The Standard Cantatas Part 4

The work opens with a fiery introduction representing the combats and tumults of the two rival houses of Capulet and Montague, and the intervention of the Prince. It is followed by a choral recitative for four altos, tenors, and ba.s.ses ("Long smouldering Hatreds"), with which is interwoven a contralto solo ("Romeo too is there"), the number closing with a pa.s.sionate chorus ("The Revels now are o'er"). A beautiful effect is made at this point by a.s.signing to the alto voice two couplets ("Joys of first Love") which are serious in style but very rich in melody. A brief bit of choral recitative and a few measures for tenor--Mercutio's raillery--lead up to a dainty scherzetto for tenor solo and small chorus ("Mab! bright Elf of Dreamland"), and a short choral pa.s.sage brings this scene to a close.

The second scene, which is for orchestra only, an impressive declamatory phrase developing into a tender melody, representing the sadness of Romeo, set in tones against the brilliant dance music in the distance accompanying the revel of the Capulets, is one of the most striking effects Berlioz has accomplished, and ill.u.s.trates his astonishing command of instrumentation. The third scene represents Capulet's garden in the stillness of night, the young Capulets pa.s.sing through it, bidding each other adieu and repeating s.n.a.t.c.hes of the dance music. As their strains die away in the distance the balcony scene between Romeo and Juliet is given by the orchestra alone in a genuine love-poem full of pa.s.sion and sensuousness. No words could rival the impa.s.sioned beauty of this melodious number. The fourth scene is also given to the orchestra, and is a setting of Mercutio's description of Queen Mab. It is a scherzo intensely swift in its movement and almost ethereal in its dainty, graceful rhythm. The instrumentation is full of subtle effects, particularly in the romantic pa.s.sages for the horns.

In the fifth scene we pa.s.s from the tripping music of the fairies to the notes of woe. It describes the funeral procession of Juliet, beginning with a solemn march in fugue style, at first instrumental, with occasional entrances of the voices in monotone, and then vocal ("O mourn, O mourn, strew choicest Flowers"), the monotone being a.s.signed to the instruments. It preludes a powerful orchestral scene representing Romeo's invocation, Juliet's awakening, and the despair and death of the lovers.[15] The finale is mainly for double chorus, representing the quarrel between the Montagues and Capulets in the cemetery, which is written with great dramatic power and conceived on the large scale of an operatic _ensemble_ both in the voice parts and instrumentation, and the final reconciliation through the intercession of Friar Laurence, whose declamatory solos are very striking, particularly the air, "Poor Children mine, let me mourn you." The work is one of almost colossal difficulty, and requires great artists, singers and players, to give expression to its daring realism. Among all of Berlioz's programme-music, this tone-picture of the princ.i.p.al episodes in Shakspeare's tragedy stands out clear and sharp by virtue of its astonishing dramatic power.

[14] My dear Friend,--Beethoven is dead, and Berlioz alone can revive him. I have heard your divine composition, so worthy of your genius, and beg you to accept, in token of my homage, twenty thousand francs, which will be handed to you by the Baron de Rothschild on presentation of the enclosed.--Your most affectionate friend, Nicolo Paganini.

Paris, Dec. 18, 1838.

[15] Composer's Note. The public has no imagination; therefore pieces which are addressed solely to the imagination have no public. The following instrumental scene is in this case, and I think it should be omitted whenever this symphony is given before an audience not having a feeling for poetry, and not familiar with the fifth act of Shakspeare's tragedy. This implies its omission ninety-nine times out of a hundred. It presents, moreover, immense difficulties of execution. Consequently, after Juliet's funeral procession a moment of silence should be observed, then the finale should be taken up.

The d.a.m.nation of Faust.

The "d.a.m.nation of Faust," dramatic legend, as Berlioz calls it, was written in 1846. It is divided in four parts, the first containing three, the second four, the third six, and the fourth five scenes, the last concluding with an epilogue and the apotheosis of Marguerite. It was first produced in Paris in November, 1846, and had its first hearing in this country Feb. 12, 1880, when the late Dr. Leopold Damrosch brought it out with the a.s.sistance of the New York Symphony, Oratorio, and Arion Societies.

