Music: An Art and a Language Part 18

To return to the example being considered,--it is in Three-part form (A, B, A, with Coda) the first part in the minor mode; the second part beautifully contrasted by being in B major--introduced by the implied enharmonic change from E-flat to D-sharp. This first part, remarkable for its pa.s.sionate, headlong impetuosity, should dispel any idea that Chopin was a weak sentimentalist. Although of a delicate const.i.tution he certainly had a fiery soul. The second part, sotto voce--note the feminine endings--reminds us of the m.u.f.fled music of a military band as it pa.s.ses by.

[Footnote 225: For an account of its origin see the chapter in Huneker's book and the article on the Polonaise in Grove's Dictionary.]

BARCAROLLE IN F-SHARP MAJOR, OP. 60.

This composition, in many ways the most wonderful single piece we have from Chopin, is the quintessence of his genius. It seems, in fact, to contain everything: appealing melodies, wealth of harmony, bold dissonances (note in particular the 6th and 7th measures of the Coda), brilliant embellishments; and withal, it is written in a pianistic style which, for richness and warmth of color, is quite unsurpa.s.sed.

It is also most sincerely conceived, intensifying the suggestiveness of the descriptive t.i.tle. Would that objective program music were always so true to life and to the real nature of music! It is in free three-part form, the first part of a calm nature in which we are rocked on gently undulating waves; a more rhythmic second part where, as Kullak says, the ba.s.s seems to suggest the monotonous steadiness of oar-strokes; an interlude, marked "dolce sfogato," introduced by some delightful modulations, as if in a quiet nook the poet were dreaming of the beauties of love and nature; an impa.s.sioned return to the chief subject, together with a partial presentation of the middle portion; and finally a long and brilliant coda. The composition is unique in romantic literature for its power to arouse the imagination, or, as Schumann so well says, "to set people romancing for themselves."

SCHERZO IN C-SHARP MINOR, OP. 39.

The four Scherzos, for pa.s.sion and eloquence, rank among Chopin's most characteristic works, though it seems impossible to trace a logical correspondence between the former cla.s.sic meaning of the term "Scherzo" and the contents revealed to us in these poems; save that they are all in triple rhythm, hence on a dance-form basis. As Niecks well says, "There is in them neither frolicsomeness nor humor"--such, for example, as we find in Beethoven's Scherzos--and he suggests that "Capriccio" might be a less misleading designation. But, however inexplicable the t.i.tle which Huneker thinks Chopin may have applied in serious jest, there is no doubt of the uncompromising dignity of the utterance, and there is often a grim irony, a wayward scorn, which a liberal interpretation might well consider attributes of humor. These were marked traits in Chopin's nature, and the Scherzos are their revelation in terms of music. Schumann's well-known comment is apropos--"How is gravity to clothe itself if jest goes about in dark veils?" This Scherzo (Presto con fuoco) is in extended three-part form; the dominant note of the first part being one of feverish agitation, which expresses itself in spasmodic outbursts. The second part, with its broad cantabile melody of a hymn-like character, reveals a calmer mood. The last note of each phrase is adorned throughout with lovely coloristic embellishments. After a return to the first theme, the second part is also repeated; this time with striking modulatory changes which strongly resemble the mood of Wotan's Farewell, in the third Act of Wagner's _Valkyrie_. A long and fiery coda of new thematic material closes the work. The major ending is like a shaft of light dispelling storm-tossed clouds.

Chopin's works are so instinct with genius and have proved to be so immortal that they may well be considered as ideal witnesses to the triumph of quality over mere quant.i.ty or sensational display. To-day, when we suffer from musical bombast, their refined message is of special significance.

