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Title: How music grew
From prehistoric times to the present day
Author: Marion Bauer
Ethel R. Peyser
Release date: November 19, 2023 [eBook #72171]
Language: English
Original publication: New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1925
Credits: Richard Tonsing, Tim Lindell, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW MUSIC GREW ***
[Illustration:
_From the painting by Manet—in the Louvre, Paris._
_The Fifer._
]
HOW MUSIC GREW
FROM PREHISTORIC TIMES TO THE PRESENT DAY
BY
MARION BAUER & ETHEL PEYSER
[Illustration: Logo]
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
WILLIAM J. HENDERSON
_With 64 Illustrations_
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK :: LONDON
Copyright, 1925
by
Marion Bauer and Ethel Peyser
Tenth Impression
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced
in any form without permission.
Made in the United States of America
TO OUR YOUNG FRIENDS
FROM
NINE TO NINETY
THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY OFFERED
“It takes three to make music: one to create, one to perform, one to
appreciate. And who can tell which is the most important?”
ROBERT HAVEN SCHAUFFLER, from
_The Creative Listener_ (a revision) in
_The Musical Amateur_.
THE AUTHORS’ GREETINGS
DEAR YOUNG READERS FROM NINE TO NINETY:
In writing this book we have not tried to write a history but rather
have attempted to follow a lane parallel to the road along which music
has marched down to us through the ages.
For this reason you will find what may seem upon first glance peculiar
omissions, but which to us were prayerfully and carefully relinquished,
lest the book become an encyclopedia and lest our kind publisher look
upon us ungraciously and our readers despair.
Among the omissions which may be regarded as serious is a chapter on the
singers, those who have delighted and thrilled the public through the
years, but the nature of this book, in the minds of its authors,
precludes details of the executive side of music, adhering as closely as
possible to the actual creators.
In our experience every history of music, and we have read scores of
them, leaves out many things, so our “lane” touches things in passing,
only, owing to mechanical as well as willful reasons.
On the other hand we have enlarged greatly on many topics. This we have
done when we have considered a subject particularly picturesque in order
to attract and stimulate the novice reading about music, perhaps, for
the first time!
Lastly we have tried to explain as simply as possible, without becoming
infantile, the varying steps in Music’s growth. Therefore, the book has
assumed larger proportions than if we had been able to use scientific
terms and cut the Gordian knot of explanation with one swiftly aimed
blow, rather than three or four.
So, with the sincere hope that our book will help you to love music
better, because you will have seen its struggle with politics, religion
and its critics, we leave you to read it—from cover to cover—we hope!
MARION BAUER AND ETHEL PEYSER.
PARIS AND
NEW YORK CITY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Our book has had friends other than its authors. It has, in fact, had
makers as well as authors, so it cannot go out into the world without
proclaiming its “thank-yous.” First it would thank Flora Bernstein, its
indefatigable and patient typist, editor and general adviser, who worked
night and day for many moons; second, it must thank Dorothy Lawton of
the Music Library of the City of New York for her graceful but poignant
criticism, and third it must thank Grace Bliss Stewart, who did some
research and anything needed.
_How Music Grew_
and the
AUTHORS.
INTRODUCTION
No one questions the need of histories of music. Few, however, define
the need. It seems to be generally agreed that people ought to know
something about the history of the principal arts. Who designed St.
Peter’s, who painted the _Descent from the Cross_, who wrote _The Faerie
Queen_ and who composed the _Ninth Symphony_. These are things one ought
to know. The reasons why one ought to know them are seldom made clear.
But just at this time, when the word “appreciation” is so active in the
world’s conversation, there should be little difficulty in separating
from the mass of unformed comment at least one reason for acquaintance
with the history of music.
No one can “appreciate” an art work without knowing its period, the
state of the art in that period, the ideals and purposes of composers,
the capacity of their public and the particular gifts and aims of the
writer of the work under consideration. It is extremely difficult for
any person to begin the study of “appreciation” after he is old enough
to have acquired a stock of prejudices and burdened his mind with a
heavy load of misconceptions. It is better to absorb good art, music or
other, in the early years and to grow up with it than to try at 18 or 20
to put away childish things and understand Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion.”
Miss Bauer and Miss Peyser have written a history of music for young
people. It is not for the kindergarten class and yet it is not out of
the reach of mere children. It is not for the seniors in a university
and yet they might profit by examining it. The authors have surveyed the
entire field. They have touched ancient music and the music of nations
not usually considered in some more pretentious histories. They have
apparently tried to give a bird’s-eye view of the art as practiced by
all the civilized and some of the uncivilized races of the earth. With
this in mind they have shown how the supreme art forms and the greatest
art works developed among the western European peoples, who, it is
interesting to note, produced also the metaphysical and philosophical
bases of the world’s scientific thought, the mightiest inventions, and
with all regard for Buddhistic poetry and speculation, the highest
achievements in literature.
It seems to me that they have made a history of music singularly well
adapted to young minds. They do not treat their readers as if they were
infants—which might offend them—nor as college professors, which would
certainly bore them. The book will undoubtedly have a large audience,
for teachers of young music students, of whom there are legions, will
surely exclaim: “This is just what we have needed.”
W. J. HENDERSON.
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE AUTHORS’ GREETINGS vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
INTRODUCTION, BY W. J. HENDERSON xi
BABYHOOD OF MUSIC
CHAPTER
I.— MUSIC IS BORN—HOW, WHEN AND WHERE 3
II.— THE SAVAGE MAKES HIS MUSIC 8
III.— THE ANCIENT NATIONS MADE THEIR MUSIC—EGYPTIAN, ASSYRIAN,
AND HEBREW 20
IV.— THE GREEKS LIVED THEIR MUSIC—THE ROMANS USED GREEK
PATTERNS 31
V.— THE ORIENTALS MAKE THEIR MUSIC—CHINESE, JAPANESE,
SIAMESE, BURMESE, AND JAVANESE 46
VI.— THE ARAB SPREADS CULTURE—THE GODS GIVE MUSIC TO THE
HINDUS 55
CHILDHOOD OF MUSIC
VII.— WHAT CHURCH MUSIC IMPORTED FROM GREECE 67
VIII.— TROUBADOURS AND MINNESINGERS BROUGHT MUSIC TO KINGS AND
PEOPLE 87
IX.— THE PEOPLE DANCE AND SING—FOLK MUSIC 107
X.— NATIONAL PORTRAITS IN FOLK MUSIC 128
MUSIC BECOMES A YOUTH
XI.— MAKERS OF MOTETS AND MADRIGALS—RISE OF SCHOOLS, 15TH AND
16TH CENTURIES 146
XII.— MUSIC GETS A REPRIMAND—REFORMATION AND REBIRTH OF
LEARNING—HOW THE REFORMS CAME TO BE 162
XIII.— BIRTH OF ORATORIO AND OPERA—MONTEVERDE AND HEART MUSIC 171
XIV.— MUSICKE IN MERRIE ENGLAND 187
MUSIC COMES OF AGE
XV.— DANCE TUNES GROW UP—SUITES—VIOLIN MAKERS OF CREMONA 208
XVI.— OPERA IN FRANCE—LULLY AND RAMEAU—CLAVECIN AND HARPSICHORD
COMPOSERS 222
XVII.— GERMANY ENTERS—ORGANS, ORGANISTS AND ORGAN WORKS 235
MUSIC HAS GROWN UP
XVIII.— BACH—THE GIANT 244
XIX.— HANDEL AND GLUCK—PATHMAKERS 255
XX.— “PAPA” HAYDN AND MOZART—THE GENIUS 275
XXI.— BEETHOVEN THE COLOSSUS 293
XXII.— THE PIANOFORTE GROWS UP—THE ANCESTRY OF THE PIANOFORTE 307
XXIII.— OPERA MAKERS OF FRANCE, GERMANY AND ITALY—1741 TO WAGNER 326
XXIV.— THE POET MUSIC WRITERS—ROMANTIC SCHOOL 343
XXV.— WAGNER—THE WIZARD 359
XXVI.— MORE OPERA MAKERS—VERDI AND MEYERBEER TO OUR DAY 377
XXVII.— SOME TONE POETS 397
XXVIII.— LATE 19TH CENTURY COMPOSERS WRITE NEW MUSIC ON OLD MODELS 418
XXIX.— MUSIC APPEARS IN NATIONAL COSTUMES 441
XXX.— AMERICA ENTERS 456
XXXI.— AMERICA COMES OF AGE 475
XXXII.— TWENTIETH CENTURY MUSIC 515
SOME OF THE BOOKS WE CONSULTED 547
SOME MUSIC WRITERS ACCORDING TO FORMS OF COMPOSITION 551
INDEX 587
ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
THE FIFER _Frontispiece_
SOME INSTRUMENTS OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN 20
HIEROGLYPHICS ON AN EGYPTIAN TABLET 21
GREEK GIRL PLAYING A DOUBLE FLUTE (AULOI) 30
GREEK BOY PLAYING THE LYRE 31
CHINESE INSTRUMENTS 44
FIDDLES FROM ARABIA, JAPAN, COREA AND SIAM 45
THE KOTO-PLAYER 46
THE WANDERING SAMISEN-PLAYER 47
INSTRUMENTS OF BURMAH AND SIAM 52
A BURMESE MUSICALE 53
LAURA WILLIAMS, AMERICAN SINGER OF ARAB SONGS 58
HINDU INSTRUMENTS 66, 67
ST. CECELIA, PATRON SAINT OF MUSIC 72
THE BOOK OF PEACE 73
BOYS WITH A LUTE 128
A PEASANT WEDDING 129
A LADY AT THE CLAVIER (CLAVICHORD) 186
A LADY PLAYING THE THEORBO (LUTH) 187
CHEVALIER CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD VON GLUCK 274
THE BOY MOZART 275
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART 292
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN 293
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH 306
GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL 306
FRANZ JOSEF HAYDN 306
CARL MARIA VAN WEBER 306
THE PIANO AND ITS GRAND-PARENTS 307
FRANZ SCHUBERT 358
ROBERT SCHUMANN 358
FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY 358
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN 358
RICHARD WAGNER, THE WIZARD 359
GEORGES BIZET 388
VINCENT D’INDY 389
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS 389
JULES MASSENET 389
GUSTAVE CHARPENTIER 389
HECTOR BERLIOZ 402
FRANZ LISZT 403
JOHANNES BRAHMS AT HOME 418
CÉSAR FRANCK 419
EDWARD MACDOWELL 492
CHARLES GRIFFES 493
CLAUDE ACHILLE DEBUSSY 516
MAURICE RAVEL 516
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG 517
IGOR STRAVINSKY 517
ARTHUR HONEGGER 538
DARIUS MILHAUD 538
BÉLA BARTÓK 538
LOUIS GRUENBERG 538
G. FRANCESCO MALIPIERO 539
ALFREDO CASELLA 539
ARNOLD BAX 539
EUGENE GOOSSENS 539
How Music Grew
Babyhood of Music
CHAPTER I
Music is Born—How, When and Where
There was once a time when children did not have to go to school, for
there were no schools; they did not have to take music lessons because
there was no music; there was not even a language by which people could
talk to each other, and there were no books and no pencils. There were
no churches then, no homes nor cities, no railroads, no roads in fact,
and the oldest and wisest man knew less than a little child of today.
Step by step men fought their way to find means of speaking to each
other, to make roads to travel on, houses to live in, fire to cook with,
clothes to wear, and ways to amuse themselves.
During this time, over one hundred thousand years ago, called
“prehistoric” because it was before events were recorded, men had to
struggle with things that no longer bother us.
Picture to yourselves this era when people lived out-of-doors, in mounds
and caves surrounded by wild beasts which though dangerous, were not
much more so than their human neighbors. Remember, too, that these
people did not know that light followed darkness as the day the night;
summer followed winter as the seasons come and go; that trees lost their
leaves only to bear new ones in the spring, and that lightning and
thunder were natural happenings; and so on through the long list of
things that we think today perfectly simple, and not in the least
frightening.
Because they did not understand these natural things, they thought that
trees, sun, rain, animals, birds, fire, birth, death, marriage, the
hunt, caves and everything else had good and bad gods in them. In order
to please these gods they made prayers to them quite different from our
prayers, as they danced, sang and acted the things they wanted to have
happen. When a savage wanted sun or wind or rain, he called his tribe
together and danced a sun dance, or a wind dance, or a rain dance. When
he wanted food, he did not pray for it, but he acted out the hunt in a
bear dance. As the centuries went by they continued to use these dances
as prayers, and later they became what we call religious rites and
festivals. So here you see actually the beginning of what we know as
Easter festivals, Christmas with its Christmas tree and mistletoe,
spring festivals and Maypole dances with the Queen of the May,
Hallowe’en and many other holiday celebrations.
This is how music, dancing, poetry, painting and drama were born. They
were the means by which primitive men talked to their gods. This they
did, to be sure, very simply, by hand-clapping and foot-stamping, by
swaying their bodies to and fro, by shouting, shrieking, grunting,
crying and sobbing, and as soon as they knew enough, used language, and
repeated the same word over and over again. These movements and sounds
were the two roots from which music grew.
If you can call these queer grunts and yells singing, the men of those
far-off days must have sung even before they had a language, in fact, it
must have been difficult to know whether they were singing or talking.
In these cries of joy, sorrow, pain, rage, fear, or revenge, we find
another very important reason for the growth of music. These
exclamations, however barbaric and rough, were man’s first attempt at
expressing his feelings.
We still look upon music as one of the most satisfying ways to show our
emotions, and the whole story of music from prehistoric times to the
present day is a record of human feelings expressed in rhythm and
melody.
Gradually these early men learned to make not only musical instruments,
but also the knife for hunting and utensils for cooking. The first step
towards a musical instrument was doubtless the striking together of two
pieces of wood or stone in repeated beats. The next step was the
stretching of the skin of an animal over a hollowed-out stone or tree
trunk forming the first drum. Another simple and very useful instrument
was made of a gourd (the dried hollow rind of a melon-like fruit) filled
with pebbles and shaken like a baby’s rattle.
As early in the story of mankind as this, the love of decoration and
need of beauty were so natural that they decorated their bodies, the
walls of their caves, and their everyday tools with designs in carving,
and in colors made from earth and plants. You can see some of these
utensils and knives, even bits of wall pictures, in many of the museums
in collections made by men who dig up old cities and sections of the
countries where prehistoric peoples lived. These men are called
archaeologists, and devote their lives to this work so that we may know
what happened before history began.
A few years ago tools of flint, utensils made of bone, and skeletons of
huge animals, that no longer exist, were found in a sulphur spring in
Oklahoma; pottery and tools of stone, wood, and shell were dug up in
Arizona; carvings, spear heads, arrow points, polished stone hatchets
and articles of stone and ivory in Georgia, Pennsylvania and the Potomac
Valley. This shows that this continent also had been inhabited by
prehistoric people.
Even as we see prehistoric man using the things of nature for his tools,
such as elephant tusks, flint, and wood; and as we see him making paint
from earth and plants, we also see him getting music from nature. It
would have been impossible for these early men and children to have
lived out-of-doors and not to have listened to the songs of the birds,
the sound of wind through the trees, the waves against the rocks, the
trickling water of brooks, the beat of the rain, the crashing of thunder
and the cries and roars of animals. All of these sounds of nature they
imitated in their songs and also the motions and play of animals in
their dances.
In Kamchatka, the peninsula across the Behring Strait from Alaska, there
still live natives who sing songs named for and mimicking the cries of
their wild ducks.
The natives of Australia, which is the home of the amusing-looking
kangaroo, have a dance in which they imitate the peculiar leaps and
motions of this animal. When you recall its funny long hind legs and
short forelegs, you can imagine how entertaining it would be to imitate
its motions. The natives also try to make the same sounds with their
voices, as the kangaroo. The women accompany these dances by singing a
simple tune of four tones over and over, knocking two pieces of wood
together to keep time. If ever you go to the Australian bush (woods or
forests) you will see this kangaroo dance. This is different, isn’t it,
from sitting in a concert hall and listening to some great musician who
has spent his life in hard work and study so that he may play or sing
for you?
We can learn much about the beginnings of music from tribes of men who,
although living today, are very near the birthday of the world, so far
as their knowledge and habits are concerned.
Primitive men love play; they love to jump, to yell, to fling their arms
and legs about, and to make up stories which they act out, as children
do who “make believe.”
This love of mankind for make believe, and his desire to be amused,
along with his natural instinct to express what he feels, are the roots
from which music has grown. But, of course, in prehistoric times, men
did not know that they were making an art, for they were only uttering
in sound and movement their wants, their needs, in fact, only expressing
their daily life and their belief in God.
CHAPTER II
The Savage Makes His Music
Fortunately for our story there live groups of people today still in the
early stages of civilization who show us the manners and customs of
primitive man, because they are primitive men themselves.
We are going to learn how music grew from the American Indian and the
African. We are using these two as examples for two reasons: because
they are close enough to us to have influenced our own American music,
and because all savage music has similar traits. The American Indian and
the African show us the steps from the primitive state of music to the
beginning of music as an art. In other words, these people are a bridge
between prehistoric music and that of the civilized world.
In Chapter I about prehistoric man, we spoke of the two roots of
music—movement and sound. Hereafter when we speak of rhythm it will mean
movement either in tones or in gestures. Rhythm expressed in tones makes
music; rhythm expressed in gestures makes the dance. The reason we like
dance music and marches is that we feel the rhythm, the thing that makes
us want to mark the beat of the music with our feet, or hands, or with
head bobbings. This love of the beat is strong in the savage, and upon
this he builds his music.
Our American Jazz is the result of our desire for strong rhythms and
shows that we, for all our culture, have something in us of the savage’s
feeling for movement.
AMERICAN INDIANS
We have a name for everything, but the American Indian has a name and a
song for everything. He has a song for his moccasins, for his head-gear,
for his teepee, the fire in it, the forest around him, the lakes and
rivers in which he fishes and paddles, for his canoe, for the fish he
catches, for his gods, his friends, his family, his enemies, the animal
he hunts, the maiden he woos, the stars, the sun, and the moon, in fact
for everything imaginable. The following little story will explain the
Indians’ idea of the use of their songs:
An American visitor who was making a collection of Indian songs, asked
an old Ojibway song-leader to sing a hunting song. The old Indian looked
at him in surprise and left him. A little later the son-in-law of the
Indian appeared and with apologies told the American that “the old
gentleman” could not sing a hunting song because it was not the hunting
season.
The next time the old Indian came, the American asked him for a love
song, but he politely refused, saying that it was not dignified for a
man of his age to sing love songs. However, the old warrior suddenly
decided that as he was making a call, it was quite proper for him to
sing Visiting Songs, which he did, to his host’s delight.
This old man had been taught to sing when he was a very little boy, as
the Indian boy learns the history of his tribe through the songs. He is
carefully trained by the old men and women so that no song of the tribe
or family should be forgotten. These songs are handed down from one
family to another, and no one knows how many hundreds of years old they
may be. So, you see, these songs become history and the young Indians
learn their history this way, not as we do, from text books.
“What new songs did you learn?” is the question that one Indian will ask
of another who has been away on a visit, and like the announcer at the
radio broadcasting station, the Indian answers:
“My friends, I will now sing you a song of—” and he fully describes the
song. Then he sings it. After he finishes, he says, “My friends, I have
sung you the song of—” and repeats the name of the song!
So great a part of an Indian’s life is music, that he has no word
meaning poetry in his language. Poetry to the Indian is always song. In
fact an Indian puts new words to an old tune and thinks he has invented
a new song.
WHAT IS INDIAN MUSIC?
When the Indian sings, he starts on the highest tone he can reach and
gradually drops to the lowest, so that many of his songs cover almost
two octaves. He does not know that he sings in a scale of five tones.
For some reason which we cannot explain, most primitive races have used
this same scale. It is like our five black keys on the piano, starting
with F sharp. This is called the pentatonic scale, (penta, Greek word
for five, tonic meaning tones). This scale is a most amazing traveler,
for we meet it in our musical journeys in China, Japan, Arabia,
Scotland, Africa, Ireland, ancient Peru and Mexico, Greece and many
other places. The reason we find these five tones popular must be
because they are natural for the human throat. At any rate we know that
it is difficult for the Indian to sing our scale. He does not seem to
want the two notes that we use between the two groups of black keys
which make our familiar major scale.
It is very difficult to put down an Indian song in our musical writing,
because, the Indians sing in a natural scale that has not been changed
by centuries of musical learning. They sing in a rhythm that seems
complicated to our ears in spite of all our musical knowledge, and this,
too, is difficult to write down. Another thing which makes it hard to
set down and to imitate Indian music, is that they beat the drum in
different time from the song which they sing. They seldom strike the
drum and sing a tone at the same time. In fact, the drum and the voice
seem to race with each other. At the beginning of a song, for example,
the drum beat is slower than the voice. Gradually the drum catches up
with the voice and for a few measures they run along together. The drum
gains and wins the race, because it is played faster than the voice
sings. The curious part of it is, that this is not an accident, but
every time they sing the same song, the race is run the same way. We are
trained to count the beats and sing beat for beat, measure for measure
with the drum. Try to beat on a drum and sing, and see how hard it is
not to keep time with it.
The Indian slides from tone to tone; he scoops with his voice, somewhat
like the jazz trombone player.
INDIAN INSTRUMENTS
The Indian’s orchestra is made up of the rattle and the drum. The white
man cannot understand the Indian’s love of his drum. However, when he
lives among them he also learns to love it. When Indians travel, they
carry with them a drum which is hidden from the eyes of the strange
white man. When night comes, they have song contests accompanied by the
drum which is taken out of its hiding place.
These contests are very real to the Indians and they are similar to the
tournaments held in Germany in the Middle Ages.
The drummer, who is also the singer, is called the leading voice and is
so important that he ranks next to the chief. His rank is high, because
through knowing the songs he is the historian of his tribe.
The drum is made of a wooden frame across which is stretched the skin of
an animal, usually a deer. Sometimes it is only a few inches across, and
sometimes it is two feet in diameter. When it has two surfaces of skins,
they are separated four to six inches from each other. It is held in the
left hand by a leather strap attached to the drum frame, and beaten with
a short stick. (Figure 1.)
The Sioux Indian sets his drum on the ground; it is about the size of a
wash tub and has only one surface. Two or more players pound this drum
at the same time and the noise is often deafening. The Ojibway drum
always has two surfaces and is usually decorated with gay designs in
color. (Sioux drum, Figure 2.)
The drum makes a good weather bureau! The Indian often forecasts the
weather by the way his drum answers to his pounding. If the sound is
dull, he knows there is rain in the air, if it is clear and sharp and
the skin is tight, he can have out-door dances without fear of a
wetting. You could almost become a weather prophet yourself by watching
the strings of your tennis racket, which act very much like the drum
skin.
Another instrument beloved of all Indians is the rattle. There are many
different sizes and shapes of rattles made of gourds, horns of animals
and tiny drums filled with pebbles and shot. Some of them are carved out
of wood in the shape of birds and animal heads. (Figure 3.)
The Indians also have the flute, and although there is no special music
for it, it is of great importance in their lives. No two flutes are made
to play exactly the same tones, that is, they are not drawn to scale.
They are like home-whittled whistles made of wood in which holes are
burned. (Figure 4.)
The flute is never used in the festivals or in the dance but it is the
lover’s instrument. A young man who is too bashful to ask his sweetheart
to marry him, hides among the bushes near her teepee, close to the
spring where she goes every morning for water. When he sees her, he
plays a little tune that he makes up just for her. Being a well brought
up little Indian maid, she pretends not to notice it, but very soon
tries to find out who played to her. If she likes him, she gives him a
sign and he comes out of his hiding place, but if she does not wish to
marry him, she lets him go on playing every morning until he gets tired
and discouraged and returns no more to the loved spring near her teepee
in the early morning.
And this is the reason the Indian love songs so often refer to sunrise,
spring and fountains, and why we use the melancholy flute when we write
Indian love songs.
Because of the ceaseless beating of the drum, the constant repetition of
their scale of five tones, and the rambling effect of the music like
unpunctuated sentences, we find the Indian music very monotonous. But
they return the compliment and find our music monotonous, probably,
because it is too well punctuated. Mr. Frederick Burton in his book on
Primitive American Music, tells of having given to two Indian friends
tickets for a recital in Carnegie Hall, in New York City, where they
heard songs by Schubert and Schumann. When he asked them how they
enjoyed the music they politely said, “It is undoubtedly very fine, it
was a beautiful hall and the man had a great voice, but it seemed to us
as though he sang the song over, over and over again, only sometimes he
made it long and sometimes short.”
INDIAN SOCIETIES
The Indian is a great club man; every Indian belongs to some society.
The society which he joins is decided by what he dreams. If he dreams of
a bear, he joins the Bear Society; if he dreams of a Buffalo, he joins
the Buffalo Society. Other names of clubs are: Thunder-bird, Elks and
Wolves.
Dreams play a great part in the Indian’s life. If he dreams of a small
round stone, a sacred thing to him, he is supposed to have the power to
cure sickness, to foretell future events, to tell where objects are
which cannot be seen.
Every one of the societies or clubs has its own special songs. The
Indians also have songs of games, dances, songs of war and of the hunt,
songs celebrating the deeds of chiefs, conquering warriors, war-path and
council songs.
In the first chapter we spoke of primitive man imitating animals and
here we find that the Indians, in their societies named for animals,
imitate the acts of the clubs’ namesakes.
They have a dance called the grass dance, in which they decorate their
belts with long tufts of grass, a reminder of the days when they wore
scalps on their belts after they had been on the “war-path.” In this
dance they imitate the motions of the eagle and other birds. Even the
feathers used in their head-dress is a part of their custom of imitating
animals and birds. Some of these head-dresses are like the comb, and the
Indian who wears this will imitate the cries of the bird to which the
comb belongs. His actions always correspond with his costume.
The Indians have lullabies and children’s game-songs,—the moccasin game,
in which they search for sticks hidden in a moccasin. Then too, there is
the Rain Dance of the Junis and the Snake Dance of the Hopis, in which
they carry rattlesnakes, sometimes holding them between the teeth.
Dance often means a ceremony lasting several days. The Indians are
worshippers of the Sun, and have a festival, which lasts several days,
called the Sun Dance. This festival took place particularly among the
Indians of the plains: the Cheyennes, the Chippewas and others. The last
Sun Dance took place in 1882. In this the Indian offered to the “Great
Spirit” what was strongest in his nature and training,—the ability to
stand pain. Self inflicted pain was a part of the ceremony and seemed
noble to the Indian, but to the white man it was barbarous and
heathenish and he put a stop to it.
THE MEDICINE MAN
Have you ever heard of the medicine man? He is doctor, lawyer, priest,
philosopher, botanist, and musician all in one. The society of “Grand
Medicine” is the religion of the Chippewas. It teaches that one must be
good to live long. The chief aims of the society are to bring good
health and long life to its followers, and music is as important in the
healing as medicine.
Every member of the society carries a bag of herbs, the use of which he
has learned, and if called upon to heal the sick, he works the cure by
singing the right song before giving the medicine. The medicine is not
usually swallowed in proper fashion as a child takes a dose, but it is
carried by the sick person, or is placed among his belongings, or a
little wooden figure is carved roughly by the Medicine Man and must be
carried around with the herbs to heal the patient. But the song, and it
must be the right song for the occasion, counts as much as the medicine.
Wouldn’t you like to be an Indian?
Often the Medicine Man is called upon for a love-charm, for which there
is a song. There are also songs of cursing which are supposed to work an
evil charm when used with a certain kind of cursing herbs.
Both men and women may become members of the Great Medicine Society, and
they must go through eight degrees or stages in which they are taught
the use of the medicines and the songs. Each member of the society has
his own set of songs, some of which he has composed himself and others
he has had to buy for large sums of money or goods. No man is allowed to
sing another man’s song unless he has bought the right to it. With the
sale of a song goes the herb to be used with that particular song. The
ceremony is very elaborate. It lasts for several days, and sounds very
much like a story book.
The Chippewa Indians have had a written picture language by means of
which they read the different songs. These pictures were usually drawn
on white birch-bark. Here are a few samples:
[Illustration:
INDIAN SONG PICTURE
In form like a bird it appears.
]
[Illustration:
INDIAN SONG PICTURE
On my arm behold my pan of food.
]
[Illustration:
INDIAN SONG PICTURE
Wavy lines indicate “the song.”
Straight lines indicate “strength.”
]
[Illustration:
INDIAN SONG PICTURE
I have shot straight.
]
[Illustration:
INDIAN SONG PICTURE
The sound of flowing water comes toward my home.
]
When we tell you about American music we will speak again of the Indian
and how we have used in our own music what he has given us.
THE NEGRO AND HIS MUSIC
The place of the negro in the world of music has been the cause of many
questions:
Is his music that of a primitive man?
Is it American?
Is it American Folk Music?
As we tell you the story of music we shall have to speak of the negro
music from all these different sides. But, for you to understand why
there is a question about it, we must tell you where the negro came from
and what he brought from his primitive home.
When the English first came to Virginia and founded Jamestown in 1607
they started to grow tobacco on great plantations, and for this they
needed cheap labor. They tried to use Indians, but as the work killed so
many of them, they had negroes sent over from Africa to do it. A year
before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, negroes were
already being sold as slaves in Virginia. Until 1808 these negroes were
brought over from Africa; they were not all of one tribe, nor were they
of one race. There were Malays from Madagascar, Movis from northern
Africa, red skins and yellow skins as well as black.
These people were primitive and they all used song and dance in their
religion, their work and their games. They brought from Africa a great
love for music and ears that heard and remembered more than many a
trained musician. A well-known writer has said that wherever the African
negro has gone, he has left traces in the music of that country. The
Spanish Habanera, which we have danced by the name of Tango came from
Africa; even the name is African, “tangara,” and was a vulgar dance
unfit for civilized people. The rhythm of the African dance and of our
tango is the same.
Like other savages, the African negro loved rhythm better than melody.
His songs were monotonous and were made up of a few tones and short
repeated phrases. They used the scale, of five tones (called
pentatonic), the same as the Indian’s.
The African negro was a master at drumming. The Indian drumming was
regular like the clock or pulse, but the negro played most difficult and
complicated rhythms, almost impossible for a trained musician, to
imitate. He had drums of all sizes and kinds.
These savages sang groups of tones which we call chords, which were not
used by any of the ancient civilized people. By means of different
rhythms they had hundreds of ways of combining the three tones of a
chord as C-E-G. It is curious that these primitive people should have
used methods more like our own than many of the races that had reached a
much higher degree of civilization.
The Africans had an original telegraph system in which they did not use
the Morse code, but sent their messages by means of drums that were
heard many miles away. They had a special drum language which the
natives understood; and the American Indians flashed _their_ messages
over long distances by means of the reflection of the sun on metal.
It is only a little more than a hundred years ago since we stopped
bringing these primitive people into America and making slaves of them.
Their children have become thoroughly Americanized now, from having
lived alongside of the white people all this time and some have
forgotten their African forefathers. But in the same way that the
children of Italian, German, French or Russian parents remember the
songs of their forefathers and often show traces of these songs in the
music they make, so the negro without knowing it has kept some of the
primitive traits of African music.
Later, we will tell you how this grew into two kinds of music, the
beautiful religious song called the Negro Spiritual, and the dance which
has grown into our popular ragtime and jazz.
If we were to study in detail the music of many savage tribes of
different periods from prehistoric day to the uncivilized people living
today, we should find certain points in common. They all have festival
songs, songs for religious ceremonials, for games, work songs, war
songs, hunting songs and love songs. In fact it is a beautiful habit for
primitive people to put into song everything they do and everything they
wish to remember. With them music has not been a frill or a luxury, but
a daily need and a natural means for expressing themselves.
Another thing alike among these early peoples, is that all of them had
drums and rattles of some kind and a roughly made instrument that
resembles our pipes. But they had no stringed instruments and for their
beginnings you will have to journey on with us in this,—your book.
Since giving this book to the public, we have come in direct contact
with some remarkable songs of the Nootka (Canadian) Indians and of the
Eskimos. Juliette Gaultier de la Verendry, a young French Canadian, has
sung them in New York in the original dialect. They have been given to
her by D. Jenness, an anthropologist who lived among the Eskimos for
several years, studying their traits and at the same time he took the
opportunity of writing down their songs. They are truly savage music and
have the characteristics of which we have spoken in the use of
intervals, drums, and in the type of songs, such as weather and healing
incantations (medicine songs), work songs, and dances.
CHAPTER III
The Ancient Nations Made Their Music—Egyptian, Assyrian, and Hebrew
Three thousand years before Jesus was born, a corner of southwestern
Asia and northeastern Africa was the home of people who had reached a
very high degree of civilization. They were the first to pass the stage
of primitive man, and to make for themselves beautiful buildings,
beautiful cities, monuments, decorations and music. Among these ancient,
civilized people were the Egyptians, the Assyrians and the Hebrews. We
will talk first about the Egyptians because they had the greatest
influence not only on the Assyrian and Hebrew music, but also on the
Greeks who went to Egypt. So, in European music we can trace the
Egyptian influence through the Greeks.
The Egyptians were very fond of building and they decorated what they
built with pictures in vivid colorings called hieroglyphics
(heiro—sacred, glyphics—writings). As they had neither newspapers nor
radio sets, they carved or painted the records of their daily lives,
their festivals, battles, entertainments, and even marketing journeys on
the walls and on the columns of the temples, on the obelisks, and in the
tombs, some of which were the pyramids.
The climate saved these records from destruction, and the archaeologists
re-discovered them for us in the tombs full of Egyptian treasure and the
temples and lost cities, buried for thousands of years.
[Illustration:
_Fig. 1._
_Drums and Sticks._
]
[Illustration:
_Fig. 2._
_Sioux Drum._
]
[Illustration:
_Fig. 3._
_A Pipe and Rattles from Alaska._
]
[Illustration:
_Fig. 4._
_Bone Flutes._
]
(_Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York._)
_Some Instruments of the American Indian._
[Illustration:
_From the Egyptian Collection in the Louvre, Paris._
_Hieroglyphics on an Egyptian Tablet._
(_Telling a story of a Prince._)
]
The Egyptians built to inspire feelings of awe, mystery and grandeur.
You probably remember pictures of obelisks, temples, pyramids, tombs and
sphinxes, alongside of which a man looks but a few inches high.
They were very young as the world goes, and built huge structures
because they were still filled with wonder at the immensity and power of
the things they saw in Nature,—the Nile; the great desert which seemed
vaster to them because they had only slow-moving camels, elephants and
horses to take them about; they saw very long rainy seasons and the Nile
overflowing its banks yearly, long dry seasons and the terrible wind and
sand storms; the great heat of the sun, and the glory of their huge
flowers, such as the lotus.
Just as primitive people did, they personified Nature in the gods. They
had Osiris—god of Light, Health and Agriculture; Isis—goddess of the
Arts and Agriculture; Horus (hawk-headed), the Sun god; Phtah, first
divine King of Memphis, and many others. Again like primitive people,
they had music for their gods, for their temple services, for their
state ceremonies, festivals, martial celebrations and amusements.
Primitive music, we saw, had no laws to bind it, but was guided by the
savage’s natural feeling and he could make up anything he wished. In
Egypt, because of state law which prevented it from changing, music was
held down to the same system for three thousand years. New music was
forbidden, and much of the old was considered sacred and so closely
connected with religious ceremonies that it was allowed to be used only
in the temples.
The priests lived in these magnificent temples and were the
philosophers, artists and musicians, very like the medicine men of the
Indians, but much more advanced in learning.
Like the American Indians, too, the profession of music was handed down
from father to son, and only the children of singers, whether they had
good voices or not, could sing in the temples.
On the monuments we see these singers followed by players of
instruments. The singers were of the highest caste, or Priest caste; the
players were usually of the lower classes, or the Slave caste, although
as pictured on the tombs of Rameses, one of Egypt’s greatest rulers and
builders, we see the priests dressed in splendid robes and playing large
harps.
The temples of Egypt were so huge that the music had to be on a large
scale. They thought nothing of an orchestra of six hundred players of
harps, lyres, lutes, flutes and sistrums (bell rattles), whereas we
today advertise in large type the fact of one hundred men in one
orchestra! We see no trumpets in the picture writings of the Egyptian
orchestra, for these were only used in war, and we find them only in
their pictures of war and triumphal marches; nor do we see large drums,
because the Egyptians clapped their hands to mark rhythm. However, the
military instruments in the hands of players pictured on the monuments,
show that they used trumpets and tambourines in the army.
From the names we find in the tombs—“Singers of the King” and “Singers
of the Master of the World,” we know that the Kings had musicians of
high rank in their courts. The paintings on the walls and columns of the
ruins of the temple Karnak, show funeral services with kneeling singers,
playing harps of seven strings and other instruments.
Ptolemy Soter II, another famous Egyptian ruler, gave a fête in which
were heard a chorus of twelve hundred voices, accompanied by three
hundred Greek _kitharas_ and many flutes.
It seems like a fairy tale that we can bring back the manners and
customs of three thousand years ago through studying the writings in
stone called hieroglyphics, and by examining the things used every day,
that were found in the excavations. For a long time the hieroglyphics
were unsolved riddles until the discovery in 1799 A.D. of the Rosetta
stone, on which was an inscription in hieroglyphics with its Greek
translation. Although ancient Greek is called a dead language, it still
has enough life in it to bring back the history and records of
antiquity. Through this knowledge of Greek, the Egyptian inscriptions
speak to us and tell us marvelous stories of ancient Egypt.
In one of the tombs at Thebes, was a harp with strings of catgut, which
when plucked, still gave out sounds although the harp had probably not
been played upon in three thousand years!
Going once more to our ancient stone library—or collections of monuments
in our museums or in Egypt—we see many pictures of dancers. The
Egyptians danced in religious ceremonies as well as in private
entertainments. They loved lively dances, and the men did all sorts of
acrobatic steps and even toe-dancing like our Pavlowa, while the women
did the slow, languorous dances.
Egyptian music was greatest as far back as 3000 B.C.! After that it grew
poorer until 525 B.C. when Egypt was conquered by Persia.
THE EGYPTIAN SCALE
The Egyptians must have used a musical scale of whole steps and half
steps, covering several octaves, not unlike ours. Think of the piano
keyboard with its black and its white keys and you will get an idea of
the Egyptian scale. We learned this through the discovery of a flute
that played a scale of half steps from _a_ below middle _c_ to _d_ above
the staff with only a few tones missing.
ASSYRIAN MUSIC
In the British Museum in London and in the Louvre in Paris, you can see
ancient records which archaeologists unearthed from three mounds near
the River Tigris in Asiatic Turkey. These mounds were the remains of the
Assyrian cities of Nimroud (Babylon), Khorsabad, and probably the famous
Nineveh, and date from 3000 to 1300 B.C.
Did Assyria influence Egypt or was it the other way around? The
Egyptians excelled in making mechanical things such as instruments,
utensils, tools, and in building temples and pyramids; while the
Assyrians were sculptors, workers in metals and enamel, and knew the
secret of dyeing and weaving stuffs, and of making beautiful pottery.
But whose music was the better, the Egyptians or the Assyrians, is
impossible to say. We do know, however, that the Assyrians, as well as
the Egyptians and Hebrews, had perfected music far beyond the standard
reached by many nations of our own time.
The Assyrians had the same families of instruments that we have,—the
percussion (or drums), wind, and strings; and they used different
combinations of instruments in concerts, either in instrumental
performances or for accompanying vocal music. Everything that we know
about them shows that the Assyrians were greater noisemakers than the
Egyptians, for they not only had drums and trumpets, but they also
marked rhythm by stamping their feet instead of clapping their hands.
The instruments pictured on the monuments, probably existed many
centuries before the building of these monuments, which would make them
very old indeed. In fact, almost all of them are still in use in the
Orient today and are played in the same way. The monuments also prove
that some of the special ceremonies in which music was used are still in
existence.
Both the Assyrians and the Egyptians had flutes, and double flutes which
were actually two flutes connected by one mouthpiece and looked like the
letter v. The Assyrians also had harps that varied in size from some
that could be carried in the hand, to some that stood seven feet high
and had as many as twenty-two strings. The dulcimer, an instrument
something like a zither, was very popular and was made so that it could
be played standing upright or lying flat. They also had drums,
castanets, cymbals, tambours or tambourines, and lyres, all of which
could be easily carried.
The Assyrians being a warlike nation made their instruments so that they
could be strapped to their bodies. So it seems that people in 3000 B.C.
were practical.
The Assyrians were so fond of music that when their war-prisoners were
musicians they were not put to death.
HEBREW MUSIC
We get our knowledge of the Hebrew music not from stone monuments and
wall pictures, but from Biblical writings and other ancient Hebrew
records. In the Second Commandment, God forbids the Hebrews to make
images:
“Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of
anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the
waters under the earth.” (Exodus XXI: 4.) With so strict a commandment,
you can understand why there are no pictures of singers and of
instruments, and that we have to go to the greatest literary gift to the
world,—the Old Testament, to find out about their music.
The first musician mentioned in the Bible is Jubal. It says in Genesis
IV: 21, “he was the father of all such as handle the harp and pipe (or
organ).” From an old Spanish book found in the early 18th century in a
Mexican monastery, comes the story that Jubal was listening to
Tubal-Cain’s forge, and noticed the difference in pitch of the sounds
made by the strokes on the anvil. Some tones were high, some low, and
some were medium. He compared this to the human voice, and tried to
imitate the sounds, high, low and medium, of the forge. Thus he became
the first singer of the Hebrews. Jubal invented a flute and a little
three-cornered harp called the _kinnor_. These small instruments were
most convenient to carry about, for at this time the Hebrews were
shepherd tribes wandering from place to place. Their music was simple as
is the music of all primitive peoples.
We know from the Biblical story that the Children of Israel were sold
into captivity and remained many centuries in Egypt; that Moses was
found in the bulrushes by Pharoah’s daughter, and was educated as an
Egyptian boy and “was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.”
Therefore, he must have learned music from the priests. It is natural
then, that the Hebrews must have borrowed the music and instruments of
their adopted country in the making of their own.
After Moses had been commanded by the Lord to lead the children of
Israel out of the land of captivity, and after the Red Sea had divided
to allow them to pass through, we read the great song of triumph sung by
Moses:
“Then sang Moses and the Children of Israel: ‘I will sing unto Jehovah,
for he hath triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider hath he thrown
into the sea, Jehovah is my strength and my song and he is become my
salvation.’” etc.—(Exodus XV: 1–2).
And “Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her
hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with
dances.” (The timbrel is a small tambourine-like instrument.)
This story, like others in the Old Testament, is full of the accounts of
musical instruments, singing and dancing, and shows us that the ancient
Hebrews used music and the dance for nearly every event. If you read
carefully you will get the musical history of this poetic people.
While the Children of Israel were in the wilderness, Moses received from
Jehovah the command: (Numbers X.)
“Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make
them; that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for
the journeyings of the camp.”
Then follow directions as to the meaning of the blowing of the trumpets.
One trumpet alone called the princes; two trumpets called the entire
tribe together; an “alarm” gave the signal for the camps to go forward,
and so on. So, you see the ancient Hebrews used trumpets much as we
today use the army bugle. The trumpets mentioned as one of the earliest
of all instruments called the people to religious ceremonies too; it
announced festivals, the declaration of a war, the crowning of a king,
proclaimed the jubilee year, and gave warning of the anger of God.
One instrument has come down to our times and is still used in the
Hebrew temple services. This is called the _shofar_ and is usually a
ram’s horn on which two tones may be blown. Probably, as the ram was one
of the animals of sacrifice, they used its horn as a sacred instrument.
This shofar is 5,000 years old, at least. It is sounded in all the
synagogues of the world on the Jewish New Year and on the Day of
Atonement in memory of the wanderings of the Children of Israel.
When the twelve tribes, after their wanderings in the wilderness, had
settled down in Palestine, they gave music a most important place in
their daily life. Samuel, the last and most respected of the judges,
built a school of prophecy and music. Here it was that young David hid
himself to escape the persecutions of Saul. You remember that David is
called the Great Musician and he gave us many of the Psalms, the most
beautiful religious verse in the world. How much it would mean to us if
we knew the music David sang to these songs! In spite of the fact that
the music in which they were originally sung has been lost, the Psalms
have been an inspiration to all composers of religious music throughout
the ages. David learned so much at Samuel’s school that he created a
most beautiful musical service for the temple, which is the basis of the
one used today in Jewish synagogues (temples).
The number that were instructed in the songs of the Lord was two
hundred, four score and eight (288). There were in all four thousand,
including assistants, students, players of instruments and the two
hundred and eighty-eight professional singers.
All of these people did not perform at one time; for the ordinary
services they used twelve male singers, twelve players on
instruments,—nine harps, and two players of the psaltery and one of
cymbals. Women were not allowed to sing in the temples but they were a
part of the court and sang at funerals and at public festivities and
banquets.
The great Jewish historian, Josephus, tells us that Solomon had two
hundred thousand singers, forty thousand harpists, forty thousand
sistrum players and two hundred thousand trumpeters. This is hard to
believe, but as everything belonged to the kings in bygone days,
probably this was only Solomon’s musical directory.
The psaltery was an instrument something like our zither, with thirteen
strings on a flat wooden sounding board, rectangular in shape. The
sistrum was a metal rattle which made a very sweet sound.
It isn’t easy to describe the instruments used thousands of years ago,
for the names have become changed through the ages, and we find the same
type of instruments called by different names in different countries and
periods. For example, the psaltery is much the same instrument as the
_dulcimer_, the Arab’s _kanoun_ and the Persian _santir_. We find the
same psaltery in Chaucer’s “Miller’s Tale” as _sautrie_. By the addition
of a keyboard this Biblical instrument became the _spinet_, which you
will meet again in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the 13th century, in
Italy, we find a kind of psaltery hung around the neck and called
“Istroménto di porco” because it looked like the head of a pig.
Not all the songs of the Bible are religious. The Song of Solomon, a
most beautiful poem of marriage, gives us a vivid picture of luxury and
magnificence, as well as showing us that music was used for other than
religious ceremonies.
After the death of Solomon, the music in the temple lost its splendor
and again the Children of Israel were made captive. When one hundred
years later Nebuchadnezzar (586 B.C.) the King of Babylon, destroyed
their temple, the song of the Hebrews became sad and mournful, as you
can read in the Book of Lamentations and in this beautiful song of
grief, the 137th Psalm:
SORROWS OF THE EXILES IN BABYLON
By the rivers of Babylon
There we sat down, yea, we wept,
When we remembered Zion.
Upon the willows in the midst thereof
We hanged up our harps.
For there they that led us captive required of us songs,
And our tormentors required of us mirth, saying:
“Sing for us one of the songs of Zion.”
How shall we sing Jehovah’s song
In a foreign land?
If I forget thee, Oh Jerusalem,
Let my right hand forget her skill.
Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth
If I remember thee not;
If I prefer not Jerusalem,
Above my chief joy.
During the next few centuries the Hebrews became scattered over the
world, carrying with them their reverence for God, their love of poetry
and song, and their religious customs. These qualities have persisted
throughout the centuries, and some of the greatest musicians in the
world have been of Hebrew origin.
Although most of the old music has passed away, there is still enough of
its spirit left in their temple services to give some idea of the
ancient Hebrew music.
[Illustration:
_From a panel in a Museum (delle Terme) in Rome._
_Greek Girl Playing a Double Flute (auloi)._
]
[Illustration:
_From a frieze in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts._
_Greek Boy Playing the Lyre._
]
CHAPTER IV
The Greeks Lived Their Music—The Romans Used Greek Patterns
The Greeks “dwelt with beauty” and believed it to be a part of being
good, and they strove to make everything beautiful. Beauty to the Greeks
was a religion. Had this not been so, we would not have the Venus de
Milo, the Parthenon in Athens, the Hermes, the Winged Victory (Niké of
Samothrace) and all the other Greek masterpieces which no modern
sculptor or builder has surpassed.
It is interesting to see a nation 400 years before the time of Christ
and even earlier, making glorious art works in stone, and writing the
greatest plays the world has ever had, being more grown up than modern
nations, and yet as far as we know an infant in the art of music. We
have only the slightest idea of how their music sounded as they had no
accurate way of writing it, and had only very primitive instruments.
Although when compared to their other arts their music was not great,
still it was very important to them and they used it constantly with
poetry, dancing, and in the drama.
The word music was first used by the Greeks and has been carried into
nearly every language; we find _musique_ in French, _Musik_ in German,
_musica_ in Italian, and so on.
Music, according to the Greeks, was an art which combined not only the
playing of instruments, singing and dancing, but also all the arts and
sciences, including mathematics and everything in the universe. It took
its name from the Muses, and they believed that it led to the beautiful
accord and harmony of the world.
The nine Muses were daughters of Jupiter, and each presided over some
particular department of literature, art and science.
Clio: Muse of History and Epic Poetry. She is shown in statues and
pictures holding a half open scroll.
Thalia: Muse of Joy and Comedy (drama) with a comic mask in one hand and
a crooked staff in the other.
Erato: Muse of Lyric Poetry, inspired those who wrote of love. She plays
on a nine-stringed lyre.
Euterpe: Muse of Lyric Song, patroness of music especially of flute
players. She holds two flutes (_auloi_).
Polyhymnia: Muse of Sacred Song. She holds her forefinger to her lips or
carries a scroll.
Calliope: Muse of Eloquence and Epic Poetry, holds a roll of parchment,
or a trumpet.
Terpsichore: Muse of the Dance, presiding over choral, dance and song.
She appears dancing with a seven-stringed lyre.
Urania: Muse of Astronomy, holds the globe and traces mathematical
figures with a wand.
Melpomene: Muse of Tragedy (drama), leans on a club and holds a tragic
mask.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS
The myths and legends of the ancient Greeks read like fairy tales, but
to the Greeks they were what our Bible stories are to us. In their rich
mythology we find many stories about the beginnings of music.
To Pan, the god of woods and fields, of flocks and shepherds, is given
the credit of inventing the shepherd’s pipe, or Pan’s Pipes. He lived in
grottoes, wandered on the mountains and in the valleys, and amused
himself hunting, leading the dances of the nymphs, and playing on his
pipes.
PAN’S PIPES
A beautiful nymph named Syrinx was loved by Pan, but every time that he
tried to tell her of his love, she became frightened and ran away, for
Pan was a funny looking lover with goat’s legs, a man’s body, and long
pointed ears. One day he chased her through the woods to the bank of a
river; she called out in fright, and was suddenly changed by her friends
the Water Nymphs, into a clump of tall reeds. When he reached out to
embrace her, instead of Syrinx, he had the clump of reeds in his arms!
As he sighed in disappointment, his breath passing through the reeds,
produced a sad wail. Pan, hearing in it a plaintive song, broke off the
reeds in unequal lengths, bound them together, and made the first
musical instrument, which he called a syrinx in memory of his lost
sweetheart. These pipes comforted Pan, and he played many tender
melodies, and often without being seen, was known to be near by his
lovely music.
Pan, although adored, was feared. At one time, Brennus, a warrior, with
a company of Gauls (a tribe from ancient France), attacked the Temple of
Delphi (in Greece), and was about to destroy it, when suddenly they
turned and fled in fear although no one pursued them. Their terror was
supposed to have been of Pan’s making, and to this day we use the word
“panic” (Pan-ic) for all sudden overpowering fright.
APOLLO
Pan is supposed to have taught music to Apollo, the god of Music and of
the Sun. You have seen statues of him with a lyre in his hands. As Pan’s
pupil he learned to play the syrinx so beautifully that he won a prize
in a contest with Marsyas, a mortal who played the flute invented
(according to the Greek legend), by Pallas Athene. This goddess was
sometimes known as Musica or Musician. When Cupid saw her play the flute
he laughed at her because she made such queer faces. This angered her,
and she flung her flute away. It fell down from Mt. Olympus to the
earth, and Marsyas picked it up and became such a skilful player that he
challenged the god Apollo to a contest for flute championship of the
world! The day came and Apollo won the prize, but put Marsyas to death
for daring to challenge him—a god. Apollo afterwards was very sorry and
broke all the strings of his lyre and placed it with his flutes in a
haunt of Dionysus (god of Wine), to whom he consecrated these
instruments.
These stories are not only a part of the ancient Greek religion but they
have become, on account of their beauty, a rich source of plot and story
for the works of musicians, artists and writers from the days of
antiquity to our own time.
ORPHEUS
One of the favorite Greek stories has been that of Orpheus, who went
down to Hades to bring his dead wife whom he adored, back to earth, and
about whom Peri, Gluck, and others wrote operas. He was son of Apollo
and of Calliope, the Muse of Epic Poetry, and became such a fine
performer on all instruments, that he charmed all things animate and
inanimate. He tamed wild birds and beasts, and even the trees and rocks
followed him as he played, the winds and the waves obeyed him, and he
soothed and made the Dragon, who guarded the Golden Fleece, gentle and
harmless.
On the cruise of the _Argo_ in search of the Golden Fleece, Orpheus not
only succeeded in launching the boat when the strength of the heroes had
failed in the task, but when they were passing the islands of the
Sirens, he sang so loudly and so sweetly that the Sirens’ songs could
not be heard and the crew were saved.
MUSIC IN THEIR DAILY LIFE
When a people have legends about music you may know that they love it.
Such was the case with the Greeks. They did not call their schools high
schools and colleges but Music schools, and everything that we call
learning they included under the name of music. Every morning the little
Greek boy was sent to the Music school where he was taught the things
that were considered necessary for a citizen to know. Here he learned
gymnastics, poetry, and music. At home too, music was quite as important
as in school, and we know that they had folk songs which had to do with
the deeds of ordinary life, such as farming and winemaking and
grape-picking, and the effect and beauty of the seasons of the year.
(See Chap. IX.) They can well be divided into songs of joy and songs of
sorrow, and seem to have existed even before Homer the Blind Bard. If
you ever have tried to dance or do your daily dozen without music, you
will understand at once how much help music always has been to people as
they worked.
HARVEST SONGS
All harvest songs in Greece had the name of Lytiersis. Lytiersis was the
son of King Midas, known as the richest king in the world. Lytiersis was
a king himself but also a mighty reaper, and according to Countess
Martinengo-Cesaresco who has written a book called _Essays in the Study
of Folk-Songs_ it was his “habit to indulge in trials of strength with
his companions and with strangers who were passing by. He tied the
vanquished up in sheaves and beat them. One day he defied an unknown
stranger, who proved too strong for him and by whom he was slain.” The
first harvest song was composed to console King Midas for the death of
his son. We can make a fable from this story which means that Nature and
Man are always struggling against each other.
The harvest festivals founded in Greece led to others in Brittany,
France, North Germany and England. So does the deed of one race affect
other races.
THE LITURGIES
Among the taxes, or five special liturgies, that the Greeks had to pay,
was the obligation for certain rich citizens to supply the Greek
tragedies with the chorus. Every Greek play had its chorus and every
chorus had to have its structures; a choregic monument to celebrate it;
one or more flute players, costumes, crowns, decorations, teachers for
the chorus and everything else to make it succeed. This cost, which
would equal many thousands of dollars, was undertaken as a duty quite as
easily as our men of wealth pay their income taxes. You can see a
greatly enlarged copy of a choregic monument, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’
monument at 89th Street and Riverside Drive, in New York City, and also
one at the Metropolitan Museum.
In old Greece the musicians were also poets. Homer, Hesiod, Pindar,
Æschylus, Sophocles, Sappho, Euripides, Plato, not only wrote their
dramas but knew what music should be played with them. In fact no play
was complete without its chorus and its music and its flute-player. You
have heard of the Greek chorus. Don’t for a moment think it was like our
chorus. It consisted of a group of masked actors (all actors in those
days wore masks), who appeared between the acts and intoned (chanted)
the meaning of the play and subsequent events. In fact the chorus took
the place of a libretto,—“words and music of the opera,” for it
explained to the audience what it should expect. It spoke and sang some
of the most important lines of the play and danced in appropriate
rhythms. So it brought together word, action and music, and was a remote
ancestor of opera, oratorio and ballet.
FESTIVALS
Besides the occupational songs and those for the drama festivals, the
Greeks had the great game festivals where in some, not only competitions
in sports took place but also flute playing and singing. The oldest of
these festivals was the Olympic games, first held in 776 B.C. and every
four years thereafter. These games played so important a part in the
lives of the Greeks that their calendar was divided into Olympiads
instead of years. While music was evident in the Olympic games, music
and poetry were never among the competitions.
The Pythian games were chiefly musical and poetic contests and were
started in Delphi, 586 B.C., where they were held every nine years in
honor of the Delphian Apollo whose shrine was at Delphi. The Isthmian
and Nemean games were also based on poetic and musical contests.
Warriors, statesmen, philosophers, artists and writers went to these
games and took part in them. Maybe some time we will realize the power
of music as did the Greeks nearly one thousand years before the birth of
Jesus.
THE GREEK SCALES
While, as we said before, we know very little about the melodies of the
Greeks, we do know something about their scales, upon which the church
music of the Middle Ages was based, as are our own major and minor
scales. In fact the most important contribution Greece made to our music
was the scale. They had a very complicated system and no one is quite
sure how it worked.
We have the two modes or kinds of scales, major and minor, which we use
in different keys, but the Greeks had at least seven different modes
used in many different ways. They used one mode for martial or military
music, another for funeral ceremonies, another for their temple music,
and curiously enough, our own C major scale they used for their popular
music, for drinking songs, and light festivities.
The Greek scales were based on _tetrachords_, from the Greek words
tetra-four, chord-string that is, a group of four strings. If you play
on the piano B C D E and C D E F and D E F G you will find the three
tetrachords that formed the _primary modes_ of the Greeks:—Dorian,
Phrygian and Lydian.
Perhaps you have heard in Greek architecture of the Doric column which
came from Doria, a province in Greece, and the Ionic column, from Ionia,
and so on. In the same way the scales were named for sections of the
country from which they first came, Dorian mode, Ionian, Æolian,
Phrygian, Lydian, etc.
The Greek tetrachord was formed on the interval of a fourth, for example
from E to A—these were called _standing tones_, because the intervals
between the two standing tones or permanent tones could be changed but
the first and the fourth always remained the same—
Dorian, ⏜E F⏜ G A: Phrygian, E ⏜F G⏜ A ⏜G# A⏜
½ ½ ½
step step step
By putting two tetrachords together all the other Greek scales were
formed. These fell into two classes, and according to Cecil Forsyth in
his _History of Music_ these classes were called the _join_ and the
_break_. When the second tetrachord began on the fourth tone of the
first tetrachord, Mr. Forsyth calls it the _joining_ method, thus.
[Illustration: ⎴E͡FGA⎴——⎴A͡B♭CD⎴]
When the second tetrachord began on the tone above the fourth tone of
the first tetrachord, he calls it the _breaking_ method, thus:
[Illustration: ⎴E͡FGA⎴ ⎴B͡CDE⎴]
By using the _join_ and the _break_ with each of the three modes,
Dorian, Phrygian and Lydian, you can see to what a great variety of
scales and names this would lead. The Greeks spoke of their scales from
the top note down, instead of from the lowest note up, as we do.
The first _kithara_ was supposed to have been an instrument of four
strings that could be tuned in any of these different ways, with the
half-step either between the first and second strings, or between the
second and third, or between the third and fourth. Two instruments tuned
differently formed the complete scale, but it did not take long to add
strings to their lyres and kitharas so that they could play an entire
scale on one instrument.
The little Greek boy was taught in school to tune the scale according to
the fourth string of his lyre, which was the _home tone_ or what we
should call _tonic_. Our tonic falls on the first degree of the scale,
but in the _primary modes_ of the Greeks, the tonic fell on the fourth
degree, and was called the _final_. When the final was on pitch all the
other strings had to be tuned to it.
These tetrachords are supposed to have been perfected by Terpander, in
the six hundreds before Christ. His melodies were called _nomes_ and
were supposed to have had a fine moral effect on the Spartan youth in
giving him spirit and courage. The Greeks thought that all music and
that every one of their modes had a special effect on conduct and
character.
After the Messenian war, Sparta was in such a state of upheaval that the
Delphian oracle was consulted. The answer was:
“When Terpander’s Cithar shall sound
Contention in Sparta shall cease.”
So the Spartans called upon Terpander to help them, and through the
power of his song all was peace again.
Terpander collected Asiatic, Egyptian, Æolian and Bœotian melodies all
of which are unfortunately lost; he invented a new notation and enlarged
the kithara from four strings to seven. Arion, Alcæus and the great
poetess Sappho were his pupils, and Sappho is often shown in statues
with a six stringed kithara.
Most of these poet singers were called “lyric poets” because they sang
to the accompaniment of the lyre.
PYTHAGORAS
The Greeks were the first to write down their music, or to make a
musical notation whereby the singers and players knew what tones to use.
Their system was their alphabet with certain alterations. They had names
describing each tone not unlike our use of the word _tonic_ for the
first degree of the scale, and _dominant_ for the fifth and so on.
Of course they did not have the _staff_ and _treble_ and _bass clefs_ as
we have, but they were groping for some way of recording music in those
far away days.
Pythagoras as far back as 584–504 B.C., not only influenced the music in
the classical Greek period (400 B.C.), but down to and throughout the
Middle Ages to the Renaissance (1500s). To this day music is based on
his mathematical discovery. He worked out a theory of numbers based on
the idea that all nature was governed by the law of numbers and modern
scientists have proven that he was correct in many of his ideas. In fact
our orchestras and pianos are tuned in accordance with his theories.
He invented an instrument called the monochord which consisted of a
hollow wooden box with one string and movable fret. He discovered that
when he divided the string exactly in half by means of the fret, the
tone produced was an octave higher than the tone given out by striking
the entire string; one-third of the string produced the interval of a
fifth above the octave; one-fourth the length of the string produced a
fourth above the fifth; one-fifth produced a third (large or major)
above the fourth; one-sixth produced a third (small or minor);
one-seventh produced a slightly smaller third and one-eighth produced a
large second, three octaves above the sound of the entire string:
[Illustration: (FUNDAMENTAL TONE)]
The truth of Pythagoras’ theory of tone relationship has been proven by
an experiment in physics showing that all of the above tones belong to
the same tone family. An amusing experiment can be made by pressing
silently any one of the tones marked 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 8, and striking
the fundamental tone sharply, the key you are pressing silently will
sound so that you can distinctly hear its pitch.
The Greeks seem to have had no harmony (that is, combining of two or
more tones in chords) outside of the natural result of men’s voices and
women’s singing together. But they had groups of singers answering each
other in what is called _antiphony_ (anti-against, phony-sound). Even
our American Indians have their song leader and chorus answering each
other.
Greek rhythm followed the rhythm of the spoken word and was considered a
part of their poetic system.
GREEK INSTRUMENTS
We have already spoken of the _syrinx_, Pan’s Pipes, the instrument of
Pan, the satyrs and of the shepherds; the _monochord_, Pythagoras’
invention; the _lyre_ and _kithara_; and the flute or _aulos_.
The lyre, of the family of stringed instruments, was the Greek national
instrument. It was the first to be used in their musical competitions,
and helped in the forming of the Greek modes. These were of two types,
the lyre and the kithara. The first lyres which came down from the age
of myths and fables were originally made of the shell of a tortoise and
had four strings (the tetrachord) and later seven and even more strings.
This form of the lyre was called _chelys_, or the tortoise, and was used
for accompanying drinking songs and popular love songs.
The _kithara_ was also called lyre, but was not made of the body of the
tortoise, and it became the Greek concert instrument, and was only used
by professionals, while the _chelys_ was used in the home. It came
originally from Asia Minor and Egypt. It had four strings at first but
these were gradually added to, until there were fifteen and eighteen
strings. It was sometimes small and sometimes large, and was held to the
body by means of a sling and was played with a plectrum or pick.
The Greek flute or _aulos_ was a wood-wind instrument more like our oboe
than our flute. It was usually played in pairs, that is, one person
played two flutes or _auloi_ of different sizes at one time, and they
were V shaped. There was a group of _auloi_ differing in range like the
human voice differs, and covering three octaves from the bass _aulos_ to
the soprano.
The _aulos_ was first a single wooden pipe with three or four finger
holes which later were increased to fifteen or sixteen so that the three
modes Dorian, Phrygian and Lydian, could be played on one pair of
_auloi_. About six centuries before the Christian era, the double flute
became the instrument of the Delphian and Pythian musical competitions.
In the chorus too, we read that for each drama there was a special
_aulos_ soloist who always played the double flute.
There were other type instruments such as the war trumpets, trumpets
used in the temple services, and harps (_magadis_) that were brought
from Egypt, but the real instruments of the Greeks pictured in their
sculpture and on their vases and urns, and spoken of in their
literature, are the lyres and auloi.
ROMAN MUSIC
The Romans, law givers, world conquerors and road builders, gave little
new to music, for they did not show a great talent for art. They were
influenced by Greek ideals and Greek methods. They were warlike by
nature, and from defenders of their state they became conquerors. As
they grew nationally stronger and more secure, they learned music,
oratory, architecture and sculpture from Greek teachers. Many Romans
well known in history were singers and gifted players on the Greek
kithara, lyre, and flute (aulos).
The Romans seemed to have cared more about the performing of music than
for the composing of it, and “offered prizes to those who had the
greatest dexterity, could blow the loudest or play the fastest.”
(Familiar Talks on History of Music.—Gantvoort.)
As they come to America today the musicians of other lands flocked to
Rome, especially those who played or sang, because they were received
with honor and were richly paid.
The Romans, among them Boethius (6th century B.C.), wrote treatises on
the Greek modes, were very much interested in the theory of music, and
built their scales like the Greeks. To each of the seven tones within an
octave they gave the name of a planet, and to every fourth tone which
was the beginning of a new tetrachord, the name of a day of the week
which is named for the planet.
B C D E F G A
Saturn Jupiter Mars Sun Venus Mercury Moon
Saturday Sunday Monday
B C D E F G A
Saturn Jupiter Mars Sun Venus Mercury Moon
Tuesday Wednesday
B C D E F G A
Saturn Jupiter Mars Sun Venus Mercury Moon
Thursday Friday
The days of the week in French show much more clearly than in English
the names of the planets, in the case of Tuesday—mardi, (Mars);
Wednesday—mercredi (Mercury); Thursday—jeudi, (Jupiter);
Friday—vendredi, (Venus).
The Greeks brought their instrument, the _kithara_, to Rome, and with it
a style of song called a _kitharoedic chant_, which was usually a hymn
sung to some god or goddess. The words, until three hundred years after
the birth of Jesus, were in the Greek language; the Latin kitharoedic
songs like those of the poets Horace and Catullus were sung at banquets
and private parties, Cicero too, was musical.
[Illustration:
_Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art._
_Chinese Instruments._
_Fig. 5.—Trumpets._
_Fig. 6.—Te’ch’ing—sonorous stone._
_Fig. 7.—Yang-Ch’in or Dulcimer._
]
[Illustration:
_Fiddles from Arabia (Fig. 8, Rebab); Japan (Fig. 9, Kokin); Corea
(Fig. 10, Haggrine) and Siam (Fig. 11, See Saw Duang)._
]
Edward MacDowell in _Critical and Historical Essays_, says that
instrumental music was no longer used merely to accompany voices and had
become quite independent. The flute (aulos) players performed better
than the lyre and kithara players and were liked better. They played
“dressed in long feminine, saffron (yellow)-colored robes, with veiled
faces, and straps around their cheeks to support the muscles of the
mouth.” They played with an astonishing amount of technical skill. “Even
women became flute players, although this was considered disgraceful.”
The prices paid to these flute players were higher than the amounts
received by our opera singers.
The Roman theatre, unlike the Greek, was not a place to honor their
gods. Greek plays, both tragedy and comedy, were replaced with
pantomime, usually accompanied by orchestra and singing. The orchestra
was made up of “cymbals, gongs, castanets, foot castanets, rattles,
flutes, bagpipes, gigantic lyres, and a kind of shell or crockery
cymbals, which were clashed together.”
The Roman _tibia_ or bagpipe is still popular today with the peasants of
Italy. Although the bagpipe is first mentioned in Rome, there are some
Persian terra cotta figures made before the Roman era, showing players
of the bagpipes. It is always said that Nero played the fiddle while
Rome burned and even our motion pictures show him playing the violin to
the accompaniment of flames. How could he have played on a violin when
it had not as yet been invented? If he played any instrument while Rome
burned, it was probably the tibia.
CHAPTER V
The Orientals Make Their Music—Chinese, Japanese, Siamese, Burmese, and
Javanese
To hear two Chinamen exchanging greetings on a street corner, you would
think they were singing or rather chanting, not because their tones are
particularly pleasant for they are high and nasal and hard, but because
they are talking in their own peculiar way. The Chinese have what is
called an inflected language in which they use many tones. For example
the syllable “hi” in one tone will mean one thing and it will mean
something else entirely in each different inflection. Here again is a
case where it is hard to say where speech ends and song begins. Another
amusing thing about the Chinese is the way, according to our ideas, they
seem to twist every thing around, so that what we call high tones they
call low tones; they wear white for mourning and we wear black; their
guests of honor sit at the left of the host and ours sit at the right;
they consider taking off the hat very bad manners and of course we
consider it bad manners for a man to keep it on in the house or when
talking to a lady.
They never used their music as a way of expressing beauty as other
nations have done, but treated it as we would a problem in arithmetic or
a cross-word puzzle, and they loved to write articles on the subject
that would seem long and dull to us. However, as far back as 2255 B.C.
Ta Shao composed a piece of music which Confucius, 1600 years later,
said, “enchanted him to such an extent that he did not know the taste of
food for months.”
[Illustration:
_After a print by Gakutei—about 1840._
_The Koto-Player._
]
[Illustration:
_After print by Kuniyasu—about 1830._
_The Wandering Samisen-Player._
]
SCALES
Their scale was the pentatonic and they had the queerest names for their
degrees or steps.
F the first degree was called Emperor
G „ 2d „ „ „ Prime Minister
A „ 3d „ „ „ Loyal Subjects
C „ 4th „ „ „ Affairs of State
D „ 5th „ „ „ Mirror of the World
This shows that music must have been limited to a very few subjects.
When the scale of five steps was changed into a scale of seven steps
about 600 B.C., every one thought that the end of music had come.
However these two new notes B and E which formed half steps in the scale
were given very interesting names: Leader and Mediator. We, today, call
B the leading tone, and E the mediant, so in this case, the Chinese were
not quite so topsy-turvy as usual. But in true Chinese fashion they
thought that a mythical bird Fung-Woang and his mate had invented the
steps and the half steps. The whole steps to them stood for perfect and
independent things such as heaven, sun and man; the half steps stood for
dependent things such as earth, moon and woman.
They had 84 scales! Think of that and be happy! For we have only two
modes, major and minor, and twelve different sounding scales in each.
We get very little pleasure out of Chinese melodies for they seem to
wander about aimlessly and do not end comfortably, nor do they seem to
begin anywhere! The best melodies are found among the oldest sacred
music and among the songs of the sailors and mountaineers. The sacred
hymns and the songs of the people have come down unchanged from earliest
times. The music of their theatres we like least of all as it is
sing-sing, shrill and nerve racking.
Here is an example of an ancient hymn in the pentatonic scale:
[Illustration:
CHINESE SACRIFICIAL HYMN TO THE IMPERIAL ANCESTORS
]
INSTRUMENTS
How the Chinese like noise! Their orchestras are seventy-five percent
noise makers: drums of all kinds and sizes, bells, stones beaten with
mallets, cymbals, wooden clappers, a row of tuned stones and copper
plates strung up to be hammered, and wooden tubs beaten sometimes from
the inside and sometimes from the outside. They also have wind
instruments of clay and flutes of bamboo and metal. The _cheng_, their
most pleasing wind instrument, is made of a hollow gourd with bamboo
tubes of different lengths inserted. Their most popular stringed
instruments are the _kin_, a primitive guitar, and the _cha_, a sort of
large zither with twenty-five strings. These instruments date back to
barbaric times.
One of the most curious that we have come across is the _king_ which is
supposed to have been invented by _Quei_, a mythical youth like the
Greek Orpheus. It is a rack hung with two rows of sixteen different
sized stones, which are struck with a wooden mallet. This instrument
goes back to 2300 B.C. It seemed so important to the Chinese that they
have a special kind of _king_ called the _nio-king_ upon which only the
Emperor could play. Another little instrument almost as queer as the
_king_, made of slats of wood tied together and shaped like a fan, used
to beat time, was called the _tchoung-tou_. It was held in one hand and
struck against the palm of the other much as one would play with a fan.
In making their instruments, the Chinese used eight different sounds in
nature which they found musical—the sound of skin (drums), stone (_king_
and _nio-king_), metal (flutes, bells, gongs, cymbals and trumpets),
clay (instrument like an ocarina moulded into fantastic animal shapes),
wood (drums and boxes), bamboo (flutes and parts of the _cheng_), silk
(strings on the _che_ and _king_ and other stringed instruments), gourds
(sound boards which held the tubes of the _cheng_, one of the ancestors
of the modern organ).
As early as the 5th century B.C., one of the first books on music in the
world was written by a friend of Confucius, the great teacher and
philosopher. We know about the ancient Chinese music, not from
hieroglyphics and parchments, but from the music they use today, which
is the same as that of barbaric times. The law against new things
prevailed there as it did in Egypt, and where the government controls
art, there can be little progress.
However we might have known much more about music had not Emperor She
Huang-Ti “the book destroyer” ordered all musical instruments and books
to be destroyed (246 B.C.) except those about medicine, agriculture and
magic. For generations after, the people heard little music but the
noise of tumbling bells and dancers’ drums.
Their popular music has always been very poor with no particular form or
system.
JAPANESE MUSIC
From the many Japanese prints, and cups and bowls decorated with
fascinating pictures of the dainty little men and women playing the
_samisen_ and _koto_, we feel as if we had met these far away people
before.
The _koto_ and the _samisen_ have remained unchanged for hundreds of
years. It is said that the _koto_ was first made of several hunting bows
placed side by side and that later they were joined together as one long
sounding board across which the strings were drawn. In the prints we see
the long zither-like instruments lying flat on the floor and the dainty
little players in fancy kimonos beside them.
Perhaps in the same print a companion will be seen playing a _samisen_,
a long necked instrument whose strings are plucked with a pick or
plectrum, such as we use for the mandolin. Whether these prints are a
hundred years old or the work of an artist today, makes little
difference, for we find the instrument unchanged and the little player
in the same lovely kimono. These instruments have been in use in Japan
for hundreds of years.
The music and instruments of the Japanese are very like those of the
Chinese, not only because they are of like race, but because the
Japanese are great imitators and have borrowed from China not only music
but art. The Japanese love music for itself, not as the Chinese love it
as subject for debate, but they have not written any better music than
their neighbors on the mainland.
If you have listened to the music of _Madame Butterfly_, an opera by
Giacomo Puccini, you will have heard a number of Japanese melodies, some
of which are real. The composers of Europe and America love to imitate
the oriental music because it gives them a chance to make effects quite
different from those possible in our own music. Besides, the oriental
people seem very picturesque to us and stir our imagination. Henry
Eichheim of Boston has written Chinese and Japanese Impressions in which
he has used many of the native instruments,—bells, rattles and drums.
The Japanese have great love of beauty which shows itself in their
festivals, held in the spring when the cherry trees blossom and azaleas
bloom. Then, too, their Geisha dances are full of grace and have the
most winning names, such as, Leaf of Gold and the Butterfly dance. At
the time of the festivals bands of musicians and dancers rove from place
to place in gay costumes and add greatly to the fun. The Geisha girls
are trained to sing and dance to the accompaniment of the _koto_ and
_samisen_ to amuse the people.
The Japanese and Chinese are Buddhists, or worshippers of the prophet
Buddha. In their temples they chant the whole service on one note
accompanied by the sound of cymbals and the tolling of a deep rich gong.
We know these gongs for we have often been called to dinner by them in
America.
About 200 years ago a musician named Yatsubashi, the father of Japanese
national music, invented a way of writing down music for the _koto_.
Each string has a number and this number is set down and is read from
top to bottom instead of from left to right on the staff, as we read
music.
Of late years Japan has been interested in European customs and has
adopted so many of them that they are called the “Frenchmen of the
East.” Among other things that they imitate is our musical system. So
today they have symphony concerts and piano and song recitals in which
they hear European artists and they themselves perform music of our
composers. They send many of their young people to Europe and America to
study music. This may lead to discarding their own music in time even as
they are giving up the kimono, for our less picturesque costume.
SIAMESE, BURMESE AND JAVANESE
The yellow races seem to like the same kind of music and use almost the
same instruments. Nevertheless each nation has its own special
instruments. For example, the Burmese have a drum organ made of
twenty-one drums of different sizes, hung inside of a great hoop; they
also have a gong organ in which fifteen or more gongs of different sizes
and tones are strung inside a hoop. The player sits or stands inside the
hoop and plays the surrounding gongs. Sometimes it looks very funny to
see a procession in which this instrument is carried by two men while a
third walks along inside a hoop, striking the gongs not only at the side
and in front of him but also behind him. (Figure 14.)
This instrument is a very important part of the Javanese orchestra
called the _gamelon_ in Java. Their particular musical possession is the
_anklong_, a set of bamboo tubes sounded by striking them. We have heard
some Javanese songs sung by Eva Gauthier and we found great beauty in
them. Many of these songs are centuries old.
In these countries the people are very fond of making musical
instruments which look like animals and the things they see around them,
as for instance, the Burmese _soung_, a thirteen stringed harp, with a
boat shaped body and a prettily curved neck. Think, too, of playing as
they do in Burma and Siam on a harp or zither shaped like a crocodile!
(Figures 12 and 13.)
The Siamese use more wind instruments than the people of other Oriental
lands. When Edward MacDowell, our famous composer, heard the Siamese
Royal Orchestra in London, he decided that each musician made up his
part as he went along, the only rule being to keep up with each other
and to finish together. The fact that they thought they were doing a
really lovely thing made the concert seem very comical. But the
Orientals can return the compliment. A few years ago the Chinese
government sent some students to study in Berlin but after a month’s
time they asked to be called home because, “It would be folly,” they
said, “to remain in a barbarous country where even the most elementary
principles of music had not been grasped.” (From _Critical and
Historical Essays_ of Edward MacDowell.)
[Illustration:
_Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City._
_Instruments of Burmah and Siam._
_Fig. 12.—Soung—boat-shaped harp._
_Fig. 13.—Megyoung—crocodile harp._
_Fig. 14.—Kyll Weing—gong organ._
]
[Illustration:
_Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City._
_A Burmese Musicale._
]
INCAS AND AZTECS
Before leaving the Orientals, we want to cross the bridge with you
between the Orient (East) and the Occident (West). Sometimes we find the
same customs and ways of doing things in places very far apart.
Sometimes this likeness will appear in a religious ceremony, a dance or
song, a piece of pottery, or in a musical instrument. To find these
similarities makes one believe that at sometime in the world’s history,
these people so far away from each other, must have been closely
related. Such a likeness can be traced in the music of the ancient
Chinese and the Aztecs of Mexico, and the Incas of Peru, some of which
has been sung to us by Marguerite d’Alvarez, from Peru. The Peruvians
played pipes and had music in the same rhythm as the sacred chants of
the Chinese. The Mexicans had all kinds of drums, rattles, stones,
gongs, bells and cymbals which resemble the Chinese instruments. On the
other hand we read in Prescott’s _Conquest of Peru_ of a Sun Festival
which recalls the Sun Dance of our own American Indian. The Inca or the
ruler of Peru, his court and the entire population of the city met at
dawn in June and with the first rays of the sun, thousands of wind
instruments broke forth into “a majestic song of adoration” accompanied
by thousands of shouting voices.
From the kind of instruments that the Aztecs in Mexico used, we know
that their music was more barbaric than that of the Peruvians. A curious
combination of love for music and barbarism is shown in the custom they
had of appointing each year a youth to act as the God of music, whose
name _Tezcatlipoca_, he was given. He was presented with a beautiful
bride and for the one year he lived like a prince in the greatest
luxury. He learned to play the flute and whenever the people heard it,
they fell down and worshipped him! But this wonderful life was not all
it seemed, for at the end of the year the beautiful youth was offered as
a living sacrifice to the blood-thirsty God of Music whom he was
impersonating.
CHAPTER VI
The Arab Spreads Culture—The Gods Give Music to the Hindus
Arabia is the southwestern peninsula of Asia and is bounded by the Red
Sea, Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. It was well situated to come in
contact with the ancient nations of the world.
This story of Arabia and its music will include all those peoples to
whom the Arabs gave of their learning. Saracen, Mussulman, Mohammedan
and Islamite are different names for the same people, but they are all
Arabs, even though they are not Arabians living in Arabia.
Arab music fills in the gaps between the ancient civilizations, the
beginnings of early Christian music and the time of the Minnesingers and
the Troubadours.
During the years we call the Dark Ages (500 to 1300 A.D.), Europe was in
a semi-barbarous state and there was little learning outside of the
monasteries. All the culture and advances made by the Greeks and Romans
seemed in danger of perishing in the raids and attacks of barbarous
tribes, and wars among the early European peoples. But the Arabs, on
whom we look today as almost barbarians, were the highly cultured race
of that far-off time.
They were great mathematicians and from them we have Algebra and our
Arabic numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. From them we have the arabesques, or
the intricate geometric designs in carvings and traceries, seen on
buildings in the countries where the Arabs built, lived, roamed or
studied.
Long before the Christian era there were very wonderful Arabian
universities in Bagdad and Damascus, so famous that they attracted many
Greek and Hebrew scholars to learn from the Arabian philosophers and
wise men.
Mohammed, their greatest prophet, who was born in 570 A.D., wrote their
holy book called the _Koran_. While he lived the Arabs were at the
height of their power.
Because they had studied the learning of the past, and had invaded and
conquered parts of Europe, the Arabs brought to Europe their arts and
sciences and the learning of the ancient nations. Through their
conquests they also carried their ways of living into the countries of
the barbarians. For example, in 711, they drove the Goths out from Spain
and set up their own caliphs (rulers) in that country, so that at this
time they had two capitals—the original Bagdad and one at Cordova. From
these Arabs, who came from Mauretania in Africa to Spain, descended the
people we call Moors. It is for this reason that we have traces of Arab
music and the Moorish architecture or Arab-like buildings of which the
Alhambra is best known, in Spain. In Cordova, grew up a center of
learning, far greater than any in the surrounding countries. At the
university was a library of over 600,000 manuscripts not yet in book
form, for printing had not been invented. Here, too, great chemists
studied and discovered alcohol, sulphuric and nitric acids. The clock
also was invented by the Arabs, and the game of chess was first thought
out when the Chinese were already playing Mah Jong! They were
responsible, too, for trigonometry as well as algebra, and they knew how
to make cotton goods, and were famous for the Damascus steel out of
which the swords of the heroes for many generations were forged. Even
today Damascus steel is looked upon as excellent.
As they were worshippers of Mohammed, they were not permitted to make
portraits of human beings in stone or on parchments for they believed
that they would be deprived of their souls at the day of judgment should
they reproduce the human form. So they put their artistic efforts into
color and design.
Not satisfied with their conquest of the Goths, they decided to enter
France, but were kept out by Emperor Charlemagne who thought
differently, and stopped them. It was due to this conflict that the
great epic _La Chanson de Roland_ (The Song of Roland) was written.
Then came the Crusades, the expeditions which went on for many years to
wrest the shrine of the Saviour from the hand of the Mussulman. These
wars continued so long, that nearly every European group of people came
in contact with the Arab, and in so doing, learned much from him.
The Arab was a courageous, loyal person, proud and ready to die for his
own ideas; he was courtly, yet careful in all business dealings and many
of his traits were passed on to his descendants. Very rapidly the rough
warrior of the desert was transformed into a luxury-loving, cultured
man.
The Arabians seemed to be great musical blotters; because they blotted
up or absorbed music wherever they went and made it theirs! But they
were unlike blotters for loving it; they made a science of it and passed
it on to other nations and thence to us.
So much of the Persian music was absorbed by the Arab that it would be
difficult to separate them in our story. The Arabs took the very
loosely-put-together music of Persia and made it over into better form.
Even before the Mohammedan conquests (700–800 A.D.), Arab music was well
planned, and as they spread later to North Africa, Egypt, Morocco,
Greece, Italy, and Spain, they left some traces of their own music and
took something of the music of the natives. Furthermore, they adopted
many of the instruments that they found and they became the ancestors of
some of our own.
The ancient Arabs did not write down their music, but handed it on from
musician to musician, gaining and losing very little from the many hands
through which it passed. They have none of what we call harmony or
accompaniment, as in their orchestras all the instruments except the
drums play the same tune; the drums mark the time and often play very
complicated rhythms. This makes their music sound confused to us, but by
hearing it often you learn in what an orderly way it is done, and you
will see why many people like it.
The caliphs (rulers) had court musicians and probably more music was
played and more scientific treatises on music were written by these
people than by any other mediæval or ancient race.
THE ARAB SCALES
There has been much argument about Arab music as to whether the scale
was divided into seventeen steps or eight, as is our scale. Some people
think they hear it as seventeen tones divided into one-third steps, but
Baron d’Erlanger, a great authority on ancient Arab music, says that
there are two distinct musical systems still in use. One comes from
their ancient home in Asia, and the other from the Pharaohs of Egypt.
And the fact that these two systems have been mixed in using them leads
to the question of what the real scale is. Baron d’Erlanger finds, as
the result of his experiments, that if we could lower, ever so slightly,
the third and seventh tones of our scale, we would have the old Pharaoh
scale in its simplest form. The other scales can be played on stringed
instruments on which there are no fixed tones as there are on a keyboard
instrument like a piano, and can therefore play the intervals that do
not exist on the piano.
[Illustration:
_Laura Williams, American Singer of Arab Songs, in Native Costume,
Accompanying Herself on El oud (the Lute)._
]
It is impossible to say how many scales or modes the Arabs use, because
each change of the tiniest part of a step creates a new mode, and there
are many combinations possible. Some say that there are thirty-four
modes; another says that there are twenty-four, one for each hour of the
day. There are also modes for the four elements—fire, water, earth, and
air; for the twelve signs of the zodiac, and for the seven planets.
Each mode has a name, called after all sorts of things like cities or
tribes or ornaments, in fact, anything familiar to the people.
The weird effects made by the _Gloss_ or musical ornaments like the
trill, grace notes and slidings give the music a dreamy fascinating
character, the charm of which is increased by its frequent changes from
double to triple time, or from triple to double.
INSTRUMENTS
It is through the instruments that we can trace the Arab influence in
our own music. When we come to the story of the Troubadours, you will
see them using the lute, the principal instrument of the Middle Ages.
This was called _el oud_, which gradually became _lute_, because the
Europeans heard the words that way.
So you can see here, how art travels through the chances and changes of
wars, wanderings, conquests and political shiftings of power among the
different nations.
Most of the Arab instruments are of Persian, Egyptian and Greek origin,
but as we said above, the Arab became so mixed with other peoples of the
world, that in wandering about, what is really theirs in music or
instruments, or what was borrowed from others, is difficult to tell. But
we can tell you that the popular music of the Arab, as you hear it
today, in bazaars and cafés of Northern Africa and in parts of Asia
where Arabs are still to be found, has remained practically unchanged
throughout the centuries. Even the instruments are the same.
_El oud_ still remains the popular instrument and shares its popularity
with the _kanoun_, which is probably of Persian origin. This _kanoun_ is
like a zither, and is specially tuned for every scale. It is said that
the Arab spends three-quarters of his life tuning his instruments.
Baron Rodolphe d’Erlanger, an Englishman living in Tunis, has spent
twelve years studying the ancient Arabian music in order to preserve it,
for it is dying out through the arrival of modern European civilization
accompanied by phonographs, jazz and radios.
Their viols are of real interest because it is claimed that they are the
ancestors of the great violin family. These ancestors are of different
styles and are called the _rebab_ and _kemangeh_, sometimes played with
the bow and sometimes without. They have _kissars_ and _lyres_ and
various forms of zithers, besides the _kanoun_. The Arabs’ fondness for
strings is proof that they were indeed sensitive and fine, while most of
their neighbors liked the drums and brasses much more, showing a lower
grade of civilization. By this we do not mean that the Arabs were not
fond of their drums, because the drum was one of the chief features of
their music. Indeed they had many kinds—the _atambal_ which looks like
two kettle-drums hitched together; the _derbouka_ which is really a vase
with a skin stretched over the base; the _taar_ like our tambourine; the
_bendaair_, an open faced shallow drum, with snares (cords) stretched
across inside the head somewhat like our own snare drum; and the _dof_,
a squarish drum played with the hands and knuckles like the _taar_, but
with the snares. The Hebrews had an instrument like this called the
_tof_ or _toph_ and the Persians also had the _dof_ or _duff_. So, here
again, you see how one nation affects the other. (Figure 8.)
Then they had flutes called the _ijaouak_ and _gosba_ with three or more
holes, which they used for sad tunes.
Every visitor to a Mohammedan country is introduced to Arab religious
music at day-break, noon and sun-down, by the muezzin (priest) who calls
the faithful of Mohammed to prayer, from an opening in the tower of a
mosque. This call has been handed down to the Mohammedans from a time
even before the coming of Mohammed (6th century A.D.).
MOHAMMEDAN CALL TO PRAYER
[Music:
Al-la-ho ak-bar
Al-la-ho a-kbar ach ha-dou en-nâ la e-lah ell Al-lah
Ach ha-dou en-nâ.
Mo-hammed ra-soul Al-lah
Al-la-ho-ak-bar lâ e-lah ell-Allah
From ‘THE ART OF MUSIC’
]
THE GODS GIVE MUSIC TO THE HINDUS
There had been so much conquest and battling in India, that although we
know much about Hindu music it is very difficult to tell what really
belonged to the Hindus and what was brought to them.
The native legends tell us that the gods gave music to the people and
all through the music there are signs to show their power and influence.
The literature of India can be traced back many centuries and through it
we see what an important place song held. There were minstrels in the
ancient courts whose duty it was to chant songs in praise of their royal
masters. In their religious ceremonies, too, music held a high place.
One of their holy books says: “Indra (their chief god) rejects the
offering made without music.” The Hindu people are divided into many
classes, which they call castes, and in ancient times the singers were
members of the priest caste. The Hindus love music and have always used
it for all festivities, in the drama, and in the temples.
The singing of poems from ancient time has always been popular and
dancing too, and here, as among the Japanese, have grown up trained
dancers called the Bayaderes or Nautch girls. (Chapter V).
Music is still used in India to appease and please the gods and to plead
for rain or sunshine.
Travelers to India relate that they have heard the beating of drums,
accompanied by solo voice or by a chorus, continued for several days at
a time. When there has been a drought, and rain is needed, this long
drawn out music is used as a means to ask the god to bring rain.
In the Temple of the Sacred Tooth in Ceylon (India) on each night of the
full moon, the sacred books are chanted by relays of yellow-robed
priests, following each other every two hours from dark to dawn. They
chant in deep resounding voices without a pause. The Buddhist priests
have repeated these sacred texts on every night of the full moon for
twenty-eight centuries!
In India they have made a deep study of color and sound and things we
know very little about, and to which we attach very little importance.
Through their study of the laws of sound and color, the Hindus feel sure
that they are related. Edward Maryon in “Marcotone” says: “Chemistry and
Mathematics prove that the Natural Scales of Light and Sound in
Principle are one, and therefore the Primary Colors of the Solar
Spectrum, and the Primary Tones of the Musical Scale have the same
_ratio_ of speed vibrations. Therefore both _Tone_ and _Color_ can be
scaled so that a given number of Lightspeeds (Colors), will equal a
given number of Soundwaves (Tones).”
When Edward Maryon was in India he visited one of the temples and in
watching the prayer wheels, noticed that a certain wheel moving at a
certain speed produced a certain sound and a certain color, while
another wheel moving at a different speed produced a different tone and
a different color. It interested him so much that he learned from a
Hindu priest about the relation of light and sound. This led to very
interesting experiments and results which he has used in teaching music.
The color red is supposed to correspond with the musical sound middle C,
orange with D, yellow with E, green with F, blue with G, indigo with A,
and violet with B. And recently in America we have been interested in
seeing a color organ, the “Clavilux” invented by Thomas Wilfred which
plays tones of colors instead of tones of sound.
This is a direct twentieth century result of the so-called “magic” of
primitive times. From this you can see how the magic of ancient days is
explained by modern science.
HINDU RAGS
The Hindu songs presided over by special gods were called _rags_, but of
course, the name has no relationship whatever to our _ragtime_.
It seems that religious feeling has dominated everything in the Orient;
for this reason every idea connected with music has a corresponding idea
in Hindu mythology. The _rags_ were all named after the gods who brought
music down from heaven to comfort man. The character of each god or
goddess was supposed to be reflected in the _rag_, and it was not the
result of scientific study as were, for instance, the scales of the
Chinese. Our knowledge of the _rag_ has come down to us from what
Sanskrit writers on Indian music have said, and what is practised today
by the modern Hindu. No doubt Arabia and Persia once had a music system
very much like this one of the Hindus.
_Rags_, _ragas_, or _raginis_ were neither airs nor modes in our sense
of the words, but something like the modes of the Arab songs, they were
melodic forms, or themes, on which musicians either improvised or
composed new songs, by using them in rhythms of endless variety.
There were many many _rags_, and they were under the guidance of the
gods of the rainy season, the cold season, the mild, the hot, etc., and
could only be sung during their special seasons. It was thought that
these songs sung at the wrong time would bring down calamity. Again, as
with the American Indian (Chapter II), we find tribes who are most
careful to sing certain music at certain times.
It is told that a Hindu nobleman, long ago, tried to sing a night song
in the daytime and darkness covered all things within the sound of his
voice!
As important as was the song from the earliest time, instrumental music
held almost an equal place.
ORCHESTRA
The Hindu orchestra is sometimes large and sometimes small. Its dances
are lively and vigorous, and very seldom slow and romantic. Nevertheless
they have many kinds of songs, some lively and some not, such as: songs
in honor of Krishna (one of their principal gods), official odes, war
hymns, love songs, evening songs, wedding songs, cradle and patriotic
songs. In some, the Arab seems to have influenced the Hindu music,
because they have the lively rhythm and the variety of the Arab music,
yet it is difficult to know which one influenced the other. The Arab
music has the variety and luxurious soft beauty in popular dances equal
to anything our modern musicians or poets have composed.
The playing of instruments, accompanying songs with Sanskrit texts, was
supposed to give energy, develop heroism, make a peaceful heart, and
drive away harm and impurity.
The members of the different castes or sects had and still have meetings
held sometimes in private houses and sometimes in the temples, when they
sang religious hymns. Among the higher classes, they went to the expense
of having good musicians and of giving artistic performances, but among
the common people, their idea was that the greater the noise the more
they showed their devotion, so they sang, beat drums and blew whistles
without any regard for time or melody, and you can imagine the effect
was pandemonium.
NOTATION
It is impossible to write the Hindu music in European notation, because
instead of dividing the scale into semi-tones or half-steps, they use
quarter tones.
Margaret Glyn, in her book, _Evolution of Musical Form_, writes:
“In the East notation is in an elementary condition, the staff being
unknown. The Hindus, Chinese, and Abyssinians have ancient note-signs,
consisting of a kind of letter to which some indication of time is
added, but in this respect the Chinese system is wanting, having
practically no time-notation. Probably note-signs existed in Persia and
Arabia, but these do not appear to have survived. The modern Arabic
notation is but three hundred years old, and is said to have been
invented by one Demetrius de Cantemir who adapted the letters of the
Turkish alphabet for the purpose. This has eighteen tones to the octave
(we have twelve), and is used in Turkey and other countries of the near
East.”
The Hindus seem to like both triple (3 beats) and duple (2 or 4 beats)
rhythm. The scheme changes according to the poetry of the song, and the
pitch and the length of tones are shown by Sanskrit characters and
special signs or words.
INSTRUMENTS
The Hindus have spent much time in studying music and the instruments of
which they have many kinds. There are the strings, there are skins
sounded by beating, instruments struck together in pairs, and those that
are blown. They like the strings best. The characteristic instrument is
the _vina_, usually of wood or bamboo strengthened by one to three
gourds as sounding boards, and having five or seven wire strings played
something like the zither, but sometimes with a bow. (Figure 16.) There
are many varieties of the _sitar_, an instrument like a lute, and many
viols of which the _sarinda sarunja_ is typical and is played with a
bow. (Figure 17.)
Among the percussion instruments are tambourines, castanets and cymbals;
they had wind instruments such as flutes (seldom transverse or blown in
from the side, and often played by blowing on them through the
nostrils), trumpets, horns, bagpipes and oboes. Certain instruments were
used only by the priests, others by beggars, and others by dancing
girls. Imagine how weird a story could be told in music if a modern
symphony orchestra played a piece of music telling of life among the
Hindus. Maybe some of the readers of this book will get an idea for a
Hindu tone poem, who knows?
[Illustration:
_Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City._
_Hindu Instruments._
_Fig. 15.—Tabla—drum._
_Fig. 16.—Kinnari—Vina, a stringed instrument._
]
[Illustration:
_Fig. 17._
_Sitar (Strings) Trumpet._
]
[Illustration:
_Fig. 18._
_Hindu Instruments._
]
Childhood of Music
CHAPTER VII
What Church Music Imported from Greece
During the centuries when the Eastern nations were powerful the European
continent was inhabited by primitive men, who had gradually formed
tribes. They had rude songs, dances, and crude instruments. They used
their music in religious ceremonies, to celebrate war victories and
successful hunting expeditions, to sing to their sweethearts, and to
accompany their work in the fields and homes, much as the American
Indian did. Many manners and customs of the Anglo-Saxon (English),
Teutonic (German), Norse (Danish, Swedish and Norwegian), Celtic (Irish)
and Gallic (French) races may be traced back to these barbaric days, and
even the beginning of national schools of music may be found.
Although a thousand years passed between the Greek musical era and the
“Golden Age” of Christian Church music, much that happened in that time
is hidden in darkness. The nations and tribes were fighting for
existence and were developing into the nations which we know today.
Islam or the Mohammedan religion, and not Christianity, was the great
influence.
Julius Cæsar (100–44 B.C.), the great Roman General, conquered Gallia
(France), then invaded the land of the Teutons (Germany) and even
reached England. In parts of northern Europe, one still sees the remains
of great roadways, aqueducts or water works, and bridges, that the
Romans built during their invasions.
In the Cluny Museum in Paris is a great hall built as a bath by the
Romans. In Bath, England, the city was named for the ancient Roman baths
still existing, and you can see the pipe lines which carried the water.
DARK AGES
The world at that time was not a happy place in which to live. There was
constant warfare between the once powerful Roman Empire and these
barbaric tribes. The poorest people were oppressed and many were slaves,
bought and sold by the rich land owners and army leaders.
Into such a world was the child, Jesus, born—a world with little love
for humanity, little unselfishness, little sympathy for the down-trodden
and unhappy, few kind words for the poor or the sick, little justice and
less mercy. No wonder that His teachings brought new life and gave hope
to the people!
For several centuries following the birth of Christ, the world went
through a period called the Dark Ages. Rome, the city of glorious
victories and brilliant culture became the prey of the barbaric
tribes—Huns, Goths, Visigoths, Vandals, Franks, Saxons, and Slavs,—until
it seemed that civilization would be wiped out and people would become
primitive again.
Music was saved during the Dark Ages through a small band of faithful
followers of Jesus Christ, who founded a church in His name. That their
music should have been made up of existing tunes and words is very
natural. Jesus, himself, brought up in the religion of the Hebrews,
often sang the Psalms of David. The beautiful traditional music of the
Jewish synagogues found its way into the services of the early Christian
Church, because many of the believers were Hebrews. Soon the Hebrew
Bible texts were translated into Latin—the everyday language of the
Romans, and as most of these early Christians lived in Rome, they
followed the rules of music the Romans learned from the Greeks. So, our
Church music was influenced both by the Hebrews and Greeks.
For about three hundred years the early Christians had to hold their
services in secret, as they were punished even by death when caught, for
not worshipping Jupiter and the Roman gods. They were not rich and
influential, but just humble folk to whom the teachings of Jesus came as
a joyous comfort. They had no beautiful palaces where they could hold
services, and at the same time hide from the Roman centurions, so they
worshipped in dark and secret places and could not have much music as it
would have attracted the attention of their enemies. The early
Christians shunned music, too, because it had been used for the wild
dances and festivals of their pagan oppressors. As they were poor and
uneducated, they had had little training and lacked money to buy
instruments, so all in all music had a hard time to keep alive.
From what we can gather, they chanted their Psalms much as did the
Hebrews and had responses which sounded like soft and monotonous
droning.
As time went on emperors like Constantine, began to take away the death
penalty from those believing in Christ and gradually as the Romans saw
the beauty of His teachings they became Christians in increasing
numbers. Many of these Romans came from the upper classes, and as Greek
was the language of culture they had had a thorough Greek education and
owned many instruments, so they brought their Greek musical inheritance
to the growing band.
Thus, the chants composed in Rome for the _kithara_ were the direct
ancestors of our Christian hymns. These early hymns were also a bridge
between the single melody line of the Orient and Greece and Rome, and
the many melody lines, called polyphonic music, of Europe.
In 325 A.D., Emperor Constantine made Christianity the national religion
of Rome. He also founded the Christian Church in Byzantium, later called
Constantinople, and all through the Dark Ages, in many parts of Europe,
the cathedrals and church schools were the only gleam of learning in a
time of darkness and struggle.
After the Roman Empire reached its greatest height, in the 2nd century,
it gradually grew weaker and during the 4th and 5th centuries, the
Goths, Vandals and Huns drove the government from Rome to
Constantinople. In the 7th century Mohammedanism rose and swept over
Syria, Egypt and North Africa, and reached Spain in the 8th century.
ANSWERING MUSIC
It is related that St. Ignatius (49–107 A.D.) one of the early Christian
fathers, had a vision in which he heard the Heavenly choirs praising the
Holy Trinity, in alternating chants, and he was so impressed by it, that
he introduced into the Church the idea of two choirs of singers
answering each other.
In singing the Psalms of David, the Hebrews used this idea of antiphonal
music. (Anti—against, phonal—sounding: antiphonal—sounding against each
other.) We see it too in the Greek choruses, in the Roman kitharoedic
chants (chants accompanied by the _kithara_), and now in the early
Christian hymns. From this antiphonal music to the later polyphony
(poly—many, phony—sounds: many voices or parts) is a natural step. Here
again is an instance of the influence of one nation on another.
THE PATRON SAINT OF MUSIC
Among the martyrs to the cause of the Christian faith, was St. Cecilia,
a member of a noble Roman family, who was put to death for becoming a
Christian about 177 A.D. She is believed to be buried in the Roman
catacombs (underground burial chambers) and is the patron saint of
music, and she is supposed to have invented the organ.
It was St. Ambrose (333–397 A.D.) who worked out the first system for
church music and put it on a foundation that lasted for two hundred
years.
GREEK MODES AS MODELS
St. Ambrose built scales modeled on the old Greek modes and they were
given Greek names, but somehow the names became mixed so that the mode
called by Ambrose, Dorian (from D to D on the white keys of the piano)
was the Greek Phrygian; and the Phrygian (E to E) of Ambrose was called
Dorian by the Greeks; F to F is the Lydian mode; G to G, the Mixolydian.
These were the four authentic _Ecclesiastical_ or _Church Modes_.
St. Ambrose felt it his duty to make over the church music because
popular street songs had crept in with the Hebrew Psalms and Greek and
Roman chants! It was much the same effect as if you entered a church and
heard the organ and choir performing “Yes, We Have No Bananas.” This is
a funny comparison because it is said that a part of “Yes, We Have No
Bananas” is stolen from Handel’s great “Hallelujah” Chorus from the
oratorio _The Messiah_.
About this time, schools were formed to train singers in these new hymns
and church services, and a way to write down the music composed by St.
Ambrose and his followers was needed. The Greek letters had been used in
Rome, but now a new system called _neumes_ appeared; this word comes
from the Greek and means “breath” and the neumes simply marked where one
should breathe in chanting the hymns. There were eight signs with Latin
names which gave full directions when to raise and lower the voice.
The system of Neumes notation looks like our present day shorthand and
was a help, though, should we use it now we would think it anything but
a help.
While the Neumes writing showed how to mark the time, it had a serious
shortcoming, because it did not outline the melody exactly. It indicated
whether the melody rose or fell, but just how much was a question not
definitely shown. An unfamiliar chant could not be sung until the
notation had been worked out. It took five years for a choir singer to
be able to sing the music!
When the singers sang solos, they ornamented the songs and sang anything
they pleased! This made variety but it must also have caused much
confusion! The people may have learned this ornamental singing of the
Arab, from _The Gloss_. (Page 59.)
The next step was the Gregorian chant which even today is sung in the
Roman Catholic Churches.
To the four authentic scales of St. Ambrose, St. Gregory who was Pope
from 590 to 604 added four more called _plagal_. He did not invent these
scales but based them on the old Greek and Ambrosian modes. To each
authentic scale, he added a plagal scale starting four tones below it,
and to the name of the authentic mode is added the prefix _hypo_.
Each authentic mode and its _hypo_ are related.
Here is a table of these related modes, and their names:
[Illustration:
_After a painting by Garofalo, National Gallery at Rome._
_Saint Cecilia—Patron Saint of Music._
(_Holding a portative organ._)
]
[Illustration:
_After a painting by Maxence, in Paris._
_Book of Peace._
]
AUTHENTIC SCALES OR MODES PLAGAL SCALES OR MODES
(St. Ambrose’s Scales) (St. Gregory’s Scales)
I. Dorian: II. Hypo-Dorian:
d ef͡ g a bc͡ d a bc͡ d ef͡ g a
III. Phrygian: IV. Hypo-Phrygian:
ef͡ g a bc͡ d e bc͡ d ef͡ g a b
V. Lydian: VI. Hypo-Lydian:
f g a bc͡ d ef͡ c d ef͡ g a bc͡
VII. Mixo-Lydian: VIII. Hypo-Mixo-Lydian:
g a bc͡ d ef͡ g d ef͡ g a bc͡ d
We have marked the half-steps _bc͡_ and _ef͡_, and in every mode they
fall on different degrees of the scale. This shifting of the half-steps
tells us the name of the mode.
In order to try to give you a definite idea of how the church modes
worked, we have written the familiar national hymn _America_ in each
mode (see page 74). Play them, and you will see how one differs from the
other.
Katherine Ruth Heyman has used a similar idea in her little book _The
Relation of Ultramodern to Archaic Music_ in explaining Greek Modes.
It took many years to establish this music and it was not until the time
of Charlemagne (742–814) that it became a real system called Plain Chant
or Plain-song (from the Latin, _cantus planus_).
Pope Gregory founded the _Schola Cantorum_, school of singers, at Rome,
and with these trained people he tried to establish for all Christian
churches, a way to sing systematically and well. They studied nine
years, and everything had to be memorized, for only the leader had a
song book. Books were written by hand and were hard to get. The teacher
had a monochord, the instrument invented by Pythagoras, to give the
pitch, for all the singing was done without accompaniment. The singing
must have improved greatly after Gregory became Pope, for before his
reform, music had become a stunt with no solemnity, and people in the
churches waved handkerchiefs if the stunt pleased them!
[Illustration: AMERICA]
A LONG JOURNEY
At any rate the Gregorian chant flourished and was so loved that
Benedict Biscop, and other monks interested in music, came from far-off
England to learn the chant invented by St. Gregory. A long journey! In
675 Biscop sent to Rome for singers and built monasteries very close to
a pagan temple, where the Anglo-Saxons still worshipped the Roman Sun
god, Apollo, also god of music. These he filled with beautiful relics,
paintings and stained glass windows, Bibles and service books
illuminated in gold and color, which he brought from Rome.
Bringing things from Rome may sound easy to you, but fancy the travel
and inconvenience when there were no steamships, no railroads, no
aeroplanes, but only Roman roads, which however marvelous, were long and
wearisome by foot or by horse, or mule and rude wagons. This shows how
much the people of Britain desired music and beauty in their church
services.
VENERABLE BEDE
About this time, there lived a man in England so loved and respected
that he was called the Venerable Bede. Although music had no such
variety, melody and richness as today, just see what the Venerable Bede
says about it: “Music is the most worthy, courteous, pleasant, joyous
and lovely of all knowledge; it makes a man gentlemanly in his demeanor,
pleasant, courteous, joyous, lovely, for it acts upon his feelings.
Music encourages us to bear the heaviest afflictions, administers
consolation in every difficulty, refreshes the broken spirit, removes
headache and cures crossness and melancholy.”
Isn’t it remarkable for a man to have said this so long ago, when
scientists, today, have just _begun_ to think that music may have a
power of healing ills of the mind and of the body! Truly—“there is
nothing new under the sun!”
So Bede used the plain chant of Gregory and through his influence,
spread this dignified music throughout England, and wherever a monastery
was founded, a music school was started.
The Venerable Bede writes that Ethelbert of Kent, King of Britain, was a
worshipper of Odin and Thor, Norse gods, but he married a French
Princess who was a Christian. One day, writes the Venerable Bede, forty
monks led in solemn procession by St. Augustine, passed before the king
singing a chant. After hearing this marvelous hymn, he became a
Christian and gave permission to the English to become worshippers of
Christ instead of Norse and Druid gods. This hymn which converted
Ethelbert in 597 A.D. was sung thirteen hundred years later (1897) in
the same place, Canterbury, by another group of Benedictine monks!
At first the songs were sung unaccompanied, but later as in the time of
David, the Church allowed instruments. The lyre and the harp were used
first but the cymbals and the dulcimer, somewhat like our zither, were
considered too noisy.
The Venerable Bede called music made by instruments _artificial_ music,
and that of the human voice, _natural_ music. Whether at that time the
viol, the drum, the organ or the psaltery (an instrument like the
dulcimer) were used in the Church, is not known positively.
After Bede’s death, Alcuin, a monk and musician, continued his work. He
was appointed by Charlemagne, Emperor of France, to teach music in the
schools of Germany and France to spread the use of the Gregorian chant.
A CURIOUS MUSIC SYSTEM
In 900 A.D. an important thing happened, by which the reading and
learning of music was much simplified. A red line was drawn straight
across the page and this line represented “F” the tone on the fourth
line of the bass staff. The _neumes_ written on this red line were “F”
and the others above or below, were of higher or lower pitch. This
worked so well, that they placed a yellow line above the red line and
this they called “C.” These two lines were the beginnings of our five
line staff, but much happened between the two-line days and the five.
At this time people did not sing in parts, known as they are to
us—soprano, alto, tenor, bass, but everybody sang the same tune, that
is, sang in unison, and when men and women or men and boys sang
together, the men’s voices sounded an octave lower than the women’s and
the boy’s. Some voices have naturally a high range and others low, and
no doubt in these plain chant melodies the singers who could not reach
all the tones comfortably, dropped unconsciously to a lower pitch, and
in that way, made a second part. Soon the composers made this melody in
the medium range of the voice a part of their pieces instead of trusting
the singers to make it up as they went along. The principal tune sung or
carried by most of the singers was given the name _tenor_ (from the
Latin _teneo_, to hold or carry). We use the same word to indicate the
man’s voice of high range.
HUCBALD AND ORGANUM
Hucbald (840–930), a Flemish monk, first wrote a second part, always a
fifth above or a fourth below the tenor or “subject.” (The Latin name
for the subject is _cantus firmus_—fixed song.) Hucbald probably used
the fifth and fourth because they were perfect intervals, and all others
except the octave, were imperfect. There were often four parts including
the _cantus firmus_, for two parts were doubled. This succession of
fourths and fifths sounds very crude and ugly (just try the example),
but these people of the Middle Ages must have liked it, for it lasted
several centuries and was an attempt at making chords. This music was
called _organum_ or _diaphony_ (dia-two, phony-sound: two sounds). As
early as 1100, singers tried out new effects with the added parts and
introduced a few imperfect intervals, thirds and sixths, and tried
singing occasionally in contrary motion to the subject,—this was called
_discant_ from a Greek word meaning discord. Maybe at first it sounded
discordant but soon it came to mean any part outside of the _cantus
firmus_ or subject. (See musical illustrations.)
[Illustration: Organum (IXth and Xth Centuries)]
[Illustration: Diaphony]
[Illustration:
Discant (XIIth Century)
Example of Organum, Diaphony, Discant
]
There was also a kind of diaphony in which a third voice was written as
a bass, a fifth below the _cantus firmus_, but it was actually sung an
octave higher than it was written and sounded much better that way. As
it was not a bass at all it received the name of false bass or _faux
bourdon_. This was the beginning of chords such as we use.
So, Hucbald started the science of harmony,—the study of chords. Hucbald
called this _ars organum_—the art of organating or organizing.
Hucbald also invented a system of writing music on a staff. It was not a
staff such as we use today for he wrote in the spaces the initials T and
S. T meant that the singer was to sing a whole tone, S, a semitone or
half-step. He used a six line staff and wrote words in script instead of
notes like this:
[Illustration: Staff]
GUIDO D’AREZZO AND HIS ADDITIONS TO MUSIC
The next great name in music history is Guido d’Arezzo, a Benedictine
monk (995–1050), famous for his valuable additions to music.
He invented the four-line staff, using both lines and spaces and giving
a definite place on the staff to each sound:
Yellow line C————————————
Black line .............
Red line F————————————
Black line .............
In the Middle Ages, the men did most of the singing so the music was
written in a range to suit their voices. C is middle C, and F the bass
clef.
All music had to be written by hand and the monks made wonderful
parchment copies of works composed for the church services. They soon
grew careless about the yellow lines and red lines, so Guido placed the
letters C and F at the beginning of the lines instead of using the
colored lines.
Sometimes there were three lines to a staff, sometimes four, five, and
even eleven! The use of clefs showing which line was C or F, made
reading of music much easier. At the end of the 16th century the
question of the number of lines to the staff was definitely decided,
then they used four lines for the plain chant and five for all secular
music. By calling the fifth line of the eleven, middle C, two staffs of
five lines resulted—the grand staff of today.
Here is a table to show you how clefs grew:
[Illustration: (from Vincent d’Indy’s “Cours de Composition Musicale”)]
Hucbald built his scales in groups of four tones like the Greek
tetrachords but Guido extended this tetrachord to a hexachord or
six-toned scale, and by overlapping the hexachords, he built a series of
scales to which he gave the name, _gamut_, because it started on the G
which is the first note of our grand staff (lowest line, bass clef) and
the Greek word for G is “Gamma.”
F G ab͡♭ c d }
½ step }
C D EF͡ G a } This was repeated starting
½ step } an octave higher.
G A BC͡ D E }
½ step }
(Read from lowest line up.)
In the lowest hexachord, the B is natural, in the second hexachord there
is no B and in the third hexachord, the B is flattened. Our sign (♭) for
flat comes from the fact that this B was called a round B and the sign
(♮) for natural was called a square B. The sharp (♯) came from the
natural and both meant at first raising the tone a half-step.
Guido once heard the monks in the monastery of Arezzo singing a hymn in
honor of St. John the Baptist. He noticed that each line of the Latin
poem began on ascending notes of the scale,—the first line on C, the
second on D, and so on up to the sixth on A. It gave him the idea to
call each degree of the hexachord by the first syllable of the line of
the Latin hymn, thus:
_Ut_queant laxis,
_Re_sonare fibris,
_Mi_ra gestorum,
_Fam_uli tuorum,
_Sol_ve polluti,
_Lab_ia reatum.
HYMN TO ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST
[Illustration: _UT que-ant la-xis RE-so ne-re fi-bris, MI ra ges-to-rum
FA-mu-li tu o rum, SOL ve pol-lu ti LA bi a re a tumB͡C, Sancte
Io-es-nes_]
Here is a translation:
Grant that the unworthy lips of Thy servant
May be gifted with due harmony,
Let the tones of my voice
Sing the praises of Thy wonders.
We still call our scale degrees _ut_ (frequently changed to _do_), _re_,
_mi_, _fa_, _sol_, _la_. The French today use these syllables instead of
the letters of the alphabet, and Guido is known as the man who
originated this solmization (the word taken from the syllables _sol_ and
_mi_).
Where did the syllable _si_, the seventh degree of the scale, come from?
This hymn was written to St. John and in Latin his name is _Sancte
Ioannes_, the initials of which form the syllable _si_ which came into
use long after Guido’s time.
This system was very difficult for the singers to learn as it was quite
new to them, so Guido used his hand as a guide to the singers. Each
joint represented a different syllable and tone, and a new scale began
on every fourth tone. Look at the Guidonian hand on the next page.
Guido was so great a teacher and musician that he was given credit for
inventing much that already existed. He gathered all the knowledge he
could find into a book, that was sent to the monasteries and music
schools. He put in much that never before had been written down,
explained many things that had never been clear, and added much that was
new and useful.
Sometimes his name was written Gui or Guion. When he lived people had no
last names but were called by the name of their native towns; as Guido
was born in Arezzo, a town of Tuscany, he was called Guido d’Arezzo;
Leonardo da Vinci, the great painter, was born in the village of Vinci;
and the great Italian composer Pierluigi da Palestrina came from
Palestrina.
Guido’s work was considered revolutionary and not in accord with the old
ways which the church fathers reverenced. Because of plots against him,
he was cast into prison. But the Pope, realizing his greatness and
value, saved him. The inventors of new ideas always suffer!
