Music: An Art and a Language Part 14

[Footnote 162: For suggestive comments by the noted critic E.T.A.

Hoffmann, one of the first to realize the genius of Beethoven, and for a complete translation of his essay on the Fifth Symphony see the article by A.W. Locke in the Musical Quarterly for January, 1917.]

THE CORIOLa.n.u.s OVERTURE

This dramatic work is of great importance, not only for its emotional power and eloquence, but because it represents a type of Program music, _i.e._, music with a suggestive t.i.tle, which Beethoven was the first to conceive and to establish. From the inherent connection between the materials of music (sound and rhythm) and certain natural phenomena (the sound and rhythm of wind, wave and storm, the call of birds, etc.) it is evident that the possibility for Program--or descriptive--music has always existed.[163] That is, the imagination of musicians has continually been influenced by external sights, sounds and events; and to their translation into music suggestive t.i.tles have been given, as a guide to the hearer. Thus we find Jannequin, a French composer of the 16th century, writing two pieces--for _voices_!--ent.i.tled "_Les cris de Paris_" and "_La Bataille--defaite des Suisses a la journee de Marignan_;" in the former of which are introduced the varied cries of street venders and in the latter, imitations of fifes, drums, cannon and all the bustle and noises of war. In the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book there is a Fantasie by John Mundy of the English school, in which such natural phenomena as thunder, lightning and fair weather are delineated. There is a curious similarity between the musical portrayal of lightning in this piece[164] of Mundy and that of Wagner in the _Valkyrie_. In the _Bible Sonatas_ of the German composer Kuhnau (1660-1722) we have a musical description of the combat between David and Goliath. Anyone at all familiar with the music of Couperin and Rameau will recall the variety of fantastic t.i.tles a.s.signed to their charming pieces for the clavecin--almost always drawn from the field of nature: birds, bees, b.u.t.terflies, hens, windmills, even an eel! It is but fair to state that we also find attempts at character drawing, even in those early days, as is indicated by such t.i.tles as _La Prude_, _La Diligente_, _La Seduisante_.[165] Haydn's portrayal of Chaos, in the Prelude to the _Creation_, is a remarkable mood-picture and shows a trend in quite a different direction. All these instances corroborate the statement that, in general, composers were influenced by external phenomena and that their program music was of an imitative and often frankly literal kind. From what we know of Beethoven's nature and genius, however, we should imagine that he would be far more interested in the emotions and struggles of the soul and we find that such indeed is the case. With the exception of the _Pastoral Symphony_ with its bird-calls and thunderstorm and the _Egmont_ Overture with its graphic description of a returning victorious army, his program music invariably aims at the description of character and the manner in which it is influenced by events--_not_, be it understood, at a musical portrayal of the events themselves. This difference in type is generally indicated by the terms _subjective_ and _objective_, _i.e._, program music is subjective, when it deals with the emotions and moods of real or historical persons; objective, when it is based upon incidents or objects of the actual world. It is evident that in subjective program music an adjustment must be made, for the dramatic needs of the subject are to be considered as well as the inherent laws of music itself. We may state that the widening of the conception of form, so marked in modern music, has been caused by the need of such an adjustment; for as composers became more cultivated, more in touch with life and of more richly endowed imagination, the arbitrary conventions of strict form had perforce to yield to the demands of dramatic treatment. This implies not that program music is without a definite structure, only that the _form_ is _different_--modified by the needs of the subject. As there is no other point in aesthetics which has caused more loose thinking, a few further comments may be pertinent. Some critics go so far as to deny the right of existence to all program music.[166] Of course there is good as well as bad program music, but to condemn it _per se_ is simply to fly in the face of facts, for a large proportion of the music since Beethoven is on a poetic basis and has descriptive t.i.tles. Others claim that they cannot understand it. But that is their loss, not the fault of the music; the composer writes it and it is for us to acquire the state of mind to appreciate it. Another misleading allegation, often heard, is that a piece of program music should be so clear and self-sufficient that the hearer needs to know nothing of the t.i.tle to derive the fullest enjoyment. But this simply begs the question. As well say that in listening to a song we need to know nothing of the meaning of the text. It is true that in listening to Beethoven's _Coriola.n.u.s_, for example, any sensitive hearer will be impressed by the vitality of the rhythm and the sheer beauty of orchestral sound. But to hold that such a hearer gets as much from the work as he who knows the underlying drama and can follow sympathetically the correspondence between the characters and their musical treatment is to indulge in reckless a.s.sertion. The true relationship between composer and hearer is this: when works are ent.i.tled _Coriola.n.u.s_, _Melpomene_, _Francesca da Rimini_, _Sakuntala_, _L'apres-midi d'un Faune_, _The Mystic Trumpeter_, _L'apprenti Sorcier_, and the composers reveal therein the influence such subjects have had upon their imagination, they are paying a tacit compliment to the hearer whose breadth of intelligence and cultivation they expect to be on a par with their own. If such be not the case, the fault is not the composer's; the burden of proof is on the listener.[167] Let us now trace certain relationships between the drama of _Coriola.n.u.s_ and the musical characterization of Beethoven. The Overture was composed as an introduction to a tragedy by the German playwright von Collin, but as the play is obsolete and as both von Collin and Shakespeare went to Plutarch for their sources, a familiarity--which should be taken for granted[168]--with the English drama will furnish sufficient background for an appreciation of the music. The scene before the city gates is evidently that in which Volumnia and Virgilia plead with the victorious warrior to refrain from his fell purpose of destruction. The work is in Sonata-form, since the great Sonata principle of _duality_ of _theme_ exactly harmonizes with the two main influences of the drama--the masculine and the feminine. It is of particular interest to observe how the usual methods of Sonata-form procedure are modified to suit the dramatic logic of the subject. The work begins Allegro con brio, with three sustained Cs--as if someone were stamping with heavy foot--followed by a series of a.s.sertive _ff_ chords for full orchestra (note the piercing dissonance in the 7th measure), which at once establishes an atmosphere of headstrong defiance. The first theme, beginning in measure 15 with its restless rhythm, is not meant to be beautiful in the ordinary sense of the term--"a concourse of sweet sounds"; rather is it a dramatic characterization, a picture in terms of music, of the reckless energy and the fierce threats which we naturally a.s.sociate with Coriola.n.u.s. The theme is repeated and then the transition develops this masculine mood in an impa.s.sioned manner--observe the frequency of _sf_ accents and the crashing dissonances[169]--until a sustained note on the violins, followed by a descending cantabile phrase, brings us to the second theme, _e.g._

