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diff --git a/39771-0.txt b/39771-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b53a564 --- /dev/null +++ b/39771-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10078 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Studies in Modern Music, Second Series, by W. H. Hadow + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Studies in Modern Music, Second Series + Frederick Chopin, Antonin Dvorak, Johannes Brahms + +Author: W. H. Hadow + +Release Date: May 23, 2012 [EBook #39771] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STUDIES IN MODERN MUSIC *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Henry Flower and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Frederick Chopin.] + + + + + STUDIES + IN MODERN MUSIC + + _SECOND SERIES_ + + _FREDERICK CHOPIN ANTONIN DVOŘÁK + JOHANNES BRAHMS_ + + + BY + + W. H. HADOW, M.A. + + _Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford_ + + FIFTH EDITION + + LONDON + SEELEY AND CO. LIMITED + 38 Great Russell Street + + 1904 + + + + + Dedicated to + C. F. + + + + +_CONTENTS_ + + + OUTLINES OF MUSICAL FORM + + CHAP. PAGE + I.--FACULTIES OF APPRECIATION, 3 + II.--STYLE AND STRUCTURE, 26 + III.--FUNCTION, 57 + + FREDERICK CHOPIN + + I.--WARSAW, 79 + II.--PARIS--AND AN EPISODE, 111 + III.--A LYRIC POET, 147 + + ANTONIN DVOŘÁK + + I.--DAYS OF PREPARATION, 173 + II.--DURCH KAMPF ZU LICHT, 190 + III.--NATIONAL AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS, 210 + + JOHANNES BRAHMS + + I.--GROWTH, 229 + II.--MATURITY, 250 + III.--THE DIRECTION OF THE NEW PATHS, 274 + + INDEX, + + + + +_LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS_ + + + PAGE + FREDERICK CHOPIN, _from a drawing by_ WINTERHALTER, _Frontispiece_ + + FREDERICK CHOPIN, _from a drawing made after death, by_ GRAEFLE, 144 + + ANTONIN DVOŘÁK, _from a photograph by_ DURAS, 190 + + JOHANNES BRAHMS, _from a photograph_, 250 + + + + +_NOTE_ + + +The following works have been consulted for the present volume:-- + + Dr Parry--'The Art of Music.' + + Sir George Grove--'Dictionary of Music and Musicians,' + particularly Mr Fuller-Maitland's article + on Dvořák. + + 'Life of Chopin,' by Liszt. + + 'Life and Letters of Chopin,' by Moritz Karasowski. + + 'Life of Chopin,' by Professor Niecks. + + 'Chopin,' by Charles Willeby. + + 'Chopin and other Essays,' by Henry T. Finck. + + 'Les trois Romans de Chopin,' by Count Wodzinski. + + 'Musical Studies,' by Dr Hueffer. + + George Sand--'Histoire de ma vie.' + + George Sand--'Correspondance.' + + George Sand--'Un Hiver à Majorque.' + + George Sand--'Lucrezia Floriani.' + + George Sand--'Elle et Lui.' + + P. de Musset--'Lui et Elle.' + + 'George Sand,' by E. Caro. + + 'George Sand,' by Bertha Thomas. + + 'George Sand,' by Matthew Arnold.[1] + + Sainte Beuve--'Portraits Contemporains.' + + Delacroix--'Lettres.' + + Heine--'Lutetia.' + + Henry James--'French Poets and Novelists.' + + E. Zola--'Documents Litteraires.' + + 'Journal des Goncourt.' + + 'Une Contemporaine,' by M. Brault. + + 'Antonin Dvořák,' by Dr Zubaty. + + 'Antonin Dvořák,' by H. E. Krehbiel. (Century, Sept. 1892.) + + 'Antonin Dvořák,' by J. J. Kral. (Music; Chicago; Oct. 1893.) + + 'Antonin Dvořák,' by Dr Stecker. (New Bohemian Encyclopædia.) + + E. Chvala--'Ein Vierteljahrhundert Böhmischer Musik.' + + 'Johannes Brahms,' by Dr Deiters. + + 'Johannes Brahms,' by Bernhard Vogel. + + 'Johannes Brahms in seinen Werken,' by E. Krause. + + J. A. Fuller-Maitland--'Masters of German Music.' + + Dr Spitta--'Zur Musik.' + + Dr Ehrlich--'Dreissig Jahre Künstlerleben.' + +The writer wishes to express his most cordial thanks to Mr E. W. +Hennell, for permission to use the two portraits of Chopin; to Herr E. +Mandyczewski, Librarian of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde at Vienna, +for assistance in the study of newspaper records and other documents; to +Messrs Mourek Naprstek, and Zubaty, for aid and advice in the Libraries +at Prague; and to M. Subert, Director of the Czech National Theatre, for +permission to consult, in its Library, the scores of Dvořák's +Operas. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] Originally published in the _Fortnightly Review_ for June 1877, +Reprinted in 'Mixed Essays.' + + + + +OUTLINES OF MUSICAL FORM + + +Non leve quiddam interest inter humanæ mentis idola et divinæ mentis +ideas; hoc est, inter placita quædam inania et veras signaturas atque +impressiones factas in creaturis, prout inveniuntur.--BACON. + + + + +I + +FACULTIES OF APPRECIATION + + +It is only natural that a systematic induction should present itself +somewhat late in the history of Science. At first, when the world is +new, the process of exploration must necessarily be hazardous and +tentative: the discoverer must walk with uncertain steps, and must find +his way by the sole aid of his own personal qualities. Hence his method +is a part of himself, and can no more be communicated than keenness of +sight, or delicacy of touch, or rapidity of instinct; he reaches his +conclusions with only a half-consciousness of the road by which they +have been attained, and imparts his results more as separate individual +dogmas than as interdependent parts of an ordered and coherent scheme. +His followers, dazzled by the brilliance of his intellect, and +unprovided with any test for distinguishing between facts and fancies, +accept everything that he has said, and carry on the work, not by any +presumptuous attempt to map out the ground that he has already covered, +but by deducing further application of his laws and further development +of his principles. It may be that the route which he suggested was +purely conjectural; they follow it loyally in the full confidence that +it will bring them to the goal. It may be that some assertion was a mere +hypothesis--a rough and ready explanation which its propounder never +lived to correct; none the less, they take it as axiomatic, and force +the facts into compliance by some subtle and ingenious interpretation of +its terms. The master's word is paramount, and if he and Nature +disagree, it is so much the worse for Nature. + +For a time, no doubt, there is a real value in this attitude of +subservience--this unquestioning acknowledgment of the prescriptive +rights of genius. In science, as in political history, it is good that +the earlier steps should be autocratic, and that men should not claim a +share in the constitution until they have in some measure qualified +themselves for its exercise. When the state is small, a posture of +constant criticism is dangerous; when the populace is ignorant, it will +pass no very reasonable judgments upon the code. But as the area widens, +and the mental activity increases, it becomes more and more impossible +to accept as law the untested utterances of an absolute monarch: +subjects begin to feel their power and to arrogate their due position; +they wish to understand the system which they obey, and, it may be, to +revise such of its injunctions as have grown outworn or obsolete, until +at last they find their champion, and some _Novum Organum_ appears as +the constituted representative of the popular voice. And so the story +passes into its third and final stage; the judge himself is tried before +a jury of the people at large, his enactments are criticised point by +point, and his administration remodelled upon a charter of liberty to +which all succeeding kings are amenable. + +It is hardly necessary to say that such criticism, if it is to be of any +avail, must be moderate in tone and reverent in spirit. The inductive +method does not 'equalise all intellects'; there will still be contrasts +of hill and valley in the levels of the human mind; there will still be +peaks of genius standing, remote and solitary, above the snow line. But +it is equally certain that criticism is idle unless it be entirely +honest and fearless. When it is uncertain, it should confess its +uncertainty without reserve; when it is opposed by some consensus of +great names, it should be prepared to acknowledge itself in the wrong, +and should keep an open mind for conviction; but in no case should it +insult with an unthinking assent any scientific law of which it +understands neither the principles nor the application. Of course, not +all men have time or inclination or capacity for all topics; some things +must necessarily be left on one side in the press and hurry of life; but +if we are interested in a subject, we are bound to take some measure of +the responsibility which that interest entails. It is a poor occupation +to look upon the conflicts of thought with an aimless _dilettante_ +wonder, and bear no hand, even in our own field, to maintain the cause +with which we profess ourselves in sympathy. + +There have been some attempts to bar this rule with an exception. +Science, we are told, is concrete, systematic, rational; a proper field +for the exercise of analytic judgment and critical examination; but in +art, as in Religion, there is a mystery into which it is impious to +penetrate. The great doctrines of the Church should be exempt from +criticism, because it is not given to man to comprehend them; the +principles of art should be accepted in silence by a public which knows +nothing of the inspiration from which they come. This dogma is probably +the most dangerous half-truth that has ever helped to retard the +progress of mankind. It is, of course, beyond all question that behind +art, as behind Religion, there lies the unfathomable mystery of life: +that, in estimating both, there is a point at which reason ends and +faith begins; but it is equally sure that, before that point is reached, +there is a wide and fruitful field for critical activity. Science itself +has its mystery--its limit of explanation; yet no one regards Darwin +as a traitor to biology, or Newton as a profane violator of the +mathematics. It was no unchristian authority who bade us 'give a reason +for the faith that is in us'; it is no inartistic teacher who tells us +that the springs of true appreciation must flow from ourselves. And +more: it is because Religion has been regarded as only a mystery that it +has so often withered into a dead superstition: it is because art has +been so regarded that generation after generation has stultified itself +by false judgment. Grant that the production of a work of art demands +certain qualities which are beyond the reach of analysis, it still +remains true that the work itself can be fairly criticised if only we +will find our standpoint. Prometheus may have stolen his fire from +Heaven, yet, before we accept it at his hands, we should know something +of its attributes, and form some measure of its value. Above all, we +should have some means of distinguishing the true spark kindled at a +divine flame, from the wandering marshlights that gleam and flicker with +the phosphorescence of corruption. + +It is not from the great artists that one hears this plea for the +mystery of their calling. Homer, Dante, Shakespear wrote to be +understood, they did not wrap up their meaning in recondite phrase and +elaborate symbolism. Raphael sent his drawings to Dürer, not to exhibit +their intricacy of conception, but 'to shew their handiwork.' Beethoven, +on his deathbed, can trust the popular verdict, and know that his new +quartett 'will please some day.' And it is idle to say that these men +undervalued the religion in which they held the priesthood. Only they +knew that its Theology was on broad, simple lines, that its gospel +consisted of truths which could find a ready echo in the heart of the +world; that its temple was one in which the humblest worshipper could +find his appointed place. It is the sciolist, the _dilettante_, the +half-educated amateur, who professes this Gnosticism of art, and +replaces the teaching of the Church by some mystic subtleties of Æons +and Pleroma. + +We of the general public are in a great measure responsible for the +existence of this heresy. The seed has no doubt been sown by the +arrogance of the minor artist, but it has found a fostering soil in our +own cowardice and our own indolence. We may set on one side those men +who are altogether outside the influence of any given art, men who have +no feeling at all for music or for painting or for literature: they, at +any rate, maintain the honest doubt in which lives more faith than in +half the creeds, and, whatever their position, they lie wholly outside +the limit of our present purpose. It is the rest of us that are really +to blame, we who profess to care for painting or music, and yet lack the +courage to express our own likes and dislikes, who wait timidly for some +authoritative opinion, that we may gain the credit of agreeing with it, +if it is right, and, if it is wrong, may divert from ourselves the +responsibility of the error. No doubt this attitude has found some +degree of excuse. Artists, like other enthusiasts, are apt to + + Rush on a benighted man, + And give him two black eyes for being blind; + +nor does anyone like to be called blockhead, even by the representative +of an opposing party. But we may reflect that free judgment is our best +remedy against the intolerance of partisan spirit, and that, whatever be +the issue, we are bound in common fairness and honesty to think for +ourselves. Of all diseases to which the appreciation of art is liable, +hypocrisy is the most fatal and the most insidious. + +More particularly is this true of music, the whole criterion of which +is, in a sense, subjective. That is to say, in music we have no external +standard of comparison, such as exists in the representative arts; we +must draw all our rules of guidance partly from the constitution of our +own mind, and partly from the established practice of the great masters. +If the two conflict, we must weigh the evidence before summing up on +the one side or on the other. It may be that a work is great, but not +great for us, that it makes its appeal to some psychological feature or +faculty in which we are deficient. In that case, we must rest content to +be out of sympathy with it, unless, indeed, we can train ourselves to a +wider and more catholic admiration. And this we are most likely to +attain if we analyse the cause and material of our enjoyment, if we find +out, first, what are the elements in our nature to which music attaches +itself, and, second, what are the factors in musical composition to +which our nature, as a whole, most readily responds. Here, then, are two +questions for the inductive method to consider: the first a matter of +pure psychology, the second a matter of pure æsthetics. Of course, the +two questions are complementary: indeed, they may almost be regarded as +two aspects of the same problem: but it will be convenient to take them +separately, and to illustrate each by the other. The reader may be +warned at the outset that there is not going to be any attempt at +exhaustive analysis. Æsthetics, even more than ethics, are 'too complex +to admit of accuracy'; and, in dealing with the conditions of beauty, we +must be content to leave much to individual judgment and individual +perception. + +First, then, for the psychological side. We may well begin by accepting +the ordinary tripartite division of human nature which has passed +current ever since the time of Aristotle. Apart from the broad fact of +life which is common to the whole organic world, the faculties of man +may be classified under the three heads of sensation, which he +undoubtedly shares with the other animals, emotion, which he shares with +them in a higher and more developed degree, and reason, which, so far +as our present knowledge attests, he possesses as a sole and special +prerogative. There is no need to enter here into any vexed questions of +limit and demarcation. A philosophy of evolution may some day show that +all human faculties spring from a common source: it has not yet done so; +and whether it succeed or fail, the fact remains that in our present +condition the three classes are different both in property and in +function. Emotion may be partly dependent on the nervous system, but it +cannot be summed up in terms of nervous energy: still less can the work +of the mind be resolved into formulæ of chemical change and molecular +movement. The spiritual principle in man is no more to be confounded +with the brain which it employs as its instrument, than the sculptor +with his mallet and chisel, or the violinist with his Stradivarius. + +Further, the rational principle may itself be regarded as twofold. On +the lower side there is a discursive intellect, which weighs evidence +and compares the reports of the senses, which is logical, inferential, +ratiocinative: on the higher side there is faculty of pure intuition, +whence come our axioms, our great Religious truths, our first principles +of art and science. Here again we must wait to determine whether this +distinction be one of aspect or faculty, until we are certain that we +know the meaning of the two terms: at present it is only necessary to +note that the distinction is recognised as real by psychologists, no +less diverse in aim than Aristotle and Hegel. Faith to the Theologian is +the exercise of the intuitive reason on divine things. Thought to the +metaphysician is the faculty behind inference with which Being itself +is correlative. But there is no need to call further testimony. It is +enough to say in plain words, that if we know conclusions which we can +prove, we must have some faculty of knowledge which deals with proof: if +we know axiomatic laws which we cannot prove, we must have some faculty +of knowledge which is independent of proof. We know that two straight +lines cannot enclose a space: we know that the angles at the base of an +isosceles triangle are equal to one another. In these two facts of +knowledge the two aspects of reason are exhibited in their simplest +exercise. + +Now, with this spiritual principle of intuition we have, for the +present, nothing further to do. As it is the highest faculty in us, so +it is the least capable of analysis; we cannot define it or describe it, +or say more than that we are conscious of its existence. 'Everyone,' +said Gautier, 'has his measure of inspiration,' and the words, apart +from the tone of mockery in which they were uttered, are literally true. +Everybody is, at some time or another, affected beyond the reach of +words by some great display of beauty or majesty or heroism; and at such +moments we feel a true inspiration which is none the less real for being +inarticulate. So in Music, the one function of this intuitive principle +is the immediate apprehension of vitality in the best work. To one it +may be the first hearing of a Beethoven symphony, to another it may be +the _Messiah_, to another some complete and perfect Volkslied; but +whatever the object, we cease to reason or criticise, and simply +acknowledge it as divine, in virtue of a divine principle in ourselves. +The work is a momentary scintillation from the great glowing fire of +genius, and we can love it, because the best faculty that we possess is +a spark kindled by the same light. Not that in admiring we claim +equality. We are dumb poets, 'wanting the accomplishment of verse,' +lacking the gift of articulation, which implies a clearer vision and a +closer communion with the ideal. But to admire at all, in this true +sense of enthusiasm and self-abandonment, is only possible when the +highest chord of our nature is struck. Man is never lifted nearer to +Heaven than when he bows himself to worship. + +Such moments of inspired admiration are of rare occurrence. But it is +impossible to mistake them; impossible to confuse them with the +careless, unthinking enjoyment of the senses, in which so much of our +musical appreciation is supposed to consist. Between the spontaneous +reverence for a masterpiece, and the unintelligent pleasure in mere +sound, there is as wide a difference as between the two loves of Plato's +fable and Titian's picture: the one is a daughter of Urania, the other +of mortal parentage and of mortal passion. In our impulse towards +beauty, as in all other affections of our nature, the two extreme +points lie outside the limits of the discursive reason, and it is +with the intervening space that rational analysis can be most +profitably occupied. In other words, there is a whole realm of artistic +appreciation in which we can resolve our pleasure into its constituent +factors, and discover not only what it is that we enjoy, but how our +capacity for enjoyment is originated and developed. And as almost all +errors of musical judgment spring from carelessness of observation, such +analysis will not only possess a scientific interest, it will also +supply us with some criterion for estimating the value of separate +styles and distinguishing the false and ephemeral from the true and +abiding. In a previous essay some attempt was made to sketch roughly and +imperfectly the four great corner-stones on which this method should +rest: the law of vitality, the law of labour, the law of proportion, and +the law of fitness to the matter in hand. It now remains to build upon +this foundation, to trace out in some degree the application of these +laws, and to discover, if discovery is possible, the _axiomata media_ +which these wider generalisations include. + +The mode, then, in which we are ordinarily influenced by Music may be +roughly classified under three main types of affection. First, there is +the purely physical, the effect of bodily pleasure or pain, which is +produced on the nervous system by a concurrence or succession of air +vibrations, and is analogous to those impressions of the palate, which +are translated into taste, or those movements of the optic nerve, which +are translated into colour. Secondly, there is the semi-physical, in +which, for the mere corporeal excitation of the senses, we have that +subtler and more sublimated form of influence which it is usual to +comprise under the name of emotion. Here we may find analogy with the +vague, half-conscious feeling of melancholy which we experience in +reading Shelley's _Stanzas written in Dejection_, or the throb of +courage and hopefulness which, without any thought of the artistic value +of the poem, stirs in our heart as an answer to Browning's _Prospice_. +Not, of course, that our appreciation of these two works is merely +emotional; to say this would be to deny their position as products of +art; but it has its emotional side, of which we are all conscious in a +greater or less degree. It is a commonplace of criticism that verse +which is religious or patriotic is often estimated entirely out of +relation to its artistic worth; and that a poor poem may strike a +responsive chord in our nature which leads us to give it an altogether +factitious importance. And this error of judgment is due not to the +spiritual part of our nature, for that takes artistic form for granted, +and rises above it, but to an emotional sympathy with the tenour of the +poem which blinds us for the moment to its literary imperfection. So in +Music, it does not follow that because we feel ourselves stirred by a +certain combination of notes, we are therefore in the presence of a real +masterpiece. The passage in question may strike us because it is great, +but it may equally do so because we are unintelligent; and though in +either case our attitude has its noble aspect, for all genuine +admiration is good up to its limits, yet it is a matter of some moment +whether we are burning our incense before a true or a false shrine. +There is no small difference between being stimulated by some prophetic +utterance, and finding our consolation in the sound 'of that blessed +word Mesopotamia.' + +Third, and most vital of the three, is the rational or logical side, +through which we appraise an artistic work, not by any test of sensuous +pleasure or emotional stimulus, but by some definite and intelligible +scheme of æsthetic laws. To this belongs our appreciation of style, our +appreciation of structure, all that we really imply in the word +'criticism.' By this we estimate everything in art, of which the +estimation can be reduced to laws, everything that is not confined to a +bare statement of personal likes and dislikes. In the two previous forms +of affection we are merely passive, the recipients of some mechanical +or semi-mechanical impact from outside; in this alone we aid the +composer by our own judgment, and respond to his call with a sane and +intelligent answer. Grant that the application of logic to art has +special and serious dangers, that to its misuse we owe all the pedantry +and all the intolerance by which the history of criticism has so often +been defaced; it still remains true that the method, if rightly +exercised, is the one condition of any sound and scientific analysis. +Grant that the highest art and the highest appreciation are both, in a +sense, spontaneous, it will be found that they have not disregarded +reason, but absorbed it. To touch the most purely spiritual part of +man's nature is, _ipso facto_, to have removed furthest from the purely +animal; and it is no very extreme paradox to hold that, if a limit be +transcended, it must first have been traversed. So the greatest +masterpieces in Music will be found to contain sensuous, emotional and +rational factors, and something beside, some divine element of life by +which they are animated and inspired. The fourth of these we shall never +be able to analyse, but we may, at least, devote a little attention to +the organic chemistry of the others. + +The sensation of sound is, on its material side, an affection of the +auric nerve, under stimulus of regular and periodic air vibrations. The +physical pleasure which results from it is entirely dependent on +the degree of stimulation, and is therefore conditioned by two +variables--the manner of vibration in the air waves, and the particular +receptivity of the nerve. It will be convenient, for the sake of +clearness, to take these two separately. + +The simplest air vibrations may differ from each other in three ways. +By their rapidity is determined the pitch of the sound, that is, its +distinction of high and low; by their size, the volume of the sound, +that is, its distinction of loud and soft; and by their shape, the +_timbre_ of the sound, that is, the peculiar quality which distinguishes +the 'voices' of the different musical instruments. It does not appear +that the pleasurableness of the result is seriously affected by the +first two of these, provided that they fall within the limits of clear +sensation. No doubt there are at the extreme ends of the gamut notes +which we cannot detect without some difficulty, but between them the +differences of pitch are recognised by everyone as plain facts, which +have little or nothing to do with the agreeableness of the tone. Again, +when we are standing near the organ, on which some follower of Master +Hugues is 'blaring out the Mode Palestrina,' our ear may be overcharged +with sound, but in that case we can no more be said to hear the music +than the eye can be said to see when it is dazzled with a sudden +splendour of light. Differences of _timbre_, on the contrary, do seem to +imply distinctions of pleasurableness or the reverse. Almost all people +of imperfect musical cultivation have their favourite instruments; one +enjoys the violin, but cares nothing for the piano; another remains in +frozen indifference until he is melted by the human voice; another finds +all music comprised in the invigorating skirl of the bagpipes. It must +be remembered that such influences are wholly physical. They have +nothing to do with artistic appreciation in the proper sense of the +term; they are as purely sensuous as our delight in the colour of a +flower or the taste of a dish. + +Now, the immediate effect of music upon the nervous system is +incontestable. It has often been noticed in animals other than man; it +is a matter of common observation in children; it has been made the +basis of a proposal to use the art as a medicinal agency.