[Illustration: Hand]
MENSURAL MUSIC OR TIMED MUSIC
Before Guido invented it, there had been no system of counting time.
If you are studying music, you know all about time signatures and what
metre a piece is in, from the ¾, ⁶⁄₈, ⁹⁄₈, ²⁄₄, ⁴⁄₄ or sign Ⅽ at the
beginning of the composition, but you probably do not know how or when
these signs came into use. In the Gregorian plain song and in Organum,
there was practically no variety of rhythm and no need for showing time
or marking off the music into measures. The accents fell quite naturally
according to the words that were sung, much as you would recite poetry.
But as music grew up and became more difficult, it was necessary for a
chorus singing in three or four different parts, to sing in time as well
as in tune, in order, at least, to start and finish together!
The first metre that was used was triple (three beats to the measure).
It was called perfect and was indicated by a perfect circle, ○, the
symbol of the Holy Trinity and of perfection. Duple metre (two beats to
the measure) was imperfect and was indicated by an incomplete circle, Ϲ.
Our sign for common time (four beats to the measure), Ϲ comes from this
incomplete circle. ⁹⁄₈ was written ☉; ¾ was ○; ⁶⁄₈ was Ͼ; and ⁴⁄₄ was Ϲ.
A monk named Franco, from Cologne, on the Rhine, early in the twelfth
century, invented these time signatures, and notes which in themselves
indicated different time values. Hucbald’s neumes were no longer suited
to the new music, and besides time signatures it became necessary to
have a music language showing very clearly and definitely the composer’s
rhythm.
FRANCO’S NOTATION OUR NOTATION
▬ (maxima) = ⬭ (whole note)
▜ (longa) = ᑯ (half note)
◼ (brevis) = ♩ (quarter note)
◆ (semi-brevis) = ♪ (eighth note)
Franco used four kinds of notes. Here they are translated into the time
values of today.
ORGANS
In the 10th century, organs came into use in the churches, but they were
ungainly and crude, sounding only a few tones, and were probably only
used to keep the singers on pitch. The organ had been invented long
before this, and had been used in Greece and Egypt. It was built on the
principle of Pan’s Pipes and was very simple. There were many portable
organs, called portatives, small enough to be carried about.
One organ (not a portative!) at Winchester, England, had four hundred
pipes and twenty-six pairs of bellows. It took seventy men to pump air
into it and two men to play it by pounding on a key with their fists or
elbows. The tone was so loud that it could be heard all over the town.
Fancy that!
During these centuries, music was growing slowly but surely. Out of
_organum_ and _discant_ and _faux bourdon_, arose a style called
counterpoint, in which three, four or more melodies were sung at the
same time. The writing of _counterpoint_, or line over line, is like a
basket weave for the different melodies weave in and out like pieces of
willow or raffia forming the basket. Later will come the _chorale_,
written in chords or up and down music like a colonnade or series of
columns. Keep this picture in mind. (St. Nicolas Tune, Chapter XI.) The
word _point_ means _note_ so _counterpoint_ means _note against note_.
The word was first applied in the 13th century to very crude and
discordant part-writing. But, little by little the monks learned how to
combine melodies beautifully and harmoniously and we still use many of
their rules.
Gradually great schools of church music flourished in France, Germany,
Spain, England, Italy and the Netherlands in the 14th, 15th and 16th
centuries.
Bit by bit this vast musical structure was built. It did not grow
quickly; each new idea took centuries to become a part of music, and as
often the idea was not good, it took a long time to replace it.
CHAPTER VIII
Troubadours and Minnesingers Brought Music to Kings and People
Except for the first few chapters in this book, we have told you of
music made by men who wanted to improve it. You have seen how the
fathers of the Church first reformed music, and gave it a shorthand
called neumes; before that, the music laws of the Egyptians, the scales
and modes of the Arab, the Greek scales which the churchmen used in the
Ambrosian and the Gregorian modes. Then came the two-lined staff, and
the beginnings of mensural or measured music by which they kept time.
Then you saw how two melodies were fitted together and how they grew
into four parts. All this we might call “on purpose” music. At the same
time, in all the world, in every country, there was Song ... and never
have the world and the common people (called so because they are neither
of the nobility nor of the church) been without folk song which has come
from the folks of the world, the farmers, the weavers, and the laborers.
The best of these songs have what the great composers try to put into
their music—a feeling of fresh free melody, design, balance, and climax,
but more of this in the chapter on Folk Song.
This chapter is to be about Troubadours, Trouvères, and Minnesingers,
who have left over two thousand songs. In most of these, they made up
both words and music, but sometimes they used new words made up for folk
tunes that everyone knew, or for melodies from the plain-chants which
they had heard in church; sometimes they used the same melody for
several different poems, and often they set the same words to several
melodies. Many of these troubadour songs and _minnelieder_ became the
people’s own folk songs.
But now you must hear of the folk who lived hundreds of years before
these poet singers. Unknowingly, out of the heart and soul and soil of
their native lands, they made songs and sang poetry and played sometimes
other peoples’ song, scattering their own wherever they went.
From these traveling singers and players, in all countries, came the
professional musicians who were minstrels, bards, troubadours, etc.,
according to when, where and how they lived.
THE WHY OF THE MINSTREL
The people sang and played not only because they wanted to, or because
they loved it, but because they were the newspaper and the radio of
their time, singing the news and doings of the day. These minstrels who
traveled from place to place “broadcasted” the events. No music was
written down and no words were fastened by writing to any special piece.
The singer would learn a tune and when he sang a long story (an epic) he
would repeat the tune many times so it was necessary to find a pleasing
melody, or singers would not have been very welcome in the courts and
market places. These musical news columns entertained the people who had
few amusements. The wandering minstrels with their harps or _crwth_
(Welsh harps), or whatever instrument they might have used in their
particular country, were welcomed with open arms and hearts.
This sounds as if these singers and players traveled, and indeed they
did! They sprang up from all parts of Europe and had different names in
different places. There were bards from Britain and Ireland, skalds from
the Norse lands, minstrels from “Merrie England,” troubadours from the
south of France, trouvères from the north of France, jongleurs from both
north and south who danced and juggled for the joy of all who saw them,
and minnesingers and meistersingers in Germany.
DRUIDS AND BARDS
Centuries before this, Homer the great Greek poet was called the Blind
Bard and he chanted his poems, the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_, to the
accompaniment of the lyre, the favorite instrument of the Greeks. But
when we speak of bards in this chapter we mean the poets and musicians
of ancient Britain, when that island was inhabited and ruled by the
Druids, 1000 B.C. We do not know when the bards first began to make
music or when they were first called bards, but it is certain that for
many centuries before the Christian era, these rude, barbarous people of
the countries we know as Wales, England, Ireland and Scotland, had many
songs, dances and musical instruments.
Look at a map of France, and see how much like a teapot it is shaped.
The western part, the spout, is Brittany! As its name shows, this part
of France was inhabited by the same race of people as were in Britain,
they spoke the same language, had the same religion and made the same
music. These people were Celts and their priests were called Druids.
Much we said about primitive people is true of these early Britons. They
expressed their feelings, and tried to protect themselves from Nature
and human foes by means of religious rites and ceremonies in which music
and dancing played the leading part.
They had no churches, but held religious services in the open under the
oak trees. They piled boulders on top of each other to form altars, or
built large circular enclosures of huge flat rocks, inside of which they
gathered for worship, or to assist at some ceremonial in which
sacrifices of animals and occasionally of human beings were made. These
human sacrifices occurred once a year at the Spring Festival which was
celebrated in much the same fashion as in Greece. These masses of stone
are found not only in the British Isles, the most famous of which is
Stonehenge (which was recently bought by an American), but there are
also many of these so-called _cromlechs_ and _menhirs_ in Brittany.
It is curious how often men and women do the same things at times and
places so completely separated that they could not have been influenced
by each other, but did what was natural for them. It seems that between
the state of being primitive or savage and of being cultured, mankind
must pass through certain states of mind and certain bodily actions
common to all men. In tracing the growth of any habits and actions of
people,—in government, religion, amusements, art, music, manners and
customs, and language, we find the same customs constantly repeated
among different races. If you remember this point, you will be
interested to watch, in this book, the difference between these
experiences common to all mankind and those which later on, were caused
by the influence that one race had on another through meeting, through
conquest and through neighborly contact.
The bards belonged to the priesthood and were Druids. They sang in verse
the brave deeds of their countrymen, praises of the gods and heroes, and
legends of war and adventure, accompanying themselves on primitive
harps, or on an instrument something like the violin without a neck,
called a _crwth_. They wore long robes and when they were acting as
priests, these were covered with white surplices somewhat like the gowns
of our own clergy. From a bit of information handed down by the bards,
we learn that in Ireland, the graduate bard wore six colors in his
robes, said to be the origin of the plaid of the Scotch Highlanders; the
king wore seven colors; lords and ladies, five; governors of fortresses,
four; officers and gentlemen, three; soldiers, two, and the people were
allowed to wear only one. Even their dress seemed important and marked
the rank!
There were three kinds of bards: priestly bards who took part in the
religious rituals and were also the historians, domestic bards who made
music in honor of their masters, and heraldic bards whose duties were to
arouse patriotism through songs in praise of their national heroes. They
had to pass examinations to become bards, and the lower ranks were
tested for knowledge and ability before being promoted to the higher
ranks. Recently there has been a revival in Wales of the _Eisteddfod_,
or song contests of the Druids.
“Minstrelsy,” or singing to the _crwth_ or harp, lived on long after
Druidism had been replaced by the Christian faith. Did you ever wonder
where the custom came from of mistletoe at Christmas time? Or of dancing
around a Maypole? Or building bonfires for May-day and St. John’s eve?
Celebrating All-Hallowe’en with pumpkins and black cats? And of having
Christmas trees? Well, these customs are all relics of Druidism of 2000
or more years ago.
SKALDS
In the land of the fierce Vikings or Norsemen, who inhabited
Scandinavia, Iceland and Finland before and during the Middle Ages,
there were bards called Skalds or Sagamen. They recited and sang stories
telling of their Norse gods, goddesses and heroes, Woden, Thor, Odin,
Freya, Brynnhild, and of the abode of the gods, Walhalla. These ballads
formed the national epics called _sagas_ and _eddas_, from which Richard
Wagner drew the story for his immortal music dramas, the Nibelungenlied.
Odin, who was considered a Norse god, probably was a Saxon prince who
lived in the 3rd century, A.D. He revived the Norse mythology and rites
with the aid of minstrels, seers, and priests. His teachings lasted
until the reign of Charlemagne, a devout Christian, who put an end to
pagan rites.
In the 5th century came the Saxons, Hengist and Horsa, descendants of
Odin, and much of Britain fell under their rule; with them, came the
skalds whose duty it was to celebrate the deeds of their lords. They
appeared at the great state banquets, and also on the battle fields,
encouraging the warriors with their songs of heroism, and comforting the
wounded soldiers.
When the Danes, the Angles and the Jutes came to Britain in this same
century, the country was called England or Angle-land. Harpers and
gleemen followed in the footsteps of the Scandinavian skalds. These
musician-singers went as honored guests from court to court, and
received valuable presents. A popular gleeman was given the title of
poet-laureate, and crowned with a laurel wreath.
The songs were taught orally and learned by heart, as there was no
notation at this early date (500 A.D.). They accompanied themselves on
small harps which could be carried easily. The harp was handed around
the banquet table so that each guest in turn might sing a song as his
share of the entertainment. Singing and composing poetry were a
necessary part of a gentleman’s education.
The “Venerable” Bede (Chapter VII) wrote that “Cædmon the poet (600
A.D.) never could compose any trivial or vain songs, but only such as
belonged to a serious and sacred vein of thought ... he was not
practised in the art of verse. So, oft, in an entertainment, where for
the sake of merriment it had been agreed that each in turn should sing
and harp, as the dreaded instrument was seen approaching, he arose in
shame from the supper table and went home to his house.” However, we
learn that Cædmon who was a serving man, had a vision in which an angel
asked him to “sing the beginning of creatures,” and when the vision had
passed, he remembered the heavenly song, and thus Cædmon ceased to be
shy, became the first great poet of England and was permitted to be a
monk.
As the gleemen and harpers were not fighting men, they had many
privileges not granted to the warriors. They passed, unchallenged,
through the fighting camps, and we have any number of stories of kings
and warriors disguising themselves as harpers in order to get
information about their enemies. A secret service system of the Middle
Ages!
In 878, Alfred the Great had been robbed of power and authority by the
Danes, so disguised as a gleeman and armed only with a harp, he went
into the Danish encampment. The royal minstrel was received cordially,
and while the Danish king was listening to the songs, the harper
(Alfred) was getting the information he needed, and soon made a surprise
attack with his troops and was victorious. This is spying with musical
accompaniment!
The Battle of Hastings (1066) caused great changes not only in learning,
customs, language, music, other arts and politics, but in life itself.
The French who, under William of Normandy conquered Britain, were
leaders in composing poetry and song, and they brought over to Britain
all their talents. Now romance began and with it the art of glorifying
in song and verse, deeds of valor and the charms of lovely ladies. And
here the troubadours and trouvères make their entrance into our story.
France had had songs of deeds and action called _Chansons de Geste_,
which were tales of the brave Charlemagne, celebrating his victory over
the invading Moors from Spain. One of the greatest of these was the
_Chanson de Roland_. Other songs or ballads on religious, historical,
chivalric, or political subjects took the place of our modern newspapers
and were powerful at the courts and among the people in the towns. When
a man in court circles did anything that some one objected to, one of
the minstrel-poets was hired to make up a song about it, which was sung
everywhere until the news was well circulated, and the person punished,
often undeservedly. However it made the men of those days think twice
before doing things against the rights of others, for they were really
afraid of these songs that were spread among their friends and enemies.
In the Battle of Hastings, Taillefer, a famous soldier-minstrel, led the
attack of the Normans, singing songs of Roland and of Charlemagne. He
struck the first blow in the fight, and was the first one killed, but he
went to his death singing. Tales of our own soldiers in the great war
tell us the same about the need and love of music.
CHANSON DE ROLAND
The _Chanson de Roland_ is the national epic poem of France, and dates
back to this Norman period. It celebrates the death at Roncevals, of
Roland, Count of the “Marsh” of Bretagne, in Charlemagne’s expedition
against Spain in 778. The work is divided into three parts. The first
tells of the fight between the French (Christians) and the Saracens
(Spanish Arabs), of the valor of Oliver and of Roland, of the latter’s
death, of Charlemagne’s miraculous victory over the Saracens. The second
part is a poem not based on fact, in which Charlemagne fights Baligant,
the chief of all the pagans of the Orient; the western chief is
victorious over the pagan chief, who is utterly defeated and killed.
This poem pictures the victory of Christianity over Paganism. In the
third part, the revenge is carried further, by Charlemagne’s taking the
Saracen city Saragosse, and bringing back with him to France another of
the leaders, Ganelon, who was tried and condemned to death.
This is the leading French work of the Middle Ages, as it sums up the
greatest idealism, and brings to us that which they considered most
vital—the call of patriotism, of honor and of duty.
GREAT CATHEDRALS AND FEUDAL CASTLES
About this time began the building of the great Gothic churches in
France, England, and Germany. Rome had fallen, paganism had gone, and
the spirit of Christianity was taking great hold of the people’s hearts.
As a result of this feeling to praise God suitably the great churches
which we copy even today were built.
If “architecture is frozen music,” you can understand why music and
architecture developed at the same time.
This was also the age of Feudalism, when the noblemen lived in castles
with moats and drawbridges, and owned vast tracts of land and whole
villages. People were retainers, vassals and serfs, with no freedom and
no property rights except what the lords gave them. They even had to
give their masters much of the produce of the lands which they
cultivated. Of course, these feudal lords besides having to be fed and
guarded had to be entertained, and had to know what was going on in the
outside world. So, the minstrels and bards were cordially welcomed, and
wandered from castle to castle, receiving presents of money or clothes,
jewelry, horses, and sometimes even houses.
WHAT TROUBADOURS LEARNED THROUGH CRUSADES
Every year during the early centuries of the Christian era, hundreds of
pilgrims journeyed to the Holy Land undergoing much hardship on the way.
They thought through this pilgrimage to be forgiven for their sins, and
win the approval of the Church, then far more powerful than the kings.
Toward the end of the 11th century, Mohammedans had seized Palestine,
and prevented the Christian pilgrims from doing penance or worshipping
at the Holy Sepulchre. This led to a series of expeditions against the
Mohammedans in Palestine in which all the Christian countries of Europe
united. These expeditions were called the Crusades (1095–1271), and they
have been celebrated in story and song ever since. The Crusades gave the
rough uncultured men of the Western world the chance to hear the poetry
and the songs of the Arabs (Chapter VI), who at that time were the most
advanced in culture and arts. Although the Oriental music with its
complicated rhythms must have been hard to learn, the Crusaders brought
back much of real value and beauty,—a new way of singing, new subjects
for poems, and two new instruments, a kind of guitar and _el oud_, in
Europe called lute. The lute had a strong influence on popular music,
for it was the most commonly used instrument for centuries.
ROMANCE LANGUAGES
Latin had been the language of France because the Romans lived there so
long, but later it became mixed with the rough dialect and speech of the
Franks and other Gothic barbarous tribes and was much changed. From this
mixture came rustic Latin, or _Romanse rustique_, and modern French,
Spanish, Italian and Portuguese are still called Romance languages. A
new poetry was born in Provence, the south of France, and in Normandy in
the north, written in this _Romanse rustique_, and the oldest French
songs were called _lais_, lay or ballad. The great ruler Charlemagne
collected these _lais_ of barbarian period and the trouvères and
troubadours had wonderful old songs of heroism to choose from.
In Provence they said “oc” for “yes” and in Normandy, “oui.” So, the
language of the south of France was called “langue d’oc” and of the
north “langue d’oui.”
TROUBADOURS, TROUVÈRES, JONGLEURS
The troubadours, whose very name brings to mind a charming picture of
romance, chivalry and adventure, were the poet-composers of Provence a
land of sunshine where men were brave and courteous, and women beautiful
and gracious. The words _troubadour_ and _trouvères_, come from
_trobar_, _trouver_, meaning to find or to invent, for these troubadours
and trouvères were the inventors or composers of poems which they set to
music.
They wrote their songs on the four-lined staff in square notes, without
written accompaniment. The accompaniments played on the lute, the
guitar, the vielle, or sometimes the harp, were probably made up by the
_jongleur_, (_joglar_, _jouglar_, in English,—juggler) who sang the
songs, had trained bears, danced and played tricks. Then as now there
were composers and performers. The troubadours and trouvères were as a
rule, nobles and even royalty. Five kings belonged to their number, the
greatest of them were Richard Cœur de Lion, William Count of Poitiers,
Alfonso, Thibaut de Champagne, and King of Navarre.
The troubadour seldom sang his own songs, as this was the jongleur’s
duty. There were many more jongleurs than troubadours, and they belonged
to a much lower grade of society. The jongleurs traveled from place to
place, from castle to castle, with their instruments slung across their
backs, and their songs in a little bag at their side. They were heartily
welcomed wherever they went, but if they found the doors of the castles
closed to them, they soon gathered a crowd in the public squares, where
they performed to the joy of the townspeople.
Can you imagine the pleasure these strolling entertainers gave to the
people who did not have motors, movies, radios, gramophones and theatres
for their amusement? How happy the custodian of the castle must have
been when he looked across the moat and lowered the drawbridge for the
welcome minstrels!
The jongleurs grew so numerous, and their music became so poor that they
were nuisances, little better than outlaws and beggars. How easily a
good thing can be overdone!
In the 14th century they banded together in perhaps the first musical
union on record. They appointed leaders, called kings of the minstrels
or jugglers. At first they were hired by nobles and troubadours as
entertainers with the rank of servants. Even the monasteries received
them with joy during the early days; later they were denounced by the
Church, and forbidden to enter the monasteries, for they had sung of
evil things instead of lovely things and had acted unseemly. During
Lent, they were forbidden to appear in public, so they wisely used that
time to go to schools of minstrelsy, where they learned new songs, and
tried their skill at composing. In these schools they were also taught
to play their instruments. Sometimes we hear of women minstrels, who
sang, played the flute, danced, and performed tricks to the endless
delight of the audience. (See lining of the cover of this book.)
The jongleurs, at their best, seem to have “gotten in” everywhere,—at
the courts of kings, in all the tournaments, festivals, pilgrimages, and
weddings. A wedding wasn’t complete without them! At the knightly
tournaments and jousts, the minstrel was a most necessary person, for,
did he not take the place of newspapers, and give accounts to a waiting
world of the results of the exciting tournaments?
Massenet, the French composer, wrote a lovely opera called _The Juggler
of Notre Dame_, from one of the old miracle tales of a young juggler
sheltered by the monks of Notre Dame. Everyone brought rich gifts to
place at the feet of the Virgin Mary, but being a pauper, he had nothing
but his songs, dances and tricks, which he offered the Virgin by going
through them as best he could in front of the shrine. So shocked were
the monks by his seeming lack of respect, that they wanted to drive him
out! At this moment the miracle took place. The image of the Virgin came
to life and stretched forth her arms protectingly to the young juggler,
showing that she accepted his offering given in all sincerity and
simplicity.
As all the countries of Europe took part in the Crusades, the
troubadours’ songs were heard by others than the French, and their music
spread rapidly. Richard, the Lion-Hearted, King of England, was a famous
Crusader and a troubadour of skill. He invited jongleurs over from
France, one of whom, Blondel de Nesle, became his devoted companion
during the Crusade of 1193, and saved Richard’s life. Richard was taken
captive by Leopold, Duke of Austria, and was cast into a dungeon. The
English did not know where to look for their monarch, but Blondel
undertook the search, going from place to place, singing songs which he
and the king had written together. One day as he sang, from the tower of
a castle came a voice which he recognized as Richard’s, singing the same
song! And soon the royal troubadour was released.
THE TROUBADOURS
This new art of poetry and song was called “The gay science of chivalry
and love-service.” Indeed many of the poems about knightly adventure
were addressed to some fair lady, real or imaginary, known or unknown.
Curious as it may seem, the names of most of these songs came from the
Arabian, because the Europeans met them during the crusades and during
the Arabs’ conquests and roamings in Europe.
The names tell you what the songs were about. _Chanson_ and _canzo_ both
mean song, and we see these names today on our concert programs. There
were story telling songs called the _chansons de toile_, songs of linen,
which told of the lovely damsels at work weaving, of their beauty, and
of their thoughts, for the women of castle and cottage alike wove the
cloth out of which the clothes were made. Then, they had dramatic songs
and dancing songs called _estampies_ (from which comes our word
stamping); the _reverdies_, or spring songs, to celebrate the Spring
festivals; the _pastorelles_ in which the heroine was always a charming
shepherdess; the _sera_ or _serenade_, an evening song; the _nocturne_,
a night song, and love songs were often sung under the beloved ladies’
windows! The _alba_ was a morning song. The _sirvantes_, or songs of
service, sung in praise of princes or nobles, or telling of public
happenings were important. These were often accompanied by drums, bells,
pipes and trumpets.
We have debating societies in our schools and colleges, and questions of
the day are discussed in the newspapers, but in the troubadours’ day,
debates were made into songs, sung by two people, and were called
_tensons_. Many curious and rather foolish questions were made the
subjects of these songs.
Sometimes these popular songs found their way into the Church, and were
made into fine church music, and sometimes a bit of melody from the
Church went through the hands of a troubadour poet and was turned into a
_rounde_, _ballata_, _sera_, or _pastorella_.
This poetry and song of Provence lasted until the middle of the 14th
century, for in the twelve hundreds the revolts against the abuses of
the Church rose to such seriousness that massacres took place, towns
were destroyed and many nobles and troubadours lost their lives.
TROUVÈRES
Shortly after the troubadours began to compose, in the north of France
came the trouvères who profited much from the music and poetry of their
southern brothers.
However, the trouvères did not have the warm, lovely dialect of the
southern troubadours. As they were closer to the Church, their songs
were more religious, had less variety of subjects, and the melodies were
like Church music.
Although the troubadours did much to shape the rhyming stanzas in
poetry, the trouvères helped in the gradual forming of the later French
and Flemish schools of music, as you will see.
The jongleurs played on an instrument called the _vielee_ which was
great-grandfather to our violin. The short pieces played before the
songs and accompanied by dances, were the first pieces of instrumental
music in the Middle Ages. The combination of song, instrument and dance
was called _balerie_ or _ballada_ from which comes our dance _ballet_.
There was also a piece called _rounde_, _rota_, or _rondo_, composed so
that different voices and the instrument came in at different points,
each singing or playing the same tune, but arranged so that the parts
sounded well together. Perhaps you know _Frère Jacques_ or _Scotland’s
Burning_ or _Three Blind Mice_. These are rounds.
One of the most beautiful rounds in existence is an English song which
dates from 1250, the period of all this “gay science,” and it is looked
upon as a masterpiece. It is supposed to have been written either by
John Forsete, a monk, or by Walter Odington. It was written in the old
square neumes on a six line staff. The name of this “Six Men’s Song” or
round for six voices, is _Summer is icumen In_.
One of the best known trouvères was Adam de la Hale who wrote _Robin et
Marion_, said to be the very first comic opera. It was performed at the
court of Naples in 1285.
The trouvères collected tales of Normandy, Brittany, and of
Charlemagne’s reign, and so preserved valuable musical and literary
material.
So these troubadours and trouvères made the age of Chivalry romantic and
beautiful to us who came long after them, in spite of much
unpleasantness, prejudice, war, massacre and hardship.
MINNESINGERS
Along the river Rhine in Germany near that part of France where the
trouvères sang, lived the Minnesingers. They sang love songs,—_minne_
was the old German word for love. Like the troubadours the minnesingers
were of the nobility, but they rarely hired jongleurs or anybody to
perform their songs; they sang them themselves, playing their own
accompaniments on lutes or viels (viols).
Many songs expressed adoration of the Virgin, and others praised deeds
of chivalry. Differing from other minstrels, they made songs about
Nature and Religion full of feeling, fancy and humor, but the minnesongs
were not so light-hearted or fanciful as those of their French
neighbors. They had marked rhythm, beauty of form and simplicity, and
were more dramatic, telling the exploits of the Norse heroes in many a
glorious story.
Their story was far more important to them than the music which for a
long time was like the stern plain song of the Church. “We should be
glad they were what they were, for they seem to have paved the way for
the great Protestant music of the 16th century,” says Waldo Selden Pratt
in his _History of Music_.
You can get an excellent idea of the minnesong in Wolfram von
Eschenbach’s _Oh Thou Sublime Sweet Evening Star_, which Wagner wrote in
the spirit of the ancient minnesingers in the opera _Tannhäuser_.
Tannhäuser was a real minnesinger, taking part in a real song contest,
held by the Landgraf (Count) of Thuringia, 1206–7, who offered his
daughter Elizabeth’s hand to the winner, whatever his rank. We find
Elizabeth also in Wagner’s _Tannhäuser_, so when you hear it you will
know that it is history as well as beautiful music! How remarkable that,
in the days of feudalism, when the nobles practically owned the
so-called common people, talent for music and verse stood even above
rank! After all there is no nobility like that of talent. Even in the
13th century this was understood, and to either commoner or peer winning
the song tournament, the lady of rank was given in marriage.
Wolfram von Eschenbach, the minnesinger, visited the courts and sang in
many tournaments. Giving Wagner a character for the opera _Tannhäuser_
was not all he did as Eschenbach wrote a poem from which Wagner drew the
story for his _Parsifal_.
Walther von der Vogelweide, one of the most famous minnesingers, was so
fond of birds, that when dying he asked for food and drink to be placed
on his tomb every day for the birds. There are four holes carved in the
tombstone; and pilgrims today, when they visit this singer’s grave,
still scatter crumbs for them, who probably in their bird histories
record that Walther loved song even as they!
Prince Conrad, Konradin he was called, son of the last Swabian King, was
the last famous minnesinger. Everyone battled for other people’s
countries and lands then, and so Conrad, heir to the crown, joined a
Sicilian rebellion against France, and was killed by a troubadour, the
Duke of Anjou.
MASTERSINGERS
After poor Conrad’s time, the art of minnesinging declined, but as
people must have music, a new activity sprang up among the people or
“folk” instead of among the gentry and knights. The folk who took part
in this were called the Meistersingers or mastersingers and their story
is very thrilling and picturesque.
This was the day of the Robber Baron, when Germany was broken up into
little kingdoms and principalities. Any rich and powerful noble could
start a war to steal away the rights of another ruler, and become ruler
himself. This was no pleasant state of affairs for the people, for they
were in constant terror of death, of the destruction of their crops, or
new taxes. Life became so perilous that people left the farms and went
to the cities for protection. The feudal system began to fail, for the
people would no longer be slaves, and gradually took up trades and
formed themselves into guilds. The warring nobles had neglected music
for conquest, so these workers and artisans, hungry for it, formed music
guilds as well as trade guilds, drew up rules for making music and
poetry, and held prize competitions. In these music guilds there were
six grades of membership: first, member; second, scholar or apprentice;
then, friends of the school; singer, poet, and finally mastersinger or
_Meistersinger_. You can get a real picture of their day in the greatest
comic opera ever written, Wagner’s _Die Meistersinger_, and you can make
the acquaintance of Hans Sachs, the most famous Meistersinger
(1494–1576).
Heinrich von Meissen, known as _Frauenlob_ (Praise of Women), is said to
have founded the Meistersinger movement over a hundred years before Hans
Sachs’ time.
Til Eulenspiegel, whose merry pranks have been delightfully told in
music by Richard Strauss, a present day composer, was also a
Meistersinger.
The origin of the name “Meistersinger” is disputed. One historian tells
us that it was given to every minnesinger who was not a noble,—in other
words, a burgher-minstrel. The other historian claims that the title
_Meister_ or master was given to any one who excelled in any act or
trade, and afterwards came to mean all the guild members.
From the 14th century to the 16th, hardly a town in Germany was without
music guilds and Meistersingers. Although they lost power then, the last
guilds did not disappear until 1830, and the last member died in 1876.
They must have passed the long winter evenings pleasantly for they met,
and read or sang poems of the minnesingers or new ones composed by the
members themselves. These guilds must have been great fun, for they had
badges and initiation ceremonies and the kind of celebrations one loves
in a club.
They had complicated, narrow-minded rules called _Tablatur_ which today
seem quite ridiculous, so much has music matured and thrown off the
chains which once bound it!
When the guilds grew too large to be held in the different homes, the
churches became the meeting places for practise and for the contests.
The highest praise we can give the Meistersingers is that they carried
the love of music and song into every German home and made it a pastime
of domestic life. Their influence spread not only through Germany, but
throughout all lands. The composers who followed were glad to have their
songs from which to draw inspiration for the popular religious songs at
the time of the Protestant Reformation. Even though they did not make up
any very great words or music, they spread a love for it and made people
feel that the following of music as a career was worthy and dignified.
It is interesting to know before we close this chapter, that the
English, well into the 16th century, after the passing of the
troubadours, trouvères, minnesingers and mastersingers, still celebrated
the exploits of the day in ballads called the Percy Reliques.
VIELLE OR HURDY-GURDY
If you had lived in the Middle Ages you would have seen the strolling
players traveling around with a queer looking instrument known by many
different names,—_vielle_, _organistrum_, _Bauernleier_ (peasant lyre),
_Bettlerleier_ (beggar’s lyre) or _hurdy-gurdy_. This was a country
instrument, not often seen in cities, and was shaped like the body of a
lute without a long neck. It had wire strings, sometimes gut, and a set
of keys; the sound was made by turning a little crank at the bottom. The
_vielle_ or _hurdy-gurdy_ is a cross between the bowed and the keyed
instruments. In the 12th century it was called the _organistrum_, a
large instrument which took two men to play. It flourished in the 18th
century throughout Europe.
And so, now on to folk songs, although we would like to linger in this
romantic period of wandering minstrels.
CHAPTER IX
The People Dance and Sing
FOLK MUSIC
ALL THE WORLD HAS DANCED AND SUNG
We have watched the human race grow out of its state of primitive yells
and grunts, or babyhood, telling its stories and expressing its feelings
in crude music. We have seen it sing and dance its way through the ages
during which its men were semi-barbarians, like the Franks, Gauls,
Goths, Huns, Saxons, Celts, and Angles into the period when these same
tribes became the French, German, Belgian and English nations.
Music was not a thing of learning as it is today, it was merely a way of
talking, of enjoying life, and of passing on to others deeds and doings
of the time. Early people said in poetry and song what was in their
hearts. They knew nothing of musical rules and regulations and passed
their songs along from father to son through the long years when the
world was young, and their best songs have in them the seed of musical
art! A modern Greek folk singer said: “As I don’t know how to read, I
have made this story into a song, so as not to forget it.”
This music of the people, by the people and for the people is Folk Music
and we shall see how these simple, tuneful bits have influenced the
world of music because, as H. E. Krehbiel said, “they are the heartbeats
of the ... folk and in them are preserved feelings, beliefs and habits
of vast antiquity.” Don’t you believe that studying history through folk
tunes would be fascinating? People today have found out much about the
different races and tribal events through them.
It is impossible to find out who wrote the five thousand folk songs of
England and the more than five thousand of Russia and of Ireland and all
the others, for it was not until the 19th century that folk songs and
dances became a serious study. The fact is, that a true folk song
doesn’t want to find its composer for it loses its rank as a folk song
if its maker should turn up! Isn’t that curious? But it is not quite
fair, for surely we should accept as folk songs those which have sprung
up among them, or have become a part of their lives through expressing
their thoughts and feelings, even though the composer’s name has not
been lost. We divide folk songs into two classes,—Class A, the
composerless songs, and Class B, those tagged with a name.
Isn’t it exciting to think that folk songs and dances of the ancient
Greeks, the Aztecs of Peru, the Chinese, the Irish and Russian peasants
and our American negroes have things in common? It seems as if they
might have had a world congress in primitive times and agreed on certain
kinds of songs, for every nation has
1. Songs of childhood, games, and cradle songs.
2. Songs for religious ceremonies, festivals, holidays, and Christmas
Carols.
3. Love songs and songs for marriage fêtes, and weddings.
4. War songs, patriotic songs and army songs.
5. Songs of work and labor and trades.
6. Drinking songs, comical, political and satirical.
7. Songs for dancing, rounds, etc.
8. Funeral songs and songs for mourning.
9. Narratives, ballads and legends.
So it comes to pass, that many a time when nations, due to wars and
wanderings and vast passings of time, have forgotten their origins, the
singing of a song will bring back the fact of some far distant
relationship.
One day a party of Bretons, in 1758 (long after the Welsh and Bretons
had forgotten they were of the same race), were marching to give battle
to some Welsh troops that had descended upon the French coast. As the
Welsh soldiers marched forward, the Bretons were amazed to hear their
enemies singing one of their own national songs! They were so surprised
and so overcome with sympathy that the Bretons joined in and sang with
the Welsh. Both commanders, speaking the same language, gave the order
“Fire!” But neither side would or could fire. Instead, the soldiers
dropped their weapons, broke ranks and in wild enthusiasm greeted each
other as long lost friends. The song they sang is probably seven hundred
years old or older.
(1) SONGS OF CHILDHOOD, GAMES AND CRADLE SONGS
From the day of the obelisk to the day of the radio, every baby that has
ever been born has been put to sleep to the soothing sound of the
mother’s song. The Greek mother sang to her baby,
Come, Sleep! come, Sleep! Take him away.
Come, Sleep, and make him slumber.
Carry him to the vineyard of the Aga,
To the Garden of the Aga,
The Aga will give him grapes; his wife, roses; his servant, pancakes.
Many early lullabies were sung in honor of the infant Jesus, which
really gives them a very blesséd beginning. It is related by a Sicilian
poet “When the Madunazza (mother) was mending St. Joseph’s clothes, the
Bambineddu (Bambino—the Infant Jesus) cried in his cradle, because no
one was attending to Him. So the Archangel Raphael came and rocked Him
and said these sweet little words to Him, ‘Lullaby, Jesus, Son of
Mary.’”
The Indians, too, sang lullabies, for you know the squaw is a gentle
soul and takes beautiful care of her papoose. The Chippewas think of
sleep as a big insect and they have named him Weeng. Weeng comes down
from the top of a tree where he is busy making a buzzing noise with his
wings and puts you to sleep by sending many little fairies to you who
beat your head with tiny clubs!
We all know our own _Bye, Baby Bunting_, _Father’s Gone a Hunting_,
etc., and _Rockabye Baby on the Tree Top_.
The Germans, whose children songs and lullabies are so lovely, have the
familiar _Schlaf, Kindlein, Schlaf!_ It is a sweet name the Italians
give their lullaby, the _ninne-nanne_! And the mothers in Lyons, France,
call sleep _souin-souin_ and have a charming little song:
Le Poupon voudrait bien do(r)mir;
Le souin-souin ne peu pas venir.
Souin-souin, vené, vené, vené;
Souin-souin, vené, vené, vené!
The infant wants to go to sleep;
Sleep does not wish to come.
Sleep come, come, come;
Sleep come, come, come!
GAMES
We all have sung _The Farmer in the Dell_, _London Bridge is Falling
Down_, _Ring Around the Rosy_ and many other game-songs. We have told
you of the Indian moccasin game, and we know that in all the other
nations the children have had their game-songs.
(2) SONGS FOR RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES, HOLIDAYS, AND CHRISTMAS CAROLS,
ETC., MAY SONGS AND SPRING FESTIVALS
Spring is so full of the beginnings of life, and people can see the
flowers begin to bloom and take on color and glory. Even as you and I,
they have never been able to see them without rejoicing and every one’s
rejoicing sooner or later is a cause for music. In many countries this
renewal of life is celebrated by rites and ceremonies that have been the
source of much folk-lore and music.
The Greeks, as early as the 6th Century B.C., celebrated the coming of
the spring with a religious festival named after the god Dionysus. Many
songs and dances accompanied these festivals. On the evening before the
festival, which lasted five days, there was an impressive procession by
torch-light in which an image of the god Dionysus was carried to the
theatre where the festival was held, accompanied by many handsome youths
and a very splendid bull which was sacrificed.
In the excavations of Crete this ancient hymn has been found,—a spring
song and a young man-song in one:
Ho! Kouros (young man), most Great, I give thee hail, Lord of all that
is wet and gleaming; thou art come at the head of thy Daemones. To
Dickte for the year, Oh, march and rejoice in the dance and song.
In Germany, it was thought that on Walpurgis-nacht (May night) witches
rode on the tails of magpies and danced away the winter snows on the
Brocken, one of the highest peaks of the Hartz Mountains. In Germany
too, it was the custom for children to set May-flies (Maikäfer) free and
to sing this song:
Maikäferchen fliege,
Dein Vater ist in Kriege
Dein Mutter ist in Pommerland
Pommerland ist abgebrannt
Maikäferchen fliege.
or
May-fly, fly away,
Your father is at war,
Your mother is in Pommerland.
Pommerland is all burned up!
May-fly, fly away.
Don’t you think it is like our rhyme?
Lady-bug, lady-bug,
Fly away home.
Your house is on fire
Your children will burn.
And here is the French:
Avril, tu t’en vas!
Car Mai vient la-bas
Pour balayer ta figure
De pluie, aussi de froidure.
Hanneton, vole!
Hanneton, vole!
Au firmament bleu,
Ton nid est en feu,
Les Turcs avec leur èpée
Viennent tuer ta couvée.
Hanneton, vole!
Hanneton, vole!
or:
April, away!
For here cometh May
With sunshine again
To banish the rain.
May-beetle, fly!
May-beetle, fly!
Afar in the sky,
With flames leaping high,
The Turks with swords rude
Have slaughtered your brood.
May-beetle, fly!
May-beetle, fly!
The first comic opera, a _pastourale_ six hundred years old, _Le Jeu de
Robin et de Marion_ by Adam de la Hale, is full of May songs.
The King and Queen of the May and May Pole dancers and the English
Jack-in-the-Green, the Thuringian Little Leaf Man and the Russian tree
dressed up are only a few of the many examples of the rites of spring.
And we have seen how the Druids and the Aztecs celebrated spring.
One of the most modern composers, Igor Stravinsky, has written a ballet
called _Le Sacre du Printemps_ (Rites of Spring) in which he has used
the ancient Russian pagan rites of celebrating the spring. The music is
wild and the rhythms primitive.
RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES
From legends, we know that songs and dances of the Polish people
accompanied their religious ceremonies before Christianity. When they
exchanged their pagan gods for the teachings of the early Christian
fathers, many of these songs were lost, but some of them were handed
down merely by changing the pagan name to the Christian. These songs
have been traced by the fact that many of them are based on the old
pentatonic scale. The Slavs, the Lithuanians and the Germanic races have
kept this scale in Eastern and Middle Europe, and the Greeks, the
ancient Italians and the Celts brought it into Western and Southern
Europe. These scales are supposed to have come from Indo-China, for it
must not be forgotten that the Polish along with all Slavs migrated from
Asia, the cradle of the human race.
Two festivals,—St. John’s Eve and Christmas, came down from the pagan
era in Poland and the manner of celebration has changed little
throughout the centuries.
CHRISTMAS CAROLS
The Polish Christmas Carol was also handed down from the days before
Christ. The word “carol” comes from the old French _carole_ which was a
dance, and gave its name to the song by which it was accompanied. In the
pagan time there were summer carols, winter carols, Easter carols and
carols that celebrated a religious winter festival. As the winter
festival occurred about the same time of the year as the Nativity or
birthday of the Saviour, it was celebrated in the Christian Church as
Christmas. In England, the old Yule-tide of the Druids has influenced
the present celebration of Christmas with its fun, festivities and
Christmas trees!
Throughout Germany, Christmas Carols are still sung early every
Christmas morning, and many of the old hymns have thus been preserved.
The Christmas Carol in France is called _Noël_ and the old English word
was _Nowell_.
(3) LOVE SONGS
It is safe to say that there are more love songs than any other kind of
folk music, and among them is some of the most beautiful music in the
world. You will find charming folk love songs of every nationality on
earth.
Different countries have different marriage customs which give an
intimate picture of the life in different periods, of countries and
tribes far apart. Again we can trace forgotten relationships in like
customs of bygone days. Singing and dancing are very important in all
marriage celebrations, and some wedding music is of great age.
In Russia, for example, the marriage customs and wedding music are very
beautiful and impressive. At the same time no folk dancing is wilder or
gayer than that celebrating a peasant marriage.
Before going to a wedding ceremony, the Polish bride sings one
particular song built on the pentatonic scale, that has probably been
sung for more than two thousand years! There are other wedding ceremony
songs that can be traced back almost as far.
In Brittany, during the 11th and 12th centuries, the priest demanded a
“nuptial song” from the newly-weds on the Sunday following the wedding,
as a wedding tax!
In another place the feudal lord demanded that every new bride should
dance and sing before him and in return he decorated her with a bonnet
of flowers.
You haven’t forgotten the Indian and his love music played on the flute,
have you?
(4) PATRIOTIC SONGS
In the recent World War, we had examples of how folk songs were made.
There were popular songs like _Over There_ (George Cohan), _The Long,
Long Trail_ (by Zo Elliot), _Tipperary_, _Madelon_, that were sung by
millions. They were songs of the people, by the people and for the
people, and no one cared who wrote them.
Most of the national hymns and patriotic songs were born in a time of
storm and stress. Words inspired by some special happening were written
on the spur of the moment, and often set to some familiar tune.
_America_ was first sung to the tune of _God Save the King_ on July 4,
1832. The words of _Star Spangled Banner_ were written by Francis Scott
Key during the War of 1812 as he watched the bombardment of Fort McHenry
in Chesapeake Bay, and was set to an English drinking song, _Anacreon in
Heaven_. _Yankee Doodle_, a song first sung to make fun of the young
colonists, became the patriotic hymn of the Revolution! Where the tune
came from is a mystery, but it shows a family likeness to a little Dutch
nursery song, a German street song, an old English country dance, a folk
tune from the Pyrenees and one from Hungary! But we love our old _Yankee
Doodle_ anyhow! _Hail Columbia_ was adapted to a tune, _The President’s
March_, which had accompanied Washington when he was inaugurated, in New
York, as our first president.
England’s _God Save the King_ was composed, words and music, by Henry
Carey, and it was used first in 1743 during the Jacobite uprising. It
has since served America, Germany, Denmark and Switzerland. _Auld Lang
Syne_ of Scotland was written by “Bobby” Burns and set to an old Scotch
tune. _St. Patrick’s Day_ was originally a jig, and _The Wearing of the
Green_ was a street ballad of the Irish rebellion of 1798 mourning the
fact that the Irish were forbidden to wear their national emblem, the
shamrock. The Welsh song _Men of Harlech_, a stirring tune, dates from
1468.
The French have several thrilling national songs. If you heard _Malbrouk
s’en va-t-en guerre_ (Malbrouk to war is going) you would say, “Why!
that’s _For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow_.” So it is, and it has had a long
and chequered career. It is supposed to have been brought into Europe by
one of the Crusaders, and was lost for five centuries; it cropped up
again in 1781 when Marie Antoinette sang it to put the little Dauphin
(the French prince) to sleep. Paris picked up the tune and it was heard
in every café and on every street corner. Napoleon who had no ear for
music hummed it. It crossed the English channel. Even the Arabs sing a
popular song like it which they call _Mabrooka_. Beethoven used the air
in a Battle Symphony (1813).
The stirring hymn of France, is the _Marseillaise_ written by Rouget de
l’Isle (1792) on the eve of the Revolution. It became the marching song
of the French Army and was sung during the attack on the Tuileries
(Paris), the king’s palace. It has always been the Republican song of
France.
In almost every book you read about the French Revolution, _La
Carmagnole_ and _Ça Ira_ are mentioned. They accompanied thousands of
victims to the guillotine. _Ça Ira_ (It will go!) was a popular dance
which Marie Antoinette played on her _clavecin_. Little did she know
that the same tune would be shouted by the infuriated mobs as she was
driven through the streets of Paris in the tumbril to the guillotine!
The Italians show their natural love for opera by the fact that their
national hymn is adopted from Bellini’s opera _Somnambula_.
The _Rakoczy March_ of which you will hear later in the chapter is the
Hungarian national hymn.
We could write an entire book on this subject, but this is only to give
you a suggestion of how these songs grew and where they came from.
(5) SONGS OF WORK AND LABOR AND TRADES
We have shown you the American Indians singing their songs as they fish
and pound the corn; the boatmen rowing to the rhythm of their songs; and
we have tried to show you that everybody loved songs as much when they
worked as when they danced. Haven’t you, too, hummed or sung while
working? People who accompany dish cloths and dusters with songs work
better!
American negroes have used song to ease their work in the hot sunny
fields. They not only sang, but men were hired to sing and act as song
leaders in the slave days, to set the pace for workers, for more work
was done when the slaves moved to the rhythm of music. In modern
factories today, music is used to relieve the drudgery.
In Southern States the stevedores sing as they unload and load ships.
And haven’t you often heard a rhythmic sound uttered by men hauling
ropes on ships or buildings?
The world over, sailors have their songs and dances, farmers their
reaping and planting songs, spinners and weavers their songs, boatmen
songs like those on the Nile and the Volga boat song.
While few Greek folk songs have come down to our time, we know that they
had songs for reaping the harvest, for grinding the barley, for
threshing the wheat, for pressing the grapes, for spinning wool, and for
weaving. They also had the songs of the shoemaker, the dyer, of the
bath-master, the water carrier, of the shepherd, etc.
There are innumerable spinning songs of all nationalities, and
shepherds’ songs,—you probably know the French _Il etait une Bergère_.
In Africa, we hear that the workers when cleaning rice were led by
singers, who clapped their hands and stamped their feet to accompany the
song. One man reports that he heard the negro women singing a national
song in chorus, while pounding wheat always in time with the music.
Charles Peabody tells of a leader in a band of slaves in America who was
besought by his companions not to sing a certain song because it made
them work too hard!
The difference between the negro songs and the labor songs of other
peoples and places is, that the negroes had no special labor songs but
sang their religious songs, which they adapted to all purposes and
occasions, while the true labor song was composed to fit the occasion.
In old England we hear of the “Labor-lilts” which were all work songs of
spinners, milk-maids and shepherds. And we must not neglect the old
night-watchman whom we meet in Wagner’s _Die Meistersinger_. Neither can
we let go by unnoticed the “town-crier” who told the news, good and bad.
The street calls and cries of the Middle Ages were labor songs, later,
in England and in France made into real compositions.
We, in America, have the old Cow-boy songs, the Mining songs of
California, and the Lumberjack songs of Maine. These are not exactly
labor songs but are first cousins to them.
The stage coach _postillons_ with their fascinating horn calls are
really music of trades or occupations, too. Isn’t it too bad that the
inartistic jangle of the tram-car and the “honk-honk” of the automobile
tear our ears instead of the tuneful hunting horns and postillon horns
which are still occasionally heard in European forests!
The world’s workers sing to make work slip along easily, so you see song
is a great lubricant.
(6) DRINKING SONGS
In the great dining halls of the Middle Ages, when hunting parties
gathered, and guests were received from near and far, or at Christmas
time, when in old Britain the Wassail-bowl flowed freely, drinking songs
were an important part of the banquet. At the splendid feasts in Rome,
drinking songs were popular. In fact, all over the world there are
thousands of this kind of folk song.
The name Wassail dates back to the day when Vortigern, King of the
Britons, visited Hengist, the Saxon. Rowena, Hengist’s daughter greeted
him with, “Was hail hla, ond cyning!” which mean in plain English, “Be
of health, Lord King!” to which the king replied, “Drink heil” (Drink
health).
THE WORD VAUDEVILLE
In the second half of the 15th century, two men named Basselin and Jean
de Houx wrote many drinking songs. As they lived in the little valleys
(in French called _vaux_) near Vire in Normandy, drinking songs came to
be called _vaux-de-vire_. At the same time, songs that were sung in the
streets, in fact, any folk songs with gay melodies and light words, were
called _voix-de-ville_, (or voices of the city). So, in some way, these
two terms became mixed, and the familiar word, _vaudeville_ is the
result!
(7) DANCING SONGS
In the folk dance, man shows the feelings and dispositions of his race.
From this dance of the people, all music gradually took a measured form,
a rhythmic thing that is lacking in the song of primitive people. In
primitive times, all dances were sung, particularly was this the case
with the Slav race. As instruments were perfected, they took the place
of primitive drums and singing as accompaniment to the dance.
The plain chant, and in fact all music of the church, lacked the element
we call rhythm. It followed a metre or measure needed by the words, but
this was much more like talking than like singing. Even the ornamented
chant of the soloists in the churches had no definiteness of time or of
phrase.
Rhythm as we feel it today, occurs in two ways,—through the singing of
verses and through dancing. We must not forget that early peoples were
much like children, and took pleasure in jingles, and in moving their
feet and bodies in repeated motions which became dances.
It is most fascinating to see that the people who have the saddest
songs, have the gayest and wildest dances! Maybe it is because the
sadder the nation the more need it has for some gay way of forgetting
its woes. The Russians, the Poles, the Norwegians and the people of all
north countries where the songs are minor and tragic, have the wildest
dances. The clothes, too, of the folk in these countries are decked in
colored embroideries, and the decorations of the houses giddy and jolly.
When the Russians get together they forget their sorrows in wild and
almost frenzied dances, and directly after they will sing songs of
deepest gloom.
POLISH DANCES
The Poles have several folk dances that are easily recognized by their
rhythm and style. The great Polish composer Chopin used these folk
dances in some of the loveliest piano music ever written. For more than
six centuries they have been used by Polish composers, yet there are
people who say that folk song has no influence on musical art.
The Polonaise, in ¾ time, a stately dance of the aristocracy and nobles
rather than of the people, began as a folk dance, and is supposed to
have come from the Christmas Carol. The rhythm of the Polonaise, is
easily recognized and followed. In the early times, these polonaises had
no composer’s tag, but were often named for some Polish hero, and thus
show the date in which they were born.
One Polish writer dates the “courtly” polonaise from 1573. The year
following the election of Henry III of Anjou, a great reception took
place at Cracow, in which all the ladies of high rank marched in
procession past the throne to the sound of a stately dance. This was the
beginning of the stately polonaise, in which old and young took part,
marching all through the great drawing rooms and gardens.
The Mazurka, another very popular Polish dance, is also in ¾ time, but
faster than the polonaise, and slower than the waltz. It is performed by
a few couples at a time, two to eight but rarely more. The accent of the
measure falls on the third beat, which distinguishes it from a waltz.
Other well known Polish dances are the _Krakowiak_ in ²⁄₄ time, the
_Kujawiak_ in ¾ time, the _Obertass_ in ¾ time, the dance of the
mountaineers, called the _Kolomyjka_ in ²⁄₄ time, and the _Kosah_ in ²⁄₄
time. All these dances are fast, and all of them come directly from folk
songs.
SPANISH DANCE-SONGS
It is very hard to tell which of the Spanish folk pieces are dances and
which at first were songs, because the favorite songs of Spain are
nearly all sung as accompaniments to dancing. Spain had almost as rich
troubadour music as France, because the influence of the troubadours and
of the jongleurs was very strong, Provence being Spain’s neighbor. In
Catalonia the Provençal language has been used since the 9th century,
and the folk music differs from that of other parts of Spain.
The songs of Spain divide themselves into four groups. The Basque, the
music of Biscay and Navarre, unlike any music of which we have told you,
is irregular in rhythm, melody, and scale, and the _jota_ is one of its
characteristic dances. Galicia and Castile have gay, bright, strong
marked dance rhythms as may be seen from their characteristic _boleros_
and _seguidillas_. Andalusian music and that of Southern Spain is
perhaps the most beautiful of all, for here we find the influence of the
Oriental music to a marked degree, in the use of the scale, in florid
ornament, and in the richness of the rhythm; the dances _fandangos_,
_rondeñas_ and _malagueñas_ are thought to be finer than the songs. The
guitar is the king of instruments in Andalusia and how Spanish it is!
The fourth group of songs is from Catalonia of French influence and less
Spanish than the others.
THE BALLAD AND THE BALLET
In the English language we have the word _ballad_, which means a long
poem in which a story is told. We also use the French word _ballet_, for
a dance on the stage. These two words come from the same root, and show
that at one time ballads and dance tunes were practically the same
thing.
The English dance song, the “round” or the same dance in France called
the _ronde_, was a popular dance for many centuries, some of which are
most amusing and curious. One dance tune from the 12th century has Latin
words; there is also a well known tune, Sellenger’s Round, from the
collection called the _Fitzwilliam Virginal Book_. Another famous ballad
(dance) was _Trenchmore_, a good sample of English folk dance at the end
of the 16th century:
[Illustration: TRENCHMORE]
An English writer (how childlike was his fun!) in 1621 says of
_Trenchmore_, “Who can withstand it? be we young or old, though our
teeth shake in our heads like virginal jacks (see page 310), or stand
parallel asunder like the arches of a bridge, there is no remedy; we
must dance Trenchmore over tables, chairs, and stools!”
THE MORRIS DANCE
The English Morris Dance is a sort of pageant accompanied by dancing. It
may have come from the _Morisco_, a Moorish dance popular in Spain and
France, or perhaps from the Matassins, also called Buffoons, who did a
dance in armor, which may have come from the Arabs. This dance of the
Buffoons, popular in France during the 16th and 17th centuries, was
performed by four men with swords, and bells attached to their costumes,
used also in the Morris Dance. It may have come into England at the end
of the 14th century, but in the 15th it was flourishing. First it was
given as a part of the May festival and the characters who took part in
it were a Lady of the May, a Fool, a Piper, and two or more dancers. The
dance then became a part of the _Robin Hood_ pageant, and the dancers
were called after the characters of the Robin Hood ballad: Robin Hood,
Friar Tuck, Little John, and Maid Marian. Later, a hobby-horse, a
dragon, four marshals, and other characters were added. The Puritans
stopped the Morris Dance as they thought it too frivolous, and it was
never so popular again.
THE CUSHION DANCE
In the _Story of Minstrelsy_ is quoted a description of the Cushion
Dance from _The Dancing Master_ (1686):
“This dance is begun by a single person (either a man or woman), who,
taking a cushion in hand, dances about the room, and at the end of the
tune stops and sings, ‘This dance it will no further go.’ The musician
answers, ‘I pray you, good sir, why say you so?’ Man: ‘Because Joan
Sanderson will not come too.’ Musician: ‘She must come too, and she
shall come too, and she must come whether she will or no.’ Then he lays
down the cushion before the woman, on which she kneels, and he kisses
her, singing, ‘Welcome, Joan Sanderson, welcome, welcome.’ Then she
rises, takes up the cushion, and both dance, singing, ‘Prinkum-prankum
is a fine dance!’” Why not try it?
Thomas Morley (1597) wrote of a kind of dance-part-song called
_vilanelle_ or _ballete_. “These and all other kinds of light musick,
saving the madrigal, are by a general name called _aires_. There be also
another kind of ballets commonly called _Fa-la’s_....”
When printing was invented these ballads (or ballets) appeared in such
quantities, that they became a nuisance. Any subject or event was made
into a ballad. They were usually printed on single sheets so that an
instrument like the viol could play the air, and were carried around in
baskets and sold for a trifle. Ballad-singing in the streets took the
place of the older minstrels, but the newer fashion never reached the
dignity of the bards. These ballads were used as dances.
Both Henry VIII and Queen Mary issued edicts forbidding the printing of
books, ballads, and rhymes, probably because many were political ballads
uncomplimentary to them. In Elizabeth’s reign the edict was removed, and
many of these dance-songs are found in the plays of Shakespeare and are
sung today in concerts as examples of English folk music.
Many of the better ones have been preserved for us in the _Fitzwilliam
Virginal Book_, which is often wrongly called _Queen Elizabeth’s
Virginal Book_, and in Playford’s _English Dancing Master_ in which
there are ninety-five songs used for dancing; they are also to be heard
in the _Beggar’s Opera_ which contains sixty-nine airs, among which may
be mentioned _Sally in our Alley_, _Bonny Dundee_, _Green Sleeves_,
_Lilliburlero_, _Over the Hills and Far Away_, etc. John Gay gathered
these folk songs and dances into _The Beggar’s Opera_ in 1727, and it
was recently (1920) revived with great success in London and New York.
Tiersot (an authority on French folk music) has shown that Adam de la
Hale probably wrote the play of _Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion_ and then
strung together a number of popular tunes, many of far older date, to
suit his words. So this pastoral-comedy may be the oldest collection of
French folk tunes in existence.
In France, when a dance-air became popular, the rhymers made up words to
fit the music; this was called _parodying_ it. Our use of the word
“parody” means to make fun of something, but at that time, the word
meant to adapt words to a melody. One of the early French writers
translated the Psalms for use in the Church, and these very Psalms which
were dedicated to François I, the King, were “parodied,” so that the
people sang them to their favorite dance tunes,—_courantes_,
_sarabandes_ and _bourrées_. This happened at a time when church music
was being popularized, and one hears queer tales of the use of popular
songs in the masses and motets of the 14th and 15th centuries. It sounds
sacrilegious to us, doesn’t it?
In spite of all the mixing-up of tunes and words, the French folk dances
besides being very charming and winning were the parents of a most
important kind of musical composition. Just to keep you from being too
curious, the name of this important musical composition is the Suite—but
wait!
(8) FUNERAL SONGS AND SONGS FOR MOURNING
All people from the savage state to the most civilized have had their
funeral songs and songs for mourning which have been characteristic of
the day and age to which they belonged and revealed many tribal and
racial beliefs, superstitions and customs.
(9) NARRATIVES, BALLADS AND LEGENDS
We shall not tarry long on this subject for it has been covered in the
chapter on Troubadours and Minnesingers.
All primitive races used this means of teaching and preserving their
tribal history, legends, etc., of telling the news of the day and of
praising their over-lords. Many hundreds of volumes of ballads of all
countries are to be found and are most useful as well as entertaining in
the story of mankind.
Among the most famous narratives known to us are: the _Sagas_ and
_Eddas_ and _Runes_ of the Northlands; the _Kalevala_ of Finland; the
_Percy Reliques_ of Britain; the _Odyssey_ and _Iliad_ of ancient
Greece; the _Song of Roland_ of France, _Beowulf_ of the Anglo-Saxons,
and others, many of which have been translated and simplified for young
readers.
CHAPTER X
National Portraits in Folk Music
There is one particularly lovely thing about folk songs and dances and
that is the natural labels which they bear, marking them as belonging to
France, Spain, Germany, Russia and so on. As with people, they all have
similarities and yet no two are the same in looks or in actions. It
would not take you long to know whether you were hearing a Spanish folk
dance, an Irish Jig, a Russian Hopak, a Norwegian Halling or an American
Foxtrot, because each has its own kind of rhythm and melody.
Some nations have gay, bright folk music, and others have sad, mournful
music. In northern countries where living is hard on account of the
long, dark, cold winters, and the people are forced to spend much time
indoors and away from neighbors, where money and food are scarce, they
are likely to be sad and lonely. In the centuries gone by they made up
songs that pictured their lives and their surroundings. On the other
hand, in countries where the sun shines most of the time, where people
live out of doors, are happy, and have many friends and much fun, the
music is gayer and usually lighter. This is why the music of Finland,
Sweden, Norway and northern Russia is so much in the minor key, and
seems grey, and why the music of Italy Spain, France and other southern
countries is in the major key and seems rosier in color and happier in
mood. Other reasons, too, for sad folk music is oppression, harsh rulers
and harsh laws. So the Finns and Russians, the American negroes and the
Hebrew tribes sang sad songs.
[Illustration:
_“The Music Making Boys,” by Frans Hals, from the Kassel Gallery,
Germany._
_Boys with a Lute._
]
[Illustration:
_After a painting by Teniers, in the gallery at Munich._
_A Peasant Wedding._
]
RUSSIAN FOLK MUSIC
Again you see history in the songs, particularly in the Russian folk
music, which shows us in musical portraits, the tragedy of their lives
under cruel czars and serfdom. They sang in ancient scales which make
the music all the more mournful to our ears.
The rhythms in these songs are different from those of romance languages
or those derived from Latin, for the Russians have a language of Slavic
birth. The Russians have some Oriental blood from the Tartars who
invaded Russia and who were descended from Tartar, a Mogul or Mongol
from Asia. When you hear Russian songs that sound Oriental, you will
agree with Rimsky-Korsakov, the Russian composer, that the Russian, deep
down below the skin is an Oriental even though he has been living in
Europe for many centuries.
In Russia, from the Baltic Sea on the north to the Caucasus Mountains on
the south, from the sunny slopes of the Ural Mountains on the west, to
the bleak desert wastes of Kirghiz on the east, these mixed races have a
common tie in their love for folk story and folk music.
Marvelous tales have been handed down by word of mouth about the river
gods and the wood-sprites, about the animals who talked like men, and
the ugly old witch, Baba-Yaga, whose name alone was enough to quiet the
naughtiest child! Through these folk tales you can follow the Russians
from the time they were primitive men and pagans through all their
battles and the invasions of barbarous tribes, to the time when they
became Christians and had to struggle against the Tartars, the Turks and
the Poles. All these happenings were put into songs and are the epic, or
tale-telling folk music of the Russians.
But one of the most interesting things, we think, in all the growing of
music into maturity, is that Russia never had anything but folk music
until the 19th century! Music always belonged to the people, and there
were no musical scholars making it the possession of the educated
classes only.
Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and other Russians took the folk song from
its humble surroundings and used it in their compositions, for they
realized its beauty and its richness.
The Russians have instruments brought down from very early times, which
are found today in no other country. Perhaps you may have heard a
Russian _balalaika_ orchestra. The _balalaika_ is a stringed instrument,
with a triangular body and long neck, having three or sometimes four
strings, which are plucked and sound something like a guitar. It dates
back to the end of the 13th century. They also have an instrument like a
mandolin, with three strings, that dates from the 13th century also. It
came from Asia at the time of the Mongolian invasion.
Another instrument, a descendant of the Greek _psalterion_ and known to
have been in Russia since the 9th century, is the _gusslee_. It is
something like a zither, and is composed of a hollow box, strung with
any number from seven to thirteen up to twenty-four strings. It is held
on the lap, and the strings are plucked with the fingers.
There is also a sort of lute or _bandoura_ with many strings, dating
from the 16th century, played principally by the blind who belong to
groups of minstrels. There is also a wooden clarinet, on which one scale
can be played. Its special purpose was for use at funerals, and its
name, which comes from a word meaning tomb, is _jaleika_.
FINNISH SONGS
The Finns, a northern people, although often dominated either by Sweden
or Russia, have their own songs and peculiar rhythms. The _Kalevala_ is
their great epic poem, like the _Iliad_ of Greece, _Beowulf_ of the
Anglo-Saxons, and the _Eddas_ of Iceland. From this narrative poem or
epic, have come many a folk-tune. Besides, they sing of their beautiful
country, often called the country of lakes.
The typical rhythm of Finland is the ⁵⁄₄ time which sounds most
attractive. They have the _kantele_, a plucked string instrument, and
they glory in their folk music which they use as an everyday joy and do
not “turn it on” only for “hey-days and holidays.”
POLAND’S MUSIC
The Polish people have loved music as the Russians love it, and although
Poland has been reconquered, divided and redivided among the surrounding
kingdoms of Europe, it has always kept its own music. So we have another
set of Slav songs but with certain rhythmical differences, not found in
the music of other nations. (Chapter IX.)
There is an Oriental strain in this music, too, and it must be very
ancient indeed, for Oriental tribes have not lived in this country for
ages.
In addition to an instrument like the Russian _gusslee_, and a violin
like the Arabian _rebab_, the Polish have a clarinet made of wood,
called by its old name of _chalumeau_, the lute, and an instrument
called the _kobza_, belonging to the bagpipe family. This is of great
age, but is still in use among the mountaineers of Carpathia, and is
made of goat skin with three pipe attachments. The _kobza_ can replace
an entire orchestra!
GYPSIES
Gypsies! The name fires our imagination and brings up pictures of
dark-skinned, black-eyed people with glossy black hair, dressed in gay
colored shawls, with bright kerchiefs wound around their heads. We think
of them as being on “one grand picnic,” living out of doors, cooking
their meals over bonfires in the open, sleeping in their covered wagons
or tents, or under the stars, always gay, care-free and dirty! Then,
think of the Gypsy music,—the dances, the songs, and the wonderful
violin playing! So wild, so weird, so out-of-doors is it, that we are
thrilled by the very thought of it.
Where did these folk come from? Who are they? What are they? They have
spread over most of Europe, and are found in Hungary, Bohemia, Roumania,
Italy, Spain, Germany, Russia, England, Turkey, and even America. They
are a race and they have a language of their own. Theirs is a mixture of
the ancient _Prakrit_ or Indian, with the different languages with which
they have come in contact in the course of many centuries. Men who make
a study of the history of languages say, that in their idioms, they show
traces of roving for many centuries in Asiatic countries, before
reaching Europe in or before the 15th century. They are often called
“Bohemians” because Bohemia (Czecho-Slovakia) seems to have been their
main European camping-ground. It is generally agreed that they came from
India and that they are Asiatic, but they got their name _Gypsy_, a
contraction of the word Egyptian, because people at first thought that
they came from Egypt.
The Gypsies have an extraordinary gift for music. They do not study it
as an art, as we do, and cannot even read musical notes, but they
imitate and memorize, and reach a high degree of skill in playing,
particularly the violin. They have such great power of imitation, that
they rapidly learn to play the instruments, and accustom themselves to
the folk music they find wherever they wander. However, they always keep
something of their own sadness and wildness. In Spain, they accompany
themselves on the guitar, and mark the rhythm with castanets, as do the
Spaniards themselves, borrowing the Spanish folk songs which they sing
in their own way. In Russia, England, Turkey and everywhere they do the
same with the folk music of those countries.
The special traits, then, of the music of the Gypsies, are found rather
in the way they play, interpret and express the music of others, than as
composers of their own music. Yet they use strongly marked rhythms,
florid ornamentation, and scales that are Oriental, which show us from
where they came. Here is one of their most used scales:
[Illustration: Scales]
There are many kinds of scales among the Gypsies,—a mixture of the
Oriental scale with the pentatonic, and with the European major and
minor.
The Hungarian Gypsy has made more music than any other branch of the
Gypsy people. In fact, when we hear music that makes us exclaim, “Oh,
that is real Gypsy music!” it is almost always Hungarian. At least one
quarter of the inhabitants of Hungary, a name which comes from the
barbarian tribe of Huns, are Magyars, descendants of Tartars and
Mongolians of Asia, who settled in the land of the Huns in the 9th
century. In the national music of Hungary, we find it hard to tell just
what is Magyar, and what is Gypsy, because the two have intermingled for
so long.
The important thing is that this Magyar-Gypsy folk music has been the
inspiration of hundreds of trained composers, like Haydn (see the Gypsy
Rondo from his piano trio, also arranged for piano alone), Franz Liszt
who wrote many famous Hungarian Rhapsodies, Hector Berlioz who made the
Hungarian Rakoczy March famous, Johannes Brahms who used many folk songs
in his compositions and wrote a set of Hungarian Dances. Even Bach,
perhaps the greatest of all composers, seems to have been influenced by
the Gypsy music as played on the Hungarian _cembalo_.
No Hungarian Gypsy orchestra is complete without a cembalo, which looks
something like an old-fashioned square piano with the top off. This is
strung with metal strings covering a range of four octaves, and is
played with two small limber hammers. The cembalo players perform with
great rapidity and agility; they are able to play scales, arpeggios,
trills, and the tricks of Gypsy music with great skill and ease. It is
not known just when this instrument came into use, but it is a
descendant of the _dulcimer_ and _psaltery_, instruments we hear of in
the Bible, and in Arabia and Persia, probably brought into Europe during
the Crusades.
The _czardas_ (pronounced chardas) is an old Hungarian dance in which
are all the national characteristics of this folk music, well marked in
syncopated rhythms (rhythms out of focus, page 144, Chapter X), strong
accents, many ornaments. The Gypsies dance the czardas every time they
get a chance, for they love it. It has two contrasting parts, one is
called _lassan_ which is very slow and sad, and the other called
_friska_ which is very fast and fiery.
Panna Czinka, a Gypsy Queen, who lived in the 18th century was the
daughter of the chief of a band of Gypsies and she inherited his title
when she was very young. She married a ’cellist of her tribe and went
all through Hungary, Poland and Roumania playing on a wonderful Amati
violin, in a very wonderful way. She brought the _Rakoczy March_ to the
people, although it is not known whether or not she composed it. She
always wore men’s clothes of most picturesque type and when she died she
requested to have her beloved violin buried with her! Long after her
death she was still an inspiration to young Gypsy fiddlers, who all
longed to play as beautifully as Panna Czinka.
BOHEMIAN FOLK SONG
Bohemia is rich in folk dances, most of which are named for places where
they originated or the occasions for which they were used, or from songs
by which they are accompanied.
The Bohemians have a bagpipe called the _Dudelsack_ and the player is
called a _Dudelsackpfeiffer_!
SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE FOLK MUSIC
To the outsider, there is a national color, rhythm, and charm in Spanish
music that is unmistakable. We recognize it immediately as Spanish, but
the Spaniard will be able to tell you the province from which it came,
for there is as much difference between a Castilian song and a Basque,
as we find between the speech of a Virginian and a Vermontian! (Chapter
IX.)
Portugal, although Spain’s next door neighbor, has quite a different
music; it is peaceful, tranquil and thoughtful, but doesn’t thrill you
as does the Spanish music. The Portuguese are calmer and less excitable
than the Spaniards, so here again you see the character and qualities of
people coming out in the music or what we like to call the musical
portrait of a nation. There are no exaggerated rhythms but instead a
steady melancholy flow of melody.
FRENCH FOLK MUSIC
The portrait of France that we get from her folk music is much like the
one we find in songs of her troubadours and trouvères. In southern
France, the folk songs are gay and filled with poetic sentiment and
religious feeling; from Burgundy come some of her loveliest Noëls
(Christmas songs) and also the drinking songs. From Normandy, come songs
of ordinary everyday doings; their mill songs, when sung out in the open
on a summer night by the peasants are very beautiful and often show
strong religious feeling. Brittany whose inhabitants were originally
Celts have a music not unlike the Welsh, Scotch and Irish. Long ago, the
famous French writer and musician of the 18th century, Jean Jacques
Rousseau, said of it, “The airs are not snappy, they have, I know not
what of an antique and sweet mood which touches the heart. They are
simple, naïve and often sad—at any rate they are pleasing.”
GERMAN FOLK MUSIC
The _Volkslieder_ or folk songs of the Germans are the backbone of the
great classical and romantic periods of the 18th and 19th centuries
which made Bach, Mozart, Schubert and Schumann, Wagner and Brahms the
music masters of the world.
As early as the 14th century collections of these songs had been made,
the subjects of which were mostly historical. By the 16th century music
had grown so much that every sentiment of the human heart and every
occupation of life had its own song: students, soldiers, pedlars,
apprentices all had their songs. These are folk songs of Class A,
because their composers forgot to leave their names and no musical
archæologist has been able to dig them up. (Page 108. Chapter IX.)
These songs became melodies independent of the accompaniment. They also
put the major scale on a firm basis which took the place of the church
modes. Their spirit and power were felt in every branch of music, and
they supplied melodies for the chorales or hymns, for the lute players
and organists in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.
Every town had its own band called the _Stadt Pfeifferei_ (town pipers).
The peasant boys played the fiddle, and the shepherds the _schalmey_, (a
kind of oboe). Every festivity was accompanied by song and dance.
IRISH FOLK SONGS
No people in the world have more fancy and imagination, a keener sense
of humor, are more fun-loving and more superstitious than the Irish. All
these qualities come out in their vast treasure of folk music, which is
considered the most beautiful and the most varied of all the music that
has come from peasant folk. The subjects cover practically every phase
of life from the castle to the cot, and songs of every heading we have
included in the last chapter. There are reels, jigs, marches,
spinning-tunes, nurse-tunes, planxties (Irish or Welsh melodies for the
harp in the nature of a lament), plough-songs and whistles. The Irish
folk songs are rich historically as well as beautiful musically.
The form of the Irish folk music is perfect, and is a model of what
simple song form has been for several centuries. In fact, all large
forms have been built on just such principles of balance and contrast as
are found in an Irish folk song called _The Flight of the Earls_.
SCOTCH AND WELSH TUNES
The Scotch and Welsh also have a very rich store of folk song and
ballads. Along with the Irish they are children of the early Celts and
have brought down to us the music of early times. In all this music we
find the pentatonic scale, and a rhythm of this character ♩♩ ♩♩ a dotted
note followed by a note of shorter value, which gives a real lilt to
Irish, Welsh and Scotch music. We told you about the Welsh bards and
their queer violin without a neck, called a _crwth_, and their little
harp that was handed around their banquet tables from guest to guest.
The Gaelic music, or that of the Scotch Highlands, dates back to
prehistoric times. You have seen a Scotch Highlander in his plaid and
kilties playing on his bagpipe, and it has a special kind of scale (two
pentatonic scales put together) like this:
G A B D E G
A B C♯ E F♯ A
and a drone bass (one tone that does not change and is played all
through the piece) which makes it hard to get the same effect on the
piano. Scotch bagpipes are heard in districts where the milk-maids and
serving folk get together in the “ingle,” and still “lilt” in the good
old-fashioned way.
The thing that makes us know Scotch music from any other is a queer
little trick of the rhythm called the _snap_ in which a note of short
value is followed by a dotted note of longer value, instead of the other
way around which is more commonly found. Thus: ♩♩ ♩♩ but the two ways
are always combined, thus: ♩♩ ♩♩|♩♩ ♩♩ ♩♩|♩♩ and so on. If you want to
make up a real Scotch tune yourself, just play this rhythm up and down
the black keys of the piano from F# to the next F#!
Many of the lovely poems of Robert Burns have been set to old Scotch
airs. He saved many of the old songs, for he gathered the remains of
unpublished old ballads and songs, and snatches of popular melodies, and
with genius gave life to the fragments he found. In his own words, “I
have collected, begged, borrowed and stolen all the songs I could meet
with.”
CANADIAN FOLK SONGS
Canada has the folk songs of the _habitant_ which are French in
character. They are very beautiful and full of romance and many of them
can be traced back to France. Many, however, were born in Canada and
reveal the hearts of people who lived in the great lonely spaces of a
new country.
ENGLISH FOLK SONGS
Most of the English folk songs are very practical accounts of the doings
of the people. The English seemed more interested in human beings than
in Nature, like the Scotch and Irish, or in romantic love songs like the
Latin races in Spain, France and Italy. The English had to be practical
for they were always leaders and at the head of things, while the Scots
and Irish were further away from the center and rush of life and so went
to Nature for their subjects.
There are about five thousand English folk songs which sing of the
English milk-maid and her work, the carpenter, the hunter and his
hounds, and hunting calls. They have the Morris Dance tunes, the May-day
songs, the sailor’s chanties, they even sing of criminals famous in
history and always very definitely tell the full name and whereabouts of
a character in a song. They also have songs of poachers (those who hunt
on land forbidden them), of murderers and hangmen as well as shepherds
and sailors. But England’s finest songs are the Christmas carols which
sing of the birth of Jesus. So, if they sang little of Nature they did
sing of man and God and have given us much that is beautiful and worth
while.
OLD ENGLISH CAROL
FROM THE TIME OF HENRY IV, OR EARLIER
Lullay! lullay! lytel child, myn owyn dere fode,
How xalt thou sufferin be nayled on the rode.
So blyssid be the tyme!
Lullay! lullay! lytel child, myn owyn dere smerte,
How xalt thou sufferin the sharp spere to Thi herte?
So blyssid be the tyme!
Lullay! lullay! lytel child, I synge all for Thi sake,
Many on is the scharpe schour to This body is schape.
So blyssid be the tyme!
Lullay! lullay! lytel child, fayre happis the befalle,
How xalt thou sufferin to drynke ezyl and galle?
So blyssid be the tyme!
Lullay! lullay! lytel child, I synge al beforn,
How xalt thou sufferin the scharp garlong of thorn?
So blyssid be the tyme!
Lullay! lullay! lytel child, gwy wepy Thou so sore,
Thou art bothin God and man, gwat woldyst Thou be more?
So blyssid be the tyme!
(From the Sloane MSS. Quoted from _The Study of Folk Songs_, by Countess
Martinengo-Cesaresco).
AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC
We come now to a question that has been the subject of many arguments
and debates. Many claim that we have no folk music in the United States,
and others claim that we have. It would take a whole volume to present
both sides and we must reduce it to a sugar-coated capsule.
Although we know that Stephen Foster wrote _Old Folks at Home_, _The Old
Kentucky Home_, _Uncle Ned_, _Massa’s in the Cold_, _Cold Ground_, and
_Old Black Joe_, they express so perfectly the mood and spirit of the
people that they are true folk songs. Harold Vincent Milligan in his
book on Stephen Foster says: “Every folk-song is first born in the heart
and brain of some one person, whose spirit is so finely attuned to the
voice of that inward struggle which is the history of the soul of man,
that when he seeks for his own self-expression he at the same time gives
a voice to that vast ‘mute multitude who die and give no sign.’”
And again speaking of Stephen Foster, Mr. Milligan says: “Although
purists may question their right to the title ‘folk songs’ his melodies
are truly the songs of the American people.”
The folk music of which we have told you has been the music portraits of
different peoples such as the Russian, the Polish, the French, the
German, the English, the Irish and so on. If there has been a mixture of
peoples or tribes as in England where there were Britons, Danes, Angles,
Saxons and Normans, it happened so long ago that they have become molded
into one race. We are all Americans but we are not of one race, and we
are still in the process of being molded into one type.
We unite people of all nations under one flag and one government, but we
have been sung to sleep and amused as children by the folk songs of the
European nations to which our parents and grandparents belonged! And so
we have heard from childhood _Sur le Pont d’Avignon_, _Schlaf Kindlein
Schlaf_, _Wurmland_, _The Volga Boat Song_, _Sally in our Alley_, or
_The Wearing of the Green_, none of which is American.
In spite of all these obstacles to the growth of a folk music in
America, we have several sources from which they have come.
As our earliest settlers in Virginia and New England were English, they
brought with them many of their folk songs and some of these have
remained unchanged in the districts where people of other nations have
not penetrated. _The Lonesome Tunes_ of the Kentucky mountains, also of
Tennessee, the Carolinas and Vermont are examples of this kind of
English folk song in America.
In Louisiana which was settled by the French, we find a type of folk
song that is very charming. It is a combination of old French folk song
with negro spiritual, and is brought to us by the Creoles.
In California there is a strong Spanish flavor in some of the old
ballads that date from the time of the Spanish Missions. There are also
mining songs of the “days of ’49,” including _Oh Susannah_, by Stephen
Foster, and we defy you to get rid of the tune if once it “gets you!”
Then there are cow-boy songs of the Plains, _The Texas Rangers_, _The
Ship that Never Returned_, _The Cow-boy’s Lament_ and _Bury Me Not on
the Lone Prairie_; the Lumberjack songs of Maine; the well known air of
the _Arkansas Traveller_, which was a funny little sketch for theatre of
a conversation between the Arkansas traveller and a squatter which is
interrupted by snatches of a tune; and in addition a whole book full of
songs sung in the backwoods settlements, hunting cabins and lumber camps
in northern Pennsylvania.
So if you seek, you can find a large number of folk songs without going
to the Indian or the Negro.
The Civil War brought out a number of new national songs among them
_Glory Hallelujah_ and _Dixie_. _Dixie_ was written in 1859 as a song
and “walk-around” by the famous minstrel Dan Emmett, and became a war
song by accident. It had dash and a care-free spirit, and the rollicking
way it pictured plantation life attracted the soldiers of the South when
they were in the cold winter camps in the North. Its rhythm is so
irresistible that it makes your hands and feet go in spite of yourself.
Besides these two the soldiers of the Civil War marched to _Rally Round
the Flag, Boys_, _Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching_, _Home,
Sweet Home_, _Lily Dale_, _The Girl I Left Behind Me_, _Hail Columbia_
and _The Star Spangled Banner_.
We have told you so much about the Indian and his song that it is
unnecessary now to dwell at length on his music. Of course some American
composers have used Indian folk legend and music, but after all it
remains the musical portrait of the Red Man and has not become the heart
language of the white man.
We have, however, a real folk-expression that has had a great deal of
influence on our popular music and will probably help to create a
serious music to which we can attach the label “Made in America,” and
that is the music of the American Negro.
In Chapter II we showed you what the Negro had brought from his native
Africa, and also that he had been influenced by his contact with the
white race. His music is not the result of conscious art and of study
but is a natural outburst in which he expresses his joys and sorrows,
his tragedies and racial oppression. Also we find rhythms, melody and
form that have grown as a wild flower grows, and are different from any
we have met heretofore.
Mr. Krehbiel in his book _Afro-American Folksongs_ says of the Negro
slave songs: “They contain idioms which were transplanted hither from
Africa, but as song they are the product of American institutions; of
the social, political and geographical environment within which their
creators were placed in America, of the influences to which they were
subjected in America, of the joys, sorrows and experiences which fell to
their lot in America.”
The Negro has cultivated, like all races, songs and dances. As we said
of the Russian, his song is sad and full of tragedy, but the dance is
gay, wild and primitive. From the dance of the Negro we borrowed the
rhythm formerly called ragtime, which is now jazz. The principle of the
Negro rhythm is syncopation, that is, the accent is shifted to the
unaccented part of a measure or of a beat, like this,—♩♩♩, ♩♩♩, ♩♩♩. All
sorts of combinations are possible in this rhythm, and it is this
variety that is fascinating in a good jazz tune.
The banjo is the instrument of the southern plantation Negro, and when a
crowd gathers for a “sing” or a dance, the hands and feet take the place
of drums and keep time to the syncopated tune and is called, “patting
Juba.”
A curious dance was the “shout” which flourished in slave days. It took
place on Sunday or on prayer meeting nights and was accompanied by hymn
singing and shouting that sounded from a distance like a melancholy
wail. After the meeting the benches were pushed back, old and young, men
and women, stood in the middle of the floor and when the “sperichel” (or
spiritual) was started they shuffled around in a ring. Sometimes the
dancers sang the “sperichel” or they sang only the chorus, and for a
distance of half a mile from the praise house the endless thud, thud of
the feet was heard.
In the beautiful Spiritual, the song of the Negro, we see also the
syncopated rhythm. The religious song is practically the only song he
has, and he sings it at work, at play, at prayer, when he is sick and
his friends sing it after he is dead. To our ears the words are crude
and homely, but always reveal a fervent religious nature as well as a
childlike faith.
No doubt you have heard _Nobody Knows the Trouble I See_, _Deep River_,
_Swing Low Sweet Chariot_, _Go Down Moses_, _Weeping Mary_ and many
others.
Such a wealth of feeling and beauty could not fail to leave its mark in
the land where it was born.
Just how it will bear fruit we cannot say, but it is making its appeal
more and more, not only to the American, but to the foreign composers as
well, and they believe that this music,—the syncopated rhythm that the
American is at last developing in his own way—in spite of its humble
origin, is the one new thing that America has given to the growth of
music, and they envy us that wealth of rhythm that seems to be born in
the American.
Music Becomes a Youth
CHAPTER XI
Makers of Motets and Madrigals—Rise of Schools 15th and 16th Centuries
Don’t you think it strange that we have not told you of any pieces
written for the lute alone, or for the viol or any other instrument? The
reason is that until 1700, there was little music for a solo instrument,
but only for voices alone or for voice and instrument together.
The main sport of composers of this time, was to take a popular tune and
write music around it. The popular tune was called the _cantus firmus_
(subject or fixed song) and the composer who did the fanciest things
with the tune was hailed as great. So instead of wanting to make up
tunes as we do, they were anxious to see what they could do with old
tunes. Times change, don’t they?
“Like children who break their toys to see how they work, they learned
to break up the musical phrases into little bits which they repeated,
which they moved from one part to another; in this way the dividing of
themes (tunes) came, which led them to the use of imitation and of
canon; these early and innocent gardeners finally learned how to make
the trees of the enchanted garden of music bear fruit. Still timid, they
kept the custom for three centuries of making all their pieces from
parts of plain-song or of a popular song, instead of inventing subjects
for themselves; thus, what is prized today above every thing else—the
making of original melodies—was secondary in the minds of the musicians,
so busy were they trying to organize their art, so earnestly were they
trying to learn the use of their tools.” (Translated from the French
from _Palestrina_, by Michel Brenet).
By spending their time this way, they added much to the science of
music. If it was not pretty, at least it was full of interesting
discoveries which composers used later, as we shall see, in fugues,
canons, suites and many other forms.
The most popular forms of composition during these two centuries (the
15th and the 16th) were the motet for Church and the madrigal for
outside the Church.
WHAT A MOTET IS
The _motet_ probably gets its name from a kind of profane song (not
sacred) that was called in Italian _mottetto_, and translated into
French _bon mot_, means a jest. It dates back to the 13th century, and
was disliked by the Church. The first motets used in the Church in the
early 14th century are very crude to our ears, but interesting
historically. The composers of the different schools of this period
wrote many of them. Motets were usually those parts of the church ritual
which depended on the day or season. They were not the regular unaltered
parts like the mass itself.
This motet, or part-song, used as its central theme a tune already
familiar to its hearers; this tune, the _cantus firmus_ was sometimes a
bit from a Gregorian chant or from a mass, but more often it was a
snatch from a dance song or a folk song with very vulgar words, or it
may have been a troubadour love song with anything but the right kind of
words for the Church. The words for one part were often from the Bible
and for other parts very coarse words from popular tunes. Imagine
singing them at the same time! Still funnier, the words of the sacred
song were sung in Latin and the popular song was sung in whatever
language it happened to be written! Can you think of anything more
ridiculous? The masses came to be known by the names from which the tune
was taken and nearly every composer including the great Palestrina wrote
masses on a popular tune of the day, _L’homme armé_ (The Man in Armor).
Yet they were all quite different, so varied had become the science of
writing counterpoint.
Josquin des Près (1450–1521) the Flemish composer wrote a motet,
_Victimae Paschali_, which is written around an old Gregorian
plainchant, interwoven with two popular _rondelli_ (in French _roundel_
from which comes our terms _roundelay_ and _rondo_) and a _Stabat Mater_
of his. The _cantus firmus_, or subject of this motet is another secular
or popular air.
The popular composers returned the compliment and took themes or tunes
from church music and put secular words to them. History repeats itself,
for we today take a tune from Handel’s _Messiah_ and use it in _Yes, We
Have No Bananas_ and we jazz the beautiful and noble music of Chopin,
Beethoven, Schubert and many others.
Yet this music,—the child we are watching grow up—because of mixing up
sacred and profane music soon gets a big reprimand.
The northern part of France seems to have been the birthplace of the
motet; a little later it found its way into Italy where some of the
finest music of the period was written, and the Italian influence
reached into Spain in the middle of the 15th century; at the end of the
century the Venetian school had spread its work into Germany. In the
17th century the name _motet_ was given to a kind of composition between
a cantata and an oratorio, but it had nothing to do with the famous
motet of the 15th and 16th centuries which we are discussing.
To show you how clever the men were in these days, one composer wrote a
motet in thirty-six parts!
In the Library of the Sistine Chapel in Rome are volumes containing the
motets of the 14th century, copied, of course, by hand in notes large
enough to be seen and read by the whole choir! These books are
beautifully decorated in gold and lovely colors, or illuminated, and are
of great value.
MADRIGALS OR POPULAR MOTETS
All music of this period not composed for the Church had the general
name of Madrigal, but a real madrigal was a vocal composition for from
three to six parts written on a secular subject, which often gave to the
work a grace and lightness not in the motet. The vocal madrigals were to
the music lovers of that day what chamber music is today, for
instruments were not yet used without singing. Later, the lute played
the chief melody with the voice, and it was only a step to have other
instruments play the other parts of the madrigal. The instruments played
a section of the composition alone while waiting for a solo singer to
appear. He sang a part of the madrigal that was later called the air and
the instrumental part was called the _ritournelle_, which literally
meant that in this section of the work, the singer returned from
“off-stage” where he had awaited his turn. By the end of the 16th
century it had become the custom for motets as well as madrigals to have
a solo air or aria, and an instrumental _ritournelle_, and this was the
beginning of chamber music,—a very great oak which grew from a very
little acorn.
In the first printed music books are many of the madrigals of the early
period. We will tell you of the composers of this period separately, but
remember that they all wrote practically the same kind of music,—masses,
motets, and madrigals, but all with the subject borrowed from something
they knew and with many parts for the voices. Often, too, the same tunes
were used for Church and outside the Church. For this reason much music
was published without the words, so that the singers could use sacred or
profane words as they wished.
Strange as it may seem, it was the folk songs and ballads and not the
_learned_ church music, that had originality and came freely and
sincerely from the hearts of the people.
SONGS IN DANCE FORM
Because these contrapuntal writings were heavy (can you imagine dancing
to a canon?) a new kind influenced by folk music grew up among these
people who were naturally gay and jolly and wished to be entertained.
Songs for three and four parts appeared, more popular in style and
simpler in form than the church motet and were the descendants of the
music of the troubadours. These were in dance form, such as the French
_chanson_, the _vilanelle_, the Italian _canzona_, _canzonetta_ or
little canzona, _frottola_, _strambottes_ and the German _lied_. Many of
these songs in dance form later inspired composers to write music for
instruments alone, so that people danced to music without singing. These
dance songs were called _branles_, _pavanes_, _gaillardes_, _courantes_,
_forlanes_, _rigaudons_ _sarabandes_, _gigues_, _gavottes_ and many
other names.
THE LUTE
The favorite instrument of the 15th and 16th centuries was the lute. It
fought for first place with the vielle, the viole, the harp, the
psalterion and the portative organ, but won the fight and took its place
beside the most famous singers of the day, sometimes for accompanying
and again reaching the dignity of soloist, as we told you above. In the
15th century it took the form, which we see most often represented in
pictures and in museums, with its six strings, graceful round body, and
long neck bent back as you can see in plate opposite page 127 already
described. As time went on this lute was made larger and strings were
added until at the beginning of the 17th century, it was replaced by an
instrument called the arch-lute or theorbo, which had twenty-four
strings, a double neck, and two sets of tuning pins.
The spinets or virginals, the great-aunts of our pianofortes first came
into vogue in the 15th and 16th centuries.
TABLATURE
There was a notation called Tablature used in the 16th and 17th
centuries to write down the music for lute and other stringed
instruments such as the viol, cittern, theorbo. You will find, in
pictures of Tablature, lines which look like our staff, but they do not
form a staff, but simply represent the _strings_ of the instrument.
These lines vary according to the number of strings, from four for the
cittern to six for the lute. The notation showed, not the position and
fingering as we write music, but the position and fingering of frets and
strings. Instead of _neumes_ or notes you will find the alphabet up to
the letter _j_, figures and queer dots and lines and slurs, but each
sign had its own meaning and was important to the lutenist.
RISE OF SCHOOLS
As music outgrows childhood, Schools of Music are started. But these are
not like the schools to which we go every day, but are rather music
groups or centers. Suppose you were a composer and lived in New York and
knew a dozen or so musicians who were writing the same kind of music as
you; the music, if good enough to be known and played, would be called
the New York School, or it might be called the 1925 School! Or, if you
were important enough to be imitated by your followers, it would be
called the Smith School, if that happened to be your name, just as those
who imitate Wagner are said to be the Wagner School, and so it goes. Not
a school to go to, but a school to belong to!
“What makes these schools start?” we can hear you ask. Many things.
Sometimes people are oppressed by their rulers and in trying to forget
their troubles, they naturally want to express themselves in the art
they know, and in this way groups get together and a school grows.
Sometimes the Church is the cause of schools of music, literature, and
art, and we shall see in this chapter how the Church influenced the
schools of music of this time and made it one of the most important
periods in this story. Sometimes, too, the climate has caused the
development of different styles as we told you in the chapter on folk
music. It often happens too, that a great man or a great school in one
country affects other countries.
FRANCO-FLEMISH SCHOOL
The first real group of composers to be called a “School” lived in the
part of Europe that today covers the north of France, Belgium and the
Netherlands. The composers who were born from 1400 to about 1530, in the
so-called Low Countries belonged to this school. Some writers claim that
there were three schools, and that the Franco-Flemish (Gallo-Belgic) is
a bridge between the Paris school of the 14th century and the
Netherlands school of the 16th. But it would be impossible to say when
one school began and another ended, as they all wrote the same kind of
music. As the older composers were the teachers of the younger, the
interesting thing to know is that many of these masters of the north of
Europe went to Italy, Spain, France, and to Germany, and spread the
knowledge of the “new art” of counterpoint and vocal poly-melody (many
melodies) and filled positions of importance in the churches. They were
considered such splendid teachers, that many of the young students of
other nationalities went to Holland and Belgium to be taught.
Zeelandia, a Hollander, an important master in this new school, tried to
get rid of the awkward intervals, fourths and fifths, which were used in
organum (see Chapter VII), and was the first composer to give the
subject or _cantus firmus_ to the soprano voice instead of the tenor.
Doesn’t it seem strange that it took so long to let the soprano have the
main tune?
But the most important composer of his period (1400–1474) was Guillaume
Dufay, from Flanders, who was a chorister in the Papal choir (choir of
the Pope) in Rome. He made the rules and imitation for the canon (a
grown up round) and he was the first composer to use the folk song
_L’homme armé_ (The Man in Armor) in a mass.
The next important name is Jan Okeghem (1430–1495), a Hollander, who
improved the science of counterpoint and of fugue writing. We have
already mentioned his canon for thirty-six voices (page 149), and he
wrote some puzzle canons, for use in secret guilds. No one could solve
these without the key and they were much harder than the world’s best
cross-word puzzles. He tried to make music express the beauty he felt,
and not merely be mathematical problems in tone, as was much of the
music of his day. He was the teacher of several famous musicians among
whom were Hobrecht (who became the teacher of Erasmus, the learned Dutch
religious reformer), Tinctoris, Josquin des Près, Loyset Compère, and
Agricola who spent most of his life in Spain and Portugal. In fact,
Okeghem taught so many, that the art of counterpoint was taken into all
countries by his pupils, so he can be called the founder of all music
schools from his own day to the present. He was chaplain at the French
court and, during forty years there, served three Kings of France!
Tinctoris, a Belgian (1446–1511), founded the first school of music in
Italy at Naples, and wrote a dictionary of musical terms.
But the “Prince” of musicians of the 15th century, was Josquin des Près,
or de Près (1455–1525). He was a pupil of Okeghem, and although born in
Flanders, spent much of his life away from his home; he was a member of
the Papal choir in Rome and afterwards lived at the court of Louis XII
in France. He also wrote a mass on the theme of _L’homme armé_, and many
other masses, motets, and madrigals. Luther said of him,—“Josquin des
Près is a master of the notes. They do as he wills. Other composers must
do as the notes will. His compositions are joyous, gentle and lovely;
not forced, not constrained, nor slavishly tied to the rules, but free
as the song of a finch.”
Josquin des Près had many pupils, and among them were many who became
famous. Clement Janequin, or Jannequin, is one of the best known from
his music, and least known from the facts of his life. Most of his works
are of a secular nature and are original and amusing, and so perfect
that some people thought him as good as his popular teacher. He was one
of the first serious composers to imitate the sounds of Nature in music!
One of his famous madrigals is the _Chant des Oiseaux_ (Song of the
Birds) in which he tries to represent the sounds of birds of all kinds.
In the middle of the piece is heard the hoot of an owl; the birds get
together and chase away the poor hated owl, calling him a traitor, then
all is quiet again. Another of his pieces is named _The Cackle of
Women!_ Another famous one still frequently sung is the _Battle of
Marignan_ (1515), a lively piece in varied rhythm, which was one of the
most popular army songs of the 16th century. The words and music
imitate, first the tools of war, then the noise of the cannons and the
crackling of the guns, the joy of victory for the French, and the
retreat of the Swiss.
Another eminent pupil of Josquin des Près was Nicolas Gombert, of
Bruges. Like Jannequin, he was a Nature lover, and many of his madrigals
imitate its sounds. Secular music was now popular, and his works show
that a composer was allowed to give expression to his feelings and
ideas, for the prejudices of the earlier church music had disappeared.
Jean Mouton, a native of Metz, was in the chapel of Louis XII and of
François I, King of France. His style was like his master’s and some of
his works were supposed to have been composed by Josquin.
WILLAERT FOUNDS THE VENETIAN SCHOOL
Willaert was a pupil of both Josquin and Mouton. He was chapel master at
St. Mark’s in Venice, and was so famous as a teacher that he attracted
many good musicians, and became the founder of the famous Venetian
school of composers. He wrote many madrigals, some of them on verses of
Petrarch, the Italian poet. This work was accomplished after he was
sixty years old!
Willaert was the first organist to use two and sometimes three choirs,
each singing in four parts. Sometimes they sang in combination and
sometimes answered each other antiphonally. According to Clarence G.
Hamilton in his book _Outlines of Music History_, the idea of these
choirs was probably suggested to Willaert because there were in St.
Mark’s two very fine organs. In this you see the influence instruments
have on the growth of musical compositions.
Willaert made use too, of the idea that the different parts could be
sounded together to form chords, instead of individual melodies as was
the case in poly-melody (polyphony or in the contrapuntal style). This
was a new idea, for up to this time the musicians had been writing
horizontal music, the melodic line looking something like this:
[Illustration: S A T B]
Willaert’s idea, which probably came from folk-song and from some of the
hymns that Luther created, was colonnade-like (see Chapter VII) or
perpendicular music, which we might illustrate like this:
[Illustration: ||||||| or]
ST. NICHOLAS TUNE BY ORLANDUS LASSUS
[Illustration]
in which each line represents a chord, with the melody at the top. This
is how Harmony, or the science of chords, came into use as we know it
now.
Among Willaert’s pupils were Cyprian de Rore of Antwerp, who succeeded
his master at St. Mark’s, and most of his works were madrigals which
gained him much fame in Italy. He was one of the first to use the
chromatic scale (scale in semi-tones like black and white keys on the
piano).
An Italian, Zarlino, pupil of Willaert, must be mentioned here, not as a
writer of music but as the author of three most important books on
harmony and theory. These books seem to have been very much needed for
they were reprinted many times. Another Italian pupil of Willaert was
Andrea Gabrieli, like his master, also an organist at St. Mark’s.
The greatest contribution from this Venetian school was its important
use of instrumental music as an independent art, thus giving music a
great push forward.
A composer whose motets and madrigals we still hear frequently is Jacob
Arcadelt, a Netherlander, who spent most of his life in Italy, and
shared with Willaert the glory of being one of the founders of the
Venetian school. He was a singer at the court of Florence, singing
master to the choir boys at St. Peter’s in Rome, and then he became a
member of the Papal choir.
The life of Claude Goudimel seems, from the little we know, to have been
dramatic. He is supposed to have been in Rome where he taught
Palestrina, the greatest composer of the age. One writer says that he
never was in Rome and was not the teacher of Palestrina! Even his
birthplace is disputed. What is certain, however, is that he met his
death in the massacre of the Huguenots (Protestants) at Lyons in 1572.
He wrote many settings of Calvinist Psalms by Clement Marot which work
led to his being a victim of the massacre.
SWEELINCK FOUNDS 17TH CENTURY ORGAN SCHOOL
One of the last of the Netherland school was Jan Sweelinck (1562–1621),
the greatest organist of his time. He had so many pupils from every
country in Europe, that he became the founder of a very famous school of
organists. Among them were Scheidt, Reinken of whom the story is told
that Bach as a young boy walked miles to hear him play, and Buxtehude, a
Dane, who was one of the greatest of the time of Bach. Sweelinck
perfected the Organ Fugue which Bach later made more beautiful than any
other composer. Sweelinck’s talent and work were so deeply appreciated
in his home, Amsterdam, that the merchants of that city gave him a
generous income for his old age. A splendid thing to have done!
THE GREAT LASSUS
The greatest composer of this Netherland school was Orlandus Lassus, or
Orlando di Lasso, or Roland de Lattre, take your choice! He was born in
Mons, Belgium, some time between 1520 and 1532. When he was a child he
had such a beautiful voice that he was kidnapped three times from the
school where he lived with the other choristers. The third time he
stayed with the Governor of Sicily, Ferdinand Gonzague, and went from
Sicily to Milan, then to Naples and then to Rome where he became
director of the choir of one of the most celebrated churches. After this
he went to England and to France and finally returned to Antwerp. In
1557 he was invited to the court of the Duke of Bavaria in Munich to
direct the chamber music. There he married a lady of the court and had
two daughters and four sons, who were musicians. Later he was made
master of the chapel, and the men who lived at that time said he was an
inspiring choir director, a great composer, and was deeply reverenced
and loved. The Duke was a splendid helper and patron of music, and
encouraged him to make their choir of ninety men one of the finest in
the world. Their lives were made so pleasant that a book, published in
1568, says, “had the Heavenly Choir been suddenly dismissed, it would
straightway have made for the court of Munich, there to find peace and
retirement!”
Lassus used wind and brass instruments to accompany the voices which
were kept quite separate from the strings. At a banquet, the wind
instruments were heard during the early courses, then the strings
directed by someone else, then, during the dessert, Lassus would direct
the singing of the choir. So “chamber music” appears at this point in
the growth of music.
At the Duke’s suggestion, Lassus wrote music for seven _Penitential
Psalms_ which were sung to the unhappy King, Charles IX, after the
massacre of the Huguenots on St. Bartholomew’s eve.
He wrote secular music as well as sacred and showed a keen sense of
humor in several of his secular pieces.
Soon after 1574, he wrote a set of twenty-four pieces for two parts:
twelve have words and are vocal duets, and the other twelve are without
words, to be played on instruments. The two groups are exactly alike in
form which shows that many of the motets and madrigals for voices were
often played on instruments alone.
The Hymn to St. John from which Guido d’Arezzo took the names of the
scale degrees, was made into a beautiful composition by Lassus; the
tenor sings a _cantus firmus_ of the tones of the scales, around which
are woven many parts in counterpoint.
One festival day there was a violent storm in Munich, and orders were
given that the usual procession from the Church through the town should
not take place, but should be held inside the Church. As the head of the
procession reached the porch of the Church, and the choir started a
motet by Lassus, the sun suddenly came out and the procession went on as
usual through the town. This was looked upon as a miracle, and whenever
fine weather was wanted very much, this motet was chosen! This story
does not tell whether the miracle always worked!
In Lassus’ later church music, he simplified the complicated
contrapuntal style, perhaps because he lived in the country where Luther
had introduced the chorale. (Page 166.) Even though Lassus wrote masses
and motets for the Catholic Church, he must have heard these new hymns,
and was unknowingly influenced by them.
A complete edition of all his works would fill almost sixty volumes. If
you can realize the huge task all this must have been, you will not be
surprised that his over-tired brain finally gave out and during the last
five years of his life he did no more composing. He died in 1594.
Orlandus Lassus was the last and one of the greatest of this Netherland,
or Franco-Flemish school, that for two hundred years had led the world
of music. Music had changed from a cocoon, gradually developing into a
radiant butterfly, or, in our book, we should say that music had left
childhood and was becoming a stalwart lad.
RONSARD—FRENCH POET
Before leaving the subject of these northern madrigal writers, we must
tell you about the famous French poet, Pierre de Ronsard, who was born
just four hundred years ago (1525). He supplied more composers with
words for their madrigals than any other poet of his age, and he also
sang some of his poems put to music. He said that without music poetry
was almost without grace, and that music without the melody of verse was
lifeless. Of course, today the poetry and music have become so
independent of each other, that many poets object to having verse made a
servant of music, and many musicians think that music without words,
that is, instrumental music, is the highest type of musical art.
In 1552, Ronsard asked four of the leading composers to set some of his
sonnets to music. Jannequin, Pierre Certon, Claude Goudimel and Muret
accepted, each composing music for the same ten sonnets. This experiment
was so successful, that it was the talk of the entire court, and Ronsard
published all the songs in his first volume of poetry. About the time
that Shakespeare was born, in England, but long before he had said,
The man that hath no music in his soul
Is fit for treason, stratagem and spoils,
Ronsard wrote a preface to a collection of songs dedicated to King
Charles IX, in which he says: “How could one get along with a man who
innately hated music? He who does not honor music, is not worthy to see
the soft light of the sun.”
Besides the four musicians who set the sonnets, others who used Ronsard
poems as texts for songs and madrigals were Philip de Monte (or Mons),
G. Costeley, organist to Charles IX, de la Grotte, organist to Henri
III, and Orlandus Lassus.
CHAPTER XII
Music Gets a Reprimand—Reformation and Rebirth of Learning—How the
Reforms Came to Be
Here is a little reminder of how music grew:
A scale came into use in Greece about 700 B.C.
It was separated into modes by the Greeks about 400 B.C.
It was adopted by the Romans and by the early Christians and was used
until the 10th century A.D. with little change.
450 years before the Christian era was the Golden Age of Pericles in
Greece.
450 years after the Christian era was the beginning of the Dark Ages.
Harmony was first attempted in 900 A.D.
Between 900 A.D. and 1400, music made little headway.
Music has travelled along two roads,—the Church road and the People’s
road; they often crossed each other and became very much mixed up. You
remember how popular songs had found their way into church music at the
time of St. Gregory, and how the people took melodies from the masses,
put profane words to them, and sang them in the taverns, at the street
corners, in the tournaments and at work.
Early in the 15th century folk songs had again invaded the Church to the
point that masses were known by the names of the folk songs from which
they were taken. This led to a very important reform, as a result of
which Palestrina, the greatest composer of the “Golden Age of Catholic
Church Music,” wrote his beautiful masses and motets, and Luther, the
founder of the Protestant faith, made up hymns that are still sung and
loved throughout Christendom.
Many things happened between 1400 and 1600, the period called the
Renaissance, or rebirth of the ancient Greek and Roman learning. At this
time the people in Italy (later in Spain, France, England and Germany),
awakened to study after the Dark Ages of war and conquest. Now the
people tried to bring back the literature, drama, music, and sculpture
of the Greeks and Romans. Read this list of men whose genius developed
through the new learning: Hans Memling, the Flemish painter; Albrecht
Dürer, the German painter and wood and copper engraver; Hans Holbein,
the German painter; Leonardo da Vinci, Italian artist, engineer and
scientist, probably the most gifted man of all time; Michael Angelo, the
Italian sculptor and poet; Raphael, Correggio and Titian, Italian
painters; Cervantes, the Spanish dramatist, author of _Don Quixote_;
Edmund Spenser of England, who wrote _The Faery Queen_; Copernicus, the
astronomer and Christopher Columbus.
INVENTION OF PRINTING
But the greatest event of this time was Gutenberg’s invention of
printing (1455) which has spread learning over the face of the earth.
Soon people were able to get books cheaper than the hand written
scrolls. Until this great moment the monks had been writing by hand all
books and music scores. Only the great and wealthy owned them, and very
few could read or write, for what would be the sense of learning to read
if one had nothing to read? So the invention of printing awakened the
desire to know how to read books and to learn poetry, which sharpened
people’s minds and enlightened them. 12,000 volumes were printed from
1463 to 1471 where perhaps a hundred had been written before.
The first press (wooden type) was set up by Charles VII (1459) in the
Sorbonne in Paris, one of the greatest institutions of learning in the
world which still attracts students from all countries. The first music
was printed (1501 or 1502) by Ottaviano dei Petrucci in Venice, and were
three or four books of motets by Italian, French, Flemish and German
composers. Music was benefited by being printed clearly and many changes
were made to make it easier to read. Up to this time it was worse than
cross-word puzzles! It seemed to be the object of the composers before
the Renaissance to make music look just as difficult as it possibly
could, and there are many examples of enigmatical canons which were used
in the spirit of games and could be solved only by those having the key
to the puzzles.
But now the printers who were learned men in those days, simplified the
notation, and did away with many useless signs. People began to read it
more easily, and music became more popular. After Ottaviano died,
Antonio Gardane and his sons founded a publishing house in Venice, which
was most useful to composers. Then Paris and Antwerp began to have fine
printers, and in 1542 Ballard was made sole printer of music to the King
and nearly all the music through Louis XIV’s time (1638–1715) was
printed by his descendants. Late in the 17th century the measures were
separated by bars as they are today, and when metal was used for type
instead of wood, the old square note became oval like ours.
At the beginning of the Renaissance Church music was again mixed with
the most vulgar words from popular songs. “The bowsprit got mixed with
the rudder sometimes”—as in _The Hunting of the Snark_.
At this time the people were beginning to think and read for themselves,
and to question whether the Church had the right to dictate to and
control them as it had been doing. They thought, too, that many of the
church officers were not good enough, and by degrees the people
protesting, broke away from the Roman Church and formed others. Through
this protest the Protestant church won its name; this is known as the
Reformation. With the new church came the need for new services, new
music and new ways of singing.
MARTIN LUTHER, THE REFORMER
“Truth to Nature” was the _slogan_ of the Renaissance.
In 1453, the Mohammedans captured Constantinople, and the Christian
Church which had been there since the end of the 4th century, was driven
out. Many of the learned Christians fled to Central Europe and brought
with them a knowledge of Greek literature and art which they taught to
the people.
Christopher Columbus, in his search for a passage to India, found a new
continent, and in the same way these seekers for “Truth to Nature,”
although they may not have found exactly what they were looking for,
certainly opened gates that swept men and women towards knowledge,
appreciation, refinement and culture.
The outstanding person in the Reformation of the Church was Martin
Luther (1483–1546) who interests us specially for what he did for the
growth of music. Luther was a priest of the Catholic Church, but he was
also a German; he believed in a national life free from Church
government, and in singing hymns in the language of the people instead
of in Latin, in order that the words could be understood. He spoke and
wrote openly against certain actions of the Church and for this he was
put out of the Church of Rome. But, very soon, he had enough followers
to start a church of his own, and one of the first things he did was to
make a new music for it. Up to this time the only music in Germany had
been some hymns translated from the Latin into the “vernacular,” the
language of the people, the songs of the Minnesingers and
Meistersingers, and a rich crop of folksongs that had appeared in the
14th century. There were also a few composers who had learned to write
counterpoint in the Netherlands, Heinrich Isaak, Ludwig Senfl and
Heinrich Fink, and they, too, influenced the music of the Reformation.
Luther, a musician himself, knew the love that his countrymen had for
their hymns translated into German and for the folksongs, and realized
that singing in which the congregation took part would be a power in the
church. He had to gather material for new hymns simple enough for the
people to sing, and besides he needed new music to replace the Mass. The
result of his work is the _chorale_, the foundation of the great German
school of music of the 18th and 19th centuries. He was helped in the
work of creating these hymns by Johann Walther and Conrad Rupf. The
first hymnal (1524) was selected from some of the finest Catholic hymns,
Gregorian and Ambrosian melodies, dignified folk-melodies, and some
original chorales by Luther himself.
He played the tunes of his chorales on a flute, and Walther wrote them
down. He wrote to a friend, “I wish after the example of the Prophets
and ancient Fathers of the Church, to make German Psalms for the people,
and that is to say, sacred hymns, so that the word of God may dwell
among the people by means of song also.” The strength and beauty of
these hymns can be seen in _Ein’ Feste Burg ist unser Gott_ (A Mighty
Fortress is Our God).
The hymns were harmonized in four parts. They were usually sung in
unison (all singing the same thing) with the accompaniment of the organ
or a group of instruments. This great change, or revolt, broke the
backbone of polyphonic music, freed the spirit of the people, and first
brought into use modern scales (major and minor, as we know them).
Curiously enough, this Reformed Church Music also brought about the
“Golden Age of Catholic Music” with Palestrina as its leading composer.
PALESTRINA—PRINCE OF MUSIC
Martin Luther had hoped to reform the Church but instead founded a new
one (another example of Columbus seeking a passage to India). But this
action of Luther’s was a challenge to the Mother-Church, and steps were
taken to reform many customs and practices in the Church itself. As we
have pointed out many times, popular tunes with vulgar words had crept
into the Church services. These works composed for the Church were used
to show the skill of the composer rather than to express the love of
God. Questions dealing with the reforms for purifying the services of
the Church were taken up by the Council of Trent, a gathering of the
learned Church men and the Catholic kings. The council lasted for twenty
years (1542 or 3–1562). Fancy that for a club meeting! Towards the end
of its long session, the council decided that all music in the “impure
mode” (in popular style), should be banished from the Church. They
decided, and we cannot see why they waited so long, that the Mass with
popular airs and words not approved by the Church fathers should be
prohibited. Palestrina had both the genius and the understanding to meet
the requirements, and his compositions for the Church are the highest
achievement of the 16th century.
You will read in many histories of music that Palestrina was asked to
write three masses to be sung before a group of Cardinals, in order to
find out whether or not any composer could write music fit for the
Church. These three masses were considered so fine, that he was claimed
as the one who saved Church music. This would have been a great honor,
but it did not happen, and was only a legend to show Palestrina’s
greatness. No doubt Palestrina wrote more carefully and beautifully on
account of the decision of the Council of Trent, and was so great a
composer that all vocal polyphonic music of the 16th century is said to
be in the “Palestrinian” style.
Now this Palestrina was Giovanni Pierluigi, born in a humble home at
Palestrina, a suburb of Rome. In English his name would be John
Pierluigi of Palestrina. The year of his birth was about 1525 or 1526.
He probably was a choir boy and was trained in music in one of the
churches of Rome. You may hear that the Chapel master of Santa Marie
Maggiore heard him singing on the road and picked him out for his music
school, but this may be only one of many legends told of him. Even the
name of his teacher is uncertain, some say that it was Goudimel, others
that it was Gaudio or Claudio Mell, and still others that it was
Cimello. However, his teacher’s name seems to have had the letters “mel”
in it, and all the rest is guess work. Before he was twenty, he played
the organ in a church at Palestrina, sang in the daily service, taught
singing and music, and shortly after was married.
In 1551 he became chapel master in the Capella Giulia (Julia Chapel) in
the Vatican. His first published volume of five masses (1554) he
dedicated to the Pope, Julius III. There had been many volumes of sacred
music dedicated to the popes, but they had always been the work of
musicians of the northern school, Hollanders or Belgians. This volume of
Palestrina’s was the first by an Italian composer to be written for a
pope. As a reward, the Pope made him one of the twenty-four singers of
his private chapel, but not having a good voice, and not being a priest,
the next Pope dismissed him. But in 1571 he was again made chapel master
in the Vatican.
It was the custom in those days for musicians to dedicate works not only
to popes, but to rich and powerful nobles, monarchs, or other church
officials. These attentions were often rewarded with gifts of money,
positions at court or in the chapels. This “patronage,” as it was
called, made it possible for composers to do their best work. This was
not only the case in music, but in poetry, painting and sculpture.
Palestrina was kept busy dedicating his music to popes, for he lived
during the reigns of at least twelve.
After the Council of Trent, one of his masses was recommended as a
model, so it is said, of what church music should be. He was again
granted the pay of singer in the Pontifical Choir, as he had been years
before, but this time, due to his well-known skill, he did not lose his
post when other popes succeeded in office. Many of his masses in
manuscript are now in the Vatican library.
