,,how ,,to ,,appreciate ,,music by ,,gustav ,,kobbe ,author of ,wagner's ,music-,dramas ,analyzed1 etc4 ,new ,york ,moffat1 ,yard ,company #aiab ,copyright1 #aijf1 by ,moffat1 ,yard ,company ,new ,york ,published1 ,october1 #aijf ,reprinted1 ,february1 #aijh ,reprinted1 ,september1 #aijh ,reprinted1 ,may1 #aiab ,the ,premier ,press ,new ,york 99 99 99 99 99 ,to the ,memory of ,my ,brother ,,philip ,,ferdinand ,,kobbe 99 99 99 99 99 ,,contents ,,how ,,to ,,appreciate ,a ,,pianoforte ,,recital ,,chapter ,,page ,i ,the ,pianoforte #bi ,,ii ,bach's ,service to ,music #dh ,,iii ,from ,fugue to ,sonata #gh ,,iv ,dawn of the ,romantic ,period #ajj ,v ,chopin1 the ,poet of the ,pianoforte #aaf ,,vi ,schumann1 the ,intimate #acd ,,vii ,liszt1 the ,giant among ,virtuosos #adb ,,viii ,with ,paderewski--,a ,modern ,pianist on ,tour #aee ,,how ,,to ,,appreciate ,,an ,,orchestral ,,concert ,,ix ,development of the ,orchestra #afg ,x ,instruments of the ,orchestra #agi ,,xi ,concerning ,symphonies #aig ,,xii ,richard ,strauss and ,his ,music #bjg ,,xiii ,a ,note on ,chamber ,music #bbd ,,how ,,to ,,appreciate ,,vocal ,,music ,,xiv ,songs and ,song ,composers #bca ,,xv ,oratorio #bdh ,,xvi ,opera and ,music-,drama #bfj ,,table ,,of ,,contents ,,how ,,to ,,appreciate ,a ,,pianoforte ,,recital ,,chapter ,,page ,i4--,,the ,,pianoforte ,why the king of musical instruments--,music under one's fingers--,can render anything in music--,liszt played the whole orchestra on the pianoforte--,fingers of a great virtuoso the ambassadors of his soul--,melody and accompaniment on one instrument--,no intermediaries to mar effect--,paderewski's playing of ,hark1 ,hark1 the ,lark--,music's debt to the pianoforte--,developed sonata form and gave it to orchestra--,richard ,strauss on ,beethoven's pianistic orchestration--,a boon to many famous composers1 even to ,wagner--,its lowly origin--,nine centuries to develop pianoforte from monochord--,the monochord described--,joined to a keyboard--,poet's amusing advice to his musical daughter--,clavichord developed from monochord--,its lack of power--,bebung1 or balancement--,the harpsichord--,originated in the cembalo of the ,hungarian gypsy orchestra--,spinet and virginal--,pianoforte invented by ,cristofori1 #agaa--;,exploited by ,silbermann--,strings of twenty tons' tension--,dampers and pedals--,paderewski's use of both pedals--,mechanical pianofortes--,senseless decoration #bi ,,ii4--,,bach',s ,,service ,,to ,,music ,pianoforte so universal in character can give1 through it1 a general survey of the art of music--,bach illustrates an epoch--,a ,bach fugue more elaborate than a music-drama or tone poem--,bach more modern than ,haydn or ,mozart--,his influence on modern music--,wagner unites the harmony of ,beethoven with the polyphony of ,bach--,melody1 harmony and counterpoint defined and differentiated--,illustrated from the ,moonlight ,sonata--,what a fugue is--,the fugue and the virtuoso--,not grateful music for public performance--,daniel ,gregory ,mason's tribute and reservation--,what counterpoint lacks--,fails to give the player as much scope as modern music--,barrier to individuality of expression--,the virtuoso's mission--,creative as well as interpretive--,mr4 ,hanchett's dictum--,music both a science and an art--,science versus feeling--,person may be very musical without being musical at all--,the great composer bends science to art--,that ear for music--,bach and the ,weather ,bureau--,the ,bacon1 not the ,shakespeare1 of music--,what ,wagner learned from ,bach--,illustration from ,die ,walkuere--,w4 ,j4 ,henderson's anecdote--,wagner's counterpoint emotional--,bach's the language of an epoch2 ,wagner's the language of liberated music--,bach in the recital hall--,rubinstein and ,bach's ,triple ,concerto--,the ,well-,tempered ,clavichord--,meaning of well-tempered--,a king's tribute to ,bach--,two hundred and forty-one years of ,bachs #dh ,,iii4--,,from ,,fugue ,,to ,,sonata ,break in ,bach's influence--,mr4 ,parry on this hiatus in the evolution of music--,three periods of musical development--,rise of the harmonic1 or melodic1 school--,began with ,domenico ,scarlatti--,the founder of modern pianoforte technique--,beginnings of the sonata form--,philipp ,emanuel ,bach and the sonata--,rise of the amateur--,the ,contented ,ear and ,quickened ,soul1 and other quaint titles--,changes in musical taste--,pianoforte has outgrown the music of ,haydn and ,mozart--,bach1 ,beethoven and ,wagner the three great epoch-making figures in music--,beethoven and the epoch of the sonata--,his slow development--,union of mind and heart in his work--,his sonatas1 however1 no longer all-dominant in pianoforte music--,von ,buelow and ,d',albert as ,beethoven players--,incident at a ,von ,buelow ,beethoven recital--,changes of taste in thirty years--,the ,beethoven sonatas too orchestric--,the passing of the sonata #gh ,,iv4--,,dawn ,,of ,,the ,,romantic ,,period ,what a sonata is--,how ,beethoven enlarged the form--,illustrated in his ,opus #b1 ,no4 #c1 and in the ,moonlight ,sonata--,the three ,beethoven periods--,in his last sonatas seems chafing under restraint of form--,the sonata form reached its climax with ,beethoven--,hampers modern composers--,lawrence ,gilman on ,mac,dowell's ,keltic ,sonata--,the first romantic composers--,weber--,schubert's inexhaustible genius--,mendelssohn smooth1 polished and harmless #ajj ,v4--,,chopin1 ,,the ,,poet ,,of ,,the ,,pianoforte ,an incomparable composer--,liszt's definition of tempo rubato--,the ,wagner of the pianoforte--,clear melody and weird1 entrancing harmonies--,racial traits--,friends in ,paris--,liszt the first to recognize him--,the ,etudes--,vigor1 passion1 impetus--,von ,buelow on the great ,c minor ,etude--,the ,preludes--,schumann's opinion of them--,rubinstein's playing of the ,seventh ,prelude--,the ,nocturnes--,chopin and ,poe--,the ,waltzes--,liszt on the ,mazurkas--,the ,polonaises--,chopin's battle hymns--,other works--,a noble from head to foot--,huneker on ,chopin #aae ,,vi4--,,schumann1 ,,the ,,intimate ,a composer with an academic education--,pupil in pianoforte of ,frederick ,wieck--,strains a finger and abandons career as a virtuoso--,marries ,clara ,wieck--,afflicted with insanity--,attempts suicide--,dies in asylum--,his music introspective and brooding--,poet1 bourgeois and philosopher--,contributions to program music--,carnaval and ,kreisleriana--,latter title explained--,really ,schumanniana--,thoughts of his ,clara--,fantasie ,pieces--,his compositions at first neglected #acd ,,vii4--,,liszt1 ,,the ,,giant ,,among ,,virtuosos ,a youthful phenomenon--,refused at the ,paris ,conservatory--,le petit ,litz--,inspired by ,paganini--,episode with ,countess ,d',agoult--,court conductor at ,weimar--,makes ,weimar the musical ,mecca of ,germany--,produces ,lohengrin--,his six ,lives--,his pianoforte compositions--,the ,don ,juan ,fantasie--,hexameron--,annees de ,pelerinage--,progressive edition of the ,etudes--,giant strides in virtuosity--,history of the famous ,rhapsodies ,hongroises--,characterisation of his pianoforte music--,a great composer1 not a charlatan--,liszt as a virtuoso--,his tribute to the pianoforte--,a long and influential career--,played for ,beethoven and died at ,parsifal #adb ,,viii4--,,with ,,paderewski--,a ,,modern ,,pianist ,,on ,,tour ,the most successful virtuoso ever heard here--#aga1iha4hi for one season--,his opinion of the pianoforte--,perfect save for greater sustaining power of tone--,has four pianofortes on his tours--,duties of the piano doctor--,how the instruments are cared for--,thawing out a pianoforte--,paderewski's humor #aee ,,how ,,to ,,appreciate ,,an ,,orchestral ,,concert ,,ix4--,,development ,,of ,,the ,,orchestra ,modern music at first vocal1 and without instrumental accompaniment--,awkward instrumentation of the contrapuntists--,primitive orchestration in ,italy--,the orchestra of ,monteverde--,haydn the father of modern orchestral music--,the ,mozart symphonies--,beethoven establishes the modern orchestra--,but few instruments added since--,greater richness due to subtler technique--,beethoven's development of the orchestra traced in his symphonies--,greater technical demands on the players--,beethoven and ,wagner--,meistersinger score has only three more instruments than the ,fifth ,symphony--,berlioz an orchestral juggler--,architectural music--,wagner1 greatest of orchestral composers--,employs large orchestra not for noise1 but for variety of expression--,richard ,strauss's tribute to ,wagner--,wonderfully reserved in the use of his forces--,wagner's scores the only advance worth mentioning since ,berlioz #afg ,x4--,,instruments ,,of ,,the ,,orchestra ,the orchestra an aggregation of instruments that should play as one--,wagner's employment of orchestral groups illustrated by the ,love motive in ,die ,walkuere and the ,walhalla motive--,division of the orchestra--,the violin--,its varied capacity--,the musical stage whisper of a hundred violins--,the violins in the ,lohengrin prelude--,modern orchestral virtuosity--,the sordine and its use--,a pizzicato movement by ,tschaikowski--,the viola1 violoncello and double bass--,dividing the string band--,examples from the scores of ,wagner--,anecdote regarding the harp in ,rheingold--,the woodwind--,the flute--,the oboe in ,schubert's ,c major symphony--,the ,english horn in ,tristan--,beethoven's use of the bassoon in the ,fifth and ,ninth symphonies--,the clarinets in ,tannhaeuser1 ,lohengrin1 and ,goetterdaemmerung--,brass instruments and various illustrations of their employment--,the trumpet in ,fidelio and ,carmen--,the trombone group in ,the ,ring of the ,nibelung--,the trombones in ,the ,magic ,flute1 in ,schubert's ,c major symphony1 and in the introduction to the third act of ,lohengrin--,the tubas in the ,funeral ,march in ,goetterdaemmerung--,richard ,strauss's apotheosis of the horn1 and its importance in the ,wagner scores--,tympani and cymbals--,mozart's ,g minor symphony on twenty-two clarinets--,richard ,strauss1 on the future development of the orchestra #agi ,,xi4--,,concerning ,,symphonies ,the classical period of music dominated by the symphony--,its esthetic purpose defined--,a symphonic witticism--,some comment on form in music--,divisions of the symphony established by ,haydn--,artless grace and beauty of ,mozart's symphonies--,beethoven to the fore--,climaxes and rests--,the ,ninth ,symphony--,schubert's genius--,mendelssohn and ,schumann--,liszt's symphonies and symphonic poems--,other symphonists--,wagner not supposed to have been a purely orchestral composer1 yet the greatest of all #aig ,,xii4--,,richard ,,strauss ,,and ,,his ,,music ,one of the most original and individual of composers--,a student1 not a copyist1 of ,wagner--,independent intellectual basis for his art--,originator of the tone poem--,unhampered by even the word symphonic--,means much to the musically elect--,not a juggler with the orchestra--,a modern of moderns--,technical difficulties1 but not impossibilities in his works--,thus ,spake ,zarathustra and other scores--,life and truth1 not mere beauty1 the burden of modern music--,huneker's ,piper of ,dreams--,zarathustra and ,a ,hero's ,life described--,an intellectual force in music--,a ,hero's ,life ,strauss's ,meistersinger--,tribute to ,wagner in ,feuersnot--,performances of ,richard ,strauss's scores in ,america--,his symphony in ,f minor 7#ahhc7 had its first performance anywhere1 under ,theodore ,thomas--,straussiana--,boyhood anecdotes--,scribbled scores on schoolbook covers--,still at school when first symphony was played in public--,studied with ,von ,buelow--,married his ,freihild--,ideals of the highest #bjg ,,xiii4--,a ,,note ,,on ,,chamber ,,music #bbd ,,how ,,to ,,appreciate ,,vocal ,,music ,,xiv4--,,songs ,,and ,,song ,,composers ,strophic and composed through--,schubert the first song composer to require consideration2 also the greatest--,early struggles--,too poor to buy music paper--,becomes a school-teacher--,impatient under drudgery--,publishers hold aloof--,fortune for a song1 but not for him--,history of ,the ,erlking--,how it was composed--,written down as fast as pen could travel--,tried over the same evening--,the famous dissonances--,as sung by ,lilli ,lehmann--,schubert only eighteen years old when he composed ,the ,erlking--,his marvelous fecundity--,died at thirty-one1 yet wrote six hundred songs and many other works--,schumann's individuality--,distinguished from ,schubert--,not the same proportion of great songs--,the best composed during his wooing of ,clara--,phases of ,franz's genius--,traces of his knowledge and admiration of ,bach--,choice of keys--,objected to transpositions--,pitiable physical disabilities--,brahms a profound thinker in music--,jensen1 ,rubinstein1 ,grieg1 ,chopin1 ,wagner--,liszt one of the greatest of song composers--,richard ,strauss1 ,hugo ,wolf and others #bca ,,xv4--,,oratorio ,an incongruous art form--,originated in ,italy with ,san ,filippo ,neri--,scenery1 action and even ballet in the early oratorio--,the influence of ,german composers--,bach's ,passion music--,dramatic expression in ,haendel--,rockstro's characterisation of--,first performance of ,the ,messiah--,haydn's ,creation and ,seasons--,mendelssohn's ,elijah next to ,the ,messiah in popularity--,dramatic episodes in the work--,gounod1 ,elgar and others #bdh ,,xvi4--,,opera ,,and ,,music-,,drama ,origin of opera--,peri and the ,florentines--,monteverde--,cavalli introduces vocal melody to relieve the monotony of recitative--,aria developed by ,alessandro ,scarlatti--,characteristics of ,italian opera from ,scarlatti to ,verdi--,gluck's reforms--,german and ,french opera--,les ,huguenots1 ,faust1 and ,carmen--,comparative popularity of certain operas here--,far-reaching effects of ,wagner's theories--,their influence on the later ,verdi and contemporary ,italian composers--,wagner's music-dramas--,a music-drama not an opera--,form wholly original with ,wagner--,gave impetus to folk-lore movement--,krehbiel's ,studies in the ,wagnerian ,drama--,wagner and anti-,wagner--,finck's ,wagner and ,his ,works--,wagner a melodist--,examples--,unity a distinguishing trait of the music-drama--,wagner's method illustrated by musical examples--,the ,curse ,motive--,the ,siegfried1 ,nibelung1 and ,tarnhelm motives--,leading motives not mere labels--,their plasticity musically illustrated--,the ,siegfried horn call developed into the motive of ,siegfried1 the hero1 and into the climax of the ,goetterdaemmerung ,funeral ,march--,an illustration from ,tristan--,wagner as a composer of absolute music--,his scores the greatest achievement musical history1 up to the present time1 has to show #bfj ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,,pages ,beethoven's ,moonlight ,sonata #eb1 #ec ,two-,part ,invention1 by ,bach #ed ,love ,motive from ,die ,walkuere #aha ,opening of the ,lohengrin ,prelude #ahc ,walhalla ,motive #aib ,curse ,motive #bfi ,siegfried ,motive #bgj ,nibelung ,smithy ,motive #bgj ,tarnhelm ,motive #bga ,siegfried ,horn ,call #bgb ,develops into ,motive of ,siegfried1 the ,hero #bgb ,and into ,climax of the ,goetterdaemmerung ,funeral ,march #bgb ,examples from ,tristan und ,isolde #bgc1 #bgd ,,introduction ,are you musical8 ,no2 ,i neither play nor sing4 ,your answer shows a complete misunderstanding of the case4 ,because you neither play nor sing1 it by no means follows that you are unmusical4 ,if you love music and appreciate it1 you may be more musical than many pianists or singers2 and certainly you may become so4 ,this book is planned for the lover of music1 for those who throng the concert and recital halls and the opera--those who have not followed music as a profession1 and yet love it as an art2 who may not play or sing1 and yet are musical4 ,among these is an ever-growing number that wants to know1 that no longer is satisfied simply with allowing music to play upon the senses and the emotions1 but wants to understand why it does so4 ,to satisfy this natural desire which1 with many1 amounts to a craving or even a passion1 and to do so in wholly untechnical language and in a manner that shall be intelligible to the average reader1 is the purpose of this book4 ,in carrying it out ,i have not neglected the personal side of music1 but have endeavored to keep clearly before the eyes of the reader1 and in their proper sequence1 the great names in musical history4 ,i am somewhat of a radical in my musical opinions1 one of those persons of advanced views who does not lift his eyes reverentially heavenward every time the words symphony and sonata are mentioned4 ,in fact1 ,i am most in sympathy with the liberating tendencies of modern music1 which lays more stress upon the expression of life and truth than upon the exact form in which these are sought to be expressed4 ,nevertheless1 ,i am quite aware that only through the gradual development and expansion of forms that now may be growing obsolete has music achieved its emancipation from the tyranny of form4 ,therefore1 while ,i would rather listen to a ,wagner music-drama than to a ,mozart opera1 or might go to more trouble to hear a ,richard ,strauss tone poem than a ,beethoven symphony1 ,i am not such an unconscionable heretic as to be unaware of the great1 the very great part played by the ,mozart opera and the ,beethoven symphony in the evolution of music1 or their importance in the orderly and systematic study of the art4 ,indeed1 ,i was brought up on ,don ,giovanni1 the ,fifth ,symphony and the ,sonatas before ,i brought myself up on ,chopin1 ,liszt 7for whom ,i have far greater admiration than most critics71 and ,wagner4 ,therefore1 an ample portion of this book will be found devoted to the classical epoch and its great masters1 especially its greatest master1 ,beethoven1 and to the forms in which they worked4 ,nor do ,i think that these pages will be found written unsympathetically4 ,but something is due the great body of music-lovers who1 being told that they must admire this1 that and the other classical composer1 because he is classical1 find themselves at a loss and think themselves to blame because modern music makes a more vivid and deeper impression upon them4 ,if they only knew it--they are in the right6 ,but they have needed some one to tell them so4 ,advanced1 this book is4 ,but plenty will be found in it regarding the sonata and the symphony1 and1 through the latter1 the development of the orchestra2 and orchestral instruments1 their tone quality1 scope and purpose are described and explained4 ,more1 perhaps1 than in any work with the same purpose1 the great part played by the pianoforte in the evolution of music is here recognized1 and ,i have availed myself of the opportunity to tell much of the story of that evolution in connection with this1 the most popular of musical instruments1 and its great masters4 ,why the greater freedom of technique and expression made possible by the modern instrument has caused the classical sonata to be superseded by the more romantic works of ,chopin and others whose compositions are typically pianistic1 and how these works differ in form and substance from those of the classicists1 are among the many points made clear in these chapters4 ,the same care has been bestowed upon that portion of the book relating to vocal music--to songs1 opera1 music-drama and oratorio4 ,in fact1 the aim has been to equip the lover of music--that is1 of good music of all kinds--with the knowledge which will enable him to enjoy far more than before either an orchestral concert1 a piano or song recital1 an opera or a music-drama--anything1 in fact1 in music from ,bach to ,richard ,strauss2 to place everything before him from the standpoint of a writer who is himself a lover of music and who1 although thoroughly in sympathy with the more advanced schools of the art1 also appreciates the great masters of the past and is behind none in acknowledging what they contributed to make music what it is4 ,are you musical8 ,no2 ,i neither play nor sing4 ,but1 if you can read and listen1 there is no reason why you should not be more musical--a more genuine lover of music--than many of those whose musicianship lies merely in their fingers or vocal cords4 ,try6 ,,gustav ,,kobbe4 ,,how ,,to ,,appreciate ,a ,,pianoforte ,,recital ,i ,,the ,,pianoforte ,there must be practically on the part of every one who attends a pianoforte recital some degree of curiosity regarding the instrument itself4 ,therefore1 it seems to me pertinent to institute at the very outset an inquiry into what the pianoforte is and how it became what it is--the most practical1 most expressive and most universal of musical instruments1 the instrument of the concert hall and of the intimate home circle4 ,knowledge of such things surely will enhance the enjoyment of a pianoforte recital--should be1 in fact1 a prerequisite to it4 ,the pianoforte is the most used and1 for that very reason1 perhaps1 the most abused of musical instruments4 ,even its real name generally is denied it4 ,most people call it a piano1 although piano is a musical term denoting a degree of sound1 soft1 gentle1 low--the opposite of forte1 which means strong and loud4 ,the combination of the two terms in one word1 pianoforte1 signifies that the instrument is capable of being played both softly and loudly--both piano and forte4 ,it was this capacity that distinguished it from its immediate precursors1 the old-time harpsichords and clavichords4 ,one of the first requirements in learning how to understand music is to learn to call things musical by their right names4 ,to speak of a pianoforte as a piano is one of our unjustifiable modern shortcuts of speech1 a characteristic specimen of linguistic laziness and evidence of utter ignorance concerning the origin and character of the instrument4 ,if ,i were asked to express in a single phrase the importance of this instrument in the musical life of to-day ,i would say that the pianoforte is the orchestra of the home4 ,indeed1 the title of the familiar song ,what ,is ,home ,without a ,mother8 might1 without any undue stretch of imagination1 be changed to ,what ,is ,home ,without a ,pianoforte8--although1 if you are working hard at your music and practicing scales and finger exercises several hours a day1 it might be wiser not to ask your neighbor's opinion on this point4 ,the ,king of ,instruments4 ,in households where there is no pianoforte we seem to breathe a foreign atmosphere1 says ,oscar ,bie1 in his history of the instrument and its players2 and he adds with perfect truth that it has become an essential part of our life1 giving its form to our whole musical culture and stamping its characteristics upon our whole conception of music4 ,surely out of every ten musical persons1 layman or professional1 at least nine almost invariably have received their first introduction to music through the pianoforte and have derived the greater part of their musical knowledge from it4 ,even composers like ,wagner and ,meyerbeer1 whose work is wholly associated with opera1 had their first lessons in music on the pianoforte1 and ,meyerbeer achieved brilliant triumphs as a concert pianist before he turned his attention to the operatic stage4 ,of all musical instruments the pianoforte is the most intimate and at the same time the most public--the favorite of the lonely mourner and of the solitary soul whose joy seeks expression and the tie that unites the circle of family and friends4 ,yet it also thrills the great audience of the concert hall and rouses it to the highest pitch of enthusiasm4 ,it is the king of instruments1 and the reason for its supremacy is not far to seek4 ,weitzmann1 the author of the first comprehensive account of the pianoforte and its literature1 speaks of its ability to lend living expression to all phases of emotion for which language lacks words2 its full1 resonant tone2 its volume vying with that of the orchestra2 its command of every shade of sound from the gentlest pianissimo to the most powerful forte2 and its mechanism1 which permits of the most rapid runs and passages1 and at the same time of sustained singing notes and phrases4 ,music ,under ,one's ,fingers4 ,but this is not all4 ,there is an overture by ,weber entitled ,the ,ruler of the ,spirits4 ,well1 he who commands the row of white and black keys is ruler of the spirits of music4 ,he has music1 all that music can give1 within the grasp of his two hands1 under his ten fingers4 ,the pianoforte can render anything in music4 ,besides music of its own1 it can reproduce the orchestra or the voice with even greater fidelity than the finest engraving renders a painting2 for only to the eyes of one familiar with the painting does the engraving suggest the color scheme of the original1 whereas1 through certain nuances of technique that are more easily felt than described1 the pianoforte virtuoso who is playing an arrangement of an orchestra composition can make his audience hear certain instruments of the orchestra--even such characteristic effects as the far-carrying pizzicato1 or the rumbling of the double basses or their low growl2 the hollow1 reverberating percussions of the tympani2 sustained notes on the horns2 the majestic accents of trombones2 the sharp shrill of piccolos2 while some of the most effective pianoforte pieces are arrangements of songs4 ,moreover1 there are pianoforte compositions like the ,hungarian rhapsodies of ,liszt which1 while conceived and carried out in the true spirit of the instrument 7pianistic1 as they say71 yet suggest the tone colors of the orchestra without permitting these to obtrude themselves too much4 ,this is one of the many services of ,liszt1 the giant of virtuosos and a giant among composers1 to his art4 ,it has been said that ,liszt played the whole orchestra on the pianoforte4 ,he did even more4 ,he developed the technique of the instrument to such a point that the suggestion of many of the clang tints of the orchestra has become part of its heritage4 ,this dual capacity of the pianoforte1 the fact that it has a tone quality wholly peculiar to itself1 so that when1 for example1 we are playing ,chopin we never think of the orchestra1 while at the same time it can take up into itself and reproduce1 or at least suggest1 the tone colors of other instruments1 is one of its most remarkable characteristics4 ,quite as remarkable and as interesting and important is the circumstance that these tone tints are wholly dependent upon the player4 ,there is nothing peculiar to the make of the strings1 the sounding-board1 the hammers1 that tends to produce these effects4 ,they are due wholly to the player's subtle manipulation of the keys1 so that we get the added thrill of the virtuoso's personal magnetism4 ,the pianoforte owes much of its popularity1 much of its supremacy1 to the fact that a player's interpretation of a composition cannot be marred by any one but himself4 ,it rests in his hands alone1 whereas the conductor of an orchestra is dependent upon a hundred players1 some of whom may have no more soul than so many wooden ,indians4 ,even supposing a conductor to be gifted with a highly poetic and musically sensitive nature1 it is impossible that so many men of varying degrees of temperament as go to make up an orchestra1 and none of them probably a virtuoso of the highest rank1 will be as sympathetically responsive to his baton as a pianoforte is to the fingers of a musical poet like ,paderewski2 for the fingers of a great virtuoso are the ambassadors of his soul4 ,melody and ,accompaniment on ,one ,instrument4 ,this personal1 one-man control of the instrument has been of inestimable value to the pianoforte in establishing itself in its present unassailable position4 ,moreover1 in controlling it the pianist commands all the resources of music4 ,with his two thumbs alone he can accomplish what no player upon any other instrument in common use is capable of doing with all ten fingers4 ,he can sound together the lowest and the highest notes in music1 for all the notes of music as we know it simply await the pressure of the fingers upon the keys of the pianoforte4 ,it is the one instrument capable of power as well as of sweetness and grace which places the whole range of harmony and counterpoint at the disposal of one player4 ,a vocalist can sing an air1 but can you imagine a vocalist singing through an entire programme without accompaniment8 ,after half a dozen unaccompanied songs the singing even of the greatest prima donna would become monotonous for lack of harmony4 ,the violin and violoncello1 next to the pianoforte the most frequently heard instruments in the concert hall1 labor under the same disadvantage as the singer4 ,they are dependent upon the accompaniment of others4 ,the pianist1 on the other hand1 has the inestimable advantage of being able to play melody and accompaniment on one instrument at the same time--all in one4 ,while singing with some of his fingers the tender melodic phrase of a ,chopin nocturne1 he completes with the others the exquisite weave of harmony1 and reveals the musical fabric to us in all its beauty4 ,moreover1 it is the pianist himself who does this1 not some one else at his signal1 which the intermediary possibly may not wholly understand4 ,when ,paderewski is at the pianoforte we hear ,paderewski--not some one else of a less sensitive temperament whom he is directing with a baton4 ,a poet is at the instrument and we hear the poet4 ,a poet may be at the conductor's desk--but in the orchestra that is required for the interpretation of his musical conceptions poets usually are conspicuous by their absence4 ,even great singers suffer because their accompaniments are apt not to be as sensitive of temperament as they are2 and it is a fact that the grace and beauty of ,schubert's ,hark1 ,hark1 the ,lark never have been so fully revealed to me by a singer as by ,paderewski's playing of ,liszt's arrangement of the song1 because the pianist is able to shade the accompaniment to the most delicate nuances of the melody4 ,how delightful1 too1 it is to go through the pianoforte score of a ,wagner music-drama and1 as you play the wonderful music--all placed within the grasp of your ten fingers--watch the scenic pictures and the action pass in imagination before your eyes in your own music room without the defects inseparable from every public performance1 because the success of a performance depends upon the co-operation of so many who do not co-operate4 ,yes1 the pianoforte is the king of instruments because it is the most independent of instruments and because it makes him who plays upon it independent4 ,music's ,debt to the ,pianoforte4 ,it would be difficult to overestimate the debt that music owes to the pianoforte4 ,including for the present under this one name the various keyboard instruments from which it was developed1 the sonata form had its first tentative beginnings upon it and was wrought out to perfection through it by a process of gradual evolution extending from ,domenico ,scarlatti through ,bach's son1 ,philipp ,emanuel ,bach1 to ,beethoven4 ,as a symphony simply is a sonata for orchestra1 it follows that through the sonata and thus through the pianoforte the form in which the classical composers cast their greatest works was established4 ,richard ,strauss1 in his revision of ,berlioz's book on orchestration1 even goes so far as to assert that ,beethoven1 and after him ,schumann and ,brahms1 treated the orchestra pianistically2 but the discussion of this point is better deferred until we take up the orchestra and orchestral music4 ,here1 however1 it may be observed that in addition to its constant use as an instrument for the concert hall and the home1 and for the delight of great audiences and the joy of the amateur player and his familiar circle1 many of the great composers1 even when writing orchestral works1 have used the pianoforte for their first sketches1 testing their harmonies on it1 and often1 no doubt1 while groping over the keys in search of the psychical note1 hit upon accidental improvements and new harmonies4 ,even ,wagner1 who understood the orchestra as none other ever has1 employed the pianoforte in sketching out his ideas4 ,i went to my ,erard and wrote out the passage as rapidly as if ,i had it by heart1 he writes from ,venice to ,mathilde ,wesendonck1 in relating to her the genesis of the great love duet in ,tristan und ,isolde1 and ,i could quote other passages from my ,wagner and his ,isolde1 which is based on the romantic passages in the lives of the composer and the woman who inspired his great music-drama1 to show the frequency with which he made similar use of the universal musical instrument4 ,the pianoforte has in many other ways been a boon to some of the most famous composers4 ,many of them were pianists1 and by public performances of their own works materially accelerated the appreciation of their music4 ,mozart was a youthful prodigy1 and later a virtuoso of the highest rank4 ,beethoven1 before he was overtaken by deafness1 introduced his own pianoforte compositions to the public and was the musical lion of the ,viennese drawing-rooms4 ,mendelssohn was a pianist of the same smooth1 affable1 gentlemanly type as his music4 ,chopin was not a miscellaneous concert player--his nature was too shrinking2 but at the ,salon ,pleyel in ,paris he gave recitals to the musical elite1 who in turn conveyed his ideas to the greater public4 ,schumann began his musical career as a virtuoso1 but strained the fourth finger of his right hand in using a mechanical apparatus which he had devised for facilitating the practice of finger exercises4 ,his wife1 ,clara ,wieck1 however1 who was the most famous woman pianist of her time1 substituted her fingers for his4 ,liszt literally hewed out the way for his works on the keyboard4 ,brahms was a pianist of solid1 scholarly attainments4 ,in fact1 dig where you will in musical soil1 you strike the roots of the pianoforte4 ,its ,lowly ,origin4 ,it must not be supposed1 however1 that the instrument as we know it attained to its present supremacy except through a long process of evolution4 ,one of the immediate precursors of the modern pianoforte was the harpsichord1 a name suggesting that the instrument was a harp with a keyboard attachment1 and such1 in a general way1 the pianoforte is4 ,but the harp is a very fully developed affair compared with the mean little apparatus in which lay and was discovered many centuries ago the first germ of the king among instruments4 ,this was the monochord1 and it has required about nine centuries for the evolution of an instrument consisting of a single string set in vibration by means of a keyboard attachment into the modern pianoforte4 ,but do not be alarmed4 ,i am not about to give a nine hundred years' history of the pianoforte4 ,such detailed consideration would belong to a technical work on the manufacture of the instrument and would be out of place here4 ,something of its history should1 however1 be known to every one who wants to understand music1 but ,i shall endeavor to be as brief and at the same time as clear as possible4 ,the monochord originally was used much as we use a tuning fork1 to determine true musical pitch4 ,if you take a short piece of string1 tie one end of it fast1 draw it taut and pluck it1 its vibrations will sound a note4 ,if you grasp the string and draw it taut from nearer to the point where it is tied1 you shorten what is called the node1 increase the number of vibrations and produce a higher note4 ,the monochord in its simplest form consisted of a string drawn taut over an oblong box and tuned to a given pitch by means of a peg4 ,under the string and in contact with it was a bridge or fret that could be moved by hand along a graduated scale marked on the bottom of the box4 ,by moving the bridge the node of the string could be shortened and the notes marked at corresponding points on the graduated scale produced4 ,after a while1 and in order to facilitate the study of the harmonious relationship between different notes1 three strings were added1 each with its bridge and graduated scale4 ,it was more or less of a nuisance1 however1 to continually shift four bridges to as many different points under the four strings4 ,as an improvement upon this awkward arrangement some clever person conceived about the beginning of the tenth century1 the idea of borrowing the keyboard from the organ and attaching it to the monochord4 ,to the rear end of each key was attached an upright piece called a tangent4 ,when the finger pressed upon a key the tangent struck one of the strings1 set it in vibration1 and at the same time1 by contact1 created a node which lasted as long as the key was kept down and the tangent remained pressed against the string4 ,to increase the utility of the instrument by adding more strings and more keys was the next obvious step1 and gradually the monochord ceased to be a mere technical apparatus for the determining of pitch and became an instrument on which professionals and amateurs could play with pleasure to themselves and others4 ,a ,poet's ,advice to ,his ,musical ,daughter4 ,there has been preserved to us from about the year #aebi a reply made by the poet ,pietro ,bembo to his daughter ,elena1 who had written to him from the convent where she was being educated asking if she could have lessons upon the monochord1 which seems to have been as popular in its day as its fully developed successor1 the modern pianoforte1 is now4 ,touching thy request for permission to play upon the monochord1 begins ,bembo's quaint answer1 ,i reply that because of thy tender years thou canst not know that playing is an art for vain and frivolous women1 whereas ,i would that thou shouldst be the most chaste and modest maiden alive4 ,besides1 if thou wert to play badly it would cause thee little pleasure and no little shame4 ,yet in order to play well thou must needs give up from ten to twelve years to the exercise1 without so much as thinking of aught else4 ,how far this would benefit thee thou canst see for thyself without my telling thee4 ,but thy schoolmates1 if they desire thee to learn to play for their pleasure1 tell them thou dost not care to have them laugh at thy mortification4 ,therefore1 content thyself with the pursuit of the sciences and the practice of needlework4 ,these words of the poet ,bembo to his daughter ,elena--are they so wholly lacking in application to our own day8 ,and ,i wonder--did or did not ,elena learn to play the monochord8 ,if not1 it was because she lived a few centuries too soon4 ,she would have had her own way to-day6 ,the ,clavichord4 ,monochord means one string1 and the application of the term to the instrument after other strings had been added was a misnomer4 ,the monochord on which ,elena1 to the evident distress of her distinguished parent1 desired to play1 really was a clavichord1 which was derived directly from the primitive monochord4 ,if you will raise the lid of your pianoforte you will find that the strings become shorter from the bass up1 the lowest note being sounded by the longest1 the highest note by the shortest string2 for the longer the string the slower the vibrations and the deeper the sounds produced1 and vice versa4 ,this principle is so obvious that it seems as if it must have been applied to the clavichord almost immediately and a separate string provided for each key4 ,but for many years the strings of the clavichord continued all of equal length1 and three or four neighboring keys struck the same string1 so that the contact of the upright tangent with the string not only set the latter in vibration but also served to form the node which produced the desired note4 ,not until after the clavichord had been in use several centuries1 were its strings made of varying length and a separate string assigned to each key4 ,these new clavichords were called bundfrei 7fret-free or tangent-free7 because the node of each string was determined by that string's length and not by the contact of the tangent4 ,the clavichord retained the box shape of its prototype1 the monochord4 ,originally it was portable and was set upon a table2 later1 however1 was made1 so to speak1 to stand upon its own legs4 ,in appearance it resembled our square pianofortes4 ,it gave forth a sweet1 gentle and decidedly pretty musical sound4 ,it had a further admirable quality in its capacity for sustaining a tone1 since by keeping the tangent pressed against the string the player was able to sustain the tone so long as the string continued to vibrate4 ,moreover1 by holding down the key and at the same time making a gentle rocking motion with the finger he was able to produce a tremolo effect which ,german musicians called ,bebung 7trembling71 and the ,french balancement4 ,a defect of the clavichord was1 however1 its lack of power4 ,this defect led to experiments which resulted in the construction of a keyboard instrument the strings of which1 in response to the action of the keys1 were set in vibration by jacks tipped with crow-quills or hard leather4 ,the sound was much stronger than that of the clavichord4 ,but the jacks twanged the strings with uniform power1 permitting a sharp outline1 but no shading of the tones4 ,the ,harpsichord4 ,if you chance to be listening to a ,hungarian band at a restaurant you may notice that one of the players has lying on a table before him an instrument with many strings strung very much like those of the pianoforte4 ,it is played with two little mallets in the player's hands1 and produces the weird arpeggios and improvised runs characteristic of ,hungarian gypsy music4 ,it is a very old instrument called the cembalo4 ,about the fifteenth century1 it seems1 some one devised a keyboard attachment with quills for this instrument1 tipped the jacks with crow-quills1 and called the result a clavicembalo 7a cembalo with keys74 ,this was the origin of the harpsichord1 the name by which the clavicembalo soon became more generally known4 ,harpsichords were shaped somewhat like our grand pianofortes1 but were much smaller4 ,a spinet was a small harpsichord1 and the virginal a still smaller one4 ,sometimes1 indeed1 virginals were made no larger than workboxes1 the instrument being taken out of the box and placed on a table before the player4 ,for the purposes of this book this very general survey of the precursors of the pianoforte seems sufficient4 ,the clavichord and the instruments of the harpsichord 7harpsichord1 spinet1 and virginal7 class flourished alongside of each other1 but the best musicians gave the preference to the clavichord because of its sweet tone and the delicately tremulous effect that could be produced upon it by the balancement4 ,experiments in pianoforte making were in progress already in ,bach's day1 but he clung to the clavichord1 as did his son1 ,philipp ,emanuel ,bach4 ,mozart was the first of the great masters to realize the value of the pianoforte and to aid materially in making it popular by using it for his public performances4 ,and yet even then the clavichord1 that lonely1 melancholy1 unspeakably sweet instrument1 was not abandoned without lingering regret by the older musicians1 and it still was to be found in occasional use as late as the beginning of the last century4 ,how thoroughly modern the pianoforte is will be appreciated when it is said that a celebrated firm of ,english makers founded in #agcj did not begin to manufacture pianofortes until #aghj and continued the production of clavichords until #agic4 ,piano and ,forte4 ,neither on the clavichord nor on the harpsichord could the player vary the strength of the tone which he produced1 by the degree of force with which he struck the keys4 ,swells and pedals worked by the knees and the feet were devised to overcome this difficulty1 but touch as we understand it to-day was impossible with the instruments in which the degree of sound to be produced was not under the control of the player's fingers4 ,the clavichord was piano1 the harpsichord was forte4 ,not until the invention of the hammer action1 the substitution of hammers for tangents and quill-jacks1 was an instrument possible in which whether the tone should be piano or forte depended upon the degree of strength with which the player struck the keys4 ,this instrument was the first pianoforte4 ,it was invented and so named in #agaa by ,bartolomeo ,cristofori1 of ,florence1 and1 although nearly two centuries have elapsed since then1 the action used by many pianoforte manufacturers of to-day is in its essentials the same as that devised by this clever ,italian4 ,the invention frequently is ascribed to ,gottfried ,silbermann1 a ,german 7#afhc-agec74 ,but the real situation is that ,cristofori was the inventor1 while ,silbermann was the first successful manufacturer of the new instruments1 from a business point of view4 ,time and improvements were required before they made their way1 and how slow many professional musicians were in giving up the beloved clavichord for the pianoforte already has been pointed out4 ,but the latter was bound to triumph in the end4 ,i shall not attempt to give a technical description of the mechanism of the pianoforte4 ,but ,i should like to answer a few questions which may have suggested themselves to players who may not have cared to take their instruments apart and examine them1 or have not been present when their tuners have taken off the lid and exposed the strings and mechanism to view4 ,the strings of the pianoforte are of steel wire1 and their tension varies from twelve tons to nearly twenty4 ,those of the deepest bass are covered with copper wire4 ,eight or ten tones of the bass are produced by the vibration of these copper-wound strings4 ,above these1 for about an octave and a half1 the strings are in pairs1 so that1 the hammer striking them1 there are two unison strings to a tone1 simultaneously1 and producing approximately twice as powerful a tone as if only one string had been set in vibration4 ,the five remaining octaves have three strings to a tone4 ,all ,depends on the ,player4 ,when the fingers strike the keys the hammers strike the strings1 the force of the stroke depending upon the force exerted by the player1 this being the distinguishing merit of the pianoforte as compared with its precursors4 ,under the strings are a row of dampers1 and as soon as a finger releases a key the corresponding damper springs into place against the vibrating strings1 stops the vibrations1 and the tone ceases4 ,thus the tone can be dampened immediately by raising the finger or prolonged by keeping the finger pressed down on the key4 ,this is the device which enables the pianist to play staccato or legato4 ,the damper pedal1 or loud pedal1 checks the action of all the dampers and prolongs the tones even after the fingers have released the keys4 ,the soft pedal brings the hammers nearer the strings1 shortens the stroke and produces a softer tone4 ,the simultaneous use of both pedals is a modern virtuoso effect and a very charming one1 for the damper pedal prolongs the gentle tones produced by the use of the soft pedal4 ,i believe ,paderewski was the first of the great pianists who have visited this country1 to employ this effect systematically1 and that he was among the first composers