[2] And as no +two sets of nerves are exactly alike, it follows that in no two +organisms will the same effect be produced. If the temperament be highly +strung, and if there be no intellectual enjoyment of the art to divert +attention, the nerve may be over-stimulated, and the result will be a +feeling of pain. As the nerve strengthens, it will grow more tolerant; +as education advances, the mind will be occupied with new interests. +Questions of form and style will assert their pre-eminence over +questions of tone. In a word, body will + + Get its sop and hold its noise, + And leave soul free a little. + +Théophile Gautier honestly defined music as 'le plus désagréable de tous +les sons.' Charles Lamb rushed from the opera-house to solace his +sufferings amid the rattle of the cab wheels. And equally the child +Chopin cried with pain at the first sound of the pianoforte, and the +child Mozart fainted under the intolerable blare of the trumpet. In all +these cases the explanation is the same--a nerve too delicate to endure +the stimulus, and an absence of any counteracting influence that could +inhibit the sensation. + +It is thus wholly erroneous to suppose that there is a gulf fixed +between the man who 'has no ear' and the trained musician: on the +contrary, the two extremes shade into each other by a thousand +varieties of gradation. And this is particularly true of these complex +impressions which result from several notes combined in harmony. The +stimulus which we receive from a chord is, for obvious reasons, more +vehement and acute than that which we receive from any of its +constituent notes taken separately; and hence it is in our appreciation +of harmonies, more than in any other form of musical effect, that the +sensuous side of the art becomes apparent. Now, there is not a single +chord in common use at the present day which has not been at some time +condemned as a dissonance. The major third was once held to be a +discord; so, later, was the dominant seventh; so, within living memory, +was the so-called dominant thirteenth. Fifty years ago Chopin's harmony +was 'unendurable;' thirty years ago the world accepted Chopin, but +shrank in terror from Wagner and Brahms; now, we accept all three, but +shake our heads over Goldmark. And the inference to which all this +points is, that the terms 'concord' and 'discord' are wholly relative to +the ear of the listener. The distinction between them is not to be +explained on any mathematical basis, or by any _a priori_ law of +acoustics; it is altogether a question of psychology. + +At the same time, it may be held, fairly enough, that a composer is +bound to write in a manner intelligible to his generation. Volapuk may +be the language of the future, but a poet who, at the present day, +should publish his epic in that tongue, has only himself to thank if he +find no readers. True, but the composer, like the poet, is himself a +part of his generation, and, if he write simply and naturally, may be +trusted not to pass out of touch with contemporary thought. He is a +leader, but it is no part of a leader's business to lose sight of his +army. And in Music, it is not the sensuous question which matters, but +the intellectual; not the fact of concord or discord, but the way in +which they are employed. We still find Monteverde harsh and the Prince +of Venosa crude, not because they use sharp dissonances and extreme +modulations, but because they fail to justify them on any artistic +grounds. They are in this matter children playing with edged tools. So, +at the present day, a composer who should end a piece on a minor second +would be deliberately violating the established language of the time; +and would be reprehensible, not because a minor second is ugly--for it +will be a concord some day--but because, in the existing state of Music, +it could not be naturally placed at the close of a cadence. Imagine +Handel's face on being shown a song which finished on a dominant seventh +out of the key. And, having imagined it, turn to Schumann's _Im +wunderschönen Monat Mai_. + +Again, supposing that a generation has mainly agreed to find the climax +of sensuous pleasure in certain chords--the augmented sixth, the +diminished seventh and the like--it by no means follows that a +composition is delightful because it contains those particular effects. +Everything depends on their relation to their context, or the standpoint +from which they are introduced, on the general style of the passage in +which they appear. Any amateur purveyor of hymn tunes and waltzes can +learn to write them; the difficulty is to present them fitly and +properly, and to place them, as points of colour, where they will +harmonise with the complete scheme of the work. Even more recondite +effects, like the wonderful 'voca me cum benedictis' in Dvořák's +_Requiem_, are _quâ_ sensuous of secondary value. Their true importance +lies in their intellectual side, in their function of exhibiting new key +relationships or new methods of resolution. And if a chord does not +fulfil some such duty, if it does not justify itself by bearing some +definite organic part in the total plan, then it is not art but +confectionery. Hearers, whose only delight in music arises from the +perception of 'sweet' harmonies, are on a par with the schoolboy in +Leech's picture, who suggests that the claret would be improved by a +little sugar. + +From this two conclusions would seem to follow. First, that Music can +never be adequately criticised on sensuous grounds, partly because the +receptivity of the nerve differs in different temperaments, partly +because even where there is an agreement the sensuous side is wholly +subordinate to the intellectual. Secondly, as a corollary from this, any +musician who deliberately aims at sensuous effects alone, _ipso facto_, +commits artistic suicide. He can be beaten on his own ground by the +great masters, and he leaves untouched the whole of that field to the +occupation of which they owe their greatness. Finally, it may be added, +that sense notoriously grows tired, while mental activity endures. We +very soon weary of the average drawing-room ballad, even if it gave us +some animal pleasure at the first hearing: but we return again and again +to the fugue of Bach or the sonata of Beethoven, because there we find +the permanent expression of mind and intelligence. And thus the musical +critic may virtually disregard the element of sensation, or at most may +allude to it only so far as to show that it is, in Aristotle's phrase, +'obedient to reason.' + +Music affects our emotional nature in two ways: partly through the +nervous system, partly through the ordinary law of association. It is a +commonplace of psychology that our emotions are largely conditioned by +physical states in the body,[3] and to this rule music assuredly offers +no exception. Under certain circumstances, a current of energy, after +passing from the ear to the brain, is transmuted into the nervous +movements which constitute the material cause of the simple feelings, +and thus we are roused or exhilarated or depressed by means as +mechanical as those of any agency in external nature. Here, again, as in +sensation itself, much depends upon the receptivity of the nerve. One +hearer may be thrown into agitation by an impulse which leaves another +comparatively cold, a strong temperament may be vehemently excited by +conditions under which a weaker organism is stunned or paralysed. But +all who are in any degree susceptible of the influence of music, have +experienced some measure of this emotional stimulus, poured into the +brain through sensation, and then sublimated in a physical alembic. +Among the most conspicuous existing causes may be noted the rapid +tremolo of the strings, as in the death song at the end of _Tristan_, +the beat of a recurring figure, as in the 'Ride to the Abyss' of +Berlioz' _Faust_, the reiteration of high notes on the violin, as in +much of Dvořák's chamber music, and the restlessness of frequent +modulation or uncertain tonality. Any reader who is at the pains to +analyse the effect produced upon him by these means of musical +expression, will probably agree that they rouse first a particular kind +of stimulus in the sense, and then, without any conscious intervention +on his own part, a corresponding state of emotional feeling. + +Far more important is the influence of association. There is no reason +_in rerum naturâ_ why the minor mode should be sad, but our first +ancestors noticed that a cry sank in tone as the power of its utterance +failed, and hence established a connection between depression of note +and waning strength. So began an association of ideas to which, by +transmission and inheritance, the pathos of our minor keys is mainly +due. Again, the bass naturally suggests gravity and earnestness, because +that is the case with the speaking voice. 'No man of real dignity,' says +Aristotle, 'could ever be shrill of speech;' and similarly, when we look +for serious or dignified music, we expect to find some prominence given +to its lower register. Much, too, of this association is due to the +motions of our ordinary life: the force that strikes like a blow in the +first phrase of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, the agitation so often +expressed by rapid and irregular movement; the broken voices at the end +of the Funeral March in the _Eroica_; and others of similar kind. Of +course music cannot define any specific emotional state: it is far too +vague and indeterminate to be regarded as an articulate language; but it +undoubtedly can suggest and adumbrate general types of emotion, either +by producing their sensuous conditions, or by presenting some form of +phrase which we can connect by association with our own experience. + +But it is not in this emotional influence that the truest laws of +musical criticism are to be sought. Its criterion is nobler than that +of sense, partly because it deals with an aspect of our nature which is +less animal, partly because it implies a greater degree of skill in the +artist; but it is too personal and intimate to afford a satisfactory +basis for discussion, and taken by itself, it offers little or no +opportunity for the exercise of the higher faculties. In the _Journal +des Goncourt_, there is a well-known passage describing the effect of +music on a roomful of highly-strung and unintelligent listeners. The +picture is not a little degrading to our humanity: nervous emotion +trembling on the verge of hysteria, sentiment that has passed out of +rational control, an intoxication of feeling morbid in itself and +dangerous in its inevitable reaction. The case may be extreme, the +account may be rhetorically exaggerated, but it contains a salutary +truth. If we look on music merely as a stimulus to our emotional nature, +we are really disregarding all that makes it of permanent value as an +art. We are lowering it to the level of sentimental romance or +bloodthirsty melodrama. Grant that this form of indulgence is less gross +than the direct gratification of the senses, it is not a whit more +critical. While we are under its spell, we are as incapable of sane +judgment as Rinaldo in Armida's garden; we have abrogated our manhood, +we have drugged our reason, we are lying passive and inert at the mercy +of an external will. + +It is hardly necessary to point out that this state of mere recipience +is altogether different from artistic appreciation. Art is not more a +riot of the passions than it is a debauch of the senses: it contains, no +doubt, sensuous and emotional elements, the importance of which there is +no need to undervalue, but it is only artistic if it subordinate them +to the paramount claims of reason. Even the purest and noblest emotions +do not constitute a sufficient response. We are only in a position to +criticise when we have passed through the emotional stage and emerged +into the intellectual region beyond. To judge a composition simply from +the manner in which it works upon our feelings, is no better than +judging a picture or a poem merely from our sympathy with its subject. + +To this conclusion two possible objections may be urged: first, that it +takes an 'ascetic' view of art; second, that it places the criterion in +a mere subservience to abstract and mechanical laws. Both of these rest +on a misunderstanding of the position. True art is neither ascetic nor +intemperate: it implies a full command of the sensuous and emotional +factors in beauty, but it knows how to employ them. Its object is to +make the whole work beautiful, not to elaborate this or that aspect at +the expense of the rest; and such an object can only be achieved in +virtue of certain intellectual principles. Beethoven's harmony is not +less exquisite, or his passion less true and vital because he regards +the requirements of style and structure as paramount. On the contrary, +the sensuous and emotional beauties of his work are themselves enhanced +by the unerring skill with which he places his effects and contrasts his +colours. Again, whatever their intellectual laws may be they are not +mechanical. They afford no excuse for _kapellmeistermusik_, no +justification for cold accuracy and dull correctness: so far from +precluding genius, they presuppose it. They are not grammatical +conventions which can be learned from text-books, they are the direct +and spontaneous outcome of the human reason. Thus, in order to +ascertain them, we must begin by discovering what is the broadest +principle of formal beauty which can be deduced from the laws of mind, +and use it as a provisional hypothesis with which to approach our +problem. We shall then see how far this principle finds actual +embodiment in the works of the great composers, and if there are +exceptions or divergences, how far they can be explained. If our +original hypothesis is confirmed by experience, we may reasonably +conclude that it is true; if not, we must recognise that we are on the +wrong line, and we must retrace our steps. In musical criticism, as in +every other form of scientific investigation, it is not the function of +man to anticipate facts, but to interpret them. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] See an interesting essay in Dr Frank's _Satyræ Medicæ_. See also +Burton's _Anatomy of Melancholy_, II. ii. 6, 3. + +[3] On this point, see Professor James' _Principles of Psychology_, +chap. xxv. + + + + +II + +STYLE AND STRUCTURE + + +'It may be shown,' says Mr Herbert Spencer,[4] 'that Music is but an +idealisation of the natural language of emotion, and that, consequently, +Music must be good or bad according as it conforms to the laws of this +natural language. The various inflections of voice which accompany +feelings of different kinds and intensities, are the germs out of which +Music is developed. It is demonstrable that these inflections and +cadences are not accidental or arbitrary: but that they are determined +by certain general principles of vital action; and that their +expressiveness depends on this. Whence it follows that musical phrases, +and the melodies built on them, can be effective only when they are in +harmony with these general principles. It is difficult here properly to +illustrate this position. But perhaps it will suffice to instance the +swarms of worthless ballads that infest drawing-rooms, as compositions +which science would forbid. They sin against science by setting to music +ideas that are not emotional enough to prompt musical expression: and +they also sin against science by using musical phrases that have no +relation to the ideas expressed, even when these are emotional. They are +bad because they are untrue. And to say they are untrue is to say they +are unscientific.' + +In these words we may find a starting-point for sound criticism. If a +musical composition is to make any bid for the rank of classic it must, +as a primary essential, be genuine in feeling: by which we mean, that it +must not only be original, though originality is implied and included, +but that, in Wordsworth's fine phrase, it must be inevitable. To +recognise a melody as perfect is to feel, when we come to know it, that +it could not possibly have been written in any other way: that its +phraseology, whether simple or complex, whether obvious or recondite, is +the necessary outgrowth of the thought which it embodies. Of course this +law does not preclude the element of surprise, which is one legitimate +factor of musical effect. The hearer, like the composer, may sometimes +be 'stung with the splendour of a sudden thought' and roused into a +moment of exquisite consciousness by an unexpected cadence or a new +modulation. But if the surprise be more than temporary, it is +inartistic. Before we reach the conclusion of the work, we must be +convinced that the effect in question bears some vital and organic part +in the total structure: that it is, in short, a prediction which is +justified by a future fulfilment. And, in that case, we end by +acknowledging that it was not an isolated and deliberate attempt to stir +our wonder, but part of an established plan which only astonished us at +the moment because we were unable to foresee its issue. + +It is obvious that in the drama or the novel we are but little impressed +by devices which we can detect as artificial. A writer who lets us see +that he 'wants to make our flesh creep,' has forearmed us already +against all his terrors: a playwright who tells us at the outset that he +is going to persecute his heroine, simply fills us with an idle +curiosity as to the precise form which the persecution will take. There +can be no illusion where there is no appearance of spontaneity: no art +when there is no concealment of artifice. Victor Hugo can move us +intensely; Scribe cannot move us at all: for the former, with all his +vehemence and exaggeration, is speaking out of the abundance of the +heart, and the latter is merely using the stage as a chess-board for the +elaboration of ingenious problems. So it is in Music. Meyerbeer is one +of the 'cleverest' of musicians: brilliant, ready, resourceful, +courageous enough to rob the grave of its horror and the Church of its +majesty, if only he may rouse his audience to a higher strain of +attention. Yet we are no more stirred by Meyerbeer than we are by Monk +Lewis. The music is drowned by the soliloquies of the composer, who +looks on from his box and wonders whether this scene is sufficiently +terrible, whether that situation contains the requisite amount of +pathos; and whether the effects, which have been so carefully calculated +and so precisely measured, have after all proved to be a profitable +investment. + +But there are lower depths than this. It is not long since an eminent +composer of sentimental ballads was obliging enough to communicate to +the magazines a complete recipe of his method. It is hardly worth while +to give the details, but attention may be called to the singularly naïve +confession with which the disclosure ended:--that for a song to be truly +successful 'its melody must always remind the audience of something that +they have heard before.' Surely there has never been so complete an +instance of artistic falsehood gibbeted by its own perpetrator. Poe, no +doubt may be quoted as a parallel, but not with justice. The famous +essay on the Raven is clearly an afterthought: a critical puzzle +designed to mystify a credulous public. One might as well believe that +Burger's _Lenore_ was written by rule and measure, or that Berlioz +planned his _Marche au Supplice_ with a diagram of the procession at his +side. + +Such examples of artistic failure are not always ignoble. It is quite +possible that a man may be preoccupied with some scientific aspect of +his art, that he may write not from the overmastering desire to express +some beautiful thought, but from a deliberate wish to solve some +difficult problem or transcend some technical limit. In such a case he +will produce work which, though not valuable as an artistic achievement, +is yet interesting as a study. He may show us some new method of +resolving a discord, some new cadence for the conclusion of a phrase, +some new shape which the melodic curve can legitimately assume: and +thus, though he devote himself to a side issue, though his work will be +purely formal and academic, he may yet claim an honourable place, not +indeed among the poets of Music, but among its verse-writers. Of this +type we have a conspicuous instance in Sir George Macfarren. He is +essentially a musical grammarian, engaged all his life long in settling +the doctrine of the enclitic de, wide of knowledge, sincere of purpose, +and almost entirely devoid of spontaneity. Consequently there is not, in +all his composition, a single page which is without interest to the +student of harmony, and there is hardly one which can put forward any +claim to rank as a living product of art. And this is not because he +has regarded the intellectual aspect of Music as paramount,--for to do +this is a necessary condition of good work,--but because he has +emphasised the wrong intellectual aspect, because he has confused +grammar with style. The great masters--Bach, Beethoven, Brahms--are +every whit as correct as Macfarren, and every whit as ingenious, but to +them correctness and ingenuity are subordinate, almost incidental: to +him they appear to be the main object and aim of composition. + +Secondly, the feeling must not only be inevitable, it must be worth +expressing. 'The maiden,' says Ruskin, 'may sing her lost love, but the +miser may not sing his lost money-bags.' Now it is obvious that worth is +a relative term. We do not want gravity in a ballroom or solemnity in a +comic opera. There is plenty of space in Music for lightness, and +delicacy, and simplicity and humour, provided that they recognise their +proper limits and are devoted to their proper themes. But there is no +room for forms of expression which are silly or superficial or vulgar. +We are not really moved by the sorrows of a little tin soldier, or the +flirtations of a man and a maid under an umbrella. We do not really weep +over the chorister boy who becomes an angel, or the carol singer (with +organ obbligato) who dies in a snow-drift through half-a-dozen stanzas +of imperfect verse. It is with very alien jaws that we laugh at the +tedious horse-play and cheap catch-words of our 'humorous' songs. It is +with very little fascination that we watch the posturing of our +hoydenish polkas or our ill-bred slangy waltzes. And our aversion is not +due to any pedantic insistence on the dignity of the art. Music has a +perfect right, _desipere in loco_, but it ought to choose its place +with opportunity, and regulate its folly by some laws of good behaviour. + +The limit for music, in short, is much the same as the limit for poetry. +There is probably no generic type of emotion which the poet would +dismiss as unworthy of treatment, but under each genus there are certain +specific forms which he would naturally leave untouched as perversions, +or degradations. Every normal and healthy instinct may have its artistic +expression, no matter how slight or transitory its nature; it is the +parodies, the simulations, the abnormal counterparts that afford no +material to poet or musician. Schumann's nursery tunes are as delightful +as the 'Child's Garden of Verses'; Mr Austin Dobson has not more skill +in porcelain than Rameau or Scarlatti or Couperin. If we want romance, +there is Chopin; if dance music, there is Strauss; if simple sentiment, +there are the best of Mendelssohn's _Lieder_. Above all, if we must sing +something which our audience can follow without thought and at a single +hearing, let us discard our second-rate librettists and second-hand +composers, and let us turn back to the national songs which have sprung +from the very heart of our people. We shall not thereby aid in +conferring royalties on writers who had far better be following some +other profession: but we shall at least help to purify the atmosphere of +contemporary art. There is no more melancholy spectacle of human +infirmity than a so-called 'Ballad Concert' of the present day: unless +it be the amateur reproductions, where all the faults of a bad system +are faithfully copied, and the unconscious burlesque of feeling is +itself unconsciously burlesqued. + +All music, then, which is worthy of serious regard must be the +spontaneous outcome of a natural and healthy emotion. But this is +clearly not the last word in the matter: if it were, we should be +threatened with the _reductio ad absurdum_, that all genuine music is of +equal value. Nor can the distinction be entirely explained by the fact +that some emotional states are deeper and more serious than others: for, +in the first place, such a classification of our feelings is almost +impossible; and, in the second, even if it were effected, it would carry +us but a little way towards a solution. The emotional basis of +Beethoven's Eighth Symphony is lighter than that of Berlioz' _Symphonie +Fantastique_, but Beethoven's is undoubtedly the greater work. We have, +in short, the whole question of formal beauty to discuss, the whole +analysis of those intellectual laws on which it has been already +suggested that artistic perfection ultimately depends. It must be +remembered that music is not only the expression, but the idealisation +of feeling, and that its true worth will be largely conditioned by the +qualities of abstract beauty which such an idealisation implies. + +These qualities may roughly be classified under the two heads of style +and structure. By structure in music is meant the general distribution +of ideas in a work or movement: the contrast and recurrence of themes, +the organisation of the key system, the whole architectural plan which +aims at the establishment of coherence and stability. By style is meant +the due arrangement of the phraseology; the right melodic curve, the +proper degree of richness and transparency in the harmonisation, the +feeling for the special capacities of the different voices or +instruments. No doubt the two cannot be sharply separated: they are in +a great measure interdependent, and are more or less determined by the +same ultimate principles. But as complementary aspects they may at any +rate be logically distinguished, and in some cases may even suggest +different lines of criticism. In some early sonata movements, for +instance, the structure is coherent, but the phraseology deficient in +force and contrast. In some works of our romantic period the phraseology +is admirable, but the importance of key-relationship almost entirely +disregarded. It is much the same with a play or a novel; the story +cannot be perfectly told unless the characters are perfectly drawn; we +may even add, unless the author has entire command of the right word and +the telling phrase. But short of this ideal proportion the balance may +swing to the side of plot or to the side of characterisation, to +boldness of invention or delicacy of treatment. It is only in the +greatest work that the form is, on both sides, entirely satisfying. + +Now, the highest type of formal perfection which our minds are capable +of conceiving, is that of unity in diversity. The discovery of this +principle in Nature, as a whole, was the main problem of Greek +philosophy; its discovery in different departments of Nature is the +entire problem of modern science. Knowledge is the unification of +isolated facts under a single law: truth, which is the correlative +of knowledge, finds its climax in the existence of law and the +inter-relation of facts. More especially is this the case with that +particular form of unification which we call organic; that in which the +details are absolutely diverse in character, but all play interdependent +parts in one single economy. The organism is not only our supreme +example of physical structure, it is the type of all human society and +all natural order. + +Again, our great evolutionist philosopher has told us that an organism +must possess three main attributes. First, it must be definite, clear in +outline, complete in substance, and filling with unbroken continuity the +fixed limits by which it is circumscribed. Secondly, it must be +heterogeneous: composed, that is, of a plurality of parts, each of which +has its own special function, and no two of which are interchangeable. +Thirdly, it must be coherent: holding this plurality in exact balance +and equipoise, so that each part, incapable by itself of maintaining the +whole body, is yet essential to the due health and efficiency of the +others. Illustrations of this principle are the primary facts of +biology. They may be traced in steady gradation from the earliest and +most rudimentary forms of animal life until they culminate in the +ordered complexity of the human frame. And a line of similar development +runs through all political history, from the primitive tribe to the +communities of our present civilisation. + +_Mutatis mutandis_, this scientific ideal is also the ideal of art. When +we speak of a great picture, a great poem, a great novel, we mean one +that groups its diverse elements round a central principle, one in +which variety is never chaotic and unity never monotonous; one +in which every stroke tells and every touch is essential. No doubt, +in the representative arts, this principle is qualified by other +considerations,--poetry has to criticise life, painting has to represent +nature; but in both the element of formal perfection is of vital +importance, and in both formal perfection means perfection of organism. +A bad composition in pictorial art means one in which some detail can be +obliterated without loss to the whole. A bad composition in literature +means one which contains superfluous digressions and 'passages that lead +to nothing.' Virgil is the great epic artist, Sophocles the great artist +in drama, for precisely the same reasons that teach us to see +extravagance in Wiertz' scenes from the _Iliad_, or make us laugh, not +without pity, at Nat Lee's Bedlam Tragedy 'in Twenty-five Acts and some +Odd Scenes.' Again the flexibility of fine verse simply means the +organic inter-relation of different metrical devices. If we examine a +dozen lines of Shakespear, or Milton, or Keats, or Tennyson, we shall +recognise that their beauty of sound depends partly on the harmonious +juxtaposition of words, each of which finds its natural complement in +the rest, partly on the varieties of stress which balance and compensate +one another throughout the whole. Take away the variety, and we get +verse like that of Hoole's _Tasso_. Take away the compensation, and we +get the misshapen prose of Byron's _Deformed Transformed_. + +Lastly, among all arts, it is to Music that the law of organic +proportion most intimately applies. In Painting and Literature, an +emotional state gives rise to a thought which gives rise to an +appropriate form of expression: in Music, the state of emotion gives +rise to a melody which is thought and form in one. While, therefore, +with the representative arts, we can sometimes criticise the idea and +the expression as two separate factors, with Music it is only in the +expression that the idea can be ascertained. Again, the musician has a +far more opulent command of formal resource than his brother artists. +Contrasts of _timbre_ and tone are at least as various as contrasts of +colour: the complexity of musical rhythm is far beyond anything that +language can achieve; while, in the devices of harmony, and still more +of polyphony and counterpoint, the composer occupies a position which is +virtually unique in human experience. Hence we may naturally expect +that, in their highest development, the style and structure of Music +should present the most complete examples of artistic organism: that +they should be, as Mr Pater has described them, the perfect type to +which it is the glory of other arts to conform. + +Before we proceed to test this hypothesis by reference to the practice +of the great masters, there is one preliminary consideration on which it +is advisable to lay some emphasis. Music assumes so many forms, and is +devoted to so many purposes, that it would be idle to expect the same +kind of organic perfection in all. The melodies of the dance and the +ballad are, for obvious reasons, compelled to a certain uniformity of +rhythm and stanza; and it is impossible that they should exhibit the +same diversity as a work which is not bound by their restrictions. +Again, a continuously recurrent figure may be used with admirable effect +in a short pianoforte piece, or in the accompaniment of a song, though +it would grow monotonous and wearisome if maintained through the whole +length of a symphonic movement. In Music as in Poetry, the heterogeneity +of a work will be in great measure conditioned by its extent and scale; +only, as no composition is large enough to justify incoherence, so none +is small enough to dispense with diversity altogether. Look at Heine's +_Du bist wie eine Blume_ simply as a matter of phrase and versification. +The unity of the lyric is beyond all question, but we may note how the +extra syllables come pressing into the more impassioned stanza, and how +the style of the whole is perfected by the exquisite inversion in the +last line. + +[Illustration: EXAMPLES] + +It is precisely the same with a lyric tune like 'Barbara Allen.'