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ML

Cornell University Library

3300.N66

Programme music

In

the last four centurl

3 1924 022 386 829

The
tine

original of

tiiis

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is in

Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright

restrictions in

the United States on the use of the

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http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022386829

PROGRAMME MUSIC
IN

THE LAST FOUR CENTURIES

4 CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF

MUSICAL EXPRESSION

FREDERICK NIECKS,

Mus.D.,

Rtid Professor of Music in the University of Edinburgh.

(Author of * Frederick Chopin %s a

.f

Man

and Musician

'

&c.)

Pectus est quod facit disertos.'

QuintiUan

London:

NOVELLO AND COMPANY,

Nw Yobk: the

H.

W, GRAY

Limited.

CO., Sole Aokkts ok thh U.S.*.

LONDON
NOVELLO AND COMPANY, LIMItSO,
:

PRINTERS.

PREFACE.
As the

subject of

programme music

is

almost always

treated controversially, or at least with a parti pris,

may

it

not be an unnecessary precaution to state that the

present book

is

neither a defence nor an attack, but

simply an historical account.

an impartial

The proof

inquirer.

true to

my

purpose

results

of

the

I entered

may

of

my

on

my

task as

having kept

be found in the fact that the

inquiry modified to some extent

previous notions and judgments.

my

matter to which I gave

If

attention

my

there was one

more than

to

any

was the views of the composers themselves.

was a great satisfaction to me to find that
materials of this kind were much more plentiful,
I am
interesting, and instructive than I had expected.
sure that the harvest here garnered will cause not a
other,

it

And

it

little

surprise,

and give not a

little

The primary difficulty in the

pleasure.

discussion of

programme

music has always been the non-existence of a correct

and adequate definition. As a rule the definitions are
too narrow, often indeed dictated by prejudice and
even hostility.
degrees,

the

and

simple

They should embrace

characters

all possible kinds,

the outward and the inward,

and the complex, the general

particular, the lyrical,

epic,

dramatic,

and the

melodramatic,

They should embrace also

music with the programme merely indicated by a title,
and music the programme of which is unrevealed. The

descriptive, symbolical, &c.

absence of programme and

music to be absolute.

title

does not prove the

This will explain

my

classing so

Preface.

iv

much

as

programme music

that

Indeed,

as absolute music.

more generally classed

opinion is that whenever

is

my

the composer ceases to write purely formal music, he

passes from the domain of absolute music into that of

programme music.

On

the title-page this book

/to the

is called

a contribution

'

This

musical expression.'

history of

is

not

Programme

saying too much, but perhaps too

little.

music as I understand

comprehensive that

a history of

it

it

so

is

goes far towards being a History of

Musical Expression.

Next I wish to refer briefly to certain principles that

have guided
that

me

in the execution of

experience teaches

me

my

task

^principles

do not enjoy excessive

popularity either with authors or with readers.

first place, it

has been

my

In the

endeavour to place the facts so

my argumentation
and form his own conclusions when mine do not please
him.
As man is constituted, individual judgments,

before the reader that he can control

even those of the wisest, are precarious.

My

second

endeavour has been to be as objective as possible in the

men and

artists, and their actions

and works, taking care not to draw conclusions from
one-sided evidence. For fantastic idealizations evolved
from inner consciousness, in which imagination takes

characterization of

the place of fact, and poetry of truth, I have a thorough

contempt in history and biography.

prendre ce portrait tout a

fait

'

II

au pied de

ne faudrait pas
la lettre, car

il

vu a travers la peinture et a travers la poesie, et

embelli par une double idealisation; mais il n'en est
pas moins sincere et fut exact a son moment.' Thus
est

writes Theophile Gautier of

an idealized portrait

of

Charles Baudelaire, painted by Emile Deroy, subsequently

Preface.

further idealized in poetic prose by Theodore de Banville.

What

the good of the sincerity

is

Of course there

falsehood ?
insight,

and our readiness

beautiful.

My

is

if

the outcome

is

the cant about the poet's

to accept as true

what

is

third endeavour has been to be in the

translations loyal to the authors, even at the price of

some

loss in the idiomatic expression of the English.

Tou cannot render Wagner's involved and figurative

periods in Johnson's, De Quincey's, Macaulay's, Buskin's,
or Froude's language. And if you tried to do so, you would
denaturalize the author's prose, which both in form and

content

is

out and out un-English.

Again,

if

one were to

lame French into elegant English,

correcting the bad logic and grammar, would that not
be tantamount to misleading the reader? A fourth
translate Lesueur's

point, perhaps not superfluous to mention, is something

have not endeavoured to do

during the last four centuries.

not mention

fill

often say

'

for

my

of all the battle

a goodly volume.

Why did the

this or that composition?' I

blamed

to be

may

have not emptied

The record

and hunting pieces alone would

But, although critics

to write

programme music written

catalogue raisonne of all the

note-books in these pages.

namely,

author

am more

likely

having told too much than too little.

my heartfelt thanks to

In conclusion I must express

all

who have

assisted

me

in

my

labours by giving

information and by reading the proofs.

are due to the composers

who were

Special thanks

so exceedingly kind

as to enrich the value of the publication

of their views

and

practice.

Edinbtjegh, October, 1906.

me

by statements

CONTENTS.
BOOK

I.

EABLY ATTEMPTS.
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER
ITRST

PERIOD

MUSIC

PAGE.

I.

SURVEY AND DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT

(16th

OENTURy)

GOMBEBT,

JANNKQUIN,

II.

VOCAL

PROGRAMME

JOSQUIN

LASSO, PALESTRINA, MABENZIO, ETC.

CHAPTER

1-6

DEPrSs,
...

...

7-13

III.

SECOND PERIOD (fBOM THE LATTER PART OF THE 16tH

TO

THE

OF

BEGINNING

THE

18tH

OENTUBY)

isolated and tentative oases of instrumental

programme

musio

^byed,

mundy,

monteverdi,

14-28

froberger, kuhnau, purcell, etc

BOOK

II.

ACHIEVEMENTS IN SMALL FOBMS AND 8EBI0U8

STBIVINQS IN LABOEB FOBMS.

CHAPTER
IHIED

I.

PERIOD (from THE 17tH TO THE MIDDLE OF

THE IStH

century)

CLAVEOINISTS

FRENCH LUTENISTS AND

DENNIS GAULTIER, CHAMBONNISbES,-

OOUPERIN lb GRAND, RAMEAU, ETC.

...

...

29-45

Contents.

yiii

CHAPTER
FOURTH

OBNTUBY)

(18tH

PERIOD

PAGE.

II.

GENERAL

MORE

STRIVINa AFTER EXPRESSIVENESS IN INSTRUMENTAL

AND SPREADING OF THE CULTIVATION OP

RAMEAU, HANDEL, J. S. EACH,
PROGRAMME MUSIC
MDSIO,

DOMENIOO

TELEMANN,

SCARLATTI,

AND

VIVALDI,

GEMINIANI, GREAT MASTERS OF THE FIRST HALF

OF THE 18tH CENTURY

...

...

46-64

CHAPTEE m.
music
FOURTH PERIOD (18th oentury) (continued)
TO PLAYS, PROGRAMMATIC MATTER IN ALL KINDS
:

OF

VOCAL

MELODRAMA
C,

INSTRUMENTAL

AND

AGEICOLA,

SCHEIBE,

PH. E. BACH, HAYDN, AND MOZART,

BENDA, ETC.

...

...

CHAPTEE

AND

MUSIC,

GLUCK,

ETC.,

ROUSSEAU,
-.

...

...

65-85

rV.

FOURTH PERIOD (18th century) {contiwued)

COMPOSERS OF PROGRAMME SYMPHONIES

early
GOSSEC,

M^HUL, EOESSLER, WRANITZKY, PICHL, HOLZBAUEB,

DITTEKS VON DITTERSDORF, AND KNECHT...

CHAPTER

...

86-91

V.

FOURTH PERIOD (ISiH century) {continued) curiosities,

:

FATUITIES,

AND

NOTABILITIES

THEORIZING COMPOSER
THEORIST;

LESUEUR,

LAC^PEDE, A COMPOSING

CLEMENTI, DUSSEK,

STEIBELT,

YOGLER, TARTINI, AND BOCCHERINI

...

WOLF,
...

99-1121

Contents.

BOOK

IX

III.

FULFILMENTS.

CHAPTER

PAGE.

I.

FIFTH PERIOD (fEOM THE CLOSE OP THE 18tH CENTTIRY)

PKOGBAMME MUSIC
AND

OF

VITALIZATION

BEETHOVEN

THE

LESSER

...

...

CHAPTER
FIFTH PERIOD {contmued)
TICISTS

WEBER,

FORMS
...

...

...

113-137

the three early roman-

CH/^PTER

''^

II.

SCHUBERT, AND SPOHR

FIFTH PERIOD (cOfltinUed)

THE LARGER CLASSICAL FORMS

IN

...

. .

138-153

III.

a miscellany of COMPOSERS

BORN BEFORE THE END OF THE 18tH CENTURY

BOIELDIEU,

AUBER,

KALKBRENNER,

ROSSINI,

MOSCHELES, LOWE, AND MEYERBEER

CHAPTER
FIFTH PERIOD {continued)

FIFTH PERIOD {continued)

FIFTH PERIOD {continued)

154-163

...

...

164-182

...

...

183-210

V.

Schumann...

CHAPTER

..

IV.

mendelssohn

CHAPTER

...

VI.

three pianist composers

CHOPIN, HENSELT, AND HELLER

...

...

...

211-221

"-^

Contents.

BOOK

IV.

OTEEB FULFILMENTS.

CHAPTER

PA^E.

I.

SIXTH PEKIOD (fBOM ABOUT THE POUBTH DECADE OF THE

19th century)

departure from the classical

forms and wider scope of subjects

CHAPTER
SIXTH PEKIOD {continued)

liszt

sixth PERIOD (continued):

wagner

BOOK

222-264

II.
...

CHAPTER

berlioz

...

...

265-316

...

...

317-3i9

III.
...

V.

CONTEMPOBABIES AND SUCCESSORS OF THE

PBOGBAMMATIC PBOTAGONISTS OF THE LAST
TWO PEBI0D8 (1830-1900).

CHAPTER
IN FRANCE

^'^

I.

FfiLICIEN DAVID, SAINT-SAENS,

OESAB FBANCK,

350-368

Contents.

CHAPTEK
IN

BELGIUM,

ITALY,

GREAT

XI

PAOE.

II.

AND

BRITAIN

AMERICA

BAZZINI, VEBDI, STERNDAIE BENNETT, MACFARREN,

MACKENZIE,

STANFORD,

PARRY,

COWEN,

CORDER,

369-394

W. WALLACE, BANTOCK, ELGAR, MAODOWELL, ETC.

CHAPTER

III.

IN DENMARK, NORWAY, SWEDEN, BOHEMIA, AND RUSSIA

GADE, GRIEG, SMETANA, DVORAK, GLINKA, DARGOMIJSKY, BALAKIREV, MOUSSORGSKY, BORODIN, RIMSKY-

KORSAKOV, GLAZOUNOV, TCHAIKOVSKY, ETC.

CHAPTER
IN

GERMANY

...

395-445

IV.

BRAHMS, BRUCKNER, RUBINSTEIN, HIRSCH-

BACH, LITOLFF, RAFF, A. BITTER, RICHARD STRAUSS,'-^'

'-'iAHLEB,

WEINGARTNER, HAUSEGGEB, ETC.

CHAPTER
EPILOGUE

...

...

...

...

446-526

V.
...

527-537

BOOK

I.

E^UiLY ATTEMPTS.

CHAPTER
INTKODUCTION

The history

I.

SURVEY AND DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT.

of

programme music may Lc

said to he

the history of the development of musical expression

at

any

rate, it

presents itself as such

if

i/jogramme

music

is

not understood in too iinrrow a sense.

what

is

programme music?

The

curreni

But

i^otions

and varied ..l.j.t it will be

commencing our siory, the
term and the things signified by it.
Some think that
programme music is music which imitates souud,^ the
concerning

it

are so vague

advisable to consider, before

song of birds, the purling of the brook, the bustle and

noises of war, &c.
scope, think that

Others, allowing
it ia

it

soincwhat larger

music which, besides the audible,

by analogy also the visible effects of light,

darkness, and colour, and all kinds and degrees of
Others again, with a more adequate
movement.
conception, go much farther than this, and think that
programme music is music which imitates not only the
imitates

outward, but also the inward

which not only describes,

but also expresses; which has to do with emotions

and thoughts as well as with sense-impressions, with

To not a
They hold that nothing
within the capacity of music. But the

soul-painting as well as with body-painting.

few the last view seems absurd.

of the kind is

Surccij

(iitil

by

no

prctension

is

TJlciHiiii

qf the

moans

'

Siil/jrci.

.i.iiio-

Ja

unrcabo/iaLie.

ll

contrary,

it is obviously and ./rikingly roasoiiaolc.

AVi y
should not music bo able to express iuil oxc'to cmotio;;.s
by imitating the sounds and movemrtir.o by wliicu tli.y

dcmoustrate

themselves

expressional

power of music

volume, hero

it

will suffice to

Imitation of the

human

co:r.pos(.;r

cries

rinoti.cr

of

raoan.-.

the

ar..'l

the

of

for

cnumciato the

expression at the disposal of the

(1)

discussio':

rcbcrvo

speech as regards pitch, rhythm,

^^c'eij.,

of

lou'iacj-..-,

,tu.i

iiizi rr,..'.

a:..;

quality of tone.
(2)

Imitation of the movements of the

external

bodilj'-

emotions

action

that

organ.^

:..^coi..;.r;r,

of tiio heart, L.vathi^ ?<

&c.
Imitation of the

(3)

sounds

in

r.r;,i.L.'e,

expressive directly auu indirectly,

a.x

.,,

i:.

;I

..

association.
(4)

Imitation of rest and motion,

Bti-ai.i

anJ

pleasure and pain, by certain ^nusic

and

namely, consonance

/.-!:'

,_.,..

,.

disoonance,

im

;";:id

tendencies of tonality.

programmes u:c m, \^
absolute music by which we are to unde:st\..
music, music with none but icstbcticai qua!.:.'

The

.-

unconnected with anything

definite in

thought

according to some a mere formal play with

only

legitimate

orthodox and

all

a prose narrative prenxod lo a

music,

title

may

jiii ^-o

of

imply a great d^.J mor^

^j.

;,sic

, ^i^^-xisc,

<

Ion;'

to a

...usi..

:ian

r,

il.i

cvrui nou'

Thou,
..t

y.

toii.js-- .a '.l^

was
and
doctrine,
universal
but
instrumental

has not become a wholly exuiict bohc.'.

people who approve of a tifcu, but olj;

v..'.

prejudices ^s to

v,-c

T'^^cia
.'^'.'li

n.i'i

ouu

o:

JC'^.

jr a

AV..ai v;iso Kaiijcc

Mro^e iiari-au\i:.

singld

i;iaIcatoil

wy

M:iufroJ,

Il^lviucb,

..iist;ike,

1.

Hnn^^.T.Li,

Eruiur,

are

.ii,.t....c'C,

a.^

Uar;.':t,

i,

^vc.

It

;.-.

although in ticcorJanco-with a ti;2G-^ono!irc^.

say that programme

ULiinition, to

an

sucli

wo/.ls

programme

explicit verbal

prefix

to

.^l

iiany

it.

Eichard

the compositions of Berlioz, Liszt, arnl

the most famous masters in this rjenre of

had a programme
composition

the

cciXiposing,

it

title,

.\

v,lj;,o

mu i^

program;a^

is

liu'.e

may have

n^ind

his

in

oi

,Striiu.-,.s,

nr.:-jic,

In faci:, you
uothiug hut simple titles.
as rjuc. us.
even
without
music
prof^ramme
the composer

wAh

iv.uaic li rau.s.c

whether he reveals his programme or noi. It uiclto

bo very common with composers to conceal ii,.ii

They were

programmes.

and

critics,

prejudice,

prevailing

Weber

like

secret,

themselves

were

or

Conccrtstiick;

either afraid of the prejuuici.a

their

kept

and

tried,

affcctnl

like

in

the

Ijy

thv,

Schumanr.,

excuse their practice by explanationi intended to

their

own doubts

The

as well as the wrath of

and

misconception

of

preposterous

criticism

other,-,.

which has led

prejudice, however,

amount

the

is

composer gives in his music

all

to

an

to

commentary and

or translation of
superfluity

if it

reason, give orders,

ib

int.

programme woulu

all

and

communicates, although

On

We

or equally well.

tell stories

in mubic.

persons, times, and places connected

huit at them.

c:

that

i..u

i.

^.i

\k a

did not contain something th^.t mr.cic

unable to express at

name

:.

illustration, not as a auphc...t.'

Indeed, the

it.

If'

is set forth in tn^

programme, whereas in reality the music

only as a

lj-xc

iuuiiixui

assumption
that

ij

....^.j

it

may

It

\\'//ii

i.-.

c.mnot

c.nnot

what

is

characterize iiiem and

the other hand,

we can

cxjrcbs the

and

'Surrcij

'^

J>i

'..i,iii

Huhjc^:

<,/ tJu;

\_'

:i\

infmito sliadcH and degrees of moods and e'^noi.;-,.!:-. ..,!;,

by tones than by any other mcllam.
;>.
c.u-fc.-,
composers have often, from ignorance or ;)rf :-u..i,ili...-,

attempted the impossible.

But raisusc

Lo- j

/.i/.

jus*:i;-

the condemnation of use.

There are several other considerations \'--,rt.i y ..Ai..^,

out.
Usage reserves the term progvanuiic^ rau.-..".: f ,r
instrumental music -with a prefixed

But

this should not prevent us

they are.

A programme may

before or with the music

as

vcrl,,.!

l/o

wt

il

reci:^^.

difference in the enunciation of the progr^.;

fact, all good,

that

programme music.
be verbal at

all, it

is,

all

j::i

may

also be

s' :.-'

';,,';,

expressive vocal

pantomimic

wA

ilo^s

of the

Further, the progrr'ian.e

:,

.,.

as pv;

make an essential difference in the clinractLr

In

pi'G-r:.i,i/i.c.

from -rfiig fnc

.;.;!,;.

;j;,.:-,>

r,,

i^

:;ot

or pic-toivJ.

Next,

let us note the various characters of progiai..i:i.>.c.

Three main divisions are easily .'.istingui&iuible tlie

predominatingly

descriptive,

the

predominatiniiy

emotional, and the predominaur^-ly sj^mbolical.

descriptive

(ihe

materially descriptive)

the

is

The
Iov,-cst

kind of programme music, and is best used in combination

with and subordination to one of the others. To make
up for the absence of the emotional element is a difnc.iit
and i-arely successful task. It is the musical element
j)ar excellence.
Lastly, although a programme invites
and admits deviation from the structural metnods
of absolute music, it neither neces3ari^' demands
abandonment of the classical forms, i.or in any
conceivable case excuses formlessness.

What
We may

shall be

the

starting point

pass over the beginnings of th

..'

,.i-

a.

"i..';tOiy"'

^^Lil.. av.

matters of conjecture, the antique and early jneuicval

Prcccntation nf I'rc'jruiiaeStfu-Uivi I'oint.

i.T\ ..uN".

which our

of

m;,.ic,

ei .ro:-sion

wuich cmotiou

in

centui'Ics,

15 ch

does not oce/n to havo

havd jeen, a chief

.iio

tlic

anil

.i

cxtrcrifl

iy

..c.-jcripti'

could

beo;i, i.iuLCfl,

Where

aira.

altogether excluded iroiu

]}

,{.,r/.;lci.^;o

-.iraci. j.^i

was

expression

old polyphonic compoaid^

love of ingenuity of combination,

it

did

go beyond the general, unbpecialized spates of

such as

cairn,

Iponguor,

&c.

dignity,

more

and

expressiveness

or

coneciously

unconsciously

The

attainment of that aim.

to

ntrivii.g ai^.r groat, r

freedom, eado, lucidity, and eupplcnci-,

noticeable,

Tic;our,

bega^

of rnattc/s

state

different

develop in the 16th century.

fc- I'r.,-;,

af/itation,

;ivcaiio.-,.i,

iia

ofucn

.lot

more ana

bccr.r.i.

aiu-ca

greater

at

contribute

the

to

cultivation ox the /nacrigal

and the more popular villanella and villot;., :bc -.ndeavour

so to Bet the words to music as to re/.iain intelligible,
the experiments in chromaticism, tonality, solo song,

instrumental music, and theatrical performances

all

these had one origin, arose from one impulse, and tended

one and

end

the

all to

of

the great revolution brought about towards

the

by

century

the

evolution

of

the

instrumentally accompanied solo song (monody) and the

The 16th century, then, must be our

musical drama.
starting point.

To escape the

danger

of

multitude of isolated facts,

we

them

Do

losing
will

ourselves

in

endeavour to group

in periods corresponding to stages of evolution.

not

look,

however,

for

perfect

progression in one straight line

often see leaps,

continuity

and

you will
sporadic phenomena, zigzag movements,

and retrogression as

well

programme music, such

as

we

as

instead of

progression.

it

Childish

find in the earliest stages.

Survey diid Dbinion of Ihc

we

still

fmd

developments.

in

the

last

Observe

stagf;

that

Sul'jc.ct.

l;i

my

side

tlio

steps, porch,

and vestibule arc

First Period, IGth century:

Second Period, from the

the beginning of the

German Kuhnau:
mostly

tlio

l:iHt

two

Vocal prof/rammr, ihuxir.

latter part of th(, IGUi to

opfnir..; ^vit!^

and

i\rundy

ci.ding

Isolated (mil lenlailve

without exception crude and

ovfi-la^;.

to a liousu or a t'jmple.

ccatury,

i?A\\

Englishmen Byrd and

liifjlu.ct

i<iriO'ls

Observe also that the early periods are to

what

[I'ikst

ciiildish,

so, at least partially if

the

><-;tlj

t:.e

ai

iu-.-;i

ru.nr.,

oven later on

.\,iid

not M'holly.

Third Period, from the 17th to the middle of ibe

18th century, that of the French masters (lutenists and
clavecinists)

and portrait

of musical miniature [jcnre

painting, which culminated in Francois Couperin

artistically satisfactory achievements in

First

programme music.

Fourth Period, the 18th century Spreading of the

cultivation of programme music and more
qencral
:

instrumental viusic,

striving

after

seen

and
and operas, and the instrumental

(a)

to plays

expressiveness

in

in Overtures, Entr'actes,

inciilcntal

accompaniments of vocal compositions;

{h)

in

music

ritorndll anu

in j.^oioaxama

(instrumental accompaniment to the spoken word)

(c)

as

;..,d

Symphony and Sonata.

Fifth Period, from the close of the 18th cjntury

Programme music

in

the

larger

vitalization of the lesser forms.

who, at

classical

f.rms

an I

First appears Eeetliov.n,

least as regards the larger classical forms, is the

principal inspirer of those

who come

after him.

Sixth Period, from about the fourth decade of the

19th century:

Departure from the classical furms aul

wider scope of subjects. The inspiring geniuses of this

period are Berlioz, Liszt, and Wagner.

Period.]

CHAPTER

II.

FIRST PERIOD (16tH CENTURY) VOCAL PROGRAMME MUBIC^

JANNEQUIN, GOMBERT, JOSQTJIN DEPRES, LASSO, PALESTRINA,
:

MARENZIO, ETC.

In connection with the history of Programme Music

allusions are generally

positions

of

many

of

to descriptive vocal com-

the 16th century, but they are mostly

of

and

inadequate

number

made

jiet

infrequently

incorrect.

The

works composed and the number of editions

of

them prove the

great popularity enjoyed

by this kind of music. CLEMENT JANNEQUIN, of

whose life we know next to nothing, was, as far as
our knowledge goes, not only the most prolific and
successful composer in this genre, but also one of the
earliest.
His works appeared in the second and third

As we cannot be sure that

and some

quarter of the 16th century.

we have the

first

editions of these works,

editions do not bear the year of issue,

to be

more

Jannequin's

La

explicit.
first

The

it is

inadvisable

descriptive vocal pieces of

published are

La

Guerre, or

La Bataille,

des Oiseaux, and

d/w Lievre; Le Chant
Here we have at once the favourite subjects
of the programme music of that age, and of all ages for
a certain class of the public namely. War, the Chase,
and the imitation of Animal Voices, especially Bird

Chasse

L'Alouette.

Voices.

Battle pieces, however, are so decidedly in the

majority that the

first

the prime favourite.

subject

must be recognized

as

[Fiest

Programme Music.

Vocal

In addition to the compositions already mentioned,

Jannequin gave to the world

de Boulogne,

La

Le

La

Rossignol,

Reduction de Boulogne,

Le

Prise

Siege de

Metz, La Chasse au Cerf, Le Caquet des Femmes, and

Les Cris de Paris. A few words have to be said of at

two of the most famous of the descriptive pieces

by Jannequin, who was undoubtedly the cleverest, liveliest,
least

and most interesting and pleasing

appropriateness of the
of

them

in

1544

'

title

of all those

No one

their strength in this genre.

who

tried

could question the

given to the edition of some

Inventions

musicales.'

In

the

Bataille, with the subtitle Defaite des Suisses a lajournee

the battle of
Swiss there are to be

de Marignan (Marignano or Melegnano)

1515, where Francis

I.

found imitations of

fifes,

musket reports, and

Jannequin' s
'

Cris

de

beat the

all

drums, bugles, cannon and

the bustle and noises of war.

Paris

Listen to the cries of Paris

begins with the

'

('

Voulez ouyr

words:
les

cris

which a wonderful variety of these cries

'),
are introduced, and made to form a harmonious whole

de Paris

after

red and white

wine, hot pies, delicious tartlets, fresh

herrings, fine mustard, old shoes, milk, vegetables,

and

every imaginable thing.*

Among

we found a
Chanson des Oiseaux.'
The last named, a four-part composition, was famous, but
the three-part composition with the same title by the
contemporary NICOLAS GOMBEKT (1544) was not
'

Lark,' a

these Chansons of Jannequin's

'

Nightingale,' and a

not more, famous.!

less, if

It is

'

a complete bird concert,

* Eeprints of La Bataille, Chasse du IMvre, and Cris de Paris are to be

found in F. Commer's CoUectio operum musicorum batavorum, saculi XVI.,

and of La Bataille and Chant des Oiseaux in the Prince de

Moskowa's Recueil des Morceaux de Musique ancienne, vol. v.
t In Commer's CoUectio, vol. xii.

vol. xii.

la

Period.]

Jannequin

GomhertLe Maistre.

a revelling in bird music.

Of

the birds the one

all

enjoying the greatest favour was the harmonious cuckoo,

and next to it came the tuneful nightingale. Lorenz
Lemlin's Der GutzgoMch (1540) is full of cuckoo calls.*
The later Leo Leone gives a good imitation of the
nightingale
(1609).

animals

in his

'Dimmi,

madrigal

Clori

gentil'

But even the sounds of the least musical

have been utilized by composers. Antonio

Scandelli, for instance, imitates in a part-song (1570)

Adrian Banchieri has in his

the cackling of hens.

carnival farce, in madrigal form (1608), a

bestiale alia

'

contrapunto

mente (an improvised bestial counterpoint),

'

where, above the fundamental bass melody, a dog, a

cuckoo,

a cat, and an owl,

('cuccu'),

barks ('babbau'),

calls

mews ('gnao'), and cries ('chiu')- Apropos

much later Adam Krieger composed a

the cat, the

four-part vocal fugue (1667), in which a characteristic

chromatic subject

A
may

sung to miau, miau.'

'

few more specimens of vocal programme music

Tomaso Cimello's BattagUa, in
yet be mentioned
:

his Canzone
(le

is

Villanesche (1545)

Maistre' s)

Matthias Fiamengo's

La BattagUa

Taliana

(Italiana),

counterpart to Jannequin's Bataillefranqaise, published at

Venice in 1551,t having for its subject the battle of Pavia

in 1525, where Charles V.'s army vanquished Francis I.
and took him prisoner ; Thomas Mancinus's The Battle
ofSievershausen (1608), fought in 1553 by Moritz of Saxony

and Albrecht

of

Brandenburg-Kulmbach

Trojano's BattagUa della Gatta

the cat and the crow) of 1567.

e la

and Massimo

Cornacchia (Battle of

Very

different in subject

is the first of the last compositions of this kind I shall

In 0. F. Becker's Hausmusik.

Eeprinted in L. 0. Kade's Mattheus

le

Maistre (1862).

Vocal

10

Programme Music.

[Fiest

mention, Alessandro Striggio's II Cicalamento delle donne

(the Chattering of the

al bucato et la Caccia

Women

and the Chase), published in 1567.

As to Johannes Eccard's Zanni et Magnifieo (1589),* in
which Winterfeld saw a scene of the life in St. Mark's
the

at

wash,

a picture rising before the mind

Square, at Venice,

the

of

words,

even without

hearer
it

is

possible

quite

see in

to

different

of

sets

and

words

nothing but

it

sing simultaneously

a Quodlibet in which five voices

four

understanding the

his

contrasting

four

melodies, the characters being two beggars, a grandee,

tippling

more

foreign

difficult

to

soldier,

and

characterize.

fifth

personage

Many have

repeated

Winterfeld' s opinion, but without examining Eccard's

composition.

From what has been

gathered that in

so

said the reader

far

as

the

may

vocal

already have

compositions

mentioned can be called programme music at

are

programme music

of the lowest type

all,

they

body-painting,

imitation of tones and noises, not

moods and emotions, that is, not real
programme music.
Here and there, however, ^for
instance, where something of the spirit and excitement
of war is represented
we get an approach towards a

not soul-painting:
interpretation of

higher type.

But, of course, these compositions ought

not to be taken too seriously.

for pleasant

They

are things intended

pastime, for jovial social entertainment.

They are not high art, although, as with Jannequin, they

be good and delightful art.
In the more serious genres of the vocal music of that
time we get not only approaches towards a higher type,

may

* Eeprinted in vol. xxi. (No. 14) of the

fur Musikforsohung (edited

PuUikationenot the Gesellsehaft

by B. Eitner).

Pbeiod.]

Lasso

Pcdestrina.

but actual attainments.

did

then

not

Although on the whole music

surpass

greatly

expressiveness, expressing,
generalities,

rudimentary,

and

architecture

anything at

if

most

even

merely

11

these

of

only

all,

only

in

in

manner full-blooded

indicative

DEPEES (d. 1521) and

OELANDO LASSO (1532-1594) did not rest content with

geniuses of the type of JOSQUIN

this,

but specialized the expression, and sometimes even

characterized

down

to the least detail, following not

only the text as a whole, but

Of the

'

indescribable

every phrase and word.

its

genius

Josquin

'

Depres,

the

contemporary theorist Glareanus said that no one had

more expressed the moods

of the soul in song than this

And another contemporary,

Luther, was wont

grow eloquent over the expressiveness of the works of
this most admired among his favourite composers.
No
one has written with more insight and enthusiasm of
master.
to

Lasso

than that

ecclesiastical art,

excellent

connoisseur

Carl Proske,

who saw

of

the

in this

old

most

glorious of the Netherland masters a universal mind,

and

in

his

works

range

from

ecclesiastical

contemplativeness to the gayest of worldly strains, and

force and truth that breathe
upon us like the spirit of Dante and Michelangelo.
That the less impassioned and more restrained
PALESTEINA (d. 1594) was not indifferent to
expression may be proved, without going to his works, by
traits of epico-dramatic

Duke Guglielmo of
Mantua,* where he commends his noble patron, who had
sent him for criticism a mass of his own composition,
a passage in a letter addressed to

for the vivid expression

to their significance.
*

A. Bertolotti's

he gives to the words according

Indeed,

La Musica

if it

were not for their

in Mantova, p. 49.

Vocal

12

Programme Music.

[Pikst

unfamiliarity with the old musical idiom, and their taste

blunted by too strong and too

much

modern

seasoning,

audiences would find a great deal more of expressiveness

in the music of Palestrina and his contemporaries tha,n

they

now

And they would

perceive.

find there

not

now and then also specific expression

Even under the obtaining conditions, a

only generic, but

of feeling.

attention would lead

little

to

surprising revelations.

Nothing need be said about the material illustrations of

'

ascend

'

and descend,'
'

externalities;

nor

of

of

the

'

high

'

and

'

expression

jubilation, devotion, ecstasy, &c.

But

it is

low,'

and other

of

contrition,

not superfluous

programmatic touches, such

instance, in what we may call the

to point out the distinctly

we meet

as

with, for

dramatized portions of the Credo and the settings of the

Psalms.
Secular music afforded wider scope for expression than
sacred music.

Indeed, the words of madrigals were a

continuous

challenge to composers in this respect.

That the challenge was courageously .and successfully
taken up, no one illustrates more fully than the greatest
of

all

the

madrigal

composers,

LUCA MAEENZIO

G. B. Doni of the 17th century boldly declares

that Marenzio was the first to endow the parts with
(d.

1599).

melody and beautiful grace, and to make the

words more expressive and intelligible ; and W. Ambros
beautiful

of the 19th century enthusiastically praises his music for

noble sentimentality, tones of most inward feeling,

its

tender beauty of soul, local colouring,

occasional

breath of

delicate

modem

word-painting,

warm

in

tinge of

short,

expression that flows from

for

life,

the

it.

And,

although pre-eminent, Marenzio was not singular

among

the

madrigalists.

THOMAS MOELEY,

himself a

Marensio

Pbbiod.]

13

cultivating the genre, tells the

distinguished master

musicians of his time (in

to

Morley.

Plaine and Easie Introduction

PracticaU Musicke, 1597) that

if

they wish to he

must
possess themselves with an amorous humour, must be
successful in the composition of madrigals, they

wavering

like the

grave and steady,

wind,

now

now wanton, now

effeminate.

drooping,

now

[Second

CHAPTEE

III.

SECOND PERIOD (FEOM THE LATTER PART OF THE 16tH

ISOLATED
TO THE BEGINNING OF THE 18tH CENTURT)
PROGRAMME
INSTRUMENTAL
AND TENTATIVE CASES OF
MUSIC BTRD, MUNDY, MONTEVERDI, PEOBERGEE, KUHNAU,
PURCELL, ETC.
:

Let US now turn to Instrumental Music, our real

The

subject.

first

examples of instrumental programme

music are two pieces

for the virginal

by the English

JOHN MUNDY (d. 1630) and his

contemporary WILLIAM EYED (1543-1623).

musicians

first

we have a Fantasia*

successively,

'Calm

'

Fair weather,'

'

which

'Lightning,'

'

Thunder,'

'Thunder,'

'Thunder,'

Of the

he describes

Lightning,'

'Lightning,'

weather,'

weather,'

in

greater

'Fair

weather,'

'Fair,

'A clear day.' The tonepainting here is by no means striking, indeed is of a very
'Lightning,'

'Thunder,'

primitive and childlike nature.

Without the labels no

on could possibly recognize the lightning and thunder,

and hardly the

fair

weather and the clear day.

There

is,

however, a contrast between the character of the figures

the rolling bass figure expressive of thunder,

the brisk

figures of disjunct notes expressive of lightning,

and the

quieter gait

of the rest.

Byrd's piece, contained in

* No. 3 of the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, edited by

Maitland and

W. Barclay

Squire.

J.

A. Fuller

Period.]

Byrd's Battle.

15

My

Ladye Nevells Booke in the possession of the

Marquess of Abergavenny and still unpublished, is a
battle piece with the following contents

summons

before the battle

the soldiers'

The march
the march of
*

footmen; the march of horsemen; now followeth the

trumpets the Irish march the bagpipe and the drone
;

drum

the flute and the

battle be joined
for the victory.

the march to the fight

the retreat

now

Of this work

'

here the

followeth a gaUiard

have seen only a

later

Museum, Add. MS. 10,337),

some respects from the older

copy, of about 1666 (British

which seems to
manuscript.

differ in

Instead of the 'Irish march'

it

has a

which may be only a difference of title

instead of the * GaUiard for the victory it has
The
Burying of the dead,' which one cannot very well imagine
'

Quick march

'

'

'

to be merely a difference of title

for the fight

tantarra.'

and between the March

'

and Battle joined there occurs a Tarrais more valuable as music,

'

'

'

'

This composition

and more interesting as progi-amme music, than Mundy's.

The marches are no doubt characteristic specimens of
the time, and probably contain tunes then popular. The
imitation of the trumpets, fifes, and drums is striking,
which cannot be said of the bagpipes, if the English and
Irish bagpipe music was in any way like what we know
of the Scottish. The tone-painting is chiefly to be found
in The Battle joined and The Eetreat.' No one can fail
to recognize in the former the bustle and tussle of the
contest, and in the latter the giving way, first slowly,
then quicker and quicker, until it ends in a wild flight.
'

'

'

This venerable instrumental battle-piece, the oldest one

known, proves that the type reached perfection almost at

once. Then the strength lay in the marches and
popular tunes and the weakness lay in the childish

Isolated

16

now

tone-painting;

[Second

and Tentative Cases.

strength and weakness

where and as they used to

are

be.

To these two compositions there ought perhaps

Lachrymae,

added

Seven

or

still

Tea/rs figwred

to be

seven

in

passionate Pavam,s,for Lute, Viols, or Violins, in Jive parts

(1605),

by JOHN

songs, of

whom

DOWLAND,

the delightful composer of

a poet has said that his

on the lute doth ravish human sense

'

heavenly touch

The virginal pieces

.
'

of the Elizabethan and Jacobean age frequently have

titles,

but in most cases these are derived from the

popular ballads or other vocal compositions on which

they are founded

Whistle,'

'The

they contain a patron's

with

hunt's up,' 'The Carman's

Walsingham,' 'Daphne,'

'

whom

name

or the

Sometimes

&c.

name

of a person

the piece was an especial favourite.

need we look for profound significance in

'

'

His

Humour,'

Giles

'

Famaby's

titles

Dream,'

Nor
like

and

Dr. Bull's Myself.'

Dramatic music furnishes a wide field for programme

How well it has been cultivated we learn from
the works of Gluck, Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, Eossini,

music.

Gounod,

Meyerbeer,

and above

Wagner, whose

all

dramas, especially his later ones, are colossal symphonic

poems. The earliest occurrence of programme music in
the musical

century

drama

and

to

is of

the

first

decade of the 17th

CLAUDIO MONTEVEEDI

(1567-1643),

and great innovator, belongs the

the origination. The characteristic, though

that daring genius

honour of

short and -simple, orchestral pieces,

instrumental accompaniments

and some

of the

and interludes of the

Mantua in 1607
have an indisputable claim to a
place in the history of programme music. In the only

vocal pieces in his Orfeo (performed at

and published

in 1609)

Pbbiod.]

Bowland

Monteverdi.

other opera of Monteverdi's that

down

to us, L'Incoronazione

is

17

known

to

have come

Poppea (Venice, 1642),

da,

the instrumental portions are few and insignificant.

On

the other hand, his Combat of Tancred and Clorinda

(H,

Combattimento di Tancredi

et Clorinda),

a setting of

some stanzas from the 12th book of Tasso's Gerusalemme

liberata, performed in 1624 and published in 1638 in the
8th book of his madrigals,*

is

again of the greatest

and importance, more especially on account of

its instrumental accompaniments written for four viols,
with tremolo and pizzicato effects among others. This
was his first composition in the stile concitato (agitated,
interest

passionate style), which he claims as his invention.

He

says that there

the

are

three principal

grades

in

expression of the emotions, to which correspond three

styles,

the

agitated

or

passionate

(concitato),

temperate (temperato), and the gentle

(molle).

'In

the
all

the works of the preceding composers I found examples of

the last two styles, but not of the agitated, although that

manner

had already been described by

[he meant
"
Eepublic]
Take that harmony which in tone and voice
The
imitates that of a brave man going into battle."
importance of such views, and their realization in
of expression

Plato in the third book of the Ehetoric

;

'

practice in general for

expression and

the development

programme music

of

musical

in particular needs no

pointing out.

Monteverdi's pupil and successor, the most famous

opera

composer

and

the

most

brilliant

repre-

sentative of the Venetian school in the 17th century,

* Orfeo is to be found in the Publikationen of the Gesellsohaf t for Musikforschung (edited by E. Eitner), li'Ineoronazione in H. Goldsohmidt's
Studien zur Geschichte der Italienischen Oper, II. and II Combattimento
;

in C. V. Winterfeld's Johannes Gabrieli, Part III.

18

Isolated

and Tentative Cases.

FEANCESCO CAVALLI
troduces

works.

characteristic
I shall

(c.

[Second

1600-1676),

instrumental

often

in-

in

his

pieces

note here only the Sinfonia infernale and

the Chiamata alia caccia in

Le Nozze

di Teti e di Peleo, the

Passata delV armata and the Sinfonia navale in Didone,

and the music

descriptive of the billowing

and roaring

of the sea in Nettuno e Flora festeggianti*

though

great,

less prolific rival,

1620-1669)

(c.

ought likewise to

named

be

La

whose

in

this

woman composer

connection, and also the distinguished

FEANCESCA CAOCINI,

Cavalli's

MAEC ANTONIO CESTI

Liberazione

di

Buggieri dalV Isola d'^Zcma, performed in 1625, contains

independent instrumental pieces.

In Italian instrumental music apart from the opera

we

programme

find hardly anjrthing in the nature of

music.

The

by the Italian
Dresden, with its

Capriccio stravagante (1627)

CAELO FAEINA,

Court violinist at

inartistic imitations of the cackling of hens,

cats,

barking of dogs, the flautino, the

mewing

fifferino

of

deUa

and the chitarra spagnola, &c. does not

deserve the name.
Again, BIAGGIO MAEINI'S
La Martinenga and II Priulino (dances of 1622),
soldadesca,

La Graziani and Capriccio detto il

Molza (1669), and LEGEENZI'S La Gornara, La Fugazza
(1663), and La Rosetta (1671) point to patrons and
G. B. VITALI'S

admirers, not to subjects.

If there

could only be the last piece, the

it

which might perhaps, with an

were an exception,
first

effort of

movement

of

the imagination,

be regarded as the portrait of a sweet pretty maid worthy

We have, however, an instance of unmistakable programme music in MAECO UCCELLINI'S

of the

name Eosie.

See

H.

Kretzsolimar's

essay

on

Die

Vierteljahrsschrift fiir Musikwissenschaft, vol.

Venetiamsche

viii.

(1892).

Oper

in

Pebiod.J

CavaUi

FrescobcddiFroberger.

19

Wood Symphonies (Sinfonie Boscareccie, 1669), one of

is entitled La Suavissima and another La Gran

which

Although called grand, this battle does not

effect, indeed it amounts to no
more than that two violins alternately throw a snappish
figure at each other, and have some tussles, runs, and
Battaglia.

produce a very terrifying

rushes together.

All the compositions mentioned in this

paragraph are written

for violins

and a figured bass.*

Of

Italian composers for keyboard instruments of this period

only one calls for notice,

ALESSANDEO POGLIETTI,

who, however, on account of residence

foreign influences, will find a

abroad and
more appropriate place

FEESCOBALDI (d. 1644) utilizes

the cuckoo notes as a motive in one of his capriccios,
further on.

That

and imitates the

pifferari in

another

the Capriccio fatto

him a composer of
programme music. Some of the titles of his pieces
might seem to point to programmes for instance,
sopra la Pastorale doea not constitute

La Battaglia, which, however, is merely a variated bugle

call, and La Frescobalda, Fra Jacopino, &c., which are
no more than names of tunes. More weighty arguments
could be drawn from the master's recommendation of
varied and elastic tempo, his allusion to difference of
passages and expression, and the superscription Let him
who can understand me follow me, I understand myself
but generally speaking, Frescobaldi was too much
preoccupied with technical problems and outward effects
'

'

to think of anything else.

Now we

will

transport

ourselves

Germany, where our attention

JACOB FEOBEEGEE
* J.

Ende

W. von

(d.

is

from

first

Italy

to

attracted

by

1667), a pupil of Prescobaldi's,

Wasielewski's Initrwmentalsdtze

des XVII. Jahrhvmderts (1874).

vom Ende

des XVI. bis

20

Isolated

[Second

and Tentative Cases.

most notable figures in the history of

instrumental music, eccentric as a man, inimitable as a
one

of the

player of and composer for the harpsichord and organ.

MatthesSn says of him

to represent

'

This composer

on the clavier alone whole

portraiture of the persons that

knew

well

how

stories with the

had been present and

taken part in them, together with their characters.'

The same

writer relates in the Ehrenpforte (1740) that

he had in his possession a manuscript composition of

Proberger's entitled,

'Plainte,

a Londres, pour

faite

passer la melancolie,' in which the composer describes

'what he experienced between Paris and Calais, and

from Calais to England, from robbers on land and

sea,

and how the English organist had abused him, taken

him by the arm to the door, and kicked him out.'
Mattheson had also of Proberger an
en passant

le

Allemande,

'

Ehin dans une barque en grand

This

a detailed description.'

as

Allemande,

faite

with

peril,

with

what

same author relates in Der

Capellmeister
vollkommene
was
pretty
a
clear
description, in 26 Noten-FdUen, of Count Thurn's passage
across the Ehine, and the danger experienced by the
company, among whom was Proberger himself. But
belongs to

it,

the

Proberger's compositions
titles

and programmes,

generally,

one

give

although without
the unmistakable

impression that he aimed at something more than a

clever

and pleasing putting together of notes.

The

vivid

expression of moods, feelings, and fancies, both serious

and humorous,

is

truly remarkable,

especially

if

we

consider the character of the instrumental music of his

time.

But although as a rule

his

they were occasionally mistaken

beautiful

Lament on

the

aims were praiseworthy,

;

as, for instance, in the

death

of

the

Emperor

Peeiod.J

Froberger

Poglietti.

21

Ferdinand IV. (Lamento sopra la dolorosa perdita della

R. M. di Ferdinando IV. Be de Romani. Per il Cembalo,
1649), where at the end occurs a glissando
major scale
which, according to Ambros's interpretation, represents
the Jacob's ladder on which Ferdinand IV. ascends to

heaven.

The ItaHan ALBSSANDRO POGLIETTI, who in 1661

became chamber organist to the Emperor Leopold I.,
and perished in 1683 during the siege of Vienna by
the Turks, gave to the world a Capriccio entitled II

a Petit Air gay pour imitation de Rossignole,

and a Capriccio on cock-crowing and hen-cackling. The
Rossignolo,

imitation of the animal voices

is

here excellent, probably

better than anything of the kind that

had been done

But after all it is of the lowest kind of tonepainting, and can hardly be called programme music.
Specimens of a somewhat higher order are to be found in
some of Poglietti's variations in Aria Allemagna con alcwni
before.

variazioni sopra V eta della

variations being the

Maesta (the number of the

same as that

of the years of his

Majesty the Emperor), one of the pieces 'pour le Clavecin

ou rOrgue' (1663).

Here we

find

among

following really significant superscriptions

others the

Bohemian

Bagpipe, Dutch Flageolet, Hungarian Fiddles, Juggler's

Eope-dance,
compliments).

and French Baiselemens (baisemains,

The three last-named are the most
the movements of the
and Hungarian Fiddler being hit

interesting of the variations,

Juggler,

French

elegant,

most happily and musically.

Not to fatigue the reader,

off

shall

close

my

enumeration of instances of programme music belonging

second period by proceeding
and most important specimens

to the
latest

at

once to the

the

Six Bible

22

Sonatas (1700)
J. S.

and Tentative Cases.

[Second

JOHANN KUHNAU

(1660-1722),

Isolated
of

Bach's predecessor as Thomas cantor at Leipzig.

From

preface

the

these

to

works

we gather that

common than is
much of what was then

programme music was then more

generally supposed, and also that

produced

is

unknown

to us, either

having perished or

being hidden in dusty uncatalogued heaps in libraries,

Kuhnau

tells

us that

compose such an
ignorant

'

the

of

if

he pretended to be the

first to

invention,' he would prove himself

celebrated

Froberger's

and

other

and Tombeaux
(i.e., elegies on the death of persons), and of whole
sonatas
(evidently meaning what
we call suites)
composed in this manner, with words added to discover
excellent musicians' Battles, Waterfalls,

the meaning.

Of the sonata species he mentions one

by a celebrated Prince-Electoral Chapelmaster, which

the author calls La Medica, and in which, among other
things, he sets forth the moaning of the patient and his

how they run

to the doctor and state their

and concludes with a Gigue bearing
the superscription
The patient is doing well, but is
relatives,

distress, &c., &c.,

'

The composer alluded

from
1656 to
1673 Chapelmaster
at
Munich.
This
composition, of which we have no further knowledge,
not yet fully restored to health.'

JOHANN CASPAE KEEL,

to is very probably

reminds

me

of

another

lost

work,

DIETEICH

BUXTEHUDE'S

Seven Suites, in which, according to

Mattheson, the nature and qualities of the planets were

prettily pictured {artig abgebildet).

regretted for

more than one reason

This loss

is

to

be

for the eminence of

the composer, the character of the subject, and the fact

that

it

was unique among the master's

strength lying above

all,

to

works,

his

quote Spitta's words, in

Period.]

Kerl

Pachelbel Kuhnau.

23

absolute instrumental music uninfluenced by

idea.

must

any poetical

yet, parenthetically as it were, allude to

one other composition, one by the famous organist

JOHANN PACHELBEL

(d.

contemporary of Buxtehude

(d.

1706),

the

1707).

It is

younger
entitled

Musikalische Sterbensgedanken, aus vier variirten Chordlen

hestehend (Musical

variated Chorales

Dying Thoughts, consisting

1683), to

of four

the composition of which

the impulse was given by the plague at the time raging in

No

Erfurt, where Pachelbel resided from 1678 to 1690.

copy of the original edition

of the four variated
after

manuscript

is

to exist, but three

chorales have been republished,

material,

Tonkunst in Bayern

known

(II.

1),

in

the

edited

Denkmdler der

by M.

Seiffert.

If

these compositions can be called programme music at

all, it can be only in the sense of an outpouring of

sadness and piety by a

and happiness at one

To return

to

fell

man who had

lost wife, child,

swoop.

KUHNAU 'S preface to the Bible

Sonatas.

shows that the composer was well aware of the

difficulties and dangers of the genre, and had considered
them carefully. If he did wrong, he did so with malice
He is of opinion that the imitation by
prepense.
It

instrumental music of the songs of birds, the ringing of

bells, the report of cannon, and trumpets and kettle-

drums, can be understood without the help of words and

that this is also the case with the expression by
;

instrumental music of the general feelings of joy and

sadness, unless they are to be connected with particular
individuals

Hezekiah

that

is

is

where, for instance, the lament of

to be distinguished

from that of the weeping

Peter, or from that of the complaining Jeremiah. On

the other hand, verbal indications of the intentions of

24
the

Isolated

become a necessity when the hearer

compoBer

himself
to love

now
now to

be moved,

is to

now

[Second

and Tentative Cases.

to hate,

to joy

cruelty

now to sadness, now

now to mercy, the

reason being that the dissimilarity of their temperaments

causes the hearers to be differently affected, both in kind

and degree, by one and the same thing. In fact, this

preface is an apology for instrumental programme music,
and being the first apology is of historical as well as of
sesthetical interest.

The general

title of

Johann Kuhnau's publication

of

1700 with which we are concerned runs as follows:

Musikalische VorsteUwngen einiger BibUscher Historien in

Sonaten

auf

dem

zu

Clavier

(Musical

spielen

Eepresentations of some Biblical stories in six sonatas,

to be played

on the

clavier).

The

titles

of the

six

(1) The Combat between David

David curing Saul by means of music
(3) Jacob's marriage; (4) Hezekiah sick unto death and
recovered of his sickness; (5) The Saviour of Israel,
Gideon; and (6) Jacob's death and burial. These sonata

sonatas are respectively

and Goliath ;

titles,

(2)

however, are not the only verbal indications of the

subjects;

each

sonata

is

argument which at the end

provided
is tersely

with a

lengthy

summarized

and

in addition to this superscriptions are placed above the

The summary of the

(a) The boasting and
defying of Goliath (&) The terror of the Israelites and
their prayers to God at sight of the terrible enemy;
(c) The courage of David, his desire to humble the pride
of the giant, and his child-like trust in God; (d) The
contest of words between David and Goliath, and the
contest itself in which Goliath is wounded in the
forehead by a stone, so that he falls to the ground and
different

argument

parts of the sonatas.

of the first sonata runs

;

;:

Pbriod.J

Kuhnau's Bible Sonatas.

25

; (e) The flight of the Philistines, and how they

are pnrsued by the Israelites, and slain by the sword;
(/) The exultation of the Israelites over their victory;

is slain

(g)

The

choirs

praise of David, swa.g

(h)

and

finally,

in hearty dancing

and

by the -women in alternate

the general joy, expressing

leaping.

argument of the second sonata is

(a) Saul's sadness and madness
;
harp-playing;

mind.

(c)

itself

The summary of the

not so many-membered
David's refreshing

(b)

Tranquillity restored to the King's

would take up too much space to quote the

contents of the four remaining sonatas. The curious
will

It

find

them

in

new

Seiffert-Fleischer's

edition

Weitzmann's Geschichte der Klaviermusik

The music of the first two sonatas has

(the third) of
{!.,

247).

been recently put within the reach of everybody by

J. S. Shedlock's edition of

them

(Novello).*

Kuhnau's sonatas, the most ambitious attempts at

programme music up to 1700, are not sonatas iu the

modem

sense of the word, nor are they suites, but a

series of

movements differing in
and not infrequently

structure,

length, tempo, measure,

also in key,

which lead

one into the other, each having at the beginning a

superscription indicating what

it is

intended to express.

"While the second sonata consists of a few sustained

movements, the

A rapid

scale

first

contains short as well as long ones.

and some

twirls depict

'

the pebble

is

sent

by means of the sling into the forehead of the giant

and five bars suffice for the depicting of Goliath falls."
'

'

On

the other hand,

Israelites,

the terror and

prayers

of

the

the courage of David, the joy of the Israelites

* All the six sonatas have been reprinted, edited by K. Pasler, in the
Denkmaler deutecher Tonkunit, vol. Jv., 1901. A careful biography of
Kuhnau by Bichard Miinnich will be found in the Sammelbdnde of the

Intemationalen Musikgetellschaft (year

April- June, 1902).

III.^

':

26

Isolated

over

their

chosen

be judged

[Second

That

leisurely.

always

not

are

subjects

may

expressed

are

victory,

Euhnau's

and Tentative Cases.

judiciously

from the following headings

'Laban's deceit in taking Leah instead of Eachel to

honest

the

and bridegroom

cousin

(third

'

'Gideon's doubts in God's promises of victory

him

'

and The blowing

'

of

sonata)

made

to

trombones and trumpets, as

well as the breaking of the pitchers,

and the war-cry

(fifth sonata) and The journey from Egypt to the land of

Canaan' (sixth sonata). Kuhnau himself tells us that
he has expressed the deceit of Laban by an interrupted
'

cadence (called by the Italians inganno), and Gideon's

doubts by repeating again and again the opening of

and higher.
Although we may here and there smile

subjects a degree higher

choice of subject,

points of a subject
of the

means

at the mistaken

or rather the mistaken selection of the

and the naivete

of expression,

it

and the inadequacy

would be downright

foolishness to laugh at these sonatas contemptuously.

They are remarkable achievements, daring, and

successfully daring, in their efforts at

and

full

of musical

beauties apart

often

expressiveness,

from expression.

Novel in their ideas, means, and form, these sonatas

enjoyed great popularity in their day. But they must

have done more than please, entertain, and edify the

general public they also must have exercised a great
;

influence

own

and

these
as

upon

succeeding

sonatas

well,

the

and

could

composers

of

generation.

the

music

doubt

their

of

the

master's

Who,

knowing
Euhnau's time

suggestiveness

and

am

convinced, has not so far been fully recognized.

On

stimulative

qualities ?

Their

importance,

account of the influence that Kuhnau' s Bible Sonatas

Pbeiod,]

Purcell.

must have

27

they have a good claim to a

But, all things considered,

exercised,

place in our fourth period.

their proper

place is

here,

they are interesting

for

and powerful attempts rather than altogether satisfactory

achievements.

Having reached what

period,

it

strikes

Britain, will ask:

of

(1658-1695),

has

not

sonatas,

programme music.

sorts, material

Great

in

HENEY PUECELL

works

is,

least

at

we may even say

expressiveness,

music there

many,

One cannot

with his passionate,

instrumental

that

'But what of Purcell?'

help wondering that

after

I intended to be the end of this

me

In

violent, striving

suites,

his

among

us

left

&c.

his

specimens

accompanied

vocal

however, plenty of tone-painting of

and

spiritual,

all

good and bad, great and

be found oftener in the vocal than in

the instrumental parts, and for that reason is not
It is to

little.

infrequently reprehensible, because of its giving undue

prominence to the subordinate

to

the material at the

expense of the spiritual, to the word-expression

the expense of the thought-expression.

It

is

psychologically wrong, but also comical rather

seriously impressive, to

sing the word

'

at

not only

round

'

than
to

smooth, twirling series of eighteen semiquavers, and the

word

'

spread

'

to

a long extent of coloratura.

The

tremulous execution of portions of the vocal parts asked

by the composer in the Frost-Scene of King Arthwr

to express the quivering and shivering and the
chattering of teeth caused by cold must have given rise
to much misgiving.
Sir Hubert Parry is not too severe
for

in saying that, in spite of his powerful genius, Purcell

carried to excess the tendency of the later Madrigal

period towards realistic expression,

that he

fell

not

28

and Tentative Cases.

Isolated

[Third

infrequently into the depth of bathos and childishness,

was impelled to make experiments quite astounding in

crudeness, and that he adopted in secular solo music
realistic devices of
this,

perfect works
if,

a quaintly innocent kind.

one cannot help speculating.

like

two in

In view of

What grand and

might Purcell not have given to the world

Handel, he had been able to spend a year or

and had afterwards, again like Handel,

England worthy opportunities for the exercise

Italy,

found ia

of his powerful genius

unmixed with

regrets.

Now

our admiration cannot be

Pbkiod.]

BOOK
ACmEYEMENTS

IN

II.

SMALL F0EM8 AND SBBIOUS

STBIVINGS IN LARGEE FOEMS.

CHAPTEE

I.

THIED PERIOD (FBOM THE 17tH TO THE MIDDLE OP THE

18th obntuey)

French lutenists and claveoinists

DENNIS GAULTIEE, OHAMBONNIERES, OOUPEEIN LE GRAND,

EAMEAU, ETC.

On

entering the Third Period

that of French Musical

Miniature Genre and Portrait Painting, as practised by

the lutenists in the 17th century and by the claveeinists
in the 17th and

first

half of the 18th century

we leave

the time of isolated cases of programme music behind us.

Another point about this period

calls for notice.

It

was

the French School of claveeinists, culminating in Fran9ois

Couperin, that achieved the
results in

may

call

first artistically satisfactory

programme music. The source of what we

the programmatic movement may be traced

back to the

earlier flourishing School of

French lutenists.

In their music we find already pieces with

mythological and partly

idyllic.

titles,

partly

Of the sixty-two

pieces.

La Ehetorique des Bieux, by the illustrious DENNIS

GAULTIEE (d. about 1660-1670), contained in the
'

splendid
half have

'

'

Hamilton Codex now in Berlin, about one

Phaeton foudvoye.
Here are a few
titles.
'

[Third

French Lutenists cmd Clavecmists.

30

Mars

Minerve,

La
Now the question arises
mere

and

Caressante, L'Homicide,

&c.

Jvmon ou

sv/perhe,

Coquette virtmsa,

La
:

&c.

la Jalouse,

Are these titles

vain ornaments,

affectations, artful allm-ements, or are they trulyIt is difSeult for us, strangers as

significant ?

we

are to

the effects of the lute well played, to measure the extent

to which these compositions reach the height, depth, and

The limited means of the

instrument as shown by the notes seem to promise little.
But there can be no doubt that the French composers

breadth of their subjects.

though not in the majority of cases,

for the lute often,

indicated by the titles of their pieces

The

to illustrate.

Codex'
the

and that he elevates the most abased

sublimest

himself

'

that Gaultier represents the passions

states

perfectly,

what they intended

Hamilton

writer of the preface to the

may

virtues.

spirits to

'This manner of

expressing

La Bhetorique

des Dieux.'

justly be called

Of the first-mentioned piece (Phaeton foud/royS) it is

said that it 'bears witness to Phaeton being, by his
imprudence and ambition, the cause of the conflagration
of the half of

mankind, to the punishment meted out to

the rash youth by Jupiter, and to the sorrows of his

father Apollo on account of his loss.'
virtuosa

we read that

lovers as there are

'

this fair one,

men

And of La Coquette
who makes as many

that understand her, proves by

her priceless discourse the sweetness she finds in the love

of virtue, the great esteem she has for those

and that she

attained the

will give herself to

title of

him who

the magnanimous.'

concerning ourselves with the lutenists,

the

father

of

the

School

of

who adore

will

it,

first

"Without further

we

French

will turn to

clavecinists,

CHAMPION DE CHAMBONNIEEBS, who

1670.

have

died about
Of him we have two books of pieces (dances).

Chambonnieres Couperm.

GaulUer

Period.]

He,

makes use

too,

of titles, but more sparingly than

Only ten of his sixty-one pieces are thus

Gaultier.

provided

and

La

And

for.

the titles of these ten are very vague,

mean much than

less likely to

Judge

31

for

La

little

or nothing.

La Dunkerque,
La toute belle, L'Entretien des Dieux, La
La Verdirtguette, and Les Jeunes Zephirs.

yourself:

Rare,

Iris,

Loureuse,

ViUageoise,

The

Chambonnieres

come

that

clavecinists

Le B^gue,

immediately

and Frangois), D'Anglebert, and others

hasten onward to the

offer

And

present inquiry no matter of interest.

may

after

the elder Couperins (Louis

us in the
thus we

FEANQOIS GOUPEEIN

of

a later generation, the most distinguished of a musically

most richly

gifted family,

which in Prance formed a

counterpart to the Bachs in Germany.

The composers

of the

French harpsichord School of

the 17th and 18th centuries are either entirely ignored

or greatly

music.
received

underrated in the

At any
their

opinion about

rate, I

due

them

in
is

am
this

history of

programme

not aware that they ever

The prevalent

respect.

that their compositions are pretty

and that the titles are for the most part fancy
and even when they are not altogether that need

trifles,

titles

not be taken seriously.

An

unprejudiced study of the

works of Frangois Couperin, called

'le

grand (1668-1733),
'

and acquaintance with his intentions,

view

is quite

slight in

will

show that

this

wrong, and that the master's miniatures,

form and

light in texture, but perfect in execu-

tion, are masterpieces not only of

but also of tone-painting.

School, Couperin

is

Of

musical composition,

all

the masters of the

the most important, both on account of

the quantity and the quality of his programme music. The

compositions that chiefly concern us here are four books

of harpsichord pieces

1722, 1730)
'

[Third

French Clavecmists.

32

Pieces de Clavecm (1713, 1716,

grouped not in Suites or Partitas, but in

There are altogether twenty-seven orders.

Ordres.'

The number of pieces in the orders varies greatly.

The second order, for instance, contains twenty-three,
the fourth only four. All the pieces of an order have
the same key-note
the mode, however, is sometimes
major and sometimes minor. But the orders are
distinguished from suites and partitas not only by the
number, but also by the nature of their constituents, for
although they contain many dances, they contain more
pieces that are not dances.
The pieces not in dance
form are in a primitive kind of Rondo form, in which a
;

principal thought alternates with

secondary thoughts

forms of these pieces are

(called Couplets); in short, the

forms of cumulation, not of development.

some have names, others have not

tions are all named.
In the preface to Coupenn's
Clanjeein,

passage

thus

may

first

book of Pieces de

published in 1713, there occurs the following

'

have always had an object in composing

these pieces
it

Of the dances

the other composi-

different occasions

have furnished

me

with

the titles correspond to the ideas I have had.

dispense

nevertheless,

which seem

as

with

giving an

among

to flatter

me,

the pieces which bear

these titles
it is

well to

them are a

them;
there are some
warn people that

account

of

species of portraits

that have been sometimes found like enough under

fingers,

all

my

and that the greater part of these prepossessing

are rather given to the amicable originals whom I

wished to represent than to the copies I have drawn of
titles

them.'

This cannot leave any doubt in our minds as to

the composer's intentions.

Couperin's pieces are

now

;:'

Period.]

Couperin

sentimental,

now

le

Grand.

83

now humorous, now

The tone-painting in them is now
soul-painting and now body-painting that is, now
concerned with the inward, and now with the outward.
characteristic,

descriptive.

A few of the pieces paint states of feeling, such as

Les Regrets, Les Langueurs tendres, Les Sentiments, Les
and Les Agrements. Very many pieces
are portraits, the sitters of which are variously indicated
by proper names, by predominant quality, by a
combination of the two, or by moral or national character
La Couperin, La Princesse Marie, and La Soewr Monique;
Idees heureuses,

La Superbe, La Tenebreuse, La Pateline, La Volwptueuse,

La Terpsichore, La Badine, and L" Enchanter esse
Uaimdble Therese, La douce Janneton, and La tend/re
Fanchon; La Basque, L'Ausonienne, La Castelwne, La
Boulonnaise, and Les Ghinois.

impressions from nature

Some

of the pieces are

Les Lis naissans, Les Boseaux,

Les Pavots, Le Verger fleuri, Les Gv/irlands, Le

matin,

Le Point du

Jour, Les Bergeries, Les

L'Anguille, Les Abeilles, Les Papillons,

Gazouillement, Les Canaries,

Reveille-

Ondes,

Le Moucheron, Le

La Linotte

effarouchee,

Les

Rossignol en amour, and Le

Not a few of the pieces are genre
in which there is even more than in the

Fauvettes plaintives,

Le

Rossignol vainqueu/r.
pictures,

preceding

classes

great deal of

imitation

outward (movements, tones, and noises)

flottant,

Les

petits

of

the

Le Bavolet

Moulins a vent, Le Tic-Toc-Choc, ou

Les Maillotins, Le Gaillard-boiteux, Les Tours de passepasse,

Le Drole

de corps, Les

Timbres,

Le

Carillon de

La Harpee
(piece dans le gout de la Harpe), Les Tambourines, La
Musette de Choisi, La Musette de Taverni, La Comrmre, La
Cyihere, Les Ombres errantes,

Fileuse,

and Les

Le

Turbulent,

Tricoteuses (with the

mailles lachees

French

34

near the end).

consist

represent
(1.

considerable

groups of scenes

depict

or

Caritade

2.

,-

number
more

La

parts

Piece a tretous

Les Calotins

Les Calotins;

(1.

players

strolling

Les

Bacchanales

Bacchiques), different effects of wine;

(1.

Bruits

Ages

(1.

set

Combat

et

3.

La
2.

4.

in

forth

menestrandise

naissante

Les Delices).
Fastes

(Eecords

de

of

2.

the

Fureurs

Triomphante

Allegresse

Les

L'Enfantine
larger

gramde

la

grand

of

Enjouemens

Fanfare), three phases of war;

La Muse

L' Adolescence
is

guerre

de

vainqueurs;

Les

company

(1.

Bacchiques

Tendresses

2.

et les

2.

comic performance of bufifoons (male and

Calotines), the

female) on a trestle-stage, in short, of a

Bacchiques

they

Les Pelerines

Le Bemerciment), the alms-asking and

the thanksgiving of female pilgrims

Calotines, ou

of the pieces

and

four,

two, three,

of

[Third

Clavecinists.

des

petits
;

3.

programme
et

and

ancienne

ancient

five pieces, called by the comThe minstrel notables and jurymen;

Act II. The hurdy-gurdy players and the beggars;
Act III. The jugglers, tumblers, and mountebanks
with their bears and monkeys Act IV. The invalids, or

minstrelsy).

poser acts
'

'

It

comprises

Act

I.

those crippled in the service of the grand minstrelsy;

Act V. Disorder, and defeat of the whole troop, caused by

the drunkards, the bears, and the monkeys.

Couperin in

Schumann, but in no case

more than in the piece which he calls Les folies fran9aises
ou les Dominos,' which brings at once to mind the more
his titles often reminds one of

'

recent composer's Carnaval.

of twelve couplets, in

This composition consists

which the harmony remains the

same, on which, however, a new characteristic structure

is

again and again raised.

entitled

(1.)

The

Virginity under the

several couplets are

domino

of the colour

Pebiod.]

Cowperin

le

Grand.

85

of the invisible;

domino

(3.)

(2.) Pudicity under the rose-colour

Ardour under the carnation domino ; (4.)

Hope under the green domino

blue domino

(6.)

Languor under the

imder different dominos

violet

(7.)

(9.)

superannuated

female

withered-leaves dominos

yellow dominos;

(5.)

Fidelity under the

Perseverance under the drab domino;

domino;

The

Treasurers

(8.)

old Galants

Coquetry

and the

under purple and

(100 The kind Cuckoos imder

Jealousy under the

Frenzy or Despair under

Taciturn

(11.)

mauve-grey domino

the black domino.

Les Folies franqaises are followed by

and

(12.)

what may be described as an epilogue, L'dme en peine,

Lent repentance after the Carnival indiscretions.
Thus faj only Couperin's Pieces de Clavecin have been
noticed

but we have also works of the master for

harpsichord combined with other instruments (stringed

or wind), which, however, he allowed to be played on two
I shall mention the Concerts

harpsichords or spinets.

Eoyaux written

for

Louis XIV. 's Sunday concerts and

published with the third book of harpsichord pieces

(1722)

Les Gouts reunis ou nouveaux Concerts a

I'usage

de toutes sortes d'instruments de musique, augmente d'une

Sonade en Trio

intitulee

Le Parnasse ou L'ApotMose

de

and the Concert instrumental sous le titre

a la memoire de V incomparable
monsieur de Lidly (1725).* Only the two Apotheoses
Corelli (1724)

d'Apotheose,

composi

concern us here.
Italian

position

Couperin says that with regard to the

and the French

:

'

style

he occupies a neutral

I have always esteemed meritorious things

irrespective of author or nation.'

Paris.

says also that,

of these works for stringed instruments and

by Georges Marty has been published by A. Durand et Fils,

transcription

pianoforte

He

French

36

when

thirty years earlier the first Italian sonatas

their appearance in Paris,

some

[Thied

Clavecinists.

Le

himself.

made

he was encouraged to compose

Pa/rnasse, ou L'ApothSose de CorelU,

comprises seven movements, the

first

forming an intro-

duction to the second; they bear the following superscriptions

(1.) Corelli,

at the foot of Parnassus, asks the

Muses to receive him among them (2.) Corelli, charmed

by the good reception given him on Parnassus, shows his
He continues with those accompanying
joy thereat.
;

him (3.) Corelli drinks at the fountain of Hippocrene,

company continue (4.) Enthusiasm of Corelli caused
;

his

by the waters of Hippocrene; (5.) Corelli, after his

enthusiasm, falls asleep, and his companions play the
following slumber music very softly; (6.) The Muses

awake Corelli, and place him beside Apollo; and (7.)

Thanks of Corelli. Couperin's object in writing the
Apoth^ose de Lully was to do honour to the greatest man
in music whom the preceding century had produced,' and,
'

in doing so, to
his works only
(1.)

Lully

'

diminish the prejudice of those

by reputation.'

in

the

the lyrical shades

Elysian

Fields

concerting

Air for the same

(2.)

who know

Here is the programme

(les

with

mSmes) ;

(3.) The flight of Mercury to the Elysian Fields to

announce the descent of Apollo (4.) Descent of Apollo,
who comes to offer to Lully his violin and his place
on Parnassus ; (5.) Subterranean noise caused by the
;

contemporaries of Lully

Complaints of the same,

for flutes and violins very subdued (7.) The carrying off of
(6.)

Lully to Parnassus

Eeception entre-doux

et hagard,
given to Lully by Corelli and the Italian Muses ; (9.)
Thanks of Lully to Apollo ; (10.) Apollo persuades Lully

and

Corelli that the

taste ought to

(8.)

union of the French and the Italian

make music

perfect

(11.)

Lully playing

Period.]
the

Couperin

and

principal part

le

Grand.

37

Corelli

accompanying;

(12.)

Corelli playing in his turn the

principal part,

while

LuUy accompanies

(13.) The peace of Parnassus made

;
on the remonstrance of the French Muses, subject to

the condition that in future

when their language was

spoken there, sonade and cantade should be said, just as
as one says ballade, serenade, &c. (14.) Sally {Saillie']
;

That these programmes deal with matters craving for

musical expression

not likely to be asserted.

is

subjects like Corelli asking to be received

Muses and drinking

Indeed,

among the

the fountain of Hippocrene,

at

the flight of Mercury, Apollo's descent, his offer to

Lully of a

unmusical.

for

and

violin

subterranean

noise,

on

not

if

Parnassus, the

anti-musical,

are

Moreover, the treatment of some of them

instance,

of

subterranean noise

Mercury and the

But varied character
the pieces, most of them are

the

decidedly

of

flight

childish.

is

cannot be denied to

even

a place

&c.,

And,

expressive.

apart

from

their

programme music, we must allow them to be

good and pleasing music. What makes them further
quality as

which

is different from that of

more contrapuntal and
sometimes more imitative, and clearly shows the influence
of Italy.
Another difference is the much more sparing

interesting is their style,

the Pieces de Clavecin

use of grace-notes.
self-contained,

it

is

The parts

except the

of the

first,

Apotheoses are

which

ends

on

dominant, and thus leads up to the second part.

the pieces have not the same key-note.

Apotheosis there

is

major besides

the Lully Apotheosis there are, besides

major,

flat

and

flat

major.

The

varies greatly, especially in Lully.

the
All

In the Corelli
minor, and in

minor and

length of the pieces

Most of them are

38

French Clavecmists.

short,

and some very

shOrt>

[Third

In the latter work one has

no more than ten, another no more than sixteen bars.

Two

One

pieces, however, are of considerable length.

of these two, No. 10, the composer describes as

an overture

in the form of

in

an essay

a French, or

fact, it is

Lully overture, consisting of a slow, a quick, and a slow

movement
is

an

slow,

the other. No. 14, although not so described,

Italian, or Scarlatti overture, consisting of a c^uick,

and quick movement.

Interesting and admirable

as Couperin's concerted pieces are, we cannot but

that Couperin
to

be

le

found

Grand and

there.

His

feel

his chefs d'wuvres are not

solo

pieces

own

his

for

instrument have a raciness and a perfection not possessed

by his other compositions. And it is also there that

he proves himself a greater master of programme
music. To the Pieces de Clavecin we must now once
more turn.
That Couperin really aimed at expression as well as
at a pleasing combination of sounds

may

be gathered

not only from the passage (in the preface to the

already quoted, and the

titles

first

book)

of the pieces, but also

from the indications frequently prefixed to the pieces,

Buch as: Majestueusement; Oracieusement ; Tendrement;
Gayement; Nonchalamment ; Affectueusement ; Douhureusement ;
gathered

from

Voluptueusement.*
his

insistence

It

on

may
the

be

further

necessity

of

and expressively performing his compositions.

In the preface to the third book of harpsichord pieces,
he declares that his music will never fail to make an
correctly

* Speaking of mesure and cadence, the spirit and the soul

of music,
' The sonatas of the
Couperin says
Italians are hardly susceptible of
-this cadence.
But all our violin airs, and clavecin, viol, and other pieces,
:

and seem desirous to express, some sentiment.

aaoh as tendrement and vivement.'

jpoint to,

Hence

-words

Period.]

Cowperin

le

Grand.

impression on persons of taste,

39

if it is

played with an

He

exact observation of the composer's markings.

does

not leave us in doubt as to the importance he attaches

when he

I greatly prefer what

what surprises me.' But it may be
asked Is expression possible on the harpsichord ? Let
us hear the master on this point.
The harpsichord is
perfect in compass and brilliant in itself;* but as one
can neither swell nor diminish its tones, I should always
be obliged to those who, by an infinite art supported by
taste, are able to succeed in making this instrument

to expression

touches

me

says

'

to

'

susceptible

beautiful

expression.

of

applied

ancestors

It

themselves,

I.)

to

that

this

independently

composition of the pieces.

endeavoured to perfect their

Book

is

of

myself

discoveries.'

my
the

have

(Preface to

Those acquainted with the mechanism of the

instrument

may
But

suspect Couperin to have been umder a

be convinced of the contrary, you

have only to hear so expert a player and so loyal an
She seems
interpreter as Madame Wanda Landowska.
delusion.

to

to have rediscovered the discoveries of the Couperins.

The rough-and-ready renderings of Couperin' s music on

the harpsichord to which we are accustomed, and, what
is still worse, those on the pianoforte, cannot do justice
to the master, cannot

make us

sentiment

realize the

and wit of his charming poetic conceptions.

It

would

be an exaggeration to say that Couperin' s compositions in

all

cases entirely

But there

is

fulfil

what

their titles

seem

to promise.

no exaggeration whatever in saying that

unprejudiced hearers must be both struck and delighted

* In the AvU to L'ApotMose de LulVy, the master claims for his
instrument vn hrillant et nettete qu'on ne trouve guire dam les autres

instrumentt.

40

French

by the exquisite touches

[Third

Clavecinists.

of truthful expressiveness

and

humorous descriptiveness with which the Pieces de

Something, however, besides deficient

Clavecin abound.

interpretation, militates against the adequate recognition

Like Chopin, he

of Couperin.

is

a victim of a mighty-

prejudice, of the almost universally adopted standard of

judgment according to which greatness depends upon

bigness of size and noise.
It is

a great and lamentable mistake to undervalue

Couperin and his music because he confines himself to

miniatures, because he never approaches the deeper and
stronger emotions, because he

and

graceful ^now

is

always sprightly, tender,

sweetly melancholy,

These dainty, exquisite qualities are no

now

playful.

less valuable

than the more vigorous and tumultuous ones.

Moreover,

we should not

overlook that just in this lightness and

slightness lies

much

of the merit of Couperin's music

viewed from the standpoint of historical development

may call him

the

first

We

modern of the composers for

The creations of Couperin remind

great

keyboard instruments.

us of the naivete of his older contemporary, the poet

La

Fontaine

they remind us also of the quaint grace

and coquetry of his younger contemporaries, the painters

Watteau, Lancret, and Pater, and of the humour and
sentiment of the still later Greuze. Couperin, however,

has a complexion of his own

his sentiment was more

and his humour more exuberant, than that of
contemporaries and successors, and, what is
:

natural,
his

especially

popular

much

notable,
'

his

choice

fetes galantes

in his way.

With

'

la

of

subjects

was more

Watteau, &e., were not

so strong

an individuality the

nowadays obligatory reference to the character of his

time and country is only to a very limited extent

Period.]

CovperinRameau.

41

illustrative,

m fact, hardly illustrative at

Couperin in

common -with

who are

and Bossuet,

nevertheless in the highest degree characteristic

No

of their time ?

La

What has

all.

Corneille, Eacine,

doubt, he has

more in common with

Fontaine, and with Watteau, Lancret, and Pater,

with considerable differences however.

But Couperin's

creations remind us not only of the above-mentioned

poet and painters of long ago, they remind us also of

much

composers

nearer our

own time

of Schubert and

his short pianoforte pieces, sometimes of Mendelssohn

and his songs without words, and often of Schumann

and his playfully fantastic miniatures. In short,
one of the moderns, notwithstanding his

Couperin

is

periwig,

frills,

and

trimmings,

other

old-fashioned

ornaments, which to some extent hide the natural grace

and beauty

of his

There can be

melody and the purity

no

doubt

that

of his

we have

harmony.

in Fran5ois

Couperin a tone-poet of a most abounding, varied, and

delicate fancy, a composer of a perfect and exquisite
craftsmanship, and, although working in a

little

genre,

one of the greatest masters of the art.

Of the other members of the French Clavecin School,

by

far the

most important

PHILIPPE EAMEAU
J. S.

is

the somewhat later

(1683-1764), the contemporary of

Bach and Handel, whose fame

rests chiefly

great achievements as a theorist and composer

stage.

JEAN

His compositions

for

on his

for the

harpsichord are, however,

a very valuable contribution to the department to which

they belong.

The

first

book of harpsichord

pieces,

consisting of a prelude and nine untitled dances, was

Eameau

published by the as yet immature

in 1706.

His next publication of harpsichord pieces did not take

place till 1724 (republished in 1731) Pieces de clavecin
:

[Third

French Clamcinists.

42

Among

avec ime methode pout la m&ca/niqm dea doigts.

its twenty'-four

ones

Le

meet with the following

pieces \fe

Le

Oiseaux,

des

Ra/ppel

titled

Tambov/rin,

La

Villageoise, Les tendrea Plavhtes, Les Niais de Sologne,

La

Les Soupirs,

La

Joyeuse,

Muses, Les Tourbillons (that

as the composer explains

of dust, raised

in a letter, whirls

L'Entretiena dea

Folette,

is,

by

La

Les Cychpea, Le Lardon, and

violent winds),

Several

Boiteuse.

years afterwards appeared the Nowvelle Suite de Pieces

Besides dances, these twenty-three pieces

de Clavecin.

comprise Fanfarinette,

La

L'lndiffirente,

La

Poule,

Triomphante, Lea Tricotets,

Lea

Lea Sauvages,

Triolets,

L'Enharmonique, L'Egyptienne, and

La

Davphine.

To

these solo pieces has to be added a collection of Pieces

de Clavecin en Concert with violin, or flute, and viol, or

Almost

a second violin (1741).

bear

titles

most

La Bameau, La

Livri,

La

names, such as

Popliniere, &c.

characters, such as L'Agaqante,

&c.

the sixteen pieces

all of

of these are family

La

some

indicate

Timide, L'Indiscrete,

and two are respectively called La Pantomime

and Le Tambourin, the latter an altogether different

composition from that of the same name in the earlier
collection.

Five of the sixteen pieces were arranged by

Eameau

harpsichord alone.

for

Although a

later

composer,

Eameau

does not, in his

harpsichord pieces, go beyond Couperin either in form

or

programme.

for the harpsichord,

Eameau

quality, inferior to Couperin.

neither

the

programme music

Indeed, as regards

wealth

of

both in quantity and

The younger master has

is,

subject

nor

characterization of the older master.

does

not

mean

that

Eameau has

the

striking

This,

however,

not

among

musically excellent and delightful Pieces de

his

Clavecin

Period.]

Eamecm-^DaquiR-'~Demd^eu,

some prograuuaatically

43

specimeBS, both of the

flrst-rate

emotional and imitative kind.

To this bear witness the

and Z-a Pcmle, in which
the PrQven9al fife (gaioubet) and drum and the cackling of
the hen are treated in a most artistic manner. Eameau'a
universally popular Tamboturia

harpsichord style differs greatly firom Couperin's

simpler,

and

broader,

fewness of grace-notes

The

manlier.

it

is

comparative

In the Piece* de

striking.

is

Clavecin en Concert the superior concerting quality of

Of Eameau's

the harpsichord cannot escape notice.*

programme music

in another department something

be said farther on.

will

LOUIS CLAUDE DAQUIN (1694-1773) and JEAN

FEANQOIS DANDEIEU (1684-1740), composers on a
much

lower level than Couperin and Eameau, deserve at

Who

least passing notice.

pretty

Le Coucou, from

Whose

curiosity is not raised

first

Livre

does not

know Daquin's

his Piecea de Clavecm (1735) ?

de pieces de

by the

title

of Dandrieu's

contenant plusiewrs

Clavecin

divertissements dont les principauss sont les caracieres de

la Guerre, ceux de la

The

Chasse

et la

Fete de ViUage (1724) ?

Daquin

superficially pleasing

treats us to trifles

with old and seemingly ever fresh themes, such as

Le Cowou, Le Tambourin, La Musette, La

La

tendre Silvie,

Joyeuse, and

but also to rarer subjects, such as

L'Hirondelle, Les Vents en courroux,

La

Guita/rre,

even to a series of scenes, Les Plaisirs de

L'appel

des

La prise

dm, cerf.

Marche,

chasseurs,

La

cwree,

Dandrieu's Fete de Village consists of

the programme of which
*

The complete works

of

the direction of Saint-Saens.

lies

Bameau
(Paris

des

L'appel

and Rejouissance

and

la Chasse:

chiens.

des chasseurs,

five rustic

dances,

in the rusticity of their

are in course of publication under

A. Durand et File.)

French

44

The Chasse

character.

without special title,

de Chasse,

(4)

[Thibd

Clavecinists,

of

consists

(2) Premiere

Fanfare,

Fanfare Rondeau,

pieces

six
(3)

(1)

Second Bruit

Troisieme Bruit de

(5)

The horns are to the fore, and

no pause in the bustle and joyousness,

Chasse, and (6) Fanfare.

there

is

throughout

Les Caracteres de

set forth in 6/8 time.

la

Guerre were originally published (in 1718) for trumpets,

bassoons, kettle-drums, violins, oboes, and
sub-title Suite de

fifes,

Symphonies ajoutSe a I'Opira.

characters of war are as follows

Le

Bouteselle,

La

Marche, Premiere Fanfare, Seconde Fanfare,

La

Melee

(in

Les Plaintes),

the course of which occur

La

Victoire (Rondeau),

with the

The eight

La

Charge,

Les Cris and

and Le Triomphe.

This composition contains here and there some really

interesting

touches

of

and

tone-painting,

is

much

better

music than battle symphonies and sonatas usually

are.

Nevertheless

La

Les

Caracteres de

Guerre and

la

Chasse are examples of the lower, material kind of

programme music.
This is especially the case in
La Charge and La MeUe of the former work. The higher
kind of programme music is to be found in the other
pieces, some of which are truly charming.
Among these
pieces we find interesting tone-painting in Les Tourhillons,
Les Cascades, and La Cavalcade. The pieces named
after

instruments imitate the characteristics of the tunes

written for them.

emotional

La

Gemissante and others are of real

expressiveness.

It

impossible to deny

is

Dandrieu's music prettiness, but

it

is

extremely slight

as well as mignonne.
I

must not omit

to quote

an interesting passage from

Dandrieu's preface to his Livre de Pieces.

the

reader

La Charge

that

the

cannon

reports

are indicated by a four-part

After telling

occurring

common

in

chord,

Period.]

Daqvm Dandneu.

45

but that the player, in order to express better the noise

of the cannon,

might put the palm of the whole

on the lowest keys, the author proceeds thus

names chosen by me,

the

left
:

'

hand

As

to

have drawn them from the

character of the pieces which they denote, so that they

may

determine their style and movement, and awaken

simple ideas acquired by ordinary experience or

and natural sentiments.

succeeded.'

Perhaps

common

have not always

[Fourth

CHAPTEE

IL

FOUBTH PBKIOD (18tH CENTUET) MOBB GENERAL STRIVING

AFTER EXPEESSIVENES8 IN INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC, AND
:

SPREADING OF THE CULTIVATION OF PROGRAMME MUSIC

RAMEAU, HANDEL, J. S. BACH, DOMENICO SCARLATTI, TELBMANN,
VIVALDI,

AND GEMINIANI, GREAT MASTERS OF THE FIRST HALF

OF THE 18tH century.

Unlike the third, which

complex period.

We meet

simple, the fourth

is

in

it

is

not only with miniature

genre and portrait-painting in the style of the French

Clavecin School, and isolated attempts at

programme

music on a larger scale and of a more ambitious nature,

but we notice also a more general and more earnest
after

striving

expressiveness

throughout

the

whole

and a spreading of what,

for brevity's sake, we will call the programmatic tendency
To study this aspect
in the narrow sense of the word.
in the history of music, we have to direct our attention
domain

of instrumental music,

especially to three branches of the art

entr'actes,

and

incidental

music

to

(a.)

Overtures,

plays,

operas,

Melodrama (from 1770 onward) and

(c.) Sonata and symphony, especially the latter, and more
especially that with a programme, of the last quarter

oratorios, &c.

(6.)

of the 18th century.

We

have already seen that the

Italian opera composers of the 17th century used the

overture
illustrative

and

incidental

instrumental

(programmatic) purposes.

ALESSANDEO SCAELATTI

music

for

Their successors,

and others, foUowed them

Period.]

'

Bameau.

47

in this as far as the decreasing dramatic character of

works called

their

for

LULLY,

such illustration.

the

principal founder of the French opera, availed himself

to

some

the

slight extent of this

him

out by

17th

century;

MONTI^CLAIE
PH.

means

at Paris in the
his

did

EAMBAU

so

in the operas brought

and

seventies

successors

in

eighties of

MAEAIS

and

degree;

and

higher

did so in a very high degree

and most
Not one of Eameau's predecessors
or contemporaries did as much as he did in the way of
J.

striking

manner.

characteristic,

that

is,

and

picturesque

instrumental music in opera.

This

expressive,

striving

of the

composer's gave rise to the description of him as a

distillateur

him

'

and the
amusing epigram

d'accords baroques,'

of the following

Si le

levelling

at

difficile est le

beau,

G'est

un grand homme que Eameau

Mais

si le

beau, par aventure,

N'etait que la simple nature.

Quel petit

homme

The accompaniments and

que

and
happy orchestral

ritornelU of the arias

choruses of Eameau's operas are

illustrations,

Eameau

full of

and the independent incidental instrumental

pieces are genuine

programme music.

Of the overture

Ndis (1749), which paints the contest of the Titans

against Jove, Lavoix fits says that it was probably the
to

name

had been written.

Notable instances of picturesque music are the sunrise,
the sleep of Endymion, and the storm in Zdis. Besides
programmes of the highest order, we also find
programmes of the lowest. For instance, that of the
overture to Acamthe et Cephise, which reads (1.) Vobu de
la nation ; (2.) Canon et feu ; (8.) Fanfare et Vive le Eoi.'
first

overture worthy the

that

'

48

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Fotjeth

Quite legitimate are

the

the croaking

imitations of

of frogs, the braying of the ass, and the screeching

of birds in Platee,

up Da/rdanus, one
opening the
tendre'
'

a comic

Taking

ballet.

act, after the Prologue, a

of the

'

is

'

we

find

Eitournelle

which the second edition substitutes a

(for

Prelude

act,

first

which

of the master's best operas,

same character)

opening the second

a Eitournelle vive (the stage represents a

'

'

solitude),

followed in the course of the act by the sorcerer Ismenor

incantation and a chorus of his ministers

act,

and

his

dreams

announcement

(the

of

the orchestral piece

Le monstre sortant des flots
the songs Ah que votre sort
Le ravage du monstre
'

'

in the fourth

the lulling to sleep of Dardanus by a 'troupe de

Songes,'
'

'

est charmant,'

'

with independent flute melodies; the

instrumental 'Calme des sens,' and 'Air tendre'; the

'La

chorus
'

Triomphe

aux

armes

descriptive

and the
'

'

Gloire

vous

appelle';

the trio and chorus

'),

the

awakening

'

the

orchestral

temps de courir
Dardanus, more

II est

of

music relative to the dragon, the tempest,

fight

after the fourth act, the orchestral piece

Bruit de Guerre

'

and, to mention one more of the

innumerable interesting points, the sweet voluptuous

'Ariette
gracieuse,'
with the triplet runs in the
accompaniment, which occurs in the third scene of the
fifth

act,

Plaisirs

'

when Venus and a 'troupe d'Amours

are on the stage.

said to justify

Enough,

I think,

et de

has been

Eameau's right to the place given him

here.
It is strange that so powerful a composer and so
voluminous a writer on music as Eameau has said so
little on the subject of musical expression.
Among the

few things to be found in his writings

is

the following

;
:

Handel.

Eameau

Pekiod.]

49

fundamental statement from the sixteenth chapter of

the Code de Musique Pratique.
One may say that
'

music

considered

merely with regard to the different

inflexions of the voice,

must

and leaving out of account gesture

have been our

first

language imtil terms for

expressing ourselves had been invented.

is

born with us

This language

the child furnishes us with the proof.'

In the same chapter {De I'Expression) Eameau says

also

'

C'est a I'ame que la

Among

the great composers

instrumental music,
less

musique

would be

doit parler.'

who have

written pure

discover one
open to the suspicion of being a writer of programme

music than

it

HANDEL

suites, fugues,

difficult to

(1685-1759).

and overtures,

for

His concertos,

whatever instrument or

instruments, belong to the most absolute of absolute

These compositions have a beautiful sonority, a

music.

pleasing harmoniousness, and a refreshing healthfulness

but a deeper meaning they lack.

Their most definite

expression, as a rule, is that of the generic feelings of

cheerfulness

or

sweet

melancholy;

their

prevailing

expression that of the primary and most general feeling,

the joy in existence, the pleasure of the healthy in

action and in repose.

That in these circumstances the

music not infrequently degenerates into a mere play

with sounds cannot surprise. Handel's overtures have

no reference to the works to which they are prefixed

you may exchange them at least you may exchange the

opera overtures, and you

overtures

may exchange

without doing any harm.

the oratorio

Charles Jennens,

the compiler of the libretto of the Messiah, writes to a

friend

some

'

I have with great difficulty

made him

correct

of the gravest faults in the composition, but he

retained his overture obstinately, in which there are

50

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Fourth

some passages far unworthy of Handel, but much more

unworthy of the Messiah' Tes, whatever its absolute
musical value may be, the overture is unworthy (that is,
not in keeping with, not up to the height

argument)

the

of

and

Messiah,

of,

consequently

the
also

unworthy of the composer. The overture to Belshazzar

has been claimed as a programme overture, but the

Even the

claim cannot be admitted.

subject from the

not

utilization of a

body of the work, as in Joseph, does

make

necessarily

an

overture

programmatic.

Handel's incidental symphonies, though more closely

with

connected

the

works than

the

overtures,

are

nevertheless for the most part neutral, or nearly so, as

far

as

expression

being

goes,

mere

harmonious

combinations of sounds, spirited and stirriag, but not

At any rate, the character is

has to be ascertained by a
careful consideration of the incidents and circumstances
of the plot.
Working on a large scale and in a large
manner, he was often content to treat things
particularly significant.

not always obvious

it

conventionally, indicating his meaning, as

few quick, broad strokes

and splashes

it

were, by a

of his brush.

instances of such neutral incidental music

may

As

be cited

the symphonies in the second and third part of Saml,

which bridge over gaps in the action, but do not depict

the events that

fill

the gaps.

The brisk symphony at

is, no doubt,
reception of the Queen of

the beginning of the third act of Solomon

meant

to picture the brilliant

Sheba.
filling

Descriptive of the intervening event as well as

a gap in the

Belshazzar,

is

(so in the score of

the last

'

'

movement in
named Siafonia Postillions
German Handel Society perhaps

bustling orchestral

the quaintly
the

should be an

'

'

'

'),

which follows the king's

Pebiod.]

Hamdel.

words: 'Call

all

astrologers,' &c.

my

51

wise men,

sorcerers,

Chaldeans,

Evidently a whole host of servants at

once go post-haste in search of the desired counsellors.

In Smmon, preceding Manoah's

"What noise

horribly loud,' there

is

based the chorus

is

Welcome, mighty

in

king,' that

excitement

of

the

hailing the return of the victorious David.

An example
found

'

realization of the joyous

Israelites

Temple of the

Saul has a chime symphony, on the theme of

Philistines.

life-like

Heav'n

a short symphony

slightly descriptive of the confusion in the

which

'

recitative

of abstention

Joshua,

The

from tone-painting
words

'

Sound

to be

is

the

shrill

trumpets, shout, and blow the horns,' are followed by a

march

an orchestra including two trumpets and two

horns, but about which there is nothing terrible
whatever. Of course the Bible tells us only of seven
priests bearing trumpets of rams' horns.'
But what of
'
the people shouted with a great shout ? Our presentday composers would have more convincingly shown
why the walls of Jericho fell. They cannot but regard
Handel as totally blind to one of the most pregnant
opportunities of sensational tone-painting, and guilty of
one of the most flagrant sins of omission of a tonefor

'

Exceptions, incidental pieces of a higher order,

painter.

are the

D@ad March in SauJ, and the

Pastoral

Symphony

in the Messiah.

But to

see

Handel as a

soul-

and body-painter by

instrumental mea^s, we must turn to the accompaniments

of the vocal parts of his works.

often picturesquely
to

There the orchestra

and emotionally

and reinforcing the expression

illustrative,

is

adding

of the voices.

As

rule the picturesque body-painting is discreet as well as

effective.

Only the fascination

of the feathered songsters

62

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Fourth

leads the composer sometimes to overstep the line of

wise moderation.

the siith scene of the

The stage

direction

fountains, avenues,
flying

and

singing.'

famous imitation of the kind

first act

runs

'

delightful

with

place

and an aviary in which birds are

Before the singer begins

che cantate, Zefiretti, che spirate,'

of twenty-five bars in

piccolo play the

is in

of the opera Rinaldo (1711).

'

Augeletti,

we hear a symphony

which two

flutes

most important parts

and a

flauto

and the piccolo,

the representative of the nightingale, concludes the aria

with a long warble.

Eead about

this

scene Addison's

amusing paper in the Spectator (No.

Of course the
5).
Hush, ye pretty warbling choir,' from
Ads and Galatea (piccolo and violins), and, what is less
reader remembers

'

may know Hark

certain,

'

from Joshua

(solo

'tis

violin

the linnet and the thrush,'

and

flute).

Among

other

compositions of Handel's with ornithological music there

is

L' Allegro, II Pensieroso ed II Moderato, a work that

brimful of tone-painting of all sorts.

us of

'

loathed melancholy,' of

'

The orchestra

is

tells

deluding joys,' of the

Venus and Bacchus, of the sprightliness, quips,

cranks, smiles, and laughter of the Nymphs, of the
tripping on the fantastic toe, of the devout, pure, sober,
spirit of

steadfast nun, of Mirth

and her crew,

musical, melancholy nightingale

of the cricket

(flute), of

of the

sweet,

the curfew bell,

on the hearth, of the running, murmuring

brooks and rivers, of the towers and battlements

high-tufted trees, of the

among

merry chimes and the jocund

rebecks, of the whispering winds, &c., &c., &c.

Turning
Egypt we meet with illustrations of jumping
buzzing midges and flies, the rushing and crashing

to Israel in
frogs,

overwhelming the enemy, &c.

Very striking tone-painting is to be found in Juno's
of hail, darkness, the waters

'

Period.]

Handel.

'Awake, Saturnia,' in connection

recitative in Semele,

with

the words

Acheron,

let

'

her

53

And down, down,

fall, fall, fall

to the

where the composer revels

rolling, but the cursing and trembling,
of night,'

share of his attention.

of falling

and

The mention

reminds one of

rolling

met with

illustrations to be

flood

of

down the daptha

in the falling and

rolling

too, get their

of the illustration

many

questionable

in Handel's works.

Like

other composers of his time, and earlier times, he could

not easily pass words such as

ascend

'

and

'

descend

'

high and low,' round and rugged 'flow and

'

bound and walk

'

'

'

'

'

'

'

joy and glory,' &c.

'

'

'

'

'

'

roll,'

If the illustra-

'

tion is in proportion to the importance of the word, there

can be no objection to the proceeding, but sometimes

Handel accentuates and dwells on the subordiaate and

we find in his works examples as

bad or nearly as bad as those censured in connection with
Purcell's works.
In Joshua, in the chorus Glory to
In

iuessential.

fact,

'

God,' the words

illustrated

in

'

The nations tremble

the

inartistically in the vocal parts,

employed, the

first

life

are artistically

syllable

where repercussion

is

of 'tremble' getting five

monotone quavers and the second

lovely

'

instrumental accompaniment, and

syllable one.

'And

with pleasure steals away,' in Judas Maccdbceus,

ends with a long trailing coloratura on the last syllable of

Compassed round,' in Samson, and the

and flow of Jordan's stream in Saul and elsewhere receive iusistent and persistent picturing. In these
and other similar illustrations coloratura plays a chief
part. Now, there is legitimate and illegitimate eohratwra.
It is legitimate if it is appropriately expressive, and
illegitimate if it is inappropriately expressive or merely
the last word.

'

swift roll

intended for the display of bravura.

It

is

extremely


'

Spreadmg

54

instructive to

Cultivation of Programme Music.

examine the choral and solo coloratura

The

in the Messiah.

and

(expressive of continual labour)

have gone astray

way

He

(implied jo^)

'

'

'

He

'

'

trusted

delight in

Him

'

words are the bearers

italicized

inspirers of the coloratwra.

horn

His yoke

is

And he shall pmify

For unto us a Child is
easy ; 'All we like sheep
'

'

'

we have tv/rned ev'ry one to his own

in God that He would deliver Him if

He

'

the King of Glory

is

was his company' ; 'Let us break

and cast away their yokes from us
be exalted

'He

'

[Poueth

them

shall shake

'

'

Great

their bonds asunder,

'

'

'

Every valley

'

shall

He is like a refiner's

"Why do the nations rage ;

fire
'
and This mortal must put on immortal.'
To return to Handel's illustrative accompaniments,
'

Rejoice

'

greatly

'

'

'

the following examples are noteworthy

God

of Israel sleep ?

with

its

Why does the

'

in Samson, where the orchestra

'

scales, trills,

and

rolling figures

paints the

excitement of the speaker and illustrates words and

phrases such as these

'

Arise with dreadful sound,

deep, the trumpet

in whirlwinds them pursue

thy thunder
raise,

in the

'

same

the wrath now

of
;

'

Let there be light,'

oratorio, where, after the

unaccompanied

voices, the orchestra strikes in forte with brilliant figures

the Witch of Endor's conjuration and the appearance of

Samuel, in Saul, where an eerie

by the drawing and the colouring

effect is

(the

bassoons should be specially noticed)

produced both

employment

of the

Joseph's interpre-

tation of Pharaoh's dream, in Joseph, with dream-like

interludes

and the chorus

woe,' in Jephthah.

Not

'

Scenes of horror, scenes of

to be wearisome,

I shall

add

only a few familiar, but beautiful and striking examples

from the Messiah, a masterpiece, familiarity with which

prevents us from appreciating its superlative qualities
:

'

Hcmdel

Pebiod.J

the accompaniments to
rage together,'
scorn

' ;

'

Thou

AH

'

J. S. Bach.

Why

do the nations so furiously

'

'

them

them

'

'

'

thou that

He hath borne our

Surely

griefs

'

'

with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host.'

last

to

tallest

And lo the Angel of

and And suddenly there was

(expressive of heavy weight)

the Lord came upon

Him

they that see Him, laugh

shalt break

glad tidings to Zion

65

The

two are given to show how much can be done by a

few

touches

slight

here

to

the

suggest

celestial

brightness and serenity.

It is to

be hoped that the reader

is as

conscious as the

writer of the fact that little has been said of the illustration

and rhythms by the orchestra,

most potent means of tone-paiating, the

of the emotional accents

and

of Handel's

voice,

which

after all is the first of

Moreover, whatever
arise in our

critical

minds with regard

the predominance

in

musical instruments.

thoughts

them

may sometimes

to Handel's works
of generic

over

about
specific

and the limited sympathies of sturdy strength,

conventionalism, and even mannerism, and the

feelings

their

lack of inventiveness of instrumental figures

to confess that in the master's presence

we are

^we

have

silenced

by the authoritativeness of his imposing personality,

whose every act, word, and tone seems to be exactly
what it ought to be if seen from his point of view.
Let us, then, turn our backs on criticism, and reverently
pay due homage to the man of power, the great genius,
and the consummate artist.
J. S. BACH (1685-1760) was in his instrumental
music, even in his most recondite fugues, more intent
on

specific

expression,

and

conventionalism, than Handel.

less

easily content with

comparison of Bach's

and Handel's instrumental compositions brings out a

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Poueth

56

You

great contrast.

will look in the latter's

works in

vain for anything that could be placed by the side of

the Fantasia and

Fugue

in

Chromatic Fantasia for the

minor

clavier,

for the organ, the'^

the Chaconne for

the violin, and the Air for stringed instruments in the

D major

orchestral suite.

mention only a few things

that every one knows, but I might have continued the

For instance,

enumeration ad infinitum.

to

how many

romantic slow movements in concertos, sonatas, &c.,

might

have

not

Bach's

pointed?

instrumental

music displays, on the one hand, emotional intensity

and

finely differentiated

other

hand,

a wealth

on the

characterization, and,
of

artistic

inventiveness and

What

ingenuity immeasurably superior to Handel's.

would not Bach have accomplished in the nature of

if the fugal form and the close contrapuntal
had not restrained him
For although this
form and this texture are favourable to the expression of
some states and ideas, they are unfavourable to a much
greater number of others.
They hamper the freedom of

expression
texture

movement even

in one who, like Bach, plays with the

greatest contrapuntal difficulties.

Was

Bach

not J. S.

a clandestine cultivator of programme music ?

Such a

suspicion might easily be justified by strikingly speaking

instances from his purely instrumental works, but

could

still

more

easily be justified

portions of his vocal works

symphonies

the

preludes, interludes,

the accompaniments.

it

by the instrumental
overtures; incidental

and postludes

What more speaking than

and
the

symphony of the opening chorus,

ye
'Come,
daughters, weep with me,' of the Passion

wailing introductory

to St. Matthew; than the clanging, warbling,

and whirring of the trumpets, flutes, oboes, bassoon,

according

' ;

Period.]

and

J. S. Bach.

stringed

instruments

accompaniments of the
Oratorio,

'

the

in

first

57

and

symphonies

chorus in the Christmas

Jauchzet, frohlocket

than the independent orchestral

auf, preiset die

Tage
and
'

piece, that exquisite

true pastoral symphony, preceding the words

'Und

es

waren Hirten ia derselben Gegend,' in the second part of

the same work than the instrumental accompaniments
;

to the chorus in the third part,

'

Lasset uns nun gehen

gen Bethlehem,' in which the impatience

of the shepherds

what has happened at Bethlehem is

well described, especially by the semiquavers of the
violins than the Sinfonia of two movements that opens
the Easter Oratorio; than the Sinfonia {Adagio assai)
to see for themselves

prefixed to the Cantata

'

Ich hatte viel Bekiimmerniss

than the long introductory symphony to the

of the Magnificat
St.

Matthew,

let

me

chorus

first

Eeturning to the Passion according

to

remind the reader of three excellent

(1.) The rending of the

Temple in the recitative, And behold the veil
of the Temple was rent in twain from top imto the
bottom'; (2.) The symphonies and accompaniments
and
man, thy many sins lament
to the chorus,
(3.) The symphonies and accompaniments to the aria
Lord.'
(with violin solo) Have mercy upon me,
has
left
also
an
acknowledged
Bach
us
But J. S.
example of programme music in the narrow sense of the

examples of programme music

veil of the

'

'

'

'

word.

It is the jeu d'esprit entitled Capriccio sopra la

lontananza del suo fratello dilettissimo {Capriccio on the

departure of his very dear brother), composed at the age

of nineteen (1704), with the impression of the recently

published Bible Sonatas of

Kuhnau

fresh in his mind.

The superscriptions of the several parts are (1.) Arioso,

Cajolery by his friends to dissuade him from
:

Adagio,

'

58

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Fourth

his

journey

'

'

(2.)

Eepresentation of the

accidents which might befall

Adagiosissimo,

'

it

of him'; (5.) Poco Allegro,

Fugue

'

(4.)

'

(3.)

Here

'

cannot be otherwise, take leave

'

Air of the Postillion

in imitation of the Postillion's horn.'

and amusing as

different

in foreign parts

General lament of his friends

his friends, seeing that

him

this jeu d'esprit

is,

it

will

'

and

(6.)

Delightful

be readily

admitted that an immense deal of the master's instru-

mental music without published programmes has more

significance,

is,

in short, of a higher order

and of a more

genuine kind of programme music, than this capriccio.

The

admirable

pieces

spirited

of

DOMENICO

SCAELATTI (1685-1757), the contemporary of J.

and Handel, often conjure up human faces and

S.

Bach

figures,

and grimacing, dancing, capering, and

was no doubt to
some extent right when, in the preface to the thirty
'
Essercizi published by him, he says
Eeader, whether
you be amateur or professional, do not expect in these
smiling, laughing,

Nevertheless, the master

frolicking.

compositions profound intention, but rather ingenious

sport

(scherzo)

freedom

(per

harpsichord.'

of the art, to

perfect yourself in easy

franchezza)
on the
Only we must not accept his statement
addestrarti

alia

too literally.
It is

one of the greatest mistakes to think that the

history of the development of

an art can be fully read in

the achievements of the few outstanding geniuses whose

names

are in everybody's mouth.

Often I am not sure
whether I ought not to say oftenestthe seeds and
germs of progress are to be found in the less perfect
works of the minor masters. This truth will be
illustrated

by

some

reader's attention will

of

the composers to

now be

called.

whom

the

Period.]

Bach

J. S.

D. Scarlatti Telemann.

GOTTLIEB

slight allusion suffices in the case of

MUFF AT

59

and the pieces La Harddease,

La Coquette, and Menuet en Comes de Chasse in his
Componimenti of 1739 a more^mphatic allusion is due
to CHEISTOPH GEAUPNEE and his four clavier suites
of 1733, entitled The Fov/r Seasons ; and to J. J, FUX
to us best known as the author of the contrapuntal
treatise Grades ad Pamassvm
and his orchestral suite
consisting of an overture celebrating Spring, and movements superscribed Pour Le Rosignol, Menuet, Passepied,
Air, Gigue, Pour la CailU, and Pov/r le Coucou.
I must dwell somewhat longer on GEOEG PHILIPP
TELEMANN (1681-1767), an extraordinarily prolific
composer, and one of the most famous musicians of his
(1690-1770),

Two

time.

orchestral suites of his, the acquaintance

Hugo Eiemann, engage our

programme music, and the
programmes are interesting. One of them is called
Wassermusik (water music). It begins with an overture
in which we cannot fail to recognize a calm, smooth sea
with which I owe to Dr.
attention,

for they

are

(mark the sustained notes of the oboes, and

afterwards of the violins and viola), and a breeze and
rippling waves in the Allegro.
The movements that
in the Grave

The sleeping Thetis (8.) The

The amorous Neptune (5.) The
playful Naiads (6.) The sportive Tritons ; (7.) The stormy
^olus (8.) The pleasant Zephyr (9.) Ebb and Flood
and (10.) The merry Mariners. Of still greater interest is
follow are entitled

wakening Thetis

(4.)

(2.)

the other suite, that which bears the

As the overture has no

to

special title,

it

title

Don

may

Quixote.

be supposed

have a general character, in other words, to be an

introduction to the whole conception of Cervantes.

titles

of

the

remaining

members run

as

The

follows:

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Poueth

60
(2.)

La reveille de Quichotte ;

vent;

(4.)

(8.)

Son attaque

des moulins

Les goupirs amoureux apres laprincesse d'Aline

a
;

Le galop de
Rosinante; (7.) Celui de Vane de Sanche; and (8.) Le coucher
The fancifulness of the titles is here in
de Quichotte.
most cases more striking than their significance. The
(5.)

Sanche Panche herni (blanketed)

(6.)

most apparent in the

frolicking No, 6, the boisterous No. 7, and the jolly
No. 10 of the Water Music; and in the bustling,
determined No. 3, the sighing No. 4, the tossing and

latter,

apart from the overtures,

is

6, the galloping Nos. 6 and 7 of Don

Telemann shows himself rather a ready and
The
spirited writer than an original and profound one.
amusing externalities are better hit off than the
But one thing ought to be
weightier intemalities.
acknowledged, and that is the admirable craftsmanship
of men like Telemann, Graupner, and other contemporaries of Bach and Handel. The wider one's acquaintance

tumbling No.
Quixote.

with their work, the higher they rise in one's esteem.

The

spirited

and inventive Venetian

composer ANTONIO

VIVALDI (c.

violinist

and

1680-1743) contributes

some extremely interesting examples of programme

music. The first three concertos of his Op. 10 have
titles
(1.) La Tempesta di Mare (Storm on the Sea)
:

(2.) La Notte

(the Night)

the Goldfinch).

(3.) II

Gardellino

{i.e.,

Cardellino,

In addition to these headings, there

occur two further superscriptions in the course of the

Fantasmi (Fantasms) over the second

movement (Presto), and II Sonno (Sleep) over the fifth
second concerto

(Largo)
As to the tone-painting indicated by these titles,
we may say that the somewhat stormy character of the
first movement of the first concerto is more likely to have
.

suggested the

title,

than the idea

of

a tempest the music.

Telemann

Pbbiod.]

:;
:

Vivaldi.

61

The second concerto is of a more decidedly programmatic

The sombreness of the first movement

character.

(Night), the eccentric figures of the second (Fantasms),

and the

and vagueness of the fifth, with its

and muted instruments (Sleep),
are truly illustrative. Op. 8 is even more interesting
than Op. 10. Let us note first the general title
II Cimento dell' Armonia e deW Inventione (The Trial of
Harmony and Invention) and next the passage of the
softness

winding melodic

lines

dedication in which the author says that he publishes

the four concertos entitled The Four Seasons (the

first

four of the Opus) not only with four sonnets but also

with a most distinct declaration of

the things set

Accordingly there follow four sonnets

forth in them.
(1.)

all

La Primavera

(Spring)

(3.) L'Autimno (Autumn)

(2.)

(4.)

L'Estate (Summer)

L'Inverno (Winter). These

sonnets are divided into lettered parts, and the lettered

by a short summary, are placed above

parts, preceded

passages

those

music to which they apply.

the

of

Briefly stated the content

Spring.
salute

it

come;

murmur under

The sky becomes

ensue

is

as follows

with their merry songs

with a soft
(d.)

Spring

(a.)

is

(e.)

(/.)

rustling of leaves
his faithful dog

The festive birds

The fountains run

the breath of the zephyrs

and thunder and lightning

restored, the birds recommence

overcast,

When calm is

their singing

(&.)
(c.)

On

and

by his

the flowery meadow, amidst the

plants, sleeps the goat-herd with
side

(g.)

Pastoral Dance to the

sound of the rustic bagpipe.

Summer.
languid

The heat of the sun makes man and flock

(c.) The dove and the
The cuckoo sings

(a.)

(b.)

goldfinch

{d.)

Lament of the

First zephyrs, then suddenly Boreas

fearful villager

(f.)

Fear

of lightning

(e.)

and

;;

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Fourth

62

thunder and swarms of

flies

disturb his repose

The

(g.)

heavens thunder and lighten, and the hail destroys the

ears of com.

The villagers celebrate the harvest

festival with dance and song (b.) Bacchus seduces many
(d,) Dance and
(c.) Sleep concludes their enjoyment
song cease and all are wrapped in sweet slumber (e.) The
hunters set out at dawn with horns, guns, and dogs;
(g.) Stunned and tired
(/.) The fleeing quarry is followed
by the noise of shots and barks, it is wounded (h.) It

Auivmn.^a.)

dies fleeing.

Winter. (a.) Shivering with cold ; (b.)