to formally indicate the simultaneous employment of both pedals in passages in his compositions4 ,there is a third pedal called the sustaining pedal1 but ,i do not think it has proved as valuable an invention as was anticipated4 ,within recent years there have been introduced mechanical pianofortes1 which ,i may designate as pianolas1 after the most popular instrument of their class4 ,in my opinion1 these instruments are destined to play an important part in the diffusion of musical knowledge1 and it is senseless to underestimate this4 ,there are thousands of people who have neither the time nor the dexterity to master the technique of the pianoforte1 who nevertheless are people of genuine musical feeling1 and who are enabled through the pianola to cultivate their taste for music4 ,the device renders the music accurately2 whether expressively or not depends1 as with the pianoforte itself1 upon the taste of the person who manipulates it4 ,decorations ,that ,do ,not ,beautify4 ,the pianoforte often is spoken of as an instrument of ugly appearance4 ,this it emphatically is not4 ,if the straight side of the grand is placed against the wall the side toward the room presents a graceful1 sweeping curve1 while the upright effectively breaks the straight line of the wall against which it stands4 ,if the pianoforte is ugly1 it is due to the so-called ornaments that are placed upon it--the knicknacks1 framed pictures and other senseless things4 ,to my mind1 there is but one thing which it is permissible to place upon a pianoforte1 a slender vase with a single flower1 preferably a rose--the living symbol of the soul that waits to be awakened within the instrument4 ,sheet music or bound books of music on top of a pianoforte are an abomination4 ,if scattered about they look disorderly2 if neatly arranged in portfolios1 even worse1 for they create the precise1 orderly appearance of paths and mounds in a cemetery4 ,often1 indeed1 the pianoforte is a graveyard of musical hopes4 ,because of that1 however1 it need not be made to look like one4 ,equally objectionable is the elaborately decorated or period pianoforte designed for rooms decorated in the style of some historical art period4 ,a pianoforte has no business in a period room4 ,if the person is rich enough to afford period rooms1 he also can afford a music room1 and the simpler this is1 within the bounds of good taste1 and the less there is in it besides the instrument itself1 the better4 ,the more proficient the pianist the less he cares for decoration and the more satisfied he is with the pianoforte turned out in the ordinary course of business by the high-class manufacturer4 ,no--decorated pianofortes are for those who are too rich to be musical4 ,,ii ,,bach',s ,,service ,,to ,,music ,so important has been the role played by the pianoforte in the evolution of music that it is possible in these chapters on a pianoforte recital to give a general survey of the art1 and thus prepare the reader to enjoy not only what he will hear at such a recital1 but enable him to approach it with a more comprehensive knowledge than that would imply4 ,this is one reason why ,i elected to lead with the chapters on the pianoforte instead of with those on the orchestra1 as usually is done1 because the orchestra is something big4 ,in point of fact1 however1 the pianoforte1 so far as its influence is concerned1 is quite as big1 if not1 indeed1 bigger than the orchestra2 for often1 in the evolution of music 7as ,i pointed out in the previous chapter71 this instrument1 which is so sufficient in itself1 has led the orchestra4 ,in reviewing a pianoforte recital it therefore is quite possible to review many phases of musical history4 ,take as an example a composition by ,bach1 one of the preludes and fugues from ,the ,well-,tempered ,clavichord1 with which a pianoforte recital is quite apt to open4 ,the selection illustrates a whole epoch in music which ,bach rounded off and brought alike to its climax and its close4 ,you will be apt to find this fugue rather complicated and1 ,i fear1 somewhat unintelligible1 and this makes it necessary for me to point out at once that in some respects music has had a curious development4 ,a ,wagner music-drama1 a ,richard ,strauss tone poem1 seem elaborate and complicated affairs compared with a ,beethoven sonata or symphony4 ,yet even the most advanced work of a ,wagner or ,strauss is neither as complicated nor as elaborate as a fugue by that past master of his art1 ,johann ,sebastian ,bach1 who1 although he was born in #afhe and did not live beyond the middle of the following century1 was so far ahead of his age that not even to this day has he fully come into his own4 ,the result is that the early classicists1 ,haydn and ,mozart1 who belong in point of time to a later epoch1 may more readily be reckoned as old-fashioned than ,father ,bach4 ,when at a recital you listen to a fugue by ,bach and find it hard and labored--many people regard it simply as a difficult species of finger exercises--you think that is because it is so very ancient1 something in the same class with ,greek or ,sanscrit4 ,in point of fact it is because in some respects it is so very modern4 ,were it not for the importance of preserving an orderly historical sequence in a book of this kind1 and that ,bach usually is found at the beginning of a recital program1 it would be almost more practical1 and certainly far easier1 for the author to leave ,bach until later4 ,when you write of ,mozart1 or of ,beethoven and the moderns1 you can depend upon more or less familiarity with their works on the part of your readers1 whereas1 comparatively few laymen know much about ,bach4 ,they associate the name with all that is formal and labored4 ,yet among my acquaintances is a young woman who was brought up in a very musical family1 and who1 having as a child heard her mother play the preludes and fugues of the ,well-,tempered ,clavichord1 finds ,bach as simple as the alphabet4 ,but hers is a most exceptional case4 ,the appreciation of ,bach1 as a rule1 comes only with advanced age4 ,my music teacher used to say to me3 ,you rave over ,schubert and ,wagner now1 but when you get to be as old as ,i am you will go back to ,father ,bach4 ,while ,i cannot say that his prophecy has come true1 while ,i still am ultra-modern in my musical predilections1 my musical gods being ,schubert1 ,chopin1 ,schumann1 ,liszt1 ,brahms1 ,richard ,strauss and1 above all1 ,wagner1 ,i should consider myself unfit to write this book if ,i failed to realize the debt modern music owes to ,bach1 and that the more modern the music the greater the debt4 ,bach in ,modern ,music4 ,one of the most remarkable phenomena in the history of the art--and a generalization like this is as much in place in discussing pianoforte music as elsewhere1 because the instrument has had so much to do with the evolution of music--is the gap between ,bach and modern music4 ,while the following must not be taken too literally1 it is true in general that ,bach had little or no influence on the age that immediately came after him1 the classical age of music1 that age which we sum up in the names of ,haydn1 ,mozart and ,beethoven1 the age of the sonata and the symphony4 ,the three masters mentioned probably would have developed and composed much as they did had ,bach never lived4 ,but when a more modern composer1 a romanticist like ,wagner1 wanted to enrich the means of musical expression handed down to him from the classical period1 he reached back to ,bach and combined ,bach's teeming counterpoint with the harmonic system which had been inherited from ,beethoven4 ,to understand just what this means1 to appreciate the influence ,bach has had upon modern music and why he had little or none on the classical composers1 it is necessary for the reader to have at least a reasonably clear conception of what that counterpoint is and wherein it differs from harmony2 for with ,bach counterpoint reached its climax1 and all the possibilities of the style having been exhausted by him1 music of necessity took a turn in another direction under the classicists and developed harmonically instead of contrapuntally2 so that it can be said that modern music derives its counterpoint from ,bach1 its harmony from ,beethoven1 and its combination of the two systems from ,wagner4 ,there is another reason why the meaning of counterpoint should be explained and the difference between counterpoint and harmony be made clear to the reader now4 ,nearly all the early music1 the music that preceded ,haydn1 ,mozart and ,beethoven1 and that sometimes is to be found on recital programs1 is contrapuntal--written in counterpoint4 ,as ,i have said before1 it would be much easier to start with the sonata form1 with harmony instead of counterpoint1 for of the two harmony is the simpler4 ,but we must face the music--the music of the old contrapuntal composers--and the best way to do this is to explain what harmony and counterpoint are and wherein they differ4 ,harmony and ,counterpoint4 ,a melody or theme is a rational progression of single tones4 ,here is the melody or theme with which ,beethoven begins the familiar ,moonlight ,sonata3 ,music illustration ,it is a melody1 but it does not constitute harmony1 for harmony is the rational combination of several tones1 as distinguished from the rational progression of single tones which constitute melody4 ,but when ,beethoven adds an accompaniment to his theme and it becomes3 ,music illustration the passage also becomes harmony1 since it is an example of the rational combination of several tones4 ,as has often been pointed out in books on music1 and probably often will have to be pointed out again1 because as a mistake it is to be classed with the hardy perennials1 melody is not harmony1 but only a part of it4 ,when1 however1 a composer conceives a theme or melody he usually does so with the purpose of combining it with an accompaniment that shall support it and throw it into bold and striking relief4 ,composers of the contrapuntal school1 on the other hand1 conceived a theme1 not for the purpose of supporting it with an accompaniment1 but in order to combine it with another or with several other equally important themes4 ,that1 in a general way1 is the difference between harmony and counterpoint4 ,in harmony1 then1 or1 more strictly speaking1 in music composed according to the harmonic system1 of which the ,moonlight ,sonata is a good example1 the theme1 the melody1 stands out from the accompaniment1 which is subordinate4 ,counterpoint1 on the other hand1 rests on the combination of several themes1 each of equal importance4 ,this is the reason why1 when there is a fugue or other complicated contrapuntal work on the program of a pianoforte recital1 the average listener is apt to find it dry and uninteresting4 ,his ear readily can distinguish the themes of a sonata1 which usually are heard one at a time and stand out clearly from the accompaniment1 but it has not been trained to unravel the themes of the fugue as they travel along together4 ,counterpoint1 the term being derived from the ,latin contra punctum1 which means point against point or note against note1 when complicated1 as in a fugue1 is about the most elaborate kind of music there is1 and a person who is unable to grasp a fugue may console himself with the thought that1 excepting for the elect1 it is a pretty stiff dose to swallow at the very beginning of a recital4 ,there are1 however1 simpler pieces of counterpoint than a fugue4 ,sometimes1 as in the charming little ,gavotte by ,padre ,martini1 which now and then figures among the lighter numbers on the programs of historical recitals1 the contrapuntist combines a theme with itself1 or1 rather1 imitates it1 which is a simple form of the canon4 ,another form of canon is the round of which ,three ,blind ,mice is a familiar example4 ,how many people1 when singing this1 have realized that they were being initiated into that mysterious thing known as counterpoint8 ,a comparatively simple form of counterpoint is well illustrated by a dapper little piece in ,bach's ,two-,part ,inventions1 in which the spirited theme given out by the right hand answers itself a bar later in the left1 an imitation which crops out again and again in the piece and gives it somewhat the character of a canon4 ,music illustration ,for any one who wishes to become acquainted with ,bach there is nothing better than these ,two-,part ,inventions1 especially the fascinating little piece from which ,i have just quoted1 compact1 buoyant and gay1 even pert1 as ,i once heard a young girl characterize it2 a perfect example of old ,father ,bach in moments of relaxation when he has laid aside his periwig and is amusing himself at his clavichord4 ,what a ,fugue ,is4 ,bach's fugues1 and especially his ,well-,tempered ,clavichord1 forty-eight preludes and fugues in all the keys1 form the climax of contrapuntal music4 ,goethe once said that the history of the world is a mighty fugue in which the voice of nation after nation becomes audible4 ,this is a freely poetic definition of that highly complicated musical form1 the fugue4 ,let me attempt to illustrate it in a different way4 ,imagine that a composer who is an adept in counterpoint places four pianists at different pianofortes1 and that he gives a different theme to each of them1 or a theme to one and modified versions of it to the others4 ,he starts the first pianist1 after a few bars nods to the second to join in with his theme1 and so on successively with the other two4 ,it might be supposed that when the second player joins in1 the two themes sounding together would make discord1 which would be aggravated by the addition of the third and fourth4 ,but1 instead1 they have been so conceived by the contrapuntist that they sound well together as they chase and answer each other1 or run counter to and parallel and enter into many different combinations1 sometimes flowing along smoothly1 at other times surging and striving1 yet always1 in the case of a truly great fugue1 borne along by a momentum as inexorable as the march of ,fate4 ,of course1 it must not be supposed1 because ,i have called four pianists into action in order to emphasize how distinct are these themes1 which yet1 when united1 are found to blend together1 that several players are required for the performance of a complicated piece of counterpoint like a fugue4 ,what is demanded of the player is entire independence of the fingers1 so that he can clearly differentiate between the themes and enable the hearer to distinguish them apart1 even in their most complicated combinations4 ,an edition of ,bach's ,well-,tempered ,clavichord by ,bernardus ,boekelman prints the themes in different colors1 so that they are easy to trace through all their interweaving1 and is interesting to study from4 ,the ,fugue and the ,virtuoso4 ,in his book1 ,beethoven and ,his ,forerunners1 ,daniel ,gregory ,mason devotes a paragraph toward dispelling the mystery regarding the fugue that prevails with the public1 and points out that the actual formal rules1 despite the awe they have immemorially aroused in the popular mind1 are few and simple4 ,after the first announcement of the subject by a single voice1 it is answered by a second voice1 at an interval of a fifth above2 then again stated by a third voice1 and answered by a fourth4 ,this process goes on until each voice has had a chance to enunciate the motif1 after which the conversation goes on more freely2 the subject is announced in divers keys1 by divers voices2 episodes1 in a congruous style1 vary the monotony2 at last the subject is emphatically asserted by the various voices in quick succession 7stretto71 and with some little display or grandiloquence the piece comes to an end4 ,further along in the same book ,mr4 ,mason has a page of apostrophe to the ,bach fugues4 ,when he characterizes them as the first great independent monuments of pure music1 and refers to their consummate beauty of structure1 he pays them an eminently just tribute4 ,but when he speaks of the profundity1 poignancy and variety of feeling they express1 ,i am inclined to quote his own qualifying sentence from the next page of his book3 ,it is true1 nevertheless1 not only that the fugue form makes the severest demands on the attention and intelligence of the listener1 but also that1 because of the ecclesiastical origin and polyphonic style1 it is incapable of the kind of highly personal1 secular expression that it was in the spirit of the seventeenth century to demand4 ,the same is even more true of the eighteenth1 nineteenth and twentieth centuries4 ,the progress of music toward individual freedom of expression on the part of the composer1 and equally so on the part of the interpreter1 has been steady1 and when1 through the very perfection which ,bach imparted to counterpoint1 it ceased to attract composers as a means of expression because he had accomplished so much there was nothing more left for them to do along the same lines1 the progress ,i have indicated received a great lift and stimulus4 ,what ,counterpoint ,lacks4 ,the lack of highly personal expression in contrapuntal compositions explains why most concert-goers find them less attractive than modern music4 ,the ,d ,minor ,toccata and ,fugue or the ,chromatic ,fantasie and ,fugue by ,bach1 even in the arrangements of ,tausig and ,liszt1 on the program of a pianoforte recital1 are tolerated because of the modern pieces that come later4 ,nine out of ten persons in the house would rather omit them4 ,why deny so obvious a fact1 especially when it is easy enough to explain8 ,to follow a contrapuntal composition intelligently requires a highly trained ear4 ,moreover1 in such a work as a ,bach fugue the individuality of the player is of less importance than in modern music4 ,yet a virtuoso's individuality is the very thing that distinguishes him from other virtuosos and attracts the public to his concerts1 while those of other players may be poorly attended4 ,i firmly believe in personality of the virtuoso or singer or orchestral conductor1 for in it lies the secret of individual interpretation1 the reason why the performance of one person is fascinating or thrilling and that of another not4 ,modern music affords the player full scope to interpret it according to his own mood and fancy1 to color it with his own personality1 whereas contrapuntal music exists largely for itself alone4 ,it is music for music's sake1 not for the sake of interpreting some mood1 some feeling1 or of painting in tone colors something quite outside of music4 ,the player of counterpoint is restricted in his power of expression by the very formulas of the science or art of the contrapuntist4 ,we may marvel that ,bach was able to move so freely within its restricted forms4 ,but ,i think it true that it is far more interesting for a person even of only moderate proficiency as a player to work out1 however awkwardly1 a ,bach fugue for himself on the pianoforte than to hear it played by some one else1 however great2 for1 cheap and easy as it is to protest in high-sounding phrases about the duty of the interpreter to subordinate himself to the composer1 and against what ,i am about to say1 ,i nevertheless make bold to affirm that it is the province of the virtuoso to express himself1 his own personality1 his moods1 his temperament1 his subjective or even his subconscious self1 through music2 and in music that is purely contrapuntal there is a barrier to this individual power of expression4 ,the ,mission of the ,player4 ,we often hear it said of the greatest contemporary pianist that he is a great ,chopin player1 but not a great ,bach player4 ,he could not be1 and at the same time be the greatest living virtuoso4 ,it is the worshiper of tradition1 the reserved1 continent1 scholarly player1 the player who converts a ,chopin nocturne into an icicle and a ,schubert impromptu into a snowball1 who revels in counterpoint--the player who always is slavishly subordinating himself to what he is pleased to call the composer's intentions and forgets that the truly great virtuoso creates when he interprets4 ,some times the virtuoso may go too far and depart too much from the character of the piece he is playing1 subjecting it more than is permissible to his temporary mood2 but it is better for art to err on the side of originality1 provided it is not bizarre or freakish1 than on the side of subserviency to tradition4 ,while ,i have no desire1 in writing as above1 to exalt unduly the virtuoso1 the interpreter of music1 at the expense of the composer1 ,i must insist that the great player also is creative1 in the sense that every time he plays a work he creates it over again from his own point of view1 and thus has at least a share in its parentage4 ,indeed1 it seems more difficult to attain exalted rank as a virtuoso than to gain immortality as a composer4 ,the world has produced two epoch-making virtuosos--,paganini on the violin1 ,liszt on the piano4 ,within about the same period covered by the careers of these two there have been half a dozen or even more composers1 each of whom marks an epoch in some phase of the art4 ,the interpretive artist1 says ,henry ,g4 ,hanchett in his ,art of the ,musician1 deserves a place no whit beneath that of the composer4 ,no two composers have influenced musical progress in ,america more strongly than have ,anton ,rubinstein by his playing1 and ,theodore ,thomas1 who was not a composer4 ,music as a ,science4 ,but1 to return to ,bach and the other contrapuntists1 music owes them an immense debt on the technical side4 ,and right here1 so universal are the deductions that can be drawn from the program of a pianoforte recital1 it should be pointed out that music differs from other arts in having for its basis a profound and complicated science1 a science that concerns itself with the relations of the notes of the musical scale to each other4 ,upon this science are based alike the coon song and the ,wagner music-drama4 ,what is true of ,tristan is true also of ,bedelia4 ,each makes its draft upon the science of music2 the music-drama1 of course1 in a far greater degree than the song4 ,this science has its textbooks with their theorems and problems1 like any other science1 and theoretical musicians have produced learned and useful works on the subject which the great mass of laymen1 many virtuosos1 and indeed the average professional musician1 may never have heard of1 let alone have read4 ,for a person not intuitively predisposed toward the subject would find the science of music as difficult to master as integral calculus2 nor1 in order to appreciate music1 or even to interpret it1 is it necessary to be versed in this science4 ,a virtuoso can play a chord of the ninth1 the listener can be thrilled by the virtuoso's playing of the chord of the ninth1 without either of them knowing that there is such a thing as the chord of the ninth4 ,science versus ,feeling4 ,in fact1 the person who is so well versed in the science of music that he can mentally analyze a composition while listening to it is apt to be so absorbed in the mere process of technical analysis that he misses its esthetic1 its emotional significance4 ,thus a person may be very musical without being musical at all4 ,he may have profound knowledge of music as a science and remain untouched by music as an art1 just as a physicist may be an authority on the laws of light and color1 yet stand unmoved before a great painting4 ,with some people music is all science1 with others all art1 and ,i think the latter have the better of it4 ,a musical genius is equipped both ways4 ,the great composer employs the science of music as an aid in giving expression to his creative impulse4 ,he makes science of service to the cause of art4 ,otherwise1 while he might produce something that was absolutely correct1 it would make no artistic appeal whatsoever4 ,thousands of symphonies have been composed1 performed and forgotten4 ,they were well made1 constructed with scientific accuracy from beginning to end1 but had no value as art2 and music is a profound science applied to the production of a great art4 ,the composer1 then1 masters the science of music and bends it to his genius4 ,if he is a great genius1 he soon will discover that certain rules which his predecessors regarded as hard and fast1 as inviolable1 can be violated with impunity4 ,he will discover new tone combinations1 and thus enrich the science and make it serve the purposes of the art with greater efficiency than before he came upon the scene4 ,and always the composers who have grown gray under the old system1 the system upon which the new genius is grafting his new ideas1 and the theorists and critics1 who are slaves of tradition1 will throw up their hands in horror and cry out that he is despoiling the art and robbing it of all that is sacred and beautiful1 whereas he is adding to its scope and potency4 ,did not even so broad-minded a composer as ,schumann say1 ,the trouble with ,wagner is that he is not a musician8 ,so far was ,wagner ahead of his time6 ,while the great composer nearly always begins where his predecessors left off1 he is sure to outstrip them later on4 ,even so rugged a genius as ,beethoven is somewhat under ,mozart's influence in his first works1 and ,wagner's ,rienzi is distinctly ,meyerbeerian4 ,but genius soon learns to soar with its own wings and to look down with indifference upon the little men who are discharging their shafts of envy1 malice and ignorance4 ,that ,ear for ,music4 ,and while ,i am on the subject of the scientific musician versus the music lover1 the pedant versus the innovator1 ,i might as well refer to those people who have in a remarkable degree what is popularly known as an ear for music1 and who are able to remember and to play by ear anything they hear played or sung1 even if it is for the first time4 ,this ear for music1 again1 is something quite different from scientific knowledge of music or from the emotional sensitiveness which makes the music-lover4 ,it is a purely physical endowment1 and may--in fact1 usually does--exist without a corresponding degree of real feeling for music4 ,it is1 of course1 a highly valuable adjunct to a genuine musical genius like a ,mozart or a ,schubert and to a genuine virtuoso4 ,it is related of ,von ,buelow that his ear for music and his memory were so prodigious that once1 while traveling in the cars1 he read over the printed pages of a new composition1 and on arriving at his destination1 played it1 from memory1 at his concert4 ,william ,mason1 who studied with ,liszt1 witnessed his master perform a similar feat4 ,the average untrained person with a musical ear1 however1 instead of being a genius1 is apt to become a nuisance1 playing all kinds of cheap music in and out of season--a sort of peripatetic pianola1 without the advantage of being under control4 ,such persons1 moreover1 usually are born without a soft pedal4 ,bach and the ,weather ,bureau4 ,this digression1 which ,i have made in order to discuss the difference between music as a science and music as an art1 a distinction which1 ,i have pointed out1 often is so marked that a person may be thoroughly equipped on the scientific side of music without being sensitive to its beauty as an art1 seemed to me necessary at this stage4 ,i am reminded by it of the distinction which ,edmund ,clarence ,stedman1 in his ,nature and ,elements of ,poetry1 so wittily draws between the indications of a storm as described by a poet and by the official prognostications of the ,weather ,bureau4 ,mr4 ,stedman quotes two stanzas3 ,when descends on the ,atlantic the gigantic ,storm-wind of the ,equinox1 ,landward in his wrath he scourges the toiling surges1 ,laden with seaweed from the rocks4 ,and this stanza by a later balladist3 ,the ,east ,wind gathered1 all unknown1 ,a thick sea-cloud his course before2 ,he left by night the frozen zone1 ,and smote the cliffs of ,labrador2 ,he lashed the coasts on either hand1 ,and betwixt the ,cape and ,newfoundland1 ,into the bay his armies pour4 ,all this impersonation and fancy is translated by the ,weather ,bureau into something like the following3 ,an area of extreme low pressure is rapidly moving up the ,atlantic ,coast1 with wind and rain4 ,storm-center now off ,charleston1 ,s4 ,c4 ,wind ,n4 ,e42 velocity1 #ed4 ,barometer1 #bi4f4 ,the disturbance will reach ,new ,york on ,wednesday1 and proceed eastward to the ,banks and ,bay of ,st4 ,lawrence4 ,danger signals ordered for all ,north ,atlantic ports4 ,far be it from me to imply that contrapuntal music in general or ,bach in particular represents the ,weather ,bureau4 ,none the less is it true that ,bach appeals more strongly to the scientific musician than to the music-lover who seeks in music a secondary meaning--love1 passion1 grief2 the mood awakened by the contemplation of a forest landscape with its murmuring foliage1 a boundless prairie1 or the unquiet sea4 ,the technical indebtedness of modern music to ,bach is so immense1 and the artistic probity of the man himself was so wonderful1 for he worked calmly on1 in spite of what was worse than opposition--neglect--that ,i think the tendency on the part of ,bach enthusiasts1 while not overrating the importance of the influence he has had during the past fifty years or more1 is to underrate others as compared with him4 ,when critics declare that one virtuoso or another is not a great ,bach player1 are they not ignoring what is a simple fact--that no player can make the same appeal through ,bach that it is possible for him to make through modern music1 and that1 as a rule1 when a virtuoso1 however good a musician he may be1 places ,bach on his program1 he does so not from predilection1 but as a tribute to one of the greatest names in musical history8 ,it seems to me that the extreme ,bach enthusiasts can be divided into two classes--musicians who are able to appreciate what he did for music on its technical side1 and people who want to create the impression that they know more than they really do4 ,the ,bacon1 ,not the ,shakespeare1 of ,music4 ,bach's greatest importance to music lies in his having treated it in the abstract and for itself alone1 so that when he penned a work he did this not to bring home to the listener the significance of a certain mood or situation1 but from pure delight in following out a musical problem to its most extreme development4 ,algebra makes mighty interesting study1 but furnishes rather a poor subject for dramatic reading4 ,this simile must1 of course1 be taken with a grain of salt1 and merely as illustrating in a general way my contention that ,bach's great service to music was technical and intellectual4 ,he was the ,bacon1 not the ,shakespeare1 of music1 and the contrapuntal structure that he reared is to the art what the ,baconian theorem is to logic4 ,we can imagine the roamer in the field of higher mathematics suddenly becoming excited as he sees the end of the path leading to the solution of some complicated problem in full view4 ,thus there may be moments when even the cube root becomes emotional1 the logarithmic theory a dissipation1 and differential calculus an orgy4 ,so1 too1 ,bach put an enthusiasm into his work that often threatens to sweep the student off his intellectuals and make him regard a fugue as a scientifically constructed fairyland4 ,moreover1 there are ,bach pieces in which the counterpoint supports the purest kind of melody1 like the air for the ,g string which ,thomas arranged for his orchestra with all the strings1 save the double basses1 in unison1 and played with an effect that never failed to secure a repeat and sometimes a double encore4 ,what ,wagner ,learned from ,bach4 ,if we bear in mind that counterpoint is the artistic combination of several themes1 each of equal or nearly equal importance1 and that ,bach was the greatest master of the contrapuntal school and forms its climax1 we can1 with a little thought1 appreciate what his service has been to modern music4 ,when ,wagner devised his system of leading motives it was not for the purpose of employing them singly1 like labels tacked onto each character1 thing or symbol in the drama1 but of combining them1 welding them together1 when occasion arose1 in order to give musical significance and expression to each and every dramatic situation as the story unfolded itself4 ,a shining example of this is found in that wonderful last scene of ,die ,walkuere1 the so-called ,magic ,fire ,scene4 ,wotan has said farewell to ,bruennhilde2 has thrown her into a profound slumber upon the rock2 has surrounded her with a circle of magic flame which none but a hero may penetrate to awaken and win her4 ,how is this scene treated in the score8 ,in the higher register of the orchestra crackles and sparkles the ,magic ,fire ,motive1 the ,slumber ,motive gently rising and falling with the flames2 while the superb ,siegfried ,motive 7signifying that the yet unborn ,siegfried is the hero destined to break through the fiery circle7 resounds in the brass1 and there also is a suggestion of the tender strains with which ,wotan bade ,bruennhilde farewell4 ,the welding together of these four motives into one glorious whole of the highest dramatic significance is ,wagnerian counterpoint--science employed in the service of art and with thrilling effect4 ,another passage from ,wagner1 the closing episode in the ,meistersinger ,vorspiel1 often is quoted to show ,wagner's skill in the use of counterpoint1 although he employs it so spontaneously that few people stop to consider how scientific his musical structure is4 ,w4 ,j4 ,henderson1 in his capital book1 ,the ,orchestra and ,orchestral ,music1 relates that on one occasion a professional musician was engaged in a discussion of ,wagner in the corridor of the ,metropolitan ,opera ,house1 while inside the orchestra was playing this ,meistersinger ,vorspiel4 ,it is a pity1 said this wise man1 in a condescending manner1 but ,wagner knows absolutely nothing about counterpoint4 ,at that very instant the orchestra was singing five different melodies at once2 and1 as ,anton ,seidl was the conductor1 they were all audible4 ,wagner scores1 in fact1 teem with counterpoint1 but counterpoint that palpitates1 that thrills with emotion4 ,note that ,mr4 ,henderson speaks of melodies4 ,wagner's leading motives are melodies1 sometimes very brief1 but always expressive1 and not1 like the themes of the old contrapuntists1 conceived mainly for the sake of being combined scientifically with other themes equally adaptable to that purpose4 ,counterpoint may be1 and usually is1 something very dry and formal4 ,but from the crucible of the master magician1 ,richard ,wagner1 it flows a glowing1 throbbing1 pulsating stream of most precious metal4 ,the ,language of an ,epoch4 ,in the difference between the counterpoint of ,bach and the counterpoint of ,wagner lies the difference between two epochs separated by a long period of time4 ,with ,bach counterpoint was everything2 with ,wagner merely an incident4 ,it will help us to a better understanding of music if we bear in mind that the two great composers of each epoch spoke in the music of that epoch4 ,thus ,bach spoke in the language of counterpoint4 ,his themes1 however greatly they may vary among themselves1 all bear the stamp of motives devised for the purpose of entering into formal combinations and of being developed according to the stringent rules of counterpoint4 ,beethoven's are more individual1 more expressive of moods and emotions4 ,yet about them1 too1 there is something formal4 ,they1 too1 are devised to be treated according to certain rules--to be molded into sonatas4 ,but with ,wagner we feel that music has thrown off the shackles of arbitrary form1 of dry rule and rote4 ,his motives suggest absolute freedom of expression and development1 through previously undreamed-of wealth of harmony and contrapuntal combinations which are mere incidents1 not the chief purpose of their being4 ,each represents some person1 impulse or symbol in a drama2 represents them with such eloquence and power that1 once we know for what they stand1 we need but hear them again or recall them to memory to have the corresponding episode in the music-drama in which they occur brought vividly before our eyes4 ,bach's language was the language of the fugue2 ,beethoven's the language of the sonata4 ,fugue and sonata are musical forms4 ,wagner spoke the language of no form4 ,his language is that of the free1 plastic1 unfettered leading motive--the language of liberated music1 of which he himself was the liberator6 ,whether ,wagner would have devised his system of leading motives without the wonderful structure of counterpoint left by ,bach2 whether ,bach's counterpoint1 his combination of themes1 suggested the system of leading motives to the greatest master of them all1 we probably never shall know4 ,the system1 in its completeness1 doubtless is ,wagner's own2 but when he came to put it into practical effect he found the rich heritage left by ,bach ready to hand4 ,one of ,wagner's instructors in musical theory1 and the one from whose teaching he himself declares he learned most1 was ,theodor ,weinlig1 one of ,bach's successors as ,cantor of the ,thomasschule at ,leipsic4 ,wagner quotes him as having said3 ,you may never find it necessary to compose a fugue1 but the ability to do it often may stand you in good stead4 ,and the ,cantor set him exercises in all varieties of counterpoint4 ,there thus is presented the phenomenon of a composer who for nearly a century after his death had little or no influence on the course of music1 suddenly becoming a potent force in its most modern development4 ,bach in the ,recital ,hall4 ,bach is so supreme in his own line that contrapuntal music1 so far as the pianoforte is concerned1 may be dismissed with him4 ,haendel1 too1 it is true1 was a master of the contrapuntal school1 but he belongs to the chapter on oratorio4 ,bach's pianoforte works in smaller form are the ,two-,part ,inventions already mentioned2 the ,three-,part ,inventions1 which go a step farther in contrapuntal treatment1 and the ,partitas1 the six ,french ,suites and the six ,english ,suites4 ,these partitas and suites are the most graceful and charming efflorescence of the contrapuntal school1 and much could be accomplished toward making ,bach a popular composer if they figured more frequently on recital programs4 ,they are made up of the dance forms of the day--allemandes1 courants1 bourrees1 sarabandes1 minuets1 gavottes1 gigues1 with airs thrown in for good measure2 the partitas and ,english suites furnished with more elaborate introductions1 while the ,french suites begin with allemandes4 ,cheerful and even frisky as some of the dance pieces in these compositions are1 it must not be supposed that they were intended to be danced to when contrapuntally treated--no more than ,chopin intended that people should glide through a ballroom to the music of his waltzes4 ,besides sonatas for pianoforte with one or more other instruments1 among them the six ,sonatas for ,pianoforte and ,violin 7the term sonata as employed here must not be confused with the classical sonata form as developed by ,haydn1 ,mozart and ,beethoven71 ,bach composed concertos for from one to four pianofortes4 ,of these latter the one best known in this country is the so-called ,triple ,concerto1 for three pianofortes with accompaniment of string quartet1 which can at will be increased to a string orchestra4 ,in #ahgc1 during ,rubinstein's tour1 ,i heard it played in ,new ,york1 under ,theodore ,thomas's direction1 by ,rubinstein1 ,william ,mason and ,sebastian ,bach ,mills1 and three years later by ,mme4 ,annette ,essipoff1 ,mr4 ,mason and ,mr4 ,boscovitz4 ,mason1 when he was studying under ,liszt in ,weimar in #ahed1 had performed it with two fellow-pupils1 and ,liszt had been very particular in regard to the manner in which they played the many embellishments 7agrements7 which were used in ,bach's time4 ,later1 ,mason found that whenever three pianists came together for the purpose of playing this concerto they were certain to disagree regarding the agreements1 and usually wasted much time in discussing them1 especially the mordent4 ,rubinstein and the ,triple ,concerto4 ,accordingly1 when ,mason played the ,triple ,concerto with ,rubinstein and ,mills1 he came to the rehearsal armed with a book by ,friedrich ,wilhelm ,marburg1 published in ,berlin in #agfe1 and giving written examples of all the agrements4 ,i told ,rubinstein about my ancient authority1 says ,mr4 ,mason in his entertaining ,memories of a ,musical ,life1 adding that we should be spared the tediousness of a discussion as to the manner of playing4 ',let me see the old book1' said ,rubinstein4 ,running over the leaves he came to the illustrations of the mordent4 ,the moment his eyes fell upon them he exclaimed3 ',all wrong2 here is the way ,i play it6' ,and that ended the usefulness of the old book for that particular occasion1 the other two pianists adopting1 without comment1 ,rubinstein's method1 which ,mr4 ,mason intimates was incorrect4 ,when1 at the rehearsal with ,essipoff1 the mordent came up for discussion she exclaimed3 ',i cannot play these things2 show me how they are done4' ,after repeated trials1 however1 records ,mr4 ,mason1 she failed to get the knack of playing them1 as indeed so many pianists do2 so at the rehearsal she omitted them and left their performance to ,boscovitz and me4 ,the ,well-,tempered ,clavichord4 ,bach's monumental work for pianoforte1 however1 is ,the ,well-,tempered ,clavichord1 consisting of forty-eight preludes and fugues in all keys4 ,i find much prevalent ignorance among amateurs regarding the meaning of well-tempered as used in this title4 ,i have heard people explain it by saying that when a pianist had mastered the book he was tempered like steel and ready for any difficulties that other music might present6 ,i even have heard a rotund and affable person say that ,the ,well-,tempered ,clavichord was so entitled because when you listened to its preludes and fugues it smoothed out your temper and made you feel good-natured6 ,in point of fact1 the word is difficult to explain in untechnical language4 ,it relates1 however1 to ,bach's method of tuning his clavichord--another boon which he conferred upon music4 ,in general1 the system may be explained by the statement that certain tone intervals1 which theoretically are pure1 practically result in harmonic discrepancies1 which ,bach's tempered system corrected4 ,in other words1 slight and practically imperceptible inaccuracies are introduced in the tuning in order to counterbalance the greater faults which result when tuning is absolutely correct from a theoretical point of view2 just as1 in navigating the high northern waters1 you are obliged to make allowance for variations of the compass4 ,the system was not actually the invention of ,bach1 but he did so much to promote its adoption that it is associated with his name4 ,before it was adopted it was impossible to employ all the major and minor keys on clavichords and harpsichords1 and on the pianofortes1 just beginning to come into use4 ,it became possible under the tempered system of tuning1 and was illustrated by ,bach in ,the ,well-,tempered ,clavichord1 each major and minor key being represented by a prelude and fugue4 ,besides the system of tuning in equal temperament1 ,bach modernized the technique of fingering by introducing the freer and more frequent employment of the hitherto neglected thumb and little finger4 ,the services of this great man to music1 therefore1 were threefold4 ,he left us his teeming counterpoint1 upon which modern music draws so freely2 he promoted the system of tuning in equal temperament2 and he laid the foundation of modern pianoforte technique1 and so of modern virtuosity4 ,a ,king's ,tribute to ,bach4 ,besides being a great composer1 ,bach's traits as a man were most admirable4 ,he was uncompromising in his convictions1 sturdy1 honest and upright4 ,his fixedness of purpose is shown by an anecdote of his boyhood4 ,in his tenth year he lost his parents and went to live with an elder brother1 who was so jealous of his superior talents that he refused him the loan of a manuscript volume of music by composers of the day4 ,obtaining possession of it without his brother's knowledge1 ,bach secretly copied it at night by moonlight1 the task covering something like six months4 ,his reward was to have it taken away by his brother1 who accidentally discovered him playing from it4 ,fortunately1 this brother died soon afterward1 and ,bach recovered his treasure4 ,while it is true that ,bach remained unappreciated by the great mass of his contemporaries1 there were exceptions1 a notable one being the music-loving king1 ,frederick the ,great of ,prussia1 whose service the composer's second son1 ,philipp ,emanuel ,bach1 entered in #agdf4 ,at the king's earnest urging1 ,philipp ,emanuel induced his father to visit ,potsdam the following year4 ,the king1 who had arranged a concert at the palace1 was about to begin playing on the flute1 when an officer entered and handed him a list of the strangers who had arrived at ,potsdam4 ,glancing over it1 ,frederick discovered ,bach's name4 ,gentlemen1 he exclaimed1 old ,bach is here6 ,and nothing would do save that the master must be brought immediately into the royal presence1 before he even had time to doff his traveling clothes4 ,the king had purchased several of the pianofortes recently constructed by ,gottfried ,silbermann and had them distributed throughout the palace4 ,bach and the assemblage went from room to room1 the composer playing and improvising on the different instruments4 ,finally he asked the king to set him a fugue theme1 and on this he extemporized in such masterly fashion that all who heard him1 the king included1 broke out into rounds of applause4 ,on his return to ,leipsic1 ,bach dedicated to ,frederick the ,great a work which he entitled ,the ,musical ,sacrifice 7or offering71 which he based upon the fugue theme the king had given him4 ,no other instance of musical heredity is comparable with that afforded by the ,bach family4 ,dr4 ,theodore ,baker1 in his ,biographical ,dictionary of ,musicians1 gives a list of no less than twenty ,bachs1 all of the same line1 whom he deems worthy of mention1 and who covered a period ranging from #afjd to #ahde1 when the great ,bach's grandson and last male descendant1 ,wilhelm ,friedrich ,ernst ,bach1 died in ,berlin4 ,thus for two hundred and forty-one years the ,bach family was professionally active in music4 ,,iii ,,from ,,fugue ,,to ,,sonata ,if a pianoforte recital which begins with a ,bach fugue continues with a ,beethoven sonata1 it does not require a very discriminating ear to note the difference between the two4 ,the ,beethoven sonata is in a style so entirely distinct from that of the fugue1 and sounds so wholly unlike it1 that it seems as if ,bach had exerted no influence whatsoever upon the greatest master of the period that followed his death4 ,although ,haydn and ,mozart were nearer ,bach in point of time than ,beethoven was1 a sonata by either of them1 if it chanced to be on the program1 would show the same difference in style1 the same radical