[5] Here +the stanza is prescribed by the exigencies of the ballad-form, in which +the alternate strains answer each other perforce. But it is worth +remarking, that although there is little variety in the rhythmic figure, +there is almost perfect organisation in the notes that constitute the +melodic curve. It is not too much to say that after the first phrase +every detail in the tune is inevitable, made requisite either by some +preceding gap which the ear desires to fill, or by some swing of metre +which the mind desires to balance. Another and more highly organised +instance may be found in the great tune from the finale of the Ninth +Symphony.[6] Here the curve is as broad and simple as that of a +Volkslied, filling its limit with entire and satisfying completeness, +while the rhythm is perhaps the most marvellous example in Music of +organic effect produced from the plainest and most elementary materials. +In the first part only two rhythmic figures are employed, one of which +is a bare statement of the tempo, while the other differs from it only +by a dotted note, yet they are so presented that there is no sense of +monotony in the stanza. The first two strains of the second part present +a new set of figures, of which each is developed out of its predecessor, +while the last two complete the unity of the tune as a whole, by +recalling the first stanza and recapitulating its close. Still more, in +cases where there is no external requisition of metre, shall we find the +unity of the melodic organism qualified by the diversity of its parts. +In the first movement of Mozart's G Minor Quintett, there is an +admirable instance;[7] the first two bars balance in rhythm, but differ +in curve and harmony; the third intervenes with a new figure in strong +contrast; and the fourth closes the half-stanza by recalling the second. +Then comes the most beautiful point of style in the whole tune. The +figure of the third bar, which, hitherto, has only been used for +contrast (like the third line of the Omar Khayyam stanza in verse), is +answered and compensated by the fifth bar, which itself leads directly +into the cadence-phrase. And thus every part is made vital, and +differences themselves co-ordinated into uniformity of result. Finally, +as a climax, we may take two more examples from Beethoven: the melody on +which is founded the slow movement of the Pathétique,[8] and the opening +theme of the Violoncello Sonata in A.[9] The former contains six +different rhythmic figures in eight bars, the latter is composed of +disparate elements, no two of which bear any resemblance to each other; +and yet both alike are complete melodic stanzas, as definite and +coherent in their total effect as any dance-tune of Strauss, or any +ballad-tune of Schumann. It is impossible for the organisation of melody +to be carried to a higher pitch. Unity may be easily enough attained by +an exact balance of similar phrases, but only a master can produce it +from the interplay of factors so diverse and so incongruous. + +The earliest known method of harmonising a melody was a continuous +series of consecutive intervals, produced when the same passage is sung +simultaneously by two voices of different pitch. Here we have the first +protoplasmic germ of this particular musical device, absolutely +homogeneous in style, and therefore inartistic. Art in harmony began +with organisation; that is, with the discovery that unity of effect +might be combined with individuality in the part writing: that each +voice might have a separate character, each chord be determined by some +intelligible law of sequence, and yet the whole be developed into a +coherent system. So rose the old counterpoint of Lassus and Palestrina, +bound by certain conventional restrictions, but, within their limits, as +highly organised as genius could make it: so in course of time grew the +freer polyphony of Bach and Brahms and Wagner, which stands to the +earlier method as the Romance languages to Latin. Thus there are two +main tests of good harmony,--first, whether each part taken by itself is +interesting; second, whether each chord can be explained and justified +by its context. For instance, the setting of the words 'Und seinem +Heil'gen Geist' from the chorale in the _Lobgesang_ is badly harmonised; +the last chord is simply out of balance, and it is only necessary to +open any page of Bach to see the contrast. Of course, in song and drama, +and, to a certain extent, even in sonata and symphony, it may be +necessary to break the law of organism in some particular detail in +order to obtain a special poetic effect. But in that case the passage in +question must be regarded as a factor in the total result: the principle +of criticism is not altered, but only applied to a wider area. And, at +any rate, on all occasions where drama is out of place, and purity of +tone the first requisite, the rule of organisation in harmony may be +taken as paramount. There is no need to multiply instances; two lie +ready to hand in our collection of _Hymns Ancient and Modern_. The +second tune assigned in that volume to the 'Litany of the Incarnate +Word' is a compendium of almost every fault of style which harmony can +commit: the setting of 'Nun danket alle Gott' is as near perfection as +it is possible for our system to attain. + +So far we have considered musical style in relation to isolated strains +or melodies: and thus have led up to the more important question of its +nature in the range of a continuous composition. It is obviously easier +to write a good sentence than a good paragraph or chapter, even though +all three are amenable to the same laws: and we can find many an artist +who, like Horace's coppersmith, has skill enough in details, but remains + + Infelix operis summâ, quia ponere totum + Nescit. + +Indeed, the preservation of balance and unity in a large work is an +achievement that requires high gifts cultivated by long and patient +training: every cadence gives a hostage to fortune, every phrase offers +a pledge that must ultimately be redeemed. It is not surprising that +composers have often been too fully preoccupied with the elaboration of +single points to notice the due inter-relation of parts by which style +in the whole is constituted. + +For instance, there can be no question of Grieg's genius. His lyric +pieces for the pianoforte are almost uniformly charming: his songs are +among the greatest possessions of the art. But as soon as Grieg +attempts to fill a larger canvas, his imperfections of style begin to +appear, and the work becomes either incoherent, as in the String +Quartett, or monotonous, as in the first two numbers of the incidental +music to _Peer Gynt_. Gounod, again, has some admirable qualities, but +among them is not included any great gift for uniformity, beyond the +limits of a Berceuse or a Serenade. The 'Calf of Gold' song in _Faust_ +opens with a magnificent phrase, and then degenerates into an +anti-climax of pure irrelevance. The choruses in the _Redemption_ and +the _Mors et Vita_ set out, for the most part, with a pompous fugue +exposition, and discard counterpoint at the moment when its difficulties +begin. Grant that the change of manner is due to deliberate choice and +not to deficiency in technical skill; no plea of purpose can palliate +the error. It would be just as reasonable for a dramatist to write the +first act of his tragedy in Elizabethan English and drop to the +nineteenth century for the other four. + +We shall find a more interesting example if we compare the two versions +of Brahms' B major Trio. In the first, possibly misled by an apparent +analogy from Beethoven,[10] Brahms allowed himself to spoil the opening +movement with an incident of sheer incongruity: in the second he has +completely rewritten the passage and reduced it to entire harmony with +its surroundings. Not that the latter version is deficient in contrast, +but it makes contrast subservient to coherence. And it is certainly a +striking fact that the great master should have recalled his early work +in order to correct the one offence against organism of style, which it +may be held to contain. + +But we need look no further than Beethoven if we wish to see this +principle in its most perfect embodiment. The opening movements of the +two Sonatas, which he has numbered as Op. 27, stand on the outside verge +of organic style: the former contains the maximum of diversity without +being indefinite; the latter the maximum of unity without being +monotonous: and between their bounds lie all those marvellous examples +of contrast and antithesis, of variation and development, of firm +outline and steadfast plan, which have placed his work as far beyond +rivalry as that of Angelo or Shakespear. See how the stormy opening of +the _Waldstein_ is soothed and quieted by the melody of the second +subject: how the bleak majesty of the first theme in the _Appassionata_ +finds its complement in the warm, rich tune that enters upon the change +of key. Look at the balance of phrase in the first Rasoumoffsky +Quartett, in the fifth Symphony, in the _Emperor_ Concerto. But indeed +the fact is too patent to need illustration, even if the selection of +instances were possible. One might as well try to pick out examples of +Milton's dignity and Goethe's wisdom, or direct attention to evidences +of skill in Titian and Velasquez. Even the few imperfections may readily +be condoned. The finale of the first Sonata is a legacy from an alien +system: that of the _Eroica_ an obvious experiment, that of the Sonata +in A major an instance of the curious devotion to counterpoint which +Beethoven specially manifested at the end of his career. And it should +be noted that his comparative failures are always steps in a new +direction, and are almost always followed by some conspicuous victory on +the same lines. In any case, they may be counted on the fingers of a +single hand. There is certainly no musician, there is probably no +artist, whose work as a whole is so varied and yet so masterly. + + * * * * * + +A complete discussion of musical structure would involve a history of +the art from the year 1600. It must therefore suffice for the present +purpose to note the main stages of development, and to analyse the chief +types, first as they appear in single movements, then as they are +combined into the complex organisms of sonata and symphony. Before the +Florentine revolution there was virtually no such thing as a system of +key-relationship, no recognition of the important effects of contrast +which may be produced in a work by the alternation of different tonics. +Music during the Ecclesiastical period was entirely homogeneous +in structure, bound within the limits of the mode, or, at most, +transcending them for a moment of tentative audacity wholly different +from the firm definite scheme of modern modulation. When the change +came, it was only natural that the first consequence should be a period +of chaos. The lay-brothers who had broken loose from the monastery went +roaming about the world with no settled plan or direction, turning along +any path which promised adventure, and ending their journey wherever +they happened to stop at nightfall. The Moresca in Monteverde's +_Orfeo_[11] is a good example of the reaction against uniformity. It can +hardly be described without anachronism in our modern terminology, but, +if the attempt must be made, we may analyse it as a single melodic +phrase, beginning on dominant harmony and ending on tonic, repeated four +times in four different keys. In other words, it is as deficient in +structural coherence as the preceding method in structural diversity. + +But as our scale came into established use, and brought with it +an intelligible system of related tonic notes, the value of key +distribution began _pari passu_ to be recognised. Men refused any longer +to acquiesce in mere indefiniteness or mere monotony, and set themselves +to find some means of organising the form of composition by combining +different tonal centres into a coherent system. Scientific composers, +loyal to the traditions of counterpoint, endeavoured to solve their +problem by the elaboration of the fugue in which unity of style is +secured by the recurrent subject, and diversity of structure by the free +modulation. This form, which may be said to start with the Gabrielis, +and to culminate in Sebastian Bach, is of the highest interest to +musicians as an attempt to make style and structure play into each +other's hands: the former possessing too little diversity, the latter +too little coherence to stand as separate organisms. But as it is +factitious in its origin, so it is liable to become rigid and mechanical +in its results; an exercise of barren ingenuity, not a warm vital +expression of true emotion. Bach no doubt could breathe poetry into it, +as Corneille could fill with his splendid rhetoric the hard outlines of +the classical drama, but both results are great in spite of their form, +not in consequence of it. Considered merely as examples of fugue +structure, Bach's compositions are not greater than those of a hundred +kapellmeisters of his time: they owe their greatness to the purity of +their themes, and to the unapproachable perfection of their harmony. But +lay aside all questions of melody and harmony, everything, in short, +which can be classed under the head of style, and Beethoven's sonatas +will still remain supreme in virtue of their structure. Fugue form is an +artificial thing which a man can learn: sonata form is a living thing +which a man must feel. + +Hence it is interesting to notice that all the forms most intimately +associated with the sonata may be directly traced to one primitive type +of Volkslied.[12] The simplest possible contrast of key which man can +adopt without falling into incoherence, is that of a melody in three +strains: the first asserting the tonic, the second leading to some +related key, the third repeating the tonic in order to complete the +outline. Now, if we imagine the first strain given in duplicate, so as +to suit the requirements of a four-line stanza of verse, we shall find +ourselves with a melodic form of which 'The Bluebells of Scotland' and +'The Vicar of Bray' may be taken as familiar examples. It is probable +that the immediate reiteration of the first phrase is a concession to +the poet rather than a point of musical structure: in any case, the +essential element of the form is to be found in the three clauses, +assertion, contrast, and reassertion. 'Of this simple type,' says Dr +Parry, 'there are literally thousands of examples.' It is, indeed, the +most natural form of melodic sentence which the popular songs of any +nation can assume: it is the living germ from which all our most complex +musical organisms are developed. + +At the outset there are two possible lines of evolution. First, the +clause of contrast and the clause of reassertion may be repeated +alternately so as to extend the number of strains to five or seven, or +whatever is required by the exigencies of the words. Thus we get the +primitive type of rondo, which may be illustrated by Burns' 'John +Hielandman,' or by the Skye Boat Song, or by our well-known hymn for +Palm Sunday. A further stage of development is reached when the number +of clauses is fixed at five: and when the fourth, instead of being an +exact repetition of the second, affords a change of contrast by +presenting a new episode in a new key. This gives us the rondo form as +used by Rameau and Purcell, Haydn and Mozart, and occasionally Beethoven +himself. We need only compare the exquisite song, 'I attempt from Love's +sickness to fly,' with the Adagio of the Sonata Pathétique to see that +in point of structure they are identical. No doubt there were some +experiments on the way. Haydn tried the form as a vehicle of variations; +Mozart opened a new path in his Piano Sonata in A minor: but all these +were only variants of the established type which either left its +structure unaltered, or remained as exceptions. It was not until the +time of Beethoven that the rondo passed into its third stage of +development, and even with him the earlier form is of not infrequent +occurrence.[13] + +Secondly, the number of clauses may be restricted to the original three, +and each strain by itself organised into a higher degree of diversity. +In its simplest form, which may be exemplified by the minuets of many +early sonatas, the first strain ends with a full close in the tonic, and +thus, while it fulfils the function of asserting its key, does so at the +expense of complete detachment from the second. Hence it is a step +towards organisation if the first strain is made to end with a half +close, or even to modulate to the key from which the second is going to +start. If this is so, the cadence of the third clause will have to be +modified--since the tune must end with a full close in the key in which +it began--and thus a new element of diversity is introduced into the +work as a whole. Of this stage an instance may be found in the Minuet of +Haydn's Piano Sonata in D (No. 6), where the first strain is divided +into two sub-clauses, one in the tonic, the other in the dominant, and +the third strain transposes the latter back and presents both of them in +the same key. Here another point offers itself for consideration. If the +clause of assertion has been allowed to modulate, and still more, if it +has been allowed to dwell upon a key other than the tonic of the piece, +it is obvious that the clause of contrast must be allowed still freer +modulation--otherwise its purpose will remain unaccomplished. And by +this time our clauses have grown in size and extent until it is not +appropriate to call them clauses any longer. They have become sentences, +or even paragraphs, each with its own subdivisions, its own structural +character, and its own function in the general economy of the whole +movement. For instance, in the Minuet of Mozart's Piano Sonata in A +major, the first part consists of a 10-bar tune in A followed by an +8-bar tune in E: the second begins in B minor, drops to A minor, and +then passes through an augmented sixth to the dominant of A, while the +third brings the work to a logical conclusion by repeating the two +sections of the first in the tonic key.[14] + +In its present stage of development the form is admirably suited to the +short lyric movements in which it usually appears. Taken by itself it +typifies the classical minuet, the air for variations, and the majority +of such pianoforte pieces as the Kinderscenen and the Poetische +Tonbilder. Extended by the addition of a second example, and completed +by a restatement of the first, it gives us the minuet and trio of our +sonatas and the common structure of the march and the polonaise. But, as +the form grows in bulk and importance, as it discovers new functions and +adapts itself to a new environment, so it will naturally submit to +certain changes of organism. The two sections of which the first part is +composed, appear at present in a direct juxtaposition which will seem +crude and disconnected if the movement be increased to a larger size: +and it will therefore be advisable to join them by a link of modulation +that shall carry the ear gradually over the change of key. Again, the +sections of contrast in the second part have hitherto fulfilled their +purpose by a complete digression, not only presenting new keys but using +them to exhibit new material; and it is obvious that, after the limit of +a few bars, such a digression will be fatal to the unity of the work as +a whole. Now the variety of key in this part is, as we have already +seen, a structural necessity: and thus the readiest means of unification +will be attained if we minimise the novelty of material, and use the +sections of contrast, either wholly or mainly, to express phrases and +themes that have been already stated in the first part of the +composition. Lastly, we may notice that the third part ends by repeating +in the tonic precisely the same melodic cadence which the first part +ended by asserting in the dominant; and it will sometimes happen, that +the clause which served admirably as the finish of a paragraph may +appear abrupt or inconclusive as the finish of a chapter. In such cases +the composer can extend his third part by the addition of an epilogue or +coda, completing and rounding off the outline, which would otherwise be +left imperfect. It must be remembered that, as a point of structure, the +existence of the coda is optional. The composer may wish, for certain +reasons of style, to make the first part of his work conclusive, or the +last inconclusive: and in either event the need of an epilogue +disappears. But, as a general rule, it may be said that the more highly +organised the movement the more it will require the employment of this +particular device. Continuity is best secured if all the parts of the +work be made interdependent, and in that case it is only by a coda that +any real climax of phraseology can be attained. + +One more detail and the organism is complete. Among the many experiments +in structure which mark the course of musical evolution, one of the most +important is the so-called French Overture. The main feature of this +form, which may be readily illustrated by the Overture to the _Messiah_, +was its habit of prefacing the chief division with an introduction or +prologue in slower tempo; and this device has been adopted by the great +cyclic composers, and especially by Beethoven, in order to prepare the +hearer for movements of unusual importance or solemnity. Like the coda, +the introduction is optional in its use: depending not on the structure +of the work, but on the manner of its thought and the style of its +expression. In Beethoven we find three principal types: the first merely +calling attention to the key of the piece, either by directly asserting +it, as in the Piano Sonata in F sharp major, or by rousing expectation, +as in the third Rasoumoffsky Quartett, the second containing in addition +some melodic phrase which is to be employed in the succeeding movement, +as in the Sonata Pathétique or the Piano Trio in E flat; and the third, +as in the A major Symphony, foreshadowing the key-system, not only of +the opening allegro, but of the whole work. It is hardly fantastic to +compare the respective prologues of _Henry VIII._, of _Pericles_, and of +_Romeo and Juliet_. + +This, then, is the highest type of structural development to which Music +has yet arrived. The three clauses of the primitive ballad-tune have +grown into three cantos, all different in character and function, all +working together in the maintenance of a single economy. The first, +technically known as the Exposition, presents two subjects or +paragraphs, diverse in key, and connected by a short episodical link of +modulation: the second, technically known as the Development Section, +consists of a fantasia on themes or phrases of the first, with such +freedom of key as the composer chooses to adopt: the third, technically +known as the Recapitulation, repeats the two subjects with any minimum +of change that may be implied in the transposition of the second to the +tonic key. Finally, if the style of the movement require it, the whole +may be introduced by a Prologue and summed up by an Epilogue.[15] It is +hardly necessary to point out that the principle of perfect symmetry +embodied in this form is precisely the same as that on which is +constructed a great drama or a great novel. At the outset our attention +is divided between two main centres of interest; as the work proceeds +the plan is complicated by the introduction of new centres; at its close +the complications are cleared away and the interests identified. For +instance, the _Alcestis_ of Euripides opens with the bare contrast of +life and death, continues with those of youth and age, of mourning and +hospitality, of vacillating weakness and genial strength, and finally +returns to its two first themes, and unifies them by restoring its +heroine from the grave. But the parallel is hardly a matter for further +illustration. The exact balance and proportion of the structure will +best be exhibited if we epitomise its three parts under their +appropriate abstract names:--duality for the first, plurality for the +second, unity for the third. + +Omitting a few rare exceptions, such as the Finale of the Hammerclavier +Sonata, we may say that all movements in so-called Classical form +represent some definite stage in this line of evolution. No doubt +experiments were tried by Schumann and Chopin and other composers of the +Romantic School, but even these are not so much new discoveries as +variants of the established type, sometimes due to carelessness or +indifference, and sometimes to deliberate plan. It must be remembered +that the generation which succeeded Beethoven paid much less attention +to structure than to expression. The essays of Berlioz and Schumann, +admirable in most respects, are almost entirely silent on the subject of +musical form, and their work, considered from this standpoint, is not an +advance but a retreat. Schumann, of course, was far the greater of the +two; yet even with him we feel that deliberation has not always brought +counsel. The introduction to his A minor Quartett, and still more the +first movement of his C major Symphony, are really steps away from +organism, condoned in part by undeniable beauties of style, but at the +same time needing condonation as structural errors. Even in the shorter +narrative forms of ballade and impromptu, of fantasia and novellette, +the same rule holds good. Their structure will be found satisfactory in +proportion as it is organic, it will be found organic in proportion as +it conforms to this law of natural development. + +There remains a word to be said about the combination of different +numbers or movements into a continuous work. The complete sonata-form, +like the Trilogies or Tetralogies of the classical drama, is a complex +organism of which each part is itself organic, a corporate body composed +of separate but interdependent members. Hence we should naturally expect +that in the earliest examples there would be a comparative homogeneity +of melodic style and key system, and that this homogeneity would be +gradually differentiated as the form advanced towards perfection. This +is precisely what has happened. In the first pianoforte sonata of Haydn +all the movements are in the same key, as they were in the suites and +partitas of a previous age; then, by steps which are readily traceable, +the form progressed and developed until it reached its structural climax +in Brahms. So also with the style of the work as a whole, by which is +meant the selection of different organic types in its constituent +members. Out of all possible alternatives--the minuet, the rondo, the +air with variations, the fully-developed 'ternary' form--it is clearly +the composer's business to choose specimens which will afford the most +complete contrast and yet combine into the most organic unity. The +gradual application of this rule is simply another name for the growth +of the sonata form. One has only to compare Haydn's first quartett with +one of the Rasoumoffskys to see the advance; one has only to compare the +_Eroica_ Symphony with Chopin's B-flat minor Sonata to see the +retrogression. In this, as in other respects, Brahms has restored the +balance and has adapted the traditions of Beethoven to the language of +the present day. + +Enough has been said to show that this principle of organic growth not +only explains the style and structure of all great Music, but answers to +a fundamental need in human nature. Its laws are not mere grammatical +rules, framed in one generation to be broken in the next; it makes no +transitory appeal to faculties that change with every mood and every +condition: if there be anything permanent and abiding in the mind of +man, it is here that it will find its counterpart. Not, of course, that +the present stage of development is to be regarded as final: there is +probably no such thing as finality in any art. But progress is not +change, it is a kind of change, and one which, from its very nature, +points to a fixed ideal. We, with our limited capacities of knowledge, +and our limited appreciation of beauty, may still be far behind the +position that is to be occupied in future ages. But, unless the teaching +of History be wholly false, we may predict with some security the +direction in which that position will lie. It is as inconceivable in +art as it is in physical nature, that the process of organic evolution +should revert or turn aside. No doubt there will be further modification +of detail--some 'Shakspearian convention' abandoned, some scheme of +artistic composition revised; but every step that brings greater freedom +will bring greater responsibility, and will shift the issue from +artificial laws to the great code of human intelligence. We cannot +suppose that the generations which look back upon our own masters will +ever rest satisfied with incoherence or shapelessness or monotony. There +will be new methods in the days to come, but the principles of art will +remain unaltered. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] _On Education_, pp. 41-42. + +[5] _See_ Example A. + +[6] _See_ Example B. + +[7] _See_ Example C. + +[8] _See_ Example D. + +[9] _See_ Example E. + +[10] Finale of the A major Sonata, Op. 101. + +[11] Quoted in Grove's _Dictionary_, Vol. ii. p. 501. + +[12] The term sonata is here employed in the sense which it has borne +since the time of Haydn. If it is widened so as to include composers of +the 17th and early 18th century, we must start from two primitive types +in place of one. + +[13] The development may be illustrated if we take alphabetical letters +to represent the clauses. The primitive ballad form is A B A: each verse +being a unit, and therefore the whole song inorganic. The primitive +rondo form is A B A B A B A, etc., the whole song being a unit, and +therefore slightly organised. The form of Purcell's song is A B A C A, +and therefore the most highly organised of the three. + +[14] The analysis of the Mozart Minuet may be tabulated as follows:-- + + FIRST PART. | SECOND PART. | THIRD PART. + | | + (_a_) Melody in A | (_a_) New episode | (_a_) Repetition of + major. | in B minor. | first melody in + (_b_) Melody in E | (_b_) The same | A major. + major. | repeated in A | (_b_) Repetition of + | minor. | second melody + | (_c_) New cadence- | in A major. + | phrase to | + | dominant of A. | + +[15] As a simple instance of the form, we may take the first movement of +Beethoven's Piano Sonata in G major, Op. 14, No. 3:-- + + _Prologue_|_First Canto_ |_Second Canto_ |_Third Canto_ |_Epilogue_ + _or_ | _or_ |_or_ |_or_ |_or Coda._ + _Intro- |_Exposition._ |_Development_ |_Re-_ | + _duction._| |_Section._ |_capitulation._ | + | | | | + None |(_a_) First |(_a_) Treatment|(_a_) First |Final + | Subject in | of First | Subject in G |reminiscence + | G major | Subject, G | major (bars |of First + | (bars 1-8). | minor to | 124-131). |Subject + |(_b_) Transition| B flat major |(_b_) Transition|(bars + | modulating |(bars 64-73). | extended so as | 187-199). + | to D major |(_b_) Treatment| to lead back | + | (bars 9-25). | of Second | to G major | + |(_c_) Second | Subject in B | (bars 132-151).| + | Subject, | flat major |(_c_) Second | + | consisting of | (bars 74-80). | Subject in G | + | four sections,|(_c_) Treatment| maj. | + | in D major | of First | 152-186). | + | (bars 26-63). | Subject in A | | + | | minor, F | | + | | flat, G minor | | + | | and E flat | | + | |(bars 81-106). | | + | |(_d_) New | | + | | Episode on | | + | | dominant pedal| | + | | of G, and | | + | | anticipation | | + | | of First | | + | | Subject | | + | |(bars 107-123).| | + + + + +III + +FUNCTION + + +A character in one of Mr Sturgis' delightful comedies propounds a recipe +for beauty, and is met by the criticism that he has omitted one +important element--the beauty itself. Some such objection may perhaps be +brought against the analysis of the preceding chapter. It may be said +that Music cannot be appraised in terms of law and method, that +scientific theories can tell us nothing about inspiration, and that +without inspiration art degenerates into a soulless and mechanical +exercise. No discussion of balance and design, of diversity and +coherence will ever explain why we are stirred to the depths of our +being by the love-duet in _Tristan_, or the slow movement in the _Fifth +Symphony_, or the _Missa Papæ Marcelli_. No account of proportion in +phraseology or system in key-relationship can answer the question why we +find Grieg piquant, or Schumann vigorous, or Chopin graceful. In short, +our _Ars Poetica_ is a mere _Gradus ad Parnassum_, containing, it may +be, some hints for versification, but leaving the essentials of artistic +conception entirely untouched. + +This objection is only of force if it confines itself to the bare +truism, that inspiration is not a matter which we can define. It breaks +down if it goes on to infer that inspiration is not a matter which we +can detect. For the artistic organism, which has hitherto been under +consideration, necessarily requires life as its formative condition; and +any attempt to produce it artificially must result either in total +failure or in the mere copy of some existing scheme. Our academic +composers who publish music on the ground that they have studied +counterpoint, are, as a rule, only tolerable where they are imitative: +as soon as they try to devise a new melody or elaborate a new cadence +they are almost certain to become trivial or vulgar. Indeed, it would +seem to be shown by experience that Music has no chance of surviving +unless it arise spontaneously from a healthy state of emotion, and that, +if it does so arise, it will naturally manifest itself, to a greater or +less degree, in an organic shape. We may, therefore, fairly conclude +that perfection of musical form, in its widest and deepest sense, is a +mark or sign of genuineness in musical feeling, and that analysis, +though it can never tell us whence inspiration comes, may at least +direct us where we can look for it. + +But as yet the analysis itself is incomplete. It has attempted to +describe what Music is, not what Music does: in other words, it has +investigated the problem of structure, but not that of function. There +remains, therefore, the further question of the object for which the art +exists, the place that it occupies in our æsthetic life, and the +particular means of action by which its purpose is fulfilled. Some hints +towards an answer have already been suggested: the sensuous pleasure +communicated to the nervous system by certain air-vibrations: the +emotional impulses which can be aroused by sense or association, or +both: and the intellectual satisfaction which naturally answers to the +spectacle of organic balance and symmetry. It follows, then, to arrange +these premises, and to carry them, as far as possible, to their logical +conclusion. + +Now, the general function of music may be stated in a single word--to be +beautiful. It is the one art in which no human being can raise the false +issue of a direct ethical influence. It allows absolutely no scope for +the confusion of thought, which, on one side, brought _Madame Bovary_ +into the law-courts, and, on the other, has taught the British public to +regard as a great religious teacher the ingenious gentleman who +illustrated the _Contes Drolatiques_. Of course, all contemplation of +pure beauty is ennobling, and in this sense music may have the same +indirect moral bearing as a flower or a sunset or a Greek statue. But of +immediate moral bearing it has none. It means nothing, it teaches +nothing, it enforces no rule of life, and prescribes no system of +conduct. All attempts to make it descriptive have ended in disaster: all +attempts to confine it to mere emotional excitement have ended in +degradation. Grant that nations and individuals of imperfect musical +experience have not advanced beyond the emotional aspect: that Plato had +to prohibit certain modes as intemperate, that governments have had to +prohibit certain melodies as dangerous. In almost all such cases it will +be found that the music in question is vocal, and that more than half +the stimulus is due to its words or its topic. Considered in and by +itself, the ultimate aim and purpose of the art is to present the +highest attainable degree of pure beauty in sound. + +For the fulfilment of this purpose, the first and most obvious requisite +is an entire command over materials and method. Nothing is more ugly +than palpable failure: nothing more likely to destroy confidence than an +appearance of uncertainty or vacillation. In many of our so-called +popular song-tunes, we can lay our finger on some place where the +composer was in evident difficulty: where he inserts an awkward or +irrelevant phrase, because, like an unskilful chess-player, he can only +extricate himself by breaking his design. Again, in ill-written harmony, +we shall often find poor or hollow chords inserted, not because the +composer wanted them, but because he could find no other way of +resolving their predecessors. Of course, it will sometimes happen that a +great, though imperfect master will stray from his appointed domain, and +wander for a moment in unfamiliar territory. The fugue in Dvořák's +Requiem is conspicuously unsuccessful, but it need not affect our +estimate of the '_Dies Iræ_' or the '_Recordare Jesu pie_.' We only feel +it a pity that the artist who can do such magnificent work in his own +style, should be forced by convention into a manner for which he has no +aptitude. In structure the first movement of Chopin's Pianoforte Trio is +as badly drawn as some of the later Correggios: but the error, though +more fundamental than that of Dvořák, only circumscribes the master's +province, without overrunning it. We remember the circumstances under +which the Trio was written, and turn aside to the Études and the +Nocturnes. One genuine success in art is enough to outweigh a thousand +failures: but the difference between failure and success remains +unimpaired. + +At the same time, it is most important that we should recognise the +necessary limitations to which musical expression is subject. It is idle +for us to go about lamenting, like the fool in Rabelais, that 'there is +no better bread than that which can be made with wheat.' Our scale is +notoriously a rough approximation in which only certain types of melodic +curve are possible. Our harmony is often reduced to a choice between two +incompatible alternatives: the striking chord required by the context, +or the smooth progression required by the parts. In such cases the test +lies ready to hand. Is the material difficult? Let us see how the great +masters have treated it. Are the options mutually exclusive? Let us see +which of them makes for organism of structure and general effectiveness +of function. We have no right to pass final criticism on any detail of a +work until we have heard the whole: and even then our judgment must +depend on some knowledge of precedents and parallels. The chief danger +of 'a little learning' is its predisposition to intolerance. + +If unskilfulness be the death of style, cleverness is among the +most insidious of its diseases. Nothing in all literature is more +exasperating than that 'cult of the unusual word' which arises now +and again as a periodic fashion. Whether it take the form of the +sham-antiquarianism which has been happily nicknamed from Wardour +Street, or of an ostentatious acquaintance with the by-ways of the +dictionary, or of the unsynonymous synonyms of the country journalist, +it is in equal measure the sign-manual of euphuism and affectation. No +doubt the unusual word may have a perfectly legitimate employment. It +may carry a metaphor, it may complete a rhythm, it may make a point of +colour: and in all such instances it is justified by the purpose that it +achieves. But if it is merely unusual, it had far better be left out +altogether. We do not think very highly of a verse-writer who invariably +says 'quaff' instead of 'drink,' because 'quaff' is poetical and 'drink' +is commonplace. + +The same is true of musical euphuism. A recondite chord is of absolutely +no value in itself; its whole worth depends on its purpose and its +context. A fresh twist in the shape of a melody is only beautiful if the +preceding curve leads up to it. For instance, we appear to be passing, +at the present day, through a period of feverish activity in the +invention of new cadences. Now a new cadence in the hands of a master +like Brahms or Parry is a delight, for, with all its novelty, we feel +that it is the logical outcome of the passage from which it springs. It +is only necessary to quote the close of the first stanza in the +_Schicksalslied_ or of the 'Sacrificial Chorus' in _Judith_, or the +brilliant practical joke of the 'Æschylus Motif' in the _Frogs_. Again, +the new cadences of Grieg and Dvořák are always charming, because +they are in exact harmony with the chromatic style which is natural to +those two writers. But when inferior composers attempt the same thing, +they only produce results which are crude and incongruous, or, at worst, +make their exit on a mechanical epigram, in which the head of one +platitude is appended to the tail of another. Indeed, self-consciousness +is only a more subtle form of unskilfulness. The 'clever' artist is like +the enchanter's servant in the old story, possessing just enough magic +to raise the spirit, but not enough to keep it under control. + +It now follows to consider more directly the manner in which the +influence of Music is exercised. And first, we may notice that the art, +as appealing primarily to the ear, necessarily involves a fixed +continuity in time, and so, in a sense, is always throwing our attention +forward to its issue. The conditions under which we apprehend a picture, +and those under which we apprehend a melody, are entirely different; the +former enables us to follow the constituent parts in any order we +choose, the latter binds us to a settled and irreversible sequence. +Indeed, so firmly is this law established, that we are notoriously +incapable of recalling the most familiar tune backwards, and are even in +some straits to recognise a fugue-subject when it appears 'cancrizans,' +as it does, for instance, in the Finale of the Hammerclavier Sonata. +Hence a great part of the effect of Music is prospective, and depends +upon the particular way in which it rouses and satisfies an attitude of +expectation. + +This method may roughly be classified under three heads. First, the +Music may give us precisely what we should naturally anticipate; in +other words, it may suggest some coming resolution or cadence, and +proceed to it at once without interruption. Everyone remembers the +æsthetic damsels, in Mr Du Maurier's picture, who 'never listen to +Mendelssohn, because there are no wrong notes.' They were unconsciously +enunciating an important piece of scientific criticism. For Mendelssohn +never disappoints, and never surprises; his style flows on as placidly +as a level stream in a pastoral country, and the hearer floats down it +with no effort of intelligence, with no expectation of adventure, +knowing that even beyond the distant bend there will be the same +overhanging willows, and the same intervals of sunny meadow, and the +same rippled reflections of an April sky. Hence, of all composers, +Mendelssohn appeals most intimately to audiences that are untrained or +inexperienced; and hence, also, critics, who are anxious to acquire a +cheap reputation, usually begin by expressing contempt for him. The best +of his lighter work is as charming as that of Miss Austen; and it is +only now and then that we feel inclined to say--as Charlotte Brontë said +after reading _Emma_--'I don't want my blood curdled, but I like it +stirred.' + +Secondly, the Music may directly contradict our anticipation by +diverting an apparently straightforward passage into an unforeseen +channel. Under this head come all effects of surprise, all sudden +modulations, all unusual cadences and unexpected turns of phrase. An +amusing instance is the change from A minor to D flat major in the 'Pro +Peccatis' of Rossini's _Stabat Mater_, which is almost as irresistible +as a joke from Aristophanes: a far more august and magnificent example +is the great Neapolitan sixth, which, in the first movement of +Beethoven's A major Symphony, comes just before the cadence phrase in +the exposition. Indeed, the device may be used for purposes of humour, +as it is in Mr Aldrich's delightful story of Marjory Daw, or for +purposes of romance, as it is by Victor Hugo in 'Le Roi s'amuse.' The +finale of Beethoven's Eighth Symphony contains a distinct effect of +comedy in the unexpected C sharp, which persistently intrudes itself +among other people's keys, until at last it worries the orchestra into +accepting it. On the other hand, the slow movement of Dvořák's +F-minor Trio notably exemplifies the romantic use. No one who has ever +heard it can forget the last page: the innocent diatonic opening of the +melody, and the abrupt, bewildering change which follows in its second +bar. It is obvious that the sense of incongruity, which stimulates all +astonishment, may, under different conditions, arouse either laughter or +apprehension: and both these effects lie well within the range of +musical art. They form, in fact, two of the most important emotional +types which it has the power of adumbrating: not, of course, by +depicting any humorous scene or suggesting any particular terror, but by +administering the appropriate kind of nervous shock. Grant that if a man +knows nothing at all about music, he will form no expectations, and +consequently will never be either astonished or amused. It does not +follow that his limitations are representative of the human race. One +might as well argue that there is no fun in a French comedy, because +none was detected by Mr Anstey's British audience. + +Thirdly, the music may baffle anticipation by suggesting alternatives +and throwing us in doubt as to the selection that it is going to make. +After a little experience, we come to learn that there are certain +typical shapes of melodic stanza, certain common devices of modulation, +certain forms of cadence which are in ordinary use. Hence, when +we listen to a new work, we frame a half-conscious forecast of +probabilities, and the composer, if he has the skill, may stimulate our +minds by offering two or three possible issues and defying us to +determine which he means ultimately to accept. This is the highest form +which the prospective effect in Music can assume, and is roughly +parallel to ingenuity of plot in narrative or dramatic literature. For +example, a common type of four-line stanza in music opens with a +clear-cut phrase, then repeats it a degree higher or a degree lower in +the scale, then goes on to the clause of contrast, and finally returns +to the original key. So when we hear the central tune in Chopin's F +minor Fantasia, and find that its first two strains exactly correspond +to this pattern, we feel that we know already how it is going to +proceed, and settle ourselves to watch our expectations fulfilled. But +Chopin knows better, and gives us a third strain which, instead of +embodying the clause of contrast, consists of another repetition of the +same phrase, a tone lower still. By this time we begin to wonder whether +the tune is going to be entirely homogeneous in style, and whether, in +the one strain that is left to complete the stanza it can possibly get +back without awkwardness to the key from which it has strayed. Both +these doubts are solved in the most masterly fashion by the concluding +line, which not only carries the modulation with consummate ease, but +completes the organic outline of the melody with the daintiest delicacy +and finish. Again, in Grieg's F major Violin Sonata, the principal theme +of the middle movement seems to get into inextricable difficulties of +phraseology, and we listen to it with the same apprehensive interest +with which we look on at the imbroglio in _Evan Harrington_. But at +precisely the right moment there appears a new cadence, which would +never have occurred to anyone but Grieg, and the difficulties are +cleared away as if by magic. It is hardly necessary to point out +that Bach and Beethoven are equally rich in this kind of musical +resourcefulness. The harmonic progressions of the one, the melodic form +of the other, constantly suggest a balance of alternative issues, and +as constantly make the selection which the hearer finally acknowledges +as the best. + +The same rule holds good in the matter of key distribution. When the +sonata form was young, the key of its second subject was fixed by an +almost unalterable convention: if the movement was in a major mode, it +was the dominant, if in a minor mode, it was the relative major. Hence +the audiences of Haydn and Mozart always expected the same key system, +and were hardly ever disappointed. But Beethoven, from the outset of his +career, broke through this traditional arrangement, and so began by +surprising his hearers, and ended by making their intelligence +co-operate with his own. Take, for instance, the first movement of the +Hammerclavier Sonata. The first subject is in B flat, and the transition +after modulating to its dominant F, proceeds with a vehement and +emphatic assertion of the new key, as though Beethoven intended to +revert to the customary usage, which, it must be remembered, he often +follows. But the very emphasis makes the hearer suspicious. It is not in +Beethoven's manner to underline his keys with so much flourish and +ostentation: perhaps, after all, appearances are deceitful, and he is +only throwing us off the scent. Then our uncertainty is artfully +intensified by an interpolation of the opening theme, which, at this +stage of the movement, is the last thing in the world that we expect; +and immediately after it comes a modulation to G major, and a +presentation of the second subject in that key. The anticipation of this +event is an exercise of critical sagacity not dissimilar to that +afforded by a novel of Balzac or a play of Shakespear. In the famous +scene of Madame Marneffe's confession, we are half-cheated into +believing that the woman's repentance is real, though we know that its +reality is rendered impossible by all laws of characterisation. When +Lear decides between his three daughters, we feel that Cordelia's +coldness of manner has raised a false issue which the subsequent +development of the drama will correct. In short, the true function of +structure, whether it be in literature or in music, is to set before us +two competing impulses and bid us reflect upon them. + +But it may be urged that a musical composition can only surprise or +baffle on the first occasion: after that we remember what is coming, and +can foretell the end as readily as the composer himself. This view pays +an undeserved compliment to the capacities of human nature. The average +listener does not really hear a work of any complexity the first time +that it is performed in his presence: he apprehends more or less of it +according to the degree of his ability or experience, but there will +certainly be effects that escape his notice, and, if the composition be +truly organic, those effects will be vital to the appreciation of the +whole. Indeed, we have here one of the most obvious tests of a great +work. We grow tired of a trivial melody or a shallow fantasia, for it +tells us its whole secret at a single hearing: but we may spend our +lives over Bach's Fugues or Beethoven's Symphonies without ever hoping +to exhaust their limitless reserve. Again, we are not such creatures of +pure logic that an effect once produced in us is incapable of +repetition. We may know our Shakespear by heart, and yet be moved by the +humour of Falstaff and the pathos of Imogen, by the subtle questionings +of Hamlet and the frenzied self-accusations of Othello. So in listening +to great Music we often allow ourselves to be carried away by the +impulse of the moment: we forget that we know what is going to happen, +or expect it in a new mood and from a new standpoint. There are many +avenues by which the sense of novelty can be approached, and among them +not the least important is that of our own imagination. No doubt this +influence would be seriously impaired if we were to hear the same +passage day after day and hour after hour, but this, of course, we are +never called upon to do. With the present range and variety of our +musical literature, an effect that is genuinely striking may be weakened +by familiarity, but can hardly be ever wholly obliterated. + +It will thus be seen that the manner in which we are impressed by Music +is enormously complex. First, there is the sensuous appeal, the +different characteristics of _timbre_ and tone, of rich harmony and full +orchestration, of all those devices which are usually described in +metaphors of taste and colour. Second, and inclusive of the first, is +the emotional appeal, the exhilaration of rapid movement, the gravity of +stately chords and broad diatonic melody, the restlessness of broken +rhythm and frequent modulation, the shades of surprise which follow upon +a sudden change or an unexpected crisis. Third, and inclusive of the +other two, is the intellectual appeal, the exhibition of balance and +symmetry in the management of these several effects, the definiteness of +plan and design, the vitality and proportion of organic growth. If to +these be added the two supreme requirements of originality in the +composer and of fitness to the occasion of display, we shall have at +any rate a rough criterion for determining work that, in the truest +sense of the term, is classic. In thus summing-up results, it is almost +a presumption for any writer to suggest illustrations: but if it be +permissible to point to masterpieces, in which these principles are +embodied with absolute and unfaltering perfection, we may select, as +typical instances, the choral numbers from Bach's B minor Mass, the +Seventh Symphony of Beethoven, and Brahms' _Schicksalslied_. + +Before leaving this subject, of which, indeed, only the outer courts +have been trodden, there are three objections which it may be advisable +to meet. The first would discard the whole analysis as a piece of _a +priori_ inference. As a matter of fact, it would say, the hearer does +not trouble himself about these elaborate questions, he does not follow +the subtleties of style or the coherence of key-system, he does not +anticipate the course which a passage is going to adopt, he simply +listens to the music, and enjoys it, because he finds it pleasant. It is +idle to suppose that a man cannot admire Beethoven without being +prepared to pass an examination in the technicalities of abstract +science. This objection is wholly beside the mark. Men reasoned +correctly long before Aristotle invented the syllogism, but none the +less his theory of the syllogism is an analysis of correct reasoning. In +like manner the unscientific hearer may be totally unconscious of the +causes which underlie his enjoyment, and yet the causes themselves be +both operative and capable of analysis. The laws of musical philosophy, +like those of physiological science, are not artificial subtleties: they +are an attempt to explain the ordinary conditions of health, and every +man who has the taste to prefer one tune to another must necessarily +have made reference, however unconscious, to some principles of +discrimination. Indeed this argument from ignorance has already been +anticipated in a parallel form. '_Voici quarante ans que je dis de la +prose_,' says M. Jourdain, '_sans que j'en susse rien_.' + +The second objection is of more interest. Grant, it may be said, that +our analysis enables us in some measure to explain the supreme +masterpieces of Music, there will still remain a wide range of lower +achievements with which it would appear wholly inadequate to deal. If a +composition is weak in structure or careless in style, it has failed to +satisfy our test, but we have no right to infer that it is without +value. On the contrary, an imperfect work may often survive in spite of +its imperfections, and may counterbalance its worst errors by some +attractiveness of charm or some inherent vitality of thought. In _Jane +Eyre_ are faults which would have killed a novel of less genius, but the +reviewers who condemned it are now only remembered as carping and +illiberal pedants. Shelley may be 'ineffectual,' and Keats 'immature,' +but the most adverse critic can no longer deny the beauty that they have +added to English literature. And in like manner we shall find musical +compositions which fall short of the highest level, which fail to attain +the most satisfying completeness of organic form, and which yet deliver +a message that is well worth the hearing. There is a broad expanse +between the summit of Olympus, where the gods have their habitation, and +the low-lying meadows and valleys of our ordinary life. + +In such a case we can only judge fairly by a careful balance of merits +and defects, and, above all, by a careful revision of our standpoint in +relation to both. It may be that the structure which we regard as +inorganic is really a new type of organism, a further development along +the line which we have already traced. It may be that the style which +appears careless, has really some subtle method which we are as yet too +clumsy to detect. And even if we are honestly unable to convince +ourselves of error, even if our certitude only grows and gathers as we +study the passage afresh, it by no means follows that the fault which we +have noted is a final ground for condemnation. There