CHAPTER XV

BERLIOZ AND LISZT. PROGRAMME MUSIC

There is no doubt that Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), however varied the appeal of his music to different temperaments, is an artistic personality to be reckoned with; one not to be ticketed and laid on the shelf. Although a century and more has elapsed since his birth the permanent value of his music is still debated, often amusingly enough, by those who seem unaware that, whatever the theoretical rights of the case, in practice his principles are the reigning ones in modern music. As Berlioz stands as the foremost representative of program music and never wrote anything without a t.i.tle, it is certain that before his music or influence can be appreciated, the mind must be cleared of prejudice and we must recognize that modern program music is a condition--an artistic fact, not a theory--and that the tendency towards specific, subjective expression (whether manifested in song, opera or symphonic poem) is a dominant one among present day composers. It is true that all music is the expression in tones of the imagination of the composer; true, also, that music must fulfil certain conditions of its own being. But imaginations differ. That of Berlioz, for example, was quite a new phenomenon; and as for the working principles of musical composition, they are as much subject to modification as any other form of human experimentation. Berlioz, himself, says that he never intended to subvert the laws of music, only to make a new and individual use of them. As he was no abstract maker of music, his autobiography--one of the most fascinating in the history of art, only to be compared with that of Benvenuto Cellini--should be familiar to all who would penetrate the secrets of his style. Berlioz's compositions, in fact, are more specifically autobiographic than those of any other notable musician. Both in his music and his literary works are the same notes of pa.s.sionate insistence on his own point of view, of radical dislike for accepting conditions as they were (he says of himself that he loved to make the barriers crack) and of fondness for brilliant outward effect. In considering Berlioz, one is always reminded of Matthew Arnold's lines on Byron, who resembles Berlioz so closely.

"He taught us little; but our soul Had felt him, like the thunder's roll.

With shivering heart the strife we saw Of pa.s.sion with eternal law; And yet with reverential awe We watch'd the fount of fiery life Which served for that t.i.tanic strife."

Only realize that Berlioz's _Fantastic Symphony_ was composed but twenty-one years after Haydn's death, and compare the simple, self-centered Haydn with the restless, wide-visioned Berlioz, of a mentality positively omnivorous; who, in addition to his musical achievements, was a brilliant critic and _litterateur_, a man of travel and wide acquaintance with the world. Then indeed you will appreciate what an enormous change had come over music. A mere mention of the authors from whom Berlioz drew his subjects: Shakespeare, Goethe, Byron, Scott, Virgil, Hugo, shows the wide range of his reading and the difference in output which would inevitably result.

The previous impersonal att.i.tude towards music is shown by the very names of compositions which, broadly speaking (till the beginning of the 19th century) were seldom more than Symphony, Sonata, or Quartet, No. so and so; while the movements, in an equally mechanical way, were known by the designations of tempo: allegro, adagio, andante, etc.--those "senseless terms," as Beethoven himself says. Beginning pre-eminently with Berlioz, composers have had more highly cultivated imaginations, much more to say; and the wider range of emotion resulting therefrom has necessitated differences of form and treatment. A frequent misconception on the part of the layman is that worthy music should be so constructed that the hearer be spared all mental exertion. As long as it was certain that a composer would present just so many themes in a prescribed order and treated in the routine fashion, listening to music was a comparatively easy task.

Since Berlioz, music has made ever greater demands on the hearer; who only when his receptivity is of an equal degree of cultivation with the creative power of the composer, can grasp the full meaning of the music. The first step, therefore, toward an appreciation of Berlioz is to recognize the peculiar, picturesque power of his imagination, which was of an entirely new order, and may be called musico-poetic in distinction from purely musical activity. This form of double consciousness is equally necessary on the part of the hearer. As Debussy, the modern French composer, so well says, people often do not understand or enjoy new music because it differs from "une musique"

_i.e._, from a conventional and unvarying type which they have in their mind. The real effect of Berlioz's "_Carnaval Romain_" Overture, to take a simple example, is to complement and intensify the mental picture which any well-read person--or better still, any one who has actually visited Rome--will have of this characteristic incident in Italian life. If the work be considered merely as abstract music, notwithstanding the stimulation and delight caused by the rhythmic vitality and by the orchestral effects, the real poetic purpose of the composer remains unfulfilled. This peculiar quality of Berlioz was partly the result of his fiery excitable temperament and partly the reactive effect of the environment in which he found himself. What an amazing group in Paris (beginning about 1830) was that with which he was a.s.sociated! De Musset, de Vigny, Liszt, Rossini, Meyerbeer, Balzac, Dumas, Chopin, Heine, Delacroix, Gericault: young men representing every art and several nationalities, all under the lead of Hugo, that prince of Romanticists; their object being--revolt from conventional standards and a complete expression of their own personalities. Hugo, as he says in the famous preface to Cromwell, was tearing down the plaster which hides the facade of the fair temple of art; Dumas had just demolished Racine; Gericault and Delacroix, by their daring conceptions, were founding our modern school of painting.

