Music: An Art and a Language Part 15

[Footnote 181: For lack of s.p.a.ce no one of these compositions is cited in the Supplement, but they are all readily available.]

[Footnote 182: This tendency is prevalent in folk-music, especially that of the Russians and Scandinavians. Schubert, however, was the _first_ to make such systematic and artistic use of the effect. For a beautiful modern example see the Spanish folk-dance by Granados, _e.g._,

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The Impromptu in A-flat major, one of several equally fine ones, is notable for the wealth of its iridescent modulations and for the note of genuine pathos and pa.s.sion in the middle portion in the minor mode.

Schubert might well say that his most inspired music came from his sorrows.

The _Unfinished Symphony_ requires less comment and elucidation than perhaps any other symphonic composition. The two movements are in definite Sonata-form--the first, strict, the second, with modifications; but the quality of the themes is quite different from that to which we have been accustomed in cla.s.sical treatment. Instead of the terse, characteristic motive which, often at first uncompromisingly bare, impresses us as its latent possibilities are revealed, we have a series of lyric, periodic melodies which make their instant appeal. In Schubert everything sings; thus in the first part of the Exposition of the Allegro we have _three_ distinct melodies: the introductory phrase, the accompaniment figure which has a melodic line of its own, and the first theme proper. In any consideration of this work from a pianoforte version we must always remember how much the beauty and eloquence of the themes depend upon the solo instruments to which they are a.s.signed. For Schubert was one of the first, as well as one of the greatest, of "Colorists." By the use of this pictorial term in music we mean that the tone-quality of certain instruments--the mellow, far-echoing effect of the horn, the tang of the oboe, the pa.s.sionate warmth of the clarinet[183]--appeals to our sense of hearing in the same way in which beautiful colors--the green gra.s.s, the blue sky, the hues of a sunset--delight our sight. A striking example of Schubert's genius in utilizing tone-color to suit structural needs is found in the transition beginning at measure 38.

This is a single tone on the horn (with a modulatory ending) announced _forte_ and then allowed to die away, _i.e._, _sf_ [decrescendo symbol]. So powerful is the horn in evoking a spirit of suspense and revery that this tone introduces the beautiful, swaying second theme more impressively than a whole series of routine modulations. The Development speaks for itself. Though there is little polyphonic treatment, it holds our interest by reason of the harmonic variety and the dramatic touches of orchestration. In Schubert we do not look for the development of a complicated plot but give ourselves up unreservedly to the enjoyment of pure melodic line, couched in terms of sensuously delightful tone-color. The transitional pa.s.sage of the Recapitulation (measures 231-253) ill.u.s.trates Schubert's fondness for modulation just for its own sake; we care not what the objective point of the music may be--enthralled, as we are, by the magical shifts of scene. In the Second Movement, likewise, the chief beauty--especially of the second theme--consists in the lyric quality, in the color of the solo instruments, the oboe, clarinet and horn, and in the enharmonic changes, _e.g._, where, in measures 80-95, the theme modulates from C-sharp minor to D-flat major. Note in the orchestral score the charming dialogue in this pa.s.sage between the clarinet, oboe and flute. The Development, based upon the second theme, with some effective canonic treatment, shows that Schubert was by no means entirely lacking in polyphonic skill. At any rate he can work wonders with the horn, for at the close of the Development (measures 134-142) by the simple device of an octave leap, _ppp_, he veritably transports the listener, _e.g._

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The Coda has a dream-like quality all its own.

[Footnote 183: So appropriately called by Berlioz the "heroine of the orchestra."]