In 1575, fifteen hundred singers from Palestrina,—priests, laymen, boys
and women, marched into Rome singing Giovanni Pierluigi’s music, with
the great composer leading them. This shows, that he was appreciated.
He was asked to revise some of the old church music and while he tried,
he so hated to change the work of other composers whom he respected,
that he never finished the task. It was like asking Stravinsky to put
up-to-date harmonies into Beethoven.
A list of his compositions published by Breitkopf and Haertel include 93
Masses, 179 Motets, and 45 Hymns for the year, 68 Offertories, 3 books
of Lamentations, 3 books of Litanies, 2 books of Magnificats, 4 books of
Madrigals. A big list, isn’t it? But his activities covered a long
period, and he composed to the time of his death (1594).
He had very few pupils whose names have come down to us.
Palestrina never had great wealth, and some biographers make him seem
poverty-stricken and suffering. At any rate, he was granted his heart’s
desire, to compose as much as he wanted to, and even if he was poor, he
had the joy of success and the glory of being recognized as the greatest
composer of his time in Italy. His works have outlived many other
schools of composition, and today are looked upon as models of beauty
and of masterly workmanship.
Palestrina was honored by burial in St. Peter’s, and on his tombstone
are the words “Princeps Musicæ” (Prince of Music).
You must not think that Palestrina was the only famous Italian composer
of the 16th century, for Constanza Festa who died before Palestrina did
his important work is called the first Italian master of the polyphonic
school. There were also Animuccia, Andrea Gabrieli, and Andrea’s nephew
Giovanni Gabrieli. Giovanni was a Venetian, and the Venetians loved rich
coloring in everything, even in their music. Gabrieli tried to get it by
using cornets, trombones and violins with the organ, which at that time
could not make a _crescendo_, that is, its volume could not be
increased, but as these instruments could all be played soft or loud
with _crescendo_ effects, he created a color or quality that never had
been before.
CHAPTER XIII
Birth of Oratorio and Opera—Monteverde and Heart Music
BIRTH OF ORATORIO AND OPERA
A friend of Palestrina, Saint Filippo Neri, was the founder of Oratorio.
In 1558, Father Neri started daily religious meetings to which all sorts
of people came. These were held in a side room of the Church called the
Oratory (chapel for private prayer), and in addition to his
talks,—hymns, litanies and motets were sung, and scenes from the Bible
were performed somewhat like opera. The name “Oratorio” was soon used,
not only in Rome, but throughout all of Europe, wherever there were
sacred dramas with music. Palestrina arranged and wrote some of the
music for Father Neri.
BIBLE STORIES ACTED
The acted stories of the Bible can be traced back into the Middle Ages,
and probably descended from the Greek and Roman theatre, for many early
Christians were Greeks and Romans and had a natural love for drama. The
Church understood this and saw in it a way to teach the history of the
Scriptures. You know yourselves how much better you remember historical
events when you have seen them in moving pictures! This natural love of
play-acting in mankind goes back to primitive man who acted out his
prayers in his religious rites. These theatrical performances were
called “moralities,” “mysteries,” or “miracle-plays,” and a very
beautiful example is _Everyman_, which was revived in England and
America a few years ago.
In the 8th century, Charlemagne’s time, people gathered in the public
markets, and the merchants entertained them by shows in which were
singing and dancing. The priests forbade these performances because they
were coarse and vulgar, but realizing how successful and how much loved
they were, they themselves turned actors, built stages in many of the
churches, turned the Bible stories into little plays, and added music.
Sometimes when there were not enough priests to take part, dolls or
puppets were used as in _Punch and Judy_ shows. Isn’t it interesting to
think that operas and plays began in the Church?
One of the most famous of the church plays was the _Feast of Asses_ in
the 11th century.
The people did not have means of entertaining themselves as we have, and
the Church was the place to which every one went for amusement as well
as religion. In the 14th century some plays given in England were: _Fall
of Lucifer_, _Creation_, _Deluge_, _Abraham_, _Salutation and Nativity_,
_Three Kings_, _Last Supper_, _Resurrection_. The clergy hired minstrels
during this period to supply the music.
In the 15th century there were also elaborate pageants.
The clergy soon saw that the people wanted to take part in the plays, so
societies were formed in Paris, Rome, and in England for the people. In
England, like in Germany in the 16th century, the guilds (trade-unions)
performed plays that were based on religious subjects, although more or
less comic. The trade-guild of water-drawers, who delivered water from
door to door, liked to give the _Deluge_! The story goes: Mrs. Noah
objected to going aboard the ark with her husband and children, because
she did not want to leave her friends, “the gossips”; she even tells
Noah to get himself another wife, but her son, Shem, forces her into the
ark, and when she finally enters, she slaps Noah’s face!
The subjects were not always comical, some were beautiful and inspiring,
like the _Passion Play_ still given in Oberammergau, Germany, every ten
years.
MASQUES
During Henry VII’s reign (1485–1509), which began the Tudor period, the
moralities and religious pageantry were at their best, and the Masques
began. Nobles, who appeared at balls in gorgeous costumes with masked
faces, danced, had a jolly time, and usually surprised the guests with
an elaborate entertainment in pantomime with much music and dancing.
This became more and more important until it combined poetry,
instrumental and vocal music, scenery, dancing, machinery, splendid
costumes, and decorations in the Masque.
The greatest masques were written in the reigns of the Stuarts (17th
century), by Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, and John Milton. _Comus_
and Shakespeare’s _Tempest_ were set to music in this form. While the
Italians were experimenting with _Dramma per Musica_ (drama with music),
England was finding a new musical entertainment in the masque, and opera
was its direct descendant.
The custom of masking for the ball came from Italy, and before that, the
actors in the Greek drama (400 B.C.) wore masks, and that is why the
mask is used in art to represent the theatre.
ITALIAN OPERA’S BEGINNINGS
In Italy during the second half of the 16th century, a group of people
tried to combine music and drama to fit the new ideas of art. The
Renaissance had influenced poetry, sculpture, painting, architecture,
and now it was music’s turn to profit by the return to Greek ideals. The
Florentines and the Venetians felt that the madrigal was not the best
form to express the feelings and emotions of the subjects of their
plays. In the Middle Ages, the subjects were always Biblical, but now,
as a result of the new learning they were chosen from Greek mythology
and history. From the first operas at the close of the 16th century, to
those of Gluck in the 18th, the names of Greek gods and heroes are used
as the titles of operas: _Orpheus_, _Euridice_, _Daphne_, _Apollo_ and
_Bacchus_. These first operas were a combination of early _ballets_, and
a sort of play called a _pastorale_.
Torquato Tasso, the Italian poet of the 16th century, wrote several
_pastorales_, and was interested in music with drama. Like Ronsard in
France, Tasso wrote beautiful poems for madrigals, which were set to
music by the composers. He was a friend of Palestrina and of Don
Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, a famous patron of art, particularly of
music. In the Prince’s palace at Naples, a group of men met to spread
and improve the taste for music. They also wished to create music that
would fit the stage-plays better than the polyphonic or poly-melodic
style imported from the Northern countries. They wanted melody and they
wanted it sung by one voice alone, as were their popular songs,
accompanied by the lute, called _frottoli_, _vilanelles_, etc. Tasso, no
doubt, talked over his ideas with composers from Florence who had formed
a club, and who were directly responsible for the first opera in Italy,
_Daphne_ by Jacobo Perti.
THE CAMERATA
This Florentine club was called the “Camerata”; it met at the home of
Count Bardi, himself a poet, and among its members were Vincenzo
Galilei, an amateur musician and father of the famous astronomer; Emilio
del Cavalieri, a composer and inventor of _ballets_; Laura Guidiccioni,
a woman poet; Giulio Caccini, a singer and composer; Ottavio Rinuccini
and Strozzi, poets; and Peri, a composer and singer. They must have had
wild times at their club meetings, for the musicians who were not
amateurs did not want the popular song with lute accompaniment to
replace polyphonic music, which was the “high-brow” art of that time.
But the poets and singers and less cultured musicians won the day.
Pretending to return to Greek music drama of which they knew less than
nothing, they made a series of experiments which led to the invention of
the artsong, or homophonic style (one voice, or melody, instead of
polyphonic—many voices), which seemed to satisfy the Italian’s natural
love for melody.
Galilei set a scene from Dante’s _Inferno_, for solo and _viola da
gamba_, an instrument of the violoncello type. Following this, Peri
invented the “speaking style” of singing now called _recitative_. This
was a very important step in the making of opera and oratorio, for it
did away with spoken words, and instead, the conversation was sung, or
intoned, to satisfy the poets who wanted the meaning of their words made
very clear. It was accompanied by simple chords on the lute, and later,
the harpsichord.
Here were all the parts needed for a real opera,—the solo song, or aria;
the recitative, or story telling part; the chorus or ensemble, which was
the old madrigal used in a new way; and the accompanying instruments
which grew into the orchestra. Peri was the first to put all these parts
together in an opera for which Rinuccini wrote a real play based on the
Greek story of Daphne. Caccini and his daughter Francesca sang it, and
no doubt made many suggestions as to how it should be done. Its first
private performance (1597) was an important event for the closing of an
important century. The audience thought that it was listening to a
revival of Greek music drama, but we know that it was another case of
Columbus’s passage to India! Although the Greek drama was not like this,
after 2000 years it helped to create modern music.
Its success led to an invitation in 1600 for Peri and Rinuccini to write
an opera, _Euridice_, for the marriage festivities of Henry IV of France
and Marie de’ Medici. Several noblemen, probably members of the
“Camerata,” took part in the first performance; one played the
harpsichord, and three others played on the chitarrone (a large guitar),
a viol da gamba, and a theorbo (double lute). The orchestra was
completed by three flutes. This orchestral score was notated in a sort
of musical shorthand called figured bass which shows the chords to be
used as accompaniment to a melody by means of a bass note with a figure
above it. Peri and his colleagues seem to have been the first to use
this, but it was adopted by all composers into the 18th century,
including Bach and Handel. It was called _basso continuo_ or figured
bass or thorough-bass.
Caccini also wrote an opera which he called _Euridice_, but it was in
the style of a pastoral ballet with songs, dances, and recitatives. This
work was probably the result of his having helped Peri in working out
his ideas at the meetings of the “Camerata.” This same year, 1600, which
finished the 16th century, saw the presentation of Emilio del
Cavalieri’s mystery play, or oratorio, _La Rappresentazióne di ‘Anima e
di Córpo_ (Representation of the spirit and body), for which Laura
Giudiccioni wrote the text. This oratorio, with very elaborate
decorations, was sung and danced in the oratory of a church. It must
have been very like the operas except that it was based on a religious
idea, and was performed in a church, while the opera by Peri was
performed at the Pitti Palace and was from Greek mythology. The
orchestra was composed of a double lyre, a harpsichord, a double guitar,
and a theorbo or double lute.
BAIF’S CLUB IN FRANCE
While the Italians were trying to find the old Greek and Latin methods
of combining drama and music, there was a movement in France to write
poetry in classical verse. Following Ronsard’s example, Baif influenced
the composers to write music that should express the feeling of poetry,
and also imitate its rhythm. They also tried writing madrigals arranged
for a single voice with accompanying instrument, or group of
instruments. While the Italians invented the recitative, the French
developed a rich fluent rhythmic song form, _musique mesurée à
l’antique_, or, music in the ancient metre.
Baif formed a club or an Academy of poets and musicians much like
Bardi’s “Camerata” in Florence. They worked hard to perfect mensural or
measured music, and opened the way for the use of measures and bars,
which in the 16th century were unknown. We are so accustomed to music
divided into measures by means of bars, that it is hard to realize what
a great step forward was made by Baif’s Academy. They were struggling to
get rid of the plainchant which lacked rhythm as we know it, and which
for centuries had used “perfect” or “imperfect” time.
Two prominent composers of this group were Jacques Mauduit (1557–1627),
also a famous lute player, and Claude Le Jeune (1530–1600), who worked
with Baif to bring “measured” music into favor, composer of many
_chansons_ and of a Psalm-book used by all the Calvinist churches
(Calvin was a church reformer in Switzerland) in Europe except in
Switzerland! It went through more editions than any other musical work
since the invention of printing. Le Jeune was a Huguenot, and on St.
Bartholomew’s eve (1588), he tried to escape from the Catholic soldiers
carrying with him many unpublished manuscripts. They would have been
burned, had it not been for his Catholic friend and fellow-composer,
Mauduit, who rescued the books, and saved his life. The title appears
for the first time in history on one of his pieces, “Composer of Music
for the King.” (_Compositeur de la musique de la chambre du roy._)
During the second half of the 16th century, in spite of serious
political and religious troubles, the most popular form of entertainment
at the French court was the very gorgeous ballet. No expense was
considered too great, and no decoration too splendid for these ballets
in which nobles and even the kings and their families appeared “in
person.” They were like the English Masques, and were the parents of the
_French opera_. Baif, Mauduit and Le Jeune, together composed (1581) _Le
Ballet comique de la Reine_ (Queen’s Comedy-Ballet) which was produced
at the Palace of the Louvre in Paris.
Beaulieu and Salmon are often named as the composers of this ballet
because in those days, one composer wrote the parts for voices, and
another for instruments, so probably the musicians worked with the poets
and dramatists to produce it. The characters in this musical drama were
Circe and other Greek gods and demi-gods.
With Marie de Medici and Cardinal Mazarin from Italy, Italian opera came
into France. But this did not happen until the 17th century.
MONTEVERDE AND HEART MUSIC
Wouldn’t you be proud if you could compose a whole book of music at the
age of sixteen? Monteverde did and besides he made music grow by
composing things that had never been done before.
Claudio Monteverde (1567–1643) was born in Cremona, a town made famous
by the great makers of violins. Monteverde was one of the first great
innovators in music, and he brought new ideas and vast changes into
music as an art. His teacher, Marc Antonio Ingegneri, Chapel Master at
the Cathedral, taught young Monteverde all the tricks of counterpoint
and of the great polyphonic masters, and also gave him lessons on the
organ and the viol. He must have been a very talented pupil, for he
could play any instrument, and at the age of sixteen, published his
first book of madrigals,—_Canzonette a tre voci_ (Little Songs in Three
Voices). The last song in this book has these charming words: “Now, dear
Songs, go in peace singing joyously, always thanking those who listen to
you and kissing their hands, without speaking.” Evidently, little
Italian boys were brought up to say nice things!
Even in this first book of madrigals and the four books that followed,
Monteverde tried experiments in harmony and wrote music that sounded
harsh to 16th century ears. He was trying to create a style that would
combine the best points of the old school of polyphony (many voices)
with the new school of monody (one melody), and this is why he is called
the originator of the modern style of composition, which is, melody and
accompaniment. Since his time there have been many originators of new
styles in music, and when first heard they have usually been received
with harsh words by the many and liked by the few. Monteverde was
severely criticized in a book that appeared in Venice, in 1600, on the
short-comings of modern music, (and they are still writing “on the
short-comings of modern music” today!). The book was written by the
monk, Artusi, who liked the old-fashioned music and believed that
Monteverde’s work was against all natural musical laws. But if we search
we will find that music grows through experiments that are made by the
composers, who “go against natural laws,” then after the natural laws
are broken, comes a learned theorist who shows that no law was broken at
all, and so we go on stretching the boundaries of “natural law,” and
music goes on changing all the time. This is what we mean by the growth
of music.
In 1590, Monteverde became viol player and singer to Vincenzo di
Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, a patron of arts and letters. At one time he
took the poet Tasso from an insane asylum; he was patron of Galileo, the
astronomer, who was considered to be a heretic because he said that the
earth revolved around the sun, contrary to the teachings of the Bible;
he also invited the great Flemish painter Rubens, to visit his court;
and probably influenced Monteverde to write operas. The Duke engaged
many musicians at his court, who formed a little orchestra to play dance
music, solos, or parts in the madrigals. These were no longer sung
alone, but were accompanied by instruments, or sometimes played by the
instruments without voices, (see how music grows up!) because in Italy,
the composers had not yet begun to write special music for instruments
as they had in France.
The composer went with the Duke on many travels, even into battle, and
in the evenings between military encounters, they sang madrigals and
played on instruments!
The next trip with the Duke was pleasanter, for it gave Monteverde the
chance to visit Flanders, where he heard the beautiful “new music” of
Claude Le Jeune, Mauduit, and others. It impressed him so deeply that he
began to write heart-music instead of head-music. He was one of the most
successful in breaking down old rules and traditions and was enough of a
genius to replace them with new things that were to point the way for
all the opera writers and most of the composers that came after him.
Monteverde must have heard the music composed by the members of the
“Camerata,” but he was too much of a musician to brush aside all
polyphonic writing and to value words above music. However, their work
opened the way for his. Up to 1607, he had written everything in the
form of vocal madrigals, but his last book seems to have been composed
for string instruments instead of being madrigals for voices. These
sounded as though composed for viols and lutes and not for voices, and
were dramatic and full of deep feeling as if written for an opera! No
wonder they sounded strange to the audience—even as Stravinsky,
Schoenberg and Milhaud do to most people today.
Until Monteverde was forty years old he had never written an opera, the
greatest work of his life! He probably would not have done so then had
it not been at the command of his patron, Vincenzo di Gonzaga. His first
and second operas, _Orfeo_ and _Arianna_, followed each other quickly
and were epoch making. Without the work of the “Camerata,” they might
never have been written, but they were much better than the best work of
the “Camerata” (Peri, Caccini, and Cavalieri). Monteverde was wise
enough to adopt their melodramatic form which he improved by his use of
the devices of the Italian madrigalists and organ composers, and the
_airs de cour_ (songs of the court) and the ballets of the French
composers.
Also, following the French ideas, Monteverde used a large orchestra of
forty pieces, including two clavichords; two little organs called
_organi di legno_, which sounded like flutes; a regal, also a kind of
small organ; a bass viol; a _viol da gamba_; two very tiny violins
called _pochettes_, because they could be carried in the pockets of the
French dancing-masters; ten _violes da bracchia_ or tenor viols;
ordinary violins, two _chitarroni_ or large lutes, and the usual
trumpets, cornets, flutes and oboes. In this Monteverde was a pioneer
for he had no other works to guide him, and had to find out for himself
the effects of combining different instruments. Today many of his
musical effects sound crude to us, but he had no symphony concerts, at
which to hear an orchestra, for such a thing did not exist. Neither were
orchestral scores written out, but only indicated, and when instruments
were used, their parts were made up at the moment and played, according
to the “figured bass.”
During the 16th century, the musicians had learned that trombones and
cornets made a wonderful effect in scenes of the underworld (Hades,
Inferno, Hell), of which there were many. They discovered, too, that
trumpets and drums made battle scenes and war songs real; that flutes,
oboes and bassoons gave a pastoral, or shepherd-like effect; that viols
were for scenes of love and of sadness; and that to represent Heaven,
they needed harps, lutes and regals. Monteverde brought them all
together, and studied how to simplify the orchestra to give it a better
balance in tone and variety. It must have been a wonderful time to live
in this “young manhood” day of music.
The opera _Arianna_ was written a year after _Orfeo_, to celebrate the
wedding of the Duke’s son. It must have been a sad task for Monteverde,
as he had just lost his wife to whom he was very devoted. Ottavio
Rinuccini, poet of the “Camerata”, was his librettist (the writer of the
words), and a famous Italian architect, Vianini, built an immense
theatre in the castle for the first performance in 1608. Six thousand
people assembled, the largest audience that had ever heard an opera!
Nothing remains of the opera today, but the text, or words, some
published accounts of the performances, and a very touching and
beautiful _Lamentation_ in which Arianna expresses her grief at being
left by Theseus. This one piece is enough to show Monteverde’s genius,
also how freely he expressed human feelings in music. Not a house in
Italy with either a clavichord or a theorbo was without a copy of the
_Lamentation_!
About this time, Monteverde wrote a prologue for a comedy composed by
five other musicians of the court, all well-known composers of their
day, Rossi, Gastoldi, Gagliano, Giulio Monteverde, and Birt.
In 1613, a year after the death of the Duke, Vincenzo di Gonzaga,
Monteverde was made Chapel master of St. Mark’s in Venice, which had
long been famous for its fine music, where Adrian Willaert, Cyprian de
Rore and Zarlino had been Chapel masters in the time of the “Golden Age
of Polyphony.” Monteverde had much to live up to! But, after his hard
work at the court of Mantua, he found his position very agreeable, and
he gave his time now to composing music for the Church, madrigals,
intermezzos, and a new form of music called “cantata.” His church music
can be divided into works written in the old polyphonic style of
Palestrina, and those written in the modern style of his day. So, when
he did not write in the older church style, it was not because he did
not know counterpoint, but because he wanted to make music express
feelings through harmony and not through polyphony. He was able to do
this as no one else had! His church music is not published for the parts
have been so scattered, that a bass will be found in one collection and
an instrumental part in another, and perhaps a soprano in still a third.
So it would be very much like a jig-saw puzzle to find them all and put
them together.
The Gonzaga family tried to persuade him to return to their court, but
he refused, although he often wrote special operas for them or short
dramatic spectacles which were called intermezzos. Of these, sad to say,
almost nothing remains.
The recitative style invented by the “Camerata” had by this time taken
such a firm hold upon the people, that it spread even to the music of
the Church and to the madrigals. All the Italian composers began to
write _recitative_ for solo voices and accompaniment which they called
_canzoni_ (songs), _canzonetti_ (little songs), and _arie_ (melodies).
Monteverde was one of the first to turn the madrigal into a _cantata da
camera_ which means the recitation to music of a short drama or story in
verse, by one person, accompanied by one instrument. But, as things
improve or die out, very soon another voice and several instruments were
added. This composition is a musical milestone of the 17th century as
the madrigal had been of the 15th and 16th. The cantata for more than
one voice forms a little chamber music opera without any acting. Some of
the best known cantata writers were Ferrari, Carissimi, Rossi,
Gasparini, Marcello, and Alessandro Scarlatti. At the age of seventy,
Monteverde took up this new style of composition with all the enthusiasm
and freshness of a young composer! He was not the inventor of the
_cantata da camera_, as is so often claimed for him, as no one man was
its inventor. It was the result of the constant search of the composers
of that day, who followed along the same path, and worked together to
perfect a new form.
NEW FEELINGS EXPRESSED
One of Monteverde’s most important works in this style is the _Combat of
Tancredi and Clorinda (Combattimento di Tancredi e di Clorinda)_ a poem
by Tasso, which is noteworthy for several new things. In the preface of
the published edition, Monteverde says that he had long tried to invent
a style _concitato_, or agitated, that he had been struck by the fact
that musicians had never tried to express anger or the fury of battle,
but had expressed only tenderness and sweetness, sadness or gayety.
(Perhaps he did not know Jannequin’s _Battle of Marignan_.) So he wrote
battle music.
The second innovation was the tremolo, which, however familiar to us
today, he used for the first time to express agitation, anger and fear,
and the musicians were so surprised to see something that they had never
seen before, that they refused to play it! This was neither the first
nor the last time that musicians balked at something new.
The third innovation was that he wrote independent parts for the
orchestra, and for the first time the instruments did not “copy” the
voice, but had notes all to themselves to play.
In 1630 there was a terrible epidemic in Venice, the “Black Plague”
which lasted a year and took off one-third of her population! In
gratitude for having been spared, Monteverde became a priest in the
Church. This did not seem to interfere with his composing secular works,
for after this, he wrote several operas.
Venice was the home of the first public opera house in the world! It was
opened (1637) in the San Cassiano theatre by Benedetto Ferrari and
Francesco Manelli, and for this in these last years of his life,
Monteverde wrote some of his most important operas. Monteverde’s operas
of this time were a combination of the Roman _opera-cantate_, then in
style, and his first operas, _Orfeo_ and _Arianna_, written thirty-five
years before. He had great enough genius to fit his work to the
conditions that he found in the opera house, so that when they had to
reduce expenses, Monteverde cut down the size of his orchestra to just a
clavichord, a few theorbos, a bass viol and a few violins and viols, and
wrote works without choruses! He was agreeable, wasn’t he? A thing which
people of “near” greatness rarely are!
The last work he composed at the age of 74 is one of his best! Is it not
wonderful to think that he had not lost inspiration and enthusiasm after
a long life of hard work? The Italian name for his last opera is
_Incoronazione di Poppea_, or the “Coronation of Poppea.” It is a story
of the court of Nero, and Monteverde has sketched his characters in
vivid music, and has made them seem true to life. Henry Prunières, who
has made an earnest study of Monteverde says in his book, _Monteverde_,
“Monteverde saw Imperial Rome with eyes of genius and knew how to make
it live again for us. No book, no historical account could picture Nero
and Poppea as vigorously as this opera.” It is the greatest opera of the
17th century, and actually created the school of Italian grand opera.
With it, mythological characters gave way to the historical in opera,
which enlarged the field of drama with music.
So Monteverde, the great innovator, died in Venice in 1643 and was given
by the citizens of Venice a funeral worthy of his greatness.
He dug new paths on which all modern composers travel and throughout his
life he followed his ideal, which was to translate into the language of
music, human feelings and ideas.
[Illustration:
_After a painting by Molenaer in the Rijks Museum, Amsterdam._
_A Lady at the Clavier (Clavichord)._
]
[Illustration:
_After the painting by Terborch._
_A Lady Playing the Theorbo (luth)._
]
CHAPTER XIV
Musicke in Merrie England
You will recall how far away England was in the 16th century from Rome,
the Pope, and the other nations. Not that it has been pushed any nearer
now, but the radio, the aeroplane and the steamship have made it seem
closer. In the 16th century it took a long time to reach the people of
the continent, and for this reason England seemed to many to have little
musical influence, but in reality it had much for it was forced to
develop what it found at home.
About 1420, John Dunstable wrote beautiful motets, canzonas and other
secular music in the contrapuntal style of his period. He is supposed to
have held a post in the Chapel Royal, founded during the reign of Henry
IV, and to have taken part in the musical services held to celebrate
Henry’s victories in France.
Then came the War of the Roses between the Houses of York and Lancaster,
and musical composition in England was checked for the sake of
war-making. Yet, the Chapel Royal was maintained and the universities
gave degrees to students of music. Judging from the number of singing
guilds and cathedral choirs, and from the amount of singing and organ
playing, music, even in spite of war, seemed to have its innings.
In the 16th century England made such strides forward that she holds a
high place in the growth of music. England loved the keyboard
instruments such as the virginal, and in this century, developed her own
way of making a delightful combination of polyphony and harmony with the
new music for the Protestant Church service.
BLUFF PRINCE HAL
Right here came the Reformation of the English Church under Henry VIII
of the six wives. In 1535 he wanted to divorce his first wife, Catherine
of Aragon, to marry Anne Boleyn, her lady in waiting, which the Pope
would not permit him to do, as the Roman Catholic Church prohibits
divorce. So, like Germany and Switzerland, England cut herself off from
the Pope and founded the English or Anglican Church with the King as its
head. You can imagine the excitement this caused, can’t you? People lost
their heads in very truth, for what they thought right and religious,
some of the rulers called sacrilegious and heretical.
Breaking away from the Church of Rome gave English music a great push
forward, for, the Mass (the musical setting of the main part of the
service), the motet (the particular lines of the particular day) and the
plain song (which ministers intoned), were discontinued, and for these
were substituted, after Henry VIII’s reign, the Church “Services”
founded on the Elizabethan Prayer book. On this book, still in use, the
new music was written and included such compositions as would fit this
Liturgy (prayers), the Litany, Creed, Psalms, Canticles (line verses),
and the Communion, the Plain Song, Versicles and Responses. Then, too,
came hymn tunes and anthems. Among the composers of these in the
Elizabethan reign were John Shepherd, John Marbeck, Robert Whyte,
Richard Farrant, William Byrd and John Bull.
But let us go back to Bluff Prince Hal (Henry VIII), who was good to
music. Not only did he love it, but he played and composed himself. One
of his pieces is called _The King’s Balade_, or _Passetyme with Goode
Companie_ and the pastimes of this monarch were many. Read this list,
set down by one who knew him: “He spent his time in shooting, singing,
dancing, wrestling, casting of the bar, playing at the recorders (a reed
instrument), flute, virginals (the English spinet) in setting songs and
making ballads.” So with eating and sleeping and attending to affairs of
state and to his many wives as they came along, he must have had plenty
to do! How many kings and governors today write music as a “passetyme”?
In 1526 he had a band of players, says Edmundstoune Duncan in his _Story
of Minstrelsy_, “composed of fifteen trumpets, three lutes, three
rebecks, one harp, two viols, ten sackbuts, a fife, and four
drumslades”; a few years later a trumpet, a lute, three minstrels, and a
player of the virginals were added. (A rebeck is an early form of
violin; a sackbut is a reed instrument with a sliding piece such as we
have today in the trombone; the drumslade is an old word for drum.)
Anne Boleyn, second of King Henry’s many wives, loved music and dancing,
and she too tried her hand at composing, to which fact her _O death,
rocke me on slepe_ is proof. It is said that “she doated on the
compositions of Josquin and Mouton,” and that she made collections of
them for herself and her companions.
Up to this time there was no English Bible and only Latin and Greek
versions were used. The Church did not consider it proper for the common
people to read the Scriptures. The Priests wanted to read and interpret
it to them instead. You remember, too, one of the reasons that the
Reformation took place in Germany was because Luther wanted to let the
people think for themselves, read their Bible, and choose their own ways
of worshipping and interpreting it. The same feeling crept into England,
and William Tyndale made the first English Translation of the New
Testament (1538). Soon the Psalms were translated and set to music to
any air from a jig to a French dance tune! The gayer the air the more
popular the Psalm!
CHAINED LIBRARIES
Because the Protestants did not want anything left that had been part of
the old religion in England, a rather dreadful thing happened. The
monasteries were either destroyed or their libraries and organizations
were discontinued. On account of this, many fine manuscripts of music
and poetry were lost, for as you know, the monks copied out, with much
effort, the literature of their day, and these painstaking glorious bits
of hand work were kept in the monasteries.
There are today four chained libraries in England, two of which are at
Hereford, the old city that holds yearly musical festivals of the “Three
Choirs.” The books are on the old chains and may be taken down and read
on the desk below the shelves, as they were hundreds of years ago! Here
they are, in the cloisters, a great collection of treasures beyond
price, just as the medieval scholars read them in days when books were
the costliest of luxuries, three hundred volumes dating back to the 12th
century. The earliest manuscript is the _Anglo Saxon Gospels_ which was
written about 800 A.D. One of the greatest treasures is a Breviary
(prayer book) with music (1280)—the plain-song notation as clear and as
easy to read as modern print.
As something had to take the place of monasteries, the universities
became the centers for study and the cultivation of music. As far back
as 866, King Alfred founded the first chair of music at Oxford! Do you
remember that this was the time of the bards and minstrels? We do not
seem very old in America, when we think of a college with a chair of
music eleven hundred years ago!
Before the printers were expelled from England, Wynken de Worde, printed
the first song book (1530) which contained pieces by men important at
the time: Cornyshe, Pygot, Gwinneth, Robert Jones, Dr. Cooper, and
Fayrfax.
MUSIC FOR THE NEW CHURCH
As the kingdom changed its king at the death of each monarch, the
country swayed from Catholicism to Protestantism and back again, and
many a poet and musician lost his head or was burnt at the stake because
he wrote for the Protestant Church. In the case of Marbeck who had made
music for the _Book of Common Prayer_, he just escaped death for the
crime of writing a _Bible_ concordance (an index)!
Before Wynken de Worde’s song book came out, William Caxton, the great
printer, published a book called _Polychronicon_ by Higden. In this, was
an account of Pythagoras and his discovery of tone relations (Chapter
IV); this proves the great interest in England for the science, as well
as the art, of music.
In Frederick J. Crowest’s book, _The Story of the Art of Music_, he
tells very simply the state of music in England at this time:
“When the adventurous Henry VIII plunged into and consummated
(completed) the reformation scheme, it was at the expense of
considerable inconvenience to musicians obliged, perforce, to change
their musical manners as well as their faith. In double quick time the
old ecclesiastical (church) music had to be cast aside, and new church
music substituted.... This meant pangs and hardships to the musicians,
possibly not too industrious, accustomed to the old state of things.
Simplicity, too, was the order, a change that must have made musicians
shudder when they, like others before them, from the time of Okeghem,
had regarded the Mass as the natural and orthodox (correct) vehicle for
the display of the contrapuntal miracles they wrought.”
Now the Mass became the “Service,” and the motet was turned into the
“Anthem,” which we still use in our churches. Most of the famous
composers of the 16th and 17th centuries in England wrote for the new
Anglican or Protestant Church, and made the new music lovely indeed.
Many of them were organists or singers in the Chapel Royal, so they had
been well prepared for their work.
To make this new music different from the old, the writers were ordered
to fit every syllable with a chord (in the harmonic style). In the old
counterpoint, of course, the words were somewhat blurred. These
experiments with chords did much to free music for all time.
One of the earliest of the church composers is Thomas Tallis (about
1520–1585), a “Gentleman of the Chapel Royal” and father of English
cathedral music. Through his long career, Tallis followed the different
religions of the rulers from Henry VIII to Elizabeth, writing Catholic
music or Protestant as was needed. You see he liked his head, so he
changed his music with each new monarch. He, like some of the composers
of the Netherlands school, wrote a motet for forty voices.
He shared with his pupil, William Byrd, the post of organist of the
Chapel Royal, and together they opened a shop “to print and sell music,
also to rule, print and sell music paper for twenty-one years” under a
patent granted by Queen Elizabeth to them only. How successful the two
composers were in the publishing business is not stated, but at least
they could publish as many of their own works as they cared to! After
Tallis’ death, in 1585, for a while Byrd ran the shop alone, and
published a collection of _Psalms, Sonets, and Songs of Sadness and
Pietie_. In this was written “Eight reasons briefly set down by the
Author (Byrd) to persuade every one to learn to sing” to which he added:
Since singing is so goode a thing
I wish all men would learne to sing.
FAMOUS OLD MUSIC COLLECTIONS
England was the land of famous music collections in the 16th and 17th
centuries. The first of these by Byrd was a book of Italian Madrigals
with English words, _Musica Transalpina_, (Music from across the Alps).
The entire title was (Don’t laugh!): “_Musica Transalpina_; Madrigals
translated of foure, five, and sixe parts, chosen out of diuers
excellent Authors, with the first and second part of _La Virginella_,
made by Maister Byrd vpon two Stanz’s of Ariosto and brought to speak
English with the rest. Published by N. Yonge, in fauer of such as take
pleasure in Musick of voices. Imprinted at London by Thomas Easy, the
assigne of William Byrd, 1588. _Cum Privilegio Regise Maiestatis_ (With
permission of her Royal Majesty).” A long title and one that would not
make a book a “bestseller” today! Do notice how they mixed u’s and v’s
and put in e’s where you least expect them!
There were fifty-seven madrigals in the long titled collection including
the two by “Maister Byrd”; the others were by the Italian and Netherland
madrigal writers, such as Palestrina, Orlandus Lassus and Ferabosco, a
composer of masques and madrigals, who lived for years in England.
Byrd’s compositions in this work mark the beginning of the great English
school of madrigals, which were so lovely that this period (1560 to
1650) was called the “Golden Age.”
THE GOLDEN AGE OF MADRIGALS
Now the madrigal becomes the great English contribution to music. It was
a part-song in free contrapuntal style and the music was made to fit the
words. For the first time, secular music was held in great honor, and
prepared the way for arias, dramatic solos and original melodies.
After Byrd and Edwards, came other madrigal writers: Thomas Morley, John
Dowland, George Kirby, Thomas Ford, Thomas Ravenscroft, Orlando Gibbons
and others.
While the madrigal was being written in England and elsewhere, the
part-song was being written in Germany. It was the companion of the
chorale, as the madrigal was the secular partner of the motet. The
chorale was written for part singing, had a continuous melody and the
same air was used for all stanzas. In this the church modes were never
used, yet, it is baffling sometimes to tell a madrigal from a part-song.
In Italy the _villanella_, or _villota_ is a part-song. In France it was
the _chanson_, in England it was the madrigal or the _glee_.
“THE TRIUMPHS OF ORIANA”
Monarchs, besides ruling the country, inspired poets and composers from
earliest times, and Queen Elizabeth was no exception. _The Triumphs of
Oriana_ is a collection of madrigals by many English composers in praise
of Queen Elizabeth, made by Thomas Morley. Because William Byrd does not
appear in it, it looks as if this collection had been published to show
Byrd that the English could write good madrigals, too. Anyhow, it
definitely proves that the English madrigals are as charming as the
French, Italian or Flemish. There is a copy of the original edition in
the British Museum.
MAISTER BYRD GIVES ADVICE
In 1611, an important work of Byrd’s appeared called _Psalms, Songs and
Sonets: some solemne, others joyfull, framed to the life of the words:
Fit for Voyces or Viols_. In the dedication, the composer gives this
good advice: “Onely this I desire; that you will be but as carefull to
heare them well expressed, as I have beene both in the composing and
correcting of them. Otherwise the best Song that euer was made will
seeme harsh and vnpleasant.... Besides a song that is well and
artificially made cannot be well perceived nor vnderstood at the first
hearing, but the oftner you shall heare it, the better cause of liking
it you will discouer; and commonly the Song is best esteemed with which
our eares are best acquainted.”
Over the door of the music hall in Oxford University, is a canon (or
round) for three voices, said to have been written by William Byrd. Some
day, if you have not already seen it, you will have the thrilling
experience of visiting the venerable college, and you may remember to
look for this canon.
LADIES OF THE REALM PLAY VIRGINALS
As today we consider no home complete without a piano (or pianoforte
which is its real name), so in the 16th and 17th centuries we would have
found a little key board instrument so small that it could easily be
swallowed whole by one of our grand pianos, and you would never know
where it had disappeared! It was known by several names,—spinet,
clavecin, and virginal or virginals. Another instrument belonging to the
same family and period is the harpsichord, which is more like our grand
piano in shape. But later we will tell you more of the pianoforte’s
family tree, and of its tiny but important grand-parent.
It was quite the proper thing for all the ladies of the realm to play
the virginals, and the Queens, Mary, Elizabeth, and Mary, Queen of
Scots, were excellent performers.
The very first music printed for the virginals in England was called
_Parthenia_ (from the Greek word Parthenos, meaning unmarried woman or
virgin). The printed title also tells us that it was “composed by three
famous masters, William Byrd, Dr. John Bull and Orlando Gibbons
Gentilmen of his Majesties most illustrious Chappell.” There are
twenty-one pieces from the old dances which formed the Suites, of which
you will soon hear,—Preludiums, Pavanes, Galiardes, a Fantasia, and one
_The Queene’s Command_. It was published in 1611, on staves of six
lines, instead of five, as we use, and it was the first musical work
engraved on copper plates!
MORE FAMOUS COLLECTIONS
Another most valuable collection was for many years called _Queen
Elizabeth’s Virginal Book_, but is now the _Fitzwilliam Virginal Book_,
and the original manuscript is in the Fitzwilliam museum at Cambridge.
It was supposed to have been “Good Queen Bess’” book, but it was not, as
some of its compositions were composed after her death. It is not known
who copied 220 pages of music, but it may have been a wealthy Roman
Catholic, Francis Tregian, who spent twenty-four years in prison on
account of his religious faith. This name, abbreviated or in initials,
is found in several places in the manuscript. An edition in our notation
has been made by J. A. Fuller Maitland and W. Barclay Squire. Many of
the old songs of English minstrelsy are found among the numbers, and
they were arranged for the instrument by the famous composers of that
day. There are also original compositions as well as “ayres” and
variations. Among the composers we find Dr. John Bull, Thomas Morley,
William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, Giles Farnaby, Richard Farnaby, Thomas
Tallis, Jan Sweelinck, the Dutch organist, and many others. Here are
some of the quaint titles: _St. Thomas’ Wake_, _King’s Hunt_, _The
Carman’s Whistle_, _The Hunt’s Up_, _Sellonger’s Round_, _Fortune My
Foe_, _Pawles Warfe_, _Go from My Window_, _Bonny Sweet Robin_, besides
many Pavanes, Galiardes, Fantasias, and Preludiums.
There is also a collection of Byrd’s virginal music called _My Lady
Nevell’s Booke_. Lady Nevell may have been a pupil of Byrd. There are
two collections of this same kind at Buckingham Palace, the home of the
King of England,—_Will Forster’s Virginal Book_ and _Benjamin Cosyn’s
Virginal Book_. In the index of the latter, we read: “A table of these
Lessons following made and sett forth by Ben Cos.” In all, he copied
more than 90 compositions!
Later came John Playford, music publisher, whose first musical
publication, _The English Dancing-Master_ (1650), contains almost a
hundred old folk tunes. _Select Musical Ayres_ appeared three years
later, and is a typical 17th century song collection of first-class
poems by Jonson, Dryden and others set to music by well-known composers.
His book on the theory of music, used for almost a century, contained
“lessons” for the viol, the cithern and flageolet. His _Dancing Master_,
a collection of airs for violin for country dances, has brought to us
many popular ballad tunes and dance airs of the period.
In these collections we often find the names _Fancies_, _Fantazia_, or
_Fantasies_, a type of composition that grew out of the madrigal and led
to the sonata. It was the name given to the first compositions for
instruments alone like the _ricercari_ of the Italians, which were
original compositions and not written on a given subject (called in
England “ground”), or on a folk song. The _Fancies_ were sometimes
written for the virginal, and sometimes for groups of instruments such
as a “chest of viols” or even five cornets(!).
THE CHEST OF VIOLS
“Chest of Viols” may sound queer to you, but it isn’t! It was the custom
in England at that time for people to have collections of instruments in
or out of chests. So, when callers came they could play the viol,
instead, probably of bridge! You can read about these interesting old
days in Samuel Pepys’ _Diary_. He played the lute, the viol, the
theorbo, the flageolet, the recorder (a kind of flute) and the virginal,
and he was the proud owner of a chest of viols. He always carried his
little flageolet with him in his pocket, and he says that while he was
waiting in a tavern for a dish of poached eggs, he played his flageolet,
also that he remained in the garden late playing the flageolet in the
moonlight. (Poetic Pepys!)
Thomas Morley, Byrd’s pupil, who was made a partner in the publishing
house after Tallis’s death, wrote his madrigals for virginal, and a
collection called _First Book of Consort Lessons for Six Instruments,
Lute, Pandora, Cittern_ (an old English form of guitar), _Bass Viol,
Flute, and Treble Viol_, and much sacred music. He also wrote a _Plaine
and Easie Introduction to Practical Musick_, a book of great value and
interest to musicians for the last three centuries, for it is a mirror
of his time and of his fellow composers.
He tells of a gentleman, who, after dinner, was asked by his hostess to
sing from the music she gave him. It was the custom in England to bring
out the music books after dinner and for the guests to play and sing, as
we wind up our graphophones and switch on the radio. The gentleman
stammeringly declared that he could not sing at sight and “everyone
began to wonder; yea, some whispered to others, demanding how he was
brought up.” He was so ashamed of his ignorance that he immediately took
music lessons to remedy his woeful lack of culture. This proves that
musical education was not looked upon as a luxury but a necessity in the
17th century.
Truly, it was a musical era, this time of Morley and Byrd! Fancy
playing, while waiting for the barber, the viol, flute, lute, cittern,
or virginal left for that purpose. Yet what would our dentist do today
if he had to listen to a saxophone and jazz chorus from his waiting
room? In those days, too, there was always a bass viol left in a
drawing-room for the guest, to pass the time, waiting for the host to
appear. Think of all the practising you could do waiting for the busy
dentist or eternally late hostess!
The children of people who were poor, were taught music to make them fit
to be “servants, apprentices or husbandmen.” Laneham, a groom who had
been brought up in the royal stable, was advanced to the post of
guarding the door of the council chamber and this is how he described
his qualifications for the job: “Sometimes I foot it with dancing; now
with my gittern, and else my cittern, then at the virginals (ye know
nothing comes amiss to me); then carol I up a song withal; that
by-and-by they come flocking about me like bees to honey; and ever they
cry, ‘Another, good Laneham, another!’” (From _The Story of Minstrelsy_
by Edmundstoune Duncan.)
SHAKESPEARE AND MUSIC
This was the day in which Shakespeare lived, and from his plays we get a
very good idea of the popular music of his time, for he used bits of
folk songs and old ballads. _It was a Lover and his Lass_ from _As You
Like It_ was set to music by Thomas Morley, and is one of the few songs
written to Shakespeare’s words in his own day that has come down to us.
In _Twelfth Night_ there is _O Mistress Mine_, _Hold thy Peace_,
_Peg-a-Ramsey_, _O, London is a Fine Town_, _Three Merry Men be We_, and
the Clown’s song:
Hey! Robin, jolly Robin,
Tell me how thy lady does, etc.
In the _Winter’s Tale_, _As You Like It_, _The Tempest_, _Merchant of
Venice_, _Hamlet_, _Othello_ are folk songs that are very well known and
loved. Two songs from _The Tempest_, _Where the Bee Sucks_ and _Full
Fathoms Five_, were set to music by a composer, Robert Johnson, who
lived at the same time as Shakespeare, but was not as famous as Morley,
who also lived then. _O, Willow, Willow_, sung by Desdemona in _Othello_
is one of the most beautiful and saddest folk songs we know.
One Shakespeare song has been made famous by the beautiful music which
the great German song writer, Schubert, wrote to it. It is from _Two
Gentlemen of Verona_ and is called _Who is Sylvia?_
Many of the English composers of the 17th and 18th centuries such as
Henry Purcell and Dr. Arne made music for the Shakespeare songs because
they were so lovely and so well written that they almost sang
themselves; this we call lyric verse.
Thomas Weelkes (1575?–1623) whose madrigals were included in _The
Triumphs of Oriana_, also wrote many _Fancies for Strings_ which were
the ancestors of the string quartets, the highest type of music.
CRYES OF LONDON
Several composers of this period, Thomas Weelkes, Orlando Gibbons
(1583–1625) and Richard Deering (1580?–1630) wrote pieces using the old
“Cryes of London” as their themes. Each trade had its own song, and the
street pedlars used these tunes just as the fruit vendors, old-clothes
men, and flower vendors cry their wares in our streets today. There is
this difference, however; the street cries of today are mere noise,
while the old “Cryes of London” were interesting and usually beautiful
songs. _Cherry Ripe_ is one of them, and Campion used it in 1617 in his
famous old song, _There is a Garden in Her Face_. Some of the composers
made rounds and catches based on the “Cryes,” and Weelkes in his
_Humorous Fancy_ used the songs of the chimney-sweep, the
bellows-mender, and the vendors of fruit, fish and vegetables. In
telling about this “fancy,” Frederick Bridge, a British composer and
professor of music in Gresham College, says: “The Fancy at one point
leaves its regular course, and for a few bars a delightful dance tune is
introduced, to the words, whatever they mean, ‘Twincledowne Tavye.’ It
is as if the vendors of fish, fruit and vegetables met in the street and
had a bit of a frolic together.” Bridge also says that he thinks all
lovers of Shakespeare will be glad to make the acquaintance of the music
of the “Cryes of London” which saluted the poet’s ears in his daily
walk.
Orlando Gibbons called his composition on the “cryes,” a _Burlesque
Madrigal_, and beside the cries, he has used in one of the inner parts
for viol, an old plain-song melody, a form used very often by the
Italian madrigalists of the 16th century. Richard Deering’s _Humorous
Fancy_, _The Cryes of London_, is the most elaborate of the three we
have mentioned, having among many other tradesmen’s songs, those of the
rat-catcher (this makes us think of Browning’s _Pied Piper of Hamelin_),
the tooth-drawer, and the vendor of garlic.
SOME FAMOUS COMPOSERS
Orlando Gibbons was one of the composers of _Parthenia_. But he is
famous as a composer of sacred music, in fact, he is looked upon as the
greatest composer of the English contrapuntal school. His anthems are
still sung in the English Cathedrals, and one of them made for James I,
was sung, in part, at the coronations of both Edward VII and George V,
and is now called the _Abbey Amen_.
Gibbons, Byrd and Bull were very fine organists. Gibbons was organist of
Westminster Abbey, and we are told by a writer of his own day that “the
organ was touched by the best finger of that age, Mr. Orlando Gibbons.”
Dr. John Bull (1563–1628) was brought up, as were many of the young
English musicians, as one of the “Children of the Chapel Royal Choir.”
Later he became organist and player to King James I. Bull left England,
entered the service of a Belgian archduke, was organist at the Antwerp
Cathedral, and when he died in 1628, he was buried there. In the
University of Oxford, where Bull took his degree as Doctor of Music, is
his portrait around which is written:
The Bull by force in field doth rayne
But Bull by skill good-will doth gaine.
John Milton, father of the great poet, was an important composer of this
period. It is well known that his famous son was very fond of music, was
a good musician himself, and had many friends among these composers and
musicians.
The music for Milton’s famous Masque, _Comus_, was written by Henry
Lawes (1595–1662) and was first produced in 1635. Lawes studied with an
English composer named John Cooper who lived for so many years in Italy,
that his name was translated into Giovanni Coperario. He turned the
thoughts of his pupil to composing music for the stage, instead of
church music. It looks as if Milton had been a pupil of Lawes, and had
written _Comus_ specially for him.
Lawes played a very amusing joke upon the concert-goers. At that time,
as now, many thought that the music of other countries, and songs in
foreign languages were better than their own. While Lawes himself knew
the Italian music very well, he was eager to compose music that should
be truly English. In the preface to his _Book of Ayres_ he confessed:
“This present generation is so sated with what’s native, that nothing
takes their ears but what’s sung in a language which (commonly) they
understand as little as they do the music. And to make them a little
sensible of this ridiculous humor, I took a Table or Index of old
Italian Songs and this _Index_ (_which read together made a strange
medley of nonsense_) _I set to a varyed Ayre, and gave out that it came
from Italy, whereby it has passed for a rare Italian song_.” (Quoted
from Bridge’s _Twelve Good Musicians_.)
Lawes helped to compose a work that is looked upon as the first English
opera, _The Siege of Rhodes_. This was played during the time of Oliver
Cromwell and the Commonwealth, and in this piece for the first time in
England, women appeared upon the stage.
A year after the Commonwealth was overthrown, Henry Lawes died and was
buried in Westminster Abbey, but the spot where his body lies is not
known.
From 1641 to 1660, music must have had a hard time for this was the
period of the Commonwealth, when the country was going through all the
horrors of civil war, and Cromwell’s soldiers destroyed many things of
great artistic value, that could never be replaced. Among them were the
works of art found in the wonderful old English cathedrals, including
organs and musical manuscripts. At Westminster Abbey, the Roundheads
(the name given to Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers) “brake down the organs
for pots of ale.”
Matthew Locke (1630?–1677) is looked upon as the “Father of English
Opera.” He wrote the music for _Psyche_ and _The Tempest_ (1673).
Another Shakespeare play to which Locke wrote the music was _Macbeth_.
CAPTAIN COOKE’S CHOIR BOYS
Immediately after the Restoration, the Chapel Royal Choir was
reorganized. For centuries it had been the great school of music for the
sons of both rich and poor, and had produced nearly all the English
musicians. Captain Henry Cooke, the first chapel master of the new
choir, seems to have picked out unusually gifted children, some of whom
wrote anthems while they were still in the Choir, and afterwards became
very famous composers, among them John Blow, Pelham Humphrey and the
great Henry Purcell. The Captain evidently knew how to train his boys!
Pelham Humphrey, having attracted the attention of the King, was sent to
Paris to study with the famous opera composer, Lully. The effect of this
study was felt in English music, as Humphrey was Purcell’s master at the
Chapel Royal, after the death of the good Captain Cooke, and he
introduced his new ideas to his talented little choir boys and musical
friends. Samuel Pepys says that the visit to Paris made a snob of
“little” Pelham Humphrey: “He is an absolute _Monsieur_, full of form
and confidence and vanity, and disparages everything and everybody’s
skill but his own. But to hear how he laughs at all the King’s Musick
here, ... that they cannot keep time nor tune nor understand anything.”
Dr. John Blow (1648–1708) composed Anthems while still a choir boy, and
at twenty-one was organist of Westminster Abbey. In 1674 he was Master
of the Children of the Chapel Royal, and became its organist as well,
without giving up his post at Westminster. During part of the time
Purcell was at Westminster, and Blow was Almoner and Master of the
choristers in St. Paul’s Cathedral. Think of filling three of the
greatest positions in musical London at the same time! He wrote an
Anthem, _I was Glad_, for the opening of St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1697.
He wrote many church compositions, masques, and pieces for harpsichord.
Purcell called him “one of the greatest masters in the world.” Like
Monteverde, he tried out new effects in harmony and made new
combinations which have since been called “crude,” but were signs of a
musical daring and understanding that belong only to very gifted
musicians.
He died in 1708 and is buried in Westminster Abbey.
MAISTER PURCELL
The last of the great 17th century English composers, and the greatest
of them all, is Henry Purcell (1658–1695). His father was a well-known
musician, and the uncle, who brought him up, was also a musician, so the
young boy heard much music in his own home, and no doubt knew many
composers.
Sir Frederick Bridge in _Twelve Good Musicians_ tells us that the
Purcell family came from Tipperary in Ireland and that Henry’s father
and uncle were Gentlemen in the Chapel Royal in London. Henry began his
music studies at the age of six, for he, too, was one of “Captain
Cooke’s boys,” and when he was twelve years old, “Maister Purcell” wrote
a composition in honor of “His Majestie’s Birthday.”
The young Purcell, sometimes called the “English Mozart,” gained much
from Pelham Humphrey who told him of Lully in France. After Humphrey’s
early death (he was only twenty-seven), Purcell studied with Dr. Blow,
and the two musicians were devoted comrades. Their tombs lie close
together near the old entrance of the organ loft, where they must have
spent many hours of their lives.
Matthew Locke was also a friend of Purcell’s, and probably did much to
interest the young composer in the drama, for in spite of his early
church training, Purcell’s greatest offering to English music was his
opera writing. While Purcell’s are not operas in our sense of the word,
they are the nearest thing to them that England had, before the Italians
came with theirs in the 18th century. He wrote music to masques and
plays, several of which were even called operas, yet only one really was
an opera. Purcell’s music “was so far in advance of anything of the sort
known in any part of Europe in his day, in point of dramatic and musical
freedom and scenic quality, that one can only regret his early death’s
preventing his taking to opera writing on a larger scale.” (W. F.
Apthorp.) Among the things he put to music were the plays of Dryden and
of Beaumont and Fletcher.
Purcell was one of the first English composers to use Italian musical
terms, like _adagio_, _presto_, _largo_, etc. He was also one of the
first composers to write compositions of three or four movements for two
violins, ’cello and basso continuo, a part written for harpsichord or
sometimes organ as an accompaniment to the other instruments. The name
of this style of composition also came from the Italian, and was called
_Sonata_. The first sonatas were composed by Italians. The word Sonata
comes from an Italian word _suonare_ which means to sound, and was first
given to works for instruments. Another form of composition is the
Cantata, from _cantare_ which means to sing. It is a vocal composition
with accompaniment of instruments, a direct descendant of the motet and
madrigal, and of the early oratorios.
The Toccata, too, comes from the Italian _toccare_, meaning to touch,
and was originally a work for instruments with keyboards. The Italian
language gave us our musical names and terms, because Italian music was
the model of what good music should be, and England, France and Germany
copied Italian ways of composing. Everyone uses the Italian terms for
musical expressions so that all nationalities can understand them.
When Purcell was only 17 years old, he composed an opera to be played by
young ladies in a boarding school. This was _Dido and Æneas_, and it is
so good that few writers on musical subjects believe that it was written
in his youth.
In every branch of composition in which Purcell wrote, he excelled. His
church music is the finest of his day, his chamber music and his operas
are looked upon as works of genius. In fact, he is still considered the
most gifted of all English composers.
He was only 37 when he died, and was a very great loss to the growth of
English music.
Music Comes of Age
CHAPTER XV
Dance Tunes Grow Up—Suites—Violin Makers of Cremona
In our range of musical mountains, we see just ahead of us one of the
mightiest giants of them all, Johann Sebastian Bach, dwarfing everything
around it and we must resist the temptation of skipping all the smaller
mountains, for there is no musical aeroplane by means of which we can
fly across and land safely on Mt. Bach. This grand old mountain, Bach,
is such a tremendous landmark in the growth of music, that when we reach
it we realize that everything that we have passed has been a journey of
preparation. Bach is not the only peak, for there are Mozart, Haydn,
Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Wagner and others who stand out
against the musical horizon.
Before coming to Bach, however, we must bridge over the time when music
was still in its youth in the 16th and 17th centuries, to when it became
full grown and mature in the 18th. Music has now come of age: it has
perfected scales, notation, and developed form and instruments; it is
ready to go into the world and take its place with painting, sculpture,
poetry, drama and architecture as a full grown art!
Nothing through which music has passed has been lost, but it has been
built like the great Egyptian Pyramids by adding one huge block on top
of another. It has gone from the noise of primitive man with his drum,
to the attempts of the savage to sing and to make crude instruments, to
the music of the ancient nations in their religious ceremonies and
entertainments, to the Arab singer who handed his art to the western
world through the troubadours, to the people of all times and nations
who danced and sang for the joy of it. It passed from the Greek drama
and music schools where definite scales and modes were formed, to the
early Christian Church which kept it alive during the Dark Ages and
gradually invented ways to write it, and later to the “Golden Age” of
the Catholic Church. It had seen the rise of schools and the perfection
of the polyphonic system give way to the recitative and the aria, which
in turn brought about opera, oratorio, and instrumental music. It has
seen counterpoint give way to harmony, and yet the growth of music is
not complete and never will be, but constantly new forms will blossom
out of the old.
The 15th and 16th centuries were vocal. The 17th was instrumental and
opened the way for so-called modern music, that is, for Bach’s
compositions and all that followed.
BIRTH OF CHAMBER MUSIC
Gabrieli in the 16th century in Venice, sometimes wrote madrigals for
instruments instead of for voices, and he added instruments to accompany
the motets and masses (page 157); this led to composing works for groups
of instruments instead of playing madrigals that had been composed for
voices. The English often wrote on their compositions, “fit for voices
and for viols.” After they once started playing the part songs on viols,
the composers soon found out that they could write more interesting and
more difficult things for instruments than they could for voices; this
led to the writing of very florid music for instruments alone. This
florid part-writing, not unlike the Gloss of the Arabs, and the
improvisations of the soloists in the early Catholic Church, soon became
so overloaded with trills, fancy turns and runs that it had to be
reformed again.
In the 17th century, the lute, the popular instrument of the court and
the home for so many years, even centuries, suddenly found its rival in
the little keyboard instrument called the _spinet_ and _virginal_ in
England, and the _clavecin_ in France. In Italy and France, as in
England, there were famous performers and composers for these
instruments, and many volumes of charming music were written for it.
DANCE TUNES GROW UP INTO SUITES
One of the first requirements of art works of all kinds is contrast. The
line and the curve are found in primitive art, light must have shadow,
one wing of a building must have another to balance it, and a slow
serious piece of music is usually followed by a gay one for contrast.
The Arabs understood this law of contrast, for in their ancient songs we
find the seed of a form that has been most important in the growth of
music. They made little suites by putting two, three, four or more songs
together; each song had its mode, and one would be slow and sad, and the
next fast and gay. The principal music of the 17th century was the
Suite, a group of pieces which had grown out of the old folk dances.
(Chapter IX.) The 17th century composers, like the Arabs, feeling the
need of contrast, strung several of these dances together to form the
Suite. So Suites were written for clavecins and harpsichords, for
violins alone and for organs, for groups of stringed instruments and
other chamber music combinations. Some of these dances were in duple
time, some in triple; some were slow and some were fast; some were
stately and some gay. The different pieces forming a suite, had to be
written in the same key. These suites were known by different names in
different countries, such as _partitas_, _exercises_, _lessons_, _sonate
da camera_, _ordres_. In England the name _suite_ was given to this
form, then the Germans adopted it, and later the great Bach wrote suites
which he also called _partitas_. In Italy, the suite was called _sonata
da camera_ (chamber sonata) and _sonata da chiesa_ (church sonata) and
out of all this have grown the very important sonata, symphony and
chamber music quartet, trio, quintet, etc.
Here are some of the dance forms used in the suite:
Allemande (duple time or measure: moderately slow), Sarabande (triple
time: slow, stately), Loure (duple time: slow), Gavotte (duple time:
moderately fast), Musette (duple time: moderately fast), Bourrée (duple
time: a little faster than the Gavotte), Minuet (triple time: moderately
fast), Passepied (triple time: a fast minuet), Rigaudon (duple time:
slower than the Bourrée), Tambourin (duple time: fast), Pavan (duple
time: rather slow), Courante, Corrente (triple time: fast), Chaconne
(triple time: moderately fast), Passacaglia (like Chaconne, but more
stately) and Gigue (sometimes duple and sometimes triple time: very
fast: almost always the last movement of a suite).
The Italians of the 17th century wrote suites, and Italy still held the
place as leading the world in musical composition, just as it had in the
15th and 16th. We find the names of Frescobaldi, Michelangelo Rossi,
Legrenzi, Bononcini, Giovanni Battista Vitali, Alessandro Scarlatti and
his son Domenico, and going over into the seventeen-hundreds, Niccolo
Porpora, Padre Martini, Paradies, and Baldassare Galuppi, whom we know
through Robert Browning’s poem, _A Toccata of Galuppi’s_. Most of these
names you will find on the concert programs of today.
“SERIOUS” SCARLATTI AND OPERA WRITERS
Alessandro Scarlatti (1659–1725) is one of the most important Italian
composers of the 17th century, and although he did not have great
success during his lifetime, his compositions have outlived those of
other writers, whose works were popular during his day. He was called
“serious Scarlatti,” and it was probably the very seriousness with which
he looked upon his work that made him write without seeking public
approval. Besides composing pieces for the spinet and harpsichord, and
symphonies, sonatas, suites and concertos for different instruments, he
wrote 125 operas, and over 500 cantatas, oratorios and church music. He
was one of several Italians who continued the work of the first opera
writers. Francesco Cavalli (1599–1676), Giacomo Carissimi (1603–1674),
Luigi Rossi, Marc Antonio Cesti (1628–1669), Francesco Provenzale
(1610–1704), Stradella (1645–1682), Caldara (1670–1736), Lotti
(1667–1740), Marcello (1686–1739), Leo (1694–1746), and others carried
the ideas of Scarlatti into the 18th century. Many of these carried
Italian opera into England, Germany and France, where it became the
model for _their_ opera.
Stradella is quite as famous for his romantic love story, as he is for
the operas he left. This made an interesting libretto in the 19th
century for a German opera writer, Flotow, who was also the composer of
the well-known opera _Martha_.
“LA SERVA PADRONA” POINTS THE WAY
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736), who died when he was only
twenty-six years old, was looked upon as a genius, and in his early
youth had written two works that were models for many that followed, a
_Stabat Mater_ and a comic opera, _La Serva Padrona_, which was played
recently in America under the title of _The Mistress Maid_. When this
little opera was performed in Paris (1752) it caused a very famous
musical quarrel known as the “war of the buffoons.” (Page 230.)
Jomelli (1714–1774), the composer of fifty-five operas, was a Neapolitan
but he lived in Germany for so many years, that he had more influence on
early German opera than on the Italian.
All the opera of this period, particularly the Italian, was very loosely
put together and was not opera as we have it today. Later Gluck brought
it to the point where it came of age.
METASTASIO—MAKER OF OPERA LIBRETTOS
These writers of the 18th century used the librettos of a poet and
dramatist, Metastasio (1698–1782), who had a strong influence in the
development of opera not only in his native Italy, but in other
countries. He supplied texts for 1200 operatic scores! He understood
music so well, that he was a great help to the composers who listened
with attention to his advice. His life covered practically all of the
18th century.
A CELEBRATED SINGING TEACHER AND COMPOSER
When you read of Haydn, you will see that he played accompaniments and
acted as valet to the eminent singing teacher Niccolo Porpora
(1686–1767). This famous Italian had many pupils in the opera houses all
over Europe, and was considered the greatest singing teacher in the
world. One of his pupils in Dresden was the young princess Marie
Antoinette before she became Queen of France. Porpora was a fine
composer, and wrote many operas, cantatas, masses, oratorios, and
sonatas of which form he was one of the inventors. Among his pupils were
Haydn, Marcello, Tartini, Leo, Galuppi, Padre Martini, Jomelli,
Pergolesi, Caffarelli and Farinelli. This list shows that he trained
composers as well as singers.
THE VIOLIN MAKERS OF CREMONA
Important changes, such as instrumental music coming into fashion, do
not happen without good reasons. We are so accustomed to the violin,
that we forget that there was a time when it did not exist, but until
about three centuries ago, there was none. We are always eager to have
new pianos, for the old ones wear out, but with violins the older they
are, the better! But they must be masterpieces to begin with. All the
famous violinists of the day like Kreisler, Elman, Heifetz, etc., have
marvelous old violins that cost fortunes, and most of them were made by
the violin makers of Cremona, a little town in northern Italy, the
birthplace of Monteverde.
The troubadours played the accompaniments to their songs on stringed
instruments called _violes_ or _vielles_, which were the grandparents of
the violins. In the 15th century bowed instruments were made similar in
range to the human voice; these were called _treble_ or _discant viol_,
_tenor viol_, _bass viol_ and the _double-bass_, and in England these
went into the “chest of viols” (Page 198). Many improvements were made
in the shape, size and tone of the instruments and by the middle of the
17th century the Italian makers were ready to create violins, perfect of
their kind, which have never been surpassed. The secret of the tone of
these instruments is said to be in the varnish which the Cremona makers
used, the recipe of which has been lost, but we met a violin maker
recently in Paris who had discovered it in an old Italian book, and he
has spent years in trying to reproduce it. The old Italian varnish and
the mellowing of the wood with time are two reasons why age makes the
old violins better.
For several centuries, practically all the lutes and the viols that
supplied Europe were made by colonies of instrument makers who lived in
Lombardy (North Italy) and the Tyrol (South Austria). Two towns in
Lombardy became especially famous for their violins, Brescia in which
Gaspara di Salo and Maggini lived, and Cremona which was the home of the
Amati, Stradivari and Guarneri families. In _The Orchestra and Its
Instruments_, Esther Singleton says: “It is thrilling to realize that in
this little town, in three workshops side by side, on the Piazza San
Domenico, all the great violins of the world were made and in friendly
competition by the three families.” This covered the period from 1560 to
1760. These men worked together with just one object in life,—to turn
out of their shops the most perfect instruments that could possibly be
made! With what care they selected the wood! How they worked to make the
tone of each instrument as beautiful as possible! Now you will know when
you hear of an Amati violin, or a Stradivarius, a Guanerius or a
Maggini, that they are worth their weight in gold and are among the
rarest art treasures of the world. These were not the only violin makers
in Lombardy, for there were long lists of them, and there were also many
in the Tyrol. One of the most famous of these was Stainer who lived at
Innsbruck. “It is said that this old maker used to walk through the
wooded slopes of the Tyrolean mountains with a hammer in his hand and
that he would knock the trunks of the trees and listen to the
vibrations. When he found a tree that suited him, he had it cut down to
use in making his instruments.” (Esther Singleton.)
These instrument makers made not only violins, but also lutes,
mandolins, guitars, violas, violoncellos, and double-basses. The
Italians were the first to develop the last two. The ’cello, as we call
the violoncello for short, was the child of an instrument named the
_viola da gamba_ (translated leg-viola because it was held against the
leg), which for many years was the most popular of all bowed
instruments. We do not find many examples of the instruments even in
museums for they were made over into ’cellos when the latter came into
fashion. There is one _viola da gamba_ in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, however, which was imported from France by the Sisterhood of the
General Hospital in Montreal before the conquest of Canada, and was used
in the convent choir many years before there were any organs and pianos
in the New World. The first ’cello to attract attention was made in 1691
by a famous wood carver and presented to the Duke of Modena. A member of
the Amati family in the 16th century was the first to turn the _viola da
gamba_ into a violoncello. The ’cello and the double-bass were made more
successfully by Bergonzi than by the Cremona makers, although Maggini,
Amati and Galiano made very fine ones.
The viola is a descendant of the _viola d’amore_. These and the later
violas, used in the string quartets, orchestras, and as solo
instruments, were made by a Tyrolese named Gaspard Duiffaprugcar in the
16th century. His instruments are marvelous works of art. In the back of
one is a riddle in Latin: can you guess the answer? “I was living in the
forest; the cruel axe killed me. Living, I was mute; dead, I sing
sweetly.” When madrigals and motets were first played on stringed
instruments, the principal melody was given to the tenor viol, the
ancestor of the viola, even today called the alto or the tenor, but
after the violin came into general use, the viola was treated like a
step-child, for it is too large for a violin and too small for a
violoncello. We have Mozart to thank for discovering that the viola had
something beautiful and important to say as a solo instrument especially
in passages where he needed a tender, sad or melancholy voice. You will
read later that Beethoven, too, loved the poor neglected viola. He,
Berlioz and Wagner used the instrument to great advantage.
In 1572 Pope Pius V sent Charles IX, King of France, a present of
thirty-eight bowed instruments made by the first Amati. During the
French Revolution, the mob broke into the palace at Versailles, and all
but two violins and a ’cello were destroyed! What a loss to art such
destruction was!
SHOWING OFF THE NEW INSTRUMENTS
With this development of exquisite instruments, came the desire to use
them and to write new compositions to show them off. These instruments
gave unlimited possibilities for technic and tone, and created the
school of Italian violinists and composers of the 17th and 18th
centuries. If polyphonic music had still been in the lead, the
development of solo instruments would have been impossible, but in
trying to find new forms, the first opera inventors had broken the
backbone of polyphony, and had replaced it with monody, or single line
melody. Then, too, folk dances had taken the public fancy and had been
made into suites, which could be played on solo bowed instruments with
accompaniments, on spinets and organs, or on groups of instruments. The
_sonata da camera_ was really a suite of dances and was the first form
used by these new composers for violin. About the middle of the 17th
century, instrumental performances without any vocal music came to be a
part of the services of the Catholic Church for the priests were quick
to see in the violin playing, a refining influence. Here the _sonata da
camera_ or “room sonata” was turned into the more serious _sonata da
chiesa_ or “church sonata” gradually losing its dance character, and
thus became the seed of the sonata form of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Giovanni Battista Vitali (1644–1692) is the first great master of the
violin sonata; after him, Torelli (1657–1716) added a new and important
kind of violin composition,—the Concerto. He called his compositions,
_Concerti da Camera_ and _Concerti Grossi_, which names and form were
used by Vivaldi, Corelli, Handel and Bach. This _Concerto Grosso_ was a
_sonata da chiesa_ accompanied not by a single instrument as was the
habit with the _sonata da chiesa_ and the _sonata da camera_, but by a
group of bowed instruments to which a lute, organ and, later, a
harpsichord were added.
At this time, all musicians were, as a matter of course, violinists,
just as today all great composers can play the piano. One of the
greatest of these composer-violinists was Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713),
whose works are often played by violinists of our own time, and have
served as models for composers. He was one of the first to try to write
music that should show off the beauty and possibilities of the violin.
The “Golden Age” of the Italian violin composers dated from 1720 to
1750, and was the time of Locatelli, Pugnani, Nardini, Veracini, Tartini
and Vivaldi who added oboes and horns to the orchestral accompaniment of
the _Concerti Grossi_. Corelli and Vivaldi were the models used by the
German school of violinists who appeared about this time. Tartini was
the musical authority of his century, and no violinist felt sure of his
place as an artist until he had been heard and approved by Tartini. He
was the composer of the famous piece called _The Devil’s Trill_.
Although Vivaldi was not looked upon with great esteem in his own time,
he was used as a model by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Padre Martini, recognized by all Europe as the greatest authority on
musical subjects, lived in Bologna where he was visited by such
musicians as Grétry, Gluck, Mozart and one of the sons of Bach. Padre,
or Father, Martini was a Franciscan monk, a fine composer, a learned
historian, a master of counterpoint, and the owner of a musical library
of 17,000 volumes! He helped everyone who sought him, and was loved by
the entire musical world.
Once a year a great music festival was held in Bologna by the
Philharmonic Society and new works by the Bolognese composers were
performed. One hundred musicians took part in the orchestra and the
choruses, and each composer conducted his own work. It was an honor to
be present at this annual festival, and Italian and foreign musicians
came from all over Europe to attend it. Young composers sometimes became
famous over night here, for the critics were all invited and serious
decisions were made as to the value of new music. Dr. Burney, a famous
English musical historian of the 18th century, tells of meeting Leopold
Mozart and his young son, Wolfgang Amadeus, at one of these festivals.
Through the kind scheming of Padre Martini were they admitted!
Rome, in the 18th century was still the great music center, and guided
the religious music of the world. It had wonderful collections of old
music which attracted students from all over; it had seven or eight very
famous theatres, where _opera seria_ and _opera buffa_ were given.
(Today we call them grand opera and comic opera.) The Roman public was
very difficult to please and because of the severity of their judgments,
opera writers suffered every time their new works had first
performances. Just think how you would feel if you had composed an
opera, and by accident had put in a melody that sounded something like
one that Mozart, Wagner, Puccini or Verdi had composed, if the whole
house should break into shouts of “Bravo, Mozart!” or “Bravo, Wagner!”
or “Bravo, Puccini!!” etc. This is what used to happen in Rome, but no
doubt it was a good thing because it stopped a habit the composers had
in those days, of helping themselves to each other’s melodies.
DOMENICO SCARLATTI
But here we must pause for a moment to tell you of the life and work of
Alessandro Scarlatti’s son, Domenico, who was born in Naples in 1685,
the same year as Bach and Handel. When you recall how many operas the
father wrote, it seems queer that his son did not follow in his
footsteps. The truth is that he did write operas for the private theatre
of the Queen of Poland in Rome, and also sacred music while he was
chapel master of St. Peter’s, but he became immortal as a composer of
harpsichord music. In the influence he had in the growing up of piano
music, he can be compared to Chopin and Liszt, and is a founder of piano
music style, an honor, which he shares with the French Couperin and
Rameau, his contemporaries. The difference is that the two Frenchmen
have a delicacy and grace that recall their period of wigs and satins
and laces, while Scarlatti’s works have strength, vigor and daring that
take them out of any special period and place them beside the great
piano compositions of all time.
Scarlatti’s sonatas are sonatas in the Italian sense of a _sound-piece_;
they are not, like the suites, in several movements, but each is in one
movement, which forecasts the modern sonata form with its two main
contrasting themes and development.
The “serious Scarlatti” understood his son’s talent, for he sent him at
the age of 20 to Florence to a member of the powerful de Medici family
with this letter: “This son of mine is an eagle whose wings are grown;
he ought not to stay idle in the nest, and I ought not to hinder his
flight.”
Three years later Handel and Scarlatti met in Rome in an organ and
harpsichord competition, and while Handel won as organist, even
Scarlatti declaring that he did not know that such playing existed, no
decision was made as to which was the better harpsichord player. This
contest seems to have caused no hard feelings for the two young men of
the same age became devoted friends.
Scarlatti had a trick of crossing his hands in his compositions. Who
does not remember with joy his first piece in which he had to cross his
hands? But sad to relate as he grew old, he became so fat that he could
no longer cross hands with comfort, so in the last compositions the
crossing of hands is noticeably absent!
It is hard to know where an inspiration is next coming from, but
wouldn’t you be surprised were you a composer, if your pet cat presented
you with a perfectly good theme? This happened to Domenico Scarlatti!
His cat walked across the keyboard, and the composer used his musical
foot prints as the subject of a very fine fugue! Maybe Zez Confrey’s
_Kitten on the Keys_ is a descendant of this pussy’s piece.
The Scarlattis were the last of the great Italian instrumental
composers. For two centuries Italy had been the generous dispenser of
culture, and like an unselfish mother had sent her children out into the
world to carry knowledge and works to all the nations of Europe. The sun
of Italy’s greatness was setting just as it began to rise in Germany.
CHAPTER XVI
Opera in France—Lully and Rameau—Clavecin and Harpsichord Composers
We left French Opera in 1600 when Henry IV married Marie de’ Medici.
Ballets which resembled the English masques had been performed when Baif
and his friends had produced _Le Ballet Comique de la Reine_, but no
real opera had yet been written in France. In 1645, Cardinal Mazarin,
the powerful Italian prime minister of France, invited a company of
Italian singers to give a performance of Peri’s _Euridice_ in Paris. The
French did not like the opera, as they said it sounded too much like
plain song and airs from the cloister, and yet it led to Abbé Perrin’s
writing a work in 1658 which he called the _Pastoral_, and for which a
composer named Cambert wrote the music. The _Pastoral_ was a very great
success, and was repeated by order of Louis XIV, King of France. Ten
years later, Louis gave Perrin and Cambert permission “to establish
throughout the kingdom academies of opera, or representations with music
in the French language after the manner of those in Italy.” Their next
work, _Pomone_, was the first opera performed publicly in an opera
house, built purposely in Paris for them. The opera was so
enthusiastically received, that it ran nightly for eight months, and the
crowds were so great, that the police had to be called out. This
combination of poet and composer came to an end with _Pomone_, and a new
man acquired the right to give opera in the new opera house. This man
was Jean Baptiste Lully or in Italian, Giovanni Battista Lulli
(1632–1687).
LULLY THE KING’S FAVORITE
You may hear that the first famous opera writer of France had been a
pastry cook or kitchen boy, but no matter how humble his start in life,
he rose to the highest social position ever reached up to that time by a
composer in France. He became a great favorite of Louis XIV, he was
covered with titles and honors, he was on friendly terms with all the
nobility of the court, he was musical dictator of the opera and in fact
of all the musical happenings of the court. The greatest literary
geniuses of the period, such as Molière, Racine, La Fontaine, Quinault,
Corneille and Boileau, worked with him when he wanted new librettos for
his operas. He paid dearly for all his privileges, because his fellow
composers were jealous of his genius and his opportunities, and they
lost no chance to blacken his character.
Lully was born in Florence, Italy, in 1632, but we can tell you little
or nothing of his parentage or of his childhood. A monk taught him a
little about music and how to play the guitar. When he was about twelve
years old, he was picked up by the Duke de Guise who saw him with a
group of traveling comedians, and was so attracted by his vivacity, his
singing and talent for mimicry, that he took him back to Paris, where he
placed him in the household of his cousin, Mlle. de Montpensier. In her
memoirs, Mademoiselle said that she had been studying Italian and had
asked her cousin to bring back from Tuscany where he lived, a little
Italian _garçon de la Chambre_, a sort of personal errand boy. However,
his guitar playing and musical gifts soon lifted him out of a servant’s
position and he became one of the musicians of the great lady’s
household playing at concerts, balls and in the ballets. He learned to
play the violin, and soon began to compose popular dances. He remained a
member of Mademoiselle’s household until he was nineteen when he asked
permission to leave her service, as she had moved to the country, and he
liked the gay life of Paris better.
He had no difficulty in attaching himself to the King’s court, first as
actor and dancer in the ballets, and soon as “composer of instrumental
music.” Louis XIV was only fourteen years old, and was evidently highly
entertained by the capers of the young Italian who was willing to play
any rôle, dance any kind of a dance, or play the violin “divinely” for
his young monarch’s amusement. The King remained Lully’s faithful friend
always. Louis loved music, and played the lute, the guitar, the
harpsichord, and sang very well. Feeling that he needed to know more,
Lully studied counterpoint, composition and learned to play the
harpsichord, and whatever he attempted musically, he acquired without
difficulty.
In 1656, Lully composed music for a scene in a ballet, _Psyche_, and
from that time on, his compositions became the most popular of any at
court. Although he was born an Italian, his music was French, and he
even shared the French dislike of the Italian opera. In spite of his
love of acting in the ballets, of dancing, and of courting social favor
with the King and nobles, Lully was a thorough musician. When he went
into music he found that few of the singers could read notes, but they
learned their parts by ear. He soon changed this, and by the time he
died, all singers and players of orchestral instruments could read well.
In this reform, he did a great service to the growth of music.
His first stage works were called comedy-ballets. One of his early works
was ballet music written for a performance of Cavalli’s opera, _Xerxes_,
which was performed upon Mazarin’s invitation at Versailles (1660). He
next was given the position of “Superintendent of Music,” became a
naturalized French citizen, and was married. Lully wrote 19 ballets, 12
comedy-ballets, and 18 operas, besides about 23 motets for special
occasions. His ballets included recitatives, airs, dialogues and
symphonies, which was the name given to music written for orchestra.
From 1672 until the time of his death in 1687, he wrote an opera a year,
and sometimes two!
The splendor and extravagance of the costuming and stage settings of
these ballets and operas of Lully are almost unbelievable! At times,
even the orchestra wore costumes of the period represented on the stage.
Lully conducted the orchestra for one opera in a magnificent Egyptian
dress. Louis XIV loved these elaborate performances, and took part in
some of them.
After the downfall of Perrin and Cambert, which many said was caused by
Lully, he became absolute ruler in all musical matters. He used his
power to close a rival opera house, and no opera could be given anywhere
in France without his permission, for which he received a sum of money.
He was such a tyrant that he had many enemies, some of whom tried to
poison his snuff, in order to get rid of the King’s favorite.
“Le Roi Soleil” (The Sun King), as Louis XIV was called, had to be
entertained, and Lully understood so well how to keep him amused, that
the King could not get along without his composer whose performances
dazzled all beholders!
You must read French history of that period in order to understand just
how gorgeous and how extravagant life at the palace of Versailles was
and how eventually it led to the revolt of the people and the French
Revolution. Or perhaps you have seen the elaborate gardens, fountains
and palace,—a playground built at fearful cost where the Kings of France
might forget their cares! The King went so far as to give Lully a post
of royal secretary, usually held by nobles. It is said that his only
claim to the position was that he made people laugh!
In 1681, his ballet _Triomphe de l’Amour_ (Triumph of Love) was given,
in which, for the first time, women instead of men danced. Indeed,
ladies of the nobility took part in the ballet!
The French Overture introduced by Lully, was in two parts or
movements,—the first slow and serious, the second by way of contrast
fast, and bringing in the contrapuntal style of the church composers;
sometimes a third part resembling the first was added. These overtures
were very much liked in Lully’s time and during the 18th century, and
was the form used by the German composers in their orchestral suites and
by Handel. Lully was very successful in composing military music, and
his military marches were used not only by the French army, but by the
armies marching _against_ France. All of his music is simple and clear
in outline, it is easy to remember, its rhythm is vigorous and definite,
and the people, as well as musicians of his day, loved and understood
it. One writer said that one of his songs from _Amadis_, an opera
(1684), “was sung by every cook in France and Lully would stop his
carriage on the Pont Neuf (the New Bridge across the Seine) to set some
poor fiddler right who was playing one of his airs.” His works reached
Italy, Germany, England, Holland and Flanders, and influenced many of
the composers like Purcell, Humphrey and Handel to say nothing of the
French composers who followed him.
Lully built up the orchestra, and used the different groups of
instruments in entirely new ways.
Lully died in 1687 as the result of having dropped the stick with which
he directed his orchestra on his foot. This does not sound possible, but
the baton used in his time was very large and heavy, and the accident
caused blood poisoning. He was very much missed, for there was no one
with his talent for conducting and disciplining the singers and dancers
to replace him.
RAMEAU
In 1683, was born another French composer who carried on the work that
Lully had begun, a work so much loved by the French public, that Jean
Philippe Rameau found as strong a rival in the dead Lully as his
contemporaries had in the living. Rameau’s father was organist of a
church at Dijon, and although the family was very poor, the father was
determined to give his three children a musical education, and began to
teach them before they could read. As a result of this early training
little Jean Philippe, when he was only seven years old, could play at
sight on the harpsichord any music put before him, and when he was sent
to school, he was very unruly and sang out loud in class or scribbled
music all over his papers instead of doing his lessons.
When he was eighteen, he went to Italy, but as he did not like the
music, he left. He was always headstrong and self-willed, and this was
one of the hasty decisions for which he was afterwards sorry. He
traveled from place to place on this journey, playing his way as he
went, on the organ in churches and the violin in a band of traveling
musicians. In the south of France, old Provence, the home of the
troubadours, he became organist at Clermont, and lived quietly for six
years. Here he wrote his first pieces for clavecin (spinet) and three
cantatas. (The cantata was a new form which came from Italy, and was a
small opera to be sung in a drawing-room.) When Rameau grew tired of his
work as organist at Clermont, he showed his discontent by playing as
badly as he possibly could, by using untuneful organ-stops and by
playing fearful discords. An attempt was made to shut him off but he
paid no attention until a choir boy was sent to him with a message,
whereupon he left the organ and walked out of the church. He finally
succeeded in making the directors give him his release, but before many
years he returned to his old post, and was taken back in spite of his
disagreeable temper, and so proud was Clermont of its organist, that his
chair is still kept and exhibited.
From Clermont he went to Paris where he studied with the organist
Marchand, and read the old books of musical theory such as Zarlino’s,
for Rameau during his career wrote five important books on musical
theory and harmony. He was the first to establish definitely the classic
principles of harmony, and to put them into a form that for many years
was used by all students. You must remember that up to the 17th century,
counterpoint was the chief study, but when Italian opera succeeded in
breaking down the polyphonic habit, a new science had to be made to
explain the new system of _chords_ that had been gradually built up by
the Italians and also by Luther and his chorals. This was the _science
of harmony_, and Rameau’s _Treatise of Music, containing the Principles
of Composition_ (1722), was one of the first books of its kind.
Until Rameau was fifty, he was known as an organist, a teacher of
composition and a writer of many charming works for harpsichord and
clavecin. He married a young singer when he was 43, and the year after,
he made the acquaintance of a wealthy patron of the arts, at whose house
he met artists, literary men, princes and embassadors. Rameau taught his
patron’s wife, and had the use of his organ and private orchestra. Here
he first found himself among friends who understood and appreciated his
talents; here he met the great French writer, Voltaire, and the Abbé
Pellegrin, both of whom wrote librettos for his operas. There is a tale
that the Abbé made the composer sign an agreement about payment for the
use of his book but after hearing the first rehearsal he tore it up—so
pleased was he with Rameau’s first opera, _Hippolyte et Aricie_ (1733).
Now Rameau met the jealousy of Lully’s followers, who tried to prevent
the success of the work. They hissed it and wrote slighting verse about
it:
If difficulties beauty show,
Then what a great man is Rameau.
If beauty, though, by chance should be
But nature’s own simplicity,
Then what a small man is Rameau!—
(Frederick H. Martens’ translation of _A History of Music_ by Paul
Landormy.)
It is curious how often a new style in music has been greeted with just
such criticism and prejudice as the “Lullyists” showed for Rameau’s
opera! They claimed that the work was not French, that he used strange
chords, that his music was too difficult to be understood! In fact they
said exactly the same things that are said today about new works which
are different from what the public is used to hearing. Voltaire said
that it takes a whole generation for the human ear to grow familiar with
a new musical style!
His third opera, _Castor and Pollux_, in 1737, was his first real
success. With this work, he became famous, and was regarded as France’s
greatest composer. An English noble in Paris at the time stated “that
although everyone was abusing Rameau’s ‘horrible’ work, yet it was
impossible to get a seat at the opera.”
Although Rameau brought nothing new to opera, he was the step between
the Lully traditions and the innovators who came with Gluck. The French
composers today turn to him in their search for the direct road along
which French music has traveled.
In spite of Rameau’s unfriendly reserved nature, he won fame by force of
his genius. He was as unlike Lully as two men could possibly have been.
Rameau accepted favors from no one, and was generous in his attitude
towards his fellow composers. He talked very little and was not popular.
However, he was at the height of his career, when a company of Italian
singers arrived in Paris (1752), and played _La Serva Padrona_ by
Pergolesi. The fresh sparkling little opera took Paris by storm, and
this was the beginning of a sharp fight known as the war of the buffoons
(page 330), which divided Paris into two factions,—those who stood by
Lully and Rameau, and those who wanted to see French opera replaced by
the new Italian comic opera.
“The charm of these light operas,” says Mary Hargrave in her little
book, _The Earlier French Musicians_, “lay in the simplicity of their
subjects, taken from scenes and persons in ordinary life, humorously
treated. They came as a delightful relief after the stilted classical
heroes and heroines, the threadbare episodes of gods and goddesses, the
Greek and Roman warriors in tunics, with ribbons and helmets on powdered
wigs, in short, all the artificial conventions of which people had at
last grown unutterably weary.”
Even the court was divided: Louis XV was on the side of French music,
but the Queen was for the Italian, and crowds gathered nightly at the
opera near the royal boxes, which were known as the “King’s corner,” and
the “Queen’s corner.” Word bombshells were thrown from one camp into the
other, and sometimes these became real insults! Poor Rameau! First he
was the butt of the Lullyists because he was too modern, and now storms
of abuse were heaped on his head because he was too old-fashioned!
Nevertheless, to the end of his life his operas were received with great
enthusiasm, and on one occasion when the old man of eighty was seen
hiding in the corner of a box during one of his operas, he was called
out with storms of applause. He was always very shy about appearing in
public, applause embarrassed him, and no doubt much of his
disagreeableness was due to his being bashful.
Rameau looked upon his scientific studies as more important than his
composing, and Bach, Handel and many other composers studied his theory
work even when they were not great admirers of his compositions. We
never hear his operas, but his lovely pieces for the harpsichord, many
of which are out of his operas, are played in piano recitals and are
unsurpassed as examples of the French dance suite. Following the fashion
of his time, he gave his pieces amusing titles such as _The Call of the
Birds_, _The Hen_, _The Whirlwinds_, _The Egyptian_.
A list of his works show that he wrote 26 operas, 2 cantatas, 5 books on
theory, and 4 volumes of harpsichord music.
His death occurred in 1764, and all France mourned their “greatest
composer” and for years held memorial services in his honor.
Piron, a French writer, said of him: “All his mind and all his soul were
in his harpsichord and when he had closed that, the house was empty,
there was no one at home.”
FRENCH COMPOSERS FOR CLAVECIN AND HARPSICHORD
In every collection of French instrumental music of the 17th and 18th
centuries, besides the names of Lully and Rameau, we find Jacques
Champion de Chambonnières (1600–1670), Jean Baptiste Loeilly, or
Loeillet (?–1728?), François Couperin (1668–1733), Jean François
Dandrieu (1684–1740), Jean Louis Marchand (1669–1733), Louis Claude
Daquin (1694–1772) and Schobert (1720–1768).
These writers for clavecin and harpsichord of the French school were the
first to write music for instruments to which they gave names describing
the nature of the compositions. So, now, in addition to the names of
dances which formed the suites, we find _The Coucou_, _Butterflies_,
_Tambourine_, _The Windmill_, _The Turtle-Doves_, and so on. This was an
important step for it led directly to the kind of titles given to piano
pieces in the 19th century by the German romantic school.
The most important of this group was François Couperin, called “the
great,” as he was the most gifted member of a family, who supplied
France with musicians for two centuries. From 1665 to 1826, there were
eight Couperins who were organists of St. Gervais’ Church in Paris.
We can compare the Couperin family to the Bachs who flourished at the
same time in Germany. François (1668–1733), was only a year old when his
father died, but a friend, who was an organist, taught him and in time
he, too, became organist at St. Gervais. He was harpsichord player to
the King, and was a favorite in court circles. No fashionable affair was
complete without Couperin at the harpsichord, and every Sunday evening
he played chamber music for Louis XIV, the royal patron of Lully. One of
the books of pieces for the clavecin was published under the title of
_Royal Concerts_, and in the preface, Couperin told that they were
written for “_les petits concerts du roi_” (the little concerts of the
king), and he also said that he hoped the public would like the pieces
as much as the King did. For twenty years Couperin played in the King’s
household, and taught several princes and princesses.
You know the old proverb, “All roads lead to Rome.” We would change it,
and say that all roads lead to Bach! And Couperin is one of the main
highways, for without knowing that he was doing so, he prepared the way
for Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Everything he wrote, and most of
his pieces were in the dance form of the suite, was exquisite in
refinement and taste. The French musicians of today look upon him as one
of their composers, most truly French, and they try to follow in the way
he led, so as to be able to write music that will express the French
people, in heart and character. Later in the story of music, the German
classic school and then the romantic school had a very strong influence
on the music of every country in the world, and in France there was the
desire to brush aside the outside influences, and to find the road that
the early French composers of the 17th and 18th centuries had traveled.
Paul Landormy, a French writer on musical history has summed up Couperin
as “one of the miracles of the French spirit in music, and across the
gulf of time he clasps hands on one side with Jannequin and Costeley (p.
437), on the other with Fauré and Debussy” (p. 416).
All the important music outside of opera written in France at this time
was for the clavecin and harpsichord, and if the flute or the viol was
invited to take part in a concert, it was only to double the melody
played by the harpsichord, and did not have a part especially created
for it.
Wouldn’t you be surprised today if you should see an announcement of a
concert to be given by the President’s chauffeurs? But in the time of
Couperin and Lully wind instruments were used in all the court
festivals, balls and ballets, and were played by men attached to the
great hunting stables of the king. The band was called _la musique de la
grande écurie du Roi_ (music of the King’s stables). There were twelve
trumpets, eight fifes and drums, the cromornes (krumhorn—a curved reed
instrument), four to six Poitou oboes and bagpipes, and twelve large
oboes under which title were included violins, oboes, sackbuts and
cornets. These players of wind instruments accompanied the royal hunting
parties and made the beautiful forests of France ring with their merry
music. Each family had its own hunting call, by which it was recognized
from afar. We heard a phonograph record in Paris of these ancient calls,
and with each one, the name of the family to whom it belonged was
announced.
By the way, do you know the difference between a band and an orchestra?
(This is not a conundrum!) A band was originally a group of musicians
who played while standing or marching, while the orchestra was always
seated. This word comes from the Greek word meaning dance, and was first
given to a group of players who accompanied the dancers in the dramas,
and were seated in that section of the theatre which is still called the
orchestra.
CHAPTER XVII
Germany Enters—Organs, Organists and Organ Works
It is rather hard to believe that the largest of all instruments, the
pipe organ, is a descendant of Pan’s Pipes, played by the shepherds on
the hillsides of ancient Greece, is it not? The pipes of the church
organ of today are of different lengths and are built on the same
principle as were the pipes of Pan, our goat-footed friend, who broke
off the reeds by the bank of a stream way back when the world was young,
to pour out his grief in music for his lost love, Syrinx.
The next step was to supply the organ pipes with wind so they could be
made to produce tones without blowing on each one separately. A wooden
box was invented, and each pipe inserted into a hole in the top of the
box, which is still called the wind-chest. At first this was supplied
with air by two attendants who blew into tubes attached to the
wind-chest. Soon the tubes were replaced by bellows, and were worked
with the arms, and as the instrument grew larger, with the feet like in
a treadmill. An organ is spoken of in the Talmud as having stood in the
Temple of Jerusalem, and the hydraulic (water) organ in which air was
supplied to the pipes by means of water power was built in Alexandria,
Egypt, about the year 250 B.C. The small organ with keys that could be
carried from place to place was called a portative (from the Latin
_porto_—to carry); the larger organ sometimes stationary and sometimes
moved on wheels was called a positive. The levers needed to produce the
sound were soon exchanged for keyboards which at first had only a few
keys, and you may remember our telling how the keys were pounded with
the fists and elbows, in the Winchester organ.
A Greek writer of the 4th century A.D. gives us a vivid description of
an organ: “I see a strange sort of reeds—they must methinks have sprung
from no earthly, but a brazen soil. Wild are they, nor does the breath
of man stir them, but a blast, leaping forth from a cavern of oxhide,
passes within, beneath the roots of the polished reeds.”
It is not known just when the organ was first used in the churches, but
there are records of its having been known in Spanish churches as early
as the 5th century A.D. Pope Vitalian introduced it in Rome in 666, and
in the 8th century in England, organ-building became a very popular
profession. Cecil Forsyth says: “In those days a monk or bishop who
wished to stand well with society could not take up essay-writing or
social-welfare: what he could do was to lay hands on all the available
timber, metal, and leather, and start organ-building.”
Pepin, the father of Charlemagne, imported an organ into Compiègne,
France, from Byzantium in the 8th century. Charlemagne had it copied at
Aix-la-Chapelle. The Arabians must have been organ-builders, too, for
one of their most famous rulers, Haroun-al-Raschid, sent Charlemagne a
pneumatic organ noted for its soft tone. The instruments made in Germany
and France up to the 10th century were small and unpretending, but were
objects of astonishment and curiosity.
In Magdeburg, in the 11th century, we find the first keyboard with keys
3 inches broad. In 1120, we hear of an organ in the Netherlands that had
2 manuals (keyboards) and pedals. Organ-building was growing up! In the
14th century the manuals of many organs had 31 keys.
The organ was not always accepted in the church, for in the 13th century
its use was regarded as scandalous just as the English Puritans in the
17th century called it a “squeaking abomination,” and it is not even now
admitted in the Greek Catholic Church!
Until the 14th century, the organ had been used only in a most primitive
way to guide the singers of plain-song. It became a solo instrument when
it was possible to grade its tone from soft to loud, which was done by
the invention and use of three manuals: the upper one played “_full
organ_” (very loud); the middle, the _discant_ (softest), played a
counterpoint to the subject; the subject was played on the lowest
keyboard.
So we see how one invention led to another until the organ became an
instrument of almost unlimited possibilities, and how keyed instruments
had shown the composers how to develop music along new lines. By the end
of the 16th century, organ compositions and organ-playing had made rapid
progress all over Europe, and you will recall the great organists in all
the churches and cathedrals in the Netherlands, in England, Italy,
France, Spain, and even in Germany which up to this time had not been on
the “musical map.” (Chapter XI).
Are you wondering why we have gone back into “ancient history” at this
point, or have you already discovered that these grand old organists are
leading us directly Bach-ward?
FRESCOBALDI
Just a century before Bach’s time, the greatest of all Italian
organists, Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1644), was born at Ferrara, Italy.
So popular was he, that he filled the vast Cathedral of St. Peter’s,
whenever he played. His compositions were the most important produced
for organ in the early 17th century, and his fugues were the first to be
treated in modern fashion, in form, fancy, and feeling for tone color,
and were a foundation on which Bach’s were built. His compositions
include _canzones_, _toccatas_, _ricercari_, and numerous pieces in the
popular dance forms. Most of these are found in two collections
published for _cembalo e organo_ (spinet and organ). He was not
interested in opera, but went his own musical way expressing himself in
an original and individual language far ahead of his period. With
Frescobaldi, Italy ceased to be the world’s center for organists.
GERMAN ORGANISTS
At this point, Germany came into the musical field, and soon became the
artistic center of organ-playing. Up to this time, the country had
produced less music than any of its neighbors: Italy had written the
greatest Church music, and invented opera; France had followed closely
in Italy’s footsteps; the Low Countries had helped in music’s growth by
their early work in polyphony and had taught all Europe including
Germany; England had led the world in her compositions for virginals and
harpsichord, the forerunners of piano music. Although Germany did not at
first rank musically with these countries, the religious fervor and
devotion to the cause of Protestantism bore fruit in the grand chorales
of Luther. In these we find the birth of German music destined to rule
the world for two centuries, the 18th and the 19th, just as the Italian
had in the 16th and the 17th. The religious inspiration, the direct
simplicity and sincerity of the chorales are the qualities found in the
works of the first great German composer, Johann Sebastian Bach!
The religious wars of the first half of the 17th century crushed almost
all the music out of Germany. In the second half, the organists became
the leaders, and their music for organ inspired by the chorale was the
first real contribution that Germany made to the growth of music.
One of the earliest of these German organists was Johann Jacob Froberger
(1605–1667), of Saxony, who was a pupil of Frescobaldi, and court
organist at Vienna. He went to London (1662), and as he was robbed on
the way, he arrived penniless. He found work as organ-blower at
Westminster Abbey. On the occasion of Charles II’s marriage, he overblew
the bellows and interrupted the playing, which so enraged the organist
Christopher Gibbons, son of Orlando, that he struck him. Poor Froberger!
But he had a chance to redeem himself, for he sat down to the organ a
few moments later, and started to improvise in a manner for which he was
famous in Vienna. A former pupil of his, recognizing his style, was
overjoyed to find him, and presented him to the King. He was invited to
play on the harpsichord which he did to the astonishment of every one.
A Dutch organist, Johann Adam Reinken (1623–1722) and a Dane, Dietrich
Buxtehude (1637–1707) belong to this school, as they lived in Germany
most of their lives and worked along the lines the Germans were
developing. Reinken was a pupil of Frescobaldi; he had a direct
influence on Bach who often walked from Lüneburg to Hamburg to hear the
far-famed organist. When Reinken was 99 years old he heard Bach
improvise on his Chorale “By the Waters of Babylon,” which drew from him
the praise, “I thought that this art was dead, but I see that it still
lives in you.”
ABSOLUTE MUSIC
It is very probable that had Buxtehude not lived, Bach would have
written his organ works in a different style, so deeply did the younger
composer study the older man’s compositions. Buxtehude was organist in
Lüneburg and there he started a series of concerts which became so
popular that they were continued into the 19th century. Bach walked
fifty miles to hear Buxtehude play, but was too shy to make himself
known to the great man; it was probably to hear one of the concerts
which had the poetic name of _Abendmusik_ (Evening Music), that he went.
Buxtehude was one of the first to try to make instrumental music stand
as music (a language in itself), without a dance form, a plain-song or
chorale or poetic idea behind it, to act as a Biblical text does in a
sermon. This music for music’s sake is called “Absolute Music” and Bach
was one of its strongest disciples. Absolute music, which was so
beautifully handled by Buxtehude, became the basis of the Classic School
of the 18th and early 19th centuries.
The organ chorale prelude which was so important a musical form during
this period had a very interesting history. Today the organist in our
churches plays the hymn through before it is sung; he plays it quite
simply just as it is written in the Hymnal, but in the day of these old
German organists, the artistic feeling was deeper, and the organist was
allowed to weave the chorale or hymn into a beautiful and complete
composition. But in his love of composing and of showing how many
different ways he could decorate the chorale, he often exceeded his time
limit, and the chorale prelude was left behind. In its place the organ
fantasia and the sonata appeared.
Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706), of Nüremberg, was a pupil of another
celebrated director and organist, Johann Kaspar Kerl (1628–1693), who
was said to be one of the best teachers of composition of his day. There
were also three German organists born late in the 16th century, all of
whom were followers of the famous Dutch composer Jan Sweelinck. They
were known as the “three S’s”—Heinrich Schütz was the greatest of them.
He wrote organ music, but also worked out a scheme for combining the
chorale with the ideas of Peri and Caccini for use with Bible texts in
the Lutheran Church. This was called Passion music and was originally
written for Good Friday. On this foundation Bach built some of his
grandest oratorios. The Italian influence came into Schütz’s work while
he was a pupil of Gabrieli in Venice. Johann Heinrich Schein was a
Cantor at St. Thomas’ School before Bach, and wrote many chorales. The
third of the “three S’s” was Samuel Scheidt who was called the German
Frescobaldi. “What plain-song was to Palestrina and his school, the
chorale was to Schütz and his followers.” (Quoted from Charles Villiers
Stanford.)
THE INVENTOR OF THE SONATA AND OF “PROGRAM MUSIC”
Johann Kuhnau (1660–1722), wrote many compositions which today we find
very amusing! For his day, however, he must have been looked upon as
ultra-modern! The composition which first brought him into public notice
was a motet, written for the election of the town council. Could you
imagine anyone writing a serious composition for an election today, or
anyone willing to listen to it at the polls? He was organist of St.
Thomas’, in Leipsic, a graduated lawyer, master of several languages,
writer of satirical poems, musical director of the University, and
finally Cantor in two Churches. He was admired and honored after his
death as one of the greatest musicians of his day and one of the most
learned men. He invented a style of music for the clavier which he
called Sonata. It was in several movements and was not based on dance
tunes as were the suites. While it was not in the form that later was
known as sonata-form, it was a sign-post pointing the way. Seven of
these sonatas he named _Fresh Clavier Fruit_! And it was fresh in style
as well as in name.
He was the first German composer to write “program music,” that is the
kind which tries to tell a story, or to imitate the actual sounds of
natural objects, such as the crash of thunder, the motion of a windmill,
the rocking of a cradle, and the cackling of a hen. You can see how long
a list one might make and how easy it would be for anyone with a vivid
imagination to make up all sorts of pictures in music. This is just the
opposite from music for music’s sake which we described to you as
“Absolute Music,” and most of it which follows this period when music
comes of age can be put into one of the two camps,—the Program Music
Camp, or the Absolute Music Camp.
Kuhnau’s program music took a queer turn! He was living at a time when
religion was uppermost in every one’s thoughts, when the Bible stories
were bedtime stories and when the leading compositions were the sonatas
written for organ. So in 1700 he published six Biblical-history Sonatas.
In _David and Goliath_, he attempts to put into music the rude defiance
and bravado of the giant; the fear of the Hebrews; David’s courage and
fearlessness, and the battle and fall of the giant; the flight of the
Philistines (can’t you imagine how the composer would represent this
with all kinds of runs and scales?); the joy of the Hebrews; the
celebration of the women who probably came out to meet David “with
timbrels and harps”; and general jubilation.
At the end of the 17th century, Germany was strongly under the influence
of France and Italy, especially in opera. In Dresden, Berlin, Munich and
Vienna, one heard only opera in Italian sung by Italian singers, but
Hamburg tried to develop a national music by giving German opera sung by
German singers, and attracted many serious musicians. Johann Mattheson
(1681–1764) a singer, conductor and composer, is remembered chiefly for
a book called _A German Roll of Honor_, in which he gathered up all the
information he could find about German composers up to his time. He
asked all the living composers to write accounts of themselves for his
book, so we take it for granted that it must be truthful!
Music had changed more in the 17th century than in any that had gone
before. If we tried to sum it all up in one word we should say that it
was a century of _transition_ or the passage from one condition to
another. It began with the old Ecclesiastical, or Church, modes, and
ended with the major and minor scales which we still use today; the
reign of counterpoint was over, and now had to share the throne on equal
terms with harmony.
SONATA-FORM
The dominating musical form after Bach’s time was to be the Sonata, a
name we have often used. The sonata which found its champions in Haydn,
Mozart and Beethoven, was the child of the sonata written by D.
Scarlatti, Kuhnau, and Bach and his sons. It is built on the principle
of contrast as were the suites. A sonata is a collection of three or
four related pieces called movements: one, fast—one, slow—then fast. If
in four movements, the first is moderately fast; the second, very slow;
the third, fast (scherzo); the fourth fast (usually rondo form).
Sonata-form is the name given to the first movement of a sonata, a
string quartet, trio, quintet, etc., concerto or a symphony. It has two
main themes which are announced, then developed and then re-announced,
forming three contrasting sections or panels: _Statement_ or
_Exposition_, _Development_, and _Restatement_. From now on, when we
speak of _sonata-form_, this picture should come to you.
The stage is now all set for Bach and those who came after him.
Music Has Grown Up
CHAPTER XVIII
Bach—The Giant
Bach and Handel rescued the Germans from the reputation of being musical
barbarians, for Germany had not had a Lully or a Palestrina! But just in
time, Bach and Handel entered and Bach carried composition to maturity
and religious musical art to its highest point, while Handel was one of
the foremost opera and oratorio composers of his day.
And indeed not until Mozart’s day did the Italians think that Germany
was anything but barbarous, not in fact until they were outranked in
Italian Opera by a German.
Of all the unassuming men of genius Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) is
the most lovable. Never did he seem to realize that he was doing
anything, but the will of God, never did he seem to care what people
thought of his work, but went on composing, supporting twenty children,
often with so little money that he tutored and played at funerals to eke
out a living. In his life there was little glitter. Bach was a saint, if
there was ever a saint. Although some few admired Bach during his
lifetime, it was not until one hundred years after his death that his
works were known and that he received the fame he deserved.
The Bach family for six generations were musicians, beginning with his
grandfather “to the 5th power,” Veit Bach, a Thuringian baker in the
16th century whose pleasure “was to use a small zither, which he took
with him to play, while the mill was moving.” All his descendants became
musicians down to and beyond Johann Sebastian.
The Bachs were great family lovers and every year they held reunions, at
which all of the different members living in various parts of Germany,
met together and enjoyed a jolly time singing and playing.
Sebastian was born in 1685 in Eisenach, the town where Martin Luther
wrote his stirring chorales. His father Ambrosius began very early to
teach him music, the family profession, and Sebastian started with the
violin.
But the poor little boy lost both father and mother when only ten years
of age, and he was left to be brought up by his elder brother, Johann
Christopher. Sebastian was passionately fond of music and although
Christopher taught him to play the clavier, nevertheless this sad little
tale is told:
Sebastian had seen Christopher with a book of music including pieces by
Froberger, Pachelbel, Buxtehude, and others. Sebastian was very anxious
to get it and play bits from it. Christopher forbade him to touch it and
put it away in a cupboard, which fortunately had a lattice door, for
Sebastian, every night during the full moon, (because he did not dare to
use a candle), copied the book note for note. When Christopher
discovered this, the little lad was soundly scolded and was witness to
Christopher’s burning it before his poor eyes!
It did not seem to daunt him, for from this time on, he copied the great
works whenever he could.
It became necessary for Sebastian to earn money to save Christopher’s
purse, and in 1700 he became a choir boy at St. Michael’s in Lüneburg,
where he received lessons without paying for them. He was happy here,
with a library where he could copy music to his heart’s content, and
every vacation he went on foot to Hamburg to learn of the great
organist, Reinken. He visited too the court of Celle where he heard
Couperin’s music, which no doubt helped to develop his style.
Soon he left Lüneburg and went to Saxe-Weimar where he entered the
orchestra of Prince Johann Ernst. But his interest was in the church and
when he was eighteen he tried for the post of organist in the Church at
Arnstadt. He played so delightfully, despite his youth, that he was
accepted at the first hearing!
He composed many works here and learned much about the organ, that was
to be valuable to him and to us. He was well liked, too, and his playing
was enjoyed. Nevertheless, his interest in others was so great, that he
decided to go to see Buxtehude in Lübeck, and he was so interested in
the master’s art that he forgot about his church in Arnstadt and stayed
four months instead of one! When he returned he was severely
reprimanded. Later, he received a second reprimand which is of
tremendous interest for he was accused of “interspersing the chorale
with many strange variations and tones, to the confusion of the
congregation.” He was charged with the crime of being original!
Due to this lack of sympathy, he accepted a post as organist at
Mühlhausen in 1707 and later in the year married his cousin, Maria
Barbara, with great rejoicings. They had seven children, two of whom
were the famous Wilhelm Friedemann and Karl Philip Emanuel.
The next year he became Concertmaster (first violinist), to the Duke of
Weimar and remained there until 1718. This was a very fruitful composing
period, for he had no money worries. He studied the Italian masters,
especially Vivaldi, and wrote some excellent cantatas. However, he went
soon to the Prince of Anhalt-Cothen, as Court Choir Master.
He made concert trips from here to Dresden and Leipsic, and it was in
Dresden that he challenged the proud Marchand, the French organist, to a
public improvisation contest on a theme, new to both of them. But the
contest never took place, because, unknown to Bach, Marchand heard him
play and when the time for the contest came, Marchand had left town
hurriedly in an early post-chaise. And strange as it may seem, Emperor
Frederick I gave Marchand one hundred ducats and Bach got nothing!
Bach’s new patron was a fine man and a Protestant and gave Bach every
chance. At Weimar, he had become well known for his religious works and
beautiful playing. But, as he had no organ, he wrote music for
harpsichord, violin, chamber music and the orchestra, which was far from
“grown up.” Here, too, he wrote the Brandenburg Concertos and the first
part of his epoch-making work _The Well-tempered Clavichord_ (48
Preludes and Fugues, 1722) which he finished in 1744. It is still the
greatest work of its kind. In it he reaches the highest point of
contrapuntal writing.
In 1720, while Bach was traveling with the Prince, his wife died. After
a year and a half he married a charming singer, Anna Magdalena Wulkens,
one of his pupils. They had twelve children and lived very happily. The
lovely little tunes that he wrote for Anna Magdalena and his children
have come down to us and many of us have played them in the first years
of our music study. Isn’t it wonderful to think that the great Bach, who
wrote some of the masterpieces of the world, could also write simple
little Minuets and Preludes that any child can play?
But with all Bach’s comfort he missed an organ! Deep in his soul, he
craved the making of religious music—it was part of his thinking. His
religious ideas tied up with his music, were his life. So we see this
saint leaving happiness at Cothen for an ill-paid post in Leipsic, as
Cantor (1723) at the school of St. Thomas, where, succeeding Johann
Kuhnau, he stayed the rest of his life and wrote his greatest works.
Bach wrote to a friend that he thought a long while before leaving his
“gracious, music loving and discriminating Prince ... but it happened
that my master married a ... princess who ... weaned my master from the
loving interest he had ... toward our glorious art. And so God arranged
that the post of Cantor at St. Thomas’ should fall vacant.... I took
three months to consider the future and was induced to accept, as my
sons were studious and I was desirous ... of gratifying their bent by
entering them in the school ... and thus, in the name of the Most High,
I ventured and came to Leipsic.”
Note, dear reader, the nobility, spirituality and sweetness here,
thinking of his children and not of his career!
He struggled against the unsympathetic town council, the school, and
lack of money. He wrote to his friend Erdman, “My present income
averages $700. When funerals are numerous I make more, but if the ‘air
is healthy’ then my income falls. During the past year I have earned
$100 less, owing to the small number of deaths.”
In 1732 he wrote one of his few attempts at comedy.—the _Coffee Cantata_
set to music on a text by Picander. Leipsic had become a slave to the
new luxury, coffee, and in this Picander found material for a satire.
Besides his regular work, he had to teach dull, undisciplined pupils,
attend to services in four churches, and be satisfied with the few
singers and players he found for the performances he directed.
Yet, fed with the spirit of love that was within him, he was happy and
his home was a center of joy. He never became too sad until he lost his
sight three years before his death. Even then he dictated his
compositions and conquered discouragement!
Bach’s life was made happier when Philip Emanuel became Court musician
and clavier player to Frederick the Great, and he talked so much of his
father that Bach was invited to Potsdam.
When Frederick the Great, who was playing the flute in his orchestra,
heard that Bach was in Potsdam, he put down his flute and interrupted
the concert saying, “Gentlemen, old Bach has arrived.” Bach appeared in
his traveling clothes and was invited to improvise a fugue in six parts,
which he did to the great admiration of all.
Yet many felt that his writings were lacking in charm! This was no doubt
because people were getting accustomed to the Italian melodies which had
become popular in Germany. Furthermore, when he wrote “The Art of Fugue”
his son could sell but thirty copies and finally sold the plates for the
mere cost of the metal! Students are grateful that copies of this work
were saved, for it is still the greatest authority on fugue writing.
In 1749, Bach underwent an operation on his eyes but lost his sight and
in 1750 died of apoplexy. So little was he appreciated that his grave
was destroyed in the renovation of the Johanneskirche grounds. His
supposed remains were discovered in 1894 and re-interred one hundred and
forty-four years after his death. But—what remains of Bach, no known or
unknown grave can bury.
A quarter of a century after Bach’s death, Mozart said, on hearing a
Bach Cantata, “At last I have heard something new and have learned
something.” Then later Mendelssohn re-discovered him, and Schubert, too,
helped to bring him to the world’s notice. And not until 1850, a century
after his death, was the Bach Society formed to honor Bach, the
corner-stone of modern music.
Bach was a stalwart man with fine deep eyes, broad forehead and a grave
face, lit with kindly humor. He had dignity and calm, was always
courteous, and criticised only his pupils whom he wanted to help. When
asked one time, how he played so well, he remarked, “I always have had
to work hard.” He could stand no one who was pretentious and conceited.
He wanted his rights but never boasted. One year besides fulfilling his
other duties he wrote a cantata every Sunday! He wrote them as a
preacher writes sermons. They had to be done and he never neglected his
duty.
Bach was a devoted father and husband and his home was one of the
happiest of any great genius. Many of his children were musical and he
said that he had an orchestra in his own home!
Even his little half-witted son had genius and during the last years of
Bach’s life when the dear old man had become blind, the little boy sat
at the clavier, Bach’s favorite instrument, and improvised to the joy of
his father.
BACH’S WORKS
It is impossible to describe in words just what Bach accomplished, so
surpassing in beauty are his best works.
He brought the art of polyphonic writing to its highest and most sublime
point. His value to the student cannot be exaggerated, for he is the
musical Bible to all who would be musicians.
The organ was the core of his musical thinking and it is in the things
which center about the organ that his art is loftiest.
Although he was most ingenious in writing counterpoint, he was never dry
and tricky as were other writers. His subjects were always original and
his melodic line always of rare beauty.
His works are most varied: fugues, motets, cantatas, passions,
oratorios, concertos, sonatas and suites. He was a radical in his day,
for he threw over conventional notions of harmony as to proper keys and
insisted upon a new system of tuning the clavier, so as to use the whole
range of tones. The “Well-tempered Clavichord,” two groups of 24
Preludes and Fugues in 24 keys, was the outcome of this. It was so
called because it was written to show the possibilities of a clavier (or
clavichord) tuned according to an idea of his, enabling one to play in
all keys. This was one of the greatest discoveries in the whole story of
music, for it made possible all the music which has followed. The
keyboard was divided into equal half-steps. This made twelve half-steps
within each octave and thus all the intervals became fixed, and
modulation from key to key was possible. Heretofore, if one went from
one key to another, the instrument sounded out of tune, but now
instruments were tuned, as we glibly say, “to scale.”
