How To Listen To Music Part 8

In popular phrase all high-cla.s.s music is "cla.s.sical," and all concerts at which such music is played are "cla.s.sical concerts." Here the word is conceived as the ant.i.thesis of "popular," which term is used to designate the ordinary music of the street and music-hall.

Elsewhere I have discussed the true meaning of the word and shown its relation to "romantic" in the terminology of musical critics and historians. No harm is done by using both "cla.s.sical" and "popular" in their common significations, so far as they convey a difference in character between concerts. The highest popular conception of a cla.s.sical concert is one in which a complete orchestra performs symphonies and extended compositions in allied forms, such as overtures, symphonic poems, and concertos. Change the composition of the instrumental body, by omitting the strings and augmenting the reed and bra.s.s choirs, and you have a military band which is best employed in the open air, and whose programmes are generally made up of compositions in the simpler and more easily comprehended forms--dances, marches, fantasias on popular airs, arrangements of operatic excerpts and the like. These, then, are popular concerts in the broadest sense, though it is proper enough to apply the term also to concerts given by a symphonic band when the programme is light in character and aims at more careless diversion than should be sought at a "cla.s.sical" concert. The latter term, again, is commended to use by the fact that as a rule the music performed at such a concert exemplifies the higher forms in the art, cla.s.sicism in music being defined as that principle which seeks expression in beauty of form, in a symmetrical ordering of parts and logical sequence, "preferring aesthetic beauty, pure and simple, over emotional content," as I have said in Chapter III.

[Sidenote: _The Symphony._]

[Sidenote: _Mistaken ideas about the form._]

As the highest type of instrumental music, we take the Symphony. Very rarely indeed is a concert given by an organization like the New York and London Philharmonic Societies, or the Boston and Chicago Orchestras, at which the place of honor in the scheme of pieces is not given to a symphony. Such a concert is for that reason also spoken of popularly as a "Symphony concert," and no confusion would necessarily result from the use of the term even if it so chanced that there was no symphony on the programme. What idea the word symphony conveys to the musically illiterate it would be difficult to tell. I have known a professional writer on musical subjects to express the opinion that a symphony was nothing else than four unrelated compositions for orchestra arranged in a certain sequence for the sake of an agreeable contrast of moods and tempos. It is scarcely necessary to say that the writer in question had a very poor opinion of the Symphony as an Art-form, and believed that it had outlived its usefulness and should be relegated to the limbo of Archaic Things. If he, however, trained in musical history and familiar with musical literature, could see only four unrelated pieces of music in a symphony by Beethoven, we need not marvel that hazy notions touching the nature of the form are prevalent among the untaught public, and that people can be met in concert-rooms to whom such words as "Symphony in C minor," and the printed designations of the different portions of the work--the "movements," as musicians call them--are utterly bewildering.

[Sidenote: _History of the term._]

[Sidenote: _Changes in meaning._]

[Sidenote: _Handel's "Pastoral Symphony."_]

The word symphony has itself a singularly variegated history. Like many another term in music it was borrowed by the modern world from the ancient Greek. To those who coined it, however, it had a much narrower meaning than to us who use it, with only a conventional change in transliteration, now. By [Greek: symphonia] the Greeks simply expressed the concept of agreement, or consonance. Applied to music it meant first such intervals as unisons; then the notion was extended to include consonant harmonies, such as the fifth, fourth, and octave. The study of the ancient theoreticians led the musicians of the Middle Ages to apply the word to harmony in general. Then in some inexplicable fashion it came to stand as a generic term for instrumental compositions such as toccatas, sonatas, etc. Its name was given to one of the precursors of the pianoforte, and in Germany in the sixteenth century the word _Symphoney_ came to mean a town band.

In the last century and the beginning of this the term was used to designate an instrumental introduction to a composition for voices, such as a song or chorus, as also an instrumental piece introduced in a choral work. The form, that is the extent and structure of the composition, had nothing to do with the designation, as we see from the Italian shepherds' tune which Handel set for strings in "The Messiah;" he called it simply _pifa_, but his publishers called it a "Pastoral symphony," and as such we still know it. It was about the middle of the eighteenth century that the present signification became crystallized in the word, and since the symphonies of Haydn, in which the form first reached perfection, are still to be heard in our concert-rooms, it may be said that all the masterpieces of symphonic literature are current.

[Sidenote: _The allied forms._]

[Sidenote: _Sonata form._]

[Sidenote: _Symphony, sonata, and concerto._]

I have already hinted at the fact that there is an intimate relationship between the compositions usually heard at a cla.s.sical concert. Symphonies, symphonic poems, concertos for solo instruments and orchestra, as well as the various forms of chamber music, such as trios, quartets, and quintets for strings, or pianoforte and strings, are but different expressions of the idea which is best summed up in the word sonata. What musicians call the "sonata form" lies at the bottom of them all--even those which seem to consist of a single piece, like the symphonic poem and overture. Provided it follow, not of necessity slavishly, but in its general structure, a certain scheme which was slowly developed by the geniuses who became the law-givers of the art, a composite or cyclical composition (that is, one composed of a number of parts, or movements) is, as the case may be, a symphony, concerto, or sonata. It is a sonata if it be written for a solo instrument like the pianoforte or organ, or for one like the violin or clarinet, with pianoforte accompaniment. If the accompaniment be written for orchestra, it is called a concerto. A sonata written for an orchestra is a symphony. The nature of the interpreting medium naturally determines the exposition of the form, but all the essential attributes can be learned from a study of the symphony, which because of the dignity and eloquence of its apparatus admits of a wider scope than its allies, and must be accepted as the highest type, not merely of the sonata, but of the instrumental art.