(c.) Eunning and stamping from cold;
chatter

(e.)

A terrible wind;
The

(d.)

teeth

Feeling quiet and contented by the fireside,

Walking on the
ice; (g.) Walking cautiously and timidly; (h.) Walking
boldly, slipping, and falling (i.) Eunning boldly on the
(m.) The sirocco
(I.) The ice breaks up and melts
ice
[And farther on
(w.) Boreas and all the winds at war.

while outside the rain pours

down

(/.)

same

in the
it

section

:]

This

is

Spring, bringing with

joy.

and internal tone-painting which

In the external
Vivaldi

seriously

makes use

of characteristic accents

forte, piano,

legato

attempts in these compositions, he

and

the strings.

and

figures, frequent

and pianissimo indications, more than usual

staccato markings,

Compared with

and occasional muting

of

his contemporaries, Vivaldi

shows himself in several respects in advance of his time.

Of another great
instrument,

violinist

and composer

FEANCESCO GEMINIANI

for

his

(1680-1762),

mention has to be made both on account of a theory and

of a work.

He

I shall

quote Sir John Hawkins's account.

writes in his History of Music thus

'

About the

Period.]

Vivaldi

Geminicmi.

63

same time [about the year 1755] he published what

he

the

called

Enchanted

Forest,

an

instrumental

composition, grounded on a very singular notion, which

he had long entertained, namely, that between music

and the discursive faculty there is a near and natural
resemblance

comparison

and

this

between

he was used to
musical

those

by a

illustrate

compositions

in

which a certain point is assumed in one part and

answered in the other with frequent iterations, and the
form and manner of oral conversation. With a view to
reduce this notion to practice, Geminiani has endeavoured
to represent to the imagination

of

his

hearers

the

succession of events in that beautiful episode contained

in the thirteenth canto of Tasso's "'Jerusalem," where, by

the arts of Ismeno,

a pagan magician,

forest

enchanted, and each tree informed with a living

to prevent its being cut

down

is

spirit,

making
carrying on the

for the purpose of

battering-rams and other engines for

Hawkins says that the publication

The Enchanted Forest preceded that of the two
numbers of a work entitled The Harmonical Miscellany.
Fetis wrongly states that the work is contained in the
siege of Jerusalem.'

of

Miscelkmy ;

was

lost

but until recently the composition

itself

Now, however, we know of an

sight of.

autograph copy at the Eoyal College of Music, and a

printed one newly acquired by the British

Museum.

The

'Gift

autograph

copy

bears

the

words

of

Francesco Geminiani, the author, to James Mathias,'

and

La

is

dated Dec.

7,

1761.

The printed copy bears the

An

The

Italian title runs thus

Selva Incantata del Tasso, composizione istntmentale.

title

The Inchanted

Forrest.

Instrumental Composition Expressive of the same Ideas

as the

Poem

of Tasso of that

Title.

The part

for the

64

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Fourth

La

horns has, however, the superscription:

There are parts

incantata.
first

and second

violoncello

second

ripieno violin,

(figured),

flute,

for first

first

second

and
The work

horn,

(employed only in the second part).

of two

each

parts,

of

movements

continuous

and second

first

viola,

and

ripieno (figmred), first

basso

and

Foresta

and second vioHn,

which comprises a

the

first

of

trumpet
consists

series

of

and the

twelve

second of fourteen movements, varying in length from

a few bars, or even one, to as many as over ninety.

Apart from the title, there are no programmatic
indications either in the

The music

way

of preface or superscriptions.

and pleasing as music and if the

title were not there to suggest a programme, few would
guess that the composer had one in his mind.
is

Nevertheless

fresh

would be impossible not to be struck

it

by the expressive qualities of the composition and

here and there
by a more than usual amount of
modulation, by dramatic touches, by passages where
;

thought rather than sweetness seems to be aimed at

the attentive reader or hearer would be led to

the

conviction that the master is wrestling with expression.

Some

light

may

be thrown on Geminiani's views by a

passage in his The Art of Playing on the Violin (1751).

Treating of musical ornaments, he writes
This [the
'

Beat]

is

example,
long,

it

proper to express several Passions

if it

Satisfaction,

&c.

Lamentation,

may

But

if

you play

it

for

it

it

If it

expresses Mirth,
quite soft,

may then denote Horror,

&c. By making it short and

swell the Note,

it

as,

expresses Fury, Anger, Eesolution, &c.

be play'd less strong and shorter,

Note,

be performed with strength, and continued

and

Fear, Grief,
swelling the

express Affection and Pleasure.'

Period.]

CHAPTEE

III.

FOURTH PERIOD (18tH CENTURT) CONTINUED: MUSIC TO

PLAYS, PROGRAMMATIC MATTER IN ALL KINDS OP VOCAL AND

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC AND MELODRAMA

ETC.,

GLUCK,

PH.

C.

SCHEIBE, AGRICOLA,

HATDN,

BACH,

E.

AND

MOZART,

ROUSSEAU, BBNDA, ETC.

Programme music

of a

more

serious kind than that

discussed at the end of the preceding chapter

the music to plays

overtures and

entr'actes

we have

in

that began

to be written in the second quarter of the 18th century.

J.

A.

SCHEIBE

(1708-1776)

is

to cultivate this field, writing in

said to have been the first

1738 music to Corneille's

He

Polyeucte and Eacine's Mithridate.

Kritischer Musikus (No. 67, p.

symphony must

tells

us in the

617) that the opening

symphonies

refer to the first act; the

between the acts partly to the close of the preceding and

partly to the beginning of the following act; and the

concluding
relation

of

symphony
the

to the last

entr'actes

has,

act.

This

however,

not

double

been

For instance, the later

F. Agricola (1720-1774), in his music to Voltaire's

generally adopted by composers.

J.

Semiramis, connects the entr'actes with the preceding act.

Lessing discusses Agricola's music and the whole subject

of

music to plays in his Hamburgische Dramatwrgie of

July 28, 1767.

He condemns

entr'actes

following act because they anticipate

the effects of the play.

related to the

and thereby weaken

Lessing's view was that in plays

the orchestra takes the place of the antique chorus.

This author also informs us that connoisseurs had long

66

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Foueth

wished that music to plays should be more in keeping

with the contents.

may

to plays

Of other composers who wrote music

be mentioned

Job. Christ. Hertel (1726-

1789), with his music to Cronegk's Olint

Michael

Haydn

wnd Sophronia;

(1737-1806), with his music to Voltaire's

Abbe Vogler (1749-1814), with his music to

Shakespeare's Hamlet; and Mozart, with his music to
Von Gebler's drama Thames, Konig in Egypten.
More important and voluminous than the instrumental music to plays is that to operas. Here we meet
now CHEISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK (1714-1787),
the reformer, the hero among opera composers. The
utterances of the master that more especially characterize
Zaire;

his

mature views on music are a passage in a

addressed to
of'

letter

B. Suard, printed in the Jowrnal de Paris

J.

October 21, 1777, and a passage in the preface to

From

Alceste, published in 1769.

that Gluck considered

the former we learn

'music not merely as the art

amusing the ear, but as one of the grandest means of

moving the heart and of exciting the affections.' In the
of

latter

he says

prepare

the

'

I thought that the overture ought to

spectators

for

the

action about to be

and to form, so to speak, its argument ; that

the instrumental accompaniments should be regulated
represented,

according to the interest and passion of the drama.'

Other utterances of

on his views.

his,

however, throw additional light

To Corancez, a Paris acquaintance, Gluck

remarked in conversation
above

all

When composing, I strive

am a musician.' This
may be elucidated by the
'

things to forget that I

somewhat obscure saying

following observations from the preface to AlcesteAgain, I have thought that my main task should be to
seek a noble simplicity, and I have avoided parading
'

Period.]

Oluck.

difficulties at

67

The discovery of any

the cost of clearness.

novelty I have considered precious only in so far as

was naturally

called forth

harmony with the

have not thought
secure an

by the

expression.
it

my duty to

situation,

it

and was in

Lastly, there is no rule I

sacrifice willingly ia order

of the same
document Gluck seems to assign a rather low role to
music: 'I endeavoured to reduce music to its true
function, that of supporting the poetry by strengthening
the expression of the sentiments and the interest of the
situations without interrupting the action or weakening

to

effect.'

In another part

It seemed to me that
by superfluous ornaments.
music should do for poetry what the vivacity of colours
and the well-matched contrast of light and shade do for
a correct and well-proportioned design, which serve to
it

animate the figures without altering their contours.'

Here the reformer escapes from the control

The comparison

philosopher.

is

being fairly held between poetry and music.

first

the

Gluck must

have come to see this himself, for eight years

wrote the

of

bad, the balance not

he

later

of the above quotations, the declaration

which speaks of music as the grandest means of moving

the heart, that is, speaks of music having immeasurably
greater powers than he allowed
quotation.

Moreover,

let

us

it

to have in the last

not overlook

that

the

master himself says that he had not always this high

For a long
time he was a traditionalist and time-server, and wrote
It
conventional Italian operas and French operettas.
idea of the powers of the art he cultivated.

was not till the age of forty-eight that he brought out

Vienna his first reform opera, Orfeo ed Euridice.

at

Strange to say, notwithstanding his description of

what an opera overture ought to be, only one of the

68

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Fourth

overtures of his reform operas

corresponds with his

The overture to Orfeo (1762) is a mere

lively curtain raiser, -with no particular appropriateness
indeed, it is more
to the work to which it is prefixed
appropriate to many another opera than to this. The
description.

desirableness of overtures

forewords, does not

mind

essentially

connected with

the operas, of significant premonitory

the contents of

seem

to have presented itself to his

until he undertook to write his second reform opera

which he records his newly-

Alceste, in the preface to

obtained view of the matter.

But

of Alceste, Paride ed

Elena, Armide, and Iphigenie en Tauride,

it

cannot be said

that they altogether conform to his prescription.

is

There

a connection between the overtures and the operas, but

only to some extent and in some degree.

Alcestis

The overture

may

be said to picture the sadness of

and that to Paride ed Elena (1769) the pomp

to Alceste (1767)

and passion of the Trojan lover, the doubts and regrets

of Helena, and the festive rejoicings. Marx calls the latter
overture the

drama.

first

of Gluck's that is closely related to the

The overture

served twice

for

to

Armide (1777) had already

Telemacco and for Le Feste d'Apollo.

The connection therefore can be only of a very general

As to the overture to Iphiginie en Tauride

nature.

(1779), a distinctly

introduction to the

programmatic composition,
first act,

opera.

The programme

means

of superscriptions

is
:

it is

an

not the argument of the

indicated

by the composer by

a Calm, Storm at a distance,

Storm approaches nearer, Eain and Hail, and the Storm

ceases.

Not one of these

without merit,

is

five overtures,

what

although they are not

the often played and greatly

admired overture to Iphigenie en Aulide

is

in so eminent

;'

a degree

69

Gluck.

Period.]

a poetic conception of the

and beauty

truth, power,

first order,

of expression.

great in

them

All of

are

absent from the concert repertoire, and nobody mentions

them nowadays even when the operas are

Altogether

dififerent is

In

(1774).

it

discussed.

the overture to Iphigenie en

AvMde

Gluck comes before us as the

composer of a meaningful

opera

overture.

If

first

you

are in doubt as to the poetic basis of the master's

overture to Iphigenie en Aulide, read Eichard Wagner's

enthusiastic interpretation of

it

On

in his essay

the

There the later composer says that the earlier

Overture.

master 'draws the principal thought of the drama in

mighty

and with an almost obvious

lines

In his Gluck's Overture

to

'

the content as follows:

describes

distinctness.'

Iphigenia in Aulis

(1.)

'

Wagner

motive of

Invocation from painful, gnawing heart-sorrow;

motive

demand
and

(4.)

of
;

(3.)

an

of

force,

imperious,

(2.)

overwhelming

A motive of grace and maidenly tenderness

A motive

of painful, tormenting sympathy.'

In

short, the overture is the distillation of the emotional

essence of the drama.

'

Though Gluck

studies simple nature in his cantilena,

or voice part,' says

he

is

Bumey,

'

yet in his accompaniments

not only often learned, but elaborate, and in this

particular

he

is

an

excellent painter; his instruments

frequently delineate the situation of the actor, and give

a high colouring to passion.'

and

In speaking of

'

learned

'elaborate,' the historian is not felicitous in the

choice of his words

for Gluck's

accompaniments were

as a rule extremely simple, sometimes even bald, never

learned, and hardly ever elaborate. But Burney was
right in the
excellent

main:

painter.

Gluck could on occasion be an

few

examples

of

incidental

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Poueth

70

instrumental music and accompaniments from two of

his operas will prove

may

In Orph^e

it.

be pointed

out the pantomime of the mourners at the

words addressed to his friends,

after the

tomb

of

the ritornello expressive of Orpheus's grief

Euridice;

my

alone with

sorrow

the powerfully characteristic

'

would remain

'

dances of the Furies; the ballet music descriptive of

the peacefulness and blissfulness of the Elysian Fields

the exquisitely conceived and scored accompaniments to

the quasi-recitative
sun,

how

winged

'

How

how

pure the sky,

bright the

sweet the fluttering sounds of the beautiful

that

singers

whispering of the

are

the

air,

heard

the

in

murmuring

vale!

the

of the brooklet,

everything inviting here to eternal peace

'

and, besides

other matters worthy of attention, the accompaniments

gruesome chorus of the Furies, in the second of

which occurs the famous howling of Cerberus, so much
to the

admired by Berlioz.

Again, in IphigSnie

mysteriousness

the

out

the

of

may

be pointed
Calchas's

priest

declaration of Diana's will; the plaintive cries of nature

(oboe and bassoon) in

ordonner';
recitative

Tu

son

decides

sort

aria

'

Peuvent-ils

thoughts

quickly-changing

the
'

Agamemnon's

the

'

in

his

anger

and

indignation in Clytemnestra's aria 'Armez-vous d'un

noble courage

'

and the high-strung emotionalism

when Iphigenia

her recitative and aria

the former, which

sacrifice, especially

placed beside

Donna Anna's

on discovering her dead

inspirer

and model

furious

people

No

no

no

of
.

father,

it

'

I will not suffer

.

it

of

led to the

worthy to be

Don

Giovcmni

and probably was the

You hear the

Mighty

into the mother's breast

is

recitative in

is

gods,
.

Ah,

cries of a

invoke

you.

plunge the knife

I faint

beneath the

GluckC. Ph. E. Bach.

Period.]

weight of sorrow

my

under the inhuman knife

71

daughter ..." I see her

.

her barbarous father

sharpening the knife with his own hands!

priest

surrounded by a cruel crowd dares touch her with his

criminal hand.

mangles her

See, he

breast,

and with

his prying eye looks into the palpitating heart, consulting

Hold your hand

the will of the gods.

tremble

It is the

you dare

gods with which

'

Bloody monsters,

pure blood of the sovereign of the

to

redden

the

earth'

Mighty Jove, cast forth thy lightning.'

Gluck produces often grand, sublime, and picturesque
Nevertheless both his musical inventiveness

effects.

and craftsmanship were very limited. He could write

smoothly and pleasingly, could write naturally and with
ease.
Greatness he achieved only by intellectual efforts,
by calculation.
In this he differs toto ccelo from
immediate

his

successor,

Mozart,

distinguished

by unsurpassed spontaneous creativeness as well as by

supreme craftsmanship. One might say paradoxically,
if Gluck had been a greater composer of absolute
music, he would have been a greater composer of

programme music.
J.

S. Bach's

great,

appreciated son C.

now

but

PH. E.

chief propagators of the

BACH
'

too

little

known and

(1714-1788), one of the

gallant

'

(elegant)

style

in

instrumental music (so called in contradistinction to the

grave, contrapuntal style), must, judging by the nature of
his genius and the character of his instrumental music,

have a considerable amount of programme music among

his sonatas

we

find

Among
of the

and symphonies.

among

the shorter pieces

French school

Of revealed programmes

compositions

his

comparatively few.

we meet with

titles like

those

musical portraits with Christian,

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Foueth

72

family,

or

characteristic

names, such as

La Louise,
La Pot, and

La Caroline, and La Philippine ; La Gleim,

La Stahl; and La Jov/rnaliere, La Sybille, La Complaisante,
La Capricieuse, and L'lrr^solue or picturings of moods
;

such as Leg Languews

tend/res,

&c.

But he also published

a larger composition with a detailed programme, a trio for

two Tiolins and bass, a Dialogue between a Sanguimcm

and a Melancholicus.

These two dispute with,

and

and the second

movement, and the Melancholicus gives in at the end of
the latter. In the third movement, they remain at one,

try to convert each other in the first

although the Mehmcholicus has lapses into

sadness.

The composer describes the course of the dialogue, and

mentions no fewer than forty-two points. C. Ph. E Bach
does not give titles, still less programmes to his sonatas,
.

symphonies, and fantasias, but their expressiveness

is

such as to make one suspect that there must often have

been something of the sort in the composer's mind.
Eeichardt said of a Sonata in
the master that,

speaking,

more

can imagine.'
itself in

the
C.

F minor presented to him by

it was more
more ravishing than anything I

thanks to his genius,

singing,

The speaking nature

of the

music shows

the melody generally, but in a particular

recitative-like

H.

'

Bitter, C.

way

in

passages he sometimes introduces.

Ph. E. Bach's biographer, found on an

F minor written in red pencil

The April day drawn from nature.' But the most curious
fact bearing on the speaking expression of that master's
music is that the poet H. W. von Gerstenberg wrote two
old copy of the Sonata in
'

sets of

words to a Fantasia of C. Ph.

Bach's

'

Socrates

drinking the poison cup,' and Hamlet's monologue

'

'

and

derived the two differing vocal melodies for the words from

the florid right-hand clavier part.

The

original clavier

C. Ph. E. BachJoseph Haydn.

Pebiod.J

73

Fantasia appeared in 1753 in the volume of examples

(pp. 19-20)

accompanying Bach's Versueh Uber

die

wahre

Ah das Clavier zu spielen, and Gerstenberg'S versions with

words in 1787 in C. P. Cramer's Flora (Kiel). All this
can be conveniently studied in the Vierteljahrsschriftfiir
Mmikgeschiehte of 1891 (Part
this let us

remember

I.,

Along with

pp. 5-14).

C. Ph. E. Bach's opinion that the

by improvisations if they
come from a good musical soul, produce a speaking
expression and quick emotional transitions better than
any other musical performer. The Fantasia in question
clavier player can, especially

he puts forward as a
It

may

But he says also that

move must himself be moved.

proof.

the musician to be able to

not be superfluous to point out the similarity

of the emotional substratum of the

unlikelihood that

two

texts,

and the

any sensible person should pretend that

the music expresses the entire contents of the words,

intellectual

and

emotional.

Gerstenberg's

example,

however, cannot be recommended for imitation.

It

would not often be possible to find such favourable''

conditions and obtain such happy results as he found

and obtained.
Every one,
least

if

he has not actually heard, has

at

heard of the tone-painting in The Creation and

The Seasons of

JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809).

In these

works for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, we find

grand pictures, slight sketches, and descriptive touches ;

and these pictures, sketches, and touches are of all sorts.

The Creation begins with an instrumental introduction
representing Chaos

open

with

'Transition

and the four parts

introductions

from

peasants' joyous

Winter
feelings

of

representing
to

Spring,'

at

the

rich

The Seasons
respectively

'Dawn,' 'The
harvest,'

and

;
;

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Foubth

74
'

The thick mist with which Winter

begins.'

Apart from

the innumerable imitations of the expression of the

emotions

the

most valuable imitations

The Creation the picturing of

we

have in

light ('Let there be light')

of the throng of hell's black spirits sinking to the deep

abyss

of

lightning,

thunder,

and wind

rain,

of

the billowing sea, the flowing river, and the gliding

purling brook; of the roaring lion, the flexible tiger,

and the noble steed

of the eagle soaring

herds and flocks

of the peaceful

on mighty pens, the cooing dove,

the merry lark, and the tuneful nightingale

flashing shoal of fish

of the

and the immense leviathan;

the buzzing host of insects

of

of the sinuous serpent, &c.

In The Seasons we have the picturing of fleeing winter

and his howling

ruffian winds, the torrents of melting

snow, the tepid air of spring and zephyr's breath

of

the morning light on the mountain tops, the rising sun,

dusky night, and gloomy caves

foliage

and murmuring streamlet

of the

whispering

of thrilling nerves

of the ill-omened lich-owl, shrill-voiced cock,

bounding

lambkins, sporting fish, twittering birds, chirping cricket,

croaking

dogs

frogs,

pipe, the

merry

spaniel

the

bright-coloured

insects,

of the whirring spinning-wheel

fife

and barking

of the shepherd's

and drum, the loud hunting horns,

roving in

search of

scent,

the

fleeing

and the pursuing men, horses, and dogs. Of

the many scenes conjured up vividly before the reader,
I will yet mention the thunderstorm in The Seasons
and the moods of nature and man that precede and
stag,

follow

it.

Haydn has been

often

blamed

for

his

and ready indulgence in the painting

material things but it should be acknowledged that

childlike delight

of

his

painting of

material

things

is,

far

from

being

Haydm.

Period.]

almost

crude,

always

75

genuinely artistic as

well

as

and although often superfluous

and sometimes unduly prominent ^for the most part
sufficiently suggestive,

discreet,

i.e.,

in subordination to the painting of the

emotions.

But among Haydn's compositions there is a purely

instrumental work that is undoubted programme music
^namely, The Seven last Words of our Saviour on the

Cross, which he wrote in 1785 for use in the cathedral of

Cadiz on Good Friday.

the master arranged

and

quartet,

Originally written for orchestra,*

immediately afterwards for string

it

transformed

fifteen years later

The work consists

cantata.

it

into a

of seven Adagios illustrating

the seven sentences spoken by Christ from the Cross

'Father, forgive
'

them

for

they know not what they

Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with

in

Woman, behold thy son and thou, behold

mother.' 'My God, my God, why hast thou

Paradise.'

thy

do.'

me

forsaken me.'

'

I thirst.'

'

It is finished.'

'

Father,

hands I commend my spirit.' The conclusion

formed by a Presto, entitled The earthquake ; for

into thy
is

'

'

does not St. Matthew say :

rocks rent
writes

'

'

The

'

The earth

did quake, and the

Haydn, in a letter to the publisher Forster,

last

words of the Saviour are expressed in

such a manner by instrumental music that the deepest

impression must be awakened in the most inexperienced.'
After this the question will be asked

'

How

the sonatas, trios, quartets, and symphonies ?

none of them have

explicit

of the symphonies have

The composer produced

it

about
Well,

programmes, and only a few

titles.

Some

however, do not indicate a programme

instrumentale.

'

of these titles,

nor are we able

in Iiondon under the

title

of PaBsione

76

Spreading Cidtivation of Programme Music. [Foukth

to tell

which were given by the composer and which by

The Maria Theresa Symphony is so called

because it was played before that Empress ; La Beine de
France, no doubt, because it pleased Queen Marie
Antoinette; and the Oxford because it was performed
others.

there on the occasion of the composer's receiving the

honorary degree of doctor of music.

Symphony owes

its

to

title

The

Surprise

the kettledrum effect in

Symphony to the tic-tac

in the Andante ; the Boxelane Symphony to the
utilization of the French romance of the same name in
the Andante

The

Clock

the Andante; L'Owrs and

the last

movement

character

the

of

La

Chasse to the character of

and the Military Symphony to the

second movement.
Why another

symphony bears the title La Poule is not known. The

Farewell Symphony was a musical petition to Prince
Esterhazy not to keep the band any longer at his palace
in Hungary, and away from Vienna and their families.
The programme music is in the last two movements,
during the latter of which the members of the band one
by one depart,

till at last only two violinists are left.

Noteworthy are the three early symphonies Le Midi,
Le Matin, and Le Soir. As to the programmes of the

symphonies with the following

titles,

they are

Laudon, The Schoolmaster^ Lamentations, II

unknown
Distratto,.

The Philosopher, &c. It is of course impossible to

gather from titles to what extent Haydn was a programme
composer.

on this

His biographers, however, throw some

light

subject.

Griesinger (see his Biographische Notizen iiber Haydn,

1810) was told by

and begin

Haydn

'

I sit

down

to the pianoforte,,

to extemporize, sadly or joyously, gravely or

playfully, as

my mood

happens to be.

When

have

Haydn.

Pbbiod.]
laid

hold of an idea

my

elaborating and sustaining

that he

had

symphonies
ruling idea

it

whole endeavour aims at

in accordance with the rules

But the master

of the art.'

77

also told his biographer

often depicted moral

characters in his

and that in one of the oldest of them the

was how God spoke with a hardened sinner,
;

and begged him to mend his ways, but without making

any impression. The poet Giuseppe Carpani, another
biographer, relates (in

Le Haydine

ovvero Lettere suUa

Haydn, 1812
and 1823) that Haydn, after washing and dressing
as if he were going out, began his work by
'
weaving a kind of romance or programme on which to
hang the musical ideas and colours.' In this way he both
stimulated his imagination and directed it into a given
channel. On one occasion the composer imagined a friend,
rich in a large family and poor in worldly goods, setting
out for America to improve his circumstances, succeeding
in his project, and returning in safety. The principal
vicissitudes of this enterprise formed the subject of the
symphony: Embarcation of the adventurer ; departure
of the vessel with a favourable wind, and the lamentation
of the family and the good wishes of the friends on shore
vita e le opere del celebre maestro Giuseppe

a prosperous voyage; arrival in strange lands ; barbarous

sounds, dances, and voices are heard (about the middle
of the

symphony)

after

an advantageous exchange of
is entered upon

merchandise the homeward voyage

propitious winds blow (return of the

the

symphony),

then

(a confusion of tones

terrible

and chords)

motive of

first

storm supervenes

cries of the passengers,

roaring of the sea, whistling of the wind (the melody

passes from the chromatic to the pathetic)
anxiety

of

the

wretched

voyagers

fear

(augmented

and
and

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Foubth

78

diminished chords, and semitone modulations) ; the

elements become calm again ; the -wished-for country is
reached

joyful reception

happiness.

and Pichl had

symphony

by family and friends

Although Haydn had

cited

pointed

it

general

out to him,

Carpani did not remember what

In another symphony, which the

it,

this was.

Haydn

biographer likewise failed to identify,

is said to

have given a dialogue between God and an obstinate

shadowing forth in

'

sinner,

the parable of the prodigal

it

way were produced

other symphonies, to which, without saying why, Haydn
assigned names that without the explanation now given
*

son.'

And,' adds Carpani,

'

in this

Of the

would appear unintelligible and ridiculous.'

indicative of the little

worked,

titles

romances on which the composer

The beautiful

Carpani quotes the following

The Solitary,
The Schoolmaster, Persiana, The Poltroon, The Queen,
and Laudon.
The conclusion to be drawn from Haydn's works and
Circassian Girl, Boxelane, Grecian Helena,

the testimony of his biographers

is that,

apart from the

obvious tone-painting, there must be a not inconsiderable

portion

of

his

compositions

that

cannot be

absolute music in the strict sense of the word, that

called
is,

in

the sense of being unconnected with and uninfluenced by

anything definite outside the tones themselves.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZAET

came
left

it

who
Haydn and

(1756-1791),

into the world twenty-four years after

eighteen years before him, has given to

it

no

symphonies, sonatas, or other instrumental compositions

with

and only one account has come down to us

any time had a programme in his mind.
Mozart was a composer of programme music

titles,

of his having at
Still,

in the overtures to his

operas, in the

entr'actes

to

Haydn Mozart.

Peeiod.J

T. Ph. von Gebler's

79

drama Thamos, Konig

in Egypten,

and in the melodramatic pieces in his opera ZaMe.

overture to

Don

many

Giovanni has impelled

a programmatic exposition,

among

His

to attempt

others E.

T. A.

Hoffmann in No. 4

of the Phcmtasiestiicke.
The sub-title
comedy Le mariage de Figaro, which
supplied the subject for Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro,
suggests the programme of the overture to that opera
LafoUe Joumee. In the overture to Die Zauberflote we

of Beaumarchais's

cannot

fail to

recognize

its

connection with the opera at

least in the solemn calls of the trombones,

On

but the

Eichard Wagner,

coimection by no means stops there.

makes the following

was Mozart that gave
the Overture its true significance. Without toiling to
express what music neither can nor should express, the
details and entanglements of the plot itself which the
in his essay
striking

remarks

the

Overture,

After Gluck

it

had endeavoured to set forth he

grasped the leading thought of the drama with the eye
of a veritable poet, stripped it of all the inessential and
earlier

Prologue

accidental of the factual occurrence, and reproduced

it

in

the transfiguring light of music as a passion personified

in tones, a counterpart both justifying that thought

and

intelligibly explaining the dramatic

hearer's feeling.'
to

Thamos

The superscriptions

testify

to

of the entr'actes

correctness

the

action to the

of

the above

classification, as they point to the last scene of the

preceding act and its content. Moreover, there are

among

Mozart's purely instrumental compositions others than

those already mentioned whose spiritual consistency and
speaking expressiveness make one suspect inspiration by

something
also

definite, at least

conscious

mood

or

by a

series

definite

of

and perhaps
and not

moods,

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Fotjeth

80

improbably sometimes even by a conscious train of

thoughts or impressions.

may mention

as particularly

striking instances of such compositions the

G-

minor

Symphony, and the C minor Fantasia and A minor

Eondo for pianoforte. But we have at least one instance
of unquestionable programme
music in Mozart's
instrumental works and an extremely interesting and

a case of portraiture.

significant one,
of

In the latter part

1777 he writes from Mannheim to his father that he

had composed a sonata for Cannabich's daughter Eosa,

a beautiful and amiable girl of fifteen;* and that on
asked by someone, after finishing the first
movement, how he would write the Andxinte, he had
replied
I shall compose it after the caractere of
Mile. Eose.' He was himself thoroughly pleased with
being

'

the result, for he said

What

she was like

we may

the following words

staid

She

'

of

manner and a

exactly like the Andamte.'

is

see

still

more

the composer
great

deal

of

clearly from
*

She has a

sense

for

her

age; she does not speak much, but what she says
is

said

and sweetness.'

with grace

supposed to be that in
last

movement

The sonata

C major with a Eondo

(Kochel, 309).t

But in

as

spite of all

is

its
it

has to be admitted that, generally speaking, Mozart's

instrumental music is more absolute than that of any of
his peers since the middle of the 18th century.

them gave
* otto

freer play to tonal

None

of

beauty for tonal beauty's

Jahn says thirteen.'

The sonata in question was composed in the first half of November,
1777, but we cannot be sure which one it is. For the C major Sonata
'

speak excellent authorities

J. S. Shedlock, on the other hand, mentions

Sonata (Kochel, 310). The only and insufficient hints we
get from Mozart are that the Andante is full of expression, and that the
last movement is a Eondo.

the

A minor

Period.]
sake,

Mozart.

81

and submitted more fully to the supremacy of form.

it is equally true that he was at no time a

NeverthelesB

cold formalist, but always infused into his formally

wonderfully varied compositions at the very least a

gentle

warmth

of sentiment, of tenderness, melancholy,

As a programme composer Mozart shines

most brilliantly in opera. Note here how he takes up
and improves upon every hint of the librettist; but
note also how, unlike Haydn, he does not readily
or gaiety.

indulge in the imitation of external material things.

Where, however, Mozart imitates, he only indicates

slightly, as, for instance, in the greatest of his operas,

in the fight of the

Commandant and Don Giovanni

(the flashing of the swords

'

second nale the heavy step of

knocking at the door.

and in the
the Guest and his

and the

fall)

The imitation

the heart in Zerlina's aria

'

of the beating of

Vedrai carino,' here playfully

introduced, brings us to the imitation of the physical

phenomena that accompany the emotions, which Mozart,

the subtle psychologist, does not neglect. Le Nozze di
Figaro is full of illustrative, suggestive, and expository
mention only a humorous
tone-painting. I shall
example, Basilio's aria of the ass's skin. To show you
the master as a composer of programme music in all his
sublimity I point to Donna Anna's accompanied
recitative in the first act of

finds her dead father,

spettacolo

funesto

agli

'Ma

Don
qual

occhi

Giovanni,

mai

miei'

behold ?), and the following duet.

when

s'offre,

(What

she

oh Dei,

is

this I

This one composition

indeed a more eloquent and convincing proof of the

expressive power of music than can be furnished by a
is

hundred volumes

of excellent reasoning.

Who

would

not agree with the concluding words of the remarks

;:

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Fourth

82

which Mozart made when on November

8,

1777, he

was going to congratulate his father on his birthday!

'

cannot write poetry

artfully
I

am

am

I cannot

not a poet.

group phrases so as to give light and shade:

not a painter.

cannot even express

my thoughts

and sentiments by signs and pantomime I am not a

dancer. But I can do so by tones I am a musician.'
We have now to consider a species of music which has
:

played a significant and stimulating part in the history

of

programme music and the development

expression

namely,

accompanying the

EOUSSEAU,
musician,

Melodrama,
spoken

of musical

in the sense of music

JEAN JACQUES

word.

the Geneva philosopher, prose poet, and

wrote in the

sixties

of the

18th

century

Pygmalion, a lyric scene in prose intended to be recited

and acted on the stage, with instrumental music

accompanying not the words, but the actor's pantomime

Here are a few

by the poet.
The

during the pauses between the words.

indications of the music asked for
first piece, like

the

depicts

'

the overture with which

dejection,

uneasiness,,

despondency of Pygmalion.'

When

it is

connected,

and
he begins to speak,
vexation,

some sentences,
he throws down his tools in disgust, walks up and
down, with his arms crossed, dreaming.
The music
the orchestra remains silent until, after

'

expresses with rapidity the

first of

these movements,

slackens gradually, and ends with dull tones thrown out

at intervals.'
'

Some

bars

In other places the author asks

which

depict

tender

for

melancholy

'

and incertitude are expressed by some

measures interrupted by silences ;
This pantomime
'Perplexity

'

'

(the unveiling of the statue of Galatea)

silence

a single stroke of the

commences in
bow marks the moment

Melodrama

Period.]

when the

veil falls

83

Rousseau.

from the hands of Pygmalion

'

and

'the music assumes [when, the statue having become

animated,

Galatea

Pygmalion] a

steps

from the pedestal towards

livelier character, is interrupted

expresses the timid

silences,

by some

the emotion of

desire,

Galatea, the ardour, the intoxication of Pygmalion, and

does not cease until he presses the hand of Galatea to

his heart.'

The

first

performance of this work took place at Lyons

The music employed on that occasion was by

in 1770.

the Lyons amateur Horace Coignet,

account

may be

trusted.

when Pygmalion was produced

pieces in
of this

it

if

that gentleman's

His music certainly was used

in Paris in 1775.

Two

The originator
invention by saying that

were, however, by Eousseau.

new

species justifies his

the French language, being entirely without accents,

is

unsuitable for music, and especially for recitative, and

that consequently he contrived a kind of

drama

in which

words and music, instead of going together, follow each

other, and the spoken phrase is, in a way, indicated and
prepared by the musical phrase.

Eousseau was not

blind to one great drawback of such a combination

namely, the disagreeable contrast between the speech of

the actor and the music of the accompanying orchestra,

a contrast which, however, should and could be mitigated

by approximating the declamation to music, that is, by

A
its accents and varying its tones.
drawback not mentioned by Eousseau is that the music
of a melodrama consists of a series of snatches, which
cannot by any possibility be moulded into a continuous
and harmonious whole. No doubt, as a rule the music

heightening

Eousseau demands, altogether

cease during the speaking ; but what goes on during the
in

melodrama does

not, as

84

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Fourth

more than a sustained chord or two,

and descriptive matter being
reserved for the breaks in the recitation. However, the
evils of fragmentariness and disconnectedness can be
greatly mitigated by judicious and ingenious management.
Coignet's music, though popular in Paris, was of no
artistic value.
In 1780 Antoine Laurence Baudron
wrote new music to Eousseau's words, and Ch. H.
speaking

the

rarely

is

important

really

Flantade did so again in 1822.

German

translations of

Pygmalion came out as early as 1771, and German

composers were not slow in writing new music
Aspelmeier in Vienna in 1772, and Anton Schweitzer

and Georg Benda in Middle Germany respectively in

1777 and 1780. The above-mentioned Baudron wrote
also music to Larive's melodrama Pyrame et ThisM
(1781).

But

was in Germany that the genre was most

it

popular and most successfully cultivated.

of the

melodramatic composers was

(1722-1795),

Ariadne

anif

who

in 1775

Naxos

(after

Facile princeps

GEOEG BENDA

wrote music to Brandes's

a poem of Gerstenberg's), and

subsequently to Getter's Medea, and to Ahnansor imd

Nadine,

mixed composition including arias and

His setting of Pygmalion has already been

choruses.

mentioned.
Eamler's

J.

Ino,

F. Eeichardt treated melodramatically

and

Cephalus

wnd

MeisBner' a Sophonisbe; FvanzDajazi,

Procris;

Neefe,

Abb6
Lampedo ; C. Eberwein, Goethe's
Proserpina ; Pr. W. Eust, Schink's Ynkle vmd Yariko
Zumsteeg, Klopstock's Friihlvngsfeier
and later on
Eeissiger, Yelva,- and Lintpaintner, Hero and Leander.
On hearing a melodrama for the first time, MOZAET
a,

Cleopatra,-

Vogler, Lichtenberg's

.-

,-

tells

his father in

letter

of

November

12,

1778:

BendaMozart, dc. 85

Period.] Melodrama: Rousseau

'

Nothing ever surprised

like recitativo obbligato

me
.

so

much

...

it is

music

Sometimes the speaking

goes on during the music, which produces a magnificent

effect.

[Benda's Ariadne and

I love the two works

Medea] so much that I always carry them about with

me
Do you know what my opinion is ? Most

...

Mozart

recitatives in opera should be treated thus.'

occupied himself with the composition of a melodrama,

Semiramis, and
further is

may have

now known

of

finished

it

but

nothing

The only specimens

it.

of

Mozart we have in this genre are to be found in the

serious operetta Za:ide (1780-1781). As he did not again
make use of this form, the composer must have changed
his opinion. While the cultivation of the melodrama as
an independent form was
introduction

into

operas

of

and

short

plays

duration,

by

the

its

great

composersBeethoven, Weber, Marschner, Mendelssohn,

saved it from oblivion. Later on in
Schumann, &c.

the

19th

century

it

reappeared,

however,

as

an

form, more especially as a pianoforte

accompaniment to poems Schumann, Liszt, Mackenzie,
Eichard Strauss, among others, cultivating the genre.

independent

[Fourth

CHAPTEE
FOURTH

PERIOD

(IStH

IV.

CENTURY)

CONTINUED

COMPOSERS OF PROGRAMME SYMPHONIES

GOSSEC,

EARLY

MEHUL,

DITTERS VON

ROBSSLER, WRANITZEY, PICHL, HOLZBAUBR,

DITTERSDORP, AND KNECHT.

More important than the history

of the melodrama,

and at least equally interesting, is that of the programme

symphony. There are still people who believe that

was the founder of serious programme music

first writer of programme symphonies.
What
Beethoven and others after him did in this respect they
look upon as merely tentative and half-hearted. In this
they are wrong. But they are still further from the
truth in imagining that nothing of the sort was thought
Berlioz

and the

of

ante-Beethoven

in the

examined

Haydn's

GOSSEC

(1734-1829),

times.

position.

We

have

already

JOSEPH

FEANgOIS

who published his first symphony

Haydn produced his first), wrote
(about 1770) a symphony entitled La Chasse, which soon
became and long remained popular. The first and the
last movement are in Tempo di Caccia, and three of the
in

1754

(five

years before

four movements, the

6/8 time.

NICOLAS

a certain extent
opera

off

second, and fourth, are in

quarter of a century later

MEHUL

Hunting Overture
symphony.

first,

ETIENNE

(1763-1817) modelled his famous

to the opera

on the

last

Lejeune Henri (1797) to

movement

Whilst the good republicans

of

Gossec's

hissed the

the stage, on account of the presence of a king

Early Programme Symphonies.

Period.]

among

87

the dramatis persona, they encored the overture.

Hunting symphonies were very numerous in the second

the 18th

half of

Mozart,

Gossec, Leopold

Besides

century.

P. Maschek,

Stamitz, Eoessler,

Wranitzky,

Hofmeister, Sterkel, and others, supplied this article for

which there was so great a demand.

nearly

or

were the

so

mention only one

Symphony, Op.
de S.

La

la Gloire

and sometimes

Bataille,

referred to as Cohurg's victory over the Turks

symphonies

Battle

1780).

Grand

Saxe Cobov/rg (1794),

Prince de

le

simply

called

shall

Christian Neuhauer's

11, LaBataille de Martinestie,

A. Msgr.

generally

symphonies.

hattle

Franz

Equally numerous

lead

naturally

in

(i.e.,

peace

to

whom

Paul Wranitzky (1756-1808),

symphonies.

have already mentioned as the composer of a hunting

Coronation
besides
two
produced,
symphony

Symphonies, a Characteristic Symphony for

Peace

the

with the [French] Republic (1797), scored for twenty-one

instruments, with an explicit printed programme.

It

cannot be

difficult to find subjects of

greater interest

The

for us than hunts, battles, and peace celebrations.

titles

of a

by

and of a

of nine

series

symphonies

series

WENCESLAS PICHL

three

of

(1741-1805),

Muses and Les trois Graces,

be fancy names rather than indications of

respectively called Les neuf

seem to

programmes.

It is

otherwise with three

ANTON HOFMEISTEE'S
in

1791, La Primavera

La

Festa delta Pace

especially

with

EOESSLEE,
La

or

(the

two

Symphony, Calypso

et

FEANZ

celebration of Peace)

works

EOSETTI

Chasse already alluded

of

symphonies published
(Spring), La Chasse, and
six

by

FEANZ

(1750-1792), who,

to,

and

ANTON
besides

wrote a grand Imitative

Telemaque, performed at Paris

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Foueth

88

in 1791, and

La

another, entitled

Chute de Phaeton.

may he made of a symphony in

IGNAZ HOLZBAUEE (1711-1783),
movement of which is entitled La Tempesta

Further, mention

major hy

flat

the last

Mare.

del

my enumeration is
GAEL DITTEES VON

higher degree of the climax of

formed by the symphonies of

DITTEESDOEF

(1739-1799), the subjects of which he

They are, as far as

the best and most interesting

took from Ovid's Metamorphoses.

our present knowledge goes,

programme music
written in the

production

is

the

in

symphonic form that was

ante-Beethoven time.

Their time of

In his auto-

supposed to be 1783-1785.

biography (Carl von Dittersdorfs Lebensbeschreibimg)

dictated to his son,

the

and edited by

composer says

'

J. C. Gottlieb Spazier*

Three years ago I hit upon

the idea of writing some characteristic symphonies on

subjects from Ovid's Metamorphoses,
at

arrival

had twelve of the kind ready.' He

we learn from the same source, for
producing his new oratorio Job, but had

Vienna [1786]

went

my

and on

to Vienna, as

the purpose of

also performed the first six of his Ovid

symphonies at a
and the other six a week
The available information is

concert in the Augarten,

later

at

the theatre.

rather confusing, and not always so easily cleared up

as

the

following

point

Did Dittersdorf

twelve or fifteen Ovid symphonies ?

(1790)
notice:
felt

compose

In Gerber's Lexikon

we read that Probst Hermes wrote

in a press

'His 15 symphonies, which contain what he

in reading those poems.'

No doubt

misprint, and should have been

twelve

'

'

fifteen

for

'

is

Hermes

an English translation of this work by A. D. Coleridge

The Autobiography of Karl von Dittersdorf.
* There is

Pemod.]

Dittersdorfa Ovid Symphonies.

89

an analysis of twelve Bymphonies.

wrote

Lexikon informs

us also that

The same

'Dittersdorf not only

brought his symphonies to a hearing at Vienna in 1785

[1786]

mth

extraordinary applause from connoisseurs

and non-connoisseurs, from high and low, but that he

himself saw to their publication, which was generally
desired.'
As to the publication of these works, we know
Hermes's Analysis, dated 1786, is said to have been
issued with the first-published part of the symphonies.

this

The author

states

ini it

that the composer bad sold

them

to a publisher, and that their publication was secured by

The Vienna publisher Artaria engraved

and three more were for sale in manuscript. The

subscribers.
three,

Berlin publisher Torcelli printed the

the end of the 18th century;

first

three about

the second three were

discovered in manuscript at the Dresden Boyal Library

in 1898

the

the Gebriider Eeinecke of Leipzig published

by Josef Liebeskind, in 1899 ; and

The subjects of the
ones we learn ftom Hermes's AncUysie.* They are

first six,

edited

the other six (VII.-XII.) are lost.

lost

VII. Jason carries off the Golden Fleece.

VIII. The Siege of Megara.

IX. Hercules

is

translated to Olympiis

among

the

gods.

X. Orpheus and Euridice.

XI. Midas as judge between
XII. Ajax and

Pan and

Apollo.

Ulysses contend for the armour of

Achilles.
* Johann Timotheus Hermes, a clergyman at Breslau, author of the
novel Sophiens Eeise von Memel nach Saehsen (1769-1773), and a friend
of Dittersdorf 's, wrote the Analyse de XII. Metamorphoses Tirees d'Ovide,
In
et mise en musique par Mr. Charles-Ditters de Dittersdorf in French.
1899 Georg Thouret published a German translation of it, preceded by a
sketch of the composer's life and works.

Spreading Cvitivation of Programme Music. [Poueth

90

The

subjects of the six republished

I.

II.

III.

symphonies are

The four Ages of the World.

The Fall of Phaeton.
The Transformation of Actmon

into a Stag.

IV. The Rescue of Andromeda.

V. The Lycian Peasants transformed into frogs.

VI. The turning into stone of Phineus and

his

friends.

The

and texture of these symphonies of

are those of the classical form of the

structure

Dittersdorf's

Haydn-Mozart

By

period.

this

is

meant that with

regard to periodicity, distribution of keys, disposition of

subjects, grouping of parts,

and thematic development,

he worked on the same principles, not that he always

adhered to the Qrthodox cut of the sonata, rondo, and
lesser

forms,

movements.

and
All

the

the

orthodox

sequence

symphonies

movements, or rather divisions

consist

of
of

the
four

and each has one

movement in regular first-movement sonata form. But

the movement in sonata form is not always the first
division
in the first and the fourth Symphony the
opening division is an independent slow movement not
in first-movement sonata form.
The forms of the" slow
movements and the minuets are the usual ones.
Excepting that of the third Symphony, all the finales
consist of two or more movements loosely joined
together.
They differ from each other, and do not
belong to any of the named types of form. They may
;

be said to be in free form,

more

or less

or, better, in

by the poetic contents.

however, the concluding

movement

forms dictated

In some cases,

of the finale seems to

be outside the programme, put there for the purpose of

providing a cheerful ending.

Period.]

Dittersdorfs Ovid Symphonies.

In nearly

all

91

cases the several divisions have prefixed

them a few words from Ovid's Metamorphoses, with

the number of book and line. These superscriptions are
to

not so

much

mottoes as indications of the places where

may be found. There is a great deal of

the programmes

and

tone-painting,

these

really

symphonies, but

popularly so-called,

excellent

extremely

tone-painting,

in

what

is

of

little

namely, imitation of

sounds in

The objects of the composer's painting are

moods and feelings, and scenes and actions in their

nature.

brightness or darkness, their rest or movement, their

swiftness or slowness, their precipitance or reluctance,
their vigour or languor, their roughness or smoothness,

In the first Symphony, Dittersdorf characterizes

The fomr Ages of the World ^the golden, the silver, the
brazen, and the iron
and succeeds especially in
depicting the innocence and eternal spring of the first
and the hardness of the last. A more ambitious theme
is that of the second Symphony, The Fall of Phaeton.
Whilst in the first we have solely painting of character,
we have here a great deal of description and action,
more especially in the first and the last division. In
the former he brings out in a masterly manner the
brilliancy and grandem: of the Palace of the Sun raised
on stately columns,' and in the latter the rush, tumult,
and confusion of Jupiter, thundering aloud, and darting
&c., &c.

'

'

the poised lightning from the right ear against the

same time depriving him of his life

and by his ruthless fire restraining the

charioteer, at the

and

his seat,

flames.'

The Transformation of Actmon

presents us
First, Actseon

with

four

exquisitely

into

a Stag

painted pictures:

and his companions wandering along the

then, Diana bathing; next, Actaeon

lonely haunts;

Spreading Cultivation of 'Programme Music. [Foukth

92

entering the grove where Diana

is

Actseon hunted and torn by his

own dogs. Everything.

The imitation of the

is

as vivid as

cha'rming.

it is

bathing

and, lastly,

barking and tearing of the dogs will be noticed, but

not disapproved.

It

one of the few imitations of

is

In the two slow movements of

the material kind.

The Rescue of Andromeda, the composer pictures, no

first 'her grace and sweetness, and afterwards her

doubt,

anguish
'

in the other two he certainly pictures Perseus

cleaving the liquid air with his winged ankles

fight

with the sea-monster

reception
of

by the parents

the

and his

half of the finale), and

Andromeda.

of

The Transformation of

may

(first

'

The contents

Lycian Peasants into frogs

The gathering of bulrushes

by the peasants (2.) A dialogue between Latona asking
for water to slake her thirst and the rude peasants
refusing it
(3.) Probably the beseeching of Latona and
the jeers and laughter of the peasants
and (4.) The
transformation of the peasants, preceded by Latoha's
prayer to Jove, and ending with a coda in which the
croaking of the frogs is heard. The four divisions of
The Turning into stone of Phineus and his friends are
concerned with the wedding of Perseus and Andromeda
be indicated thus

(1.)

the dying Lycabas looking around for Athin

singing to the lyre

and the

fight, finished

holding up the Gorgon's head.

concludes the finale
outside the

Besides

is

lapetides

by Perseus

The movement that

one of the cheerful

endings

programme.
the

six

Ovid

symphonies

the

Gebriider

Eeinecke have published another example of Dittersdorf 's

programme music, namely, a Divertimento, a suite of

pieces, entitled II Comhattimento delV umane Passione,
the eight numbers of which bear the superscriptions

Peetod.]

Dittersdoffs Ovid Symphonies.

It Superbo (the proud on&)r L'Umile (the

II

mad

Matto (the

II Dolce

one),

(the

93

humble

one),

gentle one),

II Contento (the contented one), II Costante (the constant

and

one),

Vivace

II

(the

one)^-all

lively

very

characteristic and pleasing, but, of course, less interesting

than the symphonies.

To analyse, describe, and appraise Ditteirsdorf s six

programme symphonies would be a pleasing task and
one worth doing, but space cannot be found for it here.
A few general remarks on the music and the composer

must
most
*

The Actseon Symphony seems

suffice.

'

perfect.

Phaeton

'

I place the

But

They

points of interest.

if

it

Symphonies.

and well deserve

Lycian

'

me the

and the

are full of beauties and

and played. I am sure that

manner and in suitable

proper

surroundings, they

all

'

well deserved to be reprinted,

to be read

presented in

to

'

Next to

will-

not

fail

to be heard with pleasure.

In fact, I had proof of this at the Edinburgh University

Historical Concerts, where two of
uiider

them were performed

my direction by a small orchestra

sized hall,

in a moderately-

and were not preceded and followed by

The style

compositions of the modern sensational type.

of the

symphonies

is

that of a facile, but not of a careless

Dittersdorf had not the powerful genias

or insipid writer.

and the pronounced

originality of a

Haydn, a Mozart, or

a Beethoven, but the freshness and abundance of his ideas

and his dexterous handling^ of the' form, prove that he was

more than a mere man of talent that, in fafit, he too
was a genius, only much less exalted than the three
;

sublimities.

What

programme music
effects,

is

is

especially noteworthy about his

the entire absence of straining after

although piquant, touching, and powerful effects

are not wanting

and, further, that however descriptive

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Fodkth

94

the music

is, it

never ceases to be good music from the

of view.

absolute point

Dittersdorf is one of those

lifetime,

and

at all, afterwards.

To

composers who are over-estimated in their

imder-estimated,

if

remembered

be looked upon as a rival of

Mozart, and to have his music

more highly valued than Mozart's by many, the Emperor

Joseph included, and then to fall well-nigh into complete
oblivion, is a sad fate.
Who knows nowadays anything
Only in Germany
of Dittersdorf s oratorios and operas ?
they still remember one of the latter, the humorous
Doctor und Apotheker. Of late, however, we hear
occasionally one of his numerous string quartets. But
that was all that seemed to remain of him, until, in the
last year of the 19th century, a hundred years after his
death, the compositions above discussed and a few more

Some

were published.
also those of
revival.

many

of Dittersdorf's works, as indeed

forgotten composers, are worthy of a

We really stand sorely in need of simple, joyous,

we have no
inclination to revive much of his work, we ought to
revive the memory of the jovial master who gave to
many so much pleasure.
The highest degree of the climax is reached on coming
to a work the programme of which is almost identical
with that of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony I mean
the grand symphony of JUSTIN HEINEICH KNECHT
and wholesome

music.

But even

if

(1752-1817), entitled Portrait musical de la Nature,

1784.*

published in
eyes

in

One can hardly

reading the following words,

composer sets forth his intentions

'

(1.)

zephyrs
*

A beautiful
frolic,

A copy of the

believe

in

and

one's

which the

country, where the sun shines, gentle

brooks cross the valley, birds twitter, a

work

is

in the Library of the

Boyal College

of Music.

Knechfs Pastoral Symphony.

Pbbiod.J

95

torrent falls from the mountain, the shepherd pipes, the

lambs gambol, and the sweet-voiced shepherdess sings.

'
(2.) Suddenly the skydarkens, an oppressive closeness
pervades the

air,

black clouds gather, the wind rises,

thunder

distant

is

heard,

and the

storm

slowly

approaches.
'

(3.)

The tempest bursts in

and the rain

the wind howls

and the streams

all its fury,

beats, the trees groan,

rush furiously.
'

(4.)

The storm gradually passes, the clouds

and the sky

'

(5.)

disperse,

clears.

Nature raises her joyful voice to heaven in songs

of gratitude to the Creator.'

Knecht published

(in

1794)

The

also

shepherds'

merry-making interrupted by a thunder storm, a musical

picture for the organ ; and from Gerber's Lexikon we learn
that he composed two symphonies the subjects of which

were Don Quixote and

Death of Prince Leopold of

Brunswick, and one of several pianoforte pieces on
stanzas from Wieland's Oberon. Knecht who published
the

theoretical books

as well as vocal

and instrumental

works, and had the reputation of being an excellent

organist, pianist, violinist,

learning,

and more than that in practical composition

lived as organist

of Biberach,
fact

and a second Kirnberger in

now

and musical conductor in the free-town

a part of Wiirtemberg.

a notable

with regard to him that he foxmded an orchestral

society

whose concerts, which were

differed in three particulars

day

It is

firstly,

still

going on in 1790,

from the customs

of the

the programmes consisted only of three

compositions

symphony

secondly, the compositions played at the

symphony, an intermezzo, and another

concerts were carefully rehearsed on the preceding day

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music.

96

Fourth

and, thirdly, printed information was given about these

compositions.

This last point will be noted by those

who take an

interest in the history of the annotated

programme.

Le

I spoke of Knecht'S

Portrait de la Nature as the

highest degree of the climax of

my

enumeration of

programme symphonies, but I did so simply becamise of

the nature of the programme and the stimulating effect

may have had, and

it

I think

As

to the composition,

as

description.

We

it

obvious,

was a

on Beethoven.

poor as music and poor

is

need not hesitate

Knecht's originality to be
limited, his

really had,

it

wii,

in

declaring

his inventiveness extremely

melody and harmony jejune, his developing

and his form monotonous and

He

pithless.

well-trained, intelligent, industrious,

and worthy

craftsman, but decidedly not a composer by the grace of

God.
The work comprises, in accordance with the
programme, five divisions of unequal' length. Not one
of its movements is in first-movement sonata form,
although the

by a

could,

as

first

and the third of the

stretch

the

respectively

of the

first

division

imagination, be regarded

and the

exposition

abbreviated

recapitulation of the exposition of that form.

The

first

and most satisfactory division consists of five continuous

movements, which we will distinguish by the first five
letters of the alphabet.

the composition
I.

in

(a)

Allegretto,

major.

Here

is

a short summary of

We

4/4, beginning

cannot

fail

in

and ending

to recognize the serenity of

and quail, the twittering

and the murmuring of brooks.

nature, the calls of the cuckoo

of other birds,
(6)

Avdante pastoraley 3/8, in

majors

the lambs, and piping of the shepherd.

Gambols

of

Period.]

Knecht's Pastoral Symphony.

(e) Allegretto,

4/4,

major, with modulation to C.

The same subject-matter as in (a).

(d) Villanella graziosa, un poco Adagio,
The song of the shepherdess.
Allegretto,

(e)

matter as in

4/4,

97

The same

major.

major.

2/2,

subject-

(a).

From this analysis the reader will understand that the

musical as well as the poetical subject-matter are the
same

in

(a),

(c),

{),

although there are, of course,

modifications and variations.

II.

single

movement

The music hardly

Tempo medesimo,

G major, modulating finally to

the dominant of

illustrates

4/4,

D major.

what the programme

promises.
Allegro molto, 4/4,

III.

This contains a

major.

most unconvincing thunderstorm.

IV.
Tempo medesimo, 4/4:, D major. Even duller
than any of the preceding parts, and not more expressive.
L'Inno con variazioni

V.

Coro

Allegro con brio, 3/4,

G major.

4/4,

the

title

'

Andantino, 4/4,

The only thing

Hymn.'

major.

major ; and Andantino,

interesting about this is

There can be no comparison between Knecht's and

Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, because the former

nothing and the latter everything.

is

But apart from the

resemblance of the programmes one cannot but be struck

by the similarity of the moods and even by other

similarities

ram

for instance, the relationship of the opening

and Beethoven's
movement; the introduction of the cuckoo and
and the title of the last movement and the use
quail
des vaches motive of Knecht's first

last

of variation

made

in

it.

Enough

of Knecht

Portrait de la Natwre for the present

and his

We may

recur

98

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Foueth

them in
Symphony.

to

We

have

connection

seen

with

Beethoven's

symphony composers

Pastoral

by

inspired

hunting, by war, by public ceremonials, and by the

ancient classics.

Shakespeare, for
find

King Lear.

To these sources we have to add

among the subjects treated by them we
It

would be a mistake to omit the

mention of a work of a sacred character, one that

reminds us of Haydn's The seven last Words of our
Saviour on the Cross, and probably was suggested by

namely,
consisting

the
of

compositions

seven

on

the

characteristic

Lord's

sonatas

it

Prayer,

with

an

introduction for nine-part orchestra, published in 1794

by the amateur musician Baron von Kospoth.

Period.]

CHAPTER

V.

FOURTH PERIOD (18tH CBNTURY) CONTINUED CURIOSITIES,

FATUITIES, AND NOTABILITIES LESUEUR, A THEORIZING
:

composer; LAC^PIIDB, A COMPOSING THEORIST; CLBMENTI,

DUSSBK, STEIBBLT, WOLF, TOGLER, TARTINI, AND BOCCHERINI.
Striking testimony to the programmatic tendency of

the age

is

witnesses

note this
this

borne by two Frenchmen.

is J.

title

F.

LESUEUR

He published in

of Berlioz.

Expose

particuliere

d'une

a chaque

The

first

(1760-1837), the

musique

The

solennite.

of these

master-

1787 a book with

une,

imitative,

et

object of music,

he

must always be imitation. If poetry and painting

are in many cases more expressive than music, music
is in other circumstances more expressive than poetry
and painting.
If music cannot invest poetry with a
meaning which it has not, it can at least reinforce it, and
in a thousand ways modify, nay, even divert and change it.
says,

'

Music can imitate

all

the inflections of nature.

sentiments are also within

its

All the

What

domain.'

the

principle adopted by the master mainly aimed at

was
I need not repeat here what
But I must exemplify Lesueur's

vm ensemble d/ramatique.
I have quoted already.
notions of what music should do by some

extracts from

his plans for a kind of oratorio music suitable to the

Mass on the

several high festivals, such as Christmafe,

Easter, &c.

In doing

extent his strange and

writes

shall preserve to

awkward phraseology.

some

Speaking

music suitable to the Christmas

of the overture of the

Day Mass, he

so,

'

At the beginning of the overture

100 Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Fourth

the intention of the composer will be to recall several

prophecies regarding the birth of the Messiah.

For this

purpose an imposing passage will be executed by

stringed

sombre
if

all

the

and wind instruments, with which mingle the

inflections of the trombones, the

may be

various writers

sounds of which,

believed, resemble the religious

Soon

trumpets of the ancient high-priests.

trombones

detach themselves

after, the

from the rest of the

make an imposing announcement,

strains of grave, sombre harmony

orchestra in order to

to which succeed
which cannot but inspire a certain sacred horror.'

a noble and imposing short march there

'

will

After

be expressed

the ardent desires of the Prophets for the coming of the

In the prelude to the Gloria in

Messiah.'

composer

'

excelsis the

endeavour to induce the idea of the

will

calm of the night during which the shepherds were

watching their flocks near Bethlehem.
this, the orchestra

freshness,

music, in which

that

of

movement makes

to diffuse a calm,

night,
itself

by peaceful
only faintly

Afterwards has to be attempted the

felt

painting

must endeavour

resembling

To accomplish

of

the

vivid

light that

shines

about the

throne of the Eternal, and which, suddenly piercing the

darkness of the night, casts terror

In the music for Whitsunday

'

among

the shepherds.'

the musician's task in the

awaken the idea of thunder, of

and of the imposing display which accompanies

overture will be to
lightning,

the descent of the Eternal.'

Examining Lesueur's Super jkimina, psalm for grand

we meet with characteristic music
and remarks. Accompanying the opening instrumental
The chorus of the Hebrews recalling
bars we read
chorus and orchestra,

'

their captivity at Babylon,

when they

mir\gled their

Period.]

Lesueur.

murmuring

tears with the

of

101
Euphrates.'

little

on appears above the music the following note

'The particular character and colour of the musical

farther

execution of this historical psalm should furnish not

only the imitation of Euphrates, but also the imitative

image of the

dull noise of the contrary

winds and the

distant roaring of the cataracts of the river, which

seemed coming

to join the lamentations of the

Hebrews,

and the plaintive accents of the

musical instruments with which they accompanied their
chorus.'
The murmuring is expressed by various forms

their dolorous chants,

of a repeated turning figure

combined with

vibrato.

and the device of repercussion

These means are employed by

The wind, on the other hand, is full of

sighs, expressed by a two-note figure consisting (in
4/4 time) of a syncopated crotchet followed by a falling
quaver. In another movement of the psalm we find
the composer's intentions indicated by words and phrases
lake fieramente et avec elan, con sentimento, and misterioso.
And in still another part of the psalm we come on this
remark
Ensemble piece. Chorus that sings the vision
the strings.

'

of the Prophet Ezekiel hearing, in spirit, the chariot of

the Ancient of days, or Grod, the joyous accents of

seraphim,
archangels,
and seeing
Son of man, or the Saviour.'
Here surely was a tone-poet with high aspirations
and a belief in the expressive power of music. Lesueur,
however, has left us only stage and church music, no
the

cherubim,

prophetically the

independent orchestral compositions.*

* For further information about the interesting, though eccentric
and nebulous, Lesueur see Octave Fouque's Les Eivolutionnaires de
la Musique (Paris, 1882), and Adolphe Boschot's La Jeunesse d'un

Eomantique, Hector Berlioz (Paris, 1906). The author of the latter book
has made use of Lesueur's voluminous unpublished literary manuscripts.

102 Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Fourth

The other witness

LACISPEDE
musician,

wish to

(1756-1825),

who

composed

call

scientist

operas,

COMTE DE

is

and amateur
requiem, and

instrumental compositions, and wrote a book entitled

His views of instrumental

Poetique de la Musique (1785) .

music, which he endeavoured to realize in a suite of

movements descriptive of scenes from P^nelon's
in

the

Symphonies, des Concerto, &c., vol.

ii.,

TeUmaque, Lac6pede

sets

forth

Dea

chapter
pp.

329-341.

After pointing out, on the one hand, the great resources

of instrumental music, and, on the other hand, the

vagueness of

owing to

images,

its

communicate
interprets, he continues

circumstances

the

(I

of

its

inability

to

the

passions

it

shall quote only the

main

statements of our loquacious and somewhat obscure

author) as follows

'

three pieces of music

consider

them

A
.

symphony consists usually

The composer ought
,

of
to

as three grand acts of a theatrical piece,

and imagine himself to be working at a tragedy, a comedy,

or a pastoral

These three

acts, as

have to be distributed into several scenes

we

call

them,

...

In

order to distinguish the different interlocutors, one chooses

more prominent instruments the

in the orchestra the

nature of which

most in keeping with the characters

Thus by the use of single instruments

represented.

is

and combinations

of instruments, monologueB, dialogues,

persons and choruses may be

The musician must skilfully observe
the succession and the natural increase and decrease of
scenes

with

introduced

the

human

and forming

several

passions
it

interpenetrate,

and, in designing such a drama,

of a sequence of sentiments that develop,

and grow from each

other,

he must take

are not to assign to the passions another order than

Pebiod.J

Lacepede.

that of nature

But

103

in producing pieces of this kind,

whether the subject be drawn from some known event or

be entirely imagined, the composer should never introduce
into the scenes anything that cannot be represented by

music

he should

offer

nothing but emotions or pictures.

It is like

designing a pantomimic ballet and afterwards

setting

to music.

it

The work is divided into three grand

To

portions formed by the three pieces of a symphony.

these

one

may

be

left

difference,

almost their ordinary characters

however

namely,

that

with

there will

be

lacking the resources of the spectacle, the scenery, and

The author,

the action of the dancers.'

'

Even

if

later on, asks

the composer were not to succeed in making

his intentions known, would he not always say enough

to secure being

listened to

with

more

interest,

to

captivate the attention more fully, to engage uninter-

ruptedly both

mind and

seek what

not pointed out, to induce him to exert

is

heart, to cause the hearer to

himself to divine the word of the enigma, to

know

the

exact place of the scene, the causes of the events, the

names and the

characters of the personages represented,

was the aim to show,

and of which at every moment a part was unveiled?
Moreover, is this not the only way in which the musician
in short, all the objects which

it

can give to the passions which he represents, and to

their picturing, their true order? And could we have

him a more powerful means of producing

more animated, varied, and contrasting images, of
being more penetrated by the subject in composing,
and more influenced by the passions whose fire he
The truth of the last idea
wishes to spread ?
expressed by Lacepede whatever we may think of
Even though
the rest seems to me indisputable.
indicated to

'

104 Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Fourth

the hearer does not understand

the composer,

in its entirety, he

it

programme

the hetter off for the

is

who thereby

is

mind of

in the

be

enabled to

more

impressive and logical, more of a tone-poet than a

mere
so

tone-artificer.

From the domain of the pianoforte sonata there is not

much to report in the way of programmatic music as

fi-om that of the

And, as we shall

symphony.

see, this

holds good also during the following two periods.

Of

pianoforte pieces of the inferior orders there is even less

The

to report.

programme is the only kind

The warlike time from 1789 to

battle

largely represented.

1815 naturally inspired warlike music, or at least created

a taste and

demand

One

most famous
compositions of this kind was the Battle of Prague for
pianoforte, violin, and violoncello, by the Bohemian
composer FEANZ KOTZWAEA (who died by his own
hand in London in 1791). Notwithstanding its fame,
for

it.'

of the

the composition has not any music in

of.

Indeed, the battle

programmes.

programme

And why

worth speaking

it

is

Because

the lowest of
it

the

is

unmusical, the most grossly materialistic.

It

all

most

appeals

by noise and rhythmically strongly marked popular

tunes rather to the nerves and muscles than to the
mind. Not a single work of the kind ever created has
high

artistic value,

not even Beethoven's battle, and

extremely few have as

much

as a

modicum

of value.

Battle-pieces afford to the musician hardly anything but

matter for disgust and amusement

inartistic

at their

aims and means, and amusement at their

naive intentions and execution.

naiveness

disgust

is

On

the

whole, the

rather on the side of the purchasers than

of the manufacturers.

Period.]

dementi.

MUZIO CLEMENTI
many

105

who composed

(1752-1832),

sonatas, has given titles to two only

so

Op. 17, in

D major. La

Chasse, published in 1787, and Op. 50, in

Didone dbbandonata, published in 1820-1821.

O minor,

The former, however,

a

latter,

fine

is

not very characteristic

and the

example of a sonata and of programme

music, belongs to the next, the Beethoven period.

suave and nobly sentimental JOH.

The

LUDWIG DUSSEK

(1760-1812) provides more material for our study, but

the

titles of his sonatas and shorter pieces indicate for the

most part rather moods than stories for instance, these

sonatas

Op. 44, Lea Adieux de dementi;

harmxmique swr

la

mort

Prusse, en forme de Sonate ; Op. 70,

Op. 77, L' Invocation.

Op

61, Elegie

Prince Louis Ferdinand de

dju

Le Retour a Paris ;

To these sonatas may be added

and the piece in rondo

his Military Concerto, Op. 40,

form.

La

Louis

Consolation, dedicated to the

Ferdinand,

his

patron,

composer as well as a brave

soldier,

memory

good

who

of Prince

and

pianist
fell

at Salfeld

in 1806.

Dussek worked

also

after

programmes

of a

very

and in doing so produced music quite

unworthy of himseK. One would like to suggest as an
different nature,

excuse that he wrote the

stuff to

help his father-in-law,

the well-known musician and Edinburgh music publisher,

Domenico

Unfortunately, this suggestion does

Corri.

not bear examination.

pieces

the

publishing

concern.

programme music
sonata for

are

pianoforte,

Of

this

the following
violin,

unholy
:

class

Combat

violoncello,

of

naval,

and grand

lib.
The naval Battle and total Defeat of
Butch Fleet by Admiral Duncan, October 11, 1797

tamhowr, ad
the

Corri did not publish all these

and, moreover, Dussek himself was interested in

106 Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Poueth

complete and exact Delineation of the Ceremony

from

on Tuesday, the 19th December

St. James's to St. Pa/ul's,

1797, on which day their Majesties, together with both

Houses of Parliament, went in solemn Procession to return

thanks for the several Naval Victories obtained by the
British Fleet over those of France, Spain,

and The

Sufferings of the

and Holland;

Queen of France

musical

composition, expressing the feelings of the unfoi'twnate

Antoinette during her Imprisonment, Trial,

A very

Marie

dc, Op.

few words regarding the last two pieces

23.

will be

more than sufficient. The only detailed indications of

the programme of A complete and exact Delineation of the
Ceremony are
Cannons Trumpets Horses prancing;
The Procession began The acclamations of the people
The Procession arrives at St. Paul's.' None but
:

'

expressions permissible neither in parliament nor in

would be applicable to this, if one did not

prefer silence.
The Sufferings of the Queen of France
polite society

must

likewise be denounced,

and can only be described

as scrappy, uninspired, and not in the least convincing

and expression. Here is the

The Queen's Imprisonment

as regards painting

programme

'1.

detailed

2. She
on her former greatness 3. They separate her
from her children the farewell of her children 4. They
pronounce the sentence ; 5. Her Eesignation to her fate
:

reflects

6.

The

situation

execution

and

reflections

The Guards come

of Execution

March

on the night before her

to conduct her to the place

The savage tumult of the

The Queen's invocation to the Almighty just
before her death The Guillotine drops [crashing chord
rabble

7.

8.

9.

with quickly descending diatonic scale]

What a waste

of subject

10. Apotheosis.'

And what a

desecration of
the sacredness of misery for filthy lucre's sake
!

Period.]

107

Steibelt.

More numerous are the contributions

to

programme

music of the talented, but vain and unprincipled

STEIBELT

(1765-1823),

composers of his day.

one

most popular

the

of

DANIEL

In his overweening

conceit

had the foolhardiness to challenge

Beethoven as an improviser, but only once. The last
movement of his famous third pianoforte Concerto,
Steibelt

in

once

major,

pastorale,

and was one of the greatest popular successes

of the time.

the

fifth,

Saint

L'Orage precede d'un Bondeav,

is entitled

Other concertos of his with

la

Bernard

Chasse;

and

Among

militaire.

the
the

his

sixth.

seventh,

sonatas

we

titles

are

Voyage au Mont

Grand

Concert

L'Amante

find

disperata, a military sonata, a Difaite des Espagnols

I'arnde francaise,

and a martial sonata.

fantasias

and pieces

Napoleon,

La

of

Bataille de

various sorts

Gemappe

et

par

Then there are

:

La

Fete

de

Neerwinden, The

Threatening and Deliverance of Vienna, The Destruction of

Moscow,

La Joumee

d'Ulm, Britannia,

or

Admiral

Le Rappel de VArmee, Le
The Christening of
the Neva, and the rondos Les PapiUons and Le Berger et
son troupeau. The warlike exceeds unmistakably and
largely the idyllic, and the material the spiritual. Even
without looking at the music we must come to the
conclusion that composition was with Steibelt for the
most part a catchpenny affair that he was oftener bent
on catching money and applause, than on catching souls.
However we will look at a few of them.
The Battle of Neerwinden consists of military signals
and tunes, ringing of alarm bells, rifie and cannon shots
(the latter interpreted by bringing the palms of the
hands down on the key-board), groans of the wounded.

Duncan's

Victory

Combat naval,

(1797),

St. Paul's Procession,

108 Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Fotjeth

and

La

rejoicings over the victory.

It is

the same with

denominated

Journee d'Ulm and Britannia,

'

an

Commemoration of the signal

Naval Victory obtained by Admiral Duncan over the
More
Dutch Fleet, the 11th of October, 1797.'
interesting, because less common, is the programme of
the Public Christening on the Neva at St. Petersburg,
'a Characteristic Fantasia,' a concoction somewhat of

Allegorical Overture in

the nature of Dussek's

complete

of the Ceremony from St. James's

and exact Delineation

painting are less than worthless

but longer

to St. Paul's,

and more elaborate and pretentious.

The music and the

in

fact,

they are non-

programme is such that

The Bells announce the
ceremony. Firing the Guns. The joy of the People.
The Emperor sets out from the Palace. The throng of
the People. Chorus in Iphigenia by Gluck. March of
the troops. Acclamation of the People. His Majesty's
arrival at the place where the Ceremony is performed.
The Divine Service. TeDeum. Chorus. "Let us pray,"
sung by the Patriarch. Departure of his Majesty.
The joy of the People. Firing of the Guns. The People
existent.
I

The

foolishness of the

cannot resist quoting

'

it.

thronging from the place.

And such

Air in Alceste with three

was bought, played, and,

alas enjoyed.
Let us look at two more musical works
of Steibelt's. Whilst the famous Pastoral Rondo of the
variations.'

stuff

3rd Concerto

is

undeniably pretty, the Storm, happily of

short duration, has

qualities to

musical nor

neither

recommend

A note

it.

descriptive

to the 6th Concerto

informs us that the composer's intention was to depict

in the first

the

dismal,

movement the
wild,

hurricanes, roaring

terrors of the St.

imposing
of the

aspect,

torrents,

Bernard

the

thunder

glaciers,

of

the

Period.]

SteibeltRust.

109

avalanches, crash of the cracking

&c., with the

ice,

contrasting bell of the hospice and the chants of the

monks heard from time

by the

to time

traveller

and in

the second movement, a Eondo, the descent from the

summit
however,

The

to the Piedmontese valley.

falls

realization,

very far short of the intentions

neither

the grandeurs nor the terrors find adequate expression.

"What merits the composition has,

it

from the

derives

pleasing qualities of absolute music.

Steibelt

man

has been called a

we are very

attribution in this case

a composer

Unless

of genius.

lavish in the use of the word, the right

of

must be denied.

a luxuriant

But he was

who wrote

imagination,

melodiously, brilliantly, and with great facility.

Among the compositions of the less famous composers

we may note A Sonatina and fon/r emotional [affeetvoUe]
Sonatas

an

with

explanatory

And
W. WOLF.
FEIEDE. WILH. EUST

E.

emphatically

to

that

remarkable

by
composer

who

points so

introduction

(1739-1796),

Beethoven,

produced

Sonata Eroica, and in 1794 a Sonata in

second movement of which

is

(1785)

in

1775

major, the

superscribed

Wehklage

(Lamentation) and the last movement Schwermuth und

With regard

Frohmuth (Melancholy and Mirth).

to the

J. S.

Shedlock, in his book The Pianoforte

Sonata, writes:

'Bust's eldest son, a talented youth,

Wehklage,

who was studying

at Halle University,

the river Saale, 23rd March, 1794.

was drowned

in

Matthisson, the

"Adelaide" poet, sent to the disconsolate father a poem

entitled Todtenkranz fiir evn Kind, to

music, and

on that

sketch

movement, which sounds

19th century.'

like

is

which Bust sketched

based

this

pathetic

some tone-poem

of the

110 Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music. [Foubth

ABBE

would be unpardonable to pass over

It

VOGLEE

(1749-1814),

teacher

the

J.

Weber and

of

composer,

remarkable

Meyerbeer,

G.

theorist,

and

on the organ, the same after whom Eobert

Browning named one of his poems.* Well, Abb6 Vogler,
schemer, composed a
the restless contriver and
characteristic sonata for pianoforte and string quartet,
virtuoso

entitled

The Matrimonial Quarrel

German, Der eheUche

et femme), and
improvisations on the

(in

Zwist; in French, Brouillerie entre mari

startled

with

world

the

his

organ, depicting storms and other sensational displays,

including the Fall of the walls of Jericho.

Here are

a few specimens of the programmes that have come

down

to us

Naval Battle. 1. Beating of the drums.

music and marches.

3.

Crossing of the waves.

5.

wounded.
Musical

7.

2.

Martial

Movement of the ships. 4,

Cannon shots. 6. Cries of the

Shouts of victory of the triumphant

imitation

of

Rubens's

Last

fleet.

Judgment.

The trumpet resounds

3. The wrathful Judge
pronounces the terrible judgment on the reprobates;
their fall into the abyss wailing and gnashing of teeth.
4. The Just are received by God into eternal blessedness ;
their bliss.
6. The voices of the blessed unite with the
Magnificent introduction.

1.

through the graves

2.

they open.

choirs of angels.

Death of Prince Leopold of Brunswick. 1. The quiet

the winds that chase it into greater

course of the river

rapidity; the gradual rise of the water; the complete

inundation.

the
*

2.

The general terror and lamentation of

who foresee their misery; their

unfortunate

Not that the poet's presentment has anything to do with the real
The same remark applies to Browning's other musical poems.

man.

Peeiod.]

Vogler

shuddering,

TarHni.

complaints,

arrival of the Prince,

who

Ill

and

tears,

representations and prayers of his officers,

keep

him hack

3. The
them; the

sobs-

resolves to help

who wish

to

his voice in opposition to them, which at

last stifles all lamentation.

The boat

4.

sets out; its

reeling through the waves; the howling of the wind;

the boat capsizes

the Prince sinks.

5.

touching

piece with the feeling that suits the occasion.

The joyous

life

of the shepherds, interrupted by a

thunderstorm, which, however, passes by, and then the

naive and loud rejoicing on that account.

Ooncerning Italian composers

little

has as yet been

said in connection with the fourth period,

need be

said.

Many

and

Italy will think of 11 triUo del diavolo.

to

(1692-1770), however, the

programme

genesis, not to the

title

In this

GIUSEPPE

excellent violin sonata of the illustrious

TAETINI

little

readers on turning their attention

points to the

of the composition, the

master having endeavoured to write down on awakening

On

what, in a dream, he had heard the devil play.

the

other hand, several pieces of information that have come

down to us lay Tartini under the gravest suspicion of being

a composer of programme music, a composer who sought
inspiration in poetry

and illustrated

Algarotti relates that

his effects

before beginning

to

by poetry.
compose,

Tartini read one of Petrarch's sonnets in order that,

starting from a definite subject, he might not lose himself

in

empty phantasies.

To explain how

Tartini performed

his music, one of his pupils gave Lipinski a poem,

told

We
the

him to read it
know also that the master wrote in
movements mottoes such as, Ombra

shade),

and

and then play a Tartini Adagio.

*

'

Volgete

riso in pianto

'

cipher over

cara

'

(Dear

(Turn your laughter

Spreading Cultivation of Programme Music.

112

&c., and lines

into tears),

One of his best

them.

of the poets under portions of

If

we remember

and the words often

his beautiful expressive adagios,

him

G minor,

sonatas, Op. 1, No. 10, in

used to be called Didone abbandonata.

addressed by

[Fifth

who played

to violinists

to

him

But here (pointing

we cannot but
to his heart) it has told me nothing
feel inclined to number him with the band of composers
'

That

beautiful

is

That

is dif&cult

'

of

programme music.

LUIGI BOCCHEEINI

charming

the

(1743-1805),

composer of string quintets and quartets, symphonies,

and much

else,

who, on account of his greater sweetness

than energy, has been called the wife of Haydn, wrote a

quintet

two

for

violins,

entitled L'Uccelliera

viola,

and two

(the Aviary),

in

violoncelli,

which,

as

his

biographer, L. Picquot, says, he 'intended to depict a

rural scene, where the song of birds unites with the

sound of the hunting horn, the

{musette),

and the dance of the

shepherd's

bagpipe

villagers.'

few words in addition to those of Picquot, who

regards the work as a picture of the most

exquisite

The quintet in question is

The first movement
giusto, preceded by an Adagio assai), superscribed

originality, are desirable.

the last of the six quintets Op. 13.

{Allegro

L' Uccelliera,

is

full

of

birds'

voices

movement

{Allegro),

superscribed

Cacciatori,

alternates

between the

venatorial;

bears no
contains,

the third

second

the
Pastori

pastoral

li

and the

movement {Tempo di menuetto)

and the fourth movement

superscription;
after

twenty-nine

introductory

bars,

repetition of the third division, the recapitulation of the

exposition, of the first Allegro,

and thus the birds end as

well as begin the delightful composition.

Period.]

BOOK

III.

FULFILMENTS.

CHAPTEE

I.

FIFTH PERIOD (fROM THE CLOSE OF THE 18tH CENTURT) :

PROGRAMME MUSIO IN THE LARGER CLASSICAL FORMS AND
VITALIZATION OF THE LESSER FORMS.

BEETHOVEN.

After the prophecies and preparations of the preceding

^riod, we come now to the fulfilment and consummation.

The masters
the

first

that dominate this period are Beethoven,

in time

and

quality,

Mendelssohn, and Schumann.

programme music

Weber, Schubert, Spohr,

Although I pointed out

in the larger classical forms as the

iaost distinguishing feature, this period is also remarkable

for the substantialization, revivification, poetization,

and

spiritualization {venia sit verbis) of the smaller forms,

a fact sufficiently proved by the mention of the

names of Schubert, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann,
~~^-.
and Henselt.
It required

potency,

to

a master mind, a tone-poet of the highest

accredit

programme music

legitimize

and

mind and

that poet was

(1770-1827).

at

once and

justify it for all time to come.

If

the

That

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

declarations

accompanying his

compositions marked the limits of Beethoven's activity

as a composer

of

programme music, we should be

obliged to say that his contributions to this class of

in the Classical Forms.

Programme Music

114

[Fifth

numerous, but some of them of the

Let us see which works of
greatest importance.
Among his
Beethoven have declared programmes.
-were not

music

thirty-two sonatas there are two with titles

Op.

13,

the Sonate PatUtique, and Op. 81, the Sonata in

E flat major, the three divisions of which ar^^
respectively superscribed, Farewell, Absence,

and Eeturn

among
the nine symphonies Op. 55, the Heroic Symphony,
Further, we
and Op. 68, the Pastoral Symphony.
oder die
Sieg
Wellingtons
have a Battle Symphony,
There are also two titled works

(Wiedersehen).

Schlacht bei Vittoria, Op. 91, four overtures to his opera

an overture to Coriolanus, overtures

music
to Egmont, King Stephen, and
and incidental
The Ruins of Athens, the ballet Prometheus, and the

Fidelia

(Leonore),

independent overtures Zur Namensfeier, Op. 124, and

Die

Weihe

Op.

Hauses,

added the

be

yet

des

132,

movement

superscribed

Lydian mode,

Op.

To

138.

in

may

these

the string quartet,

Thanksgiving

offered to the Divinity

song in the
by a convalescent,'

the concluding division of the string quartet. Op. 135,

Der

superscribed

schwergefasste

posthumously published Rondo a

Entschluss, and the

capriccio,

which in the original manuscript bore the

over the lost penny, vented in a capriccio.
total

of

master's works

the

the

Op. 129,
title

Fury

Of the sum

compositions here

enumerated form but a small portion.

small portion has to be sifted before

Moreover, this

we

get the really

noble and notable examples.*

*

The

epithets

'

Pastorale

'

and

'

Appassionata,' contained in the

in

titles

major, and the Sonata Op. 57,

minor, do not derive from the composer, nor did they appear on the

respectively of the Sonata Op. 28, in

title-page of the first edition

publishers.

Equally

they are, in

unauthorized

is

the

fact, inventions

of later

name Moonlight Sonata

Period.]

We have first of all to

wich

set aside the Battle

indeed important

is

115

Beethoven.

amQng Beethoven's

among

When

works.

admirer of the master, heard

it,

Symphony,

battle pieces, but not

Tomaschek, a great

he was greatly pained

'Beethoven, -whom Providence had probably

to find

appointed to the highest throne in the realm of tones,

among

the grossest

According

materialists.'

to the

same authority Beethoven himself declared the symphony,

Nevertheless
eine Dummheit
(a tomfoolery).

to be

'

'

there are some interesting programmatic points in

it,

and even some beauties. The composition consists of

two parts: (1) The Battle; and (2) The Triumphal
Symphony {Sieges- Symphonie). The advance of the
English is announced first by their drums and trumpets
and then by Eule, Britarmia as a march immediately
afterwards appear on the field the French, whose advance
is announced first by their drums and trumpets, and then
by Malbrough s'en va-t-en Guerre as a march. Next
are heard the challenge and counter-challenge, which
lead to the battle properfirst a tremendous tussle, then
a storming march, and at last the defeat of the French,
indicated by a few bars of Malbrough in minor, with a
'

'

'

'

'

'

popularly given to the Sonata Op. 27, No. 2, in C sharp minor, dedicated
Giulietta
to the master's beloved and loving pupil the Countess
The Viennese called this sonata also the Laubensonate,
Guicoiardi.
imagining that the Adagio was composed in an arboured walk of the
Geistertrio
beautiful countess's garden. Another fancy title is that of
given to it on
for the Trio Op. 70, No. 1, in D major. The name was
account of the character of the La/rgo assai ed espressivo. Lenz, however,
saw in it not 'ghosts, but shadows cast by a darkened soul-mood.'

Grove connected with the Adagio of the fourth Symphony,

minor,
major, and the first movement of the fifth, in
Beethoven's 'immortal love' (unsterbliche Geliebte), now by many
this
supposed to have been the Countess Theresa von Brunswick; but
Sir George

in

flat

love affair is stiU involved in obscurity,

and the correctness

assumption cannot be proved by anything more

contemporaneity.

of the

substantial than

Programme Music

116

m the Classical Forms.

[Fifth

Of the second part I need not say

tremtilouB ending.

more than that it consists of several continuous

movements from which God save the King is not
'

'

absent.

The other works that may he excluded from our

consideration are the music to King Stephen and to
The Ruins of Athens, plays which Kotzebue wrote for the
opening of the new

German Theatre

at Pesth in 1812.

Kotzebne's poetry was not of the sort that could inspire

who,

Beethoven,

and time

was not

moreover,

He

occasional compositions.
to think

it

As he had

out.

master

of

needed a grand theme,

neither, these

Best known

works are among his least valuable ones.

music to these plays is the characteristic

Turkish March from The Ruins of Athens.
of all the

The Rondo a capriecio

meant programme music.

is,

of course, not

On

seriously-

the other hand

all the

remaining works of those I have enumerated must interest

The

us from our present point of view.

title of

Op. 13,

the Sonate Pathetique, points out only the general character

of the work, not a particular

programme.

But there

is

speaking expressiveness and an unmistakable depicting

of

moods

first,

movements

in every one of the three

of storm

and

stress

in the

second,

^in

the

of devout

contemplation and a trustful upward looking ; and in the

third, of agitation

and sweet melancholy.

Beethoven's

oracular utterance about two principles in the middle

movement
hand, we

is

not

intelligible.

are not

superscriptions

troubled

In Op. 81, on the other

by

clearly indicate

the intention

composer and the music bears

superscriptions indicate.
is

In the

any mystery.

The

of the

out fully

what the

first division.

Farewell,

expressed the tender regret and emotional perturbation

Phbiod.]

Beethoven.

of parting;

in the

remembrance

of

117

second, Absence,

and longing

the affectionate

for the absent

one

and in

the third, Return, the elation, joy, and contentment on

meeting again.
This, however,

I said there is
is

no mystery about Op. 81.

At least

not the case in every respect.

Who is the parting,

one puzzling question confronts us.

and returning one ? After the sketches for the

movement of the work, one of the composer's notebooks contains the following entry
The Farewell on
absent,

first

May dedicated to, and written from the heart

His Imperial Highness.' But was the master's

the 4th
for,

'

him that
his going, staying away, and coming back, could move
Beethoven to the extent we find him moved in this
sonata ? The feelings expressed seem to suggest rather
a lady-love than a male scholar. No doubt the Archduke

pupil, the Archdujie Eudolph, really so dear to

had a great

and was his

benefactor. It may also be noted that he left Vienna on
account of the approach of the French, and did not
return

till

affection

for

his master,

nine months afterwards.

Still,

the

amount

and quality of feeling seems excessive. If the Archduke

was really and solely the subject, idealization must have
This, indeed,

played a great part in the composition.

was necessarily the case, as the sketches for the second

and third movements were written before the Archduke's
return.

Another solution of the riddle

is

conceivable

namely, that the honoured patron received a compliment

that was called forth by another person or by an

imaginary occurrence.

About the origin of the superscription

division of the string quartet. Op. 135

form.ed with difficulty,'

of the last

'A

resolution

followed by two musical motives

with the question and answer

'

Must

it

be ?

'
'

Yes,

it

Programme Music

118

must be

in the Classical

Forms. [Fifth

'there are two stories told respectively by

In the one the

Schindler and Lenz (informed by Holz).

master's cook asks for housekeeping money, and in the

other an outwitted wealthy Viennese amateur plays a
part.

Now,

cannot believe that Beethoven, to

whom

his art was sacred, would in a serious work introduce a

motto originating in a comical incident. It is more
easily conceivable

that

question by a jocular

he would evade

As

reply.

ringraziamento offerta alia divinita da

lidico, in

to the

un

the string quartet, Op. 132,

di

mode

was written by

it

illness.

to the ballet Prometheus does not belong to

the master's great and strong works, but

much charming music some

besides

Canzona

guarito, in

Beethoven on his recovery from a severe

The music

a tiresome

illustrative of the

pantomimic scenes.

it

contains

notable

music

Lenz goes

so far

mine of dramatic instrumental

music. At any rate, on hearing and reading it, one is
here and there reminded of a Frenchman's saying of the
as to describe

it

as a

ballets of a later time

'they

are veritable symphonies

dansees.'

Some may think

Namensfeier

(for

that the independent overtures

Zur

Emperor Francis

II.),

the name-day of

Op. 115, and Die Weihe des Hauses

(for

the opening of

the Vienna Josephstadt theatre). Op. 124, cannot be

included in

programme music.

not in the midst of

land.

it,

they are at least on the border-

For they are not merely

edifices,

Well, though they are

finely constructed tone-

but also highly characteristic and expressive

They have both a festive

surround us with stirring life and brilliant

tone-poems.

are joyous, but the one sparklingly

majestically.

ring,

and

light; both

and the other

Pkriod.J

Beethoven.

119

Beethoven wrote altogether four overtures to his opera

Fidelio; three of

only another

them are

name

called Leonore, but that is

To prevent confusion

for Fidelio.

I shall place the three Leonore overtures in the order in

which they were for a time thought to have been written,

and add in parentheses the years in which they were
really written
Op. 138 (1807-1808) ; Op. 72a (1805)
:

and Op. 72a

(1806).

We

these overtures, which

sisters

is

need not dwell on the

quite overshadowed

by

first of

its

two

nor on the finer Fidelio overture, Op^ 726,

composed in 1814, which

differs

from the three Leonore

overtures in not being connected with the opera by

musical motives.

As

to the

two remaining overtures,

it

will suffice to consider only the later, the familiar Leonore

it is not a new work, but merely a more
and more grandly developed version of the earlier.
But what shall I say of this composition ? It is a resume,
it is the essence, of the music-drama for which it is

overture, as
perfect

written.

It focuses the devotion, sufferings, struggles,

and victory of Eleonore and Florestan. It is the most

powerful and colossal work of its kind as grand in
thought as in form, as pure and noble as it is passionate
and stirring. It is, as Wagner has said, not an overture
to a drama, but itself a drama, and presents the contents
more completely and strikingly than the following

action.

Two

other powerful and poetical conceptions are the

overtures to Coriolanus and to Egmont.

Op. 62, Beethoven wrote to von

The former,

Collin's tragedy Coriolan,

but his recollection of Plutarch and Shakespeare

may

have helped to inspire him. Who can fail to recognize

Coriolanus's haughty, contemptuous defiance, Volumnia's

and

Virgilia'B deprecation,

and the hero's struggle with

Programme Music

120

in the Classical Forms. [Fifth

himself and the world, and final ruin ?

puts

it

entirely

'

The

personal

the

in

irreconcilable pride,

the

of

fate

Wagner

Or, as

powerful work

tragic-idea of the

an all-overtopping

lies

An

hero.

ultra- vigorouSiand

ultra-overweening nature can engage our sympathy only

by

its

last,

downfall
see the

intention.

coming of

to let us feel the

it,

consummation, that was the

.

Beethoven

scene, but that the

most

master's

upon

emotional content of the

whole extensive subject-matter, and transmit

to the purely

We now

human
come

it

again

feeling.'

to

the third

of

Beethoven's three

pre-eminent tone-poems in the overture form

the overture to Egmont, Op. 84.

Egmont and

the love of

single

decisive, in order to focus in it

human

the true, the purely

seized

and, at

Clara

is

namely,

In Goethe's play,
but an episode.

In

Beethoven's overture, the composer ignores altogether

the intimate drama enacted in the burgher house, and
concentrates his thoughts on the grand historical drama.

would be a great mistake to regard the overture as a

conventional introduction to a play, for in reality it is
It

a drama a symphonic poem, if ever there was one.

The three movements of which it consists tell us of
oppression, conflict, and victory. We have in it firstly,

itself

the stern

command

of iron-willed tyranny,

wails

and plaints of the downtrodden;

timid

murmurs

rising to bold

agitation growing into

open

discontent, the angry

revolt,

and a persistent

struggle that becomes fiercer and fiercer as

and,

lastly,

and the

secondly, the

it

goes on

the high-spirited, loud-voiced triumph of

liberty.

Beethoven's music to Egmont

examples of such music.

is

one of the

finest

would use the superlative

Pekiod.]

Beethoven.

121

absolute, were I not convinced of the wrongness of using

it

in

art.

forward ;

The

first

backward

looks

entr'acte

us of Brackenburg's broken-heartedness

it tells

(Andcmte), and

the

{Allegro con brio).

It

disturbed

state

the

of

citizens

continues for twelve bars after the

rising of the curtain, and closes on the dominant.

second

and

entr'acte (La/rghetto),

The

which begins immediately

after the falling of the curtain, refers to the preceding

interview between

Egmont and Orange.

No

sooner are

the last words of Clara spoken than the orchestra strikes

in with the third entr'acte, before the curtain has fallen,

and

it

continues for more than twenty bars after the

The

curtain has again been raised.

first

half (Allegro

and Allegretto) is a .love transport (the meeting of Clara

and Egmont), the second half {Marcia vivace) brings on
the scene the stern Spanish soldiery, and dies away into
a passage that depicts the fear of the citizens. The
fourth entr'acte, too, begins before the fall and continues
after the rise of the curtain, and points backwards and
forwards. The first half (three bars Poco Sostenuto e
resoluto, and Larghetto) refers to the arrest of Egmont;
and the second half (Andante agitato) to the anxiety of
Clara. Very beautiful and significant is a piece of music
in the

superscribed

fifth act,

The stage remains empty

'

Indicating Clara's death.'

the lamp on the table flickers

In the same act

yet a few times, and then dies out.

is

a short melodrama, followed by music descriptive

of Egmont's dream, in which

Clara,

who

bids

his death will

him be

the

of good cheer, tells

vision

of

him that

procure victory for his country, and

presents a laurel wreath to him.

play

has

he

orchestra

(triumphal symphony).

strikes

up

At the end of the

a

Siegessymphonie

Programme Music

122

Forms. [Fifth

in the Classical

In the opera Fidelia the orchestra

symphonic

is

and the music throughout programme music, often

indeed of the most striking, intense, and penetrating

Take,

kind.

introduction

the

instance,

for

to the

and the

second act, Florestan's recitative and aria,

melodrama, one of the most impressive that have been

writtpn.

Next

\declared

we have

to

examine

To

programmes.

programme

symphonies with

the

speak

of

is

declared

symphony, the

in connection with the third

Sinfonia eroica, Op. 55 (1804),

saying rather too much.

But we know that Beethoven in writing this work had

in his mind Napoleon Bonaparte, the young general and
consul, for whom and for republicanism he had a great
admiration.
grande,

In

fact,

the original

written on Bonaparte.'

ran

title

'

Sinfonia

was Beethoven's

It

anger at Napoleon's betrayal of republicanism by his

acceptance of the Imperial crown that made him adopt
the present

title

'
:

Heroic

Symphony

[I

translate from

the Itaiian], composed for the celebration of a Great

man.' JAlthough

this

is

coTi^eser ever vouchsafed

which

the

I shall presently quote

if

only

we

information

the

except one remark,

neither impertinent
nor too daring to say that the contents of the several
it is

movements may be indicated thus

of the hero; (2)
(4)

Funeral ceremony;

(1)
(3)

Character and life

Scene in the camp;

memory

Apotheosis, or celebration of the

of the

Beethoven's remark above alluded to is that made

by him on hearing of Napoleon's death
I have already
composed the proper music for that catastrophe,' that is,
hero.

'

the second movement, the Marciafunebre.

^'

Cnlike his proceeding in the Heroic

Symphony and

in every other case, Beethoven supplies a pretty full

::

Period.]

Beethwen.

123

and detailed programme in the sixth, the Pastoral

Symphony, Op. 68, first performed on December 22,
1808. We have here frankly acknowledged programme
music in the fullest sense of the word. The superscriptions of the five movements, the last three of which
are continuous, are in their final form as follows
'(1) The cheerful impressions excited on arriving in the
country (2) By the brook (3) Peasants' merrymaking
(more literally merry meeting of country folk)
(4)
Thunderstorm and (5) Shepherds' hymn gratitude
and thanksgiving after the storm.' Of what kind
Beethoven's programme is may be gathered from the
subtitle on the back of the title-page of the first violin
;

part (whilst the parts were published as early as 1809,

the

score

Symphony

was not published

1826)

till

'

Pastoral

or Eecollection of country-life (expressive of

feeling rather

than painting).'

Certain remarks in the

master's sketch-books make~nis position clearer

There he wrote

pushed too

'

far, is

not gone too

still.

All painting in instrumental music,

if

But he was sure he had

he wrote also
Anyone who has

failure.'

far, for

'

an idea of country-life can make out

intentions of the author without

many

for himself the

titles.'

intentions, however, he struggled hard to reveal.

These

One

of his attempts resulted in the following explanation

Pastoral Symphony not a picture, but something in

which are expressed the emotions aroused in men by
the pleasure of the country (or), in which some feelings
'

of country-life are set forth.'

But although Beethoven was mainly concerned with

the inner impressions that outward things had made
upon him, he by no means altogether abstained from
painting those outward things. Only, this painting was

Programme Music

124

m the Classical Forms.

[Fifth

kept subordinate to the expression of the inner man.

Hencfe
'

of

said of himself,

Woods,

more.

man

This

realize Beethoven's love of nature-

and rocks give the response which

Every tree seems to say:
.

'

Beethoven was right in saying that

an idea

correct:

painting.'

'no man on earth loves the country

trees,

requires.

" Holy, holy."

quite

is

than

rather

feeling

symphony makes us

He

explanation

master's

the

expression

any

many

'

The

for himself the

first

I should

titles.'

Who

titles at all.

doubt about the meaning of the

superscription,

anyone who has

make out

of country-life can

intentions of the author without

say, even without

'

could be in

movement

The

impressions excited on

cheerful

arriving in the country,' seems to be superfluous.

open-air feeling of freshness and brightness

The

unmistak-

is

So are the serenity and joyousness inspired by

the
sights, odours, and sounds.
What lightheartedness, what high spirits
What smiles, laughter,
and singing
What tripping, skipping, and running
able.

rural

In short, what innocent joy, what perfect happiness!

Of whatever age, we feel ourselves young again,

spring in our veins and hearts.
The slow movement of the Pastoral Symphony,
the Brook,'

is

full

of the

sounds of nature

of

'

feel

By
the

murmuring of the brook, and the twittering of the birds.

But whilst this is to be found in the accompaniment, the
melody furnishes the human element

the

the dolce far niente, the dreaminess,

contented

self-abandonment to the

over us on a sunny

summer day

The form,

mood,

like the

is

leisureliness,

the comfort, the

moment

that come

in such surroundings.

vague,

is,

as

aimless wandering, a lingering and lounging.

it

were, an

Period.]

Beethaoen.

The third movement,

'

125

The

merry gathering

of

country-people,' is a delightful specimen of Beethoven's

humour.
about

You

see the peasants capering

you hear the village orchestra -with

and deficiencies and at one time you

peculiarities

the hobnailed rustics at their

There

and wheeling
its

get

roughest and noisiest.

The
and rhythms are as plain as possible.
Suddenly a thunderstorm breaks out, and puts an end
to the merrymaking.
Instead of a loud tonic chord of
is

nothing vague about the form this time.

rustic strains

major,

we hear a

tuned in d

Beethoven

is

pianissimo roll on a kettle-drum

Here, in this fourth movement,

a painter of outward things more than in

flat.

any other movement ^thunder, lightning, gusts of wind,

and showers of rain are depicted but the human

element

is

not absent.

The

staccato quaver figure, first

heard in the third and following bars,

timid flight of the peasants,;

tells

us of the

the wailing crotchets of

bars 5 and 6 are unmistakable.

And

besides this the

composer depicts not only the noises of the storm, but

also the

awe with which the sublime

spectacle,

expressive

and

descriptive, both the matter

A thunderstorm

grand as

Everything

well as terrible, inspires the spectator.

is

and the form.

in rondo or sonata form could not but

The wild anarchy of

more appropriate. The anarchy,
however, is apparent rather than real it is an ordered
disorder.
At any rate, Beethoven has succeeded in
producing in this moveinent the most magnificent
have a tame and

keys and motives

artificial effect.
is

picture of a storm, whether colour- or tone-picture, that

so far has been given to the world.

Whilst in the fourth movement

strife

among

all

is

uproar and

the elements, and fear and awe

among

Programme Music

126

men, in the

in the Classical Forms. [Fifth

serenity and peace, all joy and

fifth all is

gratitude.

Some

critics

have found the

last

movement

too long,

and some have even hinted that

the whole symphony and especially the last movement
was on a lower level than that on which Beethoven
considering

its

contents,

usually moves in his symphonies.

that the master's intention was

symphony and

write

to

to depict certain things

indicated by words.

had necessarily
different

These people forget

Now, as

this

was

which he

something that was

to write

was
him ?

Was

Was

Again, surely,

beautiful.

Surely,

it

the treatment of the subject unworthy of

it

was

of his other symphonies,

not.

Indeed, in the Pastoral

as great as in the grandest

and nothing could be more

That Beethoven knew how to be

well as heroic proves

him

so

much

idyllic as

the greater an

artist.

not be for once content with perfect serenity and

pure beauty, without stress and strain

totally

from the Heroic and other symphonies.

Symphony the composer was

Why

clearly

his intention, he

the subject chosen unworthy of the artist?

not.

a pastoral

question of greater pertinence and importance in

connection with the Pastoral

Symphony

is

the legitimacy

of the material tone-painting to be found there.

The

master has been greatly blamed for writing programme

more

and most
of all for the introduction of the nightingale, quail, and
cuckoo, towards the end of the slow movement. This was
not to be wondered at ninety years ago. But it is strange
that even at the present day there are people who think it
music, and

still

for certain features of

make excuses
make allowances for

it,

necessary to

for

as to

his eccentricities.

Beethoven, or are so kind

Two

decide the legitimacy of material tone-painting.

tests

Is

it

Period.]

Beethoven.

subordinate to the spiritual?

Is

127
it

of

an

artistic

nature?

The unprejudiced cannot but admit that the passage in

question stands the application of these tests. The
imitation of the bird voices occupies only a few bars of

the long movement; and both the imitation and the

manner
I

of introduction are in the highest degree artistic.

have not the

least hesitation in asserting that the effect

of the last eleven bars of the scene

By

'

the Brook

'

is

truly poetical.

Some

may be got from the

Among his notes for the Pastoral

instruction on this point

master's sketch books.

Symphony

there is one superscribed,

however, was not in any way utilized.

'

Thunder,' which,

Then

in

an

earlier

note-book, years before he began to write the symphony,

he had twice jotted down the tones and rhythms he had

heard in the murmuring of brooks; the second version
being a

fifth

lower and accompanied by the remark, 'the

larger the brook, the deeper the tone.'

experiences

that suggested

These notes, or the

them, were not forgotten

when he wrote the scene By the Brook

but he remembered them as an artist who allows nature to suggest, not
'

to dictate.

Beethoven's attitude towards materialistic

tone-painting
illustrated

'

is,

as

my

by the scene

interpretation has shown, well

'

By

the Brook

thunderstorm, where he combines with

'

andpby the
an

idealistic

imitation of the sounds of nature, the expression of

human

emotions.

Did the composer of the Sinfonie Pastorale owe anything

composer of the Portrait musical de la Nature ?
opinion
has been hazarded that Beethoven was
The

to the

unlikely to have been acquainted with Knecht's work.

But

if

certain circumstances are taken into account, the

likelihood of his having

known it is much

greater than the

Programme Music

128

The

unlikelihood.

in the Classical Forms.

striking similarity of the

[Fifth

programmes

speaks of course strongly in favour of the assumption that

The circum-

Beethoven knew the earlier composition.

stances alluded to are, however, these.

Bossier, of Spire,

who in 1784 published Knecht's symphony, also published

in 1783

and 1784 the boy Beethoven's

three sonatas and two songs.

known musical

first

compositions,

Knecht was a widely

respectability, both as a writer of

on music.

and
His portrait appeared in 1791 in the musical

periodical

Musikalische

Korrespondenz

der

deutschen

FHarmonischen Gesellschaft (Bossier, Spire), and

have been seen by Beethoven

in,

and he wrote

Zeitung

may

his works were reviewed

articles for, the Allgemeiri,e musikalische

(Breitkopf

&

Leipzig; 1798, &c.), an

Hartel,

which Beethoven no doubt read;

and his life and works were described in Gerber's Lexicon,
which Beethoven possessed. From these data it is not
rash to conclude that Beethoven did know Knecht's
symphony, and that he was inspired by it but only by the
influential periodical

programme, not by the music, or at least not otherwise by

the music than with the desire of doing well what had
been done badly.
There is one work of Beethoven's which, though it has
not an explicit programme, may be said to have an
implicit

one,

programme
Ode

to

is

mean

the

Choral

Symphony.

The

hinted at by the stanzas from Schiller's

Joy, on which the last division of the work

is

own words which connect

with what precedes. The contents of the

founded, and by Beethoven's

this division

symphony, as

understand

it,

are briefly this

The

movement spreads out before us a world dark, void,

and without form. The solitary individual, confronted
first

by stern unbending

necessity, looking into a joyless,

Period.]

Beethoven.

129

hopeless, merciless mysterious infinitude, is filled with

indescribable despair. No grander, gloomier, and more

awe-inspiring picture has ever been painted by brush or

pen. It is a dread revelation of infinite Nature to finite

Man.

In the second movement, the Scherzo, with

wild capricious sportiveness, there

with

mad

represents

pranks

and

diversion,

is

boisterous

not

its

a desperate gaiety,
outbreaks.

happiness.

The

It

third

movement, an Adagio, is a vision of all that is sweet and

beautiful.
Nothing could be more enrapturing. But it
is

as the dire dissonances

only a vision, only a dream

with which the next division opens prove

conclusively.

ejaculations, as of
recitatives

only too

and volleys of wild

one seized by sudden pain, after sullen

After

fierce

cries

by the double-basses,

after reminiscences of the

Scherzo and the Adagio, after the presentment of a

and comforting thought and another

of wild ejaculations, a

human

fierce cry

How the
themes

And now

and volley

voice strikes in with the

words: '0 Friends, not these tones,

pleasing ones.'

new

let

begins Schiller's

us sing more

Hymn to

Joy.

composer revels in the expression of the poet's

all

know who have heard

the work.

What indeed

could be more congenial to the master than sentiments

such as these
'

Embrace, ye millions let this kiss,

Brothers, embrace the earth below
Ton starry worlds that shine on this,

One common

father know.'

In short, the Choral Symphony

is

a musical exposition of

Beethoven's philosophy.*
*

Compare with the above Wagner's

different but not incongruous

exposition in his Report on the Perforinance of the Ninth

Beethoven.

Symphony of

Programme Music

130

in the Classical

Forms. [Fifth

have now exhausted Beethoven's works and parts

These, however, are not
of works with superscriptions.
compositions.
He
programmatic
only
the master's

We

had

for

from 1816 onwards, the intention

years,

new complete

bringing out a

of

edition of his sonatas, one

of the moving reasons being his desire to indicate the

poetic ideas on which many of these works were based,

and thus

to facilitate the

comprehension and determine

We

owe this information to

Schindler, Beethoven's friend and biographer, who tells
us also that in later years the master spoke of the Largo
of the Sonata Op. 10, in D major, as depicting the mood

the

reading

them.

of

melancholy person with all the varied nuances of light

and shade in the picture of melancholy and its phases
of a

of the two Sonatas Op. 14, as the contention of twO'

principles

entreating

(the

and the

resisting),

or

dialogue between two persons, a husband and wife, or a

and sweetheart, the dialogue and its meaning being

more pregnantly expressed and the opposition of the two
lover

persons more palpable in the second sonata

and

(in

conversation of 1823) of the Sonate PatMtique, Op. 13,

as

also

containing

principles.

When

in

the

Schindler

middle
asked

movement

two

Beethoven what

was the poetic idea of the Sonata Op. 31, No. 2, in

D minor, and the Sonata Op. 57, in F minor, the
master replied
Bead Shakespeare's Tempest.' A very
interesting story is told by Schindler of the Sonata
Op. 90, in E minor, dedicated to Count Moritz
Lichnowsky.
When Count Lichnowsky received this
it seemed to him that his friend
sonata,' he writes,
Beethoven had wished to express a definite idea in the
two movements of which it consists. He did not fail to
ask the master. As the latter never kept back what was
:

'

'

'

Period.

Beethoven.

131

in his mind,

Laughing

he had no hesitation in replying now.

loudly, he at once remarked that he had

intended to picture in his music the love-story of the

Count and his wife

adding that

a superscription was
movement might be " Struggle

required, that of the first

between head and heart,"

" Conversation
superscriptions

with

and that

the

beloved

the

of

one."

the music very well.

fit

Count's love-story,

if

it is

second,

These

'

As

briefly told as follows.

to the

He

fell

an opera singer of talent and exemplary

character. His relations opposed a mesalliance. But after
in love with

the death of his elder brother. Prince Carl, Count Moritz

followed the dictates of his heart, and married the amiable
lady.

One more

of Beethoven's indications has to be

Eegarding the

mentioned.

first five

bars of the

C minor

Symphony, he remarked to Schindler, with impetuous

Thus does Fate knock at the door.'
But can we trust Schindler ? I believe we can.
Moreover, his communications are corroborated by other
enthusiasm

witnesses.

'

Ferdinand

Eies

says

'Beethoven often thought of a

compositions.'

And

Carl

of

his

master

definite subject in his

Czemy, who saw much

of

Beethoven, and had his help in studying his works, writes

'

It is certain that

inspired

many

by similar

reading and his

of Beethoven's finest works were

visions

and pictures drawn from

and that if it were

own imagination

possible to obtain a sure knowledge of these circumstances,

we should have the key to his compositions

To these general statements may

and their rendering.'

be added a particular one.

Beethoven told his friend

Amenda who informed Lenz that when composing the

Adagio of the String Quartet in

he thought of Eomeo and

major. Op. 18, No.

Juliet in the

tomb

scene.

1,

Programme Music

132

But even

if

in the Classical Forms.

Schindler's, Eies's,

[Fifth

and Czerny's reports

were unknown to us, our knowledge of Beethoven's

make us guess

character would

intensive

could not but infuse

soul-life

And one

art-work.

One with

as much.

it

so

into his

with so sublime a conception of art

could not wish the two, the soul-life and the art-work,

In

apart.

fact, his lofty

mind cotld not but despise mere

ingeniously contrived structures of meaningless

tone

We

must

combinations, however sensuously beautiful.

be careful not to measure Beethoven by the

To tmderstand him, read

standard.
to his

immortal

'

apostrophes to Fate, and his

love,' his

exaltation of music.

'

common

his will, the letters

Music

is

the mediation between the

and the sensuous life.' ' Art and science alone

point out to us and let us hope a higher life.'
Music
is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.'
spiritual

'

'

All that is called

life

shall be sacrificed to the sublime

one (music), and be a sanctuary of

of the

many

They

distinctly point to the

Beethoven was a moral as well as an

fact that
force,

These are a few

striking sayings to be found in the master's

and note-books.

letters

art.'

^nd this

brings

me

sesthetical

and most powerful

by Beethoven's music on

to the last

proof, the impressions produced

Does he not feel that there is in it more

than a clever display of beautiful and piquant tone
combinations, that there is in it meaning, and meaning
of profound and noble import, and not merely something
the hearer.

vague but something

definite

definite, although perhaps the

be not easily translatable into words? When

Mendelssohn

movement

played

(on

of Beethoven's

the

pianoforte)

C minor Symphony

the

first

to Goethe,

the latter was strangely affected by the music.

At

first

he said

it

only

That does not move one at

all

Pkbiod.]