[Music]

[Footnote 163: A complete account of this development may be found in the first two chapters of Niecks's _Programme Music_.]

[Footnote 164: For an excellent description of this piece, as well as others of the period, see the volume by Krehbiel _The Pianoforte and Its Music_.]

[Footnote 165: A comprehensive and invaluable description of the works and style of Couperin and Rameau may be found in the _History of the Pianoforte and its Players_ by Oscar Bie. For an early example of what is now called "poetic atmosphere" everyone should know Couperin's piece _Les Barricades Mysterieuses_ which is more suggestive when played on the clavecin with its delicate tone.]

[Footnote 166: A favorite term of opprobrium is that the program is a "crutch."]

[Footnote 167: There are several essays which will help the student toward clear thinking on this important subject: the valuable essay _Program Music_ in Newman's _Musical Studies_, the article on the subject in Grove's Dictionary, and the exhaustive volume by Niecks; some of his views, however, are extreme and must be accepted with caution. Above all should be read Wagner's interpretation of Coriola.n.u.s in his essay on the Overture (English translation by W.A.

Ellis).]

[Footnote 168: Twenty-five years' experience as a college teacher, however, has proved that _too much_ may be taken for granted!]

[Footnote 169: It is unfortunate that the diminished seventh chord does not sound so fierce to our modern ears as it undoubtedly did in Beethoven's time, but that is simply because we have become accustomed to more strident effects.]