He invented a new fingering in which the thumb and little finger were
used for the first time. We wonder why the thumb had been snubbed!
The pianoforte was just coming into prominence in Bach’s day but he
preferred the clavier, on which he felt he could play with more
expression.
He developed the fugue to its highest point. A fugue is an enlarged
canon in which the fragments of theme or melody are taken up and
answered by two, or more, voices. One voice declares the subject and the
answer is repeated usually in the dominant key a fifth above, while the
first voice gives the counter-subject. There are various kinds of
fugues, depending on their construction. After the voices have all
entered, separated sometimes by little passages called “episodes,” a
section in which the subject is freely developed comes, and then the
stretto, in which all the parts enter racing and overlapping, building
up to a climax; then follows the cadence or ending.
To write a noble or lofty fugue, neither dry nor pedantic, takes art to
the _nth_ power! Bach had the art that touched Heaven’s borders! In
truth you can safely divide fugues into two classes—Bach’s and all
others!
None of Bach’s works were published until he was forty years old, and
most of them not until long after his death, and many of his manuscripts
were lost and never published at all.
The list of his works is stupendous; the Bach Gesellschaft (Bach
Society, 1850) published them in sixty volumes! Among them were the 48
Preludes and Fugues (The Well-tempered Clavichord Collection); 12
Suites; many Inventions in 2 and 3 parts; partitas; 12 concertos for 1,
2, 3 and 4 claviers with orchestra; many sonatas and concertos for
violin, flute, viola da gamba, clavier, and orchestra; several overtures
for orchestras; vocal works; 200 motets and cantatas; 5 _Passions_, of
which the greatest are the St. Matthew and the St. John; 5 masses of
which his _B Minor Mass_ is a world masterpiece; oratorios; magnificats;
many organ works, and old German chorales harmonized for voices.
When you can, try to hear Wanda Landowska play Bach compositions on the
harpsichord. It is a glimpse into the beauty of the saintly Bach.
Also try to hear the great Bach Festival, directed by Frederick Wolle
held yearly in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Moravian Church.
In a list of great men, Bach would be classed with Euripides, Sophocles,
Shakespeare, Milton, da Vinci, Michael Angelo and Goethe.
Bach did not write for people, he wrote for his own soul. He never
seemed able to write theatric music, for his was the drama of the
spirit. Always, his music was the result of his musings, the confessions
of his ideals. So he attained a loftiness, grandeur and sublimity far
removed from even some of the most dramatic writers.
BACH’S SONS
Bach’s sons reached great eminence. The eldest was Wilhelm Friedemann
(1710–1784), an unusually talented man on whom the father built great
hopes. But while Friedemann inherited his father’s musical talent he did
not have his character, and was looked upon as a disgrace to the family
on account of his dissolute ways. He was the greatest organist of his
time and most of his compositions, which were considered very fine, have
been lost to the world, for he did not take the trouble even to write
them down, but played them from memory.
The third son, Karl Philip Emanuel (1714–1788), although trained to be a
lawyer, could not resist the urge of music, and after going through two
universities decided to become a musician to Frederick the Great. He was
“general manager” of all the music at court until the Seven Years’ War
put an end to his position after almost thirty years’ service. He then
spent the rest of his life in Hamburg. As composer, conductor, teacher
and critic his influence was great. He was loved and respected by the
whole city. In his day he was regarded as being as important as his
father, but we know that he was not in the same class, although he was
the greatest of his contemporaries. He did not imitate his father’s
style but developed the sonata into the form that Haydn, Mozart and
Beethoven perfected. He was an innovator, not only in form, but in the
treatment of melody and harmony. His best sonatas were written at the
court of Frederick the Great.
In the growth of music he is the link between his immortal father and
Haydn. Haydn was more gifted than he and made the seeds planted by
Philip Emanuel blossom luxuriantly.
Johann Christoph (1732–1795) was an upright, modest, amiable man, and a
splendid musician keeping up the family traditions.
Johann Christian (1735–1782), the youngest of those who outlived the
father, might be called the Italian Bach, because he went to Italy in
1754, became organist of the Milan Cathedral, and wrote vocal music in
the Neapolitan style. He left his position as organist, married an
Italian prima donna, wrote many operas and spent the last twenty years
of his life in London, as director of concerts.
Curious as it may seem, the great and gifted Bach family died out in
1845, with a grandson of Johann Sebastian. Out of twenty children there
seems not to have been one to carry the line to the present day.
CHAPTER XIX
Handel and Gluck—Pathmakers
GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL—MASTER OF ORATORIO
(1685–1759)
In the last chapter we saw Bach rescue music from the danger of
emptiness and frivolity, by perfecting polyphonic music and dignifying
church music as it had not been since Palestrina.
Bach and Handel were alike in that they were both born in Germany when
music, especially opera, had become mechanical and full of set rules.
They were both Lutherans and Thuringians. They worked about the same
time, and tried to encourage the hearts and minds of their country, torn
by the Thirty Years’ War; both were polyphonic masters; both organists.
Bach attached himself to Frederick the Great, the protector of the
faith, and Handel went to England, where there was liberty of thought;
and both, died blind and of apoplexy.
The differences, with so many similarities, are most interesting. Bach,
modest, retiring, was always a German subject; Handel became an English
subject. Bach was a homebody with twenty children; Handel was a traveler
and never married. Bach wanted only to satisfy himself; Handel, to
satisfy the public. Bach was humble, Handel arrogant. Bach seldom fought
for his rights, while Handel would dismiss even his masters. Bach cared
little for applause, but Handel could not live without it. Bach was
devoted to the lyric, Handel to the epic. Handel is usually (not always)
heroic, Bach is usually religious (not always, of course). Handel is
popular, easy to understand; Bach is deep, coming from the soul, and it
takes more thought than the crowd is always willing to give to
appreciate this giant.
Handel achieved great worldly success, and treated nobles as equals.
Poor Bach worked contentedly in an humble position and struggled for
money and profited by “bad air.” (See page 248.)
Bach demanded faith and love of art, Handel demanded ready ears. Bach
never intended to make music, he only wanted to express his devotion in
the best medium he had; Handel wanted fame and riches and the approval
of the crowd. Handel died rich and Bach died poor.
George Frederick Handel (1685–1759) who wrote the immortal oratorio
_Messiah_, and one of the greatest opera composers of his time, was born
in Halle, Saxony. His father was a barber, but managed to get the title
“Chamberlain to the Prince of Saxe-Magdeburg.”
Handel’s father wished him to study law, but George Frederick did not
like the idea and besides he showed great musical gifts. One day when he
was a little boy, he found hidden in the attic, a clavichord upon which
he secretly played every chance he had.
Not long after this “find,” something most important happened. His
father was going to Weissenfels to the Duke’s castle and had no
intention of taking George Frederick with him. So, Father Handel seated
himself in the coach, taking things comfortably, when he spied little
George Frederick dashing along by the great wheels. He paid no attention
to him, but after going a mile and realizing that the little boy was
still following, he called out “What do you want?” “I want to go with
you,” answered Handel, and although his father was quite annoyed, George
Frederick’s will, as always, prevailed and he went with his father! At
the court the Duke saw, very quickly, how gifted the little Handel was.
His father relented and on his return to Halle, George Frederick was
given instruction on the organ, harpsichord and in composition with
Zachau, and taught himself the oboe and violin, greedily mastering all
the music he could find.
Although he studied music he seems to have respected his father’s wishes
and studied law and even after his father died in 1697, he continued,
but later gave it up for music. At seventeen he entered the University,
and studied, besides music, the literary classics which were of great
use to him later.
On leaving the University he went to Hamburg, the musical center of
Germany, where he heard Keiser’s works and received good advice from
Johann Mattheson, the composer, tenor and conductor, who later engaged
George Frederick in a duel.
The quarrel came about in this way: Handel was to lead Mattheson’s
opera, _Cleopatra_, in order to relieve Mattheson, who sang the part of
Antonio. After Antonio was “killed,” Mattheson being free to lead,
entered the orchestra pit to take Handel’s place as leader. Handel was
infuriated. They met later and fought a duel in which Handel was saved
by a large metal button which snapped Mattheson’s rapier! What a little
thing a button is and what it did for music!
Handel’s first four operas were written here for the Hamburg stage. But
_Almira_ (1705) is the only one ever heard now.
HANDEL IN ITALY
Next he visited Florence, Rome and Venice during which time he had the
happiest three years of his life. He composed a cantata, an oratorio and
other works; he learned much of melody and sweet flowing music, which
softened his dry, stiff use of German counterpoint, and he gathered
material for his later London work.
An amusing story is told of him in Venice. There was a carnival going on
and Handel went to it. At one of the costume balls, he sat down to a
harpsichord uninvited and began improvising, thinking that no one would
know him. A gorgeously garbed figure dashed through the crowd to his
side, and almost overcome by the music, gasped, “This is either the
Devil or the Saxon.” (Handel was called “The dear Saxon”—“_Il cáro
Sarsone_” in Italy.) It was Domenico Scarlatti’s first meeting with
Handel, and forever after they remained warm friends.
In Vienna he met Steffani (Chapel Master) who persuaded him to go to
Hanover and after a short time, the Elector, who became George I of
England, appointed him Chapel Master and gave him permission to go to
England for a visit before taking up his new work.
This visit was the turning point in Handel’s career, for later he became
an English subject and he—but we must not get ahead of our story!
HANDEL IN ENGLAND
Handel went to England about fifteen years after the death of Purcell,
“The Orpheus of England.” Handel was quick to see Purcell’s good points
and modelled his first English work to celebrate the Peace of Utrecht,
on Purcell’s _Te Deum_.
After arriving in London he wrote _Rinaldo_ with an Italian libretto in
fourteen days! He was the speed maniac of the 17th and 18th centuries.
His librettist said of him, “Mr. Handel barely allowed me time to
compose my verses.” Later he arranged _Rinaldo_ for harpsichord and all
England played it, especially the lovely aria _Lascia ch’io Piango_ (Let
Me Weep).
Yet Handel doesn’t seem to have made money out of _Rinaldo_, which
brought the publisher, Walsh, $10,000, about which Handel said, “My dear
fellow, the next time you shall compose the opera and I will publish
it.” (_History of Music_, by Paul Landormy.)
Later, he became the guest of the Duke of Chandos, at whose house he
wrote at least sixteen compositions.
King George had been very angry with Handel for leaving Hanover and
remaining in England, but forgave him later, and Handel was made
Director of the Royal Academy of Music which the King founded in 1719.
Among Handel’s duties were the getting of the artists for the operas.
This meant much to him and allowed him to travel all over Europe. He
composed operas almost as people wrote their letters, for in eight years
he produced eleven successful operas! Think of that for work!
HANDEL AND HIS RIVALS
But—he had a rival, Battista Buononcini, protégé of the mighty Duke of
Marlborough, and a musical war raged in London. John Byrom, a humorist
of the day wrote:
Some say, as compared to Buononcini
That Mynheer Handel’s but a ninny
Others aver that he to Handel
Is scarcely fit to hold a candle.
Strange all this difference should be
’Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee.
Handel won, however, and Buononcini left England. In 1729, another opera
venture was started, an Italian opera society, of which Handel was made
the Director. Off he went to Dresden and brought back Senesino, a tenor,
and other famous singers. But Handel did not get along well with his
singers and subordinates. He was too high-handed and because of his
quarrels the opera was given up! On one occasion he dragged the singer,
Cuzzoni, to the window and threatened to throw her out if she did not
sing the way he wished. Various other reasons were given too,—one, the
dispute between Cuzzoni, who was called the “Golden Lyre” and another
soprano, Faustina, the wife of Hasse, a rival conductor. Colley Cibber,
a critic of the time said: “These costly canary birds contaminate the
whole music loving public with their virulent bickerings. Cæsar and
Pompey did not excite the Romans to more violent partisanship than these
contentious women.”
And now we see Handel bankrupt and superseded in another theatre by his
two rivals, Porpora and then Hasse (1699–1783) of Hamburg. However, they
too were unsuccessful.
On went Handel, writing operas and oratorios and conducting at special
functions. His health snapped, but his will was so powerful that this
forceful man recovered, and presented two more operas, which were not
successful. In spite of all his failures and lack of tact, he had
faithful friends who arranged a successful benefit concert in 1738 for
him. At about the same time a statue was erected in Vauxhall Gardens, an
honor never before paid to a living composer!
He composed, while writing for the stage all these years, twelve sonatas
for violin or flute with figured bass, thirteen sonatas for two violins,
oboes or flutes and bass, six _concerti grossi_, twenty organ concertos
and twelve concertos for strings, many suites, fantasies and fugues for
harpsichord and organ. It is difficult to understand how one brain could
do all this!
HANDEL FORSAKES OPERA
After his ill success with the Italian Opera House, he gave up writing
operas and devoted himself to oratorios. In thirteen years (1739–1752)
he wrote nineteen. Among these are _Saul_ in which is the famous “Dead
March,” _Joseph_, and many other important ones, but towering over all
_The Messiah_, and _Heracles_, which Romain Roland says is “one of the
artistic summits of the 18th century.”
They are not all oratorios, for _Heracles_ and several others are not
religious in subject, but are dramatic epics.
Handel’s sight failed him, but even this did not stop his torrential
activity to his death in 1759.
He had become an English subject, so was buried with pomp at Westminster
Abbey.
He was loved even though he was fiery of temper, and had a will that no
one could conquer.
His music is full of his gusts of feeling but always correct and his art
perfect. In his work he always held himself under great control and it
mirrors his power and balance. He loved wind instruments and people
often considered his music noisy!
He wrote forty-two operas, two passions, ninety-four cantatas, ten
pasticcios, serenatas, songs and the instrumental works mentioned above.
The famous Handel _Largo_ comes from one of his operas, _Xerxes_, and
was an aria _Ombra mai fu_ (Never was there a Shadow).
Handel used counterpoint, but always knew when to unbend and use
delightful flowing melody, so he became popular.
Other men, Hasse, Telemann and Graun, contemporaries of Handel, followed
the popular Italian models but without Handel’s genius for melody and
sublimity, and were never heard of after their own generation had passed
away.
Handel’s _Messiah_, which he wrote in twenty-four days, was first given
in Dublin. It took the people by storm and when the king heard it,
thrilled by the “Hallelujah Chorus,” he rose to his feet, and since then
it is the custom to stand during that number. It has become the
Christmas Oratorio and is sung in churches and societies all over the
world. It has lost none of its first popularity among the people and is
loved as few works have ever been. It thrills because it is sincere,
big, and arouses religious feeling. Oratorio was his special gift to the
world and one never hears the name of Handel without thinking of _The
Messiah_.
Handel seemed to reunite the forms: oratorio and opera, under his
massive will. At first some of his oratorios were given in costume,
showing the influence of opera.
Handel had many enemies in England, but he also had friends. Although
imperious, he had a sweet side, and made friends with humble folk who
loved music, even though he hobnobbed with royalty. Thomas Britton, a
coal heaver, his friend, is sketched by an artist of the day in a
picture where Handel is playing _The Harmonious Blacksmith_ to Alexander
Pope, the Duchess of Queensbury, Colley Cibber and other famous folk.
Yet he stormed at everyone and even royalty “quaked in their boots” and
were forced to behave themselves at rehearsals and concerts which Handel
directed.
Accused of using someone’s melody, he answered, “That pig couldn’t use
such a melody as well as I could!” He helped himself to so many that he
was called the “Great Plagiarist.”
His latter life was spent quietly, with a few intimate friends, drinking
his beer and smoking his beloved pipe. He was always generous and as he
grew older seemed to become kindlier and softer. He contributed largely
to the Foundling Asylum and even played the organ there.
He wanted to die on Good Friday, “in hopes,” he said, “of meeting his
good God, his sweet Lord and Saviour on the day of his resurrection,”
and on Good Friday, April 6th, 1759, he died.
CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK—FATHER OF MODERN OPERA
1714–1787
Now we come to the next genius, Christoph Gluck (1714–1787) born when
George Frederick Handel was twenty-nine years old. He also attacked the
frivolous drift of his time, but in another field from Handel and Bach,
and gave the fashionable, aimless Italian opera its death blow for all
time.
Gluck’s life is different from Handel, Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven
as you will see later when you have read about all of these. For, until
he was almost forty years old, Gluck did nothing to make him great,
whereas these other men showed from their earliest years that they were
unusual.
Gluck belongs to two periods for his life bridges Bach’s and Haydn’s.
You will see how he first belonged to the frivolous fashion-loving
composers like Hasse, Jomelli and Piccinni, and how later he blossomed
into the great renewer and constructor of opera and escapes into a class
of his own! His is the most remarkable instance of a man who starts with
an ordinary talent, and later in life grasps a vision that never came to
him in his early youth and which was not caught by others in his day.
Furthermore he was able to carry his point and not merely see the vision
and let it go by. But first let us see how his life unfolded, for a
man’s life helps us to understand his works.
Christoph Willibald Gluck, born July 2nd, 1714, at Weidenwang, near
Nüremberg, was the son of a gamekeeper, who moved from estate to estate
in the service of princes and nobles, and at the time of Christoph’s
birth, was ranger to Eugene, Prince of Savoy. So, this little boy
destined to become the great Chevalier von Gluck, was a child of the
people even as was Haydn and others.
GLUCK STARTS TRAVELING
When he was three years old he was taken to Bohemia, (now
Czecho-Slovakia), for his father entered the service of Prince
Lobkowitz, a great music lover, of whom you will hear again. His parents
were quite poor, yet it is remarkable that above everything else they
gave Christoph a good education and at twelve he went to a Jesuit school
near Eisenberg, the home of Prince Lobkowitz.
Here he learned to sing and to play the organ, the violin, the ’cello
and the clavier. He was diligent and became most proficient and was
loved and admired by the school fathers. But little did they dream that
some day he was to write classic operas, based not on Christian stories
but the pagan dramas of the Greeks!
When nearly nineteen, he left the seminary and said good-bye to the
Church of St. Ignatius and went to Prague. To support himself and to
carry on his scientific and musical studies he gave lessons, played for
rustic festivals and earned money the best way he could, until Prince
Lobkowitz became interested in him and introduced him to the musical
circle at court. Here he met Count Melzi who took him to Milan, where he
was taught by Giovanni Battista Sammartini, a celebrated organist and
teacher of counterpoint. After four years of study he completed his
musical education.
In Milan, he wrote his first opera, _Artaserse_ which was performed in
1741. Metastasio, the popular librettist, wrote the words to
_Artaserse_, as he did for many of Gluck’s works written in the loose
style of the Italian opera. He was now twenty-eight and in the five
years spent here, he composed eight operas, through which he gained
great popularity. But not yet had it come to him to revolutionize opera;
he simply used the old pattern which was really nothing but groups of
songs, recitatives and choruses having very little connection except to
give the performers the chance to do musical feats to amaze the audience
with their skill. The story of these operas, meagre as it was, stopped
short, for some long and elaborate cadenza, and then it went on again
with no thought of the meaning of the drama but rather to tickle the
taste of the audience and the performer. The orchestra, too, was a
step-child, for no one cared where it came in as long as it was politely
subdued, keeping the singers on the key, and doing its best to be heard
only when bidden. So, Gluck followed these ideas in the beginning and
perhaps it was better that he did, otherwise he might never have
realized how far opera had strayed from the ideals of Monteverde.
Having eight operas to his credit, he began to get commissions from
other cities and countries, and next accepted an invitation, in 1745, to
go to London as composer of opera at the Haymarket Theatre. In 1746 he
wrote _La Caduta de Giganti_ (The Fall of the Giants), with no doubt a
libretto of Metastasio’s, then he gave his _Artamene_ and was assisted
in their production by Handel, who is supposed to have treated the works
with contempt. He is said to have exclaimed, “Even my shoe-black can
write better counterpoint than Gluck.” But we must remember that Gluck
had not yet become the _great_ Gluck. His visit to England was fruitful,
for Gluck heard and digested the great oratorios of Handel, and realized
that the voice and orchestra might be handled the same way in opera. No
doubt his mission was beginning to dawn on him; it came, not as a great
revelation, but gradually.
HE MAKES SUCCESS OF FAILURE
Another thing that gave him a push forward and shows how great people
can make a success of failure: he was asked to write a _pasticcio_
(Italian word meaning a meat-pie), or a string of melodies, very
fashionable in his day. He strung together his best airs from his
Italian operas, and called it _Pyramus and Thisbe_, but it was a dismal
failure. “Ah, ha!” he must have thought, “why shouldn’t this musical
drivel fail, for it is naught but trash, and with nothing that is needed
to make a good literary drama.” So this was one of the experiences that
led him to reform opera, making the words fit the music and not stopping
a performance, so that a popular soloist could sing a meaningless trill
and then start again with the other part of the word,—the way that opera
was being written at that time.
After his London ups and downs he went to Paris and heard the operas of
Rameau. He realized now the value of musical declamation and recitative
to the meaning and action of opera if used with thought, and he was not
slow in taking suggestions.
Gluck was probably the most all round man of his day, for he knew
literature and science as did few musicians. He knew all the influential
people in the arts, sciences, and music in London, Hamburg, Dresden and
Vienna, and his home was a center of learned and delightful people. When
in Vienna but a short time, he was commissioned to write an opera and he
produced, with success, _La Semiramide_, after which he went to
Copenhagen. His next opera _Telemacco_ in which he began to work out his
new ideas was well received, in Rome and Naples.
In 1750 after many disappointments, he was married to a lady he had long
adored. They lived happily together, for Marriane Pergin not only
brought him money which was a great joy, but was always his devoted and
understanding help-mate. She was an accomplished woman, and a companion
that many might envy. But, sad to say, they had no children, so they
adopted a niece of Christoph’s, a lovely little girl with great musical
talent. The three lived lovingly together until the poor little child
sickened and died, making the Glucks most unhappy, for they adored her,
as is often the case, even more than if she had been their own child.
In 1751 Gluck journeyed to Naples. Didn’t he travel a lot in the days of
the stage coach and brigands! In the same year he became conductor to
Prince Frederick at Vienna and in 1754 was officially attached to the
opera, and Maria Theresa made him court chapel master.
Soon after, the Pope, pleased with what he had done in Rome, made him
Chevalier of the Golden Spur and from that time he always styled himself
Ritter (Chevalier) von Gluck.
In _Il re pastore_ (The Shepherd King), we see the dawning of Gluck’s
best period of writing (1756). The overture is better music than he had
written before, and from this time on, Gluck became the genius in the
opera world for which he is known. From 1756 to 1760 he lived apart from
the world studying and after this he began to broadcast his ideas in
writing and composing.
When the Archduke Joseph of Austria, afterwards the Emperor, married
Isabella of Bourbon, Gluck wrote _Tetede_ which was performed with great
pomp. After this he wrote the ballet _Don Giovanni_, or _The Libertine_,
particularly interesting, for it certainly gave Mozart an idea for his
own great work _Don Giovanni_.
Again our “wandering minstrel” moved, this time to Bologna where he
conducted a new opera which, strange to say, showed not a sign of his
new ideas!
“ORPHEUS AND EURIDICE” IS BORN
Soon he met Calzabigi, another librettist, with whom he wrote his first
epoch-making opera _Orpheus and Euridice_. Although in some parts it is
written like the older operas, he used many of his new ideas. The public
at first were bewildered but they liked it. The next opera written with
his new librettist was _Alceste_, so different was it, and so full of
his best thought that the public did not like it. The pleasure-loving
people went to be amused and heard music almost as serious as oratorio.
It was austere, and its climax was not satisfactory. Yet it and _Orpheus
and Euridice_ mark the birth of music drama which Mozart and Wagner
developed further.
In _Orpheus and Euridice_ the chorus was an important part of the drama
as it had been in the old Greek drama from which Gluck took many of his
stories; and was not something dragged in to fill up space. Instead,
too, of the over-embroidered arias they were simple and expressive, and
the characters were real living beings, instead of figures on which to
drape showy melodies. Naturally, the composers were jealous of him and
went so far as to say that the principal singer had written _Orpheus and
Euridice_.
Gluck said of his _Alceste_: “I seek to put music to its true purpose;
that is, to support the poem, and thus to strengthen the expression of
the feelings and the interest of the situation without interrupting the
action.... In short, I have striven to abolish all those bad habits
which sound reasoning and true taste have been struggling against now
for so long in vain.” He abolished the unnecessary cadenza, a fancy,
trilly part composed by the soloist himself and used just before the
close of a piece. You will see in a later chapter how Beethoven dealt
with it.
Happily Gluck and Calzabigi still continued working together and in 1770
he wrote _Paride and Elena_ (Paris and Helen) which proved Gluck to be a
writer of beautiful romantic song.
By now Vienna and Paris were enthusiastic about him, yet he was severely
criticized because he dared to write and compose differently from
everyone else. The adventurer into new paths must always expect trouble
from those who have not caught up with him.
TROUBLE BREWS FOR GLUCK
Now our traveler goes to Paris where he presents _Iphigenia in Aulis_.
The story was taken from a play of the French dramatist Racine. Although
this was the fourth work in Gluck’s new style it was not as good as the
others. His enemies did their utmost to hurt him as they resented his
coming into Paris to reform French opera. And as the musicians and
singers were not good artists, it was almost impossible to give it well,
and probably it would never have reached the stage had it not been for
Marie Antoinette the French Queen who was later guillotined. She had
been a real friend and pupil of Gluck, when a young princess in Vienna.
Nevertheless the opera pleased its audiences, and it paid well, and
Gluck was given a new court office in Vienna.
In 1776 the trouble that had been brewing with Gluck’s opponents came to
a climax. Piccinni was his great Italian rival and the city of Paris was
torn as to who was the better composer. All the literary men and the
court were divided into factions, one for and one against Gluck. Some
great men, including Jean Jacques Rousseau were Gluckists, while others
of importance were Piccinnists. Never had there been so great a
contention for musical glory or struggle against new ideas. It was a
most extraordinary thing, but it does show that there was great musical
interest or people would never have wasted so much time in argument and
in writing for or against these men. Finally it came to a head, and it
was decided to give them both the same libretto of _Iphigenia in Tauris_
to see who could write the better opera. Gluck completed his within the
year and after nearly three years, Piccinni finished his. They were both
performed and needless to say Gluck won the award and even Piccinni said
himself that Gluck’s was the better. It is nice to know that after
Gluck’s death, Piccinni tried to collect funds to raise a memorial as a
tribute to him! So artistic rivalry need not dim admiration.
In _Iphigenia in Tauris_ again the master rises to great heights. His
overture was splendid, his orchestral color was superb. He pictured the
different characteristics of the various groups of people and of the
individuals themselves in word and music as it never had been done
before.
He wrote _Armide_ in 1777. It did not succeed although it was very
lovely and dreamy and in it, he suggested the sounds of babbling brooks
and the song of the nightingales.
Gluck wrote thirty operas, seven of which are in his new style: _Don
Giovanni_, _Orpheus and Euridice_, _Paris and Helen_, _Alceste_,
_Iphigenia in Tauris_, _Iphigenia in Aulis_ and _Armide_.
NEW PATHS
And thus this great path-breaker advanced _opera seria_ (grand opera).
The old _sinfonia_ in three movements which opened the opera,
disappeared, and instead came the introduction or overture, suggesting
the opera itself. He taught and wrote that composers could do anything
to assist the action of the opera; he elevated the story to an important
place; the characters in the plot were thought of as people and not as
puppets, and they were studied individually and not as machinery only.
The situations in the story governed the kind of music he used and he
tried hard to make the orchestra a main part of the opera. It seems odd
that nobody had thought of this before. Yet you have seen how much time
had been given to the voice throughout the ages, and how long it had
taken instruments to arrive at their full importance. So we see Gluck
improving as he worked with a better librettist. From now the opera
writer had to use thought in composition, as he would in writing a play.
A VERY CROSS CONDUCTOR!
But Gluck had trouble with the singers on account of his innovations. He
was the crossest conductor of his time, would allow no one to dictate to
him, and scolded the singers as they had never been scolded before.
He must have looked droll conducting, for he used to take off his wig
during rehearsals, and wrap a cloth about his head to keep the draughts
from fanning him! He would rage if the singers tried to do what they had
been permitted to do in other operas! Some singers demanded extra pay
when Gluck conducted. Sometimes he would repeat a passage twenty or
thirty times and no _pianissimo_ was soft enough and no _fortissimo_
loud enough! Someone said of him while he was conducting, “He lives and
dies with his heroines, he rages with Achilles, weeps with Iphigenia and
in the dying scene of _Alceste_ throws himself back in his chair and
becomes as a corpse.”
Otherwise he was always the kind soul who attracted everybody from Marie
Antoinette down. She used to receive him in her boudoir so that they
could enjoy conversation without court formalities.
One day two prima donnas refused to obey him when rehearsing
_Iphigenia_, and he said: “Mesdemoiselles, I have been summoned here to
Paris especially to produce _Iphigenia_. If you sing, well and good, but
if not, that is your business; only I shall then seek an audience with
the Queen, and inform her that the opera cannot be performed, and I
shall put myself into my carriage and straightway leave for Vienna.” You
may know that the ladies did their best!
In closing let us tell you what Berlioz, a master of orchestration, said
of Gluck’s orchestration in _Alceste_: “Of its kind I know nothing more
dramatic, nothing more terror-inspiring.” And this was said of a man who
had only the simplest orchestra with which to work. After much fighting,
he was the first to introduce into the orchestra the kettle-drums and
cymbals, which moderns have used with grandeur.
Gluck lived to see his own success, but the Piccinni strife and the
jealousies may have weakened his constitution, for he died rather
suddenly in 1787, a few weeks after the first performance of Mozart’s
_Don Giovanni_.
There are many memorials in Europe to Gluck, not the least being his
bust which stands beside Lully and Rameau in the Grand Opera of Paris.
PUBLIC CONCERTS
It is very hard to realize that time was when there were no public
concerts. Music was confined for so many centuries to the churches, to
the public squares, to the King’s Chamber, or to the ball rooms of
wealthy nobles, that it had not become the democratic art that it is
now. Of course the first opera houses in Italy had been steps in the
direction of bringing music to the people. The concerts begun by the
Danish organist, Buxtehude, in Lübeck about 1673, and the
_Tonkünstler-societät_ in Vienna of the same period were the first
public concerts. In England, John Banister started concerts at about the
same time, which were the first to admit an audience by payment of a
fee. Handel’s friend, Thomas Britton, the coal-heaver, gave concerts at
his home for 10 shillings the series!
The 18th century saw a great development in giving public concerts. In
France, the _Concerts Spirituels_ were begun in 1725. The object of
these were to give music to the people on the days of religious
festivals when the opera house was closed. There were about 24 concerts
a year; the political events of 1791 put an end to the society but it
had already given the people a taste for concerts, and many new
societies grew out of it. The festivals of Three Choirs in West England
(see page 190) were founded in 1724, and the Academy of Ancient Music in
1710. The _Musikverein_ in Leipsic was founded in 1743 and was later
turned into the famous _Gewandhaus_ concerts in 1781.
This movement for public concerts went hand in hand with the development
of instruments and the perfecting of performers. In fact the word
concert came from “_consort_—the union or _symphony_ of various
instruments playing in concert to one tune.”
THE MANNHEIM SCHOOL
The symphony came to life in Germany. Paul Landormy in his _History of
Music_ tells us that it was the time of the “poor scholars” who were
educated free from expense in the schools with the understanding that
they were to learn the “musician’s trade” and take part in the concerts
organized by the cities and the courts. Thus symphony orchestras grew up
all over Germany,—Munich, Stuttgart, Dresden, Darmstadt, Hamburg where
Telemann conducted, in Leipsic, Berlin and Mannheim.
In Mannheim appeared the most important group of composers, known as the
_Mannheim School_, and many wrote the early symphonies which led from
the works of Bach to those of Haydn and Mozart. The best known of these
composers are: Johann Stamitz (1717–1757), Franz Xavier Richter
(1709–1789), Anton Filtz, Christian Cannabich, Ignaz Holzbauer, Ernst
Eichner and Giovanni Battista Toeschi. Under the direct influence of the
Mannheim School were: François Joseph Gossec (1734–1829), a Belgian
living in Paris who wrote many symphonies; Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805)
known as one of the first writers of chamber music in the form used by
the classic writers; Giovanni Battista Sammartini (1701–1775) of Milan;
the sons of Bach, Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, and Joseph and Michael
Haydn.
[Illustration:
_From the painting by J. B. Greuze, in the Louvre, Paris._
_Chevalier Christoph Willibald von Gluck._
_Father of Modern Opera._
]
[Illustration:
_From a statue by Barrias, in the Luxembourg Gallery, Paris._
_The Boy Mozart._
]
CHAPTER XX
“Papa” Haydn and Mozart—the Genius
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN
1732–1809
About the time in history when Franz Joseph Haydn was born, the world
was very much upset. No one knew what to think or how. It was a time of
battle and struggle as he was born in the midst of the Seven Years’ War
and lived during the French Revolution. Everyone except for a few great
persons felt bitter and discontented and doubt was everywhere. This
seems to be the way wars and conflicts affect all peoples and it is why
wars are so damaging.
Yet out of this mixture of feeling and thinking, the great classic
period of music was created by such men as Bach and Haydn and Mozart and
the finishing touches were put on it by Beethoven, the colossus.
Franz Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau (1732), a little town in Austria
near Vienna. His father was a wheelwright and his mother was a very good
cook. Beethoven’s mother, too, was a professional cook.
These simple parents, his brothers and sisters, measuring not a baker’s,
but a wheelwright’s dozen, had an hour or two of music every evening
after the hard day’s work, and Mathias, the father, played the harp and
sang. It was during these evenings that little Joseph’s father noticed
that at the age of six he was passionately fond of music.
One time at a festival the drummer failed to appear and there was no one
who could play for the choristers who were to march through the town.
His teacher, Frankh, called Joseph and showed him how to make the drum
stroke and told him to practice it. When he was left by himself he found
a meal tub, over which he stretched a cloth, put it on a stool and
drummed with such vigor that the whole thing toppled over and he and his
drum were covered with meal! But he learned to drum! And the people
laughed when in this solemn church festival, the little six year old
Joseph was seen drumming the big drum carried by a hunchback in front of
him. The drums on which he played are still at Hainburg. But, we forget,
we have not brought him from Rohrau!
Not long before J. M. Frankh, a relative, came to visit the Haydns, and
it was decided that he should take Joseph to Hainburg to teach him. The
excitement, of course, was great and little Joseph felt very important
with all the hustle and bustle preparing for his departure. Little did
Saperle (his nickname) realize what a hard master he was getting in
Frankh, who only cared for the pay he received from Joseph’s father.
Nevertheless he learned much and showed great talent while at Hainburg
and one day a great thing happened. Reutter, the organist of St.
Stephen’s in Vienna, visited Frankh and as they talked of music the
conversation turned to the choir school which Reutter directed. Frankh
sent for Joseph, a slight, dark haired, dark eyed little boy, and
Reutter asked him to read a piece of music at sight. Joseph looked at it
and said: “How can I, when my teacher couldn’t?” Yet, Joseph did sing it
sweetly and he entered the choir school. Here his life was a misery, for
Reutter was harsh and unsympathetic, but soon Joseph’s hard life in the
choir school was over, for one very cold winter night, he felt a little
frisky, as many a healthy lad does, and pulled off the wig of a man in
the choir. Reutter, who had wanted an excuse to rid himself of Joseph,
because his voice had begun to break, threw him out into the cold. Poor
Saperle had no other place to go and wandered about all night, until he
met his acquaintance Spangler, a tenor who was very poor and so had
sympathy with Haydn. He took him home to live with him and his wife and
child in his attic,—one small room with no comfort and no privacy. All
this time young Haydn was forced to earn his daily bread by teaching as
much as he could, playing for weddings, baptisms, funerals, festivals,
dances and street serenadings. This street serenading was a sweet and
pretty custom of the time.
One night Haydn and some other youths serenaded Kurz, a prominent
comedian. Kurz, pleased by the music below his window, called to the
lads: “Whose music is that?” “Joseph Haydn’s,” called back Haydn. “Who
is he and where?” asked Kurz. “Down here, I am Haydn,” said Joseph. Kurz
invited him upstairs and Haydn, at the age of seventeen, received a
commission for a comic opera, which had two special performances.
All this time he mixed with the poor and laboring people, and their
songs became his songs, and his heart was full of their frolics and
their pains. He was of the people and was so filled with their humor
that later he was called the father of humor in music.
Soon, in order to be alone, and to work in peace, he took a room in
another attic, and bade good-bye to his very good friends. His room was
cold in winter and let in the rains and snows, but it did have a spinet
on which Haydn was allowed to play, and fortunately Metastasio the
librettist lived in this house. Here Haydn studied the works of Karl
Philip Emanuel Bach, Fuchs’ _Gradus ad Parnassum_ (Steps to Parnassus,
Parnassus meaning the mountain upon which the Greek Muses lived and so
comes to mean the home of learning). He practised too, during this time,
on any instrument he could find and learned so much that he became the
founder of the modern orchestra.
When Metastasio discovered that there was a hard working musician in his
house he met him and then introduced him to Porpora the greatest Italian
singing teacher in Vienna. Not long after meeting him, Porpora entrusted
to his care Marianne Van Martines, his ten year old pupil, the future
musical celebrity. At seventeen Marianne wrote a mass which was used at
St. Michael’s Church and she became the favorite singer and player of
Empress Maria Theresa. You see women even in those days composed and
performed!
So began Haydn’s successes. Porpora engaged him as accompanist, and
treated him half way between a valet and a musician, but Haydn’s sweet
nature carried him through all unpleasantnesses and he was so anxious to
learn and to earn his six ducats that he did not care if he did have to
eat with the servants.
In 1751–2, he wrote his first mass, his first string quartet, and his
first comic opera for Kurz, _The Crooked Devil_, the music of which has
been lost. Soon after he met Gluck at the concerts of the Prince of
Hildburghausen, where Haydn acted as accompanist; at the prince’s house
too, he met Ditter von Dittersdorf, the violinist. The princes and
nobles of these days did much for music for it was usually at their
homes and under their guidance that the composers received opportunities
to work.
Nevertheless, we see Haydn during these days slaving to make his daily
bread, but with the money he made he bought books on music theory and
held himself sternly down to hard work, morning, noon, and night.
In 1755 Baron von Fürnburg, a music amateur, who gave concerts at his
home, asked him to compose for him, and he wrote eighteen quartets, six
_scherzandi_ for wind instruments (the ancestors of his own symphonies),
four string quartets, to be played by the village priest, himself, the
steward, and the ’cellist Albrechtsberger.
All these pieces show how much happier he was since becoming part of the
Baron’s staff, for they are merry and jolly, and filled with that humor
which Haydn was the first to put into music.
Here, too, he met the cultivated Countess Thun, who was so interested in
his struggle for success, and in the youth himself that she became his
pupil. From this time on he began to earn more and to live more
comfortably.
Everything seemed to be clearing up for him now. The Countess introduced
him to Count Morzin, a Bohemian nobleman of great wealth, and in 1759 he
became his musical director. His orchestra had eighteen members and here
he wrote his first Symphony (the first of one hundred and twenty-five!)
All this time he kept up his teaching and very soon married the daughter
of a wig-maker, who did not understand him and with whom he was very
unhappy, but he lived with her like the good man he was until within a
few years of his death.
HAYDN AND THE ESTERHAZYS
Soon after Haydn’s marriage, Count Morzin had to cut down expenses and
dismissed his musical staff, but Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy engaged him
and he lived with him thirty years under salary with all his expenses
paid,—thus ended his struggles to make a living. He composed in comfort
and had a few able musicians to play whatever he wrote. He had quiet,
solitude and appreciation,—the need of all art workers.
From 1761 to 1790 in the Esterhazy home he wrote most of his immortal
works,—six of his best symphonies; the oratorio _The Seven Words from
the Cross_ (1785) which he himself thought was a masterpiece; six string
quartets.
His orchestra here had six violins and violas, one violoncello, one
double bass, one flute, two oboes, two bassoons and four
horns,—seventeen in all; later he had twenty-two to twenty-four
including trumpets, kettle-drums and from 1776–1778 the newest arrival,
the clarinet.
His duties were to rehearse the orchestra daily, give music lessons,
compose for the orchestra and instruct the singers engaged by the
prince. Oh, yes! he had to tune his own harpsichord, on which he played
when he led the orchestra.
Haydn led a beautiful life with the Esterhazy family. In the summer he
hunted and fished, and in the winter, went off to Vienna to hear the
orchestra and meet great personages attracted by the art, music and
court life. But he had to keep on composing for the Esterhazys, who were
constantly entertaining and there were many special occasions to be
celebrated with Haydn’s lovely music.
It seems hard for us to realize that one family could play the
compositions of one man continually, but we have rarely had so great a
man to listen to!
HAYDN IN ENGLAND
In 1790 Haydn’s fame had spread abroad, especially to England. Salomon,
a violinist and concert manager begged him to come to conduct twenty
concerts with a new composition for each concert, for which he was to
receive a fabulous sum. He gave his first concert February 25th, 1791.
He was now about sixty years old and his popularity was so great that
the Prince of Wales engaged him for twenty-six court concerts. He forgot
to pay him, but later Parliament sent him one hundred guineas (about
$500). Money at that time bought four or five times what it buys now, so
Haydn went back to Austria, rich and famous and with a degree from
Oxford. The English asked him many times to return and finally in 1794
he went again and was greeted with even more enthusiasm. Few composers
in all the world have lived to see such triumphs as did the jovial,
charming “Papa Haydn,” as his warm friend and pupil Mozart called him.
But withal, Haydn was modest and unassuming and never hesitated to give
his services in concerts for the poor or to give money to the sick.
Besides all the money he must have received, he had a generous pension
from his friends, the Esterhazys, who demanded very little of his time.
So now, with leisure, he could do his greatest works and at this period
he wrote two oratorios, _The Creation_ and _The Seasons_. They were more
than successful. Emil Naumann says this of _The Seasons_: “It is not
until we come to Haydn that we witness the joys and sorrows of men and
women of our own time and dwellers in our own land, the tiller of the
soil, the wine-presser and shepherd, or homely figures like Simon the
farmer, his daughter Anna and the peasant Lucas, in _The Seasons_.” Then
he says of _The Creation_: “We move with him through the German spinning
room, where the girls relate stories to the accompaniment of the musical
hum of the spinning wheel, or we rove through woods to follow the chase.
His whole heart is in nature. He loves to depict her in her many varying
aspects, and at all seasons, and all is touched with a light, tender
hand. His types are of home.... His delineation of nature is ever the
same, fresh and loving, whether we look at _The Seasons_ or at _The
Creation_.”
Haydn said of his English experience, “It is England which has made me
famous in Germany.”
In 1797 he wrote _God Preserve the Emperor_ which became the Austrian
National Hymn, and later put it in his quartet called the Kaiser
Quartet. From this time on, nearly every nation honored him,—Russia,
France, Sweden, England, Austria, Germany. And as Haydn was leaving for
England, when Mozart said to him, “Papa, you are scarcely fitted for
such an undertaking, mixing with the big world without the gift of
language,” he replied, “Aye, but _my_ language is understood by the
whole world.”
And this is the keynote of Haydn’s greatness, his music is and was
understood by the whole world, so true and simple and melodious is it.
A GALA PERFORMANCE
One year before his death when he was seventy-six years of age, he was
so feeble that he had to be carried to the concert hall where a great
performance of _The Creation_ was given in his honor under the direction
of Salieri, who later taught Beethoven. Princes and nobles and grand
ladies did him homage and the ladies threw their beautiful cloaks over
his couch to keep him warm, for it was a cold night in March, 1808. When
that part of the oratorio came where they sing, “And there was light,”
it is said that Haydn exclaimed, “Not I, but a power from above created
that.”
He died on May 30th, 1809, from shock, it is said, caused by the booming
of cannon near his house when the French besieged Vienna.
So passed this conscientious musician, whose belief is summed up in
these sentences: “I know that God appointed me a task. I acknowledge it
with thanks, and hope and believe I have done my duty and have been
useful to the world. May others do likewise.”
HAYDN’S GIFT TO MUSIC
1. He made over the orchestra, he discovered that muted strings made a
beautiful winning effect.
2. He and Mozart at about the same time, added the clarinet to the
orchestra.
3. He was the first composer who brought humor, that difficult thing
which is neither wit nor comicalness, to music, although others had
brought fun and boisterousness.
4. He was the first to use the individual tone color of each instrument,
so, rightly he has been called the father of the modern orchestra.
5. He developed sonata-form in the sonata itself, the quartet, concerto
and symphony. He was one of the first to establish two themes instead of
one in the movements of sonata-forms. This was a great innovation and
made the sonata a far more living thing and gave the composers who
followed him a richer field to carry out musical design and human
feeling.
6. He wrote about 1,407 works! 157 symphonies of which 18 are
masterpieces, 83 string quartets, 66 piano sonatas, 5 oratorios, 42
German and English songs, 336 Scotch songs, 40 canons, 13 part songs for
three and four voices, 5 German marionette operas written for the
Esterhazy theatre, 14 Italian operas, 163 pieces for the baryton (viola
da bordona), a favorite instrument of one of the Esterhazy princes, 47
divertimenti and trios, 15 concertos for different instruments, 15
masses, 5 other sacred works, 400 single minuets and waltzes. (Emil
Naumann.)
7. Among his larger vocal works with orchestra are: _Alcide_ (1762),
_Philemon and Baucis_, _entre acte_ music for King Lear and many others.
His symphonies are so numerous and so many in the same key that in order
to tell them apart some have been given such names as _Surprise
Symphony_, _The Farewell Symphony_, the _Military Symphony_, _Queen of
France_, _The Oxford_, the fascinating _Kinder Symphonie_ (children’s
symphony) and on and on!
MOZART AND HAYDN
Mozart was years younger than Haydn and died while still very young, but
they were the closest friends. Haydn was his teacher, but lived to think
of Mozart as his superior and didn’t hesitate to say so. This again
shows the great spirit of Haydn.
Although Haydn was an innovator and a master of form his rules were
never cast into molds he could not break through inspiration. A critic
once asked him about the introduction to the Mozart Quartet in C major
which had been much discussed on account of its complex harmonies,—a
work which today we look upon as one of the greatest examples of his
genius. Haydn replied in a decided tone, “If Mozart has written it, be
sure he had good reason for so doing.” Albrechtsberger, a strict
technician, questioned him about the use of consecutive fourths which
was breaking a good old-fashioned law of harmony. Haydn replied, “Art is
free and must not be fettered by handicraft rule. The cultivated ear
must decide, and I believe myself as capable as any one of making laws
in this respect.” Thus spoke the great musician and not just the teacher
and follower.
He loved his art so well that he welcomed the young Mozart to Vienna
generously, because of his genius. Haydn, when asked by a manager to
have one of his operas follow the night after one of Mozart’s refused,
saying: “It would be too much to venture, for next to the great Mozart
it would be difficult for anyone to stand. Could I force home to every
lover of music the grandeur and inimitableness of Mozart’s operas, ...
and display of genius, and were I able to impress all others with the
same feelings which excite me, the nations would contend for the
possession of so rare a gem. Let Prague strive to hold fast the
priceless man. But reward him adequately, for without this the history
of great men is truly sad and offers to posterity little inducement to
exertion, as indeed many a hopeful mind lies fallow for want of
encouragement. It angers me _only_ that Mozart has not yet been engaged
at some Imperial court. Pardon this digression but I love the man
dearly.” When he left Mozart he wrote to his friend Frau von Gennzinger,
“I am inconsolable at parting,” and then he tells with the simplicity of
a child “a happy dream” he had listening to a performance of Mozart’s
_Marriage of Figaro_. (Adapted from Naumann.)
And thus we see this cheerful-hearted man according honor and love even
to his rivals, his broad realistic humor showing itself, as well as
charm, dignity and beauty, in all his works whether in music or in life.
Papa Haydn was a good and truly religious man. He leaves us an example
of kindliness and thoughtfulness, for even the people who loaned him
money, which he repaid, were remembered in his will. A touching story is
told of him; that when he returned to his parent’s home, he kissed the
floor upon which his mother and father used to walk, so well had he
remembered them, yet so simple had he remained, he who played among and
played with and played for the greatest people who lived in his time.
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
1756–1791
Now we come to the greatest musical genius of all time. For, whereas
Bach, Handel, Haydn, Gluck, and Beethoven excelled in many things,
Mozart excelled in everything; living but thirty-five years, about half
the time of most of these, he outstripped them all in natural genius.
Wolfgang Amadeus, born in Salzburg on the 27th of January, 1756, was the
son of Leopold Mozart, under chapel master to the hated Archbishop of
Salzburg. His mother was the daughter of a minor official in
Hildenstein, and was not a cook as were the mothers of Haydn and of
Beethoven. However, Madam Mozart’s not having been of that profession
did not lessen her son’s genius!
One day when little Wolfgang was four years old, his father found the
boy busily writing. He warned his father not to disturb him, as he was
writing a concerto for the harpsichord. And, sure enough, when the
father looked over the boy’s shoulder he saw that he was not scribbling
as most children of four years do, but was actually composing a work for
harpsichord and orchestra, which he afterwards played to show how it
should go. In spite of the blots of ink, it could easily be read.
Mozart’s father was a wise and kindly man. He soon appreciated that the
boy was destined for a great career, and decided that he must be
properly trained.
Wolfgang was a sweet and loving child, very kind and easy to control,
although he and his sister “Nannerl” were “regular” children and loved
to play as other children. The father decided to take them both on a
concert tour through Europe, in order to meet the great musicians and to
earn money for their education.
In May, 1765, Wolfgang and his pretty little sister gave their first
concert in London “for the benefit” so the sign read, “of Miss Mozart
aged thirteen and Master Mozart eight years of age, prodigies of
nature ... a concert of music, with all the overtures of this little
boy’s composition.”
The people, tired of all the pomp and ceremony of fashion, were eager
for something different and were ready to listen to youthful prodigies,
so the hall was crowded, and everyone was amazed.
They were beautifully brought up, charming, merry and unspoiled by the
gifts showered upon them. Father Mozart gave the presents to them by
degrees, teaching them the value of all things, from jewels to flattery.
Because of this training, Mozart always remained modest, did everything
with gratitude to God and greatest love for his parents. He was
especially loving to Nannerl to whom he brought every new idea. In fact
Mozart radiated friendship and love.
THE CHILDREN TOUR EUROPE
On this concert tour (1765) in Paris, London, Holland and Switzerland,
Mozart was received with great enthusiasm everywhere. When they came
back, Mozart had no time to become conceited for he began a strict
course of study and at twelve he composed his first mass and his first
opera _Bastien et Bastienne_, which is still played and is charming. At
fourteen he was assistant concertmaster to the Archbishop of Salzburg,
and then began a series of woes, for the Archbishop was a mean character
and treated him most unjustly.
However, in 1777, we see him in Paris with his mother, where to his
great advantage he heard Gluck’s operas and met Gluck. Shortly after
that his mother died, and it made a very deep scar in his heart. Soon he
was absorbed in composing and finishing _Idomeneo_ and in this year
(1781) took up his residence in Vienna. In the next, he married
Constance Weber and wrote _Il Seraglio_ in which his heroine is called
Constance. They say he was teased for this, but he did not mind very
much. In 1786 he wrote the unexcelled _Marriage of Figaro_, which at
first was not appreciated, but soon came into its own.
Prague began to love Mozart and gave him ovations. To show his
appreciation he composed _Don Giovanni_ (1787) and so great was the
people’s delight in this masterpiece that Emperor Joseph made him court
composer at the salary of $400 a year! Too bad it was not more, for poor
Mozart was never free from the heart-breaking struggle to make enough
money to live. You will recall the letter of Haydn in the last section
where he wished some nation would adopt Mozart and free him from care,
so great was Haydn’s appreciation and love for Mozart, which Mozart
returned. When listening to a piece of Haydn’s, a critic once said: “I
wouldn’t have written it like that, would you?” “No,” replied Mozart,
“and do you know why? Because neither of us would have had the idea!”
Isn’t it refreshing to see men so great in wisdom and works that they
become greater because of their loyalties.
Yet this man, a genius almost divine, was so hated by petty musicians,
so badgered by unjust criticism, that when he was dying he believed that
someone had poisoned him!
In spite of his enemies, he was known for his gaiety and bubbling fun,
which ever overflowed into his music. No one seems to know why his
country did not free him of money worry.
APPRECIATION COMES LATE
As it so often happens with great men, after his death public
subscriptions were collected and statues erected as a tribute to his
memory. At Salzburg you can see a statue of him, and yearly festivals of
his works are held in his honor; and in Vienna, the opera house is
decorated with frescoes of scenes from the _Magic Flute_!
After his visit to Prague he was never well, and when he had finished
the inimitable _Magic Flute_ he started work on his last composition,
the great Requiem (a mass played for the dead) which influenced Catholic
Church music for years. He became very despondent, in great contrast to
his usual high spirits, and poor Constance did everything to cheer him.
One day, while writing the Requiem, Mozart began to weep and declared he
was writing it for himself, “I feel I am not going to last much longer,
some one has certainly given me poison, I cannot get rid of this idea.”
In November, being an ardent member of the Masonic brotherhood, as were
also Beethoven and Haydn, believing as they did in the freedom and
brotherhood of man, he wrote a cantata and led it himself at his lodge.
Ill and despondent, he continued work on the Requiem, finished while he
was dying. All during this time he longed to hear his _Magic Flute_
which was constantly given at the opera house, and like a child, he
would say: “I guess they have just reached this or that point,” and he
would hum the music as he thought it must be progressing at the opera.
The day before he died, Roser, his friend, played some of the opera on
the harpsichord to cheer him.
The afternoon before his death, after finishing the Requiem, he and some
of his friends sang it. At the _Lacrymosa_, Mozart wept. He said to
Sussmayer, his friend, “Did I not say I was writing the Requiem for
myself?” Later he asked his wife to tell Albrechtsberger of his
approaching end, so that he would be ready to take his post at St.
Stephen’s. During his last hours he was informed that he had been made
director of all the music at St. Stephen’s with a salary that for the
first time in his life would have enabled him to live in comfort, but it
was too late! At midnight, on December 5th, 1791, he lost consciousness
and fell into a slumber from which he did not awake. His wife was so
overcome with grief that she was too ill to attend his funeral. A few
faithful friends followed the coffin, but had to turn back as a furious
tempest was raging and they could not force their way through the
driving rain and sleet. Thus passed one of the rarest spirits that has
ever brought Music to earth, and he lies in a grave unknown and
unmarked. In 1859, the city of Vienna erected a monument to his memory
near the spot where he was probably buried.
Sad, sad end for so great a man! He and Raphael, Keats and Shelley and
Jesus, Himself, all died early in their careers and yet had time to
leave the world a finer and more lovely place for us.
MOZART PRINCE OF MUSICIANS
Why do we celebrate Mozart in what seems to be exaggerated terms?
Where Handel was a great epic composer, Bach a great religious composer,
Gluck, a dramatic writer, Haydn more versatile than many of the others
yet not dramatic, Beethoven lyric, free and hating all tyrannies, in
Mozart we have great opera, great masses, great epics, symphonies and
chamber music quartets and quintets.
The list of his works is gigantic! How he was able in the short span of
his life, to write down so much, to say nothing of composing them, is a
problem that cannot be solved!
With his usual tendency not to finish work until the last minute, he
wrote the overture to _Don Giovanni_ the night before the first
performance. He composed and scored it for orchestra in less time that
it took the copyists to copy the parts, and the audience was forced to
wait almost an hour until Mozart appeared at the conductor’s stand to
direct the unrehearsed overture. When the curtain rose on the first act
Mozart said, “The overture went off very well on the whole, although a
good many notes certainly fell under the desks!”
Mozart promised a group of country dances to a count, but failed to keep
his word. The count invited him, putting dinner time an hour ahead. When
Mozart arrived he was shown into a room, was given music paper, quills
and ink and was asked to compose, then and there, four country dances to
be performed the next evening. In a half hour’s time he wrote the entire
orchestra score and earned his dinner!
Mozart could be not only humorous, but tragic in the same work, making
his humor seem greater by contrast. _Don Giovanni_ and the _Magic Flute_
could be called tragic-comedies they are so rich in both moods.
In the _Marriage of Figaro_ he originated what Emil Naumann calls
conversational opera, although Rossini’s _Barber of Seville_, and
Donizetti’s _Daughter of the Regiment_ follow it in style they do not
reach it in real fun, melody and quality. When we say some of his operas
were humorous we do not mean that they were comic operas.
In _Don Giovanni_ he originated romantic opera, and although Weber in
_Oberon_ and other operas have their fine moments, none approach the
awe-inspiring, continuous beauty of Mozart’s.
He was the first to write a great fairy opera, _The Magic Flute_,
composed when he was writing the Requiem! Although the librettist wrote
it for money, Mozart wanted it idealistic and true to his beliefs.
_Cosi Fan Tutti_ (They’re All Alike) was really and truly comic opera,
and _Titus_ shows his mastery of the formal and severe style. So in all
these he left models for those who followed him. Had he done but this
one thing he would have been great indeed.
Coming into the world when he did, he was the connecting link between
the old Italian opera and Gluck, who idealized what the old Florentines
did, on the one hand, and the romantic and romantic comic opera of the
later masters of Germany and France, on the other.
In instrumental music he is the link between Haydn and Beethoven. Let us
see how! He furthered the work of Haydn in the quartets and quintets by
making them more human and more expressive of sorrow, pain, passionate
grief and the deeper things than Haydn. In his six quartets dedicated to
Haydn he says, “I labored over these.” This does not agree with the
usual statement, says Naumann, “that he shook his music out of his
sleeve.”
Out of his forty-nine symphonies nine rank, some think, with Beethoven’s
nine! In the finale of the Jupiter symphony he does so great a musical
feat that as yet no one has surpassed it. For in it he writes a fugue
along with the sonata form of the symphony, so spontaneous and so lovely
that even Bach himself could not have reached the freshness of it.
Mozart treated the fugue with the same limpid mirthfulness that he used
in less strict forms of music. This Beethoven never achieved for his
fugues were always a bit labored, but Mozart was perfectly at home in
contrapuntal writing.
Mozart also invented the art song! This is different from the regular
song for the music changes from verse to verse to make the meaning of
the poem or words more expressive. Thus he paved the way for Schubert,
Schumann, Brahms and other great song writers, as he did for the
symphonist Beethoven and those born later.
He opened the gate, not to a national art, but to an international art,
for he was a world figure.
So, we leave Mozart, the Genius, for Beethoven, the Colossus, who
deepened and glorified music and gave it a broader path along which to
travel.
[Illustration:
_After a “Portrait of a Young Man” (Mozart?) by Prud’hon, in the
Louvre, Paris._
_Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart._
]
[Illustration:
_From the head by Gourwitch._
_Ludwig van Beethoven._
]
CHAPTER XXI
Beethoven the Colossus
1770–1827
Let us see what was happening in the world into which Beethoven was
born.
The French Revolution had closed the 1700s with blood and terror, and
the American Colonies were uneasy under British rule, and before
Beethoven was six, the American Revolution was in full blast.
It was another time like the Renaissance, when people began to think for
themselves. In other words, the individual was commencing to count more
than the nation.
Slowly we see the idea die out that only the nobles and the wealthy had
the right to life, liberty and happiness, and we see the ideas of
freedom and equality taking the place of serfdom and slavish obedience
to over-lords. All this may seem strange to appear in a book on music
but art always mirrors the life and feelings of the people of its time.
Then came Napoleon, who dragged the French army through the continent of
Europe, until he was defeated at Waterloo by the English.
Then, too, came the War of 1812 between England and America, and unrest
seemed to be over the face of the world.
But through it all came the insistent demand of the people for more
democratic governments, and these new demands grudgingly granted by
monarchs caused revolts and uprisings everywhere.
This was the time when men like Goethe, Schiller, Kant, Fichte and other
famous poets and philosophers did their thinking and writing.
And into this world, the great democrat, Beethoven, came to add his
contribution to life, liberty, and beauty, as have few others of our
race.
And so the road is made easy for the people who followed
Beethoven,—Weber, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Chopin, and later
Wagner, who helped make the 19th century, a great musical era.
ROMANTICISM
Instead, now, of people writing around a well known song, as they did in
the cantus-firmus days, originality was the keynote; instead of
conventional forms, composers began to find new forms and to compose
from the heart; instead of writing dainty and graceful music, they wrote
music of power; instead of holding back what they wanted to say, they
poured out in rich melody their very deepest, loveliest and most exalted
feelings,—caring more for what they felt themselves than for the effect
on their audiences. Instead, too, of mathematical rules, they wrote
themselves, their hopes and their fears into their compositions, and
this freedom is labeled the Romantic Movement in Music.
Now appeared the great vocal and instrumental soloists (virtuosi). They
developed because of the advance in the making of instruments. Beethoven
could write more richly with the piano he had, than if he had lived in
Bach’s time. For the advance in instruments helps the composer and the
composer, the instruments.
Since music became of age, we have seen many things happen to it: the
advance in instruments, of the orchestra, and opera, and the development
of the sonata and symphony.
Ludwig van Beethoven was the bridge between the classic writers and
those to follow him: Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Chopin, and Liszt,
members of the “Romantic School.”
Before explaining what Beethoven did to advance music, you must hear
about his life, for he was so interesting that knowing him will help you
to understand his work.
Although born in Bonn, Germany, his ancestors on his father’s side were
of Dutch-Flemish stock like our old friends, Okeghem and Willaert. You
will notice that the syllable before his last name is “van.” If his name
had been German, it would have been “von.” He was proud of his Dutch
origin and corrected anyone who misspelled it. This frankness, you will
see, was a part of his character.
AN UNHAPPY BOYHOOD
He was born December 16th, 1770, and his mother was the chief cook in
the Castle of Ehrenbreitstein. His father, a tenor, and his grandfather
were musicians in the band of the Elector of Cologne at Bonn. His mother
was sweet and loving, but his father was unkind and intemperate.
According to some accounts, his boyhood was spent in poverty and his
father tried to drive him to earn money for the family. It was very hard
on Beethoven that his mother should have died early in his life.
At four years of age Ludwig’s father insisted upon his learning to play
the piano, and as he did not want to practise, he was whipped often.
Later he started to work in earnest and in spite of hating it, played in
public when he was eight and at eleven he had mastered Bach’s
forty-eight Preludes and Fugues, a difficult task even for a grown up.
Besides, he had written three piano sonatas published in 1781. We think
he wasted little time after his first whippings!
When thirteen, he went on the opera staff where he played accompaniments
for rehearsals, without pay. Not a bad job for a lad!
One of his first teachers was Pfeiffer, who belonged to the opera troupe
and boarded with the Beethovens. Beethoven now was growing most
enthusiastic about music and took up the study of the organ. Not only
this, but he wrote a funeral cantata for organ, which excited the whole
town.
He played the piano very beautifully, as did Mozart, and when he went to
Holland with his mother, at eleven, he played at many private houses,
and gained confidence in himself.
Think of it! When Beethoven was twelve, Neefe, his teacher and organist
at Bonn, left town and Beethoven took his place. This proves his great
ability, because playing for services was complicated. He was so
successful that Neefe prophesied he would become a second Mozart!
In 1787, Beethoven, despite his poverty, went to Vienna, where Mozart
said that he would “make a noise in the world,” and gave the young
pianist a few lessons. Not long afterwards, Beethoven was recalled to
Bonn where his life was much saddened by the deaths of his mother and
his little sister.
At this time he made the acquaintance of the von Bruening
family,—mother, three boys and a girl, whose friendship was one of the
inspiring events of his boyhood. He gave lessons to Eleanore and to a
brother, and was a close friend to them all. Here he was introduced to
the marvels of literature, which proved to be a lifelong love and a
solace for the sad hours after he became deaf. He also accompanied the
von Bruenings on holidays in the country, and through them met Count
Waldstein, a young noble and amateur musician, who was most enthusiastic
over Beethoven’s budding talent. Through Count Waldstein he was brought
to the attention of the Elector of Bonn, who gave the young musician a
place as viola player in the orchestra of his national theatre. Here he
made several lifelong friends,—Franz Ries, who probably taught him to
play the violin and viola, the two Rombergs, Simrock and Stumpff. His
old teacher Neefe, was pianist and stage manager in the theatre.
Now his home became most unhappy because of his father’s drunkenness and
bad habits. The Court, however, in 1799, looked after Beethoven and saw
that part of his father’s salary was paid to him to help him care for
the family. In addition to this the money he earned by playing and by
giving lessons enabled him to support his brothers and sister.
HE MEETS PAPA HAYDN
When Papa Haydn passed through Bonn on his way to London, Beethoven went
to visit him, and brought with him, instead of candy or flowers, a
cantata which he had written for the occasion. Haydn was delighted with
him and offered to teach him if he would go to Vienna. So, in 1792, on
the advice of Count Waldstein, we see him again in Vienna, studying
counterpoint with Haydn. At first he frankly imitated his master, and
although he leaned more toward Mozart’s colorfulness of style than
Haydn’s, from the older composer he learned how to treat and develop
themes, and how to write for the orchestra.
When Haydn left Vienna for his second visit to England, Beethoven
studied with Albrechtsberger, also with Schenck, Salieri and Förster.
Although he was an amazing student his teachers were afraid of and for
him, for his ideas were ahead of his day. They failed to see in him the
great pathfinder, and naturally thought he was a dangerous radical or
“red” as we would say.
BEETHOVEN’S FRIENDSHIPS
The story of Beethoven’s life is a story of a few faithful friendships.
He was not befriended for his personal beauty, but for his inner beauty.
His head was too big for his body, he did not care what sort of clothes
he wore, nor did he have any regard for conventions, fashions or great
personages. He was a real democrat and cared nothing for titles and the
things smaller men respect. Once Beethoven’s brother called on him and
left his card upon which was written, next his name, “Man of Property.”
Beethoven in return sent his card on which he wrote, “Man of Brains.”
Thinking that Napoleon was going to free mankind, he dedicated the
_Eroica_, the third symphony, to him. But when he heard that Napoleon
had set himself up as Emperor, in a violent rage, he trampled on the
dedication page.
One day he and Goethe were walking along the street when the King passed
by. Goethe stood aside with uncovered head but Beethoven refused to
alter his path for royalty and kept on his hat, for he felt on an
equality with every man and probably a little superior. But he lost his
friendship with Goethe because of his many failures to conform to
customs.
At twenty-seven Beethoven began to grow deaf. It made him very morose
and unhappy. In 1800 he wrote to his friend Wegeler, the husband of
Eleanore von Bruening, “My hearing during the last three years has
become gradually worse. I can say with truth that my life is very
wretched. For nearly two years past I have avoided all society because I
find it impossible to say to people ‘I am deaf.’ In any other profession
this might be tolerable but in mine, such a condition is truly
frightful.”
Beethoven was forceful and noble in spirit, quick tempered,
absent-minded, gruff, and cared little for manners and customs except to
be honest and good. But although he was absent-minded he never neglected
his work or his obligations to any man, and his compositions show the
greatest care and thought. He worked a piece over and over before it was
finished and not, like Mozart, did it bubble from him whole and perfect.
He was too high-strung and impatient to teach much and Ferdinand Ries,
the son of Franz, and Czerny seem to be his only well-known pupils. But
he taught many amateurs among the nobility, which probably accounts for
many of his romances. In later years, he withdrew unto himself and
became irritable and suspicious of everybody, both because of his
deafness and the misery his family caused him.
Yet this great man, tortured with suspicions and doubt, and storming
often against his handicap, always stood upright and straight and never
did anything dishonorable or mean. In fact, he was a very moral man, who
lived and composed according to the dictates of his soul and never wrote
to please or to win favor.
He made valuable friends among music lovers and patrons such as Prince
and Princess Lichnowsky, Prince Lobkowitz, Count Rasomouwsky, Empress
Maria Theresa and others, to whom he dedicated many of his great works.
This he did only as a mark of his friendship rather than for gain.
He was clumsy and awkward and had bad manners and a quick temper, and he
had a heavy shock of black hair, that was always in disorder, but the
soul of the man shone out from his eyes and his smile lit up his face.
Although he is said to have been unkempt, he was exceedingly clean, for
when he was composing he would often interrupt his work to wash.
When the _Leonore_ overture was being rehearsed, one of the three
bassoon players was missing. Prince Lobkowitz, a friend of Beethoven,
jokingly tried to relieve his mind by saying, “It doesn’t make any
difference, the first and second bassoon are here, don’t mind the
third.” Beethoven nearly pranced with rage, and reaching the street
later, where the Prince lived, he crossed the square to the gates of the
Palace and stopped to shout at the entrance, “Donkey of a Lobkowitz!”
and then passed on, raving to himself. But there was a warm, sweet
streak in his nature for his friends loved him dearly, and he was very
good to his nephew Carl, who lied to him and deceived him. Carl added to
Beethoven’s unhappiness, for when he was lonely and in need of him, Carl
never would come to him unless for money.
Beethoven had a high regard for women and loved Countess Guicciardi, who
refused many times to marry him, but he dedicated _The Moonlight Sonata_
and some of his songs to her.
We see his great heart broken by his nephew, we see his sad letters
begging him to come and take pity on his loneliness, we see him struggle
to make money for him; and all Carl did was to accept all and give
nothing. Finally this ungrateful boy was expelled from college because
he failed in his examinations. This was such a disgrace that he
attempted to commit suicide. As this was also looked upon as a crime he
was given twenty-four hours to leave Vienna and so enlisted in the army.
Nevertheless Beethoven made Carl his sole heir. Doesn’t this show him to
be a really great person?
BEETHOVEN THE PIANIST
While at Vienna he met the great pianists and played far better than any
of them. No one played with such expression, with such power or seemed
worthy even to compete with him. Mozart and others had been charming
players and composers, but Beethoven was powerful and deep, even most
humorous when he wanted to be.
He worked well during these years, and with his usual extreme care
changed and rechanged the themes he found in his little sketch books
into which, from boyhood he had put down his musical ideas. Those
marvelous sketch books! What an example they are! They show infinite
patience and “an infinite capacity for taking pains” which has been
given by George Eliot as a definition of genius.
THE THREE PERIODS
At his first appearance as a pianist in Vienna he played his own C major
Concerto in 1795. From 1795 to 1803 he wrote all the works from opus 1
to 50. In these were included symphonies 1 and 2, the first three piano
concertos, and many sonatas for piano, trios and quartets, a septet and
other less important works.
This is the first period of Beethoven’s life. His second period in which
his deafness grew worse and caused him real physical illness, extended
to 1815—in this the trouble with his nephew and the deceit of his two
brothers preyed on his mind, to such an extent, that he became irascible
and unapproachable. His lodgings were the scene of distressing upheavals
and Beethoven was like a storm-beaten mountain!
For consolation, he turned to his music, and in the storm and stress he
wrote the noble opera _Fidelio_, and the third symphony, _Eroica_,
concertos, sonatas and many other things.
Someone once asked him, “Why don’t you write opera?” He replied, “Give
me a libretto noble enough for my music.” Evidently this is the reason
why he wrote only one opera. We find another example of his patience and
self-criticism, as he wrote four overtures for _Fidelio_. Three of them
are called _Leonore_ overtures and one _Fidelio_. The third _Leonore_
seems to be the favorite, and is often played.
By 1822, the beginning of the third period, the great music maker was
stone deaf! Yet he wrote the magnificent Mass in D and his last
symphony, the Ninth, with the “Hymn of Joy,” two of the great
masterpieces of the world, although he was unable to hear one note of
what he had composed as he could not hear his beloved violin even when
he held it close to his ears.
Imagine Beethoven—stone deaf, attending a performance of the Ninth
Symphony in a great hall—not knowing that it had had a triumphal success
until one of the soloists turned him around to see the enthusiastic
faces and the hands clapping and arms waving, for he could hear not a
sound! He who had built such beautiful things for us to hear, knew them
only in his mind!
Beethoven was a great lover of nature. He used to stroll with his head
down and his hands behind his back, clasping his note book in which he
jotted down the new ideas as they came to him. He wrote to a friend, “I
wander about here with music paper among the hills and dales and valleys
and scribble a bit; no man on earth could love the country as I do.”
BEETHOVEN MAKES MUSIC GROW
If you have ever seen a sculptor modeling in clay you know that his
great problem is to keep it from drying, because only in the moist state
can it be moulded into shape. In the same way, we have seen in following
the growth of music, that no matter how beautiful a style of composition
is, as soon as it becomes set in form, or in other words as soon as it
hardens, it changes. Let us look back to the period of the madrigal. You
remember that the early madrigals were of rare beauty but later the
composers became complicated and mechanical in their work and the beauty
and freshness of their compositions were lost. The people who felt this,
reached out for new forms of expression and we see the opera with its
arias and recitatives as a result. The great innovator Monteverde, broke
this spell of the old polyphonic form, which, like the sculptor’s clay,
had stiffened and dried.
The same thing happened after Bach brought the suite and fugue to their
highest. The people again needed something new, and another form grew
out of the suite, the sonata of Philip Emanuel Bach, Haydn and Mozart.
The works of these men formed the Classic Period which reached its
greatest height with the colossus, Beethoven. As we told you, he used
the form inherited from Haydn and Mozart, but added much of a peculiar
power which expressed _himself_. But again the clay hardened! Times and
people changed, poetry, science and philosophy led the way to more
personal and shorter forms of expression. Up to Bach’s time, music,
outside of the folk-song, had not been used to express personal feeling;
the art was too young and had grown up in the Church which taught the
denial of self-expression.
In the same way, the paintings up to the time of the 16th century did
not express personal feelings and happenings, but were only allowed to
be of religious subjects, for the decorating of churches and cathedrals.
Beethoven, besides being the peak of the classic writers, pointed the
way for the music of personal expression, not mere graceful expression
as was the fashion, which was called the “Romantic School” because he
was big enough to combine the sonata form of classic mould with the
delicacy, humor, pathos, nobility and singing beauty for which the
people of his day yearned.
This led again to the crashing of the large and dried forms made perfect
by Beethoven and we see him as the bridge which leads to Mendelssohn,
Chopin, Schubert and Schumann and we see them expressing in shorter form
every possible human mood.
Beethoven was great enough to bring music to maturity so that it
expressed not only forms of life, but life itself.
How and what did he do? First, he became master of the piano and could
from childhood sit down and make marvelous improvisations. He studied
all forms of music, counterpoint, harmony, and orchestration. At first
he followed the old forms, as we see in the first two symphonies. In the
third symphony, the _Eroica_, he changed from the minuet (a relic of the
old dance suite) to the scherzo, an enlarged form of the minuet with
more chance for musical expression,—the minuet grown up. In sonatas like
_The Pathetique_, he used an introduction and often enlarged the coda or
ending, to such an extent that it seems like an added movement, so rich
was he in power in working over a theme into beautiful musical speech.
Later we see him abandoning set forms and writing the _Waldstein_ Sonata
in free and beautiful ways. Even the earlier sonatas like _The
Moonlight_ and its sister, Opus 27, No. 2, are written so freely that
they are called Fantasy Sonatas, so full of free, flowing melody has the
sonata become under his hand.
His work becomes so lofty and so grand, whether in humorous or in
serious vein, that when we compare his compositions to those of other
men, he seems like one of the loftiest mountain peaks in the world,
reaching into the heavens, yet with its base firmly standing in the
midst of men.
A COMPOSER OF INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
Beethoven was distinctly a composer of instrumental music, although he
wrote the opera _Fidelio_, also the Ninth Symphony in which he made
great innovations in symphonic form and introduced the Choral.
Up to this time, composers in the Classic School had paid more attention
to the voice and to the soloists in the concertos than to the orchestra.
Thus we see men like Mozart leaving a space toward the end of the
movement in a concerto for the soloist to make up his own closing salute
to his audience before the orchestra ended the piece. These cadenzas
became acrobatic feats in which the players wrote the most difficult
“show-off” music. Beethoven, with his love for the orchestra and his
feeling that the soloist and the orchestra should make one complete
unit, wrote the cadenza _himself_ and thereby made the composition one
beautiful whole rather than a sandwich of the composer, soloist and
composer again.
Fancy all this from a man who, when he multiplied 14 × 26 had to add
fourteen twenty-sixes in a column! We saw this column of figures written
on a manuscript of Beethoven’s in an interesting collection, and the
story goes that Beethoven tried to verify a bill that was brought to him
in the midst of a morning of hard work at his composing.
Besides his symphonies, concertos and sonatas in which are light moods,
dark moods, gay and sad moods, spiritual heights and depths, filling
hearers with all beauty of emotion,—he wrote gay little witty things,
like the German Dances, The Fury over the Loss of a Penny (which is
really funny), four overtures, many English, Scotch, Irish, Welsh and
Italian folk-song settings. He also wrote one oratorio called _The Mount
of Olives_, two masses, one of which is the magnificent _Missa
Solemnis_, one concerto for the violin that is the masterpiece of its
kind, and the one grand opera _Fidelio_.
Thus we have told you about the bridge to the “Romantic Movement” which
will follow in the next chapter.
Beethoven could have said with Robert Browning’s “Abt Vogler”
Ye know why the forms are fair, ye hear how the tale is told;
It is all triumphant art, but art in obedience to laws....
And I know not if, save in this, such gift be allowed to man,
That out of three sounds he frame, not a fourth sound, but a star.
[Illustration:
_Johann Sebastian Bach._
]
[Illustration:
_George Frederick Handel._
]
[Illustration:
_Franz Josef Haydn._
]
[Illustration:
_Carl Maria von Weber._
]
Three Classic Composers and an Early Romantic Composer.
[Illustration:
_The Piano and Its Grand-parents._
_Courtesy of Morris Steinert & Sons, Company_
]
CHAPTER XXII
The Pianoforte Grows Up—The Ancestry of the Pianoforte
THE ANCESTRY OF THE PIANOFORTE
We feel so familiar with the Pianoforte that we call it piano for short
and almost forget that it is dignified by the longer name. We forget
too, that Scarlatti, Rameau and Bach played not on the piano but on its
ancestors, and that Byrd, Bull and Gibbon did not write their lovely
dance suites for the instrument on which we play them today.
The Pianoforte’s family tree has three distinct branches,—strings,
sounding board and hammers. First we know the piano is a stringed
instrument, although it hides its chief characteristic, not under a
bushel, but behind a casing of wood.
WHERE STRINGED INSTRUMENTS CAME FROM
We have seen the stringed instrument developed from the bow when
primitive man winged his arrow in the hunt, and heard its twang. Later
desiring fuller tone, the sounding board grew, when early peoples sank
bow-like instruments and reeds into a gourd which increased and
reflected the sound as the metal reflector behind a light intensifies
it.
Strings to produce sound, must be rubbed, like the bow drawn across
violin strings, plucked as the mandolin or the harp is plucked, or
struck with a hammer as was the dulcimer.
In the ancient times there were two instruments much alike, the
_psaltery_ and the _dulcimer_, both with a triangular or rectangular
sounding box across which are stretched strings of wire or gut fastened
to tuning pins. The difference between these two “relatives” is that the
_psaltery_ is plucked with fingers or a plectrum, and the _dulcimer_ is
struck with hammers. So the _psaltery_ is the grandfather of the
virginal, spinet, clavecin, and harpsichord, while the _dulcimer_ is the
remote ancestor of the pianoforte.
The first record we find of a _dulcimer_ is a stone picture near
Nineveh, of an Assyrian king in 667 B.C., celebrating a triumphal
procession. This _dulcimer_, suspended from the neck of the player, is
being struck with a stick in his right hand, while his left palm on the
string checks the tone. Here we have the first stringed instrument which
was hammered and muffled, two important elements in the piano.
In Persia the _dulcimer_ was called the _santir_ and is still used under
different names in the Orient and other places. In Greece and other
countries it was called the _psalterion_, and in Italy, the _dolcimelo_.
Later, the Germans had a sort of _dulcimer_ called the _Hackbrett_,
probably because it was “hacked” as the butcher hacks meat! We see the
_dulcimer_ in many shapes according to the fancy of the people who use
it. The word comes from _dulce_—the Latin for “sweet” and _melos_—the
Greek for “melody.”
As people grew wiser and more musical, they padded their hammers or
mallets; this gave the idea for the padded hammer of the piano for
checking the tone as our Ninevehan did with his left palm.
Should you ever listen to a gypsy band, you will hear the _dulcimer_ or
_cembalo_.
THE KEYBOARD
The third element in the making of the piano is the keyboard.
It is evident that the piano keyboard and the organ keyboard are
practically the same. The water organs of the Greeks and Romans had
keyboards, but as the Christian Church forbade the use of organs as
sacrilegious, keyboards were lost for almost a thousand years.
The keyboard seems to have developed from the Greek _monochord_ used in
the Middle Ages to give the pitch in convent singing. It was tuned with
a movable bridge or fret pushed back and forth under the strings and
fingers. First it was stretched with weights hung at one end. It was a
simple matter to add strings to produce more tones, later tuning pins
were added and finally a keyboard. This was the whole principle of the
_clavichord_. (We might say that the _monochord_ and _dulcimer_ are the
Adam and Eve of the pianoforte family.)
THE CLAVICHORD
In the clavichord, each key drove a metal tangent against a string and
was held there as was the bridge of the monochord. The tone was
dependent on the place where the tangent struck. The string vibrated on
one side of the tangent, but the other part of the string was deadened
by a strip of cloth. The strings were about the same length and often
two or three keys operated the same string so that it was possible to
make a very small instrument. In the 16th century, it usually had twenty
keys; in the 18th century, four octaves or fifty keys, but of course
there were less than fifty strings! Later, every key had its own string
and these were called _bundfrei_ or unfretted clavichords, while the
others were called _gebunden_ or fretted. The clavichord was usually
small enough to carry under the arm, although sometimes it was made with
legs. Should you be in New York you must see the collection of
beautifully ornamented clavichords and harpsichords at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in the Crosby Brown Collection.
Bach liked the clavichord better than the harpsichord and the early
pianos that blossomed in his day. Because of the pressure of the
tangent, it was possible to get a delicately graded tone when the key
was pressed, a wavy, rocking, pulsating effect, which made each player’s
performance very individual, but to us, now, it sounds thin and
metallic. The word “clavichord” comes from _clavis_—a key, and _chord_—a
string. Clavichords and also virginals were often played in pairs, no
doubt for richer effect and for volume.
Large instruments developed slowly because before the 11th century,
wire-drawing (making) was not known, so all keyed string instruments
were strung with gut.
HARPSICHORD
128TH SONNET
SHAKESPEARE AND THE HARPSICHORD
How oft when thou, my music, music play’st
Upon that blessed wood, whose motion sounds
With thy sweet fingers when thou gently sway’st
The wiry concord that my ear confounds,
Do I envy those _jacks_ that nimble leap
To kiss the tender inward of thy hand:
Whilst my poor lips, which should that harvest reap,
At the wood’s boldness, by thee blushing stand!
To be so tickled they would change their state
And situation with those dancing chips,
O’er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gate,
Making dead wood more blessed than living lips.
Since saucy _jacks_ so happy are in this
Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss.
The harpsichord, we like to call the “Jack and Quill” instrument—for it
is played by keys, jacks and quills which pluck its strings, instead of
pressing or hammering. This is like a keyboarded zither, and is shaped
something like our grand piano.
Each key has a string. Pressing the key pushes a jack, from whose side
projects a small quill or spine which twangs the string. When the key is
released, the quill slips back into the first position and a damper
falls upon the string. The strings vary in length according to the pitch
for the harpsichord has no tangent to divide off the string as had the
clavichord and monochord. Thus the harpsichord on account of its long
and short strings is not square like the clavichord but is shaped more
like the harp and the grand piano.
Some one said that the harpsichord tone was “a scratch with a note at
the end of it.” And yet, when we hear Wanda Landowska play the
harpsichord today, it sounds very beautiful indeed. Smaller varieties
are called virginals and spinets. Perhaps the spinet is named for its
inventor Spinetti, or perhaps the word comes from “spinet” meaning
spine, a thorn or point. The virginal comes from the word
_virgo_—meaning maiden and was the popular instrument for the “ladies”
of the day. There were larger harpsichords, too, with two and three
keyboards and very many varieties, both small and large. The clavichord
and the harpsichord were known from the 15th century and were associated
with the organ until the 17th century, when the Ruckers family developed
harpsichord making into a fine art. The first mention of the
harpsichord, is in the “Rules of the Minnesingers” (1404).
THE FIRST PIANOFORTES
Early in the 18th century, music ceased to be just pretty sounds, and
musicians wanted instruments on which they could express deeper feelings
and began to look around for some way to make the harpsichord meet this
need.
It came about in this way. Pantaleone Hebenstreit, a fiddler at the
Saxon court played a dulcimer which he enlarged by adding to it a second
system of strings. He tuned it in equal temperament, as Bach had the
clavichord, and used hammers on it which produced very beautiful and
loud tones. Louis XIV saw this, and liking it, called it the Pantaleone.
But, shortly after this, Gottlieb Schroeter heard it and said, “only
through hammers can the harpsichord become expressive.”
So in 1721 Schroeter submitted to the King of Saxony his idea of a
harpsichord which could play soft and loud or in Italian _piano_ and
_forte_ (the _fortepiano_ or _loud-soft_ instrument). But as he had none
made he did not get credit for the invention until after much argument,
based on accounts in his diary. As always, when a thing is needed
someone will invent it.
The man who actually made the first pianoforte was an Italian,
Bartolomeo Cristofori (1653–1731) of Padua; and the Frenchman Marius,
and the German, Christoph Gottlieb Schroeter, followed suit. In 1709,
Cristofori exhibited harpsichords (_gravicembali_) with hammer action
capable of producing _piano_ and _forte_ effects. He advertised it in
the paper as a _gravicembali col piano e forte_. By 1711, the fame of
his invention had spread into Germany. In February, 1716, Marius in
France tried to improve the harpsichord with hammers which he called the
_clavecin à mallets_, and made two types.
Schroeter about this time made the two kinds also. The piano had little
standing, however, until Gottfried Silbermann took advantage of Bach’s
criticism of his pianos and made a _grand_ type.
The next experimenters in pianos were, Frederici of Gera (died in 1779),
who made the _square_. Spaeth, who made _grands_ and George Andreas
Stein in Augsburg, who was trained by Silbermann, invented the Viennese
action on which a light touch was possible and for this reason Mozart
used it.
Burkhardt Tschudi, a piano maker in London, had a Scotch assistant,
James Broadwood, who became his partner (1770). Later the firm became
John Broadwood and Sons, which it has remained. It was the first to use
the damper and the soft pedals. For some time they used Zumpe’s style of
square piano but later made their own. This house used the Cristofori
action which made a more solid and heavier tone than the Viennese
action, and was known as the English action, excellent for large rooms
and concerts. These actions suited the different methods of piano
playing.
Stein’s daughter Nanette Streicher, a marvelous player and a cultivated
woman, upon inheriting her father’s piano business moved to Vienna and
for forty years was considered an expert in the piano world. Thayer, in
his life of Beethoven says: “In May, Beethoven, on the advice of medical
men, went to Baden, whither he was followed by his friend Mrs.
Streicher ... who took charge of his lodgings and his clothes, which
appear to have been in a deplorable state.” Thayer says that Beethoven
always preferred the piano of Stein to any others. Beethoven wrote to
Nanette: “Perhaps you do not know, though I have not always had one of
your pianos, that since 1809 I have invariably preferred yours.”
So, you see a woman could keep house and be a manufacturer as well, even
in the early 19th century!
Then came Sebastien Erard (1752–1831) who made the first French piano in
1777. Erard invented many new things for the piano and formed a company
in England. This firm was advertised on the hand bill announcing Liszt’s
concert in Paris when he was twelve years old.
Added to these names is Ignaz Josef Pleyel (1757–1831), who also made a
piano with a very sympathetic tone which Chopin made famous from 1831.
The Pleyel and the Erard are still the leading pianos of France.
For some years the pianoforte went through many changes. As you are not
learning to make a piano, you will have to take it for granted that
there were many many steps taken from this time on to make the modern
piano. However, the thing that held it back was the all-wood frame which
could not stand the strain of the tightly drawn strings and it was a
long time before the makers gave up the beautiful wood for the sturdier
metal. About the time of Beethoven, playing the piano became a more
complicated thing than it had been, and a grown up instrument was
needed, so musical instrument makers had to “step lively” to keep pace
with the music. At every concert, and often in the middle of a piece,
the player would have to stop to retune the instrument on which he was
playing. Therefore, all energy was bent to making the frame of the piano
rigid, the strings more elastic and the pins firmer, and the metal frame
was used.
All these special things were accomplished in later years. Some of the
inventors were John Isaac Hawkins, an Englishman, who patented the
upright pianoforte in 1800 in the United States, William Allen, a
Scotchman, who introduced metal braces in 1820 and Alpheus Babcock, who
patented the iron frame in a _single cast_, in Boston, in 1825. It was
an American, Jonas Chickering, of Boston, who invented the complete iron
frame for the concert grand, and at present, after many years, the
instrument which seventy-five years ago bent under the pull of the
strings, can now stand the strain of thirty tons! Chickering made pianos
as early as 1823.
After this there was much experimentation in pianos, culminating here,
in the pianos made by Steinway and Sons the ancestor of which was the
firm of Heinrich Englehard Steinweg, of Brunswick, Germany, starting as
organ makers. In 1848 Heinrich’s sons went to New York City and changed
their name to Steinway, where Theodore, the eldest, continued the firm
as Steinway and Sons.
Of course, the methods of stringing and tuning a piano have taken years
to develop—all of which we cannot go into in this book. Now, instead of
twenty strings, as we saw them in the clavichord, we have 243 strings to
produce 88 tones.
So now we have the harpsichord with hammers “grown up” into the
pianoforte, with its myriad parts, no longer made by hand, but carefully
manufactured by machinery and the finest of them are American.
PIANO BUYING CREATED A HOLIDAY IN THE 18TH CENTURY
“When the pianoforte was completed and ready to be delivered at the
house of the impatient purchaser (in Germany) a festival took place; the
maker, was the hero of the hour, and accompanied the piano followed by
his craftsman and apprentices, if he had any. (In those days the pianos
took months and months to make, for they were made by hand and the
makers received cash in part payment and the rest was made up in corn,
wheat, potatoes, poultry and firewood!)
“The wagon which conveyed the precious burden was gaily decorated with
wreaths and flowers, the horses magnificently decked out, a band of
music headed the procession, and after the wagon followed the proud
maker, borne on the shoulders of his assistants; musicians, organists,
schoolmasters and dignitaries marching in the rear. At the place of
destination the procession was received with greetings of welcome and
shouts of joy. The pastor of the place said a prayer and blessed the new
instrument and its maker. Then the mayor or the burgomaster of the place
delivered an address,—dwelling at great length upon the importance of
the event to the whole community, and stating, perhaps, that the coming
of such a new musical instrument would raise their place in the eyes of
the surrounding country. Then followed speeches by the schoolmaster,
doctor, druggist, and other dignitaries, and songs by the _Männerchor_
(men’s chorus) of the place. Amidst the strains of the band, the
pianoforte was moved to its new home. A banquet and a dance closed the
happy occasion.” (From _Reminiscences of Morris Steinert_ by Jane
Marlin.)
“THE PIANO AND PNEUMATICS”
It is very difficult to know just when this important instrument first
was invented. It seems to have started with a mechanical organ and many
were the experimenters among whom was John McTammany, a soldier in the
Civil War who while disabled turned his mind to mechanics and became one
of the great pneumatic (air power) experts. And so, just as we arrive at
the beautiful instrument, the piano, comes another instrument far more
complicated, whose possibilities are still in its infancy. At present
the automatic piano is operated by bellows and pneumatic tubes (which
look together like a bunch of gray spaghetti) and through which the air
is exhausted and acts in such a way that the piano hammers fall against
the piano strings. Into these instruments are placed perforated music
rolls which travel over a tracker bar full of holes, each one having its
rubber spaghetti tube. When the bellows work and the perforation of the
roll passes over a perforation of the tracker bar, the air is released
and its exhaustion causes the hammer to fall on the strings. This sounds
simple,—but it is not!
There are three kinds of automatic players,—one, the _piano player_,
which is now practically extinct in this country, a cabinet which moves
up to the piano, and with a series of keys corresponding to the keys on
the piano which, when in action presses down the piano keys and the tune
starts.
Then we have the _player piano_. In this, whether it be an upright or a
grand piano, the machinery is inside the piano itself (instead of being
in the outside cabinet), so that one can hardly tell at first glance
whether it is an automatic instrument or not. The perforated roll is put
on inside the piano.
All these piano player bellows work either by electricity or by the
feet. So in the latter, one cannot help playing with “sole”!
The _reproducing piano_ is the third type of player. This is magical,
for it reproduces the player’s performance as he plays it himself.
Therefore we can entice Paderewski, Bauer, Rachmaninoff and all the
other great players into our own drawing rooms and hear them with their
superb skill. These are usually operated by electricity, yet the Æolian
Company and probably others, have a _reproducing piano_ which is
propelled by the pedals as were the old ones before the invention of the
electric player. Furthermore, some of the reproducing pianos have a
mechanism with which you yourself can interpret any piece you desire.
This gives the music lover who has been denied the study of music a
chance to enjoy interpreting great music.
It is an impossibility to overestimate the value of the player piano to
the young student, to increase his auditory repertoire, for the music of
the world is his for the turning of a lever!
THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO ART
For a long time, the mechanical player has been looked on as a
step-child, to be made fun of and scorned. Today, the great critics and
best musicians recognize its value which is not as a substitute for a
piano but as an instrument in itself. Sir Henry J. Wood of England says:
“I realize the value ... of the pianola ... for a good many of the
people in our audiences ... are acquiring by its means a closer
acquaintance with the great musical masterpieces.”
He says in another place, “It’s a foolish and a shortsighted policy to
despise any means by which we may add to the sum total of musical
appreciation.”
And Edwin Evans, English critic and writer, says: “The player piano
relieves the musician of the technical difficulties of the keyboard....
It does not relieve him from the duty of thinking musicianly, on the
contrary, ... it makes it a point of honor with him to give ... fuller
employment to his brain and sensibility.... There are dozens of scores
nowadays which it is an impossibility to read at the piano and very
trying to read on paper. Here the player piano is a boon and a blessing
for it unravels every mystery and solves every problem.”
Besides this, it can be played so skilfully by some that even musicians
can be fooled as to whether human or mechanical fingers are playing.
Gustave Kobbé said, in his _Pianolist_, something like this: “There are
only about five professionals who can play the piano better than an
accomplished pianolist.”
To prove its artistic worth further, Percy Grainger, Alfredo Casella and
Igor Stravinsky and other great moderns are writing music especially for
the player piano because they can use the whole eighty-eight notes with
full orchestral effects, without stopping to think of the meagre ten
fingers of man! So we see in the future the possibility of this becoming
one of the creative instruments.
OTHER “CANNED” MUSIC
Then we have the phonographs and radio. These cannot be considered
instruments in the same way as the player piano and reproducing piano,
but are invaluable means of musical education and are doing, with the
player piano, a marvelous work in introducing people to the great music
of the world. Of course, it depends upon the way all these music
carriers are used, for if you have poor music on them, it will mean
nothing to you, but if you hear the “wear evers” on them, you will have
a touch of heaven in your life, forever.
PIANISTS COME TO VIEW
As an outcome of the work of Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart, the piano
appeared because of the need of a more powerful instrument than the
harpsichord and clavichord. At this time there were two particular
schools of piano playing,—the Viennese, light and delicate in tone, and
the English school, producing a more solid and more brilliant tone.
The principal pianists of the Viennese school were Johann Hummel, who,
as a boy of seven, was a pupil of Mozart, Franz Duschek, Mozart and
Pleyel. Later Beethoven himself appeared, the profound pianist in this
group, but also an advocate of Clementi’s methods.
The Clementi School is named from Muzio Clementi (1752–1832), the
“Father of the Pianoforte.” He was a composer of piano pieces,
especially of sonatas which are still of musical value. Who of us has
not studied Clementi’s sonatinas? Besides being a great player, a
teacher and a composer, Clementi published a work called _Gradus ad
Parnassum_, piano studies, a form which sprang up because of the need to
develop a technic for the new instruments when the piano was young.
Clementi, at fourteen, went to England, where he lived all his life and
became interested in the making of pianos. He was associated with the
firm of Clementi and Company, later Collard and Collard, and it is said
that he gave the Broadwoods much advice in the making of their “grand”
piano. So we see Clementi as a founder of piano technic, and an
instrument maker! He lived eighty years, during the last years of Handel
and Scarlatti, and he survived Beethoven, Schubert and Weber. It is said
that Mozart took a theme from a Clementi sonata for one of his operas.
His pupils were quite famous: John B. Cramer, the composer of many
important piano studies still in use; Johann L. Dussek, one of the first
to invent and write down finger exercises, and there were many others.
There were two schools with Clementi at the head of one, and Mozart, of
the other. With Hummel, a pupil of Mozart, the Classic School closed,
and then Clementi’s ideas came to the fore in the new Romantic School.
THE NEW ROMANTIC SCHOOL
One of the earliest of these new Romanticists was John Field, who was
born in Ireland, visited London, had quite a career in Russia and
foreshadowed Chopin in his playing. Then there was Ferdinand Ries, son
of Beethoven’s early friend and teacher, Franz Ries; but the most famous
of this period were Ignaz Moscheles and Frederick Kalkbrenner, a fluent
composer and writer of studies. He was the first pianist to teach
Clementi’s _Gradus ad Parnassum_.
Ignaz Moscheles (1794–1870) was a Bohemian and from about 1815, the most
brilliant pianist in Germany, France, Holland and England. He was
Mendelssohn’s teacher. Chopin wrote three études (studies) on an order
from Moscheles. He is a _very_ important figure in the growing up of
piano music.
Carl Czerny (1791–1857) was another _very_ important pianist and one of
the few pupils of Beethoven. He was a follower of Hummel and Clementi
and won great fame as a teacher in Vienna, where he lived. He wrote a
great many pieces, about a thousand in all, making many arrangements of
orchestral works and many piano studies, which we still use today.
Beethoven encouraged him to make a piano version of his _Fidelio_.
Czerny was the teacher of many able musicians.
Frederick Chopin, you will find out later (Chapter 24) changed piano
music from the bravura to a poetic and deeper style. His touch and tone
were so enchanting that he created a completely new fashion in piano
playing which has not been lost. (See page 322.)
Clara Schumann (1819–1896), the wife of Robert Schumann, was the leading
woman pianist of the day, in fact, of many days.
In the times of Mozart and of Liszt, improvising (before audiences and
at parlor entertainments), was very popular and a part of a musical
education; around 1795, after the Paris Conservatory was founded, it
seemed to die out. However, organists today often improvise while
waiting for the church service to begin. Dupré, one of the famous French
organists, who has played in the United States, improvises whole sonatas
on given themes.
After Chopin, Schumann and Schubert there was a great love of the short
piano piece and as the piano was being developed more and more, it was
natural that pianists should become numerous. So piano playing was heard
in the concert hall and in the parlor where it was, to be sure, often
light and frivolous and yet quite often,—serious and delightful. The
light and decorated pieces were usually called _salon music_ and today
many are written which are classed as _salon pieces_. Cécile Chaminade,
as delightful and clever as her pieces are, is a typical _salon_
composer, Rubinstein, also, with such pieces as _Melody in F_, is a
writer of salon pieces, and there are countless others.
Among the people who were prominent as pianists and composers in that
day, especially in Poland, where Chopin was born, were Alois Tausig, a
pupil of Thalberg and Josef Wieniawski, who was the teacher of the “Lion
of Pianists,” Ignace Jan Paderewski.
Around Paris gathered many pianists among whom were Ignace Leybach an
organist and composer at Toulouse, Henry Charles Litolff the famous
publisher, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American pianist and the author of
_The Last Hope_, and Eugene Ketterer. The following, with many others,
centered around Vienna: Joseph Löw, Theodore Kullak, Louis Köhler,
Gustav Lange and Louis Brassin.
DASHING PLAYING
A little later, due to the improvements of the piano, another school
grew up called by some, the Bravura Pianists, because the pieces for
these pianists were written to show off brilliant technic. Most of the
people were flashy pianists, yet there were some very marvelous
performers, for among them, Liszt himself figures and Thalberg, a Swiss,
who was Liszt’s rival for piano honors.
Another set of pianists and composers was Henry Herz, Alexander
Dreyschock, Emil Prudent and Adolph Henselt, a Bavarian, who was an
amazingly poetic and beautiful player.
Practically all these pianists were prominent composers in their day.
About this time we see women coming into great prominence as
professional pianists. The first one to interest us is Marie Felicité
Denise (Moke) Pleyel, who was Miss Moke, the beloved of Berlioz and the
lady whom he intended to kill but changed his mind! She was an inspiring
teacher, a pupil of Herz, Moscheles and Kalkbrenner and was admired by
Mendelssohn and Liszt.
THE GROWTH OF VIOLIN MUSIC
The same things seem to have happened to violin playing and violin music
at this time as happened to the piano. There was always the competition
between writing fine, deep music and showy, spectacular music, which,
when played, would please an audience. But the violin was the same then
as it had been for years,—the only advance it had made was the
perfecting of the bow by François Tourte, assisted by Giovanni Battista
Viotti, Pugnani’s greatest pupil. We use his bow today. It has about one
hundred white horsehairs, the tension of which is controlled by a screw
at the nut in the finger grip. But the thing that did affect violinists
and violin playing was the fact of the rise in the 19th century of the
orchestra and chamber music. From the time that madrigals were first
accompanied by instruments, we have heard about _Chamber Music_, but the
string quartet in sonata form as we know it today, had as its father,
Haydn, and Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805) as a godfather. The link between
the Corelli School of violinists and this school was Viotti who was one
of the first men to write a violin concerto in sonata form.
The violinists of this period were also given to bravura playing as were
the pianists. This was a safe thing for great violinists like Paganini
to do, but for the less gifted, it often developed into, not music at
all, but musical calisthenics. Here is the group which appeared in the
early 19th century: Rudolph Kreutzer, to whom Beethoven dedicated his
famous _Kreutzer Sonata_; Andreas Romberg (1767–1821) who knew Haydn and
Beethoven at Vienna and took Spohr’s place as concert master at Gotha.
He wrote music somewhat in the style of Mozart. Then comes the “Wizard
of the Bow,” Nicolo Paganini, standing alone and belonging to no school.
He was born in Genoa and began to play in public in 1795, when he was
thirteen years old. A very pretty story is told of Paganini and the
spider:
When Nicolo was a very poor and lonely student, he had a pet spider that
used to listen to him practise. Every time Nicolo would touch the bow to
the strings, out came Mr. Spider to listen attentively. Now there was a
little girl, the daughter of a shop-keeper near by; she adored the
great, tall, slender youth who spent most of the day and most of the
night playing on his violin. She fell ill and died, and by a curious
coincidence, the spider was killed. Paganini was so overcome by the loss
of his admiring comrades that he left home at once and wandered from
place to place, playing the guitar when he could not get work with his
violin.
Later he played all over Europe and had the crowd with him for his
matchless brilliancy in rapid work, his deep pathos and exceptional
beauty of tone. He has probably never been surpassed in double stopping,
chromatics and his _pizzicati_ (plucking the strings). Isn’t it too bad
the greatest violinist in the world lived before the gramophone was
invented, so we have no records of his playing as we have of Mischa
Elman, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, Albert Spalding and Maud Powell!
In this period, Ludwig Spohr was of great importance. He was a friend of
Mendelssohn and, curious enough, was an admirer (one of the early ones)
of Wagner. He had been an intimate of Weber and played with Paganini at
Rome and knew Rossini. His rank as a violinist was acknowledged. He did
not stand for “fire works” but demanded fine music. He was always a
classical musician, for his early love was Mozart. You will meet him
again in the next chapter. He traveled all over Europe and met many
great men and his autobiography is a rich store of anecdotes and
interesting facts.
At this time too, there were many great violinists in France, Austria,
Germany and Italy. We would like to write a whole volume on the
brilliant pianists of the late 19th and 20th centuries such as
Paderewski, De Pachman, Godowsky, Busoni, Rosenthal, Harold Bauer,
Gabrilowitsch, Hofmann, Rachmaninov, Teresa Carreño, Myra Hess, Guiomar
Novaes, Katherine Bacon, John Powell, Percy Grainger, Levitski and
innumerable others!
MORE ABOUT RADIO
1927 witnessed the broadcasting of enchanting concerts by the Boston
Symphony under Serge Koussevitzky, The New York Philharmonic Orchestra
under Willem Mengelberg, The New York Symphony under Walter Damrosch,
Children’s Concerts under Ernest Schelling and many other organizations.
The important broadcasting companies maintain superb musical
organizations and there is growing up a valuable radio musical field for
pleasure as well as for education. Mr. Damrosch’s musical lectures on
the Ring have elicited nearly one million letters, from all parts of the
world!
1929 sees the capitulation of Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia
Orchestra to the value of radio in a series of broadcasts.
On many programs are heard the world’s greatest artists.
CHAPTER XXIII
Opera Makers of France, Germany and Italy—1741 to Wagner
As with all things that are over-popular and over-used, the opera in the
18th century became trifling and empty, except for the work of some few
geniuses.
The music of the ancient Egyptians and Chinese advanced very little, on
account of fast and firm laws, and opera remained the same for a long
time, because of the strict rules. For there were laws governing the
kind of arias, the number of men’s parts and women’s parts, when and
where ballets and choruses should come in, the number of acts and many
another clogging rule. But, worst of all, the people in the audiences
knew the rules so well that they made a fuss when any composer dared to
depart from them. Such was the case when Gluck came on the scene, and
when he left it, with all the changes he made, other rules became just
as binding!
You saw the effort of Gluck to reform opera in order to arrive at truth
and sincerity; you saw how Mozart dignified the forms that were being
used by enriching them, by his sparkling humor, by his new musical
devices and limitless outpourings of melody. Beethoven, too, made his
one masterpiece, _Fidelio_, stand for sincerity rather than triviality,
and now von Weber we see adding to opera the story of peasant life in
Germany, combined with mystery and beauty. Yet, with all these
forerunners of a newer opera, many composers had to work very hard and
much time had to pass by until we reach the great change under Wagner’s
genius.
VON WEBER WRITES FAIRY TALE OPERA
Because Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826) had so great an influence on
opera writers, we will start with him.
Weber was the founder of romantic German opera,—the opera that dealt
with people and their feelings and the folk song of the German nation.
He was the first to combine the story of everyday life with the charm of
imagination. Being of a long line of barons and also a great pianist, he
raised the position of musicians to a high level in society, so that
after him, pianists and violinists were looked upon as artists and not
as artisans.
He seemed to understand the life of his time, and suited his work to his
surroundings so beautifully, that it immediately led away from the
trivialities into which Italian opera had drifted, into something more
worth while. He was a true romantic, as he put into his operas warmth of
feeling, elegance and delightful melody. He had a lovely sense of what
was dramatic or theatric, and he knew the orchestral instruments as well
as he knew the piano, for which he wrote skilfully.
He was born at Eutin, near Lübeck, where Bach had lived, and showed
great musical gifts when he was a little boy. And although he was
delicate, his father dearly wanted him to be a second Mozart. Michael
Haydn, brother of Papa Haydn taught him and Weber showed great ability
at the piano and could sit down and improvise and read music at sight.
He was taught by Abbé Vogler in Vienna, who first introduced him to folk
music, which he used with such pleasing skill later. (By the way, Abbé
Vogler, a famous organist and teacher, was the Abt Vogler of Robert
Browning’s poem.) Weber became conductor of the orchestra at Breslau at
18. But, being a delicate boy, he could not stand many of the things he
did and he broke down in health.
Later he was unfortunate enough to become secretary to Duke Ludwig of
Württemberg at Stuttgart who was not a fit companion for a young man.
Weber mixed in the gay life of the Duke and his friends, fell into bad
habits, and drifted into money difficulties. Strange to say, during this
time he read much and even wrote some music encouraged by Danzi, his
friend.
However, he got into a scrape trying to help his father out of a
financial difficulty, angered the King and was banished in 1810; and
though cleared of his guilt, he remained in exile for some time. Then
deciding to turn over a new leaf, with a mind teeming with ideas, he
settled down to work.
He soon became known for his compositions and was made Musical Director
at the Prague Theatre, where he won popular favor by writing national
songs. He undertook to organize a Dresden troupe, after having done a
similar work in Prague, but he was annoyed by bad health and the
jealousies of his rivals. Nevertheless, here he produced _Der
Freischütz_, _Enchanted Huntsman_, which Berlin received in 1821 with
wild enthusiasm, while _Euryanthe_, given almost at the same time, was
not, in Vienna, very successful.
Weber’s operas, as the beginning of German romantic opera, are on the
direct road to Wagner’s. Wagner inherited from Gluck and Weber, and
Gluck inherited directly from the German _Singspiel_ (sing-play) of the
18th century, which was a play composed of dances and songs not unlike
the English masque and the French ballet and vaudeville. It came before
opera in Germany, yet made the basis for a German school, for it used
German song and German subjects. Mozart, too, was one of Weber’s musical
fathers, especially in his _Magic Flute_.
We see Weber, now, as we saw Mozart, combining the supernatural with
national or German melody, and using both imagination and realistic
effects. His _Oberon_ is full of fairy atmosphere and _Der Freischütz_
is often uncanny and awesome. He keeps the spoken dialogue of the old
_Singspiel_ and in _Der Freischütz_ deals for the first time with
peasant life. His orchestration is lovely and his skill with it was so
great that he is still looked upon as one of the important men in the
development of the orchestra. He paints the individual characters
beautifully by giving each one suitable music to sing.
He reached dramatic heights by his contrasts between mellow quietness
and brilliant effects. He made use of all the resources on his
instruments, their defects as well as their good points. No one had ever
before written more weird music than in the scene of the Wolf’s Glen, in
_Der Freischütz_.
His piano music, including many fine sonatas, was rich with new and
brilliant effects and his _Concertstück_ (Concert-piece) was the father
of the symphonic poems which were later written by Franz Liszt, Hector
Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, and Richard Strauss. Thus did Weber give much to
music’s growth.
Louis Spohr (1784–1854) who was later a kind friend to Wagner, wrote ten
operas which belong, too, in the Romantic School of Weber. He, however,
was best known for his violin concertos, written in the classic style of
Haydn and Mozart. He wrote these because he lived in the time of the
great piano and violin virtuosi (brilliant performers) in Vienna. His
work is tiresome to us because of his many mannerisms.
GRÉTRY AND OPÉRA COMIQUE
Now we will go back a little and take up the French School with Grétry,
the first man of importance in France after Rameau, and the founder of
the comedy opera (_opéra comique_).
André Ernest Modeste Grétry (1741–1813), was born in Liège. He excelled
in the _opera buffa_ imported from Italy, which, due to the great sense
of humor of the French, immediately became popular. In spite of their
vulgarity there was much in these comedy operas that was delightful and
they were on subjects which interested the people. Grétry was very
skilful and successful in this kind of opera of which he wrote fifty in
addition to much church music, six symphonies and many instrumental
pieces.
Later, _opéra comique_, a more refined form of this _opera buffa_, had a
long vogue in France. It became more serious, too, getting very close to
grand opera, except that it had spoken words. _Opéra comique_ always
kept its naturalness, was simple, straightforward in story and informal
in action. Another important difference from grand opera was that it
could be easily given in small theatres, for it needed no spectacular
scenes. This of course made _opéra comique_ popular, for composers liked
to write it, as they had a better chance to have their works performed
than if they had written grand opera with costly scenes. This form has
been the inspiration of many of the French composers of the 19th and
20th centuries.
_Opéra comique_ is first found in Paris at the time of the War of the
Buffoons in 1752 the year that Pergolesi’s little opera _La Serva
Padrona_, took Paris by storm.
Now, Paris had become the great meeting place for composers, and we find
Italians and Germans going there to give operas, combining the ideas of
Rameau, Lully and Gluck, with their own national styles. They often
displaced the French musicians and Paris was a center of jealousies and
heart aches in the midst of its brilliancy.
CHERUBINI—MUSICAL CZAR OF PARIS
The first of these foreigners to invade France was Luigi Cherubini
(1760–1842), a Florentine, who became the musical czar of Paris. He was
educated in Italy and in the beginning wrote Italian opera in the
popular style. He went to London on invitation and was made composer to
the King. In 1788 we see him in Paris giving his opera _Demophon_. In
this, instead of being trivial in the waning Italian style, he became
“grand” and pompous! Nearly every one that followed, copied him.
Beethoven himself thought him to be the greatest living composer,
because of his _Lodoiska_ (1791) and _The Water Carrier_.
Cherubini started as a composer of church music and wrote most of his
operas from 1780 to 1800. He returned to church music later in life and
wrote his great Credo for eight voices. He composed in all forms
required of the Roman Catholic service and one of the noblest, sacred
writings is his Requiem in C.
But his opera writing influenced his church music and made him and many
who followed him, compose such spectacular church music that the solemn
polyphony of the 17th century was well-nigh lost. About twenty years
ago, the Pope decided that this style of writing was not suitable for
the church and so ordained it, that only Gregorian Chant should be sung
in the Roman Catholic Church. History repeats itself and Church music,
as in the time of St. Gregory and of Palestrina, had to have another
“house-cleaning.”
Cherubini’s orchestration was broad and fine and his overtures were
classic models. He seemed to have followed Mozart’s style rather than
Gluck’s and joined the classic style with the modern. He had vigor, and
was free from mannerisms, and was looked upon as a great man. As the
head of the Paris Conservatory he was able to befriend many a struggling
composer. He died after a long useful life, at 82.
His _Medée_ and _The Water Carrier_ (_Les deux journées_) mark the
greatest accomplishment in his life—both are tragic yet are _opéra
comique_ because they contain spoken dialogue. Remember this instance of
tragic _opéra comique_ and it will explain how it differs from what we
call comic opera.
FOLLOWERS OF GLUCK
Following the time of Gluck in Paris there was a group of composers who
were so much influenced by him that they are looked upon as his
disciples. One of these was his own pupil, Antonio Salieri (1750–1825),
who in turn taught Beethoven, Schubert and others.
One of the links between the 18th and 19th centuries was Etienne
Nicholas Méhul (1763–1817), a Frenchman, who worked with Gluck. He dared
to take his themes from life and wrote _opéra comique_ with a serious
aim. Even though he lived in the turbulence of the French Revolution, he
wrote thirty operas, among which the greatest is _Joseph_. He was made
inspector at the new Conservatory and also an Academician, and was one
of the most loved composers of his day. He was often noble in musical
expression and handled his chorus and orchestra with skill. He wrote
little of anything but opera, but pointed the way for others, especially
in the use of local color and national feeling.
The next follower of Gluck, Gasparo Spontini (1774–1851), born in Italy,
of peasant stock, was one of the first to write historic opera, which
was further developed by Meyerbeer and others. Technically, this is
known as French Grand Opera, which was being developed at the same time
as _opéra comique_. It appealed to hearts and imagination, for the
people loved the great scenes and patriotism portrayed.
Spontini first went to Paris in 1803 and the people did not like his
work. But he persisted, studied Gluck and Mozart as hard as he could,
and produced _Milton_, which showed the public that his work had some
beauty. After this he wrote _La Vestale_, a noble work which swept him
into favor and he won a prize offered by Napoleon and judged by Méhul,
Gossec (a composer), and Grétry.
Weber, however, while Spontini was absent came to Paris with _Der
Freischütz_, and took his place in the hearts of the people. Cast down
by losing his popularity, Spontini returned to Italy. His musical
ability was not equal to his great plots, yet, as the first writer of
historic opera he deserves a place in the growing up of musical drama.
Grétry made French _opéra comique_ out of _opéra bouffe_. Among the well
known writers of _opéra comique_ in France were François Adrienne
Boieldieu, Daniel François Esprit Auber, Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold,
Jacques François Halévy.
Boieldieu (1775–1834) was born in Rouen and became, in 1800, professor
of piano at the Paris Conservatory. He wrote piano pieces and operas,
and is best known for his _La Dame Blanche_ (“The White Lady”) which is
still heard in Paris. His operas combine sweet melody, amusing rhythm
with not a little dramatic style. He shows in his works a real
understanding of how characters and action should be handled.
Auber (1782–1871) called “The Prince of Opéra Comique,” was born in
Paris, and later he became the Director of the Conservatory and Imperial
Chapel Master to Napoleon III. His best known operas are _Fra Diavolo_,
_The Black Domino_, _Masaniello_, or _La Muette de Portici_ (_The Dumb
Girl of Portici_). He had great popularity during his day.
Hérold (1791–1833) was not as accomplished as either Auber or Boieldieu.
He was the son of a piano teacher and studied at the Conservatory under
Méhul. In 1812 he won the _Prix de Rome_ (the prize given by the
Conservatory for composition, which permitted the student to go to Rome
to perfect himself in his art, and to increase his culture, at the
expense of the Government.) His best operas are _Zampa_ and _Le Pré aux
Clercs_. He was particularly good in orchestration, and his works are
still heard.