Into this maelstrom of revolution, Berlioz--he of the flaming locks, "that hairy Romantic" as Thackeray calls him--flung himself with temperamental ardor; for he was a born fighter and always in opposition to someone. The audacity and dramatic energy of his compositions are but the natural result of the tendencies of the period. Berlioz's early career is of extreme interest to us English-speaking people, because the first strong stimulus to his imagination came from his acquaintance with the dramas of Shakespeare.

In 1827, some of the dramas, (such as Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet) were played in Paris by an English company, and their effect upon Berlioz was overwhelming. He would wander about the streets raving of Shakespeare; he promptly fell in love with the most beautiful actress in the troupe--Henrietta Smithson, whom he later married[226]--and then began the frenzied period of composing and concert giving, which came to a climax in the _Fantastic Symphony_ first performed in 1830.

Berlioz's courage and perseverance are shown by his winning the Prix de Rome, after four failures! His two years in Italy (his picture may still be seen at the Villa Medici), replete with amusing and thrilling incidents, were, on the whole the happiest period of his stormy life.

[Footnote 226: For a convincing account of this tragic marriage see the volume of _Recollections_ by Ernest Legouve.]

But we must pa.s.s to some brief comments upon the characteristics, pro and con, of his style. In the first place it was extremely original; showed little or no connection with former composers; has had no imitators, and cannot be parodied. Berlioz likewise possessed great range of emotion--though he rarely touched the sublime; a power of laying out works on a vast scale, and, in general, of achieving with unerring certainty the effects desired. The poet Heine said that much of Berlioz's music reminded him of "primeval monsters and fabulous empires." And what a master he was of rhythm!--one of the greatest in music! Prior to his work, and that of Schumann among the Germans, the cla.s.sic rhythms were becoming rather stereotyped; and the vigorous elasticity introduced by these two composers has widened incalculably the range of dramatic effect. But his indisputable claim to lasting recognition is his genius in the treatment of the orchestra. Berlioz had an inborn instinct for sensuous tonal effect for its own sake, and not as the clothing of an abstract idea. With him the art of making that composite instrument, the orchestra, give forth the greatest beauty and variety of sound became an end in itself; and from his ingenious and innovating effects has been evolved the orchestra as we hear it to-day. Berlioz thought, so to speak, in terms of orchestral color. In his melodies we do not feel that the drawing, the contour of the pure line, is the chief thing; but that the a.s.signment of the melody to just the right instrument, and the color-effect thereby produced, are integral parts of the conception. Notwithstanding the fact that some of his effects are extravagant or at times bizarre, he must be credited with revealing possibilities in orchestral shading and color which, still further developed by Wagner, Strauss and Tchaikowsky, have become conventional means of expression. Some of his most celebrated and satisfying works, in addition to those mentioned, are the _Harold in Italy_ Symphony, with its personification by a solo viola of the chief character; the _Romeo and Juliet_ Symphony, for both vocal and instrumental forces (of which the ball-scene with its wondrous love-melody and the _Queen Mab_ Scherzo--unequalled for daintiness--represent his highest attainments as a tone-poet) and, most popular of all, the _d.a.m.nation of Faust_ based on scenes from Goethe's poem. The bewitching incidental pieces for orchestra alone, such as the _Ballet of Sylphs_ and the _Rakoczy March_, are often played at symphony concerts, and are familiar to everyone. Certain blemishes in Berlioz's music are obvious and need not be over-emphasized. There is often more style and outward effect than real substance. His works excite, but how seldom do they exalt! For he was frequently deficient in depth of emotion and in latent warmth--qualities quite different from the hectic glow and the feverish pa.s.sion which his French admirers, Tiersot and Boschot, claim to be genuine attributes of musical inspiration, of power to compel universal attention. We of other nations can only firmly dissent.

Without question his work has never succeeded in calling forth the spontaneous love of a large body of admirers.[227] In an eloquent pa.s.sage the conductor and critic Weingartner sums up the case: "Berlioz will always represent a milestone in the development of music, for he is the real founder of the modern school. He did not approach that ethical depth, that ideal purity which surround Beethoven's name with such unspeakable glory, but no composer since Beethoven, except Wagner, has enriched music with so many new means of expression as this great Frenchman. Berlioz, Liszt and Wagner are the heroes of the last half of the 19th century, just as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Weber and Schubert were of the first."

[Footnote 227: It is understood that this is merely a personal opinion of the writer and might well have been prefaced by the Socratic "it seems to me." Too much criticism reminds us of wine-tasting--Mr.