This theme, in distinction from the first, typifies the appeal for mercy made by the women in the drama. No contrast could be stronger than that between these two themes--the first, impulsive, staccato, of sweeping range, and in the minor; the second, suave, legato, restrained and in the major. They show indeed how powerfully Beethoven's imagination was impressed by the subject. After an eloquent expansion of the second theme there follow several stormy measures (the deprecations of the women are at first of no avail) that lead through a crescendo to a closing theme, at measure 83, in which the mood of defiant a.s.sertion is strongly marked. The exposition closes in this mood, in measure 100, and the following Development accentuates it through several successions of restless, crescendo pa.s.sages until a _ff_ descent sweeps us back to the Recapitulation, in measure 151. It is now evident that the furious intentions of the warrior have raged themselves out, for not only is the theme which represents him much shortened but it loses somewhat of its former fiery intensity. From here on, the trend of the music is largely modified by the dramatic demands of the subject. That the appeals of the women are beginning to prevail is evident from the emphasis laid on the second theme, which gives its message no less than _three_ times, instead of the single appearance which we should expect in the usual Recapitulation. The third appeal, in measures 247-253, is rendered most pathetic by being expressed in the minor mode. In the Coda there are fitful flare-ups of the relentless purpose, but that the stubborn will has been softened is evident from the slowing down of the rhythm, in measures 285-294. Finally, in the wonderful closing pa.s.sage, we have a picture of broken resolves and ruined hopes. The theme disintegrates and fades away--a lifeless vision. Although much of the structure in this overture is identical with that which prevails in absolute music--for, after all, the composer must be true to the laws of his medium of expression--there is enough _purely dramatic_ treatment to justify the foregoing a.n.a.lysis. Beethoven, at any rate, called the overture Coriola.n.u.s, and we may be sure he meant it to _represent_ Coriola.n.u.s and to be something more than a skillful combination of sounds and rhythms.

We now add a few last words on the quality of Beethoven's themes in his moments of supreme inspiration. The unshaken hold which his music has upon the affections of mankind is due chiefly to two striking characteristics: first, the way in which he dramatized everything--themes, instruments, even _single_ notes, _i.e._, treating them as actual factors in life itself rather than as artistic abstractions; second, the spirituality and sublimity in his immortal message. The first quality is exemplified in a number of pa.s.sages, notably in the first movement of the Violin Concerto and in the Finale of the Eighth Symphony. In the opening measures of the Concerto the use of the single note D-sharp, and the entry _pp_ of the F natural in the following pa.s.sage--in each case, entirely disconnected from the normal rules of musical grammar--are most dramatic, _e.g._

[Music]

At the mysterious entrance of the F natural in this pa.s.sage it would seem as if some mighty spirit were suddenly looking over our shoulder.

In the Finale of the Eighth Symphony what can be more startling than the sudden explosive entrance of the unrelated C-sharp--before the orchestra continues its mad career--which can be compared only to the uproarious laughter of Rabelais himself, _e.g._

[Music]

There are numerous examples in Beethoven showing his dramatic use of such orchestral instruments as the ba.s.soons, horns, kettle-drums and double ba.s.ses. Possibly the most striking[170] is the Slow Movement of the G major Pianoforte Concerto--that inspired dialogue, as it has been eloquently called, "between Destiny and the human soul," in which the touching appeals of the solo instrument are constantly interrupted by the sinister mutterings and forebodings of the strings. Observe especially the closing measures where the ba.s.ses, alone are heard _pp_, _e.g._

[Music]

[Footnote 170: See, however, the octave leaps of the kettle-drums in the Scherzo of the Ninth Symphony.]

A spiritual quality escapes verbal definition; but just as we can feel it in certain characters, and just as we recognize the sublime in nature and in such works of art as a cathedral or a Shakespearian Drama, so we may find it in the following specific examples from his works: the Trio of the second movement of the Seventh Symphony; the Slow Movement theme of the B-flat major Trio and the Slow Movement of the Sonata op. 109. (See Supplement Nos. 47, 48, 49.) Anyone who allows these themes to sink into his consciousness is carried into a realm of ideality where he begins to recognize the truth that "the things which are unseen are eternal." Music of this transporting power is far above that which merely excites, amuses or even fascinates; and of such music Beethoven is the poet for all time.