Beethoven.

astonishes

resumed

That

After a long time, he

grandiose.'

is

it

;
'

is

183

it makes one
and when it is

very grand, quite mad,

almost afraid the house will come down

And

played by

all

much was

the musically untrained and really unmusical

Goethe

the people [the

stirred

full

orchestra]

by what he had heard that

he once more returned to the subject.

to

compare the experience

'

later in the

so

day

It is interesting

of the poet Goethe with a

reflection of Julian Schmidt, the literary historian.

'

In

coimection with Beethoven's symphonies we have the

feeling that they

are concerned with something very

different from the usual alternation of joy and sorrow, in

which music mthout words

being.

We

is

wont to move and have

its

divine the mysterious abyss of a spiritual

and torment ourselves to fathom it. We wish to

know what has driven the tone-poet to this boundless
despair and to this extravagant jubilation. The need
makes itself the more felt, the deeper music penetrates
world,

into the inner world, as in Beethoven's last period.'

To the testimony of untrained music lovers let us

add that of some professional musicians. Wagner's
Programmatic Explamations of the Sinfonia Eroica and
the Coriolanus overture, his Report and Programme of
the ninth Symphony, and his remarks on the great
Leonore

overture in the essay

unsurpassable masterpieces.

On

the

Overtwe, are

His writings, moreover,

are full of light-giving ohiter dicta concerning the great

dicta on this subject
inspired
theorizings
where
are always excellent except

master's works.

In

fact,

Wagner's

by his own practice lead him

to

misinterpret

his

predecessor, as, for instance, in the characterization of

the seventh, the

Fidure).

A major Symphony

(see

Art-work of the

Marx, who in his Life and Works of Beethoven

;:

Programme Music in

134

many

analyzes

Forms. [Fifth

the Classical

of the master's compositions, suggests

here and there programmes, and always accentuates

the fact of an ideal content.

Parenthetically I will

mention the

Critical

amateur

Lenz's

Catalogue

of

met with, besides

numberless idle conceits, not a few happy hints.
Tchaikovsky, who is one of the many musicians who
Beethoven's Works, in which are to be

have expressed regret that Beethoven has not himself

provided programmes, asks in one of his letters the

Has Beethoven's fifth

And he answers it thus

Symphony

a
programme
It not only has
a programme, but there cannot be the slightest difference
of opinion as to what the symphony purports to express.'
He further confesses that his own fourth Symphony
has the same programme.* Eubinstein saw even in the
question

'

'

'

early works besides the aesthetical, the ethical element

saw that Beethoven's instrumental music could express

saw that his humour
;

the dramatic and even the tragic

rises to irony.

'

He

is

incredibly great in his adagios

from the most beautiful lyrical to

and mystical.
But quite incomprehensibly great he is in his scherzos.
Some of them
I feel inclined to compare with the Fool in King Lear.
his utterances reach

the metaphysical

One hears

in

them

smiling, laughing, bantering, not

in

unfrequently bitterness, irony, anger

of psychological expression.

a man, but, as

now

makes fun
Beethoven
best

it

rejoices over
of
is

it,

It

were, from an invisible Titan,

humanity, now

now weeps over

is

vexed at

it.

wholly incommensurable.'

it,

who
now

In one word,

Among

the

and truest words that have been said on the same

subject are the following ones of

*

short, a world

seems to come not from

Edward Dannreuther

See this in the account of Tclaaikovsky, Book V., Chapter

III.

Period.]
'

135

Beethoven.

"While listening to such -works as the overturfe to Leonora,

the Sinfonia Eroica, or the ninth Symphony,

that

we

we

feel

in the presence of something far wider and

arft

higher than the mere development of musical themes.

The execution in detail of each movement and each

succeeding work is modified more and more by the

and
The mental
and moral horizon of the music grows upon us with
each renewed hearing. The different movements like
the different particles of each movement have as close
a connection with one another as the acts of a tragedy,
and a characteristic significance to be understood only
in relation to the whole each work is in the full sense
of the word a revelation. Beethoven speaks a language
no one has spoken before, and treats of things no one
The warmth and depth of
has dreamt of before.
now
felt
all the world over, and
ethical
sentiment
is
his

prevailing poetic sentiment.

religious passion

elevation are present in the utterances.

will ere long

it

be universally recognized that he has

leavened and widened the sphere of men's emotions in a

manner akin

to that in which the conceptions of great

philosophers and poets have widened the sphere of men's

intellectual activity.'

After reading the foregoing pages

many will no

doubt

admit that Beethoven was a composer of programme

music to a much larger extent than they had thought.
Some of them, however, will add that he differs from
composers of the Berlioz and Liszt types in that he
subordinated the programme to the form.

Is that true ?

from being true that one is perfectly

justified in saying that the widening and strengthening
of the instrumental forms which we owe to Beethoven is
the offspring of his poetic ideas, of his programmes. To

No

So far

is this

Programme Music

136

be sure, his form

beautiful,

not

and

always classical, that

satisfactory considered

invariably

structure

is

traditional,

and number

little

many

itself

but

and
it

both

is

the

movements being dictated

ideas, by the programme in his

among Beethoven's

Of course,

there are

by

lucid

is,

conventional,

[Fifth

of the

by the underlying poetic

mind.

in the Classical Forma.

which deviate not at

compositions

all or

only very

from the traditional Haydn-Mozart form, and many

programmes or are based on programmes

are not based on

of a

more or

less

shadowy kind.

proposition remains unaffected.

well

known

my

Nevertheless

Schindler says

'

It is

that Beethoven did not confine himself to

writing in the traditional forms, but often avoided them

because the idea by which he allowed himself to be

prompted
correctly, a

demanded another treatment, or, more

new vesture. Hence the sometimes heard

remark: "Beethoven's sonatas are operas in disguise.'"

Let

me

the

first

The episodes of
movement of the Heroic Symphony have their
The third movement of
justification in the programme.
the overture to Egmont is not merely a brilliant coda to
the preceding movemeni, but the expression of a new
idea.
Again, it was the programme that in the Pastoral
Symphony called for five instead of four movements, and
caused the form of the slow movement to be vague, that
of the Storm to be non-architectural, and that of the
others to be more or less deviating from the traditional.
Whoever has studied the great Leonore overture knows
that the form of this work is largely influenced by the
The same holds good with regard to
poetic contents.*
the Choral Symphony. It is difficult to be so blind as
*

give a few familiar examples.

We must

concede this even

the recapitulation of the

if

we

first after

agree with

Wagner

the middle diyision

is

in thinking that

a weakness.

Peeiod.J

Beethoven.

not to see this in the

the vocal portion.

my

movement

first

impossible not to see

in

it

We

137

of this work it is
what immediately precedes
;

need not go for confirmation

of

proposition to the master's last string quartets, in

which he so widely departs from the sonata form; we

find it in many and many of his works in which the
traditional form is to a more or less extent adhered to.
In short, the traditional forms did not mould Beethoven's

moulded the forms and sometimes

any rate, was the state of
matters with Beethoven at his best.
It is important that we should form a clear and

ideas, but the ideas

even broke them.

This, at

correct notion of Beethoven's position with regard to

programme music, and

by
Having such

this could only be arrived at

a sober statement of the

facts of the case.

a statement before him, the reader, I think,

firmly convinced as I

am

will

be as

myself that not only were the

master's tendency and

practice in this respect less

limited in extent than

is

mostly supposed, but also

that the time cannot be far off

when he

will

be regarded

as the chief founder and the greatest cultivator of

programme music.

[Fifth

CHAPTEE

II.

THE THEBE EAKLY KOMANTICISTS

FIFTH PBKIOD CONTINUED
AND SPOHE.
SCHUBEBT,
WBBEE,
:

Beethoven's younger contemporary, GAEL MAEIA

(1786-1826), plays a much more
VON

WEBEE

important part in the development of programme music

than he is credited with. Indeed, those who have no
eyes but for the obvious do not so much as dream of him
as a composer of programme music. Leaving for the

present

only one of

of account,

out

overtures

the

Weber's purely instrumental compositions the Momento

bears a title hinting
capriccioso need not be considered

programme, namely Op. 65, Aufforderwng zum Tanz

and not a few musicians
(Invitation to the Dance)
look upon this title as a mere fancy title, attractive but
at a

An

meaningless.

indisputable authority, however, the

composer's wife, has corrected this view.

had

finished the piece in 1819

1821),

he

played

it

to

her,

(it

When Weber

was not published

and accompanied the

performance with the following commentary

approach of the dancer (bars 1-5)

reply (5-9)

and

significant)

her

conversation

the

he begins

(9-13

appoggiatura

consent

(13-16)

'

First

the lady's evasive

his pressing invitation

appoggiatura

till

the

short

are

very

enter

into

a)?

they

(17-19), she replies (19-21), he

speaks with greater warmth (21-23), she sympathetically

Now

agrees (23-25).

with regard to

it

for the

(25-27), her

dance

He

addresses her

answer (27-29), they draw

together (29-31), take their places, are waiting for the

189

Weber.

Period.]

commencement
Conclusion

of the

dance (31-35).

The

dance.

his thanks, her reply, their retirement.

The commentary leaves us in the lurch as

the main part of the composition, the dance.

Silence.'

to

it would he a mistake to conclude from this

gap in the story that Weber's waltz is no more than a
rhythmic and melodic accompaniment of the motions of
the dancers. So far is this from being the case that it

Nevertheless

has been described by someone as the poetic idea of the

dance, and by someone else as the expression of all that
the

German

dance

contains

tenderness, and grace.

In

fact,

of

poetry,

chivalry,

we may read

in

it

whole story of youthful joyousness, coquetry, courtship,

and love. The piece made quite a sensation among
musicians as well as among the general public.
like Liszt

and Berlioz, on making

enthusiastic about
it

it

for the orchestra.

scored

it,

its

acquaintance, were

the latter, in after years, scoring

Recently Felix Weingartner, too,

with additions of his own.

arranged

for

instruments

two pianofortes, and

Tausig

Men

transmogrified

It

for
it

has also been

all

sorts

even into

of

hravv/ra concert piece.

Fresh, spirited, and delightful as the Aufforderung

zum Tcmz

is.

Op.

79,

the

Concertstikk

(Concert

and orchestra must be admitted

more serious and weighty contribution to
programme music. This is the Concerto in F minor
Piece) for pianoforte

to

be a

letter addressed to Eochlitz, where

his conceiving a story extending
about
speaks
Weber
over the whole of the work, and his fear of being

mentioned in a

numbered with the charlatans. His fear getting the

better of him, he concealed the programme from the
Fortunately, it was fully revealed to his
public.

[Fifth

The Three Early Romanticists.

140

and Julius Benedict, his pupil, to whom the happy

composer played the Concertstiick immediately after
finishing it, at Berlin, on the 18th of June, 1821, the
wife

day of the

first

performance of Der Freischiitn.

gazes sadly into

years in the Holy

so

is

'

Land

Battles have been

him who

shall she never see

fought

but

dear to

mind

field,

her

there

knight

on

him

She

falls

What

is

in the sunlight

are those forms approaching ?

been

the battle-

his heart's blood

Could she but be by his side

But hark

senseless.

What glimmers

of

dreadful vision rises

lying

is

deserted by his companions

ebbing fast away.

she but die with

him again ?
no news

is

In vain have

her.

her prayers and her longing.

in her

Weber's

The lady sits in her tower she

the distance. Her knight has been for

commentary ran thus

is

could

down exhausted and

sound ?

that distant

from the wood

What

Knights and squires with

the cross of the Crusaders, banners waving, acclamations

of the people

his

and there

it is

What a commotion

arms.

infinite, indescribable

happiness

he
of

She sinks

love

into

What an

The very woods and

waves sing the song of true love; a thousand voices

proclaim

its victory.'

The programme is undoubtedly poetical and romantic.

But does the music realize it ? Yes, certainly
It
!

realizes vividly

Weber

and
more than the truth when he wrote

its

asserted no

spirit,

sentiments,

colour.

to Eochlitz that the parts of the composition follow each

* The above-mentioned letter to Eochlitz is of March 14, 1816.
The
composer indicates the programme of his projected F minor Concerto
briefly thus

'

Allegro, Separation

4(Jajio,

Lament

Finale, Profoundest

He adds that he
hates titled tone-pictures, but that the idea irresistibly obtrudes itself
upon him, and endeavours to convince him of its effectiveness.
sorrow, consolation, meeting again,

and

jubilation.'

Pbeiod.]

Weber.

141

other in accordance with the story, and receive their

character from

in a detailed

it

Especially noteworthy

and dramatic manner.

that the story determined the

Hence Weber's denomination

form of the work.

composition

is

of the

not concerto, but Concertstuck.

Although we do not hear of any other programmes in

connection with the master's pianoforte compositions,

one cannot listen to works like the

and the

and the

flat

is

major Sonata,

to

only the most striking examples

that there

A flat

major Polonaise

without

mention

suspecting

something more in them than the general

characteristics

Weber's romanticism

of

chivalrous, the supernatural,

Weber's bibliographer, F.
of the sonatas,

namely,

the

and the naively sentimental.

W.

Jahns, looked upon each

those four extraordinary works,' as

mirroring a particular character-picture with the rarest

distinctness;

and the composer's son and biographer

remarks significantly of his father's chamber works

and songs that they are

many

so

'

reflexes

of

the

dramatic tendency of his genius, preparatory studies

for his

dramatic works.'

Whatever may be the extent

programmatic
tions, the

master

programme music
chamber works.

and quality

of

the

Weber's purely instrumental composi-

in

is

more eminent as a composer

of

in his stage than in his concert and

On having

his attention di-awn in this

direction, the reader's first thought will be of the Wolf's

Glen scene in Der Freischutz.

The gruesome horrors of

drawn with wonderful
But whilst fully admitting

this scene are indeed musically

originality

and immense force.

the originality and powerfulness of the tone-painting in

this casp,

one

may

yet hold that the depicting of the

Satanic influence in the

first

act of the

same

opera, of the

The Three Early Romanticists.

142

[Fifth

and of the ghostly vision of Emma

and the pomp and circumstance of chivalry in Euryanthe,
is no less original and powerful, although less violently

fairy world in Oheron,

These are only a few remarkable examples of

striking.

that admirable tone-painting,

external, in

which Weber's operas abound.

At

least

two

^Max's

more may yet be specified for reference

in the first act of Der Freischiltz, to which

or three
aria

and

of things internal

have

already alluded, Agathe's aria in the second act of the

same opera, and Kezia's aria in Oheron, Ocean thou

mighty monster.'
Of programme music apart from words and action,
'

Weber's

operas

furnish

us

in the overtures, especially

and Oheron.

with

Der

brilliant

examples

Freischiltz, Euryanthe,

They summarize the contents

of the operas,

not, however, the incidents of the plot, but the emotional

substrata
It

and the

atmosphere

and

the

colouring.

would be an egregious mistake to look upon these

overtures as a kind of potpourri because they contain

motives from the operas.

at the

These musical motives are

same time fundamental emotional or otherwise

Let

characteristic motives.

me

indicate in a few words

the programmes of the compositions in question.

The essence

of the Freischiltz overture is this

peace and innocence of forest

life,

The

broken in upon by the

powers of darkness; struggle between good and

victory of the former.

movement

The main part

of the introductory-

{Adagio) depicts the sweet peacefulness

on, the inimical intrusion

makes

evil;

itself felt

later

by the

fear-

inspiring motive characteristic of Samiel, the evil spirit.

The further course may be traced by means

following analysis of the

A llegro.

In the

incorporated a motive from Max's aria

('

first

What

of the

subject are
evil

pow'r

Period.]

143

Weher.

xound me'), and another from the Wolf's Glen

a thunder-storm accompanied hy hail
breaks out, and flames start from the earth in the second
subject, another motive from Max's aria (* No ray will
shine upon my darkness'), and the jubilant one from
Agathe's aria (' How every pulse is flying, and my heart
beats loud and fast, we shall meet in joy at last').

is

closing

when

scene,

This

last

the redeeming motive, which, after the

is

struggle between the good and evil influence that goes on

through the rest of the .tone-poem,

Chivalry
overture.

is

finally triumphs.

the predominant note of the Euryamthe

After a brilliant, dashing period follows the

knightly motive from Adolar's aria

my Euryanth

(*

I trust in

God and

In the second subject we notice a

').

love-

laden motive from another aria of Adolar (' 0, bliss I

do not fathom thee '). Between the exposition and the
development occurs an episode {La/rgo), the ghostly
!

apparition of

Emma,

with which

is

connected the cause

of the troubles depicted in the middle division.

and

love, however,

gain the day at

last,

Chivalry

as the ending of

the third division, the modified recapitulation with coda,

shows.

In the Oheron overture the temptation to suspect a

potpourri or mosaic of motives

is

greater than in the

For here we meet in the introduction with

a naagic horn motive, a^fairy motive, and a Charlemagne
motive (from the march at the end of the opera) and in

other two.

the Allegro con fuoco, a travel,

(from the quartet

'

or adventure motive

On board then '), and

the motives of

devotion and jubilation (Huon's thoughts of love and the

beloved, in the aria

and Eezia's
deliverance,

'

Prom boyhood trained in battlefield,'

rejoicing

in

the

supposed approach of
Nevertheless the
aria).

at the

Ocean

[Fifth

The Three Early Romanticists.

144
overture

is

one to

a whole, and, moreover, enables

realize something of the spirit and colour of the opera

without knowing

it.

The tones

from the wondrous gardens of the

East, and thinks that he

must

talent

Ambros
magic night full of

spell-bound.

sees in the opening Adagio a moon-lit

floating rose perfumes

and

a strange

into

we gaze

beautiful world on which

magic horn at the

of the

beginning transport us at once

who has Heine's

sound-picturing

he saw passing

feel in this overture as if

him shining cupolas, fantastic minarets, palm

woods, lovely women, Saracen and occidental knights
before

combat and

in

sport,

and

all

the strange wonders of

the Orient in a dazzling Fata morgana.

and

enthusiastic
interpretation.

The

poetic,

but

This

hardly

is

legitimate

Ambros who, by-the-way,

programme music
proves,

excellent

was not a favourer of

however, by his eloquent words his conviction

Weber
Weber

as a composer of

incomplete without

its

My

really painted a tone-picture.

use of melodrama.

an

that

account of

programme music would be

some reference

to

In Der Freischiitz

his

it is

incidental

notable for

characteristically effective alternation with song, in

Preciosa for the rhythmical notation of the recitation.

Whoever knows the songs

of

FEANZ SCHUBEET

them the greatest song

composer of programme music.

(1797-1828) knows too that in

composer

is

also a great

The adding of a fitting musical accompaniment to verses

did not seem to him a task worthy of a tone-poet. He
felt

fact,

impelled to re-create the word-poet's creations.

the poems he set to music were

programmes

for the realization of

to

which he had

to have

recourse to the pianoforte as well as to the voice.

would be impertinent on

my

In

him but
It

part to offer examples

Period.]

my

proving

145

Schubert.

memory

Nobody's

assertion.

will

to

fail

supply some, and any volume of the master's songs will

furnish a multitude more.

But was Schubert in purely instrumental works a

composer of programme music? Not a confessed one.
Was he, then, an unconfessed one ? The question is
difficult to

bold

answer

unqualified

'

cannot be answered with a

at least

yes

'

or

'

no.

Not

'

one

of

his

independent purely instrumental compositions has an

explicit

programme, and only two hint

at a

programme

namely, the fourth Symphony, entitled Tragic Symphony,'

'

and one

of the pianoforte duets, entitled Lebensstiirme

(Storms of life). No accounts or rumours of concealed

programmes have been transmitted to us by the
composer's friends and biographers. All this, however,
does

not

dispose of

the

probability, that Schubert

possibility,

may

or even of the

after all

have been a

composer of purely instrumental programme music.

I have no doubt that some will advance as an objection
that Schubert was a dreamer, not a thinker, and that
a spinning-out of notes 'with many a
winding bout of linked sweetness long drawn out.' There
He was a dreamer of dreams
is some truth in this.
his

music

is

but for the most part he was a wide-awake dreamer of

most vivid dreams. His songs are unimpeachable
witnesses to his clear-eyed penetrating vision as well as
His smaller
to the luminousness of his imagination.
pianoforte pieces

the Impromptus, Moments musicals, &c.

same qualities, if only we listen to them

Some of them are song-like, and all have
attentively.
speaking expressiveness and pronounced character.
Without forgetting Beethoven's Bagatelles, we may say
testify to the

that

Schubert

was the

originator

of

the

vitaUzed

:
;

The Three Early Eomanticists.

146

pianoforte literature in the lesser forms

Who

century.

would

[Fifth
of the

19th

that

these

assert

confidently

and characteristic little tone-poems

were all the offspring of vague moods and a fertile
formative musical genius ; that none were engendered
by anything more definite than vague moods none
strikingly expressive

by

conscious

interesting

works

emotions,

occurrences,

And

landscapes ?
to

sentimental

like the

again,

productions,

literary
if

you

complications,

and

listen, listen attentively,

minor and the

minor Quartet, the

two Trios, the C major Symphony, and the unfinished

minor Symphony

to

mention only a few of many

and even more forcibly, by

the fact that inasmuch as there is dreaming in them, it
is dreaming of the most vivid kind, and that not a little
of what is offered us seems to be real life in its intensest
are you not here, too, struck,

forms

whom

Let us see what Schumann says of Schubert,

partly

recognized.

'

painter.'

On

blooming

romantic

Symphony.
the

he

and whose genius he first fully

He calls him on one occasion a romantic

discovered,

finest

another occasion he speaks of the bright,

'

and

Note
note

the

in

Again, he says
feelings,

circumstances.'

sentence

life'

'

Schubert has tones for

and even

thoughts,
the
also

C major

master's

concluding
the

events and

words

following

of

this

remarks

Schubert will always remain the favourite of the young

he shows them what they want an overflowing heart,
'

daring thoughts, and quick deeds

relates to

them what

they like best romantic stories of knights, maids, and

adventures, with which he mingles also wit and humour,

but not so

much

thereby dimmed.'

that the gentle fundamental

mood

is

Period.]

Schumann omits

of

mention Schubert's love of Nature

of flowers and trees, of lakes and
of clouds, of sun, moon, and stars.
There is

of

little

to

and woods,

fields

rivers,

147

Schubert.

in his letters, but his music

it

is

full of it.

Ambros points out a very true and interesting distinction

between Beethoven and Schubert. The meaning of his
words

is

as follows

'

Beethoven in his

flight

keeps his

eyes turned upward to the eternal stars, the infinite

depths of the heavens

Schubert in his

flight

loses sight of the beautiful earth, looking smilingly

on

it

and

its

flower gardens, cornfields,

never

down

and vineyards.'

be for the reader to decide to what extent

It will

when composing, had

Schubert,

distinct extra-musical

was possessed by definite ideas,

I will give an impulse to the
inquiry by asking a few questions. Do you not hear in
the introductory Andante of the C major Symphony a
serene hymn of praise to God, who is all love and
subjects in his mind,

impressions, and feelings.

goodness?

Do

not the rapids of imagination in the

following Allegro shoot

you along with giddy swiftness

through a sunny, laughing world, in which sorrowing and

praying are heard only like
sphere ?

moods

Do you

far-off

sounds from another

not perceive the stream of fluctuating

in the Andante con moto

the

the rapt contemplation that loses

melodic complaint,

itself in

the twilight of

Do you not wish to

and graceful dance of the
Scherzo, and the hearty chorus of the Trio ? Do you not
feel yourself carried away in the Finale by the highspirited joyousness and the irresistible onward movement,
a beautiful dreaming vision, &c. ?

join in the boisterous sport

which suggested to one commentator 'Magyar heroes

riding past brandishing their sabres ? And, lastly, do you
not share Schumann's opinion that in this work there is
'

[Fifth

The Three Early Romanticists.

148

significance everywhere,

and that

it

leads

you into regions

where you cannot remember to have been before

turning to the unfinished

Or,

minor Symphony, does not

the second movement, the Andante con moto, conjure up in

your mind a picture of peace, contentment, and happiness

somewhat

Smooth pasturage, with sleek

like this ?

quietly grazing

well-cultivated fields

the country lanes by green hedges

brook gliding,
its

now

shallow bed;

silently,

now

cattle

bordered along

not far off a limpid

gently whispering, over

the whole scene illuminated by the

subdued light of the setting sun,

for it is late in the

afternoon, and in an hour or two the sun will disappear

behind those mountains which form the dark background

suavity of

dreamy

The mild loveliness and

the scene soothe and lull the beholder into a

pleasing

this

to

picture.

state of semi-wakefulness.

Momentarily he

is

by forebodings, dark and indefinite as that

gloomy mountain side. But the future is soon dispelled
by the present, the distant by the near, and once more he
startled

is

bewitched by the play of colours, by the songs of the

birds,

and by the numerous other elements

a scene

of

which such

composed.

is

The discussion of Schubert as a composer of

programme music may be fitly concluded with a remark
made by Schumann in his Heidelberg student days
What a diary in which they enter their
(1829)
momentary feelings is to others, the music paper to
which he confided all his humours was to Schubert.
His out-and-out musical soul wrote notes where others
employ words.'
:

'

LOUIS SPOHE
less

(1784-1859) cannot be omitted from

programme music, although he is of much

importance than Weber and Schubert.
An

the history of

Period.]

149

Spohr.

presents itself as to where to place

he outlived not only these two composers and
Beethoven, but also Mendelssohn, Schumann, and
initial

him

difficulty

for

The

Chopin.

three works that concern us especially

are Die Weihe der Tone (The Consecration of Sound),

wnd Gottliches im Menschenleben (The Earthly

and the Divine in human life), and Die Jahreszeiten
(The Seasons), composed respectively in 1832, 1841,
and 1850.
After a first reading of the poem which furnished the

Irdisches

subject, or rather subjects, of the earliest of these three

works, Spohr thought of treating

afterwards
itself to

October

came
1832

as a cantata, but

'

it

did not lend

The composer himself wrote on

such treatment.
9,

it

to the conclusion that

Eecently I finished another great

instrumental composition

a fourth symphony, which in

form deviates greatly from the preceding ones. It is a

tone-picture after a poem by Karl Pfeiffer, Die Weihe der
Tone, which must be printed and distributed or recited

aloud before the performance.

In the

first

division

it

was

my task to form out of the sounds of Nature a harmonious

whole.

This and the entire work was a

difficult,

but

highly attractive task.'

The opening

of the

poem

runs, in bald English prose,

and without improvement of the sense, as follows

The

earth was lying solitary in the flowery splendour of

spring.

Amidst the

silent

forms

man walked

following only wild instinct, not the gentle

in darkness,

promptings of

the heart. Love had no tones. Nature no speech.

Eternal

Goodness determined to manifest itself, and breathed

into the human breast sound, and caused love to find a
language that penetrated blissfully to the heart.'

After

alluding to various sounds in Nature, the poet dwells

The Three Early Bomemticists.

150

on the employment

feelingly

[Fifth

music on

of

different

occasions.

Spohr

the contents

forth

sets

Symphony

his

of

thus:

FiEST Division.

Largo

The unbroken

of

silence

Nature before the

generation of sound.
Allegro

Subsequent active

Sounds

life.

of Nature.

Uproar of the Elements.

Second Division.
Dance.

Cradle Song.

Serenade.

Thied Division.
Martial Music.
of those

The

feelings

Return of the

victors.

Departure for the

remaining behind.

battle.

Thanksgiving.

Fourth
Funeral music.
It

may

Division.

Comfort in tears.

not be superfluous to point out that although

previous to 1832 Berlioz had composed and brought to

a hearing in Paris his overtures Waverley and FrcmcsJuges, the Huit Scenes de Faust,

the

and the

Symphonie fantastique, there

likelihood that

young

their tendencies.

his

and very little

had been attracted to.

Fetis's concert accounts in the

languid people's interest

justifies

version of

compositions,
attention

musicale might have done so

debutants.

first

not the slightest

Spohr knew at that time any of the

Frenchman's

likelihood that

is

Moreover,

but everybody knows how

is in

the

Revue

the doings of nameless

internal

evidence

alone

us in saying that Spohr as a composer of

programme music was neither then nor subsequently

influenced by Berlioz. Both the programmes and the form

Pbeiod.]

show

this.

by me,

151

Spahr.

Spohr, in the passage from a letter quoted"

states that the

form of his fourth Symphony

deviates from that of the preceding ones.

That

is true.

But, in spite of deviations from the usual structure of

symphony movements, the form

has not one but a
there

is

no connection.

being

its

series of

is classical.

Objections to

it

on account

programme music ought, however,

confined to the

first division

for, after all,

first division,

the objection

made

to the

the composer depicts silence by sound.

depicts

is

numbness

of

be

to

the other

As

divisions are simply characteristic pieces.

What he

The work

programmes, between which

Largo

to the
is

that

A poor objection.

and

Moreover, Felieien David has depicted

desolateness.
silence

very

And has not Haydn depicted

by sound.
chaos by harmony ? The objection made to the Allegro
is, that the composer indulges in material tone-painting
in the warbling and twittering of birds, the murmuring
of brooks, and the rustling of trees (second subject), and
effectively

in the uproar of the elements (the middle section that

occupies the place of the development).

This

met by the statement that the imitation

and the whole treatment artistic.

is

If

Spohr

fails

may

be

idealized,

to fully satisfy us as a composer of

programme music in this his best work of the kind, and

fails still more in the others, it is not because of the
defects of the genre, but because of the character

narrowness of his individuality.

elegiac

nature, whose

and

His was an out-and-out

element was a transcendental

sentimentality of feminine tenderness and aristocratic

His musical style matched his nature,

and harmonious, and hence also
The successful composer of
excessively chromatic.
exquisiteness.

being

smooth

The Three Early Romanticists.

162

[Fifth

programme music requires a wider emotional range,

and a more virile and less monotonous style. In short,
he requires a greater adaptability than Spohr could
boast

The

of.

desire

to

out of his natural and

get

may

habitual sphere of feeling

be at least one of the

causes of his having recourse to programmes and opera

libretti.

My

remarks on the other -works need not be long.

Spohr's The Ea/rthly amd the Divine in Human Life is a

symphony for two orchestras
a small orchestra of
:

eleven solo string instruments represents the divine,

and a

the

first

divine.

Hauptmann -who

depicts childhood

the second,

never could resist the temptation of

uttering a malice at his dear master's cost

composition that

and the third the final victory

beautiful and novel idea
Moritz

the time of the passions

of the

There are

orchestra Represents the earthly.

full

three divisions

its

said of this

contents were interesting harmonic

Of course, the remark was more pungent

The symphony which Spohr entitled The
Seasons falls into two divisions the first depicts Winter,
transition to Spring, and Spring
and the second.
Summer, transition to Autumn, and Autumn. To these
progressions.

than just.

works

may yet

be added his overtures, notably that to

the opera Faust, to which

lines of

Goethe

" The

are prefixed the following

God

that in

Can deeply

stir

The God, above

my breast

is

owned

the inner sources

my powers

He

cannot change eternal forces.

So,

by the burden

Death

is desired,

of

enthroned,

my days

oppressed.

and Life a thing unblest "

!

Period.]

153

Spohr.

Nor should the eighth Concerto,

in the form of a vocal

On

scena, be passed over in silence.

the other hand,

the Historical Symphony, No. 6, Op. 116, which consists

and the Concertino Sonst

und Jetzt (Past and Present), Op. 110, do not come
within the scope of the present inquiry. But I must
still mention the Fantasia on Eaupach's Die Tochter
of imitations of different styles,

der Luft, in the form of a concert overture. Op. 99

(used as the

first

movement

minor. Op. 102)

the

Duo

in his fifth

Symphony,

in

concertcmte for pianoforte

and violin. Op. 96, entitled Echoes of a Journey to

Travel
Dresden and Saxon Switzerland
(also called
Sonata ') and the Duettinos for pianoforte and violin,
(Songs without
Op. 127,
Elegiac and Humorous
'

'

'

'

Words).

'

[Pir*H

CHAPTER
FIFTH PERIOD CONTINUED

III.

A MISCELLANY OP COMPOSBES

BORN BEFORE THE END OF THE 18tH CENTURY

BOIELDIEU,

KALKBEENNER, MOSOHELES,

LOWE, AND

AUBER,

ROSSINI,

MEYERBEER.
Before proceeding to the generation

composers

of

that arose about the year 1810, I must set

down a

few notes regarding some more of the earlier masters.

BOIELDIEU

(1775-1834), in the overture to

Chaperon rouge (1818), endeavours to

story of that opera, and places the

the

music phrase

mention

is

by phrase.

AUBEE

due to

and gestures in La Muette de

a

programme under
more honourable

dumb

Fenella's thoughts

Portici, in

England

remark

namely,

seemed

EOSSINI

to

him

be

real

am

that the

music-pictures.

but especially for storms.

must remember that

di Siviglia.

to

(1792-1868) had a liking for

tone-painting,

called

by Wagner, who was an

enthusiastic admirer of the opera

music

petit

In mentioning this detail I

Masaniello (1828).
of

Le

part of the

(1782-1871) for the clever

orchestral interpretation of the

reminded

tell

all

sorts

of

Everybody

in the third act of II Ba/rUere

In Guillaume Tell there are two, one in the

fourth act (Tempesta), and a finer one in the overture.

OEOEGE ONSLOW
descent

(1784-1852),

on his

a Frenchman of

side, famous as a
composer of chamber music, depicts in his fifteenth

British

father's

Quintet the pain, the irregular beating of the pulse.

Herz.

Pebiod,]

and

the

Kalkbrenner
gratitude

an accident

on recovery,

at a wolf hunt,

165

by him

felt

when a

after

spent ball hit

him

in the face.

Among

the compositions of the illustrious pianist

FEEDEEIC W. M. KALKBEENNEE
meet with the following promising
Marin, Pengee fugitive;

Le

(1788-1849) we

titles

Beve,

La

ferrnne

du

Grande Fantaisie,

Op. 113; Le Fou, Scene dramatique, Op. 136; L'Ange

dechu, Grande Fantaisie, Op. 144; and La Brigamtine
ou Le
of

Le

Voyage sur Mer, Op. 103.*

resembles

Foil

The programme
somewhat that of Berlioz's

Symphonie famtastique.
pianist deceived in his

He

It
first

runs

thus

affections

'

young

becomes mad.

expresses on his pianoforte the various sensations he

Mendelssohn, who heard the second of the

experiences.'

above works at a concert of the Paris Conservatoire in

Kalkbrenner played at the end of the

part his Beve : that is, a new pianoforte concerto,

1832, writes
first

in

which

'

he has

gone

over

to

romanticism.

He

previously explains that he begins with vague dreams,

that after that comes despair, then a declaration of
love,

adds

and in conclusion a military march.'t Mendelssohn

' Scarcely had HENEI HEEZ
heard this when

he likewise quickly composed a romantic pianoforte

piece,

and likewise prefixed an explanation to it there is first

a dialogue between a shepherd and a shepherdess, then
;

a thunderstorm
lastly,
it

is

next a prayer with evening

a military march.
really

so.'

You

bells,

will not believe

The piece alluded

to

is

it,

and,

but

no doubt

* Did Lamartine's poem La Chute d'un ange inspire or suggest

Kalkbrenner's L'Ange dechu ?
t The curious who wish to study the first four of the above-mentioned
productions can easily procure them at a small outlay. (Ealkbrenner-

Albom :

LitolfE Edition.)

156

La

Miscellany of Composen.

[Fifth

CZEENT

Fete pastorale, Grande Fantaisie, Op. 65.

(1791-1857), the most prolific and least

composers, wrote not only a piece

inspired of

illustrative

of

and a contemplation of the ruins of a

conflagration, but also four Famtaisies a quatre mains,
inspires des romans de Walter Scott.
conflagration,

Enough of this pseudo-romanticism and pseudo-programme music. The more musical ION AZ M0SCHELE8
(1794-1870)

at

and temptations

least

more musical

after the vanities

of his early virtuoso period

produced,

besides a Sonate caracteristique, a Sonate melancholique, a

Concert fantastique, a Concert patMtique, and a Concert

pastorale,

La

and three

Allegri

Leggerezza, and II

distinctly

di

bravura

{La Forza,

Capriccio), the following

programmatic compositions

more

an overture

for

Maid of Orleans, a characteristic

same poet's Der Tanz, two fantasias after

orchestra to Schiller's
piece after the

Die Envdrtung and Sehnsucht, likewise by

the twelve' Characteristic

Studies,

about

characteristic

1836-1837),

truly

Schiller,

and

Op. 95 (composed
compositions

respectively called Anger, Eeconciliation, Contradiction,

Juno, Fairy Tale for Children, Bacchanal, Tenderness,

Popular Festival Scenes, Moonlight on the Seashore,
Terpsichore, Dream, and Fear

two studies,
Op. 98 (L'Ambition and L'Enjouement), and the four
studies. Op. Ill (Reverie et Allegresse, Le Ca/rUlon,
Tendresse

et

Exaltation,

connection should
*

The

also, the

and La Fougue).*

In this

be read a passage from a

letter

Studies Op. 70 ought to be mentioned, although they are to a

more teehnical than those enumerated above ; for not only

larger extent

does the composer call

and say that

it

them

'

twenty-four characteristic compositions,'

was not so much his intention

'
to cultivate mechanical
perfection as to address himself to the imagination of the performer,'
but he also proposes to himself in the last study a Conflict of Daemons.'
'

Period.]

Moscheles

Lowe.

by Moscheles in 1859

written

studying in Paris

'

157

to his daughter, then

In your attempts at composition

I advise you to express always a definite feeling, grave

or gay, contented or anxious, &c.
in little pieces, you

may

If

you then succeed

venture on larger ones, in

which the feelings as it were dramatically change.

Always think of a scene from actual life, and disdain
mechanical means for the mere purpose of producing

Here we have, no doubt, a

effect.'

revelation of the

own practice.
A more interesting phenomenon in the history of
programme music than any of those mentioned after
master's

Spohr

is

though

little

J.

LOWE

K. G.

(1796-1869)

regarded in this respect.

interesting,

As Schubert, the

greatest song composer, proves himself in his songs a

great composer of

programme music,

Lowe,

so does

Without

the greatest ballad composer, in his ballads.

pointing out examples in this branch of composition,

I

shall

proceed

to

his

only remarking by the

Lowe shows a

purely instrumental

way

works,

that even in his oratorios

predilection for the picturesque.

His

instrumental compositions consist of works with and

without programmes, but

successful.

Schumann

the

former are the more

asserted that in Lowe's com-

programmes one suspects something

behind the music, and wishes to discover it. In fact, it
is clear that Lowe was one of those composers who
require an impulse from without if they are to do their
The tasks Lowe set
best, or indeed anything at all.
positions without

himself are so interesting that I

will

not complain of

my

am

sure the reader

quoting some of the

and adding here and there a few words

elucidation.

of

titles,

further

158

MisceUcmy of Compogers.

[Fifth

Abendfantasie (Evening Fantasia), Op. 11.

Mazeppa, a tone-poem after Byron, Op. 27. One

movement, Allegro feroce, 6-8 time. A' postscript gives
the detailed programme: The Eide of Mazeppa hound
'

hy an outraged husband to a wild horse their aimless

course, under a burning sun, over fields and heaths and
through woods, then across a broad

river, and, thus

now followed by packs

hungry wolves, and meeting other wild horses, which
the strange sight puts to flight the breakdown of the
refreshed, again through woods,
of

horse, vultures circling in the air ready to swoop on

their prey,
fingers

Mazeppa trying

at

them by moving
by men who untie

to scare

deliverance

last,

his
his

fetters.

Der

Ba/rmherzige Brvder (The Brother of Charity), a

tone-poem, Op. 28.

Der Fruhling

(Spring), a tone-poem in sonata form,

In addition

Op. 47, called Pastoral Sonata.

to the

main title, there are superscriptions of the several

movements and other indications. (1) Der erwachende
Morgen (Dawning Day). Under the first bars of the
slow Introduction are printed the

two stanzas

first

Uhland's Morning Song (frbm the WanderUeder)

yet the sun's light

is

quiet the wide expanse of the

in

At the beginning

How

their

wood

The

birds are

yet

singing.'

dreams, not

of the Allegro

we read

Morgenfeier

(Morning Celebration), and in the course of

the words

con espressione religioso^

commodesza.

of

As

hardly perceptible, the morning

beUs in the dark valley have not yet sounded.

only twittering

'

it

occur

(2) Allegretto

Naturleben (Life in Nature).

con

Grand Jow

Gang zu Lamdlichen

(Broad Daylight).

(3) Scherzo.

Grvppen (Walk to

Eustic Groups).

Vie

Champetre.

Peeiod.]

Lowe.

One part
Village,'

of the

another

movement
'

Prom

is

159

superscribed

the Town.'

'Prom the

(4) Allegro assai.

Tagesneigen (Waning Day).

Alpefifantasie (Alpine Fantasia), Op. 53.

B&)lishe Bilder

are

They
Emmaus, and Martha and
Op. 96.

(Biblical Pictures),

Bethesda, The Walk to

Mary.
Zigewner Senate (Gipsy Sonata), Op. 107.

movements

of this

scriptions

(1)

Men,'

and

'

'

Corps de

Women

Egg Dance

five

work bear the following super-

Waldscene (Scene in the Wood);

Indisches Ma/rchen (Indian Tale)

comprising

The

Ballet,'

dancing

'

(2)

(3) Tanz (Dance),

;
Torch Dance of the

Wood

round the

of the Children

'

(4)

Wreath,'

Abend-Cultus

(Evening Worship), with the additional information,

'
They await the rising of the moon, which they adore
as the reflection of the Indian Temple of the Sun.'

AujhruchamMorgen (Departure

(5)

in the Morning).

Vier Fantmien (Pour Pantasias), Op. 137, respectively

The Emigrant's Parewell to the Fatherland,

The Emigrant's Sea Voyage, The Prairie, and The
Emigrant's new Home.
To the above compositions for pianoforte alone has to
entitled:

be added the Schottische Bilder (Scottish Pictures),

Op. 112, for pianoforte and clarinet.

It is almost incomprehensible how a composer who
distinguished himself so greatly in one branch of the

below that level as Lowe did in his

instrumental music ; and it is quite incomprehensible
how a trained and poetically gifted musician could
art,

could

fall so far

publish compositions

so

iusipid

so lacking in imaginative power,

and

even childish,

and even in mere

inventiveness as most of those I have enumerated.

In

160

the Evening and the Alpine Fantasia

worst

they are

[Fifth

Miscellany of Composers.

the

without

programmatic

interest.

master

much

Lowe

slightest

In the

is at

his

musical and

Four Fantasias

the

better,

although more ambitious.

The Brother of Charity has

at least a modest, mildly

is

not

pleasing air about

gramme

In the Spring Sonata the pro-

it.

interests, but the execution disappoints.

What

a distance from this Pastoral Sonata to Beethoven's

Symphony

Pastoral

closer grip with the

compositions

Mazeppa shows the composer in

programme than in any other of his
!

and on that account

it

deserves attention,

notwithstanding the slightness of the musical outcome.

comparison with Liszt's Study (No. 4 of the Etudes

and Symphonic Poem

d'ex&cution transcendante)

same name would not turn out

older composer.

Lowe

is

to the advantage of the

at his best, musically and

programmatically, in the Gipsy Sonata.

saying that he

is

of the

However,

in

musically at his best, I do not mean

that he is as good as in his ballads, or that, by this

sonata, he has added a masterpiece to the treasury of

the art, but only that he

is at

his best in the matter of

instrumental music.

To

works

is

meritorious as to produce new

ones.

It is

almost

as

resuscitate unjustly forgotten

impossible to perform that pleasing task

Lowe's

in

the

If,

however, one of them deserves resuscitation

case

of

instrumental

compositions.
it

is

the Gipsy Sonata.

If the reader considers not only the

year of birth, but

also the year of death of the composers mentioned in

this chapter, and, further, the nature of the music they

may wonder whether some might not have

more appropriately placed in a later chapter.

produced, he

been

Ealkbrenner would not have written his Le Fou without

Pbeiod.J

161

Meyerbeer.

Berlioz's previously written Episode de la vie d'un artiste

But

(Symphonie fantastique).

an assumed dress, the

an earlier generation.

man
In

his

modernity was merely

himself really belonged to

the

long-lived mouldable

Moscheles we have a different case.

in

an

much

He,

too, is rooted

earlier generation, but able actually to assimilate

of

the

the

of

spirit

new

age, the

spirit

of

Mendelssohn and Schumann, and in part that of other

contemporary masters.

Yet another case

is

presented

by the composer I shall now introduce, one whose place

here

is solely

determined by his nativity.

GIACOMO MEYEEBEEE

began his

(1791-1864)

career as a

German composer with

continued

as an Italian composer with considerable

it

scanty success,

and completed it as a cosmopolitan composer

with a phenomenally brilliant success. The light of
this new sun burst upon the world in 1831, when at
Paris his Robert le Diable was produced. Les Huguenots
followed in 1836, Le Prqphete in 1849, L'Etoile du Nord
success,

in 1854 (a new version of Des Feldlager in Schlesien,

produced at Berlin in 1844), Le Pardon de Ploermel

(Dinorah) in 1859, and L'Africaine in 1865,

Schumann

and Wagner lavished upon him abuse and contempt,

and the later generations of musicians subserviently and
unthinkingly echoed these. But the judgment, which
the opinion of the

needs

revision.

Meyerbeer
unblended,

was an
a

drawback, and
for effect at

It

public has
is

of

eclectic,

kaleidoscopic

ignored or annulled,

course

and

undeniable

that

eclecticism.

his

was
But

that

an
this

also that other drawback, his eagerness

any

price, while destructive of the highest

unity and chasteness of style, did not

nullify his many and great virtues, nor justify his

artistic quality,

162

Miscellany of Composers.

excommunication from the realm of

[Fifth
Meyerbeer,

art.

though not an exclusive individual personality and

artist of immaculately. pure ideals, was a musician

an

of genius, possessed of a complete

resources

of

the

all

the art^ of a wonderful inventiveness;

.

and of a power
lightest

mastery of

gaiety

of

the

to

most

from

extending

expression

the^

and powerful

sublime

pathos, and ranging through the whole scale of the

characteristic

In short, he has

and the picturesque.

to be numbered with Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin,

Berlioz,

Wagner, and

Liszt, that

is,

as one of the

masters who were the chief shapers of music from

the fourth decade of the 18th century onward.

His

contributions to the development of the. art have not

They are

yet been sufficiently acknowledged.

not confined to the department of

certainly

instrumentation,

where, of course, there are innumerable records of the

miracles performed by him.

Meyerbeer's

operas

is

The programme music

too voluminous

enumeration and too obvious to require

it.

to admit

The

of
of

inquirer

has only to dive into the master's scores, and wherever

he looks he

discover examples of all sorts and

will

conditions of expressing and picturing the inward and

To

outward.

indicate a few places

in Robert

le

Diable,

the sweetness of peaceful nature contrasted with the

terrors of the din of hell, the resurrection of

midnight

cloisters

nuns in the

in Les Huguenots, the severity and

rudeness of the martial Calvinist Marcel, popular

in amity and strife, the plotting

and fanaticism

life

of the

conspirators, the passionate dialogue of the lovers whilst

the tocsin

is

booming, the sombre solitary marriage

service amidst the horrors of St.

the bloodthirsty cruelty of the

Bartholomew's night,

inhuman murderers,

&c.

Period.]

163

Meyerbeer.

It is worth,

noting that Meyerbeer's early Italian opera

II Crociato in Egitto (The Crusader in

what the composer

dumb- show on the

calls

prison, the prisoners

and begin

a pantomima, that

stage accompanied

music in the orchestra.

sadly,

Egypt) opens with

is,

with

by descriptive

jailor unlocks the doors of a

come

out,

embrace each other

their labours, dragging heavy weights

from the harbour and raising stones for building; the

blows of the masons' hammers and chisels are heard

some sentimental incidents enacted. But Meyerbeer

has given us also an example of programmatic orchestral
music apart from his operas

namely, his music

to his

brother Michael Beer's ti&gedy Struensee (1844), which,

though

it

is

judges agree

the least
iu)

known

pronouncing the

of his works, excellent

finest.

[Fifth

CHAPTEE
FIFTH PERIOD CONTINUED

Like

IV.
:

MENDELSSOHN.

MENDELSSOHN

BeethoTen,

(1809-1847)

cannot but be regarded by the opponents of programme

music as an extremely inconvenient

fact.

Both

are

and producers of unexceptionable

what is supposed to be such), and

yet have

not recoiled from touching the unclean thing.

Indeed,

classicists

music

(or

absolute

by what they have done these great masters have

conclusively testified to the legitimacy of programme
music. Mendelssohn is even a more inconvenient fact
than Beethoven.

For we have of him not only many

programme music, but we have

pieces of acknowledged
also

authoritative information about unacknowledged

programmes, and various utterances by himself defining

With regard

clearly his attitude towards the question.

to the last point,

disliked

it

should be noted that, although he

and shunned

sesthetical

discussions, he had

knew how to
had come to.
But what were these utterances ? First of all we have
his remark that since Beethoven had taken the step he
took in the Pastoral Symphony, it was impossible for
composers to keep clear of programme music. Then we
have his reply to the question of a correspondent who
wanted to know what some of the Songs without Words
meant. The composer declined to give the desired
information; and he did so, not because of the
considered the problems of his art, and

express on occasion the conclusions he

indefiniteness of music, but because of the indefiniteness

On

Pebiod. j

'A

of words.

the Expressiveness of Music.

166

piece of music that I love expresses to

me,' he writes on October 15, 1842, to Marc Andr6

Souchay, 'thoughts not too indefinite to be put into

words, but too definite.

Hence

I find in all attempts to

express these thoughts something true, but at the same

time something insufBcient ; and this

regard to yours also. This, however,

is

my feeling

with

is not your fault,

but the fault of the words, which cannot do better.

If you ask me what were my thoughts when composing

the Songs without Words, I say, " Just the songs as they

And though

stand."

my mind

in

one or the other I had in

a definite word or definite words, yet I do

communicate them to anyone, because

words have not the same meaning for one as they have
for another, since only the song can say the same thing
to one that it says to another, and awaken the same
feeling in one as in another,
a feeling, however, which
cannot be expressed by the same words. Eesignation,
not

liie

to

melancholy, praise of God, the hunt,

these

words do

not call up the same thoughts in everybody; to one

resignation is what melancholy
third

is

is

to another;

unable to form a vivid idea of either.

him who

and a
Nay,

by nature a keen hunter, the hunt and

the praise of God might come pretty much to the same
thing, and for him the sound of horns would really
and truly be also the right praise of God. We should
hear in it nothing but the hunt, and however much
to

is

we disputed the matter with him, we should never

The word remains ambiguous, and yet we

get further.

should both of us understand the music aright.'

Mendelssohn

expresses

passing conceit,
letter

addressed

here a

settled

may be gathered from a

to Madame von Pereira

belief,

That
not a

passage in a
(July, 1831).

166

[Fifth

Mendelssohn.

She had asked him to set to music Zedlitz's ballad

Die ndehtliche Heerschau, and he excuses himself for
failing to do so.
I am inclined to take music very
'

seriously,

and do not consider

permissible to compose

it

anything I do not thoroughly

It would be like
feel.
For have not notes as distinct a meaning as
-perhaps even a still more distinct meaning ? Well,

telling a lie.

words

seems to

it

me

impossible to compose a descriptive

The discussion

poem.'

of the position of

music with

regard to narrative poetry generally and to the poem in

question particularly

musician, but

it

was made on account

Further light

is

extremely interesting for the

must not detain us now.

The

quotation

of the italicized words.

thrown on Mendelssohn as a composer

is

programme music, and on his Songs without Words

programme music, by another letter of his, one
of

June

14,

1830, addressed to his

sister

Fanny.

as
of

(In

may mention that the first of his Songs

Words was composed in 1828.)
To-day I
received your letter of the 5th, and from it I see that
you are still unwell. I should like to be with you, and
passing I
without

'

and talk

see you,

to you.

As

this is impossible, I have

written you a song to let you

mean.

me

know what

wish and

In doing so I thought of you, and this moved

very much.

new

in

am

still

There

is,

I suppose, almost nothing

But you know me, and know what I am. I

may laugh and be glad at
it.
I could tell and wish you something different, but
nothing better. Nothing else shall be in the letter.
That I am yours you know and so may God give what
I hope and pray for.'
And then follows the Song
it.

the same, and so you

without Words that

of

those

was

published.

what he felt,, not one

Mendelssohn sent home Songs

to express

;'

On Programme Mush.

Period.]

167

without Words on other Bimilar occasions, for instance,

one to Fanny on June 26, 1880, the first version of the
eighth published one, in
saying

I felt thus

'

when

flat

minor, Op. 90, No. 2

I received yoiar

half anxious and half cheerful

[his people's]

letter.'

In our present inquiry the following extracts from

Lobe's

Conversations

with

Consonanzen und Dissonamzen

interest

Mendelssohn

(in

p. 360) are of the greatest

Mendelssohn

'

He

overtures ?

'

What has Beethoven done

in

his

has painted the content of his pieces

I have done the same.'

in tone-pictures.

Lobe

Felix

Tou

ascribe,

then, the originality of

the

invention to the definite subject you had in your mind. ?

Mendelssohn

Lobe
Mr. C,

'

'

Certainly.'

According to yonr theory, Mr. A., Mr. B.,

would have written your Midsummer Night's

Dream overture if they had undertakea to paint in tones
&c.,

the content of the piece.'

Mendelssohn

same

'

If

they had undertaken

it

with the

had transported themselves

with the same zeal into the piece, they would all have
produced nobler and more important works than are
seriousness, if they

achievable without this procedure.'

Lobe
your

'

remember very

Midswnvmer

Night's

well

what an excitement

Dream

overture

produced

by its originality and truth of expression, and that

from that moment you rose high in the estimation of
musicians and music lovers.'
Mendelssohn ' I, too, believe that, and this shows
:

that one should trust a

Lobe

'

Luck

little

to luck.'

I should think

such an overture

created not by luck, but by the genius of the

artist.'

is

[Fifth

Mendelssohn.

168

Mendelssohn
call it

'

Of course,

it

But

requires talent.

luck to have been inspired with such a subject, a

was capable

subject that

of furnishing

me

with such

musical ideas and forms as generally appealed to the

larger public.

What

I could

do as a composer,

I could

had not

yet had

do before writing the overture.

my

before

That was an

and the inspiration was a lucky

inspiration,

Lobe does not profess

On

But

imagination such a subject.

one.'

to report the ipsissima verba.

the contrary, he states that he gives merely the

gist of

what was

said,

and

noted down by him

briefly

immediately after the conversations.

In

our

inquiry

Mendelssohn's

we have

take

to

open-eyed

keen,

sympathetic, enthusiastic receptivity.

to

him

He

and

Beauty appealed
and fertilized

found music in scenes of nature

Campagna he heard

sides), in

a joyful

account

in all its forms of manifestation,

his creative power.

(the

into

perceptivity

singing and ringing on

immortal works of

thrill),

art (which seized

him

all

with

even in the capital of a column ; and he

confesses that he owes

most

of his

music not to musical

works, but to ruins, pictures, and the serenity of nature

(November 20, 1830).

The above are not the only utterances of Mendelssohn
that bear on programme music.
Various obiter dicta of
his shall be noticed in the course of our review of some

From what has already been laid before

he may gather that Mendelssohn thought

of his works.

the reader,

music expressive and capable of expressing some things

and more definitely than other media can that

better

he had sometimes programmes in his mind ; that this

seemed to him advantageous to the composer if the

programmes were

of the right sort,

and that he regarded

As a Composer

Period.]

programme music

of Programme Music.

169

as a legitimate kind of music.

It is

noteworthy about Mendelssohn that his most poetic and

original works are

programme music, and were

either

wholly composed or at least planned and partly written

from 1826 to 1833.

am

speaking of the four concert

overtures, the First Walpurgis Night,

The two

the Italian Symphonies.

and most

and the Scotch and

oratorios, the psalms,

composed from 1834

onward, however noble, however estimable, and however
admirable in many ways, have much more of homeliness
and less of imaginative iridescence about them than
of

the other works

the earlier works already indicated.

to

whom

Mendelssohn was

so

Even Wagner,

antipathetic,

could

not resist the charm of some of those earlier works.

In a conversation

with Dannreuther he remarked,

Mendelssohn was a landscape painter of the first
order, and The Hebrides overture is his masterpiece.
Wonderful imagination and delicate feeling are here
'

presented with consummate

art.

Note the extraordinary

beauty of the passage where the oboes rise above the

other instruments with a plaintive wail like sea winds

Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage also is

beautiful but I am fond of the first movement of the
Scotch Symphony
As regards the overture
to A Midsummer Night's Dream, it must be taken
over the sea.
;

into account that he wrote

how

finished the form

instrumental composition
Night's

Dream

dream, his

overture

first

and his most

it

is

it

at seventeen.

And

yet

Mendelssohn's most original

'

undoubtedly the Midsummer

is

it

and highest

was

his

flight as

most beautiful

Schumann

calls

original vocal-instrumental composition

the First Walpwrgis Night.

the other hand, must

The Hebrides

overture, on

be declared the most perfect of

170

'

[Fifth

Mendelssohn.

we take into account all the qualities;

and the degrees of all the qualities that go to the
making of a great work th poetic, formal, and
his compositions, if

And now

technical.

let

us examine the compositions

already mentioned, and one or two more.

The

first

piece

of

programme music

information has come down to us

is

To his

string octet, Op. 20, of 1825.

mind the

first

it

he had in

the Walpmrgis Night

last four lines of

Dream, or Oberon and

which

Fanny alone,

sister

Mendelssohn confided that in composing

his

of

the Scherzo of the

Titania's Golden Weddmgr, in the

part of Goethe's jFawst;

'

Cloud and trailing mist o'erhead

Are now illuminated

Air in leaves, and wind in reed,

And
Fanny

writes

all is dissipated.'
'

Everything

so pleasing, so friendly.

is

One

new, strange, and yet

feels oneself so

spirit world, so lightly lifted into the air.

near the

One would

even to take a broom-stick oneself, to follow the

like

airy company.

upward as
into thin

At the end, the

lightly as a feather

violin

first

and

all

flutters

has vanished

air.'

The next piece of programme music is A Midsummer

Dream overture of 1826. But not to interrupt

Night's

my

account of the most important compositions, I shall

first

take

up the

string Quartet in

minor, Op. 13, and

the Trois Caprices for pianoforte. Op. 16.

The former

mention in passing, merely pointing out

that the composer prefixes to it his song, 1st es wahr ?

work

I shall

'

which forms the emotional as well as the musical motive

What I feel she alone comprehends
of the composition
who feels it with me, and who remains true to me for ever
'

As a Composer of Programme Music.

Period.]

and

The Trois

for ever.'

171

Caprices, dedicated severally

composed in 1829, when

he was staying at their father's house at Coed-du, near
to the three Misses Taylor, were

Holywell, North Wales.

Taylor), to

whom

No.fl

is

The

Anne

eldest sister (Miss

dedicated, relates {vide Grove's

Dietionam^) that Mendelssohn entered deeply into the

beauty

the

of

hills

'His way of

and the woods.

them was not with the

representing

pencil

but in the

evenings his improvised music would show what he had

observed or

felt

in the past day.

Rivvlet [No. 3 of Op. 16]

for

my

sister Susan, will

The

piece called 2'he

which he wrote

show what

recollection of a real actual rivulet.

at that time

mean

We

it

natural objects seemed to suggest music to him.

was in my

sister

[Eccremocarpusl

was a

observed

how

There

Honora's garden a pretty creeping plant

,

new

trumpet-like flowers.

at that time, covered with

He was

struck with

it,

little

and played
might play

music which (he said) the fairies

on these trumpets. When he wrote out the piece (called
a Capriccio in E minor [Scherzo No. 2 of Op. 16] ) he
drew a branch of that flower all up the margin of the
paper. The piece (an Andante and Allegro [No. 1 of
Op. 16]) which Mr. Mendelssohn wrote for me, was
suggested by the sight of a bunch of carnations and

for her the

The carnations that year were very fine with us.

them best of all the flowers, would have one

roses.

He

liked

often in his button-hole.

We

found he intended the

arpeggio passages in that composition as a reminder of

the sweet scent of the flower rising up.'

It

is

fortunate for the writer of these lines that

Mendelssohn

wrote

letter

which

confirms

statements, otherwise they would have met with

scepticism.

The

letter in question

of

her

much

September 10,

1829

[Fifth

Mendelssohn.

172

contains the following passage

them

When

was

that I

'

have to thank

for three of

[the three Misses Taylor]

pianoforte pieces.

my

best

the two younger sisters saw

and the rose

in earnest about the carnations

him by the eldest] and began to compose (of

course in Susan's summer house), the youngest came up
with yellow, open little bells in her hair, assuring me
[given

they were trumpets, and asking

me

whether I would

them into the orchestra, as I had mentioned

and when in the evening
I required new instruments
we danced to the miners' music and the trumpets were
introduce

rather shrill, she gave

it

as her opinion that her trumpets

so I wrote a dance for her

which the yellow trumpet-bells supplied the music.
And to the other sister I gave The Rivulet, which had

would do better to dance to

in

pleased us so

much

and sat down by

during our ride that we dismounted

it

think I wrote to you about

(I

This last piece, I believe,

as yet done
little

it

is

is

so slowly flowing

and

quiet, while a

tediously simple, that I have played

it

every day, and have got quite sentimental over

And now
'

it).

the best of the kind I have

to myself
it.'

to the great masterpieces.

To-day or to-morrow,' wrote Mendelssohn on July

7,

dream the Midsummer Night's

Dream
and by August 6 of the same year the young
man of seventeen had dreamt the dream, and in dreaming
it had performed a miracle.
What constitutes the chief
1826, 'I shall begin to
'

originality of the overture is the musical creation of the

moonlit

fairy world

beautiful population.

with

its

nimble,

delicate,

and

Before our mind's eye are called

up Oberon and Titania as they meet in grove or green

by fountain clear or spangled starlight sheen
the
elves, who, when their king and queen quarrel, creep
'

'

Period.]

Midsummer

Night's Dream.

173

into acorn

cups; their coats, made of the leathern

wings of rere-mice; Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and

Mustardseed;
Goodfellow,

the knavish sprite Puck, alias Eobin

who

delights in playing

merry pranks

the scene following Oberon and Titania's

and

command

to

their subjects

Obbeon.

'

Through the house give glimmering

By the dead and drowsy fire
Every elf and fairy sprite
Hop as light as bird from brier
And this ditty, after me,
Sing, and dance it trippingly.'

light,

TiTANiA.

'

your song by rote,

To each word a warbling note

First, rehearse

Hand

in hand, with fairy grace,

Will we sing, and bless this place.'

But there are other things

There are

in the overture than fairies.

Duke Theseus and

Hippolyta, and their train

his

betrothed,

Queen

the two pairs of lovers

Lysander and Hermia, Demetrius and Helena ; and those

hempen homespuns, the Athenian tradesmen Quince,

and Starveling.
In
short, Mendelssohn comprehended Shakespeare's fancy,
romance, and humour so well, and made them so
thoroughly his own, that he could give a faithful musical
Bottom,

Snug,

reflection of

Snout,

Flute,

them.

But

let

us see where the different

dramatis personce are to be found in the overture.

The sustained chords of the wind instruments are the

magic formula that opens to us the realm of fairyland.
The busy tripping part
fairies

of the first subject tells us of the

the broader and dignified part of

and his following

the passionate

first

Duke Theseus

part of the second

174

[Fifth

Mendelssohn.

subject,

of

the romantic

lovers;

and the clownish

second part, of the tradesmen, the bra3dng reminding us

of Bottom's transformation into

ment

is full of

the elves.
full of

fun

an

The

ass.

develop-

the vivacious bustle and play and fun of

The beginning of the recapitulation too is

and the pianissimo passage towards the end,

with the opening motive of the Theseus music,

signifies

the elves' blessing on the house of the Duke.

In

we have once more the magic formula, which

now dissolves the dream it had before conjured up.
And how do we know that these were really Mendelsconclusion

sohn's ideas ?

First,

because he expressed them so

and unmistakably; and secondly, because he

clearly

wrote in 1843 a commentary on the overture

There we

his other music to the play.

^namely, in
find all the

motives of the overture connected with Shakespeare's

words, characters, and scenes, with one exception, the
lovers'

theme, which appears only in the overture.

But

the entr'actes and incidental music contain also pro^am-

matic matter not in the composer's original dream. Not

to speak of the uniquely festive

Wedding March and

the

mock-pathetic Fimeral March, there are pieces and

;
a charming Intermezzo,
and loses herself in the wood,'
mockimg echoes and impression of breathless
and the lovely Nottumo the lovers, to whose

snatches of airy fairy music

'

Hermia seeks

with

its

anxiety

Lysandfer,

cross purposes fatigue has put

an end,

lie asleep,

the

wood is wrapt in silence, through the foliage and down

on the clearings the moon and stars of a cloudless

midsummer

night's sky send their pale, peaceful rays.

would be delightful to dwell longer on these lovely

conceptions, but we must tear ourselves away and turn
It

to others.

&

The Hebrides.

Period.]

Mendelssohn

the

eonceived

VI

overture

when he

Hebrides, or Fimgal'a Cave*

visited Scotland in

His friend Klingemann, who accompanied him,

1829.

writes in a letter dated Glasgow, August 10

with

The

entitled

its

strange basalt pillars and caverns,

We

picture-books.

'

Staffa,

is in all

were put out in boats, and climbed,

the hissing sea close beside us, over the pillar stumps to

A greener

the celebrated Fingal's Cave.

surely never rushed into a stranger cavern

roar of waves

comparable,

on account of the many pillars, to the inside of an

immense organ, black and resounding, lying there
absolutely purposeless in its utter lonelinesB, the wide

grey sea within and without.

We returned in the

Mttle boat to our- steamer, to that unpleasant steam-

smell.

When

the second boat arrived I could see with

and
of a boat, when the hero rescues the heroine from

what truth they represent

falling

at the theatre the rising

some trouble.'
Mendelssohn himself writes from one of the Hebrides
In order to make you
on August 7, 1829, as follows
'

understand how extraordinarily the Hebrides affected me,

the following

came

into

my mind

there.'

Then

follow

ten bars and a-half of The Hebrides overture, here written

as twenty-one bars, the notes being of double the present
length.

Continuing the above

Glasgow on August

11,

1829

letter,
'

he writes from

How much

lies betwixt

The most fearful sickness, Staffa,

scenery, travels, people Klingemann has described it
aU, and you will excuse a short note, the more as what I
can best tell you is contained in the above music'
From London on September 10, 1829, Mendelssohn
The Hebrides story builds
makes the announcement

then and now

* In his letters the

composer

'

calls it also

The Solitary Island.

176

up

itself

Mendelssohn.

[Fifth

And from

Paris he writes on

gradually.'

January 21, 1832

'

cannot bring The Hebrides to a

hearing here because I do not consider

originally wrote

The middle

it.

it

finished as I

section in

major

is

very stupid, and the whole so-called development smells

more of counterpoint than of blubber, gulls, and salted

The first performance of the work took place at
a concert of the London Philharmonic Society on

cod.'

May

14, 1832.

As to the music of The Hebrides, you have only to

abandon yourself to its influences, and the sensations,
thoughts, and feelings that engendered it will rise up
in your imagination you will think of yourself in a

over rocking waves, about you a

ship, gliding along

vast expanse of sea and sky, light breezes blowing,

the romantic stories of the past colouring the sights
seen.

The

first

overture

is

we hear

of Mendelssohn's

concert

contained in a letter of the composer's

Fanny, of June 18, 1828.

'is

third

we read

'Felix,'

sister

there,

writing a great instrumental piece after Goethe's

Meeresstille

vmd

him.

He

Fahrt

gliickliche

Prosperous Voyage).

It will

(Calm

Sea

and

be thoroughly worthy of

wished to avoid an overture and introduction,

and has formed the whole into two pictures standing

side by side.' From this we gather that the original
conception differed from the final version. In fact, in a
letter of

August

6,

1834, he tells a friend that he has

completely re-written the overture and thinks

times better.

Mendelssohn,

of the Baltic in 1824

whom

it

thirty

a stay on the shores

had made acquainted with the

varied phases of the sea, translates into the musical

idiom the contents of Goethe's poem.

He

illustrates

Calm Sea dc.Melusina.

Period.]
first

deathlike

fear-inspiring,

motionlessness of the sea and

Allegro

e vivace)

and

stillness

air,

the

an immense

of

and then

expanse of smooth surface;

177

(in

the Molto

the parting of the mist, the clearing of

the sky, the ship dividing the waves, the approaching

distance,

and the appearance

We now come

of land.

to the fourth of Mendelssohn's concert

To
The reader may be

overtures, that

the

Legend of

the lovely Melusina.

some knowledge of the

be on certain days half

credited with

legend of the fair being fated to

and half woman, and to forsake human society if

and of her husband's broken promise
to leave her alone on those days, and the consequent
catastrophe. Writing from Diisseldorf on October 26,
I think the overture to
1833, Mendelssohn says
which
He
I have made.'
Melusine will be the best
remained in this mind, for the work pleased him when
he heard it at a private rehearsal got up by himself at
Diisseldorf on August 4, 1834; and in a letter of
Many people believe
January 80, 1836, he remarks
fish

seen in that state

'

that Melusine

is

the best of

my

'

overtures

it is

certainly

But what the Musikathe most inward [innerlichste]

lische Zeitung [he meant, no doubt, Schumann's article
.

in the Netie Zeitschrift fur Musikl says about red corals,

green marine animals, magic castles, and deep seas, is

astounding.' About the origin of this overture and the

composer's

intention

we

find

extremely

interesting

information in a letter addressed by the master to his

sister

Fanny on

April

7,

legend you are to read.

1834.

'You ask me which

How many,

then, are there ?

And how many, then, do I know? And

know the story of the beautiful Melusine ?

do you not

And ought

one not to wrap oneself up and hide oneself in

all

[Fifth

Mendelssohn.

178

possible instrumenital music withomt titles,

sister (you

unnatural

sister

even one's

if

does not like the

!)

Or

title ?

have you really never heard of the beautiful fish ?

have written this overture to an opera by Conradin

Kreutzer [Melusine], which I heard last year about
I

The

this time at the Konigstadter Theatre [Berlin].

overture (that of Kreutzer) was encored, and displeased

me

quite particularly

afterwards also the whole opera

but not Hahnel [the prima donna]

was very charming,

on the contrary, she

especially in one scene where she

presents herself as a pike and dresses her hair

then that the desire was excited in

me

pleased

me

was

and

encore, but

I took

what

of the subject (and that is exactly what

coincides with the legend).

into the world,

and that

features of

nature of Meiusina

it
;

In short, the overture came

is its

The overture does not

certain

it

also to compose

an overture, one which people would not

which should have more inwardness

family history.'

tell

a story.

It

illustrates

the loveliness and the loving

the hardness of her fate and the

it.
The waving motion is indicative
and at the same time reminds us of the
element with which she was connected. In the twicerepeated A flat F (accompanied by the chord of the

anxiety caused by
of her grace,

diminished seventh), before the return of

the end, we

may

by her husband.

The

must not leave these

memory.

poetic musical master-pieces

without taking note of a remark

Billow,

major, near

rest is like the vanishing of a

beautiful reality into a beautiful

We

recognise her cries on being discovered

who, in his earlier years

made by Hans von

one

of

the

chief

propagandists of Berlioz and Liszt, wrote in 1884

now

'

revere in Mendelssohn's Overtures to The Hebrides,

'

Period.]

The Scotch and

the Italian

Symphony.

179

and Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, the

more perfect ideal of the " symphonic poem."
The two best symphonies of Mendelssohn, the 3rd,
in A minor, Op. 56, and the 4th, in A major. Op. 90,
do not bear titles but the composer always referred in
Meliisine,

Symphony, and
Symphony. That these

his letters to the former as the Scotch

to the latter as the Italian

epithets do not indicate merely the comitry in which

they were written or begun

regards the

may

be proved, at least as

minor Symphony, by remarks in the

After describing a visit in profound

master's letters.

twilight to Holyrood Palace, where

Queen Mary

lived

and loved, and Eizzio was murdered, and to the adjoining

chapel, roofless, grown over with grass and ivy, at the

broken altar of which Mary was crowned Queen of

Scotland,* he

writes

July 30, 1829

'

in

letter,

All is dilapidated

and the serene heavens shine

into

found there to-day the beginning of

dated

Edinburgh,

and decayed

there,

I believe I

it.

have

my Scotch Symphony.'

Note also two more remarks. The first of them occurs

The
in a letter dated London, September 10, 1829
:

'

Scotch Symphony, as well as the Hebrides story,

gradually being built up

'

dated Eome, March 29,

May 15 is
me for not

and the second, in a

1831:

'From

April

Who

the finest season in Italy.

is

letter

15 to

can blame

being able to transport myself into the Scotch

mist mood,'

Symphony.

i.e.,

that he cannot work at his Scotch

Although far advanced before he

left Italy

work was not finished till

symphony Mendelssohn
Of
the
other
1842.
January 20,
If I go on as I
writes from Naples" on April 27, 1831
in the

summer

of 1831, the

'

Of course, Mendelssohn was mistaken. Queen Mary was not crowned

there.

180

Mendelssohn.

[Fifth

have done, I shall finish the "Italian Symphony" in

That expectation was not realized, but the work

Italy.'

was finished on March

13, 1833, although not published

composer's

the

after

till

death.

then,

Briefly,

Mendelssohn's remarks and especially his music must

convince us that the contents of the symphonies were
intended to be respectively Scotch and Italian, and to

communicate

to the hearers

some

of the impressions

received by the composer from the atmospheres of the

countries, the characters of their landscapes

and

the

scenes

difference

works

is

of

really

most

is

the

former

calls

The

the two
of the

mood
Symphony. The first movement
up Mendelssohn's enthusiastic

as unmistakable as the mist

of the romantic Scotch

of

of

The sunlight mood

striking.

Symphony

Italian

and character

atmosphere

and peoples,

imaginatively seen.

or

on entering the southern country. 'This is

and what I have thought of as the greatest joy
life since I began to think, has now commenced,

delight
Italy
of

my

and

Eome
will
last

do enjoy

it.'

to his sister

On January
Fanny

'

It [the Italian

Symphony]

be the gayest thing I have yet done, especially the

movement.'

He

will not finish the

he has seen Naples, and puts

the

22, 1831, he writes from

slow

generally

movement until
known as the

off

then.

work

before

the composition of

This movement

Pilgrims'

is

March, a name

by the nature of the piece, but not by anything

the composer has said.
The last movement, the
Saltarello, may have been inspired by the Eoman
carnival, which the composer looked forward to eagerly,
and enjoyed immensely.

justified

In Mendelssohn's setting of Goethe's First Walpurgis

Night there

is

a great deal of tone-painting, and of the

Pbeiod.]

First Walpurgis Night.

When

most picturesque kind.

181

the master was occupied

with the composition, he wrote with the greatest glee

and delight of the effect which especially certain portions

of it would produce.
At the beginning there are Spring
'

songs and the like in plenty

make a

when the watchmen

then,

noise with pitch-forks, spears, and owls, there

comes the witches' spook {Hexenspuk), for which, as you

know, I have an especial faihle; then the sacrificing
Druids in C major with trombones; then again the
watchmen, who are afraid, on which occasion I shall
introduce a tripping eerie chorus
sacrificial

and

finally the full

song (Kome, February 22, 1831).

'

In the next

year the composer finished the overture, which, he says,

bad weather,' and the introduction, in

thaws and becomes Spring.' And accordingly

represents

which

we

it

'

find in

'

the score the

{Allegro con fuoco)

part of

first

superscribed

Das

the overture

schlechte

Wetter

(Bad Weather), and the second part {Allegro vivace nan

Der

troppo)

zum

Uehergang

Friihling

warm admirer

(Transition to
of Mendelssohn,

Spring).

Berlioz, not a

was

with the greatest enthusiasm when he heard

filled

the First Walpurgis Night.

effects

cross each other in

'

The vocal instrumental

all senses,

oppose each other,

clash with each other, with an apparent disorder that

the

height

of

art.

shall

is

mention especially as

magnificent things in two genres, the mysterious placing

watchmen, and the final chorus, where the voice of

now and then calmly above the infernal
din of the troop of counterfeit demons and sorcerers.'
Unquestionably the First Walpurgis Night is a most
of the

the priest rises

and powerful example of tone-painting.

Many other works of Mendelssohn's would furnish

brilliant, original,

matter for comment

for instance, the overtures to his

182

[Fifth

Mendelssohn.

vocal works

but the discussion of his most important

instrumental works and the First Walpwrgis Night suf&ces.

A few words
be added.
it is

so

about the

It is

much

Buy

Bias overture may, however,

worth noting why, although

less poetical

full of verve,

than the four concert overtures.

This work was written to a

German

translation of Victor

Hugo's play, which Mendelssohn thought execrable; and

was written in haste, in a few days, to please the Leipzig
musicians

who wished

it

for a

performance in aid of the

orchestral pension fund.

After the foregoing presentation of the facts of the

Whether Mendelssohn was really a

programme music ? cannot be regarded as

case, the question

composer of

an open question; nor can we be in doubt as

reticence in revealing his programmes.

to his

Period.]

CHAPTEE

V.

FIFTH PEEIOD CONTINUED

EOBEKT SCHUMANN

SCHUMANN.

(1810-1856) proves himself in

his musical works, and confesses himself in his critical

writings and letters, a composer of

programme musicr"

The proposition may be

many

startling to

for expres-

quoted to show that he

sions of his are sometimes

disapproved of programmes, and described his

afterthoughts.
true.

and

No

doubt,

Nevertheless the proposition

Schumann

self-contradictory

is

on the

titles as
is

quite

on some occasions vague

subject, but the aggregate

of his statements confirms the above proposition.

The

cause of the occasional vagueness and self-contradictori-

ness

is his

anxiety to protest against a too materialistic

As Schumann's sayings
throw much light on the question, and not only do that,
but also give us a deep insight into his own creative
view and use of programmes.

processes, I shall not apologize to the reader for drawing

largely from the master's criticisms and correspondence.

Indeed I have not the least fear of complaints on that

account, as

Schumann

is

too delightful a writer,

and his

My

method

artistic self-revelation positively unique.

will be to quote chronologically his principal declarations

on programmes and titles from his Collected Writings on

Music and Musicians, interjecting a note of my own here

and there, and adding a particularly interesting passage
from one of his letters and then to illustrate the nature
of his works for the most part by remarks derived from
;

his correspondence.

[Fifth

Schumann.

184

The

first

excerpts are of the year 1835.

In reviewing a sonata of Lowe's,

'

Yet another thing

Schumann

scent in Lowe's

writes

compositions,

namely, that when he has finished, one

wishes to

still

know something more.

Unfortunately it has often
seemed to myself silly when somebody asked me what I
was thinking of in writing my own extravagant outTherefore I do not want an answer.

pourings.

maintain that in Lowe's case there

behind

Still,

something

is

it.'

Spohr's

Consecration

of

Sovmd gives

rise

the

to

'Beethoven very well understood

following reflection:

the risk he ran in writing the Pastoral Symphony.

In

the few words, " expression of the emotions rather than

painting," which he prefixes, there lies a whole system
of aesthetics for composers.'

The longest discussion

of the subject is called forth by

Berlioz's Symphonic fantastique.

After giving the French

programme

Schumann writes:
Germany makes him a

master's
'

So much

for the

present of

it

of that work,

programme.

such sign-posts have always something

unworthy and charlatan-like about them.

At any

rate,

the five superscriptions would have been sufficient ; the

particular

circumstances

which,

personality of the composer,

symphony, must
transmitted by
generation.

on

who has himself

of course interest us
oral

account of the

tradition

lived the

would have been

from

generation

to

In one word, the sensitive German, more

averse to the personal, objects to having his thoughts so

obviously directed.

he

felt

Even

in the

Pastoral

divine the character without his help.

awe

Symphony
him to

offended that Beethoven did not trust

of the

Man

stands in

workshop of genius; he does not wish

to

On Programme

Peeiod.]

185

Music.

"know anything of the causes, tools, and

secrets

of

Nature, too, manifests a certain delicacy in

creation.

covering

Let the

its roots "with earth.

artist therefore

Bhut himself up with his throes of travail

learn terrible things

if

we

could see

down

we should

to the bottom

of the origin of every work.'

Schumann

overlooks that

it

is

a question as to the

intention of the composer, not as to the throes of labour.

The
be

delicacy of the

German

nature,

its

disinclination to

grossly led, the advantage of oral tradition over black

and white, and the shyness

of

humanity with regard

to

the working of genius, are arguments fanciful rather

ihan convincing.

Further on, he says

'
:

If

the eye

is

once directed to a certain point, the ear no longer

judges independently.'

But if the eye

is rightly directed,

there can be no illegitimate interference with the ear's

independence, only interference with the ear's going

wrong.

After this

Schumann

continues

you ask whether music can really do what Berlioz

in his symphony, you should try to substitute
At
other pictures, pictures of a contrary character.
first the programme spoiled also my enjoyment, all free
outlook. But when it retired more and more into the
background, and my own imagination began to create, I
found not only everything, but much more, and almost
'

If

demands

everywhere a

The

We

living,

critic is

tone.'

evidently struggling with a prejudice.

him more

find

warm

enlightened and enlightening in the

following remarks
'

As regards the

difficult question,

how far instrumental

music may go in the representation of thoughts and occurrences,

many

mistaken

if

are far too timid.

People are certainly

they beheve that composers prepare pen

[Fifth

Schumann.

186

and paper with the miserable intention of expressing,

But chance
describing, and painting this and that.
influences and impressions from without should not be

under-estimated.

an idea

is

Along with the musical imagination

unconsciously operative

along with the

ear,

the eye; and this, the ever active organ, in the midst
of the sounds

and tones, then holds

fast certain outlines,

may

which, with the advancing music,

develop into distinct figures

condense and

The more

[Gestalten].

elements akin to music the thoughts and forms [Gebilde]

engendered by the tones bear in them, the more poetic

and plastic the expression of the composition will be;

and the more fantastically and acutely the musician

more the work

conceives, the

Why

should

fantasies be

Why

Beethoven

not
seized

memory

him with a work ?

inspired by the

the

in

by the thought

should not the

inspire

will elevate

of

and move.

midst

of

his

immortality?

of a great fallen hero

Why

should another not be

remembrance of a happy time

Or do we

intend to be ungrateful to Shakespeare for having evoked

from the breast of a young tone-poet a work worthy

him

ungrateful to Nature, and deny that

of her beauty

and sublimity

Alps, the picture of the

music told us nothing of

more

for our

sea,

we borrowed

works ?

Italy, the

a spring twilight

all this ?

of

has

Nay, even to smaller,

special pictures tnusic can give such a charming,

definite character, that

to express such traits.

while composing,

one

is

surprised at her being able

Thus a composer

told

me

that,

the picture of a butterfly, drifting

on a leaf down a brook, incessantly obtruded

This had given the

little

itself.

piece all the delicacy and

naiveness which the picture possesses in reality.

In

this fine genre painting Schubert especially was a master,

On Programme

Period.]

and

187

Music.

cannot omit to mention out of

my own

experience

how, during one of Schubert's marches, the friend with

whom

was playing,

replied to

did not see quite peculiar figures

my
:

question whether he
" Truly, I found myself

more than a hundred years ago, in the

midst of dons and donas, with long-trained dresses,
pointed shoes, and rapiers, &c." Strange to say we were
Let no
at one in our visions, except as to the town.
in Seville, but

reader strike out this trifling example.'

On

Schumann

another occasion

writes

The

'

less

cultured people are inclined to hear in music without

words only sadness or only

joy, or (what lies

between the two) melancholy, but

are

not

midway
able to

distinguish the finer shadiags of passion, as for instance,

in the former, anger, repentance, &c., and in the

ease, comfortableness, &c.
difficult

to understand

latter,

Consequently they find

masters

like

Beethoven

it

so

and

Franz Schubert, who could translate into tone-speech

every state of

We

shall

Studies,

life.'

now proceed

to the year 1838,

when the

Op. 95, of Moscheles suggest the following

reflections

The superscriptions on pieces of music, which in

recent times have again become frequent, have here and
'

there been censured, on the ground that " good music

does not stand in need of such directions."

But

it

as

certainly loses nothing thereby, and by this means the

If
composer most surely obviates misunderstanding.

they endeavour to wrap up the meaning of

a whole poem in a superscription, why should not
musicians ? Such a hint should, however, be given with
poets do

it, if

judgment and taste

and just in

musician will be recognizable.

this the culture of a

Thus we have in the

Schumann.

188

[Fifth

Studies before us twelve characteristic pictures, whose

significance rather gains

be

will

It

by the

convenient

superscriptions.'

here

insert

to

two

more

utterances on titles respectively of the years 1841 and

1839, the former in connection with Songs without Words

by Julius

Schaefifer,

and the

the Etudes de Salon, Op.

6,

connection with

latter in

by Henselt.
too, have superscriptions.

These Songs without Words,

'

We

think

it

would have been better to omit them.

There are hidden states of the soul where a verbal hint

by the composer can lead to a quicker comprehension,
Our composer,
and must be thankfully received.
however, gives known ones for which indications such

"Calm

as

Sea,"

"Do

"Melancholy" seem too

even as
'

dream? No,

am

awake," and

affected; the second

we

regard

insipid.'

One cannot but conceive an affection for the Ave

Here we have an example of how a well-chosen

Maria.

may

superscription

enhance the

of the music.

effect

Without that superscription, the piece would have been

played by most pianists like a study of Cramer's, to one
of

which

it

much

has

resemblance.

In an Ave Maria

even the most prosaic person thinks something, and

makes an

effort.'

Keturning once more to

1838, we

find charming

remarks on Sterndale Bennett's Three Sketches: The

Lake, The Mill-stream, and The Fountain.
'

They seem

to

me

to surpass in delicacy

of presentation all I

know

true

the

composer,

as

and naiveness

of musical genre painting;

tone-poet,

having indeed

observed Nature in some of her most musical scenes.

Or can
would

it

call

be that you have never heard music that

you

across the lake at evening ?

Never the

On Programme

Period.]

Music,

angry, tumultuous music that drives

that the sparks fly?

come

For the most

themselves

part,

one piece

the wheels so

from within outward, or

no consequence and

is of

189

In what way the Sketches have

into existence, whether

the reverse,

do

composers
is

made

difficult to decide.

know

not

that

in one way, another in

Often an outside picture leads further again,

a tone-series calls forth a picture. If only there
remain music and independent melody, do not rack your
another.

often

brains, hut enjoy.'

In 1839, Schumann again dealt with the subject of

programmes a propos Berlioz's Waverley overture. Note

the last two sentences contradicting the preceding
ones

'People will ask, to which chapter, to which scene

[of Scott's novel]

write his music ?

why, and to what purpose did Berlioz

For critics always wish to know what

and often
critics understand hardly the tenth part of what they
discuss.
Heavens, will the time ever come when we
the composers themselves cannot

are no longer asked what

compositions ?

Some

alone.

Hunt

them

tell

we intended by our

for consecutive fifths,

explanation, however,

is

on

and

divine
let

given by the motto on the title-page of the overture

Dreams

of love

and

lady's

us

this occasion
:

charms

Give place to honour and to arms.

This brings us somewhat nearer the track.'
Schubert's

C major Symphony

inspired

1840 with the following enthusiastic words

'That the outside world, as

it

Schumann

in

and

shines to-day

darkens to-morrow, often influences the inner world of

and musician, you may confidently believe and

this symphony there lies hidden more -than mere

the poet
that in

[Fifth

Schumann.

190

more than mere sorrow and joy such

beautiful melody,

as music has uttered already in a hundred ways, yea,

that

it

leads us into regions where

To grant

have ever been.

to

such a symphony.

Here

is,

technique of composition,

down to the

this

we cannot remember
you have only to hear

besides masterly musical

life

in every fibre, colouring

Significance everywhere, the

finest shading.

clearest expression in the details

and, lastly, diffused

throughout, a romanticism such as

we have become

acquainted with in other compositions of Schubert.'

Spohr's Irdisches wnd Gottliches prompts in 1843 the
following characteristic utterances
'

We

confess

we have a

creation [namely, with a

prejudice against this kind of

programme]

and share

perhaps with a hundred learned heads, who,

it is

have often strange notions of composing, and

who is supposed never

composing. As I said,
and

true,

refer

to have thought

always to Mozart,
of anything in

this

not a few

may

a composer holds up a
programme to us, before the music, I say " First of all

have that prejudice

if

let

us hear that you

make

shall be glad of your

philosophers
certainly

may

beautiful music, afterwards

programme."

think the matter worse than

they are mistaken

composer who works

after

if

an

we

Indeed, the
it

is;

they believe that a

idea, sits

down

like a

preacher on Saturday afternoon and arranges his text

in accordance with the usual three heads,
it

thoroughly;

certainly

creation of the musician

is

they

are

and develops
The

mistaken.

quite another thing

an idea, hovers before him, he

and

if

will feel happy

comes towards him in beautiful melodies,
borne by the same invisible hands as the " golden
buckets" of which Goethe speaks somewhere. Therefore

picture,

only

if it

Period.]

Extra-musical Influences.

keep your prejudice

do not

make

191

but at the same time examine, and

the masters suffer for the bungling of the

pupils.'

Schumann's most important utterance on programme

music and most complete self-revelation as a creative
artist

is

be found in a letter of April 13, 1888,

to

and with it I shall close

somewhat bewildering extracts.
After

addressed to his beloved Clara

this

series

of

sajdng in an early part of this long epistle that he would

give to his fantasias which were about to be published

name

poems IDichtvngen'] a word for which he

had long sought, and which seemed to him noble, and
significant for musical compositions, he writes further on
the

as follows

of

'

'

Behold your old Eobert

'

he not

is

teller of spook-stories, the terrifier ?

the

still

silly,

the

Now, however, I can

and that need

these are for the most part the incidents

also be very serious, sometimes for days

not alarm you

of

my

thoughts on music and compositions.

soul-life,

Everything that goes on in the world

literature,

men

in

my own way

thing,

and afterwards

many

of

my

it

vents

compositions are

me politics,

affects

on everyin music.
Thus

I meditate

itself

difficult

to understand

because they are connected with distant interests

too,

they

are

because

significant

every

often,

remarkable

passing event affects me, and I must then express

Hence few recent compositions give

musically.
satisfaction

manship,
lowest

it

me

because, apart from the defects of crafts-

they

kind,

deal

musical

commonplace

in

The highest that

in

is

sentiments

lyrical

of

the

exclamations.

there achieved does not reach up to

the beginning of the art of

The former may

much more spiritual poem.

my

be a flower, the latter the so

music.

Sclmmann.

192

[Fifth

The former an impulse of crude nature, the latter a

work of poetic consciousness. I, too, do not know all
this at the time of composing,

What

is

it

comes afterwards.'

said in the last paragraph will be further

explained and illustrated by Schumann's remarks about

his

own compositions, which

better

reveals his practice

much

than his theorizings and criticisms of other

masters' compositions.

Schumann's musical productions comprise programme

all kinds, qualities, and degrees.
Beginning

music of
his

career

in

spirit

of

sportive

fancifulness (as

exemplified in the Papillons and Carnaval), the composer,

on becoming an ardent

developed an earnest

lover,

imaginativeness (as exemplified in the Davidsbilndler,

Sonatas, Fcmtasiestiicke, Fantasie, Kreisleriana, Novelletten,

and other pianoforte

pieces),

and

this earnest

imaginativeness broadened, deepened, and solidified on

his reaching

mature manhood and the goal

of marriage

(as exemplified in the larger compositions of

later years).

Schumann was

orchestral and

concerted

1841 and

as verbally reticent in the

chamber works as he was

communicative in the short pianoforte pieces.

In

fact,

if we except the overtures, none of the orchestral and

none of the chamber works has as much as a title, and
of few of them has any programmatic information come

down

to us.

Now

it

will

be said that this shows that

as he grew older the composer abandoned the giddy

romantic ways of his youth and turned to a romanticism

sobered by classicism.
it

There

is

some truth in

does not settle the matter, for

last years of his life continued to

this

Schumann up

but

to the

compose acknowledged

programme music overtures and short pianoforte pieces.

If he had written in later years letters as intimate as he

'

Period.]

Papillons.

193

wrote to Clara before his marriage, we should know

more about the conception and meaning of the works of
those years.

The

Papillons, Op. 2,

partly in 1831,

is

composed partly in 1829 and

When you have

a young Carnaval.

'

a minute to spare,' he writes to his friend Henriette

Voigt,
I beg of you to read the last chapter of the
'

Flegeljahre,
.

where

may

all is to

also

be found in black and white.

mention that I

seems to

me

He

a foolish proceeding.'

words to

set the

the music and not the music to the words

the opposite

also advises his

relatives to read as soon as j)ossible the closing scene of

Jean Paul Eichter's Flegeljahre, informing them that the

masked

Papillons are intended to translate this

ball into

and asking them if something in the Papillons does

soul, and
Yult's sharp-flashing mind.
To the famous Berlin critic
You remember the last
Eellstab, the composer writes
scene in the Flegeljahre, the masked ball, Walt, Vult,
tones,

not reflect Wina's angelic love, Walt's poetic

'

masks, confessions, anger, revelations, hasty departure,

concluding scene, and then the departing brother.
I turned over the last page

me
at

new beginning

for the

almost

Often

end seemed to

unconsciously

was

the pianoforte, and thus came into existence one

papillon after another.'

The

Papillons are strikingly

characteristic

and even dramatic.

them without

feeling that

these

charming

characters, scenes,

'

there

is

Yoii cannot hear

something behind

tone-combinations.

and

situations

of the ballroom, particular

the

They suggest
and brilliance

stir

masks and

their

manners,

the spirit of the dances and the feelings of the dancers,

the tete-a-tite of the favoured and the unfavoured lover,

Walt and Vult, and the beloved

one, the incomparable

Schumann.

194

[Fifth

Schumann may not have thought

Wina.

of the last

scene but one of J. P. Eichter's Flegeljahre

wrote in 1829 Nos.

and

1, 3, 4, 6,

8,

when he

but I have not the

doubt that those of 1831 were inspired by the

slightest

masked ball there

As we have

depicted.

Schumann

seen,

writes that he set the words to the music, not the music

words

to the

everything

but he writes also that in the Flegeljahre

is to

be found in black and white, that the

masked

Papillons translate the

Finale

a curious conception.

is

ball

The

into tones.

It pictures

the last scene

and the dying away of the noise of the

Towards the end of the movement we read,

of the ball

carnival.

printed above the music

away.

dies

'

The church

conclusion of the ball

is

The noise
clock

of the carnival

strikes

The

six.'

indicated by the old and old-

fashioned Grandfather's Dance, danced at the end of balls

and especially at the end of weddings. This is followed
by the reappearance of the first slow waltz. Then the
two are contrapuntaily combined, and gradually die

away.

Of the Carnaval, Scenes mignonnes, Op. 9, composed in

1834 and 1835, Schumann writes to Moscheles
The
Carnaval came into existence incidentally, and is built
:

for the

most part on the notes

name

for

where

6],

the

name

S C

of a little

[A is the German
Bohemian town,

have a musical lady-friend, but which, strange

my

to say, are also the only musical letters in

The
Is

superscriptions

not music

expressive ?

under

itself

to

afterwards.

enough

sufficiently

always

fix

name.

placed over them

Estrella is a

portraits

memory

'

the

and

name such
picture

as

better

placed

is

in

Reconnaissance, a scene of recognition

one's

Aveu,

an avowal of love; Promenade, a walk, such as one

Cmnaval.

Pebiod.]

195

German ball arm-in-arm with one's partner.

The whole has no artistic value whatever the manifold
states of the soul alone seem to me to be interesting.'

takes at a

It is impossible to agree with the depreciatory

contained in the

Carnaval
called

first

half of the last

a higher kind of

is

The
Somebody

PapiUons.

'a glorification of the ballroom, of

it

rejoicings,

whisperings of

love.'

and

masquerade,

motley

its

remark

sentence.

noisy

its

its

secret

Schumann himself refers

to it as

a Maskentanz, a masked

ball,

and before adopting the

thought of Burlesques and of Frolics on Four

present

title

Notes.

The Carnaval

not one comprehensive view,

is

In comparing it with
young master's drawing

but rather a series of glimpses.

the Papillons

we

find that the

shows greater firmness of line and more forcibleness of

In short, both as a man and as an
The Carnaval
artist Schumann proves himself maturer.

characterization.

comprises twenty-one pieces, each having a superscription.

Some of these have already been

letter.

in

explained in Schumann's

Of the others, the greater number do not stand

need

of

allemande,

Pantalon
Paganini.

such

explanation

and Valse
et

Colombine

noble

,-

as

Pierrot,

Coquette

Preambule,

Valse

Arlequin,

and

Chopin

and

and

Florestan and Eusebius are the representatives

Schumann's dual nature Eusebius is tender and mild,

an enthusiastic dreamer Florestan is wild, impetuous,
and fantastic. The Eeplique is no doubt a mocking
reply to the Coquette. The Papillon on this occasion
means a real butterfiy. Chiarina is Clara Wieck, and
of

Estrella

Ernestine von

Fricken, a

rival

attraction.

town Asch, there lived the same Ernestine, to

whom the composer at that time was engaged. The
During the Pause
last piece but one is entitled Pause.

As

to the

'

Schummm.

196
a great bustle

going on

is

there

[Fifth
is

a hurrying to and

fro,

everyone hastens to join his standard and prepare

for

the

And then

fight.

the

begins

Davidsbiindler contre les PhiUstins,' the

'Marche
march of

des
the

champions of progress and idealism against the upholders

and commonplace.

of tradition

It is

Exuberance of youth, and

piece.

the climax of the

faith in their good

cause animate the valiant band of the Damdsbiindler,

The

represented

Philistines,

by

the

old-fashioned

Grandfather's Dance, show pluck, but in the end are

completely routed.

There are hardly any particulars to record

Sonata in
it is

so

of the

sharp minor, Op. 11 (1833 and 1835).

full of

storm and

stress, of fire

and

But

intensity of

passion, of tenderness and fantastic imagery, that we

may

well believe that there

blood in
life

of

that

it,

it tells

is

of the composer's heart's

us of the actualities of his soul-

strong emotions, brave endeavours, and high

aspirations.

allusions in

We

obtain the certainty of this from two

Schumann's

states that the sonata is

letters.

In one of them he

one of the works almost

entirely

by Clara Wieck; and in the other he

indignantly exclaims
Your father calls me phlegmatic ?
occasioned

'

the Carnaval phlegmatic the F sharp minor Sonata

!

phlegmatic

The eighteen Characteristic Pieces for Pianoforte,

Op. 6, composed in 1837, entitled Die Davidsbiindler
(The David Leaguers), originally Davidsbiindler Tdnze

(Dances of the David Leaguers) are, Schumann infoims

Clara, quite different from the

compared with the

masks.

now

latter,

Carnaval, the former,

being like faces compared with

In a letter of his to Henselt

we read:

'Just

have finished eighteen Davidsbiindler Tdnze

iu

Pebiod.]

Davidsbundler.

the midst of a sadly stirring

to his struggles for Clara.

his beloved one reveal

composition.

'

much

letters to

what he put into this

many wedding thoughts

most beautiful excitement that

dances will be discovered by

is

an allusion

is

of

remember to have experienced.

explain them to you.'
'What

story

This

life.'

Passages in two

In the dances are

^they arose in the

are dedicated,

197

Some day

can

shall

have put into these

my

whom

Clara, to

more than anything

a whole wedding eve [Polterdbend]

they

The
You can

mine.

else of

picture to yourself beginning and end.

happy

at the pianoforte

it

was when

If I was ever
composed them.'

Of the Davidsbund (David League) Schumann says

The society was more than a secret one, since it
'

'

The Davidsbund is a

long perceived.
Berlioz

is

And

head of the founder.'

existed only in the

spiritual,

again

romantic one, as you have

Mozart was as great a Bilndler as

without nomination
The composition is headed by an old

now, as you are [Dorn]

by diploma.'
rhyme, which says that at all times joy and sorrow are
connected, and gives the advice to remain godly in joy
and have courage ready in sorrow. The musical motto
by Clara Wieck (two bars) with which the composition
opens

is like

the sign of the prompter, after which the

curtain rises and lays open to us the scene of action

the poet's soul.

The eighteen scenes

performance consists are

full of interest

of

which the

and surprising

The dramatis personee, Eusebius and Florestan,

and dialogues unfold themselves
more.
Of
these
eighteen numbers some are
and
more
signed by Eusebius, some by Florestan, others by both.
Schumann's Op. 12, the Famtasiestucke of 1837, consists
of eight titled pieces, Des Abends (in the Evening), full
variety.

in their monologues

quiet

of

[Fifth

Schumann.

198

impatient Aufschwung" (Soaring)

Warum

longing
Grillen

(Why)

(Whims)

the

dizzy

Wirren

the questioning and

humorous

delightfully

the grandly and stirringly emotional

In der Nacht (In the Night)

the

impassioned and

the

dreaminess;

twilight

Traumeswirren

the chatty Fabel (Fable)

(Dream

Visions

confusion, entanglements)

and

lastly, the

Schumann

joyous Ende vom lAede (End of the Song).

When

literally

had finished the work I found in Die

Nacht the story of Hero and Leander. I suppose you
know it. Every night Leander swims across the sea to
his beloved, who is waiting for him on the tower with
writes

'

flaming torch to show him the way.

beautiful, romantic legend.

cannot forget the picture

she

calls,

When

how he

It

is

an

old,

I play the Night I

plunges into the

sea,

he answers, struggling through the waves

i-eaches the shore safely, then the cantilena

are in each other's arms, then he

must

leave

when

they

and cannot

separate from her, and at last the night envelopes every-

With regard

thing in darkness.

to

the concluding

number the composer wrote to Clara

I must praise
jou for having thought of Zumsteeg [the famous com'

poser of ballads] in connection with the

Yes,

it

is

true,

my

^oing to be the end of

it

after all

sorrow about you returned, and so

of the Song.

of the

is

but at the last the

it

intermingling of marriage and funeral

The naming

End

thought was, a merry wedding

Fantasie, Op.

sounds

like the

bells.'

17,

composed

in

1836-1838 went through various transformations. Before

the last was reached there were discarded the

titles

Grande Sonate and Fantasien, the sub-title Dichtungen

(Poems), and superscriptions of the three movements
Euins,

Trophies,

Palms

or Euins,

Triumphal Arch,

Period.]

Fantasiestiicke

Fantasie.

199

Crown of Stars or Euin, Triumphal Areh, Constellation.

Also the motto, four lines by Friedrich von Schlegel, was
;

&Q.

afterthought.

'Through

all

It

may

be literally rendered thus

the tones that sound in Earth's mueh-

mingled dream, a gentle tone is heard by him who harks

with quiet heed.'
The inwardness of the history of
Op. 17 is, however, to be found in Schumann's letters to
his Clara.

'

I have finished a Fantasie in three

ments, which
1836,

I sketched

down

move-

to the details in June,

do not think I ever wrote anything more

impassioned than the

lament about you.

first

movement

The others

it is

a profound

are weaker, but need not

be ashamed of themselves' (March 17, 1838).

Fantasie you can

understand only

yourself back to the unhappy

Now

Summer

'The

you transport

if

of 1836,

when

have no reason to compose in so

melancholy a way
(May 19, 1839).

resigned you.

and
Tell me what you think in hearing the first piece of the
Fantasie ? Does it not call up pictures in you ?
Don't you think the " tone " in the motto is yoa ? I
miserable

'

'

almost believe

on June 16

'

it'

(June

Many

play your Fantasia

9,

1839).

Clara replies to this

pictures rise before me, too,

they are

sure to be very

when

much

in

The March makes upon me the

impression of a triumphal march of warriors returning
from battle and a;t the A flat major I always think of
young village girls, all clad in white, each with a wreath
agreement with yours.

in her hand, crowning the kneeling warriors, and a great

more that you know already.'

Of his pianoforte compositions, Schumann

deal

liked best

the Fantasiestiicke, the Kreisleriana, the Novelletten,

and

the three Romanzen, of which again he liked best the

Kreisleriana, Op. 16, composed in 1838.

The

title

is

!'

[Fifth

Schumann.

200

derived from E. T. A. Hoffmann, the author of fantastic

was a lawyer, musician, painter, &c.

Johannes Kreisler, Hoffmann's

tales, -who

also

Schumann

describes

creation, as

'

an

and

eccentric, wild,

geistreicher

No one acquainted
moment doubt that he

intellectual, &c., &c.] Capellmeister.

with Schumann's work can for a

[clever,

'

own and not Kreisler's joys and

sorrows.
In fact, Schumanniana would be a more
However, we are not
correct title than Kreisleriana.
composer
writes
Of
left to guessing.
Dorn,
the
To

describes here his

Concerto,

the

Davidsbundler,

the

Sonata,

the

Kreisleriana and the Novelletten, she [that

almost the sole cause

more outspoken

me

my

to Clara herself

'

last letter I

it

of

is
is

Imagine, since
of

new

role, and I will

you and to no one else. How
smile when you recognize yourself.

you play the principal

to you,

yes, to

music seems to

\yerschhmgen']

me now
;

standing beside me, while I

wonderfully involved

so

notwithstanding

eloquent from the heart

sit

all

overwhelm me' (April

my

Kreisleriana !

veritable wild love,

simplicity,

its

When

13, 1838).

that

life

so

you be

ah

know,

it

'Do play some-

In some parts of

and your

shall

at the pianoforte

then we two shall weep like children

times

He

Oh, this music in

have finished again a whole book

sweetly you will

will

the

Clara]

" Kreisleriana " I will call them, in which you

and a thought
dedicate

is,

5, 1839).

And always such beautiful melodies

things.

My

(September

'

'

it

there

lies

and mine, and many a

look of yours (August 8, 1888).

Of the

Novelletten, Op. 21, likewise

Schumann speaks

as

'

[abenteuerliche Geschichten

February

6,

composed in 1838,

larger connected romantic stories

Stories

of Adventure).

On

1838, he writes to his Clara: 'I do not

Period.]

Krmleriana

Novelletten.

know who could prevent me from

writing as

to you as you have written to me.

do

it

in music

for that

everything that
ling

is

is

within.

amount for you during the

Egmont

stories,

much

again

I should like best to

the friend

So

201

who

best brings out

have composed an appal-

last few

weeks

drolleries,

family scenes with fathers, a wedding, in

charming things. The whole I call Novelletten,

because your name is Clara, and Wiecketten would not
sound well.' This last sentence contains a playful allusion
short,

A little

more than a year later, in a

June 30, 1839, he says
Four books oiNovellettes
have just been published. They are intimately

to Clara Novello.
letter of

by

me

'

connected, and were written with great gusto.

They are
most part cheerful and superficial, except for
something here and there where I touch the bottom.'
Perhaps we may say the Kreisleriana are intimate
revelations, outpourings from the depth of the soul;
the eight Novelletten, on the other hand, deal, for the
most part, with feelings that lie on or near the surface,
or at least may be openly shown to all the world. The
above extracts are from letters to mere male acquaintances. A more intimate peep into the true nature of
the work is afforded by the following words addressed by
for the

the composer to his beloved one, Bride, in the Novelletten

'

you appear in

and positions and

all possible situations

other irresistible things about you.

Yes, do look at

I assert that Novelletten could only be written

who knows such

as yours.

by one

eyes as yours and has touched such lips

In short, one

not similar ones

me

'

may make

(June 30, 1839).

better things, but

About the Nachtstiicke (Night Pieces) ^Ihe title is again

derived from E. T. A. Hoffmann Op. 23, composed in
1839, we get from Schumann some exceedingly interesting

;;

information.
I

had

'

wrote to you [Clara] of a presentiment.

during the days from the 24th to the 27th

it

March while occupied with

of

[Fifth

Schumann.

202

There

a passage in

is

to

it

which

my new

composition.

I continually

returned

some one sighed with a very heavy heart:

"Oh, God!" While occupied with the composition I
as

is

it

if

saw

always

processions,

funeral

despairing people; and

when

long time was seeking for a

(Funeral

Leichenphantasie

unhappy,

coffins,

had

finished,

I always

title,

Fantasia).

Is

and

for a

fell

upon

that

not

While composing I was often moved

tears and did not know why, and had no cause for
Then came Theresa's letter and everything was clear
remarkable?

The

me.'

letter

was dying.
says

'

my
;

(3)

(2)

naming them

(1)

What

Trauerzug

Kuriose Gesellschaft (Strange

Ndchtliches Gelage (Nocturnal Orgies)

Rundgesang mit Solostimmen (Roundelay with

voices) ?

'

to

In another letter to Clara the composer

have put the Night Pieces in order.

(Funeral Procession)

(4)

it.

announced that his brother Eduard

would you think of

Company)

to

These

titles for

solo

the individual pieces were,

however, omitted.

The Scenes of Childhood, Op.

15, of 1839, consist of

thirteen pieces with superscriptions

and

People,

Curious

Story,

Catch

Of Foreign Lands
me if you can,

Entreating Child, Happiness enough, Important Event,

Dreaming, At the Fireside, The Knight of the Hobby

Horse, Almost too Serious, Frightening, Child falling
asleep,

and The Poet Speaks.

When

the work came

before the Berlin critic Eellstab, he asked whether the

composer was in earnest or joking, and remarked:

When we see a piece of music superscribed " Of foreign
'

lands and people," we feel our pulse to find out

if

we are

'

Period.]

Nachtstucke Scenes of Childhood.

203

not in fever dreams.

To where has Art strayed through

?
To what irrational
solutions do these irrational roots and equations lead ?
This annoyed Schumann not a little.
Anything more
inept and narrow-minded than what Eellstab has written
some

fundamental principles

false

'

my

about

He

Scenes of Childhood I have never

seems to think that

and then seek

met

with.

a crying child before me,

for tones to imitate

The reverse

it.

is

However, I do not deny that while composing

the case.

some

I place

children's heads were hovering before

me

but of

course the superscriptions came into existence afterwards,

and are indeed nothing else but more delicate directions

the rendering and comprehension of the music'

for

What Schumann

says here about the superscriptions of

the Scenes of Childhood, and in another place

March

(letter of

1839) about the superscriptions of

3,

all his

compositions having come into existence subsequently^

may be true, but it is nevertheless misleading. His

remark about some children's heads hovering before him
shows this. It is shown more strikingly by many other
remarks about the contents of his compositions, among
others by the comparison of the Scenes of Childhood with
Album for

the

the Young,

pieces with superscriptions.

Schumann

writes,

'

Op. 68, of 1848, forty-three

'

These Scenes of Childhood,'

are reminiscences of an older person

for older ones, whilst the Christmas

die

fiir

Jugend']

contains

Album

rather

[the

Album

foreshadowings,

presentiments, futm-e states, for younger ones.'

regard to the Album, he writes in the same letter

first

piece I wrote for

my eldest

child

With
The
'

on her birthday,
It seemed to

and thus one after the other was added.

me

as

trace

if

I once

some

more began composing anew. You will

humour here and there.' Very

of the old

204

Schumann.
are

interesting

Childhood.

'

[Fifth

remarks

Clara's

on

the

now occurs to me
You understand that

[Frightening].

Your whole inwardness reveals

Scenes

of

Fiirchtenmachen

Just

so well

these scenes

itself in

for instance, the touching simplicity of the Bittendes

Kind [Entreating child] one sees it with folded hands;

and the Kind im Einschlafen [Child falling asleep] it is
impossible to close the eyes more beautifully.
The Curiose Geschichte [Strange story] I like much.
And the Haschemann [Catch me if you can] that is

funny, quite wonderfully depicted

[Dreaming]

a beautiful

is

not a French fireside

write to

me

dream

the

Kamin a German,

When you

have time

me how

something about these scenes

you wish them

to be played,

Trmtmerei

tell

and what were your thoughts

in composing them, whether they were

my

thoughts.'

Speaking of pieces for children reminds

me

of the

Twelve Pianoforte Pieces for four hands. Op. 85, of 1849,

the superscriptions of which are similar to those of the

Album for

the Young.

One day, when Schumann and

Bear Dance, he imitated
movements of the bear. He

his wife were playing No. 2, the

the

heavy,

awkward

composed No.

9,

the

Fountain (Am Springbrunnen)

while staying in the country, where, in the garden in

front of the house, a fountain

may

be called a soundpicture

of the fountain, with the

was playing.

This piece

the gushing and dripping

crescendas

and decrescendos

produced by the play of the breeze with the water, no

one can
in the

But, of course, there

recognize.

fail to

is

more

music than the imitation of the sounds of the

fountain.

At the Fountain is extremely

and dreaminess.
One is
fountain,
the
and sees in it all sorts of

Clara writes

original in its

transported to

'

loveliness

Period.] Twelve Pieces

Ball ScenesFrom

the

wonderful

things

curiously,

and yet

the East.

205

which twists about most

ball

finally returns to its first position.

In short, unconsciously one joins in the dream, until

the end of the piece, when each smiles contentedly
at the other.

So

it

is

with us when we

play

it

together.'

In the Ball Scenes, Op. 109, and the Children's

Ball,

Op. 130, both for four hands, the composer returns to

scenes which in earlier years had a great charm for him.

To the former work he

Preambule

opens

excitement

refers as

a masked

a view of a scene

The

ball.'

full

joyous

of

brilliantly lighted rooms, a throng of

finely-

dressed people, a general appearance of festivity, beaming

faces, &c.

It is

not

difficult to

recognize the passages to

which Schumann alluded when, playing these pieces

with his wife, he playfully interpreted, saying, Here the
'

waiters are

company

'

still

rushing about with the dishes among the

and, further on,

begin to mingle with the

becoming more

To

'

Now

the grown-up people

and things are

ones,

little

serious.'

themes we have only to turn to the

(Pictures from the East), Op. 66,
The
In a prefatory note, Schmaann says

find nobler

Bilder aus
of 1848.

dem Osten

'

composer of the following pieces thinks that with a view

to a better understanding of them he ought, not to leave

unmentioned that they owe their existence to a special

suggestion. The pieces were written while the composer

was reading
of Hariri)

Eiickert's

Makamen

(Tales after the Arabic

and while composing he could not

forget the

who

could be

strange hero of the book,

Abu

Seid

compared to the German Eulenspiegel, except that the

former has more poetry and nobility about him and

also

the figure of

his honest friend Hareth.

This

Sehvmann.

206

[Fifth

some

explains the foreign character of

The

are not based

first five

on

of the pieces.

definite situations ; only

the last might perhaps be regarded as an echo of the

Makame,

last

in which we see the hero concluding his merry

and penance. May this attempt to

some expression in our art to the Oriental
manner of poetry and thought, as has already often
in repentance

life

give

been done in German poetry, find a favourable reception

among

sympathizers.'