departure from the works of the master of counterpoint1 as the ,beethoven sonata4 ,the question naturally suggests itself1 did ,bach's influence cease with his death8 ,and the fact that this question calls for an answer and that this answer leads to a general consideration of the interim between ,bach and ,beethoven1 again shows how broad in its scope as an instrument is the pianoforte and how comprehensive in its application to music as a whole is the music of that instrument4 ,two works on a recital program furnish a legitimate basis for a discussion of two important periods in the development of music6 ,who would have thought there was so much to a pianoforte recital8 ,it would have been an eminently pardonable mistake for any intelligent musician to have fallen into1 in the third quarter of the eighteenth century1 if he had concluded that ,johann ,sebastian ,bach's career was a failure1 and that his influence upon the progress of his art amounted to the minimum conceivable4 ,indeed1 the whole course of musical history in every branch went straight out of the sphere of his activity for a long while2 his work ceased to have any significance to the generation which succeeded him1 and his eloquence fell upon deaf ears4 ,a few of his pupils went on writing music of the same type as his in a half-hearted way1 and his own most distinguished son1 ,philipp ,emanuel1 adopted at least the artistic manner of working up his details and making the internal organization of his works alive with figure and rhythm4 ,but even he1 the sincerest composer of the following generation1 was infected by the complacent1 polite superficiality of his time2 and he was forced1 in accepting the harmonic principle of working in its ,italian phase1 to take with it some of the empty formulas and conventional tricks of speech which had become part of its being1 and which sometimes seem to belie the genuineness of his utterances and put him somewhat out of touch with his whole-hearted father4 ,this passage from one of the most admirably thought-out books on music ,i know1 ,sir ,hubert ,parry's ,evolution of the ,art of ,music1 is no exaggeration4 ,for many years after ,bach's death1 for nearly a century in fact1 his influence was but little felt4 ,and yet so aptly does the development of art adjust itself to human needs and aspirations1 the very neglect into which ,bach fell turned music into certain channels from which it derived the greater freedom of expression essential to its progress and gave it the tinge of romanticism which is the essence of modern music4 ,the greatness of ,johann ,sebastian ,bach1 on the technical side at least1 now is so universally acknowledged1 and professional musicians understand so well what their art owes to him1 we are apt to think of him as the only musician of his day1 whereas his significance was but little appreciated by his contemporaries4 ,there were1 in fact1 other composers actively working on other lines and turning music in the direction it was destined to follow immediately after ,bach's death--and for its own ultimate good1 be it observed4 ,the simple fact is1 that pure counterpoint culminated in ,bach4 ,what he accomplished was so stupendous that his successors could not keep up with him4 ,they became exhausted before they even were prepared to begin where he left off4 ,and yet the reaction from ,bach was1 as ,i have indicated1 absolutely necessary to the further progress of music4 ,the scheme of musical development which the reader should bear in mind if he desires to understand music1 and to arrive at that understanding with some kind of system in his progress1 was briefly as follows3 ,three ,periods of ,musical ,development4 ,first we have counterpoint1 the welding together of several themes each of equal importance4 ,this style of composition culminated in ,bach4 ,its most elaborate form of expression was the fugue2 but it also employed the canon and impressed into its service certain minor forms like the allemande1 courant1 chaconne1 gavotte1 saraband1 gigue1 and minuet4 ,next1 after ,bach music began to develop according to the harmonic system1 or1 if ,i may be permitted for the sake of clarity to use an expression which technically is incorrect1 according to the melodic system4 ,that is1 instead of combining several themes1 composers took one theme or melody and supported it with an accompaniment so that the melody stood out in clear relief4 ,this first decided melodic development covers the classical period1 the period after ,bach to ,beethoven1 and its highest form of expression was the sonata1 which in the orchestra became the symphony4 ,the romantic period comes after ,beethoven4 ,this1 to characterize it by the readiest means1 by something external1 something the eye can see1 is the single piece period1 the period in which the impromptu of ,schubert1 the song without words of ,mendelssohn1 the nocturne of ,chopin1 the novelette of ,schumann1 takes the place of the sonata1 which consists of a group of pieces or movements4 ,composers begin to find a too exacting insistence upon correctness of form irritating4 ,expression becomes of more importance than form1 which is promptly violated if it interferes with the composer's trend of thought or feeling4 ,pieces are written in certain moods1 and their melody is developed so as to follow and give full expression to the mood in which it is conceived4 ,new harmonies are fearlessly invoked for the same purpose4 ,everything centres in the idea that music exists not as an accessory to form1 but for the free expression of emotion4 ,in his useful and handy ,dictionary of ,musical ,terms1 ,theodore ,baker defines a nocturne as a title for a piano piece of a dreamily romantic or sentimental character1 but lacking a distinctive form4 ,when we see the title ,sonata over a composition we think of form4 ,when we see the title ,nocturne we think of mood1 not manner4 ,the title arouses within us1 by anticipation1 the very feeling1 the very mood1 the very emotional condition which the composer is seeking to express4 ,the form in which he seeks to express it is wholly a secondary matter4 ,a composition is a sonata because it follows a certain formal development4 ,it is a nocturne because it is dreamily romantic or sentimental4 ,in no better way1 perhaps1 could the difference between the classical period of music and the romantic period which set in after ,beethoven be explained4 ,the romanticist is no more hampered by form than the writer of poetry or fiction is by facts4 ,form dominates feeling in classical music1 feeling dominates form in romantic music4 ,we still are and1 happily1 ever shall remain in the romantic period4 ,the greatest of all romanticists and1 up to the present time1 the greatest of all composers is ,richard ,wagner1 whose genius will be appreciated more and more as years go by until1 as may be the case1 a still greater one will arise2 although as dramatic literature culminated in ,shakespeare1 so music may have found its greatest master for all time in ,wagner4 ,wagner1 of course1 was not a composer for the pianoforte1 but when he reached back and to the fuller harmony inherited from ,beethoven added the counterpoint of ,bach1 thus combining the two great systems of composition1 he indicated the only method of progress possible for music of all kinds4 ,rise of the ,melodic ,school4 ,it must not be supposed that the melodic school which came in after ,bach and which1 so far as the classical form of the sonata is concerned1 culminated in ,beethoven1 was the mushroom growth of a night4 ,so much has been said of ,bach that a person unfamiliar with the history of music might draw the erroneous conclusion that ,bach was the only composer worth mentioning before the classical period and ,germany the only country in which music had flourished4 ,on the contrary1 ,bach was the climax of a school to which several countries had each contributed its share1 partly vocal1 partly instrumental4 ,palestrina's name naturally comes to mind as representative of the early period of ,italian church music2 there also was the ,belgian ,orpheus1 ,orlandus ,lassus 7or ,lasso71 the greatest composer of the ,flemish school2 and ,england had its ,gibbons and other madrigal composers4 ,their music was vocal and requires to be considered more thoroughly under the head of vocal music1 but it also was contrapuntal and played its part in the general development of the art before ,bach came upon the scene4 ,of course1 there also was instrumental music in counterpoint before ,bach's day4 ,there is ,queen ,elizabeth's ,virginal ,book1 a manuscript collection of music made either during her reign or shortly afterward and containing pieces for the virginal by ,tallis1 ,bird1 ,giles1 ,dr4 ,john ,bull and others1 including also the madrigalist1 ,gibbons4 ,the ,englishman1 ,henry ,purcell 7#afeh-afie72 the ,frenchman1 ,francois ,couperin 7#affh-agcc71 who wrote a harpsichord method2 the ,germans1 ,hans ,leo von ,hasler 7#aefd-afab7 and ,froberger2 and the ,italian1 ,frescobaldi--these were some among many composers of counterpoint more or less noted in their day4 ,bach1 however1 brought the art of counterpoint to perfection1 so that1 so far as it is concerned1 he neither required nor even so much as left room for a successor4 ,it may not be pertinent to the argument1 yet it may well be questioned whether1 had the classical trio1 ,haydn1 ,mozart1 and ,beethoven1 endeavored to carry on the contrapuntal school1 they would not1 in spite of their genius1 have relegated music to a more primitive state than it occupied when ,bach died4 ,it seems a fortunate circumstance to me that ,bach's son appears to have realized his inferiority to his father and that1 in consequence1 he turned from counterpoint to the development of harmony--the working out of a clearly defined theme or melody supported by accompaniment4 ,counterpoint is said to be polyphonic1 a term composed of two ,greek words signifying many-voiced1 the combination in music of several parts or themes4 ,opposed to it is homophonic1 or single-voiced1 music1 in which one melody or part is supported by an accompaniment4 ,italy1 with its genius for the sensuous and emotional in music1 already had developed a school of melodic music1 and to this ,philipp ,emanuel ,bach turned for a model4 ,in ,italy the pianoforte1 through its employment for the freer harmonic support of dramatic solo singing in opera1 an art form that is indigenous to ,italy1 gradually had emancipated itself there from counterpoint and acquired a style of its own4 ,girolamo ,frescobaldi 7#aehc-afdd71 a famous ,italian pianoforte and organ virtuoso1 whose first organ recital in ,st4 ,peter's1 ,rome1 is said to have attracted an audience of thirty thousand1 and whose mantle fell upon his two most renowned pupils1 the ,german1 ,johann ,jacob ,froberger1 and the ,italian1 ,bernardo ,pasquini1 not only experimented with our modern keys1 seeking to replace with them the old ecclesiastical modes in which ,palestrina wrote1 but also simplified the method of notation4 ,for even what seems to us so simple a matter as the five-line staff is the result of slow evolution4 ,scarlatti's ,importance as ,composer and ,virtuoso4 ,the ,italian genius who gave the greatest impulse to the progress of pianoforte music and who1 for his day1 immensely improved the technique of pianoforte playing1 was ,domenico ,scarlatti 7#afhc-ageg71 the famous son of a famous father1 ,alessandro ,scarlatti1 the leading dramatic composer of his time4 ,domenico ,scarlatti interests us especially because he is the only one of the early ,italians whose work retains an appreciable foothold on modern recital programs4 ,von ,buelow edited selections from his works1 and ,i recall from personal experience1 because ,i was at the concert1 the delight with which some of these were received the first time ,von ,buelow played them on his initial visit to this country during the season of #ahge-gf4 ,amateurs on the outlook for something new 7even though it was very old7 took up ,scarlatti1 and this early ,italian's suddenly acquired popularity was comparable with the run on the ,rachmaninoff ,prelude when it was played here by ,siloti many years later4 ,scarlatti has been called the founder of modern pianoforte technique4 ,although he composed for the harpsichord1 he understood the instrument so thoroughly and what he wrote for it accords so well with its genius1 that by unconscious anticipation it also was adapted to the genius of the modern pianoforte4 ,it still is pianistic2 more pianistic and more suitable to the modern repertoire than a good deal of music by greater men who lived considerably later4 ,i should say1 for example1 that ,scarlatti's name is found more frequently on pianoforte recital programs than ,mozart's1 although ,mozart was incomparably the greater genius4 ,but there is about ,scarlatti's music such a quaint and primitive charm that one always listens to it with the zest of a discoverer1 whereas ,mozart's pianoforte music1 although more modern1 just misses being modern enough4 ,this clever ,italian gives us the early beginnings of the sonata form4 ,he merely lisps in sonata accents1 it is true1 but his lisp is as fascinating as the ingenuous prattle of an attractive child4 ,his best1 known work1 ,the ,cat's ,fugue1 the subject of which is said to have been suggested to him by a cat gliding over the keyboard1 is indeed contrapuntal4 ,but even this is a movement in a sonata1 and the characteristic of his works as a whole is the fact that in most of them he developed and worked out a melody or theme1 and that he established the fundamental outlines of the sonata form4 ,comparatively few laymen have more than a vague idea of what is meant by sonata form4 ,to them a sonata simply is a composition consisting of several movements1 usually four1 three of them of considerable length1 with a shorter one 7a minuet or scherzo7 between the first and second or the second and fourth4 ,a sonata1 however1 must have one of its movements 7and generally it will be found to be the first7 written in a certain form4 ,regarding the ,scarlatti sonatas1 suffice it to say here that with him the form still is in its primitive simplicity4 ,for example1 the true sonata movement as we now understand it employs two themes1 the second contrasting with the first4 ,as a rule1 ,scarlatti is content with one theme4 ,it is the peculiar merit of ,philipp ,emanuel ,bach that he introduced a second theme into his sonatas1 or suggested it by striking modulations when he employed only one theme1 and thus paved the way for its further elaboration by ,joseph ,haydn4 ,mozart elaborated the form still further1 and then came ,beethoven1 with whom the classical period reached its climax and whose sonatas for all practical purposes have completely superseded those of his forerunners4 ,rise of the ,amateur4 ,characteristic of the period of transition from ,bach to ,beethoven1 from the fugue to the sonata1 was the development of popular interest in music4 ,scarlatti begins a brief introduction to a collection of thirty of his pianoforte pieces which were published in #agdf1 by addressing the amateur or professor1 whoever you be4 ,significant in this is the inclusion of1 in fact the seeming preference given to the amateur4 ,music of the counterpoint variety had been music for the church1 the court and the professional4 ,now1 with the development of the freer harmonic or melodic system1 it was growing more in touch with the people4 ,during ,philipp ,emanuel ,bach's life the increase of popular interest in music was remarkable4 ,the titles that began to appear on compositions show that composers were reaching out for a larger public4 ,bie quotes some of them3 ,cecilia ,playing on the ,pianoforte and ,satisfying the ,hearing2 ,the ,busy ,muse ,clio2 ,pianoforte ,practice for the ,delight of ,mind and ,ear1 in ,six ,easy ,galanterie ,parties ,adapted to ,modern ,taste1 ,composed ,chiefly for ,young ,ladies2 ,the ,contented ,ear and the ,quickened ,soul2 while ,philipp ,emanuel ,bach inscribes some of his pieces as easy or for ladies4 ,evidently the young person figured as extensively in the calculations of musical composers then as she does now in those of the publishers of fiction4 ,musical periodicals sprang up like mushrooms--,musical ,miscellany1 ,floral ,garnerings for ,pianoforte ,amateurs1 ,new ,music ,journal for ,encouragement and ,entertainment in ,solitude at the ,pianoforte for the ,skilled and ,unskilled1 such were some of the titles4 ,these periodicals often went the way of most periodical flesh and in the customary brief period1 but they show a quickened public interest in music--the contented ear and the quickened soul1 so to speak4 ,changes in ,musical ,taste4 ,if ,i dismiss ,philipp ,emanuel ,bach rather curtly and1 in this portion of the book at least1 do the same with ,haydn and ,mozart1 this is not because ,i fail to appreciate their importance in musical history1 but because they have failed to retain their hold on the modern pianoforte repertoire4 ,the simple fact is that the pianoforte as an instrument has outgrown their music4 ,we can get more out of it than they gave it4 ,if we bear in mind that the pianoforte1 as well as music itself1 has developed1 it will aid us in understanding why so much music1 once considered far in advance of its time and even revolutionary1 has so soon become antiquated4 ,why ignore facts8 ,some examples of primitive music still survive because they charm us with their quaintness4 ,but the classical period is retiring more and more into the shadow of history4 ,whatever importance ,haydn and ,mozart may possess for the student1 their pianoforte music1 so far as practical program-making is concerned1 is to-day a negligible quantity4 ,i remember the time when1 as a pupil1 ,i pored with breathless interest over the pages of ,mozart's ,sonata in ,a ,minor and his ,fantasy and ,sonata in ,c ,minor4 ,but to-day1 when ,i read in a book published about twenty-five years ago that ,mozart indulged in harmonies1 chord progressions and modulations1 sometimes considered of doubtful propriety even now and quite as harshly censured as are to-day the similar licenses of free-thinking composers--,i wonder where they are4 ,for his own day1 nevertheless1 ,mozart was an innovator1 as every genius is2 for it is through those daring deviations of genius from established rule and tradition1 which contemporaries regard as unjustifiable license1 that art progresses4 ,this should be borne in mind by those who were intolerant toward the opponents of ,wagner1 yet now are guilty of a similar solecism in proclaiming ,richard ,strauss a charlatan4 ,assuming that the modern pianoforte pupil is but indifferently nourished on the ,mozart pabulum1 let me add that this composer also was a virtuoso1 and by his choice of the pianoforte over the clavichord did much toward making the modern instrument more popular4 ,he also developed the sonata form so that ,beethoven found it ready moulded for his genius4 ,in fact the sonata form as we know it is so much a ,mozart creation that ,mr4 ,hanchett1 in his ,art of the ,musician1 suggests calling the sonata movement proper a mozarta--a suggestion which ,i presume will never be adopted4 ,beethoven and the ,epoch of the ,sonata4 ,in the history of music there are three figures that easily tower above the rest4 ,each represents an era4 ,they are ,bach1 who stands for counterpoint1 the epoch of the fugue2 ,beethoven1 who represents the epoch of the sonata2 ,wagner1 who represents the epoch of the music-drama4 ,the first two summed up in themselves certain art forms which others had originated4 ,bach's root goes back to ,palestrina1 ,beethoven's to ,scarlatti4 ,wagner presents the phenomenon of being both the germ and the full fruition of the art form for which he stands4 ,it is conceivable that the work of these men will at some time fall into desuetude1 for in art all things are possible1 and the classical period seems to be losing its grip on music more and more every day and we ourselves may live to see the sonata movement become obsolete4 ,it certainly is having less and less vogue1 and a composer who now writes a sonata with undeviating allegiance to its classical outlines1 deliberately invites neglect1 because the listener no longer cares to have his faculties of appreciation restricted by too rigid insistence upon form1 preferring that genius should have the utmost latitude and be absolutely untrammeled in giving expression to what it has to say4 ,nevertheless1 music always will bear the impress of these three master minds1 just as our language1 although we do not speak in blank verse1 always will bear the impress of ,shakespeare4 ,i don't think much of that play1 exclaimed the countryman1 after hearing ,hamlet for the first time4 ,it's all made up of quotations6 ,equally familiar1 not to say colloquial1 are certain musical phrases1 certain modulations1 which have come down to us from the masters4 ,although ,beethoven no longer is the all-dominant figure in the musical world that he was fifty years ago1 and it requires a performance of the ,ninth ,symphony given under specially significant circumstances 7such as the conducting of a ,felix ,weingartner7 to attract as many to a concert hall as would be drawn by an ordinary ,wagner program1 ,i trust ,i shall know how to appreciate his importance to the development of musical art and approach him with the reverence that is his due4 ,like all great men who sum up an epoch1 he found certain things ready to hand4 ,the ,frenchman1 ,jean ,philippe ,rameau 7#afhc-agfd71 the creator of the modern system of harmony1 had published his ,nouveau ,systeme de ,musique ,theorique2 the sonata movement from its tentative beginnings under ,scarlatti had been developed through ,philipp ,emanuel ,bach1 ,haydn and ,mozart into a definite art form awaiting the final test of a great genius--which ,beethoven proved to be4 ,beethoven's ,slow ,development4 ,i already have pointed out that while pianoforte and orchestra have developed side by side1 the general belief that the pianoforte merely has been the handmaiden of the orchestra is a mistaken one4 ,on the contrary1 until the end of the classical period1 at least1 the pianoforte was the pioneer4 ,it has blazed the way for the orchestra and led it1 instead of bringing up the rear4 ,thus the sonata form was developed by the pianoforte and then was handed over by that instrument to the orchestra under the name of symphony1 which1 the reader should bear in mind1 simply is a sonata written for orchestra instead of for the pianoforte4 ,even ,beethoven1 before he composed his first symphony1 which is his ,opus #ba1 tested his mastery of the form and his ideas regarding certain further developments in it1 by first composing thirteen pianoforte sonatas1 including the familiar ,pathetique1 which used to be to concert programs what ,liszt's ,hungarian ,rhapsody ,no4 #b is now--the cheval de battaille1 on which pianists pranced up and down before the ranks of their astonished audiences and unfortunate amateurs sought to retain their equilibrium4 ,this experimentation1 this comparatively slow development1 was characteristic of ,beethoven2 is1 in fact1 characteristic of every genius who works from the soul outward4 ,like most artists whose spur is more in themselves than in natural artistic facilities1 he was very slow to come to any artistic achievement1 writes ,sir ,hubert ,parry4 ,it is almost a law of things that men whose artistic personality is very strong1 and who touch the world by the greatness and the power of their expression1 come to maturity comparatively late1 and sometimes grow greater all through their lives--so it was with ,bach1 ,gluck1 ,beethoven and ,wagner--while men whose aims are more purely artistic and whose main spur is facility of diction1 come to the point of production early and do not grow much afterward4 ,such composers as ,mozart and ,mendelssohn succeeded in expressing themselves brilliantly at a very early age2 but their technical facility was out of proportion to their individuality and their force of human nature1 and therefore there is no such surprising difference between the work of their later years and the work of their childhood as there is in the case of ,beethoven and ,wagner4 ,in writing sonatas ,haydn and ,mozart had been satisfied with grace of outward form and a smooth and pretty flow of melody within that form4 ,beethoven was a man of intellectual force as well as of musical genius4 ,he applied his intellect to enlarging the sonata form1 his musical genius to supplying it with contents worthy of the greater opportunities he himself had created for it4 ,there is a wonderful union of mind and heart in ,beethoven's work4 ,the sonata form1 as perfected by him1 is a monument to his genius4 ,it remains to this day the flower of the classical period4 ,the ,passing of the ,sonata4 ,nevertheless1 the ,beethoven sonatas no longer retain the place of pre-eminence once accorded them on pianoforte recital programs4 ,when ,von ,buelow was in this country during the season of #ahge-gf he frequently gave concerts at which he played only ,beethoven sonatas4 ,i doubt if any of the great pianists of to-day could now awaken as much public interest by such programs as ,von ,buelow did4 ,i remember the concert at which1 among others of the ,beethoven sonatas1 this virtuoso played ,opus #ajf 7,grosse ,sonata fuer das ,hammerklavier74 ,after he had played through part of the first movement he became restless1 and from time to time peered over the keyboard and into the instrument as if something were wrong with it4 ,finally he broke off in the middle of the movement1 rose from his seat and walked off the stage4 ,when he reappeared1 he had with him an attendant from the firm of manufacturers whose pianofortes he used1 and together they fussed over the instrument for a while1 before the attendant made his exit and the irate little pianist began the sonata all over again4 ,we considered the mishap that gave us opportunity to hear him play so much of the work twice1 a piece of great good luck for us4 ,would we so consider it now8 ,von ,buelow has passed into musical history as a great ,beethoven player1 and such he undoubtedly was4 ,i doubt1 however1 if he was a greater ,beethoven player than several living pianists4 ,some seasons ago ,eugene d',albert played a ,beethoven program4 ,his performance did not evoke the enthusiasm he anticipated4 ,in fact there were intimations in the comments on his performance that he was not as great a ,beethoven player as he thought he was4 ,personally1 and having a very clear recollection of ,von ,buelow's ,beethoven recitals1 because ,i attended every one he gave in ,new ,york1 and in my mind's eye can see him sitting at the pianoforte1 bending away over1 with his ear almost to the keyboard1 ,i think d',albert played his ,beethoven program quite as well4 ,what had happened1 however1 was this3 ,a little matter of thirty years had passed and with it the classical period and its efflorescence1 the sonata form1 had faded by just so much1 and by just so much no longer was considered by the public the crucial test of a pianist's musicianship4 ,incidentally it is worth noting that the public usually is far ahead of the profession and of the majority of critics in appreciating new tendencies in music and in realizing what is passing away2 and the same thing probably prevails in other arts4 ,orchestral ,instead of ,pianistic4 ,i am aware that ,beethoven was a pianist of the first rank and that within the limitations of the sonata form he developed the capacity of the pianoforte4 ,i also have read ,richard ,strauss's opinion1 in his edition of ,berlioz's work on instrumentation1 that ,beethoven treated the orchestra pianistically4 ,nevertheless1 from the modern viewpoint the essential fault of the sonata1 ,beethoven's sonatas included1 seems to me to be that it is too orchestral and not sufficiently claviermaessig 7pianistic7 in character2 not sufficiently adapted to the genius of the pianoforte as we know it to-day4 ,it is possible that for the times in which they were composed1 the sonatas of ,haydn1 ,mozart and ,beethoven were most pianistic4 ,but as music has become more and more an intimate phase of life1 and as our most intimate instrument1 the instrument of the household1 is the pianoforte1 we understand its capacity for the intimate expression of moods and fancies1 the lights and shadows of life1 as it never was understood before4 ,the modern lover of music1 if ,i may judge his standpoint from my own1 feels that while the sonatas of the masters ,i have named were written for the pianoforte1 they were thought out for orchestra1 and that even a ,beethoven sonata is an engraving for pianoforte of a symphony for orchestra4 ,he composed nine symphonies and thirty-two sonatas4 ,if he had written his nine symphonies for pianoforte1 we would have had nine more sonatas4 ,if he had composed his sonatas for orchestra1 we would have had thirty-two more symphonies4 ,this orchestral 7as opposed to pianistic7 character of the ,beethoven sonatas accounts for passages in them so awkwardly written for the instrument that they are difficult to master1 and yet1 when mastered1 are not effective in proportion to their difficulty4 ,between enlarging the capacity of an instrument through the problems you give the player to solve and writing passages that are awkwardly conceived for it1 and hence ineffectual after they have been mastered1 there is a great difference4 ,chopin1 ,liszt and others pile ,pelion on ,ossa in their technical requirements of the pianist2 but when he has surmounted them1 he has climbed a mountain1 and from its peak may watch the world at his feet4 ,i think the orchestral character of much that ,beethoven wrote for the pianoforte partly accounts for the fact that his sonatas no longer attract the great virtuosos as they formerly did and that the public no longer regards them as the final test of a pianist's rank4 ,i speak so unreservedly because ,i have lived through the change of taste myself4 ,by way of personal explanation ,i may be permitted to say1 that while ,i am not a professional musician1 music was so much a part of my life that ,i studied the pianoforte almost as assiduously as if ,i had intended becoming a public player1 and that ,i was proficient enough to meet once a week with the first violinist and the first violoncellist of the ,new ,york ,philharmonic ,society for the practice of chamber music4 ,if there is any one who should worship at the shrine of the sonata form1 and especially at that of the ,beethoven sonatas1 it should be myself1 for ,i was brought up on the form and those sonatas were my daily bread4 ,when ,i went to the ,von ,buelow ,beethoven recitals it was with book in hand1 to follow what he played note for note for purposes of study and assimilation4 ,those were years when1 in the hours during which one seeks communion with one's other self1 the ,beethoven sonatas were the medium of communication4 ,but now--give me the men who emancipated themselves from a form that fettered the individuality of the pianoforte1 ,chopin1 ,liszt1 ,schumann1 and the pianoforte scores of the ,wagner music-dramas1 which actually sound more pianistic than the sonatas of the classical period and in which it is a delight to plunge oneself and be borne along on a flood of free1 exultant melody4 ,nevertheless1 the sonata has had a great part to play in the history and development of music and has played it nobly1 and we must no more forget this than we should allow present-day hero worship to supplant the memory of the heroes who went before4 ,the sonata is the firm and solid bridge over which music passed from the contrapuntal period to the romantic1 and doubtless there still are some who prefer to linger on the bridge rather than cross it to the promised land to which it leads4 ,always there are conservatives who stand still and look back2 and that these still should let their eyes rest longingly on the great master of the classical epoch1 ,beethoven1 is1 to say the least1 comprehensible4 ,one would have to be unresponsive indeed not to be thrilled by the story of his life--his force of character1 his rugged personality1 his determination in spite of one of the greatest misfortunes that could befall a musician1 deafness2 and the intellectual power which he displayed in bending a seemingly rigid art form to his will and making it the receptacle of his inspiration4 ,well may these considerations be borne in mind whenever a ,beethoven sonata is on a pianoforte recital program4 ,if it does not move us as profoundly as music more modern does1 that is not because its composer was less deeply concerned with the problems of life than those who have come after him4 ,for his time he was wonderfully subjective1 drawing his inspiration from the heart1 yet always preserving a sane mental poise4 ,if to-day the sonatas of this great genius and splendid man seem to us less dramatic and emotional than they once did to audiences1 it is because of the progress of music toward greater plasticity of expression and our conviction that such should be its mission4 ,,iv ,,dawn ,,of ,,the ,,romantic ,,period ,all art begins with a groping after form1 then attains form1 and then emancipates itself from too great insistence upon rigidity of form without1 however1 reverting to its early formless condition4 ,it was absolutely necessary to the establishment of music as an art that at some period or periods in its development it should pull itself together and focus itself in certain forms1 and adhere to them somewhat rigidly and somewhat tenaciously until they had been perfected4 ,without saying so in as many words1 ,i have sought1 in speaking of the sonata1 to let the modern lover of music know that if he does not like sonatas he need not be ashamed of that fact4 ,a few minutes ago and before writing this sentence1 ,i left my desk and going to the pianoforte1 played through ,beethoven's ,sonata ,pathetique4 ,it used to be a thrilling experience to play it or to hear it played4 ,to-day the ,grave which introduces the first movement still seemed portentous1 the individual themes throughout the work had lost none of their beauty4 ,and yet the effect produced in earlier years by this sonata as a whole was lacking4 ,i shall not say that it sounded pedantic1 for ,i dislike to apply that word to anything that sprang from the heart and brain of a genius like ,beethoven's1 but there was a feeling of restraint about it--the restraint of set form1 the restraint of pathos patterned to measure1 which is incompatible with our modern notions of absolute freedom of expression in music4 ,moreover1 there is ample evidence that ,beethoven himself chafed under the restraint of the sonata form and constantly strove to make it more elastic and more yielding to his inspiration4 ,what a ,sonata ,is4 ,the sonata form 7that is to say1 the movement from which the sonata derives its name7 consists of three main divisions and can easily be studied by securing the ,buelow and ,lebert edition of the ,beethoven sonatas in ,schirmer's library1 in which the various divisions and subdivisions are indicated as they occur in the music4 ,the first division 7sometimes with a slow introduction like the ,grave of the ,sonata ,pathetique7 may be called the exposition4 ,it consists of the main theme in the key of the piece1 a connecting episode1 a second theme in a related key and contrasting with the first1 and a concluding passage4 ,as a rule the exposition is repeated--an extremely artificial proceeding1 since there is no esthetic or psychological reason for it4 ,after the exposition comes the second division1 the development or working out1 a treatment of both themes with much figuration and imitation1 generally called the free fantasia and consisting chiefly of a free development of motives taken from the first part 7,baker74 ,this leads into the third division1 which is a restatement of the first1 excepting that the second theme1 instead of being in a related key1 is1 like the main theme1 in the tonic4 ,how ,beethoven ,enlarged the ,form4 ,this is the form of the sonata movement which was handed down to ,beethoven by ,haydn and ,mozart4 ,it very soon became apparent that the greatest genius of the classical period found it too limited for his inspiration4 ,in his third sonata 7,opus #b1 ,no4 #c7 he makes several innovations that1 for their day1 are most daring4 ,following the first episode after the main theme1 he introduces a second episode with which he leads into the second theme4 ,then using a variant of the first episode as a connection he leads over to a third1 a closing theme4 ,in fact1 the material of the second episode is so thematic that ,i see no reason why he should not be said to use four themes in the exposition instead of the customary two4 ,in the free fantasia he insistently reiterates the main theme1 practically ignoring the others1 thus familiarizing the listener with it and making it as welcome as an old friend when the third division ushers it in again4 ,instead of closing the movement at the end of the usual third division1 as his predecessors1 ,haydn and ,mozart1 did1 ,beethoven introduces what is one of the most important innovations grafted by him upon the sonata form--a coda with a cadenza4 ,i can imagine that this movement made his contemporaries look dubious and shake their heads4 ,it must have seemed to them originality strained to the point of eccentricity and more bizarre than effective4 ,as we look back upon it1 after this long lapse of time1 it must be reckoned a most brilliant achievement in the direction of freer form1 and from this point of view--please bear in mind the reservation--its creator not only never surpassed it1 but frequently fell behind it4 ,one of the movements of this sonata is a scherzo4 ,beethoven is the creator of this style of movement4 ,it is much less formal than the minuet which ,haydn introduced into the sonata4 ,this especial scherzo has a trio which in the broad sweep of its arpeggios is as modern sounding as anything ,beethoven wrote for the pianoforte4 ,his ,moonlight ,sonata4 ,there are other sonatas by ,beethoven that indicate efforts on his part to be less trammeled by considerations of form4 ,regard as an example the ,sonata ,quasi ,una ,fantasia1 ,opus #bg1 ,no4 #b1 generally1 and by no means inaptly1 called the ,moonlight ,sonata4 ,this begins with the broad and beautiful slow movement1 with its sustained melody1 a poem of profound pathos in musical accents4 ,it is followed by an ,allegretto1 une fleur entre deux abimes 7a flower 'twixt two abysses7 ,liszt called it2 and then comes the concluding movement1 a ,presto agitato1 which is one of ,beethoven's most impassioned creations4 ,there are only three movements1 and the usual sequence is inverted1 for the last of the three is the ,sonata movement4 ,at the end of the ,adagio sostenuto and at the end of the ,allegretto as well1 is the direction attacca subito il sequente1 indicating that the following movement is to be attacked at once and denoting an inner relationship1 a psychological connection between the three movements4 ,throughout the work the themes are of extraordinary beauty and expressiveness even for a ,beethoven and the whole is a genuine drama of human life and experience4 ,this impression is produced not only by the very evident psychological connection between the movements1 but by the manner in which the composer holds on to his themes1 developing them through bar after bar as if he himself appreciated their beauty and were reluctant to let go of them and introduce new material4 ,the entire first movement1 practically a song without words of the most exquisite poignancy1 is built on a single motive with a brief episode which is more like an improvisation than a set part of a movement2 while the last movement consists of four eloquent themes with only the merest suggestion of connecting episodes4 ,the working out in the last movement is almost wholly a persistent iteration of the second theme4 ,this persistent dwelling upon theme and the psychological relation between the different movements make this ,moonlight ,sonata to me the most modern sounding of ,beethoven's pianoforte works1 although when mere structural greatness is considered1 most critics will incline to rank it lower than the ,sonata ,appassionata and the four last sonatas1 ,op4 #ajf and #aji-aa4 ,undoubtedly1 however1 it is the most temperamental of his sonatas--and herein again the most modern4 ,my one quarrel with ,von ,buelow is that he made it so popular by his frequent playing of it and his exceptionally poetic interpretation of it1 that the great virtuosos shun it1 very much as they shun the sixth ,chopin waltz 7,mme4 ,dudevant's dog chasing its own tail71 because it is played by every pianoforte pupil of every girls' boarding school everywhere4 ,striving for ,freedom4 ,in addition to what ,i have said of this sonata1 it was an immense gain for greater freedom of form1 and it is to be regretted that it is a more or less isolated instance and that ,beethoven did not adopt it as a standard in shaping his remaining sonatas4 ,its most valuable attribute from the modern point of view is a characteristic to which ,i already have called attention several times--the fact that its several movements stand in psychological relation to one another2 that there is such real soul or temperamental connection between them1 that it would be doing actual violence to the work as a whole if any one movement were to be played without the others or if their sequence were to be inverted4 ,but1 you may ask1 is there not in all sonatas this psychological inter-relationship of the several movements8 ,have we not been told again and again that there is8 ,undoubtedly you1 and others who have been misinformed by enthusiasts who are unable to hear music in anything that has been composed since ,beethoven1 have been told so4 ,but the sonata1 with a few exceptions like the ,moonlight1 simply is a group usually of four movements1 three long-ones with a shorter one between1 and1 save for their being in related keys1 there is no temperamental relationship between the movements whatsoever1 and to talk of there being such a thing is nonsense4 ,i believe the time will come when virtuosos will not hesitate to lift single movements out of the ,beethoven sonatas and place them on their programs and that there will be a sigh of relief from the public because it can hear a movement that still sounds fresh and modern without being obliged to listen to two or three others that do not4 ,heresy8 ,maybe4 ,galileo was accounted a heretic--yet the world moves and the musical world with it4 ,the ,beethoven ,periods4 ,beethoven was an intellectual as well as a musical giant4 ,he thought before he wrought4 ,the division of his activity into three periods1 in each of which he is supposed to have progressed further along the road of originality and greatness1 is generally accepted4 ,nevertheless1 it is an arbitrary one1 especially as regards the pianoforte sonatas1 since it has been seen that the first movement of one of his earliest works1 the third sonata 7,opus #b1 ,no4 #c71 is one of his most original contributions to music1 and one of the most strikingly developed movements in sonata form that he has given us4 ,the period division which assigns this sonata as well as the ,sonata ,pathetique to the first period is absurd4 ,the fact is1 that the works of the so-called first and second periods overlap2 but there is a decided change in his style when we come to his third period which1 in the pianoforte sonatas1 begins with ,opus #aji4 7,the beginning of this period usually is assigned to the sonata ,opus #aja1 which seems to me too early47 ,because here a restless spirit seems to be brooding over his work1 it is thought by some that his mind and heart were warped by his misfortunes--his deafness1 the ingratitude of a worthless nephew to whom he had been as a father1 and other family and material troubles4 ,to me1 however1 ,beethoven seems in these sonatas to be chafing more and more under the restraint of form and to be struggling to free himself from it1 bending all his intellect to the task4 ,frankly1 ,i do not think that in these last sonatas he achieved his purpose4 ,he had outgrown the form he himself had perfected1 and the thoughts which toward the last he endeavored to mould in it called for absolutely free and untrammeled development4 ,he had become too great for it and1 as a result1 it cramped and hampered him in his latest utterances4 ,it is my firm belief that had ,beethoven come upon the scene fifty years later1 he would not have composed a single sonata1 but have revived the suite in modern style1 as ,schumann practically did in his ,carnaval1 ,kreisleriana1 and ,faschingschwank aus ,wien1 or have created for the pianoforte something corresponding to the freely developed tone poems of ,richard ,strauss4 ,because1 however1 ,beethoven wrote thirty-two pianoforte sonatas and because he was for many years the all-dominating figure in the musical world1 every great composer who came after him and composed for the pianoforte experimented with the sonata form1 and always1 be it noted1 with less success and less importance to the real progress of music toward freedom of expression than when he followed his own inner impulse and wrote the mood pieces1 the music of intention1 the subjective expressions of indicated thoughts and feelings1 that were more consonant with the tendencies of the romantic period which followed ,beethoven and for which he may be said to have paved the way4 ,for just as ,bach brought the contrapuntal form to such perfection that those who came after him could not even begin where he left off1 let alone surpass him1 so ,beethoven brought the sonata form to such perfection that no further advance in it was possible4 ,no wonder therefore that the pianoforte sonatas of the romanticists are comparatively few in number and the least satisfactory of their works4 ,these composers seem to have written sonatas simply to show that they could write them and under a mistaken idea that length is a measure of greatness and that shorter pieces are minor achievements1 whereas as much genius can be displayed in a nocturne as in a sonata4 ,sonatas ,now ,old-fashioned4 ,lawrence ,gilman1 one of our younger ,american critics1 in his ,phases of ,modern ,music1 a collection of essays1 brief but containing a wealth of suggestion and breathing throughout the spirit of modernity1 sums up the matter in speaking of ,edward ,mac,dowell's ,keltic ,sonata3 ,i cannot help wishing that he might contrive some expedient for doing away1 so far as he himself is concerned1 with the sonata form which he occasionally uses1 rather inconsistently1 as a vehicle for the expression of that vision and emotion that are in him2 for1 generally speaking1 and in spite of the triumphant success of the ',keltic1' ,mr4 ,mac,dowell is less fortunate in his sonatas than in those freer and more elastically wrought tone poems in which he voices a mood or an experience with epigrammatic concision and directness4 ,the ',keltic' succeeds