Weber's permanent contribution to musical literature has proved to be his operas--a form of art not treated in this book. But the whole nature of his genius was so closely related to the Romantic spirit, as shown in the intimate connection between literature and music, in his descriptive powers and his development of the orchestra, that for the sake of comprehensiveness some familiarity should be gained with the essential features of his style. Of Weber it may be said with conviction that there is hardly a composer of acknowledged rank in whom style, _i.e._, the way and the medium by which musical thought is presented, so prevails over the substance of the thought itself. There are few if any of Weber's melodies which are notable for creative power, and as a harmonist he was lamentably weak. It has been scathingly said, though with considerable truth, that all his melodies are based upon an alternation of tonic and dominant chords![184] But when we consider what his themes are meant to describe, the pictures they evoke and their orchestral dress, we must acknowledge in Weber the touch of real poetic genius. To quote Runciman[185]--

"If you look, and look rightly, for the right thing in Weber's music, disappointment is impossible, though I admit that the man who professes to find there the great qualities he finds in Mozart, Beethoven, or any of the giants, must be in a very sad case. Grandeur, pure beauty, and high expressiveness are alike wanting. Weber's claim to a place amongst the composers is supported in a lesser degree by the gifts which he shared, even if his share was small, with the greater masters of music, than by his miraculous power of vividly drawing and painting in music the things that kindled his imagination.

Being a factor of the Romantic movement, that mighty rebellion against the tyranny of a world of footrules and ledgers, he lived in a world where two and two might make five or seven or any number you pleased, and where footrules were unknown; he took small interest in drama taken out of the lives of ordinary men and enacted amidst every-day surroundings; his imagination lit up only when he thought of haunted glens and ghouls and evil spirits, the fantastic world and life that goes on underneath the ocean, or of men or women held by ghastly spells."

[Footnote 184: A striking ill.u.s.tration of this progression (surely Weber's most characteristic mannerism) is navely supplied by Weingartner; when, in his own orchestral arrangement of Weber's _Invitation to the Dance_, for the final climax he a.s.sembles all the leading themes in combination--an effect made possible only by their common harmonic basis.]

[Footnote 185: This whole article is well worth reading and may be found in that breezy though somewhat erratic volume called _Old Scores and New Readings_.]

Weber's present-day fame rests upon the Overtures to his three operas of _Der Freischutz_, _Euryanthe_ and _Oberon_, which are often played in detached concert form and hold their own for their romantic glow and for the brilliancy of orchestral effect. By employing for his thematic material the leading melodies of the operas themselves Weber has created what may be called epitomized dramas which, if we have any knowledge of what the t.i.tles imply, present us with realistic pictures. For the use of special tone-color to enhance the dramatic situation Weber is the precursor of that type of orchestration which has reached such heights in Wagner and other moderns. From the above comments it is evident that only the barest idea of the Overtures can be gained from a pianoforte version; we have selected _Oberon_[186]

because it suffers less than either of the others. Everyone, however, should become familiar with the mysterious, boding pa.s.sage in the introduction to _Der Freischutz_ (taken from the scene in the Wolf's Glen) and the Intermezzo from _Euryanthe_ for muted, divided strings,[187] which accompanies the apparition of the ghost. This is _genuine_ descriptive music for it really _sounds ghostly_. (See Supplement No. 51.)

[Footnote 186: Not given in the Supplement since good arrangements for two and four hands are numerous. To gain the real effect the student is strongly advised to consult the orchestral score.]

[Footnote 187: The genesis of so many similar effects in modern music, notably in Wagner.]

