Chapel on occasions of special +significance. + +The Gregorian collection or antiphonary, which was the musical law +of the Roman Church until the Renaissance period, was probably not +settled in final form until the time of Gregory II (pope 715-731) or +Gregory III (pope 731-741). However much Gregory the Great may have +accomplished in establishing methods of permanency and universality +in the ritual-music, the processes of selection, accretion, and +assimilation went on for more than a century after his death. This +collection, which was written in the vague neumes of the period, became +the most important factor in the music of the Western church and by +the end of, the eleventh century had practically superseded all other +bodies of ritual-music--such as the African, Celtic, Gallican, and +Spanish[3] (Mozarabic)--which had previously gained ascendency in the +various countries which acknowledged spiritual allegiance to Rome. + +The historic collection of Gregorian music divides itself into two +large groups--(1) the music of the Mass, together with that of the +baptismal, burial, and other occasional services, corresponding with +the modern Missal, and (2) the music of the daily Hours of Divine +Service, corresponding with the modern Breviary. There are about +630 compositions in the first large group, in which only scriptural +words appear, classified as follows: about 150 Introits (_Antiphonæ +ad introitum_), about 150 Communions (_Antiphonæ ad communionem_), +110 Graduals, 100 Alleluias, 23 Tracts, and 102 Offertories. In the +music of the second large division (the Hours of Divine Service) there +is much less variety than in the music of the Mass. As this group of +services did not have the same official position as the Mass, less +restraint was exercised in regard to modifications. In this collection +are to be found some 2,000 antiphons and about 800 Greater Responds, +besides many Lesser Responds, Invitatories, and Versicles. + +It is now quite generally believed that there were no essential +differences between Ambrosian and Gregorian music. If any differences +existed, they were in such compositions as the Ambrosian hymn, which +was written for the use of the congregation and was more measured and +stately in its swing than its Gregorian counterpart, which was sung by +the trained choirs and therefore capable of much more rhythmic freedom +and melodic embellishment. + +The Roman singing school (_Schola Cantorum_) played a large and +important part both in the labor of codifying the great collection +since known as Gregorian music, and in spreading the Gregorian chant +among the faithful in other lands. This latter task was greatly +facilitated by the establishment of numerous singing schools, modelled +after the Roman school, in England, France, and Germany, under the +auspices of monastic orders or powerful prelates. Among the most famous +of these schools were the one at Metz, founded by Bishop Chrodegang, +which maintained great prestige up to the twelfth century; the one at +Oxford, founded by Alfred the Great; the monastic school of Fulda, +which held the foremost place in Germany; and the one at St. Gall, +Switzerland, whose fame and achievements eclipsed all the others and +which was celebrated far and near for the elaborateness and excellence +of its musical service and for the devotion and enthusiasm of its +monks in the advancement of ecclesiastical music during the eighth, +the ninth, and especially the tenth century. England became acquainted +with Gregorian chant during the lifetime of Gregory the Great, when St. +Augustine (not to be confused with the Latin father) was commissioned +in 597 as an apostle to carry Christianity to the island across the +channel. In France and Germany (Franconia and Allemania) Pepin,[4] +and especially Charlemagne, gave energetic and active support to the +movement to bring about uniformity with Rome, and by the beginning of +the ninth century the Gregorian chant had supplanted the old Gallican +chant in all the domains of the great emperor. Spain, however, did not +accept the Gregorian chant until the eleventh century, during the reign +of Pope Gregory VII. + +The inexact system of notation (neumes) in which the Gregorian +antiphonary was written necessarily laid great emphasis on the oral +transmission of the melodies, hence it was hardly possible to attain +perfect uniformity in different countries and in different periods. Yet +it is believed that the singers of the Roman school, who were subject +to severe penalties for even slight infractions of the traditions of +the Gregorian procedure, succeeded in preserving through the Middle +Ages not only the great body of Gregorian chant but their traditional +performance with a wonderful degree of purity and inviolability. +But away from Rome, while the general principles of procedure were +preserved intact, modifications in details undoubtedly crept in, some +unconsciously and some in deference to the various national or local +predilections. Thus in Gaul and the northern countries generally, the +oriental style of ornamentation, retained from earlier periods in many +of the Roman melodies, met with scant favor. To satisfy these sturdy +and independent singers the ornate qualities were frequently softened +or eliminated altogether. + +Additions to the original ritual music of the Gregorian service +appeared about the beginning of the tenth century under the names +of sequences and tropes. The sequence was a melody of hymn-like +structure which derived its name from its position in the Mass, being a +continuation or sequence of the Gradual and Alleluia. It had long been +a custom, introduced from the East, to prolong the final vowel of the +Alleluia-chant, sung between the Epistle and the Gospel, into a free +melody or vocal flourish without words, called jubilation, originally a +kind of ecstatic improvisation. French musicians in the ninth century +added words to these melodies. They thus became separate compositions +to which at first the name ‘prose’ was given, since the words adapted +to the music were without meter. Later, when these compositions became +thoroughly independent, texts in metrical form were written for them, +the name ‘prose’ was dropped as no longer appropriate, and the new +name ‘sequence’ assumed. This change in name and character is credited +to the St. Gall monk, Notker Balbulus (died 912). Sequences became +very popular from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries and mediæval +office-books abound in fine specimens, many of them of extreme beauty +and originality. During the tenth and eleventh centuries the monastery +of St. Gall remained the chief centre of activity in the composition +of sequences and Notker found a multitude of followers, mainly in +Germany. Quite independent of the St. Gall influence, a second centre +of activity appeared at the monastery of St. Martial in Limoges, +culminating in the twelfth century in Adam of St. Victor in Paris. +These sequences, patterned after the Greek model, approached more and +more the form of the hymn, in which they finally disappeared. + +In the sequences the vernacular, as well as Latin, was employed +and they were freely used in the Mass, becoming ‘a sort of people’s +song.’ But since they were in reality extra-liturgical, they were +all suppressed, except five, when the Council of Trent revised the +Roman liturgy in the sixteenth century. The five at present in use +are: _Victimæ Paschali_, appointed for Easter Sunday, written by Wipo +early in the eleventh century, the oldest of the five and the only one +similar in structure to Notker’s sequences; _Veni Sancte Spiritus_ +for Whitsunday, written probably by Innocent III at the end of the +twelfth century, called ‘the Golden Sequence’ by mediæval writers; +_Lauda Sion_ for the festival Corpus Christi, written by St. Thomas +Aquinas supposedly about the year 1261; _Stabat Mater_, sung since +1727 on the Friday in Passion Week, of uncertain authorship; and _Dies +Irae_, sung on All Souls’ Day and in the Requiem or Mass for the Dead, +written by Thomas of Celano late in the twelfth century or early in +the thirteenth century. In the thirteenth century the poetry of the +Latin Church attained its period of greatest brilliance and amid the +rich efflorescence of this wonderful epoch the _Dies Irae_ stands +incomparable, the finest example of rhymed Latin poetry of the Middle +Ages. Second to it in poetic beauty is the _Stabat Mater_. It should be +added that the authors of the above sequences were combined poets and +composers, as poetry and music were twin-born arts during the Middle +Ages. + +Another of the many illustrations of the readiness with which the +churches of the West accepted the musical practices of the East was +the ‘trope,’ which was adopted among the Franks in the ninth and +tenth centuries from the many Byzantine musicians who came into the +West during this period. The trope was not unlike the sequence in its +development. The name was originally given to any succession of tones +without text that occurred in the florid chants. Tuotilo of St. Gall +(died 915) developed the tropes into quasi-independent compositions +by setting words to them and interpolating them among the chants +of the Mass, thus thrusting them into the Gregorian liturgy. These +interpolations, some very extensive and ornate, found their way into +all the Mass-chants except the Credo, which was considered too sacred +to violate. But since the tropes were regarded by the Council of Trent +as weakening accretions to the venerable structure of church-music, +they, as well as the sequences, were banished from the liturgy in its +final revision. + + + III + +The tendency of ecclesiasticism has always been to curb and discourage +individual effort toward progress in all matters pertaining to the +development of ritual-music. This was not altogether strange, for +until modern times music existed in the church solely for liturgical +purposes. It was not desired that its effectiveness should be +considered apart from the religious idea with which it was so +intimately associated in the liturgy. So completely were text and music +merged into one artistic unity that the church authorities consistently +and persistently resented any effort to glorify music for its own +sake or at the expense of the liturgic idea. The state of immobility +in which ritual music existed was the natural sequence to the church +doctrine of immutability. Notwithstanding constant temptation to +experiment and introduce innovations, the efforts of the Roman singers +were rigidly restricted to the problems of perfecting the performance +of the ritual music as prescribed by church law and tradition. From +the standpoint of the liturgy (from which standpoint alone this music +should be judged) the Roman singers must have attained a standard of +ideal perfection in beauty and expressiveness of tonal utterance, and +in preserving the original liturgical significance of the music in the +service. + +So conservative was Rome and so fettered was Italy by the venerated +traditions of the Papal Chapel that no change in musical methods was +possible in this field. Outside of Italy, however, conditions were +more favorable to progress. In the triumphant march of Christianity +over Western Europe under the leadership of Rome many concessions were +made to local customs and usages. The independent northerners steadily +refused to accept with unquestioning allegiance the traditions of +Rome in all matters pertaining to ritual-music, and thus stagnation +was prevented and the hope of further progress for music in time +became a reality. Out of the experiments and occasional innovations of +the venturesome singers of the northern countries there were slowly +and laboriously laid the foundations on which it became possible to +construct the succeeding system of ecclesiastical polyphonic music. +But when, in the fullness of time and with infinite patience and toil, +this stately edifice was reared, how appropriate and fitting it was +that the Roman Palestrina, himself associated for many years with +the Sistine Chapel, should have been the one to lay on its altar the +richest treasures of religious music that the Roman Church possesses, +the purest, most complete and perfect expression of the spirit of the +Roman liturgy! + +Before the Carlovingian era the practice of music was restricted to +the singing schools founded for the preservation and propagation of +Gregorian chant. But with the great impetus given to learning under +Charlemagne the consideration of liturgic music passed to the monastery +study. Music became a compulsory subject in the curriculum of the +cathedral and monastery schools, and its theory as well as its practice +received the attention of the learned monks and scholars. It was from +this direction that the next recorded advances in musical art appeared. + +In the writings of these ecclesiastical musicians and scholars we +find accounts of the clumsy, yet persistent efforts of the singers +and theorists to break away from the prevailing monophony or unison +chanting of Gregorian music and to improve upon current systems of +notation. The Flemish monk Hucbald (who died about 930), in his _Musica +enchiriadis_, described the earliest known efforts at polyphony, +which he called Organum or Diaphony (See Vol. I, pp. 161 ff). Guido +d’Arezzo (died about 1050), sometimes called ‘the father of music’ +and undoubtedly the most impressive musical personality in the early +part of the Middle Ages, probably originated the four-lined staff for +indicating pitch relationships and invented solmization, a system of +reading music through the association of tones with syllables that is +the direct ancestor of our present-day systems of reading music by +syllables (‘Tonic Sol-fa,’ ‘Movable Do,’ ‘Fixed Do’). He is credited +by later writers with many innovations and discoveries which possibly +belonged rightfully to talented and ingenious contemporaries who, +however, did not succeed in stamping themselves on their own age +as vividly as did this great singer and teacher. Franco of Cologne +(died about 1200), in his famous treatise on Measured Music, gives a +voluminous account of his own and contemporary thought about intervals, +consonances and dissonances, time-values of notes, etc. + +By the beginning of the thirteenth century the science of music had +reached the point where music could be accurately notated as regards +both pitch and time relationships and its further development became +correspondingly accelerated. The organization of music on the twofold +basis of regularity of stress or accent and of fixed proportions in the +division of time-units was hastened by the growing desire of singers +to add a new voice-part to the old Gregorian chant. This practice of +part-singing, at first called ‘organum,’ later ‘discant,’ undoubtedly +had its origin in the study-rooms of the choirs and singing schools. +The choristers were naturally chosen because of their unusual aptitude +for music. The larger part of their time was given up not only to the +perfecting of means for the most effective performance of the church +music, but also to the study of the theory and practice of music +in all its then known phases. The creative instinct more and more +seized upon them. Notwithstanding ecclesiastical restrictions the +singers were too much under the seductive spell of the inner spirit +of their art not to yield to the ready temptation of delving into the +infinite possibilities of new tonal combinations and devices that lay +so close at hand. When the idea of singing two melodies at the same +time was once grasped (we have no definite knowledge how it was first +suggested), the singers took it up with avidity. + +At first experiments were restricted to two voices or parts. While +one chorister was singing a familiar chant-melody another would sing +a second melody an octave or a fourth or a fifth below it, usually +joining it at the end in unison. The progression of two voices or parts +moving in parallel octaves was known to the Greeks and was called by +them ‘magadizing’--from the magadis, a stringed instrument. The singing +of two concurrent parts in parallel fourths or fifths did not offend +mediæval ears as it does modern ears, probably because of the exact +parallelism of such melodic movement, which is merely a different kind +of unison.[5] The earliest parallel movement was evidently in fourths, +not in fifths, as usually stated in musical histories. (See Weinmann, +‘History of Church Music,’ page 74.) + +Various kinds of organum soon came into vogue. Three-part organum +resulted from doubling the lower of the two parts an octave higher, and +four-part organum from adding to these three parts the original upper +part an octave lower, thus producing simultaneously moving octaves, +fourths, and fifths. Such a progression of parts, quite obnoxious +to ears accustomed to harmony, impressed Hucbald as ‘a delightful +concord.’[6] As the experiments increased, the accompanying voice +(the discant) was added above as well as below the chant (the _cantus +firmus_, or fixed voice). The monotony of exclusive parallelism was +broken by sometimes sustaining the same tone in one part while the +other part moved up or down (oblique motion) or by letting the two +parts move in contrary direction, and lastly, by mixing these three +kinds of tone movement, thus producing greater variety in the intervals +used. When this freer movement of parts was recognized as essential to +more pleasing vocal effects, the word discant came to be applied to it +to distinguish it from the more primitive form of movement--organum--in +parallel fourths, fifths, and octaves. Until the thirteenth century the +intervals most used in all styles of part-writing were fourths, fifths, +octaves, and unisons. Thirds and sixths, though occasionally permitted, +were regarded as dissonances until the period when harmony came to be a +conscious element of musical thought. + + +[Illustration: The Playing Angels] +_Altar piece by Hubert and Jan van Eyck_ + + +Until a definite system of notation was devised, the discanting parts +to the chants were extemporized by the singers. But when the staff was +invented and notes or points were employed to indicate the exact pitch +of the tones of the melodies, the name counterpoint (_punctus contra +punctum_, note against note) was given to the part or parts added to +the chant (_cantus firmus_). The term counterpoint[7] displaced discant +in the thirteenth century, and from this time the art of counterpoint +developed as the number of added parts increased and the various kinds +of intervallic relationships among the interdependent parts were +recognized and systematized. + +The foundation of all the art-music of the Middle Ages was the chant; +and the science of music concerned itself wholly with the addition of +more or less free and independent parts to the chant-melodies. Musical +invention, however, was limited entirely to these accompanying parts. +Until probably the fourteenth century or even later, composers as such +were unknown. Since music in the church was never considered apart +from the liturgy to which it was wedded, not only did the melodic +form of the chants themselves (that is, their rising and falling +inflections of pitch) follow quite closely the natural rhetorical +utterance of the words of the liturgy, being an intensification of the +natural values of forceful speech, but for several centuries after +the principle of polyphony was thoroughly recognized the intricate +church compositions, such as the masses and motets, were constructed +by using the liturgic chants as subjects and adding free parts to +these. At first the principal melody (subject) was taken from the +chant books; but in course of time secular songs of the day found +their way into the choral parts, either as the principal melody to +which other parts were supplied or as an accompanying part to a given +plain-song melody. The secular words, frequently of questionable moral +quality, were often carried along with the melodies into the sacred +company of actual ritual-music and the singers found such a combination +neither irreverent nor incongruous. It was quite analogous to the +custom, common among the early painters, of painting the portraits of +such ordinary mortals as wealthy purchasers or patrons on the same +canvas with saints or apostles, or even with the Madonna. The church +authorities frowned upon mingling secular and sacred elements in +ecclesiastical music in this manner, and the practice, so common in the +fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, led to such gross abuses that it +was finally suppressed. + +The important rôle which the church singers themselves played in the +development of music in this formative period is worthy of passing +notice. Foremost in importance is to be noted that the choirs were +in fact training-schools for composers. Almost without exception the +church composers were graduated, so to speak, from the choirs into +the more exalted and distinguished sphere of creative work, having +first gained their practical training and experience as choristers. +But the humbler singers themselves were not without a good measure +of influence. In their experiments in the study-rooms, as well as in +the actual singing of written compositions, they served to counteract +the pedantic rules of theorists by following the dictates of the +ear as against mere rule. Thus chromatic tones not indicated in the +score were frequently sung by the experienced choristers who followed +their natural musical feeling, and later theory sanctioned what they +intuitively felt. In this way natural musical impulse (which Wagner +has so beautifully symbolized in Walther in _Die Meistersinger von +Nürnberg_) many times softened the austerity and harshness of musical +practices dictated by mediæval theory. + + + IV + +While, under the guidance of scholasticism, the stream of church song +was thus gradually gaining artistic momentum and expressive beauty +and power through the upbuilding of a complicated science of melodic +interweaving, a second stream of song, unfettered by rule or tradition, +was modestly and quietly flowing along, gushing from the hearts of +the people and fed from secular emotions and experiences. Until +the humanistic movement in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries +discovered points of contact and mutual interdependence, these two +streams of religious and secular song seldom touched in their onward +flow, for they sprang from widely divergent sources and were guided +by widely differing principles of artistic utterance. In the history +of Western Europe ecclesiastical music has exercised a remarkably +small and disproportionate influence on the nature and development of +secular music; on the contrary, it has frequently weakened and changed +its own standards under the impact of secular ideals and styles. Many +folk-songs doubtless imitated melodic and modal characteristics of +the chant-melodies, but there has always existed a certain antipathy +between these two forms. The early indifference of the popular mind +to church music is easily traceable to the facts that this music was +cultivated exclusively by ecclesiastics, that it was sung in Latin, a +language which the people neither understood nor cared for, and that +the people had no part in church song outside the few non-liturgical +hymns. + +The discussion of secular music in the Middle Ages is necessarily +beset with difficulties of large proportions, since very few authentic +examples of folk-melodies of this period have been preserved. Musical +learning was confined almost exclusively to monks and ecclesiastics who +had no real interest in the preservation of these wild-flower products. +Those that were pressed into service as parts of polyphonic church +music undoubtedly underwent melodic and rhythmic alterations to suit +their new environment. In all of them words and music were twin-born; +but, while many of the beautiful mediæval and earlier poems are extant, +their melodies seem to be irretrievably lost.[8] + +The secular music of the Middle Ages had no direct or immediate +bearing on the development of musical art, but the courtly troubadours +and minnesingers and, later, the mastersingers of humbler origin, +served to keep alive the practice of solo singing with instrumental +accompaniment and thus maintained the idea of individual expression +which had been banished from the church in the early centuries. The +first outburst of popular song that attained the significance of a +distinct movement occurred in southeastern France among the nobles +of sunny, contented, and cheerful Provence. These troubadours, who +flourished throughout southern France, Italy, and Spain from about 1100 +to 1300, were concerned largely with the deeds of chivalry, especially +that phase of the idea of knightliness that glorified the love of some +beautiful or good woman as the inspiration of, or the reward for, +deeds of adventure or valor. In the intense feeling and strong lyric +impulse of these courtly poet-singers is to be found the beginning of +the modern art of lyric poetry. They showed great ingenuity in the +invention and elaboration of verse-forms[9] and coupled with this gift +was a musical inventiveness of marked power which in time developed a +style quite divorced from the influence of plain-song. The melodies, +following the rhythmical swing of the verse, frequently approximated +the structure and feeling of the modern phrase and phrase-group. The +development of this feeling for the organization of melodic units later +led to most important results when the secular impulse seized upon the +perfected methods of scholastic music. + +In the north of France and in England the trouvères (both ‘trouvère’ +and ‘troubadour’ mean ‘an inventor or finder’) followed close upon +the troubadours, whom they freely imitated both in style and poetic +themes. In their artistic activities, however, they were more closely +associated with ecclesiastical poets and musicians than were the +troubadours, there was less divergence from the church style in their +melodies, and hence their efforts entered more directly as a shaping +force in the succeeding epoch of musical development in Flanders and +England. They were also more frequently of humble origin than were +the troubadours. Adam de la Hále (about 1230 to 1287), probably the +most conspicuously gifted in the long line of worthy trouvères, was of +humble birth, the son of a well-to-do burgher of Arras, in Picardy. He +was a master of the _chanson_, sixteen of which are preserved written +in three parts and in rondeau form. These are among the oldest known +examples of secular compositions in more than two parts. In the same +manuscript with these _chansons_ are preserved six Latin motets in +florid counterpoint. His name looms large in musical history, however, +from the fact that his dramatic pastoral play called _Le jeu de Robin +et Marion_ (written for the French court at Naples, where the first +performance was given in 1285) is the earliest example of what we now +call comic opera. It is written in dialogue and grouped into scenes; +airs, couplets, and pieces for two voices singing in alternation but +never together are scattered through the play, during the performance +of which eleven personages appear. This quaint song-play, which is a +development or expansion of the earlier _pastourelle_, was given in +Arras in 1896 during the festival in commemoration of the composer. +Adam’s task seems, however, to have been little more than that of a +compiler, since the most of the songs were not of his own composition. +Nevertheless he is altogether one of the most interesting personalities +in the pre-Netherland period. + +Parallel with the impulse given to secular song and poetry by the +troubadours and trouvères, but beginning a little later, was the growth +of the minnesingers, or love-singers, of Germany. This movement, +extending through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, was limited +almost exclusively to men of noble birth and aristocratic rank and was +associated with the pomp of courtly life. Its influence on the general +trend of musical development was, therefore, less marked than that of +the corresponding movement in France, particularly in northern France. +Relatively fewer of the minnesongs reached or impressed the popular +ear, because of the greater exclusiveness of the minnesingers and +the less pleasing outlines of their melodies, especially the earlier +ones. The range of their themes was wider than that of their French +contemporaries, including nature, qualities of character, patriotism, +and piety, as well as love and chivalrous deeds. The minnesongs on the +whole display more seriousness than is found in the songs of France, +primary emphasis always being given to the words. At first modelled +after the declamatory style of Gregorian chant, their melodies lacked +the easy flow of the troubadour songs, but the later ones are marked +by strongly modern feeling for rhythm, phrase structure, and definite +key, and display the delightful naïveté of the German folk-song. Many +of them undoubtedly passed into folk-melodies and from thence into the +chorale literature of the German Reformation period. + +The mastersingers followed in the wake of the declining minnesingers. +Drawn entirely from the burgher or artisan classes and organizing +themselves into guilds after the manner of the contemporary +trades-union, they strove to imitate the methods of their aristocratic +forerunners, without, however, sharing their artistic and lyric +endowments. At a time when their social and economic superiors were +entirely engrossed in the political and religious turmoils of the +times, they succeeded in keeping alive a real love for music in the +hearts of the common people and in preserving a wholesome reverence +for the dignity and worth of the art. Aside from this important +function, they did nothing directly to advance the art of music. In +_Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg_ Wagner gives an historically accurate +picture of their hopelessly pedantic methods and reactionary spirit, +which were indeed far removed from the nature of real folk-music. The +vast bulk of their melodies were weak imitations of church chants or +popular folk-songs. At long intervals a mastersinger such as Hans +Sachs, the quaint and lovable cobbler of Nuremberg (1494-1576), would +manifest a spark of real lyric genius. The first guild is supposed to +have been established at Mayence on the Rhine in 1311 by Heinrich von +Meissen, called Frauenlob, himself a distinguished minnesinger, the +last of that order. The guilds multiplied and were especially active +from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century. After 1600 the movement +lost its significance and the guilds dropped by the wayside one by one, +though a few lingered on until the nineteenth century, the last one +having been disbanded at Ulm in 1839. + +The special historical significance of the troubadours, trouvères, +and minnesingers is to be found in the fact that these secular +poet-musicians of both high and low degree composed their melodies +under the impulsion of natural, spontaneous musical feeling rather +than prescribed theoretical law. If they followed the feeling for +church modes at all, this feeling instinctively led them to construct +their melodies more and more in those modes corresponding to our +modern major and minor scales. Naumann, in his ‘History of Music,’[10] +gives a number of these melodies in full. One of them, _L’autrier par +la matinée_, by Thibaut, King of Navarre (1201-1253), a celebrated +troubadour, moves entirely in the key of G major. Another is ‘The +Loveliness of Woman’ (_Tritt ein reines Weib daher_), a proverb[11] +by the minnesinger Spervogel, dating from the middle of the twelfth +century, a refined melody clearly in the key of D major, employing +every tone of the scale. A third, ‘Broken Faith,’ a beautiful and +touching minnesong by Prince Witzlav, is modern enough in key feeling +and melodic structure to have flowed from the pen of Schubert. In all +of those quoted the phrases are clearly outlined, a sense of design and +melodic cohesion is manifested in the frequent repetition of phrases, +and through them all there breathes the spirit of free lyric invention +that differentiates them sharply from all existing church models and +makes them close kin to the developed songs of the eighteenth century +and later. The gradual development of such an untrammelled feeling +for free melody among the people explains the comparative rapidity +with which art-music, after its secession from the church modes and +ecclesiastical methods early in the seventeenth century, developed new +forms and expanded into new paths that led to a popular appreciation +never before accorded to music. + + + V + +The secular impulse from whence sprang the simple melodies of +the minnesingers and troubadours soon found a channel for fuller +expression in the art-music of the period immediately following the +decay of chivalrous song. It was inevitable that the tendency toward +secularization, already strongly developing in the other arts--notably +painting and architecture--should extend to music also. The beneficent +alliance of music and poetry both in the service of the church and +in the less pretentious effusions of the secular poet-musicians of +courtly estate naturally led thought to a desire that music should be +the helpful companion of poetry in all her wanderings, in the domain +of secular experiences as well as religious. As soon as the spirit +of polyphony had been firmly established in ecclesiastical music, +the church composers began to turn their attention to the rapidly +widening field of secular poetry for material on which to exploit +their newly-found contrapuntal skill. The first application of the +principles of polyphony to secular art-music manifested itself in +the French _chanson_ and the Italian _frottola_. Both of these were +merely popular melodies brought within the domain of the contrapuntal +principle. The _frottola_ seems to have been always set for four voices +in very simple movement, the _chanson_ for either three or four voices. +These two forms soon merged into the madrigal, which expanded its scope +so as to include almost any lyric composition of delicate texture +dealing with thoughts of rustic humor, sentiment, or passion, couched +in the language of everyday life. The madrigal in time developed into +a special department of composition, having a brilliant history of +its own and engaging the interested attention of nearly every noted +composer from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century. The word, whose +derivation is hopelessly entangled in a maze of disputed sources, +appears as early at least as the fourteenth century in connection with +pastoral or rustic poems of amorous character, and very naturally the +name was soon transferred to the music to which the words were set. + +Few madrigals whose composition antedate the invention of printing +have been preserved. But all authorities agree that even in its earlier +stages it was composed for three or more voices in the prevailing +church modes. Throughout its best period, which closed practically +with the sixteenth century, it maintained the characteristic of +being sung without instrumental accompaniment of any kind.[12] The +association of concurrent parts with plain-song undoubtedly suggested +similar treatment for secular melodies, and the troubadours and +trouvères were probably the first to put this suggestion into practice. +But they passed out of existence before the art of discant had +progressed beyond its first stage of infancy and further development +of polyphonic secular music was left in the more skilled hands of +the scientifically trained musicians of the church. The madrigal, or +more strictly speaking its predecessors, was forthwith adopted by the +church composers, who treated it with much tenderness and lavished +on it all the learning and technical skill they could command. Since +these composers, however, were so thoroughly imbued by training and +experience with the characteristics and idioms of church music, we find +no essential differences, as far as the music is concerned, between the +madrigal and its ecclesiastical counterpart, the motet (see Chapter +II). These two forms have maintained an almost exact correspondence +with each other in each successive stage of their musical development. +The only real difference lay in the nature of the words employed, those +of the madrigal being always secular, those of the motet, sacred. While +the madrigal was just as polyphonic as the motet and followed the same +general laws of musical construction, it was in lighter vein and in +simpler style to suit the secular spirit of the words. The ponderous +and solemn character of the motet was avoided, the contrapuntal parts +became more plastic and expressive in conformity with the sentiment of +the words. These freer and more expressive qualities in the madrigal +were eagerly seized upon by the dramatic composers of the seventeenth +century, during which period the madrigal was a regular feature of the +opera. Dr. Stainer enumerates the following essential qualities of the +true madrigal: themes suitable in character to the words, variety of +rhythm, short melodic phrases, imitation and counterpoint. + +The original home of the true madrigal is undoubtedly Flanders. It is +mentioned here as early as the first part of the fifteenth century, +when it was already a well established form of polyphonic writing +popular with both Flemish and Netherland composers. It was regarded by +them as second only in importance to the mass and motet. In a period +when the musical leadership of Europe was located in the Low Countries, +its cultivation by these learned masters insured its transmission to +other countries and, more important still to the development of musical +art, marked the first practical alliance of popular song and science. +The offspring of this union was destined to achieve important results +in the art-revolution of the seventeenth century. + +Any narrative of early secular music would be peculiarly incomplete +without extended mention of the oldest example of secular polyphonic +music known to exist, the famous English canon or round, ‘Sumer is +icumen in,’ an ancient manuscript copy of which is among the richest +treasures of the British Museum. The first mention of this celebrated +piece, hidden away in the Harleian collection of manuscripts, was +made in the first decade of the eighteenth century. Until the middle +of the nineteenth century the date of the manuscript was assigned to +the fifteenth century. But after most minute and laborious research, +the English historian, William Chappell, discovered internal evidence +(which succeeding investigators have accepted) to prove that this +venerable manuscript was written between 1226 and 1240 at the abbey of +Reading in Berkshire by a monk named John of Fornsete. The manuscript +is, of course, the work of a copyist; no clew has been found to the +composer’s name. + +The rustic character of the words would seem to ally it to the +madrigal, but its musical form is that of the rota or round, very +different from the free structure of the madrigal. In the manuscript +are also Latin words addressed to the Virgin, indicating its occasional +use for worship purposes. The old English words are as follows: + + ‘Sumer is icumen in, Lhude sing cuccu; + Groweth sed and bloweth med, And springth the wode nu; + Awe bleteth after lomb, Lhouth after calve cu; + Bulluc sterteth, bucke verteth, Murie sing cuccu. + Wel singes thu cuccu; Ne swik thu naver nu.’ + +The Latin directions on the manuscript for singing the round indicate +that the theme is to be sung in exact imitation by four voices of +equal compass which enter, each four measures after the preceding one. +Accompanying this strict four-part canon throughout are two additional +parts, called a ‘pes’ or ground-bass. This two-voiced burden consists +of a four-measure group which monotonously repeats itself over and over +again, the two parts exchanging places in regular alternation. + +The extreme antiquity of the piece would alone make it an object of +reverent interest, for it is the earliest example of a canon, it is the +first recorded use of the ground-bass or _basso ostinato_, and it is +the only known piece in six real parts before the fifteenth century. +But the wonder grows when we consider the musical quality of this +remarkable melody of unknown parentage, ‘born out of due season.’ It is +sweet and joyous in character, fitting the pastoral mood of the words; +it flows along in graceful outline with a wonderful amount of melodic +variety; it maintains an easy rhythmic swing in definite three-pulse +measure; it has an unmistakably modern feeling for key--the key of F +major--made all the more definite by clearly defined tonic and dominant +harmonies which pulsate back and forth in alternate measures. In +musical feeling and expression it is ‘immeasurably in advance of any +polyphonic music of earlier date than the Fa-las peculiar to the later +decades of the sixteenth century’ (Rockstro). Its formal structure +displays full knowledge of the contrapuntal devices of the times and +also remarkable freedom in handling them. + +The apparition of this warm-blooded melody amid the arid scholasticism +of the thirteenth century seems utterly incongruous. Yet Rockstro’s +explanation[13] seems plausible enough. He points out that some +folk-songs of greatest antiquity possess the same qualities of +ingenious grace that shine so resplendently in this melody. The words +are evidently Northumbrian; what could be more natural than that some +trained monkish ear caught the melody and words as they fell from the +untutored but inspired lips of some north-countryman, rubbed off a +rough place here and there, detected its adaptability for use as a +‘round’ theme (a quality quite common in folk-songs), and worked it out +with his clerical companions in extempore fashion after the custom of +the times? + +The inference is irresistible that such a fragrant folk-song, if this +be a folk-song, could not have existed as an isolated specimen. The few +melodies of undoubted antiquity we possess demonstrate the presence of +unrecognized Schuberts and Mozarts, geniuses ‘born to blush unseen,’ +among the humble but inspired singers even of those far-off centuries. +The devout and sincere monks who laid the formal foundations of the +art of music were too much under the thraldom of authority and theory +to perceive the spirit, or recognize the invaluable aid, of such free, +spontaneous song in working out the problems they set themselves to +solve. In many respects it was a real misfortune and a hindrance in +the development of art-music that more of its early steps of progress +could not have been taken under the stimulating influence of the +folk-song, instead of exclusively under the influence and guidance of +ecclesiasticism and the strict and deadening formalism of the early +church. The oft-repeated argument that it was necessary to evolve +complex musical forms before expressive musical utterance could exist, +falls to the ground, shattered by a single phrase of this inspired +Northumbrian lay. It would scarcely be maintained that the manufacture +of carriages preceded the creation of man or that man acquired an +extensive vocabulary before he became conscious of ideas surging within +him for utterance. + +The religious thought of the monk-musicians of the early centuries was +centred on forms and externals, and the character of their religious +thought dominated all their mental activities. They were not ready to +be led by ‘a little child’; they had no ears attuned to the ‘still, +small voice’ of free-born, inspired song. The free spirit of the song, +which even in remotest periods insisted on choosing its own appropriate +form, did not find real lodgment in art-music until the Romanticism +of the nineteenth century conclusively demonstrated the inalienable +right of every musical thought to determine the nature of the musical +form through which it should be expressed, unfettered by tradition +or theoretical law. The growth of this principle of emancipation in +music has kept pace through all the centuries with the growth of the +same spirit of freedom in the individual consciousness of man. At the +beginning of the twentieth century we are for the first time in the +history of musical art beginning to breathe in an atmosphere of full +freedom in respect to the relation of musical thought to musical form. +If wild extravagances have occasionally resulted from the realization +of this full freedom, they are possibly the inevitable consequences +of a youthful overjoy at kicking loose from the old harness of +stereotyped forms--an exuberance of feeling that the present period of +necessary readjustment and orientation will temper and direct into real +constructive channels. + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Especially Gevaert, _La Mélopée antique dans le Chant de l’Église +latine_. + +[2] The name ‘Sistine Chapel’ was not given to this organization until +the Pontificate of Sixtus IV (1471-1484); it was derived from the +_Cappella Sistina_ built by this pope. + +[3] Practically all the music of these ancient collections has been +lost, excepting the Spanish or Mozarabic or Visigothic. Recent +discoveries have disclosed a considerable portion of the music of +this branch of the Church, so that we have some definite information +concerning at least three ancient ecclesiastical dialects of +ritual-music--the Gregorian, the Ambrosian, and the Visigothic or +Mozarabic. In a few Spanish churches the Mozarabic rites and music +still survive. + +[4] Pope Paul in 760 sent copies of the _Antiphonarium_ and +_Responsoriale_ to King Pepin. + +[5] Alert teachers of ear-training have frequently observed that +certain students will sing tones given them by dictation a fifth above +or below the given tone under the impression that they are singing in +unison with it. (See also Parry, ‘The Evolution of the Art of Music,’ +Chap. 4.) + +[6] Such an expression of pleasure can be explained only when it is +remembered that the monastic mind was thoroughly accustomed to being +absolutely submissive to authority. Mediæval ecclesiastical authority +dictated what was good or bad in musical theory and procedure, just as +it did in the realms of morals, ethics, and religion; and authority +decreed that only perfect intervals--fourths, fifths, and octaves--were +usable, therefore they were pleasing. It took several centuries of the +actual ‘practice’ of music to overcome the ban placed by ‘theory’ on +the interval of the third in certain cadences. + +[7] The development of the technical material of composition, +imitation, canon, fugue, etc., is fully described in Vol. I. + +[8] The melody of the celebrated ‘Lament’ over the death of +Charlemagne, composed in 814 and sung by both Franks and Germans, is +fortunately preserved to us. This remarkable melody (quoted by Naumann +in his ‘History of Music,’ Vol. I, p. 199) has a compass of practically +only three tones, yet in its simple outlines there is eloquent and +dignified expression of the popular love for the great emperor. The +melody of the more famous ‘Roland’s Song,’ also of Charlemagne’s +time, has not survived, although it was sung as late as the battle of +Poictiers in 1356. + +[9] Among the favorite forms were the _canzonet_ or _chanson_, a +love-song addressed to some courtly dame, the _serenade_ or evening +song, the _aubade_ or day song, the _servante_, extolling the virtues +of some prince, the _tenzone_ or dialogue song, the _roundelay_, with +the same refrain repeated again and again, and the _pastourelle_, +descriptive of ‘Arcadian love in idyllic nature.’ + +[10] Chap. 8 of Vol. I is devoted to an unusually full and illuminating +discussion of the whole secular song movement of this period. + +[11] As noted above, the melodies of the minnesongs were from the +beginning dependent on the metrical and poetical structure of the +strophe. The three principal kinds are the song (_Lied_), the lay +(_Lerch_), and the proverb (_Spruch_). + +[12] The word madrigal was used at various periods to apply to two +other forms in addition to the one here described: (1) the solo +madrigal or _madrigale concertate con il basso continuo_, and (2) the +madrigal with accompaniment for several instruments, ‘apt for viols and +voyces,’ as the old English song books have it. + +[13] Grove’s ‘Dictionary of Music and Musicians,’ Vol. IV, Art. ‘Sumer +is icumen in.’ + + + + + CHAPTER II + + THE POLYPHONIC PERIOD + + The Gallo-Belgic School; the Netherlanders; the Mass + and its liturgical significance; the use of secular + subjects--Conditions that fostered continuity of development: + the ‘Mass of Tournay’; Dufay and Okeghem; Hobrecht’s + _Parce Domine_; Josquin des Prés’ masses and motets; his + expressive style--The motet as an extra-liturgical form; its + development; its later characteristic style; distinction + between sacred and secular music--Orlandus Lassus: his + ‘Penitential Psalms’; his tendency toward a simpler style; + his _Gustate et Videte_ and other compositions--Palestrina’s + reforms, methods, and style; his masses, _Papæ Marcelli_, + _Brevis_, and _Assumpta est Maria_; his motets and other + compositions: Vittoria and others--Madrigal writers of the + sixteenth century: Festa, Arcadelt, Willaert, Byrd, Morley, + etc. + + + I + +Until about 1550 practically all art-music in western Europe was +choral. Though the first important steps in the development of music +were taken in Italy, devotion to the principles of unison Gregorian +chant kept the polyphonic idea from gaining a foothold there until +the fourteenth century. As we have seen, vocal counterpoint was the +offspring of northern musicians, and under their care and guidance it +developed into its most complex and perfected form. The first centre of +activity was Paris, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. From +this point the art was gradually disseminated to the northward and its +development was continued through the experimentation and theorizing +of the musicians of northern France and Flanders (the Gallo-Belgic +School, 1360-1460). After these zealous apprentices had made ready +the crude tools of composition, there appeared real masters who +strove earnestly to convert the elaborate technical forms and devices +of vocal counterpoint into vehicles for the expression of musical +feeling and religious devotion. These masters were the Netherlanders +(from 1400 to 1550), whose mission it was to perfect the forms and +material of musical composition, and, working from the standpoint +of musical science, to compel these forms to serve the expressional +purposes of the art. So well did they accomplish these two ends that +for nearly two centuries all of western Europe gave musical allegiance +to the Netherlanders and looked to them for teachers, composers, and +choir leaders. During this period the Low Countries were the musical +headquarters of Europe. + +In the first period of polyphony the singers had followed the +inspiration of the moment and certain general rules of intervallic +movement in improvising their discant to the Gregorian chant. In the +fourteenth century these unsystematic efforts gradually gave way to the +definite writing of all the parts to be sung. In the fifteenth century +the Netherlanders began systematically to develop and perfect the forms +crudely outlined by their predecessors in the fields of both church and +secular music. The forms of church choral music that held their chief +attention were masses, motets, psalms, and hymns. Among the secular +forms we find _chansons_ and madrigals. Of all these the mass, with its +separate parts, was destined to become the form on which the composer +expended his greatest care and skill and through which he sought to +express his noblest thoughts. It was to the Netherland period and to +the Roman Church composers thereafter what the sonata and the symphony +were to the composers of the nineteenth century and the decades just +preceding. In such reverence and respect was this form held that in the +preface of a mass published in 1539 by Grapheus in Nuremberg it could +be confidently asserted, ‘he who is not acquainted with the masses +of the old masters is ignorant of true music.’ The great importance +attached to the mass by composers was inevitable from its commanding +position in the church service. At this point it may be opportune to +discuss some of the essential features of the mass from the standpoint +of the liturgy. + +Among the several offices of the Roman Catholic Church the mass is +the most fundamental and solemn--the chief doctrinal cornerstone on +which is reared the whole superstructure of Catholic faith and worship. +It was evolved from the dogma of the eucharist, to which was added at +an early period the Jewish idea of sacrifice, which formed so vital a +part of the old dispensation. Little by little it grew into the fair +proportions of a great religious poem, magnificent in outline and +texture, and breathing the religious ecstasies of the devout and holy +teachers and leaders and saints of the church. Scriptural lessons, +prayers, hymns, and responses are woven into the liturgic texture, all +being brought into harmonious unity under the sway of the controlling +idea of consecration and oblation. To the Roman Catholic the mass is +‘the permanent channel of grace ever kept open between God and his +church.’ As often as the eucharistic elements of bread and wine are +presented at the altar with certain prescribed prayers and formulas, +the atoning sacrifice of Christ is repeated through the miracle of +transubstantiation, ‘by which the bread and wine are transmuted into +the very body and blood of Christ.’[14] The following sentences from +Cardinal Gibbons’ ‘The Faith of Our Fathers’ make this central dogma +of the Catholic faith still more clear: ‘The sacrifice of the mass is +identical with that of the cross, both having the same victim and high +priest--Jesus Christ. The only difference consists in the manner of the +oblation. Christ was offered upon the cross in a bloody manner; in the +mass he is offered up in an unbloody manner. On the cross he purchased +our ransom, and in the eucharistic sacrifice the price of that ransom +is applied to our souls.’ + +The mass is not the product of any one individual or council or +hierarchical body, but, rather, is a gradual evolution,[15] a growth +from the richest and holiest experiences of generations of pious and +devout priests and monks, whose whole lives were dedicated to the +service of the Most High and to the upbuilding of his visible kingdom +on earth. Furthermore, in the mass the words of the liturgic text are +not to be dissociated from the musical tones in which they are uttered +by priest or choir. The spirit and meaning of the words so completely +saturate the musical forms chosen for their expression that word and +tone constitute an indissoluble artistic unit. And, while the aim of +the church has always been to restrict the function of music in the +service to a purely secondary place--to keep it in bondage to the +ritual--the enormous value of music as an effective reinforcement of +the poetic text was recognized from the very inception of liturgic +forms. + +In explaining the potent influence which the ceremonies and rites of +the Roman Catholic Church have always exerted over the minds of men, +whether believers in that faith or not, one must take into account the +composite character of the appeal that is made. Exalted poetic text and +alluring tone are by no means the only agencies employed. Through every +avenue of approach and by means of a multitude of artistic agencies, +the mind and heart of the worshipper are assailed with the one object +in view to compel undivided attention to, and contemplation of, the +supreme mysteries of religious faith which the Roman liturgy sets +forth. The solemn magnificence of the ceremonial rites, with gorgeous +vestments and dignified gesture and the grace of swinging censers, is +enhanced by the grandeur of architectural proportions and decorations. +Every resource of artistic genius that painter can throw upon glowing +canvas or sculptor can chisel into marble forms is found on wall or +niche or altar. Long before the Florentine reformers stumbled upon +the principle of the union of all the arts in dramatic representation +and centuries before Wagner gave such insistent reiteration to this +principle, the Roman Church had given practical proof of the efficacy +of the perfect union of all the arts as an aid in the expression of +the religious idea. No one art existed for its own sake, nor did +it measure its effectiveness by the merits and value of its own +individual impressiveness; but each art borrowed something from its +association with the other arts and with the time-honored forms and +the hallowed memories which their universality and supposed divine +nature always evoked. Thus, as has been frequently pointed out, there +is much ecclesiastical art to which a largely fictitious value has been +attached because of its sacred and revered association. + +But whatever may be said about the intrinsic artistic ineffectiveness +of much ecclesiastical plastic and pictorial art, no one can deny the +inherent beauty, power, and appropriateness of the music to which the +Roman Catholic liturgy is wedded. Of all the arts that were called into +the service of the church, music was best suited by its very nature to +respond to the new ideals of Christianity. The pictorial and plastic +arts were used to appeal to eye and imagination as reinforcements to +the inherent symbolism of ceremonial and ritual. But music, which has +no recourse to symbols or imagery and which has in its vocabulary +no suggestion of the material world outside of man, was far better +equipped, even in the infancy of the art, to lay hold of the essential +spirit of the liturgy and express it in terms that not only acted +directly and powerfully on the hearts and minds of the worshippers, +but threw a glamour and fascination over all its allied agencies of +expression. The spiritual and emotional appeals of the sublime ideals +of the Gospel struck a note in human consciousness which responded +in an outburst of artistic rapture that was unknown to pre-Christian +periods, and music, as the freest and least material of the arts, was +the first to develop a form of expression that was a fitting embodiment +of the indwelling religious motive and idea. So wonderfully did the +ancient creators of the religious melodies known as plain-song do their +work, and so perfectly did they blend word and tone in priestly chant +or choral response, that these melodies have not only been held in +reverence by the church ever since that far-off time, but they are now +the only musical forms permitted for certain important portions of the +liturgy. + +Although the word ‘mass’[16] is, strictly speaking, applicable only +to the eucharistic service in its entirety, it has been used from +the early centuries of Roman Church history to designate certain +portions of the liturgy to which unusually solemn and impressive music +has been set. With the growth of counterpoint the opportunities for +increasing the impressiveness and elaborateness of these settings were +obviously multiplied. The parts of the service which were thus subject +to special musical elaboration were the _Kyrie_, the _Gloria_, the +_Credo_, the _Sanctus_, the _Benedictus_, and the _Agnus Dei_. These +six movements together comprise what was known as the ‘mass,’ and they +still constitute, with slight variations, the essential portions in +all musical masses, whether written for church or concert performance. +During the period under consideration it was an almost universal custom +to have one subject (_cantus firmus_) do service for all the movements +of a mass, which accordingly took its name from this subject. These +subjects, particularly in the earlier periods of polyphonic music, +were plain-song melodies, whence we have such names for masses as +_Missa Iste confessor_, _Missa Tu es Petrus_, and _Missa Veni sponsa +Christi_. But, as has already been mentioned, sacred melodies were +not the only ones chosen. Composers frequently invaded the domain of +popular song for subjects for their masses. Such ardent love-songs +as _Adieu, mes amours_ (‘Farewell, my love’) and _Baisez-moi_ (‘Kiss +me’) seem strangely out of place in such surroundings, but these and +similar names appear in the titles of many a mass of this period. The +most famous of all the popular songs thus used was the old French +love-song, _L’homme armé_ (‘The Armed Man’), which nearly every +Netherland master from Dufay[17] to Palestrina wove with infinite skill +into the texture of at least one mass, Josquin des Prés, indeed, into +two. If the composer wished to conceal the source of his subject, for +the ecclesiastical authorities naturally frowned upon the practice +of using secular melodies, or if he invented an original subject, as +he occasionally ventured to do, he affixed the title _sine nomine_ +to his mass. If it had some uniform peculiarity of construction it +was called _Missa ad fugam_ or _Missa ad canones_. Sometimes it would +take its name from the number of voices for which it was written, as +_Missa quatuor vocum_, or from the mode in which it was composed, as +_Missa secundi toni_, or _Missa octavi toni_. Occasionally the subject +would be constructed upon the six tones of the hexachord and the work +entitled _Missa ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la_; or upon some practice-phrase +from the choir-room, as Josquin’s _Missa la, sol, fa, re, mi_. + + [Illustration: Music score] + _L’homme armé_ + +The Netherlanders have been severely reproached for their frequent use +of non-ecclesiastical subjects for their church compositions, and at +first thought such a practice would seem to be entirely indefensible +and reprehensible. The censure was undoubtedly merited when the secular +words accompanied the folk-melodies in their forced journeys into +such sacred regions. It was equally merited in the early periods when +the meagre art of the discanters possessed so few resources either to +conceal the identity of the secular tune or to expunge its secularity +by rhythmic alterations. The case was quite different, however, with +the complicated polyphonic structures into which the later masters of +the ‘new art’ (_ars nova_) injected the secular melodies. With the +early discanters ‘the _tenor_ (the voice that carried the subject) +formed the foundation of the arches, now it became one of the arches +which, united in harmonious structure, formed the bridge.’[18] With the +contrapuntists the subject itself became more plastic and submitted +to whatever rhythmic changes were desirable in the working out of +their contrapuntal purposes; each part became entirely independent +in its melodic and rhythmic movement. In the complex interweavings +of voice-parts the identity of the subject itself became practically +lost. The ear could no longer identify it in performance as a complete +melody, though the eye could recognize it on the printed page. In +such a case the secularity of its origin became a largely negligible +element, swallowed up by the purely ecclesiastical manner in which +the subject was handled. In an era when it was not the custom for +composers to invent their own subjects, this practice of using merely +the melodies of secular songs for church compositions was no more +censurable than the later employment of folk-songs as the basis of many +of the splendid chorales of the German Protestant movement. Moreover, +it must be borne in mind, in justice to the Netherlanders, that during +this whole period there were no essential differences of style or +treatment to distinguish secular from sacred compositions. + +But it should be further noticed that in the relation of text to music +there is revealed the most glaring weakness of the Netherlanders. +Until the brilliant close of this period was nearly reached, the text +was of quite secondary importance. Starting from a basis of theory +and science, counterpoint, in all its evolutionary processes, became +largely a matter of mathematical calculation in which the sound, not +the word, governed. So deeply were composers absorbed in working out +the problems of pure sound-combinations and so little importance +did they attach to the text that they did not deem it necessary to +write down more than the opening word of each movement of the mass, +as _Sanctus_ or _Benedictus_, leaving it to the intelligence of the +trained singers to fill in the remainder of the familiar texts as they +saw fit. This laxness in respect to the text invited many abuses, +such as the mixing of secular and sacred words, the interpolation of +unauthorized words, the blending of texts from various parts of the +liturgy, to the danger of errors in dogma, which eventually placed the +whole structure of polyphonic music under the reproach of the church +authorities. + + + II + +Notwithstanding faults due to the immaturity of the art and a certain +false perspective, the church composers of this period displayed, +up to their light, a rare devotion to the one supreme purpose of +enhancing the impressiveness of the religious rites and their liturgic +significance, thus making possible a line of unbroken continuity in +the development of the art of unaccompanied vocal polyphony, which was +destined to become the peculiar glory of the Netherland era. Trained +in cloisters and choirs, acknowledging the church as their only patron +and master to whose service they dedicated all their powers, these men +were far removed from worldly affairs and especially protected from +the distracting and corrupting influences of the savage strife and +turmoil of the times. Every important ecclesiastical establishment +maintained its own staff of composers, for, until the founding of +musical publishing houses soon after 1500 made the multiplication +and circulation of musical scores easy, the labor and expense of +copying the manuscripts prevented any extensive exchange of musical +compositions among the thousands of ecclesiastical establishments that +dotted western Europe and each establishment was compelled to depend +largely on its own resources for its more elaborate ritual-music. +For the most part the ecclesiastical musicians passed their lives in +the absorbing routine of their official duties, close to the heart +of their religion and living constantly in an atmosphere permeated +with austere ecclesiastical traditions. Thus the best Catholic music +of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, unaffected by the external +conditions and influences that brought weakness and decline to some of +the other arts, preserved its serene course of development toward its +culminating point in the sublime creations of Palestrina. But before +this zenith of the second great period of musical art was reached, +there were two centuries of artistic yearning and searching, a period +that Parry calls ‘the youth of modern music--a period most pure, +serene, and innocent--when mankind was yet too immature in things +musical to express itself in terms of passion or of force, but used +forms and moods of art which are like tranquil dreams and communings of +man with his inner self, before the sterner experiences of life have +quite awakened him to its multiform realities and vicissitudes.’[19] + +The Netherland period was one of quite astonishing musical activity. +The number of musicians actually engaged in the composition of +ritual-music constitutes an imposing array (the names of nearly 400 are +recorded) and their actual output both in bulk and quality measures +not at all unworthily with that of the other arts of this period, the +names of whose masterpieces are household words. That the equally great +masterpieces of polyphonic vocal art are not familiar, indeed, are +almost wholly unknown even to musicians, is inevitable from the very +limitations imposed upon music by the matter of performance, and from +the inavailability of this music outside its special home--the church. +Its speech was always idiomatic, a kind of developed specialty, and, +for about two centuries after its culminating point was reached, it +became archaic even in the church from whose bosom it sprang, so that +the avenues to a wide public acquaintance with its peculiar beauties +were largely closed soon after its greatest masterpieces were written. + +The masses and motets of the period reflect all the changing phases +of the gradually advancing musical art. They express the deep and +serious things of the art; the madrigals and _chansons_ are the +emanations of the composers’ lighter moments of relaxation, incidental +deviations from the main course of artistic endeavor, written mostly +for the entertainment of noble and wealthy patrons. The oldest known +mass is the celebrated ‘Mass of Tournay,’[20] which Coussemaker +ascribes to the thirteenth century. It is written in three parts +with the subject (_cantus_) in the middle; one of the added parts +moves almost constantly in parallel fourths or fifths with either +the subject or the third part, while this third part generally has a +contrary movement to one of the other parts. Historically it forms an +interesting transitional link between the primitive organum and the +crude counterpoint of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. + +It is customary for musical historians to distinguish two Netherland +schools. The first was occupied with pioneer work; its music was severe +and unmelodious, simple and unpretentious when compared with that of +the succeeding school, with only faint attempts to attain euphonic +beauty; yet earnestness of purpose coupled with much contrapuntal +science and ingenuity are everywhere in evidence. William Dufay +(1400-1474) was the principal master of this school, although the +mass _Ecce Ancilla_, by Antoine Busnois (1440-1492), is regarded by +Naumann as ‘the most important musical historical monument up to the +year 1475.’[21] In this period the several movements of the mass +began to take on a certain definiteness and individuality of form +corresponding to the natural subdivisions of the texts, making several +movements within each movement. Likewise certain modes of treatment +came to be associated with certain movements. Thus, in the _Agnus Dei_, +which was divided into two parts, the composer was expected to employ +the utmost resources of his contrapuntal skill; the second part was +usually written in canon or in intricate fugue and frequently with a +larger number of voices than in the other movements of the mass. The +_Benedictus_ came to be regarded as a composition for two, three, or +four solo voices, usually followed by a choral _Osanna_. And so the +various movements gradually assumed quite definite outlines as to form +and character, which remained in force for a century and a half. + +With Joannes Okeghem (about 1430-1495 or 6) the second Netherland +school was ushered in. This master, to whom the laudatory title of +‘Prince of Music’ was given, appears to have carried the possibilities +of contrapuntal ingenuity and contrivance to extremest limits. +Comparatively few of his works are extant, and most of these display +wonderful technical skill in handling musical problems rather than +attempts at expression. Among those preserved is the famous _Missa +cujusvis toni_ (mass in any tone or mode), which seems to have been +composed as an intellectual exercise for the highly trained choristers +of his time, demanding in its rendition perfect mastery of all the +church modes and ability to transpose from one mode to another. He was +rather a great teacher and theorist than a great church composer. His +pupils carried the art of polyphony into all countries and Kiesewetter +maintains that through these students he became ‘the founder of all +schools from his own to the present age.’[22] One of the most prominent +of Okeghem’s contemporaries was Jacob Hobrecht or Obrecht (1430-1505 or +6), who was a most devoted disciple and admirer, though not a pupil, +of the learned master. He left many masses, motets, and _chansons_, in +some of which, notably in the motet _Parce Domine_ for three voices, he +attains a high degree of real expressive power. This fine work exerted +a powerful influence on Josquin des Prés and reveals its creator as +possibly the first composer to make polyphony bend to the necessity of +musical expression as we understand it. + +Okeghem’s most celebrated pupil was Josquin des Prés (about 1450-1521), +who eclipsed his master’s fame in musical learning and wealth of +ingenuity and became the most brilliant exponent of the musical art +of the Netherlanders. He was the most popular composer and celebrated +musician of his time, the spread of his music as well as his fame being +greatly aided, no doubt, by the newly-invented process of printing +music from movable type, which appeared at the very moment when he +was at the height of his power. In his best works (he was a most +prolific writer) we can detect a more flowing and emotional style and +catch glimpses of a quality of sublime seriousness joined with fervid +beauty that still makes a strong appeal to modern taste. Ambros well +characterizes him as ‘the first musician who impresses us as having +genius.’ His printed works consist of 19 masses (32 are extant), more +than 150 motets, and about 50 secular works. Of his masses the most +beautiful and the most advanced in style are the _Ad fugam_, the +_De Beata Virgine_, the _Da pacem_, and the _La, sol, fa, re, mi_. +In Naumann’s judgment, no master of modern times has surpassed the +grandeur of the _Incarnatus_ from the _Missa Da pacem_. When not in +a trifling or humorous mood, he rises above form and technique into +the realm of expression where, among vocal contrapuntists, he is +excelled only by Lassus and Palestrina. The music of Dufay and his +contemporaries was frequently beautiful, but it was helpless to reflect +the character of the words. Whether the words were gay or mournful, the +music conveyed the same impression to the listener. But Josquin knew +how to unlock the expressive power of music and henceforward music more +and more assumed the function of definite delineation of mood and word. + +But Josquin evidently possessed a light-heartedness and vivacity that +would not always brook restraint and that led him to introduce bits of +quaint humor into his church music that, to say the least, displayed +a lack of reverence and marred an otherwise admirable style. It is +related that he much desired to receive a church benefice from Louis +XII of France, at whose court he held an appointment, but as often as +he applied to the proper official he received only the answer, _Lascia +fare mi_. At length Josquin wearied of the delay and, seizing upon the +musical sound of the courtier’s words, composed a mass on the subject +_La, sol, fa, re, mi_, which appeared again and again, mimicking the +official’s curt and oft-repeated answer. The musician’s wit pleased the +king and won his promise of a benefice, which promise, however, was +straightway forgotten. But the composer was in nowise discouraged. He +dedicated to the king a motet for which he took the text from the 119th +Psalm (118th in the Vulgate), _Memor esto verbi tui servo tuo, in quo +mihi spem dedisti_ (‘Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which +thou hast caused me to hope’), thinking thereby to quicken the memory +of his royal master. Louis was evidently dull of understanding, for +yet a second time the musical joker dedicated to him a motet, _Portio +mea non est in terra viventium_ (‘My portion is not in the land of +the living’), which evidently won the object of his desire, for still +another motet, _Bonitatem fecisti cum servo tuo_, is generally regarded +as a polite thank-offering for the appointment. It is further related +that the king, who was wholly unmusical and who possessed a very feeble +voice, requested the great musician to compose a piece in which his +Majesty could join. The sagacious Josquin forthwith wrote a canon for +two boys’ voices, supplemented by a part for the king consisting of +one note sustained throughout.[23] In his celebrated _Missa Hercules +Dux Ferrariae_, a quaint conceit prompted him to build his subject, +_Re ut re ut re fa mi re_, on the succession of syllables whose vowels +correspond to the vowels in the words _Hercules Dux Ferrariae_. +These were innocent pranks, but he carried his musical trifling to +unpardonable extremes in his _Missa didadi_ (‘Dice’ Mass), in which +he set himself the profane task of solving a dice-problem in terms of +musical technique. But the faults of Josquin were in large measure +the faults of his period. In common with Okeghem and others, he was +exceedingly fond of inventing riddle-canons and other musical puzzles. +So much did this practice, especially in connection with ecclesiastical +music, arouse the indignation of Martin Agricola that this worthy +scholar even threatened the composers with the terrors of the last day +‘when all will certainly not go well with the outrageous riddle-makers.’ + +The modernity of Josquin’s art, his ability to interest us by intensity +of expression in depicting the meaning of the words, is finely +illustrated in his two motets _Planxit autem David_ and _Absolon fili +mi_. In the latter especially he attains an expression of pathos, an +effect of extreme sadness, which at times becomes poignant. In the +closing measures there occurs a remarkably daring use of the augmented +fifth, a dissonance whose introduction is ‘terribly effective.’ His +psalm _Laudate pueri_, in contrasting mood, is pervaded by a persistent +feeling of joy. The music, which moves happily along through a chain of +pure concords without a disturbing dissonance, exhibits tranquillity +and joyful confidence throughout. + +By a strange perversion the mass, although the most solemn and sacred +portion of the Roman service, was treated by church composers in their +musical settings of it up to the middle of the sixteenth century as +the proper parade-ground for all conceivable forms of musical riddles +and extravagances that would display their technical learning and +ingenuity. But these aberrations are found much less frequently in +the motets and madrigals. Here the composer was governed by no such +fancied necessity; he felt a much greater sense of freedom to follow +musical impulses. Hence these forms were the first to profit from the +remarkable awakening of the musical understanding that took place +at the close of the fifteenth century and to be enriched with the +accompanying first flashes of the dawning sense of harmonic propriety +and characterization. + + + III + +The motet[24] occupies a place in ecclesiastical music next in +importance to the mass. It has always been extra-liturgical; the +words, though not prescribed, are generally selected from the Bible +(the Psalms, antiphons, etc.) or the office-books. In the Roman Church +service it is intended to be sung at high mass, usually after or in +place of the plain-song offertorium for the day to fill out the time +while the priest is preparing the oblations and presenting them at the +altar. The great antiquity of the motet is attested by the fact that +Franco of Cologne in his epochal work on Measured Music gives it place +in one of the three classes[25] of choral compositions in use in his +time. The characteristic features of the early motet were separate +texts for each voice and a subject (_tenor_) made up of some short +phrase or group of motives repeated several or many times, according to +the length of the composition. + +These phrases were borrowed from either plain-song or secular +melodies. Like the mass, the early motet was not an original +composition, but the combination of existing chants or secular songs. +Frequently it was frankly secular; more frequently all the texts were +sacred, but sometimes, as in the mass, secular texts and melodies were +mingled with the sacred. When the texts in the motet were various, +they always bore some kind of mental relation to each other,[26] +a condition which was by no means always present in the mass when +different texts were used. The practice of providing each voice-part +with a separate text, while it tended to confuse the listener, served, +on the other hand, to emphasize the musical independence of the parts +and so threw stress on a quality of utmost benefit to the advancement +of contrapuntal methods. + +A few motets by Philip of Vitry,[27] written about 1300, are the most +ancient purely church motets of which we have authentic record. We are +informed by Morley that this composer’s motets ‘were for some time +of all others best esteemed and most used in the church.’ Beginning +probably in France and cultivated with marked success by the great +Netherlanders, the motet reached its highest point of perfection under +Palestrina in Rome. It was adopted, with important modifications, into +the services of the two great branches of the Protestant Church from +their very beginning. In England, until the ‘full’ anthem finally +superseded it, and in Germany from Luther until after Bach’s time, it +held a high place in ecclesiastical music, but the words were almost +invariably in the vernacular, while in the Roman service they were +always in Latin. + +In the period represented by Okeghem there may be noticed the +beginning of a distinctive style for motet-music differing quite +materially from that of the mass. It has been already stated that the +disfiguring extravagances and learned complexities which composers +felt in duty bound to lavish on the music of the mass, were more and +more avoided in the motet. A solemnity, dignity, and breadth of style, +of which one finds but few examples in the masses of the period, were +encouraged in the motet. This different viewpoint led composers to +focus their interest and attention on the portrayal of the meaning of +the words rather than on the working of contrapuntal miracles and the +church composers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries left a rich +legacy of compositions in this form appropriate to their appointed +use and permeated with the spirit of devotion and reverence. After +the compelling genius of Des Prés had once revealed the expressive +capabilities of music, this new power was evoked with so much +enthusiasm by all his great contemporaries and successors among the +Netherlanders that the richest period of motet writing is to be found +between the years 1500 and 1600. + +As soon as the text became a matter of solicitous care on the part +of composers, there can be discovered a number of distinct groups of +motets, distinguished from each other by the character of the texts +employed, each group possessing certain individual peculiarities. There +was a numerous class based on selections from the Gospels dealing with +the various parables, as the Pharisee and Publican. The Passion of our +Lord as given in the different Gospels formed the basis of another +large group. One of the earliest of these Passion motets is Hobrecht’s, +a work filled with deep pathos and tender sadness. The Passion motets +of Loyset Compère (about 1450-1518) are spoken of as possessing +extraordinary beauty. The Magnificat was frequently treated in motet +form, the oldest known example of which is Dufay’s. A vast number of +texts were drawn from the Book of Canticles, while the Lamentations +of Jeremiah inspired the writing of numberless compositions in motet +style. Carpentrasso’s Lamentations were sung in the Sistine Chapel +once each year until 1587, when they were superseded by Palestrina’s +superb compositions. Several of the sequences were also set as motets, +among which must be especially noted two by Josquin des Prés--a +_Victimæ Paschali_, in which he used parts of the old plain-song +melody intermingled with two popular airs, and a _Stabat Mater_, the +subject for which he borrowed from a secular air of the time, _Comme +femme_. Less interesting were the laudatory motets inscribed to princes +and nobles by the composers attached to their individual courts, and +the countless motets written for the greater festivals and special +occasions in the church calendar. + +Reverence for the Virgin-mother inspired some of the most beautiful +of all motets and a multitude of these fine compositions, delicate in +texture and of impressive beauty, might be cited; such are Dufay’s +_Ave Regina, Salve Virgo_, and _Flos florum, fons amorum_; Brassart’s +_Ave Maria_; Bianchoys’ _Beata Dei genetrix_; Arcadelt’s _Ave Maria_, +which is now probably one of the best known of sixteenth-century motets +and which sounds wonderfully modern with its compact chords, sweet +tunefulness, and simple pathos; Gombert’s _Vita dulcedo_; Josquin’s +_Ave vera virginitas_. There remains to be mentioned the large group +of funeral motets or _Næniæ_, comprising some of the finest examples +of the pure motet style. One of the most celebrated of these is the +dirge written by Josquin in memory of his friend and teacher Okeghem, +which is scarcely exceeded in beauty by anything which this master has +produced. + +About 1500 the triad was recognized as a musical factor of importance +and close upon this recognition came the discovery of modal harmony. +Chord progressions, groups of closely-knit harmonies, appropriate to +the church mode employed, now became common and in the relation of +this new factor to musical expression is to be found the basis of +distinction between secular and sacred music, a distinction which +rapidly grew more marked as the harmonic sense unfolded and developed. +From Josquin’s time secular music strove after the representation +of specific moods of feeling suggested by the words, in which +representation the new element of harmony was summoned to give warmth +and color and dramatic significance, while sacred music sought to +express only the general mood of the text, representing an unvariable +and fixed aspiration, with little or no attempt at detailed delineation. + + + IV + +The last great Netherlander, and indeed the greatest of them all, was +Orlandus Lassus or Orlando di Lasso (1532-1594), who spent nearly the +whole of the best creative period of his life outside the boundaries +of his native land in Munich in the service of the art-loving Duke +Albert V and his son Duke William of Bavaria. Next to Palestrina the +greatest genius of the sixteenth century, he left a deep impress on the +development of Germanic art. Though not so ideal in purely ritual-music +as his great contemporary, he displayed a greater fertility, a wider +sympathy, and a warmer human feeling. Proske’s estimate of him is +noteworthy: ‘Lassus is a universal genius.... No one resembles so +closely the great Handel, and, as in the latter, the German, Italian, +and English genius of the eighteenth century were found blended, so +in Lassus the entire glory of contemporary Germanic and Latin art was +commingled in a single mighty personality.’ (_Musica Divina_, Vol. I, +p. 52.) + +Lassus was probably the most prolific composer of all time, having +left the enormous number of nearly 2,500 separate compositions. As +his master, Duke Albert, was a staunch and devout Catholic, by far +the larger part of his creative energy was expended in the field +of pure church-music, of which he wrote no less than 1,200 motets +and _sacræ cantiones_, 51 masses, about 180 Magnificats, and over +150 lamentations, psalms, hymns, Requiems, Ave Marias, antiphons, +etc. The most celebrated of his works and, according to Ambros,[28] +the only other work of the sixteenth century worthy to stand beside +Palestrina’s _Missa Papæ Marcelli_, are the ‘Penitential Psalms,’ +which were composed at the duke’s suggestion prior to 1565, though +not published until 1584. The establishment of the date of their +composition definitely upsets the familiar legend that they were +written for Charles IX of France to solace his troubled conscience +after the horrors of the massacre of St. Bartholomew. It may well +be, however, that they were sung before this unhappy monarch, for +Lassus spent some time at the court of France at Charles’ invitation. +Lassus’ masterpiece, though written comparatively early in his career, +possesses in a marked degree all the qualities of strength, grandeur, +dignity, repose, and especially impersonality and absence of what +would now be called dramatic effects, that are the distinguishing +characteristics of the maturest period of ritual-music of the great +Netherlander and his Italian compeer, Palestrina. The ‘Penitential +Psalms’ (the 6th, 32d, 38th, 51st, 102d, 130th, and 143d) were set +for from two to six voices, according to the suggestion of the text, +and the style of expression varies from the extreme simplicity of the +opening chords to the massive and intricate tone-structures by means +of which he depicts the remorse and fear of the penitent sinner. But, +while a note of sorrow and wailing runs throughout, the master has with +equal genius portrayed the strong consolation of sincere repentance and +the sure hope of pardon from a loving God. + +In all of Lassus’ works there is a noticeable breaking away from +the intricacies and complicated forms of Josquin and the older +Netherlanders in favor of a more direct and simple style. Secular music +may well have exerted an indirect influence to produce such a result, +but a more direct cause must be sought in the religious movements of +his period. Lassus, like Palestrina, was a man of strong and sincere +religious convictions. Zealous Catholics in Rome were seeking to reform +the abuses in ecclesiastical government and procedure that had started +the Reformation and given such astonishing strength to its progress. +The court at Munich, in which Lassus was such a prominent figure, was +the first in Europe to espouse the cause of this counter-reformation. +Simplicity of style and directness of expression were the natural +and logical consequences of the earnestness of purpose and religious +conviction that breathes in the music of both Lassus and Palestrina and +that sought to grasp the essential spirit of the Roman liturgy and body +it forth in vitalizing tones. Indeed, the tendency toward a simpler +and less ornate style was well under way before the Council of Trent +undertook to discuss the defects in the prevalent church style. + +Of Lassus’ 1,200 compositions of the motet type 429 were called +_sacræ cantiones_, a term that is rather vague as to its inclusion +and exact application. The most famous of the motets is the masterly +_Gustate et Videte_, to which additional interest is attached from a +pretty story related by Heinrich Delmotte, one of the most reliable of +Lassus’ biographers, to the effect that, during the festival of Corpus +Christi in 1584, the singing of this motet, as the solemn procession +headed by the choir emerged from the church, caused the sun to shine +forth brightly in the midst of a terrific thunder-storm, permitting the +procession to traverse its accustomed course through the city. But when +the procession returned to the church and the singing ceased, the storm +burst forth again in all its fury. The multitude cried ‘A miracle,’ and +for many years thereafter the singing of this motet always accompanied +the offering up of prayers for fine weather. Though one might select +a score of his fine motets for special mention, three may be spoken +of here in addition to the _Gustate_, namely, _Dixit autem Maria_, +_Improperium expectabit cor meum_, and _Timor et Tremor_ in six parts, +replete with wonderful vocal effects. His simple, direct, and earnest +style is well set forth in the _Adoramus te Christe_, a short chorale +for four male voices, utterly devoid of contrapuntal artifice, yet +breathing a spirit of humble adoration that maintains throughout an +atmosphere of solemn tenderness. His motets were written for from two +to twelve voices and the masses for four and five voices. + +But Lassus had an open heart also for secular inspiration. The genius +that could thrill us with the solemnity and pathos of religious +aspirations and sentiments was also moved to expression by the +pleasantries of human experience; no other composer of his century was +so prolific in humorous works. One is a setting of the Psalm _Super +flumina Babylonis_, in which the separate letters and syllables are +sung in the fashion of a spelling-lesson, ‘S-U--Su--P-E-R--per--Super,’ +evidently parodying the ridiculous handling of words by the older +masters. It takes two movements of this comic procedure to get through +the first verse. In some of his German songs his humor rises to the +height of hilarious joy, though most of them are the expression of a +simple naïveté. In one of his Italian villanellas he makes a German +infantry captain sing a grotesque serenade to his lady-love. But he was +especially famous for his drinking songs, one of the most celebrated of +which was a setting of Walter Mapes’ convivial song _Si bene perpendi, +causæ sunt quinque bibendi_, to which Dean Aldrich has given the +following well-known translation: + + ‘If all be true that I do think, + There are five reasons we should drink: + Good wine, a friend, or being dry, + Or lest you should be by and by, + Or any other reason why.’ + +The remainder of his secular compositions comprise 233 madrigals, +34 Latin songs,[29] 370 French songs, and 59 canzonets, which +formidable list reveals him as a lyric writer of great versatility. +Notwithstanding his great fame during his lifetime and the succeeding +generation, the last half of the seventeenth century witnessed a great +decline in his popularity and his music fell into almost complete +oblivion, from which it has been happily rescued by the recent revival +of interest in the old masters and especially by the publication by +Breitkopf & Haertel of a complete edition of his works which will +comprise about sixty volumes. + + + V + +We are now face to face with one of the greatest geniuses of all +time, Palestrina,[30] or to give his real name, Giovanni Pierluigi +(1526-1594). Into his hands it was given not only to restore to Italy, +for a time at least, its leadership in the domain of musical art, but +also to carry to completion the magnificent structure of polyphonic +ecclesiastical music founded and fashioned into stately proportions +by the Netherlanders, and to utter the final words in the art of +unaccompanied vocal counterpoint. Thus the cycle of development in +Roman ritual-music was consummated on the very spot where just ten +centuries before it had found its first definite formulation under +the guiding hand of Gregory the Great and in perfect consonance with +the spirit and best traditions of the great liturgy around which +Christian worship had centred through all the intervening centuries, +until Luther’s momentous break with Rome had caused a deflection +in the current of religious thought. He summed up all the best +qualities in the art of his predecessors. He added nothing new to +its technique, but, child as he was of the land whose peculiar gift +is melody, he crowned this art with a radiant richness of melodious +charm and graceful movement which none of his masters could achieve. +Palestrina’s peculiar greatness seems to lie in the supreme fact that, +through a perfect sympathy with and understanding of the mysteries of +the Roman system of worship and through an unequalled mastery of the +Netherlanders’ art of contrapuntal expression, he was able to restore +music to its proper relation to the service as established by the Early +Church, a relation that had been lost by the incongruous and disturbing +intricacies of the musical forms which by their very elaborateness had +so overlaid the text as to render it unintelligible and thus obliterate +the religious significance of the words and warp the whole function +of music in the larger organism of the mass. This reform was brought +about by a return to the simpler methods of the ancient church. While +the musical world around him was teeming with signs of the new spirit +of impending change and progress, his genius, the richest of them +all, was satisfied to dwell within the sanctuary of tradition. While +all his contemporaries were facing forward, filled with the rapture +of discovery and innovation, ‘the Palestrina style belonged rather +to the mediæval world, with its emphasis upon monastic reveries and +contemplation.’[31] What has been termed ‘the Palestrina style’ had +existed before his time in isolated church compositions, but, since +his whole life was dedicated with singular fidelity and purity of +purpose to the development of an exalted and chaste style that would +perfectly reflect the inner spirit of the church ceremonies, his name +has become attached to a type which is peculiarly his. Its external +characteristics are the repudiation of mere intellectual cleverness, +the avoidance of secularity either in form or in spirit, and the +employment of an unaffected, indescribable simplicity of expression as +the best means of preserving the liturgic significance of the text and +enforcing the impressiveness of the music on the worshipper’s mind. +For its greatest effect this music must be heard in the particular +religious environment for which it was created. ‘No sensuous melodies, +no dissonant, tension-creating harmonies, no abrupt rhythms distract +the thoughts and excite the sensibilities. Chains of consonant chords +growing out of the combination of smoothly-flowing, closely-interwoven +parts, the contours of which are all but lost in the maze of tones, +lull the mind into that state of submission to indefinite impressions +which makes it susceptible to the mystic influence of the ceremonial +and turns it away from worldly things.’[32] + +In analyzing music of this type it will be found that each +voice-part is equal in independence and importance with every other +voice-part; that the voices enter, intertwine, and drop out with +absolute freedom of movement; that one key is maintained throughout +the whole composition, with no modulations in the modern sense; that +the beginnings and endings of the melodic phrases usually occur at +different points in different voices, producing a constant shifting in +the rhythmical flux that baffles aural analysis and creates a feeling +of vagueness and indefiniteness of design. The changes in dynamics or +in speed are never startling or abrupt, but are accomplished through +almost imperceptible gradations. Furthermore, certain values entered +into the construction of these wonderfully plastic creations that were +almost wholly dependent upon a perfect understanding of purely vocal +effects. ‘The distribution of the components of a chord in order to +produce the greatest sonority; the alternation of the lower voices +with the higher; the elimination of voices as a section approached its +close, until the harmony was reduced at the last syllable to two higher +voices in _pianissimo_, as though the strain were vanishing into the +upper air; the resolution of tangled polyphony into a sunburst of open +golden chords; the subtle intrusion of veiled dissonances into the +fluent gleaming concord; the skillful blending of the vocal registers +for the production of exquisite contrasts of light and shade--these +and many other devices were employed for the attainment of delicate +and lustrous sound tints, with results to which modern chorus writing +affords no parallel.’[33] + +It is quite characteristic of the inherent and unostentatious +greatness of Palestrina that the _Missa Papæ Marcelli_, the singing +of which before the Commission of Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel +on the nineteenth of June, 1565, caused this mass to be chosen as a +model in style and in structure of what all future music of the Roman +liturgy should be, was written several years before that event as an +ordinary item of routine loyalty in the service of the church which +he so devoutly loved.[34] It did not come into being, as has been +persistently proclaimed by legend and history,[35] at the request of +the Commission nor as a specific answer to the warning of the Council +of Trent that all figured or polyphonic music would be excluded from +the Roman service because of the current abuses. The name by which this +famous mass has been known was not given to it until 1567. The Pope +to whom it was dedicated, Marcellus II, had died in 1555, ten years +before fame and immortality had been accorded to this composition by +the award of the Cardinal Commission, but, though he had reigned only +twenty-three days, Palestrina did not forget his earnest efforts in +behalf of church-music while he was a Cardinal. This mass stands by +universal consent as an unrivalled monument to the piety, depth of +feeling, and intensity of expression, as well as the technical skill, +of its creator. All technical contrivances, the devices of fugue and +canon, are in complete subjection to the demands of expression, and +the listener is never for a moment conscious of the consummate art +with which the parts are fashioned. Its subjects are all original and +all are of great simplicity, but treated with infinite variety. It is +written for six voices--soprano, alto, two tenors of equal compass, +and two equal basses--which are so grouped as constantly to suggest +the effects of antiphonal choirs. Though an atmosphere of solemnity +pervades the whole, each movement has individual characterization. +Baini, Palestrina’s biographer, calls the Kyrie devout, the Gloria +animated, the Credo majestic, the Sanctus angelic, and the Agnus Dei +prayerful. + +Palestrina wrote in all ninety-three masses for four, five, six, +and eight voices, many of them of surpassing beauty, but only a +comparatively few are sung outside the Sistine Chapel. The six-part +_Assumpta est Maria_, composed in 1585 for the Papal Choir, is +accounted by many critics to be even more beautiful than the celebrated +_Missa Papæ Marcelli_. It possesses all the fine qualities of the +latter and is certainly its equal. The _Missa Brevis_[36] was composed +upon subjects taken from the plain-song melody _Audi filia_, upon which +Goudimel had written a fine mass of earlier date. The mass _L’homme +armé_ is one of the very few of his church compositions into which he +introduced secular melodies. It is quite possible that he took this +means of demonstrating that he could excel the Netherlanders on their +own ground, for it is apparently conceived throughout in the Netherland +style and is tremendously difficult and elaborate. + +Among the most superb of his church compositions must be named the +motets, of which 179 for from four to twelve voices appear in the +complete critical edition published by Breitkopf & Haertel in 33 +volumes. Some of these are as unapproachable in their beauty as are +the masses which gave Palestrina his title of _Musicæ Princeps_. Among +the finest may be mentioned _Peccantem me quotidie_, filled with an +indescribable sweetness and tenderness of feeling, and _Super flumina +Babylonis_, written soon after the death of his wife Lucrezia, in +which can be detected the expression of the pathetic grief of ‘the +heart-broken composer mourning by the banks of the Tiber’ for his lost +wife. His other church compositions include 45 Hymns for the whole +year, 68 Offertories, and a large number of Lamentations, Magnificats, +Vesper-psalms, and Litanies. His setting of the _Stabat Mater_, for +which Dr. Burney had a boundless admiration, is one of the most +effective in existence and one of his most celebrated works. The fine +_Improperia_, which are still among the greatest treasures of the Papal +Choir, probably reflect the experiences of his inner life during the +anxious period following his dismissal from the Papal Choir by Paul +IV in 1555, when physical and mental ills attacked the over-sensitive +master. + +The second half of the sixteenth century has been aptly called ‘The +Golden Age of Ecclesiastical Music.’ Further progress was impossible +along the line of vocal counterpoint brought to such astounding +perfection by Palestrina, yet the Palestrina style found zealous +imitators for a half-century at least after the passing of the great +Roman master. But the spirit of the Renaissance, now rampant in every +field of human thought, refused to be held in check by church doors, +and the glories of the ‘Golden Age,’ the products of an art rejoicing +in the full maturity of its power, were almost immediately followed +by a period of decadence, in which secular sentimentality was mingled +in strange fellowship with what remained of the majestic devotional +style of the old masters. The triumphant progress of secular music, +instrumental as well as operatic, soon broke down the opposition of +the ecclesiastical purists, and after Allegri the Palestrina style +practically disappeared. Gregorio Allegri (about 1580-1652) is +remembered now almost wholly by his celebrated _Miserere_ for nine +voices in two choirs, which is considered to be one of the finest +compositions ever conceived for the Roman service. Until recently +at least, it has been sung annually during Holy Week at the Sistine +Chapel, where it was prized as so rare a treasure that to copy it was +punishable with excommunication.[37] Up to the year 1770 only three +copies are known to have been legally made. In that year, it will be +recalled, the fourteen-year-old Mozart wrote it down with marvellous +accuracy from the memory of a single performance. Much of the ineffable +sadness of this piece, which, as it is performed in the Sistine Chapel, +has always aroused the unbounded enthusiasm of musicians, is said to +be due to certain traditional embellishments or florid passages which +were introduced in the form of elaborate four-part cadenzas to take the +place of the simple endings of some of the verses. Mendelssohn, in a +letter to Zelter during his Italian journey in 1831, described in great +detail the music of these beautiful _abbellimenti_. Of one of these he +says: ‘It is often repeated, and makes so deep an impression that when +it begins an evident excitement pervades all present.... The soprano +intones the high C in a pure, soft voice, allowing it to vibrate for a +time, and slowly gliding down, while the alto holds its C steadily, so +that at first I was under the delusion that the high C was still held +by the soprano. The skill, too, with which the harmony is gradually +developed is truly marvellous.’ + +It must not be supposed that Palestrina was the only great church +composer of his period. There were others during his lifetime and +immediately following, whose genius would have been proclaimed of +the first magnitude had it not been for the greater effulgence of +Palestrina’s. Giovanni Maria Nanino (about 1545-1607) ranks as second +only to Palestrina among the Italian church composers, as witness his +motet for six voices, _Hodie nobis cœlorum rex_, annually sung in the +Sistine Chapel on Christmas morning; his mass, _Vestiva i colli_, for +five voices; and particularly his Lamentations set in simple melodious +style for four male voices. His brother, Giovanni Bernardino Nanino +(about 1560-about 1618), wrote a remarkable _Salve Regina_ for twelve +voices in which the new spirit of striving for unusual effects is +noticeable. Viadana (about 1564-1645) introduced into church music +the _concerti ecclesiastici_, which were a kind of monodic chant or +song for from one to four voices with organ accompaniment indicated +by a _basso continuo_, or figured bass. Most of his church music, +however, was written in the old contrapuntal style. Following the +trend of the times, Francesco Soriano or Suriano (1549-about 1621) +permitted the dramatic style of the monodists to enter very perceptibly +into his ‘Passions for Holy Week,’ probably his best work. Among +the greatest of Palestrina’s contemporaries was Tomasso da Vittoria +(about 1540-about 1613), sometimes called ‘the Spanish Palestrina.’ +His greatest masterpiece is the elaborate six-part Requiem Mass, +composed for the obsequies of the Empress Maria, widow of Maximilian +II. Next to Palestrina’s Mass for the Dead, this is the most important +and profoundly moving among the many settings of this office as pure +ritual-music. Its subjects are all taken from plain-song melodies, yet +it has an astonishingly modern quality, due to Vittoria’s employment of +powerful, sonorous chords and especially to a warmer and more direct +and personal mode of expressing his religious emotions than composers +of the polyphonic school were wont to assume. Palestrina’s religious +music is the music of a soul of immaculate purity, as though, to use +Ambros’ figure, his strains were messengers from a higher world; +Vittoria’s music was the responsive utterance of a saintly soul on +earth, struggling amid poignantly human emotions for a heavenly estate. +Among his other works, the _Improperia_ gained great renown for their +purity of church style and warmth and tenderness of expression. + +Before leaving the field of church music of this period, something +must be said of the worthy rival to the Roman school that had sprung up +and flourished mightily in Venice. Here in the midst of the prosperity, +luxury, and splendor of this cultured ‘Queen of the Seas’ was a group +of earnest musicians who did not fear to loosen the bands of tradition +or to accept new ideals and venture on untrodden paths that led in new +directions; so that the products of the Venetian school, rather than +the Roman, formed the natural bridge between the mediæval and modern +conceptions of religious music. The masters of Venetian music, Willaert +and the two Gabrielis, seemed to borrow for their music something of +the brilliant coloring of the Venetian painters. Luxuriant harmonies, +massive and bold chord-effects, the employment of numerous chromatic +tones which assisted powerfully in changing the old modal system into +the modern key system, a desire for greater sonority and contrast in +color and expression--all these qualities, with their emphasis upon +individual characterization, opposed themselves strikingly to the +calmness, the delicacy, and the impersonality of the Palestrina style. +All the great Venetian masters occupied the post of chapel-master at +St. Mark’s, then one of the most important musical appointments in +Europe. The use of several choirs, which was introduced by Adrian +Willaert (about 1480-1562) and became a characteristic feature of +Venetian church music, owed its origin to the architectural structure +of this church, which contains two opposing choir lofts, each with +its own organ. Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli added a third choir and +with this elaborate mechanism produced unprecedented choral effects by +ingenious groupings of voices, heard now as separate choirs, now in +answering alternation, now as selected voices from each choir, and now +in magnificent masses of tone. A twelve-part psalm, _Deus misereatur +nostri_, written by G. Gabrieli (1557-1612) for three choirs--one +consisting of deep voices, one of higher, and the third of the usual +four parts--is one of the most imposing examples of this type of +grandiose many-choired music. He is one of the few church composers +who have left no masses. His most famous work, two volumes of _Sacræ +Symphoniæ_, consisted of motets for from six to sixteen voices, to +which he added free accompaniments written for various combinations +of orchestral instruments with organ. In thus broadening the scope +of church music to include instrumental groupings and effects in +combination with voices, he stands as the pioneer of a dawning movement +fraught with greatest possibilities for the future development of both +ecclesiastical music and independent instrumental music. The chief work +of Andrea Gabrieli (1510-1586), uncle of Giovanni, was, according to +his own testimony, the six-part ‘Penitential Psalms,’ though this was +outdone in magnificence and tonal beauty by his many compositions for +several choirs. One of the most notable and popular of the Venetian +composers was Giovanni Croce (about 1560-1609), whose masses, written +in a style of noble simplicity, are still favorites with Catholic +church choirs. + + + VI + +The century which culminated in the ‘Golden Age of Ecclesiastical +Music’ was also the period of greatest glory for the madrigal. In the +first half of the century its leading exponents were Jacques Arcadelt +(about 1514-about 1555), Philippe Verdelot (dates of birth and death +unknown), Huberto Waelrant (about 1518-1595), and especially Adrian +Willaert (about 1480-1562), in the madrigals of all of whom there are +revealed a lucidity of style, a graceful melodic flow, and, when the +character of the words demanded, a simplicity of treatment, which +together constituted the true sixteenth-century madrigalian style. +Arcadelt, a Netherlander by birth and education, lived for many years +in Italy, where his madrigals became so popular that his First Book, +published in Venice in 1538, passed through sixteen editions in eighty +years, the first to win marked success. Though he wrote much church +music, his fame rests on his charming madrigals, only a few of which, +unfortunately, are accessible in modern form. Waelrant’s _Vorrei +morire_ (published with English words ‘Hard by a fountain,’ which, +however, have no relation to the Italian text) is a beautiful example +of this type. Orlandus Lassus was the last of the great Netherland +madrigalists and he left many books of splendid compositions in this +style. + +In art-loving Venice an especially brilliant group of madrigalists +appeared who brought added renown and honor to this centre of culture +and learning. Adrian Willaert, one of the many gifted migratory +Netherlanders, was the first to make the Venetians acquainted with +this form, of distinctly northern origin, and its popularity quickly +spread all over Italy. Under Italian influences the severity of its +melodic outlines softened and it readily responded to the national +love of color and warmth. While Willaert can no longer be called the +‘Father of the Madrigal,’ he was one of the first strong writers in +the madrigal-form, and his transplantation of it from Flanders to +sunny Italy gave to it just the genial quality needed to bring it to +full maturity. He was especially influential in developing a freer +style and a taste for chromaticism. This tendency found strongest +accentuation in the ‘Chromatic Madrigals’[38] of Ciprian de Rore +(1516-1565). He published five books of these and, while many were +in the nature of experiments, they served to prepare the way for the +mastery of chromatic elements so conspicuous in later composers. His +madrigals, written in an original and genial style of great richness, +enjoyed enormous popularity. Giovanni Croce paid homage to the spirit +of the times in a notable collection of humorous part-songs (_Triaca +musicale_, _Capricci_) for from four to seven voices. The Gabrielis +were also generous contributors to the development of the madrigal, +which, in its adopted home in Italy, attained its fairest and most +luxuriant flowering. + +The earliest of the Italians to achieve notable success in +madrigal-writing was the Roman, Constanzo Festa (died 1545). One +of his madrigals, ‘Down in a flowery vale’ (_Quando ritrovo la mia +pastorella_), attained the distinction of being for a long time +the most widely-known piece of its class in England. Palestrina +showed his supreme command over all styles by freeing the madrigal +from Flemish influences and contributing in goodly measure to the +literature of this fascinating form. Among them are many _madrigali +spirituali_--compositions midway in seriousness between the motet and +the light _chanson_, which aimed to bring into church music more of +the warmth and grace of the best secular music. In the new style of +madrigal-writing Palestrina was followed with splendid results by his +successor in office as ‘composer to the Papal Choir,’ Felice Anerio, +by Francesco Anerio, brother of the preceding, by the Naninis, and, in +particular, by Luca Marenzio (about 1560-1599), who devoted himself +especially to the advancement of secular art and whose madrigals were +of such captivating beauty and expressive power that he earned for +himself the title of ‘the sweetest swan of Italy.’ His reputation was +far-extended and his popularity[39] in England was so great that Dr. +Burney not only places him among the greatest of all madrigal writers, +but traces the passion for this form of secular music that spread over +England beginning about 1590, directly to the wide appreciation of his +highly-perfected madrigal style. + +The madrigal was carried to Germany by Netherlanders and German +students of the Venetians, but it never succeeded in making much +headway against the national fondness for the folk-song (_Volkslied_), +from which it radically differed. Neither was it seriously valued in +France, although here the _chanson_ had long enjoyed great popularity +and had furnished the type from which the early Flemish madrigals +were evolved. English soil, however, was especially favorable to its +development, and it was no sooner transplanted thither from Italy +and Flanders than it took deep root and flourished with a luxuriance +that did not lose its splendor beside the best works of Rome or +Venice. Richard Edwards (1523-1566) and William Byrd (1543-1623), +the latter the greatest English composer of the sixteenth century, +had both written polyphonic secular songs of the madrigal type that +had achieved wide fame, but the national love of part-songs received +an extraordinary stimulus from the publication in 1588 of _Musica +Transalpina_,[40] a collection of over fifty madrigals selected from +the best Flemish and Italian composers of the time and adapted to +English words. These were received with such astonishing favor that +the madrigal at once leaped into the importance almost of a national +institution, fostered by a numerous school of composers who devoted +themselves almost wholly to perfecting it. All the best English +composers delighted in producing madrigals in countless profusion. +Between the years of 1590 and 1630 no less than 2,000 pieces in this +form were published, so that at the beginning of the seventeenth +century the madrigal stands out as the clearest expression of the +contemporary English national taste, the favorite of composers and +public alike. The flowering period of the English madrigal was the +first two decades of the seventeenth century, when a truly brilliant +galaxy of native composers developed characteristics that distinguish +it quite clearly from its continental relatives and place it on a +secure vantage-ground where it need fear no rival. In delicacy, +simplicity, and a delicious naïveté, some of the English madrigals of +this period are unapproachable. During the Elizabethan era English +church-music reached a high standard, but it sounds restrained and +almost perfunctory beside the joyous, fresh, spontaneous flow of these +madrigals. + +Chief in importance among the English madrigalists was Thomas Morley +(1557-about 1602), whose music revels in irrepressible cheerfulness +and sweet tunefulness. He showed an especial fondness for the light +canzonets and ballets, or fa-las, in which latter form, introduced by +him into England, he is unrivalled. His contemporary, John Dowland +(1563-1626), was equally successful in his canzonets and ‘Songes or +Ayres of foure parts.’ But the inspired pieces of John Wilbye (dates +of birth and death unknown) are universally considered to be the +best representatives of the English madrigal in its purest and most +characteristic and comprehensive form. Other great masters of this +form were George Kirbye (died 1634), Thomas Weelkes (about 1575-1623), +John Bennet (dates unknown), Michael Este (dates unknown), Thomas +Ravenscroft (about 1582-about 1635), and Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625). +There can be no doubt that the splendor of this era of madrigal-writing +was made more lustrous by the sympathetic interest taken in this +popular form by many of the best poets of the brilliant Elizabethan +period. The works of many of the inspired makers of these sweet old +melodies are still sung with delight and dearly prized by the numerous +choral societies and clubs that zealously cultivate unaccompanied +vocal part-music. Since madrigal-writing has experienced somewhat of +a revival in recent years, it will be of interest to enumerate some +of the most beautiful and most famous of these old compositions which +still retain an imperishable charm and undying appeal. Among such will +be found the following: Dowland’s ‘Awake, sweet Love,’ ‘Come again,’ +and ‘Now, oh! now, I needs must part’; Weelkes’ ‘In pride of May,’ +‘The Nightingale,’ and the bold ‘Like two proud armies’; Wilbye’s ‘The +Lady Oriana’ (in praise of Queen Elizabeth), ‘Flora gave me fairest +flowers,’ ‘Lady, when I behold,’ ‘Down in a valley,’ ‘Draw on, sweet +Night,’ and ‘But Sweet take heed’; and Bateson’s ‘In Heaven lives +Oriana.’ + +Some of the English madrigalists of this period, as Edwards and +Gibbons, were close kin to the Netherlanders in style and feeling. Many +of the madrigals of Byrd, Weelkes, Wilbye, and Kirbye are elaborate in +design and display ingenious and delightful imitation, but in general +there is discoverable a clear tendency to discard the burdensome rules +of ecclesiastical writing. With the development of this tendency the +passing of the madrigal proper began, for the prime essentials of +a true madrigal, no matter what it may be called, are that it must +conform to the general feeling of some ecclesiastical mode and must +be written in accordance with contrapuntal procedure. Without these +qualities the madrigal flavor is lost. After 1620 it began to merge +into the simpler and lighter glee and part-song, which forms will be +considered in Chapter IV. + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[14] Dickinson, ‘Music in the History of the Western Church,’ p. 83. + +[15] The largest contributions to the mass were made by the Eastern +Church during the first four centuries and were translated into Latin +by the Church of Rome. + +[16] From the Latin _missa_ in the sentence, _Ite, missa est_ (‘Depart, +the assembly is dismissed’), sung by the deacon immediately before the +close of the service. + +[17] The practice of thus displacing the authorized Gregorian chants +with folk-songs was inaugurated by Dufay. In three of his four-part +masses, preserved in the archives of the Papal Choir, the subjects are +all borrowed from popular songs, with the secular words accompanying +them--among them being _L’homme armé_. + +[18] Weinmann, ‘History of Church Music,’ p. 85. + +[19] Parry, ‘The Evolution of the Art of Music,’ p. 103. + +[20] Tournay was one of the chief musical centres of the Gallo-Belgic +period and its cathedral possessed a body of choristers trained to the +highest point of efficiency then known to the vocal art. + +[21] Naumann, ‘The History of Music’ (Eng. trans.), Vol. I, p. 325. + +[22] Kiesewetter, ‘The History of Music,’ p. 131. + +[23] Mendelssohn wrote a similar part for Hensel in his ‘Son and +Stranger.’ + +[24] The origin of the word is veiled in much obscurity, which has been +increased in large measure by the varied spellings adopted by early +writers (_motetum_, _motectum_, _motellus_, _motulus_, _mutetus_). + +[25] These three classes comprised (1) those forms in which all +voice-parts had the same words, as the _Cantilena_, the _Rondel_ or +_Rota_, the _Organum communiter sumptum_; (2) those in which each part +had its own special words, as the _Motet_; and (3) those in which some +parts had words and others merely vocalized, as _Hoquet_ or _Ochetus_, +the _Conductus_, and _Organum purum vel proprie sumptum_. _Organum +purum_ was the oldest form and was held in great reverence by the +earliest writers. + +[26] Thus in _Salvatoris mater_, an old three-part Latin motet, +probably of the first half of the fifteenth century, by the Englishman, +Thomas Damett, quoted in the ‘Oxford History of Music,’ Vol. II, p. +149, the texts of the two upper parts are prayers to the Virgin and to +St. George in behalf of King Henry VI, while the lowest part sings the +_Benedictus_. + +[27] His _Ars compositionis de Motetis_, preserved in the Paris +library, is supposed to have been written between 1290 and 1310. + +[28] _Geschichte der Musik_, Vol. III, p. 353. + +[29] All of these were part-songs of the _chanson_ and madrigal type. + +[30] So called from the name of his birthplace, a small town southeast +of Rome, the ancient Præneste. + +[31] Waldo S. Pratt, ‘History of Music,’ p. 124. + +[32] Arthur Mees, ‘Choirs and Choral Music,’ p. 62. + +[33] Edward Dickinson, ‘Music in the History of the Western Church,’ p. +167. + +[34] He was then _Maestro di Cappella_ of Santa Maria Maggiore. + +[35] A full and authoritative discussion of the facts and fables +associated with this mass, based on researches in the archives, will +be found in F. X. Haberl’s _Die Kardinal-Kommission von 1564 und +Palestrina’s Missa Papæ Marcelli_. + +[36] _Missa Brevis_ was a name given to a mass of moderate length and +not intended for festival occasions of great solemnity. + +[37] It was published for the first time with the Pope’s permission by +Dr. Burney. It is given in almost complete form in Grove’s ‘Dictionary +of Music and Musicians,’ Art. ‘Miserere.’ + +[38] The most famous of these, set to Petrarch’s _Vergini_, have in +recent years been published by Breitkopf and Haertel. + +[39] Of the 57 madrigals in _Musica Transalpina_, published in London +in 1588, ten were by him, and of the twenty-eight numbers in Watson’s +‘Italian Madrigals Englished,’ published in 1590, twenty-three were +from his pen. + +[40] Rockstro avers that the word ‘madrigal’ appears for the first +time in England in the preface to this volume. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + THE FIRST CENTURY OF PROTESTANT CHURCH MUSIC + + Martin Luther; the chorale as the nucleus of German + Protestant church music--Early Reformation composers: + Walther, Eccard, Prætorius; influence of church choir schools + in Germany during the Reformation period--English Protestant + music, music of the Anglican liturgy: the anthem, its early + history and style--The spread of congregational song; psalms + and hymns. + + + I + +Christian art in its general outlines has followed upon the heels of +Christian thought and doctrine with the fidelity and persistence of +a shadow. Ever since it first learned definite articulation, it has +responded with childlike obedience to the varying conditions which +the church has experienced in its endeavors to win and to hold the +allegiance of humanity to its spiritual leadership. Music, the youngest +of the arts, strikingly illustrates this attitude of dependence. +Consequent on the doctrine of the universality of the church, a marked +sameness and uniformity existed in the ritual-music of French, Italian, +Spanish, German, and English church composers, as long as the supremacy +of the church was undisputed. This absence of variation in style, +form, and expression, this suppression of national and individual +characteristics, was the natural manifestation of the doctrine of the +complete surrender of the individual, which governed all his relations +to the church. The workings of the forces of humanistic thought in the +sixteenth century brought about some deviations, even in sacred music, +from this uniform mode of expression, and in Italy we can easily find +points of differentiation between the music of Venetian, Roman, and +Neapolitan composers, though all were loyal adherents of the same faith. + +But when Luther struck the mighty blow at the spiritual and political +power of Rome which loosened a large part of northern Europe from +its grasp and changed the whole current of the world’s religious +thought, it was quite natural that there was a resounding echo in the +musical methods and forms of expression that accompanied the manifold +developments of this new religious movement. In the discussion of this +movement as it relates to the subject in hand, two facts need constant +reaffirmation--(1) that even before Luther’s time there had been many +evidences of the impending change in religious thought, evidences that +run back with more or less frequency even to the Middle Ages,[41] and +(2) that Luther was first of all a reformer, not a destroyer, of the +ancient church and her modes of worship. For a full understanding of +the music of the Reformation it must be kept in mind that the doctrinal +points back of Luther’s revolt included the denial of the mediatorial +function of the priest, the declaration of the universal priesthood of +believers, and the stout insistence on the inalienable right of the +individual believer not only to freedom of reason and conscience, but +to direct access in prayer to Deity at all times. The whole character +and color of Protestant music is derived from this recognition of the +individual, and his duties and privileges in the direct worship of +God. This freer, more spontaneous and democratic conception of worship +threw the emphasis upon the congregation, and Luther’s form of public +worship was built up around this central fact. The two changes most +responsive to this new conception were the substitution of the people’s +vernacular for Latin as the official language of the service[42] +and the restoration to the people of the office of song, which had +been withdrawn from them at the very beginning of the development +of elaborate liturgic forms. This newly-found liturgic use for the +people’s song caused a prompt development of the singularly rich and +impressive hymnody of the early German Protestant Church and Luther, in +the order of services which he prepared for the Wittenberg churches in +1526 (the _Deutsche Messe_), gave especial prominence to this element. + +Luther’s fervent desire was to bring all elements of the church +service within the comprehension of the whole congregation; it was to +be a people’s service. The congregational hymns, so conspicuous in his +scheme of public worship, were not only sung in the mother-tongue, +but many of them were sung to melodies whose origin was equally close +and dear to the people’s heart. Luther was the founder of German +Protestant hymnody (though not of German hymnody, as we shall see), and +in furnishing tunes to the multitude of hymns which he and his helpers +wrote, translated, or adapted, to give voice to the new religious +aspirations and ideals of the Protestant faith, recourse was had to two +popular sources, the rich treasury of religious folk-song that had been +in existence for centuries[43] and contemporary secular folk-song of +the more noble and sedate type. In thus transferring the familiar and +beloved melodies of home and social life to the use of the sanctuary, +an intimate and personal relation of the congregation to the church +service was established that was wholly lacking in the old church +associations. A third source of Luther’s melodies was Gregorian chant +and the stately Catholic hymns. Many of the melodies were original, and +this was more and more the case as time went on, but the musician of +this period, as has been pointed out in the discussion of Netherland +music, was thoroughly accustomed to borrowing his melodies (subjects) +either from popular song or plain-song. The name ‘chorale’ was soon +given to these hymn-melodies, from whatever source they were derived, +and the chorale, from its importance in the Lutheran liturgy, promptly +became the nucleus of the whole Lutheran musical system, in exactly +the same sense that plain-song was of the Roman musical system. Its +close relation to the sturdy folk-song gave to the chorale and to the +entire literature of religious music evolved from it a virility and +vitality that made it, of all the artistic products of the sixteenth +and seventeenth centuries, alone comparable with the superb creations +of Palestrina and his school. The origin of probably more than half of +the melodies of the Lutheran chorale-books may be traced to folk-songs +of some kind or period. Moreover, in wedding his hymns to music Luther +was careful to provide strongly rhythmical melodies, which naturally +made a more lively appeal to the people than did the unrhythmical Latin +music of the Roman service, a fact whose significance has been largely +overlooked by historians. The militant and assertive ring of many of +the early chorales, contrasting strongly with the calm, contemplative +mood of so many of the Catholic hymns, finds at least partial +explanation in this fact. + +The place of Luther in German religious music is quite easy +to estimate now, though it has required over three centuries to +disentangle the great reformer’s actual achievement in this field +from the gross exaggerations and inaccuracies of partisan bias in +both attack and defence. But if it now seems to be well established +that Luther actually composed only a few[44] of the 137 melodies once +attributed to him, and that only five of the thirty-six hymns which he +wrote are entirely original, this does not detract one whit from his +greatness or his wisdom as a leader in pointing musical aspirations in +a new direction, for his real significance in German music, whether he +composed melodies or not, lies, not in new forms, but in the new spirit +that he gave to his followers and infused into sacred music. He had no +thought of breaking with the past. In preserving intact the line of +continuity, he was wise enough to retain many forms and practices in +the old Church that he regarded as vital and permanent and to build +them firmly into the structure of his new liturgy. Realizing the +importance of having an abundance of hymns for his followers, Luther +once said to Spalatin, ‘We are looking everywhere for poets,’ and in a +short time his wish was more than realized in the thousands of original +hymns that were poured forth. But in addition to these he and his +collaborators did not hesitate to look in other directions. As he had +freely utilized existing material for his hymn-melodies, so he borrowed +liberally from the magnificent store of religious poetry that had +gradually accumulated during the centuries. The principal sources thus +drawn upon were (1) old Latin hymns which were translated and modified +(as _Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich_ from _Da pacem Domine_, a sixth-or +seventh-century antiphon; _Der du bist drei_ from _O Lux beata_, a +fifth-century Epiphany hymn; and _Herr Gott, dich loben wir_ from the +_Te Deum_); (2) early German translations of Latin hymns which were +amplified; (3) early German hymns which were corrected or arranged; and +(4) Latin Psalms and other Biblical passages which were translated and +paraphrased in metrical German verse. A fifth and prolific source must +not be overlooked--secular songs, favorite songs of love and praise of +Nature, which were recast into religious hymns by the simple device of +altering a few words or lines. + + + [Illustration: Luther in the Circle of His Family] + _After the painting by E. Spangenberg_ + + +The importance of music in the Lutheran service was greatly enhanced +by Luther’s relentless war on the worship of images and pictures. The +arts of painting and sculpture practically disappeared from the church +edifices or were put under almost prohibitive restrictions. Music thus +became almost the sole artistic accessory to religion in the service +of the Reformed Church. But in music Luther recognized that there was +no real conflict between Protestant and Catholic ideals; hence he +retained the principal features of the musical system of the ancient +Church, and readjusted them in accordance with his altered conception +of worship. We have observed how he exalted the German hymn, which +had existed in pre-Reformation times only as an occasional religious +utterance and then always in extra-liturgical services, to a place +of chief importance in congregational worship. In his enthusiasm for +congregational song, however, there was no antagonism to the choir; +on the contrary, he made ample provision for it and urged every +encouragement of the use of contrapuntal music. Luther introduced +only one real innovation into his musical system--the congregational +chorale; for the rest it was based squarely on existing methods, +adopting with no essential changes the three chief features of the +Roman system: (1) the principles of the old polyphony as developed +by the Netherlanders and Italians; (2) the use of borrowed subjects +(_canti firmi_) as the basis of the church polyphony, the subjects +being taken from chorales, however, instead of from plain-song as in +the Roman system; and (3) a few Gregorian melodies and priestly chants +for certain parts of the service. Until the church-cantata developed as +a distinguishing feature under Bach’s guiding hands, the motet, with +Latin or German words and identical in form and style with the motet +of the old Church, was the chief representative of contrapuntal vocal +music in the Reformed Church. The important place which contrapuntal +organ music occupied in the service will be treated in the chapter in +which the early organ masters are discussed. + +The first result of Luther’s efforts to bring about a reform in the +liturgy was the _Formula Missæ_ of 1523. In reality this was simply an +abridged form of the Roman Mass and was intended only as a temporary +expedient; everything repugnant to the fundamental principles of +the new faith was omitted, but Latin was retained as the language +of worship. In the _Deutsche Messe_ of 1526 he completed his long +contemplated and carefully thought out revision of the liturgy, in +which the process of simplification was carried still further and the +mother-tongue substituted for Latin in nearly all the offices. + +Two years before this (1524) he had published the first Protestant +hymn-book (_Geystliche Gesangk Buchleyn_, for four voices), with the +assistance of his friend and musical adviser, Johann Walther. In 1525 +Walther published another and larger one, with a preface by Luther. +Chorale-books now multiplied with such astonishing rapidity that at +the time of Luther’s death in 1546 there were no less than sixty +collections in use, including the various editions. The very first +hymn-melodies sung by the congregation were not harmonized at all. Soon +simple contrapuntal settings were given to these melodies, and in all +the early chorale-books the melody, following the contemporary usage +in contrapuntal writing, was placed in the tenor, the congregation +singing it in unison while the choir supplied the contrapuntal +parts. But by the end of the sixteenth century harmonic feeling had +progressed far enough to permit the melody to pass to the treble,[45] +where it naturally belonged in the people’s song. Henceforth it is +generally found there, supported by solid chord-movement, and its early +contrapuntal character becomes transformed into a simpler harmonic +style. The development of the organ in Germany during the closing +decades of the sixteenth century made it possible for this instrument +to take the place of the choir as an accompaniment to the unison +congregational song, the choir after 1600 finding ample scope for its +powers in the elaborate motet. + +The brutal devastation of the Thirty Years’ War was followed by a +weakening of religious faith and vigor, and after the middle of the +seventeenth century interest in the chorale waned and the steady stream +of chorales slackened and soon came to a full stop. The sturdy militant +enthusiasm of the early years of the Reformation was superseded by +religious apathy which had a corresponding influence on church music. +The rhythmical freedom and variety of the early chorales gradually +disappeared and their vigorous character became tamed down to the type +as now sung, in which the tones of the melody assumed a uniform length. +While this style is undoubtedly dignified and imposing, it represents a +distinct loss of energy and vigor, as compared with the original free +form. But the chorale had already passed into the larger arteries of +German secular art-music, and here its tremendous powers of stimulation +were no longer dependent on the spiritual pulse of the church. + +The historical importance of the chorale can scarcely be +overestimated. Musically speaking, it forms the basis of a large and +significant portion of the literature of German music, both vocal and +instrumental; religiously speaking, it was the effective instrument +through which the intensely devout faith of the German people found +its readiest and most expressive voice for their emotions of joy and +thanksgiving in the newly-found office of direct communion with God; +politically speaking, it was recognized by friend and foe alike as +the most powerful agency for the spread of the new doctrines. Whole +towns were said to have been won over to Protestantism by Luther’s +hymns. An irate priest exclaimed: ‘Luther’s songs have damned more +souls than all his books and speeches.’ Furthermore, the Protestant +hymn exercised an immediate and wholesome influence on the Roman +Catholic hymn. Realizing the popularity and devotional value of +the Lutheran hymn-singing, the Catholic authorities reversed their +traditional attitude toward the congregational hymn and strove to stem +the inroads made by this alluring propaganda on their congregations by +providing hymn-books of their own in the language of the people. The +first German Catholic collection (_Ein New Gesangbüchlin Geystlicher +Lieder_) appeared in 1537 in Leipzig, the work of the Dominican monk, +Michael Vehe, of Halle. It contained fifty-two hymns and forty-seven +melodies, many of which, in altered form, were borrowed from the +Protestant hymn-books, as Luther had borrowed from the best Catholic +hymns. Thus these religious opponents sought to square musical accounts +by freely appropriating each other’s treasures of sacred song. The +second Catholic hymn-book (_Geistliche Lieder und Psalmen_) did not +appear until 1567. It was edited by Johann Leisentrit of Bautzen and +comprised 147 melodies and 250 texts, among which were no less than +sixty-six hymns by Protestant poets, four, indeed, by Luther himself! +Thereafter similar hymn-books multiplied rapidly, and the history +of the development and subsequent decline of the Catholic German +hymn coincides quite largely with that of the Lutheran hymn and with +nearly the same contributing causes, political and religious. It is +of interest to note that about 1600 the hymn found its way for a time +even into the office of the Holy Mass. In the eighteenth century the +Catholic hymn sank back into its pre-Reformation status of unimportance +in public worship, but retained its position in the parochial schools, +where it was permanently placed early in the seventeenth century. + + + II + +Just as a veritable swarm of religious poets had responded to +Luther’s Macedonian call for hymn-writers, so there soon appeared +among his followers a numerous array of musicians, eager and competent +to furnish the music for the new service. Johann Walther (1496-1570) +was one of the first composers in the Reformed Church--first in +importance as well as chronologically. Luther had summoned him to +Wittenberg in 1524 to assist him in arranging the musical part +of the German Mass, and, as already mentioned, he played a most +important part in arranging and editing the first chorale-books. He +was the first[46] to harmonize the hymn-melodies after the manner +of secular part-songs, that is, in simple four-part harmony, note +against note, which form has characterized the congregational hymn +since his time. He was the composer of many well-known chorales and +motets, and there are a few historians who even attribute to him the +authorship of the melody of the famous _Ein’ feste Burg_. Johann +Eccard (1553-1611), a prominent pupil of Orlandus Lassus, appeared +soon enough after Luther’s passing to be under the direct influence +of the great reformer. He enjoyed great popularity on account of his +simple and graceful part-songs, chorales, and motets. His chief work +was _Geistliche Lieder_ (‘A Collection of Fifty-five Sacred Melodies +for Feast-days and Holy-days’). Another important work was _Preussische +Fest-lieder_ (‘Prussian Festival Songs for the Whole Year’) for five +to eight voices. These were somewhat in the nature of a new form, +occupying a place midway in simplicity between the chorale and the +motet--akin to the chorale in having the melody in the highest part +and possessing a certain folk-song flavor, and approaching the motet +in having the melody contrapuntally dependent on the other parts and +therefore not to be sung alone. Michael Prætorius (1571-1621) was a +prolific writer of motets, psalms, chorales, and choir-pieces, some of +the last-named being compositions for several choirs in the Venetian +style for as many as thirty voices. From 1605 to 1610 he issued his +_Musæ Sioniæ_, a huge collection of sacred part-songs, including many +of his own, in sixteen volumes, five with Latin words, the remainder +with German. The name of Johann Crüger (1598-1662) is inseparably +connected with Lutheran church-song. He was one of the last great +composers of chorales--and one of the most prolific--and is remembered +now chiefly for the large number of these chorales that have remained +favorites during all the intervening years. Among the best-known are +_Nun danket alle Gott_; _Jesu meine Zuversicht_; _Schmücke dich, O +liebe Seele_; and _Jesu meine Freude_. Most of his chorales were +written in the rhythmically regular and subdued form which later was +accepted as the modern idea of the chorale. Other Protestant composers +who gained distinction as writers of Lutheran church-music before +Bach were Joachim von Burck or Moller (1541-1610), celebrated for his +_Odæ sacræ_ or part-songs; Bartholomäus Gesius (about 1555-1613); +Melchior Franck (about 1573-1639); Hermann Schein (1586-1630), known +chiefly by his _Cantional_, published in 1627, consisting of over +200 chorale-melodies, inclusive of about 80 original ones, which he +harmonized, mostly note against note, retaining the old irregular +rhythm of the earliest chorale melodies; and Andreas Hammerschmidt +(1612-1675), who, in his _Musikalische Andachten_ (‘Musical Devotions’) +in five volumes and ‘Dialogues between God and a Faithful Soul’ in two +volumes, pointed to a new and freer style in sacred composition and +made a deep impression on contemporary music of the Lutheran service. +With Heinrich Schütz, who will be discussed in a succeeding chapter, +Hammerschmidt constitutes the important connecting link between the +sixteenth-century ecclesiastical style and the perfected forms of +Sebastian Bach. + +In retaining the trained choir for the performance of the more +elaborate choral music of the service, Luther was forced to make +special provision for the education of the choristers, for with +the Reformation came the suppression of the abbeys and monasteries +that formerly had been the chief supporters of the choir-schools, +and the complete transformation of the choristers from their former +semi-clerical to a laic status. As early as 1524 he had aroused +Protestant Germany to the imperative need of public education as the +only means of securing the success and permanence of Protestant ideals, +by addressing a stirring appeal to the councilors of German cities. In +all Protestant centres schools were founded and actively maintained +by municipal, private, and parochial endowment. Music was an integral +part of Luther’s scheme of public education, and in connection with +the larger institutions he urged the appointment of precentors or +cantors[47] who should have charge of the training of the choristers +and the selection and singing of the church music. These precentorships +became a powerful element in the development of Protestant sacred music +and in the diffusion of choral culture. The most famous one was that +of the _Thomasschule_ or School of St. Thomas in Leipzig, where a long +line of illustrious musicians from Schein, Kuhnau, and Sebastian Bach +down to Moritz Hauptmann, E. F. Richter, and Wilhelm Rust (died 1892) +enjoyed brilliant careers as cantors. Here a choir of about sixty boys +served four churches--St. Thomas, St. Nicholas, St. Peter, and the +New-Church. The lay character of the choirs and the close relation +between the religious life of the church and the home aided greatly in +the general movement of popular musical education. + +Another influential factor in the spread of choral culture was the +wandering choirs, or _currendi_. The ancient custom of pupils from the +monastic schools going about town on certain festival days and singing +for alms was utilized in the Reformation period for the twofold purpose +of spreading the new doctrines and strengthening the popular love of +sacred song. The members of these _currendi_ belonged to the lower +grades of the parochial and cathedral schools, and to them was assigned +the duty of singing choral responses and chorales in the service. +On week-days they passed from house to house singing canticles, and +soon became so much of a public institution that their services were +in demand, at a small fee, for all sorts of home and semi-religious +occasions, such as birthdays, weddings, and baptisms. The older members +of the choirs were recruited in the higher or Latin schools from the +_alumni_ or boys who were given a home in the school buildings and who +in return obligated themselves to serve in the church choir and church +orchestra. They received the best vocal and instrumental instruction +and were therefore well equipped to perform the florid and difficult +music of the polyphonic masters. The interest of these choristers +in choral music continued after their connection with the choirs as +_alumni_ and _currendani_ (members of the _currendi_) had ceased, +and, as students in seminaries and universities or as plain citizens, +they exerted a wide influence on choral music either by individually +supplementing the local choirs or by establishing choruses which were +independent of the churches but which were used to augment the choirs +on important church festivals. + + + III + +While the remarkable fermentation caused by Luther’s doctrines was +working such significant readjustments in the religious, intellectual, +and artistic life of Germany, with echoing responses in adjacent +continental countries, a similar movement of revolt and reconstruction +gathered headway in England, generated by the same fundamental causes +but starting some years later, and resulting in a complete separation +from Rome and in the establishment of the Church of England. But the +Anglican Church, like the Lutheran Church, did not stand upon a wholly +independent basis of its own. Both proclaimed themselves purifiers and +reformers, not destroyers, of the ancient church, hence both retained +a large portion of the liturgy of the parent church from which they +revolted. The Reformation in England, however, developed along quite +different lines from Luther’s energetic movement in Germany. On the +continent the revolt from Rome was from first to last a religious +movement; in England its first outward manifestation was political. +The incentive which led Henry VIII to break with Pope Clement VII was +not an unalterable religious conviction such as buttressed Luther at +the Diet of Worms, but was personal pique at the refusal of the Pope +to recognize the validity of his marriage with Anne Boleyn. In the +Act of Supremacy of 1534 the King and his successors were declared to +be ‘protector and supreme head on earth of the church and clergy of +England,’ but no doctrinal changes were involved and the immediate +result was merely a change in the name of the church. Yet Henry’s +secession soon had the result of forming a distinct line of cleavage +for those who had been secretly sympathizing with the religious ideals +of Luther and Zwingli on the continent and in whose Anglo-Saxon hearts +the right to independent thought and a liberated reason was deeply +cherished. + +The real reconstruction of the liturgy for the new national Church in +conformity to fundamental Protestant doctrine began under Edward VI, +who authorized two forms of the Book of Common Prayer in succession +(1549 and 1552). In 1559 Elizabeth authorized a third form, which +remained in use for over a century. The revision of the Book of Common +Prayer in 1662 under Charles II practically completed the restatement +of doctrine begun by Edward VI. + +The entire ritual of the Church of England is contained in this Book of +Common Prayer, and, as far as the ordinary congregational worship is +concerned, is divided into Matins and Evensong (or Morning Prayer and +Evening Prayer) and the office of Holy Communion. The ritual-music in +all three consists of chants, hymns, anthems, and certain free musical +settings of the canticles and other constant portions of the liturgy +technically called ‘services.’ In all matters of style and construction +the ‘service’ has closely followed the development of the anthem, the +early stages of which we shall now trace. + +The anthem was recognized as a regular part of divine service early +in Elizabeth’s reign, but the word was not actually used in the Prayer +Book until the revision of 1662, which simply states after the third +collect, ‘In quires and places where they sing here followeth the +anthem.’ A few years after Elizabeth issued the ‘Injunctions’ granting +permission to use ‘a hymn or such like song in churches,’ the word +anthem appears in the second edition of Day’s choral collection, +entitled ‘Certain Notes set forth in four and five Parts to be sung +at the Morning and Evening Prayer and Communion.’ The high place +that church music has occupied in the thought of English musicians +is amply evidenced by the fact that practically every composer that +England has produced has given his most serious efforts to this form. +The actual output of anthems has been enormous; and, while it may be +said with much truth that the qualities of pedantry and dryness are +too much in evidence to permit the use of the terms ‘inspiring’ or +‘inspired’ for the bulk of them, it may be maintained with equal truth +that in no other class of church music, except the mighty individual +contributions of Palestrina and Bach, has the element of secularity +been so rigorously excluded as in the English anthem and its allied +forms. While the religious music of Protestant Germany and Catholic +Italy and France suffered a lamentable relapse in the seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries under the insinuating influence of the operatic +style, the music of the English cathedral service maintained on the +whole a serenity and certain austerity of style entirely consistent +with ecclesiastical ideals and dignity. The best examples of this +style--and they are numerous--give to the music of the Anglican Church +an honorable place in the literature of the worship music of the four +great historic branches of the church universal, notwithstanding its +average mediocrity and the absence of really great names among English +church composers. + +The anthem is the culminating point of the ritual-music of the +Anglican Church, as the cantata was of the early Lutheran Church. In +its more extended form it has much the same general musical structure +as the cantata, comprising choruses, solos, duets, etc., but it has +never attained the large dimensions of its German analogue. Like the +church cantata, it made use of the vernacular from the beginning, +and, thus established on the basis of a direct verbal appeal to the +congregation, it in time evolved a musical type of its own, clearly +differentiated from other distinctive types of church-music and +embodying the essential qualities of the church from whose innermost +being it blossomed. + +The word ‘anthem’ (from the Greek _Antiphona_, through the changing +forms, _antefne_, _antem_, _anthem_) naturally suggests the idea of +antiphonal or responsive music, and it originally had this application, +but not since the restriction of its use to a specific and distinctive +form of church music. Its text is usually taken from the Psalms or +other portions of the Bible, or from the liturgy. The anthem has never +been a real part of the liturgy in the same sense as musical portions +of the ‘service,’ for its words have never been authoritatively +prescribed for the various days of the church calendar, a wide latitude +being allowed in this respect. + +Four kinds of anthems are recognized and named according to the vocal +forces employed in performance. They are called ‘full’ when written +for chorus throughout; ‘verse’ when written for chorus and various +groupings of solo voices, the chorus being of secondary importance; +‘solo’ when written for chorus and one solo voice; and ‘double’ when +written for a double choir singing antiphonally. The ‘full’ anthem +is the natural successor to the earlier Latin motet; the ‘verse’ and +‘solo’ anthems clearly show the influence of Italian solo-forms applied +to the problems of church-music. The utmost freedom of form is now +permitted in the anthem and its dimensions vary from those of a simple +hymn-tune to extended compositions in several movements constructed +with elaborate contrapuntal skill and employing independent organ, and +sometimes orchestral, accompaniment. In this larger form it approaches +closely the character of the cantata, although not so individualized in +its parts. + +The earliest anthems date from the beginning of Elizabeth’s long reign +(1558-1603) and the cultivation of this form has gone on from this +period in unbroken continuity, save for the brief ascendency of Puritan +ideals during the Commonwealth. The literature of Anglican Church music +divides itself into four periods of quite distinctive characteristics: + + I. (1550-1660) in the contrapuntal style of the unaccompanied + motet; + + II. (1660-1720) the beginning of the modern free style; + + III. (1720-1850) middle modern; and + + IV. 1850 to the present. + +The peculiar character of the English Reformation in its early stages +was reflected in the ritual-music of the newly-founded national +church. The leaders of the Protestant movement on the continent were +mostly men who sprang from the ranks of the common people. It was in +large measure a democratic and popular movement. It was only natural +that the music of the people should find an echoing response in the +music of the church which sprang from such a foundation, and thus the +chorale, adapted from or closely related to folk-music, forced its way +into the Lutheran ritual-music and exercised a profound influence on +all aspects of the worship-music of German Protestantism. The English +Reformation had no such popular basis. The various stages of its +progress were in the main determined by royal edicts or by acts of +parliaments subservient to the royal will. No channel was open through +which the music of the people could exert any appreciable influence on +the figured music of the Anglican Church. The fragrance of the English +folk-song may be detected in many an example of English hymnology, but +no such aroma ever penetrated into the atmosphere of the anthem or the +‘service.’ + +When the break with Rome came and the reorganized Church became an +established fact, an astonishingly small number of changes were made, +considering the momentous nature of the revolt, either in the general +body of ecclesiastical officers of the Church or among the church +musicians. For the first century of its existence the figured music +of the Anglican service was almost identical in character with the +corresponding portions of the Roman Catholic service. The style and +structure of the anthem with English words differed in no respect from +the Latin motet. The traditions of English church-music, traditions +whose effects are still to be felt in the choral portions, were firmly +laid by men deeply skilled in polyphonic writing, men whose learning +and musicianship made them worthy compeers of the great continental +contrapuntists, Lassus and Palestrina. + +Among the greatest of the church composers of this early period were +such men as Thomas Tallis (1529?-1585), whose anthems ‘I Call and +Cry’ and ‘All People that on Earth do Dwell’ are fine examples of the +old contrapuntal style; William Byrd (1538?-1623), with his masterful +‘Bow Thine Ear’ and ‘Sing Joyfully’; and Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), +the ‘English Palestrina,’ whose ‘Hosanna,’ ‘Lift up your Heads,’ ‘O +Clap your Hands together,’ and ‘Almighty and Everlasting God’ have +not yet ceased to excite admiration and reverence for their solemnity +and dignity. Most of the anthems of this period are ‘full,’ though +occasional ‘verse’ anthems are also to be found. All were essentially +_a cappella_ and relied wholly upon purely vocal effects. Small +portable organs were in common use in many churches, but when they +were employed as accompaniment they, as well as occasional orchestral +instruments, merely reinforced the voice-parts or filled out the vocal +‘rests.’ + + + IV + +Since the Reformation in all countries was fundamentally democratic, +though in varying degrees of expression, it was inevitable that the +people’s song should be given substantial recognition in all forms +of the Protestant service. In Germany the chorale was at once the +utterance of profoundest religious conviction in the sanctuary, in +the home, and on the battlefield; and the incitement to creative +energy in more elaborate musical forms. But in respect to its alliance +with higher forms of art-music, the chorale has no analogue in the +ritual-music of other Protestant services. In France, Switzerland, +and the Netherlands, the only form of religious song tolerated by the +Reformed Church was Calvin’s austere psalmody, which was the beginning +and end of worship-music in all churches under his leadership. His +intolerant antipathy to everything that even suggested the elaborate +and beautiful forms of the Roman ritual rigidly excluded all polyphonic +or figured music as well as all forms of instrumental accompaniment. +The Genevan Psalter, published in various editions from 1542 to 1562 +when it appeared in its complete form, consisted of the metrical +translations of the Psalms by Clement Marot and Theodore Beza set, for +the most part, to adaptations of popular secular French songs, though +many of the finest tunes have been variously attributed, but without +conclusive proof, to Louis Bourgeois, Guillaume Franc, and Claude +Goudimel. Many of the fine melodies of the Genevan Psalter, such as +‘Old Hundredth’ or the long-metre doxology and ‘Toulon,’ have persisted +in popularity during the centuries and have been permanently enshrined +in Protestant hymnology. Although many editions of the most popular of +the psalm-tunes appeared for four voices (the melody at first in the +tenor), finely harmonized by Bourgeois, Goudimel and others, no other +than plain unisonal singing of the tunes was permitted in the church +service for over two centuries. + +The movement in favor of congregational song quickly passed to +England, where, however, complex conditions prevented the development +of any such uniform type as the chorale. The establishment of the +Church of England, with its revised liturgy and musical service, had +scarcely been effected when it came into collision with opposition +within the Protestant fold far more intense and bitter than any +encountered from its Roman Catholic foes. The Puritan party, in its +excessive repugnance to all forms of ritualism or ceremonial and in its +invincible conviction that everything artistic in worship was sinful, +fiercely attacked the Anglican Church as an insincere compromise with +popery. Following Calvin’s leadership, Puritanism threw overboard the +whole structure of formal worship in the historic church and permitted +in the service no music at all except the congregational singing of the +metrical psalms. In this wholly democratic conception of worship-music +there was obviously no incentive to any higher form of musical +expression. The only contribution of the Dissenters, therefore, to the +literature of church-music was their hymnody, or rather psalmody, for +the words, even though many times rewritten and reparaphrased, were +rigidly limited to the Psalms. The first complete English metrical +Psalter[48] was the famous one by Sternhold and Hopkins in 1562, which +held sway among Puritan congregations for nearly two centuries and a +half and was likewise supreme in the Anglican Church for at least a +century and a half. The new version of the Psalter by Tate and Brady, +published in 1696, remained in favor till a still later date or till +about the middle of the nineteenth century, but the popularity of +both was seriously challenged by the splendid version of Isaac Watts +in 1719. The origin of the sixty-five different psalm-tunes in the +Sternhold and Hopkins collection has been open to much controversy. It +seems highly probable that most of them were of English composition, +though many were doubtless written in imitation of hymn-tunes that were +favorites among the French, Swiss, and German Protestants. + +The congregational song of the Anglican Church in the first century +and a half of its existence likewise kept close to the Psalter. Hymns, +in the German sense of spontaneous expression of individual religious +sentiment, were practically unknown in English religious song until +just before the period of Watts and the Wesleys. The idea that nothing +should be used in public worship that was not strictly Scriptural +dominated the services of Conformists and Non-conformists alike. To be +sure, a few ancient hymns, such as the _Te Deum_ and _Veni Creator_, +together with some canticles and ‘spiritual songs,’ were admitted into +the Appendix to the Psalter, to be sung in private devotions, but +it was not until the closing years of the seventeenth century that +the hymn emerged from the protecting care of the Psalms and asserted +itself as an independent form in the service. The first successful +collection in which it assumed a place of its own was ‘Select Psalms +and Hymns’ for St. James’s, Westminster, 1697. A new and glorious era +for English hymnody was at hand, in which the hard, prosaic lines of +the old psalmody were to be laid aside for more spontaneous, inspired +religious utterance. But if the verses of the old poets of an austere, +unloving religion were to be discarded and gradually forgotten, many of +the melodies to which they were sung have lived to be joined to words +of sweeter comfort and more joyous hope than the English religionists +of those olden days permitted themselves. Most of the early tunes were +written in the then prevalent church modes, many were undoubtedly +adapted from English folk-songs and continental melodies, but the names +of many of the greatest English composers of this period--Tye, Tallis, +Gibbons, Byrd--lived on in their inspired church tunes and are still +to be found in nearly every modern hymnal in use, whether prepared for +liturgical or non-liturgical services. + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[41] In the ‘Thuringian Mystery, or the Parable of the Ten Virgins,’ +written evidently by monks and performed for the first time at +Eisenach, Thuringia, on April 24, 1322, the futility of intercessory +prayers to saints or even to the Virgin is asserted. + +[42] This substitution was not entirely accomplished during Luther’s +lifetime, however, as a few Latin motets were retained for a long time. + +[43] Philip Wackernagel in his collection of old German hymns (_Das +deutsche Kirchenlied_) gives 1,448 examples of these, dating from 868 +to 1518. + +[44] Only two can with certainty be ascribed to him--_Jesaia dem +Propheten das geschah_ and _Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott_--while five +more are probably by him. + +[45] The first chorale-book to adopt this as a fixed principle was the +one published in 1586 at Nuremberg by Lucas Osiander, ‘Fifty Sacred +Songs and Psalms, arranged contrapuntally for four voices, so that a +whole Christian congregation may unite in the singing of them.’ + +[46] _Cf._ Naumann, ‘The History of Music’ (Eng. trans.), Vol. I, p. +473. + +[47] Cantors, however, had existed from early times in the +ecclesiastical establishments and singing schools (_scholæ cantorum_). + +[48] Sternhold’s first incomplete collection of nineteen psalms was +published in 1549, the year of his death. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + THE EARLY ITALIAN SECULAR CANTATA, THE GERMAN CLASSICAL CANTATA, THE + ENGLISH ANTHEM, AND OTHER SHORT CHORAL FORMS + + The entrance of dramatic tendencies into music--Carissimi + and the early cantata; Rossi, Cesti, and Legrenzi--A. + Scarlatti, the culminating point in cantata-writing in + Italy; later developments of the Italian cantata--The German + church cantata and its relation to the Lutheran service; + cantata-texts of Neumeister and others--Bach in the service + of the church; his church cantatas--G. F. Handel; Joseph + Haydn; W. A. Mozart--English church music in the eighteenth + century; the anthem; Croft, Greene, Boyce, and others--Later + history of the motet in England, Italy, and Germany; + decadence of the madrigal; the glee, the part-song, the + masque and the ode. + + +The year 1600 is probably the most significant milestone in all the +long history of the development of the art of music. By a strange +coincidence this year witnessed the performance of the first oratorio, +Cavalieri’s ‘The Representation of Body and Soul,’ in Rome and the +first public performance[49] of opera, Peri’s _Euridice_, in Florence. +These events were of tremendous import in that they not only emphasized +and gave direction to the newly-developed dramatic tendencies, but +made necessary the further and more complete development of two +closely-related but subordinate activities--independent instrumental +music and pure vocal art. The entrance of a consciously dramatic +element into musical composition meant a comprehensive widening of +the area of musical expression. Heretofore music had served its +chief purpose and had found its justification in the service of the +church. Though there are portions of the Roman Catholic liturgy +that are essentially dramatic in their spiritual significance, the +avowedly impersonal character of the whole liturgy had excluded the +possibility of utilizing these situations for dramatic treatment, even +in those parts specifically given over to elaborate musical settings. +Had such a dramatic treatment been in consonance with the spirit of +this liturgy, some of the many opportunities would certainly have +been seized upon by such a genius as Palestrina, for there are many +striking examples in his masses and motets of his wonderful ability to +delineate the sentiment and mood of the text and reinforce the meaning +and significance of a word by some expressive chord or dissonance. +These instances serve to suggest how deeply he sensed the genius of the +Roman liturgy and under what admirable artistic restraint he must have +labored in not exploiting the dramatic possibilities which lay even in +the limited musical vocabulary of his period. But this restraint was no +longer necessary in the new secular fields of composition opened up by +the disciples of ‘the new music’ (_nuove musiche_). + +The first results of the infusion of this consciously new factor into +musical speech was an intense activity in all fields of composition +that offered opportunity for the employment of the _musica parlante_ +or _stilo rappresentativo_, as the new form of musical declamation or +recitative was called that formed the distinguishing characteristic +of the works of Peri, Cavalieri and other early composers of the new +movement. This new form of musical speech was not intended by the +Florentine reformers as an invention, but merely as a revival of the +ancient manner of declaiming tragedy, using varying degrees of vocal +inflection in accordance with the demands of the rhetorical utterance +of the text, with no reference whatever to melodic structure or design. + +While the use of the recitative was at first confined to the +opera,[50] it was only natural that experiments should be made in other +forms, less pretentious, in which it was desired to clothe a poetic +text with the expressive strength and beauty of musical tones. + +The term ‘cantata’ came to be used by composers in the early part of +the seventeenth century (first probably not far from 1650) to designate +some of these short secular compositions for the chamber, usually +dramatic in character, which were written for a single voice with +a simple accompaniment for one instrument, generally a lute. These +secular compositions were called _cantate da camera_. They were given +without action and at first were sung in unbroken recitative, imitating +the style employed with such success in the operas of Caccini, Peri, +and Monteverdi. But the monotony of this style soon led to the +introduction of the air or sustained melody, which recurred several +times during the progress of the recitative, but with a different text +each time. + + + I + +The cantata as a distinct musical form was assiduously cultivated by +nearly all of the important Italian composers during the seventeenth +century and its form soon began to crystallize along the lines which, +for the following century, characterized it. In this work of definition +and crystallization, Giacomo Carissimi (born probably 1604, died 1674) +had a most distinguished part. He also transferred the cantata from the +chamber to the church and wrote prolifically in both secular and sacred +forms. A more detailed analysis of Carissimi’s influence on choral +writing will be reserved for the discussion of early oratorio, but it +may be said here that, though he cannot be credited with the invention +of the sacred cantata, he was the first musician of large calibre to +adopt this form and to lavish on it his best thought and most profound +skill. He is generally admitted to have exerted more influence on +the perfecting of the recitative than any of his contemporaries and +he firmly established in sacred music those elements of pathos and +dramatic fervor which had proved to be so effective in the opera +and for which the public had acquired so keen an appetite. This +enrichment of the purely musical means of expression in church music +in the interest of greater dramatic realism was by no means a healthy +accretion from the standpoint of pure ecclesiastical music, for, with +the introduction of the dramatic element and the employment of the solo +voice with all the possibilities for virtuosity and the temptations for +display, the period of decadence in the music of the Roman Church began. + +All of Carissimi’s cantatas were for one voice or at most for two and +all were written with accompaniment for a single instrument--lute, +harpsichord, ‘cello, etc. His accompaniments were simple, but displayed +unusual lightness and variety for his period. He left a vast amount +of completed work behind him, but little of it is now available. +Dr. Charles Burney,[51] writing near the close of the eighteenth +century, when actual performances of Carissimi’s works were not such +a matter of ancient history as now, gives warm praise to the beauty +and musical effectiveness of his cantatas and liberally reproduces +musical extracts. In speaking of a collection of twenty-two of his +cantatas, preserved in Christ Church, Oxford, Burney says: ‘There is +not one which does not offer something that is still new, curious, and +pleasing; but most particularly in the recitatives, many of which seem +the most expressive, affecting, and perfect that I have seen. In the +airs there are frequently sweet and graceful passages, which more than +a hundred years have not impaired.’ His secular cantatas were both +lyric and dramatic. Only one was suggested by a special event, the +death of Mary Queen of Scots. + +The cantata of the seventeenth century was evidently as diverse in +style and character as were its descendants in the eighteenth and +nineteenth centuries. It dealt with subjects that were sacred, profane, +heroic, comic, and sometimes ludicrous. The wider range of subjects +available for the secular or chamber cantata made this form especially +appealing to composers. Then, too, the voice was the most perfectly +developed medium of musical expression that the age provided--the +heritage of centuries of training in the service of the church. While +the violins of the last half of the century approached the most +perfect specimens that the great Cremona violin-makers produced, this +instrument was at a disadvantage as compared with the voice, because +instrumental forms were still very crude and in the making, and the +instruments on which the violin depends for accompanying harmonic +background (the harpsichord and the clavichord) were inadequate, +unsatisfactory, and very limited in their range of musical expression. +Avoidance of a set or arbitrary form was one of the characteristics of +the seventeenth-century chamber cantata as a whole. This freedom in +form (that is, in the order and kind of arias, etc.) offered greatest +scope for the imagination and intellectual capacities of the composer. +The period of vocal virtuosity and degeneracy had not yet set in and +the singers themselves were not only the best trained in everything +pertaining to musical science, but were the most intellectual of +musicians and represented the best phases of musical art and culture. +The intimacy of the chamber and the absence of scenery and action in +performance gave the highest incentive and best opportunity to both +composer and singer to subordinate everything to the higher demands +of artistic expression. Hence the composers of the seventeenth and +first half of the eighteenth centuries regarded the chamber cantata +much in the same light that Beethoven and Brahms in the nineteenth +century regarded the pianoforte sonata and the violin sonata--the most +intimate and intellectual form of music that the age could produce. All +the great composers up to and including Handel practised in this form +as Bach did in fugue, and in its exploitation they worked out many a +problem of thematic development, of contrast in melodic forms, and of +interesting harmonic structure and key-relationships, thereby enriching +the vocabulary of the art for succeeding generations. Mention will +here be made of the more important of Carissimi’s contemporaries and +immediate successors who gained distinction as writers of cantata and +who aided in its further development. + +The elaborate cantatas of Luigi Rossi (born near the end of the +sixteenth century, died about 1650) for a single voice--_a voce +sola_--are among the very earliest examples of this form and are +noteworthy illustrations of how quickly the vague and indefinite +recitative of the Florentine monodies began to show tendencies to +formal organization and a pleasing, fluent style for the solo voices. +A fine example of the newly-awakened tendency toward definite form in +secular music is found in his cantata _Gelosia_, which Burney quotes in +full in his History and in which Parry[52] finds the following definite +formal scheme, which had evidently been carefully thought out by the +composer: + + A^1. 4/4, declamatory recitative of 23 measures and close. + + B^1. 3/4, tuneful--nine measures. + + C^1. 4/4, declamatory recitative of 19 measures. + + A^2. Same bass as A^1, but different words and varied + voice-part. + + B^2. 3/4, same bass as B^1, but different words and different + voice-part. + + C^2. 4/4, recitative. Same bass as C^1, but different words + and different voice-part. + + A^3. Same music as A^1, but different words. + + B^3. 3/4, same as B^1, with different words. + + C^3. Same bass and almost the same voice-part as C^1 till + last three measures, which are varied to give effect to the + conclusion. + +Marc’ Antonio Cesti (about 1620-1669) was a pupil of Carissimi and +went far beyond the efforts of his teacher in the formal construction +of his melodies. His great popularity attests the increasing fondness +of Italian taste for tuneful formality. One of his cantatas, _O cara +libertà_, is said to have been one of the most famous of the century. +Many of his melodies approximate the characteristic forms in which +later vocal arias were cast, including the forms consisting of two +contrasted parts (A B) and of three parts with the contrasted section +in the middle (A B A). In the latter form the third part is a varied or +free repetition of the first part. + +Giovanni Legrenzi (about 1625-1690), though only five years younger +than Cesti, made a much larger contribution to the development of his +art, especially on the instrumental side of vocal music. He is credited +with being one of the first composers to display a real instinct for +instrumental music, and he is said to have reorganized the orchestra +used to supplement the organ at St. Mark’s, Venice, increasing it to 34 +performers--8 violins, 11 violette (small viola), 2 viole da braccia, +2 viole da gamba, 1 violone (bass viol), 4 theorbos, 2 cornets, 1 +bassoon, and 3 trombones. His accompaniments show great vivacity and in +general a variety of style in strong contrast to those of most of his +co-workers. He published many cantatas in which the music runs along +uninterruptedly from beginning to end. The succession of recitatives, +melodious passages, and what might be called arias varies in each +cantata according to the demands of the texts. A great variety is also +noticeable in the form of the arias, which are remarkably free in +rhythm and declamatory flow. His cantatas are among the best types of +this seventeenth-century form. + + + II + +Alessandro Scarlatti (1659-1725) undoubtedly looms largest among the +figures in Italian music of the seventeenth century and the first half +of the eighteenth century, with especially marked influence in the +fields of opera and cantata. One of the most prolific composers of all +ages, he completed 115 operas, many masses (at least 10 survive), 8 +oratorios, and a vast number of cantatas[53] (500 have come down to +us), besides quantities of music in other forms. The extraordinary +number of his chamber cantatas that survive him is strong evidence +of his estimate of and affection for this form, examples of which +cover every period of his life and reflect as faithfully as do +Beethoven’s sonatas the various phases and stages of the composer’s +artistic unfolding. Scarlatti was the greatest of the writers of +chamber-cantatas and only a few of his successors approached him in +excellence in this field. Indeed, the popularity of this form seems to +have spent its force in Italy soon after the middle of the eighteenth +century. Many of his cantatas bear internal evidence that he regarded +them as ‘carefully designed studies in composition,’[54] in the +working out of which he brought to bear his best musicianship. One of +the finest examples of this careful and beautiful workmanship is the +cantata _Andata a miei sospiri_, two settings of which he wrote for and +sent to his composer-friend, Gasparini, in 1712. + +But the very fertility of his invention and the ease and rapidity with +which his musical thoughts flowed from his pen generated a tendency +toward the adoption of a stereotyped style, influenced as he was by +the growing inclination of his pleasure-loving Neapolitan audiences +to demand triviality more than dramatic seriousness, tuneful melody +and vocal display more than sincerity of expression. He did not +possess the rugged tenacity of artistic purpose that drove Gluck, a +half-century later, to insist on the primacy of the dramatic intent and +the complete subordination of the musical element to the dramatic. So +we find that under his hand the cantata, as well as the opera, became +conventionalized in form. The vocal element, on which he lavished +greatest care, became predominant and the aria, as the chief means +of vocal utterance, fell under the same spell of conventionality. +But in the cantatas, especially in the essentially musical parts, +there are comparatively few evidences of the spirit of triviality +that he so freely admitted into his operas. It is not true, as is +frequently asserted, that Scarlatti invented the stereotyped forms +of the aria that were the chief stock in trade of his successors in +Italian opera until the middle of the nineteenth century. Nearly all +of these aria-forms, including the commonest and most banal operatic +form, the one with the indispensable _da capo_, may be found in the +cantatas and operas of the composers already mentioned, among whom the +inclination toward definite organization in melodic form was already +well developed before Scarlatti had more than begun his career as +composer. The incredible number of arias that he wrote and their easy +classification as to form certainly made this common error of statement +a very pardonable one. From his position as the greatest composer of +his period, however, he gave to their use an authority and an impetus +whose force was not fully spent for a century and a quarter after his +death. + +But if Scarlatti’s contributions to the cantata and opera were +mainly along the line of the glorification of the purely musical and +vocal elements, in one direction certainly he contributed richly to +the permanent progress of musical art. In Carissimi’s cantatas the +accompaniments were very simple, written usually with figured bass +only, which was left to the performers to fill in at their discretion. +After Carissimi the accompaniment began to assume a more elaborate +character, but many of Scarlatti’s show utmost care in working out. +Most of these were for violin or ‘cello. Some of those for ‘cello +required such large technical equipment that ability to play them was +looked upon as a mark of distinguished musicianship. Indeed, it was not +uncommon in that age, which was far more superstitious than our own, +for audiences, deeply impressed with the beauty of tone and marvellous +skill of the performers, to believe and declare that angels had assumed +the form of men. + +Cantata-writing in Italy reached its highest point in A. Scarlatti +and seems to have been, for a period extending, roughly speaking, +from 1650 to 1750, almost the only form of vocal music used for +private or chamber purposes. As Parry points out, ‘it is certainly +creditable to the taste of the prosperous classes that a branch of art +which had such distinguished qualities should have been so much in +demand; for the standard of style, notwithstanding obvious defects, +is always high.’[55] But the decline in the standards of opera had an +inevitable effect on the character of its closely allied form, the +chamber-cantata. Though composers continued industriously to employ +it, the finest examples are to be found among the composers already +mentioned. In addition to the above, Giovanni Battista Bassani (about +1657-1716) published numerous cantatas on love themes for one, two, +or three voices with instruments and maintained a noble style in both +vocal and instrumental parts, his handling of the instrumental parts +being distinctly an advance over previous composers. + + +It is to be noted that few, if any, distinguishing or personal marks +can be discovered in the works of the various Italian composers of +this period, particularly those whose names follow. All say the same +elegant, suave things in much the same elegant, suave manner. Francesco +Gasparini (1668-1727) had such a high reputation in his time that +Alessandro Scarlatti sent his son, Domenico, to study with him. Later +a curious rivalry sprang up between Gasparini and the elder Scarlatti, +which took the strange guise of a cantata-correspondence in which +each sought to puzzle and outdo the other. Gasparini’s fame, however, +rested on a treatise upon accompaniment, published in 1708, which +remained a standard work in Italy until well along in the nineteenth +century. Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739), celebrated for his settings +of 50 psalms for one, two, three, and four voices with accompaniment, +published 26 cantatas for different voices with accompaniment for +various instruments. The Royal Library at Dresden contains copies of +two of his cantatas--_Timotheus_, to his own Italian translation of +Dryden’s poem, and _Cassandra_--both of which were famous in their +time. Emanuele Astorga (1681-1736) is remembered now almost entirely by +his beautiful cantatas for solo voices (soprano or contralto), of which +about 100 are extant, and for two voices, all with accompaniment in +figured bass for the harpsichord. Ten of these duets (for soprano and +contralto) are published in Peters’ Edition and also by Leuckhart with +accompaniment arranged for pianoforte. + +Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), son of Alessandro Scarlatti and +especially famous as a harpsichord player and composer for this +instrument, wrote many cantatas in which the form became more +extended, comprising various movements. In this extension of form +Scarlatti was followed by Pergolesi (1710-1736), whose cantata _Orfeo +ed Euridice_, written in the composer’s last illness, was the most +famous of the period. Giovanni Battista Bononcini (about 1660-about +1750), remembered now as the defeated rival of the great Handel in the +famous London opera-writing duel, was one of the most prolific of all +cantata writers, though the music was quite mediocre. Other well-known +Italian composers of the eighteenth century who employed the extended +cantata-form were Antonio Caldara (1678-1763) and Niccola Porpora +(1686-1766 or 1767). The great Handel himself wrote many cantatas for +single voice in the prevalent fashion and in many of them used for +his accompaniment such combinations of instruments as strings and +oboes. After Handel’s time the cantata of the Italian type described +above lost favor and was gradually superseded by the concert aria, +a form which Mozart, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn have used with fine +results.[56] Mozart gave the name cantata to a composition for three +solo voices, chorus, and orchestra in three movements, written about +1783 (Koëchel No. 429). The distinction of having used the chorus in +the cantata for the first time, however, probably rests with Giovanni +Paësiello (1741-1816), who, in an attempt to revive the waning interest +in this form, sought to give greater vocal effectiveness by contrasting +choral with solo effects. In this formal respect at least, several +of his cantatas (as _Dafne ed Alceo_ and _Retour de Persée_) are +prototypes of the present-day form. + +Thus far in the consideration of the cantata we have been concerned +mainly with its secular form and with its development in Italy. The +secular cantata in Italian style does not seem to have gained any +permanent popularity outside the land of its birth, certainly not +enough to attract the attention of the best composers either in France, +which had developed a dramatic style of its own along different +principles from those of the Italians, or in Germany and England, in +both of which countries the influence of Italian opera predominated. In +France only unimportant composers cared to employ it. In England native +composers of the seventeenth century found two worthy substitutes for +the cantata in the masque and the ode. + +In the very beginning of its career the cantata was successfully placed +within the domain of church music by Carissimi, and during his lifetime +and later the church-cantata in Italy had much the same form as that of +the oratorio, to which it was so closely allied in spirit and function. +But in Germany, under the influence of the intense religious feeling +engendered by the stormy days of the Reformation, it took on the +character almost of a national religious institution. Here it developed +into a form of such magnificent proportions and significant influence +that an extended exposition of some of the contributing causes and +accompanying conditions may be pertinent. + + + III + +German choral music, which in its early history means German +church music, cannot be considered apart from certain fundamental +national traits which are present in some degree even in the earliest +folk-music of this nation and in the effusions of the mediæval +minnesingers--traits which instinctively turned their artistic +attention toward sincerity of poetic thought and utterance rather +than sensuous beauty of melodic expression. An instinct for grasping +fundamentals, a fervid devotion, and a rugged tenacity in following +accepted ideals--these were qualities that made Germany a fit cradle +for the Reformation and the German people the foremost defenders and +stoutest preachers of the religious emancipation of the individual +which Luther proclaimed with such far-sounding tones. The contrapuntal +skill that German musicians had learned, along with the rest of +Europe, from the Netherland masters, they did not use so much for +the glorification of music or for æsthetic and formal considerations +as for the enrichment and elucidation of the ideas and sentiments of +the words. When the rest of Europe had capitulated to the ravishing +sweetness and allurements of Italian melody, Germany listened somewhat +incredulously, and even when this charmer was finally admitted into the +inner courts of its musical household, it was compelled to assume a +purified and chastened form. + +The essential characteristics of German musical art are well +illustrated by the condition of music in Germany in the seventeenth +century as compared with that of Italy. The secular impulse that had +wrought such a revolution in Italian music and musical methods had +made itself felt in Germany at an even earlier period, but in a very +different manner. In the southern country it brought about an intense +development of the dramatic element. This almost immediately reacted +upon church music and left upon it an indelible impression, sadly +weakening the Palestrina ideal of impersonality with the impingement of +the strong personal, human element which the introduction of the solo +inevitably emphasized, and which led, as has been pointed out, to a +period of deterioration in Catholic church music. + +The change in German music can also be traced to a secular source, +but not only were the immediate results of this change, in terms of +actual music, vastly different from those in Italy, but the controlling +motive which molded its varied manifestations was alike different. +The German Protestants were at once summoned to test the strength +and sincerity of their new-found faith in the crucible of physical +combat, and they were stirred as was possibly no other nation engaged +in the complicated succession of religious wars of the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries. As it was religious fervor that led them to take +up the sword in defence, so it was religious sentiment and devotion +that furnished the motive that lies back of the entire scheme of German +musical art of the seventeenth century. To the rather austere German +composers of this period music seemed to be too lovely and pure a thing +to be used for histrionic tricks and trappings. So the most sincere +and important utterances of German musical art of the seventeenth +century are to be found in the field of religious music. It has been +pointed out (page 79) that the chorale was the basis of the music which +sprang into being as the natural expression of the Protestant movement +in Germany. Since the rich mass of folk-song supplied such abundant +material for the chorales used in the Lutheran service, the secular +element through this channel entered into the very warp and woof of +German music, and carried into it the quality of simple and fervid +sincerity that in a marked degree has always characterized the German +folk-song and the art-music that sprang from it. + +The secular element had wrought a complete change in Italian music +within the short space of a half century and the impetuous Italians +had given themselves over to the new tendency so whole-heartedly +that the boundaries of the old ecclesiastical art were almost wholly +obliterated. An unexpected caution and conservatism, however, +manifested itself among the Germans and an entire century elapsed +before a definite and distinctive art-fabric was evolved from the +material at hand. Composers, now almost wholly forgotten, but who +might have won more frequent historic mention had they chosen to tread +the more brilliant path of histrionic art, worked contentedly and +with pious enthusiasm to make chorales for the church service or to +construct motets by using the chorale tunes as subjects and weaving +voice-parts around them in expressive counterpoint or in imitative +figures, with all the polyphonic skill they possessed. + +Out of this religious zeal finally emerged the German church cantata, +which found its culminating point, as did so many other musical forms +associated with German church music, in Johann Sebastian Bach. In +Italy and elsewhere in connection with Roman Catholic music, the +church cantata never possessed any liturgical significance, though +it was freely employed for purposes of religious entertainment and +instruction. But almost immediately after its introduction into +Germany through the gifted German students who had studied in Italian +art-centres, notably in Venice, the church cantata became a part of the +regular order of the German Protestant church worship and thus became +the object of solicitous attention on the part of Protestant German +composers. Encouraged by the church and firmly imbedded in its liturgy, +it needed only the touch of Bach’s genius to cause it to grow into +full artistic stature and stand as the most precious musical gift of +German Protestantism to the world. In the seventeenth century it was +frequently called ‘spiritual concerto’ or ‘spiritual dialogue,’[57] +and consisted of Biblical passages and church or devotional hymns. +During this period its rather crude musical form usually followed this +order--an instrumental introduction, a ‘spiritual aria’ (a simple +strophic song for one or more voices), one or two vocal solos, and a +chorale or two. + +While German religious music was cautiously feeling its way toward +individual self-expression, there were not wanting among German +musicians those who felt that the forms of Italian dramatic music, +such as the recitative and aria with their obvious possibilities for +the expression of impassioned human feeling, should be fully utilized +in the structure of their new religious art, and who argued that the +qualities of brilliance, variety, and personal utterance should be +present in ecclesiastical art as well as in secular. On the other hand +were those who were in favor of banishing from the church service +all vocal music except that based on the austere chorale and motet +(analogous to the Latin motet of the sixteenth century), and who would +restrict all church music to the more abstract, objective, and liturgic +conception derived from ecclesiastical traditions. Standing on middle +ground between these two extreme ideals, Bach, with the insight born of +genius, retained all that was best and most serviceable in each--the +simple strength and sturdy devotion of the chorale, together with the +contrapuntal chorus, as the collective expression of exalted religious +sentiment, and the recitative and Italian aria, chastened and stripped +of its histrionic shallowness and insincerity, as the individual +personal utterance of the more subjective moods of meditation and +introspection. + +The Lutheran Church retained in its liturgy many of the prominent +features of the Roman liturgy. Among them were portions of the mass, +the custom of chanting certain parts of the service, the singing of +ancient hymns and traditional tunes, and the observance of special +church days and festivals. The calendar of the church year was largely +the same in the two faiths, and in the Lutheran Church, as in the +Roman, the order and character of the different portions of the service +were carefully prescribed by church law. Each Sunday and special day +had its own appropriate Bible lesson, versicles and prayers, and its +own chorales, the words of which would illustrate the Bible texts +of the day, commenting upon them and applying their lessons to the +common experience of the devout worshippers. This intimate relation of +chorales to a definite church-day was of obvious advantage to composers +in that it enabled them to construct, around the chorales as central +points, compositions which would amplify the sentiment of the stanzas +of the chorales and serve as musical commentaries on the religious +significance of the various days of the church calendar. The cantata +thus became the chief musical feature of the Lutheran liturgy, and the +words brought to the attention of the congregation some particular +feature of the religious thought that received special emphasis in the +order of the day. + +The great popularity of the cantata with both church authorities +and congregation in Germany was undoubtedly due in part to the many +opportunities it offered for satisfying the universal craving for +greater individualization, for freer utterance of individual emotion +and sentiment. The opera of the period, which consisted largely of +solo-singing, gave free rein to the expression of personal feeling, as +the spirit of the times demanded. Yet nothing that was really permanent +or artistic could arise from this foundation, since the subjects of +opera were drawn almost exclusively from far-removed classical and +mythological sources. These subjects held little or no real interest +for the masses, and the singers who impersonated the legendary +characters were actuated almost solely by professional vanity. The +opera was thus inevitably surrounded with an atmosphere of insincerity +and moral indifference. While the people applauded, they remained +untouched except on the surface, and only partly satisfied. When the +element of personal expression was transferred to church performances, +the situation was radically changed. Their religious experiences were +real and vital and tangible. The important part that the congregation +was encouraged to take in the singing of hymns and chorales gave to +the zealous worshippers a feeling of individual responsibility in the +services. Even in those more elaborate musical portions assigned to +the choir, they could follow, in fancied participation, the religious +emotions set forth in a language that they could readily understand and +that was intensified by the expressive power of appropriate music. The +intensely subjective, sometimes even sentimental, nature of the texts +made a deep appeal to the warm Protestant piety of the German people. + +Poetical texts of a semi-dramatic character, suited in more or less +definite way to the different church days, soon came to be in great +demand. The first to supply such cantata texts of real literary merit +was Erdmann Neumeister (1671-1756), a preacher-poet of Sorau and +Hamburg, who wrote no less than five complete cycles of texts for the +church calendar. Though a host of other poets followed him in writing +similar cantata texts, Neumeister seems to have been unexcelled and +to have had a large influence by the sheer literary excellence of his +poetry and the moving power of his pious eloquence. Both Telemann and +Mattheson were appreciative collaborators with him, and among the +cantatas which Bach wrote with such incredible industry for his choir +at St. Thomas’ Church are several with Neumeister’s fine texts. + +Neumeister’s cycles of cantatas were published between the years 1704 +and 1716. In the preface to the first of these cycles he frankly stated +that ‘a cantata has the appearance of a piece taken out of an opera.’ +The publication of these cycles of cantata texts brought on a fierce +controversy between his adherents among churchmen and musicians on the +one side and the Pietists and those who were swayed by an instinctive +antipathy to theatrical music of any kind on the other. Even the older +and more severe cantatas had been accused of worldliness, but the very +idea of using in the worship of God the recitative and aria, which +were the chief vehicles of musical expression in the profane opera, +was repugnant to the pietistic mind. The innovators were charged with +bringing into the church all sorts of ‘singable stuff’ and gay and +dance-like tunes. To this Mattheson, who was chief among the musicians +of his period who could wield a pen in defence of their art-theories, +replied that of course a distinction must be made between a sacred and +an operatic recitative, and that intelligent musicians knew well enough +how to treat it in the spirit of the church service and thus preserve +a true church style which would be at the same time an independent +style.[58] And so the question as to what constitutes the true church +style, as to what is pure church music, has been hotly discussed, with +greater or less absence of brotherly love, in every generation for +the last two centuries, and, it is to be observed, with much the same +arguments as weapons in each succeeding generation. + + + IV + +In simplest definition church music, as Spitta has concisely said, is +music ‘that has grown up within the bosom of the church’[59] and, he +might have added, that best expresses the essence and spirit of its +distinctive creedal beliefs. It took centuries for Roman Catholicism +to produce a Palestrina. But, when he did appear, he acted as genius +has always acted; while the learned theologians of the Council of +Trent were speculating on the true character of church music and +fulminating against abuses, he was quietly creating those wonderful +masses and motets that have ever since been regarded as the loftiest +musical embodiment of the spirit of the Roman Catholic liturgy and +which, therefore, needed no edict of council or pontiff to establish +their supremacy. And so, while lesser musicians were busily engaged +in defending the new ideas, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), with +all the quiet confidence of genius, was steadily producing works for +the church service that stand in the same relation to the Lutheran +liturgy and to the spirit of the Lutheran Church of his period that +Palestrina’s music stands to the Roman liturgy. + +The whole creative energy of Bach’s genius seemed to centre around +his deeply religious nature. The great majority of his works were +written either expressly for the Lutheran Church service or in forms +appropriate to the spirit of this service. He consciously set himself +the task not only to regenerate church music, which even in his time +had fallen into melancholy ways, but especially to take the forms +which he found already technically developed and to apply them to the +utterance of the exalted ideas of religious life and experience as +interpreted through the German Protestant faith. Bach was the only +one of the eighteenth-century German composers who was completely +equipped for so worthy a task. Springing from sturdy peasant stock, +bred and educated entirely in his own beloved Thuringia and wholly in +accordance with German traditions and Protestant ideals, and never +deeming it necessary to go abroad for those superficial refinements +which his nation lacked, Bach was essentially and peculiarly the +product of a culture that was purely German Protestant. He was endowed +with an intellectual force of truly gigantic proportions and with a +catholicity wide and wise enough to assimilate whatever was vital and +vigorous in the various musical forms and styles with which the air was +filled. He was absolute master of organ music, which throughout the +seventeenth century was the only branch of art to develop real splendor +as an indigenous product of the Lutheran Church. Although in thought +and feeling a thoroughgoing churchman, he had the wit to discern that +even the opera, the worldly antipode of the churchly ideal, contained +elements that could be rendered valuable in reverent service to purely +religious purposes. In Bach’s hands these operatic elements lost their +emotional sensuality, washed clean in the pure impersonal flow of his +organ music. Thus he reconciled the two seemingly dissimilar styles and +fused them into one, which so perfectly expressed the essential being +of the Church he so deeply loved and so loyally served that, as Spitta +asserts, he ‘has remained to this day the last church composer.’[60] + +During all his years of musical activity Bach was a church organist and +choir director. In these positions it was a part of his official duties +to compose music for the various services of the church calendar. The +zeal and fidelity with which he performed this part of his task is +clearly evidenced by the following list of his more important church +works, vocal and instrumental: about 20 large fantasias, preludes +and fugues, a passacaglia, several toccatas, and a large number of +chorale-preludes and elaborations, about 300 cantatas, 5 Passions, 3 +oratorios for Christmas, Easter, and Ascension, 5 large masses and +several shorter ones, many motets, 2 Magnificats, 5 Sanctuses, etc. + +By far the largest single group of his compositions consists of +church cantatas. Of these he wrote five series for the Sundays and +festivals of the church year, 295 cantatas in all, of which 266 were +written while he was director of music at the Thomas and Nicolai +Churches in Leipzig, which post he held from 1723 until his death +in 1750. They easily take rank among the master’s best works, and, +notwithstanding the rather astounding fact that for over four years +he wrote a cantata each week for the following Sunday’s service in +addition to other compositions, they contain many of the finest and +loftiest examples of accompanied church music of his own or any other +period, and give unmistakable evidence of the scholarly care and loving +thought he bestowed upon them. As a group they are excelled only by +the Passions and the great B minor Mass, and some of their choruses +are not surpassed even by these wonderful creations. Not one of them +was published during his life and many have been lost. The manuscripts +remained almost forgotten for nearly a century after his death, but +the Bach-Gesellschaft has published about two hundred of them in its +authoritative edition of the master’s works (1851-1899), comprising +over fifty volumes and forming an enduring monument to the master’s +genius. + +An interesting and illuminating light is thrown upon Bach’s attitude +toward the composition of his church music, especially the cantatas, +when we remember that they were all written, not for universal fame +or popular acclaim, but for the use of his own choir and for the +edification of that particular congregation for whom it was his +business to write music. He wrote them, exactly as the minister +wrote his sermons, as personal contributions to the effectiveness +and completeness of individual church services and occasions. There +is little evidence to show that the congregation looked upon these +masterly compositions in any other light than as regular and necessary +parts of the ordinary routine of service, little dreaming that a future +century would give them such lofty valuation. + +The church cantatas[61] reveal an astonishing versatility and range +of expression which show how completely he surrendered his merely +technical musicianship to the guidance of the sentiment and mood of +the texts, and the needs of their liturgic environment. In these +cantatas he has bequeathed to his church and nation ‘a treasury +of religious song compared with which, for magnitude, diversity, +and power, the creative work of any other church composer that may +be named--Palestrina, Gabrieli, or whoever he may be--sinks into +insignificance.’[62] + +In length they vary from four to seven movements, frequently with an +instrumental prelude or overture. The shortest consume about twenty +minutes in performance and the longest an hour or so. They are all +written with accompaniment for organ and, usually, some solo instrument +or group of instruments. The vocal numbers consist of recitatives, +arias, duets, and choruses. In no other eighteenth-century composer +does the recitative assume such qualities of expressive and fluent +melody as in Bach. The arias vary greatly in form, ranging from the use +of the _da capo_, which in his hands loses its Italian superficiality +and conventionality, to the utmost freedom of melodic design. In the +choruses he found full opportunity for indulging his characteristic +fondness for elaborate and complex polyphonic structures. His +conception of the relation of the voice-parts to the whole tonal scheme +differed radically from contemporary usage. To him the solo part was +not a thing complete in and of itself, but rather a contrapuntal +detail of a larger tonal unit. Hence the accompaniment usually rises +to melodic importance coordinate with the voice-part. Sometimes, +indeed, the voice-part sinks to secondary consideration, and merely +concertizes with a more significant theme assigned to the organ or +some solo instrument. Bach’s whole mode of thought was so essentially +instrumental in its coloring and expressional devices that he +frequently produces results that are hardly consonant with what might +be called vocal idiom. Such a mode of treatment easily lapses into +monotony and over-austerity, of which there are occasional instances in +all of his vocal works. But there are more than enough counterbalancing +examples of arias in his cantatas to show how plastic this form could +become in his hands for the expression of the deepest and tenderest +sentiments and for the musical delineation of the subtlest details in +the changing thought of the texts. + +The chorale, as already mentioned, played a most important rôle in +the constructional plan of Bach’s cantatas. Since each church day had +its especially appointed chorale (_Hauptlied_), he made it an almost +universal practice to introduce this, either in whole or in modified +form, as material for contrapuntal treatment in the voice-parts or in +the accompaniments of at least several of the movements. In some of +the cantatas, such as _Wer nur den lieben Gott_ and especially the +famous _Ein’ feste Burg_, chorales appear in some guise or other in +every movement, whether recitative, aria, or chorus. There are but +very few of the cantatas, among them the well-known _Ich hatte viel +Bekümmerniss_, in which no chorale-melody appears. The Bach cantata +regularly closed with a chorale in a plain and unornamented four-part +form, but richly harmonized. + +It is a real misfortune that the profound beauties of these rare +examples of ecclesiastical art are now practically unknown to any +except the occasional student. But there are at least three things +that have conspired to keep them away from the general knowledge and +appreciation of the present-day public--(1) the Lutheran service, which +in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries usually lasted for four +hours at least, has been much shortened and the cantata is no longer a +necessary component, hence at present it is rarely heard even in its +original home, the Lutheran service; (2) the organ was such a central +and dominating part of Bach’s whole scheme of musical utterance that +the cantata cannot be performed with any other accompaniment without +a large shrinkage in artistic effectiveness; (3) these works are so +completely saturated with the spirit and meaning of the particular +type of church worship for which they were created that when performed +in the concert room, even with the organ, they lose in large measure, +merely from the changed perspective and environment. Many of the +cantatas are available for study in Peters’ Edition and, in English +translation, in the Novello Edition. + +Bach’s vocal polyphony, as illustrated by the intricate choruses of +his cantatas, was built squarely on his conception of instrumental +polyphony as applied to the church service. All the finest qualities of +his organ style--the inexhaustible wealth of invention, the masterful +use of every contrapuntal device for exploiting the thematic material, +the majestic sweep of massive bodies of closely knit melodies--all +are found in these choruses in a profusion and affluence that show +at once the marvellous fecundity of his genius and the reverent love +and patient care with which his task was wrought. Of the nearly fifty +cantatas that are published with German and English texts, many might +justly be chosen for analysis that would closely approach in excellence +the few here presented. These few, however, are recognized as among the +greatest and are thoroughly representative of Bach’s cantata style. +In addition to these there may also be enumerated _Wer nur den lieben +Gott_ (‘If Thou but Sufferest God to Guide Thee’), _Jesu, meine Freude_ +(‘Jesu, Priceless Treasure’), _Aus tiefer Noth schrei’ ich zu Dir_ +(‘From Depths of Woe I Call on Thee’), and the Ascension cantata _Wer +da glaubet und getauft wird_ (‘Whoso Believeth and Is Baptized’). + +_Ich hatte viel Bekümmerniss_ (‘My Heart was Full of Heaviness’).--This +work was Bach’s first sacred cantata. He composed it in 1714 at Weimar +while still depressed over his difficulties with the elders of the +_Liebfrauenkirche_ at Halle about an organ position; the music is +strongly colored by this mental condition. It was written for the third +Sunday after Trinity and contains eleven numbers. The first part, +which is mournful in character, consists of a quiet opening chorus, a +beautiful aria for soprano accompanied by oboe and strings, a tender +recitative and aria full of intense sorrow, and a closing chorus +tinged with deep pathos, ‘Why, my Soul, art thou vexed?’ Part II is +more cheerful. A duet for soprano and bass, who represent the soul and +Christ, is followed by a richly harmonized chorus introducing a chorale +melody. Then comes a pleasing tenor aria with graceful accompaniment, +‘Rejoice, O my Soul, change weeping to smiling,’ leading to a final +chorus. The words ‘The Lamb that for us is slain, to Him will we +render power and glory,’ are uttered majestically by the full choir; +the solo bass gives out the words ‘Power and glory and praise be unto +Him forevermore,’ leading to the final ‘Hallelujah,’ poured forth with +tremendous effect by the combined choir and orchestra. + +_Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit_ (‘God’s time is the best of +all’) is usually called the _Actus Tragicus_, and occasionally the +‘Mourning Cantata,’ as it was evidently written to commemorate the +death of some aged man. This work, too, was composed at Weimar in +Bach’s younger days. The introduction is quiet and tender, introducing +some themes used later in the body of the cantata. The opening chorus +(‘God’s own time is the best of all. In Him we live, move, and have +our being, as long as He wills. And in Him we die at His good time’) +is at first slow and solemn, but changes to a quick fugue and ends in +a strain of mournful beauty, befitting the last part of the text. Next +comes a tenor solo, ‘O Lord, incline us to consider that our days are +numbered,’ the text being continued in a mournful aria for bass, ‘Set +in order thine house, for thou shalt die and not live.’ The choir then +sings ‘It is the old decree, Man, thou art mortal,’ the lower voices +forming a double fugue, while the soprano repeats the words ‘Yea, come, +Lord Jesus,’ and the orchestra intones the melody of an old hymn, ‘I +have cast all my care on God.’ The words spoken on the cross, ‘Into +Thy hands my spirit I commend,’ are rendered by the alto, the bass +answering ‘Thou shalt be with Me to-day in Paradise.’ A chorale sung by +the alto mingles with the last of the bass arioso. The work closes with +a chorus, using the so-called Fifth Gloria, + + ‘All glory, praise, and majesty + To Father, Son, and Spirit be, + The holy, blessed Trinity,’ etc. + +_Ein’ feste Burg._--This cantata, one of the strongest of the +remarkable series of church works composed by Bach, is constructed on +Luther’s immortal hymn, the battle-hymn of the Reformation. Historians +differ as to the exact time of its composition, but all agree that it +was when Bach was at the height of his creative power, the occasion +probably being either the Reformation Festival of 1730 or the +bicentenary of Protestantism in Saxony, May 17, 1739. It is laid out in +truly grand proportions and is permeated from first to last with the +bold spirit of triumphant confidence that made the old Reformation days +such a stirring memory in every German heart. The cantata opens with a +stupendous fugue based on Luther’s melody and using the first stanza +of the hymn, than which Bach never wrote anything grander. Following +this comes a duet for soprano and bass, the text including the second +stanza. A bass recitative and a soprano aria lead to the second great +chorus, in which the chorale is sung in unison and with mighty effect, +amid a whirl of wildly leaping figures in the orchestra, to the third +stanza of the hymn, ‘And were the world all devils o’er And watching +to devour us.’ The sixth number, a tenor recitative, leads to a duet +for alto and tenor, ‘How blessed then are they who still on God are +calling.’ The chorale is heard again in the final chorus, this time +sung without accompaniment to the last stanza of the hymn--a thrilling +ending to a colossal work. + + + V + +Handel (1685-1759), one of the few great masters of choral writing, was +a man in whose life strange contrasts jostled each other. He was born a +German, but died a naturalized Englishman and was buried in Westminster +Abbey among England’s most illustrious sons; he was intended by his +parents to be a lawyer, but by nature to be a musician; the greater +part of his life was spent in writing operas, popular in his day but +now forgotten, while his fame now rests almost entirely on the great +oratorios that he wrote after he was fifty years old and had been +practically driven from the operatic stage by intrigues and cabals. He +towers above all his contemporaries except Bach; while his greatest +masterpieces are his oratorios, his smaller choral works in secular +cantata-form display his fine instinct for gracious melody, dramatic +coloring, and characteristic choral effects. + +‘Acis and Galatea.’--This cantata or pastoral (the composer calls it +a serenata, under which title it had its first London performance in +1732) was composed by Handel in 1720, while he was chapel-master to +the Duke of Chandos, and was performed at Cannons the following year. +In writing it, following a custom very much in vogue among composers +of his time, he drew upon an earlier work composed in 1708 during his +sojourn in Italy. Most of the text was written by the poet John Gay, +though certain fragments were borrowed from Dryden, Hughes, and Pope. + +The nymph Galatea deeply loved the shepherd Acis, but in turn was +adored by Polyphemus, the one-eyed Cyclops of Ætna. One day, while she +was reclining in Acis’ embrace, the giant, believing himself alone, +poured out his story of hopeless love, ending in a burst of jealousy +against his rival, when, spying the lovers, he hurled an immense rock +at Acis and crushed him. His blood, gushing forth, became a purling +stream. + +A graceful overture, pastoral in style, leads to a chorus depicting +the pleasures of rustic life. Galatea enters, seeking her lover, and +sings a recitative, ‘Ye verdant plains and woody mountains,’ followed +by a sweet melody, ‘Hush, ye pretty warbling choir!’ Acis responds with +an aria of exquisite grace and beauty, one of Handel’s finest, ‘Love in +her eyes sits playing and sheds delicious death.’ Galatea replies with +the famous ‘As when the dove laments her love,’ after which the first +part closes with a sparkling duet and chorus, ‘Happy we.’ Part II opens +with a chorus of alarm, expressing fear of the love-sick giant and +describing the phenomena of Nature at his angry approach. Then follows +a recitative by the Cyclops, ‘I melt, I rage, I burn,’ and after it the +well-known aria, ‘O ruddier than the cherry!’ Acis’ plaintive song, +‘Love sounds the alarm,’ follows in marked contrast. Galatea begs him +to trust the gods and is joined by the other two in the trio, ‘The +flocks shall leave the mountain.’ The Cyclops in a rage then seizes +a fragment of Mt. Ætna and crushes the unhappy lover. Galatea’s sad +lament follows, ‘Must I my Acis still bemoan?’ and the work closes with +a consolatory chorus of the shepherds and shepherdesses, ‘Galatea, dry +thy tears.’ + +‘Alexander’s Feast.’--The text for this work is Dryden’s famous poem, +the full title of which is ‘Alexander’s Feast or the Power of Music, a +Song in Honour of St. Cecilia’s Day, 1697.’ Handel composed the music +in 1736, completing the first part January 5th, the second January +17th. The work came to its first performance at Covent Garden Theatre, +February 19th, 1736, and met with remarkable success, winning a lasting +popularity which even at the present time makes it one of the five +best-known of Handel’s choral works. The chief solos are the stormy +aria ‘"Revenge, Revenge!" Timotheus cries,’ and the great descriptive +recitative, ‘Give the vengeance due to the valiant crew.’ Some of the +choruses are among Handel’s finest, equalling those of the ‘Messiah’ or +‘Israel in Egypt.’ They are ‘Behold Darius great and good,’ ‘Break his +bands of sleep asunder,’ ‘Let old Timotheus yield the prize,’ and ‘The +many rend the skies with loud applause.’ + +_L’Allegro._--The full title of this work is _L’Allegro, il Penseroso +ed il Moderato_, Milton’s two descriptive poems, _L’Allegro_ and _Il +Penseroso_, supplying the text for the first two movements; but instead +of being preserved as separate poems in the musical work, they are +made to alternate in sixteen contrasting strophes and anti-strophes. +Allegro, represented by the tenor, sings the praises of pleasure and +light-heartedness; Penseroso, a soprano, following each time with +the regularity of a shadow, advocates meditation and seriousness and +melancholy. The Moderato was an addition supplied by Handel and his +librettist, Charles Jennens, and represented chiefly by a chorus, whose +purpose it was to counsel both Allegro and Penseroso to adhere to a +middle course as the safest; but this third part is rarely given. The +work is in Handel’s best style--the Allegro is spirited, the Penseroso +serious and tender, and the Moderato calm and sedate. The music was +composed in the seventeen days between January 19th and February 6th, +1740, and was first performed on February 27th of the same year at the +Royal Theatre, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London. + +Haydn’s (1732-1809) life-work was indissolubly associated with +instrumental forms. The parentage and early development of the sonata +and the modern orchestra can be traced directly to him. He wrote +comparatively little in choral forms and the best of this was in the +field of oratorio and church music. + +In 1785 Haydn was commissioned to write ‘The Seven Words of Jesus on +the Cross,’ sometimes called ‘The Passion,’ as music for the Good +Friday service for the cathedral of Cadiz. As first written it was an +instrumental work of seven slow movements, which the composer later +produced in London under the name _Passione Instrumentale_. Later still +he introduced numbers for solo voices and chorus and, by inserting in +the middle a _largo_ movement for wind instruments, divided it into two +parts. In this form it was first presented at Vienna in 1796 and was +published in 1801. The work is simple in structure and a similarity of +mood and character pervades the various movements. It opens with an +impressive orchestral number, after which each of the Seven Words is +successively stated in the form of a chorale followed by a chorus. In +conclusion comes a descriptive chorus in rapid movement, ‘The Veil of +the Temple was rent in twain,’ which pictures vividly the darkness, the +earthquake, the rending tombs, and the raising of the saints. Haydn +frequently expressed a great fondness for this work, and by many of his +contemporaries it was regarded as one of his most sublime creations. + +_Ariadne auf Naxos._--This cantata, written for a solo voice (soprano) +and orchestra, is dated 1782. It is one of the most perfect examples +of the original cantata form, the Italian _cantata da camera_ already +described. The story is that of Ariadne, daughter of Minos, king of +Crete, who, desperately in love with Theseus, son of Ægeus, king of +Athens, aids him with a thread to escape from the labyrinth after +slaying the Minotaur, and accompanies him on his return to Athens. She +awakens on the island of Naxos to find herself abandoned by her lover, +and here the cantata opens. The music pictures her awakening, her +gradual realization of Theseus’ perfidy, her anxiety, her anger, and +her despair. The vocal score is intricate, demanding not only facility +in execution, but also a noble style of musical declamation, great +musical intelligence, and refinement of sentiment. + + * * * * * + +Outside of the instrumental forms in which his universal genius made +him so preëminent, Mozart’s natural artistic instinct led him most +strongly to dramatic music. He sought the opera as an opportunity for +highest artistic endeavor; but other vocal forms he employed, not so +much from choice as from the demands of special occasions. Like Haydn, +he paid but passing attention to the cantata. + +‘King Thamos.’--The foundation of this work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart +(1756-91) was an historical drama, ‘Thamos, King of Egypt,’ written +by Freiherr von Gebler. To this Mozart composed the incidental music, +consisting of five entr’actes and three majestic choruses. The music +was written in 1779 and 1780 at Salzburg; the work was presented a few +times there under the direction of Boehm and Schikaneder and then was +shelved. However, Mozart utilized some of the music by setting the +choruses to Latin and German words, in which form they were used in the +church service as hymns and motets. They are known to musicians now +by the names _Splendente te Deus_, _Deus tibi laus et honor_, and _Ne +pulvis et cinis_. Though a feeling of great solemnity pervades them, +their original theatrical purpose cannot be entirely concealed behind +their adopted sacred words. + +_Davidde Penitente._--This cantata originated in Mozart’s vow, made +before his marriage with Constance Weber, to write a mass to celebrate +her arrival at Salzburg as his wife. The ‘half-mass’ which he actually +wrote for this occasion comprised only the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, and +Benedictus, the rest being supplied from an earlier mass. The work +was given in this form at St. Peter’s Church, August 25, 1783, his +wife taking the solo part. Early in 1785 Mozart received a commission +to write a cantata for a Viennese festival; being short of time, he +took the Kyrie and Gloria from the above mass, expanded them into five +movements, added four new ones, and fitted them all out with Italian +texts selected from the Psalms of David. In this form the work was +presented at the Burg Theater, March 13th, under the title _Davidde +Penitente_. It contains ten numbers, consisting of choruses, soprano +and tenor arias and a terzetto, the tenth number, a final chorus and +fugue, being called the ‘queen of vocal fugues’ by the critics of +the time. This cantata is regarded as one of the finest examples of +Mozart’s church style, notwithstanding the brilliant character of the +solo parts, especially the bravura aria for soprano (_Fra le oscure +ombre_). + +The Masonic Cantatas.--Mozart became a Mason soon after he arrived in +Vienna in 1784 and he entered into the activities of the fraternity +with great ardor. The following year he composed a small cantata, _Die +Maurerfreude_ (‘The Mason’s Joy’), for tenor and chorus, in honor of +the master of his lodge, Herr Born. The second Masonic cantata,[63] +_Lob der Freundschaft_ (‘Praise of Friendship’), was finished November +15th, 1791, only three weeks before his death. This work, which is on +a larger scale than its predecessor, but less earnest in spirit, is +pleasing and popular and consists of six numbers--two choruses, two +recitatives, a tenor aria, and a duet. It was Mozart’s last completed +composition. Two days after its performance at his lodge his last +illness attacked him. + + + VI + +In the second period of Anglican Church music, beginning after the +restoration of the Stuarts in 1660, a distinct change in the character +of anthem-writing is discernible. This was inaugurated by Pelham +Humfrey (1647-1674), whose foreign study under Lulli and later in Italy +brought him in touch with the greater freedom of the operatic style. +In his church music and that of his immediate successors there is +noticeable greater variety of plan and detail, more daring harmonies, +more easy grace in the flow of voice-parts, and in general a faint +echo at least of the brilliance reflected from the stage. The Italian +art of solo-singing began to force its way into the domain of church +music, adding relief and contrast to the severity of the old motet type +of ‘full’ anthem. This style culminated in Henry Purcell (1658-1695), +probably the most gifted and certainly the most versatile genius that +English music has produced. In his hands the modern form of the anthem, +as differentiated from the old motet, became clearly defined. Purcell, +trained in the Chapel Royal and himself a ‘most distinguished singer,’ +gave large emphasis to the ‘verse’ and ‘solo’ anthems, and these grew +rapidly in favor. Although an operatic composer of profound ability, +in many respects far in advance of his time, his religious music shows +no trace of undue influence from this secular source, and many of his +anthems[64] and ‘services’ are still cherished as among the finest +examples of English church music of any period. + +During the latter part of the seventeenth century instrumental music +in England took on new importance, and its influence was felt in all +branches of the art. Orchestral instruments were frequently employed in +the ritual-music in addition to the organ, which instrument, it should +be added, was far behind the German organ of this period in mechanical +development and technical possibilities. Purcell wrote trumpet parts +to his celebrated Te Deum and composed as many as twenty anthems +with orchestra (besides over thirty with organ). His instrumental +accompaniments began to assume quite independent outlines and his +choruses were of such fine workmanship that Handel, who was thoroughly +acquainted with his church music, gladly acknowledged his indebtedness +to him. Other noted composers of anthems of this period were Dr. John +Blow (1648-1708), William Croft (1678-1727), and Jeremiah Clarke +(1670-1707), all of whom were choristers in the Chapel Royal and were +brought up and trained in the atmosphere of the cathedral service. + +No accession to the form of the anthem has been made since the +beginning of the eighteenth century. All the forms now in use--the +full, the verse, the solo--were well established in the public esteem +and the old unaccompanied style had been permanently abandoned in favor +of instrumental accompaniment. The eighteenth century was a period +of general religious and intellectual apathy and this condition of +thought brooded over English church-music. After the spontaneous and +melodious Purcell, the compositions of the best church musicians of the +eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries (constituting +the third period of English church-music) sound dry and perfunctory, +although admirable in construction and solid and worthy in content. +If we except the Te Deums and anthems of Handel, this period presents +nothing of striking worth. The composers of this period, the best of +whose anthems are still to be found in the repertory of present-day +choirs, include Maurice Greene (1696?-1755), William Hayes (1706-1777), +William Boyce (1710-1779), and Jonathan Battishill (1738-1801), whose +‘Call to Remembrance’ is a work of eminent beauty, modern in conception +beyond its time. + +English psalmody of the eighteenth century, both among the +Non-conformists and in the Established Church, had likewise fallen +into melancholy ways. Although the good old solid psalm-tunes were +still in the Psalters, the interest in them declined, the number in +actual use gradually dwindled, the singing became dry and perfunctory, +and the curious custom of ‘lining out’ the psalms became general. +Especially in the Non-conformist services frivolous tunes were employed +which smacked of the Italian opera style; and vocal flourishes were +introduced in which several tones would be sung to a single syllable. +But in the Church of England the gradual rise of the hymn to an +independent place in the Psalter at the very beginning of the century +served to keep alive the pure flame of sacred song and to inaugurate +the long-delayed period of real English hymnody, a full century and a +half after the corresponding outburst of sacred song among the Germans. +Gawthorn’s _Harmonica Perfecta_ of 1730 included a large portion of +the fine psalm-tunes of the Ravenscroft Psalter, together with some +older ones and many new ones. These new hymn-tunes were in the main +as solid and satisfying as the best of the old psalm-tunes, yet with +more rhythmic freedom. The Church of England, however, was slow to +give full recognition to the hymn, the first church hymn-book for +general use (Madan’s ‘Collection of Psalms and Hymns,’ better known +as the Lock Hospital Collection) not being published until 1769. The +devotional hymns of Watts and Doddridge were just beginning to reach +the public heart, when they received a magnificent accession from +the Wesleyan movement, which, starting in the middle of the century, +took full advantage of the liberty of worship newly conferred upon +non-conformists and brought into English religious life something +of the enthusiasm of the old German Reformation days. A revival of +spiritual life took place in sections of England that let loose a great +creative force of sacred verse and song, which operated not only to +swell the ranks of Methodism with converts whose hearts were filled +with exuberant song, but to bring into England real congregational +singing and into English hymnody some of its richest gems of sacred +lyrics. Thus the century closed with a distinct uplift in the religious +song of the people, which did not bear full fruit in the Church of +England, however, till the dawning years of the next century. + + + VII + +After the glories of the Palestrina epoch, in which all forms of +ecclesiastical music attained their highest point of perfection, the +motet led a rather checkered existence. The English contemporaries of +the great Roman had cultivated it with such success that the _cantiones +sacræ_ (collections of Latin motets) of Tallis and Byrd are held to be +second only to those of Palestrina himself. We have seen that the full +anthem with English words superseded the Latin motet in the service of +the Anglican Church, but, though the name was changed, the true motet +style persisted until the Restoration; indeed, many of the anthems +were actually written as Latin motets and afterward adapted to English +words, as, for example, Byrd’s _Civitas sancti tui_, which is always +sung to the words ‘Bow thine ear, O Lord.’ The last of the great motet +writers in the Roman school were Vittoria, Morales, the two Anerios, +the two Naninis, Luca Marenzio, and Suriano, all of whom closely +approached the excellence of Palestrina’s superb motets; Orlandus +Lassus sustained the reputation of the Netherlanders throughout his +long career; while in Venice Willaert, de Rore, the two Gabrielis, and +Giovanni Croce, the greatest of this school, produced compositions +of wonderful delicacy and beauty. But after the first quarter of the +seventeenth century the splendor of motet-writing disappeared. The +solidity and grandeur of the old style of mass, motet, and madrigal +were thoroughly undermined by the secularity of the monodic style, +which now became all-pervasive. The same influences, in slightly +varying degrees, crept into Catholic and Protestant church music +alike. The rapid development of instrumental music toward the latter +part of this century brought about the abandonment of unaccompanied +motets in favor of those with instrumental accompaniment, and at the +same time the modern major and minor keys gradually supplanted the +old ecclesiastical modes. In Italy the best composers--Alessandro +Scarlatti, Pergolesi, Durante, Leo, and others--strove earnestly to +reconcile the new style with church ideals and succeeded in producing +effective works, though by no means always churchly. + +The strongest motet writing of the eighteenth century, however, +flourished in Germany. Many of the motets of the early German +Protestant composers were simple polyphonic adaptations of chorales, +and in the seventeenth century a simple, often trivial, style +prevailed, but in the opening years of the eighteenth century a group +of composers appeared who strove to revive the solid, elaborate style +of the earlier masters. Beginning with Reinhard Keiser (1674-1739) and +continued by Karl Heinrich Graun (1701-1759) and Johann Adolph Hasse +(1699-1783), a Catholic composer of attractive style, this movement +culminated in Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), who clothed the motet in all +the dignity and elaborateness of the old sixteenth century period. +His motets represent the most perfect type of unaccompanied music in +the Protestant church-service, as Palestrina’s do in the Roman, and +in their way are quite as incomparable. Bach wrote about 200 motets, +among the best-known of which are _Komm, Jesu, komm_ (‘Come, Jesu, +come’), _Jesu, meine Freude_ (‘Jesu, priceless treasure’), _Nun ist +das Heil_ (‘Now shall the grace’), and _Singet dem Herrn_ (‘Sing ye to +the Lord’). A score of others equally fine might easily be mentioned. +The motets of Handel, which have only in recent years been snatched +from obscurity by the German Handel Society, are works of transcendent +beauty, full of youthful vigor and strength, and worthy of his best +period. + +The madrigal also participated in the common ruin that befell the +old polyphonic style, and after 1620 the true madrigal practically +disappeared. In Italy it was displaced by the interest in the new +chamber-cantata; it was wholly forgotten in Flanders and France; +in England it merged into the glee; and in Germany the rise of the +part-song compensated somewhat for its disappearance. + + + [Illustration: St. Thomas’ Church, Leipzig, in Bach’s Time] + _From on old print_ + + +The glee[65] is a form peculiar to England, having a certain +native folk-song flavor and quite impossible of transplantation; no +other country except, to a degree, America, has bestowed on it any +attention at all. A whole century separates its appearance from the +decline of the madrigal. The intervening transitional style is well +illustrated by the lovely canzonets of Thomas Ford (about 1580-1648), +such as ‘Since first I saw your face’ and ‘There is a Ladie sweete and +kind,’ which breathe something of the spirit of both madrigal and glee. +Unlike the madrigal, the glee is always sung by solo voices, usually +male, of which there are at least three, but, like the madrigal, it is +always unaccompanied. The first glees were produced in the early years +of the eighteenth century, and the period of its finest achievement +includes the years between 1750 and 1825, a period which is almost +exactly contemporaneous with the long life of the greatest master +of this form, Samuel Webbe (1740-1816). The more obvious traits of +the glee that distinguish it from the madrigal are (1) the modern +major and minor system of keys instead of ecclesiastical modes, (2) +absence of conscious contrapuntal development in the treatment of the +voice-parts and the consequent frequent employment of chord-masses, +(3) short phrases with frequent full cadences, and (4) greater freedom +in changes of rhythm and rate of speed. Notwithstanding these general +characteristics, there are many real glees, such as Stevens’ ‘Ye +spotted snakes,’ that exhibit a high quality of melodic development, +sustained power, and constructional design. While not intended to be +contrapuntal, the glee maintains a high degree of melodic independence +among the parts, so that the impression given is that of several +interweaving melodies. Among the finest specimens of glees are ‘When +winds breathe soft,’ ‘The mighty conqueror,’ ‘Come live with me,’ and +‘Hence, all ye vain delights’ by Samuel Webbe; ‘Ye spotted snakes,’ +‘Blow, blow, thou winter wind,’ and ‘Sigh no more, ladies’ by Richard +Stevens (1757-1837); ‘By Celia’s arbour,’ ‘Mine be a cot,’ and ‘Cold is +Cadwallo’s tongue’ by William Horsley (1774-1858). In addition to the +above the principal glee composers are: John Wall Calcott (1766-1821), +Thomas Attwood (1765-1838), Jonathan Bittishill (1738-1801), Benjamin +Cooke (1734-1793), John Danby (1757-1798), Reginald Spoffarth +(1770-1827), and Sir Henry Bishop (1786-1855). + +While in a strict sense all the vocal forms thus far mentioned are +part-songs, in choral literature this term is restricted to apply only +to those unaccompanied vocal compositions in which one melody stands +out conspicuously, all the others being more in the nature of harmonic +background. In this respect it differs sharply from the glee, though in +general musical mood the two forms may be very similar. The part-song +has its origin in Germany, where from early times the custom prevailed +of giving simple harmonic setting to the folk-songs,[66] usually note +against note. Modelled largely after the harmonized folk-songs, secular +part-songs in profusion were written by German composers, particularly +after the decline of the madrigal. As an importation from Germany the +part-song was heartily welcomed in England, where it was cultivated +side by side with the madrigal, the two forms often presenting many +points of similarity and constantly reacting on each other. The great +madrigalists wrote many such compositions (which they frequently called +canzonets) on the borderland between the two forms. Such are Morley’s +‘My bonny lass she smileth’ and ‘Now is the month of Maying,’ and +the canzonets of Thomas Ford mentioned above. The eighteenth-century +part-song in England is, on the whole, unimportant; in Germany its +chief value after 1800 lay in the incentive and impetus it gave to the +formation of numerous choral societies and in the resultant diffusion +of choral culture. The real glories of the part-song belong to the +nineteenth century. Before that period the three principal secular _a +cappella_ vocal forms may be thus briefly characterized: the madrigal, +as the secular counterpart of the motet, is modal and contrapuntal; the +glee is harmonic, devoid of strict counterpoint, but all the voices are +melodically interesting; the part-song is harmonic, but concentrates +the melodic interest in one part, usually the highest. + +Before passing to the consideration of nineteenth-century choral +music, it remains to give brief mention to two other forms, the masque +and the ode, both of which are characteristically English and belong +essentially to the seventeenth century. The masque occupied a place +midway between the cantata and the opera, and enjoyed great popularity +at court and among the aristocratic classes as a kind of private +entertainment from the time of the early Tudors to the Civil War. +Originally an importation from Italy, it received special development +at the hands of the best English poets--Ben Jonson, Fletcher, Chapman, +Campion, Milton, and others. It was an elaborate dramatic entertainment +based on some mythological or allegorical subject, calling for +dialogue, declamation, airs, madrigals, much dancing, and gorgeous +scenery and costume, and performed for the most part by personages of +high rank in disguise, whence the name. The best English composers of +the seventeenth century gave their talents to the writing of masque +music--Nicholas Lanier, Matthew Locke, Pelham Humfrey, Henry Purcell, +John Eccles, and, in the next century, Dr. Thomas Arne. The ode also +found much favor with the English seventeenth and eighteenth-century +poets, such as Milton, Dryden, Gray, and Collins, but the composer +whose name is most closely allied with it is Henry Purcell (about +1658-1695), who alone wrote twenty-nine odes and welcome songs for +various public and royal occasions, among them four for St. Cecilia’s +Day festivals and four in consecutive years (1690-1693) for Queen +Mary’s birthday. Handel wrote four--‘Alexander’s Feast,’ ‘Ode for St. +Cecilia’s Day,’ ‘Birthday Ode,’ and _L’Allegro ed il Penseroso_,[67] +two of which have been already analyzed. + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[49] Peri’s first opera, _Dafne_, composed in collaboration with +Caccini, had been privately performed in Florence in 1597 (1594?). + +[50] The success of Cavalieri’s _La Rappresentazione_ was apparently +swallowed up by the greater interest in the success of opera, so that +twenty years elapsed before a second oratorio was written. + +[51] ‘History of Music,’ Vol. IV, p. 144. + +[52] ‘Oxford History of Music,’ Vol. III, p. 153. + +[53] The library of the Paris Conservatoire alone possesses eight +volumes of his cantatas in MS. + +[54] Grove’s ‘Dictionary of Music and Musicians,’ Art. ‘Scarlatti,’ by +E. J. Dent. + +[55] ‘Oxford History of Music,’ Vol. III, p. 393. + +[56] For example, Beethoven’s _Ah, perfido!_ and Mendelssohn’s +_Infelice_. + +[57] Andreas Hammerschmidt published ‘Dialogues between God and the +Believing Soul’ (Dresden, 1647) for various groups of voices from two +up to six. + +[58] Mattheson, _Das beschütze Orchestre_, p. 142. + +[59] Philipp Spitta, ‘The Life of Johann Sebastian Bach,’ Vol. I, p. +484. + +[60] _Op. cit._, Vol. I, p. 486. + +[61] Bach seldom used the word ‘cantata,’ preferring the terms +‘concerto’ and ‘dialogue.’ + +[62] Dickinson, ‘Music in the History of the Western Church,’ p. 301. + +[63] Catalogued in Köchel, _Eine kleine Freimauer Cantate_. + +[64] Among them are ‘O give thanks,’ ‘O God Thou hast cast us out,’ and +‘O Lord God of Hosts.’ + +[65] This word is derived from the Anglo-Saxon _gligg_--‘music,’ and +has no direct relation to the specific mood of mirth or gaiety. The +glee, therefore, may be either cheerful or serious. + +[66] Similarly in Italy the _villanella_ was a harmonized popular +melody, but it failed to exert any further influence on choral forms. + +[67] This is called an oratorio in the list of the German Handel +Society. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + THE CANTATA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY + + Conflict of tradition and progress--Ludwig van Beethoven: + ‘Ruins of Athens,’ ‘Glorious Moment’; Andreas Romberg--C. + M. von Weber; Franz Schubert; Ludwig Spohr--Mendelssohn: + ‘First Walpurgis Night,’ etc.; 95th Psalm; _Lauda Sion_, + etc.--Hector Berlioz: ‘Damnation of Faust’--Robert Schumann: + ‘Paradise and the Peri’; ‘Pilgrimage of the Rose’; + Miscellany--Ferdinand Hiller; Niels W. Gade: ‘Crusaders,’ + ‘Erl-King’s Daughter,’ ‘Christmas Eve,’ ‘Comala,’ + etc.--Félicien David: ‘The Desert’; Minor cantata writers + in Germany and England: Benedict, Costa, Macfarren, Smart, + Bennett--Anglican ritual-music and the German evangelical + motet in the nineteenth century; the part-song. + + +The student of history will observe that one of the most noticeable +effects of the constantly accelerated pace that musical progress +assumed after the art had once learned definite articulation, is that +the successive periods in which characteristic styles and forms have +been developed and perfected have been growing steadily shorter and +shorter in duration. The Netherland period of vocal polyphony spanned +two full centuries; the next century and a half was concerned with the +first stage in the development of dramatic music and oratorio, and +with the application of polyphonic principles to instrumental forms; +the period of seventy-five years between 1750 and 1825 was memorable +chiefly by the appearance and swift development of the sonata and +symphony from Haydn to Beethoven, with occasional premonitions of +impending revolutionary changes; the half-century from 1825 to 1875 +witnessed the rise and full flowering of the remarkable movement of +nineteenth-century romanticism; in the years since 1875 new ideas and +tendencies, unfolded from the preceding period, have crowded upon the +musical arena in such profusion and with such swiftness and persistence +that intelligent orientation is beset with perplexing difficulties. The +‘youngest of the arts,’ so backward and slow of speech in its infancy, +certainly displays unmistakable symptoms of precocity with advancing +years. + +From the above statement of the approximate duration of the general +periods of musical progress it will be noted that the nineteenth +century is divisible into three periods, the first of which merely +carried to completion the classical methods of the preceding century. +But, while instrumental music responded promptly and vigorously and +with far-reaching results to the novel ideals of romanticism, choral +music was far more conservative. It exhibited the utmost reserve toward +the new influences, and for several decades after these had brought +enrichment and expansion to instrumental forms, it admitted them only +with a certain timidity, so that on the whole the effective invasion +of choral music by romanticism was delayed a full half-century after +it had taken possession of instrumental fields. This retardation of +choral progress is due largely to the natural limitations of the human +voice, which is confronted with obvious difficulties when attempting +to adopt for its own peculiar purposes the instrumental standpoint +of unrestrained liberty in the use of melodic intervals and harmonic +progressions. Choral forms have generally proved to be far less +elastic than instrumental forms, and have had to contend with the +tendency toward inertia inherited from their early association with +ecclesiastical traditions--traditions from which the development +of instrumental music has been notably free. Hence, a much longer +period was required in choral music than in instrumental music for +readjustment to the new viewpoint which nineteenth-century romanticism +injected into the whole fabric of art-methods, and the choral +literature of the century falls into only two periods. The great +majority of the choral works--particularly the smaller choral works--of +the first two thirds of the century at least are characterized by +general conformity with the classical methods of Handel, Haydn, +and Mozart; where romantic influences are admitted they express +themselves in terms of greater harmonic warmth and richness, freer +melodic outlines, and a more marked avoidance of the older special +contrapuntal devices in favor of more direct mood-painting and detailed +characterization of the text, but the classical forms and methods are +quite uniformly retained. + + + I + +Beethoven’s (1770-1827) contribution to the literature of choral music +was relatively small and the most significant part of it was made in +the larger forms, as might be expected of a composer possessed of +such mighty intellectual endowments. Of the smaller works, two only +are selected for detailed comment. The others include ‘Calm Sea and +Prosperous Voyage’ (to Goethe’s poem) for mixed chorus and orchestra, +written in 1815, and ‘King Stephen, Hungary’s First Benefactor,’ a +prologue in one act with overture and choruses, the music for which was +composed in 1811 to the text by Kotzebue for the same occasion as ‘The +Ruins of Athens.’ + +‘The Ruins of Athens.’--The music to an allegorical poem with this +title by Kotzebue was written in 1811 for the opening of a new theatre +at Pesth, Hungary, which took place February 9, 1812. The story of the +poem is as follows: Minerva, having incurred the wrath of Jove, has +been fettered by him with chains ever since the Golden Age within a +rock through which neither the inquiry of man nor the wisdom of the +goddess could penetrate. Finally Jove relents and releases the goddess. +Minerva then hastens to her beloved Athens, only to find it in ruins +and her art debased. She turns sadly away and proceeds to Pesth, where +she establishes her temple in the new theatre and presides over a +triumphal procession in honor of the emperor, its patron, who is to +restore again the Golden Age. The work was presented a second time in +Beethoven’s lifetime at the opening of a new theatre in Vienna in 1822. +This time it was with a new text by Carl Meisl entitled _Die Weihe des +Hauses_ (‘Dedication of the House’), and it was for this occasion that +Beethoven composed the overture, which is still frequently performed. +The music consists of eight numbers. The overture is very light and +deemed even by his friends to be unworthy of the master. The weird, +fervid chorus of the Dervishes for male voices in unison and the +stirring Turkish March are strongly Oriental in color and treatment. +They are strong and effective numbers, as is also the triumphal march +and chorus ‘Twine ye a garland.’ + +‘The Glorious Moment.’--September, 1814, brought to Vienna many +potentates and distinguished statesmen for the Vienna Congress, which +met to adjust the claims of the European states after the allies had +entered Paris. The occasion was a momentous one and was celebrated +with great pomp by the Viennese authorities. Beethoven was requested +to write for the greeting of the royal guests a cantata, the words of +which had been written by Dr. Aloys Weissenbach of Salzburg. It was +called _Der glorreiche Augenblick_ or _Der heilige Augenblick_ (‘The +Glorious Moment’). The time for writing this work was short in itself +and this was much curtailed by disputes between composer and poet, +as Beethoven made every effort to have the atrocious text altered so +as to lend itself better to a musical setting. The work was begun in +September and performed at a concert given for Beethoven’s benefit on +November 29th, before a remarkable audience of 6,000 persons. This +concert, at which was performed also the recently-composed Seventh +Symphony, was a most brilliant affair, and the audience was wildly +enthusiastic, especially for ‘The Glorious Moment,’ which was hailed as +symbolical of the moment when Europe was to be freed from Napoleonic +domination. Incidentally, it may be recorded that the composer reaped +much substantial advantage from this great occasion, in that, as a +result, he was able to invest 20,000 marks in shares of the Bank of +Austria. The cantata, which for obvious reasons is not one of his +strongest, is in six numbers. In 1836 it appeared with a new title, +_Preis der Tonkunst_ (‘The Praise of Music’), with a new poetical text +by Friedrich Rochlitz. + + * * * * * + +Among the composers of the first quarter of the nineteenth century +Andreas Romberg (1767-1821) occupies a worthy place, though not one of +large importance. He is the composer of five operas, ten symphonies, +twenty violin concertos, etc., now forgotten, much church music, and +several cantatas. The ‘Lay of the Bell’ (_Das Lied von der Glocke_) was +the most widely known of all his works, and at present is nearly the +only one of them to retain any public notice. + +‘The Lay of the Bell.’--Schiller’s famous poem with this title forms +the text to which Romberg composed the music of this cantata in 1808. +During the last half of the nineteenth century it enjoyed great +popularity with the smaller choruses in England, Germany, and America, +and is still frequently heard. The work rehearses the various steps in +the making of the bell, from lighting the furnace-fire and mixing the +metals to the casting of the bell and the breaking of the mold by the +master. Each step is used as the basis for the description of scenes +which the bell will witness in its life among the people--scenes of +youth, young manhood, and old age, of joy and love and sorrow--all the +intimate experiences that make up human life. The music is written for +mixed chorus, with soprano, tenor, and bass solos, and, while it lacks +the harmonic warmth and variety of the cantatas written later under +the glow of the romantic spirit, it is full of interest and animation, +though light in style throughout. + + + II + +As the founder of the German romantic movement, Weber (1786-1826) was +an intense nationalist, and his stirring music, folk-song in character +and wholly German in feeling, had a profound political influence in +fanning the flame of national and patriotic sentiment that sprang into +existence during the period of Napoleonic oppression. His inspiring +settings of the patriotic poems in Körner’s _Leyer und Schwert_, for +male voices, made him the idol of the students and young nationalists, +and _Der Freischütz_, the first German opera, created a perfect furor +of patriotic feeling. His first cantata was _Der erste Ton_, written in +1808 for declamation, chorus, and orchestra. Other choral works were +the cantata _Natur und Liebe_ (‘Nature and Love’) for two sopranos, two +tenors, and two basses with pianoforte accompaniment, composed in 1818, +and the hymn _In seiner Ordung schafft der Herr_ (‘In constant order +works the Lord’) for solos, chorus, and orchestra, written in 1812. + +‘Jubilee Cantata.’--Weber was commissioned by Count Vitzthum in 1818 +to write a grand jubilee cantata for a court concert commemorating +the fiftieth anniversary of the reign of Friedrich August, king of +Saxony, on the 20th of September. The text was written by the poet +Friedrich Kind. Before it was completed, however, he was informed +that the work would not be required and that other plans had been +made. It has been intimated that this change came about through the +intrigues of his Italian rivals (he was then Court Musical Director at +Dresden). The cantata, however, was given in the Neustadt church for +the benefit of the needy peasants in the Hartz Mountains, with Weber +himself as conductor. While it is said that a _Jubel_ overture by +Weber was performed at the court concert, it is believed by the best +authorities that the famous _Jubel_ overture, now known the world over, +was entirely independent of the cantata and of later composition. As +the original text dealt with events in the life of the king, the work +was unsuited for general performance, hence a second text was later +supplied by Amadeus Wendt and the title changed to _Ernte-Cantate_ +(‘Harvest Cantata’). This is the version in common use at the present +time. Still another text was made by Hampdon Napier, and this was given +in London under the title of ‘The Festival of Peace’ shortly before +Weber’s death, the composer himself conducting. The cantata is written +for four solo voices, chorus, and orchestra. Joy at the fullness of the +harvest alternates with solemn thanksgiving and praise to the Giver +of all good for His bounty. A devotional spirit prevails throughout, +except in the ‘storm’ chorus, where a dramatic style appears. The +beautiful number for quartet and chorus, ‘Wreathe into garlands the +gold of the harvest,’ is frequently detached from the cantata and +performed separately. + +_Kampf und Sieg_ (‘Battle and Victory’).--While Weber was in Munich +in June, 1815, the victory of the allies at Waterloo was announced. +The city was at once filled with rejoicing and a large crowd gathered +at St. Michael’s Church to hear a _Te Deum_. Weber, who was present, +conceived the idea of a grand cantata to commemorate the victory and +he laid the matter before the poet Wohlbrück, whom he had met the same +day. Wohlbrück at once shared the composer’s enthusiasm and by the +first of August the text was ready. The cantata was brought to a first +performance in Prague on December 22d and made a deep impression, not +so much by its musical worth as by its appeal to patriotic ardor and by +the stirring military character of its vivid battle-descriptions. Weber +resorted to the same elements of rather vulgar realism which Beethoven +invoked in his ‘Wellington’s Victory’--the noises and crash of battle +and national melodies to designate the fighting hosts. Amid the roar of +cannon, the cries of the wounded, and the shouts of the soldiers can +be heard the revolutionary melody _Ça ira_ from the advancing French, +‘God save the King’ from the English, while the stirring strains of +the Austrian and Prussian grenadier marches and the refrain from +Weber’s own patriotic song, _Lützow’s wilde Jagd_, swell the volume of +tumultuous sound from the victorious allies. The cantata is written for +four solo voices, chorus, and orchestra. Faith (bass), Love (soprano), +and Hope (tenor) appear in the lyrical portions of the work; the middle +section is given over entirely to the battle scene and the whole closes +with a stately chorus, _Herr Gott, Dich loben wir_. + + * * * * * + +While Franz Schubert (1797-1828) essayed nearly every musical form, +it is as the creator and perfecter of the German art-song that he +takes his place among the great and mighty ones of music. His supreme +gift as a melodist and song-writer is at once apparent in all of his +works. In choral fields he wrote considerable church music and several +smaller works, of which the only one of large importance is _Miriam’s +Siegesgesang_ (‘The Song of Miriam’). Among the others are the +Ninety-second Psalm for baritone solo and mixed chorus (written in 1828 +for the synagogue at Vienna); the Twenty-third Psalm for four voices +(quartet, or male or female chorus) with pianoforte accompaniment, +easy, grateful and song-like in character; two hymns, _Herr unser Gott_ +and _An dem Heiligen Geist_, the latter for eight-part male chorus +and orchestra; and _Glaube, Hoffnung und Liebe_ (‘Faith, Hope, and +Charity’) for mixed chorus and wood-wind instruments, written in 1816. + +_Miriam’s Siegesgesang._--This noble cantata, known in English as +‘The Song of Miriam’ or ‘Miriam’s War Song,’ was composed by Schubert +in March, 1828, the last year of his short life. It was written for +soprano solo and chorus to Grillparzer’s lines paraphrasing the part of +the sixteenth chapter of Exodus that sets forth Miriam’s thanksgiving +for the escape of the Israelites and the people’s song of triumph +as they rejoice over their own deliverance and the destruction of +the pursuing Egyptians. Schubert left it with only a pianoforte +accompaniment, though intending to score it for orchestra. What death +prevented him from doing was supplied a year or two later by his friend +Franz Lachner, who at the time was kapellmeister at the Kärnthnerthor +Theatre in Vienna. The date of its first performance is in doubt. +Nottebohm gives it as January 30, 1829, the occasion being a benefit +concert to raise funds for a monument in memory of the composer. A +spirited solo and chorus (‘Strike the cymbals’) opens the work. This +is followed by a graceful song in which the Lord is described as a +shepherd leading his people out of Egypt. In the next number the awe of +the Israelites is depicted as they pass unharmed through the divided +waters, while Pharaoh’s hosts are engulfed behind them. The sea becomes +calm again and the first chorus is repeated, closing with a majestic +fugue (‘Mighty is the Lord at all times’). Though the cantata is short, +it is replete with passages of enduring charm. + + * * * * * + +Ludwig Spohr (1784-1859), the celebrated violinist and composer of +instrumental music and operas in a style intermediate between the old +classical and the new romantic schools, left much choral music which, +however, has quite largely lost its early vogue. In the shorter forms +are three psalms for solos and double chorus; the Twenty-fourth Psalm +for solos and chorus with pianoforte; the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth +Psalm for solos and chorus with organ or pianoforte; the Eighty-fourth +Psalm (Milton) for solos, chorus, and orchestra; two hymns--‘St. +Cecilia’ for soprano solo and chorus, and ‘God, thou art great’ (_Gott, +du bist gross_) for solos, chorus, and orchestra; and a patriotic +cantata, _Das befreite Deutschland_ (‘Free Germany’). + + + III + +Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847) was the first composer since +Handel to rival him in the mastery of choral forms. Gifted and genial +as he is in other fields, it is here that he has left the most enduring +evidence of his genius. His fine contrapuntal training and his splendid +mastery over all the technical resources of polyphonic writing made +choral forms especially agreeable to his natural and developed gifts. +In general form his choral works follow Handelian models, but his +melodies are far more glowing and his harmonies far richer and of +warmer texture. Most of his smaller choral works fall under the head +of church music. These comprise several anthems and other ritual-music +for the Anglican service, the fruit of his long and intimate relations +with English musical life, some fine motets (especially the three +for female voices written in 1830 for the convent of _Trinità de’ +Monti_ in Rome, namely, _Veni Domine_, _Laudate Pueri_, and _Surrexit +Pastor_, and the great eight-part motet, ‘Judge me, O God’), several +compositions for the Berlin Cathedral, hymns, and nine psalms. He is +the first composer in the nineteenth century to give to the psalm the +same breadth and seriousness of treatment accorded to the larger choral +forms. They rise to the dignity of important works, though all are not +equally beautiful. They are: Psalms 115 (‘Not unto us, O Lord’) and 95 +(‘O come let us worship’) for solos, chorus, and orchestra; Psalm 114 +(‘When Israel out of Egypt came’) for eight-part chorus and orchestra; +Psalm 98 (‘Sing to the Lord’) for eight-part chorus and orchestra, +written for the festival service in the Berlin Cathedral on New Year’s +Day, 1844; Psalm 42 (‘As the hart pants’) for soprano solo, chorus, +and organ; Psalms 2, 22, and 47 for eight-part _a cappella_ chorus, +written for the Berlin Cathedral; and Psalm 13 (‘Lord, how long wilt +Thou forget me’) for alto solo and chorus. The 42d and 95th are the +finest of the psalms; the others are seldom performed now. The hymn, +‘Hear my prayer,’ for soprano solo, chorus, and organ, closing with +the familiar ‘O for the wings of a dove,’ is one of the most beautiful +of Mendelssohn’s devotional inspirations, and has enjoyed, and still +enjoys, great popularity with both choirs and choral societies. + +‘The First Walpurgis Night.’--While Mendelssohn was travelling in +Italy in 1831 he composed music to Goethe’s poem ‘The First Walpurgis +Night,’ the dramatic intensity of which made a deep impression on the +young composer; but it was not until February 2, 1843, that it was +publicly performed at Leipzig, and then much altered from the original +draft. St. Walpurgis, to whom May-day eve was dedicated, was an early +missionary who had brought Christianity to the Druids of Saxony. +The scene of the cantata is the summit of the Brocken and the time +May-day eve, when the Druids, taking advantage of the old Northern +myth that on this eve the witches hold high revels here, gather to +celebrate their rites, while their sentinels, disguised as demons, +scare away the Christians with wild gesticulations, clashes of arms, +and hideous noises. The music belongs to Mendelssohn’s most important +and significant work. The overture, graphically depicting the passage +from winter to spring, is followed by a tenor solo and a chorus of +Druids, breathing the atmosphere of spring. Next comes a dramatic +alto solo, uttering a warning, and after it a stately exhortation by +the Druid priest. There ensues a whispering chorus, portraying the +sentinels as they quietly take their places. A guard then discloses +the plan for frightening away intruders. This leads to a chorus in +which the composer uses most grotesque musical effects, both vocal and +instrumental, to picture the infernal scene. This weird chaos gives way +to an impressive hymn for bass solo and chorus. Following this comes +the terrified cry of the Christians, who are driven away, while the +Druids and their priest chant a closing hymn of praise. + +‘As the Hart Pants.’--Mendelssohn’s setting of the Forty-second Psalm +was first presented at a Gewandhaus concert in Leipzig in 1838. It is +smaller in form than the ‘Walpurgis Night,’ but is symmetrical and +artistic. A sustained introduction leads to a chorus, tender and full +of passionate longing, ‘As the hart pants after the water brooks, so +panteth my soul for Thee, O God,’ in which the highest point among +the choral portions of the work is reached. A beautiful adagio melody +is given out by the oboe and repeated as a soprano solo, ‘For my soul +thirsteth for God.’ The third number, ‘My tears have been my meat,’ +given as a soprano recitative, leads to a march-like chorus for women’s +voices, ‘For I had gone with the multitude.’ The male voices then sing +in unison ‘Why, my soul, art thou cast down?’ and the female voices +answer, ‘Trust thou in God.’ A pathetic soprano recitative follows, +beginning ‘O my God! My soul is cast down within me.’ The eighth number +is sung by a male quartet with string accompaniment, ‘The Lord will +command His loving-kindness in the daytime,’ a beautiful response full +of hope and consolation; while through it is heard the saddening strain +of the soprano. The closing full chorus repeats the fourth number, +‘Trust thou in God,’ more elaborately developed, and ending in a pæan +of praise to God. This Psalm-cantata is one of the finest as well as +most frequently performed of Mendelssohn’s shorter choral works and +breathes throughout a deeply religious feeling couched in terms of +refined romantic sentiment. + +‘Come Let Us Sing’ (95th Psalm).--The first performance of this psalm, +which is written for tenor solo, chorus, and orchestra, took place at +Leipzig on February 21, 1839. It opens with a solo, ‘O come, let us +worship,’ the theme of which is immediately taken up and developed by +the chorus in jubilant tone, but which sinks at the end to a quiet +mood. A solo soprano voice then enunciates the words, ‘Come, let us +sing to the Lord,’ and this theme is treated fugally by the chorus +in a joyous allegro movement, closing with a strong two-part canon +in the octave for the male and female voices. The third number is a +graceful duet, ‘In His hands,’ for two sopranos, which is followed by +a stately fugal chorus, ‘For His is the sea,’ at the end of which the +opening section of the first chorus appears with antiphonal phrases +for the tenor solo. The original setting closes with the fifth number, +‘Henceforth, when ye hear His voice,’ for solo and chorus, a movement +of fine contrapuntal workmanship, closing with softest tones to the +pleading words, ‘Turn not deaf ears and hard hearts.’ An additional +number was left by Mendelssohn, written a few weeks after the first +performance, with the evident purpose of bringing the psalm to a more +complete finish. It consists of another choral setting of the words, +‘For His is the sea,’ in which the theme from the first number again +plays an important part and an atmosphere of joy and majestic power is +maintained throughout. + +_Lauda Sion_ (‘Praise Jehovah’), one of Mendelssohn’s most beautiful +cantatas, for four solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, was written for +the celebration of the Festival of Corpus Christi by the Church of St. +Martin at Liège, where it was performed June 11, 1846, the composer +himself being present. The _Lauda Sion_ is a sequence (see page 15) +written by Thomas Aquinas about 1264 and is regularly sung at High Mass +on this Feast. There is a short introduction and the announcement of +the theme _Lauda Sion_ leads to a chorus _Laudis thema_, of devotional +character. In the _Sit laus plena_, phrases sung by the soprano are +repeated by the chorus. Then follows a beautiful quartet, _In hac +mensa_. A solemn chorale in unison leads to a charming soprano arioso, +_Caro cibus_. The seventh and last number is an intensely dramatic solo +and chorus, set to the closing lines of the well-known hymn. This is +Mendelssohn’s only excursion into the Catholic liturgy. + +‘The Gutenberg Festival Cantata.’--Mendelssohn wrote this short +festival cantata for the fourth centennial celebration of the invention +of printing, observed at Leipzig, June 24, 1840, by the unveiling +of Gutenberg’s statue in the public square. The text was written by +Adolphus Prölsz, a teacher in the Gymnasium at Freiberg. A stately +chorale leads to ‘Fatherland! within thy confines,’ a song[68] written +in memory of Gutenberg. Next comes a spirited melody for tenors, ‘And +God said, "Let there be Light,"’ followed by a closing chorale, ‘Now, +thank God all.’ + +‘Antigone.’--The incidental music to Sophocles’ _Antigone_ was +composed in 1841 in the short space of eleven days, and was privately +presented at Potsdam before William IV of Prussia and his court, +October 28. Its first public performance was at Leipzig, March 5, 1842. +It was written for male chorus and orchestra and consists of seven +numbers. Although built along modern lines, Mendelssohn’s felicitous +music faithfully represents the spirit of the ancient Greek tragedy. + +‘Œdipus at Colonos.’--At the command of the king of Prussia, from whom +Mendelssohn had received the commission of chapel-master in 1841, the +music to this tragedy by Sophocles was composed in 1843 and its first +presentation took place at Potsdam November 1, 1845. The music, sung by +two male choruses antiphonally, embraces nine choral numbers, preceded +by a short introduction. The third number, closing with an invocation +to Neptune by the united choruses, is the gem of the work and has few +equals in effective choral writing. It is frequently heard in detached +form on the concert stage. + + + IV + +The early romantic movement attracted to itself no more enthusiastic +disciple and energetic exponent than Hector Berlioz (1803-1869). +Indeed, he was one of the earliest and at the same time one of the most +extreme of the romanticists. Eccentric, impatient of formalism of any +kind, but gifted with an intensely vivid imagination and a prodigious +sense of color, he possessed a creative force of great originality +and spontaneity, whose effectiveness, however, was frequently marred +by its extravagance of expression. Endowed with an insatiable desire +to interline all music with some kind of a descriptive or narrative +purpose, he gave a tremendous impetus to ‘program music.’ In attempting +to find an effective medium for descriptive effort in striving after +the fantastic, he mightily developed the resources of the orchestra +and became the real founder of the modern science of orchestration; +moreover, he used his orchestra as eloquently in his choral +masterpiece, ‘The Damnation of Faust,’ as in his symphonic works. +His choral-writing came under the same romantic spell of liberation +from formalism as did his instrumental inspirations. His ‘Faust’ is +not only the first choral work, but almost the only one until near +the end of the nineteenth century, in which the romantic ideal wholly +dominates both choral and instrumental forces. If some of the choral +numbers suffer in comparison with present-day choral treatment, this +is not because of any difference of viewpoint, but because of the +inadequacy, which one sometimes feels, of the purely musical vocabulary +at his command to express fully what he felt. He frequently used the +chorus, as did Beethoven in the ‘Ninth Symphony,’ as an adjunct to his +symphonic works, but in distinctly choral forms, he left, in addition +to the ‘Faust’ and the works mentioned in Chapter VIII, the cantata +_La mort de Sardanapale_, which was completed amid the uproar of the +July Revolution, 1830, and with which he won the Grand Prix de Rome +the same year; the cantata _Le cinq mai_ for bass solo, chorus, and +orchestra, written in 1834 for the anniversary of Napoleon’s death; the +cantata _L’Impériale_, written in 1855 for the Paris Exhibition; _Sara +la Baigneuse_, a choral ballad; three youthful cantatas, _La révolution +grecque_ (1826), _Herminie_ (1828), and _La mort de Cléopatre_ (1829); +and a few occasional choruses and choral ballads. + +‘The Damnation of Faust.’--This ‘dramatic legend,’ as the composer +calls it, is the aftermath of an early and immature work, ‘Eight Scenes +from Faust’ (published in 1829 as opus 1), and was composed in 1845 +and ‘46, part of it here and there while on a concert tour in Austria +and Hungary, the rest in Paris. Its first performance took place at +the Opéra-Comique, Paris, December 6, 1846, under the direction of +the composer, before a wretchedly small audience and without success. +In Germany it was produced at the Royal Opera House, Berlin, June +19, 1847, Berlioz conducting. Though parts of it were frequently +given in England, the first complete performance did not take place +until February 5, 1880, at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, when +Charles Hallé conducted it. In New York a few days later, on February +12th, it had its first American hearing under the direction of Dr. +Leopold Damrosch with the combined Oratorio and Arion Societies. ‘The +Damnation of Faust’ is undoubtedly Berlioz’s masterpiece and sums +up the best qualities of his exuberant and fantastic style. Both +instrumental and choral parts are overlaid with a wealth of romantic +and poetic coloring, the orchestration is dazzling, and the chorus is +brilliantly handled. Many of its most beautiful and effective numbers +were retained almost without alteration from his earlier ‘Eight Scenes +from Faust’--the work of a youth of twenty-five years. These include +the scene where Faust is lulled to sleep by the sylphs, the peasants’ +song, the songs of the rat and the flea, the King of Thule ballad, and +Mephistopheles’ serenade. + +The work, which has the dimensions of an oratorio, is divided into +four parts, the first of which contains three scenes, the second +five, the third six, and the fourth six, concluding with a short +epilogue and the apotheosis of Marguerite. The persons represented are +Marguerite (mezzo-soprano), Faust (tenor), Mephistopheles (bass), and +Brander (bass). The story does not closely follow Goethe’s version, +as the opening scene discloses Faust alone at sunrise on a plain in +Hungary, where Berlioz places him in order to have the opportunity of +introducing the Hungarian national march. He sings in tender strain +of the joys of spring and the delights of nature, but his reverie is +disturbed by a rollicking chorus and dance of peasants. From another +part of the plain come warlike sounds of an advancing army to the +stirring and brilliant music of the Rákóczy March. The troops pass and +Faust retires, unmoved by the scene. The second part opens with Faust +in North Germany, alone in his study. He voices his discontent with +the world; as he is on the point of drowning his sorrow with poison, +the tones of the Easter Hymn (‘Christ is risen from the dead’) strike +his ear. He listens in wonderment to the joyful strains and at the +end joins in the stately chorus. Repentant and exalted, he resolves +to begin anew, when Mephistopheles suddenly appears and mockingly +exclaims, ‘Sweet sentiments indeed and fit for any saint!’ Faust is +entrapped by his promises and they disappear. The next scene finds +them in Auerbach’s cellar in Leipzig amid a band of carousing students +who sing a lusty drinking song (‘Oh, it is rare when winter’s storms +are loudly roaring’). There follows the drunken Brander’s song of the +rat, at the end of which the irreverent students improvise an ironical +fugue on the word ‘Amen’ to a motive from the theme of Brander’s song. +Mephistopheles adds to the reckless merriment with the song of the flea +(‘Once on a time a king, sirs, loved a flea passing well’). Amid the +heavy bravos of the drunken students, Faust and Mephistopheles vanish, +to appear again in the next scene, the seventh, on the wooded meadows +on the banks of the Elbe. Mephistopheles sings a delightful melody +(‘Within these bowers’) and summons the spirits of earth and of air to +lull his companion to sleep. Faust slumbers while the gnomes and sylphs +sing a chorus of ravishing beauty (‘Dream, happy Faust’), closing with +an exquisitely delicate orchestral number in waltz-measure, the dance +of the sylphs. As they disappear, Faust wakes and relates his vision +of Marguerite. Mephistopheles agrees to lead him to her chamber and +on the way thither they join a band of jovial soldiers and students +marching along the street. The last scene of this part consists of +a lively soldiers’ chorus (‘Tower and wall may bar our way’) and a +characteristic Latin student-song (_Jam nox stellata_), the two being +cleverly combined at the end. + +The action of the third part takes place in Marguerite’s chamber. +Faust enters and sings passionately of his love for her (‘Oh, come, +calm breathing twilight’). Mephistopheles warns him of her approach +and hides him behind a curtain. She enters and in detached phrases +tells of her vision of Faust and her love for him. While preparing +for slumber, she sings the pathetic ballad, ‘Once in far Thule.’ As +its sad strains die away, Mephistopheles summons the evil spirits +and the will-o’-the-wisps to encircle her dwelling and lure her to +her doom. Then follows the lovely dance of the will-o’-the-wisps, an +orchestral minuet which Berlioz has enriched with many a masterly touch +of tonal realism. Mephistopheles sings his sardonic serenade (‘Why, +fair maid, wilt thou linger’), with frequent choral accompaniment +by the will-o’-the-wisps, each stanza closing with a derisive ‘Ha!’ +A trio (‘O purest maid’) of great dramatic power and passion brings +this part to a close. Faust and Marguerite avow their mutual love, +Mephistopheles warns them of approaching danger, while a chorus of +neighbors in the street taunts the hapless maiden. As the fourth part +opens, Marguerite, alone in her chamber, sings a sad, sweet romance, +‘Alone and heavy-hearted’ (Goethe’s familiar _Meine Ruh’ ist hin_), +at the end of which distant strains of the songs of the soldiers and +students are heard. The next scene is Faust’s solemn and powerful +invocation to Nature (‘Mysterious Nature! vast and relentless power!’). +Mephistopheles appears on the rocky scene, relates Marguerite’s crime +and imprisonment, and, playing upon Faust’s desire to rescue her, +makes him sign the contract that binds his soul to the Evil One. The +‘Ride to the Abyss’ now begins and Berlioz’s furious music, which +only for one short moment relaxes its impetuous galloping rhythm, +pictures with relentless realism the terrible scenes as the riders +pass horror-stricken peasants praying at the roadside, as they +draw into their train monstrous birds, hideous beasts, and leering +skeleton-phantoms. With a shout of triumph from Mephistopheles and a +cry of horror from Faust, they fall into the abyss, where they are +greeted by a chorus of devils (male voices), who sing in a language +invented for them by the imaginative Berlioz (_Has! Irimiru Karabrao_, +etc.). The glee and triumph of this fiendish host are uttered in +snarling tones of harshest discord, ‘the hellish laugh of fiends +exulting in their torture.’ These sounds of pandemonium are followed +by a short epilogue ‘On Earth,’ leading into an equally short one ‘In +Heaven,’ in which the seraphim plead for Marguerite. The whole work +closes with the ‘Apotheosis of Marguerite,’ in which the celestial +chorus (‘Thou ransomed soul, rest from thy sorrow!’) with joyful tones +welcomes the pardoned maiden to the realms of everlasting light. + + + V + +The achievements of Robert Schumann (1810-1856) in other fields +far outshone his choral works, yet the latter are by no means +inconsiderable in number or unimportant in quality and influence. But +he never mastered the technical details of effective choral-writing as +did Mendelssohn. Sonorous and glowing as many of his choruses are, his +choral works, even the finest one, ‘Paradise and the Peri,’ make their +strongest appeal through the beauty and melodic charm of the solos and +their orchestral accompaniments. He wrote nothing that could strictly +be called church-music though his compositions include a Mass and a +Requiem. Several of his works besides these, however, can be classed +as sacred music. They are the ‘Advent Hymn,’ ‘New Year’s Song,’ and a +motet (_Verzweifle nicht_) for double male chorus and organ (1849). +His secular choral works are numerous, the most important of which are +given detailed mention below. In addition there are the two ballads by +Uhland for solos, chorus, and orchestra, ‘The King’s Son’ and ‘The Luck +of Edenhall’ (for male voices); ‘The Page and the King’s Daughter,’ a +ballad by Geibel written for solos, chorus, and orchestra; a beautiful +setting of Hebbel’s ‘Song of Night’ for chorus and orchestra; and a +number of romances and ballads, among the best-known of which is ‘Gypsy +Life.’ He also wrote incidental music to Byron’s ‘Manfred’ and a set +of scenes (grouped into three parts) from Goethe’s ‘Faust,’ the latter +intended, not for stage performance, but for concert. Some portions of +his ‘Faust’ music are quite equal to ‘Paradise and the Peri’ in melodic +beauty and in freshness and sustained power of invention, but the work +is uneven, the third part being by far the best. + +‘Paradise and the Peri’ was Schumann’s first venture in the field of +choral forms with orchestra, yet it is not only his finest choral +work, but it marks the real beginning of the secular or ‘romantic’ +oratorio as a form of equal worth and importance with the sacred +oratorio. He published it, however, without giving any classifying +name to its form. The constant use of a narrator seems to ally it to +passion-music, as far as its form is concerned, but in other respects, +notwithstanding its length, it resembles the dramatic secular cantata. +In treating the narrative parts, however, Schumann abandons the older +form of recitative and gives to these connecting links almost the same +melodic importance as to the main events of the story themselves, thus +sacrificing an opportunity for much needed contrast among the vocal +elements. + +‘Paradise and the Peri’ was written in 1843 and was given its first +performance at the Gewandhaus, Leipzig, on December 4th of the same +year with the composer conducting. England heard the work for the +first time June 23d, 1856, with Mme. Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt singing +the part of the Peri and Sterndale Bennett conducting. Schumann found +his text in the second poem of Thomas Moore’s ‘Lalla Rookh,’ which he +followed very closely. This deals with the beautiful Hindoo legend of +the fallen Peri, banished from paradise, who is promised readmission +if she succeeds in finding the gift ‘most dear to Heaven.’ She brings +in succession the last drop of blood shed by a hero fighting for his +country’s liberty, the last sigh of a devoted maiden who sacrificed +herself to die by the side of her plague-stricken lover, and the tear +of a repentant sinner--which last precious gift alone can move the +crystal bar that closes the gate of light. These three quests for +the coveted gift constitute the three parts into which the work is +divided. The music has many touches of oriental color, but it breathes +throughout the warm romantic sentiment, in melody and harmony, which +was an inseparable part of Schumann’s individual style. The work +discloses some fine choral-writing, but the composer of _Frauenliebe +und-Leben_ and _Dichterliebe_ is conspicuously apparent in many an +exquisite song, the peers of anything Schumann has written. The persons +represented are the Peri (soprano), the angel (alto), the King of Gazna +(bass), the youth (tenor), the maiden (soprano), and the horseman +(baritone); the part of the narrator is distributed among various +voices. There are choruses of Hindoos, angels, houris, and genii of the +Nile. + +An expressive orchestral introduction is followed by the narrator +(alto), who describes the forlorn Peri at the gate of heaven. The +Peri sings a beautiful melody (‘How blest seem to me, banished child +of air!’), full of tender longing; the angel tells her how she may +again be admitted (‘One hope is thine’) and the Peri departs on her +quest, singing ‘I know the wealth hidden in every urn.’ The narrator +here introduces a quartet (‘Oh, beauteous land’), which is immediately +followed by a full chorus (‘But crimson now her rivers ran’). A +stirring march-like movement foretells the approach of the tyrant of +Gazna; choruses of Hindoos and the conquerors shout defiance at each +other; the narrator (tenor) tells of the solitary youth left fighting +for his native land; the tyrant and the youth face each other and utter +short defiant phrases; the youth shoots his last arrow, it misses its +mark and he is slain; and an eight-part chorus cries out in agonized +tones, ‘Woe! for false flew the shaft.’ The Peri saw the deed and flew +to catch the last drop of blood shed for liberty by the youthful hero. +The part closes with a chorus (‘For blood must be holy’), vigorous, +broad, exultant, in which the Peri finally joins. + +The second part opens with a tenderly expressive strain which +accompanies the narrator (tenor) as he tells of the return of the +Peri to heaven’s gate with her gift. A short solo for the angel +follows (‘Sweet is our welcome’), and the narrator describes the +disappointment of the Peri. Without any break in the music the scene +suddenly shifts to the banks of the Nile; the spirits of the river +in a pianissimo chorus weave their dainty strains around the lament +of the Peri (‘O Eden, how longeth for thee my heart’) which rises +ever higher and higher. The narrator (tenor) describes at length the +pestilence that afflicts Egypt’s land. The Peri weeps at the scene and +a solo quartet in beautiful phrases sings the magic power of tears. +From this point to the end of the second part there is an unbroken +stream of exquisite melody, as the pathetic scene is unfolded of the +faithful love of the maiden who gladly dies beside her plague-stricken +lover. It contains two of Schumann’s finest lyric inspirations--the +solo of the mezzo-soprano narrator (‘Poor youth, thus deserted’) and +the deeply-moving love-song of the dying maiden (‘Oh, let me only +breathe the air, love!’). The Peri sings a calm, sweet lament over +the bodies of the lovers (‘Sleep on’), in which the chorus joins, and +this beautiful part is brought to a reposeful close. A graceful chorus +of houris (‘Wreathe ye the steps to great Allah’s throne’) opens the +third part, in which chorus a pleasing canon for the first and second +sopranos is given an important place. The narration is taken up by the +tenor (‘Now morn is blushing in the sky’) in very melodious strain. The +angel in a short solo again announces that the gift must be far holier. +The Peri, full of anguish and disappointment but still not despairing, +in a long aria (‘Rejected and sent from Eden’s door’) voices her +determination to find the acceptable gift. The narrator, this time a +baritone, sings a lengthy but graceful melody (‘And now o’er Syria’s +rosy plain’), followed by a beautiful quartet of Peris (‘Say, is it +so?’). The baritone resumes the narrative, and, after a short solo by +the Peri, this is continued by a tenor who in a long and stirring song +describes a scene in Baalbec’s valley--an innocent child playing amid +the flowers, a weary, sin-stained horseman who pauses to drink from the +near-by fountain. The alto narrator pictures the vesper call to prayer +and the child’s instant response. The tenor dwells on the childhood +memories aroused in ‘the man of sin’ at the sight. The horseman in a +short but heartfelt strain (‘There was a time, thou blessed child’) +is touched to repentance. A quartet and chorus (‘Oh, blessed tears of +true repentance’) take up the theme in simple, full harmony. The Peri +and the tenor narrator describe the scene as the man and the child +kneel side by side in prayer. In the final number the Peri in exultant +tones (‘Joy, joy forever! My work is done’) sings her happiness at +having found the acceptable gift, and from a chorus of the blest there +resounds a glad welcome to the redeemed Peri (‘Oh, welcome mid the +blest!’). + +‘The Pilgrimage of the Rose’ was written for solos, chorus, and +orchestra in the spring of 1851 and first performed at Düsseldorf, May +6, 1852. It is founded on a fairy tale by Moritz Horn, the uninspiring +and weak text of which is probably responsible for the infrequent +performance of this cantata, though individual numbers are occasionally +given. The narrative calls for eight personages distributed among +the various voices and there are twenty-four numbers. The rather +commonplace story relates the wanderings of a rose, who, transformed +into a lovely maiden, tastes the joys of pure happiness among mortals. +The rose, which she must always carry with her, she finally gives to +her infant babe, and, as she dies, she is carried away by angels. Among +the most interesting numbers are the opening song in canon-form for +two sopranos (‘Of loving will the token’), the chorus of fairies (‘In +dancing’), a spirited male chorus (‘In the thick wood hast wandered’), +the duet (‘In the smiling valley’), and the two bridal choruses (‘Why +sound the horns so gaily?’ and ‘And now at the miller’s’). + +‘The Minstrel’s Curse,’ a work for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, +was written and first performed in 1852. It presents the familiar +Uhland ballad of the same name, adapted for the composer by Richard +Pohl. The original text is not closely followed and several other poems +by Uhland are introduced, such as _Die drei Lieder_, _Entsagung_, and +_Hohe Liebe_, the singing of which last-named song is made the occasion +that leads to the tragedy. The cantata opens with a description of +the castle and the proud king by the narrator, after which an alto +solo announces the advent of the minstrels. The youth sings a graceful +Provençal song and a chorus follows. The stern king angrily objects +to the tender themes chosen by the youth and the harper sings in +sterner mood. The queen plaintively requests more songs and the youth +and the harper again sing of spring and pleasure. The youth then +sings passionately of love and the harper and the queen join him in a +powerful trio that precedes the tragedy, after which the chorus carries +the narration to the end. + +‘Advent Hymn.’--This setting of a devotional hymn by Friedrich Rückert +for soprano solo, chorus, and orchestra, was made in 1848. It is a +short work with only seven numbers, but is broad and impressive in +style and is finely illustrative of Schumann’s best choral-writing. The +first number is a melodious solo (‘In lowly guise thy King appeareth’) +for soprano with answering passages for female chorus, which leads +into a strong five-part chorus (‘O King indeed, though no man hail +Thee’). This is followed by a soprano solo (‘When Thou the stormy sea +art crossing’), concluding with a quiet chorus for female voices. +The fourth number is introduced by a short section for male voices +(‘Thou Lord of grace and truth unfailing’), which is taken up at once +by full chorus in delicate pianissimo and interspersed with frequent +five-pulse measures. The fifth number is given to a quartet (‘Need is +there for Thyself, returning’), written in free imitative style. The +last two numbers are elaborate choruses to which a solo quartet is very +effectively joined. The close is massive and stately--a prayer that +Christ will quench all strife and bring peace and unity to the peoples +of the earth. + +Friedrich Rückert’s ‘New Year’s Hymn’ was set to music by Schumann +in 1849 for chorus and orchestra, with incidental solos for soprano, +alto, and bass. The theme is the familiar one of solemn retrospection +over the Old Year and hopeful anticipation for the New. The solo work +is slight, the weightier utterances being confided to the chorus. The +final chorus (‘O prince, waking throned for a year as of right’) is +particularly effective. Beginning in full, pianissimo harmony, it rises +to a jubilant close, in which appears the chorale ‘Now thank we all our +God,’ at first in the bass contrapuntally treated and then with all the +voices in unison. + +‘Mignon’s Requiem’ is a cantata of slight and delicate texture, but of +rich and varied musical beauty. Very different from many of the texts +which Schumann chose for choral settings, this one was especially +written for music. It is taken from Goethe’s ‘Wilhelm Meister,’ from +the scene in which the obsequies of Mignon occur. The score is full of +poetic and mystical touches from the first quiet chorus (‘Who comes to +join our silent assembly?’) to the last triumphant chorus (‘Children, +haste into life to return’). The work was composed in 1849 for solos, +chorus, and orchestra, but the duties of the soloists are light. + + + VI + +The list of choral works of Ferdinand Hiller (1811-1885) is an +extensive one. The style in which many of them were written is now +obsolete, however, and only one, ‘A Song of Victory,’ has retained its +earlier popularity. Next in importance to this is the dramatic cantata, +‘Nala and Damayanti,’ founded on an ancient Hindoo poem and written in +1871. Other choral works are the two oratorios, ‘The Destruction of +Jerusalem’ (1839) and ‘Saul’ (1858), and the cantatas _O weint um sie_ +(1839), ‘Israel’s Song of Victory’ (1841), ‘Song of the Spirits over +the Water’ (1842), ‘Prometheus’ (1843), ‘Rebecca’ (1843), ‘Heloise’ +(1844), ‘Loreley’ (1845), and ‘Prince Papagei’ (1872). + +‘A Song of Victory.’--The triumph of the German arms in the +Franco-Prussian war of 1870 was the occasion that prompted the +composition of this cantata, and joy and gratitude for victory are +its dominant moods. It was written for soprano solo, chorus, and +orchestra, and the Cologne Festival of 1871 was the scene of its first +performance. The work opens with a powerful chorus (‘The Lord great +wonders for us hath wrought’) beginning with sustained chords, then +changing to a movement of great animation. The soprano voice takes up +the second number (‘Praise, O Jerusalem, praise the Lord’) and, as the +opening phrases are repeated, the chorus adds a soft accompaniment. +This is followed by a vigorous and dramatic chorus (‘The heathen are +fallen in the pit’), describing the terrors of war and, in contrast, +the strong confidence of true believers in the protection of the +Lord. A short soprano solo (‘See, it is written in the book of the +righteous’), lamenting for the slain, leads into a beautiful three-part +chorus for female voices (‘He in tears that soweth’), to which the +soprano obbligato is most effectively added. The sixth number (‘Mighty +is our God’) is a sustained chorus with massive chords. The last two +numbers are for solo and chorus and return to the exultant mood with +which the work begins, the last chorus (‘Praise the Lord for His great +wonders’) closing with an outburst of joy and hallelujah. + + * * * * * + +The first important contribution which Denmark made to the literature +of music in the larger forms came from the pen of Niels Wilhelm Gade +(1817-1890). Although his music shows strong traces of the influence +of Schumann and Mendelssohn, especially the latter, his best works +are virile, individual, and plainly affected by the harmonies and +cadences of the Scandinavian folk-song. Some of his most forceful and +characteristic utterances are to be found in choral forms and here +he followed Schumann’s example in choosing romantic subjects drawn +largely from imaginative and fanciful legends and folklore. Several of +the cantatas are chosen for analysis; the remaining ones are ‘Spring +Fantasy’ (1850), ‘Kalamus’ (1853), ‘Spring’s Message’ (1853) for chorus +and orchestra, and ‘Psyche’ (1856) for solos, chorus, and orchestra. + +‘The Crusaders’ is the first[69] secular choral work after ‘Paradise +and the Peri’ to compare in importance and in richness of content and +treatment with Schumann’s fine composition. It easily takes rank among +the strongest and most beautiful of nineteenth-century cantatas. It was +written in 1866 and performed in Copenhagen the same year. In 1876 Gade +conducted this work as well as his ‘Zion’ at the Birmingham Festival, +England. The central motive of the poem by Carl Andersen (much of whose +material is drawn from Tasso’s ‘Jerusalem Delivered’) is the temptation +of the brave crusader Rinaldo d’Este by the sorceress Armida and her +sirens and his triumph over the powers of evil. The personages are +three in number, Rinaldo (tenor), Armida (mezzo-soprano), and Peter +the Hermit (bass); and the work is divided into three parts--(1) In +the desert, (2) Armida, and (3) Towards Jerusalem. The first part +opens with a chorus of pilgrims and women from the crusaders’ host, +depicting the long, weary march and the sufferings in the struggle +to gain the distant goal. The encouraging voice of Peter the Hermit +is heard (‘Soon our God success will send us’) and Rinaldo sings the +stirring Crusaders’ Song (‘Shine, holy sun, shine on my trusty sword’), +to each stanza of which the chorus adds a vigorous, war-like refrain. +The Hermit leads the crusaders in an evening prayer of impressive +strength, beauty, and exalted devotion, and thus the first part +closes. The second part begins with a long orchestral introduction, +descriptive of the direful influence of Armida’s magic charms. The +spirits of darkness appear and, as they dance, sing a weird pianissimo +chorus (‘Silent, creeping so light’). In a fine dramatic solo Armida +outlines her plans for the ensnarement of Rinaldo. The sirens, in a +three-part chorus, sing a melody of truly wonderful sensuous beauty +(‘The wave sweeps my breast’) and their enticing voices are frequently +heard in the tumultuous music of the temptation scene that follows. +Armida sings in seductive tones ‘O Rinaldo, come to endless joy and +rest.’ The brave knight’s senses are enthralled and he is on the point +of yielding when he hears a strain of the Crusaders’ Song as from the +distance. A powerful concerted number is built up from this point. +Rinaldo wavers, the sturdy Crusaders’ Song and the voluptuous music of +the sirens and Armida struggle for the mastery. The former becomes more +insistent, the magic spell of the sorceress is broken, and Rinaldo, +now thoroughly roused, joins fervently in the crusaders’ refrain, ‘Of +heaven the faithful soldier am I ever.’ Like Wagner’s ‘Parsifal,’ with +which this cantata has many points in common, the first and third parts +of ‘The Crusaders’ build a religious frame for the vividly contrasting +temptation scene of the middle part. The third part is introduced by a +calm and devotional morning hymn of the crusaders, their faces fixed +toward Jerusalem. The penitent Rinaldo again vows allegiance to the +cross (‘With holy thoughts seek holy things’). His solo leads into +the choral March of Pilgrims (‘Forward! O weary feet’), stirring, +confident, and exalted. Jerusalem appears in the distance; the Hermit +calls the hosts to final combat, the Crusaders’ Song again resounds +triumphantly and the work closes with a brilliant choral climax (‘To +war! God wills it, up, arouse thee!’). + +‘The Erl-King’s Daughter.’--Gade composed the music for this cantata +in 1852, the text being founded on Danish legends quite different from +the one made famous by Goethe’s familiar poem. The knight, Sir Oluf, +has been bewitched by the Erl-King’s daughters as he slept in the +twilight on a mound in the forest. Notwithstanding the warning of his +mother, he fares forth on the eve of his wedding-day to seek again the +alluring maidens. They invite him with enticing songs to join their +moonlight revels and offer him a silken robe for his bride and a silver +cuirass for himself. He refuses to dance with the fairest of them, +she lays her hand upon his brow and predicts his death. He jumps on +his steed and madly rushes home, where his mother tremblingly awaits +him. In the morning light she sees him riding desperately through the +fields without plume or shield; he draws rein at the castle door, +briefly greets his terrified mother, and falls dead from his steed. A +short epilogue draws a moral that youths who ride through the woods at +night should turn aside from the Erl-King’s mound, for ‘danger will +ever him betide who heeds the Erl-maidens’ singing!’ There are three +solo voices--the Erl-King’s daughter (soprano), Sir Oluf (baritone), +and Oluf’s mother (alto). The music throughout is very melodious, +graceful, and pleasing. The most interesting numbers are the chorus of +Erl-maidens, the enticing song of the Erl-King’s daughter, the morning +hymn (‘The sun now mounts the eastern sky’) which opens the third part, +and the dramatic finale, a concerted number of much vigor and animation. + +‘Christmas Eve’ is a short meditation on the Nativity (poem by +August von Platen), set in cantata-form for alto solo, eight-part +chorus, and orchestra in 1851. A strongly devotional style is +maintained throughout. In the opening number a seraph (alto) bids +the hosts of angels to carry earthward the glad tidings of Christ’s +coming. The second number is a double chorus of seraphim (‘Behold, +a star appeareth’) and shepherds (‘Angelic hosts surround us’), +the two uniting in rich and varied combinations. The seraph, in a +solo of rare beauty (‘O! with pure devotion’), summons the world to +worship the Child, and the chorus softly sings its ‘praise to the +newly-born.’ The double chorus is handled antiphonally with great +skill and effectiveness. The final number (‘But now a cheerful morning +o’er-spreads the weary earth’) is a flowing, hymn-like melody for alto +solo, repeated in elaborated form for full eight-part chorus, but +sinking quietly to a reposeful close. + +‘Comala,’ the earliest of Gade’s choral works, was first performed at +Leipzig through Mendelssohn’s influence on March 3, 1843. The dramatic +poem to which the music is written follows Ossian and relates the story +of the Scottish princess Comala, daughter of Sarno, king of Innistore, +whose ardent passion for Fingal, king of Morven, was as ardently +returned. Disguised as a youth (in the manner of old Italian opera) +she follows him on an expedition against Caracul, king of Lochlin. +The royal lovers part before the battle, Fingal promising to return +victorious in the evening. Filled with sad forebodings, the princess +with her maidens awaits him on a height from which she can witness the +battle. A furious storm arises and amid its roaring blasts the spirits +of the warriors’ ancestors sweep by to guide home the souls of the +slain. Comala imagines that the battle is lost and her lover killed. +Overmastered by her grief, she dies, and Fingal, returning with his +victorious warriors, hears from the weeping maidens the news of the +tragedy. He sorrowfully calls upon the bards to sing her praises, and, +with the maidens, they chant a farewell hymn to her as her departing +soul is borne to the mansions of her fathers. Music and poetry alike +are tinged with the darksome northern colors. + +The solo work is distributed among four personages--Comala (soprano), +her two maidens Dersagrena and Malicoma (mezzo-sopranos), and Fingal +(bass). The graceful and, in the main, obvious character of the music +has made this cantata a great favorite for more than a half-century. +Many characteristic touches of northern harmony and melody are brought +to view, as in the orchestral introduction and in the songs of Comala +and the ballads sung by her maids to cheer her (‘There, lonely, sits +Comala’ and ‘One day there came from Lochlin’). The parting duet +between Fingal and Comala is melodious and sincere; but the main charm +of the work springs from the choruses, which are about equally divided +between Fingal’s warriors and Comala’s maidens. Of the male choruses +the one accompanying Fingal’s victorious return (‘Far fled is the foe’) +is particularly stately and forceful. The female chorus is used with +fine effect in the agitated scene of Comala’s fatal forebodings and +subsequent death. The chorus of spirits (‘Our pathway is the storm’) is +weird and sepulchral, but becomes dramatic as the frightened princess +raises her voice in supplication to spare her lover. The cantata closes +with a full chorus of bards and maidens (‘In the darkness of clouds’), +who, in imposing and majestic unison strains, rich in the sombre hues +of the northern splendor, commend the soul of ‘the sweet loving maiden’ +to the spirits of the fathers. + +‘Zion’ is a sacred cantata for baritone solo, chorus, and orchestra, +written in 1860 when Gade was at the height of his creative powers. +It consists of an introduction (‘Hear, O my flock Israel’) in which +the chorus relates how the Lord God heard the groanings and cries of +the children of Israel and wrought great wonders in their behalf. This +is followed by two choruses--the first describing the departure from +Egypt and closing with a tranquil fugal section (‘Like as a flock He +hath gently led His people’), and the second portraying the captivity +in Babylon. The final number, entitled ‘The Return,’ relates the +prophecy of the New Jerusalem. The baritone solo takes up the theme +in a dignified aria, followed by a female chorus and closing with an +animated full chorus (‘Never shall thy sun be setting’) in impressive, +sonorous phrases. The whole work is conceived in a broad oratorio style +in which the influence of both Handel and Mendelssohn may be detected. + +‘Spring’s Message,’ for chorus and orchestra, is based on a poem by +Geibel which depicts Spring as the season of hope, particularly of the +Christian’s hope. This mood is maintained throughout and the composer’s +gift of tuneful melody has thrown over voice-parts and accompaniment +alike a charm that well befits this joyous season. This short work was +written in 1853. + + + VII + +Félicien David (1810-1876) was a prominent French composer of the +nineteenth century who attained his maximum popularity in the fifties. +Though he wrote numerous operas and compositions in various other +fields, he is one of those composers whom posterity has remembered +almost entirely by a single work, in this case, ‘The Desert,’ a +composition of singular beauty and charm. While a comparatively +young man David had sojourned for several years in the East, in +Constantinople, Egypt, and the Holy Land, and his experiences there +made an indelible impression upon his talents. The form of ‘The Desert’ +is rather hard to classify. The composer calls it a ‘symphonic ode.’ +It consists of orchestral numbers, male choruses, and tenor solos, +grouped into three parts and interspersed with short descriptive +recitations. The poem by Auguste Colin, which forms the text of the +work, made an instant appeal to David and the very spontaneous music +for it was composed in three months. When it was first performed in +the hall of the Conservatoire, December 8, 1844, it was received with +enormous applause and was repeated to crowded houses for a month. The +popular estimate then placed upon it has been largely confirmed by its +long-continued popularity. David wrote three other choral works--the +oratorio ‘Moses on Sinai’ (1846), a second symphonic ode, ‘Christopher +Columbus’ (1847), and ‘Eden,’ a ‘mystery’ in two parts, performed at +the Grand Opéra in 1848--but none of these received popular approval. + +‘The Desert.’--The theme of the work on which David’s fame +chiefly rests is the desert with its silent vastness, its gloom, and +its grandeur. The human interest is centred on a caravan in various +situations, in the description of which the composer, with remarkable +success, invokes genuine local color; his Arabs are no mere disguised +Frenchmen. Throughout the orchestral introduction a sustained C +symbolizes the dreary monotony of the boundless stretches of sand; a +fantastic hymn of homage to Allah is sung; the march of the caravan is +brilliantly depicted, first by the orchestra and then by the chorus; +the caravan battles with a fierce simoon; calm is restored and the +march is resumed until evening halts it. The second part, entitled +‘Night,’ opens with a charming tenor solo (‘O night, O lovely night’), +after which the orchestra plays an ‘Arab Fantasia’ and a ‘Dance of the +Dancing Girls.’ The chorus sings of freedom in the desert and the tenor +indulges in an evening meditation, to an accompaniment in Oriental +rhythm. The third part (‘Sunrise’) begins with a chant of the muezzin, +founded on a real Arabian melody, calling the faithful to prayer, and +then the caravan departs on its journey, to the choral music heard in +the first part. The opening hymn to Allah, with some modifications, +brings the work to a close. The Oriental atmosphere is preserved +throughout to an astonishing degree. + + + [Illustration: Cantata Writers of the Nineteenth Century: + Top: Ferdinand Hiller and Félicien David + Bottom: Niels W. Gade and W. Sterndale Bennett] + + +It will be observed that the Germans have been given by far the most +numerous representation among the choral works thus far mentioned, +there being among them compositions by only three composers of other +nationalities--Gade, a Dane, and Berlioz and David, both Frenchmen. +This numerical difference represents a fair statement of the relative +importance of choral music in continental countries in the period +under present discussion (that is, from 1800 to about 1870). In France +choral music was entirely overshadowed in artistic significance by the +opera, as, indeed, were all other forms of music. The list of German +composers of cantatas and shorter choral works might be even still +further extended by the inclusion of Robert Franz (1815-1892), the +writer of exquisitely refined songs, who also composed the 117th Psalm +for double chorus _a cappella_, a Kyrie for four-part chorus and solos +_a cappella_, and a Liturgy for the Evangelical service; and Franz Abt +(1819-1885), chiefly known by ballads of a folk-song character and a +large number of cantatas for female voices and male voices, all written +in an easy, flowing, popular style. + +In England, cantatas, especially those based on some story or legend, +have long been exceedingly popular. The love of choral music has been a +national characteristic of the English people for over two centuries. +As early as the seventeenth century choral festivals were organized +by various cathedral choirs acting conjointly. The celebration of St. +Cecilia’s day was made the occasion of some of the earliest of these +festivals and ‘The Musical Society’ was organized in London in 1683 in +order to conduct them on a more artistic basis. Musical festivals and +associations were later formed in the provinces and grew into great +favor. As time went on these assumed large dimensions and exerted +an artistic influence as in no other country. Some of those now in +existence are extremely old, as the ‘Festivals of the Three Choirs’ +of Gloucester, Worcester, and Hereford, organized in 1724, and the +Birmingham Festival, begun in 1768 by a series of concerts made up +almost exclusively of Handel’s works. The tremendous popularity of +Handel’s choral works in England not only resulted in the extension of +the Handel worship which continued unabated until the frequent visits +of Mendelssohn attracted much of its enthusiasm to his own superb +oratorios, but caused a substantial increase in the number of choral +societies throughout the kingdom. These societies have been unusually +generous in giving native works abundant hearing and English composers +were not slow to take advantage of the opportunities thus offered. +English choral works, therefore, constitute a formidable array. From +the time of Purcell until the present generation of composers, however, +very few works have been produced that rise much above the general +level of mere respectability or amiable reflection of Handelian and +Mendelssohnian models that seems to be the chief characteristic of +English choral music of the period thus bounded. Indeed, English choral +works produced in this period before 1850 are practically a negligible +quantity in the literature of this branch of musical art. But among +English composers who were active in this field in the third quarter of +the nineteenth century there are several who deserve special mention; +these are Sir Julius Benedict, Sir Michael Costa, Sir George A. +Macfarren, Sir William Sterndale Bennett, and Henry Smart. + +Julius Benedict (1804-1885), an eminent German who made England his +home during the last fifty years of his life, contributed frequently +and successfully to the Norwich Festivals, of which he was the +conductor from 1845 to 1878, inclusive. Here in 1860 his beautiful +cantata ‘Undine’ was performed, in which the famous singer Clara +Novello made her last public appearance. In 1863 at the same festival +his cantata ‘Richard Cœur de Lion’ was produced and in 1866 ‘The +Legend of St. Cecilia.’ The cantata ‘Graziella,’ intended for the +Norwich Festival of 1881 but not completed in time, was produced at +the Birmingham Festival of 1882. Of these cantatas, ‘The Legend of +St. Cecilia’ is the most important. The poem, written by the English +critic and author Henry F. Chorley, presents four characters--Cecilia +(soprano), her husband, Valerianus (tenor), the Prefect of Rome (bass), +and a Christian Woman (contralto)--and choruses of Roman citizens, +Christians, and angels. It sets forth the wedding festivities, the +conversion of Valerianus to Christianity by the angelic vision through +Cecilia’s prayers, the discovery of his defection by the angry prefect +of Rome who had just joined them in wedlock, his trial, the parting and +finally the death of the pair--Valerianus by being beheaded and Cecilia +by the slow martyrdom of the stake. + +Michael Costa (1808-1884), an Italian composer and conductor who lived +in England after 1830, was closely identified with English choral +music as conductor of the Birmingham Festivals from 1849 to 1882, as +conductor of the Sacred Harmonic Society and the Handel Festivals +from 1857 to 1880, in which latter capacity he wrote additional +accompaniments to most of Handel’s oratorios, and as composer of two +important oratorios which will be mentioned in a later chapter, and +of several shorter choral works. His serenata, ‘The Dream,’ which was +written to a poem by William Bartholomew for the marriage festivities +of the Princess Royal of England to Prince Frederick William of +Prussia, afterward Emperor Frederick, is a short and delightfully +melodious composition for four solo voices, chorus, and orchestra. +Oberon (bass) commands the fairies to prepare a car for Queen Mab +(alto), who charms the eyes and ears of The Lady (soprano) so that +she may in her dreams see the form and hear the tones of adoration of +‘her beloved lover’ (tenor). The principal numbers are a dainty and +bright chorus of fairies (‘Make the car of a golden king-cup’), an +impassioned serenade by the lover (‘O the joy of truly loving’), and a +closing choral serenade (‘Lady, arise! look forth and see’), tuneful +and sparkling. + +George Alexander Macfarren (1813-1887) was one of the most +distinguished and scholarly English musicians of the nineteenth +century. He was a prolific composer in many fields and in none was he +more successful than in choral-writing. His operas, oratorios, and +cantatas are numerous, and in the last-named group his important works +are ‘Leonora,’ composed in 1851; ‘May-Day,’ written for the Bradford +Festival, 1856; ‘Christmas,’ written in 1859 and first performed at a +concert of the Musical Society of London on May 9, 1860; ‘The Lady of +the Lake,’ founded on Scott’s poem and produced at the Glasgow Musical +Festival, November 15, 1876; ‘Songs in a Cornfield,’ written in 1868 +for female voices to words by Christina Rossetti; and ‘Outward Bound’ +(1877). John Oxenford, a popular librettist of the period, furnished +the texts for ‘Christmas,’ ‘May-Day,’ and ‘Outward Bound.’ + +‘May-Day,’ for soprano solo, chorus, and orchestra, is a brief cantata +full of the jollity of this old-time festival, with its ancient +ceremony of choosing the May-Queen and the accompanying rustic revels. +It contains many examples of the quaint style of part-writing prevalent +in the preceding century, among them the delightful part-song ‘The +Hunt’s up.’[70] ‘The Lady of the Lake’ is a work of large dimensions +demanding five solo voices--Ellen, the Lady of the Lake (soprano), +Blanche of Devan (contralto), James FitzJames, the Knight of Snowdoun +(tenor), Roderick Dhu (baritone), and James, Earl of Douglas (bass). +The most interesting music in this cantata is assigned to the chorus, +and here the composer demonstrates his fine ability in effective +part-writing, at the same time introducing many touches borrowed from +the idiom of Scottish folk-melodies. + +Henry Smart (1813-1879) was one of the earliest of the modern English +composers to come under the influence of the romantic movement. He +is most widely known for his part-songs, organ music, and anthems +and other Anglican ritual-music, but his best work is the cantata +‘The Bride of Dunkerron.’ He produced several other cantatas of less +merit--‘King René’s Daughter’ (1871) and ‘The Fishermaidens,’ both for +female voices, and the sacred cantata ‘Jacob,’ written for the Glasgow +Festival and performed there November 10th, 1873. + +‘The Bride of Dunkerron’ was written for the Birmingham Festival of +1864. The poem by Frederick Enoch is founded on a legend concerning a +Lord of Dunkerron, whose castle was on the coast of Kerry, who fell in +love with a sea-maiden and followed her to her watery home. She seeks +the Sea-King’s consent to their union, which he not only refuses to +give but condemns her to death for loving a mortal and drives her lover +from his realm by a tempest which casts his body upon the shores. There +are solo parts for the Sea-Maiden (soprano), Dunkerron (tenor), and +the Sea-King (bass). The solos are numerous and uniformly grateful, +the most conspicuous ones being Dunkerron’s simple but charming song +as he waits on the seashore for the maiden’s appearing (‘The full moon +is beaming’), the Sea-King’s aria (‘Oh, the earth is fair in plain +and glade’), and the maiden’s graceful song (‘Our home shall be on +this bright isle’) which she sings as she departs to win the consent +of the Sea-King. The chorus has important work to do and Smart shows +conspicuous skill in handling this factor. The opening number is in +reality a double chorus of peasants who tell of Dunkerron’s nightly +watch by the sea, and sea-maidens who sing the enticing songs that +prove to be his undoing. After the long love-duet between Dunkerron +and the maiden, there ensues a brisk and stirring chorus which +depicts the journey of the lovers through the waters to the maiden’s +dwelling-place. The sea-maidens sing several attractive choruses and a +chorus of storm-spirits (‘Roar, wind of the tempest, roar’) foretells +the impending tragedy and leads to a dramatic trio for the three +characters. The king’s angry edict dooms the lovers and the double +chorus of peasants and sea-maidens closes the work as it began it, but +the mood is now one of sad lament over the tragic dénouement. + +‘King René’s Daughter’ is a cantata for female voices, written in +1871. The poem by Frederick Enoch is based on a lyric drama by Henrik +Hertz. King René, of Provence, had betrothed his infant daughter +Iolanthe to the son of the Count of Vaudemont. She became suddenly +blind before she had emerged from babyhood, and, in order to keep from +her the realization of her loss, her father brought her up without +any knowledge of what sight means. A magician offered to restore her +sight, making only the one condition that she first be told of the +lost faculty, but this her father refused to do. One day her betrothed +passed through the valley where she dwelt, singing his troubadour +songs. He beheld Iolanthe for the first time and was fascinated by +her beauty. Through the song which he sang to her of the lovely rose +she realized the existence of the lost sense, and, this having been +disclosed to her and the magician’s condition thus fulfilled, she +was healed. There are thirteen numbers in the cantata and the solo +parts are Iolanthe (soprano), Martha (mezzo-soprano), and Beatrice +(contralto), though other solo voices are added in a trio and later +in a quartet which, as narrator, tells of the troubadour’s song to +Iolanthe. The entire work is written in a melodious, graceful style and +closes with a chorus of exuberant joy at the restoration of sight to +‘King René’s daughter the fair.’ + +Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875) has not infrequently been called ‘the +English Mendelssohn,’ not because he was a conscious imitator of his +great German contemporary and intimate friend, but because his music +exemplifies the same qualities of polished refinement and exquisite +workmanship, although of far less inspirational value and emotional +content. Bennett was a ‘shy and reticent’ composer in point of the +number of his works, and of these (there are only 46 opera in all) only +three were in extended choral forms, namely, an ‘Ode for the Opening +of the International Exhibition,’ 1862, to words by Tennyson, ‘The +May Queen,’ a pastoral cantata, and ‘The Woman of Samaria,’ a sacred +cantata usually classed as an oratorio. + +‘The May Queen’ was written for the Leeds Festival of 1858 and, +notwithstanding the poorly-written libretto by Henry F. Chorley, is +replete with musical beauties of striking power. The solo parts are +assigned to the May Queen (soprano), the Queen (alto), the Lover +(tenor), and the Captain of the Foresters, as Robin Hood (bass). The +story relates the celebration of May-Day in ancient times on the banks +of the Thames, which is interrupted by a quarrel between the jealous +and despondent lover of the May Queen and Robin Hood, who enters at the +head of a band of rollicking foresters and openly makes love to the May +Queen. The Queen enters, the lover is arrested for having struck the +forester, the May Queen intercedes for his release and thereby reveals +her affection for him, the forester is banished for having stooped +to woo a peasant girl, the Queen orders the wedding of the May Queen +and her lover on the following morning, and everything ends happily. +The music (there are ten numbers in the cantata) is characterized +throughout by utmost refinement and grace of expression and is +distinctly individualized in respect to the different personages. The +finest solos are the lament of the disconsolate lover (‘O meadow, clad +in early green’) and the forester’s robust song (‘Tis jolly to hunt +in the bright moonlight’). The chorus-writing is scholarly, always +effective without over-taxing the singers, bright, spirited, and +spontaneous. This cantata is to be numbered among the most beautiful +compositions of this class. + + + VIII + +Anglican ritual-music of the nineteenth century falls into two natural +groups. The first group comprises the compositions up to about 1850 +which complete the third period of English church-music (see page +93) overlapping from the preceding century; the second group begins +with the evidences of new life that crept into English church-music +about the middle of the century and brought to it refreshing vigor and +regeneration. Most of the anthems and ‘services’ of the first half of +the century repeat the colorless and listless style of the preceding +century, yet several composers produced music of real worth, dignity, +and solidity. Such were William Crotch (1775-1847); Thomas Attwood +(1765-1838), a pupil of Mozart and a close friend of Mendelssohn (to +whom the latter dedicated his three preludes and fugues for organ), +whose ‘I was glad,’ written for the coronation of George IV with +full orchestral accompaniment, is a remarkably fine work of imposing +breadth; and Thomas Attwood Walmisley (1814-1856). Among the most +representative examples of the work of this group of composers will be +found the following anthems: Attwood’s ‘Withdraw not Thou’ and ‘Grant +we beseech Thee,’ Walmisley’s ‘Remember, O Lord’ and ‘O give thanks.’ +With the melodious music of Sir John Goss (1800-1880) and the notable +series of anthems and ‘services’ by Rev. S. S. Wesley (1810-1876) and +Sir George A. Macfarren (1813-1887), what might be called the middle +modern school of English anthem-music comes to an end. On the whole +academic and respectable rather than inspired, the religious music of +this period is only the outward expression of the drowsy and apathetic +inner life of the Church. + +The motets of the nineteenth century and the decades just preceding +have, in the main, far closer kinship to the sacred cantata than to +the typical form whose name they assume. Beautiful as the motets of +Haydn, Mozart, and Cherubini are as music, they are far removed from +the old motet in spirit, even though they were written to be sung +at High Mass. The best motets written for the German Evangelical +service were attempts to revive the glories of Bach’s motet style. +In this field Mendelssohn achieved noteworthy success (see page 151) +and the well-known motets of Moritz Hauptmann (1792-1868), cantor of +the Thomasschule at Leipzig for over twenty years, attest how deeply +he imbibed the spirit of his great predecessor. The motets of these +two composers represent the best examples of this form in the period +covered by this chapter. But as the years move on, the old motet is +becoming more and more archaic. + +The nineteenth-century part-song had a brilliant history. The +enthusiasm with which it was cultivated in Germany under certain +patriotic stimuli, later spread to England and France with happy +results. The first German choral society made up wholly of amateur +singers was the Berlin _Singakademie_, founded on May 27th, 1791, +by Karl Christian Fasch (1736-1800). Male choruses, as much social +as musical in nature, had existed in Germany since the seventeenth +century, but they did not attain much popularity or influence until +Carl Friedrich Zelter (1758-1832) established the first _Liedertafel_ +in Berlin in 1808, composed of twenty-four men from the _Singakademie_. +The political effect of Weber’s stirring part-songs, especially his +setting of the patriotic songs in Körner’s _Leyer und Schwert_, as, +for example, ‘Bright sword of liberty’ and ‘Lützow’s wild hunt,’ has +been already mentioned. The love of choral singing became contagious, +and, stimulated by the new feeling of nationalism, both male choruses +(_Liedertafeln_) and choral societies (_Gesangvereine_) began to +multiply rapidly, especially after 1818. Though much of the part-music +written for their consumption was weak and tasteless, many of the +great composers bountifully contributed of their best ideas. Schubert +wrote some fifty pieces of this class, twenty-two of which are for +unaccompanied male voices. Among these seldom-sung pieces are many +of astonishing beauty, as his setting of _Nur wer die Sehnsucht +kennt_. Schumann wrote about a dozen part-songs for male voices and +some twenty for mixed voices, many of them as poetic and charmingly +melodic as his songs. Mendelssohn’s part-songs, however, exerted an +overpowering influence not only in his own country but especially in +England, where he was imitated _ad nauseam_ for nearly fifty years by +native composers. Here, however, they were instrumental in creating +such a revival of choral singing among the people, well-nigh dead +since the old madrigal days, that singing societies were established +far and wide throughout the land, even in remote communities. So many +of these part-songs of Mendelssohn are familiar household songs in +Germany, England, and America that it will be unnecessary to name +any here. Among the German part-song writers of less importance are +Ignaz Seyfried (1776-1841), Julius Otto (1804-1877), Friedrich Kücken +(1810-1882), Friedrich Truhn (1811-1886), Ferdinand Hiller (1811-1885), +Robert Franz (1815-1892), Carl Wilhelm (1815-1873), composer of _Die +Wacht am Rhein_, Franz Abt (1819-1885), and Joachim Raff (1822-1882). + +Though Mendelssohn’s part-songs set the prevailing style in England for +many years, many native compositions of sterling worth were produced. +Sterndale Bennett wrote only three, but they are fine examples of this +class, especially ‘Come, live with me.’ John L. Hatton (1809-1886), +Henry Smart (1813-1879), Sir George A. Macfarren (1813-1887), Henry +Leslie (1822-1896), Ciro Pinsuti (1829-1888), and other composers in +England have written fine part-songs that have been deservedly popular. +But Robert L. de Pearsall (1795-1856), who wrote almost exclusively in +this form, succeeded in a remarkable degree in combining the quaintness +of the old madrigal with the freedom and grace of the more modern +style. He published about sixty madrigals and part-songs, a large +proportion of which will remain a permanent part of the literature of +this field. Among the finest of these may be mentioned the ten-part +song ‘Sir Patrick Spens,’ probably the most elaborate and successful +part-song in existence, the genuinely humorous ‘Who shall win my lady +fair,’ the melodious ‘When last I strayed,’ ‘Purple glow,’ and ‘O who +will o’er the downs so free,’ and others equally masterly. + +About 1835 a general movement was started in France for the +establishment of singing societies called _Orphéon_. These were +organized in the communal schools, among working people, and at the +universities, but were for male singers only. They became very popular +and spread with great rapidity. The corporation of Paris recognized +their importance and made choral singing one of its municipal +departments, in 1852 placing Gounod at the head of the _Orphéon_. +Annual contests and festivals were instituted which attracted choral +societies from every part of France. In 1867 these choral societies +numbered 3,243 with a membership of 147,500. The rapid increase +in interest in choral singing naturally led to the composition of +numberless unaccompanied part-songs, which were on the whole more +elaborate than the English part-songs and which admitted the dramatic +element very frequently. Among French composers who wrote expressly for +these societies were Halévy, Adolphe Adam, Félicien David, Ambroise +Thomas, Gounod, Delibes, Massenet, Dubois, Bazin, and particularly +Laurent de Rillé, whose compositions in this form number over a hundred. + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[68] An adaptation of this melody is associated in England and America +with Charles Wesley’s Christmas hymn, ‘Hark! the herald angels sing.’ + +[69] Though most of Berlioz’s ‘Damnation of Faust’ was written in +1845-6, it really antedated Schumann’s work both in inception and in +the actual composition of many of its finest numbers (see page 158). + +[70] Any morning song of a lively, spirited nature, even a love-song, +was called a ‘Hunt’s-up’ in olden English times. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + THE MODERN CANTATA + + Wagner: ‘The Love Feast of the Apostles’; Liszt: ‘The Bells + of Strassburg,’ ‘Prometheus’--Brahms: ‘Song of Triumph,’ + ‘Song of Destiny’--Max Bruch; ‘Frithjof,’ ‘Fair Ellen,’ ‘The + Cross of Fire,’ ‘The Lay of the Bell,’ etc.--Rheinberger; + Dvořák; Hofmann; Goetz--Grieg; Gounod; Sullivan: ‘The Golden + Legend’; Barnby; Gaul; Stainer; Cowen--Parry; Mackenzie; + Stanford--Elgar: ‘King Olaf’; ‘Caractacus’; ‘The Black + Knight’--Coleridge-Taylor: ‘Hiawatha’ cycle--Dudley Buck: + ‘The Golden Legend’; ‘The Light of Asia’; Horatio Parker and + other cantata writers in the United States. + + +Teutonic genius was supreme in the field of cantata-writing until the +last quarter of the nineteenth century, when there appeared numerous +and worthy rivals. While the Germans have consistently retained their +love for this form and have maintained a numerical lead in actual +production, England, France, Scandinavia, and America have produced +choral works that challenge comparison with the best German standards, +and in some instances have struck out original lines of development +that mark points of notable departure from the older models. The +period covered by this chapter includes the works produced in the last +quarter, or at most the last third, of the nineteenth century, with +some flexibility at either boundary. + + + I + +The most notable exception to the above chronological grouping is +Richard Wagner (1813-1883), who belongs to the preceding chapter as far +as dates are concerned. But so many of the prominent composers here +considered were so strongly influenced, consciously or unconsciously, +by the Bayreuth master’s art-methods and followed them in such a direct +line of succession, that this seems the more fitting place to mention +his brief connection with this field of musical literature. + +‘The Love Feast of the Apostles’ (_Das Liebesmahl der Apostel_) was +Wagner’s one and only cantata. It was written in 1843, the same year +as Schumann’s ‘Paradise and Peri’ and three years before Berlioz +completed his ‘Damnation of Faust.’ Wagner had already written ‘The +Flying Dutchman’ and ‘Rienzi’ had been performed in Dresden the summer +preceding the composition of this cantata. The thirty-year-old composer +put into this work much of the dramatic power already hinted at in +‘The Flying Dutchman’ and displayed with such overwhelming power in +his later works. It was written for a great _Männersängerfest_ held in +Dresden in July, 1843, and was first performed under his own direction +on the 6th of the month in the _Frauenkirche_, the orchestra and chorus +numbering one thousand performers. The subject of this Scriptural Scene +was suggested by the fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and +Wagner wrote his own words, as he did in all of his dramatic works. + +The opening chorus represents the disciples, drawn together by +persecution, offering consolation to one another. After a few quiet +measures of greeting the voices divide into three choruses, when the +movement accelerates and leads to a powerful climax, ending pianissimo. +The apostles (twelve bass voices) then enter with a hearty greeting, +while the disciples sing softly _Wir sind versammelt im Namen Jesu +Christi_ (‘We are assembled in the name of Jesus Christ’), after which +the united chorus swells forth in a majestic passage, invoking the +blessing of the Holy Spirit, beginning with the words _Allmächt’ger +Vater, der du hast gemacht Himmel und Erd’ und Alles was darin_ +(‘Almighty Father, Thou that did’st create Heaven and the Earth and all +that in them is’). Voices from above (as in the last act of ‘Parsifal’) +are then heard singing _Seid getrost, ich bin euch nah_ (‘Peace be +yours, I am at hand’). To this the disciples respond with renewed +vigor, while the apostles counsel unswerving consecration to God. The +work closes with a mighty chorale, _Denn ihm ist alle Herrlichkeit von +Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit_ (‘To Him all praise and glory be forever and +forever’), its dramatic effect being greatly heightened by the rich +orchestral accompaniment. The orchestra has remained silent until the +final number. + +Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was an artist of amazing versatility and +tremendous creative energy. Greatest as a virtuoso and a composer of +instrumental music of striking originality and picturesque romanticism, +he yet wrote liberally in various choral forms. In addition to notable +church works, large and small, and three oratorios, Liszt wrote +several cantatas and shorter choral works--‘The Bells of Strassburg,’ +‘St. Cecilia’ (for mezzo-soprano, chorus, and orchestra), _An die +Künstler_ (for solos, male chorus, and orchestra), _Zur Säcular-Feier +Beethoven’s_ (for solos, chorus, and orchestra), _Festalbum_ for +Goethe’s centenary (1849), ‘Prometheus,’ Psalm 13 (for tenor solo, +chorus, and orchestra), Psalm 18 (for male chorus, orchestra, and +organ), Psalm 23 (for tenor or soprano solo with harp and organ), Psalm +137 (for solo and female chorus with violin, harp, piano, and organ), +and a large number of male choruses. + +‘The Bells of Strassburg.’--Liszt composed this work (_Die Glocken +des Strassburger Münsters_) in 1874 and dedicated it to Longfellow. +The text is a mere fragment from this poet’s ‘Christus’--the prologue +to ‘The Golden Legend’--and deals with the futile effort of the prince +of darkness and his legions, during a furious night tern nest, to cast +down the cross surmounting the cathedral tower. The work is written +for baritone solo (Lucifer), mixed chorus, and orchestra. It opens +with a short prelude entitled ‘Excelsior,’ consisting of this word +sung several times by the chorus with ever-increasing power, ending +fortissimo. The main movement, called ‘The Bells,’ begins with a +ponderous introduction by the bells, trumpets, and horns, after which +Lucifer hurls forth his first command, exhorting his band of spirits +to tear down the cross. The chorus of spirits (sopranos, altos, and +tenors) replies to this (‘Oh, we cannot, for around it’) and then the +tenors and basses, representing the bells, sing a Latin chant. These +voices continue in the same order, Lucifer’s exhortation and the cry +of helplessness from the evil spirits becoming more and more vehement +as the chant of the bells ever replies in tones of calm trust in the +protecting power. Lucifer’s fourth and last appeal is given with the +full strength of voice and orchestra. In the reply of the chorus the +female voices unite, producing a fine effect with the first and second +tenors. At length Satan, defeated, gives the order to retreat, and the +work closes with the Gregorian chant, + + _Nocte surgentes + Vigilemus omnes! + Laudemus Deum verum_, + +given by the combined chorus, organ, and orchestra. + +_Prometheus._--This cantata, founded on Herder’s poem of the same +name, was composed by Liszt in 1850. He utilizes several of Herder’s +prologues, which describe the situations in words and serve to +introduce the various choral numbers. The first prologue depicts +Prometheus, the Titan, bound to a stake and about to suffer torture for +having stolen fire from heaven. This leads to a chorus of sea-nymphs +(female voices), expressing sorrow and fear. The second prologue +describes the anger of Oceanus at the children of earth for disturbing +his waters and gives Prometheus’ reply. This is followed by a spirited +mixed chorus of Tritons and a lovely melodious chorus of Oceanides +for female voices, closing with a full double chorus, ‘Holy and grand +and free is the gift of Heaven.’ The third prologue introduces the +goddess Gæa with her train of wood-nymphs, loudly weeping. The chorus +of Dryads follows, in the midst of which occurs a very dramatic alto +solo, ‘Deserted stand the Gods’ sacred altars in the old forest.’ In +the dialogue following Gæa upbraids Prometheus, who stoutly defends +himself. The number closes with a mixed chorus of gleaners, which is +full of graceful melody. In the next prologue Bacchus builds an arbor +to soften the Titan’s suffering and a male chorus of vine-dressers +follows. At length an _Allegro moderato_ for orchestra introduces +Hercules, who with an arrow kills the vulture which is about to devour +Prometheus and frees him, bidding him ‘Go hence unto thy mother’s +throne.’ This leads to a stately male chorus, ‘All human foresight +wanders in deepest night.’ The last prologue pictures the pardon of +Prometheus at the throne of Themis, and the work closes with a chorus +of the Muses. + + + II + +The genius of Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) touched many fields and +he was great in every field that he entered--orchestral, pianoforte, +chamber, song and choral. Several of his choral works, notably the +_Deutsches Requiem_, the _Schicksalslied_ and the _Triumphlied_, are +among the great things of choral literature and enjoy undisputed +popularity. Even those that are modest in dimensions are equally +serious with the larger ones in conception and in treatment and spring +from the deep places of the composer’s soul. In all of them, as in +his symphonies, he reached a point of sublimity that had seldom been +touched, if at all, since Beethoven. All of his published compositions +between his opus 40 and opus 60, with two exceptions, were vocal works, +songs or choral. The ‘Requiem’ was opus 45 and his period of greatest +activity as a writer of choral works followed soon after. Of these +only ‘Rinaldo,’ the first one written after the ‘Requiem,’ can really +be called a cantata; the others partake more of the character of the +ode or the choral ballad. They are _Rhapsodie_, founded on fragments +from Goethe’s _Harzreise_ for alto solo, male chorus and orchestra; +_Schicksalslied_ (‘Song of Destiny’) for chorus and orchestra; +_Triumphlied_ (‘Song of Triumph’) for eight-part chorus and orchestra; +_Naenie_ for chorus and orchestra and _Gesang der Parzen_ (‘Song of +the Fates’) for six-part chorus and orchestra, the last two of which +were later compositions in the form of short choral ballads like +the _Schicksalslied_. He wrote liberally in forms approximating the +part-song. In many of the early _Marienlieder_, male choruses and mixed +choruses, he adopts the form of the simple harmonized melody, while +in others, as the two motets, opus 29, he is the direct descendant +of Bach, the contrapuntist. In some of his little known _a cappella_ +choruses, as the lovely _Vineta_ from his opus 42 and two from his +opus 104, he produces strange and wonderful effects through a masterly +handling of harmonic changes and melodic interweavings. + +‘Song of Triumph.’--Brahms wrote his _Triumphlied_ in 1871 to +commemorate the German victories and the consequent establishment +of the German empire, and he dedicated it to Wilhelm I. Its first +performance was at Vienna in 1872; a repetition occurred at Cologne +in 1873 at the fifty-first Festival of the Lower Rhine. The text was +adapted by the composer from the nineteenth chapter of Revelation. The +work, consisting of three movements, was written for double chorus, +orchestra and organ, together with two short baritone solos. A lively +yet solemn prelude introduces the first number, at the close of which +both choirs enter with the words ‘Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!’ +The principal theme of this movement is founded on an old German +song, _Heil dir im Siegerkranz_. This part closes with a tremendous +contrapuntal climax of Handelian proportions. The second part, like +the first, has its prelude, followed by a short fugue, after which a +new melody is introduced and sung antiphonally by the two choirs. The +strongest climax occurs in the third movement. After a brief orchestral +introduction a baritone solo is heard, ‘And behold then the heavens +opened wide,’ to which the choruses reply, ‘And yonder a snow-white +horse.’ Then the baritone sings, ‘And lo! a great name hath He +written,’ following which the choruses utter the stately phrase, ‘King +of Kings and Lord of Lords,’ sung antiphonally with ever-increasing +fervor and ending with the full power of voices, organ and orchestra, +the stately effect of which is beyond description. + +The _Schicksalslied_ (‘Song of Destiny’) for chorus and orchestra, +with text by Hölderlin, is a noble and expressive work, which received +its first performance Oct. 18, 1871, at a concert given by the +Carlsruhe Philharmonic Society, the composer conducting. The two ideas +of death and eternal life are placed in juxtaposition and although +these dominant ideas are dramatically balanced against each other, +the close dispels the clouds and lets in a flood of light. Indeed the +composer seems to open heaven itself to his hearers and to usher them +in. While the poet morbidly depicts the existence of immortals on the +one hand and suffering humanity on the other, Brahms, by introducing an +orchestral prelude of great beauty, injects a new idea, namely, that +there is hope for man and that he is not to be ruthlessly chained to +uncertainty or lured by the Unknown. After dramatically setting forth +the two conflicting ideas, in the development of which Brahms closely +follows the poet in the music, he returns once more to the beautiful +music of the introduction, which brings the hearers safely back again +into an atmosphere of peace and hope and solace. It is a striking +example of the power of instrumental music to change the effect +produced by the poetic text. + +_Rinaldo._--This cantata is written for tenor solo and male chorus +to a text by Goethe and its value lies in the beauty of the choruses +and in the intimate solos, expressive of the love which has filled +the heart of the hero Rinaldo for the enchantress Armida. The poetic +text, however, is rather vague and leaves too much to the imagination +of the hearer. Armida, the heroine, does not appear at all nor does +the ‘diamond shield,’ to which is assigned such an important function +in rousing the enamored Rinaldo from his shame, and the music is not +sufficiently definite to supply the hearer with the missing links. +Especially effective is the closing chorus, which depicts Rinaldo, +freed from the wiles of the enchantress and safe with the crusaders on +their homeward journey. + + + III + +The mastery of Max Bruch (b. 1838) over concert choral forms has won +him a foremost place among German choral writers of the nineteenth +century and his works are known and valued wherever choral music is +cultivated. He combines fluent, pleasing melody with rare skill in +handling and grouping his orchestral and vocal forces. His choral +writing is always broad, dignified, impressive and vocally grateful. +The list of his choral works is quite imposing. His larger works +comprise the two oratorios _Moses_, opus 67, and _Gustav Adolf_, opus +73, both late compositions, and three epic cantatas, a form to which he +gave especial attention. These three, which are frequently classed as +secular oratorios, are _Odysseus_, opus 41, _Arminius_, opus 43, and +_Achilleus_, opus 50. In addition he has produced a number of shorter +compositions in cantata and choral ballad form. They are, in the order +of their composition, ‘Frithjof Scenes’ for solos, male chorus and +orchestra; ‘Fair Ellen’ for solos, chorus and orchestra; ‘Salamis, a +Triumph-song of the Greeks,’ poem by H. Lingg, for solos, male chorus +and orchestra; ‘Frithjof at His Father’s Grave’ for baritone solo, +female chorus and orchestra; _Normannenzug_ for baritone, male chorus +and orchestra; _Römische Leichenfeier_, text by Lingg, for chorus and +orchestra; ‘The Lay of the Bell’ (_Das Lied der Glocke_) for solos, +chorus and orchestra; ‘The Cross of Fire’ (_Das Feuerkreuz_) for solos, +chorus and orchestra; and ‘Leonidas’ for male chorus and orchestra. He +has also written several very attractive short sacred choruses, among +them the _Jubilate, Amen_, opus 3, for soprano, chorus and orchestra, +and ‘The Flight of the Holy Family’ for chorus and orchestra. + +_Frithjof_, for baritone and mezzo-soprano solo voices, male chorus and +orchestra, is one of his finest productions and was his first work to +achieve a signal success. It was written at Mannheim in 1863, when he +was only twenty-five years old, and the extraordinary favor with which +it was received caused this masterwork of the youthful composer to +become the prototype of a numerous group of dramatic cantatas for male +voices that followed in its wake. The text comprises six scenes taken +from Bishop Tegner’s far-famed _Frithjofsaga_. + +A lively orchestral introduction, entitled ‘Frithjof’s Return,’ leads +to a beautiful baritone aria, ‘How bravely o’er the floods so bright,’ +accompanied by an attractive chorus, ‘O ‘tis delight when the land afar +appeareth.’ The second scene depicts Princess Ingeborg, whom Frithjof +has come home to wed, being led to the altar by King Ring, the result +of a plot by Ingeborg’s brothers against Frithjof. A brief wedding +march is followed by the bridal chorus, ‘Sadly the skald walks before +the train,’ and Ingeborg’s lament, ‘My heart with sorrow overflowing.’ +The next scene, ‘Frithjof’s Revenge,’ intensely dramatic both in the +vocal score and the rich instrumentation, opens with a chorus of +priests, ‘Midnight sun on the mountain burns,’ in the midst of which +is heard Frithjof’s cry, ‘Go to Hela’s dark abode,’ and after it his +rugged aria, ‘Where my father rests.’ As he sings this, he fires the +temple and flees to his ship, amid the dramatic and descriptive cries +of the people and Frithjof’s followers, and the curses of the priests. +This chorus is a work of great tonal beauty, portraying vividly the +dramatic action of the text. The fourth number, entitled ‘Frithjof’s +Departure from the Northland,’ opens with a male quartet of exceptional +charm, followed by Frithjof’s powerful solo, ‘World’s grandest region, +thou mighty North!’ In the fifth scene occurs ‘Ingeborg’s Lament,’ a +sorrowful and pathetic heart-cry to her lost lover, ‘Storms wildly +roar,’ after which comes the finale, a spirited chorus sung by Frithjof +and his men as they sail away in the good ship ‘Ellida’ in quest of +further adventures. + +The story of Bruch’s ‘Fair Ellen’ is laid at Lucknow, British India, +and the story is founded on an incident said to have occurred during +the famous siege of this city in 1857, when a Scotch girl, fair Ellen, +heard, above the din of battle, the shrill bagpipes of the Macgregors +in the far distance, as the relief party approached, playing ‘The +Campbells are Coming.’ Her inspired words of hope and encouragement +stirred the despairing defenders to renewed resistance, beating off +the besiegers until rescue was at hand. The cantata, the text of which +is Emanuel Geibel’s ballad of the same name, was written in 1869. It +is of modest dimensions, embracing solos for soprano and baritone, +and five chorus numbers. The music, following Bruch’s style, is rich +in instrumentation, while the choruses are full of fine melody. The +Scotch tune, ‘The Campbells are Coming,’ is introduced many times +in the orchestral score, and at the close the composer makes a fine +climax by broadening out the joyous march-melody into a devout hymn of +thanksgiving. + +‘The Cross of Fire,’ a dramatic cantata founded on incidents in Sir +Walter Scott’s ‘Lady of the Lake,’ was composed in 1888 and is one of +the finest of Bruch’s later choral works. It was an ancient custom +in the Highlands of Scotland, when one clan declared war on another, +to call the clansmen to arms by means of a ‘cross of fire.’ After +solemn consecration at the altar, this war-signal was carried with all +possible speed from post to post by noble messengers and in its wake +the men-at-arms assembled. Bruch’s librettist, Heinrich Bulthaupt, +opens the cantata at the point in Scott’s familiar poem where Norman, +a noble Highlander, is proudly leading his bride Mary, a noble maiden, +to a near-by mountain chapel to celebrate the wedding ceremony. The +wedding train approaches the church to the festal sounds of organ and a +wedding anthem. As the ceremony is about to begin, Angus, a messenger, +rushes in with the cross of fire and hurriedly hands it to Norman with +the chieftain’s command to bear it to the nearest post. Norman bids +a heart-broken farewell to his bride and hurries off followed by his +warriors. Poet and composer now describe the feelings of Norman on his +rapid journey, battling between duty and love. The rising of the clan +in response to the war-signal is given vivid portrayal. Then follows +the best-known number of the cantata, the beautiful _Ave Maria_, in +which the despairing Mary expresses her emotions at being left alone. +The stirring war-song, ‘Clan Alpin! Clan Alpin!’ in which Norman rouses +his warriors to a high pitch of bravery, is an impressive number, and +Bruch with fine effect uses an old Scotch battle-song. The final number +is a masterly concerted piece. Mary and her maidens anxiously watch +the ebb and flow of battle from a neighboring hill-top. The cry goes +up that Norman has fallen, but shouts of victory are soon heard, the +valiant Norman appears and rapturously throws himself in Mary’s arms, +and joy and happiness reign. This number is massive, full of life, +vigor, and effective contrast, and furnishes a brilliant climax to the +whole work. + +Schiller’s ‘Lay of the Bell’ has furnished inspiration to numerous +composers. Romberg’s cantata has already been described and this +called forth several rivals. Bruch’s is the most pretentious of them +and approaches closely to the oratorio form. The poem loses in musical +setting through its over-abundance of rapidly-passing scenes--there +are twenty-seven numbers grouped into two parts--but the music abounds +in moments of great beauty, especially in such choral numbers as the +final one in the first part, ‘One blest assurance yet is granted,’ +the funeral chorus in the second part (‘From the steeple, sad and +slow’), the chorus, ‘Hallowed Order, child of Heaven,’ which is one +of the most elaborate of the work, and the finale with preceding bass +solo, ‘Heave it, brothers, heave it high!’ Near the close a charming +trio for soprano, alto and tenor voices appears (‘Peace benignant, +gentle Concord’) into the accompaniment of which Bruch has skilfully +and effectively interwoven the melody of the familiar Christmas song, +‘Silent night, hallowed night!’ + +For each of his great epic cantatas Bruch chose a warrior +hero--Frithjof the Viking, Arminius the German liberator, Odysseus +and Achilles, the Greek chieftains. _Odysseus_ was first performed +in Bremen in 1873. It was written to the poem of Wilhelm Paul Graff, +which, like the ‘Frithjof,’ consists of a series of scenes or episodes. +These are grouped into two parts, the first containing four scenes and +the second six, drawn from the adventurous and picturesque life of the +King of Ithaca. Arminius, equally epic in feeling and treatment, was +written in 1875 to a poem by F. Cueppers. The scene is laid in Germany, +the time being from 9 to 13 A. D. when Arminius (Latin for Hermann) +laid the foundations of the political league of the Germanic tribes +by uniting them for the time being against the common Roman foe and +throwing off the Roman yoke. The work is in four parts--‘Introduction,’ +‘In the Sacred Forest,’ ‘The Insurrection,’ and ‘The Battle’--and +closes with an inspiring patriotic hymn of stately proportions, +‘Germany’s sons shall be renowned.’ The part of Arminius (baritone) +is particularly fine throughout. Both of these cantatas are equally +popular and they were followed in 1885 by another on the same general +lines, _Achilleus_, to the poem by H. Bulthaupt, the motives of which +are drawn from Homer’s _Iliad_. This is in many respects a greater work +than its predecessors; it is laid out on broader lines, the orchestral +part seeks greater recognition and the composer frequently and with +tremendous effect employs the double chorus in building up massive +polyphonic climaxes. + + + IV + +Joseph Rheinberger (1839-1901) is a prolific composer who has +contributed most liberally to choral literature. In this field and +that of organ he is at his best. _Christophorus_, sometimes called an +oratorio, was written in 1880 and is based on the mediæval legend of +the giant who, notwithstanding his mighty strength, sought a master +to serve who was most powerful on earth and who knew no fear. But he +found that the mightiest earthly monarch feared Satan and that Satan +shrank in terror before the Cross, so he gladly became the servant of +the Lord of the Cross. The composer mingles sacred and secular elements +in a masterly manner; portions of the work, particularly the closing +numbers of the first part, belong to the richest and most beautiful +choral writing of the last half of the nineteenth century. ‘The Star +of Bethlehem,’ a Christmas cantata, possesses sustained beauty and is +conceived in a lofty vein. _Das Thal des Espingo_, a choral ballad for +male voices and orchestra (poem by Paul Heyse), is one of the finest +examples of its kind. ‘Clarice of Eberstein,’ ‘Toggenburg,’ ‘Montfort,’ +_Die Rosen von Hildesheim_ for male chorus and wind instruments, and +_Wittekind_ are among the finest of his secular compositions. + +Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904) is the one representative Bohemian +composer who has given serious attention to the larger choral forms. +His greatest compositions in this field, however, were written, +not for performance in his native land, but for the great English +festivals--the _Stabat Mater_, composed in 1876 and performed March +10th, 1883, by the London Musical Society, the ‘Spectre’s Bride,’ +written for the Birmingham Festival of 1885, ‘St. Ludmila’ (oratorio) +for the Leeds Festival of 1886, and the Requiem Mass for the Birmingham +Festival of 1891. England did valiant service in calling the world’s +attention to Dvořák’s unique genius. + +‘The Spectre’s Bride.’--This well-known cantata is founded upon an old +legend, current among all Slavic nations, about a maiden, who, deserted +by her lover and awaiting his return, was enticed away at midnight by +a spectre, only to be led over hill and dale, amid grewsome horrors, +to the graveyard. There she took refuge in a tiny house where she was +beset by spectres, and the moonlight revealed, lying on a plank, a +revivified corpse, which rose up and glared at her. Her fervent prayers +to the Virgin finally ended the hideous spell. A cock crew, dawn came, +and the girl wended her way home in the peaceful morning. When the work +was performed at Birmingham it was received with great enthusiasm and, +despite its horrible story, it is a masterpiece of dramatic narrative +and descriptive realism. + +The cantata consists of eighteen numbers. Eleven of these are allotted +to the narrator (baritone), who, with the choral responses and +supported by vividly descriptive instrumentation, gives a realistic +portrayal of the frightful scenes. The weirdness of the music increases +in intensity up to the entrance of the maiden in the house of the +dead. In the seven remaining numbers other solo voices are heard. The +lament of the maiden (soprano) for her lost lover and, at the close, +her fervent appeal to the Virgin are fascinating in their beauty. +There are also four duets sung by the bride and the spectre (tenor), +together with one in which the chorus participates. As Hadow says in +his ‘Studies in Modern Music’ (Vol. II, p. 206): ‘There is too much +monotony of suffering; there is too much gloom and terror and pain; +a tragedy so unrelieved comes near to overstraining the sympathy +of the spectator.’ Yet the musical appeal, through the composer’s +inexhaustible resources of rhythmic, harmonic and melodic effects, +garbed in gorgeous orchestral colors, softens the horrors and lightens +the prevailing darkness of the poem. + +Heinrich Karl Johann Hofmann (1842-1902) had the good fortune to win +public recognition in different fields in rapid succession. In three +successive years his ‘Hungarian Suite’ for orchestra (1873), his +‘Frithjof’ symphony (1874), and his cantata ‘Melusina’ (1875) achieved +such instant favor that he soon became one of the best-known of the +contemporary German composers. While these successes were somewhat +ephemeral and while he manifested a tendency to sacrifice individuality +of expression to sensuous charm and formal beauty, the ‘Melusina’ +deserves long life. He followed the lead of Schumann in choosing +legends and fairy tales as subjects for his most successful cantatas. +These are, in addition to the one just mentioned, _Aschenbrödel_ +(‘Cinderella’), _Nornengesang_ (‘Song of the Norns’) for female chorus, +and _Waldfräulein_. + +The ‘Legend of the Fair Melusina’ was composed in 1875. Melusina, a +fountain nymph, becomes betrothed to Count Raymond and marries him +under the agreement that she may go her own way one day in every seven, +without question or hindrance on his part. In these intervals she again +becomes a mermaid and bathes with her nymphs in her native fountain. +Later, urged by his mother Clotilda and his uncle Sintram, who are +consumed with jealousy and curiosity, Raymond invades her privacy. +Doomed by this violation of his compact to eternal separation, he +embraces Melusina for the last time and dies in her arms. The weeping +nymph returns to her former element. The music is not difficult and +is replete with melody of captivating charm. The melodious prologue, +the rollicking hunting song, the rapturous love-duet, the chorus of +nymphs at the fountain with Melusina, the dramatic choral accusation of +the people against Melusina, the final duet with choral accompaniment +leading to the tragic dénouement--all these have contributed to make +this one of the most musically effective of the more unpretentious +cantatas. + +Hermann Goetz (1840-1876) was cut off too early in his career to have +given full expression to his undeniably great talent, yet he has left +at least one choral work that demonstrated love for, and ability in, +this form. In his setting of Schiller’s _Nänia_ (_Auch das Schöne muss +sterben_) for chorus and orchestra, as well as the 137th Psalm (‘By the +Waters of Babylon’) for soprano, chorus and orchestra, he reveals a +close kinship to both Schumann and Brahms in his effective handling of +voices and instruments. + + + V + +Edvard Hagerup Grieg (1843-1907), the greatest of the Scandinavian +composers, chose musical forms of modest mold and outline--such as +his altogether charming songs and piano pieces--for many of his most +fragrant and characteristic thoughts. He wrote only three choral +pieces--all in the smaller forms, but all individual, brilliant and +full of his peculiarly charming idiom. They are _Vor der Klosterpforte_ +(‘At the Convent Door’) for solo, female voices and orchestra, the +well-known and vigorous _Landerkennung_ (‘Land Discovery’) for male +chorus and orchestra and the Scenes from Björnson’s unfinished drama, +_Olaf Trygvasson_, for solos, chorus and orchestra. The last is the +largest and most elaborate of the three and has for its subject-matter +the efforts of Olaf, a descendant of Harold Haarfagar (the first king +of Norway) but brought up in banishment, to conquer Norway and convert +its people from Paganism to Christianity. + +For fully thirty years after the middle of the nineteenth century had +been passed, French composers were still too firmly wedded to the +operatic stage to give more than fleeting attention to choral forms of +the cantata type, and few French names of this period, therefore, will +find place here. + +Charles Gounod (1818-1893), who turned his thoughts almost exclusively +to religious music in the later years of his life, wrote several +oratorios which will be mentioned in detail in Chapter VIII. His +smaller works--the 137th Psalm (‘By Babylon’s Wave’), the 129th +Psalm (‘Out of Darkness’), and especially the motet, ‘Gallia,’ with +soprano solo--evidence a fund of pleasing melody that, while not +ecclesiastical in feeling, lies close enough to the apprehension of the +average listener to make his music deeply prized by lovers of sweet +melody. The ‘Gallia’ (to words from the Lamentations of Jeremiah) is +a lamentation over the disaster that befell his country in the war of +1870; it was written for soprano, chorus and orchestra and was first +produced at the Albert Hall, London, May 1, 1871, at the opening of +the International Exhibition. Théodore Dubois (born 1837), who was +one of the many winners of the coveted _Prix de Rome_, on his return +from Italy produced an important choral work, ‘The Seven Last Words of +Christ’ (_Les sept Paroles du Christ_), on Good Friday, 1867, at St. +Clotilde’s, of which he was then choir-master. The writer of melodious +opera-music, Jules Massenet (1842-1912), has written one charming +cantata, _Narcisse_ (‘Narcissus’), for chorus and orchestra, that was +produced in 1877. After 1880, however, choral works in the smaller +forms became more numerous in France. + +At the beginning of the last quarter of the nineteenth century elements +of distinctive individuality began to creep into English cantata-music +and assert themselves more and more. Out of the mass of cantatas that +came into being to feed the choral appetites of the vast number of +English singing societies and festivals, works of impressive beauty +and fine workmanship appeared that would reflect credit on the choral +literature of any nation. English composers have seized upon the +ballad, the legend and the fairy-tale, upon scenes from secular and +sacred history, and have exercised especial industry in using them as +material for choral works. Their number is so great that but a few can +be named. + +Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842-1900) is best known in the field of +cantata by the ‘Golden Legend,’ though it was preceded by two others, +‘Kenilworth,’ written in 1864 for the Birmingham Festival, and ‘The +Martyr of Antioch,’ in 1875, for the Leeds Festival. + +‘The Golden Legend’ received its first presentation at the Leeds +Musical Festival in 1886. The text consists of those portions of +Longfellow’s poem which concern Elsie and Prince Henry. Joseph Bennett, +who acted as librettist, has arranged these into six scenes with a +prologue and epilogue. The prologue describes the attempts of Lucifer +and his spirits to tear down the cross from the spire of Strassburg +Cathedral, Lucifer being a baritone, his spirits sopranos and altos, +and the bells tenors and basses. In the opening scene of the legend +Prince Henry in his chamber sings ‘I cannot sleep.’ This is followed by +the temptation duet with Lucifer, which ends with an angels’ chorus. In +Scene II Ursula, Elsie’s mother, sits before her cottage and sings an +evening song and the villagers are heard in a beautiful choral hymn, ‘O +gladsome light.’ In the following dialogue Elsie discloses her decision +to offer her life for the prince and then sings the beautiful prayer, +‘My Redeemer and my Lord.’ + +Scene III is on the road to Salerno; Henry and Elsie sing a graceful +duet, ‘Sweet is the air with budding haws’; pilgrims pass, intoning a +Latin hymn, and Lucifer, among them, utters his mocking lines, ‘Here +am I, too, in the pious band’; the prince’s song of greeting to the +sea is heard, and also a sweet song by Elsie, ‘The night is calm and +cloudless,’ effectively repeated with full chorus. Scene IV is at the +Medical School at Salerno. Lucifer, disguised as Friar Angelo, leads +Elsie away to her sacrifice, but she is rescued by the repentant +prince. The music to this dramatic scene is most stirring. In Scene V, +before Ursula’s cottage, a messenger recites the prince’s miraculous +cure and Elsie’s safety; after which Ursula’s prayer of thanksgiving +is heard, ‘Virgin, who lovest the poor and lowly.’ The last scene is +at the Castle of Vautsberg on the Rhine, on the evening of the wedding +day. After a joyous duet by Prince Henry and his bride (now the Lady +Alicia), there follows a choral epilogue, rising at the end to a great +fugal climax. + +Joseph Barnby’s (1838-1896) part-songs and church-music and his long +experience as conductor of important choral societies gave him a large +influence with an important section of English lovers of choral music. +His choral pieces include the melodious psalm, ‘The Lord is King,’ +written for the Leeds Festival of 1883, and the cantata ‘Rebekah,’ +which he characterizes as a ‘sacred idyll.’ + +‘Rebekah’ was written in 1870 and is undoubtedly his finest work. It +deals with the wooing of Rebekah by Isaac as related in the Scriptures +and done into verse by Arthur Matthison. The first and last choruses +disclose some effective modern fugue-writing that is melodious and +expressive as well as contrapuntally interesting. The last chorus, +especially, builds up to a massive and vocally brilliant climax. +Probably the best-known number is Isaac’s solo, the favorite tenor +aria, ‘The soft southern breeze plays around me.’ + +Alfred Robert Gaul (1837-1913) is the composer of many pleasing and +popular cantatas, mostly on sacred subjects, the most widely known of +which are ‘The Holy City,’ ‘Ruth,’ ‘The Ten Virgins’ and ‘Joan of Arc.’ + +Sir John Stainer (1840-1901) writes in a more serious style, but yet +more suited to church choirs than to large choral bodies. ‘The Daughter +of Jairus,’ ‘The Crucifixion’ (A Meditation for Passion Week), and ‘St. +Mary Magdalen’ are his more familiar cantatas. + +Frederic Hymen Cowen (born 1852) has been a prolific writer of +cantatas, no fewer than seven having come from his pen. They are ‘The +Rose Maiden’ (1870), ‘The Corsair’ (1876), ‘St. Ursula’ (1881), ‘The +Sleeping Beauty’ (1885), ‘St. John’s Eve’ (1889), ‘The Water Lily’ +(1893), and ‘The Transfiguration’ (1895). Some of these, particularly +‘The Rose Maiden,’ have attained wide popularity because of their easy, +fluent melody and pleasing part-writing. + + + VI + +It remained for three Englishmen, all born within five years of each +other--Mackenzie (1847), Parry (1848) and Stanford (1852)--to break +away from the traditions of English choral music and to venture to say +their musical thoughts in their own way. The point of departure from +the old to the new paths bases itself squarely on the work of this +trio. Cowen and Cordor (both born in 1852) added nothing of importance +to the musical means of expression employed by this trio, but Elgar +(born in 1857) has carried forward English choral music to heights +never before attained. The decade between 1847 and 1857, therefore, +is memorable in English musical history in having witnessed the birth +of the men who are most responsible for the remarkable revolution in +the character of English choral music witnessed in the last quarter of +the nineteenth century. It is a curious coincidence that the ode, a +form cultivated with such industrious zeal by early English composers, +should have appealed with great force to all of the trio mentioned +above, as a musical form worthy of revival. No less than fourteen odes +came from their pens. + +When the first important choral work of Charles Hubert H. Parry (b. +1848), scenes from Shelley’s ‘Prometheus Unbound,’ was produced at +the Gloucester Festival of 1880, its new tone of confident assertion +was recognized as the beginning of a new era in English music, though +its success with the public was very small. Works of impressive +significance followed in quick succession and he became a figure of +dominant importance in English musical life. In addition to three +oratorios and several works combining symphonic and choral forms, he +has written an imposing list of shorter choral works. The ordinary form +of the cantata has little appeal for him, and none of his choral works +is so named. ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin,’ however, is really a cantata +in feeling, even though it requires very slight solo work. He reaches +superb heights of sustained expression in some of his odes--he wrote +ten in all--that stamp his choral writing with qualities of superlative +excellence, among which are perfect accentuation, mastery of expressive +counterpoint and remarkable handling of large tonal masses so as to +produce the greatest effects of sonority and breadth. These qualities +appear with conspicuous force in his famous ‘Blest Pair of Sirens,’ +an ode by John Milton, set for eight-part chorus and orchestra, and +first sung in 1887 by the Bach Choir. Other choral works before 1900 +that added greatly to his reputation are ‘The Glories of Our Blood and +State,’ a funeral ode by James Shirley, produced at the Gloucester +Festival of 1883, ‘Ode on St. Cecilia’s Day’ (poem by Pope) at Leeds, +1889, _L’Allegro ed il Penseroso_ (poem by Milton) at Norwich, 1890, +‘Invocation to Music’ (ode in memory of Purcell by Robert Bridges) at +Leeds, 1895, and ‘The Lotus-Eaters,’ a choral song, 1892. + +With the exception of ‘The Witch’s Daughter,’ performed at the +Leeds Festival of 1904, all of the cantatas and shorter choral works +of Alexander Campbell Mackenzie (born 1847) fall within the period +covered by the present chapter. Attention was first attracted to his +fine command of choral technique by ‘The Bride,’ a cantata founded on +a poem by the German poet, Hamerling, and performed at the Gloucester +Festival of 1881. Possibly his highest point of artistic effectiveness +is reached in his fine _Veni, Creator Spiritus_, set to Dryden’s +paraphrase and produced at the Birmingham Festival, 1891. Burns’ ‘The +Cotter’s Saturday Night’ furnished inspiration for one of his most +characteristic works (for chorus only) and naturally appealed strongly +to his national feeling and idiom. His other cantatas include ‘Jason’ +(Bristol Festival, 1882), ‘The Story of Sayid’ (Leeds, 1886), founded +on Edwin Arnold’s ‘Pearls of the Faith,’ and the ‘Dream of Jubal’ +(Liverpool Philharmonic, 1889). In the last-named cantata he employs a +reciter in addition to soloists and chorus. + +The cumulative effect of the artistic activity of the notable trio +named above may find partial explanation in the fact that together +they represent the three dominant national branches of the United +Kingdom--Parry the Englishman, Mackenzie the Scotchman and Stanford +the Irishman. The works of these three brilliant exponents of British +music reveal many idioms traceable to their respective racial +characteristics. In the two choral ballads of Charles Villiers Stanford +(born 1852)--‘The Voyage of Maeldune’ (Leeds Festival, 1889), poem by +Tennyson, and ‘Phaudrig Crohoore’ (Norwich Festival, 1896), poem by J. +S. Le Fanu--traits of Irish folk-song appear on many a page and lend to +the music individuality and a fragrant beauty. Indeed, he has achieved +some of his greatest successes in his choral ballads. His splendid +setting of Tennyson’s ‘The Revenge’ (Leeds Festival, 1896), with its +snappy, breezy and, withal, brilliant style, tempted him to set another +nautical ballad, Campbell’s ‘The Battle of the Baltic,’ which, however, +is hardly as effective. His style is more eclectic than that of his two +great contemporaries, combining some of the best German and English +qualities with his own individual mode of utterance. His oratorios will +be mentioned in another place. He has made very notable contributions +to sacred and church music, especially liturgical music. + + + VII + +Sir Edward Elgar’s[71] position as not only the leader among English +composers of the present, but as one of the greatest of contemporary +creative musicians, is amply buttressed by a series of works in +orchestral and choral fields, which, though not conspicuous by its +length, is remarkable for the strength and originality of their +musical ideas, the vigor of treatment and the supreme command which +the composer displays over the technical means of expression. Most of +his greatest works are discussed in other sections of this series, yet +it was in the field of cantata that his name first rose to prominence +and the English festivals furnished the occasion, as in the case +of so many other English composers. ‘The Black Knight’ had found a +respectful hearing at the Worcester Festival of 1893 and the ‘Scenes +from the Bavarian Highlands’ at the same Festival in 1896, but the +production of the ‘Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf’ at the North +Staffordshire Festival at Hanley in 1896 created a profound impression +and its remarkable success raised his name at once to a place among the +great ones of music. ‘The Banner of St. George’ followed in 1897 and +‘Caractacus,’ the finest of his cantatas, in 1898. + +‘The Black Knight,’ for chorus and orchestra, is a setting of +Longfellow’s translation of Uhland’s poem, _Der schwarze Ritter_, and +the music with virile urgency sets forth the dramatic incidents of +this ballad of the mysterious ‘sable knight,’ whose visit at the court +festivities of an ancient king caused the sudden death of the king’s +two children. Elgar’s maturer style is clearly foreshadowed in this +early work. + +‘The Banner of St. George,’ a ballad for chorus and orchestra, with +text by Shapcott Wensley, was inspired by the occasion of the Diamond +Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897 and was performed the same year. +The poem is divided into two scenes, dealing with the deliverance of +a princess from the dragon by the valiant Saint George of Sabra, and +an epilogue in which Elgar makes characteristic use of a stirring +‘marching’ melody, to words of patriotic sentiment, in building up a +rousing choral climax. + +‘Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf’ is a setting of Longfellow’s words +with additions and connecting passages by H. A. Acworth. The vigorous +and individual style of the preceding works here finds full fruition +and Elgar stands forth as a matured creator, full armed and conscious +of his strength. The poetical selections are grouped into eight scenes +with introduction and epilogue. These include the remarkably strong and +dramatic ‘Challenge of Thor,’ as the Norse god hurls defiance at the +Christian religion; King Olaf’s return to Norway and his acceptance of +the challenge; the breaking of the image of Thor and the conversion +of Olaf’s subjects; ‘The Wraith of Odin,’ a stirring choral ballad +relating the mysterious visit of the spirit of Odin to the banquet +hall; the wooing of Sigrid, queen of Svithiod, by King Olaf, which is +preceded by a charming chorus of the minstrel maids of the queen; the +choral ballad of Thyri, sister of Svend, the Danish king, who flees +from her betrothed to King Olaf’s court for protection--one of the +finest parts of the cantata--followed by the lovely duet of Thyri and +Olaf; and the death of Olaf in the fierce sea-battle with the Danes, +thrillingly related by the chorus. In the epilogue the efficacy of +Christian love in converting the world is contrasted with that of the +sword and gives occasion to Elgar for constructing a choral climax, +beginning _a cappella_ with the words, ‘As torrents in summer, half +dried in their channels,’ that for simple beauty and sustained power of +expression has few equals in choral literature. Three solo voices are +added to the choral forces at the end. + +‘Caractacus,’ written to the poem by H. A. Acworth for the Leeds +Musical Festival of 1898, stands in the natural progressive order +of his secular cantatas as the strongest of the series and, in many +respects, the most remarkable of its class in any country or period. +Elgar, in this and later choral works, appears in the double rôle +of symphonist and choral writer, for the orchestra frequently rises +into momentary preëminence and overshadows the choral machinery as a +medium of expression. ‘Caractacus’ must be thought of in its orchestral +coloring in order to grasp its full strength and beauty, for Elgar is a +master of all modern orchestral resources. + +This cantata was written at the composer’s home at Malvern in the +immediate environment of the stirring scenes related in its score and +enacted in ancient times by the heroic defenders of British freedom, +for it was at Malvern Hills on the Welsh frontier that Caractacus +made his final stand against the legions of Rome. The work is in six +scenes, the first depicting Caractacus and his warriors in his British +camp at Malvern Hills at night. It opens after a short orchestral +introduction with the stirring chorus, ‘Watchmen, alert!’ The king’s +daughter Eigen and her betrothed Orbin break in upon the sad reveries +of the disheartened monarch and their recital of the warning of the +Druid maiden ushers in the beautiful trio sung by Eigen, Orbin and +Caractacus, ‘At eve to the greenwood we wandered away.’ As they +depart, the Spirits of the Hills sing a calm benediction, ‘Rest, +weary monarch,’ one of the loveliest choral portions of the work, +scored with consummate skill for both chorus and orchestra. The second +scene shifts the action to the sacred oak grove and deals with the +rites of the Druids as they cast the omens. There is a mystic dance +of the Druid-maidens, ‘Tread the measure left and right,’ which is +an inspiration of enthralling beauty and rhythmic grace but which +never loses a certain solemn dignity. As the dance ceases, there +follows the impassioned invocation to Taranis. The king enters, the +Arch-Druid deceives him as to the omens, Orbin protests, but is cursed +and driven forth by the Druids. The close of the scene is built up +around the vigorous soldiers’ chorus, ‘Leap to the light, my brand +of fight,’ and the contrasting chorus of Druids as they call down +curses on Orbin. The third scene pictures the parting of the lovers as +Orbin joins the force of Caractacus. It opens with a graceful rustic +chorus of youths and maidens who are with Eigen, twining wreaths of +flowers, ‘Come beneath our woodland bow’rs.’ The scene closes with +the beautiful duet of the parting lovers. The fourth scene is again +on Malvern Hills and Eigen and her maidens anxiously discuss the +rumors of distant battle. The return of Caractacus and the remnants +of his defeated army brings this part to a close with the impressive +lament of Caractacus (in 7-pulse measure) accompanied by the chorus of +warriors. Soon afterwards Caractacus and his family are betrayed to +the enemy and scene five, which is short, relates the embarking of the +British captives in Roman galleys. The final scene is the triumphal +procession in Rome, beginning with a pompous orchestral march followed +by full chorus and dramatic solos by the captives--Caractacus, Eigen +and Orbin. Their bold independence and intrepid defense before the +tribunal of the emperor, Claudius, win pardon and an honored home in +Rome. The subject is one that might well appeal to a British composer, +and Elgar, with magnificent effect, seizes the opportunity to add a +stirring epilogue--‘The clang of arms is over’--which unfolds, as it +develops, some pages of patriotic sentiment (‘Britons, alert!’) that +are thrilling in their majestic power. + + + VIII + +Musical history has often been called upon to record the fact that a +gifted composer’s firstling has been his best. In the case of Samuel +Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) his creative imagination never again +reached such fine heights of inspired effort as those attained in its +first flight. His greatest work is undoubtedly the cantata, ‘Hiawatha’s +Wedding Feast’--the first of the ‘Hiawatha’ trilogy--performed +November 11, 1898, at the Royal College of Music, London, while the +composer was still a student at this institution. The second part of +the trilogy, ‘The Death of Minnehaha,’ was brought out in 1899 at the +North Staffordshire Festival, and the third, ‘Hiawatha’s Departure,’ +made its first public appearance at a concert of the Royal Choral +Society, at Albert Hall, March 22, 1900. Two months later the overture +to the entire work received its initial performance. The text for +the whole trilogy is selected from Longfellow’s familiar ‘The Song +of Hiawatha.’ This poem, which handles with childlike simplicity and +directness the emotions and experiences of a primitive race, seems to +have struck deep into the soul of this Anglo-African composer and he +has imbued the score, especially of the first part, with an atmosphere +of individuality possessed by none of its successors. He touched a new +vein here which he was not able to inject with equal success into his +other works. The score abounds in concise, characteristic and striking +themes, many of which are treated in the manner of ‘leading-motives.’ + +‘Scenes from the Song of Hiawatha.’--The first part of the trilogy +is ‘Hiawatha’s Wedding-Feast,’ for tenor solo, chorus and orchestra. +‘Sumptuous was the feast Nakomis made at Hiawatha’s wedding’ and the +detailed description includes not only the banquet itself but the +entertainment which followed, how Pau-Puk-Keewis danced, + + ‘How the gentle Chibiabos, + He the sweetest of musicians, + Sang his songs of love and longing; + How Iagoo, the great boaster, + Told his tales of strange adventure.’ + +Chibiabos’ song, the beautiful tenor solo, ‘Onaway, awake, beloved!’ is +one of the gems of the whole trilogy. + +The second part--‘The Death of Minnehaha,’ for soprano and baritone +solos, chorus and orchestra--begins with the description of the ‘long +and dreary winter! the cold and cruel winter!’ and continues with the +pathetic story of the wasting famine and the fever, how Minnehaha +shuddered at the words of the two uninvited guests, ‘lay down on her +bed in silence,’ how Hiawatha plunged into the forest in search of +food only to return ‘empty-handed, heavy-hearted.’ Then follows the +death and burial of Minnehaha and the lament of Hiawatha. The pathos of +the words is given striking setting in the music, particularly in the +opening chorus, ‘O the long and dreary winter!’ and in Hiawatha’s noble +lament, ‘Farewell, O Minnehaha!’ which the chorus gently echoes after +him. The chief share of the work is allotted to the chorus. + +The third part--‘Hiawatha’s Departure,’ for soprano, tenor and +baritone solos, chorus and orchestra--is the longest of the three +and has more opportunity for varied effects. Reminiscences of themes +from the preceding parts give pleasing thematic unity to the whole +work. It begins with the return of spring and with it Iagoo, the great +traveller, ‘full of new and strange adventures.’ He relates to an +incredulous audience how he saw a water ‘bigger than the Big-Sea-Water’ +and on it a tall canoe with great wings, ‘bigger than a grove of +pine-trees,’ in which were warriors ‘painted white.’ Hiawatha, of +all the listeners, laughed not, for he had seen the same things in a +vision. He tells them of the coming of the white men and prophesies +their achievements and the downfall of the Indian race. Then follows, +in simple narrative, Hiawatha’s welcome to the white men and the +missionary priest who came with them to tell the message of the +Saviour; Hiawatha’s touching farewell to Nakomis and his people (‘I am +going, O my people, on a long and distant journey. To the portals of +the Sunset, to the regions of the home-wind’); and his departure in the +birch canoe as he ‘sailed into the fiery sunset, To the Islands of the +Blessed, to the land of the Hereafter!’ Musically the third part is +unequal to the others in the strength of its appeal, yet at the close, +Hiawatha’s tender words of parting and the answering farewell of the +people are written in the virile and characteristic mood of the first +part. The solo voices assume a larger share of work than in the other +parts. + +Coleridge-Taylor’s other choral works were of course in demand after +the success of his first one, but, though received with favor, they do +not measure up to the first, nor did they make the deep impression of +the ‘Hiawatha’ music. + + + IX + +The United States did not enter the list of cantata and oratorio +producing nations until the last quarter of the nineteenth century. +Before that time W. B. Bradbury, J. A. Butterfield, A. Hamerik, George +F. Root and others had prepared the way for their successors by choral +works of a simple, popular character suited to the musical conditions +of their time. On account of the number, musical quality, size and +extensive influence of his choral works, Dudley Buck may justly be +accorded the honor of being the first important choral writer in +America. + +The influence of Dudley Buck (1839-1909) in the field of church-music +was probably stronger and more fundamental and lasting than in that +of concert choral music, for the needs of American church-music could +not be met, as could those of choral societies, by mere importation of +foreign-made music. Yet his concert choral works are quite numerous. +They include the 46th Psalm, written for the Boston Handel and Haydn +Society, 1872; ‘Don Munio,’ a dramatic cantata written in 1874, whose +story is taken from Washington Irving’s Spanish papers and deals with +the wars and loves of the Moorish period; four cantatas for male +voices--‘King Olaf’s Christmas,’ ‘The Nun of Nidaros’ (1878), ‘The +Voyage of Columbus’ (1885) and ‘Paul Revere’s Ride’; ‘The Centennial +Meditation of Columbia,’ written for the Centennial Exposition and +performed at Philadelphia, May 10, 1876; ‘The Golden Legend,’ to +which was awarded the prize offered by the Cincinnati May Festival +Association for the best work by an American and which received its +initial performance at the Festival in 1880; and his largest and most +pretentious choral work, ‘The Light of Asia.’ + +‘The Golden Legend’ is, like Sullivan’s cantata of the same name, a +setting of a portion of Longfellow’s ‘Christus.’ The text is divided +into a prologue, twelve scenes and an epilogue. The story is identical +with that of Sullivan’s cantata already mentioned and the music on +the whole rises to a higher plane of excellence. Especially effective +and deservedly well-known is Elsie’s prayer in the fifth scene (‘My +Redeemer and my Lord’), an aria breathing a deep religious feeling +and filled with calm beauty. Buck is at his best in such numbers as +the simple hymn for unaccompanied quartet (‘O gladsome light of the +Father’), Elsie’s charming aria in the ninth scene (‘The night is calm +and cloudless’ with a choral refrain of _Kyrie eleison_), and the +love-duet between Elsie and Prince Henry in the twelfth scene. + +‘The Light of Asia’ was written in 1886, published in London and +performed there for the first time in St. James’s Hall, March 19, +1889. The well-known poem by Sir Edwin Arnold naturally lends itself +to elaborate treatment and the composer has done it full justice, +constructing on its strong lines a work that approaches the dimensions +and character of an oratorio. The initial fugal chorus (‘Below the +highest sphere four regents sit’), foretelling the birth of the child +Buddha who ‘shall deliver men from ignorance,’ establishes at once the +broad massive outlines of the work. After the King has conferred with +his ministers as to a remedy for the seriousness of Prince Siddârtha +and, on their advice, has summoned a court of pleasure at which the +most beautiful maidens are to teach him love, there follows a lovely +duet describing the meeting and recognition of the Prince and the fair +Yasôdhara, and the part closes with a jubilant wedding chorus, ‘Enter, +thrice happy!’ The second part--‘The Renunciation’--describes the +sensuous life of the Orient, the awakening of Siddârtha from this life +of love and joy to his mission, his six long years of wandering, his +victorious struggles with the varied temptations of ‘the fiends who +war with Wisdom and the Light.’ The third part--‘The Return’--relates +the sorrows of the lonely Yasôdhara and the return of the wandering +Siddârtha as a Buddha, dressed in the yellow garb of a hermit, begging +alms, yet greeted by his people with glad acclaim. The epilogue and +final chorus (‘Before beginning and without an end’) is the choral +climax of the whole work, constructed with fine musicianship and +majestic in its effect. Important solo duties are assigned to the +Prince, his wife Yasôdhara and his father, the King. + +Dr. Leopold Damrosch (1832-1885), who occupied a position of great +influence in the musical life of New York City, wrote two important +choral works that were published in this country--‘Ruth and Naomi’ +(1870), a Scriptural idyl, and ‘Sulamith’ (The Song of Songs), which +was performed for the first time by the Oratorio Society, New York, +in April, 1882. Other short choral works written by Americans in +the period now under consideration were ‘Prayer and Praise,’ the +Forty-sixth Psalm (Cincinnati Festival prize, 1882), and ‘The Rose,’ +by William Wallace Gilchrist (born 1846); ‘The Culprit Fay’ (1879) and +‘Praise of Harmony’ (1886) by Frederick Grant Gleason (1848-1903); +‘Phœbus Arise’ (1882), ‘The Nativity’ (1883) and ‘The Realm of Fancy’ +(1884) by John Knowles Paine (1839-1906); ‘The Tale of the Viking’ +(1879) and ‘Henry of Navarre’ (1885) by George Elbridge Whiting (born +1842). + +The choral works from the pen of Arthur Foote (b. 1853) are not +numerous, but they are fine in musical quality and workmanship. +There are only three of them and all are settings of poems by +Longfellow--‘The Farewell of Hiawatha’ (1879), a ballad for baritone +solo, male chorus and orchestra, ‘The Wreck of the Hesperus’ for mixed +voices and ‘The Skeleton in Armor.’ + +George Whitfield Chadwick (b. 1854) has written more voluminously in +the smaller choral forms, all of his writing being distinguished by +a keen feeling for vocal values and a rich harmonic sense. His chief +works in cantata form are ‘The Viking’s Last Voyage’ for baritone +solo, male chorus and orchestra, 1880 (Boston Apollo Club, 1881); +‘Lovely Rosabelle’ for solos, mixed chorus and orchestra, 1889 +(Boston Orchestral Club, 1890); _Phœnix Expirans_, 1891 (Springfield +Festival, 1892); ‘Columbian Ode,’ 1892, written for the dedication +of the buildings of the World’s Fair, Chicago, May, 1893; ‘The Lily +Nymph,’ 1895 (Springfield Festival, 1896); and _Ecce jam noctis_, 1897, +written for the commencement exercises of Yale University, 1897, on the +occasion of his receiving from Yale the honorary degree of Master of +Arts. + +Horatio William Parker (b. 1863) has been a prolific writer of choral +works, both before 1900 and since that date, and, through his skilful +handling of vocal masses and a superb contrapuntal technique, has won +for himself a foremost place among living masters of choral writing. +While a student under Rheinberger at Munich, two of his choral works, +‘The Ballad of a Knight and his Daughter’ (1884) and ‘King Trojan’ +(1885), were given public performance there and were later published. +‘The Ballad of the Normans’ (_Normannenzug_) for male chorus and +orchestra appeared in 1889; ‘The Kobolds’ (poem by Arlo Bates) for +chorus and orchestra was performed at the Springfield (Mass.) Festival +in May, 1891; ‘Harold Harfagar’ for chorus and orchestra was performed +in 1891 in New York; ‘The Dream-King and his Love’ (poem by Geibel) +for tenor solo, chorus and orchestra won a prize in 1893 offered by +the National Conservatory of Music in New York City, of which Dvořák +was then director and in which the composer was a teacher; ‘The Holy +Child,’ a Christmas cantata, was published in 1893; and ‘A Wanderer’s +Psalm’ was written for and performed at the Hereford Festival, England, +in 1900. A composition which finely illustrates his great ability in +handling problems of vocal counterpoint is his motet for double chorus +_a cappella_, _Adstant angelorum chori_ (poem by Thomas à Kempis), +which won the prize given by the Musical Art Society of New York City +in 1898. + +Mrs. H. H. A. Beach (b. 1867) has written several small choral works +that have found well-merited favor, among them ‘The Minstrel and the +King’ for tenor and baritone solos, male chorus and orchestra, ‘The +Rose of Avontown,’ a ballad for soprano solo and female chorus, ‘The +Chambered Nautilus’ for female chorus, and ‘Sylvania’ for mixed chorus. + +Among other small choral works of serious content and fine workmanship +belonging to this period must be mentioned a fine motet by Arthur +Whiting (b. 1861) for double chorus _a cappella_, ‘O God, my heart is +ready’ (words selected from the Psalms). + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[71] Born 1857. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + EARLY AND CLASSICAL ORATORIOS + + Origin of oratorio in the sacred drama of Italy--Cavalieri: + ‘The Representation of Soul and Body’--Carissimi: + ‘Jephthah’--Scarlatti; Stradella; other early oratorio + writers--Development of oratorio in Germany; Passion-music + and its development; Schütz: ‘The Seven Last Words of + Christ’; ‘The Passion Oratorio’; ‘The Resurrection’--J. + S. Bach: ‘Christmas Oratorio’; ‘Passion according + to St. Matthew’; Graun: ‘The Death of Jesus’; other + writers of Passion-music--Handel and the oratorio; ‘The + Messiah’--‘Israel in Egypt’; ‘Judas Maccabæus’; ‘Samson,’ + etc.--Haydn: ‘The Creation’; ‘The Seasons.’ + + +The early oratorio had many of the essential characteristics +possessed by its modern derivative. It always dealt with sacred +subjects (the modern oratorio, however, frequently concerns itself +with secular themes), it was almost always dramatic and its musical +apparatus consisted of the usual four solo voices and the chorus with +instrumental accompaniment. + +In the liturgic drama of the Roman Church must be sought the origin +of the oratorio, which, in a musically coherent form, appeared at +about the same time with the opera, as the spiritual counterpart of +its secular companion, making a devotional and intellectual appeal in +place of the sensual. In the mediæval church two forms of the mass were +in use side by side: the Roman office, which was mainly celebrated by +the priest, and the Gallican Mass, a freer form, in which the people +largely participated. Quite naturally the divergence between the two +became marked and during the twelfth century the Gallican Mass was +reformed with regard to lay participation. In order, however, that the +people, who were attached to a form in which they took so direct a +part, might be compensated for this exclusion, dramatic representations +were devised, based on the Scriptures, all with reference to the great +church festivals, especially that of Holy Week. In these the germ of +the idea of the oratorio is to be found. These dramatic representations +took the form of mysteries and miracle plays--dramatic versions of +Scriptural episodes, with music, both sacred and secular, introduced +to heighten their effect--as well as moralities, in which Christian +virtues and mental qualities were treated allegorically. They included +processionals of the type of the ancient _Festum Asinorum_ (‘The Ass’s +Festival’), commemorating the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt, +which was annually celebrated at Beauvais and Sens as early as the +twelfth century, and in which the celebrated carol, _Prose de l’Ane_ +(‘Hymn of the Ass’), still preserved, was the central feature. + +With the monodic revolution which was inaugurated at the close of the +sixteenth century and which marked the beginning of opera, the history +of oratorio as a distinctly musical rather than a liturgic art-form may +be said to begin. The sacred musical drama was generally staged in the +vestry or vestibule of church or convent--its ‘oratory’--and in course +of time the term oratorio was applied to this music. In the oratory +of St. Filippo Neri’s church in Rome (_S. Girolamo della Charità_) +Animuccia’s settings of _laudi spirituali_ (sacred songs of praise) had +already been sung in the sixteenth century; and the fact that these +hymns were often used in connection with Biblical recitations is not +without direct influence on the development of the form. + + + I + +Yet it was not until the performance of Emilio del Cavalieri’s +_Rappresentazione di anima e di corpo_ (Rome, in February, 1600), in +which Time, Life, The World, Pleasure, Intellect, The Soul and The Body +appeared, that the first actual oratorio was heard in germinal shape, +during the same year that witnessed the world _première_ of all opera +with Peri’s _Euridice_, which took place in Florence in December. + +There was practically no difference in form between the first operas +and the earliest oratorios, a statement borne out by the fact that +Domenico Mazzocchi’s _Querimonia di S. Maria Maddelena_ rivalled +Monteverdi’s _Lamento d’Arianna_ in popularity. Both opera and +oratorio were constructed, musically, in the self-same way. Both were +made up of recitative and arias, of choral and instrumental numbers, +and both began with an overture. The angelic choruses of the first +oratorios were musically synonymous with the bacchic choruses of the +early operas. The difference between them lay only in the choice of +subject-matter. And throughout the seventeenth century this continued +to be the case, speaking generally, despite a certain divergence +of viewpoint which had already made itself felt. How ‘operatic’ in +character Cavalieri’s sacred score was, is proven by its composer’s +employment of children as _dramatis personæ_, by the division of his +work into acts, and by the use of worldly intermezzos, pantomimes +and ballets. Interesting is the composer’s anticipation of Wagner at +Bayreuth in his stage directions relegating his orchestra to a place +‘behind the scenes’ and out of sight. This orchestra, primitive in +character, consisted of a double lyre, a harpsichord, a large guitar +and two flutes. The use of the violin was recommended, though it was +not insisted upon. + +Cavalieri’s stage directions for the performance of his sacred drama +are so interesting and throw so much light on the dramatic character of +the early oratorio that they are quoted here, nearly in full, from Dr. +Burney’s ‘History of Music’: + +(1) ‘The words should be printed, with verses correctly arranged, the +scenes numbered, and the characters of interlocutors specified. + +(2) ‘Instead of the Overture or Symphony to modern musical drama, a +madrigal is recommended, as a full piece, with all the parts doubled, +and a greater number of instruments. + +(3) ‘When the curtain rises, two youths, who recite the Prologue, +appear on the stage; and when they have done, Time, one of the +Characters in the Morality, comes on, and has the note with which he is +to begin given him by the instrumental performers behind the scenes. + +(4) ‘The Chorus are to have a place allotted to them on the stage, part +sitting and part standing, in sight of the principal characters; and, +when they sing, they are to rise and be in motion, with proper gestures. + +(5) ‘Pleasure, another imaginary character, and two companions, are to +have instruments in their hands, on which they are to play while they +sing and perform ritornelles. + +(6) ‘_Il Corpo_, the Body, when these words are uttered, _Si che hormia +alma mia_, etc., may throw away some of his ornaments, as his gold +collar, feather from his hat, etc. + +(7) ‘The World and Human Life in particular, are to be gaily and richly +dressed; and when they are divested of their trappings, to appear very +poor and wretched, and at length dead carcasses. + +(8) ‘The Symphonies and Ritornelles may be played by a great number of +instruments; and, if a violin should play the principal part, it would +have a good effect. + +(9) ‘The performance may be finished with or without a dance. If +without, the last chorus is to be doubled in all its parts, vocal and +instrumental; but, if a dance is preferred, a verse beginning thus: +_Chiostri altissimi e stellati_, is to be sung, accompanied sedately +and reverently by the dance. These shall succeed other grave steps and +figures of the solemn kind. During the ritornelles, the four principal +dancers are to form a ballet, _saltato con capriole_, enlivened with +capers or _entrechats_, without singing, and thus, after each stanza, +always varying the steps of the dance; and the four principal dancers +may sometimes use the _galiard_, sometimes the _canary_, and sometimes +the _courant_ step, which will do very well in the ritornelles. + +(10) ‘The stanzas of the ballet are to be sung and played by all +performers within and without.’ + +As a matter of fact Cavalieri’s work was in reality a sacred opera, +not an oratorio. Contemporaries of Cavalieri, Agostino Manni +(_Rappresentazione del Figliuol Prodigo_), Anerio (_Teatro armonico +spirituale_), Pietro della Valle (_Esther_, _La Purificazione_) and, +somewhat later, Domenico Mazzocchi, Luigi Rossi, Ludovico Bellanda, +Vittorio Loreto (_La Pellegrina Constante_, _Sacre d’Abramo_), +Francesco Balducci (_La Fede_) and others, represent tentative gropings +toward a more artistically satisfying formal and musical development of +the oratorio. + + + II + +The slow revival of choral art quite naturally found in sacred +subjects the material best suited to treatment, not alone because of +earlier sixteenth century associations, but also because such subjects +did not over-encourage dramatic realism. Yet even Carissimi (1604-1674) +had but little success in his efforts to establish a loftier spiritual +standard in oratorio. He did much to perfect the recitative, and +to add charm and variety to the instrumental accompaniment; he set +aside the theatrical presentation, often gave dramatic details to a +‘narrator’ and laid more weight on the choral element. His music has +real quality and beauty; yet the secular idea persists in his works and +defeats his attempts to turn Scriptural dramatic representations into +genuine church-music. Despite this, his work is valuable as a stepping +stone--he was the first to write music which held out hopes of a future +for the oratorio as a distinct art-form. + +Giacomo Carissimi, from 1628 to the time of his death choir-master of +the _Appolinare_ Church in Rome, was already renowned as a teacher and +composer in 1650. It was in this year that Athanasius Kirchner, in +his celebrated _Musurgia universalis_, a quaint mixture of scientific +knowledge and childish hearsay, introduced Carissimi, with an analysis +of his _Jephta_, to a wider circle as the perfect oratorio-composer. +Nor is it without reason that Carissimi has been termed the Handel +of the seventeenth century. His oratorios _Jonas_, _Jephta_, _Job_, +_Diluvium universalis_, etc., he called _historie_, and the Biblical +text on which they were founded was liberally interspersed with poetic +supplementary matter to allow for the introduction of little arias and +martial, elegiac or popular incidental choruses. The text was still +Latin, though after Carissimi’s time the _oratorio volgare_, so called +because it was sung in Italian and was thus distinguished from the +Latin oratorio, supplanted the latter in popular favor. + +_Jephta_ is, perhaps, Carissimi’s most characteristic work. It employs +a Biblical subject, like all his other works of the kind, for Carissimi +adhered strictly to this conception of oratorio, though many of his +contemporaries shaped their cantatas and oratorios around the life +of some saint. In _Jephta_, too, as in all the composer’s oratorios, +the musical stress is laid on the choruses. These are not written in +the style of the polyphonic madrigal, but in a simple chordal setting +whose rhythm is conditioned by the word-accents. The fugue is absent, +imitation and canon are suggested only in the duets. In nearly all +cases the chorus serves to develop the dramatic idea. In the oratorio +of the time, chorus is, in general, opposed to chorus, with the +occasional relief of solo voices. Yet Carissimi secures considerable +movement and variety by dividing more extended portions of his text +into short sections, first sung by one or more solo voices and then +taken up by the choruses _en masse_. Excellent examples of this +procedure are to be found in his _Diluvium universalis_ and _Dives +malus_. + +Naturally, the harmonic structure of _Jephta_ and the companion +oratorios of Carissimi seems almost pathetically simple to the +modern ear, accustomed to the richness of chromatic harmonization. +His modulations, save in a few instances, such as the chorus _Abit +in montes_ of _Jephta_, are restricted to the keys of the upper and +lower dominant. This lack, however, was not perceptible to listeners +of the composer’s own generation. They enjoyed the rhythmic vitality +and dramatic truth of his works, the vivid descriptive quality of +the shipwreck music in _Jonas_, the idyllic charm of the two-voice +movements to which the playmates of Jephthah’s daughter dance their +rounds. And in _Jephta_ the composer often gained a depth of pathos +worthy of a really great singer’s rendering. Such a number is the +_Plorate colles_, a model of expressive writing. It was from this +_Plorate_ that Handel borrowed twelve measures to use in ‘Hear, Jacob’s +God,’ in his ‘Samson.’ + +All in all, Carissimi may be held to have laid down the lines along +which the Handelian oratorio was later to develop. As a contrapuntal +writer his great merit lay in the adaptation of the polyphonic idea +to the new conceptions of tonality. He stands for the introduction of +a more serious musicianship in oratorio work, and his influence was +noticeably great and made itself felt in the works of his successors +up to Handel’s time. Among these men who carried on his work (though +often they were mainly active in the operatic or instrumental fields), +two in particular stand forth, Alessandro Stradella (d. 1681) and +Alessandro Scarlatti (d. 1725). These two men, in a manner, sum up +the activity of many others, of Provencale, Vitali, Colonna, Leonardo +Leo, G. B. Bononcini, Bassani, Ristocchi and Polaroli in Italy; of the +Italian musicians in Vienna--Bertali, Draghi, Ariosto, Badia and M. A. +Bononcini; and in Munich, Pietro Tosi. All of these composers wrote +oratorios between the years 1650 and 1750 and developed in them the +principles of Carissimi with more or less originality and success. + + + III + +Alessandro Scarlatti, born in 1659 in Trapani, Sicily, the greatest +representative of the Neapolitan school, was, it is asserted, a pupil +of Carissimi. He wrote operas, cantatas, vocal and instrumental pieces +by the hundred, and his oratorios alone number fourteen. Their titles +show that he departed from his master’s strict adherence to Biblical +subjects for his textual material. We have a _Maddalena penitente_, +a _Sacrificio d’Abramo_, _Agar et Ismaele esiliati_, it is true, +but also a _San Casimiro, rè di Polonia_, and a _S. Filippo Neri_. +Like Carissimi he subordinated strict thematic counterpoint to the +exigencies of a free and unconstrained leading of the voices, and with +an added richness and elaboration of effect. He gave the aria a more +definite structure, and made large use of rhythmic melody, in the +manner of Gluck, to bring out the dramatic value of highly impassioned +scenes, which in spoken drama would have appeared as monologue. Where +lesser depths of feeling were to be plumbed, he used accompanied +recitative and the _recitativo secco_ mainly for the development of the +narrative itself. This general scheme of arrangement has been followed +by later composers down to our own day. + +Perhaps his oratorio _Il trionfo della grazia_, composed in 1685, which +was a favorite as late as the early years of the eighteenth century, +gives us as good a general idea of his sacred music as any other. It +was also known under the title of _La Conversione di Maddalena_, as in +it the Magdalen makes her appearance as a species of apple of discord +between ‘Youth’ and ‘Penitence.’ In clever contrast such opposites +as Gravity and Heedlessness, The World’s Curse and The Joy of Life, +are used to enhance the moral and musical effect of the work. The +second section of the oratorio takes up the conversion of the penitent +sinner, and the music which the Magdalen now sings, full of pathos and +gravity, offers a piquant contrast to the jolly melodies, embroidered +with coloratura and shakes, which were her part before. Particularly +beautiful is an instrumental symphony (in the older sense of the word) +which, after the heroine has said the words, ‘A penitent and faithful +heart shall see the heavens open,’ is wonderfully suggestive of the +kneeling of the penitent woman. Schering calls it a musical pendant to +Ribera’s celebrated picture of St. Agnes, in the Dresden galleries. + +In another of Scarlatti’s oratorios, _Sedecia, rè di Gerusalemme_[72] +(1706), we meet with a splendidly effective use of orchestral +means--always remembering that the orchestra of that day was not our +present one. The introductory _sinffonie_ is here nothing more or less +than a violin concerto[73] in disguise, and the orchestra--consisting +of obbligato and second violins, trumpets, tympani (especially +prominent in the military music in Part I of the work) and oboes--takes +an important part in the musical development from beginning to end. +Among the vocal numbers might be instanced a particularly expressive +duo between Anna and her son Ishmael (accompanied by an obbligato +oboe); an aria of Ishmael’s, accompanied by two solo violins, and +Sedecia’s two arias in Part II. + +In this oratorio in particular, Scarlatti speaks with the accents of +a master who is consciously striving toward the realization of a new +ideal. It offers striking proof of the fact of how great Scarlatti +might have become as a composer of oratorio had not opera so largely +preëmpted his best efforts. The closing movement of _Sedecia_, a +five-part chorus on broad lines, with incidental solo-quartet sections, +recalls in its style the magnificent triumphal choruses of Handel’s +oratorios. _S. Casimiro, rè di Polonia_ (1713) also contains arias of +great beauty; and written during the master’s last period of creative +activity, _La Vergine addolorata_ (1717) must be considered one of +his finest works. A ‘Lament of Mary’ printed by Raf. Carreras in his +_El Oratorio Musical_ (1906), p. 188, approaches Bach in power and +expressiveness. + +The austere and serious power which Scarlatti infused into his sacred +music was not attained by his immediate successors and contemporaries. +But the master’s predilection for brilliancy and effect, when we +compare his music with that of Purcell, though its greater dramatic +interest and movement is incontestable, brought about, perhaps, a +less degree of emotional expression and a less intimate touch in the +portrayal of mood pictures. + +Alessandro Stradella, born in Naples about 1645, was not as prolific a +writer as Scarlatti, yet he left over 150 works (among them ten operas +and eight oratorios) at the time of his early death--he is supposed +to have been murdered in Genoa in 1681. He has much in common with +Scarlatti. In Stradella’s works we find the same recurring suggestion +of Handelian breadth and strength, and in general that freedom and +grandeur of conceptive outlook which stamps the great composer. + +Stradella’s best known oratorio is his _S. Giovanni Battista_ (about +1676). Its great artistic merit lies in its plastic musical portrayals +of the characters of Herod and his daughter, and in the happy use +of fiery, dramatic melody to limn them in tone; for as a musical +character-painter Stradella may be said to have been Scarlatti’s +superior, although his influence on the development of the form was +not so great as was that of his contemporary. The romantic details +regarding his personal life, many of them undoubtedly apocryphal, which +recur in every biography, do not seem to call for consideration here. +It is his contribution to the music of the oratorio only with which we +are concerned, and in this respect he deserves a place beside Scarlatti. + +The numerous composers of oratorio who lead from Carissimi, through +Scarlatti and Stradella, to Handel and his more immediate German +predecessors, have nothing especially new to offer. Scarlatti and +Stradella accomplished much in the direction of both musical and purely +formal development, but they were unable to establish a distinct +line of demarcation between oratorio and opera. Italian oratorio was +practically not distinguishable from the Italian _opera seria_ until as +late as Mozart’s boyhood. + + + IV + +Italian oratorio, by reason of its descent from the sacred church +dramas and its close association with opera, has never been wholly able +to break away from the element of recreation that was so conspicuous +in its early use as a means of attracting people to attend church. And +the complete separation between the recreational and religious elements +did not take place until the oratorio passed out of the land of its +birth into Germany, when it fused with the spirit of Passion-music and +emerged a distinctly religious art-form. The connecting link between +Italian oratorio and Germany was Giovanni Gabrieli, who, as the teacher +of Heinrich Schütz, the greatest German musician of the seventeenth +century, transmitted to his great pupil not only his technical mastery +of the best of Netherland and Italian art-methods, but his own +remarkable artistic sincerity and religious earnestness. It was Schütz +who, from the different standpoint of Protestant faith as nurtured by +the Lutheran Reformation, laid the foundations of modern oratorio. + +Before tracing the influence of Schütz in shaping the future course +of oratorio, it will be in place to sketch the origin and development +of the Passion-music. The quasi-dramatic musical presentation of the +Passion[74] is even more deeply rooted in the liturgy of the Roman +Church than is the oratorio. It represents the artistic amplification +of the reading of the Passion of our Lord, according to the evangels +as prescribed by the church during Holy Week: on Palm Sunday the +Passion according to St. Matthew, on Tuesday, St. Mark, on Wednesday, +St. Luke, and on Good Friday, St. John. At an early period it had +become customary to assign the narrative text and the words of Christ, +of the Apostles, the High Priest and other individual characters to +various singers, instead of having them read. During the period of the +supremacy of Gregorian plain-song this mode of rendering this part of +the liturgy resulted in the Passion chant (_cantus passionis_). This +continued to be the only form used until the principles of polyphony +were sufficiently developed to substitute a more elaborate form. +Since the year 1200 and probably much earlier, the texts to be sung +were divided among three priests, called ‘Deacons of the Passion,’ as +follows: one chanted the words of Christ, another the narration of +the Evangelist and a third the words of the apostles, the crowd, or +others whose words are recorded. Passion-music, it will be observed, is +much older than the oratorio and at the time that the latter began to +assume shape and coherence, it already could boast of a considerable +literature. When the monodic revolution brought about the development +of the oratorio along lines similar to those of opera and encouraged +the use of legends of the saints and Christian allegory as text matter, +the Passion remained strictly bound to its original Biblical text, +although the musical treatment of certain text portions in motet form +(Passion Motets) was permitted. Not until the second half of the +seventeenth century did Passion and oratorio in Italy draw near to each +other, and only in the last quarter of the century was the story of +the Passion utilized for the first time as subject-matter for a great +oratorio. + +Attilio Ariosti’s _Passione_ (1693) is probably the first work of +its kind in Italy to present this subject with due dramatic emphasis +and the use of musically adequate popular choruses. G. A. Perti’s +_Passione_ (1685), on the other hand, is one of the type known +as _sepolcros_, intended for devotional performance at a richly +decorated Holy Sepulchre and serving principally as an excuse for +tearfully exaggerated scenes of sorrow between Mary Magdalene and the +disciples. After Ariosti’s _Passione_ Italian Passion music in its best +manifestations may be said to have been taken over into the oratorio +proper, with little but its text to distinguish it from the latter. + +When Luther constructed the liturgy of the Church which followed his +religious leadership, he borrowed from the Roman ritual, among other +things, the custom of singing to musical accompaniment the story of the +trial and death of the Saviour. About the middle of the seventeenth +century German composers[75] injected into the existing Italian form +a new spiritual and musical fervor, and an emotional expressiveness +which was eventually to culminate in the great Passions of Johann +Sebastian Bach. By the end of the seventeenth century the Passion +existed in three distinct forms--the chant, the motet and the oratorio. +Schütz cultivated particularly the last two forms with wonderful +results considering the musical vocabulary of his period, but the +Passion-oratorio, with its greater musical and dramatic possibilities, +was best adapted to serve the deep religious fervor of Bach’s +inspiration and to attain its final development at his hands. + +Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672), of Dresden, was the greatest of Bach’s +predecessors as a composer of church-music. Familiar with the best +music of Italy and a master of religious writing, he laid the +foundation of the modern German oratorio. His ‘Resurrection,’ ‘Seven +Last Words,’ and four ‘Passions’ represent the culmination of the +form before Bach. Schütz, who has been called ‘the father of German +music,’ was one of the greatest Psalm-writers of all times, though +few of these compositions are so named but appear under such titles +as ‘spiritual concertos,’ ‘sacred symphonies,’ motets, and ‘sacred +choral music.’ Though his work was based on the Italian style, he was +greatly influenced by Scandellus, one of his predecessors in Dresden as +chapel-master of the Elector Johann Georg of Saxony. His finest choral +works are the six mentioned above, all of which come under the general +classification of oratorios. One of his greatest works, _Historia der +fröhlichen und siegreichen Auferstehung unseres einigen Erlösers und +Seligmachers Jesu Christi_, or ‘Resurrection,’ was written in 1623, +for Easter service, it being the custom then, as now, in some of the +important churches of Saxony, to sing the Resurrection on Easter day +before the sermon, just as the Passion was sung on Good Friday. The +vocal parts are accompanied by the organ and four _viole da gamba_, and +the chorus is frequently in six and eight parts. The works of Schütz +are characterized by simplicity of themes, which are always expressive +and full of color. At times he becomes dramatic, but he is always +devotional and reverential, and though he abandons the liturgical +forms of Scandellus, many of his themes, though original, are based +on liturgical melody or Gregorian chant. All trace of the Italian +recreational element disappears; there is no suggestion of the stage +or of ‘attractive’ effects and the only object before the composer’s +mind is evidently to faithfully portray in music the solemnity and +pious grandeur of the texts. This was the point of departure for German +Protestant oratorio. + +Another important work of Schütz was his setting of the ‘Seven Words +of Jesus,’ written and performed in 1645. This departs even more from +the liturgical chant, and the part of the Evangelist, instead of being +chanted, is treated as a recitative, first for alto, then for tenor, +then for soprano and tenor accompanied by the other two voices, thus +bringing it into quartet form. The first and last choruses are in five +parts and each is called ‘Chorus of the Congregation.’ After the first +chorus and before the last (therefore separating the actual scenes from +the chorus of the people), an instrumental number called _symphonia_ is +inserted, thereby giving more dramatic force to the narration. These +two symphonias are in five parts and while the instruments are not +indicated, they were probably played by the strings. Parts of the work +are very touching and beautifully expressive. For some unknown reason +this work was not published until 1873 (228 years after its first +production), edited by Carl Riedel. + +Possibly his greatest work is his setting of the four Passions entitled +_Historia des Leidens und Sterbens unseres Herrn und Heylandes Jesu +Christi_ and following the text of the four Evangelists. This was +written in 1665-66 but was not published during his lifetime and only +the ‘St. John Passion’ exists in manuscript, but a complete copy of +the four Passions was made by Grundig in 1690, comparatively soon +after the death of Schütz. These Passions are built up largely with +short choruses which, though conceived in deep devotion, are at times +very dramatic. The parts not given to the chorus are recitatives in +liturgical form, sometimes accompanied[76] and sometimes for the voice +alone. The texts of some of the choruses were taken from well-known +church hymns. The ‘St. Matthew Passion’ is the most fluent melodically. +These settings of the Passion comprised the composer’s last works and +in them lay the kernel of what was later perfected by Bach and Handel, +both of whom completed in their respective lines what Schütz had begun. +It has been regarded significant that the year of his birth was exactly +one hundred years before that of Bach and Handel. + +Schütz was still much under the influence of the Gregorian modes +and did not attempt to break away from them in passages of simple +recitative, but he also employed for simple harmonized passages many +of the chorale melodies that were so popular all over Protestant +Germany. But after Schütz plain-song practically disappears from German +Passion and oratorio music and the influence of the chorale becomes +more distinct and insistent. During the seventeenth and eighteenth +centuries Passion music was extensively cultivated in Germany and +all her best composers gave it marked attention. Johann Sebastiani +in 1672 produced a Passion at Königsberg, in which the narration is +set entirely to original music and in which chorales, simply and +effectively harmonized, are given more prominence. Thenceforward German +church-music, freed from its allegiance to the old modal system, struck +out paths of its own, and rapid progress was made. In 1673 Theile’s +_Deutsche Passion_ was performed at Lübeck with extraordinary success +and Reinhard Keiser, the Hamburg opera-composer, created renewed +interest in this form by his setting of the Passion in 1704, which +contained an innovation followed by all subsequent German writers of +Passion-music. This consisted in what he called _soliloquia_, which +voiced devout reflections on the solemn events of the Gospel narrative. + + + V + +Bach’s extraordinary and single-hearted devotion to the cause of +church-music led him very naturally to the door of Passion-music and +oratorio, and he brought to the composition of these elaborate forms +an unequalled mastery over all the technical devices of contrapuntal +writing and a marvellous fertility of invention. A deeply religious +and devout nature enriched the natural nobility of his musical speech, +and scattered through the four oratorios from his pen that are +preserved to us are some of his sublimest thoughts. These four are a +Christmas-oratorio and three Passion-oratories--St. Matthew, St. John, +and St. Luke (now regarded as genuine, though for many years considered +spurious). Through the carelessness of his son Friedemann a St. Mark +Passion and probably still another have been lost, for he is known to +have written five Passions. + +‘Christmas Oratorio.’--This work, written in 1723 and performed a +year later, consists of six parts (in reality six separate cantatas) +intended for the first, second and third days of the Christmas service, +for New Year’s Day, New Year’s Sunday and Epiphany. While these belong +together liturgically and are connected by chorales, there have been +very few single performances of the entire work because of its very +great length. The parts given most frequently are the first two, which +are the strongest. The text, the story of the Nativity, is taken from +Matthew and Luke, but is elaborated by passages taken from two of his +secular works. This was a common procedure in the eighteenth century +and as Bach had just written festival music for the birthday of the +Queen of Poland and for other court festivities, parts of these joyful +compositions easily adapted themselves to the joy of the Christmas +season. + +The first part opens with a sort of fanfare of trumpets accompanied +by drums, which gives a distinct festival atmosphere as the people +assemble for the first service; it is followed at once by the chorus +_Jauchzet, frohlocket, auf, preisset die Tage_. The solo tenor narrates +the part of the Evangelist and brings the attention of the worshippers +to the joy of this specific festival. But Bach sees beyond the Nativity +and anticipates the sacrifice and suffering of the Saviour, therefore +the words of the Advent hymn, _Wie soll ich dich empfangen_, are set to +the Passion chorale, _O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden_. This first part +contains beautiful, simple melodies interspersed with chorales. An +atmosphere, almost of Advent sorrow, pervades the part as a whole and +is strongly contrasted with the second part which brings in the real, +generally-accepted Christmas atmosphere. The second part opens with the +well-known ‘Pastoral Symphony,’ so often played on orchestral programs +and so charmingly idyllic, simple and naïve. It is built on two themes, +one typical of the shepherds, the other of the angels. At the close +of this the Evangelist continues his narrative, which is frequently +interrupted by lyric passages and by chorales, such as _Brich an, du +schönes Morgenlicht_. The beautiful tenor solo, _Frohe Hirten eilt_, +following a bass recitative, is one of the most compelling numbers, but +probably the finest from both a vocal and an orchestral standpoint is +the lovely alto solo, _Schlafe, mein Liebster_. The part closes with +a massive chorus of praise to God in the highest, sung by the angels, +shepherds and the congregation. + +As the other four parts are rarely performed, no detailed analysis is +given here; however, these parts have been given together and are about +as long as the combined first two parts. One of the most effective +choruses in the last four parts is one in the fifth, _Ehre sei dir Gott +gesungen_. + +‘Passion According to St. Matthew.’--This stupendous work, now +universally considered the finest work of its kind, was written in 1729 +and performed on April 15th of the same year at the afternoon service +of Good Friday in the St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, but was later altered +and extended so that it was not completed in its present form until +1740. While it was frequently performed in Leipzig until the end of +the eighteenth century, it was practically forgotten by the outside +world until 1829, just one hundred years after its first production, +when it was given on March 11th, in the _Singakademie_, Berlin, under +the direction of Mendelssohn. This generous artist is deserving of +the deepest gratitude for his untiring enthusiasm in compelling the +world to recognize the grandeur of this work and the greatness of +its half-forgotten creator. He was evidently deeply struck with the +strangeness of his own relation to the rescuing of the great work from +oblivion, for, in commenting on the performance, he made the following +reference to his own nationality--the only recorded instance of this +kind: ‘It was an actor[77] and a Jew who restored this great Christian +work to the people.’ It was not performed in London until April 6th, +1854. The first American performance was by the Handel and Haydn +Society in Boston in 1874. + +The story of the ‘Passion according to St. Matthew’ was already +embodied in the service at Leipzig and it was sung on Palm Sunday each +year in choral form. The fact that the Passions were regularly given +at church services, added to his own interest in the subject itself, +probably inspired Bach to give artistic musical expression to the +different versions of the Gospel narratives. While Bach wrote five +Passions, four on the four Gospels and one by Picander, the greatest +and last was the ‘Matthew Passion.’ The ‘Passion according to St. Luke’ +is by many authorities not attributed entirely to Bach, for even though +it were a youthful work, there are parts that cannot be reconciled with +his general style of that period, though others bear his unmistakable +stamp. Of the ‘Passion according to St. Mark’ only five lyric pieces +are preserved in the Funeral Ode on the death of Queen Christiane +Eberhardine. The Picander Passion is lost. The ‘Passion according +to St. John’ was first performed at St. Thomas’ Church on April +7th, 1724, and is musically not much inferior to the great ‘Matthew +Passion,’ but in the latter work Bach developed to a larger extent +the element characteristic of the oratorio and united more closely +the ecclesiastical and the folk-song quality. The fact that he was +accustomed to the simple choral setting probably prevented him from +giving anything like conscious dramatic effect, yet the complexity +of his natural musical expression often led him to a dramatic climax +of which he was not conscious, for his Passions were written for the +church service only. As Bach was above all a devout Lutheran, he +doubtless was imbued with the spirit of offsetting the grandeur of +the Roman Mass with the combination of simple and complex forms in +which the congregation could take part in the well-known chorales +interspersed so artistically. Arthur Mees[78] speaks of Bach’s Passions +as ‘the expression of the religious devotion of his own individual self +as representative of his fellow-believers. Even the dramatic portions +are not the utterances of actors in a drama, but those of the Christian +congregation which is carried away in its contemplation of the events +to the point of identifying itself with the actual participants in the +scene.’ + +Between the two parts of the Passion it was customary in Bach’s time +to have the sermon, as in the days of St. Philip Neri at Rome. As the +performance of the Passion consumed more than two hours and the sermon +lasted at least two hours, the Good Friday service was a most serious +and weighty church event. + +The first part of the ‘Matthew Passion’ is divided into three +principal sections--Jesus with his disciples and the institution of +the Last Supper, Jesus at Gethsemane, and the seizure of Jesus. The +second part is divided into four sections--Jesus before the High +Priest, Jesus before Pilate, the Crucifixion, and the last, consisting +of madrigal-like elaborations of Bible texts. This part contains the +famous bass aria, _Am Abend als es kühle ward_, which with its refined +instrumentation is one of the most beautiful in the entire work, almost +romantic in atmosphere and remarkably lyric. Among the many notable +characteristics of this work is the accompanying of the words of Jesus +by the orchestra in place of the usual _continuo_. The Daughter of +Zion, whose words were given by other composers to a definite voice, +no longer appears as an individual, but her words are sung in turn by +alto, soprano, tenor and bass solos, in duets and in choral form. + +While a large part of the text (from chapters XXVI and XXVII of +Matthew’s Gospel) was doubtless compiled by Bach himself, he had able +assistance from the poet Picander (whose real name was Friedrich +Henrici), who wrote many of the hymns and who has already been referred +to as the poet of the lost Passion, considered of little value because +of the inadequacy of the text. + +With Bach’s ‘Matthew Passion’ the development of the Protestant Church +music in this form came to an abrupt close for the simple reason that +no one since Bach’s time has possessed the necessary technical and +musical equipment for further progress. In this glorious work, which +next to his own ‘B minor Mass’ is probably his most sublime utterance, +he seems to have completely grasped the touching pathos and the +poignant sorrow of the scenes unfolded in the Gospel narratives of the +Passion and, in interpreting them through the religious experience of a +devout believer, to have exhausted the vocabulary of music appropriate +to the liturgy of which this Scriptural narrative forms an impressive +part. However, other Passions were written after Bach’s settings were +made and the most famous of them is Graun’s _Der Tod Jesu_, which +is spoken of in some detail below. Handel made two settings of the +Passion, one of which (‘The Passion of Christ’ to a poem by B. H. +Brockes of Hamburg) is in existence. It was written probably about 1716 +and the composer introduced no fewer than twenty of its numbers into +later works, some altered, some transferred bodily. Haydn’s Passion +(‘The Seven Words of Our Saviour’) has already been spoken of under +cantatas (Chapter IV). An interesting example of later Passion music +is Gounod’s unaccompanied Passion-motet, ‘The Seven Last Words of Our +Saviour’ (_Filiæ Jerusalem_), written from the standpoint of the Roman +Church service in the style of Palestrina. + +Karl Heinrich Graun (1701-1759), a contemporary of Bach, was the +last great writer of Passion music. Indeed, the greatest of his works +was the Passion-cantata ‘The Death of Jesus,’ text by Ramler, which +met with the most monumental success and has been a favorite up to +the present day. Performed for the first time on March 26th, 1763, in +the Cathedral of Berlin (four years after the death of the composer), +it was published immediately and both orchestral and piano scores +passed through edition after edition, and the work obtained a very +wide hearing. In many places an annual performance of it was given +and it was as well known as the ‘Messiah,’ ‘The Creation’ and the +Mozart _Requiem_. Although Graun was first of all a contrapuntist, +his harmony was rich and expressive and his style often dramatic. As +he was himself an opera singer of splendid attainments, he understood +how to produce the best vocal effects. His melodies, if judged from +the standpoint of the time in which they were written, are very +expressive, though present-day standards would not pronounce them +always forceful. This may be partly due to the text, which, though +suited to the demands of the time, is not always pliable. Graun, like +all German Passion composers of this period, made frequent use of the +chorale, sometimes for purposes of narration and sometimes to express +the thought of the people. The _dramatis personæ_ are not well defined +in the text, hence it is difficult to discern who is speaking, since +chorus, solos and chorales serve for different functions. Frederick +the Great somewhat humorously spoke of this work as ‘Graun’s best +opera’ and there is considerable justification for the statement, +especially when considered in connection with the two principal bass +arias--one, which comes near the close, ‘Now suddenly by anguish long +restrained,’ and the other, which is by far the highest dramatic point +in the work, ‘Jerusalem, for slaughter thirsting.’ The latter is most +effective, even judged by present-day standards, and has an elaborate +accompaniment. This is followed by the chorus, ‘Christ unto us hath +left an example,’ in double fugue, the vocal effects of which have made +it successful in spite of the commonplace themes employed. This is so +well-known that it is often sung by choirs as a separate composition. + + + VI + +The law of compensation has seldom operated so magnificently to the +advantage of a great artist defeated in a cherished life enterprise, +as in the case of Handel. Rejoicing in the reputation of being one of +the greatest opera composers of his time, he might easily have spent +the whole productive period of his life in winning the applause of the +pleasure-loving opera audiences who regarded the glitter and tinsel of +Italian opera as the _summum bonum_ of artistic expression. Fortunately +for Handel himself and for the art of music, he was compelled to +give up his career as an opera composer and manager because of the +jealousy of rivals, the cabals and intrigues of court-cliques and the +financial embarrassments brought about by combinations of unpleasant +circumstances. It was only after he was fifty years old that he +began to write the works that have immortalized him. Several of his +early oratorios--‘Esther’ (1718 and 1732), ‘Deborah’ (1733) and +‘Athaliah’ (1733)--had met with great success and popular approval, +part of which was no doubt attributable to the unbounded admiration +aroused by his performances on the organ between the parts of his +oratorios. Practically driven from the operatic stage by adverse +circumstances--and all of his operas are forgotten now--he eagerly +turned to the more appreciative English oratorio audiences. It was +this English love for the sacred drama that encouraged Handel to +abandon stage composition (1741) and to give full expression to the +deeper things of his rugged, independent, sincere nature through the +highest forms of religious music. The result was the production of the +stupendous series of oratorios on which his fame now almost wholly +rests. ‘Saul’ and ‘Israel in Egypt’ were both performed in 1739, and +in 1742 the immortal ‘Messiah’ was given to the world. The enthusiasm +with which this great work was received stimulated him to renewed +activity along the same line and after the ‘Messiah’ came ‘Samson’ and +the ‘Dettingen Te Deum,’ performed in 1743; ‘Semele’ and ‘Joseph,’ +performed in 1744; ‘Belshazzar’ and ‘Heracles’ in 1745; the ‘Occasional +Oratorio’ and ‘Judas Maccabæus’ in 1747; ‘Joshua’ in 1748, ‘Solomon’ +and ‘Susannah’ in 1749, ‘Theodora’ in 1750, ‘The Choice of Hercules’ +in 1750, and ‘Jephthah,’ his last oratorio, in 1752. During the +composition of ‘Jephthah,’ his failing eyesight became so troublesome +that he submitted to several operations for cataract, which, however, +were unsuccessful and total blindness ensued. + +During the period of about twenty years in which Handel’s oratorios +were written, the oratorio itself passed through practically all +the phases of development from the simple form in which Carissimi +left it to the massive structure of his (Handel’s) later oratorios. +During this period he had practically no competition; indeed, in +the field of concert oratorio there is no one between Carissimi and +Haydn who approaches him in greatness. The early Italian oratorio +(including Handel’s earliest ones) consisted largely of vocal solos +in the prevalent Italian operatic style. Scant attention was given +to the chorus. As Handel delivered himself more and more in this +form, he drew the line of demarcation more clearly between oratorio +and opera. He elevated the chorus to an exalted position as the most +effective and characteristic medium for the utterance of the sublime +and epic thoughts so appropriate to the oratorio, and this feature +has been largely maintained in oratorio since Handel’s time. To be +sure, he frequently employed a distinctly operatic style (as in the +familiar aria ‘Rejoice greatly’ from the ‘Messiah’), but in general +he differentiated between the two forms and firmly established the +permanent lines on which modern oratorio has developed. It should be +borne in mind that oratorio is not, and never has been, church-music, +but concert-music. Its first use, though frequently associated with +church services, was distinctly extra-liturgical. It is not even +necessarily religious music and it is worthy of note in this connection +that the majority of Handel’s choral works are secular. Several of +his early oratorios--‘Esther’ and ‘Deborah,’ as well as the serenata, +‘Acis and Galatea’--were performed, as was the early custom in Italy, +with costume and stage scenery and action. English church authorities +frowned on this practice, however, and Handel discontinued it, but +he retained the dramatic element throughout all of his career as an +oratorio writer; in fact ‘Samson’ possesses so much real dramatic +action that it might well be staged for full operatic performance. + +Handel’s oratorio style differed sharply from Bach’s in that it +was less severe and more distinctly vocal. His long experience in +writing for the stage led him instinctively to assume a more direct +and intimate form of musical speech than that adopted by the great +Cantor in his church-music. Next to Bach he was the greatest master +of counterpoint of his time and many of his choruses are perfect +examples of vocal fugue, but he depended far more than did Bach upon +solid chord-movement for some of his most massive and grandiose +effects. His general choral style represents a happy combination of the +homophonic and contrapuntal principles, both operating in the immediate +interests of expressive dramatic utterance, as witness the magnificent +‘Hallelujah’ chorus in the ‘Messiah.’ Deeply expressive arias, often +with folk-song simplicity of melody, and massive, highly organized and +often elaborately constructed contrapuntal choruses are the two salient +musical features of his best oratorio style. + +‘Messiah.’--Probably no other musical composition is held in such +universal affection as is Handel’s ‘Messiah’ and its popularity (in the +best sense of the word) seems to increase with the years. Performances +of it have steadily become more and more frequent during the last fifty +years and with many choral societies in America, England and Germany, +it has become an annual musical event at the Christmas season, though +just why this particular season should have been chosen, it would +be hard to say. Not only was Handel in many respects the greatest +of oratorio writers, but this oratorio was his greatest work, free +from traditions or limitations. It was written to a text which he +himself selected from the Bible, though it was arranged by Charles +Jennens, who had previously collaborated with him on _L’Allegro_. +The very conception of the work itself is one of the sublimest that +could engage the attention of the human mind--the great events in the +life of the Saviour--and it struck down into the depths of his deeply +religious nature. Volumes of sermons and criticisms have been preached +and written upon the ‘Messiah’ from every conceivable religious and +artistic angle. In England it has taken a place of devout veneration +that is almost a fetich. Yet Ernest Walker, the English critic, +declares that ‘if it was necessary for us blindly to bow the knee for +all time to one single work, no doubt the "Messiah" was our wisest +choice.’ + +This monumental work was begun on the 22nd of August, 1741, and +finished on September 14th, therefore in the short space of +twenty-three days. It was performed first in Dublin on April 13th, +1742, and it won immediate success. In London it was given for the +first time on March 23rd, 1743, and at this performance King George +the Second was so stirred during the singing of the words, ‘For the +Lord God Omnipotent reigneth,’ that he rose to his feet and the whole +audience followed his reverent example. From this incident sprang the +familiar custom of rising during the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus. +The work was given thirty-four times during Handel’s lifetime and he +himself directed it for the last time on April 6th, 1759, only a week +before his death. The first really adequate performance of it was given +in Westminster Abbey in 1784, when it was given by the largest mass of +performers ever assembled up to that time, the orchestra numbering 242 +and the chorus 267. This was, however, eclipsed by the performance in +the Crystal Palace at the centenary of the composer’s death, when an +orchestra of 460 and a choir of 2,700 performed the work. + +It is in three parts, the first containing the prophecy of the coming +of the Messiah and the narrative of the nativity. It opens after +a noble orchestral introduction with a tenor recitative and aria, +‘Comfort ye my people’ and ‘Every valley shall be exalted.’ This, like +many of the Handel arias, is very ornate and requires a flexible vocal +technique, single syllables being used for long florid passages. A +similar illustration of this is found in the bass recitative, ‘Thus +saith the Lord,’ and in the middle part of the following pastoral aria, +‘But who may abide,’ where the demands upon a fluent vocal delivery are +exceedingly great, especially for the naturally slow-moving bass voice. +These vocal demands, however, are not confined to the solos, but appear +with equal force in some of the choruses as well, a good illustration +of which is the brilliant fugal chorus, ‘And he shall purify.’ This +is followed by the favorite contralto solo, ‘O Thou that tellest good +tidings to Zion,’ which is taken up at its close and developed by the +chorus. One of the most magnificent choruses in the first part is ‘For +unto us a child is born’ and this is followed by the exquisite pastoral +symphony which precedes the narration of the shepherds. The contralto +and soprano arias, ‘He shall feed his flock’ and ‘Come unto Him all ye +that labor,’ are among the most beautiful lyric melodies of oratorio +literature and these are followed by the fugal chorus which closes the +first part, ‘His yoke is easy.’ + +The second part, depicting the Saviour’s suffering, death and triumph, +begins with a noble chorus, ‘Behold the Lamb of God,’ after which +the alto sings one of the most expressively beautiful arias ever +written, ‘He was despised.’ When Mrs. Cibber sang this aria at the +first performance in Dublin, the Reverend Mr. Delany, friend of Dean +Swift, who cherished a prejudice against all public singers, was so +transported by the pathos of the music that he rapturously exclaimed: +‘Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven.’ It is followed by the +dramatically expressive choruses, ‘Surely He hath borne our griefs,’ +‘And with His stripes’ and ‘All we, like sheep, have gone astray,’ the +last closing with a stately chorale, ‘And the Lord hath laid on Him the +iniquity of us all.’ One of the most effective choruses in this part is +the joyous ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates,’ but the real climax of the +part, and indeed of the whole work, is the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus, of such +wondrous power and sustained beauty that everything after it must of +necessity take on something of the nature of an anticlimax. + +The short third part forms, as it were, a Credo, as expressed by the +great soprano aria, ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth.’ The work closes +with two of Handel’s finest choruses--‘Worthy is the Lamb,’ of great +dignity and nobility, and the triumphant ‘Amen’ fugue, overpowering in +its majestic sweep of contrapuntal movement. Speaking of the impression +that this deeply religious epic has always produced on audiences in +every country, Mr. F. J. Crowest, in ‘The Great Tone Poets,’ exclaims: +‘Where is the prelate who can move our souls as they are moved by +Handel’s "Messiah"?’ And what can be added to such praise? + + + VII + +‘Israel in Egypt.’--This work, the most perfect example of the +choral oratorio, containing some of the most colossal choruses ever +written (twenty-eight double choruses), was composed in October, 1738, +in the short interval of twenty-seven days. In addition to the choruses +there are only five arias, three duets and some short recitatives, +which serve as connecting links in the massive choral chain. The second +part (the Exodus) was written first and had evidently been planned +as a cantata; however, Handel doubtless realized the possibilities +of the vast material at hand and added the first part, which thus +became an historical introduction to the work already written. Its +first performance took place on April 4th, 1739, at the King’s +Theatre, London, and on the 11th it was given again but with some +alterations, caused by insertion of songs, and at the third performance +on April 17th, the ‘Funeral Anthem’ in memory of Queen Caroline was +interpolated. For some reason this excellent work was not successful +and was given only nine times during Handel’s lifetime. It was again +brought to light in 1849 by the Sacred Harmonic Society of London, +when it was peformed as originally written, and in this form it is now +given. The text, credited to Handel, was really taken literally from +the Bible and arranged by him so as to form a very dramatic narrative. + + + [Illustration: Facsimile of Handel’s Manuscript: + the Last Page of ‘The Messiah’] + + +It opens, without an overture, with a few measures of tenor recitative +(‘Now there arose a King in Egypt who knew not Joseph’), leading at +once to the lament of the Israelites over the cruelties of the Egyptian +bondage (‘And the children of Israel sighed’), a double chorus of +great dramatic power leading up to the words, ‘And their cry came up +unto God.’ After another short recitative for tenor, there follows the +series of choruses descriptive of the plagues, in which the composer +uses almost modern descriptive means. Thus, the first of the choruses +describing the plague of the water turning to blood (‘They loathed +to drink of the river’), is fugal and depicts the nauseating effects +of the water upon the Egyptians; the hopping of the frogs is naïvely +imitated in the accompaniment of the following aria for mezzo-soprano +(‘Their land brought forth frogs’); and the plague of insects, a double +chorus with a buzzing, restless orchestral accompaniment, is remarkably +descriptive of insect motion. Before the dramatic double chorus, +‘He gave them hailstones for rain,’ the orchestra introduces the +approaching storm, which, beginning gradually, develops into tremendous +force as if the elements had been let loose. After the storm, comes +the gloom of the darkness that fell over the land and vague, uncertain +tones grope about as the chorus sings, ‘He sent a thick darkness over +all the land.’ Then, in the savage fury of righteous retribution, a +chorus of unexampled energy (‘He smote all the first-born of Egypt’) +describes the swift vengeance of the Most High. The English critic +Chorley calls it ‘a fiercely Jewish’ chorus, with ‘a touch of Judith, +of Jael, of Deborah in it--no quarter, no delay, no mercy for the +enemies of the Most High.’ The passage of the Red Sea follows these +stormy descriptive choruses, and another dramatic but jubilant chorus +(‘But the waters overwhelmed their enemies’) is succeeded by two short +choruses of a devotional character which bring the first part to a +close. + +The second part, ‘The Song of Moses,’ after a short orchestral +introduction, is ushered in by a chorus (‘Moses and the children of +Israel sang this song’), after which comes the sublime fugal chorus, a +mighty song of praise to the Lord (‘For He hath triumphed gloriously’). +In this part is also the famous declamatory duet for two basses, ‘The +Lord is a Man of War,’ and the great tenor aria, ‘The enemy said "I +will pursue."’ After the exultant song of Miriam, the prophetess, there +comes a magnificent triumphal double chorus, splendidly supported +by the orchestra--a piling up of voice upon voice, instrument upon +instrument, in a pæan of exultation and triumph, which brings the work +to a climactic close of tremendous dramatic effectiveness. + +‘Judas Maccabæus.’--This oratorio was written at the request of the +Prince of Wales for the celebration of the victory of Culloden (April +16th, 1746) and the work, written in thirty-two days (July 9th to +August 11th, 1746), was performed on April first, 1747, the festal +day celebrating the return of the victorious Duke of Cumberland. The +text was prepared by the Reverend Thomas Morell, D.D., who selected +the material concerning the events surrounding the Hebrew warrior from +the First Book of Maccabees and from Josephus. The first performance +at Covent Garden was so successful that the work was repeated six +times that year. Handel himself conducted it thirty-eight times, and +it gained steadily in popularity, which was further augmented by the +enthusiasm of the Jews, who delighted in it because it extolled a proud +event in their national history. + +The first part (the time is the second century B. C.) opens with the +lament of the Israelitish men and women over the death of their leader +Mattathias (father of Judas Maccabæus and his brother Simon), who had +inspired the Jews to withstand the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes, king +of Syria, in his effort to deprive them of their freedom and their +religious worship. The first chorus, ‘Mourn, ye afflicted children,’ +and, after a duet, the chorus ‘For Zion lamentation make,’ establish at +once the sombre mood of the whole work. Simon’s militant, ringing aria, +‘Arm, arm, ye brave,’ which is still an effective solo greatly beloved +of bass singers, is followed by a short but rousing chorus, ‘We come in +bright array.’ The first part closes with one of the most massive and +imposing choruses from Handel’s pen, ‘Hear us, O Lord.’ + +The second part opens with an instrumental prelude descriptive of the +battle scenes and the celebration of the initial victories, and leads +into the finest chorus in the work, a powerful song of triumph, ‘Fallen +is the foe.’ The war of liberation is renewed, Judas rouses the courage +of his depressed people and his army departs to meet the enemy, while +those who remain behind voice their denunciation of the idolatries +of the heathen. The second part closes dramatically with the chorus, +‘We never will bow down to the rude stock or sculptured stone,’ which +develops into a vigorous chorale in which is heard the repeated phrase, +‘We worship God alone.’ + +The third part begins with a prayer, ‘Father of heaven, from Thy +eternal throne,’ which is sung by the priest in the recovered and +restored temple of Jerusalem. A messenger announces the victory of +Judas and, as the youths and maidens go out to meet the returning +victor, they sing the world-famous jubilant chorus, ‘See the conquering +hero comes,’ which, by the way, was originally composed for ‘Joshua’ +as a tribute to Othniel on his return from the capture of Debir, and +was later transferred to ‘Judas Maccabæus.’ The oratorio appropriately +closes with a Hallelujah chorus which at once celebrates the return of +peace and serves as the joyous expression of national thanksgiving. + +‘Samson.’--Although this work was written almost at the same time as +the ‘Messiah’ (1741), it was not performed until February 18th, 1743, +when it was given in London at Covent Garden. Its success was instant. +Eight consecutive performances were given--a far more eloquent tribute +in Handel’s time than in our own to the popular appreciation with which +it was received. Handel himself regarded the work with deep affection, +and, when urged to express a preference for either the ‘Messiah’ or +‘Samson,’ declared he was unable to choose between them. During his +lifetime ‘Samson’ shared almost equal popularity with the ‘Messiah’ +and ‘Judas Maccabæus’--the three most frequently performed. The text, +arranged by Newburg Hamilton from Milton’s poem, ‘Samson Agonistes,’ +although based upon the Bible narrative of the powerful Samson, does +not follow it absolutely. The principal characters are Samson; Micah, +his friend; Manoah, his father; Delilah, his wife; and Harapha, a giant +of Gath. The scene is laid before the prison of Gaza. + +A brilliant overture, stately at first and gradually developing into +minuet rhythm, opens the work, which at once reveals the blind captive, +Samson, temporarily released from his menial toil because of the +feast of Dagon, and lamenting his deplorable plight as he hears the +fiery chorus of the priests, ‘Awake the trumpet’s lofty sound.’ His +father and his friend come to lament with him just after his touching +tenor song (‘Torments, alas!’), and as they ask which of his sorrows +is greater, blindness or captivity, Samson sings one of the noblest +laments ever written, ‘Total eclipse: no sun, no moon, all dark amidst +the blaze of noon,’ a song which touched Handel so deeply in his latter +days of blindness that he wept at the performance, as did the audience +with him. Samson nobly tells his friends that his punishment is +deserved and that there is no hope for him; but at times he furiously +denounces his foes, especially in the dramatic outburst, ‘Why does the +God of Israel sleep?’ which is followed by an elaborate choral fugue +(‘Then shall they know’) on two subjects, one given by the altos, the +other by the tenors. The first part closes with a beautiful chorus in +which his friends point his thought to the joys of a future life for +compensation for all his earthly sorrows. + +The second part discloses Delilah trying again to entice her husband, +but he now understands her treachery and answers her sensuous song +with the emphatic ‘Your charms to ruin led the way.’ He then has +a visitation from the giant Harapha who taunts him on his present +condition. The colloquy between the giants produces two of the finest +arias of the oratorio--Harapha’s dashing and boastful bass aria, ‘Honor +and arms scorn such a foe,’ and Samson’s proud answer, ‘My strength is +from the living God.’ Micah finally bids Harapha to call on Dagon to +‘dissolve the magic spells that gave our hero strength,’ after which +is heard the broad, devout six-part chorus of the Israelites, ‘Hear, +Jacob’s God.’ The part closes with a massive double chorus--in which +Israelites and Philistines, in choral strife, extol their respective +deities. + +In the third part, Harapha notifies Samson that he must appear at the +feast of Dagon to exhibit his strength and, though he refuses at first, +he finally yields because he believes it to be God’s will. Samson calls +upon the Spirit which led him formerly and goes to the temple. He +takes in each hand one of the pillars which support the roof and with +a mighty effort pulls down the temple, crushing the Philistines and +burying himself with them. A tender, expressive funeral march is played +as Samson is borne away by his people. For this march Handel afterwards +substituted the Dead March from ‘Saul’ and both marches now appear in +the score. Manoah exhorts the people to lay aside their sorrow and +praise God, and this brings the famous trumpet aria, ‘Let the bright +Seraphim,’ which is so grateful for both voice and instrument. The +brilliant chorus, ‘Let their celestial concerts,’ brings this imposing +oratorio to a triumphant close. + + + VIII + +Most of the great composers have frankly built on the achievements of +their predecessors, carrying to completion or at least to higher stages +of development the forms handed down to them, without much conscious +influence from contemporary composers. Some, like Wagner and Schubert, +have struck out new lines whose discovery and development cannot be +explained wholly as resulting from the operation of preceding artistic +forces and principles. Comparatively few of the really great composers +have acknowledged their indebtedness to contemporary genius. Such a +one, however, was ‘Papa’ Haydn. The youthful Mozart had opened up new +visions in symphonic and orchestral music and compelled the veteran +Haydn[79] to new effort. And when Haydn heard the ‘Messiah’ for the +first time in Westminster Abbey during his first visit to England +in 1791, he was so moved by the majesty of the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus +that it inspired him to the composition of what is undoubtedly his +greatest work, the ‘Creation.’ This work joins with its great artistic +inspirer, Handel’s ‘Messiah,’ and with Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah’ in +forming a trio of the world’s most popular oratorios. Of his other two +oratorios--the ‘Seasons’ and ‘The Return of Tobias’--only the former +claims present-day performance and that far less frequently than its +predecessor, the ‘Creation.’ One misses in Haydn’s choral works the +massive grandeur of effect and complexity of structure of the Handel +oratorios. Haydn was a deeply religious man, but it was not in accord +with his happy, sunny, optimistic nature to sound the depths of human +emotion. The great charm of the ‘Creation’ lies in the freshness, the +artless simplicity, and the evident spontaneity of its melody, and the +naturalness and direct expressive power of its choruses. + +The ‘Creation’ was begun in 1795, to a libretto given the composer +by the London manager, Salomon, and compiled by Lidley from Milton’s +‘Paradise Lost’ and from Genesis. It was completed in 1798, when Haydn +was sixty-six years old, and the first performance took place at the +Schwarzenberg Palace on the 29th and 30th of April, 1798, with the +text translated and much altered by Baron von Swieten. It was first +publicly produced at the National Theatre, Vienna, March 19, 1799, and +was received with greatest enthusiasm. It soon made its way to the +music-centres of Europe, having its first London performance on March +28th, 1800, and its first Paris performance on Dec. 24th, of the same +year. Napoleon I was on his way to attend the latter performance when +he narrowly escaped death by an infernal machine in the Rue Nicaise. +Structurally one is impressed with the large number of arias and the +correspondingly small number of choruses, as compared with Handel’s +later oratorios. In this respect Haydn was undoubtedly influenced by +the form of the Italian concert oratorio, then very popular in Vienna. + +It is constructed in the usual three parts, the first two of which +are the strongest. The overture is a quaint bit of tone painting; at +first monotonous and barren of melody, it attempts to depict chaos; +but gradually form begins to appear in the music and the various +instruments speak out more clearly, until harmony is established. The +first voice is that of Raphael (bass) in a short recitative, ‘In the +beginning,’ followed by a chorus which gently whispers the words, ‘And +the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters,’ closing with a +joyous outburst on the words, ‘And there was light.’ The separation +of light from darkness follows, Satan and his legions ‘sink into the +deep abyss’ and the quiet chorus appears, ‘A new created world springs +up.’ The first four days of creation are described in a series of +recitatives, arias and choruses, many of which are familiar the world +over--the inspiring chorus with soprano obbligato, ‘The marvellous +work’; the fine bass aria, ‘Rolling in foaming billows,’ with its +lovely limpid refrain, ‘Softly purling’; and the well-known ‘With +verdure clad,’ a soprano aria on which Haydn lavished the utmost care, +having altered it three times before it entirely satisfied him--all +leading up to the magnificent final chorus of the first part, ‘The +heavens are telling,’ in which a trio of voices (Gabriel, Uriel and +Raphael) is finely contrasted with the majestic choral passages. + +The second part describes the creation of animate life on the earth. +Beginning with birds, it enumerates the various classes, rising in +the scale until the crowning glory of creation is reached in man. The +opening aria, ‘On mighty pens’ (Gabriel), pictures the eagle, the +lark, the dove and the nightingale, each bird being depicted in a +characteristic musical phrase in the accompaniment. One of the most +interesting numbers is the description of the roaring lions, with +deep growls of the double bassoons, the ‘flexible tiger’ with rapid +string passages, the alertness of the stag with a _presto_ movement, +the neighing and prancing of the horse, the fluttering and buzzing +of swarming insects in the air--in all of which the humor of Haydn +is naïvely expressed in comical musical mimicry. The creation of man +brings the beautiful tenor aria, ‘In native worth’ (Uriel). The final +chorus is the superb fugue, ‘Achieved is the glorious work,’ in the +midst of which is set a trio, ‘On Thee each living soul awaits,’ and, +after a return to the fugue, closing with a Gloria and Hallelujah +of singularly beautiful and majestic outlines. The third part opens +with an orchestral introduction picturing the first morning of the +completed creation, in which the flutes and horns contribute some +beautiful effects. A tender dialogue between Adam and Eve is followed +by a charming duet, ‘Graceful consort.’ The closing chorus, ‘Sing the +Lord, ye voices all,’ opens in a strain of solemn majesty and gradually +unfolds until it leads into a massive fugue, ‘Jehovah’s praise forever +shall endure.’ It closes with a mighty pæan of praise, given by the +combined chorus, solo voices and orchestra with telling effect. + +‘The Seasons.’--Haydn’s last oratorio, ‘The Seasons,’ the words for +which were based on Thomson’s poem of the same name and arranged by +Baron von Swieten, was written between April, 1798, and April, 1801, +and first presented at the Schwarzenberg Palace, Vienna, on April 24th, +1801. Three performances were given in close succession. This work can +scarcely be called a real oratorio; it partakes more of the character +and form of the sacred cantata, but is more frequently given the first +named classification. The ‘Seasons’ represents a distinct decline in +the composer’s powers, but it is not to be wondered at, for he was +sixty-nine years old when it was completed, and during its composition +was greatly harassed and irritated by the nonsensical demands and +caprices of the librettist. The characters are Simon, a farmer; Jane, +his daughter; and Lucas, a young countryman. These personages do not +have any dramatic significance, though the work contains a love scene +between Lucas and Jane. That the scene is laid in the country is easily +imagined from the subject, and the chorus represents the country-folk. + +The first scene depicts early spring and opens with a lively overture +and with recitatives from the three principals, expressing joy at the +approach of the balmy season, at once followed by the first chorus, +‘Come, gentle spring.’ After the farmer’s aria comes a trio and a fugal +chorus, ‘Be propitious, bounteous heaven.’ The chorus, ‘Spring, her +lovely charms unfolding,’ is almost redolent with the odor of waxen +buds and early blossoms. Following this is the closing fugal chorus, +‘God of light.’ + +‘Summer’ is introduced with a short prelude leading to a beautiful +aria by Simon, ‘From out the fold the shepherd drives,’ and at the +appearance of the early sunrise the trio and chorus chant a song of +welcome, ‘Hail, O glorious sun!’ The various numbers picture the +progress of the day, and after the overwhelming heat of noon, an +ominous silence tells of the coming storm. The drums give forth a peal +of thunder, followed by a storm-chorus, ‘Hark the deep, tremendous +voice.’ The driving rain, the thunder and the lightning-flashes are +vividly pictured in the music. With the trio and chorus, ‘Now cease the +conflicts,’ the music becomes tranquil again as the night approaches, +with the droning of insects, the croaking of the frogs, the song of the +quail and the peals from a distant bell-tower--and darkness and slumber +drop over the land. + +The third part, ‘Autumn,’ depicting the ‘kind rewards’ of Nature, +contains the song of Simon, ‘Behold, along the dewy grass,’ which is +followed by the famous hunting chorus, ‘Hark! the mountains resound,’ +a vivid tonal picture of the chase. A recitative, praising the rich +vintage, leads to a scene of revelry, closing with the lively rustic +chorus, ‘Joyful the liquor flows,’ in which a rollicking drinking-song, +a well-known Austrian dance-melody with suggestions of bagpipe and +fiddle, is happily introduced. + +‘Winter’ is prefaced by a slow prelude indicative of the fogs creeping +in. After the recitative of Simon and Jane’s cavatina, both picturing +the approach of the icy season, there is a realistic musical picture of +the wayfarer lost in the snow-storm. Simon moralizes on the changing +seasons and offers as his conclusion that ‘nought but truth remains.’ +A prayer to Heaven for divine guidance brings the pastoral scene to a +close. + +The eighteenth century came to an end with Handel as the great +outstanding figure in oratorio and Haydn just appearing on the scene. +England led Europe in its devotion to this form of choral art, though +Germany was soon to awaken to its importance. Bach’s magnificent choral +works were slumbering on dusty shelves and Italian oratorio was still +fatuously allied with operatic ideals, while France gave little heed to +the form at all. But another half-century was to witness a more even +distribution of interest in large choral forms. + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[72] Score in the Royal Library, Dresden. + +[73] Fétis proves in his _Biographie universelle_ how materially +Scarlatti influenced a more extended branching out of violin technique. + +[74] The first ecclesiastic who is known to have used a dramatic +presentation of the Passion is St. Gregory Nazianzen (330-390). + +[75] Winterfeld, in _Der Evangelische Kirchengesang_, states that the +earliest known Passion-music composed by a Protestant was published in +Keuchenthal’s book (Wittenberg, 1573), which contained a German version +of the Passion with four-part music for the recitation and choruses. + +[76] Though no accompaniment at all is indicated in the score of any +of these Passion-oratorios, it is very probable that organ was used to +accompany some parts. + +[77] Édouard Devrient, Mendelssohn’s friend and helper in the Bach +revival. + +[78] Arthur Mees, ‘Choirs and Choral Music,’ p. 103. + +[79] Haydn (1732-1809) was Mozart’s senior by 24 years and was, +therefore, fifty-six years old when the thirty-two-year-old Mozart +wrote his greatest symphonies--the ‘Jupiter,’ the ‘Apollo’ and the one +in E-flat major. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + THE ORATORIO FROM BEETHOVEN TO BRAHMS + + Beethoven: ‘The Mount of Olives’; Spohr: ‘The Last Judgment’ + and ‘Calvary’--Mendelssohn: ‘St. Paul’--‘Elijah’ and ‘Hymn of + Praise’--Liszt: ‘St. Elizabeth’ and ‘Christus’--Oratorio in + England; Sterndale Bennett: ‘The Woman of Samaria’; Costa’s + ‘Eli’--Oratorio in France; Lesueur; Berlioz’s _L’enfance du + Christ_--Gounod: ‘The Redemption’; _Mors et Vita_. + + + I + +With the early years of the nineteenth century came many forces which +fed the awakening desire for choral song. The dawning consciousness of +national life in the Teutonic nations and the grateful sense of relief +from Napoleonic oppression, with the accompanying train of intellectual +activities which the new sense of freedom let loose--all contributed +to develop, in Germany particularly, a new attitude toward choral song +as an outlet for the expression of the newly-awakened sense of new +relationships. Hence in Germany we will find the most important centre +of choral activities in the first half of this century. Here many +of that remarkable group of German composers who assumed undisputed +leadership of the musical world during this period, gave to the +oratorio their richest thoughts and maturest attention--among them +Beethoven, Spohr, Mendelssohn and Liszt. + +‘Christ on the Mount of Olives’ (_Christus am Oelberge_) was +Beethoven’s only oratorio. It was begun in 1800 at a period when he was +still under the influence of Haydn and Mozart. It was finished in 1801 +and first performed at Vienna, April 5th, 1803. Its first production in +England was in 1814 under Sir George Smart during the Lenten oratorios +at Drury Lane. Huber’s text, which was written in fourteen days, +has been universally condemned as lacking in solemnity and failing +in the essential dramatic requirements. Several attempts have been +made to substitute texts for the original one that would remove its +incongruities, but without satisfactory results. + +The work calls for three solo voices, Jesus, Peter, and the Seraph. +The introduction is an orchestral _adagio_ movement, very dramatic +in character, depicting the agony in the Garden. This is followed +by a recitative and aria for Jesus (tenor), ‘All my soul within me +shudders,’ a sweet, pathetic number, in spite of its incongruity. +There ensues a scene and aria by the Seraph, ‘Praise the Redeemer’s +goodness,’ and joined to it a buoyant, joyous _obbligato_ with chorus, +‘O triumph, all ye ransomed!’ This is followed by a duet between Jesus +and the Seraph, ‘On Me then fall thy heavy judgment,’ which, like +Jesus’ first aria, offends through verging on the dramatic. After a +short recitative in which Jesus welcomes death, there follows a strong +and properly dramatic number, a chorus of soldiers in march-time, ‘We +surely here shall find Him,’ in which are heard the shouts of the +rabble and the grief of the apostles. Next comes a dialogue between +Jesus and Peter, ‘Not unchastised shall this audacious band,’ and +following this, a passage which again strains one’s sense of propriety, +comes a trio between Jesus, Peter and the Seraph, with chorus, ‘O +sons of men, with gladness.’ The last number, a chorus of angels, +‘Hallelujah, God’s Almighty Son,’ begins with a short but powerful +orchestral introduction which is followed by a joyous outburst; and +this in turn merges into a massive fugue, enriched and strengthened +by a splendid orchestral accompaniment such as only Beethoven could +conceive. + +Had Beethoven written another oratorio, as he evidently contemplated, +he doubtless would have enriched this form out of the tragic +experiences of his later life, as he so bountifully did the more +congenial forms of instrumental speech. + +Spohr (1784-1859) was a prolific composer in instrumental and vocal +forms. His ‘Jessonda’ was regarded as one of the strongest early +romantic operas and two of his three oratorios enjoyed a large measure +of popularity during his lifetime and in subsequent years, particularly +in England. His style was melodious, exceedingly chromatic and +modulatory, but his musical powers lacked the ability for sustained +flights. While his musicianship charms, one feels a certain discrepancy +between the grandeur of some of his oratorio themes and his musical +mode of handling them. The Handelian breadth and massiveness is absent. +His three oratorios are ‘The Last Judgment,’ ‘Calvary’ and ‘The Fall of +Babylon,’ the last named written for the Norwich (England) Festival of +1842. + +‘The Last Judgment’ (_Die letzten Dinge_)--not to be confounded +with an earlier, crude oratorio, _Das jüngste Gericht_, written in +1812--was composed in 1825 and first performed on Good Friday, 1826, +at the Lutheran Church at Cassel. The first large performance was +at the Rhenish Festival at Düsseldorf of the same year. Its first +hearing in England was at the Norwich Festival, September 30th, 1830, +and in America, at Boston, March 20th, 1843, when it was presented by +the Handel and Haydn Society. The English title of the oratorio is +misleading and was a mistranslation, confused with Spohr’s earlier +work, of similar name but different meaning. There is no suggestion +of the terrors of the last judgment in this oratorio. The text of the +first part is given over wholly to the general thought of praise ‘unto +Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever.’ The second +part is concerned with those portions of Revelation that describe the +signs of the last day, closing with St. John’s vision of a new heaven +and a new earth. + +The first part contains among other numbers the well-known chorus, ‘All +glory to the Lamb that died’; the admirable tenor solo and chorus, +‘Blessing, honor, glory and power,’ with a tranquil beginning and +ending, but expanding into a well-written fugue in the middle; and the +closing number, a beautiful quartet and chorus, ‘Lord God of Heaven +and Earth.’ The second part begins with an orchestral introduction +which graphically portends the signs and wonders of the last day. These +are dramatically related in the following long bass recitative with +vigorous, agitated accompaniment. After the powerful chorus, ‘Destroyed +is Babylon,’ the vision of a new heaven and earth is proclaimed by the +soprano, and three transitional numbers lead to the last movement, +a majestic chorus, ‘Great and wonderful are all Thy works,’ which +consists of a smooth introduction, a lively fugue, still another fugue +(‘Thine is the kingdom’), followed by an exultant outburst of praise +and the final Amen. + +‘Calvary’ was first performed at Cassel on Good Friday, 1835. Four +years later it was given in England at the Norwich Festival, the +composer himself conducting. While it met with considerable criticism +because of ecclesiastical prejudice against the introduction of the +personality of Jesus among the singing characters (Beethoven’s ‘Mount +of Olives’ occasioned the same offense), the work was a signal success. +The text was by Rochlitz. + +The work deals with scenes connected with the crucifixion and abounds +in beautiful, expressive melody, both in the choruses (sung by the +friends of Jesus) and in the ariosos of Mary and the recitatives of +John. The beautiful chorus, ‘Gentle night, O descend,’ following a +very grave and somewhat protracted overture, is an example of this +expressive melody. The work becomes more impressive toward the close; +especially so is the cry of Jesus, ‘My God, my God, O why hast Thou +forsaken me?’ followed by the fervent prayer of the disciples, ‘In +this dread hour of death,’ and another beautiful number sung by the +disciples, ‘His earthly race is run,’ set for a quartet of solo voices +accompanied by the chorus. A highly dramatic number is the chorus of +priests and people, as they express their consuming fear aroused by the +convulsions of nature attendant upon the crucifixion. The final number +is a beautiful, sustained chorus of the disciples, ‘Beloved Lord, Thine +eyes we close.’ + + + II + +The world waited fifty-six years after the first performance of +Handel’s ‘Messiah’ (1742) before Haydn presented his ‘Creation,’ the +first oratorio after Handel’s death that is comparable with his great +masterpiece. After a lapse of thirty-eight years another oratorio +appeared--Mendelssohn’s ‘St. Paul’--which rose above the ‘Creation’ +and revealed its composer as one on whose shoulders the mantle of both +Handel and Bach had descended with power. Versatile as Mendelssohn +was in many forms, vocal polyphony seemed most congenial of all, and +he will undoubtedly live longest in his great choral masterpieces, +‘St. Paul’ and ‘Elijah,’ the latter of which reaches a point of +grandeur of conception and effective dramatic expression that remains +as yet unsurpassed by any subsequent choral work. One of the most +skillful contrapuntists since Bach, a perfect master of orchestration +and possessed of exquisite sense of formal values, Mendelssohn was +splendidly equipped to take advantage of the tremendous strides that +had been made in the musical means of expression since the time of +Handel and Haydn. He absorbed the devotional intensity of Bach’s choral +music and reinstated the chorale as an integral element of German +oratorio; from Handel he borrowed massiveness of choral structure and +brilliance of vocal writing. Like Handel, his mode of musical speech +was direct and intimate and its appeal was couched in terms of even +more suave beauty. The immediate success of Mendelssohn’s oratorios was +without doubt greatly aided by the favorable condition of the popular +religious thought, as well as by the great acceleration in the interest +in choral singing that had resulted from the immense popularity of +Haydn’s ‘Creation’ in Germany. The appeal of this oratorio (‘Creation’) +was doubly strong on account of its simplicity of conception and +musical expression, so that in all directions choral societies were +formed for the express purpose of producing it. A wide demand for +choral works was created, but nothing of permanent value came in +response until Mendelssohn’s ‘St. Paul.’ On the whole Mendelssohn’s +oratorio-arias suffer from a lack of forcefulness due to the remarkable +ease with which he invented sensuously charming melodies, so that +many of them lack depth; but in choral writing his extraordinary +architectonic skill led him firmly to a style which carries him close +to the height where Handel dwelt. + +‘St. Paul’ was the first of Mendelssohn’s great oratorios. +It was written at the request of the Cecilia Society of +Frankfort-on-the-Main--begun in Düsseldorf and completed at Leipzig, +when the composer was in his twenty-sixth year. The text was written by +the composer with the assistance of his friends Fürst and Schubring, +after A. B. Marx had declined to write it on the ground that the +introduction of chorales would be unsuited to the period of the +narrative. The work is developed from three main themes--the martyrdom +of St. Stephen, the conversion of St. Paul and the latter’s career +after this event. Lampadius calls the work ‘the glorification of +Christianity with its humility, its joy in living and dying for the +Lord, in contrast to the blind self-righteousness of Judaism and the +more sensuous morality of the heathen schools. It is the contrast, or +rather the struggle, of the last two with the first, and the victory +of the light and love of the Gospel. This thought is made incarnate in +the persons of Stephen, Paul and Barnabas; and is concentrated in the +really central point of interest of the whole oratorio--the conversion +of St. Paul.’ + +The first performance of this work took place on May 22, 1836, on the +occasion of the Lower Rhine Festival at Düsseldorf, the Cecilia Society +of Frankfort having been compelled to forego its production because +of the illness of its conductor. On Oct. 3rd, 1836, the first English +performance was given at Liverpool. In the meantime, notwithstanding +its success, Mendelssohn had revised the work and shortened it by +omitting ten numbers. The enthusiasm with which ‘St. Paul’ was received +was unprecedented, in Germany alone one hundred and fifty performances +being given within eighteen months of its first production at +Düsseldorf. + +The rather long and expressive overture is followed directly by the +first chorus, ‘Lord! Thou alone art God!’ which is very massively +scored and expresses great exultation. The mood of this chorus changes, +as it approaches its middle section, to the more excited and restless +theme, ‘The heathen furiously rage’; but soon returns to the mood +with which it opens and passes on directly to the chorale, ‘To God on +High.’ This nobly beautiful melody is the beloved old German chorale, +‘_Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr_.’ The next part marks the martyrdom +of Stephen. A powerful choral recitative for the basses accuses him of +blasphemy and the multitude takes up the cry, ‘Now this man ceaseth +not to utter blasphemous words.’ Stephen replies to this in a very +expressive solo, ‘Men, Brethren and Fathers!’ but the people again give +way to their anger in the strong chorus, ‘Take him away!’ The soprano +solo, ‘Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets,’ is a most eloquent +admonition, but uttered in vain. The people in a tumult of frenzy +demand his death (‘Stone him to death’). The pathetic tenor recitative +tells of the tragic deed. Then follows a beautiful chorale of complete +resignation, ‘To Thee, O Lord, I yield my spirit.’ Following this +chorale, comes the calm and comforting chorus, ‘Happy and blest are +they,’ with its fluent, expressive melodies. The fiery, threatening +aria for bass, ‘Consume them all,’ brings Saul upon the scene. ‘But +the Lord is mindful of His own’ follows and offers a complete contrast +in its quiet and lovely melody for alto. Now occurs the most vital +point of interest in the oratorio, the conversion. A voice from heaven +(effectively represented by a soprano choir) is heard in the words, +‘Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?’ An orchestral interlude leads +with gradually growing crescendo to the powerful chorus, ‘Rise up! +arise!’ This is succeeded by the chorale, ‘Sleepers, wake! a voice +is calling,’ in which the effect is greatly enhanced by the trumpet +figure following each choral line. The general mood grows more profound +and serious as Saul offers up a prayer, ‘O God, have mercy upon me.’ +Forgiveness and mercy are offered by Ananias and Saul’s sight is +restored to him and he is baptized as Paul the apostle. The first part +comes to a conclusion with the strong, exultant chorus, ‘O great is the +depth of the riches of wisdom.’ + +A noble and dignified fugue, ‘The nations are now the Lord’s,’ opens +the second part of the oratorio. There soon follows the chorus, ‘How +lovely are the messengers that preach us the gospel of peace,’ one +of the most beautifully melodious numbers in the whole work. It is +succeeded by the soprano aria, ‘I will sing of Thy great mercies.’ +But the scorn and rage of the Jews are aroused by the cures which +Paul works in the name of the very prophet whose disciples he once so +cruelly persecuted. The angry chorus, ‘Is this he who in Jerusalem,’ +is followed by another chorale, ‘O Thou the true and only light,’ a +fervent prayer of the Church for divine guidance. Paul and Barnabas +depart for Lystra. Paul heals the cripple at Lystra and the multitude +is deeply stirred. At this point Mendelssohn brings the three types of +religion--Greek, Christian and Jewish--in fine contrast in the three +choruses--‘O be gracious, ye immortals,’ full of Pagan sensuousness, +‘But our God abideth in heaven,’ with its calm assurance of Christian +faith, and ‘This is Jehovah’s temple,’ in which the uncompromising +intolerance of the Jews is angrily voiced. Paul bids a sorrowful +farewell to his brethren (‘Be thou faithful unto death’) and the +congregation tenderly responds, ‘Far be it from thy path.’ Two of +the finest choruses of the work are the final numbers, ‘See what +love hath the Father’ and ‘Now only unto Him.’ Two of the ‘St. Paul’ +choruses--the beautiful chorale ‘To Thee, O Lord, I yield my spirit’ +and the melodious ‘Happy and blest are they’--were chosen to be sung at +Mendelssohn’s obsequies. + + + III + +‘Elijah.’--Mendelssohn waited a full ten years after the performance +of ‘St. Paul’ before he produced another oratorio on such broad lines +and when ‘Elijah’ appeared in 1846, the world recognized that it +was an event that transcended in importance any similar event since +Handel’s ‘Messiah.’ ‘Elijah’ is certainly Mendelssohn’s finest and most +sustained flight and there are not wanting those critics who stoutly +maintain that it is unsurpassed in the whole literature of oratorio. In +it the composer enters new paths. He gives full rein to the intensely +dramatic side of the text and freely departs from the conventional form +of oratorio--so much so that the work might safely be called a sacred +opera. ‘Elijah’ was long in the composer’s mind and he worked on it +carefully and with profoundest affection and sympathy, for although +he had embraced Christianity, there was something about the heroic +character of the old Hebrew militant prophet that struck deep into +the fibres of his being. Work on it was begun as early as 1840, but +he did not earnestly begin the composition of the music (the text he +compiled largely himself) until 1845. It was first performed at the +Birmingham Festival on August 26th, 1846, when Mendelssohn conducted it +before an enormous audience which extended to the composer one of the +most thrilling ovations ever enjoyed by a musician. Though its success +was most extraordinary, Mendelssohn was not deterred from carefully +revising it. It is interesting to note that the universally popular +‘angels’ trio’ (‘Lift thine eyes’) was originally written for only two +voices. + +The most startling innovation of the whole oratorio is the short, +impressive bass recitative which precedes the overture--Elijah’s +dramatic prophecy of the drought. Then follows the sombre, gloomy +overture portraying the results of the curse as the drought settles +over the land and dries up the waters. It leads without pause into the +opening chorus, ‘Help, Lord,’ which voices the anguished appeal of the +drought--and famine-stricken people. This dramatic supplication leads +into a second chorus, ‘Lord, bow Thine ear to our prayer,’ with a duet +for two sopranos, supported by a unison chorus, the theme of which is +based on an old Hebrew chant and is intoned first by the male and then +by the female voices. The succeeding tenor aria (Obadiah), ‘If with all +your hearts,’ is of great beauty. The people are not consoled and again +burst forth into vehement complaint, ‘Yet doth the Lord see it not,’ +which changes toward the end into a lovely chorale, ‘For He the Lord +our God.’ An angel’s voice then calls Elijah to the waters of Cherith. +A beautiful double quartet follows, whose simple melody is worked up +with fine effect, ‘For He shall give His angels charge over thee,’ +Elijah is now bidden by the angel to the widow’s house at Zarephath. +The raising of her son follows in a dramatic scene consisting of +the mother’s passionate cry, ‘What have I to do with thee,’ and the +prophet’s ‘Give me thy son.’ The scene then closes with the chorus, +‘Blessed are the men who fear Him,’ The next scene is one of the most +dramatic portions of the work--the appearance of the prophet before +Ahab, his defiant challenge to the priests of Baal to the sacrifice +on Mount Carmel, and the thrilling trial by fire. This part includes +the truly Pagan choruses, ‘Baal, we cry to thee’ and ‘Hear our cry, +O Baal’; Elijah’s taunt, ‘Call him louder’; the prophet’s dignified +appeal, ‘Lord God of Abraham,’ followed by the simple chorale, ‘Cast +thy burden on the Lord’; the summoning of fire from heaven upon the +altars, and the picturesque and descriptive chorus, ‘The fire descends +from heaven.’ The priests are doomed to destruction by Elijah in an +excited recitative. Following a choral response, Elijah sings the +highly dramatic and difficult aria, ‘Is not His word like a fire?’ +Another aria, ‘Woe unto them,’ for alto voice, succeeds Elijah’s and +the rain scene begins. In answer to Obadiah’s appeal to help the +people, Elijah sings his expressive invocation for rain, ‘Look down +from heaven,’ and after several choral responses, together with the +exclamations of Elijah and the youth who is sent ‘to look toward the +sea,’ the signs of rain appear. Then follows the most thrilling climax +of the whole work. As the clouds grow black with rain and the storm +gathers force, the people begin to voice their thanks, the orchestra +describes the rushing waters, and finally the whole chorus joins in a +tumultuous outburst of thanksgiving (‘Thanks be to God’) which brings +the first part to a magnificent close. + +An effective soprano solo, ‘Hear ye, Israel,’ opens the second part. +This leads into the strong, majestic chorus, ‘Be not afraid,’ one of +Mendelssohn’s finest choral efforts, in which the regular musical +forces are augmented by the organ. Elijah needs the encouragement of +this admonition, for he again confronts Ahab and condemns the worship +of Baal. The queen, Jezebel, accuses him of working to destroy Israel +and the people in wrath shout, ‘Let the guilty prophet perish.’ Obadiah +bids him fly to the wilderness. The next scene reveals the persecuted +prophet alone and discouraged. In a pathetic plaint, ‘It is enough,’ +he resigns himself to death and, wearied with flight, he falls asleep +under the juniper tree ‘and the angels encamp round about him.’ This +leads directly to what is undoubtedly the most exquisitely beautiful +vocal trio in existence--the pure and serene ‘Lift thine eyes,’ sung +_a cappella_ by the watching angels. Without pause there follows the +beautiful chorus, ‘He watching over Israel.’ The angel then awakens +Elijah, who complains pathetically, ‘O Lord, I have labored in vain.’ +‘O rest in the Lord,’ sung by the angel, offers Elijah consolation. +The encouraging chorus, ‘He shall endure to the end,’ brings the scene +to a majestic close. The following scene reveals a changed Elijah. He +yearns now for the divine presence instead of for death. In a sudden +outburst the chorus exclaims, ‘Behold, God the Lord passed by.’ A +sudden _pianissimo_ works up into an impressive _crescendo_, and once +more appears a _pianissimo_ as the chorus impressively exclaims, ‘The +Lord was not in the tempest.’ The earthquake and the tempest and the +fire follow. ‘And there came a still, small voice ... and in that +still, small voice onward came the Lord.’ Elijah was transformed by +the experience and went on his way ‘in the strength of the Lord.’ His +strong, confident aria follows, ‘For the mountains shall depart.’ A +powerful chorus states that ‘Then did Elijah the prophet break forth +like a fire’ and there follows the dramatic choral narrative of the +prophet’s ascent into heaven in a fiery chariot. The fine tenor aria, +‘Then, then shall the righteous shine,’ and the melodious quartet, +‘Oh! come, every one that thirsteth,’ lead over into the final choral +number--a magnificent fugue (‘Lord, our Creator’), introduced by the +majestic phrase, ‘And then shall your light break forth.’ + +‘Hymn of Praise.’--This symphony-cantata was composed to commemorate +the fourth centennial of the invention of the art of printing, held at +Leipzig, in June, 1840. A second performance followed at Birmingham, +Mendelssohn conducting, a few months later, Sept. 23rd. Dramatically +it has no very great significance, being designed purely as a ‘tribute +of praise’ for the manifold gifts of the Lord, among them being the +art of printing--which the text, based upon the Scriptures, carefully +elucidates. + +The symphony, or instrumental prelude, is divided into three parts, +opening with a majestic trombone passage which clearly anticipates +the mood of the ensuing cantata. The real ‘Hymn of Praise’ is given +out in the opening chorus, ‘All that has life and breath,’ based upon +the motive heard in the opening measure of the prelude. The work then +moves on in a majestic manner, reaching its climax with the entrance +of the impressive chorus, ‘The night is departing.’ A final chorus, +‘Ye nations, offer to the Lord,’ is in fugal form and is inspiring in +its massiveness. The choral motive, ‘All that has life and breath,’ +is again given out _fortissimo_ and brings the work to an impressive +close. The duet for two sopranos, ‘I waited for the Lord,’ is one of +the most beautiful numbers in this work. + + + IV + +The dazzling achievements of Liszt (1811-86) as a pianoforte virtuoso +and the popularity and originality of his instrumental compositions +have put his choral work in an unfortunate perspective; and they have +by no means received the attention they richly merit. Two of the finest +examples of oratorio of this period are from the brilliant Abbé’s pen, +both written in the full maturity of his powers and with the employment +of all his immense resources of dramatic and emotional expression. +They are ‘Christus’ and ‘The Legend of the Holy Elizabeth.’ The latter +legend, familiar to English readers through Canon Kingsley’s dramatic +poem, ‘The Saint’s Tragedy,’ deals with the life of the daughter of +King Andreas II of Hungary, born in 1207, who at the age of four was +sent to the Wartburg to be brought up as the affianced bride of Ludwig, +son of the Landgrave Hermann of Thuringia. After their marriage in 1220 +wonderful tales were told of her devotion to the poor, of her pious +Christian life, and, after Ludwig’s death, of the cruel hardships which +the hatred of her mother-in-law brought upon her. She died in 1231 and +was canonized at Marburg in 1235 by command of Pope Gregory IX. + +‘The Legend of Saint Elizabeth’ was composed in 1864 and received its +first performance in Budapest on August 15, 1865, which event marked +the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Budapest +Conservatory. The composition, however, was really undertaken at the +request of the Duke of Weimar for a festival held at the Wartburg on +Aug. 28, 1867, commemorating both the eighth centenary of its founding +and also the restoration of the romantic old castle which was so +intimately associated with the legend of St. Elizabeth. The text by +Otto Roquette was inspired by the six magnificent frescoes by Moritz +von Schwind which adorn the walls of the Wartburg, and it is divided +into six scenes corresponding to the six frescoes. + +The first scene opens with an orchestral introduction which sets forth +the Elizabeth motive, taken from an old ecclesiastical melody. The +music grows animated as it leads into the first chorus, which joyfully +welcomes the child Elizabeth, who as the affianced bride of Ludwig, +son of the Landgrave of Thuringia, comes to the Wartburg, where she +is brought up side by side with her future husband. The second scene +reveals the happy matron Elizabeth, now for some years the wife of +Ludwig. One of the most beautiful parts of the whole work is the duet +between Elizabeth and Ludwig as he surprises her in her alms-deeds +which she tries to conceal from him because of her mother-in-law’s +fierce disapproval of them. Especially dramatic and beautiful is the +portion dealing with the ‘Rose Miracle.’ The quaint story of this +episode is as follows: Elizabeth, having dismissed her ladies in order +that she may secretly bring bread and wine to some of her poor, sick +subjects, suddenly meets her husband in the deep forest far from the +Wartburg. Ludwig’s suspicions are aroused and when he asks what her +basket contains, she tells him that she has been gathering roses. +Ludwig, who does not believe her, seizes the basket, when she hastily +confesses that it is bread and wine, and behold! the contents of the +basket have been turned into roses! Liszt was very desirous of having +this very mysterious and ethereal and indicated in the score that the +orchestra should in this part ‘sound fairly transfigured’ and that the +conductor should ‘scarcely mark the rhythm’ in order not to imperil the +effect. The penitent Ludwig begs her forgiveness and as she asks, ‘Is +it a dream?’ the chorus responds, ‘A wonder hath the Lord performed.’ + +Scene three opens with the stately chorus of crusaders (‘In Palestine, +the Holy Land’) with dignified march accompaniment, which leads to +Ludwig’s farewell to his wife on his departure for the Holy Wars. +Then ensues Elizabeth’s passionate entreaty, ‘Oh tarry! O shorten not +the hour,’ followed by the pathetic ‘With grief my spirit wrestles,’ +after which the stirring chorus and march of the crusaders closes the +scene. Scene four, with its short, sombre orchestral prelude, announces +the death of Ludwig, the bitter antagonism of Landgravine Sophie, +Elizabeth’s mother-in-law, who drives the sorrowing, broken-hearted +young widow from her home. Especially dramatic are the dialogues, +in the midst of which is Elizabeth’s aria, ‘O day of mourning, day +of sorrow,’ in which she pours out her grief as she fares forth in +the storm. Scene five discloses Elizabeth on her death-bed in a +hospital founded by herself, where she has forgotten her own sorrow in +ministering unto others. Her last words (‘Unto mine end Thy love has +led me’), after a gradual _decrescendo_ in the orchestra, are followed +by a chorus of angels, ‘All grief is o’er,’ closing with the celestial +strains of harps. An orchestral interlude, in which are developed the +main themes of the work, leads to the last scene, which depicts the +canonization of Elizabeth at Marburg in the presence of the Emperor. +This ceremony closes the work with a chorus of the people mourning her +death, choruses of the crusaders, of the church choristers and bishops, +and finally an imposing six-part chorus, the Latin hymn, _Tu pro nobis, +mater pia_. + +_Christus_ was composed in 1866 during Liszt’s residence in Rome, just +after he had been appointed Abbé by his friend, Archbishop Hohenlohe, +and at a time when, it is said, he entertained high hopes of being +appointed chapel-master of the Papal Choir. But, though he was in high +favor with the Catholic hierarchy, nothing came of it. The _Christus_ +was written soon after the ‘Legend of St. Elizabeth,’ but, while both +are deeply imbued with the spirit of Roman Catholicism, the former +reflects the deep interest which he took in religious matters at the +time far more than does the latter. Liszt compiled the text, which is +in Latin, entirely from the Bible and from the Roman liturgy. There are +three divisions to the work--(1) ‘The Nativity,’ (2) ‘After Epiphany,’ +dealing with the Lord’s life and ministry, and (3) ‘The Passion and +the Resurrection.’ The first fragmentary performance of ‘Christus’ +took place July 6, 1867, at the Sala Dantesca, in Rome, and another in +Vienna in 1871. The first complete production was at Weimar in 1873 +under the direction of the composer. + +The first part, containing five numbers, opens with an orchestral +prelude built on an ancient plain-song melody, _Rorate cœli_, in +Isaiah’s prophecy. This leads into a quaint Pastoral, after which +comes the angels’ announcement of Jesus’ birth and a _Gloria in +excelsis_. A devotional setting of the old Latin hymn, _Stabat mater +speciosa_, leads into two orchestral movements of great beauty--‘The +Song of the Shepherds at the Manger,’ a lovely pastoral, and ‘The +March of the Three Kings,’ an elaborate number in which the high tones +of the violins and flutes typify the Star of Bethlehem. The second +part contains ‘The Beatitudes’ for baritone and six-part chorus, the +Lord’s Prayer, a part entitled ‘The Founding of the Church’ (_Tu es +Petrus_), ‘The Miracle’ (Jesus calming the storm), again treated +orchestrally, and ‘The Entry into Jerusalem,’ a brilliantly scored +tone-picture, mainly instrumental, save for two vocal passages--a +Hosanna for chorus and a Benedictus for mezzo-soprano and chorus. The +third part opens with the pathetic solo _Tristis est anima mea_ (‘My +soul is sorrowful’), in which the Christ pours out his soul to Peter +and his companions on the way to Gethsemane. The orchestra plays a most +important part in the expression of this tragic struggle, after which +the ancient Latin hymn, _Stabat mater dolorosa_, is given with combined +orchestral and choral forces. Of all the settings of this celebrated +liturgic text, Liszt’s is the most powerful and impressive, though it +is too overwhelming in its effect for use in the church-service. This +lengthy and elaborate number is contrasted strongly with the following +simple and quaint Easter hymn, _O filii et filiæ_, which prepares the +listener for the majestic _Resurrexit_ (‘Resurrection’) which follows +and builds up a final climax, with the combined resources of chorus and +orchestra, that is really commensurate with the grandeur of the theme. + +Liszt himself regarded the _Christus_ as his best work--‘my musical +will and testament’--and in works of its class it certainly stands +unique in the intensity of its expression and in the unusual +combination of mediæval church atmosphere and modern musical +resources--a powerful fusing of the old and the new. It is scarcely +an oratorio in the usual understanding of the term, but rather a kind +of liturgic mystery, such as Lesueur strove to build up but did not +complete. It cannot be considered apart from the religious faith of +its composer and from this point of view it stands as the highest +representative of Roman Catholic oratorio. + + + V + +The influence of England on oratorio is by no means to be measured +by the number of original works of this class produced by Englishmen. +No other country in the world has such a record of long and unbroken +loyalty to this musical form and no other country has so freely opened +its doors to composers of other nationalities. When one recalls that +Handel’s series of magnificent oratorios was written for English +appreciation, that Haydn’s ‘Creation’ drew its inspiration from London, +that Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah,’ Gounod’s ‘Redemption’ and _Mors et Vita_, +and many other oratorios of less worth were written for, and received +their initial performances before, English festival audiences, one can +form some estimate of what English love of choral art has done for its +development. + +English composers of this period were still using the musical +phraseology of Handel and Mendelssohn, so that not much can be said +of the individual works produced, though several were worthy and held +a certain popularity for a long time. Among the more notable English +oratorios of the period were Sir Julius Benedict’s ‘St. Peter’ (1870), +George Alexander Macfarren’s ‘St. John the Baptist,’ which was received +enthusiastically at the Bristol Festival of 1873, William Sterndale +Bennett’s ‘The Woman of Samaria,’ and Sir Michael Costa’s ‘Eli’ and +‘Naaman’ (Birmingham Festival, 1864). + +‘The Woman of Samaria,’ a ‘sacred cantata’ by W. Sterndale Bennett +(1816-75), was first performed at Birmingham August 27, 1867. The +story, taken from the fourth chapter of St. John’s Gospel, follows +literally the Bible narrative--Jesus’ journey to Samaria, his rest at +the well, and the entrance of the Samaritan woman. This is interspersed +with choral and solo passages, the former enacting the part of +moralist, commenting upon the situations as they occur by means of +appropriate scriptural selections. The part of the Woman of Samaria is +sung by the soprano, while the declamatory parts are assigned to the +contralto. The tenor has but one aria and the bass acts almost entirely +as narrator, the Saviour’s words being always related in the third +person. In a single instance the chorus assumes the rôle of narrator, +‘Now we believe,’ where the words are part of the story. + +A short instrumental prelude leads to the chorale, ‘Ye Christian +people now rejoice,’ for sopranos only. The melody used is an old one, +having appeared in the _Geistliche Lieder_ (Wittenberg) in 1535. The +chorale is interestingly treated by means of opposing rhythm in the +orchestral part. The recitative for contralto, ‘Then cometh Jesus to a +city of Samaria,’ opens the oratorio proper. After a chorus, ‘Blessed +be the Lord God of Israel,’ and short recitatives for bass, contralto +and soprano, which are again followed by a chorus, there ensues the +conversation between the Saviour and the woman, during which Jesus +tells her of her past life. She replies in the beautiful contralto +solo, ‘O Lord, Thou hast searched me out,’ which is full of tender +expression. During the dialogue, the divine nature of Jesus is revealed +to the woman and there follows the six-part chorus, ‘Therefore they +shall come and sing,’ and this in turn is succeeded by the deeply +devotional and well-known quartet, ‘God is a Spirit,’ sung by the +solo voices _a cappella_. A soprano solo, ‘I will love Thee, O Lord,’ +was introduced into the oratorio after the death of the composer, +among whose manuscripts it was found. This was done for two reasons, +to indicate the conversion of the woman and also to interrupt the +series of choruses. Among the remaining numbers are a lovely chorale, +‘Abide with me, fast falls the eventide,’ and the fine chorus, ‘Now +we believe.’ The work is brought to a close with a majestic fugue, +‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel.’ An atmosphere of devotion pervades +the work and, while the composer recognizes the worldly character of +the woman, he sees also the possibilities of her intuitive religious +feeling, which the Master needed only to awaken. + +Costa’s ‘Eli’ was first produced at the Birmingham Festival, August +29, 1855, under the direction of the composer. The text follows the +scriptural narrative in the first book of Samuel and was arranged by +William Bartholomew. In a rather disconnected manner, and with the +story of young Samuel as a central point, it deals with the service of +Eli the priest, the carousals of his dissolute sons, the sorrows of +Elkanah and Hannah, and the exploits of the warlike Philistines. Some +of the finer numbers of the oratorio are Eli’s sombre invocation, ‘Hear +my prayer, O Lord’; Hannah’s joyful song, ‘I will extol Thee, O Lord’; +the elaborate fugal chorus, ‘Hosanna in the highest,’ which closes the +first part; the familiar orchestral march of the Israelites; Samuel’s +devout evening prayer, ‘This night I lift my heart to Thee,’ followed +by the beautiful female chorus of angels with harp accompaniment, ‘No +evil shall befall thee’; and the vigorous chorus, ‘Woe unto us, we are +spoiled,’ sung by the Israelites when their crushing defeat by the +Philistines is announced. + + + VI + +The oratorio in France had a slow beginning and has throughout its +development displayed traits distinctly traceable to two sources, the +first of which is the national fondness for theatrical settings for +all dramatic works. Even _La nativité_ by Gossec (1734-1829) probably +gained wide attention when given at the Tuileries Cathedral, because +the composer had a chorus of angels concealed in the dome, thereby +giving a more picturesquely dramatic effect. Concert-oratorio, in +which the sources of enjoyment are largely limited to pure choral +effects, divorced from dramatic content, has never made a wide appeal +in France. The second source of the characteristics of French oratorio +is to be found in the influence which the liturgy of the Roman Church +has exercised over this art-form. French oratorio has preserved a +close connection with the old Gallican liturgic drama of the Middle +Ages--so much so that the word ‘mystery’ has almost entirely superseded +‘oratorio’ as a title or sub-title for this form of composition. Its +line of descent from the mediæval mysteries is still further identified +in the subject-matter itself, which usually concerns itself with the +mysteries of Christian faith and church doctrine. The titles most +frequently subjoined by the composers are ‘sacred drama,’ ‘biblical +scene,’ etc., rather than ‘oratorio.’ Here lies the distinct line of +demarcation between oratorio from the Protestant and Roman Catholic +points of view. + +The first of the French composers to write a series of oratorios[80] +was François Lesueur (1760-1837) and the strongest of these is his +‘Christmas Oratorio’ written in 1826, which is a combination of drama +and churchly office. Lesueur was of the opinion that ecclesiastical +music must of necessity be liturgical and therefore based on the +Gregorian chant and accent. This work is really an adaptation of the +Christmas Mass treated as an oratorio-text, the parts of which are +distributed as solos, choruses and ensemble passages among the persons +assembled around the manger. Most of these lightly scored passages are +built upon old liturgical melodies or upon old French Christmas songs, +and the harp is very lavishly used in the instrumentation. The text is +in Latin, taken from the Vulgate. After the _Kyrie_, accompanied by +string quartet, there follows the appearance of the angels, closing +with a short instrumental coda. After this comes a _Gloria in excelsis_ +and a pastoral instrumental passage (Shepherds on the Fields of +Bethlehem) scored for violas and horns. Two holy women sing as a duet +the _Gratias agimus tibi_ and the closing number consists of a pastoral +hymn to the words, _Jam desinant suspiria_. + +One of the most important of the French romantic oratorios is Hector +Berlioz’s sacred trilogy, _L’enfance du Christ_ (‘The Childhood of +Christ’), which was written in 1854 and performed in Paris and Brussels +the same year. This oratorio, dealing with the flight of the Holy +Family, is really an enlargement of an earlier cantata, _Fuite en +Egypt_ (‘The Flight into Egypt’), and shows traces of the influence +of Lesueur, whose pupil, Berlioz, caught the operatic spirit that was +associated with his master’s work. The oratorio, the text of which +is by the composer, consists of three rather short parts--The Dream +of Herod, The Flight into Egypt and The Arrival in Sais. The first +part depicts Herod, tormented by awful dreams and influenced by the +soothsayers to kill the first-born men-children. The music is sombre, +but in the Herod passages takes on the operatic style referred to +above. In strong contrast to this is the second part, which deals +entirely with the Holy Family and reveals qualities of loveliness and +naïveté as it depicts the babe Jesus greeted by the chorus of angels. +The most elaborate part is the third, especially the portion which +reveals Joseph demanding shelter where he has been refused. Here the +music assumes a dramatic and brilliant development. + +Although Charles Gounod (1818-93) after the extraordinary success +of his masterpiece, ‘Faust,’ was firmly established as one of the +foremost opera-composers of Europe, he never lost touch with religious +music and finally abandoned the stage entirely for the style that lay +closest to his real ambition, becoming the greatest, if not indeed the +only great, composer of oratorio in France during this period. As a +winner of the _Grand Prix de Rome_ he had studied ecclesiastical music, +especially the works of Palestrina; during a visit to Vienna in 1842 +he had produced a Requiem in the church of St. Charles, which created +a profound impression, and soon after returning to Paris he had even +seriously thought of taking holy orders. Wide attention was first +attracted to him by the London performance of portions of his _Messe +solennelle_, and even during the period of his greatest fame from his +stage-works, he constantly reverted to the composition of sacred music. +His two great oratorios--‘The Redemption’ and _Mors et Vita_--strike +out a somewhat new path for this art-form. Here he abandons entirely +the contrapuntal and fugal character of the chorus as being artificial +and unessential, thus departing completely from Handelian and +Mendelssohnian models, and adopts from the Wagnerian music-drama the +system of ‘leading motives,’ of which he makes limited use to designate +important and representative religious or dramatic themes. Both of +these oratorios were composed for English audiences, and Gounod’s +residence in London after the Franco-Prussian War and his acquaintance +with the English festival oratorio undoubtedly colored the compositions +to such an extent that they might almost be called English oratorios. + +‘The Redemption.’--This work was originally intended as the first +part of a ‘Sacred Trilogy,’ as he styled it, only the second of which +(_Mors et Vita_) was ever completed; the composition of the third was +prevented by his death. The seriousness with which Gounod approached +this work is evidenced by the inscription--‘the work of my life’--which +he wrote on the opening page of the first of the great works, ‘The +Redemption.’ This had been begun in 1867 in Rome, where the composer +wrote his text and set a few numbers of the music, but it was not +completed until twelve years later and the first performance took place +on August 30, 1882, at the Birmingham Festival. It was heard in Paris, +May 22nd, 1886, and for the first time in America in the winter of +1883-1884 under the direction of Theodore Thomas. It is dedicated to +Queen Victoria. + +In the preface of his work Gounod states: ‘This work is a lyrical +setting forth of the three great facts on which depends the existence +of the Christian Church. These facts are: 1. The Passion and the Death +of the Saviour. 2. His glorious life on earth from His Resurrection +to His Ascension. 3. The spread of Christianity in the world through +the mission of the Apostles.’ This trilogy is preceded by a ‘Prologue +on the creation, the fall of our first parents and the promise of the +Redeemer.’ The work is divided in accordance with the above as follows: + +Prologue--The Creation. + +Part I.--Calvary. + +Part II.--From the Resurrection to the Ascension. + +Part III.--The Pentecost. + +The personages are Jesus, Mary and two narrators. The composition, +which by some is pronounced the finest of modern oratorios, is a +curious mixture of old and new ways of musical treatment. While Gounod, +evidently influenced by Wagner, made use of ‘leading motives,’ he +also used the narrator in the same manner as did Bach and in like +manner treats the chorale. After a short instrumental introduction, +descriptive of chaos, and the narrator’s recitative concerning the +fall of man, the Redemption theme is heard and it appears wherever the +atonement is thought of. This beautiful leading motive is heard nine +times during the course of the work and is most effectively introduced +in the first chorus, ‘The earth is my possession.’ Its most touching +use is where Jesus tells the dying malefactor, ‘To-day shalt thou be +with Me in Paradise,’ and its most impressively triumphant appearance +is in the orchestral part at the close of the splendid chorus, ‘Unfold, +ye portals everlasting.’ + +The first part treats of the condemnation of Jesus, the crucifixion, +Mary at the foot of the cross and Jesus’ conversation with the two +thieves. It contains some finely written solos and choruses, and +the two instrumental numbers--‘The March to Calvary’ and the number +descriptive of the darkness that fell over the earth as Jesus uttered +his last words. The second part includes the events in the period +between the Resurrection and the Ascension. Among the beautiful +numbers in this part are the trio of Holy Women (two sopranos and a +contralto) ‘The Lord, He is risen again,’ and the lovely chorus with +soprano obbligato, ‘From Thy love as a Father.’ Possibly the strongest +chorus in the whole work is ‘Unfold, ye portals everlasting,’ which +is so often sung as a separate chorus number. The third part with +its beautiful orchestral introduction has for its first chorus the +melodious ‘Lovely appear over the mountains,’ followed by one of the +most exquisite portions of the whole work, the soprano solo, ‘Over +the barren wastes.’ After a repetition of the preceding chorus, there +follow the impressive events of the day of Pentecost, the Apostles at +prayer (for orchestra alone), the descent of the Spirit and the singing +of the Beatitudes. The close is a repetition of the majestic apostles’ +hymn in unison, with the whole chorus, orchestra and organ massed in a +magnificent structure with grandiose effect. + +_Mors et Vita_ is the second of his contemplated ‘sacred trilogy,’ of +which ‘The Redemption’ was the first. The Latin text is compiled from +the Catholic liturgy and from the Vulgate, and the work is dedicated +to Pope Leo XIII. The first performance took place at the Birmingham +Festival, August 26, 1885, under the direction of Richter, and the +first performance in Paris, in May, 1886. Gounod writes in the preface: +‘It will perhaps be asked why, in the title, I have placed death before +life. It is because in the order of eternal things death precedes life, +although in the order of temporal things life precedes death.’ He also +refers to his use of ‘leading motives,’ which are also employed in +‘The Redemption.’ There are four of these, the first of which, a theme +made up of four tones (a sequence of three major seconds), is supposed +to express ‘the terror inspired by the sense of the inflexibility of +Justice and, in consequence, by that of the anguish of punishment. Its +sternness gives expression both to the sentences of Divine Justice and +the sufferings of the condemned, and is found in combination throughout +the whole work with melodic forms which express sentiments altogether +different, as in the _Sanctus_ and the _Pie Jesu_ of the _Requiem_ +which forms the first part.’ The second, the motive of sorrow and +tears, is, by the alteration of one tone, changed into a motive of joy. +Of the fourth, Gounod writes: ‘By means of a threefold superposition, +it results in the interval of an augmented fifth and announces the +awakening of the dead at the terrifying call of the angelic trumpets, +of which St. Paul speaks in one of his epistles to the Corinthians.’ + +A short Prologue leads to the first part, _Mors_ (Death), which is a +_Requiem_ expanded by interpolated texts of a reflective character. +The second part, called _Judicium_ (Last Judgment), contains six +subdivisions, as follows: The Sleep of the Dead, The Trumpets at the +Last Judgment, The Resurrection of the Dead, The Judge, The Judgment of +the Elect, The Judgment of the Rejected. The third part, _Vita_ (Life), +using the text of St. John’s vision in the Apocalypse, describes the +joys of the Holy City, New Jerusalem, closing with an exultant _Hosanna +in excelsis_. + +Among the finest choruses of the oratorio are the _Quid sum miser_ +(‘Ah! What shall we then be pleading’) and the _Lacrymosa dies illa_ +(‘Day of weeping, day of mourning’) from the _Dies iræ_. Probably the +greatest aria of the work is the soprano solo, _Beati qui lavant_ (‘The +righteous shall enter into Glory Eternal’). + +The theme which Gounod has chosen presents opportunities for orchestral +effects which such a master of orchestration as he was would naturally +seize upon, and several of the numbers are for orchestra alone--The +Epilogue to the first part, in which the various leading motives are +developed, The Judge, and The Heavenly Jerusalem. + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[80] These oratorios were, in addition to the one named, ‘Deborah,’ +‘Rachel,’ ‘Ruth and Naomi,’ ‘Ruth and Boaz,’ and the three ‘Coronation +Oratorios’ written for the three days’ coronation ceremonies of +Napoleon in 1804 (in reality three masses expanded so as to include the +special ceremonies). + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + THE MODERN ORATORIO + + Brahms: ‘German Requiem’; Dvořák: ‘St. Ludmila’--César + Franck: ‘The Beatitudes’--Tinel: ‘Franciscus’; Benoît: + ‘Lucifer’--Saint-Saëns: ‘Christmas Oratorio’; ‘The Deluge’; + Massenet: _Ève_; _Marie Madeleine_; Dubois: ‘Paradise + Lost’--Oratorio in England; Mackenzie: ‘The Rose of Sharon’; + ‘Bethlehem’; Parry: ‘Judith’; ‘Job’; ‘King Saul’--Stanford: + ‘The Three Holy Children’; ‘Eden’; Sullivan: ‘The Prodigal + Son’; ‘The Light of the World’; Cowen--Oratorio in America; + Paine: ‘St. Peter’; Horatio Parker: _Hora Novissima_; ‘The + Legend of St. Christopher.’ + + + I + +‘The German Requiem’ is the largest of Brahms’ several choral works +and was the first of his compositions to bring him fame and to verify +Schumann’s enthusiastic prophecy concerning him. The work, consisting +of seven numbers, is mainly choral, though there are baritone and +soprano solos, and it was first heard in its entirety at Bremen on Good +Friday, 1868. Its first English performance was in 1873 and it was +heard for the first time in America at the Cincinnati May Festival in +1884 under Theodore Thomas’ direction. + +The title ‘Requiem’ is in a measure misleading, as it has nothing +in common with the setting of the Catholic Mass for the Dead. It is +much broader in scope than the customary use of this term as a form +of religious music would imply. While it points out the emptiness and +vanity of material life, its dominant note is one of consolation, +expanding into joy and leading to the ultimate triumph over death and +the grave. The composition of the ‘German Requiem’ was suggested by the +death of the composer’s mother in 1865 and the work itself is generally +regarded as Brahms’ masterpiece, Maitland going so far as to call it +‘the greatest achievement of modern sacred music in Germany.’ + +The first chorus, ‘Blessed are they that go mourning,’ is a beautiful +composition, its charm being greatly enhanced by its rich orchestral +accompaniment. No. 2, the Funeral March, is written in triple time, +which through Brahms’ magic is made to express vividly the measured +tread of the mourners. No. 3, ‘Lord, make me to know the measure of +my days on earth,’ consists of a baritone solo followed by two choral +fugues which are very effective though of great difficulty. No. 4, +a chorus (‘How lovely is Thy dwelling-place, O Lord of Hosts’), is +slower than its predecessor and is charmingly melodious. No. 5, ‘Ye +now are sorrowful, grieve not,’ for soprano solo and chorus, has +rich passages of melody and discloses the composer’s great ability +in song-writing. No. 6, for baritone solo and chorus (‘Here on earth +we have no continuing place, we seek now a heavenly one’), pictures +the resurrection of the dead in intricate fugal passages of wonderful +power. No. 7, the finale (‘Blessed are the faithful who in the Lord are +sleeping’), in contrast with the tumultuous strains which precede it, +offers a calm and sweetly serious close to this remarkable work. + +Dvořák’s ‘St. Ludmila’ is sometimes classed as a sacred cantata, but +its breadth rather suggests its inclusion among oratorios. The poem, +by Jaroslav Vrchlicky, is based on a Bohemian legend and sets forth +the worship of the heathen goddess Bába, the destruction of her statue +by the Christian teacher Ivan, the conversion of Princess Ludmila and +her future husband, Prince Bořivoy, and their baptism, which ushered +in the Christianization of Bohemia. The work was written for the Leeds +Festival, where it had its first presentation in 1886. While there +are many suggestions of national folk-song and national idiom in the +score, Dvořák, in writing the music, doubtless had in mind English +conditions, demands and tastes, in that he gave special prominence to +the choral parts and strove to develop charming and original melodies +with strongly rhythmic features. + +The composition is in three parts. The first scene is laid in the +courtyard of Melnik Castle, where the people are gathered about the +statue of the goddess Bába in worship of Bohemian Pagan deities. An +introductory orchestral number depicts the dawn, following which are +several solos and choruses of women and priests, in which the dawning +day and the laughing springtime are joyously proclaimed. Ludmila enters +with an invocation to the goddess for blessings on the fatherland, +closing with the charming passage, ‘I long with childlike longing,’ +to which the chorus adds, ‘The gods are ever near.’ With the approach +of Ivan, the serene music changes abruptly, as he implores them in +a strong, declamatory aria, ‘Give ear, ye people, one is our God.’ +After the destruction of the heathen statue by Ivan amid scenes of +great confusion, Ludmila proclaims her faith in the doctrine which +Ivan preaches, and the part closes with choruses of lament and alarm +by the people. The second part, after an orchestral prelude, discloses +Svatava aiding her mistress in finding Ivan, whom they finally discover +emerging from a cave. After Ludmila and Svatava have both declared +their faith in Christianity, the music suddenly changes. The religious +mood gives way to the merry sound of the hunt and the hunters’ chorus. +Prince Bořivoy enters and relates how Ivan miraculously healed the +wounded hind. As he sees Ludmila, he declares his love for her. Ivan +expounds his doctrine to the prince and the hunters, and Bořivoy is +also converted. When he again pours out his love for Ludmila, she +at first replies, ‘To thee the pleasure of the chase belongs,’ but +Ivan urges her to bestow her hand upon the prince, and a quartet and +a chorus close the part. The scene of the third part is laid in the +cathedral of Velehrad. The royal lovers are baptized, and the noble +chorus, ‘Mighty Lord, to us be gracious,’ creates an exalted religious +atmosphere. At the conclusion of the ceremony the orchestra enters with +trumpet fanfares, followed by solos by Svatava and Ivan with choral +responses; and a powerful contrapuntal chorus, a final ‘Alleluia,’ +impressively closes the work. + + + II + +Though Franck’s list of works is small compared with those of some +of his fellow-composers, he touched every field of serious music and +left the impress of his powerful individuality. _Les Béatitudes_ (‘The +Beatitudes’) is probably his finest work, though, after hearing his +noble D minor symphony or his striking piano quintet, one is reluctant +to pass over either of these superb creations in naming Franck’s +masterpiece. He wrote five large choral works, though, in common with +other French composers, he seldom used the title ‘oratorio.’ The first +one in oratorio-form was ‘Ruth and Boaz,’ written in 1845, which he +designates _Églogue biblique_ and in which he is evidently struggling +for new harmonic effects, although he had not yet found the idiom +which characterizes his later works. He follows the form of French +oratorios of this period, which were usually short, possibly because +this temperamental nation was not inclined to hear a long religious +work which, without any dramatic action, would occupy a whole evening. +The naïveté and simplicity of this youthful work won much admiration +when it was first performed at the Conservatoire at Paris on January +4, 1846. The picturesque orchestral prelude, the chorus of Moabites, +Ruth’s beautiful aria in the first part, the duet between Ruth and +Boaz in the second part, the charming and original chorus of reapers +with its suggestion of an old French folk-song--these are some of +the beauties of this simple sacred idyl. _La Rédemption_, which the +composer calls a _poème symphonique_, was finished Nov. 7, 1872, and +was first performed at the Concert National on April 10, 1873, under +the direction of Colonne. Franck’s mysticism becomes more apparent in +this work. While it is by no means on a level with the ‘Beatitudes,’ +such passages as the angels’ choruses, the arias of the archangel, the +music expressing the joy of mankind at Christ’s advent, reveal the +tender grace and purity of Franck’s inspirations. _Rébecca_, a Biblical +idyl (_scène biblique_) on a poem by Paul Collin, dates from 1881, +and is written in the simple style of his earlier ‘Ruth.’ An Oriental +atmosphere pervades the work and gives color to its harmonies and +modulations, as witness the opening chorus and the picturesque chorus +of camel-drivers. In _Psyché_ Franck reaches his mature style. Written +in 1887-88 and first performed at the _Concerts du Châtelet_ under +Colonne, Feb. 23, 1890, this quite lengthy work possesses many passages +of ravishing beauty and elusive charm--such as the _Sommeil de Psyché_, +a prelude ‘full of mysterious language,’ and the music accompanying the +scene where Psyché reposes among the flowers. + +‘The Beatitudes’ is a work in which Franck’s best and most +characteristic qualities of thought and workmanship are displayed in +a wonderful degree. Of a deeply religious nature, profoundly earnest +and sincere, working wholly for himself and his art-ideals, and wholly +oblivious of the indifference with which an unappreciative generation +received his great works, Franck translated into music his own inner +self to a degree that has been vouchsafed to very few composers. The +grandeur and religious significance of the underlying thoughts of this +great theme struck deep into his gentle, tender nature and he was +able to sustain a noble mode of musical speech from beginning to end +without flagging. Three characteristics stand out prominently in his +music--(1) a mysticism that throws a glamour of delicious vagueness of +outline over all his modes of artistic expression, a mysticism that +roots itself deep in the hidden things of the religious faith he so +consistently held, (2) a complex and intricate polyphony that rivals +Bach’s in its nobility and expressiveness, and (3) an astounding wealth +of novel harmonies that elude analysis and enthrall the listener by +their very elusiveness. + +‘The Beatitudes’ was begun in 1870 and was published ten years +later. Parts of it were performed in Paris from time to time, but the +entire work did not come to public hearing until one year after the +composer’s death--at Dijon in 1891 at the Commemoration Festival of +St. Bernard. Its first Paris performance was March 19, 1893, under +Colonne, and France at last awoke to the recognition of the greatness +of her departed adopted son. The text is a poetic paraphrase of the +Sermon on the Mount, made by Madame Colomb. It is not altogether +adequate and is interspersed with philosophical episodes that at times +suggest spiritualism and other irrelevant matter. Curiously enough it +was frequently these extraneous parts that touched Franck most deeply +and occasioned some of his finest outbursts of religious rapture. The +strongest musical parts of the oratorio are the fine choral writing and +the skillful handling of the orchestra in exploiting and illustrating +the poetic and dramatic meaning of the text. In the orchestral numbers +his most brilliant style is revealed. His treatment of the various +characters--Satan, the Voice of Christ, Mater Dolorosa--is often +very dramatic, almost theatrical: other characters are the Angel of +Forgiveness and the Angel of Death. The central theme which runs +through the whole work is the perpetual conflict between good and evil, +and ‘terrestrial’ and ‘celestial’ choruses are frequently used to +illustrate these opposing forces. + +The musical numbers of the oratorio naturally group themselves into +eight parts (preceded by a prologue) corresponding to the Gospel +narrative. The Christ motive is introduced in the music of the prologue +(for tenor and celestial chorus) which establishes at once the mood of +the whole work. Of exquisite beauty and tenderness are the passages +assigned to the voice of Christ (baritone) in the first part (‘Blessed +he, who, from earth’s dreams awaking’) and in the third and fourth +parts. The celestial choruses are notable throughout for their tender +note of consolation and admonition, especially in the fifth part. +Franck’s treatment of the whole of the third beatitude--‘Blessed +are they that mourn’--is forceful and impressive, beginning with +the chorus, ‘Grief over all creatures,’ the strongest in the whole +oratorio. The most dramatic moments of the work are in the seventh +part--‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’ His Satan, as the arch-inspirer +of all strife and discord, appears as a figure of Miltonic grandeur. +Opposed to his bitter denunciations and taunts are the gentle strains +of the Christ voice (‘Blessed are they who, with voice beseeching’), +which touch even Satan to a penitent mood (‘Ah! that voice’) and lead +into one of the most beautiful portions of the entire work, the famous +quintet of peacemakers (‘Evil cannot stay’). The eighth part--‘Blessed +are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake’--rivals the +seventh in dramatic intensity and force. Satan, ‘not yet defeated,’ +again hurls defiance at Christ. He is rebuked by the chorus of the just +and finally gives way before the voice of the _Mater Dolorosa_ who +sings a sublime song (‘Stricken with sorrow’). Satan recognizes his +doom, the voice of Christ is heard for the last time, and the celestial +chorus responds with a triumphant Hosanna which brings the work to a +close. + + + III + +_Franciscus_ was the first work to bring Edgar Tinel (1854-1912) +international fame. While preceding works had brought him success, the +sound musicianship of this oratorio, its beauties of contrapuntal and +orchestral structure, won for its composer a wide recognition beyond +the boundaries of his native Belgium as one of the ablest contemporary +choral writers. He has written much church-music and has evinced strong +interest in the reform of Gregorian chant and ecclesiastical music +which has stirred the Roman Church since the middle of the nineteenth +century. It was while he was director of the Institute for Sacred Music +at Malines that he composed ‘Franciscus,’ generally regarded as his +masterpiece, and it was produced there, August 22, 1888. It was one of +the works performed at the Lower Rhine Festival in 1894 and was heard +for the first time in England in 1895 at the Cardiff Festival. Before +either German or English performance, however, it had been brought out +in New York City in 1893. The librettist, Lodemijk de Koninck, has +woven into the lines of his poem all the salient features of the life +of St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), ‘the adorable mediæval mystic who +invited all beings and all things to divine love,’ and who became the +founder of the great mendicant order of Franciscan monks. + +The oratorio is divided into three parts. The first--‘Francis’ +Worldly Life and his Renunciation’--opens with a sonorous prelude +developed from a theme of stately character and discloses a brilliant +scene of court life at Assisi, where knights and ladies hold high feast +amid the beauty of an Italian night. There is dancing and merriment and +the gay Francis is called upon for a song. He astonishes the guests by +singing the Ballad of Poverty, which, with its quaint unaccompanied +choral refrains, forms one of the most delightful musical passages +in the work. On his way home after the festivities he hears a voice +speaking his name. Later in his chamber he hears the same heavenly +voice and sees a vision of a magnificent hall, hung with cross-bedecked +armor, wherein a noble maiden, Poverty, walks. The heavenly voice +tells him that Poverty shall be his bride, his weapon the cross, and +his mission to convert the world. The second part pictures ‘Francis’ +Monastic Life’ and teems with the fantastic episodes with which +mediæval legends allegorically associated the lives of the church +fathers and saints. It introduces the angels of Hope, of Love, and +of Peace, against whom the spirits of War and of Hate wage battle. +Francis, worn with fasting, bare-foot and clad in a monk’s gray garb, +comes from his cell. His former companions no longer know him, and +jeer him as he tells them of his lovely bride, Poverty. He sings the +beautiful, pathetic Song of Poverty, _Erbarm’ Dich meiner Noth, O +Herr!_ (‘Have mercy on my need, O Lord!’). Taught by him they learn +the meaning of brotherly love and peace reigns on earth. Francis’ +Hymn to the Sun with choral accompaniment, the deeply expressive Song +of Love and the closing chorus of celestial voices, are among the +rarest gems of the work. The third part deals with ‘Francis’ Death and +Glorification,’ the finest numbers of which are the angelus chorus +which he hears at evening as he lies on his death-bed; the double +chorus in the church scene (_Lux æterna_), in which the solemn tones +of the organ join with contrasting celestial and earthly choirs; the +imposingly heroic funeral march; and the final scene, in which the +composer masses chorus on chorus with tremendous cumulative effect, +closing with the words, ‘Triumph! Glory be to God!’ + +Pierre Léopold Benoît (b. 1834), a consistent propagandist for Flemish +music, has been foremost in the movement to establish a national school +of music distinct from French and German schools. In aiding this +movement he has himself been a prolific writer in many fields. His +choral works include the six oratorios--_Lucifer_ (1866), _Die Schelde_ +(1869), _Prometheus_ (1868), _Der Krieg_ (1880), _Der Rhein_ (1889) +and the ‘Children’s Oratorio’--a choral symphony (‘The Mowers’), and +in addition many cantatas, among them one for children’s voices (‘Into +the World’), of great beauty and practical value for school purposes. +In style Benoît is influenced sometimes by Franck and sometimes by +Schumann and the later Germans; there are few traces of a strongly +individual style. + +_Lucifer_, Benoît’s most important composition and one of the best +of its period, was written in 1865 and first performed in Brussels in +1866. The text is by Emanuel Hiel. It shows distinctly the presence of +a progressive spirit in Belgium and France, though the former country +welcomed the oratorio more heartily than did the latter. The subject is +the thrice-attempted effort of Satan to gain victory over a divinely +protected humanity; but the text is so allegorical and so unskillfully +put together that it no longer takes hold of the listener’s interest. +Portions of the work, especially the agitated passages, are +characterized by unrestrained emotional expression. The solos are +generally pleasing and lyric, though not deep--the whole affording +contrasts which hold the attention. The orchestration is brilliant for +the period and the choral-writing skillful. The employment of leading +motives, to which the composer himself called attention (though as a +whole they are not very characteristic), stamped the work as being very +modern in style at the time it was written. It no doubt had a large +influence on Benoît’s contemporaries, especially on Franck, whose later +oratorios, though constructed with vastly greater skill and genius, +show many similar traits. + + + IV + +The ‘Christmas Oratorio’ (_Noël_) of Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (born +1835), although constructed in the oratorio style, scarcely exceeds the +dimensions of a cantata. It calls for five soloists, and is scored for +strings, organ and, in one number, the harp. While the text is based on +the story of the Nativity, only two numbers mention the birth of Jesus +and these at the beginning of the work, the remainder being liturgical +matter, such as the Magnificat, Benedictus and Gloria Patri, and the +triumph of the Church--all appropriate to the Christmas season. A +quaint and melodious pastoral introduction of some length leads into a +recitative, ‘And there were shepherds,’ after which the announcement to +the shepherds is apportioned among three solo voices, closing with the +chorus, ‘Glory to God in the highest.’ The most dramatic chorus in the +work is ‘Wherefore are the nations raging,’ to which the accompaniment +in itself furnishes an atmosphere of wild unrest. A portion of the +opening pastoral prelude is heard again in the next to the last number, +before the quintet takes up the words, ‘Arise now, Daughter of Zion,’ +which, especially in the ‘Alleluia’ portion, contains some beautiful +writing for the solo voices. A final chorus, written in majestic hymn +style and also closing with an oft-repeated ‘Alleluia,’ concludes the +oratorio. The composition, though short, is exceedingly beautiful, not +only in its graceful and melodious voice-parts, but in its delicate and +striking accompaniments. + +‘The Deluge,’ a biblical scene which Saint-Saëns wrote in 1875, has +steadily maintained its place in the choral repertoire. It is an +effective, artistic work, nobly conceived and true to the scriptural +narrative. The orchestra takes a leading part in the vivid portrayal +of the commotions of Nature--the approaching rain, gradually bursting +into torrents, the rising of the flood, the buoyancy of the ark as +it ‘floated upon the mournful ocean,’ the darkness, and finally the +receding waters. The narration of the most important events is given to +the chorus, while the minor incidents are delegated to the soloists, +largely in recitative. Especially effective is the passage at the +beginning of the second part in which it is related that ‘the sun +disappeared’ and ‘the rains from heaven poured,’ where the choral parts +have little melodic movement, dwelling much on one tone, as though awed +at the magnitude of the calamity, while the storm-tossed accompaniment +vividly depicts the fierce force of the elements. One of the finest +numbers is the fugal chorus, ‘This race will I blot out forever.’ +In striking contrast to this is the delicately scored scene of the +departing and the returning dove and the rainbow-music. The work closes +with a massive contrapuntal chorus, in which the solo quartet joins, +‘Now increase, grow and multiply.’ + +Jules Massenet (1842-1912) has made several excursions into the field +of choral music, but has never been quite able to throw off his +theatrical associations. His oratorios are _Ève_ (1875), _La Vierge_ +(‘The Holy Virgin’), a sacred legend in four scenes (1880), and _La +terre promise_ (‘The Promised Land,’ 1900). In addition is a four-act +sacred drama, _Marie Madeleine_ (1873), which is utterly theatrical. + +_Ève_, a mystery which Massenet wrote in 1875, though not deeply +conceived, is full of beautiful color. It is in three parts, the first +being ‘The Birth of Woman.’ At the beginning of the part the composer +has written in the score: ‘Serene Nature round Man in his sleep. A pure +light is spread over Creation, and from the new-born Earth light vapors +illumined by the Sun rise on the horizon. A soft breeze undulates the +flowers of the field and the waves of the sea.’ Part second, ‘Eve in +Solitude’ (The Temptation), bears this superscription: ‘Starlit sky. +A balmy night. In the forest solitude Eve walks in deep thought far +from Adam. Trembling and enchanted she listens to the voices of the +night which murmur around her.’ In these surroundings she sings an +aria of narcotic sweetness, _O nuit, douce nuit_ (‘O night! gentle +night’), which discloses how receptive she is to the alluring voices +of sweet temptation. The third part is ‘The Fall.’ It is impossible +to think of Massenet’s character of Eve with any degree of sympathy, +as she is depicted simply as an easily tempted Parisienne, with all +the characteristics of a frail and sentimental woman. According to the +text, she plucks from the tree, not the fruit of the knowledge of good +and evil, but of love, which is here styled ‘the forbidden fruit.’ The +eating of the fruit brings on a rapturous love-duet (_con passione_) in +true theatrical style, and the happy pair are banished from Eden--for +loving! + +_Marie Madeleine_, a work which Massenet calls a sacred drama, was +written in 1873 and performed at the Odéon Théâtre, Paris, the same +year. It consists of three acts, (1) Magdalen at the Fountain, +(2) Jesus before Mary Magdalene, (3) Golgotha, including the +scenes, ‘Magdalen at the Cross,’ ‘At the Tomb of Jesus,’ and the +‘Resurrection.’ The persons represented are Mary Magdalene, Martha, +Jesus and Judas, together with choruses of disciples, Pharisees, +scribes, publicans, soldiers, servants, holy women and people. + +One who is in sympathy with the inspiring Bible narrative, so +beautifully treated in dramatic literature, finds it difficult to +become reconciled to the extraneous, irrelevant material brought into +the text and elaborated in the music--for example, the introduction of +Judas as a lover of the Magdalen and a chorus of women who taunt her. +The music abounds in dramatic, Oriental coloring and rich melody. The +two tableaux in the third act are very realistic, the first presenting +the ‘Crucifixion,’ and the second, the ‘Ascension.’ + +Théodore Dubois (b. 1837) has worked much in the field of choral music. +Besides many pieces of church-music and five cantatas, he has written +three oratorios--‘The Seven Last Words of Christ’ (1867), a short and +easy setting of the familiar Passion-scene; ‘Paradise Lost,’ which is +given some space below; and _Nôtre-Dame de la Mer_ (1897). + +‘Paradise Lost’ (_Le Paradis perdu_), for the composition of which +Dubois won the City of Paris prize in 1878, is a dramatic oratorio in +four parts. The text, by Édouard Bau, is based on Milton’s great poem. +It is a fresh, spontaneous work, and abounds in striking tone-pictures, +the most unique of which is the fierce struggle in Part I between the +forces of Heaven and of Hell (the faithful and the rebellious angels). +The superscription of the orchestral introduction is a commentary on +the sombre nature of the music: ‘Before the Creation of our Earth, +while Chaos yet reigned ... the host of angels, called from the ends +of Heaven, assembled before the throne of the Almighty.’ This prelude +is at once followed by the chorus of seraphim and the recitative of +the Archangel. The first two parts, ‘The Revolt’ and ‘Hell,’ portray +the contest of Satan and his angels against the archangels and the +faithful, and the condition of the lost angels in their new abode of +torment. The third part, ‘Paradise,’ includes the temptation and the +fall of man, and the fourth, ‘The Judgment,’ tells of the upheaval +on the earth, the despair of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from +Paradise. Among the best portions of the work might be named the +opening of Part III, a beautiful picture of a morning in Paradise +(ushered in by the orchestra and taken up chorally by the spirits who +guard Eden); the simple, devout prayer of Adam and Eve (in duet form); +and a grandiose concerted piece, ‘O God, avenging and righteous,’ which +is sung by Adam, Eve, the Archangel and the chorus of seraphim. The +characterization of Satan is particularly strong throughout the work. +Interesting is the French viewpoint, which depicts the chivalrous Adam +unwilling to allow the blame for the first sin to rest upon his spouse: +‘Pardon the woman.... I ‘twas who led her astray!’ he pleads before the +Archangel who passes sentence upon the guilty pair. Many pages of the +music approach closely to the boundaries of sentimentality. + + + V + +In the field of English oratorio we find the same contributing +composers as in the cantata-form of this period and the same +progressive spirit and virile qualities that sought out and found +individual forms of expression (see Chapter VI). The principal oratorio +writers of the period in the United Kingdom are Mackenzie, Parry, +Stanford, Sullivan and Cowen. + +‘The Rose of Sharon,’ a dramatic oratorio by Alexander Campbell +Mackenzie (born 1847), was first produced at the Norwich Festival, +Oct. 16. 1884, the composer conducting. Mackenzie speaks of the +production of this work as the ‘turning point’ of his career. The +first performance met with enormous success and it was received in +all parts of the United Kingdom with extraordinary marks of approval. +The text by Joseph Bennett is based upon the Song of Solomon and the +persons represented are the Sulamite (the Rose of Sharon), a woman (the +narrator), the Beloved and Solomon, the chorus being variously made +up of princes, nobles, officers of the court, elders, villagers and +soldiers. It is in four parts in addition to a prologue which indicates +the parabolic character of the drama and an epilogue which points +its moral. The four parts are: (1) Separation, (2) Temptation, (3) +Victory, and (4) Reunion. The principal motive of the work is revealed +in the words which the Sulamite sings--‘Love is strong as death and +unconquerable as the grave.’ + +The story relates how the Sulamite is seen by Solomon, who at once +becomes enamored of her and tears her away from her Beloved, placing +her in his own harem, where, although surrounded by every luxury which +royal favor can devise, she still remains loyal to her Beloved. After +every effort on the part of Solomon, the nobles and the women of the +court, the Sulamite continues to sing ‘My Beloved pastures his flock +among the lilies’ and she is finally restored to him, after which they +return together to the vineyards. The score is heavily loaded with +beautiful passages--lyric, pastoral and dramatic--for choral and solo +parts alike. The composer uses with great skill and effectiveness four +motives--the Love motive associated with the above quotation and a +motive associated with each of the three principal characters. Some +of the loveliest parts of the work are the long dialogue between the +Sulamite and her Beloved in the first part; the simple ‘The Lord is my +Shepherd’ which the Sulamite, alone in Solomon’s palace, devoutly sings +as she longingly remembers the scenes from which she has been parted; +the stately chorus, ‘Make a joyful noise unto the Lord,’ accompanying +the procession of the ark; the chorus of shepherds and vine-dressers; +the jubilant chorus, ‘Sing, O Heavens! be joyful, O Earth!’ as the +villagers greet the returning lovers, which chorus leads into a +rapturous duet that prepares the way for a chorale-like finale in which +all join. + +‘Bethlehem’ is a mystery in two acts, Mackenzie here using this term in +preference to ‘oratorio’ as better indicating the nature of the work, +which preserves a quaintness of narrative style throughout. The text is +by Joseph Bennett and the work made its appearance in 1894. The events +of the first act or part take place in the fields of Bethlehem, where +angels appear to the shepherds, comforting them with good news and +singing an anthem of praise to God, returning to heaven and leaving the +shepherds astounded at the vision. They talk together of the wondrous +sight and, as dawn appears, the people of Bethlehem gather together +and they all rejoice and sing a carol. The scene of the second act is +Bethlehem. A host of ‘arméd cherubim’ guard the new-born King as the +blessed mother sweetly sings to her babe. But the shepherds with some +people of Bethlehem seek the Holy Babe through the city to worship Him; +likewise certain kings from the East, whose salutations the blessed +mother answers. As the kings marvel and offer gifts, all join in humble +and devout adoration of the Holy Child. The quaintness of style is +preserved in the music also, yet without sacrificing its dignity. + +‘Judith’ (‘The Regeneration of Manasseh’) was the first oratorio +of Parry (b. 1848), although he had already written several of the +long series of choral works that mark him as one of England’s great +composers. It was produced at the Birmingham Festival of 1888. The +persons in the action are Manasseh, king of Israel; Meshullemeth, his +wife; his children; Judith; a High Priest of Moloch; and a messenger of +Holofernes. The text, by the composer, is in two acts. In the first, +the priests of Moloch demand the children of Manasseh for sacrifice, +but as they are about to be offered up, Judith appears and endeavors +to save them. She is herself saved from the wrath of the people only +by the coming of the Assyrians, who lay Jerusalem in ruins and carry +off Manasseh a prisoner to Babylon. But the captive king repents of +his sins against God and is permitted to return to Jerusalem. In the +second act, while the Jews are lamenting over the desolation of their +city, a messenger from the Assyrian general, Holofernes, arrives and +demands new terms of submission and tribute. Here Judith comes to the +rescue; she exhorts the Jews to have confidence in God’s help, makes +her way to the Assyrian camp and to the tent of Holofernes and strikes +him down with her own hand. The Israelites, fired by her heroism, +fall upon their bewildered enemies and scatter them, returning to +Jerusalem and praising the God of Israel. The Moloch choruses are very +characteristic, some of them fierce and barbaric, while the march +of the Assyrian host at the close of the first part is stately and +majestic. One of the loveliest parts is the scene between Meshullemeth +and her children as she sings, in answer to their questions, the +simple, pathetic ballad of Israel’s ancient escape from Egypt and the +Red Sea. + +‘Job’ was written for the Gloucester Festival of 1892 and is much +shorter than the preceding oratorio. Parry’s treatment of the familiar +story of the patriarch’s misfortunes is at once individual and poetic. +He groups the events into four scenes, opening the first one with a +noble, serene theme in the orchestra, associated with the ‘perfect +and upright man that feared God,’ and appropriately using it again to +bring the whole work to a close. The narrator is given an important +rôle, but the climax of the work is Job’s lengthy lament for his losses +in the third scene. The music is noble and of sustained dignity and +impressiveness. + +‘King Saul,’ Parry’s third oratorio, was performed at the Birmingham +Festival of 1894. It relates, in a series of ten scenes grouped into +four acts, the main events in the picturesque life of this king +of Israel. The prophet Samuel and the youthful shepherd David are +prominent persons in the narrative, while the introduction of the Witch +of Endor scene gives opportunity for music of vividly descriptive +character. Among many fine lyric passages are the love-duet of David +and Michal and David’s devotional psalm after the battle with the +Philistines (‘Let us lift up our eyes unto the mountains, whence cometh +our help’). The choral-writing throughout is marked by unerring skill +and noteworthy effectiveness. + + + VI + +‘The Three Holy Children,’ by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (born +1852), was written for the Birmingham Festival of 1885. The words +are taken in the main from those parts of the Old Testament and +the Apocrypha that deal with the captivity of the Jews under +Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. This king had erected a great image of +Bel in the valley of Dura and commanded that all his subjects worship +it under penalty of death by fire. A company of Jewish women, by the +waters of Babylon, are mourning over their captivity, when they are +taunted by some Assyrian soldiers on their way to worship Bel and +they reply with songs of their beloved country and with imprecations +on their enemies. Ananias, Azarias and Misael, three prominent Jews, +denounce the worship of idols and refuse to bow down to Bel. They are +dragged before the king and cast into the fiery furnace; but the flames +do them no harm and the amazed king releases them and joins with the +multitude in praising God ‘that hath sent His angel and delivered His +servants that trusted in Him.’ + +‘Eden,’ a dramatic oratorio, is a strong setting of Robert Bridges’ +poem and found first presentation, as have several others of Stanford’s +choral works, at the Birmingham Festival, this one in 1891. The poem +is an elaborate epic of large dimensions, involving in its action many +characters (Adam, Eve, Satan, Michael, Angels of Earth, Sun, Music, +Poetry, etc.) and for its choral elements, calling upon angels, devils, +furies, all-seers, etc. With this complicated dramatic machinery +Stanford has built an imposing musical structure--grand, terrible in +places, of ravishing beauty in others--always skillfully fashioned +and of compelling appeal, especially in the choral parts. The poem is +divided into three acts: I, Heaven; II, Hell; III, Earth (Part 1, The +Fall; Part 2, Adam’s Vision). In the first and third acts the composer +drops into the old ecclesiastical modal style for pages at a time with +beautiful effect. Indeed, he takes for some of his most important +thematic material two phrases of the plain-song melody _Sanctorum +meritis_ (from the _Sarum Missal_) and weaves them into choral passages +with the skill of a sixteenth-century church-contrapuntist. Especially +beautiful, among such portions, are the opening six-part chorus of all +angels (‘God of might! God of love!’) and a five-part _a cappella_ +chorus (‘Flames of pure love are we’)--the latter in the pure style of +a _Madrigale spirituale_. + +‘The Prodigal Son,’ which is the first of Sullivan’s oratorios, +received its first performance at the Worcester Festival, Sept. +3, 1869, for which occasion it was written. The text, compiled by +the composer, is based on the well-known parable, the shortness of +which, however, has necessitated the introduction of other Scriptural +material; so that only six of the eighteen numbers deal directly +with the narrative, while the other twelve reflect on the lessons it +teaches. In a preface to the work, Sullivan explains his conception of +the Prodigal as ‘a buoyant, restless youth, tired of the monotony of +home, and anxious to see what lay beyond the confines of his father’s +farm, going away in the confidence of his own simplicity and ardor, and +led gradually away into the follies and sins which at the outset would +have been distasteful to him.’ + +The musical treatment is melodious, opening, after a short orchestral +prelude, with the joyous, though reflective, chorus, ‘There is joy in +the presence of the angels of God,’ preceded by a brief soprano solo. +The parable then opens with tenor recitative and aria, ‘A certain man +had two sons,’ and armed with the good counsel of his father, the +prodigal son starts away. He is heard from in the chorus of revelry, +‘Let us eat and drink; to-morrow we die.’ The admonishing contralto +solo, ‘Love not the world,’ is well known, having found its way to +concert programs. After an orchestral prelude the soprano declaims in +recitative the Prodigal’s experience as a swineherd and his struggle +with famine, closing with the aria, ‘O that thou had’st harkened.’ +The repentance of the Prodigal is beautifully expressed in the tenor +aria, ‘How many hired servants of my father.’ A chorus, ‘The sacrifices +of God,’ is followed by the Prodigal’s return--the joy of the father +being expressed in the bass aria, ‘For this my son was dead.’ One of +the finest choruses in the work, ‘O that men would praise the Lord,’ +is soon followed by the unaccompanied quartet, ‘The Lord is nigh,’ and +the final chorus, ‘Thou, O Lord, art our Father,’ closes with a joyous +‘Hallelujah.’ + +‘The Light of the World,’ the second of Sullivan’s oratorios and much +longer than the first, was written for the Birmingham Festival and +performed there on August 27, 1873. The composer’s plan is set forth in +the preface as follows: ‘The work has been laid out in scenes dealing +respectively, in the first part, with the nativity, preaching, healing +and prophesying of our Lord, ending with the triumphal entry into +Jerusalem; and in the second part with the utterances which, containing +the avowal of himself as the Son of Man, excited to the utmost the +wrath of his enemies, and led the rulers to conspire for his betrayal +and death; the solemn recital by the chorus of his sufferings, and +the belief in his final reward; the grief of Mary Magdalene at the +sepulchre; and the consolation and triumph of the disciples at the +resurrection of their Lord and Master.’ + +The first part is divided into four scenes--‘Bethlehem,’ ‘Nazareth,’ +‘Lazarus’ and ‘The Way to Jerusalem.’ The second part contains +two--‘Jerusalem’ and ‘At the Sepulchre.’ The first scene, dealing +with the narrative of the shepherds, the announcement by the angel +and the Magnificat sung by Mary, is introduced by a pastoral prelude +which establishes the atmosphere of the scene. In the second scene, +‘Nazareth,’ are two very dramatic choruses, ‘Whence hath this man +his wisdom?’ and ‘Is not this Jesus?’ It contains also an effective +quintet, ‘Doubtless thou art our Father,’ and a well-written chorus, +‘He maketh the sun to rise,’ which is one of the finest in the +work. The ‘Lazarus’ scene is darksome throughout, while ‘The Way to +Jerusalem,’ strongly contrasted with the preceding, is festive in +character and contains a beautiful three-part chorus for children’s +voices, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David.’ The first part closes with a +massive ‘Hosanna’ chorus combined with a trio for female solo voices. +The anger and dissension caused by the Lord’s sojourn in Jerusalem are +dramatically depicted in an introduction which opens the second part +and which is followed by an expressive baritone solo, ‘When the Son of +Man shall come.’ This scene also contains a charming chorus for women’s +voices, ‘The hour is come,’ and the expressive farewell of Jesus, +‘Daughters of Jerusalem.’ The crucifixion is not brought into the work +except by indirect mention in a chorus and the work closes with the +scene ‘At the Sepulchre,’ in which an angel tells the waiting Mary +Magdalene that Christ has risen. This leads, after a tenor solo, to the +final fugal chorus, ‘Him hath God exalted.’ + +Frederic Hymen Cowen (born 1852) wrote two oratorios that fall within +this period--‘The Deluge’ (1878), and ‘Ruth,’ written for the Worcester +Festival of 1887. The incidents of the familiar story of ‘Ruth’ +(here called a dramatic oratorio) are grouped into two parts by the +librettist, Joseph Bennett, and the composer has given throughout a +pleasing, though not deep, musical setting to the text. + + + VII + +Oratorio by native American composers is a very young product and +practically dates from the composition of Paine’s ‘St. Peter,’ though +several works with the title of oratorio had been written before this. +Paine, however, was the first American to approach his task with an +adequate equipment of ripe musicianship and knowledge of technical +means of expression. As yet he has been followed in this field by +comparatively few American composers, though many worthy works in +cantata-form have been written. + +‘St. Peter,’ by John K. Paine (1839-1906), received its first +performance in Portland, Maine, in June, 1873, under the direction of +the composer. Its second performance took place in Boston on May 9, +1874, by the Handel and Haydn Society. The main theme of the oratorio +is the establishment of Christianity, as illustrated by the four +main events in the life of St. Peter. It consists of two parts--(1) +The Divine Call, followed by the denial of Peter and his repentance, +and (2) The Ascension and Pentecost. The work abounds in strong, +well-written choruses and beautiful arias, which, where the text +demands it, become at times touching (as, for example, in the aria, +‘Let not your hearts be troubled’) and at times dramatic, as is the +scene of the emphatic denials of Peter and the accusations of the +people. A noble chorus, ‘Awake, thou that sleepest,’ closes the first +part. Probably the most beautiful choral number, however, is in the +second part, ‘The voice of the Lord,’ which follows the description of +the Pentecostal miracle; though it is not massive, as is the majestic +closing chorus, ‘Great and marvellous are Thy works.’ + +Horatio Parker’s _Hora Novissima_, the most ambitious and finely +conceived choral work by an American, was written in 1892, while the +composer was associated with Dvořák as teacher of counterpoint in the +National Conservatory of Music in New York, and received its first +hearing on May 3, 1893, when it was given by the Church Choral Society +of New York under the direction of the composer. Soon after it was +given in Boston and at the Festivals of Cincinnati and Worcester, +Mass. In 1899 it was the chief novelty at the Three Choirs Festival +in Worcester, England (also conducted by the composer), and bears the +distinction of being the first work of an American to be performed +under these historic auspices. + +The subject of the oratorio deals with the New Jerusalem and the +text, selected from a Latin poem of the twelfth century by the monk +Bernard de Morlaix entitled ‘The Rhythm of the Celestial Country,’ has +been most skillfully translated by the composer’s mother, Isabella G. +Parker. The oratorio consists of eleven numbers grouped into two parts, +and the larger portion of it is choral, there being only four numbers +for solo voices. The opening chorus, following the instrumental prelude +in which the principal motives are set forth, begins with the words, +_Hora novissima_ (‘Cometh earth’s latest hour’), which at once reveals +the composer’s dignified style of choral writing. The most effective +portion of the first part, however, is the fugal chorus. _Pars mea, +rex meus_ (‘Most Mighty, most Holy’), which is built up on massive +lines. Another very broad and truly splendid number is the joyous +double chorus, _Stant Syon atria_ (‘There stand those walls on high’), +which is in the second part. An _a cappella_ chorus, _Urbs Syon unica_ +(‘City of high renown’), is finely developed in strict fugal form and +leads over into the final number--broad and again fugally treated--for +quartet and chorus, _Urbs Syon inclyta_ (‘Thou city great and high’), +which forms a majestic close to a noble work, conceived on broad lines +and constructed with conspicuous skill and scholarship. Among the solo +portions the lovely soprano aria, _O bone patria_ (‘O country, bright +and fair’), is especially distinguished by graceful, dignified and +appealing melody. + +‘The Legend of St. Christopher,’ a dramatic oratorio on a theme that +has often been chosen by composers, was written soon after the _Hora +Novissima_ and was published in 1898. In September, 1902, Parker +conducted the third part of this oratorio at the Worcester (England) +Festival and in October of the same year the entire work was performed +at the Bristol Festival. The text, as in the case of many of the +composer’s choral works, is by his mother, Isabella G. Parker. It +presents in attractive poetic form the main features of the familiar +legend and requires the following characters: Offerus, the King, the +Queen, the Hermit and Satan. The chorus frequently assumes the burden +of narration. The legend relates how the giant Offerus sought the +mightiest earthly monarch, that he might serve him with his great +strength and stature. But he finds that the king to whom he attaches +himself is not the mightiest on earth, for he fears Satan, whom the +giant straightway seeks to serve. Satan in turn trembles as they pass +a cross by the roadside before which women are singing a hymn to the +Lord of Heaven. Offerus finally finds a hermit who serves this Lord of +Heaven and who teaches him the meaning of service. During a furious +storm at night a child with a quiet light upon its head piteously begs +to be carried across the raging stream. Offerus heeds the cry and +carries the child in his strong arms, only to find, when he reaches +the further shore, that it was the Christ-child he bore; the hermit +exclaims ‘Christopher be now thy name, thine henceforth by rightful +claim.’ + +The musical handling of the theme shows the composer’s marked skill +and preference for choral-writing. The choral portions of the work +are the strongest, though there are not wanting lyric solo-passages +of great beauty, as witness the melodies assigned to the Queen and +the Hermit, and the fine trio in the last part (an Angel, the Hermit +and Offerus). It would be difficult to find among modern works a more +exquisite piece of effective unaccompanied part-writing than Parker has +given in his setting of the Latin hymn, _Jam sol recedit igneus_, which +follows immediately after the above trio. + + + + + CHAPTER X + + THE MODERN MASS + + The adaptation of liturgical forms to extra-liturgical + purposes; Mass; Requiem Mass--Stabat Mater; Magnificat; Te + Deum--Musical masses and the Roman service--Bach: ‘B minor + Mass’--Bach’s ‘Magnificat in D’; Pergolesi’s _Stabat Mater_; + Handel’s Te Deums; Graun’s ‘Prague Te Deum’; Haydn’s church + music--Mozart: the _Requiem_ and other masses--Cherubini: + _Requiem_ and other masses; Schubert’s masses--Beethoven: + _Missa Solemnis_; Weber’s masses--Berlioz: _Requiem_; _Te + Deum_; Rossini’s _Stabat Mater_; Liszt: ‘Graner Mass’ and + ‘Hungarian Coronation Mass’--Gounod: ‘St. Cecilia Mass’ and + other masses; Dvořák: _Requiem_ and _Stabat Mater_; Verdi: + ‘The Manzoni Requiem’--The masses of Rheinberger, Henschel + and others. + + +As polyphonic music developed with the expanding possibilities of the +contrapuntal art and the increasing splendor of the Roman liturgical +service, the old church composers seized upon certain portions of +the liturgy as being especially adapted for musical exploitation +and elaboration. The masters of the fifteenth and sixteenth century +ecclesiastical vocal counterpoint made the musical settings of these +parts of the holy office the object of their deepest consideration +and lavished on them their utmost artistic skill and profundity. The +parts of the holy office thus selected were those that were constant, +invariable from day to day; they were six in number and in the +following order: _Kyrie_ (in three parts, _Kyrie eleison!_ _Christe +eleison!_ _Kyrie eleison!_), _Gloria_ (Doxology), _Credo_, _Sanctus_, +_Benedictus_ and _Agnus Dei_. Since these were the principal musical +portions of the eucharistic office sung by the choir, they came to be +spoken of together as one composition, as Palestrina’s ‘Mass of Pope +Marcellus,’ Gounod’s ‘St. Cecilia Mass,’ and so on. In all musical +masses, ancient or modern, the same number and order of movements is +preserved, since the holy office itself is universal and unchangeable. +With the development of instrumental music in the seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries, opportunities were offered for combining various +instruments with the voices, and the mass with orchestral accompaniment +arose. When sacred music finally broke loose from ecclesiastical +control and came to be considered independent of the Church, composers +took advantage of the great poetic suggestiveness of the missal text +for constructing elaborate choral works with the combined resources of +instruments and voices. While many of the modern masses here considered +were written as liturgical music for actual church performance, +many must be considered apart from any ecclesiastical use, as pure +concert-music. The most prominent of these are probably Bach’s great ‘B +minor Mass’ and Beethoven’s ‘Mass in D.’ + +Among the liturgical forms that have been most employed for +extra-liturgical purposes as concert-music are the mass (_Missa +Solemnis_, consisting of the six numbers given above), the _Requiem_ +(_Missa pro Defunctis_), _Stabat Mater_, _Te Deum_ and _Magnificat_. +These great religious poems of the Middle Ages and earlier, which were +either adopted into or were associated with the liturgy of the Roman +Church, have never ceased to stir the imagination of composers, some +of whom have been of the Protestant faith. The Protestant Church did +not adopt the Mass into its liturgy, though the early Lutheran Church +borrowed a modified form from the Roman Church and the Anglican Church +still retains many of the same musical texts (such as the Gloria, Te +Deum, Benedictus, and others) that were used in various parts of the +Roman service. The _Kyrie_ and _Gloria_ were formerly frequently used +together in the Lutheran service as the so-called short mass (_Missa +brevis_). + +The Requiem Mass (_Missa pro Defunctis_) takes its name from the +beginning of the Introit, _Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine_, and +consists of the holy office celebrated in memory of the departed. +It may take place any day before burial, especially the third, or +on the seventh or the thirtieth day after death, or on the first or +any subsequent anniversary of the death. It is also celebrated on +All Souls’ Day, November 2, in memory of all the faithful departed. +As a form of musical composition, the Requiem consists of nine +parts: (1) The Introit--_Requiem æternam_; (2) _Kyrie_; (3) the +Gradual and Tract--_Requiem æternam_ and _Absolve, Domine_; (4) The +Sequence or Prose--_Dies iræ_; (5) The Offertorium--_Domine Jesu +Christi_; (6) _Sanctus_; (7) _Benedictus_; (8) _Agnus Dei_; and +(9) the Communio--_Lux æterna_. In addition to these the following +are sometimes added: (10) Responsorium--_Libera me_; and (11) the +Lectio--_Tædet animam meam_. + + + I + +The _Stabat Mater_ is a beautiful mediæval poem, whose authorship is +generally ascribed to a Franciscan monk, Jacobus de Benedictis, though +some believe it to have been written by Pope Innocent III and still +others by St. Bonaventure. It was not a part of the liturgy and was +not at first used with music. It did not come into any large use as a +devotional poem until about the thirteenth century and gradually found +its way into the liturgy as a ‘sequence,’ though it did not even appear +in the Roman Missal until 1727, and was not sanctioned as a hymn until +some time after that. It is one of the finest and most popular of the +old Latin poems and has lent itself so well to musical setting that +many composers from Des Prés to Rossini have been inspired to set it. +It depicts the sorrowing mother, Mary, as she stood at the foot of the +cross and the desire of humanity to share with her this sorrow. The +initial words of the poem are + + _Stabat mater dolorosa + Juxta crucem lacrymosa_, + +a free translation of which is--‘The weeping, mournful mother stood +close to the cross.’ + +The _Magnificat_ is the Song of the Blessed Mary, _Magnificat anima +mea Dominum_ (‘My soul doth magnify the Lord’), and appears as the +central point of musical interest in the Vesper service. During the +period of the exclusively vocal service, it was sung antiphonally, +sometimes as a plain-song melody, with choral response in several +voices. In the second half of the sixteenth century, however, this was +discontinued and only the first versicle was intoned by one voice, +and the other eleven were sung by the choir. This was finally changed +into the antiphonal singing of two choirs. With the development of the +organ, this instrument began to take a place in alternating with the +voices, giving a different antiphonal effect. Thus from the sixteenth +to the eighteenth century we find many so-called ‘Organ Magnificats.’ +Later a deterioration began by combining the plain-song with secular or +irrelevant matter, and this custom gradually led to the substitution of +a good secular melody as a _cantus_, in place of the plain-song chant. +In this style Orlandus Lassus produced some of the most charming _a +cappella_ compositions extant. In the Anglican Church, the Magnificat +also assumed free and elaborate proportions and it consists of combined +solo and chorus passages with organ and, sometimes, orchestral +accompaniment. Bach, Mendelssohn and other modern composers have +treated the Magnificat in elaborate oratorio style with orchestral +accompaniment and complex voice-writing. + +The _Te Deum Laudamus_ (‘We praise Thee, O God’) seems to owe its +origin to Nicetas, Bishop of Remesiana in Dacia (about A. D. 400), and +it was at once used as an important part of the Nocturns or Matins. +Music was used with it from the beginning, in fact the words were used +with chants already existent. It is in three parts or sections. The +praise of the Trinity occupies all of the first section; ‘Thou art the +King of Glory’ begins the second section, which ends with two verses +of prayer, ‘We therefore pray Thee’ and ‘Make them to be numbered.’ +The third section begins with ‘O Lord, save Thy people and bless Thine +heritage.’ It was at first sung to a free chant but was later developed +into complex settings for solos, chorus and elaborate accompaniment. +While it is a part of the service of both the Roman and the Anglican +Churches, the finest examples of this great canticle seem to come from +England, that by Purcell, written for St. Cecilia’s Day, 1694, and +published in 1697, being one of the earliest large ones, and indeed one +of the greatest Te Deums. This was doubtless the model for Handel’s +‘Utrecht Te Deum,’ written in 1712, which is even a nobler work than +that by Purcell. These, together with the ones of Macfarren and +Sullivan, that of Dvořák in 1896, Stanford’s, performed at the Leeds +Festival in 1898, and Parry’s, performed at the Hereford Festival of +1900, are the most famous Te Deums of modern times. + + + II + +The decadence in church-music that began to set in early in the +seventeenth century and that soon caused the glories of the ‘Palestrina +style’ to disappear, may be traced, not so much to the monodic +revolution and the consequent change in the style of writing it +entailed, but primarily to the fact that the composers of church music +in the main wrote at the same time for church and theatre. Blinded +by the greater brilliance of the stage, they were not able to keep +separate these two widely divergent styles and the operatic mode of +speech soon found entrance into the church service, and later there was +very little to distinguish the one style from the other. This condition +continued uninterrupted until the movement for the restoration of +Catholic Church music was started near the middle of the nineteenth +century by Kaspar Ett (1788-1847) and Karl Proske (1794-1861), and +further developed by Franz Witt (1834-1888) and the Cecilian Society. + +Before this period of reform set in (and it is by no means carried +to full fruition as yet) a few great composers wrote masses of solid +musical worth for the Roman Church service, though seldom in the real +spirit of the liturgy. Haydn wrote 13 masses and much other church +music, but we miss the ecclesiastical note in his bright, sunny music. +Mozart composed the great Requiem, 15 masses, 4 Kyries, 9 Offertories, +a Te Deum, and other pieces. But of his church music, Dr. Heinrich +Reimann, in a criticism of Jahn’s ‘Life of Mozart’ says: ‘His masses +are unequal in value, but even the best are, in spite of manifold +excellences in other respects, so narrowly conceived, so entirely +adapted, not merely to certain local conditions, but also to the taste +of individual clerical dignitaries and general convention, that the +composer who otherwise knew so well how to fit the tone to the word, +here often appears thoughtless, so little does he trouble to render the +meaning of the text in his music.’ Franz Witt, certainly a competent +authority from the standpoint of their adaptability to the Roman +service, rather severely says: ‘Whoever desires to serve Art (where +instrumental music is in use), let him perform Mozart’s 8th and 9th +Masses (in F and D, Köchel Nos. 192 and 194) and let him disregard +_all_ the rest!’ From the same standpoint, Dr. Karl Weinmann, in his +‘History of Church Music’ (p. 192), judges Beethoven’s two Masses in +C and D as too secular and extravagant in expression for the church +service and adds (p. 193): ‘Whoever has penetrated deeper into the +spirit of the Catholic liturgy, within whose framework the performance +must after all take place, will see that between the seriousness of +the liturgic act and the gaiety of these compositions (of Mozart, +Haydn, and Beethoven), an abyss yawns which is not to be bridged!’ +Cherubini’s masses, of which we possess eleven, likewise come under the +condemnation of being un-ecclesiastical in character, notwithstanding +all their inherent qualities of nobility and dignity as sacred music. +And here again we encounter the distinction, to which attention has +been called in an earlier chapter, between church-music and religious +music. + +Among the earlier composers whose music was well adapted to the Roman +service, Dr. Weinmann mentions Michael Haydn (1737-1806), brother +of Joseph, as the one who ‘approached perhaps most nearly to the +requirements of church art, at least in his works written without an +orchestra, of which the _Tenebræ_ and the two _Missæ Quadragesimales_ +are the most famous.’ Under the influence of the Cecilian Society +movement, Catholic composers, such as Moritz Brosig (1815-1887) and +Joseph Rheinberger (1839-1901), have made noteworthy contributions to a +regenerated church-art. + + + III + +Possibly the finest illustration of the essential difference between +church-music and religious music is to be found in Bach’s incomparable +B minor Mass. It is church-music in no sense of the word, for it was +written without any reference to the liturgic significance of the +text or to the fitness of the music for church service, and it has +never been used as real liturgic music. It is the expression of Bach’s +individual conception of the tremendous religious meaning of the +words, expressed in musical terms that are wholly emancipated from all +ecclesiastical restraint or ritualistic consideration. Though he used +the same words that are found in the Roman Mass, Bach, as a devout +Lutheran, was wholly out of sympathy with the Roman service itself, of +which these words form so vital a part. And yet as a piece of religious +music, it probably has no equal among choral masterpieces, unless it be +Beethoven’s ‘Mass in D.’ It touches the most exalted religious emotions +and voices the common spiritual hopes and aspirations of humanity; it +is religious music, but it is non-sectarian. + +This colossal work was written between 1733 and 1738, the _Kyrie_ +and the _Gloria_ having been completed in 1733 and the other parts +by 1738. The work was conceived on stupendous lines which outclassed +any previous effort either of his own or of any other composer of +masses. Bach gave one or two parts of this mass now and then at some +of the regular services at Leipzig and these occupied as much time as +could be allotted to the musical portion of the service, for, indeed, +in this work each portion had in itself the dimensions of a cantata. +Unimportant texts were developed into large arias or complicated fugal +choruses, and the variety and abundance of musical material used is +incredible. + +Entirely apart from its complexity, stands the fact that Bach’s +musical structure is most expressive, and even if the hearer loses a +word here and there, he cannot fail to catch the spirit, especially in +such passages as the joyous _Gloria_ and the calm _Et in terra pax_. It +is true that Bach’s works, in his own time as now, required a somewhat +trained listener, but his themes are so characteristic of the verbal +ideas expressed in the text that they are in themselves an eloquent, +yet simple, commentary on it. The _Kyrie_ alone consists of three +elaborate parts, the first of which ends in a five-part fugal chorus. +The second part, _Christe eleison_, is a duet sung by two sopranos. +It has a simple, childlike quality of entreaty and is followed by the +third part, _Kyrie eleison_, again fugally treated in four parts. The +following number, the _Gloria_, which, with the _Credo_, stands at the +summit of choral-writing, consists of eight musically complete parts, +the last of which, _Cum sancto spiritu_, written for five-part chorus, +is one of the most powerful and exalted of the entire work. The _Credo_ +is set on the same vast lines as the _Gloria_. Beginning with a theme +taken from a Gregorian chorale, the composer develops it fugally after +it has been announced by tenors, basses and altos. The _Credo_ also +consists of eight parts, the choral first part being followed by a most +elaborate soprano and alto duet (_Et in unum Dominum_), after which +follows the five-part fugal chorus (_Et incarnatus_). The _Crucifixus_ +is one of the most remarkable portions of the entire work. The bass +theme, appearing thirteen times in succession, gives a remarkable +background, and with the other choral parts, which move freely over it, +creates an atmosphere of mingled pain, sorrow and consecration. _Et +resurrexit_ is taken up by the five-part fugal chorus, which is full +of joy. _Et in spiritum sanctum_ is a bass aria introduced by the oboe +d’amour and the _Confiteor unum baptisma_ closes this group with an +intricate five-part double fugue. The _Sanctus_ is a massive six-part +chorus, the _Osanna_ is an eight-part chorus, the _Benedictus_ is a +tenor solo with violin obbligato, and the _Agnus Dei_ an alto solo. The +last chorus (_Dona nobis pacem_) is in four parts and this brings this +monumental work to a close. Its great difficulty has militated against +its being as frequently performed as it certainly merits. Complete +performances of it have been given at intervals since its complete +production at the Berlin Singakademie in 1835. Its first performance in +America was the one given at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1900, at the +Bach Festival under direction of J. Frederick Wolle. + + + IV + +Bach’s ‘Magnificat in D.’--The first performance of this great work +(called the ‘Great Magnificat’) was given on Christmas, 1723, at the +evening service in the Thomas Church at Leipzig. It is characterized +by powerful choruses which are elaborated with all of Bach’s technical +resources. It calls for a five-part chorus with accompaniment of organ +and orchestra and, in its feeling of largeness, foreshadows the future +work of this wonderful genius. + +The _Stabat Mater_ of Pergolesi (1710-1736) is supposed to have been +written at Pozzuoli, where he went in 1736 because of ill health, and +at the request of the Brotherhood of Saint Luigi de Palazzo to replace +the work of A. Scarlatti which had been performed there regularly on +Good Friday. Some writers, however, think it was written much earlier, +in fact, soon after leaving the Conservatory at Naples in 1729. The +date 1736, however, seems the more authentic and it is likely that he +wrote it while living in the monastery at Pozzuoli, where, however, +he did not devote himself by any means wholly to sacred writing, but +to his favorite _opera buffa_ as well. While the work is not rich in +large ideas--rather is it made up of many short though melodious themes +which, like all of Pergolesi’s, border on the sentimental--it has +always held a high place in Italy. + +Handel’s Te Deums.--The _Utrecht Te Deum_, written in 1712 to +celebrate the signing of the peace of Utrecht, was avowedly composed +in the same form as Purcell’s, though Handel’s work was characterized +by greater brilliancy, especially in the orchestral coloring. The work +antagonized his patron, the Grand Duke of Hanover, whose affairs were +by no means furthered by the council of Utrecht, and it therefore +recalls a rather dark hour in Handel’s history. The _Dettingen Te +Deum_, on the contrary, brought outwardly more gratifying results. The +unexpected victory of George II over the French at Dettingen brought +great joy and gratitude to the English people and Handel, who then +was at the Chapel Royal, was requested to write a Te Deum for the +thanksgiving service to be held Nov. 27, 1743, in St. James’s Chapel. +It was begun July 17th and completed some time before the 30th of that +month. The work is rated as one of the greatest by this composer and +the joy and thanksgiving of the whole nation is depicted in a style +that is more grandioso, but less rich in contrapuntal resources, than +the _Utrecht Te Deum_. He achieved his massive effects, not through any +theatrical means, but by combining the note of triumph and exultant +joy with a measured dignity, the effect of which is most compelling. +The fanfare of trumpets and drums which ushers in the opening chorus +has never been surpassed in its magnificence for the expression of +thanksgiving. + +Graun’s ‘Prague Te Deum.’--Though he had written some very acceptable +music for church service while a mere boy, Graun (1701-1759) achieved +his first fame as a composer of operas. This led to his appointment as +chapel-master to Frederick the Great, and not long before his death he +wrote two sacred works which have established his permanent fame, the +‘Passion’ and the so-called _Prague Te Deum_. The latter was written +to commemorate his royal patron’s victory at Prague in 1756, but was +not performed until 1762 at Charlottenburg, at the close of the Seven +Years’ War. It was, therefore, really performed as a peace celebration. +It is one of the finest Te Deums in existence and certainly the most +celebrated of Continental settings. + +The first important work that proclaimed Joseph Haydn a vocal writer +was the _Stabat Mater_, written in 1771. It follows the prevalent +Italian style and reminds somewhat of Pergolesi, with only a few +suggestions of the Haydn that was revealed in the ‘Creation.’ The +second of his two Te Deums (written in 1800) is a noble composition +which is still much used in church service. Though Haydn’s masses (he +wrote thirteen) are not conceived in the real spirit of the Roman +liturgy and are lacking in dignity and austerity, they are still among +the most frequently used by German Catholic choirs. The freshness and +cheerfulness which pervade his church as well as his secular music +cannot be attributed to lack of seriousness on Haydn’s part, but rather +to fundamental traits of character which looked at God and His whole +universe through eyes that saw only joy and hope. He is said to have +confided to his friend Carpani that at the thought of God his heart +leaped for joy, and he could not help his music doing the same. Among +the most famous of his masses are No. 2 in C (the numbering follows +the Novello edition); the _Paukenmesse_ (_in tempore belli_); No. 3 in +D, the ‘Imperial’; No. 4 in B-flat, ‘The Creation’; and the _Theresien +Messe_ in B-flat. + +Hermann Kretzschmar[81] says that ‘between Mozart’s last mass and his +"Requiem" there lies a whole lifetime,’ and indeed this noble work, the +completion of which was cut off by the master’s death, is considered +one of the great choral compositions of all time. Doubtless its wide +appeal is due somewhat to the pathetic and romantic circumstances +surrounding the period of its composition. One never thinks of it +without recalling the mysterious, long black figure of the stranger +who commissioned Mozart to write it, and the apprehension of the sick +and discouraged composer and his pathetic desire to live to see its +completion. The mysterious stranger was later revealed as Count Franz +von Walsegg of Ruppach, who was possessed with the idea of posing as a +composer and who desired to perform a Requiem in memory of his wife who +had died a short time before. It was his plan, which he later carried +out, to let this Requiem be known as his own. Mozart died on Dec. 5, +1791, before completing this work, which occupied his thoughts up to +his last conscious moments. His widow, who was most anxious to have the +‘Requiem’ ready for delivery on the day that it was due, commissioned +Süssmayer to complete the work. Süssmayer was a composer of some +repute and, as a close friend and a pupil of Mozart, was intimately +acquainted with the composer’s ideas regarding the ‘Requiem’; then, +too, his handwriting was so much like Mozart’s that the widow was the +more ready to entrust the completion of the task to him, since he could +preserve the external resemblance to the fragments. So successful was +Süssmayer in writing in his master’s style that for many years the +_Benedictus_, which was entirely his own work, was considered the gem +of the whole. The parts that were written in Mozart’s own hand were the +_Requiem_ and the _Kyrie_ complete, the voice parts, organ and part of +the accompaniment of _Dies iræ_ (68 measures); _Tuba mirum_ (62); _Rex +tremendæ_ (22); _Recordare_ (130); _Confutatis_ (40); _Lacrymosa_ (8); +_Domine_ (78); and _Hostias_ (54). + + +[Illustration: Mozart rehearsing his Requiem (shortly before his death)] + _Painting by Munkacsy_ + + +This work, when completed and delivered to Count von Walsegg, was +copied by him and performed as his own on Dec. 14, 1793, but after +many years the manuscript, as turned over by Süssmayer, was found +and placed in the _Hofbibliothek_ in Vienna. That Mozart strove to +emphasize the churchly character in his ‘Requiem’ is particularly in +evidence in the Introit (_Requiem æternam_), also in his use of the +Gregorian chorale and in the simplicity of his themes. The picturing +of the approach of the Day of Judgment (_Dies iræ_) is dramatic and +reveals a heaviness which is further augmented by the restlessness +of the orchestra; notwithstanding this, however, Mozart introduces +a spirit of resignation and the whole passage becomes peaceful and +expressive. The _Kyrie_ is a beautiful, ornate double fugue developed +from the two themes to which the words _Kyrie eleison_ and _Christe +eleison_ are set. The _Rex tremendæ_ is another example of elaborate +as well as effective contrapuntal writing--here in four-voiced canon +form. Its close is delicately contrasted with the body of the movement +by the introduction of the prayer, _Salva me, fons pietatis_. The +_Recordare_, sung by a quartet of solo voices with an independent fugal +accompaniment, is one of the most exquisite portions of the work and +by many is considered the finest. It is rich in beautiful melodies and +is worked out in most delicate detail. The touching _Confutatis_, sung +antiphonally by men’s and women’s voices, is another effective portion +of this great work, which Jahn speaks of as ‘the true and legitimate +expression of his (Mozart’s) artistic nature at its highest point of +finish--his imperishable monument.’ + +Masses.--Mozart had mastered this form of composition, according to +the standards of the time, while still a mere boy; but probably his +best mass, the one ranking closest to the ‘Requiem,’ is the sixth, +the Mass in F, which is very contrapuntal and contains some masterly +writing. In the _Credo_ of this mass he used material from the +‘Jupiter’ Symphony, as he did also in the _Sanctus_ of the B-flat or +‘Credo’ Mass. The Mass in D is a close second to the one in F above +mentioned and in these two he expressed himself freely, while in the +following five, which are unfortunately his best known, he was obliged +to write more artificially in order to satisfy his display-loving +patron, the Archbishop of Salzburg. + +Most of the sixteen masses in the Breitkopf and Härtel complete edition +of Mozart’s works are supposed to have been youthful compositions, +which, though suggestive of other works of the master, fall far short +of his usual skill. According to Köchel, however, the masses published +by Novello are not all genuine; such are those in E-flat (Novello, Nos. +13 and 16), and in C (No. 17). Jahn and Köchel both agree in believing +that the one in B-flat (No. 7, Novello, but published originally by +Peters) is not Mozart’s and base their contention not only on the use +of the clarinets, which were not present in his Salzburg orchestra, +but on the fact that Mozart’s widow credited Süssmayer with being the +composer of the work. Other doubtful ones are two short masses in C +and G (Novello, Nos. 8 and 9), one in G (Novello, No. 12) and a short +Requiem in D minor which Köchel discards because of his certainty that +Mozart never wrote but one Requiem, his last, unfinished work. + +The fact that Mozart’s compositions were circulated mostly in +manuscript form and that few of them were published during his +lifetime, may be largely responsible for the error of attributing these +masses to him and composers of small attainments may have used this +means for getting a hearing for their works. A Mass in C, known as the +‘Coronation Mass’ (why this name, is not known) was evidently patched +together from his opera _Cosi fan tutte_, though some authorities +believe that he himself compiled the opera from the mass. The +incomplete Mass in C minor is known to be genuine, though he afterwards +used a large part of it in his _Davidde penitente_. This mass was begun +in 1782 and was intended for performance as a sort of thank-offering +upon his marriage to Constance Weber and it had one performance on +Aug. 25, 1783, in St. Peter’s Church, Salzburg. He did not complete +it for the ceremony, however, and the missing numbers were supplied +by him with material from his other works. The work is uneven in +quality, some of it being very immature and almost trivial, while other +parts, such as the _Kyrie_ and _Gratias_, do not fall far below the +‘Requiem.’ Aloys Schmitt endeavored to complete the work in order to +make it available for church-service. As the _Agnus Dei_ was missing, +he repeated the music of the _Kyrie_ and, to complete the unfinished +_Credo_, he inserted unfamiliar sacred compositions of Mozart’s, thus +using the composer’s own material and inserting his own harmonies, here +and there, merely to connect the parts. + + + V + +Cherubini’s Requiem Mass in C minor was composed in 1816 at the request +of Louis XVIII for a memorial service for Louis XVI, but it did not +gain much more than passing recognition until it was again performed +at the funeral service of Méhul in 1818. It was by all means the best +Requiem Mass produced in France in many years and one which deserved +not merely local but general recognition. The work is soulful and +expressive, though Cherubini was restrained in his utterance. He was +given to using short, simple themes, which, however, are not only +beautiful, but artistically expressive. The general tone of the work +is gloomy and sadly resigned, dwelling on the thought of death as +man’s inevitable destiny. The first ray of hope or light comes with +the words--_ad te omnis caro veniet_, but on the whole the dark tints +prevail throughout this masterful and artistic work and give it a +peculiar force which few other ‘masses for the dead’ have attained. + +Cherubini’s second _Requiem_ in D minor, written in 1836, though not +unlike the first both as to musical material and coloring, is a far +less important work. The fact that it was written entirely for male +voices makes it somewhat individual in character, but although numerous +Requiems have appeared for male voices, they are no longer performed. +This one has been arranged for the usual mixed voices. + +Masses.--The ‘D minor Mass,’ composed in 1821, is the best of his +masses and can easily be classed with his two famous Requiems. It is +dignified, impressive, and at times tinged with deep sorrow. As in +the Requiems, so also here, there is much impressive fugal writing, +so characteristic of Cherubini. There are also more passages for solo +voices, which at times employ a form of intonation which is almost +recitative. The work is not given as frequently as it deserves. A +fragment of another mass written in 1806 and known as the ‘Eight-voiced +Credo’ (_a cappella_) is heard much more frequently of late, though +it has by no means the power of the preceding. The close, _Et vitam +venturi sæculi_, is a masterpiece of contrapuntal writing which more +than compensates for the lack of content in the other numbers. The fact +that the form of liturgy used at the French court was peculiar to that +environment accounts for the fragments left by Cherubini, which were +evidently used in place of an entire mass. + +With his usual fluency Schubert (1797-1828) wrote the first three of +his seven masses in one year (1814) and the finest of these is the one +in G, which is still used in the Roman Church, and of which the _Credo_ +is particularly fine. These masses were heard, in Schubert’s time, +only in suburban Vienna churches, as the composer’s prestige was not +sufficient for a larger hearing. Two later masses by Schubert are given +now in concert form--the one in A-flat written in 1822 and the one in +E-flat written in 1828. These works were revived by Herbeck and Brahms +in Vienna and belong without doubt to the very best examples of this +style of writing--in fact, some authorities pronounce them the greatest +works of this mighty genius, excepting only the D minor Quartet. +Unfortunately the parts are not all equally great. The ‘Mass in E-flat’ +has a larger instrumental development than the others, the orchestra +often announcing, augmenting, completing, or commenting on the text of +the choral parts, as is the case with Beethoven. Schubert’s tendency in +all his masses was to use themes which approach closely to the form of +the _Lied_ as he conceived it. The _Gloria_ of this mass, as also of +the one in A-flat, is the most magnificent part of the work. + + + VI + +Of the two masses which Beethoven wrote, the first in C major, opus +80, is overshadowed by the second in D major, opus 123. While the +‘C major Mass,’ which was Beethoven’s first large choral work in an +ecclesiastical form, may be lacking in some respects, it is by no means +an unimportant or unworthy composition. Owing to the fact that he +departed from the style of Haydn and Mozart and approached the subject +from an entirely different standpoint, it did not find immediate favor. +Conflicting accounts are given as to the date of first performance +which took place in the chapel of Count Esterhazy, the occasion being +the birthday of the Countess. Kretzschmar gives the date as Sept. 15, +1807, while Grove names Sept. 8, 1807, both agreeing, however, that it +was in honor of the Countess’ birthday. + +The _Missa Solemnis_, already referred to as the ‘D major Mass,’ +belongs to Beethoven’s third period and is, therefore, characterized by +remarkable freedom of treatment and by depth and richness of musical +content. Although it was begun in 1818 and planned for the installation +of the Archduke Rudolph, his pupil (to whom he was very devoted), as +Archbishop of Olmütz on March 20, 1820, it was not completed until +1823, three years after the event for which it was intended. It is +a sort of spiritual relative of the ‘Ninth Symphony,’ sketches of +which had been begun as early as 1815. The two works are in the same +key and grew side by side in the composer’s thought. Three movements +of the mass occupied a place on the program of the memorable concert +(May 7, 1824, in Vienna) at which the ‘Ninth Symphony’ received its +first performance, when the audience went into ecstasies of enthusiasm +at the sublime grandeur of the music and the pathetic figure of the +deaf creator of such moving sounds. The mass was not performed entire +until 1824 in Petrograd. An illustration of his habit of making the +form subservient to the thought-content is the introduction of warlike +music into the _Agnus Dei_, in order to afford contrast to the thought +of peace around which the other thoughts are centred. The _Credo_ is +exceedingly difficult for the singers, because of the excessively +high range of the voice-parts and the complicated interweaving of the +themes. The _Benedictus_ is one of the most beautiful ever written +and is made particularly effective by the use of the solo violin, +descending from the highest register, in a melody of beautiful +simplicity--a movement whose loveliness is still more enhanced by +the subdued chorus and accompaniment. The difficulty of the work +as a whole prevents its frequent performance. The least difficult +parts are the _Kyrie_ and the _Sanctus_, and the former is given a +unique effect through the accompaniment, which is for organ and brass +instruments only. This work, like Bach’s ‘B minor Mass,’ requires +strong adjectives for a just valuation and when W. H. Hadow[82] speaks +of it as ‘gigantic, elemental, Mount Athos hewn into a monument, scored +at the base with fissure and landslip, rising through cloud and tempest +beyond the reach of human gaze,’ he merely sums up graphically the +general critical estimate of this great work, which, like the great +Bach Mass to which alone it can be compared, must be regarded, not as +church-music or liturgical music merely, but as religious music in a +universal sense. + +Weber’s masses, like many others of this early period, are now seldom +given, though there is much good writing in them. The one in E-flat +major, known as the _Jubelmesse_, was performed at Dresden in 1818, +which was the fiftieth year of the reign of the king of Saxony, and, as +it was an occasional work, it embodied the pomp and importance of this +festal event. The one in G, written a year later for a family festival +in the King’s household, was more intimate in character. Weber wrote to +Rochlitz: ‘I mean to keep before me the idea of a happy family-party +kneeling in prayer and rejoicing before the Lord as His children.’ Both +works manifest a devotional spirit. + + + VII + +Hector Berlioz’ ‘Requiem,’ written during 1836-37 at the request of +the French government, was performed Dec. 5, 1837, in the Invalides +in Paris at the memorial services for General Damrémont and the +soldiers who had perished in the storming of Constantina in Algiers, +the government paying the composer four thousand francs for the work. +The original purpose of the commission, however, was to have been a +memorial for those who had fallen in the July Revolution of 1830. +Berlioz had completed his work and rehearsals had begun, when the +Minister of the Interior who had commissioned Berlioz was succeeded +by one who was of a different mind and the July festival took place +without music. But the taking of Constantina offered Berlioz a second +chance for his work. Berlioz arranged performances of it in several +cities of Germany, but its wide hearing came only recently. The work +is colossal, but so realistic, so almost savage in its coloring that +the hearer is fairly awed. It is also so complicated and makes such +tremendous demands upon both the orchestra and the singers, that only +few organizations can give it adequate presentation and then only by a +large addition of instruments to the full orchestra and by arranging +them in groups in various parts of the auditorium. The directions call +for four brass bands and sixteen drums in addition to the regular +orchestra. Extraordinary and often well-nigh impossible demands are +made upon the human voice, but, notwithstanding these drawbacks, it +remains the composer’s most mature work, full of originality and +coloring. + +The most remarkable part of the work--the most original and +theatrically impressive--is the _Dies iræ_, in which the composer +has used every possible tonal resource to picture the terrors of the +Day of Judgment. After the choral passage beginning with _Quantus +tremor est futurus_ has twice reached a forceful climax, the orchestra +softens down for a few measures, when it suddenly bursts out with a +crash like a thunder-bolt, coming not only from the main orchestra on +the stage, but from the above mentioned bands in various parts of the +auditorium. A more vivid and theatrical description of the awful day +cannot be imagined, and at the climax the basses thunder out the _Tuba +mirum_ amidst a new outburst from the orchestra, strengthened by many +kettle-drums. So overwhelming is this volume of sound that it became +the butt of the ridicule of the critics, who declared that no such +outburst of noise had been heard in Paris since the storming of the +Bastile! A great sense of relief comes with the quiet _Quid sum miser_, +which Berlioz directed in the score should be sung ‘with an expression +of humility and awe.’ _Rex tremendæ_ again brings in the voice-parts +_fortissimo_, accompanied by crashing thunderbolts in the orchestra. +This continues up to the last few measures, _Salva me_, which are sung +almost in a whisper. One of the finest portions of the work is the +_Lacrymosa_, which also abounds in striking contrasts, and contains +broad, massive harmonies and flowing melodies. + +A _Te Deum_ was written by Berlioz in 1835 as a fragment of a larger +work planned in honor of Napoleon. In writing it the composer pictured +to himself the hero, returning from the victorious Italian campaign, at +the moment when his entry at Nôtre Dame would open the service. This +heroic picture and the possibilities of the great cathedral inspired +Berlioz to use, besides orchestra and organ, three choirs, including a +large male chorus and three hundred children. In the theatrical, not +to say spectacular, plan of the whole, Berlioz lost the import of the +words and thought only of tremendous effects; hence it became even +more sensational than the _Requiem_. From the standpoint of musical +color-effects, it is a remarkable work, which is given oftener now than +during the first decades after its birth. Although written in 1835, it +had to wait until 1853 for its first performance, which took place in +London. Thirty years later (in 1883) it had its second performance, +this time in Bordeaux--the first time in France. + +Rossini’s _Stabat Mater_ belongs to the large class of eighteenth +and nineteenth century church-music that was dominated by operatic +models and in which the devotional and serious spirit was almost wholly +absent. The _Stabat Mater_ was written in 1832 at the request of a +Spanish friend and dedicated to the Abbé Valera with no thought of +its being published. However, when some rather romantic circumstances +brought it before the public in 1841, Rossini revised it and since +then, unfortunately, it has been one of the most popular of sacred +works--‘unfortunately,’ because it is almost wholly irreligious in +feeling and theatrical in mode of expression. As music, divorced +from its text, its melodies are gay, brilliant, sensuously beautiful +operatic pieces, but wholly out of place with sacred texts. The most +famous of these misplaced melodies are the _Quis est homo_ for soprano, +the _Inflammatus_ for soprano obbligato and chorus, and the _Cujus +animam_ for tenor. The nearest approach to the religious spirit is the +bass aria, _Pro peccatis_. + +The _Missa Solemnis_ (‘Graner Mass’) of Liszt, who seemed to love +composition of sacred music above all else, brought to his conception +of the mass a consecration which, even had he been less of a genius, +would have assured devotional music. The so-called ‘Graner Mass’ was +written for the dedication of the Cathedral of Gran, which took place +on August 31, 1856. A noble atmosphere pervades the entire work and it +is made especially interesting through the use of leading motives, the +first instance of the kind in the history of the mass. It is not the +‘leading motive’ of the later Wagner type, but rather the employment +of themes, transformed according to context and varied connection, +as Liszt had developed it in _Les Préludes_ and his piano concertos. +Thus the trumpet-like phrase at the beginning of the _Gloria_, +reappears in the _Resurrexit_, the _Hosanna_, and the _Dona nobis_. The +orchestration is rich and the music always appropriate to the text. +Liszt spoke of the music as having been ‘rather prayed than composed.’ +While the work shows the influence of Beethoven, it is more akin to +Wagner, in that the instrumental accompaniment has a larger share in +the action; this and his unusual use of thematic material give to the +work added historical importance. The performance of the mass caused +a controversy as to its merits and tendencies that raged for several +decades. Liszt, in all that he attempted, was a reformer. His object in +the field of church music was to bring about ‘an ecclesiastical musical +style that should bring the liturgy of the Roman Church nearer to an +intellectual and emotional expression of the age, should be in closer +sympathy with existing artistic ideals as they were actually manifested +in music.’[83] + +‘Hungarian Coronation Mass.’--This work, which Liszt wrote in 1867, +though also beautiful and interesting, is by no means as fine as the +‘Graner Mass.’ Possibly it was written more hurriedly; certainly it is +not as strong as the earlier work. Both masses contain unusual effects, +through the frequent employment of unison vocal parts. + + + VIII + +In addition to the religious music already mentioned and much liturgic +music, Gounod wrote four masses, of which the first _(Messe solennelle +à Sainte Cecile_) is the most important and the most popular. The +second (_Angeli custodes_) was written in 1882; the third (_Messe à +Jeanne d’Arc_) was performed at the Cathedral of Rheims in 1887 and the +fourth appeared in 1888. The ‘St. Cecilia Mass’ was an early work and +its unusually enthusiastic reception by the English public when several +movements were performed at a concert in London on January 13, 1851, +first called the attention of the musical world to the young composer’s +great ability. It was not performed entire in Paris, however, until +Nov. 22, 1855, at one of the annual St. Cecilia celebrations at the +church of St. Eustache. The London success was repeated at the Paris +performance and this mass, among Gounod’s religious music, shares the +same popularity as does his ‘Faust’ among his operas. It is pervaded +by an atmosphere of simplicity that offsets the dramatic painting +of Berlioz. In addition it possesses grace, nobility and charm, +though its melodies are frequently cloying with their sweetness. The +finest numbers are the devotional _Kyrie_, the powerful _Credo_, the +familiar _Sanctus_ with its fine tenor melody which recurs at the +close, delivered with full chorus in pompous, jubilant tone; and the +_Benedictus_, which is treated in old ecclesiastical chant style for +soprano solo and organ accompaniment, which is later softly repeated by +a six-part chorus. + +Dvořák’s _Requiem_ was written for and performed at the Birmingham +Festival in 1891. The most beautiful portion is the _Agnus Dei_, but, +while the music throughout is sad and soulful and shows excellent +workmanship, it is not as strong as the composer’s _Stabat Mater_, +revealing much imitation of Berlioz. Throughout the score (in vocal and +orchestral parts) he makes frequent use of a short, poignantly incisive +motive compressed within the compass of a diminished third, sometimes +with soul-shattering effect. + +The _Stabat Mater_, written in 1876 and performed by the London +Musical Society on March 10, 1883, on the other hand expresses much +more the strongly individual style of the composer and in consequence +has found a much stronger hold and bids fair to continue long in public +favor. It begins with a breadth and force which distinguish it from all +other settings of this poem. It is conceived from a modern romantic +viewpoint and is full of effective tone-painting. The portrayal of the +sorrowing Mary at the foot of the cross is touchingly but majestically +drawn, and the opening quartet and chorus, _Stabat mater dolorosa_, has +a certain dramatic force. The composer then turns away from the dark +tones--the lament and sorrow--and lets the music fittingly express the +loveliness of the mother of the Saviour. The _Eia, mater_ suggests a +funeral march, with the principal motive in the bass; and the _Fac me +vere tecum flere_, for tenor solo and chorus preceded by a forceful +orchestral introduction, is one of the most dramatic portions of the +work. The last number, _Quando corpus morietur_, is quite similar +to the opening number, and the Amen, artistically wrought in double +counterpoint, brings the whole to an effective close. + +Verdi’s ‘Manzoni Requiem.’--On May 22nd, 1874, the City of Milan +held a memorial service at St. Mark’s Cathedral, commemorating the +first anniversary of the death of the great poet Alessandro Manzoni, +and commissioned Italy’s greatest composer, Verdi, to write a Requiem +for the occasion. The work was written mostly during the summer of +1873 while the composer was in France, Verdi utilizing for its last +number the _Libera me_ which he had five years previously written for +the projected Requiem for Rossini, in collaboration with twelve other +Italian composers, a project which was finally abandoned. A gentle, +devout and thoroughly ecclesiastical spirit pervades the work, which +is, however, conceived in the Italian style, therefore in lighter vein +than is the case with most of the great Requiems of history; yet its +orchestration and use of musical material show clearly the modern trend +instituted by Wagner. Although it had a number of hearings in Europe +and in America, it is, unfortunately, seldom given now. It is conceived +in the mood in which most of the great Italian composers in this form +have viewed death. There is the simple, childlike faith peculiar to the +Italian people, mingled with a combination of sadness and peace--yet +it is strong, expressive, and at times intensely dramatic, and always +constructed with the master’s unerring intuition for fine musical +effects. While the unsympathetic German, Hans von Bülow, condemned +it as ‘an opera in ecclesiastical costume,’ the world generally +acknowledges that it is sincere, lovely, though dramatically strong and +effective, music. The Italian wealth of melody is everywhere present. +It opens with a quiet Introit in elegiac mood (_Requiem æternam_), +which suddenly changes in the _Te decet_, where, with an unexpected +shift of key, the basses give out a fugal theme which gradually +leads over to the _Kyrie_, which is sung by quartet and chorus. One +of the strongest numbers is the _Dies iræ_, which is a chorus of +almost startling power, whose effects, however, are obtained through +legitimate musical means. Notably strong is the _Tuba mirum_ which +enters dramatically and works up to a tremendous climax. In striking +contrast is the beautiful trio, _Quid sum miser_; it begins softly +with luscious melody and maintains its subdued tone throughout, until +suddenly interrupted by the _Rex tremendæ_, which with quartet and +chorus rises through sharply contrasting _pianissimo_ and _fortissimo_ +passages to a most dramatic climax, continuing through the _Salva +me_. In the _Agnus Dei_ an original and unique effect is obtained by +letting the soprano and mezzo-soprano solo voices sing the same melody +an octave apart throughout. The solo voices enter unaccompanied and +the chorus joins in here and there. The most powerful number in the +entire work is the _Libera me_, which begins with a soprano solo in the +free, unmeasured intonation of old ecclesiastical psalmody, repeated +in like manner by the chorus in full harmony. The solo soon leads +into the _Dies iræ_ and the introductory _Requiem æternam_, which are +followed by a magnificent fugue in strict form on the words _Libera +me_. After this there is a repetition of the solo chant and the closing +unison tones in the chorus are sung with softest possible tone (marked +_pppp_), leaving an effect of absolute peace and repose. + + + IX + +Joseph Rheinberger, whose work includes almost every form of musical +composition, wrote twelve masses, one of which, the ‘Mass in E-flat’ +for double choir dedicated to Pope Leo XIII, obtained for the composer +the order of knighthood of Gregory the Great. He wrote also a _Stabat +Mater_, a _De Profundis_ and much other music for the church service. +All of these, and especially the masses, are beautiful both as music +and as examples of the best modern liturgical writing, and a deep +religious fervor pervades them. His appointment in 1877 as director of +the Court Church music at Munich inspired him to write prolifically for +the service of the Roman Church, to which he has contributed some of +its finest modern numbers, thoroughly liturgical in spirit and in mode +of treatment. For this reason they are extensively used in the Roman +Church and are not well known to the concert-goer. + +Henschel’s _Requiem_, opus 59, had its initial performance in Boston in +February, 1903, and has since been frequently heard both in Europe and +America. It was written in memory of his wife, Lillian Bailey Henschel, +who was one of his most distinguished pupils and who concertized with +him with signal success, especially in duet-singing. It is a grateful +work, adapted everywhere to the voices and at times strongly influenced +by the song-form. It begins in deep sorrow, which is gradually lifted +through the comfort of the church. Especially strong is the first part, +which is an artistic masterpiece. + +Henschel’s _Stabat Mater_ was brought out at the Birmingham Festival +in 1894, on which occasion the composer also sang the part of Saul in +the oratorio of this name by Parry, thus appearing in two important +capacities at the festival, that of composer and interpretative artist. +Besides the _Stabat Mater_ and the above mentioned _Requiem_, he wrote +a number of sacred works in large form, among them a Te Deum, opus 52. +All are grateful and effective compositions. + + * * * * * + +The number of masses written for liturgic and concert use is very +large, and extended enumeration of them here would be futile for +present purposes. Several notable ones, however, might well be added +to our list. Among these will be found the easy and much-used ‘Mass in +B-flat’ by Henry Farmer (1819-1891), a self-taught English musician; +‘Mass in C’ by the Dutch pianist and composer, Eduard Silas (born +1827), which won a prize of a gold medal and one thousand francs in +an international competition of sacred music held in Belgium in 1866, +in which there were seventy-six competitors of twelve nationalities; +‘Requiem Mass’ by Robert Schumann (1810-1856), melodious and +non-liturgical in spirit; ‘Requiem Mass’ by Charles V. Stanford (born +1852), in memory of Lord Leighton, produced at the Birmingham Festival +of 1897 and thoroughly ecclesiastical in style and feeling; and the +‘Mass in G,’ a Stabat Mater, and a Te Deum by the same composer. + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[81] Kretzschmar, _Führer durch den Konzertsaal, Kirchliche Werke_, p. +266. + +[82] ‘Oxford History of Music,’ Vol. V, p. 168. + +[83] Richard Aldrich in the Preface to the Schirmer edition of the +‘Graner Mass.’ + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + CONTEMPORANEOUS CHORAL MUSIC IN GERMANY + + Contemporaneous Choral Music in Germany--Richard Strauss: + _Wanderers Sturmlied_; _Taillefer_; Motets--Taubmann: + _Eine Deutsche Messe_; _Sängerweihe_; Georg Schumann: + _Ruth_; _Totenklage_ and other works--Max Reger’s choral + compositions; Schönberg: _Gurrelieder_; ‘Transfigured Night’; + _Pierrot lunaire_--Other choral writers of the present; + Felix Draeseke’s _Christus_; Wolfrum’s _Weinachtsmysterium_; + Albert Fuchs; Wilhelm Platz; August Bungert’s _Warum? Woher? + Wohin?_; Felix Woyrsch: _Totentanz_ and other works; Wilhelm + Berger’s _Totentanz_; Karl Ad. Lorenz: _Das Licht_; other + contributors to modern German choral literature. + + +The historian or reviewer of contemporaneous events is naturally +confronted with a problem of greater complexity and perplexity than +when he is taking account of, and giving valuation to, the events and +works of a past generation, even though it be in the immediate past. +There are always present too many forces and tendencies in the making, +to be able to see them as the next generation will see them--more +nearly in their right perspective. And so some reader twenty-five years +hence may chance to read these chapters on present-day music as seen +through present-day eyes and may wonder that this or that composer is +barely mentioned by name or by work. Yet this method of mere tabulation +must of necessity be resorted to where works have only recently been +published and have as yet found but small public recognition; for +this volume is primarily a volume of record, not of prophecy. In each +country, however, present musical conditions are nourished by the +survival of tendencies and styles from the last generation and by new +forces that at present appear in the guise of mere individualism. + +Contemporaneous choral music in Germany largely represents the negation +of older traditions, Handelian and Mendelssohnian, in thought and +construction; the after-development and carrying over into the oratorio +and cantata field of the principle of the Wagnerian leading-motive; +and, especially, the florescence of the modern spirit of unconstrained +freedom of individual expression within very broadly defined artistic +limitations. + + + I + +As Debussy in France, so Richard Strauss in Germany might be said to +be the best-known of all creative musicians who are identified with the +development of choral composition along its present individualistic +lines. And like Debussy, Strauss has done his most important work +in the dramatic and symphonic forms, rather than in the choral. Yet +he made frequent invasions into the choral field, and always with +notable success. His _Wanderers Sturmlied_, opus 14 (composed 1883-84 +after a text by Goethe), a product of his first period of creative +activity in Munich, is still a repertory number of the larger German +choral associations. It is written for six-part mixed chorus and full +orchestra, and though a work of the master’s youth, fascinates by +reason of the strongly individual flavor of its inspiration and its +power of emotional delineation. Strauss’ treatment of the poem, which +was the outcome of Goethe’s sorrow at parting with Friederike Brion in +the fall of 1771, is strongly subjective and akin to that of Brahms +in the latter’s _Nänie_ and ‘Song of Fate.’ It is a moot question +whether what Romain Rolland[84] calls its ‘affected thought and style’ +is not rather an intimate musical sympathy with the Wertherian ideals +of its eighteenth century poem. Technically far more difficult and +making demands with which only a few of the greater German choral +bodies are able to comply, are two _a cappella_ choruses, opus 34, for +sixteen-part mixed chorus, composed in 1897. Not without a suggestion +of Brahmsian influence is _Der Abend_ (Schiller), rich in serious +beauty, harmonious in formal and poetic working out. Rückert’s _Hymne_, +its companion-piece, is conceived antiphonally, its counterpoint +effortless and flowing and suggestive of Lassus at his best. + +During the first years of Strauss’ activity in Berlin (1898-1905) +he also wrote some shorter numbers, lyric and spontaneous, for male +chorus: opus 42, _Liebe_ and _Altdeutscher Schlachtgesang_ (Old German +Battlesong) and opus 49, _Schlachtgesang_ (Battle Hymn), _Lied der +Freundschaft_ (Song of Friendship), and _Der Brauttanz_ (The Bridal +Dance). In 1903, however, came his splendid choral ballad _Taillefer_, +a setting of Uhland’s poem for mixed chorus, solos and full orchestra, +dedicated to the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg, +the dedication representing the composer’s acknowledgment of the +doctorate which the University had bestowed upon him _honoris causa_. +The solo parts are small--one, tenor, for Taillefer; another, bass, for +William of Normandy. + +There is a great deal of rhythmically direct unison passage-work +throughout the score, which serves to throw the four-part sections into +high relief, notably in the interlude music descriptive of the battle +of Hastings, in which the masses of choral tone are handled with great +power. When Strauss conducted the work at its _première_ in Heidelberg +(Oct. 26, 1903), the epic ‘Song of Roland’ in particular made a deep +appeal by reason of its primitive force. As much as any of his works, +_Taillefer_ shows that Strauss is a poet as well as a composer. It +might almost be considered a choral pendant, circumscribed by its more +definite textual and historical program, of the composer’s symphonic +_Heldenleben._ + +What is practically Strauss’ only contributions to the literature of +sacred choral music, the _Deutsche Motette_ (German Motets), opus 62, +after Friederich Rückert’s words, for sixteen-part mixed chorus and +four solo voices, were completed June 22, 1913; while the composer was +at the same time occupied by his ballet _Légende de Joseph_ and his +‘Alpine Symphony.’ + +Strauss’ _Deutsche Motette_ are his nearest approach to oratorio. +But if this form has not appealed to him, it has to others among +his contemporaries. In the same category as Brahms’ _Deutsches +Requiem_ belongs Taubmann’s _Deutsche Messe_, first performed at the +_Tonkünstlerversammlung_ in Dortmund, 1898, and given in New York in +1913 by the Oratorio Society. But where the music of Brahms’ _Requiem_ +represents the deep outpouring of genuine sorrow and, owing to its +consequent lyric character and exploitation of a single mood, moves +within a more limited circle of expression and employs an idiom +comparatively simple, Taubmann’s ‘Mass’ rings the changes of a richly +varied succession of impressions. Though the lyric element is by no +means forgotten, the dramatic note predominates. Its beauty is cast in +a massive mold, and notable are the masterly choral fugues, far beyond +anything the ‘German Requiem’ can show. The easily flowing, plastically +contrapuntal development of the work is wonderfully varied, and at the +same time serves primarily as an underlying river-bed above which a +powerful emotional current pulses, often moving with genuine emotional +strength. + +Taubmann has written other choral works: a setting of ‘Psalm XIII’ +for solos, chorus and orchestra; _Tauwetter_ (‘Thawing-Time’) for +male chorus and orchestra; and a _Sängerweihe_ (‘Bardal Dedication’), +a choral drama, which provides for a chorus and organ in the body of +the concert-hall to stimulate ‘ideal participation on the part of the +audience’; yet _Eine Deutsche Messe_ will probably continue to be +considered his greatest work, as well as one of the greatest glories of +modern German choral composition. + +Another ranking work in the choral music of contemporaneous Germany +is Georg Schumann’s biblical oratorio _Ruth_, for soprano, alto and +baritone solos, chorus of mixed voices and orchestra. It is a far +cry to this work from Mendelssohn’s _Elijah_. Schumann, like Bossi +and Wolf-Ferrari, handles his sacred text (extended by much poetic +material) from a secular point of view, yet with great mastery of means +and undeniable effect. There is not much that is inherently sacred in +the Old Testament idyl and hence it lends itself, like the ‘Song of +Songs,’ to a freer and less narrowly religious musical interpretation. +Old Hebrew melodies are gracefully introduced in connection with +the composer’s own thematic material and, like César Franck in his +_Rébecca_, Schumann employs every rhythmic and harmonic means, not +forgetting a brilliant and individual orchestration, to give his work +a quasi-oriental atmosphere. As regards polyphonic handling Schumann +writes in the manner of Bach and Brahms, but identifies himself with +the present-day South German composers with respect to a rich and +glowing tonal color. His choral movement is at all times plastic and +exceedingly varied. + +_Ruth_ is undoubtedly Schumann’s most important accomplishment in the +choral field; yet he has composed other works which call for mention. +His _Totenklage_ (‘Elegiac Lament’), opus 33, and his _Sehnsucht_ +(‘Yearning’), opus 40, for chorus, in themselves are of such marked +inspiration and artistry that they would serve to establish his +reputation had _Ruth_ never been written. His _Drei Geistliche Gesänge_ +(‘Three Sacred Songs’), opus 31, for chorus, also testify to a daring +inspiration which makes itself felt within the limitations of the _a +cappella_ religious song. + + + II + +In this field, too, Max Reger, a Bavarian and a brilliant member of +that South German group of composers among which Richard Strauss is +the most prominent figure, has done notable work, though his creative +activity has been displayed mainly along instrumental lines. A +grandiose setting of ‘Psalm 100’ for mixed chorus, orchestra and organ; +‘12 Religious Folk-Songs of Germany’ for mixed chorus; three six-part +_a cappella_ mixed choruses (opus 39) and a five-part _a cappella_ +‘Palm-Sunday Morning,’ to say nothing of his forty easy four-part songs +for service use, and his choral cantatas for the great festivals of the +Evangelical church year--all testify to his interest in choral music. +Reger is a lover of elaborate counterpoint and recondite harmonic +device and he, like Schumann, has been influenced largely by J. S. Bach +and Brahms. From the former he has taken over the cult of traditional +forms, from the latter he has learned to make use of the abounding +treasure of folk-song inspiration, how to pour the wine of new ideas +into the old formal bottles, and how to venture even into metaphysics +in his search for exact expression. This is very evident in his secular +choral works, in _An den Gesang_ (‘To the Genius of Song’), opus 21, +for male chorus and orchestra; the _Gesang der Verklärten_ (‘The Song +of the Glorified’), opus 75, for five-part chorus and orchestra; _Die +Nonne_ (‘The Nun’), opus 112, for mixed chorus, orchestra and organ; +and the imposing _Weihe der Nacht_ (‘The Consecration of Night’), +opus 119, for alto solo, male chorus and orchestra, and _Römischer +Triumphgesang_ ‘Roman Triumphal Song’, opus 126, for male chorus and +orchestra. + +Reger, even in his earlier works, shows a tendency toward extreme +complexity in structure and an excess of technical elaboration which is +not counterbalanced by that strong control of imagination which makes +for ultimate clarity. On the contrary, he heaps Pelion upon Ossa in +harmonic daring and arbitrary modulation. And still his is not to be +considered the last word in this respect in choral composition, for he +has been out-Heroded by the Viennese composer Arnold Schönberg. + +Schönberg is the head of a school of younger Viennese musical +impressionists and independents, including Karl Horwitz, Heinrich +Jalowetz, Alban Berg, Anton von Webern, Egon Wellesz, who have +abandoned the more romantic and classic tenets of Bruckner and Hugo +Wolf to follow this ultra-modern leader. One of the very few modern +composers the performance of whose works has, on occasion, aroused the +active hostility of his audiences, he has written symphonic music (the +suite _Pelléas et Mélisande_), chamber music, songs, piano pieces, and +a highly original and interesting text-book on harmony. This composer, +‘whose every chord is the outcome of an emotion’ and who, to quote +James Huneker, ‘has the courage of his chromatics,’ has made various +contributions to choral music, first among which is _Gurrelieder_, for +solos, chorus and orchestra, composed to a text by the Danish poet Jens +Peter Jacobsen, translated into German by Robert Franz Arnold. This +choral cycle, written somewhere between 1901 and 1908, belongs in the +second stage of the composer’s development and not in the third period +(from 1908 on), during which Schönberg ‘throws over almost everything +hitherto accepted, i. e., consonance, tonality, thematic use, form, +even program; and retains only rhythm and color, boldly calling this +music a mere emanation of himself, which has no relation to the +receptivities of his hearers.’[85] + +The _Gurrelieder_ were heard in part, with piano accompaniment, in +London, in 1910. In 1913 a complete performance with the enormous +orchestra called for by the score (including 8 flutes, 5 oboes, 7 +clarinets, 10 horns, 5 trumpets, 7 trombones, 6 kettle-drums, a number +of other instruments of percussion, 4 harps, celesta and strings with +as many individual players as possible) took place in Vienna. Opinion +is still largely divided as to the ultimate value of Schönberg’s work. +It is worthy of note, however, that Ernest Newman, in ‘The Musical +Times,’ January, 1914, speaks warmly of the _Gurrelieder_, which he +calls ‘the finest musical love-poem since "Tristan and Isolde."’ + +In addition to the _Gurrelieder_ we have from Schönberg’s pen the +sextet, opus 4, ‘Transfigured Night’ (First Period), which, although +not a choral work, is conceived chorally for the strings, and is a work +of exceeding beauty and original tonal combination worked out along +normal lines--an entire contrast to the _Pierrot lunaire_, a series of +melodramas of the most cataclysmic futurity, consisting of ‘three times +seven poems’ by Albert Giraud, with titles such as ‘The Red Mass,’ +‘The Sick Moon,’ ‘A Beheading,’ ‘Gallows Song,’ ‘The Dandy,’ set for a +narrator, piano, flute (also piccolo), clarinet (also bass clarinet), +violin (also viola), and ‘cello. + + + III + +Though we have now considered those great figures which tower above +the general creative level in present-day choral writing in Germany, +there still remain a number of their contemporaries whose claims to +recognition cannot well be ignored. + +Among them we find a group of composers who, like Reynaldo Hahn +and Gabriel Pierné in France, have chosen the Christmas legend for +musical treatment. And like Hahn, some of them have essayed to +develop text and music along lines of the mediæval mystery. Felix +Draeseke’s oratorio-tetralogy, _Christus_ (published 1905), a work +of splendid scope, falls short, in spite of much incidental beauty, +because of lack of dramatic movement and interest. More successful +has been Philip Wolfrum’s _Weinachtsmysterium_ (1898), an attempt to +revive the old German Christmas miracle-play, and partially employing +mediæval song and choral music as thematic material. The work shows +true musicianship, contrapuntal skill, and tact and intelligence in +welding together its ancient and modern component elements. Other less +pretentious ‘mysteries’ are Albert Fuchs’ _Selig sind, die in dem Herrn +sterben_ ‘Blessed are they who die in the Lord’, published in 1907; +and _Das tausendjährige Reich_ ‘The Millennial Kingdom’, published +in 1909. The first may be considered as belonging to the type of +_Traumdichtung_[86] (dream-poem) we owe to Elgar. Its music is modern, +imaginative and full of effect. Even more dramatic is ‘The Millennial +Kingdom,’ a succession of richly colored choral mood-pictures +portraying the believers of the year 999 looking forward to the last +day. This work, though essentially German, still shows the influence of +Pierné’s ‘Children’s Crusade,’ as does Wilhelm Platz’ _Gottes Kinder_ +(‘God’s Children’), an emotional and effective cantata (1907). + +August Bungert, in a larger choral three-part ‘mystery’ published in +1908, _Warum? Woher? Wohin?_ ‘Why? Whence? Whither?’, is not especially +happy in a semi-religious text that smacks of theological disquisition. +His scores contain some fine solos as well as choral movements, but are +not especially well balanced, and, despite the composer’s confessed +endeavor to make it another ‘German Requiem,’ it falls short of real +greatness. + +Felix Woyrsch, however, whose secular oratorio _Tolentanz_, opus 50 +(‘Dance of Death’), attains such a high level of individual expression, +shows but little originality in his early work, _Geburt Christi_ +(‘Birth of Christ’), opus 18. It is evident, consulting the list of +his compositions, that it is the secular rather than the sacred that +appeals to him. Aside from a Passion Oratorio (opus 45), ‘The Birth +of Christ’ seems to be his only essay in church-music. We have on the +other hand: ‘Sapphic Ode to Aphrodite’ (soprano, women’s voices and +orchestra); a ‘German Hosting’ (solos, male chorus and orchestra); a +number of individual secular choruses and, lastly, ‘The Dance of Death.’ + +‘The Dance of Death’ is written for solos, chorus, orchestra and +organ, and is called a ‘mystery.’ Conceived as a great oratorio, it +stands for a distinct breaking away from older oratorio tradition and +is set to a text which strings together scenes from human life in +effective contrast. Its music is essentially modern in spirit, full +of tonal color and beauty, and logical despite excessive rhythmic +elaboration. Yet it does not keep to the level of inspiration +established by its best moments, and many sections voice a distinctly +popular appeal through a thin veil of musical modernism. In the case +of this work the titular use of the word _Mysterium_ is ‘merely a +beauty-plaster borrowed from the French mode,’[87] and the introduction +of humorous and other elements, which are not in keeping with the +serious and exalted style of the oratorio proper, tends to give it, in +spite of greater length and elaboration, the character of a cantata. +In this form, or rather in that of a programmatic choral ballad with +orchestra, Wilhelm Berger’s _Totentanz_, after Goethe’s poem, is +conceived. It is remarkably effective musically, and was one of the +numbers performed at the _Tonkünstlerfest_ at Frankfurt-on-the-Main in +1914. + +Karl Adolf Lorenz’s oratorio _Das Licht_ (1907), a fine example +of restrained modernism and beautifully wrought choral writing, +and Friedrich E. Koch’s _Von den Jahreszeiten_ (‘Of the Seasons’), +essentially music written for effect, though attractive in much of +its detail, should also be instanced here. Some mention, too, should +be made of various prominent composers who, while their attention has +principally been held by other forms of composition, have nevertheless +contributed incidentally to modern German choral literature. + +Ludwig Thuille, the late gifted composer of _Lobetanz_, wrote a +number of fine choruses for both male and female voices; Oscar Fried +has composed an _Erntelied_ (text by Metsche), opus 15, for male +chorus and orchestra, a work of intense, elemental power. Engelbert +Humperdinck, also, has written the choral ballads _Das Glück von +Edenhall_ (‘The Luck of Edenhall’) and ‘The Pilgrimage to Keevlar,’ +the last a work of much simple beauty and charm. Gustav Mahler is +represented by his extended choral work, _Das klagende Lied_ ‘The +Sorrowing Song’; and Arnold Mendelssohn has created distinctive works, +both sacred and secular--the ‘Evening Cantata’ eight-part mixed chorus, +solo and orchestra, ‘Our Lord’s Sufferings’ (1900) and, in the same +year, ‘Resurrection.’ His secular choral works include a delightful +_Neckreigen_ (‘Teasing Round’) for mixed chorus and orchestra; +‘Spring’s Consecration,’ a hymn for solos, mixed chorus and orchestra; +and ‘The Tailor in Hell,’ a drastically humorous ballad for tenor solo, +chorus and orchestra. + +Siegmund von Hausegger, too, has written various choruses with +orchestra accompaniment: ‘Voices of Evening,’ ‘Sunrise,’ ‘Reaper’s +Song’ (mixed), ‘New Wine Song,’ ‘Grief the Smith’ and ‘Dead March’ +(male), and a ‘Nature Symphony’ (1911). Hugo Kaun is the author of +a ‘Norseman’s Farewell’--a larger choral work for baritone solo, +male chorus and orchestra--as well as of choruses for mixed and +female voices. And finally Hans Huber (a Swiss composer, it is true, +but educated in Leipzig, a representative of Teutonic ideals, and +influenced by Brahms) has created beautiful music in his ‘Songs +of Spring and Love,’ opus 72, for mixed chorus, solo quartet, and +four-hand piano accompaniment, and in his four-part settings from +Goethe’s _Westöstlichem Divan_, opus 69. + +This study of contemporaneous choral composition in Germany might +fittingly conclude with a reference to the Dutch composers who have +been influenced, creatively, by the modern German spirit in choral +composition. Prominent among them are: Samuel de Lange, with an +oratorio in the grand style, ‘Moses’ (1889), original in idea but +traditional in form; ‘The Tear of a King,’ a ballad for soprano, mixed +chorus and orchestra (1913), as well as various shorter cantatas to his +credit; and G. H. G. von Brucken-Fock, composer of the introspective +choral oratorio, _De Wederkomst van Christus of het naderende Godsryk_ +(1900). It contains a notable _Dies iræ_, ending with a double chorus +after the manner of those in Bach’s motets. The Belgian composers of +choral music, whose artistic affiliations are in general French rather +than German, will be considered elsewhere. + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[84] _Musiciens d’Aujourd’hui_, Paris, 1908. + +[85] _Zeitschrift der Internationalen Musik-Gesellschaft_, Feb., 1914, +London Notes, C. M., Leipzig. + +[86] Schering: _Geschichte des Oratoriums_, p. 486. + +[87] Schering: _Geschichte des Oratoriums_, p. 510. + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + CONTEMPORANEOUS CHORAL MUSIC IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA + + Elgar: ‘The Light of Life’; ‘The Dream of Gerontius’; + ‘The Apostles’; ‘The Kingdom’; ‘The Music Makers’--Parry: + ‘War and Peace’; ‘The Vision of Life’; ‘The Pied Piper of + Hamelin’; Mackenzie; Cowen; Coleridge-Taylor--Bantock: + ‘The Fire Worshippers’; ‘Omar Khayyam’ and other choral + works--Holbrooke: ‘The Bells’, ‘Byron’ and other works; + Grainger and others; Walford Davies: ‘Everyman’; ‘The Temple’ + and other works; minor English choral writers--Horatio + Parker: ‘Morven and the Grail’ and smaller works; Chadwick: + ‘Judith’ and ‘Noël’--Henry Hadley: ‘Merlin and Vivian’ and + short works; F. S. Converse: ‘Job’; other American choral + writers. + + + I + +Among the large group of British composers of the immediate present +the task of recording events of value and moment is rendered somewhat +easier by virtue of the fact that its dominating figure, Sir Edward +Elgar (born 1857), crossed the line into the twentieth century with +a well-defined style of individual expression and a clear title to +leadership, won through a noble series of both orchestral and choral +works. This series has been augmented during the first decade of +the century by works of such splendid proportions and such already +recognized importance that at least some of them may be regarded as +already occupying places of permanency for some time to come. As the +result of this leadership, there is discernible a distinct tendency to +regard Elgar as a kind of standard of measurement for British musical +values. So much is this true that we already hear of Elgarians and +post-Elgarians--for Elgar has by no means said the last word in British +music and a school of young composers is developing that is surely +destined to accomplish great things for musical England. + +Elgar’s most important choral works since 1900 belong to the class of +religious music and all are deeply permeated with the same spirit of +mysticism that characterizes the religious music of Franck and other +devout modern adherents of the Roman Church; indeed, the Roman point of +view in interpreting the teachings of the Bible and the deep things of +life, is especially discernible in ‘The Apostles’ and ‘The Kingdom,’ as +well as in ‘The Dream of Gerontius.’ + +Elgar’s mode of musical speech is remarkable, even among present-day +colorists, for its wealth of color and its richness of tonal effects. +Yet he is no impressionist of the Debussy type; every detail of poetic +and imaginative suggestion is worked out with careful reference to +its own effectiveness as well as that of the larger units to which +it may belong. In his treatment of voice-parts there is a remarkable +fluency and independence that suggests the old ecclesiastical +methods. There is perfect correspondence, in all matters of verbal +accentuation, between melodic setting and rhetorical delivery. In +his marked preference for long lines of indefinite melodic structure +(absence of definite phrases), he closely allies himself not only with +the ‘Palestrina style’ but with the Wagnerian method of continuous +‘melos.’ His kinship with Wagner is further emphasized by the elaborate +employment of ‘leading motives’ in his largest works. In these motives, +however, he is not as fortunate as was Wagner in casting them in +distinct, individual, and easily-distinguishable forms. This defect +may be inevitable, perhaps, in treating sacred themes subject to so +many purely spiritual ramifications as Elgar indulges in. As in the +Wagnerian scheme, so in the Elgarian, the orchestra assumes a rôle +of utmost importance, frequently overtopping the choral forces and +appropriating for its own purposes the composer’s choicest melodies. +But Elgar’s mode of treating the orchestra on the whole differs +radically from Wagner’s because of the different points from which they +approached their tasks in their respective vocal works--Wagner from +the standpoint of dramatic effect, Elgar from the standpoint of pure +church-music. Hence in the three works above mentioned one finds, for +long stretches at a time, a spirit of lofty impersonality, an absence +of sensuous melodies, which tends to lull the mind of the listener into +a passive condition for receiving the impressions of the text, which is +by no means unlike the mental condition produced by listening to actual +liturgic music. + +‘The Light of Life’ is Elgar’s first work in oratorio style and is +short--not as long as many sacred cantatas; yet its exceedingly serious +style precludes its being called a cantata. It received its initial +hearing at the Worcester Festival in September, 1896. The text by Rev. +E. Capel-Cure relates the gospel story of the man, blind from his +birth, whom Jesus healed. The persons represented are the mother of the +blind man (soprano), the narrator (contralto), the blind man (tenor) +and the Master (baritone). + +After a meditative and melodious orchestral introduction the first +chorus, ‘Seek Him,’ is sung, by the Levites (male voices) in the Temple +courts. The blind man’s prayer for light is followed by a recitative +by the narrator. The disciples ask ‘Who did sin?’ which is directly +answered in an expressive aria sung by the mother, who asserts that +he has not been made to suffer this affliction because of the sins of +others. The Master then explains, ‘Neither hath this man sinned,’ after +which a broad, forcible chorus, ‘Light out of darkness,’ follows. The +eyes of the blind man are now anointed, he washes in the Pool of Siloam +and comes forth healed; then he is asked by his incredulous neighbors +and towns-people how this healing came. In the heated discussion +which follows, the music becomes very dramatic. After the blind man +has related his story, the Pharisees again enter into discussion, the +strife between those approving and those condemning the man being +described in a characteristic choral setting. Especially effective is +the orchestration in the scene in which the Jews question the mother +and the blind man. The strongest and most beautiful part of the work is +a solo sung by the Master, ‘I am the good shepherd,’ which soon leads +to the final chorus, ‘Light of the world,’ which, though short, is +permeated by a strongly triumphant feeling. + +‘The Dream of Gerontius’ was written by Edward Elgar upon commission of +the Birmingham Festival Committee and performed on the morning of Oct. +3, 1900, at the Birmingham Triennial Festival. Although it was finished +for this particular occasion, it had been in the composer’s mind for +years and was, therefore, not thought out in haste, as has been the +case with many other occasional works. The poem by Cardinal Newman +relates the dream of Gerontius as he lies on his death-bed, the flight +of his soul to the realm of the unseen, its awakening with ‘a strange +refreshment’ as it is safely piloted before the Judge by the Angel, or +Soul’s Guardian Spirit, amid the hubbub of demons and the reassuring +voices of the angels--not, however, before it has been purified in the +waters of purgatory. This poem had made a profound impression upon +Elgar and the words and the music are so closely wedded that they seem +like twin-expressions of the same thought, both poet and composer +having approached their tasks from the standpoint of devout Catholics. + +The work calls for only three soloists, mezzo-soprano, tenor and +bass, besides chorus and unusually large orchestra, the latter being +augmented by double bassoon, organ, gong and glockenspiel. The string +section is often divided into many parts, sometimes fifteen and even +twenty. Elgar employs many leading motives, characteristic of the +verbal ideas with which they are associated, the orchestral prelude +alone giving out ten important ones that foreshadow the scheme of the +work. In the work itself, as in all of Elgar’s later choral works, +all traces of the classical oratorio disappear and solo, choral and +orchestral parts follow each other without pause and with utmost +freedom of movement within clearly defined scenes or parts. His +part-writing is beautifully contrapuntal, but it rarely even approaches +fugal writing. + +The first part reveals Gerontius (tenor) on his death-bed. As the +prelude closes, he sings ‘Jesu Maria, I am near to death,’ after which +a semi-chorus chants the _Kyrie eleison_. Gerontius is again heard +in the words ‘Rouse thee, my fainting soul,’ when a second chorus +responds in tender strains, ‘Be merciful.’ The holy man then sings with +deep feeling a longer solo, _Sanctus fortis_, and after an effective +orchestral interlude resumes with the words, ‘I can no more,’ in +which he expresses fear and horror at his own hallucinations. This is +followed by a short chorus, ‘Rescue him, O Lord,’ sung by the attendant +priests. Gerontius then sings his dying song, _Novissima hora est_, +and the following full chorus, ‘Go forth upon thy journey,’ brings the +first part to a close. The prelude to the second part pictures the +soul’s journey. Gerontius’ first utterance is in a dreamy solo, ‘I went +to sleep and now I am refreshed,’ after which the Guardian Angel sings +a lovely melody called the ‘Alleluia’--‘My work is done, my task is +o’er.’ After a dialogue between the Angel and the Soul, their flight +amid howling demons of darkness to the throne of God is pictured in a +vividly dramatic scene. The two again engage in dialogue, followed by +an impressive chorus of the Angelicals. The Angel then sings ‘We have +now passed the gate,’ and after further dialogue the chorus is heard +in ‘Glory to Him.’ Further passages between the Soul and the chorus +ensue, when the Angelicals join in an exultant chorus, ‘Praise to the +Holiest in the height.’ In the silence following, the Soul hears the +distant voices of men on earth. The Angel’s explanation of this is +interrupted by a virile bass solo sung by the Angel of Agony, ‘Jesu, +by that shuddering dread.’ The Angel then repeats the ‘Alleluia’ given +in Part I and continues, amid the choruses of Angelicals and souls in +purgatory, in a beautiful melody, ‘Softly and gently, dearly ransomed +soul,’ after which the work closes with the diminishing strains of the +chorus of the Angelicals, ‘Praise to the Holiest in the height.’ + + + II + +‘The Apostles.’--This, the second of Elgar’s large oratorios and +certainly one of his best, was heard for the first time at the +Birmingham Festival, on Oct. 3, 1903. That Elgar had in mind the +writing of a trilogy, of which ‘The Apostles’ is the first part, is +evidenced by his statement in the preface of this work that he had long +desired ‘to compose an oratorio which should embody the calling of the +Apostles, their teaching (schooling) and their mission, culminating in +the establishment of the Church among the Gentiles. The present work +carries out the first portion of the scheme; the second portion remains +for a future occasion.’ The text is an unusually good one, Elgar +himself having spent years on its compilation from the Scriptures and +the Apocrypha. The personages represented are the Virgin and the Angel, +soprano; Mary Magdalene, alto; St. John, tenor; Jesus, St. Peter and +Judas, basses. The tenor acts also as narrator. The leading motive is +even more extensively used than in ‘The Dream of Gerontius,’ and the +orchestra, which is large and augmented by the shofar (ancient Hebrew +trumpet), presents the most important of the themes in the prelude, +thus making it a sort of musical epitome of the whole work. The text is +grouped into two large parts, with three scenes in the first part and +four in the second. + +In the first scene of Part I, ‘The Calling of the Apostles,’ after the +statement that Jesus had spent the night in prayer on the mountain, +there follows the dawn, proclaimed by the watchers on the roof of the +Temple. The shofar, which announces the daybreak in Jewish synagogues, +at this point is heard in the orchestra. From within the Temple comes +the response, ‘It is a good thing to give thanks.’ The calling of +the apostles now follows and closes the scene. The second scene, ‘By +the Wayside,’ discloses Jesus teaching the people the Beatitudes. +The third scene, ‘By the Sea of Galilee,’ depicts the repentance and +regeneration of Mary Magdalene, which is one of the finest portions +of the work. It also sets forth Jesus’ calming of the storm and his +walking on the water. The second part begins with the fourth scene, +‘The Betrayal,’ which includes the scenes in Gethsemane, in the palace +of the High Priest and without the Temple. No other composer has +treated the betrayal at such length and it contains some of the most +touching passages of the whole work, among them the short chorus, ‘And +the Lord looked upon Peter and he went out and wept bitterly.’ In the +fifth scene, ‘Golgotha,’ Jesus’ words, ‘_Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?_’ +are not spoken, but their meaning is poignantly expressed in a few +introductory measures by the orchestra, after which follows a short, +impressive choral phrase of four measures, ‘Truly this was the Son of +God.’ The sixth is a short scene ‘At the Sepulchre’ and the seventh +and last, ‘The Ascension,’ is characterized by remarkable ensemble +passages of great sonority, the voices being grouped as follows: ‘In +Heaven’ (mystic chorus of female voices in two groups) and ‘On Earth’ +(four solo voices and male chorus of the apostles). This section is +quite long and elaborate and leads to a mighty ‘Alleluia,’ gradually +diminishing to a _pianissimo_ close. + +‘The Kingdom,’ which Elgar wrote for and produced at the Birmingham +Festival, Oct. 3, 1906, is the second portion of the trilogy +anticipated in the composer’s preface to ‘The Apostles’--the third +portion, though promised, has not yet appeared. In order to set forth +the relation of the two works to each other, they were performed at +this festival in the order in which they were conceived. Much of the +‘leading motive’ material of ‘The Apostles’ is also used in ‘The +Kingdom,’ thereby establishing a close unity between the two works. +The oratorio, the religious theme of which is the establishment of the +Church at Jerusalem, consists of five divisions: (1) In the Upper Room; +(2) At the Beautiful Gate (The Morn of Pentecost); (3) Pentecost (In +the Upper Room. In Solomon’s Porch); (4) The Sign of Healing (At the +Beautiful Gate. The Arrest); (5) The Upper Room (In Fellowship. The +Breaking of Bread. The Prayers). The persons represented are The Virgin +Mary, soprano; Mary Magdalene, alto; St. John, tenor; and St. Peter, +bass; the chorus represents the disciples, the holy women and the +people. + +After a long orchestral introduction, in which the important themes +are stated and developed, comes the opening chorus of disciples and +holy women together with the quartet of soloists, ‘Seek first the +Kingdom of God,’ as they are all gathered in the Upper Room. After +Peter leads in the celebration of the Eucharist by the breaking of +bread, they sing a hymn of praise and there follows a discussion, led +by Peter, as to the choosing of a successor to fill Judas’ place. The +second division opens with a duet of the two Marys at the Beautiful +Gate, leading directly into section three, ‘Pentecost,’ which is the +longest of the work and is ushered in by a tenor solo, stating that +they were ‘all with one accord in one place.’ The chorus of disciples +alternates with the mystic chorus of female voices, in a description of +the descent of the Holy Ghost, the music, with the added organ in the +accompaniment, being very effective. ‘In Solomon’s Porch’ sets forth +the ‘speaking in other tongues’ and Peter’s admonition, ‘Repent and be +baptized.’ The fourth section deals with the healing of the lame man +at the Beautiful Gate, after which Peter and John are arrested because +they preached the resurrection of Jesus, and here the music becomes +very dramatic. It closes with Mary’s lovely meditation, ‘The sun goeth +down,’ in which two old Hebrew hymns are used. The fifth section, with +the disciples and holy women again gathered in the Upper Room, opens +with a joyful, almost triumphant chorus, ‘The voice of joy is in the +dwelling of the righteous,’ after which follows ‘The Breaking of Bread’ +and ‘The Lord’s Prayer.’ A quiet closing chorus, ‘Thou, O Lord, art our +Father,’ is sung by chorus and soloists. + +‘The Music Makers,’ Elgar’s opus 69, published in 1912, is a setting +of an ode by Arthur O’Shaughnessy for contralto solo, chorus and +orchestra, the chorus bearing the brunt of the vocal work. An idea of +the content is given in the first stanza: + + ‘We are the music makers, + And we are the dreamers of dreams, + Wandering by the lone sea-breakers, + And sitting by desolate streams;-- + Word-losers and world-forsakers, + On whom the pale moon gleams; + Yet we are the movers and shakers + Of the world for ever, it seems,’ + +after which the achievements of the Music Makers are recited in the +building of ‘the world’s great cities’ and the fashioning of ‘an +empire’s glory.’ Especially significant is the stanza beginning: + + ‘A breath of our inspiration + Is the life of each generation’; + +and concluding with: + + ‘Till our dream shall become their present, + And their work in the world be done.’ + +The work opens with an orchestral prelude, very melodious and noble in +style, which, after a strong climax, leads into the first chorus, ‘We +are the music makers.’ This enters softly and rises to tremendous force +at the words, ‘and shakers of the world for ever.’ The composition +abounds in striking contrasts of dynamics and rhythm, and while +portions of it are sung in a narrative manner, there are exceedingly +dramatic passages and in these Elgar calls the orchestra to his aid +most effectively. The whole work is grateful for singers and full of +color. Possibly the loveliest part of it is the section comprising +the fourth and fifth stanzas, beginning with the above quotation, ‘A +breath of our inspiration,’ and including the first contralto solo and +obbligato. + + + III + +The elder composers, who first set the stream of English music in the +direction of original forms of expression, have not been idle in the +years since 1900. Alexander C. Mackenzie (born 1847) contributed to +the Leeds Festival of 1904 a cantata, ‘The Witch’s Daughter,’ adapted +from Whittier; Henry Coward (born 1852) composed ‘Gareth and Linet,’ a +musical romance of large proportions based on Malory’s _Morte D’Arthur_ +for the Sheffield Festival of 1902; and Frederick H. Cowen (born 1852) +wrote for the Cardiff Festival of 1900 an oratorio, ‘The Veil,’ the +text of which is taken from Robert Buchanan’s deeply mystical poem, +‘The Book of Orm,’ an apologia for the vindication of the ways of God +to man, justifying death and sorrow and evil. The work is divided into +the following sections: 1, The Veil Woven; 2, Earth the Mother; 3, The +Dream of the World without Death; 4, The Soul and the Dwelling; 5, +Songs of Seeking; 6, The Lifting of the Veil. + +The veteran composer, C. Hubert H. Parry (born 1848), has been +the most active of this group, no less than three important choral +compositions having come from his pen in the first decade of the +century. ‘War and Peace’ (1903) is a symphonic ode (text by the +composer) in ten numbers, in which ‘the fallen angels, Pride and +Hate,’ are pictured as the arch-instigators of all strife. The +recompense comes after these furies have ‘drunk the lust of blood.’ +Numbers entitled ‘Comradeship,’ ‘Home-Coming,’ ‘Song of Peace,’ and +‘Home,’ lead to a stirring and noble ‘Marching Song of Peace’ and a +final prayer, ‘Grant us Thy peace, Lord.’ The Norfolk and Norwich +Festival of 1905 brought out his setting in cantata form of Browning’s +well-known ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin.’ Here the scholarly writer of +dignified choral counterpoint becomes genuinely humorous as the tale +unfolds how the rats ravaged ‘Hamelin town by famous Hanover city,’ a +characteristic little figure being used to portray the gnawing of the +rats. It is rather simple in style and an atmosphere of folk-melody +and legend pervades the work. ‘The Vision of Life,’ a symphonic poem +for soprano and bass solos, chorus and orchestra, received its first +performance at the Cardiff Festival, 1907. The poem by the composer +presents a vision of the course of man. Beginning with the savage +and cave-dweller, it pictures Greek culture with its worship of the +beautiful, the might of Rome with its passion for power which in time +gives way to the teachings of Christianity; then comes the mad fury of +the French Revolution, the oppression of the slave and the domination +of pride--and all finally ‘yields to the spirit of love and of truth’ +and the vision pictures a future of peace when + + ‘Hope and helpfulness unwearied + Make all the path a radiant mead; + And brother sees in the eyes of brother + The trust that makes toil’s best reward.’ + +The solo voices are The Dreamer and The Spirit of the Vision, and the +musical treatment of solo and choral parts is noble and masterful. + +The untimely death of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in 1912 (he was born +in 1875) cut short a career that began with unusual promise. Though +none of his later works possesses the spontaneity and musical charm +of the ‘Hiawatha’ cantatas, he has produced several fine choral works +since 1900. ‘The Blind Girl of Castél Cuillé,’ written for the Leeds +Festival of 1901, is a setting of Longfellow’s translation of a Gascon +poem which relates the story of a blind girl who was deserted by her +lover for another maiden and who, heart-broken, dies at the latter’s +wedding. ‘Meg Blane’ (a Rhapsody of the Sea by Robert Buchanan) +followed in 1902 and was first performed at the Sheffield Musical +Festival of the same year. The text weirdly describes the terrors of +the sea. ‘The Atonement,’ which closely follows the sequence of the +Gospel narratives of the Passion, was given at the Hereford Festival, +1903, and ‘Kubla Khan,’ by the Handel Society in 1906. The ‘Bon-Bon +Suite,’ which appeared in 1908, is a setting of six poems by Thomas +Moore for baritone solo, chorus and orchestra. The poems are ‘The Magic +Mirror,’ ‘The Fairy Boat,’ ‘To Rosa,’ ‘Love and Hymen,’ ‘The Watchman,’ +and ‘Say, What Shall We Dance?’ The words of these poems have little +relationship to each other, though the key to the whole is probably in +the first poem, ‘The Magic Mirror.’ ‘Endymion’s Dream,’ for soprano and +tenor solos, chorus and orchestra, was published in 1910. The words are +by C. R. B. Barrett and are based on the ancient legend of Endymion, +originally a name for the Sun as he sinks into the sea. In the later +legend, Endymion, a priest of Jove, while sacrificing, prayed for +everlasting youth. This was granted, but coupled with eternal sleep. +Mercury carried him to Mount Latmos and Selene, the Moon Goddess, +nightly gazed down upon him lovingly. Coleridge-Taylor’s last cantata +was ‘A Tale of Old Japan,’ poem by Alfred Noyes, which was published +in 1911. It is the quaint, sad story of the unrequited love of little +Kimi for the great painter Sawara, and the music, which is rhapsodical +in character, is full of charming touches of ‘local color.’ Solo voices +take an important share of the work. + + + IV + +Granville Bantock, born Aug. 7, 1868, in London, is usually classed +as one of the ‘middle group’ of modern English composers, to which Sir +Edward Elgar belongs, in distinction to the so-called ‘post-Elgarians.’ +Bantock is a composer endowed with vivid imagination and a strong and +distinct musical personality, exemplified in a number of important +works. He has written much for orchestra, notably the symphonic poems: +‘Thalaba the Destroyer’ (after Southey), given in London, 1902; ‘Dante +and Beatrice’ (Birmingham, 1903); the comedy-overture ‘The Pierrot of +the Minute,’ and the symphonic drama ‘Fifine at the Fair’ (Birmingham, +1912), and, aside from a number of other works, the two orchestral +scenes ‘Processional’ and ‘Yaga-Naut,’ fragments of a monster cycle, +‘The Curse of Kehama,’ never completed. + +Bantock’s leaning toward Orientalism in his music is shown in his great +choral works as well as in his symphonic compositions. To say nothing +of his one-act opera ‘The Pearl of Iran,’ his six books of Oriental +songs (Arabian, Japanese, Egyptian, Persian, Indian, Chinese), his +‘Ferishtah’s Fancies’ (Browning), for soprano and orchestra, and the +‘Five Ghazals of Hafiz,’ for baritone and orchestra, we have his choral +works, ‘The Fire Worshippers’ and ‘Omar Khayyam,’ both constructed on +large lines. + +‘The Fire Worshippers’ is a dramatic cantata in six scenes for chorus, +solos and orchestra, a work of considerable extent and making many +demands on the singers, whose story is laid in the ancient Persia of +the Magi. Its overture was performed, singly, in 1892, at a Royal +College of Music concert, but the work was not given in its entirety +until 1910. Though ‘rich in feeling and sumptuous in tissue, with a +curious blend of sensuousness and spirituality,’ it has never secured +the meed of favor accorded the composer’s ‘Omar Khayyam.’ + +In this work, ‘a union of inspired poetry with inspired music,’ to +quote Rosa Newmarch, we have the composer at his best. It presents +in a musical setting no less than 54 stanzas of ‘The Rubaiyat,’ +about half the book, for a tremendous chorus, three solo voices and +a large orchestra. In his music Bantock has given these Epicurean +drinking-songs of Mohammedan Persia their inner spiritual significance. +He emphasizes their dramatic quality as songs of revolt against Koranic +law and idealizes them as a defiance of reason and nature against +religious bigotry. The work is inordinately long, judged by ordinary +standards, and difficult of performance; yet the composer’s tendency +toward frequent modulation is always balanced by a sure sense of beauty +and proportion. From the muezzin’s call to prayer at sunset ‘the work +moves on from mood to mood, from contrast to contrast--conflict and +repose, love and death, regnant glory and the dust of oblivion--in +a wonderful and strenuous comment on human existence.’ The more +directly lyric stanzas are assigned to the Poet (tenor) and the Beloved +(contralto); the philosophical reflections on the eternal ‘Yea and +Nay’ of human existence are placed in the mouth of the Philosopher +(baritone). The love duets, especially ‘When you and I behind the +veil,’ are rich in haunting charm, and the choruses glow with vivid +color. Bantock’s musical Orientalism is not a mere matter of externals, +of rhythms, of vocal arabesques and percussion-effects. It goes far +deeper and interprets the soul of the Orient as Pierre Loti has done +in his prose poems. And on hearing Bantock’s ‘Rubaiyat’ it seems, as +Mrs. Newmarch beautifully puts it, ‘as though the northern wind had +scattered a fresh shower of rose leaves upon the grave of Omar Khayyam.’ + +Nor has Bantock been insensible to the appeal of the myths of ancient +Hellas. A ‘choral symphony’ set to Swinburne’s beautiful ‘Atalanta +in Calydon,’ in twenty parts, _a cappella_, performed 1912 at the +Manchester Festival, bears witness to the fact. It is said to be the +most difficult work ever written for unaccompanied chorus, the final +movement in particular taxing the voices to the utmost. In it the +composer has blazed new paths of choral effect by means of groupings +of variously constituted choirs, and among other of its movements a +_scherzo_ for female voices is especially praised. Bantock’s other +secular choral works include: ‘The Time Spirit,’ a rhapsody for chorus +and orchestra (first heard at Gloucester Festival, 1904); three +‘Cavalier Tunes’ for male chorus, ‘God Save the King,’ for chorus and +orchestra, and various choruses for female and mixed voices, among +which might be mentioned ‘On Himalay,’ all fine examples of original +and harmonious part-writing. + +In the field of sacred music Bantock has also been active. A ‘Mass +in B-flat major’ for male voices (1893), an anthem, a setting of the +82d Psalm, and the two oratorios ‘Christ in the Desert’ (Gloucester +Festival, 1907) and ‘Gethsemane,’ should be mentioned. Of these the +latter is the more important and was given at the Gloucester Festival +of 1910. An episode from the life of Christ, it has been written for +baritone solo, chorus, orchestra and organ to biblical words. A richly +ornamented orchestral prelude in A-flat is succeeded by a species of +symphony for baritone, orchestra and chorus in four sections: ‘In the +Garden,’ ‘The Agony,’ ‘The Prayer,’ ‘Betrayal.’ Rhythmic in movement +and clear in expression, its music is especially dramatic in the +‘Betrayal Scene,’ which leads over to a chorus followed by a short solo +and an eight-part choral finale. + + + V + +In Joseph Holbrooke, born July 6, 1878, in Croydon, we have, in +contrast to Bantock, a member of that ultra-modern English school of +composition of which Cyril Scott, ‘the English Debussy,’ is perhaps the +best known exponent. Holbrooke has attracted wide attention because +of his daring individuality and his boldness of invention, as well as +the disregard for convention shown in his brilliantly colored mode of +scoring for orchestra. He has chosen Edgar Allan Poe as his poet _par +excellence_ and his most important choral and orchestral works (among +the latter ‘The Raven’ (1900), ‘Ulalume,’ ‘The Haunted Palace,’ ‘The +Masque of the Red Death’) are associated with the verse of the American +poet. + +At the Birmingham Festival of 1906 ‘The Bells,’ ‘the Mohammedan-hated +Bells’ of Poe and Holbrooke, jostled Bantock’s ‘Omar Khayyam,’ when +heard for the first time. With remarkable breadth of tonal laying-out, +and an incessant employment of chords of the eleventh and thirteenth, +the resonant clamor of the bells is brought out in the work with +clever programmatic effect, in perfect accord with Poe’s words. A +long orchestral prelude leads weirdly over into the first chorus, in +A minor. Following this come four choral numbers, ‘Sledge-Bells,’ +‘Wedding-Bells’ (female voices), ‘Alarm Bells’ and ‘Iron Bells,’ each +ringing the changes on the titular suggestion in appropriate tonal +inflections. Holbrooke’s choral effects throughout are incisive and are +heightened by a remarkable fidelity to his text. + +‘Byron’ (Poem No. 6) for chorus and orchestra, given at Leeds, +Dec. 7, 1904, is a setting of Keats’ ‘Sonnet to Byron,’ beginning +‘Byron, how sweetly sad thy melody.’ As regards form it is modelled +somewhat on Beethoven’s ‘Choral Symphony,’ but the orchestra is more +continuously active and its relation to the poem more intimate. The +orchestra section, in fact, is about half the work and it may be played +separately as a symphonic poem without its choral complement, a _coda_ +being provided for the purpose. There is some beautiful passage-work +for the clarinet in the orchestral score and the part-writing is worthy +of all praise. + +‘Queen Mab’ (Poem No. 5) for chorus and orchestra, also heard at +Leeds (1904), is only incidentally choral and interest is largely +centred in the orchestral part. The ‘Dramatic Choral Symphony’ +(homage to E. A. Poe), written around quotations from Poe’s writings +and philosophical in trend, may be said to suffer to some extent +from the difficulty of effectively setting philosophical reflection +to music. This disadvantage is even more marked in ‘Apollo and the +Seaman,’ a ‘Dramatic Symphony with Choral Ending for Male Choir,’ +which was produced in Queen’s Hall, London, in 1908. To quote a French +critic:[88] ‘Mr. Holbrooke, eager to show his originality, had this +“illuminated symphony” given in quite a special way. Scriabine had +already added chord projections of light to his orchestra, and thought +of joining perfumes to them in his future scores. Mr. Holbrooke was +content with a projection of the magic-lantern kind. Queen’s Hall +was plunged into obscurity and the text of Mr. Trench’s poem was +projected on the sheet, Mr. Holbrooke’s chords sounding forth in the +meantime. Then, announced by the stroke of a gong, there appeared an +enormous head of Apollo and, after a long pedal-point suggesting the +beginning of _Rheingold_, the seance went on, proving conclusively +that there is nothing less musical (save possibly Nietzsche) than this +dialogue between a sailor and Apollo, disguised as a merchant, upon the +immortality of the soul and other poetic topics.’ + +Joseph Holbrooke has written a number of individual anthems and +choruses in addition to these larger works, among them the ‘dramatic +choral song (No. 2)’ entitled ‘To Zanthe’ (words by Poe), not to forget +the choruses in his opera ‘The Children of Don and Dylan.’ That his is +a great talent is not to be denied; yet the consensus of opinion seems +to agree that he has not as yet ‘found’ himself. + +Before passing on to a consideration of the work of Henry Walford +Davies, whose musical sympathies are those of the Elgarian school +rather than those of the English modernists, we will refer, briefly, to +the choral compositions of the younger English followers of Scott and +Holbrooke. + +Gustav von Holst, born 1874, in Cheltenham, a pupil of Stanford, +has written some notable works: an _Ave Maria_ for eight-part female +chorus; female choruses with orchestra in the masque ‘The Vision of +Dame Christian’ (1909); various cantatas and a fine tetralogy of +settings from the sacred books of India, the hymns from the Rig-Veda, +for chorus and orchestra. + +Percy Grainger, born July 8, 1882, at Brighton, near Melbourne, +Australia, has also contributed some charming lighter numbers, in +unusual combinations, to modern English choral literature. Among them +are his Kipling Choruses: the ‘Father and Daughter,’ the old Faröe +Island ballad, arranged for five solo voices (male), chorus, strings, +brass, mandolins and guitars; and the sparkling ‘Strathspey,’ combined +with several jigs and the fine old sea chanty, ‘What shall we do with +a drunken sailor,’ sung by male quartet to the accompaniment of eight +strings, two guitars, xylophone, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and +concertina. + +Ralph Vaughan Williams, born at Down Amprey, Oct. 12, 1872, supplies, +as it were, a connecting link between the Elgarians and the +post-Elgarians, the more academic and the more revolutionary among +present-day English composers. His principal choral works are: ‘Willow +Wood,’ a cantata (Liverpool, 1909), and two extended compositions for +voices and orchestra, ‘A Sea Symphony’ and ‘Toward the Unknown Regions’ +(Leeds Festival, 1907), both to poems by Walt Whitman, who with +Williams seems to take the place that Poe does with Holbrooke. + +In Henry Walford Davies, born Sept. 6, 1869, at Ostwestry, we have +another composer of serious choral music along traditional lines, +yet one not unaffected by modern tendencies. His music is rich in +expression, artistic conscientiousness and idealism, and his two +most important works are undoubtedly the oratorio ‘The Temple,’ and +‘Everyman,’ a musical setting of a mediæval morality, the original +suggestion for which, like that of similar choral works in modern +Germany, no doubt came from France. The text, with few exceptions, has +been taken from the old English morality play: God commands Death to +bring Everyman (that is, Man in general) before Him for judgment. In +vain Everyman seeks companions among his servants, friends and ‘the +rich’ for a journey whence none return; yet at length finds ready to +accompany him (after lengthy moral disquisitions) comrades in the shape +of ‘Good Deeds,’ ‘Knowledge,’ ‘Discretion,’ ‘Strength,’ ‘Beauty’ and +‘Five Wits.’ The choral music throughout is spontaneous, vivid and +realistic. ‘Everyman’ was composed for the Leeds Festival of 1904, +at which it scored a marked success. A short prelude of thirty-two +measures is the keynote to the entire work and leads directly to a +prologue (addressed to the audience), delivered by bass, contralto, +soprano and tenor. The chorus of ‘laughing, feasting rich men, +reclining upon their cushions, is a splendid bit of musical realism, +which shows better than any theoretical disquisition how standards +of taste in English oratorio have satisfactorily rid themselves of +Puritanic influences in the course of years.’[89] Davies’ biblical +oratorio, ‘The Temple’ (Worcester Festival, 1902), is an oratorio +pure and simple, austerely beautiful and rather complex in its choral +writing, but lacking, perhaps, the inspirational freshness of its more +dramatic successor. ‘The Song of Thanksgiving’ is generally considered +the finest single number in the score. + +Davies has also composed: ‘Hervé Riel’ (Browning) for baritone solo, +chorus and orchestra (Royal College of Music, 1895); ‘Four Songs +of Innocence’ (part-songs for female voices, 1894); ‘Ode to Time’ +(baritone solo, chorus and orchestra) and ‘Noble Numbers’ (a cycle of +18 songs for solo voices, chorus and orchestra); ‘The Three Jovial +Huntsmen’ (cantata with orchestra, 1900); a ‘Morning and Evening +Service’ and a ‘Cathedral Service’ and ‘Lift up your hearts’ (Hereford +Music Festival, 1906). + +Among other names which seem to call for mention in connection with +recent English choral writing are: Bradley Rootham (a fine cantata +to Charles Kingsley’s ‘Andromeda,’ for solos, chorus and orchestra); +Alexander M. McLean (a cantata, ‘The Annunciation,’ influenced by +Reger, 1909); Henry Wood (‘Elijah,’ 1902); Alfred Herbert Brewer +(‘The Holy Innocents,’ oratorio, 1904, ‘Emmaus’); Harvey Lohr, F. W. +Humberston and C. Lee Williams. + + + VI + +Conditions in contemporaneous American choral writing are quite +analogous to those in England. Several of our most prominent choral +writers had already won substantial recognition before the twentieth +century opened. Foremost among these elder composers who have continued +to write in the concert forms of oratorio and cantata are George +W. Chadwick (born 1854) and Horatio W. Parker (born 1863). But a +host of younger composers has arisen to seek artistic preferment in +this field. This augmented interest is no doubt due in part to the +remarkable increase in the number of choral societies in the United +States beginning in the last decade of the nineteenth century and the +consequent increase in the demand for choral novelties; but it is due +in still larger part to the increased interest in composition itself +in the United States, an interest that has been fostered and nourished +by a noticeably greater willingness on the part of the American public +in the most recent years to receive with some favor really meritorious +works by native composers. This meed of home recognition, the greatest +possible stimulus to all creative purpose, will no doubt increase in +measure with the years. + +Horatio Parker has added several to his already long list of choral +works given in Chapter VI: ‘King Gorm the Grim’ (1908), a fiery choral +ballad on a Danish theme (words after Theodor Fontane); ‘The Leap of +Roushan Beg’ (1913), a ballad for men’s voices with tenor solo (poem +by Longfellow); ‘Alice Brand’ (1913), a short cantata for three-part +female chorus with solos (poem by Sir Walter Scott); and ‘A Song of +Times,’ a short cantata for chorus and orchestra. + +In ‘Morven and the Grail,’ Parker has produced his largest choral +work since the _Hora Novissima_ and ‘Legend of St. Christopher.’ +This oratorio was written for the Centenary Festival of the Handel +and Haydn Society of Boston, April 11-15, 1915. It calls for four +soloists--Morven, baritone; Sigurd, tenor; St. Cecilia, soprano; Our +Lady, alto; Angels of the Grail, a second solo quartet. The poem by +Brian Hooker is a work of unusual charm and has accompanying it a +quaint synopsis of the story, relating how ‘Morven, seafaring upon +the quest of the Grail, heareth the Angels thereof calling to him, +and will follow the world’s dream even unto the end of the world. He +cometh to Avalon, the heaven of Pleasure, and there for a time abideth +in bliss.’ But hearing Sigurd, the Volsung, riding against the Dragon +and realizing that man can not be content forever in joy, he departeth +and cometh to Valhalla of the Old Gods, where he abideth in glory +until, ‘hearing in his soul as it were the voice of St. Cecilia hymning +Christ her Lord,’ he proceedeth to the Saints in Paradise, the heaven +of holiness, where again for a time he abideth in peace. In spirit he +heareth ‘Our Lady communing with her child new-born into the world’ and +learneth that man may not forever content himself at rest and that the +desire of the soul is not to be found in Paradise, nor in any place, +but that it followeth everywhere; ‘wherefore he will depart out of that +heaven to be born again and become as a little child.’ The heavens +being then opened to him, in a vision he heareth the song of the Grail +and the Angels singing of man, living on ‘between Hell and Heaven in +wonder everlasting.’ The closing argument is as follows: ‘And forasmuch +as God of His own heart so imagineth all things that they die and +rise again, therefore shall the earth declare the glory of God, world +without end.’ + +George W. Chadwick has written in nearly all the larger forms of +choral, orchestral and chamber music. In the opening years of the +century he wrote two choral works of large dimensions, ‘Judith’ and +‘Noël,’ both in oratorio form, though the action of the first is so +intense and dramatic that it could well be performed with full operatic +machinery. Both are conceived in the form of the classical oratorio, +though Chadwick’s musical vocabulary is clearly modern, his harmony +being rich, warm and distinctly individual. ‘Judith’ is a work of +massive proportions, one of the few great choral works yet produced +in America. ‘Noël’ is simpler in structure, yet contains numbers of +compelling beauty. + +‘Judith,’ a lyric drama in three acts, was published in 1901. +The persons represented are Judith, mezzo-soprano; Achior, tenor; +Holofernes, baritone; Ozias, bass; and Sentinel, tenor. The text by +William Chauncey Langdon is cast in three acts. The first, in Bethulia, +pictures the sorrows of Israel beset by Asshur’s host, to which the +Israelites are about to yield when the entreaties of Ozias persuade +them to trust the Lord five days longer. Judith relates her vision, in +which her departed husband directs her to save her people by destroying +Holofernes. The second act brings her to the camp of Holofernes, who +is completely infatuated with her beauty. She insists upon becoming +his cup-bearer, and after he has partaken too freely of wine, she +(still responding to the vision) slays him with his own sword and +conceals his head in the folds of her dress as she passes the guards, +whom Holofernes had commanded to let her pass freely in and out. The +third act begins with her return to Bethulia just as Ozias once more +kneels at the wall, praying for deliverance. As she shows the head of +Holofernes there is great rejoicing and the victory of the Israelites +over the Assyrians is proclaimed. + +‘Noël,’ a Christmas pastoral for four solos, chorus and orchestra, +was written for the Litchfield County (Conn.) University Club and +published in 1909. The text is compiled from various sources, most +of which are named. The work consists of twelve numbers, besides an +orchestral prelude entitled ‘The Star.’ No. 1 is a chorus, ‘This is the +month’ (words by Milton); No. 2, ‘From the eastern mountains’ (words by +Thwing), depicts the journey of the Wise Men; No. 3, ‘Long and darksome +was the night,’ is an alto solo (words by Ray Palmer, 1830); No. 4 is +a chorus for female voices, _Parvum quando cerno Deum_, the authorship +of the Latin text being unknown; No. 5 is a bass solo, ‘I was a foe to +God,’ words by Torsteegen, 1731; and No. 6 a chorus of praise, ‘Praise +Him, O ye heaven of heavens,’ with words by Prudentius, A. D. 405. +No. 7 begins the second part with ‘While to Bethlehem we are going,’ +for alto solo and chorus, words by Violante de Ceo, 1601; No. 8 is a +soprano solo, ‘Hark! a voice from yonder manger,’ words by Gerhardt, +1656; No. 9 is a carol from the Latin of the fourteenth century, ‘A +child is born in Bethlehem,’ which can be sung unaccompanied; No. 10 +is a tenor solo, ‘O holy Child, Thy manger streams,’ words from the +Danish; No. 11, a quartet, ‘Hither come ye heavy-hearted,’ words by +Gerhardt, 1656; and the last number, ‘How lovely shines the morning +star,’ words by Nikolai, 1597, is a stately chorale and fugue for +chorus and quartet. + + + VII + +Henry K. Hadley (born 1871) is prominent among the group of younger +Americans who have assiduously cultivated choral writing, having +published seven or eight choral works of varying size, up to the +present time (1915). His first cantata was ‘In Music’s Praise,’ +which won the prize offered in 1901 by the Oliver Ditson Company, +music-publishers. This was followed in 1904 by ‘A Legend of Granada,’ +a cantata for women’s voices with soprano and baritone solos (words +by Ethel Watts Mumford). Four other cantatas for women’s voices with +various solo parts succeeded this one--‘The Fate of Princess Kiyo’ +(1907), a legend of Japan (words by Edward Oxenford); ‘The Golden +Prince’ (1914); ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ (1911); and ‘The +Princess of Ys.’ + +Hadley’s longest choral work is the lyric drama ‘Merlin and Vivian’ +(1907), to the poem by Ethel Watts Mumford, an ambitious composition +calling for the full resources of solo, choral and orchestral forces. +It is in three parts, whose scenes are laid respectively on the ‘Isle +of Avalon,’ at King Arthur’s court, and at Castle Joyousguard. The +characters are Morgan-le-Fay, the enchantress, Queen of Avalon; Vivian, +the sorceress; King Arthur; Merlin, the enchanter, Arthur’s councilor; +Adrihim, the spirit of the architect of King Suleiman; and Ariel, the +spirit of music and light. + +Frederick Shepherd Converse (born 1871), after several orchestral +works in the larger forms, entered the choral field with a composition +of oratorio dimensions, ‘Job,’ a dramatic poem for solos, chorus and +orchestra, which was composed for the fiftieth annual festival of +the Worcester (Mass.) Musical Association in 1907. The text is taken +from Job and the Psalms in the Vulgate. accompanied with an English +paraphrase. The characters represented are Job, tenor; his Friend, +baritone; a woman of Israel, mezzo-soprano; and the voice of Jehovah, +bass; the chorus represents the voices of prayer and adoration. A +preface to the work points out that ‘the dramatic motive of the poem +is the development of the moods of Job, distress under suffering, +rebellion, doubt, and final submissive understanding of the will +of God. In emotional contrast with him is the Woman of Israel, who +represents the spirit of unquestioning faith. The Friend stands, like +the three friends of the Bible story, for the spirit of conventional +piety. The chorus represents superhuman voices, which declare the glory +of God; against their sustained mood of adoration and praise beats +the contest of human emotions. The impersonal universal spirit of the +chorus is conveyed in the music by simple diatonic harmonies, the warp +upon which the solo parts are woven in modern chromatic design.’ + +Other choral compositions by Converse are a ‘Serenade’ (1908) for +soprano and tenor solos, male chorus and small orchestra (text by John +Macy) and ‘The Peace Pipe’ (1915), a cantata for baritone solo, mixed +chorus and orchestra to text from Longfellow’s ‘Song of Hiawatha.’ +Longfellow, who has probably furnished more texts for cantatas and +choral ballads than any other one poet, is also drawn upon by Carl +Busch for his cantata, ‘The Four Winds’ (1907) (again from ‘The Song +of Hiawatha’), a lengthy work calling for soprano and tenor solos with +chorus. + +Rossetter Gleason Cole (born 1866), in his lyrical idyl, ‘The Passing +of Summer’ (1902), written to a libretto by Elsie Jones Cooley, +presents a pastoral scene in which two lovers go forth at the dawning +of summer’s last day and witness gracious Summer’s farewell to all +her children--the summer winds, the falling leaves, the soft-hued +flowers--but as evening falls they rejoice that love’s flower, which +Summer had planted in their hearts, dies not. The score, which is +quite lengthy, demands soprano, tenor and contralto solos, chorus and +orchestra. + +David Stanley Smith (born 1877) appears among the list of choral +writers with two short works--‘The Logos’ (The Word is Made Flesh), +published in 1908, which is a Christmas cantata for three solo voices +(The Logos, the Angel Gabriel and Mary) and chorus of angelic voices +and voices from earth; and ‘God our Life’ (1906), a sacred cantata for +general use. + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[88] _Les Post-Elgariens_, par X.-M. Boulestin, S. I. M., Jan., 1914. + +[89] Schering: _Geschichte des Oratoriums_, pp. 591-592. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + CONTEMPORARY CHORAL MUSIC IN FRANCE, ITALY, RUSSIA AND ELSEWHERE + + Debussy: _L’enfant prodigue_, _La demoiselle élue_ and _Le + martyre de Saint-Sébastien_; Reynaldo Hahn: _La pastorale + de Noël_; Gabriel Pierné: _La croisade des enfants_; _Les + enfants de Bethlehem_; _Les fioretti de Saint-François + d’Assisi_--Florent Schmitt: Psalm XLVII; Vincent d’Indy: + _Chant de la cloche_, etc.--Renaissance of oratorio in Italy; + Perosi and his oratorios; Bossi: _Canticum canticorum_; _Il + Paradiso perduto_; Wolf-Ferrari: _La Vita Nuova_ and other + works--Scandinavia; choral music in Russia; Moussorgsky; + Rimsky-Korsakoff; Glazounoff; Glière; Arensky and others; + choral composition in Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, Spain. + + + I + +The choral music of contemporary France has its immediate origin in +the recent past. In particular the oratorio and sacred cantata may be +said to represent the larger fruition of what Romain Rolland calls +‘the new religious art which has sprung up since the death of César +Franck, around the memory of that great musician.’ Pierné, d’Indy, +Schmitt--some of the most distinctive composers of modern France--have +been influenced by the Belgian master in a greater or less degree. +Hence it is not strange that the best-known French choral works of the +present day in the larger forms are of a religious or quasi-religious +nature. + +Thus, even in the case of Debussy (less directly influenced by +Franck than any of his contemporaries), we find that two of his three +principal choral works, the lyric scene _L’enfant prodigue_ and the +‘mystery’ _Le martyre de Saint-Sébastien_, are developments of Biblical +and hagiographic text-motives. And even in his _Damoiselle élue_, a +cantata for female voices with solos, the heroine of Rossetti’s famous +poem (to a French paraphrase of which Debussy has written his score) +looks down from the ramparts of her pre-Raphaelite paradise. + +In _L’enfant prodigue_ (Roman Prize, 1884), its composer does not +as yet inaugurate those radical changes which were to find complete +expression in his later works. It may be briefly described as a simple +and expressive miniature oratorio, including duets, trios, a cleverly +written _cortège_ and dance, whose frequent recitative anticipates the +melodic declamation employed in _Pelléas et Mélisande_. + +But when Debussy sent in his _Damoiselle élue_ (first published in +1887) from Rome, the departure, from accepted standards was more +marked. Its music is rich in delicate imagery and attention to detail, +orchestral and vocal, yet despite its subtle expression of the yearning +of the translated for the one left behind on earth--the chorus of +sopranos descending in flexible, fluid cadences as the Blessed Damozel +‘leans out from the gold bars of Heaven’ and ‘casts her arms along the +golden barriers’--the customary public hearing accorded ‘works sent +from Rome’ was denied it in Paris. Since then, however, its composer +has not had to complain of a lack of performances. + +It is the five-act mystery _Le martyre de Saint-Sébastien_, given +in 1911 at the _Châtelet_ theatre in Paris, which is Debussy’s most +ambitious and individual contribution to the literature of the +newer French choral art, though the music is really incidental to +D’Annunzio’s drama. In general, the greatest French critics paid +tribute to the merits of the work. Alfred Bruneau spoke of ‘its +clarity, serenity and strength,’ insisting that while the composer had +hitherto given his attention mainly to the instrumental forms, he had +attained new power in the choral portions of _Le martyre_. He dwells +on the beauty of the lament of the women at Sébastien’s death, and the +‘vast and magnificent’ final _alleluia_. Pierre Laloy does not share +Bruneau’s enthusiasm for the choral close. He admits its ‘occasional +Palestrinian character,’ but deprecates the intrusion of trifling +motives evidently used for effect alone. Robert Broussel counts the +four Preludes, hieratic and voluptuous, among Debussy’s most finished +pages. Reynaldo Hahn laments a lack of continuity in the score. Yet all +critics agree, in the main, on the interest and artistry of the score, +in which the religious feeling is strongly and definitely marked. + +This concludes the tale of the composer’s choral compositions of a +religious nature, but no mention of Debussy’s activity in the choral +field would be complete without a reference to his lovely _a cappella_ +choruses, _Chansons de Charles d’Orleans_, practically the only secular +music for chorus which he has written, but music well worth careful +study. + +Notwithstanding the religious expressiveness which permeates _Le +martyre_, as witness the musical treatment of its last scene in which +paradise unfolds its gates amid a golden glory of angel hosts, it +is Gabriel Pierné whose scores are the most successful examples of +oratorio composition in modern France. Reynaldo Hahn, it is true, in +a manner anticipated Pierné’s _Enfants de Bethlehem_ in 1901, with a +Christmas oratorio, _Pastorale de Noël_, written upon the text of one +of the great passion-mysteries of the thirteenth century, using the +actual mediæval words and thus projecting the liturgic drama of the +Middle Ages into the present day. Yet his work has never attained that +wider public recognition accorded Pierné’s oratorios. + +On these rest the latter’s fame, though he has written a secular +cantata, _Edith_ (1882), and a prize symphony for chorus and orchestra, +_L’an mil_. _La croisade des enfants_ (known throughout this country +as ‘The Children’s Crusade’), _Les enfants de Bethlehem_ and, finally, +_Les fioretti de Saint-François d’Assisi_, are his chief works. + +The ‘Children’s Crusade’ and the ‘Children of Bethlehem’ are +‘mysteries,’ but not in the sense of Debussy’s impressionistic +_Martyre_, or Hahn’s mediæval Christmas ‘Miracle.’ The ‘Children’s +Crusade’ has been set to a libretto after Marcel Schwob’s poetic story; +the ‘Children at Bethlehem,’ to a poem by Gabriel Nigond. Both scores +are musically full of color and rich in pictorial detail, employing the +folk-song thematically. Their great effect lies in the introduction of +the children’s chorus as a strong factor in the musical development +of the oratorio. The criticism has been made,[90] in particular with +regard to the ‘Children’s Crusade,’ that the picturesque mingling +of male choruses, female choruses, solo voices, humming choruses, +echo choruses, voices from above and from the distance, together +with the choruses of children and full orchestra in a succession of +nerve-stimulating episodes, seems due to deliberate calculation, +speculating on the emotional and nervous sensibility of the general +public, and that as a consequence the music lacks genuine intimacy +and warmth. Be this as it may, the composer has been superlatively +successful in creating works whose performance awakens widespread +pleasure and appreciation. + +In _Saint-François d’Assisi_, set to a poem by Gabriel Nigond after +‘The Little Flowers of St. Francis,’ Pierné again uses Christian +legendary material. His music portrays, with less of austere dignity +and serious depth than Tinel’s famous ‘Franciscus,’ yet with a more +melodious facility of touch, the life-cycle of the sermonizer of +the birds and founder of the order which bears his name. Like its +predecessors, it has much spiritual charm and delicacy of expression; +as in them, the standpoint of tonal effect is kept well in view +and--another resemblance--the score has been successful, though not, +perhaps, in the same degree as the others. Still, Pierné’s writing has +not the dramatic power and individual flavor to be found in the works +of some of his _confrères_. + + + II + +Notable among these is Florent Schmitt, a pupil of Gabriel Fauré (who, +by the way, has contributed to French choral literature some charming +shorter works--_La naissance de Vénus_, _Les Djinns_, and _Madrigal_). +_Danse des Devadesis_ is especially notable for brilliant color and +subtly suggestive rhythms. Florent Schmitt’s _Tragédie de Salomé_ in +its symphonic form is well known to the American concert-goer, but the +same cannot be said of his ‘Psalm XLVII,’ for orchestra, organ, chorus +and solo voices, though it exists in an edition with English text, and +is a musically distinctive and original work. Its keynote is praise and +joy, and it bids ‘the people clap their hands’ and proclaims that ‘the +fields of the earth belong to the Lord’ with real dramatic effect and +vigor. + +It is in the work of Vincent d’Indy, principal heritor of the musical +and spiritual legacy of César Franck, that a more conservative +standpoint makes itself felt. And this is only natural, when we +consider that the counterpoint of the sixteenth century is the point +of departure of the composer’s own creative activity. He stands for +the classic tradition persisting along modern lines of development. +His sympathies are with Wagner rather than Debussy, and in his operas +or, as he terms them, ‘dramatic actions,’ _Fervaal_ and _L’Etranger_, +he merges Wagnerian practice and his individual concept with effective +results, though with a rejection of all that atmospheric vagueness +which makes the charm of _Pelléas_. + +His best known choral work is _Le chant de la cloche_ (‘Song of the +Bell’), awarded a prize by the City of Paris in 1885. This is a +dramatic legend, opus 18, for chorus, solos and orchestra, broad in +outline, rich in detail, Wagnerian in structure, yet the composer’s own +in thematic content. The orchestra is handled with great brilliancy. A +later work, opus 23, _Sainte-Marie Magdeleine_, a cantata for two solo +voices, female chorus and accompaniment of harmonium and piano, is a +work of the type of Debussy’s _Enfant prodigue_, a miniature oratorio +intended to form part of an evening’s concert-program. It is needless +to add that, musically, it shows no semblance to Massenet’s oratorio +of the same name. We have also by d’Indy _La Chévauchée du Cid_, a +Hispano-Moorish scene for baritone, chorus and orchestra; a ‘Festival +Cantata’ for inaugural purposes; an _Ode à Valence_, for solo, chorus +and orchestra; and _L’Art et le Peuple_, for four-part male chorus. + +For some time d’Indy has been working upon a dramatic choral work on +an extended scale, _La légende de Saint-Christophe_ (a subject which +Rheinberger and Horatio Parker have already treated in oratorio form), +and it is said to be nearing completion. It will be looked forward +to with interest, especially as it represents one of the composer’s +periodical returns from symphonic to choral composition. + +While the works of the composers already discussed may be said to +represent the most important achievements in contemporary French +choral writing, a number of others have been more or less active in +the same field. Among these are: Gustave Charpentier (tone-drama, _La +vie du poete_, 1892), the late Augusta Holmès (_Hymne à Apollon_, +dramatic scene, and _Nocturne_, both for baritone solo and chorus. +_Danse d’Almées_, for contralto solo and chorus, and ‘The Vision +of the Queen,’ scene for solos and female chorus); C. de Grandval +(_Sainte Agnes_, dramatic cantata, 1892); Bourgault-Ducoudray (_Esprit +de la France_, for mixed chorus) and others; but in general the +ultra-modernists, Ravel, Dukas, Magnard, and others have neglected the +domain of choral for that of symphonic composition. + +In Belgium contemporary choral composition since Peter Benoît has +been influenced by the Neo-French school. We have G. L. Huberti’s _De +laatste Zonnestraal_ (1892) and (in manuscript) _Verlichtung_ (1882), +_Bloemardinne_ and ‘Death of William of Orange,’ A greater tone-poet +is Émile Mathieu, with three secular choral works, _Le Hoyoux_, _Le +Sorbier_ and _Freyhir_ (1893). Jan Blockx’s cantatas are mostly founded +on national episodes. Among them are: _Vredezang_, _Het droom van’t +paradies_, _Clokke Roelandt_, _Scheldezang_ (1903). The ‘Roland’ +cantata is his best-known choral number. Edgar Tinel’s dramatic +oratorio, _Franciscus_ (1888), is the greatest choral work the Flemish +school has produced. It has been more fully noted in Chapter IX. + + + III + +In Italy the renaissance of choral composition might be said to +begin in 1898, with Don Lorenzo Perosi’s appointment as director of +the Sistine Chapel in Rome. In his sacred trilogy, _La Passione di +Cristo_, comprising (a) _La Cena del Signore_, (b) _L’Orazione del +Monte_, (c) _La Morte del Redentore_ (performed for the first time +at Milan, 1899, at the Italian Congress of Sacred Music), and in his +oratorios, _La Transfigurazione del Nostro Signor Gesù Cristo_ (1898), +_La Risurrezione di Lazaro_ (1898), _Il Natale del Redentore_ (1899), +_Mosè_, and _Il Giudizio Universale_ (1903), all written in a style +‘made up of all styles and ranging from the Gregorian chant to the +most modern modulations,’[91] he shows deep melodic instinct, richness +of melodic invention, and a strong dramatic veritism which has done +much to make them popular in Italy. ‘Each of the oratorios,’ to quote +again the great French critic, ‘is really a descriptive mass, which +from beginning to end traces out one dominating thought.’ Critics in +general are still divided as to the ultimate value of his music; but +its sincerity and strength of purpose are unquestioned. + +Of greater importance than Perosi’s disciples Giovanni Tebaldini +(_Le Nozze de Cecilia_), and Alfredo Ambrogio (_L’Entrata di Cristo +in Gerusalemme_), is Enrico Bossi. The latter’s oratorios, _Canticum +canticorum_ (1900) and _Il Paradiso perduto_ (1903), are distinctly +concert oratorios in the grand style, more strongly individual and +less mystically religious than Perosi’s. His treatment of Solomon’s +glowing ‘Song of Songs’ is musically sensuous rather than symbolic, +and at times suggestive, in its passion, of Massenet. It is a work +rich in imaginative development and, again in contrast to Perosi, +the weight is laid on its choral rather than its solo portions. The +secular trend is even more marked in _Il Paradiso perduto_, and some +of its movements are to be reckoned among the finest in modern choral +literature. In both these works, as in his secular cantata _Giovanna +d’Arca_, and his symphonic poem _Il Cieco_, with tenor solo and chorus, +Bossi has infused the spirit of modernism into the Italian oratorio, +and developed it beyond the purely ecclesiastical concept represented +by Perosi. + +In this direction the influence of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, better +known, perhaps, as a composer of opera than of oratorio, has also +been noteworthy. His cantata, _Talitha kumi_ (‘Maiden, arise’), on +the favorite subject of the daughter of Jairus, written in 1900, was +followed by the oratorio _Sulamith_, which, if not dramatically as +strong as Bossi’s _Canticum_, betrays melodic charm and warm orchestral +coloring. + +His greatest choral work, however, is undoubtedly his _La Vita Nuova_, +opus 9, in which, using Dante’s text, he has woven together incidents +of the love-life of Dante and Beatrice in a succession of idyllic and +lyric mood-pictures. The suggestive power of the work is remarkable; +dramatic effect, rhythmic variety, harmonic subtlety are combined in +well-nigh perfect expressional unity. The composer has followed his own +inspiration throughout, and that with the happiest artistic results. +There need be no hesitation in affirming that this choral work marks +the apex of attainment in modern Italian choral composition, and it +may be considered the most valuable individual product of the Italian +choral revival. + + + IV + +Turning from Italy to Scandinavia, we find that in general little +creative work is done in the choral forms at the present day. +In Finland, as in Denmark, the cantata after the Handelian or +Mendelssohnian model is still in vogue. Even Sibelius has done little +in the way of choral writing--only a ‘Festival Cantata’ and some +choruses; nor has anything of importance been written in Norway in this +genre since the death of Grieg; while oratorio, though largely given in +concert in Sweden, has not stimulated original composition. + +In Russia more has been done. The Neo-Russians turn more naturally +to symphonic and operatic composition than to the choral forms, and +although quite a few of the great contemporaries are identified with +choral compositions, collectively there has not been a great deal +written, with the exception of music for the liturgic services of the +Greek Catholic Church, to which Tschaikowsky, Bortniansky, and others +have made notable contributions. This liturgic music does not call for +consideration here, as it is discussed elsewhere. The folk-music of +Russia, which plays such a prominent part as thematic material in the +works of the Neo-Russian school, is chorally more identified with the +operatic vocal ensemble, which is also outside the scope of the present +chapter. + +The original choral compositions of contemporary Russia stand high, +qualitatively. Moussorgsky is represented by his virile ‘Destruction +of Sennacherib’ (1866) for chorus and orchestra, and a choral number +from his opera, _Salâmmbo_, revised, polished and enlarged as a chorus +for mixed voices and solo under the title of ‘Joshua,’ one of the few +of the composer’s works which show a strong Oriental flavor. Nor has +Rimsky-Korsakoff, the friend and editor of Moussorgsky, written much +more. There is a cantata for tenor, bass, male chorus and orchestra, +‘The Doom of Olga’ (Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1909); another, _Switezianka_, +for soprano, tenor, chorus and orchestra, a cantata entitled +_Doubmouchka_ and a ‘Gloria’ for orchestra and chorus; as well as +fifteen folk-songs arranged for mixed voices. + +Glazounoff, the symphonist, a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakoff, is the author, +jointly with Liadow, of a cantata in memory of the celebrated Russian +sculptor Antokolsky, for tenor solo, chorus and orchestra, written +after his defection from the ranks of the national school; and Liadow +himself has set forty-five folk-songs for female voices and composed a +musical setting, for mixed voices and orchestra, of the last scene from +Schiller’s ‘Bride of Messina.’ + +Arensky has given us a fine choral number--‘The Fountain of +Bachtchissarai,’ after a Pushkin poem, for solo voices, chorus and +orchestra; while Rachmaninoff’s spirited and plastically written choral +ballad, ‘Springtide,’ after a poem by Nekrassoff, composed in 1901 +for dramatic baritone, mixed chorus and orchestra, has already been +heard in this country. A new choral work by Rachmaninoff, set to E. +A. Poe’s poem ‘The Bells,’ was given at Petrograd in the recent past +with great success. Glière has to his credit a choral suite for female +voices, with the four seasons as its textual basis; Ippolitoff-Ivanoff +has written three cantatas, Oriental in coloring, each in memory of a +Russian poet; Akimenko has composed choruses for mixed voices; Georges +Catoire for female voices; and Alexander Tanejew has set two groups of +twelve poems each, for four and five-part chorus respectively, while +his better-known nephew, Sergius Ivanovitch, who died this year in +Petrograd (1915), is the composer of a cantata, ‘St. John of Damascus’ +(1884). Stravinsky, too, has a cantata to his credit, composed in 1911, +and this practically completes the tale of contemporary Russian choral +composition. + +In concluding this study of contemporary choral music there only remain +to be mentioned, in Poland, Felix Nowowiejski, author of several +‘concert-dramas,’ ‘The Prodigal Son’ (1901), ‘The Discovery of the Holy +Cross’ (1906) and _Quo Vadis_ (1907)--rich in theatrical effect; and in +Hungary, Mauritius Vavrineoz, with an oratorio, _Christus_. In Spain +and Portugal choral music, in the modern sense of the word, is hardly +written. Felipe Pedrell’s dramatic cantata _Comte Arnau_, a score +distinctly modern in style and treatment, and Grignón’s _La Nit de +Nadal_, for chorus, solos and orchestra, are about the only ones that +come to mind. + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[90] Schering: _Geschichte des Oratoriums_, p. 546. + +[91] Romain Rolland: _Musiciens d’Aujourd’hui_, Paris. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + THE ORGAN FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT + + The ancestor of the modern organ; pneumatic and hydraulic + organs of classical antiquity--The organ in early mediæval + times--The tenth and eleventh centuries: cloister and minster + organs; the twelfth and thirteenth centuries: introduction + of the ‘portative’ organ and balanced keys; the fourteenth + century: chromatic keyboard; pedals; organ blowing--Fifteenth + and sixteenth centuries; cathedral and church organs; + the _Rückpositiv_; the Spanish _partida_; builders--The + seventeenth century: mechanical development; tuning; + union of manuals; the eighteenth century: the ‘Swell’; + English builders; the Silbermanns--_Rococo_ adornment of + cases; the nineteenth century and the birth of the modern + instrument--Pneumatic action; electric action; the Universal + Air Chest; duplex stop control; tonal improvements--The + chamber organ; the concert organ; conclusion. + + +Far back in the mist of ages some primal prototype of civilized man +found that by blowing a hollow reed he produced a pleasing sound. This +was probably the first step in the long process of evolution which +has resulted in the concert organ of to-day. From the single reed of +antediluvian times to the grouped reeds of the dawn of history was a +logical transition; the early peoples of the Orient, the Egyptians, the +Indians and the Chinese had accomplished it; but classical antiquity +is, perhaps, our most definite point of contact, and it might be said +that the bucolic Pan’s pipes or Syrinx of the Theocritan shepherd is +the ancestor of the ‘king of instruments.’ + +The _Syrinx_ of pastoral Greece consisted of a series of reeds (tubes) +without sound-holes, of graduated length and blown across the ends, +each tube giving forth one note of the diatonic scale. In the course +of time men hit upon the idea of allowing a bellows to take the place +of the human lungs and thus produce sound by artificial instead of +natural wind-pressure. Hence, even before the second century B. C. we +have the first pneumatic organ--a series of variously tuned pipes, with +mouthpieces, placed upon a box or chest, into which the air was pumped +by bellows, the pipes sounding when the player opened the primitive +valves which admitted the air to each pipe. + +Following the pneumatic came the hydraulic organ, in which +water-pressure[92] took the place of wind-pressure. The invention of +this _organon hydraulicon_ is ascribed to the Alexandrian mechanician +Ktesibos, who flourished during the second century B. C. The +description[93] left of the instrument by the inventor’s pupil Heron +has been corroborated in its essentials by the discovery of a small +baked clay model of an hydraulic organ, found in the ruins of Carthage +in 1885 and preserved in the _Musée Lavigérie_ at Carthage. This model, +7-1/16 by 2-3/4 inches (which it is estimated would represent an actual +instrument 10 feet high and 4 feet across), was made by the potter +Possessoris, whose name is engraved on it, about 120 A. D., and is +important as verifying the fact that a primitive keyboard was in use at +the beginning of our era. + +It is clear that both forms of the organ, pneumatic and hydraulic, +existed side by side for centuries--the hydraulic principle being +best adapted to the construction of large instruments, powerful in +tone, for permanent placing in amphitheatre, palace or coliseum, and +the pneumatic better suited to smaller ones, easily carried about +and enjoying, perhaps, a more general popularity. The stationary and +moveable organs of the Roman empire thus anticipate the ‘positive’ and +‘portative’ instruments of a later day. + +Yet it is the hydraulic organ which is principally associated with the +palmy days of Roman imperial rule. Though the poet Cornelius Severus +(28 B. C.) celebrates the organ (_cortina_) which, ‘so rich in its +varied strains under the master’s skill, with liquid sound makes music +in the vast theatre,’ evidence tends to prove that the Romans were, +musically, not a highly advanced people--their ideal was quantity and +loudness of sound rather than quality, an ideal which the hydraulic +organ might realize better than the pneumatic. Hence the _organon +hydraulicon_, or _hydraulus_, was a luxury in vogue among the wealthy +patricians of the empire. Nero, whose musical attainments history views +with such grave suspicion, possessed two hydraulic organs. That they +were heard in the Coliseum we know by the testimony of Petronius, the +_arbiter elegantiarum_ of Nero’s Augustinian circle, who speaks of +gladiators struggling to the sound of the water-organ. It is strange +to note that among later Roman emperors the depraved and degenerate +Heliogabalus (A. D. 219-222) and his immediate successor, the good and +noble Alexander Severus, were both good performers on the water-organ. + + + I + +With the universal spread of the Christian faith the organ found its +way into the service of the Church, and even during the decline of the +empire and the dawn of western civilization the art of organ-building +never altogether died out. And this, despite the fact that originally +the instrument had come under the ban of the Church because of its +heritage of evil associations with the gladiatorial combats, saturnalia +and theatrical representations of Pagan Rome; possibly, also, because +the emperor Julian the Apostate was the owner of a fine _hydraulus_. +Yet this prejudice was ere long overcome, for the Spanish bishop, +Julianus, in the fifth century, asserts that organs were commonly used +in the churches throughout Spain. + +And such is the esteem in which the finer examples of the builder’s art +are held that they are considered a gift fit for kings. The Emperor +Konstantine Kopronymus presents one to Pepin, king of the Franks, in +the year 757; and another Byzantine emperor sends one to Charlemagne in +812, of which the chronicle says: ‘Its bellows were of hide, its pipes +of bronze, its tones as loud as thunder and sweet as the sound of lyre +and psaltery.’ A pneumatic organ (as distinct from the hydraulic one +installed in his palace) was secured by the son of Charlemagne, Louis +le Debonnaire, for the royal chapel at Aix-la-Chapelle. And before +the tenth century the use of the organ in church and monastery was +well-nigh universal. Three treatises on organ-building written during +the tenth century testify to the fact. No doubt these early hydraulic +instruments had stops of some kind, but if so, their secret has +perished with them. + +The tenth century (as well as the eleventh) was one of great activity +in organ-building. Numerous small organs were made in France, England +and Germany for use in cloister schools, where they supported the +singing of the Gregorian melodies. They usually consisted of a series +of from eight to, at the most, twenty-two pipes, tuned in the scale +of C major, from the tenor C upward. The pipes resembled the modern +diapasons in construction and stood behind a species of manual with +small keys (upright at first, but later horizontal) which allowed the +wind to enter the pipes when they were pressed down. Into these organs +the wind was pumped by bellows and water-power was not used to regulate +the pressure. + +The passion for cathedral building which had broken out even before +this time conditioned the building of great organs in keeping with +the size and splendor of the ministers. These large organs were all +built on the hydraulic principle. In England we find a monster organ +(described in verse by St. Wolstan) installed in Bishop Alphege’s +church at Winchester about 980 A. D. It had four hundred pipes of +bronze, twenty-six bellows and two manuals (for two players) of twenty +keys (or rather levers) each, every key governing ten pipes. These +pipes were probably tuned in octaves of different pitch or, perhaps, +with fifths. The instrument required the services of some seventy +men to pump the wind! William of Malmesbury mentions ‘a fair organ +with pipes of copper, mounted in gilded frames,’ which St. Dunstan +presented to his monastery in the chronicler’s native town. And in +the _Vita S. Oswaldi_ we are informed that the Saxon Earl Elwin gave +the Convent of Ramsay an organ of spiral form, having copper pipes, +which ‘on feast-days emitted a sweet melodie and a clangour resounding +a long way.’ Large organs were also installed in Cologne, and in the +churches and monasteries of many other German and French cities during +this century. The ‘clangour’ of the Ramsay organ mentioned by the +chronicler we may take for granted, for in these instruments no special +distinction of tone-quality was sought, power and sonority being the +first essentials. + + + II + +Prior to the tenth and eleventh centuries, with their monster +instruments, the organ had been comparatively easy to play. But with +the enormous increase in size and a correspondingly complicated +mechanism the organist had to be somewhat of an athlete, so great was +the actual physical exertion required to depress the broad levers which +produced the tone (no actual keyboard existed before 1200 A. D.).[94] +The clenched fist was used and originated the mediæval term _organum +pulsare_, to ‘beat’ the organ. During this century and the succeeding +one the compass of the organ was enlarged from one to three octaves, +and progress in organ-building was also made in other directions. + +In the twelfth century the pipes were first divided into registers and +stops, and the small ‘portative’ organs, easily carried, came into +use. Not until a hundred years later did the balanced keys, _depressa +lamina_, a genuine keyboard, appear in connection with the portative +organs, and in the fourteenth century their use was general in the +larger organs as well. Before the introduction of the keyboard, the +performer had ‘beaten’ levers or pulled out stop-like sliders to +produce the tone, and the great exertion entailed by the ‘beating’ of +the levers in the great organs is supposed to have led to the invention +of ‘mixtures’ some time after 1300. + +The fourteenth century also offers the first instance of the use of a +chromatic keyboard, that of the organ at Halberstadt, built in 1361 +and restored in 1495, in which an inscription on the keyboard states +that it formed part of the original organ, which had the semi-tonal +arrangement of keys. During this century organ-building received a +temporary check owing to both the Greek and Roman churches declaring +against the use of the instrument in public worship. It was soon +restored in the Roman Church, but has never been reintroduced in the +Greek. + + + [Illustration: Handel’s Organ in Whitchurch] + _From a photograph_ + + +During the fourteenth century the ‘positives’ and ‘regals,’[95] +small stationary organs, were perfected; and the organ pedals, said +to have been invented by Ludwig van Valbeke, an organist of Brabant, +about 1300, were first introduced. The change from broad to narrow +and more easily played keys in the larger organs is also supposed +to have taken place at this time. The ‘blowers’ of these days, and +for centuries to come, however, did not have an easy time of it. In +many of the large organs the wind was pumped by continual shifting +of weights of lead or stone. This was not the case with the bellows +at Magdeburg and Halberstadt. Here each blower manipulated two heavy +bellows, pressing down the upper plate of one while he raised the other +with a foot shod with an iron shoe. These blowers were appropriately +enough termed ‘tramplers.’ Another method of pumping was in use in the +Seville Cathedral up to comparatively recent times. Here the blower +walked continually from one to the other end of a fifteen-foot plank, +on the principle of a see-saw, alternately raising and depressing the +feeders as he reached either end. The ‘portatives’ of this time usually +consisted of a small wind-chest between two standards, planted with two +ranks of keys, of eight pipes each, and with a clavier of eight flat +diatonic keys, with single bellows like the ordinary domestic article. +The smaller ‘portatives’ may be said to have furnished the reed stops +for the organ proper. + + + III + +In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries organs of great beauty and +variety of tone, and rich in external adornment (there is a legend of +an organ with pipes of pure silver erected by Philip II, king of Spain, +in the _Escorial_), were built throughout Europe, the Germans enjoying +the greatest reputation as builders. In France (Amiens Cathedral, +Church of St. Bernard of Comminges, Chartres Cathedral); in Italy +(Basilica di San Petronio, Bologna; Orvieto Cathedral, Church of St. +John Lateran); in Spain (cathedrals of Salamanca, Zaragoza, Tarragona, +Barcelona), and in Germany (churches and minsters in Vienna, Erfurt, +Brunswick, Strassburg, Salzburg, Bamberg, Nürnberg) are still to be +found organs and cases which excite admiration. In England small +organs were principally used in the churches during the fifteenth +century, though toward its close and during the sixteenth larger organs +were imported from the Continent. During the sixteenth century the +_Rückpositiv_ (back positive), a small portable organ for liturgic +ceremonies, located at the organist’s back and communicating with a +keyboard in the principal organ by means of trackers running under his +feet, was invented and used until well into the nineteenth century, +especially in France. + +A curious feature of the sixteenth-century cathedral organ of Spain, +and one which influenced Spanish religious composition, was the +_partida_, or division. All the stops were divided into two groups, +each one acting on half the keyboard, the stops on one side sounding +in the treble half, those on the other in the bass. Thus a Spanish +cathedral organ with 120 stops in reality controlled only 60 sets +of pipes. Compositions for these organs were called _partidas_, one +hand playing full organ with all the reeds, the other using only flue +stops. The part written for full organ was always _glosada_, or rich in +brilliant passage-work and ornamentation. Organ builders in the earlier +days were usually monks and priests, as all creative cultural activity +was then concentrated in the church and especially in the monasteries. +During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the lay builder, in +contrast to the ecclesiastic, makes his appearance. + +Among these builders were, in England: William Wotton, who flourished +in 1487, Chamberlyn (1509), Duddyington (1519), Perrot (1526) and White +(1531); in Germany: Compenius, Schnitzker, Hildebrandt, Schmid, André, +Kranz, Lobsinger, and the Trampeli; in Italy: the Attengnati family, +Lorenzo di Giacomo, Luca Blasi, Vincenzo Columbi. It may be said that +during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the organ assumed a form +whose essentials--plurality of keyboards (manuals) and wind-chests, +arrangement of stop action and pedals--have remained unchanged during +succeeding centuries. Interesting as an incident in the development +of the increasing secular use of the instrument is its introduction +(in the smaller form) in the orchestra of Peri’s _Euridice_ (1600), +the first opera, in which _un regalo_ and _Duoi organi di legno_ +(portatives with wooden pipes) were employed. + + + IV + +During the seventeenth century many mechanical devices intended to +secure rapidity, ease and precision in organ playing were invented or +perfected. The custom of tuning the organ according to the ‘unequal +temperament,’ which made practicable the use of only sixteen keys, +persisted throughout this century, and did not die out on the Continent +until the next. The wind-gauge, invented in 1675 by Chr. F. Förner, +was important, as it made possible the proper regulation of the +wind-power in the various wind-chests and in the registers above them. +In general, this century as well as that following are notable because +of the addition of many new flute and reed-tone stops, and a general +enrichment of the tone-color of the instrument; as well as the first +general application of a thoroughly modern idea, the union of several +distinct organs, each having a keyboard of its own, into one single +instrument, though more than one manual had been used before this. + +Early in the eighteenth century the ‘swell’ is invented to vary the +loudness of the organ tone, by an English organ-builder named Jordans +(1712); and during the course of the century the softest sounding +manual in the majority of English organs (known as the ‘echo’) is +changed into a swell. On the other hand the pedal is practically +unknown in England until the nineteenth century. Father Smith, +Thomas, René Harris and Avery were prominent English organ-builders +of the eighteenth century, as well as Samuel Green, who invented the +horizontal bellows in 1789. The Silbermanns were the great German +builders of the time, and from 1714 to 1817 various members of this +family built remarkably fine organs, renowned for their tone quality +and constructive excellence, in a number of German cities. One of the +finest of the Silbermann organs is that of the Freiberg minster, built +by Gottfried, in 1714; another is that of the Catholic Royal Chapel in +Dresden. + +A curious development of the _rococo_ spirit of the age was the +amount of money spent on the tasteless external embellishment of the +instrument--angels posturing on the organ-cases, who by means of a +mechanism beat kettle-drums and cymbals and blew trumpets, and ‘cymbal +stars’ which jingled as they revolved on wires. Yet such errors in +judgment represented no more than a temporary aberration of taste, and +the century as a whole is one of continual mechanical progress with +corresponding musical results. + +It is in the nineteenth century, however, that the great advance +in the mechanics of organ-building, which has culminated in the +present perfected instrument of to-day, begins. Cavaillé-Col (b. +1811) introduced separate wind-chests, with varying pressures for the +higher, middle and lower parts of the keyboard, and added _flutes +octaviantes_ to the register. In 1832 C. S. Barker (England) invented +composition pedals, making easier the handling of groups of stops, +and the pneumatic lever. And, finally, with the improvements of H. W. +Willis and the electro-pneumatic action of Péschard (1866) (electricity +had already been applied to the key-action by Dr. Gauntlett in 1850), +the history of the ancient organ comes to an end and that of the modern +instrument begins. + + F. H. M. + + + V + +The processes by which the organ has developed from its clumsy +prototypes to the magnificent yet sensitive and delicate instrument +of to-day are parallel to those to be found in other products of +man’s ingenuity. Practical science has contributed step by step to +this evolution, and no one can understand the modern organ who is not +familiar with the latest inventions of electro-pneumatics. + +The first step was the introduction of pneumatic mechanism to open the +pallets in the old open slide chests, thus equalizing the touch of the +key-action. This also made it possible to greatly increase the number +of stops served by a single pallet. The next problem was to avoid +increasing the weight of the key-touch when the couplers were drawn, +and this was accomplished by an extension of the pneumatic system in +the key-desk, which in this case was connected by action-tubing to the +chests. The resulting combination of an entirely pneumatic key-action +with the pneumatic operation of the pallets constituted tubular +pneumatic action. + +An improved form of chest was at this time constructed in which each +stop was supplied with wind separately and the single pallet for each +note was replaced by a small pneumatic valve for each pipe of each +stop on the chest. Hilborne L. Roosevelt and C. S. Haskell developed +this system (1885) and at first employed it in connection with tracker +key-action. Many an old organ of this type is in perfect condition +to-day. Most American organs contain chests built on this plan, with +countless modifications. Among its advantages are greater steadiness +of wind, and independent control of the wind as it enters each +stop-chamber. The latter feature is closely related in its operation to +the French ventils by which whole sections of stops are cut off from +the wind at the player’s will. Thus the modern organ combines tubular +pneumatic action with pneumatic chests, as practically all chests, +whether open or individual, are pneumatic in their operation. + +An important advance must be credited to Mr. Roosevelt, in the +origination of adjustable combination action, which was applied by him +in 1882. + +It is impossible to record adequately the revolution which the use of +electricity has wrought in organ building. In 1886 Henry Willis erected +a large four-manual electric organ in Canterbury Cathedral, where the +storage batteries filled a good-sized room (which was the old singing +school room), and their amperage was enormous. The successful audacity +of this achievement deserves recognition. Here was a large key desk +placed behind the choir stalls, and connected only by cables, 120 feet +long, with the organ, which was entirely concealed in the Triforium. +This is exactly what has become a commonplace in the organ of to-day. +The progress of electricity has, however, enabled us to use much +smaller magnets, and to apply their action to the pneumatic chests with +great simplicity. For it must be remembered that so-called electric +organs merely add electrical control to the existing pneumatic action +of the pipe valves. In some organs this element is proportionately +quite small, in others it is very large; but in any case the chest +action is pneumatic. + +In one form of chest the action, while electro-pneumatic and designed +to control each stop separately, is exposed and constitutes the +ceiling of a highly developed modern open chest. Though originated +by Randebrock, the chief credit for this combination of the two +fundamental systems of chest structure is due to John T. Austin (1895). +He has named it the ‘Universal Air Chest.’ + +The separate stop-chest made it possible to operate a stop from +more than one keyboard, or at more than one octave, a process which +is called duplex, multiple or unit stop control. Noted builders +are applying the idea in great variety. The principle is not new. +It was brought out in Belgium by L. Dryvers, and described by H. +V. Couwenbergh in 1887. One of his schemes comprised an organ of +six units, from which a three-manual organ of forty-six registers +was formed. For instance, a Bourdon stop of 104 pipes yielded ten +registers, of the following variety of nomenclature--_Bourdon_, +_Sous-Basse_, _Flûte Bouchée_, _Flûte Douce_, _Flûte Champêtre_. The +ingenious prophet, however, added to this scheme a _Récit_ organ +of eleven absolutely separate solo stops, built on the _système +ordinaire_, and expressive, thereby showing a commendable sense of the +weakness of his own system! + +All modern organs employ the principle of duplex mechanism to some +extent, and, legitimately used, it is of enormous value. The example +given above is the _reductio ad absurdam_ of the idea, and also +indicates the deceptive habit of renaming the stops thus derived. + +The success of the modern organ has depended in large measure on the +use of really effective swell chambers. Not only are they effective, +but the proportion of stops that are enclosed has been greatly +increased. The organ has thereby been liberated from its old lack of +flexibility. We even find two expressive divisions playable from one +manual. An interesting adaptation of this idea is the grouping of all +the stops of each tone family in separate swell chambers. This has been +done on some large concert organs, as well as on those of the unit +type. Mention must here be made of the conspicuous service rendered by +Robert Hope-Jones both in his insistence on effective expression, with +the stops arranged in ‘families’ of tone, and in his advocacy of the +unit organ. However, he was often obliged to modify his own theories in +practice. He was the first to leather the lips of Diapason pipes. + +Tonally, the modern organ has also made great strides. It cannot be +said that voicers are more skillful in their art, nor that the quality +of the materials used is better than in the past. We must, however, +note the great advantage of being able to supply and control wind of +any pressure desired in the modern wind chest. It is quite common to +voice the chorus solo reeds on a wind pressure of twenty-five inches, +for which the scales used, the thickness and weight of the metal, and +the voicing, are greatly modified. The Diapasons and Flutes have not +changed so much as the chorus and solo reeds, and the stops of string +tone. Artistic voicing has completely changed the character of these +stops, and has adjusted itself to the new conditions of expression. A +few men have achieved fame in this direction, though their work has not +always received the recognition it deserves. Among them were George and +Charles Englefried and others, whose work was found on many Roosevelt +organs; John W. Whiteley, of the English family of organ builders; +and W. E. Haskell, whose development of string tones and especially +the allied flue stops of reed character has attracted attention. The +inventions of Robert Hope-Jones have given a great stimulus to the +high-pressure reeds, and he also introduced the Diaphone (1894). +Among American builders the names of George S. Hutchings, Hilborne L. +Roosevelt and Ernest M. Skinner are conspicuous for their high ideals +in artistic voicing, while in Europe the noble instruments constructed +by Henry Willis and Aristide Cavaillé-Coll are most conspicuous. + + + VI + +No account of the modern organ would be complete without reference to +three new developments of the instrument. Its origin and traditions are +ecclesiastical, but our civilization has at first hesitatingly, and +now boldly, appropriated the organ for other uses. It was introduced +into various private residences, and the resulting type is known as +the Chamber Organ. Then, particularly in England, it was employed as a +means of public instruction and entertainment in town halls and other +public buildings. Notable examples are the organs at Liverpool (St. +George’s Hall), London (Albert Hall, etc.), and Sydney, N. S. W. These +instruments are known as Concert Organs. A typical modern concert organ +scheme is as follows: + + + SPECIFICATION OF A CONCERT ORGAN + By CLIFFORD DEMAREST, F. A. G. O. + + _Organist, Church of the Messiah, New York City_ + + + GREAT ORGAN + + 1. 16 ft. Bourdon 10. 8 ft. Doppel Flute + 2. 16 ft. Diapason 11. 4 ft. Harmonic Flute + 3. 8 ft. First Diapason 12. 4 ft. Octave + 4. 8 ft. Second Diapason 13. 2-2/3 ft. Twelfth + 5. 8 ft. Stentorphone (from Solo) 14. 2 ft. Fifteenth + 6. 8 ft. Gemshorn 15. V Rks. Mixture + 7. 8 ft. Gedeckt 16. 16 ft. Trumpet + 8. 8 ft. Gross Flute 17. 8 ft. Trumpet + 9. 8 ft. Gamba 18. 4 ft. Trumpet + + Stops 4-18 inclusive enclosed in a separate box + + + SWELL ORGAN + + 19. 16 ft. Contra Gamba 30. 4 ft. Principal + 20. 16 ft. Melodia 31. 4 ft. Violina + 21. 8 ft. First Diapason 32. 4 ft. Flute Traverso + 22. 8 ft. Second Diapason 33. 2 ft. Flautino + 23. 8 ft. Viole d’Orchestre 34. III Rks. Solo Mixture + 24. 8 ft. Viol Celeste 35. 16 ft. Contra Fagotto + 25. 8 ft. Salicional 36. 8 ft. Oboe + 26. 8 ft. Salicional Celeste 37. 8 ft. Cornopean (Horn quality) + 27. 8 ft. Æoline 38. 8 ft. French Trumpet + 28. 8 ft. Hohl Flute 39. 4 ft. Horn + 29. 8 ft. Tibia Clausa + + + CHOIR ORGAN + + 40. 16 ft. Dulciana 48. 8 ft. Quintadena + 41. 8 ft. English Diapason 49. 4 ft. Chimney Flute + 42. 8 ft. Geigen Principal 50. 4 ft. Fugara + 43. 8 ft. Muted Viol 51. 2 ft. Piccolo + 44. 8 ft. Dulciana 52. 8 ft. Orchestral Oboe + 45. 8 ft. Concert Flute 53. 8 ft. Clarinet + 46. 8 ft. Melodia 54. 8 ft. Saxophone (wood) + 47. 8 ft. Flute Celeste (with Melodia) + + Enclosed in a separate box + + + SOLO ORGAN + + 55. 8 ft. Stentorphone 59. 4 ft. Philomela + 56. 8 ft. Tibia Plena 60. 8 ft. Gross Gamba Celeste + 57. 8 ft. Gross Gamba 61. 8 ft. French Horn + 58. 4 ft. Clarion 62. 8 ft. Tuba (25 inches) + + Enclosed in a separate box + + + PEDAL ORGAN + + 63. 32 ft. Open Diapason 72. 8 ft. Octave + (from Second Diapason) + + 64. 16 ft. First Diapason 73. 8 ft. Violoncello + 65. 16 ft. Second Diapason (metal) 74. 8 ft. Dolce Flute + (from Great Bourdon) + + 66. 16 ft. Bourdon 75. 32 ft. Contra Bombarde + 67. 16 ft. Second Bourdon (from Great) 76. 16 ft. Trombone + 68. 16 ft. Dulciana (from Choir) 77. 16 ft. Contra Fagotto + (from Swell) + + 69. 16 ft. Contra Gamba (from Swell) 78. 8 ft. Tromba + 70. 16 ft. Violone 79. 4 ft. Clarion + 71. 16 ft. Lieblich Gedeckt + + + ECHO ORGAN + + 80. 8 ft. Open Diapason 84. 8 ft. Vox Humana + 81. 8 ft. Celestina 85. 4 ft. Flute d’Amour + 82. 8 ft. Unda Maris 86. Harp. + 83. 8 ft. Fern Flute 87. Chimes (also playable on + Great and Pedal) + + Enclosed in a separate box + + + COUPLERS + + 1. Swell to Pedal 12. Chimes to Great 23. Choir to Choir 4’ + 2. Swell to Pedal 4 ft. 13. Swell to Choir 24. Choir to Great 16’ + 3. Choir to Pedal 14. Echo to Choir 25. Choir to Great 4’ + 4. Great to Pedal 15. Swell to Solo 26. Solo to Solo 16’ + 5. Solo to Pedal 16. Great to Solo 27. Solo to Solo 4’ + 6. Echo to Pedal 17. Echo to Swell 28. Solo to Great 16’ + 7. Chimes to Pedal 18. Swell to Swell 16’ 29. Solo to Great 4’ + 8. Swell to Great 19. Swell to Swell 4’ 30. Echo to Great 16’ + 9. Choir to Great 20. Swell to Great 16’ 31. Echo to Great 4’ + 10. Solo to Great 21. Swell to Great 4’ 32. Echo on, Great off + 11. Echo to Great 22. Choir to Choir 16’ 33. Echo on, Solo off + + Balanced Great Expression Pedal + Balanced Swell Expression Pedal + Balanced Choir Expression Pedal + Balanced Solo and Echo Expression Pedal + Balanced Crescendo Pedal + +Concert halls and assembly halls in public buildings in America are +now being furnished with organs of this type and an immense number of +people derive æsthetic enjoyment from these instruments. Moreover, +astute theatrical managers have seized on this favorite kind of +entertainment and are featuring organs in the theatre. There is no +settled form of theatre scheme, but the process of evolution is going +on, and worthy instruments are being constructed for this purpose. + +Unfortunately this development has resulted in the construction +of numerous hybrid instruments. The bewildering possibilities of +duplication have led to the installation of concert instruments with no +independent pedal foundation and with additional manuals which, instead +of preserving their own character, control only a rearrangement of +stops already perfectly accessible. The tendency to let mere mechanism +replace independent tones is most flagrantly displayed in this class of +instruments. + +There is no doubt that the organ is now beginning to ‘find itself.’ +The organ of the future will be as much like an organ as ever--only +more so, if possible! We shall still regard mechanism as a means to +an end, and not as an end in itself. We shall insist on simplicity +of control, at the key desk, however vast and sonorous the tonal +appointments. Finally, we shall honor and encourage the master voicers +in their efforts to use the best methods of the past, and to adapt them +to the new mechanical conditions. For in the last analysis the sense to +which the organ makes its true appeal is not that of touch, through the +player’s fingers, nor that of sight, through the impressive appearance +of tracery and noble towers of pipes, but that of hearing, for the +ear is the most marvellous acoustic instrument ever conceived and is +capable of appreciating the most refined as well as the noblest organ +tones. + + R. L. McA. + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[92] An interesting example of the primitive application of the +hydraulic principle in producing musical sound is afforded by the +‘whistling jug’ of the Peruvian Incas. Here water flowing from one +jar to another, through the medium of a cross-channel, forced the +air through a whistle set over the mouth of the second jar, with a +resulting musical note. The inverse tipping of the jar drew in the air +again through the whistle. + +[93] Vitruvius, the Roman engineer and architect, who lived in the +reign of Augustus, has also described the hydraulic organ of Ktesibos +in his _De Arch._ lib. X, cap. II. + +[94] Though the first keyboard (of sixteen keys), according to +Prætorius, was introduced into the organ of the Magdeburg Cathedral +toward the close of the eleventh century. + +[95] ‘Regals’ from the Italian _rigabello_, an instrument used to +support the plain-chant in the church. Perhaps, also, in allusion to +the quality of ‘the king of instruments.’ The ‘regal’ may be regarded +as the ancestor of the modern harmonium. + + + + + CHAPTER XV + + THE EARLY ORGAN MASTERS + + The old Italian masters: Landino to Frescobaldi--Early + German masters; the forerunners of Bach; Hassler, Pachelbel, + Buxtehude--J. S. Bach: the toccatas, the preludes and fugues, + the sonatas and other works--The early French composers: + Couperin and Rameau; Spain and Portugal; the Netherlands--The + early English masters; Tye, Tallis, Byrd, Bull, Gibbons, + etc.--Purcell; Handel. + + + I + +Italy, which was the scene of the birth and infancy of so many of +the forms and ideas out of which modern music was finally evolved, +witnessed the first development of organ-playing also. The earliest +existing information we possess regarding organists and organ-playing +comes from Italy and reaches far back into the fourteenth century. +Francesco Landino (1325-1390) of Florence is the first celebrated +representative of Italian organists’ art. A contemporary writer gives +the following enthusiastic account of his playing: ‘The whole assembly +is excited by his organ-playing, the young dance and sing, the old hum +with him; all are enchanted. He draws wonders from the little organ; +the birds cease their song and in their astonishment draw near to +listen.’[96] + +The instrument with which Landino produced such astonishing effects +and gained such a reputation was not the church organ (_organum +magnum_), which was altogether too clumsy, but the little house organ, +probably the ‘portative’ organ, called _ninfale_ in Italy (see Chapter +XIV). In the Library of St. Lorenzo at Florence is a miniature which +represents Landino seated, playing on a _ninfale_ which rests on his +knees. He was called _Il Cieco_ from the fact that he was blind, and +his great skill as a performer gave him the name Francesco _degli +Organi_. He was generally recognized as the most prominent organist and +musician of his time, and, as he was of noble family and grew up in an +atmosphere of culture and refinement, it is not astonishing to find +that he was not less celebrated as a philosopher and poet. None of his +compositions for the organ have been preserved; probably most of his +playing was improvisation, as his infirmity would render it difficult +for him to make use of the imperfect notation of his time. Several of +his vocal works have come down to us, however, and Fétis considered +them far in advance of the art of his period. + +There were, of course, many organists before Landino, but none of them +seem to have gained any special excellence in the practice of their +art. Until about the time of Landino the professions of organ-playing +and organ-building, certainly as far as church-music was concerned, +seem to have been more commonly than otherwise combined in the same +person. But after Landino organ-playing became more of a specialized +department of musical art. Early in the next century Antonio +Sguarcialupo achieved much fame for his performances and in 1435 was +appointed organist at the newly-dedicated Cathedral of Santa Maria at +Florence. He was of noble birth and was a man of refined and scholarly +attainments. He evidently held the double position of church organist +and court organist to Lorenzo the Magnificent, and his playing was so +exceptional that it attracted people to Florence from far and near to +listen to it. Lorenzo treated him as a friend, and so highly did he +esteem him that at his death he wrote a sonnet eulogizing the musician, +in which Death is made to say, ‘I have taken him in order that Heaven +may be made more joyful with his music.’ No compositions of his for +either organ or voices have come down to us, but he left a valuable +collection of older Italian compositions, thirteen in number, the only +existing examples of Italian musical art of that far-off time. This +collection is now in the Library of St. Lorenzo in Florence. + +The Netherlanders, who were the musical masters of Europe during this +period, were the founders of the first real school of organ-playing +in Italy. The two men who gave this movement its first impetus and +direction were Adrian Willaert (about 1480-1562), who was _maestro +di cappella_ of St. Mark’s at Venice from 1527 till his death, and +Jacques Buus (born in Flanders about 1510), who was second organist at +St. Mark’s from 1541 to 1551. They cultivated with special zeal and +preference the so-called _ricercare_, one of the most important of the +early instrumental forms. Willaert’s creative interest naturally lay +more in the direction of composing for the fine choral establishment +which St. Mark’s maintained, but Buus seems to have made at least the +beginning of a type of instrumental music that was conceived for the +organ and not merely transcribed from vocal music, thus paving the way +for real organ music. + +For a better understanding of early organ music it will be +necessary here to describe briefly some of the most important and +frequently-employed instrumental forms of the period. The earliest +use of the organ in the church service was merely to strengthen the +voice parts by duplication. When the organ was developed sufficiently +to be used alone for artistic playing, the organist merely played +well-known motets and other church compositions and sometimes even +favorite secular madrigals and _chansons_. For a long time these +were purely transcriptions of the choral parts with no attempt at +variation and many of the compositions of the period were frankly +written ‘either to be sung or played.’ Little by little organists +ventured to introduce free passages of their own to embellish the +voice parts, but such compositions remained essentially choral works. +The _ricercare_ (from _ricercare_, ‘to search out’) was one of the +earliest forms of strictly instrumental music, though the term was +sometimes applied also to the madrigal.[97] It dates from early in the +fifteenth century and was an elaborate and scholarly form into which +every known contrapuntal artifice and device was introduced, and which, +therefore, was least cultivated. Originally the _ricercare_ did not +adhere to the same subject throughout, but, like the motet, progressed +after a short elaboration to a new subject. This lacked conciseness, +which, however, was won in the seventeenth century when it assumed +practically the same form as the simple fugue, and for a long time +these two terms were interchangeable. The _ricercare_ was sometimes in +the form of a _fantasia_ on some popular melody or song and in this way +many secular tunes crept into organ music as they had earlier found a +surreptitious place in the old masses. A somewhat later form was the +_canzona Francese_, an invention borrowed from the French _chanson_, +contrapuntal in character but less elaborate than the _ricercare_ and +freed from pedantry. Its first three notes were almost invariably a +quarter and two eighths, thus establishing a characteristic rhythmical +movement. Its song-like character made it a favorite form. The +_toccata_ (from _toccare_, ‘to play’) was a third and still later form. +This required brilliant execution and was in the nature of a fantastic +improvisation to display the technical skill of the performer. Later it +was frequently employed to precede a fugue and was built largely on the +development of a single figure. + +Pieces called _intonazioni d’organo_ (‘Intonations’) were short +preludes, from five to twenty measures long, in the nature of free +improvisations; they were used to precede the larger organ pieces in +the services of the Roman Church. The _fantasia_ was a form of very +respectable age, probably as old as the _ricercare_. It seems to have +been descended from the accompanied madrigal, in which the instruments +played the same parts with the voices. Hawkins in his History speaks of +fantasias as abounding ‘in fugues and little responsive passages and +all those elegances observable in the structure and contrivance of the +madrigal.’ Usually they were utterly free in form, differing radically +from the more formal structure of later fantasias, such as those by +Mozart and Beethoven. + +St. Mark’s at Venice was destined to play such a distinguished part +in the development of organ-music that a word of historical comment +will here be appropriate. Venice was a republic until 1797, its +government being vested in the hands of a Doge, or Duke, and a Council +made up of representatives of the nobility. From very early times +this Council took the greatest pride in the music of the grand-ducal +chapel, later known as St. Mark’s Cathedral (San Marco). As early as +1318 they commissioned Zucchetti to build a new organ for the chapel +and, when it was completed, appointed him organist and choir-master. A +second organ was built about 1370 and the position of second organist +created in 1389. These two positions were co-equal in duties, salary, +and official importance and the organists, like the consuls of old +Rome, were supposed to be men of equal calibre. They were chosen with +the greatest care from many candidates after the stiffest kind of +examination conducted before the magistrates and St. Mark’s grew to be +one of the most coveted musical appointments in Europe. A _maestro di +cappella_ was added to the two organists in 1491. His position was the +most important of the three and his salary[98] was larger than that of +the organists. He composed the special music, trained and conducted the +choirs and orchestra, and had general supervision over all the church +music. This position became so important that later a second _maestro_ +was appointed with rank and duties coordinate with the first. In these +positions a long line of illustrious musicians served St. Mark’s for +several centuries. + +Once started in a new direction, the Italians soon took from the hands +of their Netherland masters the development of this branch of the art +and native organists began to write copiously for their instrument. In +addition to Venice, Rome, Florence, Naples, Bologna, Parma, and many +other Italian cities boasted of excellent musicians and organists who +worked earnestly and enthusiastically for the advancement of the art of +organ music. They did not employ counterpoint merely for its own sake, +as did many of the Netherland masters, but imagination and feeling +were given consideration. Harmonically and melodically much progress +was also made and chromatic tones were much more freely and frequently +brought into use. The forms chiefly cultivated were those mentioned +above. Brief mention will be made of the more famous of these early +masters. + +Claudio Merulo (1533-1604) at the age of twenty-four was chosen out of +ten competitors to fill the position of second organist at St. Mark’s +in Venice, and from 1566 to 1586 he was first organist there. One of +the greatest organists of his time, he is credited by Fétis with being +the first to write really independent compositions for the organ. +He wrote three volumes of _ricercari_ and _canzoni_ and two volumes +of toccatas. His fame as composer rests chiefly on the fact that he +advanced the toccata-form. His reputation was overshadowed by the +greater genius of the two Gabrielis, who were associated with him at +St. Mark’s. + +Andrea Gabrieli (1510-1586), a pupil of Willaert and the successor of +Merulo as second organist at St. Mark’s in 1566, was one of the most +eminent representatives of the brilliant Venetian school. He exerted +a large influence not only as composer and performer, but also as +teacher. Among his distinguished pupils were his nephew Giovanni and +the German Hans Leo Hassler of Nuremberg. His organ works include +chiefly _ricercari_, _canzoni_, and _intonazioni_. A characteristic +work of his is the _Fantasia allegra_, founded on a popular French +_chanson_ by Crequillon, which is quoted by Ritter in his _Geschichte +des Orgelspiels_. It has three themes or subjects which are developed +in the style of the _ricercare_. The second subject is a free +‘inversion’ of the first and the third is formed from the second by +‘diminution,’ with ornamentation in rapid passages. + +Giovanni Gabrieli (1557-1612), nephew and pupil of Andrea, was likewise +celebrated as organist, teacher, and composer. From 1575 to 1579 he +was at the court in Munich. In 1585 he succeeded Merulo as first +organist at St. Mark’s, a position which he held until his death. +Heinrich Schuetz and Michael Prætorius were among his famous pupils. +As composer he stood at the head of the Venetian school, being, +like his uncle, a great master of vocal forms and showing a special +preference for compositions for double and triple chorus. For organ +he left preludes, a _toccata_, and several _ricercari_ and _canzoni_. +A valuable and attractive work of his is the _Sonata pian e forte_ +in eight independent parts (quoted in Wasielewski’s _Geschichte der +Instrumentalmusik_). + +The two Gabrielis occupy a place of large importance in the early +development of organ music and may be said to be the first real +organ composers. Their _ricercari_ mark a distinct advance over +the compositions of their predecessors, especially in their fugal +construction. + +Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1526-1594), _maestro di cappella_ of +St. Peter’s at Rome from 1571 until his death, and the greatest master +of the unaccompanied polyphonic choral style, wrote some for the organ, +including eight _ricercari_. The character of his music is quiet, +serious, and dignified, contrasting favorably with the often dull and +meaningless _ricercari_ of the older Netherlanders. Wasielewski’s +estimate of these older compositions is: ‘The impression they produce +is essentially wearisome, dry, and monotonous. They are generally of +great length and they sound like troubled, uneasy successions of notes, +wanting in contrast of subjects and strength of ideas; the eye is more +satisfied than the ear.’[99] + +Luzzasco Luzzaschi (1545-1607) was organist of the Cathedral of +Ferrara. Merulo conferred upon him the title of ‘first organist of +Italy.’ A good organ number is his Toccata in the fourth tone. + +Gioseffo Guami (about 1550-1611) enjoyed an excellent reputation as +organist and composer. He was organist first at Munich, then at St. +Mark’s, and finally at the cathedral in Lucca, his native town. His +_canzona_ ‘_La Guamina_’ (quoted by Ritter) is a valuable composition +and shows him as a master of form, gifted with refreshing inventive +powers. + +Girolamo Diruta, born about 1560 at Perugia, was a pupil of Merulo and +organist of the cathedral at Chioggia, near Venice. He was the author +of a famous instruction book (published in 1597), ‘_Il Transilvano_’--a +dialogue on the true method of playing organs: in which work a +knowledge of everything connected with the keyboard is easily and +rapidly taught. Also how to use the hands in Diminution (which means +here the ornamentation of a subject by rapid notes) and the method of +understanding the Tablature, proving the truth and necessity of the +rules given, by examples of Toccatas by divers excellent organists. +A work newly made, most useful and necessary to professors of the +organ.’ The book contains the following rules for playing the organ +‘with gravity and ease.’ The organist must sit before the middle of the +keyboard and must not make unnecessary movements, but must hold himself +upright and in graceful position. The fingers must be placed equally +above the keys, somewhat bent but not stiff; the fingers must press, +not strike, the keys. The scale is to be played by the fingers alone, +without the thumb, which is to be used only in a _salto cattivo_ (that +is, a leap from an accented to an unaccented note), thus: + + + [Illustration: Music score] + + +The prejudice against the use of the thumb remained in force until +Sebastian Bach revolutionized the whole method of fingering by using +the thumb equally with the other fingers. _Il Transilvano_ also +contains some interesting directions for registration for the eight +ecclesiastical modes, for example: ‘For the First Tone, which requires +full-sounding quality, the Double Open Diapason, the Open Diapason, +and the Flute or Principal. To give expression to the melancholy +feeling of the Second Tone, the Double Open Diapason and Tremulant are +required....’ + +Constanzo Antegnati, born in Brescia in 1557, was an organist and +organ-builder, as his ancestors had been for several generations. In +1608 he published an instruction book called _L’Arte Organica_, which +is of more than passing interest since it gives some insight into the +size and structure of contemporary organs, their tone-qualities and +mode of playing. It would seem that Italian organ-builders did not +strive after variety of tone-quality, but built their instruments +almost exclusively of diapasons from 32-foot pitch to highest audible +pitch through octaves and fifths, with only a small proportion of flute +stops and rarely a reed stop. The Italian organists seldom, if ever, +changed registration during performance. The effects which were then +so much wondered at were produced more by dexterity of execution and +command of counterpoint. + +Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1644), Italy’s greatest master of the organ +and the most distinguished organist of the seventeenth century, was +the first to infuse expressive power into organ music. He was complete +master of the contrapuntal and harmonic art of his period and his work +bears the stamp of genius that would tolerate no rule, whether old or +new. ‘Understand me who can; I understand myself,’ he wrote as a motto +over one of his works. So great was his fame, as Baini relates, that at +his first appearance at St. Peter’s in Rome in 1614 he had an audience +of 30,000 listeners. The organ on which he played was an instrument of +fourteen stops with one manual and a short-compass pedal-board. He was +organist of St. Peter’s from 1614 until his death, except from 1628 to +1633 when he was court-organist at Florence. Instrumental music was +still in a crude, formative period, yet his harmonies are frequently +startling in their boldness and romantic suggestion; his music shows +almost complete emancipation from the sway of ecclesiastical modes; +and in the vigor and force of his subjects as well as in the freedom +with which he treated them and the expressive qualities he employed, he +was far in advance of his age. His contributions to organ literature +were numerous and important. They consisted of _ricercari_, _canzoni_, +_toccatas_, and _capriccios_, many of which have been reprinted in +modern notation in various collections of old masters.[100] He was +careful to give very specific directions, many of which are exceedingly +interesting, as to just how he wished his compositions performed. + +The culmination of Italian organ music was reached in Frescobaldi and +the supremacy in this field was soon transferred to Germany, whither +zealous and gifted German students had carried the fruits of their +Italian study. Very little progress was made in Italy, in either +organ-playing or organ-building, from the time of Frescobaldi until +near the close of the nineteenth century, so completely was Italy under +the domination of the particular kind of opera so dearly prized by that +melody-loving country. A few important Italian names, however, remain +to be mentioned. + +Giovanni Battista Fasolo, a Franciscan born at Asti, lived at Venice +and was known mainly by a work (published in 1645) which supplied the +organist with suitable material for the different services throughout +the whole church-year. + +Giovanni Battista Bassini (1657-1716), a famous violinist and organist, +was chapel-master of the Cathedral of Bologna from 1680 to 1685, when +he went to Ferrara. Of interest is his _Sonata da Organo_ in F, in +which he makes use of the ‘circle of keys’ in modulating away from and +back to the principal key. + +Vincenzo Abrici (1631-1696) was born at Rome, but was converted to +Lutheranism and in 1664 was appointed chapel-master to the Elector of +Saxony at Dresden, probably the only Italian Protestant organist of +his time. He wrote excellent church music and while at Dresden was the +teacher of Kuhnau. + +Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710) was born in Tuscany and became the most +celebrated Italian organist of the second half of the seventeenth +century, his fame spreading to many foreign countries. Most of his life +was spent at Rome where he was long organist at Santa Maria Maggiore, +from which position he was elevated to a post that was evidently +created especially for him--Organist of the Senate and People of Rome. + +Domenico Zipoli (born about 1675) was organist of the Jesuit Church at +Rome about 1716 and during his lifetime was recognized as one of the +foremost composers for the organ. He published sonatas for organ and +cembalo consisting of short pieces for ritual use. Several of these are +available in modern editions and, especially a Canzona in G minor and a +Pastorale in C major, are pleasing enough to have been written by Bach +or Handel. + +Padre Giambattista Martini (1706-1784), a celebrated theorist and +historian, published in 1738 sonatas for the organ and cembalo, which +were sets of short pieces hardly suitable for church use. He was +considered the highest authority on theoretical matters and was always +ready to help and encourage young musical talent. His Gavotte in F +(from one of the above sonatas) has often figured on popular organ +programs. + + + II + +Organ-playing in Germany was nearly a century later in starting +its serious development than in Italy. As the first impetus to the art +in Italy came from foreign sources--from the Netherlanders Willaert +and Buus who had settled in Venice--so the first definite stimulus +in the development of German organ-playing came from Italy and the +Netherlands, where the art had already reached a higher plane of +development. Amsterdam and Venice were the two chief centres from which +radiated the strongest influences in shaping the development of German +organ art. In the former city Sweelinck became the teacher of most of +the organists who later laid the foundations of the North German school +of organ-playing, while many of the great South German organists were +trained in Venice or Rome. + + + [Illustration: Early Organ Masters:] + Top: Girolamo Frescobaldi and Jan Pieters Sweelinck + Bottom: Samuel Scheidt and Hans Leo Hassler + + +The first Germans to develop the art were Conrad Paumann of Nuremberg, +Paulus Hofhaimer of Vienna, and Arnold Schlick of Heidelberg, all +South Germans. The circumstances surrounding the life of the first +representative of German organ music, Conrad Paumann, were strangely +similar to those of the first great Italian organist, Landino. Both +were blind (Paumann was born blind), both were of noble family, and +both mastered nearly every known instrument. Paumann (1410-1473) +aroused great enthusiasm by his playing, he travelled much, and his +fame spread to other countries. For many years he was organist at St. +Sebald’s Church in Nuremberg, but spent his last years in Munich. He +was the author of _Fundamentum Organizandi_, the oldest extant work on +the art of extempore organ-playing; for ‘organizing’ at that period +still meant adding a counterpoint or organum to a given subject. + +Paulus Hofhaimer (1459-1537), born at Radstadt, was court organist to +Emperor Maximilian I at Vienna. So famous was he that he was knighted +by both the Emperor and the King of Hungary; poets praised him and +Lucas Cranach painted his portrait. His contemporary, the organist +Luscinius, described his playing as being ‘full of angelic warmth and +power ... no one has surpassed, no one has even equalled him.’ + +Only the important churches in the larger towns possessed organs in +the fifteenth century. In the following century, however, interest in +organ-playing and especially in organ-building increased greatly and +organists multiplied rapidly. Among the first of them to gain eminence +was another famous blind organist, Arnold Schlick, born in Bohemia +about 1460 and organist to the Elector Palatine at Heidelberg. He was +the author of the oldest printed German tablature book (1512); in this +independent pedal parts were used throughout, a great advance over +previous organ composers. + +In some of the compositions of Leonhard Kleber (1490-1556) there +appeared the first signs of what later became known as the German +school of Colorists. This school made its appearance shortly before the +middle of the sixteenth century and took its name from the effort of +composers to overload their compositions with ornamental rapid passages +(_coloratura_). Many of Kleber’s compositions display all the stability +and earnestness of the Bach period, but the habit of ‘coloring’ the +parts with meaningless ornaments soon took possession of organists +and for a period in the latter part of the century the misuse and +abuse of the art of _coloratura_ caused German organ music to become +utterly mechanical and conventional. The greatest of the colorists were +Ammerbach, organist at St. Thomas’ Church, Leipzig (1560-1571), the +famous Strasburg organists, Bernard Schmid (father and son), Jacob Paix +(1550-1590), and Johann Woltz. + +As the seventeenth century dawned, the fashionable art of _coloratura_ +waned and the old solid style of organ-playing inaugurated by Schlick +and continued faithfully by his followers, which had really never +been lost by the more obscure musicians, was gradually revived and +gained new strength. A new life-giving element of greatest importance +to organ music was the Lutheran chorale; from it the inane art of the +‘colorists’ received its real death-blow. Its introduction into the +church-service and the important place it held there opened up a new +perspective for German organists and offered an artistic opportunity +which finally they began to take advantage of. The people loved not +only to sing the chorales but to hear them played on the organ; the +organists naturally desired to please their listeners, and out of +the custom of organists to render the chorales about to be sung with +all the resources of their art, gradually arose the _Choralvorspiel_ +or prelude. The more abstract contrapuntal treatment or elaboration +of chorale-melodies was abandoned and a new method of treatment +adopted that even up to the present time has failed to exhaust their +possibilities. The great plasticity of these chorale-preludes was +first revealed by Pachelbel; the elaboration of them was brought +to the highest perfection of expression and poetry by the immortal +genius of Sebastian Bach and their present-day possibilities have been +grandly demonstrated in the _Choral-fantasias_ of Max Reger. In the +chorale-prelude is to be found the basis of the solidity of style that +after Scheidt’s time has characterized German organ music, and in the +cultivation of this form the German organist has found the most ample +and satisfying opportunity for the exercise of his highest artistic +abilities. The Lutheran service gave far greater opportunities to the +organist than did the Roman service; in this fact is to be found one +powerful reason, among others, why German organ music advanced rapidly +while Italian organ music remained at a standstill. + +The new change in German organ art is strikingly indicated by the +_Tabulatura Nova_, published at Hamburg in 1624 by Samuel Scheidt +(1587-1654) of Halle. The music in this important work is entirely free +from the pernicious influence of _coloratura_ and for the first time +chorales are treated as pure organ music. Scheidt, who was a pupil of +the great Dutch organist and teacher Sweelinck and a contemporary of +Frescobaldi, was one of the three great S’s of the seventeenth century +(the other two being Schütz of Dresden and Schein of Leipzig, all +three being born about the same time). He was one of the most famous +organists of the century and did much to set the seal of permanence +on the forms of organ music that henceforth were chiefly cultivated +by German organ composers. These forms were the figured chorale, +the prelude and fugue, the canzona, the toccata, and the fantasia. +Scheidt’s importance lies in his artistic treatment of the chorale, +an idea that was taken up with such success a hundred years later by +the great Bach. By the middle of the seventeenth century German organ +music had attached itself firmly to the solid ideals it has ever since +maintained. + +Nuremberg, the old home of German art in South Germany, was also one +of the principal nurseries of early German organ art and held its +leading position until the beginning of the eighteenth century. The +first of the celebrated Nuremberg organists was Hans Leo Hassler +(1564-1612), one of the real founders of German music. He was organist +to the fabulously wealthy Fuggers in Augsburg in 1585 and after +passing several years in Venice as court-musician to Emperor Rudolph, +he accepted a position as court-organist at Dresden in 1608, where he +died. He was the composer of the melody to the chorale _Herzlich tut +mich verlangen_, which was such a favorite with Bach that he used it +in many of his chorale-preludes and also in the ‘St. Matthew Passion.’ +His organ works were only three in number, but Ritter maintains that +he bore the same important relation to German music that the Gabrielis +bore to Italian. + +Erasmus Kindermann (1610-1655) spent most of his life in Nuremberg. In +his _Harmonia Organica_ (published in 1645), consisting of preludes in +the twelve tones, he composed several strictly in the modern keys (C +major, D major, F major) and treated the pedal with great freedom. + +The greatest of the Nuremberg organists and one of the most celebrated +of the seventeenth century was Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706). After +holding the position of organist at various places (among them Erfurt +in 1676, where he taught Christopher Bach, Sebastian’s older brother +and first teacher), he returned to his native city in 1695 as organist +at St. Sebald’s. His organ compositions were very important and +influential, among them seventy-eight chorale-preludes--many of merit +and long-standing popularity--several chaconnes, brilliant toccatas, +and chorale-fugues. He was the inventor of this last-named form, the +subject being the first line of a chorale in diminution. This form was +perfected by Sebastian Bach and in the present day has inspired Max +Reger to the composition of his great _chorale-fantasias_, for example, +_Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme_. + +Augsburg became the chief centre of activity among the South German +Catholic organists as Nuremberg was the most influential centre of +the Protestant branch. Christian Erbach (1573-1628), organist of the +Augsburg Cathedral, wrote organ pieces in the style of Merulo and +Gabrieli, but in his ritual-music was much influenced by the Protestant +chorale-preludes, except that he employed modal harmonies. An important +Augsburg publication was _Ars magna Consoni et Dissoni_ (‘The Great +Art of Consonance and Dissonance’) by Johann Speth, the cathedral +organist, containing the best contemporary toccatas and magnificats, +and some important airs with variations. The first great name of this +group is Johann Jacob Froberger (about 1610-1667), who passed much of +his life in Vienna as court-organist. Ferdinand III sent him to Rome +(1637-1641) to study under Frescobaldi and he became one of the most +famous German organists and instrumental composers of the century. His +organ works--25 toccatas, 8 fantasias, 6 canzonas, fugues, etc.--are +important largely because of their great influence on J. S. Bach’s +development; his music sounds now more archaic than its date of +composition would indicate. Johann Kaspar Kerl (1621-1693), through +the munificence of Emperor Ferdinand III, likewise was sent to Rome to +study under Frescobaldi and Carissimi and exerted a wide influence as +organist and composer at Munich and Vienna. His published organ works +were largely toccatas and canzonas in the Italian style. + +The most excellent and at the same time the last of the great German +Catholic organists until the nineteenth century was Georg Muffat +(about 1645-1704). This really great artist deserves a much deeper +appreciation than history has yet accorded him. His great work, +_Apparatus Musico Organisticus_ (1690), consisting of toccatas, a +chaconne, a passacaglia, and other pieces, displays as fine a quality +of artistic feeling as is to be found in the period before Bach. +‘There is a human feeling about the music of Muffat, which removes it +above mere counterpoint or exhibition of skill, and appeals to the +heart more than any of the earlier compositions.’[101] Ritter, in his +_Geschichte des Orgelspiels_, says of him: ‘In the toccata he surpasses +all previous German masters except Buxtehude. Inexhaustible in the +invention of new forms and possessing absolute mastery to express them, +he is the first who leads the hearer from the realm of mere sound into +that of real soul-inspired music.’ + +While organ music was thus developing in South Germany, a vigorous +school was formed in North Germany, which waxed strong largely under +influences that radiated from the great Dutch organist, teacher, and +composer, Jan Pieter Sweelinck (1560-1621), at Amsterdam. So many of +the leading organists[102] of the next generation in North Germany were +his pupils that he earned the title of ‘Organist-maker’ and virtually +became the founder of the North German school of organ-playing. +His organ works are the most important products of his genius as a +composer. He was the first to use the pedal as an integral part of the +fugue and was the inventor of the organ-fugue as a form evolved from +one subject with the gradual addition of countersubjects leading up to +an elaborate finale--a form which Bach especially perfected. + +Hamburg was one of the most important centres of activity in the +progress of North German organ music. Here Heinrich Scheidemann +(about 1596-1663), who came of a family of organists, was the first +to attain distinction. He was followed as organist of St. Catherine’s +Church by his more famous pupil Johann Adam Reinken (1623-1722), +who had also studied with Sweelinck. Few of his organ compositions +have remained and these have no marks of special excellence, but he +gained a great reputation as a performer. He had a large four-manual +organ at St. Catherine’s and his great ability in performance and +in improvisation on chorales attracted people from distant places. +He was organist there for sixty years, retaining his full faculties +until his death at the remarkable age of ninety-nine. Sebastian Bach +twice journeyed on foot from Lüneberg to hear him play and was thereby +greatly impressed and influenced. On a later visit (1720), after Bach +himself had improvised for a half-hour on one of Reinken’s favorite +chorales, the Nestor of German organists, then ninety-seven years old, +exclaimed enthusiastically to the younger artist, ‘I thought this art +would die with me, but I perceive that it lives in you.’ The chief +characteristics of his organ-playing were unusual dexterity of foot and +finger and ingenious combinations of stops. + +Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707), a Dane born at Helsingör, was the +greatest of the North German group of organists and exerted a still +more profound and stimulating influence on Bach. He was organist of +the Marienkirche at Lübeck from 1667 till his death. With one of +the finest organs in Germany at his disposal (three manuals with +fifty-three stops, of which fifteen were on the pedal), he made Lübeck +famous for its music. In 1673 he started an innovation in church-music +that attracted international attention. This was a series of sacred +concerts, called _Abendmusiken_, in connection with the Sunday +afternoon services during November and December of each year, at which +famous singers and players assisted. These performances were continued +until early in the nineteenth century. In 1705 Sebastian Bach, then a +youth of twenty years, walked fifty miles from Arnstadt to hear him +in one of these performances and in 1703 Handel visited Lübeck for +the same purpose. Buxtehude left many works for organ, the greatest +of which are his fugues. Two volumes (edited by Spitta) contain most +valuable music--in all about seventy works, consisting of passacaglias, +chaconnes, three toccatas, fifteen fugues, and a large number of +chorale-preludes. Many of these disclose the fact that he had brought +organ music to a point of development that needed only the touch of +Bach’s overpowering genius for consummation. Among the lesser figures +that surround the giant Bach, Buxtehude towers highest. He modulated +freely into all keys as Bach did, his harmonies were often as bold, +and he welded the old threefold North German fugue into a close-knit, +organically developed unity that clearly foreshadowed Bach’s more solid +and compact form. + + + III + +Between the sturdy schools of North and South Germany there grew the +Saxon or Thuringian, in which the best influences of both schools +interlocked. Here in central Germany, especially in Thuringia where +‘every peasant knows music’ (as an old proverb runs), there flourished +a school that ultimately was the greatest of them all and that gave +to the world Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), not only the greatest +master of organ music, but one of the greatest master-minds of all time. + +An analysis of the special qualities of mind and heart that raised Bach +to such a lofty pinnacle of inspired effort will be found in another +volume of this series. Our present purpose is concerned only with his +organ works. These are both numerous and epoch-making. They carry to +the highest point of perfection in workmanship and expression all the +instrumental forms that had been in the making for a century and a half +before his hand of magic touched them with its transforming power; and +their naturalness, spontaneity, grandeur, and nobility of content and +form have been at once the despair and inspiration of nearly every +great musician since his time. The organ was the central point in +Bach’s art, as the orchestra was in Beethoven’s; it was his natural +voice, his most sympathetic medium of expression. No matter what form +he chose to write in, the organist’s mode of thought and expression +is apparent--as much in his choral works as in those for clavier. +Robert Schumann says: ‘Most wonderful and bold in his primal element +is Bach at his organ. Here he knows no bounds and works for centuries +ahead. The majority of his fugues are characteristic pieces of the +highest order, often truly poetic creations, each one demanding its own +characteristic expression and its own color and light.’ Goethe ventures +the bold assertion that ‘in listening to Bach’s music it seems as if +divine harmony were intercoursing with itself, as might have happened +in the bosom of God before the creation of the world.’ + +Both of his parents died when Sebastian was ten years old and the boy +was brought up and educated by his elder brother Johann Christian, +a pupil of Pachelbel and organist and school-master at Ohrdruf. His +organ training was of the most meagre description, but he was an +indefatigable worker and thinker. His first organ position was at +Arnstadt in 1704, in 1707 he removed to Mühlhausen, from 1708 to 1717 +he was court-organist at Weimar, from 1717 to 1723 court chapel-master +at Cöthen, and from 1723 till his death cantor of the Thomas School at +Leipzig. His organ works number about 150, of which only a small number +were published during his lifetime. Of the total number about ninety +are chorale-preludes (great and small). The remaining works comprise +nineteen large preludes and fugues, eight little preludes and fugues, +five toccatas and fugues, two fantastias and fugues, seven independent +fugues, four fantasias, a passacaglia, six sonatas, four concertos, and +several shorter pieces. + +In his early productions Bach leaned strongly toward his predecessors +in art--Pachelbel, Buxtehude, Frescobaldi, Couperin--a period of +early dependence that is to be observed in the lives of all the great +masters. He learned alike from German, Italian, and French masters, +assimilated their best influences, and acquired all their resources, +thus enlarging his own field of vision before disclosing his own +individuality. Incredibly versatile as he is and unapproachable in many +fields, the forms that he endowed with unusual sublimity and grandeur +are the chorale-prelude, the toccata, and the fugue. Of these the +fugue reveals the most characteristic elements of his greatness. The +manner in which he treated the form of the fugue is unique, without +precedent or parallel in the history of musical art. This form, as Bach +found it, was mainly characterized by stiffness, monotony, and lack of +expression. Under his hands, the greatest contrapuntist of the world, +it acquired elasticity and flexibility; he made the seemingly dry and +hard form so serve his imagination that he was able to produce real +characteristic pieces, even musical poems, which reflect his innermost +feeling in all its different nuances. + +The Toccata in F shows Bach’s genius in its most resplendent light. +This piece, with its imposing and truly modern pedal solos, its +intricate contrapuntal structure, its titanic energy, and its startling +modulations, excited the boundless admiration of Mendelssohn: ‘It +sounded as if the walls of the church might tumble down; what a giant +that Cantor was!’[103] Three of the other toccatas are powerful +compositions--the one in C major in the form of an Italian concerto, +and the two in D minor, one of which is sometimes called the ‘Dorian’ +because there is no B-flat in the signature and the other, majestic and +brilliant. + +Of the rich treasure of preludes and fugues that he left, the great +Leipzig pieces, written in the full maturity of his power, deserve +special mention. They are the ones in C minor, G minor, A minor, E +minor, and B minor--all ‘stupendous creations,’ as Spitta designates +them. The E minor Prelude and Fugue is called a ‘symphony’ by Spitta. +The Fugue, with its ‘wedge’ theme, is the longest of Bach’s fugues--231 +measures--but the interest never flags for a moment. That Bach not +only ‘violated’ rules but made his own, is shown by the fact that he +introduces into his fugue a _da capo_--from measure 172 repeating +the beginning part. The lofty B minor Prelude and Fugue is replete +with glowing beauties. Of the highest type of perfection and full +of expressive eloquence is the E-flat major Prelude and Fugue. The +Fugue, which is sometimes called ‘the St. Anne Fugue’ from the chance +resemblance of its subject to the first line of an English hymn-tune of +that name, is built on the model of the old Italian threefold fugue, +in the last sections of which the subjects are combined and interwoven +with consummate skill. + +The Fantasia in G minor is one of the most majestic works in the entire +literature of music. The Fugue associated with it is not as great as +the Fantasia, but is an exceedingly effective concert piece and a +masterful composition. It is a favorite not only with organists but +with all musicians, and has been transcribed for pianoforte by Liszt +and for orchestra by Abert. Its popularity with the general public is +due not a little to the unusually pleasing character of the subject +itself, which possesses all the jollity and grace of a dance-theme. +Bach’s fugue-subjects (and fugue-subjects in general) are seldom +interesting or pleasing as individual melodies. Their value is almost +wholly architectonic. The master architect will rear a structure of +significant beauty and imposing grandeur out of a mass of individually +uninteresting and meaningless brick and stone. In much the same way, +the composer views his fugue-subject mainly as a constructional item. +His interest is centred on the structure itself and the process of +construction. Notwithstanding this objective, impersonal point of view, +it is undeniably true that those fugues that have made the deepest +popular impression are constructed on subjects that are in themselves +melodically interesting, such as this G minor Fugue, the C minor +Fugue from the ‘Well-tempered Clavichord,’ and the C minor Fugue from +Mendelssohn’s Three Preludes and Fugues for organ. + +In a class by itself is the wonderful Passacaglia in C minor, which +Bach wrote as an advanced exercise (a practice piece!) for the +two-manual and pedal clavichord. It consists of twenty variations on a +_basso ostinato_ of eight measures. The theme is announced by the pedal +alone _pianissimo_ and is repeated over and over again in one voice or +another while the other parts build up a structure of ever-increasing +elaborateness and magnificence, the whole concluding with a fugue whose +subject is derived from the _basso ostinato_. + +The eight ‘Little Preludes and Fugues,’ so familiar to organ students +the world over, were composed probably for his own numerous pupils. + +The six sonatas (or trios) of Bach were not written for the organ but +for the pedal-clavier for the use of his son Friedemann. However, +the wonderful three-part writing makes them especially suitable for +reproduction on the organ and affords excellent opportunity for color +and contrast in registration. They contain a wealth of musical ideas of +varying moods, character, and deep expression, full of soul and life, +and clothed in attractive and often playful technique, the highest +of Bach’s art--a constant source of inspiration to the organist that +will take the time to delve into their depths. They are not sonatas, +of course, in the modern sense of the word. Of special value may be +mentioned the following numbers from them: the first Allegro of Sonata +No. 1 in E-flat, the elaboration of which approaches the modern sonata; +the Largo and Finale (in reality a masterful fugue) of the Second +Sonata in C minor; the whole of the Third Sonata in D minor, the Adagio +being of especial beauty; the Andante and Allegro (Finale) of the +Fourth Sonata in E minor, in the Andante the harmonic effects being so +full and complete that one forgets that only three voices furnish the +material; the Largo of Sonata No. 5 with its rich figuration work; and +the first Allegro and the Largo of the Sixth Sonata in G major. + +The real soul of Bach’s organ art is to be found in that numerous +group of his organ works that take the chorale for basis and +inspiration. Many of these are short compositions intended for use in +the church service, but many are long and elaborate and written for +concert use. They appear in three forms, the chorale-prelude (figured +and fugal), the chorale-fantasia, and the chorale-variation. The +signification of the chorale in the services of the Church to which +Bach had dedicated the full strength of his artistic powers sank deep +into his soul and the heart-beat of religious sentiment and devotion +constantly furnished stimulus and direction to his imagination and +intellect. His chorales frequently speak to us in a language suggestive +of words, but which words cannot express, the secret remaining in +the music. Inexhaustible are the forms that thus find characteristic +expression, born of the poetical suggestion. In the chorale ‘Through +Adam’s fall we all are doomed’ the fall into sin is suggested by the +ever-recurrence of the interval of a seventh in the bass. In _Christ, +unser Herr, zum Jordan kam_ the rushing waters of the river Jordan +are portrayed by the swift notes of the bass in the left hand with +16-foot tone, while the subject is played by the pedal with 8-foot +tone. In the variations on the chorale _Vom Himmel hoch da komm’ ich +her_ in canon-form, Bach astonishes with his almost superhuman mastery +of contrapuntal devices, but the expressive power never suffers, the +mathematical element and the musical fantasy joining in harmonious and +poetical union. + +So many of Bach’s works have been transcribed for other +instruments[104] that the following comment by Busoni[105] will have +interest: ‘One finds among the master’s organ works pieces of a more +pianistic character, as one finds among the piano fugues some that show +the type of organ pieces. The technical manner of Bach’s writing is in +its essence the same for both instruments. The transcription of his +works from the organ to the piano (or _vice versa_) cannot, therefore, +be regarded as wrong, esthetically considered.’ + + + IV + +The early organ masters in France were neither as numerous nor as +important as in either Italy or Germany, and no significant advance +came from France in this field. The organ was late in getting a +foothold in this country, there being no record of any church-organ +there before the twelfth century; no school of French composers for +the instrument appeared until the sixteenth century. In 1530 and 1531, +however, a five-volume collection of organ pieces was published in +Paris by the printer Pierre Attaignant, though no composers’ names are +given. This book gives a trustworthy indication of the French art of +organ-playing at that time. The collection consists of (1) original +organ music--preludes, (2) vocal music arranged for the organ--motets, +Te Deums, Kyries, and Magnificats in the eight modes, and (3) secular +songs and dance music intended for the house-organ or clavier. In +France, as elsewhere, no distinction was made in writing for clavier +and organ, though the latter enjoyed the preference, as it was also a +house instrument. The early French masters had a true understanding +of the nature of the organ. Their playing was neither frivolous nor +over-serious, but natural and free. A tendency to emphasize effective +and ingenious registration rather than the worth of the composition +manifested itself among French organists as early as the sixteenth +century and this has been a prominent characteristic of French +organ-music ever since. French organists of the sixteenth century, +however, seem to have possessed greater facility on the pedals than +their German contemporaries. + +In 1626 Jean Titelouze (1563-1633), a priest of St. Omer, and canon +and organist of the Cathedral of Rouen, published at Paris ‘Magnificats +in all the Tones, with Versets, for Organ.’ His organ compositions +are of considerable merit and he may be regarded as the founder of +French organ-playing. The school of Titelouze produced two excellent +organists--Nicolas Gigault[106] (born 1645), who, as Fétis says, was +‘one of the good French organists of the seventeenth-century school, +which was superior to that of the eighteenth century’; and André Raison +(born about 1650), organist of the abbey of St. Geneviève in Paris, +published in 1688 his _Livre d’Orgue_ containing masses, an offertoire, +and a piece imitating Froberger’s descriptive music entitled _Vive le +Roy_, written for the festival which commemorated the recovery of Louis +XIV from illness. It was stated that the purpose of the book was ‘to +show organists, both male and female, who are shut up in provincial +cloisters, how to make use of the excellent novelties and the increase +in the number of keyboards introduced by modern organ-builders.’ +Raison’s music shows, in the indicated stops to be used, that the +French preference for reed stops had already manifested itself. + +Jacques Champion de Chambonnières (the last part of which name he +assumed when he married the heiress of an estate of that name) +was first chamber clavecinist to Louis XIII. His influence on the +development of organ music was almost entirely through his famous +pupils, of whom, like Sweelinck, he had many, among them Le Bègue, +d’Anglebert, and the elder Couperins. He died in 1670, but left no +contributions to the literature of the organ. + +Nicolas Antoine le Bègue (1630-1702), organist to the king, in 1676 +published three books of _Pièces d’Orgue_. He was a very skillful +organist and a thorough contrapuntist. His book contains offertories, +symphonies (the same in form that Handel later employed for his +overtures), Noëls, elevations, mass music, magnificats, preludes, solos +for various stops, trios for two manuals and pedal, and dialogues for +two manuals. + +Jean Henri d’Anglebert, chamber clavecinist to Louis XIV, published in +1689 _Pièces de Claveçin_, with a supplement of some organ music. This +contains among other things a quartet for three manuals and pedal, two +of the parts to be played with one hand on two keyboards, which would +have been impossible on any organ of this period outside of France on +account of the distance between the keyboards. By the beginning of +the eighteenth century France possessed many large organs with three, +four, and sometimes even five manuals. The largest instruments had an +Echo organ, and the _Voix Humaine_ and Tremulant were as popular then +as now. The pedal-board had a much larger compass than on present-day +organs, extending from F below the present lowest C to thirty-six +notes; but the pedal had no 16-foot stops, only 8-and 4-foot, the pedal +being used, not for bass as now, but for carrying the tenor or subject. +It was later reduced to thirty notes, beginning with the lowest C as at +present. + +The Couperin family played much the same important part in the +development of French music as the Bach family did in Germany and both +in the same field, that of instrumental music. For several generations +the Couperins were distinguished musicians; the post of organist of +St. Gervais remained in the family as a kind of ‘living’ from about +1650 until 1815. The most important and renowned member of this +family was François (1668-1733), called _Couperin le Grand_ because +of his acknowledged superiority in organ and claveçin-playing. He was +organist at St. Gervais in 1698, but was soon promoted to the position +of clavecinist and organist to the king. Notwithstanding his great +reputation as a performer on the organ, he wrote nothing especially +for that instrument. His paramount interest as a composer lay in the +development of the claveçin or harpsichord and his work indicates +the point of historical development where the organ and the keyboard +instruments of the claveçin or harpsichord type parted, each to travel +its own path independent of the other. His part in the creation of the +modern pianoforte school is discussed in another volume. + +Louis Nicolas Clérambault (1676-1749), a pupil of André Raison and his +successor at St. Jacques, later at St. Sulpice, composed much organ +music, some of which has been newly edited by Guilmant in his _Archives +des Maîtres de l’Orgue_. + +Louis Marchand (1669-1732) belonged to a family that was celebrated +in the annals of French music, mostly in the field of stringed +instruments. He published a volume of organ music, some of which has +been edited by Guilmant in the work just mentioned. He had a great +reputation as a player, but his compositions betray the trivial and +superficial musician. He was appointed court organist at Versailles and +for a time was very much the fashion as a teacher. But as a man he was +eccentric in manner and dissipated in habits--so much so that the king +is said to have insisted on paying half of his salary to his wife. This +incensed the musician, and one day he stopped playing in the middle of +a mass and walked out of the church. When the king indignantly called +him to account for his unusual behavior, he replied: ‘Sire, if my wife +gets half my salary, she may play half the service.’ In punishment he +was banished for a time and went to Germany. While in Dresden in 1717 +he met Sebastian Bach and a contest between the two on the organ was +arranged, but to avoid inevitable defeat at the hands (and feet) of the +great German he suddenly left Dresden and returned to Paris, and the +contest never took place. + +Far more important than Marchand as a musician was Jean Philippe +Rameau (1683-1764). While his chief fame rests on his operas, +theoretical works, and claveçin music, he won a great reputation as an +organist (in Clermont, Lille, and Paris), especially as an extempore +player, and was considered the greatest French organist of his time. He +published no music written especially for organ, however. + +Dom Jean François Bedos de Celles (about 1714-1797), a Benedictine +monk, deserves mention here, not as an organist, but as a builder. His +book _L’Art du Facteur d’Orgues_ contains much valuable information +about the condition of French organs in the eighteenth century and +indicates that a great advance in organ-building was taking place. +The author gives much advice for effective combinations of registers +suitable for certain kinds of pieces; he finally says: ‘The more an +organist understands how to exhibit the resources of his organ, the +more will he please the public and himself.’ + +French keyboard music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries +showed a marked preference for instruments of the harpsichord and +clavichord type. During the eighteenth century French composers for, +and performers on, these instruments were supreme in Europe, but +organ-music west of the Rhine has been, on the whole, quite unimportant +from early times until nearly the middle of the nineteenth century. + +Organ-music in Spain and Portugal followed Italian and French models +and until about 1700 maintained a place of equal importance and worth +with that of Italy. It is worthy of mention that the first musician +to raise the standard of revolt against the mediæval system of tuning +and to advocate a system of ‘temperament’ was a Spaniard, Ramis de +Pareja, born in Andalusia about 1440. There are a few prominent names +among Spanish organists, such as Félix Antonio Cabezón (1510-1566), +Thomas de Santa Maria (died 1570), and Pablo Nassare (born 1664), but +no noteworthy progress was made here, organ music exhibiting the same +state of lethargy that was apparent in all Catholic countries during +the period from Frescobaldi until the middle of the nineteenth century. + +With the Reformation the Netherlands divided along the line of +religious sympathies. Belgium remained true to the Roman Church and +her organ-music developed, as in France, according to the needs of the +Roman ritual. Holland, however, embraced Lutheranism and Calvinism, +and, as soon as Spanish rule was overthrown in 1581, took a prominent +lead, through her great organists, Sweelinck (whose work has been +already noted) and Anthony van Noordt (middle of seventeenth century), +in developing an organ style responsive to the needs of the Protestant +ritual. + + + V + +In England peculiar conditions have prevailed from very early times +in respect to organ-music. Early English musicians were easily the +peers of those of any continental country. Some of the oldest and most +famous organs were built in England and the house organ was cultivated +there with as much zeal and artistic energy as in any other country. +But, even after the Reformation, the choir has always dominated English +church-music and until very recent years the organ has been regarded as +wholly secondary in importance. All great English church-music up to +the present generation has been vocal. We find in the Anglican service +no counterpart of the chorale-prelude in the Lutheran service or the +canzona and toccata in the Roman. The organ in the Anglican service +has been employed consistently and primarily as accompaniment for the +highly-trained choirs and its independent use has been confined almost +exclusively to playing before and after the services. + +Handicapped as it was by lack of appreciation within the Church, +organ-music was further retarded in its development by the curious +reluctance of English builders to adopt pedals and to give up the old +system of tuning. Until well into the nineteenth century very few +English organs possessed pedals and in these few the pedal-board rarely +exceeded an octave and a half in compass. In the matter of tuning, the +system of ‘equal temperament’ was not adopted for English organs until +more than a century after it had been firmly established in practical +use on the continent. Here again the domination of the voices in the +service is apparent. Whether this mechanical inferiority of the organ +was related to its secondary position in English church-music as cause +or effect, is not germane to our purpose to discuss. + +So unimportant was the organ considered in early English church-music +that no cathedrals maintained organists until the time of the +Reformation, the singers taking turns at playing the instrument. Henry +Abington, a priest who died in 1497, is the first Englishman mentioned +as having possessed proficiency as an organist (at Wells in 1447 and +Master of the Chapel Royal after 1465), and his fame in this respect +rests wholly on his epitaph at Stonyhurst: ‘He was the best singer +amongst thousands, and besides this, he was the best organist.’ + +But organ music flourished in the palaces of kings and wealthy +noblemen, where organists and organ-makers were installed as regular +members of the households. The greatest epoch of English music was +also the most brilliant of English organ-playing. Prepared during the +reigns of Henry VIII and Queen Mary, it reached its culminating point +in Queen Elizabeth’s long reign (1558-1603). No examples of organ-music +prior to Elizabeth’s time have been preserved. The organ compositions +of the great Elizabethan organists were written for the house organ +rather than the church organ and are, therefore, scattered through the +numerous collections of music for the virginal,[107] for they were +playable on either instrument. Collections of music written for the +church organ, so common on the Continent, were unknown in England until +recent times. + +When England espoused the cause of Protestantism, many of her Catholic +musicians escaped to the Continent, but many remained and were +protected by the Court from being molested as long as they kept their +private religious views to themselves. Among the latter were some of +the most famous organists and musicians of Elizabeth’s reign--Tye, +Tallis, Blitheman, Byrd, and Bull. + +Dr. Christopher Tye (about 1515-1572) was organist at Ely from 1541, +and later became organist of the Chapel Royal. He was highly respected +for his great musical ability and brilliant education, and his style +of writing was scholarly, though singularly unaffected. According to +Anthony Wood he was ‘a peevish and humorsome man, especially in his +later days,’ and it is related that while he was playing one day in the +chapel of Queen Elizabeth, with whom he was a great favorite, ‘she sent +the verger to tell him that he played out of tune; whereupon he sent +word that her ears were out of tune.’ With him the most brilliant epoch +of English music begins. + +Thomas Redford (died before 1559) was organist and choir-master at St. +Paul’s, London, about 1535. He had the reputation of being one of the +ablest instrumental writers of his time and left many organ-pieces. + +Thomas Tallis (about 1510-1585) received his first appointment as +organist at Waltham Abbey. At the Dissolution he became one of the +organists of the Chapel Royal, which position he held until 1577 +through the shifting religious changes of the troublous reigns of +Henry, Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth. He faithfully served the church of +his adoption by writing some of its finest early anthems, canticles, +and hymn-tunes. Though a famous organist, but few of his organ works +have remained. + +William Byrd (1543-1623), one of the foremost composers of his period +and distinguished in all the forms then current, was a pupil of, and +worthy successor to, Thomas Tallis, whom he surpassed in everything +‘except in happy speculations.’ He served as organist of Lincoln +Cathedral from 1563 and became Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1569, +dividing with Tallis the duties of organist. The excellence of his art +is attested by his numerous church compositions and the instrumental +pieces, many of which are for organ, contained in the ‘Fitzwilliam +Virginal Book,’ the ‘Virginal Book of Queen Elizabeth,’ and ‘Lady +Nevill’s Virginal Book.’ + +Dr. John Bull (1563-1628) was the most famous virtuoso on the organ and +virginal of the latter part of the Elizabethan era. He was organist at +Hereford in 1582 and in 1591 followed his master Blitheman as organist +of the Chapel Royal. On Queen Elizabeth’s recommendation he was +appointed professor of music at Gresham College in 1596, which position +he held for eleven years. In 1613 he was compelled to ‘go beyond the +seas without license,’ as was the euphonious phrase for running away. +He became the Archduke’s organist at Brussels and four years later went +to Antwerp where he was cathedral organist until his death. He was a +curious personality, but a most excellent artist, exhibiting marvellous +contrapuntal skill and originality. In his preludes and fantasias, +notably in a Fantasia on the hexachord, his modulations and complicated +rhythms display a strong modern feeling. + +One of the greatest names in the history of English church-music is +that of Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), the last of the early school of +English church composers. In 1623 he became organist at Westminster +Abbey and was one of the most renowned organists of his time, but +published only a few pieces for keyed instruments--some dances and a +fantasia. All the great English composers of this period were also +great organists, for the chief musicians at the cathedral and Chapel +Royal were all organists. All excelled as extempore performers, +and, when solo work was required, they exercised their skill in +improvisation and felt small necessity for writing what they played. + +At the beginning of the seventeenth century the musical art of the +English Church received a staggering blow from the fanatical ideas and +iconoclastic acts of the Puritans. Their misdirected zeal was aimed at +all art; choirs were abolished, paintings and organs were destroyed, +and priceless treasures were wantonly burned. After the restoration of +the monarchy in 1660 more liberal views prevailed and there quickly +followed a revival of musical activity. But only a few musicians +survived the years of artistic darkness under Puritan domination--they +had either emigrated or chosen other professions. The destroyed organs +were rebuilt with utmost haste and foreign organ-builders were summoned +to give aid. Among these were two Germans by the name of Schmidt, one +of whom became famous as Father Smith. These organs were still in a +primitive form, the pedal not being considered necessary and, indeed, +not being added until Handel in his concertos insisted on their use. +With the new era came also an influx of new ideas from the Continent. +Pelham Humfrey infused a more modern style into the music of the +cathedral service and the organ for a time was permitted to assume +the importance of a solo instrument.[108] Furthermore, the organ soon +became a feature of theatre and concert performances and the area of +its influence was thus widened. + +John Blow (1648-1708) was one of the first of the noted musicians of +the ‘new school.’ He was chosen organist of Westminster Abbey at the +age of twenty-one. Eleven years later his pupil, Purcell, was appointed +to this office at Blow’s request, but at Purcell’s death Blow was +reinstated. He also held the post of organist and composer to the king. +He was a voluminous composer, writing a vast amount of church-music +and also a considerable number of voluntaries for the organ, of which +relatively little has been published. His style is strong, healthy, +and, in harmonic progression, frequently in advance of his time. One +of his organ pieces is a ‘Voluntary for ye Cornet stop,’ beginning +with a short fugal passage which introduces the solo. It is dignified +and effective, but the popularity of such solo effects led in the next +century to a style that brought about a debasement of organ-music that +was far-reaching in its effects. + +William Croft (1677-1727), though a distinguished composer and +organist, did not exert as wide an influence on organ-music as some of +his contemporaries. He was a pupil of Blow and after his master’s death +succeeded him as organist of Westminster Abbey. He wrote twelve organ +voluntaries, but they are not published. + +Maurice Greene (1696-1755) was organist at St. Paul’s, London, in +1718, and succeeded Croft as organist and composer to the Chapel Royal +in 1727. In 1730 he was appointed professor of music at Cambridge +University. He was a prolific and able composer and rendered most +valuable service to English cathedral music. He also published several +organ voluntaries, in which he departed from the serious and fugal +style of his choral music and employed such ear-tickling solo stops as +the Cornet and Vox Humana to an excess that brought into existence a +host of tawdry and vulgar imitations. + + + VI + +There remain to be mentioned the two most distinguished names in +English music--Purcell and Handel--the one, who undoubtedly would +have founded a school of real English music had not his life been cut +off at so untimely an age, the other, who, though a German, actually +did found a great English school a half-century later on the lines so +brilliantly suggested by his English predecessor. The year 1658 may +be said to mark the beginning of a new era in English music; in it +occurred the death of Cromwell, who, with all his greatness, stood for +Puritan ideas of artistic repression, and the birth of Henry Purcell +(1658-1695), who raised the musical fame of England to a height it had +never before attained. Though he died at the age of only thirty-seven, +like Mozart and Schubert he wrote with amazing swiftness and produced +an astonishing quantity of music in every form, far in advance of his +English, and most of his continental, contemporaries in quality and +workmanship. His music that falls within the scope of the present +inquiry consists of some four-part sonatas and suites for organ or +harpsichord. One of the most excellent of these is a Toccata in A, +which possesses such unusual musical qualities for that period that it +was for a long time considered to be one of Sebastian Bach’s earlier +works. The modern feeling for key seems to be fully established in +Purcell’s music. In this respect and in the fluency and expressional +power of his counterpoint he anticipated Bach by fully three decades. +Purcell was organist of Westminster Abbey in 1680 and of the Chapel +Royal in 1682. + +George Frederick Handel (1685-1759) was the greatest representative +of English music in the eighteenth century and one of the most +brilliant organists of his time; his influence in both choral and organ +fields was supreme in England until the advent of Mendelssohn. Handel’s +organ-playing brought him fame earlier than did his operas. In 1703 he +visited Lübeck with his friend Mattheson and listened with deep respect +to Buxtehude at the _Marienkirche_. One purpose of the visit was to +look into the possibilities of succeeding the venerable organist, but +one condition of the succession was that the person who accepted the +appointment should also marry the daughter of the retiring organist. +After looking over the situation both Handel and Mattheson declined the +honor. During his Italian visit (1706-1709) he met Domenico Scarlatti, +who was only two years his senior, and together they journeyed from +Florence to Rome, forming a friendship that lasted throughout their +long careers. In Rome Cardinal Ottoboni arranged a sort of competition +between them. The contest was undecided on the harpsichord, but when +Handel had played on the organ, Scarlatti was the first to acknowledge +his friend’s superiority, saying that he had not believed such playing +as Handel’s was possible. His London experience began in 1711, when he +created a great sensation by the production of his opera _Rinaldo_, +written in fourteen days by piecing together arias and choruses of +earlier composition. The _Utrecht Te Deum_ in 1713 further increased +his fame in England and in 1719 he was appointed director of the Royal +Academy of Music, which became the scene of his operatic triumphs and +trials. Later in life he turned his attention wholly to the composition +of religious works and produced in quick succession the sublime +oratorios that brought him immortality. It was in connection with these +oratorios that his organ concertos came into existence. Handel had a +great reputation as an organist, especially as an extempore player. +This reputation he was wise enough to capitalize and, as a means of +attracting larger audiences to hear his oratorios, he exhibited his +skill as performer between the acts, to the great delight of his +listeners. He was not always in a mood for extemporizing, however, and +his thirty-three concertos for organ (most of them with orchestra) were +written for such occasions, many being merely transcriptions of his +concertos for various other instruments. They are cast in the form of +either the Italian concerto or the French overture. Since they were not +written for use in church, but in the theatre, they are for the most +part in light and flowing vein, brilliant in character but free from +triviality, and serve as excellent display pieces. They contain fine +music and must be regarded as good works of art. The most important +are No. 1 in G minor, No. 4 in F major, and No. 10 in D minor. These +works became so popular that Burney says,[109] ‘public players on keyed +instruments totally subsisted on these concertos for nearly thirty +years.’ + +Sir John Hawkins[110] gives a glowing account of Handel’s +organ-playing. ‘As to his performance on the organ,’ he says, ‘the +powers of speech are so limited that it is almost a vain attempt to +describe it otherwise than by its effects. A firm and delicate touch, +a volant finger, and a ready delivery of passages the most difficult, +are the praise of inferior artists; they were not noticed in Handel, +whose excellences were of a far superior kind, and his amazing command +of the instrument, the fullness of his harmony, the grandeur and +dignity of his style, the fertility of his invention, were qualities +that absorbed every inferior attainment. When he gave a concerto, his +method in general was to introduce it with a voluntary movement on the +Diapasons, which stole on the ear in a slow and solemn progression; the +harmony close-wrought and as full as could possibly be expressed; the +passages concatenated with stupendous art, the whole at the time being +perfectly intelligible and carrying the appearance of great simplicity. +This kind of prelude was succeeded by the concerto itself, which he +executed with a degree of spirit and firmness that no one could pretend +to equal. Such, in general, was the manner of his performance; but who +shall describe its effects upon the enraptured auditory? Silence, the +truest applause, succeeded the instant that he addressed himself to the +instrument, and that so profound that it checked respiration and seemed +to control the functions of nature, while the magic of his touch kept +the attention of his hearers awake only to those enchanting sounds to +which it gave utterance.’ + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[96] Quoted in _Sammelbände der Intern. Mus. Gesellschaft_, Vol. III, +page 614. + +[97] For example, Merulo published many _ricercari da cantore_. + +[98] When Willaert, who had previously occupied several important +positions, became _maestro_ at St. Mark’s, his annual salary was only +seventy ducats or about $88. This was gradually increased to two +hundred ducats ($250), which was continued to his successor. + +[99] _Geschichte der Instrumentalmusik_, p. 123. + +[100] Franz Commer’s _Sammlung der besten Meisterwerke des 17 und 18 +Jahrhunderts_ and Ritter’s _Geschichte des Orgelspiels_. Also Haberl’s +selections from Frescobaldi’s organ pieces. + +[101] C. F. Abdy Williams: ‘The Story of Organ Music,’ p. 120. + +[102] Among his famous pupils were Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654) of +Halle, Jacob Prætorius (1586-1651) of Hamburg, Heinrich Scheidemann of +Hamburg, Melchior Schildt (about 1592-1667) of Hanover, Paul Seifert +(died 1666) of Danzig, and Johann Adam Reinken of Hamburg. + +[103] In a letter to his family dated September 3, 1831, at Sargans, +Switzerland. + +[104] Chiefly organ works transcribed for the piano by Liszt, Tausig, +Busoni, and d’Albert; but also the ‘Two-part Inventions’ transcribed +for organ with a third part by Max Reger, and the Chaconne for violin +alone transcribed for organ by Wilhelm Middelschulte. + +[105] See Vol. II of his edition of ‘Well-tempered +Clavichord’--article, ‘Transcriptions.’ + +[106] In Guilmant’s _Maîtres de l’Orgue_ there is a charming ‘Noël’ by +him. + +[107] Then the chief representative of keyed instruments in England, as +the organ was in Germany and Italy, and the claveçin in France. + +[108] A voluntary ‘upon the organ alone’ was permitted after the Psalm +and after the blessing. + +[109] Vol. IV, p. 429. + +[110] History of Music, p. 912 (Reprint: London, 1853). + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + + ORGAN MUSIC AFTER BACH AND HANDEL + + The eclipse of organ music after Bach; Bach’s pupils and + other organ masters of the classic period--Organ composers + of the romantic period: Mendelssohn, Liszt, Rheinberger + and others--Great French organists of the nineteenth + century--English organists since Handel. + + + I + +The hopelessness of maintaining organ-music on the height to which +Bach had raised it was obvious enough as soon as he had passed from +the stage of which he had been the most brilliant adornment. Johann +Joachim Quantz, in his book, _Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte zu +spielen_ (1752), expresses the fear that after his (Bach’s) death the +art of organ-playing, which he had brought to the highest perfection, +might deteriorate or possibly disappear, ‘as there are only a few +that cultivate it.’ He complains that ‘good organists are very rare,’ +but intimates that one reason is that they receive very little +encouragement, since the majority of them are paid ‘such miserably +small salaries.’ But while Bach’s creative genius had said the last +word in organ music in the particular forms which he employed, he +handed down his wonderful art of playing to a galaxy of brilliant +pupils and especially to his oldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann. + +For a century after Bach’s death, however, the attention of musical +Europe was absorbed in following other lines of development and his +influence was not immediately apparent. He was so far in advance of +his age that the essence of his art had to wait several generations +till the world had progressed enough to perceive it and in a few years +after he had passed he became only a tradition. The organ was soon +overshadowed in importance by new media of musical expression; the +orchestra and the rapidly developing pianoforte, the opera and the +oratorio, the symphony and the sonata, offered novel and more alluring +opportunities for the imagination and creative fancy of composers +than did the sombre, polyphonic forms that seemed best suited both to +the church services themselves and to the organ of the period as an +interpreting instrument. And neither the organ nor organ-music was +rescued from the secondary and unimportant position into which both +fell after Bach’s time, until organ-builders in the last half of the +nineteenth century began to introduce mechanical improvements which +made the instrument capable of meeting the modern requirements in +expressional power. + +Though the instrument itself lagged pitiably behind other instruments +in development, Germany, France, and England continued to bring forth +great organists. Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784), the special +favorite of his father, was exceedingly talented as a performer and was +considered the finest organist in Germany after his father’s death. +He was organist of the _Sophienkirche_ in Dresden (1733-1747) and of +the _Marienkirche_ in Halle (1747-1764). He had a great reputation +for improvisation, of which he was especially fond, and he wrote very +little for the organ--chorale-preludes, trios, canons, and some fugues, +of which the one in F major is especially notable. + +Several of Sebastian Bach’s pupils were famous organists in their +time and good composers. Johann Philip Kirnberger (1721-1783) wrote +chorale-preludes and fugues, but is best known to the musical world by +his theoretical work, _Die Kunst des reinen Satzes_. Johann Frederick +Doles (1715-1797) was cantor of the Thomas school in Leipzig from +1756 to 1789. He wrote in rather popular vein and, strange indeed +for a pupil and successor of the great Cantor, actually demanded the +banishment of the fugal form from the church service. Johann Ludwig +Krebs (1713-1780), whom Bach playfully called ‘_der einzige Krebs in +meinem Bache_’ (‘the only crab in my brook’), was considered by Bach to +be his best pupil. He wrote chorale-fugues, preludes, and fugues. His +fugue in G major is still an attractive concert piece. Johann Schneider +(1702-1787), organist at St. Nicholas’, Leipzig, gained great fame as +an improvisator on the organ. Johann Christian Kittel (1732-1809), +the last pupil of Sebastian Bach, who brought his master’s traditions +into the nineteenth century, was organist at Erfurt from 1756 till his +death. He was a famous player and teacher and an excellent composer. +Among his celebrated pupils were M. G. Fischer and J. C. H. Rinck. + +Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1736-1809), famous as a theoretical +writer, composer, and teacher, was court-organist in Vienna (1772) and +kapellmeister at St. Stephen’s (1792). For the organ he wrote eleven +sets of fugues and three of preludes, but the vast majority of his 261 +compositions are unpublished. His fame lingered longest as a theorist +and among his pupils were names that later became celebrated--Seyfried, +Hummel, and Beethoven. Beethoven studied counterpoint with him, but he +expressed only a poor opinion of his pupil’s talent. + +Georg Joseph Vogler (1749-1814), best known as Abbé Vogler and +immortalized in Robert Browning’s well-known poem of that name, was a +pupil of Padre Martini in Bologna and of Vilotti in Padua. After going +to Rome he entered the priesthood, later returning to Germany and +sojourning a few years in each of various places. He invented a system +of simplification for the organ and applied it to a portable instrument +which he called ‘orchestrion,’ with which he travelled over Europe as +concert-organist. One of his inventions was the so-called ‘resultant’ +16-foot tone, produced by uniting an 8-foot pipe with a 5-1/3-foot +(‘quint’) pipe. This device gave rise to the ‘resultant’ 32-foot tone +still employed by some organ-builders. He also advocated discarding +mixtures altogether. His compositions no longer possess interest. His +presumption and self-confidence are well illustrated by the fact that +he published (Peters’, Leipzig, 1810) twelve chorales by Sebastian +Bach ‘corrected’ (_umgearbeitet_) by himself and analyzed by C. M. von +Weber, who at that time was his pupil at Darmstadt. + +Johann Christian Heinrich Rinck (1770-1846) was a voluminous writer +for the organ. His compositions show fluent melody and clear form, and +his style is dignified and simple, but his ideas lack musical depth. +He was wise enough not to attempt to follow Bach in fugue writing, +recognizing, as he said to Fétis, that if he were ‘to succeed in +composing anything worthy of approval, it must be on different lines +from his (Bach’s).’ Rinck’s ‘Organ School’ is still well-known in +England and America. + +Michael Gotthard Fischer (1773-1829), organist at Erfurt, was a +most excellent player and a composer of many organ-works--preludes, +fantasias, chorale-preludes--that even to-day have not lost their +attractiveness. + + + II + +Johann Gottlob Schneider (1789-1864) was one of the greatest German +organ virtuosi of the nineteenth century and did a great deal to +popularize organ-music by his many concert tours. His few published +works--fugues, fantasias, preludes--occupy an honorable place. Like so +many of the great organists of the earlier periods, he was famous for +his improvisation. + +Adolf Friedrich Hesse (1809-1863), organist of St. Bernard’s, Breslau, +was another celebrated and much admired organ virtuoso. He created a +sensation by his performances, especially his pedal-playing, at the +inauguration of the new organ at St. Eustache, Paris, in 1844. When +later he concertized in England (1852) he protested vigorously against +the unequal temperament of the English organs. He wrote preludes, +fugues, fantasias, études--mostly practical works in clear form, with +smooth-flowing melody and simple, popular content. + +August Gottfried Ritter (1811-1885), organist of the cathedral in +Magdeburg, was one of the greatest German organ masters of the last +century, famous alike for his wonderful improvisation and as a +virtuoso. He wrote four fine sonatas for the organ, of which opus 19 in +E minor and especially opus 23 in A minor (dedicated to Liszt) are of +great value. Other works are chorale-preludes, fugues, and variations. +Of greatest value are his _Kunst des Orgelspiels_, an instruction book +in two volumes, and _Geschichte des Orgelspiels im 14-18 Jahrhunderts_, +an admirable and scholarly scientific treatise, which has been freely +drawn upon, since its publication in 1884, by most writers on organ +history. + +Karl August Haupt (1810-1891), organist of the Parochialkirche, Berlin +(1849), and director of the Royal Academy of Church Music (1869), +was an organ master of the first rank, equally great as virtuoso and +extempore player in the style of Bach, for whose works he was ever an +enthusiastic propagandist. He published the organ works of Thiele, +his friend and predecessor at the Parochialkirche. He drew a host +of American students to him. One of these, Mr. E. E. Truette in the +_Étude_, is authority for the statement that they numbered over 150 and +he mentions the names of Eugene Thayer, Clarence Eddy, J. K. Paine, +George W. Morgan, Arthur Bird, and Philip Hale. + +Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847) was an organist of fine +attainments and wrote most gratefully for the instrument. Himself a +Bach enthusiast and gifted with extraordinary contrapuntal facility, +Mendelssohn was the first composer for the organ after Bach to approach +him in the happy combination of nobility of musical ideas and technical +finish of workmanship. He has earned the gratitude of organists by his +three preludes and fugues (of which the ones in G major and C minor +are possibly the best) and six sonatas, all free from pedantry and +full of refreshing melodic invention, romantic warmth of harmony, and +in attractive technical garb. The preludes are less valuable than the +sonatas. Four of the six sonatas have chorales for their principal +thematic material and these are the most valuable of the six. In the +use of the chorale in his organ sonatas and his oratorios, Mendelssohn +shows his close artistic kinship with the great Cantor; the chorale +made a deep appeal to him and stirred the flight of his imagination to +finest effort. These are sonatas only in name, the strict sonata-form +not being observed. In the powerful first movement of No. 1 (F minor), +the chorale _Was mein Gott will, gscheh allzeit_ (‘What my God wills, +be always done!’) is beautifully interwoven. The simple, expressive +Adagio is followed by a very attractive Recitativo which leads into +the brilliant and dashing Finale. The Adagio of No. 2 (C minor) is of +finest beauty and the best movement of this sonata, which is clear +in form and melodious, as Mendelssohn always is. No. 3 (A minor) has +only two movements, the first of grand effect, presenting an excellent +double fugue on the chorale _Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir_ (‘In +deep distress I cry to Thee’). No. 4 (B-flat major) is constructed +with four movements and is a brilliant, effective concert sonata, +the Allegretto (F major) being especially attractive and written in +Mendelssohn’s typical fluent manner. No. 5 (D major) is a beautiful +work throughout. In No. 6 (D minor) Mendelssohn uses the chorale _Vater +unser im Himmelreich_ as the basis of four variations built up to a +great climax and a fugue constructed on the first line of the chorale. +The Finale (D major) almost breathes vocal expression. + +Robert Schumann (1810-1856) was never an organist, but his interest in +contrapuntal study led him to write six fugues on the name B-A-C-H, +of which No. 5, the little staccato fugue, is the most original. The +canons which he wrote as studies for pedal-piano are also suitable and +effective for organ. Of these the B minor Canon is best known as an +effective concert-piece. + +Franz Liszt (1811-1886) contributed very original and effective music +for the organ, most of which inclines towards orchestral effects +and some of which opened up new possibilities for the organ, as his +compositions for piano did for that instrument. In addition he wrote +many smaller pieces (including transcriptions) for organ or harmonium, +that are harmonically most piquant. His best works for organ are: +Variations on a Basso Ostinato (_Crucifixus_ of the B minor Mass +by Bach), Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H, _Evocation à la Chapelle +Sixtine_, Litany: _Ora pro nobis_, and Fantasia and Fugue on _Ad nos, +ad salutarem undam_ (theme by Meyerbeer), this last being his greatest +work for organ. + +Johann Friedrich Ludwig Thiele (1816-1848) was organist of the +Parochialkirche, Berlin, from 1839 to 1848. Although his early +death at the age of thirty-two prevented the full development of +his extraordinary genius, Thiele has left several very important +organ-works--‘Chromatic Fantasy,’ written at the age of seventeen; +three concert-pieces, all majestic compositions; Theme and Variations +in A-flat major and in C major, both brilliant and effective +concert-pieces. + +Immanuel Gottlob Friedrich Faisst (1823-1894), organist in Stuttgart +and director of the Stuttgart Conservatory, published several organ +pieces; his Sonata in E major is a masterly work. + +The career of Julius Reubke (1834-1858), the son of an organ-builder +and a fine pianist and organist, was cut short by death when he was +only twenty-four years old. His only organ-work, a sonata entitled +‘The 94th Psalm,’ is one of the grandest and most powerful works that +have ever been written for the instrument; its position in literature +is really unique. It reveals the inexhaustible fantasy, the profound +depth, and the impetuous temperament of the young composer, who with +sure hand molded his own form by breaking the old sonata-form. This +magnificent sonata introduced a new epoch, the orchestral treatment of +the organ. The early death of Reubke and Thiele was the most serious +blow to modern progressive organ-music in Germany. + +Gustav Adolf Merkel (1827-1885), a pupil of Johann Schneider and +organist of the Kreuzkirche and Hofkirche in Dresden, was one of the +greatest organists and organ-composers of his period and he has left +works of great beauty and value, though much of his writing sounds dry +and pedantic now. He wrote nine sonatas, one of them for two performers +and double pedal. Of these sonatas the best are opus 42 in G minor and +opus 118 in D minor. Other works are fantasias, preludes, and études. +Merkel was a masterly contrapuntist and falls in the direct line of +succession to Bach and Mendelssohn. His sonatas are on the whole the +best works of this class between Mendelssohn and Rheinberger. + +Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), the great master of German song and +symphony, gave a few valuable works to the organ: the very scholarly +Fugue in A-flat minor, Chorale-Prelude and Fugue on _O Traurigkeit, O +Herzeleid_, and eleven chorale-preludes (his last work), of which two +deserve especial mention--_Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen_ and _O Welt, +ich muss dich lassen_. + + + [Illustration: Modern Organ Composers:] + Top: Alexandre Guilmant and Charles Marie Widor + Bottom: Joseph Rheinberger and Max Reger + + +Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger (1839-1901) easily takes rank as one +of the best German organists and teachers of the latter part of the +nineteenth century and at the same time one of the greatest organ +composers of the century. From 1867 he was professor of composition +and organ-playing in the Munich Conservatory and in 1877 was appointed +director of the Court Church music in Munich. He has exerted a marked +influence on music in America through his numerous pupils, among +whom may be mentioned Horatio W. Parker and George W. Chadwick. His +many-sided genius expressed itself in various fields--orchestral, +choral, church, chamber, pianoforte, and organ. In all of these +fields he showed himself in close sympathy with modern harmonic +development and tendencies, but, strange to say, not with Wagner’s +methods and theories; yet he combined with a progressive modern spirit +a mastery of fugal and contrapuntal forms equalled by none of his +contemporaries. While he avoided treating the organ orchestrally, +he was among the first to employ in organ-forms the rich harmonic +vocabulary of the romantic composers who had already given to the +literature of the pianoforte and the orchestra so many masterpieces +of warm and glowing tone-color. His organ compositions are pure music +of an elevated type, equal in their own individual way with the best +orchestral art of his period. In most of Rheinberger’s music, however, +there is present a certain quality of reserve that never permits the +expression of exuberance of feeling or exalted enthusiasm. They reveal +an astonishing variety, a fertile imagination, deep earnestness, and +complete mastery of form and style. The most important of these works +are two concertos for organ with orchestra in F major (opus 137) and +G minor (opus 177), and twenty sonatas, which alone constitute a +monumental contribution to organ literature. Rheinberger seems to have +attempted for the organ-sonata something of the same task of setting +free from the trammels of tradition and of developing along the line +of its own inherent needs that Beethoven solved so successfully for +the pianoforte-sonata. These two forms of the sonata, however, have +very little in common and Rheinberger, in his remarkable series, gave +the strongest impetus to the development of the organ-sonata as a +distinct music-form since Mendelssohn’s noble works. The particular +form which he seemed to adopt for it as a kind of type was in three +movements, the first being in the nature of a prelude, the last a fugue +or some distinctly contrapuntal form, and the intervening movement an +intermezzo in slow tempo. Most of his sonatas are constructed in this +form, though occasionally he employs four movements, as in the Sonata +in E minor, No. 8, where a Scherzoso appears between the Intermezzo +and the final movement. He frequently uses with telling effect the +modern device of unifying the movements through the employment in the +last movement of themes heard in the first. In the Pastoral Sonata, +No. 3, the Eighth Gregorian Psalm Tone, upon which the opening +movement (Pastorale) is constructed, appears again with fine effect +as a contrasting subject to the fugal theme in the last movement. +Plain-song melodies frequently appear in his earlier sonatas. Many of +the sonatas--especially No. 8 (opus 132) in E minor, No. 9 (opus 142) +in B-flat minor (dedicated to Guilmant), No. 12 (opus 154) in B-flat +major, No. 14 (opus 165) in C major, and No. 20 (opus 196) in F--are +among the noblest examples of organ-music. Among his shorter organ +compositions of large value are Twelve Characteristic Pieces, many +trios for two manuals and a pedal, besides several pieces for organ and +violin. + + + III + +French organ-music presents very little interesting material for the +historian to dwell upon until after the middle of the nineteenth +century, when a new stimulus broke in upon the dreary triviality which +had been so long its chief characteristic. The most important French +organist of the last half of the eighteenth century was Nicolas Séjan +(1745-1819), who was appointed organist of Nôtre Dame in 1772, of St. +Sulpice in 1783, of the Invalides in 1789, and of the Chapel Royal in +1814. Carlyle in his ‘French Revolution’ relates a thrilling experience +through which this organist passed at the hands of the revolutionists +in 1793, when they seized the church of Nôtre Dame and made it the +scene of a sacrilegious orgy of unusually revolting character. +Demoiselle Candeille, a dancer from the Opéra, was established at +the altar as the Goddess of Reason and La Harpe harangued the crowd, +declaring all religion abolished. As a crowning defiance to traditional +religion this was followed by a ball, at which Séjan was forced to play +dance-music on the great cathedral organ as the howling rabble danced +and shouted street songs. + +Alexandre Pierre François Boëly (1785-1858) was a musician of most +serious aims and made persistent efforts to acquaint Frenchmen with +the works of Bach and other great composers for the organ, but with no +success. For several years he was organist at St. Germain l’Auxerrois, +Paris, but his zeal in serving his own high artistic ideals cost him +his position. He wrote four offertories and many other pieces for organ. + +François Benoist (1794-1878), organist of the Royal Chapel and +professor of organ-playing at the Conservatoire from 1819, left twelve +books of organ works entitled _Bibliothèque de l’Organiste_. Pieces +from this collection that have been reprinted, presumably the best, are +in the prevailing sentimental and trivial style of this period. He was +the organ-teacher of Saint-Saëns. + +Just before the middle of the nineteenth century a movement for the +restoration of Catholic church-music was inaugurated in Bavaria +by Dr. Karl Proske (1794-1861), and Ratisbon became the centre of +this movement. A collateral movement for the reform of plain-song +was started by the ‘Benedictines of Solesmes,’ an order of the +‘Congregation of France’ founded at this monastery in 1833 by Dom +Prosper Guéranger. Two French organists who had taken holy orders +allied themselves to this latter movement and aided greatly in the +reformation of church-music, especially by their writings on the +relation of the organ to plain-song and on other aspects of Gregorian +music. These were Louis Lambillotte (1797-1857) and Théodore Nisard, +the pen name of Abbé Xavier Normand (born in 1812). + +The first of the modern French organists to have any perceptible +influence on present-day organists was Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély +(1817-1869), who was organist at the Madeleine, Paris, from 1847 to +1858 and of St. Sulpice from 1863 till his death. He was a thorough +musician, a skillful performer on the organ and piano, and a composer +in many fields. He was regarded as possessing marvellous powers of +improvisation and his compositions for a time enjoyed great popularity +(‘The Monastery Bells’ was the best known of his salon-music for +pianoforte). Much of his organ-music partakes of the nature of his +‘fashionable’ pianoforte-music; it is light, if not trivial, and is +very melodious, but, despite its former great popularity, devoid of +artistic value. However, his name frequently appears on present-day +organ recital programs. + +Antoine Édouard Batiste (1820-1876), organist of St. Nicolas des Champs +(1842-1854) and of St. Eustache (1854-1876), was a fine teacher, +one of the best performers of his time, and a prolific composer of +organ music, much of which, however, is of the popular, tuneful, +ear-tickling, and easy-to-play variety. Several of his nearly 300 +compositions rise above this level and, though showy and somewhat +sentimental, are excellent for their type. Few organ compositions have +had such widespread popularity as some of Batiste’s, as, for example, +the Communion in G, the Offertory in E, and several of the ‘Grand +Offertories,’ including the St. Cecilia Offertories, among the best +known of which are the ones in D minor, C minor, and F. The vogue of +Batiste is by no means full-spent, but the gradually widening demand +for organ-music of a more serious nature and a finer workmanship is +automatically lessening the appeal of such music, which is merely +sensuously pleasing. + +Much more serious in artistic purpose and effective in healthy +influence was Nicolas Jacques Lemmens (1823-1881), an eminent Belgian +organist and composer who early came under the influence of German +organ-music while a student of Adolph Hesse at Breslau, whither he +was sent at government expense. Here he spent a year in study (1846), +cultivating a deep love for Sebastian Bach and acquiring the traditions +of his great organ-works. When he returned to Belgium, he carried +with him a testimonial from his teacher, stating that he could play +Bach as well as he himself did. As professor of organ-playing at the +Brussels Conservatory (1849-1858) he exerted a wide influence and in +1879 founded a school at Malines, Belgium, under the auspices of the +Belgian clergy for the training of Catholic organists and choirmasters. +Among his famous pupils were Guilmant and Widor. He wrote many +excellent organ compositions, about sixty in all, including sonatas +(especially the Sonata Pontificale), offertories, fantasias, etc., +and his instruction book _École d’Orgue_ was adopted in the Paris and +Brussels Conservatoires and in other schools; but his chief influence +was in laying the foundations of a more serious style of organ-music in +Flanders and France. He was far more successful than Boëly in arousing +interest in Bach and he astonished the French by his fine playing of +the great German master’s organ works. His example in this direction +was followed by many of the most distinguished French organists, +as Franck, Saint-Saëns, Widor, Guilmant, Salomé--all of whom were +enthusiastic worshippers of the genius of the Leipzig cantor. The most +widely known of Lemmens’ organ pieces, though by no means the best, is +probably the Fantasia in D minor, popularly called ‘The Storm.’ + +Jan Albert van Eijken or Eyken (1823-1868), a distinguished Dutch +organist in Amsterdam and later in Elberfeld, received his musical +education at the Leipzig Conservatory and later, at Mendelssohn’s +suggestion, under Johann Schneider at Dresden. He wrote important +works of great merit for the organ, including three sonatas, of which +the third in A minor deserves special mention, twenty-five preludes, +a large number of chorale-preludes, a toccata and fugue on B-A-C-H, +and other pieces, all in the elevated style of German Protestant +organ-music. + +Samuel de Lange (born 1840) is another Dutch organist and composer who +was celebrated in Germany, Austria, France, and England as a concert +performer. He taught successively in the Music Schools of Rotterdam +and Basel, and in the Conservatories of Cologne (1876) and Stuttgart +(1893). He wrote seven organ-sonatas and many smaller pieces--all +containing valuable music. + +Three modern Belgian organists have achieved substantial reputations. +Alphonse Jean Ernest Mailly (born 1833), ‘first organist to the King,’ +became known as a brilliant virtuoso and teacher (in the Brussels +Conservatory from 1868), and the composer of many compositions for the +organ, among them fantasias, characteristic pieces, and a much-played +sonata. His pupil, Edgar Tinel (1854-1912), wrote one valuable work +for the organ, Sonata in G minor, of which the Finale is especially +vigorous in content and treatment. In 1881 he succeeded Lemmens as +director of the Institute for Sacred Music at Malines and in 1896 +accepted an appointment as teacher of counterpoint and fugue in the +Brussels Conservatory. His fame as composer rests more largely on +his choral and church music. Joseph Callaerts (1838-1901), a native +of Antwerp and a pupil of Lemmens at the Brussels Conservatory, was +organist of the Cathedral of Antwerp and teacher of organ in the Music +School from 1867. Some of his organ-music borders on the popular, yet +much of it possesses dignity, if not great depth of thought. + +The greatest figure in French organ-music is César Auguste Franck +(1822-1890). What Sebastian Bach is to German musical art, Franck is to +French--the great Gothic cathedral architect in tones. By virtue of his +works, which in many respects overshadow everything before or after him +in French organ literature, and the beneficent effect of his personal +influence, which included within its radius many of the greatest of +present-day French composers, Franck was an epoch-making personality +and the spiritual head of a new French school which has powerfully +effected French music since his time. A deep sincerity, religious in +its intensity, coupled with a certain indefinable mysticism, pervades +all of his compositions. Never writing for effect or applause and +possessing a Bach-like fondness and capacity for intricate polyphonic +structure joined with an extremely modern freedom in his use of +harmonies, Franck created works of sublime beauty that will live long +after the works of many of his now famous contemporaries are forgotten. +His abilities as an organist (he had the reputation of being a fine +one) were overshadowed by his compositions, but he was professor of +organ-playing at the Paris Conservatoire and organist at St. Clotilde +from 1872 till his death. + +His organ works are not numerous, but they are exceedingly important, +consisting of three sets of pieces.[111] In the first set of six +pieces, No. 2, _Grande Pièce Symphonique_ in F-sharp minor, is +appropriately called symphonic. Its themes are noble and full of +deepest expression, and are developed with consummate mastery, while +the harmonic scheme is always novel and fascinating. No. 3--Prelude, +Fugue, and Variations in B minor--is a work of the first rank and +displays to fine advantage his mastery of the resources of the organ +and the technical means of expression. The Pastorale in E major, No. 4, +is an especially interesting and grateful concert-piece and the Finale, +No. 6, is brilliantly built up to a powerful climax. In a second set, +consisting of three chorales, though all are valuable, the best are the +first one in E major with its beautiful melodic lines and its ingenious +harmonic effects, and the third one in A minor, which is Bach-like in +its imposing dignity. The third set comprises three effective concert +numbers--Fantasia in C major, which again reveals his indebtedness +to Bach in the skill with which he superimposes a most expressive +theme upon a delicately constructed canon, Cantabile in B major, and +_Pièce Héroique_. Of these the best is the Cantabile with its rich and +interesting harmonies and expressive melodies. Despite the marvellous +beauty and noble power of Franck’s musical thoughts, one cannot refrain +from the occasional wish that he had exercised more conciseness in +their development. At the organ he was a dreamer of seraphic visions +and he sometimes forgot that his listeners were apt to be uninspired +mortals. + + + IV + +The reluctance of English organ-builders, referred to in a previous +chapter, to adopt the mechanical improvements introduced into +Continental organs, naturally retarded the progress of English +organ-music. After Handel, although England had good organists, little +of value was produced in organ composition until almost the present +generation. Excellent compositions were written in the style of Handel +and, later, of Mendelssohn, but originality in musical material or +treatment was almost wholly absent. + +The best English organists and organ-composers of the eighteenth +century were the following: Dr. Thomas Arne (1710-1778), William Boyce +(1710-1779), John Stanley (1713-1786), a remarkable organist who +was blind from the age of two and yet who distinguished himself as +composer, performer, and teacher; James Nares (1715-1783), Benjamin +Cooke (1734-1793), in one of whose fugues the pedal takes the subject, +an unusual procedure in English organ-music of this century; Thomas +Sanders Dupuis (1733-1796), one of the best organists of his time; +Jonathan Battishill (1738-1801), a remarkable extempore performer; John +Christmas Beckwith (1751-1809), also famous for his improvisations; and +Charles Wesley (1756-1834), a nephew of the great Methodist leader. The +musical forms employed by these organist-composers (all of the above +wrote more or less for the organ except Boyce, Arnold, and Battishill) +were chiefly concertos and fugues in the style of Handel, and +voluntaries. In the time of Dupuis a form of voluntary came into vogue +that soon became stereotyped, conventional, and banal. It consisted +of three or four movements usually in this order--a slow movement in +three-pulse rhythm for the diapasons, a solo for cornet or trumpet with +accompaniment of bass only, and closing with a fugue. The first two +movements were almost invariably uninteresting and dull, but the fugues +showed that English composers of the period could acquit themselves +creditably in forms that demanded learning rather than originality and +musical feeling. + +Samuel Wesley (1766-1837), brother of the Charles Wesley mentioned +above, was the foremost English organist of his time and the first +really great figure in English organ-music. He was a fine extempore +player, the composer of much excellent organ-music (11 concertos and +a large number of voluntaries, interludes, preludes, and fugues), +and a close student and ardent admirer of Bach. From 1800 he was a +most zealous and persistent propagandist for the German master’s +works and especially excelled as a performer of his fugues. As he was +an excellent violinist, Bach’s violin works also received frequent +performances in public concerts at his hands. The first English edition +of the ‘Well-tempered Clavichord’ was published by him in 1810 in +collaboration with C. F. Horn and he was instrumental in procuring the +publication of an English translation of Forkel’s life of Bach. His +music is more serious than the prevalent style and while he is not a +great composer, judged by Continental standards, his influence was +far-reaching and of utmost importance to English musical life, in that +he gave substantial dignity to the organ as an interpreting instrument +and induced a widespread interest in more solid organ-music, especially +in Bach. + +Early in the nineteenth century ‘arrangements’ began to be made for +organ from other works, vocal and instrumental, chiefly of German and +Italian classical composers. One of the earliest to start this custom +was John Clarke-Whitfeld (1770-1836), organist of Hereford Cathedral +and professor of music at Cambridge University. His arrangements were +from the vocal works of Handel (1809), and as a substitute for the +ability to create original music, they presented worthy compositions +of a contrapuntal character suitable for organists to perform. But the +arranging of pieces for the organ soon extended to other kinds of vocal +music, to symphonies and forms of instrumental music quite foreign to +the nature and idiom of the instrument, and this practice developed +into a craze for arrangements and adaptations which lasted throughout +the nineteenth century and which still persists, especially in England +and America. + +William Crotch (1775-1847) was a prominent organist and composer whose +appointments were mostly at Oxford. He wrote concertos for organ with +orchestral accompaniment and fugues for the organ alone, and made many +adaptations of Handel’s oratorios for the organ. He was evidently a +scholarly composer, for some of his themes were carefully phrased, +an unusual procedure for his time. Crotch was one of the earliest to +indicate the exact tempo he desired for his music by such mechanical +means as a swinging pendulum. In a footnote to an Introduction and +Fugue on a subject by Muffat, written in 1806, he says: ‘A pendulum of +two feet length will give the time of a crotchet (quarter-note).’ About +twenty-five years later Maelzel’s metronome was beginning to be known +in England, and, when he published some fugues and canons in 1835, he +indicated the tempo by such comments as ‘Crotchet equals a pendulum of +sixteen inches; Maelzel’s metronome, 92.’ + +It will be of interest in this connection to note an earlier method of +determining the tempo of a piece by the ingenious device of comparison +with the duration of the pulse-beat. Johann Joachim Quantz (the music +teacher of Frederick the Great), in his _Anweisung die Floete zu +spielen_ (1752), gives the following interesting table for determining +the rate of speed: + +‘In ordinary time (measure), + +_Allegro assai_, for every half-measure, the time of one beat of the +pulse, + +_Allegretto_, for every quarter-note, the time of one beat of the pulse, + +_Adagio cantabile_, for every eighth-note, the time of one beat of the +pulse, + +_Adagio assai_, for every eighth-note, the time of two beats of the +pulse.’ + +Vincent Novello (1781-1861), the founder of the well-known publishing +house of Novello and a celebrated organist and composer, wrote no +organ-music, but his name became familiar to every English organist +through his ‘Cathedral Voluntaries,’ These were motets and anthems +by the old English church writers, such as Gibbons, Blow, and Tye, +arranged for organ use, much as the early Venetian organists arranged +the motets and sacred madrigals of their time for keyboard instruments. + +English organ-music continued to be either obvious imitation of +Handel, Mozart, Haydn, and, after 1845, Mendelssohn, or arrangements +and adaptations of German classical music. Thomas Adams (1785-1858), +noted for his improvisations; Sir John Goss (1800-1880), the greatest +church musician of his time and organist of St. Paul’s Cathedral for +thirty-four years; Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876), son of Samuel +Wesley mentioned above, who, like his father, was an enthusiastic +admirer of Bach’s works and an exceptionally fine extempore player, +and who for a time was considered the finest organist in England--all +wrote voluntaries, interludes, fugues, and andantes for organ in this +style, though some of their anthems and ‘services,’ particularly those +of Wesley, belong to the finest examples of English church-music of any +period. + +Henry Smart (1813-1879), who became blind about 1864 and henceforth +was compelled to dictate his compositions to an assistant, was +an exceptional organist and a composer who displayed many modern +qualities of interesting harmony in advance of most of his English +contemporaries. He wrote voluminously for the organ--fifty preludes +and interludes, andantes (especially the one in A major), marches, +variations, and postludes. + +Edward John Hopkins (1818-1901), for nearly sixty years organist of +Temple Church, London, possessed the sterling qualities of the best +English organists and exerted a wide influence through his church-music +and particularly his book, ‘The Organ: Its History and Construction,’ +written in conjunction with Dr. E. F. Rimbault (1816-1876), which has +long enjoyed the distinction of being a standard work on this subject. + +William Spark (1823-1897), a pupil of S. S. Wesley, was a celebrated +recitalist and from 1860 organist of Leeds Town Hall. While holding +an appointment at St. George’s, Leeds, he had organized the People’s +Concerts, the popularity of which had led to the erection of the Town +Hall. A magnificent instrument of four manuals and 110 stops was +installed in it and dedicated in 1859, and soon thereafter Dr. Spark +received the appointment of borough organist and for years he gave two +public recitals on it each week. He was a noted lecturer and writer +on musical subjects and from 1869 till his death was editor of ‘The +Organists’ Quarterly Journal,’ devoted to original compositions. His +compositions (a Fantasia, a Sonata in D minor, and other pieces) were +strongly influenced by Mendelssohn, whose music was now the model for +all English musicians as Handel’s had been in the years preceding +Mendelssohn’s advent. + +Sir Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley (1825-1889) presents the unusual +spectacle of an amateur musician rising to the important position +of professor of music at Oxford University and becoming one of the +most influential musicians in the United Kingdom. Though an excellent +organist and composer for organ, he never held a position as organist. +He devoted a considerable fortune to the founding and maintenance of a +church[112] in which the musical service was of the highest order and a +college for the special training of choristers. Through these channels +and his Oxford professorship he wielded a large influence on the young +church musicians of his time. His organ compositions--eighteen preludes +and fugues, a sonata, three andantes, etc.--were for the most part in +the style of Mendelssohn. + +The first place among English concert-organists was long held by +William Thomas Best (1826-1897), who was one of the greatest virtuosos +of the nineteenth century. For nearly forty years (from 1855 to +1894) he was organist of St. George’s Hall, Liverpool, where his +recitals became a feature of the city’s musical life and gained for +him an international reputation. An event in his life that attracted +world-wide notice was his journey in 1890 to Sydney, Australia, where +he inaugurated the mammoth organ in the new Town Hall with a series of +twelve recitals. This organ, the largest in the world, has five manuals +and 126 speaking stops. He published several valuable contributions +to organ-literature--six concert-pieces, a Sonata in D, a Toccata +in A, several fantasias and fugues on English Psalm-tunes, and many +preludes on Psalm-tunes in the style of Bach’s chorale-preludes, etc. +He was best known, however, through his admirable ‘Organ Arrangements +from the Great Masters,’ his editions of Handel’s organ-concertos and +Mendelssohn’s and Bach’s organ-works, and his two text-books, ‘The Art +of Organ-Playing’ and ‘Modern School for the Organ.’ + +Of recent years composers in England have been less exclusively +occupied with choral and church music, for the so-called musical +renaissance, which is now bringing England once more to the forefront +of musical nations, is due largely to the deeper interest composers +have been taking in the modern orchestral idiom, the impressionistic +tendencies of contemporary instrumental music and the nationalistic +expression which owes its impulse to the recent folk-song revival +movement. Nevertheless meritorious works for the organ continue to +be produced by most of the present-day English composers, and more +especially by men like Alan Gray, A. M. Goodhart, Ernest Halsey, James +Lyon, T. Tertius Noble, C. B. Rootham and W. Wolstenholme. + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[111] Edition Durand, Paris. + +[112] The college and church of St. Michael and All Angels, Tenbury, +Worcestershire, of which he was rector in addition to his Oxford +professorship, were dedicated in 1856. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + + MODERN ORGAN MUSIC + + Supremacy of modern French organ music; Saint-Saëns; + Guilmant: sonatas and smaller works--Widor: organ symphonies; + Dubois; Gigout and other French organ-writers--German + organ composers; Piutti; Klose; Reger: chorale-fantasias; + Karg-Elert and others--Organ music in Italy; Capocci; Bossi; + Busoni and others--English organ composers since 1850--Organ + music in the United States; early history; Dudley Buck; + Frederick Archer and Clarence Eddy; contemporary American + organ composers. + + + I + +It is always an interesting and fruitful task to dive beneath the +surface of historical events and discover the contributing causes that +have led to the supremacy of certain nations at certain periods in +certain departments of musical activity. For the past three decades +at least, French organ-music has occupied a position of supremacy +in certain important respects, among which may be named brilliance +of technical finish, glowing variety of tone-colors as expressed in +skillfully thought-out registration, interesting and piquant rhythmical +figuration and melodic outline, combined with modernity of harmonic +treatment. A group of elder composers, of whom Saint-Saëns, Guilmant, +Widor and Dubois are the chief ornaments, laid the solid foundation +of this school into which they were careful to build a deep and +intelligent appreciation of Bach’s organ art, which had only recently +been transplanted into France. Rooted in such a fertile soil French +vivacity and lightness of feeling took on a deeper color and a richer +luxuriance that combined substance with beauty of external expression. +In this genial and healthy atmosphere the younger generation of French +organists have lived and from its stimulating nourishment they have +developed many fascinating traits of strong and virile individualism. + +Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (born 1835), the Nestor of French +composers, has demonstrated an unusual versatility in composition +and has contributed to nearly every field of musical activity. He is +not only a great pianist but also an organist of great ability and +from 1858 to 1870 was the organist at the Madeleine, Paris, where +he became famous for his improvisations and his many excellences as +a performer. Under the spell of his imagination the organ becomes a +flexible and elastic instrument of which he demands pianistic lightness +and orchestral richness of color. In this respect the few organ +works of Saint-Saëns stand at the head of all French contributions +to organ literature. Freedom from all scholastic tradition and the +improvisation-like character of most of his organ works make them +highly interesting. The Fantaisie in D-flat major (opus 101), his best +work, is appropriately named, for it is music without prearranged +plan and is harmonically most piquant, especially the ending with its +descending harmonies over an organ-point. His three Rhapsodies are all +brilliant and attractive concert-pieces, as are also his Preludes. +Only in the Fugues associated with these Preludes does Saint-Saëns, in +common with all French composers except César Franck, fall short--the +fugue is essentially the property of German art. + +Felix Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911), one of the most celebrated +French organ composers and virtuosos, extended his fame by many concert +tours throughout Europe and two in the United States (in 1893 and +1903). The larger part of his compositions is for organ. These show +rich, fluent melody, always clear form and a rare skill in utilizing +the possibilities of organ tone-color. The popularity of his works +among organists is enhanced by the moderate technical demands required +for their performance. Guilmant possessed astonishing facility in +improvisation (an interesting feature on most of his concert programs) +and won the admiration and respect of musicians of all countries by his +propaganda for the classical masters. His historical recitals at the +Trocadéro during the Paris Exposition of 1878 attracted international +notice and later he published a large and valuable collection entitled +_Archives des maîtres de l’orgue_. From 1871 to 1902 he was organist at +La Trinité, Paris, which position he gained by his remarkable playing +at the inauguration of the organs at St. Sulpice and Nôtre Dame. His +organ compositions are numerous and highly original. The most important +of them are the eight sonatas. Of these the first sonata in D minor, +opus 42, is the favorite one among organists and the finest in breadth +of conception and unity of construction. It is grateful, effective +concert music, very clear in form and typically French in invention. +The first movement is powerful and majestic, the Pastorale tender and +most expressive, and the Finale a brilliant display-piece with its +toccata-like motive. This sonata is also published as a symphony for +organ and orchestra--a most impressive work. Sonata No. 3 in C minor, +opus 56, is a fine work with an excellent Finale (Fugue). Sonata No. +5 in C minor, opus 80, possesses a strong, passionate first movement, +an effective Scherzo with its ingenious little staccato fugato and a +Finale that is one of Guilmant’s best and most forceful movements. +The sonata is dedicated to Clarence Eddy and in the last movement +the composer ingeniously and tactfully builds his theme from the +initials of his own name and that of the American organist--C-G-E-A. +The sixth sonata, opus 86. is a beautiful work in all its movements. +Sonata No. 8 in A major, opus 91--he calls it ‘Symphony for organ and +orchestra’--has an especially attractive Scherzo and the Finale is +brilliant and strong. + +Besides the sonatas, Guilmant has written prolifically in smaller +forms and in various styles, in all of which he makes excellent +practical use of the possible effects of the instrument for which his +music is so well adapted. The ‘Fugue in D’ is one of the strongest +French fugues and shows how deeply he had lived into Bach’s favorite +form. The ‘Religious March’ is cleverly constructed on a theme from +Handel’s ‘Messiah’ and is built up with an original secondary subject +(a smooth, brilliant fugato) to an imposing climax. The ‘Funeral March +and Seraphic Song’ enjoys deserved popularity. The Finale (‘Seraphic +Song’) is especially notable with its double pedal effect (the melody +being played with the right foot) and sparkling harp-like arpeggios +on the manuals. In all his writings Guilmant reveals a fanciful +imagination and is always sure of good effect. In ‘Lamentation,’ for +example, he displays his artistic resourcefulness in transforming the +sad march-like theme (in the pedal) of the first part into a theme of +religious consolation at the end (Hymn: _Jerusalem convertere_). + + + II + +Charles Marie Widor (born 1845), organist of St. Sulpice in Paris +since 1870, is the most distinguished of the living French organists +and organ composers. Having succeeded César Franck as professor of +organ-playing at the Conservatoire in 1890 and Dubois as professor +of composition in 1896, he occupies a position of extraordinary +importance in contemporary French organ-music as composer, teacher +and performer. While he is known in America almost exclusively by his +activities associated with the organ, he has written extensively for +the pianoforte, the voice and the orchestra (two symphonies, three +concertos, etc.) and much in chamber-music forms. His best writings for +organ are ten symphonies which together constitute one of the noblest +gifts that any composer has ever made to organ literature. In these +works he shows himself a thoroughly representative French composer, +combining all the brilliant qualities of the modern French school. +Influenced somewhat by Liszt and Berlioz in his earlier works (the +first series of symphonies), he represents the finest progress in the +French art of organ-playing in the last three decades. + +His first eight organ symphonies (in reality sonatas) were published +in two series--opus 13 (Nos. 1-4) and opus 42 (Nos. 5-8). These are +in a class by themselves and deserve especial attention and study. +The title ‘symphony’ is often justified in the enlarged form used +and in the elaborate development of individual movements. Most of +them contain from four to six movements. In the first symphony in C +minor the best movements are the first, second and fifth. The first +two movements of the second in D are the most attractive. No. 3 in E +(a kind of suite, consisting of Prelude, Minuet, March, Canon, Fugue +and a brilliant Finale) is the easiest of the symphonies and of less +importance than the others. No. 4 is excellent throughout, the first +and fourth being possibly the best movements. The first of the second +series of symphonies--No. 5 in F--is probably the most popular of the +ten among organists, since it possesses the double merit of being fine, +inspiring music and at the same time offering excellent opportunity +to display both the performer and the resources of the modern organ +to good advantage--especially in the first movement (_Allegro vivace_ +in variation form), in the second (_Allegro cantabile_) and in the +_Finale_ (Toccata) with its brilliant staccato technique. No. 6 is +musically far superior to No. 5 and is one of the most masterly works +in the entire organ literature, the first movement being particularly +imposing in its breadth and grandeur of conception, and the second +rich in noble sentiment. In No. 7 the fourth and last movements are +especially interesting. No. 8 is one of the most beautiful of Widor’s +works--the first movement being of brilliant effect and the second full +of musical warmth. + +In addition to these eight, Widor has written the _Symphonie Gothique_ +in C minor, opus 70, and the _Symphonie Romane_ in B minor, opus 73. +The former is one of his most notable compositions; in the first +movement sombre-hued, suppressed emotion is portrayed in a most +interesting harmonic garb, while the fine melodic line of the second +movement forms effective contrast, and the Finale displays brilliant +technical features. In the first movement of the _Symphonie Romane_ +there is a very ingenious and original elaboration of a Gregorian chant +used as theme. The Cantilena (third movement) is lovely music and the +Finale brilliant and dashing. The _Symphonia Sacra_, opus 83, is a +massive work for organ and orchestra constructed on a theme borrowed +from the melody of the old Latin hymn of St. Ambrose (fourth century), +_Veni redemptor gentium_, a hymn which Martin Luther translated for +Johann Walther’s _Gesangbuch_ (1524) under the title of _Nun komm der +Heiden Heiland_. Upon this chorale (which Bach has also used in several +of his organ preludes) Widor builds up a mighty Gothic cathedral in +tones, in the construction of which organ and orchestra vie with each +other in supplying vital plastic material. The employment of the +chorale in this modern French work, coming as it does contemporaneously +with Reger’s remarkable Chorale-Fantasias in Germany, is evidence that +the resources of the old church-chorale have not been exhausted and +that the classic circle beginning with Pachelbel and Bach has expanded +its circumference to embrace congenial masters from any country; and +here the modern Frenchman, Widor, touches elbows with the German, +Reger. This interesting work was given its first American performance +by Wilhelm Middelschulte with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in +February, 1911. + +Clément François Théodore Dubois (born 1837), organist at the +Madeleine from 1877 to 1896 (succeeding Saint-Saëns) and director of +the Conservatoire, after Ambroise Thomas’ death, from 1896 to 1905, +occupies a respected position as an organ composer. Much of his best +composition, however, is in other fields. His shorter organ pieces +are numerous and generally effective, especially for church use. +His melodies are mostly noble and fluent and his harmony modern and +interesting, inclining toward orchestral effects. The pedal part +frequently lacks independence. These compositions are so well known +that it would be superfluous to name more than a few of the more +familiar ones: _Messe de Marriage_, _Fiat Lux_, ‘Hosanna,’ ‘March +of the Magi’ (with the highest B held through the entire piece, +representing the star in the East), and _In Paradisum_. + +Eugène Gigout (born 1844), organist of St. Augustin and director of an +organ school in Paris, is one of the first names among French writers +for organ. He inclines more to the classical style than do most of +his French colleagues. Among his best pieces are _Prière en form de +Prélude_, _Pèlerinage_, _Andante varié_, _Marche religieuse_, _Marche +funèbre_, _Andante Symphonique_. + +Théodore César Salomé (1834-1896), for many years second organist at La +Trinité, is best known by his Sonata in C minor, an effective work. + +Samuel Alexandre Rousseau (1853-1904), pupil of César Franck and +chapel-master of St. Clotilde, Paris, wrote valuable compositions for +the organ that show much creative power. Of these the _Double Thème +varié_ is the best. + +Leon Boëllmann (1862-1897) was a fine organist in Paris, the full +development of whose artistic powers was prevented by his early death. +He was nearly equally successful in all styles of composition, leaving +no less than sixty-eight published works. The _Suite Gothique_ in +C minor is his most popular organ work. He also wrote a _Fantaisie +dialoguée_ for organ and orchestra. + +Ferdinand de la Tombelle (born 1854), a pupil of Guilmant and Dubois +at the Conservatoire at Paris, has written much organ music that has +enjoyed a measure of popularity both in England and America. + +The school of younger French organ composers shows a well-defined +tendency to adopt an impressionistic style, without losing, however, +the characteristically French brilliance, grace and melodic charm. +Among its leaders will be found Joseph Bonnet (born 1884 at Bordeaux), +organist at St. Eustache and Guilmant’s successor at the Paris +Conservatoire. Other young French composers are A. Maquaire, a pupil +of Widor, whom he assists at St. Sulpice; Charles Quef, organist at La +Trinité; J. Ermand Bonnal, and others. + + + III + +Germany always has been, and still is, the special champion of +intellectual organ music, as France has been of brilliant, melodious +and colorful organ music. Bach and the churchly function of the organ +have been the two factors in German organ music that have determined +its lines of development almost up to the present. The concert organ +placed in public halls, that has been such a prominent element in the +development of organ music and its popular appreciation in France, +England and America through the giving of concerts or recitals, has +only recently made its appearance in Germany. There the organ is +still a church, not a recital, instrument. Then, too, modern German +organ-builders have been much slower than either French, English or +American builders in adopting mechanical improvements. Until very +recently an organ suitable for the adequate performance of a monochrome +Bach fugue has been the ideal of the German builder, and at the opening +of the twentieth century there were hundreds of such organs in large +German churches, with eighteenth-century mechanical appliances. The +‘swell-box’ was not adopted until late in the nineteenth century; and +the wonderful development in nineteenth-century German orchestral art +found echoes only here and there in German organ music. In the past +three decades, however, some magnificent modern instruments have been +installed in Germany and there are already abundant evidences that a +progressive spirit has taken firm hold upon its organ-builders and its +organ-music. At present Germany possesses but few composers for the +organ whose works have exerted large influence, but these are very +important in their relation to the development of organ music. + +Carl Piutti (1846-1902) was born in Elgersburg, Thuringia, and educated +at the Leipzig Conservatory, where he taught from 1875 until his death. +After 1880 he was organist at the Thomas Church. Of his comparatively +few organ compositions, his Sonata in G minor, opus 22, deserves +special mention; it is imposing in its proportions and is one of the +most brilliant examples of modern German organ art. + +Ernst Hans Fährmann (born 1860), organist of the Johanneskirche in +Dresden, is an excellent composer for his instrument. His best work is +Sonata in C major, opus 22; the Sonata in A minor, opus 18, is also a +brilliant and effective work. + +Friedrich Klose (born 1862 in Karlsruhe, lives in Munich) has written +much for orchestra with organ, but has contributed one important +work for organ alone--Prelude, Double Fugue and Chorale (Chorale at +the conclusion for 4 trumpets and 4 trombones). This work, which is +dedicated to Anton Bruckner, had its origin in an improvisation by +Bruckner in Bayreuth. Klose, an enthusiastic admirer of the Viennese +master, uses the theme of Bruckner in building up an imposing, powerful +work--very impressive in the introduction and majestic in its great +climax (over an organ-point of thirty measures). + +Max Reger (born 1873 at Brand, Bavaria) is the greatest living master +of organ composition. Astounding mastery over the technical side of +composition (he is probably the greatest contrapuntist since Bach), +wonderful richness in his harmonic formations, and a phenomenal power +of expression, are some of his admirable traits. He is the leader +of the ultra-modern German school and, though still a comparatively +young man, is one of the most prolific writers in all musical history. +Of his first hundred opuses, twenty-two are for organ, each ranging +in size from a set of from four to ten pieces to a sonata or a +chorale-fantasia. He is a distinct innovator in his harmonic scheme, +but is often accused of lacking warmth. Intensely modern in his +harmonic feeling, his novel harmonies do not spring so much from chord +movement in the ordinary sense as from the happy sounding together of +independently moving melodies. The influence of his exuberant polyphony +is everywhere felt in his writings. He is clearly an intellectualist +and his art appears at its highest in the most complicated structures, +such as the chorale-fantasias and variations, where he presents +movements of sublimest beauty and greatest depths, as only a great +master can. + +The chorale-fantasias of Reger cultivate a new field, suggested, +however, by Sebastian Bach in his one example, _O Lamm Gottes, +unschuldig_, where he composes three verses, not variations. The +characteristic is that each verse, according to the poetic suggestion +of the text, assumes an entirely original form, but all are organically +molded into one whole. At the end there usually appears a colossal +fugue, where the melody of the chorale is interwoven with the themes +of the fugue. His great chorale-fantasias are: _Ein’ feste Burg_; +_Freu’ dich sehr, O meine Seele_; _Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern_; +_Straf mich nicht in deinem Zorn_; _Alle Menschen müssen sterben_; +_Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme_. Next in importance come the Fantasia +on B-A-C-H, opus 46, and the Symphonic Fantasia and Fugue, opus 57. +There are two sonatas--opus 33 in F-sharp minor and opus 60 in D +minor--and several sets of short pieces. Among the latter group several +of the Monologues (opus 63), and several of both opus 59 (Benedictus +and Pastorale in particular) and opus 69 are favorite numbers with +recitalists. + +Sigfrid Karg-Elert (born 1878, lives in Leipzig), though a young man, +is an important figure in German music of to-day. He has already +published over a hundred works and they bear the stamp of talent of the +highest order. He is a modernist of pronounced, sometimes extravagant, +type in his harmonic feeling and combines with this a brilliant style +of expression. His Passacaglia in E-flat minor is a scholarly work; +the Sonatina No. 1 in A minor, opus 74, is built on large lines, +notwithstanding the title; of his groups of smaller pieces, some of +the better known are Three Impressions, opus 72 (‘Moonlight,’ ‘Night’ +and ‘Harmonies of Evening’), and Ten Characteristic Pieces, opus 86 +(_Prologus Tragicus_, ‘Impression,’ ‘Canzona,’ etc.). + +The most prominent of living Danish composers for the organ is +Otto Malling (born 1848, living in Copenhagen), whose works are +both numerous and strikingly individual. The majority of his organ +compositions take the form of mood-pictures inspired by biblical +subjects, most of which centre around the life and times of Christ, as +the ‘Holy Virgin’ suite of six pieces, opus 70 (‘The Annunciation,’ +‘Mary visits Elizabeth and praises God,’ ‘The Holy Night,’ etc.). + + + IV + +Until the last quarter of the nineteenth century organ music in Italy +had remained practically where Frescobaldi had left it. Very little +progress had been made during the intervening two centuries either +in organ music or in organ-building. Musical Italy was almost wholly +absorbed in vocal music and the opera. Church music had sunk to +lamentable depths of triviality and secularity. Independent organ music +received only the slightest attention and absolute stagnation reigned. +When Guilmant, in the eighties of the last century, opened the new +organ in the church of St. Louis des Français in Rome by giving daily +recitals for two weeks, he gave many of the well-known Bach and Handel +works their first performance in Italy! Even now there are very few +modern organs in Italy. The names of Italian organists, therefore, are +very few in number, even when the present generation is reached. + +In the eighteenth century only one Italian organist stands out with any +prominence, Francesco Antonio Vallotti (1697-1780), chapel-master of +the Church of San Antonio in Padua. He was recognized as a great writer +of church-music and Tartini, his contemporary, spoke in warmest terms +of his playing. He was the teacher of the famous Abbé Vogler. + +Marco Santucci (1762-1843), _maestro_ of the cathedral at Lucca, wrote +12 fugued sonatas for organ and Vincenzo Antonio Petrali (1832-1889) +had a great reputation as an improvisator and virtuoso. + +Of the living Italian organists the most prominent and influential +are Capocci and Bossi, both of whom have striven valiantly to bring +Italian organ-art back to the place of eminence it occupied in the +early centuries. The elder of these musicians, Filippo Capocci (born +1840), has been the organist of St. John Lateran in Rome since 1875 +and his organ is said to be the finest in Italy. He is not only a +fine performer, but also a gifted composer of serious aims. He has +written six sonatas and twelve volumes of original organ-pieces, mostly +attractive and valuable. The sonatas are his best works, in which he +follows classical lines. + +Enrico Marco Bossi (born 1861) was organist of the Cathedral of Como +from 1881 to 1891, in 1896 he was appointed director of the _Liceo +Benedetto Marcello_ in Venice, in which institution he also taught +organ and advanced composition, and since 1902 he has been director of +the _Liceo Musicale_ in Bologna. He is Italy’s greatest organist to-day +and has also been a prolific writer in many fields--organ as well as +choral, orchestral and chamber music. His fine inventive genius, bold +harmonic feeling and originality of design, coupled with a certain +severity of style, are well illustrated in his best works--a concerto +for organ and orchestra, opus 100 (especially the first movement of +which is built up to a powerful climax), two sonatas (opus 60 and +opus 77), and a large number of compositions in smaller forms, such +as Marche Héroique, Étude Symphonique, Toccata, Romanza, Idylle, Hora +Mystica, Scherzo in G minor, etc. In 1893 with Tebaldini he published +‘A School of Modern Organ-Playing,’ which is a standard work. + +Oreste Ravanello (born 1871), organist of St. Mark’s, Venice (1892), +and director of music of Antonius Basilica in Padua (1898), is to be +named among the best Italian writers of the present. His Fantasia in F +minor is an effective concert number. + +Lorenzo Perosi (born 1872) was appointed by Pope Leo XIII musical +director of the Sistine Chapel in 1898 and has written trios and +preludes for the organ. + +Ferruccio Benvenuto Busoni (born 1865 at Florence), the profound +Bach scholar, has made the most important contribution to modern +organ literature by an Italian--the _Fantasia contrapuntistica_ (on a +fragment by Sebastian Bach). Bach’s last unfinished work was intended +as a fugue with four themes, but only the first, second and part of +the third fugues were left. What the fourth theme was to be, remained +a mystery until the well-known theorist Bernhard Ziehn (1845-1912) +of Chicago solved it convincingly, thus showing the possibilities of +Bach’s fragment. With this suggestion Busoni has accomplished the +gigantic task with admirable result. The work really consists of seven +fugues, three of them being variations (a new idea in this form) of the +preceding fugues. It exists in three versions: for piano by Busoni; +for organ, transcribed by Wilhelm Middelschulte; and for orchestra +and organ, transcribed by Frederick Stock, conductor of the Chicago +Symphony Orchestra. As an organ piece it is the most difficult work in +the entire organ literature. + + + V + +About 1850 the widespread dissatisfaction of English organists +with the crude and incomplete instruments of the period began to +have an appreciable effect on English organ-builders. In the years +soon following the middle of the century notable improvements were +made--larger and more complete organs were built, pedals were more +common in church organs and complete pedal-boards were introduced, the +obsolete ‘unequal temperament’ system of tuning was generally discarded +and the ‘swell to tenor G’ half-keyboard was discontinued. When these +necessary improvements were made, English organ art advanced rapidly +and an array of eminent organists came into view whose united labors as +performers and composers brought the organ into its present position of +great influence in England and made possible the fine achievements of +the present generation of younger British organists and organ-composers. + +Prominent in this group are the names of Sir Herbert Stanley Oakley +(1830-1903), professor of music at Edinburgh University from 1865 +to 1891 and regarded as a player of exceptional ability and a good +composer; George Mursell Garrett (1834-1891), organist to Cambridge +University and the composer of much church and organ music; Edmund +Hart Turpin (born 1835), for many years regarded as one of England’s +greatest concert organists; Sir John Stainer (1840-1901), one of the +most prominent English musicians of his day, organist at St. Paul’s, +London (1872-1888), professor of music at Oxford University from 1889 +and composer of many sacred cantatas and much church and organ music +of serious character; Sir Walter Parratt (born 1841), since 1883 +professor of organ at the Royal College of Music and since 1893 master +of music to the royal household; Albert Lister Peace (born 1844), a +fine organ-virtuoso, the successor (1897) of W. T. Best as organist +of St. George’s Hall, Liverpool, which is regarded as one of the best +appointments in the United Kingdom; Sir John Frederick Bridge (born +1844), organist of Westminster Abbey from 1882, composer of much good +church music and the author of text-books on counterpoint and organ +accompaniment; and Sir George C. Martin (born 1844), organist of St. +Paul’s Cathedral, London, after 1888 and a distinguished writer of +dignified music for the church service. + +The best known of the younger generation of English organists and +organ-composers in America is Edwin Henry Lemare (born 1865), who is +generally regarded as Best’s legitimate successor in the organ-concert +field. He first attracted large notice by his recitals while organist +of St. Margaret’s, London. His reputation in the United States +was greatly increased during his two years’ tenure of the post of +organist of Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg (1902-1904), and by several +extended concert tours before and after that appointment. In his organ +compositions, which are very numerous, he cultivates mostly a ‘light’ +or ‘popular’ style, though his writing reveals a facile command of the +means of musical expression. His Symphony in D minor is his largest +work and it is a brilliant, strong composition. + +William Wolstenholme (born 1865), though blind from birth, has attained +a high place for himself both as a performer (he made a short tour in +the United States in 1908) and as a composer of exquisite invention. +Over sixty of his compositions for organ are published, including two +sonatas. Alfred Hollins (born 1865) is also a blind organist, whose +compositions for the organ have the same qualities of lovely melody and +interesting harmony. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. + +William Faulkes, organist of St. Margaret’s church, Anfield, Liverpool, +England, is a prolific writer of organ music of the ‘attractive’ type. + +Sir Edward Elgar (born 1857) has written very little for the organ. His +Sonata in G, opus 28, is important, however. The ‘Pomp and Circumstance +March,’ so popular with organists, is an arrangement from a march for +military band written for the festivities of the Coronation of Edward +VII, played for the first time at the Promenade Concert, London, Oct. +22, 1901. + +Basil Harwood (born 1859) is a composer of serious aims and ample +technical equipment. His organ works include a Sonata in C-sharp minor +and ‘Pæan.’ Other prominent English organ composers of the present +generation are Julius Harrison, now living in London, Hugh Blair and +Purcell J. Mansfield. + + + VI + +The history of organ music in the United States is difficult of +comparison with that of European countries, for its development +here has been so recent. Organ-building on a large scale did not +begin until about 1850 and organ-music of intrinsic value by native +composers did not appear until a couple of decades later. But since +then progress in every branch of organ art has been truly remarkable, +and this cumulative development has atoned in large measure for earlier +backwardness and slowness. In the quality of both organ-building and +organ-music produced in this country at the present time, American +achievement need not shun comparison with the best contemporary +European efforts. + +The rapidly increasing popularity of the organ as a recital instrument +in America is traceable to several causes. At the foundation, of +course, is the widely diffused public appreciation of good music +of all kinds, fostered and stimulated by the annual flood of +concerts--orchestral, choral and chamber-music--and by the recitals +of individual artists in every field that are given even in cities of +comparatively small size. But two causes have contributed particularly +to the appreciation of organ music: (1) the rapid progress that has +been made in the last twenty-five years by American organ-builders in +all matters pertaining to mechanical appliances and tone-quality, with +the result that magnificent instruments are now to be found in almost +every city in the land, some of which are in public halls, municipally +owned and maintained for purposes of public culture; and (2) a notable +improvement in the standards of organ-playing and general musicianship +among organists themselves. A factor of large importance in this +movement has been the activity of the American Guild of Organists, +modelled after the Royal College of Organists in London and founded +in 1896 in New York City ‘to raise the standard of efficiency of +organists by examinations in organ playing, in the theory of music and +in general musical knowledge; and to grant certificates of Fellowship +and Associateship to members of the Guild who pass such examinations.’ +(Excerpt from the Constitution of this Guild.) This Guild now (1915) +numbers among its members over 1600 prominent organists in the United +States and Canada. Part of its regular propaganda is the giving of +public services and organ recitals of high musical quality. + +The first organ in America was the famous old Brattle organ, imported +and left by Thomas Brattle, treasurer of Harvard College, by his +will in 1713 to the Brattle Square Church, Boston. But since the +church voted that it was not proper ‘to use said organ in the public +worship of God,’ it was erected in King’s Chapel, Boston, in 1714, +where it remained until 1756. For eighty years after this date it was +in constant use in St. Paul’s Church, Newbury. It was then sold to +St. John’s Church, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It was in existence in +1901, when it was displayed at an exhibition of musical instruments +in Horticultural Hall, Boston. This historically interesting old +instrument had only six stops. + +John Clemm is said to have erected the first American built organ in +Trinity Church, New York, in 1737. This organ had three manuals and 26 +stops and was followed eight years later by a two-manual organ built +by Edward Bromfield in Boston. Until the days of the Revolution it was +in the Old South Church, but was burned during the siege of Boston. +Many other small organs were built or imported for the larger churches, +but organ-building in America may properly be said to begin with the +erection in 1853 of the large four-manual organ with seventy stops and +3096 pipes, by Hook and Hastings in Tremont Temple, Boston. This was +an organ of concert proportions and others soon followed in the large +cities; chief among these early large organs were the one erected in +Boston Music Hall (completed in 1863) and the one in the Cincinnati +Music Hall in 1878. + +American organists of the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth +centuries have no particular interest for us, save as mere historical +reference. About the middle of the last century, however, coincident +with the widespread awakening of popular interest in musical matters, +there appeared a number of young organists, all of them with European +training (mostly at Leipzig), who were well-equipped to handle a large +organ and to play the organ music of the classical masters. Among these +pioneers appear prominently the names of James Cutler Dunn Parker (born +1828), Benjamin Johnson Lang (1837-1909), and Samuel Parkman Tuckerman +(1819-1890), among the group of Boston organists; George Washbourne +Morgan (1823-1892), an Englishman who came to New York in 1853 and +who was considered the first concert-organist in America; John Henry +Willcox (1827-1875), a native of Georgia, educated at Trinity College, +Hartford, Conn., and for the rest of his life an organist in Boston; +Eugene Whitney Thayer (1838-1889), for many years organist at Music +Hall, Boston; George William Warren (1828-1902), a self-taught musician +who was for thirty years organist of St. Thomas’s in New York; and John +Knowles Paine (1839-1906), from 1876 professor of music at Harvard +University, who was one of the first, if not the first, American +concert-organist who measured up to German standards of classical organ +playing. + +American organ music, however, begins with Dudley Buck (1839-1909), +for he was not only a performer of finest attainments, but was the +first American composer to gain general recognition, and among his best +compositions are some large works for organ. For three years preceding +the great Chicago fire of Oct. 9, 1871, he was organist of St. James’s +Church in that city and for twenty-five years (1877-1902) he was +organist of Holy Trinity Church, Brooklyn. His organ compositions show +the influence of classical models, expressed in fluent, pleasing melody +and attractive harmony with an always clear sense of form. His best +organ-works include two sonatas (in E-flat, opus 22, and in G minor, +opus 77), Concert Variations on ‘The Star Spangled Banner,’ and many +smaller pieces, such as the familiar Idylle, ‘At Evening.’ In addition +he wrote a great deal of church music with organ accompaniment. From +the pedagogical side his work was equally valuable, including ‘18 +Pedal-Phrasing Studies’ and ‘Illustrations in Choir-Accompaniment, with +Hints on Registration,’ the latter of which is still of great practical +value to organists. + +The number of fine concert-organists increased so rapidly since those +named above that no attempt will be made here even to enumerate them. +The field of concert-organists cannot be passed over, however, without +mention of two of their number whose influence, especially in the +transitional years of the last two decades of the last century, was +enormous in creating an interest in, and love for, good organ music. +These organists are Frederick Archer (1838-1901) and Clarence Eddy +(born 1851), both organ-virtuosos of the first rank, whose numerous +and extended recital tours brought them into every part of the United +States. Archer, who gained his first laurels as organist at Alexandra +Palace, London, came to America in 1880 and became organist in Boston, +Brooklyn, Chicago, and finally (1896) in Pittsburg where he served as +city organist and musical director of Carnegie Music Hall. Clarence +Eddy’s playing has brought him an international fame; he now (1915) +resides in Chicago as concert-organist, teacher and writer. + +Passing to the group of organ-composers, the endeavor will be made +to name some of those--and a few important ones will doubtless be +omitted where a choice must be made from a list that is increasing so +rapidly--who have made substantial contributions to organ literature +in the larger and more serious forms. This will of necessity leave +untouched a multitude of worthy organ pieces of lighter vein that have +already found much favor with organists. + +In the front rank of American composers who have written worthily for +the organ Arthur Foote (born 1853) must be named. His compositions +in this field are not many, but they are important for their solid +musicianship, clear form and eloquent melodic and harmonic expression. +They include a much-played Suite in D and many short characteristic +pieces. Arthur Foote has always lived in Boston. + +Horatio Parker (born 1863), who has made such large contributions +to choral and vocal fields, has written also for the organ, but +almost exclusively in larger forms: Concerto in E-flat for organ and +orchestra, Sonata in E-flat, and five sets of concert pieces. + +Homer N. Bartlett (born 1845) is one of the most prolific of American +composers in many fields and among his most important compositions are +several organ works. His Suite in C, opus 205, is not only his most +important organ composition, but it may well be named among the best +American organ compositions. He has been for many years a prominent +organist of New York City. + +Horace Wadhams Nicholl (born 1848), an Englishman who came to America +in the seventies, wrote 12 Symphonic Preludes and Fugues for organ, +also a symphonic poem called ‘Life’ in six movements, which display +scholarly attainments and command of intricate forms of writing. + +James Hotchkiss Rogers (born 1857), who has lived in Cleveland since +1881, has written several notable things for his instrument, including +two sonatas, a concert overture, and many small pieces. + +William H. Dayas (1864-1903), though born in New York, went abroad when +a young man and, after studying with Haupt in Berlin, succeeded Busoni +in Helsingfors and later moved to England where he died. He left two +brilliant organ sonatas--opus 5 in F major and opus 7 in C major. + +Foremost among foreign-born organists and organ-composers who have +made America their home, must be named Wilhelm Middelschulte (born in +Westphalia, 1863), who has been the organist of the Chicago Symphony +Orchestra since 1894. His compositions are all in large contrapuntal +forms and display complete mastery of Bach’s intricate art. They +include a Passacaglia in D minor, a Concerto for organ and orchestra, +Canonic Fantasie and Fugue on four themes by J. S. Bach, and Canons and +Fugue on the chorale _Vater Unser im Himmelreich_. + +Among the large works of the earlier American composers that still +survive are Eugene Thayer’s Sonata No. 5 in C minor, George E. +Whiting’s Sonata in A minor and Henry M. Dunham’s two sonatas in F +minor and G minor. + +The number of organ works of really imposing proportions and +solid musical worth by American composers is quite significant of +the powerful undercurrents that are silently shaping the future of +American music. If one were to select the living composers who are +representative of the best present tendencies in organ composition +in large forms in America, the following names, in addition to those +mentioned above, would undoubtedly be among them: Mark Andrews, +New York; René Becker, St. Louis; Felix Borowski (born 1872, lives +in Chicago); Rossetter Cole (born 1866, lives in Chicago); Gaston +M. Dethier (born 1875 in Belgium, lives in New York); Gottfried H. +Federlein, New York; Ralph Kinder (born 1876, lives in Philadelphia); +Will C. Macfarlane (born 1870, city organist of Portland, Maine); +Russell King Miller, Philadelphia; and Harry Rowe Shelley (born 1858, +lives in New York). + + + + + LITERATURE FOR VOLUME VI + + _In English_ + + G. Ashdown Audsley: The Art of Organ Building (1905). + + Dr. Theodore Baker: A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians + (New York, 1905). + + Dr. Charles Burney: History of Music, 4 vols. (London, 1789). + + Edward Dickinson: Music in the History of the Western Church + (New York, 1913). + + Edward Dickinson: The Study of the History of Music (New + York, 1911). + + C. A. Edwards: Organs and Organ Building (1881). + + Arthur Elson: Modern Composers of Europe (Boston, 1905). + + Famous Composers and Their Works, ed. by Paine, Thomas and + Klauser (Boston, 1891). + + Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5 vols., revised + (London, 1904-10). + + W. H. Hadow: Studies in Modern Music, 2 vols. (New York, + 1892-3). + + F. X. Haberl: Magister Choralis, transl. by Donnelly (New + York, 1892). + + Sir John Hawkins: General History of Music (London, 1853). + + Arthur Hervey: French Music in the 19th Century (New York, + 1903). + + Edward Burlingame Hill: Vincent d’Indy: an Estimate (Musical + Quarterly, April, 1915). + + E. J. Hopkins: The Organ: Its History and Construction (1877). + + Otto Jahn: The Life of Mozart, 3 vols., transl. by Pauline + Townsend (London, 1882). + + H. C. Lahee: The Organ and Its Masters (Boston, 1903). + + Mrs. F. Liebach: Claude Achille Debussy (London, 1908). + + M. Montagu-Nathan: History of Russian Music (London, 1915). + + J. A. Fuller-Maitland: English Music in the 19th Century (New + York, 1902). + + Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Letters from Italy and + Switzerland, transl. by Lady Wallace (New York, 1868). + + Arthur Mees: Choirs and Choral Music (New York, 1911). + + Emil Naumann: History of Music, Vol. I, transl. by Praeger + (London). + + Oxford History of Music, 5 vols. (Oxford, 1901-05). + + Sir C. H. H. Parry: The Evolution of the Art of Music (New + York, 1896). + + Annie W. Patterson: The Story of the Oratorio (London, 1902). + + Waldo Selden Pratt: The History of Music (New York, 1907). + + Philipp Spitta: Life of Bach, 3 vols., transl. by Clara Bell + and J. A. Fuller-Maitland (London, 1884-88). + + George P. Upton: Standard Concert Guide (Chicago, 1912). + + Dr. Karl Weinmann: History of Church Music (New York, 1910). + + C. F. A. Williams: The Story of Organ Music (London, 1905). + + + _In German_ + + A. W. Ambros: Geschichte der Musik (Breslau, 1862-78). + + Dr. Rudolph Cahn-Speyer: Debussy; eine kritisch ästetische + Studie von Giacomo Settaccioli, besprochen (Die Musik, + August, 1912). + + Dr. Karl Grunsky: Musikgeschichte des 17. und 18. + Jahrhunderts (1905). + + Hermann Kretzschmar: Führer durch den Konzertsaal; 2te + Abteilung; Kirchliche Werke (Leipzig, 1905). + + Hermann Kretzschmar: Oratorien und weltliche Chorwerke + (Leipzig, 1910). + + Monographien moderner Musiker, 3 vols. (Leipzig, 1906). + + Karl Proske: Musica Divina, Tome I (Ratisbon, 1853). + + Hugo Riemann: Handbuch der Musikgeschichte, Vol. II (Leipzig, + 1911). + + Hugo Riemann: Musiklexikon, 8th ed. (Leipzig, 1914). + + A. G. Ritter: Geschichte des Orgelspiels im 14-18. + Jahrhundert (1884). + + Arnold Schering: Geschichte des Oratoriums (Leipzig, 1911). + + Max Steinitzer: Richard Strauss (Berlin and Leipzig, 1914). + + Zum 40. Tonkünstlerfest des Allgemeinen Deutschen + Musikvereins in Frankfurt a. M. (Die Musik, Vol. 4, 2tes + Maiheft). + + _Zeitschrift der Internationalen Musikaesellschaft_ + (Leipzig). + + + _In French_ + + Gaston Carraud: La musique pure dans l’école française + contemporaine (S. I. M., Aug.-Sept., 1910). + + D. Chennevrière: Claude Debussy et son Œuvre (Paris, Durand, + 1913). + + F. A. Gevaert: La mélopée antique dans le chant de l’église + latine (1895). + + Jules Combarieu: Histoire de la musique, Vol. II (Paris, + 1913). + + M. P. Hamel: Manuel du facteur d’orgues (1849). + + A. Pougin: Essai historique sur la musique en Russie (Paris, + 1904). + + Romain Rolland: Musiciens d’aujourd’hui (Paris, 1908). + + Paul de Stoecklin: Max Reger (Le Courrier musicale, April, + 1906). + + Maurice Touchard: La musique espagnole contemporaine + (Nouvelle Revue, March, 1914). + + Jean d’Udine: Rimsky-Korsakoff (Le Courrier musicale, July, + 1908). + + Egon Wellesz: Schoenberg et la jeune école Viennoise (S. I. + M., March, 1912). + + + _In Spanish_ + + Pedrell: Organografia musical antigua española (1901). + + + + + INDEX FOR VOLUME VI + + + A + +_A cappella_ singing, xvii-f. + +Abert (Bach transcription), 438. + +Abington, Henry, 447. + +Abrici, Vincenzo, 425. + +Abt, Franz, 177. + +Accompaniments, (Scarlatti), 108; + (Carissimi), 108f. + +Act of Supremacy, 89. + +Acworth, H. A., 213. + +Adam de la Hâle, 25f. + +Adams, Thomas, 475. + +_Adieu, mes amours_ (in French mass), 42. + +Agnus Dei, 47f. + +Agricola, Martin, 51. + +Akimenko, 396. + +Albert V, 56, 57. + +[d’] Albert (Bach transcription), 440 (footnote). + +Albert Hall, London (organ in), 411. + +Albrechtsberger, Johann Georg, 458. + +Aldrich, Richard (cited on Roman liturgy), 341. + +Alexander Severus, 399. + +Allegri, Gregorio, 66f. + +Alphege, Bishop of Winchester, 401. + +Amateur singers, xv. + +Ambrogio, Alfredo, 393. + +Ambros (cited on Palestrina), 68. + +[St.] Ambrose, 8ff, 484. + +Ambrosian hymns, 9. + +America (choral music), 379ff; + (organs), 408; + (organ music), 495ff. + +American Guild of Organists, 496. + +Ammerbach, 428. + +Andersen, Carl, 170. + +André (organ builder), 405. + +Andrews, Mark, 501. + +[d’] Anglebert, Jean Henri, 442, 443. + +Anglican Church (origin of), 89f. + +Anglican Church music, 93ff; + (second period), 133f; + (third period), 134f; + (introduction of hymn), 135f; + (nineteenth century), 184f; + (use of Magnificat), 321. + +Animuccia, 224. + +[d’] Annunzio, Gabriele, 387. + +Antegnati, Constanzo, 423. + +Anthem (English), 90, 133f, 134f. + +Antiphonal singing, 8. + +Antokolsky, 395. + +Arensky, 395; + Fountain of Bachtchissarai, 395. + +Arne, Thomas (English organ composer), 472. + +Arnold, [Sir] Edwin, 219f. + +Arnold, Robert Franz, 353. + +Arras (festival to Adam de la Hâle), 26. + +Assyrians, 1. + +Attaignant, Pierre, 441. + +Attengnati family (organ builders), 405. + +Aubade, 25 (footnote). + +Austin, John T., 409. + +Augsburg (as centre of organ music), 431. + +Avery (organ builder), 406. + + + B + +Bach, Johann Sebastian, 88, 91, 117, 119_ff_, 432, 434, 468; + (attitude toward church music), 121; + (arias), 122; + (church cantata), 122f; + (and the chorale), 123; + (vocal polyphony), 124; + (motets), 138; + (oratorio), 239f; + (mass), 319; + (church music), 325f; + (organ fingering), 423; + (chorale preludes), 429; + (organ music), 435ff, 456; + (pupils), 457f. + ‘_Ich hatte viel Bekümmerniss_,’ 125. + ‘_Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit_,’ 125f. + ‘_Ein’ feste Burg_,’ 126f. + Christmas Oratorio, 240. + Passion According to St. Matthew, 241f. + Mass in B minor, 325ff. + Magnificat in D, 327. + Organ Preludes and Fugues, 437. + Fantasia in G minor, 438. + Organ sonatas, 439. + +Bach, Wilhelm Friedemann, 456, 457. + +Back positive. See Rückpositiv. + +Baini (cited on Palestrina), 64; + (cit. on Frescobaldi), 424. + +_Baisez-moi_ (in mass), 42. + +Bantock, Granville, 371f. + ‘The Fire Worshippers,’ 372f. + ‘Omar Khayyam,’ 372f. + Masses, 374. + +Barker, C. S. (organ builder), 407. + +Barnby, Joseph, 208. + ‘Rebekah,’ 208. + +Bartholomew, William, 179, 284. + +Bartlett, Homer N., 499. + +Basilica, Antonius, 491f. + +Bassani, Giovanni Battista, 109, 425. + +Basso ostinato. See Ground-bass. + +Bates, Arlo, 222. + +Batiste, Antoine Édouard, 467f. + +Battishill, Jonathan, 472. + +Bau, Édouard, 305. + +Beach, Mrs. H. H. A., 222. + +Becker, René, 501. + +Beckwith, John Christmas (English organ composer), 472. + +Beethoven, Ludwig van, 144f, 324, 458; + (oratorio), 264; + (mass), 319, 335f; + ‘The Ruins of Athens,’ 144f. + _Die Weihe des Hauses_, 145. + ‘The Glorious Moment,’ 145f. + ‘Christ on the Mount of Olives,’ 264f. + Missa Solemnis, 335f. + +Benedict, [Sir] Julius, 178f, 282. + ‘The Legend of St. Cecilia,’ 179. + ‘Benedictines of Solesme,’ 467. + +Benedictus, Jacobus de, 320. + +Bennett, Joseph, 207, 306, 308, 314. + +Bennett, W. Sterndale, 183f. + ‘The May Queen,’ 183f. + The Woman of Samaria, 282f. + +Benoist, François, 466f. + +Benoît, Pierre Léopold, 301f, 392. + _Lucifer_, 301f. + +Berg, Alban, 353. + +Berger, Wilhelm, 357. + +Berlioz, Hector, 156ff, 170 (footnote). + The Damnation of Faust, 157f. + The Childhood of Christ, 286. + Requiem, 337f. + Te Deum, 339. + +Bernard de Morlaix (12th cent. writer), 315. + +Best, William Thomas, 477, 493. + +Bird, Arthur, 460. + +Blair, Hugh, 495. + +Blasi, Luca, 405. + +Blitheman (English organist), 448. + +Blockx, Jan, 392. + +Blow, John, 451, 475. + +Blowers (organ), 403. + +Boehm, 131. + +Boëllmann, Leon, 486. + +Boëly, Alexandre Pierre François, 466. + +[St.] Bonaventura, 320. + +Bonnal, Ermand, 486. + +Bonnet, Joseph, 486. + +Book of Common Prayer, 90. + +‘Book of Orm,’ 369. + +Borowski, Felix, 501. + +Bossi, Enrico, 393; (organ music), 491. + +Boston, U.S. (Handel and Haydn society), 219, 242, 314, 380; + (early and famous organs), 496f. + +Boulestin, Xaver M. (quoted on Holbrooke), 376. + +Bourgault-Ducoudray, 392. + +Bourgeois, 96. + +Boyce, William (English organ composer), 472. + +Brahms, Johannes, 193f, 334; + (as organ composer), 463f. + Song of Triumph, 194. + Song of Destiny, 195f. + ‘Rinaldo,’ 196. + German Requiem, 292f. + +Brattle, Thomas, 496. + +Brattle organ (America), 496. + +Breitkopf & Härtel, 65, 71 (footnote), 332. + +Brewer, A. H., 379. + +Bridge, Sir John Frederick, 493. + +Bridges, Robert (poet), 210. + +Brockes, B. H., 244. + +Bromfield, Edward, 496. + +Brosig, Moritz (church composer), 324. + +Browning, Robert, 369, 458. + +Bruch, Max, 197ff. + ‘Frithjof,’ 197f. + ‘Fair Ellen,’ 198f. + ‘The Cross of Fire,’ 199f. + ‘Lay of the Bell,’ 200. + _Odysseus_, 200f. + _Achilles_, 201. + _Arminius_, 201. + +Brucken-Fock, G. H. G. von, 358. + +Bruckner, Anton, 488. + +Bruneau, Alfred (quot. on Debussy), 387. + +Buchanan, Robert, 369, 370. + +Buck, Dudley, 218f, 498. + ‘The Golden Legend,’ 219. + ‘The Light of Asia,’ 219f. + +Budapest Conservatory, 277. + +Bull, John, 448, 449. + +Bülow, Hans von (quoted on Verdi’s Mass), 344. + +Bungert, August, 355f. + +Burney (cited), 72, 102f. + +Burns, 210. + +Busch, Carl, 384. + +Busoni, Ferruccio, 440, 492. + +Buus, Jacques, 417. + +Buxtehude, Dietrich, 433f, 436. + +Byrd, William, 75, 98, 136, 449. + + + C + +Cabezón, 445. + +Caccini, 101. + +Callaerts, Joseph, 470. + +Calvin, 95, 96. + +Campbell, 211. + +Campion (English writer of odes), 141. + +Candeille, 466. + +Canon (earliest example), 32f. + +Cantata, ix, 91, 99ff; + (German Church), 91, 113ff; + (first use of name), 101; + (17th cent.), 103f; + (early examples), 104; + (Italian), 109f; + (in France), 111; + (in Germany), 111f; + (texts), 117f; + (in 19th cent.), 142ff; + (chronological grouping), 189; + (modern), 189ff; + (English, late 19th cent.), 208; + (in United States), 218. + +Cantata da camera, 101. + +Canterbury Cathedral (organ), 408. + +Cantors, 87f. + +Cantus firmus, 20. + +Canzona Francese, 418. + +Canzonet, 25 (footnote), 140. + +Capel-Cure, [Rev.] E., 361. + +Capocci, Filippo, 491. + +Cardiff Festival, 369. + +Carissimi, Giacomo, 101f, 108, 227f; + (contemporaries), 230; + (oratorios), 247. + _Jephta_, 228f. + +Carlyle (quot. on Séjan), 466. + +Carrera, Rafael, 232. + +Catoire, Georges, 396. + +Cavaillé-Coll, Aristide, 407, 411. + +Cavalieri, Emilio de, 100, 101 (footnote), 224f; + (contemporaries), 227. + +Cecilia Society of Frankfort, 270. + +Cecilian Society, 323. + +Celles, Dom Jean François Bedos de, 445. + +Cesti, Marc’ Antonio, 105. + +Chadwick, George Whitfield, 221, 381, 464. + ‘Judith,’ 381f. + ‘Noël,’ 382. + +Chamber organ, 411f. + +Chamberlyn (organ builder), 405. + +Chambonnières, Jacques Champion de, 442. + +Chanson, 25 (footnote), 29, 46ff. + +Chant, 21; + (oral transmission of), 5. + See also Gregorian chant. + +Chapman (English masque writer), 141. + +Charlemagne, 17f, 400. + +Charles II, King of England, 90. + +Charles IX, King of France, 57. + +Charpentier, 391. + +Cherubini, Luigi, 324, 333f. + Requiem Mass in C minor, 333. + Requiem Mass in D minor, 333f. + Eight Voice Credo, 334. + Mass in D minor, 334. + +Choirs (double, etc.), 69. + +Choral folk-singing, xii-f. + +Choral music (origin and development), ix-f; + (divisions), xii-f; + (conditions essential to efficient performance), xiv; + (forms in use in United States), xiv-f; + (influence of), xviii; + (in Middle Ages), 1-98; + (kinds used in mediæval era), 52 (footnote); + (melody in treble), 83; + (contemporary), 347-397. + See also Cantata, Mass, Oratorio, Part-Song, etc. + +Choral Societies, xv-f; + (first German), 185f; + (in France in 19th cent.), 187f. + +Chorale, 79f, 83, 123. + +Chorley, Henry F., 179, 183, 253. + +Chromatic tones (first use), 22. + +Church choirs, xv. + +Church of England, 89. + See Anglican church. + +Church music (early Christian) 1ff; + (influence of Hebrews), 3; + (influence of Græco-Roman music), 3; + (outside of Italy), 17; + (introduction of organ in service), 399; + See also Anglican church music; Lutheran church; + Roman Catholic church, etc. + +Church singers (importance in mediæval music), 22. + +Civic choruses, xix. + +Clarke-Whitfield, John, 473f. + +Clement VII, Pope, 89. + +Clemm, John, 496. + +Clérambault, Louis Nicolas, 444. + +Cole, Rossetter Gleason, 384f, 501. + +Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel, 215f; + (choral works), 370f. + ‘Scenes from the Song of Hiawatha,’ 216f. + +Collin, Paul (poet), 296. + +Collins (writer of odes), 141. + +Cologne (early organ), 401. + +Colomb (librettist for Franck), 297. + +Columbi, Vincenzo, 405. + +Comic opera (earliest example), 26f. + +Commer, Franz, 425 (footnote). + +Compenius (organ builder), 405. + +Composition pedals (organ), 407. + +Concert organ, 411f. + +Concerto (name applied to cantata), 122 (footnote). + +Congregational singing, xiv, 96f. + +Constantine. See Konstantine. + +Contemporaneous choral music, 359ff. + +Converse, Frederick Shepherd, 383f. + ‘Job,’ 383. + +Cooke, Benjamin (English organ composer), 472. + +Cooley, Elsie Jones, 384. + +Cornelius Severus, 399. + +Costa, Michael, 179. + ‘The Dream,’ 179f. + ‘Eli,’ 283f. + +Councils. See Trent, Council of. + +Couperin, François, 436, 442, 443f. + +Couwenbergh, H. V., 409. + +Coward, Henry, 368. + +Cowen, Frederic Hymen, 314, 369f. + +Cranach, Lucas, 427. + +Crequillon, 421. + +Croce, Giovanni, 70. + +Croft, William, 451. + +Cromwell, 452. + +Crotch, William, 474. + +Crowest, F. J. (quot. on ‘Messiah’), 252. + +Crüger, Johann, 86. + +Cueppers, F., 201. + +Currendi, 88f. + + + D + +‘Damnation of Faust’ (Berlioz), 170 (footnote). + +Damrémont, General, 337. + +Damrosch, Leopold, 220. + +Dance songs, xii. + +David, Félicien, 175f. + ‘The Desert,’ 176f. + +Davies, Henry Walford, 377f. + Everyman, 377f. + The Temple, 377f. + Hervé Riel, 378. + +Day (choral collection), 91. + +Dayas, William H., 500. + +Debussy, Claude, 387f. + _La Demoiselle élue_, 387. + _Le martyre de Saint-Sébastien_, 387f. + +Delaney (quot. on Mrs. Cibber), 251. + +Delmotte, Heinrich (cited on Lassus), 58. + +Dethier, Gaston, 501. + +Dettingen Te Deum, 327f. + +Devrient, Édouard, 242 (footnote). + +Dialogue (name applied to cantata), 122 (footnote). + +Diaphone (organ), 411. + +Dickinson, Edward (quot.), 38, 63, 122; + (cited on Bach’s cantatas), 122. + +Diminution (organ playing), 422. + +Diruta, Girolamo, 422f. + +Discant, 2, 20. + +Division (in organ mechanism), 404. + +Doddridge, 135f. + +Doles, Johann Friedrich, 457. + +Draeseke, Felix, 355. + +Dresden (Royal Library), 109; + (Royal Chapel organ), 406. + +Dryden, 110, 141, 210. + +Dryvers, L., 409. + +Dubois, Théodore, 206, 479, 485. + ‘Paradise Lost,’ 305f. + +Duddyngton (organ builder), 405. + +Dufay (use of popular songs), 42 + (footnote), 47f. + +Dukas, 392. + +Duke of Weimar, 277. + +Dunham, Henry M., 500. + +[St.] Dunstan, 401. + +Duplex stop control, 409. + +Dupuis, Thomas Sanders, 472. + +Durante, 137. + +Dvořák, Antonin, 202f, 322. + ‘The Spectre’s Bride,’ 202f. + ‘St. Ludmila,’ 293. + Requiem, 342. + Stabat Mater, 342f. + + + E + +Early Christian music. See Church music. + +Eccard, Johann, 85f. + +Echo (in the organ), 406. + +Eddy, Clarence, 460. + +Edward VI of England, 90, 449. + +Edwards (English madrigalist), 75. + +Egyptians, 1. + +Eisenach, 77 (footnote). + +Electricity (applied to organ action), 407, 408f. + +Elgar, [Sir] Edward, 211ff, 355, 359f; + (organ compositions), 494. + ‘The Black Knight,’ 212. + ‘The Banner of St. George,’ 212f. + ‘Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf,’ 213. + ‘Caractacus,’ 213f. + ‘The Light of Life,’ 361f. + ‘The Dream of Gerontius,’ 362f. + ‘The Apostles,’ 364f. + ‘The Kingdom,’ 366f. + ‘The Music Makers,’ 367f. + +Elizabeth, Queen of England, 90, 93, 448, 449. + +Elwyn, Earl of, 401. + +England (contemporary choral music), 359ff; + (organs, 15th cent.), 404. + +Englefried, George and Charles, 410. + +Enoch, Frederick, 181. + +Erbach, Christian, 431. + +Esterhazy, Count, 335. + +Ett, Kaspar, 323. + +Eyken, Jan Albert van, 469. + + + F + +Fährmann, Ernst Hans, 487. + +Faisst, Immanuel Gottlob Friedrich, 463. + +Families of tone (in organ), 410. + +Fantasia, 419. + +Farmer, Henry, 346. + +Fasolo, Giovanni Battista, 425. + +Faulkes, William, 494. + +Federlin, Gottfried H., 501. + +Ferdinand III, 431. + +Festa, Constanzo, 72. + +Festivals (in England), 178. + +Fétis (cited on Scarlatti), 231 (footnote); + (cited on Landino), 416; + (cited on Merulo), 420; + (cited on Gigault), 442; + (cited on Rinck), 459. + +Fischer, Michael Gotthard, 458, 459. + +Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, 449. + +Fletcher (as writer of masques), 141. + +Folk-song, xi, xii, 23f, 34; + (relation to art-music), 35f; + (influence upon German ritual), 93f; + (in Lutheran ritual), 113; + (rel. to part-song), 140. + +Fontane, Theodor, 380. + +Foote, Arthur, 221, 449. + +Förner, C. F., 405. + +France (modern choral music), 386ff; + (famous organs), 404; + (supremacy in modern organ music), 479. + +Francesco degli organi, 416. + +Franck, César, 295f; + (organ works), 470f. + ‘Ruth and Boaz,’ 295. + ‘The Beatitudes,’ 296f. + ‘La Redemption,’ 296. + ‘Rébecca,’ 296. + ‘Psyché,’ 296. + +Franco of Cologne, 18. + +Franz, Robert, 177. + +Frederick the Great, 245. + +Frederick William of Prussia, 179. + +Freiberg minster (organ), 406. + +Frescobaldi, Girolamo, 424f, 436. + +Fried, Oscar, 357. + +Friedrich Augustus of Saxony, 148. + +Froberger, Johann Jacob, 431, 442. + +Frottola, 29f. + +Fuchs, Albert, 355. + +Fürst, 269. + + + G + +Gabrieli, Andrea, 69, 421. + +Gabrieli, Giovanni, 69, 234, 421. + +Gade, Niels Wilhelm, 169ff. + ‘The Crusaders,’ 170f. + ‘The Erl-King’s Daughter,’ 171f. + ‘Christmas Eve,’ 172f. + ‘Comala,’ 173f. + ‘Zion,’ 174f. + ‘Spring’s Message,’ 175. + +Gallo-Belgic School, 36f. + +Garrett, George Mursell, 493. + +Gauntlett, Henry John, 407. + +Geibel, Emanuel, 198, 222. + +George II, King of England, 250. + +German church cantata, 114f. + +Germany (church music), 111f; + (modern choral music), 347ff; + (famous organs), 404. + +Giacomo, Lorenzo di, 405. + +Gibbons, Orlando, 75, 98, _449f_, 475. + +Gibbons, Cardinal (quot. on Catholic mass), 38f. + +Gigout, Eugène, 485. + +Glazounoff, 395. + +Glee, 138f. + +Glière, 396. + +Glosada, 404. + +Goethe, 168, 172, 196, 348; + (quot. on Bach), 435. + +Goetz, Hermann, 204. + +Goss, [Sir] John, 475. + +Gossec, 284. + +Goudimel, 96. + +Gounod, Charles, 205f; + (passion music), 245; + (oratorio), 286f; + (masses), 341f. + ‘The Redemption,’ 287f. + _Mors et Vita_, 289f. + +Graff, Wilhelm Paul (poet), 200. + +Grainger, Percy, 377. + +Grandval, C. de, 392. + +Grapheus of Nuremberg (quot. on early masses), 37. + +Graun, Karl Heinrich, 245f. + ‘The Death of Jesus,’ 245f. + Prague Te Deum, 328. + +Greek Orthodox Church, x; + (music of), 394. + +Greeks, Ancient, 1. + +Green, Samuel, 406. + +Greene, Maurice, 451f. + +Gregorian chant, 10, 36, 37, 285; + (modern reform movement), 299. + +Gregorian Antiphonary, 11ff. + +Gregory the Great, Pope, 9f. + +Gregory VII, 13. + +Grieg, Edvard Hagerup, 205. + +Grignón, 396. + +Grillparzer (librettist to Schubert), 150. + +Ground-bass (first recorded use), 33. + +Grove’s Dictionary (cited), 33, 66 (footnote), 106. + +Guami, Gioseffo, 422. + +Guéranger, Prosper, 467. + +Guido d’Arezzo, 18. + +Guilmant, Félix Alexandre, 442 (footnote), 444, 468, 479, _480ff_, 490. + Fugue in D, 482. + Funeral March and Seraphic Song, 482. + Lamentation, 482. + +Gutenberg, 155. + + + H + +Haberl, F. X. (cited on Palestrina), 64 (footnote), 425 (footnote). + +Hadley, Henry K., 383. + +Hadow, W. H. (quot. on Beethoven), 336f. + +Hahn, Reynaldo, 355, 388. + +Halberstadt (early organ at), 402. + +Hale, Philip, 460. + +Hamburg (as centre of organ art), 433. + +Hamerling (German poet), 210. + +Hamilton, Newburg, 256. + +Hammerschmidt, Andreas, 114 (footnote). + +Handel, George Frederick, 127f, 134, 322, 434; + (passion music), 244; + (oratorios), 246ff; + (as organist), 452f; + (organ works), 454f. + ‘Acis and Galatea,’ 127f. + ‘Alexander’s Feast,’ 129. + ‘L’Allegro,’ 129f. + ‘Messiah,’ 249ff. + ‘Israel in Egypt,’ 252f. + ‘Judas Maccabæus,’ 254f. + ‘Samson,’ 256f. + ‘Utrecht Te Deum,’ 327f. + +Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, 219, 242, 314, 380. + +Harmony, 2. + +Harris, René, 406. + +Harrison, Julius, 495. + +Harwood, Basil, 494f. + +Haskell, C. S., 408. + +Haskell, W. E., 410. + +Hassler, Hans Leo, 421. + _Herzlich thut mich verlangen_, 430. + +Hastings, 497. + +Haupt, Karl August, 460. + +Hauptmann, Maurice, 88. + +Hausegger, Siegmund von, 357f. + +Hawkins, [Sir] John (cit. on organ fantasias), 419; + (quot. on Handel), 454. + +Haydn, Joseph, 130f; + (oratorio), 258ff. + _Ariadne auf Naxos_, 130f. + ‘The Seven Words of Jesus on the Cross,’ 130. + ‘The Creation,’ 259ff. + ‘The Seasons,’ 261f. + Stabat Mater, 329. + +Hebrews, 1. + +Heliogabalus, 399. + +Henrici, Friedrich, 244. + +Henry VIII, King of England, 89, 449. + +Henschel, Georg, 345. + +Herbeck, 334. + +Herder (poet), 192. + +Hereford Festival, 322. + +Hertz, Henrik, 182. + +Hesse, Adolf Friedrich, 459f. + +Heyse, Paul, 202. + +Hiel, Emanuel (librettist to Benoît), 301. + +Hildebrandt (organ builder), 405. + +Hiller, Ferdinand, 168. + ‘A Song of Victory,’ 168f. + +Hobrecht, Jacob, 48. + +Hofmann, Heinrich Karl Johann, 203f. + +‘Melusina,’ 203f. + +Hohenlohe, Archbishop, 280. + +Holbrooke, Joseph, 374f. + ‘Byron,’ 375. + ‘The Bells,’ 375. + Dramatic Choral Symphony, 375. + ‘Queen Mab,’ 375f. + ‘To Zanthe,’ 376. + Apollo and the Seaman, 376. + +Hölderlin, 195. + +Hollins, Alfred, 494. + +Holmès, Augusta, 391. + +Holst, Gustave von, 376f. + +[L’]Homme armé, 42 and footnote. + +Hook and Hastings (organ builders), 497. + +Hooker, Brian, 380. + +Hope-Jones, Robert, 410f. + +Hopkins, Edward John, 476. + +Horn, C. F., 473. + +Horn, Moritz, 166. + +Horwitz, Karl, 353. + +Huber, Hans, 358. + +Huberti, G. L., 392. + +Hucbald, 2, 18. + +Humberston, F. W., 379. + +Humfrey, Pelham, 133. + +Hummel, 458. + +Humperdinck, Engelbert, 357. + +Huneker, James (quoted on Schönberg), 353. + +Hungarian national march, 158. + +‘Hunt’s-up’ (English song), 180 and footnote. + +Hutchings, George S., 411. + +Hydraulic organ, 398. + +Hymnody (Luther’s influence on), 78ff. + + + I + +[d’]Indy, Vincent, 386, 390f. + +‘Song of the Bell,’ 391. + +Innocent III, Pope, 320. + +Instruments (in early Christian era), 7f. + +Intervals, 1f; + (in part writing), 21. + +Ippolitoff-Ivanoff, 396. + +Irving, Washington, 219. + +Italian cantata, 101ff. + +Italy (modern choral music), 392ff; + (famous organs), 404. + +Ivanovitch, Sergius, 396. + + + J + +Jacobsen, Jens Peter, 353. + +Jacobus de Benedictus, 320. + +Jahn, Otto, 323. + +Jalowetz, Heinrich, 353. + +Jennens, Charles (librettist), 249. + +Johann Georg, Elector of Saxony, 236. + +Jonson, Ben, 141. + +Jordans (organ builder), 406. + +Josquin des Près, 48, 49ff. + +Julian the Apostate, 400. + +Julianus, Spanish bishop, 400. + + + K + +Karg-Elert, Sigfrid, 489. + +Karlsruhe Philharmonic Society, 195. + +Kaun, Hugo, 358. + +Kerl, Johann Kaspar, 431. + +Keuchenthal (passion music), 236 (footnote). + +Keyboard (organ), 402. + +Kiesewetter, R. G. (quot. on Okeghem), 48. + +Kind, Friedrich, 148. + +Kinder, Ralph, 501. + +Kindermann, Erasmus, 430. + +Kingsley, Charles, 277, 379. + +Kirbye (English madrigalist), 75. + +Kirnberger, Johann Philipp, 457. + +Kittel, Johann Christian, 458. + +Klose, Friedrich, 488. + +Koch, Friedrich, 357. + +Köchel, 132 (footnote), 332. + +Koninck, Lodemijk de (librettist), 299. + +Konstantine, Kopronynus, 400. + +Kotzebue, 141. + +Kranz (organ builder), 405. + +Krebs, Johann Ludwig, 458. + +Kretzschmar, Hermann (quoted on Mozart), 329; + (cited on Beethoven), 335. + +Ktesibos, 398. + +Kuhnau, Johann, 88, 425. + + + L + +Lachner, Franz, 150. + +Lady Nevill’s Virginal Book, 449. + +Laloy, Pierre (quot. on Debussy), 388. + +Lambillotte, Louis, 467. + +‘Lament’ for Charlemagne, 24 (footnote). + +Lampadius (quot. on ‘St. Paul’), 270. + +Landino, Francesco, 415, 427. + +Lang, Benjamin Johnson, 497. + +Langdon, W. C., 381. + +Lange, Samuel de, 358, 469. + +Lasso, Orlando di. See Lassus. + +Lassus, Orlandus, 49, 56ff; + (secular compositions), 59f. + ‘Penitential Psalms,’ 57f. + _Gustate et Videte_, 58f. + +Leading motives, 301. + +Le Bègue, Nicolas Antoine, 442. + +Leeds festival, 322, 368. + +Le Fanu, J. S., 211. + +Lefebure-Wély, Louis J. A., 467. + +Legrenzi, Giovanni, 105f. + +Lemare, Henry, 494. + +Lemmens, Nicolas Jacques, 468f. + +Leo, Leonardo, 137. + +Leo XIII, Pope, 289, 345. + +Lerch (of minnesingers), 28 (footnote). + +Lesueur, François, 285f. + Christmas Oratorio, 285f. + +Liadoff, 395. + +Lidley (librettist to Haydn), 259. + +Lied (of minnesingers), 28 (footnote). + +Lingg, H. (librettist), 197. + +Liszt, Franz, 191f; + (choral works), 277f; + (Bach transcriptions), 438, 440 (footnote); + (as organ composer), 462. + ‘The Bells of Strassburg,’ 191f. + ‘Prometheus,’ 192f. + ‘The Legend of St. Elizabeth,’ 277f. + _Christus_, 279f. + _Missa Solemnis_, 340f. + ‘Hungarian Coronation Mass,’ 341. + +Liturgic chant, 4. + +Liturgy (Roman Catholic), x, 3f, 5, 318. + See also Mass. + +Liverpool (organ at St. George’s Hall), 411. + +Lobsinger (organ builder), 405. + +Lohr, Harvey, 379. + +London (Albert Hall organ), 411. + +Longfellow, 191, 207, 212, 213, 216, 219, 221, 370, 380, 384. + +Louis XII, King of France, 50. + +Louis the Debonnaire, 400. + +Lucinius, 427. + +Luther, Martin, 53, 77ff, 89, 90, 236f, 484; + (compositions), 79, 80 (footnote). + +Lutheran service, 77f, 81, 115f; + (Deutsche Messe), 82. + +Luzzaschi, Luzzasco, 422. + + + M + +Macfarlane, Will C., 501. + +Macfarren, George Alexander, 180f, 282, 322. + ‘May Day,’ 180. + ‘The Lady of the Lake,’ 180f. + +Mackenzie, Alexander Campbell, 210f, 368. + ‘The Rose of Sharon,’ 306f. + ‘Bethlehem,’ 308. + +McLean, M., 379. + +Macy, John, 384. + +Madan’s Collection of Psalms and Hymn Tunes, 135. + +Madrigal, xii, 30f, 70ff; + (of Netherland period), 46ff; + (in Germany), 72f; + (in France), 73; + (in England), 73f; + (decline), 138. + +Magnard, 392. + +Magnificat, 321; + (Dufay), 54f. + +Mahler, Gustav, 357. + +Maitland, J. H. Fuller (quoted on Brahms’ ‘German Requiem’), 293. + +Male choruses, xvi. + +Malling, Otto, 489f. + +Malory (Morte d’Arthur), 368. + +Mansfield, Purcell J., 495. + +Manuals (organ), 405, 406. + +Manuscripts (earliest known), 7. + +Manzoni, Alessandro, 343. + +Mapes, Walter, 60. + +Maquaire, A., 486. + +Marcellus II, Pope, 64. + +Marchand, Louis, 444. + +Marenzio, Luca, 72. + +Martin, George C., 493. + +Martini, Padre, 458. + +Marx, A. B., 269. + +Mary, Queen of England, 449. + +Mary, Queen of Scots, 103. + +Masque, 141. + +Mass, xii, 38ff; + (use of secular subjects), 41f; + (origin of name), 42; + (development during Netherland period), 46ff; + (introduction of hymn), 85; + (order of movements), 318f; + (classification), 319ff; + (19th-cent. reform), 323; + (Mozart), 323, 329; + (Bach), 324ff; + (Haydn), 329; + (Cherubini), 333f; + (Beethoven), 335f; + (Liszt), 340f; + (Gounod), 341f; + (modern), 345f. + +Massenet, Jules, 206; + (oratorio), 303f. + _Ève_, 303f. + _Marie Madeleine_, 304. + +Mathieu, Émile, 392. + +Mattheson, Johann, 118. + +Mattheson (friend of Mendelssohn), 453. + +Matthison, Arthur, 208. + +Maximilian, Emperor of Austria, 427. + +Measured music, 5. + +Mees, Arthur (quot.), 62, 243. + +Meistersinger, 27f. + +Melody (placed in treble), 83. + +Mendelssohn, Arnold, 357. + +Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix, 151ff; + (part-song), 186; + (oratorio), 268ff; + (quot. on Bach), 437; + (organ works), 461f. + ‘The First Walpurgis Night,’ 152f. + ‘As the Hart Pants,’ 153f. + ‘Come, Let Us Sing,’ 154f. + Gutenberg Festival Cantata, 155. + _Lauda Sion_, 155. + ‘Antigone,’ 155f. + ‘Œdipus at Colonos,’ 156. + ‘St. Paul,’ 269ff. + ‘Elijah,’ 272ff. + ‘Hymn of Praise,’ 276. + +Merkel, Gustav Adolf, 463. + +Merulo, Claudio, 420, 422. + +Middelschulte, Wilhelm, 440 (footnote), 500. + +Miller, Russell King, 501. + +Milton, John (English masque writer), 141, 210, 256, 259. + +Minnesingers, 26ff. + +Miracle plays, 224. + +Modal harmony, 56. + +Monasteries (St. Gall), 8; + (study of music), 18. + +Monophonic music, 1. + +Monteverdi, 101. + +Moore, Thomas (author of ‘Lalla Rookh’), 163. + +Morell, Rev. Thomas (librettist to Handel), 254. + +Morgan, George W., 460, 497. + +Motet (Netherland period), 46ff; + (Josquin), 50; + (early history), 52f; + (subjects and early examples), 54f; + (18th cent.), 136f; + (19th cent.), 185. + +Moussorgsky, Modeste, 395; + Destruction of Sennacherib, 395. + +Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 131f; + (relation to Haydn), 258 and footnote; + (mass), 323, 331f. + ‘King Thamos,’ 131. + Masonic Cantatas, 132. + _Davidde Penitente_, 132. + Requiem, 329ff. + Coronation Mass, 332f. + +Muffat, Georg, 432. + +Multiple stop control, 409. + +Mumford, Ethel Watts, 383. + +Musæ Sioniæ (hymn collection), 86. + +Music festivals (in England), 178. + +Musica Transalpina (madrigal collection), 72, 73. + +Musical Art Society of New York, xviii. + + + N + +Napier, Hampdon (librettist to Weber), 148. + +Napoleon I, 259, 339. + +Nares, James (English organ composer), 472. + +Nassare, Pablo, 445. + +National Conservatory of Music, New York, 222. + +National songs, xii. + +Naumann, Emil (cit.), 24; + (quot. on Ecce Ancilla), 47; + (cited on Okeghem), 49; + (cited on Luther’s hymns), 85. + +Nekrassoff, 395. + +Nero, 399. + +Netherland schools, 46ff; + (mass), 37f; + (use of secular subjects), 43f; + (texts), 44; + (differentiation of schools), 47f; + (organists), 417. + +Neumes, 5f. + +Newman, Cardinal (cited on dream of Gerontius), 362. + +Newman, Ernest (quoted on Schönberg), 354. + +Nicetas, Bishop of Remesiana, 322. + +Nicholl, Horace Wadhams, 500. + +Nigond, Gabriel, 389. + +Ninfale, 415. + +Nisard, Theódore, 467. + +Noordt, Anthony van, 466. + +Normand. See Nisard. + +Nottebohm (cited on Schubert), 150. + +Novello, Vincent, 332, 475. + +Nowowiejski, Felix, 396. + +Nuremberg (first chorale collection published at), 83 (footnote); + (as home of organ music), 430. + + + O + +Oakley, Sir Hubert Stanley, 493. + +Obrecht. See Hobrecht. + +Ode, 141; + (revival of), 209. + +Okeghem, Johannes, 48f. + +Opera, xii; + (first), 99. + +Oratorio (first), 99; + (origin and early examples), 223f; + (Cavalieri’s stage directions), 225f; + (17th-cent. Italian), 233ff; + (German passion-music), 234ff; + (Handel), 246ff; + (Haydn), 258ff; + (Beethoven), 264f; + (Spohr), 266f; + (Mendelssohn), 268ff; + (Liszt), 277ff; + (English composers), 281f; + (in modern France), 284f; + (modern), 292ff; + (modern English), 306f; + (American), 314f. + +Oratorio Society of New York, xv-f. + +Orchestra (employment of, in ritual music), 134. + +Organ, 83; + (history and development), 397ff; + (10th-11th cent.), 400ff; + (portative), 402, 415; + (15th-17th cent.), 404f; + (18th-19th cent.), 406; + (modern development), 407ff; + (modern concert organ), 411f; + (early use in church service), 418; + (first in America), 496. + +Organ blowers, 403. + +Organ-building (10th-11th cent.), 400f; + (12th-14th cent.), 401ff; + (15th-16th cent.), 403ff; + (17th-19th cent.), 405ff; + (modern), 407ff. + +Organ keyboard, 402. + See also Pneumatic action; Electricity. + +‘Organ Magnificats,’ 321. + +Organ music (early masters), 415ff; + (early forms), 418f; + (Saxon or Thuringian school), 434ff; + (Bach), 435ff; + (early French), 441ff; + (Spain and Portugal), 445; + (early English), 446ff; + (Handel), 452; + (after Bach and Handel), 456ff; + (19th-cent. German), 459ff; + (19th-cent. French), 466ff; + (19th-cent. English), 472ff; + (arrangements), 473; + (modern French), 479ff; + (modern German), 487f; + (modern Italian), 490f; + (in United States), 495ff; + (American composers), 499f. + +Organ pedals, 403. + +Organ playing (methods), iii, 422f, 459, 460. + +Organists (in Germany), 426ff; + (in France), 441; + (in Spain and Portugal), 445f; + (Belgium), 469f; + (English), 472; + (younger French school), 486; + (younger English school), 493; + (American), 497ff. + +Organum, 2, 19f. + +Organum pulsare, 402. + +Ornamentation (organ music), 423. + +O’Shaughnessy, Arthur, 367. + +Osiander, Lucas (published first chorale book), 83 (footnote). + +Ottoboni, Cardinal, 453. + +Ouseley, [Sir] Frederick Arthur Gore, 476f. + + + P + +Pachelbel, Johann, 429, 430f, 436. + +Paine, John K., 314f, 460, 497. + ‘St. Peter,’ 314f. + +Paix, Jacob, 428. + +Palestrina, x, 17, 49, 60ff, 91, 422; + (contemporaries), 67f; + (motets), 136, 138. + _Missa Papæ Marcelli_, 63f. + +Palestrina style, 61f, 322. + +Pareja, Ramis de, 445. + +Parker, Horatio William, 221f, 464, 499. + _Hora Novissima_, 315f. + ‘The Legend of St. Christopher,’ 316f. + ‘Morven and the Grail,’ 380f. + +Parker, James Cutler Dunn, 497. + +Parratt, [Sir] Walter, 493. + +Parry, [Sir] C. Hubert H., 20 (footnote), 209f, 322; + (quot. on Rossi), 104f; + (quot. on 17th-cent. cantatas), 108. + ‘Judith,’ 308f. + ‘Job,’ 309. + ‘King Saul,’ 309f. + ‘The Vision of Life,’ 369f. + ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin,’ 369. + +Partida (organ mechanism), 404. + +Part-singing, 19f. + +Part-song (origin), 140; + (German, 19th cent.), 186f; + (English, 19th cent.), 187; + (French, 19th cent.), 188. + +Pasquini, Bernardo, 425f. + +Passion-music (origin and development), 234f; + (Schütz), 236f; + (Bach), 239ff; + (Graun), 245f. + +Pastourelle, 25 (footnote). + +Paul IV, Pope, 66. + +Paumann, Conrad, 427. + +Peace, Albert Lister, 493. + +Pedals (organ), 403, 405. + +Pedrell, Felipe, 396. + +‘Penitential Psalms’ (Lassus), 57f. + +People’s Choral Union (New York), xv. + +People’s Singing Classes (New York), xv. + +Pepin, 400. + +Pergolesi, Giov. Battista, 137, 327. + Stabat Mater, 327. + +Peri, 100, 101, 405. + +Periods of musical progress, 142f. + +Perosi, Don Lorenzo, 392f, 492. + +Perrot (organ builder), 405. + +Péschard (organ builder), 407. + +Petrali, Vincenzo Antonio, 491. + +Petrarch, 71 (footnote). + +Petronius, 399. + +Philip of Vitry, 53. + +Philip II, King of Spain, 404. + +Picander. See Henrici. + +Pierluigi, Giovanni. See Palestrina. + +Pierné, Gabriel, 355, 386, 388f. + _Les enfants de Bethlehem_, 388. + ‘The Children’s Crusade,’ 389. + _Saint-François d’Assisi_, 389f. + +Pius X, Pope, 6. + +Piutti, Carl, 487. + +Plainsong. See Gregorian chant; Gregorian antiphonary. + +Platen, August von, 172. + +Platz, Wilhelm, 355. + +Pneumatic action (in organ), 398, 400, 407. + +Pneumatic lever (organ), 407. + +Pneumatic organ, 400. + +Poe, Edgar Allan, 376, 396. + +Pohl, Richard, 166. + +Poland (contemporaneous choral music), 396. + +Polyphonic period, 36ff. + +Pope, 210. + +Portative organ, 399, 403, 405, 416. + +Positive organ, 399. + +Possessoris, 398. + +Poushkin, 395. + +Prætorius, Jacob, 432 (footnote). + +Prætorius, Michael, 86, 402, 421. + +Prague Te Deum, 328f. + +Pratt, Waldo S. (quot. on Palestrina), 62. + +Prelude, 429. + +Professional choruses, xvii. + +Prölz, Adolphus, 155. + +Proske, Karl, 323, 467; + (quot. on Lassus), 56f. + +Protestant church music, 76ff; + (substitution of vernacular for Latin), 78; + (in England), 89f. + +Protestant composers (early), 86f, 94. + +Protestant hymnody, 78. + +Protestant service (Reformed church), 95f. + See Lutheran service. + +Psalmists, 95. + +Psalmody, 95; + (18th cent.), 135. + +Public school choruses, xvi. + +Purcell, Henry, 133, 322; + (as organ composer), 452. + +Puritanism, 96. + + + Q + +Quantz, Johann Joachim, 474f; + (quoted), 456. + +Quef, Charles, 486. + + + R + +Rachmaninoff, 395. + +Raison, André, 442. + +Rameau, Jean Philippe, 444f. + +Ramler (librettist), 245. + +Ramsay (early organ at convent of), 401. + +Randebrock (organ builder), 409. + +Ravanello, Oreste, 491f. + +Ravel, Maurice, 392. + +Recitative, 230f. + +Redford, Thomas, 448. + +Refrains, xii. + +Regal, 405. + +Reger, Max (choral works), 352f, 429, 440 (footnote); + (organ works), 488f. + +Reidel, Carl, 238. + +Reimann, Heinrich (quot. on Mozart), 323. + +Reinken, Johann Adam, 432 (footnote). + +Representative style, 100. + +Requiem mass, 320. + +Responsorial singing, 8. + +Resultant tone (organ), 459. + +Revolution of 1830, 337. + +Reubke, Julius, 463. + +Rheinberger, Joseph, 201f, 324; + (masses), 345; + (organ works), 464ff. + _Christophorus_, 201f. + +Ribera (painter of ‘Magdalen’), 231. + +Ricercare, 418. + +Richter, E. F., 88. + +Rimsky-Korsakoff, 395. + +Rinck, J. C. H., 458, 459. + +Ritter August Gottfried, 425 (footnote), 460; + (cit. on Crequillon), 421; + (quot. on Guami), 422; + (cit. on Hassler), 430; + (quot. on Muffat), 432. + +Ritual (Pagan, Hebrew), 3; + (uniformity in, of mediæval European composers), 76; + (music in Anglican church), 90f. + See also Roman Catholic church; Litany; Lutheran service. + +Rochlitz, Friedrich (librettist of ‘The Praise of Music’), 146. + +Rockstro (quoted), 23; + (cited on first use of ‘madrigal’), 73 (footnote). + +Rococo organ embellishments, 406. + +Rogers, James Hotchkiss, 500. + +‘Roland’s Song,’ 24 (footnote). + +Rolland, Romain (quot. on Strauss), 348; + (quot. on modern choral school), 386; + (quoted on oratorio), 393. + +Romberg, Andreas, 146f. + ‘The Lay of the Bell,’ 146f. + +Roman Catholic church, x, 8, 38ff; + (introduction of antiphonal psalmody), 9; + (influence of Protestant hymn), 84; + (movement for restoration), 323f. + See also Gregorian chant; Mass, etc. + +Romans, 1. + +Roosevelt, Hilborne L., 408, 411. + +Rootham, Bradley, 379. + +Roquette, Otto (librettist), 278. + +Rossetti, Christina, 180, 387. + +Rossi, Luigi, 104f. + _Gelosia_, 104f. + +Rossini, Gioacchino, 339f. + Stabat Mater, 339f. + +Round, 32. + +Roundelay, 25 (footnote). + +Rousseau, Samuel Alexandre, 485f. + +Rückert, Friedrich, 167, 349, 350. + +Rückpositiv, 404. + +Rudolph, Emperor of Austria, 430. + +Russia (contemporary choral music), 394f. + +Rust, Wilhelm, 88. + + + S + +Sachs, Hans, 27. + +Sacred Harmonic Society, London, 252f. + +St. Ambrose (hymns of), 8ff, 484. + +St. Filippo Nero, 224. + +St. George’s Hall, Liverpool (organ in), 411. + +St. Mark’s, Venice, 417, 419f. + +Saint-Saëns, Charles Camille (oratorio), 302f; + (as organ composer), 480. + _Noël_, 302. + ‘The Deluge,’ 302f. + +Salamon, 259. + +Salomé, Théodore César, 485. + +Salto cattivo (organ playing), 423. + +Salzburg, Archbishop of, 332f. + +Santa Maria, Thomas de, 445. + +Santucci, Marco, 490f. + +Scandellus, 237. + +Scandinavia (contemporary choral music), 394. + +Scarlatti, Alessandro, 106ff, 137, 230f. + Cantatas, 106f. + _Il trionfo della grazia_, 231. + _Sedecia, rè di Gerusalemme_, 231f. + +Scarlatti, Domenico, 109, 453. + +Scheidemann, Heinrich, 432 (footnote). + +Scheidt, Samuel, 432 (footnote). + +Schein, 88. + +Schering (quot. on Everyman), 378. + +Schikaneder, 131. + +Schildt, Melchior, 432 (footnote). + +Schiller, 146, 200, 204, 349, 395. + +Schlick, Arnold, 427. + +Schmid (organ builder), 405. + +Schmid, Bernard, 428. + +Schmidt (German organist), 450. + +Schmitt, Aloys, 333. + +Schmitt, Florent, 386, 390. + +Schneider, Johann Gottlob, 458, 459, 469. + +Schnitzker (organ builder), 405. + +Scholæ cantorum, 6, 10. + +Schönberg, Arnold, 353f. + _Gurrelieder_, 354. + +Schubert, Franz, 149f; (part-song), 186; + (masses), 334. + _Miriams Siegesgesang_, 150. + +Schumann, Georg, 351f; + (as organ composer), 462. + ‘Ruth,’ 351. + +Schumann, Robert, 161ff; + (part-song), 162f, 186, 204, 346; + (quoted on Bach), 435. + ‘Paradise and the Peri,’ 162f. + ‘The Pilgrimage of the Rose,’ 166. + ‘The Minstrel’s Curse,’ 166f. + ‘Advent Hymn,’ 167. + ‘New Year’s Hymn,’ 167f. + ‘Mignon’s Requiem,’ 168. + +Schütz, Heinrich, 236f, 421. + ‘Seven Words of Jesus,’ 237f. + ‘Resurrection,’ 237. + ‘Passions,’, 238. + +Schwob, Marcel, 389. + +Scott, [Sir] Walter, 180, 199, 380. + +Scriabine, 376. + +Secular music, 23ff; + (earliest known examples), 25; + (first use of polyphony), 29. + See also Cantata; Chanson; Folk-song; Madrigal; Part-song. + +Seifert, Paul, 432 (footnote). + +Séjan, Nicolas, 466. + +Sequences, 14ff. + +Serenade, 25 (footnote). + +Servante, 25 (footnote). + +Seyfried, 458. + +Sguarcialupo, Antonio, 416. + +Sheffield Festival, 368. + +Shelley, Harry Rowe, 209, 501. + +Shirley, James, 210. + +Shubring (friend of Mendelssohn), 269. + +Silas, Eduard, 346. + +Silbermann family (organ builders), 406. + +Singing schools, 6f, 10, 13. + +Sistine Chapel, 11. + +Skinner, Ernest M., 411. + +Smart, [Sir] George, 265. + +Smart, Henry, 181f; + (as organ composer), 475f. + ‘The Bride of Dunkerron,’ 181f. + ‘King René’s Daughter,’ 182f. + +Smith, David Stanley, 385. + +Smith, Father, 406, 450. + +Solmisation, 18. + +Sophocles, 155, 156. + +Spain (famous organs), 404. + +Spark, William, 476. + +Speth, Johann, 431. + +Spitta, Philipp (quot. on church music), 118; + (on J. S. Bach), 120; + (quot. on Bach), 437. + +Spohr, Ludwig, 150f, 266f. + ‘The Last Judgment,’ 266f. + ‘Calvary,’ 267f. + +Spruch (of minnesingers), 28 (footnote). + +Stabat Mater, 320f. + +Staff (origin of), 18. + +Staff notation (first use), 5. + +Stage directions for oratorio, 225f. + +Stainer, Sir John, 493; + (cited), 31. + +Stanford, Charles Villiers, 211, 346. + ‘The Three Holy Children,’ 310. + ‘Eden,’ 310f. + +Stile rappresentativo, 100. + +Stradella, Alessandro, 232f. + _S. Giovanni Battista_, 233. + +Strauss, Richard, 348f; + (short choral works), 349; + (religious music), 350. + _Wanderers Sturmlied_, 348. + _Taillefer_, 349. + _Der Abend_, 349. + +Stravinsky, 396. + +Sullivan, [Sir] Arthur Seymour, 206f, 322. + ‘The Golden Legend,’ 206f. + ‘The Prodigal Son,’ 311f. + ‘The Light of the World,’ 312f. + +‘Sumer is icumen in,’ 32f. + +Süssmayer, 330. + +Sweelinck, J. P., 427, 429, 446. + +Swell chambers (organ), 409f. + +Swell (organ), 406. + +Swieten, Baron von, 259. + +Sydney, N. S. W. (organ), 411. + +Sylvester, Pope, 6. + +Syrinx, 397. + + + T + +Tablatura nova, 429. + +Tablature (organ), 422, 423. + +Tallis, Thomas, 136, 448f. + +Taneieff, Alexander, 396. + +Tartini, 490. + +Tasso (‘Jerusalem Delivered’), 170. + +Taubmann, Otto, 350f. + _Deutsche Messe_, 350. + _Sängerweihe_, 350. + +Taussig (Bach transcription), 440. + +Te Deum Laudamus, 322. + +Tebaldini, Giovanni, 393, 491. + +Tegner, Bishop (librettist), 197. + +Tempo (method of determining), 474f. + +Tennyson, 211. + +Tenzone, 25 (footnote). + +Thayer, Eugene W., 460, 497, 500. + +Theatre organs, 413. + +Thiele, Johann Friedrich Ludwig, 462. + +Thirty Years’ War (effect of, on chorale), 83. + +Thomas Aquinas (author of Lauda Sion), 155. + +Thomas (organ builder), 406. + +Thomas, Theodore, 288, 292. + +Thomasschule, 88. + +Thomson (author of ‘Seasons’), 261. + +Thuille, Ludwig, 357. + +Tinel, Edgar, 299f, 392, 470. + _Franciscus_, 299f. + +Titelouze, Jean, 441f. + +Toccata, 418. + +Tombelle, Ferdinand de la, 486. + +Tone grouping (in organ), 410. + +Trampeli (organ builders), 405. + +Trench (librettist of ‘Apollo and the Seaman’), 376. + +Trent, Council of, 58, 64, 119. + +Tropes, 16. + +Troubadours, 24f; + (historical significance), 28. + +Trouvères, 25; + (historical significance), 28. + +Truette, E. E., 460. + +Tubular pneumatic action (in organ), 407. + +Tuckerman, Samuel Parkman, 497. + +Tuning, 405. + +Turpin, Edmund Hart, 493. + +Tye, Christopher, 98, _448_, 475. + + + U + +Uhland, 166, 212, 349. + +Unequal temperament, 405. + +Unit stop control, 409. + +Universal air chest, 409. + +Utrecht Te Deum, 327f, 453. + + + V + +Valbecke, Ludwig van, 403. + +Vallotti, Francesco Antonio, 490. + +Vavrineoz, Mauritius, 396. + +Venetian school, 68f; + (madrigalists), 71f. + +Verdi, Giuseppe, 343f. + Manzoni Requiem, 343f. + +Vetruvius, 398 (footnote). + +Villanella, 140 (footnote). + +Vilotti, 458. + +Virginal Book of Queen Elizabeth, 449. + +Vitry, Philippe de, 53. + +Vittoria (compared with Palestrina), 68. + +Vogler, [Abbé] Georg Joseph, 458f, 490. + +Vrchlicky, Jaroslav, 293. + + + W + +Wackernagel, Philip (cited on German hymns), 78 (footnote). + +Wagner, Richard, 189f. + ‘The Love-Feast of the Apostles,’ 190f. + +Walker, Ernest (quoted on the ‘Messiah’), 249f. + +Walsegg, Franz von, Count of Ruppach, 330. + +Walther, Johann, 85, 484. + +War songs, xii. + +Warren, George William, 497. + +Wasielewski (cit. on G. Gabrieli), 421, 422. + +Water organ, 398, 399. + +Water pressure (in organ), 398. + +Waterloo, 148. + +Watson: ‘Italian Madrigals Englished,’ 72 (footnote). + +Watts, 135f. + +Webbe, Samuel, 139f. + +Weber, Carl Maria von, 147, 186, 459; + (masses), 337. + ‘Jubilee Cantata,’ 147f. + ‘_Kampf und Sieg_,’ 148f. + +Weber, Constance, 132. + +Webern, Anton von, 353. + +Weelkes (English madrigalist), 75. + +Weinmann, Karl (cited on mediæval music), 20; + (quot. on Netherlanders), 43; + (cited on Beethoven), 324. + +Weissenbach, Aloys, 145. + +Wellesz, Egon, 353. + +Wendt, Amadeus, 148. + +Wensley, Shapcott (librettist), 212. + +Wesley, Charles (Christmas hymn of), 155 (footnote). + +Wesley, Charles (organist), 472. + +Wesley, Samuel, 473. + +Wesley, Samuel Sebastian, 475. + +White (organ builder), 405. + +Whiteley, John W., 410. + +Whiting, Arthur, 222. + +Whiting, George Elbridge, 221, 500. + +Whittier, 368. + +Widor, Charles Marie, 468, 479, 482, 483f. + +Wilbye (English madrigalist), 75. + +Wilcox, John H., 497. + +Willaert, Adrian, 69, 417, 420. + +Willcox, John Henry, 497. + +William, Duke of Bavaria, 56. + +William of Malmesbury, 401. + +William IV, King of Prussia, 155. + +Williams, C. F. Abdy, 432 (footnote). + +Williams, C. Lee, 379. + +Williams, Ralph Vaughan, 377. + +Willis, H. W. (organ builder), 407, 408, 411. + +Winchester (famous early organs at), 401. + +Wind-chest, organ, 405; + (separate), 407; + (electro-pneumatic), 408f. + +Wind-gauge (organ), 405. + +Wind-power, regulation of (in organ), 405. + +Wind pressure (in organ), 398. + +Winterfeld (cited on Passion music), 236 (footnote). + +Witt, Franz (quoted on masses), 323. + +Wohlbrück (librettist), 148f. + _La vita nuova_, 394. + +Wolf-Ferrari, Ermanno, 393f. + +Wolfrum, Philip, 355. + +Wolle, J. Frederick, 327. + +[St.] Wolstan, 401. + +Wolstenholme, William, 494. + +Woltz, Johann, 428. + +Women’s choruses, xvi. + +Wood, Anthony (quot. on Tye), 448. + +Wood, Henry, 379. + +Worms, Diet of, 89. + +Wotton, William, 405. + +Woyrsch, Felix, 356f. + ‘The Dance of Death,’ 356f. + + + Z + +Ziehn, Bernard, 492. + +Zipoli, Domenico, 426. + +Zucchetti, 419. + +Zwingli, 90. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76594 *** |