Berlioz has left in his Autobiography an extremely interesting account of the manner in which he composed it. Though he had had the plan of the work in his mind for many years, it was not until 1846 that he began the legend. During this year he was travelling on a concert-tour through Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, and Silesia, and the different numbers were written at intervals of leisure. He says:--

"I wrote when I could and where I could; in the coach, on the railroad, in steamboats, and even in towns, notwithstanding the various cares entailed by my concerts."

He began with Faust's invocation to Nature, which was finished "in my old German post-chaise." The introduction was written in an inn at Pa.s.sau, and at Vienna he finished up the Elbe scene, Mephistopheles' song, and the exquisite Sylph's ballet. As to the introduction of the Rakoczy march, his words deserve quoting in this connection, as they throw some light on the general character of the work. He says:--

"I have already mentioned my writing a march at Vienna, in one night, on the Hungarian air of Rakoczy. The extraordinary effect it produced at Pesth made me resolve to introduce it in Faust, by taking the liberty of placing my hero in Hungary at the opening of the act, and making him present at the march of a Hungarian army across the plain. A German critic considered it most extraordinary in me to have made Faust travel in such a place. I do not see why, and I should not have hesitated in the least to bring him in in any other direction if it would have benefited the piece. I had not bound myself to follow Goethe's plot, and the most eccentric travels may be attributed to such a personage as Faust without transgressing the bounds of possibility.

Other German critics took up the same thesis, and attacked me with even greater violence about my modifications of Goethe's text and plot; just as though there were no other Faust but Goethe's, and as if it were possible to set the whole of such a poem to music without altering its arrangement. I was stupid enough to answer them in the preface to the 'd.a.m.nation of Faust.' I have often wondered why I was never reproached about the book of 'Romeo and Juliet,' which is not very like the immortal tragedy. No doubt because Shakspeare was not a German.

Patriotism! Fetichism! Idiotcy!"

One night when he had lost his way in Pesth he wrote the choral refrain of the "Ronde des Paysans" by the gaslight in a shop; and at Prague he arose in the middle of the night to write down the Angels' Chorus in Marguerite's apotheosis. At Breslau he wrote the Students' Latin Song, "Jam nox stellata velamina pandit;" and on his return to France he composed the grand trio in the work while visiting a friend near Rouen.

He concludes:

"The rest was written in Paris, but always improvised, either at my own house, or at the cafe, or in the Tuileries gardens, and even on a stone in the Boulevard du Temple. I did not search for ideas, I let them come; and they presented themselves in a most unforeseen manner. When at last the whole outline was sketched, I set to work to re-do the whole, touch up the different parts, unite and blend them together with all the patience and determination of which I am capable, and to finish off the instrumentation, which had only been indicated here and there.

I look upon this as one of my best works, and hitherto the public seems to be of the same opinion."

This opinion, however, was of slow growth, for of the first performance of the work he says:--

"It was the end of November, 1846; snow was falling; the weather was dreadful. I had no fashionable cantatrice to sing the part of Marguerite. As for Roger, who did Faust, and Herman Leon, who took the part of Mephistopheles, they might be heard any day in this same theatre; moreover, they were no longer the fashion. The result was that Faust was twice performed to a half-empty room. The concert-going Parisian public, supposed to be fond of music, stayed quietly at home, caring as little about my new work as if I had been an obscure student at the Conservatoire; and these two performances at the Opera Comique were no better attended than if they had been the most wretched operas on the list."