Before leaving the pianoforte compositions and taking

up the orchestral ones,

must quote

at

the

least

superscriptions of the Forest Scenes, Op. 82, of 1848

and 1849

The

Entry, Hunter in Ambush, Solitary Flowers,

ill-reputed

Spot

by eight

(followed

by

lines

F. Hebbel), Pleasing Landscape, Wayside Inn, The Bird

as Prophet, Hunting

Song, and Farewell.

least

of

any importance

about

compositions not mentioned,

is

Further

and information

information about these pieces,

at

the contents of the

looked for in vain in

the correspondence.

-s

None of Schumann's symphonies has a title, still

less an explicit programme but that two of them had a /
programmatic basis we learn from the master's lettery
and from other sources.
It is quite impossible for
;

'

me

my

to give

in February,
finished a

work

been quite
exhausted

thoughts to the journal,' he writes

1841.

moreover, a Spring

He

1841.

but which

Imagine

me.

it

During the

last

is

has also thoroughly

whole

Symphony

finished.

actually sketched

few days*

over which I have

(at least in outline)

blissful,

myself that

'

and,

symphony

can hardly

believe

But the scoring has

the work in four days.

January

still

23-26,

Period.]
to

Forest Scenes

be done.'

Symphonies.

the

Truly,

207

Symphony,

major

flat

Op. 38, was jb^rn in a fiery hour,' as the composer

remarked^;*! wrote the symphony,' he says in a letter
to Spohr dn. November 23, 1842, 'at the end of the
'

may

winter of 1841,

if

(Friihlingsdrang)

which carries

say

that flush of spring

so, in

man away

even in his old

and comes over him anew every year. Description

and painting were not part of my intention but I
believe that the time at which it came into existence
may have influenced its shape and made it what it is^
Schumann gives a more explicit commentary in a letter
to the conductor and composer Taubert, of January 10,
1843
Try to inspire the orchestra with some of the
spring longing which chiefly possessed me when I wrote
the symphony in February, 1841. At the very beginning
age,

I should like the

trumpet entry to sound

like

call to

In what follows of the Introduction there might

waken.

be a suggestion of the growing green of everything,

even of a butterfly flying up

gradual assembling of

the constituents offspring.

all

and, in the Allegro, of the

But these are fancies which presented themselves

to

me

after the completion

movement

the last
it

I will tell

I like to think of

as Spring's Farewell, and that therefore I should not

like it to

be rendered

poem, which
follows

'

is

Thou

my

poem

first

of a melancholy cast,

all

Schumann's own.

we

my happiness ?
have

the

In October,

Bottger with his portrait, and on

it

This

concludes as

dim and dank, why

In the valley rises spring.'

statement

impulse to

of Adolf Bottger.

Spirit of the cloud,

hast thou scared away

thy course

The

frivolously.'

the work was given by a

of

Only of

work.

the

of

you that

best

Turn,

To

turn

the truth

testimony

1842, he

presented

he wrote the opening

208

Schumann.

[Fifth

Beginning of a
them
symphony prompted by a poem of Adolf Bottger; to

notes of Op. 38, and below

'

Schumann.'

the poet as a souvenir from E.

composer begins where the poet ends.

The

The

last line of

the latter might have been taken by the former as the

motto of the

From

spring.'

movement

first

'

In

the valley rises

information

the authentic

given

in

Litzmann's Clara Schumann we learn that the four

movements were
(Commencement

originally

entitled

of Spring), Abend,

Gespielen (Merry companions),

and

Fruhlingsbeginn

(Evening), Frohe

Voller Friihling (Full

/Spring)-

The programmatic nature

Schumann's

of the last of

symphonies (the third in the order of publication), the

one

in

major.

flat

5;S5ertainable.

in one of his

Op. 97, of 1850,

is

likewise

The composer himself says of this work

letters that there was probably here and
'

there a piece of

life

Schumann remarked

in

it.'

Wasielewski

tells

us that

in conversation that the sight of

Cologne Cathedral gave the

first

impulse to the work

and the original superscription of the fourth of the five

movements
in the character of the accompaniment to
points, no doubt, to the influence
a solemn ceremony
exercised on the composer by the ceremony of the/

'

'

installation of a

new archbishop

of Cologne,

which took

place while he was at work on the symphony.

see

that the epithet

'

Ehenish

'

Thus we/

given to Op. 97

is

by facts, if nof~auniorized by the master.

The rescinding of the above-mentioned superscription and his remarks on it are very characteristic of
Schumann's position with regard to programme music.
One should not,' he said, show people one's heart
a general impression of an art-work does them more

justified

'

'

Pebiod.]

good

Overtures.

209

make then no

perverse com-

Symphonies

at least, they

parisons.'

Schumann's overtures, with one exception, have all

titles and a poetic basis.
His best is that to Byron's
Manfred, to which dramatic poem the composer wrote
also other programme music (melodramatic matter, an
entr'acte, &c.)

Genoveva

Messina

,-

his second best, the overture to his opera

the third best, that to Schiller's Bride of

and after them follow the less valuable ones to

Shakespeare's Julius Ccesar, to Goethe's

Faust,

and

poem Hermann and Dorothea. The Festival

overture with the Ehine Wine Song, Op. 123, stands
by itself. Of the close connection between poem and
Goethe's

'

'

'

'

music even in the case of the less valuable overtures we

cannot have the slightest doubt. To Eichard Pohl, who

had proposed
opera

libretto,

Schiller's

play as the

Schumann

writes

subject
'

The Bride of Messina several times,

After
to

of

an

reading

realize

the

tragedy quite clearly, there came thoughts of an overture,

which I then
proposal of

finished.'

In the same way, Moritz Horn's

Hermann and Dorothea

as the subject of a

concert oratorio seems to have suggested the overture to

that poem, which the composer wrote in five hours, and
for

which he

had a great

affection.

The greatest

achievement of Schumann as a composer of programme

music, and indeed as a composer generally,
overture to Manfred.

It is

is

the

one of the most original and

grandest orchestral compositions ever conceived, one of

the most powerful, but at the same time one of the most

sombre soul-portraits ever painted. The sombreness is

nowhere relieved, although contrast to the dark brooding
and the surging agitation of despair is obtained by the
tender, longing, regretful recollection of Astarte, the

[Fifih

Schumann.

210

And when

destroyed beloved one.

at

last

ebbs

life

away, we are reminded of Manfred's dying words to

the Abbot;
'

'Tis over

But

all

my dull eyes can

things

Heaves as

man

Old

We

it

not so

need not trace

accompanied
suiSciently.

thee not

were beneath me.

'tis

fix

swim around me, and the earth

vocal

difficult to die.'

Schumann's tone-painting in
music; the words indicate

Moreover,

the

greater

importance

Schumann's pianoforte accompaniments to

compared with those of his predecessors,

his
it

of

his songs, as
is

one of the

commonplaces of musical history. Indeed, the pianoforte

is sometimes even more important than the voice in the
interpretation of the words.

Before

my

task

is

done, I

have to refer to three compositions which not only

are

patent programme music, but initiated the recultivation

an interesting subordinate department of that kind of

Melodrama, although employed in
operas and plays, had for some time been neglected as
an independent form. Schumann's example soon found
imitators, one of the first being Liszt, and now the writing
of pianoforte accompaniments to recitations, especially
The
of ballads, has become a pretty common practice.
of

instrumental music.

contributions of

Schumann to this genre are Op. 106, Schon

Hedwig, ballad by F. Hebbel (composed 1849, published

1853)

Op. 122,

Hebbel;

Ballade vom Haideknaben, by F.

Schumann
leave of

1,

and Op. 122, No. 2, Die FlucUlinge (The

ballad by Shelley (composed 1852, published
With this not unimportant piece of evidence of

Fugitives)
1853).

No

'

as a composer of

programme music,

the most romantic of the romanticists.'

I take

Period.]

CHAPTEE
riFTH PERIOD CONTINUED

VI.

THREE PIANIST COMPOSERS

CHOPIN, HENSELT, AND HELLER.

What

is

emotional

the position of the superlatively poetical and

CHOPIN

subject under

(1809-1849),

Not a

discussion?

with regard to the

one of his

single

compositions has a programme prefixed to

or bears a

it,

and a search, with a view to

unrevealed programmes, among his letters and his
friends' accounts of him yields but an extremely poor
title

indicative of one;

outcome.

'

Whilst my thoughts were with her

'

[his love,

Constantia Gladkowska], Chopin writes on October

1829, ' I composed the Adagio ofmj Concerto [in
'

On August

3,

F minor.

The Adagio
minor Concerto, Op. 11] is in E major, and of
a romantic, calm, and partly melancholy character. It
Op. 21].
[of the

is

he writes

21, 1830,

'

intended to convey the impression which one receives

when

the eye rests on a beloved landscape that calls up

in one's soul beautiful

moonlight night.'

memories

There

for instance, on a fine

only one other epistolary

is

remark of Chopin's of this kind, and that is jocular

rather than serious. Writing in 1839 to Fontana about
the B flat minor Sonata, that with the Funeral March,
he says of the short Finale
The left and the right hand
unisono are gossiping after the march.' The information
to be gathered elsewhere is not much more abundant.
:

First

we

'

learn that the news of the capture of

by the Eussians on September

8,

Warsaw

1831, inspired Chopin,

then at Munich, with the Etude, Op. 10, No. 12,

full of

212

Three Pianist Composers.

[Fifth

fuming rage and passionate ejaculations.

Next, George

Sand writes with her magic pen

ma

in her Histoii-e de

Describing her and Chopin's

Vie about the Preludes.

stay in Majorca (1838-1839), at the deserted monastery

him the monastery

of Valdemosa, she relates that to

was

full of terrors

with

her children

among

and phantoms
from

the ruins, she found

that on returning

nocturnal

her

him

explorations

at the pianoforte, pale,

with haggard eyes and hair standing on end, unable

them

and that

to

an effort to
smile, he played to them sublime things he had composed,
or rather terrible and heart-rending ideas that had

recognize

at once

taken possession of him, as

hour of
to the

solitude, sadness,

mind

it

after

were unconsciously, in

and

terror.

visions of deceased

'

Several present

monks and

the sounds of

funeral chants which beset his imagination

melancholy and sweet

they

this

others are

occurred to him in the

hours of sunshine and of health, with the noise of the

children's laughter under the window, the distant sounds
of guitars, the warbling of the birds
foliage,

and the sight of the

among

the humid

pale, little, full-blown roses

Others, again, are of a mournful sadness,

on the snow.

and, while charming the ear, rend the heart.'

one of the

latter,

About

one which occurred to him on a dismal

rainy evening, and which produces a terrible mental

Sand has a long story. She and her

son Maurice had gone to Palma and were overtaken by
tempestuous weather. Chopin's anxiety for them Decame
a kind of calm despair, in which, bathed in tears, he
depression, George

played the prelude in question.

On

their return, he

exclaimed with a wild look and in a strange tone

I

knew

confessed to

'

Ah

you were dead.' Afterwards he

her that he had seen in a dream all she

well

that

Chopm.

Pesiod.]

213

and that no longer distinguishing this dream

reality, he had grown calm and been lulled to sleep
while playing the pianoforte, believing that he was dead
himself.
'He saw himself drowned in a lake, heavy,
ice-cold drops of water fell at regular intervals upon
his breast, and when I drew his attention to those drops
of water which were actually falling at regular intervals
upon the roof, he denied having heard them. He was
even vexed at what I translated by the term Imitative
Harmony. He protested with all his might, and he was
experienced,

from

right, against the puerility of these imitations for the

His genius was

ear.

by

translated

nature,

full of

mysterious harmonies of

sublime

equivalents

into

his

musical thought, and not by a servile repetition of

His composition

external sounds.

indeed

full of

sonorous

it

monastery, but they were transformed

and his music into tears

in his imagination

but

was

the drops of rain which resounded on the

tiles of the

heaven on his

of this evening

heart.'

This account

would be more valuable than

known

is

falling

from

very interesting

George Sand

it is if

poetry more

than

Then there is a story told by Louis Enault.

evening, when George Sand had been speaking

of the

were

not

to

have

loved

truth.

peacefulness of country

life

One

and unfolding a picture of

rural harmonies, Chopin remarked:

'How admirably

To which the reply was Well, then,

Whereupon, we are told, the master
Another
improvised a veritable pastoral symphony.
little
dog
anecdote tells us that George Sand had a
you have spoken
set me to music

'

'

'

which was in the habit of turning round and round in

the endeavour to catch its tail. One evening when it
If I had your
was thus engaged she said to Chopin
:

'

214

Three Pianist Composers.

talent, I

[Fifth

would compose a pianoforte piece for this

And Chopin

at once sat

down

at the pianoforte,

improvised the charming waltz in

has obtained the

name

of Valse

dog.'

du

D flat

and

(Op. 64), which

I do not

petit chien.

bring forward these pieces of information as weighty

show how little can be gathered

bearing on the sabject. Somewhat more important than
the two preceding stories is the following. One night,
when Chopin was playing a polonaise immediately after
having finished composing it, he saw the door open, and a
long train of Polish knights and ladies dressed in antique
costumes, enter through it and file past him. The vision
filled the composer with such terror that he fled through
the opposite door, and dared not return to the room the
whole night. The Polish artist Kwiatkowski, a friend
evidence, but rather to

of

the

two

composer's,

sketches

in

who painted a

oils

of

Chopin's indication,' entitling

told

me

that the polonaise

Op. 40, No.

water-colour and

scene

this
it

'

according

Le Reve de

was the one

in

to

Chopin,

major.

1.

Now, have we to conclude from the absence of titles

and programmes, and the dearth of other information,
that Chopin was a composer of the most absolute of
absolute music, that he never thought of anything but
the beauty and piquancy of the tonal combinations, and
that there is nothing whatever behind these combinations ?

we remember Balzac's saying that Chopin was less a

se rend sensible
if we remember
Liszt's remark that Chopin summed up in his imagination
If

musician than a soul qui

,-

a poetic sentiment inherent in his nation

if,

more

we remember the impressions received from

Chopin's works, it is impossible to come to such a
conclusion. As Chopin was a pre-eminently subjective,
especially,

;;

Peeiod.]

Chopin.

215

a pre-eminently lyrical composer, it may well be that in

many, perhaps even in the majority of cases his
compositions were exhalations of his moods, and in not
a few cases unconscious exhalations. The character of
some of his compositions, more especially his Nocturnes,
favours this view

but the character of others leads us

to suspect something very different.

It often

seems to

us that we follow trains of thought, hear passionate

monologues, and witness sympathetically realized scenes.

The

strongest impressions of passionate monologues

receive from the Scherzi.

And

in

them

Ballades, although not in those alone,

perceive the trains of thought.

ideas,

we cannot

fail to

The Ballades are

notable for a certain narrative tone.

we

as well as in the

also

Then'think of the

moods, pictures, and apparitions called up by the

In the Polonaises Chopin

becomes epic and dramatic they are historical and
grand in their threnodies and in their paeans
political
in their memories of misfortunes and their visions of

inimitably exquisite Preludes.

triumphs.

In them the composer transcends the limits

of his subjectivity

national egoism.
called

his individual

It is

egoism expands into

not without reason that Eubinstein

Chopin the pianoforte bard, rhapsodist, mind,

and soul; found in

romantic,

the

lyric,

his compositions the tragic, the

the

dramatic,

the psychic, the hearty, the

dreamy,

the

the

fantastic,
brilliant,

the grand, the simple, and every kind of expression;

saw in the A major Polonaise a picture of Poland's

greatness, and in the C minor Polonaise a picture of her
described the B flat minor Sonata as a complete
fall
drama, and heard in the last movement 'the nocturnal
;

whizzing of the wind over the graves in the churchyard

and says of the Etudes that they were without titles and
'

[Fifth

Three Pianist Composers.

216

programmes, but bore in themselves a world

of psychic

content.
Subjectivity

the beginning and end of Chopin.

is

Happily he not only subjectivates the

With Chopin music was a

objectivates the subjective.

To

passioscope.

the

fit

objective, but also

art

for

function,

this

He

materials had to be subtilized and sensitized.

its

who(

has studied the texture of the music of the great masters

knows what that means, and knows also how much

Chopin did for the development of music as an emotional
language.

We may

the extension of

say of the Polish master that by

its

vocabulary and phraseology

he

enabled the language of music to express an infinitude of

things that before had been inexpressible.

Chopin was

The

a soul-painter, chiefly and almost solely.

investigation yields

by analogy, and, moreover,

imitation

idealized.

The only traces discoverable are the rocking

Berceuse and Barcarolle, the dance rhythms
Mazurkas, Polonaises, Valses, &c., and
tion is

sujB&ciently

strictest

and that little

imitation (sound by sound),

of body-painting,

the most part not direct

is for

but

little

alert,

if

in the

in the

our imagina-

the clinking of

spurs,

the

and the tramping of horses in the

Mazurkas and Polonaises. The imitation of the graceful
rattling of sabres,

motions of the dancers

is

not only an idealization of the

material actual, but also a symbolization of spiritual

qualities.

As

soul-painter

What

respects unique.

Chopin

is

in

several

subtle shades in the incalculable

variety of states of the mind, whether serene or moody,

calm

or

ebullient!

agitated,
If

we

depressed

or

elated,

languid

fully realize the distinctness

or

of the

impressions we receive from Chopin's compositions and

at the

same time

realize the difficulty of describing

what

Period.]

we

feel,

Chopin Henselt.

217

Mendelssohn's remark as to the definiteness of

music and the indefiniteness of words may occur to us.

No one denies that Chopin was a tone-poet. But how
ould he bo that unless he had something to communicate, unless he had the power of moving souls as

What

well as of tickling ears ?

inevitably follows

is this.

Being a tone-poet, and as such having something to

communicate, Chopin must be in one way or another a
composer of programme music. Not, however, in the

way of Berlioz and Liszt, which he abhorred, nor in the

way of Schumann, whose warm sympathy he by no
means reciprocated. Chopin's way was his own
supremely individual and original way the way of the
delicate, passionate

dme

qui se rend sensible.*

Before proceeding to the sixth period of the history of

programme music,

must say a few words about two

other composers, one of

whom

is

ADOLPH HENSELT

Although not of the

xank of Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Chopin, and,
(1814-1889), the great pianist.

moreover,

the

productivity, he

and

very

may

reverse

of

refined writer of small titled

tone-poems.

Hence

voluminous

in

his

claim a place here as a prominent

and truly characteristic

I point out, not his Concerto

Trio, but his Frilhlingslied (Spring Song),

and

Wiegenlied

Poeme d' amour, La Gondola, among

other pieces, and especially his Studies, Op. 2 and 5,
each book containing twelve. The Studies of Op. 2 bear
Orage tu ne sauras m'abattre,'
French superscriptions
'Pensez un pen a moi,' 'Exauce mes voeux,' 'Eepos
(Cradle Song),

d'amour,'
*

The

'Vie orageuse,'

curious will find in

interpretations.
eonjectui'es.

'

my

Here we have

'Si oiseau j'etais a toi je

Life of Chopin numerous attempts at
deal with patent facts, not with

to

Three Pianist Composers.

218

'

Tu

m'attires, m'entraines,'

celeste,'

'Dors-tu

'

Jeunesse d'amour, plaisir

Comme le ruisseau
ma vie ?' and Plein

dans

'

5,

ten have

titles

(Witches' Dance), Ave Maria, Lost

Storm, Elfenreigen

after

la

mer

se repand,'

de soupirs, de souvenirs.'

'

Of the Studies, Op.

Song

des ailes dorees,'

'C'est la jeunesse qui a

volerais,'

[Fifth

Eroica, Hexentanz

Home, Thanksgiving

(Dance of the

Fairies),

Romance with Choral Refrain, Vanished Happiness, Love

Song, and Nocturnal Procession of Ghosts. We have
unfortunately no means of learning what were Henselt's
processes of composition; but we may confidently
affirm that his titles and compositions cover each other.
The former may, however, have been excogitated
The superscriptions

subsequently.

make one

suspect that there

may

of Op. 2 certainly

be fancy as well as

fact in the titles.

STEPHEN HELLEE
lacks the delightful

(c.

18.13-1888), said

Schumann,

euphony of Henselt, but he has more

Geist (genius, esprit), and, he might have added, a more

and original individuality. It

mention Schumann when speaking

distinct

to

were congenial

spirits.

is

impossible not

They

of Heller.

Both were under the

spell of

Jean Paul Eichter, living in his world of sentiment,

poetry,

and

congeniality

humour.
at

once

Schumann
after

reading

recognized

one

or

two

this
of

and compositions. Indeed, so impressed

was he by them, that he forthwith enrolled him, under
Heller's letters

the

name

of Jeanquirit, as a Davidsbiindler, a slayer of

the Philistines.

The dedication

of Heller's Op. 7 to

Liane von Froulay, a female character in the German

prose-poet's novel

Der

Titan, pleased

Schumann

greatly,

and reminded him of the intention of dedicating one of

his own compositions to Wina, another fascinating young

Period.]

HenseltHeller.

lady, in

Die Flegeljdhre.

correctly

Schumann gauged

It

219

truly wonderful

is

the very beginning of his career.

genuine artist-nature,

He

found him a

of invention,

full

how

the capacities of Heller at

imagination,

and humour, and a romanticist, but not of the

nihilistic and materialistic sort
on the contrary, natural
in feeling and clear in expression.
Looking at him from

wit,

our (the programmatic) point of view, Schumann notices

that there is something behind the notes, something in

namely,

the backgroimd

rather dawnlike, which

appear in a strange

a peculiar attractive twilight,

makes the

while Heller's execution

really firm figures

And he

light.'

is fine

are new, fantastic, and free.

and

notices too that

careful, his

Yes, there

is

forms

something

behind the tones.

But what

information than

supplied in the foregoing chapter on

is

is

it?

Without further

Schumann, we must be aware that the variety of

programmes is very great, that there are programmes
and of all degrees of
programmes adopted before
the act of composition. Of material tone-

of all degrees of consciousness,

spirituality

and

after

and

painting there
its

materiality,

is

hardly anything in Heller's mtisic, but

speaking nature must convince us that there

is

meaning in it. Moreover, I had from the composer's

o^ra mouth the information that in his compositions he
was incited and influenced by his reading and experiences.
In this connection it is worth repeating another remark
he made to me. He said I have spent more time in
Heller has
reading than in playing and composing.
:

been called the La Fontaine of music.

parallel as far as

may compare

it

goes, but

Heller with

the Fables, but not with

it is

It is

an excellent

decidedly partial.

La Fontaine

La Fontaine

We

the author of

the author of the

Three Pianist Composers.

220
Contes.

We may

careless

La

sybarite

and

of action

compare Heller with the easy-going,

who was

Fontaine,
sa

laisser couler

[Fifth

content to doucement

La Fontaine

the

Heller was a dreamer, not a

man

but not with

vie,

parasite.

a recluse, not a

man of society.

was his magnum honvm, and

the darling resources of his

Lidependence

literature, art,

and nature

life.

have what can rightly

programme
expressed
in words. The large
be called a
majority of them have not even titles, and the titles
we meet with are at best of a general nature, some of
them indeed being merely non-connotative names.
Several of his titles show his affinity to Schumann:

None

of Heller's compositions

Arabesques,

Novellette,

titles like

Dans

les

these

Scenes

d'enfant,

la

itself in

Scenes Pastorales, Eclogves, Bergeries,

The most famous

Bois.

Album,

His love of "nature reveals

jeunesse, &c., &c.

titles are

Promenades

d'un Solitaire of the three series of pieces Op. 78, 80,

and 89 Reveries du Promeneur, Op. 101 Nuits blanches,

of eighteen pieces, Op. 82 and lastly, Dans les Bois, of
the three series Op. 86, 128, and 136. The first two
are derived from Les Reveries dm Promeneur solitaire
;

of J. J. Eousseau,

who

calls the several chapters of this

supplement

of

Promenade.

Of these several

his

Confessions

the second and third of the

titles

those

of the

series

Dans

second,

first,

le

&e.,

of pictures only

Bois have individual

second book hint at Schumann's

Forest Scenes {Entrance, Forest-whispers, Hunter's Delight,

Solitary Flower,

Forest-Legend,

Chased

Squirrel,

and

Wandering homeward), and those of the third point

Weber's Freischiitz

(Max,

Agathe,

Caspar's

Aennchen and Agathe, and Wild Flowers).

interest

is

Op.

126,

three overtures

to

Strophe,

Of peculiar

for pianoforte,

Period.]

Heller.

221

and a comic opera.

programme occurs in connection with

respectively to a drama, a pastoral,

The most

detailed

the Etude, Op. 29, originally written for the

Methodes*

It

runs thus

fanfares eclatent

'
:

Messire

le

La

MHhode

meute est dichairde

as to definiteness and explicitness

Voyage autour de

ma

les

roi Philippe sur son ardent

coursier s'efforce a dissiperle chagrin que lui cause

de sa mie, Agnes de Meranie

des

.'

le

tripos

Quite the reverse

is th'e title of

Op. 140,

chambre, conveyed by the composer

from Xavier de Maistre's -well-known charming book.

Heller is especially famous for his Etudes and Preludes,
which could with equal propriety be called Po&sies. In
conclusion

Is Heller a composer of

Gentle reader,

the

reply

Programme Music ?
on your

depends entirely

definition of the term.

The account of the fifth period of the history of

Programme Music has now to be interrupted but it is
not yet concluded. As has already been explained, the
fifth period continues its course side by side with the
sixth, to which for a while we have to give our attention.
;

By MoBcheles and

F6tis, published in 1840.

[Sixth

BOOK

IV.

OTHEE FULFILMENTS.
CHAPTEE

I.

SIXTH PERIOD (from ABOUT THE FOUKTH DECADE OF THE

depaetuke feom the classical foems

and wideb scope of subjects.

19th obntuet)

BEELIOZ.

The inspiring geniuses

of

the

last

period,

which

opens ahout the fourth decade of the 19th century,

BEELIOZ (1803-1869), LISZT

EICHAED WAGNEE (1813-1883).

were

each other in their natures,

(1811-1886), and

Eadieally unlike

diverse

in their aims

and in their action on the development of the art,

they were nevertheless at one in their influence on
programme music, which through them became the
predominant genre of instrumental composition, indeed

most of what was subsequently

presented as absolute music was in reality but concealed
programme music.
This they accomplished by the!
so predominant that even

extension of the expressive power of the art

by

the

increase of the harmonic, rhythmical, and colouristic

means, by the freer treatment of form, and by the

widening of the scope of subjects.

Nothing

strikingly the dissimilarity of nature

discloses so

and diversity

of

aim

of these musical protagonists of the 19th century as their

opinions of each other.

Berlioz, Berlioz of

Wagner thought meanly of

of Liszt, who alone

Wagner, and both

On Progravime

Period.]

compeers.*

so important, influential,

and

with

223

own way and yet appreciate the ways of his

As the personalities of these three men are

could go his

fall

Music.

and extremely

careful consideration

BEELIOZ, who

Let us begin

called for.

is

not only the

is

interesting, a

first

horn of them,

who first made himself known as a

composer, and as a revolutionary composer too.
The preceding chapters must have convinced the

but also the one

reader that programme

music does not begin

Berlioz, that composers before

only occasionally and lightly,

seriously.

of the position of the

programme music
and

sorts;

with

and not
but even extensively and
cultivated

it,

This simplifies our inquiry, but does not solve

the problem with which

made

him

am

is

we have

to deal.
The question
French master with regard to
surrounded by prejudices of all

quite sure that the

remark which

as to the reader's conviction will be met by the

'But was not Berlioz the first who used

programmes?' The reply to this is, that he

interjection:
explicit

was neither the inventor,

nor, with one exception, a

user of explicit programmes.

tional case, the

Nay, ,even in the excep-

Symphonie fantastique, he attaches no

importance to the programme, and has no objection to

being disregarded.

its

Other prejudices afloat about Berlioz

are that his music is formless, or at least has a form

and that he
was the originator and proclaimer of a new system of comwholly different in kind from the classical
position opposed to the classical.
of these points leads to

Let us

first

careful examination

an extremely curious

inquire into Berlioz's opinions as to tone-

painting and the expressive powers of music.

likely to
*

result.

They are

prove positively startling to those imbued with

A^at

is

here said applies to them only as composers.

;;

224

[Sixth

Berlioz.

the popular notions about the master.

De

I'imitation musicale,

In his essay

which appeared in the Revue

Gazette musicale de Paris of January 1

and

8, 1837,

et

he

handles the subject with a severity that could not be

surpassed by an opponent of programme music.
articles in question are not

The

remarkable for literary or

philosophical excellence, but Cannot

fail to interest

as a confession of the master's faith.

His main authority

is

us

Giuseppe Carpani, the biographer of Haydn, who,

no authority at all on aesthetics. Lacepede

With Carpani, Berlioz distinguishes
physical (material) and sentimental (emotional) imitation.
The latter he regards as by far the more important
however,

is

also is alluded to.

imitation, in fact as the only really important imitation

and

in

it

music

is

and poetry. As
employment

superior to painting

to material imitation, Berlioz held that in its

there were four conditions to be observed.

be a means, but hardly ever an end

may

(1)

be a complement, but not the musical idea

(2) it

It

may

in other words,

it

itself

should not be employed except on subjects worthy

of the hearer's attention, at least in serious compositions

(3)

it is

admissible as a suggestion sufficiently faithful

to be understood, but not as a literal transcript, not as

and

substitution of nature for art;

(4) it

must not

arrogate to itself the place of emotional imitation, nor

display

its

to speak.

descriptive futilities

when passion

alone ought

how
The proposed

Berlioz is troubled by the question of

the soundless

is to

be expressed by tones.

solution that soundless things

for

instance, the dense-

ness of a wood, the freshness of a prairie, &c.

may be

expressed by expressing the emotional impressions they

make, does not quite

obscurity

of

satisfy

him.

wood makes,

he

The freshness and

remarks, different

On

Pekiod.J

the Expressional

Powers of Music.

226

impressions on the lover remembering happy or bitter

hours spent in it, on the hunter intent on the pleasures
of the chase,

on the timid young

ambush

the brigand lying in

wounded.

Berlioz

now

approaching

or dragging himself

it,

on

away

getting mixed in his reasoning.

is

But we must not tarry

concerns us

girl

What

to discuss the problem.

is Berlioz's opinions.

In the very much more valuable essay in which

Berlioz treats of the Alcestis of several poets and com-

posers (see his

travers Chant),

of Gluck's positions.
is

he controverts several

Berlioz maintains that expression

not the sole object of dramatic music, that

be.

it

would

both maladroit and pedantic to disdain the purely

sensuous pleasure which we find in certain

harmony,

melody,

rhythm,

or

effects of

instrumentation,

independently of their connection with the painting of

the sentiments and passions of the drama.

The claims

made for the purely sensuous hold good of course

with programme music as well as with the drama. No

here

doubt, the reader

overtures

remembers Gluck's remark about opera

that they ought to prepare the

spectator for

the action about to be represented, and to form, so to

speak,
'

its

argument.

In representing Gluck to have said

I'ouverture doit indiquer le sujet,' Berlioz hardly states

However, be this as

the case quite fairly.

Berlioz argues thus

'

it

may,

Musical expression cannot go so

can express (reproduire) joy,

sorrow, gravity, playfulness; it can mark a striking

far as that.

difference

vexation,

It certainly

between a queen's grief and a village

between

girl's

calm, serious meditation and the

ardent reveries that precede an outburst of passion.

Again, borrowing from different nations the musical

style that is proper to

them,

it

can make a distinction

226

[Sixth

Berlioz.

between the serenade of a brigand of the Abruzzi and

a Tyrolese or Scotch hunter, between the evening

that' of

march
of

and that

of pilgrims impregnated with mysticism

a troop of cattle dealers returning from the

fair

it

can

and the grotesque,

and candour. But if it tries
this immense circle, music

contrast extreme brutality, triviality,

with angelic purity, nobility

bounds of
must necessarily have recourse to words sung, recited,
or read to fill up the gaps left by its expressional means
in a work that addresses itself at the same time to the
Thus the overture to
intellect and to the imagination.
announce
scenes
of
desolation
and of tenderAlceste will
to overstep the

ness, but

it

cannot inform us either of the object of the

tenderness or of the cause of the desolation,

tell

it

the spectator that the husband of Alcestis

of Thessaly

never

a King
die unless some

condemned by the gods to

life to him
yet this is the

one gives his

piece.

will

Berlioz anticipated that

many

is

subject of the

readers would be

astonished at finding the author of the article imbued

with such principles, and explains that he had to thank

for this astonishijient certain people

pretended

to

believe

that

in

his

who

believed or

on the

opinions

expressive powers of music he exceeded the truth as

much

came short of
generously bestowed on him
as they

it,

and consequently had

their

own

full

share of

ridicule.

No one who has

studied Berlioz's instrumental com-

positions can have the least doubt that as regards form

the master followed in the

main the

lines of the classics,

that where he deviated from these lines he

to the principles that guided those

and

that, far

who

laid

still

adhered

them down,

from ever being formless, he never

failed in

securing clear structure, logical development, and internal

Period.]

Form

connection, -which

is

connection

is

of

them

Some

on the

of Berlioz's Overtures are

and only in one

classical form,

we unable to distinguish the orthodox

are

constituents

227

sure to be present where external

absent.

closely modelled

of his Music.

the

first

and second subject

in the usual

key-relation, the working-out section, the recapitulation,

and the

coda.
Strange to say, the one exception, Le
Camaval Remain, is the most popular and most highly
and universally appreciated of the overtures. If the

deviations

such as a short working-out section, a greatly

extended coda, the introductien of episodes, and the

placing of the second subject before the

(Benvenuto

recapitulation
justification,

the

it

quotation

for the

Cellini)

examples.

classical

precedence

of

in the

in need

easy to justify them

would be
of

stood

first

second

the

may

As

of

by

authority

subject even the

The first
and
in
a less
division of the Symphonie fantastique
degree that of Harold en Italic have more or less
pronouncedly some of the principal structural features
When a contributor to
form.
of the traditional
the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik accused Berlioz of

pre-eminent classic Mozart

formlessness,

Schumann, the

a footnote to this
discover so

much

effect

editor,
'

be

cited.

added to the

article

have not been able to

formlessness in Berlioz's music; on

the contrary, too often form without content.'

And

this

was the opinion of the Schumann of 1844, that is, the

mature Schumann, who had already composed the B flat
major symphony, the string quartets, the pianoforte
quintet and quartet, and Paradise and the Peri. Views
similar to Schumann's have been expressed by other
F.
notable musicians J. C. Lobe, W. Ambros,
Weingartner, and F. Draseke.

It is also

noteworthy

228

[Sixth

Berlioz.

that the conservative critic Hanslick, famous as one of the

most uncompromising opponents of Liszt and Wagner,

was an admirer

Lobe, who, although a

of Berlioz.

was a

perfervid supporter of the progressists of his time,

and teacher

follower of the classics as a (composer

of

composition, went so far as to describe Berlioz's form

as

grand, bold,

swinging, varied,

spiritually

appropriate, and technically as regular

(einheitlich) as

and harmonious

Beethoven's, and to say that he

in the structure of periods than many a

always

is clearer

modern composer.

But what made people think and speak of formlessness

there was none? Berlioz's compositions had much
about their structure and texture that was novel, and not
if

little

that was uncouth

it

was these things that misled

the cursory hearers, including nearly

his critics.

all

Perhaps the chief stumbling block in the way of just

appreciation was

the construction

rhythmical freedom in

the greater
of

phrases

and

periods,

in

which

symmetricalness was no longer supreme, and after-phrase

and after-period did not invariably correspond in rhythm

and number of bars to the fore-phrase and fore-period.

Be

it

noted that in the foregoing defence of Berlioz

nothing has been said of beauty of form.

respect the French romanticist

Indeed, in this

may have

short of his classical predecessors.

often fallen

Schumann, who,

in

his criticism of the Symphonie fantastique {Neue Zeitschrift

fur Musik, 1835),*

the

only thorough technical and

aesthetical

examination of any of the master's works ever

attempted

defends Berlioz against so many accusations

hurled against him, pointing out the good qualities of

his form, the pithiness of his
* I

say this with a

knowledge and appreciation

on the Harold Symphony.

full

respects excellent essay

harmony, and his sobriety

of Liszt's in

many

Was

Pbbiod.]

he the Originator of a

employment

in the

New System ?

229

of modulation, is not blind to the

frequent sharp projecting corners in the form, and the

awkwardness,
ugliness,

crabbedness,

and painfulness

We now come

vulgarity,

distortedness,

in his harmonies.

to the third prejudice, that of regarding

Berlioz as the originator and proclaimer of a

new system.

The master himself, however, nowhere pretends to have

and brilliant and voluminous
discovered new forms
;

writer though

he was, he never published a manifesto.

you scan his writings in search of his system, theory,

method, or doctrine, you will be disappointed. Berlioz
claims for himself nothing, prides himself on nothing,
but the grandeur, intensity, picturesqueness, and novelty

If

of his ideas,

and the

forcible

way

in

which he expresses

This aspect of the case deserves to be looked at

them.

more closely. In studying it we find that the

master had an absolute aversion to entering into a
discussion of his views on and position in the art.
a

little

In 1884, the Paris Menestrel published a letter of

Berlioz's, dated Leipzig, November, 1853,* which had

As
then changed hands at a public sale of autographs.
the
one
from
the content showed, it was a reply to

who wished Berlioz to

summary of his opinions on

editor of the Feuilles volantes,

contribute to this journal a

the musical art, on

its

present state, and on

its future.

and research evinced that the editor

in question was J. C. Lobe, and the journal, Fliegende
Blatter fOr Musik (1856-1857). In the Flying Leaves,
vol. i., p. 296 (1855), we find the letter in the original
French and in a German translation, superscribed Mein
little reflection

Glaubensbekenntniss

amusing to see the

*

(My Confession
efforts

of Faith).

which Berlioz makes

That was the date given in the paper.

It

is

to write

230

[Sixth

Berlioz.

something -without saying anything.

few extracts

giving the gist of the letter will suffice for our purpose.
'

What you

call

upon me

to publish is

simply an authentic profession of faith

my

Is

had the misfortune to write, in what I have done and in what I have
not done
Music is the most poetic, the
most powerful, the most living of all the arts. It ought
to be also the most free
still, it is not so as yet.
Hence our griefs as artists, our obscure devotions, our
not

profession of faith in all I have

our despairs, our aspirations unto death.

lassitudes,

Modern music, music (I do not speak of the

name that one meets with everywhere),
in some respects, is the antique Andromeda, divinely
beautiful and nude, whose glances of flame are decom.

courtesan of this

posed in multi-coloured rays in passing through the

prism of her

Enchained on a rock on the shore

whose waves come beating and covering

tears.

of the vast sea,

her beautiful feet with slime, she awaits the victorious

Perseus,

who

is

to break her chain

and dash to pieces

the Chimera called Eoutine, whose jaws menace her

while shooting forth clouds of poisonous vapour.'

More informing are

certain passages of a letter printed

in the Postscriptum of the Memoires de Hector Berlioz,

and originally addressed

to a

gentleman who intended

to write the composer's biography.

yet said anything technical about

and perhaps you wish some

Generally

my

style is bold,

I notice I

'

details

but

have not

my manner of writing,
it

on that

subject.

has not the

least

tendency to destroy anything whatever of the constitutive

elements of the
increase the

art.

number

On

the contrary, I endeavour to

of these elements.

never dreamt,

as people in France foolishly pretended, of composing

Period.]

The Dominant

Qualities ofhis Music.

music without melody.

Germany, and
qualities

abhor

my

of

This school

exists

now

in

The dominant

it

music

231

are

passionate

expression,

inward ardour, rhythmical animation, unexpectedness

(I'imprevu).

When

I say passionate expression, I

mean

expression intent on reproducing the intimate sense of

the subject, even where the subject

is

the contrary of

and where soft, tender sentiments and the

utmost calm have to be expressed
It may
be well to point out to you an order of ideas into which
no modern composer except myself has penetrated,
and of which the ancients did not foresee the extent. I
mean those enormous compositions which certain critics
designated by the name of architectural or monumental
passion,

These are my Symphonie funebre et triomphdle,

two orchestras and chorus ; the Te Devm, of which
the finale (" Judex crederis ") is without doubt my
music.

for

greatest production

the

cantata for

two

L'Imperiale, executed at the concerts of

de rindustrie in 1855

and

choruses,

the

Palais

especially the Requiem.'

Berlioz remarks that those works in which he has

use of extraordinary
exceptions are

many and

consideration the

However,

let

means

are exceptional

of vast extent

number and length

if

made

but the

we take

into

of his compositions.

us allow Berlioz to state his case without

interruption.

'

In

my

Requiem, for example, there are

four orchestras of brass instruments^ separated one from

the other, and dialoguing at a distance, placed around

the grand orchestra and the

Te Deum

it is

mass

of the voices.

In the

the organ which from one end of the

church converses with the orchestra of two choirs placed

at the other end,

and with a third very numerous choir

in unison, representing in the ensemble the congregation

232

[Sixth

Berlioz.

that takes part from time to time in the vast sacred

But

concert.

it is

especially the

form of these

pieces,

the largeness of the style, and the formidable slowness

of certain progressions,

that

give

whose

works

these

to

aim

final

form

is

another reason

stand nothing at

all,

why

gigantic

The enormous

physiognomy, their colossal aspect.

of this

not divined,

is

strangely

their

people either under-

overwhelmed by a

or are

size

terrible

emotion.'
'

As

to

my

compositions conceived in the ordinary

had recourse

proportions, and for which I

tional

means,

expression,

it is

and

to

no excep-

precisely their internal ardour, their

their rhythmical originality

which have

done them the most harm, because of the execution

In order to render them well, the

which they demand.

executants, and especially the conductor,

me.

An

must

extreme precision, united with an

verve, a regulated fire, a

feel like

irresistible

dreamy sensibility, a distempered

melancholy, so to speak, are required, without which

traits

An

de mes figures are altered or completely effaced.'

earlier

worthy.

passage in the same

'I have

against

me

letter, too, is note-

the professors of the

Conservatoire, instigated by Cherubini and Fetis, whose

self-love

has been violently hurt and whose faith has

been shocked by

my

monic and rhythmic

or, rather, I

am

heterodoxy in the matter of hartheories.

am an

infidel in music,

of the religion of Beethoven, Weber,

Gluck, and Spontini,

who

believe, profess,

and prove by

their works, that everything is good or everything

is

bad

the effect produced by certain combinations deciding

alone whether they are to be condemned or absolved.'

On

one occasion, however, Berlioz comes very near

revealing what he regarded as being his position in

His Conservatism.

Pebiod.]

233

music, indeed very near what might be called a manifesto

and this occasion was his criticism of the concerts given

by Wagner in Paris in 1860 (see his article on Concerts
'

de Eichard Wagner

La musique

de

I'avenir,'

in his

book A travers Chants). Here the profound conservatism

of the reputed revolutionist Berlioz

unmistakably.

Whilst

greatest composer of.

manifests

proclaiming

modern

the

times, he deplores the

He

unfortunate tendencies of Wagner's system.

Wagner

itself

Beethoven

allows

the possession of the rare intensity of feeling,

the inward ardour, the will power, and the faith that

move and carry away; but holds that these

would have greater eclat if they were joined

qualities

more

to

invention, less far-fetchedness, and a juster appreciation

of certain constitutive elements of the art.

Wagner and

his

He reproaches

School with not taking account of

sensation, with seeing only the poetic or dramatic idea

to be expressed,

without troubling themselves as to

whether the expression of this idea obliges the composer

But Berlioz had a

had been
in
Germany
which
were
him
not his, and

to overstep the musical conditions.

personal

complaint

attributed to

make.

to

Opinions

he had been the object of praises which he thought he

He

could not but regard as insults.

protests against his

inclusion in the School of the Music of the Future.

declares that he agrees with that School

that the music of to-day

is

if its

emancipated, free

He

code says

that

many

by careless observers and followers

no longer binding that various forms are

old rules, formulated

of routine, are

too hackneyed to be

still

admissible

good or bad according to the use that

the reason that leads to

its

use

that everything
is

made

of

it,

is

and

that in the union of

tones and words the music should be in keeping with the

234

[Sixth

Berlioz.

feeling expressed

the idea

is

and the personage expressing

it

that

higher than the sound, and the sentiment and

passion higher than the idea.

On

the other hand, he

does not agree with the School

if its

code says that you

must do the contrary

of

what the rules teach

that people

are tired of melody, of melodic design, of arias, duets,

kios,

and pieces with a regularly developed theme,

of

consonant harmonies, simple dissonances, prepared and

managed;
account the idea and not

resolved, of natural modulation artistically

that one has only to take into

to

pay the

slightest attention to the sensation

that the

ear should be despised and brutalized in order to subdue

the object of music being by.no

means to be agreeable
no respect should be paid to the art of singing, nor
thought given to its nature and exigencies that in opera
the composer must confine himself to noting the
it,

that

,-

declamation, even should he have to employ the most

unsingable, absurd, and ugly intervals

witches in Macbeth are right

'

Fair

that, in fact, the

is foul,

and

foul is

fair.'

The declaration of which I have given an abbreviated

and condensed report cannot but be startling to those
under the sway of the traditional popular opinion, which
sees in Berlioz the subverter of all he found established

and respected in his

art.

Who,

indeed, could help being

in the highest degree astonished at his denunciation of

the very things of which he had himself been accused ?

After reading

13ie

excerpts just quoted

we

standing before us a thorough conservative,

see Berlioz

a follower

of Beethoven, Weber, Gluck,

and Spontini ; an opponent

Liszt and their
advocate of euphony and simplicity

of the progressive party, of

following;

the

Wagner and

of melody, of self-contained, regularly developed forms.

His Musical Training.

Peeiod.J
the

enemy

of

all

that

235

awkward, unnatural, and

is

ugly, the respecter of rules, except those that are the

outcome of shortsightedness.

But do
clear ?

Berlioz's

Not at

all.

For

confounded.

declarations make his position

They rather make confusion worse

his dicta contradict his acta

acta contradict each other.

and his

In short, Berlioz was not

only paradoxical, but, as Saint-Saens says, un paradox

fait

homme.

his works

Whatever were his

Undoubtedly a

man

of genius, he certainly

The causes

number,

and

principles,

indeed from those of any other composer.

classics, as

classic.

beliefs

certainly differed greatly from those of the

his

of

his

defects

was not a

were

four

in

character as a man, the nature of his

musical disposition, his training and opportunities, and

the tendencies of the French romanticism of his time.

To take up first the third of the causes. Berlioz had

no musical opportunities until at the age of eighteen,
towards the end of 1821, he left his small native town of

La Cote-Saint-Andre and went

medicine.

His

to Paris for the study of

musical training as a composer, or

indeed as a musician, began later

began,

it

still;

and when

it

was, on the one hand, unmethodical, as he

harmony, and especially that

of counterpoint and fugue ; and, on the other hand, was
disliked the school-work of

influenced by his favourite master, Lesueur, a disparager

whose bent and predilection, as we have

already seen, was for the expressive, imitative, and

of fugues,

picturesque in music.
his

By

Les Revolutionnaires

characterizes

the

the way. Octave Fouque, in

de

la

relationship

Musique,

between

amusingly

master

and

Berlioz is nothing else but a

by two epigrams
Lesueur
an ineffectual Berlioz
Lesueur,
and
successful

disciple

'

236

[Sixth

Berlioz.

(Berlioz manque).'

'If Berlioz is God,

Berlioz's models

was assuredly his prophet.'

Lesueur

among

the

Weber, Gluck, and

great composers were Beethoven,

They were, however, models which he but very

partially imitated.
He made the acquaintance of some
of their works soon after he came to Paris, was profoundly
impressed by them, and conceived for their authors a
Spontini.

passionate admiration that passed into worship.

These

For Palestrina, Bach, and

Handel he had no understanding ; of Haydn and Mozart
he speaks rarely and none of his contemporaries gained
were

masters

gods.

his

his sympathies, although he regarded the craftsmanship

The consequence
not going through a regular course of studies and
of

Mendelssohn with respect.

of his
of not

mastering the traditional style before gradually evolving

a style of his own, was that his music had almost always

something angular in

its

day Gounod exclaimed

Berlioz

made,

'

And

calls

it

structure and texture.

'

Saint-Saens, to

profound.

Saint-Saens explains

it

One

homme elegant que

whom the remark was

Quel

It certainly is

by saying

not obvious.

The elegance of
in his clumsy and
'

Berlioz does not appear at

first

sight

awkward

it is

hidden in the woof, one

style of writing

might say in the

flesh itself, of his

work ; it exists, in a
which could not

latent state, in his prodigious nature,

injure

any other by comparison, as no other could be

compared to

it.'

Gounod's remark,

As
was

If this
it

explanation does not justify

at least supports mine.

to the second cause, Berlioz's musical disposition

reflective

rather than spontaneous, declamatory

(even in its melodiousness) and descriptive rather than

lyrical,

and rhythmical and especially colouristic rather

Genius though he was^ the talent given

than harmonic.

Period.] Musical Disposition

him

Character as a Man.

237

from that given to Mendelssohn and in a still

higher degree to Mozart.
These two composers were
differs

specifically musical,

from

source

its

it

^musio flowed from them as a brook

was

was

different.

make him

It

mother tongue, which they

their

spoke without the least

effort.

With Berlioz the case

needed a strong, external stimulus to

conceive and bring forth, to

make him

evolve

musical thoughts and tones for their expression. Certain

me

words spoken by Wagner would seem to

even more

mouth of the French than

German composer
Unless the

appropriate in the

mouth

of the

me,

absorbs

cannot

in the
subject

twenty

produce

worth

bars

listening to.'

The

principal cause, however,

was the character

of

the man, which not only was the prompter and moulder
of his

productions,

artistic

but

training and the nature of his

'

What an unhappy

exclaims,

'

am

'

One day

devils,

my

if I

'

life,

and dreaming

nerves, bored,

Berlioz

again:

another

feeling like a

as mischievous as a thousand

and ready

had not always a

nearest prospect
friends,

my

peevish,

vomiting

nothing,

And

devouring thoughts.'

well, calm, poetizing,

dog,

have

a real barometer, now high, now low,

day suffering from

mangy

organization

his

disposition.

variations of the brilliant or sombre

subject to the

atmosphere of

influenced

also

musical

a bizarre

music, and lastly

to put

an end to

it

for

delirious happiness in the

destiny to accomplish, true

curiosity.

me much

My

(June

life

is

12,

1833).

him

better

romance that interests

Indeed, his was not a normal healthy nature, but an
eccentric morbid one. He had fierce and uncontrollable
passions, and an unbalanced, unbridled mind, was mad
rather than sane.

No

'

epithet characterizes

238

Berlios.

than the word volcanic'

[Sixth

His words and acts as a

'

man

were volcanic, and so were also his achievements as an

artist

in fact, the history of his

consists of a series

life

Innumerable passages of his

of eruptions.

letters prove

and conclusively, but even a few extracts

enable us to form an idea of the character of the man.

this strikingly

me unexpectedly

Shakespeare falling upon

'

like

a thunderbolt

me

of art with a sublime crash, illuminated to

was

that I

My heart

is

alive,

and must

rise

and march.'

the centre of a horrible conflagration

a virgin forest which lightning has set on

is

time to time the

.

fire

seems

another outburst,

the most

I saw, comprehended,

beauty, true dramatic truth.

'

me

I recognized true grandeur, true

distant profundities.

felt,

struck

his lightning, in opening the heaven

it

from

then a gust of wind,

lulled,
.

fire

the cry of the trees

breaking down in the flame reveal the terrible power of

the devastating scourge.'

He
'

of the

writes

infernal passion

whom more
'

for

'

me

Miss

revive on

(February

his

6,

1830).

Thereupon,

Terrible cries of Henrietta.

seeing her
.

of

Smithson, of

with not loving her.

Atrocious laughter on

of his love,

'

Henrietta

answered her by poisoning myself

tired of all this, I

before her eyes.

Emetic

infinitude

will be said presently

She reproached

despair

'

'

terrible

my

Sublime
Desire to

part.

protestations

of

love.

(August 80, 1833).

Quite in accordance with the man, we find the artist

Berlioz frantically intense, bent on the

picturesque,

short

sensational.

grandiose,
'

Terrible

'

colossal,

and

'

terrible,

frightful

'

in

are favourite words of his

in describing the effect of his works.

symphony

of

Of a descriptive

Faust fermenting in his head he says:

The

Period.]
'

want

to

it

overture to Les

ManFrench

of the

musical world

Francs-Juges

...

so terribly frightful.

is

the

terrify

239

Romanticism.

he

asserts

'

of

'

the

Nothing

the fire of hell dictated

Tuba mirum and other

parts of the Requiem

he mentions the terrible cataclysms,' the foudroyant
effect, and the
horrible grandeur.'
it

'

'

'

'

'

One
for

it

characteristic of Berlioz has yet to be pointed out,

plays as notable a part in his art as in his

life,

namely, his love of attitudinizing and striving after

effect.

still

think that what I once wrote in regard to

this matter is not in

does not for a

moment

any way exaggerated.

Berlioz

forget that he is in the presence

an audience, though the audience may be his most

intimate friend. His supreme endeavour is always to
make himself interesting, and to set the world agape.
To effect this he unhesitatingly sacrifices truth, friendship, the sanctities of love, and all that is noble and
of

beautiful.

There remains

still

the fourth cause, the tendencies of

the French romanticism of his time.

This was not one

most powerful factors in the moulding of Berlioz
the artist, but it was a notable one.
It certainly
reinforced certain natural tendencies of the man. He
belongs, however, not to the early generation of French
romanticism, that of Chateaubriand and Madame de
Stael, but to the later generation, that which arose in
the third decade of the 18th century and of which Victor
of the

Hugo was

the most characteristic, powerful, and glorious

representative.
least in his

Indeed, Berlioz used to be called, at

younger days, the Victor Hugo of music, and

become the Victor Hugo

music was certainly one of

the ambitions of his youth. In the prefaces to some of the
poet's dramas he must have found much that was entirely
to

of

240

[Sixth

Berlioz.

For instance, the passage in that

mind.

to his

Cromwell (1827), where Victor

Hugo

matters of thought as in other matters.

down the hammer,' he

systems.

writes,

'

to

asks for liberty in

'

Let us bring

on theories,

poetics,

and

Let us tear down the old lath and plaster that

masks the faQade

And how

of art.'

last division of the

the author of the

Symphonie fantastique (the Dream

of

a Witches' Sabbath) and the author to be of the last

Orgy of the Brigands),

and certain portions of the Damnation de Faust, must
have rejoiced over Victor Hugo's rehabilitation of the
ugly of physical deformity in Le Boi s' amuse (1832),
division of Harold en Italie (the

and

of

moral deformity in Lucrezia Borgia (1833).

love of the picturesque, the fantastic,

and the

intense,

in the most exaggerated degrees

and forms, Berlioz had

in common with the contemporary French literary and

And it was these qualities alone

him and them to the plays of Shakespeare,
the Faust of Goethe, and to the works of some

artistic romanticists.

that attracted
to

minor
*

deities of his.*

The most important documents

and his letters,

are his WIemoires

for the study of Berlioz's character

especially the Lettres intimes, the

Correspondance mgdite, and Lettres

Wittgenstein.

la

Frincesse Carolyne Sayn-

Edmond Hippeau's Berlioz intime

to sift Berlioz's contradictory data.

minded biography.

The

latest

(new edition, 1889)

Adolphe JuUien has furnished a

writers are hero-worshippers:

tries
fair

Julien

Temps (1904) and Adolphe

Tiersot looks upon
the Memoires as perfectly faithful documents, holds that the predominant
quality of Berlioz as a man and as an artist was sincerity, and sees in
the many glaring contradictions of the Memoires and letters only apparent
contradictions.
It may be true that Berlioz never made an intentional
misrepresentation but, as Tiersot states himself, Berlioz was often the
victim of his imagination, which was the mistress of his acts and got the
better of his reason ^his passionate, fiery temperament exaggerates
everything his enthusiasms, ironies, loves, and hatreds vibrate in his
Tiersot in his Hector Berlioz et la Sociite de son

Boschot in his

La

Jeunnesse d'un Bomantique (1906).

writings.

His Instrumental Works.

Period.]

241

Having made ourselves acquainted with the character

man and artist, we are at last in a position to
examine his works profitably. The Requiem, L'Enfance
du Christ, Le Cinq Mai, the operas, and other vocal
of the

compositions do not concern us here, with two exceptions,

however

Romeo

et Juliette, in

element predominates, and

which

which the symphonic

La Damnation

de Faust, in

Although

of considerable importance.

it is

dis-

regarding so much, I do not undervalue the powerfully

expressive and descriptive character of the instrumental

accompaniments of the vocal works.

There remain then

for consideration only eight overtures, the Symphonic

fantastique, with its sequel the

monodrama

Lelio, the

symphony Harold en Italie, the dramatic symphony

Romeo et Juliette, and the dramatic legend La Damnation
de Faust.

Another work that

the Symphonie funebre

may

perhaps be added

et triomphale,

is

a ceremonial rather

And we must at
mention No. 3 of Les Tristes (Tristia), La Marche
funebre pour la derniere scene d' Hamlet (Paris, September
than a programmatic composition.
least

22, 1848), a little

known

describes as full of sobs,

composition, which Tiersot

panting, and heart-rending.

Of the eight overtures, four are written

to operas,

and

the others derive their titles respectively from two novels

by Byron, and a tragedy by

Shakespeare. These compositions have no other programme than that indicated by their titles consequently
the programme, if we may speak of one, can neither be
On turning from the titles
called explicit nor definite.
to the contents, we discover that Berlioz nowhere
by

Scott, a verse-romance

attempts to

tell

the story, nor, as a rule, lays himself

out to depict scenes and to enter into particulars, but

usually confines himself to the rendering of general

242

[Sixth

Berlioz.

In

impressions and to the painting of characters.

fact,

the overtures of Beethoven and Mendelssohn are just as

much programme music as those of Berlioz

may even say that the former composers (for

nay, we
instance,

Egmont and the great Leonore, in the Midsvmmer

Night's Dream, Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, and
in

Hebrides) went considerably farther than the French

master.
I said

that the overtures had no other programmes

than those indicated by the titles.

In one case, however,

this is not quite correct, for the Ouverture de Waverley,

composed in 1827-1828 and first performed in

1828, has a motto as well as a title ; but, as you will

Op.

2,

see, it is of
'

a very general nature

[While] dreams of love and lady's charms

Give place to honour and to arms.'

These
'

are

the concluding lines of the hero's

poem

Mirkwood Mere,' in the fifth chapter of Walter Scott's

The first line indicates the contents of the

Waverley.

The

slow introduction, the second that of the Allegro.

overture reflects the chivalry of Weber.

Form, rhythm,

and harmony are simple

the musical ideas for the
most part without distinction and even downright
commonplace.
;

In the Owcertwre des Francs-Juges, Op.

1827-1828, performed in 1828,

3,

composed in

we have a more important

and characteristic work. It is unquestionably powerful,

but also youthful and crude. Schumann appropriately
described

it

overture

has

as

'

uncouthly Polyphemish.*

much more

Waverley, the composer

predecessors,

form.

So

no

much

less

so

in

of Berlioz

still

Although
about

it

this

than

keeps in touch with his

melody and rhythm than

indeed

that

it

is

difficult

in
to

Francs-Jiiges.

Peeiod.]

Waverley

understand now

why

243

the contemporaries objected to

it

and were so shocked by it. Eemarks in

Berlioz's letters throw some light on the intentions he
had in writing this overture, which was to open an opera
so strongly

(never finished) for which his bosom friend Humbert

Ferrand had furnished the libretto.
Nothing is so
'

terribly
.

despair, the

is

hymn

Les Francs-Juges

overture

to despair, but the

most desperate

most desperate despair imaginable, horrible

...

and tender
the

my

as

frightful
It is

human

In short,

it is

frightful

All that

heart can contain of rage and tenderness

The composer

in the overture.'

gives

an amusing

account of the convulsive impression produced on him

and others by a performance.

Forgetting that

it

was

own work, he exclaimed

How monstrous, colossal,
and horrible it is
Be it understood, these were words

his

'

'

of admiration.

movement

Lobe interprets the introductory slow

as follows.

(I

condense his remarks.)

An

accused, with his eyes bound, is led before the Francs-

Juges (judges of the Vehmic Tribunal, Vehmrichter).

He

stands there in anguish, hardly daring to breathe (bars

1-6).

On

the removal of the bandage from his eyes,

dismay seizes him at the horrible sight

(7-12).

He

trembles (violins 8-12), considers himself lost (13-19).

His self-commiseration in his unmerited position. The

terrible accusations of the judges in a mighty chorus.
Between them the appeals for mercy by the prisoner,
always interrupted by the thundering
until finally

and

terrified

We

'

no of the chorus,
'

he breaks down, timidly resigned, exhausted,

by his

fruitless attempts.

on the Ouverture du
Corsaire, inspired by Byron's verse-romance The Corsair.
It is one of Berlioz's less successful works, and hardly
need not dwell

at great length

244

[Sixth

Berlioz.

The master must have felt this himself;

for although the work was written in 1831, it was not
heard until, after being retouched, it was performed in
April, 1855.
In connection with this overture we must
ever played.

remember what Berlioz

weather at

Eome he

relates of

how during

of the confessionals of St. Peter's with a

in his pocket.
I followed

Corsair;

'

the hot

enjoyed ensconcing himself in one

volume of Byron

devoured at leisure this ardent poetry

through the waves the daring course of the

I profoundly admired this character, at the

same time inexorable and tender, pitiless and generous,

a strange compound of two opposed sentiments, hatred
of the species and love of a woman.'
The next overture, the Ouverture du Roi Lear (composed
in 1831, performed and published in 1840), Op. 4, is
again a work that arrests our attention, a poetic
conception that cannot

fail to stir

the imagination of the

Hanslick remarks that

hearer mightily.

it

'

captivates

by a trait of grandeur and pathos which now and then

reminds one of Beethoven. Low, touching complaints
and

shrill cries of

striking truth.'

despair speak here to the hearer with

But he adds also: 'Nevertheless the

whole has rather a strange and disturbing

SBsthetically gratifying

and edifying one.

effect

than an

As

most of
in Lear

in

his works, especially the earlier ones, there lies

the forced, the hollow, and even the trivial close beside the

most powerful impulses. A passionately stirred inner life

leads here to violently moving exclamations, but to no
connected speech.'

Interpretations by intelligent, sober-

minded, and competent men, although we

may not look

upon them as authoritative, are always interesting.

The excellent composer Felix Draseke sees in the introductory slow movement, which he regards as the best

Pebiod.J

Corsair

King LearRob-Boy

part, the opening scene between

and sees
would be

245

Lear and his daughters,

represented with such distinctness that

it

difficult to give to

He

pretation.

it

the music any other inter-

hears in the double-bass motive the

voice of the king, in the higher repetitions of the motive

the flattering hypocritical voices of Goneril and Began,

melody

tender maidenly
and in the following
In
outbreak of the orchestra the anger of Lear.
Berlioz's writings no hint is to be found as to the

in the later

peculiar

character, the voice of Cordelia

meaning

May

of the overture, but in one of his letters (Nice,

1831) there

6,

On

origin.

of a

his

is

a passage which

way from Eome,

us of its

tells

shortly before, he had

been detained by a sore throat at Florence ' On the

banks of the Arno, in a delightful wood a mile from the
town, I passed whole days in reading Shakespeare. It
was there I read for the first time King Lear, and this
:

work of genius made

tion

I thought

me

utter exclamations of admira-

I should burst

with enthusiasm, I

rolled about in the grass, rolled about convulsively to

satisfy

my

...

transports

have almost finished

the overture of King Lear,- only the instrumentation

remains to be completed.'
The Ouverture de Rob-Roy, composed in 1831, described

by Berlioz as long and diffuse, once performed, badly

received by the audience, and burnt by him on the same
day, need not detain us ;* and the same may be said of
the last of the master's overtures, that to his comic opera
Beatrice et Benedict (the libretto after Shakespeare's

Much Ado
important.

about Nothing), which

But we

is

one of the

less

must tarry for a while over the

of the overture was not a thorough performance, for the work has in recent years been both published and
played. Elsewhere he calls the music of Rob-Roy bad.
*

The composer's burning

[Sixth

246

Berlioz.

two overtures to the

semi-serious

second

the

Cellini,

Bomain, was
first

first

of

opera

Le Carnaval

which, entitled

performed in 1844,

six years after the

When

performance of the opera.

Benvenuto

the latter was

brought to a hearing in London, the Ca/rnaval was

Both overtures rank with

played before the second act.

the best of the master's works.

There are excellent judges who value more highly the

original Cellini overture
it

is

rarely performed,

universal favour.

than the

but for

later,

that

all

whereas the Carnaval enjoys

As comparisons

of dissimilar things

are idle and even mischievous, I shall not imitate those

who indulge
all will

in them.

composition,
full

of the

movement,
Saltarello

full of

Eomain

maddest gaiety and

Allegro

vivace,

is

The

bustle.

based

on

principal

the

lively

danced in the Piazza Colonna in the second

formal feature of these two

two of the preceding overtures

of

a wonderful

is

the most brilliant light and colours,

act of Benvenuto Cellini.

and

Speaking, however, absolutely,

agree that Le Carnaval

may

deserve

namely,

two introductory movements, one

quick and one slow. The former, which anticipates the
mention,

first

subject of the principal Allegro, is soon interrupted

by the

latter,

course of the
Cellini).

a motive of which

main movement

may

reappear in the

{Corsaire,

and Benvenuto

Let us not overlook the finer workmanship,

the more masterly form, the choicer content, and the

unsurpassable instrumentation of the Benvenuto Cellini

overture and the Carnaval Bomain.

Thus far we have not discovered anything epochmaking in Berlioz as a composer of programme music.
The state of matters is different in the works to which
we have now to give our attention. Of these, the

Pbeiod.] Carnavcd

CeUini Symphonie fantastique.

247

no doubt produced the greatest sensation, and

to it, rightly or wrongly, the composer is indebted for
the popular beliefs about him. The work alluded to is
earliest

the Episode de la Vie d'lm

in five parts.

The

artiste,

Symphonie fantastique

conception, composition, and

first

a period of more than two years.

was conceived in June, 1829, composed in March-May,

final revision covered

It

1830, performed on December

5,

1830, retouched and

partly re-written, especially the Scene

aux

Champs,

during the next two years, performed again on December

9, 1832, published in a pianoforte arrangement by Liszt

and in score in 1846, and played under the

composer's conductorship at Brussels and several
German towns in 1842-1843. The reader will appreciate
in 1834,

the importance of these dates

they are of real historical,

not merely of biographical interest.

To understand the

nature and history of the work two love

be at least briefly alluded

to.

affairs

have to

In September, 1827, a

London company opened in Paris a season of English

drama, with such success as to enable them to prolong
it till the end of July, 1828.
Among the members was
the Irish actress Miss Harriet Smithson, who in the
following years
capital.

returned

repeatedly

to

The impression she made on the

the

French

public by her

impersonations of Ophelia, Juliet, Cordelia, &c.,

without

exaggeration

be

described

as

may

phenomenal.

Her impression upon the poets, novelists, painters, and

sculptors, more especially those of the romantic school;
was even stronger and deeper than upon the general
public.

Berlioz,

fascination

in

No man was

too,

short,

ever

soon

felt

the

power of her

he came, saw, and was conquered.

more

in love with a

Berlioz with Miss Smithson.

He

woman than was

wrote letters to her

248

[Sixth

Berlioz.

and

Not the

called at her house, but in vain.

least

encouragement would she vouchsafe him.

And

was fluctuating between hope and

Then, before

leaving in spring, 1829, she

message

There

'

is

despair.

him

left

yet he

crushing

this

nothing more impossible.'

In a

August 21, 1829, he speaks of the new pangs

of my despised love (English), and of his heart being the

letter of

'

'

And on February

focus of a horrible conflagration.

1830, he writes

a few

'

Oh, malheureuse

moments conceive

of such a love, she

my

she to die in

mencing
artiste),

my

have

cannot write anything

solation, however,
calls

my

arms, even were

was on the point

where the development of

to be depicted

was

my

infernal passion

completely in

it
.

at hand, for

learned to

for Mile. Camille

my

head, but

attendons.'

of com-

de la Vie d'un

now

this

whom

Moke,

con-

intervened what

'a violent distraction,' his love

requited love

name.

the infinitude,

all

symphony (Episode

great

is

he

fly into

embrace.

6,

she could but for

if

the poetry,

all

would

time a

the world

know as a pianist virtuosa under her marriage

now became Berlioz's

This Sylph, this Ariel,

muse and the goddess

Towards the end

boundless

of his

of 1830,

on his gaining the prix de

Rome, the two lovers became engaged.

his arrival in

adoration.

Eome Mme. Moke

But soon

after

informed him of her

daughter's marriage with Camille Pleyel, the musician

and pianoforte maker.

followed

The rage and madness that

may be easily imagined. The stirred-up volcano

threatened murder and suicide.

balm with

it

Time, however, brought

on this occasion.

also

When on

his

return to Paris, in the latter part of 1832, Berlioz

again saw Miss Smithson, the old passion got hold

of

him once more

and

after

many

struggles, caused

;:

Period.]

Programme of Symphoniefantastique.

249

by the opposition of the parents on both sides, and

the vacillation of Harriet, they were married on
October

3,

1833.

The programme

of the Symphonie fantastique, an

and the only explicit one, underwent several
changes, none of them, however, vital. There were at

explicit one,

From
now

least three different versions.

versions

we

what

see that

originally the third division, that

preceded the Bal.

We

how

in

which

I have
it

woven

will not

my
be

is,

these

first of

the second was

the Scene aux Champs

find the first version in a letter of

April 16, 1830, addressed to

is

the

is

Humbert Ferrand

romance, or rather

difficult for

you

'

Here

my history,

to recognize the

hero.

'An

artist gifted

with a lively imagination, finding

himself in that psychical state which Chateaubriand has

so admirably described in Rene, sees for the first time a

woman who

realizes the ideal beauty

and

loveliness his

heart had long desired, and falls desperately in love with

her.

Strangely enough the image of her he loves never

presents itself without the accompaniment of a musical

thought in which he finds a character of grace and

nobleness similar to that which he attributes to the loved
object.

This double idee fixe pursues

him

incessantly

this is the reason of the constant appearance, in all the

symphony,

divisions of the

the
'

of the principal

melody

of

first Allegro.

After a thousand agitations, he conceives some hope

he believes himself loved.

Being one day alone in the

country, he hears from afar two shepherds dialoguing a

ranz de vaches
reverie.

him into a delicious

a moment across the

this pastoral plunges

The melody reappears

motives of the Adagio.

for

250
'

[Sixth

Berlioz.

He

divert

is

present at a

him

the tumult of the fete cannot

ball,

his idee fixe finds

him out, and the

melody makes his heart beat during a

'

In a

cherished

brilliant waltz.

of despair, he poisons himself with

fit

opium
him

but instead of killing him, the narcotic produces in

Whilst

a horrible vision.

have

and

it

he believes himself to
to be condemned to death,

lasts

her whom he loves,

killed

to be present at his

own

March

execution.

to the

an immense procession of executioners,

soldiers, and people.
At the end the melody reappears
again, like a last thought of love, interrupted by the fatal

Execution;

stroke.
'

Next he sees himself surrounded by a hateful crowd

and devils, gathered to celebrate the Witches'

They call to each other in the distance. At
last arrives the melody, which hitherto had appeared only
in its graceful form, but which now has become a vulgar,
of sorcerers

Sabbath.

ignoble

tavern

air;

it

the

is

beloved

who

object

comes to the Witches' Sabbath to be present at the

funeral of her victim.

She

worthy to figure in such

The

ceremony.

is

no better than a courtesan

orgies.

Then commences the

bells ring, the infernal

crew prostrate

themselves, a choir sings the prose of the dead, the

plain-chant

parodying

it

Dies

irae

two

other

in a burlesque manner.

choirs repeat

it,

After that the

round of the Witches' Sabbath whirls and whirls, and

when

it

has reached the extreme degree of violence,

combines with the Dies

irae,

and the vision

ends.'

The two most noteworthy subsequent changes were

made

at the second performance (after the rekindling of

his love for Miss Smithson),

when the words

'

she

is

no

better than a courtesan worthy to figure in such orgies

disappeared,

and in the programme prefixed

to

'

the

Pebiod.] Programme of Symphonie fantastiqiie.

printed score, where the lover

is

under the influence of

the narcotic from the beginning.

opening paragraph of the

251

had

better give the

last version in full.

and an
ardent imagination poisons himself with opium. The
dose of the narcotic, too weak to kill him, plunges him
into a heavy sleep accompanied by strange visions,
during which his sensations, sentiments, and recollections are translated in his sick mind into musical
thoughts and pictures. The beloved woman, she herself,
has become for him a melody, and, as it were, an idee
*

young musician

of a

morbid

sensibility

which he finds and hears everywhere.'

With regard to the explicit programme, Berlioz says in
the preface that if the Symphonie fantastique is performed

fixe,

by

itself,

without

its

sequel Lelio,

it

may, should

thought desirable, be omitted, and only the

it

titles of

be
the

Here are these titles, and after

them, in square brackets, the short indications of
character given in his letter to Ferrand
five pieces indicated.

(1.)

Reveries, Passions [the

{le

wave of the passions

vague des passions, a phrase borrowed from

Chateaubriand)

passion

delirious

reveries without

with

fits

of

an

object,

tenderness,

jealousy, fury, fear, &c.].

(2.)

Un

(3.)

Scene aux Champs [thoughts of love and hope

bal

[brilliant

and animated

(entratnante)

music]
disturbed by dark presentiments]
(4.)
(5.)

Marche au Swpplice [savage, pompous music]

Songe d^wie Nuit du Sabbat (Dream of a Witches'
Sabbath).

must be obvious to every attentive reader of this

programme that Berlioz did not in the first four divisions
It

252

[Sixth

Berlioz.

is beyond the capacity

had been considered beyond the capacity of

attempt to express anything that

of music, or

the art by his predecessors.

And even

the almost

universal condemnation of the last division concerns

much

less the question as to the limits of

musical expres-

siveness than the question as to the limits of admissible

matter and treatment.

think the actual question

might, not unfairly, be formulated thus

Is the ugly

presented in an ugly form a suitable subject for milsie ?

The answer to this is generally in the negative, and

ingenuity and grotesque picturesqueness are not considered sufficiently, mitigating circumstances.

the last division

is

the third, the Scene aux Champs,

of

them

that

it

all,

the most satisfactory

is

being indeed in every respect so beautiful

found favour in the eyes of Berlioz's severest

and most perverse

critic,

a perfect thing.

The

Wagner, who declared

the auditor cannot

characterization

to be

and

In the March

be impressed by the powerful

fail to

of

it

Ball, xtoo, is full of grace

charm, although not quite so perfect.

the

scene,

attained

rhythmic and colouristic means.

first

Whilst

consequently the least satisfactory,

chiefly

The Allegro

by

of the

division is as notable for its great beauties as for

its crudities and awkwardnesses in texture and structure.

But judge the Synvphonie famtastique ever so severely, and
say the very worst of it, you cannot evade the admission
that it is a work of great power and skill.
As an

example of the worst that can be said, take Wagner's

adverse

criticism.

'An immense inner

wealth,

heroically-vigorous imagination, forces out, as from a

crater, a pool of passions

what we

see are colossally-

formed smoke clouds, parted only by lightning and

streaks of

fire,

and modelled into

fugitive

shapes.

Pebiod.J

Nature of the Music.

Everything
This and

is

all

253

prodigious, daring, but infinitely painful.'

Wagner's criticisms of Berlioz

doubt contain grains of truth

are

which

for the

enormous exaggerations, nay, more than

no
most part

that, they are

fantastic ravings which leave the actual thousands of

The Symphonie fantastique is not Berlioz's

best work, but it is one of the most representative,
miles behind.

exhibiting in the highest degree both his good and bad

Gounod comes near the truth in saying that

work was a real event in the musical world, the

qualities.

this

importance of which might be gauged by the fanatical

admiration and the violent opposition

it

aroused.

Before leaving the subject I must refer once more

and point out the importance of the

idee fixe, the

to,

melody

representative of a person, which appears in all the

divisions, but in each in

a different rhythmical form.

A llegro agitato.

=JCI5

^^

jy-^-Yf'-js:

=pz: X2:

was not the inventor of the Leitmotiv (leading,

guiding motive), but was the first who made use of it in
80 prominent a manner and so developed a form. Prom
Weber, for instance, we can gather earlier examples. The
For
full developer of the device, however, was Wagner.
Berlioz

the transformation of such motives the happy designation

of dramatico-psychological variation has been found.

In conclusion I must point out Schumann's technical

and

ffisthetical

analysis of the Symphonie fantastique

{Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik, 1835), in which he turns

away with disgust from the

ledges the

many

last division, but

acknow-

beauties of the others, especially of the

third, the proper proportions of the

forms

if

measured

'

254

[Sixth

Berlioz.

on a large

scale,

and the

spiritual connection of the

contents.

melodrama for
orchestra (including piano a quatre mains), and invisible
chorus and solo voices, words and music by Berlioz, here
ou

Lelio,

calls for
it

Retov/r a la Vie, lyrical

le

a few remarks only because the author describes

as the

'

end and completion

'

('

superfluous addition

would have been a more correct description) of the

when it
the hero of that symphony, who tried

Symphoniefantastique, which should precede Lelio

is

performed. Lelio,

to poison himself, begins the miscellaneous proceedings

by exclaiming

God

'

am

still

alive

This

'

being unfortunately the case, there follows the rest of

the spoken monologue which serves to string together
six pieces of

music composed at various times and not

with a view to forming a whole, and does so in the most

manner imaginable.
and high
artistic aims could concoct such an olla pod/rida, and
write and, many years after, print such rigmarole made
up of theatrical sentimental posturiugs and declamations,
intermixed with diatribes against critics, editors, and the
irresponsible, artificial, and inartistic

How

man

of Berlioz's intellectual calibre

public (the enemies of genius), will always remain an

No wonder

unsolved problem.

that the work has very

and that when it was revived in

was not reproduced in its

rarely been performed,

Paris in 1881, the monologue

Here are the

original form.

six

musical pieces

Le Pecheur (the Fisher), ballade by Goethe;

des

Ombres;

de Bonheur ;
(6.)

<^

(3.)

(5.)

Chanson de Brigands;

La

Ha/rpe Eolienne

(1.)

(2.)

Choeur

(4.)

Chant

Souvenirs;

and

Fantaisie sur la Tempete de Shakespeare.

We now

come

to the

instrumental works,

most perfect

Harold

en

of Berlioz's larger

Italie,

symphony

in

Period.]

Lelio

four parts,

Harold en

for orchestra

and

255

Italie.

composed in

viola solo,

1834, and performed on November 23 of the same year.

There

no other programme than that suggested by

title and the four sub-titles prefixed to
the four divisions: (1.) Harold in the mountains
is

the general

Scenes of melancholy, ha/ppmess, and joy

Pilgrims singing the evening prayer

mowntaineer of the Abbruzzi

(2.)

March of

Serenade of a

(3.)

; and (4.) Orgy

was Faganini who gave the impulse to
the composition of this work. Having an excellent violaii
he wished to display its qualities in public, and therefore
asked Berlioz to compose a piece in which that could be
effectively done.
The composer thought first of a piece

of Brigands.

It

moments

descriptive of the last

but

to his mistress

decided in

afterwards

of

Queen Mary

favour

of

Stuart,

'My

Harold.

symphony with viola solo, entitled Harold,' he wrote on

March 31, 1834, was finished two weeks ago. Paganini,
'

I believe, will find that the viola

sufficien<tly in

the concerto style.

new plan and not a

letting

am

Berlioz

a symphony on a

composiiiion written with a view to

an individual talent

obliged to

work.'

has not been treated

It is

like his shine..

Nevertheless

him for having made me undertake the

was right in his suspicion; Paganini

Of course Harold en Italie was

suggested by Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. But as the
Harold of Byron's poem is Byron, so the Harold of
never played the part.

Berlioz's

symphony

we have

to note that the scenes depicted in Berlioz's

is

Berlioz.

Besides this difference

S3naaphony are not to be found in the fourth canto of

Byron's romaunt.
Liszt,

'that

the

'

The

title

composer

clearly

wished

shows,'
to

writes

render

the

impressions which the magnificent nature of Italy, the

impetuous and sensuously glowing and loving character

256
of

[Sixth

Berlioz,

could

inhabitants,

its

not but

make on a

soul

languishing in sorrows, such as that of Harold in the

monody

of the

We see

symphony.

here the wanderer in

the lap of an enchanting environment

to be

full of

that never

calmed restlessness, of that disappointment of the

mind, of that unhappy mood whose type in literature

Byron,

although

disputed the

exclusive

still

priority

....

[Chateaubriand's]
right for

is

Eene has

other reasons than

Only the sublime profundity of the

sorrows, the elegiac tones which Childe Harold drew

from Eene, have passed entirely into the musical Harold.

Some

of the characteristics of the British Harold, the

conception of the tone-poet could not embrace.'

personality of Harold
part,

is

The

represented by the viola solo

by Liszt the monody ; and the leading

by a theme which first appears

called

characteristic of the hero

in the Introduction

Adagio.

&

^s^

*:

Afterwards

^E

it

is

heard in

all

the other movements,

but in these not as a principal theme.

To understand

the role played by the viola, we have to note that

Berlioz's

Harold

comments

on,

is for

and

is

the most part an observer

only

now and then an

actor

who
who

and loses himself in the scenes in the midst

which he finds himself.

joins

Whilst preserving the classical number of four

of

divi-

sions, Berlioz does not reproduce the classical internal

Period.]

economy.

and

The

Harold en

Italie.

first

257

poser's

'Harold in

superscription:

Scenes of melancholy,

Mountains

which Harold

is

nature and under her influence.

'

Mountains

the

and

happiness

'

joy.'

In the

applies to all the divisions, but especially

'

to this Allegro in

thus

an Adagio
by the com-

division, consisting of

Allegro, is sufficiently characterized

On

the background

of

face to face with

Liszt describes

magnificent

it

natural

surroundings, a complex of suppressed discouragement

and exultant jubilation of the soul

Towards

the end, however, there appears the Harold motive in a

slow tremolo.
The gloomy longing of the hero could

not be vanquished by the splendour of the external

world and

As regards content and

most important and elevated
In motival development Berlioz follows
of the four.
in the footsteps of his symphonic predecessors ; the
form the

impressions.'

its

first

disposition

division is the

the

of

parts

(exposition

of

subjects,

working-out, recapitulation, &c.) shows his discipleship

much

less distinctly.

The second

March of Pilgrims singing the

was from the first the most popular

division

evening prayer

part of the work.

We hear the procession

passing by, and losing

and diminuendo.

crescendo

melody

itself in

is

approaching,

the distance, in a long

At the eighth bar the March

always interrupted by the mumbled chant of

the pilgrims.
intervenes.

In the middle of the piece a canto

Harold's meditations

there with the other sounds.

The

religioso

mingle here

and

third division, which

brings in the Serenade of a Movmtaineer of the Abruzzi

to his mistress,

pifferari

begins with a concert, a ritornello of the

{Allegro

assai),

then comes the lover's solo

(played on the Corno inglese.

Allegretto),

after,

that

258

[Sixth

Berlioz.

once more the

ritornello of

the pifferari, and lastly the

sympathetic reflections of Harold, whose melancholy

had already accompanied the music of the

mountaineer.
At the end of the third
division Berlioz is tired and sick of all this respecLike Mephistopheles after some edifying
tability.
conversation with the student, he feels he must change

voice

serenading

the dry tone, and play the devil again.

Berlioz says

Orgy of Brigands,
Wild bars of AUegro

himself of the last division, the

that

is

it

frenetico

somewhat

are

at

by reminiscences
IntrodMction, the

Serenade, the

first

violent.

again

March of

principal

and the Harold

frenetico takes its

furiously onwaird

and again

interrupted'

of the first wailing thought of the

Pilgrims, the Mountaineer's

but

mad, headlong
till

of the first Allegro,

subject

melody,

the

last

at

Allegro

course, rushing wildly,

near the conclusion, when during

a short pause a faint reminiscence of the March of the

some dying wails

Pilgrims and

of

Harold are heard.

This Allegro frenetico, although not so anti-sesthetical as

the Witches' Sabbath, is bad enough to be only apologetically defended

says

'

It is

by Berlioz's

friends.

Liszt, for instance,

not surprising that the Orgy

is

not received

as the grandeur of the musical composition deserves

to be.

It

makes us

participators

in

it

monstrous

banquet, reeking with brandy and crime, which so far

exceeds the representations allowed by our manners and

customs, that most of the hearers cannot form any idea

of the

howling and neighing in the scenes presented to

them.'

In Romeo

et Juliette

Berlioz produced a work which

shows his genius and craftsmanship at their highest

pitch, .but which as a whole is a monstrous jumble of

Pebiod.J

Romeo

259

et Juliette.

a compound of all styles and genres, where

symphony and cantata, the narrative, the lyrical, the
dramatic, and the programmatic are intermixed in
defiance of taste and reason. The five pieces that form
incongruities,

the predominating symphonic portion are of unequal

value three of them belong to the composer's

very

and

achievements

best

most commendable
specimens of programme music, and two to his
least happy achievements and mojt.jdQulitfuLapficimansu.

programme music. rTEe lull title runs thus Eomio

et Juliette, dramatic symphony with choruses, vocal solos,
and a prologue in choral recitative, composed after
of

Shakespeare's
libretto,

verse.

tragedy.

Berlioz

himself

wrote

the

but got Emile Deschamps to put his prose into

The subject had been long in his mind, since

when in 1838, thanks to the present of 20,000

1829, and

francs he received from (or through) Paganini, the requisite

leisure for the composition of a

secured, he took

He

tells

it

up and worked

grand work could be

at it for seven

us in his Mimoires of the ardent

life

months.

he lived

during that time, and of the vigour with which he was

swimming on

this

grand sea of poesy, caressed by the

playful breeze of the imagination, imder the

warm

rays

by Shakespeare, and believing

in his power to arrive at the marvellous island where
The first performance of
the temple of pure Art rises.
Romeo et Juliette took place on November 24, 1839 its
of the sun of love lighted

-"'"

publication, after being retouched, in 1848.

The two unsuccessful

Introduction, superscribed

symphonic pieces are the

the Combats, Tumult, and

'

Intervention of the Prince,' and

Invocation

'

Eomeo

in the

Tomb

of

Awaking of Juliet Delirious

Joy, Despair, Last Anguish, and Death of the two
the Capulets

260

[Sixth

Berlioz.

Here the musician failed in wisely choosing

and leaving the contents of his subject, and treating
what he had chosen in accordance with the nature of the
Lovers/

In

art.

the

Introduction,

depicts the combats

the Allegro fugato, which

and tumult, may perhaps pass, but

decidedly objectionable are the preachings of the Prince in

the recitative style through the mouths of the trombones,

ophicleide,

The most

and other brass instruments.

objectionable parts of the other unsatisfactory piece are

In passing,

the convulsions of the poisoned lovers' agony.

we may note that

Berlioz

makes use

of Garrick's ending.

Weingartner says with regard to the last-mentioned

piece

'

Berlioz has here attempted to render the details

of the dramatic action

by melodic fragments,

accents,

chord-progressions, and expressive figuration with such

a distinctness as to incline one to believe in one's

capacity to follow in every bar the course of the action.

Nevertheless this piece

is

mostly

left

out at performances

of the work, because the impression, be the execution

ever so good,
of

my

is

a quite confusing and

(I

say

in spite

it

The cause

reverence for Berlioz) ridiculous one.

lies in

that music has here been charged with a task

which

it

cannot

fulfil.

If the

title

did not give an

indication of the course of action of the drama,

not

know

effect of

at all

to

what we are hearing and should have the

But .the feeling of

a senseless tone-complex.

senselessness

have

we should

is

not removed

imagine.

We

when we know what

v/e

cannot help, however, being

astonished at the distinctness and clearness of even the

naked word of the

title

as compared to the music, which

at other times is able to give us

impressions

than

even

an

much more

excellent

powerful

word-poem.

Something similar we experience at the commencement

Romeo

Period.]
of

Ecmeo

which

to depict the intervention of the Pri^ee.-'

To the other three

can be given
brilliant

Grand

in the grand orchestral recitative,

et Juliette,

meant

is

'

261

et Juliette.

the

Komeo

orchestral pieces nothing but praise

first

dreamy and then exceedingly

and Concert and Ball

alone, Sadness,

Festival at the house of Capulet

'

the enchanting

*Love Scene a Serene Night, the silent and deserted

Garden oi Capulet and the indescribable aniiaJBaitgible
Scherzo, Queen Mab, or the Dream Fairy.y Saint-SaenS
'

'

writes

'

The famous Scherzo

reputation.

its

transparencies,

Midsummer

It

is

the

finesses

Dream

Night's

wDrth-even more than

miracle

such

Beside

gracefulness.

is

of

lightness

delicacies

of

and

and
such

Mendelssohn in the

seem

That

heavy.

is

because the unseizable and impalpable are not only in

In this respect I

the sonority but also in the style.

know only the chorus

bear comparison.'

of the genii in Oberon that could

Berlioz preferred the Love Scene to

and thought that this was also

the opinion of most artists. Wagner, however, although
he too regarded the Scene d'amour, at least in its main
all

his other compositions

motives as wonderfully touching, raises an objection to

it.

He

says that in listening to

thread and notwithstanding

recover

it.

He

all

it

he

lost the

musical

his efforts could not

attributes this to Berhoz's following the

disposition of the dramatist, whereas the musician ought

to

have gone about

it

in his

own way, ought

ignored the accidents and details of

common

to have
life,

and

sublimated everything that underlies them in accordance

with their concrete emotional contents.
guilty of the fault laid to his charge
this a case of delusion

bom

by Wagner ?

on the part of the

of a prejudice or

Is Berlioz really

latter,

Or

is

a delusion

an unreceptive mood?

At any

262
rate,

[Sixth

Berlioz.

other weighty judges

who have

expressed their

opinions on this composition do not seem to have been

struck by the supposed fault and disturbed in their

enjoyment of the

fascinating

loveliness

of

Berlioz's

tone- poem.

now only two

remain

There
noticed

namely

'Dance

the

'Ballet

of Will-o'-the-Wisps

Faust (composed in 1846,

6,

1846).

Both

'

first

other

pieces

to be

and the
from the Damnation de
Sylphs'

of

performed on December

of these, like the

'

Queen Mab

'

Scherzo,

are fantastic conceptions of bewitching beauty, and like

marvels of orchestration. I said there remain only

two other pieces to be noticed, but there is a third,
different in character and almost unknown, which must
it

not be passed over in silence

Symphonie funebre

namely, Op. 15, the Grande

et triomphale for

and chorus ad

string orchestra

felt

inclined to prefer

of Berlioz's, that

it is

military band (with

in

Of this

fallen in the July Eevolution.

that he

lib.)

it

memory of those
Wagner declared

to all other compositions

noble and grand from the

first to

the last note, a high patriotic enthusiasm, which rises

from lamentation to the highest summit of apotheosis,

it against morbid exaltation.
Tiersot thinks

guarding

work occupies in music the same place

which is occupied in painting by Eugene Delacroix's
La Barricade, with its wild and energetic combatants.
The conclusions, then, to which the examination of
that

this

Berlioz's character,

life,

and works lead us are

these.

Apart from the Symphonie fantasiique, the master's

instrumental compositions have no explicit programmes,

and the subjects he chooses are as a rule unexceptionable,

movement of the Symphonie

the exceptions being the last

fantastique

and

of Harold,

and the

Introd/uction to

and

Pebjod.] Damnation-Symphoniefmiebre-Conchbsions. 263

the

Tomb

scene of

Romeo

et Juliette.

comings of his -works do not

In

fine,

the short-

from any wrongness

in the genre of instrumental music he cultivated, but
from the defects of his musical endowment and training,
arise

and more especially from the defects of his character

and aims, which manifest themselves in a too exclusive
devotion to the intense and picturesque, in a too great
desire to experience himself and to produce in his
audiences violent sensations. But whatever may be the
just amount of adverse criticism to which his life-work
is open, there can be no doubt that Berlioz was a man
of genius, and not only an unsurpassed and unapproached
master of instrumentation and inventor of new orchestral
effects,

but also a creator in a wider sense, one

who has

left us works, some of them perfect works of their kind,

which on account of their originality and beauty deserve
If the
to be treasured by this and future generations.

vox populi were the vox

dei,

we should be

obliged to

admit that Berlioz had been weighed and found wanting ;

for he was neglected in his own time and nowhere more

than in his own country ; and in spite of the efforts of

the French after 1870 to make a national hero of him,

and the consequent temporarily increased interest taken

in him by other nations, the master still remains a
neglected composer. Schumann remarks in a letter of
the year 1839 that Berlioz had too

But

this opinion did not prevent

little

sense of beauty.

him from

advising

& Hartel to publish some of the French master's

And
why ? Because he felt and declared that
works.
there was much in Berlioz's compositions that was true
Breitkopf

it has to be further
not totally lacking,
was
noted that the sense of beauty
that in some respects it was even highly developed, and

and even profound.

Moreover,

'

264
although as a rule

then

[Sixth

Berlioz.

it

was often under an

eclipse,

now and

shone forth spotless with dazzling brilliance.

it

The'Eomeo

alone,

and

Ball,' the

'

Queen Mab

'

Scherzo,

and the Love Scene from Romeo et Juliette, the ' Ballet
of the Sylphs,' and the Dance of the Will-o'-the-Wisps
from Damnation de Faust, the ' March of Pilgrims from
'

'

'

'

Harold en

Italie,

the

'

Scene aux Champs

from the

'

Symphonie fantastique, and the overtures Le Carnaval

Romain and Benvenuto

Cellini are exquisite

gems that

ought to be considered ornaments of any orchestral

They are compositions for which no
programme.
apology of any kind need be made. Then there is the
complete Ha/rold en Italie, which on the whole is a
decidedly noble work, although we may wish some things
in it different, and should not Sream of putting it on a

The Symphonie
more and greater imperfections,
but they are not such as to condemn it to eternal silence
and the limbo of dusty library shelves. And there are
one or two more overtures well worthy of occasional
notice, first of all King Lear.
No one will deny that in
level

with a Beethoven symphony.

fantastique suffers from

the case of Berlioz a selection has to be

made

but that

a selection has a strong claim on the attention, the

interest, the

public

is

admiration of musicians and the musical

equally undeniable.

will before long

come

Let us hope that Berlioz

to his own.

Period.]

CHAPTEE

II.

SIXTH PEBIOD CONTINtJBD.

LISZT.

Important

Berlioz

as

programme music, LISZT

he

is

the

in

is
is

so

the most important of

far

development
more.

and

all,

is

of

Indeed,

this

quite

apart from the value of his productions as works of art.

His importance lies chiefly and mainly in the impulses
he gave in the vistas he opened, the new problems he

proposed, the solutions of old problems he attempted, in

short, in the

new ideas, methods,

means
had a system, and
set it forth in unequivocal language.
While in the
quantity of his programme music and in the scope and
variety of his programmes Liszt surpasses Berlioz,

he

procedures, and

sugg^ested^j^^/Dnlike Berlioz, Liszt

the latter must, I think, be allowed the possession of a

larger

amount

of

originality

and

creativeness.

Of

Berlioz I have already said that he was not one of the

spontaneous composers, one of those whose souls are

steeped

language

in
is

harmonious beauty,

and whose natural

music, in which their thoughts easily find

adequate expression and perfect form.

But although

alike in being outside the blessed circle of the elect, they

were nevertheless very different in

endowment, in
&c., &c.

many

respects

in

training, in circumstances, in character,

From

excellent masters

the age of ten Liszt was trained by

and

lived in artistic environment, first

in Vienna and afterwards in Paris; Berlioz had no

music teaching worth speaking of and lived in inartistic

266

[Sixth

Liszt.

environment up to the age of eighteen, and not

till

some

time after that had he the benefit of the advice of

Liszt became the greatest of the great piano-

masters.

and had an opera of his performed in

Paris at the age of fifteen ; Berlioz was without skill on
any instrument, except the guitar, and had his first
forte virtuosi,

composition, a Mass, performed at the age of twenty-one.

Liszt sought the acquaintance of and sympathized with

all

kinds and styles of music of whatever period or

country;

Berlioz

showed himself one of the most

incurious and narrow-minded of musicians.

And

thus

one could for a long while go on contrasting the two.

It will

little more closely

and career as a musician, more especially

be necessary to examine a

Liszt's studies

as a composer, for this is the

way

to discover his natural

leanings and the encouragements and discouragements

met with.
Franz Liszt, the son

these

of a

German mother, was born

Hungarian father and a

Hungary on
October 22, 1811.
At the early age of nine he made
his debut as a pianist.
After some more public and
at Eaiding in

private appearances several magnates combined in 1821

to provide

him with an allowance

of 600 florins for six

years, so that his father might be in a position to take

the boy abroad and procure for

him a proper

artistic

They first went to Vienna.

There Franz
was placed under Czerny and Salieri, respectively for
pianoforte playing and harmony and composition. The
training.

results of these studies were put to the proof at

concerts

on December

1,

1822, and April 13,

two

1823 at

and astonishment of
all. Hummel' s concertos in A minor and B minor and
improvisations. Beethoven's kiss, given on the latter of

which he played,

to the satisfaction

Period.] Training
tlie

two occasions,

Tov/rs

Early Compositions.

testifies to

manner

the wonderful

which the young musician discharged his

267
in

difficult tasks.

In 1823 the Liszt family proceeded to Paris, Franz

playing in several towns on the way.

As, owing to his

foreign birth, the boy could not get admission to the

own resources as regards

playing. For counterpoint he had Eeicha as
for composition Paer.
Miss Eamann, Liszt's

Conservatoire, he was

pianoforte

a teacher,

left

to his

worshipping biographer, says that the boy practised to

his master's satisfaction

all

the contrapuntal forms,

double as well as single counterpoint, fugue as well as

canon, and that half a year sufficed to reveal to him

Perhaps the reader

the secrets of counterpoint.

all

may

consider this enthusiastic statement more astonishing

than trustworthy.

It

took Bach,

Handel,

Haydn,

Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and others longer to

reach that goal of perfection.

Of the years 1824-1827,

there are to be recorded his first public appearance in

on March 8, 1824, his concert-tours in the

French provinces and in England, the publication of his
Improrrvptu in 1824, Allegro di Bravura in 1825 and Etudes

Paris,

en douze Exercises in 1827, and three performances at

the Paris Opera of his one-act

Don Sanche

on

d'amowr, described as an opirafeerie, in 1825.

le

Chateau

After the

death of his father (in August, 1827), and on the termination of his allowance, Liszt settled down in the French
capital as a teacher of pianoforte playing.

Although he

was now and then heard at Paris concerts for instance

in 1828 at an extra-concert in the Conservatoire in
Beethoven's

flat

major Concerto, a performance of

which was then a deed and an event,*

him remained
*

for

I follow

the virtuoso

some time in abeyance.

W. von Lena's

At any

recoUeotions of that time.

in

rate,

Liszt

268

[Sixth

there was no thought of concert-touring for

many

years.

Composition, too, seems to have been neglected. Between

1827 and 1885, Liszt published only the Fantasie sur

Tirolienne de I'opira

'

of parts of Berlioz's

La

Fiancee

list

Clochette

'

composition,

{Symphonie

'

de Paganini.

The

of the master's compositions contains

also a very few unpublished works

original

la

(1829), transcriptions

Symphonie fantastique (1833), and

the Grande Fantasie sur la

chronological

'

or

rather

rholutionnavre,

indeed, only one

sketch

the

1830),

one

of

one

semi-original

and orchestra on
some transcriptions.

(Fantaisie symphonique for pianoforte

themes by Berlioz, 1834), and

Indeed, during at least three years of his residence

in Paris (1827-1830), he

rather than with music.

and feeling

at

this

was occupied with other things

About Liszt's doing, thinking,

period

of

his

life

we

obtain

invaluable revelations in his Lettre d'un Bachelier

Musique

a un poete

voyageur

was George Sand), dated

Paris,

(the

es

travelling poet

January, 1837, and

published in the Paris Gazette Musicale, on February

12, 1837.
'

Two phases of my life have already been accomplished

First when my father's foresight snatched me

in Paris.

from the Hungarian Steppes, where I grew up

untamed among wild herds

traducing

German

[not

'hordes,'

free

and

as

the

and threw me,

translation has it],

poor child, into the midst of a brilliant society which

applauded the tours de force of him

whom

with the glorious and withering stigma of "

they honoured
little

prodigy."

Then a premature melancholy began to weigh upon me,

and I bore with an instinctive repugnance the ill-disguised
degradation of the artistic servitude.
returning alone to Paris after

Later, when, on

my father's

death, I began

Period.] Development of the

^an

to have a presentiment of

what

what

up on

my thought had marked out.

Moreover, finding nowhere

among
artists,

I,

what I ought

of

the path which

all sides in

even among the

comfortable indifference,
myself,

might become and

of sympathy, neither

nor

world,

art

269

ought to be, I was overwhelmed by the

artists

impossibilities rising

a word

and Musician.

the

men

of the

who dozed

in

altogether unconscious of

aim

to

and

at,

of

the

capacities that were allotted to me, allowed myself to

be invaded by a bitter disgust with

it

to a

more

art,

reduced as I saw

or less lucrative handicraft, to an

for the use of

good society, and

amusement

have preferred

I should

being anything else rather than a musician in the pay of

the grands

patronized and salaried by them

seignev/rs,

like a juggler or like the clever

his
'

memory
About

dog Munito.

Peace to

this time I passed through a two-years' illness,

at the end of which

my

imperious need of faith and

devotion, finding no other issue,

austere exercises of Catholicism.

became absorbed in the

I bowed my burning

forehead over the humid flags of St. Viacent-de-Paul,

made my heart bleed, and prostrated my thought. A

woman's image, chaste and pure as the alabaster of holy
vessels, was the host which I offered with tears to the

God

of the Christians.

Eesignation of

all

that

is

earthly

was the sole motive, the sole word of my life.

But such an absolute isolation could not last for ever.
Poverty, the old broker between man and evil, tore me
from my contemplative solitude, and often brought me
back before a public on whom my existence and that
Young and exuberant
of my mother partly depended.
'

as I

was then,

I suffered painfully

from the

with the world without me, on which

my

collision

calling as a

270

[Sixth

Liszt.

musician continually threw me, and which wounded so

intensely the mystic feeling of love

my

filled

Men

heart.

of

and

the world

time to think of the sufferings of the

come

to hear the artist,

and whose

religion that

who have not

man when they

facile life is confined

between the two points of the compass called convenance

and

bienseance, do not

tions

and

understand at

all

the contradic-

eccentricities unavoidably resulting

from

my

Tormented by a thousand confused instincts

and a need of unlimited expansion, too young to mistrust
double

life.

myself, too naif to concentrate myself within myself, I

my impressions,

gave myself up entirely to

and repugnances.

actor because I did not

because I

let

enthusiastic

had the reputation of being an

know how to act in any way, and

myself be

child,

seen as I really was, an

a sympathetic

devotee, in fact, everything one

when one
soul not

loves

admirations,

is

artist,

an austere

at the age of eighteen,

God and man with an ardent

passionate

yet dulled by the cruel bruising of

social

egoisms.'

The fervent piety spoken

not,

of in the above extracts

was

On

the

however, a passing phase of the youth.

contrary,

it

was a fundamental

characteristic of the

man.

As Berlioz may be instanced as the most irreligious

composer, Liszt may be instanced as the most religious.
More forcibly than by his receiving the ecclesiastical
minor orders, in 1865, this is borne in upon us by the
following passage from his testament, written at Weimar
on September 14, 1860. 'Yes, "Jesus at the Cross,"
the yearning desire for the Gross and the Elevation of
the Cross, that was always my true inner calling; I
have
year,

felt it in

the depth of

when with

my heart since my seventeenth

my eyes I humbly begged

tears in

Period.]

Character.

271

permission to enter the Paris seminary.

I

might be allowed

Then I hoped
and perhaps

to live the life of a saint

even to die the death of a martyr.

Unfortunately that

my lot. But, in spite of the sins and errors

have committed, and for which I feel sincere
repentance and contrition, the divine light of the Cross
Has never been wholly withheld from me. Sometimes

has not been

which

the splendour of this divine light has even flooded

whole
It

was only for a

short time that religion absorbed Liszt

All through his subsequent

wholly.

width

my

soul.'

of

distinguished

interest

life

him

a remarkable

philosophy and literature no less than art

and

comprised

it
;

painting,

no less than music

Germany, Italy, and England no less than France,
which was his first literary and philosophic nurse.
He
is a man of an eccentric (verschrobene)
but noble
sculpture,

architecture

'

character,' writes Heine,

His

'

unselfish

and without

intellectual tendencies are very remarkable.

great talent for speculation, and, even

concerns of his art, he

is interested

guile.

He

has

more than by the

by the investigations

of the different schools that occupy themselves with the

solution of the great problem comprehending heaven

and

He was

earth.

long enamoured of the beautiful

Saint- Simonian view of the world;

subsequently the

spiritualistic, or rather

vaporous thoughts of Ballanche

now he

raves about the republico-catholic

befogged him

doctrines of Lamennais, who has planted a Jacobin cap

Heaven knows in what intellectual
on the Cross .
This indefatigable
stable he will find his next hobby.
thirst for light and godhead nevertheless remains
.

praiseworthy
religious.'

it

testifies to his

sense of the holy, the

Heine further describes Liszt as a

restless

272

head that

is

of his time,
all

[Sixth

Liszt.

bewildered by

who

all

the troubles and doctrines

need to concern himself with

feels the

the needs of humanity, and

nose in

all

that she would like

celebrated

M.

[disciple of

God

the pots in which

George Sand, who in a

'

fond of putting his

is

cooks the future.

letter to Liszt jocularly

remarks

to learn metaphysics as well as the

Liszt, the pupil of Ballanche, Eodrigues

Saint-Simon] and S^nancour [author of the

,

psychological romance Obermann]

,'

depicts in a few lines

the character of her friend better than anybody else

has ever done, saying

(in

her Lettres d'un Voyageur) that

humane heaven-scaling ideals, in his

As his open
thirst for knowledge seizing every new idea.'
he was

'

Heine shows, Liszt was greatly

letter to

some

full of

irritated

German

of the above-quoted remarks of the

but they are nevertheless true in the main.

We

by

poet,

find

the proof of this in George Sand's quip and description,

and in a passage from another open letter of Liszt's,

In it he speaks of the lifethat addressed to Massart.
period from fifteen to twenty-five,

when the young man,

stunned by the tumult of his own thoughts, does not

live,

but only aspires to

live

when

desire, restless aspiration, flux

volitions

all in

and

him is

curiosity,

reflux of contrary

when he exhausts himself

labyrinth of his disordered passions

in the issueless
;

when

all that

simple, easy, and natural makes him smile with pity

when he overshoots all his aims, is eager of all obstacles,
is

disdains the good he could do, and the feelings that

would

make him happy;

when he

tormented by the sting of youth

This

is

please, but of the

mercilessly

of energetic

and mad

the picture not of any young

man you

fever, of vainly spent strength,

vitality.

is

in the time of ardent

young man

and

Liszt.

And

in noting the

Period.]

Character.

273

characteristics set forth in the foregoing pages,

at once likewise note that the

the

man.

we may

youth was the father of

Liszt never lost the religious and intellectual

craving of his early days, and he

never altogether

reconciled the contradictions of his character.

he grew older, he grew in

and nobility.

Having dwelled

at

But as

self-restraint, charitableness,

some length on some

of the qualities

that are eminently characteristic of Liszt and strongly

reflected in his

works,

we must now return

to the

examination of the incidents in his career and of his

development as an

artist.

His mother used to say

But other things contributed

from the two-years' illness. The sketch
of the never-finished Symphonie revolutionnaire of 1830
is no doubt a significant fact.
Of more importance,
however, than the July Eevolution, are Paganini's
C'est le canon qui I'a gueri.

to his recovery

appearance in Paris in March, 1831, Chopin's arrival in

the

autumn

of the

same year, and the second performance

Symphonie fantastique, together with other

of Berlioz's

compositions, on

December

9, 1832.

These three events

roused Liszt from his lethargy and morbid brooding.

The

influence of Paganini showed itself in his attempt

to transcribe the violinist's Caprices for the pianoforte

(1832-1833)

and

Berlioz's influence, in his transcribing

the symphonist's epoch-making orchestral work for the

Chopin's
influence was
(1838).
and slower in taking effect, but for that none
the less real. At any rate, the result of these combined
influences was that Liszt created within a few vears
after the Eevolution a new pianoforte style and made

same

instrument

subtler

himself a

man sui generis.

years his

main output

Transcriptions were for many

as a composer, but from 1834 he

274

[Sixth

Liszt.

produced now and then original pianoforte compositions

more or

less of

a programmatic kind.

Before 1830 a mutual affection between Liszt and a

pupi], the

Comtesse Caroline de Saint Criq, was nipped

bud by the young lady's father. It was a youth's

dream of love, to which he alludes in the words 'une
in the

image de femme chaste

et

pure comme I'albdtre des vases

Of another complexion and issue was his next

In 1834 began an acquaintance, which
before long grew into a passion, between Liszt and the
sacres.'

great love.

somewhat older Comtesse d'Agoult, who in literature

When, in 1835, he
became known as Daniel Stern.
proposed to break the relation that existed between him
and her, she left husband and children, and travelled with
Italy, till November,

him, in Switzerland, France, and

1839.
1844.

complete separation did not take place

The years 1836-1837 are notable for the

From 1839 up to the latter part

with Thalberg.

till

contest
of 1847

followed Liszt's triumphal concert-tours all over Europe.

Then another

influence

was brought to bear upon him,

effect on his

a female influence that had a revolutionary

and development as an artist ending his career

as a virtuoso, and opening his career as a composer of
symphonic and solo and choral vocal works. At Kiev,

career

in February, 1847, he

met the Princess Wittgenstein,

saw her again at Odessa in the autumn, and in the

winter

passed

Woronince,
her.'

She

'

several

to execute

months

at

her

country-seat

commissions of compositions

believed in Liszt's creative genius,

his ambition

and she not only fired

fanned and stirred

it

when

Woronince the two came

ablaze.
to

it,

and

for

fired

but perseveringly

In those months at

an understanding, the

outcome on her part being that she decided to get

Peeiod.j Princess Wittgenstein

Liszt the Composer.

275

a divorce and marry Liszt.

Not to expose herself to

and compulsion of any kind, she fled
with her little daughter from Eussia and settled in
Weimar, where Liszt had become Capellmeister. Her
efforts to free herself from the hateful matrimonial yoke
failed again and again, but were not given up till 1861.
forcible detention

And when

in 1865 Prince Wittgenstein died, the Princess

and Liszt did not take advantage

of the circumstance,

having probably drifted apart by living apart during the

What she was

last five years.

to

him may be

best seen

on the autograph scores of

Symphonic Poems Ce qu'on entend sw la Montagne
and Hwngaria, which he presented to her on her birthday, February 8, 1855.
To her who accomplished his
faith by love, enlarged his hope through sorrows,
edified his happiness by sacrifice.
To her who remains
the companion of my life, the firmament of my thought,
the living prayer and the Heaven of my soul.'
One cannot but look upon it as a significant fact that
after the early and lost compositions, the overture and
sonata of 1825, the concerto of 1827, and the sketch of

in the dedication he wrote

his

the Symphonie revolutionnaire of 1830, Liszt did not

and in the larger forms

His Symphonic fantasia on themes by
Berlioz of 1834 and the Beethoven Festival Cantata of
1845 are not likely to be regarded as disproving the
existence of the gap. Is it imaginable that an ambitious
resume writing

for the orchestra

until 1847-1848.

musician like Liszt, living in the midst of the leading

literary, musical,

and other

artistic creators of

time, would have remained so long silent

an inner

call ?

as

we

a stirring

he had

felt

learn from his open

(1837)urged him to enter the wider

dramatic and symphonic composition. But he

letter to Pictet
field of

His friends

if

276

[Sixth

Liszt.

which was to

declined to part with the pianoforte,

him what the ship is to the seaman, the steed to the

The pianoforte was the confidant of all that
moved his inmost being in the hot days of his youth
Arab.

whose strings shook under his passions, and whose

keys

docile

obeyed

humour.

every

wish that I should leave

asks,

'

more

brilliant

in the

'

Can

and noisy successes on the stage and

No! Even admitting that I were
which no doubt
for such harmonies

ripe

you admit too

even

easily

firm resolution not to give

then

it

would remain

is possible,

done

will

as

this

compositions

in

it

may.

written

find that,

If

them

we survey the

by Liszt from

1834

to be.

original
to

1848,

apart from songs (which he began to

1841),

pianoforte pieces.

and

that

hardly seem to

the reader as convincing as the author wished

compose

all

or at least all that I can do for the present.'

The explanation and argumentation

But be

my

up the study and development

of pianoforte playing imtil I shall have

burst

he

orchestra?

already

we

you,'

in order to pursue

it

flood of

they

consist

of

programmatic

After this period there comes

first a
symphonic programme music, and

then a great variety of

all

kinds of composition, large

and small, among which grand choral works form an

examining Liszt's con-

outstanding

feature.

tributions to

programme music, we must

Before

inquire into

his views of this genre of the art.

The

chief sources of information regarding this matter

are Liszt's Lettre d'un

Bachelier

es

Muaique,

dated

January, 1837, his review of Schumann's Op. 5, 11, 14,

of the

same

year, likewise published in the Bevue et

and especially his essay BerUoz and his

Harold Symphony, of 1855, the purpose of which was
Gazette musicale,

On Programme

Pebiod.]
less to

277

Miisic.

make propaganda for his French contemporary

set forth his own ideas and justify his own

than to

practice.

common, hut

Liszt combats the only too

quite

absurd notion that the

composer

in reality

of so-called

picturesque music pretends to vie with the wielders

and like them strives to paint the aspect

mountain crevices, the meandering of a brook
through a meadow, &c.
It is obvious that things
of the brush,
of woods,

'

in so far as they are objective are not at all within the

department

music, and that the merest tyro in

of

landscape painting can with one stroke of his pencil

produce a scene more faithfully than a consummate

musician with

all

the resources of the cleverest orchestra.

But the same things, in so

express myself)

and become

have they not a singular

could

(if

reverie, meditation, elan,

with music ?

affinity

not music translate them into

language?

way
may so

far as they in a certain

affect the soul, these things subjectivated

its

And

mysterious

Supposing the imitation of the quail and

cuckoo in the Pastoral Symphony to be chargeable with

must we conclude from this fact that Beethoven

in seeking to affect the soul as would the view
wrong
was
of a smiling landscape, of a happy country, of a village
festival suddenly interrupted by an unexpected thunderstorm ? Does not Berlioz in the Harold Symphony
strongly recall to the mind mountain scenes and the
puerility,

religious effects of bells that

windings

of

steep

lose

paths?