in spite of its form1 444 though even here1 and notwithstanding the freedom of manipulation1 one feels that he would have worked to still finer ends in a more flexible and fluent form4 ,he is never so compelling1 so persuasively eloquent1 as in those impressionistically conceived pieces in which he moulds his inspiration upon the events of an interior emotional program1 rather than upon a musical formula necessarily arbitrary and anomalous4 ,this applies to pianoforte music in general since ,beethoven4 ,such ,i believe to be the consensus of opinion among the younger generation of critics1 to whom1 after all1 the future belongs1 as well as the opinion of those older critics who refuse to allow themselves to be pitchforked by their years into the ranks of the old fogies and who still hold themselves ever receptive to every new manifestation in music that is based on a union of mind and heart4 ,unless otherwise specifically mentioned ,i have1 in speaking of the sonata form1 referred to it in connection with the pianoforte4 ,but it also is the form employed for the symphony 7which simply is a sonata for orchestra72 for pianoforte trios1 quartets and quintets2 for string quartets and other branches of chamber music 7which are sonatas written for the combination of instruments mentioned and such others as are employed in chamber music71 and for concertos 7which are sonatas for the combination of a solo instrument like the pianoforte1 violin or violoncello1 with orchestra74 ,in these branches the sonata form has held its own more successfully than on the pianoforte1 and for several extraneous reasons4 ,in the symphony it is due largely to the greater variety that can be achieved through orchestral coloring2 in chamber music largely to the somewhat super-refined and timorous taste of its devotees which would regard any startling innovation as highly indecorous2 and in the concerto to the fact that a soloist who appears at an orchestral concert is supposed to play a concerto simply because the orchestra is there to play it with him1 although he1 as well as the audience1 probably would find a group of solos far more effective4 ,in fact ,i think that much of the applause which usually follows a great pianist's playing of a concerto is due not so much to the audience's enthusiasm over it as to the hope that he may be induced to come out and play something alone4 ,so far as the symphony is concerned1 it is liberating itself more and more from the sonata form and taking the direction indicated by ,liszt in his symphonic poems and by ,richard ,strauss in his tone poems1 the freest form of orchestral composition yet conceived4 ,the ,first ,romantic ,composers4 ,in music1 as in other arts1 periods overlap4 ,we have seen that during ,bach's life ,scarlatti in ,italy was laying the foundations of the harmonic system and shaping the outlines of the sonata form which was to develop through ,philipp ,emanuel ,bach1 ,haydn and ,mozart and find its greatest master in ,beethoven4 ,likewise1 even while ,beethoven was creating those works which are the glory of the classical period1 two of his contemporaries1 ,carl ,maria von ,weber1 who died one year before him1 and ,franz ,schubert1 who survived him by only a year1 were writing music which was destined to turn the art into new channels4 ,weber 7#aghf-ahbf7 is indeed regarded as the founder of the romantic school through his opera ,der ,freischuetz4 ,it seems to me1 however1 that ,schubert 7#agig-ahbh7 contributed quite as much to the new movement through his songs1 while the contributions of both to the pianoforte are important4 ,weber was a finished pianist1 had an enormous reach 7he could stretch a twelfth71 and besides utilizing the facility thus afforded him to add to the brilliancy of pianoforte technique 7as in his well-known ,concert ,piece for ,piano and ,orchestra71 he deliberately1 in some of his compositions1 ignored the sonata form and wrote a ,momento ,capriccioso1 a ,polonaise1 a ,rondo ,brilliant1 a ,polacca ,brilliant and the fascinating ,invitation to the ,dance4 ,the last1 even in its original form and without the elaborations in ,tausig's version of it1 and the ,concert ,piece still are brilliant and effective numbers in the modern pianoforte repertoire4 ,considering the age in which they were composed1 their freedom from pedantry is little short of marvelous4 ,schubert's ,pianoforte ,music4 ,schubert was not a virtuoso and passed his life almost in obscurity1 but we now recognize that1 although he lived but thirty-one years1 few composers wrought more lastingly than he4 ,of course1 the proper place for an estimate of his genius is in the chapter on song1 but as a pianoforte composer he is1 even to this day1 making his influence more and more felt4 ,living in ,vienna1 ,beethoven's city1 and a fervent admirer of that genius1 it was natural that he should have composed sonatas1 and there is a whole volume of them among his pianoforte works4 ,nevertheless1 so original was his genius and so fertile1 that1 in addition to his numerous other works1 he composed eight impromptus1 among them the highly poetic one in ,g flat major 7,opus #db1 ,no4 #b71 usually called ,the ,elegy2 another in ,b flat major 7,opus #adb1 ,no4 #c71 which is a theme with variations1 some of them brilliant1 others profoundly expressive2 and the beautifully melodious one in ,a flat major2 six dainty ,moments ,musicals2 the exquisite little waltz melodies from which ,liszt fashioned the ,soirees de ,vienne2 the ,fantasia in ,g1 from which the popular minuet is taken2 and the broadly dramatic ,fantasia on a theme from his song1 ,the ,wanderer1 for which ,liszt wrote an orchestral obbligato1 thus converting it into a highly effective and thoroughly modern fantasy for pianoforte and orchestra4 ,these detached compositions are as eloquent in their appeal to-day as if they had been written during the last ten years instead of during the first quarter of the last century4 ,they are melodious with the sustained melody that delights the modern ear4 ,there is not1 as in the sonata form or1 for that matter1 in all the classical music that ,schubert heard around him1 the brief giving out of a theme1 then an episode1 then another brief theme and so on1 all couched in the formulas in which the classicists delighted1 but instead of these postulates of formality1 melody fully developed and wrought out by one who reveled in it and was willing that his hearers should revel in it as well4 ,to distinguish between the classicists and this early romantic composer1 whose work survives in all its freshness and beauty to this day1 it may be said that their music was thematic--based on the kind of themes that lent themselves to formal working out as prescribed by the sonata formula2 whereas these detached pieces of ,schubert are based on melodies--long-drawn-out melodies1 if you wish1 and be grateful that they are--that conjure up mood pictures and through their exquisite harmonization exhale the very fragrance of romanticism4 ,naturally1 the sonatas from his pen are more set4 ,nevertheless1 so long as it seems that we must have sonatas on our recital programs1 the neglect of those by ,schubert is shameful4 ,i am willing to stake his sonata ,no4 #e1 in ,a minor1 against any sonata ever written1 and from several of the sonatas single movements can be detached which ,i should think any pianist would be glad to add to his repertoire4 ,among these is the lithesome scherzo from the sonata ,no4 #aj1 in ,b flat major1 and the beautiful slow movement 7,andante sostenuto7 from the same work4 ,schubert also wrote many valuable pianoforte duets1 among them several sets of marches and polonaises and an elaborate and stirring ,divertissement a l',hongroise1 which last seems to foreshadow the ,hungarian ,rhapsodies of ,liszt4 ,in these and the detached pianoforte solo pieces a special value lies in that they do not appear to have been composed as a protest against the sonata form1 but spontaneously and without a thought on ,schubert's part that he was doing anything in any way remarkable4 ,they are expressions of musical feeling in the manner that appealed to him as most natural4 ,the ,moments ,musicals especially are little mood pieces and impressionistic sketches with here and there a bit of realism4 ,who1 for example1 is apt to forget ,essipoff's playing of the third ,moment in ,hungarian style1 with a long crescendo and diminuendo 7the same effect used by ,rubinstein1 when he played his arrangement of the ,turkish ,march from ,beethoven's ,ruins of ,athens71 so that it seemed as if a band of gypsies approached from afar1 danced by1 and vanished in the distance8 ,thoroughly modern is ,schubert1 a most modern of the moderns1 whether we listen to his original pianoforte compositions1 or to the ,schubert-,liszt waltzes1 or ,hark1 ,hark1 the ,lark1 ,to ,be ,sung on the ,water 7barcarolle7 and other songs of his which have been arranged for the pianoforte by ,liszt4 ,mendelssohn's ,songs ,without ,words4 ,felix ,mendelssohn-,bartholdy1 the musical idol of his day and now correspondingly neglected1 contributed to the romantic movement his ,songs ,without ,words1 short pieces for the pianoforte and aptly named because their sustained melody clearly defined against a purposely subordinated accompaniment gives them the character of songs1 in the popular meaning of the word4 ,mendelssohn was a fluent1 gentlemanly composer1 whose music was readily understood and therefore attained immediate popularity4 ,but the very qualities that made it popular--its smoothness and polish and its rather commonplace harmlessness--have caused it to lose caste4 ,the ,songs ,without ,words1 however1 still occupy a place in the music master's curriculum1 forming a graceful and easily crossed bridge from classical to romantic music4 ,i can remember still1 when1 as a lad1 ,i received from my music teacher my first ,mendelssohn ,song ,without ,words1 the ,g minor barcarolle1 how it seemed to open up a new world of music to me4 ,many of these compositions1 which are unique in their way1 still will be found to possess much merit4 ,that they are polished little pieces and poetic in feeling almost goes without saying4 ,the ,spring ,song may be one of the most hackneyed of pianoforte pieces and the same may be true of the ,spinning ,song1 but it is equally true that the former is as graceful and charming as the latter is brilliant and showy4 ,a tender and expressive little lyric is the one in ,f major 7,no4 #bb71 which ,joseffy frequently used as an encore and played with exquisite effect4 ,a group of ,mendelssohn's ,songs ,without ,words is never out of place on a pianist's program4 ,at least half a dozen of them1 ,i think1 are apt to survive the vicissitudes of many years to come4 ,mendelssohn wrote three sonatas1 a ,sonata ,ecossaies 7,scotch71 several capriccios and other pieces for the pianoforte1 besides two pianoforte concertos1 of which the one in ,g minor is the stock selection of conservatory pupils at their graduation exercises and later at their debut4 ,with it they shoot the musical chutes4 ,v ,,chopin1 ,,the ,,poet ,,of ,,the ,,pianoforte ,i must ask the reader still to imagine that he is at a pianoforte recital1 although ,i frankly admit that ,i have been guilty of many digressions1 so that it must appear to him as if he had been whisked from ,mendelssohn ,hall up to ,carnegie ,hall1 then down to the ,metropolitan ,opera ,house and back to ,mendelssohn ,hall again4 ,this1 however1 as ,i have sought to make clear before1 is due to the universality of the pianoforte as an instrument and to the comprehensiveness of pianoforte music1 which in itself illustrates in great part the development of the art4 ,at this point1 then1 of our imaginary pianoforte recital there is likely to be a group of compositions by ,chopin2 and the larger the group1 or the more groups by this composer on the program1 the better satisfied the audience is apt to be4 ,baker calls ,frederic ,chopin 7#ahaj-ahdi7 the incomparable composer for the pianoforte4 ,but he was more4 ,he was an incomparable composer from every point of view1 great1 unique1 a tone poet1 as well as the first composer who searched the very soul of the instrument for which he specialized4 ,extraordinary as is his significance for that instrument1 his influence extends through it into other realms of music1 and his art is making itself felt to this day in orchestra1 opera and music-drama as well as in pianoforte music4 ,for he was an innovator in form1 an intrepid adventurer in harmony and a sublime singer of melody4 ,tempo ,rubato4 ,before the pianist whose recital we are supposed to be attending will have played many bars of the first piece in the ,chopin group1 the individuality of this composer will become apparent4 ,melody will pervade the recital hall like the fragrance of flowers4 ,at the same time there will be an iridescence not noticeable in any of the music that preceded ,chopin1 and produced as if by cascades of jewels--those remarkable ornamental notes which yet are not ornamental1 but1 in spite of all their light and shade1 and their play of changeable colors1 part of the great undercurrent of melody itself4 ,here we have then1 nearly at the very outset of the first ,chopin piece1 the famous tempo rubato1 so-called1 which has been explained in various ways1 but which with ,chopin really means that while the rhythm goes calmly on with one hand1 the other weaves a veil of iridescent notes around the melodic idea4 ,liszt expressed it exactly when he said3 ,you see that tree8 ,its leaves move to and fro in the wind and follow the gentle motion of the air2 but its trunk stands there immovable in its form4 ,or the tempo rubato is like a shower of petals from a tree in full bloom2 the firm outline of the tree1 its foliage are there1 while we see the delicately tinted blossoms falling from the branches and filling the air with color and fragrance2 or like the myriad shafts from the facets of a jewel1 piercing in all directions while the jewel itself remains immovable1 the centre of its own rays2 or like the crisp ripple on a river1 while the stream itself flows on in majesty2 or1 in one or two passages when ,chopin becomes a cynic1 like the twaddle of critics while the person they criticise calmly goes about his mission4 ,the ,soul of the ,pianoforte4 ,what you will notice about these compositions of ,chopin--and ,i say these compositions deliberately1 although ,i have not named any 7for it makes no difference what pieces of his are on the program1 the effect will be the same7--is the fact that in none of them is there the slightest suggestion of anything but pianoforte music4 ,chopin's great achievement so far as the pianoforte is concerned is the fact that he liberated it completely from orchestral and choral influences1 and made it an instrument sufficient unto itself1 brought it into its own in all its beauty of tone and expression and enlarged its capacity2 sought out its soul and reproduced it in tone1 as no other composer had done before him or has done since4 ,the recognition of the true piano tone seems to have been instinctive with him4 ,it appears in his earliest works4 ,nothing he ever wrote suggests orchestra or voice4 ,for the beautiful singing quality he brings out in much of his music is a singing quality which belongs to the noble instrument to which he devoted himself4 ,not once while listening to a ,chopin composition do you think to yourself1 as you do so often with classical works1 like the ,beethoven sonatas1 ,how well this would sound on the orchestra6 ,yet ,chopin is as sonorous1 as passionate1 as pleading1 as melancholy and as rich in effect1 although he is played only on the black and white keys of the pianoforte1 as if he were given forth by a hundred instrumentalists1 so thoroughly did he understand the instrument for which he wrote4 ,he was the ,wagner of the pianoforte4 ,a ,clear ,melodic ,line4 ,what you will notice1 too1 about his music is the general distinctness of his melody4 ,there may be times1 as in some of his arabesque compositions1 like the ,f ,minor ,etude1 when the effect is slightly blurred4 ,but this is done purposely1 and as a rule there will be found a clear melodic line running through everything he wrote4 ,combined with this melody are weird1 exquisite1 entrancing harmonies1 and those showers of tempo rubato notes which glitter like a veil of mist in the sunlight and yet1 although a veil1 allow you to see what is beneath it1 like a delicate fabric which seems rather to emphasize and reveal the very things it is intended to conceal4 ,chopin was a ,pole4 ,he had the melancholy of his race1 but also its verve4 ,profoundly affected by his country's sorrow1 he also had its haughty spirit4 ,in ,paris1 where he spent the most significant years of his life1 he was surrounded by the aristocracy of his own country who were in exile1 and by the aristocracy of the arts4 ,liszt speaks of an evening at his salon where he met1 besides some of the ,polish aristocrats1 people like ,heinrich ,heine1 ,meyerbeer1 ,delacroix1 ,nourrit1 the tenor1 and ,bellini4 ,chopin admired ,bellini's music1 its clear and beautiful melodiousness1 and ,i myself think that ,chopin's melody often has ,italian characteristics1 although it is combined with harmony that is ,german in its seriousness1 but wholly ,chopinesque in all its essentials4 ,in those numerous groups of ornamental1 or rather semi-ornamental1 notes1 so many of them chromatic1 and all of them usually designated by the technical term passing notes1 signifying that they are merely incidental to the melody and to the harmonic structure1 there are nevertheless many that have far greater importance than if they were merely passing4 ,it is in bringing out this significance by slight accelerations and retards1 by allowing a few of them to flash out here while the others remain slightly veiled1 that the inspired ,chopin player shows his true conception of what the composer meant by tempo rubato4 ,it was ,liszt1 afterward the first to recognize ,wagner1 who was the first to recognize ,chopin4 ,it was ,liszt also who introduced him to ,george ,sand 7,mme4 ,dudevant71 the great passion of his life4 ,chopin was the friend of many women4 ,they adored his poetic nature1 and there is much in his music that is effeminate1 delicate and sensitive2 but altogether too much has been made of this side of his art1 and of certain morbid pieces like some of the ,nocturnes4 ,the affair with ,george ,sand was not only a passion1 but was a tragedy1 and like all such tragedies it left on his music the imprint of something deeper and greater than mere delicacy and morbidity4 ,then1 too1 we have to count with his patriotism and his sympathy with his struggling country1 and there is much more of the virile and heroic in his music than either the average virtuoso or the average listener allows for4 ,the ,etudes4 ,these contrasts in his music can readily be recognized when a great pianist makes up the ,chopin group on his program from the ,etudes1 which are among the greatest compositions of all times1 whether we consider them as pianoforte music or as music in general4 ,they touch the soul in many places1 and in many and varied ways1 and they reflect the alternate delicacy and daintiness of his genius as well as its vigor and nobility4 ,suppose1 for the sake of a brilliant beginning1 the virtuoso chooses to start off with the fifth1 the so-called ,etude on ,black ,keys1 and flashes it in our eyes1 making the pianoforte play the part of a mirror held in the sunlight4 ,this gives us one side of ,chopin's music1 its brilliancy2 and it is noticeable that while the tempo of the piece is given as vivace1 the style in which it is to be played is indicated by the direction brillante4 ,if the pianist continues with the third ,etude1 we shall hear one of the most tender and beautiful melodies that ,chopin ever composed4 ,let him follow this with number thirteen1 the one in ,a flat major1 and we are reminded of what ,schumann said1 in his review of this book of ,etudes1 in which he speaks of the ,a flat major as an aeolian harp1 possessed of all the musical scales1 the hand of the artist causing them all to intermingle in many varieties of fantastic embellishment1 yet in such a way as to leave everywhere audible a deep fundamental tone and a soft continuously singing upper voice4 ,schumann heard ,chopin himself play this ,etude1 and he says that whoever will play it in the way described will get the correct idea of ,chopin's performance4 ,but it would be an error to think that ,chopin permitted every one of the small notes to be distinctly heard4 ,it was rather an undulation of the ,a flat major chord here and there thrown aloft anew by the pedal4 ,throughout all the harmonies one always heard in great tones a wondrous melody1 while once only in the middle of the piece1 besides that chief song1 a tenor voice became prominent in the midst of the chords4 ,after the ,etude1 a feeling came over one as of having seen in a dream a beatific picture which1 when half awake1 one would gladly recall4 ,vigor1 ,passion1 and ,impetus4 ,if now the pianist wishes to show by contrast ,chopin in his full vigor1 passionate and impetuous1 let him take the great ,c ,minor ,etude1 the twelfth1 ,allegro con fuoco4 ,great in outline1 pride1 force and velocity1 it never relaxes its grim grip from the first shrill dissonance to the overwhelming chordal close1 says ,huneker1 adding that this end rings out like the crack of creation4 ,it is supposed to be an expression of the alternating wrath and despair with which ,chopin received the tidings of the taking of ,warsaw by the ,russians in ,september1 #ahca1 for it was shortly after this that the ,etude was composed4 ,no wonder1 to quote again from ,huneker1 that all sweeps along in tornadic passion4 ,a pianist hardly can go amiss in making his selection from the twenty-seven ,etudes1 for the contrasts which he can effect are obvious1 and there is among these compositions not one which has not its special merits4 ,there is the tenth1 of which ,von ,buelow said whoever could play it in a really finished manner might congratulate himself on having climbed to the highest point of the pianist's ,parnassus1 and that the whole repertory of music for the pianoforte does not contain a study of perpetual motion so full of genius and fancy as this especial one is universally acknowledged to be1 excepting1 possibly1 ,liszt's ,feux ,follets4 ,then there is number nineteen in ,c sharp minor1 like a nocturne with the melody in the left hand1 with the right hand answering as a flute would a 'cello4 ,for contrast take number twenty-one1 the so-called ,butterfly ,etude--a wretched misnomer1 because a pianist gifted with true musical clairvoyance can work up such a gust of passion in this ,etude that any butterfly would be swept away as if by a hurricane4 ,nor1 in order to accomplish this1 is it necessary to make such a bravura piece of the ,etude as so many pianists ignorantly do4 ,we have1 too1 the ,winter ,wind ,etude1 in ,a minor1 ,opus #be1 number eleven--the twenty-third in the collection as usually published--planned on a grand scale and carried out in a manner equal to the plan4 ,von ,buelow calls attention to the fact that1 with all its sonorousness1 the greatest fullness of sound imaginable1 it nowhere trespasses upon the domain of the orchestra1 but remains pianoforte music in the strictest sense of the word4 ,to ,chopin1 says ,von ,buelow1 in referring to this ,etude1 is due the honor and credit of having set fast the boundary between piano and orchestral music which1 through other composers of the romantic school1 especially ,robert ,schumann1 has been defaced and blotted out1 to the prejudice and damage of both species4 ,while agreeing with ,von ,buelow that ,chopin was the great liberator of the pianoforte1 ,i cannot agree with the exception he takes to the music of ,robert ,schumann4 ,if he had referred back to the unpianistic classical sonata form1 he would have been more accurate4 ,the ,preludes4 ,i have gone into some detail regarding these ,etudes because ,i regard them1 as a whole1 among the greatest of ,chopin's works4 ,but ,i once heard ,rubinstein play the entire set of twenty-four ,preludes1 and ,i sometimes wonder1 as one often does with the compositions of a great genius1 whether these ,preludes1 in spite of their comparative brevity1 should not be ranked as high as anything ,chopin ever wrote4 ,according to tradition1 they were composed during the winter of #ahch1 which ,chopin spent with ,george ,sand at ,majorca in the ,balearic ,islands4 ,but there is authority for saying that they received only the finishing touches there1 and are in fact the gleanings of his portfolios4 ,it seems as if in these twenty-four pieces every phase of human emotion were brought out4 ,if my memory is correct1 ,rubinstein played them as a solo group at a ,philharmonic concert1 or he may have given them about the same time at one of his recitals4 ,it was in #ahgb2 and while after this long lapse of time it is impossible to remember every detail of his performance1 ,i shall never forget the exquisite tenderness with which he played the very brief ,prelude in ,a major1 the seventh4 ,he simply caressed the keyboard1 touched it as if his fingers were tipped with velvet2 and though into the other compositions of the series he put1 according as their character varied1 an immense amount of passion1 or more subdued emotion1 ,i can still hear this seventh ,prelude sounding in my memory1 note for note and bar for bar1 as he rendered it--a prolonged1 tremulous whisper4 ,schumann regarded the ,preludes as most remarkable1 saying that in every piece we find in his own hand ',frederic ,chopin wrote it4' ,one recognizes him in his pauses1 in his quick-coming breath4 ,he is the boldest1 the proudest poet-soul of his time4 ,each number in the series is complete in itself1 a mood picture2 but the series as a whole1 in its collection of moods1 its panorama of emotions1 represents the entire range of ,chopin's art4 ,the fourth in ,e minor1 covering only a page1 is one of the most pathetic plaints ever penned4 ,the fifteenth in ,d flat major1 with its continual reiteration of the dominant1 like the incessant drip of rain on a roof1 is a nocturne--,chopin in one of his morbid moments2 while the eighteenth in ,f minor is as bold a piece of dramatic recitative as though it had been lifted bodily out of a music-drama4 ,and so we might run the whole range of the collection1 finding each admirable in itself1 yet different from all the others4 ,what a group for a recital these twenty-four ,preludes make6 ,nocturnes4 ,if ,chopin had not written the ,nocturnes ,i doubt if those who play and those who comment on him would err so often in attributing such an excess of morbidness to him as they do1 or lay the charge of effeminacy against him4 ,morbid these ,nocturnes undoubtedly are in many parts1 and yet they often rise to the dignity of elegy1 and sometimes even of tragedy4 ,exquisitely melodious they are1 too1 and full of the haunting mystery of night4 ,the one in ,c sharp minor1 ,opus #bg1 ,no4 #a1 is perhaps the most dramatic of the series1 and ,henry ,t4 ,finck1 in his ,chopin essay1 is entirely within bounds when he says that it embodies a greater variety of emotion and more genuine dramatic spirit on four pages than many operas on four hundred4 ,there are greater nocturnes than the one in ,g1 ,opus #cg1 ,no4 #b1 but ,i must nevertheless regard it as the most beautiful of all4 ,it may bewitch and unman the player1 as ,niecks has said1 but1 on the other hand1 ,i think its second melody1 like a ,venetian barcarolle breathed through the moonlight1 is the most exquisite thing ,chopin ever composed2 and note how1 without any undulating accompaniment1 its rhythm nevertheless produces a gentle wavy effect4 ,probably the most familiar of all the ,nocturnes is the one in ,e flat1 the second in the first set1 ,opus #i4 ,it has been played so much that unless it is interpreted in a perfect manner it comes perilously near to being hackneyed2 but under the hands of a great pianist1 who unites with absolute independence of all his ten fingers1 the soul of a poet1 it becomes an iridescent play of color1 with a sombre picture of melancholy seen through the iridescence4 ,remenyi played a violin arrangement of it with such delicacy and so much poetry of feeling that he actually reconciled one to its transfer from the pianoforte to the soprano instrument of four strings4 ,chopin and ,poe4 ,john ,field1 an ,irish composer 7#aghb-ahcg71 was the first to compose nocturnes1 and it is not unlikely that ,chopin got the pattern from him4 ,occasionally at historical recitals one hears a nocturne by ,john ,field2 but ,i think that if even those who love to question the originality of great men were familiar with the nocturnes of ,field1 they would realize how far ,chopin went beyond him1 making out of a small type an art form of such poetic content that1 in spite of ,field having been first in the lists1 ,chopin may be said to have originated the form4 ,naturally1 ,field did not relish seeing himself supplanted by this greater genius1 and he said of ,chopin that he composed music for a sick-room1 and had a talent of the hospital4 ,on recital programs ,chopin's nocturnes often appear1 and1 when played by a master like ,paderewski1 who is sensitive to every shade of ,chopin's genius1 they are heard with an exquisite feeling of sorrow4 ,in these ,nocturnes1 ,chopin always seems to me like ,edgar ,allan ,poe in ,ullalume or in ,annabel ,lee--and was not ,poe one of the only two ,american poets of real genius8 ,waltzes and ,mazurkas4 ,a ,chopin waltz will admirably afford contrast in a group of ,chopin pieces on a recital program4 ,possibly the waltzes are the most frequently played by amateurs of all ,chopin's compositions4 ,but1 to perpetrate an ,irish bull1 even those that have been played to death still are very much alive4 ,it was ,schumann who said that if these waltzes were to be played for dancing more than half the dancers should be ,countesses1 the music is so aristocratic4 ,indeed1 to listen to these waltzes is like looking at a dance through a fairy lens4 ,they seem to be improvisations of the pianist during a dance1 and to reflect the thoughts that arise in the player's mind as he looks on1 giving out the rhythm with the left hand1 while the melody and the ornamental note-groups indicate his fancies--love1 a jealous plaint1 joy1 ecstasy1 and the tender whispering of enamored couples as they glide past4 ,the slow ,a minor ,waltz1 with its viola-like left-hand melody1 was ,chopin's favorite1 and he was so pleased when ,stephen ,heller told him that it was his favorite one1 too1 that he invited him to luncheon4 7,strange that we always should regard food as the most appropriate reward of artistic sympathy67 ,each waltz1 with the exception of some of the posthumous ones1 has its individual charm1 but to me the most beautiful is the one in ,c sharp minor1 with its infinite expression of longing in its leading theme and its remarkable chromatic descent before the brilliant right-hand passage that follows in the second episode4 ,these chromatics should be emphasized1 as they are a feature of the passage and form gems of harmonization4 ,but few pianists seem to appreciate their significance and pay sole attention to bringing out the upper voice4 ,thoroughly characteristic of ,chopin1 thoroughly in keeping with his ,polish nationality and its traditions1 are the ,mazurkas--jewels of music1 full of the finest feeling1 the most delicate harmonization1 and with a dash and spirit entirely their own4 ,weitzmann truly says that they are the most faithful and animated pictures of his nation which ,chopin has left us1 and that they are masterpieces of their class3 ,here he stands forth in his full originality as the head of the romantic school of music2 in them his novel and alluring melodic and harmonic progressions are even more surprising than in his larger compositions4 ,liszt on the ,mazurkas4 ,liszt1 too1 pauses to pay his tribute to them3 ,some portray foolhardy gaiety in the sultry and oppressive air of a ball1 and on the eve of a battle2 one hears the low sighs of parting1 whose sobs are stifled by sharp rhythms of the dance4 ,others portray the grief of the sorely anxious soul amid festivities1 whose tumult is unable to drown the profound woe of the heart4 ,others1 again1 show the tears1 premonitions and struggles of a broken heart1 devoured by jealousy1 sorrowing over its loss1 but repressing the curse4 ,now we are surrounded by a swirling frenzy1 pierced by an ever-recurring palpitating melody like the anxious beating of a loving but rejected heart2 and anon distant trumpet calls resound like dim memories of bygone fame4 ,all this is very fine1 although a trifle over-sentimental4 ,the fact is that the ,chopin ,mazurkas are archly coquettish1 passionately pleading1 full of delicate banter1 love1 despair and conquest--and always thoroughly original and thoroughly interesting4 ,in fact ,chopin never is commonplace4 ,a ,mazurka or two will add zest to any group of his works on a recital program4 ,the ,polonaises are ,chopin's battle-hymns4 ,the roll of drums1 the booming of cannon1 the rattle of musketry and the plaint for the dead--all these things one may hear in some of these compositions4 ,the mourning notes1 however1 are missing from the ,a ,major ,polonaise1 ,opus #dj1 and usually called ,le ,militaire4 ,it is not a large canvas1 but it is heroic and one of the most virile of all his works4 ,it was of this polonaise ,chopin said that if he could play it as it should be played1 he would break all the strings of the pianoforte before he had finished4 ,other ,works4 ,and then the ,ballades and the ,scherzos4 ,these are perhaps ,chopin's greatest contributions to the music of the pianoforte4 ,they are wonderfully original1 wonderfully emotional1 yet never to the point of morbidness1 full of his original harmonies1 fascinating rhythms and glow4 ,in the ,scherzos he is not gaily abandoned1 as the title would suggest1 but often grim and mocking--tragedy mocking itself4 ,chopin also wrote ,sonatas--felt himself obliged to1 perhaps1 because he was writing for the pianoforte1 because pianoforte music still was in the grip of the thirty-two ,beethoven pianoforte sonatas4 ,by no means did he adhere to the classical form2 yet these three sonatas are not to be counted among his most successful compositions4 ,one of them1 the ,b flat minor1 contains the familiar funeral march which has been said to give forth the pain and grief of an entire nation--,chopin's nation1 sorrowing ,poland2 and1 indeed1 the middle episode1 the trio of the march1 is pathetic to the verge of tears1 while in the other portions the march progresses to the grave amid the tolling of bells and the heavy tramp of soldiery4 ,it is played and played1 possibly played too much2 and yet1 when well played1 never misses leaving a deep impression4 ,because people will persist in playing certain popular pieces1 there is no reason these should not be enjoyed when interpreted by a master4 ,there is a vast difference between interpretation and mere playing4 ,this funeral march is followed in the sonata by a finale which aptly enough has been described as night winds sweeping over graves4 ,the funeral march often is played at recitals as a detached piece4 ,i cannot see why pianists do not add this finale1 which has real psychological connection with it4 ,the ,berceuse1 a ,barcarolle1 two ,concertos for ,piano and ,orchestra1 which often are slightingly spoken of1 and most unjustly1 since they are full of beautiful melody and most grateful to play--beyond these it does not seem necessary to go here1 unless1 perhaps1 to mention the ,impromptus1 which are full of the most delightful chiaroscuro1 and the great ,f minor ,fantaisie4 ,a ,noble from ,head to ,foot4 ,because ,chopin wrote only for the pianoforte1 because as a rule his pieces are not long1 his greatness was not at first recognized4 ,the conservatives seemed to think no man could be great unless he wrote sonatas in four movements for the piano and symphonies for the orchestra1 unless he composed for fifty or sixty instruments instead of for only one4 ,but although ,jumbo was large1 he was not accounted beautiful1 and worship of the big is a mistaken kind of reverence4 ,chopin's briefest mazurka is worth infinitely more than many sonatas that cover many pages4 ,this composer was a tone poet of the highest order4 ,while to-day we regard him mainly as the interpreter of beauty1 in his own day he was an innovator1 a reformer and1 like his own ,poles1 a revolutionist4 ,the pianoforte--the pianoforte as a solo instrument--sufficed for his most beautiful dreams1 for his most passionate longings4 ,bie1 in his ,history of the ,pianoforte and ,pianoforte ,players1 tells us that ,chopin smiled when he heard that ,czerny had composed another overture for eight pianos and sixteen persons1 and was very happy over it4 ,chopin1 adds ,bie1 opened to the two hands a wider world than ,czerny could give to thirty-two4 ,rubinstein1 as quoted by ,huneker1 apostrophizes him as the piano bard1 the piano rhapsodist1 the piano mind1 the piano soul4444 ,tragic1 romantic1 virile1 heroic1 dramatic1 fantastic1 soulful1 sweet1 dreamy1 brilliant1 grand1 simple--all possible expressions are found in his compositions and all are sung by him upon his instrument4 ,huneker himself says3 ,in ,chopin's music there are many pianists1 many styles1 and all are correct if they are poetically musical1 logical and individually sincere4 ,best of all1 he enlarged the scope for individual expression in music4 ,once for all1 he got pianoforte music away from the set form of the classical sonata4 ,he was sincere1 and his survival when nearly all of ,mendelssohn1 much of ,schumann1 and half of ,berlioz have suffered an eclipse1 is proof positive of his vitality4--,thus again ,huneker4 ,bie says1 in summing up his position1 that his greatness is his aristocracy2 that he stands among musicians1 in his faultless vesture1 a noble from head to foot4 ,but1 above all1 he is a searcher of the human soul1 and1 because he searched it out on the pianoforte1 is he therefore less great than if he had drawn it out on the strings1 piped it on the reeds1 blown it through the tubes and battered it on the drumheads of the orchestra8 ,,vi ,,schumann1 ,,the ,,intimate ,having finished with his ,chopin group1 the pianist is apt to follow it with his ,schumann selections1 and we meet with another original musical genius4 ,robert ,schumann was born at ,zwickau in ,june1 #ahaj4 ,his father was a book publisher and was in hopes that the son would show literary aptitude4 ,in fact1 the elder ,schumann discouraged ,robert's musical aspirations2 and as a result1 instead of receiving early in life a systematic musical training1 his education was along other lines4 ,he studied law at ,leipzig in #ahbh and in ,heidelberg in #ahbi1 and was thus what is rare among musicians--a composer with an academic education4 ,his meeting with the celebrated pianoforte teacher1 ,frederick ,wieck1 the ,leschetitzki of his day1 determined ,schumann to enter upon a musical career4 ,wieck took him into his home in ,leipzig and he studied the pianoforte with a view of becoming a virtuoso4 ,in order to gain greater freedom in fingering1 he devised a mechanical apparatus by which one finger was suspended in a sling while the others played upon the keyboard4 ,unfortunately1 through the use of this contrivance he strained the tendons of one hand and his dream of a virtuoso's career vanished4 ,meanwhile he had fallen in love with his teacher's daughter1 ,clara ,wieck1 and finally1 after determined opposition on the part of her father1 married her in #ahdj4 ,later in life a brain trouble from which he had suffered intermittently became more severe1 and in ,february1 #ahed1 he became possessed of the idea that ,schubert's spirit had appeared to him and given him a theme to work out4 ,he abruptly left the room in which he was sitting with some friends in his house at ,duesseldorf and threw himself into the ,rhine4 ,some boatmen rescued him from drowning1 but he had to be taken to an asylum near ,bonn1 where he died in ,july1 #ahef4 ,these circumstances in his life are mentioned here not only because of their interest1 but because they explain some aspects of his music4 ,schumann was of a brooding disposition1 intensely introspective4 ,compared with ,chopin1 his music lacks iridescence and shows a want of brilliancy4 ,this will be immediately apparent if at a recital a pianist places the ,schumann pieces after a ,chopin group1 as he is apt to do for the sake of the very contrast which they afford4 ,but if ,schumann's compositions are wanting in superficially attractive brightness1 they more than make up for it in their profounder characteristics4 ,all through them one seems to hear a deep-sounding tone4 ,one might say that his works for the keyboard instrument are pianoforte music for the viola1 and for that reason they appear to me so expressive and so appealing4 ,the harmonies are wonderfully compact4 ,one feels after striking a ,schumann chord like stiffening the fingers in order to hold it down more firmly1 keep a grip on it1 and let it sound to its last echo4 ,poet1 ,bourgeois1 and ,philosopher4 ,in ,schumann's music the sensitive listener will find a curious blending of poet1 bourgeois1 and philosopher4 ,he had the higher fancy1 the warmth of the poet1 a bourgeois love of what was intimate and homely1 and the introspection of the philosopher4 ,sometimes he is so introspective that he appears to me actually to be burrowing in harmony like a mole4 ,the melodies are interwoven2 sometimes the upper voice flutters lightly down upon contrapuntal collisions in the bass2 frequently his rhythms are syncopated2 melodies are superimposed upon each other2 he uses imitations1 canonic figuration1 and often by introducing a single note foreign to the scale1 suddenly lowers or lifts an entire passage4 ,there are interior voices in his music1 half suppressed1 yet making themselves heard now and then above the principal melody4 ,he loves anticipations--advancing a single note or a few notes of the harmony and then filling in the sustained tone or tones with what was at first lacking4 ,these characteristics are so marked that it is as easy to recognize ,schumann as it is to distinguish ,chopin in the first few bars of a work by either4 ,each is sui generis1 each has his own hallmark1 and it is a great thing in music1 as in other arts1 to have one's product so personal that there can be no mistaking whose it is4 ,schumann made valuable contributions to so-called program music4 ,his pieces1 besides intrinsic musical worth1 have a distinct meaning1 usually indicated by the titles he gives them4 ,and these titles themselves often are suggested by the works of authors whom he admired1 or hark back to certain fanciful figures like harlequins and columbines4 ,his second work for the pianoforte1 ,the ,papillons1 derived its inspiration from the poet1 ,jean ,paul1 who was at that time an object of his intense worship4 ,but whoever expects to find butterflies fluttering through these ,schumann pieces will be mistaken4 ,they are rather symbols of thoughts still in the chrysalis state and waiting1 like butterflies1 to cast off the shell and gain air and freedom4 ,this symbolism must be borne in mind in listening to ,the ,papillons4 ,schumann himself said1 in a general way1 regarding his programmatic intentions in this and other works1 that the titles given to his music should be taken very much like the titles of poems1 and that1 as in the case of poems1 the music in itself should be beautiful1 irrespective of title or printed explanation4 ,this is true of all program music that has survived4 ,it will be found beautiful in itself2 but it also is easy to discover that the titles and explanations which are calculated to place the hearer in certain receptive moods vastly add to his enjoyment4 ,carnaval and ,kreisleriana4 ,i am always glad when a pianist elects to place the ,schumann ,carnaval on his program1 because it is so characteristic of the composer's method of work and of his writing short pieces en suite1 giving a separate name to each of his diversions yet uniting them into one composition by means of a comprehensive title4 ,the complete title to this work is ,carnaval ,scenes ,mignonnes sur ,quatre ,notes pour ,piano1 ,op4 #i4 ,the four notes are ,a ,s ,c ,h1 and in explanation it should be said that in ,german ,s 7es7 is ,e flat1 and ,h the ,b of our musical scale4 ,asch was the birthplace of ,ernestine von ,fricken1 one of ,schumann's early loves4 ,three of the divisions of the ,carnaval are entitled ,florestan1 ,eusebius1 and ,march of the ,davidsbuendler4 ,schumann had founded the ,neue ,zeitschrift fuer ,musik1 and he contributed to it under the noms-de-plume of ,florestan1 ,eusebius and ,raro2 while his associates were denominated the ,davidsbuendler1 it being their mission to combat and put to flight the old fogies of music1 as ,david had the ,philistines4 ,schumann himself is the looker-on at this carnival1 a thinker wandering through the gay whirl1 drawing his own conclusions1 and noting down in music the varied figures as they pass1 and his reflections on them4 ,we meet ,chopin and ,paganini1 each neatly characterized2 ,chiarina 7the ,italian diminutive of ,clara7 and ,estrella 7none other than ,ernestine herself72 also ,harlequin1 ,pantalon1 and ,columbine4 ,the ,davidsbuendler march in to the strains of the ,german folk-song1 ,grandfather wedded my grandmother dear1 ,so grandfather then was a bridegroom1 ,i fear1 and the whole ends in a merry uproar4 ,he wrote another carnival suite1 ,opus #bf1 the ,faschingschwank aus ,wien1 in which he introduced a suggestion of the ,marseillaise1 which was at that time forbidden to be played in ,vienna4 ,the title of another work which ranks among his finest productions1 the ,kreisleriana1 also requires explanation4 ,this he derived from a book by ,e4 ,t4 ,a4 ,hoffmann1 who sometimes is spoken of as the ,german ,poe1 although he lacks the exquisite art of the ,american author--in fact1 is a ,poe bound up in much heavy ,german philosophy and turgid introspection4 ,the ,kreisler of ,hoffmann's book is an exuberant sentimentalist1 and is said to have had his prototype in ,kapellmeister ,ludwig ,boehner1 who1 after a brilliant early career1 had become addicted to drink and was reduced to maudlin memories of his former triumphs4 ,in ,hoffmann's book there is a contrast drawn between this pathetic character1 whose ideals have become shadows which he vainly chases1 and the prosaic views of life as set forth by another character ,kater ,murr 7literally ,tomcat ,purr74 ,but these ,kreisleriana1 of which ,bie says the joys and sorrows expressed in these pieces were never put into form with more sovereign power1 should be entitled ,schumanniana1 for although the title is derived from ,hoffmann1 the content is ,schumann4 ,thoughts of ,his ,clara4 ,concerning the work as a whole he wrote to ,clara while in the throes