We have referred above to the voluminous literature extant concerning Beethoven. Several scholars, in fact--notably Alexander Thayer and Sir George Grove--have devoted a large part of their lives to finding out all there is to be known about his life and works. Obviously the layman cannot be expected to become familiar with this entire ma.s.s of historical and critical writing. The following books, however, may be considered indispensable aids to those who would become cultivated appreciators of Beethoven's masterpieces: the _Life of Beethoven_ by Alexander Thayer--a great glory to American scholarship; the life in Grove's Dictionary; the illuminating Biography by d'Indy (in French and in English); _Beethoven and his Nine Symphonies_ by Grove; the _Oxford History of Music_, Vol. V; and the essay by Mason in his _Beethoven and his Forerunners_.[171] We cite, in closing, a eulogy[172] by Dannreuther--in our opinion the most eloquent ever written on Beethoven's genius:

"While listening," says Mr. Dannreuther, "to such works as the Overture to Leonora, the Sinfonia Eroica, or the Ninth Symphony, we feel that we are in the presence of something far wider and 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 prevailing sentiment. A religious pa.s.sion and elevation are present in the utterances. 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 has dreamt of before: yet it seems as though he were speaking of matters long familiar, in one's mother tongue; as though he touched upon emotions one had lived through in some former existence.... The warmth and depth of his ethical sentiment is now felt all the world over, and it will ere long be universally recognised 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."

[Footnote 171: Suggestive comments from a literary point of view may also be found in these works: _Studies in the Seven Arts_, Symonds; _Beethoven_ by Romain Rolland--with an interesting though ultra-subjective introduction by Carpenter; _The Development of Symphonic Music_ by T.W. Surette; _Beethoven_ by Walker; _Beethoven_ by Chantavoine in the series _Les Maitres de la Musique_. As to the three successive "styles" under which Beethoven's works are generally cla.s.sified there is an excellent account in Pratt's _History of Music_, p. 419.]

[Footnote 172: This pa.s.sage is to be found in the Life in Grove's Dictionary.]

CHAPTER XII

THE ROMANTIC COMPOSERS. SCHUBERT AND WEBER

During the latter part of Beethoven's life--he died in 1827--new currents were setting in, which were to influence profoundly the trend of modern music. Two important, though in some respects unconscious, representatives of these tendencies were actually working contemporaneously with Beethoven, von Weber (1786-1826) and Schubert (1797-1828). Beethoven himself is felt to be a dual personality in that he summed up and ratified all that was best in his predecessors, and pointed the way for most of the tendencies operative since his time. For the designation of these two contrasting, though not exclusive, ideals, the currently accepted terms are Cla.s.sic and Romantic. So many shades of meaning have unfortunately been a.s.sociated with the word Romantic that confusion of thought has arisen. It is also true that the so-called Romanticists, including poets and painters as well as musicians, in their endeavors to break loose from the formality of the Cla.s.sic period, have indulged in many irritating idiosyncracies. We are beginning to see clearly that a too violent expression of individuality destroys a most vital factor in music--universality of appeal. Yet the Romantic School cannot be ignored. To its representatives we owe many of our finest works, and they were the prime movers in those strivings toward freedom and ideality which have made the modern world what it is. The term Romantic is perfectly clear in its application to literature, from which music borrowed it. It refers to the movement begun about the year 1796 among such German poets as Tieck, the two Schlegels and Novalis, to restore the poetic legends of the middle ages, written in the Romance dialects, and to embody in their own works the fantastic spirit of this medieval poetry.[173] In reference to music, however, the terms Cla.s.sic and Romantic are often vague and misleading, and have had extreme interpretations put upon them.[174] Thus, to many, "romantic" implies ultra-sentimental, mawkish or grotesque, while everything "cla.s.sic" is dry, uninspired and academic. How often we hear the expression, "I am not up to cla.s.sic music; let me hear something modern and romantic." Many scholars show little respect for the terms and some would abolish them altogether. Everything, however, hinges upon a reasonable definition. Pater's well-known saying that "Romanticism is the addition of strangeness to beauty" is fair; and yet, since strangeness in art can result only from imaginative conception, it amounts to nothing more than the truism that romantic art is imbued with personality. Hence Stendhal is right in saying that "All good art was Romantic in its day"; _i.e._, it exhibited as much warmth and individuality as the spirit of its times would allow.

Surely Bach, Haydn and Mozart were real characters, notwithstanding the restraint which the artificialities of the period often put upon their utterance. On the other hand, work at first p.r.o.nounced to be romantic establishes, by a universal recognition of its merit, the claim to be considered cla.s.sic, or set apart; what is romantic to-day thus growing to be cla.s.sic[175] tomorrow. It is evident, therefore, that the terms interlock and are not mutually exclusive. It is a mistaken att.i.tude to set one school off against the other, or to prove that one style is greater than the other; they are simply different.