The _Oberon Overture in D major_, begins with the intoning of the motto of Oberon's magic horn, and then follows a pa.s.sage for muted strings (piano e adagio sostenuto) and for delicate combinations of the wood-wind instruments, which gives us a picture of the moonlit glens of fairyland, peopled with airy spirits. The vision is dispelled by a sudden _ff_ chord for full orchestra which, from its setting, is one of the loudest effects in music, thoroughly characteristic of Weber's penchant for dramatic contrast. The main body of the work (allegro con fuoco) opens with a dashing theme for the strings of great brilliancy, most typical of Weber. Though we may feel that it has little substance (note the tonic and dominant foundation of the harmony) we cannot be insensible to its abounding vigor. It is not alone the ponderous things which should move our imaginations; even a soap-bubble is a wonderful phenomenon. The theme is expanded to a climax, in measure 28 (counting from the allegro), of great sonority and considerable harmonic boldness. After some reminiscent appearances of the introductory horn-call, a long-sustained dominant note introduces the second theme which seems a bit cloying, to be sure, but is just suited to the melting tone-color of the clarinet. The closing theme borders on triviality; the Exposition ends, however, with some exceedingly brilliant improvisations on the rhythmic figure of the main theme. The following Development is rather flimsy and we need expend upon it no critical powder. Weber was a great colorist but not a great architect. These qualities are united only too seldom. In the Recapitulation, which is shortened by the omission of the second theme--rather overworked in the Development--he is once more on his own ground of rhythmic life and dazzling orchestral color. At the close we are convinced that the overture has accomplished its purpose of graphically depicting the revels of Fairy-land.

Although they are seldom[188] played to-day, no account of Weber would be complete which entirely pa.s.sed over his compositions for the Pianoforte, _i.e._, the four Sonatas, the concert piece in F minor and the originally conceived _Invitation to the Dance_, often played in the orchestral version of Berlioz which is so much better than the inflated, bombastic one by Weingartner. Weber is cla.s.sed as one of the founders of the "brilliant school" of pianoforte playing which, chiefly through the genius of Franz Liszt, has done so much to enlarge the sonorous and coloristic possibilities of the instrument. Here again Weber's fame rests more upon his influence than upon lasting achievement; as to the importance of this influence, however, there can be no doubt.

[Footnote 188: Perhaps the whirligig of time may restore them; who can say?]

The student will be repaid for informing[189] himself as fully as possible concerning Weber's career and artistic ideals, for he was a genuine though early exponent of Romantic tendencies. Of marked versatility, of no mean literary skill and of such social magnetism and charm that he might properly be considered a man of the world, as well as an artist, Weber was thus enabled to do pioneer work in raising the standard of musicianship and in bringing the art of music and ordinary, daily life into closer touch.

[Footnote 189: The life in Grove's Dictionary is well worth while; there are essays by Krehbiel and others and, above all, the biographical and critical accounts in the two French series: _Les Musiciens Celebres_, and _Les Maitres de la Musique_.]

CHAPTER XIII

SCHUMANN AND MENDELSSOHN

In distinction from pioneers like Schubert, slightly tinged with Romanticism, and Weber who, though versatile, was somewhat lacking in creative vigor, Schumann (1810-1856) stands forth as the definite, conscious spokesman of the Romantic movement in German art just as Berlioz was for art in France. He was endowed with literary gifts of a high order, had a keen critical and historical sense and wrote freely and convincingly in support of his own views and in generous recognition of the ideals of his contemporaries. Many of his swans, to be sure, proved later to be geese, and it is debatable how much good was done by his rhapsodic praise to young Brahms; whether in fact he did not set before the youngster a chimerical ideal impossible of attainment. Schumann early came under the influence of Jean Paul Richter, that incarnation of German Romanticism, whom he placed on the same high plane as Shakespeare and Beethoven. An intimate appreciation of much that is fantastic and whimsical in Schumann is possible only through acquaintance with the work of this Jean Paul. Schumann's first compositions were for the pianoforte--in fact his original ambition[190] was to be a pianoforte virtuoso--and to-day his permanent significance depends on the spontaneity in conception and the freedom of form manifested in these pianoforte works and in his romantic songs. Here we have the "ipsissimus Schumann," as von Bulow so well remarks. Schumann's pianoforte style is compounded of two factors: first, his intensely subjective and varied imagination which, nourished by the love of Romantic literature, craved an individual mode of expression; second, a power of concentration and of organic structure which was largely derived from a study of Bach and of the later works of Beethoven. Schumann saw that the regularity of abstract form, found in the purely cla.s.sical writers, was not suited to the full expression of his moods and so he worked out a style of his own, although in many cases this was simply a logical amplification or modification of former practice. In his pianoforte compositions, then, we find a striking freedom in the choice of subject, which is generally indicated by some poetically descriptive t.i.tle, _e.g._, _Waldscenen_, _Nachtstucke_, _Fantasiestucke_, _Novelletten_, _Kreisleriana_, _Humoreske_, etc. The danger in this form of subject matter is that it often degenerates into sentimentality coupled with a corresponding spinelessness of structure. This danger Schumann avoids by a style noticeable for terseness and structural solidity. His effort was to give significance to every note; all verbiage, meaningless scale pa.s.sages and monotonous arpeggios were swept away, while the imagination was aroused by the bold use of dissonances and by the variety of tone-color. A thoroughly novel feature was the flexibility of the rhythm, which breaks from the old "sing-song"