The opening scene introduces Faust alone in the fields at sunrise on the Hungarian plains. He gives expression to his delight in a tender, placid strain ("The Winter has departed, Spring is here"). It is followed by an instrumental prelude of a pastoral character, in which are heard fragments of the roundelay of the peasants and of the fanfare in the Hungarian march, leading up to the "Dance of Peasants," a brisk, vivacious chorus ("The Shepherd donned his best Array"), beginning with the altos, who are finally joined by the sopranos, tenors, and ba.s.ses in constantly accelerating time. The scene then changes to another part of the plain and discloses the advance of an army to the brilliant and stirring music of the Rakoczy march.[16]

The second part (Scene IV.) opens in north Germany and discloses Faust alone in his chamber, as in Gounod's opera; he sings a soliloquy, setting forth his discontent with worldly happiness, and is about to drown his sorrow with poison, when he is interrupted by the Easter Hymn ("Christ is risen from the Dead"), a stately and jubilant six-part chorus, in the close of which he joins. As it comes to an end he continues his song ("Heavenly Tones, why seek me in the Dust?"), but is again interrupted by the sudden apparition of Mephistopheles, who mockingly sings, "Oh, pious Frame of Mind," and entraps him in the compact. They disappear, and we next find them in Auerbach's cellar in Leipsic, where the carousing students are singing a rollicking drinking-song ("O what Delight when Storm is crashing"). The drunken Brander is called upon for a song, and responds with a characteristic one ("There was a Rat in the Cellar Nest"), to which the irreverent students improvise a fugue on the word "Amen," using a motive of the song. Mephistopheles compliments them on the fugue, and being challenged to give them an air trolls out the l.u.s.ty _lied_, "There was a King once reigning, who had a big black Flea," in the accompaniment of which Berlioz makes some very realistic effects.

Amid the bravas of the drunken students they disappear again, and are next found in the flowery meadows of the Elbe, where Mephistopheles sings a most enchanting melody ("In this fair Bower"). Faust is lulled to slumber, and in his vision hears the chorus of the gnomes and sylphs ("Sleep, happy Faust"), a number of extraordinary beauty and fascinating charm. Its effect is still further heightened by the sylphs' ballet in waltz time. As they gradually disappear, Faust wakes and relates to Mephistopheles his vision of the "angel in human form." The latter promises to conduct him to her chamber, and they join a party of soldiers and students who will pa.s.s "before thy beauty's dwelling." The finale of the scene is composed of a stirring soldiers' chorus ("Stoutly-walled Cities we fain would win") and a characteristic students' song in Latin ("Jam nox stellata"), at first sung separately and then combined with great skill.

The third part begins with a brief instrumental prelude, in which the drums and trumpets sound the tattoo, introducing a scene in Marguerite's chamber, where Faust sings a pa.s.sionate love-song ("Thou sweet Twilight, be welcome"), corresponding with the well-known "Salve dimora" in Gounod's garden scene. At its close Mephistopheles warns him of the approach of Marguerite and conceals him behind a curtain. She enters, and in brief recitative tells her dream, in which she has seen the image of Faust, and discloses her love for him. Then while disrobing she sings the ballad "There was a King in Thule." As its pathetic strains come to a close, the music suddenly changes and Mephistopheles in a characteristic strain summons the will-o'-the-wisps to bewilder the maiden. It is followed by their lovely and graceful minuet, in which Berlioz again displays his wonderful command of orchestral realism. It is followed by Mephistopheles' serenade ("Why dost thou wait at the Door of thy Lover?"), with a choral accompaniment by the will-o'-the-wisps, interspersed with demoniac laughter. The last number is a trio ("Angel adored") for Marguerite, Faust, and Mephistopheles, wonderfully expressive in its utterances of pa.s.sion, and closing with a chorus of mockery which indicates the coming tragedy.

The fourth part opens with a very touching romance ("My Heart with Grief is heavy"), the familiar "Meine Ruh' ist hin" of Goethe, sung by Marguerite, and the scene closes with the songs of the soldiers and students heard in the distance. In the next scene Faust sings a sombre and powerful invocation to Nature ("O boundless Nature, Spirit sublime").