So-and-So likes port, Mr. So-and-So sherry. The object of fair-minded appreciation is to understand clearly just what each composer set out to do, _i.e._, what was the natural tendency of his individual genius; then the only question is: did or did he not do this well? It is futile to blame him because he was not someone else or did not achieve what he never set out to do.]

As Berlioz is, if possible, even more idiomatic for the orchestra than Chopin for the pianoforte, no conception of the real quality of his message can be gained from transcriptions, however good. His works[228] must be studied at first hand in the orchestral score and then heard in performance by an excellent orchestra. Some preliminary acquaintance and appreciation, however, of characteristic features in his style is possible from arrangements and so we select for comment the following works and movements: The _Fantastic Symphony_, the _Carnaval Romain_ Overture, the _Ballet des Sylphes_ and the _Feux Follets_ from the _d.a.m.nation of Faust_, the _Pilgrim's March_ from the _Childe Harold_ Symphony and the Slow Movement from the _Romeo and Juliet_ Symphony.[229] There is much valuable and stimulating reading[230] about Berlioz and his influence; for, as Theophile Gautier acutely remarks, "S'il fut un grand genie, on peut le discuter encore, le monde est livre aux controverses; mais nul ne penserait a nier qu'il fut un grand caractere." The _Symphonie_[231]

_fantastique_, op. 14, _episode de la vie d'un artiste_, in five movements is significant for being the first manifestation of Berlioz's conviction that music should be yet more specifically expressive, since it is founded on a characteristic theme, called l'idee fixe which typifies the heroine, _e.g._

[Music]

[Footnote 228: The best edition is the complete one, beautifully engraved and with critical comments, by Malherbe and Weingartner. This is expensive, but should be found in any large library.]

[Footnote 229: The only citations possible in the Supplement are the Overture and portions of a few of the others.]

[Footnote 230: Particularly to be recommended are the following: the essay in _Musical Studies_ by Newman; that by R. Rolland in _Musiciens d'aujourd'hui_ (in French and in English); _Berlioz et la societe de son temps_ by J. Tiersot; the essay in _Studies in Modern Music_ by Hadow; Berlioz's own _Memoires_ (in French and in English) and his entertaining essays, _A Travers Chants_, _Grotesques de la Musique_ and _Soirees d'Orchestre_; the excellent resume of Berlioz's writings in the _Amateur Series_ by W.F. Apthorp; the _Symphony since Beethoven_ by Weingartner; and, above all, the monumental work by Boschot in three parts--_La Jeunesse d'un Romantique_, _Un Romantique sous Louis Philippe_, _Le Crepuscule d'un Romantique_. There is an amusing but far from convincing a.s.sault against Berlioz as a programme composer and, to a certain extent, against Romanticism in general, in the _New Laoc.o.o.n_ by Professor Irving Babbitt.]

[Footnote 231: On the t.i.tle page of the autograph copy of the full score is inscribed the following quotation from King Lear: "As flies to wanton boys are we to the G.o.ds; they kill us for their sport."]

This theme, with modifications appropriate to the changes in the character and the environment, is repeated in each movement. As for the theme itself, frankly it does not amount to much; it certainly fails to take our emotions by storm or sing itself into our hearts.

Berlioz's harmonization is very bald, and as to his attempts at development,[232] the less said the better. Of course whatever Berlioz writes for the orchestra _sounds_ well; of that there is no doubt. But this is not enough; any more than we are convinced by a person's statements or arguments merely because he happens to have a beautiful speaking voice. This dramatization of a musical theme was, after all, nothing iconoclastically new and Berlioz is perfectly right in claiming that he was merely extending the possibilities of that same type of theme as is found in Beethoven himself, _e.g._, in the _Coriola.n.u.s_ Overture and to a certain extent in the Fifth Symphony.

If, furthermore, we look back from the dramatic and highly personified use made of themes in modern music, in the works of Strauss, Tchaikowsky, Franck and even Brahms (_e.g._, his First Symphony with its motto-theme) we can see that this symphony of Berlioz is an important link in a perfectly logical chain of development. This melody, then, l'idee fixe, appears in each of the five movements; undergoing, however, but slight purely thematic development, being introduced and modified primarily for dramatic purposes. In the second movement,[233] _Un Bal_, two phrases drawn from it are sung _pp_ by the clarinet as an indication that, amid the gaieties of the dance, the vision of the beloved one is ever present. In the _Scene aux Champs_ it is modified and eloquently declaimed by the flute and oboe, _e.g._

[Music]

[Footnote 232: Dannreuther, in his essay in the Sixth Volume of the _Oxford History of Music_, speaks of the peculiar process of "rabbeting" which serves Berlioz in the place of counterpoint, and the criticism, though caustic, holds much truth.]

