How to Appreciate Music Part 15

Reforms by Gluck.

The charge most frequently laid against Italian opera is that its composers have been too subservient to the singers, and have sacrificed dramatic truth and depth of expression, as well as the musicianship which is required of a well-written and well-balanced score, as between the vocal and instrumental portions, to the vanity of those upon the stage--in brief, that Italian opera consists too much of show-pieces for its interpreters. Among the first to protest practically against this abuse was Gluck, a German, who, from copying the Italian style of operatic composition early in his career, changed his entire method as late as 1762, when he was nearly fifty years old.

"Orfeo et Euridice," the oldest opera that to-day still holds a place in the operatic repertoire, and containing the favorite air, "Che faro senza Euridice" (I have lost my Eurydice), was produced by Gluck, in Vienna, in the year mentioned. There Gluck followed it up with "Alceste," then went to Paris, and scored a triumph with "Iphigenie en Aulite." But on the arrival, in Paris, of the Italian composer, Piccini, the Italian party there seized upon him as a champion to pit against Gluck, and there then ensued in the French capital a rivalry so fierce that it became a veritable musical War of the Roses until Gluck completely triumphed over Piccini with "Iphigenie en Tauride."

Gluck's reform of opera lay in his abandoning all effort at claptrap effect--effect merely for its own sake--and in making his choruses as well as his soloists partic.i.p.ants, musically and actively, in the unfolding of the dramatic story. But while he avoided senseless vocal embellishments and ceased to make a display of singers' talents the end and purpose of opera, he never hesitated to introduce beautiful melody for the voice when the action justified it. In fact, what he aimed at was dramatic truth in his music, and with this end in view he also gave greater importance to the instrumental portion of his score.

Comparative Popularity of Certain Operas.

These characteristics remained for many years to come the distinguishing marks of German opera. They will be discovered in Mozart's "Nozze di Figaro," "Don Giovanni" and "Zauberflote," which differ from Gluck's operas in not being based on heroic or cla.s.sical subjects, and in exhibiting the general advance made in freer musical expression, as well as Mozart's greater spontaneity of melodic invention, his keen sense of the dramatic element and his superior skill in orchestration.

They also will be discovered in Beethoven's "Fidelio," which again differs from Mozart's operas in the same degree in which the individuality of one great composer differs from that of another. With Weber's "Freischutz," "Euryanthe" and "Oberon," German opera enters upon the romantic period, from which it is but a step to the "Flying Dutchman," "Tannhauser," "Lohengrin" and the music-dramas of Richard Wagner.

Meanwhile, the French had developed a style of opera of their own, which is represented by Meyerbeer's "Les Huguenots," Gounod's "Faust,"

apparently destined to live as long as any opera that now graces the stage, and by Bizet's absolutely unique "Carmen." In French opera the instrumental support of the voices is far richer and more delicately discriminating than in Italian opera, and the whole form is more serious. It is better thought out, shows greater intellectual effort and not such a complete abandon to absolute musical inspiration. It is true, there is much claptrap in Meyerbeer, but "Les Huguenots" still lives--and vitality is, after all, the final test of an art-work.

Unquestionably, Italian operas like "Il Barbiere di Siviglia," "La Sonnambula," "Lucia," and "Trovatore" are more popular in this country than Mozart's or Weber's operatic works. In a.s.signing reasons for this it seems generally to be forgotten that these Italian operas are far more modern. "Don Giovanni" was produced in 1787, whereas "Il Barbiere" was brought out in 1816, "La Sonnambula" in 1831, "Lucia" in 1835, "Trovatore" in 1853 and Verdi's last work in operatic style, "Aida," in 1871. "Don Giovanni" still employs the dry recitative (recitatives accompanied by simple chords on the violoncello), which is exceedingly tedious and makes the work drag at many points. In "Il Barbiere," although the recitatives are musically as uninteresting, they are humorous, and, with Italian buffos, trip lightly and vivaciously from the tongue. As regards "Fidelio" and "Der Freischutz," the amount of spoken dialogue in them is enough to keep these works off the American stage, or at least to prevent them from becoming popular here.

Wagner has had far-reaching effect upon music in general, and even Italian opera, which, of all art-forms, was least like his music-dramas, has felt his influence. Boito's "Mefistofele,"

Ponchielli's "La Gioconda," Verdi's "Otello" and "Falstaff," are examples of the far-reaching results of Wagner's theories. Even in "Aida," Verdi's more discriminating treatment of the orchestral score and his successful effort to give genuine Oriental color to at least some portions of it, show that even then he was beginning to weary of the cheaper successes he had won with operas like "Il Trovatore," "La Traviata" and "Rigoletto," and, while by no means inclined to menace his own originality by copying Wagner or by adopting his system, was willing to profit by the more serious att.i.tude of Wagner toward his art. Puccini, in "La Tosca," has written a first-act finale which is palpably constructed on Wagnerian lines. In his "La Boheme," in Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci"

and in Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana," the distinct efforts made to have the score reflect the characteristics of the text show Wagner's influence potent in the most modern phases of Italian opera. Humperdinck's "Hansel und Gretel" and Richard Strauss's "Feuersnot" and "Salome" represent the further working out of Wagner's art-form in Germany.