The last one in this group is Jacques François Halévy (1799–1862), who
is chiefly famous for _La Juive_ (_The Jewess_), a type of historic
opera, even though he wrote many in the style of _opéra comique_. It is
still given today, and it was while singing in this opera, at the
Metropolitan Opera House that Caruso was stricken with his fatal illness
and Martinelli, a few years later was taken ill, and so it is looked
upon with superstition by some of the singers.
MEYERBEER COMPOSES VERY GRAND “GRAND OPERA”
Next, comes Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791–1864), and he followed the historic
style that Spontini had begun. He, though a German, captured the French
audiences and is famous chiefly for writing grand scenes, rather than
for noble music in grand opera. His name was Jacob Liebmann Beer, but he
changed it to Meyerbeer. He was the son of a Jewish banker and had no
struggle for money as did so many of the composers. He began as a
pianist and was also a pupil of Abbé Vogler. He was unsuccessful in
Germany, so went to Italy. After an invitation to hear his opera _Il
Crociato_ (_The Crusader_) performed in Paris, he took up his residence
there.
His style was a queer mixture of German counterpoint, Italian melody and
French rhythm, and after blotting up all the popular fashions of the
day, he gave his _Robert le Diable_ (_Robert the Devil_), _The
Huguenots_ and _Le Prophète_ (_The Prophet_) with different degrees of
success in Paris. Eugène Scribe was chief librettist in this period.
Later Meyerbeer’s operas were given in Berlin, with Jenny Lind in the
title rôles and he became very famous. _Dinorah_ and _L’Africaine_ (_The
African Maid_) were very popular and are still in the repertory of opera
companies. But his style seems insincere and showy according to those
who expect more of opera than grand effects, glitter and elaborate
scenery. _The Huguenots_ was probably his finest piece of work.
Among other composers in Germany whose names you may come upon in other
places are: Heinrich Marschner (1795–1861), Conradin Kreutzer, Lortzing
(1801–1851), von Flotow (1812–1883), composer of _Stradella_ and
_Martha_, and Otto Nicolai (1810–1849) who wrote the delightful bit of
fluff, _The Merry Wives of Windsor_.
Later we see the old _Singspiel_ take the form of Comic Opera (not
_opéra comique_) with such Germans as Carl Millocker and von Suppé and
Victor Nessler in his _Trumpeter of Sakkingen_ and _The Pied Piper of
Hamelin_, and Johann Strauss, the great Viennese Waltz King, whose “Blue
Danube” and other waltzes are so familiar. (Vienna was as famous for the
waltz as America is for jazz.)
OFFENBACH’S TALES OF HOFFMANN
Another German who went to Paris was Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880) from
Cologne, who became more of a Parisian than the Parisians. He was quite
a fop and Wagner once called him “the musical Clown” for he was often
seen wearing a yellow waist-coat and trousers, sky blue coat, grey
gloves, a green hat and he carried a red sun shade. How like an electric
sign he must have looked! But withal, he was so popular in Vienna that
when Wagner approached the Opera House about his _Meistersinger_ he was
told that they were too busy producing Offenbach’s operas to consider
his. He was the best box-office attraction of his time, and the managers
could not get enough of his works. Offenbach was important because he
founded a new kind of light opera, or the operetta, which is light in
story, charming and winsome. His chief operas are _The Grand Duchess of
Gerolstein_, _La Belle Hélène_ and his masterpiece _The Tales of
Hoffmann_ of which you probably know the often-played Barcarolle. He
felt that it was his finest work and was very eager to be present at its
first performance at the Opéra Comique in Paris, but before he had
finished orchestrating it, he died. When it was given, the following
year, it was praised as the work of a genius.
His followers were Planquette, with _Chimes of Normandy_, Lecocq and his
_La Fille de Mme. Angot_, and _Giroflé-Girofla_, and Franz von Suppé
with _Fatinitza_, _Boccaccio_ and the _Poet and Peasant_ overture,
played at all movie-houses!
In Vienna Johann Strauss with his waltzes, and the most perfect comic
opera of its kind, _Die Fledermaus_ (_The Bat_) still sparkling and
delightful, _Zigeuner-Baron_ (_Gypsy-Baron_), all owe their start in
life to Offenbach’s genius. We too, in America, have had the gifted
Victor Herbert with his _Mlle. Modiste_, _The Serenade_, _The Red Mill_
and many other lovely operettas and Reginald De Koven with _Robin Hood_.
The inimitable pair in England, Sir Arthur Sullivan and his librettist
W. S. Gilbert, wrote comic operas that have become classics. (See page
341.)
So, the foppish Offenbach sowed fruitful seed, and the crop that
followed him have given high pleasure and delightful times to many, and
probably will, for years to come.
AN ITALIAN TRIO—ROSSINI, BELLINI, DONIZETTI
We have dipped into Germany and France so now we must see what was going
on in Italy.
Few Italians realized that great musical advances were being made in
other countries and kept on doing the same old things. But one or two
became famous because they left Italy to mingle with the other composers
and audiences of Europe.
Among the best known of these was Giacchino Rossini (1792–1868), who
became director of the _Theatre Italien_, in Paris, after visits to
Vienna and London. His masterpiece was _William Tell_, based on the
Schiller poem dealing with the hero of Swiss history. Among other
things, and very delightful, was his _Barber of Seville_, which was
modelled after the _Marriage of Figaro_, the conversational opera
invented by Mozart, whose influence can also be seen in his
_Semiramide_.
Rossini’s church music, such as the well known _Stabat Mater_ is also
florid but full of beautiful living melody. This and the _Solemn Mass_
are often given today. He was a brilliant composer, an innovator and did
much to abolish the foolish cadenza in opera. His work is very ornate
but shows skill in concerted pieces,—choruses and the endings or finales
of the acts.
One of the best known followers of Rossini in Italy was Gaetano
Donizetti (1797–1848) with his _Daughter of the Regiment_, _Lucrezia
Borgia_ and _Lucia di Lammermoor_ from Sir Walter Scott’s story, _The
Bride of Lammermoor_. He wrote showy brilliant things like the sextet
and the mad scene from _Lucia_ and by his very skill in these musical
fireworks, kept back opera founded on truth and sincerity.
Vincenzo Bellini (1801–1835), unlike Donizetti, wrote only in the grand
style and not in the _comique_. His best known works are _Norma_, _I
Puritani_ (_The Puritan_) and _La Sonnambula_ (_The Sleep Walker_).
Though he was a better writer than Donizetti, Bellini is heard far less
often today. He also used too many frilly, frothy effects and held back
the advance of opera.
OPERA SINGERS OF THE PERIOD
As there cannot be successful opera without opera singers, here are the
names of a few who have gone down to history: Angelica Catalani,
Giudittza Pasta, Henriette Sontag, Wilhelmine Schroeder-Devrient, Maria
Garcia Malibran, Pauline Viardot Garcia, Henriette Nissen, Giulia Grisi,
Jenny Lind, Caroline Carvalho, Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa, Zelia Trebelli,
Pauline Lucca, and Adelina Patti, and Manuel Garcia, John Braham,
Domenico Ronconi, Nicholas Levasseur, Joseph Tichatschek, Guiseppe
Mario, Enrico Tamberlick, Theodor Wachtel, Charles Santley and John Sims
Reeves.
ENGLISH OPERA-BALLAD
18TH CENTURY
Fifteen years after the period in which Purcell glorified English music,
Handel went to England and gathered about him composers who wrote along
the lines which he popularized. In addition to this, ballad-operas, part
songs, “catches” (separate songs or ballads) were very popular. In
London, there were comic plays made of strings of songs such as Gay’s
_Beggar’s Opera_ which were sisters to _opera buffa_ in Italy, _opéra
bouffe_ in France, and the _Singspiel_ in Germany.
Forty-five of these ballad-operas were produced in 15 years. The
arrangers of these amusing song-plays included the names of Dr. Pepusch,
a German who lived in London; Henry Carey (1692–1743), famous as the
composer of _Sally in our Alley_, _God Save the King_ (our _America_);
and Thomas Arne (1710–1778) who wrote many masques, numerous
ballad-operas, and set many of the Shakespeare lyrics and wrote many
glees and ballads. Some of these part songs were very beautiful and
somewhat like the madrigals of earlier days.
Many of the church composers in their lighter moods wrote some of these
ballad-operas, among them: Samuel Arnold, with his _Maid of the Mill_, a
_pasticcio_, “Notable,” says Waldo Selden Pratt, “as the first native
music drama, since Purcell”; William Jackson; Thomas Atwood and Charles
Dibden who was so successful with his _Shepherd’s Artifice_ that he
wrote seventy others, and thirty musical monologues, among which were
_Sea Songs_. Some other well known men were Michael Arne, son of Dr.
Thomas Arne with his _Fairy Tale_, _Almena_ and _Cymon_ from Garrick’s
play of the same name; James Hook with some two thousand songs and
twenty-five plays; William Shield, the viola player and song writer;
Stephen Storace, clever violinist and the author of _The Haunted Tower_
and _Pirates_, and his sister Ann Storace, a singer. At this time there
were two clubs, one called the “Catch Club” and another the “Glee Club,”
and one also called “Madrigal Society,” and before 1800 we have a list
of glee writers including the two Samuel Webbs, Sr. and Jr., Benjamin
Cook and his son Robert, John Wall Callcott, a pupil of Haydn, who won
many medals from the “Catch Club.”
From now on, England was influenced by foreign composers, especially
Mendelssohn, Weber and Gounod, and made ballad operas and operettas
freely adapted from continental works, besides glees and songs and music
for the Church of England services. The interest in music was great and
some of the church music and glees at the time were excellent. In this
period, the Birmingham Festivals were started, Horsley founded the
_Concentores Sodales_ (1748–1847), a group formed along the lines of the
earlier Catch and Glee Clubs. The Philharmonic Society also was formed
(1813) and among its great leaders were Cherubini in 1815, Spohr 1820
and 1843 and Weber 1826 and Mendelssohn many times after 1829. Through
the effort of the Earl of Westmoreland, the Royal Academy of Music was
organized in 1822. Among the composers of this period were Samuel Wesley
(1776–1837). He was a Bach enthusiast and wrote much church music and
other classic forms; William Crotch (1775–1847), George Stark, an
intimate of Weber and Mendelssohn, who edited _Gibbon’s Madrigals_;
William Horsley, who edited _Callcott’s Glees_ and wrote glees himself,
symphonies and songs and handbooks. There were many others in this
period but too numerous to mention here.
In the next period England’s composers free themselves from the
Mendelssohn School and begin to branch out. Do not think that
Mendelssohn was not good for them. He gave much that England needed, and
also brought English composers in contact with European music. But they
liked church music and the ballad opera and the charming part songs,
rather than the heavier operas of Europe. Among writers of cathedral
music, are Sir George A. MacFarren, John Bacchus Dykes, whose name
appears in our hymn books, Joseph Barnby, Samuel Wesley mentioned above,
and Henry Smart. In 1816, Sir William Sterndale Bennett was born, he was
a choir boy and entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1835. The House of
Broadwood (English piano makers) sent him to Leipsic to study and he
came under the influence of Mendelssohn and Schumann. He was the
director of the Royal Academy of Music, a fine pianist and wrote many
compositions, among which his Cantata _A Woman of Samaria_ is not as dry
as the usual sacred works of this period.
Another great writer of this time was Sir John Stainer (1840–1901). Some
of his things are given today in our churches and are very beautiful and
impressive. He is the author of valuable text-books.
LIGHT OPERA
At this time, some writers of a sort of belated ballad opera appeared in
the persons of:
Michael William Balfe who wrote thirty operas among which is _The
Bohemian Girl_, still played and greatly admired; William Vincent
Wallace, like Balfe an Irishman, who is famous for his _Maritana_; and
then of course, Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842–1900), who probably
needs very little introduction to any American or any Englishman for he
wrote _The Mikado_, _Pirates of Penzance_, _Iolanthe_, the only fairy
opera without a mortal in it, _Pinafore_, _Patience_, _Princess Ida_,
_Trial by Jury_, _Ruddigore_ and many others, including the first light
opera, _Cox and Box_, which was the first time that he and W. S.
Gilbert, as librettist, worked together. W. S. Gilbert was the author of
the inimitable and amusing _Bab Ballads_. If you haven’t read them you
have a treat in store for you! They wrote together in a fresh,
mock-heroic, humorous vein, and it seems as if they were made for each
other, so delightfully did they play into each other’s hands.
Sullivan was the son of a clarinet player and teacher. He also began, as
did so many British Islanders, as a choir boy and entered the Royal
Academy of Music on a Mendelssohn Scholarship. Later he went to the
Leipsic Conservatory and wrote some music to Shakespeare’s _Tempest_,
which established his fame in England. Besides his operas he wrote much
incidental music, some anthems and cantatas, among these _The Golden
Legend_ and _The Prodigal Son_ are the best. He wanted very much to
write grand opera, but he never seemed to work well in this vein and his
_Ivanhoe_ did him little good.
And so, we leave opera until the wand of the Wizard Wagner changes the
whole path of music.
CHAPTER XXIV
The Poet Music Writers—Romantic School
SCHUBERT—MENDELSSOHN—SCHUMANN—CHOPIN
You have seen how Romantic Music began, and why Beethoven is often the
first name mentioned when Romanticism is talked about, for he was the
colossal guidepost pointing the way.
He was as far from the classical forms of Bach, as from later writers
who have “jumped over the musical traces” altogether. All were, and
still are, trying to free themselves from conventions, and to express
their feelings satisfactorily.
It is natural to begin the Romantic school with Schubert, the first
figure of great importance. But there was one John Field (1782–1837)
from totally different surroundings who is still remembered for his fine
piano nocturnes.
Impressed with the quiet and solemnity of the night, he knew how to put
it into beautiful melody. He was born in a little out-of-the-way street
in Dublin, not far from St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and near the birthplace
of that romantic poet, Tom Moore. His father and his grandfather, both
musicians, forced the infant prodigy, and at ten, he played, publicly, a
concerto composed by his father.
At twelve, the boy was apprenticed, or “hired out,” as pupil and
salesman to Clementi, the composer and piano manufacturer in London. He
showed off the pianos so well to the customers, that Clementi soon
realized he had made a good bargain. The boy played in London as the
“ten-year-old pupil of Clementi,” on whom he no doubt tried out his
_Gradus ad Parnassum_. (Page 320.)
Five years later he played his own “Concerto for the grand _fortepiano_,
composed for the occasion.” Clementi was shrewd, and started a branch of
his piano business in St. Petersburg, taking Field with him.
One of the ear-marks of Romantic music is the title of the piano piece
or song. Until the romantic period music was designated usually by the
number of the work or by its form such as _gavotte_, _minuet_, _rondo_,
_sonata_, etc., but the Romantics wrote what they felt, and with the
exception of Chopin, gave descriptive names to their pieces. In 1817
John Field wrote a concerto named _L’incendie par l’orage_ (_The Fire
from the Storm_), a musical picture.
His influence was more important than his music. We see his hand in the
playing and composing of the poet-pianist, Frederick Chopin.
Although Weber appeared in a different musical field he, too, had a
strong influence. He was four years younger than Field but had greater
opportunities and was one of the first of the Romantic School.
Charles Mayer (1799–1862) was a direct follower and pupil of Field. His
_études_ (studies) ranked with those of Henselt, who wrote the
delightful _If I Were a Bird_, and he had an influence upon Chopin, too.
SCHUBERT—MAKER OF SONGS
And now we come to Franz Peter Schubert (1797–1828), born in Vienna of a
schoolmaster father, and a mother, who, like Beethoven’s, was a cook.
The musical comedy, _Blossom Time_, was built upon some of Schubert’s
most beautiful melodies and episodes from his life. We must never trust
too far stories told this way, which often contain unreliable details,
however this charming operetta gives an interesting glimpse of
Schubert’s devotion to composition. It is true that he wrote wherever he
was, covering his cuffs as well as the menus and programs in the taverns
with the endless flow of themes which eventually became world-famous
songs. Schubert was not a mere writer of songs; he created the form
known as _Lieder_ and through all his works, torrents of melody seemed
to spring from him eternally.
He was the thirteenth of nineteen children, five of which were of a
second marriage, and there was no wealth or luxury for Franz, so his
father worked hard to pay for his music lessons.
His teacher said that no matter what he tried to teach him in violin,
piano, singing, the organ or thorough-bass, Franz knew it already, for
he learned everything almost at a glance.
He was first soprano in the church choir of Lichtenthal and the beauty
of his voice attracted much attention. He also played the violin in the
services, and stole little stray minutes to write songs or pieces for
strings and piano.
When he was sent to the school for Imperial choristers the boys laughed
at his coarse, grey clothing, the big “Harold Lloyd spectacles,” and his
retiring, bashful manners. They soon changed when they discovered the
astonishing things he could do. His home-spun clothes were exchanged for
the uniform trimmed with gold lace worn by the Imperial choristers, who
formed an orchestra to practise daily music by Haydn, Mozart, Cherubini
and Beethoven. Among them was Spaun and when he won his confidence,
Franz told him that he had written many pieces and he would write more,
but could not afford to buy the music paper. His new friend made it
possible for Schubert to have paper and many other luxuries, in which
Spaun did something to benefit the world,—a little kindness which
brought great results.
The extreme ease with which Schubert absorbed all learning made him
neglect the study of counterpoint, because after all he could not give
all his time to music, for he was a schoolteacher and had to work hard
to get along. His heart was not in his work, for while hearing the
pupils recite he wrote themes on every scrap of paper he could find.
He wrote with lightning rapidity. The early songs met with immediate
favor which encouraged him to write music in larger form. He was of the
people and wrote from the heart, and to the heart. He hoped for the same
success with his symphonies and chamber music, but the symphonies never
reached the perfection of his songs, and his disappointment was keen
when the critics did not rate them as highly.
However, the steady flow of melody, the torrent of themes, never ended
and his chamber music is like a song with lovely play of instruments.
Who can forget the haunting beauty of the _Unfinished Symphony_? This
was left unfinished, indeed, not by Schubert’s death as many suppose,
but the composer felt that he had arrived at a summit of beauty in the
second movement, and he dared not add a third, lest he could not again
reach the heights.
His tenth and last symphony in C major takes an hour to perform and is
heard frequently. Robert Schumann wrote that it was of “Heavenly
length.”
Schubert lived when the romantic poets gave him wonderful verse for his
texts. He loved the literature of Goethe and Heinrich Heine, both of
whom knew the hearts of the simple people.
The world will never forget the wonderful heritage left by this genius
who died at thirty-two leaving vast quantities of great works. Besides
creating new forms in song he also gave the pianists pieces that were
new and important. He left no concertos, nor did he write for solo
violin, but his piano sonatas and chamber music are of value. _Der
Erl-Koenig_ (_The Erl King_), _Der Doppelganger_ (_The Shadow_), and
_Death and the Maiden_, all sounded the last note in tragedy, and he
also wrote many lovely songs in lighter mood.
THE WELL FAVORED MENDELSSOHN
Most masters who have left the world richer for having lived, were born
in poverty and knew the sorrows of privation, not so with Felix
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847), loved by the many who have played his
_Songs Without Words_, or who have heard Elman’s fingers fly over his
violin in the concerto, said to be the best writing ever done for that
instrument.
Popular as are many works from the polished and fluent pen of
Mendelssohn, the oratorios _Elijah_ and _Saint Paul_ are noble for these
contain some of the most dramatic and inspired writing. In that work
which is typical of Mendelssohn and his personality, he showed more
characteristics of the older classical school than of the romantic. If
he had lived during the classical period he would have been a greater
composer, for he was romantic by influence and classic in taste.
Has not the _Spring Song_ the shimmer of spring and the _Spinning Song_
the whir of the wheels? One can easily imagine the kindly touch of a
loving hand in _Consolation_, while the _Hunting Song_ is alive and
going. This is the romantic music that became the model for thousands of
small pieces.
It in said frequently that if Mendelssohn had been less conventional,
his work would have been more forceful, because he had much that was
truly fine.
Mendelssohn lived among the most brilliant literary lights of his day.
His refinement was reflected in his music. He was petted by an adoring
father, mother and sisters, who gave him every opportunity to study and
compose, and he was much sought after socially. He devoted much time to
the study of languages, sketching in water colors and traveling in Italy
and Switzerland. His sister Fanny, whose musical education was of the
utmost assistance to her brother whom she idolized, would have been
famous but for her father’s prejudice against women in professional
life. She was a gifted composer and it is claimed that she wrote many of
her brother’s songs and some of the _Songs Without Words_.
Her death was a mortal blow from which Mendelssohn never recovered.
Extremely sensitive, his affection for his family was most intense and
filled his life.
His grandfather was the eminent philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, who being
a Hebrew, was open to the sorrows caused by prejudice. He was such a
great man, however, that he succeeded in breaking down barriers not only
for himself, but for his race.
Abraham Mendelssohn was pleased to call himself, “First the son of the
famous Moses Mendelssohn, then the father of the eminent Felix
Mendelssohn.” His banking house in Berlin is still in the family.
The most noted musicians and artists were entertained in the Mendelssohn
home, and heard the compositions of the gifted young man. In 1821 the
boy was taken to Goethe’s home where he played and improvised for the
poet. He was delighted with him for his musical talent, and because he
had inherited the gift of conversation and letters from his grandfather,
of whom Goethe was very fond. Young Mendelssohn never shocked the great
old poet as did Beethoven, for his manner was always correct.
In 1825 Mendelssohn went to Paris to Cherubini who was asked whether his
talent justified cultivation beyond the average stage. The master was
very enthusiastic, but his father would not leave him in Paris, even in
charge of the noted teacher. Returning to Berlin he wrote the overture
to _Midsummer Night’s Dream_ (1826). It reflects the dancing elves and
the humor of Shakespeare, while the orchestra has a delicate touch,
similar to that shown by Berlioz at the same period. Mendelssohn was
only seventeen when he wrote it, with all its finish and its flawless
musical treatment. Much that he did at that period shows his natural
flow of genius. Music seemed to gush from his soul like pure, fresh
water from a spring, making one think of cool fountains, sparkling with
melody and clarity. These qualities are also in the _Fingal’s Cave_ or
_Hebrides_ overture, and he takes you on his delightful trips in _Calm
Sea and Prosperous Voyage_. The way these numbers reflect his
impressions and the way he transmitted them to others is typical of the
Romantic School. The purity of his musical form related him to the
classical and gave inklings of the Symphonic Tone Poem.
In his symphonies Mendelssohn also told tales of his travels, as in the
_Italian Symphony_, and in his _Scotch Symphony_ in which he made use of
Scotch folk tunes. He also wrote much chamber music. He left some piano
concertos which may not attract the professionals of today but are the
joy of many piano students who play them arranged for two pianos.
Mendelssohn tried operas but like many others failed to find a good
libretto. This was the trouble with one he produced in Berlin. Added to
this there were many intrigues and jealousies at the opera house which
turned him bitterly against that city.
However, he accomplished one of the greatest things ever done for music.
The works of Bach and Handel had been so neglected that they were almost
forgotten. He knew them well, and wanting others to love them as he did,
he assembled a great chorus and gave Bach’s _Passion according to Saint
Matthew_. This was the first performance since Bach’s death, and it
brought these works back to us. Imagine Mendelssohn’s popularity and
talent as a conductor to have been able to do this at the age of twenty!
Then he traveled again, and after roaming through Italy, Switzerland and
France, he went to London where he created a stir as pianist, composer
and conductor. Besides his splendid education he had a winsome and
attractive personality, and his success was very great. He made, in all,
nine visits to England.
Having been brought up in the Christian faith, he married the daughter
of a French Protestant minister and had five children. They went to live
in Germany and becoming conductor of the Leipsic Gewandhaus orchestra,
he made the city the musical center of Germany. He founded the Leipsic
Conservatory of Music (1843), where he gave his old teacher Moscheles an
important post. This conservatory is well known here for many American
musicians of the last generation were educated there.
Mendelssohn conducted many festivals and he always aroused new interest
in Bach, whom he presented at every opportunity.
His _Saint Paul_ had success in Duesseldorf (1837), and during his last
visit to England (1846), he gave at the Birmingham festival _Elijah_,
second today in popularity only to Handel’s _Messiah_.
When Mendelssohn returned to Leipsic, he showed traces of overwork and
the death of his sister coming at the same time, made him unable to
resist the strain. He died November 4, 1847, when only 38. His happy
life shines through his music so full of beauty and sunshine.
SCHUMANN—THE SUPREME POET
Robert Schumann (1810–1856), a tower of beauty, strength, imagination
and dramatic fervor even judged by 20th century standards, still thrills
us as we recognize his genius. What a price he paid for his life filled
with joys and griefs!
We are grateful for the solidity of his building, his breadth of vision,
the wonders of his imagination, the beauty of his poetic fancy, and
above all, the vastness of his musical knowledge. A peak among the
composers of the Romantic School, he has scaled the heights of dramatic
fervor as he has touched the sun-flecked valleys. To him we owe the
naming of pieces, and the feeling of emotion which the composer felt
when he named them,—_The Happy Farmer_, _The Prophet Bird_, _The
Rocking-Horse_, _End of the Song_, _The Child Falls Asleep_, etc.
All who have been milestones in music have been well educated, yet how
unjustly people say musicians know nothing but music. Many have not had
only culture from their studies, but also have come from refined homes.
So Schumann, born at Zwickau, Saxony, had an educated father, a
book-seller. His mother wanted Robert to be a lawyer, and did not wish
his musical talent to interfere. He began to compose and study music at
seven, but he studied law, literature and philosophy, later, at the
University of Leipsic.
After a year he went to the famous University of Heidelberg (1829),
which has always been proud that the great composer was one of its
students.
Schumann returned to Leipsic on account of the musical life. With his
return began the romance of his life, one of the most beautiful love
stories in musical history. He studied with Frederick Wieck, whose
little daughter Clara was a prodigy pianist. He became a member of the
household and was charmed by the talent of the child. Meanwhile he was
studying as pianist, and being ingenious, he invented an instrument to
develop his weak fourth finger, but it ruined his hand and unfitted him
for his career.
Now he gave more attention to composition and to musical criticism. This
gave him the chance to help some of the brilliant musicians of the day.
He brought Chopin to the notice of Germany, and proclaimed the genius of
young Johannes Brahms. He also formed a deep friendship for Mendelssohn.
Valuable as are all writings which reveal his thoughts, his richest gift
to the world was his music, in which he preached the gospel of beauty.
As Schumann grew into manhood he began to know the depths of sorrow,
some of his finest works having been an outburst of his tortured soul.
Clara Wieck was now a young woman and a great pianist. It was natural
that an affection should spring up between them. But Clara’s father had
greater hopes. He could not see a struggling young musician and critic
as the husband of his talented child. During this long and painful
courtship when Schumann dared not speak his love to Clara he wrote
compositions with which to tell his story, and she understood. One of
these expressions was the lovely _Warum_ asking the question, “Why?” so
longingly.
In those days a case could be brought into court and the reason demanded
why a parent should refuse to allow a marriage. Schumann went to law,
and the court decided that Wieck’s objections were without cause. But
the year of strain told upon his health and nerves and he began his
married life under a cloud of illness. The young pair were ideally
happy, he wrote glorious music, and she took pride in playing his piano
works on all her programs.
With all her accomplishments—and she was a great artist—she was first a
devoted wife who cared for her husband as though he had been her child.
Schumann’s very finest work was done during these years. His inspiration
drove him chiefly to songs, full of lyric beauty like Schubert’s;
indeed, when speaking of _lieder_ the names of Schubert and Schumann are
always linked.
Mendelssohn urged Schumann to teach in the Leipsic Conservatory, but he
left there soon to make a tour of Russia with his wife. That year they
settled in Dresden, a quieter city, because his nerves were beginning to
forecast the shadow of his future.
Mendelssohn loved Schumann and admired him as composer, writer and
critic. He conducted the first performance of Schumann’s B flat symphony
at a Gewandhaus concert of Clara Schumann, and the happiness of the
three was tremendous. Schumann did not think of himself alone, but was
always trying to help his colleagues. Schubert wrote his C major
symphony in March of the year he died and never heard it, but Schumann
had the score sent to Mendelssohn in Leipsic for its first performance
after a wait of eleven years.
Notwithstanding his nerves, Schumann was now in his full power and the
amount he wrote is incredible. Most of his chamber music was written in
1842, three of the string quartets being dedicated to Mendelssohn. The
work that gave him fame all over Europe was the quintet for piano and
strings, opus 44; with Clara at the piano, Berlioz heard its first
performance and spread the news of his genius through Paris. About this
time the _Variations for Two Pianos_ were written and played by Robert
and Clara Schumann.
Another interesting and popular number is _Carnaval_, a collection of
named sketches in three-four time each one portraying some person or
thing. _Eusebius_ and _Florestan_ have caused much curiosity—the secret
is that Schumann was a student of himself and these were meant to show
his conflicting moods. Chopin is represented, also Mendelssohn, while
_Chiarina_ is Clara.
A strange thing happened to Schumann in Vienna. He was visiting the
graves of Beethoven and Schubert which are not far apart, and he found a
steel pen on Beethoven’s tomb. He took this for an omen, but used it
only for his most precious works. He wrote the B flat symphony with it
and the magic seemed to work!
Schubert is universally praised for the beauty of his themes, but who
could surpass the loveliness of Schumann’s melodies? The contrasts
between the exquisite little tone-pictures of _Kinderscenen_ and the
grandeur of the sonatas and the _Fantasia_ mark the breadth of his
genius, while the amount he accomplished in his short span of life was
marvelous.
He was but twenty-five when he first showed mental trouble, and at
forty-four his case was hopeless. He tried to end his life by jumping
into the Rhine and was taken to an asylum near Beethoven’s birthplace,
Bonn, where he died two years later, survived by his wife and two
daughters.
What a price he paid for his life filled with joys and griefs!
CHOPIN—“PROUDEST POET-SOUL”
Robert Schumann wrote that Chopin was “the boldest, proudest poet-soul
of his time.” Such a tribute from him meant more than all the praise we
can give him now; it shows that he had admiration and respect from his
rivals as he had idolatry from the literary, artistic and refined
circles of Paris.
Frederic Chopin (1809–1849) was born in Poland of a French father and a
Polish mother. The difference one finds in the date of his birth,
February 22 or March 1, is owing to the difference between the Russian
and Polish calendars, and those of other countries.
Like Mozart he showed talent very early and at nine played his first
public concert. His mother, unable to be present, asked him what the
audience liked best. “My collar, Mamma!” he answered, proud of the
little lace collar on the black velvet jacket! He was elegant then, and
always kept his air of distinction, and a love for beauty.
Shortly after beginning music study, Chopin tried to compose, and felt
such authority that he undertook to change certain things written by his
teacher. His earliest work was a march dedicated to the Grand Duke
Constantin, which was arranged for brass-band and printed without the
composer’s name.
From his two teachers in Poland, both ardent patriots, Chopin must have
absorbed much of the national feeling so strongly marked in his works.
As it was a day of flashy _salon_ (Page 322) playing, his teacher,
Joseph Elsner, felt that Chopin was the founder of a new school in which
poetic feeling was leading music out of the prevailing empty acrobatic
finger feats!
The world owes much to that wise teacher who instilled a love of Bach
into his young pupil. He answered some one who blamed him for allowing
Chopin too much freedom: “Leave him alone! he treads an extraordinary
path because he has extraordinary gifts and follows no method, but
creates one. I have never seen such a gift for composition.” Later he
marked his examination papers: “Chopin, Frederic (pupil for three
years), astounding capacity, musical genius.”
At fifteen Chopin was adored by his companions and always held the
affection of those who knew him. He seems to have been the original
“matinee idol” of Paris, whenever he played, for he was the most poetic
and finest pianist ever heard.
Though Chopin was seemingly French in manner, habits and tastes, he was
extraordinarily patriotic and his music is perhaps the finest expression
of Poland the world has ever seen.
No one has surpassed, or even equalled Chopin in writing for the piano.
He understood its possibilities, limitations, tonal qualities and power
to express emotion.
He did not leave a great quantity of compositions, but a well-ordered
collection of music, so individual that even today, with all his
imitators, when we hear Chopin—(and where is there a piano recital
without at least one number?)—we instantly recognize it as his.
Strongly marked rhythms are among his most fascinating characteristics.
He glorified and elaborated the dances of Poland, as had others in the
past, who made art pieces of the gavotte, minuet, bourrée, gigue, etc.
What lovelier numbers on a program than Chopin’s mazurkas, polonaises,
waltzes? There is also irresistible swing in the _Ballades_,
_Impromptus_, the _Berceuse_, _Barcarolle_, and what could rival in
fantasy the _Nocturnes_ or _Preludes_? The _Etudes_ cover a variety of
moods, while his _Scherzos_ stand alone in piano literature.
Chopin left no symphonies, no chamber music, except two piano sonatas
and one for ’cello and piano, and what he did for voice could be told in
a few words. He also wrote two piano concertos in which the piano work
is beautiful but the orchestration is not as fine.
These concertos and his piano sonatas were the largest forms in which he
wrote, proving that he could have succeeded here had he not chosen to
perfect music in the smaller forms.
Chopin never had a fair start in life in the way of health, and while
his delicate appearance made him the more interesting, especially to the
ladies, he was a real sufferer. It would be unfair to believe that his
work would have been greater had he enjoyed complete health, for his
unhappiness and his sufferings gave him a sense of the mysterious and
the beyond. He lived in a world far from material things and seemed able
to translate all he felt into music.
He had the devotion of many idolizing friends, tireless in their efforts
to make him happy and keep him working so that he should not brood over
his illness (tuberculosis). Foremost among these was the famous French
novelist George Sand, whose love and companionship were the source of
rare inspiration and comfort. She was a woman of vast mental and
physical power and seemed to impart her strength to him. But Chopin was
a favorite not only with women but among the men, as we learn through
the letters he left. We find many from Schumann, Mendelssohn, Liszt,
Delacroix, the French painter, and innumerable others.
Concertizing began to fatigue him beyond endurance. Returning to Paris
from a tour during a hard winter in England, he grew so ill that he
rarely left his bed, although he did not die until the following
October, 1849.
Chopin had asked that the Mozart Requiem be given at his funeral, which
occurred October 30, from the Madeleine Church in Paris. The singer
Lablache who had sung the Mozart number at Beethoven’s funeral also
performed this tribute for Chopin.
In addition to the Requiem, Lefebure-Wely, one of the fine organists of
Paris, played Chopin’s preludes in B and E minor, and the familiar
funeral march from the first sonata was arranged for orchestra and
played for the first time.
HELLER—THE CHILDREN’S CHOPIN
We may not find the name of Stephen Heller (1813–1888) on many of the
“grown-up” programs, but no pupils’ recitals are complete without
several of his lovely melodies.
He was the friend of children and devoted himself more to teaching and
writing for the young minds and small hands than did any of his
companions. Heller was intended for a lawyer, but his talent as shown at
nine was great enough for him to study with Carl Czerny in Vienna. He
became a fine concert pianist and toured Europe. Taken ill during one of
these tours, he was adopted by a wealthy family who allowed him all the
time he wanted for composing. Most of his study was done in Paris where
he was a friend of Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt and other prominent artists of
the day.
He left several hundred piano pieces, nearly all masterpieces in a field
where he stands practically alone. He wrote in the style developed by
Mendelssohn and Schumann, and what Chopin is to the music world of the
“grown-ups,” Heller is to the young student.
[Illustration:
_Painted by Kriehuber._
_Franz Schubert._
]
[Illustration:
_After the Painting by Bendemann._
_Robert Schumann._
]
[Illustration:
_Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy._
]
[Illustration:
_After the Painting by F. V. Delacroix._
_Frédéric Chopin._
]
_Poet Music Writers._
(_Romantic School._)
[Illustration:
_After a painting by Lenbach._
_Richard Wagner, the Wizard._
]
CHAPTER XXV
Wagner—the Wizard
WILHELM RICHARD WAGNER
1813–1883
Richard Wagner, the Wizard, called out of the past a vast company of
gods and goddesses, giants, knights and heroes, kings and queens. He
made them live for us with all their joys and sorrows, loves and hates,
in his great music dramas, for which he has been recognized as one of
the rare geniuses of the world.
Evoked by his music-magic they pass before us,—the gods and heroes of
Walhalla,—Wotan, Brünnhilde, valiant Siegfried, Pfafner the giant who is
turned into a dragon, Mime the dwarf, the Rhine Maidens and the
Valkyries; Parsifal the guileless youth who became the Knight of the
Holy Grail, and Lohengrin his son, the beautiful knight who marries
Elsa, a lady of rank of the Middle Ages.
We see the minnesingers Tannhäuser and Wolfram von Eschenbach in one of
their famous Minstrel Tournaments with the hand of the lovely Elizabeth
as a prize; we also meet the lovable shoemaker-mastersinger Hans Sachs
in Nüremberg, of the 16th century, and David his merry apprentice,
lovely Eva Pogner and the charming knight Walter von Stolzing, and
Beckmesser the clownish mastersinger; then there are the imperious Irish
Queen, Isolde and Tristan, her lover, with Kurvenal his faithful
servant. Wagner makes not only the mythological persons relive but he
brings back realistic pictures of the everyday life and customs of the
German people of the Middle Ages.
Wagner had his idea of what opera should be and nothing short of his
ideal interested him. He kept to his purpose and accomplished miraculous
things whether he suffered or starved or was banished from his country.
Richard was born at a time, favorable for hearing and knowing the
Viennese composers of the 18th and early 19th centuries, who had
increased the importance of the orchestra. He could hear too the music
of Schumann and Schubert, with all the new beauty and warm feeling they
radiated. This new depth appeared not only in the orchestra but also in
piano and vocal music. In Wagner’s time, people felt deeply about
everything,—science, philosophy, literature, and especially politics;
and many were the quarrels and discontents among nations. Even our own
country was torn by a cruel war.
Wagner listened to the works of Mozart and of Beethoven, whom he admired
immensely. He approved of Beethoven’s use of the chorus in the _Ninth
Symphony_, which had no little effect on his work and ideals.
Among the people who most influenced Wagner was Gluck, who first fought
for sincerity and truth in opera drama. Gluck did not have the advantage
of the grown up orchestra and freer forms, yet Gluck did so much to free
opera that Wagner was fortunate indeed to have come after him. Another
great influence was Weber, who mixed everyday story in a delightful play
of fancy and picturesqueness. Wagner, after hearing Weber’s _Die
Freischütz_, was very much impressed.
Meyerbeer, a contemporary, although rather artificial and always working
for effects, nevertheless showed Wagner the value of gorgeous scenic
productions. Wagner was fond of the stage, and Meyerbeer’s big scenes
sank into the mind of the young composer-poet, who liked to be called a
poet rather than a musician!
Musically, Franz Liszt was probably the greatest influence in Wagner’s
life and we often hear in Wagner’s works bits of melody which remind us
of Liszt.
It is not fair to say that he was great just because he followed Gluck,
Weber, and Mozart, for he brought music out of its old ruts and was
copied by hundreds of composers.
The hero of this chapter was born in Leipsic in 1813 and was the
youngest of nine children. His father died shortly after his birth and
his mother married an actor playwright named Geyer and they all went to
live in Dresden. His stepfather felt that Richard had musical gifts and
he proved a very kind and wise parent. He died when the boy was only
eight.
Richard must have been a most interesting little chap, for he always did
everything with what we would call “pep” and persistence. He loved
poetry and was devoted to the theatre. His stepfather had always allowed
him to go “back stage” at the playhouse, so the youth became familiar
with stage craft, which he used later in producing his music dramas.
He read the Greek and German poets and dramatists at a very early age.
He was the first of the musical geniuses to be trained in the arts
before he started music. So we can picture a little chap,
“stage-struck,” studying when he should, seeing plays when he could, and
listening to the works of Weber and Beethoven which enchanted him, and
storing up ideas, but as yet showing no great leaning toward music as a
profession.
The family moved back to Leipsic in 1827 where he went to school until
he entered the university in 1831. He heard much orchestral music and
became so deeply charmed with Beethoven, that he copied the _Ninth
Symphony_ from a score, to become familiar with it. The _Ninth
Symphony_ with chorale takes about two hours to perform, imagine how
long it took to copy it! An instance of the wizard’s energy and
“stick-to-it-iveness”!
A KILLING PLAY
He began to study music with C. G. Müller, for Beethoven’s works made
him decide that he wanted to know more. He also was taught by Theodore
Weinlig, the cantor or singer of St. Thomas’ school. At sixteen, he
wrote a play which had so tragic a plot that he killed off forty-two of
the characters, and afterwards said, he had to bring some back as ghosts
to wind up the drama, for there were no characters left alive! His drama
reading made him exaggerate tragedy in his own play! After this he wrote
a sonata, a polonaise and a symphony, in classic style, performed in
1833.
In 1830 there had been a political revolution in Germany and it greatly
impressed the young man for he was an independent thinker in politics as
well as in music.
He visited Vienna in 1832 but he found it so appreciative of Hérold’s
opera _Zampa_ and Strauss’ waltzes that he could not bear it and left
almost immediately. He was much like Beethoven in disposition for he was
quick to anger and kind in great gusts, and could be most agreeable to
his friends.
HIS EARLY OPERAS
He had gone to Vienna with his symphony but showed it to no one; it is
said that Mendelssohn saw it but forgot about it. Here he wrote the poem
and some poor music for an opera _Die Hochzeit_ (_The Wedding_) which he
tore up the next year.
Then off to Prague went he (1832), and wrote his first libretto, for you
must remember he did not go to people like Metastastio or Molière for
his libretto but wrote his own. Had he not been a composer he certainly
would have been a literary man. In fact, he was, for he wrote more
pamphlets and books than many a writer! Yet, he showed his real genius
as a composer.
But he was so poor now that he was glad to get a job as a chorus master
at the mean salary of 10 florins ($5) a month! It was here he wrote the
opera _Die Feen_ (_The Fairies_) a wildly romantic work, after which he
returned again to Leipsic. For the first time he heard Wilhelmine
Schroeder-Devrient sing, whose marvelous talent influenced him all his
life. In 1834 as a conductor of a troupe with headquarters in Magdeburg,
he tried to produce his second opera the tragic _Das Liebesverbot_
(_Forbidden Love_), modeled after Shakespeare’s _Measure for Measure_;
but it was so badly given that it was a dismal failure. The second was
like Bellini and Auber, both of whom he admired and it was too early in
his life (twenty-one) to show new ways of composing.
Soon he went to Königsberg, where (1836) he married Wilhelmina Planer, a
young actress whom he met in the theatre, and he spent the year trying
to get his Magdeburg troupe out of difficulties. Later he was given a
post in Riga.
While at Riga his duty was to lead orchestral concerts, at many of which
Ole Bull the Norwegian violinist played, here too, he read _Rienzi_ of
Bulwer-Lytton, the English writer, and wrote a libretto and opera on the
showy model of Meyerbeer. He said himself that it “out-Meyerbeered
Meyerbeer.” Leaving hastily, debts and all, with _Rienzi_ in his hand,
he went to Paris (the goal of all composers) in a sailing vessel, with
his new wife and a dog named Robber, stopping over in England. The trip
took four long perilous weeks. From the sailors he learned the story of
the Flying Dutchman, which he afterwards used in his opera of that name.
We wish we could tell you the whole story of this gale-tossed, unhappy
mariner, the Flying Dutchman, and how at last he found happiness and
relief from storms and troubles of life by finding his mate in the
maiden Senta. You will love the music and the story which is woven about
Senta in the beautiful ballad bearing her name.
In this opera, Wagner first used the _leit-motif_ or leading theme
(particularly in the overture) which he used as we use a name or
description of a person, idea or thing, except that he used them in
music instead of in words. For example, when Senta comes in to the
story, either as someone’s thought or as a person, or when she is spoken
of, her theme is heard, woven into the music. So it is when Siegfried
appears in the operas of the _Ring of the Nibelungen_, you hear the
Siegfried theme; when the Gold is mentioned, you hear the Gold theme; or
if the Giants appear, their theme is heard,—so it is with the Dragon and
everything connected with the story. You hear in some form, their name
plates, as it were, and so by listening, you can follow just what is
going on through the music. This is one of the things that Wagner
developed, though Gluck and others had attempted to use it.
During his stay in Paris, he had a struggle for existence and did
everything possible to gain a livelihood, while striving to get a
hearing for his compositions. He wrote, in his misery, the _Faust
Overture_, the first work to win recognition.
He went to see Meyerbeer on his way to Paris, for Meyerbeer was very
popular and his approval could have aided poor Richard. Some say
Meyerbeer helped him and others say he did not. Wagner gained little
from him. Even when he first went to see Liszt, who later became his
best friend, it is said that Liszt snubbed him. Wagner never stopped
writing his theories for the papers, and a hot-headed young scribbler he
was! Yet withal he submitted the story of _The Flying Dutchman_ to the
director of the Paris Opera House who rejected it as an opera, but gave
the story to Dietsch, the conductor, to write the music. This did not
daunt Wagner, who, after a defeat, worked harder or his next task. So he
wrote another _Flying Dutchman_, story and music and orchestration in
seven weeks!
However, luck began to favor him, and _Rienzi_ (1842) was accepted by
the Dresden Opera and was so successful that he became conductor in
Dresden, which saved him for a while from money worries, and _The Flying
Dutchman_, which had gone begging so long, was loudly demanded. Strange
to say, this wonderful legend did not succeed, for the people missed the
little tricks of Meyerbeer and they could not understand the flowing
music in new form. Wagner was very disappointed for the story was one of
the old German (Teuton) legends and he thought the German people would
love it.
Later, however, Spohr gave it with great success at Cassel, and won
Wagner’s gratitude for his understanding and kindness.
Now comes _Tannhäuser_, an entrancing legend which inspired him to study
more deeply into the Teutonic legends. This he produced in Dresden, and
other German cities played it later. Everything became topsy-turvy in
the musical and political world. Wagner was writing fiery things about
freedom in music and politics, nothing to amount to much, but enough to
rouse his enemies, who became hateful and hissed _Tannhäuser_,—calling
it nerve-killing, distressing music without melody. How could anyone
fail to find melody in _Oh Thou Sublime Sweet Evening Star_, the
_Pilgrim’s Chorus_, the _Venusburg_ music and the colorful overture with
themes of the whole opera? Yet music affects people this way when it is
new in structure. “There is no melody” is said today when the so-called
modern music is played. This should make us stop and listen carefully
and look back on what happened to the writers of the past when they
dared differ from the crowd. Perhaps calling your attention to this will
make you listen with open ears and open minds to the new, which so soon
becomes the familiar.
So Wagner, while conducting other operas in Dresden, began on
_Lohengrin_ and finished it in 1847. But he was impetuous and his
written articles irritated the people. His ideas were fiery and his
musical speech so odd, that even Schumann, who was very sympathetic,
only partially understood him or his music. However he did say that
Wagner would have a great influence on German opera, but Mendelssohn,
after hearing _Tannhäuser_, only liked the second finale. Even his
friend Madame Devrient, though she loved and admired him, said: “You are
a man of genius but you write such eccentric stuff, it is hardly
possible to sing it.”
Never did Wagner feel that he was at fault, so great was his faith in
his ideas of doing away with arias, of not having stopping places in an
opera, just to begin some other song, and of making the words equally
important to the music.
THE NIBELUNGEN RING
While working at _Lohengrin_ he had started his studies of the Icelandic
and Germanic Saga, the _Nibelungenlied_. These tales changed under his
pen into the story of Siegfried, which he wove into the trilogy known as
_The Nibelungen Ring_ or _Trilogy with a Prologue_, as he called it, and
as we call it now—_The Tetralogy_ (in four parts).
The four dramas of the _Ring of the Nibelung_ are:
(1) _The Rhine Gold_ (_Das Rheingold_)
(2) _Valkyrie_ (_Die Walküre_)
(3) _Siegfried_
(4) _The Twilight of the Gods_ (_Die Götterdämmerung_)
Many things happen in these tales but it takes the four to tell the one
big story:
Alberich the wicked Nibelung, a gnome, in his greed steals the gold from
the Rhine Maidens who were guarding it, hidden in the Rhine. They tell
him that the one who fashions a ring out of the gold will rule the
world, but must forego love. Alberich makes the ring but Wotan the god
of the gods wrests it from him. During the drama various people secure
the Ring but it had been cursed by Alberich and brings disaster to all
who get it. Finally the very gods themselves are doomed to destruction,
and Brünnhilde the oldest of the Valkyries, the daughters of Wotan,
returns the stolen treasure to the waters of the Rhine.
The Wizard has painted in magnificent music the great Rhine River,
flowing across the stage; the fire surrounding Brünnhilde until she is
rescued by the valiant Siegfried, who knows no fear; Valhalla the home
of the gods; the hunt in which Siegfried drinks from the magic horn of
memory; and his funeral pyre into which Brünnhilde casts herself and her
horse carrying the ring which she has taken from Siegfried’s finger back
to the Rhine Maidens from whence it came.
The scenes are gigantic and so is the music. Wagner, with his ideals for
freedom and the betterment of humanity, used these legends as a cloak to
cover his personal opinions which would have been looked upon as
anarchism if he had not used such clever and artistic symbols. In
Alberich’s greed for the gold, is hidden Wagner’s ideas of the
Government’s greed for power against which he had fought so strenuously.
Another lesson is that anyone possessing the gold is denied love,
showing that greed kills human feelings.
Because the Opera at Dresden did not use the things he liked, he
rebelled openly against the popular political and musical ideas; he was
banished and went to Zürich, Switzerland. Here he wrote more fiery
literature and made more enemies and a few friends, and the enmity he
stirred up against himself delayed his success. He hoped for a better
state of political life in order to write freer and more beautiful
music.
While he was in Zürich, Liszt, in Vienna, produced _Lohengrin_ with
success. It was given to celebrate Goethe’s birthday (1850), before a
brilliant audience, and now Wagner’s fame seemed sure, though his
“pockets were empty.” _Lohengrin’s_ success was slow in Germany, as it
took about nine years to reach Berlin and Dresden. It was thought to be
without melody! Can you hear Lohengrin’s song to the Swan, the Wedding
March or the Prelude? Listen to it in your mind’s ear or auralize it!
Wagner’s themes were so marvelously interwoven and he did such amazing
things with his orchestra, that it was difficult for people to unravel
the torrential new music. They were not prepared for endless music
flowing on like speech, suiting the music to the word and not stopping
the action to show off the singer’s skill. What Gluck _tried_ to do,
Wagner did. His operas were music dramas because the action or drama was
his first thought.
For fifteen years in exile, he gave himself to literary work and
composition. He had ample time now to write of his musical theories and
his feelings about life.
Soon, London called him to lead the Philharmonic Society, which he did
during the time he was completing _Valkyrie_ and sketching _Siegfried_.
He tried to interest the English in Beethoven and others whom he loved,
but of little avail. The people preferred the delightful delicacy of
Mendelssohn to the solidity of Beethoven. So here again he made more
enemies than friends, and his bitter pen did not help to smooth things
over. By the time he left London, he had finished the _Valkyrie_.
In this great music drama, he tells the story of Siegmund and Sieglinda,
Brünnhilde and the Valkyries who carried the dead warriors from the
battle fields on their saddles to Valhalla. You hear in the galloping
music of the _Ride of the Valkyries_ and the _Fire Music_ and _Love
Song_ of the first act, such music as never was written by anyone but
Wagner! Oh, it is a wonderful legend, explaining itself, in Wagner’s own
poems and with the short music name tags (leit-motifs) which are
enlarged and turned around and intermingled with other name tags and
which stand out beautifully when you know how to listen.
TRISTAN AND ISOLDE AND MEISTERSINGER
While in Zürich, Wagner met the merchant Otto Wesendonck, whose
beautiful and poetic wife Wagner loved dearly. She was a great influence
in his life and they were friends for many years. It was during his
friendship that he started the love drama of _Tristan and Isolde_.
In 1859 he finished the love drama which tells of Tristan and the lovely
Queen of Ireland and how they drank the love potion and how they loved
and were separated. A noble story with some of the most grippingly
beautiful music ever written!
But with this masterpiece of masterpieces completed, he could get nobody
to produce it. Everyone said it was impossible to sing it, and we know
even today that it takes very special musical gifts and few can do it
well. For it is quite true that Wagner, with all his theories about
composition, thought little of the singer’s throat muscles and more of
what he wanted to say.
Poor Wagner was disconsolate! He could not get his works performed and
he was still prevented from returning to Germany, the country he loved.
So off he went to Paris and there _Tannhäuser_ failed utterly after
three terrible, turbulent, horrible performances, which almost ended in
riots, no doubt planned ahead by his enemies.
But to offset this disaster, he was allowed to return home and everyone
rejoiced in his arrival. No doubt his treatment in Paris softened the
German heart.
Not long after this Wagner and his wife separated and some years later
in 1871, he married Cosima Liszt, who had been the wife of Hans von
Bülow.
After Wagner conducted opera on a tour through Russia, Hungary, Bohemia
(Czecho-Slovakia) and many German cities, Ludwig II, King of Bavaria,
sent for Wagner and offered him an income, and from this time on Wagner
composed without financial worries. He was commissioned in 1865 to
complete _The Ring_, and _Tristan and Isolde_ was performed by Hans von
Bülow.
Again political intrigues and his enemies drove him to Switzerland, and
after _Tristan and Isolde_ was given and while he was in Switzerland, he
completed _The Ring_ and _Die Meistersinger_, the most beautiful comic
opera in the world, which was also produced by von Bülow in Munich, June
21st, 1868. And now we fulfill our promise to you, which we made in
Chapter VIII about the Meistersinger:
Walther von Stolzing, a young knight, falls in love at first sight with
Eva the beautiful daughter of Pogner, the goldsmith of Nüremberg, who
has promised her to the winning singer in the coming Festival of the
Mastersingers. Beckmesser, the old town clerk, counts on winning as he
also loves Eva. As Walther does not belong to the music guild, he has to
pass the examination. Beckmesser gives him so many bad marks for not
keeping the committee’s rules that he is not admitted.
But Hans Sachs, the greatest Meistersinger of all, the town cobbler,
thought Walther a beautiful singer even though he broke musical laws and
the very freedom and the new loveliness in his music charmed him.
In the evening when Walther and Eva try to run away, Beckmesser decides
to serenade Eva. Hans Sachs, cobbling shoes in his doorway interrupts
Beckmesser’s ludicrous serenade with a jolly song, in which he marks all
Beckmesser’s mistakes with his hammer, just as Beckmesser had marked
Walther’s. The neighborhood is aroused, confusion follows, Beckmesser
gets a beating and Hans Sachs slips Eva and Walther into his own house.
Next day Walther sings a song to Hans which he has dreamed and Hans
writes it down. Beckmesser comes in and finding the words steals them,
sure he could win if he sang a song of Hans Sachs.
Beckmesser fails miserably and Sachs calls on Walther to sing it. Here
he sings Walther’s _Prize Song_, which wins the approval of the
Meistersingers, and the prize—lovely Eva.
Here we get a splendid idea of what Wagner felt about new music, for in
the _Meistersinger_ he tried to picture the jealousies of composers, who
condemned the beauty of his inspiration and new ideas and methods.
Never was there an opera more delightful for young people, who love the
melodies and charming pictures of medieval Nüremberg.
BAYREUTH
About this time the _Valkyrie_ and _Rhinegold_ had been given at the
Court Theatre in Munich (1869–1870). The King gave up his plan to build
a new theatre for these stupendous works, which needed special machinery
because of the elaborate stage effects. Wagner insisted that scenery was
as important as the words and music. So he started to build, by general
subscription over all Europe, a theatre at Bayreuth. He succeeded so
well that not only did Europe contribute but America, too, and groups of
people banded together to collect money for it. Wagner was now the
fashion and finally the new opera house opened August 13th, 1876, with
_The Ring_, for he had finished _Die Götterdämmerung_ the year before.
Artistically it was successful but not financially. If his pen had been
dipped in honey and not in bitters, he would have won his public more
easily, but he seemed unable to be diplomatic. So off he went to London
and other places to conduct concerts to make money to pay the debts of
his new theatre. Later he wrote the Festival March, for the Philadelphia
Centennial (1876), which helped financially.
The people were divided into two camps,—those for Wagner, and those
against him. So strong was the feeling, that during the 1880’s, in
Germany, signs in cafés read: “It is forbidden to discuss religion or
Wagner”! The proprietors wished to save their chairs and china which the
fists of their patrons would destroy.
PARSIFAL
During this time he was at work on _Parsifal_, a drama in music as
serious as oratorio yet with the most thrilling stage effects and
richness of music. _Parsifal_, _Tristan and Isolde_, _The Ring_ and _Die
Meistersinger_ are to every other opera what a plum pudding is, compared
to a graham cracker. In fact, all Wagner’s late music dramas are like
plum puddings, so rich and compact are they.
_Parsifal_ was produced in 1882 in Bayreuth and was not given again for
six years. Later it was the occasion for yearly pilgrimages to Bayreuth,
as if to a shrine. It is so long that it takes the better part of an
afternoon and evening to perform it, yet you sit enraptured before its
gripping spell of beauty and holiness.
In 1903 the musical world was startled by the first performance in
America of _Parsifal_, as Wagner, in his will, had forbidden a stage
performance outside of Bayreuth. It was covered by copyright until 1913,
which was supposed to have protected it from performance. Heinrich
Conried, director of the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York City, in
his eagerness for novelties, disregarded the master’s wish, and mounted
an elaborate production under the direction of Alfred Hertz. This so
offended the Wagner family that they refused to allow anyone who had
taken part in that performance to appear in Bayreuth.
Bayreuth became a Mecca, to which pilgrims went every other year, to
attend the festivals. After the World War, Wagner’s family turned to
America for help to continue these festivals, interrupted by the war, as
the Wizard himself had done, when building his theatre. In 1924 his son,
Siegfried, visited America, conducted some symphony concerts and secured
funds to carry on the festivals.
_Parsifal_ is a combination of three legends—of which one is the
_Parsifal_ of our old friend the Minnesinger Wolfram von Eschenbach
(1204). (Chapter VIII.)
It is the story of the Redemption of Mankind, told in symbols with great
beauty of poetry, music and scenery. It is certain to fill you with
religious fervor, for it reaches the depths of your soul and raises you
above the things of the earth. Amfortas, the guardian of the Holy Grail,
whose wound represents the suffering of mankind, hears the mystic voice
of his father, Titurel, who tells him that not until a sinless one comes
with pity in his heart will the wound be healed. Parsifal, “the
guileless fool,” is his redeemer.
The year following the first production of _Parsifal_ Wagner’s health
began to fail and he went to Venice where he died suddenly in 1883. He
was buried with fitting honors at Bayreuth which always honors the
memory of the Great Master of German Opera.
Here is a picture of Wagner in the words of his brother-in-law: “the
double aspect of this powerful personality was shown in his face; the
upper part beautiful with a vast ideality, and lighted with eyes which
were deep and severe, gentle or malicious, according to the
circumstances; the lower part wry and sarcastic. A mouth cold and
calculating and pursed up, was cut slantingly into a face beneath an
imperious nose, and above a chin which projected like the menace of a
conquering will.”
HOW THE WIZARD CHANGED OPERA
When Wagner reached his full power, he composed drama rather than opera
in the old sense.
His music explained the words and action and expressed the state of mind
of the character.
The melodies are used very much like the theme in a sonata. These
leit-motifs (leading motives) are usually carried, as we told you, in
the weavings of his wonderful orchestral webs. This theme or leit-motif
or name tag, is tossed from instrument to instrument in numberless
entrancing ways. Sometimes he uses a flickering theme for flames as in
the fire music of _The Valkyrie_ or glorious chimes or trumpetings as in
_Parsifal_ to cast a holy spell; but, whatever he uses, he charms and
holds you spellbound.
He combines the counterpoint of the 16th century masters, with a most
modern feeling for harmony, inherited from the classic Germans. He used
harmony in a new way with a freedom it never before had reached, and
pointed the way for modern composers of today.
As the Wizard, Wagner throws a glamor over the most mystic happening, as
when Siegmund, in _Die Valkyrie_, withdraws the Sword from the tree; or
in the most commonplace fact as when Eva tells Hans Sachs that she has a
nail in her shoe. In _The Meistersinger_, you can always tell that he is
making fun of Beckmesser, because his name tag shows him to be petty and
ridiculous.
Although Wagner’s music is rich, very clear to us and beautiful, in his
day it seemed complicated and discordant, because of its great volume
and sonority, the result of the perfect part-writing.
For the first time, he makes the brasses of equal importance to the
string and wind instruments. It is thrilling to hear the trombones and
his beautiful use of trumpets. He used many of Berlioz’s ideas in
muffling horns and added new instruments, too, among them, the bass
clarinet and the English horn (_cor anglais_), which is a tenor oboe and
not a horn at all!
Wagner had a beautiful way of dividing up the parts for violins and
other instruments into smaller choirs which answered each other and with
which he could get special effects. For example, the Prelude of
_Lohengrin_ is probably the nearest thing in shimmering music to what
the angels must play, so heavenly is it. Here he divides the violins
into many parts and it is far more beautiful than if they all played the
same thing. Thus, he gave more value to the instruments and greatly
improved the orchestra.
His preludes in which you hear the leading motives or name tags, are a
table of contents for what follows.
Wagner did not use tricks of decoration like Meyerbeer nor did he give
show-off pieces for his singers’ benefit. His idea was to use sincere
musical speech to tell the story and not one bit did he care how hard
the singer worked to carry out his idea.
Wagner, above all, was a dramatist, choosing lofty and noble themes of
heroic and ideal subjects in which his imagination could play. He loved
the sublime and the great spectacle.
The chief interest of Wagner’s opera is in the orchestra which carries
the theme webs. He used neither the folk song in its simple beauty nor
accepted classic arias which could be taken out and sung. His song is
often declaimed and appears not to sing with the orchestra, for the
voices are used as instruments and not to show off vocal skill. Yet,
Liszt was quick to take out from the operas and transcribe for piano the
Fire Music, the Ride of the Valkyrie and many others which we now sing
and whistle.
Finally, Wagner by his example has given courage to the man of ideas, if
he will believe in himself and work without ceasing.
CHAPTER XXVI
More Opera Makers—Verdi and Meyerbeer to Our Day
After reading about the feats of the Wizard it is not surprising that he
had many followers,—those who openly claimed to take him for an example,
and others who did not realize how much they received from him and would
not like to have been called his followers!
VERDI—THE GRAND OLD MAN OF ITALY
After following the Italian methods of writing opera and having become a
very famous composer, Verdi received inspiration from Wagner in the last
three or four years of his very long life. He was much loved and it is
difficult to tell whether it was his operas or his beautiful character
which prompted the affection. He was called “the Grand Old Man of
Italy.” A national hero was he, and the Italians’ idol. Praise and
flattery did not make him proud but spurred him to work through trouble
and good fortune, and so he became one of the greatest opera writers. He
was born a few months after Wagner, in the village of Roncole near
Parma, and his life was interesting, for he lived at the time when opera
was popular and was going through the Wagner upheaval which spread all
over Europe.
He had a unique chance to make opera more important in Italy, and
succeeded in giving it a new impetus, even though in the beginning his
popular things followed popular patterns.
VERDI AND THE ORGAN GRINDER
Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) was the son of an innkeeper and, as a little
boy, showed marked musical talent. He was a good obedient little fellow,
but always rather melancholy in character and never joined the village
boys in their noisy amusements. “One thing only could rouse him from his
habitual indifference, and that was the occasional passing through the
village of an organ grinder. To the child, who in after years was to
afford an inexhaustible repertory to those instruments for half a
century all over the world, this was an irresistible attraction. He
could not be kept indoors, and would follow the strolling player as far
as his little legs could carry him.” (Grove’s Dictionary.)
Who has not heard the _Miserere_ from _Il Trovatore_ played, all out of
tune, by an Italian organ grinder who sends a little monkey around with
a cup to gather in the pennies? We remember an organ grinder in San
Francisco who ground out the _Miserere_. Each year or two that we
returned there were more of the notes missing. Ten years later, the
performance was quite “toothless” and sounded very funny.
All his life, Verdi kept a little spinet that his father bought for him
in 1820. We see him then, at seven, deep in musical study and at ten he
was the organist of Roncole, going to school in Busseto, a nearby town.
One night when he was walking the three miles to go back to Busseto
after church, the poor little fellow was so weary that he missed the
road and fell into a canal, narrowly escaping death! Is it not splendid
that his village appreciated his talent and gave him a scholarship which
made it possible for him to go to Milan to continue his musical studies!
HIS OPERAS
He did not compose an opera until 1839 when his _Oberto_ in the style of
Bellini was produced in Milan with such success that he received orders
to write three more from which he gained much good-will and fame.
It must have been a thrilling time for opera writers, because Wagner was
composing, too, and you know the great excitement he caused. Amidst this
interesting whirl of opinion, Verdi wrote one of the operas ordered by
the Milan director, and during this time he was sorely stricken by the
deaths of his wife and two lovely children. Besides this, his opera
failed and in his discouragement the poor young man made up his mind to
give up composition. However, a rare good friend coaxed him back to his
work after a little rest, and he produced his successful _Nebucco_
(_Nebuchadnezzar_) (1842), _I Lombardi_ the next year and his well known
_Ernani_ (1844). In this, his first period, he used as models, Bellini
and men of his type, not writing anything startlingly new.
In his second period he wrote operas nearly as fast as we write school
compositions, and among the famous things are _Rigoletto_ (1851), _Il
Trovatore_, _La Traviata_ (story from Dumas’ _Camille_ or _Dame aux
Camelias_), (1853), and _The Masked Ball_ (1859). _Ernani and Rigoletto_
are founded on stories by Victor Hugo. The first performance of _La
Traviata_ in Venice was a failure due more to the performers, than to
the opera itself which still crowds opera houses of the world.
The greatest opera of his third period is _Aida_ (1871), one of Verdi’s
masterpieces. An opera on an Egyptian subject was ordered by the Khedive
of Egypt for the opening of the Italian Opera House in Cairo, for which
Verdi received $20,000. Mariette Bey a famous Egyptologist made the
first sketch in order to give the right local atmosphere to the
libretto. Curiosity ran so high that every seat was sold before the
first night and it was a great success. Think how electrified the
audience must have been by the tenor solo, “Celeste Aida,” one of
Caruso’s greatest successes; by the realistic Nile scene; the voice of
the priestess in the mammoth Egyptian temple, and the famous march with
trumpets made specially for it!
Dear old lovable Verdi was a wise man as well as an accomplished
composer. He used more modern methods in _Aida_ to hold audiences who
were hearing about Wagner and his startling innovations.
Other operas of this third period were _La Forza del Destino_ and one
given at the Paris Grand Opera, _Don Carlos_, which was not up to his
standard. Until this time he showed great mechanical skill and a sense
of color and melody. The great singers have revelled in the operas of
his second period. In our day Marcella Sembrich, Nellie Melba, Frieda
Hempel, Luisa Tetrazzini, Amelita Galli-Curci, Florence Macbeth and many
others have sung the coloratura,—frilly, soaring, gymnastic-singing,
still very popular. However in _Aida_, Verdi departed much from the
usual, and people said that he was copying Wagner, because they didn’t
know the difference between the influences which change a person’s ways,
and imitation.
So he deserted the old models, Auber, Meyerbeer and Halévy for something
more substantial, his deeper and gigantically conceived _Aida_. James
Wolfe of the Metropolitan Opera said of the bigness of this work as
produced at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York: “I have played
before audiences of 30,000 in arenas in Mexico. I am so at home in the
opera that I do cross-word puzzles waiting for my cue, and yet at the
Metropolitan when I first played the King in _Aida_ with its flaming
music, its hundreds of people and its scores of horses, I was over-awed
and frightened!”
After this, Verdi’s splendid mass, _The Requiem_, was written for the
death of the Italian hero Manzoni. In it he approaches the German school
in depth and seriousness, veering away from the emptiness of Italian
writing.
In his last efforts he seems definitely influenced by Wagner; for, with
his _Otello_ and _Falstaff_ we find a new Verdi, surpassing in form and
sincere melody anything that he had done. He was very fortunate to have
Arrigo Boito, his friend, to write librettos based on Shakespeare’s
_Othello_ and _Merry Wives of Windsor_. When _Falstaff_ was given in New
York (1925) a young American baritone, Lawrence Tibbet, in the rôle of
Ford, flashed into fame.
Verdi was a man of the people, loving Italy and being loved in return, a
master of voice, ready to take good suggestions to improve his work,
always kind, high-minded, and generous. He knew the orchestra and wrote
for it in a way that not only gave, in his last three masterpieces, a
new flavor to Italian opera, but led the way for future composers.
BOITO AND HIS “MEFISTOFELE”
Arrigo Boito (1842–1918), journalist, poet, and composer sprang into
prominence with his _Mefistofele_, in which the Russian singer,
Chaliapin, has attracted huge audiences at the Metropolitan. When it was
first given in Italy, the audiences missed the coloratura arias, and the
critics were very hard on the young composer. So he went back to
journalism for many years. His next opera _Nero_ has a gory plot, but is
real and not embroidered as were most of the Italian operas. Boito had
studied in Germany and had absorbed much of the realism and truthfulness
that Gluck and Wagner, taught. _Nero_ had an elaborate first performance
(1924) by the celebrated Arturo Toscanini, one of the greatest living
conductors, at _La Scala_ in Milan. It is a tremendous stage spectacle,
surpassing in scenic effect many of the older melodramas.
“CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA” AND “I PAGLIACCI”
In 1890 the first truly realistic opera was written in Italy. A prize
was offered by the publisher Sonzogno and an unknown man, Pietro
Mascagni, won it with _Cavalleria Rusticana_ (_Rustic Chivalry_). He was
born in 1863, the son of a baker. He was a musical boy, but his father
wished him to be a lawyer, so he had to work at the piano in secret. One
day when he had been locked up by his father who did not want him to
practise, he was discovered by his uncle, who sympathized with him and
took him to Count Florestan, who helped the young musician to study in
Milan.
Mascagni’s work in _Cavalleria Rusticana_ was vivid and he used both the
old and the new style of writing. It is full of the most entrancing
melody (the Intermezzo, the Brindisi, or drinking song, and Santuzza’s
aria, _Voi lo sapete_). He also wrote _Iris_ and _Amico Fritz_, which
never equalled _Cavalleria_.
With Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1858–) it was different, for only after
writing a number of operas did he produce a success in the world-famous
_I Pagliacci_. He wrote the tragic story of these strolling players as
well as the music, which is not as popular in style as _Cavalleria_, but
it is superbly put together and very dramatic. As these operas are both
short, they are often performed together. The rôle of Canio (_I
Pagliacci_) was one of Caruso’s masterpieces. How wonderful to think
that his voice has been preserved for the future generations through his
records of which _Ridi Pagliaccio_ (_Laugh Clown_) is one of the finest.
It is generally admitted that Caruso’s voice was the most glorious of
our age, and certainly there was no artist more idolized than he. In
this same opera Antonio Scotti’s performance of the famous Prologue is
equally beautiful.
GIORDANO
Umberto Giordano (1867) goes into peculiar realms for subjects for his
operas. He uses local political intrigues and literature for his themes,
and is known especially for his _André Chenier_ and _Fedora_ which are
given in many opera houses of the world. In _Siberia_ he uses folk songs
of Russia. He has recently set _The Jest_ by Sem Benelli librettist of
_L’Amore dei Tre Re_ (_The Love of Three Kings_) by Italo Montemezzi.
PUCCINI THE POPULAR IDOL
Now we come to a delightful opera maker, Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924). He
is the greatest modern Italian with the exception of Verdi. He has a
distinctive touch that gives him individuality. He keeps a nice balance
between voice, orchestra and melody. His music is always full of color
and feeling. His themes, for the most part, touch the heart and have
gained wide popularity.
His first opera was _Manon Lescaut_, the same story which Massenet used
in his delightful opera _Manon_; _La Bohème_ is his next and is often
said to be his best. It is a tale of artist life in the Latin Quarter of
Paris and is full of romance, color, gaiety and sadness. His story is
taken from Murger’s _Vie de Bohème_, which was a fortunate choice.
_Madame Butterfly_ is another of his glittering successes. It has a
decided Japanese flavor in its musical phrases. It is based on a story
by John Luther Long, which was made into a play by David Belasco.
Butterfly was one of Geraldine Farrar’s loveliest rôles.
_Tosca_, in which Farrar, Caruso and Scotti made a famous trio, is a
blood curdling drama of murder, cruelty and love, full of music which
mirrors the story. The libretto was taken from Victorien Sardou’s _La
Tosca_, a celebrated drama in which the “divine Sarah” (Bernhardt) made
one of her most brilliant successes.
He uses interesting little musical devices which make it easy to
recognize a Puccini piece, and his music has charm. It is built on
Italian tradition but is distinctly of the 19th century. He enjoyed the
greatest popularity of his day, and there have been few, excepting
perhaps Verdi and Wagner, whose operas have been so well known. His
beautiful melody, piquant airs, fine rhythms, clever orchestration and
humanness of plot, make Puccini very often touch the edge of _opéra
comique_. Although he uses a musical phrase over and over again, it is
not like the Wagner _leit-motif_. There are no concerted finales or
clearly defined stopping places as there used to be in earlier operas.
So you see, Puccini profited by Wagner and Verdi.
His _Girl of the Golden West_, a California story of the days of ’49,
had its world première (first production) at the Metropolitan Opera
House (1910). For some time Puccini had been looking for a libretto for
a new opera. While in New York, to be present at the Metropolitan
production of _Madame Butterfly_, he was also searching for material in
the hope of finding an American story. Again David Belasco came to his
aid. His own _Girl of the Golden West_, a picturesque play, was being
given and he invited Puccini to see it. He was interested and turned it
into an opera. The rehearsals at the Metropolitan were most interesting
with Puccini and Belasco working together. Emmy Destinn and Caruso sang
the leading rôles.
It is realistic, dramatic, beautiful in parts, and not written for
coloratura exhibitions! But when it was produced it proved too Italian
for Americans and too American for the Italians, so Puccini was
disappointed in its lack of success.
Puccini’s operas, as well as Verdi’s and others, have a new popularity,
that of the mechanical player audience, the gramophone and playerpiano.
WOLF-FERRARI AND “THE JEWELS OF THE MADONNA”
One of the most delightfully witty opera writers is Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
(1876), son of a German father and Italian mother, and writer of _The
Secret of Suzanne_ (her secret was that she smoked!) a very droll and
amusing story. He is musical grandchild to Mozart, so delicately does he
sketch and so charming is his melody. If you hear his operas, including
the tragic and exciting but beautiful _The Jewels of the Madonna_, you
will certainly say that he can make more out of a little, than almost
anyone. With a small orchestra he seems to work miracles, and his
melodies are gracious and his rhythms captivating.
MONTEMEZZI VISITS AMERICA
Whether it was Lucrezia Bori (Spanish soprano) or Montemezzi who made
_L’Amore dei Tre Re_ (_The Love of Three Kings_) so entrancing, is hard
to say. Here is lovely music flowing on endlessly! It is rich and deep;
the voice is handled delightfully, and the orchestration is masterly and
beautiful throughout. _The Love of Three Kings_ is real music drama and
few other operas have so fine a libretto.
Montemezzi with his American wife paid a visit to America (1925) and was
fittingly received at the Metropolitan Opera House where Edward Johnson
and Lucrezia Bori delighted people with the lovely opera.
Some of the other modern names in Italy are Giovanni Sgambati
(instrumental pieces); Giuseppi Martucci (instrumental pieces); Marco
Enrico Bossi, a famous Italian organist whose visit to this country in
1925 ended tragically, as he died on the boat on his way home, and
Buongiorno, Eugenio di Parani and Franchetti, and Amilcare Ponchielli
(1834–1886), composer of _La Giaconda_.
Now let us turn to what France has done in opera in the second half of
the 19th century.
FRENCH OPERA
When Meyerbeer was musical czar of Paris, we see not only Wagner in
France, but six other important composers. Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)
was a tone poet; Charles Ambroise Thomas (1811–1896), Charles François
Gounod (1818–1893), and Georges Bizet (1838–1875) were opera writers;
Charles Camille Saint-Saëus (1835–1921) was a composer of concertos,
piano and chamber music and of one famous opera; and César Franck the
Belgian (1822–1890) who lived in Paris, although not an opera writer,
influenced the composers of opera who lived after him.
_Mignon_ came from the heart of one of these, Ambroise Thomas, winner of
the _Prix de Rome_, and in 1871 the director of the Paris Conservatory.
He wrote several works, among them a successful opera _Hamlet_, yet none
have done as much for his reputation as _Mignon_.
Félicien David (1810–1876) is known for his symphonic poem _Le Desert_
and his _Laila Rookh_, an opera which was given at the _Opéra Comique_.
Another well known name is Benjamin Godard (1849–1895). Do you remember
the _Berceuse_ from his opera _Jocelyn_? He wrote _Le Dante_ and _La
Vivandière_ and many salon pieces for young students of the piano.
GOUNOD’S “FAUST”
_Faust_, in connection with music, makes us think of Gounod. Gounod was
born in Paris and showed musical ability when a boy. He was graduated
from the Conservatory and won the _Prix de Rome_ (1837).
His interest always seemed to be in religious music for he went to Italy
to study Palestrina and Bach. His study resembled a church for it had
stained glass windows and an organ, and furnishings which gave it a
religious atmosphere. After he returned from Rome he studied for the
priesthood but soon gave it up.
Gounod’s musical training was very broad for at first he was influenced
by Rossini, Weber and Mozart, and later by Bach and Palestrina.
His _Messe Solennelle_ (_Solemn Mass_) was given in 1861 and his _Faust_
in 1859. This is considered to be one of the most tuneful operas written
in the 19th century, and packs opera houses all over the world. His
_Romeo and Juliette_, though not as popular is still given and his
_Médecin Malgré Lui_ (_Doctor in Spite of Himself_) (from Molière’s
play), “is a gem of refined setting” says Clarence Hamilton.
Among his other operas are _Philemon and Baucis_, _La Reine de Saba_
(_The Queen of Sheba_) both inferior to _Faust_.
During the Franco-Prussian war he lived in London where he produced his
oratorios _The Redemption_ and _Mors et Vita_ (_Death and Life_) with
his Gounod Choir, and held in England a somewhat similar place to Handel
and Mendelssohn, for he, too, had many disciples.
He was a master of beautiful melody and instrumentation.
There is a new school in Paris whose slogan is, “Back to Gounod” in
order to recapture his way of writing melody!
EVERYBODY LOVES “CARMEN”
In Georges Bizet we see a man of genius who produced but one great work.
To be sure he lived only thirty-seven years, two years longer than
Mozart with his hundreds of pieces, yet Bizet is of great importance in
French opera and is looked upon by musicians as a man of rare power, and
he is loved by everyone for his marvelous _Carmen_. Louis Gruenberg, the
American composer, said, “I have looked in vain for a flaw in _Carmen_
but it is perfection throughout. It is the one opera in the world that
wins both musicians and the masses alike, and it disarms criticism.”
Emma Calvé will always be remembered as Carmen, for she not only sang
the part with its intense melody and Spanish color, but she lived it on
the stage.
Bizet is an amazing orchestral tone painter, and one of the greatest of
all opera writers.
The story of _Carmen_ is taken from a novel of Prosper Mérimée and is
full of the sun, the shadows, the fascinating dances, the bull fight and
the romance which belong particularly to Spain. _Carmen_ is an _opéra
comique_, for in the original version as played in Paris it has spoken
dialogue.
His other things full of charm are _Jeux d’enfants_, four-hand pieces,
the _Arlesienne Suite_ (dances) so pictureful and emotional. It is used
as ballet sometimes for _Carmen_.
Bizet was not appreciated and at first _Carmen_ was a failure, but many
geniuses ahead of their time have shared the same fate.
[Illustration:
_After a painting by Giacometti._
_Georges Bizet._
]
[Illustration:
_Vincent d’Indy._
]
[Illustration:
_Camille Saint-Saëns._
]
[Illustration:
_Jules Massenet._
]
[Illustration:
_Gustave Charpentier._
]
_French Composers of the 19th Century._
It seems quite reasonable that after all the experiences France has been
through in the early and middle 19th century she should now blossom out,
not with remodelled Italian opera, but with her own opera and her own
ways of writing music.
The two influences were without doubt from César Franck and Bizet whose
sincerity not only influenced musicians but rather quickly gained the
public. The third influence was of course, Wagner, who, though he
infuriated many, gained followers for his theories everywhere that his
music was heard. In France, Reyer and Chabrier were both Wagner
enthusiasts and did much to bring him finally into the Paris Opera House
a little before the 20th century (adapted from _The Art of Music_). Out
of these influences came a fine group of gifted composers,—d’Indy,
Dukas, Charpentier and others.
Ernest Reyer (1823–1909), who was an ardent follower of Wagner, had a
hard time because of the new harmonies he used. His last opera
_Salammbo_ is better known to us than the others, and his works are
still played in Paris at the Grand Opera.
A man famous as composer of the tone poem, _España_, Emmanuel Chabrier
(1841–1894) must come in here, for at the time of his death he was
writing a most interesting opera, _Briseis_, which was finished by his
pupils. The day before he died Robert Louis Stevenson stopped in the
middle of a sentence, in his novel _The Weir of Hermiston_, one of his
best. The first woman to receive the _Prix de Rome_ in France, Lili
Boulanger (1892–1918) did much of her composing in bed during her last
illness; her devoted sister Nadia, a prominent musician in Paris, and
had received the second _Prix de Rome_, finished the deathbed works. And
did we not see Mozart finishing his _Requiem_ on the last day of his
life? Illness and impending death seem not to matter to men and women
who have genius.
This group was striking out for something new, and was influenced by
Wagner’s theories, Franck’s return to the old classic style, the Russian
school, the re-action against Wagner and the renewed interest in
orchestral concerts in Paris (adapted from C. G. Hamilton).
SAINT-SAËNS—THE CHILD PRODIGY AND OCTOGENARIAN
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) wrote in all styles from classic to the
newest of program music. He is another who gave concerts before he was
twelve years old; he studied at the Conservatory, lived in Paris as a
composer, organist and pianist, was a learned man and a very good
musical critic. Later in life he lived in Algiers, which accounts for
the oriental touch in his music. He journeyed over much of the world and
we heard him in Carnegie Hall, on his last trip to this country in 1915,
on his way to the San Francisco exposition where he played the organ and
conducted his opera _Samson and Delilah_. He played some of his most
technically difficult pieces when he was in his eighties. He wrote some
symphonies, some descriptive symphonic poems, _Le Rouet D’Omphale_,
_Phæton_, _Dance Macabre_ (very weird and rhythmic) and others. Out of
five, his G minor is the most brilliant piano concerto.
He is best known for his opera _Samson and Delilah_ which is carried
into fame by the two arias, _My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice_ and _Love Come
to My Aid_. This last is of the finest lyric writing in French opera and
the first is surpassingly emotional. The choral parts (often sounding
like early Hebrew music) show a real master at work, and the effect of
the whole is very dramatic, whether sung as oratorio or opera.
It is not as an opera writer, however, that Saint-Saëns wished to go
down to history for he threw his whole strength into trying to make the
French public know and love the classics. Paul Landormy says: “From the
historic point of view, Saint-Saëns is a notable figure. Saint-Saëns is
the French Mendelssohn.... He undertook the musical education of France
at the exact moment when Berlioz despaired of succeeding with the task,
and he prepared the public for the great French School of symphonists
which arose toward the end of the 19th century.”
In 1871 Saint-Saëns was made president of the newly formed National
Society of Music of which you will read later.
The ballet was used to advantage by Clement Philibert Léo Délibes
(1836–1891) a master of this form of music and dance. He built up a
certain atmosphere that is particularly French. His ballets, _Coppelia_
and _Sylvia_ and his opera _Lakmé_ are conventional and very popular.
_Lakmé_ is _opéra comique_ because of the spoken words and of its
romantic character. Délibes always has a certain delicacy of color, and
charm which captivates.
Another composer who writes in an exotic vein (or an
out-of-the-nation-to-which-he-belongs way, with all the color of the
other nation in costumes and scenes) is Edouard Victor Antoine Lalo
(1823–1892). Lalo was trained to sincerity by his models, Beethoven,
Schubert and Schumann. This does not mean copying, for his music is not
anything like the music of these men. He skilfully drew a variety of
effects from his orchestration, and his music has individuality. His
best known work in opera is _Le Roi d’Ys_. He also wrote a work for
violin and orchestra _Symphonie Espagnole_ which is a pet of all the
violinists because of its brilliancy and beauty.
MASSENET
Jules Massenet (1842–1912) was something like a modern French Meyerbeer
and an Offenbach combined, yet his work is far more worth while. Before
he died he was at the height of his popularity in Europe and America,
and the repertory of the Hammerstein Opera in New York included many of
Massenet’s works. He composed operas so rapidly that his public could
not forget him!
He built on Gounod and Ambroise Thomas and gained much from Wagner. He
used continuous melody and some of the principles of the leit-motif.
Wagner’s music compared to Massenet’s was thick for Massenet’s is thin!
Whether Massenet will always remain popular is a question. His operas
are engaging and clever, and he knew how to write theatre music to
please the public. The most important of his operas (about fifteen), are
_Manon_ and _Le Jongleur de Notre Dame_. The title parts of both were
sung by the brilliant Mary Garden, in this country. (See Chapter VIII.)
_Manon_ ranks second to the _Jongleur_. You know, too, the Meditation
from _Thäis_, another of his popular successes. It was written for Sybil
Sanderson, an American singer, in Paris. Massenet’s operas did not show
his tremendous knowledge of counterpoint, of which he was professor at
the Conservatory. His position was later filled by André Gédalge who has
taught most of the composers of today. Gédalge is also the composer of
some very fine symphonies, sonatas and an extraordinary _Treatise on the
Fugue_.
Other writers of this period are Xavier Leroux (1863–1919), Gabriel
Pierné, born the same year, composer of a delightful oratorio,
_Children’s Crusade_. He is now conductor of the Colonne Orchestra in
Paris. André Messager, born ten years before these two is the composer
of some very charming light operas of which _Veronique_ is the best
known. There are also the great organists Charles Marie Widor (1845)
with ten organ symphonies and many other works, and Alexandre Guilmant
(1837–1911), a great organist who came to America while one of the
writers of this book (Ethel Peyser) was at Vassar College, where he
inaugurated the new organ.
FOLLOWERS OF CÉSAR FRANCK
Although César Franck was not a successful opera writer, he influenced
composers by showing how to combine modern harmony successfully with the
classic form.
Among the many César Franck’s revival of the classic style influenced
are Gabriel Pierné, Henri Duparc (1848), and Ernest Chausson
(1855–1899), Franck’s pupils. Chausson was first known through _Helen_,
a three-act opera and _Le Roi Arthus_, which show what he might have
accomplished had not an accident caused his death. Besides the operas he
wrote beautiful chamber music, orchestral works and songs. His _Poem_
for violin is full of gentle, yet deep feeling. All his work has veiled
mystery and is very lovely.
The most important pupil of César Franck is Vincent d’Indy (1851), one
of the most important figures in France. He founded, with Charles Bordes
and Guilmant, the organist, the _Schola Cantorum_, and revived interest
in sacred music. He has been in this country and is admired for his
symphonic works, his operas _Fervaal_ and _L’Étranger_ (_The Stranger_),
piano pieces and chamber music. One of his symphonic poems, _Istar_, was
made into a ballet for Mme. Ida Rubenstein and was performed for the
first time at the Grand Opera in Paris, in 1924.
Alfred Bruneau (1857) links the Wagner period with Debussy’s. His operas
are rarely given outside of Paris. His manner was new and caused much
discussion. He based many of his plots on Émile Zola’s writings, and was
conductor of the _Opéra Comique_. _The Attack on the Mill_ was given in
America.
CHARPENTIER’S “LOUISE”
Gustav Charpentier (1869) comes next. He made his name with the
delightful opera about the dressmaker apprentice _Louise_, a musical
novel on the life in Montmartre, one of the artist quarters of Paris.
Charpentier wrote the book, which was the story of his own life. He also
wrote its sequel _Julien_. No one who has ever been in Paris fails to be
deeply stirred by this picture of the simple home life of the
_midinette_ or sewing girl. Mary Garden created the part of Louise in
America and it was the first rôle of her operatic career. In one scene,
you hear the almost forgotten street cries of Paris. He has also written
a charming work for orchestra, _Impressions of Italy_, which is the
result of his having won the _Prix de Rome_ in his youth.
This brings us up to the 20th century to which we shall devote an entire
chapter. But in order to finish our story of French opera, we will
merely introduce you to Claude Achille Debussy, the ultra-modern
harmonist and weaver of mystery and beauty, who ushered in the 20th
century with his lovely and enchanting opera, _Pelleas and Melisande_
written on the play by Maurice Maeterlinck. For ten years the composer
worked over this masterpiece, and it was produced for the first time at
the _Opéra Comique_, in Paris in 1902. Here we find something that never
had been before,—opera completely separated from all the old ideas of
what opera should be. But in tearing down the old, Debussy gave
something very rare, beautiful, sensitive, touching a very high artistic
peak, in its place. This was pure impressionism in music, just what
romanticism was to the early 19th century. This carries the French
School to its highest degree of mystic beauty.
Coming later than Debussy’s opera are Maurice Ravel’s _L’Heure
Espagnole_ (_The Spanish Hour_), Henri Rabaud’s _Marouf_, Paul Dukas’
_Ariane et Barbe Bleue_, also a Maeterlinck libretto and second only to
_Pelleas and Melisande_ in atmospheric charm, Albert Roussel’s
_Padmavati_, an Oriental opera, that has been produced very recently at
the Grand Opera in Paris, and Florent Schmitt’s _Le Petit Elfe Ferme
l’Oeil_ (_The little elf winks its eye_) presented at the _Opéra
Comique_ in 1924.
HUMPERDINCK—THE FAIRY TALE MAN—GERMANY
Outside of the operas of Richard Strauss, of which we have written
elsewhere, there have been few outstanding opera writers in Germany
since Wagner. Among those are Ludwig Thuille (1861–1907), whose
_Lobetanz_ was given at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1911; Eugene
d’Albert (1864), who has lived in Germany most of his life, although he
was born in Scotland, and wrote the lovely _Tiefland_ which was
performed in America; Max Schillings (1868), whose _Mona Lisa_ was
performed at the Metropolitan; Hans Pfitzner (1869), who wrote an
operatic legend based on Palestrina; Siegfried Wagner (1869), son of
Richard; and Leo Blech (1871).
The one great exception was Engelbert Humperdinck (1854–1921), born in
Bonn, Beethoven’s birthplace. He is perhaps closer to the hearts of
children than any one else who ever wrote music. This seems much to say,
but when you hear that it was he who wrote that beautiful little fairy
story _Hansel and Gretel_, we are sure you will agree. The San Carlo
Opera Company has given special performances of it in English. Would it
not be nice if operas were given in the language you best understand?
You would then find out for yourselves that this is the story of _Babes
in the Woods_. How fine it would have been too, if you had been able to
hear in your own language the other opera written by Humperdinck! This
was _Koenigskinder_ (_Children of the King_), which gave one of the
loveliest rôles to Geraldine Farrar, and brought a large flock of real
geese on the stage to take part in the performance. The other name of
the opera is _The Goose-Girl_, which explains the presence of the geese.
Geraldine Farrar always brought one or two with her when she
acknowledged the applause and there was always an awful squawk! In this
opera too, there is a horrid old Witch. Humperdinck found joy and
inspiration in the folk music of Germany, much of which deals with
fairies, elves, witches and inhabitants of the world of imagination.
Humperdinck was a great musician and he had the honor of being asked to
prepare the score of _Parsifal_ for the publishers.
Because of the beauties of his melodies, the lovely subjects he selected
and his sympathy with the finer and higher things of life, it is a pity
that Humperdinck left so few works.
He was attracted to the theatre and wrote much music as theatre music
for plays. This is called incidental music, that is, it is incidental
and the play’s the thing! Just before he died Humperdinck wrote the
incidental music for the _Miracle_ which is a great spectacle in
pantomime. This means that there is no speaking, only tableaux and
acting. He did not live to finish it, but it was completed by his son,
for the production made by Max Reinhardt.
CHAPTER XXVII
Some Tone Poets
Probably you think that any music on a program is program music! Of
course it is, but not in the special use of the word, for when it is
program music, it has a story of its own and has to be described in more
or less detail so that the audience can understand what it is about.
Therefore, we find two classes of music—_absolute music_, which needs no
story to explain it, and—_program music_, which does. Beethoven’s best
works are known by their opus number while most of Schumann’s have
descriptive titles. Early composers sometimes wrote music describing or
imitating something, like Daquin’s _Cuckoo_, Jannequin’s _Battle of
Marignan_, _The Carman’s Whistle_, etc. These pieces were program music
in a way, but the modern tone poets went further by writing music with
rather extended stories and with music not as simple as it used to be,
but nevertheless an outgrowth of ballad form, sonata and the symphony.
Suppose you wanted to write a tone poem! First you must have a subject
and then you must write music to explain it. Let us say you were going
to write a Subway Tone Poem, your program notes might read something
like this: The hero rushes away from his office, into the hurrying,
scurrying street, down the slippery, crowded subway steps, and when he
reaches the noisy turnstile slips in his fare and meets his young lady.
He leads her through the crowd, protecting her from the jostling mob.
Then they enter the train and above the noise and bustle they cast sweet
glances at each other and converse. The train stops occasionally and
finally they get off at their station. They walk to her home, along an
empty side street where it is quiet and charming. He doffs his cap and
we leave them, both thinking lovely things about each other.
Don’t you think you’re ready now to write a tone poem?
BERLIOZ, INNOVATOR
Up to Hector Berlioz’ time (1803–1869), there was no definite attempt to
write a tone poem with an elaborate story. This man, one of the most
complicated in musical history, did much to help music and future
musicians, for he started to tell stories in music without scenery or
dialogues.
He was born near Lyons, France, the son of a doctor who wanted him to
study medicine, but as he almost fainted several times in the dissecting
room, he gave it up. This was his first rebellion and all his life he
struggled against nearly everything that existed. His was a noble
discontent in many ways, for he believed deeply in his own ideas and
suffered much putting them into practice. He lived shortly after the
French Revolution when everything was topsy-turvy. Many of the old
things that people had looked upon with reverence had vanished and he
tried, as other young men of his day, to forge new ideas according to
his sense of right.
One day he saw some musical score paper and realized in a moment, what
wonderful things might be done with it and exclaimed: “What an
orchestral work one might write on that!” and quite suddenly, he decided
to write music! He could only play the guitar, the flute and the
flageolet and knew practically nothing of harmony. He certainly paid
well for his decision, for he had a hard struggle with himself and
circumstances.
He took one of his compositions to Professor Lesueur at the Paris
Conservatory, and was admitted.
BERLIOZ VERSUS CHERUBINI
Cherubini, Director of the Conservatory, made a rule that men and women
should use separate doors leading into the library. Not knowing this
rule, Berlioz entered by the door reserved for the women and sat down to
read a score of his beloved Gluck. Cherubini, thin, pale-faced, with
tousled hair and fiercely shining eyes, came up to Hector and
reprimanded him for breaking the rule. They had a noisy fight, chasing
in and out among the desks and when Berlioz reached the door, he looked
back at Cherubini and called out: “I am soon coming back to study Gluck
again.” Being a determined boy, he did come back, but Cherubini, on whom
his future depended, was his staunch enemy for life.
His parents were infuriated with Hector for his conduct in and out of
school. His mother, a pious woman, practically disowned him and his
father gave him but a small allowance with the stipulation that unless
he could soon prove his ability in music, he should have to go back to
medicine. So he tried desperately to earn money, by singing in choruses,
playing the flute and teaching, hoping that he could win the _Prix de
Rome_, which would give him a few years in Rome and three thousand
francs. After terrific opposition by Cherubini and held back, too, by
his own lack of diplomacy, either by submitting works that were written
too poorly or too well, he lost many chances for the prize and finally,
after four attempts, he won the coveted award with his cantata
_Sardanapalus_. The amusing thing about this is, that he left out the
parts then looked upon as modern, and difficult, which would have lost
him the prize, but the first time it was played in public, he put them
all in, and the piece was successful.
Then he fell in love, and after much posing and strutting about and
foolish behavior, he married the young Irish actress, Harriet Smithson.
They were very unhappy and unfortunate, but he was good to her and even
gave up composing to earn a living by writing, and he proved an
exceptionally gifted writer and critic.
His autobiography, too, is most interesting for he sees himself as a
romantic hero and tells the tale with great dramatic energy and
exaggeration.
WITH INTENT TO MURDER!
At one time he was engaged to another woman who was unkind to him and he
wrote: “Two tears of rage started from my eyes and my mind was made up
on the spot to kill without mercy.” But being impetuous and quick
tempered, he never reached the scene of murder, for, when about to sail
to where she was, he either fell or jumped into the water, which very
much dampened his ardor for killing.
One night, Chopin and Schumann followed him because he had threatened to
kill himself. But, at the crucial moment Berlioz changed his mind!
Life for Berlioz was a drama in which he was the leading man, and he
watched his own performance, as if he were a part of the audience. He
craved novelty at every turn. He was sensitive, high-strung and vain,
and yet withal, he had the dignity of being loyal to his beliefs in
himself, and did not want to deceive anybody. He wrote with humor,
brilliancy and understanding, he had faith in his work, and was
sufficiently heroic to stick to his course whatever the cost. He was a
martyr, for he suffered in order to do what he wished in music, and was
never appreciated.
Although he went to England, Germany, Austria and Russia, and was very
successful, Paris, only, interested him. In 1863, his opera _The Trojans
in Carthage_ failed and in 1868, he died, a broken-hearted man.
BERLIOZ’S CONTRIBUTION TO MUSIC
It seems strange, but Berlioz disliked Bach and Palestrina and worshiped
Beethoven, Gluck and Weber. He was jealous of Wagner and did everything
he could to make _Tannhäuser_ a failure in Paris.
Berlioz invented new ways, as do our Jazz Bands today, to make the
instruments produce different sounds. He put bags over the horns, hung
up the cymbals and had them struck with sticks instead of clapping them
together, dressed up the drumsticks in sponges, and was much pleased at
the effect made when a trombone played a duet with a piccolo. He made
propaganda for new instruments especially for the horn, invented by
Adolphe Saxe, which was called Sax Horn, and from which descended the
Saxophone, so behold Berlioz, the founder of the Jazz Band!
Where other composers would use four trombones or one, he used sixteen!
In his _Requiem_ for example, he used sixteen trombones, twelve
ophicleides (cornets with extra levers or keys), eight pairs of kettle
drums, two bass drums, a gong and of course, all the regular string and
reed instruments. He boasted after the first performance, that a man had
a fit from the excessive noise!
THE INTIMATE FRIEND OF INSTRUMENTS
He wrote the sort of melody that showed off each particular instrument
to its best advantage. He studied them as if they were human beings, and
he understood their characters and temperaments, what they could do and
at what they would balk. He showed the possibilities of the choirs of
wood wind instruments, a rich heritage for us today. The orchestra
playing a piece of his, directed by him was matchless in its effect.
_Effect_ was the keynote of his writings. As the first great master of
tonal effect, he is unsurpassed, and his book on orchestration is still
one of the most practical text books on the subject.
Berlioz used the _idée fixe_ (fixed idea) or _leit-motif_, not as Wagner
used it later, but quite definitely, twisting a theme in many ways to
bring out different phases of the same subject. Thus, Berlioz founded
the dramatic in music, without scenery and without words, which is the
Symphonic Tone Poem.
The majority of the people did not understand him any more than they
understand Stravinsky today. His greatest work was his _Symphony
Fantastic_ written in 1829, in which he used the _idée fixe_ to tell
about the life of the artist, in true program music style for which he
fought and almost bled. In _Harold in Italy_, he makes a departure by
giving to the viola, the rôle of the “leading lady” which had not been
done up to his day. He often used voices with the orchestra as he did in
his tone poems _Romeo and Juliet_, and _The Damnation of Faust_.
The noisy _Requiem_ is one of the finest things he did, and his
overtures, the best of which is the _Benvenuto Cellini_, are fine works.
The oratorio, _The Infancy of Christ_, written in classic style, was
well received, but his operas never succeeded.
He paved the way for new orchestral effects and prepared the ground for
Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, and all the other
orchestral composers. He was a musical Byron, for he was more
interesting than beautiful, more vivid than noble, a sincere _poseur_,
faithful to his ideas and always searching for romance.
[Illustration:
_Hector Berlioz._
(_Father of the Tone Poem._)
]
[Illustration:
_Franz Liszt._
_Sympathetic Teacher, Composer, Pianist and Friend to Young
Musicians._
]
He was well versed in literature, always carried Virgil in his pocket,
and loved and admired Shakespeare, Goethe, Byron, Walter Scott and other
great writers on whose works he based many compositions. In his
fascinating autobiography, he said, “The dominant qualities of my music
are passionate expression, internal fire, rhythmic animation and
unexpected change,” and he was right.
And so we leave this romantic man, craving sensation in his life and in
his music, exaggerated in word and tone, and thank him for what Daniel
Gregory Mason calls, “His contribution to the unresting progress of
art.”
He was not appreciated in Paris until after his death, and some one said
that the stones hurled at him in contempt were soon piled up for him in
the pedestals of his monuments.
FRANZ LISZT
Another Mozart seems about to appear, for Franz Liszt (1811–1886), too,
was an infant prodigy!
He was born in Raiding, Hungary, and his father, Adam Liszt, who was
steward to Prince Esterhazy, gave Franz piano lessons and managed his
first concert tours.
At nine Liszt played in public, then went to Vienna and took lessons
from Carl Czerny and Salieri. When twelve years old he played in Paris
and “set the world on fire” with his brilliancy. Some one said that
after his first concert that he had a triumphal progress to fame over
the laps of great ladies, for he was petted and “bon-bonned” and kissed
by all.
Liszt wanted to go to the Conservatory in Paris, but as he was a
foreigner, Cherubini, though a foreigner himself, would not admit him.
ADVERTISING LISZT
Here is a handbill used for advertising the little boy Liszt:
“AN AIR”
With grand Variations by Herz, will be performed on Erard’s New
Patent-Grand Pianoforte, by:
MASTER LISZT
Who will likewise perform an Extempore Fantasia and respectfully
requests two written Themes from any of the Audience upon which he
will play his Variations
This illustrates two interesting things. The first, the mention of the
_grand pianoforte_, which had not been in use very long; the second, the
fashion in Liszt’s day of improvising before an audience, a “stunt”
almost like solving a cross-word puzzle without a dictionary!
For a long time, he was advertised as two years younger than he was, and
his father carried him to the piano; but he soon rebelled at this
pretense and it was discontinued.
LISZT SHOWS HIS UNSELFISHNESS
After Liszt’s father died in 1827, he gave up concert tours for a while,
and settled down with his mother for eight restful years to study and
teach the piano. Liszt generously gave his mother all the money he had
made in his successful tours because, he said, she had made so many
sacrifices for him. At this time he grew spiritually deeper and well
fitted for the glories to come. Like Berlioz, Liszt was born a short
time after the French Revolution, when new ideas were coming into
literature, religion and art, through which this young and gifted artist
tried to guide himself in a wholesome way that shaped his future life.
Liszt again made concert tours through Europe (1839), and astounded
everyone with his playing and the charm of his personality. Musicians
and audiences were at his feet! He made a great deal of money, too, and
grew so popular that artists painted him, ladies knelt before him in
adoration, tableaux were given in his honor, monuments erected to him
and societies named after him.
His kindness to the poor and needy was unfailing. When Pesth was
inundated by a flood, he sent a generous gift to the sufferers; he
established a fund for the poor in Raiding and completed the necessary
sum for the Beethoven monument at Bonn. He never accepted money for
teaching after he was “grown up” for he wanted to be a help to his some
three hundred pupils. It is said that after 1847 he never gave a concert
for his own benefit! An extraordinary character!
In 1843, he went to Weimar, as a visiting artist. Soon he met Princess
Von Sayn Wittgenstein of Russia who realized his great gifts and
influenced him to become more than a pianist. Later in the year we see
him as Choir Master living at Weimar and attracting the greatest people
of the musical world to him. Here Liszt was able to help young musicians
who came from all over the world. Wagner would never have been so
successful, had not Liszt aided him during his exile. He stood by him
with patience and loving kindness and helped him to produce his operas.
He was of untold assistance to Schumann and Berlioz, Rubinstein,
Cornelius and countless others by performing their works when nobody
else dared to. Liszt was in high favor with society, and having a love
for the new in music, he used his popularity to help music grow. Wagner
himself said: “At the end of my last stay in Paris, when ill, broken
down and despairing, I sat brooding over my fate, my eye fell on the
score of my _Lohengrin_, totally forgotten by me. Suddenly I felt
something like compassion that this music should never sound from off
the death-pale paper. I wrote two lines to Liszt; his answer was the
news that preparations for the performance were being made on the
largest scale the limited means of Weimar would permit.” Liszt’s motto
was, “First Place to the Living.”
LISZT’S PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Liszt’s services were demanded for concerts and festivals in many towns
from 1852–1859. The people, however, could not understand how their idol
could believe in Wagner and Berlioz, and there were many rabid
discussions. Very soon Liszt brought out his own symphonic poems,
_Tasso_, _Prometheus_, _Mazeppa_, _Les Preludes_, and his two piano
concertos (1855–1857), utilizing his romantic ideas.
After leaving Weimar, which some biographers claim was because of the
adverse criticism of Cornelius’ opera, _The Barber of Bagdad_, Liszt
went to Rome. Here his deep mystical nature and his need for rest and
time for contemplation, led him to enter one of the Holy Orders of the
Church, and the Pope gave him the honorary title of Abbé. Pope Pius IX
adored him and called him his Palestrina. The church music which he
composed there included his oratorios _St. Elizabeth_, _The Christus_,
his unfinished _Stanislaus_, the _Hungarian Coronation Mass_ and the
_Requiem_.
Liszt returned to Weimar every spring and summer and conducted many
festivals and concerts, including the Beethoven centenary. He was also
much interested in the National Academy at Pesth, so now he divided his
time between Rome, Pesth, and Weimar.
He wrote many brilliant piano pieces, among them his nineteen remarkable
Hungarian Rhapsodies based on the melodies he heard from the gypsies.
Besides composing music, teaching and helping other musicians and giving
to the needy, he wrote essays and criticisms.
In appearance Liszt was tall and thin with deep-set eyes and bushy
eyebrows and a mouth which turned up at the corners when he smiled. His
charm of manner won all who came in contact with him.
A story is told of him that he as a youth was sitting to the artist
Scheffer for his portrait, and fell into a theatrical pose, probably
with his head thrown back and one hand thrust into the breast of his
buttoned coat, which was characteristic. As this did not impress the
painter, Liszt, realizing it, cried with much embarrassment, “Forgive,
dear master, but you do not know how it spoils one to have been an
infant prodigy.”
In spite of Liszt’s outward affectation and posing, he had a noble
character. He was simple and whole-souled, free from jealousy and the
love of money. He died highly honored in 1886 at the age of seventy-five
at a Wagner festival in Bayreuth. In fact it was difficult to tell who
received more honor at Bayreuth, Liszt in the audience or Wagner at the
conductor’s desk.
LISZT’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS
As a pianist, no one has surpassed Liszt and he revealed the piano’s
possibilities. In addition to his pianoforte compositions, he made
“arrangements” of symphonies, chorals, operas, songs and every other
form, which brought them closer to the people. His arrangements are so
brilliant, although over-decorated and cheap in effect, that he shows
that the piano can almost reproduce the orchestra.
Liszt was not as great a composer as he was a pianist and stimulator of
other musicians, and much of his music was written for effect. Yet he
was a great critic and his love of music for the future rather than of
the past, led him to be sympathetic with young composers, for whom he
opened the way. The people who gathered about him disliked old forms and
were looking for new music in which he encouraged them. Among the
musicians who were friends and pupils at Weimar, were: Joseph Joachim
Raff, Peter Cornelius, Eduard Lassen, who took Liszt’s place when he
left Weimar, Leopold Damrosch, the father of Walter and Frank Damrosch
of New York, Alexander Ritter, the pianist and inspirer of so many great
people, and hundreds of others.
Liszt wrote many symphonic and choral pieces which showed marked
originality. Although not as profound as Wagner, he helped Wagner so
much that their names would be forever linked, even if his daughter
Cosima had not been Wagner’s wife.
RUBINSTEIN AND VON BÜLOW
Among other friends of Liszt of value to musical history were Anton
Rubinstein (1829–1894) (page 443), the Russian, and Hans von Bülow
(1830–1894), a German. Both these men were great pianists and wrote
noteworthy compositions. Liszt was a great stimulus to them and they had
many points in common. Rubinstein was romantic and von Bülow, classic.
Rubinstein did much to link Germany and Russia musically, which was a
help to both nations. Von Bülow was an illustrious pianist, friend of
Wagner, famous conductor, and editor of many musical scores, among them
an edition of Beethoven’s Sonatas, still in constant use. Both these men
did much for pianists all over Europe.
Other great pianists and composers of their day were: Nikolai Rubinstein
(Anton’s brother) (1835–1881); Theodor Leschetizky (1830–1915), trained
by Carl Czerny, and he in turn trained hundreds of pianists; Karl Tausig
and many others.
Of course, the effect of these pianists was to make music and the piano
more popular, thus adding greatly to the musical culture of the world.
TCHAIKOVSKY
You probably know of Piotr (Peter) Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) as a
great symphony writer, but he was also a successful writer of tone poems
such as _The Tempest_, _Francesco di Rimini_, _Manfred_, based on
Byron’s _Manfred_, _Hamlet_, _The Storm_, _Romeo and Juliet_ and two
incomplete poems, _Destiny_ and _Voievoda_. Tchaikovsky was born in
Russia, he went to the school of Jurisprudence and later entered the
Ministry of Justice but soon began to compose music and took a medal for
composition for a piece which he wrote on Schiller’s _Ode to Joy_, the
poem Beethoven used in his 9th Symphony. He also wrote _The Nut Cracker_
Suite for orchestra, adapted from the score of a Ballet, which includes
a Russian dance, an Arab dance, a Chinese dance, flower waltz, and other
fascinating, whirling, delightful dances.
Many of Tchaikovsky’s things not called tone poems have very definite
programs, such as _The Snow Maiden_ (_Snegovrotchka_) a favorite legend
and music to a fairy tale—the parts are named _Chorus of Blind Gusslee
Players_, _Monologue of the Frosts_, _Appearance of the Wood Demons_ and
so on.
SERGEI RACHMANINOV
Boecklin’s painting _Isle of Death_, inspired Sergei Rachmaninov (1873)
to write a most beautiful musical poem about its sombre trees and the
sea. As a distinguished pianist he has glorified the art in all
countries, especially in America. He was a student of Siloti and of
Zvierev, a friend of Tchaikovsky. His masters in harmony and theory were
Taneiev and Arensky. He has held musical posts of honor and has written
remarkable piano concertos, chamber music works, choruses and one opera,
_Aleko_. You probably know his much played C minor Prelude which has
been a sort of visiting card of Rachmaninov to the public.
RICHARD STRAUSS, THE PROTEUS OF MUSIC
In the list of tone poets, Richard Strauss (1864), or Richard II is one
of the most important. It is strange that he should have the same name
as Wagner, for his father Franz Strauss, a skilled horn player, disliked
Wagner and his compositions intensely. Richard’s mother was the daughter
of a brewer and they all lived in Munich, where the son was born.
When he was a little boy, he wrote musical notes before he could write
the alphabet, and at six, composed little pieces. By the time he was
twenty he had written compositions which put him with Schubert and
Mozart, in the ranks of musical prodigies.
Until his sixteenth work _Aus Italien_ (_From Italy_) (1886), his first
tone poem, he did not depart from the classic forms, although there were
a few signs of change in style in a violin sonata which he wrote just
before the tone poem. In fact, he was so much against Wagner and his
innovations, that no one could have guessed that later he himself would
be considered an innovator and would be accused of imitating Wagner.
During his youth, after hearing _Siegfried_ he wrote to a friend about
the music of Mime: “It would have killed a cat and the horror of musical
dissonances would melt rocks into omelettes.”
When he met von Bülow, the old master thought little of his talents, but
the young man gave him a surprise. For, when Richard went to Meiningen
he had never led an orchestra in his life and without one rehearsal,
conducted his _Serenade for Strings_, opus 7. Von Bülow realized his
great ability, made him assistant conductor, and a year later when he
left Meiningen, Strauss took his place.
It was about now that Richard met Alexander Ritter the violinist and
radical thinker who, he said, changed his life by introducing to him new
ideas. He became converted to Wagner. When he heard _Tristan and Isolde_
he was thrilled by it. So, like Proteus, the god who changed his form to
suit his adventure, Strauss, the musical Proteus changed his ideas to
suit his opinions.
Wearied by hard work after writing many classical pieces including a
sonata, an overture, the _Festmarsch_, a violin concerto, songs, a horn
concerto and other things, he became very ill. He said to a friend that
he was ready to die, and then added, “No, before I do, I should love to
conduct _Tristan_.” This shows that the young man could change his
opinion and become devoted to what he loathed years before, a fine
quality which continually brought down upon his head criticism from
smaller folk. Yet this Proteus-like quality was a sign of his power for
growth.
Because he did not gain strength quickly from his illness, he went to
Italy and then wrote his first symphonic poem _Aus Italien_ (_From
Italy_) in a new and modern vein.
When he returned, he led the orchestra in the Court Theatre of Munich
and then went to Weimar for two years, and this former young classicist
was now hailed as the leader of modern composers! He produced, here,
three tone poems: _Macbeth_, _Don Juan_ and _Tod und Verklärung_ (_Death
and Transfiguration_) (1888–1890).
Then, on account of illness (1892) he went to Greece, Egypt and Sicily.
During this tour, he wrote _Guntram_, which he produced on his return to
Weimar.
He became interested in the Bayreuth festivals and in 1894 he conducted
a production of _Tannhäuser_, after which he married Pauline de Ana who
played Elizabeth. Before this, he had made her the heroine of his first
opera, _Guntram_ (1893).
Not long after this he gave up the Weimar post and went to Munich with
his bride. He became the conductor there and at the same time, led the
Berlin Philharmonic concerts until the double work and commuting became
too much for him. He gave up Berlin and Arthur Nikisch succeeded
him,—the same Arthur Nikisch who later took the baton of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra in America.
In 1899 he became the leader of the Royal Opera in Berlin in which city
he decided to live and from there made trips all over the world
including the United States, first in 1904 and later, after the World
War. During his last tour, we heard him play the piano for his songs
which are unsurpassed in beauty, and conduct some of his own orchestral
works with skill and enthusiasm.
He is tall and slender, with kindly blue eyes, rather informal in
manner. He has the air of a happy man even if he has received some of
the harshest criticism from friends and foes that any composer has had
from earliest times. His wife used to sing his songs in public. He is
fond of games, especially the card game “skat” and like the true
grandson of a brewer enjoys his glass of beer.
STRAUSS’S CONTRIBUTION TO MUSIC
Among Strauss’ greatest works are his operas _Electra_, _Salome_ and
_Der Rosenkavalier_ and his nine tone poems. Despite all the harsh
things critics have said of him, Strauss has always maintained that,
although he did not write in accepted forms, he felt that the form
should always be suitable to the subject, for “as moods and ideas change
so must forms.” This, Ernest Newman said in defence of Strauss, and it
may be applied to all arts.
So Strauss is not formless but like Proteus, has many forms. Cecil Gray
said, “he seems to have an irresistible itch to provoke the amazement
and the horror of the multitude.” This is quite true, especially in
_Salome_, _Electra_ and _Der Rosenkavalier_ in which opera he went back
to Mozart form as a model. It seems incredible that a man who could
write the noble songs that he has written should have chosen such
unpleasant plots for his operas!
In _Tod und Verklärung_ (_Death and Transfiguration_) he was distinctly
a follower of Liszt. His friend Alexander Ritter is said to have written
the poem after the music.
At the time that it was first played, it caused so much comment that
Strauss, like Browning, laughed at people for trying to “read” more into
it than he wrote. Browning was asked whether he meant a certain thing in
one of his poems, and his reply was something like this: “Madam, I never
thought of it, but if you think it is there, I am more than glad to know
it.”
His _Don Juan_ is delightful, too, but his _Til Eulenspiegel_ (1895)
which tells of the mischievous pranks of Til, is one of the finest
examples of _humor_ in music and probably will outlive many works of
this modern period, his own as well as others. He wrote it in the form
of a classical Rondo, because he could picture Til’s ever recurring
deviltry and exploits in this form. Poor Strauss was reviled for this
daringly written music, too, yet this tone poem is an amazing piece of
work and was given gloriously as a ballet in New York City a few years
ago by Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet.
In _Also Sprach Zarathustra_ (_Thus Spake Zarathustra_), Strauss uses
the _idée fixe_ or _leit-motif_. This is based on a prose poem of
Nietzsche.