Mephistopheles is seen scaling the rocks and in agitated recitative tells his companion the story of Marguerite's crime and imprisonment. He bids him sign a scroll which will save him from the consequences of the deed, and Faust thus delivers himself over to the Evil One. Then begins the wild "Ride to h.e.l.l," past the peasants praying at the cross, who flee in terror as they behold the riders, followed by horrible beasts, monstrous birds, and grinning, dancing skeletons, until at last they disappear in an abyss and are greeted by the chorus of the spirits of h.e.l.l in a tempest of sound, which is literally a musical pandemonium ("Has! Irimiru Karabras," etc.) in its discordant vocal strains and in the mighty dissonances and supernatural effects in the accompaniment. A brief epilogue, "On Earth," follows, in which Faust's doom is told, succeeded by a correspondingly brief one, "In Heaven," in which the seraphim plead for Marguerite. The legend closes with "Marguerite's Glorification," a jubilant double chorus announcing her pardon and acceptance among the blest.

[16] This march, though the best known of all Hungarian airs, is liable to be confounded with others bearing the same name. It forms one of the group of national patriotic melodies called into existence by the heroism of the Transylvanian prince Franz Rakotzy, who at the beginning of the last century fought with rare valor, though little success, against the dominating power of Austria. Who composed it remains as unknown as the authorship of its less familiar companions; but though the origin of the tune, like that of so many others which nations cherish, is veiled in mystery, the march has enjoyed an enviable prominence. It was proscribed by the Austrian Government in the bad days when Hungary was treated as a conquered appanage of the Hapsburgs; its performance was a criminal act, and the possession of printed or written copies, if suspected, brought down domiciliary visits from the police.--_Albert Hall Programmes_, 1874.

BRAHMS.

Johannes Brahms, one of the most eminent of living German composers, was born at Hamburg, May 7, 1833. His father was a double-ba.s.s player in the orchestra in that city, and devoted his son at a very early age to his own profession. His first piano teacher was Cossell; but to Edward Marxsen, the royal music director, he owes his real success as a composer. Brahms remained in Hamburg until 1853, when he went upon a concert-tour with Remenyi, the eccentric and somewhat sensational Hungarian, who has been a familiar figure upon the American concert-stage. He remained with him however but a very short time, for in October of that year they parted company. Brahms had attracted the notice of Liszt and Joachim, and it may have been through their advice that the musical partnership was dissolved. In any event, soon after leaving Remenyi he went to Dusseldorf and visited Schumann, who announced him to the musical world in a very enthusiastic manner. The next year (1854) appeared his first works,--three sonatas, a trio and scherzo for piano, and three books of songs. After a visit to Liszt at Weimar he settled down as chorus-conductor and music-teacher at the court of Lippe-Detmold, where he remained a few years. After leaving Detmold he successively resided in Hamburg, Zurich, and Baden-Baden, though most of his time has been spent in Vienna, where he has directed the Singakademie and the concerts of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. Among his most famous compositions are a funeral hymn for chorus and wind-band; the "German Requiem;" "Triumphlied," for double chorus and orchestra; "Schicksalslied," for chorus and orchestra; six symphonies; variations on a theme of Haydn, for orchestra; the "Tragic" and "Academic" overtures; besides several trios, quartets, quintets, s.e.xtets, concertos, and sonatas.

Triumphlied.

"Triumphlied" ("Song of Triumph") was written by Brahms in commemoration of the victories of German arms and the re-establishment of the Empire, and is dedicated to "the German Emperor Wilhelm I." It was first performed at the fifty-first festival of the Lower Rhine at Cologne in 1873. The text is a paraphrase of certain verses in the nineteenth chapter of Revelation, and reads as follows:--

"Hallelujah, praise the Lord! Honor and power and glory to G.o.d!

"For in righteousness and truth the Lord giveth judgment.

"Glory be to G.o.d, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, all both humble and mighty.

"Hallelujah, for the omnipotent G.o.d hath exalted His kingdom.

"O, be joyful, let all be glad, to Him alone give honor.

"Behold, the heavens opened wide, and yonder a snow-white horse, and on him sat one called Steadfast and Faithful, who warreth and judgeth all with righteousness.