Wagner's Music-Dramas.

I doubt whether Wagner had either the Greek drama or the declamatory recitative of the early Italian opera composers in mind when he originated the music-drama. My opinion is that he thought it out free from any extraneous suggestion, but afterward, antic.i.p.ating the attacks which in the then state of music in Germany would be made upon his theories, sought for prototypes and found them in ancient Greece and renascent Italy.

His theory of dramatic music is that it should express with undeviating fidelity the words which underly it; not words in their mere outward aspect, but their deeper significance in their relation to the persons, controlling ideas, impulses and pa.s.sions out of which grow the scenes, situations, climaxes and crises of the written play, the libretto, if so you choose to call it--so long as you don't say "book of the opera." For even from this brief characterization, it must be patent that a music-drama is not an opera, but what opera should be or would be had it not, through the Italian love of clearly defined melody and the Italian admiration for beautiful singing, become a string of solos, duets and other "numbers" written in set form to the detriment of the action.

Opera is the glorification of the voice and the deification of the singer.--Do we not call the prima donna a _diva_? Music-drama, on the other hand, is the glorification of music in its broadest sense, instrumental and vocal combined, and the deification of dramatic truth on the musical stage. Opera, as handled by the Italian and the French, undoubtedly is a very attractive art-form, but music-drama is a higher art-form, because more serious and more searching and more elevated in its expression of emotion.

Wagner was German to the core--as national as Luther, says Mr.

Krehbiel most aptly, in his "Studies in the Wagnerian Drama," which, like everything this critic writes, is the work of a thinker. For the dramas which Wagner created as the bases for his scores, he went back to legends which, if not always Teutonic in their origin, had become steeped in Germanism. The profound impression made by Wagner's art works may be indicated by saying that the whole folk-lore movement dates from his activity, and that so far as Germany itself is concerned, his argument for a national art work as well as his practical ill.u.s.tration of what he meant through his own music-dramas, gave immense impetus to the development of united Germany as manifested in the German empire. He as well as the men of blood and iron had a share in Sedan.

Wagner's first successful work, "Rienzi," was an out-and-out opera in Meyerbeerian style. The "Flying Dutchman" already is legendary and more serious, while "Tannhauser" and "Lohengrin" show immense technical progress, besides giving a clue to his system of leading motives, which is fully developed in the scores of the "Ring of the Nibelung," "Tristan und Isolde," "Die Meistersinger," and "Parsifal."

That his theories met with a storm of opposition and that for many years the battle between Wagnerism and anti-Wagnerism raged with unabated vigor in the musical world, are matters of history. Whoever wishes to explore this phase of Wagner's career will find it set forth in the most interesting Wagner biography in any language, Mr. Finck's "Wagner and His Works."

Wagner a Melodist.

It sometimes is contended that Wagner adopted his system of leading motives because he was not a melodist. This is refuted by the melodies that abound in his earlier works; and, even as I write, I can hear the pupils in a nearby public school singing the melody of the "Pilgrim's Chorus" from "Tannhauser." Moreover, his leading motives themselves are descriptively or soulfully melodious as the requirement may be.

They are brief phrases, it is true, but none the less they are melodies. And, in certain episodes in his music-dramas, when he deemed it permissible, he introduced beautiful melodies that are complete in themselves: _Siegmund's_ "Love Song" and _Wotan's_ "Farewell," in "Die Walkure," the Love Duet at the end of "Siegfried," the love scene in "Tristan und Isolde," the Prize Song in "Die Meistersinger." The eloquence of the brief melodious phrases which we call leading motives, considered by themselves alone and without any reference to the dramatic situation, must be clear to any one who has heard the Funeral March in "Gotterdammerung," which consists entirely of a series of leading motives that have occurred earlier in the Cycle, yet give this pa.s.sage an overpowering pathos without equal in absolute music and just as effective whether you know the story of the music-drama and the significance of the motives, or not. If you do know the story and the significance of these musical phrases, you will find that in this Funeral March the whole "Ring of the Nibelung" is being summed up for you, and coming as it does near the end of "Gotterdammerung," but one scene intervening between it and the final curtain, it gives a wonderful sense of unity to the whole work.

Unity is, in fact, a distinguishing trait of music-drama; and the very term "unity" suggests that certain recurring salient points in the drama, whether they be personages, ideas or situations, should be treated musically with a certain similarity, and have certain recognizable characteristics. In fact, the adaptation of music to a drama would seem to suggest a.s.sociation of ideas through musical unity, and to presuppose the employment of something like leading motives. They had indeed been used tentatively by Berlioz in orchestral music, and by Weber in opera ("Euryanthe"), but it remained for Wagner to work up the suggestion into a complete and consistent system.