In _Don Quixote_ he goes back to the form of the classical variation,
for it is an ingenious way of showing the varying sides of the character
of Don Quixote. Here he shows events and not ideas, a most definite
story in tones. You can almost see the attack on the wind-mills and you
can actually hear the sheep bleating, the church music of passing
pilgrims, and the love tale of Dulcinea. In this piece, program music
reaches its height.
In _Ein Heldenleben_ (_A Hero’s Life_) (1898) Strauss frankly quotes
from his musical works. He does not have to prove that he is the hero,
for he admits it! When Strauss was asked what the poem meant, he said,
“There is no need of a program, it is enough to know that there is a
hero fighting his enemies.” In it, you can really hear the carping
critics, his retorts, the triumphs and the defeats. It is very
interesting and amazingly well written.
The _Domestic Symphony_ (_Sinfonia Domestica_) is the story of a family
for one day. There is the father motif, the mother motif and the baby
motif! The final fugue represents education very aptly for you get from
it the sense of flight and struggle and the never endingness of
education.
One of his last works is _The Alpine Symphony_. His other works include
an early opera _Feuersnoth_, and his songs which are among the greatest
ever written by any composer, ranking him with Franz, Schubert,
Schumann, Brahms and Hugo Wolf.
Strauss shows in all his work great pictorial power. He paints in tones
if ever a man does. His humor in music is amazing. He tries to make
vivid in music a thing as simple as a fork and as complex as a
philosophic idea. Some one said of him, comparing him to Wagner, that he
started out to write symphonic poems and really wrote music dramas,
while Wagner started out to write music dramas and ended by writing
_Tristan and Isolde_, a super-symphonic poem with voices added.
Richard Strauss is the last of the great German classic and romantic
composers who have ruled the musical world for the past two centuries.
Still living in Germany he has opened the way to many of the younger
composers, who have learned much from his methods of orchestration and
handling music in the large forms. While he out-Wagnered Wagner in
strange and new harmony, he now seems old fashioned in comparison to
Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Honegger. Although Strauss seemed to us very
complex and exaggerated a few years ago, it was very interesting to
notice that when his works were revived in America after the War, the
audiences had grown up musically to the point where they seemed no
longer unintelligible or ultra-modern.
We remember when we were leaving the opera house after the first
performance of _Salome_ in this country, hearing one ill bred, untutored
woman say, “Gee! Goit, but that was one big noise!” By this time she has
probably reached the point where she is jazzing the Salome dance with
real pleasure and understanding!
He did many unusual things with instruments, added many new ones, and as
someone said, he loves to have the “trombone play like a piccolo!”
No one can say where Strauss will stand as a composer, for time alone
can place him. However, we make bold to state that he will stand high in
the company of the world’s composers.
CHABRIER (1841–1894)
As imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, there is no proof of the
success of the tone poem more telling than the fact that practically
every composer in the musical world has written symphonic tone poems. In
fact today, one hundred tone poems are written to one symphony! Berlioz
had his followers in France, and in the group around César Franck were
several who wrote tone poems. One of the most charming of these poets
was Alexis Emanuel Chabrier (1841–1894) who took up music first as an
amateur while studying law in Paris, and while he was Minister of the
Interior. Later he became so devoted to music that he gave all his time
to it.
Among his works are operas and many other forms of music, the loveliest
of which is the Rhapsody on Spanish tunes called _España_. It is a model
of its kind and in it he uses the collected material with rare skill. It
shows him very clever in reproducing foreign atmosphere and feeling. He
was born in Ambert, France, and died in Paris.
DEBUSSY
Claude Achille Debussy (1862–1918) although talked of in another
chapter, must be mentioned as a composer of tone poems in this. Among
his most famous works are _Après-midi d’Un Faune_, _La Mer_, _Les
Nuages_, _Fêtes_, and _Sirènes_ which are all surpassingly lovely,
written in Debussy’s special harmonies with which he wove a mystical,
far away atmosphere, so compelling and yet so magical that you think you
are in a mysterious cloudland. He usually uses a scale of whole tones.
In _Pelleas and Melisande_, his greatest work (opera) you seem to look
into a distant land which never did and never will exist, except in the
glorious reaches of his or our imaginations. So to those of us who love
fairy realms, cloudland and beauty of idea and serene expression,
Debussy will be a rare treat and never vanish from our mind’s ear.
RAVEL
Maurice Ravel (1875) still living in Paris, seems to love Spanish themes
as did Chabrier and Bizet. One of the loveliest tone poems is his
_Rhapsodie Espagnole_ in four movements. His _Mother Goose_ suite and
_La Valse_ are also lovely, modern, short orchestral works.
He writes with rare distinction and beauty. In the chapter on 20th
century music, Ravel will make another appearance.
PAUL DUKAS (1865)
Among the most humorous and delightful tone poems is
_L’Apprenti-Sorcier_ (_The Sorcerer’s Apprentice_) by Paul Dukas (1865).
Dukas too, will appear in another chapter.
CHAPTER XXVIII
Late 19th Century Composers Write New Music on Old Models
BRAHMS IN GERMANY—FRANCK IN FRANCE
After calling Beethoven a Colossus, there does not seem to be room for
any one else, and yet Brahms (1833–1897) is no less of a genius. You
will often hear people speak of “the three Bs,”—Bach, Beethoven and
Brahms; and of these, Brahms being closer to our own day has had the
advantage and influence of the past. But perhaps he also had the
disadvantage of having had some one else say what he would like to have
been the first to say! That Brahms continued the things that Beethoven
began, may be understood from the fact that many call Brahms’ first
symphony _The Tenth_, meaning that Brahms had begun his symphonies where
Beethoven left off.
[Illustration:
_Johannes Brahms at Home._
]
[Illustration:
_After the painting by Rongier._
_César Franck._
]
It is not easy to write of Brahms without seeming to exaggerate, because
if we speak of his songs we must say that no one ever created more
beautiful song form; if we speak of his chamber music we must
acknowledge that he understood writing for instruments as no one before
or since has surpassed. His piano pieces, too, are pure delight! Where
will one find finer work than his one concerto for violin and those for
piano? His four symphonies have so far been unsurpassable and his choral
works, too. If he had never written anything but the _German Requiem_
this would have marked him as one of the world’s masters. Has he not
justified Schumann’s exclamation upon meeting him in 1853, when Brahms
was twenty years old? “Graces and Heroes have watched the cradle of this
young genius who sprang ‘like Minerva, fully armed from the head of
Jove.’” But Brahms was very modest and was always embarrassed in the
presence of praise. While he was compared to Beethoven he waited until
very late in life to write symphonies. “How can I write a symphony,” he
is reported to have said, “when I feel the shadow of the great Beethoven
treading constantly behind me?”
He was born in Hamburg. His father, who was a musician, rejoiced greatly
when little Johannes at an early age gave proof that he was gifted. The
Brahms family was very poor, and instead of becoming a great artist
according to his desire, Johannes’ father from the time he was old
enough to earn his living, was a double-bass player. Even though he was
the best in Hamburg, he and his wife, who was also musical, had to
struggle and save to give their little son the best teachers in piano
and composition.
In order to make more than the small amount gained by playing in the
orchestras the father organized what we call “the little German band”
which played in the open air. Father Brahms and five other musicians
attracted the people wherever they went. The boy who had begun to earn a
few pennies by arranging dances and marches for the little bands of the
cafés, wrote music for his father’s band, and early in the morning even
while he brushed shoes before others were awake, the thoughts which
became his loveliest songs came to his mind.
BRAHMS MEETS REMENYI
When Johannes was fifteen he gave his first public piano recital and
made a deep impression. It started him on the road to fame, for he
played so well that he was engaged to accompany the Gypsy violinist,
Remenyi, who played all over the world and became very famous. Brahms
went into many countries with him but never came to America, where
Remenyi was a great idol. Gypsy-like, he was happy in his wanderings and
when he was old went into vaudeville, drawing thousands wherever he
played. He was about to face one of these immense audiences in San
Francisco but drew only a few tones from his beloved violin when his
magic fingers were stilled in death!
Remenyi was a great influence in Brahms’ life, for it was through him
that Brahms became fascinated with the Gypsy Dances which the composer
gave the world as _Hungarian Dances_. He wrote them for piano solos,
duets and bits of them may be found all through Brahms’ orchestral
writings. This is folk music, even though it was not the folk music of
the country in which Brahms was born.
Another important thing that came into his life through Remenyi was his
meeting with Joachim, one of the greatest violinists and teachers of the
world. At a concert given by Remenyi when playing the _Kreutzer_ sonata
of Beethoven the piano was tuned so low that Brahms was compelled to
transpose the entire piano part a semitone (half-step) higher while
playing it. Joachim who was in the audience came behind the stage to
congratulate the players, and gave Brahms letters of introduction to
Liszt, then at Weimar, and Schumann at Düsseldorf. This visit led to
Schumann’s article about him, mentioned at the opening of this chapter.
BRAHMS AND THE SCHUMANN’S
Brahms became a favorite visitor at the home of Schumann and his
brilliant wife Clara Schumann. He was hailed by all the celebrities who
assembled at the frequent soirées and musicales, as a musician of great
promise. His compositions show a strong influence of this early
friendship. But Brahms repaid this kindness, for when the ill-fated
Schumann died, he became like a son to the bereaved Clara Schumann, who
loved him as one.
As this splendid pianist had played her husband’s piano works all over
Europe, so she made known the first piano concerto of her young friend.
She made a success in spite of the fact that it was not particularly
well received at its first performance at the Leipsic Gewandhaus,
probably because Brahms was not as great a pianist as he was a composer.
His feeling seems to have made him want to turn the piano into an
orchestra. He felt everything in a massive way and was very exact.
At the age of twenty-one Brahms became Director of the Court Concerts
and of the Choral Society of the Prince of Lippe-Detmold. Being very
conscientious he learned much from this experience, which helped him
toward becoming one of the greatest writers of choral works as his
_German Requiem_ and _The Song of Fate_ prove.
Outside of his music Brahms led an uneventful life. He never married,
and devoted such affection as he might have given to a family to music.
It is told that someone who knocked at his door, receiving no answer,
entered to find him sobbing violently under the emotion caused by some
music that he was composing.
When Brahms was about forty he visited Vienna and was so delighted with
the musical life he found there that he remained for the rest of his
days. As we note the delightful swing of his _Waltzes_, it is easy to
believe that he felt the Viennese moods, which found their way into his
compositions.
There is little to say of his general habits except that he was
devotedly fond of out-door life and he interrupted his work only to take
long jaunts in the open, usually in company with sympathetic friends,
for he was friendly, and needed companionship. He did not give up all
his time to composing, for he was director of the great _Singverein_
(Choral Society) and he gave some marvelous performances of the choral
works of Bach, Beethoven, and of other oratorios and masses.
Brahms died (1897) at sixty-four from a cold he caught while attending
the funeral of his friend Clara Schumann. He now lies in the same
cemetery as Beethoven and Schubert.
HIS CONTRIBUTION TO MUSIC
Although Brahms did not create any new forms, there are so many
different sides in his compositions, that it is hard to describe any one
in particular. He came into the world at the time when music was turning
toward the dramatic, because of Wagner’s influence. It seemed that
Brahms, himself, was afraid to hear Wagner, whose work he admired.
Brahms never wrote an opera and he never wrote pictorial works such as
tone poems. His writings were “absolute music” that is, music in its
purest form, neither imitating nor representing anything but music. Here
was Brahms between the tone poems of Liszt, and the operas of Wagner,
and he remained true to pure music! It is said that Hans von Bülow
invited him to attend the first performance of _Parsifal_ but he refused
saying that he had a dread of Wagnerians, (but not of Wagner)! Although
Brahms wrote when the romantic school was at its height, he brought back
classicism with a force that influenced the entire musical world. In
addition to the classic and romantic forms, many works are called
_classic_ to distinguish them from _popular_ music.
Brahms was of the peasant type, and honesty was one of his strongest
qualities. This honesty, sincerity and simplicity may be found in every
line of his music, which never has light or frothy moments, and which
shows everywhere that he loved Bach. He left a large number of very
great works. Indeed, one might study Brahms for years and even then
never know all he wrote.
He was the center of a group of song writers to whom he must have been
an inspiration and an example. His lyrical gift and form, which mean
that his songs almost sing themselves, was so great that it is hard to
understand how he could have written symphonies and sonatas which, to
many people, sound complex, thick and confused. But many people, even
good musicians feel this way about Brahms. May we not believe that some
day their ears will be opened to its beauties and joys?
The song writers of this period were many as they are in all periods in
every country. Many write one or two songs that are lucky enough to
become popular, but this does not make a great composer, for the great
either bring something new into the world, or create music which by its
quality moves other people to write good and beautiful music.
SONG WRITERS
Brahms towered among song writers after the time of Schubert and
Schumann. He carried forward the form which has given Germany fame for
her exquisite _lieder_ (songs). Great beauty with simplicity of vocal
melody against an accompaniment that had the character of a full-fledged
piano piece distinguished these songs from those of an earlier period in
which the accompaniment gave just a little support to the singer. The
old songs however, were often heart appealing by their very simplicity
for they had almost a folk-song manner.
Franz Abt (1819–1885) was one of these writers. He must have made a
fortune out of _When the Swallows Homeward Fly_—only, as the composer
can not control these things, he probably never knew that this song was
to be found on nearly every piano in America for almost fifty years!
Robert Franz (1815–1892) made the world want to singer German _lieder_
for the haunting beauty of his songs. _The Rose Complained_ and _In
Autumn_ are fair examples of a collection said to include 350 published
songs.
In Chapter XXIV you have seen the place in song occupied by Schubert and
Schumann. From them to Brahms does not seem such a great stretch, but
only the musician knows how wide it is. The form in which Brahms wrote
_lieder_ brought a new feeling to the composers, not by way of
imitation, but because vocal music developed naturally into the paths
along which he led the way.
Richard Strauss, known for his great tone poems, also for his operas
_Salome_, _Elektra_ and _The Rose Cavalier_, shortly after Brahms wrote
some of the most beautiful songs in the world.
We also find many by his colleagues, Felix Weingartner (1863), Hans
Pfitzner (1869), Mahler and others, whose songs, though beautiful,
showed their skill less than their operas, symphonies, and choral works.
HUGO WOLF—SONG GENIUS
Hugo Wolf (1860–1903) will be regarded, as time goes on, as one of the
greatest composers of the 19th century. This, notwithstanding the fact
that he published 260 songs and nothing at all for orchestra, and in
chamber music, he wrote only one very interesting quartet introduced in
this country nearly twenty years ago by the Flonzaley Quartet. Such a
master would no doubt have left more than songs, would have been one of
the musical beacon-lights of the world, had his life not been one of
tragedy.
His story, indeed, exceeds in unhappiness that of Schumann or even of
Beethoven. Early in the best days of his life, his mind began to give
way, and during periods of sanity he wrote with unbelievable fluency
only to be suddenly cut off from the power. He was fully aware of his
condition and his fate, and his letters expressing his emotions and
describing his agony are too sad to write about.
Hugo Wolf, born at Windischgratz in Styria (1860) was the fourth son of
a leather-currier who was also a musician. The home was the scene of
much chamber music in which Hugo played the second violin. The people of
Styria loved the old Italian operas, and Wolf frequently expressed the
belief that he had some Latin blood in his veins. This seemed to show in
his music for he wrote songs in Italian and Spanish style and he was
particularly attracted to French music and musicians. One wonders could
greater songs have been written than his (_Spanisches Liederbuch_)
_Spanish Song Book_ which includes not only thirty-four brilliant
folk-melodies, but also ten noble religious songs.
Romain Rolland, the great French writer on musical subjects wrote: “It
has been said that the _Spanisches Liederbuch_ is to Wolf’s work what
_Tristan_ is to Wagner’s.”
Indeed many who write of Wolf have said that his vivid power of
expression, and inspiration could only be compared to Wagner’s. The
poems he selected proved what a high literary taste he had. For a time
he was a musical critic and made the bitterest enemies because of the
abuse he hurled at Brahms.
His story may be quickly told for he got most of his education from the
libraries and from reading the scores of the great masters. Having no
piano he could be found daily sitting on a bench in the park studying
the Beethoven sonatas. But he loved Wagner best of all, and held his
meeting with that master his life’s greatest joy. Wolf had composed
little until after he was twenty-eight, then his writing was feverish,
interrupted only by his lapses of mind. He died in one of these spells,
of pneumonia, at 37. All his work was done in four or five years, for of
the last nine years during five of them (1890–95) he was prostrated and
often unable to speak.
BRUCKNER
Among the composers around this time and later, there are but few who
have left more than a ripple on the musical ocean. Some created a stir
in their own day and even now there is hot discussion about them among
the critics, while some people are pleased and others are not.
In those days, as now, every composer had his friends and people who
felt it to be their duty not only to stand up for their friend, but to
ridicule “the other fellow.” So it was with Brahms, for in the same way
that he was abused by those who measured him against Wagner, his friends
refused to recognize in Anton Bruckner (1824–1896) a rival of their idol
(Brahms).
Brahms was living in Vienna but he was not born there, so the feeling
was strong against him when he began to threaten the position of the
Viennese, Anton Bruckner, who though nine years older than Brahms, was
not recognized so early. There was much in favor of Bruckner. He was a
very fine musician. Themes, melodies bubbled forth constantly like an
oil-gusher, but he did not know how or when to stop them. If he had only
known how to control this continuous flow, he might have been as great a
figure as Brahms and the story of his life been different.
It is wonderful, however, what he made of himself, for he was a poor
schoolmaster and organist who had only his natural gifts to start with,
and had little education. But he wrote symphonies by the wholesale and
they were so long that they fairly terrified conductors to whom he
brought them in the hope of having them performed. He won his point,
however, and lived to gain no small amount of recognition. We heard
several of his symphonies in America in 1924, the hundredth anniversary
of his birth in Ausfelden, Upper Austria. He died in Vienna in 1896.
Anton Bruckner wrote during the time of the height of Richard Wagner’s
glory and the dawn of Richard Strauss’s fame, and was eleven years
younger than Wagner, whom he idolized.
MAHLER IN AMERICA
Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) enters at this point. It would be difficult to
make a definite statement about him, for whatever be said for or against
him, is sure to draw argument. He had been a storm-center for many years
before his death, and even afterward those who were against him waged
war quite as bitterly, while those for him fought more valiantly than
ever.
America was in the thick of this fight and many friendships of long
standing were broken on account of it. Mahler living in New York as
recently as 1908–1911 makes us realize the more fully what men of genius
have had to suffer.
Mahler was a powerful musical genius, with astounding ability to work
and amazing skill in handling his massive scores. He died at the age of
fifty-one leaving so many symphonies, choral and festival works that it
was a wonder how one man could have accomplished that much even had he
lived to be a hundred.
We marvel at his genius, but do we want to hear often works that last
for hours and hours? Some do, who can follow his themes, his amazing
treatment of them and his ingenious writing for instruments. Others are
fatigued by the length of time he dwells upon one subject and by the
length of the work itself, and they sometimes object to his strong
contrasts in light and shade. But all this must be left to the future,
the scales in which all art is weighed. We should be thankful that
America enjoyed the benefits Mahler brought.
He made his American début as conductor at the Metropolitan Opera House,
January 1, 1908, and in 1909 he became conductor of the New York
Philharmonic Orchestra. The labor was so hard, more in trying to adjust
himself to the ideas of his Board of Directors than in the work itself,
that it broke his health and he returned to his home to die that same
year.
He came here with a tremendous career behind him. It was strange, having
all his life led operas and produced them in lavish fashion, he did not
write one! But he did write many beautiful and very difficult songs.
When his works are given, it is usually made a gala occasion, as they
can only be done by the largest organizations and with the greatest
artists. The Society of the Friends of Music give some work by Mahler
each season in New York.
Gustav Mahler was born in Kalischt, Bohemia, and died in Vienna. He
studied philosophy at the Vienna University and among his teachers of
music were Julius Epstein and Anton Bruckner.
When Anton Seidl left the opera house of Prague, 1885–86, Gustav Mahler
jointly with Angelo Neumann succeeded him. He made a great success of
the Court Opera of Vienna where he was director of the house and
conductor for ten years, but he demanded nothing short of perfection.
His insistent ardor for the best in music and in its performance caused
him the greatest unhappiness and really cost him his life.
MAX REGER
Max Reger (1873–1916) caused a stir during the latter part of the 19th
century and the beginning of the 20th. His father, a schoolmaster and
good organist, wanted Max to be a schoolteacher, but at an early age
young Max began to write for piano and organ. After hearing _Die
Meistersinger_ and _Parsifal_ in Bayreuth (1888) he was so stirred that
he began to write big works. Reger was perhaps most influenced by Bach,
and notwithstanding his very modern ideas he never lost sight of the old
classic form which may have made his work seem stiff and formal at
times. Some of his songs are very fine and his orchestral numbers are
frequently played in America.
Max Bruch (1838–1920) was born in Berlin and besides being a composer of
chamber music, three symphonies and familiar violin concertos, he wrote
many choral works.
FATHER FRANCK
From this period, but not from this same country, arose one of the most
important and most beautiful influences of the 19th century. We have
learned enough about the world’s great men to know that we can never
judge by appearances, unless we are keen enough to recognize a beautiful
soul when it looks through kindly eyes.
Such was the countenance of César Franck (born in Liège, Belgium,
1820—died in Paris, 1890), often called the “French Brahms”—but he was
neither French, nor was he enough like Brahms to have been so called.
While César Franck was not French, we may say that the entire French
school of the second half of the 19th century was of his making. This,
because instead of devoting himself to playing in public and making long
concert tours, he preferred to have a quiet home life so that he could
compose. This seriously disappointed his father who had sent him from
Liège to the Paris Conservatory.
He was but five years of age when Beethoven died, but his work
throughout his entire life strongly showed the influence of the Master
of Bonn, perhaps because his first teacher in Paris was Anton Reicha, a
friend and admirer of Beethoven.
While all of Beethoven’s nine symphonies are known and played all over
the world, César Franck is known by one which is played very often and
by all orchestras. Where Beethoven wrote many sonatas both for piano
alone and for piano and violin, when we hear the name of César Franck,
we immediately think of the one famous sonata for violin and piano which
was so popular that it was also arranged for violoncello. This was
written in very free and practically new form.
César Franck has written a number of fine works for piano and for
orchestra, and for stringed instruments, but when it comes to organ
works, it would take a large volume to tell of them. Most pianists play
the _Prelude_, _Aria_ and _Finale_, also the _Prelude_, _Chorale_ and
_Fugue_, just as nearly all the violinists play the sonata, which are
masterpieces. Being deep in church music, and also a very religious man
it was perhaps natural that among his best known works should be _Les
Béatitudes_ for orchestra, chorus and soloists, and _Redemption_, a work
sung frequently by the Oratorio Societies of America and Europe. It was
d’Indy who said: “In France, symphonic music originated with the school
of César Franck.” There were not, however, many symphonies, but he was a
master in the symphonic poem. The best known among these are _Les
Éolides_ (_The Æolides_), _Les Djinns_ on Victor Hugo’s splendid poem of
that name and _Le Chasseur Maudit_ (_The Accursed Hunter_). Also very
well known is the piano quintet, and we hear sometimes the Symphonic
Variations for piano and orchestra.
FRANCK AT THE PARIS CONSERVATORY
César Franck was different from most composers, for _his_ father, like
Father Mozart, was very determined that he should be a pianist and took
the boy on a concert tour when he was only ten years of age! He gave
concerts throughout Belgium, and at fourteen his father took him with
his brother Joseph to the Paris Conservatory, where later he became a
distinguished professor.
There are many examples in life where a talent runs away with its
possessor. So it was with young César, who, after only a year’s
schooling, entered the _concours_ or competition. He covered himself
with glory in the piano piece he had to play, but when he was tested for
reading at sight, it flashed through his head how funny it would be to
transpose the piece three notes lower! And so he did, without a mistake!
But the judges were so horrified that he should dare do anything
different from what was expected that they decided not to give him the
prize because he had broken the rules! But, Cherubini, our old
acquaintance there was great enough to know what the boy had done, and
through his influence a special prize was created for César Franck
called the Grand Prix d’Honneur which has never, since then, been
conferred upon anyone!
César Franck was very mild and sweet in nature but when it came to his
music he was almost rebellious in his independence. To understand the
degree of his daring you must know what a _concours_ means.
The graduating classes of the Paris Conservatory are drawn up to play
their pieces and to receive the criticism of the judges, and the prizes.
They all play the same thing so the judges can tell exactly how each
compares with the other. Five of the most famous musicians of the world
are selected and they sit in judgment. Imagine this terrifying ordeal! A
couple of years after the first occurrence, César Franck had to enter an
organ competition, and again his genius got away from his judgment. He
was expected to improvise a sonata on one subject given him by the
judges and a fugue on another subject. Franck passed in very orderly
fashion through the first part, but when it came to the fugue he thought
how amusing it would be to work the sonata subject into the fugue
subject, a feat which startled these wise judges by its colossal daring
and the stupendous manner in which he accomplished it. But did they give
him the first prize? Not they! Talk about “Red Tape”—he had not followed
the rules and all he received out of the brilliant feat was a second
prize! But the world got César Franck.
COMPOSER, TEACHER, ORGANIST
We little realize how a tiny deed may influence the world! We may almost
reckon that a kind-hearted priest was responsible for what César Franck
became as a composer! After he had had the wonderful musical training at
the Conservatory he refused to travel as a concert artist, but wanted to
remain at home and marry. This separated him completely from his father.
Besides wanting his son to play, he objected to his marrying an actress
when he was twenty-six. Here is where the priest first befriended him,
for he performed the ceremony that made them man and wife.
But the days of revolution in Paris (1848) were upon them and pupils did
not come in great numbers. Poverty such as Franck had never known faced
him and his bride. But his good friend the priest was called to a church
and he immediately appointed César Franck as organist. The instrument
was very fine and his happiness was complete for he loved church
services above everything. This brought him directly under the musical
influence of Bach, which after all, was the greatest in his life. Later
he became organist of Saint Clothilde where the organ was even finer and
his composing hours were fairly absorbed by writing for the organ.
The programs given by concert-organists are usually divided between Bach
and César Franck, with a few numbers by Alexandre Guilmant, the great
French organist, Charles Marie Widor, Theodore Dubois and a few other
Frenchmen.
With all the composition that this grand old man of musical France left
behind him, he left a still greater thing in the young men who were his
pupils, some of whom were among the most important figures in the late
19th century.
It is a singular fact that César Franck died almost exactly as did two
of his most famous pupils, Ernest Chausson and Emmanuel Chabrier. The
former was killed in the Bois de Boulogne while riding a bicycle and
Chabrier was killed by a fall from a horse. Their beloved professor was
knocked down by an omnibus, and although he seemed to recover and
continue with his lessons and composing, he became ill from the effects
and died a few months later, in his 68th year.
During this last illness he wanted to get out of bed to try three new
_chorales_ for organ, which he read through day after day as the end
approached. This was the last music from his pen for the manuscripts
were lying beside him when the priest gave him the last rites of the
Catholic Church.
If one could sum up the outstanding features of César Franck’s music,
they would be nobility and lofty spirit, true reflections of his
unfaltering religious faith.
FRANCK’S PUPILS
César Franck did more than just devote teaching hours to his pupils. He
had them come to his home, and surrounded by youth and enthusiasm, his
own power grew greater. They played their new works for each other and
for the Master, and out of this was born the _Société Nationale_
(National Society). It swung both the public taste and the composers out
of the light, frivolous opera of the day into a love for, and a support
of French symphonic and chamber music. The Society was founded in 1871,
just following the Franco-Prussian war and was a protest against the
German musical domination in France, in fact it was a direct aim against
Wagner. In spite of the fact that Franck was influenced by Bach,
Beethoven and Wagner, he worked sincerely to develop the classic French
school outside of opera form.
Another great national institution which grew out of the influence of
César Franck was the famous Schola Cantorum founded by Vincent d’Indy
and Charles Bordes, his pupils, and Alexandre Guilmant.
Among the Franck pupils in addition to d’Indy and Bordes may be
mentioned, as a few of the foremost, Alexis de Castillon (1838–1873),
Emmanuel Chabrier (1842–1894), Henri Duparc (1848) famous for some of
the most beautiful songs in all French music, Ernest Chausson
(1855–1899), Guillaume Lekeu (1870–1894), of the Netherlands, and
composer of _Hamlet_, a tone poem and other pieces, Pierre de Bréville
(1861), Guy Ropartz (1864), Gabriel Pierné, Paul Vidal, and Georges
Marty.
But his influence did not stop here, for it touched many, including such
close friends as Alexandre Guilmant and Eugene Ysaye, the renowned
violinist, as well known in America as in Europe. He was a countryman of
César Franck and played for its first performance anywhere, Franck’s
violin sonata dedicated to him.
Alberic Magnard (1865–1914), was related musically to Franck through
d’Indy his chief teacher. Magnard met death by the enemy in his own home
during the war.
We could fill a volume concerning these interesting men, but we must
continue our musical journey. From among them, however, we must learn a
little more about Vincent d’Indy, not only because he is a great
composer and teacher, but he has taught many Americans.
VINCENT D’INDY
Vincent d’Indy (1851) a musician of finest qualities and almost
countless achievements, is a cultured and educated gentleman. He was
brought up by his grandmother, a woman of education and refinement, for
his mother died when he was very young. He therefore learned to love
culture and elegance early in his life, but this did not prevent him
from doing the sort of work which make men a benefit to art and to
mankind. In addition to being a musician, he is a skilled critic and
writer, also a great teacher and organizer, proof of which may be found
in what he has done for France, indeed, for the world, in the Schola
Cantorum. He has written many books as well as magazine and newspaper
articles and an immense number of musical compositions. He was born in
Paris and was a member of the Garde-Mobile during the Franco-Prussian
war.
Until the time that he left home for military service he studied the
piano with Louis Dièmer, a noted pianist and teacher of Paris, and
harmony with Marmontel and Lavignac, both equally famous. Upon his
return from war service, his days with César Franck began, and these
were precious hours for both the pupil and the teacher who recognized
the young man’s power.
He made several trips to Germany, the first in 1873 when he carried to
Brahms the César Franck score of _Redemption_ sent with the composer’s
compliments. At this time he also met Liszt and Wagner, and later he
attended the Bayreuth performances including the world première (first
performance) of _Parsifal_. His musical activities led him from the
organ loft to becoming tympani (kettle-drums) player in the Colonne
Orchestra, where he went, no doubt, to learn the instruments of the
orchestra and how to handle them. He found out, because he is most
skilled in writing for orchestra.
He has had many prominent pupils, and it is his pride and his ambition
to continue along the lines laid down by César Franck. He has had more
than ordinary success as a conductor going to many countries to conduct
his own compositions. He came twice to America as guest conductor of the
Boston Symphony appearing with that organization in its home and also in
New York.
Vincent d’Indy, following the ideal of Franck is largely responsible for
the return of music in his country to symphony, from which it had
strayed far. In this period there was a general feeling to bring music
back to classical form. This young school was doing it in France as
Brahms had done it in Germany and the result was that many composers
wrote symphonies. If we look through musical history since then, we will
find that the revival of a feeling for the classics has helped to make
the latter part of the 19th century very rich.
Although d’Indy has written several operas, there has been no attempt to
give them in this country, which is strange because it is very difficult
to get operas that are worth producing at the Metropolitan Opera House
or in Chicago, the only other city in America that supports its own
opera on a large scale.
D’Indy is living in Paris (1925), where the life around him bristles
with study, achievement and ambition. He is as much of an inspiration to
his pupils as was his own teacher, but this is the 20th century, in
which conditions, and men, are different from those of the past! He has
not stood still but has gone steadily ahead, although his influence upon
the very modern writers must have been healthy and restraining,
notwithstanding the fact that only a few years ago _he_ was regarded as
a modern.
GABRIEL FAURÉ
In the musical history of France, the name of Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
looms high. He was born in Pamiers, and was taught by the Dean of French
musical folk, Camille Saint-Saëns. Like all the musicians of France, no
matter whether or not they planned to use it as a profession, they
devoted as much time to the organ as to the piano, and most of them
became famous organists even though they had not planned to be
organists. For this reason France has more great organists and organ
compositions to offer than any other country of the world.
Gabriel Fauré became the organist of Rennes and later went to Saint
Sulpice and Saint Honoré, and finally he became organist of the
Madeleine in 1896. These churches are among the greatest in France, and
to be organist in any one of them means that he is a great musician.
Fauré had honors showered upon him for he gave his country some of the
most brilliant works contributed by any of her sons. In France the
compositions of Gabriel Fauré are highly valued, but with the exception
of a few songs, are not known in America, the more the pity. Fauré is
better known here as the head of the Conservatory in which his life was
spent until his very recent death. He went there to share the classes in
composition, counterpoint and fugue with André Gédalge, succeeding Jules
Massenet, and in 1905 Fauré succeeded Theodore Dubois as Director of the
Conservatory. Still more honors heaped upon him made him a member of the
_Académie_, for which no one can be named until there is a vacancy. He
was therefore the successor to Ernest Reyer.
In 1910 the world was much stirred when Gabriel Fauré was made Commander
of the Legion of Honor, a distinction given only when a man has done
something very great.
In addition to these tributes to his standing in the community and his
achievements as an artist, he took numerous prizes for his compositions
of which there were three operas, much incidental music, symphonies, a
well known violin and piano sonata, some fine chamber music and much
music for the organ and for choruses. But beyond the appreciation always
shown Fauré for his larger works, he will always be loved in France
because he was regarded as the French Schubert, so lovely were his
melodies and so lavishly did he write.
He kept pure and true the ideals and characteristics of French music,
more so, indeed, than did many who may be better known to the
concert-goers of this country.
ENGLISH COMPOSERS IN CLASSICAL FORMS
While the Germans, French and Austrians were writing, England had
composers, who although not so famous, nevertheless kept music alive in
England.
Sir William Sterndale Bennett (1816–1875) with his many orchestral and
choral works of which his cantata, _The Woman of Samaria_, is best
known; Sir George A. Macfarren (1813–1887) with operas and oratorios,
especially his cantata, _Rebekah_; his brother, Walter Cecil Macfarren
(1826–1905), conductor, and composer of orchestral music; Sir John
Stainer (1840–1901), organist, composer of very lovely anthems, and much
church music, and Professor of Music at Oxford; Sir Frederick Bridge
(1844–1924), organist of Westminster Abbey, writer of text-books on
music, and of anthems, part songs and oratorios; Sir Arthur C. Mackenzie
(1847), composer of many works including two Scotch symphonies and a
cantata, _The Cottar’s Saturday Night_; Sir Charles Hubert Hastings
Parry (1848–1918), Professor of Music at Oxford after Stainer, and
writer of many important books on music and of compositions in many
forms; Arthur Goring Thomas (1851–1892), who wrote operas, cantatas, and
many songs; Sir Frederick Hymen Cowen (1852), with operas, cantatas,
symphonies and chamber music; Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1853–1924),
born in Dublin, Ireland, Professor of Music at Cambridge since 1887,
student of Irish folk music, and writer of chamber music and short
pieces, also of valuable books on musical history and other musical
subjects; Edward German (1862), famous for his _Henry VIII_ Dances, much
incidental theatre music, and an operetta, _The Moon Fairies_, in which
he used the last libretto written by Sullivan’s inimitable partner, Sir
W. S. Gilbert; and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912), an Englishman of
African descent, whose music for chorus and for orchestra is based on
American Indian legend, and on Negro folk songs.
And living today is Edward William Elgar (1857), the dean of English
composers. While not adding to the new music, he is famous for many
pieces, among which are _The Dream of Gerontius_, _The Apostles_, other
oratorios, symphonies, and his march, _Pomp and Circumstance_.
WOMEN WRITERS IN ENGLAND
Among the women in England, Dame Ethel Smyth (_Dame_ is an honorary
title in England) (1858) is known for her opera _The Wreckers_, and her
comic opera _The Boatswain’s Mate_. Some of her operas have been
performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and at Covent
Garden, London. Besides she has written songs for the Suffrage Movement,
incidental music, and music in large forms.
Liza Lehman (1862–1918), wrote _In a Persian Garden_, _Nonsense Songs_,
and _The Daisy Chain_, which made her famous.
“Poldowski,” Lady Dean Paul, daughter of Wieniawski, the Polish composer
and violinist, has written piano pieces and lovely songs in Debussy
style. She has had considerable influence in getting the work of the
younger British composers and her countryman, Szymanowski, heard in
London.
Rebecca Clarke, a young Englishwoman, has written several chamber music
works which place her in the foremost rank of women composers. On two
occasions she received “honorable mention” in the Berkshire chamber
music prize competition offered by Mrs. F. S. Coolidge, at Pittsfield,
Massachusetts.
CHAPTER XXIX
Music Appears in National Costumes
We cannot tell you very much about the history of music in Russia
because until the 19th century, the Russians had little but their folk
songs and church music. For many centuries the Christian priests
disliked to have them sing their legends and folk songs because they
were not of Christian origin and so music had a very difficult road to
go.
Another thing which kept music as an art from growing, was the edict in
the Church against the use of instruments. But as there is always a
silver lining to every cloud the unaccompanied singing became very
lovely.
For ages, then, there was the most strikingly beautiful natural music in
the folk tunes of this gigantic country, three times as large as the
United States. Its cold bleak steppes or plains and its nearness to the
East gave them fascinating and fantastic legends, and a music sad, wild
and colorful with strange harmonies—their inheritance from the Slavs and
Tartars. All these date back to days before the Christian era, so you
can understand even though they are of surpassing beauty, the Church was
afraid of the wild, tragic, pagan melodies and rhythms.
In the early 18th century, at the time of and after Peter the Great,
there were many Europeans who came to Russia and brought along their
music or their own national ideas of music, so that Russia had foreign
opera and foreign teachers. When Catharine the Great was Queen she
appreciated the wonderful store of folk legends and was very good to
composers both Italian and Russian, of whom there were very few.
Very soon, a man from Venice, Catterino Cavos, went over and was clever
enough to write Italian opera using the Russian folk songs and legends.
This was a fine idea, because it gave suggestions to Russians as to what
could be done with their folk songs. The next thing that happened was
the terrible defeat of Napoleon, in 1812, by the Russians and the
burning of Moscow. When important political things happen and when a
favorite city is nearly destroyed, people’s imaginations are stirred and
it makes them think about the things of their own land. The Russians
were no different from other folks. After the way was prepared by
Vertowsky, Dargomyzhsky, and Seroff, Michael Glinka (1804–1857) wrote
his opera, _A Life For the Tsar_, for the time was ripe for serious
Russian national music. He was tired of the music of the Italians,
introduced into Russia in 1737, and the French music introduced by
Boieldieu and others a little after 1800. He made a close study of
Russian folk song and of composition, and became the father of the new
Russian music. He studied in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) with Charles
Mayer and John Field, the Irish composer of nocturnes who found his way
into Russia with Clementi. Glinka became an invalid and his travels for
his health brought him to Paris where he was very much interested in the
works of Berlioz. When he wrote his first opera, he said he wanted the
Russians “to feel at home,” and so we see in it the magic background of
Russia with the flavor and interest of the Orient. Another opera of his
was _Ruslan and Ludmilla_ which also pictures their national life.
Besides this, Glinka, in some Spanish caprices, brought Spanish folk
songs before the eyes of the musical art world.
RUBINSTEIN AND TCHAIKOVSKY
An important group followed in the footsteps of Glinka, called “The
Five.” The members wanted national music and sincere opera in any form
they desired. The Russian Ballet, which tells a story and is not a mere
exhibition of fancy steps, was an outcome of this freedom.
There were two schools about this time in Russia, constantly at odds
with each other. The “Russian Five” was one school and the leaders of
the other were Anton and Nikolai Rubinstein and Peter Ilytch Tchaikovsky
(1840–1893) whose fame is probably greater than any other Russian.
Tchaikovsky became very interested in the European composers, and
studied composition with the founder of the Petrograd Conservatory,
Anton Rubinstein. He was made professor of harmony at the Moscow
Conservatory in 1866. While there he wrote many operas and articles for
Moscow papers. He married unhappily and had a nervous breakdown in 1877
and lived very quietly, a sensitive nervous man all his life. He visited
the United States in 1891, and conducted his Sixth Symphony, _The
Pathetique_, at the opening of Carnegie Hall in New York City. Visiting
England and then returning to Russia, he died in 1893 of cholera.
Besides the symphonic poems about which we told you, he wrote several
overtures, six symphonies, four suites, three ballets, eleven operas,
two of which, _La Pique Dame_ and _Eugen Onegin_ have been given outside
of Russia.
His work is very emotional and often tragic with captivating melodies
often based on folk songs with rich orchestral color. But withal, his
work was based more on the German tendencies and forms of music than the
works of the younger Russians, therefore, Tchaikovsky and Rubinstein
were pitched in musical battle for some years against this other school.
“THE FIVE”
Alexander Borodin (1834–1887), a scientist and physician and a friend of
Liszt, wrote crashing and flashy music with what they called “Modern
harmonies.” It seemed full of discords for the people of his time but to
us is fascinating and piquant! His _Prince Igor_, a story of adventure
and war not unlike _Le Chanson de Roland_, is a beautiful opera with
striking melody and dances.
Modeste Moussorgsky (1839–1881) probably had more natural genius than
any of the rest of “The Five,” even though his work had to be edited by
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908). Moussorgsky’s music had the real
spirit of Russia, sad, colorful, full of wild dances based as is most of
this Russian music, on the folk songs of his native land. Besides this,
it is very human and touches the soul of people as they listen. His
songs are real treasures. His music is truly a portrait of the Russian
people.
He wrote a very beautiful opera called _Boris Godounov_ richly laden
with the Oriental color, and pathos and tragedy of Russia’s past. A very
interesting thing to know is that Rimsky, because of his wider knowledge
of harmony and orchestration, corrected Moussorgsky’s works and very
often changed things that seemed to him quite wrong. Recently we have
examined a score of Moussorgsky and compared it to the corrected version
of Rimsky and we now find that Moussorgsky’s score was even more vivid
and modern to our ears than Rimsky’s. Several composers have arranged
for orchestra Moussorgsky’s piano pieces, _Pictures from an Exposition_,
and have brought out beauties in color, humor and scenic painting in the
music.
The next man, Mily Balakirev (1837–1910), a country boy steeped in folk
songs, became the founder and leader of this Group of Five. He founded a
free music school in Petrograd and later became the conductor of the
Royal Musical Society, of the Imperial Musical Society, and Imperial
Chapel. His works are chiefly in symphony form, brilliantly and
effectively orchestrated. Some of his piano pieces and songs are very
beautiful, but his greatest gift to music was his careful study of
Russian national story and song, and he furthered the revival of the
Oriental in Russian musical art.
César Cui (1835–1918), born at Vilna, Poland, was the son of a French
officer, and became a great authority on military science. He wrote
eight operas which were more lyric than dramatic and, as Balakirev’s
friend and first disciple among “The Five,” he helped this younger
Russian School with his musical compositions and writings for the press.
Last but not the least of this “Five” is Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov
(1844–1908), who was born in Novgorod, and while a student at the
Petrograd Naval College, became an advocate of the theories of Balakirev
to keep Russian music, Russian. While on a three-year cruise, he wrote
his first symphony, and on another, as a young naval officer, he came to
America.
Very soon he left the navy and became a teacher and conductor in
Petrograd. He is best known in this country for his orchestral suite,
_Shéhérazade_, which gives a glamorous picture of some of the stories
from “The Arabian Nights” as told by the Persian Queen, Shéhérazade.
Another famous thing of his, is his second symphony _Antar_. Probably no
other person among the Russians could give you the effect and
colorfulness of the Orient as Rimsky. He takes most of his stories from
Russian legends and his operas are entrancing. The best of these are
_The Snow Maiden_, _Sadko_, and the humorous, fantastic and tuneful _Coq
d’Or_ (“The Golden Cockerel”). He has written works for the piano, and
some of the songs out of his operas, such as _The Song of India_ and
_Shepherd Lehl_ are probably familiar to you.
These five men and the group including Anton and Nikolai Rubinstein,
Sergei Tanieiev (1856–1915) and Tchaikovsky, were very antagonistic, as
we said before, until finally some of the Five went on the staff of the
various conservatories in Russia and the breach seemed to be healed; and
now new men have appeared, out-distancing even the Five in modern
harmony, Alexander Scriabin (1872–1919) and Igor Stravinsky (1882).
Coming after these celebrated Russians were Anton Arensky (1861–1906),
Alexander Glazounov (1865), both writers of symphonies, piano pieces and
chamber music, Anatole Liadov (1855–1914), Serge Liapounov (1859),
Nikolai Medtner (1879), Catoire, Reinhold Glière (1875), Ippolitov
Ivanov (1859), Alexander Gretchaninov (1864), Serge Vassilenko (1872),
Theodor Akimenko and Sergei Rachmaninov (1873), who has spent many years
in America where he is known as a brilliant composer and gifted pianist.
(Page 409.)
BOHEMIA—CZECHO-SLOVAKIA
Another country rich in national characteristics, donning national
costume in art music as well as in folk music, is Bohemia—or
Czecho-Slovakia. It is the land of harp players, street musicians and
the gypsy, where nearly everybody seems to be musical. The Esterhazy
family, nobles who were patrons of Haydn and other composers, were
Bohemians.
In Prague, their principal city, Gluck, Mozart, Weber and many other
foreigners were appreciated when their own countries turned deaf ears to
them, but it is not until the middle of the 19th century, that Bohemia
gave the world its own composers. Among these were Frederick Smetana
(1824–1884), a pupil of Liszt and a fine pianist. He became the opera
conductor at Prague and like Beethoven, became afflicted with deafness,
but it unbalanced his mind and he died in an insane asylum at sixty. He
wrote a number of pieces for chamber combinations, symphonic poems,
symphonies and operas of which the best known is the _Bartered Bride_, a
picture of Bohemian life.
The greatest Bohemian and one of the ablest musicians of the 19th
century, is Antonin Dvorak (pronounced Dvorjak) (1843–1904), a peasant
and son of an innkeeper and butcher at Mühlhausen. Coming from the
people, he was familiar with the folk songs, and although his father
wanted him to be an innkeeper and butcher, Antonin used to follow the
strolling players and showed a decided talent for music. He learned to
sing, to play the violin and the organ, and studied harmony. Later he
went to Prague to continue his work. He was very poor but Smetana
befriended him, and five years after he entered school, he wrote his
first string quartet. Thirteen years afterwards, he became organist at
$60.00 a year at St. Adalbert’s Church. He is another man whom Liszt
helped by performing his works and finding publishers for them. He
became famous through his fascinating _Slavonic Dances_ and was soon
invited to London after his _Stabat Mater_ had been performed there. He
wrote _The Spectre’s Bride_ for the Birmingham Festival of 1885, and his
oratorio for the Leeds Festival, _St. Ludmilla_, in the following year.
The University of Cambridge made him Doctor of Music and before that, he
had been Professor of Music at the Prague Conservatory. Soon he came to
New York and received a salary of $15,000 a year as director of the New
York Conservatory of Music. Homesickness overcame him and he went back
to Bohemia where his opera, _Armide_, was given before he died.
Dvorak was a sound musician. He had studied Mozart, Beethoven and
Schubert but was devoted to his own folk-lore and the harmonies which
appealed to his nation. He was particularly interested in national types
of music and when in America the negro music appealed to him
tremendously. While here, he taught H. C. Burleigh, the negro composer
and singer, with whom he had an interesting and fruitful friendship.
When he went back to Bohemia, he wrote the _New World Symphony_, built
on negro folk ideas, and a string quartet in which he has used negro
themes. Isn’t it curious that it often takes an outsider to show us the
beauties at our own door step?
He wrote many songs, symphonic poems and five symphonies and many other
forms of music. Although he was very strict in the use of form, his work
was free, full of melody and imagination. It is distinguished by warm
color, beautiful rhythms and flowing melody, daring modulations and
withal a sense of naturalness. Some people consider him one of the
greatest masters of orchestration of the 19th century. Probably you have
heard Fritz Kreisler and many others play the famous _Humoresque_, and
you may also know his incomparable _Songs My Mother Taught Me_.
ROUMANIA
Georges Enesco (1881) a most gifted violinist, conductor and composer,
born in Cordaremi, is the principal representative of Roumania. His
first work is _Poème Roumain_, in which, as well as in many others, he
shows his Roumanian birth. He wrote symphonies and other orchestral
works, chamber music and songs.
THE LAND OF THE POLONAISE
Poland first springs into prominence as an art center in music with
Frédéric Chopin, but it has produced many other pianists and
pianist-composers,—among them, Carl Tausig.
If you like brilliant salon and over-decorated pieces, you will enjoy
the works of Moritz Moszkowski (1854–1924), who was born of Polish
descent in Breslau. He was a fine pianist and had a long list of pupils
including the brilliant American, Fannie Bloomfield-Zeisler.
Poland has given us Ignace Jan Paderewski (1860), whose _Minuet_ you
probably know, and whose amazing piano skill is familiar to you. While
he has written many piano pieces, a fairly successful gypsy opera,
_Manru_, an interesting piano concerto and a symphony, it is as pianist
that he will be remembered. He has been the idol of every nation in
which he has played.
His pupil, Sigismund Stojowski (1870), has lived in America since 1906
and has written orchestral works, a piano concerto and many piano
pieces.
THE LAND OF THE FIORDS AND SKALDS—NORWAY AND SWEDEN
Here is another country with a rich folk-lore, half pagan and half
Christian.
Ole Bull, the violinist, also did much for Norwegian music in the 19th
century. One of the first composers was Halfdan Kjerulf (1815–1868) who
was born in Christiania (Oslo) and studied in Leipsic. He gave up his
life to composition. Henrietta Sontag as well as Jenny Lind introduced
his songs to the public; like his delightful piano pieces they are
national in flavor. If you have the chance, hear his _Lullaby_ and _Last
Night_.
Norway! The land of the Vikings, of Odin and Thor, of the eddas and
sagas, of skalds and harpists, of sprites and trolls, fiords, mountain
kings and the mischievous Peer Gynt—all brought to life by the magic
wand of Edvard Hagerup Grieg (1843–1907).
Surely one of the greatest poet-composers of recent times, he brought
out the beauties of the Norwegian folk song and dance, and dressed up
serious music in national costume. Ole Bull assisted Grieg by
recognizing his ability when he was a very young man. Grieg was sent to
the Leipsic Conservatory but he overworked and became ill, and went to
Copenhagen, where he met Niels Gade, under whose guidance some of his
earlier works were written. He returned to Norway and was again
stimulated by Ole Bull; he met a young composer, Rikard Nordraak, and
together they did a good deal of work toward establishing a national
school. Again Liszt acts as an international aid society to young
musicians, for he now befriends Grieg in Rome. The government of Norway
granted a life pension to Grieg so that he might give all his time to
composition, after which he wrote incidental music to the celebrated
_Peer Gynt_ of Ibsen. He lived in the country and in 1885 built his
villa “Troldhaugen” near Bergen. His wife, who is still living in
“Troldhaugen,” sang many of his songs.
His short pieces are like portraits of Norway and he is able to catch
with marvelous ease and simplicity, the peculiar harmonies, mingling
minor and major keys together in a most charming way. Although a lyric
writer, he has written a piano sonata, three sonatas for violin and
piano, and a most effective piano concerto, all of which show brilliancy
and keen dramatic sense. His _Holberg Suite_ for piano and the _Elegiac_
melodies and the Norwegian theme for strings are full of rich, romantic
feeling. As a song writer, too, Grieg ranks very high.
Some of the other Norwegians are: Johan Severan Svendsen (1840–1911),
Wagnerian in feeling yet writing his compositions with strong Norwegian
color. Christian Sinding (1856), whose _Rustling of Spring_ you will
remember, puts on the national costume of his native Norway in his
writings, although educated in Germany. Among others are Johan Selmer,
Gerhard Schjelderup and Madam Agathe Backer-Gröndahl, pianist-composer
of decided charm.
Jenny Lind, the “Swedish Nightingale” (1820–1887) and Christine Nilsson
(1843–1921), did much to bring Norse folk songs to the attention of the
world. These melodies were very much admired because they reflected the
coolness and the sadness of the land of the fiords.
DENMARK
We now go to the land of Buxtehude, the celebrated organist of Lübeck.
Although J. Hartmann, director of the Conservatory of Copenhagen, has
been called “The Father of Danish Music,” the first great composer was
Niels Wilhelm Gade (1817–1890). He started as a maker of instruments,
became a member of the Royal Orchestra at Copenhagen and won a prize
with his first work, an orchestral overture, _Echoes from Ossian_.
Mendelssohn played this in Leipsic and from this time on they were great
friends. Gade succeeded him as conductor of the Gewandhaus Concerts in
Leipsic; in 1848, he returned to Copenhagen and held many positions,
among which was court chapel master. Gade’s works were a mixture of the
Romantic and the Classic Schools to which he added Danish qualities. He
wrote well in symphonic style and in choruses, songs and piano pieces.
Among others were Asger Hamerik (1843), a pupil of Von Bülow and
Berlioz, Otto Malling (1848–1915); Ludwig Theodor Schytte (1850–1909), a
student of Gade and Liszt, who lived for a long time in Germany, where
he died. His short piano pieces are classics for all young piano
students. Edward Lassen, Victor Emanuel Bendix and August Enna are other
well known Danes.
SWEDEN
The first of the romantic writers in Sweden is Anders Hallen (1846). His
music was massive and Wagnerian in effect, showing the somberness of the
influence of his native province Bohuslän. He had a great sense of
melody and his marches and dances in his native style are happy and
delightful. Emil Sjögren (1853–1918) was called “The Schumann of the
North,” for he wrote mostly piano pieces, a beautiful violin sonata and
vocal solos and showed a great deal of charm and warmth of feeling. We
might add to this list Wilhelm Stenhammar, who wrote operas and choral
works, and Hugo Alfven.
MUSIC IN THE COUNTRY OF LAKES—FINLAND
Finland, “the land of a thousand lakes,” and of virgin forests and
meadows, has always been a country of great beauty and sadness.
Of all her composers, Jan Sibelius is the greatest (1865). He was
educated as a lawyer but being a violinist, he decided to pursue a
musical career. He is remarkable as a writer of symphonic poems, and
sings with compelling beauty the legends of his country taken from _The
Kalevala_, the epic poem which ranks with the greatest legendary poems
of all times. Besides _The Kalevala_ are the short lyrics or Kanteletar,
sung to the lute of steel strings, which is called _The Kantele_. These
legends and songs are always a source of great joy to the Finns and were
first arranged by Elias Lönnrot in the early part of the 19th century.
The symphonic poems of Sibelius are _Karelia_, _The Swan of Tuonela_ and
_Lemminkäinen_ from _The Kalevala_. He wrote other compositions, of
course, including cantatas and ballads and string quartets and choruses.
His _Finlandia_ is a true picture of the Finnish people and country, and
his _Fourth Symphony_ is one of the 20th century’s monumental works.
It is interesting to note in his Finnish songs a peculiar five-four
rhythm which is haunting and fascinating. He was recognized as a great
musician, for he is the only one of this time who drew a government
pension. In 1914, Sibelius was in America for the Norfolk Festival for
which he had written a special work, a symphonic poem, _Aalottaret_
(Daughter of the Ocean). At the same time Yale University conferred a
degree upon him. He lives far north in Finland away from cities,
surrounded for many months of the year by great snow fields.
Selim Palmgren is a writer of charming piano pieces who, in 1924, was
teacher at the Eastman Conservatory in Rochester, New York.
Other composers in Finland were Bernard Crusell (1775–1838), and
Frederick Pacius (who was born in Hamburg in 1809 and died in
Helsingfors in 1891), the Father of Finnish Music and the author of the
National Hymn _Wartland_ and _Suomis Song_ (Suomi means Finland). He was
a violinist, a follower of Spohr and composed a great many musical
works.
Among others is Armas Järnefelt (1864), an orchestral conductor and
composer living in Stockholm.
SPAIN—THE LAND OF THE FANDANGO
One of the most adventurous and likeable people that we have met in the
history of music is Isaac Albeniz (1860–1909). He was born in Spain and
started his travels when he was a few days old. He ran away from home
when he was nine years old and toured about, making money by playing the
piano. He loved travel and his life as a young man is a series of
runnings-away-and-being-brought-back. He became a very great pianist and
Alphonso XII was so pleased with his playing and so delighted with his
personality, that at fifteen he was granted a pension and being free
from money worry, he realized the dream of his life and went to see
Franz Liszt.
He became a player approaching Von Bülow and Rubinstein in skill.
He kept composing attractive and popular Spanish tunes using the rich,
rhythmic Spanish folk songs in rather new and modern harmony. He finally
decided to give up his life as a popular composer and brilliant pianist,
and settled down to serious composition. The next thirty pieces took him
longer to write than his four hundred popular songs!
In 1893 he went to Paris in a most wonderful period, and met Debussy,
Fauré, Duparc and d’Indy.
His most important composition is _Iberia_, a collection of twelve
Spanish piano pieces. Among his other things are _Serenade_, _Orientale_
and _Aragonaise_, all in Spanish dress.
He was a very rare personality with a rich nature, exuberant, happy and
merry, even until his death.
He was the real center of Spanish music and influenced all who came
after him. He was to Spain what Grieg was to Norway, Chopin to Poland,
Moussorgsky to Russia, and Dvorak to Bohemia or Czecho-Slovakia.
ENRIQUE GRANADOS
Following Albeniz, was another great Spaniard, Enrique Granados
(1867–1916), who was born in Lérida, Spain, and met a tragic death on a
transport in the English Channel during the World War. Unlike Albeniz,
he did not write in a modern vein, but rather in the accustomed
harmonies. He was more Spanish for this reason than Albeniz, less
original and without the great charm of the other master.
The only opera in Spanish that has ever been sung at the Metropolitan
Opera House was his _Goyescas_ in 1916. The principal rôle was sung by
Anna Fitziu. First he wrote this as an opera in 1899. Later he made a
piano version of it, very much like a suite, which was played with great
success by Ernest Schelling. He also wrote symphonic poems among which
was _Dante_ with a vocal part, sung by Sophie Braslau, in 1915, with the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
He is one of Spain’s great sons and the rich and sincere national spirit
which he put into his music makes him beloved of his compatriots.
CHAPTER XXX
America Enters
Not long ago we visited the medieval castle of Amboise in Touraine,
France, for the 400th celebration of the birth of the French poet,
Ronsard. (Chapter XI.) A program of madrigals by Jannequin, Costeley,
Lassus and others who had used Ronsard’s poems as texts, was given in
the room where the poet himself had entertained his friends. We were
impressed by the beauty of the old castle and the aged towers and
ramparts. It was here that we realized the meaning of TRADITION!
The peasant children passing under the watch tower in the village below
the castle are reminded daily of a past replete with history and
romance! They know without having been taught that here their poet
Pierre de Ronsard and the Italian painter, Leonardo da Vinci, lived,
worked and died. This watch tower was old when Columbus discovered
America!
The lack of tradition, this unconscious knowing of the past, that Europe
has in abundance is often held up to us in America as a serious loss in
our art life. The question came to us: Is there nothing in our country
to make up for the absence of this historical and romantic background?
As in a motion picture, there passed before our minds the Grand Canyon
of Arizona, the Rocky Mountains, the snow-capped peaks of the Pacific
slope, the Columbia River, the Mississippi and the Hudson, Golden Gate
of California, Niagara Falls, and the Plains, lonesome stretches of sand
and sage-brush vast as the sea! Surely such wondrous beauty should
inspire artists to create great works.
But this is a day of cities, aeroplanes, automobiles, speed and unrest,
when the mind rules instead of the heart! And we must “watch our step”
or we will become the slaves of this Age of Invention instead of being
the masters. All this is reflected in our art life and we must guard our
creative talent if we would rank with European nations in the making of
music.
We already rank with them in performing it, and in organizations, such
as our orchestras, opera houses, chamber music organizations, music
schools, music settlements, music club activities, community singing,
glee clubs, oratorio societies, and amateur orchestras. America needs
music and loves it as never before. Perhaps out of all this music study
and concert-giving in addition to what might be done with the radio and
mechanical instruments, which are now making records of the world’s
finest compositions, there will come a race of real music lovers and
creators. They will study our national traits and will unite them with
the earnest work of American composers of today and yesterday; they will
open their minds to the natural beauties of nature; they will try to
raise the standard of the general public, and they will make music in
America grow. May every American reader take this to heart!
In our chapter on “National Portraits in Folk Music” we told you that we
have no definite traits in our music that could be called national
because this country was settled by people of many different
nationalities and races. All these peoples brought to the “Promised
Land” their customs and traditions, their song and story world. We can
still see traces in the present generation of the early settlers: New
England and the South are Anglo-Saxon; Louisiana and the northern
border, French; California, Spanish; New York and Pennsylvania, Dutch;
Minnesota, Scandinavian; Missouri and Wisconsin, German. Besides, the
Italians, Irish, Russians and Germans have settled in all parts of this
huge “melting pot”!
There is however an _Americanism_ that is hard to define, but is the
result of the intermingling of all nationalities. It is the spirit of
the pioneer that sent our forefathers, foreigners many, across the
plains in the “covered wagon”; the spirit of youth and enthusiasm of a
country still new; the spirit that works out gigantic commercial
problems and miraculous inventions with the same fervor with which an
artist creates; it is the spirit of an inspired sculptor before the
unfinished block of marble. All of which must combine in our music
before we can create a national idiom.
But we must go back and travel with you the rocky road,—“Music in
America.”
PILGRIMS AND PURITANS
The Pilgrims and Puritans who reached our “stern and rock-bound coast”
early in the 17th century did not approve of music, except for the
singing of five hymn tunes! The first book printed in America was the
_Bay Psalm Book_ (1640) at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its heading was:
“The Psalmes in Metre: Faithfully translated for the Use, Edification,
and comfort of the Saints in publick and private, especially in New
England.”
“Spiritual Songs” were not at first included, but later about fifty
English hymn tunes, sung in unison were used. It went into many
editions, found its way to England and Scotland, and was preferred by
many to all others.
Music was forbidden as a trade in New England and a dancing master was
fined for trying to start a class. The early settlers thought “to sing
man’s melody is only a vain show of art” and objected to tunes because
“they are inspired”! So the Puritans were forbidden to invent new tunes.
You can understand that an art could not easily flourish in such stony
ground.
Mr. Oscar G. Sonneck, an authority on the history of American music,
says in his book, _Early Concert-life in America_: “The Puritans, the
Pilgrims, the Irish, the Dutch, the Germans, the Swedes, the Cavaliers
of Maryland and Virginia and the Huguenots of the South may have been
zealots, adventurers, beggars, spendthrifts, fugitives from justice,
convicts, but barbarians they certainly were not.... Possibly, or even
probably, music was at an extremely low ebb, but this would neither
prove that the early settlers were hopelessly unmusical nor that they
lacked interest in the art of ‘sweet conchord.’... What inducements had
a handful of people, spread over so vast an area, struggling for an
existence, surrounded by virgin forests, fighting the Redman, and
quarreling amongst themselves, to offer to musicians? We may rest
assured that even Geoffrey Stafford, ‘lute and fiddle maker’ by trade
and ruffian by instinct, would have preferred more lucrative climes and
gracefully declined the patronage of musical Governor Fletcher had he
not been deported in 1691 to Massachusetts by order of his Majesty King
William, along with a batch of two hundred other Anglo-Saxon convicts.
“There were no musicians by trade, ... and as the early settlers were
not unlike other human beings in having voices, we may take it for
granted that they used them not only in church, but at home, in the
fields, in the taverns, exactly as they would have done in Europe and
for the same kind of music as far as their memory or their supply of
books carried them. That the latter, generally speaking, cannot have
been very large, goes without saying.... Instruments were to be found in
the homes of the wealthy merchants of the North and in the homes of the
still more pleasure seeking planters of the South. Indeed, there can be
little doubt that the nearest approach to a musical atmosphere ... was
to be found in the South rather than in the North. Still, we might call
the period until about 1720 the primitive period in our musical history.
“After 1720 we notice a steadily growing number of musicians who sought
their fortunes in the Colonies, an increasing desire for organs, flutes,
guitars, violins, harpsichords, the establishment of ‘singing-schools,’
an improvement in church music, the signs of a budding music trade from
ruled music paper to sonatas and concertos, the advent of music
engravers, publishers and manufacturers of instruments, the tentative
efforts to give English opera a home in America, the introduction of
public concerts, in short the beginnings of what may properly be termed
the formative period in our musical history, running from 1720 until
about 1800.”
The first organ in America came from London in 1713 for the Episcopal
Church of Boston, but it remained unpacked for seven months, as many
objected to an organ at divine services. The fate of music hung in the
balance with the Puritans but fortunately it won out.
Rev. James Lyon, a graduate of Princeton University, “Patriot, preacher
and psalmodist,” published in 1792 a collection of psalms, anthems and
hymns, called _Urania_, to which he added a few of his own compositions
and a dozen or so pages of instructions for his singing-school in
Philadelphia. Other collections followed.
WILLIAM BILLINGS
William Billings, born in Boston, in 1746, was one of our first
composers. He took his music seriously, was self-taught, and wrote his
first music on leather with chalk, in the tannery where he worked. He
was queer and was laughed at, but he was so sincere in his love of music
that he won friends who encouraged him to publish (in 1770) a new
psalm-book, _The New England Psalm Singer, or American Chorister_. As
singing-schools had been formed to learn how to read and to sing the
church music, the time was ripe for more difficult music than had been
allowed by the Pilgrim Fathers. Billings, although he knew nothing about
it, tried some experiments in counterpoint, and introduced some
“fugue-tunes,” which really were not fugues at all, into his hymns. That
he enjoyed the result may be seen from this quotation: “It has more than
twenty times the power of the old slow tunes, each part straining for
mastery and victory, the audience entertained and delighted, ...
sometimes declaring for one part, and sometimes for another. Now the
solemn bass demands their attention, next the manly tenor; now the lofty
counter, now the volatile treble. Now there; now here again, O ecstatic!
Rush on, you sons of harmony!”
In the preface to his book we find the first American musical
declaration of independence, for he states that Nature and not Knowledge
must inspire thought, and that “it is best for every composer to be his
own carver.” But later he showed a bigness of spirit, for he writes
humbly: “Kind Reader, no doubt you remember that about ten years ago I
published a book ... and truly a most masterly performance I then
thought it to be. How lavish was I of encomiums (praise) on this my
infant production!... I have discovered that many of the pieces were not
worth my printing or your inspection.”
This second book was called _Billings’ Best_ because it became very
popular. Many of his tunes were sung around the camp-fires of the
Revolutionary Army, and even the Continental fifers played one of his
airs. He was a fiery patriot, and when Boston was occupied by the
British, he paraphrased the 137th Psalm, and wrote:
By the rivers of Watertown, we sat down;
Yea, we wept as we remembered Boston!
This was the time when the young Mozart was astonishing the courts of
Europe, and the Colossus Beethoven was born!
For a long time there was prejudice against instrumental music in New
England, so the first concerts gave selections from Handel’s _Messiah_
and Haydn’s _Creation_, which after all were oratorios.
Later William Billings’ singing class in Stoughton, Massachusetts,
founded in 1774 to study and perform psalm tunes and oratorios became
the Stoughton Musical Society in 1786 and was looked upon as the
earliest musical organization in America. It is still in existence. But
Mr. Sonneck discovered that in Charleston, South Carolina, the St.
Cecilia Society was founded twenty-four years earlier.
The next important society founded was the Boston Handel and Haydn. It
is still alive and has had great influence on musical life not only in
its native city but throughout America. After the war of 1812, a musical
jubilee was held in Boston. It was so successful, that a society was
formed from the fifty members of the Park Street Church choir and others
interested in “cultivating and improving a correct taste in the
performance of sacred music.” This was the Handel and Haydn, which has
lived up to its intention. The young society showed American spirit and
asked Beethoven to write a work for it! The Colossus was pleased with
this recognition from over the seas, and in one of his note books had
written “The oratorio for Boston.”
MUSIC IN BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S PHILADELPHIA
Although New England was the cradle of music, Philadelphia was the art
center in the second half of the 18th century, and went ahead of Boston
in culture, because it was not held down by Puritan laws. In 1741
Benjamin Franklin published Dr. Watt’s hymns, and later invented an
instrument called the harmonica,—not the little mouthorgan. Franklin’s
instrument was a set of thirty-five circular glasses arranged on a
central rod, tuned to play three octaves and enclosed in a case that
looked like a spinet. There is one in New York City at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art. Try rubbing the edge of your tumbler with a moist finger
and you will hear the sound this instrument made.
In Goldsmith’s _Vicar of Wakefield_, we read that fashionable ladies
“would talk of nothing but ... pictures, taste, Shakespeare and the
_musical glasses_.” These had been invented by no less a person than
Gluck! He played a concerto on twenty-six drinking glasses, accompanied
with “the whole band,” and claimed he could play anything that could be
performed on a violin or harpsichord! It was after hearing them in
London, that Franklin improved upon them and made his harmonica.
FRANCIS HOPKINSON, “FIRST AMERICAN POET-COMPOSER”
On whom should fall the title of first American composer? William
Billings was born before Francis Hopkinson (1757–1791), but in 1759,
Hopkinson wrote a secular song, _My Days Have Been so Wondrous Free_,
eleven years before Billings’ _New England Psalm Singer_ saw the light
of day. Billings was the product of New England Psalmody, was an uncouth
self-taught son of the people. Hopkinson was born in Philadelphia, was a
college bred man, lawyer, poet, essayist, patriot, composer, harpsichord
player, organist, and inventor.
He was an intimate friend of Franklin, Washington, Jefferson and Joseph
Bonaparte; a member of the Continental Congress, and one of the signers
of the Declaration of Independence.
He wrote in the style of Carey and Dr. Arne in England, and we have
eight songs dedicated to “His Excellency George Washington, Esquire,”
and in the dedication Hopkinson says: “With respect to this work ... I
can only say that it is such as a lover, not a master, of the arts can
furnish.”
_The Beggar’s Opera_ was presented in New York in 1750 and in
Philadelphia in 1759. In 1787, Washington went to a puppet opera in
Philadelphia. In 1801 selections from Handel’s _Messiah_ were given in
the hall of the University of Pennsylvania. We hear of Francis
Hopkinson’s playing on the first organ in Christ Church, Philadelphia,
and as early as 1749, John Beals, a “musick-master from London” comes to
the Quaker city to teach “violin, hautboy, (oboe) flute and dulcimer,”
and advertises as ready to play for balls and entertainments. So we see
Philadelphia growing up rapidly, with opera, oratorio, instrumental
music and music teachers!
Franklin and Washington often commented on the unusually fine music that
they heard in the town of Bethlehem (Pennsylvania). Today the early
appreciation of music is continued in the yearly Bach Festival held in
the Moravian Church under the direction of Frederick Wolle. Musicians
from everywhere attend these remarkable performances at Bethlehem.
Trinity Church in New York had an organ in 1741, although there were
concerts at least ten years earlier. An English schoolmaster, William
Tuckey, was the first to train choir boys for the services about 1756.
EARLY OPERA
We should hardly expect to find French and Italian operas in America
before the 1800s, but way down south in New Orleans in 1791, a troupe
was giving performances of parts of operas and _vaudeville_, and perhaps
an occasional opera of Grétry or Boieldieu. From 1810, the company
performed opera regularly, and until recently, there was French opera in
New Orleans.
Every time an opera company came to New York, _The Beggar’s Opera_ was
played, along with other _Ballad-Operas_. In 1796, there were two operas
by Americans, Benjamin Carr and Pellisier, but all details have been
lost.
Mr. Elson says, “At the beginning of the 19th century Charleston and
Baltimore entered the operatic field, and travelling troupes came into
existence, making short circuits from New York through the three large
cities, but avoiding Boston, which was wholly given over to Handel,
Haydn, and psalms.”
The first time that New York heard _Home, Sweet Home_ was on November
12, 1823, in a melodrama by John Howard Payne, _Clari, the Maid of
Milan_. Payne, an American, wrote the words, and Henry Carey, the
English composer, the music.
The first grand opera that New York heard was Weber’s _Der Freischütz_.
It was probably a very crude performance as they made many changes to
suit public taste, but it was a great success, especially the
melodramatic scenes.
In 1825, Manuel Garcia, a Spanish tenor, came to New York with his
family of singers, including his daughter, who afterwards became the
famous Mme. Malibran. He gave _The Barber of Seville_ and ten other
Italian operas which were a revelation to the new world. They called
Garcia the “Musical Columbus.”
After this, New York was never without some opera venture. One company
followed another, and although the people seemed to enjoy the novelty
for a while, they never gave it whole-souled patronage.
The first opera written (1845) by an American was _Leonora_ by William
H. Fry (1813–1864). It was performed in Philadelphia, and thirteen years
later in New York. It was in the Balfe and Donizetti style. He composed
symphonies and wrote for the New York _Tribune_ on musical subjects, and
did much to make people realize the benefit of music.
In 1855 George Bristow composed the second American opera, _Rip Van
Winkle_. He and Fry started a crusade against the German musicians who
had come over to America after the revolution of 1848, fearing that they
would extinguish the feeble American flame of composing.
ORCHESTRAS
The father of American orchestras was a German oboe player, Gottlieb
Graupner. When Haydn went to London to direct the largest orchestra
formed, up to that time, Graupner played with him. Graupner went to
Boston (1799), and at once formed the first American orchestra. About
the same time in New York, a society called the “Euterpian” was founded;
it gave one concert a year for thirty years! From 1820 to 1857 there was
in Philadelphia, a “Musical Fund Society”; its object was to improve
musical taste and to help needy musicians. It gave the first performance
in America of Beethoven’s _First Symphony_, as well as choral works.
In Boston the last concert of the Philharmonic Orchestra as Graupner’s
band was called, took place in 1824, and another more important
orchestra was formed sixteen years later. Before the Boston Symphony
came, an orchestra was given to the city by the Harvard Musical
Association. It was controlled by a group of people brought up on
Handel, Haydn and Beethoven, who would not permit their idols to be
replaced by such anarchists as Berlioz and Wagner! Many of the young
foreign orchestral players wanted the new works by the “anarchists,” so
they seceded from the Harvard Musical Association and called themselves
the Philharmonic Society. As there were not enough people interested in
classical music to support two orchestras they were soon replaced by the
Boston Symphony Orchestra, which was put on a permanent basis by Colonel
Henry L. Higginson, who founded it and supported it during his lifetime.
Georg Henschel conducted the first concert in 1881, and the Boston
Symphony Orchestra has always been one of the greatest musical
institutions in America. The conductors have been Wilhelm Gericke,
Arthur Nikisch, Max Fiedler, Karl Muck, Henri Rabaud, Pierre Monteux,
and Serge Koussevitzky.
The New York Philharmonic Society, born in 1842, was founded through the
efforts of a violinist, Uriah Hill, its first conductor, and it always
gave works of value. Among its conductors have been: Theodore Thomas,
Dr. Leopold Damrosch, Anton Seidl, Walter Damrosch, Emil Paur, Wassili
Safonoff, Henry Hadley, Gustav Mahler, Theodore Spiering, Josef
Stransky, Willem Mengelberg, Willem van Hoogstraten, Wilhelm
Furtwängler, and Arturo Toscanini, a genius among conductors.
Theodore Thomas (1835–1905), who was born in Germany but came to this
country at the age of ten, was the first great musician to live in
America and to advance the condition and standards. He gave this country
its first taste for the aristocrat of music, chamber music, and with
William Mason, the pianist, presented Schumann and Brahms to America.
They were young radicals, and wanted to make everybody love the music
they loved. Thomas introduced Wagner, too, and can’t you imagine the
discussions the Wizard’s music raised when even Europe was torn in its
opinions of the master innovator? Franz Liszt sent Thomas parts of the
scores which the young conductor tried out even before they had been
played in Europe. He had an orchestra of his own in 1864 that ran a
close race with the Philharmonic Society in New York, and he took it out
on tour, giving other cities the chance to hear orchestral music.
Theodore Thomas was a musical missionary! In 1877 and 1879 he was
conductor of the New York Philharmonic, and in 1890 the Chicago
Orchestra was formed where he remained until his death in 1905.
Frederick Stock followed Thomas, and the Chicago Orchestra has helped to
cultivate music in the Middle West.
THE DAMROSCH FAMILY
In 1871, a German conductor, destined to develop music came to New York
and after a few months, sent for his family. This was Dr. Leopold
Damrosch, who founded the Oratorio Society (1873), and the New York
Symphony Society (1877), which was merged with the Philharmonic in 1928.
The Oratorio Society, for many years directed by Walter Damrosch, is
today conducted by a gifted American, Albert Stoessel.
In the early years feeling ran high between the followers of Theodore
Thomas and Dr. Damrosch, and many stories are told of the rivalry in
playing new European scores. One of Damrosch’s greatest early triumphs
was the performance of Berlioz’s _Damnation of Faust_. He also gave the
first performance of Brahms’ First Symphony.
During this time, Dr. Damrosch’s young son, Walter, was playing second
violin, learning through experience, his father’s profession, and he is
today the conductor of the New York Symphony Society, and a commanding
figure in America.
Dr. Damrosch was also a pioneer in introducing Wagner to us. Two years
after the Metropolitan Opera House was built (1882), Dr. Damrosch was
made director and conductor of German opera. He imported some of the
great Wagnerian singers, Madame Materna, Marianne Brandt, Mme.
Seidl-Kraus, Anton Schott, and others. Wagner opera had come to stay.
After a short illness, Dr. Damrosch died (1885) and his son Walter, then
nineteen years of age, fell heir to the position of conductor of German
opera at the Metropolitan Opera House, and of the Oratorio Society.
Through Walter Damrosch’s efforts, Lilli Lehmann, the foremost Wagnerian
singer, was engaged for the Metropolitan; he also engaged Emil Fischer,
basso, Max Alvary, tenor, Anton Seidl, conductor, and Mme. Lillian
Nordica (Lillian Norton), one of the first Americans at the
Metropolitan.
Walter Damrosch composed the popular American song, _Danny Deever_ on
the poem by Rudyard Kipling. One never can think of this stirring song,
without remembering David Bispham, who sang it into fame. Bispham was
another native, who was for years a member of the Metropolitan Opera
Company, and an oratorio singer. Damrosch is the composer of two grand
operas, _The Scarlet Letter_ on a text from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel,
and _Cyrano de Bergerac_, of Edmond Rostand’s, made into a libretto by
W. J. Henderson. He also wrote incidental music to three Greek Tragedies
_Iphigenia in Aulis_, _Medea_ and _Electra_, first performed in the open
air theatre of the University of California, in Berkeley, by Margaret
Anglin and her company.
Damrosch married the daughter of James G. Blaine in 1890, and soon
after, he started an opera venture which for several years visited the
large cities and brought Wagner into many places where his music had
been merely a hearsay. He has been a pioneer in championing the cause of
modern composers, and many well known European works have had their
first American performances at his New York Symphony concerts.
Dr. Frank Damrosch, older brother of Walter, is an important educator,
the head of the Institute of Musical Art, and was once conductor of the
Oratorio Society, and of the “Musical Art Society” in which were sung
unaccompanied all the lovely motets and madrigals of Palestrina, Lassus,
and many others. Dr. Frank Damrosch also founded the People’s Choral
Union in which working men and women were taught singing and became
members of a chorus of twelve hundred voices which performed the classic
oratorios. He also founded the Young People’s Concerts, which have
brought to young people of New York the finest music the world has
produced. For several years, Mr. Walter Damrosch has had these in
charge, and his talks explaining the works performed are quite as
enjoyable as the music.
THE MASON FAMILY
Another famous family in American music is the Mason family, dating back
to Lowell Mason (1792–1872) who was born at Medfield, Massachusetts. His
principal work was a collection of hymn tunes which he harmonized, and
won him the title of “Father of American Church Music.” He was president
and conductor of the Handel and Haydn Society, and was a born teacher.
He travelled from one society to another in distant cities, training
choruses, giving encouragement and advice. He moved to New York in 1851.
Lowell Mason’s third son, Dr. William Mason (1829–1908), was also a
pioneer. In his long life he saw music grow in America from crude
beginnings and reach a height that seems almost unbelievable, in one
short century. He not only heard but played, piano concertos with
orchestras as fine as those he found in Europe when he went to study
with Moscheles, Hauptmann, Richter, and Franz Liszt. Mason was one of
the young artists permitted to be a friend as well as a pupil of the
kindly Music Master. Dr. Mason and Theodore Thomas were the first to
give chamber music concerts, and thus introduced many masterpieces of
Brahms and Schumann, for as “modernists” they loved to bring new
compositions to the public. Dr. Mason in his whole-hearted love of his
art, and sincerity and geniality is worthy of our deepest respect and
admiration. He composed about fifty piano pieces, and with W. S. B.
Mathews he arranged a piano method that was very popular and successful.
We feel sure that if you search in that old box of music that mother
used to study, you will find a copy. No doubt she played his _Silver
Spring_, _Reverie Poetique_ and _Danse Rustique_.
Daniel Gregory Mason, one of the foremost composers, lecturers and
writers on music, is a nephew of Dr. William Mason. He was born in 1873,
was graduated from Harvard University in 1895. His compositions include
many works in large form, sonatas, a string quartet on Negro themes, a
piano quartet, a symphony, a fugue for piano and orchestra, a Russian
Song Cycle, piano pieces; Mr. Mason has written many valuable books on
musical subjects and on Music Appreciation, and is at present professor
of music at Columbia University.
GOTTSCHALK—THE PICTURESQUE
We have been telling you about the composers in the northern part of the
United States, and those who had come from Germany like the Damrosch
family, but here is one composer and gifted pianist who brought a new
color into American music. Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829–1869), born in
New Orleans, was the child of an English father and Creole mother, thus
mixing Spanish, French and English blood. He was an infant prodigy; he
played the piano at four, the organ at six, and at thirteen he went to
Paris to study. He was praised by Chopin, and appeared in concerts with
Hector Berlioz. He charmed everyone who heard him, and was the first
American pianist to receive European honors. The Infanta of Spain made a
cake for him and a celebrated bull-fighter gave him a sword! He toured
Cuba and North and South America, giving more than a thousand concerts.
But the life was too hard on him and he died at the age of forty in Rio
Janeiro, Brazil.
_The Last Hope_, _Ojos Creollos_ (_Creole Eyes_), _Banjo_, _Souvenirs of
Andalusia_ are among the most popular of his ninety compositions for
piano, which showed the strong influence of life in Louisiana, his love
of sunshiny Spain, and his study in France. Here we find rhythms closely
related to ragtime and jazz, as well as the slow fascinating Spanish
dance. Today his works are forgotten, but for many years they were
played throughout the land.
STEPHEN COLLINS FOSTER
Stephen Collins Foster (1826–1864), for whom we have claimed the right
to be called a composer of folk songs, was born in Lawrenceville
(Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, on the fiftieth anniversary of our
Declaration of Independence. The understanding he showed of the Negro
came to him because his parents were Southerners. He showed talent for
music when he was very young, and taught himself to play the flageolet
when he was seven years old. He was very self-willed and did not like
discipline, so he taught himself practically all he knew of music. His
first composition, _Tioga Waltz_ for four flutes, was written when he
was a school boy. It was first played in school, with Stephen in the
lead. His first song, _Open thy Lattice, Love_, was published in 1842.
For several years, five boys met at the Foster home, and Stephen taught
them to sing part songs. He composed many pieces for them, among them
_Oh, Susannah_, _Old Uncle Ned_ and _Old Black Joe_.
About 1830, an actor, Thomas Rice, had the idea of dressing up like an
old negro porter in Pittsburgh, from whom he borrowed the clothes, and
singing a song he had heard from a negro stage driver:
Turn about and wheel about, and do jist so,
And ebery time I turn about, I jump Jim Crow.
The song, accompanied by a dance, took the audience by storm, especially
when the porter appeared on the stage, half dressed, and demanded his
clothes, because the whistle of the steamboat had just blown and the old
fellow had to “get back on the job.” So “Daddy” Rice became the father
of “Negro Minstrels,” and travelled all over America and even England,
singing and dancing negro songs. A few years later Stephen Foster sent
his _Oh, Susannah_ to a travelling minstrel troupe, and the song took
“like wild fire.” He decided to write songs as a profession, in spite of
his family who thought he had wasted time “fooling around” with music,
and insisted on his going to work.
While _Oh, Susannah_ is a “rollicking jingle,” _Old Uncle Ned_ is the
“first of the pathetic negro songs that set Foster apart from his
contemporaries and gave him a place in musical history,” says Harold
Vincent Milligan. “In this type of song, universal in the appeal of its
naïve pathos he has never had an equal.”
Another claim he has as a folk song composer, is that he never studied
as most people do who want to be composers. He knew very little about
harmony and less of counterpoint, and his is “music that has come into
existence without the influence of conscious art, as a spontaneous
utterance, filled with characteristic expression of the feelings of a
people.” (H. E. Krehbiel.) Perhaps he was right when he said that he was
afraid that study would rob him of the gift of spontaneous melody that
was his to such a marked degree, because he was not naturally a student
and might never have carried his studies far enough. At any rate we have
every reason to be grateful for the simple direct songs which are dear
to us and as near to our hearts as any folk song of any age or country
whose author has been forgotten!
He was sweet-natured, irresponsible, refined and sensitive, but easily
influenced. His publishers made $10,000 out of his songs, but he made
little and spent much. He married in 1850, but the union was not happy.
During his last years spent in New York, he was poverty-stricken and
miserable, and sold his songs, as soon as they were written, for a few
dollars in order to live. It seems too bad to have to say that much of
his money and his life were squandered thoughtlessly.
Curiously enough, his favorite poet was Edgar Allan Poe, whose life
resembled his own in many sad details. He loved to go up and down in the
Broadway stages, often thinking out his melodies as he rode. This
reminds us of Walt Whitman, who rode up and down Fifth Avenue alongside
his friend Pete Dooley, the driver of the stage coach!
Stephen Foster died in New York in 1864 as the result of an accident in
which he had severed an artery. He was saved from burial in Potter’s
Field, by the arrival of his brothers and his wife, and he was buried in
Pittsburgh beside his parents whom he had immortalized in _The Old Folks
at Home_.
CHAPTER XXXI
America Comes of Age
For many years Boston was a center of musical life.
At the close of the Civil War a school was well under way in New
England, which we might call the classical period of American music.
B. J. LANG
Although Benjamin J. Lang (1837–1909) never published his compositions
and never allowed them to be heard, he had much influence on Boston’s
musical life, having been conductor of the Handel and Haydn and of the
St. Cecilia societies, and the piano teacher of such musicians as Arthur
Foote, William Apthorp, Ethelbert Nevin and Margaret Ruthven Lang, his
daughter.
JOHN KNOWLES PAINE
John Knowles Paine (1839–1906), was the first professor of music at
Harvard. In 1862, he gave his services without pay for a course of
lectures on music, but they were not appreciated. When President Eliot
became head of the University, music was made part of the college
curriculum with Professor Paine at the head of the department. In 1896,
Walter R. Spalding was made assistant and since Professor Paine’s death
has been full professor.
Professor Paine was the first American who wrote an oratorio. _St.
Peter_ was performed in 1873 in Portland, Maine, his birthplace. Next,
he wrote two symphonies, one of which was often played by Theodore
Thomas. Paine’s _Centennial Hymn_ opened the Philadelphia Exhibition,
with more success than the Wagner March, it is said.
Professor Paine was a pioneer in many fields of American composition and
taught American composers to follow in the lines of sincerity and
honesty which he carved out for himself.
DUDLEY BUCK
Dudley Buck (1839–1909), was a noted organist, composer and teacher. He
did not remain in New England (Hartford, Connecticut) where he was born,
but held church positions in Chicago, Cincinnati, Brooklyn, and New
York, and was active in the musical life of these different cities. His
principal works were anthems and hymns, still in use, music for the
organ and valuable text-books, also many popular cantatas.
GEORGE CHADWICK
George Chadwick, one of our most important composers, was born in
Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1854. He studied in Germany with Reinecke,
Jadassohn and Rheinberger, three celebrated teachers who had more to do
with forming the taste of the American composers than any _American_
teacher.
Chadwick comes of a musical family. His musical life began as alto
singer in a Lawrence church choir, where later he blew the bellows of
the organ, but soon was promoted from blowing to playing it. He began
composing while in High School. He was a student at the New England
Conservatory, founded in 1867, but was not allowed to study with the
idea of becoming a professional. When he saw that he would receive no
further help from his father toward music-training, the young musician
of twenty-two went to Michigan for a year. He taught music, conducted a
chorus, gave organ recitals, saving enough to study in Leipsic.
Jadassohn told Louis Elson that Chadwick was the most brilliant student
in his class.
In 1880, Chadwick returned to Boston where he has lived ever since. From
1880 he was first, teacher, then musical director of the New England
Conservatory. Some of his pupils have become leaders in American
music,—Horatio Parker, Arthur Whiting, J. Wallace Goodrich (organist),
Henry K. Hadley and others.
Chadwick has composed more orchestral works than any other American. A
list of them includes three symphonies, a sinfonietta, six overtures,
three symphonic sketches for orchestra, a lyric sacred opera, _Judith_,
music to the morality play _Everywoman_, much chamber music, many choral
works and about fifty songs, of which the best known is perhaps _Allah_.
ARTHUR FOOTE
Arthur Foote (1853) is one of the few prominent composers whose training
bears the label “made in America,” for he never studied abroad. He was
born in Salem, Massachusetts, and worked with Stephen Emery, a prominent
theory teacher. Foote was graduated from Harvard in 1874, where he
studied music in Professor Paine’s department. After organ study with B.
J. Lang, Foote became organist of the First Unitarian Church founded in
1630, which post he filled from 1878 to 1910. This is doubtless the
longest record of an organist in one church in America. Foote has been
one of America’s finest teachers, and has influenced many, not only by
his teaching, but by his broad-minded criticism. His harmony text-book,
written with Walter R. Spalding, is among the most valuable and reliable
in the musical world.
Foote has written scholarly and beautiful chamber and orchestral music
which has placed him in the foremost ranks of American composers, but he
has won the hearts of the entire English-speaking world by two little
songs, _Irish Folk Song_ and _I’m Wearing Awa’_.
HORATIO PARKER
Horatio Parker (1863–1919) inherited his talent from his mother who
played the organ in Newton, Massachusetts, but she had a hard time
interesting her son in music, for he disliked it very much. But at
fourteen he had a change of heart going to the other extreme of having
literally to be dragged away from the instrument. He studied with Emery
and Chadwick, and then went to Germany to work with Rheinberger. He was
organist in several churches and in 1894 was made professor of music at
Yale University where he remained until his death.
In 1894, his best known work was performed in Trinity Church, New York.
It is an oratorio, _Hora Novissima_ (_The Last Hour_), on the old Latin
poem by Bernard de Morlaix, with English translation by Parker’s mother
also the author of the librettos for two other of his oratorios. _Hora
Novissima_, one of America’s most important works, has been performed
many times, not only in America, but it was the first American work
given at the English Worcester Festival. It was so successful that Dr.
Parker received the commission to write for another English festival at
Hereford, and he composed _A Wanderer’s Psalm_. This was followed by
_The Legend of St. Christopher_ which contains some of Parker’s most
scholarly contrapuntal writing for chorus. As another result of
England’s recognition of his music, Cambridge University conferred upon
the American composer the honorary degree of Doctor of Music.
Parker became famous for winning the prize of $10,000 offered by the
Metropolitan Opera Company in 1911 for the best opera by an American.
This was _Mona_, a story of the Druids in Britain, for which Brian
Hooker, the American poet, wrote the libretto. In spite of the work
having won the prize, it had no success with the public, and did not
outlive its first season.
In 1915 Parker and Hooker won another $10,000 prize offered by the
National Federation of Music Clubs, with an opera called _Fairyland_. It
has not seen the light of day since its performances in Los Angeles.
FREDERICK CONVERSE
Frederick Converse (1871), like many other Boston musicians, was
graduated from Harvard (1893), when his _Opus I_, a violin sonata, was
publicly performed. After study with Chadwick, he went to Germany to
Rheinberger, returning in 1898, with his first symphony under his arm.
He is now living in Boston. Converse has written many orchestral and
chamber music works, and has often set Keats, the English poet, or used
his writings as inspiration for his music,—_Festival of Pan_ and
_Endymion’s Narrative_, two symphonic poems, and _La Belle Dame sans
Merci_, a ballad for baritone voice and orchestra.
Converse was the first of the present day Americans to have had an opera
_The Pipe of Desire_ produced by the Metropolitan Opera Company (1910).
TWO COLLEGE PROFESSORS
David Stanley Smith, a native of Toledo, Ohio (1877), belongs to this
New England group, for he was graduated from Yale University and since
1903 has been, first, instructor in the music department and later full
professor. He has composed some excellent chamber music, and several of
his string quartets were played by the famous Kneisel Quartet
(1886–1917) which organization has had a generous share in improving
musical taste in this country.
Edward Burlingame Hill, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1872), is one
of the professors of music at Harvard University. He has composed piano
pieces, songs, and orchestral works, and has written many articles on
music.
MRS. H. H. A. BEACH PREPARES THE PATH FOR AMERICAN WOMEN
One of the most important composers of the New England group, is Mrs. H.
H. A. Beach (1867). She was Amy Marcy Cheney, an astonishing little
child who before her second year sang forty tunes. Louis Elson tells
that at the age of two she was taken to a photographer, and just as he
was about to take the picture, she sang at the top of her voice, _See,
the Conquering Hero Comes!_ She could improvise like the old classic
masters, and could transpose Bach fugues from one key to another, at
fourteen. When sixteen, she made her début as a pianist, and at
seventeen she played piano concertos with the Boston Symphony Orchestra,
also with Theodore Thomas’ orchestra.
Mrs. Beach received her training in America. Her first work in large
form was a mass sung in 1892 by the Handel and Haydn Society. She next
composed a _scena_ and _aria_ for contralto and orchestra, sung with the
New York Symphony Society. It was the first work by a woman and an
American to be given at these concerts, which Walter Damrosch conducted.
The next year, Mrs. Beach was invited to write a work for the opening of
the woman’s building at the Chicago Columbian World’s Exposition. She
has two piano concertos and a symphony (_The Gaelic_) to her credit,
also a violin sonata, a quintet for flute and strings, many piano pieces
and splendid songs among which must be mentioned _The Year’s at the
Spring_, _June_, and _Ah, Love, but a Day_.
Mrs. Beach prepared the way for other American women, not only by
showing that women could write seriously in big forms, but also by her
sympathetic encouragement of talent and sincerity wherever she finds it.
Margaret Ruthven Lang (1867), daughter of B. J. Lang, is also a Boston
composer. _Irish Mother’s Lullaby_ is the best known of her many art
songs, in addition to which she has written an orchestral _Dramatic
Overture_ which Arthur Nikisch played, when he was conductor of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Among our best song writers are many women:—Harriet Ware, Gena
Branscombe, Alice Barnett, Fay Foster, Eleanor Freer, Mana Zucca (who
has written also a piano concerto, and piano pieces), Rhea Silberta,
Ethel Glenn Hier (piano pieces and songs), Fannie Dillon (piano pieces
and violin compositions), Mabel Wood Hill (songs, chamber music and an
arrangement of two preludes and fugues of Bach for string orchestra),
Lilly Strickland, Mabel Daniels, Katherine Ruth Heyman (songs, many of
them in old Greek modes, and a book, _Relation of Ultramodern Music to
the Archaic_), Rosalie Housman (songs, piano pieces and a complete
Hebrew Temple Service), Gertrude Ross, Mary Turner Salter, Florence Parr
Gere and Pearl Curran, writer of several popular successes. And although
she is not a composer of art songs, we must not forget Carrie Jacobs
Bond, whose _End of a Perfect Day_ has sold in the millions, and her
songs for little children have brought joy to many.
ONE OF OUR MOST SCHOLARLY MUSICIANS
Another Boston musician and composer, teacher of piano and composition
is Arthur Whiting (1861), nephew of the organist and composer George
Whiting. He has made a specialty of harpsichord music, and plays
charmingly on the little old instrument. Since 1895, he has lived in New
York City.
CHARLES MARTIN LOEFFLER—FIRST IMPRESSIONIST IN AMERICA
Charles Martin Loeffler is a composer belonging to a different class
from any of the Boston group just mentioned. Loeffler is French by
birth, as he was born in Alsace in 1861, French in his musical training
and in his musical sympathies. For forty-two years he has lived in
Boston, twenty of them at the second desk (next to the concertmaster) of
the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He was the first composer to write in
this country, the kind of music that existed at the end of the 19th
century in France,—the music of Fauré, Dukas, Chausson and Debussy. The
seed he planted did not fall on fertile soil, for all his fellow
musicians as well as the orchestral conductors, from whose hands the
public received its music, were Germans and German trained. They knew
their “three B’s,” their Wagner and even the French Berlioz, but
Loeffler brought something different, something disturbing, and was not
easy to place. His music belonged neither to the classical nor to the
romantic school.
Not only in America did this new French music have a fight, but on its
own ground in France was it misunderstood! But you have seen from
Monteverde to Wagner that the path of true innovation never ran smooth!
Loeffler’s work is original, the work of a musician completely master of
the modern orchestra and of modern harmony with its colorful and
expressive effects. Besides this there was a spirit that never before
had come into art. This was given the name of Impressionism, the getting
of effects from objects, painted, or described in literature, without
elaborate details. In music, composers who try to suggest to the hearer
an image existing in their own minds are called Impressionists. This
image may be a thought, an emotion, a definite object, a poem, a
picture, a beautiful tree, the grandeur of Niagara, any one of a
thousand things that await the hand of the Alchemist-Musician to be
transmuted into tone.
All Loeffler’s compositions reflect this impressionism, and he was the
first, but not the last of these poetic tone impressionists in America.
He is foremost a composer of symphonic poems: _La Mort de Tintagiles_
(_The Death of Tintagiles_) after the play by Maurice Maeterlinck, _A
Pagan Poem_ after Virgil, _La Bonne Chanson_ (_The Good Song_) after
Verlaine, _La Vilanelle du Diable_, _The Mystic Hour_ with male chorus,
_Psalm 137_ with female chorus. He also wrote an eight part mixed
chorus, _For One who Fell in Battle_. Other orchestral works include a
suite in four movements for violin and orchestra called _Les Veillées de
l’Ukraine_ (_Evening Tales of the Ukraine_), concerto for ’cello and
orchestra, first played by Alwyn Schroeder with the Boston Symphony
Orchestra, _Divertissement_ for violin and orchestra, and _Spanish
Divertissement_ for saxophone and orchestra. There are also important
works for chamber music: two rhapsodies for clarinet, viola and piano,
an octet for strings and two clarinets, a quintet and a quartet built on
Gregorian modes; and he has written a group of songs for medium voice
and viola obligato with French texts by Verlaine and Beaudelaire, two
impressionist poets.
THE RED MAN ATTRACTS COMPOSERS
The next composer, Henry F. Gilbert, born in Somerville, Massachusetts
(1868), brings us into an interesting field, the study of Negro and
Indian folk music. After working with Edward MacDowell, Gilbert turned
his attention to a thorough investigation of Negro music, resulting in
orchestral works based on Negro themes such as, _American Humoresque_,
_Comedy Overture on Negro Themes_, _American Dances_, _Negro Rhapsody_,
and _The Dance in Place Congo_, a symphonic poem which was mounted as a
ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House (1918).
Gilbert tells that the _Comedy Overture_ was rescued from a wreck that
was to have been a Negro Opera, based on Joel Chandler Harris’ _Uncle
Remus_. What a pity he did not complete it!
The _American Humoresque_ is based on old Negro minstrel tunes like _Zip
Coon_, _Dixie_, and _Old Folks at Home_.
Gilbert was one of the founders of the Wa-Wan Press, established at
Newton Center, Massachusetts, by Arthur Farwell. It was organized (1901)
by composers in the interest of American compositions, and to study and
encourage the use of Indian music. He died in 1928.
Arthur Farwell was born in St. Paul, Minnesota (1872). He attended
college in Boston and studied music with Homer Norris (1860–1920), a
Boston organist and composer, whose cantata _Flight of the Eagle_ was
based on a Walt Whitman poem. Farwell was also a pupil of Humperdinck in
Berlin and Guilmant in Paris. The Indian music research, in which he is
a pioneer, led him into the West to live among the Redskins and to make
phonograph records of hundreds of tunes. He is also interested in
community singing and music for the people. Practically a new field is
his music for Percy MacKaye’s pageants _Caliban_ and _The Evergreen
Tree_.
Carlos Troyer, a very old Californian who died recently, spent his life
collecting Zuni and Mojave-Apache songs, having realized their artistic
value long before any one else. In his youth he was an intimate friend
of Liszt. He travelled, later, through South American jungles, with his
violin and music paper, writing down the tunes he heard, and several
times he would have been burned by the savages, but saved himself by
playing for them.
Harvey Worthington Loomis contributed a piano version of Omaha Indian
melodies to the Wa-Wan Press (1904) called _Lyrics of the Redman_. In
the preface Loomis shows that Indian themes should be used
impressionistically, for he says: “If we would picture the music of the
wigwam and the war-path we must aim by means of the imagination to
create an art work that will project, not by _imitation_ but by
_suggestion_, the impression we have ourselves received in listening to
this weird savage symphony in its pastoral _entourage_ (surroundings)
which, above all, makes the Indian’s music sweet to him.”
Natalie Curtis’ valuable service to Indian and Negro music was cut off
by her tragic death in Paris (1921), from an automobile accident.
Fortunately she left several works in which she gave not only
information on the music of these primitive Americans and also the
_Songs and Tales of the Dark Continent of Africa_, but in them she set
down quite unconsciously the beauty of her character and the sincerity
of her purpose. There are four volumes of Negro Folk Songs, and _The
Indians’ Book_, besides the African book. Recently we heard two
Spanish-Indian melodies, a _Crucifixion Hymn_ and _Blood of Christ_,
that Miss Curtis found in use in religious festivals near Santa Fe, New
Mexico. They are Spanish in character, and are almost unaltered examples
of the songs of the Middle Ages brought down to us by the Indian. These
were arranged by Percy Grainger according to directions left by Miss
Curtis.
Several American operas have been written on Indian legends and it would
be difficult to find more picturesque subjects.
OUR LIGHT OPERA GENIUS
Victor Herbert’s _Natoma_, given by the Chicago Opera Company in 1911,
is an Indian story and one of his two grand operas. Born in Dublin,
Ireland (1854), Herbert was the grandson of the novelist Samuel Lover.
He was educated in Germany, and was a fine ’cellist. He came to the
Metropolitan Opera orchestra as first ’cellist in 1886, and since then
until his death in 1924, he delighted every one with his incomparable
melodies in light operas.
After Patrick Gilmore’s death, Herbert in 1893, became bandmaster of the
22nd Regiment band which had become famous in 1869 and 1872 for two
monster Peace Jubilees held in Boston. We think the 20th century, the
age of gigantic enterprises, but——! for the first Jubilee, Gilmore had a
chorus of 10,000 voices, and a band of 1,000! Not satisfied with this
volume, in the second Jubilee he doubled the number! He also had cannons
fired to increase the drum battery!
From Gilmore’s Band, Herbert became conductor of the Pittsburgh
Symphony, also guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra,
but he had made such a success as composer of light operas, that he
finally devoted all his time to the theater. Among Herbert’s most
popular successes are: _The Serenade_, _The Idol’s Eye_, _Babes in
Toyland_, _Mlle. Modiste_, _Naughty Marietta_, _The Madcap Duchess_,
etc.
Julian Edwards (1855–1910), like Victor Herbert was born a British
subject, in Manchester, England, and was a successful composer of light
opera. He also wrote many sacred cantatas.
SOUSA, THE MARCH KING
Our most famous bandmaster is America’s “March King,” John Philip Sousa
(1856), once leader of the United States Marine Band. Who has not
marched to _Stars and Stripes Forever_, _Washington Post_, or _Liberty
Bell_? Who does not love them, be he “high” or “low brow”? With Sousa
leading, the band has played around the world, and no American composer
is better known abroad. In fact, Sousa’s music was considered as
“typically American” twenty years ago as is jazz today.
ANOTHER INDIAN OPERA
Now for the Redskins again! Charles Wakefield Cadman’s Indian opera
_Shanewis_ was given at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1918. Cadman is
well known for many songs which have become popular, _At Dawning_ and
_The Land of the Sky-blue Water_, a lovely Indian song. Born in
Johnstown, Pennsylvania (1881), Cadman received musical training in
Pittsburgh. For some years he has been living in California.
Another Pennsylvanian, who spent several years among the Indians,
studying their music and using genuine themes for his opera _Poia_ is
Arthur Nevin (1871), younger brother of Ethelbert Nevin. For several
years he was professor of music at the University of Kansas.
A professor at the same college is Charles Sanford Skilton (1868),
writer of many cantatas and orchestral Indian dances.
Thurlow Lieurance (1897), one of the latest recruits to Indian music
lore, is so well known for _By the Waters of Minnetonka_ that we almost
forget other songs and a music drama in which he has used Indian themes
tellingly. One of these is a Navajo blanket song.
The blankets woven by the Navajo women are not only remarkable examples
of primitive art, but tell the stories of the tribe. No two blankets are
the same, and like the music we write, are expressions of the weaver’s
hopes, fears, joys and sorrows.
Homer Grunn (1880) who taught piano in Phoenix, Arizona, profited by the
opportunity to gather Indian tunes, which he has put into songs, a music
drama and orchestral works.
ETHELBERT NEVIN—POET-COMPOSER
Ethelbert Nevin (1862–1901) told his father that he would not mind being
poor all his life if he could just be a musician! And the father, a
music lover himself, allowed his sensitive, dream-loving, poetic son to
study in America and in Europe. Perhaps “Bert’s” mother had something to
do with the decision, for she, too, was sensitive and fine, and so much
of a musician that her grand piano was the first to cross the Allegheny
mountains into Edgeworth, the town near Pittsburgh where the Nevins were
born.
Ethelbert Nevin was a romanticist who found the medium of his expression
in short songs and piano pieces. He had a gift of melody surpassed by
few and he reached the heart as perhaps no other American except Stephen
Foster had done. _Narcissus_ for piano and _The Rosary_ have swept
through this country selling in the millions. _Mighty Lak’ a Rose_,
published after his early death, was a close third. Several others of
his songs may be ranked among the best that America has produced. Nevin
was what Walt Whitman would have called a “Sweet Singer.”
ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRIE CREW COME TO LIFE IN THE 19TH CENTURY
Reginald de Koven (1859–1920) will ever be remembered for his delightful
light opera _Robin Hood_ on which we were brought up. His song, _Oh,
Promise Me_, will probably be sung when he will have been forgotten. De
Koven’s last two works were operas, of which _Canterbury Tales_ after
Chaucer was performed at the Metropolitan Opera House and _Rip Van
Winkle_ from Washington Irving and Percy Mackaye, by the Chicago Opera
Company. One of his best songs is a setting of Kipling’s _Recessional_.
“PILGRIM’S PROGRESS”—AN AMERICAN ORATORIO
One of the most respected American composers is Edgar Stillman Kelley,
born in Sparta, Wisconsin, in 1857, whose American forefathers date back
to 1650. After study in Stuttgart, Kelley went to California, where he
was composer, teacher, critic, lecturer, writer and light opera
conductor. Later he was professor at Yale, dean of composition at the
Cincinnati Conservatory, and since 1910, a fellowship at the Western
College at Oxford, Ohio, gives him the leisure and economic freedom to
compose. His orchestral works include incidental music to _Ben Hur_,
_Aladdin_, Chinese suite, a comic opera, _Puritania_, _Alice in
Wonderland_, two symphonies, _Gulliver_ and _New England_, incidental
music to _Prometheus Bound_, and an oratorio based on Bunyan’s
_Pilgrim’s Progress_. If you do not know Kelley’s delightful song, _The
Lady Picking Mulberries_, allow us to introduce the little Chinawoman to
you. You will meet at the same time an old acquaintance,—Mr. Pentatonic
Scale.
Several of the older school of composers in America, faithful pioneers
whose works are rarely heard now were Silas G. Pratt (1846–1916);
Frederic Grant Gleason (1848–1903), who lived and worked in Chicago from
1877 to the time of his death; William Wallace Gilchrist (1846–1916), a
writer of cantatas and psalms, Episcopal church music, two symphonies,
chamber music and songs, who spent most of his life in Philadelphia;
Homer N. Bartlett (1846–1920), composer of piano pieces; William
Neidlinger (1863–1924), writer of many charming children’s songs.
Frank van der Stucken (1858) who was born in Texas, but lived in Europe
from 1866 until 1884, was the first conductor to give an entire program
of American orchestral works in America and also at the Paris Exposition
of 1889. For years he was conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
and he has composed many large orchestral works. He died abroad in 1929.
Rosseter Gleason Cole (1866), composer of songs, piano pieces, organ
pieces, cantatas and works for orchestra and ’cello, takes his themes
from American and general sources. He is organist in Chicago and has
charge of the music courses of the summer session of Columbia
University. He has held many important posts and taken numerous prizes.
His cantata _The Rock of Liberty_ was sung at the Tercentenary
Celebration, 1920, of the settlement of Plymouth.
Arne Oldberg, born in Youngstown, Ohio (1874) is director of the piano
department of Northwestern University (Michigan) and has many orchestral
works, written symphonies, concertos and overtures, which have had
frequent hearings. He has also composed much chamber music.
There are also Harry Rowe Shelley (1858), writer of much important
church music; James H. Rogers, composer of teaching pieces for the piano
and many fine songs, including a cycle _In Memoriam_, which is a
heartfelt expression of sorrow in beautiful music; Wilson G. Smith,
composer of many piano teaching pieces and musical writer; Louis Coerne,
writer of opera and of works for orchestra; Ernest Kroeger of St. Louis
who also used Indian and Negro themes in works for orchestra and piano;
Carl Busch of Kansas City, composer of orchestral works, cantatas, music
for violin and many songs, in some of which we see the Indian. In
California we meet Wm. J. McCoy and Humphrey J. Stewart who have
composed church music and have written often for the yearly out-door
“High Jinks” of the San Francisco Bohemian Club, in which many important
composers have been invited to assist; Domenico Brescia, a South
American composer living in San Francisco, who wrote interesting chamber
music played at the Berkshire Chamber Music Festivals; and Albert Elkus,
a composer of serious works for orchestra and piano. Smith died in 1929;
Coerne in 1922.
But this is growing into a musical directory! And even neglecting many
who have done much to make music grow in America, we must proceed for we
have important milestones ahead.
For many years New York has been the American center of music. Few of
the people in musical life are native New Yorkers, but have come from
all parts of the States and Europe to this musical Mecca.
MACDOWELL GREATEST AMERICAN POET-COMPOSER
The greatest romanticist and poet-composer of America up to the present
is Edward MacDowell (1861–1908). Some of the romanticism of the early
19th century has become mere imitation of the style which arose as a
protest against the insincere forms of the 18th century. But the true
spirit of romance never dies and never becomes artificial,—such romance
had MacDowell. He was sincere, always a poet, always himself, and in
spite of his Irish-Scotch inheritance, German training and love of Norse
legends, he expressed MacDowell in every note. He lived before the time
when we question “How shall we express America in Music”? In fact he was
much against tagging composers as American, German, French, and so on.
Edward MacDowell, born in New York City, began piano lessons when he was
eight. One of his teachers was the brilliant South American Teresa
Carreño, who later played her pupil’s concerto with many world
orchestras. At 15, he entered the Paris Conservatory where he was fellow
student with Debussy.
While there, MacDowell studied French, and during a lesson amused
himself by drawing a picture of his teacher. When caught, the teacher,
instead of rebuking him, took the sketch to a friend, a master at the
_École des Beaux Arts_, the famous old art school of Paris. The artist
found the sketch so good that he offered to train him without charge but
Edward had made up his mind to be a musician and did not accept the
offer.
In 1879, MacDowell studied composition at Frankfort with Joachim Raff,
one of the composers of the Romantic period. Raff introduced him to
Liszt, who invited MacDowell to play his first piano suite at Zürich
(1882). The composer’s modesty is reflected in these words which
Lawrence Gilman quotes: “I would not have changed a note in one of them
for untold gold, and _inside_ I had the greatest love for them; but the
idea that any one else might take them seriously had never occurred to
me.” This suite was his first published composition.
In 1884, he married Miss Marian Nevins of New York, and theirs was one
of the most beautiful marriages in musical history, although their
meeting was amusing! The young girl had crossed the ocean to continue
her music studies at a time when it was not a common occurrence, and
when she went to Raff for lessons, he sent her to a young countryman of
hers, “an extraordinary piano teacher.” She was indignant to be sent to
a young inexperienced American in that fashion, but she went! The young
inexperienced American did not want to teach an American girl, because
he felt she would not be serious enough to do the kind of work he
demanded, but he accepted her! Later she accepted him!
[Illustration:
_Edward MacDowell._
_America’s Greatest Poet-Composer._
]
[Illustration:
_Charles Griffes._
_American Impressionist._
]
In 1888, he established himself in Boston as pianist and teacher. His
first concert was with the Kneisel Quartet, and in 1889 he successfully
played his concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He made tours
through the States giving recitals and appearing with the orchestras.
Winning immediate recognition, his position as an exceptional composer
grew. In 1896 the Boston Symphony Orchestra presented his first piano
concerto and his orchestral _Indian Suite_ on the same program in New
York. Such an honor had never before been shown an American!
In 1896, he became professor of the new Chair of Music at Columbia
University in New York City. After resigning his post in 1904, his
health broke as the result of an accident, and for several years he was
an invalid. All the care of physicians, devoted friends, his parents,
and his courageous wife, could not restore his memory, and in 1908, he
died in New York and was buried in Peterboro, N. H. A natural boulder
from where he often watched the sunset, marks the spot—fitting for one
who loved Nature as he did.
Shortly before his passing, a group of friends formed a society, the
MacDowell Club of New York, which has for its object the promoting of “a
sympathetic understanding of the correlation of all the arts, and of
contributing to the broadening of their influence, thus carrying forward
the life-purpose of Edward MacDowell.” He wished musicians to know the
value of associating with artists outside of the field of music. Eugene
Heffley, (1862–1925) an intimate friend of MacDowell and first president
of the MacDowell Club did much to make the MacDowell music known and
loved, just as he did for Charles Griffes, Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin and
others who have come with new messages.
Some people have statues erected, others have towns and streets named
for them, but besides the numerous MacDowell Clubs throughout the
States, the most beautiful memorial is the MacDowell Association at
Peterboro. Early in his career, MacDowell found it impossible to work
well in the city, and by happy chance he and his wife discovered a
deserted farm which they bought for the proverbial “song.” Here the
composer spent his summers in the beautiful New Hampshire woods, in the
heart of which he built the little log cabin, which in his words, is
A house of dreams untold
It looks out over the whispering tree-tops
And faces the setting sun.
And in this “house” he told many of his dreams in lovely melody! While
ill, he often expressed the desire to share the inspiration-giving peace
and beauty of his woods with friends, workers in music and the sister
arts. Out of this wish has grown the colony for creative workers, which
has been a haven to hundreds of composers, poets, painters, sculptors,
dramatists, and novelists. The “Log Cabin” is the seed out of which
twenty studios have sprung. The small deserted farm has spread over 500
acres, and Mrs. MacDowell with the aid of faithful friends has made a
dream come true!
MacDowell was a composer for the pianoforte, although he wrote some
lovely songs; a few orchestral works, best known of which is _The Indian
Suite_, in which he employs Indian themes; and several male choruses
written when he conducted the New York Mendelssohn Glee Club. We love
and remember him for his _Woodland Sketches_, _Sea Pieces_, _Fireside
Tales_, _New England Idyls_ (opus 62 and his last work),
virtuoso-studies, and the four sonatas—the _Tragica_, _Eroica_, _Norse_
and _Keltic_.
W. H. Humiston (1869–1924), composer, lecturer, musical critic,
organist, assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and
a pupil of MacDowell, had the most complete collection of Bach and
Wagner in this country and was a great authority on their writings. This
collection now belongs to the MacDowell Association, and is in the
colony library at Peterboro.
HENRY HOLDEN HUSS
Henry Holden Huss (1862), born in Newark, New Jersey, has lived in New
York since his early twenties when he returned from studying with
Rheinberger in Munich. Before his European days he was a pupil of his
father, George J. Huss, a Bavarian who came to America during the 1848
revolution, and was one of the best musical educators in this country.
Huss also studied with O. B. Boise (1845–1912), an American theorist and
teacher. As concert pianist, Huss has played his piano concerto, one of
the best American works, with all the important orchestras. Raoul Pugno,
the much-loved French pianist, and Adele aus der Ohe also played it
abroad and in America.
Huss has always aimed for the highest ideals as teacher, composer and
pianist. A classicist at heart, his works are written on classic
models,—a beautiful violin sonata with poetic slow movement, many
chamber music works, a concerto for violin and orchestra, besides _The
Seven Ages of Man_ for baritone and orchestra, often sung by the late
David Bispham, _Cleopatra’s Death_, for soprano and orchestra, a female
chorus _Ave Maria_, and many fine art songs and piano pieces, the most
beautiful of which is a tone poem _To the Night_, a lovely
impressionistic composition that ranks with the best that America has
produced.