metres and abounds in syncopations, in contrasted accents, and in subtle combinations of metrical groups; every effort being made to avoid the tyranny of the bar-line.

[Footnote 190: Because of an unfortunate accident to one of his fingers this ambition, however, had to be abandoned. The world thereby gained a great composer.]

Schumann's career was peculiar in that, beginning as a pianoforte composer, he tried successively every other form as well--the song, chamber music, works for orchestra, and for orchestra with solo voices and chorus--and won distinction to a greater or less degree in every field save that of the opera. Notwithstanding the beauty of poetic inspiration enshrined in the four symphonies, a grave defect is the quality of orchestral tone which greets the ear, especially the modern ear accustomed to the many-hued sonority of Wagner, Tchaikowsky, Debussy and others. These symphonies have been called "huge pieces for four hands" which were afterwards orchestrated, and the allegation is not without truth, as real orchestral glow and brilliancy is so often lacking. Each one, however, has notable features, _e.g._, the sublime Adagio of the 2d, and the touching Romanza of the 4th, and each is worthy of study; for Schumann in certain aspects furnishes the best avenue of approach to the modern school. In the Fourth Symphony he obliterates the pauses between the movements and fuses them all together; calling it a Symphony "in einem Satze" and antic.i.p.ating the very same procedure that Schonberg follows in his String Quartet which has had recent vogue. Schumann's chief contribution to the development of the German Song lay in the pianoforte part, which with Schubert and Mendelssohn might properly be called an accompaniment, however rich and varied. But in Schumann the pianoforte attains to a real independence of style, intensifying in the most subtle and delicate way every shade of poetic feeling in the text. In fact, it is often used to reveal some deep meaning beyond the expressive power of words.

This is seen in the closing measures of "Moonlight" where the voice ceases in suspense, and the instrument completes the eloquence of the message. Schumann's great achievement as a literary man was his founding, in 1834, of the _Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik_, to which he himself contributed many stimulating and suggestive essays, opposing with might and main the Philistinism which so pervaded the music of his time. He even established an imaginary club, called the Davidsbund, to storm the citadel of Philistia.

The best eulogy of Schumann is the recognition that many of the tendencies in modern music, which we now take for granted, date from him: the exaltation of freedom and fancy over mere formal presentation, the union of broad culture with musical technique, and the recognition of music as the art closest in touch with the aspirations of humanity. He was an idealist with such perseverance and clearness of aim that his more characteristic work can never die.

DES ABENDS.

The _Fantasiestucke_[191], op. 12, of which this piece is the first, amply justify their t.i.tle, for they abound in soaring thoughts, in fantastic, whimsical imaginings and in novel modes of utterance and structure. Every number of the set is a gem, _In der Nacht_ being perhaps the most poetic of Schumann's short pieces for the pianoforte.

They are thoroughly pianistic and evoke from the instrument all its possibilities of sonority and color. In point of texture they ill.u.s.trate that happy combination, which Schumann worked out, of lyric melodies on a firmly knit polyphonic basis. They are also programmistic in so far as Schumann believed in music of that type.