In

themselves in the
regard

to

poetical

music, do you think that some stupid burden of a

libretto is indispensable

romance or some declamatory

human

for the expression of the

despair,

and anger

passions such as love,

Let

me

repeat once

more

278

[Sixth

Liszt.

for the perfect satisfaction of messiewrs leg femlletonisteg

Nobody thinks

of writing

music so ridiculous as that

which they

call picturesque.

the strong

men have

of, is to

and

if

it

and

thinks

will

what

of,

always think

the organ of that part of the soul

may

one

strongly,

suffered

who have

believe those
defies

admit of the settled and

human

of,

impress music more and more with poetry in

order to render

which,

What one

thought

and does not

analysis

expression

definite

loved,

felt,

the

of

languages.'

Liszt holds that feeling becomes incarnate in pure

music, without
art

as in most

diffracting

its

arts, especially in

rays on the thought.

the verbal

Other than

musical means of expression cannot immediately express

'

the

full intensity of

to

do

it

by pictures or comparisons.

other hand,

the

our feelings because they are obliged

simultaneously

gives

expression

the

of

feeling

apprehensible substance of the

our senses
like

it

penetrates

them

Music, on the

incorporated

is

spirit.

like

strength and

the
it

Perceptible by

an arrow,

like

dew,

spirit.'

Liszt differentiates clearly the composer of absolute

music from the composer

he

calls

symphonist.
'

the

respectively

Of

the

of

programme music, whom

specific

former we

transports his hearers with

him

and the poetizing

are

told

that

to ideal regions, which

he leaves the imagination of every individual

conceive and adorn.'
to wish to

he

In such a case

it is

free to

very dangerous

impose on our neighbour the same scenes and

which our imagination feels itself

Here everyone should be allowed to enjoy
silently his revelations and visions, for which there
is no name and no sign.
The poetizing symphonist.
series of thoughts to

transported.

On Programme

Pebiod.]

however,

who

Music.

279

sets himself the task of rendering with

equal clearness a picture distinctly present to his mind,

a series

psychical

ojf

moods that unambiguously and

why should he not

endeavour to secure, with the help of a programme, a
complete understanding ?

definitely lie in his consciousness

Liszt labours hard to

make

programme, and what is its

gramme as any foreword in
'

what

his readers see

object.

He

intelligible

is

defines a pro-

language added

to a piece of pure instrumental music,

by which the
composer intends to guard the hearer against an arbitrary
poetical interpretation,

and

to direct his attention in

advance to the poetical idea of the whole, to a particular

Again he says
The programme has no
other object than to indicate preparatively the spiritual
moments which impelled the composer to create his

point of

it.'

'

work, the thoughts which he endeavoured to incorporate

in

it.'

In discussing the subject of programme music

people often indulge in the most untenable arguments,

arguments arising from their

is

distinct.

No

doubt,

'

it

failure to distinguish

what

would be childishly

idle,

indeed in most cases a mistake, subsequently to devise

programmes and wish to explain the emotional

content of an instrumental poem, as then the word must
destroy the charm, desecrate the feelings, and tear the
finest webs of the soul, which assumed just this form
because it could not be put into words, pictures, and
ideas.'

This, although undoubtedly true,

he who attempts

it

is

true only

if

another than the composer, or

if

is

the composer wrote without definite ideas and conscious

moods.

Therefore Liszt adds to the above

other hand, the master

have created

it

is

master of his work ;

'

On

the

he can

under the influence of certain impressions,

280

which he then would

of

[Sixth

Liszt.

like to

make

the hearer fully

conscious.'

Of Schumann's pianoforte pieces he says that 'the

author has comprehended the significance of the pro-

gramme more than anybody

most

else,

excellent examples for its

and has given

the

He

has

employment.

most admirably succeeded in evoking in us musically the

effect which would have been produced upon us by the
an object the representation of which he calls up
by the title. In conceiving the object from the poetic side
he attained the real end of the programme.' In short,

reality of

came to the conclusion

symptom of exhaustion and

that instead of being a

Liszt

degeneration,

formerly thought and not a few

time

conditioned

advances of the

the

think, the solution

still

result of the

by

many

music contained in the

of the problem of instrumental

programme was the

as

development of his

various

still

impending

art.

But there is another question implied in the problem

of programme music, not necessarily, but frequently,
namely, the question of form.

In connection with the

symphonic programme music

of Liszt, the discussion of

this question reaches the acute stage.

'

In the

It is therefore

we should mark

his words carefully.

so-called classical

music the return

advisable that

and

thematic development of the themes are determined by

express rules, which are considered inviolable, although

who

them had no other precept

for them than their own imagination, and themselves
made the formal dispositions which people wish now to
In programme music, on the other
set up as a law.
the composers

originated

hand, the return, change, modification, and modulation

of the motives are conditioned

by their relation

to a

Form

Period.]

in

Musk.

281

Here one theme does not, according to the

theme; here the motives are

poetic idea.

law, call forth a second

not the consequence of stereotyped approximations and

contrasts of tone-colours, and the colouring as such

does not condition the grouping of the ideas.

All

exclusively musical considerations, though they should

not be
action

and

have to be subordinated to the

neglected,

the

of

subject

given
this

of

Consequently

subject.

kind

of

action

symphony demand a

higher interest than the technical treatment of the

musical material; and the indefinite impressions of

the soul are raised into definite impressions by an

expounded plan which

is

here taken in by the ear,

similarly as a cycle of pictures

The

who

artist

is

taken in by the eye.

prefers this kind of art

work enjoys the

advantage of connecting with a poetic idea

affections

all

the

which the orchestra expresses with so much

power.*

The position, the legitimate position, of the composer

of programme music is well stated in the above passage,
but the position of the composer of absolute music
grossly misrepresented.

view

still

more

forcibly

We

find the

and also

still

is

same mistaken
more offensively

formulated in one of Liszt's earlier pronouncements,

was known
hitherto (Beethoven and Weber excepted), music laid
out squarely after a symmetrical plan that may be, so
to speak, measured by cubic feet.' The classics are not
where we read of

'

instrumental music as

it

the slavish formalists, the mechanical appliers of

unbending

them

to

rules, that Liszt

have been.

limits of the
is

form

is

strict,

and other moderns represent

The variety they obtain within the

truly marvellous.

Nevertheless

not to be wondered at, for the freedom

is great,

it

and

282

[Sixth

Liszt.

must be obvious to those

an unprejudiced

the restraint Kttle.

Indeed,

who study the works

of the classics with

as well as

it

an observant eye that

was not a hard and

fast

to these classics form

framework, but a set of principles

an

that could be realized in

infinitude of ways,

and

was permissible to modify and even depart

might be proved from any of the great
classics, the most classic of the classics, Mozart, not
excepted.
Of course the case is different, and Liszt

which
from.

it

All this

right, if

we

consider, instead of the masterpieces of the

'

original geniuses, their inferior productions or the works

of imitators, of

Hans von

men

of

Biilow,

mere

talent

and no

talent.

in one of his criticisms, defines

Liszt's school (which, he

says, is not a school in the

old sense of the word) as the artistic emancipation of

individual content from schematism;

letter to his pupil

approves of

it.

thanks him

But

is

it

and Liszt in a
and

for the definition

really a defining definition,

one that distinguishes the case in question from every

other case ?

It

differentiates the

of the

men

schools.

seems to

me

works of the

that, strictly speaking, it

men

of genius from those

and necessarily excludes

of inferior gifts,

The appropriateness

becomes apparent only

after

to Liszt in particular

acquaintance

with his

views and the characteristics of his symphonies and

symphonic poems.

As with Liszt the content

is

the determining factor,

the form of every composition must differ from that of

every other.

Much positive information about the master's

We may iudeed be

form can therefore not be supplied.

voluble jm what

it is not, but must be taciturn on what

The new term Symphonic Poem (Symphonische
Dichtung) was an invention of Liszt's, a happy one. The

it

is.'

Leitmotive.

Period.]

Form

same may be

said of the thing itself, although

in

Music

283
it

would

not be extravagant to assert that before him similar

things as poetical in content and as unconventional in

form had occasionally been produced. The symphonic

poem differs from the old symphony in that it consists
not of several separate pieces, but of one piece, in which,

may be any number of changes of time

and measure and any number of themes. One of the
distinguishing features of the symphonic poem then is
continuity. In this respect Liszt's symphonic poems

however, there

differ also

from his own two symphonies, which consist of

separate pieces, although not of the orthodox four, but

the one of three and the other of two.

Of the formal
no more need be said than
that it differs from that of the old overture and
symphony in the distribution of keys and subjects. But
no
A certain device plays so characteristic and
important a part in Liszt's symphonic works that it

economy within the

pieces

would be unpardonable negligence not to discuss it

namely, the metamorphosis of themes, that is, the
i^hythmic, melodic, and harmonic modification, or rather
variation, of themes for the purpose of changing their
expression.

was the example of Berlioz that gave the impulse

more extended use of Leitmotive by Liszt and
Wagner. But the use of the device by the three masters
The simple way
differs in manner as well as in extent.
of Berlioz is only to a very limited extent followed by
It

to the

Liszt and

Wagner

Wagner

Liszt

at the height of his development

infinite intricacies.

Liszt's peculiar

is

way

is

revels

in

moreover

metamorphosis of themes,'
not applied to the ways of Berlioz and Wagner,

discriminated by the term

which

favours complex processes,

'

284

[Sixth

Liszt.

although to some extent applicable also to them.

there

is

But

one difference between Berlioz on the one hand,

and Liszt and Wagner on the other: With the first of

the three masters the aim seems to me to have been
purely poetical, purely expressional
it

with the two others,

was unquestionably also formal,

They

structural.

used the device consciously as a means for securing

abandoned old methods of

But not only do we find great differences in the
use of Leitmotive by these several masters, but we find
also great differences in the use of them by Liszt in his
unity, as a substitute for the

design.

several works.

glance at a few of these will suffice to

-grove the statement.

Liszt's

way in

the Faust

Symphony

is

very like that of

and Harold en Italie

-the themes are representative of persons. But Liszt is not
content with one theme. In the first division of the work
^Berlioz in the Symphoniefantastique

he has quite a large number of special themes portraying

the outstanding features of Faust's character

inquiry

(1),

struggling aspiration

(2),

brooding

passionate appealing

and triumphant enthusiasm (5).

In the second division, where the Margaret themes are
(3),

love-longing

(4),

the principal, most of the Faust themes reappear as

secondary themes, showing by their

which

new

guises the

solitary

Faust

experiences under the magic influence of love.

In the

transformation

third division, too,

now in

some

the

sombre,

of the Faust

themes reappear,

a caricaturing form, being intended to portray the

mocking Mephistopheles, the opposite of the

noble, earnestly striving Faust.
The following illustrasceptical,

tions give only the principal Faust themes

important metamorphoses

and

their

most

or rather give only brief

melodic indications of them, omitting the characteristic

Period.]

Metamorphosis of Themes.

285

accompaniments and instrumentation. The numbers

the themes in the several divisions correspond.
FIEST DIVISION.
Lento

assai.

Of
2.

Allegro impetuono,

Andante

*i

affettuoso.

3=P=
r

-1

Orandioso.

M.
pi^=
ff

SECOND DIVISION.

Andante.

4=g^

?=t

-?r-sr

-i;*-

^:

^d^'^-^-^^^'^^^rrj:^'^^-^
^

>ta.

of

286

[SlXTS

Liszt.

4.

^s^
khiH
lEEESa
^MA#4~~r

"i"i

I"

JtM^ff

3^

:fc^S
pp

^
f^B

P^*T75-

I'll

Z:ii

j-^ B

^I----?"

THIRD DIVISION.
Allegro vivaee.

^^#

1r-r^

^^^^^^3^^=^^

^^P^^^^^
^^^^^^^^pa
fi^
^r^fe

Pekiod.]

Metamorphosis of Themes

287

In the Faust Symphony, then, the themes are repreof persons ; more generally, however, the
themes of Liszt's Bymphonic works are expressive of
moods and feelings unconnected with any particular

sentative

This

person.

is

the case, for instance, with the two works

to the formal aspect of

attention.

The

short

which we will now direct our

and simple Orpheus is an improvi-

sation evolved from a single theme, the different phrases

of which are variously moulded

and illuminated.

may

therefore say that formally the composition

more

of the old than of the

different is the

state

new modMs

of matters,

Lisztian, in Die Ideale.

To

operandi.

quite

illustrate this

One
had

Quite

modern and

way

I shall

quote snatches of two of several themes on which the

composition

number

is

up each of them by a
Mark that the composer

based, and follow

of metamorphoses.

produces by metamorphosis not only music expressive of

shades of the same feeling, phases of the same mood,

but also music expressive of feelings of an altogether

different nature.

From

the youthful aspiring exuberance of la, Liszt

evolves the disillusionment of 1&, the sad questioning of

Ic,

the activity of Id, the

pomp

stir of le,

of 1/.

la.

^-M-^
Andante mesto.

16.

and the triumphant

288

[Sixth

Liszt.

P^
Ic.

Jin

-i:

J:

dtf

^Mfjro

IcZ.

mosso..

EES^^a
l^l?"i'i
jo
/

f*

1 "^'

I"

*i

r-

-1

P 1

*i

33^fl^:
r

l/ii

*i

le.

Stretto.

i ^4

-*-

=^iP

=^=

1/.

-g--

^-^^^-m--

-^

p^=^-

22-

3EE :j2z
=f

///

From

=p=^s

the joy in germinating, growing Nature of 2a,

Liszt evolves the disillusionment of 26, friendship's sweet

comfort of

2c,

proclaiming

the joyous animation of 2d, and the victory

2i

2a.

%
3-*

-^"

Andante
26.

^^^m
-J

meeto.

^^i^i^i^

Period.]

Metamorphosis

Pianoforte
-^

_=

289

Pieces.

j: -g-

1:

:g:

1,

Allegro vivace

!m ^^jtiit^

^
2e.

-P

H^eI^

yj-

Now'let us leave these general discussions, and turn

our attention to the individual works.

programmatic

enough

to be

pianoforte

examined in

pieces
detail

are

and

The numerous
not

important

at length.

Only a

few of them possess that

combination of charm of
and perfection of form which constitutes a
successful art-work and gains the lasting affection of
the hearer. Most of them can only be regarded as
experiments and attempts experiments in devising new
content

effects,

attempts at expressing noble sentiments, moods,

and conceptions.

Not unfrequently we are constrained

to admire the earnest endeavour, where the result is

unsatisfactory; but hardly less frequently our artistic

is

outraged by extravagant futility or appalling

ugliness.

Considering the greatness and capabilities of

sense

the artist, these lapses into, these indulgences in, and

these coquettings

remain a

diflScult

with the unbeautiful must always

problem for the

critic of

the master's

290

The

works.
it

[Sixth

Liszt.

ugly, I think, has a greater space given to

in Liszt's than in

This

is

slowly
time.
his

any other composer's

evoked and reluctantly adopted in the course of

Moreover, there can be no doubt that Liszt and

disciples

took

delight

upon as

Philistines

by

tjiose

\sfhat

Ohrfeigen fur feige Ohren

('

to

Biilow calls

cowardly ears

wor^lis feige,

meaning from the

differing in

the

vrhom they looked

Hans von

cuffs for

an untranslatable play on the

from

deviating

in

customary, and in horrifying

object

creations.

not a prejudiced expression of opinion, but one

adjective).

of the following review, however,

'

the noun
The main
not be

will

gauge the excellence of the compositions, but to

As Liszt
and again rewriting his
compositions, so that many of his early works were
printed comparatively late in his life, and a considerable
number were published in diverse versions, I shall, to
save time and space, mention them regardless of
inquire into the nature of the programmes.

was in the habit

of again

chronology.
Liszt's
title

Harmonies poetiques

et religieuses*

derive their

from Lamartine's collection of poems thus named,

and have

also prefixed to

them two paragraphs from

Two

poet's avertissement.
suffice to characterize

no

less the musician's pieces

those of his admired poet's.

souls

whom

solitude

the

sentences of this avertissement

'

and contemplation

towards infinite ideas, that

is

than

There are meditative

raises invincibly

towards religion ;

all their

thoughts are converted into enthusiasm and prayer,

their whole existence is a

and to hope
sorrow, trodden

mute hymn

to the Divinity

There are hearts broken by

down by the world, who take

Published in 1853.

refuge

'

Period.]

Harmonies poetiques

291

et religieuses,

in the world of their thoughts, in the solitude of their

soul, in order to weep, to await,

ten numbers
(1)

of the

Invocation;

Dieu

dam

FwneraiUes

(6)

collection

Ave Maria;

(2)

Solitude;

la

Pater noster

musical

(4)

Hymne

The

or to adore.'
are

called:

Benediction

(3)

Pensee

des

Morts

(5)

de V Enfant a son r&veil

de

(7)

(9) Andante lagrimoso ; and

Most of these pieces were
directly inspired by Lamartine.
The titles of Nos. 1,
3, 4, and 6 come from the Harmonies, and that of No. 10
comes from the poet's Meditations poetiques (Book II.,

(10)

No. 24).
entitled

Miserere

(8)

Cantique

No. 9
TJne

have some

d'amour.

is

based on one of the Harmonies,

Larme ou

the superscription

'

composed on the

and 9
and No 6. has

Nos.

Consolation.

lines of the poet prefixed,

1, 3,

text of Lamartine's

Harmonies.' Of the others the Miserere after Palestrina,

'

and the Pater

noster,

with the words

subscribed,

transcription of a foul'-part vocal composition of his

The Ave Maria explains

itself.
Two of the remaining pieces, without more
extended programmes than their titles, call for a
few words of comment. The first edition of the Pensie
des Morts was without this title, but had the indication
avec un profond sentiment d'ennui.' By ennui is to be
understood what Liszt described as die Trubsal der
own, hardly concern us here.

armen Menschenkinder (the sorrows of the poor children

and Bossuet as le fond de la vie humaine.'

of men),

Liszt composed

'

it

when he was staying at La Chenaie

The Ftmerailles

with the famous cleric Lamennais.

have reference to the

in

political

troubles of 1848-1850,

which perished his friends Felix Lichnowsky, Ludwig

To what has already

Batthyanyi, and Ladislas Teleki.

been said about the Cantique d'amowr

may

be added that

292

[Sixth

Liszt.

it is

connected with the Princess Wittgenstein, on whose

estate

it

and the Invocation and Benediction were com-

To her Liszt dedicated the whole

posed in 1847-1848.
collection

a Jeanne Elisabeth Carolyne.'

'

more varied, and upon the whole more

interesting and valuable collection is that bearing the
The three books of this
title Annies de Pelerinage.
larger,

collection were published respectively in 1855, 1868,

1883

but the compositions of the

first

and

book, which

is

devoted to Switzerland, are of 1835-1836, those of the

second, which

is

devoted to Italy, of 1838-1839, and

those of the third, which

to

Italy,

much

of

compositions

is

for the greater part devoted

is

The nature

times.

later

of these

well characterized by the sub-title of the

book of the earlier published Album d'un Voyageur,

which contained five of the Swiss pieces
namely,
first

Impressions

'Chapelle de Guillaume
'

Pastorale,'

Au

'

d'Obermann,'

The

Poesies.

et

Tell,'

'

Au Lac

bord d'une Source,'

Eclogue,'

'

subjects dealt with are

'

de Wallenstadt,'
'

Orage,'

Vallee

'

Of these nine pieces only two are accom-

de Geneve.'

panied by remarks in addition to the

d'Obermann

'

is

titles

the

Childe Harold

'

Vallee

preceded by two short passages from

Senancour's Obermann and nine lines from

and the

'

Eclogue

passage and a note entitled

et

'

Le Mai du Pays,' Lea Cloches

du ranz-des-vaches.'

'

De

'

is

followed

Byron's

by a long

I'expression romantique

One may

confidently point to

the serene Lac de Wallenstadt and the sparkling

Au

bord

d'une Sowrce as the most happily inspired and finished

compositions.

While

this

first

book contains nature

impressions, the second book contains art and literature

impressions

in (1) II Sposalizio, Liszt expresses the

impression received from Eaphael's work in the Milan

Annees de P^lerinage.

Period.J

Brera

in

Penseroso,

(2) II

the

new

sacristy

of

impression received

the

from Michael Angelo's statue

Lorenzo

of

Lorenzo

S.

Canzonetta del Salvatoi' Rosa,

is

29$

at

de'

Medici in

Florence

Italian painter's poems, with the words under the

Then

follow the 47th,

Petrarch, the words being prefixed to the music

of the book is entitled

Fantasia quasi Sonata.'

music

104th, and 123rd Sonnets of

pieces are transcriptions of vocal settings

number

(3)

a setting of one of the

'

(7)

these

the last

After a reading of Dante,

Let us not overlook that in the

and Penseroso Liszt has no intention whatever

and sculptor he wishes to do no
more than express in music the impression their works
have produced on him, or, to be more exact, the moods
engendered by them. These impressions are probably
different from yours, I know they are different from
Sposalizio

to vie with the painter

mine, but that does not

The

procedure.
creative

affect

the legitimacy of the

third book, in which the composer's

power shows less freshness and vigour,* contains,

besides a transcription,
gardiens,'

six

'

Angelus

Priere aux anges

original pianoforte pieces

both threnodies and bearing the same

title

(2)

Aux

and

(8)

Cypres

de la Villa d'Este (at the Villa d'Este, Tivoli, the property

of Cardinal

Hohenlohe, Liszt often resided)

jeux d'eaux a la Villa d'Este

(5)

(4) Lesr

Sunt lacrymce rerum,

Marche funebre (in memory of

Maximilian I., Emperor of Mexico, who died June 19.
Before leaving the
1867) ; and (7) Sursum Corda.
Annees de PHerinage, I must yet mention the piece
Lyon, which opened the Impressions et Poesies. It bore
the motto Vivre en travaillant ou mourir en combattant,'
en mode hongrois ;

(6)

'

* There is in it perhaps more agliness, hollowness, and uzimasicahiessthan in any other of the master's publications.

294

Liszt

and referred

[Sixth

workmen

of the

to the insurrection

of

Lyons in 1834, with its five-days' fighting in the streets.

Of the twelve Grandes Etudes (Etudes d'exeeution
transcendante) nine have significant titles
(4)
(8)

Mazeppa; (5) Feux

Wilde Jagd; (9)

du Soir;
the

titles,

follets

(6)

Paysage ;

(3)

Vision;

Eroica;

(7)

Ricordama ; (11) Harmonies

Without going beyond
(12) Chasse-neige.
we can see that most of these have not

the same importance as those of the pieces of the

previously considered collections, that, in fact, they were
fanciful after-thoughts.

Along with the above

studies

ought to be enumerated the three Etudes de Concert

Waidesrauschen, Gnomenreigen, and Ave Maria.

Very notable among Liszt's pianoforte pieces are the

two Legendes

St.

'

Fran9ois

d' Assise,

La

Prediction aux

Oiseaux,' and St. Fran9ois de Paule marchant sur les

flots.'
The former may have been suggested by the sixteenth chapter of the famous I Fioretti di San Francesco,
'

and the

was no doubt suggested by Steinle's

drawing which used to stand on Liszt's writing-table,
St. Francis of Paula walks on the waves, his mantle
latter

'

spread out under his

feet,

holding a glowing coal in one

of his hands, raising the other, either to conjure the

storm or to bless the threatened

sailors, looking

heaven-

ward, where in a glory appears the redeeming word

"Charitas"' (from Liszt's testament).

I cannot help

seeing excellent

programme music without

programmes

the Consolations, the master's

in

pretentious and

sweetest tone-poems.

Beuve's volume of poems that

Was

suggested

revealed

it

the

least

Saintetitle?

Other compositions of interest in our inquiry are the

unpublished

six

Hungarian portraits

Szechenyi, Teleky,

Eotvos, Deak, Vorosmarty, and Mosonyi; the several

Period.] Etttdes-Legendes-Mehclramas-Syniphonies. 295

Mephiito Waltzes and the Mephisto Polka; Mosenyi's

and some of the twelve pieces

;
Weihnachtsbavm (the Christmas Tree) &c.

Grabgeleite

Der

Between us and the discussion

of the orchestral works

now only Liszt's melodramatic compositions

namely, the pianoforte accompaniments to Burger's
Lenore (1857 ?), Lenau's Der traurige Mimch (1860),
Jokai's Der todte Dichter (1873), and Tolstoi's Der

ihere stand

blinde Sanger (1860).

the

first of

Let us note the dates of at least

these compositions (written about 1857, and

published in 1860)

was one of the first that

Schumann, who had preceded him a
few years (he wrote in 1849 and 1852, and published in
1853) in rehabilitating and bringing into vogue again
for Liszt

followed the lead of

the genre of musically accompanied declamation.

And now at last we come to Liszt's orchestral programme music, the twelve Symphonic Poems, the two
Symphonies (Goethe's Famt and Dante's Divina
Commedia), two Episodes from Lenau's Faust, and some
compositions of less importance comprising a thirteenth

Symphonic Poem, in short, the works by which the

composer has challenged the world, and about which
there has been so

much

controversy.

related that Liszt did not

ambitious works

till

begin

to

I have already

compose these

about the end of 1847, or rather did

not begin to contemplate composing them

till

then,

and

did not actually begin their composition till two years later,
at the age of thirty-eight.

And I have

also already related

it was the Princess Wittgenstein who induced him to

abandon the career of a virtuoso and to grapple with the
most difficult tasks a creative musician can set himself.
Once on the path, he followed it with feverish eagerness.

that

In April or May, 1854, he writes that seven of the twelve

296

[Sixth

Liszt.

symphonic poems are

Symphony,

and mentions

entirely finished,

the titles of two more.

In 1854 follow the Faust

Symphony

in 1855 the Dante

and in 1859

the above-enumerated orchestral works, with the

all

exception of the unimportant ones, were black on white.

Sixteen symphonic works within ten years

And

were by no means the only compositions he

was composition the only work he

of

the

1862.

nor

publication

works in question took place from 1856 to

I shall begin

poems

did.

The

these

wi'ote,

my

review with the symphonic

in the printed order,

although that

is

not the

chronological order, then proceed to the symphonies,

and conclude with some

of the other works.

The figures

in parentheses after the titles are the years of composition

and publication.
first

Dante's Divina Commedia was the

subject that occupied Liszt,

originally contemplated

muse was very

different

Bonaventura Genelli's

and the treatment

by the composer and his inspiring

from the one ultimately chosen.

illustrations to

Dante's

great

poem, and the success of Gropius's diorama shown at

them a combination of diorama and

The Princess offered to provide the considerable

Berlin, suggested to

music.

capital for the outlay required for the realization of the

idea.

Lina

Eamann

says that the idea was given up

because of the Princess's loss of fortune.

May

not the

good sense of the projectors have had something to do

with the abandonment of the scheme ?

The first in the printed order of Liszt's twelve

Symphonic Poems, Ce qu'on entend sur la Montagne
(1849 ; 1857), is based on and named after No. 5 of Victor
Hugo's Les Feuilles d'automne.
the whole

poem

to his score,

The composer prefixes

and does not give any

further information as to his intention.

On

a mountain

Period.]

Ce qu'on entend sur

Montague.

la

297

by the

sea, the poet hears a vast, immense, confused

sound, vaguer than the -wind in the thickly foliaged trees,

of clanging chords, suave murmurs, soft as an

evening song, strong as the clash of arms, ineffable,
full

profound music. And in this world-enveloping symphony

he soon distinguishes two voices the voice of Nature and

the voice of Humanity

the former, coming from the sea,

the voice of the waves, a song of glory, a

happiness

hymn

of

the latter, coming from the land, full of

murmur

sadness, the

man the

of

one magnificent,

joyous, peaceful, and triumphant ; the other shrill, grating,

and complaining.

maledictory,

meditating, the poet asks

be

the

object

of

Why

this,

all

we

arc

what can

here,

what of the

And why

better to be or to live ?

and

After listening

soul, is

does God,

who

it

alone

reads in his book, mingle eternally in one fatal

hymn the

song of nature with the cry of humanity?

This

brief indication of Victor

permissible

Hugo's vision

In

fact,

We may

symbolism.
metaphor.

a
is

obvious that music

It

can only actualize

This

Liszt's

observation

the

composition

even describe

it

should

work, not

qualification

of

Symbolism

a legitimate form of

is

is

word

It is

cannot render the poet's meaning.

imagery.

this

speaking of things audible) and the

in

questionings arising therefrom.

his

(if

be

as
art.

is

read

that Liszt does not follow Victor

as

condemnation.

What has

farther noted in connection with this symphonic

is

pure

as a gigantic

Hugo

to be

poem

to the bitter

For the poet's pessimistic conclusion the composer

substitutes an optimistic one. After the confused sound
and the opposition and contention of the two voices, a
blissful reconciliation
based on religious faith is
end.

proposed, but not yet acquiesced in; the contention

is

298

[Sixth

Liszt.

then renewed with even greater stress, and finally

is

faith'

the conqueror.

Although the centenary of Goethe's birthday and a

performance of

his

Tasso gave the impulse to the

composition of Tasso: Lamento

e trionfo

(1849; 1866),

was Byron's poem The Lament of Tasso

rather than the German poet's drama for which Liszt
was asked to write an overture. The title shows that
the composer did not stop where the poet stopped.
He contrasted with the miseries of the man's life the
posthumous glory of the author of the Gerusalemme
its chief inspirer

liberata.

Tasso loved and suffered in Ferrara, he was

'

revenged in Eome, and he lives

from his imperishable fame.

wo

called

up

to-day in the folk-

we then saw

festivities of

his masterpieces

To render them musically,

his great shade as

first

Venetian lagunes

through the

still

These three moments are inseparable

songs of Venice.

it

still

haunts the

his proud, sad face pass

Ferrara, where he gave birth to

finally

we

followed

him

to

Bome, the

which in bestowing on him her crown,

in him the martyr and poet.'
This quotation

eternal city
glorified

and the other information are from Liszt's preface, from

which we learn also that the principal theme on which
ho based his composition is the melody to which he
heard the Venetian gondoliers sing the opening stanzas
of Tasso's epic.

Many

years after the composition of the above work,

Liszt added to

Tasse (1868

Le Triomphe fwriebre du,

The preface consists of an extract
biography of Tasso, in which the author
it

an

epilogue,

1878).

from Serassi's

relates how, after the poet's death at the

S. Onofrio,

on the Janiculum,

monastery of

his patron, Cardinal Cintio

(Aldobrandino), prepared a magnificent funeral, and

how

Period.

Les Prelvdea.

Tasao

299

the corpse, clad in a rich toga and crowned with laurel,

was carried in great pomp, accompanied by the mighty

and the learned

But a much more

furnished by the
One day the composer and

to St. Peter's Place.

interesting piece of information is

biographer of

Liszt.

a friend walked to S. Onofrio to view the

following

route by which the

the

sunset,

corpse of

Tasso
returned from St. Peter's to the monastery; and so
powerful was the impression Liszt received that on the

same evening he had himself driven

over the same way.

the next day,

'

in a closed carriage

imagined myself,' he remarked

Tasso lying in his coffin, and I noted

the feeling he was likely to have had, had he been
'

conscious of the occurrence.'

Les Prelvdes (1854

1856) were inspired by one of

Lamartine's Meditations poHiques.

describes

his

work as

The composer, who

d'apres Lamartine,

gives the

following exposition of the content or rather of the

underlying thought.
preludes to that

the

first

'

What

unknown song

first

of

Love

solemn

note?

aurora of every existence.

which the

our

is

life

but a series of

which Death intones

forms the enchanted

But where

is

the destiny in

delights of happiness are not interrupted

by some storm

whose mortal breath dissipates

whose fatal lightning consumes

beautiful illusions,

altar?
after

And where

is

memories in the sweet calm of country

life ?

its

But

not easily resign himself long to the enjoyment

of the beneficent serenity in the

at first

its

the cruelly wounded soul that

one of those tempests does not seek to soothe

man does

its

charmed him

bosom

of nature

and when the trumpet sounds the

alarm, he hastens to the post of danger,

the war that calls

which

him

to the ranks,

whatever

that he

may

300

[Sixth

Liszt.

find again in the fight

full

consciousness of himself

Here the composer

and entire possession of his powers.'

once more makes the inessential
similes, the essential of the

was

of course

music

poem, the

of the

the philosophic idea

beyond the reach of the

This,

art.

however, does not prevent this symphonic

poem from

being one of the most pleasing, popular, and

effective

of the master's compositions.

In the preface to the fourth symphonic poem, Orpheus

(1854; 1856), Liszt

us that once, while conducting

tells

a rehearsal of Gluck's Orpheus, he could not help his

imagiaation straying from this touchingly and sublimely
simple point of view to that Orpheus

who

soars so

majestically and harmoniously above the most poetic

myths of Greece and could not help having recalled to
his mind an Etruscan vase seen by him in the Louvre,
on which the ancient poet-musician is represented
;

draped in a starred robe, his forehead encircled with the

mystically royal band, his

lips,

from which flow divine

words and melodies, open, and his beautiful tapering

fingers energetically sounding the strings of his lyre.

Around

this figure the

composer imagined he perceived

the wild beasts of the forest enraptured, the brutal

instinct of

man

silenced, the rocks softened.

as of old and always,' remarks Liszt,

Art, should pour forth his melodious

'

'

To-day,

Orpheus, that

is

waves and vibrating

chords like a soft and irresistible light over the contrary

elements that tear each other and bleed in the soul of

every individual, as in the bowels of society.
bewails Eurydice, that
evil

and pain,

whom

emblem

he

Orpheus

of the ideal engulfed by

permitted to snatch from the

is

monsters of Erebus, to lead forth from the Cimmerian

darkness, but

whom,

alas

he cannot keep on this

earth.'

Period.]

Orpheus

Prometheus.

301

Finally the composer formulates the thought in his

33aind

thus

'

To render the

serenely civilizing character

of the melodies that radiate

from every work of art

their suave energy, their august sway, their noble soul-

encompassing sonorousness, .
their diaphanous
and azured ether enveloping the work and the whole
.

imiverse as in an atmosphere, as in a transparent

garment of ineffable and mysterious harmony.'

Liszt composed the fifth of his Symphonic Poems,
Prometheus (1850; 1856), as an overture to Herder's
dramatic scenes entitled Der entfesselte Prometheus
(Prometheus unbound), which were performed at Weimar
iQ 1850 on the occasion of the inauguration of a statue of
that literary luminary. The composer remarks in the
preface that the musician

is

concerned only with the

sentiments that constitute the foundation of

forms successively assumed by the myth.

suffering, endurance,

the

and salvation: daring aspiration

towards the highest destinies which the

can reach ; creative

all

'Audacity,

activity,

need

for

human mind

expansion

expiatory pains giving up our vital organs to an incessant

gnawing, without annihilating ourselves

condemnation

a hard enchainment on the most arid shores

nature ; cries of anguish and tears of blood
to

but

an inextinguishable

consciousness

grandeur, of a future deliverance

deliverer

who

of

of our

native

tacit faith in

will raise the long-tortured captive to the

transmundane regions from which he stole the luminous

spark
and, lastly, the accomplishment of the
work of mercy when the great day has come. UnhappiThus narrowed, the fundamental
ness and glory
.

thought of this but tpo

stormy, one

may

true^ fable lent itself

only to a

even say, fulgurant expression.

a
;

802

[Sixth

Liszt.

desolation triumphant by the perseverance of a haughty-

energy forms the musical character of these data.'

The

subject of

Mazeppa (1850

Hugo's poem

of Victor

prefixes the

1856)

from Les

is

the

Mazeppa
Liszt

Orientales.

whole of that poem to the sixth of his

Symphonische Dichttmgen, and does so without comment,

leaving

it

to the hearer to find out

chooses from

it

what the composer

and what he is content

for interpretation,

The composition begins with a shrill cry

(Un cri part), and then the wild horse with Mazeppa
bound to it rushes away through valleys, rivers, steppes,
forests, and deserts, followed first by other wild horses,
then by birds of prey, till after a three-days' mad career
With it, still bound to it, lies the groaning
it falls dead.
to ignore.

Mazeppa, naked, coveted with blood, a living corpse;

but the time will come when this poor wretch shall rise
ruler of the tribes of the Ukraine.

to be the

Mazeppa

is

perhaps the most daring piece of tone-

painting in existence.
picturing of

It consists

outward.

the

and genius displayed in

cannot but

Liszt's

let

it

almost entirely of the

Nevertheless, the
is

power

such that the hearer

himself be carried away by this

restless,

breathless flight.

In the case of the seventh symphonic poem (1851

programme vouchsafed by Liszt consists

The composer's
biographer, however, makes a most interesting and
1856) the whole

in the

Festkldnge (Festal sounds).

title,

light-giving

revelation

concerning

this

wedding music.

summer

if

of

1851

it

seemed as

The

work.

Festklange were to be his

In the

the obstacles in the

way

of his marriage with the Princess Wittgenstein would be

soon overcome.

song of

'At this time arose the Festklange

triumph over hostile machinations.

In them

Period.] Mazeppa-Featkldnge-Heroide-Hungaria.

303

and pain were resolved into proud rejoicing,

and the polonaise woven into them pictures the spiritual

bitterness

who had made him her

Along with this there are woven into the

traits of the princely Polish lady

" soul-serf."

work tender
soul

little

episodes

pervaded by the

festal

sounds

of

the

poetic enchantment of personal

experiences.'

Liszt has written a long, vague, and wordy preface to

the Heroide fimebre, the eighth symphonic

1850; 1856).

poem

(1849-

Happily two or three of his sentences sum

up his meaning. 'Everything can change in human

societies
manners and cult, laws and ideas
sorrow
remains always one and the same, it remains what it

has been from the beginning of time.

It is for art to

tomb of the brave,

to encircle with its golden halo the dead and the dying,
in order that they may be envied by the living.'
To
enter still more fully into the intention of the composer,
we have only to remember the nearness of the
revolutionary movements of 1848, and to note that
Liszt incorporated with this work a fragment from
throw

its transfiguring veil

over the

the Symphonie revolutionnaire sketched in 1830.

Of the Hungaria, the ninth symphonic poem (1854

it has no revealed programme,

1857), I shall only say that

but indubitably

is

a historical and national picture of

war, death, and triumph.

poem

Hamlet, the tenth symphonic

(1858; 1861), which, too, has neither

nor any kind of preface,

is

programme

described on the original

manuscript as a Prelude to Shakespeare's drama.

brings before the hearer the brooding prince
story of his

life,

^not

It

the

not even his whole character, only a

dominating feature.

The indications 'very slow and

sombre,' 'appassionato ed agitato assai,' 'this episode

304

should be played extremely quietly, and

3/2 time

in

[Sixth

Liszt.

should sound

lugubre,'

and circumstances
the

show that

affecting

allusions to

mood

his

are

Also the Hunnenschlacht (Battle of the

not wanting.

Huns),

a shadow picture, pointing to Ophelia,'

'Moderato

'ironico,

persons

like

poem

symphonic

eleventh

(1856-1857

programme prefixed to it. We know,

however, that Wilhelm von Kaulbach's fresco in the
Berlin museum inspired the composer.
The subject
1861) has no

Kaulbach's

of

picture is the legend

that

the

after

bloody struggle on the Catalaunian Plain, in 451,

between Attila and his forces on the one side and

the

Eoman

theirs

Aetius and the Visigoth

on the other

the battle in the

side,

air.

the

Heathendom and

Two

and

fallen warriors continued

Like the painter, the musician

wished to represent the

the Cross.

Theodoric

event

as

strife

between

Christianity resulting in the victory of

melodies are, as

it

were, the standards

of the contending forces, Cruxfdelis gaining the day.

In the twelfth symphonic poem. Die Ideate (The Ideals,

is based on Schiller's poem of that
name, Liszt proceeds in a way quite different from those
he follows in his other works.
Instead of a general

1857; 1859), which

programme or a single title, he takes nine groups of

and prefixes them to as many continuous sections
of the composition.
The pith and drift of Schiller's
poem may be stated thus The sweet belief in the dream
creations of youth passes away that for which we once
ardently strove, and which we lovingly embraced with
heart and mind, becomes the prey of pitiless reality;
already midway the boon companions love, fortune,
fame, and truth leave us one after another, and only
friendship and activity remain with us as comforters.

verses

Period.]

HunnenschlachtIdeale.

305

But the composer departs

in several points from the

In a note to the tenth and concluding
division of the work, the Apotheosis, he says: 'The
holding fast and at the same time the continual realizing
poet's data.

of the ideal is the highest

aim

of our

life.

In this sense

I ventured to supplement Schiller's poem

by a resumption,
in the closing Apotheosis, of the motives of the first
division in a jubilantly emphasized form.'

In justification

an alteration Liszt could have cited Jean Paul Eichter,

and even Schiller himself, who called the conclusion
of

tame, although a faithful picture of human life. We

have to note further that the musician does not give the
verses in the poet's sequence, that he

makes use of eight

by Schiller in the ultimate amended form
of the poem, and that, lastly, the composer marks the
lines omitted

four

main

divisions of the

Aspiration,

as Liszt

Disillusion,

puts

it

in

work by the superscriptions

and Apotheosis. Or,

Activity,

to

letter

Hans von

Billow:

'Following closely Schiller's poem, the musical composition divides

itself, after

main strophes

(1) Aspiration, (2) Disillusion,

the introduction, into three

and

(3)

an
emphasized form, furnish the content of the poet's

Activity,

the

motives

of

which, reappearing

in

Apotheosis.'

In addition to the twelve symphonic poems discussed,

there has to be mentioned a thirteenth, a short work of
the composer's old age (1881
obtained

much

1883), which has not

attention from the public, and was but

lightly regarded by Liszt himself.

Writing to Gevaert
he describes the score as assez courte, et sans chevilles.'
A pen-and-ink drawing by Count Michael von Zichy
'

inspired

From

the

Cradle to the Grave (The Cradle,

Struggle for Existence,

To the Grave).

In a

letter to

306

[Sixth

Liszt.

the Count, Liszt says

Your drawing

'

You make me a grand

present.

a wonderful symphony. I will try to

and then dedicate the work to you.'
Liszt's symphonies differ from his symphonic poems

put

is

into notes,

it

in that they consist of separate divisions instead of

movements
and
numher and
The first of Liszt's
internal economy of the divisions.
two symphonies is the Faust Symphony, the full title of"
which runs A Faust Symphony (after Goethe) in three
a continuity of closely connected

they differ from the old symphonies in the

Character Pictures

(1)

Faust;

(2)

Margaret;

is

(3)

Mephis-

and a concluding chorus, All that is transient

but a semblance,' for grand orchestra and men si

topheles,

voices.

'

The three character

pictures were composed

1853-1854, the chorus in 1857

whole was published in 1861.

jfl

and the score of the

As the

title indicates,

the

composer does not roam with the poet through heaven,

earth,

and

hell,

and represent in speech and action a

crowd of creatures of
himself to

all

the three

kinds and degrees, but confines

personages and the

principal

portrayal of their inward being.

indicate that the second

But the

and third

title

does not

divisions not merely

portray Margaret and Mephistopheles, but also complete

the portrait of Faust

and that incidents of the action

are not wholly excluded, as, for instance, the consultation

of the flower oracle in the second division shows.
first

The

character picture brings before us in speaking

motives and themes the brooding and inquiring, the

restlessly chafing, the love-longing,

enthusiastic

Faust.

presents to us the

and the triumphantly

The second character

sweet,

simple

first

and then in conjunction with Faust, whose entrance

marked by his love-longing theme
Margaret's

alone,
is

picture

Margaret at

Period

FaustDante.

'He loves me, he

'

He

loves

me

'

loves me not, &c.,' with the final exultant

forming a very brief episode.

character picture
It

307

is

who

that of the spirit

The

third

ever denies.

opens with jeers and diabolical laughter (Allegro

No

new themes are produced,

and themes are introduced in
grotesquely metamorphosed forms. Also the Margaret
theme appears again.
The choral Coda is not con-

vivace ironico).

but Faust

entirely

motives

scheme of character pictures. But no

doubt the composer disliked the idea of concluding
sistent with the

with the strident dissonance of the heartless mocking

Hence the harmonious

Mephistopheles.

that

is

transient

is

by

resolution

the mystic chorus from the second part of

Famt

All

'

but a symbol, the insufGicient becomes

an event, the indescribable here

done, the eternal

is

^
womanly draws us upward.'
The second of Liszt's symphonies, usually called Danle
Symphony, but the full and correct title of which is
A Symphony to Dante's Divina Commedia for grand
orchestra and soprano and alto chorus (1855
consists

of

two

only

divisions

respectively

The composer

L' Inferno and II Purgatorio.

1858),

entitled

originally

intended to have, like the poet, a third division.

are reading Dante,' Liszt writes to

ld65.

That

You^

Wagner on June

good company for you.

is

'

For

2,

my part,

shall furnish you with a commentary to this reading.

For a long time

about with

me

have been carrying a Dante Symphony

in

course of the year

Hell, Purgatory,

my

it is

head

[see

p.

to be fiiiished-

and Paradise

the

instrumental, the last with chorus.'

a Paradise strongly urged by

296

in

the

three divisions
first

The

two purely

objections to

Wagner in all probability

As the work stands.

induced Liszt to alter his plan.

308

[Sixth

Liszt.

the second division concludes with a Coda, that

described as an outlook towards

presentiment of

The

it.

may

Paradise, or

score has prefixed to

it

as

be
a

a long

interpretative Introduction, which, although not written,

was authorized, prompted, and approved by the composer.

The writer of it, Eichard Pohl, points out that a
composer worthy of a theme like Faust must be something more than a tone-painter (in the material, bad
sense of the word)

his concern ought to be with some-

thing that neither the word with

its

concrete definiteness

can express, nor form and colour can actually

realize,

and this something is

most intimate feelings that unveil themselves to man's
mind only in tones. None but the tone-poet can render
the fundamental moods. But in order to seize them in
their totality, he must abstract from the material
moments of Dante's epic, and can at most only allude to
a few of them. On the other hand, he must also abstract
from the dramatic and philosophical elements. These
were Pohl's, and, we may presume, Liszt's views on the
treatment of the subject. At the beginning two motives
are heard which play important parts in the first
division.
The trombones and tuba open the Inferno
the
Through
me you pass into the city of woe.
with
Through me you pass into eternal pain. Through me

the world of the profoundest and

among

the people lost for aye.'

horns follow with the direful

enter here.'

'

All

And

the trumpets and

hope abandon, ye who

The dread gate passed, we

find ourselves

which become
distinguishable the madness, hopelessness, fury, and
in a

demoniac turmoil

curses

of the

relief in these

damned

{accelerando), in

(Allegro frenetico).

The only

protracted horrors is afforded by the

beautiful episode of Paolo

and Francesca da Bimini.

Dante

Pebiod.J
'

No

Lenau's Faust Episodes.

greater grief than to

misery

at hand.'

is

remember days

80&

when

of joy

In the introductory Andante of the

second division, the Purgatory, the composer had in his

mind Dante's experiences after issuing from HelL: the

sweet hue of eastern sapphire, the serene aspect of the
pure air, the beautiful planet that made all the orient
laugh, and the trembling of the ocean {il tremolar della

What

marina).
godliness,

follows

speaks of infinite longing for

of a growing feeling of unworthiness and

weakness, of humility, contrition, and repentance, of

redemption by prayer.

With regard

to the Coda, the

writer of the preface justly remarks that the art cannot

sing heaven

itself,

only the earthly reflection of

it

in

the heart of those whose souls are turned heavenward.

'

When

the holy glow of divine Love has kindled the

heart, every

pang

is

extinguished

the heart

is lost

the heavenly bliss of resignation in God's mercy

the individual Magnificat

it

in

from

proceeds, joining itself to the

whole universe, to the general Halleluja and Hosanna.'

With the grand chant and the shouts of rejoicing, sung

by the women's or boys' chorus, accompanied by the
orchestra, the work ends ecstatically.
The Two Episodes from Lenau's Faust for grand
orchestra
Zug (The nocturnal
(1) Der ndchtliche
procession), and (2) Der Tanz irn der Dorfschenke (The

dance in the village inn), also called Mephisto Walts,

were

composed in 1858-1859, and published in 1862,

The following ingredients, extracted from the poem,
will give an idea of Liszt's soul- and body-painting,
his picturing of the inward and outward, in the first
romantic composition. Heavy dark clouds, profound
night, sweet spring feeling in the wood, a warm
soulful

rustling in the foliage, fragrant air, carolling

310

[Sixth

Liszt.

Faust rides alone in sombre mood,

of the nightingale.

the farther he advances

illuminating bush and sky,

singing?

greater the silence; he

the

What can be

dismounts.

approaching

the

what the

light

sweet solemn

procession with torches, of white-dressed

children carrying wreaths of flowers in celebration of

St. John's Eve, followed by virgins in demure nuns' veils,
and old priests in dark habits and with crosses. When they
have passed by and the last glimpses of the lights have

disappeared, Faust buries his face in his horse's

and sheds tears more

An

bitter

than ever he shed

episode of a very different nature

is

the Dance in the

Village Inn, the ne plus ultra of weirdness

sensuality in the whole

domain

mane

before.

of music,

and unbridled
and one of the

most remarkable tours de force of imagination, combination, and instrumentation. Mephistopheles takes the
instrument from the hands of the tame fiddler, and draws
from it indescribably seductive and intoxicating tones.
The amorous Faust whirls about with a full-blooded
village beauty in a wild dance
they dance, and dance,
and dance, in the room, out of the room, in the open,
:

wood the sounds of the fiddle grow softer and

softer, and the nightingale warbles his love-laden song.
Only one word of one more work, the Todtentanz
to the

(Danse macabre), Paraphrase on the Dies

forte

and Orchestra.

It

Irce for Piano-

was composed

revised in 1859, and published in 1865

in 1849-1850,
;

but the seed

was sown in 1838 at Pisa. Liszt told his biographer

that when he saw Andrea Orcagna's fresco, ' The
Triumph of Death,' in the Campo Santo, he was so
greatly

moved by the

creation that Dies

and profoundness of this

sounded within him with over-

naivete

irce

whelming power and blended with

all

the modulations

Todtentam Choice of Subjectg.

Peiuod.]

811

of the thought which the Italian master put into line

and

colour.

trosity

'

Liszt hesitated to puhlish

as his

'

'

such a mons-

Dance of Death,' but Hans von Biilow

The work is certainly a gruesome

allayed his doubts.

treatment of a gruesome subject.

In the foregoing pages I have shown what Liszt has
done in the way of symphonic programme music. The
reader who has attentively followed me must have seen
that as regards quantity the master's output

is

very

and that as regards choice of programme

it is as a rule unexceptionable.
Only ignorance of the
composer's intentions and false attributions can find in
these works anything that is absurd or illegitimate,
considerable,

anything that lowers or denaturalizes the

The

art.

subjects are always noble and poetical, and the parts of

them chosen for interpretation or illustration are musical,

or at least within the reach of music.

rightly denies

and

Saint- Saens

ridicules the accusation that Liszt

sought to set philosophical

systems to music

and

he translated into music none

However ready Liszt was to make
use of the picturing of the outward as an auxiliary, the
picturing of emotional impressions, states, and evolutions
was his main object. Let us not overlook that if the
painting of the outward is of the right things and of the
stoutly maintains that

but poetical ideas.

right sort,

it

can

stir

the inward, can produce a powerful

on the imagination and the emotions by association, analogy, and symbolism.

The impression we
receive from Mazeppa consists of something more than
effect

the perception of swift motion.

But

in

making these

remarks I do not mean to assert that Liszt's choice of

subjects might not sometimes have been more wise, or,
let

us say, less risky.

In programme music, subject and

312

[Sixth

Lisst.

music can never be quite coincident, quite concurrent

if they could be, the programme would be superfluous
but the difference in the extent, in the coincidence,
the

of

two had

certain subjects

Prometheus

better

for

be

not

Again,

too great.

instance such as the Inferno and

may demand

an excessive

sacrifice of the

beautiful to the characteristic.

Unquestionably and immeasurably more important,

however, than the question of choice of subject

is

question of the composer's creative endowment.

the

No

wonder that opinions as to Liszt's vary infinitely,

and sometimes are as far apart as the south and
north

Lina Eamann sees

poles.

works nothing
incomparable

was one
but

of

sterile,

but

what

to Hanslick,

those

who

the

in

sublime,

is

master's

perfect,

and

on the other hand, Liszt

endowed

natures,

with

genius,

are impelled by artistic ambition to

mistake inclination for vocation.

Few are likely to agree

with the uncritical raptures of the biographer or the

equally uncritical antipathies of the Vienna critic.

Eeal

acquaintance and unbiassed examination will 'assuredly

lead to an intermediate position.
of the

Owing

to the neglect

symphonist Liszt in the concert room, and the

prevailing prejudice against him, this position cannot,

however, be reached without taking the trouble to go

in search of him,

and sympathetically, or

at least with

an open mind, cultivating his acquaintance.

Those who

have done so agree to a surprising degree in

judgment of him

their

not in their estimate of the individual

works, but in their estimate of the total character and

value of his productions.

Even the admiring and

thoroughly sympathetic friend and disciple Saint- Saens,

who

holds that the symphonist Liszt

is

the great and

His Creative Endowment.

I'eriod.]

313

real Liszt, admits that although the master's works are

immense, they are unequal, and that a selection has to

he made. On the other hand, connoisseurs uninfluenced

by personal bonds and artistic leanings, such as Eiemann,

Kretzschmar, Weingartner, Ambros, Lobe, and others,
acknowledge Liszt's creative power while pointing out
its limitations.
Of a scornful rejection of his works, of
a sneering at impotence, formlessness, &c., there is no
trace in their utterances.
Kretzschmar sees in the
master's works freedom, daring, and sureness in the

fundamental

them as

intellectual
force.

lines of the

original

and

formal structure, and regards

achievements which

But the same

represent

an

formative power of extraordinary

a^rtistic

writer notes also that most of

the symphonic poems approach in form the free fantasia

so frequently employed by Liszt in his transcriptions

and rhapsodies.

Weingartner remarks

Brahms a brooding

reflective element,

as

that,

in

so in Liszt a

rhapsodic one takes the upper hand; an improvising

manner

often bordering on incoherence

{Zerrissenheit)

being a characteristic of most of Liszt's works.

In con-

nection with these remarks on the rhapsodic nature of the

master's compositions,

we ought

to note Eiemann's just

an intensive feeling for logic.
On turning from the form to the matter, we meet
with much more that is liable to objection.
It Is

observation, that Liszt has

impossible not to perceive that his compositions are to a

larger extent the result of excogitation than of spontaneity,

and unduly influenced by his sesthetical views nor can

we fail to be struck by the exuberance of his style,
;

which loves to display

itself in

a too flowery, over-

emphatic, exclamatory, and not unfrequently bombastic,

and even hollow

rhetoric.

Except that

it

is

more

314

[Sixth

Liszt.

logical, his

his

musical style

literary

a pretty exact likeness of

is

we have here another

Indeed,

style.

exemplification of the saying

'

Liszt

'

Saint-Saens,

writes

d'un savoureux melange

style

le

Magyar

and wild energy count

for

c'est

I'homme.

Vdme magyare,

est

faite

d'elegance native et

de fierte,

Yes,

d'^nergie sauvage.'

'

pride, native elegance,

much

in the character of

But although it counts for much,

Liszt was an
it does not by any means count for all.
extraordinarily complex being, and full of irreconcilable
contrasts.
The son of a Hungarian father was also the
son of a German mother
the man who at the most
impressionable period of his life came chiefly under the
influence of French culture, opened his mind and heart
also to the culture of Germany, of Italy, and ;to some
extent of England the artist who believed in Beethoven,
Weber, Schubert, and Wagner, appreciated also Berlioz,
Chopin, and the Italian melodists. No wonder that
Liszt was an eclectic.
Indeed, his style, although
swarming with individual mannerisms, is less homogeneous than the styles of most of the great composers.
The eclecticism of his melody has repeatedly been
Liszt and his music.

pointed out, but not only there

Liszt,

is it clearly perceptible.

in writing to Brendel on September

7,

remarks, after referring to an axiom of the

('the artistic nature,
as

consequence

true with
so

much

me

if

of

it

is

genuine, corrects

contrasts

So much

')

is certain,

'

May

1863,

latter'a

it

itself

come

few have laboured

at the long-lasting business of self-correction

as I have, the process of intellectual development having

in

my

by

so

case been,

many

if

not impeded,

made

specially difficult

various accidents and incidents.

years ago, a

clever

man

said

not

Twenty

inaptly to

me:

His Significance.

Peeiod.J

315

"You really have to deal with three men in you who

run counter to each other the sociable salon man, the
virtuoso, and the thinking and creating composer. If
you manage properly one of the three, you may

call yourself

a lucky fellow."

'

But Liszt was not

made him out

simple a being as the clever individual

be.

Instead of three, he had at least half-a-dozen

contending within him.

there were

among

so
to

men

Besides those mentioned above,

others

^the

man

of religion,

the

scheming diplomatist, the self-sacrificing friend, &c.

The many volumes of his letters that have been published
(letters

addressed to Wagner, to H. von Biilow, to the

Princess Wittgenstein, to an anonjrmous lady friend,

to contemporaries of all sorts

make

that evident.

literary

works

and conditions,

Much may

&c., &c.)

also be learned from his

but in that connection

remembered that others had often a hand

instance, the Princess Wittgenstein was

it

in

has to be

them

for

actually his

collaborator.*
Liszt's greatest achievements are certainly the two

symphonies.

To me the Faust Symphony seems

to be

most
and the clearness of the development. Others,
Weingartner
however, prefer the Dante Symphony.
regards the latter as the acme of Liszt's productivity, as
perhaps more harmonious (einheitlich) and powerful than
his

successful work, both for the freshness of the

ideas

On at least one occasion she was more than a collaborator. As Liszt

me himself, the much enlarged new edition of his Chopin was her
work. He made some attempts at a revision but they failed to please
her. He then said to her: 'Do it yourself, and do whatever you like.'
*

told

She was of course his partner in the writing of the first edition as she
was in the writing of all his literary work done during their connection.
All the fine writing about Poland is by her, who was a, Pole. In view
of these facts it is rather amusing to sec the Princess's poetic outpourings
quoted as the oracles of the genius Liszt.

316
Favst.

who

[Sixth

Liszt.

Equally appreciative words come from Ambros,

calls it

'

and genuinely

this grand, serious,

work.'

The majority

Faust.

Indeed, Dante

hardly ever performed;

is

which, no doubt, the nature of the

The purest forms in

accountable.

ethical

however, are cast for

of votes,

first

for

division

is

symphonic

Liszt's

compositions, according to Saint-Saens, are Gretchen

(Margaret, the second division of Famt), II Purgatorio
(the

second

division

may be

Orpheus,

General acceptance

fourth symphonic poem.

proposition

and

Dante),

of

Most

expected.

the

of this

will also agree with

the statement that Hamlet, Prometheus, and H^roide

fwnebre are the weakest of the twelve symphonic poems.

As

to the relative value of the others, I feel disinclined

to express

an opinion.

It

dissentient voice to the

themselves

Mazeppa,

and

many

Les

heard.
Festklwnge,

Montagne,

would be only adding another

that have already made
Orpheus,

Preludes,

Ideale,

Hungaria,

Tasso,

Ce qu'on entend
performed

are

sw

la

oftenest.

Although Liszt's symphonic compositions have been

before the public for about half-a-century, they have

not become popular.

do not think that the verdict

thus given will ever be reversed.

are too
crudity,

many and

too serious

Their shortcomings

they contain far too much

hoUowness, and ugliness.

their inferiority in

spontaneity,

But notwithstanding
and formal

sobriety,

beauty, to the symphonies of the great classics, Liszt's

works are too

beauties,

and

full

of

originality,

Geist,

enrapturing

striking expressiveness, to entirely deserve

the neglect that has been their

lot.

ultimate fate of his works what

it

Be, however, the

may, there

always remain to Liszt the fame of a daring

fruitful originator,

will

striver, a

and a wide-ranging quickener.

Pbeiod.]

CHAPTEE

III.

SIXTH PERIOD CONTINUED.

WAGNER.

Many a
this

reader will be surprised to find

company.

Wagner

in

Did he not condemn programme music,

and denounce the

music of
But what decides
a man's position ? Is it what he says, or what he does ?
However, even apart from this question, and confining
ourselves to what Wagner said, the case is by no means
so simple as most people think. If it is difficult to
present Berlioz's views on programme music in his
own words, it is still more difficult to present Wagner's.
insufficiency of instrumental

the absolute kind ?

But

No doubt he

for a different reason.

Wagner

the subject,

too

did.

Berlioz wrote too

much.

It is,

little

on

however, the

quality rather than the quantity that gives trouble.

The various circumstances

in which he expressed his

opinion affected his voice, which at

one

time

was

trenchant, at another equivocal, and at a third somewhat

9^ciliatory.

EICHAED WAGNEE,

born in 1813, received a good

>gejuwr^ education at the Dresden Kreuzschule, Leipzig

Nicolaischule
University.

(both secondary schools), and Leipzig

Although he was early attracted by and

occupied himself with music, he had no training in the

art

until

course of

when he went through a half-year's

harmony and counterpoint under Weinlig.

1830,

The lessons he got

hardly count

nor pupil.

in

1827

from

Gottlieb

Miiller

they gave satisfaction neither to master

Among the

compositions written before his

Wagner.

318

studies with Weinlig there is

[Sixth

an overture in

flat,

performed at the Leipzig Theatre in 1830, of which

Heinrich Dorn, the conductor, said, not without much
exaggeration, that

grand

effects

'

it

bore in

which at a

it

the germs of

later date

were to

all

those

set the whole

The compositions written

for some time
more
sober
cast
and had none
a

musical world by the ears.'

by Wagner under Weinlig' s direction and

after his tuition

were of

of the individual peculiarities described

by Dorn.

These

works comprised a sonata for pianoforte (1831), which

was printed ; several overtures, one to Eaupach's tragedy

King Enzio, and one entitled Polonia (1831 and 1832),
and a Symphony in C major, which was performed at
Prague and at the Leipzig Euterpe and Gewandhaus
concerts.
of

At that time Wagner was under the

spell

Beethoven, but he had also a love for Mozart's

instrumental music, instilled

His

professional

career

into

him by

Weinlig.

began as chorus-master

at

Wiirzburg (1833), and conductor at Magdeburg (1834),

Konigsberg (1836), and Eiga (1837). During this period

began also his career as a composer for the stage. In

1834 he composed, under the influence of Beethoven,
Weber, and Marschner, Die Feen, an opera that remained
unperformed until 1888; and in 1835-1836, under the
influence of

the modern French

Ldebesverbot,

once

Magdeburg.

Then

performed in

and
the

Italians,
latter

Das

year at

followed the Paris episode (1839-

1842), with the disappointment of high hopes

suffering of great hardships.

and the
The performance of Riensi,

an opera in the main fashioned

after the Spontini and

Meyerbeer patterns, at the Dresden Court Theatre in

1842, his appointment there as conductor, the production

of his

more and more original operas The Flying Dutchman

His Training and Career.

Period:]

319

in 1843, and Tannhduser in 1845, and the composition

of the

still further advanced Lohengrin, seemed to open

a prospect of a most happy future. But the political

insurrection of 1849, in which Wagnter

was

involved,

brought about a revolution in his career, leading in the

first place to his flight and banishment from Germany.

The next years

of his

life,

many

spent, like

more, in

Switzerland, are chiefly notable for the publication of

SBsthetical writings, in

and

for

new

which he contends

for

a new art

In the years 1849-1851

art-conditions.

appeared Art and Bevolution, The Art-wm-k of the Futwre,

Art and Climate, Opera and Drama, and^ Communication
to

my

Friends.

After these theoretical discussions of

his ideas, he returns with renewed vigour to composition

to

the four parts of the Eing des Nihelvmgen, and

between them to Tristan und Isolde and Die Meistersinger

in which he realized his mature ideal, and to which he

added later on Parsifal.

"When Wagner had resolutely

set out

on his career as

a dramatic composer, he entirely ceased to write

independent instrumental music. In the years 18851886 he wrote two more overtures, entitled Colvmhus and
Rule, Britannia, and, lastly, in 1840-1841, the

first

movement of a Faust Symphony, which after a revision

was subsequently published as A Faust Overture. I
said

lastly,'

although there

is

yet to be mentioned

another orchestral composition not connected with any

of his music-dramas, the Siegfried Idyll of 1870
this is

an occasional composition and was

but

originally

intended only for domestic use.

Before justifying
of

my

programme music,

claim for

Wagner

as a composer

in spite of the fewness of his

independent orchestral works, most of which, moreover.

Wagner.

320

[Sixth

are to all appearance of the absolute kind,

make

we must

ourselves acquainted with his views on the matters

hearing on this point.

All,

however, that can be done

is

main features of these views, and to cull a

remark here and there. To reproduce everything that bears directly and indirectly on the subject,
to indicate the

striking

and

to sift the truths from the luxuriating sophisms,

would require a book, not a few pages of a chapter.

the reader

who

is

swayed rather by

To

his logical than by

Wagner's views of art, society,

and biography, must seem a wonderful phantasmagoria in which reality appears strangely illuminated

his poetical faculty,

history,

and irrecognizably

distorted.

The great poet-musician

deludes himself and others the more easily by

his

sophisms as they are hidden under language abounding

in allegories, personifications, similes,

Almost

all

and metaphors.
and for him

his statements are figurative,

them conviction. To convince himself

and others that the Gesammthunst (the universal art,
the union of all the arts) is the true and complete art,
the art which ought to supersede the single arts, he
figures carry with

argues that singly the

human

capacities are limited, but

that united they are self-sufficient

this very questionable statement

ordinary conclusion that the

arts live only

an

artificial,

and unlimited. From

he jumps to the extra-

lifeless,

borrowed

motionless single

life,

and that, instead

of giving, as in the triple union (dancing, music, and

poetry),

blessed laws, they receive coercive rules for

mechanical movement.

But whose

logic is proof against

the persuasiveness of the following poetical picture?

As we gaze on this entrancing measure of the truest

and noblest Muses of artistic man, at one time we see
'

the three lovingly entwined; at another, this or that

;;

Period.]

His Theories.

321

one disengaging

herself, as it were to show the others

her beautiful form in complete independence, merely
touching with her finger-tips the hands of the others

charmed by the sight of the double-form

bowing before them next,
the two, carried away by the charm of the one, greeting
again, the one,

of the closely entwined sisters,

her admiringly ;

until, at last, all three, firmly entwined,

breast to breast, limb to limb, grow in an ardent kiss

Such is the loving and

and the wooing and winning of art, of the one,
ever the same and ever different, separating in superabundant wealth, uniting in ineffable happiness. This
is the free art.
The sweetly and strongly urging impulse
in this measure of the sisters is the impulse to freedom

into one blissful living form.

living,

the love-kiss of the entwined, the bliss of the freedom

The solitary individual is unfree, because limited

and dependent in unlove ; the associated individual is
free, because unlimited and independent through love.'
Love plays a busy part in Wagner's aesthetics, more
won.

especially sexual love.

Its

principal appearance is in

the general definition of the characters of poetry and

music, which are respectively described as male and

as

female,
of

generative

enthusiastic

this

and conceptive.
fantastical

rather

The dangers
than

calm

philosophical (we could also say, this interested rather

than disinterested) treatment of

SBsthetics,

must be

Unless the disciple searches for the logical

obvious.

thread under every rose-bush and flowering shrub, he

cannot tell where he may be led to by his floriculturist
guide.

A figure

is

never a proof, often a misrepresenta-

tion, and always a begging of the question.

After telling us that in the ancient Greek lyric and

dramatic

art, poetry,

music, and dancing were united,

Wagner.

322

[Sixth

Just as in the building of the

Wagner proceeds thus
Tower of Babel, when their speech became confounded
'

and mutual understanding

when

the

impossible,

separated in order to go severally their

the national solidarity broke

up

into

proud heaven-scaling

edifice of the

common

their

drama,

so,

a thousand

egoistic peculiarities, the art species separated

had sunk

nations

own way;

from the

in which they

quickening understanding.'

Passing over the poet-musician's myths of the

and

rise

meaning of harmony and counterpoint, for an account

of which time and space are lacking, we proceed to a
more important matter.
According to Wagner the march and dance form is
the immovable foundation of all pure instrumental
music

or,

in other words of his,

symphonic art-work
'

the basis of the

identical with

is

the dance-tune.

The overture and every other independent

instrumental music owes

and a

series of

its

form

to the

such pieces, as also a piece in which

several dance forms are combined, has been

symphony.

piece of

dance or march

The formal kernel

of the

called a

symphony

is still

day to be found in the third movement, the

minuet or scherzo, where it suddenly appears in the
in our

greatest naivete; to

movements

tell,

of the form.'

as

it

were, the secret of

Wagner

all

the

protests that he does

not wish to depreciate the form, but

it is

nevertheless

with the intention of depreciation that he attaches the

stigma of dance and march music to everything that

not Wagnerian dramatic music.

He seems to say

'

is

Let

the instrumental composer do what he likes he can

produce nothing but the dance-like and march-like.'

Nay, even in the

last

years of his

plainly that this basis of the

life

he says quite

symphony stamps

the

Pbeiod.J

His Theories.

323

character of Haydn's and Beethoven's works, which

consist only of interlacements of ideal dance-figures,

and bear throughout the character of a sublime serenity.

We have here a strange contusion f -ideas- -andmisrepresentation of facts.

Wagner

many

No wonder

that they lead

As there is a
and vertebrates, so there
is a relationship between dances and symphonies.
Still
the difference between them both in matter and form
is very great.
To give the true explanation of the
resemblances between the little and the highly developed,
we must say that they are different exemplifications of
the same formal principles, principles derived from
into

contradictions.

relationship between molluscs

psychical laws that govern

all

music that

art

is

all

independent music,

i.e.,

not a mere accompaniment of another

principles which leave scope for infinite variety and

do not interfere with the expression of any kind of content

Moreover,

whatever.

not Song as well as Dance one

is

of the foundations of developed instrumental music ?

few additional quotations mil show

distinctly

that

am

not

still

more

misunderstanding

wilfully

Wagner.
In Haydn's symphony the rhythmic dance melody
moves with all the cheerful freshness of youth its
interlacements, dissolutions, and reunion, although
'

executed with the greatest contrapuntal

less present themselves hardly as

skill,

neverthe-

anything more than

the result of such a skilful procedure, nay, rather as

something in character
imaginative

like

[phcmtasiereichen]

dance

laws

they suffused with the breath of joyous

'

It

so

regulated

by

warmly

are

human

life.'

was Beethoven who opened up the boundless

capacity of music for the expression of the all-powerful

324

Wagner.

impelling and longing

....

[Sixth

But if his faculty of

was the longing which by
breath animated this speech. How, then,

speech was boundless, so also

eternal

its

proclaim the end, the satisfaction of this longing, in the

same language which was nothing but the expression of

this longing ?
The transition from a mood of
infinite excitement and longing to one of joyous
.

can necessarily not take place otherwise

satisfaction

than by the absorption of the longing in an

object.

In

accordance with the character of infinite longing,

this

can only be a finite one that presents itself

both sensuously and ethically.
What

object

distinctly,

C minor

inimitable art did not Beethoven employ in his

Symphony

to steer his ship out of the sea of infinite

He was able to
music almost up to the expression

longing into the haven of fulfilment

raise the capacity of
of

moral

resolve, but

utterance to

it

was not able actually

with reverent awe he

to give

avoided

throwing himself again into the sea of that unallayable

longing.

He

turned his steps towards

the

cheerful

happy people he saw encamped on the green meadow by

the fragrant wood under the sunny sky, frolicking,
kissing, and dancing [the sixth, the Pastoral Symphony]
But these were mere " recollections " [one of
.

Beethoven's

rejected

finally

Symphony, or EecoUections
immediate sensuous

reality.

titles

...

major Symphony

Pastoral

Towards this reaUty he

all

stress, all the

of Country Life], not the

was impelled with

In the

ran

the yearning natural to the

longing and raging

is

all

artist.

the storm and

turned into a

blissful

exuberance of joy, which with bacchanalian omnipotence

carries

rivers

us through all spaces of Nature, through

and seas

of

life,

all

jubilantly self-conscious wherever

His

Period.]

325

Theories.

we tread the bold measure of this human spheredance. This symphony is the apotheosis of the dance
itself:

the dance in

is

it

act

blissful

of

motion

bodily

incorporated in tones.

noblest aspect, the most

its

as

From

were

it

ideally

the shore of the

dance Beethoven threw himself again into that infinite

sea from which once he had taken refuge on this shore

into the

sea of unallayable heart-longing [the ninth,

the Choral

Symphony]

the redemption of

The last symphony is

music from her own peculiar element
.

and her incorporation in the universal

human

gospel of the art of the future.

progress

is

possible

for

upon

it

art.

It is

Beyond

Drama],

to

the

no

there can follow only

the perfect art-work of the future, the universal

[das allgemeinsame

it

drama

which Beethoven has

forged for us the key.'

Wagner's theory that Beethoven's ninth symphony

was and must be the last symphony, that the master had
recourse to the word because of the bankruptcy of
absolute music, may easily be shown to be wrong in
Beethoven's own notes and
every sense and respect.

and the subsequent history of the art, disprove

In writing to a publisher Beethoven
refers to the work in question simply as a new grand
symphony which has a finale with vocal solos and
choruses on Schiller's immortal song to Joy, in the
manner of the pianoforte Fantasia with Chorus (Op. 80),
opinions,

its correctness.

'

but

much

upon

it

grander.'

as anything

The master, then, did not look

new

or extraordinary, not as any-

thing revolutionary and epoch-making.

Czerny informs

us even that Beethoven regarded the introduction of the

choral element into the symphony as a mistake.
Further, Beethoven, after the ninth symphony, began to

326

Wagner.

[Sixth

sketch a tenth, and wrote several string quartets.

much

for Beethoven.

And what has happened

The

symphonies

Mendelssohn

of

and

Schumann,

composed more than haH a century ago, are

appreciated and greatly enjoyed

Brahms, although opinions

exact

among

rank

are looked upon by

all

still

highly

the symphonies of

differ

in regard to their

masterpieces

the

So

since ?

but

of

the

a minority of

partisans as noble works of art;

kind,

extreme

the symphonies of

Tchaikovsky, especially the Pathetic, have in recent

years

made

profound

impression;

Gade,

Eaff,

Volkmann, Saint- Saens, and many other great if not

supreme artists have not lived or are not living in vain
more or less departing from the classical form, Berlioz

and Liszt produced

in former days,

and Eichard Strauss

produces in our day symphonies and symphonic poems

that cannot be set aside by the ipse dictum of a
suificient

art-reformer and art-producer.

self-

Sganarelle's

reply to his goldsmith friend rises to one's lips

'

Votis

an everyday experience
to hear artists depreciate their fellow-artists' works and
ways. We must not allow ourselves to be befooled by
their blind and narrow egoism.
We must tell them that
etes orfevre,

we

monsieur Josse.'

It is

are grateful for all the beautiful things they give us,

but that

we cannot

forego the pleasures

we

receive from

the beautiful things of others.

But

let

us look a

little

more

closely into

regarding instrumental music.

'

Wagner's ideas

That the expression

of

a quite definite, clearly intelligible individual content was

in truth impossible in this language, which is capable

only of expressing feelings in their generality, could not

be detected until that instrumental composer appeared

in

whom

the desire to express such a content became the

'

Period.]

His Theories.

consuming, ardent life-impulse of

The history

327

all his artistic creation.

of instrumental music froia the time this

desire manifests itself is the history

which, however, did not end,

error,

an

of

artistic

like that of the

operatic genre, with the demonstration of the incapacity

of music, but with the manifestation of a boundless

power.

The

error of Beethoven

was that

of Columbus,

who merely meant

to seek a new way to the old, alreadyjknown land of India, and discovered a new world instead.'

After stating that the contemporaries and successors of

Beethoven could not show the least inventiveness,

Wagner remarks
Beethoven makes upon me the
impression of a man who has something to say which
he cannot clearly communicate his modern successors,
on the other hand, appear as men who communicate to
'

us, often in the

nothing to

Wagner

most charming manner, that they have

tell us.

and on various occasions of

an extravagant fantasticalness,
such a wild, irresponsible deliriousness, that it would
serve no useful purpose to do more than just indicate
Berlioz is the immediate
the main points of his views.
and most energetic offshoot of Beethoven on that side
from which the latter turned away as soon as he
treats at length

Berlioz, but with such

'

proceeded from the sketch to the picture.

Berlioz

inherited from Beethoven almost nothing but the often

hastily dashed-off daring

and glaring strokes

[later

on described as

latter

noted down quickly and without

[poor Beethoven

means

!]

'

strangely crabbed

his attempts

of expression.'

at

']

of the

in

pen

which the

critical selection

discovering

Although endowed with

new

unusufl,l

musical intelligence, and always consumed by a truly

artistic

longing,

Berlioz

was soon lying

hopelessly

328

[Sixth

Wagner.

buried beneath the confused mass of his machines/

In short, Beethoven's symphonic successors are of no

Wagner begins where Beethoven

The shortcomings of Beethoven as seen by
Wagner are most clearly revealed in the following
account -whatever, and

leaves

off.

passage.
life,

'

In the works of the second half of his

Beethoven

is for

rather liable to be misunderstood

most

to express

artist-

the most part unintelligible

intelligibly

or

just where he wishes

a particular content.

passes beyond the absolutely musical which

He

by an

instinctive convention is acknowledged as comprehensible

(that

is,

beyond what has, in expression and form, some

recognizable similarity to dance and song), in order that

he

may speak

in a language which often appears to be an

arbitrary manifestation of a

musical connection,
intention,

is

whim, and, lacking a purely

only bound by the bond of a poetic

which could not, hajjever, be expressed in

music with poetic distinctness.! Most of Beethoven's

works of that period must be'looKed upon as instinctive
attempts to form a language for his longing, so that they
often

seem

to be like sketches for a picture, as to the

arrangement of
which the master had made up his mind.'
So far the reader has had presented to him Wagner's
opinions before Liszt produced his symphonies and
subject, but not as to the intelligible

symphonic poems.
The answer to this

Wagner

is

Did he change them afterwards?

is

not easy.

too busy with his

In his letters to Liszt,

own works and

occupy himself with those of his friend

troubles to

but on several

occasions he speaks of Liszt's symphonic compositions,

and does so with a heartiness that leaves no doubt as to

and their stimulating
effect on him.
On making the acquaintance of six of

his sincere admiration of them,

On Programme

Period.]
Liszt's

scores,

received from

Music.

829

he writes on July 12, 1856, that he

electrical shock which the grand

them the

produces on us, and

calls Liszt a wonderful

unique phenomenon in the domain of art.

the Princess Wittgenstein to

symphonic works more

make

man and

Urged by

his opinion of Liszt's

and widely known, Wagner,

with great reluctance, wrote a letter to her intended for
publication, a letter which appeared as an article and as
a pamphlet in 1858. Now this letter must give to the
fully

unbiassed reader the impression of a politic equivocation.

The

writer seems to have undertaken the task against

his inclination, for he says as

subject,

and in

little

as possible about the

this little studies, above all, ambiguity.

Of the sixteen pages not two are

really concerned with

the works to which they are supposed to be devoted.

But here we are confronted by a curious complication.

When it comes to the ears of Wagner that people regard
the letter as 'evasive,' he is greatly surprised, and
inveighs against their incredible denseness, superficiality,

and

triviality.

Nevertheless,

if

he did not wish to be

blamed rather his own want of

and if he really wished to
approve of Liszt's symphonic poems, he ought not to
have forgotten them and their composer in his eagerness
evasive, he ought to have

explicitnesB

and

lucidity,

an interpretative
and about music and instrumental music in
general. Here are the most important passages given
to set forth his ideas about Liszt as

artist,

verbally or substantially
rapidity has

made up

his

He who with irresistible

mind as to the worth of this

'

phenomenon, and the uncommon wealth of musical

power which confronts us in these compositions
presented as it were by the wave of a magician's wand
may again be bewildered by the form, and, his first

WagMr.

330

[Sixth

doubt having been about the possibility of out friend's

vocation as a composer, be brought to a second doubt

because of the unfamiliar.'

'

I forgive everybody

who

has hitherto doubted the thriving of a new art-form of

instrumental music, for I must

own

having so

to

shared that doubt as to join with those

programme music a most

who saw

fully

in our

unsatisfactory phenomenon.

In this connection I found myself in the droll position of

being numbered with the programme musicians and
of being

some

thrown into the same pot with them.'

From

remarks we may extract the

programme music is a legitimate genre, and
symphonic poems excellent works of art, good in

of his curiously turned

opinion that
Liszt's

form and admirable in content.

Wagner say
reference to

But in no place does

With the exception of a
the genius shown by Liszt in the speaking
so in plain words.

distinctness of his musical conceptions,

itself

strikingly

straightforward

which manifests

even in a few opening bars,

praise

all

the

given to the virtuoso and

is

Do you know a musician who

more musical than Liszt ? Who possesses the
powers of music more abundantly and profoundly than
he ? Who feels more subtly and delicately ? &c. The
only other unambiguous point in Wagner's letter is
'joyful admiration' of the invention of the happy
musician generally.

'

is

'

designation

'

symphonic

implies the invention of a

If what

of

poems,

new

'

which

necessarily

art-form.

has so far been noticed were the only utterances

Wagner on the

subject,

we might, notwithstanding

their equivocalness, incline to the beliefthat the master's

first

opinion of instrumental music, and of programme

music in particular, was altered by the achievements of

Liszt.

But there are

later utterances, utterances of the

On Programme

Period.]

which make
no such change, or

last years of his life,

really

was

831

Music.

clear that there

it

a change
a reversion to his early position, or to somewhere very
near it. A sentence like this
The extravagances to
which Berlioz's demoniac genius led, were nobly subdued
by Liszt's incomparably more artistic genius to the
either

after such

'

expression of unspeakable soul and world events

leave us in doubt.

It is otherwise

'

may

with the following

sentences gathered from different parts of the same

on the Application of Music to the Drama.

'
The programmatic
"
"
instrumental music, on which we used to look shyly and
essay, that

These

will elucidate his final ideas.

much that was new in harmonization

and in theatrical and pictorial (landscape and even
historical) effects, and by means of an extraordinary
askance, brought

virtuosic art of instrumentation accomplished all this

with a striking pregnancy

led to the gain of

new

capacities

but

This tendency

it

was seen that

unspeakable aberrations, which threatened seriously to

injure the genius of music, could be prevented from
affecting the further course of the exploitation of these

capacities only

by the frank and resolute turning

of this

tendency to the drama.'

The importance

of these remarks lies in the acknow-

ledgment of the services of programme music in the

development of the
serviceableness

in

art,

the

and the recognition of its

where indeed

music-drama,

Wagner has proved himself one

of the

most powerful,

perhaps the most powerful composer of programme

However much he repudiated his inclusion in

the ranks of composers of programme music, he must
nevertheless have a place assigned to him there. For
music.

his deeds rise against his words and convict him.

382

[Sixth

Wagner.

In reviewing these deeds

we need not

dwell on his

early instrumental works; and not only because they

have merely a biographical

but also because

interest,

they keep within the traditional grooves of absolute

slightly tinged by poetic
symphony
of 1832, the untitled
programmes. Thus his
overtures of 1830 and 1831, and the Rule, Britannia

music untinged

Overture of 1836,

music

only

or

may

be classed as strictly absolute

whereas the overture to the play King Enzio

of

1832 and Columbus of 1835 had no doubt the kind of

programmatic character to be found in Beethoven's
overtures to plays.

Of the overture Polonia of 1832, we

know only

was inspired by the heroism and

that

it

failure of the Polish insurrection that

sympathy

of Europe,

then engaged the

and was brought near

composer and his fellow-citizens by the

fugitives that

passed through

many

Leipzig.

to the

distressed

We

cannot

consult the music of these overtures, and the available

information about them

is

scanty, vague,

and even

Most of what we learn refers to Columbus.

This work has been described in contemporary criticism

contradictory.

as heterogeneous in its parts, Beethovenian in conception,

and modern, almost Belliniish in its externals, the

composer having made use of all possible sensational

and stimulating means

und Reizmittel).
means luminous as to

{Spectakel

these remarks are by no

If

the

general nature of the composition, they leave us in

almost
nature.
'

complete

darkness

The only glimmer

as

to

its

programmatic

of light is in the expression

Beethovenian conception.'

Apart from these early works of merely biographical

notability, there are

among Wagner's works

orchestral compositions unconnected with his

only two
dramas

as

Peeiod.J

A Faust

Faust

333

Overtv/re.

Overtwre (written in 1840, and re-written in

1855) and the Siegfried Idyll (1871).

more important of

Of the former and

which came into existence in

these,

Paris in January, 1840,

Wagner

relates

From my

'

bore up against the

profoundly dissatisfied inner

self I

repugnant reaction of the

external

activity

artistic

[attempts at French lyrics] by the rapid sketch of an

orchestral piece which I called an overture to Goethe's

Faust, but which was to be really only the

first

movement

a great Faust symphony.' The rest of the history of

the overture can be traced in the Wagner-Liszt
of

correspondence, where also a clear and satisfactory

account of the composer's intention

is to

1848 Wagner sends the overture to Liszt at the

desire, but says that

he no longer

dated October

letter of Liszt's,

likes

7, 1852,

In

be found.

we

it.

latter'

From

learn that he

had performed the overture and intended to do so again,

it worthy of Wagner, but that he could
either
welcome
a second middle section or a quieter, more

that he thinks

sweetly-coloured treatment of the middle

something tender,

contrast,

In replying to these remarks on

being desirable.

November
programme
telling

lie

Wagner furnishes a complete

You have found me out in
tried to make you believe that I had

1852,

9,

of the

when

work

'

written an overture to Fanist.

what

is

wanting

the woman.

once understand
Solitude.'

was

He

section

something Margaret-like

my

Very rightly you have felt

No doubt you would at

tone-poem

if

I called it

Faust in

then relates that his original intention

to write a whole

movement was the

Faust symphony, and that the

'

solitary

'

first

Faust, in his longing,

and blaspheming, the womanly hovering

before him only as an image of his longing, not in its

despairing,

'

334

'

Wagner.

[Sixth

and it is this insufficient picture of his

longing which he despairingly dashes to pieces.'
The second movement, he goes on to say, was to
divine reality,

woman.

introduce Gretchen, the

theme hut
abandoned

Wagner

it

'

was only a theme.

I wrote

my

did not see his

had already the

The whole was

Flying Dutchman.'

way

Although

to accepting Liszt's advice

and introducing the woman, he was alive to the necessity

of a revision.

by the completion of Liszt's

about this work in 1865. He

Instigated

Faust Symphony, he set

new instrumentation and

an expansion and weighting of the middle part (second
motive), by which the mood is more fully developed.
wrote a wholly new score, with

The composer

called the

work now A Faust Overture, and

adopted as a motto the following lines from Goethe's

poem:
'

The God that in my breast is owned

Can deeply stir the inner sources
The God, above my powers enthroned,

He

cannot change external forces.

by the burden of my days oppressed.

Death is desired, and Life a thing unblest
So,

The above

is

from a

letter

dated Zurich, January 19,

1855.

In a

letter written

a few days

later,

he says 'there

cannot be any question of Gretchen, but always only of

Faust himself
"

sweet uncomprehended yearning

Drove forth

my

feet

through woods and meadows

free."

The overture was published with the

title

and motto

given in the above cited letter of January 19, 1855.

Pekiod.J

Faust Overtm-e

Siegfried

835

Idyll.

In Wagner's Faust Overture we have then an objective

character picture.*

In the Siegfried

Idyll, we have a
The latter composition, written
the completion of the music-drama Siegfried

mood picture.

subjective

soon after

and a year or two after the* birth of his son Siegfried,

was intended as an aubade for his wife's birthday in

The

1871.

prefixed dedicatory verses to her

said to be the

may

be

programme.

At any rate some of its

and meaning of the work clearly
enough. They tell us that by this music the composer
gives thanks for wife and son, and that in it the serenity
of the existence he then enjoyed becomes tone.
They
tell us also of the intermingling of life and art, of love
and labour, a reflection of which is seen in the material
out of which the composition is evolved on the one
lines indicate the spirit

hand, a popular South

German

cradle

song

{Schlaf,

Kindchen, balde, Voglein JUeg'n im Walde), and, on the

other hand, peace and love motives from Siegfried.

son and

my

work,' says

thriving together.'

Wagner

in a letter of his,

In short, the Siegfried Idyll

waking dream woven

'

My

'

are

is

of past joys, present happiness,

and future hopes.

We

next have to consider the introductory pieces

overtures and preludes

works.

prefixed to

Wagner's dramatic

Leaving out of account the two early attempts,

Die Feen and Das Liebesverbot, and also passing by

Bienzi (the overture to which
sufficiently poetic),

we come

is effective

enough, but not

to three compositions of

which the composer himself wrote exhaustive interpretations (he calls them Programmatic Elucidations) intended
for
*

concert

purposes

namely,

As the composer, no doubt,

objectivity

may

identifies

the overture to the

himself with Faust, the

be said to be a subjectivized one.

836

Wagner.

[Sixth

Flying Dutchman and Tannhauser and the prelude to

The

Lohengrin.

object of the master's

these pieces

first of

is,

however, not so

remarks on the

much

to give

an

exposition of the overture and tell the hearer exactly

what he will find there, as to set forth the subject of the
opera and thus put the hearer in a position to under-

stand and appreciate the orchestral introduction. A

somewhat abridged translation will suffice.
The Flying Dutchman's dreadful ship scours along
storm-driven ; it makes for the land and lays-to where
'

its

master has been promised to find salvation and

We hear the pitying strains of this annun-

redemption.

ciation of salvation,

which sounds to us

like prayer

and

Sombre and without hope the doomed man

listens to them
weary and longing for death he steps
ashore, whUst the crew, faint and tired of life, bring the
ship to rest. How often has the unhappy man gone
through the same experience
How often has he steered
lament.

his ship through the

ocean billows to the inhabited

shore, where once every seven years it is permitted him

to land

How often did he

the end of his torments

disappointed,

had he

imagine that he had reached

And

ah,

how

to set out again

his frantic ranging of the ocean

often, woefully

and recommence

....

The terrors

of the sea, at which, in his thirst for wild adventures he

used to laugh,

now laugh

They cannot harm

is doomed to rove
the ocean desert for treasures that afford him no
satisfaction, and never to find what alone could redeem
him.

He has

him.

redemption.
only a

woman

a charmed

at

him.

life

and

From the depth of his misery he calls for

In the horrible solitude of his existence
can bring him salvation.

land, does the deliverer dwell?

Where

Where, in what
is

the feeling

Period.] Overtures: Flying Dutchman-Tannhduser.

337

Where is
him
with
trembling,
flee from
fear and
those cowardly men who terrified cross themselves

heart that beats for sufferings such as his ?

she
like

who does not

at his

night.

It pierces his

is extinguished.

his

approach?

eye

towards

ray of light breaks through the

tormented soul

on the

fixed

loadstar,

What

through flood and wave.

it

draws him

a woman's look,

is

and divine sympathy.

like lightning.

It

The seaman keeps

and stoutly steers

It flashes again.

full

heart

so powerfully

of sublime pity

has

unlocked

its

unfathomable depth to the immense sufferings of the

cursed man.

must

It

sacrifice itself for

him, break out

of compassion, in order to annihilate at the

and

same time

At the sight of this divine

unhappy man breaks down, dashed in
pieces like his ship. But while the latter is engulfed by
the sea, he rises from the waves healed and holy, led
by her who victoriously saved him to the dawn of
itself

his sufferings.

apparition the

sublimest love.'

In the Programmatic Elucidation of the Tannhduser

Overture

we have a

of the piece.

real setting forth of the contents

Everything in the programme appears

The
clearly, fully, and in the same order in the music.
programme is so excellent in every respect that long as
it is, it must be given in its entirety.
At the beginning the orchestra lets us hear the song
*

of the pilgrims

outburst,

and

it

approaches, swells into a mighty

at last passes away.

Evening

twilight

It is nightfall, and magic

on our senses: a rosy mist

dying sounds of the song.

and sounds

lights
rises,

steal

voluptuous sounds of jubilation reach our ears;

confused movements of a weirdly lustful dance become

visible.

These are the seductive

spells of the

Venusberg

[Sixth

Wagner.

338

which at dead of night manifest themselves

in

whose breast burns the

of sensual desire.

fire

Attracted by the alluring vision,

approaches
intones

proud,

his

challeniging,

Tannhauser,

is

it

manly form

He

minstrel.

joyous and

draw to himself the voluptuous

Wild shouts of joy
by compulsion.
the rosy cloud grows more dense

as

enchantment

tall,

the

love-song,

jubilant

to those

to

if

answer

him

around

him, entrancing perfumes envelop him and

intoxicate his

Now he

senses.

reclining in seductive twilight,

female form.
hails

perceives before him,

an unspeakably

lovely

He hears the voice which, sweetly thrilling,

him with the

siren call that promises the darer the

satisfaction of his wildest wishes.

who has appeared

Venus

It is

Then heart and

to him.

herself

senses burn,

a glowing, consuming longing inflames the blood in his

veins he is impelled with irresistible force to approach,
and before the goddess herself he now, in the utmost
:

As

ecstasy, intones his jubilant love song in her praise.

it

were by this magic

call,

open before him in

jubilation

all

the wonders of the Venusberg

their brilliance

and wild, voluptuous

cries arise

tumultuous

on all sides

in

drunken exultation the Bacchantes come noisily rushing

up, and, tearing Tannhauser along with
furious dance, lead

him

into the

arms

them

in their

of Venus,

who

embraces him, and carries him along with her into

unapproachable distances, into the realm of non-existence
[des Nichtmehrseins]

Hunt, and soon

voluptuous wailing

hubbub passes

after the
is still

storm

like the

Wild

Only a
and a weird

subsides.

whirring in the

air,

whispering, like the breath of unblessed sensual love,

hovers over the place where the entrancing, unholy

enchantment manifested

itself,

and over which night

Period.]

Tannhamer

now again

Overture

Lohengrin Prelude.

339

But morning already

beard once more the
approaching pilgrims' song. As this song comes nearer
and nearer, as advancing day dispels night, the
whirring and whispering in the air, which before sounded
like the woeful lamentation of the damned, rises to a
more and more joyful billowing, until at last, when
spreads her wings.

begins to da,wn:

from afar

is

the sun appears in his splendour, and the pilgrims' song

with mighty enthusiasm proclaims salvation to

world,

and

all

the

all

that is and lives, the billowing swells

into a blissful outburst {Rau8chen'\ of sublime ecstasy.

It is

the jubilation of the Venusberg itself, redeemed from

we hear in the song.

Thus move and leap all the pulses of life to the song of
redemption; and the two divided elements, spirit and
sense, God and Nature, embrace each other for the holy
the curse of unholiness, which

uniting kiss of love.'

Leaving out

all

the rest of the Elucidation of the

Lohengrin prelude, the

strictly expository part of the

contents of the piece, the subject of which

is

the Descent

Holy Grail (the precious vessel used at the Last

Supper, and in which the crucified Saviour's blood was

of the

preserved), runs thus

'

To the entranced gaze

of highest

love-longing, the serenest blue

at first to

condense

itself

into

supermundane
ether seems

celestial

a wonderful

vision,

hardly visible and yet magically captivating the eye

in

infinitely tender lines, gradually growing in distinct-

ness, the miracle-ministering host of angels appears,

descending imperceptibly from on high with the holy

As the vision becomes more and

and moves more and more visibly towards

vessel in their midst.

more

distinct

the earth, intoxicatingly sweet perfumes are exhaled

[Sixth

Wagner.

340
from

it

entrancing vapours flow

captivate the beholder's

heart to

and

in golden clouds,
fill

his thrilling

inmost depth with a wondrous devotional

its

Now blissful

emotion.

senses,

down

through his breast;

pain,

now fearful happy joy

darts

all its

suppressed germs of

love,

awakened to a wonderful growth by the vivifying spell,

swell out with irresistible might but, expand though it
may,

it is

near to bursting with mighty longing, with the

impulse to
hearts

self-sacrifice

had never

and

dissolution, such as

And yet this

felt before.

human

feeling revels

again in the highest and happiest joy, when, approaching

closer

and

before

the

closer,

the divine apparition displays

glorified

holy vessel

itself

in

senses.

And when

at

itself

last the

miraculous reality, nakedly

its

and plainly, is presented to the sight of those deemed

worthy; when the GraU sends forth far and wide the
sun-rays of sublime love, like the effulgence of a
heavenly

fire,

so that all hearts within the radiance of

the eternal glow tremble

then the gazer's senses

fail

But upon

him, he sinks down in adoring annihilation.

him, lost in the blissfulness of love, the Grail now pours

its

blessing,

with which

it

consecrates

him

as

its

the shining flames become subdued to a milder

which now spreads over the earthly valley like a
breath of unspeakable delight and tender emotion, and
knight

glory,

fills

the adorer's breast with never-divined blissfulness.

In chaste joy the host of angels, looking down smilingly,

soar

upward again

earth, they

they have

the fountain of love, dried up on

have brought anew to the world

left

the Grail

behind in the keeping of pure men, into

whose hearts its contents had poured themselves as a

blessing and the noble host disappear in the brightest
:

light of the celestial ether,

whence they had descended.'

Programme

Period.]

Who,

Miisic in his Dramas.

841

Programmatic Elucidations,
can help smiling at Wagner's disclaimer of being a
composer of programme music? But even if he had
after reading these

had not

not written them, and

left

programmatic

sketches of three other compositions, his authorship of

the Programmatic Elucidations of Gluck's Overture to

Iphigenia in AuLis, and Beethoven's Heroic and Choral

Symphonies and Coriolanus Overture would rule him out

programme music. Moreover the Faust Overture and what he says about it in
of court as a witness against

his letters are alone sufficient to preclude the admissi-

a plea of 'not guilty.' All this, however, is

nothing compared with what an examination of his music
dramas discloses, especially of those in which he has

bility of

most

fully realized his ideals,

As the form

ones.

namely, the post-Lohengrin

programme

of the

whether

printed, spoken, sung,

pantomimed, painted, &c.

not matter, seeing that

it

cannot

music, one is driven to ask

'

affect the

What

dramas but programme music?'

music

is

not only in the overtures,

is

it

is

does

nature of the

the music of these

For the programme

preludes, and purely

orchestral interludes, but throughout the whole extent of

the dramas, which indeed

may be

described as orchestral

symphonies with accompanying vocal, pantomimic, and

scenic programmes, only here and there interspersed
with orchestrally accompanied recitatives.

To

declare

that these symphonies are merely cunning but un-

meaning combinations
sesthetical,

of tones, that they have only

not emotional and intellectual significance,

would be doing the composer a great injustice, an

which he himself would have repelled with

injustice

greater vigour than anyone else could do.

that

Wagner acknowledged

the

We noticed

indebtedness of the

Wagner.

342
composers

music-dramas

of

[Sixth

composers

the

to

orchestral music with verbal programmes.

In

of

fact, his

position seems to have been that the objectionableness

of

programme disappears when the

the action of a drama, when it consists of

music with a

programme

is

the words and gestures of the dramatis persona, the stage

and the representation of elemental and other

conditions and occurrences. Without sharing Wagner's
scenery,

may

prejudice against other kinds, one

programme music,

that his

readily admit

which what

in

is

heard and

seen on the stage supplements the expression of the

inward and the

orchestra,

outward in the

of the

description

not only a legitimate but also a very

is

beautiful kind.

Or, to look at

it

from the usual and

more correct point of-- view, we might say that

programme music in which the transactions in
those on

orchestra supplement
beautiful kind.

The argument

of course that the constant

arts

the stage

is

the
the

also a

in favour of this kind

is

companionship of the several

makes the mutual perfecting of their several imperany moment possible. Against it may be

fections at

adduced that combination necessarily entails limitation

of individual freedom.

In Wagner's music-dramas we find

To

painting.

select a

both direct

of external tone-painting,
audible)

and

indirect

by analogy),
giants

element

is

the

mist, thunder,

of things

^visible,

Loge,

of

hammering

&c.

whose

of the dwellers

and rainbow

the ride of the Walkyries

and

the uncouthness of the

insidiousness
;

(i.e.,

of other things

may mention

the flames

the storm

sparkling,

(i.e.,

winding

the

in Nibelheim

kinds of tone-

all

few from thousands of examples

(Rheingold)

the crackling,

flickering of the fire-spell (Walkiire)

Programme Music

Period.]

in his

Dramas.

343

Siegfried's forging of the sword, with its puffing of the

hellows,

&c.

hammering, hissing

of the hot iron in water,

the forest sounds of the

Waldweben;

and the
Then

crawling and hallowing of the dragon (Siegfried).

we have the

depicting of the supernatural by strangeness

by extraordinary highness,
or by extraordinary
harmonies, melody, or tone colour.
Striking and
of tonal combinations, be

lowness,

softness,

or

familiar

examples

it

loudness,

are

Venusberg witchery in

the

Tannhduser, the Grail vision in Lohengrin, and the

Tarnhelm

spell in the

Eing of

But

Nibehmg.

the

of far

greater importance than the external tone-painting

is

the internal tone-painting, the picturing of the moods,

emotions, and thoughts of the dramatis persona, which

indeed forms the bulk of the whole music.

kind almost every page

is full, it

As

of this

would serve no useful

To convince himself that

purpose to give examples.

there is painting not only of stationary moods and

general, clearly-defined emotions, but also of the subtlest

psychological processes, the reader

may

be referred to

two among innumerable instances the opening scene of

the first act of Die Walkure, and the opening of the third
scene of the last act of Die Gotterddmmerung.
latter the

excellent

dreams and forebodings

opportunity for a most

utilization

motives).

of

Leitmotive

of

effective

(guiding,

Of these Leitmotive

it

Gutrune

i.e.

may

In the

afford

an

and poetical

characteristic,

be said that,

if

aptly and sparingly used, they are a valuable enrichment

of the resources of the art,

but that,

if

too lavishly used,

they fetter the spontaneity of the composer, and overtask

the receptivity of the hearer.
of the

systematization as

Although not the inventor

Wagner was the originator of its

we find it in his later music-dramas,

contrivance,

344

Wagner.

[Sixth:

where these recurring characteristic motives play an

important part both as means of expression and in the
texture of the style, where indeed musical composition

assumes more and more the form of a network of

Leitmotive.

When

words and actions accompany the music, they

form of course the programme, that

music leaves unexplained.
such

explain what the

In the case of interludes,

Dead March

as the

is,

in Die

Gdtterdammenmg,

Waldiceben in Siegfried, and the Good Friday Spell in

Parsifal, the

key

is

fmrnished by what was said or done

going on during the performance of the

before, or is

But how about the music before the

If the overtures and preludes
have a meaning, as Wagner's certainly have, we must
look for the programme in what follows. Accordingly
we find that the preludial matter does one of two things
(1) it gives a- summary of the main features or the gist
of the whole drama, or (2) forms only an introduction to
interludial music.

raising of the curtain ?

the first scene of the following act.

Now,

is

it

not

inconsistent to say that absolute music is helpless, and

then use
that

it

as

Wagner

if it

were helpful

in writing

The Flying Dutchman

We may indeed assume

programmes to the overtures to

and Tannhduser, and to the

prelude to Lohengrin, confessed his inconsistence.

note this inconsistence for the purpose not of blaming

the composer, but of regretting that he did not do

as

much

for every

one of his preludial compositions.

Fortunately programmatic sketches have been found

among

the master's papers (published in the posthumous

volume of his writings

Entwiirfe, Oedanken, Fragmente)

of the preludes to Tristan

und

third act of Die Meistersinger.

Isolde, Parsifal,

The

last of these,

and the
perhaps

Programme Music

Pebiod.]

more than anything

methods and his

in his

Dramas.

throws

else,

much

845

light

position as a composer of

on his

programme

music.

Of the four parts of the Ring of the Nibelwig, the

fourth, Die Gotterdmnmerung, is preceded by only a few
bars forming an integral portion of the scene of the
Korns, which itself is a prelude to the drama proper.

The longer instrumental prelude to Siegfried depicts the

musing of Mime, who is first on the scene. This piece
is

extremely interesting, but requires either a pro-

gramme
fitorm,

which

is

really belongs to the action of the first

Have we

scene.

The
a grand and fear-inspiring

or a careful study of the whole tetralogy.

prelude to Die Wcdkiire

to regard the prelude to

Das Rheingold

as an introduction to the following sub-fiuvial scenes,

or as a basis of the tragic action of the whole tetralogy

and presentation of a profound philosophical idea?

The introduction consists
Hans von Wolzogen writes
:

of a colossal pedal point on

'

solitary fundamental tone of

symbolizes

primeval state of

that

The joining

undisturbed unity.
fifth to

fiat,

which

the long-sustained
at the beginning

perfect rest

and

of the equally-sustained

the fundamental tone forms the transition from

this purely musical

sentation

of

the

symbolism to the musical repre-

mythical

symbolism, that

is,

the

representation of the primeval state as the primeval

on in a way that may not be

But whatever view be
preferred, the prelude, which from beginning to end has
only one harmony, the tonic-triad of E flat major, is
both as an appropriate introduction and as a comwater element.'

And

so

so clear as one could wish.

a wonderful feat. It grows from the undeveloped

to the more and more developed, from darkness to light.
position

346

Wagner.

[Sixth

from uniform dulness to varicoloured splendour, and

fills

the hearer with a feeling of inexplicable mystery,

with a divination

of

awakening

in the watery

life

element.

Leaving undiscussed the preludes to other acts than

the

first,

though some

They are examples

the main features,
which they are

offer great

we hear

to the three pieces

temptation, I proceed

so frequently at concerts.

summary of
whole drama to

of the kind that give a

or the gist of the

Thus the Meistersinger overture

prefixed.

brings before us the Mastersingers' Guild, their proud

banner, the bustle of festive Niirnberg, and amidst

this the love-making of

remarks

On

on

Walther and Eva.

composition

this

in

all

Wagner's

pamphlet

his

Conducting^ although they are not programmatic,

will

Among

the significant

passionate,

clandestinely-

be read with advantage.

hints

that

is

the

of

whispered declaration of love (melody in

major).

In the prelude to Tristan und Isolde there

is

unfolded

a picture of the principal phases of the hero and heroine's

romantic love

sketch.

its

ardent longing, death-defiance, and

Here are the main portions of Wagner's

ecstasy.
'

world, power, fame, splendour, chivalry,

fidelity, friendship, all

are gone, only one thing

still

remains: Longing, longing unquenchable, ever anew

self -begetting

sole

desire

redemption

...

languishing

death,

and thirsting; the

extinction,

never-awakening.

As the theme could not possibly be exhausted,

the musician lets the insatiable desire swell out only

once, but in a long articulated train, from the bashful
confession,

the most tender devotion, through timid

sighing, hoping,

and

fearing, lamenting

and wishing,

rapture and torments, to the most violent

efforts,

in

Period.]

Meistersinger

Tristan Parsifal.

347

order to find the breach which would open for the heart
the

way

into the ocean of infinite love bliss.

In vain

Fainting the heart droops, to languish in longing, in

longing without attaining, as every attaining produces

only

new

longing, until in the last prostration the

presentiment of the highest

bliss of

attainment dawns

upon the dying eye

more, of the

redemption, the passing into that

last

it is

the bliss of dying, of being no

wonderful realm from which we swerve farthest when

Shall we call it
most violently striving to enter it.
death ? Or is it the nocturnal wonder-world, out of
which, as the legend has it, the ivy and the vine grow up
in close embrace on the grave of Tristan und Isolde ?
'

Divine love forms the subject of the prelude to Parsifal.

The motives on which the composition is based are taken

from the scene of the Love Feast of the Knights of the
The words connected with the three motives,
Grail.
the second of which

is

only briefly referred

to,

explain

Here they are in the

Take my body
order in which they occur in the prelude.
and eat take and drink my blood. Thus be our love
the character of the contents.

'

remembered.'

'

Uncover the

Grail.'

'

His love endures,

the dove up-soars, the Saviour's sacred token.

wine red, for you 'twas shed

let

Take the

Bread of Life be broken.'

In the poet-musician's sketch, from which

I shall

now

quote, only the first and the last of these motives are

The two themes are respectively entitled

'Love' and 'Faith.' The strains of music connected

noticed.

with the words

love's sake

!
'

'

Take

and

'

my blood, take my blood, for our

my blood, take my body that

Take

you may remember me,' are each separately repeated by

The second theme sets
angels' voices floating away.
forth promise of redemption through faith.

[Sixth

Wagner.

348
'Faith declares

itself

firmly and pithily, increased,

To the renewed promise

responds faith, soaring down from the most ethereal
heightsas if on the wings of the white dove occupying
the human heart more and more largely and fully, fiUiog

willing even in

suffering.

the world, the whole of nature, with mightiest strength,

then again gently calmed, glancing upward towards the

celestial ether.

compassion

rises

And now

once more the plaint of loving

from out the awe of

the holy agony of the

Mount

The

solitude.

fear,

of Olives, the divine sorrow

of Golgotha
the body grows pale, the blood flows forth,
and now begins to shine the heavenly blissful glow in
the cup, pouring out over all that lives and suffers the

joy of the divine grace of the redemption by love.

Once more we hear the promise, and

After

examining

his

we have

case as

hope.'

impossible to evade the conclusion that

if

done,

it

is

Wagner

is

not one of the band of composers of programme music,

he bears an extraordinary resemblance to them.

conclusion from which

Another

we cannot escape is that he learned

something from the earlier composers of programme

music, and that the later ones learned and
learn a great deal from him.

choose to dispute,

we must be

Wagner immensely

About whatever

else

one about this

at

still

we

that

increased the expressional resources

of music, indeed increased

before him.

may

Though

them more than any musician

his powerful

and wonderful attempt

at a solution of the insolvable operatic

pass like a fashion,

slowly adopted

problem may

and

for

a time

passionately followed, the instrumental portions of his

dramatic works, whether descriptive of the outward or

expressive of the inward, will live,
vocal portions.

Even when

all

and long

outlive the

Wagner's compositions

Period.]
shall

As a Composer

of Programme Music.

have ceased to be performed, he

349

will still continue

to live in the art; for the discoverer of so

many new

tonal expressions for the intensities and subtleties of

emotion, for the sweetness, brilliancy, and awfulness

of natural

phenomena, and

the pride and

his works.

pomp

for the magnificent display of

of gods

and men, cannot

K you like a paradox, consider this

die with
:

Would

not the dramatist Wagner have been a composer of

pure instrumental music, if he had not confessedly been
in need of a strong external impulse whenever he wished

to do his best ?

[Fifth

BOOK

&

Sixth

V.

CONTEMPOEAEIES AND SUCCESSORS OF THE

PKOGEAMMATIC PROTAGONISTS OF THE LAST TWO
PERIODS

(1830-1900).

CHAPTEE

I.

IN FBANCB.

The new ideas, forms, and methods of Berlioz, Liszt,

and Wagner did not put an end to the old ideas, forms,
and methods. But although programme music in the
classical forms continued to be cultivated side by side
with programme music in freer forms,

become

in the course of time

it

could not but

more and more

influenced

by the new views and processes. And as the later style

of programme music influenced the earlier, so both these
kinds of instrumental music influenced absolute instrumental music, bringing about either an actual diminution
of absoluteness, or the semblance of such, that

is,

the

composer either having an unrevealed programme in his

mind or deporting himself as if he had. In the latter
case, where there is mere aimless parroting of language
regardless of meaning, the outcome is of course lamentable.

To such composers

rightly applies

Wagner's taunt that

they adorn themselves with the feathers fallen from the

programmatic storm-birds.
Perhaps the best way of making the vast survey
indicated in the

by nationalities.

title is to

An

have recourse to a grouping

exhaustive enumeration of

all that

has been written, which would be equally useless and

Periods.]

Orchestral Music in Paris.

impossible, is of course not intended.

more

is

aimed

851

Indeed, nothing

at than a general view of the state of

matters obtaining during the period in question.

I shall

confine myself to pure instrumental music, and as a rule

not further refer to operas, oratorios, &c.

Choral sym-

phonies and symphonic odes cannot however be excluded.

Cultivation of dramatic

Let us begin with France.

music

still

largely preponderates there over that of every

other kind.

But during the

last three or four

decades

of the 19th century the French, both the composers

and

the public, have shown an increasing interest in pure

instrumental, especially orchestral music.

As

late as

1868 Berlioz wrote that there were then only two

societies in Paris that concerned themselves with high-

class concert music

the

one was the old Societe des

Concerts du Conservatoire, and the other the very young

Societe des Jeunes Artistes, the latter conducted by

Pasdeloup.

These two societies gave fortnightly concerts

for only three or three

and a-half months of the year.

In addition to them, Berlioz thought, might be mentioned

Arban's Promenade Concerts with mixed programmes.
All of these, however, cultivated the old recognized

Pasdeloup used to say to the complaining

Write symphonies as good as
composers
French
young
those of Beethoven, and we will perform them.' Two
earlier promoters of orchestral music ought not to be
classics.

forgotten

Valentino,

'

the founder

and conductor of

Popular Classical Concerts (from 1837 to about 1840),

and Seghers, the founder and conductor of the Societe
Sainte Cecile (1849-1854),

Schumann

who

to the Parisians.

introduced Schubert and

In 1861 Pasdeloup founded

the Concerts Populaires de Musique classique, and in

1871 Colonne the Concert National, which afterwards

352

France.

became the Association

Artistique.

[Fifth

The

&

Sixth

large towns of

the provinces followed the example of the metropolis, and

the opportunities thus afforded to composers of hearing

instrumental music and

getting

works of their own

performed stimulated them to greater

activity.

In accordance with the national bent the French show

a decided predilection

for the

dramatic and the picturesque

in pure instrumental as in other music.

tures and

Untitled over-

symphonies, especially symphonies, are

of

Very rare also are sonatas, trios,

chamber music. Picturesque suites,
impressions, scenes, and rhapsodies, interspersed with a
picturesque symphony here and there these are the
kind of things that abound among the instrumental
extreme rareness.

quartets and other

productions.

yThe most notable French masters of orchestral music

next to Berlioz are Felicien David, Cesar Franck, amd

^aint-Saens.