can be no +perfection without entire control of resource, but control is +notoriously difficult in proportion to the variety and novelty of the +emotional expression. Hence the more complex and striking the ideas +which a composer wishes to embody, the harder he will find it to present +them in a supreme artistic form. In Schumann, to take the highest +example at once, we sometimes seem to find a great thought struggling +with an intractable medium: we feel rather than hear what it is that he +wishes to express, we apprehend his meaning from broken phrases and +incomplete suggestions. Compare his symphonies with those of Beethoven, +and you see the baffled Titanic strength beside the serene unerring +mastery of the divine hand. Yet, if it be failure, it is noble failure, +better by far than the elaboration of smooth commonplaces and finished +platitudes. It is not carelessness but preoccupation, not unskilfulness +but audacity, not scantiness of resource but prodigality of expenditure. +Schumann's music is always manly, forcible, genuine, and it is no +serious dispraise to say that in the larger forms he is a less perfect +artist than he is in his lyrics. + +Here, then, we may see the solution of the present problem. All music +which appeals to us as true has for us a certain measure of value. It is +only conceit and dishonesty, and self-conscious artifice, that merit +absolute and unqualified reprobation: for the rest we may appraise our +work partly in reference to its particular purpose, partly by an +estimate of the success with which its object is attained. If it present +any passage of real interest, we owe it a corresponding debt of +gratitude: if it counterbalance a fault of one kind by a beauty of +another, then criticism should determine which of the two has the more +important bearing on the case. But there can be no sound judgment +without a code, and no code in music without a recognition and +acknowledgment of its masterpieces. Thus the analysis of perfect art +does not preclude us from the consideration of art that is imperfect, +for it is only through the former that the latter is possible. + +In the third place, there may be enthusiasts who are still inclined to +cry, with Gebir,-- + + 'Is this the mighty ocean, is this all?' + +Are we to hold seriously that Music can be explained by any system of +laws and regulations, that its influence upon us can be classified under +heads and reduced to scientific maxims? Is it not rather degrading to +analyse the divine art into tricks of surprise and devices of rhetoric, +into this kind of figure and that kind of modulation, into a nice +adjustment of curve and harmony and cadence? Where is the 'fine +careless rapture' of the artist? Where is the inspiration of the poet? +Surely it is better that we should ignorantly worship than that we +should be turning Apollo into a sophist and setting the Muses to keep +school. + +Part of this objection has already been met. The true sphere of analysis +is not life but the living body, not inspiration but the form in which +it is manifested. And herein we may contend that there is a right as +well as a wrong use of law. Some rules of Music are purely transitory in +their nature, and can therefore only afford an imperfect basis for +judgment even in the generation that accepts them. The prohibitions of +the old counterpoint, for instance, were in many cases merely +conventional limits, determined by the particular characteristics of the +human voice; they are therefore no longer binding on our instrumental +composers. The restrictions of early harmony were merely retrospective +inferences from the actual practice of past compositions: they had no +logical validity, and therefore became obsolete. But the laws which here +present themselves as a part of the artistic code have a double claim on +our acceptance: first, that they are, as a matter of fact, embodied in +the greatest works of the greatest masters; and second, that they draw +their origin from the fundamental attributes of our human nature. For +the essential qualities which underlie the artistic character have +altered very little since the earliest authentic record of its history. +Revolutions have come and gone, fashions have arisen and have passed +away, yet the work that made Athens beautiful is still our type and +climax of perfect achievement. Literature has been shaken by the clash +of contending parties, it has submitted to new dynasties and new +leaders, yet the great principles of its constitution are the same now +as in the time of the _Odyssey_. And Music, though it has grown more +slowly and deliberately than the representative arts, may still be shown +to have sprung from the same source, and to have followed an even more +continuous line of evolution. If, then, we can analyse the conditions +that have made that evolution possible, we are not degrading Art into a +mere ingenious mechanism, but explaining the necessary laws of its life +and progress. + + * * * * * + +Finally, it must be remembered that if excellence in musical art be +difficult to formulate, it is not, for that reason, difficult to +apprehend. The beauty of a great masterpiece rises from the supreme and +consummate expression of characteristics, which, in a greater or less +degree, are common to all normal humanity. No doubt, in different races, +there are differences of convention, as there are of scale and +instrument and musical language, but convention in itself is always +negative, and its sole force is the establishment of temporary +limitations. Within their widening scope the whole range of the art +gradually extends; within them lie its wonders of purity and sublimity, +its treasures of pathos and humour, its contrasts of wise reticence and +opulent display. And for the proper appreciation of these gifts, there +are no strange or recondite qualities demanded, only receptivity of ear, +only sanity of emotion, only patience that is willing to observe, and +courage that is ready to speak its mind. The rest is a matter of +training and experience: training by which we rouse our faculties to a +higher stage of development, experience by which we learn to equip our +criticism with new facts and new relations. In Music it is essentially +true that 'admiration grows as knowledge grows': it is equally true that +knowledge itself lies open to the attainment of all honest endeavour. + + + + +FREDERICK CHOPIN + + + Like a poet, hidden + In the light of thought, + Singing hymns unbidden, + Till the world is wrought + To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not. + + + + +I + +WARSAW + + +We are more accustomed in literature than in music to find immortality +conferred on artists whose total quantity of production is slight or +incomplete. Sappho lives in a few lyrics, Villon in a few ballades, +Persius is a great satirist with some six hundred lines of verse, +Merimée a great novelist with a slender handful of short stories. In all +such cases we accept perfection of finish, individuality of note, +concentration of effort, as more than compensating for the narrow limits +within which the writer has thought fit to be confined: and we even +impute it as a virtue that he has not changed the gold of his thought +into the more diffuse silver of a meaner standard. But in music, as a +rule, our judgment is affected by other considerations. For some reason +the composer has generally been more lavish than his brother artists: he +has worked more rapidly, perhaps more continuously, and has gained, in +proportion, a larger abundance to bestow. Six weeks sufficed Mozart for +his three greatest symphonies: Handel wrote the _Messiah_ in less than +a month: Schubert created nine of his songs in a single day: and it is +therefore little wonder if we have learned to expect some opulence of +achievement in our musicians, or even to estimate them, as an innkeeper +discriminates his guests, by the amount of their baggage and the number +of their retinue. + +We shall find an interesting commentary on this view if we turn to the +programme of a famous concert, given at Warsaw on February 24, 1818. The +principal work performed was a pianoforte concerto which served to bring +two names, those of its composer and its interpreter, into a forcible +and prominent contrast. The one was a master of established reputation +and acknowledged authority, the Hofkapellmeister at Vienna, the friend +of Beethoven, the musician whose operas were applauded in every capital, +whose symphonies were set in the balance against Haydn's, whose +quartetts were declared by dispassionate judges to be the equal of +Mozart's. The other was planting his first footsteps in a byway of the +art which he was to tread for thirty years with little deviation, +satisfied to pluck a posy of flowers from the hedgerow, and lay it down +as his offering at the journey's end. The one covered the whole field of +composition, and, at the end of his career, could number a list of works +which outmatches the industry of almost all his contemporaries. The +other, cut short by an early death, has left us a few thin volumes, +curiously uniform in style, and restricted, with scarcely an exception, +to the limits of a single instrument. Yet the one is as completely +forgotten as though he had never lived, while the other has passed into +the company of the immortals. To our ears the name of Adalbert Gyrowetz +is of the most forlorn unfamiliarity, it has become 'fantastic, +unsubstantial--like Henry Pimpernel and old John Naps of Greece'; but no +vicissitude of fortune, no changing fashion of art, can ever obliterate +from our memory the image of Frederick Chopin. + +It must, however, be added, that Chopin's slenderness of accomplishment +in no way indicated any poverty of invention. His work was not, as is +sometimes said of Gray's, the laborious tillage of a light soil; rather +it was like that Japanese gardening, which intensifies the beauty of a +single blossom by cutting off all the rest. The true reason, indeed, is +to be found in a point of character, '_Il avait l'esprit écorché vif_,' +said the comrade who knew him best, and in these words may be found the +whole explanation, both of his life and of his artistic career. +Delicate, sensitive, fastidious, he would shrink from committing himself +to a decision, lest it should fall short of the highest that he knew. +Rapid and brilliant in improvisation, he would spend weeks in writing +and rewriting a single page. A pianist of rare and exquisite gifts, he +would often feel paralysed by the mere sight of a public audience. +Generous, affectionate, and enthusiastic, he was yet too earnest to be +forbearing, too susceptible to be tolerant, too exacting to show +indulgence, and the same acute criticism with which he visited the +actions of others, he applied in an equal measure to his own. + +Hence there is a special danger in estimating him from a British +standpoint. Our bluff, sturdy manhood has little in common with the +keenness and mobility which mark one side of the artistic temperament, +and we have never been very successful at comprehending alien characters +or alien nationalities. True, we have advanced beyond the stage of +unreasoning hostility towards the stranger who presumes to be more +impressionable than ourselves, but for the most part we have only +substituted a half-contemptuous compassion which is equally galling, and +almost equally unintelligent. A past generation looked on Shelley and +wondered that the fires of Heaven delayed their falling; the present age +insults Heine with forgiveness, in consideration of the purgatory of his +later years; and in like manner, when we hear of Chopin, we think, 'Poor +fellow! he was consumptive,' and prepare ourselves to condone the +irregularities of his life by some rough and ready diagnosis of physical +disease. It seldom occurs to us to reflect that the problem may be too +complex for so easy a solution, and that, before it can be solved at +all, it must at least be stated correctly. As a matter of fact, Chopin's +life was singularly blameless, and, until its close, singularly free +from the material conditions of trouble. No doubt there is a deep pathos +in the record of a death which seems to us premature: no doubt the +pathos is intensified by the spectacle of failing strength and +encroaching sickness; but it is an entirely false application of +perspective to let our view of the end obliterate our view of the whole. +And there is otherwise little hardship in the case. The feeble health +was compensated, at least in part, by friendship, by affection, and by +fame such as few musicians have enjoyed in their lifetime. It is not +history to draw fancy pictures of a querulous invalid, a continuous +burden to himself and to all who cared for him; still less to fill page +after page with unsubstantiated rumours of ill-usage and neglect. +Chopin's relation to his friends was neither that of tyrant nor that of +victim, and his career, if, like every other, it was traversed by heavy +clouds, at least had its bursts of sunshine and its long days of genial +warmth. + +He was born on 1st March 1809,[16] at the little village of Zelazowa +Wola, near Warsaw. His father, Nicholas Chopin, was a French _émigré_, +possibly with Polish blood in his veins, who, after sundry vicissitudes, +had settled down as tutor in the family of Countess Skarbek, and had +there met and married a Polish lady called Justina Krzyzanowska. +Frederick, the only son, was the third of four children, and so was +privileged to pass his earliest years in the Oriental despotism of a +nursery peopled by admiring sisters. + +In 1810 Nicholas Chopin carried off his household to the Capital, where +he had been appointed Professor of French at the new Lyceum. At first +there seems to have been some stress of poverty: salaries were low, life +was unsettled; no one knew what quarter of Europe would next be set +ablaze by the indomitable activity of Napoleon. However, in 1814, the +Congress of Vienna established a kingdom of Poland, shorn, no doubt, of +its border territories, and held in check by the suzerainty of Russia, +but still governed by a Pole as viceroy, and recognising Polish as its +official language. This was far from meeting the wishes of the +'patriotic party,' which looked to France as its ally and to the Emperor +as its protector, but at least it ensured some measure of independence, +and, after the next year, a certain prospect of peace and tranquillity. + +As might be expected, the change of political condition produced an +immediate effect on the national temper. Warsaw, which, in 1812, was one +of the most miserable of cities, began in 1815 to recover the signs of +material prosperity. Trade was developed, schools were opened, the great +houses welcomed back their exiles, and the country at large shook off +its dream of disquietude and set its face hopefully to the future. Only +in secret rose an occasional murmur that Russia was an alien power, that +the days of Suvorov had not passed out of memory, that the Viceroy was a +mere puppet in the hands of the Emperor Alexander, and that the new +Commander-in-Chief was a truculent savage who needed all the eloquence +of his Polish wife to keep him from open oppression. Apart from these +scattered voices of discontent, there can be no doubt that the nation +rejoiced at its deliverance from German officialism, and, with +characteristic buoyancy, resumed the business of life, and not a little +of its brilliance. + +Naturally, the Chopins bore their part in the general advance. +Even while the fate of Poland was still in the balance, two fresh +appointments had been added to the Professorship at the Lyceum, and the +gradual restoration of the great families opened the way for a private +school, over which no one was so capable of presiding as Count +Skarbek's old tutor. This enlargement of means was the only thing +wanted to make Chopin's childhood a period of almost ideal happiness. +His parents seem to have been altogether worthy of the affection which +he lavished on them: the father kindly, honourable, upright, firm in the +government of his family, and unwearied in the administration of its +resources; the mother bright, active and tender-hearted, full of +folklore and household recipes, sincere in religion, charitable in +conduct, gentle and courteous in speech. Then the house was visited by +all manner of interesting people--poets, professors, politicians,--who +would talk to Nicholas Chopin about his old home in half-Polish +Lorraine, where men still spoke of the good Duke Stanislaus, or would +exchange memories of the war and hopes for the new _régime_. And for the +more important aspects of life there could be no better companions than +the three sisters--Louisa, who knew everything in the lesson-books; +Isabella, who was practical, and could always find things when they were +lost; and Emily, the best of playfellows, who told the most delightful +stories, and had a special talent for making believe. Almost every +birthday there were theatricals, almost every evening there was music +for who would listen--all around was a world of flowers and sunshine, of +pleasant looks and pleasant voices, of 'short task and merry holiday.' +It is a poignant contrast to turn to the four children, less fortunate +but not less gifted, who during these same years were writing their +journals and acting their solitary plays in the bleak parsonage at +Haworth. + +Very little can be ascertained about Chopin's musical education. We know +that his pianoforte teacher was a Bohemian called Adalbert Zywny, and +that he learned harmony and counterpoint from Elsner, but we have +scarcely any information as to the extent and value of the lessons. It +is certain that in after life his system of fingering was entirely +original and unorthodox, from which we may conjecture that Zywny never +really taught him to play a scale--and indeed there is some tradition +that the Professor was a violinist who only took to the piano as a +second string, and who allowed the boy to spend most of his time in +improvisation. Elsner was a good-tempered, easy-going old kapellmeister, +who did his pupil the greatest service by teaching him to love Bach, and +then allowed him to go his own way without further supervision. The +works which Chopin published during his student period have little or no +scope for counterpoint, but they show beyond controversy that he and his +master were equally indifferent to what is known as classical structure. +On the other hand, his sense of harmony was always admirable, and there +can be no doubt that he owed much of its development to the wise care, +and still wiser reticence, with which the laws and prohibitions were +explained to him. Again, Liszt is probably right in drawing special +attention to the moral value of Elsner's teaching. With a conscientious +pupil the method of encouragement is the easiest possible way to +inculcate a feeling of responsibility, and the most successful teacher +is he who knows how to train mediocrity and to leave genius a free hand. +It should be added that Chopin's relation to his two masters was always +cordial and affectionate. As late as 1835, we find him docketing a +letter from Zywny, a curious, formal, kindly note, full of good wishes +and fine language, while to Elsner he always looked with a boy's +hero-worship, as to a mentor whose advice was never to be neglected, and +whose praise was the highest of commendations. + +We may well understand that, as a pupil, he was best left alone. His +precocity was something phenomenal, even in the decade which saw +Mendelssohn at Weimar and Liszt at Paris: before he was eight years old +he was a pianist of established reputation; before he was nine he played +one of Gyrowetz' pianoforte concertos at a charity concert; at ten he +ventured into the presence of the Grand Duke Constantine, and offered +that awful potentate a military march for use among the troops. Of +course, every one petted and caressed him, and called him the young +Mozart. Countesses and princesses danced to his mazurkas, or sat by the +piano while he improvised: Royalty itself sent down a great glittering +clattering chariot, and galloped him off to play at the Belvidere: from +end to end of the brilliant, light-hearted, pleasure-loving city he +moved at his ease, like the young Prince Charming in a fairy tale, sure +of a welcome, sure of applause, and accepting all that society offered +with a child's careless enjoyment. + +An atmosphere so heavy with adulation might well have poisoned a nature +less lovable or less simple-hearted. But its only effect on Chopin was +to increase still further his natural refinement of manner and to +accentuate his intolerance of anything like rudeness or vulgarity. There +does not seem to have been a trace of vanity in his constitution. He +played 'as the linnets sing,' without effort, without premeditation, and +without any apparent idea that his performance was out of the common. At +his _début_, in the charity concert of 1818, the only feature which +struck him as exciting any admiration was his lace collar; the watch +given him two years later by Catalani only appealed to him as a new toy +of unusual splendour: in all the record of his childhood there is not a +single indication of petulance or conceit. We can easily reconstruct his +portrait:--a little, frail, delicate elf of a boy, with fair hair and a +prominent nose, the face redeemed from ugliness by the wonderful brown +eyes and the quick intelligence of expression; a temperament which was +keen, nervous and changeable, a character rapid and alert, bubbling over +with effervescent spirits, playful, affectionate, and sensitive. He was +already an accomplished actor and a born mimic, full of odd sayings +and harmless mischief, clever and imaginative, utterly devoid of +self-consciousness or affectation. His one defect was his want of a +boy's adventurousness, and his disinclination to out-door sports and +exercises. We can hardly imagine his tearing his clothes or getting his +feet wet. But we must remember that this disability is not always to be +regarded as an unpardonable sin, and that, ever since the days of +Euripides, there has been a feud between the poet and the athlete. Had +Chopin been more robust, he would doubtless have taken life with +the greater equanimity--and we should have lost one of the most +characteristic figures in the history of Music. + +Unfortunately many of the anecdotes which are current about his boyhood +bear the clear impress of mythology. The utmost we can say of them is, +that they appear to contain some elements of truth which have +been overlaid by enthusiastic biographers until they are almost +unrecognisable. We can well believe for instance, that he once +made an April fool of an irascible landowner by sending him a sham +business-letter in Yiddish; but M. Karasowski, who tells the story, +ruins it by gravely adding that the child played his trick with the +deliberate moral purpose of curing his neighbour's temper; and, worse +still, that the sermon was successful. Again, it is quite possible that +on one insubordinate afternoon, when the pupils had proved too many +for the usher, Chopin appeared on the scene and kept them quiet +by improvising romances; but then we are further told that his +representation of night, on the pianoforte, was so realistic that it +sent all the boys to sleep. No doubt these embellishments are innocuous +enough, though they add nothing which it is of any moment to preserve, +but the uncritical fancy which accepts them as historical, offers but an +ominous prospect for the discussion of the later life. That the record +of Chopin's manhood is still a fruitful theme for controversy is mainly +owing to the fact that it has been treated by writers who, for the most +part, show a lamentable disregard of the value of evidence. + +In 1824, Chopin was promoted from his father's preparatory school to the +fourth class of the Warsaw Lyceum. There he worked hard, rose rapidly, +won two or three prizes, and gained the esteem and respect of his +school-fellows by developing a remarkable talent for caricature. It must +have been an agonising moment when the director confiscated a sheet of +paper containing an unflattering portrait of himself, and it says +something for the young scapegrace, that the sketch was returned with no +heavier rebuke than a sardonic comment on the excellence of the +likeness. The first holidays were spent on a friend's estate in +Szafarnia, from which the boy issued to his parents a periodical +journal, after the model of the _Warsaw Courier_, and even got one of +the daughters of the house to give it an amateur imprimatur, in +imitation of the official censorship. The same year witnessed, at +some family festival, the production of a new comedy, written in +collaboration by Frederick Chopin, aged fifteen, and Emily Chopin, aged +eleven. And all this time the dramatist, artist, journalist, and student +of Polish history is writing his harmony exercises, playing his +Kalkbrenner concertos, composing songs, devising variations, and +generally progressing in music as though he had no other occupation to +distract him. Grant that the comedy has no great literary value, and +that the _Ranz des Vaches_ variations are slight and childish, it still +remains a marvel that one small head should have exhibited such restless +and versatile ability. To find a parallel, we must go back to the golden +age of Leonardo and the two Cellini, when all arts lay open and the +common lands of knowledge had not yet been enclosed. + +Up to 1825 Nicholas Chopin does not seem to have had any idea of making +his son a professional musician. The first essays had been so many in +number, and so various in impulse, that they might well account for some +feeling of uncertainty, but by the end of 1824 the boy's activity had +begun to take a more settled direction, and the events of the next year +are mainly musical. First, there were two concerts, on March 27 and June +10, at the former of which Chopin was set to improvise on an instrument +with the amazing name of Æolopantaleon, then the Emperor Alexander, who +had come down to Warsaw to open the Parliamentary Session, sent for the +young genius, heard him play, and dismissed him with some august +compliments and a diamond ring; while, finally, this approbation of men +and gods was succeeded by the Horatian climax of publication. The Rondo +in C minor, which was printed this year as Op. 1, is a singular example +of Chopin's strength and weakness in composition. The themes are clear, +pleasant and melodious, contrasted with great skill, and admirably +suited to the pianoforte; but the form is redundant and ill-balanced, +the exposition unduly prolonged, and the subsequent treatment hurried +and inadequate. No doubt, a concert rondo should not be criticised with +the same severity as the rondo movement of a sonata; yet even with all +laxity of concession, we can find passages and even pages, through which +Elsner ought to have drawn his pencil. That Chopin should have written +them is no crime; youth is expected to be extravagant; but his master +might have remembered that an artist who, in the phrase of Cherubini, +'puts too much cloth into his coat,' spoils the result, in addition to +wasting the material. + +The only other compositions which can be assigned to this year with any +certainty are the two Mazurkas in G and B flat, which appear among the +posthumous work in Breitkopf and Härtel's Edition. Indeed, it is pretty +certain that Chopin was still attempting to do too many things at once. +By the beginning of 1826 he had shown unmistakable signs of overwork, +and in the next holidays he was ordered off to try the whey cure at Bad +Reinerz in Prussian Silesia. His experiences of the place are recorded +in a letter to his school-fellow Wilhelm Kolberg, and consist mainly of +approval of the scenery, criticisms of the visitors, and caricatures of +the local band. The only incident, was a concert which he organised for +the benefit of two orphans, the death of whose mother had left them +without money enough to return home. For the rest he drank his whey, +took sedate walks with his mother and sisters, and even succeeded in +persuading himself that he was growing 'stout and lazy.' + +The journey home was broken by two or three visits, of which the most +important was a short stay at Antonin, the country residence of Prince +Radziwill. The Prince was an enthusiastic patron of music, an able and +meritorious composer, a good singer and violoncellist, and a pleasant +cultivated man, who seemed to have been cast by Fate for the part of +Mæcenas. Apparently he had met Chopin in Warsaw, and shared the interest +which all Polish society felt in its new genius. Liszt asserts that he +paid for the boy's education, but the statement, which is intrinsically +improbable, is categorically denied by Fontana, while the still wilder +report that he defrayed the expenses of Chopin's Italian tour, is best +answered by the fact that Chopin never set foot inside Italy in his +life. However, the tie of hospitality is not likely to have been +weakened by the absence of a monetary basis, and the friendship between +host and guest was quite as cordial as though they had been debtor and +creditor. + +Once back in Warsaw, Chopin set himself to prepare for his final +examination at the Lyceum, which he passed with something less than his +usual distinction, in 1827. The cause of this comparative failure is not +hard to divine, for although the compositions of the winter are few and +unimportant, there can be no doubt that Chopin was devoting himself +more and more to music, and allowing other interests to sink into the +background. And there was another reason. On April 10, his sister Emily, +the closest and dearest of all his companions, died of pulmonary +disease. She had accompanied her brother to Reinerz, in the hope of +checking a malady which medical skill is almost powerless to cure, she +had returned with some alleviation of suffering and some hopes of +reprieve--and then came the end. We may readily imagine the effect which +her death must have produced on the sensitive, affectionate boy from +whom, through all her short life, she had been inseparable. It was his +first great sorrow, and he was never of a nature to take his sorrows +lightly. + +As soon as his work set him free, he tried to find solace in some short, +fitful periods of travel, and paid a visit to his godmother's house in +Posen, and a second to the brother of his old head-master, who was +occupying some official post at Danzic. All the winter was spent at +home, sketching, revising, polishing, and preparing his compositions for +the publisher. By the autumn of the next year he had completed two or +three Polonaises,[17] a Nocturne, a Piano Sonata, a brilliant Rondo for +two pianos, the first movement of the G minor Trio, and, more important +than all, the variations on _La ci darem_, which were published in 1830 +as Op. 2. It was this last-named work which evoked Schumann's first +critical essay, and introduced the world at large to Florestan and +Eusebius. Sixty years have passed since the essay was printed, and we +are in no mind to question its decision. 