of composition3 ,this music now in me1 and always such beautiful melodies6 ,think of it1 since my last letter to you ,i have another entire book of new things ready4 ,i intend to call them ',kreisleriana1' and in them you and a thought of you play the chief role1 and ,i shall dedicate them to you4 ,yes1 they belong to you as to no one else1 and how sweetly you will smile when you find yourself in them6 ,my music seems to me so wonderfully interwoven1 in spite of all its simplicity1 and speaking right from the heart4 ,it has that effect upon all for whom ,i play these things1 as ,i now do gladly and often4 ,if ,clara and a thought of ,clara play the chief role1 what becomes of ,kreisler and ,kater ,murr8 ,surely ,kreisleriana are ,schumanniana4 ,full of varied characteristics are the ,fantasie ,pieces4 ,among these is the familiar ,warum1 which one has but to hear to recognize at once that it is no ordinary ,why1 but a question upon the answer to which depends the happiness of a lifetime2 ,at ,evening 7,abends71 with its sense of perfect peace2 the buoyant ,soaring 7,aufschwung72 ,whims 7,grillen72 ,night ,scene1 an echo of the legend of ,hero and ,leander2 the fable1 ,dream-,whirls 7,traumeswirren7 and the ,end of the ,song1 with its mingling of humor and sadness4 ,these ,fantasie ,pieces and the aptly named ,novelettes seem destined always to retain their popularity4 ,and then there are the ,scenes from ,childhood1 to which belongs the ,traeumerei2 the ,forest ,scenes1 the ,sonatas2 the heroic technical studies1 based on the ,paganini ,capriccios1 and the ,etudes ,symphoniques1 and the ,fantasie1 above the first movement of which he placed these lines from ,schlegel3 ,through every tone there passes1 ,to him who deigns to list1 ,in varied earthly dreaming1 ,a tone of gentleness4 ,clara was the tone1 as he told her4 ,it was largely through ,madame ,schumann's public playing of her husband's works that they won their way4 ,even so1 owing to their lack of brilliancy and their introspection1 they were long in coming to their own4 ,but the best of them1 including1 of course1 the admirable ,a ,minor ,concerto1 long will retain their hold on the modern pianist's repertoire4 ,william ,mason went to ,leipzig in #ahdi4 ,only a few years before ,i arrived at ,leipzig1 he says in his ,memories1 ,schumann's genius was so little appreciated that when he entered the store of ,breitkopf ,haertel with a new manuscript under his arm1 the clerks would nudge one another and laugh4 ,one of them told me that they regarded him as a crank and a failure because his pieces remained on the shelf and were in the way4 99 99 99 ,shortly after my return from ,germany 7to ,new ,york7 ,i went to ,breusing's1 then one of the principal music stores in the city1--the ,schirmers are his successors1--and asking for certain compositions by ,schumann1 ,i was informed that they had his music in stock1 but as there was no demand for it1 it was packed away in a bundle1 and kept in the basement4 ,what a contrast now6 ,,vii ,,liszt1 ,,the ,,giant ,,among ,,virtuosos ,it is possible1 but not likely1 that some pianist willing1 for the moment at least1 to sacrifice outward success to inward satisfaction1 will1 after he has played the ,schumann selections on his program1 essay one of ,brahms's shorter pianoforte compositions4 ,these are even more introspective than ,schumann's works and combine a wealth of learning with great depth of musical feeling4 ,it is almost necessary1 however1 that one should know them thoroughly in order to appreciate them1 and audiences have been so slow to welcome them that they appear but infrequently on recital programs4 ,those of my readers1 however1 who are pianists yet still unacquainted with these rare and beautiful compositions1 will soon find themselves under the spell of their intimate personal expression if they will get them and start to learn them4 ,the ,brahms ,variations on a theme by ,haendel make a stupendous work1 and the rare occasions on which it is played by any one capable of mastering it should be regarded as events4 ,grieg1 with his clear1 fascinating ,norwegian clang-tints1 which also play through his fascinating ,concerta in ,a minor2 ,dvorak1 the ,bohemian2 ,tschaikowsky1 whose first ,concerto in ,b flat minor is among the finest modern works of its kind2 or some of the neo-,russians1 are composers who may figure on the program of a modern pianoforte recital4 ,but it is more likely that the virtuoso will here elect to bring his recital to a close with some work by the grandest figure in the history of pianoforte playing and one of the greatest in the history of composition--,franz ,liszt4 ,kissed by ,beethoven4 ,liszt was born at ,raiding1 near ,odenburg in ,hungary1 in ,october1 #ahaa1 and he died in ,bayreuth in ,july1 #ahhf4 ,from early boyhood1 when he was a pianoforte prodigy1 almost until his death1 he occupied a unique position in the musical world4 ,he was the ,paganini of the pianoforte1 the greatest pianist that ever lived1 and he was a great composer2 and although1 as a virtuoso1 he retired from public performances long before he died1 his fame as a player and his still greater fame as a composer have not diminished and his influence still is potent4 ,his father was an amateur1 and began giving him instruction when he was six years old4 ,the boy's talent was so pronounced that even without professional instruction he was able1 when he was nine years old1 to appear in public and play a difficult concerto by ,ries4 ,so great was his success that his father arranged for other concerts at ,pressburg4 ,after the second of these1 several ,hungarian noblemen agreed to provide an annual stipend of #fjj florins for six years for ,franz's further musical education4 ,the family then removed to ,vienna1 where1 for about a year and a half1 the boy took pianoforte lessons from ,czerny and theory with ,salieri4 ,beethoven heard of him1 and asked to see him1 and at their meeting1 after ,franz had played1 without notes and without the other instruments1 ,beethoven's pianoforte trio1 ,op4 #ig 7the large one in ,b flat major71 the great master embraced and kissed him4 ,in #ahbc he was taken to ,paris with a view to being placed in the ,conservatoire4 ,but although he passed his examination without difficulty1 ,cherubini1 at that time the director of the institution and prejudiced against infant phenomena1 revived a rule excluding foreigners and admission was denied him4 ,his success as a pianist1 however1 was enormous and there was the greatest demand in salons and musical circles for le petit ,litz4 7,as some writer1 whose name ,i cannot recall1 has said1 the nearest ,paris came to appreciating ,liszt was to call him ',litz4'7 ,he was the friend of ,chopin1 of other musicians1 and of painters and literary men1 and the doors of the most exclusive drawing-rooms of the ,french capital were open to him4 ,paganini played in ,paris in #ahca1 and his wonderful feats of technique inspired ,liszt to efforts to develop the technique of the pianoforte with as much daring as ,paganini had shown in developing the capacity of the violin4 ,this was the beginning of those wonderful feats of virtuosity as well as of the remarkable technical demands made in his compositions1 both of which combined have done so much to make the pianoforte what it is1 and to bring out its full potentiality as regards execution and expression4 ,episode with ,countess ,d',agoult4 ,for a time ,liszt left ,paris with the ,countess d',agoult1 who wrote under the nom-de-plume of ,daniel ,stern1 and who was the mother of his three children1 of whom ,cosima became the wife1 first of ,von ,buelow and then of ,wagner4 ,his four years with the ,countess he passed in ,geneva4 ,twice1 however1 he came forth from this retirement to cross the sword of virtuosity with and vanquish his only serious rival in pianoforte playing1 ,sigismund ,thalberg1 a brilliant player and a man1 like ,liszt himself1 of fascinating personality1 but lacking the ,hungarian's intellectual capacity4 ,in #ahbi1 he and ,countess d',agoult having separated1 he began his triumphal progress through ,europe1 and for the following ten years the world rang with his fame4 ,he then settled down as ,court ,conductor at ,weimar1 which became the headquarters of the new romantic movement in ,germany4 ,hardly a person of distinction in music or any of the other arts passed through the town without a visit to the ,altenburg1 to pay his respects to ,liszt4 ,at ,weimar1 ,lohengrin had its first performance2 here ,berlioz's works found a hearing2 here everything new in music that also was meritorious was made welcome4 ,liszt's activity at ,weimar continued until #ahei1 when he left there on account of the hostility displayed to the production of ,cornelius's opera1 ,the ,barber of ,bagdad1 and its resultant failure4 ,he remained away from ,weimar for eleven years1 living for the most part in ,rome1 until #ahgj1 when he was invited to conduct the ,beethoven festival and re-established cordial relations with the ,court4 ,thereafter he divided his year between ,rome1 ,buda-,pest1 where he had been made ,president of the new ,hungarian ,academy of ,music1 and ,weimar4 ,liszt1 the artist and the man1 says ,baker1 in his ,biographical ,dictionary of ,musicians1 is one of the grand figures in the history of music4 ,generous1 kindly and liberal-minded1 whole-souled in his devotion to art1 superbly equipped as an interpreter of classic and romantic works alike1 a composer of original conceptions and daring execution1 a conductor of marvellous insight1 worshipped as teacher and friend by a host of disciples1 reverenced and admired by his fellow-musicians1 honored by institutions of learning and by potentates as no artist before or since1 his influence1 spread by those whom he personally taught and swayed1 will probably increase rather than diminish as time goes on4 ,it has been said that ,liszt passed through six lives in the course of his existence--only three less than a cat4 ,as petit ,litz he was the precocious child adored of ,paris2 as a youth1 he plunged into the early romanticism which united the devotees of various branches of art in the ,french capital3 next came the episode with the ,countess d',agoult2 then his triumphal tours through ,europe2 settling at ,weimar1 he became the centre of the modern musical movement in ,europe2 finally1 he revolved in a cycle through ,rome1 ,buda-,pest and ,weimar1 followed from place to place by a band of devotees4 ,liszt's compositions for the pianoforte may be classified as follows3 ,fantasies ,dramatiques2 ,annees de ,pelerinage2 ,harmonies ,poetiques et ,religieuses2 the ,sonata1 ,concertos1 ,etudes1 and miscellaneous works2 ,rhapsodies ,hongroises2 arrangements and transcriptions from ,berlioz1 ,beethoven1 ,weber1 ,paganini1 ,schubert and others4 ,the ,don ,juan ,fantasie4 ,among the ,fantasies ,dramatiques1 which are variations on themes from operas1 not mere potpourris or transcriptions1 but genuine fantasies1 and usually based on one or two themes only1 the best known is the ,don ,juan ,fantasie4 ,it is founded upon the duet1 ,la ci darem la mano4 ,liszt utilizes a passage from the overture as an introduction1 then gives the entire duet1 varying it1 however1 not in set form1 but with the effect of a brilliant fantasia1 and then winds up the whole with a presto on the ,champagne ,song4 ,it is true it no longer is ,mozart--but ,mozart might be glad if it were4 ,it is even possible that the time will come when ,don ,giovanni will have vanished from the operatic stage1 yet be remembered by this brilliant fantasia of ,liszt's4 ,it is one of the great tours de force of pianoforte music1 and it is good music as well4 ,another of the better known ,fantasies ,dramatiques is the one ,liszt made from ,norma1 in which occurs a long sustained trill and a melody for the right hand1 while the left plays another melody and the accompaniment to the whole4 ,in other words1 there is in this passage a trill sustained throughout1 two melodies and the accompaniment1 all going on at the same time1 yet written with such perfect knowledge of pianoforte technique that any virtuoso worthy of the name as used in a modern sense1 can compass it4 ,a work called the ,hexameron is included in catalogues of ,liszt's compositions1 although he only contributed part of it4 ,it is the march from ,bellini's ,puritani with six variations1 written by six pianists and originally played by them on six pianofortes1 five of them full grands1 while ,chopin1 whose variation was not of the bravura1 kind1 sat at a two-stringed semi-grand4 ,liszt contributed the introduction1 the connecting links and the finale of the ,hexameron4 ,the ,annees de ,pelerinage were published in three divisions1 extending in point of time from #ahce to #ahhc4 ,they are a series of musical impressions1 as the titles indicate--,au lac de ,wallenstadt1 ,pastoral1 ,au bord d'une source1 ,sposalizio 7after ,raphael's picture in the ,brera71 ,il ,penseroso 7after ,michael ,angelo74 ,many of these are adroit and elegant in the treatment of the pianoforte1 and at the same time beautiful as music4 ,the ,harmonies are partly transcriptions of his own vocal pieces1 partly musical illustrations to poems4 ,among them is the familiar ,cantique d',amour1 and the ,benediction de ,dieu dans la solitude1 of which he himself was very fond4 ,william ,mason says that at the ,altenburg a copy of it always was lying on the pianoforte1 which ,liszt had used so many times when playing for his guests that it became associated with memories of ,berlioz1 ,rubinstein1 ,vieuxtemps1 ,wieniawski1 ,joachim4 ,when ,mr4 ,mason left ,weimar he took this copy with him as a souvenir1 still has it1 and treasures it all the more for the marks of usage which it bears4 ,the ,consolations1 which1 as ,edward ,dannreuther says1 may be taken as corollaries to the ,harmonies1 are tenderly expressive pianoforte pieces4 ,giant ,strides in ,virtuosity4 ,the ,etudes bear the dates #ahbg1 #ahci and #aheb1 and as they are in the main progressive editions of the same pieces1 they represent the history of pianoforte technique as it developed under ,liszt's own fingers4 ,in their earliest shape when issued in #ahbg1 they were but little different from the classical ,etudes of ,czerny and ,cramer4 ,in their latest shape they form the extreme of virtuosity4 ,indeed1 these three editions are three giant strides in the development of pianoforte technique4 ,von ,buelow's coupling of the ,etude called ,feux ,follets with the ,a flat study 7,no4 #aj7 of ,chopin already has been quoted under that composer4 ,he considered it even more difficult4 ,schumann called the collection ,sturm und ,graus ,etuden 7,studies of ,storm and ,dread71 and expressed the opinion that there were only ten or twelve pianists living who could play them4 ,in the ,etude called ,waldesrauschen will be found some ingenious double counterpoint4 ,the theme is divided into two portions1 a descending and ascending one1 which later on appear together1 with first one and then the other uppermost4 ,other titles among the ,etudes are ,paysage1 ,mazeppa 7a tremendous test of endurance71 ,vision1 ,chasse-neige1 ,harmonies de ,soir and ,gnomentanz4 ,through ,liszt's transcriptions of some of the ,paganini pieces in the form of ,etudes1 which include the famous ,bell ,rondo from one of the ,paganini concertos1 this piece1 for example1 now is far better known as a pianoforte composition than in its original form for violin4 ,sonata1 ,concertos and ,rhapsodies4 ,the ,sonata in ,b ,minor dedicated to ,schumann is one of the few sonatas in which there is psychological unity throughout4 ,this is due to the fact that it is one movement2 although by employing various themes both in rapid and in slow time1 ,liszt has given it a certain aspect of division into movements4 ,it might well serve as a model to younger composers who think they have to write sonatas4 ,dannreuther1 it is true1 says of it that it is a curious compound of true genius and empty rhetoric1 but admits that it contains enough of genuine impulse and originality in the themes of the opening section1 and of suave calm in the melody of the section that stands for the slow movement1 to secure the hearer's attention4 ,mr4 ,hanchett's characterization of it as one of the most masterly compositions ever put into this form--a gigantic1 wholly admirable and original work--is more just4 ,the two pianoforte concertos 7in ,e flat and ,a major7 are superb works4 ,not only are they written with all the skill which ,liszt knew so well how to apply when composing for the instrument1 but with this technical perfection they also unite thought and feeling4 ,like the sonata1 they show throughout their development the psychological unity which is so essentially modern4 ,what the pianoforte owes to ,chopin and ,liszt can be summed up by saying that they were poets and thinkers who took the trouble to thoroughly understand the instrument4 ,because their music sounds so well on it1 at least one of them1 ,liszt1 frequently is stigmatized as a trickster of virtuosity and a charlatan1 as if there were some wonderful mark of genius in writing something for one instrument that sounds better on another or may not sound as well as it ought to on any4 ,if ,liszt's pianoforte music is grateful to the player and equally grateful to the listener1 it is not only because he knew how to write for the pianoforte1 but because1 with deep thoughts and poetic feelings1 he also understood how to express them clearly and pianistically4 ,the ,rhapsodies ,hongroises are of such dazzling brilliancy and show off a pianist's technique to such good purpose and so brilliantly1 that their real musical worth has been under-estimated4 ,they are full of splendid fire1 vitality and passion1 and their rhythmic throb is simply irresistible4 ,like the ,etudes1 their history is curious4 ,at first they were merely short transcriptions of ,hungarian tunes4 ,these were elaborated and republished and canceled1 and then rewritten and published again4 ,in all there are fifteen pieces in the set1 ending with the ,rakoczy ,march4 ,as ,ungarische ,melodien they began to appear in #ahch2 as ,melodies ,hongroises in #ahdf2 as ,rhapsodies ,hongroises in #ahed4 ,consider that they are over fifty years old1 yet remain the greatest pieces for the display of brilliant technique and the most grateful works for which a pianist can ask1 and that at the same time they are full of admirable musical content6 ,because they happen to be brilliant and effective they are called trashy1 whereas they owe their brilliancy and effectiveness to ,liszt's own transcendent virtuosity1 to his knowledge of the pianoforte4 ,in order to be great must music be classic1 heavy and dull1 and badly written for the instrument on which it is to be played8 ,how ,liszt ,played4 ,in those charming reminiscences from which ,i already have had occasion to quote several times1 ,william ,mason's ,memories of a ,musical ,life1 ,mr4 ,mason says that time and again at ,weimar he heard ,liszt play1 and that there is absolutely no doubt in his mind that ,liszt was the greatest pianist of the nineteenth century1 what the ,germans call an ,erscheinung1 an epoch-making genius4 ,tausig said of him3 ,liszt dwells alone upon a solitary mountain-top and none of us can approach him4 ,rubinstein said to ,mr4 ,william ,steinway1 in the year #ahgc 7,i quote from ,mason73 ,put all the rest of us together and we would not make one ,liszt4 ,while ,mr4 ,mason willingly acknowledges that there have been other great pianists1 some of them now living1 he adds3 ,but ,i must dissent from those writers who affirm that any of these can be placed upon a level with ,liszt4 ,those who make this assertion are too young to have heard ,liszt other than in his declining years1 and it is unjust to compare the playing of one who has long since passed his prime with that of one who is still in it4 ,edward ,dannreuther1 who heard ,liszt play from #ahfc onward1 says that there was about his playing an air of improvisation and the expression of a grand and fine personality1 perfect self-possession1 grace1 dignity and never-failing fire2 that his tone was large and penetrating1 but not hard1 every effect being produced naturally and easily4 ,dannreuther adds that he has heard performances1 it may be of the same pieces1 by younger men1 such as ,rubinstein and ,tausig1 but that they left an impression as of ,liszt at second-hand or of ,liszt past his prime4 ,none of his contemporaries or pupils were so spontaneous1 individual and convincing in their playing2 and none except ,tausig so infallible with their fingers and wrists4 ,liszt himself paid this superb tribute to the pianoforte as an instrument3 ,to me my pianoforte is what to the seaman is his boat1 to the ,arab his horse2 nay1 more1 it has been till now my eye1 my speech1 my life4 ,its strings have vibrated under my passions and its yielding keys have obeyed my every caprice4 ,it may be that the secret tie which binds me to it so closely is a delusion1 but ,i hold the pianoforte very high4 ,in my view1 it takes the first place in the hierarchy of instruments4 ,it is the oftenest used and the widest spread4 ,in the circumference of its seven octaves it embraces the whole range of an orchestra1 and a man's ten fingers are enough to render the harmonies which in an orchestra are brought out only by the combination of hundreds of musicians4 ,the pianoforte has on the one side the capacity of assimilation1 the capacity of taking unto itself the life of all instruments2 on the other hand it has its own life1 its own growth1 its own individual development4 ,my highest ambition is to leave to the piano players to come after me1 some useful instructions1 the footprints of advanced attainment1 something which may some day provide a worthy witness of the labor and study of my youth4 ,bear in mind that ,liszt played for ,beethoven1 that he was a contemporary of ,chopin and ,schumann1 that he was one of the first to throw himself heart and soul into the ,wagner movement1 and that death came to him while he was attending the festival performances at ,bayreuth2 bear in mind1 ,i repeat1 that he played for ,beethoven and died at ,parsifal2 strive to appreciate the extremes of musical history and development implied by this2 then remember that he remains a potent force in music--and you may be able to form some idea of his greatness4 ,,viii ,,with ,,paderewski--,a ,,modern ,,pianist ,,on ,,tour ,liszt never was in this country1 but we can gain some idea of the success that would have been his from the triumphs of ,ignace ,paderewski4 ,other famous pianists have come to this country--,thalberg in #ahef2 ,rubinstein in #ahgb2 ,von ,buelow1 ,joseffy1 who took up his residence here2 ,rosenthal1 ,josef ,hofmann4 ,but ,paderewski's success has been greater than any of these4 ,americans are said to be fickle2 but although ,paderewski no longer is a novelty1 his name still is the one with which to fill a concert hall from floor to roof4 ,why this is so is no secret4 ,hear him and you will understand the reason4 ,to a technique which does not hesitate at anything and an industry that flinches at nothing--no one practices more assiduously than he--he adds the soul of a poet and the strength of an athlete4 ,he looks slender and poetical enough as he sits at the piano on the concert stage2 but if you watch him from near by you will be able to note the great physical power which he can bring into play when necessary--and which he never brings into play unless it is necessary4 ,therefore he combines poetry with force2 and back of both is thought--intellectual capacity4 ,in a frame on the wall of a ,new ,york trust company is a check for #aga1iha4hi4 ,it represents the net receipts of one virtuoso for one concert tour1 and is believed to be the largest actual amount ever earned in this country by an artist1 whether singer or player1 in a single season4 ,this check is drawn to the order of ,ignace ,j4 ,paderewski4 ,an opinion regarding the piano by a man who by playing it can earn so large a sum1 and earn it because he is the greatest living exponent of pianoforte playing1 would seem worth having4 ,paderewski believes that1 save in one respect1 the pianoforte has reached perfection and is incapable of further improvement4 ,he does not think that anything more should be done to add to its volume of tone4 ,if anything1 he considers this too great and the instrument too loud already4 ,instead of more power1 rather less would be satisfactory4 ,wherein1 however1 he considers the instrument still lacking1 notwithstanding its wonderful development during the last century1 is in its capacity for sustained tone--for holding a long-drawn-out tone with the facility of the violin1 for example4 ,he is convinced1 however1 that the means of imparting this capacity for sustaining tone to the pianoforte will be discovered in due time and that the invention probably will be made in this country4 ,that increased tone-sustaining power for the instrument is a great desideratum doubtless is the opinion of many experts2 but that the greatest master of the pianoforte considers it perfect in other respects is highly interesting and significant4 ,after all1 it remains the greatest of all solo instruments1 because1 within the smallest compass and with the simplest means of control1 it has the range of an orchestra4 ,for this reason it is the most popular of instruments and1 in its manufacture1 extends from the polished dry-goods box with internal organs of iron1 wire and felt and with a glistening row of celluloid teeth ready to bite as soon as ever the lid is raised1 to the highest-class concert grand4 ,the ,piano ,doctor4 ,we who have our pianofortes in our own homes and are content with an occasional visit from the tuner1 little dream of the care bestowed upon the instrument on which an artist like ,paderewski plays4 ,instrument8 ,i should have said instruments2 for1 when he is on tour1 he has a whole suite of them1 no less than four1 and each is coddled as if it were a prima donna fresh from the hands of ,madame ,marchesi1 instead of a thing of wood1 metal and ivory4 ,true1 these pianos do not have their throats sprayed on the slightest possible occasion1 but they are carefully protected against extremes of heat and cold1 and1 while the prima donna consults her physician only at intervals1 a piano doctor is in constant attendance on these instruments4 ,paderewski's piano doctor has traveled with him for several seasons1 occupying the same private car and practically living with him during the entire tour4 ,he was with him on the tour1 in fact at his table at breakfast with him1 when his special train was run on to an open siding near ,east ,syracuse and left the track1 ,paderewski being thrown forward on his hands against the table and straining the muscles of one arm so severely that he was obliged to cancel his remaining engagements4 ,up to that time1 however1 his net receipts from seventy-four concerts had been #acg1jab4ej1 while before this ,american tour began he gave thirty-six concerts in ,australia with average receipts of #e1jjj4 ,his record concert was at ,dallas1 ,texas1 some years ago1 when the receipts were #i1jjj4 ,it occurred during a ,confederate reunion4 ,while he was at the pianoforte1 the various posts marched up to the hall with bands and fife-and-drum corps playing4 ,paderewski1 however1 kept right on through the blasts and shrilling4 ,but when one of the posts let out the famous rebel yell1 the pianist leaped from his seat as if he expected a tiger to spring at his throat4 ,then he realized what had happened1 smiled and continued amid laughter and applause4 ,he had heard of the famous rebel yell1 but this was the first time he had heard it4 ,pianofortes on ,their ,travels4 ,but to return to the pianofortes on tour4 ,when ,paderewski came to this country from ,australia1 his piano doctor met him at ,san ,francisco with four instruments which had been selected with great care in ,new ,york and been shipped ,west in charge of the doctor4 ,one of these the virtuoso reserved for his private car1 for he practices en route whenever there is a stop long enough to make it worth while4 ,he rarely plays when the car is in motion4 ,of the other three instruments1 the two he liked best were sent to his hotel1 where during four days preceding his first concert1 he practiced from seven to eight hours a day1 notifying the doctor twenty-four hours in advance which pianoforte he would use4 ,this instrument became1 officially1 ,no4 #a2 the others ,no4 #b and ,no4 #c4 ,the pianist's route took him from ,san ,francisco to ,oakland1 ,san ,jose1 and ,portland1 ,oregon4 ,to make certain that he always will have a fine instrument to play on1 a method of shipping ahead the instruments not in use is adopted4 ,thus1 while he was playing on ,no4 #a in ,san ,francisco and ,oakland1 ,no4 #b was sent on to ,san ,jose and ,no4 #c to ,portland4 ,of course1 none but an expert could detect the slightest difference in these pianofortes1 but a player like ,paderewski is sensitive to the most delicately balanced distinctions or nuances in tone and action4 ,one of his idiosyncrasies is that always before going on he asks the doctor which of the three instruments is on the stage1 because1 as he himself expresses it1 ,i don't want to meet a stranger4 ,after each concert1 at supper1 this conversation invariably takes place3 ,paderewski3 ,well1 ',doctor1' it sounded all right to-night1 didn't it8 ,doctor3 ,yes1 sir4 ,paderewski3 ,well1 then1 please pass me the bread4 ,there never has been occasion to record what would happen if the doctor were to say1 ,no1 sir4 ,for he always has been able to answer in the affirmative1 with the most scrupulous regard for veracity4 ,paderewski is as careful to play his best in the least important place in which he gives a concert as he is in ,new ,york4 ,this high sense of duty toward his public accounts in part for his supremacy among pianists ,paderewski is not a mere virtuoso4 ,he is a man of fine intellectual gifts who plays the piano like a poet4 ,paul ,potter1 the playwright1 who lives in ,geneva1 ,switzerland1 and occasionally has dined there with ,paderewski1 tells me that he has conversed with the pianist on almost every conceivable subject except music and always found him remarkably well informed4 ,his knowledge of the history of his native land1 ,poland1 and of its literature is said to be quite wonderful4 ,chopin1 also a ,pole1 he idolizes and regards as far and away the greatest composer for the piano4 ,to the fund for the ,chopin memorial at ,warsaw he contributes by charging one dollar for his autograph1 and two dollars for his signature and a few bars of music4 ,from the money received as the proceeds of one season's autographs he was able to remit about #a1cjj to the fund4 ,when the amusing little dialogue at the supper table1 which ,i have recorded1 takes place1 the pianoforte which the virtuoso has used at his concert already will be on the way to its next destination4 ,for it is part of the doctor's duty to see it safely out of the hall and onto the train before rejoining the party on the private car4 ,the instrument is not boxed4 ,the legs are removed and then a carefully fitted canvas is drawn over the body and held in place by straps4 ,the body is slid out of the hall and slowly let down onto a specially constructed eight-wheel skid1 swung low1 so as to be as nearly as possible on a level with the platform4 ,this skid is part of the outfit of the tour4 ,the record time for detaching the legs of the pianoforte1 covering the body1 removing the instrument from the stage and having it on the skid ready to start for the station1 is seven minutes4 ,thawing ,out a ,pianoforte4 ,the instruments never are set up except under the doctor's personal supervision4 ,before each concert the pianoforte on which ,paderewski is to play is carefully gone over and put in perfect condition--tuned and1 if necessary1 regulated1 and this no matter how recently he may have used it4 ,defects so trifling that neither an ordinary player nor the public would notice them1 would jar on the sensitive ear and nerves of the virtuoso4 ,sometimes the instrument has been exposed to such a low temperature that frost is found to have formed not only on the lid1 but even on the iron plate inside4 ,in such cases the pianoforte is set up and1 after the film of frost has been scraped off1 is allowed to thaw out slowly and naturally before it is touched for tuning or regulating4 ,there was an amusing incident in the handling of one of the ,paderewski instruments at ,columbus1 ,mississippi1 where ,paderewski played for seven hundred girls at the ,state ,college1 although it was more exciting than diverting at the time it happened4 ,the doctor relies on local help for getting the pianoforte from the skid to the stage and back again4 ,usually efficient helpers are obtainable1 but at ,columbus1 where the college hall is upstairs and reached only by a narrow flight of steps1 there was no aid to be had save from among the negroes lounging on the public square4 ,the doctor went among them4 ,what are you doing8 he asked4 ,nawthin'4 ,want a job8 ,naw1 too busy1 was the usual reply4 ,at last1 however1 a band of twenty colored gentlemen was secured in the hope that muscle and quantity would make up for lack of quality4 ,but never before has a high-grade pianoforte been in such imminent peril4 ,it was got upstairs well enough1 in spite of the fact that the negroes walked all over each other4 ,but the descent6 ,the doctor1 ,emil ,c4 ,fischer1 stood at the top of the stairs directing2 ,j4 ,e4 ,francke1 the treasurer of the tour1 below4 ,around the latter fell a shower of fragments from the wall1 the rail1 the posts2 and at one time it seemed as if the whole banister would give way and the pianoforte crash in splinters on the floor4 ,there were other moments of suspense1 for the pianoforte as well as for the two watchers1 who drew a long breath when the instrument safely was on the skid4 ,fortunately such untoward incidents are forgotten in the general atmosphere of good-humor which the pianist diffuses about him4 ,he enjoys his little joke4 ,during the last tour he handed a photograph of himself to ,mr4 ,francke inscribed3 ,to the future ,governor of ,hoboken4 ,at the ,auditorium hotel1 ,chicago1 ,millward ,adams' brother1 about leaving on a trip1 asked for an autograph4 ,paderewski1 quick as a flash1 wrote3 ,for the brother of ,mr4 ,adams on the ,eve of his departure from ,chicago4 ,paderewski travels on a special train4 ,with him usually are his wife1 his manager1 the treasurer of the tour1 the piano doctor1 a secretary1 valet and maid4 ,his home is a villa on ,lake ,geneva1 where he has a beautiful garden and vinery1 his dogs1 his room for billiards1 a game of which he is very fond1 and unlimited opportunity for swimming1 his favorite exercise4 ,apparently slender and surely most poet-looking at the piano1 he is a man of iron strength as well as of iron will4 ,,how ,,to ,,appreciate ,,an ,,orchestral ,,concert ,,ix ,,development ,,of ,,the ,,orchestra ,the appreciation and consequent enjoyment of an orchestral concert will be greatly enhanced if the listener is familiar with certain details regarding the orchestra itself and some of the compositions he is apt to hear4 ,this ,i have borne in mind in the chapter divisions of this portion of my book1 and1 as a result1 ,i have divided the subject into the general development of the orchestra1 the specific consideration of the principal orchestral instruments1 a cursory commentary on certain phases of orchestral music and a chapter on ,richard ,strauss who represents its most advanced aspects4 ,the first music of which we moderns take account was unaccompanied 7a capella7 singing for church service4 ,it was composed in the old ecclesiastical modes1 which are quite different from our modern scales1 and the name which comes most prominently to mind in connection with this beginning of our musical history is that of ,palestrina4 ,with the influence of this old church choral music so dominant1 there is little wonder that the first efforts to write music for instruments were awkward4 ,it may be said right here that this awkwardness1 or rather this lack of knowledge and appreciation of the individual capacity of various instruments1 is shown throughout the school of contrapuntal composition1 even by ,bach4 ,when ,bach wrote for orchestral instruments he did not consider their peculiar tone quality1 or their capacity for individual expression1 but simply their pitch--which instrument could take up this1 that or the other theme in his contrapuntal score1 when he had carried it as high or as low as he could on some other instrument4 ,this also is true of ,haendel1 although in less degree4 ,but just as we have seen that ,domenico ,scarlatti worked along original lines for the pianoforte and created the germ of the sonata form1 while ,bach was weaving and plaiting the counterpoint of his suites1 partitas and ,well-,tempered ,clavichord1 so in ,italy1 during a large part of this contrapuntal period1 a distinct kind of orchestral music was springing up4 ,again1 just as we have seen that in ,italy the pianoforte shook off the trammels of counterpoint when it began to be used as an accompaniment for dramatic recitative in opera1 so the instruments in the orchestra1 when composers began to use them for operatic accompaniments1 were employed more with reference to their individual tone qualities and power of expression4 ,primitive ,orchestral ,efforts4 ,although1 strictly speaking1 not the first composer to use orchestral instruments in opera1 and to display skill in utilizing their individual characteristics1 the most important of these early men was ,claudio ,monteverde 7#aefh-afdc74 ,in his ,orpheo1 which he produced in #afjh1 he utilized1 besides two harpsichords 7and it may be of interest to note here that instruments of the pianoforte class were long used in orchestras as connecting links between all the other instruments71 two bass viols1 two tenor viols1 one double harp1 two little ,french violins1 two large guitars1 two wood organs1 two viola di gambas1 one regal1 four trombones1 two cornets1 one octave flute1 one clarion1 and three trumpets with mutes--a fairly formidable array of instruments when the period is considered4 ,of especial interest are the two little ,french violins1 which probably were the same as our modern violins1 now the prima donnas of the orchestra and far outnumbering any other instrument employed4 ,it was ,monteverde who in his ,tancredi e ,clorinda made use for the first time of a tremolo for stringed instruments1 and it is said so to have astonished the performers that they at first refused to play it4 ,before ,monteverde there were operatic composers like ,jacopo ,peri1 and after him ,cavalli and ,alessandro ,scarlatti1 who did much for their day to develop the orchestra4 ,this is a very brief summary of the early development of instrumental music1 a story that easily could fill a volume--which1 probably1 however1 very few people would take the trouble to read4 ,beethoven and the ,modern ,orchestra4 ,the first really modern composer for the orchestra was ,joseph ,haydn 7#agcb-ahji71 who also may be considered the father of the symphony4 ,born before ,mozart1 he also survived that composer4 ,his music is gay and naive2 while ,mozart1 although he had decidedly greater genius for the dramatic than ,haydn1 nevertheless is only a trifle more emotional in his symphonies4 ,the three greatest of these which he composed during the summer of #aghh1 the ,e flat major1 ,g minor and ,c major 7known as the ,jupiter71 show a decided advance in the knowledge of orchestration1 and the ,e flat major is notable because it is the first symphonic work in which clarinets were used4 ,haydn's and ,mozart's symphonies--that is1 the best of them--sound agreeable even to-day in a concert hall of moderate size4 ,but because modern music with its sonorous orchestra requires large auditoriums1 like ,carnegie ,hall in ,new ,york1 these charming symphonic works of the earlier classical period are swallowed up in space and much of their naive and pretty effect is lost4 ,beethoven may be said to have established the modern orchestra4 ,very few instruments have been added to it since his time1 and if an orchestra to-day sounds differently from what it did in his day1 if the works of modern composers sound richer and more effective from a modern point of view than his orchestral compositions1 it is not because we have added a lot of new instruments1 but because our composers have acquired greater skill in bringing out their peculiar tone qualities and because the technique of orchestral players has greatly improved4 ,it is for precisely the same reasons that ,beethoven's symphonies show such a great advance upon those of his predecessors4 ,the point is not that ,beethoven added a few more instruments to the orchestra1 but that1 so far as his own purposes were concerned1 he handled all the instruments which he included in his band with much greater skill than his predecessors had shown4 ,many writers affect to despise technique4 ,but in point of fact the development of technique and the development of art go hand in hand4 ,an artist1 be he writer1 painter or musician1 cannot adequately express his ideas unless he has the means of doing so or the genius to create the means4 ,how ,he ,developed ,orchestral ,resources4 ,in following ,beethoven's symphonies from the ,first to the ,ninth1 we can see the modern orchestra developing under his hands from that handed over to him by ,haydn and ,mozart4 ,in the ,first and ,second ,symphonies1 ,beethoven employs the usual strings1 two flutes1 two oboes1 two clarinets1 two bassoons1 two horns1 two trumpets and tympani4 ,in the ,third ,symphony1 the ,eroica1 he adds a third horn part2 in the ,fifth a piccolo1 trombones and contrabassoon4 ,although employed in the finale only1 these instruments here make their first bow in the symphonic orchestra4 ,in the ,ninth ,symphony ,beethoven introduced two additional horns1 the first use of four horns in a symphony4 ,the scoring of these symphonies is given somewhat more in detail in the chapter ,how the ,orchestra ,grew1 in ,mr4 ,w4 ,j4 ,henderson's ,the ,orchestra and ,orchestral ,music1 a well conceived and logically developed book1 in which the full story of the orchestra and its growth is clearly and interestingly told4 ,beethoven not only understood to a greater degree than his predecessors the peculiar characteristics of orchestral instruments1 he also compelled orchestral players to acquire a better technique by giving them more difficult music to execute4 ,in point of greater difficulty in performance1 a ,beethoven symphony holds about the same relation to the symphonies of ,mozart and ,haydn as the ,beethoven pianoforte sonatas do to the sonatas of those composers4 ,beethoven and ,wagner4 ,just as ,beethoven added only a few instruments to the orchestra of his predecessors1 but showed greater skill in handling those instruments1 so the modern musician--a ,wagner or a ,richard ,strauss--achieves his striking instrumental effects by a still greater knowledge of instrumental resources4 ,the ,beethoven orchestra practically is the orchestra of to-day4 ,few1 very few1 instruments have been added4 ,modern composers steadily have asked for more and more instruments in each group2 but that is quite a different thing from adding new instruments4 ,they have required more instruments of the same kind1 but have asked for very few instruments of new kinds4 ,let me illustrate this by two modern examples4 ,firm1 compact and eloquent as is ,beethoven's orchestra in the ,fifth ,symphony1 it cannot for a moment be compared in richness1 sonority1 tone color1 searching power of expression and unflagging interest1 with ,wagner's orchestra in ,die ,meistersinger4 ,yet ,wagner has added only one trumpet1 a harp and a tuba to the very orchestra which ,beethoven employed when he scored for the ,fifth ,symphony2 while for his ,symphonie ,pathetique1 one of the finest of modern orchestral works1 ,tschaikowsky adds only a bass tuba to the orchestra used by ,beethoven4 ,the simple fact is that modern composers have studied every possible phase of tone color and expression of which each instrument is capable4 ,furthermore1 by skillfully dividing the orchestra into groups and using these groups like separate orchestras1 yet uniting them into one great orchestra1 they produce wonderfully rich contrapuntal effects1 and thus make the modern orchestra sound1 not seventy-five years1 but five hundred years more advanced than that of ,beethoven1 however great we gladly acknowledge ,beethoven to have been4 ,berlioz1 an ,orchestral ,juggler4 ,following ,beethoven1 the next great development in the handling of orchestral resources is due to ,hector ,berlioz 7#ahjc-ahfi71 and it is curious here how nearly one musical epoch overlaps another4 ,scarlatti was composing sonatas1 and thus voicing the beginning of the classical era1 while ,bach was bringing the contrapuntal period to a close4 ,it was only five years after the completion of the ,ninth ,symphony that ,berlioz's ,francs ,juges overture was played4 ,a year later his ,symphonie ,fantastique1 ,episode de la ,vie d'un ,artiste1 was brought out4 ,yet the ,berlioz orchestra sounds so utterly different from the ,beethoven orchestra that it almost might be a collection of different instruments4 ,even more than ,beethoven1 ,berlioz understood the individuality1 the potential characteristics of each instrument4 ,berlioz composed on a colossal scale1 so colossal that his music has been called architectural4 ,the ,dies ,irae in his ,requiem calls for four brass bands1 in four different corners of the hall1 and for fourteen kettledrums tuned to different notes1 in addition to the regular orchestra1 chorus and soloists4 ,this has been dubbed three-story music--the orchestra on the ground floor1 the chorus on the belle etage1 while the four extra brass bands are stationed aux troisieme4 ,unfortunately for ,berlioz1 his ambition1 in so far as it related to the art of orchestration and the skill he showed in accomplishing what he wanted to with his body of instrumentalists1 was far in excess of his inspiration4 ,his knowledge of the orchestra was sufficient to have afforded him every facility for the expression of great thoughts if he had them to express4 ,but his power of thematic invention1 his gift for melody1 was not equal to his genius for instrumentation4 ,nevertheless1 through this genius for instrumentation--for his technique was so extraordinary that it amounted to genius--and through his very striving after bizarre1 unusual and gigantic effects1 he contributed largely toward the development of the technical resources of instrumental music4 ,wagner1 ,greatest of ,orchestral ,composers4 ,berlioz wrote a book on instrumentation1 which has lately been re-edited by ,richard ,strauss4 ,in it ,strauss1 modestly ignoring himself1 says that ,wagner's scores mark the only advance in orchestration worth mentioning since ,berlioz4 ,it is