That a composer

FilLICIEN DAVID
^pcidedly

of

so

little

pith as

(1810-1876), a producer of so few

successful

works,

should

have

impression and exercised the influence he did

made

the

is strange,

He brought to market certain

and experienges just at the right psychological
moment. After being a choir-boy, pupil of a Jesuit
although not inexplicable.

talents

College, apprentice in a lawyer's office,

and student

at

the Paris Conservatoire, he joined the Saint- Simonians,

and in 1833, when the sect was judicially broken up,

went with some other members as an apostle of SaintSimonianism to the East. From Turkey, the first stage
of his Eastern travels,

he was expelled and deported to

Smyrna, next he proceeded to Egypt, travelling as far as
the Ked Sea, thence traversed the desert to Beirout, took
ship there, and returned to France in 1835. He now

Periods.]

Felicien David.

358

published M^hdies Orientales, collected by him on his

and several Romances, some of which pleased,

and composed a symphony and string quintets. But it
was not till 1844 that he emerged from obscurity. On
December 8 of that year he gave in the Salle du
travels,

Conservatoire a concert of his compositions, concluding

with Le Desert, a composition denominated symphonic

ode (ode-symphonique).

famous.

There

have

It

was

been

work that made him

this

few

successes

like

it.

Schumann began his often-quoted first criticism of Chopin

Hats off, gentlemen, a genius.' Maurice Bourges
opened his report of David's concert in the Revue et
with

'

Mvsicak in similar terms

Koom, gentlemen,
room
Open your ranks
Give way
Once more,
room, large and comfortable
For see here a great
composer is born to us, a man of singular power, of an
Gazette

'

extraordinary stamp, one of those

talents

that

fascinate at one stroke a whole audience, that rouse

them

imperiously, master them,

force

rare

from them

cries

of

enthusiasm, and achieve in less than two hours an

astounding popularity.'

The

writer assures the reader

tnat there is no exaggeration in his statements, and

confidently predicts that the composer of this original
score will thenceforth sparkle in the musical pleiads of

the century, and perhaps be the dominating star in

Distinguished

critic

as

Bourges was, and

it.

estimable

composer as he proved himself, we may hesitate to accept

The opinion of one man, be
this as the general judgment.

he ever so competent and sincere, proves nothing. But this

was not a one man opinion, but the practically unanimous
In the present case no musician's
Opinion of Paris.
opinion can be more interesting than that of Berlioz,

which was as enthusiastic as Bourges's.

'

If there

were

[Fifth

France.

354
in Paris a lyrical

representation of

&

Sixth

Pantheon exclusively consecrated to the

monumental masterpieces,' he wrote in

Les Debats of December 15, 1844,

this

'

Pantheon would

last Sunday up to the top, for a

had just appeared, and a masterpiece had

have been illuminated

great composer

He

just been unveiled.'

addressed

'

the

new

poet

'

thus

what you have done is very grand, very

new, very noble, and very beautiful. We came to hear
you with absolute impartiality, without prejudice, with
coolness, without any idea of what was before us; and
'Yes, David,

we were struck with admiration, touched, carried away,

overwhelmed. You called forth acclamations, tears, and
that

commotion of the soul, whose surface talent can

which genius alone can shake down to the

ru3e, but

bottom.'

When ia the following year Pelicien David gave concerts

in

Germany and

Austria, he

least as far as the public

met with great success, at

The composer

was concerned.

himself says in a letter addressed to a Leipzig friend that

the success of his six concerts at Vienna fulfilled

wishes
it

and that

if

all his

the critics differed from the public,

An
was no doubt because he did not bribe them.
of these
of some
adverse criticisms

examination

shows, however, that the composer was mistaken.

although

they

may

have

accentuated

weak than the strong points

of

rather

For
the

David's work, they

certainly indicated weaknesses that really existed.

Also

on leading musicians the French master made a good

impression. Mendelssohn is said to have been pleased
with David's second Symphony, in E flat major,
which was performed at his concerts along with
Le Desert; and Schumann is said to have spoken
of

the

latter

work with

surprising

commendation.'

Periods.]

Felicien David.

Hauptmann

365

voices very well the opinion of the majority

more thoughtful musicians of the time, and also

critics, when he writes: 'P6licien David's
Le Desert is rather pretty, and I like to defend it against
of the

that of the

those

who

make out that it is naught. It lacks

To make such a thing depends not so much

try to

elaboration.

on merit as on natural disposition. On the one hand, it

much more agreeable to be moved lightly than to be
tormented by an inflated style ; but, on the other hand,

is

one does not care to hear anything of this sort again and

Haydn or a sonata or fugue of

mood out of which nothing further

again, like a quartet of

Bach.

It is

a pretty

can come than what one gets the

first

time.'

The

simultaneous presence of Berlioz and David at Vienna

gave

rise to

talent,

a good epigram

Berlioz

is

a genius without

David a talent without genius.

To turn from opinions about the thing to the thing

itself.
The symphonic ode Le Desert consists of a series
of musical scenes introduced

and connected by spoken

reciter, an

the interpretative media being a

words;

orchestra, a chorus,

into three parts

infinitude, the

and

the

solo voices.

first

The work is

presents the desert in

divided

its silent

approach of the caravan, a storm, restored

calm and resumption of the march; the second

part,

the desert at night, recreations, and meditation; the

third part, the desert at sunrise

caravan.

not the

and departure of the

It is the orchestral pieces

hymns and

and accompaniments,

songs, that interest us in our present

and of them less the orientally coloured march,

dances, and Arab fantasia, than the picturing of the
desert silence, the storm, and the sunrise, although the
influence exercised by the former was not less than
that exercised by the latter. Let us hear what Berlioz
inquiry,

[Fifth

France.

356

haa to say about the last three points.

'

The

&

Sixth

stringed

instruments sound softly a sustained tone, which by

being prolonged without end, without movement, without

harmony, without nuances, produces immediately in the

mind of the hearer the image of the desert. Here [after
some words of the reciter] the orchestra exhales some
vague snatches of melody, then
immobility.'

As

its

vague

which orchestra and

to the storm, in

chorus co-operate,

back into

falls

as beautiful as the storm in

'it is

The author has shown

Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony.

knew the orchestra as well as anyone in

and that he was its master. It is impossible
direct, increase, and let loose the instrumental

there that he
the world,
better to

This ensemble

tempest.
to be

is

overwhelming without ceasing

One cannot but be

harmonious.'

imwilling to

disagree with such an expert in these things as Berlioz,

but the comparison with Beethoven

storm in the Pastoral Symphony

inadmissible

is

^the

a more developed

is

and more interesting composition, and above all is much

more musical. And now we come to the most remarkable
and successful piece of tone-painting, the
very rightly, and yet for the
the spreading of light

An

Here

is

Berlioz's description

imperceptible extremely high tremolo of one violin

part;

a crescendo;

trembling

like

instruments,

harmony

the

entrance of a second violin part

first

the

of

voila le jour

entrance of a third, of wind-

whole
!
'

orchestra;

And

torrents

the critic adds

of

Ah,

and the whole audience rose to greet

without thinking of the systematic anathemas of the

oui
it,

sunrise, where

time, the increase and

rendered by the increase and

is

the spreading of sound.

'

first

voila le jour

adversaries of imitative harmony.'

that David makes use in

It

Le Desert

has to be added

of

many

Oriental

Ebbiods.J

857

Felicien David.

melodies.

Indeed, there

were

a few who said

not

that these borrowed strains were the only good things

Chopin was one

in the work.

cannot

be

counted with

the

of

them, and certainly

believers

in

the

new

prophet.

In 1847, FeKcien David produced a second symphonic

ode, entitled Christophe Colomb, but not with the
success.

In France

in other countries

it

same

was received without enthusiasm,

was ignored, and everywhere it was

it

The parts that pleased most were those

in which he more or less repeated the effects of Le Desert.
The economy of this second symphonic ode is exactly
soon forgotten.

like that of the first.

There are four parts

Departure,

Night in the Tropics (including a storm), Eevolt, and

Arrival, or the New World.
The resemblance with the

work made itself chiefly felt in the second" part.

In short, David was a poet, but his powers were very
limited. Within the range of them were, on the one
hand, tender sentiment and vague sweet dreaming, and,
earlier

on the other hand, picturesqueness.

the

latter, it

But with regard to

it was restricted

cannot be overlooked that

The two great successes of his career

were the symphonic ode Le Desert and the opera Lalla
Rookh (1862), both of which are Oriental. He lacked the
dramatic vein and vigour generally. Hence the failure
of his oratorios and the moderate success of his other
The length of my account may seem out of
operas.
to certain kinds.

proportion with the importance of the master's achieve-

ments.

This

is so

but perhaps not

no ddubt if we look only to the present,

we look also to the past. In the

if

history of the picturesque, especially of national colouring,

Felicien David plays

course in France.

2a

an important

part,

most notably of

358

Of the two other

mental music,
the

[Fifth

France.

first

the ear

principal

French masters

CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS

(6.

&

Sixth

of instru-

1835)

is

not

bom, but the one who first succeeded in winning

of the public. In him we have a more many-

sided personality than in Felicien David, a

man of greater

and a musician of a more solid and

extensive professional training. But along with these

intellectual vigour,

excellencies there goes a defect, a

One

side.

the
it

is

but also the hardness of

glitter,

the dazzling qualities of

is

touching

what

want on the emotional

tempted to say that his music has not only

qualities

of

heart

steel.

At any

rate,

mind rather than the

that make his music

it is.

and affection for

and a still greater admiration and affection for
But this has not prevented him from perceiving

Saint- Saens has a great admiration

Berlioz,
Liszt.

Berlioz's shortcomings,

seen in

its

totality,

and from saying of Liszt that,

composer seems

his output as a

immense but unequal, that a selection has to be

made among his works. But his admiration for this
master
is

is

very great indeed.

What he admires especially

the striking expressiveness, the marvellously rich

orchestration,

He

music.

and the abounding melodiousness of his

upon the Liszt of the post-virtuoso

looks

career as the grand and true Liszt.

this.

Liszt's

And

let

us note

symphonic poems showed Saint- Saens the

way, as he himself
with his

tells us, to where later on he met

own Danse Macabre and Rouet d'Omphale. The

younger composer was not content with admiring, but

made in France propaganda for the older unpopular
master's music, indeed, so strenuously that Liszt feared
it

had retarded his champion's nomination for the

We should however be led astray if we were to

Institut.

Periods.]

859

Saint-Saens.

conclude from these facts as to the nature of the French

poems as well
as his other compositions are in form and character
For

master's music.

from

different

his four symphonic

And

Liszt's.

merely from his

this difference arises not

different individuality, but also

from his thorough study of the

chiefly

classics,

and

Bach

Before writing symphonic poems, Saint-Saens

included.

wrote chamber music and four symphonies, only two of

which have been printed ; and after the four symphonic
poems, he wrote more chamber music and symphonies.

In his early symphonies he

Schumann

of

mainly inader the influence

is

and Mendelssohn.

of Beethoven

soon added.

is

To their influence that

The habits and taste in

form and development thus induced were never fundamentally affected by the later influence of Berlioz and

And

Liszt.

this holds

which in some respects

Now

let

differ

from the traditional form.

us examine Saint-Saens's programmes.

are so short that they

The

good of the two later symphonies,

first of

may

be given in

the four symphonic

They

full.

poems

is

the Rouet

d'Omphcde, Op. 31 (1872), which originally was a Eondo

for pianoforte.

'The subject
seductiveness,

against
pretext,

of his

the

symphonic poem

triumphant

contest

is

of

feminine
feebleness

The spinning wheel is merely a

chosen only for the sake of the rhythm and the
strength.

general turn of the piece.

'

on

Those interested in the examination of

p.

19

(letter J) of the score,

details will see

Hercules groaning in the

bonds which he cannot break, and on

p.

32

(letter

L)

Omphale mocking at the vain efforts of the hero.'

The second symphonic poem is Phaeton, Op. 39
(1873).

360
'

[Fifth

France.

&

Sixth

Phaeton got permission to drive in heaven the chariot

Eut his unskilled hands made

The flamboyant chariot, thrown
out of its course, approached the terrestrial regions. The
whole universe is about to be set on fire when Jupiter
of the Sun, his father.

the horses go astray.

strikes the

imprudent Phaeton with his thunderbolt.'

The third symphonic poem

is

the Dcmse Macabre

(Dance of Death), Op. 40 (1875), after a poem by Henri

The following twelve

Cazalis.

lines of the

poem

are

prefixed to the composition

Zig et Zig et Zig, la Mort en cadence

Frappant une tombe avec son talon.

La Mort
Zig

a minuit joue

un

air de danse,

Zig et Zag, sur son violon.

et

Le vent d'hiver souffle, et la nuit est sombre

Des gemissements sortent des tilleuls ;
Les squelettes blancs vont a travers I'ombre,
Courant
Zig

On

et

Zig

sautant sous leurs grands linceuls.

et Zig,

chacun se tremousse,

entend claquer les os des danseurs.

Mais

On

et

psit

tout a coup on quitte la ronde,

se pousse,

on

fuit, le

The fourth symphonic poem

coq a chante

is

La

Jeimesse d'Hercule,

Op. 50 (1877).

Mythology relates that on entering life

Hercules saw opening before him two paths the path of
pleasure, and the path of virtue.
'Legend.

Periods.]
'

Saint-Saens.

Unmoved by

361

the seductions of the

Nymphs and

Bacchantes, the hero enters the road of struggles and

combats, at the end of which he sees through the flames

of the pyre immortality as a reward.'

Three of the four symphonic poems consist either,

Danse Macabre, of a single logically developed

like the

movement,

or, like

the Eouet and Phaeton, of such a single

movement preceded by a

short introduction.

composer intended to express

stated in the programmes.

What

the

is

in these cases clearly

La

Jeunesse d'Hercule, on

the other hand, consists of an uninterrupted series of

movements, and has a more complex and ambitious

programme. Not to be imjust to the composer and
court disappointment for ourselves,

we must

look upon

Saint-Saens's symphonic poems as illustrations, not as

The Bouet d'Omphale

is an illustration of feminine grace, charm, and mockery
the Dance of Death, far from being a terrifying sermon
such as the artists of mediaeval and later times delighted
translations of the programmes.

in painting, is a jeu d'esprit, in spite of the rattling

bones

Phaeton

is

Hercides

not

repellently

gruesome;

a magnificent spectacle of light, motion, and

crash,

final

piquant,

strangely

is

ruin,

and extinction

a succession of

indicated thus

mood

and the Youth of

pictures that

may

be

irresolution (short Andante sostenuto, C),

character of the path of virtue (a longer Allegro moderato,

C),

seductiveness

allurements of

of

the

Nymphs

the Bacchantes

(a

(Andantino,

9/8),

long Allegro,

<^),

questionings (short Adagio, C), choice of the path of

and consequent struggles {Andante sostenuto and

Allegro animato, resuming and developing at length the
subject-matter of the second movement), and the funeral
virtue

pyre and immortality beyond {Maestoso, C).

362
If

[Fifth

Framce.

we read Saint-Saens's programmes

&

Sixth

we

carefully

see

that they do not deal with subjects that necessarily call

And

for a profoundly emotional treatment.

carefully to his music,

on or

near

the

intellectual rather

we

find that the

than emotional,

profound, astonishes rather than

listen

composer remains

In short,

surface.

we

if

Saint-Saens

brilliant rather
thrills,

is

than

handles with

virtuosity his materials rather than the hearts of his

To complete

auditors.

this account there

have

still

to

be mentioned certain works for the most part of the

Suite Algerienne, Op. 60, and

national-picturesque kind

RhapsoMe

d'Auvergne,

fantasia for pianoforte

publications

for

Op. 73, for orchestra, Africa,

and orchestra

alone

pianoforte

and the following

Koenig

Hwrald

Ha/rfagar, ballad after Heine (a quatre mains), Romances

sans paroles, Sowvenir d' Italic, Les cloches du Sdr, Caprice

Arabe, and Souvenir d'lsmailia.

Although France was behind other coimtries in

recognizing Saint-Saens's powers, she did so at

last.

fully

The

composer to whom we shall now turn our attention had noteven this belated comfort.

CE SAE FEANCK (1822-1890),

a Belgian by birth and a Frenchman by professional

training and long residence, remained in obscurity well-

nigh

and both abroad and at home. Tli^

nationalism roused by the Franco-German War,

all his life,

patriotic

which did so much

for the reputation of

French musicians, did but

little

for

some of the

Franck.

Since his

death, however, his reputation has been spreading, and

may

to-day be considered as established.

now beginning
by

to

know him as a master

solidity, seriousness,

him

and

originality,

The world

is

distinguished

and to look upon

as one of the great composers of choral-orchestral

and chamber music.

His Beatitudes and sonata for violin

Pbbiods.]

and pianoforte

may

will likewise

be regarded as added to the current

Whether the purely

concert repertoire.

come

to the front

We have here to record the

poems

863

C^sar Franck.

for orchestra,

orchestral works

remains yet to be seen.

existence of three symphonic

titled

symphony

for orchestra

and

choruses, and a poeme-symphonie for solo, chorus, and

In addition

orchestra.

Franck composed

also

short accounts of the

Les

to,

and

after these works, Cesar

an untitled symphony.

first five

compositions.

(The daughters

Bolides

of

movement
programme the

composed

^olus

1876, performed 1877), a symphonic poem,

airy

Here are

is

a delicate

consistently worked out, which has as a

following lines of Leoonte de Lisle

brises flottantes des cieux,

Du beau

printemps douces haleines,

Qui, de baisers capricieux,

Garessez les monts et les plaines,

Vierges, fiUes d'Eole, amantes de la paix.

La

nature eternelle a vos chansons

is

Huntsman Composed
a symphonic poem founded on

Le Chasseur maudit (The

1883, performed 1884)

s'veille.

wild

Der Wilde Jdger (see Walter Scott's

The Wild Hvmtsman). The illustration of this

Burger's ballad
imitation,

subject demanded, of course, colours very different from

those employed in Les bolides

,-

and Cesar Franck had

them on his palette. The contents of the four divisions

of the work are indicated by the four paragraphs of the
programme.
from afar sounded the joyous
It was Sunday morning
'

sound of the beUs and the joyous songs of the people

The wild Count of the Ehine has
Sacrilege
.

wound

his horn.

364

[Fifth

France.

&

Sixth

The chase dashes through cornfields, brakes, and

meadows.
Stop, Count, I pray, hear the pious
And the horsemen rush onward like
songs.
No
'

the whirlwind.
'

Suddenly the Count

farther

is

alone

his horse will go no

he blows his horn, and the horn sounds no

... A
" Sacrilege

longer

lugubrious implacable voice curses

him

"

it

says,

" thou shalt be

for ever

hunted through hell."

The
Then flames dart from everywhere
Count, maddened by terror, flees, quicker and quicker,
pursued by a pack of devils.'
In Les Djinns (Evil spirits of Arab Mythology
'

composed 1884

performed 1885) the composer employs

a pianoforte as well as the usual orchestral instruments

by no means happy combination, as the hammer

instrument does not blend with the bow and wind
instruments.

Notwithstanding the changes from 2-4 to

3-4 time, this symphonic poem, like Les Bolides, is a

one-movement composition consistently developed. The

programme is not prefixed, it has to be looked for in
Victor Hugo's poem (one of Les Orientales) to which the
title refers.
Cesar Franck depicts here the approach,
presence, and disappearance of the horrible swarm of
Djinns, the hideous

army

of vampires

driven by the north wind, that

cries,

fill

and dragons,

the air with infernal

howls, and groans, and pass whirling, and whistling,

shivering the yew-trees, and

all

but overthrowing the

strongegt dwellings.

performed 1890), a symphony

;
and choruses, contains besides a Prelude,

Psyche (composed 1884

for orchestra

entitled Sleep of Psyche, the following orchestral parts

the Abduction of Psyche by the Zephyrs, Joy of Nature

Periods.]

Cesar Franck.

365

Gardens of Eros, Love Scene, Sufferings of Psyche

her disobedience, and Psyche after iber^pardon;

in the
after

One other composition of C^sar Franck's remains yet

to be commented upon, the Prelude to the second part
of Redemption, a work written for solo, chorus, and
orchestra, and called Sipoeme-symphonie. The Prelude of
1872 was re- written in 1885. The programme runs as
follows
The centuries pass. Joy of the world, which
:

'

transforms

and expands under the word

itself

of Christ.

In vain the era of persecutions opens, Faith triumphs

over

But the modern hour has struck.

man, once more a prey to the fierce desire

all obstacles.

Belief is lost

for pleasure, for sterile agitations,

has found the passions

of another age.'

However noble a

piece of music Cesar

Franck has
produced in this prelude, his programme here exceeds

But be

the bounds of musical expressidii.

may, I

am

this as

it

convinced that the reputation of this composer

has not yet reached the highest point which

to reach.

too

Still,

much must

it is

destined

not be expected in the

case of a composer of his highly reflective, profoundly

thoughtful,

Besides

and reconditely

artistic nature.

Berlioz, F^licien

David, Saint-Saens, and

Cesar Pranck/there lived in France during the last sixty

years of the iTSth century a considerable number of

composers that have made notable contributions to the

department of orchestral musi/; but with them I must

deal summarily, although "the quantity and quality of
their productions

might well

reasoned treatment.
not a dull one
suggggtiye.
le mo'st

for

If

what I give

is

more

detailed

a catalogue,

and
it is

nothing could be more varied and

My first

important

justify a

task will be to enumerate some of

titled

symphonies, .overtures, and

[Fifth

France.

366

music

suites,

Sixth

symphonic poems, dramatic

plays,

to

&

symphonies, and symphonic odes. And in conclusion a

few notes ought to be added on ballets and mimodramas,
two forms of musical composition in which the French

have not only been supreme, but also originators and

.LOUIS LACOMBE (1818-1884) composed
leaders.
besides Sappho, a melodrama~vn{E~choruses, twojehoral

Manfred

symphonies,
(6.

"^23yr"I/e

the style

(1823

and

norv&gienne,

ERNST EEYEE

a symphonic ode (1850) in

Le Disert ; EDWARD LALO

Symphonie

1892),

S^Zam,

David's

of

Si.nd_Ava;

Concerto

Fantaisie

espagnole,

russe

and

violin

for

orchestra, a Rhapsodie norvegienne for orchestra, and

pianoforte

characteristic

pieces

PAUL LACOMBE

and a pastoral suite;

THEODORE DUBOIS (1887-1871), a symphonic poem
Notre Dame de laMer and overture jPn%o/; GEORGES
(&.

1837), a symphonic legend

BIZET

(1888-1875),

an overture

music

Patrie,

to

Daudet's play L'Arlesienne, made into two suites, and

the

Boma and Jeux

suites

BOISDEFFRE

RENE DE

d'Enfance;

VICTORIN.
DIi__JONCIERE (&.^839), a Symphonie romantique,
chOTal symphony La Mer, Htmgarian Serenade, suite Les
(b.

1838), Scenes champetres ;

Nubiennes, music to Hamlet, and Li Tsin {chinoiserie)

EMANUEL

CHABRIER (1841-1894),
JULES MASSENET {b. 1842),

Ehapsody;

poem

Visions,

Spanish

a symphonic

symphonic fantasia Pompeia, overture

Phedre, music to Leconte de Lisle's Les Erynnies, Scenes

pittoresques.

Scenes

{Hungarian, &c.)

(1847-1894

of

furioso, Lidece,

dramatiques,

and

other

suites

AUGUSTA MARY ANN HOLMES,

symphonies Orlando
and Les Argonauts, and symphonic poems
L-ish extraction),

IrlandeaaKTologne^'BEialm^GOJyAlBJ) (1849-1895),

s;

D'Indy

Periods.]

Debutgy Charpentier.

a Legendary, a Gothic

367

and an Oriental symphony, a

dramatic eymphony, Tasso, for soli, chorus, and orchestra^

Yl^C^T^^mmZ^'^Sl),

and" Sceiiefpokiques;'

poem

a symphonic

Wallenstein,

(called

Trilogy,

consisting of three separate parts entitled Wallenstein'

Camp

[Allegro

Allegro^,

and

Max

gittsto^

Wallenstein' s

Maestoso]), Jean

and

Thekla

Death [Tree

Hunyade, a symphony

orchestral legend,

La ForH

enchantee,

[Andante,

large, Allegro,
Saii^eflewri,

an

a symphonic

symphonic variations (illustrative of a story

from the Babylonian epic Izdabar), the overture to Antony

ballad, Istar,

and Cleopatra, and the

suite Tableaux de Voyage

PAUL

and LUCIEN HILLEMACHEE (resp. h. 1852 and 1860),

a symphonic poem Les Solitudes, and a suite The Golden
Wedding: FEENAND DE LA TOMBELLE (6. 1854),
Impressions nationales, Livre

ALFEED BEUNEAU
voices

and

BEEVILLE
Night,

(6.

orchestra,
(1861),

and overture

d'images,

Siute feodale;

1857), a symphonic
Penthesilee;

poem

PIEEEE

symphonic poem,

for

DE

December

to Maeterlinck's Princesse Maleine

CHAELES DEBUSSY

(1862), Prelude de Vapres-midi

d'un Favme (to Mallarm6's poem), and the orchestral

pieces

Nua^es

PENTIEE

{b.

and Fetes;

and

GUSTAVE CHAE-

1868), Impression d'ltalie, Les Fleurs du

Mai (after Baudelaire), and the symphonic drama

La Vie du Poete.
From the above enumeration the reader cannot but
have seen that by far the larger part of these compositions

programme
music. Among the composers of programme music in
the ftdl sense of the term,YINCENT D'INDY, DEBUSSY,
and CHAEPENTIEE engage more especially our attention.
All three are moderns of the moderns, and all
are rather on than -within the borders of

368
three

most

[Fifth

France.
divide

Sixth

Vincent d'Indy,

opinion.

critical

solid, is also

&

the

the one most in touch with the old.

Debussy, on the other hand, aims at making music as

-different as possible

from anything

it

has ever been

he

-aims not at gradual development, but at a cataclysmic

Melody, harmony, rhythm, form, everything

-revolution.

Debussy's position

has to go into the melting-pot.

He

-that of an ultra-impressionist.
forms, Wagner's included, and

youngest French school,

who

the most radical of the

is

say

is

rejects all the old

'
:

We

want

free speech

in free music, infinite melody, infinite variation,

and

We want the triumph of

and rhythmical music' As this is

freedom of musical phrase.

natural, free, plastic,

not a book of present-day criticism, but of history,

shall

be

left to

the future to pronounce judgment.

it

Qui

vivra verra.

The programmatic nature

ballets

is

libretti of

of the

music to pantomimic

often overlooked

and yet

such ballets

for expressive

call

more clamorously than opera

libretti.

is

obvious.

The

music even

Musically well

provided ballets have therefore appropriately been dubbed

symphonies demsees.
the time

we

If

we survey the ballet literature of

we shall find admirable

are concerned with,

specimens in AMBEOISE THOMAS'S Betty (1846) and

La Tempite (1889), Beyer's Sakountala (1858), LEO
DELIBES's CopUia (1870) and Sylvia (1876), WmOE's

LALO's Namowna (1882), and

(1880),
DUBOIS'S La Farandole (1883). Closely" connected with
the pantomimic ballet is the mimodrama, the play without
words, where the actors have to make themselves underKorrigane

stood by gestures and facial expression.

Prodigube,

Here have

to be

ANDEIE WOEMSEE's L'Enfant

and EAOUL PUGNO's Pcmr le Drapeau.

named with

distinction

Periods.]

CHAPTER

II.

IN BELGIUM, ITALY, GREAT BRITAIN,

is

AND AMERICA.

Between the music of Belgium and that of France there

and dissimilarity. The mixture of races and

similarity

languages in the former country accounts for both.

It

accounts also for the preponderance of absolute over

programmatic and picturesque instrumental music. In

recent times Belgium has not in a marked degree drawn

on herself the attention of the world by musical works,

This
at least not by larger instrumental compositions.
statement, however, does not imply a denial of the

production of
worthy.

much

that

is

estimable and even note-

JOSEPH JANSSEN^ja801-1835),

a pupil of

Lesueur, interests us as an early cultivator of programme

music in Belgium.

du

Soleil.

He composed

Of those that come

AD OLPHE SAMUEL

(1824-1898)

symphony C'femjM8and
Boncevaux

PETEE-BENOIT

symphonies the Reapers and

THEODOEE EADOUX

(b.

tone-pictures Ahasuerus and

B.

VAN EEDEN

LaLutte au XVI'

(fc.

(b.

...and.,

Hucbald

choral

Roland a

and his music

to

William of Orange

1836) and

Le

.his

suite

noted'^

1834) and his choral

his

symphonic

Festin de Balthazar;

1842) and his symphonic

JAN BLOCKX
SILVAIN DUPUIS

Steele;

his overture Rubens;

his

{b.

him may be

orchestral

the plays Charlotte Corday and

J.

a symphony Le Lever

after

poem

(6.

1851) and

(6.

1856) and

symphonic poem Macbeth; and j'AU L jGrlLSON

1865) and his

symphony La M^r-

Italy Great Britam.

870
There

much

is

difference

[Fifth

&

Sixth

as to the proportionate

amount of programme music produced by the different

countries.
To consider only the three that for a long
time have been looked upon as the chief music producers.
yTOe sensuous Italians keep aloof from programme music
the intellectual French cultivate it with predilection
and the sentimental Germans occupy an intermediate
;

Eace plays an important part in this matter.

"m course in Italy we find a dearth of all kinds of
instrumental music since the days of the great violin
schools.
The most notable master in the 19th century
portion.

known

outside

also

Italy

was

ANTONIO BAZZINI

(1818-1897), a violin virtuoso as well as a composer of a

great variety of music,

the

Milan

and

conservatorio.

many years the head

Among his works are

for

of

symphonic poem Francesca da Rimini, a choral symghOTiy

Senqcheri^ia^ and overtures to Shakespeare's King Lear

and

Said.

Alfieri's

SGAMBATI

(&.

Strange

to

say,

GIOVANNI

1843), a pupil of Liszt, has given to the

world not symphonic poems, but absolute music in the

form of chamber music and untitled symphonies.

Of

programmatic and picturesque contributions of latter-day

composers

will suffice to

it

mention an Italian Ehapsody

ETTOEE PINELLI (6. 1843) In the Heidelberg

a suite by EUGENIO PIEANI (&. 1852)
and
Leonore, a symphonic poem by ANTONIO SMAEEGLIA
(b. 1854).
In GIUSEPPE MAETUCGI (6. 1856), one

by

Castle,

most important of Italian instrumental composers,

we have again a composer of absolute music.
A composer who hardly wrote any pure instrumental
of the

music at

all

on account

ought nevertheless to find a place here

of

later operas.

much of the orchestral matter in his

I mean of course GIUSEPPE VEEDI

Periods.]

Verdi

(1818-1901),

the

Bennett.

greatest

Italian

371

composer

the

of

second half of the 19th century, and one of the foremost

European masters.
unique

His career

range of continuous

is

remarkable for the

development.

What

I Lombardi, and Ernami, to Aida,

Verdi, who did not lag behind
much; but it was real assimilation,

distance from Nabucco,

Othello,

and Falataff!

Time, assimilated

not mere adoption, and moreover

powerful, masterful organization.

assimilation

by a

You can never say

Yerdi imitated this, that, or the other composer.

no doubt, he learned

From

&om

But,

many.

Italy to Great Britain is a tremendous leap.

Here we are in an altogether different atmosphere, among

a people that with regard to music has had a history,
and tastes, views, and ways totally unlike those of tjifr-southern people.
This, however, is by no means
tantamount to saying that England is unmusical, as
foreigners used to be inclined to think. But it must be
admitted that these foreigners had some excuse, for, like
bonus Homerus, good old England has at times been
found nodding. The last English musician mentioned
in this book was Henry PurceU, who died towards the
end of the 17th century.
The 18th century, which
produced good anthems, glees, and ballads, was barren
or nearly so in other respects. Of orchestral music it
gave us nothing notable, of clavier music little.
Without fear of losing anything we, who are in quest of
programme music, may pass straight on to the 19th
century. The first interesting composer we meet is

WILLIAM
Has

it

STEENDALE

BENNETT

(1816-1875).

ever been observed that his music has none of the

qualities

that

are

generally

regarded

as

English, for instance, a certain sturdiness ?

peculiarly

The

fact

is,

&

[Fifth

Great Britain,

372

Sixth

the qualities of his music are the outcome of his

iadividuality,

any

and not

of a nationality, be

it

his

own

or

with more affection,

No one has spoken

other.

enthusiasm, and insight of Bennett than Schumann,

who

him an out-and-out Englishman, a

calls

poetic,

an angel of a musician, a superb artist,

and finds in his music beauty of form, depth, and
clearness, and ideal purity.* Bennett's titled productions
comprise four overtures Parisina, Op. 3, The Naiads,
Op. 15, The Wood Nymph, Op. 20, and the fantasy-

beautiful soul,

overture

Paradise

and

the

Peri,

Op. 42, music to

Sophocles's Ajax, Op. 45, and two works for pianoforte.

Of the four overtures the second and third are the most
famous.

They are known

all

the world over, and are

As

standing items of the classical concert repertoire.

they are the ne plus

ultra

is

needs not

while hearing

it,

much

and

says of

imagination to think,

of playful bathing naiads.

Op. 20 he would have preferred the

to that of

delicacy,

Schumann

not surprising.

sweetness, this

Op. 15 that

it

of grace,

title

As

to

Pastoral Overture

Wood Nymph, but he had no doubt

that the

composition breathed the purest and brightest poetic

life.

The fantasy-overture Paradise and the Peri engages our

by its having not only a title but also a
somewhat more explicit programme in the form of short
quotations from Thomas Moore's poem. These quotations
special interest

are prefixed
*

to

the

several

continuous parts of the

Schumann's boundless enthusiasm, however, was never

shared.

Even

universally

his devoted Clara positively declined to agree with her

beloved on this point.

disciples of the

Indeed there were many, especially among the

new German

school, notably

Haas von

Biilow,

who

thought Schumaim's estimate greatly, nay, ridiculously exaggerated.

The lack of robustness and passionate emotionalism in Bennett's music

no doubt account for the difference of opinion.

373

Bennett.

Periods.]

composition, which has not the orthodox overtm-e form,

divided into an Introduction and three Scenes.

bat

is

The

poetic mottoes are as follows

Introduction.
'

One mom a Peri at the gate

Of Eden stood, disconsolate.'
First Scene.

'

While thus she mus'd, her pinions fann'd

The

air of that sweet Indian land,

Whose

air is

balm

whose ocean spreads

O'er coral banks and amber beds.'

Second Scene.
'

Her

first

Now among Afric's

Far

'

Eden blighted.
Lunar Mountains,

fond hope of

to the South, the Peri lighted.'

Third Scene.
But nought can charm the luckless Peri
Her soul is sad her wings are weary.

Yet haply there

may

lie

conceal'd

Beneath those chambers

The charm, that can

An
One

of the

considered

of the

Sun

restore so soon.

erring spirit to the skies.'

two or three works

here

is

Op. 10,

for

pianoforte to be

lliree Musical Sketches,

respectively entitled Lake, Mill-stream,

and Fountain,

which, says Schumann, are, as regards colouring, truth

to

nature,

and

Lorraines in
fact,

music

the great

2b

poetic

conception,

^living,

critic

genuine

ClaudC'

sounding landscapes.

In

and composer held that as to

[Fifth

Great Britain.

374

&

Sixth

tendernesB and nalveti of presentation they surpassed

everything he

knew

of genre painting,

and

that, like a

genuine poet, Bennett had caught nature in some of her

most musical scenes.

Only in one of his pianoforte

compositions, as also only in one of

orchestral

his

compositions, does the English master add more than a

The exception is the pianoforte sonate Op. 46,

The Maid of Orleans, and the four
movements of which have both special titles and one
or two or three lines from Schiller's play prefixed to
them~one movement, the third, having also a special
motto for its second subject.
title.

which bears the title

In the Fields.

(1.)
'

In innocence I led

Adown

'

my

sheep

the mountain's silent steep.'

.(2.) In the Field.

The clanging trumpets sound, the chargers

rear,

And

the loud war-cry thunders in

(3.)

(a)

'

Hear me,

God, in mine extremity.

(b)

'

Thy heaven above

to

When

on

my

Then was

Brief

is

native hills I

happy as

(4.)
'

ear.'

In Prison.

In fervent supplication up to thee

Up

my

my soul.'
drove my herd,

send

in Paradise.'

The End.

the sorrow, endless

is

the joy.'

The hater of programme music need neither stand off,

nor approach Bennett's works with suspicion for even
in the sonata the composer does not allow the programme
;

to interfere with the

classical

qualities

of the form.

G. A. Macfarreu.

Periods.]

Moreover, those

more nor

less

375

movements

four sonata

are neither

than four character- and mood-pictures.

Unfortunately it has to be added that The Maid of Orleans

is not a happy example of Bennett's art.

From Schumann's

writings

may

be gathered an

additional piece of information regarding Bennett as a

composer of programme music.

Bomance

C minor

The

says of the

critic

minor of the third Concerto, Op. 9, in

'
Even without knowing, as I did know from the

in Gr

poet himself, that, while composing, he had in his mind

the idea of a female sleep-walker, every feeling heart must
at the performance have experienced all that

As

in such a scene.

high

if

afraid to

no one dared to breathe

roof,

some passages was, so

by the beauty of the

And

is

touching

awake the dreamer on the

;

and

if

to speak, anxious,

it

sympathy in
was softened

vision into artistic enjoyment.

here occurred that wonderful chord, where the

sleep-walker, out of all danger, seems as

it

were reposing

on a couch illumined by the rays of the moon.

happy

trait

in the last

determined one's opinion of the

This

artist,

and

movement one abandoned oneself undisturbed

to the pleasure to which the master has accustomed us,

whether he leads us to war or peace.'

In conclusion

it

may

yet be mentioned that

among

Bennett's unpublished compositions are two overtures

The Merry

Windsor

and Marie

GEOEGE ALEXANDEE MACFAEEEN

(1813-1887),

entitled

Wives

of

du Bois.
who, although born three years before Bennett, gained
his reputation later,
in his character

had more

and music.

of the typical

Englishman

In the matter of programme

music Beethoven's was also Macfarren's standpoint.

was
Beethoven's purpose
He himself writes
:

'

[Fifth

Great Britain.

376

to give utterance to impressions rather

pictures,

which

is

&

Sixth

than to present

and such is the legitimate scope of music,

not an imitative but an expressive art.' We

have to take account here only of Macfarren's concert

The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet,

Chevy Chase, Don Carlos, and Hamlet. These are noble
themes. But how is it that these works are so entirely
overtures

neglected and forgotten?

fate ?

Or

Do

from a change of fashion ?

that

they really deserve this

does the neglect arise

Hans von

It is

from a caprice of

taste,

a pleasure to remember

Biilow, the progressive

and slashing, and

at the same time impulsive and capricious

in 1877 of the conservative Macfarren:

critic, said

'The present

Germany
known than his predecessor [as
the Eoyal Academy of Music] the friend

Nestor-representative of English music is in

undeservedly far less

Principal of

and pupil [not pupil]

Sterndale Bennett

of Mendelssohn,

....

He

is

a composer that

should not be ignored on the Continent

is

Sir William

....

His

perhaps a less finely polished musical nature than

Bennett's, but one

because healthier,

more sympathetic to me personally,

more muscular, more rich in colour,

more sanguine. There is nothing hysterical, molluscous,

and nebulous in his music on the other hand there is
in it pregnant expression, concise form, and pronounced
;

Although he is
an Englishman, I should like to describe him in contradistinction to Bennett as a Scotchman.'
This account
of Macfarren as a composer of programme music would
not be complete without a specimen or two of his
programmes. The master's synopsis of the intent and
individuality, not without originality.

purpose of his overture to Romeo and Juliet runs as

follows

G. a. Maefarren.

Pbbiods.]

377

'The following points of the play suggested this

Overture The Montagues and Capulets the Nurse

Mercutio Feud the

Interdiction Mercutio wounded the entombment of
Juliet Borneo at the Grave
catastrophe.'
:

the Lovers and their passion

^the

^the

A longer

analysis of his overture to Hamlet, Macfarren

wrote for the programme of

a concert of the

New

Philharmonic Society (1856)

This Overture was suggested by the following points
:

'

in the tragedy

the

of

frivolities

Hamlet's melancholy
the

court

aggravated

by

yielding to his love of

his foreboding of the purpose of the ghost's

visitation the ghost's appearance to him he addresses
the
of the murdered king reveals the secret
his death, and exhorts his son to avenge himhe

Ophelia

of

spirit

it

adjures his companions not to relate what they haye

seen,

and the ghost invisible calls upon them to swear

by the revelry of the court

this awful scene is opposed

in the midst of this, the ghost's revelation

present to Hamlet

Ophelia

the scene

it

distracts

with her in the gallery

where his melancholy

scene,

him from

pretence of riotous gaiety

is

the

is

ever

his love of

the play-

disguised under the

scene with the queen in

the closet, where, urged by the same intention that

prepared him for the ghost's disclosure, he presses upon

her the subject of his melancholy the frivolity of the
court again obtrudes itself upon him he leaves for
England, thinking of Ophelia and of the ghost he

returns,

remembering her

and her death

love, to learn of her

this excites him

in the midst

action

madness

for the present

of his phrensy

time to

he remembers the

ghost's exhortation the cause of his melancholy, which

has always made him a passive

reflector, is

now

his

378

[Fifth

Great Britain.

motive for desperate action

the

last scene,

dies,

knowing the ghost's admonition

In

HENEY HUGO PIEESON

Englishman who

settled

decided programmatist.

and

Juliet,

(1815-1873),

Besides oratorios, operas, and

is

runs as follows

not only a

it,

to the second part

in

'

Macbeth he proved

The translation
Symphonic poem

tragedy " Macbeth " by Shakespeare, Op. 54.'

there

like

With the last-mentioned work he

obtained his greatest success

title

As you

and Romantic, a

Caesar,

Julius

himself an ultra-programmatist.

German

where he

an
in Germany, we meet a more

symphonic poem Macbeth, and music

of Goethe's Faust.

Sixth

to be fulfilled.'

other works, he wrote overtures entitled

Romeo

&

title

of the
to the

However,

but about twenty quotations

from the play, which in some places give the score the
appearance of a melodrama.

Whatever be the

excellence

and form of the whole preclude

the likelihood of a change in the indifference with which
of details, the matter

has hitherto been treated.

Let us note in passing a Forest ^jmphgaj^^ths third
of five symphonies, composed about the middle of the
19th century by the prolific amateur composer JOHN
this composition

L ODGE ELLEBTON
and two

overtures

ALFEED HOLMES
his

abode in Paris

(1801-1873), and six symphonies"

by the much-travelled violinist,
(1837-1876),

Jeanne

who

d' Arc

in 1864 took

up

(with vocal solos,

The Youth qf Shakespeare, The Siege of Paris,

Romeo and Juliet, Robin Hood, The Cid,
.-.^.-and The Muses.
1867),

Charles KlI.,

And then we come to what has been called the

Eenaissance of English music, to the time of a more
general musical activity, of more liberal views, of wider
and more varied sympathies, and

of greater independence,

Periods.] Pierson

Holmes Benaissance Parry.

379

a change brought about by a group of composers born in

the forties and early

among whom

fifties,

the chief were

Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900), A. C. Mackenzie

C.

H. H. Parry

(ft.

1848), Arthur Goring

H. Cowen
Not
1852).

1847),

(&.

Thomas

and Charles

(1851-

1892), Frederic

(6.

Stanford

all of

these come within the

G0EIN(3^

THOMAS distinguished

{h.

scope of ouFmquffy.

1852),

Villiers

himself in opera and other vocal works, and his few

instrumental

were

compositions

outwardly

at

least

absolute music.

HUBEET H. PAERY'S instrumental

an early overture entitled Guillem de
Cdbeatamk, and a later symphonic overture with the even
Among SIR

works there

more daring

C.

is

title

On

am,

vmwritten Tragedy

but his four

symphonies are without any Indication of a poetic subject.

The composer's sympathies are easily discoverable from
his writings on music, especially from The Art of Music,
the

Summary of Musical

History, and the articles in

Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, in

which the greatest

on design.

stress is laid

sees in the development of

Sir

all

of

Hubert

music three stages respectively

distinguished by supremacy ol

design

and"

abstract

beauty, by balance of abstract beauty and expression,

and by the pursuit of the characteristic to the neglect of

the purely artistic. Beethoven is the chief representative
of the second stage, but at the same time points and
In the third stage, where

leads to the following one.

Berlioz and Liszt were leaders, the preponderant tendency

in the musical as in all art

ness of characterization

is

towards

'

variety

and close-

Art comes down from

its lofty

region and becomes the handmaid of everyday

life

Though realism

is

admissible as a source

of suggestion, the object of the expressive

power of music

380
is

[Fifth

Great Britain.

&

Sixth

not to represent the outward semblance of anything,

but to express the moods which it produpes and the

workings of the mind that are associated with them.
different type

were the wild

theories of a certain group of enthusiasts,

whose eager-

Of a conspicuously

ness to solve artistic problems was in excess of their

hold upon the possibilities and resources of the

art.

They emphasized unduly the expressive aims of Beethoven

and thought it possible to follow him in that respect
without regard to his principles of design.' The main
ground of Sir Hubert's accusation and condemnation is
that

'

some

they rejected the deeper principles along with

of the superficial conventionalities

'

of the sonata

form.

The titled instrumental compositions of SIE CHAKLES

VILLiEJib BTSJJFOED are more numerous than those
of'bir (J. Ji. K. PafryT "Ofhis five symphomes the aecond,
Elegiac ;
third, fourth, and fifth are respectively entitled
:

Irish;

Thro' youth

U Allegro

ed

composed

for the

il

to, strife,

Pensieroso

Armada

tltro'

and

death

to

life;

and

one of his overtures,

Tercentenary, bears the

title

To conclude, however, from

this

Queen of

'the

that

Charles has a pronounced leaning towards

Sir

Seas.

programme music would be a mistake. He admits that

musical creation can be inspired by a poem or a picture
or some abstract poetical view of a concrete idea, and
that the above-mentioned works had some such source
of inspiration.
But while he believes in Beethoven's
view of

'

working after a picture,' he also believes in his

practice of not defining

in detail.

what the picture

is,

at

any

rate

Accordingly he holds that absolute music (as

distinguished from lyrical and dramatic music) should

be able to

tell its tale

without a

title,

able to stand as

Periods.]

Stanford

SvMvanMackenzie.

music pure and simple

if its title

381

were destroyed

and

that no rigid or detailed explanations can be given

without narrowing the

effect

limiting their expression.

of the compositions,

and

Charles says that he

never sets himself to analyze the causes of the music
Sir

that comes into his head.

ABTHUB SULLiyMJ1848-1800)
dated Belfast, 1863
of a

The whole

'

symphony, with a

real Irish flavour,

Sir A. C. Mackenzie,

head.'

writes in a letter

movement
came into my

of the first

pointing out the

after

absence of vividly and strongly coloured national and

racial

characteristics,

remarks

'

As

in the

Mendelssohn's famous Scotch, Sullivan's

is

Jrisfe

case of

Symphony

rather the result of imj)ression3 produced by the

B"cene^7^Tie temperament, and the literature of the

peopIeTtEie 'general atmosphere in fact, than

reproduction of the

country.'

However,

an artistic
was not

it

who gave to the symphony the epithet

Sullivan's In Memoriam overture was called forth

the composer
Irish.

by his father's death, and written within a week of

it.
Other notable overtures are Marmion, Macbeth,

Di

Ballo,

World.

and that to the second part of The Light of the

And then

the reader has

the music to several plays

Op.

The Merchant of

1, to

still

to be reminded of

to The Tempest, a remarkable

Venice,

The Merry Wives of

Windsor, Henry VIII., Macbeth, and King Arthur.

The programmatic movement is more heartily joined in

by the other composers named by me. Most prominent
among SIE ALEXANDEK C. MACKENZIE'S contributions

to

poetic Op. 29,

this

kind

La

Belle

of

music

Dame

orchestra, to which the whole of Keats's

and the

sprightly,

are

the

highly

sans Merci, ballad for

humorous overture

poem is prefixed
to Shakespeare's

[Fifth

Great Britain.

382

&

Sixth

comedy Twelfth Night, in the course of which six

quotations from the play appear as superscriptions.
Mackenzie's Op. 41, The Dream of Jubal, a poem with
music for soli, chorus, orchestra, and accompanied
recitation, deserves special notice because of the latter

element.

The composer takes pleasure and

is felicitous

in the melodramatic treatment, as is further proved by

many

pianoforte accompaniments to poems,

excellent

especially of a

humorous

In addition to the above

cast.

works have to be mentioned the overtures Cervantes and

To a Comedy, the music

Marmion, The

to the

Little Minister,

plays

Ravenswood,

Manfred, and Coriolanus,

and the national tone-pictures the Britannia

the orchestral suite London

Day

Scottish Highlands for pianoforte

Overture,

by Day, Scenes in the

(On

the Hill-side

On

and On the Heather), From the North for

and pianoforte, also for orchestra, and two
Scottish Rhapsodies and one Canadian Rhapsody.
the

Loch ;

violin

Although Sir A. C. Mackenzie often writes absolute

music, and never attempts to follow strictly a poem or

drama

in

its

actual sequence of events, yet he has an

programme music. He finds that writing

mind is more fascinating
and easy to him a picturesque or dramatic figure, the
general outline of a poem or play, any given local colour
or atmosphere, invariably cause him to work with greater

inclination to

with some definite subject in his

rapidity than he would do without

impression.

With some such

such

picture

mental

character

or

before him, the corresponding musical ideas present

themselves quickly, without strain and

effort,

contour of the whole piece easily shapes

and the

itself after

comparatively short study of the subject chosen for

illustration.

In

the

first

movement

of

his

suite

Periods.]

Mackenzie.

London Day by Day, there

is

883

to be found quite a series

of impressions, each of the eighteen variations being

intended to represent in miniature some phase of street

(military band, hawkers' cries, &e.) within hearing

life

Westminster chimes, which form a basso ostinato

upon which the whole piece is built.
The Finale tells of
of the

Hampstead Heath and Bank Holiday.

His Belle Dame

sans merci aims at giving a general impression of Keats's

ballad rather than a musical replica of
to Twelfth Night, the

more
is

fitly

The overture

it.

composer thinks, might perhaps

have been called Malvolio, since

its

programme

limited to the illustration of a single incident in the

play

namely,

the successful trap laid for

mischievous crew.

The finding

of the

him by the

letter begins

the piece, and a parallel passage expressing Malvolio's

revenged on the whole pack,' logically

The body of the work (AUegro con brio) is an

threat, to be

ends

it.

'

attempt to describe the characteristics of the principal

performers in the trick ; and
Olivia), of

its

second subject (the

fair

which a modified version has already appeared

during the reading of the letter in the introduction,

provides an easy contrast to the vivacity of the chuckling

The composer points out that in

schemers.

he kept closely

to the accepted

this piece

form of an overture,

although each section became considerably lengthened

out,

to

by reason of the programme, which seemed

demand

section.

'

to

him

expansion,' particularly in the development

Generally

speaking,

acknowledges the legitimacy

Sir
of,

A.

and

C.
is

Mackenzie

thankful

for,

both absolute and programme music, but deprecates

programmes

that

travel

beyond

the

province

and

possibilities of musical expression, and further deprecates

formlessness, although he believes that Liszt's

method

384

metamorphosis of themes

of

substitute

and help

may

&

[Fifth

Great Britain.

Sixth

be to some extent a

to satisfy the sense of form.

composer explains his liking

for

his liking for every kind of stage music,

as he rightly remarks,

is

The

programme music by
which

after all,

nothing else but programme

music.

FEEDEEIC

H.

COWEN'S programme

us to different regions.

The

denominated

is

The third

music takes

of his six symphonies

Scandinavian,

and

its

second

movement {Andante) bears the superscription Summer

night on the Fjord.' But although the other movements
'

have no superscriptions, they do not fail to raise thoughts

in the

mind

of the hearers;

for

all

are poetic and

His fourth and sixth symphonies are entitled

Another work (unpublished and, as
the composer says, practically defunct) is denominated
romantic.

Welsh and

Idyllic.

Niagara, a Characteristic Overture.

predilection

for,

Cowen shows a
and at the same time a wonderful

aptitude and virtuosity in, the depicting of the delicate and

by his

graceful, as is demonstrated

suites

The Language

of Flowers and In Fairyland, and by The Butterfly's Ball.

But he

treats also emotional themes, as in

Phantasy

of Life and Love.

Alter writing the foregoing, I apphed to Dr.
his

Cowen

for

views and intentions, and he was so kind as to

make

the following interesting confessions.

'

Generally

speaking the Scandinavian Symphony was influenced

more by general impressions

of the country

its

rugged-

and its folk melodies, by

endeavoured to impart local colour. The Adagio,
however, is meant to convey a definite idea of a moonnesB, its historical associations,

which

light

night on a Fjord.

suggestion of a sleigh ride.

The Scherzo has a vague

The Finale is an impression

'

Periods.]

CowenCorder.

385

of the sturdiness of the ancient Scandinavian gods.

In

the Welsh Symphony I aimed at nothing

colour,

and the

more than local

Symphony gives merely a vague
simplicity.
The Adagio of the latter

Idyllic

picture of rustic

work, however, might suggest a quiet, peaceful afternoon,

undisturbed by mundane thoughts ; and the Finale has

something of the character of a vUlage festivity. The

Phantasy of Life and Love is a mood, or a variety of moods

the strenuousness

of

life,

the desire for love, and the

weirdness and humorousness of things in general.

In

the

above I have never intended labelling any

particular phrase or passage, the whole being more the
all

result of

some Stimmung [mood

of the

With

soul].

regard to the following, however, matters are somewhat

they are meant to convey, and I hope do

different, as

convey, more or less definite ideas to the hearer.

For
The Language of Flowers and In Fairyland, all
the movements are intended to suggest the ideas indicated
by their titles and sub-titles such as Daisy (Innocence),
Dance of the Witches, &c.
The Butterfly's Ball is an
ethereal dance suggested by an old nursery rhyme of
" The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast."
instance, in

Of

FEEDEBICK COEDEE

(6.

1852), a less persistent

Muse than the British composers already

mentioned, we will note the overtures Ossian and
What harmony is this ?
Prospero (with the motto,
pursuer of the

'

My

good friends, hark

'

Act

III.,

Scene

II.,

of

The

Tempest), the idyll Evening on the Seashore, and the

suites

In

the

Black Forest, Scenes from The Tempest, and

Boumanian,

and

instrumental

believes in brains

much

else

to

Mr. Corder says he

and handicraft, and does not believe
that although on one or two occasions

recitations {The Witch's Song, &c.).

in

accompaniments

[Fifth

Great Britain.

386

&

Sixth

favourably influenced under stress of emotion, he cannot

but

own

have

that his best efforts

such as the Witch's Song

been the outcome of mere merciless brainIn

cudgelling.

he mistrusts the assertions

fact,

He

composers who gush about inspiration.

when he

as to say that

of

goes so far

writes he tries to avoid

all

conscious connection with outside thoughts and influences,

however emotional the composition

may be.

To

express

emotion he makes use of the technique of emotion,

conventional modes of utterance, as

it

of

were of universal

When

one tries to paint the feeling of a poem

must employ the mechanical means which
knowledge and experience have taught us will produce
on the minds of others the desired effect. The subtle
and just use of these mechanical means we call artistry,
and the coarse and vulgar use of them, claptrap.'
Mr. Corder is fond of paradox and persiflage. I see
idioms.

'

in music, one

traces

of

this

in

the

exposition

of

his

back on rank materialism, on

le

make us

fall

(to

parody Lamettrie's L'homme machine) and

After

(however ingenious) as a

there

all,

of

compositewr machine

with impotent ambitious botching, need not

mecaniqtte

theory

Disgust with childish amateurish idealism,

composition.

is

la musique

summum

bonum.

such a thing as enlightened magisterial

idealism.

Before parting from the generation with which for

a while

we have been

occupied, I shall yet mention a

concert overture, Morte d' Arthur, by

BEIDGE
Sunshine,

(b.

SIR FEEDEEICK

1844), and an orchestra picture. Clouds and

and a

symphony,

FEEDEEICK CLIFFE

(5.

A Summer

Night,

by

1857).

With the later born composers the programmatic

tendency becomes more and more intense and absorbing,

CliffeMacCunn

Pebiods.]

and not only does

387

Wallace.

become more intense and absorbing,

and even
eccentric ways, both in subject and in form. Of course,
it

it

also reveals itself in new, extraordinary,

there are exceptions,

a notable

one.;

among whom

but they do not invalidate what I asserted

The composer who comes

as to the general tendency.

next on the scene

is

HAMISH MacCUNN

made an impression with

the

Mountain and

Ship

o'

Dens

o'

given

the concert overture

The
and the ballad overture The Dowie

WILLIAM WALLACE

Yarrow.

both

programme music

who
Land oj

1868),

(fe.

the Flood, the orchestral ballad

the Fiend,

us

DONALD TOVEY is

good

philosophical

(6.

1860) has

definition

of

a paper on The Scope of Programme

Miisic, read before the Musical Association), and some
(in

highly interesting specimens of

'Music whijsh attempts

means

of

it.

The

definition is

to excite a mental image by

an auditory impression.'

The specimens

are

symphonic poems The Passing of Beatrice and

Sir William Wallace, the symphonic preludes Amboss

the

oder

Hammer

(on

Kophtisches

Goethe's

Lied),

The

Eumenides, the Rhapsody of Mary Magdalene, &c. Mr.

Wallace is not in sympathy with the composers destitute
of constructive

power who resort to the symphonic poem

declares that a musical work, however

He

as a refuge.

poetic the subject, has always to be judged primarily

from the point of composition

and claims for his own

works the possession of construction and a certain form,

consistent working out and avoidance of irrelevancies.
His position can be made clear by the following two
quotations.
When a composer deals with an objective
idea, he is limited in his expression, and too close an
'

adherence to a literary text will preclude any

musical structure, unless

it

so

strict

happens that the poetic

388
idea

is laid

When

& Sixih

[Fifth

Great Britain.

out on lines corresponding to musical form.

the idea is subjective, the music can conform to

technical requirements,

and can be worked out on

lines

exactly similar to those in the treatment of absolute

For

music.

the

elaboration

emotional ideas can be just

academic, just as absolute,
of indefinitely

named and

if

of

named

consistent, just

as

you

definitely

will, as

as

the elaboration

abstract emotional ideas.'

'Besting secure in his conviction

that

the

various

musical forms have reached their highest technical

development, he

[the

composer of to-day]

strives to

impart to his work some new, some modern quality, and

this

he discovers by giving

to his composition a definite

poetic significance.'

GEANVILLE BANTOCK (6. 1868) is looked upon in

England as an extremist among composers of programme
music, and critics have often maltreated him because of
his supposed utter materialism.

In this as in so many

eases popular beliefs turn out to be popular prejudices.

The composer himself states that much, in fact nearly

all,j)f his later work may be said to have a literary
origin but that he feels himself much more concerned
with the human and emotional element than with any
;

attempt to portray or reproduce in music the effects of

Nature or descriptive events that, in fact, he is not

conscious of

much

external influence, of being affected

by the material aspect

of things.

In The Witch of Atlas,

however, and to some extent in The Great God Pan,

his

thoughts have certainly been directed to Nature,

though, in the

first

short,

by the poems
and other poets. In

instance, inspired

respectively of Shelley, Browning,

Mr. Granville Bantock conceives that the right

kind of programme music

is

inspired

by broad, human

Periods.]

Wallace

BantockElgar.

389

emotions and the great thoughts of literature.

him

to

whereas

that

absolute

music

seems

merely

is

decorative or architectural design of tone

It

upon

tone, or

the development of purely musical thematic material,

the object of a programme composer

literary idea

musical

to convert the

is

As to form,
must vary
according to the subject, and that in programme music
the composer may break away from the orthodox and
conventional forms of absolute music and create new
Mr.

into

Bantock

Granville

expression.

holds

forms in keeping with his ideas.

this

most daring and

that

it

Other compositions of

prolific of the

younger generation

composers of programme music are the overture

of

Eugene Aram, the symphonic overtures Cain and

Behhazzar, and the tone-poems Thalaba the Destroyer,
Dante (visions of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, his
Exile and his Death), Fifine at the Fair (after Browning),
Hudibras (after Butler), and LaUa Bookh (after Moore).
Granville Bantock had the intention of writing twodozen symphonic poems illustrative of Southey's Curse
of Kehama, but afterwards gave up the idea. Of this
vast theme, there remain only two Oriental Scenes

No.

1,

It

Processional,

and No.

2,

Jaga-Naut.

would take too long to mention

music produced in recent times

of the producers

all

the programme

but I must

name

a few

Arthur Hervey, Walter Handel Thorley,

Herbert Bunning, Learmont Drysdale, William H. Bell,

Percy Eideout,

J.

Holbrooke, and Frederick Delius.

cannot be eqiiaUy brief with SIE

(6.

1867), the composer

new century has

who

since the beginning of the

in so high a degree

drawn upon himself

the attention of England and the Continent.

and intense, and ultra-modern as he

2 c

We

EDWAED W. ELGAE

is,

Earnest

he could not

&

Great Britain America. [Fifth

390

Sixth

but be a composer of programme music, and as such he

has proved himself in his overtures Froissart, Cockaigne,

and In
pieces,

the South, in the orchestral Variations

and

constituents

more

still

vocal - instrumental

of his

especially in those

of

and other

strikingly in the instrumental

compositions,

The Dream of Oerontius and

The Apostles. ' Instrumental accompaniments,' being a

misnomer, ought to be regarded as an obsolete term in
speaking of modern works, where the voice or voices are
oftener the accompanying parts than the instruments.
Sir

Edward's

although

compositions,

instrumental

programme music, have, however, no other programmes

than their titles.
Cockaigne (In London Town) and
In the South explain themselves. Froissa/rt was suggested
by

remarks

Claverhouse's

Chronique

Old Mortality

33rd

the

in

'

Jehan

about

chapter

of

His chapters inspire

Froissart's

Walter

me

Scott's

with more

enthusiasm than even poetry itself. And the noble canon,

with what true chivalrous feeling he confines his beautiful
expressions of sorrow to the death of the gallant and

high-bred knight, of

whom

it

was a pity to see the

such was his loyalty to his king, pure faith to his

hardihood towards
lady-love

'
!

his

Peculiarly

and

enemy,

fidelity

interesting

fall,

religion,

to

his

from the

programmatic point of view are the orchestral variations

Enigma theme. E. J. Buckley writes in his

Edward Elgar
The theme is a counterpoint on

on the
Sir

'

'

'

some well-known melody which

is

never heard [and

remains unrevealed by the composer], the Variations

are the theme. seen through the personalities of friends,

with an intermezzo and a coda

are indicated by the

names

{_f,nale]

.'

The

friends

Ysobel, Troyte, Dorabella,

Nimrod, in one case by three asterisks, and in most

Periods.]

ElgarMacDowell.

ases by initials.

Sir

books.

He

outdoor

life.

Edward

is

391

a lover of nature and of

holds that a musician needs education and

And one

in the air, music

all

of his ideas is that there is music

round us, that the world

is full

of

it.

Of the Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47, for strings, the

composer relates that he thought out the theme of
this composition in Cardiganshire, ' on the cliff, between
the sea and the blue sky,' while there came to him
indistinctly the distant sound of singing.
The overture
In the South contains impressions received in Italy, more
especially on a glorious afternoon in the Vale of Andora,
with streams, flowers, and hills
the distant snow
moimtains in one direction, and the blue Mediterranean
'

in the other.'

America,

as

far as music

is

concerned,

described by a European as a terra incognita.

may

be

Whether

this ignorance is blameless or not, is a question too

delicate to be taken

up

rashly.

In any case, however,

we can plead

in excuse lack of opportunity to hear and

American compositions, especially orchestral and
choral-orchestral ones. As I like neither to simulate
a knowledge I have not, nor to depend entirely
on second-hand knowledge, I shall pass over JOHN
see

KNOWLES PAINE {b. 1839), AETHUE FOOTE

(b.
GEOEGE WHITFIELD CHADWICK
1853),
(&. 1854), FEANCK VAN DEE STUCKEN
(6. 1858),
and others, and confine myself to the consideration of a
single

composer, one who both by the quantity and

quality

of

curiosity

music.

his

and

instrumental
interest

of the

music must raise the

student of

EDWAED MacDOWELL

(&.

1861)

programme
is

incontest-

ably and pronouncedly a poet, and a certain dreaminess

is

a predominating feature of his poetry.

His music

the

quiescent, abstracted, inward look.

exhalation

everything in

may miss

it is

It

poetic soul in the

suggests also improvisations of a

twilight

Sixth

is so striking in his

reminds one of the expression that

portraits

&

[Fifth

America.

392

While
and expression, one

rather than composition.

exquisite in feeling

in MacDowell's music a vigorous abundance,

and organization of thought. The dreamer in

The composer's more
to neutralize the actor.

variety,

him tends

impassioned, more tumultous

than disprove what

The most

moments prove

rather

I say.

successful of MacDowell's achievements are

Next to them come certainly his

But he also composed works for the

probably his songs.

pianoforte works.

MacDowell confessedly wanted

orchestra.
*

write

to

suggestive music,' and his music cannot leave us in

doubt as to whether his programmes were suggestive

But the suggestiveness was general rather

idealistic rather than reahstic, and

to himself.

than particular,
above

dreamily, visionarily

all

pianoforte pieces

we

Among

poetic.

Goethe), Little Poems, Les Orientales, Marionettes,

Pictures (after

Hans

series.

Op. 51, 55, and

the Woodland Sketches, Sea Pieces, and

In addition to the general

gives his pieces special titles,

them some

verses.

Moon

Christian Andersen), Fireside Tales,

and the three most important

Idyls.

the

find Forest Idyls, Six Idyls (after

The

titles

62,

New Englamd
the composer

and mostly

prefixes to

special titles enable us to see

further into the poet's laboratory.

They are

in the case

Woodland Sketches
To a Wild Eose,' Will-o'the-Wisp,' 'At an old Trysting Place,' 'In Autumn,'
From an Indian Lodge,' To a Waterlily,' From Uncle
of the

.-

'

'

'

'

Eemus,'

'

'

deserted Farm,'

'Told at Sunset.'

Among

'

By

a Meadow Brook,' and

the special

titles

of the

MacDoweU.

Periods.]

Sea Pieces are

To the Sea (' Ocean, thou mighty

'From a Wandering Iceherg' ('An errant

monster'),

'

'

princess of

the north,' &c.),

ocean,' &c.

In the

In

deep

'

woods,'

and 'From Puritan

'

titles

To

an

Days.'

1620,'

a.d.

New England

others the following special

'

393

'

old

An

'

In mid-

among

old Garden,'

White

Pine,'

Subjects of a different

nature are dealt with in the Marionettes

'Soubrette,' 'Lover,' 'Witch,'

'

Idyls occur

they

are

'Clown,' 'Villain,' and

Sweetheart.'

MacDowell has written a Tragic, a Heroic, a Norse,

Keltic Sonata.
Of the meaning of the first sonata
"the composer gives no further hints.
To the second he

and a

"Flos regum Arthuris,' and writes:

'While not exactly programme music, I had in mind
-the Arthurian legend when writing this work.
The first
prefixes the motto

movement

coming of Arthur. The Scherzo

by a picture of Dor6's showing a knight in

typifies the

vras suggested

the woods surrounded by

was suggested by

elves.

represents the passing of Arthur.'

MacDowell has
shall quote four
'

The

my idea of Guinevere.

prefixed a

number

third

movement

That following

To the Norse Sonata

of verses of which I

Bang out a Skald's strong voice,

With tales of battles won
Of Gudrun's love

And
To

Sigurd, Siegmund's son.'

the Keltic Sonata are prefixed these verses

'

Who minds now Keltic tales of yore.

Dark Druid rhymes that thrall,
Deidre's song and wizard lore
Of great CuchuUin's fall.'

'

&

the composer characterizes his music as

And

commentary

[Fifth

America.

394

depiction of

on

subject

the

than

an

Sixth
'

more

actual

it.'

Besides writing

concerto,

a pianoforte

MacDowell

wrote for orchestra two suites and some symphonic

The

poems.

first Suite,

'In a haimted Forest,'

Song,' and

'

Op. 42, consists of the pieces

Summer Idyl,' The Shepherdess'

'

Forest Spirits

'

'

and the second, the Indian

Love Song,' In War-time,' Dirge,'

and Village Festival.' More interesting for the student
of programme music are the other orchestral compositions the two pieces Hamlet and Ophelia, Op. 22, the
second symphonic poem, Lancelot and Elaine (after
Tennyson), Op. 25, and the two pieces The Saracens and
The Lovely Aldd (after the Song of Roland). As to Op. 25,
MacDowell remarks
I would never have insisted that
Suite, of

'

Legend,'

'

'

'

'

'

symphonic poem need mean " Lancelot and Elaine "

to everyone. It did to me, however, and in the hope that
my artistic enjoyment might be shared by others, I added

this

the

title to

my

coinposei;'s

about them.
reader

may

music'

This and other remarks of the

have a curious, somewhat apologetic ring

With regard
feel inclined to

programme music ?

to one quoted above, the

ask: 'What then

is exactly

Pbeiods.J

CHAPTEE

III.

IN DENMARK, NORWAY, SWEDEN, BOHEMIA,

AND RUSSIA.

GADE (1817-1890) was the

European nations that made
itself heard in the republic of music.
His Op. 1, the
overture Echoes from Ossian (1841), gave a first taste of
northern colour and atmosphere.
But nationalism
merely tinges Gade's compositions, and only some of
them, the early ones. In fact, his countrymen blamed
him for going over to Germany, for denationalizing
himself.
The accusation was imjust. One may be true
The Dane NIELS W.

first

voice from the North

to one's country without speaking its brogue or obtruding

Gade never adopted its brogue, and

soon fulfilled Schumann's hope that he would not allow
the artist in him to be submerged in his nationality,
its

peculiarities.

but would display his aurera borealis imagination in

its

richness and variety, and cast his eyes as well on other

spheres of nature and

life.

Gade's overtures have

titles

Highlands
There

1,

three

Op. 7, Im Hochlcmd

more
('

of

In the

Op. 37, Hamlet, and Op. 39, Michael Angela

'),

are,

Besides Op.

further, five

Summer-day

in

the

pieces for orchestra, entitled

Country,

('

Early,'

'

Stormy,'

'Forest Solitude,' 'Humoreske,' and 'Evening, merry

life

of the people

AquareUen,
&c.

among

entitled'

'),

Op. 56, and pieces for the pianoforte

Op. 19, Northern Tone-Pictures, Op.

his less

known works

Mowntain Excwrsion in

4,

there is an overture
the North.

On

the

other hand, there are eight symphonies, an overture, and

other works without

titles.

Indeed, Gade's programmatic

Denmark.

396
tendency

is

[Fifth

not very pronounced.

of Beethoven's

&

Sixth

It falls greatly short

and Mendelssohn's.

Liberally gifted with

the sense of the pleasingly beautiful in line, colour,

form, and sentiment, he lacked Beethoven's imposing

depth

intellectual

and emotional

Mendelssohn's fascinating

some

life-like

force

as

well

picturesqueness.

as

In

however, there was a close spiritual

respects,

Gade and Mendelssohn. To form a

it will be well to remember his love
of the two sister arts of music, painting and sculpture,
and especially his early and life-long admiration for the
Danish poet Oehlenschlager (1779-1850), the reviver
of the old Northern myths and legends and sympathizer
relationship between

true idea of the

with

much

man,

in the contemporary

German

romanticists.

The motto of his Op. 1 shows in what spirit Gade entered

upon his career
Formulas hold us not bound, our art's
name is poesy.'
Some of the jonngex^^n^iomofBamBD^
:

'

have gone further in this direction.

(1836-1898) wrote a

'

EMILHAETMANN_

Tragedy Overture

Eine nordische Heerfahrt ('A northern

also called

'

The Vikings

'),

'

and

War

and gave

time in America, pioHlcernffronly

Poetic, a Tragic,

Symphony, but

also

five

it

to t he second of

symphonies the title of Aus der

ASGEFHA^ElErTF:'lM3X""-whFs^^^^^
his three

entitled

Expedition';

Ritterzeit.

Northern Suites,

a Lyric, a Majestic, and a Seriovs

an Opera witliout Words for piano-

forten^ mention one more Danish composer. Among

the works of VICTOE BENDIX (b. 1851) there are two
symphonic poems Fjeldstignimg and Svmmer Sownds
from Russia.
The obtrusive northern nationalism has come from
Scandinavia, and especially from Norway. It seems to

Periods.] Gade

HartmannHamerikBendix.

have been

EICHAED NOEDEAAK

introduced

into

the

art-music

of

397

(1842-1866)

country

his

who
the.

Norwegian folk-music. He died young,

and although he wrote, besides other things, music to
two of Bjomson's plays, he would probably not have
peculiarities of

been heard of outside Scandinavia had he not inspired

or infected with his idea a young contemporary composer
of nearly his

own age who was

effectively

apply his

EDWAED

H.

This

principle.

GEIEG

{b.

destined to live and

composer was

Unlike Gade, Grieg

1848).

revels in his country's brogue, is obtrusively national,

and remains true to his nationalism. We have of him

no symphonies and no untitled, overtures.
But we
have an untitled concerto and several sonatas full of
national idiotisms, colour, scenery, life, and sentiment.
We have of him further an overture In Autvmn, music
to Ibsen's Peer Gynt, Op. 46 (formed into

Three

Pieces

{IntrodMction

two

Intermezzo,

Dream; and Triumphal March)

Suites),

Borghild's

to Bjornson's

drama

Sigurd Jorsalfar, Op. 56, a Suite Of Holberg's Tims,

Elegiac Melodies for string orchestra (Heart-wownds and
Spring), the

melodrama

Bergliot (the

poem by Bjornson),

Op. 42, and several interesting series of pianoforte pieces

Poetic Tone-Pictwres, Humoresken, From

People (Sketches of Norwegian

life),

the Life of the

Norwegian Peasant

and among
the titles of the pieces contained in these series we
find such as Watchman^s Song from Macbeth, Dance of
Dances, and ten books of Lyric

the Elves,
Butterfly,

On

Pieces,

the Hills, Bridal Procession passing by.

Erotikon,

Prayer and

Temple Dance, To
The speaking nature

Spring, and

March of the Dwarfs.

of Grieg's

music precludes the assumption that his

compositions are mere formalistic tone-combinations and

the

[Fifth

Norway.

398
titles fanciful

To be convinced

&

Sixth

additions without serious significance.

of the truth of this,

we have only

to

open ears and mind to miniatures like the

Watchman's Song from Macbeth and the Dance of the
Elves. And who could fail to perceive the programmatic
listen with

character of the Peer Gynt music ?

Bergliot the music

In the melodramatic

of course patently

is

and necessarily

programme music.

But the untitled compositions

have

He must

is

tales to tell.

be a dullard indeed who

not impressed, for instance, by the sea

the

first

movement

too

life

of Op. 8, the Sonata in

depicted in

major

for

pianoforte and violin.

In short, Grieg's concerto, sonatas,

and pieces make us hear, see, and feel land and sea,
woods and heaths, fiats and moimtain-tops, fresh breezes,
thick fogs, rocking waves, rushing water, fiapping

sails,

merry dances, melancholy musings, wild rollicking,

stories of heroes and goblins, and much more.
Let it not be thought that the secret of Grieg's more
than transient success
of

lies in his

Norwegian folk-music.

and colouring, have a

No

pictorial

adoption of the idiotisms

doubt they give piquancy

and ethnographical value

but so extensively and obtrusively used are a source of

weakness rather than of strength, result in mannerism

rather than in style.

You cannot with impunity make the

inessential the essential,

of the developed.

thus a national art-music

fatal mistake.

limitations

and the rudimentary the norm

There are people who imagine that

may

be produced

If folk-music

limitations

has virtues,

in the range

but that
it

is

has also

of thought and

and in the means of expression. There is nothing

more futile than the endeavour to produce a national
feeling

art-music by imitation of folk-music and its peculiarities

a national art must be based on the broader and deeper

Periods.]

899

Grieg.

foundation of humanity, on

'

the essential passions,' to

use an expression of Wordsworth's;

of the hearts

the nation

Look

and souls

it

it

must grow out

of the individuals that constitute

must be spontaneous,

natural,

at the great masters of the art

and

sincere.

Although

full of

national character, they have none of the tricks of folk

phrase and gesture,* and consequently are universal as

well as national in the higher sense of the word, have a

medium of expression suitable to the whole range of

human thought and feeling.
Gade, who approved warmly of Grieg's first sonata for

violin

and pianoforte (Op.

when,

after hearing the second (Op. 13, in

said to the composer

make

major), was quite right

less Norwegian.'

of perceiving the excellence of the

replied

'

On

major), he

The next sonata you must really

It was a pity that Grieg, instead

'

8, in

defiantly

advice,

the contrary, the next will be more

so.'

Both sonatas are thoroughly Norwegian. But there is a

whereas in the
difference between their nationalism
earlier work the spirit impresses us, in the later the
National tricks of phrase and
letter oppresses us.
:

vocabulary, which arrest the attention and delight the

ear,

soon

weary

and

pall.

With

less

obtrusive

nationalism the spirited, piquant pianoforte concerto

(Op. 16) would have maintained its vogue longer than

has done.
Grieg's

And

thus

it

has been or

enthusiastically

received

will

it

be with some of

pianoforte

pieces.

Happily for him and us, the master does not often
mainly depend on these externalities. Wherein, then,
* Their occasional use of such does not npset the argument.

To

take

Those who dub Haydn a Croatian

an exceptionally strong case.
composer overlook the German and the broadly human elements that
form the great bulk of his music.

Norway-Sweden-Finland-Bohemia. [Fifth

400
lies

&

Sixth

the secret of Grieg's more than transient success to

which

man

I alluded ?

It lies in

a nature that

derives

the poetic nature of the

its

from his

character

individual constitution in the first place,

and only

in

the second place from the inspiration yielded by his

In short, what of his music

country and people.

live, will live

will

thanks to Grieg the poet, not to Grieg the

Norwegian.

The more classically inclined and less

less
obtrusively national
individual and

SEVEEIN SVENDSEN

(fe.

strikingly

JOHANN

1840) has produced, besides

two untitled symphonies and other things, an Introduction to Bjornson's Sigurd Slumbe, Op. 8, Carnival in
Paris, Op. 9, Zorhayde, a legend, Op. 11, Wedding-feast
('

Northern Carnival

Juliet,

'),

Op. 14, an Overture to Borneo and

Op. 18, and also four Norwegian Ehapsodies,

Programme music more of the

come from the pen of JOHANN
1844)fi^cme funebre, Northern Festival

Op. 17, 19, 21, and 22.

Berlioz

type has

SELMEE

(6.

Procession, Finnish Festival Sounds,

Among

Carnival in Flanders, and Prometheus.

Norwegian composers,

the Hills,

Of the younger

OLE OLSEN

{b.

1'850),

who

ultra-modem tendencies, wrote two symphonic

poems Asgardreigen and Elfentanz and music to
Erik XIV., but also an untitled symphony; whereas
follows

CHEISTIAN BINDING

(&.

1856),

who eschews both

obtrusive national idiotisms and titles (except occasionally,

indeed

extremely

rarely,

in

his

distinguishes himself honourably

pianoforte

pieces),

by concerted chamber

music and other compositions in the large forms.

Sweden has not drawn the attention of the world on

her music in the same measure as Norway, and, at least
in the department of orchestral music, has been less

SehnerHallen

Periods.] Svendsen

may

It

fruitful.

HALLEN

(b.

suffice

name

to

401

Sibelius.

here

ANDEEAS

1846), the author of two symphonic

Sten Sture and

From

Waldemar Legend.

the

poems
In the

neighbouring Finland, we will also note only one master,

JEAN SIBELIUS

(b.

1865), whose growing fame has

for

some time been spreading

his

own

far

Although the

country.

beyond the borders of

list

contains two untitled symphonies,

of his compositions
it

evidences unmis-

takably the master's leaning towards programme music.

For we find there the legends The Swam of Tuonela
(from the folk-epos Kalevah) and Lemminkdinen travels

homeward,

the

tone-poems

SpiiTig Song, the overture

and

Saga,

FimUmdia,

and

suite Carelia, the suite

PeUeas and Melisande, and music to Ad. Paul's drama

King Christian II.

Although the extraordinary talent and love
the people of Bohemia has always excited
is

for

music of

much wonder, it

only in recent times that the musical world has become

cognizant of a Czech school with distinct features and

The many

Czech composers
that made reputations outside their own countries such,
for instance, as the 18th and 19th century musicians
J. W. A. Stamitz, the three brothers Benda, Myslive6ek,
Wanhal, Pichl, Kozeluh, Gyrowetz, J. L. Dussek, Dyonis
imposing powers.

earlier

Weber, Anton Eeicha,TomaBchek,and J. W. Kalliwoda

were most of them so closely bound up with the musical

and productivity of other nations, more especially of

Germany and Austria, that they are included in the
history of these countries, the music of which some of
them (notably Stamitz, the Bendas, and Dussek) not only

life

and developed. This state

of matters has been changed by two composers, now of
world-wide fame, Smetana and Dvorak, who may be
enriched, but also leavened

&

[Fifth

Bohemia.

402

Sixth

regarded as the outcome of a renaissance of Czech

nationalism, a combative reassertion in opposition to

Grerman ascendancy and domination.

FEEDEEIC SMETANA

genuine

(1824-1884),

Czech, but not an obtruder in and out of season of folk

was active both in dramatic and instrumental

Hardly anything of the former, with the rare
exception of The bartered Bride, has found its way

idiotisms,

music.

beyond the frontiers of Bohemia ; the

latter,

on the other

hand, has spread abroad, slowly but continuously, and

is likely to

He was
moved by Smetana's death, said
As to his artistic faith, we happily have a
complete confession from his own pen. We

Liszt, deeply

a genius.'
sufficiently

can extract
cannot

call

For, as

do so at a faster rate in future.

:

it

from his

letters to Liszt.

Although he

himself one of Liszt's direct

acknowledges him as his master, to

'

pupils, he

whom

he owes

everything; and declares himself an uncompromising

champion of the great masters of the present time
(April 10, 1857).
Subsequent to a visit to Weimar, he
writes in a letter of October 24, 1858, of the powerful

made on him by Liszt's music, of the necessity

way so grandly and truly taught
Weimar master, of his most zealous discipleship

impression

of progress in the very

by the

of that master's artistic tendency (Kunstrichtimg),

of his desire to
its

work

for the deliverance of the art

confining fetters.

But

and
from

no one conclude that

the older masters, and deaf
let

Smetana was a despiser of

and blind to the lessons they taught, because he was not
content to follow their lines.

was of course a

believer in

As a disciple of Liszt he
programme music. He is

one of the very few who have written concerted chamber

music with a programme, one of his compositions

of this

Periods.]

Smetana.

403

E minor being autobiographical

and bearing the title of Aus meinem Leben. The four
movements of which the quartet consists have, however,
no further programmatic indications.*
Of greater

kind, a string quartet in

interest to

orchestra,

us are Smetana' s

Hakon

poems for
Camp,

symphonic

Jarl, Richard III., Wallenstein's

and the series of six symphonic poems entitled Ma Vlasl

('My Fatherland'). They are compositions consisting
of a continuity of movements but whereas the first three
;

have only

the other six have also a programme

titles,

Of Richard III. we find a concise

programme in one of Smetana' s letters to Liszt.
The composer says there
It consists of one piece
[Satz], and the tonal vesture \_Betonung'\ clings pretty
closely to the action of the tragedy
The attainment
of the proposed aim after the overcoming of all obstacles,
triumph, and fall of the hero.' Two short motives are
prefixed to them.

'

'

'

quoted as representative of the hero (who acts throughout

the whole), and of the opposing party.

Of the

first of

the

three early tone-poems, composed at Gothenburg, where

Smetana resided from 1856

to 1861, Sir A. C. Mackenzie

Hakon Jarl is more northern,

than any of the many similar

says that the Scandinavian

'

more briny and breezy,

pictures which have (until very recently indeed) been
painted by Scandinavian composers themselves,' that
this piece positively rattles with the north wind
and of
the third tone-poem, Wallenstein's Camp, the same racy
commentator remarks that it is decidedly the best of the
three and a masterpiece that it brings us face to face
'

'

with the turbulence of

times
*

camp

life

in those tumultuous

that through the shrieks of laughter, the uncouth

The sustained e""

movement

is

of the first violin towards the

believed to be the tone that haunted

him

end

of the last

in his deafness.

[Fifth

Bohemia.

404

capering and the carousing of the soldiery,

&

Sixth

we hear

the

exhortation of the Capucin, thundering his unheeded

denunciations

that, in fact,

('

My
(1.)

titles

Fatherland
Vysehrad.

palmy days

Vlasl

are as follows

')

Thoughts

engendered in the poet on

The

beholding the famous fortress.

its

seems to be taken

all

and from life.'

and programmes of the six parts oiMa

straight from Schiller

The

'

glorious

life

there in

subsequent unfortunate struggles, and

final ruin.
(2.)

The

Ultava.

river

Moldau.

The scenes through

natural
which the course of the noble river leads
beauties, historical buildings, and doings of men, wood

and water nymphs, &c.

The noble Bohemian Amazon. The

Amazons at war with the race of men. Sarka having
had herself bound to a tree, cries Ctirad hears her and
(3.)

Sdrka.

frees her.
after

When

men

are tired and asleep

the day's rejoicings, she winds her horn

comrades come
(4.)

she finds the

and

all

the

men

Ziesk'^ch luhuv a hdjuv.

her

are slain.

From Bohemia's Grove

A Pastoral

Symphony.
The castle founded by the Hussites.
The Taborites and their enthusiasm.
The hill in which are sleeping the
(6.) Blomik.
and

Field.

(5.)

Tabor.

glorious Hussite champions

battle for their country

Smetana stands

when

forth in

who

will rise again

and

the time comes.

his

My

Fatherland as a

musician of extraordinary imaginative and constructive

power, and as a patriot of the genuinely noble ideal, not
of the pseudo, blatant, chauvinistic type.
of

music

may

If the writers

be divided into composers and creators, he

ought to be numbered with the

latter.

The

six parts of

Periods.]

Smetana

his greatest

Dvorak.

405

symphonic achievement are poems in the

fullest significance of the

word.

Like so

many geniuses

Smetana starved

in early life and never greatly

Like Beethoven he became deaf, and like
Schumann he died in a lunatic asylum. Struggle, death,

prospered.

and transfiguration
is

martyrdom and canonization

a typical fate of the true

artist.

Much

fuller

readier, wider,

and

this

than the recognition of

Smetana has been that of ANTONIN DVOEAK (18411904), whose great popularity for the first time made the
world aware of Bohemia's national individuality in
matters musical. An out-and-out Czech like Smetana,

Dvorak was fonder

suffered

much

he prospered

of folk idiotisms.

Like Smetana he

hardship in his early career, unlike him

later on.

It

was not

till

the age of thirty-

two (1873) that he came prominently before the public.

After drawing his own country's attention upon himself

by a cantata and an opera, he obtained a stipend from

the government. Next (1877) he gained by a happy
chance the patronage of Brahms, who procured him a
publisher. The publication of the vocal duets Moravian
Strains {' Elange aus Mahren ') and the pianoforte duets
Slavonic

won

for

Dances,

afterwards

arranged for orchestra,

him an almost instantaneous and world-wide

which was heightened especially by his

Stdbat Mater and The Spectre's Bride. If we look for
reputation,

the secret of Dvorak's success

we

are sure to find

it

in

the vigour, daring, exuberance, and uncouventionality of

and wealth of
an imagination strongly tinged with Czech characteristics.
It was only in the last ^ears jofjtiis life that^vofak
became a composer of programme music in the fullest
his personality, in the bloom, freshness,

sense

of the

2d

word.

I pass

over without comment

the pianoforte pieces,

&

[Fifth

Bohemia.

406

Op.

Silhouettes,

Sixth

From

8;

the

Bohemian Forest, Op. 68 Poetic Mood

&c. Of his five titled overtures Mi/ Home, Op. 62;
Carnival,
In Nature, Op. 91
Husitzka, Op. 67
and OtheUo, Op. 93 it may be BaidJthaLjn
Op. 92
Pictures, Op. 85,

most cases, at

least

a programme

indicates

in the first three,

at

all, it is

if

the

title

a vague one, and that

in all cases opinions will differ as to the extent to which

programme inspired and guided the composer. The

same holds good of the fifth symphony. Op. 95, called
by the composer From the New World, a title which nj^
doubt alludes to something more thanjuj-tfee-fiegro
melodies contained in the work. It is different when we
come to the five Symphonic Poems, Op. 107-111. All
the

these compositions consist of a continuity of movements,

and

all

but one have detailed programmes based on

exception

is

the

fifth,

The

by K. Jaromir Erben.

popular Czech legends

Op. Ill, the most satisfactory,

The
programme prefixed to the fourth Symphonic Poem,
Op. 110, The Wild Dove (' Die Waldtaube ') runs thus
The young widow,
(1.) Andante, Marcia funebre
which has only a

title.

Heroic Song

('

Heldenlied

').

weeping, and lamenting, follows the body of her husband

to the grave.
(2.)

Andante

Allegro, afterwards

jovial, well-to-do

peasant meets the beautiful widow, consoles her, and

persuades her to forget her grief and take

him

for her

husband.
(3.)

fulfils
(4.)

Molto vivace, afterwards Allegretto Grazioso

her lover's wish.

Andante

From

She

merry wedding.

the branches of a freshly budding

oak, overshadowing the grave of her

had been poisoned by her

first

husband

the mournful cooing

who
of the

Periods.]
wild dove

Dvorak.
heard.

is

The melancholy sounds

the heart of the sinful

terrors of

an

407
pierce to

woman who, overcome by

evil conscience,

the

goes mad, and seeks death

in the waters hard by.

(5.)

Andante Tempo I., afterviSLTcAaPm

Although there are no references

lento

Epilogue.

movements ia the
programmes prefixed to the three other Symphonic
Poems, the composer's procedure is the same that is
to say, he follows the course of the stories. Let us see
what is the nature of them. The student of our subject
cannot fail to find them interesting. A little abbreviation
here and there may be both permissible and advisable.
The Water-Fay ('Der Wassermann'), Op. 107. In
the pale moonshine, on a poplar branch by the edge of
the lake, sits the Water-Fay, making himself a coat
of green and shoes of red, singing at his work, for
to

to-morrow

is

Early in the morning, the

his wedding-day.

village maid, his

chosen victim, obeying an

irresistible

impulse, comes to the lakeside to wash clothes, in spite

She

of her mother's evil forebodings.

lake, is

falls into

the

drowned, and wedded to the Water-Fay, who

holds prisoner the souls of drowned

Bewailing

her

miserable

fate,

she

men and women.

pours

out

her

home in lullabies to her baby.

Fay grants her one day to re-visit the world

passionate desire for

At

last the

above,

keeping the baby as a pledge of her return.

When the time comes to end the sorrowful reunion of

mother and daughter, the mother scornfully refuses to
let

her go.

violent storm arises, something is dashed

against the door of the cottage

the

headless body of

the baby.'

The Midday Witch ('Die Mittagshexe'), Op. 108, has

A mother threatens her
the following programme.

Bohemia.

408

[Fifth

&

Sixth

crying child with the Midday Witch, and at last exclaims

'

The door

Here, Nanny, come and fetch the cry-baby.'

opens, and in comes a shrivelled ghostly

on a

crook-stick.

'

Give

me

woman

leaning

the child,' she cries.

The

mother clasps the child in her arms.

terror-stricken

But, like a shadow, the Midday Witch draws nearer;

she

stretches

mother

When

falls

arms towards the

out her
senseless

to the

ground.

the father comes in from the

It

fields,

child;
is

the

midday.

he finds his

wife in a swoon on the floor, and the child on her

bosom

suffocated.

The Golden Spinning Wheel, Op. 109, has an even more

The king enters a cottage by the

gruesome programme.

wood, sees there a lovely maid, asks her to be his wife,

and

is

told

by her to ask her stepmother, who will return

When the king comes again the

from town on the morrow.

woman

tries to persuade him to marry her own

who is the image of the stepdaughter. But
the king commands her to bring her step-daughter
to the palace next day.
The old woman, however,
determines to take her own daughter to the king, and

ugly old

daughter,

together they murder the stepdaughter, leaving the body

them the eyes, hands,

The unsuspecting king marries the daughter.

in the wood, but carrying with

and

feet.

After seven days' feasting he goes to war, enjoining his

wife to spin diligently.

mighty magician,

Meanwhile a wise old man, a

finds the mutilated corpse in the wood,

and sends a boy with a golden spinning-wheel to the

castle, with the commission to sell it for two feet.
The

young queen

is

so anxious to possess this wonderful

makes her mother ask and pay

In the same way the girl's hands and eyes

piece of work that she

the price.

are obtained in exchange for a golden spindle and a

Periods.]

golden

409

DvofdJc.

distaff.

With the help

magician joins the several

of the water of life the

parts

the body, and

of

disappears after the maid has come to

At the end
of three weeks the king returns victorious, and the queen
shows him the spinning-wheel she has got. But no
sooner does she begin to spin than the magic wheel
reveals the gruesome deed. Pale with fear she tries to
silence the treacherous spindle, but the king insists on
iearing all. Then he quickly rides into the wood, and
life.

after long seeking finds the maid, marries her,

iappy

and

lives

ever after.

We may

assume that in writing these orchestral

compositions

DvoMk was

not under the delusion that his

music could, without words, make

intelligible all that is

in the stories, and knew perfectly well that all he could

do was to illustrate legends already known to the hearer.
There is, however, a great difference between an illustration that runs parallel with the text (as pictures in a book,

or instrumental accompaniments of a vocal composition)

and an

programme
beauty

that comes after the text

illustration

may

in

In the former case, force and

music).

be added by details of illustration that in the

latter case are only sources of obscurity

tion.

(as

The fundamental

ourselves are these

and disorganiza-

questions, then,

Do

we have

to ask

the texts chosen by Dvofak

readily lend themselves to purely instrumental treatment ?

Are they

essentially

and broadly musical?

Are they

am

afraid the

profoimdly and largely emotional

answers must be in the negative.

And why ?

the non-musical predominates in them.

Because

In the cantata,

The Spectre's Bride, on the one hand, and the four

symphonic poems, Op. 107-110, on the other hand,
Dvorak has proved that subjects of the same character

Bohemia

410

may

be

strikingly

Russia.
in

effective

composition, and leave

much

vocal-instrumental

to be desired, or be wholly

At any

unsuitable for a purely instrumental one.

the musical world has given

& Sixth

[Fifth

its

rate,

by cherishing the

decision

cantata and ignoring the symphonic poems.

It will

sufiSce for

our purpose

if

name

only two

more Czech composers the Eussianized EDWAED F.

NAPEAVNIK (6. 1839Vwith his symphOTy Tfe^ JDmow^
(after TiSmonFov)"an3^the symphonic poem The Orient
and the much more important true nationalist ZDENKO

FIBICH

(1850-1900), who, besides three symphonies and

some chamber music without programmes, has written

the symphonic poems Othello, Toman and the Nymph,
Spring, Zerbqj und Slavoj, Vigilice, and In the Evening, the
suite In the Open Air, the overtures The Jew of Prague,
The Tempest, and A Night on Karlstevn, 352 short and
fragmentary pianoforte pieces entitled Moods, Impressions,

and Eecollections, and

melodrama, Hippodamia
Tantalus'

Expiation;

and

lastly
(a

trilogy:

We

last

a.

have here substitution

of the speaking voice for Wagner's

In the

notably

Pel&ps's Wooing;

and Hippodamia' s Death), after

Jaroslav Yrchlicky's poem.

natural step to take.

most

speech-melody, a

But Fibich returned

decades of the 19th century

to opera.
it

seemed as

if

Eussia were becoming the leading and predominating

musical nation of Europe, as

if

the music of the vigorous

youthful East were to supersede that of the

West.

Now

effete, senile

that the glamour of novelty has passed

away, this view can no longer be maintained

we

see the

weakness as well as the strength of the East, and see

also signs of

still

subsisting vitality in the West.

although Eussia has not produced composers

But,

and a

musical literature equalling in excellence those of the

Napravnik

Periods.]

great epochs, or even,

Fihich Glinka.

all

411

things considered, surpassing

those of her contemporary rivals of other countries,

it is

undeniable that her composers and musical literature

compel our attention, engage our

ideas,

has

and influence our

to

reckoned

be

with

in

widen our

interest,

Henceforth Eussia

art-practice.

music as well

as

in

She has become one of the great musical

politics.

powers.

Without forgetting Bortniansky (1751-1825) and other

we may say that Eussia became an art-

early composers

producing nation of more than merely national importance

with

MICHAEL GLINKA

(1804-1857).

his significance better than the respect

He was

his successors.

one of the

five

Nothing gauges

and admiration of
composers

whom

Anton Eubinstein revered most and whose busts adorned

his study, the other four being Bach, Beethoven, Schubert

and Chopin. To Tchaikovsky, Glinka was an extraordinary phenomenon, a colossal artistic force. These
references to Eubinstein and Tchaikovsky are convenient,
as Glinka's operas, which make up the great bulk of his
works, are unknown outside Eussia, if we except The Life
for the Czar, which has been a few times performed in

Glinka aimed at writing operas entirely

other countries.

national in music as well as in subject, and wanted his

countrymen

to feel quite at

home

in them.

In this as

well as in the means employed, he was epoch-making in

Eussia.

Like him most of his successors delight in the

utiKzation

of

Eussian folk-melodies

of Eussian folk-music

generally.

and

peculiarities

For ethnographical

purposes, for the sake of local colouring and the love of

colour per

se,

they also delight, again like him, in the

utilization of the
Italian, Spanish,

folk-music of other nations Polish,

and especially Oriental. That in this way

[Fifth

Russia.

412
the composer

may

fail to

&

Sixth

reach the heart and soul of the

matter, to compass the heights, depths, and breadths of

humanity, and

may even become

crude and puerile,

is

too

obvious to require pointing out. Glinka's purely orchestral

writings are the beautiful expressive music to Koukolnik's

drama Prince Kholmsky (overture,

and the three well-known delightful
on popular
the

airs

four entr'actes, &c.),

fantasias or capricci/

the Eussian Kamarinskaja

(1848) and/

Spanish Jota Aragonesa and Une Nuit a Madricf

Tchaikovsky says that

(1851).

music

to Prince

Kholmsky

many

recall the

touches in the

brush of Beethoven,

and describes the entr'actes as little pictures painted by a

'A symphonic
master-hand, as symphonic marvels.
picture full of poetry

Madrid.

'

is

Cui's

comment on Une Nuit a

Bubinstein asserts that the Kamannskaja has

become the type of Eussian instrumental music, an opinion

shared by Tchaikovsky, who remarks that the whole
Eussian symphonic school

Both agree

lies

in

the Kamarinskaja.

also in thinking that this playful bagatelle is

a work of genius. The

programme music would be
an excellent subject for discussion. But so much may
be confidently claimed for them without discussion if
they are not programme music, they are at least full of
life, humour, character, and colour.
In the latter part

of astounding originality, in

fact,

relation of these fantasias to

of his

life

Glinka seems to have gone further in the

programme music, for he was occupied with

the idea of a symphonic work (begun in 1852) on

direction of

Malo-Eussian airs

Tar ass Boidba.

on

the

subject

of

The master's remark, that

Gogol's novel
his unfettered

imagination needed a text as a positive idea, goes far

towards

ascertaining

programme music.

his

position

with

regard

to

Peeiods.]

Glinka

The master

Dargomijaky.

413

comes next in point of time

that

ALEXANDEE SEEGEIVICH DAEGOMIJSKY

1869), a composer chiefly of operas and songs.

of instrumental compositions

we have

is

(1813-

Indeed,

mention only

to

three symphonic pieces in the comic genre

Kazachok

<a Little Bnssian Dance), the Bussian legend

Baha-Yaga

(the name of a witch whose vehicle is a mortar and

whose whip a pestle), also called From the Volga to Riga,
and the Dance of Mummers. Dargomijsky's chief aim

and

He

was realism.

all-absorhing passion

desired that

Now,

the sound should actually represent the word.

the realism so ardently pursued could not be confined

to songs and operas,

it

would assert

orchestral

have

pieces

itself also in

The above-mentioned

purely instrumental works.

been

described

grotesque, and bordering on caricature.'

points to the ultra-originality of the

who

as

'

the

three

bizarre,

This judgment

man and

musician

influenced so powerfully his yoimger contemporaries

and made him the fons

Eussian School, the
defiance tradition

founder of the

'

et origo of

innovators

'

and the teachings

New

the

New

or

Young

that audaciously set at

of the schools.

Eussian School, however,

its

The
centre

and enthusiastic stimulator, was the twenty years younger

Balakirev, not Dargomijsky whose connection with it
was that of an honoured father and tutelary deity. The

principal other

members were

Cui, Moussorgsky, Borodin,

and Bimsky-Korsakov. Eubinstein held that the young

Eussian School was the outcome of the influence of
Berlioz

and

Liszt,

compositions, of

with

the addition, for pianoforte

Schumann.

The main

features of its

creations are, according to him, on the one hand, a perfect

mastery of technique and an excellent orchestral colouring,

and, on the other hand, an entire absence of design

414

[Fifth

Evssia.

and a predominating formlessness.

their

model,

they

Sixth

Taking Glinka for

Eubinstein

write,

&

for

us,

tells

the most part on folk-songs and folk-dances, proving

thereby the poverty of their own invention and palliating
it by the name of 'national art' and 'new school.'
Although admiring the power and sincerity of some of the

members, Tchaikovsky despised the abortions

and laughed

of others,

at the ultra-liberal tendencies of the school.

In return for this they excommunicated Eubinstein

by calling him a German composer, and accused
Tchaikovsky of pedantry, routine, and backwardness.

What

is

a very notable and characteristic fact, not only

in connection with the

New

School, but with the famous

Eussian composers of the 19th century generally,

is

the

predominant amateur element, an element that does not

make

altogether for evU.

If it accounts for a great deal

weak craftsmanship, crudeness, and fantasticalness, it

also accounts for some of the originality, much of the
reckless adventurousness, and the width of outlook and
of

boundlessness of enthusiasm.

Glinka remained

all his

a well-to-do amateur; Dargomijsky was for four

life

years in the government service; Cui kept true to the

and rose to the rank

Moussorgsky was first an officer

profession of military engineering

of lieutenant-general

the

in

Guards,

then

devoted

himself

entirely

to

music, and finally entered one of the administrative

branches of
to

music the

government service

the

little

leisure

duties as a professor of chemistry;

left

Borodin

gave

he could spare from his

Eimsky-Korsakov

the navy, for which he was brought up, at the

age

of

destined
it for

twenty-nine
for

music

the
till

and

Tchaikovsky,

legal profession,

who

was

did not exchange

he was twenty-two years

old, shortly

Periods.]
after

Balakirev.

he had

the

entered

St.

415
Petersburg

conserva-

torium.

MILY ALEXEIVITCH BALAKIEEV

(h 1836) has

written only songs and instrumental compositions, and

no operas. To his belief in programme music, both

his own works and his advice to other composers bear
witness.
influence

Later on we shall have to advert to his

on Tchaikovsky, who regarded him as the most

important personality of his

circle,

the inventor of

its

dogmas, and the possessor of an extraordinary talent

by various fatal circumstances before he had done

much. The works of his that interest us here are the
Symphonic Poems Russia and Tamara; the overture
and entr'actes to Lea/r, the overture on three Eussian
stifled

themes, the overture on the theme of a Spanish March,

an untitled symphony, and Islamey, an Oriental fantasia

The symphonic poem Russia, composed

for pianoforte.

in celebration of the 1,000th anniversary of the Eussian

nation (the arrival of Eurik the

862), is

Norman

in Novgorod in

based on three national melodies representative

of three periods in the history of Eussia,

and concludes

with a prayer for the future welfare of the country.

Tama/ra has for

its

programme Lermontov's poem

the same name, which

is

of

prefixed in its entirety (twelve

four-lined stanzas) to the score, both in the original

Eussian and in a French translation.

There

is prefixed

further a shorter prose account with verse quotations for

use in concert programmes.

contents

still

possesses

all

more

solitude rises

concisely.

Lermontov's

poem

the most fascinating elements of a certain

kind of romanticism

it is

I shall try to indicate the

An

ancient tower in a Caucasian

from a black rock on the bank of the Terek

inhabited by Queen Tamara, an angel of beauty, a

416

[Fifth

Russia.

demon

of wickedness

&

Sixth

the light of the tower and the

magic voice of the Queen attract the wayfaring merchant,

warrior, and herdsman ; the hospitable door is opened by a
silent

eunuch

the lustful Queen richly apparelled awaits

her guest on her

soft

couch

sounds of wild intoxicated

passion, as of a hundred couples of lovers celebrating their

and funerals

nuptials

same time, soon

at the

finally,

at daybreak, the corpse of a

away by the

woman

youth

is

the

fill

lonely walls, then follow silence and darkness;

and,

carried

and on the roof of the tower a pale

him a tender, longing farewell. To

river,

sends after

complete the local colouring and

picture there

is

atmosphere of the

yet required a large admixture of restless

waves, nocturnal mist, and groaning wind, to which and

to the other horrors the composer pays due attention.

As Alfred Bruneau

says, Balakirev is a magician of

the orchestra and excels in the descriptive

But although

poem and

this is so, the

composer

does not as a rule provide detailed programmes.

Happily

instrumental

we have

tale.

obiter dicta of his that reveal the

his mind.

There

is

first

workings

of

the information he gave to

Mrs. Newmarch concerning the overture on the theme

of a

Spanish March.

'

The

theme

first

is

my

own,

written in the Oriental style, in accordance with the

programme which

depicts

the

struggle

between

Moors and the Spaniards and the victory of the

with the help of the auto da fe of the Inquisition.
second theme
given to

is

the

latter

The

the original one of the Spanish March

me by

Glinka.'

More

interesting,

more

of a revelation, is the following passage

letter

addressed to Tchaikovsky

'

because

from a

do not know how

you compose. As a suitable example for you, I will tell

you how I composed my Lear.
After I had read the

Periods.]

Balakirev

Moussorgsky.

drama, there was kindled in

me

417

the desire to write an

and I began to plan for as yet I had no

material, my enthusiasm being confined to the project.
overture,

maestoso Introduction and then something mystical

The Introduction

(Kent's prophecy).

a stormy Allegro begins.

dethroned but
to

still

That

strong lion.

is

As

quiets down,

and

Lear himself, the

episodes there were

appear the figures of Began and GonerU, and then

the second theme, Cordelia, the gentle and tender.

After

that the middle section (storm, Lear and the Fool on the
heath),

and then the

and Goneril

finally

repetition of the Allegro:

overpowering their father.

Eegan
The

overture ends with a morendo (Lear over the corpse of

and the
You must understand that I had
slow, solemn death.
as yet no definite ideas at all. These came only later
and began to accommodate themselves to the outlined
form. I believe that all this will happen to you also if

Cordelia), the repetition of Kent's prophecy,

you

will get

up an enthusiasm

for the plan beforehand.

Then arm yourself with goloshes and a walking-stick,

and take a walk on the Boulevards, beginning with
the Nikitzky

let

your plan, and I

yourself be thoroughly saturated with

am

convinced that on reaching the

Sretensky Boulevard you will already have found some

theme or

Of

episode.'

MODEST PETEOVICH MOUSSOEGSKY

1881) hard things have been said

(1839-

he has been accused

of incorrectness, amateurish craftsmanship, ultra-crude

and lack of the sense of beauty. Nevertheless

he was one of the most gifted and most influential
masters of the Young Eussian School, overflowing with
realism,

vitality, reckless in his daring,

and passionately intent

on expressiveness and descriptiveness.

It

has been

418

[Fifth

Russia.

&

Sixth

remarked that he was the only one of the innovators to

whom the epithet ' musical nihilist could be applied
'

We

meet with an interesting

characterization of Moussorgsky in a letter written by
'You are right in
Tchaikovsky at the end of 1877.
your remark that he is played out.' As far as talent
goes he is perhaps the most important of all, only his is
a nature in which there is no desire for self-improvement,
a nature which is too much saturated with the absurd
theories of those about him, and by the belief in his own
with any degree of justice.

'

Moreover, his

genius.

is

a rather low nature that loves

the uncouth, coarse, and ugly.

Moussorgsky coquettes

he seems to pride himself

on his ignorance and writes down whatever comes into

with his lack of cultivation

believing blindly in the infallibility of his

his head,

And

genius.

up

indeed a quite original talent often flashes

in him.'

If this

characterization,

it

is

cannot be called a sympathetic

a striking one, which moreover

Cui says of

agrees pretty well with the general judgment.

his music that

it is

eminently expressive and descriptive

but that the composer

is

always ready to sacrifice poetry

and musical charm to realism, and does not

recoil

even

fromrepulsiveness and shocking nudeness. Moussorgsky's

achievements in opera {Boris Godoimov, &c.) and song

are

much more
In

music.
recorded

An

titles

Ten

('

in this respect very

Intermezzo in mode

Turkish March,
pieces.

notable than those in pure instrumental

fact,

little

classico,

is

to be

a Scherzo, a

Night on a hare Bock, and pianoforte

Pictures from the Art Exhibition, with special

Children's Fun,'

'

On

'

Meditation,'

'

The Seamstress,'

the Southern Shore of the Crimea,'

wrote what I

'

am

Tear,' &c.).

'

Intermezzo,

In the Village,'

But the composer who

about to quote deserves a place here.

Pebiods.]

Moussorgsky

Borodin.

*To seek assiduously the most

features of

them

follow

own
.

human

To

feed

me

human crowd to
make them our

regions, to

the true vocation of the

artist.

upon humanity as a healthy

that has been neglected

of art,'

and subtle

delicate

nature, of the

uiJmown

seems to

this
.

into

419

in this

diet

lies

the whole problem

We may of course hold that

this is not so, but

the asseveration

is interesting

and

significant.

ALEXANDEE POEPHYKIEVICH BOEODIN

(1834-

1887) was professor of chemistry at the St. Petersburg

Academy

of Medicine. His meeting with Balakirev in

1862 proved a turning point in his life only after it did
he begin to give his leisure time to the more serious
;

study of harmony and composition.

Tchaikovsky did not

think that the study amounted to much.

has

talent,

'

Borodin, too,

even very great talent, which, however, in

consequence of insufficient knowledge, has come to

.

He

technique

is

extraneous

grief.

has not so much taste as Cui, and his

so

weak that he cannot

This,

help.'

write a bar without

however,

was

written

in

December, 1877, ten years before Borodin's death and

The last and grandest
of his achievements was the opera Prince Igor.
Of
the composition of his best works.

openly declared programme music we have of

one work

him only

the

Symphonic Sketch In the Steppes of

Central Asia, which was originally intended for a
representation of Tableaux vivants.
It is the most
popular of his instrumental pieces. But he wrote also
two symphonies (1862-1867, and 1871-1877) and two
The critic
quartets without programmes and titles.
Stassov,

who

looked upon Borodin as

'

a national poet

in the highest sense of the word,' writes of

Glinka, Borodin

is

an

epic poet

he

is

him

'
:

Like

not less national

420

[Fifth

Russia.

&

Sixth

than Glinka, but the Oriental element plays the same

him

part in

as

in

Glinka, Dargomijsky, Balakirev,

Moussorgsky, and Eimsky-Korsakov.

He

is

reckoned

Like
composers of programme music.
"
Glinka, he can say
My unfettered imagination needs

among

the

a text as a positive idea."

the second

is

Of Borodin's two symphonies,

the most perfect, and owes

only to the matured talent of

its

its

power not

author, but

still

more

to the national character with which its very subject

invests

it.

The

old heroic Eussian

as in Prince Igor.
often told

me

may add

form predominates

that Borodin himself has

that in the Adagio he intended to recall

kind of Troubadours, or

the old Slavonic hayans

(a

Minnesanger), in the

movement the assembling

first

of

the old Eussian princes, and in the Finale the banquets of

bamboo flute,
The programme of
In the monotonous

the heroes, to the tones of the guzla and

amid the enthusiasm of the people.'

the Symphonic Sketch is as follows.

'

steppe of Central Asia there are heard the hitherto

unknown tones of a peaceful Eussian song. From afar

comes the trampling of horses and camels, and the
an Oriental melody. A native caravan
approaches.
Protected by Eussian arms it proceeds
safe and fearless on its way through the immeasurable
desert.
Further and further it goes. The song of the
Eussians and the melody of the Asiatics combine in a
common harmony, the echo of which gradually dies
away in the air of the steppe.'
peculiar sound of

Although beginning his musical career as an amateur

and with a slight technical outfit, NIKOLAI ANDEE-

JEVICH EIMSKY-KOESAKOV

(6. 1844), soon after

exchanging the Navy for music, in 1873, devoted himself
to the study of the art with commendable seriousness

Periods.]

Borodin

and energy.

Rimsky-Korsakov.

Tchaikovsky,

correspondence, told

him

whom

with

421

was in

he

that this laborious training

was astounding, and heroic in one who already eight years

ago had written a Sadko (the symphonic poem, not the
later

opera).

comparison with

made him think himself

naif.

are

'

an

am

Bimsky-Korsakov

small, pitiable, self-contentedly

an artisan,' wrote Tchaikovsky, but you

That these were not empty compliments
'

artist.'

may be gathered from a letter written two years later to

Madame von Meek.
He is an exception (has become
'

among

so lately)

composers.

It is

the generally badly trained Eussian

true that he

is

self-taught like the

some time ago a change took place in him.

This man is by nature very earnest, very honest and
others, but

conscientious.

who came

KorsaSiov

is

the only one of the school

to realize, about five years ago, that the ideas

preached in his

circle

had no foundation whatever, that

the disparagement of schooling and of classical music,

the decrying of authorities and masterpieces were nothing

but ignorance.

...

letter

of that period

much.

'

am

still

in possession of

which touched and moved

Eimsky-Korsakov was

in

despair

me

when he

became aware that so many years had passed uselessly,

that he found himself on a way that led to nowhere. He
asked himself then what he was to do. Of course he had
to learn.

And he began

with such zeal that the school

him a necessity. In one

he
summer
wrote numberless counterpoints and sixty-

technique soon became to

four fugues, of which I received ten to look through.

The fugues were faultless, but I noticed even then that

the reaction was too violent. Eimsky-Korsakov had
suddenly leapt from the disparagement of school to the
cult of

musical technique.

2 E

Soon

after this appeared his

422

&

[Fifth

Russia.

symphony and

Both works are

also the quartet.