'Hats off, gentlemen, a +genius,' is the only judgment which sums up that wonderful combination +of grace and audacity, of delicacy and vigour, of technical display and +poetic invention. + +The course of the year's work was interrupted by a notable episode. One +day at the beginning of September, Dr Jarocki, the zoology professor, +came up to call; announced that he had been invited to attend a +scientific congress at Berlin, and offered to take Chopin with him as +travelling companion. The proposal was readily accepted. Nicholas +Chopin, who had by this time entirely acquiesced in his son's choice of +a career, was beginning to doubt whether a sufficiently wide field of +action and opportunity could be obtained at Warsaw: and, in any case, it +was advisable that the young man should see something of the world +before he settled down to the duties of his profession. Frederick, too, +was overjoyed at the prospect. He cared little for congresses and +nothing at all for science, he refused his ticket of admission to the +meetings, on the ground that he did not want to pose as 'Saul among the +prophets,' but the chances of increasing his musical experience were far +too precious to be lost. By the middle of the month he was established +at the Hotel Kronprinz, hearing _Fernando Cortez_ at the Opera, +revelling in Handel's _St Cæcilia_ at the Singakademie, spending his +days in the music library at Schlesinger's, and only idle when some +enthusiastic scientist carried him off to spend a reluctant hour in the +Zoological Museum. + +Three of his letters, preserved by M. Karasowski, give us an amusing +picture of his impressions. We can see him, shrinking with suppressed +impatience, while the interminable dinner goes on, and Professor Lehmann +rests an academic hand on his plate in order to converse across him with +Professor Jarocki: we can see him at the Singakademie looking with +awe-stricken eyes at Mendelssohn and Spontini, or burning with shame to +discover that he has mistaken Alexander von Humboldt for a footman: we +can see him making stealthy caricatures and carefully adding the names +of the originals, 'in case they should prove to be celebrities.' +Everything is noted with a good-natured criticism, the humours of the +journey, the cleanliness and order of the streets, the bad taste of the +ladies' dresses, and the great final banquet, at which all the sciences +sat round the table singing convivial songs, while counterpoint, in the +person of Zelter, stood behind a golden goblet and beat time. + +It is unlikely that Chopin completed any musical work at Berlin. The +first we hear of his Fantasia on Polish airs is that he played it at a +little post town on the way home, while the diligence was changing +horses, but it is more probable that he composed it earlier in the year +than that he found time for it amid all the rush of new interests and +new distractions. The real value of his visit was that it supplied the +need, which every composer feels, of an occasional period of pure +receptiveness. Not that the music heard presents itself in any way as a +model for imitation: a man may be stimulated to write a string quartett +by a course of opera, or be moved to song by a series of symphonies: but +the very fact of production involves a certain wear and tear which is +often most easily repaired from outside. And so it is not surprising +that, when Chopin returned home, after stopping a couple of days at +Posen, and paying his respects to Prince Radziwill, he at once finished +his Pianoforte Trio and wrote the Krakowiak, which is the most carefully +scored of all his orchestral compositions. His parents gave him a little +back room, furnished with a piano and an old writing-desk, and there he +sat and elaborated his phrases, complaining piteously when his solitude +was invaded by inopportune visitors or unwelcome invitations. Society is +the most delightful of patrons, until a man realises that he has his +work to do. After that it tends to become something of a tyrant. + +In the early part of 1829 Warsaw was visited successively by Hummel and +Paganini. For the latter Chopin felt little more than the common +admiration, the former he had long regarded as a special tutelary +genius, whose exquisite precision of style was at once his ambition and +his despair. He was far too modest to recognise the limitations of his +hero, and the deeper and truer note which his own temperament was +capable of sounding: as yet, if we except the great variations of the +preceding year, he had attempted little more than the mastery of exact +expression, and in this he regarded Hummel as the best of types with the +same loyalty with which he had accepted Elsner as the best of teachers. +We have no record of the interview between the two artists. We only know +that they met, that they made a good impression on each other, and that +their subsequent intercourse bears witness to much cordiality on the +elder side, and to an unquestioning and unbroken hero-worship on the +younger. + +It is possible that this glimpse of the ideal served to bring into +sharper relief the narrowness of the Warsaw horizon. In any case, as the +summer approached, Chopin grew restless and began to pine for a larger +atmosphere and more congenial surroundings. Naturally, his first thought +was of Vienna. He had already sent three or four of his manuscripts to +try their fortune with Haslinger: and as no answer had come, he found a +reasonable excuse for going to attack the publisher in person. He +therefore started from home about the middle of July, spent a few +days in Cracow, and a few more in Polish Switzerland and Galicia, +and finally arrived at his destination on the 31st. Haslinger +received him courteously enough, promised to print the _La ci darem_ +Variations, and strongly urged him to give a concert in order to +familiarise the Viennese public with his manner of composition. It is +characteristic that this obvious suggestion appeared to Chopin to be +wholly impracticable. That he should venture to play in a city which +had heard Mozart and Beethoven; that he, a mere provincial, should +expect an audience in the metropolis of the musical world; the bare +idea seemed an act of presumption beside which the challenge of +Marsyas faded into insignificance: and it was only after continued +pressure and reiterated encouragement that he finally nerved himself +to the attempt. Acquiescence once extorted the arrangements went +on smoothly; Würfel got out the bills, Count Gallenberg lent the +Kärnthnerthor Theatre, and on August 11--a memorable date in musical +history--Chopin made his _début_ before a foreign public. + +Of course there was the usual disaster at rehearsal. Like all young +composers, Chopin insisted on copying his own band parts, and the result +was that the Krakowiak had to be cut out of the programme, and the +concert marred by an apology. However, the evening made amends. The +audience was not numerous, but it was cordial and appreciative; +applauded the variations so lustily, that the _tuttis_ were inaudible, +and finally 'began a regular dance in the back benches,' when Chopin +replaced his rondo with an improvisation. The only adverse criticism, +from stalls to gallery, was an expression of disappointment, on the part +of some unknown lady, that 'the lad had so little presence.' No doubt, +like the wife of Charles Lamb's friend, she 'had expected to see a tall, +fine, officer-looking man,' who would look well in uniform. + +Fortified by his success, Chopin gave a second concert on August 18, at +which the Krakowiak was produced, and the variations were repeated. This +time the audience was larger, and the reception still more encouraging. +Several of the musical notabilities of Vienna came to offer their +applause--Gyrowetz, with the queer, wrinkled face and the kindly eyes, +that belied the querulous mouth; Lachner, young, ardent and restless; +Schuppanzigh, still chuckling at Beethoven's jests on his corpulence; +Czerny, all high forehead, big spectacles and bland expression. +Everybody was warm and friendly, full of congratulations on the triumph +which, as the manager was careful to explain, 'could not be due to the +ballet, because that had been given before,' and Chopin soon found +himself arguing with a press of people who wanted him to fix the date +for his third appearance. But on this point he was obdurate. He had +only given his second concert lest the Warsaw public should think that +he was dissatisfied with the first. The Viennese had been very kind, but +he was quite sure that they had seen enough of him for one visit. He was +full of gratitude, he had enjoyed himself immensely, but the fact was +that he had made up his mind to start for Prague the next day, and he +could not alter his arrangements. And so, in spite of all entreaties, he +left Vienna on the evening of August 19, without even waiting for the +newspaper reports of his two recitals. + +It is interesting to compare his letters with the various notices and +critiques that appeared after his departure. 'I was not hissed,' +he writes on August 12, 'so don't be anxious about my artistic +reputation.... My friends swear that they heard nothing but praise, and +that, until the spontaneous outburst of applause, not one of them +clapped or uttered a bravo.... I am curious to hear what Herr Elsner +will say to all this. Perhaps he disapproves of my playing at all. But I +was so besieged on all sides that I had no escape, and I don't seem to +have committed a blunder by my performance.' And again, on August 19, +'My reception yesterday was still more hearty. I know I have pleased the +ladies and the musicians. Only the thorough Germans seem to have been +dissatisfied.... When I told the manager that I hoped to come back to +Vienna for the purpose of improving myself, he answered that for such a +reason I should never need to come, since I had nothing more to learn. +Of course these are mere compliments; still, one does not listen to them +unwillingly. At any rate, for the future, I shall not be regarded as a +student. Blahetka tells me that he wonders at my learning it all in +Warsaw. I answered that from Zywny and Elsner even the greatest donkey +must gain something.' In all this there is a tone of simple, unconscious +modesty which is very pleasant to notice. There are not many men in +Chopin's position who would have taken their first triumph so easily, +and still fewer who would have been at the pains to disclaim the +assistance of a _claque_. + +On the other hand, the newspapers speak with a much firmer tone. The +_Wiener Theaterzeitung_ noted a touch of genius in the compositions, +and gave special praise to the clearness and delicacy of their +interpretation. 'He plays very quietly,' it said, 'with little emphasis, +and with none of that rhetorical _aplomb_ which is considered by +virtuosos as indispensable.... He was recognised as an artist of whom +the best may be expected as soon as he has heard more.... He knows how +to please, although, in his case, the desire to make good music +predominates noticeably over the desire to give pleasure.' Such +commendation from the acknowledged leader of Viennese criticism at once +set the tone to the minor journals; and the whole city swelled its +voice into a full chorus of approval. Even the distant _Allgemeine +Musikalische Zeitung_ caught an echo of the enthusiasm, and hailed +Chopin as a 'brilliant meteor,' who had 'appeared on the horizon without +any previous blast of trumpets.' + +From Vienna he went on to Prague, where he met Pixis, Klengel and some +other celebrities; and from Prague to Teplitz, where he spent an evening +at Prince Clary's, and electrified the company by his improvisations. +The westernmost point of his travel was Dresden. As a devoted admirer of +_Der Freischütz_, he naturally felt an interest in the city where Weber +had been kapellmeister, and he bore with him letters of introduction +which would ensure his admission into the centre of its artistic +society. It is probably in consequence of his admiration for Weber that +he writes rather cavalierly about his interview with Morlacchi. Musical +enmities have a way of lasting, and Chopin was always more vehement in +the quarrels of his heroes than he was in his own. For the rest, he paid +his tribute of homage to the Gallery, stayed to see a performance of +_Faust_ at the theatre, and then hurried homeward to supplement his +letter with the thousand details that are always lost between pen and +paper. Indeed, there was plenty to relate. He had left Warsaw with a +reputation little wider than the limits of his native province: now, +after two eventful months, he was returning to match the wreath of +welcome with the laurels of a victorious campaign. + +A few short weeks and the conqueror is in the dust. Nothing in all +Chopin's life is more striking than the sudden and entire change which +followed as a reaction from the excitements of the summer. His letters +grew morbid, anxious, irritable; the clear-cut sentences wander off into +vagueness and incoherence; the rapid judgment becomes hesitating and +irresolute. Through all this dark time there runs the golden thread of +an ideal friendship; but it is knotted and entwined with a love-story +that can only seem to us singularly unreal and purposeless. Many of its +details are absolutely unknown, but there is little need that we should +know them. We are only concerned with its effect on Chopin's character; +with the presage through which it may lead us to a better and fuller +comprehension of his subsequent life. And herein the story, imperfect +though it be, may serve us as a true guide. The two tragic episodes of +Chopin's career, for all their unlikeness, have their explanation in a +single point of temperament: the weakness which, in later years, lost +the comradeship of George Sand, was but another form of that nervous +sensibility which now called up, for its torment, the shadowy and +fugitive vision of Constance Gladkowska. + +Even at the outset there is no tone of hopefulness. 'I have, perhaps to +my misfortune, already found my ideal,' he writes to his friend +Woyciechowski; and a little later, 'It is bitter to have no one with +whom one can share joy or sorrow, to feel one's heart oppressed, and to +be unable to express one's complaints to any human soul.' All this +time--it is a grotesque touch which somehow adds to the pathos--he had +never spoken to her, and had only seen her occasionally as she was +taking her lessons at the Conservatorium. At least six months had +elapsed before he made her acquaintance, and even then we have no record +of intimacy, no interchange of letters, no word of lover's vows; nothing +but idle conjecture and a few wild confessions of doubt and despair. +Warsaw had become intolerable to him. Come what may, he will not spend +another winter at home. He will go to Berlin, to Vienna, to Paris, to +Italy; anywhere to escape. And then comes a revulsion, and he fancies +himself dying in a foreign land, with the unconcerned physician and the +paid servants waiting beside his deathbed. Plans are made only to be +reversed; projects are formed only to be abandoned; and every change is +made the occasion for some fresh complaint, or some new exhibition of a +self-inflicted wound. + +This is not the manner of true passion. It is not love which degrades a +chivalrous nature, which torments generosity with suspicion, and turns +activity into a feverish impatience. Grant that the noblest character +has its ignoble aspect; its concealed depths which an unforeseen storm +may sometimes lash to the surface; yet we cannot look upon a current +which is wholly turbid, and characterise it by the highest name in all +man's vocabulary. Grant that every lover has his moments of unreason, +fits of groundless ill-temper, of disproportionate remorse, of jealousy +that is roused by a look and quieted by a word, yet we are here bidden +to mistake the accidents for the substance, and to describe as love a +shadow which is cast from no sun. The truth is that Chopin's passion was +not a cause, but a symptom; not a power which influenced his life, but a +direction of hectic energy that must itself be traced back to a remoter +source. He was standing at the verge of manhood: always nervous and +impressionable, he was come to the time when strength is weakest and +courage the most insecure: he had just passed through the bewilderment +of his first great enterprise, and had emerged to breathe an atmosphere +electric with change and heavy with disquietude. It is little wonder +that he lost his true self, and strayed from his appointed course. He +would have been more than human if he had not felt some stress of +uncertainty, or followed his restless impulses in the absence of a surer +guide. + +Yet the affection which is lacking to his romance is poured, in full and +continuous profusion, upon his friend. 'You do not require my portrait,' +he writes to Woyciecowski in November; 'I am always with you, and shall +never forget you to the end of my life.' And later, 'You have no idea +how much I love you. What would I not give to embrace you once again.' +He suggests that they should travel abroad together, and then, by a +refinement of sensibility, adds that it would be more delightful if they +started separately, 'and met somewhere by chance.' All the compositions +are discussed with entire frankness, all the plans submitted for advice +and counsel; even omens and presentiments are called in and made to bear +their witness to community of purpose. The very complaints take a +brighter tone when we realise their absolute trust, and their certain +expectation of sympathy. It is as though Chopin shrank from the thought +of his passion as a child shrinks from the darkness, and turned to take +refuge in the strong arms that he knew were waiting to protect him. He +was never self-reliant, never strong enough to face the world alone. +Now, in the time of his trouble, he looked to his friend for comfort, +just as, ten years before, he would have taken some boyish sorrow to his +mother. + +It must not be supposed that this period of mental depression is +entirely occupied with lamentations. Troilus may be 'weaker than a +woman's tear' when he thinks of Cressida, yet he still has hours in +which he can shake off his lethargy and take his place in the field or +the council chamber; and even we must add, hours when he can find solace +in the company of the white-armed Helen. Indeed, in spite of his +troubles, Chopin seems to have been fairly busy during the autumn +of 1829. By October 3, the 'Adagio' of his F minor Concerto was +completed;[18] by October 20, the Finale had been sketched, and at least +one of the Études written: then came a week's visit to Prince Radziwill, +from whose house we hear something of a new Polonaise for Violoncello, +and something, also, about the beauty and intelligence of Princess +Wanda. 'I should like her to practise my work,' writes this distracted +lover; 'it would be delightful to have the privilege of placing her +pretty fingers upon the keys.' + +The winter was spent quietly at home. Chopin finished his Concerto, +showed it to Elsner for approval, and then set about looking for some +opportunity of performance. It was a long time since he had played in +public at Warsaw, and the newspaper notices from Vienna had aroused +fresh interest which he thought it advisable to satisfy. So in March +1830 he gave two concerts, both of which were conspicuously successful. +At the first, indeed, there was some complaint that he did not play loud +enough; but, on hearing it, he sent to Vienna for one of Graff's pianos, +and disarmed even this effort of criticism at the second. It is +noticeable, as an indication of musical taste in 1830, that at both +concerts the F minor Concerto was divided, the Allegro given by itself +as a separate piece, and the Adagio and Rondo following later in the +programme. We may remember that even in Paris it was the fashion of the +time to give Beethoven's symphonies piecemeal, and to intersperse the +movements with _bravura_ songs and _divertimenti_ for the French horn. +It seems unlikely that a stage manager would ever present one of +Shakespear's plays with portions of the _School for Scandal_ between the +acts; but music has always lagged behind the other arts in its +appreciation of structure, and if Berlioz could mishandle Beethoven, we +need not be surprised at Chopin's tearing his own work in pieces for +fear that the audience should suspect it of continuity. In any case, he +seems to have lost nothing by the sacrifice, for the house was crowded, +the applause vehement, and the receipts, after all expenses had been +paid, amounted to the respectable figure of 5000 florins. + +Summer came, with its presage of revolution. The great wave rolling +eastward from Paris did not break on Warsaw until November; but as early +as May there were signs on the horizon, and a murmur of expectation in +the air. The Diet, which had not met for five years, was suddenly +convened; the irregularities of the Russian administration were more +freely criticised: and although the Czar had prohibited the publication +of debates, there still remained sufficient means to show the people at +large that its discontent was finding official utterance. Naturally this +assemblage of senators gathered after it all the pomp and circumstance +of Polish society. As the months wore on, the city filled with a crowd +of nobles, and, while the halls of audience were busy with political +intrigue, the ballrooms opened their doors to a music that seemed to +have caught some echo from the night before Waterloo. War was almost +certainly imminent; but until it came the hours uplifted their burden of +song and dance, lest the silence should crave too ominously for the +sound of cannon. + +To Chopin, patriot as he was, the musical aspect of the season seems to +have been the most important. Possibly in his seclusion rumours of wars +found no space to enter: at any rate, there is no hint in his letters +that he foresaw the storm, or that he was seriously occupied with +anything more public than his _soirées_ and his concerts. There was, +indeed, plenty to hear and plenty to enjoy. Some of the greatest artists +in Europe presented themselves at Warsaw:--Mdlle. de Belleville, +immortalised by the praise of Schumann; Lipinski, the famous violinist; +Henrietta Sontag, the acknowledged rival of Catalani and Pasta. Of all +these Chopin writes with his usual generous appreciation, unaffectedly +delighted with their successes, and 'not at all surprised' that he is +not asked to play at a Court party when they are present. Then followed +Constance Gladkowska's _début_ as an operatic singer, and the lover is +divided between his pleasure in her triumph and his reawakened +consciousness of a hopeless passion. Once more the old irresolution +returns; he decides to go, but cannot tear himself away; he waits on +aimlessly, wondering from day to day whether the morrow will bring +counsel, despising himself for his chain, yet not strong enough to break +it. The suspense was beginning to tell upon his health. Heller, who +passed through Warsaw in 1830, speaks of him as pale and hollow-eyed, +little more than a shadow of his former, brighter self. And yet it is +uncertain whether he had spent an hour with 'his Constantia' since his +return from Antonin, nearly a year before; while it is quite clear, from +his own letters, that during all that time he had never visited her.[19] + +Surely it is one of the most inexplicable of dramas. The whole period +which it occupies is of less than two years: eighteen months have +elapsed, and we have not yet seen the heroine. We only guess at her +darkly from the hero's soliloquies, or the rare secrets which he +commends to the bosom of his confidant. We are in the fourth act, and +have advanced to no further situation than was disclosed in the opening +scene. It is true that for a few weeks in the autumn of 1830 the two +actors are brought into a closer relationship: that she sang for him at +his concert in October, and that she gave him a ring on his departure +from Warsaw: but then, just as we are beginning to attain to some +comprehension of the plot, the curtain falls, and there has been neither +recognition nor catastrophe. Nor is the epilogue any less inconclusive. +The farewell gift, which should have been the beginning of a more +intimate romance, is virtually the end of the whole story. After Chopin +had left his home, he seems to have held no further communication, other +than indirect, with the woman whom he believed himself to love; in a few +months her name has dropped out of his letters: and when she married, +about a year later, he is said to have heard the news with a momentary +outburst of brief anger, and then to have dismissed it from his +recollection. And even during the days of his thraldom, he can forget +his troubles whenever he is interested in his work. It is only when he +is wearied or overwrought that the image of his love recurs, with its +invariable train of forebodings and regrets: forebodings that he will +find inaccessible a height which he never tries to climb: regrets for +lost opportunities which he has never attempted to seize. As to her own +attitude in the matter, we are even more at fault. We have no means of +determining to what extent she looked with favour upon his suit, or to +what extent she even trusted in its sincerity. We have no right to +impute blame to her: we have no standpoint for imputation. All we can +say is, that if Chopin's passion had been wholly visionary, this is the +way in which it would have expressed itself. Of the joy, the hope, the +impetus of true love there is not one recorded word: his highest point +of stimulation is the desire to 'tell his piano' of the sorrow that she +has brought him: his brightest hope of communion with her is that when +he dies his ashes may be spread out under her feet. + +It is pleasanter to look upon the more active side of Chopin's last +summer in Warsaw. In spite of the social distractions which the season +inevitably brought in its retinue, he worked away steadily at his E +minor Concerto, finished it by the middle of August, and produced it, +with his usual good fortune, at his third and last concert, on October +11. In addition, he composed what he modestly calls 'a few insignificant +pieces,' and sketched or projected some works of larger scale--a +concerto for two pianos, a polonaise with orchestra, and the like. +Whether these ever came into complete existence is a matter of dispute: +here, as elsewhere, the record of Chopin's life is too broken and +imperfect to admit any tone of certainty: but, in either event, they +testify to some acceptance of the 'beatitude of labour.' The results of +a man's effort are a free gift to succeeding generations; it is in the +effort itself that he finds his own reward. + +As the winter approached, plans for departure grew more definite and +more concrete. Chopin had cried 'Wolf' so often that his friends might +well be excused for doubting the reality of his intentions, but this +time it appeared that he was actually in earnest, and at the beginning +of November he started. Even now he had no very clear idea of his +destination. It was to be Vienna first, so much was certain, but after +Vienna it might be Berlin, where Prince Radziwill could ensure him +introductions, or it might be Italy, where he could bear his credentials +to royalty at Milan, or it might be Paris, which was then the goal of +almost every artist in Europe. 'I am going out into the wide world,' he +writes, with a touch of knight-errantry foreign to his usual nature. +Curiously enough, he seems to have had from the beginning a presentiment +that he would never return to Poland; and when, at the first stage from +Warsaw, Elsner met him with the pupils of the Conservatorium, and +presented him with a silver cup full of Polish earth, the strange little +ceremonial must have added force and ratification to his thought. +Moreover, the presentiment came true. The nineteen years of life which +remained to him only widened his separation from his native country; his +exile, though voluntary, proved to be none the less irrevocable; and as +the towers of Warsaw sank behind him on the horizon, there faded with +them all but the memory of a home which he was never to see again. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[16] So says Karasowski, who was intimately acquainted with the Chopins, +and was entrusted by them with the materials for an authoritative +biography. The monument in the Holy Cross Church at Warsaw gives March +2, 1809, as the date. Liszt and Fétis both give 1810. It is a salient +instance of the carelessness with which the records of Chopin's life +have been treated. + +[17] The Polonaise in B flat minor, 'Adieu an Wilhelm Kolberg,' appears +to have been written on Chopin's departure for Reinerz in 1826. But +Fontana calls the three, which were published posthumously as Op. 71, +'les trois premières Polonaises.' Two of them were composed in 1827-8 +and the third in 1829. + +[18] Not the E minor Concerto, as M. Karasowski asserts. The fact is put +beyond dispute by a letter of May 15, 1830, in which Chopin says that +the Adagio of the latter work is still unfinished. Both movements, by +the way, are marked _Larghetto_ in the score. + +[19] See the letter of Sept. 4, 1830, quoted by Professor Niecks. + + + + +II + +PARIS--AND AN EPISODE + + +After the good leisurely fashion of the time, Chopin took nearly four +weeks over his journey to Vienna. His first halting-place was Kalisz, +where he was joined by his friend Woyciecowski, and thence the two +travelled together through Breslau, Dresden and Prague, enjoying to the +full that highest of human pleasures which is constituted by a clear +road, brisk horses, and a single companion. The incidents, as recorded +in his letters, are not of any great importance--impressions of the +theatre at Breslau, renewal of old acquaintanceships at Dresden, and so +forth--but the letters themselves are interesting, as showing how +entirely he had recovered his spirits under the change of scene and +circumstance. Everything is delightful, everybody is cordial, all +prospects of the future career are painted in rose-colour, and the +darkest moments of uncertainty are caused by his terror at the sight of +the Saxon ladies, in their panoply of knitting-needles, or by the +temptation, which he is at some pains to resist, of 'kicking out the +bottom' from his first sedan chair. In a character so transparent, even +these evanescent bubbles of humour acquire a certain significance. For +the moment, Chopin's tone is equally free from regret or apprehension; +for the moment, this exile from his country has succeeded in escaping +from his recent self. + +And yet, it was a bold challenge to fortune. On the one side, a world +which is usually too busy to occupy itself with new aspirants, which +grants no favour that cannot be claimed as a right, and is even less +ready to show mercy to the conquered than to offer its applause to the +conqueror: on the other, a boy of twenty-one, with delicate and +fastidious appetites, with no experience of privation, no conception of +the value of money, no settled habits of prudence or circumspection, +equipped, it is true, with a flashing weapon of genius, but singularly +ill provided with the ordinary armour of defence. It would have been no +wonder if he had thought the bastions impregnable and the towers +impossible to scale: if he had looked upon the camp life as coarse and +uncouth, if he had found its discipline intolerable, its hardships +degrading, and its pleasures typified by the rude laughter and +boisterous jests of the canteen. Small wonder, either, if his comrades +had set him down as a carpet-knight; an exquisite, better skilled to pay +compliments to the women than to bear his part among the men; a dandy, +whose chief care was the set of his clothes and the fragrance of his +violets; a precisian, who was altogether devoid of redeeming vices; an +idealist, who spent his days in pursuit of the unattainable, instead of +taking life as it came, and letting ready action compensate for +defective strategy. And in such an estimate there would have been a +certain measure of truth. If, in order to be a good man, it is first +necessary to be a good animal, we may admit at once that Chopin's +virility was imperfect. There is no doubt that, to the end of his life, +he was characterised by a super-sensitive refinement, which, fifty years +ago, would have been described as feminine. But now, at the outset of +his career, it is well to notice that he was by no means unprovided with +the means of success. He was already one of the best pianists in Europe. +He had discovered a secret of musical expression more readily understood +and appreciated than that of any contemporary composer, with the +exception of Mendelssohn. He was gifted with a great charm of manner, +and an unusual power of making friends. And when it is added that he was +only once in any great stress of poverty, it will be seen that his +equipment was less incomplete than is generally imagined. After all, the +dandies have played their part in history. Claverhouse was a dandy; +Lovelace was a dandy; Sir Philip Sydney himself was censured by Milton +for being 'vain and amatorious': and if a man can be something of a fop, +and yet bear himself gallantly in the battle of arms, how much more +shall he do so in the battle of life. + +At the same time, we must confess that, in his first encounter with +destiny, the hero was visited with a signal defeat. Before he had been a +week in Vienna, news came that Warsaw had risen in revolt against the +Russians; there was word of riot in the streets, of danger to the house; +and Chopin, after a few hours of irresolution, started off to follow his +friend Woyciecowski, who had gone at once to join the insurgents. On the +way his determination broke down: his presence could avail nothing; it +would only add to the disquietude of his parents; he had better wait for +further tidings, for some message or injunction which would relieve him +from taking the initiative. Without further thought he changed his +plans, and returned to Vienna, waiting there in a transport of grief and +anxiety for the letters which a man of prompter courage would have +forestalled. As the days wore on, the bulletins grew more reassuring; +for a time, at any rate, the cloud of peril rolled away from the city: +the Poles had an army of 60,000 men in the field, and, in spite of the +enormous forces of the Emperor Nicholas, were confident of success. +Still Chopin lingered on, ready to start at the lightest summons, but +not strong enough to take the first step of his own motion, until the +noise of battle had passed to the Russian frontier, and he could write +once more about his life and his surroundings. + +Apparently the outlook was less encouraging than it had been in 1828. +Vienna, since the death of Schubert, was passing through a period of +musical inactivity, and the prospects of concert-giving were not very +bright. Managers who had been ready enough to welcome Chopin when he +played gratuitously, began to hang back now that he demanded payment; +and the public, after its golden age of the classics, professed itself +satisfied with the _kapellmeistermusik_ of Seyfried, and the dance-tunes +of Strauss and Lanner. During the whole six months of Chopin's stay in +the Austrian capital, he only gave one concert, and that, as we learn +from M. Karasowski, was thinly attended and poorly paid. For the +rest, his letters contain little more than the diary of a casual +visitor:--operas at the Kärnthnerthor Theatre, dinners with his friend +Dr Malfatti, a few criticisms of Thalberg, a few words of enthusiasm +for Slavik; the whole lightened, every now and again, by some amusing +story or some half-dozen lines of quaint description. His tone changes +with every varying mood: at one moment he breaks into passionate regret +that he is still absent from his home: at another he speaks of himself +as enjoying his enforced idleness, as wonderfully restored in health, +and as finding many acquaintances and much pleasant companionship. But +it is clear that, whatever his temper, he was in no way to replenish his +resources or advance his existing reputation. + +By the middle of 1831 he had made up his mind to proceed to Paris. To +return home would be merely to confess himself beaten: Italy was put out +of the question by its political troubles; Berlin, with all its +opportunities, was hardly the ideal residence for a Polish artist. All +reasons pointed to the land with which he was in the closest sympathy: +the land which had given birth to his father, which had been the ally of +his nation, which had always shown its warmest hospitality to his +countrymen. Accordingly he started on July 20, travelled slowly through +Munich and Stuttgart, and finally arrived at his destination about the +end of the autumn. His two halting-places are both of some moment in the +history of his life. At Munich he gave his last public concert to a +German-speaking audience, playing his E minor Concerto and his Fantasia +on Polish Airs: at Stuttgart he heard the news that Warsaw had been +captured by the Russians, and that the hopes of the revolution were +lying under the ruin of its walls. Fortunately his parents were safe. +There was no personal anxiety to embitter his grief at the national +disaster. But, none the less, the blow sank deep, and left a scar which +lasted indelibly. With all his weakness, Chopin had an intense love for +his country, and the dirge[20] in which he mourned her downfall remains +as one of the truest and saddest utterances of despairing patriotism. + +So ends a year which, on its artistic side, is little more than a line +of cleavage between the two main divisions of the story. Before it, +Chopin is a boy, studying with his masters, secure under the protection +of his home, and looking with expectant eyes upon a great world of which +he hardly knows the outskirts: after it, he is a man, holding his fate +in his own hands, living in a foreign city, surrounded with new hopes, +new occupations, and new friendships. As Warsaw in the first period, so +Paris in the second is the centre on which every aspect of the life is +focussed. Poland has played her part--she has ceased to be counted among +the nations: for the future, it is French blood that claims its kindred, +and French loyalty that offers its allegiance. + +And, indeed, Chopin could have chosen no city which would give him less +feeling of transference. He found Paris full of a cordial sympathy with +everything Polish: dramas, founded on the insurrection, drawing crowds +to the theatres; cries of '_Vive les Polonais_' echoing in the streets; +ovations to General Ramorino, who had taken arms against Russia, and had +not despaired of the Republic. A few letters of introduction served to +open the doors of artistic society: Paër, Baillot, even Cherubini +offered a kindly welcome to the newcomer: Hiller and Franchomme were +soon among his fast friends: and the early days were passed in a rush of +concert and opera, in admiration of the fine Conservatoire Orchestra, or +in open-eyed wonder at the roulades of Pasta and Malibran. + +A short time after his arrival, he went to call upon Kalkbrenner, in +hopes that the great teacher would consent to give him lessons. +Kalkbrenner heard him play, approved, noted some deviations from the +established method, and offered to take him as a pupil if he would +promise to serve a full apprenticeship of three years. The condition was +somewhat prohibitive, for Chopin had his own way to make, and his own +living to earn; but with characteristic docility he undertook to +consider the proposal, and wrote off at once to Elsner for advice. The +old master's answer was, on the whole, dissuasive. It was unadvisable, +he said, that Chopin should restrict himself too closely to the piano: +there were other forms of the art--quartetts, symphonies, and, above +all, operas--which might establish his name on a more lasting +foundation. Besides, a too continuous adherence to one method, however +perfect, would tend to destroy individuality of touch and substitute a +mere mechanical proficiency for the freedom of original thought. A +genius 'should be allowed to follow his own path and make his own +discoveries.' So, fortunately for Music, Chopin decided to decline the +offer; though the cordiality of his relation with Kalkbrenner is +testified by many passages of intimacy, and by the dedication of the E +minor Concerto. There can be no doubt that the proposal was made in good +faith, and that it was rejected with some hesitation. The only matters +of comment are the modesty with which Chopin suggested a new period of +studentship, and the grounds on which Elsner recommended him to dismiss +the idea. + +Early in 1832 Chopin made his first appearance before a Parisian public. +The concert, organised for the benefit of the Polish refugees, was no +great financial success, but it served to bring into notice the second +concerto and some of the early mazurkas and nocturnes. One of the most +interesting features in the programme was an enormous work of +Kalkbrenner's for six pianofortes, played by the composer and Chopin in +_concertino_, together with Hiller, Osborne, Stamaty and Sowinski as +accompanists: a disposition of forces which plainly indicates that the +newcomer was already recognised as a leader by some of the best +executants in Paris. We may add that, artistically speaking, the _début_ +was a veritable triumph. The audience applauded heartily, Mendelssohn +offered his warmest congratulations, even Fétis grew genial and +appreciative; and when, at a charity concert in March, Chopin succeeded +in scoring a second victory, it is little wonder that he found his +position established beyond dispute. He might well write to his friends +at home,--'_Me voilà lancé._' The society of Paris lionised him with the +same fervour as the society of Warsaw: evening after evening was +occupied with visitors or filled with invitations: pupils began to +present themselves; concert managers solicited his services; and before +long he shared with Liszt the honour of being the most fashionable +musician of the day. 'I move in the highest circles,' he writes, 'and I +don't know how I got there. But you are credited with more talent if +you have been heard at a _soirée_ of the English or Austrian Ambassador. +Among the Paris artists I enjoy general esteem and friendship; men of +reputation dedicate their compositions to me even before I have paid +them the same compliment. Pupils from the Conservatoire--even private +pupils of Moscheles, Herz and Kalkbrenner--come to me to take lessons. +Really, if I were more silly than I am, I might imagine myself a +finished artist; but I feel daily how much I have still to learn. Don't +imagine that I am making a fortune: my carriage and my white gloves eat +up most of the earnings. However, I am a revolutionary, and so don't +care for money.'[21] Clearly, we are some way from the timid, +apprehensive stranger, doubtful of his direction, uncertain of his +future, who entered Paris a year before, with his country's sorrow still +heavy upon his heart. + +This fresh impulse of activity bore ample fruit, also, in composition. +During the winter of 1832 were published the first two sets of Mazurkas; +next year followed the first three Nocturnes, the first set of +Études,[22] and the Variations on Herold's _Je vends des Scapulaires_, +graceful embroideries of an exceedingly poor texture: while in 1834 came +three more Nocturnes, another set of Mazurkas, a _Grande Valse +Brilliante_ (Op. 18), and a Bolero. Besides these, Chopin arranged with +Schlesinger for the publication of some of his existing manuscripts: the +Pianoforte Trio, the Concerto in E minor, the Fantasia on Polish Airs, +and the Krakowiak. Their success was almost instantaneous. No doubt +there were a few dissentient voices: Field, the great burly Englishman, +laid aside his pipe to growl out that his new rival had '_un talent de +chambre de malade_:' Rellstab, the editor of the Berlin _Iris_, +practised a few of the vitriolic epigrams which he was afterwards going +to launch at Schumann: but beyond these there was very little doubt +expressed by any musician who read the works, and none at all by any who +heard their composer play them. + +In the spring of 1834, Chopin took a holiday and went off with Hiller to +attend the Niederrheinische Musikfest at Aix-la-Chapelle. We have a very +pleasant account of this expedition: the two friends met Mendelssohn, +shared a box with him, and returned, after the Festival, to his new home +in Dusseldorf, where they drank coffee and played skittles, and +banqueted on music to their hearts' content. There is a characteristic +picture, too, of an evening at Schadow's: the room full of eager, +talkative art students, Hiller and Mendelssohn occasionally quieting the +hubbub with a Fantasia or a Capriccio, Chopin sitting silent and unknown +in a remote corner until he was forced to 'drop his disguise' and take +his place at the piano. 'After that,' says Hiller, 'they looked at him +with altogether different eyes.' + +Back in Paris, he resumed his teaching, and completed his second set of +Études, published later as Op. 25. During the winter season he appeared +four times in public, once for Berlioz at the Conservatoire, twice in +Pleyel's rooms, and once at a great charity concert in the Italian +Opera-house. But it is clear that he was growing disinclined to face +what he calls the 'intimidation' of the crowd. He rarely did himself +full justice on the platform: he was at his happiest in some friend's +room, where he could pour out his fancies to the dim twilight, and +forget the few motionless figures that were listening at his side. 'More +than three,' said Charles Lamb, 'and it degenerates into an audience.' +Chopin was more liberal in fixing his limit, but he understood the +degeneration. All the best accounts which we have received of his +playing come from those who heard him _en petit comité_--Heine, George +Sand, Delacroix--and it is significant that, after his appearance at the +Théâtre Italien, he allowed nearly four years to pass before emerging +again from his seclusion. It does not appear that this distaste for the +multitude in any way embittered him. It is an excess of eloquence to +describe his preference for the drawing-room as 'a malignant cancer,' +which 'cruelly tortured and slowly consumed his life.'[23] He was in no +lack of money, or of friends, or of reputation, and he was the last man +in the world to-- + + Beg of Hob and Dick + Their needless vouches, + +or trouble himself because some upstart tribune could surpass him in +popularity. + +In the summer and autumn of 1835, Chopin left Paris for a more extended +tour. He began with Carlsbad, where his father was staying under +doctor's orders, and after a short stay there proceeded to Dresden, +where he met his old schoolfellows the Wodzinskis, and took the +opportunity to fall in love with their sister Marie. We have very little +certain knowledge about this new romance. There were a few pleasant +days together, a Valse,[24] improvised at the moment of parting, and +sent afterwards from Paris, 'pour Mademoiselle Marie,' and a later +interview at Marienbad in 1836, where, we are told, Chopin offered +marriage and was refused. But it seems clear that he only saw her upon +these two occasions, and that his rejection, if it ever occurred, +produced no very serious effect on his spirits. There were a great many +harmless flirtations during his Paris life: flowers that sprang up in a +light soil and withered under the next day's sun, and it is possible +that this was only a growth of the same garden, somewhat deeper in root, +and somewhat more ample in blossom. After all, Chopin was little more +than a boy,--Polish, artistic, impressionable, fond by preference of the +society of women: it is no matter for surprise if, in the intervals of +being the Shelley of music, he found some pleasure in posing as its Tom +Moore. + +From Dresden he went on to Leipsic, and there made the acquaintance of +Schumann and the Wiecks. It was nothing less than a meeting of the +Davidsbund: Florestan, Chiarina and Félix Meritis gathered round him at +the piano, while old Master Raro, who was in a bad temper that +afternoon, stood in the next room, with the door ajar, and listened to +the party which he would not compromise his dignity by joining. +Mendelssohn proved the most congenial of companions, Schumann the +kindest and most appreciative of critics, and Clara Wieck, then a girl +of sixteen, convinced her sceptical visitor that there was at least 'one +lady in Germany who could play his compositions.' The visit was all too +short, but pupils were clamouring at home, publishers had received +nothing all the year except the Scherzo in B minor, and the rent of +rooms in the Chaussée d'Antin was a good deal higher than that in the +Boulevard Poissonnière. So Chopin had to bring his holiday to a close, +and to return to Paris with a store of new memories and a consciousness +of new triumphs. + +The chief incidents of 1836 were a couple of flying visits: one to +London in July, one to Marienbad and Leipsic in September. The import of +the latter has already been noted; at the former, Chopin was introduced +to the Broadwoods as M. Fritz, and, as usual, threw off his incognito at +the first touch of the pianoforte. During this year his health, which +had hitherto been good, gave way under an attack of influenza, which was +followed by a second early in 1837. But, in spite of illness, he +contrived to get through plenty of work, and his list of publications +for the year is unusually large: the F minor Concerto in April, the G +minor Ballade in June, the Andante Spianato and Polonaise in July, +followed in the same month by the two Polonaises, Op. 26, and the two +Nocturnes, Op. 37. No doubt many of these were of earlier composition, +but it must be remembered that to Chopin it was not the inception of a +work which was laborious. Melodies came to him as easily as to Mozart; +it was after they had been brought to birth that the toil began; anxious +elaboration of phrase, hesitating selection of alternatives: here a +cadence to be re-written, there a harmony to be rearranged; often a +whole round of changes rung, only that the passage might return, after +all, to its original form. In the whole process of production, the part +which seems to have given him most trouble was the clerk's work of +correcting the proof-sheets. No composer, except Schumann, has left us +so many conjectural readings; no composer, without exception, has +allowed so many misprints to pass unnoticed. It is a curious, though not +an inexplicable paradox that the conscientiousness with which he revised +his manuscripts should have brought a reaction of indifference to the +printed page. He took so long making up his mind that when he had once +arrived at a decision he accepted it as the end of his responsibilities. + +It was in 1837 that he met the woman whose influence over his life has +been so fiercely attacked and so deplorably misunderstood. His +biographers, indeed, in their treatment of George Sand, cannot easily be +acquitted of some recklessness of statement and some unjustifiable +licence of language. It is no light matter to bring grave charges on +evidence avowedly imperfect, to give currency to idle rumour and +malicious innuendo, to aid in casting unjust aspersions on the memory of +a noble name. It is no light matter that these calumnies, many of which +are as far below the level of quotation as they are beyond the +possibility of belief, should be employed to barb some flippant epigram +or envenom some sneering comment. Words which had their origin in the +unscrupulous heat of political controversy[25] have been accepted as the +cool and deliberate utterances of reason and judgment. The distortions +of a false and cruel romance have been reproduced as if they contained +testimony, not, indeed, final, but worthy of serious regard. In the +imperfection of the record opportunity has been found for discreditable +conjectures, for baseless imputations of motive, and for an ultimate +decision which betrays itself by its eagerness to condemn. + +It must be said at the outset that the record is manifestly imperfect. +All the letters which Chopin wrote from Paris to his parents have +disappeared, burned during a popular outburst at Warsaw in 1863. The +loss of these documents is, of course, beyond calculation. It is true +that M. Karasowski, the only one of Chopin's biographers who ever saw +them, declares that they threw little or no light upon the matter;[26] +it is also true that Chopin was a bad correspondent, with odd fits of +intermission and reticence; but, at the same time, it is impossible to +help feeling that we have to hear the cause after the principal plea has +been withdrawn. We are therefore dependent partly on the accounts which +have been left us by George Sand herself, partly on the testimony of +third persons; and it is needless to add that, before accepting any +statement, we must satisfy ourselves as to the credibility of the +witness. _Ex parte_ assertions, on whatever side they are adduced, can +only be regarded as valuable in so far as they conform to the ordinary +laws of evidence. + +First, then, as to George Sand's character. Here we have, fortunately, a +complete consensus on the part of those writers to whose name and +authority the greatest weight can be attached. Matthew Arnold describes +her as 'that great soul, simple, affectionate, without vanity, without +pedantry, human, equitable, patient, kind,' and pours a full measure of +scorn on those 'who have degraded her cry for love into the cravings of +a sensual passion.'[27] Sainte-Beuve knew her intimately for thirty +years, and this is the way in which he writes about her:--'Elle est +femme, et très femme, mais elle n'a rien des petitesses du sexe, ni des +ruses, ni des arrière-pensées: elle aime les horizons larges et vastes, +et c'est là qu'elle va d'abord: elle s'inquiète du bien de tous, de +l'amélioration du monde, ce qui est au moins le plus noble mal des âmes +et la plus généreuse manie.'[28] Delacroix bears eloquent witness to her +devotion and unselfishness:[29] Heine almost forgets to mock as he bows +before the woman 'whose every thought is fragrant':[30] Mrs Browning, +the purest and most spiritual of idealists, bent to kiss her hand at the +first interview, and speaks of her throughout with sisterly affection +and sympathy.