true1 the technical possibilities of the orchestra were greatly improved1 so far as the woodwind was concerned1 by the introduction of keyed instruments constructed on the system invented by ,theobald ,boehm2 while the ,french instrument maker1 ,adolphe ,sax1 also made important improvements by perfecting the bass clarinet and the bass tuba4 ,but whatever aid ,wagner derived from these improvements merely was incidental to the principle which is illustrated by every one of his scores--that technique merely is a means to an end4 ,wagner is the greatest orchestral virtuoso who ever breathed4 ,never1 however1 does he employ technique for technique's sake1 but always only to enable his orchestra to convey the exact meaning he has in his mind or express the emotion he has in his heart1 and he spares no pains to hit upon the best method of conveying these ideas and expressing these emotions4 ,that is one reason why1 although no one with any knowledge of music could mistake a passage by ,wagner for any one else's music1 each of his works has its own peculiar orchestral style4 ,for each of his works reproduces through the orchestra the atmosphere of its subject4 ,the scores of ,tannhaeuser1 ,lohengrin1 ,the ,ring of the ,nibelung1 ,tristan1 ,meistersinger and ,parsifal never could be mistaken for any one but ,wagner's music4 ,yet how different they are from each other6 ,he makes each instrument speak its own language4 ,when1 for example1 the ,english horn speaks through ,wagner1 it speaks ,english1 not broken ,english1 and so it is with all the other instruments of the orchestra--he makes them speak without a foreign accent4 ,if ,wagner employs a large orchestra1 it is not for the sake of making a noise1 but in order to gain variety in expression4 ,he is wonderfully reserved in the use of his forces1 says ,richard ,strauss4 ,he employs them as a great general would his battalions1 and does not send in an army corps to pick off a skirmisher4 ,strauss regards ,lohengrin as a model score for a somewhat advanced student1 before proceeding to the polyphony of ,tristan and ,meistersinger or the fairy region of the ',nibelungs4' ,the handling of the wind instruments1 writes ,strauss1 reaches a hitherto unknown esthetic height4 ,the so-called third woodwinds1 ,english horn and bass clarinet1 added for the first time to the woodwinds1 are already employed in a variety of tone color2 the voices of the second1 third and fourth horn1 trumpets and trombones established in an independent polyphony1 the doubling of melodic voices characteristic of ,wagner1 carried out with such assurance and freedom and knowledge of their characteristic timbres1 and worked out with an understanding of tonal beauty1 that to this day evokes unstinted admiration4 ,at the close of the second act the organ tones that ,wagner lures out of the orchestra triumph over the queen of instruments itself4 ,how ,wagner ,produces ,his ,effects4 ,the effects produced by ,wagner are not due to a large orchestra1 but to his manner of using the instruments in it4 ,among some of his special effects are the employment of full harmony with what formerly would have been merely single passing notes1 and above all1 the exploitation of every resource of counterpoint in combination with the well developed system of harmony inherited from ,beethoven1 but largely added to by himself4 ,in fact1 ,wagner's greatness is due to the combination of several great gifts--his melodic inventiveness1 his rich harmony and his wonderful technical skill in weaving together his themes in a still richer counterpoint4 ,this counterpoint is not1 however1 dry and formal1 because his themes--his leading motives--are themselves full of emotional significance and not conceived1 like those of the old contrapuntists1 merely3 for formal treatment4 ,richard ,strauss is such a master of orchestration that ,i am inclined to quote his summary of the development of the art of orchestration1 from his edition of the ,berlioz book1 which at this writing has not yet been translated4 ,i should like to recall to the reader's mind1 however1 the fact that ,strauss' father was a noted ,french-horn player2 that ,strauss himself has a great love for the instrument2 and that when1 in summing up the causes of ,wagner's primacy among orchestral writers1 he finds one of them in the greater technical facility of the valve horn1 it is well to take this with a grain of salt and attribute it somewhat to his own affection for the instrument4 ,the symphonies of ,haydn and ,mozart1 according to ,strauss1 are enlarged string quartets with obbligato woodwind1 brass and tympani1 and the occasional use of other instruments of noise to strengthen the tuttis4 ,even with ,beethoven1 the symphony is still simply enlarged chamber music1 the orchestra being treated in a pianistic spirit which unfortunately shows itself even in the orchestral work of ,schumann and ,brahms4 ,wagner owes his polyphonic string quintet not to the ,beethoven orchestra1 but to the last quartets of ,beethoven1 in which each instrument is the peer of the others4 ,meanwhile1 another kind of orchestral work was developing1 for1 from the time of ,gluck on1 the opera orchestra was gaining in coloring and in individual characteristics4 ,berlioz was not dramatic enough for opera nor symphonic enough for the concert stage1 yet his efforts to write programmatic symphonies resulted in his discovering new effects1 new possibilities in tone tints and in orchestral technics4 ,berlioz misses the polyphony that enriches ,wagner's orchestra1 and makes instruments like the second violins1 violas1 etc41 second horns1 etc41 weave their threads or strands of melody into the woof4 ,wagner's primacy is due to his employment of the richest style of polyphony and counterpoint1 the increased possibility of this through the invention of the valve horn1 and his demand of solo virtuosity upon his orchestral players4 ,his scores mark the only advance worth mentioning since ,berlioz4 ,x ,,instruments ,,of ,,the ,,orchestra ,an orchestra is an aggregation of many instruments which1 under the baton of an able conductor1 should play as one1 so far as precision and expression are concerned4 ,separately1 the instruments are like the paints on a palette1 and the result of the composer's effort1 like that of the painter's1 depends upon what he has to express and his knowledge of how to use his materials in trying to express it4 ,the orchestra has developed into several distinct groups1 which are capable of playing independently1 or in union with each other1 and within these groups themselves there are various subdivisions4 ,it is the purpose of every modern composer who amounts to anything1 to get as many different quartets as possible out of his orchestra4 ,by this is meant a grouping of instruments in such a way that as many groups as possible can play in independent harmony4 ,it is through this system of orchestral groups that ,wagner has been able to enrich orchestral tone coloring1 and to say everything he wishes to say in exactly the way it should be said4 ,we cannot1 for example1 imagine that the ,love ,motive in ,die ,walkuere could be made to sound more beautiful on its first entrance in the score than it does4 ,nor could it4 ,in that scene it is exactly suited to a solo violoncello1 and to a solo violoncello ,wagner gives it4 ,in order1 however1 to produce a perfectly homogenous effect1 in order that the violoncello quality of tone shall pervade not only the melody1 but also the supporting harmony1 he supports the melody with eight violoncellos1 adding two double basses to give more sonorousness to the deepest note in the harmony4 ,in other words he has made for the moment a complete orchestra out of nine violoncellos and two double basses1 and produced a wondrously rich and thrilling effect--because1 having a beautiful melody to score1 he knew just the instruments for which to score it4 ,this is an admirable example of what technique accomplishes in the hands of a genius4 ,another composer might have used an orchestra of a hundred instruments and not have produced the exquisite thrill that ,wagner with his magical orchestral touch conjures out of this group of violoncellos1 a group within a group1 an orchestra of violoncellos within the string band4 ,music illustration ,the woodwind instruments are capable of several similar subdivisions4 ,flutes1 oboes and bassoons1 for example1 may form a group capable of producing independent harmony1 so can the clarinets1 and the same is the case with the brass instruments4 ,one of ,wagner's most beautiful leading motives1 the ,walhalla ,motive in the ,ring of the ,nibelung1 is sounded on four trombones4 ,in brief1 then1 the modern composer strives to constitute his orchestra in such a way that he secures as many independent groups1 and as many little orchestras1 as possible1 not1 however1 for the purpose of using them independently all the time1 but merely in order to do so occasionally for special effects or to combine them whenever he sees fit in order to enrich his tone coloring or weave his polyphony4 ,the grand divisions of the orchestra are the strings--violins1 violas1 violoncellos and double basses2 the woodwind1 consisting1 broadly speaking1 of flutes1 oboes1 clarinets and bassoons2 the brass--horns1 trumpets and trombones2 and the instruments of percussion1 or the battery--drums1 triangles1 cymbals and instruments of that kind4 ,the ,prima ,donna of the ,orchestra4 ,the leading instrument of the string group1 and in fact the leading instrument of the orchestra1 is the violin4 ,the first violins are the prima donnas of the orchestra1 and one might say that it is almost impossible to have too many of them4 ,the first and second violins should form about one-third of an orchestra1 and better still it would be for the number to exceed that proportion4 ,the ,boston ,symphony ,orchestra1 which has about eighty-one players1 has thirty violins4 ,theodore ,thomas's ,new ,york ,festival ,orchestra in #ahhb1 consisting of three hundred and fourteen instruments1 had one hundred violins4 ,great is the capacity of the violin4 ,its notes may be crisp1 sharp1 decisive1 brilliant1 or long-drawn-out and full of emotion4 ,it has greater precision of attack than any other instrument in the orchestra4 ,and right here it is interesting to note that while the multiplication of instruments gives greater sonority1 it also gives much finer effects in soft passages4 ,the pianissimo of one hundred violins is a very much finer pianissimo and at the same time infinitely richer and further carrying than the pianissimo of a solo violin4 ,it is the very acme of a musical stage whisper4 ,in this very first and most important group of the orchestra we can find examples of utilizing subdivisions of groups4 ,although the violin cannot be played lower than its ,g string1 which sounds the ,g below the treble clef1 the violin group nevertheless has been employed entirely by itself1 and even subdivided within itself4 ,the most exquisite example of this1 one cited in every work on the orchestra worth reading1 is the ,lohengrin prelude4 ,to this the violins are divided into four groups and on the highest register1 with an effect that is most ethereal4 ,music illustration ,modern orchestral virtuosity may be gauged by the statement that while ,beethoven but once dared to score for his violins above the high ,f1 ,richard ,strauss in the most casual manner carries them an octave higher4 ,a little contrivance of wood or metal1 with teeth1 can be pressed down over the strings of the violin so as to deaden its vibrations4 ,this is called the sordine1 or mute4 ,a famous example of the use of the violins con sordini is the ,queen ,mab ,scherzo in ,berlioz's ,romeo et ,juliette ,symphonie4 ,another well-known use of the same effect is in ,asa's ,death1 in ,grieg's ,peer ,gynt ,suite4 ,nothing can be more exquisite than the entrance of the muted violins after a long silence1 in the last act of ,tristan und ,isolde1 just before ,isolde intones the ,love ,death4 ,an unusual effect is produced by using the back of the bow instead of the horsehair4 ,liszt uses it in his symphonic poem1 ,mazeppa1 for imitating the snorting of the horse2 ,wagner in ,siegfried1 for accompanying the mocking laugh of ,mime2 and ,richard ,strauss in ,feuersnot1 to produce the effect of crackling flames4 ,but1 as ,strauss remarks in his revision of ,berlioz's work on instrumentation1 it is effective only with a large orchestra4 ,the plucking of the strings with the fingers--pizzicato--is a familiar device4 ,tschaikowski employed it almost throughout an entire movement1 the ,pizzicato ,ostinato in his ,fourth ,symphony4 ,viola1 ,violoncello and ,double ,bass4 ,the viola is a deeper violin1 with a very beautiful and expressive tone4 ,mehul1 the ,french composer1 scored his one-act opera1 ,uthal1 without violins1 employing the viola as the highest string instrument in his score4 ,this1 however1 was not a success1 the brilliant tone of the violin being missed more and more as the performance of the work progressed1 until ,gretry is said to have risen in his seat and exclaimed3 ,a thousand francs for an ,e string6 ,meyerbeer1 who was among the first to appreciate the beauty of the viola as a solo instrument1 used a single viola for the accompaniment to ,raoul's romance1 ,plus blanche que la blanche hermine1 in the first act of ,les ,huguenots4 ,strictly speaking1 he wrote it for the viola d'amour1 which is somewhat larger than the ordinary viola2 but it almost always is played on the latter4 ,berlioz made exquisite use of it in his ,harold ,symphony1 practically making a dramatis persona of it1 for in the score a solo viola represents the melancholy wanderer2 and in his ,don ,quixote1 ,richard ,strauss assigns to the instrument an equally important role4 ,the violoncello is one of the most tenderly expressive of all the instruments in the orchestra4 ,beethoven employs it for the theme of the slow movement in his ,fifth ,symphony1 and although the viola joins with the violoncello in playing this melody1 the passage owes its beauty chiefly to the latter4 ,one of the most exquisite melodies in all symphonic music is the theme which ,schubert has given to the violoncellos in the first movement of his ,unfinished ,symphony4 ,they also are used with wonderfully expressive effect in the ,tristan ,vorspiel4 ,rossini gives a melodious passage1 in the introduction to the overture to ,william ,tell1 to five violoncellos4 ,but the most striking employment of the violoncellos as an independent group is in the ,love ,motive in the first act of ,die ,walkuere4 ,double basses first were used to simply double the violoncello part in the harmony4 ,but through ,beethoven's employment of them in the ,fifth and ,ninth ,symphonies1 in the former for a remarkably effective passage in the ,scherzo and in the latter for a highly dramatic recitative1 their importance as independent instruments in the orchestra was established4 ,verdi has made very effective use of them in the scene in ,otello as the ,moor approaches ,desdemona's bed4 ,in the introduction to ,rheingold1 ,wagner has half his double basses tuned down to ,e flat1 which is half a note deeper than the usual range of the instrument1 and in the second act of ,tristan und ,isolde two basses are obliged to tune their ,e string down to ,c sharp4 ,dividing the ,string ,band4 ,i have pointed out several examples in which the groups of instruments in the string band are divided within themselves1 as in the prelude to ,lohengrin and in the first act of ,die ,walkuere4 ,the entire string band can be divided and subdivided with telling effect1 when done by a master4 ,when in the second act of ,tristan ,brangaene warns the lovers from her position on the watch-tower1 the accompaniment stirs the soul to its depth1 because it gives the listener such a weird thrill of impending danger that he almost longs to inform the lovers of their peril4 ,in this passage ,wagner divides the string band into no less than fifteen parts4 ,in the thunder-storm in ,rheingold the strings are divided into twenty-one parts4 ,richard ,strauss points out how in the introduction to ,die ,walkuere much of the stormy effect is produced by strings only--sixteen second violins1 twelve violas1 twelve violoncellos and four double basses--a storm for strings where another composer would have unleashed a whole orchestra1 including cymbals and bass drum1 and crashed and thrashed about without producing a tithe of ,wagner's effect6 ,he also cites the tremolo at the beginning of the second act of ,tristan as a wonderful example of tone painting which produces the effect of whispering foliage and conveys to the audience a sense of mystery and danger4 ,theodore ,thomas always was insistent that the various divisions of a string band should bow exactly alike4 ,it is said that he once stopped an orchestra because he had detected something wrong with the tonal effect1 and1 after watching the players1 had discovered that one violoncellist among sixteen was bowing differently from the others4 ,richard ,strauss1 on the other hand1 never insists on the same bowing throughout each division of strings4 ,he thinks it robs the melody of intensity and beauty if each individual is not allowed to play according to his own peculiar temperament4 ,a ,passage in ,die ,walkuere4 ,in the ,magic ,fire ,scene in the finale of ,die ,walkuere1 ,wagner wrote violin passages which not even the greatest soloist can play cleanly1 yet which1 when played by all the violins1 simulate in sound the aspect of licking1 circling flames4 ,indeed1 the effects that ,wagner understood how to draw from the orchestral instruments are little short of marvellous4 ,in the ,lohengrin prelude the tone quality of the violins is absolutely angelic in purity2 while in the third act of ,siegfried1 the upswinging violin passages as the young hero reaches the height where ,bruennhilde slumbers1 depict the action with a thrilling realism4 ,besides the regular string band1 ,wagner made frequent use of the harp4 ,it is related that at the ,munich performance of ,rheingold1 when the harpist ,trombo protested to him that some of the passages were unplayable1 the composer replied3 ,you don't expect me to play the harp1 too1 do you8 ,you perceive the general effect ,i am aiming at2 produce that and ,i shall be satisfied4 ,liszt1 in his ,dante ,symphony1 uses the glissando of the harp as a symbol for the rising shades of ,francesco da ,rimini and her lover1 and a very beautiful use of harmonics on the harp with their faint tinkle is to be found in the ,waltz of the ,sylphs in ,berlioz's ,damnation de ,faust4 ,the ,woodwind4 ,flutes1 oboes and clarinets form the woodwind4 ,one of the best known passages for flute is in the third ,leonora ,overture of ,beethoven1 where it is employed with conspicuous grace4 ,probably1 however1 more fun has been made of the flute than of any other orchestral instrument1 and a standard musical joke runs as follows3 ,are you musical8 ,no1 but ,i have a brother who plays the flute4 ,it has also been insinuated that in ,donizetti's ,lucia the heroine goes mad1 not because she has been separated from ,edgardo1 but because a flute obbligato accompanies her principal aria4 ,the piccolo is a high flute used for shrill effects4 ,the instruments of both the oboe and clarinet families are reed instruments1 with this difference1 however3 the instruments of the oboe family have two vibrating reeds in the mouthpieces2 those of the clarinet family1 only one4 ,the oboe family consists of the oboe proper1 the ,english horn which is an alt oboe1 and the bassoon which is the bass of this group of instruments4 ,in ,italian the bassoon is called a fagotto1 a name derived from its supposed resemblance to a bundle of fagots4 ,candor1 artless grace1 tender joy1 or the grief of a fragile soul1 are found in the oboe's accents1 says ,berlioz of this instrument1 and those who remember the exquisite oboe melody1 with which the slow movement of ,schubert's ,c major symphony opens1 will agree with the ,french composer4 ,richard ,strauss1 in his ,sinfonia ,domestica1 employs the almost obsolete oboes d'amore to represent an innocent1 dreamy1 playful child4 ,the ,english ,horn in ,tristan4 ,the most famous use of the ,english horn is found in the third act of ,tristan1 where it plays the sad lay while ,tristan awaits news of the ship which is bearing ,isolde toward him1 and changes to a joyous strain when the ship is sighted4 ,the bassoon and contrabassoon1 besides their value as the bass of the oboe family1 have certain humorous qualities1 which are admirably brought out in ,beethoven's ,fifth and ,ninth ,symphonies and in the march of the clownish artisans in ,mendelssohn's ,midsummer ,night's ,dream music4 ,in opera1 ,meyerbeer made the bassoon famous by his scoring of the dance of the ,spectre ,nuns in ,robert le ,diable for it1 and he also used it for the accompaniment to the female chorus in the second act of ,les ,huguenots4 ,the theme of the romanza1 ,una fortiva lagrima1 in ,donizetti's ,l',elisir d',amore1 which ,caruso sings so beautifully1 is introduced by the bassoon1 and with charming effect4 ,the clarinets have a large compass4 ,usually three kinds of clarinets 7in ,a1 ,b flat and ,c because they are transposing instruments7 are employed in the orchestra1 besides the bass clarinet4 ,the possibilities of the clarinet group have been enormously developed by ,wagner4 ,it is necessary only to recall the scene of ,elsa's bridal procession to the cathedral in the second act of ,lohengrin2 ,elisabeth's sad exit after her prayer in the third act of ,tannhaeuser1 in which the melody is played by the bass clarinet1 while the accompaniment is given to three flutes and eight other clarinets2 the change of scene in the first act of ,goetterdaemmerung1 when clarinets give forth the ,bruennhilde ,motive2 and passages in the second act of ,die ,meistersinger1 in the scene at nightfall2 while for a generally skillful use of the woodwind the introduction to the third act of ,lohengrin is a shining example4 ,brass ,instruments4 ,people usually associate the brass instruments with noise4 ,but as a matter of fact1 wonderfully rich and soft tone effects can be produced on the brass by a composer who knows how to score for it4 ,just as the pianissimo of many violins is a finer pianissimo than that of a solo violin1 so a much more exquisitely soft effect can be produced on a large brass group than on a few brass instruments or a single one4 ,when modern composers increase the number of instruments in the brass group1 it is not for the sake of noise1 but for richer effects4 ,the trumpet is the soprano of the brass family4 ,the fanfare in ,fidelio when at the critical moment aid approaches2 the ,siegfried ,motive and the ,sword ,motive1 in the ,ring of the ,nibelung1 need only be cited to prove the effectiveness of the instrument in its proper place2 and ,richard ,strauss instances the demoniacal and fateful effect of the deep trumpet tones in the introduction to the first act of ,bizet's ,carmen4 ,although the notes of the trombone are produced by a slide1 this instrument belongs to the trumpet family4 ,for this reason1 in the ,ring of the ,nibelung1 ,wagner1 in addition to the usual three tenor trombones1 reintroduced the almost obsolete bass trombone4 ,he wanted a trombone group complete in itself1 and thus to be able to utilize the peculiar tone color of the instrument2 as witness in the ,walhalla ,motive1 where it is scored for the three tenor trombones and bass trombone1 resulting in a wonderfully rich and velvety quality of tone4 ,excepting ,wagner and ,richard ,strauss1 there probably is not a composer who would not have used the bass tuba here instead of taking the trouble to revive the bass trombone4 ,but ,wagner wanted an unusually rich tone which should be solemn without a trace of sombreness1 and his keen instrumental color sense informed him that he could secure it with the bass trombone1 which1 as it belongs to the trumpet family1 has a touch of trumpet brilliancy1 whereas the tone of the bass tuba is darker4 ,music illustration ,mozart employed the trombone with fine effect in ,sarastro's solo in the ,magic ,flute2 ,schubert showed his genius for instrumentation by the manner in which he used them in the introduction to his ,c major symphony1 as well as in the first movement of that symphony1 in which a theme is given out by three trombones in unison2 and another familiar example of good scoring for trombones is in the introduction to the third act of ,lohengrin4 ,in the ,death ,prophecy scene in the second act of ,die ,walkuere1 a trumpet melody is supported by the four trombones1 another instance of ,wagner's sense of homogeneity in sound1 since trumpets and trombones belong to the same family4 ,in fact1 throughout the ,ring1 as ,strauss points out1 ,wagner wrote for his trombones in four parts1 adding the bass trombone in order to differentiate wholly between it and the tuba1 which latter he used with the horns1 with which it is properly grouped4 ,wagner has a tremendous tuba recitative in a ,faust ,overture1 and in the ,funeral ,march in the ,goetterdaemmerung he introduces tenor tubas in order1 again1 to differentiate between the tone color of tubas and trombones and not to be obliged to employ trombones in this particular scene1 the general tone color of the tuba being far more sombre than that of the trombone4 ,richard ,strauss's ,tribute to the ,horn4 ,to mention tubas and trombones before the horns is very much like putting the cart before the horse1 but ,i have reserved the horns for the last of the brass on account of the great tribute which ,richard ,strauss has paid them4 ,in the early orchestras one rarely found more than two horns4 ,beethoven used four in the ,ninth ,symphony1 and now it is not at all unusual to find eight4 ,of all instruments1 says ,richard ,strauss1 the horn is perhaps the one that best can be joined with other groups4 ,to substantiate this in all its numerous phases1 ,i should be obliged to quote the entire ',meistersinger' score4 ,for ,i do not think ,i exaggerate when ,i maintain that the greatly developed technique of the valve horn has made it possible that a score which1 with the addition of a third trumpet1 a harp and a tuba1 employs the same instruments as ,beethoven used in his ,fifth ,symphony1 has become with every bar something entirely different1 something wholly new and unheard of4 ,surely the two flutes1 two oboes1 two clarinets and two bassoons of ,mozart have been exhausted by ,wagner in every direction of their technical possibilities and plastically combined with an almost weird perception of all their tone secrets2 the string quintet1 through the most refined divisions into parts1 and with added brilliance through the employment of the harp1 produces innumerable new tone effects1 and by superb polyphony is brought to a height and warmth of emotional expression such as never before was dreamed of2 trumpet and trombones are made to express every phase of solemn or humorous characterization--but the main thing is the tireless participation of the horn1 now for the melody1 now for filling out1 now as bass4 ,the ',meistersinger' score is the horn's hymn of praise4 ,through the introduction and perfection of the valve horn the greatest improvement in the technique of scoring1 since ,berlioz's day1 has been made possible4 ,to illustrate exhaustively this ,protean character of the horn1 ,i should like 7again67 to go through the scores of the great magician1 bar by bar1 beginning with ',rheingold4' ,whether it rings through the primeval ,german forest with the sunny exuberance of ,siegfried's youthful heart and joy of living2 whether in ,liszt's ',mazeppa' it dies out in the last hoarse gasp of the ,cossack prince nigh unto death in the vast desert of the steppes2 whether it conjures the childlike longing of ,siegfried for the mother he never has known2 whether it hovers over the gently undulating sea which is to bring ,isolde's gladdening form to the dying ,tristan1 or nods ,hans ,sachs' thanks to the faithful ',prentice2 whether in ,erik's dream it causes in a few hollow accents the ,north ,sea to break on the lonely coast2 bestows upon the apples of ,freia the gift of eternal youth2 pokes fun at the curtain-heroes 7',meistersinger1' ,act ,,iii72 plies the cudgels on ,beckmesser with the jealous ,david and his comrades1 and is the real instigator of the riot2 or sings in veiled notes of the wounds of ,tristan--always the horn1 in its place and to be relied on1 responds1 unique in its manifold meanings and its brilliant significance4 ,famous horn passages in the works of other composers are in the trio of the ,scherzo in the ,eroica ,symphony2 in the second movement of ,schubert's ,c major symphony1 the passage of which ,schumann said that the notes of the horns just before the return of the principal subject were like the voice of an angel2 in the opening of ,weber's ,freischuetz overture2 in the introduction to ,michaela's romance in ,carmen2 and in the opening theme of the slow movement of ,tschaikowsky's ,fifth ,symphony1 which is the perfection of a melodic phrase for solo horn4 ,instruments of ,percussion4 ,in the battery the instruments of prime importance are the tympani4 ,beethoven gave the cue to what could be accomplished with these in the scherzo of the ,fifth ,symphony and also in the octave thumps in the scherzo of the ,ninth ,symphony1 while for a weirdly sombre effect there is nothing equal to the faint roll of the tympani at the beginning and end of the ,funeral ,march in ,goetterdaemmerung4 ,cymbals are used in several ways4 ,besides the ordinary clash1 ,wagner has produced a sound somewhat like that of a gong1 by the sharp stroke of a drum-stick on one cymbal1 and also a roll by using a pair of drum-sticks on one cymbal4 ,among composers since ,beethoven1 ,weber1 ,liszt1 ,saint-,saens1 ,dvorak1 ,tschaikowsky1 and1 of course1 ,richard ,strauss--it hardly is necessary to mention either ,berlioz or ,wagner again--have shown brilliant technique in orchestration4 ,on the other hand1 ,schumann and ,brahms do not appear to have understood or to have taken the trouble to understand the individual characteristics of orchestral instruments1 and1 as a result1 their works for orchestra are not as effective as they should be4 ,their orchestration has been called muddy4 ,it is ,richard ,strauss's opinion that the next advancement in orchestration will be brought about by adding largely to certain groups of instruments which now have only comparatively few representatives in the orchestra4 ,he instances that at the ,brussels ,conservatory one of the professors had ,mozart's ,g minor symphony performed for him on twenty-two clarinets1 of which four were basset horns 7alto clarinets71 two brass clarinets1 and one contra-bass clarinet2 and he suggests that it will be along such lines that the orchestra of the future will be enlarged4 ,with an orchestra with all the family groups of instruments complete in the manner suggested by ,strauss1 and used by a musical genius1 a genius who combines with melodic invention virtuosity of instrumentation1 marvellous results are yet to be achieved4 ,,xi ,,concerning ,,symphonies ,i have said that music1 like all other arts1 had a somewhat formless beginning1 then gradually acquired form1 then became too rigidly formal1 and in modern times1 while not discarding form1 has become freer in its expression of emotion4 ,instrumental music1 since the beginning of the classical period1 has been governed largely by the symphony1 which the reader should bear in mind is nothing more than a sonata for orchestra1 the form having first developed on the pianoforte and having been handed over by it to the aggregation of instruments4 ,sir ,hubert ,parry1 from whose book1 ,the ,evolution of the ,art of ,music1 ,i have had previous occasion to quote1 has several apt paragraphs concerning the earlier development of the sonata1 which of course apply with equal force to the symphony4 ,after stating that the instinct of the composers who first sought the liberation of music from the all-predominating counterpoint1 impelled them to develop movements of wider and freer range1 which should admit of warm melodic expression1 without degenerating into incoherent1 rambling ecstasy1 ,sir ,hubert continues3 ,they had the sense to see from the first that mere formal continuous melody is not the most suitable type for instrumental music4 ,there is deep-rooted in the matter of all instrumental music the need of some rhythmic vitality4 ,these composers then set themselves to devise a scheme in which1 to begin with1 the contour of connected melodic phrases1 supported and defined by simple harmonic accompaniment1 gave the impression of definite tonality--that is1 of being decisively in some particular key and giving an unmistakable indication of it4 ,they found out how to proceed by giving the impression of using that key and passing to another without departing from the characteristic spirit and mood of the music1 as shown in the 'subjects' and figures2 and how to give the impression of relative completeness1 by closing in a key which is in strong contrast to the first1 and so round off one-half of the design4 ,but this point being in apposition to the starting point1 leaves the mind dissatisfied and in expectation of fresh disclosures2 so they made the balance complete by resuming the subjects and melodic figures of the first part in extraneous keys1 and working back to the starting point2 and they made their final close with the same figures as were used to conclude the first half1 but in the principal key instead of the key of contract4 ,this is a somewhat more elaborate method of describing the sonata form than ,i have adopted in the division of this book relating to the pianoforte4 ,esthetic ,purpose of the ,symphony4 ,later on in his book1 ,sir ,hubert1 in discussing the type of sonata movement which was fairly established by the time of ,haydn and ,mozart1 gives a simpler esthetic explanation1 pointing out that the first part of the movement aims at definiteness of subject1 definiteness of contrast of keys1 definiteness of regular balancing groups of bars and rhythms1 definiteness of progressions4 ,by the time this first division is over the mind has had enough of such definiteness1 and wants a change4 ,the second division1 therefore1 represents the breaking up of the subjects into their constituent elements of figure and rhythm1 the obliteration of the sense of regularity by grouping the bars irregularly2 and aims1 by moving constantly from key to key1 to give the sense of artistic confusion2 which1 however1 is always regulated by some inner but disguised principle of order4 ,when the mind has gone through enough of the pleasing sense of bewilderment--the sense that has made riddles attractive to the human creature from time immemorial--the scheme is completed by resuming the orderly methods of the first division and firmly re-establishing the principal theme which has been carefully avoided since the commencement4 ,the earlier symphonic writers usually wrote their symphonies in three movements3 the first or sonata movement2 a second slow movement in a simpler type of form1 usually of the song1 aria1 or rondo type2 and a final movement in lively time1 also usually adapted to the rondo form4 ,concerning this three-movement symphony of the early writers1 it was said by an old-time wit that they wrote the first movement to show what they could do1 the second movement to show what they could feel1 and the third movement to show how glad they were it was over--and this may be said to describe the view of the ultra-modern music-lover toward rigidity of form in general4 ,regarding form in music there is much prejudice one way or the other4 ,the sonnet in poetry certainly is a rigid form2 and yet those poets who have mastered it have produced extremely effective and highly artistic poems1 and poems abounding in profound emotional expression4 ,walt ,whitman1 on the other hand1 was quite formless1 and yet he is sure to be ranked in time as one of the greatest poets of his age4 ,wagner's idea was that the symphonic form had reached its climax with ,beethoven's ,ninth ,symphony2 yet it is by no means incredible that if ,wagner in his maturer years had undertaken to compose a symphony1 the result would have disproved his own theory4 ,seems to ,hamper ,modern ,composers4 ,the symphonic form1 however1 or1 to be more exact1 the sonata form1 seems to hamper every modern composer when he writes for the pianoforte1 and the fact that most of ,beethoven's pianoforte music was written in this form appears to be the reason for his works somewhat falling into disuse4 ,on the other hand1 the form is undoubtedly holding out better in the orchestral version of the sonata1 the symphony1 because the tone color of orchestral instruments gives it greater variety4 ,tschaikowsky1 ,dvorak and ,brahms have worked successfully1 and the two former even brilliantly1 in this form2 and if ,brahms in his symphonies appears too continent1 too classically reserved1 it would seem to be not so much the form itself which is to blame1 as his lack of skill in instrumentation4 ,my own personal preference is for the freer form developed by ,liszt in the symphonic poem1 in which a leading motive1 or possibly several motives skillfully varied dominate the whole composition and give it esthetic and psychological unity2 and for the still freer development of instrumental music in the tone poem of ,richard ,strauss4 ,but neither the symphonic poems of ,liszt nor the tone poems of ,strauss are formless music4 ,that should be well understood1 although it should be borne in mind with equal distinctness that these manifestations of the genius of two great composers show a complete liberation from the shackles of the classical symphony4 ,in the end the test is found in the music itself4 ,if the music of a symphonic poem which sets out to express a given title or a given motto1 if the music of a tone poem which starts out to interpret a programmatic story or device1 is worthy to be ranked with the great productions of the art1 it not only is profoundly interesting as music1 but gains immensely in interest through its incidental secondary meaning4 ,it is the old story of art for art's sake--art for the purpose of merely gratifying the eye or the ear--or art for the purpose of conveying something besides itself to the beholder or the listener2 and it seems to me that1 in the history of the art1 art for art's sake has always been the more primitive expression and eventually has been obliged to give way4 ,the ,naive ,symphonists4 ,at the risk of repeating what already has been said of the sonata1 the symphony may be described as a work in four movements--the first movement1 usually an ,allegro1 sometimes with a slow introduction1 but more frequently without one2 a second movement1 ordinarily called the slow movement1 and usually in ,adagio or ,andante2 a third movement1 either minuet or scherzo2 and a final movement in fast time and usually in rondo form4 ,it was ,haydn who pretty definitely established these divisions of the symphony4 ,he composed in all one hundred and twenty-five symphonies1 of which only a few appear on modern concert programs1 and even these but occasionally4 ,their music is marked by a simplicity bordering on naivete1 and the orchestration is a string quartet with a mere filling out by other instruments4 ,mozart was of a deeper and more dramatic nature than ,haydn1 and the expression of his thought was more intense4 ,in the same way1 there is a greater warmth and color in his orchestration4 ,nevertheless1 the three finest of his forty-nine symphonies1 the ,e flat1 ,g minor and ,jupiter1 composed in #aghh1 seem almost childlike in their artless grace and beauty to us moderns4 ,beethoven's first two symphonies were written under the influence of ,haydn and ,mozart1 but with the third he becomes distinctly epic in his musical utterance2 and this symphony1 both in regard to variety and depth of expression and skillful use of orchestral instruments1 is as great an advance upon the work of his predecessors as1 let us say1 ,tschaikowsky is upon ,mendelssohn4 ,beethoven to the ,fore4 ,there are apparent in the sequences of ,beethoven's symphonies certain climaxes and certain rests4 ,thus the ,third is the climax of the first three4 ,the ,fourth is far less profound2 the master relaxes4 ,but the ,fifth1 with its compact1 vigorous theme1 which ,beethoven himself is said to have described as ,fate knocking at the door1 and his skillful introduction of this theme in varied form in each of the movements1 is by many regarded as his masterpiece--even greater than the ,ninth4 ,after this he seems to have relaxed again in the ,sixth1 ,seventh and ,eighth1 in order to prepare himself for the climax of his career in his final symphonic work1 the ,ninth4 ,in the slow movement of the ,sixth 7the ,pastoral71 in which he imitates the call of birds1 he gives the direction3 mehr ,empfindung als ,malerei 7more feeling than painting71 a direction which often is quoted by opponents of modern program music2 notwithstanding the fact that ,beethoven1 in spite of his own qualifying words1 straightway indulged in painting of the most childish description4 ,the ,seventh ,symphony is an extremely brilliant work and the ,eighth an exceedingly joyous one1 while with the ,ninth1 as though he himself felt that he was going beyond the limits of orchestral music1 he introduced in the last movement solo singers and a chorus1 but not with as much effect as the employment of this unusual scheme might lead one to anticipate1 because1 unfortunately1 his writing for voices is extremely awkward4 ,schubert's ,genius4 ,like ,beethoven1 ,schubert wrote nine symphonies1 but the ,unfinished1 which was his eighth1 and the ,c major1 his ninth1 which was discovered by ,schumann in the possession of ,schubert's brother and sent to ,mendelssohn for production at ,leipzig1 are the ones which seem destined to survive4 ,they are among the most beautiful examples of orchestral music--the first movement of the ,unfinished ,symphony full of dramatic moments as well as of exquisite melody1 the slow movement a veritable rose of orchestration2 while as regards the ,c major symphony1 ,schumann's reference to its heavenly length sufficiently describes its inspiration4 ,mendelssohn's ,italian and ,scotch symphonies are his best known orchestral works4 ,they are clear and serene1 and for any one who thinks a symphony is something very abstruse and wants to be gradually familiarized with its mysteries1 they form an easily taken and innocuous dose--the symphony made palatable4 ,of ,schumann's four symphonies1 the one in ,e flat1 the ,rhenish1 supposed to represent a series of impressions of the ,rhine country1 the fourth movement especially1 to represent the exaltation which possessed his soul during a religious ceremony in the cathedral at ,cologne2 and the ,d minor1 which latter really is a fantasia1 deserve to rank highest4 ,in the ,d minor the movements follow each other without pause2 there is a certain thematic relationship between the first and the last movements1 and this connection gives the work a freer and more modern effect4 ,but ,schumann was either indifferent to1 or ignorant of1 the advance in orchestration which had taken place since ,beethoven4 ,practically the same thing applies to ,brahms1 who1 however1 deserves the credit for introducing into the symphony a new style of movement1 the intermezzo1 which takes the place of the scherzo or minuet4 ,rubinstein deserves honorable mention2 but the most modern heroes of symphony are ,dvorak1 with his ,new ,world1 and ,tschaikowsky1 with his ,pathetique4 ,such works are life-preservers that may help keep a sinking art form afloat4 ,but modern orchestral music is tending more and more toward the symphonic poem and the tone poem4 ,liszt has written two symphonies3 the ,faust ,symphony1 consisting of three movements1 which represent the three principal characters of ,goethe's drama1 ,faust1 ,gretchen1 and ,mephistopheles2 and a symphony to ,dante's ,divina ,commedia4 ,in both these symphonies a chorus is introduced4 ,of his symphonic poems1 the best known are ,les ,preludes1 and ,tasso1 ,lamento e ,trionfo4 ,in these symphonic poems ,liszt has made use of the principle of the leitmotif in orchestral music4 ,they are dramatic episodes for orchestra1 superbly instrumentated1 profoundly beautiful in thought and intention--great program music in fact1 because conceived in accordance with the highest canons of the art1 and infinitely more interesting than pure music because they mean something4 ,by some people ,liszt is regarded as a mere charlatan1 by others as a great composer4 ,not only was he a great composer1 but one of the very greatest4 ,the ,saint-,saens symphonic poems1 ,rouet d',omphale1 ,phaeton1 ,danse ,macabre1 should be mentioned as successful works of this class1 but considerably below ,liszt's in genuine musical value4 ,and then1 there are the orchestral impressions of ,charles ,martin ,loeffler1 among which the symphonic poem1 ,la ,mort de ,tintagiles1 is the most conspicuous4 ,a separate chapter is devoted to ,richard ,strauss4 ,wagner is not supposed to have been a purely orchestral composer4 ,theoretically1 he wrote for the theatre1 and his orchestra was 7again theoretically7 only part of a triple scheme of voice1 action and instrumental accompaniment4 ,but put the instrumental part of any of his great music-drama episodes on a concert program1 and with the first wave of the conductor's baton and the first chord1 you forget everything else that has gone before6 ,,xii ,,richard ,,strauss ,,and ,,his ,,music ,richard ,strauss--a new name to conjure with in music6 ,his banner is borne by a band of enthusiasts like those who1 many years ago1 carried the flag of ,wagner to the front4 ,did not ,wagner put a full stop after the word 'music'8 some will ask in surprise4 ,did he not strike the final note8 ,are the ',ring1' ',tristan' and ',parsifal' not to be succeeded by an eternal pause8 ,is there something still to be achieved in music as in other arts and sciences8 ,something new certainly has been achieved by ,richard ,strauss4 ,it forms neither a continuation of ,wagner nor an opposition to ,wagner4 ,it has nothing to do with ,wagner1 beyond that ,strauss appropriates whatever in the progression of art the latest master has a right to take from his predecessors4 ,strauss is1 in fact1 one of the most original and individual of composers4 ,he has been a student1 not a copyist1 of ,wagner4 ,thus1 where others who have sat at the feet of the ,bayreuth master have written poor imitations of ,wagner1 and have therefore failed even to continue the school1 giving only feeble echoes of its great master1 ,strauss has struck out for himself4 ,with a mastery of every technical resource1 acquired by deep and patient study1 he has given wholly new value and importance to a form of art entirely different from the music-drama4 ,the music of the average modern ,wagner disciple sounds not like ,wagner1 but like ,wagner and water4 ,richard ,strauss sounds like ,richard ,strauss4 ,one reason for this is that his art work1 like ,wagner's1 has an independent intellectual reason for being4 ,let me not for one moment be understood as belittling ,wagner1 in order to magnify ,strauss4 ,wagner is the one creator of an art-form who also seems destined to remain its greatest exponent4 ,other creators of art-forms have been mere pioneers1 leaving to those who have come after them the development and rounding out of what with them were experiments4 ,the story of the sonata form may be said to have begun with ,philipp ,emanuel ,bach and to have been continued in our next to ,beethoven1 with supplements ever since4 ,the music-drama had its tentative beginnings in ,the ,flying ,dutchman1 its consummation in ,parsifal4 ,the years from #ahdc to #ahhb lay between1 but the music-drama was guided ever by the same hand1 the master hand of ,richard ,wagner4 ,no1 it would be self-defeating folly to make ,wagner appear less in order to have ,strauss appear more4 ,originator of the ,tone ,poem4 ,nor does ,richard ,strauss require such tactics4 ,he has made three excursions into music-drama and he may make others4 ,but his fame1 at present1 rests mainly upon what he has accomplished as an instrumental composer1 and in the self-created realm of the ,tone ,poem4 ,tone poem is a new term in music4 ,it stands for something that outstrips the symphonic poem of ,liszt1 something larger both in its boundaries and in its intellectual and musical scope4 ,strauss does not limit himself by the word symphonic4 ,he leaves himself free to give full range to his ideas4 ,a composer of program music1 his works are so stupendous in scope that the word symphonic would have hampered him4 ,his ,also ,sprach ,zarathustra 7,thus ,spake ,zarathustra7 and ,ein ,heldenleben 7,a ,hero's ,life7 are not symphonic poems1 but tone poems of enormous proportions4 ,these1 his last two instrumental productions1 together with the growing familiarity of the musical public with his beautiful and eloquent songs1 established his reputation in this country4 ,to-day1 a ,strauss work on a program means as much to the musically elect as a ,wagner work meant a quarter of a century ago4 ,in fact1 to advanced musicians1 to those who are not content to rest upon what has been achieved1 but are ready to welcome further serious effort1 ,strauss's works form the latest great utterance in music4 ,let me repeat verbatim a conversation that occurred on a recent rainy night1 the date of an important concert4 ,he3 ,are you going to the concert to-night8 ,she3 7,looking out and seeing that it still is raining hard7 ,do they play anything by ,richard ,strauss8 ,he3 ,not to-night4 ,she3 ,then ,i'm not going4 ,this woman could meet the most enthusiastic admirer of ,beethoven or ,wagner on his own ground4 ,but when she heard ,ein ,heldenleben under ,emil ,paur's baton at a concert of the ,new ,york ,philharmonic ,society1 she heard what she had been waiting twenty years for--something new in music that also was something great2 something that was not merely an imitation of what she had heard a hundred times before1 but something which pointed the way to untraveled paths4 ,it always is woman who throws the first rose at the feet of genius4 ,not a ,juggler with the ,orchestra4 ,one first looks at ,richard ,strauss in mere amazement at the size of what he has produced4 ,thus ,spake ,zarathustra lasts thirty-three minutes1 ,a ,hero's ,life forty-five--considerable lengths for orchestral works4 ,this initial sense of bigness1 as such1 having worn off1 one becomes aware of marvellous tone combinations and orchestral effects4 ,listening again1 one discovers that these daring instrumental combinations have not been entered into merely for the sake of juggling with the orchestra1 but because the composer1 being a modern of moderns1 has the most modern message in music to deliver1 and1 in order to deliver it1 has developed the modern orchestra to a state of efficiency and versatility of tonal expression beyond any of his predecessors4 ,richard ,strauss scores1 in the most casual manner1 an octave higher than ,beethoven dared go with the violins4 ,except in the ,egmont overture1 ,beethoven did not carry the violins higher than ,f above the staff4 ,what should have been higher he wrote an octave lower4 ,all the strings in the ,richard ,strauss orchestra are scored correspondingly high4 ,but this is not done as a mere fad4 ,what ,richard ,strauss accomplishes with the strings is not merely queer or bizarre4 ,what he seeks and obtains is genuine original musical effects4 ,often the highest register is used by him in a few of the strings only1 because1 for certain polyphonic effects--the weaving and interweaving of various themes--he divides and subdivides all the strings into numerous groups4 ,for the same reason1 he has regularly added four or five hitherto rarely used instruments to the woodwind and scores1 regularly1 for eight horns1 besides employing from four to five trumpets4 ,while he has increased the technical difficulties of every instrument1 what he requires of them is not impossible4 ,he does1 indeed1 call for first-rate artists in his orchestra2 but so did ,wagner as compared with ,beethoven4 ,he knows every instrument thoroughly1 for he has taken lessons on all2 and1 therefore1 when he is striving for new instrumental effects he is not putting problems which cannot be legitimately solved4 ,his ,till ,eulenspiegel's ,merry ,pranks makes1 possibly1 the greatest demand of all his works on an orchestra4 ,but1 if properly played1 it is one of the most bizarre and amusing scherzos in the repertoire4 ,in his ,don ,quixote1 he has gone outside the list of orchestral instruments2 and in the scene where ,don ,quixote has his tilt with the windmill1 he has introduced a regular theatrical wind-machine4 ,and why not8 ,the effect to be produced justifies the means4 ,there is an a capella chorus by ,strauss for sixteen voices4 ,these are not divided into two double quartets1 or into four quartets1 but the composition actually is scored in sixteen parts4 ,he shrinks from no musical problem4 ,not ,mere ,bulk and ,noise4 ,when ,a ,hero's ,life was produced in ,new ,york it was given at a public rehearsal and concert of the ,philharmonic4 ,it made such a profound impression--it was recognized as music1 not as mere bulk and noise--that it had to be repeated at a following public rehearsal and concert1 thus having the honor of four consecutive performances by the same society in one season4 ,previous performances of ,strauss's works1 mainly by the ,chicago ,orchestra1 under ,thomas1 and the ,boston ,symphony ,orchestra1 had begun to direct public attention to this composer4 ,but the ,heldenleben performances by the ,philharmonic created something of a sensation4 ,they made the hit to which the public unconsciously had been working up for several seasons4 ,large as are the dimensions of ,a ,hero's ,life1 ,richard ,strauss had chosen a subject that made a very direct appeal4 ,despite its wealth of polyphony and theme combination1 the score told1 without a word of synopsis1 a clear intelligible story of a hero's material victory1 followed by a greater moral one4 ,it placed the public on a human1 familiar footing with a composer whom previously they had regarded with more awe than interest4 ,here was music interesting as mere music1 but all the more interesting because it had an intellectual message to convey4 ,life and ,truth4 ,what is the difference between classical and modern music8 ,write a chapter or a book on it1 and the difference still remains just this3 ,classical music is the expression of beauty2 modern music the expression of life and truth4 ,modern music seems entering upon a new era with ,strauss1 which does not necessarily exclude beauty4 ,it is beginning to illustrate itself1 so to speak1 like the author-artist who can both write and draw4 ,to-day1 music not only expresses truth1 but represents it pictorially4 ,how long will the time be in coming when a composer will wave his baton1 the orchestra strike a chord--and we be not only listeners but also beholders1 hearing the chord1 and seeing at the same time its image floating above the orchestra8 ,in his ,melomaniacs1 the most remarkable collection of musical stories ,i have read1 ,mr4 ,huneker has a tale called ,a ,piper of ,dreams1 the most advanced piece of musical fiction ,i know of4 ,this piper of dreams produces music which is seen4 ,do you know why you like it8 ,mr4 ,huneker asked me1 when ,i told him how intensely ,i admired the story4 ,because1 he continued1 the hero of the story is a ,richard ,strauss4 ,of course1 this brilliantly written story was a daring incursion into a seemingly impossible future4 ,yet it points a tendency4 ,when shall we have music that can be seen8 ,considering how closely related are the laws of acoustics and optics1 is a ,piper of ,dreams so visionary8 ,who knows but that the music of the future may be visible sound--the work of a piper of dreams8 ,sometimes1 when listening to ,strauss1 ,i think ,mr4 ,huneker's ,piper is tuning up4 ,richard ,strauss's tone poems are large in plan4 ,in fact they are colossal4 ,they show him to be a man of great intellectual activity1 as well as an inspired composer4 ,the latter1 of course1 is the test by which a musical work stands or falls4 ,no matter how intellectually it is planned1 if it is inadequate musically it fails4 ,but if it is musically inspired1 it gains vastly in effect when it rests on a brain basis4 ,literally ,tone ,dramas4 ,that ,richard ,strauss is the most significant figure in the musical world to-day seems to me too patent to admit of discussion4 ,the only question to be considered is1 how has he become so8 ,the question is best answered by showing what a ,richard ,strauss tone poem is4 ,take ,thus ,spake ,zarathustra and ,a ,hero's ,life4 ,without going into an elaborate discussion ,i must insist that1 to consider ,richard ,strauss as in any way a development from ,berlioz or ,liszt1 shows a deplorable unfamiliarity with his works4 ,berlioz wrote program music4 ,liszt wrote program music4 ,richard ,strauss writes program music4 ,but this point of resemblance is wholly superficial4 ,berlioz admittedly strove to adhere to the orthodox symphonic form4 ,liszt aptly named his own productions symphonic poems4 ,they are much freer in form than ,berlioz's1 and possibly pointed the way to the ,richard ,strauss tone poem4 ,but when we examine the musical kernel1 the difference at once is apparent4 ,polyphony1 that is1 the simultaneous interweaving of many themes1 was foreign to ,berlioz and ,liszt4 ,their style is mainly homophonic4 ,richard ,strauss is a polyphonic composer second not even to ,wagner1 whose system of leading motives in his music-dramas made his scores such marvellous polyphonic structures4 ,such1 too1 are the scores of ,richard ,strauss's tone poems4 ,none but a master of polyphony could have attempted to express in music what ,richard ,strauss has expressed4 ,for are not his tone poems literally tone dramas8 ,it was like a man of great intellectual activity1 such as ,richard ,strauss is1 to select for musical illustration the ,faust of modern literature--,nietzsche's ,zarathustra4 ,the composer became interested in ,nietzsche's works in #ahib1 when he was writing his music-drama1 ,guntram4 ,the full fruition of his study of this philosopher's works is ,thus ,spake ,zarathustra4 ,but this is not an attempt to set ,nietzsche to music1 not an effort to express a system of philosophy through sound4 ,it is rather the musical portrayal of a quest--a being longing to solve the problems of life1 finding at the end of his varied pilgrimage that which he had left at the beginning1 ,nature deep and inscrutable4 ,musically1 the great fortissimo outburst in ,c major1 which1 at the beginning of the work1 greets the seeker on the mountain-top with the glories of the sunrise1 is the symbol of ,nature4 ,the seeker descends the mountain4 ,he pursues the quest amid many surroundings1 among all sorts and conditions of men4 ,he experiences joy1 passion1 remorse4 ,in wisdom1 perchance1 lies the final solution of the problem of life4 ,but the emptiness of wisdom is depicted by the composer with the keenest satire in a learned1 yet dry1 five-part fugue4 ,the seeker's varied experiences form as many divisions of the tone poem4 ,there is even a waltz theme4 ,unending joy6 ,therein he may reach the end of his quest4 ,but hark6 a sombre strophe1 followed twelve times by the even fainter stroke of a bell6 ,then a theme winging its flight on the highest register of modern instrumentation1 until it seems to rise over the orchestra and vanish into thin air4 ,it is the soul of the seeker1 his earthly quest ended2 while the theme which greeted him at sunrise on the mountain-top resounds in the orchestral depths1 the symbol of ,nature1 still mysterious1 still inscrutable4 ,an ,intellectual ,force in ,music4 ,even this brief synopsis suggests that ,zarathustra is planned on a large scale4 ,it presupposes an intellectual grasp of the subject on the composer's part4 ,in its choice1 in the selection and rejection of details and in outlining his scheme1 ,richard ,strauss shows that he has thoroughly assimilated ,nietzsche4 ,but1 at a certain point1 the musician in ,richard ,strauss asserts himself above the litterateur4 ,thus ,spake ,zarathustra was not intended for a preachment1 save indirectly4 ,from what occurs during that vain quest1 from the last deep mysterious chord of the ,nature theme1 let the listener draw his own conclusion4 ,in the last analysis1 ,thus ,spake ,zarathustra is not a philosophical treatise1 but a tone poem4 ,in the last analysis1 ,richard ,strauss is not a philosopher1 but a musician4 ,a ,hero's ,life is another work of large plan4 ,like ,zarathustra1 it derives its importance as an art-work from its eloquence as a musical composition4 ,with a musical work1 no matter how intellectual or dramatic its foundation1 its test ever will be its value as pure music4 ,richard ,wagner's theories would have fallen like a house of cards1 had not his music been eloquent and beautiful4 ,but as his music gained wonderfully in added eloquence and beauty by induction from its intellectual content1 so does ,strauss's4 ,the fact is1 music is music1 while philosophies come and go4 ,yesterday it was ,schopenhauer2 to-day it is ,nietzsche2 to-morrow it will be another4 ,doubtless1 ,wagner thought his ,ring was ,schopenhauer's ,negation of the ,will to ,live set to music4 ,possibly1 ,richard ,strauss thought ,nietzsche looked out between the bars of ,thus ,spake ,zarathustra4 ,in point of fact1 neither ,wagner nor ,richard ,strauss incorporated their favorite philosophers in their music4 ,wagner may have derived his inspiration from his reading of ,schopenhauer1 and ,richard ,strauss from ,nietzsche1 for one mind inspires another4 ,but the real result1 both in ,wagner and ,strauss1 was great music4 ,this is made clear by ,strauss's ,a ,hero's ,life4 ,like ,zarathustra1 it would be effective as music without a line of programmatic explanation4 ,the latter simply adds to its effectiveness by giving it the further interest of fiction and ethical import4 ,in ,a ,hero's ,life we hear 7and see1 if you like7 the hero himself1 his jealous adversaries1 the woman whose love consoles him1 the battle in which he wins his greatest worldly triumph1 his mission of peace1 the world's indifference and the final flight of his soul toward the empyrean4 ,all this is depicted musically with the greatest eloquence4 ,the battlefield scene is a stupendous massing of orchestral forces4 ,on the other hand1 the amorous episode1 entitled ,the ,hero's ,helpmate1 is impassioned and charming4 ,in the world's indifference to the hero's mission of peace1 there is little doubt that ,strauss was indulging in a retrospect of his own struggles for recognition4 ,for here are heard numerous reminiscences of his earlier works--his tone poems1 ,don ,juan1 ,death and ,transfiguration1 ,macbeth1 ,till ,eulenspiegel's ,merry ,pranks1 ,thus ,spake ,zarathustra1 ,don ,quixote2 his music-drama1 ,guntram2 and his song1 ,dream ,during ,twilight4 ,these reminiscences give ,a ,hero's ,life the same autobiographical interest as attaches to ,wagner's ,meistersinger4 ,tribute to ,wagner4 ,strauss pays a tribute to ,wagner in the one-act opera1 ,feuersnot 7,fire ,famine74 ,according to the old legend on which this ,sing-gedicht 7song-poem7 is founded1 a young maiden has offended her lover4 ,but the lover being a magician1 casts a spell over the town1 causing the extinction of all fire1 bringing cold and darkness upon the entire place1 until the maiden relents and smiles again upon him1 when the spell is lifted and the fires once more burn brightly4 ,the young lover1 ,kunrad1 in rebuking the people of the city1 says3 ,in this house which to-day ,i destroy1 ,once lodged ,richard the ,master4 ,disgracefully did ye expel him ,in envy and baseness1 etc41 etc4 ,accompanying these lines1 ,strauss introduces themes from ,wagner's ,ring of the ,nibelung4 ,undoubtedly ,richard the ,master1 in the above lines1 is ,richard ,wagner4 ,while ,mr4 ,paur was not the first orchestral leader who has played ,strauss's music in this country1 he may justly be regarded as ,strauss's prophet in ,new ,york at least4 ,not only do we owe to him the performances of ,a ,hero's ,life1 which definitely created ,strauss here1 but it was he who brought forward ,thus ,spake ,zarathustra1 when he was conductor of the ,boston ,symphony ,orchestra4 ,as long ago as #ahhi1 when ,mr4 ,paur was conductor at ,mannheim1 he invited ,strauss to direct his symphony in ,f minor there4 ,strauss accepted and also brought with him his just completed ,macbeth1 asking to be allowed to try it over with the orchestra1 as he wanted to hear it--a request which was readily granted4 ,afterward1 at ,mr4 ,paur's house1 ,strauss's piano quartet was played1 with the composer himself at the piano and ,mr4 ,paur at the violin4 ,it is not surprising that when ,mr4 ,paur came over here as the conductor of the ,boston ,symphony ,orchestra1 he championed ,richard ,strauss's work1 continued to do so after he became conductor of the ,new ,york ,philharmonic ,society1 and probably still does as conductor of the ,pittsburg ,orchestra4 ,strauss has become such an important figure in the world of music that it is interesting to note what has been done to bring his work before the ,american public4 ,theodore ,thomas1 with the artistic liberality which he has always displayed toward every serious effort in music1 produced ,strauss's symphony in ,f minor1 which bears date #ahhc1 as early as ,december #ac1 #ahhd1 with the ,new ,york ,philharmonic ,society4 ,it was the first performance of this work anywhere4 ,strauss was not1 however1 heard again at the concerts of this organization until ,january1 #ahib1 when ,seidl brought out ,death and ,transfiguration4 ,after he became conductor of the ,chicago ,orchestra1 ,thomas gave many performances of ,richard ,strauss's works--in #ahie1 the prelude to ,guntram1 ,death and ,transfiguration and ,till ,eulenspiegel's ,merry ,pranks2 in #ahig1 ,don ,juan and ,thus ,spake ,zarathustra2 in #ahii1 ,don ,quixote and the symphonic fantasia1 ,italy2 in #aijj1 ,a ,hero's ,life 7the first performance in this country7 and the ,serenade for wind instruments2 in #aijb1 ,macbeth 7first performance in this country7 and the ,feuersnot fragment4 ,several of these works1 besides those noted1 had their first performance in this country by the ,chicago ,orchestra1 and several have had repeated performances4 ,the ,boston ,symphony ,orchestra also has a fine record as regards the performance of ,richard ,strauss's works4 ,nikisch1 ,paur1 and ,gericke are the conductors under whom these performances have been given4 ,several of the works have been played repeatedly not only in ,boston1 but in other cities where this famous orchestra gives concerts4 ,richard ,straussiana4 ,as data regarding ,strauss's life1 at the disposal of ,english readers1 are both scant and scattered1 it may not be amiss to tell here something of his career4 ,he was born on ,june #aa1 #ahfd1 in ,munich1 where his father1 ,franz ,strauss1 played the ,french-horn in the ,royal ,orchestra1 and was noted for his remarkable proficiency on the instrument4 ,the elder ,strauss lived long enough to watch with pride his son's growing fame4 ,richard began to play the piano when he was four years old4 ,at the age of six he heard some children singing around a ,christmas tree4 ,i can compose something like that1 he said1 and he produced unaided a three-part song4 ,when he went to school1 his mother by chance put covers of music paper on his books4 ,as a result1 he occupied much of his time composing on this paper1 and during a ,french lesson sketched out the scherzo of a string quartet which has been published as his ,opus #b4 ,while he was still at school1 he composed a symphony in ,d minor4 ,this was played by the ,royal ,orchestra under ,levi4 ,when1 in response to calls for the composer1 ,richard came out1 some one in the audience asked3 ,what has that boy to do with the symphony8 ,oh1 he's only the composer1 was the reply4 ,the year before 7#ahhj71 the ,royal ,opera prima donna1 ,meysenheim1 had publicly sung three of his songs4 ,during his advanced school years1 his piano lessons continued1 he received lessons in the violin1 and went through a severe course in composition with the ,royal ,kapellmeister1 ,meyer4 ,in #ahhb1 he attended the ,university of ,munich4 ,his ,serenade for wind instruments1 composed at this time1 attracted the attention of ,hans von ,buelow1 under whom he studied for a while at ,raff's conservatory in ,frankfort4 ,buelow invited him to ,meiningen as co-director of the orchestra1 and when in ,november1 #ahhe1 ,buelow resigned as conductor1 ,strauss became his successor1 remaining there1 however1 only till ,april1 #ahhf4 ,his symphonic fantasia1 ,italy1 had its origin through a trip to ,rome and ,naples during this year4 ,in ,august1 #ahhf1 he was appointed assistant conductor to ,levi and ,fischer at the ,munich ,opera1 where he remained until ,july1 #ahhi1 when he became conductor at ,weimar4 ,in #ahib1 he almost died from an attack of pneumonia1 and on his recovery took a long trip through ,greece1 ,egypt and ,sicily4 ,it was on this tour that he wrote and composed ,guntram1 which was brought out at ,weimar in ,may1 #ahid4 ,after the first performance1 he announced his engagement to the singer of ,freihild in ,guntram1 ,pauline de ,ahna1 the daughter of a ,bavarian general4 ,the same year he returned to ,munich as conductor1 remaining there until #ahii1 when he became one of the conductors at the ,berlin ,opera1 which position he still holds4 ,he is one of the star conductors of ,europe1 receiving invitations to conduct concerts in many cities1 including ,brussels1 ,moscow1 ,amsterdam1 ,barcelona1 ,madrid1 ,london and ,paris2 and his ,american tour was a memorable one4 ,he is a man of untiring industry4 ,it is said that he worked no less than half a year on ,thus ,spake ,zarathustra1 and that the writing of his scores is a model of beauty4 ,strauss occupies a commanding position in the world of music4 ,he has achieved it through a remarkable combination of musical technique and inspiration coupled with rare industry4 ,his ideals are of the highest4 ,his intellectual activity is great4 ,he seems a man of calm and noble poise1 of broad horizon4 ,it would be presumption to speak of expectations as to one who has accomplished so much4 ,for the great achievements already to his credit1 and among these ,salome surely must be included1 are the best promise for the future4 ,,xiii ,a ,,note ,,on ,,chamber ,,music ,lovers of chamber music form an extremely refined and cultured class1 and1 like all highly refined and cultured people1 are very conservative4 ,they are the purists among music-lovers1 the last people who would care to see the classical forms abandoned1 and who would be disturbed1 not to say shocked1 by any great departure from the sonata form4 ,for the string quartet is to chamber music what the symphony is to orchestra and the sonata to the pianoforte--is1 in fact1 a sonata for two violins1 viola and violoncello1 just as the symphony is a sonata for orchestra4 ,oddly enough1 a pianoforte solo is more effective in a large hall than a string quartet1 although the latter employs four times as many instruments2 and the same is true of those pieces of chamber music in which the pianoforte is used1 such as sonatas for pianoforte and violin or violoncello1 pianoforte trios1 quartets1 quintets1 and so on4 ,a fine soloist on the pianoforte will be more at home in a large auditorium like ,carnegie ,hall or even the ,metropolitan ,opera ,house than would a string quartet or any other combination of chamber-music players4 ,paderewski plays in ,carnegie ,hall1 and1 ,i am sure1 would be equally effective in the ,opera ,house4 ,but an organization of chamber-music players would be lost in either place4 ,the ,kneisel ,quartet plays in ,new ,york in ,mendelssohn ,hall1 a small auditorium which is just about correctly proportioned for music of this kind4 ,indeed1 compared with the opera1 the orchestra and even with the pianoforte1 chamber music requires a setting like a jewel4 ,for just as its devotees are the purists among music-lovers1 so chamber music itself is something very precious4 ,it certainly is a most charming and intimate form of musical entertainment and the constituency of a well-established string quartet inevitably consists of the musical elite4 ,the same opinions that have been expressed regarding the sonatas and the symphonies of the great composers apply in a general way to their chamber music4 ,haydn's is naive2 ,mozart's more emotional in expression2 ,beethoven's1 among that of classical composers1 the most dramatic4 ,in fact1 ,beethoven's last quartets1 in which the instruments are employed quite independently and in which roles practically of equal importance are assigned to each1 are regarded by ,richard ,strauss as having given the cue to ,wagner for his polyphonic treatment of the orchestra1 and ,wagner himself spoke of them as works through which ,music first raised herself to an equal height with the poetry and painting of the greatest periods of the past4 ,nevertheless1 there are many who hold that in his last quartets ,beethoven sought to accomplish more than can be expressed with four stringed instruments1 and prefer his earlier works of this class1 like the three ,rasumovski quartets1 ,opus #ei1 dedicated by the composer to ,count ,rasumovski1 who maintained a private string quartet in which he played second violin1 the others being professionals4 ,schubert's most famous quartet is the one in ,d minor with the lovely slow movement1 a theme with variations1 the theme being his own song1 ,death and the ,maiden4 ,one of the greatest works in the whole range of chamber music is his string quintet with two violoncellos4 ,his pianoforte trios also are noble contributions to this branch of musical art4 ,one glance at this trio1 writes ,schumann of the ,schubert trio in ,b flat major1 and all the wretchedness of existence is put to flight and the world seems young again4444 ,many and beautiful as are the things ,time brings forth1 it will be long ere it produces another ,schubert4 ,mendelssohn's chamber music is as polished1 affable and gentlemanly as most of his other productions1 and rapidly falling into the same state of unlamented desuetude4 ,schumann has given us his lovely pianoforte quintet in ,e flat4 ,brahms has contributed much that is noteworthy to chamber music1 and1 as a rule1 it is less complex and more intelligently scored than his orchestral music4 ,dvorak in his ,e flat major quartet 7,opus #ea7 introduces as the second movement a ,dumka or ,bohemian elegy1 one of the most exquisite of his compositions4 ,fascinating in his national musical tints1 he was genius enough for his music to be universal in its expression2 and he who used the folksongs of his native ,bohemia so skillfully was no less artistic in the results he accomplished when1 during his residence in ,new ,york1 he wrote his string quartet in ,f 7,opus #if7 on ,negro themes4 ,tschaikowsky and neo-,russians like ,arensky1 and the ,frenchmen1 ,cesar ,franck1 ,saint-,saens1 d',indy and ,debussy1 are some of the modern names that figure on chamber-music programs4 ,,how ,,to ,,appreciate ,,vocal ,,music ,,xiv ,,songs ,,and ,,song ,,composers ,songs either are strophic or durchcomponirt 7composed through74 ,in the strophic song the melody and accompaniment are repeated unchanged through each stanza or strophe of the poem2 while1 when a song is composed through1 the music1 although the principal melody may be repeated more than once1 is subjected to changes in accordance with the moods of the poem4 ,schubert is the first song composer who requires serious consideration4 ,while not strictly the originator of the ,lied1 he is universally acknowledged to be the first great song composer and to have lifted song to its proper place of importance in music4 ,gluck set ,klopfstock's odes to music2 ,haydn as a song writer is remembered by ,liebes ,maedchen hoer' mir ,zu2 ,mozart by ,das ,veilchen2 and ,beethoven by ,adelaide and one or two other songs4 ,before ,schubert's day this form of composition was regarded as something rather trivial and beneath the dignity of genius4 ,but ,haydn1 ,mozart and ,beethoven at least did one thing through which they may possibly have contributed to the development of song-writing4 ,by their freer writing for the pianoforte they prepared the way for the ,schubert accompaniments4 ,where ,schubert got his musical genius from is a mystery4 ,his father was a schoolmaster1 whose first wife1 ,schubert's mother1 was a cook4 ,the couple had fourteen children and an income of #age4 ,if this income is somewhat disproportionate to the size of the family1 it yet is fortunate that they had fourteen children instead of only thirteen4 ,otherwise there would have been one great name less in musical history1 for ,schubert was the fourteenth4 ,he was born in ,vienna in ,january1 #agig4 ,his thirty-one years--for this genius who so enriched music lived to be only thirty-one--were passed in poverty4 ,his father was wretchedly poor1 and his own works1 when they could be disposed of at all to publishers1 were sold at beggarly prices4 ,now they are universally recognized as masterpieces and are worth many times their weight in gold4 ,too ,poor to ,buy ,music ,paper4 ,shortly before he was twelve years old1 ,schubert1 who had been singing soprano solos and playing violin in the parish choir1 was sent to the so-called ,convict1 the ,imperial school for training boys for the ,court chapel4 ,during his five years there his progress was so rapid that even before he was fourteen years old he was occasionally asked to substitute for the conductor of the school orchestra4 ,life1 however1 was hard4 ,he had no money with which to buy even a few luxuries in the way of food to eke out the wretched fare of the ,convict1 nor music paper4 ,had it not been for the kindness of a fellow pupil and friend1 named ,spaun1 he would not have been able to write down and work out his ideas4 ,when his voice changed1 the straitened family circumstances obliged him to become an assistant in his father's school4 ,he was able to bear poverty with patience1 but not the drudgery of teaching1 and he is said often to have lost his temper with the boys4 ,altogether1 he taught for three years1 #ahae to #ahah2 and while his work was most distasteful to him1 his genius was so spontaneous that during his three years he composed many songs1 among them his immortal ,erlking4 ,finally a university student1 ,franz von ,schober1 who1 having heard some of ,schubert's songs1 had become an enthusiastic admirer of the composer1 offered him one of his rooms as a lodging1 whereupon ,schubert1 straightway accepting the offer1 gave up teaching and from that time to the end of his brief life led a ,bohemian existence with a clique of friends of varied accomplishments4 ,in this circle he was known as ,canevas1 because whenever some new person joined it1 his first question regarding the newcomer was ,kann er wass8 7,can he do anything87 ,outside a small circle of acquaintances1 ,schubert remained practically unknown until he made the acquaintance of ,johann ,michael ,vogl1 an opera singer1 to whom his devoted friend1 ,von ,schober1 introduced him4 ,vogl was somewhat reserved in his opinion of the songs which he tried over with ,schubert at their first meeting1 but they made an impression4 ,he followed up the acquaintance and became the first professional interpreter of ,schubert's lyrics4 ,the manner in which ,vogl sings and ,i accompany1 wrote ,schubert to his brother ,ferdinand1 so that we appear like one on such occasions1 is something new and unheard of to our listeners4 ,publishers1 however1 held aloof4 ,five years after the ,erlking was composed1 several of them refused to print it1 although ,schubert offered to forego royalties on it4 ,finally1 some of ,schubert's friends had the song published at their own expense1 and its success led to the issuing of eleven other songs1 ,schubert unwisely accepting eight hundred florins in lieu of royalty on these and the ,erlking4 ,yet from one of these songs alone1 ,the ,wanderer1 the publishers received twenty-seven thousand florins between the years #ahbb and #ahfa4 ,how the ,erlking was ,composed4 ,schubert being the greatest of song composers1 and the ,erlking his greatest song1 the circumstances under which it was written are of especial interest4 ,his friend ,spaun1 the same who provided him with music paper at the ,convict1 relates that one afternoon toward the close of the year #ahae he went with the poet ,mayrhofer to visit ,schubert4 ,they found the composer all aglow1 reading the ,erlking aloud to himself4 ,he walked up and down the room several times1 book in hand1 then suddenly sat down and as fast as his pen could travel put the music on paper4 ,having no piano1 the three men hurried over to the ,convict1 where the ,erlking was sung the same evening and received with enthusiasm4 ,the old ,court organist1 ,ruziczka1 afterward played it over himself without the voice1 and when some of those present objected to the dissonance which occurs three times in the course of the composition and depicts the child's terror of the ,erlking1 the old organist struck these chords and explained how perfectly they reflected the spirit of the poem and how felicitously they were worked out in their musical resolution4 ,schubert's song is almost ,wagnerian in its descriptive and dramatic quality4 ,the coaxing voice of the ,erlking1 the terror of the child1 the efforts of the father to allay his boy's fears1 each has its characteristic expression1 which yet is different from the narrative portions of the poem1 while in the accompaniment the horse gallops along4 ,schubert was but eighteen years old when he set this ballad of ,goethe's to music2 yet there is no more thrilling climax to be found in all song literature than those dissonances which ,i have mentioned and which with each repeat rise to a higher interval and become each time more shrill with terror4 ,whoever has heard ,lilli ,lehmann sing this song should be able to appreciate its real greatness1 as ,goethe1 who had remained utterly indifferent to ,schubert's music1 did when the ,erlking was sung to him by ,frau ,schroeder-,devrient1 to whom he exclaimed3 ,thank you a thousand times for this great artistic achievement4 ,when ,i heard this song before ,i did not like it at all1 but sung in your way it becomes a true picture4 ,finck on ,schubert4 ,more than six hundred songs by ,schubert have been published1 and when we remember that he wrote symphonies1 sonatas1 shorter pianoforte pieces1 chamber music and operas1 the fertility of his brief life is astounding4 ,the rapidity with which he composed1 however1 was not due to carelessness1 but to the spontaneity of his genius and the fact that he loved to compose4 ,he composed as a bird sings in the spring1 or as a well gushes from a mountain-side1 simply because he could not help it1 says ,mr4 ,finck1 in his ,songs and ,song ,writers4 ,we have it on the authority of ,schubert's friend1 ,spaun1 that when he went to bed he kept his spectacles on1 so that when he woke up he could go right to the table and compose without wasting time looking for his glasses4 ,in the two years #ahae-af he wrote no less than two hundred and fifty-four songs4 ,six of the songs in the ,winterreise cycle were composed in one morning1 and he had eight songs to his credit in a single day4 ,the charming ,hark1 ,hark1 the ,lark was written at a tavern where he chanced to see the poem in a book the leaves of which he was slowly turning over4 ,if ,i only had some music paper6 he exclaimed1 whereupon one of his friends promptly ruled lines on the back of his ,speise ,karte1 and ,schubert1 with the varied noises of the tavern going on about him1 jotted down the song then and there4 ,of course1 it is impossible to touch on all the aspects of such a genius as his4 ,in his songs clear and beautiful melody is1 as a rule1 combined with a descriptive accompaniment4 ,sometimes the description is given by means of only a few chords1 like the preluding ones in ,am ,meer4 ,at other times the description runs through the entire accompaniment1 like the waves that flash and dance around the melody of ,auf dem ,wasser zu ,singen2 the galloping horse in the ,erlking2 the veiled mist that seems to hang over the scenes in the wonderfully dramatic poem1 ,die ,stadt2 the flutter of the bird in ,hark1 ,hark1 the ,lark2 the brook that flows like a leitmotif through the ,maid of the ,mill cycle--these are a few of the examples that with ,schubert could be cited by the dozen4 ,and the range of his work--here again space forbids the multiplication of examples4 ,it extends from the naive ,haiden ,roeslein to the tragic ,doppelgaenger2 from the whispering foliage of the ,linden ,tree to the pathetic drone of the ,hurdy-,gurdy ,man2 from the ,serenade to ,todt und das ,maedchen4 ,schubert is the greatest genius among song composers4 ,compare the growing reputation of him who of all musicians was perhaps the most neglected during his life1 with that of ,mendelssohn1 the most feted of composers1 but now rapidly dropping to the position of a minor tone poet1 and who1 although he wrote eighty-three songs1 is as a song writer remembered outside of ,germany by barely more than one ,lied1 the familiar ,on the ,wings of ,song4 ,schumann's ,individuality4 ,in ,schumann's songs the piano part is more closely knit and interwoven with the vocal melody than with ,schubert's1 and1 as a result1 the voice does not stand out so clearly4 ,while his songs are not what they have been called by a ,german critic1 pianoforte pieces with accidental vocal accompaniments1 at times1 in his vocal compositions1 the pianoforte gains too great an ascendancy over the voice4 ,if asked to draw a distinction between ,schubert and ,schumann1 ,i should say that there is a twofold interest in most of ,schubert's songs4 ,he reproduces the feeling of the poem in his vocal melody2 then1 if the poem contains a descriptive suggestion1 he produces that phase of it in his accompaniment1 without1 however1 allowing the pianoforte part to encroach on the vocal melody4 ,the melody gives the feeling1 the accompaniment the description or mood picture4 ,schumann1 on the other hand1 rarely is descriptive4 ,nearly always he produces a mood picture in tone1 but requires both voice and pianoforte to effect his purpose4 ,as this1 however1 is ,schumann's method of composition1 and as it is better that each composer should leave the seal of his individuality on everything he does1 and not be an imitator1 it is not cause for regret that while ,schubert is ,schubert1 ,schumann is ,schumann4 ,the proportion of fine songs among the two hundred and forty-five composed by ,schumann is1 however1 much smaller than in the heritage left us by ,schubert2 and while ,schubert1 from the time he wrote his first great vocal compositions1 added many equally great ones every year1 ,schumann's songs1 on the whole1 show a decided falling off after he had wooed and won ,clara ,wieck4 ,it was during his courtship that he produced his best songs4 ,separated from her by the command of her stern father1 he made love to her in music4 ,i am now writing nothing but songs1 great and small1 we find him saying in a letter to a friend in the summer of #ahdj4 ,hardly can ,i tell you how delicious it is to write for voice instead of for instruments1 and what a turmoil and tumult ,i feel within me when ,i sit down to it4 ,while he was composing his song cycle1 ,die ,myrthen1 he wrote to ,clara3 ,since yesterday morning ,i have written twenty-seven pages of music1 all new1 concerning which the best ,i can tell you is that ,i laughed and wept for joy while composing them4 ,a month later he writes her1 in sending her his first printed songs3 ,when ,i composed them my soul was within yours2 without such a love1 indeed1 no one could write such music--and this ,i intend as a special compliment4 444 ,i could sing myself to death1 like a nightingale1 he writes to her again1 on ,may #aeth4 ,never was there such a musical wooing1 and those who wish to participate in it can do so by singing or listening to such songs as ,dedication1 ,the ,almond ,tree1 ,the ,lotos ,flower1 ,in the ,forest 7,waldesgespraech71 ,spring ,night1 ,he1 the ,noblest of the ,noble1 ,thou ,ring upon ,my ,finger1 ',twas in the ,lovely ,month of ,may1 ,where'er ,my ,tears ,are ,falling1 ,i'll ,not ,complain1 and ,nightly in ,my ,dreaming4 ,among his songs not inspired by love should be mentioned the ,two ,grenadiers1 which ,plancon sings so inimitably4 ,phases of ,franz's ,genius4 ,robert ,franz 7#ahae-ahib7 had his life embittered by neglect and physical ills4 ,his family name originally was ,knauth1 his father having been ,christoph ,knauth4 ,but in order to distinguish him from his brother1 who was engaged in the same business1 he was addressed as ,christoph ,franz1 a name which he subsequently had legalized4 ,yet critics insisted that ,robert ,franz was a pseudonym which the composer had adopted from vanity in order to indicate that he was as great as ,robert ,schumann and ,franz ,schubert put together4 ,franz was strongly influenced by ,bach and ,haendel1 many of whose scores he supplied with what are known as additional accompaniments1 filling out gaps which these composers left in their scores according to the custom of their day4 ,his songs show this influence in their polyphony1 and the ,german critic1 ,ambros1 said that ,franz's song1 ,der ,schwere ,abend1 looked as if ,bach had sat down and composed a ,franz song out of thanks for all that ,franz was to do for him through his additional accompaniments4 ,besides their polyphony derived from ,bach1 ,franz's songs are interesting for their modulations1 which are employed not simply for the sake of showing cleverness or originality1 but for their appropriateness in expressing the mood of the poem4 ,he also was extremely careful in regard to the choice of key and decidedly objected to transpositions of his songs1 in order to make them singable for higher or lower voices than could use the original key4 ,when ,i am dead1 he wrote to his publisher1 ,i cannot prevent these transpositions1 but so long as ,i am alive ,i shall fight them4 ,franz did not endeavor to reproduce visible things in his pianoforte parts1 and the voice in his songs often is declamatory1 merging into melody only in the more deeply emotional passages4 ,he is a reflective rather than a dramatic composer1 disliked opera1 and himself said that any one who had penetrated deeply into his songs well knew that the dramatic element was not to be found in them1 nor was it intended to be4 ,composers1 however1 have many theories regarding their music which1 in practice1 come to naught2 and whether ,franz thought his songs dramatic or not1 the fact remains that when ,lilli ,lehmann sang his ,im ,herbst it was as thrillingly dramatic as anything could be4 ,self-,critical4 ,franz was extremely self-critical4 ,he kept his productions in his desk for years1 working over them again and again1 until in many cases the song in its final shape bore slight resemblance to what it had been at first4 ,he declared his ,opus #a to be no worse than his latest work1 because it had been composed with equal care and had had the benefit of his ripening judgment and experience4 ,he admired ,wagner and dedicated one of his song volumes to him2 but when some critics fancied that they discovered ,wagnerian traits in several songs in his last collection1 ,op4 #ea-eb1 he was able to prove that these very songs were among the first he had written1 and were published so late in his career simply because he had kept them back for revision4 ,his physical disabilities were pitiable4 ,when he was about thirty-three years old and shortly after his marriage1 he was standing in the ,halle railway station when a locomotive close by sounded its shrill whistle4 ,the effect upon him was like the piercing of his ears4 ,for several days afterward he heard nothing but confused buzzing1 and from that time on his hearing became worse and worse1 until finally his ears pained him even when he composed4 ,in #ahgf he became totally deaf1 and a few years later his right arm was paralyzed from shoulder to thumb4 ,he was a poor man1 and right at the worst time in his life1 when he was totally deaf1 a small pension which he had received from the ,bach ,society was taken away from him4 ,but his admirers1 many of them ,americans1 came to his rescue and raised a fund for his support4 ,among his finest songs are ,widmung1 ,leise ,zieht durch mein ,gemuht1 ,bitte1 ,die ,lotos ,blume1 ,es ,ragt der ,alte ,eborus1 ,meerfahrt1 ,das is ein ,brausen und ,heulen1 ,ich ,hab' in ,deinem ,auge1 ,ich ,will meine seele ,taugen1 and ,es ,hat' ,die ,rose sich ,beklagt4 ,brahms a ,thinker in ,music4 ,brahms was a profound thinker in music--not a philosopher1 but a reflective poet1 whose musicianship1 however1 was so great that he cared too little for the practical side of his art as compared with the theoretical4 ,if what he wrote looked all right on paper he was indifferent as to whether it sounded right or not2 consequently1 if he started out with a certain rhythmical figuration or a certain scheme of harmonic progression1 he carried it through rigidly to its logical conclusion1 utterly oblivious to1 or at least utterly regardless of1 any tonal blemishes that might result1 although by slightly altering his scheme here and there he might have obviated these4 ,this is the reason why some people find passages in his music which to them sound repellant4 ,but those who have not allowed this aspect of ,brahms's work to prejudice them and have familiarized themselves with his music1 well know that he is one of the loftiest souls that ever put pen to staff4 ,he never is drastic1 never sensational1 never superficial2 