Two other pupils of O. B. Boise, Ernest Hutcheson (1871) an Australian,
and Howard Brockway (1870), a Brooklynite, have done much to make music
grow in America. Hutcheson, who studied also with Max Vogrich in
Australia and Reinecke in Leipsic, has made so enviable a career as
pianist and teacher, that one forgets he has a symphony, a double piano
concerto and several other large works in manuscript. Brockway, who
harmonized _Lonesome Tunes_, folk songs from the Kentucky Mountains
collected by Miss Loraine Wyman, is also the composer of a symphony
played in Boston (1907) by the Symphony Orchestra, a suite,
ballad-scherzo for orchestra, many piano works and songs. Hutcheson,
Brockway and Boise were teachers in the Baltimore Peabody Institute, one
of the important music schools, under direction of Harold Randolph, a
fine musician and pianist.
George F. Boyle (1886) of New South Wales has, since 1910, been
professor at the Peabody Institute. He has composed many piano pieces,
songs and orchestral works.
RUBIN GOLDMARK
Rubin Goldmark (1872), is known as the best toastmaster in the music
world! Born in New York, he was one of Dvorak’s most talented pupils and
inherits his gifts from his noted uncle Carl Goldmark (1830–1915), a
Hungarian composer of the overture _Sakuntala_ and the opera _The Queen
of Sheba_, the symphony _The Rustic Wedding_ and much else. Rubin
Goldmark has written several important tone poems,—_Samson_, _Gettysburg
Requiem_, _Negro Rhapsody_, based on negro themes, and other fine things
for orchestra, chamber music, piano and violin numbers and as a teacher
he has laid the foundations for several American composers among whom
are:—Frederick Jacobi, Aaron Copland and George Gershwin. Each score
from Goldmark’s pen is an addition to American music.
HENRY HADLEY
Henry K. Hadley (1871) by right of birth and training belongs to the New
England group of composers, but most of his life was spent in Germany
where he got his orchestral experience, and in different parts of
America where he has conducted orchestras—Seattle, Washington, San
Francisco and New York. Hadley is one of the few Americans who has
conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
Hadley has taken many prizes for opera, symphony, cantata and an
orchestral rhapsody. To this he has added numerous other orchestral and
chamber music works and over 100 songs.
ALBERT MILDENBERG’S “MICHAEL ANGELO”
In these days when the cry is for American opera, it seems regrettable
that an opera ready for production should lie idle because of the death
of its composer. Perhaps no work in history has had a more tragic story
than _Michael Angelo_ by Albert Mildenberg (1878–1918). In 1908,
Mildenberg signed a contract in Vienna for the production of the opera.
The following year on the way to Europe, the ship, _Slavonia_, was
wrecked, and although the composer escaped, his entire orchestral score
and parts went to the bottom of the sea. Courageously he rewrote the
work, and sent it to the Metropolitan Opera House in competition for the
$10,000 prize, won by Horatio Parker. Before it had reached the judges,
in some way, still unexplained, the major part of the score disappeared!
Again, Mildenberg set to work with the sketches he had, and made a third
score, but it cost him his life, for though the opera was completed
before his death, he was too ill to carry it further.
In addition to this grand opera, Mildenberg, a pupil of Rafael Joseffy,
wrote many piano pieces. He also composed _The Violet_, _I Love Thee_,
and _Astarte_, songs that had a popular vogue and are still found on
many programs, and romantic comic operas, _The Wood Witch_ and _Love’s
Locksmith_, besides a cantata and many choruses.
Two other operas which had Metropolitan Opera House productions were
_The Temple Dancer_ by John Adam Hugo (1873) and _The Legend_ by Joseph
Carl Breil (1870).
JOHN ALDEN CARPENTER—MODERNIST
John Alden Carpenter (1876), one of America’s foremost composers, was
born in Park Ridge, Illinois, and educated at Harvard where he took the
music course, studying afterwards in England with Edward Elgar, the
English composer. A business man, Carpenter still devotes his time to
composing music that has put him among America’s leading musical lights.
While he might be called a romanticist, his tendencies are
impressionistic, and none understands better than he the charms of rich
and unusual harmonies, the use of modern melodic and orchestral effects,
and the value of humor in music. All these we find in his _Adventures in
a Perambulator_ for orchestra, and his ballet _Krazy Kat_, where jazz
rhythms are used to great advantage. One of the most beautiful works of
its kind, is the ballet after Oscar Wilde’s _The Birthday of the
Infanta_, performed by the Chicago Opera Company, and his first ballet
written for the Metropolitan Opera Company is called _Skyscraper_,
certainly American! Carpenter’s settings of Tagore’s _Gitanjali_ are
among America’s finest songs; he has many others, a concertino for piano
and orchestra and a violin sonata.
AN ALL-AMERICAN SYMPHONY
Eric Delamarter (1880), born in Lansing, Michigan, has written a
_Symphony After Walt Whitman_ in which he has used twenty-year old
street songs from the “Barbary Coast” (San Francisco Bowery), _Lonesome
Tunes_ of Kentucky, and a fox-trot rhythm with newer street songs.
These, Delamarter has woven into a symphony with skill and sincerity.
The material is All-American although neither Negro nor Indian.
Delamarter is a well-known musical critic in Chicago, an organist,
composer of many other works for orchestra, organ, and oratorios,
incidental music for drama, cantatas and songs and since 1917 assistant
conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Noble Kreider and Edward Royce, son of Professor Josiah Royce of Harvard
University, have both written well for the piano. Harold Bauer has
played variations and short pieces by Edward Royce.
ERNEST SCHELLING—PIANIST-COMPOSER
Ernest Schelling (1876), born in Delaware, New Jersey, appeared as
pianist at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, at the age of four! His
musical training abroad included several years with Paderewski. He has
made many concert tours in Europe and America, and for two seasons has
conducted the children’s concerts of the New York Philharmonic Society.
His important orchestral works include a symphonic legend, a suite, two
numbers, _Suite Phantastique_ and _Impressions From An Artist’s Life_,
for piano and orchestra, and his latest work to enjoy wide popularity,
_The Victory Ball_.
JOHN POWELL—VIRGINIAN
All the charm and refinement of the Southern gentleman are reflected in
John Powell’s personality, along with an earnest sincerity and
conviction. He was born in Richmond, Virginia, (1882), is a graduate of
the University of Virginia, and a pupil of Theodor Leschetizky and
Navratil in Vienna. He has made an international reputation as brilliant
pianist and is also one of our most gifted composers. Powell’s works
show classical training in form, with which he combines a rich romantic
feeling and a love for folk music.
He believes that music should draw on the folk element for its strength,
and has proved his theory by using freely the folk music he knows best,
that of the negro. _In the South_, _At the Fair_, piano pieces, show
this early influence and his fund of humor, and in his _Negro Rhapsody_
for piano and orchestra, Powell has painted a picture of the negro in
many moods—sinister and menacing, primitive bordering on barbaric, as
well as humorous, care-free and childlike.
His _Sonata Teutonica_ which first brought him before the public is of
extraordinary strength, length and talent. He has written other sonatas
for piano and for violin, songs, chamber music and orchestral works.
NEGRO SPIRITUALS VERSUS JAZZ
This brings us face to face with one of the most discussed questions of
the day: the influence of Negro music and jazz on serious composition.
The pure Negro music is the Spiritual and _not_ jazz, which may be the
typically American idiom we have been waiting for.
It is not Negro but is developed from the Negro dance rhythm, from a
real folk music; it is the result of Negro music played upon by American
life and influences; through it we may learn to free ourselves
musically, and show the true American spirit of adventure and daring
which until now has been absent in our native compositions. The path has
been travelled from the songs of Stephen Foster, Negro Minstrels, “coon
songs” and “cake walks,” to jazz with its elaborate orchestration unlike
any other existing music, and its complicated rhythms. Jazz rhythm is
contrapuntal rhythm. Europe says that it is our one original and
important contribution to music! This is a strong statement, but as
“imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” their serious 20th
century composers have flattered us by writing jazz, and we have _Piano
Rag_ by Stravinsky, a _Syncopated Sonata_ by Jean Wiener, jazz by Darius
Milhaud, Casella, Honegger, and even Debussy was tempted into writing
_Golliwogg’s Cake Walk_.
In Los Angeles (April, 1925), Walter Henry Rothwell with his
Philharmonic Orchestra played an _American Caprice_ by Henry Schoenefeld
(1857) one of many works in which the composer has used Indian and Negro
themes.
HENRY THACKER BURLEIGH, MOST NOTED COLORED COMPOSER
His arrangement of the Spiritual, _Deep River_, has made Harry
Burleigh’s name known on two continents, and its success has led many
into that field. Burleigh (1866) was one of the foremost among the
Dvorak pupils, and has held the position of leading baritone in St.
George’s Church for many years, as also at the Temple Emanuel on Fifth
Avenue. His name is found on practically every program where Spirituals
are sung.
Of Burleigh’s race is R. Nathaniel Dett (1882), conductor of the Hampton
Singers, also director of the music department of Hampton College. His
name was introduced by Percy Grainger, who played his characteristic
Negro dance called _Juba Dance_ in Europe and America. Dett’s greatest
works are his arrangements of the Spirituals for chorus. Grainger wrote
of him: “There is in his treatment of blended human voices that innate
sonority and vocal naturalness that seem to result only from accumulated
long experience of untrained improvised polyphonic singing, such as that
of Southern Negroes, South Sea Polynesians and Russian peasants. These
things are branches of the very tree of natural communal song.”
David Guion, a young Texan, is well known in this field and also for his
piano setting of _Turkey in the Straw_.
LOUIS GRUENBERG FINDS NEW PATHS
Louis Gruenberg (1884) was born in Russia but came to America at the age
of two. At nineteen he went to Europe and became the pupil of Ferruccio
Busoni, the Italian pianist-composer who spent most of his life in
Berlin and Vienna and also taught for two years at the New England
Conservatory of Music.
Gruenberg had followed conventional lines of composition for some years,
receiving prizes in Berlin and New York (in 1922 he was awarded the
Flagler prize for a symphonic poem _Hill of Dreams_). His works of this
period comprise symphonic poems, a string quartet, a piano concerto, a
symphony, a suite for violin, also a sonata, two operas, songs and piano
pieces.
He began to study America, to ask himself what was the spirit of
Americanism that had not yet found its way into music, and his answer
was not the Negro jazz, but the white man’s jazz expressing the “spirit
of the times.” As a result he changed his way of writing. The
compositions of this period are a violin sonata, a set of piano pieces
called _Polychromatics_, a _Poem_ in sonatina form for ’cello, four
pieces for string quartet, a viola sonata, an orchestral tone-poem, a
group of short piano pieces in jazz rhythms with the amusing name of
_Jazzberries_, three violin pieces in the same style, a group of songs
_Animals and Insects_, texts by Vachel Lindsay, and that same poet’s
_Daniel_ which Gruenberg has set as _Daniel Jazz_ for tenor and chamber
music orchestra, and _Creation_, a Negro sermon by James Weldon Johnson,
a poet, who has just won the Spingarn Prize for the most distinctive
work (1924–1925) of an American of African descent.
TWO JAZZ GENIUSES
Irving Berlin, the genius of the age in writing typical American jazz,
was born in Russia and has had no musical training. He picks out his
irresistible melodies by ear and his aide writes them down to the
delight of the millions in all corners of the earth, from New York to
the Sahara desert, where the phonograph has carried them. The sheiks no
longer sing in ancient pentatonic melody to their lady loves, but turn
on the phonograph which ably plays some of his hundred American songs:
_My Wife Goes to the Country_, _Snooky Ookums_, _Along Came Ruth_, _If
You Don’t Want Me Why Do You Hang Around?_ _Mandy_, _Say it with Music_,
_What’ll I Do_, _All Alone_, and many from the musical revues (Music Box
Revue, especially). His earlier _Alexander’s Rag Time Band_ goes back to
cake walk days and has become a classic of its kind and the model for
popular music following it. He rose from poverty to riches through
giving great delight to the public.
George Gershwin (1898) flashed into the lime-light through his jazz
piano concerto _Rhapsody in Blue_ and his extraordinary playing of it
with Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra. In this piece we find a merging of
classic form with the “voice of the people”! It will be interesting to
watch this young man, not yet thirty, to see the outcome of grafting a
musical education on to his unusual natural gifts. As a result of the
success of his experiment he has been commissioned to write a _New York
Concerto_ for the New York Symphony. He is a Brooklyn boy brought up as
a “song plugger” for a publisher of popular music, playing their songs
in vaudeville acts and in cafés.
CHARLES TOMLINSON GRIFFES
Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884–1920) was a poet-composer whose early
death was a serious loss to America, for every thing he wrote was an
addition to our music. He was impressionistic in style, and we are
grateful for the lovely art songs, _Five Poems of Ancient China and
Japan_, three songs with orchestral accompaniment to poems of Fiona
MacLeod, ten piano pieces and the Sonata which have never been surpassed
in beauty and workmanship by any American, the _Poem_ for flute and
orchestra, the string quartet on Indian themes, and his orchestral
tone-poem, _The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan_. For the stage, Griffes
composed a Japanese mime-play, _Schojo_, a dance drama, _The Kairn of
Korwidwen_ and Walt Whitman’s _Salut au Monde_, a dramatic ballet. The
last two were presented at the Neighborhood Playhouse, where interesting
experiments in music and the drama have been made by the Misses
Lewisohn.
Griffes was a native of Elmira, New York, and his first studies were
made with Miss Mary S. Broughton, who recognized her young pupil’s
unusual talent and took him to Germany for study. His composition work
was done with Humperdinck, and Rüfer, and from 1907 until his death he
taught music at Hackley, a boys’ school in Tarrytown, New York.
Lawrence Gilman, American critic, says of him: “He was a poet with a
sense of comedy.... Griffes had never learned how to pose—he would never
have learned how if he had lived to be as triumphantly old and famous as
Monsieur Saint-Saëns or Herr Bruch or Signor Verdi.... It was only a
short while before his death that the Boston Symphony Orchestra played
for the first time (in Boston) his _Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan_ ... and
the general concert-going public turned aside ... to bestow an approving
hand upon this producer of a sensitive and imaginative tone-poetry who
was by some mysterious accident, an American!... He was a fastidious
craftsman, a scrupulous artist. He was neither smug nor pretentious nor
accommodating. He went his own way,—modestly, quietly, unswervingly ...
having the vision of the few....”
WHITHORNE’S AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS
Emerson Whithorne (1884) was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and studied there
and in Europe. After writing some forty songs and compositions in
Oriental and European fashion, he has given us in his _New York Days and
Nights_, a group of piano pieces in which are cleverly pictured Times
Square, Hudson River ferry boats, Trinity Church chimes, etc. His latest
work is a ballet, _Sooner and Later_, written with Miss Irene Lewisohn
for the Neighborhood Playhouse, in which they have combined the
primitive and the very modern in an original and pictureful manner.
ALBERT SPALDING—AMERICA’S VIOLINIST-COMPOSER
When Walter Damrosch took the New York Symphony Orchestra on tour in
Europe, Albert Spalding (1888, Chicago) went along as joint soloist with
John Powell, playing his violin concerto. Besides this, Spalding has
written many small pieces for violin, other orchestral and piano works,
and a string quartet played (1924) by the Flonzaley Quartet. Spalding
ranks with the great violinists of the world.
Three other violinists showing talent as composers are Edwin Grasse
(1884), who in spite of the handicap of blindness, has composed some
charming violin pieces, violin sonatas and string quartets; Samuel
Gardner, who has written orchestral works, chamber music and short
violin pieces; and Cecil Burleigh, short poetic pieces for violin and
for piano and a violin concerto.
AMERICAN MUSIC GUILD
To encourage the composing and appreciation of high class American
composition, ten American composers formed an association, the _American
Music Guild_. The members are Marion Bauer, Chalmers Clifton, Louis
Gruenberg, Sandor Harmati, Charles Haubiel, Frederick Jacobi, A. Walter
Kramer, Harold Morris, Albert Stoessel and Deems Taylor.
Albert Stoessel (1894, St. Louis) is professor of music at New York
University, conductor of the New York Oratorio Society, of the New York
Symphony concerts at Chautauqua, N. Y., of the Worcester Festival and
composer of chamber music and orchestral works.
Deems Taylor (1885, New York) is musical critic of the New York _World_,
and the composer of songs and orchestral works (_Through the Looking
Glass_ Suite) and he has written much choral and incidental music for
plays and motion pictures. One of his most graceful works is the ballet
in _The Beggar on Horseback_. His opera _The King’s Henchman_ was given
at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1927. The book is by Edna St. Vincent
Millay.
A. Walter Kramer (1890, New York) is a critic and writer on musical
subjects, composer of many songs that have made his name familiar,
orchestral works, a _Rhapsody_ for violin and orchestra, pieces for
violin, organ and piano, and a symphonic tone poem on Masefield’s
_Tragedy of Nan_.
Harold Morris (1889, Texas) has never written little pieces, but has
jumped into classical forms which he treats in a most modern way, in
piano sonatas, a violin sonata, a trio, quartet, a concerto for piano
and orchestra, and a tone poem on a Tagore text. He has studied only in
America.
Frederick Jacobi (1891, San Francisco), had his latest work, a symphony,
performed in 1924; he has also written a string quartet on Indian
themes, songs with orchestra, short pieces and orchestral tone poems in
all of which his gift of poetic expression is uppermost.
Chalmers Clifton (1889, Jackson, Miss.), is conductor of an orchestra
which has as object the training of young orchestra players, a much
needed addition to American musical education. He has written some
chamber music and music for a pageant.
Sandor Harmati (1894), Hungarian by birth, founded the Lenox String
Quartet and has composed several string quartets and orchestral works.
He has taken numerous prizes for his compositions and is now conductor
of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra.
Charles Haubiel (1894, Delta, Ohio), has composed works in the classical
form and is teacher of piano and theory.
Marion Bauer (1887) was born in Walla Walla, Washington. She has written
30 songs, 20 piano pieces, two violin sonatas, a string quartet, and a
work for chamber music orchestra, and choruses. She writes and lectures
on music, and is Asst. Professor at New York University.
AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME
A few years ago Edward MacDowell was one of the founders of an Academy
in Rome for American students on the principle of the Roman prize of the
Paris Conservatory. Several of the young prize-winners have profited by
their visit to the ancient city of culture where they are living and
working with funds provided by the Academy. Unfortunately the music
fellowship does not admit women! Among those to enjoy this advantage are
Leo Sowerby (1895, Grand Rapids, Michigan) who has written a piano
concerto and a double piano concerto, also a work called _Synconata_ in
syncopated rhythms which has been played by Paul Whiteman and many other
compositions in large and small forms; Howard Hanson (1896, Wahoo,
Nebraska) who is now director of the Eastman School of Music at
Rochester, New York, and has written a number of orchestral and chamber
music works; and Wintter Watts, the composer of many beautiful art songs
and an orchestral tone poem, _Young Blood_.
LEO ORNSTEIN—THE INDEPENDENT
“What are discords?” was asked of Leo Ornstein (1895, Russia). “I can
not tell,” he answered. “Somewhere there is a law of harmony.... What it
is I can not tell. Only I know that under certain conditions ... I hear
it, I get color impressions.... If some of the tones are gray, somber,
violent is that my fault?... In a word, I am not concerned with form or
with standards of any nature.” This is the young composer’s declaration
of independence, and in his early compositions he has lived up to it!
One of his piano works, _Wildmen’s Dance_, goes back to primitive man
for his inspiration and wild rhythms. He is original and daring as few
Americans have ever been. His last work was a piano concerto played by
him with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra. He has written sonatas for
piano, for ’cello and violin, besides many piano pieces, which he plays
well, as he is an exceptional pianist.
Although he has been in America since childhood, his early life in
Russia, in which he suffered the terrors of the pogroms (the massacres
of the Jews), is reflected in his work. His training was under the
direction of Bertha Tapper and Percy Goetschius.
A gifted young modernist whose orchestral and chamber works are often
played by important organizations, is Aaron Copland (1898), pupil of
Rubin Goldmark and Nadia Boulanger, of Paris. He received (1925) the
first Guggenheim Fellowship in Music.
EXPERIMENTALISTS
Henry Eichheim, of Boston, has had many performances of his colorful
Chinese and Japanese impressions. Carl Ruggles is an independent thinker
and composer, experimenting in many combinations of harmonies and
instruments. Two extremists, who have not yet proven the value of their
ideas and whose works must be regarded as experiments are Henry Cowell
of California and George Antheil who lives in Paris. Sometimes, however,
out of the wildest experiment comes something that may make music grow.
SONG WRITERS
There are many composers who are well known not for symphonies and
chamber music but for songs. There are so many that we can list but a
few: Alexander Russell, R. Huntington Woodman, Carl Deis, William Arms
Fischer, Charles Fonteyn Manney, Clayton Johns, Sidney Homer, Charles
Gilbert Spross, Oley Speaks, Louis Campbell-Tipton, Philip James,
William C. Hammond, G. Bainbridge Crist, Marshall Kernochan, Eastwood
Lane, Richard Hammond, Harry Osgood, Charles B. Hawley, Adolph Martin
Foerster, Richard Hageman, Edward Ballantine, Clough Leighter, Victor
Harris, Isidore Luckstone, Percy Lee Atherton, John Beach, Paolo
Gallico, Arthur Bergh, Morris Class, Walter Morse Rummel, Blair
Fairchild, Rudolph Ganz (Swiss-American), Eugen Haile (German-American),
Frank La Forge, Harold Vincent Milligan, Timothy Spelman, Edward
Horsman, Tom Dobson, Oscar G. Sonneck. Mr. Sonneck (1873–1928) was less
known as a musicianly composer, than as a musicologist whose vast
knowledge made him invaluable as the first librarian of the music
division of the Library of Congress in Washington (1902–1915). His books
form an important addition to musical _Americana_. He was editor of the
_Musical Quarterly_, and secretary of the Beethoven Association.
FOREIGNERS WRITING IN AMERICA
Many who are making music grow in America were born in Europe and while
they may not be _American_ composers, they are composers in America, and
most of them have become American citizens.
Ernest Bloch, born in Geneva, Switzerland (1880), has been here since
1916, when the Flonzaley Quartet played his _String Quartet_. Owing to
his Jewish descent his work shows an Oriental strain rather than Swiss
national feeling. Among his important orchestral works are _Jewish
Poems_, _Psalms_, a symphony, _Israel_, _Schelomo_, for ’cello and
orchestra, a prize symphonic rhapsody, _America_, and a _Concerto
Grosso_ for strings. He took the Coolidge prize with his _Viola Suite_,
and has also a violin sonata and a piano quintet. He has taught in New
York, Cleveland and San Francisco. A pupil, Ethel Leginska, the English
pianist and orchestral conductor, has composed an interesting string
quartet, piano pieces and works for orchestra.
Percy Aldridge Grainger, born in Melbourne, Australia (1882), appeared
as a pianist at the age of ten and has never stopped since! His mother
was his first teacher and later he was a pupil of Busoni and intimate
friend of Grieg, whose concerto he played upon his first American
appearance (1915). During the World War he became naturalized and served
in the American army. As composer he is unique, being self-taught, and
although knowing the compositions of all the great masters, he goes to
folk music for his themes and ideas, and has become an authority on
British and Scandinavian folk music, and is collecting music of the
American Indian and the Negro.
Among Grainger’s best known pieces are: _Molly on the Shore_, _Colonial
Song_, _Shepherd’s Hey_, _Irish Tune from County Derry_, _Country
Gardens_ and _Turkey in the Straw_, all folk-melodies around which he
has woven most fascinating harmonies, and has brought back the old songs
in modern dress. In the spring of 1925 he gave two concerts which he
called, with true Grainger originality, “Room Music” instead of chamber
music.
Carl Engel, although born in Paris (1883), and educated in France is an
American citizen and the director of the Music Division of the Library
of Congress in Washington, D. C. Engel has written in addition to essays
in delightful style, a _Tryptich_ (a violin sonata in three movements),
and enchanting songs, marking him a lover of modern harmony.
Two Frenchmen in New York, Carlos Salzedo, one of the world’s leading
harpists, and Edgar Varese are foremost among the innovators, bringing
to the public through their own compositions and the work of the
_International Composers’ Guild_, the latest styles in music. They hand
the public the new works of the most extreme composers before the ink is
dry on the manuscript. Most of these are composed in dissonance or
so-called cacophony (from two Greek words kakos,—bad; phono,—sounds).
Through the efforts of these men, the _League of Composers_, and the
_Pro Musica_ Society (E. Robert Schmitz, founder and president), many
present day compositions are heard in America.
Lazare Saminsky, a Russian, choirmaster at Temple Emanu-El, New York,
has written several symphonies and a chamber opera, _Gagliarda of a
Merry Plague_. He has made a deep study of Hebrew music.
Kurt Schindler, (Berlin, 1882), first conductor of the New York Schola
Cantorum, a chorus, is an authority on Russian, Spanish and Finnish folk
music, of which he has made many collections. He has also written art
songs and choruses.
Leopold Godowsky, born in Russia (1870), one of the greatest living
pianists, has written much for piano and made many arrangements.
Among the world famous violinists, several living in America, Fritz
Kreisler (1875), Mischa Elman (1892) and Efrem Zimbalist (1889), have
added to violin literature, arrangements of piano pieces and songs, as
well as a few original compositions. Kreisler, with Victor Jacobi, wrote
the music for the light opera _Apple Blossoms_.
SOME PATRONS OF MUSIC IN AMERICA
America has been fortunate in its patrons of music who like the
Esterhazys and Lobkowitzs of old have advanced music by founding and
maintaining orchestras, music schools, chamber music, festivals and
prize competitions. Among these are Henry Lee Higginson (1834–1919),
Boston Symphony; Harry Harkness Flagler, New York Symphony; W. A. Clark,
Los Angeles Philharmonic; George Eastman, Rochester Symphony and Eastman
School of Music; Juilliard Musical Foundation, Mrs. Edward Bok, Curtis
Institute of Music in Philadelphia; the Edward J. de Coppet (1855–1916),
the Flonzaley Quartet; Carl Stoeckel, festivals at Norfolk, Connecticut;
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Guggenheim and Mr. and Mrs. Murry Guggenheim, summer
concerts by Edwin Franko Goldman’s Concert Band; Mrs. Elizabeth
Shurtleff Coolidge, Berkshire Chamber Music Festivals. Also the American
Society for the Publication of Chamber Music, the National Music League,
the Walter Naumberg prize, the National Federation of Music Clubs, the
League of Composers, the National Bureau for the advancement of Music,
and many music schools and settlements have helped to make music grow.
It is not out of place to include here Arthur P. Schmidt (1846–1921) of
Boston as a patron of music, for by his devotion to American composers
and the faith with which he published their works as early as 1876 has
made music grow. Under this head we must also include Gustav Schirmer
(1829–1893) and Oliver Ditson (1811–1888).
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS
Besides the orchestras in Boston, New York and Chicago, of which we have
already told you, many new ones have been formed to the advancement of
music in America: Philadelphia, (Leopold Stokowski, conductor); Detroit,
(Ossip Gabrilowitsch); San Francisco, (Alfred Hertz); Cincinnati, (Fritz
Reiner); Los Angeles, (Arthur Rodzinsky); St. Louis, (Guest Conductors);
Cleveland, (Nikolai Sokoloff and Rudolph Ringwall); Rochester, (Eugene
Goossens); Syracuse, (Vladimir Shavitch); Omaha, (Sandor Harmati);
Portland, Oregon, (Willem van Hoogstraten); Minneapolis, (Henri
Verbrugghen); State Symphony Orchestra, New York City, founded by Josef
Stransky, (Emo von Dohnanyi and Alfredo Casella, in the season of
1925–26); and the American Symphony Orchestra composed entirely of
Americans under Howard Barlow, founder and conductor; the Young Men’s
Symphony Orchestra (Paul Henneberg), founded by the late Alfred Lincoln
Seligman with Arnold Volpe, conductor; American Orchestral Society,
(Chalmers Clifton). (See page 514.)
Besides the orchestras mentioned, the symphony orchestras of the motion
picture houses all over the country are doing a very great service by
the excellent music and the fine performances given to millions of
people every day.
Among orchestras which helped to build love of music in this country
were the Russian Symphony Orchestra (Modest Altschuler), the Volpe
Symphony Orchestra (Arnold Volpe), and the People’s Symphony Concerts
(F. X. Arens), all of which are out of existence.
Within the last few years the desire for music in the summer time has
led to many open air concerts and operas. Of these the concerts of the
Philharmonic Orchestra in the Lewisohn Stadium, those in the Hollywood
Bowl (Los Angeles, California), Willow Grove, Pa., the Goldman Concert
Band, playing on the Campus of New York University and in Central Park
are the most widely known.
Ravinia Park which provides one of the most magnificent opera companies
possible to assemble makes a delightful summer night playground for
Chicago people.
We regret that opera has not kept pace with the symphony orchestras in
America. The Metropolitan Opera Company (New York City), the Chicago
Opera Company (Chicago, Illinois), the San Francisco Opera Company (G.
Merola’s new venture), the Philadelphia Civic and the American Opera
Company are in operation (1929). There are many cities holding summer
opera.
There is every reason to be proud of the growth of music in America, and
New York City today is the great musical center of the world.
Since writing this chapter, New York has lost the State Symphony, The
American Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Symphony Society. Walter
Damrosch has turned his orchestral interests to the radio in order to
enlarge the sphere of music education. Due to the merger of the
Philharmonic Symphony, Ernest Schelling conducts the concerts for
children.
CHAPTER XXXII
Twentieth Century Music
There was once an old man who said: “I have lived to see the post-chaise
give way to the locomotive but I _cannot_ and _will not_ accept the
automobile!” What would he have said to the aeroplane? But this old man
was not different from the people today, who seem unable to accept the
new music and take it as a personal affront when they must listen to it.
Like the automobile and the aeroplane, however, it is here, and is a
part of the 20th century!
Nothing that lives stands still; there must be constant change and
growth, or decay sets in. This is as true of music as it is of ourselves
and the things around us. We have watched this process of change in
music from prehistoric man to the 20th century; we have seen certain
periods bursting with new ideas, works and forms; we have seen
individuals tower above their fellows, marking epochs to which their
names have become attached, like the Palestrinian era, the Bach era, and
the Wagner period; and we are living in a moment of new ideas, works and
forms, on which we cannot pass final judgment. Time alone must be the
judge!
There is no point at which a period ends and a new one begins, for they
overlap. We saw harmony grow out of polyphony; we saw the romantic
Beethoven rise out of the classic Beethoven; in the romantic Chopin, we
found the germs of impressionism (for definition, see page 483), and in
Debussy’s impressionism, we see the breaking away from traditions into a
new world of sound.
POLYFORM MUSIC
When we begin our music lessons, we are taught the musical alphabet,—the
major scale, and then, the minor and the chromatic. So accustomed are we
to these scales that we forget there was a time when they did not exist,
and that new ones may be added, for they are not fixed for all time.
There have been, as you know, the no-scale time, the pentatonic scale,
the Greek modes, the Ecclesiastical or Church modes, the diatonic (major
and minor) scale, the chromatic scale and the so-called whole-tone scale
of Debussy. Beethoven and all the writers of the classic period used the
diatonic scales which gave their works a definite tonality, that is, a
home tone to which all the tones try to return. If, for example, you
sing _Yankee Doodle_ and stop before the last note, you feel very
uncomfortable, because you have not sounded the home tone towards which
all the tones are reaching. To the diatonic modes, Chopin and Wagner
added a frequent use of the chromatic scale, which enriched music. In
addition to diatonic and chromatic harmony, along came Debussy with his
melodies in whole steps, and he also went back to the old Greek modes,
using them in new and unexpected ways. Today we have all the past to
draw upon and the composers are quick to take advantage of their rich
inheritance and to add innovations.
In the 20th century the influences have come from Paris and
Vienna,—Debussy and Schoenberg,—and later Stravinsky, the Russian. From
the French has come a style of writing called _polytonality_, and from
Vienna has come _atonality_. Don’t be afraid of these names for they are
easily explained!
[Illustration:
_Courtesy of “Musical America.”_
_Arnold Schoenberg (Austrian)._
]
[Illustration:
_Igor Stravinsky (Russian)._
]
_Composers of Music in Extremely Modern Style._
[Illustration:
_Claude Achille Debussy._
]
[Illustration:
_Courtesy of Roland Manuel._
_Maurice Ravel._
]
_Leaders of the French Impressionistic School._
Having said that _tonality_ is a system in which all tones gravitate to
a central tone (they all come home to roost!) it is not difficult to
understand through the formation of the word _poly_—many, _tonal_—tones,
that it means the use of several keys or tonalities at the same time, a
counterpoint of key against key, or scale against scale, instead of note
against note as it was in the Golden Age of Polyphony. Think of a
_cantus firmus_ in C major, and a counter melody in F♯ minor! (Between
ourselves if _skilfully handled_, it has possibilities!) Ravel, Milhaud
and Honegger know how to do it. Of course in the old system we change
from key to key by means of a musical bridge called _modulation_, but in
polytonality, the bridge is discarded, and the unrelated keys are heard
piled on top of each other in layers.
_Atonality_, the system which Schoenberg and his followers use, is based
on the chromatic scale of twelve half steps, on each one of which,
chords (major and minor) may be built. This gives a more varied tonal
paint-box than the old diatonic modes and the chromatic scale of former
days, for it has now become an independent scale, and is not a part of
the diatonic family.
MULTI-AND POLY-RHYTHMS
Rhythm also reflects this age of unrest, and there have been decided
changes which seem to return to the Middle Ages to the period of
bar-less music writing. Instead of finding a piece written throughout in
¾ metre or ⁴⁄₄, it will be _multi-rhythmic_ or _poly-rhythmic_.
_Multi-rhythmic_ means many shiftings from one rhythm to another;
_poly-rhythmic_ means a counterpoint of different rhythms all played at
the same time. The English composer, Cyril Scott, uses multi-rhythms
(where almost every measure changes its metre), and the French Florent
Schmitt uses poly-rhythms, (for example, triplets against eighth notes
in common time in the right hand, and ⁶⁄₈ metre in the left).
In the 15th and 16th centuries every one wrote motets, masses and
madrigals; in the 17th century every one wrote suites and from this time
on, opera; in the 18th, sonata form; in the 19th, sonatas and short
romantic pieces. In the 20th century, no one form is used more than
another, but all forms are undergoing changes as the composers reach out
for freedom. This is the day of the large orchestra and of the small
chamber music groups; symphonies have been replaced by the shorter
symphonic poem, the tendency being for short forms. The four-hour music
drama has given way to the one-act operas, and the dance drama or ballet
as the Russian Diaghilev introduced it, is a 20th century development.
The orchestral writing has changed greatly from the methods of Berlioz,
Wagner and Strauss, for while they were masters of large mass effects,
the composers of today are treating each instrument individually, in
other words, they are using orchestration, _poly-instrumentally_! In
chamber music, we have the string quartet, but in addition, many
experiments are being made in combining instruments of unrelated
families, like strings, wind, brass and percussion, as we find in
Stravinsky’s chamber music.
It is often said that modern music has no melody, but it would be more
correct to say that it has _new_ melody, resulting from the attempt to
push aside old forms, old harmonies, old rhythms; now we have arrived at
a new era of polyphony, abounding in dissonance, that often is
cacophonous rather than harmonious. We call this period the POLYFORMIC
era.
ANOTHER RENAISSANCE
The men who ushered in this POLYFORMIC era were Claude Debussy in Paris,
Arnold Schoenberg in Vienna, and Alexander Scriabin in Russia. Richard
Strauss, then at his height, is a good example of the overlapping of two
periods, for he represents the classical German school of the 19th
century, and has also pointed the way to the future. Igor Stravinsky,
although younger, is one of the strongest factors in this new
Renaissance which in scope and power reminds us of the rebirth of
learning in the Middle Ages.
Another cause for the breaking away from old forms and conditions was
the World War, which cut off the composers from the usual sources of
musical supply, and forced them to develop their own ideas. This led to
new groups arising in all parts of the world, who, rebelling against
restraint, put wild experiments in the place of time honored customs.
CLAUDE ACHILLE DEBUSSY
Although Claude Achille Debussy (1862–1918) was almost forty when the
20th century came in, only in this century has his work been known and
imitated. He was the direct outcome of a movement in France, after the
Franco-Prussian War to develop French music along the lines started by
Rameau and Couperin. This meant breaking away from the classic models of
Beethoven and the dramatic music of Wagner. He exchanged the romantic
style of Schumann and Chopin for a new impressionistic style.
Claude Debussy was born in St. Germain-en-Laye, near Paris. He attended
the Paris Conservatory when he was eleven and studied with Marmontel,
Lavignac and Guiraud. In 1884, with a cantata, _L’Enfant Prodigue_, he
won the _Prix de Rome_ which has started the career of so many French
composers! During this, his first period, he wrote many lovely songs to
poems by Verlaine and Baudelaire, the same impressionistic poets who
inspired Charles Martin Loeffler in America; _Suite Bergamasque_, which
includes the lovely _Clair de Lune_ (_Moonlight_); the work which first
brought him fame, _L’Après-midi d’un Faune_ (_Afternoon of a Faun_); the
beautiful string quartet; _Chansons de Bilitis_; _Three Nocturnes for
Orchestra_, and the unique opera _Pelleas and Melisande_, which took him
ten years to write! It was first given in the Paris _Opéra Comique_
(1902).
In this opera, Debussy showed himself an innovator; it was a new kind of
harmony and melody and never before had an opera like it been written.
He gave an exact impression in music of Maeterlinck’s imaginative,
mystic play. This is not a case where music drowns the meaning of the
story but each word is colored and interpreted by the music. Debussy
accomplished what the Camerata, Gluck and Wagner tried to do. By the
time he wrote _Pelleas and Melisande_, his style was established and the
proof of his high attainment is seen in his many imitators.
He worked very slowly and carefully and often destroyed what had taken
him hours to write. Although an innovator, he was a deep student well
grounded in the traditions of the past, a lover of Mozart and of the
18th century French writers, and when he seemingly broke all rules he
gave something new in their place, not in the spirit of experiment but
of sincere conviction.
He was surrounded by painters who like Claude Monet, Pissarro and Sisley
did not paint _actual things_, but rather ideals of things; and by poets
who like Verlaine, Gustave Kahn, Henri de Régnier, Pierre Louys and
Stéphane Mallarmé did not write about _things_ but rather the
_impression_ and _images_ things gave them. He was absorbed and
delighted by this non-photographic kind of art and translated into his
music the veiled, mystic, idealistic, silver glimmering impressions that
others put into paint and into words. This is _Impressionism_ in art.
Musically, Debussy was influenced by Wagner, although he fought against
him, and by some of the French composers in whose day he began to write,
like Chabrier and Chausson. From Moussorgsky and other Russians he
learned much about old modes, color effects and free expression; and
with Erik Satie he talked over many musical problems, no doubt gaining
much from this curious musical caricaturist and humorist. No matter how
extreme and absurd Debussy’s music might have sounded twenty-five years
ago to the people, they must have felt the mystic beauty and rare poetic
charm of his work.
Someone, as a joke, put a Butterick pattern on a playerpiano roll as a
music record, and it sounded so ridiculous that a composer hearing it,
said: “Ah, that must be a Debussy piece!” But, you see this was
twenty-five years ago!
No matter how revolutionary his piano pieces may have sounded, today
they have become almost classics! The combination of poetic imagination,
romanticism and impressionism are seen in the titles: _Reflets dans
l’eau_ (_Reflections in the Water_), _L’Isle joyeuse_ (_Happy Island_),
_La Cathédrale engloutie_ (_The Engulfed Cathedral_), _Jardins sous la
pluie_ (_Gardens in the Rain_).
For his daughter Claude, who died the year after her father, Debussy
wrote six little piano pieces called the _Children’s Corner_. At the
time he was writing them, little Claude used to drag the manuscripts
around like a ragdoll, telling anyone she met, “These are _my_ pieces,
my father is writing them for me.” They were: _Dr. Gradus ad Parnassum_,
_Jimbo’s Lullaby_, _The Doll’s Serenade_, _The Snow Falls_, _The Little
Shepherd_ and _Golliwogg’s Cakewalk_.
Among his later works are: Three symphonic sketches, _La Mer_ (_The
Sea_); the mystery play on a book by d’Annunzio, _Le Martyre de St.
Sebastien_ (_The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian_); a work for two pianos,
_Noir et Blanc_ (_Black and White_); a _Sonata for Violoncello and
Piano_ and twelve _Studies for Piano_.
In his _Minstrels_, _Children’s Corner_ and _General Lavine_ we find
_humor_, a characteristic of 20th century music.
His music was vague and dreamy, and many composers were weakened rather
than strengthened by trying to imitate him, for they had neither his
genius nor his poetry. What he gave us was genuine, what others tried to
copy was affected. His inventions such as the whole-tone scale and the
pastel shades of music were so much a part of him that to use them today
shows a lack of originality. But to those coming after him, who did not
imitate him but worked out their own ways, he was a path-breaker of
great value.
MAURICE RAVEL
Maurice Ravel (1875) has lived in or near Paris most of his life,
although he was born in Ciboure, Basses-Pyrénées. He was a student at
the Conservatory under Gabriel Fauré and André Gédalge. He did not
receive the _Prix de Rome_, perhaps because in his early works he
already showed tendencies, which must have seemed revolutionary to
musicians who had not yet grown accustomed to the innovations of
Debussy. Ravel developed his ideas at the same time and under the same
influences as Debussy. You will often hear that Ravel imitated Debussy,
but it is less an imitation than a development along the same lines.
Ravel, too, is an impressionist, a poet, a lover of veiled mystic
effects, _suggesting_ images rather than _reproducing_ them. He has a
keen rhythmic sense, perhaps a heritage of his birthplace, so close to
the Spanish border.
None of the 20th century composers understands the orchestra better than
Ravel as may be seen in his ballet _Daphnis and Chloe_, _Rhapsodie
Espagnole_, his delightful _Mother Goose_ and _La Valse_. His short
opera, _L’heure espagnole_ is full of charming music and splendid
workmanship; his quartet written in 1902–3 is one of the finest examples
of 20th century chamber music. For piano he has added a rich
contribution in the _Sonatina_, _Pavane for a Dead Child_, _Valses
nobles et sentimentales_, _Les Miroirs_ (_Looking Glasses_), _Gaspard de
la Nuit_, _Le Tombeau de Couperin_ (_The Tomb of Couperin_), and his
songs are very beautiful, including _Histoires Naturelles_ (_Natural
History_) and the Greek and Hebrew folk songs.
Ravel’s latest work is a revelation of all his abilities, _L’Enfant et
les Sortilèges_ (_The Child’s Sorceries_), a ballet in early form with
modern music. It is a fantasy tale about a little boy, who will not do
his lessons and in a fury injures a squirrel; the chairs, grandfather’s
clock, frogs, fairies, sprites, squirrels, arithmetic dwarfs from the
book he has destroyed, and tea-pots rebel and talk “at him,” until he
binds up the wound of the squirrel. Into this, Ravel puts humor and even
sentiment; he makes some of the chairs dance a minuet, other characters,
a fox trot, and includes many old and new dances. He shows his magic
handling of the orchestra and with extreme cleverness he even has the
chair and the shepherdess sing a song in canon form and at the end all
join in singing a fugue of “heavenly beauty.”
A follower of Ravel is Maurice Delage, who has written some very
interesting songs and an orchestral work in which he is modern enough to
imitate the sounds of an iron foundry!
An enthusiastic follower and friend of Ravel, is Roland Manuel, critic,
writer and composer. He has never written what is called _ultra_ (very)
modern music, but everything he does, songs, chamber music, operetta, or
ballet is marked with good taste, refinement and fine musicianship.
Other Frenchmen who have added to the 20th century style are Paul Dukas
(1865), whose opera based on Maeterlinck’s _Ariane et Barbe Bleue_
(_Ariadne and Blue Beard_) is second only to Debussy’s _Pelleas et
Melisande_; Vincent d’Indy (1851); Déodat de Sévérac (1873–1921), a
writer of charming piano music whose impressionism reflects his love of
Nature; Albert Roussel (1869), a pupil of the Schola Cantorum, whose
Symphony and opera _Padmavati_ show splendid talent; Florent Schmitt
(1870) whose orchestral works and piano quintet are important; André
Caplet (1880–1925), Charles Koechlin (1867), and Erik Satie (1869–1925).
ERIK SATIE—CARTOONIST
Erik Satie is a riddle! Many are the heated discussions he has caused.
His influence has been through what he has said, not what he has done.
He was a caricaturist rather than a great composer, giving amusing
titles to frivolous little pieces that show humor, in which one never
knows whether he was laughing _at_ or _with_ the world. He loved short
disconnected pieces and did much to make the young composer break away
from long symphonic forms. He was a friend of Debussy, godfather to the
_Group of Six_, and later to four “youngsters” who call themselves the
“School of Arcueil” where Satie lived. His name should have been Satyr
for with his pointed ears, eyebrows, and beard, he looked the part!
Among his compositions are the ballets, _Parades_ and _Relache_, and a
dramatic aria with orchestra, _Socrates_.
The School of Arcueil, which has not yet proven its value is composed of
Sauguet, Maxime Jacob, Desormières and Clicquet-Pleyel, who take
pleasure in American jazz effects and have tried amusing experiments.
THE GROUP OF SIX
The World War reacted directly and indirectly upon a group of composers
in France. Daring and brutality are the keynote of almost all the works
of the years from 1914 to the present day. Debussy and Ravel with their
poetic imagery did not express the feelings of the younger men, so they
were pitilessly brushed aside by _Les Jeunes_ (The Young) who overthrew
the accepted forms for their own experiments.
These young composers did not band together like the “Russian Five,” but
a French critic called them “The Six,” and the name stuck! They were not
united by oneness of purpose or by ideal, they just happened to be
friends and their music was often presented on the same programs and
Erik Satie “who had been throughout thirty-five years the instigator of
all audacity, the manager of all impudence” was their confidential
adviser. The six are Germaine Tailleferre who played her piano concerto
in America (1925) and has written two charming ballets; Louis Durey
(1888); Georges Auric (1899), and François Poulenc (1899), both of whom
have written ballets; Darius Milhaud (1892) and Arthur Honegger (1892).
Of these, Milhaud and Honegger are by far the most important. Milhaud
has written ballets, chamber music and orchestral works with great
fluency, often showing fine gifts and flashes of beauty. Born into this
age of storm and stress, Milhaud has written brutally, but he is at
heart a romantic composer and will probably change as we get further
away from the war.
Honegger has had a sensational success with a work in oratorio form, _Le
Roi David_ (_King David_), and with a tone poem, _Pacific—231_, which is
a type of locomotive. Honegger has broken from the Group, and has gone
his own independent way, writing beautiful songs, orchestral and chamber
music, and giving promise of being one of the most important composers
of the period.
There are many other young French composers showing the different
tendencies of the day, some are writing in classic form, some in
romantic, but all are very independent. Some have wiped out the past and
are trying to build anew, not realizing that they are building on sand,
for there can be no skyscraper without a foundation deep enough to carry
it!
ALEXANDER SCRIABIN
Alexander Nicolai Scriabin (1871–1915) was born in Moscow, Russia, and
was sent to a military school; instead of becoming an army officer, he
turned to music, and was a pupil of Safonov, for several years conductor
of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and of Taneiev. His early works
show the influence of Chopin and Arensky, but he soon developed a style
of his own, that has made him one of the important composers of the
beginning of the 20th century. An English writer, Eaglefield Hull,
thinks that “the sonatas of Scriabin are destined in the future to
occupy a niche of their own, together with the forty-eight Preludes of
Bach, the thirty-two Sonatas of Beethoven, and the piano works of
Chopin.” To explain in a few words the innovations of Scriabin would be
impossible, but he broke away from fixed scales and tonality, and opened
new roads to composers following. He used neither polytonality nor
atonality, although his methods border on the latter. He built new
chords, not major and minor as we know them, but in intervals of
fourths. Here is a typical Scriabin chord which he used as we use a
major triad (c-e-g) as the center around which to build a composition:
[Illustration: Chord]
Won’t you be surprised to hear that Scriabin went back to Pythagoras and
his theory of harmonics or overtones to get this chord? He called these
combinations “mystic chords” for he was a student of Theosophy, and
wanted to use music as a means to express occult ideas. With this in
mind, he wrote a tone-poem, _Prometheus_, which, according to Scriabin’s
directions, Modest Altschuler played in New York with a color organ
throwing colors on a screen while the orchestra was playing the music.
Two other of his large works for orchestra _Le Divin Poème_ and _Le
Poème de L’Extase_ show his extraordinary harmonic originality.
Besides the ten sonatas in very free form, he wrote hundreds of shorter
piano pieces, disclosing his deep poetic, mystic nature. Composers have
imitated him, but his music is so tagged with Scriabin’s individuality
that, like the whole-tone scale of Debussy, imitation is easily
detected.
L’ENFANT TERRIBLE OF MODERN MUSIC—STRAVINSKY
Igor Stravinsky (1882) has influenced more young musicians than any
other living composer! He intended to become a lawyer, but instead
studied composition with Rimsky-Korsakov, and his early works reflect
his teacher. We never know how meeting someone may change our course in
life, and Stravinsky’s meeting with Serge Diaghilev changed his!
Diaghilev, director of the _Russian Ballet_, recognized a gift in the
young Stravinsky, who was busy writing an opera from a fairy tale of
Hans Christian Andersen, _The Nightingale_. He commissioned him to write
a ballet on a fairy tale, _L’Oiseau de Feu_ (_The Fire Bird_) which was
produced in Paris (1910) and brought Stravinsky instant fame. The next
year this was followed by the delightful _Petrouchka_. His most famous
score _Le Sacre du Printemps_ (_Rites of Spring_) was produced in Paris
in 1913, causing a near-riot, as it was received with hissing and
catcalls by a public unprepared for its brutality, its savage rhythm,
and raucous dissonance.
In this work Stravinsky went back to primitive times when Russia was
pagan, and he explains, “Thus we see Russian peasants dancing in the
springtime, accompanying the rhythms by their gestures and their feet.”
An English critic Edwin Evans, sees behind the pagan rite, “The
marvelous power ... in all Nature to grow, to develop, and to assume new
forms.” (We have watched this happen in music.)
After _Le Sacre du Printemps_, Stravinsky wrote _Les Noces_ a ballet
founded on pagan Russian marriage customs. In this work he has used a
chorus of voices and four pianos in place of an orchestra. He finished
the opera _The Nightingale_ and in 1917 wrote an orchestral poem based
on the themes from the opera.
In the short ballet _L’Histoire du Soldat_ (_Story of the Soldier_),
Stravinsky has used popular music of the fair, circus, music hall, not
folk music, and we find our jazz and tango in it, as also in his _Piano
Rag Music_ and _Ragtime_ for orchestra. His songs composed for the most
part to nonsense verses, are among the cleverest things he has done.
Stravinsky wrote a group of string quartet pieces in which he made the
violins sound like bells. This was not because he tried to imitate bells
but on the strings he uses the harmonics or overtones that are heard in
bells. This is one of the secrets of his unusual harmonies.
OVERTONES
We hear so much about overtones and harmonics that perhaps we can trace
for you the growth of music along the path of Pythagoras’ theory,
showing how we arrived at this era of dissonance.
HARMONIC SERIES
[Illustration: Series]
First men and women singing in unison produced music in octaves, 1 and 2
of the harmonic series. Next came the centuries of _organum_ when the
parts were sung in fifths and fourths, 2, 3, and 4 of the harmonic
series. Then followed the centuries of the major triad (c-e-g), 4, 5,
and 6 of the harmonic series. When the 7th overtone in the harmonic
series appeared, we had the very important dominant 7th chord
(c-e-g-b♭), looked upon as outrageous heresy and dissonance! It was
years, even centuries, before it was admitted as a respectable member of
the family! The 9th harmonic forming the dominant 9th chord (c-e-g-b♭-d)
had the same hard row to hoe, and is one of our modern chords. César
Franck shocked the musicians by opening his famous violin sonata with
this chord! We can trace the whole-tone scale of Debussy to the 7th,
8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th overtones of the series, (b♭-c-d-e-f#).
Scriabin’s “mystic chord” is formed from the 8th, 11th, 7th, 10th, 14th,
and 9th overtones (c-f#–b♭-e-a-d). It is a short step now to
_polytonality_ and _atonality_, to Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Milhaud, and
Honegger.
You have seen the white ray of sunlight enter your window, which upon a
second glimpse divides into all the colors of the rainbow. In other
words, the white light is the _fundamental tone_, which is the _sum_ of
_all the other colors_, much as any _single tone_ is the _sum_ of _its
overtones_, and it is with these overtones that our modern composers are
experimenting. Here we see that modern music is the result of
_evolution_ (slow growth) and not _revolution_!
HEART MUSIC DISAPPEARS
Stravinsky, _l’enfant terrible_ in music, the most daring composer of a
most daring period has thrown over all restraint! His music has no heart
quality, and so strongly is he influencing the younger men, that “heart
music” has gone out of style, a brusque, ugly music taking its place,
because the composers are afraid that to show sentiment would be
weakness! However, the high class music of today is trying to express
humor, activity and vigor, for which reason our jazz appeals to
Europeans. The War made Stravinsky the “man of the hour” in music. He is
the direct opposite of the refined, beauty-worshipping Debussy and
mystic Scriabin. The composers upset by the devastating war, needed
strong food, and they hungrily pounced upon the morsels flung to them by
Stravinsky, the ring-leader.
But withal, “the worm will turn” and already, those with ears to hear,
realize a change in the air, and they foretell a new classic period made
out of this hurly-burly of many forms, touched by the fairy wand,
“Things-that-Live”! And Stravinsky himself has turned.
After Stravinsky had written several ballets for his countryman,
Diaghilev, he turned his attention to chamber music, and wrote works for
small groups of wind instruments and a string quartet, _Concertino_, and
a concerto for piano and wind instruments, in which he tried all sorts
of experiments. He believes in _absolute music_, and has written these
without _program_, making the music express what he has to say. Whether
he has succeeded, must be laid before Judge Time. He is supreme master
of orchestration, and is largely responsible for treating each
instrument as though it were playing a solo, which we described as
poly-instrumentation. We should not have enjoyed Stravinsky as a
neighbor, for he begged, borrowed or bought every kind of instrument and
learned all their tricks by trying them out himself.
We know very little of what is going on in Russia today, but Serge
Prokofiev, one of the younger Russian composers, has left his home and
lives in Paris where his works are often given. He has written piano
concertos, violin concertos, and the best we have heard from his pen is
a chorus with orchestral accompaniment, _Sept, ils sont Sept_ (_Seven,
they are seven_). He has also written ballets and operas.
A fellow-student with Serge Prokofiev in the Petrograd conservatory was
Nicolai Miaskovsky, now living in Moscow where he heads the musical
movement. His principal works are symphonies, one of which was played in
Paris by a countryman, Lazare Saminsky, in June, 1925.
Another young composer whose piano sonatas have come out of Russia is
Samuel Feinberg. They are somewhat in the style of Scriabin.
The two Tcherepnins, father and son, are living in Paris. The son,
Alexander, has written chamber music in 20th century style.
POLAND
In modern Poland, Karol Szymanowski (1883) has written symphonies,
chamber music, songs, piano sonatas and many other piano pieces which
reflect Polish national color and French impressionism (See Page 520).
Lady Dean Paul, who writes under the name of Poldowski, although living
in London, is really a Pole. (Page 439.)
Tadeusz Iarecki, of New York City, recently received a prize in Poland
for writing the best composition by a native composer. This same quartet
took the first Berkshire Chamber Music Prize (1918) and was published in
New York by a society whose object is the publication of American
Chamber Music.
Alexander Tansman (1892) a young Pole has met with unusual success in
Paris, where he writes works for orchestra, chamber music and ballet.
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG, MUSICAL ANARCHIST
Arnold Schoenberg, born in Vienna (1874), taught himself until he was
twenty. He then studied with Alexander von Zemlinsky, who later became
his brother-in-law. Zemlinsky once pointed him out saying, “He is in his
early twenties and I have taught him all I know; he brought me an
orchestral work recently for which he had to paste two pieces of score
paper together to write out his score, so large an orchestra had he
employed!” This was his tone poem, _Pelleas and Melisande_, first
performed in 1904. To this early period belong some songs, a song cycle
with orchestra on texts by Jens Peter Jacobsen, _Gurrelieder_, and the
sextet, _Verklärte Nacht_ (_Illumined Night_).
Both Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler were his friends, and through
Mahler’s efforts many of his compositions were performed. His string
quartet was played in America by the Flonzaley Quartet. His Chamber
Symphony, and his second string quartet, with solo voice, performed
(1924) at the Berkshire Chamber Music Festival, belong to this same
period.
So far, all that Schoenberg composed was based more or less on models of
the past, but being naturally an anarchist in music he tried to escape
from doing what others had done. Instead of writing works that took
fifty minutes to play like his string quartet (in one movement), he
wrote five orchestral pieces and piano pieces that were mere suggestions
of compositions, so short were they. He cut out all development of
themes, all old forms, all feeling for tonality, writing in the
twelve-tone scale which we explained as _atonality_; he built his chords
in intervals of fourths instead of thirds, and purposely changed all the
rules of harmony; he distorted all the intervals, using a seventh or
ninth instead of the octave, and making every fourth and fifth a half
step larger or smaller than was customary. His melodies are marked by
large skips and queer intervals, but when one once knows his language,
by its very queerness, it is easily recognized as Schoenberg’s. Although
he has broken away from the slavery of old traditions, he may have
“jumped out of the frying-pan into the fire”!
In _Pierrot Lunaire_, a cycle of twenty-one songs with chamber music
accompaniment, he uses a curious effect for the voice “which must be
neither sung nor spoken.” This same effect he uses in chorus in his
music drama, _Die Glückliche Hand_ (_The Lucky Hand_) for which he also
wrote the libretto. Although this and another music drama _Erwartung_
(_The Awaiting_) were begun in 1909, they were both performed for the
first time in 1924 in Vienna. This long delay was due to the prejudice
against the work of this innovator, who on the one hand has been laughed
at, scorned, and reviled, and on the other praised to the skies by a
small group of disciples and imitators whose works sound very much like
their teacher’s.
Among these pupils are Egon Wellesz (1885) who more than the other
disciples has broken away from the master. He has gone his way in
writing music for the stage and combining the old ideas of ballet and
orchestral music with Greek drama in a modern dance drama. He has also
written interesting chamber and orchestral music. Dr. Wellesz is also an
authority on musical history; he has written many books and articles on
the subject, especially on early opera, Byzantine and Oriental music. He
has written a book on Schoenberg (1921).
Alban Berg (1885), also a Schoenberg pupil, has written unusually fine
chamber music and a new opera, _Wozzek_, fragments of which were played
at a festival in Prague (Czecho-Slovakia) in May, 1925, by the
International Society of Contemporary Music, a movement most valuable in
encouraging and developing modern music. This society holds yearly
meetings in Europe, at which are heard the works of all the young
composers of the world, each country having a branch, which sends its
share of new works to make the festival’s programs.
Others of the Schoenberg group are Anton von Webern (1883), Paul Pisk,
Karl Horovitz (1884–1925), Ernest Krenek, and Ernest Toch (1887).
ERICH KORNGOLD
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1898) startled the musical world, just before
the War, by the astonishing compositions he wrote as a little boy. Among
these were orchestral works and a piano sonata of extraordinary promise.
He was born in Vienna and is the son of a musician and musical critic.
Young Korngold is known in America as the composer of _Die Todte Stadt_
(_The Dead City_) an opera in which the soprano, Maria Jeritza, made her
first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera House. In many ways the opera
goes back to the old pre-Wagner form and is full of melody, unusual in a
young 20th century composer! He has written other operas bordering on
the lighter Viennese operetta and has kept away from the Schoenberg
influence.
MODERN GERMAN MUSIC
Richard Strauss was the last of the great classic school of German
composers, which for two hundred years had led the world in music.
Curious as it seems, he has not influenced directly the younger
composers, who turned to Debussy, Busoni, Schoenberg and Stravinsky.
(Page 410.)
BUSONI THE GREAT
Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924) although an Italian, had a strong influence
in two fields of German music, that of piano playing and composing. He
lived in Berlin and was one of the brilliant thinkers and musicians of
the period. He left chamber music and orchestral works, also several
operas, one of which, _The Harlequin_, finished just before his untimely
death, combines traditional form with radical ideas. His sonatinas for
piano and a set of studies on American _Indian Themes_ are important. He
made a deep study of all methods, old and new, and gave his pupils the
advantage of this wide experience.
Although the young Germans are not copying the huge symphonic form of
Bruckner and Mahler, these two have gained greatly in popularity and are
serving as models. Hans Pfitzner (1869), opera composer, is one of the
most German of the living composers of the pre-war period; Franz
Schreker (1878), an Austrian, living in Berlin, has taught many of the
younger composers. He writes operas and songs. Schoenberg, although in
Vienna, is felt even in Berlin.
HINDEMITH
Of the young Germans, Paul Hindemith is the most important. He was born
in 1895 and according to Riemann, “is the freshest and most full-blooded
talent among the younger German composers.” He seems to satisfy the two
factions, for he is not too radical for the Old or too old-fashioned for
the New, so as Lawrence Gilman says, “he carries water on both
shoulders.... He seems to be able to write polytonally or atonally if he
chooses, and also to write as the Academics might observe, like a
gentleman. Richard Strauss is reported to have said to him: ‘Why do you
write atonally when you have talent?’”
Today he is viola player in the Amar Quartet, but he has played in
cafés, in the “movies,” dance halls, operetta theatres, and jazz bands!
Although only thirty, he has many chamber music pieces to his credit and
three dramatic works. His success has been tremendous.
A society to further an interest in the new music was founded by Hermann
Scherchen and Eduard Erdmann. Scherchen created a sensation in Berlin
just before the war by conducting Schoenberg’s _Pierrot Lunaire_, and
after having been a prisoner of war in Russia he came back with renewed
purpose of bringing the new music to the public. He has published a few
songs and a string quartet. His right-hand man Erdmann, besides being a
pianist, has written a symphony, the first attempt of a youth without
orchestral experience, which astonished the audience as a combination of
Richard Strauss, Schoenberg, “to which is added a portion of genuine
Erdmann flavor,” says Hugo Leichtentritt.
Another young German is Heinz Tiessen (1887), who is writing besides
piano music in _atonality_, incidental music to a drama by Hauptman, and
songs.
Philipp Jarnach (1892), a pupil of Busoni, Spanish by birth, educated in
Paris, lives in Berlin and writes in the new style. Kurt Weill (1900) is
also a gifted Busoni-ite.
Ernst Toch (1887), Viennese by birth, who lives in Germany has written
string quartets, sonatas, concertos, and a symphony.
Heinrich Kaminsky is accepted in Germany as the composer who is trying
to build a bridge from Bach to modern times. His _Concerto Grosso_ for
double orchestra commands great respect.
HUNGARY—BARTÓK AND KODÁLY
Béla Bartók (1881) and his friend Soltan Kodály (1882) have done much to
bring Hungarian folk music into the modern world, for they are steeped
in folk tunes, which they use with skill and imagination. Bartók has
written a short opera, two ballets, orchestral works, string quartets,
violin sonata, and many piano compositions. His children’s pieces are
delightful, based as they are on Hungarian folk tunes.
We have spoken at length of the gypsy music of the Hungarians brought to
us by Brahms, Liszt and Sarasate (violinist and composer). We also told
you that the Hungarians were Magyars. Adjoran Otvos, in the _League of
Composers Review_ says: “Bartók and Kodály have accomplished a pioneer
work of quite a different nature, an exploration into the folk music of
Hungary which has yielded a collection of historic significance, the
most important and only authentic one made in that country.
“Bartók, poor and supported only by a scholarship, started in 1905, an
investigation of the music of his race. Spending a week with a friend in
the country, he heard a servant, while at work, singing a tune quite
different from the hybrid (mixed breed) gypsy airs which pass for Magyar
music, in Hungary and elsewhere. He contrived to conceal himself and day
after day, while the servant worked, recorded a number of songs whose
primitive character, he at once recognized. With this impetus, he
embarked on a tour which lasted over two years, as long as his money
held out. On his journeys among the peasants he met Kodály, out on a
similar mission of research. Without previous inkling of each other’s
aims, they proceeded together, recording the ancient songs of the
Magyars in the compilation which is famous today.”
ERNEST VON DOHNÁNYI
Ernest von Dohnányi (1877) a noted pianist and composer of Hungary has
spent most of his life in Berlin and has toured Europe and America in
piano recitals. He has written many works for orchestra, chamber music,
piano and opera, all of which show more influence of Brahms than of men
of his own land. He has been engaged as conductor of the State Symphony
Orchestra of New York for the season 1925–26.
A twenty-eight year old pupil of Béla Bartók, Georg Kosa, shows decided
gifts in his first orchestral work, _Six Pieces for Orchestra_.
CZECH SCHOOL
The Czech school founded by Smetana and Dvorak and Zdenko Fibich
(1850–1900) and continued by Vitezslav Novak (1870), Josef Suk (1874),
and Vaclar Stepan (1889), has had a rebirth in the 20th century. Leos
Janacek, although over seventy, is the leading spirit; Rudolf Karel
(1881), a pupil of Dvorak, Bohuslav Martinu, a follower of Stravinsky,
and Ernest Krenek (1902), a pupil of Schreker, and Alois Haba (1893),
pupil of Novak and Schreker are the working forces. (Janacek died in
1928.)
THE QUARTER-TONE MAN
Alois Haba first wrote chamber music, then he tried some interesting
experiments for which he is known as the “quarter-tone man.” We have
heard of quarter-tones among the Hindus and Arabs (Chapter VI) and as
the human ear has become more educated, the possibility of dividing the
scale into quarter-tones is much discussed, and seems to be the next
step in developing music along the line of overtones (see above). Did
you ever realize that as with eyes that are far-sighted or near-sighted,
ears may vary too, in the amount they hear? Most people think that every
one hears alike, but this is not so. Stravinsky was one day sitting with
a friend on the shore of a Swiss Lake near which he lived. The friend
said the water was calm and still, but Stravinsky heard, a definite
musical sound! Many of these musical sounds unheard by our ears he has
shown us in his music. In the same way it is said that Haba has an
extraordinarily keen ear and in trying to express what he hears, he has
written two string quartets in the quarter-tone system. Stringed
instruments are not in _tempered_ scales and lend themselves to any
division of the interval, into third-tones, as Busoni tried, and
quarter-tones as Haba has written. But he has gone further and has made
a piano on which quarter-tones may be played. This may prove to be the
basis of music of the future, or it may be merely one of the numerous
experiments without lasting value.
[Illustration:
_Arthur Honegger._
(_Swiss-French_)
]
[Illustration:
_Darius Milhaud._
(_French_)
]
[Illustration:
_Courtesy of “The Musical Quarterly.”_
_Béla Bartók._
(_Hungarian_)
]
[Illustration:
_Photograph, Victor Georg._
_Louis Gruenberg._
(_American_)
]
_Composers of Today._
[Illustration:
_Courtesy of “The Musical Digest.”_
_G. Francesco Malipiero._
(_Italian_)
]
[Illustration:
_Courtesy of “The Musical Quarterly.”_
_Alfredo Casella._
(_Italian_)
]
[Illustration:
_Photograph, Mendoza Galleries._
_Arnold Bax._
(_English_)
]
[Illustration:
_Photograph, Bertam Pach._
_Eugene Goossens._
(_English_)
]
_Composers of Today._
ITALY AND THE NEW ORDER
For many centuries Italy has been known as producing the opera of the
world. Of late years opera has not been considered the highest form of
musical art, so with the coming of the 20th century, a group of
composers has been working in Italy, trying to get away from the old
opera writing and to develop along the line of orchestral and chamber
music.
Alfredo Casella (1883) is perhaps responsible for this movement for he
lived in Paris for many years and came in contact with Debussy’s music
and the modern movement there. One of his earliest works to attract
attention in America was _War Films_, a series of orchestral pictures
that were very real. He has written piano pieces, chamber music and
orchestral works and one of his latest is a ballet, in which it looks as
though he were leaving his path of dissonance for in this he has used
folk song as a basis for a new and delightful expression.
G. Francesco Malipiero (1882) has written two string quartets, one of
which received the Coolidge Prize of the Berkshire Chamber Music
Festival; in these he has broken away from the large sonata form. He has
also written lovely songs.
Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880) has written two operas on texts by Gabrielle
d’Annunzio called _La Nave_ (_The Ship_) and _Fedra_. His most recent
work, _Fra Ghirardo_ was performed at the Metropolitan in 1929.
Ottorino Respighi (1879) wrote operas in true Italian fashion, but
deserted them for chamber music and orchestral works. _Pines of Rome_
and _Fountains of Rome_, we hear often. His _Violin Concerto in
Gregorian Mode_ was played by Albert Spalding. His latest opera, _La
Campana Sommersa_ (_The Sunken Bell_) was given at the Metropolitan in
1928.
All these men show the traces of the Italian love of melody, with the
influence of French impressionism, and German romanticism.
Two or three of these modern Italians now live in Paris, among them
Santoliquido and Vincenzo Davico, both song writers.
And now _Noah’s Ark_ has been put to music by a young Italian, Vittorio
Rieti with wit and humor, in a work for orchestra, played in May, 1925,
at the Prague Festival.
MANUEL DE FALLA
In Spain, one man who has continued along the lines of Albeniz and
Granados is Manuel de Falla (1876). He studied first with Felipe
Pedrell, the father of the modern Spanish school. In 1907 he went to
Paris where he met Debussy and Dukas. He wrote a ballet _El Amor Brujo_
(_Love, the Magician_). He combines a picturesque Spanish folk style
with a modern way of writing music. One of his most attractive works is
a scenic arrangement from a chapter in _Don Quixote_, Cervantes’
masterpiece, as Spanish as a Spanish fandango. It is a marionette ballet
called _El Retablo de Maese Pedro_ (_Master Pedro’s Puppet Show_). It is
a charming work and you will like it. His writings have simplicity, and
freshness, which can come only from deep study and so perfect a mastery
of art that there is no self-consciousness. He is a true nationalist
delighting in Spanish color; his music has nobility and humanness as
well as charm.
THE NETHERLANDS
Clarence G. Hamilton says in his _Outlines of Music History_ that
Netherland composers are patriotically laboring for a distinctive
school. Few names are known outside of Holland, with the exception of
Alphonse Diepenbroek (1862–1921), Dirk Schaefer (1874), Sem Dresden
(1881), James Zwart (1892), Julius Roentgen (1855), who has collected
many of the Dutch folk songs, and Dopper, conductor and composer for
orchestra.
In Belgium, Jan Blockx (1851–1912) wrote successful operas and chamber
music; Paul Gilson (1865) has written orchestral and chamber music works
which have won him a foremost place among modern Flemish composers; both
César Franck and Guillaume Lekeu were Flemish (Belgian); Joseph Jongen,
while not writing in the very modern style, is well known for his
symphonic poems, chamber music, a ballet _S’Arka_ (produced at the
Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels), songs, piano pieces and organ works.
SWITZERLAND
Jaques Dalcroze (1865) is better known as the inventor of Eurythmics, a
system of music study from the standpoint of rhythm, than as composer,
but he has written many charming songs in folk style. Gustave Doret
(1866), has written several operas, cantatas, oratorios which have been
performed in his native land and in Paris. Hans Huber (1852) has a long
list of compositions in all forms. Ernest Bloch, though born in
Switzerland is living in America and is by far the greatest innovator of
these Swiss writers. Emile Blanchet, is a writer of piano music, rather
more poetic than of the very modern style. Arthur Honegger, the foremost
young composer of France, though born in Havre, is often claimed as a
Swiss composer, because his parents are Swiss. Rudolph Ganz, pianist,
composer and conductor in America was born in Switzerland.
ENGLAND
When we come to Frederick Delius (1863) we meet first with a new feeling
in English music. He has written orchestral pieces (_Brigg Fair_,
concertos, _On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring_), chorals
(_Appalachia_, _The Song of the High Hills_ and others), chamber music
and songs. He was the first Englishman to write in the impressionistic
way. His opera _The Village Romeo and Juliet_ is very modern in form,
and the music interprets the story and is not built like the Italian
operas.
Delius is of Dutch-French-German stock, but was born in England, and has
lived there and in France. He never tried for music posts or prizes but
has remained apart to compose. Though his work often sounds like the
18th century virginal music, he is not conscious of it.
He has, in his chorals, done some of the best work since Beethoven, says
one biographer, and in them are strength, power and beauty, quite
different indeed from the sensuous and sweet smaller works. He is a
careful worker, a great idealist, and a truly great musician.
There are many well-trained musicians like Holbrooke and Hurlstone who
have done much for music in England but this chapter belongs to those
who are carrying on 20th century ideas.
Among them is Vaughan Williams (1872) to whom folk music is as bread to
others. He uses it whenever he can. In his _London Symphony_, his most
famous work, he has caught the spirit of the city and it is a milestone
of the early 20th century. Isn’t it curious that the most important work
written on the poetry of our American Walt Whitman is by an Englishman!
This is the _Sea Symphony_ for orchestra and chorus, an impressive work
by Vaughan Williams. He has also written _Five Mystical Songs_, _Willow
Wood_ (cantata), _On Wenlock Edge_ (six songs), _Norfolk Rhapsodies_,
_In the Fen Country_.
Granville Bantock (1868) is a musical liberator for he was the first to
free English composers from the old style of Mendelssohn and the new
kind of classicism of Brahms, and release them to write as they felt. He
wrote music on the _Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam_ (Persian), _Sappho_,
_Pierrot of the Minute_, _Fifine at the Fair_, _Hebredean_ (Scotch)
_Symphony_, which shows his love of Scotch music, and many other works.
He succeeded Elgar at Birmingham University and has made valuable
studies and collections of Folk Music.
A lover of chamber music, the fantasy and fancy, is Frank Bridge (1879).
He is a thorough musician and has written _The Sea_, the _Dance
Rhapsodies_ for orchestra, symphonic poem _Isabella_ on Keats’ poem of
the same name. _Three Idylls for Strings_ and other works.
Gustave Holst (1874) whose original name was von Holst although he is
not of German descent, was a pupil of Sir Charles V. Stanford and is now
an inspiring teacher and conductor. He has had many posts and has
written many important works: an opera, _The Perfect Fool_, the _Hymn to
Jesus_, one of the finest choral works of the century, _The Planets_, a
very fine orchestral work, military band music, songs and part songs,
some of which are written with violin accompaniment,—a charming idea!
John Ireland (1879), has written a fine piano sonata and a violin
sonata, _Decorations_ (a collection of small pieces), _Chelsea Reach_,
_Ragamuffin_ and _Soho Forenoons_, chamber music and orchestral pieces.
Cyril Scott (1879) was trained in Germany. He is a mixture of French
impressionistic writing and Oriental mysticism, as you can see from the
titles of his pieces: _Lotus Land_ (Lotus is an Egyptian flower), _The
Garden of Soul Sympathy_, and _Riki Tiki Tavi_, a setting of Kipling’s
little chap of the Jungle Book, which is very delightful. He is one of
the first English Impressionists who paved the way for the young English
School. He has made many interesting experiments in modern harmony and
rhythm.
Arnold Bax (1883), of Irish parentage, is a gifted and poetic composer
who has written many things in small and large forms, chamber music and
piano sonatas, _The Garden of Fand_ for orchestra, _Fatherland_, a
chorus with orchestra and other things, all of which show him to have a
creative imagination and rich musical personality.
Lord Berners (1883) (Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson), a lover of the works
of Stravinsky and Casella of the modern Russian and Italian Schools, was
trained in an old-fashioned way, and then Stravinsky and Casella, seeing
in his music possibilities for freer writing, encouraged him to break
away from old ways, and he became one of the most modern of the young
English composers. He writes interestingly in caricature and sarcasm, in
fact he is a musical cartoonist in such pieces as the _Funeral March of
a Pet Canary_, _Funeral March of a Rich Aunt_, full of originality and
of fun in choosing subjects. He wrote, too, three pieces, _Hatred_,
_Laughter_ and _A Sigh_ which are amazing musical studies. His work is
interesting because of its daring in his very correct surroundings.
Eugene Goossens (1893) of Flemish ancestry, understands dissonance and
modern combinations, which he uses with fascinating charm. His violin
sonata and _Nature Pieces_ for piano show his depth of feeling, his
_Kaleidescopes_ (12 children’s pieces) show his humor, love of the
grotesque, and _Four Conceits_, his power to be musically sarcastic. His
_Five Impressions of a Holiday_ and _Two Sketches for String Quartet_
are so delightful that modern music would have lost much without them.
He is a gifted conductor and has directed concerts in London, in
Rochester, New York, and is engaged as guest conductor of the New York
Symphony in 1925–26.
Arthur Bliss (1891) like Stravinsky, whom he admires, is the _enfant
terrible_ of English music and is not held down by any rule or fixed
standards except that of good taste. He uses instruments in daring ways,
and shows a natural knowledge of them. One of his pieces is for an
unaccompanied _Cor Anglais_ (_English horn_). Among his pieces are _The
Committee_, _In the Tube (Subway) at Oxford Circus_, _At the Ball_. He
wrote a _Color Symphony_, so-called because when composing it, he
experienced a play of color sensation, although he did not write it to
be used with the color organ, as does Scriabin in _Prometheus_. He is a
most daring experimenter, and altogether an interesting young musician.
In _Rout_, a gay piece for voice and chamber orchestra, he used
meaningless syllables in place of words. He spent several years in Los
Angeles, but has returned to England.
AMERICA
In America we not only hear the works of all the people of whom we have
spoken in this chapter, but among our composers are a few who show
marked twentieth century ways of composing. Some of them are American
born, some have adopted the country, but all are working for the
advancement of American music: Loeffler, our first impressionist, Bloch,
Carpenter, Gruenberg, Whithorne, Morris, Jacobi, Marion Bauer, Eichheim,
Carl Engel, Ornstein, Varese, Salzedo, Ruggles, Cowell, Antheil, and
Copland.
Several organizations have worked for the cause of modern music by
presenting concerts devoted to works by contemporary Europeans and
Americans. The _Pro Musica_ Society has been responsible for the visits
to this country of Maurice Ravel, Bela Bartok, Darius Milhaud, Alexandre
Tansman and Arthur Honegger.
The _League of Composers_ (founded 1923) has had many notable “first
performances” of compositions by Schoenberg, Bloch, Bartok, Stravinsky,
Gruenberg, Malipiero, Hindemith, Copland, de Falla, Whithorne, Carrillo,
etc.
OUR GOOD-BYE
This book has been longer than it should have been, yet our sins have
been of omission rather than commission. But if we have only made you
realize that the world cannot stand still, that music is always growing
whether we understand it or not, and the good is handed on to the next
generation even though much “falls by the wayside,” we will not have
written in vain.
SOME OF THE BOOKS WE CONSULTED
_Afro-American Folk Music_, H. E. Krehbiel. (Schirmer, 1914.)
_The History of American Music_, Louis C. Elson. (Macmillan Co.)
_Music in America_, Dr. Frederick Louis Ritter. (Charles Scribner’s
Sons, 1890.)
_My Musical Life_, Walter Damrosch. (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1923.)
_Stephen Collins Foster_, Harold Vincent Milligan. (G. Schirmer,
1920.)
_Francis Hopkinson and James Lyon, Two Studies in Early American
Music_, O. G. Sonneck. (Printed by the Author in Washington, D. C.,
1905.)
_Early Concert-Life in America_ (1731–1800), O. G. Sonneck. (Leipsic,
Breitkopf & Haertel, 1907.)
_Musicians of Today_, Romain Rolland. (Henry Holt, 1917.)
_La Musique Française d’aujourd’hui_, Jean Aubry. (Perrin & Cie.)
_The History of Pianoforte Music_, Herbert Westerby. (E. P. Dutton &
Co.)
_Gustav Mahler_, Paul Stefan. (G. Schirmer.)
_The Symphony Since Beethoven_, Felix Weingartner. (Oliver Ditson Co.,
1904.)
_Voyage Musical au Pays du Passé_, Romain Rolland. (Librairie Hachette
& Sons, Ltd., 1909.)
_Modern Composers of Europe_, Arthur Elson. (Sir Isaac Pitman Sons,
Ltd., 1907.)
_The Player-Piano Up-to-Date_, William Braid White. (Edward Lyman
Bill.)
_Outlines of Music History_, Clarence G. Hamilton. (Oliver Ditson Co.)
_The Romantic Composers_, Daniel Gregory Mason. (Macmillan Co.)
_Contemporary Russian Composers_, M. Montagu-Nathan. (Frederick A.
Stokes Co.)
_The Story of Music_, W. J. Henderson. (Longmans, Green & Co., 1889.)
_Histoire Generale de la Musique_, François Joseph Fetis.
_Primitive Music_, R. Wallaschek.
_Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians._ (Macmillan & Co.)
_Music of the Most Ancient Nations_, Carl Engel. (South Kensington
Museum Art Handbooks.)
_American Primitive Music_, Frederick R. Burton.
_The Art of Music: A Narrative History of Music._ (D. G. Mason,
Editor-in-Chief.)
_Music: Its Laws and Evolution_, Jules Combarieu. (Paul, Trench,
Trübner & Co., 1903.)
_Histoire de la Musique_, Felix Clement.
_History of Music_, Emil Naumann.
_Marcotone_, Edward Maryon.
_Mythology: Age of Fable_, Bulfinch.
_History of Music_, W. J. Baltzell. (Theo. Presser.)
_History of Rome_, Dionysius Cassius.
_Metropolitan Museum of Art Handbook No. 13._
_Catalogue of Musical Instruments of All Nations._
_Familiar Talks on the History of Music_, A. J. Gantvoort. (G.
Schirmer.)
_Analysis of the Evolution of Musical Form_, Margaret H. Glyn.
(Longmans & Co.)
_La Musique Grégorienne_, Dom Augustin Gatard.
_The Music of the Bible_, Sir John Stainer. (Novello & Co. H. W.
Gray.)
_Critical and Historical Essays_, Edward MacDowell. (A. P. Schmidt.)
_Histoire de la Musique_, H. Lavoix fils. (Concienne Maison Quantin.)
_Early History of Singing_, W. J. Henderson.
_The History of British Music_, Frederick J. Crowest.
_Story of the Art of Music_, F. J. Crowest. (Appleton’s.)
_La Musique des Troubadours_, Jean Beck. (Laurens.)
_Story of Minstrelsy_, Edmundstoune Duncan. (Scribner’s.)
_Trouvères et Troubadours_, Pierre Aubry. (Alcan.)
_Lecture on Trouvères et Troubadours_, Raymond Petit. (MS.)
_Cours de Composition Musicale_, Vincent d’Indy. (Durand et Cie.)
_Encyclopédie de la Musique et Dictionaire du Conservatoire_, Albert
Lavignac (fondateur). V Vols.
_The Threshold of Music_, William Wallace. (Macmillan Co.)
_Palestrina_, Michel Brenet. (Alcan.)
_Monteverdi_, Henry Prunières. (Alcan.)
_Twelve Good Musicians_, Frederick Bridge. (Kegan Paul, Trench,
Trübner & Co.)
_Les Clavecinistes_, André Pirro. (Laurens.)
_Lully_, Henry Prunières. (Laurens.)
_The Earlier French Musicians_ (1632–1834), Mary Hargrave. (Kegan
Paul, Trench.)
_A History of Music_, Paul Landormy. (Translated, F. H. Martens.)
(Scribner’s).
_Chippewa Music_, Frances Densmore. (Smithsonian Institution Bureau of
American Ethnology.) (Bulletin 45.)
_Teton Sioux Music_, Frances Densmore. (Bureau of American Ethnology.)
(Bulletin 61.)
_Alla Breve_, Carl Engel. (G. Schirmer.)
_Complete Book of the Great Musicians_, Percy A. Scholes. (Oxford
University Press.)
_Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians._ (3rd. revised
Edition.) (G. Schirmer, 1919.)
_Pianoforte and its Music_, H. E. Krehbiel.
_The Story of Music and Musicians_, Lucy C. Lillie. (Harpers.)
_Johann Sebastian Bach_, Johann Nikolaus Forkel.
_Irish Folk Music_, Capt. Francis O’Neill. (1910, Regan Printing
House, Lyon & Healy, Chicago.)
_Histoire et Theorie de la Musique de L’Antiquité_, par Fr. Aug.
Gevaert, 1881.
_Grand Opera Singers of Today_, Henry C. Lahee. (The Page Co.,
Boston.)
_Richard Strauss (Living Masters of Music)_, Ernest Newman. (John
Lane, The Bodley Head.)
_Great Singers—Series 1, 2_, George T. Ferris. (T. Appleton Co., N.
Y., 1893.)
_Richard Strauss the Man and His Works_, Henry T. Finck. (Little Brown
& Co.)
_The History of the Art of Music_, W. S. B. Mathews. (The Music
Magazine Pub. Co., Chicago, 1891.)
_Haydn (The Great Musicians)_, Pauline D. Townsend. (Samson, Marston &
Rivington, 1884.)
_Mozart (The Great Musicians)_, Dr. F. Gehring. (Scribners, 1883.)
_The World of Music_, Anna Comtesse de Bremont. (Brentano’s, 1892.)
_Contemporary Musicians._ Cecil Gray. (Oxford University Press, 1924.)
_Music and Its Story_, R. T. White. (Cambridge University Press,
1924.)
_Evolution of the Art of Music_, C. Hubert H. Parry. (Appleton, 1896.)
_Modern Composers of Europe_, Arthur Elson. (Sir Isaac Pitman & Son
Ltd., London, 1909.)
_One Hundred Folk Songs of All Nations_, Granville Banstock. (G.
Schirmer.)
_Sixty Patriotic Songs of All Nations_, Granville Banstock. (G.
Schirmer.)
_The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven_, Alexander Wheelock Thayer.
Translated by H. E. Krehbiel. (Beethoven Association, 1921.)
_Complete Opera Book_, Gustave Kobbé. (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1924.)
_In the Garret_, Carl Van Vechten. (Alfred Knopf, 1920.)
_The Music and Musical Instruments of the Arab_, Francisco Salvador
Daniel.
_Songs of the Russian People_, Kurt Schindler.
_Appreciation of Music_, Thomas Whitney Surette and Daniel Gregory
Mason.
_My Favorite Folk Songs_, Marcella Sembrich. (Oliver Ditson Co.)
_One Hundred Folk Songs_, Cecil Sharp. (Oliver Ditson Co.)
_Sixty Russian Folk Songs_, Kurt Schindler and Deems Taylor. (G.
Schirmer Co.)
_Russian Folk Songs_, M. Balakirev. (M. P. Belaieff, Leipsic.)
_Old Irish Folk Music and Song_, P. W. Joyce. (Longmans, Green Co.)
_Ancient Irish Music_, P. W. Joyce. (Longmans, Green Co.)
_English Melodies_, Vincent Jackson. (J. M. Dent & Son L’t’d, 1910.)
_Songs Every Child Should Know_, Dolores M. Bacon. (Doubleday Page,
1906.)
_The Orchestra and Its Instruments_, Esther Singleton. (The Symphony
Society of New York, 1917.)
_Reminiscences of Morris Steinert_, Jane Marlin. (G. P. Putnam’s Sons,
1900.)
_Edward MacDowell_, Lawrence Gilman. (John Lane, 1906.)
_The Study of Folk-Songs_, Countess Martinengo-Cesaresco. (E. P.
Dutton & Co.)
_A History of Music_, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford-Cecil Forsyth.
(The Macmillan Co., 1924.)
_The History of Music_, Waldo Selden Pratt. (G. Schirmer, 1907.)
_The New Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians_, Waldo Selden Pratt,
Editor. (The Macmillan Co., 1924.)
_Ancient Art and Ritual_, Jane Harrison. (Henry Holt & Co., 1913.)
_Der Auftakt (Czecho-Slovakian Magazine)._ (Festival No., May, 1925).
_Musical Quarterly_, O. G. Sonneck, Editor. (G. Schirmer, April,
1924.)
_German Music of the Last Decade_, by Hugo Leichtentritt. League of
Composer Review. (New York.)
_Franco-American Musical Society Bulletin._ Ely Jade, Editor, (N. Y.)
_Book of American Negro Spirituals._ James Weldon Johnson. (Viking
Press, N. Y.)
_Miniature Essays._ (J. & W. Chester, Ltd.)
_Program Notes of the Philharmonic Society of New York._ Lawrence
Gilman.
_La Revue Musicale._ Henry Prunières, Editor. (Paris.)
_The Sackbut_, Ursula Greville, Editor. (London.)
_Musical America._ (New York.)
_Musical Courier._ (New York.)
_Musical Leader._
Some Music Writers According to Forms of Composition
Troubadours and Trouvères
TROUBADOURS
(_12th Century_)
Guillaume d’Aquitaine
Bernart de Ventardorn
Bertran de Born
Richard the Lion-Hearted (1169–99)
Peire Vidal
Le Moine de Montaudon (The Monk of)
Guiraut de Borneil (Maestre dels trobadors)
Gaucelm Faidit (Jongleur)
(_12th and 13th Centuries_)
Peire Cardinal
(_13th Century_)
Pierre Mauclerc (Duke of Bretagne)
Uc de Saint-Circ
Thibaut de Champagne (King of Navarre)
Jean Bretel
Adam de la Hale
Guillaume de Machaut
TROUVÈRES
(_12th Century_)
Blondel de Nesle
Chrétien de Troyes
Chatelain de Coucy
Gace Brulé
(_13th Century_)
Colin Muset
Minnesingers
(_12th Century_)
Kürenberger
von Aist
Spervogel
(_13th Century_)
Wolfram von Eschenbach
Walther von der Vogelweide
Prince Witzlav
Tannhäuser
Nitthart
Biterolf
Meistersingers
Heinrich von Meissen (“Frauenlob”)
Til Eulenspiegel
Hans Sachs (1494–1576)
Motets and Madrigals
FRANCO-BELGIAN PERIOD
Guillaume Dufay (1400–1474)
Jakob Hobrecht (1430–1506)
Jan de Okeghem (1430–1495)
Josquin Deprès (1450–1521)
Heinrich Isaak (1450–15 ?)
Jean Mouton (14 ?–1522)
Heinric Finck (14 ?–15 ?) (German)
Jakob Clemens non Papa (1475–1567)
Claude Goudimel (1505–1572)
FLEMISH PERIOD
Jakob Arcadelt (1514–1565)
Adrian Willaert (1480–1562)
Nicolas Gombert (14 ?–15 ?)
Cyprian de Rore (1516–1565)
Philippe de Monte (1521–1602)
Orlandus Lassus (1530–1594)
ITALIAN PERIOD
Constanza Festa (14 ?–1545)
Giovanni Animuccia (15 ?–1571)
Andrea Gabrieli (1510–1586)
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1515–1594)
Orazio Vecchi (1550?–1605)
Matteo Asola (15 ?–1609)
Luca Marenzio (1550?–1599)
Giovanni Gabrieli (1557–1613)
Felice Anerio (1560–1630)
Andriano Banchieri (1567–1634)
FRENCH PERIOD
Claudin de Sermizy (15 ?–1566)
Claudin le Jeune (1530–1564)
Guillaume Costeley (1531–15 ?)
GERMAN PERIOD
Hans Leo Hassler (1564–1612)
ENGLISH PERIOD
John Taverner ( ? –1530)
William Byrd (1538–1623)
Thomas Morley (1557–1604)
Thomas Weelkes ( ? –1623)
George Kirbye ( ? – ?)
John Dowland (1562–1628)
John Wilbye (1574–1638)
Michael Este ( ? – ?)
Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625)
Fugues
ITALIAN
Andrea Gabrieli (1510–1586)
Giovanni Gabrieli (1557–1613)
Adriano Banchieri (1567–1637)
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1644)
ENGLISH
Thomas Tallis (15 ?–1585)
William Byrd (1538–1623)
DUTCH
Jan Pieters Sweelinck (1562–1621)
DANISH
Dietrich Buxtehude (1637–1707)
GERMAN
Samuel Scheidt (1587–1654)
Johann Jacob Froberger (1605–1667)
Georg Muffat (16 ?–1704)
Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706)
Johann Krieger (1652–1735)
Johann Joseph Fux (1650–1741)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
George Frederic Handel (1685–1759)
Friedrich Marpurg (1718–1795)
Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1736–1809)
FRENCH
François Couperin (1631–1698)
Jean Louis Marchand (1669–1732)
Louis Nicolas Clérembault (1676–1749)
Modern Fugues
GERMAN
August Klengel (1783–1852)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847)
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Salomon Jadassohn (1831–1902)
Max Reger (1873–1916)
FRENCH
César Franck (Belg.) (1822–1890)
André Gédalge (1857–1926)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
AMERICAN
Daniel Gregory Mason (1873)
Mrs. H. H. A. Beach (1867)
Charles Haubiel (1892)
SWEDISH
Emil Sjögren (1853–1918)
CZECHO-SLOVAKIAN
Felix Petyrek (_20th Century_)
Suites
(_Sonata da Camera_, _Sonata da Chiesa_, _Sonatas_, _Ordres_, _Suites_,
_Exercises_, _Partitas_)
ITALIAN
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1644)
Michel Angelo Rossi (159 ?–16 ?)
Giovanni Legrenzi (1625–1690)
Bernardo Pasquini (1637–1710)
Giovanni Bononcini (1640–1678)
Giovanni Battista Vitali (1644–1692)
Giuseppe Torelli (1645–1708)
Domenico Zipoli (16 ?–17 ?)
Evarista Felice d’all’Abaco (16 ?–17 ?)
Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1760)
FRENCH
Jacques Champion de Chambonnières (1610–1671)
François Couperin (1668–1733)
Jean Philippe Rameau (1683–1764)
Jean François Dandrieu (1684–1740)
Jean Marie Leclair (1687–1764)
GERMAN
Johann Schein (1586–1630)
Samuel Scheidt (1587–1754)
Johann Kuhnau (1660–1722)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
George Frederic Handel (1685–1759)
Modern Suites
GERMAN
Joseph Joachim Raff (Swiss) (1822–1882)
Karl Reinecke (1824–1910)
Ignaz Brüll (1846–1907)
Ferdinand Hummel (1855)
FRENCH
Charles Marie Widor (1845)
Benjamin Godard (1849–1895)
Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
RUSSIAN
Serge Rachmaninov (1873)
HUNGARIAN
Emanuel Moor (1862)
ENGLISH
Eugen D’Albert (1864)
York Bowen (1884)
SCANDINAVIAN
Edvard Grieg (Norwegian) (1843–1907)
Christian Sinding (Norwegian) (1856)
Johan Halvorsen (Norwegian) (1864)
AMERICAN
Edward MacDowell (1861–1908)
Arthur Whiting (1861)
Sonatas
(_Before Beethoven_)
GERMAN
Johann Kuhnau (1660–1722)
Johann Mattheson (1681–1764)
Georg Philip Telemann (1681–1767)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
George Frederic Handel (1685–1759)
Karl Philip Emanuel Bach (1714–1788)
Leopold Mozart (1719–1788)
Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1826)
ITALIAN
Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713)
Francesco Maria Veracini (1685–1750)
Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1750)
Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770)
Pietro Locatelli (1693–1764)
Baldassare Galuppi (1706–1784)
Pietro Nardini (1722–1793)
Gaetano Pugnani (1731–1798)
Pietro Domenico Paradies (1710–1792)
(_Contemporaries of Beethoven_)
GERMAN
Johann Dussek (Bohemian) (1761–1812)
Johann Cramer (1771–1858)
Johann Woelfl (1772–1812)
Johann Hummel (1778–1837)
Ferdinand Ries (1784–1838)
Karl Maria von Weber (1786–1824)
Friedrich W. M. Kalkbrenner (1788–1849)
Ignaz Moscheles (Bohemian) (1794–1870)
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
ITALIAN
Muzio Clementi (1752–1832)
Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842)
ENGLISH
John Field (1782–1837)
_After Beethoven_
GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN
Heinrich Marschner (1795–1861)
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847)
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Joseph Raff (Swiss) (1822–1882)
Karl Reinecke (1824–1910)
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Ludwig Thuille (1861–1907)
Richard Strauss (1864)
Georg Schumann (1866)
Alexander Zemlinsky (1872)
Max Reger (1873–1916)
Heinz Tiessen (1887)
Hermann Scherchen (1891)
Egon Kornauth (Austrian) (1891)
Philipp Jarnach (1892)
Paul Pisk (1893)
Paul Hindemith (1895)
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (Austrian) (1897)
Ernst Krenek (Austrian) (1900)
CZECHO-SLOVAKIAN
Rudolph Karel (1881)
Emil Axman (_20th Century_)
HUNGARIAN
Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
Emanuel Moor (1862)
Ernst von Dohnanyi (1877)
Bela Bartok (1881)
Zoltan Kodaly (1882)
FRENCH
César Franck (Belgian) (1822–1890)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1919)
Felix Alexandre Guilmant (1837–1911)
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
Charles Marie Widor (1845)
Benjamin Godard (1849–1895)
Paul Vincent d’Indy (1851)
Claude Achille Debussy (1862–1918)
Guy Ropartz (1864)
Paul Dukas (1865)
Charles Koechlin (1867)
Guillaume Lekeu (Belgian) (1870–1894)
Florent Schmitt (1870)
Maurice Ravel (1875)
Rhené-Baton (1879)
Gabriel Grovlez (1879)
Arthur Honegger (1892)
Darius Milhaud (1892)
Germaine Taillefer (1892)
Raymond Petit (_20th Century_)
DUTCH
Dirk Schaefer (1874)
James Zwart (1892)
Willem Pijper (1894)
RUSSIAN
Anton Rubinstein (1829–1894)
Georg Lvovitch Catoire (1861)
Joseph Wihtol (1863)
Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915)
Paul Juon (1872)
Serge Rachmaninov (1873)
Alexander Glazounov (1873)
Fedor Akimenko (1876)
Nicholas Medtner (1879)
Nicholai Miaskovsky (1881)
Samuel Feinberg (1890)
Alexander Tcherepnin (1902)
POLISH
Frédéric Chopin (1809–1849)
Ignace Jan Paderewski (1860)
Miecyslaw Karlowicz (1876–1909)
Karol Szymanowsky (1883)
SCANDINAVIAN
Johan P. E. Hartmann (Danish) (1805–1900)
Edvard Hagerup Grieg (Norwegian) (1843–1907)
Emil Sjögren (Swedish) (1853–1918)
Bror Beckman (Swedish) (1866)
Wilhelm Stenhammar (Swedish) (1871)
ITALIAN
Enrico Bossi (1861–1925)
Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924)
Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880)
SPANISH
Isaac Albeniz (1860–1909)
ENGLISH
C. Hubert H. Parry (1848–1918)
Marie Wurm (1860) (Living in Germany)
John B. McEwen (1868)
Wm. Y. Hurlstone (1876–1906)
Cyril Scott (1879)
Arnold Bax (1882)
York Bowen (1884)
James Friskin (1886)
AMERICAN
John Knowles Paine (1839–1906)
Arthur Foote (1853)
Edward MacDowell (1861–1908)
Ernest Kroeger (1862)
Henry Holden Huss (1862)
Mrs. H. H. A. Beach (1867)
Frederick Converse (1871)
John Alden Carpenter (1876)
Louis Campbell-Tipton (1877–1921)
Alexander MacFayden (1879)
Ernest Bloch (Swiss) (1880)
Arthur Shepherd (1880)
John Powell (1882)
Charles Griffes (1884–1920)
Emerson Whithorne (1884)
Louis Gruenberg (1884)
Marion Bauer (1887)
Chalmers Clifton (1889)
Harold Morris (1889)
Elliot Griffis (1892)
Albert Stoessel (1894)
Leo Ornstein (Russian) (1895)
George Antheil (_20th Century_)
Fanny Charles Dillon (_20th Century_)
Classic Concertos
GERMAN (_Before Mozart_)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
George Frederic Handel (1685–1759)
Johann Gottlieb Graun (1701–1759)
Franz Benda (Bohemian) (1709–1786)
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710–1784)
Karl Phillip Emanuel Bach (1714–1788)
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
FRENCH
Jean Marie Leclair (1697–1764)
Jean Philippe Rameau (1683–1764)
ITALIAN
Antonio Vivaldi (1675–1743)
Francesco Maria Veracini (1685–1750)
Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770)
Concertos
GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Joseph Woelfl (1772–1812)
Johann Hummel (1778–1837)
Ferdinand Ries (1784–1838)
Karl Maria von Weber (1786–1826)
Ignaz Moscheles (Bohemian) (1794–1870)
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847)
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Georg E. Goltermann (1824–1898)
Karl Reinecke (1824–1910)
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Max Bruch (1838–1917)
Josef Rheinberger (1839–1901)
Heinrich Hofmann (1842–1902)
Ignaz Brüll (1846–1907)
Richard Strauss (1864)
Hans Pfitzner (1869)
Max Reger (1873–1916)
Alban Berg (1885)
Ernst Toch (1887)
Paul Hindemith (1895)
Ernst Krenek (1900)
Heinrich Kaminsky (_20th Century_)
CZECHO-SLOVAKIAN
Antonin Dvorak (1841–1904)
Erwin Schulhoff (1894)
Vaclav Talich (_20th Century_)
HUNGARIAN
Franz Liszt (1811–1888)
Joseph Joachim (1831–1907)
Jeno Hubay (1858)
Julius Major (1859)
Emanuel Moor (1862)
Ottokar Novacek (1866–1900)
Ernst von Dohnanyi (1877)
Béla Bártok (1881)
FRENCH
Jacques Rode (1774–1830)
Henri Vieuxtemps (1820–1881)
César Franck (Belg.) (1822–1890)
Edouard Lalo (1823–1892)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Charles Marie Widor (1845)
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
Benjamin Godard (1849–1895)
Ernest Chausson (1855–1899)
Gabriel Pierné (1863)
Darius Milhaud (1892)
Germaine Tailleferre (1892)
Jean Wiener (_20th Century_)
BELGIAN
Théophile Ysaye (1865–1918)
Joseph Jongen (1873)
DUTCH
Julius Roentgen (1855)
Dirk Schaefer (1874)
James Zwart (1892)
SWISS
Hans Huber (1852–1921)
RUSSIAN
Anton Rubinstein (1830–1894)
Peter Iljitch Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908)
Serge Liapounov (1859)
Anton Arensky (1861–1906)
Georg Lvovitch Catoire (1861–1926)
Alexander Glazounov (1873)
Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915)
Serge Rachmaninov (1873)
Josef Hofmann (1876)
Fedor Akimenko (1876)
Nicolai Miaskovsky (1881)
Igor Stravinsky (1882)
Serge Prokofiev (1891)
Alexander Tcherepnin (1902)
POLISH
Frédéric Chopin (1809–1849)
Joseph Wieniawski (1837–1912)
Philipp Scharwenka (1847–1917)
Franz Xaver Scharwenka (1850–1924)
Ignace Jan Paderewski (1860)
Emil Mlynarski (1870)
Sigismund Stojowski (1870) (Living in America)
Karol Szymanowski (1883)
FINNISH
Jan Sibelius (1865)
Selim Palmgren (1878)
SCANDINAVIAN
Eduard Lassen (Danish) (1830–1904)
August Winding (Danish) (1835–1899)
Emil Hartmann (Danish) (1836–1898)
Johan Svendsen (Norwegian) (1840–1911)
Edvard Grieg (Norwegian) (1843–1907)
Christian Sinding (Norwegian) (1856)
Johan Halvorsen (Norwegian) (1864)
Tor Aulin (Swedish) (1866–1914)
Wilhelm Stenhammar (Swedish) (1871)
Hugo Alfven (Swedish) (1872)
Halfdan Cleve (Norwegian) (1879)
Kurt Atterberg (Swedish) (1887)
ITALIAN
Giuseppe Martucci (1856–1909)
Alberto Franchetti (1860)
Enrico Bossi (1861–1925)
Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924)
Leone Sinigaglia (1868)
Ottorino Respighi (1879)
G. Francesco Malipiero (1882)
Alfredo Casella (1883)
SPANISH
Isaac Albéniz (1860–1909)
Manuel de Falla (1876)
Joan de Manen (1883)
ENGLISH
John Field (1782–1837)
William Sterndale Bennett (1816–1875)
Frederick Hymen Cowen (1852)
Tobias Matthay (1858)
Frederick Delius (1863)
Eugen d’Albert (Scotch) (1864)
Arthur Hinton (1869)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912)
Wm. Y. Hurlstone (1876–1906)
Cyril Scott (1879)
York Bowen (1884)
Arthur Bliss (1891)
Dorothy Howell (_20th Century_)
AMERICAN
Leopold Damrosch (German) (1832–1885)
Frederick Grant Gleason (1848–1903)
Max Vogrich (Transylvanian) (1852–1916)
Helen Hopekirk (Scotch) (1856)
Harry Rowe Shelley (1858)
Victor Herbert (1859–1924)
Edward MacDowell (1861–1908)
Edmund Severn (1862)
Henry Holden Huss (1862)
Mrs. H. H. A. Beach (1867)
Ernest Hutcheson (Australian) (1871)
Felix Borowsky (1872)
Arne Oldberg (1874)
Ernest Schelling (1876)
John Alden Carpenter (1876)
Blair Fairchild (1877)
John Powell (1882)
Louis Gruenberg (1884)
Cecil Burleigh (1885)
George F. Boyle (Australian) (1886)
Albert Spalding (1888)
A. Walter Kramer (1890)
Mana Zucca (1893)
Leo Ornstein (Russian) (1895)
Leo Sowerby (1895)
Aaron Copland (1898)
Symphonies
GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN
Franz Xaver Richter (1709–1789)
Karl Philip Emanuel Bach (1714–1788)
Johann Stamitz (1717–1757)
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
Michael Haydn (1737–1806)
Johann Christian Bach (1738–1782)
K. D. von Dittersdorf (1739–1799)
Karl Stamitz (1746–1801)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Ludwig von Beethoven (1770–1827)
Ludwig Spohr (1784–1859)
Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826)
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Franz Lachner (1803–1890)
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847)
Otto Nicolai (1810–1849)
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Robert Volkmann (1815–1883)
Joseph Joachim Raff (Swiss) (1822–1882)
Anton Bruckner (1824–1896)
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Max Bruch (1838–1920)
Herman Goetz (1840–1876)
August Klughardt (1847–1902)
Felix Weingartner (1863)
Richard Strauss (1864)
Georg Schumann (1866)
Siegmund von Hausegger (1872)
Alexander von Zemlinsky (1872)
Karl Bleyle (1880)
Heinz Tiessen (1887)
Ernst Toch (1887)
Eduard Erdmann (_20th Century_)
_Dance Symphony_
Egon Wellesz (1885)
Ernst Krenek (1900)
CZECHO-SLOVAKIAN
Frederic Smetana (1824–1884)
J. J. Abert (1832–1915)
Antonin Dvorak (1841–1904)
Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)
Josef Suk (1874)
Otakar Ostrcil (1879)
Emil Axman (_20th Century_)
Erwin Schulhoff (1894)
HUNGARIAN
Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
Karl Goldmark (1830–1915)
Julius Major (1859)
Emanuel Moor (1862)
Ernst von Dohnanyi (1877)
FRENCH
François Joseph Gossec (Belgian) (1734–1829)
Henri Méhul (1763–1817)
Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)
Napoleon Henri Reber (1807–1880)
Charles François Gounod (1818–1893)
César Franck (Belgian) (1822–1890)
Edouard Lalo (1823–1892)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Charles Widor (1845)
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
Agusta Holmes (English) (1847–1903)
Vincent d’Indy (1851)
Ernest Chausson (1855–1899)
André Gédalge (1857–1926)
Guy Ropartz (1864)
Paul Dukas (1865)
Alberic Magnard (1865–1914)
Albert Roussel (1869)
Henri Rabaud (1873)
Darius Milhaud (1892)
BELGIAN
Théophile Ysaye (1865–1918)
DUTCH
Richard Hol (1825–1904)
Bernard Zweers (1854)
Julius Roentgen (1855)
Cornelius Dopper (1870)
Bernard Dieren (1884)
Willem Pijper (1894)
SWISS
Hans Huber (1852–1921)
ROUMANIAN
Georges Enesco (1881)
RUSSIAN
Joseph Wihtol (1863)
Alexander Gretchaninov (1864)
Alexander Glazounov (1865)
Vassili Kilinnikov (1866–1900)
Paul Juon (1872)
Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915)
Serge Vassilenko (1872)
Serge Rachmaninov (1873)
Reinhold Glière (1875)
Nicholas Miaskovsky (1881)
Lazare Saminsky (1883)
POLISH
Philipp Scharwenka (1847–1917)
Franz Xaver Scharwenka (1850–1924)
Ignace Jan Paderewski (1860)
Emil Mlynarski (1870)
Sigismund Stojowski (1870) (Living in America)
Miecyslaw Karlowicz (1876–1909)
Felix Nowowiejski (German) (1877)
Karol Szymanowski (1883)
FINNISH
Jan Sibelius (1865)
Leevi Madetoja (1887)
SCANDINAVIAN
Johan P. E. Hartmann (Danish) (1805–1900)
Niels Gade (Danish) (1817–1890)
Eduard Lassen (Danish) (1830–1904)
Emil Hartmann (Danish) (1836–1898)
Johan Svendsen (Norwegian) (1840–1911)
Peter Lange-Müller (Danish) (1850–1926)
Jacob Adolph Hagg (Swedish) (1850)
Victor Bendix (Danish) (1851)
Christian Sinding (Norwegian) (1856)
A. Carl Nielson (Danish) (1864)
Wilhelm Stenhammar (Swedish) (1871)
Sigurd Lie (Norwegian) (1871–1904)
Natanael Berg (Swedish) (1879)
Kurt Atterberg (Swedish) (1887)
ITALIAN
Giovanni Battista Sammartini (1704–1774)
Carlo Toeschi (1724–1788)
Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805)
Giovanni Toeschi (1745–1800)
Antonio Salieri (1750–1825)
Muzio Clementi (1752–1832)
Giovanni Sgambati (1843–1914)
Giuseppe Martucci (1856–1909)
Franco Alfano (1877)
Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880)
G. Francesco Malipiero (1882)
Alfredo Casella (1883)
Victor da Sabata (1896)
SPANISH
Manuel de Falla (1877)
ENGLISH
Sir G. A. Macfarren (1813–1887)
Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842–1901)
Sir Charles Hubert H. Parry (1848–1918)
Sir Frederick H. Cowen (1852)
Sir Charles V. Stanford (1852–1924)
Sir Edward Elgar (1857)
Ethel M. Smyth (1858)
Algernon Ashton (1859)
Granville Bantock (1868)
Arthur Hinton (1869)
Walford Davies (1869)
Percy Pitt (1870)
Ralph Vaughn Williams (1872)
Gustav Holst (1874)
Hamilton Harty (1879)
York Bowen (1884)
Benjamin Dale (1885)
Arthur Bliss (1891)
AMERICAN
Leopold Damrosch (1832–1885)
John Knowles Paine (1839–1906)
Silas G. Pratt (1846–1916)
Max Vogrich (Transylvania) (1852–1916)
George Chadwick (1854)
George Templeton Strong (1856)
Arthur Bird (1856–1924)
Edgar Stillman Kelley (1857)
Henry Schoenefeld (1857)
Charles Martin Loeffler (1861)
Ernest Kroeger (1862)
Horatio Parker (1863–1919)
Gustav Strube (1867)
Mrs. H. H. A. Beach (1867)
Howard Brockway (1870)
Henry K. Hadley (1871)
Frederick Converse (1871)
Daniel Gregory Mason (1873)
Arne Oldberg (1874)
Ernest Schelling (1876)
Mortimer Wilson (1876)
David Stanley Smith (1877)
Ernest Bloch (Swiss) (1880)
Eric Delamarter (1880)
Edwin Grasse (1884)
Louis Gruenberg (1884)
Frederick Jacobi (1891)
Orchestral Music
_Symphonic Tone Poems, Overtures, Suites, etc._
GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826)
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847)
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
Johann Strauss (1825–1899)
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Alexander Ritter (1833–1896)
Heinrich Hofmann (1842–1902)
Engelbert Humperdinck (1854–1921)
Felix Weingartner (1863)
Richard Strauss (1864)
Georg Schumann (1866)
Max von Schillings (1868)
Siegmund von Hausegger (1872)
Paul Juon (Russian) (1872)
Max Reger (1873–1916)
Arnold Schoenberg (1874)
Paul Amadeus Pisk (1893)
Paul Hindemith (1895)
Erich Korngold (1898)
CZECHO-SLOVAKIAN
Frederick Smetana (1824–1884)
Antonin Dvorak (1843–1904)
Zdenko Fibich (1850–1900)
Vitezslav Novak (1870)
Josef Suk (1874)
Otakar Ostrcil (1879)
Rudolf Karel (1881)
Karl Horwitz (1884–1925)
Bohuslav Martinu (1890)
Fidelio Finke (1891)
_Tone Poems_
HUNGARIAN
Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
Karl Goldmark (1830–1915)
Emanuel Moor (1862)
Ernst von Dohnanyi (1877)
Béla Bártok (1881)
Zoltan Kodaly (1882)
George Kosa (1897)
FRENCH
Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)
Félicien David (1810–1876)
César Franck (Belgian) (1822–1890)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Theodore Dubois (1837–1924)
Georges Bizet (1838–1875)
Alexis Emanuel Chabrier (1841–1894)
Jules Massenet (1842–1912)
Vincent d’Indy (1851)
Ernest Chausson (1855–1899)
Georges Huë (1858)
Gustave Charpentier (1860)
Claude Achille Debussy (1862–1918)
Guy Ropartz (1864)
Erik Satie (1866–1925)
Charles Koechlin (1867)
Florent Schmitt (1870)
Deodat de Sévérac (1873–1921)
Henri Rabaud (1873)
Max d’Ollone (1875)
Roger Ducasse (1875)
Maurice Ravel (1875)
Louis Aubert (1877)
André Caplet (1878–1925)
Gabriel Grovlez (1879)
Maurice Delage (1879)
Jacques Ibert (1890)
Roland Manuel (1891)
Darius Milhaud (1892)
Arthur Honegger (1892)
Lili Boulanger (1893–1918)
BELGIAN
Théophile Ysaye (1865–1918)
Paul Gilson (1865)
Guillaume Lekeu (1870–1894)
Joseph Jongen (1873)
M. Brusselmans (_20th Century_)
DUTCH
Richard Hol (1825–1904)
Julius Roentgen (1855)
Alfons Diepenbrock (1862–1921)
Johan Wagenaar (1862)
Bernard van Dieren (1884)
ROUMANIAN
Georges Enesco (1881)
RUSSIAN
Anton Rubinstein (1829–1894)
Alexander Borodin (1834–1877)
Cesar Cui (1835–1918)
Mily Balakirev (1837–1910)
Piotr I. Tchaikovsky (1840–1892)
Anatole Liadov (1855–1914)
Ivanov Ippolitov (1859)
Antonin Arensky (1861–1906)
Alexander Glazounov (1865)
Vassili Kilinnikov (1866–1900)
Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915)
Paul Juon (1872)
Serge Rachmaninov (1873)
Reinhold Glière (1875)
Nicholai Miaskovsky (1881)
Igor Stravinsky (1882)
Michael Gniessen (1883)
Serge Prokofiev (1891)
POLISH
Jean Louis Nicodé (1853)
Ignace Jan Paderewski (1860)
Sigismund Stojowski (1870)
Miecyslaw Karlowicz (1876–1909)
Karol Szymanowski (1883)
Ludomir Rozycki (1883)
Alexandre Tansman (1892)
FINNISH
Robert Kajanus (1856)
Jan Sibelius (1865)
Armas Järnefelt (1869)
Leevi Madetoja (1887)
SCANDINAVIAN
Edvard Hagerup Grieg (1843–1907)
Anders Hallen (1846)
Otto Malling (1848–1915)
Peter Lange-Müller (1850–1926)
Ludwig T. Schytte (1850–1909)
Gerhard Schjelderup (1859)
Hugo Alfven (1872)
Natanael Berg (1879)
Kurt Atterberg (1887)
ITALIAN
Enrico Bossi (1861–1925)
Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924)
Leone Sinigaglia (1868)
Ottorino Respighi (1879)
Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880)
Vincenzo Tommasini (1880)
Riccardo Pick-Mangiagalli (1882)
G. Francesco Malipiero (1882)
Alfredo Casella (1883)
Guido Guerrini (1890)
SPANISH
Felipe Pedrell (1841–1922)
Isaac Albeniz (1860–1909)
Enrique Granados (1867–1916)
Pablo Casals (1876)
Manuel de Falla (1876)
Joaquin Turina (1882)
BRAZILIAN
Villa-Lobos (1892)
ENGLISH
Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900)
Alexander Campbell Mackenzie (1847)
Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848–1918)
Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924)
Edward Elgar (1857)
William Wallace (1860)
Edward German (1862)
Frederick Delius (1863)
Granville Bantock (1868)
Arthur Hinton (1869)
Cecil Forsyth (1870)
Ralph Vaughn Williams (1872)
William H. Bell (1873)
Gustav Holst (1874)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912)
Norman O’Neill (1875)
H. Balfour Gardiner (1877)
Josef Holbrooke (1878)
Cyril Scott (1879)
Frank Bridge (1879)
Arnold Bax (1883)
Lord Berners (1883)
York Bowen (1884)
Armstrong Gibbs (1889)
Arthur Bliss (1891)
Eugene Goossens (1893)
AMERICAN
John Knowles Paine (1839–1906)
Silas G. Pratt (1846–1916)
Frederick Grant Gleason (1848–1903)
Arthur Foote (1853)
George Chadwick (1854)
George Templeton Strong (1856)
Frank Van der Stucken (1858–1929)
Victor Herbert (1859–1924)
Edward MacDowell (1861–1908)
Charles Martin Loeffler (1861)
Ernest Kroeger (1862)
Carl Busch (Danish) (1862)
Horatio W. Parker (1863–1919)
Henry K. F. Gilbert (1868–1928)
William H. Humiston (1869–1924)
Frederick Converse (1871)
Henry K. Hadley (1871)
Frederick Stock (German) (1871)
Frank E. Ward (1872)
Rubin Goldmark (1872)
Edward Burlingame Hill (1872)
Felix Borowsky (Polish-English) (1872)
Camille Zeckwer (1875–1924)
Mortimer Wilson (1876)
John Alden Carpenter (1876)
Ernest Schelling (1876)
Rudolph Ganz (Swiss) (1877)
Blair Fairchild (1877)
David Stanley Smith (1877)
Franz C. Bornschein (1879)
Ernest Bloch (Swiss) (1880)
Arthur Shepherd (1880)
John Powell (1882)
Carl Ruggles ?