It will be necessary presently to point out the more important modifications which compositions of this character have undergone in the development of music, but the ends of clearness will be best subserved if the study be conducted on fundamental lines.

[Sidenote: _What a symphony is._]

[Sidenote: _The bond of unity between the parts._]

The symphony then, as a rule, is a composition for orchestra made up of four parts, or movements, which are not only related to each other by a bond of sympathy established by the keys chosen but also by their emotional contents. Without this higher bond the unity of the work would be merely mechanical, like the unity accomplished by sameness of key in the old-fashioned suite. (See Chapter VI.) The bond of key-relationship, though no longer so obvious as once it was, is yet readily discovered by a musician; the spiritual bond is more elusive, and presents itself for recognition to the imagination and the feelings of the listener. Nevertheless, it is an element in every truly great symphony, and I have already indicated how it may sometimes become patent to the ear alone, so it be intelligently employed, and enjoy the co-operation of memory.

[Sidenote: _The first movement._]

[Sidenote: _Exposition of subjects._]

[Sidenote: _Repet.i.tion of the first subdivision._]

It is the first movement of a symphony which embodies the structural scheme called the "sonata form." It has a triple division, and Mr.

Edward Dannreuther has aptly defined it as "the triune symmetry of exposition, ill.u.s.tration, and repet.i.tion." In the first division the composer introduces the melodies which he has chosen to be the thematic material of the movement, and to fix the character of the entire work; he presents it for identification. The themes are two, and their exposition generally exemplifies the principle of key-relationship, which was the basis of my a.n.a.lysis of a simple folk tune in Chapter II. In the case of the best symphonists the princ.i.p.al and second subjects disclose a contrast, not violent but yet distinct, in mood or character. If the first is rhythmically energetic and a.s.sertive--masculine, let me say--the second will be more sedate, more gentle in utterance--feminine. After the two subjects have been introduced along with some subsidiary phrases and pa.s.sages which the composer uses to bind them together and modulate from one key into another, the entire division is repeated. That is the rule, but it is now as often "honored in the breach" as in the observance, some conductors not even hesitating to ignore the repeat marks in Beethoven's scores.

[Sidenote: _The free fantasia or "working-out" portion._]

[Sidenote: _Repet.i.tion._]

The second division is now taken up. In it the composer exploits his learning and fancy in developing his thematic material. He is now entirely free to send it through long chains of keys, to vary the harmonies, rhythms, and instrumentation, to take a single pregnant motive and work it out with all the ingenuity he can muster; to force it up "steep-up spouts" of pa.s.sion and let it whirl in the surge, or plunge it into "steep-down gulfs of liquid fire," and consume its own heart. Technically this part is called the "free fantasia" in English, and the _Durchfuhrung_--"working out"--in German. I mention the terms because they sometimes occur in criticisms and a.n.a.lyses. It is in this division that the genius of a composer has fullest play, and there is no greater pleasure, no more delightful excitement, for the symphony-lover than to follow the luminous fancy of Beethoven through his free fantasias. The third division is devoted to a repet.i.tion, with modifications, of the first division and the addition of a close.

[Sidenote: _Introductions._]

[Sidenote: _Keys and t.i.tles._]

First movements are quick and energetic, and frequently full of dramatic fire. In them the psychological story is begun which is to be developed in the remaining chapters of the work--its sorrows, hopes, prayers, or communings in the slow movement; its madness or merriment in the scherzo; its outcome, triumphant or tragic, in the finale. Sometimes the first movement is preceded by a slow introduction, intended to prepare the mind of the listener for the proclamation which shall come with the _Allegro_. The key of the princ.i.p.al subject is set down as the key of the symphony, and unless the composer gives his work a special t.i.tle for the purpose of providing a hint as to its poetical contents ("Eroica," "Pastoral,"

"Faust," "In the Forest," "Lenore," "Pathetique," etc.), or to characterize its style ("Scotch," "Italian," "Irish," "Welsh,"

"Scandinavian," "From the New World"), it is known only by its key, or the number of the work (_opus_) in the composer's list. Therefore we have Mozart's Symphony "in G minor," Beethoven's "in A major,"

Schumann's "in C," Brahms's "in F," and so on.

[Sidenote: _The second movement._]

[Sidenote: _Variations._]

The second movement in the symphonic scheme is the slow movement.