and the climaxes of his songs1 as in his other music1 are produced not by great outbursts of sound1 but by sudden modulations or change of rhythm1 which give a wonderful lift to voice and accompaniment4 ,among his best known songs 7and each of these is a masterpiece7 are3 ,wie ,bist du meine ,koenigin1 ,ruhe1 ,suess ,liebschen1 ,von ewiger ,liebe1 ,wiegenlied1 ,minnelied1 ,feldeinsamkeit1 ,wie ,melodien zeiht es mir1 ,immer leiser wird mein ,schlummer1 ,meine ,lieder1 ,wir wandelten1 wir ,swei1 zusammen4 99 99 99 99 99 ,one of the most impassioned modern lyrical outbursts is ,jensen's setting of ,heine's ,lehn deine ,wang' an ,meine ,wang'1 and his ,fruehlingsnacht also is a very beautiful song1 although the popularity of ,schumann's setting of the same poem has cast it unduly into the shade4 ,rubinstein will be found considerably less prolix in his songs than in his music in other branches1 and those which he wrote to the ,persian poems of ,von ,bodenstedt 7,mirza ,schaffy7 are fascinating in their ,oriental coloring4 ,the ,asra1 and ,yellow ,rolls at my ,feet1 7,gold ,rollt mir zu ,fuessen7 are among the best known of these2 while ,es blink't der ,thau1 ,du ,bist wie eine ,blume1 and ,der ,traum are among ,rubinstein's songs which are or should be in the repertoire of every singer4 ,tschaikowsky and ,dvorak are not noteworthy as song writers1 but the former's setting of ,nur wer die ,sehnsucht kennt and the latter's ,gypsy ,songs are highly successful4 ,grieg's ,originality4 ,one of the most fascinating among modern song writers is the ,norwegian1 ,grieg4 ,he has been unusually fortunate in having a fine singer as a wife4 ,mr4 ,finck relates that ,ibsen1 after hearing her sing his poems as set to music by ,grieg1 whispered as he shook the hands of this musical couple1 the one word1 ,understood4 ,grieg's originality has not been thoroughly appreciated1 because much of the beauty of his music has been attributed to what is supposed to be its ,norwegian origin4 ,grieg is national1 it is true1 but not in a cramped or narrow sense4 ,his music is the product of his individual genius1 and his genius has made him so popular that what is his has come to be wrongly considered ,norwegian1 whereas it is ,norway interpreted through the genius of ,grieg4 ,his music is not a dialect1 but music of universal significance1 fortunately tinged with his individuality4 ,i ,love ,you1 ,ibsen's ,the ,swan1 ,by the ,riverside1 ,springtide1 ,wounded ,heart1 ,the ,mother ,sings 7a mother mourning her dead child71 ,at the ,bier of a ,young ,woman1 and ,from ,monte ,pincio1 are among his finest ,lieder4 ,chopin is much too little known as a song writer4 ,his genius as a composer for the pianoforte has overshadowed his songs1 and the public is familiar with little else save ,the ,maiden's ,wish1 which is one of ,madame ,sembrich's favorite encores and to which she plays her own accompaniment so delightfully4 ,but there is plenty of national color in the ,lithuanina song1 plenty of pathos in ,poland's ,dirge1 and plenty of lyrical passion in ,my ,delights4 ,finck says that in all music1 lyric or dramatic1 the thrill of a kiss has never been expressed so ecstatically as in the twelve bars of this song marked crescendo sempre piu accellerando4 ,certainly sempre 7always7 and accellerando 7faster7 are capital words when applied to a kiss6 ,richard ,wagner1 when twenty-six years old1 in ,paris1 tried to relieve his poverty by composing a few songs1 among which is a very charming setting of ,ronsard's ,dors mon enfant4 ,he also set ,heine's ,the ,two ,grenadiers to music1 utilizing the ,marsellaise in the accompaniment2 but1 as a whole1 the ,wagner version of this poem is not as effective as ,schumann's4 ,in #ahfb he composed music to five poems written by ,mathilde ,wesendonck1 among which is the famous ,traeume1 which utilizes the theme of the love duet that later on appeared in ,tristan4 ,liszt's ,genius for ,song4 ,liszt's songs are a complete musical exposition of the poems to which they are composed4 ,thus while1 by way of comparison1 ,rubinstein's setting of ,du ,bist wie eine ,blume gives through its simplicity a rare impression of purity1 ,liszt in his setting of the same poem adds to that purity the sense of sacredness with which the contemplation of a pure woman fills a man's heart and causes him to worship her4 ,his ,lorelei is a beautiful lyric scene4 ,we view the flowing river1 seem to hear the seductive voice of the temptress1 and watch the treacherous and stormy current that hurries the ensnared boatman to his doom4 ,and what song has more of that valuable quality we call atmosphere than ,liszt's version of ,kennst du das ,land8 ,as will be the case with ,liszt in other branches of music1 he will be recognized some day as one of the greatest of song composers4 ,richard ,strauss's songs1 from having been regarded as so bristling with difficulties as to be impossible1 have become favorites in the song repertoire4 ,when it is a genius who creates difficulties these are sure to be overcome by ambitious players and singers1 and music advances technically by just so much4 ,strauss's ,staendchen1 with its deliciously delicate accompaniment1 so difficult to play with the requisite grace1 was the first of ,strauss's songs to become popular here1 and it was the art of our great singer1 ,madame ,nordica1 that made it so4 ,now we hear ,die ,nacht1 ,traum durch die ,daemmerung1 ,heimliche ,aufforderung1 ,allerseelem1 ,breit ueber mein ,haupt ,dein schwarzes ,haar1 and many of his other songs with growing frequency4 ,there are few song composers with whom the pianoforte accompaniment is so entirely distinct from the melody 7or so difficult to play71 as often is the case with ,strauss4 ,as with ,schubert1 every descriptive suggestion contained in the poem is carried into the accompaniment1 but the vocal part is more declamatory and more varied4 ,even now it seems certain that ,strauss's songs are permanent acquisitions to the repertoire4 ,it still is too soon1 however1 to affirm the same thing of the unfortunate ,hugo ,wolf's songs1 although ,i find myself strongly attracted by ,er ists1 ,fruehling uebers ,jahr1 ,fussteise1 ,der ,koenig bei der ,kroening1 ,gesang ,weyla's1 ,elfenlied and ,der ,tambour4 ,saint-,saens1 ,delibes1 ,godard1 ,massenet1 ,chaminade and the late ,augusta ,holmes are among ,french song writers whose work is clever1 but who seem to me more concerned with manner than with matter4 ,gounod's rank as a song composer is much below his reputation as the composer of ,faust and ,romeo et ,juliette4 ,oddly enough1 however1 the idea that came to him of placing a melody above a prelude from ,bach's ,well ,tempered ,clavichord did more than anything he had accomplished up to that time to make him famous4 ,originally he scored it for violin with a small female chorus off stage4 ,then he replaced the chorus with a harmonium4 ,finally he seems to have been struck with the fact that the melody fitted the words of the ,ave ,maria1 substituted a single voice for the violin1 which1 however1 still can supplement the vocal melody with an obbligato1 did away with the harmonium1 and the result was the ,gounod-,bach ,ave ,maria4 ,the ,bach prelude1 of course1 sinks to the level of a mere accompaniment1 for it has to be taken much slower than ,bach intended4 ,american composers who have produced noteworthy songs are ,edward ,a4 ,mac,dowell1 ,g4 ,w4 ,chadwick1 ,arthur ,foote1 ,clayton ,johns1 ,homer ,n4 ,bartlett1 ,margaret ,ruthven ,lang1 and the late ,ethelbert ,nevin4 ,,xv ,,oratorio ,oratorio had its origin in an attempt by a sixteenth century ,italian monk to make divine service more interesting--to draw to church people who might not be attracted by the opportunity to hear a sermon1 but could be persuaded to come if music a trifle more entertaining to the common mind than the unaccompanied 7a capella7 ecclesiastical compositions of ,palestrina and other masters of the polyphonic school1 were thrown in with them4 ,music still is regarded as a prime drawing card in churches1 and when nowadays a fine basso rises after the sermon and sings ,it is enough1 we can paraphrase it as meaning1 ,it is enough so far as the sermon is concerned1 and now to make up for it you are going to have a chance to listen to some music4 ,when the announcement is made that such-and-such a well-known singer has been engaged for a church it means that the ,reverend ---- is doing just what the monk1 ,neri1 did1 about four hundred years ago--fishing for a congregation with music4 ,as it exists to-day1 however1 oratorio has little to do with religious worship1 and usually is practiced amid secular surroundings1 with a female chorus in variegated evening attire and a male chorus in claw-hammers1 the singers hanging more or less anxiously on the baton of the conductor4 ,this living picture which1 so far as this country is concerned1 ,i have1 ,i believe1 drawn in correct perspective1 is so much out of keeping with the religious subjects which usually underlie the texts of oratorios that it may account for the comparative lack of interest shown by ,americans for this form of musical entertainment4 ,it also is true1 however1 that in this country oratorio never has had more than half a chance4 ,this is due to the fact that the ,american man is not as sensitive to music nor musically as well educated as the ,american woman1 the result being that the male contingent of the average ,american oratorio chorus is less competent than the women singers4 ,tenors are rare birds in any land1 and rarer here apparently than elsewhere1 so that in this division of our mixed choruses there is a lack of brilliancy in tone and of precision in attack4 ,these several circumstances combine to prevent that well-balanced ensemble necessary to a satisfactory performance4 ,an ,incongruous ,art-,form4 ,even at its best1 however1 oratorio is an incongruous art-form1 neither an opera nor a church service1 but rather an attempt to design something that shall not shock people who consider it wicked to go to the opera1 nor afflict with ennui those who would consider an invitation to listen to sacred music during the week an imposition4 ,it seems peculiarly adapted to the idea of entertainment which prevails in ,england1 where apparently any diversion in order to be considered legal must be more or less of a bore4 ,fortunately1 however1 there be many men of many minds2 so that while1 for example1 one could not well draw a gloomier picture of the hereafter for a critic like ,mr4 ,henry ,t4 ,finck than as a place where he would be obliged to hear1 let me suggest1 semi-weekly performances of ,the ,messiah1 the annual ,christmas auditions of that work have been the financial salvation of oratorio in ,america4 ,san ,filippo ,neri1 who was born in ,florence in #aeae1 and was the founder of the ,congregation of the ,fathers of the ,oratory1 was the originator of oratorio4 ,in order to attract people to church1 he instituted before and after the sermon dramatic and musical renderings of scenes from ,scripture4 ,it is not unlikely that the suggestion for the underlying dramatic text came from the old ,mystery and ,miracle plays1 which1 to say the least1 were naive4 ,in one of these1 representing ,noah and his family about to embark in the ark1 ,mrs4 ,noah declares that she prefers to stay behind with her worldly friends1 and when at last her son ,shem seizes and forces her into the ark1 she retaliates by giving the worthy ,noah a box on the ear4 ,in another play of this kind which represented the ,creation1 a horse1 pigs with rings in their noses1 and a mastiff with a brass collar were brought up to ,adam to name4 ,but in one performance the mastiff spied a cow's rib-bone which had been provided for the formation of ,eve1 grabbed it and carried it off1 in spite of the efforts of the ,angel to whistle him back1 and ,eve had to be created without the aid of the rib4 ,primitive ,efforts4 ,it is not likely that any such contretemps accompanied the performances of ,san ,filippo's primitive oratorios1 and yet it is probable that they were not only sung1 but also acted with some kind of scenic setting and costumes2 for ,emelio del ,cavaliere1 a ,roman composer1 whose oratorio1 ,la ,rappresentazione dell' ,anima e del ,corpo 7,the ,soul and the ,body71 was performed in ,february1 #afjj1 in the ,church of ,santa ,maria della ,vallicella1 but who died before the production1 left minute directions regarding the scenery and action4 ,in this oratorio1 as in some of the other early ones1 there was a ballet1 which1 according to its composer's directions1 was to enliven certain scenes with capers and to execute others sedately and reverentially4 ,it was the composer1 ,giovanni ,carissimi1 who first introduced the narrator in oratorio1 this function being to continue the action with explanatory recitatives between the numbers4 ,in his oratorio1 ,jephtha1 there is a solo for ,jephtha's daughter1 ,plorate colles1 dolate montes 7,weep1 ye hills2 mourn1 ye mountains71 which has an echo for two sopranos at the end of each phrase of the melody4 ,alessandro ,scarlatti1 who developed the aria in opera1 also gave more definite form to the solos in oratorio and a more dramatic accompaniment to the recitatives which related to action1 leaving the narrative recitals unaccompanied4 ,up to this point1 in fact1 oratorio and opera may be said to have developed hand in hand1 but now1 through the influence of ,german composers and especially through their ,passion ,music1 it assumed a more distinct form4 ,die ,auferstehung ,christi 7,the ,resurrection71 by ,heinrich ,schuetz1 produced in ,dresden in #afbc1 and his ,sieben ,worte ,christi 7,the ,seven ,words of ,christ71 subjects which have been reverentially set by many ,german composers1 are regarded as pioneer works of their kind4 ,in the development of ,passion ,music much use was made of church chorales1 the grand sacred melodies of the ,german people1 which have had incalculable influence in forming the stability of character that is a distinguishing mark of the race4 ,they are conspicuous in the ,tod ,jesu1 a famous work by ,karl ,heinrich ,graun1 a contemporary of ,bach1 whose own ,passion ,according to ,st4 ,matthew is regarded by advanced lovers of music as the greatest of all works in oratorio or quasi-oratorio style1 although the ,english still cling to ,haendel4 ,however close the imitation or complicated the involutions of the several voices1 says ,rockstro1 in writing of ,haendel1 we never meet with an inharmonious collision4 ,he 7,haendel7 seems always to have aimed at making his parts run on velvet2 whereas ,bach1 writing on a totally different principle1 evidently delighted in bringing harmony out of discord and made a point of introducing hard passing notes in order to avail himself of the pleasant effect of their ultimate resolution4 ,the inharmonious collisions1 the hard passing notes are among the very things which make ,bach so modern2 since modern ears do not set much store by music that runs on velvet4 ,bach's ,passion ,music4 ,it is interesting to note that this ,passion ,according to ,st4 ,matthew is in two parts1 and that1 as was the case with the oratorios of ,san ,filippo ,neri1 the sermon came between4 ,the text was prepared by ,christian ,friedrichs ,henrici1 writing under the pseudonym of ,picander1 and is partly dramatic1 partly epic in form1 with an ,evangelist to relate the various events in the story1 but with the ,lord1 ,st4 ,peter and others using their own words according to the sacred text4 ,a double chorus is employed1 sometimes representing the ,disciples1 sometimes the infuriated populace2 but always treated in dramatic fashion4 ,at the time the ,passion was written1 the arias and certain of the choruses which contained meditations on the events narrated were called ,soliloquiae2 and in singing the beautiful chorales1 the congregation was expected to join4 ,the recitatives assigned to the ,saviour are accompanied by string orchestra only1 and are1 as ,rockstro says1 full of gentle dignity1 while the choruses are marked by an amount of dramatic power which is remarkable when one considers that ,bach never paid any attention to the most dramatic of all musical forms1 the opera4 ,the ,passion ,according to ,st4 ,matthew1 by ,johann ,sebastian ,bach1 was his greatest work and one of the greatest works of all times4 ,it was produced for the first time at the afternoon service in the ,church of ,st4 ,thomas1 ,leipzig1 where ,bach was ,cantor1 on ,good ,friday1 #agbi1 and it was one hundred years before it was heard again1 when it was revived by ,mendelssohn1 in ,berlin1 on ,march #abth1 #ahbi--;an epoch-making performance4 ,strictly speaking1 ,passion ,music is not an oratorio1 but a church service1 and ,bach actually designed his to serve as a counter-attraction to the ,mass as performed in the ,roman ,church4 ,what we understand under oratorio derived its vitality from ,george ,frederick ,haendel1 who was born at ,halle in ,lower ,saxony1 #afhe1 but whose most important work was accomplished in ,london1 where he died in #agei and was buried in ,westminster ,abbey4 ,before ,haendel wrote his two greatest oratorios1 ,israel in ,egypt and ,the ,messiah1 he had1 through the composition of numerous operas1 mastered the principles of dramatic writing1 and in his oratorios he aims1 whenever the text makes it permissible1 at dramatic expression4 ,it is only necessary to recall the ,plague ,choruses in ,israel in ,egypt1 especially the ,hail-,stone ,chorus and the chorus of rejoicing 7,the horse and his rider hath ,he thrown into the sea72 or by way of contrast1 the tenderly expressive melody of ,as for ,his people1 ,he led them forth like sheep1 to realize what an adept ,haendel was in dramatic expression4 ,rockstro on ,haendel4 ,haendel may in fact be called the founder of variety and freedom in writing for chorus4 ,while ,i must confess that ,i do not share ,rockstro's intense enthusiasm for ,haendel and for ,the ,messiah1 nevertheless he expresses so well the general feeling in ,england and the feeling on the part of those in this country who crowd the annual ,christmas performances of ,the ,messiah1 toward that work1 that the best means of conveying an idea of what oratorio signifies to those who like it1 is to quote him4 ,referring to ,haendel's free and varied treatment of chorus writing1 he says3 ,he bids us ',behold the ,lamb of ,god' and we feel that he has helped us to do so4 ,he tells us that ',with ,his stripes we are healed1' and we are sensible not of the healing only1 but of the cruel price at which it was purchased4 ,and we yield him equal obedience when he calls upon us to join in his hymns of praise4 ,who hearing the noble subject of ',i will sing unto the ,lord1' led off by the tenors and altos1 does not long to reinforce their voices with his own8 ,who does not feel a choking in his throat before the first bar of the ',hallelujah ,chorus' is completed1 though he may be listening to it for the hundredth time8 ,hard indeed must his heart be who can refuse to hear when ,haendel preaches through the voice of his chorus4 ,the ,messiah also contains two of ,haendel's most famous solos1 ,he shall feed ,his flock and ,i know that my ,redeemer liveth4 ,this work was performed for the first time on ,april #ac1 #agdb1 at the ,music ,hall1 ,dublin1 when ,haendel was on a visit to the ,duke of ,devonshire1 then ,lord ,lieutenant of ,ireland4 ,the rehearsals1 at which many people were present by invitation1 had aroused so much enthusiasm1 that those who were interested in the charitable object for which it was given1 requested as a favor that the ladies who honor this performance with their presence would be pleased to come without hoops1 as it would greatly increase the charity by making room for more company4 ,gentlemen also were requested to come without swords1 for the same reason4 ,it is said that at the first ,london performance1 when the ,hallelujah ,chorus rang out1 the ,king rose in his place and1 followed by the entire audience1 stood during the singing of the chorus1 and that thus the custom1 which still is observed1 originated4 ,following ,haendel1 ,haydn in #agih1 when nearly seventy years old1 wrote ,the ,creation1 founded on passages from ,milton's ,paradise ,lost1 and after it ,the ,seasons1 for which ,thomson's familiar poem supplied the text4 ,in both of these there is much purely descriptive music1 especially in the earlier oratorio1 when the creation of various animals is related4 ,in ,the ,creation1 too1 after the passages for muted strings1 is the famous outburst of orchestra and chorus1 ,and there was light4 ,haydn was a far greater master of orchestration than ,haendel4 ,he also was one of the early composers of the homophonic school1 and there is a freer1 more spontaneous flow of melody in his oratorios4 ,but they undoubtedly lack the grandeur of ,haendel's4 ,mendelssohn's ,oratorios4 ,between ,haydn and ,mendelssohn1 in the development of oratorio1 nothing need be mentioned1 excepting ,beethoven's ,mount of ,olives and ,spohr's ,the ,last ,judgment 7,die ,letzten ,dinge74 ,mendelssohn1 in his ,st4 ,paul1 followed the example of the old passionists1 and introduced chorales1 but in his greater oratorio1 ,elijah1 which is purely an ,hebraic subject1 he discarded these4 ,the dramatic quality of ,elijah is so apparent that it has been said more than once to be capable of stage representation with scenery1 costumes and action4 ,this is especially true of the prophet himself1 whose personality is so definitely developed that he stands before us almost like a character behind the footlights4 ,this dramatic value is felt at the very beginning1 when1 after four solemn chords on the brass1 the work1 instead of opening with an overture1 is ushered in by ,elijah's prophecy of the drought4 ,then comes the overture1 which is descriptive of the effects of the prophecy4 ,next to ,the ,messiah1 ,elijah probably is the most popular of oratorios1 and ,i think this is due to its dramatic value1 and to the fact that its descriptive music1 instead of being somewhat naive1 not to say childish1 as is the case with some passages in ,haydn's ,creation1 is extremely effective4 ,it is necessary only to remind the reader of the descent of the fire and the destruction of the prophets of ,baal2 of the description of the gradual approach of the rain-storm1 as ,elijah1 standing on ,mount ,carmel and watching for the coming of the rain1 is informed of the little cloud1 out of the sea1 like a man's hand--a little cloud which we seem to see in the music1 and which grows in size and blackness until it bursts like a deluge over the scene4 ,then there are the famous bass solo1 ,it is enough2 the unaccompanied ,trio of ,angels2 the ,angel's song1 ,oh1 rest in the ,lord2 and the tenderly expressive chorus1 ,he1 watching over ,israel4 ,i once heard a performance of ,elijah during which the ,angel carried on such a lively flirtation with the ,prophet that she almost missed the cue for her most important solo2 in fact would have missed it1 had not the conductor sharply called her attention to the fact that it was time for her to begin4 ,i think that oratorio reached its successive climaxes with ,the ,messiah and ,elijah4 ,gounod's ,redemption and ,mors et ,vita1 in spite of passages of undeniable beauty1 seem to me1 as a whole1 rather spineless4 ,edward ,elgar's ,dream of ,gerontius and ,the ,apostles have created much excitement in ,england and considerable interest here1 but while it is too soon to hazard a definite opinion of this composer1 he appears to be lacking in individuality--to derive from ,wagner whatever is interesting in his scores1 while what is original with him is unimportant4 ,there are certain sacred1 semi-sacred and even secular works that are apt to figure on the programs of oratorio and allied societies4 ,mr4 ,frank ,damrosch's ,society of ,musical ,art sings very beautifully some of the unaccompanied choruses of the early ,italian polyphonic school1 such as ,palestrina's ,papae ,marcelli ,mass1 ,stabat ,mater and ,requiem2 the ,miserere of ,allegri 7sought to be retained exclusively by the choir of the ,sistine ,chapel1 but which ,mozart wrote out from memory after hearing it twice72 and the ,stabat ,mater of ,pergolesi4 ,there are also the ,bach cantatas1 ,mozart's ,requiem1 with its tragic associations2 ,beethoven's ,mass in ,d2 ,schumann's ,paradise and the ,peri and his music to ,byron's ,manfred 7with recitation72 ,liszt's ,graner ,mass1 ,legend of ,st4 ,elizabeth and ,christus2 ,rubinstein's ,tower of ,babel and ,paradise ,lost2 ,brahms's ,german ,requiem1 a noble but difficult work2 ,dvorak's ,stabat ,mater2 ,rossini's ,moses in ,egypt and ,stabat ,mater2 ,berlioz's ,requiem and ,damnation de ,faust1 the ,american production of which latter was one of the late ,dr4 ,leopold ,damrosch's finest achievements2 and ,verdi's ,manzoni ,requiem4 ,,xvi ,,opera ,,and ,,music-,,drama ,opera originated in ,florence toward the close of the sixteenth century4 ,a band of enthusiastic1 intellectual composers aimed at reproducing the musical declamation which they believed to have been characteristic of the representation of ,greek tragedy4 ,the first attempt resulted in a cantata1 ,il ,conte ,ugolino1 for single voice with the accompaniment of a single instrument1 and composed by ,vincenzo ,galileo1 father of the famous astronomer4 ,another composer1 ,giulio ,caccini1 wrote several shorter pieces in similar style4 ,these composers aimed at an exact oratorical rendering of the words4 ,consequently1 their scores were neither fugal nor in any other sense polyphonic1 but strictly monodic4 ,they were not1 however1 melodious1 but declamatory2 and if ,richard ,wagner had wished1 in the nineteenth century1 to claim any historical foundation for the declamatory recitative which he introduced in his music-dramas1 he might have fallen back upon these composers of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries1 and through them back to ,greek tragedy with its bands of lyres and flutes4 ,these ,italian composers1 then1 were the creators of recitative1 so different from the polyphonic church music of the school of ,palestrina4 ,what usually is classed as the first opera1 ,jacopo ,peri's ,dafne1 was privately performed at the ,palazzo ,corsi1 ,florence1 in #aeig4 ,so great was its success that ,peri was commissioned1 in #afjj1 to write a similar work for the festivities incidental to the marriage of ,henry ,,iv of ,france with ,maria de ,medici1 and produced ,euridice1 the first ,italian opera ever performed in public4 ,the new art-form received great stimulus from ,claudio ,monteverde1 the ,duke of ,mantua's maestro di capella1 who composed ,arianna in honor of the marriage of ,francesco ,gonzaga with ,margherita1 ,infanta of ,savoy4 ,the scene in which ,ariadne bewails her desertion by her lover was so dramatically written 7from the standpoint of the day1 of course7 that it produced a sensation1 and when ,monteverde brought out with even greater success his opera ,orfeo1 which showed a great advance in dramatic expression1 as well as in the treatment of the instrumental score1 the permanency of opera was assured4 ,monteverde's scores contained1 besides recitative1 suggestions of melody1 but these suggestions occurred only in the instrumental ritornelles4 ,the ,venetian composer ,cavalli1 however1 introduced melody into the vocal score in order to relieve the monotonous effect of continuous recitative1 and in his airs for voice he foreshadowed the aria form which was destined to be freely developed by ,alessandro ,scarlatti1 who is regarded as the founder of modern ,italian opera in the form in which it flourished from his day to and including the earlier period of ,verdi's activity4 ,melody1 free and beautiful melody1 soaring above a comparatively simple accompaniment1 was the characteristic of ,italian opera from ,scarlatti's first opera1 ,l',onesta nell' ,amore1 produced in ,rome in #afhj1 to ,verdi's ,trovatore1 produced in the same city in #ahec4 ,the names1 besides ,verdi's1 associated with its most brilliant successes1 are3 ,rossini 7,il ,barbiere di ,siviglia1 ,guillaume ,tell71 ,bellini 7,norma1 ,la ,sonnambula1 ,i ,puritani71 and ,donizetti 7,lucia1 ,l',elisir d',amore1 ,la ,fille du ,regiment74 ,these composers possessed dramatic verve to a great degree1 aimed straight for the mark1 and when at their best always hit the operatic target in the bull's-eye4 ,reforms by ,gluck4 ,the charge most frequently laid against ,italian opera is that its composers have been too subservient to the singers1 and have sacrificed dramatic truth and depth of expression1 as well as the musicianship which is required of a well-written and well-balanced score1 as between the vocal and instrumental portions1 to the vanity of those upon the stage--in brief1 that ,italian opera consists too much of show-pieces for its interpreters4 ,among the first to protest practically against this abuse was ,gluck1 a ,german1 who1 from copying the ,italian style of operatic composition early in his career1 changed his entire method as late as #agfb1 when he was nearly fifty years old4 ,orfeo et ,euridice1 the oldest opera that to-day still holds a place in the operatic repertoire1 and containing the favorite air1 ,che faro senza ,euridice 7,i have lost my ,eurydice71 was produced by ,gluck1 in ,vienna1 in the year mentioned4 ,there ,gluck followed it up with ,alceste1 then went to ,paris1 and scored a triumph with ,iphigenie en ,aulite4 ,but on the arrival1 in ,paris1 of the ,italian composer1 ,piccini1 the ,italian party there seized upon him as a champion to pit against ,gluck1 and there then ensued in the ,french capital a rivalry so fierce that it became a veritable musical ,war of the ,roses until ,gluck completely triumphed over ,piccini with ,iphigenie en ,tauride4 ,gluck's reform of opera lay in his abandoning all effort at claptrap effect--effect merely for its own sake--and in making his choruses as well as his soloists participants1 musically and actively1 in the unfolding of the dramatic story4 ,but while he avoided senseless vocal embellishments and ceased to make a display of singers' talents the end and purpose of opera1 he never hesitated to introduce beautiful melody for the voice when the action justified it4 ,in fact1 what he aimed at was dramatic truth in his music1 and with this end in view he also gave greater importance to the instrumental portion of his score4 ,comparative ,popularity of ,certain ,operas4 ,these characteristics remained for many years to come the distinguishing marks of ,german opera4 ,they will be discovered in ,mozart's ,nozze di ,figaro1 ,don ,giovanni and ,zauberfloete1 which differ from ,gluck's operas in not being based on heroic or classical subjects1 and in exhibiting the general advance made in freer musical expression1 as well as ,mozart's greater spontaneity of melodic invention1 his keen sense of the dramatic element and his superior skill in orchestration4 ,they also will be discovered in ,beethoven's ,fidelio1 which again differs from ,mozart's operas in the same degree in which the individuality of one great composer differs from that of another4 ,with ,weber's ,freischuetz1 ,euryanthe and ,oberon1 ,german opera enters upon the romantic period1 from which it is but a step to the ,flying ,dutchman1 ,tannhaeuser1 ,lohengrin and the music-dramas of ,richard ,wagner4 ,meanwhile1 the ,french had developed a style of opera of their own1 which is represented by ,meyerbeer's ,les ,huguenots1 ,gounod's ,faust1 apparently destined to live as long as any opera that now graces the stage1 and by ,bizet's absolutely unique ,carmen4 ,in ,french opera the instrumental support of the voices is far richer and more delicately discriminating than in ,italian opera1 and the whole form is more serious4 ,it is better thought out1 shows greater intellectual effort and not such a complete abandon to absolute musical inspiration4 ,it is true1 there is much claptrap in ,meyerbeer1 but ,les ,huguenots still lives--and vitality is1 after all1 the final test of an art-work4 ,unquestionably1 ,italian operas like ,il ,barbiere di ,siviglia1 ,la ,sonnambula1 ,lucia1 and ,trovatore are more popular in this country than ,mozart's or ,weber's operatic works4 ,in assigning reasons for this it seems generally to be forgotten that these ,italian operas are far more modern4 ,don ,giovanni was produced in #aghg1 whereas ,il ,barbiere was brought out in #ahaf1 ,la ,sonnambula in #ahca1 ,lucia in #ahce1 ,trovatore in #ahec and ,verdi's last work in operatic style1 ,aida1 in #ahga4 ,don ,giovanni still employs the dry recitative 7recitatives accompanied by simple chords on the violoncello71 which is exceedingly tedious and makes the work drag at many points4 ,in ,il ,barbiere1 although the recitatives are musically as uninteresting1 they are humorous1 and1 with ,italian buffos1 trip lightly and vivaciously from the tongue4 ,as regards ,fidelio and ,der ,freischuetz1 the amount of spoken dialogue in them is enough to keep these works off the ,american stage1 or at least to prevent them from becoming popular here4 ,wagner has had far-reaching effect upon music in general1 and even ,italian opera1 which1 of all art-forms1 was least like his music-dramas1 has felt his influence4 ,boito's ,mefistofele1 ,ponchielli's ,la ,gioconda1 ,verdi's ,otello and ,falstaff1 are examples of the far-reaching results of ,wagner's theories4 ,even in ,aida1 ,verdi's more discriminating treatment of the orchestral score and his successful effort to give genuine ,oriental color to at least some portions of it1 show that even then he was beginning to weary of the cheaper successes he had won with operas like ,il ,trovatore1 ,la ,traviata and ,rigoletto1 and1 while by no means inclined to menace his own originality by copying ,wagner or by adopting his system1 was willing to profit by the more serious attitude of ,wagner toward his art4 ,puccini1 in ,la ,tosca1 has written a first-act finale which is palpably constructed on ,wagnerian lines4 ,in his ,la ,boheme1 in ,leoncavallo's ,i ,pagliacci and in ,mascagni's ,cavalleria ,rusticana1 the distinct efforts made to have the score reflect the characteristics of the text show ,wagner's influence potent in the most modern phases of ,italian opera4 ,humperdinck's ,haensel und ,gretel and ,richard ,strauss's ,feuersnot and ,salome represent the further working out of ,wagner's art-form in ,germany4 ,wagner's ,music-,dramas4 ,i doubt whether ,wagner had either the ,greek drama or the declamatory recitative of the early ,italian opera composers in mind when he originated the music-drama4 ,my opinion is that he thought it out free from any extraneous suggestion1 but afterward1 anticipating the attacks which in the then state of music in ,germany would be made upon his theories1 sought for prototypes and found them in ancient ,greece and renascent ,italy4 ,his theory of dramatic music is that it should express with undeviating fidelity the words which underly it2 not words in their mere outward aspect1 but their deeper significance in their relation to the persons1 controlling ideas1 impulses and passions out of which grow the scenes1 situations1 climaxes and crises of the written play1 the libretto1 if so you choose to call it--so long as you don't say book of the opera4 ,for even from this brief characterization1 it must be patent that a music-drama is not an opera1 but what opera should be or would be had it not1 through the ,italian love of clearly defined melody and the ,italian admiration for beautiful singing1 become a string of solos1 duets and other numbers written in set form to the detriment of the action4 ,opera is the glorification of the voice and the deification of the singer4--,do we not call the prima donna a diva8 ,music-drama1 on the other hand1 is the glorification of music in its broadest sense1 instrumental and vocal combined1 and the deification of dramatic truth on the musical stage4 ,opera1 as handled by the ,italian and the ,french1 undoubtedly is a very attractive art-form1 but music-drama is a higher art-form1 because more serious and more searching and more elevated in its expression of emotion4 ,wagner was ,german to the core--as national as ,luther1 says ,mr4 ,krehbiel most aptly1 in his ,studies in the ,wagnerian ,drama1 which1 like everything this critic writes1 is the work of a thinker4 ,for the dramas which ,wagner created as the bases for his scores1 he went back to legends which1 if not always ,teutonic in their origin1 had become steeped in ,germanism4 ,the profound impression made by ,wagner's art works may be indicated by saying that the whole folk-lore movement dates from his activity1 and that so far as ,germany itself is concerned1 his argument for a national art work as well as his practical illustration of what he meant through his own music-dramas1 gave immense impetus to the development of united ,germany as manifested in the ,german empire4 ,he as well as the men of blood and iron had a share in ,sedan4 ,wagner's first successful work1 ,rienzi1 was an out-and-out opera in ,meyerbeerian style4 ,the ,flying ,dutchman already is legendary and more serious1 while ,tannhaeuser and ,lohengrin show immense technical progress1 besides giving a clue to his system of leading motives1 which is fully developed in the scores of the ,ring of the ,nibelung1 ,tristan und ,isolde1 ,die ,meistersinger1 and ,parsifal4 ,that his theories met with a storm of opposition and that for many years the battle between ,wagnerism and anti-,wagnerism raged with unabated vigor in the musical world1 are matters of history4 ,whoever wishes to explore this phase of ,wagner's career will find it set forth in the most interesting ,wagner biography in any language1 ,mr4 ,finck's ,wagner and ,his ,works4 ,wagner a ,melodist4 ,it sometimes is contended that ,wagner adopted his system of leading motives because he was not a melodist4 ,this is refuted by the melodies that abound in his earlier works2 and1 even as ,i write1 ,i can hear the pupils in a nearby public school singing the melody of the ,pilgrim's ,chorus from ,tannhaeuser4 ,moreover1 his leading motives themselves are descriptively or soulfully melodious as the requirement may be4 ,they are brief phrases1 it is true1 but none the less they are melodies4 ,and1 in certain episodes in his music-dramas1 when he deemed it permissible1 he introduced beautiful melodies that are complete in themselves3 ,siegmund's ,love ,song and ,wotan's ,farewell1 in ,die ,walkuere1 the ,love ,duet at the end of ,siegfried1 the love scene in ,tristan und ,isolde1 the ,prize ,song in ,die ,meistersinger4 ,the eloquence of the brief melodious phrases which we call leading motives1 considered by themselves alone and without any reference to the dramatic situation1 must be clear to any one who has heard the ,funeral ,march in ,goetterdaemmerung1 which consists entirely of a series of leading motives that have occurred earlier in the ,cycle1 yet give this passage an overpowering pathos without equal in absolute music and just as effective whether you know the story of the music-drama and the significance of the motives1 or not4 ,if you do know the story and the significance of these musical phrases1 you will find that in this ,funeral ,march the whole ,ring of the ,nibelung is being summed up for you1 and coming as it does near the end of ,goetterdaemmerung1 but one scene intervening between it and the final curtain1 it gives a wonderful sense of unity to the whole work4 ,unity is1 in fact1 a distinguishing trait of music-drama2 and the very term unity suggests that certain recurring salient points in the drama1 whether they be personages1 ideas or situations1 should be treated musically with a certain similarity1 and have certain recognizable characteristics4 ,in fact1 the adaptation of music to a drama would seem to suggest association of ideas through musical unity1 and to presuppose the employment of something like leading motives4 ,they had indeed been used tentatively by ,berlioz in orchestral music1 and by ,weber in opera 7,euryanthe71 but it remained for ,wagner to work up the suggestion into a complete and consistent system4 ,music illustration ,to illustrate his method1 take the ,curse ,motive1 in the ,ring of the ,nibelung1 which is heard when ,alberich curses the ,ring1 and all into whose possession it shall come4 ,when1 near the end of ,rheingold1 ,fafner kills his brother1 ,fasolt1 in wresting the ,ring from him1 the motive recurs with a significance which is readily understood4 ,fasolt is the first victim of the curse4 ,again1 in ,goetterdaemmerung1 when ,siegfried lands at the entrance to the castle of ,gibichungs1 and is greeted by ,hagen1 although the greeting seems hearty enough1 the motive is heard and conveys its sinister lure4 ,music illustration ,when1 in ,die ,walkuere1 ,bruennhilde predicts the birth of a son to ,sieglinde1 you hear the ,siegfried ,motive1 signifying that the child will be none other than the young hero of the next drama4 ,the motive is heard again when ,wotan promises ,bruennhilde to surround her with a circle of flames which none but a hero can penetrate1 ,siegfried being that hero2 and also when ,siegfried himself1 in the music-drama ,siegfried1 tells of seeing his image in the brook4 ,music illustration ,there are motives which are almost wholly rhythmical1 like the ,nibelung ,smithy ,motive1 which depicts the slavery of the ,nibelungs1 eternally working in the mines of ,nibelheim2 and motives with strange1 weird harmonies1 like the motive of the ,tarnhelm1 which conveys a sense of mystery1 the ,tarnhelm giving its wearer the power to change his form4 ,music illustration ,leading ,motives not ,mere ,labels4 ,leading motives are not mere labels4 ,they concern themselves with more than the superficial aspect of things and persons4 ,with persons they express character2 with things they symbolize what these stand for4 ,the ,curse ,motive is weird1 sinister4 ,you feel when listening to it that it bodes evil to all who come within its dark circle4 ,the ,siegfried ,motive1 on the other hand1 is buoyant with youth1 vigor1 courage2 vibrates with the love of achievement2 and stirs the soul with its suggestion of heroism4 ,but when you hear it in the ,funeral ,march in ,goetterdaemmerung and it recalls by association the gay-hearted1 tender yet courageous boy1 who slew the dragon1 awakened ,bruennhilde with his kiss1 only to be betrayed and murdered by ,hagen1 and now is being borne over the mountain to the funeral pyre1 those heroic strains have a tragic significance that almost brings tears to your eyes4 ,the ,siegfried ,motive is a good example of a musical phrase the contour of which practically remains unchanged through the music-drama4 ,the varied emotions with which we listen to it are effected by association4 ,but many of ,wagner's leading motives are extremely plastic and undergo many changes in illustrating the development of character or the special bearing of certain dramatic situations upon those concerned in the action of the drama4 ,as a gay-hearted youth1 ,siegfried winds his horn3 ,music illustration ,this horn call becomes1 when1 as ,bruennhilde's husband1 he bids farewell to his bride and departs in quest of knightly adventure1 the stately ,motive of ,siegfried1 the ,hero3 ,music illustration ,and when the dead ,siegfried1 stretched upon a rude bier1 is borne from the scene1 it voices the climax of the tragedy with overwhelming power3 ,music illustration ,thus we have two derivatives from the ,siegfried horn call1 each with its own special significance1 yet harking back to the original germ4 ,soon after the opening of ,tristan und ,isolde a sailor sings an unaccompanied song of farewell to his ,irish ,maid4 ,the words1 ,the wind blows freshly toward our home1 are sung to an undulating phrase which seems to represent the gentle heaving of the sea4 ,music illustration3 ,frisch weht der ,wind der ,hei-mat zu3 mein i-risch ,kind1 wo wei-lest du8 ,this same phrase gracefully undulates through ,brangaene's reply to ,isolde's question as to the vessel's course1 changes entirely in character1 and surges savagely around her wild outburst of anger when she is told that the vessel is nearing ,cornwall's shore1 and breaks itself in savage fury against her despairing wrath when she invokes the elements to destroy the ship and all upon it4 ,examples like these occur many times in the scores of ,wagner's music-dramas4 ,music illustration ,music illustration ,often1 when several characters are participating in a scene1 or when the act or influence of one1 or the principle for which he stands in the drama1 is potent1 though he himself is not present1 ,wagner with rare skill combines several motives1 utilizing for this purpose all the resources of counterpoint4 ,elsewhere ,i already have described how he has done this in the ,magic ,fire ,scene in ,die ,walkuere1 and one could add page after page of examples of this kind4 ,i have also spoken of his supreme mastership of instrumentation1 through which he gives an endless variety of tone color to his score4 ,wagner was a great dramatist1 but he was a far greater musician4 ,there are many splendid scenes and climaxes in the dramas which he wrote for his music1 and if he had not been a composer it is possible he would have achieved immortality as a writer of tragedy4 ,on the other hand1 however1 there are in his dramas many long stretches in which the action is unconsciously delayed by talk4 ,he believed that music and drama should go hand in hand and each be of equal interest2 but his supreme musicianship has disproved his own theories1 for his dramas derive the breath of life from his music4 ,theoretically1 he is not supposed to have written absolute music--music for its own sake--but music that would be intelligible and interesting only in connection with the drama to which it was set4 ,but the scores of the great scenes in his music-dramas1 played simply as instrumental selections in concert and without the slightest clue to their meaning in their given place1 constitute the greatest achievements in absolute music that history up to the present time can show4 ,,the ,,end 99 99 99 99 99 ,transcriber's ,note3 ,author's archaic and variable spelling and hyphenation is mostly preserved4 ,author's punctuation style is preserved4 ,illustrations have been moved closer to their relevant paragraphs1 but the original page numbers are preserved in the ,list of ,illustrations4 ,illustrations may be viewed full-size by clicking on them4 ,passages in italics indicated by underscores4 ,passages in bold indicated by equal signs4 ,typographical problems have been changed1 and are listed below4 ,transcriber's ,changes3 ,page #ce3 ,was ',wesendonk' 7as if ,i had it by heart1 he writes from ,venice to ,mathilde ,wesendonck1 in relating to her the genesis of the great love7 ,page #aci3 ,was ',trauemerei' 7,and then there are the ,scenes from ,childhood1 to which belongs the ,traeumerei2 the ,forest ,scenes1 the ,sonatas27 ,page #agb3 ,was ',pathetique' 7while for his ,symphonie ,pathetique1 one of the finest of modern orchestral works1 ,tschaikowsky adds only a bass tuba7