Edgar Varese (French) ?
Reginald Sweet ?
Percy Grainger (Australian) (1882)
Charles Griffes (1884–1920)
Louis Gruenberg (1884)
Emerson Whithorne (1884)
Albert Elkus (?)
Deems Taylor (1885)
Edward Ballantine (1886)
Wintter Watts (1886)
Victor Kolar (Hungarian) (1888)
Harold Morris (1889)
Frederick Jacobi (1891)
Timothy Spelman (1891)
Albert Stoessel (1894)
Sandor Harmati (1894)
Leo Sowerby (1895)
Howard Hanson (1896)
Chamber Music
(_String Quartets, Trios, Quintets, etc., various combinations of
Instruments._)
(BEFORE HAYDN)
ENGLISH
Thomas Morley (1557–1604)
John Jenkins (1592–1678)
Mathew Locke (1632–1677)
Henry Purcell (1658–1695)
ITALIAN
Salomon Rossi (1598–1623)
Tarquinio Merula (Born before 1600)
Giovanni Battista Fontana (Born before 1600–1630)
Carlo Farino (17th century, dates unknown)
Giovanni Legrenzi (1625–1690)
Giovanni Battista Vitali (1644–1692)
Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713)
Alessandro Scarlatti (1659–1725)
Antonio Vivaldi (1675–1743)
Francesco Geminiani (1680–1762)
Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770)
Antonio Veracini (Late 17th Century, dates unknown)
Pietro Locatelli (1693–1764)
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736)
Felice de Giardini (1716–1796)
Pietro Nardini (1722–1793)
Giovanni Battista Sammartini (1730–1770)
Gaetano Pugnani (1731–1798)
Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805)
GERMAN
J. Hermann Schein (1586–1630)
Jan Adam Reinken (1623–1722)
Nikolaus Hasse (1630–1706)
Johann P. Krieger (1649–1725)
Johann Pezel (1669–1686)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Johann Schenck (Before 1685)
Johann Graun (1698–1771)
Ignaz Holzbauer (1711–1783)
Karl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1783)
Johann W. A. Stamitz (1717–1757)
Johann Schobert (1720?–1767)
Carlo Giuseppe Toeschi (Italian) (1724–1788)
Johann T. Goldberg (1730–1760?)
FRENCH
Henri Desmarets (1662–1741)
François Couperin (1668–1733)
Jean Marie Leclair (1697–1764)
(HAYDN AND LATER)
GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN
Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
Johann G. Albrechtsberger (1736–1809)
Michael Haydn (1737–1806)
Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739–1799)
Wenzel Pichel (1741–1805)
Johann Wenzelstich (1746–1803)
Abt Vogler (1749–1814)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Paul Wranitsky (1756–1808)
Ignaz J. Pleyel (1757–1831)
Daniel Steibelt (1765–1823)
Rudolph Kreutzer (1766–1831)
Anton Reicha (1770–1836)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Johann Hummel (1778–1837)
Ferdinand Ries (1784–1838)
Ludwig Spohr (1784–1859)
Friedrich Kuhlau (1786–1832)
Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826)
Heinrich Marschner (1795–1861)
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Franz Lachner (1803–1890)
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847)
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Otto Nicolai (1810–1849)
Ferdinand Hiller (1811–1885)
Robert Volkmann (1815–1883)
Fritz Spindler (1817–1905)
Cornelius Gurlitt (1820–1901)
Friedrich Kiel (1821–1885)
J. Joachim Raff (Swiss) (1822–1882)
Theodore Kirchner (1823–1903)
Anton Bruckner (1824–1896)
Carl Reinecke (1824–1910)
Woldemar Bargiel (1828–1897)
S. Jadassohn (1831–1902)
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Karl Navratil (1836–1914)
Max Bruch (1838–1920)
Joseph Rheinberger (1839–1901)
Hermann Goetz (1840–1876)
August Klughardt (1847–1902)
Robert Fuchs (1847)
Julius Roentgen (1855)
Hugo Wolf (1860–1903)
Ludwig Thuille (1861–1907)
Richard Strauss (1864)
Robert Kahn (1865)
Paul Ertel (1865)
Georg Schumann (1866)
Alexander Zemlinsky (1872)
Max Reger (1873–1916)
Arnold Schoenberg (Austrian) (1874)
Anton von Webern (Austrian) (1883)
Karl Horovitz (Austrian) (1884–1925)
Egon Wellesz (Austrian) (1885)
Alban Berg (Austrian) (1885)
Heinz Tiessen (Austrian) (1887)
Ernst Toch (Austrian) (1887)
Hermann Scherchen (1891)
Egon Kornauth (1891)
Paul Pisk (Austrian) (1893)
Alois Haba (Austrian) (1893)
Paul Hindemith (1895)
Ernst Krenek (1900)
Heinrich Kaminsky (_20th Century_)
Otto Siegl (_20th Century_)
CZECHO-SLOVAKIAN
Johann Ladislaus Dussek (1761–1812)
Bedrich Smetana (1824–1884)
Franz Bendel (1832–1874)
Antonin Dvorak (1841–1904)
Zdenko Fibich (1850–1900)
Josef Bohuslav Foerster (1859)
Vitezslav Novak (1870)
Josef Suk (1874)
Otakar Ostrcil (1879)
Rudolf Karel (1881)
Vaclar Stepan (1889)
Fidelio Finke (1891)
Erwin Schulhoff (1894)
Hans Krasa (1899)
Emil Axman (_20th Century_)
HUNGARIAN
Julius Major (1859)
Emanuel Moor (1862)
Ottokar Novacek (1866–1900)
Ernst von Dohnanyi (1877)
Béla Bártok (1881)
Zoltan Kodaly (1882)
Leo Weiner (1885)
FRENCH
François Joseph Gossec (1734–1829)
André Ernest Modeste Grétry (1741–1813)
Marie Alexandre Guenin (1744–1814)
Hyacinthe Jadin (1769–1800)
Jacques F. Mazas (1782–1849)
Chrétien Urhan (1790–1845)
Napoleon Henri Reber (1807–1880)
Félicien David (1810–1873)
Ambroise Thomas (1811–1896)
César Franck (1822–1890)
Edouard Lalo (1823–1892)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Theodore Dubois (1835–1924)
Alexis de Castillon (1838–1873)
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
Charles Marie Widor (1845)
Vincent d’Indy (1851)
Ernest Chausson (1855–1899)
André Gédalge (1856–1926)
Sylvio Lazzari (Tyrolese) (1858)
Auguste Chapuis (1862)
Claude Achille Debussy (1862–1918)
Guy Ropartz (1864)
Alberic Magnard (1865–1914)
Charles Koechlin (1867)
Albert Roussel (1869)
Florent Schmitt (1870)
Henri Rabaud (1873)
Maurice Ravel (1875)
Jean Roger Ducasse (1875)
André Caplet (1878–1925)
Paul le Flem (1881)
Louis Durey (1888)
Jacques Ibert (1890)
Roland Manuel (1891)
Georges Migot (1891)
Arthur Honegger (1892)
Darius Milhaud (1892)
Germaine Tailleferre (1892)
Lili Boulanger (1893–1918)
Marcelle Soulage (1894)
Georges Auric (1899)
Francis Poulenc (1899)
Raymond Petit (_20th Century_)
BELGIAN
Chas. de Bériot (1802–1870)
Guillaume Lekeu (1870–1894)
Joseph Jongen (1873)
Victor Vreuls (1876)
Arthur Hoerée (_20th Century_)
DUTCH
Richard Hol (1825–1904)
Julius Roentgen (1855)
Johan Wagenaar (1862)
Dirk Schaefer (1874)
Bernard van Dieren (1884)
James Zwart (1892)
SWISS
Jean Xavier Lefèvre (1763–1829)
Hans Huber (1852–1921)
ROUMANIAN
Georges Enesco (1881)
RUSSIAN
Michail Ivanovitch Glinka (1804–1857)
César Cui (1835–1918)
Piotr (Peter) Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908)
Serge I. Taneiev (1856–1915)
Anton Arensky (1861–1906)
Georg L. Catoire (1861–1926)
Alexander Gretchaninov (1864)
Alexander Glazounov (1865)
Paul Juon (1872)
Serge Rachmaninov (1873)
Reinhold Glière (1875)
Nicolai Miaskovsky (1881)
Leonid Sabaneyef (1881)
Igor Stravinsky (1882)
Alexander Tcherepnin (1902)
Nicholas Roslavets (_20th Century_)
POLISH
Ignaz Felix Dobrzynski (1807–1867)
Ladislas Selenski (1837–1921)
Philipp Scharwenka (1847–1917)
Franz Xaver Scharwenka (1850–1924)
Emil Mlynarski (1870)
Ludomir Rozycki (1883)
Karol Szymanowski (1883)
Alexandre Tansman (1892)
Tadeusz Iarecki (_20th Century_) (Living in U. S. A.)
FINNISH
Jan Sibelius (1865)
Oskar Merikanto (1868)
Armas E. Launis (1884)
SCANDINAVIAN
Johan P. E. Hartmann (Danish) (1805–1900)
Niels W. Gade (Danish) (1817–1890)
August Winding (Danish) (1835–1899)
Emil Hartmann (Danish) (1836–1898)
Johan Svendsen (Norwegian) (1840–1911)
Edvard Hagerup Grieg (Norwegian) (1843–1907)
Ole Olsen (Norwegian) (1850)
Peter Lange-Müller (Danish) (1850–1926)
Gerhard Schjelderup (Norwegian) (1859)
A. Carl Nielson (Danish) (1864)
Christian Sinding (Norwegian) (1856)
Wilhelm Stenhammar (Norwegian) (1871)
Sigurd Lie (Norwegian) (1871–1904)
Kurt Atterberg (Swedish) (1887)
ITALIAN
Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)
Antonio Bazzini (1818–1897)
Giovanni Sgambati (1843–1914)
Giuseppe Martucci (1856–1909)
Enrico Bossi (1861–1925)
Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924)
Leone Sinigaglia (1868)
Mario Tarenghi (1870)
Alfredo d’Ambrosio (1871–1915)
Lorenzo Perosi (1872)
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876)
Ottorino Respighi (1879)
Vincenzo Tommasini (1880)
Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880)
G. Francesco Malipiero (1882)
Riccardo Pick-Mangiagalli (1882)
Alfredo Casella (1883)
Vincenzo Davico (1889)
Guido Guerrini (1890)
Mario Labroca (1896)
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1896)
Vittorio Rieti (1898)
SPANISH
Enrique Granados (1867–1916)
Joaquin Turina (1882)
Manuel de Falla (1876)
Oscar Esplà (1886)
ENGLISH
George Onslow (1784–1852)
Michael Balfe (1808–1870)
George Alexander MacFarren (1813–1887)
William Sterndale Bennett (1816–1875)
Ebenezer Prout (1835–1909)
Alexander Campbell Mackenzie (1847)
Charles Hubert H. Parry (1848–1918)
Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924)
Frederick H. Cowen (1852)
Edward Elgar (1857)
Ethel M. Smyth (1858)
Algernon Ashton (1859)
William Henry Hadow (1859)
Marie Wurm (1860) (Living in Germany)
William Wallace (1860)
Eugene d’Albert (1864) (Living in Germany)
John Blackwood McEwen (1868)
Frederick Lamond (1868)
Granville Bantock (1868)
Walford Davies (1869)
Cecil Forsyth (1870)
Ralph Vaughn Williams (1872)
Gustav Holst (1874)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912)
Donald Francis Tovey (1875)
Norman O’Neill (1875)
H. Waldo Warner (1876)
William Yates Hurlstone (1876–1906)
Thomas Dunhill (1877)
H. Balfour Gardiner (1877)
Josef Holbrooke (1878)
Frank Bridge (1879)
Cyril Scott (1879)
Arnold Bax (1883)
York Bowen (1884)
Benjamin Dale (1885)
Gerrard Williams (1888)
Armstrong Gibbs (1889)
Arthur Bliss (1891)
Herbert Howells (Australian) (1892)
Eugene Goossens (1893)
Rebecca Clarke (_20th Century_)
BRAZILIAN
Villa-Lobos (1892)
AMERICAN
John K. Paine (1839–1906)
Frederick Grant Gleason (1848–1903)
Arthur Foote (1853)
Adolph M. Foerster (1854–1927)
George W. Chadwick (1854)
George Templeton Strong (1856)
Edgar Stillman Kelley (1857)
Henry Schoenefeld (1857)
Abraham W. Lillienthal (1859)
Arthur Whiting (1861)
Samuel Baldwin (1862)
Charles Martin Loeffler (1861)
Carl Busch (Danish) (1862)
Edmund Severn (1862)
Ernest R. Kroeger (1862)
Henry Holden Huss (1862)
Horatio Parker (1863–1919)
William H. Berwald (1864)
Mrs. H. H. A. Beach (1867)
Louis Adolphe Coerne (1870–1922)
Frederick Stock (German) (1871)
Henry K. Hadley (1871)
Arthur Nevin (1871)
Frederick Converse (1871)
Felix Borowsky (1872)
Rubin Goldmark (1872)
Frank E. Ward (1872)
Daniel Gregory Mason (1873)
Arne Oldberg (1874)
Camille Zeckwer (1875–1924)
Frederick Ayres (1876)
David Stanley Smith (1877)
Blair Fairchild (1877)
John Beach (1877)
Franz C. Bornschein (1879)
Heniot Lévy (Polish) (1879)
Eastwood Lane (?)
Ernest Bloch (Swiss) (1880)
Eric Delamarter (1880)
John Powell (1882)
Percy Grainger (Australian) (1882)
Ethel Leginska (English) (1883)
Mary Howe (?)
Louis Gruenberg (1884)
Charles Griffes (1884–1920)
James P. Dunn (1884)
Emerson Whithorne (1884)
Deems Taylor (1885)
Carlos Salzedo (French) (1885)
George F. Boyle (Australian) (1886)
Marion Bauer (1887)
Albert Spalding (1888)
Leslie Loth (1888)
Chalmers Clifton (1889)
Harold Morris (1889)
Frederick Jacobi (1891)
Charles Haubiel (1892)
Albert Stoessel (1894)
Sandor Harmati (Hungarian) (1894)
Leo Sowerby (1895)
Leo Ornstein (1895)
Howard Hanson (1896)
Richard Hammond (1896)
Aaron Copland (1898)
Pianoforte Music
(_Lyrical Pieces, Songs without Words, Nocturnes, Impromptus, Ballads,
Intermezzi, Preludes, and Program Music._)
GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN
Johann N. Hummel (1778–1837)
Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826)
Friederich Kuhlau (1786–1832)
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Charles Mayer (1799–1862)
Joseph Kessler (1800–1872)
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847)
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Ferdinand von Hiller (1811–1885)
Adolf von Henselt (1814–1889)
Robert Volkmann (1815–1883)
Fritz Spindler (1817–1905)
Theodor Kullak (1818–1882)
Albert Loeschorn (1819–1905)
Friedrich Kiel (1821–1885)
Joseph Joachim Raff (Swiss) (1822–1882)
Theodor Kirchner (1823–1903)
Carl Reinecke (1824–1910)
Ernst Pauer (1826–1905)
Gustav Merkel (1827–1885)
Woldemar Bargiel (1828–1897)
Gustav Lange (1830–1889)
Hans von Bülow (1830–1894)
Salomon Jadassohn (1831–1902)
Franz Bendel (1833–1874)
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Adolf Jensen (1837–1879)
Joseph Rheinberger (1839–1901)
Heinrich Hofmann (1842–1902)
Hugo Reinhold (Austrian) (1854)
Alexander von Fielitz (1860)
Hugo Kaun (1863)
Adele aus der Ohe (1864–1916)
Georg Schumann (1866)
Alexander Zemlinsky (1872)
Max Reger (1873–1916)
Arnold Schoenberg (1874)
Siegfried Karg-Elert (1879)
Walter Braunfels (1882)
Arthur Schnabel (1882)
Karl Horwitz (1884–1925)
Heinz Tiessen (1887)
Ernst Toch (1887)
Egon Kornauth (1891)
Hermann Scherchen (1891)
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897)
Philipp Jarnach (1892)
Otto Siegl (_20th Century_)
CZECHO-SLOVAKIA
Johann Ladislaus Dussek (1761–1812)
Ignaz Moscheles (1794–1870)
Alexander Dreyschock (1818–1869)
Antonin Dvorak (1841–1904)
Josef Rebicek (1844–1904)
Zdenko Fibich (1850–1900)
J. B. Foerster (1859)
Vitezslav Novak (1870)
Josef Suk (1874)
Rudolf Karel (1881)
HUNGARIAN
Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
Stephen Heller (1813–1888)
Karl Goldmark (1830–1915)
Emanuel Moor (1862)
Arpad Szendy (1863–1922)
Eduard Poldini (1869)
Ernst von Dohnanyi (1877)
Béla Bártok (1881)
Zoltan Kodaly (1882)
FRENCH
Napoleon Henri Reber (1807–1880)
Charles Alkan (1813–1888)
Ignace Leybach (Alsatian) (1817–1891)
Jean Henri Ravina (1818–1906)
César Franck (1822–1890)
Auguste Durand (1830–1909)
Eugene Ketterer (1831–1870)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Théodore Dubois (1837–1924)
Louis Brassin (1840–1884)
Alexis Emmanuel Chabrier (1841–1894)
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
Théodore Lack (1846)
Benjamin Godard (1849–1895)
François Thomé (1850)
Vincent d’Indy (1851)
Raoul Pugno (1852–1914)
Sylvio Lazzari (Tyrolese) (1858)
Mme. Cécile Chaminade (1861)
Auguste Chapuis (1862)
Xavier Leroux (1863–1919)
Gabriel Pierné (1863)
Isidor Philipp (1863)
Erik Satie (1866–1925)
Charles Koechlin (1867)
Claude Achille Debussy (1867–1918)
Florent Schmitt (1870)
Louis Vierne (1870)
Henri Rabaud (1873)
Deodat de Sévérac (1873–1921)
Jean Roger Ducasse (1875)
Maurice Ravel (1875)
Louis Aubert (1877)
Gustave Samazeuilh (1877)
Rhené-Baton (1879)
Gabriel Grovlez (1879)
André Caplet (1878–1925)
Paul Le Flem (1881)
Georges Migot (1891)
Arthur Honegger (1892)
Darius Milhaud (1892)
Francis Poulenc (1899)
Louis Vuillemin (?)
BELGIUM
Théophile Ysaye (1865–1918)
DUTCH
Richard Hol (1825–1904)
Johan Wagenaar (1862)
Dirk Schaefer (1874)
SWISS
Sigismund Thalberg (1812–1871)
Joseph Joachim Raff (1822–1882)
Hans Huber (1852–1921)
Emile Blanchet (1877)
RUSSIAN
Michail Ivanovitch Glinka (1804–1857)
Anton Rubinstein (1830–1894)
Alexander Borodin (1834–1887)
Nicolai von Wilm (1834–1911)
César Cui (1835–1918)
Nicolai Rubinstein (1835–1881)
Mili Balakirev (1836–1910)
Modest Moussorgsky (1839–1881)
Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908)
Nicolas de Stcherbatchev (1853)
Alexander Kopylov (1854)
Anatole Liadov (1855–1914)
Eduard Schütt (1856) (Living in Vienna)
Genari Karganov (1858–1890)
Alexander Ilyinsky (1859)
Serge M. Liapounov (1859)
Anton Arensky (1861–1906)
Joseph Wihtol (1863)
Alexander Glazounov (1865)
Vladimir Rebikov (1866)
Arseni Korestchenko (1870)
Paul Juon (1872)
Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915)
Serge Rachmaninov (1873)
Reinhold M. Glière (1875)
Ossip Gabrilovitch (1878)
Nikolaus Medtner (1879)
Gregory Krein (1880)
Leonid Sabaneyef (1881)
Alexander Krein (1883)
Samuel Feinberg (1890)
Serge Prokofiev (1891)
Alexander Tcherepnin (1902)
POLISH
Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
Theodore Leschetizky (1830–1915)
Alexander Zarzycki (1834–1895)
Philipp Scharwenka (1847–1917)
Xaver Scharwenka (1850–1924)
J. L. Nicodé (1853)
Moritz Moszkowski (1854–1925)
Ignace Jan Paderewski (1860)
Emil Mlynarski (1870)
Sigismund Stojowski (1870) (Living in America)
Leopold Godowsky (1870) (Living in America)
Karol Szymanowski (1883)
Poldowski (Lady Dean Paul) (188 ?) (Living in London)
Alexandre Tansman (1898) (Living in Paris)
FINNISH
Robert Kajanus (1856)
Jan Sibelius (1865)
Oskar Merikanto (1868)
Armas Järnefelt (1869)
Selim Palmgren (1878)
Armas E. Launis (1884)
SCANDINAVIAN
Halfdan Kjerulf (Norwegian) (1815–1868)
Niels Gade (Danish) (1817–1890)
August Winding (Danish) (1835–1899)
Edmund Neupert (Norwegian) (1842–1888)
Edvard Hagerup Grieg (Norwegian) (1843–1907)
Agathe Backer-Gröndahl (Norwegian) (1847–1907)
Ludwig T. Schytte (Danish) (1850–1909)
Emil Sjögren (Swedish) (1853–1918)
Cornelius Rybner (Danish) (1855–1929) (Lived in America)
Christian Sinding (Norwegian) (1856)
August Enna (Danish) (1860)
Johan Halvorsen (Norwegian) (1864)
A. Carl Nielson (Danish) (1864)
Olof Peterson-Berger (Swedish) (1867)
Sigurd Lie (Norwegian) (1871–1904)
ITALIAN
Giovanni Sgambati (1843–1914)
M. Enrico Bossi (1861–1925)
Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924)
Mario Tarenghi (1870)
Franco Alfano (1877)
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876)
G. Francesco Malipiero (1882)
Alfredo Casella (1883)
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1896)
Victor da Sabata (1896)
SPANISH
Pedro Albeniz (1795–1855)
Isaac Albeniz (1861–1909)
Enrique Granados (1867–1916)
Alberto Jonás (1868)
José Vianna di Motta (Portuguese) (1868)
Manuel de Falla (1876)
Frederic Mompou (_20th Century_)
Joaquin Turina (1882)
BRAZIL
Villa-Lobos (1892)
ENGLISH
John Field (1782–1837)
William Sterndale Bennett (1816–1875)
Walter C. MacFarren (1826–1905)
Charles Hubert H. Parry (1848–1918)
Tobias Matthay (1858)
Algernon Ashton (1859)
Herbert F. Sharpe (1861)
Eugene d’Albert (1864)
Granville Bantock (1868)
Arthur Hinton (1869)
Percy Pitt (1870)
Ernest Austin (1874)
Norman O’Neill (1875)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912)
William Y. Hurlstone (1876–1906)
H. Balfour Gardiner (1877)
Roger Quilter (1877)
Josef Holbrooke (1878)
John Ireland (1879)
Frank Bridge (1879)
Cyril Scott (1879)
Arnold Bax (1883)
Lord Berners (1883)
York Bowen (1884)
John R. Heath (1887)
Gerrard Williams (1888)
Alec Rowley (1892)
Eugene Goossens (1893)
Norman Peterkin (?)
AMERICAN
Hermann Adolf Wollenhaupt (German) (1827–1863)
L. M. Gottschalk (1829–1869)
William Mason (1829–1908)
Sebastian Bach Mills (1838–1898)
Homer N. Bartlett (1846–1920)
Emil Liebling (1851–1914)
Max Vogrich (Transylvania) (1822–1916)
Constantin Sternberg (1852–1924)
Rafael Joseffy (Hungarian) (1852–1915)
Percy Goetschius (1853)
Arthur Foote (1853)
William H. Sherwood (1854–1911)
Adolph M. Foerster (1854–1927)
George W. Chadwick (1854)
Wilson G. Smith (1855–1929)
Arthur Bird (1856–1923)
George Templeton Strong (1856)
Carl V. Lachmund (1857–192?)
Harry Rowe Shelley (1858)
Bruno Oscar Klein (German) (1858–1911)
Edward MacDowell (1861–1908)
Arthur Whiting (1861)
Ethelbert Nevin (1862–1901)
Henry Holden Huss (1862)
William H. Berwald (German) (1864)
Rosseter Gleason Cole (1866)
Mrs. H. H. A. Beach (1867)
Margaret Ruthven Lang (1867)
Florence N. Barbour (1867)
Louis Victor Saar (1868)
Henry F. Gilbert (1868–1928)
Paolo Gallico (Austrian) (1868)
Louis Adolph Coerne (1870–1922)
Howard Brockway (1870)
Samuel Bollinger (1871)
Arthur Nevin (1871)
Rubin Goldmark (1872)
Felix Borowsky (1872)
Arthur Farwell (1872)
Edward Burlingame Hill (1872)
Daniel Gregory Mason (1873)
Ernest Schelling (1876)
Mortimer Wilson (1876)
John Alden Carpenter (1876)
John Beach (1877)
Louis Campbell-Tipton (1877–1921)
Rudolph Ganz (Swiss) (1877)
Blair Fairchild (1877)
Albert Mildenberg (1878–1918)
Benjamin Lambord (1879–1915)
Heniot Lévy (Polish) (1879)
Eastwood Lane (?)
Arthur Shepherd (1880)
Noble Kreider (1880 ?)
F. Morris Class (1881–1926)
Gena Branscombe (1881)
R. Nathaniel Dett (1882)
John Powell (1882)
Percy Grainger (Australian) (1882)
Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884–1920)
Emerson Whithorne (1884)
Louis Gruenberg (1884)
Cecil Burleigh (1885)
George F. Boyle (Australian) (1886)
Walter Morse Rummel (1887)
Fanny Charles Dillon (_20th Century_)
Edward Royce (1886)
Marion Bauer (1887)
Leslie Loth (1888)
A. Walter Kramer (1890)
Frederick Jacobi (1891)
Rosalie Housman (1892)
Charles Haubiel (1892)
Elliot Griffis (1892)
Mana Zucca (1893)
Albert Stoessel (1894)
David W. Guion (1895)
Leo Ornstein (1895)
George Antheil (_20th Century_)
Henry Cowell (_20th Century_)
Richard Hammond (1896)
Aaron Copland (1898)
Some Writers of Song
GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN
Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787)
Johann Adam Hiller (1728–1804)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Karl Zelter (1758–1832)
Johann Zumsteeg (1760–1802)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826)
Luise Reichardt (1788–1826)
Heinrich Marschner (1795–1861)
Johann Carl Gottfried Loewe (1796–1869)
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Heinrich Dorn (1804–1892)
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847)
Heinrich Proch (1809–1878)
Otto Nicolai (1810–1849)
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
Robert Franz (1815–1892)
Franz Abt (1819–1885)
Joseph Joachim Raff (Swiss) (1822–1882)
Peter Cornelius (1824–1874)
Alexander Ritter (1833–1896)
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Adolf Jensen (1837–1879)
Max Bruch (1838–1920)
Joseph Rheinberger (1839–1901)
Engelbert Humperdinck (1854–1921)
Felix Mottl (1856)
Hugo Wolf (1860–1903)
Ludwig Thuille (1861–1907)
Felix Weingartner (1863)
Hugo Kaun (1863)
Richard Strauss (1864)
Robert Kahn (1865)
Hans Pfitzner (1869)
Hans Hermann (1870)
Siegmund von Hausegger (1872)
Max Reger (1873–1916)
Arnold Schoenberg (1874)
Eric Wolff (1874–1913)
Franz Schreker (1878)
Karl Bleyle (1880)
Joseph Marx (1882)
Walter Braunfels (1882)
Anton von Webern (1883)
Egon Wellesz (1885)
Kurt Weill (188 ?)
Heinz Tiessen (1887)
Eduard Erdmann (_20th Century_)
Hermann Scherchen (1891)
Erich Korngold (1897)
CZECHO-SLOVAKIAN
Bedrich Smetana (1824–1884)
Eduard Napravnik (1839–1916)
Antonin Dvorak (1841–1904)
Zdenko Fibich (1850–1900)
Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)
Karl Navratil (1867)
Vitezslav Novak (1870)
Fidelio Finke (1891)
Hans Krasa (1899)
HUNGARIAN
Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
Karl Goldmark (1830–1915)
Francis Korbay (1846–1913)
Emanuel Moor (1862)
Ottokar Novacek (1866–1900)
Ernst von Dohnanyi (1877)
Béla Bártok (1881)
Zoltan Kodaly (1882)
Deszo Zsives (1885)
Tibor Harsanyi (1898)
FRENCH
Luigi Cherubini (Italian) (1760)
Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)
Napoleon Henri Reber (1807–1880)
Félicien David (1810–1876)
Charles Gounod (1818–1893)
César Franck (Belgian) (1822–1890)
Edouard Lalo (1823–1892)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Leo Délibes (1836–1891)
Théodore Dubois (1837–1924)
Georges Bizet (1838–1875)
Jules Massenet (1842–1912)
Emile Paladilhe (1844)
Charles Marie Widor (1845)
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
René Lenormand (1846)
Henri Duparc (1848)
Benjamin Godard (1849–1895)
Alexandre Georges (1850)
Augusta Holmès (Irish) (1849–1903)
Vincent d’Indy (1851)
Raoul Pugno (1852–1914)
Ernest Chausson (1855–1899)
Alfred Bruneau (1857)
George Huë (1858)
Sylvio Lazzari (Tyrolese) (1858)
Gustave Charpentier (1860)
Pierre de Breville (1861)
Cecile Chaminade (1861)
Henri Bemberg (1861)
Claude Achille Debussy (1862–1918)
August Chapuis (1862)
Gabriel Pierné (1863)
Paul Vidal (1863)
Charles Koechlin (1867)
Albert Roussel (1869)
Florent Schmitt (1870)
Louis Vierne (1870)
Deodat de Sévérac (1873–1921)
Henri Rabaud (1873)
Reynaldo Hahn (Venezuelan) (1874)
Max d’Ollone (1875)
Maurice Ravel (1875)
Camille Decreus (1876)
Raoul Laparra (1876)
Louis Aubert (1877)
André Caplet (1878–1925)
Gabriel Grovlez (1879)
Rhené-Baton (1879)
Jeanne Herscher-Clément (1880)
Félix Fourdrain (1880–1924)
Paul Le Flem (1881)
Jean Cras (_20th Century_)
Louis Durey (1888)
Raymond Petit (?)
Jacques Ibert (1890)
Georges Migot (1891)
Roland Manuel (1891)
Darius Milhaud (1892)
Arthur Honegger (1892)
Marcelle Soulage (1894)
Georges Auric (1899)
Francis Poulenc (1899)
BELGIAN
Gustav Huberti (1843–1910)
Jan Blockx (1851–1912)
Edgar Tinel (1854–1912)
Sylvain Dupuis (1856)
Paul Gilson (1865)
Louis Mortelmans (1868)
Guillaume Lekeu (1870–1894)
Victor Vreuls (1876)
DUTCH
Richard Hol (1825–1904)
Bernard Zweers (1854)
Julius Roentgen (1855)
Alfons Diepenbrock (1862–1921)
Jan Brandt-Buys (1868)
Cornelius Dopper (1870)
Dirk Schaefer (1874)
Bernard van Dieren (1884)
Dirk Foch (1886)
Willem Pijper (1894)
SWISS
Hans Huber (1852–1921)
Rudolph Ganz (1877) (Living in America)
Emile Blanchet (1877)
Ernest Bloch (1880) (Living in America)
RUSSIAN
Michael Glinka (1804–1857)
Anton Rubinstein (1830–1894)
Alexander Borodin (1834–1887)
César Cui (1835–1918)
Mily Balakirev (1837–1910)
Modest Moussorgsky (1839–1881)
Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908)
Alexander Kopylov (1854)
Alexander Ilyinsky (1859)
Anton Arensky (1861–1906)
Georg Catoire (1861–1926)
Erik Mayer-Helmund (1861)
Alexander Gretchaninov (1864)
Joseph Wihtol (1863)
Alexander Glazounov (1865)
Vladimir Rebikov (1866)
Arseni Korestchenko (1870)
Serge Vassilenko (1872)
Serge Rachmaninov (1873)
Reinhold Glière (1875)
Miecyslaw Karlowicz (1876–1909)
Nikolaus Medtner (1879)
Gregory Krein (1880)
Igor Stravinsky (1882)
Alexander Krein (1882)
Michael Gniessin (1883)
POLISH
Frédéric Chopin (1809–1849)
Felix Nowowiejski (German)(1877)
Karol Szymanowsky (1883)
Poldowski (Lady Dean Paul) (188 ?) (Living in London)
Alexandre Tansman (1898)
FINNISH
Jan Sibelius (1865)
Oskar Merikanto (1867)
Armas Järnefelt (1869)
Selim Palmgren (1878)
Armas E. Launis (1884)
SCANDINAVIAN
Adolf Lindblad (Swedish) (1801–1878)
Johan P. E. Hartmann (Danish) (1805–1900)
Halfdan Kjerulf (Norwegian) (1815–1868)
Niels Gade (Danish) (1817–1890)
Eduard Lassen (Danish) (1830–1894)
Jorgen Malling (Danish) (1836–1905)
Rikard Nordraak (Norwegian) (1842–1866)
Julius Bechgaard (Danish) (1843–1917)
Edvard Grieg (Norwegian) (1843–1907)
Mme. Agathe Backer-Grondah (Norwegian) (1847–1907)
Otto Malling (Danish) (1848–1915)
Ludwig Schytte (Danish) (1850–1909)
Ole Olsen (Norwegian) (1850)
Peter Lange-Müller (Danish) (1850–1926)
Emil Sjögren (Swedish) (1853–1918)
Cornelius Rybner (1855–1929)
Christian Sinding (Norwegian) (1856)
August Enna (Danish) (1860)
Carl Nielson (Danish) (1864)
Johan Halvorsen (Norwegian) (1864)
Bror Beckman (Swedish) (1866)
Olaf Peterson-Berger (Swedish) (1867)
Wilhelm Stenhammar (Swedish) (1871)
Sigurd Lie (Norwegian) (1871–1904)
Hugo Alfven (Swedish) (1872)
Halfdan Cleve (Norwegian) (1879)
Natanael Berg (Norwegian) (1879)
Ture Rangstrom (Swedish) (1884)
ITALIAN
Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)
Luigi Arditi (1822–1903)
Ciro Pinsuti (1829–1888)
F. Paolo Tosti (1846–1916)
P. Mario Costa (1858)
Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1858–1919)
Enrico Bossi (1861–1925)
Franco Leoni (1864)
Leone Sinigaglia (1868)
Carlo Perinello (1875)
Stefano Donaudy (1879)
Ottorino Respighi (1879)
Gabrieli Sibella (?–1925)
Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880)
Vincenzo Tommasini (1880)
Francesco Malipiero (1882)
Francesco Santoliquido (1883)
Alfredo Casella (1883)
Riccardo Zandonai (1883)
Ferdinando Liuzzi (1884)
Adriano Lualdi (1887)
Vincenzo Davico (1889)
Guido Guerrini (1890)
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895)
SPANISH
Pedro Albeniz (1795–1855)
Felipe Pedrell (1841–1922)
Enrique Granados (1867–1916)
Manuel de Falla (1876)
Carlos Pedreil (Uruguayan) (1878)
Joaquin Turina (1882)
Joaquin Nin (1883)
Joaquin Valverde (1875–1918)
Quirino Valverde (?)
Julian Huarte (?)
ENGLISH
John Barnett (1802–1890)
William Sterndale Bennett (1816–1875)
Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842–1900)
Alexander C. Mackenzie (1847)
Charles Hubert H. Parry (1848–1918)
Arthur Goring Thomas (1851–1892)
Frederick H. Cowen (1852)
Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924)
Maud Valerie White (1855)
Edward Elgar (1857)
Ethel M. Smyth (1858)
“Anton Strelezki” Sir Francis Bernand (1859)
Algernon Ashton (1859)
Edward German (1862)
Liza Lehmann (1862–1918)
Frederick Delius (1863)
Arthur Somervell (1863)
Eugene d’Albert (1864)
Herbert Bedford (1867)
Granville Bantock (1868)
Walford Davies (1869)
Percy Pitt (1870)
Cecil Forsyth (1870)
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872)
Landon Ronald (1873)
Gustav Holst (1874)
Ernest Austin (1874)
Norman O’Neill (1875)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912)
H. Balfour Gardiner (1877)
Roger Quilter (1877)
Graham Peel (1877)
Josef Holbrooke (1878)
Rutland Boughton (1878)
Frank Bridge (1879)
John Ireland (1879)
Cyril Scott (1879)
Bryceson Treharne (1879)
Arnold Bax (1883)
Lord Berners (1883)
Hubert Bath (1883)
Peter Warlock (?)
Felix White (1884)
Benjamin Dale (1885)
John Heath (1887)
Gerrard Williams (1888)
Leigh Henry (1889)
Armstrong Gibbs (1889)
Arthur Bliss (1891)
Alec Rowley (1892)
Eugene Goossens (1893)
Eric Fogg (1903)
Martin Shaw
AMERICAN
Francis Hopkinson (1737–1791)
Stephen Collins Foster (1826–1864)
Harrison Millard (1830–1895)
Dudley Buck (1839–1909)
George L. Osgood (1844–1923)
William Wallace Gilchrist (1846–1916)
Homer N. Bartlett (1846–1920)
Oscar Weil (1839–1921)
Jules Jordan (1850)
Arthur Foote (1853)
George W. Chadwick (1854)
Adolph M. Foerster (1854–1927)
Wilson G. Smith (1855–1929)
John Hyatt Brewer (1856)
Helen Hopekirk (Scotch) (1856)
Mary Turner Salter (1856)
Clayton Johns (1857)
James H. Rogers (1857)
Edgar Stillman Kelley (1857)
Frank Lynes (1858–1913)
Harry Rowe Shelley (1858)
Charles B. Hawley (1858)
Gerrit Smith (1859–1912)
Reginald de Koven (1859–1920)
Charles Whitney Coombs (1859)
Victor Herbert (1859–1924)
Alfred G. Robyn (1860)
William C. Hammond (1860)
Pietro Floridia (Italian) (1860)
Homer A. Norris (1860–1920)
Edward MacDowell (1861–1908)
Charles Martin Loeffler (Alsatian) (1861)
Isidore Luckstone (1861)
R. Huntington Woodman (1861)
Williams Arms Fisher (1861)
Ethelbert Nevin (1862–1901)
Walter Damrosch (1862)
Henry Holden Huss (1862)
Ernest R. Kroeger (1862)
Carl Busch (1862)
Horatio Parker (1863–1919)
William H. Neidlinger (1863–1924)
Frederick Field Bullard (1864–1904)
Sidney Homer (1864)
Harvey Worthington Loomis (1865)
Louis Koemmenich (German) (1866–1922)
Daniel Protheroe (Welsh) (1866)
Frank Seymour Hastings (?)
Clarence Lucas (1866)
Harry T. Burleigh (1866)
Rosseter Gleason Cole (1866)
Mrs. H. H. A. Beach (1867)
Margaret Ruthven Lang (1867)
Florence N. Barbour (1867)
Louis Victor Saar (Dutch) (1868)
Henry F. Gilbert (1868–1928)
Paolo Gallico (Austrian) (1868)
Victor Harris (1869)
William Henry Humiston (1869–1924)
Louis Adolph Coerne (1870–1922)
Howard Brockway (1870)
Bruno Huhn (1871)
Samuel Bollinger (1871)
Frederick Converse (1871)
Arthur Nevin (1871)
Henry K. Hadley (1871)
Percy Lee Atherton (1871)
Theodore Spiering (1871–1925)
Walter Henry Rothwell (English-Austrian) (1872–1927)
Rubin Goldmark (1872)
Arthur Farwell (1872)
Rupert Hughes (1872)
Charles Fonteyn Manney (1872)
Francesco de Nogero, d. 1926
_Emilie Frances Bauer_ (?–1926)
Edward Burlingame Hill (1872)
George A. Grant-Schaeffer (1872)
Daniel Gregory Mason (1873)
John Adam Hugo (1873)
Eugen Haile (German) (1873)
Edward Horsman (1873–1918)
Oscar G. Sonneck (1873–1928)
Charles Gilbert Spross (1874)
Henry Clough-Leighter (1874)
Hallett Gilberté (1875)
Frederick Ayres (1876)
Oley Speaks (1876)
Ernest Schelling (1876)
Mortimer Wilson (1876)
John Alden Carpenter (1876)
John Beach (1877)
Louis Campbell-Tipton (1877–1921)
Blair Fairchild (1877)
David Stanley Smith (1877)
Harriet Ware (1877)
Albert Mildenberg (1878–1918)
Franz C. Bornschein (1879)
Benjamin Lombard (1879–1915)
Constance Mills Herreshoff (?)
Mary Helen Brown (?)
Frank La Forge (1879)
Heniot Lévy (Polish) (1879)
Eastwood Lane (?)
Harry Osgood (?–1927)
Mabel Daniels (1878)
Alexander Macfayden (1879)
Alexander Russell (1880)
Homer Grunn (1880)
Marshall Kernochan (1880)
Ernest Bloch (Swiss) (1880)
Arthur Shepherd (1880)
Mabel Wood Hill (?)
Amy Ashmore Clark (1882)
F. Morris Class (1881–1926)
Gena Branscombe (1881)
Charles Wakefield Cadman (1881)
R. Nathaniel Dett (1882)
John Powell (1882)
Ward Stephens (?)
Percy Grainger (Australian) (1882)
Pearl Curran (?)
Richard Hagemann (Dutch) (1882)
Bainbridge Crist (1883)
Carl Deis (1883)
Carl Engel (1883)
Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884–1920)
Emerson Whithorne (1884)
Louis Gruenberg (1884)
Deems Taylor (1885)
Cecil Burleigh (1885)
Fay Foster (?)
Katherine Ruth Heyman (?)
Florence Turner Maley (?)
Florence Parr Gere (?)
Wintter Watts (1886)
Louis Edgar Johns (1886)
George F. Boyle (Australian) (1886)
Edward Ballantine (1886)
Edward Royce (1886)
Walter Golde (?)
Lily Strickland (1887)
Walter Morse Rummel (1887)
Dwight Fiske (?)
Fanny Charles Dillon (?)
Marion Bauer (1887)
Leslie Loth (1888)
Albert Spalding (1888)
Harold Vincent Milligan (1888)
Chalmers Clifton (1889)
Philip James (1890)
A. Walter Kramer (1890)
Rhea Silberta (?)
Frederick Jacobi (1891)
Elliot Griffis (1892)
Rosalie Housman (1892)
Mana Zucca (1893)
Albert Stoessel (1894)
David Guion (1895)
Leo Ornstein (1895)
Richard Hammond (1896)
Thurlow Lieurance (1897)
Aaron Copland (1898)
Alice Barnett (?)
Tom Dobson (d. 1921)
Bernhard Wagenaar (Dutch) (?)
Alexander Steinert, Jr. (?)
Kathleen Blair Clarke (?)
David W. Guion (?)
Oratorios
ITALIAN
Emilio del Cavalieri (1550?–1602)
Domenico Mazzocchi (1590–1650)
Luigi Rossi (1598–1653)
Giacomo Carissimi (1605–1674)
Giovanni Paolo Colonna (1627–1695)
Carola Pallavicini (1630–1688)
Alessandro Stradella (1645–1681)
Alessandro Scarlatti (1659–1725)
Francesco Pistocchi (1659–1726)
Jocopo Perti (1661–1756)
Antonio Caldara (1678–1763)
Niccolo Porpora (1686–1767)
Leonardo Leo (1694–1746)
Nicola Jommelli (1714–1774)
Felice de Giardini (1716–1796)
Pietro Guglielmi (1727–1804)
Antonio Sacchini (1734–1786)
Giovanni Paisiello (1741–1816)
Domenico Cimarosa (1749–1801)
Antonio Salieri (1750–1825)
Nicola Zingarelli (1752–1837)
Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868)
Gaetana Donizetti (1797–1848)
Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)
M. Enrico Bossi (1861–1925)
Giovanni Tebaldini (1864)
Giovanni Gianetti (1869)
Alfredo d’Ambrogio (1871–1915)
Lorenzo Perosi (1872)
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876)
Franco Alfano (1877)
GERMAN
Heinrich Schutz (1585–1672)
Johann Sebastiani (1622–1683)
Johann J. Fox (1660–1741)
Reinhard Keiser (1674–1739)
Johann Mattheson (1681–1764)
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
George Frederick Handel (1685–1759)
Johann Adolph Hasse (1699–1783)
Karl Heinrich Graun (1701–1759)
Karl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788)
Johann Heinrich Rolle (1718–1785)
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
Johann Gottlieb Naumann (1741–1801)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Sigismund Neukomm (1778–1858)
Ludwig (Louis) Spohr (1784–1859)
Friedrich Schneider (1786–1853)
Johann Karl Gottfried Loewe (1796–1869)
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847)
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Ferdinand Hiller (1811–1885)
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Max Bruch (1838–1920)
Joseph Rheinberger (1839–1901)
August Klughardt (1847–1902)
Otto Taubmann (1859)
Pater Hartmann (1863–1914)
HUNGARIAN
Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
Mauritius Vavrineoz (1858)
CZECHO-SLOVAKIAN
Antonin Dvorak (1841–1904)
RUSSIAN
Anton Rubinstein (1829–1894)
POLISH
Felix Nowowiejski (1877)
ENGLISH
Maurice Greene (1696–1755)
Thomas A. Arne (1710–1778)
John Stanley (1713–1786)
Samuel Arnold (1740–1802)
William Crotch (1775–1847)
John Barnett (1802–1890)
Michael Costa (1810?–1884)
George Alexander MacFarren (1813–1887)
William Sterndale Bennett (1816–1875)
Frederick Ouseley (1825–1889)
Joseph Barnby (1838–1896)
John Stainer (1840–1901)
Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842–1900)
Frederick J. Bridge (1844–1924)
Alexander Campbell Mackenzie (1847)
Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848–1918)
Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924)
Frederic Hymen Cowen (1852)
Henry John Edwards (1854)
Harvey Löhr (1856)
Edward Elgar (1857)
Alfred Herbert Brewer (1865)
John Blackwood McEwen (1868)
Granville Bantock (1868)
H. Walford Davies (1869)
Gustav Holst (1874)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912)
FRENCH
François Lesueur (1760–1837)
Félicien David (1810–1876)
Charles Gounod (1818–1893)
César Franck (Belgian) (1822–1890)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Théodore Dubois (1837–1924)
Vincent d’Indy (1851)
Claude Achille Debussy (1862–1918)
Gabriel Pierné (1863)
Charles Silver (1868)
Henri Rabaud (1873)
Reynaldo Hahn (Venezuelan) (1874)
André Caplet (1878–1925)
Arthur Honegger (1892)
BELGIAN
Pierre Benoit (1834–1901)
Edgar Tinel (1854–1912)
SPANISH
Felipe Pedrell (1841–1922)
Isaac Albeniz (1861–1909)
AMERICAN
Dudley Buck (1839–1909)
John Knowles Paine (1839–1906)
Julian Edwards (English) (1855–1910)
Humphrey John Stewart (1856)
Edgar Stillman Kelley (1857)
Horatio W. Parker (1863–1919)
Clarence Lucas (1866)
Paolo Gallico (Austrian) (1868)
Henry K. Hadley (1871)
Frederick S. Converse (1871)
Rosetter Gleason Cole (1866)
Some Opera Writers
ITALIAN
Claudio Merulo (1533–1604) (Madrigal Play)
Vincenzo Galilei (1533–1591)
Giulio Caccini (1546–1618)
Emilio del Cavalieri (1550–1602)
Jacopo Perti (1561–1633)
Claudio Monteverde (1567–1643)
Francesco Manelli (1595–1670)
Benedetto Ferrari (1597–1681)
Francesco Cavalli (1602–1676)
Giacomo Carissimi (1604–1674)
Marc Antonio Cesti (1620–1669)
Giovanni Legrenzi (1625–1690)
Domenico Gabrieli (1640–1690)
Alessandro Stradella (1645–1681)
Alessandro Scarlatti (1659–1725)
Jacopo Antonio Perti (1661–1756)
Attilio Ariosti (1666–1740)
Antonio Lotti (1667–1740)
Giuseppe Porsile (1672–1750)
Marc Antonio Buononcini (1675?–1726)
Antonio Caldara (1678?–1736)
Niccolo Antonio Porpora (1686–1766)
Leonardo Vinci (1690–1730)
Leonardo Leo (1694–1744)
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736)
Nicola Jommelli (1714–1774)
Nicolo Piccinni (1728–1800)
Giuseppe Sarti (1729–1802)
Antonio Sacchini (1734–1786)
Giovanni Paisiello (1741–1816)
Domenico Cimarosa (1749–1801)
Antonio Salieri (1750–1825)
Niccolo Vaccai (1790–1848)
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (1792–1868)
G. Saverio Mercadante (1795–1870)
Giovanni Pacini (1796–1867)
Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848)
Vincenzo Bellini (1801–1835)
Errico Petrella (1813–1877)
Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)
Carlo Perdrotti (1817–1893)
Alberto Randegger (1833–1911)
Amilcare Ponchielli (1834–1886)
Filippo Marchetti (1835–1902)
Arrigo Boito (1842–1918)
Luigi Mancinelli (1848–1921)
Niccolo Ravera (1851)
Alfredo Catalani (1854–1893)
Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924)
Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1858–1919)
Sylvio Lazzari (1858) (Living in Paris)
Alberto Franchetti (1860)
Pietro Mascagni (1863)
Franco Leoni (1864)
Crescenzo Buongiorno (1864–1903)
Giacomo Orefice (1865–1923)
Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924)
Francesco Cilèa (1866)
Umberto Giordano (1867)
Giovanni Gianetti (1869)
Antonio Luzzi (1873)
Italo Montemezzi (1875)
Domenico Monleone (1875)
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876)
Franco Alfano (1877)
Stefano Donaudy (1879)
Ottorino Respighi (1879)
Alberto Iginio Randegger (Austrian) (1880–1918)
Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880)
G. Francesco Malipiero (1882)
Giuseppe Gino Marinuzzi (1882)
Riccardo Zandonai (1883)
Francesco Santoliquido (1883)
Adriano Lualdi (1887)
Vincenzo Davico (1889)
Ettore Lucatello (?)
Victor de Sabata (1892)
SPANISH
Salvador Giner (1832–1911)
Felipe Pedrell (1841–1922)
Tomas Breton y Hernandez (1850)
Amedeo Vives (?)
Costa Nogueras (?)
Isaac Albeniz (1861–1909)
Enrique Granados (1867–1916)
Manuel de Falla (1876)
Joan Manen (1883)
Maria Rodrigo (1888)
SOUTH AMERICA
Carlos Gomez (Brazilian) (1839–1896)
José Valle-Riestra (Peruvian) (1859)
Antonio Berutti (Argentine) (1862)
FRENCH
Robert Cambert (1628–1679) (Wrote with Perrin)
Jean Batiste Lully (Italian) (1632–1687)
Pascal Colasse (1649–1709)
Marin Marais (1656–1728)
André Campra (1660–1744)
André Destouches (1672–1749)
Jean Philippe Rameau (1683–1764)
Egidio Romualdo Duni (Italian) (1709–1775)
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)
François André Danican Philidor (1726–1795)
Pierre Berton (1727–1780)
Pierre Alexandre Monsigny (1729–1817)
François Joseph Gossec (1743–1829)
André Ernest Modeste Grétry (1741–1813)
Luigi Cherubini (Italian) (1760–1842)
Jean François Lesueur (1760–1837)
Étienne Henri Méhul (1763–1822)
Gasparo Luigi Pacifico Spontini (Italian) (1774–1851)
François Adrien Boieldieu (1775–1834)
Nicolo Isouard (1775–1818)
Daniel François Esprit Auber (1782–1871)
Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold (1791–1833)
Jacques F. F. E. Halevy (1799–1862)
Adolphe Adam (1803–1856)
Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)
Napoleon Henri Reber (1807–1880)
Félicien C. David (1810–1876)
Ambroise Thomas (1811–1896)
Louis Lacombe (1818–1884)
Charles François Gounod (1818–1893)
Jacques Offenbach (German) (1819–1880)
Victor Massé (1822–1884)
Edouard Lalo (1823–1892)
Louis Ernest Reyer (1823–1909)
Florimond Ronger Hervé (1825–1892)
Alexandre Charles Lecocq (1832–1918)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Ernest Guiraud (American) (1837–1892) (Born in New Orleans)
Théodore Dubois (1837–1924)
Georges Bizet (1838–1875)
Clément P. Léo Délibes (1839–1891)
Félix Victorin de Joncières (1839–1903)
Emmanuel Chabrier (1841–1894)
Jules Massenet (1842–1912)
Emile Paladilhe (1844)
Joseph Arthur Coquard (1846–1910)
Robert Planquette (1848–1903)
Benjamin Godard (1849–1895)
Augusta Holmès (British) (1849–1903)
François Thomé (1850–1905)
Alexandre Georges (1850)
Vincent d’Indy (1851)
Hillemacher Frères (Brothers) Paul (1852) Lucien (1860–1909)
Raoul Pugno (1852–1914)
Andre Messager (1853)
Samuel A. Rousseau (1853–1904)
Ernest Chausson (1855–1899)
Alfred Bruneau (1857)
Georges Hüe (1858)
Gustave Charpentier (1860)
Gabriella Ferrari (1860)
Pierre de Bréville (1861)
Claude Achille Debussy (1862–1918)
Xavier Leroux (1863–1919)
Camille Erlanger (1863–1919)
Gabriel Pierné (1863)
Paul Vidal (1863)
Alfred Bachelet (1864)
Alberic Magnard (1865–1914)
Paul Dukas (1865)
Albert Roussel (1869)
Florent Schmitt (1870)
Henri Büsser (1872)
Deodat de Sévérac (1873–1921)
Henri Rabaud (1873)
Reynaldo Hahn (Venezuelan) (1874)
Max d’Ollone (1875)
Antoine Mariotte (1875)
Maurice Ravel (1875)
Raoul Laparra (1876)
Jean Nouguès (1876)
Henri Février (1876)
Louis Aubert (1877)
Gabriel Dupont (1878–1914)
Félix Fourdrain (1880–1924)
Albert Wolf
Roland Manuel (1891)
Arthur Honegger (1892)
Darius Milhaud (1892)
BELGIAN
André Ernest Modeste Grétry (1741–1813) (Lived in Paris)
François Auguste Gevaert (1828–1908)
Pierre Benoit (1834–1901)
Jan Blockx (1851–1912)
Edgar Tinel (1854–1912)
Valentin Neuville (1863)
Paul Gilson (1865)
Alfred Kaiser (1872)
Charles Radoux (1877)
Albert Dupuis (1877)
Joseph van der Meulen (?)
DUTCH
Anton Berlijn (1817–1870)
Johan Wagenaar (1862)
Jan Brandt-Buys (1868)
Cornelis Dopper (1870)
Charles Grelinger (?)
SWISS
Emile Jacques-Dalcroze (1865)
Gustave Doret (1866)
Othmar Schoeck (1886)
GERMAN
Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672)
Johann Thiele (1646)
Johann Christoph Pepusch (1667–1752) (Lived in London)
Johann Conradi (1670?–?)
Reinhard Keiser (1674–1739)
Johann Mattheson (1681–1764)
George Frederick Handel (1685–1759)
Johann Adolph Hasse (1699–1783)
Karl Heinrich Graun (1701–1759)
Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787)
Johann Adam Hiller (1728–1804)
Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739–1799)
Abt (Georg Joseph) Vogler (1749–1814)
Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752–1814)
Peter von Winter (1754–1825)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Joseph Weigl (1766–1846)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Christoph Ernst Friederich Weyse (Danish) (1774–1842)
Konradin Kreutzer (1780–1849)
Ludwig (Louis) Spohr (1784–1859)
Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826)
Peter Joseph von Lindpainter (1791–1856)
Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791–1864) (Lived in Paris)
Heinrich Marschner (1795–1861)
Karl Gottlieb Reissiger (1798–1859)
Gustav Albert Lortzing (1801–1851)
Otto Nicolai (1810–1849)
Friedrich von Flotow (1812–1883)
Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
Franz von Suppé (Austrian) (1819–1895)
Peter Cornelius (1824–1874)
Felix Draeseke (1835–1913)
Max Zenger (1837–1911)
Hermann Goetz (1840–1876)
Victor Nessler (Alsatian) (1841–1890)
Heinrich Hofmann (1842–1902)
Ignaz Brüll (Austrian) (1846–1907)
August Bungert (1846–1915)
August Klughardt (1847–1902)
Cyril Kistler (1848–1907)
Ivan Knorr (1853–1916)
Engelbert Humperdinck (1854–1921)
Heinrich Zöllner (1854)
Paul Geisler (1856–1919)
Wilhelm Kienzl (1857)
Alexander von Fielitz (1860)
Maria Joseph Erb (Alsatian) (1860)
Emil Nikolaus Reznicek (Austrian) (1861)
Ludwig Thuille (1861–1907)
Hugo Kaun (1863)
Felix Weingartner (1863)
Richard Strauss (1864)
Waldemar von Bausznern (1866)
Max Schillings (1868)
Hans Pfitzner (1869)
Siegfried Wagner (1869)
Alexander von Zemlinsky (Austrian) (1872)
Leo Fall (Austrian) (1873–1925)
Paul Graner (1873)
Waldemar Wendland (1873)
Julius Bittner (1874)
Arnold Schoenberg (1874)
Joseph Gustav Mrazek (Austrian) (1878)
Franz Schreker (Austrian) (1878)
Edgar Istel (1880)
Walter Braunfels (1882)
Egon Wellesz (Austrian) (1885)
Alban Berg (Austrian) (1885)
Paul Hindemith (1895)
Erich Korngold (Austrian) (1897)
Karl Krafft-Lortzing (?–1923)
Ignatz Waghalter (_20th Century_)
CZECHO-SLOVAKIAN
Bedrich (Friedrich) Smetana (1824–1884)
Eduard Napravnik (1839–1916)
Antonin Dvorak (1841–1904)
Zdenko Fibich (1850–1900)
Leos Janacek (1855–1928)
Hans Trnecek (1858–1914)
Josef Bohuslav Foerster (1859)
Emil Nikolaus Reznicek (1861)
Karl Kovarovic (1862–1920)
Karel Weis (1862)
Stanislaus Suda (1865)
Karl Navratil (1867)
Vitezslav Novak (1870)
Adolf Piskacek (1874)
Camillo Hildebrand (1876)
Otakar Ostrcil (1879)
Otakar Zich (1879)
Rudolf Karel (1881)
Bohuslav Martinu (1890)
HUNGARIAN
Karl Goldmark (1830–1915)
Alphons Czibulka (1842–1894)
Jeno Hubay (1858)
Julius J. Major (1859)
Emanuel Moor (1862)
Georg Jarno (1868–1920)
Béla Bártok (1881)
Emil Abrányi (1882)
SCANDINAVIAN
Johan P. E. Hartmann (Danish) (1805–1900)
Ivar Hallstrom (Swedish) (1826–1901)
Eduard Lassen (Danish) (1830–1904)
Emil Hartmann (Danish) (1836–1898)
Anders Hallen (1846)
Peter Lange-Müller (Danish) (1850–1926)
Christian Sinding (Norwegian) (1856)
Gerhard Schjelderup (Norwegian) (1859)
August Enna (Danish) (1860)
Wilhelm Stenhammar (Swedish) (1871)
Hakon Boerresen (Danish) (1876)
Paul August von Klenau (Danish) (1883)
Ture Rangstrom (Swedish) (1884)
FINNISH
Jan Sibelius (1865)
Selim Palmgren (1878)
Armas E. Launis (1884)
RUSSIAN
Michail I. Glinka (1804–1857)
Alexander S. Dargomyzsky (1813–1869)
Alexander Serov (1820–1871)
Anton Rubinstein (1830–1894)
Alexander P. Borodin (1834–1887)
César Cui (1835–1918)
Modest Moussorgsky (1839–1881)
Peter I. Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908)
Michail Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859)
Anton Arensky (1861–1906)
Alexander Gretchaninov (1864)
Alexander Glazounov (1865)
Vladimir Rebikov (1866)
Arseni Korestchenko (1870)
Serge Rachmaninov (1873)
Igor Stravinsky (1882)
Serge Prokofiev (1891)
POLISH
Ladislas Zelenski (1837–1921)
Sigismund Noskowski (1846–1909)
Ignace Jan Paderewski (1860)
Karol Szymanowski (1883)
Ludomir von Rozycki (1883)
Raoul Koczalski (1885)
ROUMANIAN
Theodor Flondor (? 1908)
ENGLISH
Thomas Campion (1575–1620)
John Coperario (1580)
William Lawes (1582–1645)
Henry Lawes (1596–1662)
John Banister (1630–1679)
Matthew Lock (1632?–1677)
Henry Purcell (1658–1695)
Thomas Arne (1710–1778)
William Shield (1748–1829)
Stephen Storace (1763–1796)
Henry R. Bishop (1786–1855)
John Barnett (1802–1890)
Julius Benedict (1804–1885)
Michael William Balfe (1808–1888)
George A. MacFarren (1813–1887)
William Vincent Wallace (1814–1865)
Frederic Clay (French) (1838–1889)
Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900)
Alfred Cellier (1844–1891)
Alexander Campbell Mackenzie (1847)
A. Goring Thomas (1851–1892)
Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924)
Frederick Corder (1852)
Frederic Hymen Cowen (Jamaica) (1852)
Ethel Mary Smyth (1858)
Isidore De Lara (1858)
Marie Wurm (1860) (Living in Germany)
Liza Lehmann (1862–1918)
Edward German (1862)
Frederick Delius (1863)
Eugene d’Albert (1863) (Living in Germany)
Edward Woodall Naylor (1867)
Gustav Holst (1874)
Josef Holbrooke (1878)
Albert Coates (Russian) (1882)
Hubert Bath (1883)
Lord Berners (1883)
AMERICAN
William H. Fry (1813–1864)
George Bristow (1825–1898)
John Knowles Paine (1839–1906)
Frederic Grant Gleason (1848–1903)
William J. McCoy (1848)
Max Vogrich (Transylvanian) (1852–1916)
George W. Chadwick (1854)
Julian Edwards (English) (1855–1910)
Humphrey John Stewart (English) (1856)
Richard Henry Warren (1859)
Reginald De Koven (1859–1920)
Victor Herbert (Irish) (1859–1924)
Pietro Floridia (Italian) (1860)
Walter Damrosch (1862)
Horatio W. Parker (1863–1919)
Ernest Carter (1866)
N. Clifford Page (1866)
Paolo Gallico (Austrian) (1868)
Wallace A. Sabin (English) (1869)
Louis Adolphe Coerne (1870–1922)
Joseph C. Breil (1870–1926)
Henry K. Hadley (1871)
Frederick Converse (1871)
Arthur Nevin (1871)
Mary Carr Moore (1873)
Theodore Stearns (?)
Frank Patterson (?)
John Adam Hugo (1873)
Albert Mildenberg (1878–1918)
Ernest Bloch (Swiss) (1880)
Charles Wakefield Cadman (1881)
Simon Buchhalter (Russian) (1881)
Lazare Saminsky (Russian) (1883)
Louis Gruenberg (1884)
W. Frank Harling (?)
Isaac Van Grove (?)
Timothy Spelman (1891)
Eugene Bonner (?)
Modern Ballets
RUSSIAN
Peter I. Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908)
Alexander Glazounov (1865)
Arseni Korestchenko (1870)
Nikolai Tcherepnin (1873)
Igor Stravinsky (1882)
Maximilian Steinberg (1883)
Serge Prokofiev (1891)
POLISH
Karol Szymanowsky (1883)
Alexandre Tansman (_20th Century_)
FRENCH
Léo Délibes (1836–1891)
Emanuel Chabrier (1841–1894)
Jules Massenet (1842–1912)
Vincent d’Indy (1851)
André Messager (1853)
Alfred Bruneau (1857)
Gabriel Pierné (1863)
Erik Satie (1866–1925)
Charles Silver (1868)
Florent Schmitt (1870)
Jean Roger Ducasse (1875)
Maurice Ravel (1875)
Louis Aubert (1877)
Louis Durey (1888)
Roland Manuel (1891)
Darius Milhaud (1892)
Arthur Honegger (1892)
Germaine Taillefer (1892)
George Auric (1898)
François Poulenc (1898)
Henri Sauguet (_20th Century_)
ITALIAN
Franco Alfano (1877)
Ottorino Respighi (1879)
Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880)
G. Francesco Malipiero (1882)
Alfredo Casella (1883)
Vittoria Rieti (1898)
SPANISH
Manuel de Falla (1876)
HUNGARIAN
Béla Bártok (1881)
SCANDINAVIAN
Kurt Atterberg (Swedish) (1887)
AUSTRIAN
Arnold Schoenberg (1874)
Egon Wellesz (1885)
CZECHO-SLOVAKIAN
Karl Kovarovic (1862–1920)
Georg Kosa (1897)
Bohuslav Martinu (1890)
ENGLISH
Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842–1900)
Ralph Vaughn Williams (1872)
Gustav Holst (1874)
AMERICAN
Henry F. Gilbert (1876–1928)
John Alden Carpenter (1876)
Charles Griffes (1884–1920)
Emerson Whithorne (1884)
Deems Taylor (1885)
Cole Porter
Leo Sowerby (1895)
INDEX
A
Absolute music, 239–40, 242, 397, 422
Abt, Franz, 423–4
Adam de la Halle, 102, 112, 125
_Aida_, Verdi’s, 379–81
Albéniz, Isaac, 453–4
Alcuin, 76
Alfred the Great, 93
Alphonso XII of Spain, 453
Ambrose, St., 71, 72
America, _see_ United States
American Academy in Rome, 507–8
American composers, 475 ff.
American folk music, 140–5
American Music Guild, the, 506–7
American opera companies, 514
American patrons of music, 512–13
American song writers, recent, 509–10
American symphony orchestras, 513–14
Anglican church, founding of, 188
Anglin, Margaret, 469
Antiphony, use of, by the Greeks, 41;
introduction into church music, 70
Apollo, 33–4
Arabia, music of, 55 ff., 209, 210;
the Arab scales, 58–9;
instruments of, 59–61
Arcadelt, Jacob, 157
_Armide_, Dvorak’s, 447
Arne, Dr. Thomas, 200, 339
Assyrian music, 24–5
Atonality, 517, 529
Auber, Daniel François Esprit, 333–4
_Aulos_ of the Greeks, 42–3
Austrian National Hymn, written by Haydn, 282
Automatic pianos, 316–19
Aztecs, music of the, 53–4
B
Bach, Johann Christian, 254
Bach, Johann Christoph, 254
Bach, Johann Sebastian, 208, 211, 238, 240;
account of his life, 244–50;
his works, 250–3;
his sons, 253–4;
comparison with Handel, 255–6
Bach, Karl Philip Emanuel, 249, 253–4
Bach, Wilhelm Friedemann, 253
Bach Festival, yearly, at Bethlehem, Pa., 252, 464
Bagpipes, the Roman _tibia_, 45;
use of, by the Hindus, 66;
of the Bohemians, 135;
of Scotland, 138
Baif, Jean Antoine, his club of poets and musicians in France, 177
Balakirev, Mily, 444–5
Balfe, Michael William, 341
Ballad, the, and the ballet, 122
Ballet, the, at the French court in second half of the 16th century,
178
Band, the difference between, and an orchestra, 234
Bantock, Granville, 543
_Barber of Seville_, Rossini’s, 337
Bards of ancient Britain, 89–91
Barnby, Joseph, 340
Bartlett, Homer W., 490
Bartok, Béla, 536–7
Bauer, Marion, 507
Bax, Arnold, 544
_Bay Psalm Book_, the, 458
Bayreuth, 371–2, 373
Beach, Mrs. H. H. A., 480–1
Beaumont and Fletcher, 173
Bede, the venerable, 75–6, 92
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 293 ff.;
account of his life, 295–302;
his friendships, 298–9;
_The Moonlight Sonata_, 300, 304;
his three periods, and works during, 301–2;
his opera _Fidelio_, 302, 305, 306, 326;
influence upon the growth of music, 303–5;
as a composer of instrumental music, 305–6;
his preference in pianos, 313;
the _Kreutzer Sonata_, 324;
influence of, on Wagner, 360;
and Brahms, 418, 419;
“the oratorio for Boston,” 462
_Beggar’s Opera_, Gay’s, 338
Belasco, David, 384
Belgium, modern music in, 541
Bellini, Vincenzo, 337–8
Bennett, Sir William Sterndale, 340, 438
Berg, Alban, 533–4
Berkshire chamber music competition, 440
Berlin, Irving, 503
Berlioz, Hector, 386;
account of his life and his musical innovations, 398–403
Berners, Lord, 544–5
Bethlehem, Pa., yearly Bach Festival at, 252
Bible, the, mention of music in, 25 ff.
Bible stories, acting of, 171–3
Billings, William, 460–2
Birmingham Festivals, 339–40
Bispham, David, 469, 495
Bizet, Georges, 386, 388–9
Bliss, Arthur, 545
Bloch, Ernest, 510, 542
Blondel de Nesle, rescue of Richard the Lion-Hearted by, 99
Blow, Dr. John, 204–5
Bohemia, composers of, 446–8
Bohemian folk songs and dances, 135.
_Bohemian Girl, The_, Balfe’s, 341
Boieldieu, François Adrienne, 333
Boise, O. B., 495, 496
Boito, Arrigo, 381–2
Boleyn, Anne, 188, 189
Bologna, music festivals at, in the 18th century, 219
Bond, Carrie Jacobs, 481
Bori, Lucrezia, 385, 386
Borodin, Alexander, 444
Boston Handel and Haydn Society, 462
Boston Symphony Orchestra, the, founding of, 467
Bow, origin of stringed instruments from, 307
Boyle, George F., 496
Brahms, Johannes, life and work of, 418–23, 424, 426
Bravura pianists, the, 322
Brenet, Michel, quoted on development of composition, 146–7
Brescia, violins made in, 215
Bridge, Frank, 543
Bridge, Sir Frederick, _Twelve Good Musicians_ by, 201, 203, 205
Bristow, George, 466
Britain, the Druids and bards in ancient, 89–91;
early invasions of, 92–3
Brittany, _cromlechs_ and _menhirs_ in, 90;
folk music in, 115
Brockway, Howard, 495, 496
Browning, Robert, 413
Bruch, Max, 429
Bruckner, Anton, 426–7
Bruneau, Alfred, 393
Buck, Dudley, 476
Bull, Dr. John, 196, 202
Bull, Ole, 363, 449, 450, 451
Bülow, Hans von, 408, 411
Burleigh, Henry Thacker, colored composer, 501
Burmese, music of the, 52
Burns, Robert, and Scotch music, 138–9
Burton, Frederick, on Indian estimate of classical music, 13
Busch, Carl, 490
Busoni, Ferruccio, 535
Buxtehude, Dietrich, 239–40, 273
Byrd, William, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 202
C
Cadman, Charles Wakefield, 487
Cædmon, 92, 93
Cæsar, Julius, 67–8
Calvé, Emma, 388
“Camerata,” the, of Florence, and beginnings of opera, 174 ff.
Canadian folk songs, 139
Cantata, origin of the, 184
Carey, Henry, 339, 465
_Carmen_, Bizet’s, 388
Carpenter, John Alden, 498
Caruso, 334, 382, 384
Casella, Alfredo, 318, 539
Castanets, use of, by the Assyrians, 25;
by the Hindus, 66
_Cavalleria Rusticana_, Mascagni’s, 382
Cavos, Catterino, 442
Caxton, William, 191
Cecilia, St., 71
Chabrier, Alexis Emanuel, 389, 415–16, 433
Chadwick, George, 476–7
Chaliapin, 381
Chamber music, the beginning of, 149, 209–10;
rise of, 323
_Chanson de Roland_, the, 94–5, 127
_Chansons de Geste_, 93
Chant, the, ancestor of hymns, 70;
the Gregorian, 72, 75, 76;
plain, 73
Charlemagne, 57, 92, 93, 94, 96, 236
Charleston, S. C., founding of St. Cecilia Society in, 462
Charpentier, Gustav, 393–4
Chausson, Ernest, 393, 433
Cherubini, Luigi, 331–2, 399, 403, 431
Chicago Orchestra, the, 468
Chickering, Jonas, invents complete iron frame for the piano, 314
_Chimes of Normandy_, Planquette’s, 336
Chinese, music of the, 46–9;
scales of, 47–8;
instruments of, 48–9
Chopin, Frédéric, 321, 354–7, 448
Christians, early, 68 ff.
Christmas carols, 113–14, 139–40
Church music, 67 ff.;
antiphony and polyphony in, 70–1;
St. Cecilia, 71;
St. Ambrose, 71, 72;
Greek modes as models, 71–3;
St. Gregory, 72, 73;
the Venerable Bede, 75–6;
early use of instruments in, 76;
organs in, 85;
influence of the Renaissance on, 164 ff.;
Martin Luther and, 165–6;
action of Council of Trent regarding, 167;
Palestrina and, 167–70;
of Monteverde, 183;
composers of cathedral music in England, 340–1;
American composers, 475 ff.
Cibber, Colley, 260, 262
Civil War songs, 142–3
Clarke, Rebecca, 440
Clavecin, the, 210
Clavichord, the, 309–10
Clefs, development of, 80
Clementi, Muzio, 319–20
Clifton, Chalmers, 507
Cole, Rosseter Gleason, 490
Color and sound, study of, in India, 62–3
Columbus, Christopher, 165
Concerts, public, the first, 272–3
Conried, Heinrich, 373
Constantine, Emperor, 69, 70
Converse, Frederick, 479
Cooke, Captain Henry, 204
Coolidge, Mrs. F. S., 440
_Coq d’Or_, Rimsky-Korsakov’s, 445
Corelli, Arcangelo, 218
Counterpoint, meaning of the term, 85
Couperin, François, 231, 232–3
Couperin family, the, 232
Cow-boy songs, 142
Cowen, Sir Frederick Hymen, 439
Cradle songs, 109–10
Cramer, John B., 320
_Creation, The_, Haydn’s, 281, 282
Cremona, the violin makers of, 214–17
Cristofori, Bartolomeo, maker of the first pianoforte, 312
Cromwell, Oliver, 203
Crowest, Frederick J., quoted on music in England in the 16th century,
191–2
Crusades, the, 57, 95–6
“Cryes of London,” the, 200–1
Cui, César, 445
Curtis, Natalie, 485
Cushion dance, the, 124
Cymbals, use of, by the Assyrians, 25;
by the Hindus, 66
Czecho-Slovakia, composers of, 446–8, 538
Czerny, Carl, 299, 321
D
D’Albert, Eugene, 395
Dalcroze, Jacques, 541–2
Damrosch, Dr. Frank, 470
Damrosch, Dr. Leopold, 468, 469
Damrosch, Walter, 468, 469, 470
Dancing, of primitive man, 4, 6;
of American Indians, 14–15;
of the ancient Egyptians, 23;
of the Japanese Geisha girls, 51;
of the gypsies, 134
Dancing songs and folk dances, 120–6, 134, 135, 144
Dark Ages, the, 68 ff.
_Daughter of the Regiment_, Donizetti’s, 337
David, King, as a musician, 27–8
David, Félicien, 386
Dean Paul, Lady, 439–40, 531
Debussy, Claude Achille, 394, 416, 519–22
De Koven, Reginald, 336, 488–9
Delage, Maurice, 523
Delamarter, Eric, 498–9
Délibes, Clement Philibert Léo, 391
Delius, Frederick, 542
Denmark, composers of, 451
_Der Freischütz_, Weber’s 328, 329, 333
Dett, R. N., colored composer, 501–2
Devrient, Wilhelmine Schroeder-, 363, 366
Dibden, Charles, 339
_Die Fledermaus_, Strauss’s, 336
D’Indy, Vincent, 393, 435–6
_Dinorah_, Meyerbeer’s, 335
Ditson, Oliver, 513
Dohnányi, Ernest von, 537–8
_Don Giovanni_, Mozart’s, 288, 290, 291
Donizetti, Gaetano, 337
Drinking songs, 119, 136
Druids and bards, 89–91
Drums, the first, 5;
use of, by American Indians, 11–12;
use of, by the negro, 18;
sending of messages by, 18;
use of, by the Assyrians, 24, 25;
by the Chinese, 48;
by the Burmese, 52;
by the Arabs, 60
Dufay, Guillaume, 153
Dukas, Paul, 417
Dulcimer, the, use of, by the Assyrians and others, 25, 308
Duncan, Edmundstoune, _Story of Minstrelsy_ by, 189, 199
Dunstable, John, 187
Duparc, Henri, 393
Duschek, Franz, 319
Dussek, Johann L., 320
Dvorak, Antonin, 447–8
E
Edwards, Julian, 486
Egyptians, ancient, the music of, 20–3;
their musical scale not unlike ours, 23
_Eisteddfod_, revival of, in Wales, 91
Elgar, Edward William, 439
_Elijah_, Mendelssohn’s oratorio, 347, 350
Eliot, President, of Harvard, 475
Elizabeth, Queen, 192, 194, 196
Elkus, Albert, 491
Enesco, Georges, 448
Engel, Carl, 511
England, folk music in, 113, 114, 118, 139–40;
the “round” in, 123;
the morris dance, 123–4;
ballads in, in 15th and 16th centuries, 124–5;
masques in, 173;
music in, in the 16th and 17th centuries, 187–207;
founding of Anglican church, 188;
chained libraries in, 190;
famous old music collections of, 193, 196–7, 198;
“chests of viols” in, 198–9;
“Cryes of London,” 200–1;
some famous composers, 201 ff.;
the opera ballad in, 338–41;
English composers in classical forms, 438–40;
recent composers, 542–5
Erard, Sebastian, piano maker, 313, 314
Erdmann, Edward, 536
_Ernani_, Verdi’s, 379
Eschenbach, Wolfram von, the minnesinger, 103
Esterhazy, Prince Paul Anton, 279
Evans, Edwin, 318
F
Falla, Manuel de, 540–1
Farrar, Geraldine, 384, 395, 396, 514
Farwell, Arthur, 484
Fauré, Gabriel, 437–8
_Faust_, Gounod’s, 387
Feinberg, Samuel, 531
Festa, Constanza, 170
Feudalism, the age of, 95
_Fidelio_, Beethoven’s opera, 302, 305, 306, 326
Field, John, 320, 343–4
Finland, composers of, 452–3
Finnish folk songs, 131;
instruments, 131
_Fitzwilliam Virginal Book_, the, 196–7
Florence, the “Camerata” of, and beginnings of opera, 174 ff.
Flotow, Friedrich von, 212
Flute, use of, by American Indians, 12–13;
use of, by the Assyrians and Egyptians, 25;
Jubal invents a, 26;
use of, by the Greeks, 36, 42–3;
by the Romans, 45;
by the Chinese, 48, 49;
by the Arabs, 61;
by the Hindus, 66
_Flying Dutchman, The_, Wagner’s, 365
Folk dances, 120–6, 134, 135, 144
Folk music, 107 ff.;
classes of, 108;
songs of childhood, games and cradle songs, 109–11;
songs for religious ceremonies, holidays and Christmas carols, May
songs and spring festivals, 111–14;
love songs, 114–15;
patriotic songs, 115–17;
songs of work and labor and trades, 117–19;
drinking songs, 119;
dancing songs and dancing, 120–6;
funeral songs and songs for mourning, 126;
narratives, ballads and legends, 126–7;
national portraits in, 128 ff.;
Russian folk music, 129–30;
Finnish songs, 131;
Poland’s music, 131;
gypsies, 132–5;
Bohemian folk song, 135;
Spanish and Portuguese folk music, 135;
French folk music, 135–6;
German folk music, 136–7;
Irish folk songs, 137;
Scotch and Welsh tunes, 137–9;
Canadian folk songs, 139;
English folk songs, 139–40;
American folk music, 140–5
Foote, Arthur, 477–8
Forsyth, Cecil, _History of Music_ by, 38–9, 236
Foster, Stephen Collins, 140–1, 472–4
_Fra Diavolo_, Auber’s, 333
France, troubadours, trouvères and jongleurs in, 97 ff.;
folk music in, 112, 114, 125, 135–6;
Baif’s club of poets and musicians in, 177;
ballets at court of, 178;
the coming of Italian opera to, 178;
opera in, 15th to 18th centuries, 222–31;
French composers for clavecin and harpsichord, 17th and 18th
centuries, 231–3;
the French school of opera, 330 ff.;
modern composers of, 386–95
Franck, César, 386, 389, 393;
life and works of, 429–34
Franco-Flemish school of music, the, 152–5
Franklin, Benjamin, 463, 464
Franz, Robert, 424
Frederick the Great, 249, 253, 255
Frescobaldi, Girolamo, 237–8
Froberger, Johann Jacob, 239
Fry, William H., 466
Funeral songs, 126
G
Gabrieli, 209
Gade, Niels Wilhelm, 450
Galileo, 180
Garcia, Manuel, 338, 465
Gédalge, André, 392
George I of England, 258, 259
German, Edward, 439
Germany, minnesingers and mastersingers in, 102 ff.;
folk music in, 111–12, 114, 136–7;
organists in, 238 ff.;
the Mannheim School and the symphony, 273–4;
opera composers in, 327–9, 335;
Wagner, 359–76;
opera composers since Wagner, 395–6;
recent composers, 534–6
Gershwin, George, 503
Gibbons, Orlando, 196–7, 201–2
Gilbert, Henry F., 484
Gilbert, W. S., 336, 341
Gilchrist, William Wallace, 489
Gilmore, Patrick, 486
Giordano, Umberto, 383
_Girl of the Golden West_, Puccini’s, 384–5
Gleason, Frederic Grant, 489
Gleemen, 92–3
Glinka, Michael, 442
Gluck, Christoph Willibald, 213;
account of his life, and works of, 263–72;
_Orpheus and Euridice_, 268;
_Iphigenia in Aulis_, 269;
_Iphigenia in Tauris_, 270;
his orchestration, 272;
influence of, on Wagner, 360;
invention of musical glasses by, 463
Glyn, Margaret, _Evolution of Musical Form_ by, quoted, 65–6
Godard, Benjamin, 386–7
Godowsky, Leopold, 512
Goethe, 298
Goldmark, Rubin, 496
Goldsmith, Oliver, _Vicar of Wakefield_ by, quoted, 463
Gombert, Nicolas, 155
Gonzaga, Vicenzo di, Duke of Mantua, patron of Monteverde, 180–3
Goossens, Eugene, 545
_Götterdämmerung, Die_, Wagner’s, 367, 372
Gottschalk, Louis Moreau, 322, 471–2
Goudimel, Claude, 157, 160
Gounod, Charles François, 386, 387
Gourd, the, as an early musical instrument, 5
Grainger, Percy Aldridge, 318, 510–11
Gramophone, the, 319
Granados, Enrique, 454–5
Graupner, Gottlieb, 466
Greeks, the, music of, 31 ff.;
the nine Muses of, 32;
myths and legends, 32–3;
Pan’s pipes, 33;
Apollo, 33–4;
Orpheus, 34–5;
music in their daily life, 35;
harvest songs, 35–6;
the liturgies, 36–7;
festivals, 37;
scales of, 37–40;
Pythagoras, 40–2;
musical instruments of, 42–3;
modes of, as models for church music, 71–3;
spring festival of, 111;
folk music of, 118
Gregorian chant, 72, 75, 76
Gregory, Pope, 72, 73
Grétry, André Ernest Modeste, 330
Grieg, Edvard Hagerup, 449–50
Griffes, Charles Tomlinson, 504–5
Gruenberg, Louis, 502–3
Grunn, Homer, 488
Guido, D’Arezzo, additions to music by, 79–83
Guilmant, Alexandre, 392, 393
Gutenberg, invention of printing by, 163
Gypsies, music of, 132–5;
their instruments, 132–3, 134
H
Haba, Alois, 538–9
Hadley, Henry K., 496–7
Halévy, Jacques François, 334
Hallen, Anders, 452
Hamilton, Clarence G., _Outlines of Music History_, by, 155
Hampton Singers, the, 501
Handel, George Frederick, 220–1, 244;
comparison with Bach, 255–6;
account of his life, and works of, 256 ff.;
_The Messiah_, 262
_Hansel and Gretel_, Humperdinck’s, 395
Hargrave, Mary, _The Earlier French Musicians_, by, 230
Harmati, Sandor, 507
“Harmonica,” Franklin’s, 463
Harmony, beginnings of, by Hucbald, 77–9;
use of chords by Willaert, 156;
Zarlino’s books on, 157;
harmonization of hymns, 166–7;
experiments of Monteverde in, 179 ff.
Harp, the, use of, by the ancient Egyptians, 22;
by the Assyrians, 25;
the Hebrew _Kinnor_, 26;
use of, by the Greeks, 43
Harpers and gleemen, 92–3
Harpsichord, the, 310–11
Hartmann, J., 451
Harvard Musical Association, the, 467
Hastings, battle of, 93, 94
Haubiel, Charles, 507
Haydn, Franz Joseph, 213, 253, 254;
account of his life, 275–82;
_The Creation_ and _The Seasons_, 281, 282;
his gift to music, 283–4;
Haydn and Mozart, 284–5;
Beethoven meets him, 297–8
Heart music, of Monteverde, 180 ff.;
disappearance of, 530
Hebrew music, 25–30
Heine, Heinrich, 346
Heller, Stephen, 358
Henry IV of France, 176, 222
Henry VIII of England, 188–9
Herbert, Victor, 336, 486
Hereford, England, chained library at, 190
Hérold, Louis Joseph Ferdinand, 334
Hertz, Alfred, 373
Hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptians, 20, 23
Higginson, Colonel Henry L., 467
Hill, Edward Burlingame, 480
Hindemith, Paul, 535–6
Hindu, music, 61 ff.;
the Hindu _rags_, 62–3;
orchestra, 64–5;
notation, 65–6;
instruments of, 66
Holland, modern music in, 541
Holst, Gustave, 543–4
_Home, Sweet Home_, 465
Homer, 89
Honegger, Arthur, 525, 542
Hook, James, 339
Hooker, Brian, 479
Hopkinson, Francis, 463–4
Horsley, William, 340
Hucbald, starting of science of harmony by, 77–9
_Huguenots, The_, Meyerbeer’s, 335
Humiston, W. H., 494–5
Hummel, Johann, 319, 320
Humperdinck, Engelbert, 395–6
Humphrey, Pelham, 204, 205
Hungarian gypsies, music of, 133–5
Hungary, modern music in, 536–8
Hurdy-gurdy, or vielle, the, 106
Huss, Henry Holden, 495
Hutcheson, Ernest, 495–6
Hymns, early, 71–3; harmonization of, 166–7
Hymns, national, 115–117
I
Iarecki, Tadeusz, 531
Ignatius, St., 70
_Il Trovatore_, Verdi’s, 378, 379
Incas, music of the, 53–4
India, music of, 61 ff.
Indians, American, the music of, 9 ff.;
musical instruments of, 11–13;
Indian societies, 13–15;
songs and dances of, 14–15;
the medicine man, 15–16;
picture language of, 16;
lullabies of, 110;
recent study of their music, 484–6, 487–8
Instruments, musical, the earliest, 5;
of the American Indians, 11–13;
of the ancient Egyptians, 22;
of the Assyrians, 24–5;
of the Hebrews, 26–9;
of the Greeks, 42–3;
of the Romans, 44, 45;
of the Chinese, 48–9;
of the Japanese, 50;
of Siamese, Burmese, and Javanese, 52;
of the Incas and Aztecs, 53–4;
of the Arabs, 59–61;
of the Hindus, 66;
early use of, in church music, 76;
Russian stringed instruments, 130;
of Finland and Poland, 131;
of the gypsies, 132–3, 134;
the violin makers of Cremona, 214–17;
the origin of stringed instruments, 307–8;
the pianoforte, 307 ff.
_Iolanthe_, Sullivan’s, 341
_I Pagliacci_, Leoncavallo’s, 382
_Iphigenia in Aulis_, Gluck’s, 269
_Iphigenia in Tauris_, Gluck’s, 270
_I Puritani_, Bellini’s, 337
Ireland, John, 544
Irish folk songs, 137
Italian language, musical terms derived from, 206–7
Italy, beginnings of the opera in, 173 ff.;
opera writers of, in 17th and 18th centuries, 212;
violinists and composers of, in 17th and 18th centuries, 217 ff.;
Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti, 337–8;
modern composers of, 377–86;
and the new order, 539–41
J
Janequin, Clement, 154–5, 160
Japanese music, 50–1
Javanese, music of the, 52
Jazz music, rhythm of, borrowed from the negro, 143–4;
and negro spirituals, 500–1
Jews, music of the, 25–30
Joachim, 420
Jomelli, 213
Jongleurs, the, 97–9
Jonson, Ben, 173
Josephus, cited, on Solomon’s singers and musicians, 28
Jubal, first musician mentioned in the Bible, 25–6
Julius III, Pope, 168
K
Kalkbrenner, Frederick, 320
Kangaroo, dance in imitation of, 6
Kelley, Edgar Stillman, 489
Kerl, Johann Kaspar, 240
Keyboard, the, development of, 309
_Kinnor_, harp of the Hebrews, 26
Kithara, Greek musical instrument, 39, 42, 44
Kjerulf, Halfdan, 449
Kneisel Quartet, the, 480
Kobbé, Gustave, 318
Kodály, Soltan, 536–7
Korngold, Erich Wolfgang, 534
Kramer, A. Walter, 506
Krehbiel, H. E., quoted on folk music, 107–8;
on negro slave songs, 143;
on Stephen Foster, 474
Kreisler, Fritz, 448, 512
Kreutzer, Rudolph, 324
_Kreutzer Sonata_, Beethoven’s, 324
Kuhnau, Johann, 241–2
L
_La Bohème_, Puccini’s, 383
_L’Africaine_, Meyerbeer’s, 335
_La Juive_, Halévy’s, 334
Lalo, Edouard Victor Antoine, 391
Landormy, Paul, _History of Music_, by, 259, 273, 390–1
Landowska, Wanda, 252, 311
Lang, Benjamin J., 475
Lang, Margaret Ruthven, 481
_La Sonnambula_, Bellini’s, 337–8
Lassus, Orlandus, 158–60, 161
_La Traviata_, Verdi’s, 379
Lawes, Henry, 202–3
Lecocq, 336
Lehman, Liza, 439
Lehmann, Lilli, 469
_Leit-motif_, first use of, by Wagner, 364, 374;
use of, by Berlioz, 402;
use of, by Strauss, 414
Le Jeune, Claude, 177–8
_Le Jongleur de Notre Dame_, Massenet’s, 392
Leonardo da Vinci, 456
Leoncavallo, Ruggiero, 382
Leroux, Xavier, 392
Leschetizky, Theodor, 409
Libraries, chained, in England, 190
Lieurance, Thurlow, 487
Lind, Jenny, 335, 338, 449, 451
Liszt, Franz, 313, 322;
influence of, on Wagner, 361;
his life and work, 403–8;
sends scores to Thomas in America, 468
Locke, Matthew, 203, 205
Loeffler, Charles Martin, 482–3
_Lohengrin_, Wagner’s, 366, 368, 375.
Loomis, Harvey Worthington, 485
Louis XIV of France, 222 ff., 232, 312
_Louise_, Charpentier’s, 393–4
_Lucia di Lammermoor_, Donizetti’s, 337
_Lucrezia Borgia_, Donizetti’s, 337
Ludwig II, King of Bavaria, 370
Lullabies, 109–10
Lully, Jean Baptiste, 223–7, 233
Lute, the, use of, by the ancient Egyptians, 22;
by the Arabs, 59, 60;
introduction of, into Europe, 96;
use and development of, in 15th and 16th centuries, 150–1
Luther, Martin, 163, 165–7
Lyon, Rev. James, early American hymn book by, 460
Lyre, the, use of, by the ancient Egyptians, 22;
by the Assyrians, 25;
by the Greeks, 42
M
MacDowell, Edward, 491–4, 507;
_Critical and Historical Essays_ by, cited, 45, 52–3
McTammany, John, and automatic pianos, 316
Macfarren, Sir George A., 438
Macfarren, Walter Cecil, 438
Mackenzie, Sir Arthur C., 438
_Madame Butterfly_, Puccini’s, 50, 383–4
Madrigals, 149 ff.;
golden age of, in England, 194
Maeterlinck, Maurice, 394
_Magic Flute, The_, Mozart’s, 288, 289, 291, 329
Mahler, Gustav, 427–8
Malibran, Mme., 465
Malipiero, G. Francesco, 539–40
Man, prehistoric, beginnings of music and musical instruments among,
3–7
Mannheim School of composers, 273–4
_Manon_, Massenet’s, 392
_Manon Lescaut_, Puccini’s, 383
Manuel, Roland, 523
Manzoni, 381
Maria Theresa, 267, 299
Marie Antoinette, 213–14, 269, 271–2
Marlin, Jane, _Reminiscences of Morris Steinert_, by, 315–16
_Marriage of Figaro_, Rossini’s, 337
Martinengo-Cesaresco, Countess, _The Study of Folk Songs_, by, 140
Martini, Padre, 218–19
_Masaniello_, Auber’s, 334
Mascagni, Pietro, 382
Mason, Daniel Gregory, 403, 471
Mason, Lowell, 470
Mason, Dr. William, 470–1
Masques, in England, 173
Massenet, Jules, 391–2
Mastersingers, 104–6
Matthews, W. S. B., 471
Mattheson, Johann, 242–3
Mauduit, Jacques, 177, 178
Mayer, Charles, 344
Mazarin, Cardinal, 178, 222
Mechanical pianos, 316–19
Medici, Marie de’, 176, 178, 222
Medicine man, the, among the American Indians, 15–16
_Mefistofele_, Boito’s, 381
Méhul, Etienne Nicholas, 332
_Meistersinger, The_, Wagner’s, 369, 370–1, 372, 375
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix, 347–51, 353
Mendelssohn Glee Club of New York, 494
Messager, André, 392
_Messiah, The_, Handel’s, 262
Metastasio, 213, 265
Metre, introduction of, into music, 83–4
Metropolitan Museum of Art, clavichords and harpsichords in, 310
Metropolitan Opera House, New York, 469
Meyerbeer, Giacomo, 334–5;
influence of, on Wagner, 360–1, 364–5
Miaskovsky, Nicolai, 531
_Mignon_, Thomas’s, 386
_Mikado, The_, Sullivan’s, 341
Mildenberg, Albert, 497–8
Milhaud, Darius, 525
Milligan, Harold Vincent, quoted on American folk music, 141
Milton, John, father of the poet, 202
Milton, John, 173, 202
Minnesingers, 102–3
Minstrel, the, 88 ff.
“Miracle-plays,” 172
Modes, development of, in church music, 71–3
Mohammed, 56
Mohammedans, capture of Constantinople by, 165
Monochord, invented by Pythagoras, 41
Montemezzi, 385–6
Monteverde, Claudio, his innovations in music, and his operatic and
other works, 178–86
Montpensier, Mlle. de, 223–4
_Moonlight Sonata_, Beethoven’s, 300, 304
“Moralities,” 172, 173
Morley, Thomas, 194, 196, 198, 199
Morris, Harold, 506
Morris dance, the, 123–4
Moscheles, Ignaz, 320–1
Moses, 26, 27
Moszkowski, Moritz, 449
Motet, the, 147–9
Mourning songs, 126
Moussorgsky, Modeste, 444
Mouton, Jean, 155
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, Haydn his teacher and friend, 284–5;
account of his life, 285–90;
_Don Giovanni_, 288, 290, 291;
_The Magic Flute_, 288, 289, 291, 329;
his work, 290–2;
influence of, on Wagner, 360
Muses, the nine, of the Greeks, 32
Music, the process of change in, 515–19
Musical instruments, _see_ Instruments, musical
Musical terms, derived from the Italian language, 206–7
“Mysteries,” 172
N
Napoleon I, 293, 298, 442
National Federation of Music Clubs, 479
National hymns, 115–17
Nature, sounds of, imitated by primitive man, 6;
personified in gods of the ancient Egyptians, 21
Naumann, Emil, 281, 285
Negro, the, and his music, 17–19
“Negro minstrels,” origin of, 473
Negroes, American, folk music of, 117, 118, 143–4;
their spirituals, 144, 500–1;
Stephen Foster and their music, 472, 473;
Henry F. Gilbert’s music founded on negro themes, 484
Neidlinger, William, 490
Neri, Saint Filippo, founder of oratorio, 171
Nero, Emperor, 45
_Nero_, Boito’s, 381, 382
Nevin, Arthur, 487
Nevin, Ethelbert, 488
New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, 476, 477
New England group of composers, the, 475 ff.
New York Philharmonic Society, founding of, 467
New York Symphony Society, 468
Netherlands, the, modern music in, 541
Neumes notation, 72
_Nibelungen Ring, The_, Wagner’s, 364, 366 ff.
Nikisch, Arthur, 412
Nilsson, Christine, 451
Nordica, Lillian, 469
_Norma_, Bellini’s, 337
Norris, Homer, 484
Norsemen, the, 91–2
Norway, composers of, 449–51
Notation of music, the Greeks the first to use, 40;
the Japanese, 51;
the Hindus, 65–6;
use of neumes, 72;
beginnings of the staff and harmony, 77 ff.;
the three, four and five line staffs and development of clefs, 79–80;
naming of notes of the scale, 81–2;
introduction of time values, 83–4;
tablature, 151
O
Oberammergau, Passion Play of, 173
_Oberon_, Weber’s, 329
Oboe, use of, by the Hindus, 66
Odin, 92
Offenbach, Jacques, 335–6
Okeghem, Jan, 153–4
_Old Folks at Home, The_, 474
Oldberg, Arne, 490
Olympic games, 37
Opera, the descendant of the masque, 173;
beginnings of, in Italy, 173 ff.;
the coming of Italian opera to France, 178;
operas of Monteverde, 181 ff.;
first public opera house in Venice, 185;
Italian opera composers of 17th and 18th centuries, 212–13;
opera in France, 15th to 18th centuries, 222–31;
Handel, 255 ff.;
Gluck, the father of modern opera, 263 ff.;
Haydn, 275 ff.;
Mozart, 285 ff.;
opera makers of France, Germany and Italy, 1741 to Wagner, 326 ff.;
Weber, 327–9;
the French school, 330 ff.;
Cherubini, 331–2;
Meyerbeer, 334–5;
Offenbach, 335–6;
Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, 337–8;
opera singers of the late 18th and 19th centuries, 338;
English opera-ballad, 338–41;
light opera, 341–2;
Wagner, 359–76;
Verdi and Meyerbeer to our day, 377 ff.;
modern Italian opera, 377–86;
French opera, 386–95;
German opera composers since Wagner, 395–6;
early opera in America, 465–6;
opera companies in America, 514
_Opéra comique_, 330
Oratorio, Saint Filippo Neri the founder of, 171
Oratorio Society of New York, 468
Orchestra, size of ancient Egyptian, 22;
of the Roman theatre, 45;
of the Hindus, 64–5;
the Russian _balalaika_ orchestra, 130;
the Hungarian gypsy orchestra, 134;
Monteverde’s, 181–2, 185;
meaning of the word, 234;
Haydn’s additions and improvements in the, 283;
rise of, in 19th century, 323;
the innovations of Berlioz, 401–2;
orchestras in America, 466–8;
symphony orchestras in America, 513–14
Organ school, the 17th century, 157–8
Organs, early, 85, 235–7
Orientals, music of the, 46 ff.
Ornstein, Leo, 508
Orpheus, 34–5
_Orpheus and Euridice_, Gluck’s, 268
Overtones, 528–9
Oxford, first chair of music at, 190
P
Pachelbel, Johann, 240
Pacius, Frederick, 453
Paderewski, Ignace Jan, 322, 449
Paganini, Nicolo, 324
Paine, John Knowles, 475–6
Palestrina, 167–70, 171
Palmgren, Selim, 453
Pan and his pipes, 32–3;
the organ a descendant of Pan’s pipes, 235
Paris, as meeting place for composers, 330 ff.
Paris Conservatory of Music, 430–2
Parker, Horatio, 478–9
Parry, Sir Charles Hubert Hastings, 438
_Parsifal_, Wagner’s, 372–3, 374
Passion Play of Oberammergau, 173
_Patience_, Sullivan’s, 341
Patriotic songs, 115–17
Patrons of music in America, 512–13
Patti, Adelina, 338
Payne, John Howard, 465
Peace Jubilees, in Boston, 486
_Pelleas and Milisande_, Debussy’s, 394, 416, 520
Pentatonic scale, 10, 18, 47, 113
People’s Choral Union, New York, 470
Pepys, Samuel, 198, 204
Percy Reliques, the, 106, 127
Pergolesi, Giovanni Battista, 212–13, 230
Persian music, 57
Peter the Great, 441
Pfitzner, Hans, 424, 535
Philadelphia, music in Franklin’s, 463, 464
Pianists, 319 ff.;
of the late 19th and the 20th centuries, 325
Pianoforte, the, 307 ff.;
its ancestry and development through the clavichord and the
harpsichord, 307–11;
the first pianofortes, and their makers, 311–15;
automatic players, 316–17;
value of mechanical players, 318–19;
performers on the, 319 ff.
Piccinni, 269, 270
Pierné, Gabriel, 392, 393
Pilgrims and Puritans in America, 458–60
_Pinafore_, Sullivan’s, 341
_Pirates of Penzance_, Sullivan’s, 341
Pius IX, Pope, 406
Pizzetti, Ildebrando, 540
Plagal scales, 72, 73
Plain chant, or plain song, 73
Playford, John, 197
Pleyel, Ignaz Josef, piano maker, 314
Pleyel, Marie, 323
Poe, Edgar Allan, 474
_Poet and Peasant_, von Suppé’s, 336
Poland, composers of, 448–9
Poland, modern music in, 531–2
Poldowski (Lady Dean Paul), 439–40, 531
Poles, folk music of, 113–14, 131;
instruments of, 131
Polish dances, 121
Polyform music, 516 ff.
Polyphony, introduction into church music, 70–1
Polytonality, 516, 517, 529
Ponchielli, Amilcare, 386
Pope, Alexander, 262
Porpora, Niccolo, 213–14
Portuguese folk music, 135
Powell, John, 499–500
Pratt, Silas G., 489
Pratt, Waldo Selden, _History of Music_ by, quoted, 102–3
Prehistoric man, beginnings of music and musical instruments among, 3–7
Près, Josquin des, 148, 154–5
Prescott, Wm. H., _Conquest of Peru_ by, cited, 53
Printing, invention of, 163–4
“Program music,” 242, 397
Prokofiev, Serge, 531
_Prophet, The_, Meyerbeer’s, 335
Protestant Church, founding of the, 165
Provence, the troubadours poet-composers of, 97
Prunières, Henry, quoted on Monteverde, 185–6
Psaltery, the, 28, 29, 308
Public concerts, the first, 272–3
Puccini, Giacomo, 383–5
Purcell, Henry, 200, 204, 205–7
Puritans and Pilgrims in America, 458–60
Pythagoras, influence of, in music, 40–2;
his theory of harmonics or overtones, 526, 528
Pythian games, 37
Q
Quarter-tones, use of, 538–9
R
Rachmaninov, Sergei, 409–10, 446
Radio, the, 319
Ragtime music, 143–4
Rameau, Jean Philippe, 227–31
Rattle, use of, by American Indians, 11, 12
Ravel, Maurice, 417, 522–4
Rebeck, the, 189
Recitative style, the, 183
Reformation, the, 165
Reger, Max, 428–9
Reinken, Johann Adam, 239
Remenyi, 420
Renaissance, the, 163
Respighi, Ottorino, 540
Reyer, Ernest, 389
_Rheingold, Das_, Wagner’s, 367, 371
Rhythm, 517–18
Rice, Thomas, 473
Richard the Lion-Hearted, 99
Ries, Ferdinand, 299, 320
_Rigoletto_, Verdi’s, 379
Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai, 444, 445
Ritter, Alexander, 411, 413
_Robert le Diable_, Meyerbeer’s, 335
_Robin Hood_, De Koven’s, 336, 488
Romance languages, the, 96–7
Romans, music of the, 43–5
Romantic movement in music, the, 294–5, 320–2, 343 ff.
Romberg, Andreas, 324
Rome, the great musical center in the 18th century, 219
Rome, American Academy in, 507–8
Ronsard, Pierre de, 160–1, 456
Rore, Cyprian de, 156
Roses, War of the, in England, 187
Rosetta stone, the, 23
Rossini, Giacchino, 337
Rounds, 101–2, 123
Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 269;
quoted on folk music of Brittany, 136
Rubinstein, Anton, 322, 408, 443, 446
Rubinstein, Nikolai, 409, 443, 446
Russia, folk music in, 114, 129–30;
stringed instruments in, 130;
composers of, 441 ff.;
Michael Glinka, 442;
Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky, 443;
“the Five” group of composers, 444–6;
other composers, 446
S
Sackbut, the, 189
Sailors’ songs, 117
St. Bartholomew’s eve, massacre of, in France, 177
Saint-Saëns, Charles Camille, 386, 390–1
Salieri, Antonio, 332
_Salome_, Strauss’s, 412, 413, 415
Salon music, 322
Salzedo, Carlos, 511
_Samson and Delilah_, Saint-Saëns’s, 390
Sand, George, 357
Satie, Erik, 524, 525
Savages, the music of, 8 ff.
Sax horn, the, 401
Saxophone, the, 401
Scales: the pentatonic, 10, 18, 47, 113;
the ancient Egyptian, 23;
of the Greeks, 37–40;
of the Romans, 44;
of the Chinese, 47–8;
of the Arabs, 58–9;
of the Hindus, 65–6;
of St. Ambrose, 71, 72, 73;
plagal, of Pope Gregory, 72, 73;
of Hucbald and Guido d’Arezzo, 80–1;
naming of notes of our scale, 81–2
Scarlatti, Alessandro, 212
Scarlatti, Domenico, 220–1
Scheidt, Samuel, 241
Schein, Johann Heinrich, 241
Schelling, Ernest, 455, 499
Scherchen, Hermann, 536
Schillings, Max, 395
Schindler, Kurt, 512
Schirmer, Gustav, 513
Schmidt, Arthur P., 513
Schoenberg, Arnold, 532–3
Schola Cantorum, of Paris, 434, 435
Schools of music: of the 15th and 16th centuries, 146 ff.;
rise of, 151–2;
the Franco-Flemish school, 152–5;
the Venetian school, 155–7;
the 17th century organ school, 157–8
Schrecker, Franz, 535
Schubert, Franz Peter, 344–7
Schumann, Clara, 321, 420–1, 422
Schumann, Robert, 351–4, 420–1
Schütz, Heinrich, 240–1
Scotch and Welsh folk music, 137–9
Scott, Cyril, 544
Scotti, Antonio, 383, 384
Scriabin, Alexander Nicolai, 446, 526–7
Scribe, Eugène, 335
_Seasons, The_, Haydn’s, 281
Seidl, Anton, 428, 469
Shakespeare, 173;
and music, 199–200;
and the harpsichord, 310
_Shofar_, use of, by the Hebrews, 27
“Shout,” the, negro dance, 144
Siamese, music of the, 52
Sibelius, Jan, 452–3
_Siegfried_, Wagner’s, 367, 368, 410
Signatures, time, origin of signs for, 84
Sinding, Christian, 450
Singleton, Esther, _The Orchestra and Its Instruments_, by, 215
Sistrum, the, use of, by the ancient Egyptians, 22
Sjögren, Emil, 452
Skalds, Scandinavian, 91–4
Skilton, Charles Sanford, 487
Smart, Henry, 340
Smetana, Frederick, 446–7
Smith, David Stanley, 479–80
Smyth, Dame Ethel, 439
_Société Nationale_ of Paris, 433–4
Solomon, King, singers and musicians of, 28
Sonata form, the, 243
Sonata, the first, 206, 241, 242
Song writers, of the late 19th century, 423 ff.
Song writers, American women, 481
Song writers, recent, of America, 509–10
Songs, patriotic, 115–17
Sonneck, Oscar G., _Early Concert-life in America_ by, quoted, 459–60
Sousa, John Philip, 487
Spain, composers of, 453–5
Spalding, Albert, 505
Spalding, Walter R., 475, 478
Spanish dance-songs, 122;
folk music, 135
Spinet, the, 210, 311
Spirituals, songs of the American negro, 144
Spirituals, negro, versus jazz, 500–1
Spohr, Louis, 329
Spohr, Ludwig, 324–5
Spontini, Gasparo, 332–3
_Stabat Mater_, Rossini’s, 337
Staff, the beginnings of, 77, 79, 80
Stainer, Sir John, 341, 438
Stanford, Sir Charles Villiers, 439
Steinways, the, piano makers, 315
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 389
Stock, Frederick, 468
Stoessel, Albert, 468, 506
Stojowski, Sigismund, 449
Stonehenge, 90
Stoughton Musical Society, 462
Stradella, 212
Strauss, Johann, 335, 336
Strauss, Richard, life and work of, 410–15, 424, 534
Stravinsky, Igor, 318, 446, 527–8, 530–1, 538–9
Streicher, Nanette, 313
Stringed instruments, the origin of, 307–8
Suites, dance tunes grow up into, 210–2
Sullivan, Sir Arthur, 336, 341–2
Suppé, Franz von, 336
Svendsen, Johan Severan, 450
Sweden, composers of, 452
Sweelinck, Jan, 157–8, 197, 240
Switzerland, modern music in, 541–2
Symphony, first composers of, in Germany, 273–4
Symphony orchestras in America, 513–14
Syrinx, or Pan’s pipes, 33
Szymanowski, Karol, 531
T
Tablature, 151
_Tales of Hoffmann, The_, Offenbach’s, 336
Tallis, Thomas, 192, 197
Tambourine, use of, by the ancient Egyptians, 22;
by the Assyrians, 25;
by the Hindus, 66
_Tannhäuser_, Wagner’s, 365–6, 370, 401
Tansman, Alexander, 532
Tartini, 218
Tasso, Torquato, 174, 180, 184
Tausig, Carl, 409, 448
Taylor, Deems, 506
Taylor, Samuel Coleridge, 439
Tchaikovsky, P. I., 409, 443, 446
Terpander, supposed perfection of tetrachord by, 39–40
Tetrachords, 38, 39, 44
Thomas, Arthur Goring, 438–9
Thomas, Charles Ambroise, 386
Thomas, Theodore, 467–8, 471
Thuille, Ludwig, 395
_Tibia_, or bagpipe, the Roman, 45
Timbrel, use of, by the Hebrews, 26
Time values, introduction of, into music, 83–4
Tone poets, 397 ff.
Tone relationship, Pythagoras’ theory of, 41
Torelli, 218
_Tosca_, Puccini’s, 384
Toscanini, Arturo, 382
Tourte, François, perfection of violin bow by, 323
Tremolo, invention of, 184
Trent, Council of, action of, on church music, 167
Trinity Church, New York, 464
_Tristan and Isolde_, Wagner’s, 369, 370, 372
Troubadours, the, 97, 99–101
Trouvères, the, 97, 101–2
Troyer, Carlos, 485
Trumpets, use of, in war by the ancient Egyptians, 22;
use of, by the Hebrews, 27;
by the Greeks, 43;
by the Hindus, 66
Twentieth century music, 515 ff.
Tyndale, William, 190
Tyrol, the, making of lutes and viols in, 215
U
_Unfinished Symphony_, Schubert’s, 346
United States, the, folk music in, 140–5;
modern music of, 456 ff;
lack of definite traits in music of, that could be called national,
457;
Pilgrims and Puritans, 458–60;
William Billings, 460–2;
the Stoughton Musical Society, 462;
the Boston Handel and Haydn Society, 462;
music in Franklin’s Philadelphia, 463;
Francis Hopkinson, 463–4;
early opera, 465–6;
orchestras, 466–7;
the New York Philharmonic Society, 467;
Theodore Thomas, 467–8;
the Damrosch family, 468–70;
the Mason family, 470–1;
Gottschalk, 471–2;
Stephen Collins Foster, 472–4;
the New England group of composers, 475 ff.;
Dudley Buck, 476;
George Chadwick, 476–7;
Horatio Parker, 478–9;
women composers and song writers, 480–1;
Loeffler, 482–3;
Victor Herbert, 486;
Sousa, 487;
Ethelbert Nevin, 488;
Reginald de Koven, 488–9;
MacDowell, 491–4;
Henry Holden Huss, 495;
Albert Mildenberg, 497–8;
John Alden Carpenter, 498;
Eric Delamater, 498–9;
John Powell, 499–500;
negro Spirituals versus Jazz, 500–1;
Louis Gruenberg, 502–3;
Irving Berlin, 503;
George Gershwin, 503;
Charles Tomlinson Griffes, 504–5;
the American Music Guild, 506–7;
the American Academy in Rome, 507–8;
Leo Ornstein, 508;
song writers, 509–10;
foreigners writing in America, 510–12;
some American patrons of music, 512–13;
symphony orchestras, 513–4;
opera companies, 514;
twentieth century composers in, 545–6
University of California, open air theatre at, 469
V
_Valkyrie_, Wagner’s, 367, 368, 369, 371, 374, 375
Van der Stucken, Frank, 490
Varese, Edgar, 511
Vaudeville, origin of the word, 119–20
Venetian school of music, the, 155–7
Venice, first public opera house in, 185
Verdi, Giuseppe, account of his life and work, 377–81
Vielle, or hurdy-gurdy, the, 106
Vikings, the, 91
Viola, the, 216–17
Violin, makers of the, in Cremona, 14–17;
perfecting of the bow, 323;
the growth of violin music, 323–5
Violoncello, the, 216
Viols, of the Arabs, 60
Viotti, Giovanni Battista, 323
Virginal, the, 210, 310, 311
Virginals, in England in the 16th and 17th centuries, 195–6
Vitali, Giovanni Battista, 218
Vivaldi, 218
Volger, Abbé, 327, 328
W
Wagner, Wilhelm Richard, account of his life and work, 359–76;
influence of other musicians upon, 360–1;
first use of _leit-motif_ by, 364;
_The Flying Dutchman_, 365;
_Tannhäuser_, 365–6, 370;
_Lohengrin_, 366, 368, 375;
_The Nibelungen Ring_, 364, 366 ff.;
_Tristan and Isolde_ and _The Meistersinger_, 369–71, 372;
Bayreuth, 371–2, 373;
_Parsifal_, 372–3, 374;
his influence on opera, 374–6;
influence of, on Verdi, 377, 381;
followers of his theories in France, 389;
and Liszt, 405–6, 407, 408
Wagner, Siegfried, 395
Wallace, William Vincent, 341
Walther, Johann, 166
Washington, George, 464
Water organs, 309
Weber, Carl Maria von, 327–9, 333, 334;
influence of, on Wagner, 360
Weelkes, Thomas, 200, 201
Weingartner, Felix, 424
Wellesz, Egon, 533
Welsh folk music, 137–8
Wesley, Samuel, 340
Whiteman, Paul, 508
Whithorne, Emerson, 505
Whiting, Arthur, 482
Whitman, Walt, 474
Widor, Charles Marie, 392
Wieck, Clara, 352–3
Willaert, foundation of Venetian school of music by, 155–6
William the Conqueror, 93
_William Tell_, Rossini’s, 337
Williams, Vaughn, 543
Wolf, Hugo, 424–6
Wolfe, James, 380
Wolf-Ferrari, Ermanno, 385
Wolle, Frederick, 464
Wood, Sir Henry J., 318
Worde, Wynken de, song book of, 191
Y
Young People’s Concerts, New York, 470
Ysaye, Eugene, 434
Z
Zarlino, books on harmony and theory by, 157
Zither, use of, by the Arabs, 60
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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