Compositions of lasting worth always manifest such a happy union of qualities that, in a broad sense, they may be called both romantic and cla.s.sic, _i.e._, they combine personal emotion and imagination with breadth of meaning and solidity of structure.

[Footnote 173: For a more complete historical account see the article "Romantic" in Grove's Dictionary and the introduction to Vol. VI of _The Oxford History of Music_. _Rousseau and Romanticism_ by Professor Irving Babbitt presents the latest investigations in this important field.]

[Footnote 174: Some very sane comments may be found in Pratt's _History of Music_, pp. 427, 501, 502.]

[Footnote 175: "A _cla.s.sic_ is properly a book"--and the same would be true of a musical composition--"which maintains itself by that happy coalescence of matter and style, that innate and requisite sympathy between the thought that gives life and the form that consents to every mood of grace and dignity, and which is something neither ancient nor modern, always new and incapable of growing old."

Lowell, _Among My Books_.]

Beginning, however, with Schubert and Weber--the two first representatives of the romantic group--there is a marked novelty of content and style; and if we drop the terms and confine ourselves to the inner evidence of the music itself, we note a difference which may be felt and to a certain extent formulated. To take extreme types for the sake of vivid contrast, let us compare the compositions of Haydn and Mozart with those of Berlioz and Liszt. In the former there is repose, restraint and a perfect finish in the structural presentation; a feeling of serenity comes over us as we listen. In the latter, a peculiar intensity of expression, an attempt to fascinate the listener by the most intimate kinds of appeal, especially to the senses and fancy, regardless of any liberties taken with former modes of treatment. The purely cla.s.sical composer is always master of his subject, whereas the romanticist is often carried away by it.

Cla.s.sical works are objectively beautiful, commending themselves to everyone like works of nature, or, let us say, like decorative patterns in pure design. Romantic works are subjective, charged with individuality and demand a sensitive and sympathetic appreciation on the part of the hearer. It is evident that many of these tendencies are found clearly outlined in the works of Beethoven. In fact, as has been said, he was not only the climax of the cla.s.sical school, but the founder of the new era--opening a door, as it were, into the possibilities of a more intense, specialized form of emotional utterance and a freer conception of form. These special characteristics were so fully developed by Beethoven's successors, Schubert, Weber, Schumann, Chopin, etc. that they are always grouped together as the Romantic School. A striking feature in this whole Romantic group is the early flowering of their genius and the shortness of their lives--Weber, forty years, Schubert, thirty-one, Schumann, forty-six, Mendelssohn, thirty-eight, Chopin, forty. In the case of all the composers we have hitherto studied, with the exception of Mozart, their masterpieces have been the result of long years of patient, technical study and hence show that finish and maturity of style which come only with time. But the precocity of the Romanticists is astounding! Many of Schubert's famous pieces were composed in his earliest manhood; Mendelssohn's _Midsummer Night's Dream_ Overture dates from his sixteenth year; Schumann's best pianoforte works were composed before he was thirty. The irresistible spontaneity and vigor of all these works largely atone for any blemishes in treatment. We feel somewhat the same in the case of Keats and Sh.e.l.ley in comparison with Milton, and are reminded of Wordsworth's lines, "Bliss was it in that hour to be alive, but to be young was very Heaven."[176] Why expect senatorial wisdom and the fancy of youth in any one person!

[Footnote 176: Compare also the definition of genius by Masters in the _Spoon River Anthology_:

"In youth my wings were strong and tireless, But I did not know the mountains.

In age I knew the mountains But my weary wings could not follow my vision-- Genius is wisdom and youth."]

A most important distinction between a cla.s.sical and a romantic composer is the knowledge and love of literature shown by the latter.

Although Haydn kept a note-book on his London tours, and although we have a fair number of letters from Mozart, in neither of these men do we find any appreciation of general currents of thought and life. In many of Beethoven's works we have seen how close was the connection between literature and musical expression. All the Romantic composers, with the exception of Schubert, were broadly cultivated, and several could express themselves artistically in words as well as in notes.