Sixth
full of

and bear, as you rightly remark, the

stamp of pedantry. Plainly he is in a critical state, and

artistic trickeries,

it is

he

dif&cult to

prophesy how this

will develop into

concern us.

he has

proved

untitled

whether

they

Either

Eimsky-Korsakov's operas

in contrapuntal ingenuities.'

do not
three

crisis will end.

a great master or will be submerged

As an instrumental composer

himself

unquestionably

and two

symphonies

mean much,

in

of

overtures,

and

nothing

or

little,

spite

composer of programme music by the two symphonic

poems Sadko and Antar, the Sheherazade, a

Fairy-tale,

a Servian Fantasia, a Spanish Capriccio, and suites

Sadko, an early work, is
extracted from operas.
a musical illustration of a popular Bussian legend, or
rather of a part of one.
scdre is

being in small type.

The
open

The programme prefixed

given in two paragraphs, the shorter

It

to the

first

one

runs as follows

is stopped on the
Chosen by lot, Sadko himself is thrown overboard as a
the King of the Seas.
The ship pursues its way.

ship of Sadko, a notable of Novgorod,

sea.

tribute to

Eemaining alone among the waves, Sadko, with his

by the King of the Seas to
his submarine kingdom.
He finds himself there in the
'

lyre (tympanon), is dragged

midst of a grand feast.

The King

of the Seas

was

marrying his daughter to the Ocean.

Having made
Sadko play the lyre, he began to dance, and all the
kingdom imitated him. The Ocean, too, began to stir
he broke and swallowed the ships.
Then Sadko
tore the strings from his lyre, the dance ceased, and the
.

sea became calm.'

The slow introduction and Coda (Moderate assai, 6-4)

depict the calm sea, the main part of the composition

Periods.]
{Allegro molto 3-4,

and

Allegretto 2-4) tbe

^vhich in the 2-4 tinle grows wilder

ferociously (feroce).

The opening

before the dance begins,

down

423

Rimsky-Korsakov.

concerned with the dragging

is

But one may ask oneself

denied to the composition.

the

composer

picturesqueness

too

of the Allegro molto,

Verve and picturesqueness cannot be

of Sadko.

whether

merry-making,

and wilder and ends

does

even

exclusively,

at

occupy the

not
the

of the

cost

musicalness ?

The

subject of Antar, the other symphonic poem,

is

the Arab chief and poet of the 6th, celebrated in a

romance

of the 8th century,

who

in his

warlike deeds and his love of Abla.

poem

sings of his

Of this

later

and

more developed work Cui gives the following account

programme and commentary.

the desert

'

First Part

Antar

he saves a gazelle from a bird of prey.

who rewards her

is

in

The

by granting
him three pleasures. (The whole of this part, which
begins and ends with a picture of the desolate and
boundless desert, is worthy of the composer's magic
gazelle is a fay,

Second

brush.)

Part

deliverer

The pleasure

of

power

(an

Oriental March, a masterpiece of the finest and most

brilliant interpretation).

vengeance

(a

Third Part: The pleasure of

rugged, savage, unbridled Allegro, with

crescendoB like the letting loose of furious winds).

Part

The pleasure

of love,

(a delicate, poetic, delicious

amid which Antar

Last
expires

Andante, where sometimes

one wishes greater animation in the passion).'

One

of the suites, Op. 57, bears the title

Pictures,

Suite for orchestra

to

the

Musical

legend of Czar

There are three pictures, and to each are

They run as follows (1) At
prefixed lines by Poushkin.
Czar Saltan took leave
war.
that time there arose a
Saltan.

424

[Fifth

Russia.

&

Sixth

and enjoined upon

take care of herself. (2) The

of his spouse, bestrode his horse,

her for his love's sake to

Czarina

at

sits

home lamenting, but the child grows

(3) The three wonders
in the sea. As to the Fairy-Tale

big and strong in its prison.

the

of

island

(Conte feerique),

it

has prefixed to

it

lines

from the

They do

prologue of Poushkin's Russian and Lioudmilla.

not give the subject, but form the introduction to the

an introduction characterizing as it
were Eussian love of fairy-tales and legendary tales of
all sorts.
We read there of the tree from which is
suspended a golden chain to which is attached a wise
telling of a tale,

cat

going to the

left

she

tells

hums

right she

a song, going to the

tale.

Alfred Bruneau, on hearing Antar, praised enthusiastically the searching, powerful,

the three great

work.

He

music.

'

human

and original painting

of

passions in the last parts of the

thought that there lay the superiority of the

These sentiments, passing severally through

diverse measures, tonalities,

and rhythms, over which

hovers insistently the ^Arase-mere of Antar, are the faithful

reflections of our tormented, vague,

Only sounds can render the

thoughts that

make us

act

Korsakov has expressed

all

and mysterious

infinite

and then

nobility

die.

souls.

of the

M. Eimsky-

these profound nuances of

the heart in an eloquent, solid, novel, and bold language.'

In short, Bruneau held that Eimsky-Korsakov was by

nature essentially descriptive, but that he did not stop
short at the exteriority of
interpreted, magnified,

interesting

preface

attaches

to

and

and instructive
his

fairy

men and

It is

to read in the composers'

ballet-opera

much importance

things, that he

vivified his subjects.

to the

Mlada

that

descriptive

he

side of

Peeiods.]

Eimsky-Korsakov

and

his music,

on the

Glazounov.

forbids thunder, wind,

stage, as the orchestra is

425

and other noises

charged with their

imitation.

ALEXANDEE GLAZOUNOV

(b.

1865), a pupil of

Eimsky-Korsakov, presents himself,

notwithstanding

some untitled symphonies, as a confirmed composer of

programme music. We have of him a symphonic poem,
StenKa Razin, Op. 15 two fantasias, The Forest, Op. 19,
and The Ocean, Op. 28 two symphonic tableaux. Through
Night to Light, Op. 5, and The Kreml, Op. 30 a Pocme
lyrique. Op. 12
In Memory of a Hero, Op. 8 Idylle et
;

Reverie Orientate, Op. 14

Spring, Op. 12

dem

Rhapsodie Orientate, Op. 29

Intermezzo romantico, Op. 69

Mediesval

As Stenka Eazin is not

an individual with whom Western Europe is familiar, it
Suite (Aus

may

Mittelalter) , &c.

not be superfluous to mention that he was a robber

executed at
ballads.

Moscow

in 1671, the hero of

that he was greatly struck by I'dprete,

la

The

fermete of the work.

ta

many

Eussian

Alfred Bruneau tells us in his Musique de Russie

Memoire d'wn Hiros

grandeur,

ta

preface to the Elegy

will interest the reader.

author has in view an ideal hero, whose

life

'

The

had never

been soiled by any act of cruelty, who had fought only

for the just cause, that of the oppressed people,

times of peace had

life

with acts of justice and

of this hero is bitterly

his

wept by the people, and a double glory attends him

terrestrial

and the

the

celestial glory.'

More than any one

discussed,

in

The death

filled

general beneficence.

and

of the Eussian composers already

PETEE ILITCH TCHAIKOVSKY

(1840-

1893) has engaged the interest and gained the sympathy

and admiration

of the musical world.

position finally assigned to

What

him no one can

will

be the

as yet

tell.

426

[Fifth

Eussia.

&

Sixth

His reputation has undergone various changes, and may

still undergo others.
At first it rose slowly, then took a
sudden upward leap, and after that declined quickly
Still, his appreciation even now is
and considerably.
high, and, I think, rightly so.

and a power

original

For, although not an

he is a distinct
and a craftsman masterly

of the first quality,

individuality, a genuine poet,

He

in counterpoint and virtuosie in colouring.

has

not in his symphonic works the sweep of thought of

and

Mozart,

Beethoven,

Haydn,

not

even

that

of

Mendelssohn and Schumann, but he has a wealth

of

soul-stirring, ravishing, bewitching,

and piquant beauties

and in miniature. Naturally this deficiency in

weight and development of thought is not felt so much

of detail

in the suite-like middle

the

in

lyrical

graceful

movements

waltzes,

of his

fantastic

symphonies

intermezzi,

as in the first and the last

&c.
where something more monumental is

outpourings,

movements,

Tchaikovsky loved colour dearly.

expected.

sweet

This love

grew upon him, grew upon him so much that in the

last

years of the master Cui could say of him, with some

had gained the upper hand

But what of the man, the substratum

justification, that the colourist

over the thinker.

of the musician ?

Tchaikovsky was extremely

sensitive,

very retiring, inclined to melancholy, and decidedly a

creature of moods.
.

's

naught in this

life

Without

sweet
said.

was impossible.
work came what happiness he had. It
of him that he was one of the kind to which
life.

it, life

his

could be said

belonged

There

but only melancholy,' he might have

His work was his

And from

Goethe's

Werther,

Chateaubriand's

Een6,
Byron's Manfred, Poushkin's Lensky, and Senancour's
Obermann ; but it would be necessary to add that his

Peeiods.]

Tchaikovsky.

individuality is unlike

any one of these.

is

427

The comparison
As

worthless without the perception of the difference.

a composer Tchaikovsky was an eclectic.

His likings
and dislikings of other masters' music account to some
extent for the character of his own, and point to some of its
qualities.
In early life, before his serious studies began,
Tchaikovsky delighted chiefly in Italian opera, and Italian
vocal art continued to have always a great

charm for
herself became

Nor should we overlook that Italy

Whilst having an open ear and warm
heart for Bussian folk-music, sometimes using it and
oftener fashioning his own melodies on it, his relation to
it differed from that of the young Eussian School, a
school which on account of its neglect of thorough
technical training and respect for the classics, he regarded
him.

very dear to him.

He

with antipathy.

loathed those who, as he

said,

thought that novelty and originality consisted in trampling

on

all

Bach

hitherto existing laws of musical beauty.

and Handel did not appeal to him. Beethoven, he looked

up to with respect and wonder rather than with affection.

him and Michael Angelo he saw the same breadth and

same daring that touches the limits of the
ugly, the same sombre moods.
The characteristic part
In

strength, the

remark

of the

is

'the touching of the limits of the

Tchaikovsky's chief love and idol was Mozart.

ugly.'

To him he owed his

in

love

while

Don

with

am

excitement

devotion to music.

writing, I could

...

of part- writing.

weep

at
for

this

'I

am

moment,

emotion and

In his chamber music, Mozart seduces

me by his purity and

from me.'

life's

Giovanni, and

grace of form, and wonderful beauty

Here

also

some passages can draw

tears

This Mozart-worship puts one in mind of

Tchaikovsky's

remark that

'

the absence of spiritual

428

[Fifth

Russia.

&

Sixth

relationship between two artist individualities does not

While La Damnation de

exclude mutual sympathies.'

Faust was one of the Eussian master's favourites, he

regretted in Berlioz's works generally unloveliness and

poverty of melody, unsatisfactoriness of harmony, and

disproportion between his strong luxuriant imagination

and his

between his magnificent

deficient art of invention,

intentions and his power of execution.

Although never a

Wagner, Tchaikovsky
came in later life to some extent under his influence,
slightly after the Ring des Nihelwngen, rather more after
follower or enthusiastic admirer of

With Grieg he found himself in full sympathy.

He
Brahms, on the contrary, was his pet aversion.
seemed to him a great musician, even a great master,
Parsifal.

but

nebulous,

cold,

with

coquetting

repellent,

pitiably

rather

profundity

pretentious,

than

profound,

without poetry, charm, and warmth of feeling, without

melodic invention, inspiration, and any creative power

The other contemporary German composers

whatever.

did not fare

much

better

they were dried up, had

nothing to say, imitated either Mendelssohn- Schumann

or Liszt-Wagner.
love

for

the

On

the other hand, he had a genuine

contemporary

especially for Bizet,

French

composers, more

and next to him for Delibes.

admired their striving after eclecticism, their feeling

He
for

proportion, their readiness to depart from the secular

routine while keeping within
beautiful.

the

boundaries

of

the

In short, he was charmed by the novelty and

modern French music, and by the absence

and the presence of anxiety for
musical beauty. Have we not in these judgments a
revelation of the composer's nature and an analysis of
freshness of

of pretence of profundity,

his eclecticism ?

Pbbiods.]

Tchaikovsky.

429

About a large portion of Tchaikovsky's works

say nothing

nothing

I shall

about his nine operas, nothing

about his concerted chamber music, songs, and concertos,

nothing even about his Trio, Op. 50, A la mSmoire d'un

grand artiste (Nicholas Eubinstein), his Elegy for stringed
instruments on the death of Samarin (an actor), his
string Sextet Souvenirs de Florence, Op. 70, his Italian

Capriccio for orchestra. Op. 45, his pianoforte pieces

Souvenir de Hapsal, Op.

2,

The Seasons, Op. 87

lis,

the

Children's Album, Op. 39, &c., although they undoubtedly

comment to the searcher after

The fact is we shall have enough to
do with the orchestral pieces of declared programme
music and the untitled symphonies and suites. What
will occupy us, however, are not comments of the present
offer

opportunities for

programmatic

writer's,

that in

lore.

but of Tchaikovsky's.

my opinion

And here I will say at once,

Tchaikovsky has better described the

process of composition in the

mind

of a tone-poet than

any other musician I know not excepting Schumann,

Berlioz, Liszt, and Wagner.
It need hardly be added
that writing about this process implies dealing with the

question of absolute and

programme music.

In 1864 Anton Eubinstein gave his pupils of the

composition class as a task for the
writing of an overture.

summer

holidays the

Tchaikovsky took for his subject

a favourite Eussian drama of his. The Thunderstorm

by Ostrowsky, and devised the following programme.
'Introduction, Adagio ^the childhood of Catherine and

her whole

life

before marriage;

AUegro (indication of

her longing after true love and happiness.

Sudden
appassionato her soul struggles.

thunderstorm)
Allegro

transition to the evening

on the bank

of the Volga

again

the struggle, only with the feature of a certain feverish

'

Bmsia.

430

The premonitions

happiness.

of

further development of that motive).

the climax of the desperate struggle

Laroche,

critic

Sixth

thunderstorm

the

(repetition of the motives after the

The

&

[Fifth

Adagio and the

Thunderstorm:

death.'

companion of Tchaikovsky

among

during his conservatorium days, relates that

the

compositions his friend most enthusiastically admired

were

Litolff's overtures Robespierre

and Les Girondins

and adds that since his acquaintance with these two

works and Meyerbeer's overture to Struensee, Tchaikovsky

had

all his life

a passion for programme music.

year after leaving the conservatorium, two years

Thunderstorm

the

after

overture,

that

Tchaikovsky,^ wrote _his.-firstBymph,ony,

entitled the

movements

whole Winter Dreams, and

respectively

Dream on a

in

is

1866,

Op- 18,and
tha,.first

two

winter road and

This symphony was

DesdiMe country, gloomy country.

The
Fatum, and the programme runs as

follolredtwoTearB later (1868) by a symphonic poem.

title

of this

follows

'

work

is

Do you know what

taking leave of

life,

old Melchizedek said when,

he was dying

As a

born, as a slave he sinks into the grave.

slave

man

is

Death, too, will

him why he wandered through this valley of

and wherefore he suffered, endured, and wept, and
now must disappear.' This motto rather than programme,
not

tell

tears,

taken from the writings of Batioushkov, was suggested

by an admirer of the composer to Nicholas Eubinstein,

who was to conduct the work, and wished for the sake of
the public something more than a title. But what motto
and music had

in

Laroche remarked,

'

common
The

did

not

seem

obvious.

piece resembles rather a battle,

a revolt, or an elemental natural phenomenon than the

gloomy monologue of a disappointed old

man

Periods.]

Tchaikovsky.

431

The Borneo <md JvMet ouverture-fantaisie (revised 1870)

was composed at the instigation of Balakirev, as a letter
1869, shows.* The founder of the New
Eussian School followed the writing with great interest,
and to him the composer sent both the first sketch and

of August,

the finished score, which were returned with severe

criticisms intermixed with hearty praise.

The work was

The

title-page said

published without a programme.

only

Romeo

et

Juliette,

From

Shakeipeare.

consequence

Ouvertv/re-Fcmtaisie

d'apres

Tchaikovsky we learn nothing of

concerning

the

nature

of

work.

this

Balakirev speaks of the drawing of Friar Lawrence and

Eomeo and Juliet, and the love-ardour, voluptuousness,

of

and longing

of the parts dealing with them.

Stassov

regrets that the composer left out Juliet's nurse.

Knorr

calls the representation of the

And Gui

drama

Ivan

graphic.

praises the beauty and superb passion of the

melodies, but blames their imperfect inter-connection.

symphony, composed in 1872,

followed in 1873 the fantasia The Tempest. At a party
at Eimsky-Korsakov's in December, 1872, Tchaikovsky
asked Stassov to give him a theme for a symphonic fantasia,
After

second

the

adding that be preferred something of Shakespeare's.

Hanrdly a

week

after this Stassov wrote in detail

the subject he proposed.

as follows

'

The

sea.

The programme

Ariel,

an airy

about

prefixed is

spirit,

obeying

the will of the magician Prospero, raises a tempest.

Wreck

of the ship bringing Ferdinand.

island.

First

Ferdinand.

The enchanted

and timid love-impulses of Miranda and

The amorous couple give
Caliban.

Ariel.

themselves up to the triumphant spell of the passion.

new

The dates
style.

of the letters are old style,

add twelve days and you

get

432

[Fifth

Russia.

&

Sixth

Prospero divests himself of his magic power, and leaves

The

the island.

To

sea.'

influences at work,

we

more

see

will

of the inspiring

look into the letters in

which Stassov expounds and discusses the subject.

The Tempest

'In

the elements are so poetic and grateful

all

the uninhabited island, the

at the beginning the sea,

imposing and severe figure of Prospero, and immediately

afterwards

and

grace

womanliness

Miranda

itself,

Eve .who has not yet seen a man (except

Prospero), and who is enraptured and surprised at sight
They
of the beautiful youth cast on land by the storm.
an

like

at once fall in love with each other

to be created the
first

and here, I

most wonderful poetic

half of the overture

think,

picture.

is

In the

Miranda passes but gradually

from her childlike innocence to her maidenly love; in

the second half of the overture both

she and Ferdinand

would

already be seized by the flames

Around these principal characters, there

of passion.

might be

grouped

(in

figures

the monster Caliban, the airy spirit Ariel with

the middle part of the overture) the other

The conclusion

a choir of elves.
represent

the

how Prospero

lovers,

fatherland.'

and

without

mind
and

to

to

was necessary ?

it

it,

the

'You

Certainly,

the overture would not be

the whole programme, too,

I had considered all moments, all

and contrasts therefore it would be
transform the whole story now. I had in my
;

that the sea should appear twice

at the end.

think of

return

crippled.

their consequences

a pity to

itself

Without

worth anything

must be

them

induces

few weeks later Stassov writes:

ask whether the storm

unquestionably

of the overture should

resigns his magic power, blesses

it

At the beginning,

at the beginning,

in the introduction, I

as calm, until Prospero speaks the magic

Periods.]

433

Tchaikovsky.

words and conjures up the storm.

break out mstantaneously in

But

this

storm must

and not, as
become gradually wider and louder. I propose
peculiar a form for the storm because in this case
all its violence,

usually,
so

by magic words, whereas in

symphonies, and oratorios hitherto written it

it

is

raised

all

operas,

arises

from

After the storm has abated, and

natural causes.

roaring, whistling, thundering,

and tumult have died

away, the magic island appears in

beauty, and the

still

more

its

beautiful,

all

its

still

wonderful

more

glorious

maid Miranda, who, like a sunbeam, walks with light step

on the island. Her conversation with Prospero and
immediately afterwards with the youth Ferdinand, who

and enraptures her, and with whom she at once

The motive of the falling in love (crescendo)
should be like an unfolding, like a growing; in
Shakespeare it is so described at the end of the first act,

surprises

falls in love.

and

I believe that

would be the very thing for your

talent.

After this I would propose the appearance of Caliban,

then further, Ariel, whose

the animal-like low slave;

programme
of the

is to

first

act)

be found in Shakespeare's song (end

"Come

unto

these

After Ariel, Miranda and Ferdinand

upon the

yellow

sands."

must again come

scene, but this time full of impetuous passion.

Then the imposing

figure of Prospero,

who

resigns his

magic power, and takes leave of his past at last, at the

end, again the sea, the calm, still sea, which bathes the
:

lonely island,

now abandoned, whilst

its

happy inhabitants

are carried in a ship to distant Italy.'

After

the

third

symphony,

composed

in "1875,

Tchaikovsky produced in 1876 the orchestral fantasia

Francesca da Rimini,
without a programme.

Op.

On

32,

which was published

July 27, 1876, he writes

434

[Fifth

Russia.

&

Sixth

To-day I read the

from Paris to his brother Modest
fifth canto of the Inferno, and was animated by the desire
'

compose a symphonic poem, Francesca da Rimini,'

Immediately after the completion of the work, he says

to

in a letter of October 14, 1876

with love, and

As

little

have not succeeded with

composer

have worked at

to the whirlwind,

with advantage be a

who

it

alludes to

the dread

more

thinks

the

motives

and the

treated

lovers,

city

whose appearance

by a touching
in

But

and his Dante Symphony.

and similarity in
treatment, by no means compel us to draw the

work by

this

by the

gruesomeness of the

Tchaikovsky was influenced

that

quite so well as I really wished.'

portal, the

of woe, the whirlwind,

might perhaps

it

like Dore's drawing.

in the surrounding horrors is accompanied

melody

it

therefore believe that I have succeeded in

the love part.

Knorr,

'

Liszt*

similarity in the selection of motives,

their

In

conclusion.

critic's

selection

fact,

both

the similarity of

and of treatment, especially the

first,

are almost

inevitable.

Another untitled symphony, the fourth (1877), comes

between the last discussed and the following titled
orchestral work,

Op. 49.

On

which

is

the Ouverture Solennelle 1812,'

'

Tchaikovsky had not a very high opinion of

October 10, 1880, he writes

very banging and noisy.

I wrote

'

The overture

it

without

will

much

it.

be

love,

on which account it is probably without much artistic

value.'
In another letter he says that it was written at
the request of Nicholas

Eubinstein

for

the

Moscow

Exhibition concerts.
Che

next

programmatic work of

Tan/red, described

en

quatre

tableaux

Tchaikovsky's

is

on the title-page as a Symphonie

d'arpres

le

poeme

dramatique

de

Pbwod.J

435

Tchaikovsky.

Byron (1885). The programme runs thus

wandered in the Alps. Tormented by the

I.

Manfred

fatal

anguish

'

by remorse and despair, his soul

of doubt, torn

victim of nameless suffering.

the

is

Neither the occult sciences,

which he fathomed the mysteries, and thanks to which

the dark powers of hell are subject to him, nor anything

of

to

world can

the

in

else

which

he

solely

whom

beautiful Astarte,

heart

nothing can raise

soul of Manfred,

he

give

aspires.

is

him the forgetfulness

The recollection of the

he loved and

gnaws his
the curse which weighs on the
lost,

incessantly a prey to tortures of

the utmost atrocious despair.

The Witch

II.

of the

Alps appears before Manfred under the rainbow of the

torrent.

Simple, free, and peaceful

III. Pastoral.

of the mountaineers.

Arimanes.

IV.

The subterranean

Manfred appears

in

palace of

middle

the

life

the

of

She
predicts to him the end of his terrestrial troubles. Death
_..
of Manfred.'
Bacchanals.

Evocation of the shade of Astarte.

""IVriting on June 13, 1885, to Taneiev, Tchaikovsky

says

After some hesitation I have decided to write

Manfred, for I

redeemed
not

feel that I shall

my word

know what

time I

am

will

have no rest until I have

given last winter to Balakirev.

be the outcome of

dissatisfied with myself.

it.

No,

do

In the meanit is

a thousand

times more agreeable to compose without a programme.

When

I write a

programme symphony

have continually

the feeling that I cheat the public and deceive them, that
I

do not pay with ready money, but with worthless paper

rags.'

Was

humour?
following

this

not the expression of a momentary

His action in

remark

incline

spite of tiiis feeling,

and the

one to

After a

think so.

performance of Manfred, on March 13, 1886, he writes

'

am

[Fifth

Russia.

436
satisfied

with

I believe it is

it.

&

Sixth

my best symphonic

piece.'

There remaia for enumeration only two more works

the fantasia-overture Hamlet, Op. 67, without a further

programme, composed in the same year in which

Tchaikovsky composed his fifth symphony (1888), and
the symphonic ballad Le

which

poem

Voyvode, Op. 78 (1891), to

Poushkin's

of

after

Mickiewicz

is

prefixed.

In the Suites there

is

much more

of course

than jeux de sons, as Tchaikovsky calls the

of the second suite.

pieces full of

life

to be found

number

first

Indeed, they consist of character

and poetry.

The

titles sufi&ce to

show

Giants, Scherzo hwlesque, Beve

d'enfamts,
Dance of the
Danse baroque, &c. As to the sixth symphony (1893),
which Tchaikovsky characterizes in a letter as the
sincerest of his works, we must take note that only
on the morning after the first performance the composer
began to consider what to call it, as te did not wish
it

it
'

to bear

at

last

He

merely a number.

Programme Symphony
accepted

his

'

and

'

rejected the titles

Tragic Symphony,' and

brother's

'Pathetic

suggestion

Symphony.'

But what was

really

Tchaikovsky's position with

regard to programme music?

Was he

programme music only where he

it,

a composer of

distinctly

and purely formalistic everywhere

else;

programmatic tendency extend farther

declared

or did his

And

if

the

was the case, of what nature were the programmes

and what was their function in the process of creation ?
Tchaikovsky has full and clear answers to these questions.

latter

am

sure the reader will not complain of the long

quotations in which they are given.

'

Periods.]

What

'

for

Tchaikovsky.

'a

programme music

really is

me and for you

[he

'

is

writing to

mere play with sounds

music

every kind

As

for

us two,

Madame von Meek]

a long way from being

programme music from
the narrower sense this word
is

of music is

But in
such symphonic music or such instrumental

our standpoint.
signifies

437

music generally as

illustrates a definite subject placed

before the public in a

this subject.

programme, and bears the

...

I find that the

title

of

inspiration of a

symphonic composer can be of two kinds

subjective
objective.
In the former case the personal feelings
:

and

of joy or sorrow are expressed in the music, similarly

as with the lyrical poet, who, so to speak, pours out

Here the programme

his soul in poems.

unnecessary, but impossible.

is

not only

It is otherwise

when the

musician in reading a poetic work or at the sight of a

beautiful

landscape

is

inflamed

by

musically characterize the subject that

In this case a programme

enthusiasm

fills

to

him with such

and
it is a pity that Beethoven has not provided a programme
for the sonatas of which you speak.
At any rate, from
ecstasy.

is indispensable,

my

standpoint, both kinds of music have a right to exist,

and

do not understand the people who

legitimacy of only one of them.

will

admit the

Of course not every

symphony, just as not every one

is suitable for an opera
nevertheless there can and
must be programme music
for would it not be
subject is suitable for a

unreasonable to demand of literature that

it

should

ignore the epic element and confine itself solely to the

lyrical ?

In reply to S.
first

movement

I.

Taneiev who had remarked that the

of the fourth

symphony made upon him

programme

the impression of a symphonic poem, of

2f

438

[Fifth

Bussia.

Tchaikovsky

music,
follows

'As

wrote

on March

&

Sixth
as

1878,

27,

to your

remark that

programme music,

that should be a fault.

that

is to say, I

am

should be sorry

my

if

sounds

like

Only I do not see

agree with you.

why

io flow from

my symphony

afraid of the contrary,

symphonic works were

pen which express nothing, but

consist

merely of chords and a play of rhythms and modulatiojifc-

Of course

my symphony

quite impossible to

programme music, only it is

formulate its programme in words
is

it would have a ludicrous effect and give rise to ridicule.

But should not this be the case with a symphony, the
most lyrical of all forms ? Should it not express all thSl"

cannot be expressed in words, hut which

confess to you that in

my

the thought of this

symphony was

meaning, at

simplicity I

least in outline,

without a programme.

make a boast

I did not in the least

had

Now do not

the soul to

believed that

clear that its

so

would be

of profound feelings

fills

Moreover, I must

overflowing and calls for expression ?

intelligible

even

believe that I wish to

and sublime thoughts.

endeavour to express new ideas.

At bottom my symphony is an imitation of Beethoven's

fifth symphony, that is to say, I imitated not its musical
fundamental idea.

What do you

content, but

its

has the

symphony a programme

fifth

think

Not only has

it

a programme, but there cannot even be the slightest

<Jifference of

to express.

and

if

symphony purports
Almost the same underlies my symphony;

opinion as to what the

you have not understood me,

am no

it

follows

that

had never any

<Joubt.
I will add that there is in this symphony, i.e., in
mine, not a single bar which I have not truly felt and
which is not an echo of my innermost soul-life. The
I

Beethoven, about which

Periods.]

Tchaikovsky.

middle of the
xception,

moyement may perhaps form an

first

as in

it

439

there are some forced and patched

passages, in short, there

is fabrication.

reading these lines you

-will

know

that in

For you are a

laugh.

sceptic and mocker.

In spite of your great love for
music you seem not to believe that one can compose
from an inner impulse. But wait ; your turn, too, will

come.

You,

too, will

some day, perhaps very soon, write

not at the desire of others, but from inward necessity.

Then only

will fall

on the luxuriant

seeds that will bear splendid fruits.

hoyever, your

soil

your talent

In the meantime,

awaits the seed.'

/Although Tchaikovsky says

to

Taneiev that

impossible to formulate in words the

fourth symphony, he had found
letter to his friend

soil of

it

programme

it

is

of his

possible to do so in a

Madame von Meek,

of February 17,

How much pleasure has your letter of to-day brought

I am unspeakably glad that the symphony [the
fourth, Op. 36, in F minor] has pleased you, that while
hearing it you felt the sanie feelings which filled me
while working at it, and that my music found its way to
'

me

You ask whether a definite programme

was in my mind during the composition of this
symphony. To sucB^qaestions my usual reply is "No."

your heart.

Indeed

How

it

is difficult to

give an answer to this question.

should one interpret

all

those indefinite feelings

which take possession of one while composing an instrumental work without a special name?
lyrical process.

in

It is the

It is

a purely

musical confession of the soul,

which much material has gathered and then flows out

in tones, as a lyrical poet gives utterance in verse.

difference

lies

only in

this,

that

music

The

possesses

440

[Fifth

Russia.

incomparably richer means and

is

more

germ

Usua,lly the

of the

on

then

it

fertile soil, i.e., if

If this

is inclination for

there

up from the
and at

earth,

last blossoms.

germ
work,

and shoots forth branches,

I

cannot otherwise illustrate

the creative process than by this comparison.

greatest difficulty lies in this, that the

under favourable conditions.

It

of

takes root with incredible vigour and rapidity,

springs
leaves,

moments

coming work

appears quite suddenly, quite unexpectedly.

falls

Sixth

subtle language

for the expression of the incalculably varied

a soul mood.

&

would be useless were

The

germ must appear

comes of itself.

All the rest

I to try to clothe in

words this

which comes over one when

new thought suddenly arises and growing begins to
assume definite forms. Then I forget everything, behave
like a madman, everything within me pulsates and
trembles, scarcely have I begun when a thousand details
ineffable feeling of pleasure

race through

process
tears

head.

In the midst of this magic

some shock from without

somnambulism for instance, when

often happens that

it

me

my

out of

my

suddenly someone rings the

enters the room, or

me

that

it is

bell,

when the

time to break

or

when the

servant

and reminds
Such disturbances are

clock strikes

off.

Sometimes they scare away the

inspiration for a long time, and I have to seek
it again
how often in vain
In this case one must have
absolutely horrible.

recourse to cool headwork and technical

skill.

Even with

the greatest masters there are to be found such moments,

where the organic connection

taken by an

wanting and

is

artificial joint, so

were glued together.

appear as

it

avoided.

If that

called inspiration,

mood

its

place

is

that parts of a whole

But that cannot be

an artist which
and which I just now endeavoured
of the soul of

is

to

Pebiods.]

441

Tchaikovsky.

were to continue long -without interruption, one

would not be able to survive a single day. The strings
would break and the instrument fly asunder in a
describe,

thousand pieces.

suf&ces

It

if

the principal thoughts

and the general outlines of the composition are not found

by means of " seeking," but appear of themselves under
the influence of that supernatural, inexplicable force that
is called inspiration.

'But I have strayed from

has a programme, that
the contents into words

my

Our symphony

path.

is to say, it is

possible to put

and I will communicate to you,

but only to you, the meaning of the whole work as well as
its several parts.
'

Of course

The introduction

is

the principal thought

This

is

Fate, that

can do that only in outline.

the kernel of the whole symphony,

momentous power which hinders

the desire for liappiness frbm attaining

takes care

that

well-being and

its

aim, which

contentment do not

gain the upper-hand, that the heavens do' not become

from clouds, a power which, like Damocles' sword,

always hangs overhead, which continually poisons the

free

soul.

This

power

is

inevitable

and unconquerable.

There remains nothing but to submit to

vain:

it

and lament

in

442

[Fifth

Russia.

The

& Sixth

and hopelessness becomes

more and more burning. Is it
turn from reality and rock oneself in

feeling of depression

stronger and stronger,

not better to

dreams

A
What a tender, what a sweet dream is this
hovers
resplendent human being promising happiness
joy

before

me and

beckons

me

i^^=^
^yw:^=nm
X
i

How

beautiful

=^^=s-

fep=

The obtrusive

now heard

is

first

motive of the Allegro

Gradually the whole soul

away.

far

becomes wrapped in a web of dreams.

that

all

is joyless, is

'

Happiness

'

No,

away

these

forgotten.

Happiness

are

All that is sombre^

only

Happiness

dreams.

Fate

scares

them

pg^g^gg1^F=F^^yF
&0.

Life then

is nothing but an eternal change of sombre

and flitting dreams of happiness. There is no
haven you are driven hither and thither by the waves
'

reality

until the sea swallows

you up.

This

is

approximately

programme of the first movement.

'The second movement shows sorrow

in a different

the

state.

us

It is that

when we

by work
the

at

home

alone, in the evening, exhausted

the book, taken up for reading, has slipped from

hand

sit

melancholy feeling that encompasses

a whole

swarm

of

memories

arise.

How

sad

Periods.]
that so

Tchaikovsky.

much

pleasant

is

443

already past and gone

to recall

We

early years.

And

yet

it

is

regret the past,

and have not the courage, not the inclination to begin a

new life We are rather weary of existence. We should

and look back, revive many a

memory. We think of joyous hours when the young
blood was still foaming and seething, and found
satisfaction in life.
We think also of sad moments, of
irretrievable losses.
Air this lies already so far, so far
behind us. It is sad, and yet so sweet to brood over
like to refresh ourselves

the past.
third movement no definite feeling is
Here are capricious arabesques, intangible
forms, which whisk through the imagination when one
has been drinking wine and is a little excited. The
mood is neither gay nor sad. One thinks of nothing
in particular lets the imagination take its own course,
and it delights in drawing the most wonderful lines.

'In

the

expressed.

Suddenly there emerges from memory the picture of

In the
a tipsy peasant and of a street song.

...

distance one hears military music passing by.

are the disconnected images

brain

when we

They have nothing

are falling asleep.

they are unintelligible, bizarre,

do with reality:

to

Such

which come and go in our

fragmentary.

'Fourth movement.
you, look around you.

When you find no joy within

Go among the people. See,

know how to enjoy themselves, they give themselves up fully and wholly to their joyous feelings.

they

The picture

of a popular festivity.

forgotten yourself, scarcely have

the

contemplation

of

the joy

Scarcely have you

you
of

indefatigable Fate again announces

lost yourself in

others,
its

when the

presence.

But

[Fifth

Russia.

444
the other mortals do not

you ;

&

Sixth

much concern themselves about

they do not even see you

they do not notice at

all

you are lonely and sad. 0, how

And you will maintain
; how happy they are
and sad ? After
sombre
is
that everything in this world
Enjoy the
all there is still joy, simple primitive joy.
they enjoy

that

themselves

joy of others, and

you can

still live.

you in regard to my symphony,

my dear friend. Of course, my words are not clear
and not sufficiently exhaustive. But therein lies the
peculiarity of instrumental music that it cannot be
'

This

is all I

can

tell

analyzed.'

This letter

is

a priceless document, an illuminating

contribution to aesthetics and psychology, and will be

studied long after the master's compositions have been

The process of forgetting may be quicker

than we expect, and more extensive than is just. For
forgotten.

although

Tchaikovsky's thoughts are not

sufficiently

great and powerful, or not sufficiently developed, for the

grand symphonic forms, and his morbid pessimism, with

its

concomitant monotonies of rhythm, &c.,

is

productive

of pathological rather than of sesthetical effects, he was

undoubtedly an exquisite composer of

and has

many

left

us

suites de pieces,

many

of the middle

chamber music, his

delightful and perfect things

as
movements of his symphonies and
suites, and pianoforte pieces prove

incontrovertibly.

In conclusion I should like to say this

If

we wish

to

tmderstand Bussian music, we shall do well to make

ourselves acquainted with Bussian literature and Bussian
pictorial art

with

the poems, novels, and dramas of

Poushkin, Lermontov, Gogol (the founders of the modern

truly national Bussian literature

who

so often inspired

Pbeiods.]

445

Tchaikovsky.

the Eussian composers), Tourgeniev, Tolstoy, Ostrovsky,

Dostoievsky, and Gorky

and with the paintings of Perov,

Bepin, and Yerestchagin.

of the Bassian people,
is

and

well-nigh inexplicahle

music,

its fierce

They
-will

psychobgy
what otherwise

constitute a

explain

the deep

melancholy of their

passionateness, its unbridled barbarities,

and much more.

character and the

All these
life

are to be found in the

of the people.

[Fifth

CHAPTER

&

Sixth

IV.

IN GERMANY.

The writing
inspiring task.

of the present chapter cannot be called an

Without Wagner's sovereign contempt

for the music of his time, and Tchaikovsky's belief in

Germany's complete exhaustion, one

may

yet be unable

grow enthusiastic over the theme. The productivity

during the period with which we are concerned has been

to

But how about the

enormous.
of

it

outcome

really valuable

In the latter part of the 19th century the

What remains if you remove

from the living German composers Wagner and Brahms ?
And then there were ever so many people who, while
question

was often asked

heartily admitting the greatness of one of the two, were

not so sure of the other

all for

Now,

other.

things

men

not to mention those who were

the one and would have none whatever of the

is

this exclusive

not only unfair,

of genius leave

room

way

it is

of looking at

men and

absolutely foolish.

for the

men

of talent

The

and the

masters en grand for the masters en miniature.

in

To be
some time past Germany has not been abounding
musical genius of the first or even second order. But

if

there has been a dearth of powerful original creative-

sure for

ness and of strikingly outstanding individuality, there

has been also a goodly provision of artistic ability well

deserving our respect and gratitude, ability displaying
itself

not merely in technical

skill,

but often also in

ima^nativeness, sensibility, and poetic charm.

The
great bulk of crudities, futilities, and vacuities need not
trouble us they are not peculiar to any one period.
:

Pbbiods.]

Brahms.

One could

447

composers into

classify

such as write

(1)

only absolute music, and are uninfluenced by and even

averse to the programmatic tendency ;

programme music, but only

forms

standpoint
of Liszt.

and

(4)

such as follow unhesitatingly the lead

This classification, although useful, gives rise

In the

to difficulties.

draw boundary
perhaps

even

lines

place

first

it

not possible to

is

But

between the different species.

greater

difficulty

assumption of the existence of the

there

manner and

such as go only to a limited extent beyond this

(3)

such as write

(2)

in the classical

arises

first

from

the

of the four.

such a thing as absolute music ?

Is

Are there

composers uninfluenced by programme music and averse

to

it

in practice ?

My

opinion

is

that there

music, and that there are no such composers.

I

am

is

no such

Of course,

thinking of good music, music we care to hear,

music which we really enjoy,

i.e.,

music that

affects the

mind and heart, and does not consist merely of unmeaning

combinations of sounds.

JOHANNES BEAHMS

(1833-1897)

is

generally put

music^

forward as the model of a composer of absolute

in fact,

as the

most perfect representative of the

programme music. Well,

claim him as a composer of programme music. Of

antipodes of the composers of

I

course so extraordinary a statement, which to

cannot

fail to

many

be shocking and seem absurd, ought not

only to be proved by reasoning, but also to be supported

by

facts.

I believe that in listening to

Brahms's music

a mind unprejudiced as well as sensitive and receptive

must have frequently and forcibly impressed upon it the
fact that there is in these

wonderful tone-combinations

something that connects them with

life

that

is,

with

the composer's experiences, thoughts, and feelings, with

[Fifth

Germmy.

448
his relations to

man and

&

Sixth

This impression

nature.

is

confirmed and greatly strengthened by a reading of

Max Kalbeck's biography of the master. In fact, the

Brahms as a more

author of that work represents

dyed

composer of programme

venture to
is

make him

music than

deep-

should

Strange to say, Kalbeck

out to be.

an uncompromising opponent of programme music.

The seeming contradiction, however, is easily understood

if we notice that it arises from a misunderstanding of
He assumes that
the nature of programme music.
there is, on the one hand, Gedcmken- und Begriffsmuaik
[music that has to do with intellectual concepts]

as in

symphonic poems, and, on the other hand, Gefuhlsmmik

[music that has to do with feelings], independeiit of
thinking, as in absolute music, music proper.

remarks of Liszt's music that in

it

there

is

And he

an amalgaNow, in

mation with a detailed poetical description.

the

first place, feeling

although a good deal of

conscious.

not independent of thought,

is

it

is

connected with the sub-

In the second place, programme music,

absolute music, is mainly concerned with feelings.

like

And

in the third place, neither Liszt's programmes nor

programmes generally (With the exception of some bad
examples) are descriptions of what is expressed in the

music, but expositions of the subjects illustrated by

the music.

Moreover, as far as declaration goes, the

programmes

consist very often of nothing

more than a
title
^take as instances Liszt's Faust Symphony and
symphonic poems Festklange, Hvmgaria, and Hamlet.

In

studying

Brahms's

position

with

regard

to

programme music, we should not overlook his love of

nattu-e

and

literatiure,

and his constant and intimate

liommunieation with them.

On

this point all witnesses

Brahms.

Periods.]
are clear

and unanimous.

449

Kalbeck rightly lays stress

on the influence exercised on Brahms's conceptions by

the surrounding scenery, saying that his music was not
indoor but outdoor music {Freilicht und FreHuftnmsik)

Of the process of composition, however, we know in

Brahms's case less than in that of almost any other great

He

composer.
sleeve.

his

Indeed, he was extremely reticent on the subject

of his travails

theless

upon

certainly did not wear his heart

and the parentage

we know a

great deal

of his children.

more than

Never-

generally

is

supposed.

As a

rule

Brahms

is

content

with

calling

his

compositions symphonies, sonatas, trios, &c., or scherzi,-

We

capricci, intermezzi, rhapsodies, &c.

works with only two suspicious

and BaUad.

However

it

may

titles

meet in hi^

Tragic Overture,

be in the former case, in

the latter case the suspicion is well founded.

In

fact,

we take him en flagrant delit, namely that of writing

programme music, and even shamelessly owning it.
' After the
Above the first Ballad of Op. 10 we read
:

Scotch Ballad Edward,'

Stimmen der Volker.

and a reference to Herder's

Kalbeck

other two ballads of the

of opinion that the

same opvs have undeclared

programmes. Hermann Deiters,

classical leaning,

is

a writer with a decidedly

says of this Op. 10

'
:

Brahms

even in this early work to build a bridge as

it

tries

were

between instrumental and vocal art, or rather to declare

that music without words perfectly suffices him for the

what impels him to composition, that to

him it expresses the same.' Brahms's ballads, the later
ones as well as those of Op. 10, give one the impression
not of mere ballads in name, but of real ballads. The
expression of

case mentioned, however, is not the only one

where our

master

In his

profligate.

himself

confesses

Minnelied,' and under

it

programmatic

the theme of the variations

(second movement) the words

third sonata, Op. 5, in

'

an old-German

after

In his

the words of the song.

Sixth

pianoforte sonata, Op. 1, in

first

Brahms puts above

major,

print

in

&

[Fifth

Germany.

450

minor, the composer heads the

second movement, an Andante, with three lines from

poem by Sternau, and the fourth movement, an Intermezzo between the Scherzo and Finale, with the word
a

'

Eiickblick

'

(Eetrospect).

Now

programmes.

Brahms

us look for the undeclared ones.

movement

of the first sonata he had

mind the song 'Mein Herz ist im Hochland'

The composer told the
the Highlands

My heart 's in

same

H. Dietrich that in the

told his friend Albert

6/8 part of the last

in his
('

let

These are the openly declared

')

friend that the second

movement. Andante con

of the second sonata, Op. 2, in

espressione,

sharp

minor, was inspired by the minnesinger Kraft

Toggenburg's ' Winter Song

'
!

sonata an innocent love romance, and in

movement a

von

Kalbeck sees in the third

its

second

love duet bathed in moonlight, the actors of

the romance being the composer and a soubrette of the

Hamburg

Opera.

opening of the

first

may have had

in

He

also suggests that in writing the

movement of the first sonata, Brahms

his mind the words Auf Hinaus in
'

das Leben' ('Up! and plunge into life'), which fit the
music rhythmically and emotionally as well as do those
already mentioned in connection with the last movement.
It is

not surprising that E. T. A. Hoffmann's musical

characters

and thoughts

Schumann

so powerfully (to witness

Nachtstilcke,

on

Phantasiestiicke,

music,

and

which

affected

his Kreisleriana,

literary

writings),

made an impression on our young musician with

Periods.]

Brahma.

451

romantic ideas and unconventional ways and manners.

Princess BramUUa, a Capriccio after Jacques Callot,
inspired

himself

him with a

string quartet.

an

such

to

extent

Indeed, he identified

with

the

fantastically

enthusiastic Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler that he

had the intention of calling a number of pianoforte

compositions Leaves from the Diary of a Musician, edited
by Yornig Kreisler.

It

was Joachim's dissuasion that

prevented the execution of the plan. Brahms's biographer

does not hesitate to describe the

Young

minor

Trio, Op. 8, as

which are

Kreisler's diary of travel, in

his experiences of

reflected

a summer on the Ehine in 1863.

Kalbeck sees in the

fact,

ten

first

occasional compositions in the sense in

called his lyrics occasional

which Goethe

poems, and thinks that in

the directness of expression of his feelings the

did not trouble himself

In

works

published

composer

about symmetry and euphony.

But are the traces of programmes confined to these

early

By no means

works ?

Before continuing the

enumeration of facts bearing on this point, we should note

Brahms's relation to the Schumanns

admiration for the

man

his

affection

and

and musician Eobert Schumann,

and his respectful worship of Clara Schumann.

what nature the latter was and to what pitch

may be gathered from the following words

from Brahms in an imguarded moment
expansiveness

more than

'

I believe I

I love her

it

Of
rose,

that escaped
of

intimate

do not esteem and revere her

....

mean, I

shall be

no

longer able to love a girl, at least I have entirely forgotten

them

they

only promise us the heaven which Clara

opens to us.'

that the

Of the Concerto in

minor, which has

monument to Schumann, Joachim relates

sombre commencement of the first movement

been called a

::
,

Germany.

452

was suggested by Schumann's

[Fifth

&

Sixth

on the

suicidal attempt

outbreak of his insanity, when he threw himself into the

The Adagio bore

Ehine.

originally the superscriptioQ

Benedietus qui venit in nomine Domini.

variations of Op. 9

(probably No.

When

'Clara speaks.'

15),

Of one of the

Brahms

showing in 1868 his

said,

C minor

string quartet. Op. 60, to Deiters, the composer remarked

'Now imagine
and

to

whom

sending the

man who

is

about to shoot himself,

And

there remains no other choice.'

MS.

the Vienna Professor of Surgery, he wrote

'

com-

as

municate the quartet to you only as a curiosity

were an

in

of the quartet to his friend Billroth,

illustration to the last chapter of the

blue dress-coat and yellow waistcoat.

'

to Goethe's description of the dead

end of his romance.

'

programmatic programmatist,

it

in

This is an allusion
Werther near the

Only music,' says

*

man

our

anti-

could free the youth

matured by sorrows from the burden of his experiences

Werther-Manfred [Brahms] conjured up Astarte [Clara]
and sketched the Allegro of the C minor symphony.'
Clara undoubtedly played an important part in the early
life

and works of Brahms.

Influences of another kind are the romantic old castle

and park
hills.

of Detmold,

Ealbeck

witnesses.

Serenade in

cites

and the neighbouring woods and

the Serenades Op. 11 and 16 as

Of the Adagio

of the

summer-night seems

to

first

of them, the

The most beautiful

when
descend
the low string

major, he says

'

instruments and bassoons begin their dark, waving, but

hesitating and faltering song.

One seems

to hear the

earth quietly breathing in her sleep, and the softly

blowing wind so cautiously gliding over her as

to

awake the

clouds.'

if

afraid

In the Scherzo of the same work.

Peeiods.]

Brahms.

453

the gnomes and elves of the wood play their mad pranks
and dip their exuberant sportiveness in a melancholy
'

minor, in order to mock a couple of sentimental sons of

the Muses' [Brahms and his companion, the violinist

Bargheer}.

The same

writer thinks he perceives in the

pianoforte quartet, Op. 26, memories of the Diisseldorf

Music Festival

of

1855

in the Adagio

moonlight ; quiet

wave-motion of the broad, sparkling Ehine

dimming of the glitter by a fragrant breeze

occasional

nightingales.

Now it may be said that what is true of young Brahma

may not be true of the mature Brahms. And, no doubt,
became a severer critic of himself,
and more exacting as to the formal and technical
qualities of his work.
But I cannot imagine that the
master builder and the tone-smith in him ever
altogether ousted the master thinker and tone-poet,
as he grew older, he

although

the

activity of the

latter

may have

been

somewhat circumscribed by the former. The absence of

programmatic information in regard to the later works
does not prove a change in the composer's attitude

towards the nature of the musical content.

perfectly accoimted for

as far as the inner

by

His silence is

his growing reticence, which,

man was

concerned, completely

isolated him, even from his most attached friends.

cannot but think that in the tonal combinations of a

composer of Brahms's colossal inwardness {Innerlichkeit)

to use an expression of Adolf Jensen's there must be

Of course, in speaking of programmes

Brahms, I am not thinking of
with
in connection
Liszt,
and Strauss programmes, but of
Berlioz,

some meaning.

programmes such as Tchaikovsky describes in writing

about his fourth symphony, and as Beethoven is partly
known and partly believed to have had in his mind.

2a

454

Germany.

[Fifth

&

Sixth

The variety among programmes is indeed very great

they differ in kind and degree, and are different not only
in the works of different composers, but also in different

works of the same composer.

see nothing

an

were right who

Brahms's music hut a mere formal play,

in.

aesthetic exercise,

think of so

If those

much

for instance,

that

we should be
is

what

at a loss

not to go farther, in the later pianoforte

pieces, the Ehapsodies, Fantasias, Ballads, &c.

so sincere

to

speaking in the master's works

and earnest an artist as

descend to the unintelligent

Surely,

Brahms would

mouthing

of

not

expressive

phrases, to the haphazard parroting of the language of

passion, so justly pilloried
so

by Wagner, and unfortunately

common among the composers without, the grace of

And again, must we not be puzzled by the totally

God.

different characters of the four

symphonies to mention

only one of the different classes of instrumental music

in the larger forms

and by the evident logical evolution

to be found in them, unless

we assume that

at the

bottom of the sounds there are states of the mind,

and

trains

by

conditioned

and

remembered,

feelings,

imagined,

necessarily
or

actual

That the mature Brahms himself believed

experiences ?

in

thoughts

of

beyond

of

aesthetical

gathered from a remark he

combinations

made

to

may

be

Eichard Heuberger.

In the course of a severe criticism of some of the young

composer's attempts, he repeatedly and emphatically
pointed out that these were purely technical matters,

with which the poetry of musical creation had nothing

whatever to do.
Deiters says

'

Of the Sextet in

It is

the tone-poet

major, Op. 36,

who here speaks.

He

shows us a meditative mind animated by pictures of the

imagination, endeavouring to rise by an effort from its

Periods.]

Brahms.

455

inwardness with a vigorous resolve to venture out into

the fulness of

life,

where, however,

with the discussions of

new

uncertainty and

Of course we are familiar

disquiet will not be wanting.'

critics who, talk glibly of

the

poetry and the emotional expression of compositions, and

yet shrink with horror from the idea of these things

having any actuality.

in their minds.

Evidently there

is

some confusion

Their words and their doctrines are

certainly contradictory.

Closely connected with the subject of expressiveness

that of popularity.

and the how

The

latter

is

depends upon the what

Compared with the width

appreciation of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,
Schumann, Chopin, and others, that of Brahms is

of

of the former.

the

extremely

limited.

It

Germany, and even there

To explain this

countries, is high only in

is restricted

confined to the Teutonic

is

to certain temperaments.

simply by saying that the few are the select that alone

can understand an

superior nature

exceptionally

begging the question.

is

History teaches us that the

few are not always the wise, learned, and refined

on the

teaches us that they are often the crazy,

contrary,

it

ignorant,

and vapid.

And, then, the above mentioned

more popular composers appeal to the really select few as

much as and even more than to the motley many. The
fact is, while the following of

select few implies the

presence of one or more good qualities in the admired

object, the

unresponsiveness of the

absence of qualities perhaps

We may

precious.

problem

get

not

many

less

nearer the solution of the

do not say we shall reach

it

that both the French and the Eussians

of

Brahms, and can

implies the

or even more

find out

why

if

we remember

will

have none

they will not.

Now

what

&

Sixth

most highly ?

The

Germany.

466

[Fifth

qualities do these nations prize

answer

will in all probability

name such

qualities as are

not characteristic of the rejected master.

The French

love

pointedness^

brightness,

clearness,

and symmetry

elegance,

the

liveliness,

Eussians love

strong

colours, strong contrasts, strong passionateness, in short,

strength that

makes

light of regularity

and refinement

and does not shrink from downright barbarism

and even brutality. Thus we obtain something like
of form,

definition

Brahms

by means of elimination. In discussions on

is
always heard a great deal about

there

some

seem to think is
measurable by the difficulty of comprehension and the
minus quantity of ingratiating power. Now, of two men,
one may be clear, striking, and engaging, and the other
the reverse, and yet the former may be as profound, nay,
may even be more profound. Compare Beethoven and
Brahms. Which of the two is the more profound?
Compare the Beethoven of the last quartets and sonatas
and the mature Beethoven of the less recondite works.
Are you sure the former is more profound than the
latter ?
The difference between Brahms and the more
profundity,

which

people

widely popular great masters seems to

Brahms

me

to be this

more reflective, more brooding, more anxiously

weighing, more laboured; has less spontaneity, less
is

copiousness, less elemental striking power, less natural

grace and lucidity.

These hints offered as a contribution

towards a characterization of Brahms, help us to form
a notion of the expressiveness of his music, and to
distinguish
others.

it

from the expressiveness of the music

It is to

characterization

of

be hoped that no one will see in this

an attempt at depreciation. The fore-

going has been written with a "full belief in the greatness

Brahms

Pbbiods.]

Bruckner.

457

of Brahms, by a true admirer of the master

an admirer

of his nobility, earnestness, and sincerity, of his intense

thoughtfulness and quiet heartiness, of his love of perfect

craftsmanship, and of his pursuit of ideals regardless of

And if you ask:

Ought we not to be thankful that Brahms was what he
was ? then my answer will be a sonorous
Yea, and a
thousand times yea
For, being what he was, he
produced works endowed with precious qualities nowhere
else to be found and otherwise impossible.
The musician on whom we have allowed our attention
to dwell so long calls up a contemporary who, since the

public opinion and pecuniary profit.

'

'

'

'

eighties of the last century, has, as a symphonist, been

pitted

against

himI mean ANTON BEUCKNEE

Brahms

composed four symphonies,

Bruckner eight and three movements of a ninth. Both
began writing symphonies when already well on in life
(1824-1896).

the former came forward with his

first

symphony

age of forty -three (1876), the latter at the age

at the

of forty-

But Brahms had already published

two (1866).

sixty-

seven works, including important chamber and choral

compositions, and

was famous

whereas Bruckner had

as yet written nothing of consequence, and was unknown.

It was not till the performance of his seventh symphony
at Leipzig, in 1884, that the world deigned to take notice
And even then, although the world did
of Bruckner.

take notice of him,

it

Indeed, hia works are

was not conquered by him.

still

very

little

out

played

of

Germany hardly at all and the opinions concerning

them are as contradictory, and as nebulous and
inconclusive as

it is

possible for opinions to be.

Owing to

the rare opportunities of hearing Bruckner's symphonies

performed,

and the rare opportunities not

having

my

come

&

[Fifth

Germany.

458

Sixth

way, I do not wish to speak about these

compositions otherwise than with hesitation and reserva-

Wagner

tion.
'

It is all

what

symphonic compositions

said of Liszt's

very well to read such things, but the real

is decisive,

what

solves all doubts,

we can

This

enjoy only through actual hearing.'

salt,

after all

even more

is

symphonic work. And

now we come to our usual question Is Bruckner a
composer of programme music ? There are only three
true of Bruckner's than of Liszt's

The fourth

or four facts that point in that direction.

symphony
is

is^

no other

And, although there

and no programme whatever in the

entitled_l^iuiaa]itic.'

title,

printed scores of the symphonies, an autograph of the

later

version

of

the

symphony

fourth

is

known

in

vhich the Trio of the Scherzo bears the superscription

iTanzweise wdhrend der Mahlzeit zur Jagd (Dance tune

during the repast at the hunt)

\Pinale

with

exists

the

added

and a copy

designation

of the

Volksfest

On what authority the parenthetical

Jagd (Hunt) appears above the Scherzo in the
pianoforte arrangement I do not know ; but its appropriateness cannot be doubted. Bruckner always referred
(Bpjmilar festivity) .

title

toJ;he second

the seventh

movement
Symphony

Trauermusik

as the

hochseligen Meister (Funeral

He

C sharp minor)

{Adagio, in

music

um

of

den

for our late blessed

he composed

it on
and when it was
pointed out to him that the movement was finished four
months before that event, he mended his statement by
saying it was a presentiment of the death that gave the
It is worth noting that he preferred the
impulse.

Master).

used to say that

Yeceiving the news of Wagner's death

him

to

an example

of

designation Tondichter (tone-poet) as applied to

that of Tonsetzer (composer).

To

give

Periods.]

Bruckner.

the

of

contradictorinees

459

opinions,

alluded

to

One

writer characterizes Bruckner's symphonies as showy,

having outwardness rather than inwardness, and lacking

inner logic

while another writer describes

them as

attempts to monumentalize improvisations, as confessions

that reveal the inmost heart of the composer, as subjective,

intimate tone-speech that often assumes the form of

monologues.
of the

An

important element in the development

composer and the constitution of his music

undoubtedly the powerful influence of Wagner.

But

is

to

some critics have said, that Bruckner introduced

Wagner's dramatic style into the symphony is a
say, as

misapprehension of the

facts.
Bruckner took from the
Bayreuth master only externalities his use of instruments as regards number and grouping, his peculiar

polyphony, his harmonic innovations, and certain

thereby producible.

He

effects

did not adopt the spirit that

and legitimized these means, and did not

engineer them with a consistent conscious aim in view.
Now let it not be thought that in Bruckner's music there
created

is

nothing but a stupendously clever technical display ;

more in it, in fact, it is full of

impressions and visions of immense grandeur and superlative brilliancy, and others of childlike joyousness and
devoutness.
But notwithstanding the overwhelming
grandiosity of his music, Bruckner was not an intellectual
and emotional force, least of all an intellectual force.
no, there is a great deal

It is this deficient intellectuality, the outcome of which

was vagueness and inconsequence of thought and feeling,
and lack of measure and concentration, in short, lack of
self-command, that distinguish him from Wagner, and
distinguish him also and in a still higher degree from

his other great contemporary,

Brahms.

It is difficult to

Germany.

460

what the author

guess
'

of the

[Fifth

it

Sixth

above-quoted phrase,

monumentalization of improvisations

but, taken in one sense,

&

'

may have meant,

gives a meaning consonant

namely, in

with the opinion just expressed

the sense

of fixing and perhaps elaborating the uncontrolled and

semi-conscious daydreams and the wholly subconscious

sensations that with musical people are apt to vent

themselves in free outpourings on the pianoforte or

organ.

If the supposition is correct,

Bruckner has to be

ranked with the composers of absolute rather than of

programme music.

knowledge of the dominant facts

of Bruckner's life will help us to recognize the elements

of his constitution

as a composer.

specially to note is this

(1824)

(1)

What we have

his birth in

his destitute childhood

Upper Austria

his callings as choir-

boy, poverty-stricken village schoolmaster, organist of

the monastery St. Florian (where there was a magnificent

organ) and, after a triumphant competition, of the Linz

cathedral (1855)
for lessons

had been

his subsequent short visits to

Vienna

from the contrapuntist Sechter (hitherto he

practically self-taught)

and two years' study

of

composition and instrumentation with Otto Kitzler of

the Linz theatre (1861-1863)

music of Wagner

his

his introduction to the

appointment as Court Chapel

organist and professor of counterpoint, composition, and

the organ at the Vienna conservatorium (1867)

(2)

and

the other more vital facts, his undying attachment

to his beautiful native country

countrymen;

his

profound

and congenial

impressions

fellow-

from these

sources and from the ecclesiastical solemnities of the

Catholic religion,

more

he wished to be buried)

especially at St. Florian (where

;

his love for the organ

grand, varied, and overwhelming effects

and

ijs

his remaining

Peeiods.]

Bruckner

Rietz.

461

and in appearance a peasant and schoolmaster

to the end of his days his indifference to other arts and
at heart

and his abject self-abasement before people

of position, including critics and conductors. Eusticism
and ecclesiasticism were the main elements in the
literature;

character of the man, the latter of the two furnishing

the higher ideal.

It was chiefly for the expression of

and strongly devout Eoman Catholicism that
the artist used his phenomenal musical endowments and
acquirements, his harmonic, contrapuntal, and orchestral
virtuosity.
Consequently there was a great deal of

his deeply

truth in speaking of 'the scholastic vesture, sounding

mysticism, and musicized cathedrals

ticism of Bruckner's symphonies.

'

in the rich roman-

In short,

we may

assume that, in so far as Bruckner's works had unrevealed

programmes, these were as a rule subconscious or
sporadic and inconsequent.
In the brief survey now to be made of the German
composers of instrumental music who, besides those
already discussed, played prominent parts during the

period in question,

we

shall deal first with those

either proceeded entirely on the lines

who

of Beethoven,

Mendelssohn, and Schumann, or adhered to them in the

main while coming to some extent under the influence

of Berlioz, Liszt, and Wagner, the extent being in some
cases no more than a bolder choice of subject. The
latter class

gradually increases in number and

also be

field,

and only

distinctness.

It will

appears of course later in the

seen that the cultivation of the programme

less general than that of the

symphony is less early and

programme overture.

JULIUS EIETZ

(1812-1877), a conductor of high

repute Mendelssohn's

colleague

and

successor

at

Germany.

462

and Gewandhaus, and

theatre

opera

was

an

also

esteemed

&

Sixth

the

Leipzig

finally at the

Dresden

conductor

subsequently

Diisseldorf,

[Fifth
at

composer.

His com-

workmanship and classical in

style, comprise overtures entitled Hero and Leander
(Schiller),
The Tempest (Shakespeare), and Comedy
Overture.
A more interesting, if not more worthy,
personality is that of FEKDINAND HILLEE..(l811-_
1886), a fine pianist, "a good conductor and teacher, a
clever, inany-sided, and indefatigable composer, and a
writer on music both elegant and witty.
In Paris, from
positions,

excellent

in

1828 to 1835, he enjoyed the friendship of Berlioz,

Chopin, and Liszt, of Cherubini, Meyerbeer, Eossini, and

and familiarized himself with the romanticism

Bellini,

of the time

But he was

and country.

Mendelssohn and

later

also a friend of

on of Schumann.

After occupy-

ing posts as conductor at Dresden and Diisseldorf, he

became
the

concerts

before very long

at Cologne

of

(1850-1884), and

was the recognized musical head of the

for Berlioz and Liszt did

His friendship

Ehineland.
not

and conductor

director of the Conservatorium

Giirzenich

make him

love their music.

Among

the opponents

and Wagner not one was so uncompromising

and dangerous as Hiller. It will suffice to record three
of his works
the symphony with the motto Es muss
of Liszt

dock

An

Friihling

werden

Operetta without

(Spring "inust

Words

come

at'Tast);

for pianoforte (four hands),

and the Rondo of a pianoforte concerto, composed at

Paris, in which he endeavoured to portray the charming
actress

Leontine

Fay,

him, succeeded in doing

VOLKMANN

and,
so.

as Mendelssohn told
Of the serious EOBEET

(1815-1883), whose

admirable

chamber

music, symphonies, &c., deserve to be oftener heard than

Periods.] Hiller

Volkmann ReineckeJoachim.

463

they are nowadays, we must note at least his overture

Richard III. (Shakespeare), and the pianoforte pieces

Visegrdd

(twelve

musical poems

The Oath, Sword

Dance, The Banquet, Love-song, Wreath of Flowers,

The Fortune Teller, a Pastoral, The Lay

of the Hero, The Page, Soliman, and At the Tower of
Soliman), the Musical Picture Book (four hands), and
the Hungarian Sketches (four hands).
TqCABIlBEINECKE (b 1824) Schumann proved a
magnet. This we may see in the latter's correspondence.
Bridal Song,

Indeed, beyond this standpoint Eeinecke never passed.

As conductor
1895) he

of the Leipzig

made

Gewandhaus concerts

(1860-

that institution a stronghold of classicism

which Liszt and Wagner and their followers could

not penetrate, and to which even Brahms was admitted
into

only late and reluctantly.

Among

Eeinecke' s refined

compositions the following ones cannot but interest us

the overtures

Dame

(drama by

L. Klein), and overture and

J.

Kobold (Calderon)

Aladin, Zenobia
entr'actes to

the opera Manfred, the second symphony, Hakon Jarl

(Oehlenschlager), the Dramaiische i'antasiestucJce^'TlaSe-

Pictures^oTOrchestra, and twenty-five pianoforte pieces

From our four Walls. More

connected with Schumann were ALBEET H.

and songs
closely

for the

DIETEICH
who

(&.

yoimg.

1829) and

JOSEPH JOACHIM

together with their friend

Brahms

(6.

1831),

were in affec-

tionate personal relation with the admired master,

and

ever since have remained true to his memory. Classical

to the backbone and to the heart's core, they abhorred the
tendencies of Liszt. Though bound to Liszt by friendship,

contracted during a four-years' stay at

(1849-1853), Joachim wrote to

with what pain

may

Weimar

him from Hanover in 1857,

be easily imagined

'

Your music

[Fifth

Germany.

464
is for

me

quite inaccessible.

my faculty of apprehension
from the
youth.'

spirit of

It is

Ss

Sixth

opposed to everything

has absorbed as nourishment

our great masters since

my

earliest

In 1860, Brahms, the instigator, Joachim,

Grimm, Bernhard

J. 0.

Scholz, Dietrich, Bargiel, Kirchner,

and otherd intended to publish a declaration against

Liszt and other leaders and disciples of the
School,

plan

and

their noxious theories

owing

miscarried,

partly

New German

and products.
the

to

The

difficulty

of

agreeing on the wording, and partly to the unauthorized

Of Dietrich we

publication of the original proposal.

have one titled overture Die Nornumnenfahrt ; of Joachim

Hamlet, Demetrius (Hermann Grimm), Henry IV.,
To a Comedy of Gozzi (after reading two of the Italian's
comedies), and To the Memory of Kleist and three pieces
five,

,-

for

violin

and

pianoforte.

Op.

5,

respectively called

Lindenrausehen (Bustling in the linden trees), Abend-

(Evening

glocken

bells),

and

Ballade.

Schumann

Joachim about the Hamlet overture

As I went on reading, it seemed as if the
scene became more and more illuminated, and Ophelia and
There are affecting
Hamlet stepped bodily forward.
passages in it, and the whole is presented in a strikingly
clear and grand form.'
WOLDEMAE BAEGIEL
(1828-1897), related to Schumann both by family connection and by congeniality, named three of his overtures
Prometheus, Medea, and To a Tragedy. Another composer
that could claim kinship with Schumann, although
only spiritually, was THEODOK KIRCHNEE (1823writes in a letter to

as follows

1903).

'

His few concerted chamber works

failed to arrest

the attention of the musical world, but his poetic piano-

made many

The mere titles, simple

and unpretentious as they are, have an attractive

forte pieces

friends.

Jensen.

Periods.]

Kirchner

465

suggestivenesa about them: Miniatures,

Sketches,

Album

Leaves,

Pen-and-ink Drawings, Legends,

Village Stories, Romantic Stories, Night Pictures (ten
Aquarelles,

New

character pieces), Florestan and EuseUus,

Scenes

of Childhood, and Neu^ DavidsMndlertdnze, &c.

and other

last three

mean

was one

music-soul,'

German

had no

older master

may

be mentioned

of the first pupils of the newly-founded

Schumann found

Leipzig Conservatorium.
'

The

opinion of the younger, who, as

in passing,

as the reader has of course

titles,

Schumann.

noticed, point to

The

and thought

his things

'

in Kirchner

genial

(in

'

the

sense of having the quality of genius).

ADOLF JENSEN

was an heir of
by the accumulations of the later composers, especially Wagner, and had
a stronger, more distinct individuality than Kirchner.
His exquisite songs, which form by far the larger part of
(1837-1879), too,

Schumann, but one who

profited also

his contribution to musical literature,

we

we pass

over, as

are concerned only with his instrumental music

his

pianoforte pieces Romantic Studies, Inner Voices, Wanderhilder. Idyls,

Scenes carnavalesques. Wedding Music (four

hands), and Erotikon.

But

specially only to the last.

I wish to

On

wrote to a friend as follows

[he was consumptive].
for

me

is

reading.

'

Everything fatigues

The most

It soothes

draw your attention

January 10, 1872, Jensen

me

me

salutary occupation

to look into the misty

grey distances which the phantasy of the ancient poets

opens to us.

Greek

The inexhaustible treasures

literature,

raise, afford

me

which

it is

my endeavour

particular satisfaction.

of ancient

gradually to

For a change

betake myself to the domain of Oriental poetry

also Shakespeare or

and many

others.

read

what treats of him, Holberg, Grabbe,

In short, it is a pleasant rambling

[Fifth

Germany.

466
through the

infinite.'

on his creations

is

&

Sixth

The influence of Jensen's reading

most strikingly exemplified by the

seven pieces entitled Erotikon, which he composed about

the time he wrote the letter from which I quoted, and

which are not only respectively named Kassandra, Die

Zauherin (The sorceress), Galatea, Electra, Adonisklage

(Lament

for

provided

and Cypris, but are also

Adonis), Eros,

from

mottoes

with

works

the

of

The
^schylus, Theocritus, Sophocles, and Bion.
Romantic Studies, which are studies in romanticisni, not
technical exercises, have, like the pieces of the Erotikon,

both

titles

these

'

and poetical mottoes. The composer says of

poems in the preface that they are

small musical

'

intended to illustrate musically scenes from the

feeling, noble sentiment,

adds

'

It is

and calmest resignation.

doubt prevent

this

namely,

The

here,

six

as

pieces,

(Eecollections)

in

art

Op.

have

generally,

48,

prefixed

pre-

will

no

the inclination to the

fantastico-enthusiastic, to the mysterious

has

warm
And

hardly to be expected that these attempts

win for themselves the sympathy of all.

dominant inclination distinctly expressed therein

will

it

of a

life

true friend, a deep-souled personality endowed with

entitled
to

nevertheless,

justification.

its

Erinnerungen

them

poetical

motto.

GEOEG VIEELING

(1820-1901),

disposed and nurtured composer, better

classically-

known by

his

choral than by his orchestral works, chose as subjects

for his overtures

The Tempest, Mary Stuart

Die Hermannssehlacht (H.

(Schiller),

and In Spring. Two

of them are subjects that have a perennial charm for
composers: Spring and Shakespeare's Tempest.
We
meet with them more frequently than with any others.
Kleist),

Peeiods.]

Jensen

But certain other

GoldmarkHofmann.

affections of programmatically inclined

tone-poets cannot

fail

in these

to reveal themselves

GAEL GOLDMAEK

notes.

467

(&.

whose chief

1830),

ambition treSas to the "music drama^ Has "nevertheless

distinguished himself

by

orchestral works.

Besides the

overtures Sakuntala (Kalidasa), Penthesilea (H. Kleist),

In Spring, Prometheus Bound, and Sappho, we have of

him the much played symphony entitled The Rustic^
Wedding, in wmch, however^ the programme is of a
less~exalted nature
overtures.

and oftener forgotten than in the

Moreover, the so-called symphony

is

much

a suite of five pieces bearing the

Wedding March, Bridal Song, Serenade, In the Garden
(where there is loveTmaking), and the Dance. Goldmark
subtitles

rather

does not in his orchestral music follow in the steps of

Berlioz, Liszt, and Wagner, but he has learned from

AUGCST^KLTOHAEDT

them.

(1847-1902), a pupil

and learner of the moderns, entitled the

first of five symphonies Lenore, the second of two suites
Auf der Wcmderschaft, and four Overtures In Spring,
Sophonisbe, Festival Overture, and Triumphal Overture.
HEINEICH__HOITM[AM J1842-1902)_ composed a
of the classics

symphony, a suite Im Schlosshof (In thFcastle

cdurt)7~a^ Hungarian Suite, a scherzo Irrlichter und
Kobolde (Will-o'-the- Wisps and Goblins), and four-hand
Frithjof

pianoforte pieces with promising titles like Italian Love

Novel,

Love's

Spring,

The

Trumpeter of Sdkkingen,

Eckehard, Pictures from the Steppes, and

From my

Diary.

All these highly pleasing compositions are by no means

severely programmatic, not even the symphony. The four

movements

of th e latter work, are entitled 2?ait&jo/.<md

Ingeborg, Ingeborg's Lament, Lichtelfen

(LigBf-elves""'and'

Frost-giants

und

Eeifriesen

Intermezso),

an.d'

[Fifth

Germany.

468

BBEG

Sixth

HEDRI_CH JTON -HEEZOaENwhom we know as an ultra-classical

Return.

Fnthiqf's

&

(1843-1900),

was in his younger days under the influence of

Wagner, and then ventured, but only once, to write a
programme symphony, Op. 16, Odysseus, the four movements of which dealt with Irrfahrten (Wanderings),
Of AENOLD KEUG
Penehpe,' Circe, and The Suitors.
writer,

(6.

1849)

may he mentioned

Othello (a

the orchestral compositions

Symphonic Prologue), Gretchen im Kerker

(Margaret in prison), lAebesnovelle (A love novel), and

Italian Sketches of Travel (for strings)

HUBEE

HANS
MJa-n

and of

(b^.JS5^,.3,JJM^^,JSmshQnu.-^ Op-

appropriate theme for a Swiss composer), a Bocklin

Symphony, Op. 115

(a

no

less appropriate theime~ToFar~

residenfoT Basel, the birthplace of the great painter), a

Roman Carnival, and

Among the works of JEAN LOUIS

serenade entitled Swmmer-night, a

a Comedy

Overture.

NICODE

(6.

and nobly-striving
modern feeling are
felicitously blended, we find three symphonic poems,
Mary Stuart, The Chase after Happiness, and Gloria, the
composer, in

last

1863), a highly-gifted

whom

old schooling and

with a concluding chorus

from

the

Suites, entitled Pictwres

South; The Sea, a symphonic Ode for male

chorus, solo voice, orchestra, and organ

and charming

poetic pianoforte pieces.

ANTON EUBINSTEIN

(1829-1894),

denied,,by his

couSir^en, the Eussians, and by them made over to the

Germans, has consequently to be considered here. The
jusbice of this action is questionable.

For, although his

sympathy with the young Eussian School was limited, he

was not anti-Eussian, on the contrary, was a thorough
admirer of Eussian folk-music and of Glinka, the father
of

modern Eussian art-music.

Fortunately for us he has

Periods.]

Rubinstein.

explained his position to

469

programme music.

'

am

not

aUogether a partisan of programme music,' he writes.

^l am

programme that has to be guessed and to

be poetized into the composition, not for the programme
for the

that is-given along with

it.

am

convinced that every

-eoi^poser not merely writes notes in

some key, tempo,

and rhythm, but lays into his compositions a psychical
mood, i.e., a programme, in the justifiable hope that the
performer and the hearer will apprehend this programme.

Sometimes the composer gives a general name, that

he gives the performer and hearer a

is

and more is
programme of
Thus I understand
clue,

not necessary, for the circumstantial

moods cannot be rendered by words.

programme music, but not in the sense

of reflective

tone-painting of definite things or events.

This

is

only

admissible in the sense of the naif and the comic'

Within the

latter

come, according to Eubinstein, the

symphony), and the

pastoral (as in Beethoven's sixth

fantastic representation

romantic,

gnomes, demons,

fairies, nixies,

of

so far in his

which are

spirits, &c.,

not imaginable without a programme.

programmaticism

witches,

elves,

In

as to

fact,

call

he goes

music

language, and to communicate to us his programmes of

Beethoven's Op. 81 (the sonata

Eeturn

')

'

Farewell, Absence, and

and Chopin's Ballade in

major.

compositions of Eubinstein's have clues?

But what
His O cean

Symphony , Op. 62 (now of seven movements) t~Hii

symphony In Memory of the Grand Duchess Helen,'
'

Op7~107, the tone-picture Russij, the Heroic Fantasia,

the musical character-pictures Faust, Op. 68, Ivan IV.

Op. 79, and

Don

Quichote, Op. 87,

Antony and Cleopatra

and the overture

not to mention pianoforte pieces.

Taking into account the impulsive character of the

2h

man

470

[Fifth

Germany.

&

Sixth

and the executant, his way of composing and the nature

of his compositions, we cannot imagine Eubinstein to
have been anything but a composer of programme music.
He wrote on the spur of the moment, driven by an inner
force;

he could not, as he told me,

brood

over

improvisations,

and

had the

and

criticize, file,

They

compositions.

his

were

and

virtues

indeed
vices

of

improvisations.

Among

the most popular and important

programme

symphonies after Liszt's revolt and before E. Strauss's

triumphal progress are two works by composers issuing

from the old school

Wallenstem.
successful

Abert's Columbus and Eheinberger's

There
examples

can

be

no

encouraged

doubt that
imitation.

these
It

is

noteworthy that both composers wrote two such works,

and that the earlier was the more successful and the
more pronouncedly programmatic. JOHANN JO SEP H
ABEET (6.JL832), a pupil of Tomaschek of Prague, from
"lS52TKuble-bass player in the Stuttgart orchestra and

from 1867 to 1888

first

conductor, was chiefly a composer

of operas, but produced in 1864, after

an

earlier untitled

symphony, a symphonic poem, Golumhua, which at once

much played, and in
1894 a Spring Symphony, which excited less jnterest.

found favour and for some time was

The praise "IavisEeJ~l^on

work embraced

the~e^arlier

excellence of form as well as

beauty of conception,

richness of colour, and mastery of technique.

Eight

years before the publication of Columbus, Liszt mentions

in a letter to the Princess Wittgenstein

composer of merit, and

'

Abert, a young

tres bien pensant.'

From

this

we may gather that Abert showed some appreciation

of

Liszt's achievements, but ought not to conclude that he

adopted his principles and procedures.

Even

without

Periods.]

Abert Meinberger.

471

the testimony of the music, one fact would sufdce to

prove the 'wrongness of such a conclusion iamely, the

performance of Columbus at the Leipzig Gewandhaus

and other conservative concert institutions. But the
character

of

the

music and the

title

itself

prove

was neither a revolutionary

nor an innovator. Here is what we read on the title-page
and over the four movements
C^mnbus : Musical
SetfPMure in formrf^ Symphony.' (1) Feelings at the
incontrovertibly that Abert

Departure {Allegro)

'

(2) Doings of the Sailors {Scherzo)J

Evening on the Sea (Adagio) ; (4) Good Signs, Eevolt,
Storm-^Land "(Unale. AUegro non troppo).
Of JOSEF BHEINBEBGEB (1839-1901). Liszt would
;

(3)

hardly have said that he was Men penmnt.

composers into

classicists

If

we

divide

and romanticists, Eheinberger

For in him the

has to be numbered with the former.

temperament predominated over the romantic,

and did so more and more as he advanced in years.
Moreover, his romanticism differed from the later
classic

developments in being

neither violent,

extravagant,

voluptuous, fantastic, nor transcendentally sentimental.

No doubt Eheinberger learned much and assimilated

something from Schumann and Chopin but he did not
come under their sway, did not swear fealty to them.
;

Wagner, and Liszt had no perceptible influence

upon him. Health, simplicity, and clearness pervade
everything he wrote. His music is diatonic rather than
Berlioz,

chromatic, and eschews the piquancies, eccentricities,

harmony, rhythm, and

some time in fashion.
Eheinberger' s contrapuntal skill proves that he studied

and

intricacies

instrumentation

J. S.

Bach

style

seems

of

melody,

now and

for

assiduously, his natural, flowing, translucent

to indicate that

Mozart was his

ideal.

But

Germany.

472
for certain

[Fifth

& Sixth

Weber and Beethoven must

qualities also

have strongly attracted him. Has the reader to conclude

from the above that Eheinberger's

No

style

was antiquated ?

For, although keeping apart from some of the

tendencies of the age, he was nevertheless of the age.

At any rate this holds good of his best work.

Nothing

need be said here of his well-known and highly-prized

organ sonatas, his estimable but now neglected concerted

chamber music, the oratorio St. Christophorus, the pianoand a large mass of vocal and instrumental
music of all sorts. What concerns us are the following
forte pieces,

few compositions

Wallenstein, a

symphonic tone-picture.

Op. 10 (1866), the iVoreretinV S^w^^oj^^^

Taming of

the Overtures to Shakespeare's

the Shrew,

Op. 18 (1866), and to Schiller's Demetrius, Op. 110 (1878) ;

The

Introduction to Calderon's

Op.

30

(1865)

and

the

Fantasiestiick with a poetical

Wonderful Magician,

pianoforte

composition

motto from Julius Hammer,

Three of these compositions, and among

Op. 23 (1866).

them the most important,

are of the year 1866, which

seems to have been the time when his programmatic

leaning was strongest.

opens with a prelude

The. symphonic

poem

WallensteirT

where amidst the bustle

war appear the proud imperious Wallenstein and they
devoted lovers Max and Thekla, and fear-inspiring'
(Allegro),

of

bodings of fate

movement
'

make themselves

heard.

The seconn
thiM

(Adagio) is superscribed 'Thekla,' the

Wallenstein 's

Camp

'

(a Scherzo, the Trio of

for its subject the Capucin's

which hds

Sermon), and the

fourtii

'Wallenstein's Death' (Moderato, Allegro vivace, Allegroi

The form, being largely determined by the poetic ideasl

has not quite the cut of the classical symphony, but th^
thematic treatment and the style are undoubtedly'

Pebiods.]

RheinhergerHirschhach.

As

classical.

473

the conception of the work,

to

it

is

powerful, picturesque, and expressive and impressive.

The vivacity and humour

of Wallenstein's Camp made

movement particularly popular.
Before we turn our attention to the immediate
disciples of Liszt, those who were in close personal
relation with him, I must say a few words on two
this

one of

interesting personalities,

promptings of his own revolting

the other of

whom had

whom

spirit before Liszt,

HE BMANN HIBSCHBACH

published about

and

And

read.

yet,

able influence

fifty

Nay, how

Es "greatest

activity ?

to the end of his days, and

works, few have been publicly

them have been rarely heard and

he must have exercised a not inconsider-

all of

partly by his compositions, partly by his

writings on music,

about him.

Who now knows

(1812-1888)?

many" knew him aFtEe~Hme"of

jjerformed,

and

revolutionary temptations and

inclinations simultaneously with Liszt.

Although he composed

acted on the

and partly by what Schumann

said

His compositions comprise many string

and quintets and other concerted chamber

music, fourteen symphonies, and several overtures. His
quartets

Op. 1

is

a string quartet with mottoes from Faust and

from Life ; the symphonies

the general title Pictures

bear

titles

FausTs

such as Life Struggles, RecoUectuinsq^he ZTpsJ

Walk,

&c.7

and'the

overtures "Ireat

of

Goethe^s~Go<^ von Berlickingen, Shakespeare's Hamlet

and Julius

Coesar, &c.

Hirschbach's writings on music

appeared in various publications, notably in Schumann's

Neue

Zeitschrift

and

in

the

Musikalisch

Kritisches

Repertorium (1844-1846), of which he himself was the

His confession of faith is to be

found in the preface to his symphonies Op. 46 and 47.
founder and editor.

Germany.

474
'

My

lodestar,

from the

Sixth

moment I began independent

first

Then [1836]

was characterization.

creation,

&

[Fifth

it

was

no longer possible to advance instrumental music solely

by the development of craftsmanship [kunstvoller
Entwickelungl

One had

with maintaining

to be satisfied

the polyphonic style in chamber music, where

employed, at the same high

nothing was lost

level.

But in

it

this

was
way

besides the inexhaustible wealth of

thought of our

art, there remained the sharper stamping

and grander conception of the characteristic content.

Inevitably connected with this

was the enlargement and

the treatment in various other ways of the free forms.

As long as twenty-four years ago I loudly declared the

principle
The content determines the form.
It has
:

always seemed to

me

frivolous to fling the hearer

one mood into another, as

from

art were merely a joke.

if

No, to sustain and exhaust a mood, even the most serious,

unless the play

my task, a

demanded

it

otherwise, that has been

task however, for which are required, besides

thematic means, a far-reaching

remarks from his

article

inventiveness.'

For what pvrpose

Two

does one

compose instrumental music ? {Neue Zeitschrift, August 10,

may

1838)
'

further illustrate Hirschbach's standpoint.

No one becomes a profound instrumental composer who

has

not

profound

mental

life.

Genuine

instrumental music, in the highest and deepest sense,

must be

so

constituted

that,

though

not

requiring a verbal indication of the content,

admits of

urgently
yet really

it.'

Schumann wrote

twice on Hirschbach in the Neue

Zeitschrifi, addressed

many

him with enthusiasm

in other letters.

of his

it

discovery

of this

letters to

genius

him, and mentions

The

occurs

first

in

account

a letter

Hirschbach.

Periods.]

475

addressed to Clara Wieok on July 13, 1838.

characteristically ejaculatory.

has passed

name

my way

this week.

in the Zeitsehrifb [as a contributor]

He has much

It

is

'A great phenomeuoa

You must have seen the
:

Hirschbach.

him. The
day before yesterday we played quartets of his ; in
of Faust, of the black-art in

writing defective, in invention the most colossal [das

Ungeheuerste] I have as yet met with. In his tendency
some resemblance to myself states of the soul. But
he is more passionate, more tragic than I. The forms

are quite new, likewise the treatment of the quartet.

Some things moved me profoundly. Where there is

such an overwhelming imaginativeness one overlooks
slight faults.
Besides this an overture to Hamlet, ideas
The quartets are scenes
for an oratorio. Paradise Lost.
from FoMst. There you have a picture. Along with this,
profoundest romanticism combined with simplicity and
To the composer, Schumann
touching truthfulness.'
Your striving seems to me
wrote about the same time
the most colossal I have met with in recent artistic
tendencies, and is supported by great powers. But I am
:

doubtful as to

some

'

things, especially as a musician.'

In the report of the private matinee at which three

quartets and a quintet of Hirschbach's were played (see

Nme

Zeitschrift,

of the quartet.

August

Op.

14, 1838),

(May

and in the

17, 1842),

criticism

Schumann

repeats

what he wrote in those letters, but of the new

things he says, some deserve to be quoted. 'Words
cannot describe how his music is fashioned, and all that
most

it

of

pictures

his music is itself speech.

speech, truest music-life.

...

soul-

longing impulse,

a crying for rescue, an incessant onward rushing, and

between them blissful figures, golden meads and rosy

[Fifth

Germany.

476

...

& Sixth

saw also an overture to

Hamlet, a grand symphony of many movements, and a
second half finished, which is to be continuous throughevening

clouds.

outall of them fantastic,

full of vital

energy, in the

forms deviating from everything hitherto known,

if

except Berlioz, and a few orchestral passages such as one

accustomed to hear only from Beethoven when he is in

mood to take up arms against the whole world and

is

the

annihilate
to be

it.

called

Beethoven's last quartets he regards

new

as beginnings of a

to pursue his labours

ness

is

so

sees the composer wishes

he wants everywhere to evade

a poet;

stereotyped forms

behind him.'

One

poetic era, in which he intends

;

Haydn and Mozart

lie far, far

Hirschbach's revolutionary progressive-

much

the

more wonderful as most probably

he knew not a note of Berlioz when he began his

ambitious but unsuccessful career.

by

The case considered

enough, but it becomes a hundredmore so when we think of the influence Hirschbach

may have exercised on the composers who were better
itself is interesting

fold

able to arrest the attention of the public

Liszt and Wagner.

Words

for instance,

are seed-corns that often are

sown and grow up unnoticed.

HENEY LITOLFF

(1818-1891), the brilliant pianist

and composer, admired in both

capacities, but especially

in the former, offers a striking contrast to the obscure

and unheeded Hirschbach.

If Litolff

was a genius, no

better proof could be brought forward in confirmation of

Lombroso's theory as to the connection of genius with

degeneracy and insanity.
Look at his restlessness,
nervousness,

fitful

energy, and twitching face

Think

of his love of sensationalism, alternations of fevetish

activity

and torpid

slothfulness, marriages

and

divorces.

Hirschbach

Periods.]

acquaintance

with

lunatic

477

Litolff.

aBjlums,

migrations

and

extraction,

However let us also note his Alsatian

Loudon birth and education, and long

residences

in

wanderings!

Paris

and Brunswick.

unquestionably a musician of great talent

not get a proper training in composition

Litolff
;

was

but he did

when young,

and afterwards had not the will and perseverance to

make up for the want of it by hard and systematic study.
Nevertheless he improved to some extent by practice and
force of genius.
As a composer he first made himself a
reputation by pianoforte concertos, for which he invented
This was in the forties of
the title Concerto Symphonie.
The success of these works he
the 19th century.
wrote five is difficult to imderstand if one looks at them
now. No doubt the fire, vivacity, and bravura of his
playing counted for much in the success, and the same
However, we need
qualities in the music for the rest.
not dwell on these compositions, nor on his successful

pianoforte pieces

What we

and more or

less unsuccessful operas.

have to consider are his overtures, especially

by W. E. Griepenkerl Maximilian
These two overtures
Eobegpierre and Die Girondisten.
by the names of
and
go
were composed about 1850,
Robespierre and Les Girondins. As a reformer we cannot
'Yes,' he
take Litolff so seriously as he took himself.
those to two tragedies

on the threshold of
your home I will shake off the dust of mediocrity which
for so long has been clinging to me, and through you
and with you pull down, uproot, des'troy, and rebuild.'
wrote to Liszt on June 24, 1857,

'

These are grand words and big sentiments, which,

however, in the mouth of Litolff sound ridiculous. He

had not even the strength to perform the negative part of

But, on the
the operation, not to speak of the positive.

[Fifth

Germany.

478
other baud,

bad a

it

Prom

tbe

on many of bis con-

first his critics

pointed out the

combination of good and bad qualities in his work.

bad

qualities oftenest

Tbe

mentioned are eccentricity, love of

Tbe

and lack of self-command.

violence,

Sixth

cannot be denied that LitolfTs compositions

stirring, stimulating effect

temporaries.

&

generally

and extravagant with

tbe beautiful, and tbe monstrous and morbid with tbe
well-thought and well-felt, was the outcome of bis desire
and determination to be original. Petis, who was not
blind to Litolff's faults, allows him to have been an
eminent poet by imagination, inspiration, and spontaneity
regretted mixture of tbe baroque

of ideas

although he saw in him a colourist rather than

a thinker.

We

get a good description of tbe general

character of Litolff's style

friend's

when

Liszt writes of his

Les Girondins and tbe Ouvertwre triomphale that

they are far from lacking talent, but belong somewhat

to the flamboyant style,

which seemed to him played out

(JlamM) as far as music was concerned.

A less

qualified

appreciation of tbe overture Robespierre comes to us

from young Hans von Biilow (1850), not an altogether

impartial judge, but a noteworthy contemporary voice.

He

says that this overture, which received everywhere

universal

and unanimous praise, was, though not a

la Egmont, a very clever (geniales)
music with unmistakable flashes of thought,

Beethoven overture a
piece of
full

of

interesting

harmonious whole

instrumental

-which

effects,

and also a

surprised him, as be found

and digressive. The reader

remembers no doubt that young Tchaikovsky raved
about Robespierre and Les Girondins, and that these
Litolff generally disjointed

and Meyerbeer's overture to Struensee implanted in him

for programme music.
In short, Litolff was

a taste

Periods.]

LitolffLiszt's Disciples.

479

a kind of electric machine that vivified and invigorated

those

who came

in contact with

it.

Liszt's revolutionary activity as a

middle of the 19th century, the

devoted band of

composer about the

enthusiasm of the

around him at
Weimar, his and their propagandism of the new doctrines
by means of the Press generally and the Nem Zeitschrift
fur Musik (under Brendel's editorship) particularly, and
last,

but

not

disciples

gathered

the

master's

least,

diplomatic

vast

correspondence by which throughout Europe and even

beyond the seas partisans were enlisted,

stimulated

all this

fortified,

and

would lead one to expect that the

must have been a flourishing school of

composition that realized and developed the ideas and
ideals of the beloved master and found far and wide
Strange to say, nothing like
attention and recognition.
From all the strenuous striving
this came to pass.
there resulted not an imposing school of composition,
but a tragedy of negation and impotence. The men of
creative talent among Liszt's disciples did not pursue
the master's lines, and the men who did had not the
outcome

capacity to produce anything worth having.

however, this to be noted

and misjudge the case.

common

if

we

There

is,

are not to misunderstand

Liszt was not a teacher in the

sense of the word, he was

much

rather a

stimulator and inspirer, and as such he no doubt did

much even for those who struck out into roads and paths

diverging from his.

of Liszt's

Nor should we overlook that much

preaching against traditionalism,

conven-

dead formalism, and for poetry in the

content, freedom in form, harmony, and colouring, and
correspondence between content and form, has borne
tionalism,

fruit,

and

all

and has done so not only within the

circle of his

[Fifth

Germany.

480

adherents, but far beyond

it,

&

SixTfl

nay, well-nigh everywhere,

the very camps of hie most implacable opponents not

Nevertheless the fact remains that Liszt's

excluded.

example as a producer of instrumental music in the

symphonic poems,

larger forms, as a composer of

in

was not immediately followed in

such an extent as to admit of one's

short, as a symphonist,

such a way and to

To

speaking of a Liszt school of composition.

test the

correctness of this assertion, let us consider the master's

chief disciples, those that were most highly endowed,
most intimately connected with him, most zealous in his
service, most prominent in the eyes of the world

Cornelius, Bronsart, Biilow, Draeseke,

and

Eaff.

I omit

Tausig because he does not count as a composer.

Of the

five disciples

mentioned

PETEE COENELIUS

(1824-1874) had the greatest originality, and was the

most genuine

poet.

But with

his admiration for and

all

self-sacrificing devotion to Liszt, in spite of the latter's

undoubted influence on him, and notwithstanding his

decided modernity, Cornelius did not follow in the footsteps
of Liszt

he did not compose

or indeed any symphonic

to

a
work at

symphonic poem,
and confined himself

single
all,

and choral songs, Masses, and operas, in the

coming under the spell of Wagner.

solo

later of the operas

If

we

inquire into the reason of this difference between

disciple

and master, we

of their individualities

shall find

it

partly in the difference

and natural endowments, but

large extent also in the five years'

to a

previous training

under the famous Dehn, that thorough-going teacher of

the old school.
(fc.

1830)

is

The case

of

HANS VON BEONSAET

not identical, but Similar." He7toorwas"a'

pupil of Dehn's before coming to Liszt; he, too, had

individuality

and creative power, although in

less degree

Periods.]

and

less

Cornelius

abundance.

known works the

BronsartBillow.
Among

the small

number

wit h chorus e ntitled In the Alps, and a second

Of these only the

entitled PowersofFate.

tion,

Jb'antasia

and with

of his

chief are a Trio, a Sextet, a pianoforte

Concerto, a Spring Fantasia for orchestra, a

and

481

symphony
symphony

Trio, Concerto,

succeeded in gaining a modicum of attenit

much

respect for the composer.

It will

be noticed that the titles point to programmes such as

even composers of so-called absolute music look upon with

indulgence and even approval.

Another composition

of

Bronsart's, however, which Biilow mentions in a letter,

is

more boldly programmatic

a fantasia for pianoforte,

Melusina, after Moritz von Schwind's series of pictures.

It is

published as Op.

9,

but denominated Ein Mdrchen

(A legend), not a fantasia.

HANS VON BULOW

(1880-1894),

so

supremely

eminent as an interpreter, both as a pianist and as a

was

a composer. His overture to

symphonic poems Des Sanger's
Fluch (after Uhland's ballad The Bard's Curse), Op. 16,
and Nirwama, Op. 20, and Four Cha/racter Pictures for

"conductor,

sterile as

Julius Ccesar, Op.

orchestra,

10,

however respectable, have not in the

degree contributed to the treasury of

slightest

living musical

But what must deeply interest us is, that the

thorough-going disciple and champion of Liszt became in
literature.

later

years the defender of Mendelssohn, the apostle of

supreme trinity, the three

great B's (Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms), and the
disparager of much he once highly prized, his master's

Brahms, the worshipper

of the

symphonic works included. With regard to his writing

of programme music there is a curious piece of
information to be gathered from the Liszt-Biilow
What do you think of
correspondence. Liszt writes
:

'

[Fifth

Germany.

482
this title

Cain)

?"

comment

following

Sixth

" Symphonic Prologue to The Bobbers (or to

Byron's

&

And

'

'

the

supplies

footnote

Probably the work meant

is

that

One would hardly have

programme music to assist a

called Nirwana.'

afterwards

expected the high-priest of

disciple in finding

and subject

title

illustratiTe of a

This smacks rather of the

work already composed.

unregenerate ways of unbelievers, half-believers, and

mountebanks.
nay,

may

and with

Nevertheless the proceeding

be quite legitimate
sufficient care.

if

is

excusable,

done in the right

spirit

Moreover, the work in question

was real programme music, being originally written

an unpublished tragedy, Ein Leben im Tode (A Life
Death) by Carl Eitter.

But a reference

to

an unknown

play would have been useless to the hearer.

substitute

had

either

to be found

Nirwana.

He

Hans von Biilow

calls

it

noble,

Hence a

a known play of a

similar character, or, better, a suggestive

expresses himself to

to

in

Liszt

title.

in high terms on

profound,

firmly

knit

(sometimes even rather knotty), but does not expect a

good reception for it, the poetic data and the region in

which the composer's thoughts move being outside the

habitudes of the theatre and concert public.

DEAESEKE

Eietz at the Leipzig Conservatorium,

Weimar

FELIX

X6, 1835), a pupil of the conservative Julius

became one

of the

but only for a time. Subsequently he

turned away from what has been called the antiformal
circle,

tendencies of the
losing

hold of

modernities.

New German
its

School, without, however,

harmonic, modulatory,

he wrote in the periodical Anregungen

und

and other

Characteristic of his early period is that

fiir

Kungt, Leben

by Franz Brendel and

Eichard Pohl) of 1858 and 1859, analyses of Liszt's
Wissenschaft

(edited

Pebiods.J

BiUowDraesekeRaff.

symphonic
period

that

4bb

poems, and characteristic of his second

he wrote a two-volume treatise on

counterpoint and fugue, called The Strict Style (1902).

The list of DraesekeVworks has an out-and-out classical

aspectT""ThS;eae^ree sy^
third of which
is caUe^ Sinfonia tri^iica, and three overtures, two of
which are respectively to Calderon's Ldfe a Dream and

H.

and the third is a Jubilation

These are the only signs of the programmatic.
The rest of Tiis worEs" consist of concerted chamber
Kleist's Penthesilea,

Overture.

music, a concerto, a concert piece, oratorios, operas, a

As to the fifth and most important of the

Weimar, he differs from those already
discussed in that he was at no time a believer in the
composer Liszt and his doctrines and methods.

requiem, &c.

Liszt circle at

JOACHIM EAFF
parents Tor the
the

for

art

of

(18 22-1882)

w as

destined by his

church oFThe school, by his genius

music, and

his

genius

gained

the

day in spite of the most formidable obstacles.

As a

composer be had no other teacher but himself.

That

alone would have been enough to deter an aspirant even

of

more than average will-power.

Now add

to this,

poverty and the necessity of laboriously making a scanty

living.

In 1843 Kaff sent a couple of compositions to

Mendelssohn, and asked for a straightforward opinion,

pointing out that his adoption of music as a profession

would mean giving up his employment and breaking with

his family.
ing.

He

Mendelssohn's reply was warmly encourag-

recognized in

him unquestionable

talent,

and

proved the sincerity of this expression of opinion by

recommending the
Breitkopf

&

Hartel.

compositions

for

publication

Even more important than

to
this

event proved a walk from Ziirich to Basel, undertaken in

[Fifth

Germany.

484

summer

the

of 1845,

&

Sixth

through downpours of rain, for the

The great virtuoso, struck by

purpose of hearing Liszt.

the enthusiasm and amused by the appearance of his

dripping admirer, at once took an interest in him,

him his travelling companion

procured

him a

post in

for

made

some months, and then

Eck &

Lefebre's pianoforte

While in this position Eaff made

the personal acquaintance of Mendelssohn, who invited
warehouse at Cologne.

him

come

to

Mendelssohn's death, however,

to Leipzig.

destroyed this hope.

He

then (1847) went to Stuttgart,

giving there lessons, writing

composing,

Two

the

for

and working hard at

years later he

left

Stuttgart for

music papers,

self-improvement.

Hamburg, where he

found employment with the music-publisher Schuberth.

During

all this

time Eaff had been in correspondence

and counsellor Liszt. His close

connection with him as assistant began towards the end
Eaff next settled in
of 1849 and lasted till 1856.
Wiesbaden, and remained there, teaching and composing,
till 1877, when he was appointed director of the Frankfurt
Hoch Conservatorium, a post which he held to the end
with

his

of his

life.

patron

The relation between Liszt and Eaff was peculiar

had on both sides much genuine respect, affection,
and good-will, but also some disrespect, suspicion,

it

and contrariety. It lacked the quality of ease, indeed

was disturbed by a positive element of discomfort.
This state of matters arose from disparity in their
characters, positions,

and

abilities.

one hand, Liszt, aristocratic and

There was, on the

a man,
famous and high-placed as a musician, and ambitious
and self-confident, but ill-trained, as a composer on the
idealistic as

other hand, Eaff, boorish and

homespun as a man,

Pebiods.]

485

Raff.

unknown and low-placed

as a musician, and equally

ambitious and self-confident, but of skilful craftsmanship,

as a composer. Liszt could not forget that he was the

patron and employer of Eaff, nor Eaff that he was the
subordinate and dependent of Liszt. And again, Liszt,

who, conscious of his genius, originality, and poetic

inventiveness, no doubt looked down upon Eaff, could not
but

own

feel his

know,

Some

proudly

technical inferiority
his

felt

from

extracts

whereas Eaff, we

superiority

letters will

in

this

respect.

throw further

on

light

the relation of the two men, and expose to view Eaff's

standpoint with regard to Liszt's position as a composer.

However,
Eaff's

must

strong

not

unconsciously

no doubt

iiien

Die Musik

(vol.

i.,

leads

to

first

suspicion

that

him now and

lay on a subjective

somewhat with

colouring that interferes

These letters appeared

my

conceal

self-satisfaction

objective truth.

German

in the

periodical

1901-1902), and most of those of

Eaff's are intimate effusions addressed to a dear old

lady

from

Toward the end

friend.

small

the

of

watering-place

1849 Eaff writes

Eilsen,

where

his

assistantship began
'

Last

week

symphonique,

expurgated

and to-day

Liszt's

first

was occupied with the

copy and translation of the remodelled Field

Then

concert-

follows the instrumentation

and

fair

article.

copy of an

overture entitled Ce qu'on entend sur la Montague, the

first

symphonic

programme
'

He

poem

composed

after

lengthy

in verse.'

I confess that I find Liszt extraordinarily changed.

my

most patiently, and shows that

he wants still to learn. Chrism and holy-water, as the
Eoman Catholics say, are therefore not wasted upon
2i
accepts

criticisms

[Fifth

Germany.

486
him.

His intention

Sixth

devote two or three years

to

is

&

and

to quiet preparation for the career of a composer,

then to come forward in Paris.'

'

My labours

you know,

But, as

for Liszt, it is true, are endless.

am

not afraid of a heap of paper.

have just made a

fair

copy of his

first

...

concerto and his

two concert-overtures [Symphonic poems] Ce qu'on

entend sur la Montague and The four Elements \Les
quatre Eliments : La Terre, Lea Aquilons, Les Plots,
LesAstres; after a

poem by Aubray

a composition out

of

which was developed Les Preliides'] partly orchestrated.'

'I was just occupied with the instrumentation of
,

Liszt's HSroide funebre,' writes Eaff in January, 1850,

from Weimar,
I

and the broad, gloomy motives, to which

yet to give the sombre instrumental tints which

was
up in us thoughts

of the last events of us

call

penetrated

my

soul.

My

all,

melancholy had

reached a high degree, and to this circumstance I owed

some technical inspirations which drew from my friend

exclamations of joy and surprise.
My relations to Liszt have entered on a second stage
At Eilsen and also at first here [Weimar]
'

my

friend

displayed a certain

self-confidence

which

was to imbue me with the conviction of how little

I was really necespary to him. In everything he seemed
to let me know that anyone could do for him what he
required, that

my

only superiority was in

my

fairer

and that beyond this not much was wanted.

One day Liszt took courage, and asked me to orchestrate
something for him.
When this had been done
satisfactorily, he went somewhat further, and now we
have come to this, that whole passages in Liszt's new

copies,

works are as

little

acquainted with the pen of the author

Pekiom.]

Rai^.

my

as certain passage-work in

Joachim
'

487
Op. 15 originated from

Eaff.

Now

am

busy with the remodelling of the Tasao

overture, out of which I intend to

make him [Liszt] a

symphony in two parts.'
The foregoing extracts show the nature of the work
Eaff did for Liszt, who, we may be sure, found his
younger friend and assistant, what on one occasion he
calls him,
a thoroughly capable splendid fellow.' Now
*

we must

see

which

is

what was

much more

Eaff' s

view of Liszt as a composer,

important and interesting subject

of inquiry.
'

am

determined to have some

must have

on Liszt's newest

little

works

influence

this

and, thanks to

his intelligence, he has already perceived that this is as

should be,

and

because four

eyes can see better than two

accepts readily observations which he used to

The Princess [Wittgenstein]

repugn.
imfeeling

man who

from the

standpoint of inner

its

me an

it is

poesy.

Heavens!

I,

time that Liszt should cease

on the pianoforte and the pianoforte

to wholly banish from the art

to play the orchestra

in the orchestra

calls

cultivates art only as a science, not

on the other hand, say

one of

it

...

most useful

parts, counterpoint,

and

to

make a

heap of stones of the edifice of beautiful forms

which we have inherited, extending a song to nineteen
real

pages,

and

in other things being sometimes at a loss for

sufficient material.'
I,'
he writes to Liszt on December 31,
some day be less satisfied with your artistic
achievements than I wish and hope, depend upon
'

Should

1850,

it,

'

my

heart.'

heart will

never cease to

be

nearest

your

'

Germany.

488

When, seven years

no longer his

[Fifth

&

Sixth

later, Liszt applied to Eaff,

assistant, for analyses of his

poems, the latter wrote to a friend

'
:

He

then

symphonic

did not ask

that his works should be praised, but only wished

me

to

supply an objective exposition of the technical structure

and poetical content. In a three hours' discussion I

stated mainly that I did not agree with his tendencies.'
The upshot was that Eaff did not write the analyses.
Eaff published his confession of faith in a Letter

to the

Editor of the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik (February 11,

1853).

He

there says that he has felt the need of

seeking the terra firma of a neutral ground, as productive

activity cannot find support in either of the negations

presented by the extreme parties

by those who oppose

what goes farther than Beethoven and even what goes

so far as the works of his last period, and by those who

Wagner, and deny the right

music, i.e., music apart from

are exclusive partisans of E.

of existence to

specific

the drama.
After Eaff's opinion of Liszt, let us have Liszt's of
Eaff.

Your true friends must seriously draw your attention

bad consequences of the gigantic fertility
of your genius, and remind you of moderation and aim
'

to the probable

(October 28, 1846).

The five or six pieces of yours published by Mechetti

show strikingly talent, ideas, versatility in form, and a
comprehensive knowledge of what has been written for
'

the pianoforte during the last sixteen years' (November,

1846).

A few years later, after a performance of a composition

by Eaff at one of Liszt's musical gatherings, the host
remarked to those present ' He has learned something,
:

Peeiods.J

489

Raff.

and can do something.

Depend upon

it

in a few years

he will be high up.'

The

two of these three extracts refer to a veryearly period of Eaffs career, yet even then Liszt put
his finger on the weak and strong points that remained
first

same throughout Eaff's life. Overproductivity, however, was not, as we shall see, the only cause of the fate
the

that so soon overtook the composer Eaff.

this fate ?

What was

Early in the last quarter of the 19th century,

one of the most distinguished, and at the same time

most sane and solid musicians and critics of England,

Ebenezer Prout, declared that Eaff was one of the three

German composers
and shoulders
being

than their

fellows, the other

two

Wagner and Brahms.

been short-lived.

name

that stood in the front rank, head

taller

in the

masters.

The fame of the first has

No one would now pronounce his

same breath with those

Indeed,

although

Eaff's

of the

two other

published

works

number considerably more than two hundred, and

comprise compositions of all kinds, his name on programmes has for some time been a very rare phenomenon.
Eaff, a composer of
The explanation seems to be this
inexhaustible inventiveness and wonderful fluency of
:

expression, of masterly craftsmanship in counterpoint,

form, and instrumentation, was not an inspired poet,

not an original individuality, not a grand personality.

Moreover, pedantry

made him sometimes

indulge in

unseasonable contrapuntal sportiveness (canons, &c.)

and ah irrepressible passion for work even more than the

need of making money prevented him from waiting for
the propitious moment and rom selecting his ideas.

But

as Eaff, besides being intellectual, was poetical, although

not a poet, was a distinct individuality, although not a

;:

[Fifth

Germany.

490

&

Sixth

was an estimable personality,

although not a grand one, it must be admitted that the
neglect of his more than respectable achievements is not
quite deserved.
But that, I am afraid, may be said both
of all successes and all failures
even time, the supreme
strikingly

original one,

court of appeal, does not

to

A.S

right

my

explanation,

when he says

unequal

but

'

it is

to hold the balance.

incomplete.

is

it

would be

it

know how

Eiemann

is

true that Eaff's works are

difficult to give

an explanation of

the fact that, for instance, the Forest Symphony, too, does

"sound" nowadays.' Or let us rather say: 'that

now fails to impress the public as it used to do.'
Among Eaff's pianoforte pieces we find titles like these

not
it

'Angela's last day in the convent,' a cycle of twelve

pieces. Op. 27;

'Messengers of Spring,' twelve pieces,

From

Switzerland,' a fantastic eclogue. Op. 57;

Op. 55

'Am

'

Etude, Op. 88; 'Dans la nacelle,'

Giessbach,'

Reverie-Barcarolle, Op. 93,

and

Op. 166

'La

Cicerenella,'

new carnival.

Les Orientales,' eight pieces. Op. 175.

;
Everyone knows 'La Fee d'amour,' Op. 67, for violin
and pianoforte (or orchestra), made so popular by
Of

Sarasate.

'

Eaff's eight String Quartets, the seventh

(Op. 192, No. 2) is entitled Die schone Mullerin (The

beautiful

maid

of the mill).

Four overtures have

for

their subjects

Romeo and

The Tempest,

"^ith two exceptions (Nos. 2 and 4) Eaff's

Juliet, Othello,

eleven symphonies have programmes.

,s

follows

(3)

An

(i)

Tm Walde

das Vaterland (To

(In tbe forest);

(5)

(7)

(10)

In

suffered,

and

my

titles axe

Fatherland)

umworben (Lived,
died, and was glorified)
Spring Sounds; (9) In Summer;

struggled,

the Alps,- (8)

In Autumn

Their

Lenore . (6)'Gelebt,

gestrebt, gelitten, gestritten, gestorben,

strove,

Macbeth, and

(11)

Winter.

Periods.]
It

491

Eaff.

would take up too much space

compositions or even

all

these symphonies.

confine myself to a few remarks

fifth,

on the

I shall

and
what are the ideas expressed
of the symphony An das Vaterland :
first,

third,

preface sets forth

in the five divisions

in the Allegro,

moral

to analyze all these

free aspiration, thoughtful meditation,

and gentleness and conquering

endurance, to which four ideas correspond four subjects
refinement,

in the Scherzo, youths and maidens go joyfully forth into

wood and meadow to the sound of the horns and the

cheerful folk-song

pleasures of

in the La/rghetto, the charms and

home

are depicted

life

in the Allegro

dramatico, repeated attempts at national union frustrated

by the

hostilities of the

in the Larghetto,

The two

union.

enemy

in the Andante, sadness

hope ; and in the

best

Allegro, victory

known and most popular

Eaffs symphonies are the third and

fifth.

In

the day-time

impressions and feelings

;

Dance

of all

the Forest

has four movements which form three divisions

dreaming
the

and

(1)

In

(2a)In the twilight

In the night-time
;
coming and going of the
Wild Hunt with Hulda and Wotan, daybreak. The
Lenore Symphony is of course based on Burger's ballad
but the composer supplements in the first two of the
three divisions what the poet presupposes.
Only the last
still

(26)

life

(3)

in the forest,

division illustrates

the three divisions

{Allegro

of dryads

the
is

and Adagio);

poem

as follows
(2)

The content

itself.
:

(1)

of

Happiness in love

Separation;

(3)

Eeunion in

death.

From what has been said it may be gathered that the

programme acted on the form as well as on the content
of Eaff's compositions.
But it has to be noted that the
form, however modified, is classical, i.e., based on the

492

[Fifth

Qermomy.