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

To ill.u.s.trate his method, take the Curse Motive, in the "Ring of the Nibelung," which is heard when _Alberich_ curses the Ring, and all into whose possession it shall come. When, near the end of "Rheingold," _Fafner_ kills his brother, _Fasolt_, in wresting the Ring from him, the motive recurs with a significance which is readily understood. _Fasolt_ is the first victim of the curse.

Again, in "Gotterdammerung," when _Siegfried_ lands at the entrance to the castle of _Gibichungs_, and is greeted by _Hagen_, although the greeting seems hearty enough, the motive is heard and conveys its sinister lure.

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

When, in "Die Walkure," _Brunnhilde_ predicts the birth of a son to _Sieglinde_, you hear the Siegfried Motive, signifying that the child will be none other than the young hero of the next drama. The motive is heard again when _Wotan_ promises _Brunnhilde_ to surround her with a circle of flames which none but a hero can penetrate, _Siegfried_ being that hero; and also when _Siegfried_ himself, in the music-drama "Siegfried," tells of seeing his image in the brook.

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

There are motives which are almost wholly rhythmical, like the "Nibelung" Smithy Motive, which depicts the slavery of the _Nibelungs_, eternally working in the mines of Nibelheim; and motives with strange, weird harmonies, like the motive of the Tarnhelm, which conveys a sense of mystery, the Tarnhelm giving its wearer the power to change his form.

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

Leading Motives not Mere Labels.

Leading motives are not mere labels. They concern themselves with more than the superficial aspect of things and persons. With persons they express character; with things they symbolize what these stand for.

The Curse Motive is weird, sinister. You feel when listening to it that it bodes evil to all who come within its dark circle. The Siegfried Motive, on the other hand, is buoyant with youth, vigor, courage; vibrates with the love of achievement; and stirs the soul with its suggestion of heroism. But when you hear it in the Funeral March in "Gotterdammerung" and it recalls by a.s.sociation the gay-hearted, tender yet courageous boy, who slew the dragon, awakened _Brunnhilde_ with his kiss, only to be betrayed and murdered by _Hagen_, and now is being borne over the mountain to the funeral pyre, those heroic strains have a tragic significance that almost brings tears to your eyes.

The Siegfried Motive is a good example of a musical phrase the contour of which practically remains unchanged through the music-drama. The varied emotions with which we listen to it are effected by a.s.sociation.

But many of Wagner's leading motives are extremely plastic and undergo many changes in ill.u.s.trating the development of character or the special bearing of certain dramatic situations upon those concerned in the action of the drama. As a gay-hearted youth, _Siegfried_ winds his horn:

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

This horn call becomes, when, as _Brunnhilde's_ husband, he bids farewell to his bride and departs in quest of knightly adventure, the stately Motive of _Siegfried_, the Hero:

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

And when the dead _Siegfried_, stretched upon a rude bier, is borne from the scene, it voices the climax of the tragedy with overwhelming power:

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

Thus we have two derivatives from the "Siegfried" horn call, each with its own special significance, yet harking back to the original germ.

Soon after the opening of "Tristan und Isolde" a sailor sings an unaccompanied song of farewell to his _Irish Maid_. The words, "The wind blows freshly toward our home," are sung to an undulating phrase which seems to represent the gentle heaving of the sea.

[Music ill.u.s.tration: Frisch weht der Wind der Hei-mat zu: mein i-risch Kind, wo wei-lest du?]

This same phrase gracefully undulates through _Brangane's_ reply to _Isolde's_ question as to the vessel's course, changes entirely in character, and surges savagely around her wild outburst of anger when she is told that the vessel is nearing Cornwall's sh.o.r.e, and breaks itself in savage fury against her despairing wrath when she invokes the elements to destroy the ship and all upon it. Examples like these occur many times in the scores of Wagner's music-dramas.

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

Often, when several characters are partic.i.p.ating in a scene, or when the act or influence of one, or the principle for which he stands in the drama, is potent, though he himself is not present, Wagner with rare skill combines several motives, utilizing for this purpose all the resources of counterpoint. Elsewhere I already have described how he has done this in the Magic Fire Scene in "Die Walkure," and one could add page after page of examples of this kind. I have also spoken of his supreme mastership of instrumentation, through which he gives an endless variety of tone color to his score.

Wagner was a great dramatist, but he was a far greater musician. There are many splendid scenes and climaxes in the dramas which he wrote for his music, and if he had not been a composer it is possible he would have achieved immortality as a writer of tragedy. On the other hand, however, there are in his dramas many long stretches in which the action is unconsciously delayed by talk. He believed that music and drama should go hand in hand and each be of equal interest; but his supreme musicianship has disproved his own theories, for his dramas derive the breath of life from his music. Theoretically, he is not supposed to have written absolute music--music for its own sake--but music that would be intelligible and interesting only in connection with the drama to which it was set. But the scores of the great scenes in his music-dramas, played simply as instrumental selections in concert and without the slightest clue to their meaning in their given place, const.i.tute the greatest achievements in absolute music that history up to the present time can show.

THE END