"And he treads the wine-press of wrath of the Lord G.o.d Almighty.

"Lo! a great name hath he written upon his vesture and upon his girdle.

"A King of kings and Lord of lords! Hallelujah! Amen!"

The scriptural selections are divided into three movements, written for double chorus (with the exception of two short barytone solos), orchestra, and organ, and are introduced by a brief instrumental prelude of a solemn but animated and exultant character, in the closing measures of which both choirs break in with jubilant shouts of "Hallelujah! praise the Lord!" The theme of the movement is the stirring old German song "Heil dir im Siegerkranz,"[17] which is worked up with consummate skill.

The first part closes with a climax of power and contrapuntal effect hardly to be found elsewhere outside the choruses of Handel.

The second movement ("Glory be to G.o.d!") is of the same general character as the first. After the opening ascription, a short fugue intervenes, leading to a fresh melody alternately sung by both choruses.

The third movement, after a very brief but spirited orchestral flourish, opens with an exultant barytone solo ("And behold then the Heavens opened wide"). The choruses respond with animation ("And yonder a snow-white Horse"). Again the barytone intervenes ("And lo! a great Name hath He written"), and then the choruses take up the majestic theme, "King of Kings and Lord of Lords," each answering the other with triumphant shouts that gather force and fire as they proceed, and closing with a mighty hallelujah in which voices, orchestra, and organ join with fullest power to produce one of the grandest harmonies ever written. The work is one of extreme difficulty, as the two choirs are treated independently and their harmonies are complicated, though blended in general effect. Neither choir receives a.s.sistance from the other. In fact, each rank of voices is required to perform music of the most exacting kind, so that a perfect performance of this great jubilee hymn requires singers of trained skill and more than ordinary intelligence. When thus given, few choruses of modern times reveal such artistic richness and symmetrical proportions.

[17] A German national song, written by Heinrich Harries, a Holstein clergyman, for the birthday of Christian VII. of Denmark. It was originally in eight stanzas, but was reduced to five and otherwise slightly modified for Prussian use by B. G. Schumacher, and in this form appeared as a "Berliner Volkslied" in the _Spenersche Zeitung_ of Dec. 17, 1793.--_Grove's Dictionary_.

BRUCH.

Max Bruch, one of the most successful choral composers of the present time, was born at Cologne, Jan. 6, 1838. His father was a government official, and his mother a singer of more than ordinary ability. He received his early instructions, under her watchful supervision, from Professor Breidenstein, at Bonn. In 1852 he continued his studies with Hiller, Reinecke, and Breuning, at Cologne; and at this time began to produce compositions which gave unusual promise. In 1865 he was musical director at Coblenz, and subsequently at Berlin, where he conducted the Singakademie. In 1867 he was appointed chapel-master to the Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen,--a post which he held until 1870. Since that time he has also been honored with a call to the directorship of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society. For some years past he has lived at Bonn and Berlin, and devoted himself exclusively to composition. His first public appearance as a composer was in connection with the performance of his operetta, "Scherz, List und Rache," set to Goethe's words; following which he produced several chamber compositions, among them a trio (op.

5), two string quartets (op. 9, 10), Capriccio (op. 2) for four hands, Fantasie (op. 11) for two pianos, the G minor and D minor violin concertos, besides two symphonies. He has also written an oratorio, "Arminius," and two operas, "Loreley," to the text which the poet Geibel wrote for Mendelssohn, and "Hermione," an adaptation of Shakspeare's "Winter's Tale." His greatest successes, however, have been made with his works in the cantata form, as he is a recognized master in writing for large ma.s.ses of voices and instruments, though many of his solo melodies possess great beauty. In this cla.s.s of his compositions the most conspicuous are "Scenes from the Frithjof-Saga," familiarly known as "Frithjof," "Flight of the Holy Family," "Roman Triumph Song," "Roman Obsequies," "Salamis," "Fair Ellen," "Odysseus," and "Rorate Coeli."