They may not have been on this account any better composers, as far as sheer creative vitality is concerned, but it is evident that their imaginations were nourished in quite a different way and hence a novel product was to be expected. Romantic music has been defined as a reflex of poetry expressed in musical terms, at times fairly trembling on the verge of speech. Music can not, to be sure, describe matters of fact, but the Romantic composers have brought it to a high degree of poetical suggestiveness. Thus the horn-calls of Weber and Schubert remind us of "the horns of Elfland faintly blowing" and much romantic music arouses our imaginations and enchants our senses in the same way as the lines of Keats where he tells of "Magic cas.e.m.e.nts opening on the foam of perilous seas in fairy lands forlorn," the chief glory of which is not any precise intellectual idea they convey, but the fascinating picture which carries us from the land of hard and fast events into the realm of fancy. Schumann claimed that his object in writing music was so to influence the imagination of the listeners that they could go on dreaming for themselves. A second characteristic is the freedom of form. Considering that a free rein to their fancy was incompatible with strict adherence to traditional rules, the Romantic spirits refused to be bound by forms felt to be inadequate.

Although this att.i.tude sometimes resulted in diffuseness and obscurity, on the whole (as Goethe says of romantic literature) "a wider and more varied subject matter and a freer form has been attained." The chief aim of romantic art being to arouse the imagination, we find a predilection for the use of solo wood-wind instruments, which are capable of such warmth and variety of tone-color. Whereas in the cla.s.sical masters, and even generally in Beethoven, the melodies are likely to be the upper voice of a harmonic ma.s.s, or a.s.signed to groups of instruments, Weber and Schubert in particular showed the eloquence to be gained by the use of such warm-blooded _solo_ instruments as the horn, the oboe and the clarinet. Schubert fairly conjures with the horn, often holding us spellbound with its haunting appeal, _e.g._, in the well-known second movement of the C major Symphony, the calls of which, as Schumann said, "seem to come from another world." Schubert was anything but a thinker, and reflected unconsciously the tendencies which were in the air; but his wonderful gift of lyric melody was thoroughly in keeping with the individual expression for which Romanticism stood. He said himself that his compositions were the direct result of his inmost sorrows. He was steeped in romantic poetry and the glowing fancy in his best work leads us to condone the occasional prolixity referred to by Schumann as "heavenly length." Schubert was well named by Liszt the most poetic of musicians, _i.e._, a creator of pure beauty which enthralls the imagination of the hearer. Why expect the work of any one composer to manifest all possible merits? If we crave dynamic power of emotion or sublimity of thought we may have recourse to Bach and Beethoven; but the spontaneous charm of Schubert never grows old; and it is not without interest to note that his music fulfils the definition of one of the most poetic composers of our time, Debussy, who claims that music is chiefly meant "to give pleasure."

We note these same tendencies in Weber as shown in the overtures to his three Romantic operas, _Der Freischutz_, _Euryanthe_ and _Oberon_, which are the foundations of the modern art of dramatic orchestration, _i.e._, the intensification of certain ideas and situations by the special tone color and register of solo-instruments or by a novel use of customary means, _e.g._, the divided violins in the mysterious pa.s.sage of the _Euryanthe_ overture. Another favorite means of arresting the attention was by modulation; not used in a constructive sense, simply to pa.s.s from one point to another, or to connect themes in different keys, but to furnish the ear with a purely sensuous delight, corresponding to that which the eye derives from the kaleidoscopic colors of a sunset. The works of Schubert, Chopin and to a lesser degree of Schumann abound in these shifting harmonies by which we seem to be wafted along on a magic carpet. A final characteristic, shared by all the Romantic composers, is the prevalence of t.i.tles--the logical result of the close connection between music, literature and the world of outward events,--thus Mendelssohn's Overture to the _Midsummer Night's Dream_ with its romantic opening chords, his _Hebrides_ Overture, the musical record of a trip to Scotland, and Schumann's _Manfred_, from Byron. Liszt even went so far as to draw inspiration from a painting, as in his _Battle of the Huns_, and again from a beautiful vase in _Orpheus_.