[Footnote 233: This movement is also of interest as an early example of the Waltz among the conventional symphonic moods. The example has been followed by Tchaikowsky in the third movement of his Fifth Symphony.]

At the close of the movement occurs one of Berlioz's most novel and realistic effects--the imitation of the rumbles of distant thunder produced by four kettle-drums tuned in a very peculiar way (see page 75 of the orchestral score, Breitkopf and Hartel edition). In the fourth movement, _Marche au Supplice_, four measures of l'idee fixe are introduced just at the moment when the head of the hero is to be chopped off. This is done for purely theatric purposes and certainly makes our flesh creep--as Berlioz no doubt intended. The most spectacular effect, however, is in the last movement, _Songe d'une Nuit du Sabbat_, where the theme is parodied to typify the degraded appearance which the beloved one takes in the distorted dreams of her lover, _e.g._

[Music]

The impression made by the Symphony depends largely upon the att.i.tude of the hearer. In this work we are not to look for the sublimity and emotional depth of a Bach or Beethoven any more than we expect a whimsical comedy of Aristophanes to resemble an epic poem of Milton.

But for daring imagination, for rhythmic vitality and certainty of orchestral effect, it was and remains a work[234] of genius.

[Footnote 234: For further comments on this Symphony see Mr. Mason's essay in the _Romantic Composers_, an essay which, while thoughtful, strikes the writer as somewhat biased.]

THE CARNAVAL ROMAIN OVERTURE

(SEE SUPPLEMENT NO. 57)

This work is one of Berlioz's most brilliant pieces, with an orchestral life and color all its own. The material is taken from his opera _Benvenuto Cellini_;[235] the checquered career of this artist having made an irresistible appeal to Berlioz's love of the unusual and the spectacular. The body of the work is based on the Italian national dance, the Saltarello; and with this rhythm as a steadying background Berlioz achieves a continuity sometimes lacking in his work. The mere thought of the sights, sounds and colors of that important event in the life of Rome would be enough to inflame his susceptible imagination, and so here we have Berlioz at his very best.

The overture begins, allegro a.s.sai con fuoco, with a partial announcement of the saltarello theme by the violins and violas, freely imitated by the wood-wind instruments, _e.g._

[Music]

[Footnote 235: For an entertaining account of the subject matter of the opera see Chapter VII of Boschot's _Un Romantique sous Louis Philippe_.]

After a sudden prolonged silence and some crescendo trills the first periodic melody is introduced, sung by the English horn--the tune taken from an aria of Benvenuto in the first act. The melody is soon repeated in the dominant key by the violas and then, treated canonically, by the 'cellos and violins. The canon really tells and shows that Berlioz, as is often alleged, was not _altogether_ lacking in polyphonic skill. The rhythm is now gradually quickened and leads to the main body of the work, in 6/8 time, based on the Italian folk-dance--the Saltarello which, as its name implies, is of a "skipping" nature. The music is freely developed from the two following themes; there is no second theme proper, _e.g._

[Music: (_a_)]

[Music: (_b_)]

Toward the close there is a return to the introductory melody which is treated contrapuntally by the ba.s.soons and other wind-instruments. The saltarello resumes its sway and is worked up to a fiery ending; especially brilliant are the closing chords scored for full bra.s.s with trills on the cornets.

Two of Berlioz's most poetically conceived descriptive pieces are the _Menuet des Feux-Follets_ and the _Ballet des Sylphes_, incidental orchestral numbers from the _d.a.m.nation of Faust_; for they ill.u.s.trate convincingly what one means by the claim that Berlioz thought in terms of orchestral color and suggestion. To give a musical picture of such airy and fantastic imaginings by the mere repet.i.tion of conventional formulae would obviously be of no avail. Berlioz's genius is equal to the situation; and as we listen to the music we can really see the flickering of the Will o' the Wisps and feel the graceful swaying of the Sylphs as they hover about the sleeping Faust. To suggest the Feux-Follets Berlioz ingeniously gives the theme to two piccolos in thirds, which are supported by a rich but subdued ma.s.s of wind instruments, horns and trumpets, _e.g._