&

Sixth

example of the great classics and their followers. While

Liszt's theory and practice had undoubtedly a consider-

upon Baf, it is equally clear that his

programme music differs from Liszt's, both in programme
and music, both in content and form, but in form
able influence

especially.

Li short, Eaff, although connected with the

New German

School,

was not

of

it.

This was evidenced

not only by his musical compositions, but also by his

writings on music

for instance,

Die Wagnerfrage (The

Wagner

question; 1854), and still more in his article on

Mozart in the Signale (1856). These caused some heartburning among the party to whom he ostensibly belonged.

Moreover, Eaff's daughter assures us that her father

was a sincere reverer

of the classics

and

especially of

Mozart.

To the
of the

five

famous

New German

disciples of Liszt

and champions

School there has to be added a sixth

who, although less prominent in the eyes of the world,

and less regarded by his leaders and fellow combatants,

was nevertheless destined to do more

for the propagation

of Liszt's ideas than all the five together ever did.

ALEXANDEE EITTEE

(1833-1896), violinist and

composer, studied music at the Leipzig Conservatorium

and in Dresden, became

Wagner's) a

member

and conductor

(after

of the

marrying a niece of

Weimar

orchestra in 1854,

at the Stettin Theatre in 1856;

lived

subsequently at Dresden, again at Stettin, at Wiirzburg

(with two interruptions) from

1863 to 1882, at Meiningen

a member of the orchestra undor Billow's direction),
and at Munich. His Op. 1, a String Quartet, was
(as

published in 1865.
reputation was not

Many
made

songs followed.

until in his fifties,

But

his

when two

one-act operas of his were performed with considerable

Periods.]

Alexander Bitter.

success,

Der

(1890).

Eitter's

Hans

(1885)

name appears

to his compositions, if

Krone

He

evidently was
was not estimated
There are no allusions

letter of Billow's is excepted, in

which two concertos are

The

favourably.
I

die

liked as a friend, but apparently

at his full value as a musician.

'

Wem

and

very frequently in the

Liszt and his foUo'wing.

letters of

much

faule

493

criticized,

on the whole very

writer remarks (October 29, 1860)

had always credited your musical brain with great

receptive genius

mistrusted

change

it.

my

erroneous opinion, to overthrow

of all is that

mendation

as to your productive imagination I

You have given me an opportunity

when

it.'

to

Strangest

Liszt writes in 1867 a letter of recom-

for Bitter,

he praises him as a

violinist

and

as a conductor, extols his extensive musical knowledge,

notes his intimate relations with celebrated virtuosi and

composers, but says not a word about his being a

That he lacked energy, perseverance, and

composer.
stability,

developed his powers slowly, wrote reflectively

rather than

spontaneously, was modest, reticent, in

short, the reverse of pushing,

little

notice taken of

may

him by

account fully for the

the public, but cannot

altogether account for the ignorance

his friends.

And

not

unselfish,

indifference of

yet to the observer of the ways of the

world the mystery disappears

Bitter

and

was

only

made no

modest

when he
but

also

learns

that

thoroughly

claims on the patronage of his great

and thought himself fortunate in and superabundantly enriched by his intercourse with them.
Liszt and Wagner had the most decisive influence on
friends,

Eitter's artistic development, without, however, destroy-

ing his individuality

his songs,

which

as

is

proved by his operas and by

latter excellent judges declare to

be the

&

Sixth

Eitter

was a

[Fifth

Germany.

494

All his

best part of his artistic output.

life

convinced believer in programme music in Liszt's sense.

He

held that

genuine music

all

programme music

is

Beethoven's symphonies as well as Liszt's symphonic

and fought with ruthless energy against

poems

Hanslick's

While
moving forms.
admiring Liszt and Wagner, contending

thesis

enthusiastically

of

tonal

for their cause to the neglect of his

of his creative work, he

He

had

own

interests, even

sympathy with

little

Berlioz.

recognized the French master's bizarre genius, but

would not admit him to be the equal of Liszt and

Wagner.
Besides songs and operas Eitter wrote
symphonic poems. Most of them belong to the last ten
years of his

added

Here are

life.

Fantasia

Seraphic

their titles, with a few notes

;

Erotic

Legend ;

Olaf's

Wedding-dance (the ultimate outcome of an operatic

subject

carried

with

about

him

for

many

years);

Sursum corda, a storm and stress fantasia (an old

man's retrospect on his artist life, described with
youthful passion)
Good Friday and Corpus Christi
Day,- and Emperor Rudolph's Ride to the Grave, after
;

Kerner's

poem

(written

under

the

influence

of

his

and presentiments of his own). It has been

said that both formally and programmatically Eitter
goes beyond Liszt. This, however, is emphatically
wife's death

contradicted by most authoritative judges.

works of

Eitter's

have been but rarely performed and

probably in Germany only,

what

As these

their future will be.

it is

impossible to prophesy

But whether

or oblivion, historical immortality

is

it

be popularity

secured to Alexander

Eitter as the intermediary between Liszt and Eichard

Strauss,
School.

between the

New and

the Newest

German

Periods.]

Richard Strauss.

495

T(^CHAKDSTEAUSS {b. 1864Lthe much discussed,

we must now turn our

the problematic,

certain points all the world is at one

attention.

On

on his virtuosic

craftsmanship, his supreme mastery over all the resources

of the art, his diabolical cleverness, and even his genius.

But agreement ceases when we come

of

the

application

the

of

to the consideration

craftsmanship,

mastery,

and genius.

Then opinions may be found as

far apart as the poles, and even as heaven and earth.
Then we may see ecstatic delight on the one hand and
downright disgust on the other, and hear praise and
blessings on the one hand and condemnation and curses
cleverness,

on the other.

In Strauss's career as a composer there

are clearly distinguishable two periods, the second of

which was brought about not by evolution, but by

revolution, and not by an inner, but by an outer impulse.

Many

now

ask

will that

Will there be a third period, and how

be brought about ?

which ran

with

parallel

university education,

the short

first

these lines.

Strauss's musical training,

his

was on

secondary

school

classical lines,

and

and during

period of his creative career he adhered to

As belonging to
and add

indicate Op. 1-15,

and
them Op.

we may

this time

style

to

18, the

most

notable works of which are the Sonata for violoncello

and pianoforte. Op. 6

instruments. Op. 7
for pianoforte

violin

and

and

the Serenade for thirteen wiod

the Symphony, Op. 12

pianoforte. Op. 18.

Meiningen, and

there he

the Quartet

and the Sonata for

In 1885 Strauss went to

strings. Op. 13

made

the acquaintance of

Alexander Eitter, by whom he was converted and imbued

with the principles responsible, indirectly if not directly,
for the sensational

and stand agape.

works that have made the world stare

From

Dr. Arthur Seidl, the friend to

Fifth

Germany.

496

whom

Strauss dedicated his Till Eulenspiegel,

&

Sixth

we

learn

some interesting particulars about the composer's mental

He tells us of their
development and tendencies.
hearing at the Munich University courses of lectures on

Schopenhauer (Fr.

aesthetics (Carriere),

history of culture (Eiehl)

and how

Jodl),

and the

in 1889, at the time

of his friendship with Bitter

in the Wagner-Liszt period

of his artistic development,

and the Schopenhauer period

of his intellectual

up as

development

raising his enthusiasm

analysis

Strauss suddenly struck

were a new tune, Dostojevski's Easkolnikov

it

and

and inciting him to psychological

and Gerhart Hauptmann (still

dissection,

in the ante-'

Weber

'

days*) keenly interesting

him on

account of the progressive-naturalistic technique in the

painting

of

later, at

the milieu,

the

presentation

and the refinement of dialogue.

character,

the turning-point of his

life,

human
Some years
of

there occurred a

veering round from Schopenhauer to Nietzsche, in

whom

he became absorbed and found deliverance and recovery,

or

shall we say ? freedom

Genesung).

and health {Loslosung und

was further arrested by

Strauss's attention

John Henry Mackay and his novel The Anarchists, by

Karl Henckell and his social lament the times are
'

forceful,

they bring distress to heart and brain,' and by,

the poet E. Dehmel, the poet, dramatist, and prose-writer

Detlev von Liliencron, and the prose-writers Julius Hart

and Otto Julius Bierbaum.

In short, Strauss bathed in

the troubled waters of modernity, and

modern.

came out an

A circumstance alluded to above deserves

ultra-

more

than an allusion, and authoritative information enables

me

to speak of

came

it

to Meiningen,
*

more

fully.

When

in 1885 Strauss

Hans von Biilow introduced him

Die Weber {The Weavers)

is

one of Hauptmann's plays.

to

Periods.]
his

Richard Strauss.

old friend Alexander

know

The

already.

497

Kitter, whose opinions we

was not slow to perceive the

latter

new

extraordinary talent of his

acquaintance, but also

and youthfulness in more respects than

years. That Strauss was not as yet favourably impressed
by Wagner's music may be easily accounted for by his
his conservatism

violent

father's

anti-Wagnerism.

and develop his views

Eitter

man

the task of showing the young

the

set

himself

way

to clear

of stirring up, not merely the

musician, but the whole intellectual man, to artistic

to

of

Mm

and of awaking in
the notion that in order
attain an object it is necessary to have a mental grasp
it.
By means of Wagner's literary works Kitter

activity

revealed to Strauss the ideas which inspired that master's

Nor was Bitter's influence confined to matters

art-work.

musical.

Schopenhauer's

It extended,, for instance, to

The strength

philosophy.

of Bitter's conviction

and the

ardour of his propagandism were irresistible; indeed,

they were so great as on one occasion to draw from

Strauss the remark that they were
in the

two

soon

Meiningen
and

almost

took

up

grew

and

into

intimate

Munich,

at

daily

intercourse

his abode at

directly suggestive,'

The acquaintanceship

hypnotic sense.

men

they
;

Weimar a

of the

friendship.

and
lively,

were

when

in

At
close

Strauss

long-continued

Later on, unfortunately, an

correspondence followed.
estrangement arose, which, however, had nothing to do
with Strauss's artistic development, as some supposed.
Strauss told the writer of the interesting article on

him

in The Musical Times of January, 1903: 'Bitter was

exceptionally well read in all the philosophers ancient

and modern, and a

influence

man

of the highest culture.

His

He

urged

was in the nature

of a stormwind.

&

[Fifth

Germany.

498

Sixth

me

on to the development of the poetic, the expressive

in music, as exemplified in the works of Liszt, Wagner
and Berlioz.' In short, Eitter stamped him, as Strauss
himself declares, as a progressive musician.

Passing over the songs and operas, and even over

Enoch

melodrama

his

Arden,

38

Op.

and pianoforte accompaniment),

let

us

(recitation

proceed

to

the symphonic works for orchestra of the second, the

programmatic period

and be

it

noted at once that the

nine compositions in question are not uniform in style,

but progressive in regard to complexity, intensity, and

expressiveness.

leave

it

In speaking here of progressiveness

an open

question

whether the progress

or less perfection, to a desirable or

leads to greater

undesirable end.
(I.)

From

Italy,

symphonic

fantasia.

Op. 16 (1886

This work need not detain us;

1887).*

really a

it is

suite of four characteristic pieces, respectively entitled

In

the

Campagna, Amid

the

Ruins of Borne,

By

Strand, and Scenes of Popular Life in Naples.

Sorrento's

We

have

mood and scene with which

composers have made us familiar in fact,

here characteristic pieces of

conservative

the programmes indicated by the titles go but

little

by him Mood
Pictures : (1) On the still tvood path ; (2) At the lonely
spring ; (3) Intermezzo ; (4) Dreaming ; and (5) Heath
Picture. Of course, the means of expression and the force,
sweep, and realism of the expressiveness are very much
beyond those of the composer's Op.

9, called

As the composer himself

symphonic fantasia Aus Italien is the

greater in the later work.

says
*

'

My

Where two

years are given, the

second that of the

is

that of the

first

first

first is

performance.

performance.

that of composition, and the

Where only one year

is

given,

it

Pebiods.]

Richard Strauss.

499

connecting link between the old and the new method.'

In the composition next to be considered quite a different
state of

matters obtains.

Don

(II.)

Juan, tone-poem

Op. 20 (1888; 1889).

Nicolaus Lenau),

(after

Prefixed are

three passages,

altogether thirty-two lines, from Lenau's dramatic

of the

same name.

The

be briefly given as follows

(1)

Don

last

(2)

womanhood, and die

circle of variously

in a kiss on the lips of the

Mortifying individuals he worships the species;

a woman's

breath

fragrance of spring,
air of

may

Juan's desire to rove

through the immeasurable charmed

attractive

poem

gist of the three passages

that

may

to-day seems to

have the

to-morrow be to him

like the

a dungeon ; pressing forward to new and ever new

victories as

beautiful

long as youth's fiery pulses fly;

storm

is

stilled,

(3)

The

the combustible material

consumed, and the hearth has become cold and dark.

programme gives only a few slight

indications of the programme in the mind of the composer.
The printed

In the latter were

many

Besides the generalities

particulars not in the former.

of infinite

ceaseless alternation of passionateness

final exhaustion, there are in

women

amorous

and

desire,

satiety,

and

the music three adventures

and a duel with the

father of one of them, by whose weapon Don Juan falls.
The fatal sword-thrust, represented by a piercing
with

of unlike character,

dissonant high trumpet note,

(III.)

is

famous.

Macbeth, tone-poem (after Shakespeare's drama),

Op. 23 (1887
years before
oi Don Juan,

its

1891).

This work was composed four

publication,

and before the composition

and consequently is the first of the master's

symphonic poems, and properly dedicated to Alexander
Beyond the title, that is beyond the wide
Bitter.

;'

[Fifth

Germany.

500

reference to the drama, there is

to indicate the
'

above the sixth bar

Macbeth

Sixth

This little consists of the word Macbeth

particularities.

'

little

&

Hie

and further on these words of Lady

may pour my spirits

thee hither, that I

and chastise with the valour of my tongue

all that impedes thee from the golden round, which fate
and metaphysical aid doth seem to have thee crown'd
in thy ear,

If a brief account of the

withal.'

wanted, we

may

call

it

an

work as a whole

is

illustration of Macbeth's

character and soul-struggles.

(IV.)

Tod und Verkldnmg (Death and Transfiguration),

tone-poem. Op. 24

This

1890).

(1889;

Don Juan, has a programme prefixed

work,

like

^thirty lines in four

poem. (1) In a poor little

room, dimly lighted, and awfully and ominously silent,
except for the ticking of a clock, there lies on his bed,
divisions, forming a complete

an exhausting desperate struggle with

man, with a smile on his face as if he were

fallen asleep after

death, a sick

dreaming

of childhood's golden time.

(2)

Before long

the battle begins anew between the desire for

life

and

the power of death, but without victory on either side

and again there

is silence.

(3)

Sleepless, as in a fever

delirium, the sufferer sees passing before his inner eye

the rosy

dawn

sport of youth,

of innocent childhood, the

and the ardent

striving of

more daring

manhood

that

turns obstacles into stepping-stones to higher things, the

storm and stress continuing until the hour of death that

now

strikes.

(4)

From heaven

descends towards him,

resounding grandly, what he had longingly sought here

World -redemption and world - transfiguration.

The programme of Tod und Verklarung is not only a
more sufficient guide than that of Don Juan, but also
the most musical of all Strauss's programmes.

below:

Ppbiods.]

Eiclu^rd Strauss.

601

Till Eulenspiegels histige Streiche (Tyll Owlglass's

(V.)

merry pranks)
Nach alter Schelmenweise in Eondeauform (After the old rogue-manner in rondo form);
.

Op. 28 (1895; 1896).

The 14th century hero of tricks

whose fame still flourishes, and whose
immortality is secured by words coined after him not only
in the German, but also in the French language (espiegle
and

and

drolleries,

espieglerie), is

supposed to have been a rustic born at

Kneitlingen in Brunswick, who, after a vagabond

many

life

in

and cursory trials at many trades, died

of the plague at Molln in Lauenburg (four leagues from
Lubeck), in 1350. His tombstone may still be seen. It
however, of the 17th century, but

is,

of

countries

an older one.

The

may be the

renewal

was
was written many

history of his achievements

not written by himself, and

when

it

achievements of others were added to his own.

appeared

in

first

Low German

It

(1483), afterwards in

High German (Strasburg, 1615). The latter may be the

work of Thomas Murner. Now what has Strauss done
with this rude but vigorous and vivacious Volksbuch?
When Dr. Franz Wiillner gave the first performance of
TiU Eulenspiegel's merry pranks at Cologne, he asked
Strauss
the composer for an explanatory programme.
replied
It is impossible for me to furnish a programme
:

'

to Eulenspiegel.

which

its

seldom

me

suffice,

leave

Were

I to put into words the thoughts

several incidents suggested to me, they would

it,

and might even give

therefore, to

rise to offence.

my hearers.to

nut " which the Bogue has provided for them.

of helping

them

sufficient to point

to

Let

" crack the hard

a better imderstanding,

By way
it

seems

out the two Eulenspiegel motives

[they appear at the beginning of the work] , which in the

most manifold

2e

disguises, moods,

and

situations pervade

[Fifth

Germany.

502

&

Sixth

the whole up to the catastrophe, when, after he had been

major seventh F to
G flat), Till is strung up to the gibbet. For the rest, let
them guess at the musical joke which a rogue has
to death (a descending

condemned

The reason given

offered them.'

not carry conviction with

to

have

himself,

felt

unwisdom

for his reticence does

This the composer seems

it.

and he may

have

also

of a policy of concealment.

the

felt

At any rate he

and gave to his

commentator Wilhelm Mauke a score in which the names
of most of the motives were entered with pencil. Here
mind,

subsequently

changed

they are.

(1)

Prologue.

a rogue.'

(2)

Of the name of "

his

That was a mischievous

pranks.

(5)

Wait

Once upon a time there was

'

Till

sprite.

Eulenspiegel."

you hypocrite

(3)

Away for new

on
(6) Hop

(4)

horseback through the midst of the market women!

With seven-league boots he makes

(7)

in a mouse-hole.

(9)

with unction and morality.

out from the great toe.

(10)

tender

religion.

civilities

them he has

A polite

(15)

away

in a rage.J

whole

(12)

with pretty

Till

human

But the rogue peeps

(17)

of the

as cavalier exchanging

girls.

(13)
(14)

With one

He

refusal is also a refusal.

race.

Hidden

him on account

really fallen in love.

her.

(8)

(11) Before the end, however,

a secret horror takes hold of

mockery of

off.

Disguised as a pastor he overflows

of

proposes to
(16)

[Turns

Swears to take vengeance on the

(18) Philistine motive.

(19) After

proposing to the Philistines a couple of

monstrous

theses,
(20)

he abandons the dumbfounded ones to their

Great grimace from afar.

(vulgar street

song).

and collared by the

He

(22)

bailiff]

fate.

(21) Till's Gassenhauer

[Watched by catch-poles,
(23)

The judgment.

whistles to himself with indifference.

(25)

Up

(24)

the

Periods.]
ladder

Richard Strauss.

There he

a last quiver.

To

this

swinging, his breath has gone out,

is

All that is mortal of Till is ended.

What

[Epilogue.

603

(26)

immortal, his humour, remains.]'

is

has to be added only one remark, namely, that

the Straussite commentators hold that the composer had

more in his mind than he confessed in the above, that

he aimed at something higher than the mere illustration
of a rogue's pranks.
(VI.) Also spmc/iZaraifettstJ-a (Thus spake Zarathustra),
tone-poem (treated freely after Friedrich Nietzsche),

Op. 30 (1896

1896).

seems strange that a musician

It

But

should go for a subject to a philosopher's book.

going to Nietzsche
Descartes,

not the same as going to Aristotle,

or Kant.

Nevertheless

works that yearn

for musical treatment.

although the poetical element in

it is

was
For,

may be predominant,

it

impossible to eliminate the unmusical philosophical

element

without

former.

An

obscuring

explanation

improves the situation, as

of

venture

the

Zarathustra cannot be numbered with those

strange.
literary

is

Strauss wrote in 1896

philosophy implied.

philosophical

not intend to write

Nietzsche's great

it

and denaturalizing the

by the composer hardly
fails to reduce the amount

work musically.

music
I

or

meant

musically an idea of the development of the

'

I did

portray

to convey

human

race

from its origin, through the various phases of development,

religious as well as scientific,

the

Uebenmnsch [superman]

who has nothing whatever

Zarathustra (Zoroaster),
of the gospel of the

that

....

to Nietzsche's idea of

Nietzsche's Zarathustra,
to

do with the Persian

a superman and a preacher

superman.

'

Man

is

a something

What have ye done to overWhat is the ape for man? A

must be overcome.

come him

is

up

.'

[Fifth

Germany.

504

Man must

laughing-stock or a sore shame.

&

Sixth

be the

same for the superman, a laughing-stock or a sore

shame .... I conjure you, my brethren, remain
faithful to the earth, and do not believe those who speak
unto you of super-terrestrial hopes
Poisoners they are
whether they know it or not.'
Apart from what
!

Strauss

untouched, there

left

the book and the

symphony

us a complete superman

As

development.

between

Nietzsche brings before

Strauss, one

in course of

to the contents of the

composer's

no means at one. According

Arthur Hahn, Strauss begins with depicting a man

work
to

is this difference

who

his expounders are by

inquires into the solution of the world problem and

the riddle of existence, and seeks in vain salvation in

and in science, all of

which shows as much Faustian as specific Nietzschian
religion, in the whirlpool of life,

spirit.

The symphonist, we are

development of the higher

personality

and

his

work

subjective meditations
his book.

is

told, depicts for us the

man
an

to the Zarathustra

artistic deposit

from his

and thoughts on Nietzsche and

Dr. Arthur Seidl will hear nothing of the

'Faustian longing for knowledge,' nothing of the stupid

wearisome

'

solution of the world riddle

'

but he, too,

on the preliminary degrees, the stages of feeling

in the process of purification by which the tone-poet

dwells

leads the growing Zarathustra to the perfection of the

superman.

But what indications does the composer

programme in his mind? On the one

give us of the

hand, there

is

a preface, a quotation of the opening of

Nietzsche's book, but this is in no

On

way a programme.

the other hand, however, the composer supplies

something

like

a programme by superscriptions that

occur in the course of the work.

Here they are with a

Periods.]

Richard Strauss.

505

few elucidations in square brackets (1) Of the Backworlds Men [the believers in a beyond of the worlds]
:

(2)
(4)

Of the great Longing. (3) Of Joys and Passions.

The Grave-Song [over his earlier self]. (5) Of

Science. (6) The Convalescent. (7) [The Dance Song.

The superman has thrown off the burdens of the
common man]
(8) The Night Song, or Drunken Song.
.

['

Eternity of

So rich

things

all

sought by

is

delight that

is

it

all delight

thirsteth for me, for hell, for

hatred, for shame, for the cripple, for world, for this

world

(VII.)
tions,

Oh, ye know

Don

it.']

Quixote [Introduction, theme with varia-

and Finale]

Fantastic variation on a theme of

Op. 35 (1897

chivalrous character.

programme
title,

prefixed to this

work

1898).

There

is

no

and, apart from the

the composer vouchsafes only two programmatic

indications

namely, two

with the theme

'

Don

Sancho Panza'
The Introduction may be regarded as

Countenance,' above the

above the second.

a picture of

Don

superscriptions in connection

Quixote, the Knight of the Eueful

first half,

and

'

Quixote before the days of his knight-

errantry, a picture of the state of his mind, full of the

ideas imbibed from his beloved romances of chivalry.

the variations are described

some

In

of the achievements

Gentleman, Don Quixote of la Mancha.

has been devised for them.
programme
The following
How far the composer is responsible for it, I do not know.
of the Ingenious

(1)

First Sally, Dulcinea del Toboso,

Don

the Windmills.

(2)

sheep, believing

them

Emperor Alifanfaron.
and his

squire.

(4)

and adventure

of

Quixote charges a flock of

to be the

army

of the mighty

(3) Colloquies between the knight

Don Quixote's

assault of the pilgrims

bearing a covered image, which he took for a great lady

carried

away by

force.

&

[Fifth

Germany.

506

The knight's watch

(5)

Sixth
of his

Sancho Panza's assertion that a certain

woman was Dulcinea, and Don Quixote's
indignation.
(7) Eide through the air, while, with
bandaged eyes, they were in reality remaining stationary
arms.

(6)

vulgar peasant

on a wooden horse.

The enchanted bark.

(8)

(9)

Encounter with the two sorcerers, who, however, are

only harmless priests. (10) Combat with the Knight of
the shining Moon.

Finale

Don

Quixote's end.

These

variations are fantasias on a theme, not variations in

the original acceptation of the word.

This might be

concluded, without looking at the contents, from the

But, of course, no

great differences in the length.

one would expect from Strauss Haydn-Mozart variations,

which indeed

lie

a long

way behind us,

and Brahms make obvious.

Strauss's

Don

has been said that

Quixote was a reaction from the high

idealism of Zarathustra ; but

it is

It

as even Beethoven

it

has also been said that

something more than a mere series of comic scenes.

Here, then,

in

connection

with

Strauss's

fantastic

variations, repeats itself the old discussion about the

deeper meaning of Cervantes's book, the fundamental

idea of which, according to some,

between the

and

spirit of

is

the eternal contrast

poetry and prose, between ideality

reality.

(VIII.)

Ein Heldenleben (A

Op. 40 (1898;

hero's

life),

a tone-poem.

work has no printed

programme nor any other programmatic indications.
The ideas in the composer's mind, however, are not
1899).

This

difficult to divine or even to understand ; and moreover

have been indicated by authorized commentaries. The

general outline

is

Hero's Opponents.

(1) The Hero.

(2) The
The Hero's female companion.

as follows
(3)

Periods.]

Richard Strauss.

507

The Hero's battlefield. (5) The Hero's works of peace.

The Hero's renouncement of the world and perfection.
Ein Heldenleben has given rise not only to prose commen(4)

(6)

taries, but also to a descriptive, or rather transcriptive

poem, the author of which is Eberhard Konig. Not-

withstanding the realistic battle-picture contained in

the composition, and the idealizing and generaUzing
features in the conception,

we cannot be

saying that Strauss himself

truth in

far off the

the

is

hero of

Ein Heldenleben.
(13y__^ife2mdedication

2!fl**e.

is significant

'

To

Op.

(1904). ~

53

my dear wife

The
and our boy.'

and the dedication are the only hints we get

as to the composer's programme. This 20th century
symphony, which in form and content has nothing of
the 18th and 19th century symphony, is a family idyll
in which husband, wife, and child are the sole dramatis
The

title

personce.

It is

a picture-book of domestic portraiture

and incidents, conceived and executed with a happy,"

admring, and proud husband and father's sympathy
and enthusiasm. We might also call it Family joys,
:

An

woes, contrarieties, and humours.

Strauss relates that

of

it illustrates

interviewer of

a day in the family

Madame, Monsieur, and Bebe.

life

The authorized

synopsis of the work (which consists of a continuity of

movements) runs as follows

'Introduction

and developtnent of the three principal

Themes of the husband themes of

groups of themes
the wife

themes of the

Scherzo:

child.

Parental happiness;

the child at play;

lullaby (the clock strikes 7 p.m.).

Adagio

Doing and thinking ; Love-scene

and cares ^the clock

strikes 7 a.m.).

Dreams

[Fifth

Germany.

508
Finale:

Waking and merry

&

Sixth

dispute (double fugue);

joyful conclusion.

The time has not yet come

for a final

judgment on

In twenty years, perhaps in ten, we

with the calm, if not with the
able
speak
shall be
to

Eichard Strauss.

absolute impartiality, which a fair judgment presupposes.

As yet the

object is too new, too strange, too near, to

justify the

hope of attaining such a desideratum.

few

critical

remarks, without any pretension to

finality,

may, however, not be out of place and unwelcome to the

reader.
There are two of Strauss's symphonic poems
that have found wider acceptance than any of the
others.
These two are Death and Transfiguration and

As both works are decidedly modern

and means employed, it cannot be said
that the people who prefer them are old-fashioned. We
Till Eulenspiegel.

in feeling, form,

have therefore to look for another explanation, and

I

think

we

shall find

it,

in the case of the former work,

in the thoroughly musical nature of the subject and in

the sincerity of the treatment.

other hand,

most

is

a jeu

delightful

d'eSprit,

imaginable,

Till Eulenspiegel,

and

eccentricities

extravagances would there be readily forgiven

required forgiveness.

music

arise

from

The
the

on the

one of the cleverest and

objections

made

increasing

if

and
they

to Strauss's

admixture

of

unmusicalness and insincerity in his compositions, which

undoubtedly contain so

much

that

is

truly beautiful and

As every one knows,

it is widely believed that the master himself looks upon
his tone-poems as huge jokes played upon the public.
I
have heard many musicians by no means of the
pedantic,
reactionary, and milk-and-water
kind
truly expressive in the best sense.

express this view with conviction.

Strauss denies the

Richard Strauss.

Periods.]
inBinuation

But

it is

spread.

the

and, of course,

own

his

we must

fault that the belief

He seems

509
accept his word.

has sprung up and

an irresistible itch

to have

to provoke

amazement and the horror of the multitude. He

to have retained in him something of the

seems

burschikos character, something of the

young university

student, who, revelling in the belief of his superiority,

loots

down upon those he

tires of

calls Philistines,

laughing and tilting at them.

superiority of these

than

foundation

and never

But, alas

the

young men has mostly no better

and the so-called

self-deception,

Philistines comprise in reality not only dullards but also

wise men,

men

have learned to

that know the measure of things, and

winnow chaff from grain. Indeed, this

feeUng of superiority
generally thrown off

a rest of childishness that

spirit

painting,

the

that dictated

material

is

the youth becomes a man, or

when the man reaches years

at least

The

is

when

and

of discretion.

extravagances of tone-

metaphysical

for

instance,

the cacophonies of the battle in Ein Heldenleben and

the bleating sheep variation in Don Quixote, and the
conundrums of Zarathustra may also be seen in an

unpublished

title

and

published

note.

Strauss

TiU Eulenspiegelihia sub-title

Symphonic Optimism in Jin de siecle form ; dedicated to
the 20th century.' And a note to a song, which ends a
originally intended to give
'

semitone higher than

who wish

it

begins, runs thus:

to perform this little

'Singers

composition before the

termination of the 19th century are at liberty simply

to ignore the new signature and remain comfortably
in

the

opening key,

so

as

to

soothe their artistic

conscience in regard to the formal correctness of the

The out and out admirers of Strauss, the
conclusion.'

[Fifth

Germany.

510

enragSs, call this sort of thing genial, that

it

mark

as a

of genius

is,

Sixth

look upon

whereas in reality

has already been said, something very

&

it

is,

as

which

different,

might be euphemistically described as too excessively

However, of the Kraftgenies, the storm and

youthful.

stress geniuses, for

exalted

by

easily

a while gaped at by the

inflammable brains, time and history

have the habit of making short

may

say, as

'Heaven preserve
they

make

Eiesenfeld,

many

me

But we should

shrift.

am now

not leave un-noted what I

Strauss

many and

going to mention.

a one has said before him,

from

my

friends.'

for him make him ridiculous.

who had written a soul-analysis
*

The claims
Thus Paul
'

of Eichard

Strauss, writes that the composer expostulated with him,

and
too

told him that he had interpreted into him (Strauss)

much philosophy, and thereby had led many a one

into the

temptation of seeking

philosophy in his works.

still

more and more

Indeed, Strauss maintains

on the contrary that he is 'altogether and always a

musician for whom all programmes are only suggestions
for new forms and nothing more.'
Of course, Strauss,

He

to escape from Scylla, falls here into Charybdis.

exaggerates, I

am

glad to say.

If

he spoke quite

truly,

he might be a musician, but could not be a tone-poet,

and the use of the word tone-poem would be a sham.

same view to a London

who signs himself C. K.'* He said
The
poetical programme serves but to give an impulse to the
discovery of new forms. The programme is a poetical
help in creating new shapes. To use an extreme illusStrauss, however, expressed the

interviewer

tration, one

'

might draw inspiration from this pianoforte

* The account of a later American inteiviewer

with C. E. s.

is also

in agreement

Pebiods.]

Richard Strauss.

You have

stool.

to find the musical equivalent for the

On

programme.'

poetical

511

being

asked whether he

sketched a definite programme, Strauss replied : ' Yes,

with a view to giving it musical shape. You must not
forget,

however, that

programme.

After

hand; music

may

course,

it is

a musician who casts the

poetry and music work hand in

all,

represent any feature of

we cannot

life.'

Of

hold Strauss responsible for every

word of this report

nor

is

an informal conversation in

the course of a crowded day the best

forth one's aesthetic principles,

even under the most

mode

of setting

which setting forth

favourable conditions,

is,

a most

and risky proceeding. But taking the above

quotations to be in the main correct, we cannot but be
struck by the stress laid on forms and shapes, and the

difficult

lack of dififerentiation in the subjects of the

The pianoforte

stool,

programmes.

even as an extreme illustration, is an

unfortunate example. Perhaps the meaning of the obscure

the composer chooses and constructs

programmes with a view to a musically effective
The following remarks of Strauss's,
collocation of parts.
coming from a tone-poet, are somewhat puzzling,
saying is that

his

although of course the

first

statement

is

supremely true,

and should be taken to heart by admirers of the chaotic

'The musical poem must have hands and feet, so to
speak J must be ship-shape musically considered. Let

him who

likes look

on

it

merely as a musical work of art.

In Don Quixote, for instance, I show how a man goes

mad over vain imaginings. But I do not wish to compel
any listener to think of Don Quixote when he hears it.
He may conceive it as absolute music if it suits him.'
Strange, a tone-poet

who

are understood or not

does not care whether his ideas

[Fifth

Germany.

512

&

Sixth

Strauss says truly that a composer must be a master

must not only have something

of his craft,

know how

to say, but

He, however, enunciates

also
doubtful, nay pernicious doctrines when he continues
thus ' For me absolute beauty or ugliness does not
exist in music.
What is truly and sincerely felt, and
to say

it.

then faithfully and properly reproduced,

directly aim at expressing the ugly

may

achievement

may now

music;

in

Does the composer

is.

succeed in musically representing what he aims

that which

is

Therein

ugly ?

Amateurishness

the

be considered beautiful ten or fifty

The question

years hence.

beautiful.

is

Ideas of beauty are constantly changing.

is ugly.'

statement will be readily

always beautiful ?

even

lies aesthetic justification.

The concluding part of this

accepted. But is masterliness

should say,

at,

it

may

be always

The
and must be qualified.
Not every ugliness is admissible, and every ugliness
admitted has to be aestheticized. This calls up a remark
He is reported to have said
of Strauss's on dissonance.
consider
a dissonance to-day, may seem
What we
smooth beauty to some of those who will come after us,
or appear tame and pallid to others.
The taste of the
ear varies and changes in development.' This is, on the
not always beautiful.

admirable, but certainly

is

use of the ugly in art

limited

is

whole, true enough, but the statement does not present

the problem fully.

it is intelligible,

consonance

is

Dissonance

that

is,

is

endurable in so far as

in so far as its relationship to

understood

power of this intelligence

(felt)

is

by the hearer.

We learn to dispense with the preparation

of dissonances,

and to put up with delayed resolutions.

unintelligible

to

one

The

increased by experience.

generation

may

be

What

is

perfectly

Periods.]

Bichard Strauss.

intelligible to another.

follow that

it is

From

impossible to

this,

make

$13
however,

does not

it

too great a

demand

on the endurance and the intelligence of the ear. And,

then, dissonance by itself, unrelated dissonance, will
always be unintelligible and unendurable.
Neither
genius nor time can raise dissonance to the independence

The

of consonance.

overthrown,

rules of the schoolmaster can be

not the

many examples

laws of nature.

Now,

to

Ein Heldenleben

notorious battle of

in the

take one of

the composer treats dissonance as

independent, self-sufficient, and the unavoidable result
is

noise not tone, a charivari not music, indeed nothing

by the greatest stretch of the imagination can

The effect produced is certainly
realistic, and Strauss' s battle may be more like a real
battle than any musical battle picture ever conceived.
But cui bono?
What art-lover is the richer or the
that even

be called music.

better for

it

Where

is its aesthetic justification ?

Who

wants a realistic reproduction of discord unrelieved

by harmony, ugliness unrelieved by beauty?
sane and healthy.
specially

genius

with

outrageous

case

of

misapplication

and maltreatment of a noble

innumerable

and more

passing

Not the

Besides this specially glaring and

objectionable

nature

cases

art,

of

of

we meet
a

milder

with things that cannot

or ought not to be expressed, with

ways

of expression

that are not in accordance with the nature of music,

which must obey the law of dissonance and cannot

very well do without tonality.
As to wh^t cannot
be

expressed,

take,

for

instance, the conclusion

of

The contradictory tonaUties B

C major are intended, we are told by the comiifientators,

Zarathustra.

major apd

to signify a purely intellectual concept, the world

problem

Germany.

514

man

facing

still

at the height of his

But the music

wisdom.
thought at

[Fifth

all, for

&

Sixth

knowledge and

not the expression of the

is

thought and expression have here only

one subsidiary quality in common, that of opposition and

In short, Strauss has made use of an

exclusiveness.

arbitrary non-conventional symbolism, which leaves the

Eegarded

bearer unlimited freedom of interpretation.

as absolute music, the passage in question cannot be

defended

it is

justifiable only

by a poetic idea

idea should be at least guessable, and

if it is

but this

not, ought

by the composer. Strauss,

of dissonance and tonality, has,

to be verbally indicated

ignoring

laws

the

however, not only written series of dissonant intervals

and chords, and any consecution of keys, he has also

done what goes far beyond these ventures, he has even
combined different keys simultaneously (like D and
E flat), has combined what of necessity is mutually
exclusive.
If in this way a valuable effect is produced
without the hearer becoming conscious of the device,

its

legitimacy might perhaps be admitted for discussion;

but

the hearer

if

becomes conscious

discussion is out of

condemnation

can be

the

question

strong

the device,

of

and no words

enough.

Strauss

of

has

furnished cases of both kinds.

Belated to the abuse of dissonance

for increasing the

of

making

it

orchestra,

more

uproarious

In a Heroic Symphony we
for

flutes,

clarinet,

chiefly

may

and

the mania

is

for

the purpose
ear-splitting.

perhaps find excuse

3 oboes, cor anglais, 3 clarinets, 1 bass

bassoons,

double

bassoon,

horns,

5 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tenor tuba and 1 bass tuba,

a strong force of percussion instruments, and the usual

strings

but

we cannot help wondering at the employment

Richard Strauss.

Pbeiods.]

Symphony

in a Domestic

instruments

including,

515

number

of even a greater

of

besides the strings, 2 harps,

2 oboes, 1 oboe d'amore, 4 clarinets, 1 bass

4 bassoons, 1 double bassoon, 4 saxophones,
8 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 bass tuba, 4 kettle-

flutes,

clarinet,

drums, triangle, tambourine, glockenspiel, cymbals, and

big drum.

There must be something wrong here.

suspicion of

mania

proportion between
extraordinary.

who clamoured

arises

means and

is

begins

Not long ago I read a letter of a composer

for

more instruments in the

getting tired of colour

to

dis-

subject is ridiculously

orchestra, in

The

public,

and nothing but

colour,

order to obtain a greater variety of colour.

which

The

The

quite naturally.

clamour

design, above

for

for ideas.

all

Moreover, variety and beauty of colour depend more on

treatment than on number.
the brush,

Study the great masters of

oh ye ambitious musical

see that their greatness

is

colourists

You

will

by the number

not calculable

on their palettes.
The root of the mischief with Strauss and other

of colours

composers of to-day

is

in the false ideal they worship, in

that boasted modernity, of

German

species.

which there

The fundamental

is

fault of

a particular

in music

it

perhaps more than in literature and the other arts is

extravagance in thought, sentiment, and imagination, in
line,

of

mass, colour, sonority, and form.

The worshippers

modernity regard as commonplace and unworthy of

the attention of any but Philistines, the normal, natural,

healthy, simple, temperate, graceful, harmonious, and

well-balanced;

and take

eccentric,

morbid,

grotesque,

swaggering,

colossal, wildly jagged,

delight

complicated,
strutting,

the

abnormal,

violent,

delirious,

in

flamboyant,

and even monstrous.

noisy,

Modernity,

[Fifth

Germany.

516
not Nietzsche,

is

&

Sixth

the parent of the superman, and the

music that boasts of its modernity is his music. As to

that magnificent superman with the abolished God, the

transvaluation of

and

evil,

values leading to a beyond of good

all

and the ultra-individualism of the strong and

Herrenmoral that

its

is

a law unto

itself

he

is

but a

poor, pitiable creature, a weakling with a swelled head.

These moderns would say something never said before

and say
is

an altogether new manner.

in

it

the highest an artist can achieve.

done by

no

will, it

This, no doubt,

But

it

cannot be

must come spontaneously. No excess,

can make up for the want of

extravagance

spontaneous originality, nay,

but the former

brutally exercised,

good, not to do
half-truths

even

kill

or spoil the

Force and freedom are noble

originality that exists.

qualities,

it will

and the

should not be brute force

latter should

be freedom to do

Notwithstanding the truths and

evil.

of Nietzsche's work,

notwithstanding the

beauties and half-beauties of Strauss's, the former as

philosophy and the latter as music are as a whole

At best each

indigestible.

is,

historically considered,

but yeast for leavening or lymph for inoculation.

itself it
life

is

corruption,

disease.

In

Nietzsche ended his

For Strauss may be predicted

a phase of full maturity and perfect

in a lunatic asylum.

a better fate

sanity.

There have been and there are composers who speak

disdainfully of

an

existing style, simply because they are

without the talent and training that would enable them

to succeed in

the fable

who

it.

They are

in the position of the fox in

called the grapes sour that

hung

He

too high

for

him.

by

his early works that he can write effectively in the old

Strauss

is

not one of these.

has proved

R. StramsMahler.

Periods.]
style,

and he has proved by

the stuff in

him

his

517

newer works that he has

to develop that style.

This we see from

the heightened expressiveness of his music, emotionally

and

and from the

descriptively,

masterly

handling

of

all

virtuosic

and truly

the resources of the art.

Consequently we look upon him with hope and great

expectations, and implore him not to throw away his pen,
not to return to earlier methods, but to proceed onward
in a soberer spirit and a more single-hearted manner, in
short, to commence his third period, where, will be
manifested the natural Strauss, purified from the dross

that

clung to the gold in the second period.

still

We now come

to a contemporary

personality of a very different cast.

{b.

1860), the

famous conductor, ls~aIso' a notable

composer, in fact, the symphonist

younger

and ultra-modern

GUSTAV MAHLEE

men has

who among

the

next to Strauss caused the greatest

That he was a pupil of Bruckner's is not

The works that concern us are four in
number, and bear the plain designation of symphony.'
The executive forces of the second symphony comprise,
sensation.

insignificant.

'

band of instrumentalists, two solo voices

and a chorus, and those of the third, which is more
especially regarded as programme music, a solo voice
and vocal choirs of difi'erent constitution.
Mahler
revels in expanse and volume, at least does so from the
second symphony onward.
As Weingartner remarks,
those who at the Berlin performance of his symphony
called the first movement a monstrosity (UncUng), may
not have taken in at all the principal theme in its vast
dimensions, and consequently still less the developments.
But the same authority points out the thoroughly
musical character and strong emotional qualities of
besides a large

2r,

[Fifth

Germany.

518

&

Sixth

Mahler's works as well as their colossal breadth and the

enormous apparatus employed. The reader has made

some acquaintance with Strauss's views of music and
programme music in particular, and cannot but have
found them rather reckless and uncertain. He will fare
still

worse with Mahler's vague and groping effusion on

The following curious remarks of

his refer to the second symphony in C minor (1895).
'You are right,' he writes to Dr. Arthur Seidl, 'my music
has ultimately recourse to the programme as a last
ideal elucidation, while with Strauss the programme lies
before him as a task
When I conceive a grand
musical structure I always come to a point where I am
the

same

subject.

obliged to call the " word " to

my

aid as bearer of

my

Somewhat like this it must have been with

Beethoven in his ninth symphony only that his time
could not yet furnish him with the suitable materials
for, at bottom, Schiller's poem is not able to formulate
the unheard-of that was in his mind
What
took place in connection with the last movement of my
second symphony (in C minor) is simply this I searched
musical idea.

....

through the whole world of literature up to the Bible

in order to find the redeeming

word

....

Deeply

significant for the nature of the artistic creation is the

way

in which I received the inspiration.

Even then

entertained the intention of having recourse to

the

chorus in the last movement, and only the fear that

this

might be regarded as an external imitation of

Beethoven made

me

hesitate again

and again.

At

this

time Billow died, and I attended the funeral service in

Hamburg. The frame of mind in which I sat there

and thought of the departed one, was very much in the
spirit of the work I carried about with me.
Then the

i'EEiODS.]

Mahler.

519

choir in the gallery intoned the chorale Auferstehen

(Thou shalt rise again, rise again from the dead). This

Btruek
to

me

like lightning,

For

me.

that is the

'

and everything became

this lightning the creative artist

What

holy conception.'

clear

waits

then experienced

had next to create in tones. And yet, if I had not

abeady borne this work within me, how could I have
I

....

experienced this?

always
only

only

when

when

And

so

with

is

it

me

I experience do I poetize in tones

I poetize in tones do I experience

....

Schopenhauer somewhere makes use of the simile of

who dig into a lode from opposite sides,

and then meet on the subterranean road. This seems

two miners
to

me

my

to describe

relation to Strauss excellently.'

To supplement this information let me add first that

Mahler is an enemy of explanatory programmes and
programme-books.

however,

This,

prevents

may

himself from composing what

neither

rightly be called

programme music, nor others from writing comments on

the compositions which he leaves without comments. I
ehall not follow the

commentators, but confine myself to

The fourth of the five divisions of

symphony contains a novelty, a song, entitled

a few brief remarks.

the second

Urlicht (Primeval light), the

words of which are taken

from Des Knaben Wtmderhorn.

In the

last

division

enters the choral element already alluded to in the above-

quoted confession of Mahler's.

It has been ^eaid tbai

whereas in the second symphony the composer

at the idea of

a future

life,

(P major) to the problem of

ment of natural
highest

force

respectively of one

life

in nature

from the most

articulation.

and

airei^es

he introduces us in the third

This

the

work has two

five parts.

develop-

rigid matter to the

divisions,

In the third part of

[Fifth

Germany.

520

&

Sixth

the second division a contralto voice sings Nietzsche's

words

Mensch

Mensch !

Lust will Ewigkeit, will

.'....

tiefe, tiefe

Dock

alle

Ewigkeit, the roundelay

end of the Drunken Song in Zarathustra. Besides

the contralto voice there are heard in the fourth part a
at the

and a three-part female choir. Here again

the composer goes to Des Knaben Wiinderhorn for the

boys' choir

words, choosing this time

'

Es swngen

drei Engel einetC

Of the fourth symphony (G major), a

Years ago Mahler had
composed the song " Das himmlische Leben." Moved by

siissen Sang.'

friend of the composer's says

'

the delightful childlike representation of this heavenly

he

life,

distant,

felt

transported into a like supremely serene,

and strange sphere, and developed symphonically

the thematic material that arose out of the quite peculmf

The curious mental processes indioMed

by Mahler's confession and the notes that follow''^ offer
world of feeling.'

food for reflection, but need not detain us now.

ever, I will not conceal the fact that they in
excite

my

admiration.

Another famous
E.

Howno way

Strauss

is

and

conductor

contemporary

FELIX WEINGAETNEE

(6.

of

1863).

His compositions have obtained a sueces d'estime, but

hardly more. They consist of operas, songs, concerted

chamber and orchestral works. Among the last are two

symphonies and two symphonic poems King Lewr and
Die Gefilde der Seligen (The abodes of the blessed).
Arnold Bocklin's picture of the same designation in the
Berlin National Gallery inspired the second of the latter

two works.
after

From

Weingartner's book on the Symphony

Beethoven we see that he

against

programme music.

point of view, there

are

is
'

neither a fanatic for nor

Seen from a very high

perhaps

after

all

not two

Periods.]

WeingartnerWolfHumperdinck.

tendencies, but only one.'

That

is to say,

521

not absolute

and programme music, but only good music. He rejects

the perverse, artificial, and therefore inartistic offshoots
of both tendencies, thinking them closely akin and
qua]ly bad.

And now a few

HUGO WOLF

poser of songs, whose

and, what

sadder

is

symphonic poem,
Kleist's

drama

(b.

came

life
still,

now

the
to

notabilities.

celebrated com-

an end so prematurely

in a lunatic asylum, wrote a

inspired by Heinrich
name, a poem Wolf admired

Penthesilea,

of that

ENGELBEET

Of

passionately.

on

brief additional notes

(1860-1903),

HUMPEEDINCK

1864) there should here be mentioned especially his

great achievement

melodrama. Die Kanigskinder,

in

where by means of

'

speech-notes

'

(notes with star-

shaped heads) he indicates tempo, rhythm, and cadence

of the

says

In

declamation.
'

his

prefatory

The speech-notes employed

remarks

he

in the melodramatic

parts are intended to bring into unison the

rhythm and

accents of the heightened speech (the melody of the

accompanying music'

speech verses) with the

procedure, however,

is

not

perhaps impossible, but even

would not be

satisfactory.

extremely

only
if

successfully

BETJTHEN

An
(6.

realized

You must choose between

the accents of speech and those of music

combined.

This

difficult,

older composer,,

they cannot be

HE INEICH

SjGRIJLZ-

1838), a fdlower of Liszt, deserves a

place Here on account

tions-, -but

of the

interesting

nature

no^of the

succesETof his composi-

seriousness of his striving and the

of

the

subjects

treated

by him.'

Besides eight symphonies^ some pf jyhich have

titles

(Fair "Iliizabeth, Eeformation, King Xear, &c.), and a

Heroic aiii^an Alhambra Sonata, he has written the

[Fifth

Germany.

522

&

Sixth

symphonic poem Die Toteninsel (inspired no doubt by

The Isle of the Dead '), the overtures

Chriemhilda's Woe and Revenge, the Dionysian Procession of Bacchantes, and Pan <md the Wood Nymphs,

Bocklin's picture

and

the

'

orchestral

Popular

Am

Scenes,

Episodes,

Rabenstein

distinguished

Mediaeval

the

(At

and Indian War Dance.

execution),

strivers

Ball

pieces

place

of

Another of the

among the multitude of scantily encouraged

AUGUST BUNGEET

is

dramatic tetralogy The Homeric

{b.
1846), whose
World and plan of

founding, in imitation of Bayreuth, a Festspielhams of

his

own

on the Bhine, have been the

Here we have to do only with an
Tasso and the symphonic poems Auf der

at Godesberg,

subjects of

overture

much

talk.

Wartbwrg and Das hohe Lied der Liebe. Of the many

young composers who write programme music I shall

mention only six more FEITZ VOLBACH (b. 1861)

and his symphonic poems Easter (for organ and orchestra),

Es waren

zwei

(There were two

Kbnigskikder

royal

and Alt Heidelberg du Peine (A spring poem) ;

and his symphonic
(&. 1862)

children)

PEIEDEICH KLOSE
poem

in three parts,

Dream

Life

(for

orchestra,

organ, female voices, and declamation), and the dramatic

symphony

Ilsebill;

his symphonic
fantasias

MAX SCHILLINGS

prologue

The Ocean

to

glitters

{b.

1868) and

symphonic
The
and
Sea-morning, and
CEddpus,

the

the melodramatic treatment of Wildenbruch's Hexenlied

LEO BLECH

(6.

,-

1871) and his symphonic poems The

Nwi, Consolation in Nature,

and Forest Excursion,-

SIEGMUND HAUSEGGEE

1872) and his Dionysian

(b.

Fantasia and symphonic poems Barbarossa (1902) and

Wielwnd

the

Smith (1904); and

and his four tone-poems

EENST BOHE

entitled

(6.

1880)

The Travels of Odysseus.

'

Periods.]

SchvXz-Beuthen

Hausegger.

523

My

account of programme music will be appropriately

brought to a close by the views of one of the youngest
of the above composers, the son of Friedrich von

Hausegger, the author of that excellent book Musik aU

Ausdruck (Music as expression).

Siegmund von Hausegger distinguishes between

descriptive programme music, which represents external
occurrences, and programme music that has its origin
in poetic suggestions, and expresses internal occurrences.
He exemplifies the two kinds respectively by Berlioz's
Symphonie fantastique, and Liszt's Faiist Symphony.
Whilst confessing himself a believer in the second kind,

he admits that the boundaries of the two are often

way

confused, a^nd that the

only found circuitously by the

Hausegger informs me,

with
for

my

experiences.

'

to

the

first.

'

second

is

often

My compositions,'

are always in closest connection

These experiences, however, are

the most part not something spontaneous, but as

it

were the ultimate outcome of a strongly marked funda-

mental mood dominating a whole period.

the

Dionymcm Fantasia

first

Thus

I wrote

at the special suggestion of the

conscious apprehension of the creative Dionysian

moment

as

it

was revealed

to

me by

Nietzsche's Geburt

der TragodAe (The Birth of Tragedy), but at the

same

time also as a comprehensive expression of the transcendentalism of

my

youth.

Again, as the outcome of

national enthusiasm, caused by brutal attempts of the

Slavic majority to suppress German nationality in Austria,
I wrote the

symphonic poem Barbarossa.

the year of

my betrothal,

I wrote

And,

lastly, in

Wieland der Schmied,

as a glorification of the inner deliverance by love

Hausegger explains his attitude towards the programme

as follows. ' By an experience a current of feeling is set

[Fifth

Germany.

624

free that yearns to vent itself.

&

Sixth

That this current may

not spread out indefinitely, but be embanked, and

made

had
meaning

to take a direction visible to everyone, recourse is

to a poetic train of thought that transforms the

and nature

of the experience that gave the first impulse

This train

a poetically perceived picture.

into

thought

is for

of

the music a form-giving principle, but

rhythm may be

identified

with that of the musical fundamental mood.

All the

only in so

far, I think, as its

purely intellectual and purely pictorial, which would

manner foreign
Hence external

influence the form of the music in a

to

its

has to be excluded.

nature,

occurrences concern music only in so far as they are

phenomena
is

the

of psychic occurrences,

task

of

music

to

in which case

the

express

latter,

it

but

The development of my
Barharossa plan may serve as an example. First there
came to me the general suggestion from life
the
contentions between the Germans and Slavs, which
awoke my national enthusiasm. This feeling remained
not to depict the former.

unfruitful in

me

until there resulted

from

it its

vesture

in the poetic symbol of the Barharossa legend

distress of the people, the

the

longing after deliverance,

desperate but vain struggling, the weird romanticism

that hovers

around

the

magic

hill,

the

touchingly

sublime picture of the sleeping hero (who represented

to

me

the glory and grandeur of the

German

people)

surrounded by his faithful ones, the impressive moment

when the

hill

opened and the Emperor heading his hosts

rode forth into the young day and clanging fanfares

announced freedom to the enslaved people, the decisive

battle, and, at last, triumph and the invigoration of the

German

spirit

all this

represented to

me

total

of

Periods.]

Miscellaneous.

525

suggestions so definite that the feelings awakened by

them could give birth to my composition. Thus the
quite general suggestion determined what I wrote
and the second suggestion, derived from a series of poetic
ideas, how I wrote.
For my work as a composer nature
impressions have always been of the greatest influence;
first

but the reading of philosophical and literary works has

also repeatedly incited my productivity.'

Many notable names

are absent from this book, a few,

very likely, by oversight, most, however, for good reasons.

Bobert Franz was not mentioned because he wrote

hardly anything but songs, and no instrumental music

and Franz Lachner and Max Bruch because they did not
ofer matter for comment.
Others are in one or the
other of these cases. Others again were ruled out by the
limitation of space and time. In Max Beger (b. 1873),
one of the most powerful musical personalities of the

we have the exceptional appearance of a

who is under the influence not of Liszt,

present day,

composer

Wagner, and B. Strauss, but of Bach, Beethoven, and

Brahms, and who eschews programme music and until
quite recently had not meddled with the orchestra. A
rara avis indeed. Only after eighty or more other works
there comes at last an orchestral one, a symphony, but
The programmatic
not a programme symphony.
tendency has not yet led him beyond Pieces pittoresques
and Silhouettes. There is, however, an older composer

whom

now

not forgotten

regret not to have included, although I

him at

the proper time.

had

mean the Italian

Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739), the most illustrious

amateur composer, who in the history of musical
expression ought to have assigned to
place.

How much

him a distinguished

might not have been

said of the

526

Germany.

striking expressiveness of his fifty

Psalms

for one, two,

three or four voices, with a thorough baas for the organ

and here and there with the further

May
accompaniment of obbligato stringed instruments
I hope to obtain the reader's pardon for this and other
or harpsichord,

shortcomings ?

EPILOGUE.
He who
we have

for the first time views' the route over

travelled, cannot but be bewildered

which
by the sight

of the weltering chaos that presents itself to him.

continued

attention, however, the

With

observer discovers

running through the whole of this apparently hopeless

confusion of

movement

in all directions and of

all

kinds,

one constant tendency, the twofold development of the

art the purely technical development for virtuosity's

sake,

which has

its origin

in the joy of display and the

pride of conquering difficulties, and the development for

expression's sake, which has its origin in the craving to
give vent to

what moves heart and mind.

Whether the

cultivation of imitation of outward things belongs to the

former or the latter branch of the tendency, or partly to

the one and partly to the other, depends on the nature

and object of the imitation, on whether

it is

mechanical

or emotional, the outcome of pride or affection.

In view of the contrary historical and psychological

facts, it is

impossible not to characterize as absurd the

assertion

that

expressional art.
testifies to

music

is

a purely

formalistic,

Even the rudimental music

non-

of savages

expressional as well as sesthetical aims, and

on scanning the records of the antique and medieval

civilizations we find them abounding in expositions and
eulogies of the emotional

and

ethical powers of the art.

This, however, lies outside the four centuries dealt with

in these pages.

What I have reported of Josquin Depres,

Lasso, Palestrina, Marenzio,

Thomas Morley and others,

must have convinced the reader that in the 16th century

628

Epilogue.

muBic was Bometbing more than an art of beautiful

proportionB, of sounding arabsBques.

But up

to tbat

time tbe development of music as an art of expression

had been slow.

Tbe quickened and ever more quickening

rate of this developnfBnt did not begin until the latter

part of the 16th century, with the rise of accompanied

solo song and the efflorescence of instrumental music.
Then opened the era par excellence of the invention of
expressive melodic and rhythmic figures and harmonic
and colouristic combinations. Vocal and instrumental
music stimulated and aided each other.
But pure

instrumental music, which afterwards outstripped vocal

music, at

first

lagged behind, remaining longer to a large

extent a playing with sounds.

may

Monteverdi (1567-1643)

be named as the earliest composer of notable

expressive instrumental music.

All the really great

masters that followed, and innumerable minor ones,

contributed

more or

side of the art,

who

development of the same

less to the

Beethoven (1770-1827) being the

first

unfolded the expressional capabilities of music in

emotional and intellectual width, depth, force,

all their

grandeur, and sublimity.

him the question

as to

the nature of music was no longer an open one.

His

works were a revelation.

After

And

the lead given by

him

could not be ignored by his successors with impunity.

In regard to the development theory, we should,

however, neither overlook certain facts nor be disturbed

by them.

The study

of history certainly informs us

means

of expression, the

them does not

at all keep pace.

that with the increase of the

wisdom

of employing

In our advanced age we

still

meet with notions and

performances that ought to be possible only in the

childhood of the art. ^ome prejudices both to the

;:

Use of Programmes.

Crrowth of Eaypression
credit

and

and the

discredit of the art

it is difficult

seem

never to die

to say which are the most haleful, those

of over-estimation or those of under-estimation.

many composers

529

How

really take the trouble of thinking out

the problem on the solution of which depends the degree

and even the success or unsuccess of their

be hoped that the thoughts of the great
composers and others on the nature of music, collected

of success,
efforts ?

It is to

in this volume, may be helpful to their successors, and

draw the attention of not a few to vital matters of which
otherwise they might remain unaware.
Programme music in its widest sense is co-extensive
in its narrower sense it is a
with expressive music
species of this genus.
Taking for granted that music
;

can express something, the question arises,

What can

it

and what can it not express ? After the many professional

opinions already given, I shall, for a change, quote one
by a layman, and that layman no less a person than the
incommensurable Goethe, one of the half-dozen or fewer
greatest and wisest men the world has produced. On
February 16, 1818, he writes to Adalbert Schoepke
'
To the question as to what the musician may depict, I
venture to reply

Nothing and everything.

imitate nothing as he receives

senses

effect of

but he

may

me

represent everything he feels as the

not

the feeling as

if

art,

perfect

,.

re^f>

but the musician

To imitate

who

excites

I heard thunder would be very

Sp we have

estimable.
foiv^

is

He may

through the external

these external sense impressions.

thunder in music
in

it

also unmistakable iexpre|sion

for .-sil^5e/^\eyen''"Nfor^iie,ga^i6i]^-

perfeet fexampler'oLwbicii I .hCvfe^sa^h^Qdj,.--i^ rfif*atTo evoke moods of the soul, without using the

ordinary

external

means,

is

the

great

and

noble

530

Epilogue.

prerogative of music//

Apart from the interest

us on accounTof the source

for

definition

it

it

comes from,

has
this

d^exves our respectful attention and grateful

acceptance, l/t points out that the true vocation of

music
of

the expression of (the inner, not the imitation

is

the

outer

phenomena. \/But, although the outer

phenomena should never be the main concern of the

composer, they may, if artistically idealized and kept in
proper subordination, be of great value to him,
reply, however,

enough.

good as far as

Certainly,

it

it

Goethe's

goes, does not go far

does not cover

all

that can be said,

and indeed ought to be said, about the boundaries and

the strengths and weaknesses of music.[While music
is

pre-eminently strong in the depicting of the emotions

themselves,

it is

lamentably weak, nay impotent, in the

setting forth of their circumstantiality, their localization,

when and whither.

Now, cannot the composer in some other way supply
what is lacking, and thus obtain the full benefit of the
in short, their who, why, where,

peculiar strength of his art ?

Adam Smith

(not in his

Wealth of Nations, but in his essay on The imitative Arts)

says

'
:

It

would be a strange picture which required an

inscription at the foot to tell us, not only

person

meant

what particular

meant to
meant to
be a picture at all, and to represent anything.
The
imitations of instrumental music may, in some respects,
it

represent a

man

to represent, but whether

or a horse, or whether

be said to resemble such pictures.

There

it

it

is,

however,

between them, that the picture

would not be much mended by the inscription ; whereas,
by what may be considered as very little more than
this essential difference

such

an

inscription,

instrumental music, though it

cannot always even then, perhaps, be said properly

Use of Programmes

Meaning in Art.

531

to imitate, may, however, produce all the effects of the

and most perfect imitation.' We need not enter

here on a discussion of the imitation theory of the

finept

British 18th century philosophers.*

It will suffice for

Adam

Smith's assertion

our present purpose to note

the

of

importance

the inscription,

of

programme, which, however,

i.e.,

painting

in

is

the

of

not

so

unimportant, certainly not in our day, as the philosopher

seemed to think.

Euskin, in a letter to the Editor of

The Times (May

5,

interpretation of

says:

1854), after

giving

Holman Hunt's The

a beautiful

Light of the world,

*I believe there are very few persons on

whom

the picture, thus justly understood, will not produce a

deep impression.

It

may, perhaps, be answered,

that works of art ought not to stand in need of interpretation of this kind.

we have been so long

painted without any purpose

Indeed,

accustomed to see pictures

or intention whatsoever, that the unexpected existence

meaning in a work of art may very naturally at first

appear to us an unkind demand on the spectator's
understanding. But in a few years more I hope the
of

may

be convinced of the simple truth,

that neither a great fact, nor a great man, nor a great
poem, nor a great picture, nor any other great thing can
be fathomed to the very bottom in a moment of time
English public

and that no high enjoyment, either in picture-seeing or

any other occupation, is consistent with a
of the powers of the understanding.'
It is

strange that there are

that those

who

See what

is

composers who think

endeavour to express something in their

art lower its dignity.

of this book.

still

total lethargy

As

if

an art

said about imitation as a

of arabesques were

means

of expression

on p. 2

532

Epilogue.

something nobler than an art of thought and emotion.

Would they

poetry

consider

collocations of sound quantities

consisting of ingenious

and

qualities superior to

poetry that is concerned with the things of the

the heart ?

music?

And

if not,

is

It is stranger still that there are

who approve

of

disapprove of revealing

them that

this

composers

own minds, but

them, preferring them to be
One wonders whether it never

programmes in

guessed by the hearer.

strikes

why

mind and

the converse to hold in

is

their

turning works of art into

conundrums, and giving to the hearer's imagination

unrestricted liberty to

roam where chance may

lead

it.

But it is strangest of all that there are composers of

programme music of the most convinced and advanced
type who content themselves with a title, conceal their
programme, and express their indifference as to whether
their music is listened to as absolute or as programme
music. Unreasonableness and inconsistency cannot go
farther.

If the

composers declare that they use the

programmes simply for their own inspiration, I decline

to accept this as an excuse.
The hearer has the right
to ask for a clue to the inexplicable mysterious things

hears.

He

is quite entitled

to say to those high

mighty geniuses (who are too ready with their car

when they wish

simple moods, when they wish to
notre plaigir) that

to express

he

and

tel est

more than

depict a multiplicity

of details, complicated relations, recondite symbolisms,

and abstract ideas of all sorts, when, in short, they wish

to express what music can only partially express, they
are in duty bound to furnish the necessary verbal
seems to me that there can
be no other common-sense view on the question of
programmes than this : Whenever the composer ceases
supplement.

Indeed,

it

Content of Music.
to write formal

533

music and goes beyond the expression

of simple moods, the

programme

but even obligatory.

is

not only legitimate,

Objections to programmes arise

from prejudice, from a misunderstanding of what

by them and implied in them.

is

really intended

Pro^amme music, as we have seen, is of all kinds.

There are even such things as unconscious programmes.
A creative musician I am not speaking of composers in
the literal sense

may

unintentionally reproduce in a

work an emotion, thought, or picture that at the time

has possession of him. As to the conscious programmes,
they may be of

all degrees of vagueness and distinctness.

They may also be subjective or objective. A master of
the most subjective of the arts, however, will do well to

subjectivize his object,

which

is

done in two ways

by

realizing in himself the experiences of the object where

that

is

received
It is

animate,

from the

and by

realizing

object

where that

the

impression

is

inanimate.

not always easy to distinguish between absolute

and programme music.

in the

The former term, unless used

sense of pure instrumental music (in contra-

distinction to

mixed vocal-instrumental music), ought to

For absolute

be regarded as obsolete in modern music.

music in the sense

of formal music,

music unconnected

with any ideas, hardly exists nowadays.

Presence of

a programme on, or absence from, the title-page proves

nothing.

What

decides the matter is

its

presence in

But sometimes the term

absolute music is in our day applied to music which has
a programme of more or less vagueness. This I can
illustrate in an interesting manner by a quotation from
or absence

from the music.

a letter of Fritz Volbach, the composer, conductor, and

writer

on music.
M

Writing to

me

about a symphony he

534
is

Epilogue.

composing, he says

absolute music.
for deliverance

movement
diem

as

brittle

is

defiant struggle

good of fighting

the

Second
Carpe

solemn

peace

Fourth movement {Finale

theme)

But pleasure is as
Holy
Third movement {Largo)

glass.

descends

without a programme,

were in Schiller's sense.

it

Let us enjoy ourselves

night

as

It is

movement

First

What

'

built

longing

an

on

old

for

God.

Alleluia

Hymn of Eedemption. In short, what everyone

what one is again and again

much, and yet everything.'
Those who condemn programme music altogether do
not know what they are about. If they had their way,
experiences in himself;

impelled to express

not

a large portion of our treasury of noble music would be

non-existent.

Musical genius

is

a necessity

if

is

of various kinds as well

For some composers a programme

as various degrees.

they are to do their best

their powers

Lowe was such a one Wagner was

But how much and how felicitously was not

have to be roused.
another.

even so genuinely musical a nature as Mendelssohn's

Nay, do not the most

by a programme
all composers
Mozart as an opera
composer and Schubert as a song composer prove the
affected

genuinely musical of

efficacy

of

programmes?

living, are powerless

But

ideas,

with the dead.

which

stir

stimulate genius, but cannot produce

it.

barren composers do not understand

this, or rather

do not know that they are

the

Programmes may
Unfortunately,

they

They use stimulants,

bring programme music
fail nevertheless, and alas
into disrepute. But the programme question, that is,
the question what music can and the musician ought
to deal with, is enormously difficult and supremely
sterile.
!

important.

When

a composer of the 18th century, in

Programmes good and bad

setting the words

'

Form.

535

Twelve Apostles followed Jesus,' made

the parts enter one after the other in a long procession

and another, in
us who doeth

setting the words

right,'

'

they had recourse to symbolism.

at these examples

There

none among

is

wrote a series of consecutive

and

call

fifths

The reader may laugh

them

childish, but

he

will

equally perverse ones in grand compositions of

find

Battle symphonies are not so

present-day composers.

common

as they used to be

me

it

would, however, not

meet with a title similar to that

of a work of the respectable Hanoverian musician A. F. C.
KoUmann (died in London, 1829), The Shipwreck, or the
Loss of the East Indiaman ' Halsewell.' Nor should I be
greatly surprised to hear of a Motor Car Symphony, as I
saw a quarter of a century ago a critique of a Bicycle
Sonata by Stanislaus Elliot (Allegro : The first attempt.
Andante: His despair and return. Scherzo: His second
greatly surprise

Rondo Success at
programme is of course a

attempt.

to

last).

factor in determining the

form of a composition, but not the

tion of the

sole factor.

Another

and a third, the constituFormlessness is altogether out

factor is the nature of the art

human mind.

Form, and not only form, but beautiful

non of art. Not unfrequently,
form, is
however, discussions on form resolve themselves into the
assertion that form in instrumental music means sonata
of the question.

a sine qua

form.

Now

against this

emphatic a protest.

most

mind

impossible to

The sonata form

beautiful form, but

the laws of

it is

it is

is

make

too

undoubtedly a

only one exemplification of

that are at the root of

all

good form.

There was good form before the sonata form, and there
will
be after it. Moreover, the classical masters,
especially Beethoven, have not recoiled from remodelling

536

Epilogiie.

that form in a way that left nothing or little of its

fundamental features (key-relation, number of subjects,

That excellent musicians grown up

recapitulation, &c.).

in the sonata form, indoctrinated in

and writing in

it,

preach a monoform religion, does not prove anything.

cannot

remembering

help

Hauptmann's

arch-classic

Moritz
tonic-

modern music into the

16th century music. The foregoing, however,

dominant-tonic

freedom of

that

on escaping from the

jubilation

it,

see-saw

of

must not be read as an apology

for all the

formal

novelties produced under the device of Progress, Genius,

and Poetry.

has always struck

It

Liszt and Wagner,

nature and freedom in

have so much

them

the

as

me

as strange that

who fought with such prowess

art,

artificiality

and

restrictiveness

highly-developed

former's

for

should adopt methods that

metamorphosis of themes and the

latter's

about

system

of

excessively

developed system of Leitmotive.

To

an

give

was the

historical account, not to

object of this book.

To me

point to a moral.
that

all

Still,

at least

draw a moral,

the facts before us

clear

it is

and certain

good music has a programme, taking the term

in its very widest signification.

What

guishes the fugues and canons of J. S.

of A. A. Klengel ?

craftmanship

Is

How

indeed distin-

Bach from those

not the humanity behind, the

it

is it

that Beethoven stirs ua more

powerfully and profoundly than any other symphonic

composer

Is

it

not because of the emotions and ideas

his tonal forms arouse ?

must be

beautiful.

Undoubtedly the forms of art

But the

artist

whose forms are

nothing but forms will always leave his auditor or

spectator

cold.

Pectus

est

added interest of expression

quod facit

may

desertos.

The

be traced even in

Foi-m

Good MusicPresent and Future.

decorative art by

geometrical

comparing the

designs

with

serpentining lines allude as

animals,

and plants,

sympathies.

those
it

bad because

living beings

little

graceful

that engage

thoughtful survey of music cannot

it

has too

little

our
fail

bad programme music

of the qualities of good

absolute music, and bad absolute music

has too

straightlined

which

were to features in man,

to lead us to the conclusion that

is

rigid

in

537

is

bad because

it

of the qualities of good

programme music.
what we mostly find. But programme

At least this is
music may also be bad because it meddles with matters
uncongenial and even foreign to music. Programme
and artistic form do not exclude each other. Eightly
understood we

may

then say that programme music

is

the only high-class music.

And now a

Can we congratuon the present state of our art and the

progress we have been making? If we can boast of
improvement, it is, I think, only technical improvement
in some directions.
In all other respects we are getting
poorer and poorer and are face to face with imminent
bankruptcy.
The road on which we are travelling
question in conclusion.

late ourselves

offers

no prospect

sensationalism
strike out in

^the

cannot

increase

go

on

for

ever.

about 1600.

We-

may

without unreasonableness expect another

age

is

ripe for

it

and longing

for

We

must

There was a great

a different direction.

revolution in music

complexity and

of

it.

therefore

the

present

And what do we

want? Simplicity, sanity, spontaneity, and, above all

and including all, beauty natural, gracious, persuasive

beauty.

INDEX.
[A coiifistent system of writing proper names is impossible where many
nationalities are concerned. Slavonic names give much trouble especially tbe
Bnssian owing to the diflerent ways of transliteration to be found in difierent

there

The familiar

some well-known composers has here and

been preferred to the correctfor instance, Dnssek and Tomaschek.]

coniltries.

spelling of

Johann Joseph, 470-471

Absolute music, Pref. i.-ii., 2, 49,
Abert,

222, 278, 281, 332, 350, 369, HI.

460, S14, 533
Accompaniments, 16, 47, 51-55,
56, 69-70, 210, 348

Addison, Joseph, 52
^schylns, 466
Aetius, 304
Agoult, Comtesse d' (nom de guerre,
Daniel Stem), 274
Agricola, Johann Friedrich, 65
Alfleri, Vittorio, 370
Algarotti, Count Francesco, 111

Ambros, August Wilhelm,

144, 227, 313, 316

12, 21,

Amenda, Pastor, 131

Andersen, Hans Christian, 392
Angelo, Michael, v. Michael Angelo
Anglebett, Jean Henri D', 31
Joseph Jean Baptiste
Arban,
Laurent, 351
Aristotle, 508
Aspelmeier (Aspelmayr, &o., and
also Appelmayr, &o.), Franz, 84
Auber, Daniel Framjois Esprit, 154
Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel, 71-73
Bach, Johaim Sebastian, 22, 41,
SS-58,60, 236, 267,355,359, 411,
471, 481, 525, 536
Balakirev, Mily Alexeivitoh, 413,
415, 419, 420, 431, 435
Ballanohe, Pierre Simon, 271, 272
Ballet, 118, 366, 368
Banchieri, Adriano, 9
Bantoek, Granville, 388-389
Bargheer, Carl Louis, 453
Bargiel, Woldemar, 464
Batioushkov, Constantino Nikolaievich, 430
Batthyanyi, Count Louis, 291
Baudelaire, Charles, 367

Baudron, Antoine Laurence, 84

Bazzini, Antonio, 370
Beauty in art, 252, 289-290, 312,
612, 513, 536, 537
Becker, Carl Ferdinand, 9
Beer, Michael, 163
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 6, 16, 85,
86, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98, 104, 107,
[Works
with
109, 113-137

declared programmes, 114-129,

Battle Symphony, 115, gonate
Path6tique, 116 ; Sonata Op. 81,
116-117; String Quartet Op.
135, 117-118; Prometheus and

Zur Namensfeier, 118; Leonore

and Fidelio Overtures, 119;
Egmont,
Coriolanus, 119-120
;

Fidelio Opera, 122;

SiruEonia Eroica, 122 ; Pastoral

120-121;

Kneoht
Symphony, 123 - 127
and Beethoven, 127-128; Choral
128-129
evidence
Symphony,
as to programmes for sonatas,
130-132; opinions of Wagner,
;

Marx, Tchaikovsky, Bubinstein,

on the expressiveness of
Beethoven's music, 133-135;
&o.,

form, 135-137], 138, 145, 147,

160, 164, 167, 184, 186, 228,
283, 234, 236, 242, 244, 264,
267, 275, 277, 281, 314, 318,
324, 325, 326, 327, 828, 332,
351. 356, 359, 375, 379, 380,
405, 411, 412, 426, 427, 437,
453, 455, 456, 461, 469, 472,
481, 488, 506, 518, 525, 527,

536
B^gue, Nicolas Antoine Le. 31
Bell, WiUiam H., 389
Bellini, Vincenzo, 332, 462
Benda, Georg, 84, 85,
Benda, the brothers, 401

232,
266,
323,
341,
396,
438,
476,
535.

;;
;

Programme Music.

540

Benedict, Sii Julius, 140

Benedix, Victor, 396 *
Bennett, Sir William Sterndale,
188, 371-875, 376
Benoit, Peter, 369
Berlioz, Hector, 3, 6, 70, 86, 99,
101, 135, 139, 150, 155, 161, 162,
178, 181, 184, 185, 189, 197, 217,
222-264 [Berlioz, Wagner and
Liszt, 222-223 ; three prejudices
about Berlioz, 223; opinions as to
tone-painting and expressiveness
of music, 224-226; form, 226229; an innovator (?), 229-285;
four causes of his defects, 235241; overtures, 241, Waverley,
242 Les Francs-Juges, 242-243
Le Corsaire, 243-244; Le Roi
Lear, 244-245; Bob Eoy, &c..
;

245

Le Carnaval Bomain and

Benvenuto Cellini, 246 ; Symphonie Fantastique, 247-253

Leitmotiv, 253 ;
L^lio, 254
Harold en Italic, 254-258 ; Romto
et Juliette, 258-262

Ballet of

Sylphs and Dance of Will-o'-theWisps, 262 Grande Symphonic

fun^bre et triomphale,
262
;

conclusions, 262-264], 265,

268, 270, 273, 275, 276, 277,
284, 314, 317, 326, 327, 331,
351, 352, 353, 355, 356, 358,
365, 379, 400, 413, 428, 429,
461, 462, 467, 474, 476, 494,

266,
283,
350,
359,
453,
498,

523
Bertolotti, A., 11
Bierbaum, Otto Julius,
Billroth, Theodor, 452

496

Bion, 466
Bitter, Carl Hermann, 72
Bizet, Georges, 366, 428
Bjornson, Bjomstjerne, 397
Blech, Leo, 522
Blockx, Jan, 369
Boccherini, Luigi, 112
Bocklin, Arnold, 520, 522
Bohe, Ernst, 522
Boieldieu, Frangois Adrien, 154

Ben de, 366

Borodin, Alexander Porphyrievich,
413, 414,, 419-420
Bortniansky, Dimitri Stepanovich,
411
Boschot, Adolphe, 101, 240
Bossier, publisher, 128
Bossuet, Jacques B&aigne, 41, 291
Boisdeffre,

Bottger, Adolf, 207, 208

Bourges, Maurice, 353

Brahms, Johannes, 313,

,326, 428,
446, 447-457, 459. 463,1464, 481,
489, 506, 525
Brandes, Johann Christian, 84
Brendel, Karl Franz, 314, 479,

482
Briville, Pierre de, 367
Bridge, Sir Frederick, 386

Bronsart,

Hans

von, 480-481

Browning, Robert, 110, 388, 389

Bruch, Max, 525
Bruckner, Anton, 457-461, 517
Bruneau, Alfred, 367, 416, 424,
425
Buckley, Robert J., 390

Hans von, 178, 282, 290,

305, 311, 315, 372, 376, 478, 480,
481-482, 492, 493, 496, 518

Biilovr,

Bungert, August, 522

Bunning, Herbert, 389
Burger, Gottfried August, 295, 363,
491
Burney, Dr. Charles, 69
Buxtehude, Dietrich, 22, 2S
Byrd, William, 6, 14, 15, 427
Byron, Lord. 209, 241, 248, 244,
266, 256, 292, 298, 426, 435, 482
Caccini, Francesco, 18
Calderon de la,Barca, Pedro, 472
Callot, Jacques, 451
Cannabich, Christian, SO
Cannabich, Rosa, 80
Carpani, Giuseppe, 77, 78, 224
Carriere, Moriz, 496
Cavalli, Francesco, 18
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de,
59, 506
Cesti, Marc Antonio, 18
Chabrier, Emanuel, 366
Chadwick, George Whitfield, 391
Chambonnidres, Champion de,
30-31
Charpentier, Gustave, 367
Chateaubriand,
Francois Bend,
Vioomte de, 239, 249, 426
Cherubini, Luigi, 232, 462
Chopin, Fr^d^ric, 40,
113, 149, 162, 211-217, 273, 314,
353, 357, 411, 455, 462, 469, 471
Gimello, Tomaso, 9
Cintio, Cardinal (Aldobrandino),

298

Wieck and Schumann

dementi, Muzio, 105

Clara, v.

Cliffe, Frederick, 386

Coignet, Horace, 83

Index.
CbUin, EeinTich Joseph yon, 119
Colonne, Edouard, 351
Commer, Franz, 8
Composers, classification of, 447,
471
Conoertstiick, 3,

and

v.

Weber

Corder, Frederick, 885-386

Corneille, Pierre, 41
Cornelius, Peter, 480
Corri, Domenico, 105

Couperin, Francois
29, 31-41, 42,

(le

grand), 6,

43

Couperin, Francois (the elder), 31

Couperin, Louis, 31
Cowen, Frederic H., 379, 384-385
Cramer, Johann Baptist, 188
Cui, C^sar, 412, 418, 414, 418, 419,
423, 426, 431
Czemy, Carl, 131, 132, 156, 266,

325
Oandrieu, Jean Francois, 43-45
Dannreuther, Edward, 134
Dante, 293, 295, 296, 307, 809

Dante Symphony, 296, 307-309,

815, 816
Danzi, Franz, 84
Daquin, Louis Claude, 43
Dargomijsky, Alexander Sergeivich,
413, 414, 420
Daudet, Alphonse, 866
David, F^Ucien, 151, 352-357, 358,
365, 366
Deak, Francis, 294
Debussy, Charles, 367-368
Dehmel, Bichard, 496
Dehn, Siegfried Wilhelm, 480
Deiters, Hermann, 449, 452, 454
Delacroix, Eugene, 262
Delibes, L6o, 368, 428
Delius, Frederick, 389
Depr^B, Josqnin, 11, 527
Descartes, Ben, 303
Deschamps, Eniile, 259
Dietrich, ^bert H., 450, 963-464
Ditters (von Dittersdorf), Karl,
88-94
Dittersdorf, v. Ditters
Doni, Giovanni Battista, 12

Dore, Gustave, 434

Dom, Heinrich, 197, 200, 318
Dostoievsky, Feodor Mikhailovich,

445,496
Dowland, John, 16
Draseke, Felix, 227, 244, 480, 482-

483
Drysdale, P. Learmont, 389
Dubois, Theodore, 866, 368

541

Dupuis, Silvain, 369

Dussek (Dusek), Johann Ludwig

(Ladislaw), 105-106, 401
Dvorak, Antonin, 401, 408-410
Eberwein, Carl, 84
Eccard, Johannes, 10
Eck and Lefgbre, 484
Eeden, Jean Baptiste van den, 369
Eitner, Bobert, 10, 17
Elgar, Sir Edward, 389-391
EUerton, John Lodge, 378
Elliot, Stanislaus, 535
Enault, Louis, 213
Entr'actes, 6, 16, 46, 65-66, 120,
163, 174

Eotvos, Joseph, Baron, 294

Erben, E. Jaromir, 406
Esterhazy, Prince Nicholas, 76
Expressiveness of Music, opinion
on, of Author, Fref. ii., 2, 5, 11,
216-217, 458-455, 513-514, 827S37; of C. Ph. Em. Bach, 73;
of Beethoven, 123, 131, 132; of
BerUoz, 224-228, 230-234; of
Couperin, 38-39,; of Dandrieu,
45 ; of Geminiani, 64 ; of Gluck,
75; of
66, 67; of Haydn,
Hirschbach, 474; of Lac^p^de,
102-103; of Lesueur, 99; of
;
of Mendelssohn,
164.165,166,168; ofMoscheles,
157; of Mozart, 82; of Parry,

Liszt, 277, 278

379-380; of Bameau, 48-49

of
Rubinstein, 134;
of
Ji:Uian
Schmidt, 133 of Adam Smith,
581 ; of Schumann, 185-192 of
Tartini, 112; of Weingartner,
260, V. also Programme Music.
Farina, Carlo, 18
Faust, Dramatic Legend (Berlioz),
;

240, 262
Faust, Overture
333-33S. 841

Faust Symphony

(Wagner),

819,

(Liszt), 284-287,

296, 306-307, 315, 316

Fay, L^ontine, 462

F^nSlon, Francois de Salignac de
la Mothe, 102
Ferrand, Humbert, 243, 249, 251
Ffitis, FranQois Joseph, 68, 150,
221, 232, 478
Fiamengo, Matthias, v. Le Maietre
Fibich, Zdenko, 410
Folk music and art music, 398-399
Fontana, Julius, 211
Foote, Arthur, 391
Fouque, Octave, 191, 235

Programme Music.

542
iPorm,
137,
280,
325,
889,

i, 32, 56, 96; 113, 125, 135222, 223, 226-228, 232-234,

281, 282, 283, 284, 313, 322326-328, 380, 383-384, 387474, 479-480, 491-492, 511,

S3S-537
Franck, Cdsar, 352, 362-365
Franz, Bobert, 525
Frescobaldi, G-irolamo, 19
Fricken, Ernestine von, 195
Froberger, Jacob, 19, 20, 22

494

Froissart, Jehan, 390

Fux, Johann Joseph, 59

Gade, Niels Wilhelm, 326, 395-396,
397, 399
Garrick, David, 260
Gaultier, Dennis, 29

Geminiani, Francesco, 62-64

Genelli, Bonaventura, 296
Gerber, Ernst Ludwig, 88, 94, 128
Gerstenberg, H. Wilhelm von, 72,

73,84
Gevaert, Francois Augusta, 305
Gilson, Paul, 369
Gladkowska, Constantia, 211
Glareauns (Henricus Loriti, Henry
Loris), 11
Glazounov, Alexander, 425
Glinka, Michael, $11-412, 414, 419,
420, 468
Gluck, Christoph Willibald, 16,
66-71, 79, 225, 232, 234, 326, 300,

341
Godard, Benjamin, 366
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 84,
120,
209,
334,
529,
Gogol,

132, 133, 152, 176. 180, 190,

240, 254, 295, 298, 306, 333,
387, 392, 426, 451, 452, 473,

530
Nicolai

Yassilievioh,

412,

444
Goldmark, Carl, 467
Goldschmidt, H., 17
Gombert, Nicolas, 8
Gorky, Maxim, 445
Gossec, Francois Joseph, 86, 87
Gotter, Friedrich Wilhelm, 84
Gounod, Charles Francois, 16, 236,
253
Gozzi, Carlo, 464
Grabbe, Christian Dietrich, 465
Graupner, Christoph, 59, 60
Greuze, Jean Baptiste, 40
Grieg, Edward, 397-400, 428
Griepenkerl, Wolfgang Eobert, 477
Griesinger, Georg August, 76
Grimm, Hermann 464
,

Gropiua, Karl Wilhelm, 296

Guglielmo, Duke of Mantua, 11
Gyrowetz, Adalbert, 401
Hahn, Arthur, 504
HaU^n, Andreas, 401
Eamerik, Asger, 396
Hammer, Julius, 472
Handel, Georg Friedrich 28, 41,
49-55, 60, 236, 267, 427
Eanslick, Edward, 228, 244, 312,

Hart, Julius, 496

Hartmann, Emil, 396
Hauptmarm, Gerhart, 496

Hauptmauu, Moritz, 152, 355, 536

Hausegger, Friedrich von, 523
Hausegger, Siegmund von, 522, 523525
Hawkins, Sir John, 62
Haydn, Franz Joseph, 73-78, 81,
86, 90, 93, 98, 151, 224, 236, 267,
823, 355, 399, 426, 455, 476, 506

Haydn, Michael, 66
Heine, Heinrich, 144, 271, 272, 362
Helen, Grand Duchess, 469
Heller, Stephen, 218-221
Henckell, Earl, 496
Hensel (ne Mendelssohn), Fanny,
166, 167, 177, and v. Mendelssohn
Henselt, Adolph, 113, 188,
217-218
Herder, Johann Gottfried,

196,

301,

449
Hermes, Johann Timotheus, 88, 89
Hertel, Johaim Christian, 66
Hervey, Arthur, 389
Herz, Henri, 155
Herzogenberg, Heinrich von, 468
Heuberger, Bichard, 454
Hillemacher, Lncien, 367
Hillemacher, Paul, 367
Hiller, Ferdinand, 462
Hippeau, Edmond, 240
Hirsohbach, Hermann, 473-476
Hoffmann, Ernst Theodor Amadeus
(Wilhelin), 79, 200, 201, 450
Hofmann, Heinrich, 466
Hofmeister (Hofimeister), Franz
Anton, 87
Hohenlohe, Cardinal, 293
Holberg, Ludwig, Baron, 465
Holbrooke, J., 389
Holmes, Alfred, 378
Holmes, Augusta Mary Ann, 366
Holzbauer, Ignaz, 88
Horn, Moritz, 209

Index.
Euber, Hans, 468
Hugo, Victor, 182, 239, 240, 296,
297, 302, 864
Hunuuel, Johann Nepomuk, 266
Humperdinok, Engelbert, 521
Hunt, Holman, 531
Ibsen, Henrik, 397
Incidental Music, 6, 16, 46, 50, 51,
56, 66, 69-70, 71, 163, 174, 366,

381
Indy, Vincent

d', 367-368
Jahn, Otto, 80
Jahns, Friedrich Wilhelm, 141
Jannequin, Clement, 7, 8, 10
Janssens, Joseph, 869
Jennens, Charles, 49
Jensen, Adolf, 453, ^^-966
Joachim, Joseph, 451, i63-96i
Jodl, Ftiedrich, 496
Jokai, Maurice, 295
Jonci^re, Victorin de, 866
Joseph 11., Emperor, 94
JuUien, Adolphe, 240
K.. C, 510
Eade, L. Otto, 9
Ealbeck, Max, 448, 449, 450, 451.
452
EaUdasa, 467
Ealkbrenner, Friedrich Wilhelm
Michael, 155, 160
Ealliwoda, Johannes Wenceslaw,
410
Eant, Immanuel, 508
Eaulbach, Wilhehn von, 304
Eeats, John. 381, 383
Eerl, Johann Caspar, 22
Eemer, Justinus, 494
Eirchner, Theodor, 464-465
Eirnberger Johann Philipp, 95
Eitzler, Otto, 460
Elein, Julius Leopold, 468
Eleist, Heinrich von, 464, 466, 467,
483, 521
Elengel, August Alexander, 536
Elingemann, Carl, 175
Elopstock, Friedrich Gottlieb, 84
Elose, Friedrich, 522
Elughardt, August, 467
Enecht, Justin Heinrich, 94, 95, 96,
97, 127, 128
Enorr, Ivan, 431, 434

EoUmann, August

Friedrich Carl,

535
Eonig, Eberhard, 507
Eospoth, Otto Carl
Baron von, 98
Eotzebue, August, 116

Erdmann,

543

Eotzwara, Franz, 104

Eoukohiik, Nestor, 412

Eozeluh (Eotzeluch,
Leopold Anton, 401

Eozeluch),

Ereisler, Johannes, 451

Eretzscbmar, Aug.Ferd. Hermann,

318
Ereutzer, Conradin, 178
Erieger, Adam, 9
Erug, Arnold, 468
Euhnau, Johann, 6, 22, 23, 24, 25,
26, 57
Ewiatkowski, T., 214
Lac^pMe, Comte de, 102-lOi, 224
Lachner, Franz, 525
Lacombe, Louis, 366
Lacombe, Paul, 366
Lafontaine, Jean de, 40, 219, 220
Lalo, Edward, 366, 868
Lamartine, Alphouse Marie Louis
Prat de, 155, 290, 291, 299
Lamennais, F^licit^Bobertde,271,
291
Lamettrie, Julien Offray de, 386
Lancret, Kioolas, 40
Landowska, Wanda, 39
Larive, Jean Mauduit de, 84
Laroche, Hermann Augustovich,
480
Lasso (Lassus), Orlando (Orlandus),
11, 527
Lavoix Fils, Henri Marie Francois,
47
Le B^gue, Nicolas Antoine, 81
Legrenzi, Giovanni, 18
Leitmotiv, 253. 283, 284, 848, 344,
Le Maistre, Mattheus, 9

Lemlin, Lorenz, 9
Lenau, Nikolaus, 295, 809, 499
Lenz, Wilhelm von, 118, 131, 138,
267
Leone, Leo, 9
Lermontov, Mikhail Turevich, 415,
444
Lessing, Gotthold Bphraim, 65
Lesueur, Jean Francois, 99-101,
285, 236, 369
Liohnowsky, Prince Carl, 131
Lichnowsky, Prince Felix, 291
Lichnowsky, Count Moritz, 130,
131
Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph, 84
Liebeskind, Josef, 89
Liliencron, Detlev von, 496
Lindpaintner, Peter Joseph von, 84
Lipinski, Karl Joseph, 111
Lisle, Leconte de, 368, 866

;
;

Programme Music.

544

Liszt, Franz, 3, 6, 85, 135, 139, 162,

178. 214, 217, 222, 228, 234, 247,

255, 258, 265-316 [Liszt and

Beilioz, 265-266 ; parentage and
training, 266-267

development

man and

musician, and
character, 268-273; someexternal
influences, 273-275; the Princess
Wintgenstein, 274-275 ; views on
programme music, 276-281 the
term
Symphonic poem,' 282283 ; use of leitmotive and
metamorphosis of themes, 283284 Faust Symphony, 284-289
of

;;

the

'

pianoforte programmatic pieces,

289-295 ; melodramatic works,
295 ; symphonic poems, 295-296
Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne,
296-298; Tasso, 298-299; Leg
Preludes, 299-300 ; Orpheus, 300301 ;
Prometheus,
301-302

Mazeppa, 302

FestMange, 302

H^ro'ide fun^bre, 303 ; Hungaria,

303; Hamlet, 303-304; Hunnensohlacht, 304; Die Ideale, 304305; From the cradle to the
grave, 305-306 ; Symphonies :
Fausf," 306-807 Dante, 307-309
the two Episodes from Lenau's
Faust,
309-310;
Todtentanz,
310-311 ; choice of programmes,
311-812
creative endowment,
312-813; form, 313; summing up,
313-316], 326, 328, 329, 330, 331,
333, 384, 350, 358, 359, 370, 379,
383, 402, 408, 413, 428, 429, 434,
446, 448, 453, 458, 461, 462, 468,
464, 467, 470, 471, 473, 476, 477,
478, 479, 480, 481, 482, 483, 484,
485, 486, 487, 488, 489, 492, 498,
;

494, 496. 498, 521, 523, 525, 536

Henry, 430, 476-479

Litolft,

Litzmaim, Berthold, 208

Lobe, Johann Christian, 167, 168,
227, 229, 243, 313

Lombroso, Cesare, 476

Lorraine, Claude, 373
Louis Ferdinand, Prince, 105

Lowe, Johann Karl Gottfried, 157160, 184, 524

LuUy (Lulli), Jean Baptiste de, 47,
Luther, Martin, 11

Mackenzie, Sir Alexander Campbell

85, 379, 381-384, 403
Madrigal, 5, 12, 13, 27
Maeterlinck, Maurice, 367
Mahler, Gustav, 517-520
Maistre, Xavier de, 221
Maitland, J. A. Fuller, 14
Mallarm^, St6phane, 367
Mancinus, Thomas, 9
Marais, Marin-, 47
Marcelio, Benedetto, 525-526
Marenzio, Luca, 12, 527
Marini, Biaggio, 18
Marschner, Heinrich August, 85,
318
Martucci, Giuseppe, 370
Marty, Georges, 35
Marx, Adolf Bernhard, 68, 138
Maschek (Masek), Paul, 87
Massart, Lambert Joseph, 272
Massenet, Jules, 366
Matthias, James, 64
Mattheson, Johann, 20, 22
Mattheus, Fiamengo, v. Le Maistre
MatthisBon, Friedrich von, 109
Manke, Wilhelm, 502

Means

of Expression, 2, 222, 348-

349
Meek, Madame von, 421, 437, 439
M6hul, Etienne Nicolas, 86
Meissner, August Gottlieb, 84
Melodrama, 6, 46, 82-85, 121, 209,
295, 382, 410, 521
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix, 41,
85, 113, 132, 149, 155, 161, 162,

164-182 [M. an inconvenient

fact, 164; opinion on expressiveness
of
music, 164-168

most
programme
his

original

works

music,
169
Scherzo of Op. 20, 170; Trois
Caprices, Op. 16, 170-172; A
Midsummer
Night's
Dream
overture, &e.,
172-174; The
Hebrides, 175-176; Meeresstille
und gluokliohe Fahrt, 176-177
Melusina, 177-178 Symphonies,
the Scotch and the Italian, 179180 the First Walpurgis Night,
180-181; Buy Bias overture
182], 217,237, 242,261,267, 326
;

MacCunn, Hamish, 887

MaeDoweU, Edward, 391-394

354, 359, 376, 381, 396, 426, 428

461, 462, 481, 483, 484, 634
Mendelssohn, Fanny, 170, 176, and

Maofarren, Sir George Alexander,

375-378

V. Hensel, Fanny
Meyerbeer, Giacomo, 16, 110, 161-

Mackay, JoBn Henry, 496

163, 318, 480, 462, 478

Index.
Michael

Angelo (Michelangelo)
Buonarroti, 293, 427
Mickiewicz, Adam, 436
Moke (Pleyel), Camille, 248
Mont^olair, Michel Pignolet de, 47
Monteverdi (Monteverde), Claudio,
16, 17, 527
Moore, Thomas, 372, 389
Morley. Thomas, 12, 13, 527
MoBcheles, Ignaz, 156-7, 161, 180,
187, 194, 221

MoBonyi (Michael Brandt) 294, 295

Moussorgsky, Modest Fetrovich,
413, 414, 417-419, 420
Mozart, Leopold, 87
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 66, 71,
78-82, 84, 85, 90, 93, 94, 197, 227,
236, 237, 267, 282, 318, 426, 427,
455, 471, 476, 492, 506, 534

MuSat, GoitUeb,

59,

Muller, Gottlieb, 317

Mundy, John, 6, 14, 15

Murner, Thomas, 501
Myslivedek
(Mysliweczek,
&o.),
Joseph, 401
Napoleon Bonaparte, 122
Napravnik, Edward F., 410
Nationality in music, 369, 370, 371,
872, 395-400, 401-402, 405, 411,
414, 444-445
Neefe, Christian Oottlob, 84

Neubauer, Franz Christoph (also

Christian), 87
Nevell, Ladye, 15
Newmarch, Bosa, 416
Nicodd, Jean Louis, 468
Nietzsche, Friedrich, 496, 504, S16,
520, 523
Nordraak, Bichard, 397
Novello, Clara, 201
Ode-Symphonie, 351, 354-357, 366
Oehlenschlager, Adam
Gottlob,
396, 463
Olsen, Die, 400
Onslow, George, 154
Opera, 16, 67, 81, 348, 351, and v.
Entr'actes,
Accompaniments,
Incidental music, Overture, and

Prelude
Oratorio, V. Accompaniments, Incidental music. Overture, &c.

Orcagna, Andrea, 310

Ostrovsky, Alexander, 429, 445
Overture, 6, 46, 49, 65, 66-70, 79,
114, 118-120, 172-178, 209 210,
242-246, 33S-341, 346
Ovid, 88, 91, 92

545

Fachelbel, Johann, 23
Paer, Ferdinando, 267
Paganini, Niccol6, 255, 259, 273
Paine, John Enowles, 391
Palestrina, Giovanni Fierluigi da,
11, 12, 236, 291, 527
Parry,
Sir
Charles
Hubert

Hastings, 27, S79 380

Pasdeloup, Jules Etienne, 351
Pater, Jean Baptiste Joseph, 40
Paul. Ad., 401
Pereira, Madame von, 165
Perov, Vassily, 445
Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca), 11,
293
Pfeifler, Karl, 149
Pichl, Wenoeslaw, 401
Picquot, L., 112
Pictet, Adolphe, 275
Pierson, Henry Hugo, 378
Piuelli, Ettore, 370
Plantade, Charles Henri, 84
Plato, 17
Plutarch, 119
Poglietti, Alessandro, 19, 21
Pohl, Bichar 209, 308, 482
Poushkin, Alexander Sergeievich,
423, 424, 426, 430, 444
Programme Concerto, 60-62, 107108, 140-141
Programme Music,
Application of term, 4, 221
Classification into six Periods, 6
,

Definition, Fref. i., ii.

Dramatic, 16, 46, 341-349, and v.
Overture,
Oratorio,
Opera,
Entr'actes, Incidental music.

Accompaniments
Misconceptions and Prejudices,
1-4, 86, 223

Nature of Programme,

3-4, 104,
126-127, 151, 259, 260, 290,
311-312, 362, 409, 461, 453454, 533-535
Opinion on, of Author, Fref. i.103-104,
iii., 1-4, 78, 79-80,
126-127, 135-137, 152, 293,311312, 342, 348-349, 350, 409,
448, 453, 508, 511, 513-514,
516, 527-537; of Balakirev,
416-417; of Bantock, 388-389;
of Beethoven, 123, 130-131 ; of
Berlioz, 224-228; of Brahms,
452; of Corder, 385-386; of
Cowen, 384-385 ; of Dannreuther, 134-135 ; of Glinka, 412
of S. von Hausegger, 523-525;

Programme Music.

546

Frogramine Music, Opinion on

Haydn, 77

o! Kalbeck,
448; of Liszt, 277-281; of
MaoDowell, 393,
of
394;
Mackenzie, 382-388 ; of Mahler, 518-519 ; of Mendelssohn,
164-168, 171-172, 177-179, 181
of Eafi, 488;
of A. Bitter,
494; of Rubinstein, 469-470;
of Schumann, 183-192, 193210; of Smetana, 402; of
Stanford,
380-381;
of
B.
Strauss, 501, 503, 510, 511 ; of
Tchaikovsky,
184,
429430,
435, 436-444;
of Wagner,
320-331, 342. 344- 345 ; of W.
Wallace, 387-888; of Weber,
140 ; of Weingartner, 520-521
Scope, Pref. ii., 1, 536
Starting point, 4-6, 223
Vocal. 4, 7, 10, 11
of

Bietz, Julius, 461-462, 482

Bimsky-Eorsakov, Nikolai

contd.
;

Programme Sonata, 46, 104, 130

Programme Suite, 352, 399
Programme Symphony, 46. 86, 104,
306, 326, 365, 369, 461
Proske, Carl, 11
Prout, Ebenezer, 489

Pugno, Eaoul, 868

Puroell, Henry, 27-28, 371
Bacine, Jean, 41
Eadoux, Theodore. 369
Ban, Joachun, 826, 480, 483-492
Eamann, Lina, 267, 296, 812
Bameau, J^an Philippe, 41-43,
47-49
Eamler, Karl Wilhelm, 84
Eaphael. Santi, 292
Eaupach, Ernst, 153, 318
Eeger, Max, 525
Eeieha, Anton, 267, 401
Eeichardt, JohannPriedrioh, 72, 84
Beinecke, Carl, 468
Eeissiger, Earl Gottlieb, 84
Bellstab,
Eeinrich
Friedrich
Ludwig, 202, 203
Eepin, Elias, 445
Beyer, Louis Btienne Ernest, 366,
368
Bheinberger, Josef, 470, 471-478
Eichter, Jean Paul, 193, 194, 218,
805
Bideout, Percy, 389
Biehl, Wilhelm Heinrich, 496
Biemann, Dr. Hugo, 59, 818, 490
Bies, Ferdinand, 131, 182
Biesenfeld, Paul, 510

Andreievicb, 413, 414, 320-425,

431
Alexander, 492-494, 495,
496, 497, 498, 499
Bitter, Carl, 482
Boohlitz, Johann Friedrich, 189,
Bitter,

140
Bodrigueg, Oliude, 272
Bossini, Gioacchino Antonio, 16,
1S4, 462
Bossier, Franz Anton (Francesco

Antonio Bosetti), 87
Bousseau, Jean Jacques, 82-84, 220
Bubinstein. Anton, 184, 215, 411,
412, 413, 414, 429, 468-470
Bubinstem, Nicholas, 429, 480, 434
Biickert, Friedrich, 205
Budolph, Archduke, 117
Buskin, John, 531
Bust, Friedrich Wilhekn, 84, 109
Sainte-Beuve, Charles Augustin,
294
Saint-Cdq, Comtesse Caroline de,
274
Saint-Saens, Camille, 285, 236, 261,
312, 314, 316, 826, 352, 358-362,

365
Saint-Simon, Claude Henri, Count,
272
Saint-Simonians, 852
Salieri, Antonio, 266
Samuel, Adolphe, 369
Sand, George, 212, 213, 268, 272
Sand, Maurice, 212
Sarasate, Pablo, 490
ScandeUi, Antonio, 9
Scarlatti, Alessandro, 46
Scarlatti. Domenico, 58
Sohaeffer, Julius, 188
Scheibe, Johann Adolf, 65
Schiller, Friedrich von, 128, 129,
156. 209, 304, 805, 825, 374, 403,
462. 466, 472, 518, 534
Schillings, Max, 522
Schindler, Anton, 118, 130, 131,
132, 136
Schink, Johann Friedrich, 84
Schlegel, Friedrich von, 199
Schmidt, Julian, 133
Schoepke, Adalbert. 529

Bemhard, 464
Schopenhauer, Arthur, 496, 497,
619
Schubert, Franz, 41, 113, 144-148,
157, 186, 189, 190, 314, 351, 411
Scholz,

Index,
Sohuberth, JuliuB Ferdinand Oeorg,
484
Schnlz -Ben then, Heinrich, 521
Bchumann, Clara (nee Wieok, q.v.),
191, 372, 451, 452, 534

Schumann, Edward, 202

Schumann, Bobert, 3, 34,

41, 85,
113, 146, 147, 149, 157, 161, 162,
169, 177, 183-210 [views on
programme music and expressiyeness of music, 183-192 ; Papillons, 193-194 ; Carnaval, 194-196;

F minor

Sonata, 196 Davids196-197;

Pantasiestucke,
197-198 ;
Fantaisie,
Op. 17, 198-199; Ereisleriana,
199-200; NoYsUetten, 200-201;
NachtBtiJcke, 201-202; EinderBcenen, and Jngend Album, 202204; 12 Pianoforte Duets, Op.
85, 204-205; Ball Scenes and
Children's Ball, 205; Bilder
aus dem Osten, 205-206 ; Forest
Scenes, 206 ; Bj; major Symphony, 206-208;
E7 major
Symphony, 208-209; Manfred,
Genoveva, &c., 209-210], 217,
;

biindler,

218, 219,
276, 280,
359, 372,
426, 428,
461, 462,
474, 475,
of Music

220,
295,
373,
429,
463,

and

227,
326,
375,
450,
464,
v.

228, 253,
351, 852,
395, 405,
451, 452,
465, 471,

263,
354,
413,
455,
473,

ExpressiTeness

Schumann, Theresa, 202

Schweitzer, Anton, 84
Schwind, Moritz von, 481
Scott, Sir Walter, 189, 241, 242,
363, i90
Sechter, Simon, 460

Seghers, Francois Jean Baptiste,

351
Seidl, Dr. Arthur, 495, 504, 518

Selmer, Johazm, 400

Senancour (S6nancour), Etienne
Pivert de, 272, 292, 426
Serassi, P. A., 298
Sgambati, Giovanni, 370
Shakespeare, William, 98, 119,
130, 173, 174, 186, 209, 238,
245, 259, 303, 370, 378, 381,
462, 463, 465, 466, 472, 473,
Shedlock, John South, 25, 80,
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 388

241,
431,

499
109

Sibelius, Jean, 401

Sinding, Christian, 400

Sinfonia, 18, 19, and v. Overture

647

Smareglia, Antonio, 370

Smetana, Frederic, 401, 402-90S
Smith, Adam, 530, 531
Smithson, Henrietta, 238, 247, 248,
249, 250
Sonatas (Beethoven's), Path6tique,
114, 116, 130; Pastoral, 114;

Appassionata, 114, 130; Moonlight, 114-115 ; Lebewohl, Op. 81,

114,116-117; (Kuhnau's), Bible,
21, 23-27, 57
Sophocles, 372, 466
Souchay, Marc AndrS, 165
Southey, Bobert, 389
Spazier, J. C. Gottlieb, 88
Spitta, J. Aug. PhiUpp, 22
Spohr, Louis, 113, 138-153, 184,
190, 207
Spontini, Gaspare Luigi Facifico,
232, 234, 236, 318
Squire, W. Barclay, 14
Stael, Madame de, 239
Stamitz, Johann Wenzel
(Weneeslas) Anton, 87, 401
Stanford, Sir Charles Villiers, 379,

380 381
Vladimir Vassilievich,
Stassov,
419, 431
Steibelt, Daniel, 107-109
Steinle,
Sterkel,

Johann Edward, 294

Johann Franz Xaver, 87

Stemau, E. 0., 450

Strauss, Bichard, 3, 85, 826, 453,
470, 494, 498-517 [Periods, 495

mental development,

496-498
497-498
^From Italy,
symphonic works
498-499 ; Don Juan, 499 ; Mao
beth, 499-500; Tod und Verklarung, 500 ; Till Eulenspiegel's
Also
Streiche,
501 ;
Instige
sprach Zarathustra, 503-505
Don Quixote, 505-506; Ein
Eeldenleben, 506-507; Sinfonia
general
507-508 ;
Domestica,
criticisms, 508-517], 518, 519,
520, 525
Striggio, Alessandro, 10
gtucken, Franck van der, 391
Sullivan, Sir Arthur, 379, 381
Svendsen, Johaim Severin, 400
Symphonie Fantastique (Berlioz),
150, 155, 184-185, 223, 227-229,
Bitter's

influence,
:

240,

2a7-239,

262,

264,

273,

284

Symphonic
phonie

Ode,

v.

Ode-Sym-

; '

Progmrfmte Mmic.

y0^:

Bymphonib Boem, 282-283i 326, 358361, 4#3-i&4, 494, 498-515

BzfioS^nyi, St^hien, Count, 294
TaMSiev, Serge Ivanovich, 435, 437
43'
Tartini, Giuseppe, 111
Tasso, Torquato, 298, 299
Taubert, K, Gottfried Wilhelm,

207
Tausig,
Taylor,
Taylor,
Taylor,

Carl, 139
Anna, 171, 172
Honora, 171, 172

Susan, 171, 172

TchaikoTsky, Modest, 434
Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilich, 134, 326,
411, 412, 414, 415, 416, 418, 419,
425-^4S. 446, 453, 478
Teleki, Ladislas, 291, 294
Telemann, Georg Fhilipp, 59-60
Tennyson, Lord Alfred, 394
Thalberg, Sigismund, 274

Thomas, Ambroise, 868

Thomas, Arthur Goring, 379
Thorley, Walter Handel, 389
Thouret, Georg, 89
Tiersot, Julien, 240, 262
Tbggenburg, Kraft von, 450
Tolstoi, Leo, 255, 445
Tomasek (Toioaschek, Tomaozek),

Johann

Wenzel

(Wenoeslaw),

115,401,470
Tombelle, Ferdinand de
Tourgeniev, Ivan 445

la,

367

ToVey, Donald, 887

Trojano, Massimo, 9
Vccellini, Marco, 18
Uhland, Ludwig, 481
Valentino, Henri Justin Armand
Juseph, 351
Verdi, Giuseppe, 370-371
Verestchagin, Vassili, 445
Vierling, Georg, 466
Vitali, Giovanni Battista, 18 J
Vivaldi, Antonio, 60-62
Vogler, Georg Joseph, AbbS, 66,
84, 110
Volbach, Fritz, 522, 533-534
Volkmann, Eobert, 326, 462
Vorosmarty, 294
Vrohlieky, Jaroslav, 410
Waigner, Wilhelm Bichard, 6, 16,
;

69, 79, 119, 120, 129, 133, 136,

154, 161, 162. 169, 222, 228, 233,
234, 237, 252, 253, 261, 262, 288,
284, 307, 314, 315, 317-349

[Education and enumeration of

817-31i9 j
>vie<Ka
cttf,
probtenfe, 320-33i;;
compositions unconnected *jn'
the drami, 332-335; bvertuires
and preludes:to The Plyillg
Dutchman, 336-337; to Tamnt
hauser, 337-339; to Lohengrili,

works,

ffisthetical

339-340; further programmatic

evidence, 341-342; tonie-painting, 842-343; leitmotive, 343344; interludes, 344; preludes
in the Bing de> Nibehmgen, 345346 Meistersinger overture, 346
prelude to Tristan and Isolde,
346-347; prelude to Parsifal,
347-348; conclusion, 348-349],
350, 368, 410, 428, 429, 446, 454,
458, 459,460, 461, 462,463, 465,
;

467. 468, 471, 476, 480, 488. 489,

492, 493, 494, 496, 497, 498, 525,
634, 536

Wagner,

Siegfried, 335
Wallace, William, 387^388
Wanhal, Johann Baptist, 401
Watteau, Jean Antoine, 40
Weber, Dyonis, 401
Weber. Earl Maria Friedrich Ernst,
Preiherr von, 3, 16, 85, 110, 113,
138-14$, 148, 232, 234, 236, 242,
281, 314, 318, 472
Weingartner, Felix, 139, ,227, 260,
313, 815,317; 520-521;
Weinlig, Christian Theodor, 317,

318
Widor, Charles Marie, 368
Wieek, Clara, 198, 195, 196, 197,
198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 204, 475,

{and V. Schumann)
Wielaud, Christoph Martin, '95
Winterfeld, Karl 'Georg August
Vivigens von, 10
Wittgenstein, Princess Carolyiie'
von Sayn-, 240, 274, 292, WlS,i
296, 302, 315, 329, 470, 487
Wolf, Ernst Wilhelm, 109

Wolf, Hugo, 521

Wolzogen, Hans von, 345

Wormser, Andr, 368
Wranitzky, Paul, 87
WullnOT, Dr. Franz, 501
Zarathnstra, 503-509, 513, 520
Zedlitz, Joseph Christian, Freiherr
von, 166
^ J
Zichy, Count Michael von^ 'S^',i
,

'

306
Zumsteeg, Johann Budolf, 84, 198

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