We shall now make a few specific comments on the style of Schubert and Weber and then a.n.a.lyze some of their representative works. Schubert was a born composer of songs, and though his works for Pianoforte, String quartet and Orchestra were of marked significance and have proved of lasting value, the instinct for highly individualized, lyric melody predominates, and all his instrumental compositions may fairly be called "Songs without words."[177] It is evident that the solo-song, unenc.u.mbered by structural considerations, is one of the best media for expressing the Romantic spirit, and many of its fairest fruits are found in this field. Schubert's songs are often tone-dramas in which the expressive powers of music are most eloquently employed.[178] Note the poetic touches of character-drawing and of description in the _Young Nun_ (see Supplement No. 50). Schubert's pianoforte compositions are miniature tone-poems, mood-pictures--their t.i.tles: _Impromptus_ and _Moments Musicaux_, speak for themselves--making no pretense to the scope and elaborate structure of movements in Sonata-form,[179] yet of great import not only for their intrinsic beauty but as the prototypes of the numerous lyric and descriptive pieces of Schumann, Brahms, Grieg, Debussy and others. Their charm lies in the heart-felt melodies and surprising modulations. While neither sublime nor deeply introspective, they make the simple, direct appeal of a lovely flower. In the development of music they are as important as the modern short story in the field of literature; which, in distinction to the old "three-decker" novel, often really _says more_ and says it so concisely that our interest never flags. This tendency to the short, independent piece had been begun by Beethoven in his _Bagatelles_ (French "trifles"); but these, as has been aptly said, were "mere chips from the work-shop" whereas in a short piece of Schubert we find the quintessence of his genius. He was a prolific composer in the field of chamber music, and the Trios for Violin, 'Cello and Pianoforte, the A minor Quartet, the C major Quintet and, above all, the posthumous Quartet in D minor, which contains the entrancing Variations on the song _Death and the Maiden_, are still as fresh as when they were composed. In these works we do not look for architectonic power--we must admit, in fact, at the risk of seeming ungracious, that Schubert is diffuse at times--but our senses are so enthralled by the imaginative freedom and by the splendor of color, that all purely intellectual judgment is suspended. The magician works his wonders; it is for us to enjoy. We have from Schubert seven complete Symphonies and the so-called _Unfinished in B minor_, _i.e._, the first two movements and the fragment of a Scherzo. Of these the _Fourth_ (_Tragic_), composed in 1816, foreshadows the real Schubert and is occasionally heard to-day. But the immortal ones are the B minor and the C major, the latter composed in 1828 (the last year of his life) and never heard by its author.[180] Of this work Schumann said that "a tenth Muse had been added to the nine of Beethoven." This symphony is specially characterized by the incorporation of Hungarian types of melody, particularly in the first and in the last movement.

It is indeed a storehouse of beauty, but the "high moments" are in the last two movements--the fairly intoxicating Trio of the Scherzo, which seems as if Nature herself were singing to us, and the gorgeous Finale with its throbbing rhythms. The first movement is laid out on a vast scale and holds the attention throughout, but the second movement, notwithstanding its wondrous theme, suffers from a lack of concentration; the sweetness is so long-drawn out that we become sated.

[Footnote 177: Schubert was of incredible versatility and fecundity; he literally tried his hand at everything: operas, church-music, ensemble combinations. Since, however, he exercised little power of selection or revision much of this music has become obsolete. The joke is well-known that he could set a theatre notice to music, and his rule for composing was "When I have finished one song I begin another."]

[Footnote 178: For an original, though at times rhapsodic, study of Schubert's vocal style see H.T. Finck's _Songs and Song Writers_, and the last chapter of the Fifth Volume of the Oxford History.]

[Footnote 179: Schubert did compose a number of Pianoforte Sonatas in the conventional form, but with the exception of the one in A minor they seem diffuse and do not represent him at his best; they certainly have not held their own in modern appeal.]

[Footnote 180: For the account of its exciting discovery in Vienna by Schumann in 1838, after a neglect of ten years, see the life of Schubert in Grove's Dictionary.]

As examples[181] for a.n.a.lytical comment we select the Menuetto in B minor from the Fantasia for Pianoforte, op. 78; the fourth Impromptu in A-flat major from the set, op. 90, and the B minor Symphony for orchestra. The Menuetto, though one of Schubert's simpler pieces--the first part in an idealized Mozartian vein--yet exemplifies in the Trio one of the composer's most characteristic traits, the predilection for those bewitching alternations,[182] like sunlight and shadow, between the major and the minor mode.