There is no attempt to tell a detailed story or to have the music correspond literally to definite incidents. The t.i.tles merely afford a verbal clue to the general import and atmosphere of the music. Thus in regard to the piece under consideration, the mere mention of eventide is supposed to be enough to stimulate thought in any one with a sensitive imagination, and the music is a suggestive expression of Schumann's own intimate reveries. The piece is in extended two-part form--each part repeated--and rounded out with an eloquent Coda. The rhythmic scheme is of particular significance for it ill.u.s.trates not only the composer's fondness for inventing new combinations, but, as well, suggests most delicately the mood of the piece. It would evidently be false art to write a piece, ent.i.tled Evening, in a vigorous, arousing rhythm, such as might be a.s.sociated with a noon-day sun, when we often see the heat-waves dancing over the fields. On the other hand Schumann, by a subtle blending of triple time in the main upper melody and duple time in the lower, suggests that hazy indefiniteness appropriate to the time of day when the life of Nature seems momentarily subsiding and everything sinking to rest, _e.g._

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In many measures of the second part (_i.e._, 21-24) the accent is so disguised that it seems as if we were in a twilight revery, quite apart from matters of time and s.p.a.ce.

[Footnote 191: As the music is readily procurable the student should make himself familiar with the entire set.]

WARUM?

This piece is a happy ill.u.s.tration of the intensity of meaning and the conciseness of structure which Schumann gained by the application of polyphonic imitation. It is difficult to say exactly what _Warum_ signifies. It was characteristic of the Romantic unrest of the German mind to question everything--especially "Why am I not more happy in love?" The motto may be considered a Carlyle-like "everlasting why."

At any rate the composition is an example of music speaking more plainly than words; for no one can fail to recognize the haunting appeal in the theme with its long-drawn out final note after the upward leap. It is a real musical question, _e.g._

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_Grillen_, the next piece in the set, deserves careful study. It is too long to present as a whole, but we cite the middle part (See Supplement No. 52) as it is such a convincing example of syncopated effect (_i.e._, the persistent placing of the accent on weak beats), and of elasticity in the metric scheme.

_Novellette in E major._

This piece ill.u.s.trates the vigor and ma.s.siveness of Schumann's pianoforte style. Note the sonority gained by the use of widely s.p.a.ced chords. For the brilliant effect demanded, there should be a liberal use of the damper pedal.[192] We likewise find, beginning with the third brace, some characteristic polyphonic imitations which give to the movement a remarkable concentration. In the middle contrasting portion it seems as if Schumann had taken a leaf out of Chopin's book--a beautiful, lyric melody floating on an undercurrent of sonorous, arpeggio chords. The theme is presented in dialogue form, first in the upper voice, next in an inner voice and finally in the ba.s.s. (See Supplement No. 53.)

[Footnote 192: A beautiful contrast may be made by playing the section in F major with the "una corda" pedal throughout.]

SONG, _Mondnacht_.

No estimate of Schumann would be fair or comprehensive without some mention of his songs; upon which, together with his pianoforte compositions, his immortality tends more and more to rest.

Notwithstanding the many poetic and dramatic touches in Schubert's accompaniments, those of Schumann are on the whole more finely wrought; for he had the advantage of Schubert in being, himself, a pianist of high attainment, thoroughly versed in pianistic effects.

His imagination was also more sensitive to subtle shades of meaning in the text and he was inspired by the wonderful lyrics of Heine, Eichendorff and Chamisso who in Schubert's day had written very little. Special features of Schumann's songs are the instrumental preludes and postludes, the prelude establishing just the right setting for the import of the words and the postlude commenting on the beautiful message which the voice has just delivered. In _Mondnacht_, for example, (as previously mentioned), note how the voice stops in suspense and in what an eloquent revery the accompaniment completes the picture. (See Supplement No. 54.)