Musicians frequently call it the Adagio, for convenience, though the tempi of slow movements ranges from extremely slow (_Largo_) to the border line of fast, as in the case of the Allegretto of the Seventh Symphony of Beethoven. The mood of the slow movement is frequently sombre, and its instrumental coloring dark; but it may also be consolatory, contemplative, restful, religiously uplifting. The writing is preferably in a broadly sustained style, the effect being that of an exalted hymn, and this has led to a predilection for a theme and variations as the mould in which to cast the movement. The slow movements of Beethoven's Fifth and Ninth Symphonies are made up of variations.

[Sidenote: _The Scherzo._]

[Sidenote: _Genesis of the Scherzo._]

[Sidenote: _The Trio._]

The Scherzo is, as the term implies, the playful, jocose movement of a symphony, but in the case of sublime geniuses like Beethoven and Schumann, who blend profound melancholy with wild humor, the playfulness is sometimes of a kind which invites us to thoughtfulness instead of merriment. This is true also of some Russian composers, whose scherzos have the desperate gayety which speaks from the music of a sad people whose merrymaking is not a spontaneous expression of exuberant spirits but a striving after self-forgetfulness. The Scherzo is the successor of the Minuet, whose rhythm and form served the composers down to Beethoven. It was he who subst.i.tuted the Scherzo, which retains the chief formal characteristics of the courtly old dance in being in triple time and having a second part called the Trio. With the change there came an increase in speed, but it ought to be remembered that the symphonic minuet was quicker than the dance of the same name. A tendency toward exaggeration, which is patent among modern conductors, is threatening to rob the symphonic minuet of the vivacity which gave it its place in the scheme of the symphony. The entrance of the Trio is marked by the introduction of a new idea (a second minuet) which is more sententious than the first part, and sometimes in another key, the commonest change being from minor to major.

[Sidenote: _The Finale._]

[Sidenote: _Rondo form._]

The final movement, technically the Finale, is another piece of large dimensions in which the psychological drama which plays through the four acts of the symphony is brought to a conclusion. Once the purpose of the Finale was but to bring the symphony to a merry end, but as the expressive capacity of music has been widened, and mere play with aesthetic forms has given place to attempts to convey sentiments and feelings, the purposes of the last movement have been greatly extended and varied. As a rule the form chosen for the Finale is that called the Rondo. Borrowed from an artificial verse-form (the French _Rondeau_), this species of composition ill.u.s.trates the peculiarity of that form in the reiteration of a strophe ever and anon after a new theme or episode has been exploited. In modern society verse, which has grown out of an ambition to imitate the ingenious form invented by mediaeval poets, we have the Triolet, which may be said to be a rondeau in miniature. I choose one of Mr. H.C. Bunner's dainty creations to ill.u.s.trate the musical refrain characteristic of the rondo form because of its compactness. Here it is:

[Sidenote: _A Rondo pattern in poetry._]

"A pitcher of mignonette In a tenement's highest cas.e.m.e.nt: Queer sort of a flower-pot--yet That pitcher of mignonette Is a garden in heaven set, To the little sick child in the bas.e.m.e.nt-- The pitcher of mignonette, In the tenement's highest cas.e.m.e.nt."

[Sidenote: _Other forms for the Finale._]

If now the first two lines of this poem, which compose its refrain, be permitted to stand as the princ.i.p.al theme of a musical piece, we have in Mr. Bunner's triolet a rondo _in nuce_. There is in it a threefold exposition of the theme alternating with episodic matter. Another form for the finale is that of the first movement (the Sonata form), and still another, the theme and variations. Beethoven chose the latter for his "Eroica," and the choral close of his Ninth, Dvorak, for his symphony in G major, and Brahms for his in E minor.

[Sidenote: _Organic Unities._]

[Sidenote: _How enforced._]

[Sidenote: _Berlioz's "idee fixe."_]

[Sidenote: _Recapitulation of themes._]

I am attempting nothing more than a characterization of the symphony, and the forms with which I a.s.sociated it at the outset, which shall help the untrained listener to comprehend them as unities despite the fact that to the careless hearer they present themselves as groups of pieces each one of which is complete in itself and has no connection with its fellows. The desire of composers to have their symphonies accepted as unities instead of compages of unrelated pieces has led to the adoption of various devices designed to force the bond of union upon the attention of the hearer. Thus Beethoven in his symphony in C minor not only connects the third and fourth movements but also introduces a reminiscence of the former into the midst of the latter; Berlioz in his "Symphonie Fantastique," which is written to what may be called a dramatic scheme, makes use of a melody which he calls "_l'idee fixe_," and has it recur in each of the four movements as an episode. This, however, is frankly a symphony with programme, and ought not to be treated as a modification of the pure form. Dvorak in his symphony ent.i.tled "From the New World," in which he has striven to give expression to the American spirit, quotes the first period of his princ.i.p.al subject in all the subsequent movements, and then sententiously recapitulates the princ.i.p.al themes of the first, second, and third movements in the finale; and this without a sign of the dramatic purpose confessed by Berlioz.

[Sidenote: _Introduction of voices._]

[Sidenote: _Abolition of pauses._]