[31] And all this testimony is as nothing when compared +with that of her own writings. Grant that her earlier novels contain a +note of revolt, that her generous and enthusiastic temper led her for a +time into the error of Saint-Simonism: it is yet certain that she +believed herself to be writing in defence of Religion and humanity +against a decadent Church and a maladministered government. And it is +impossible to read her autobiography, and still more her letters, +without the conviction that she was a good as well as a great woman, +lacking, perhaps, in reticence and self-restraint, too frank of speech +in face of oppression and wrong, but wholly devoid of any taint of +luxury, wholly free from the meaner passions, wholly intent on helping +all who needed her counsel or assistance. The truthfulness of the +_Histoire de ma Vie_ is attested in plain words by no less an authority +than M. Edmond de Goncourt,[32] whose verdict in the matter will +probably be accepted as conclusive. The truthfulness of the letters will +be evident to anyone who takes the trouble to compare them with one +another, and with the independent record of the period which they +embrace. In one word, the intrinsic probability of George Sand's +account is at least sufficient to throw the _onus probandi_ upon her +adversaries. + +And when we turn to the other side, we are at once struck with a want of +definite aim in the attack. Animated with the belief that Chopin was +ill-used, impelled by a not unnatural desire to protect him at all +hazards, his biographers have accredited George Sand with the +incongruous vices of antagonistic temperaments, and have given us a +picture, not of a bad woman, but of an impossible monster. Again, there +are some charges which, in themselves, it is of no moment to prefer. It +would be merely idle to accuse St Louis of atheism, or Bayard of +treachery. It would be a waste of effort to call Nelson a coward, or +Latimer an apostate. And equally, when one of our authors affirms that +George Sand 'was never at a loss to justify any act, be it ever so cruel +and abject,'[33] we can only condole with him on having selected, out of +all existing adjectives, the two most entirely inapplicable to the +character of which he treats. For the grosser accusations, the best +answer is silence. They are no more worth denying than the calumnies of +'Lui et Elle': indeed, like that 'abominable book,'[34] they stand +self-refuted. It is only a matter for regret that they have ever been +allowed to emerge from their obscurity, and to darken, even for a +moment, the intercourse of two noble lives. + +From a misunderstanding of George Sand's character, there is but a short +step to a misjudgment of her connection with Chopin. It has been +represented as a _liaison_ in our vulgarised English sense of the term: +it was in reality a pure and cordial friendship, into which there +entered no element of shame and no taint of degradation. Its closest +parallel may be found in the relation between Teresa Malvezzi and +Leopardi, a relation only to be questioned by those who hold that a +sweet and gracious comradeship of man and woman is an impossibility. She +was the older in years, she was far the older in character: her feeling +for Chopin is well expressed in her own phrase as '_une sorte +d'affection maternelle_': for ten years she encouraged him in his work, +tended him in his sickness, offered him welcome in his holiday: and when +at last the rupture came, it was brought about against her will, and +maintained, by unforeseen accidents, against her expectation. In short, +to describe Chopin as her 'discarded lover' is to make two mistakes of +fact in two words. + +At first, it is true, they saw but little of each other. For one reason, +the fastidious artist was somewhat repelled by the unconventionality of +George Sand's surroundings; for a second, they were both busy--he with +his pupils, she with her books and with the education of her daughter, +Solange. However, it is probable that, in 1837, he formed one of the +usual summer party at Nohant, and that he forgot his unreasoning dislike +in the kindliness and hospitality which filled that most delightful of +châteaux. During the winter he was occupied with fresh publications--the +second Scherzo, the Impromptu in A flat, and some smaller pieces--and +then came a third attack of influenza, which for a time rendered all +further work impracticable. In February 1838, he was well enough to +accept an invitation to Court; next month he had so far recovered as to +play in a concert at Rouen: but during the spring his illness returned +in the form of a serious bronchial affection, and the doctor, whom +he called in for consultation, peremptorily ordered him abroad. + +It happened that George Sand was also contemplating a visit to the South +of Europe. Her son Maurice, was suffering from rheumatism: she thought +it advisable to save him from the risks of a Parisian December: after +some debate, she decided to try Majorca, of which her friend Count +Valdemosa had given her an enthusiastic description. Chopin, who was her +guest during part of the summer, heard the plan discussed, and, feeling +somewhat disheartened at the prospects of a lonely voyage, asked leave +to make one of the party. His proposal was accepted with frank +good-nature; and, after a few weeks of hesitation and uncertainty, he +followed the Sands to Perpignan, crossed with them to Barcelona, and +proceeded first to Palma, and then to a little up-country villa, where +they hoped to establish themselves for the winter. + +Never, since the days of the Ten Thousand, was there a more disastrous +expedition. No doubt the scenery was magnificent enough to justify all +Count Valdemosa's patriotism, but it was compensated by every form of +_petite misère_ which a malicious destiny could devise. The house was +draughty and ill-constructed: the food was detestable; the peasants were +ignorant, superstitious savages, to whom, as to most barbarians, +stranger was synonymous with enemy. Chopin's failure to attend Mass on +the first Sunday exposed him to the gravest suspicion; and when it was +rumoured that his absence was due to ill-health, suspicion ripened into +the hostility of panic terror. It became difficult to procure the +necessaries of life; it became almost impossible to obtain any service +or neighbourly assistance; the whole countryside passed sentence of +outlawry upon the newcomers; and as climax of inhospitality, the +landlord heard that one of his tenants was consumptive, and immediately +turned the whole party out of doors. + +All this was bad enough, but it would have been tolerable if only the +climate had remained propitious. Unfortunately, after a fortnight's +delusive sunshine, the winter broke into a passion of wind and rain. The +woods stood dripping and shivering; the mountain roads turned into +impassable torrents; and the exiles, driven for shelter to the cells of +a disused monastery, found their days heavy with imprisonment, and their +nights ghostly with the voices of the storm. It is not surprising that +Chopin's nerve began to give way. His material privations he could bear +with some fortitude, but he was powerless to banish the vague, nameless +apprehensions which spoke in every echo, and haunted every shadowy +corner. It required all George Sand's courage and devotion to render his +life endurable. It was in her strength that his weakness found support; +it was her sympathy and kindness that soothed him, as a mother soothes a +sick child. On her, indeed, devolved the whole administration of the +household. Overwhelmed as she was with literary work, she yet found time +to teach her children, to tend her patients, to clothe empty rooms and +bleak walls with some appearance of warmth and comfort. She was never +weary, never despondent, never out of humour, and whatever of brightness +came to lighten those wintry days of stress and hardship was but the +reflection of her unclouded serenity. + +During these fluctuations of fear and solace, of convalescence and +relapse, Chopin can hardly have completed any work of importance. The +Preludes, which are sometimes referred to his sojourn in Majorca, seem +to have been composed before he left Paris; and as they are the only +publications of the year 1839, we may reasonably conclude that there was +nothing else ready. It is possible that one or two of them may have been +written at Valdemosa, whence also may have come the inception of the +Ballade in F major, the two Polonaises, Op. 40, and the Funeral March +Sonata. But none of these look like productions of the sick-room; and it +is clear that, as the winter advanced, Chopin grew less and less capable +of any sustained effort. Unmistakable symptoms of consumption made their +appearance; the local doctors proved wholly incompetent to deal with the +case; at last, it became only a question of waiting until the season +was warm enough for a journey home. At the end of February, Chopin +nerved himself to face the fatigue of travel, and returned to the shores +of France in desperate search of the health, for lack of which he had +left them. + +At Marseilles he stayed for nearly three months,[35] under charge of Dr +Cauvière, who, without concealing the gravity of the disease, told his +patient that, with proper care, he might yet count on many years of life +and work. There can be no doubt that Chopin's death-warrant had been +signed, but it is equally sure that his sentence was one which could +allow a long respite, and encourage the continued hope of deferment. +Every man stands liable to an unread mandate of execution. Every man +goes through the world, like Hernani, waiting for the summons of the +fatal horn. Life, in all true reckoning, is counted not by years but by +actions; and it is better to lavish the few decades of Schubert or +Mozart than to hoard a long, inglorious cycle that has outworn its hopes +and outlived its memories. No career is unhappy, however brief it be, +that does not fail of its purpose. + +And of failure in any form Chopin had unusually little experience. Even +at this dark time we hear of rapid recovery, of regained strength and +courage, of a summer filled with pleasant days and noble achievement. +The cloud of trouble, which had hung over the forests of Valdemosa, lay +far removed from the smooth lawns and sunny glades of Nohant; and there, +amid music and children's laughter, and a concourse of friendly faces, +the winter of discontent was very speedily forgotten. For the next few +years, with the exception of 1840, he made a practice of spending his +summer vacation at the château. Life looked more simple in the light of +George Sand's simplicity and goodness; beneath her example it was easy +to disregard all personal anxieties, and to turn with fresh resolution +to the service of Art. Besides, under that hospitable roof, there were +always other comrades to share the welcome. At one time Liszt would +come, radiant with the triumphs of his last European tour; at another, +Mickiewicz, ablaze with some fresh project of social regeneration; at +another, Delacroix, busy with his _St Anne_; or Louis Blanc, intent on a +new chapter of his History. Over the whole house was spread a clear, +wholesome atmosphere of work, braced with a high seriousness of aim, and +made genial with kindly aid and brilliant converse. We may well believe +the statement of George Sand that Chopin always wrote his best at +Nohant. + +For some part of every winter, too, they were near neighbours in Paris. +At first they occupied two adjoining houses in the Rue Pigalle; later +they moved to the Cour d'Orléans, where Chopin took No. 3 on one side of +the court; George Sand No. 5 on the other; and their friend Madame +Marliani completed the phalanstery by installing herself between them. +Here was established that famous _salon_, the memory of which recalls +the better days of the Hôtel Rambouillet. Indeed, though some few names +of the classic age are unsurpassed, at no time could Catherine de +Vivonne have gathered so notable an assemblage of talent as that which +thronged the rooms of the new Arthenice. Chapelain, Godeau, Voiture, the +Scudérys, even Boileau himself are but dim and uncertain lights +beside Dumas and Balzac, Gautier and Heine, Lamennais and Arago and +Sainte-Beuve. Here was something better than madrigals and anagrams and +the _carte du tendre_; something which helped to mould the life of a +nation, and bore its effect on the whole course of European thought. It +was amid these surroundings--now at Paris, now at Nohant--that Chopin +lived and worked, stimulated by all that was best in contemporary art, +encouraged by the sympathy of his peers and the cordial admiration of +his listeners. + +Unlike most musicians, Chopin was fond of teaching, and was almost +uniformly popular as a master. It is hard to understand how his +finely-strung temperament could have endured the strain and irritation +of pianoforte lessons, but we have abundant testimony as to the +gentleness and tact with which he corrected errors or pointed out +nuances of expression. Even on 'stormy days,' his anger was nothing more +than a cry of physical pain, and he always softened at once if the +culprit showed any symptoms of distress. When things went well, he was +the most admirable of teachers; kindly alert, suggestive, often +protracting the lesson for two or three hours, and sometimes closing it +with the best of all rewards, an improvisation. The qualities which he +regarded as paramount were delicacy of touch, intelligence of +conception, purity of feeling: in his eyes the only sin worse than +affectation was the correct mechanical dexterity that is too dull to be +affected. Not, of course, that he undervalued accuracy; every student, +however accomplished, had to begin with Clementi's _Gradus_, and to +tread the whole course of studies and exercises; but he was far too +great an artist to see any finality in a mere Academic precision. +'Mettez y donc toute votre âme' was his injunction; and in all education +there is no better rule. + +Yet it is curious that not one of his pupils has succeeded in making +a name of European mark. Filtsch might have done so had not death +cut short his career in the early promise of boyhood, but to the +rest--Gutmann, Lysberg, Mikuli, Tellefsen--the record of public favour +has been singularly indifferent. No doubt many members of his school +were amateurs, who, with all their training, never entered the arena: +some, like George Mathias, were satisfied to embody in their own +teaching the traditions of their master's method; but when all +allowances have been granted, it still remains true that Chopin never +communicated his secret. Perhaps his secret was incommunicable; perhaps, +like his style in composition, it was not so much a method as a manner; +something too intimate and personal to be expressed in the concrete +language of principle and formula. We know that in later years he began +a systematic treatise on the pianoforte, but we may guess that it was +not ill-health alone which led him to destroy it unfinished. + +The recovery of new vigour and new interests brought him back once more +to the uncongenial atmosphere of the concert-room. In the winter of +1839, he played for a second time at the Tuileries; in 1841 and 1842, he +appeared twice in Pleyel's rooms, where he presented some of his own +most recent compositions to an audience mainly consisting of friends and +pupils. And if his activity as a pianist was rare and intermittent, he +made up for the deficiency by the number and importance of his +published works. The Sonata in B flat minor was printed in May 1840, and +then followed a long series of Scherzos and Ballades, of Nocturnes and +Impromptus, of Waltzes, Polonaises, and Mazurkas, many of them +incontestable masterpieces, all of them valuable contributions to the +literature of Music. If we except the Studies and the Preludes, there is +nothing in the whole of Chopin's previous production that may hold +comparison with the harvest of these abundant years. + +Meantime, his health was varying with an almost mercurial instability. +On his better days he would be buoyant, gay, even extravagant, playing +fantastic tricks at the pianoforte, or mimicking his rivals with +inimitable skill and good-natured satire: on his worse he would appear +peevish and fretful, not from ill-humour, but from sheer exaggeration of +sensibility. To his present mood there was no such thing as a trifle. He +broke into fierce anger at a stupid joke of Meyerbeer's, which a +moment's thought would have allowed him to disregard. He quarrelled +permanently and irrevocably with Liszt over some trivial slight which +would never have ruffled the composure of a healthier mind. Like many +men of impulsive and nervous temper, Chopin could only half forgive. +George Sand says of him, finely and truly, that 'he had no hatreds;' but +he equally lacked that broad humane sense of pardon which obliterates +the fault as the tide obliterates a footprint upon the shore. If he once +felt himself wounded, he could wish no ill to his adversary, but the +scar remained. + +At the beginning of May 1844, he was prostrated by the sudden news of +his father's death. The shock, falling unexpectedly upon an enfeebled +frame, was too heavy for him to resist, and during a long anxious +fortnight he lay seriously, even dangerously ill. George Sand, with +ready sympathy, at once came to the rescue. She wrote his letters to his +mother. She summoned one of his sisters from Warsaw. She left her work +to watch by his sickbed, nursed him with maternal solicitude, and at the +first sign of recovery carried him off to Nohant for convalescence. +There he seems once more to have restored to equilibrium the delicate +balance of his life. His correspondence with Franchomme catches +something of its old lightness of tone; he discusses, with evident +interest, the fortunes of his manuscripts and the prospects of his +coming work: best of all, he returns to his piano, and at last charms +his sorrow asleep. The next two years passed so quietly and uneventfully +that they have left hardly any mark on the course of his career. In 1845 +he published the Berceuse and the Sonata in B minor, in 1846 the +Barcarolle, the Polonaise-Fantasie, and a few Mazurkas and Nocturnes; +but even in his art the record is meagre, and in his life it is almost +non-existent. We have half-a-dozen unimportant letters, we have +half-a-dozen lines of anecdote or conjecture, and the rest is silence. +It was the dead, heavy, ominous stillness which precedes a storm. + +In 1847 the storm broke, shattering in its fall the closest and most +intimate of Chopin's friendships. Its occasion was a quarrel with +Maurice Sand, the causes of which, though they are nowhere explicitly +related, are by no means difficult to divine. A short time before, +George Sand had adopted a distant cousin called Augustine Brault, a +quiet, colourless, inoffensive girl, whom she had rescued from the +influences of a bad home.[36] Maurice was fond of his cousin; indeed, +idle report accredited him with a deeper feeling: Chopin disliked her, +and rather resented her appearance as an intrusion. Again, in May 1847, +occurred the marriage of Solange Sand with M. Clesinger, a marriage of +which, at the time, Chopin alone disapproved. Given Maurice's impetuous +character and Chopin's nervous irritability, the matter needs no more +recondite explanation. We can well imagine the words of pointed +criticism and disdainful rejoinder, the interchange of sharp retorts, +the gradual development of a contention which, as we know, culminated in +Maurice's threat to leave his home. George Sand tried to make peace: +Chopin, barely recovered from a new attack of illness,[37] regarded her +interference as an act of hostility: and after a few words of bitter +reproach, 'the first,' she says, 'which he ever offered me,' he turned +and left her in open anger. It is easy to bring charges of ingratitude, +of fickleness, of help forgotten and services ill requited. We are more +concerned to note that a rage so sudden and implacable can be traced to +no other than a physical origin. Chopin's condition was still serious +enough to cause grave anxiety, and his outburst of petulance was not an +aggression of deliberate unkindness, but a half-conscious aberration of +disease. George Sand herself had no thought that the breach was +permanent. Early in 1848 she voluntarily sought a reconciliation, and +when the attempt failed--for busy tongues had been at work in the +meantime--she bore her trouble without a word of complaint or a thought +of rancour. Years afterwards she could write of Chopin, 'He was always +the same to me.' + +Such is the simplest and most credible version of the story. It offends +against no inductions, it violates no probabilities, it is supported by +the plain statement of the only authority who had first-hand knowledge, +as well as by circumstantial evidence from outside. Of the two other +accounts, the more serious and important is that of M. Karasowski. M. +Franchomme, who begins by accusing George Sand of literal assault and +battery,[38] may, perhaps, be disregarded in spite of the uncertainty of +Professor Niecks. But the attack on _Lucrezia Floriani_ involves such +grave issues, and contains such perilous half-truths, that it merits +some detailed consideration. We must remember that there are two +separate points at stake: first, whether the novel had any share in +bringing about the rupture; second, whether it was or was not +unjustifiable. + +To both these questions M. Karasowski returns answer in the affirmative. +George Sand, he tells us, finding it impossible to effect a separation +by cold looks and petty slights, 'resorted to the heroic expedient' of +caricaturing Chopin in a romance. The portrait of Prince Karol was drawn +by her with the deliberate intent to wound, with the desire of forcing a +quarrel upon the lover whose fidelity had outlasted her own. Let the +reader consider this charge for a moment. Here is a sick man, near to +death, weak, helpless, sensitive to the least injury, and we are asked +to believe that the woman who has held unbroken friendship with him for +ten years, the woman whose generosity and compassion are admitted even +by her enemies, has taken the opportunity to stab him with a poisoned +weapon. The crime is so base, so wanton, so far removed not only from +George Sand's character, but from the common level of sane humanity, +that we should require the strongest testimony before we could believe +it possible. Until it be proved, we have only one view upon the +case--_reclamitat istiusmodi suspicionibus ipsa natura_. + +Fortunately, on the first point we have the clear evidence of fact. +_Lucrezia Floriani_ was written during the winter of 1846, and was read +by Chopin, chapter after chapter, as it proceeded. If, then, Chopin had +taken offence at the book, the rupture would have occurred, as M. +Karasowski positively declares that it did, 'in the beginning of 1847.' +This is certainly not the case. Chopin, who spent the spring at Paris, +was in friendly correspondence with George Sand in May,[39] and either +paid, or at least projected, his usual visit to Nohant in the +summer.[40] It is not credible that he, of all men, would have offered +himself as a guest to the woman whom he believed to have held him +up to ridicule. Add to this George Sand's poignant distress at the +estrangement; add her categorical denial of the charge of portraiture; +add the fact that there is a perfectly simple explanation outside of the +whole matter, and this side of the case may be regarded as closed. +Whatever may be said about the merits of _Lucrezia Floriani_, two things +are certain--one that it was not intended by George Sand as a cause of +quarrel, the other that it was not so accepted at the time by Chopin. +Grant that, at a later period, his friends persuaded him of a +resemblance, which, but for them, he would never have imagined. They +knew that he had broken with George Sand; they took his side with a +natural partisanship; the weapon lay ready to their grasp; without +further thought or consideration they put it in employment. There are +some minds which always look for the 'originals' in a work of fiction. +Any chance trick of manner or turn of phrase is sufficient for +recognition--Numa Roumestan is Gambetta, Harold Skimpole is Leigh Hunt, +Falstaff is Sir John Oldcastle, and the rest of it. The scandal is +easily set afloat, and no man ever listens to a contradiction. + +This brings us to the second point. Is Prince Karol a portrait of +Chopin? and is his relation with Lucrezia a description of the +ten-years' friendship? To answer these questions in the negative, it is +only necessary to read the novel. Prince Karol is an idle, disconsolate +dreamer, and his story a tedious analysis of the more unamiable aspect +of passion. Their points of resemblance with their supposed prototypes +are exhausted in a few superficial accidents; in their essential +qualities they are far removed. Where is Chopin's humour, or his +buoyancy, or his generosity, or his genius? Where is the life of work +which it was the function of friendship to solace and encourage? The +whole book is one discordant love-duet, full of recriminations and +complaints, of selfish affection and suspicion and jealousy. Nothing +could be more unlike the phalanstery of the Cour d'Orléans, or the +frank, free comradeship of Nohant. And more, it is notorious that in all +George Sand's novels there is no real characterisation, much less its +attendant vice of portraiture. 'The artistic weakness of Madame Sand,' +says Mr Henry James, 'is that she never described the actual.' Here, +then, as elsewhere, Chopin's biographers are accusing her of the one +fault which is diametrically opposite to her nature. So far from her +characters being drawn from life, they were never even corrected by +life. They breathe a romantic atmosphere of their own, now fresh with +the purity of La Petite Fadette, now charged with the electric passion +of Valentine or Indiana, but at no time identical with the warm vital +air of true experience. + +Here, then, the case may be summed up. The novel was not conceived with +the intention of describing Chopin; the character of the hero is not +Chopin's character; the story of the hero is not Chopin's story. At the +time when the book was written, George Sand had no expectation of a +quarrel with her friend; she had certainly no desire to provoke one. He, +for his part, read the work through 'without the least inclination to +deceive himself,' without umbrage, without suspicion. The estrangement, +to whatever cause it was due, did not take place until after the +interval of some months; and among all conflicting explanations, that of +a breach with Maurice Sand is the most complete and the most probable. +Surely, in the face of this evidence, it is not too much to ask that the +accusation of portraiture be withdrawn. + +Another winter of illness and inaction filled the measure of Chopin's +trouble with the further anxiety of straitened means. In February 1848, +he was forced by sheer poverty to drag himself from his lodging, and +endure once more the labour and fatigue of a concert. It is worth noting +that he had at the time a score of manuscripts, the sale of which would +have relieved him: but they fell below his standard of self-criticism, +and he chose rather to sacrifice his inclination than to offer to the +world any work which he regarded as unworthy of his powers. Possibly he +looked upon his recent Violoncello Sonata as the beginning of the end: +in any case, he held his hand for the future, and allowed no other of +his compositions to be published. There is a real heroism in this +determination to give only of his best. We might well have forgiven him +if he had yielded to pressing need, and taken the readiest means of +evading an ordeal which, even in his days of health, he had always +feared and detested. But, from first to last, his artistic career was +singularly free from any taint of money-worship. The generosity, which +had so often aided poor dependents or exiled compatriots, found its +complement in a pride that would buy neither ease nor comfort at the +cost of reputation. + +In the latter part of February came the outbreak of the revolution, and +Chopin's further stay in Paris was rendered impossible. At no time could +he have heard the presage of war with the enthusiasm of Wagner or the +carelessness of Haydn: in his present state of infirmity and depression +it would have been mere madness to remain. He therefore accepted a +cordial invitation to England, crossed the channel with his pupil +Tellefsen for companion, and, about the end of April, established +himself in London, where he was soon surrounded with all the help which +kindness and sympathy can bestow. His visit to this country, which was +of little less than a year's duration, seems at first to have been +beneficial to him. His rooms in Dover Street were crowded with visitors, +his days 'passed,' as he says, 'like lightning;' he was even persuaded +to leave his retirement and give two recitals at the house of his friend +Mrs Sartoris. From August to October he travelled northward, giving +concerts at Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and enjoying with evident +pleasure the hospitality that met him at every stage. Yet even here we +may notice a tone of weariness in his letters, a sense of effort, made +rather to satisfy some external claim than to answer to any inward +stimulus. Now and again he can shake it off, and write with something of +his old buoyancy of spirits; then the burden returns, heavy with a +weight of listless indifference, or with a galling load of pain. And at +the approach of November there came an ominous change for the worse. The +stress of the summer produced an inevitable reaction, the frail body +sank back into weakness and suffering, the ebbing life throbbed every +day with a fainter pulse. Through the winter months he lay tossing with +impatience till he could regain strength enough to escape. London had +become unbearable. 'Another day here,' he writes in January, 'and I +shall go mad or die.' The whole mind is overstrung, jarred into discord +at a touch, or relapsing, not into quietude, but into the silence of +despair. + +His friends carried him back to Paris, where he lingered in slow wasting +disease until the autumn. A few days before his death, George Sand, +whose daughter was among the watchers at his bedside, came to his +lodging and asked to see him. We can well imagine the yearning anxiety +with which she stood for a moment on the threshold of reconciliation, +and the bitter disappointment when Gutmann closed the door and refused +her admittance. He was afraid, he tells us, that Chopin was too weak to +bear the agitation of such a meeting, that the memories of past +friendship and past estrangement were too heavily fraught with peril to +be recalled.[41] It may be that the decision was right, and yet Chopin +spoke of her and wondered at her absence. The fire of life is sacred in +its lowest embers, yet a breath of love might have fanned them into a +purer flame. In all Chopin's story, there is nothing more pathetic than +the narrow chasm which kept asunder two severed hearts at the very point +of union. + +[Illustration: Frederick Chopin.] + +On the morning of October 17, it was known that the end had come. The +tidings, though they could hardly have been unexpected, were heard +through the length and breadth of Paris with the greatest regret and +consternation. Everyone who had known Chopin felt his death as a +personal sorrow; one had been honoured by his friendship, another +enriched by his bounty, another gladdened by some kind word or some +pleasant greeting; there was no chance acquaintance but had felt his ray +of reflection from the master's life. For the rest, the whole world was +poorer for the loss of a genius, whose bare forty years of time had +sufficed to create a new musical language, and uphold a new idea of art. +All preparations were made to celebrate the funeral with befitting pomp. +At the Madeleine Mozart's _Requiem_ was sung over the bier, the +procession was joined by almost every man of note in Paris, and at Père +la Chaise, the coffin, covered with flowers and sprinkled with Polish +earth, was laid in a place of honour among the great French musicians. +The country of his adoption had cherished the exile in his life; in his +death, it was her privilege to show him honour. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[20] The so-called Étude in C minor, Op. 10, No. 12. + +[21] Letter to Dziewanowski (abridged), Jan. 1833. + +[22] Chopin had certainly composed some of these before his arrival in +Paris. + +[23] Professor Niecks' _Chopin_, Vol. i. p. 284. + +[24] Valse in A flat, Op. 69, No. 1. + +[25] See the pamphlet entitled _Une Contemporaine_, published during the +Revolution of 1848. + +[26] Karasowski, Vol. ii. p. 327. + +[27] George Sand, by Matthew Arnold. _Fortnightly Review_, June 1877. + +[28] Sainte-Beuve. _Portraits Contemporains_, i. 523. + +[29] Letter to Pierret, June 22, 1842. + +[30] 'Alles was sie fühlt und denkt haucht Tiefsinn und Anmuth.' Heine, +_Lutetia_, 'George Sand.' + +[31] See the letters of Feb. 15 and Ap. 7, 1852, quoted in Mrs +Sutherland Orr's _Life of Robert Browning_. + +[32] _Journal_, Vol. iii. p. 242 (Dec. 1, 1868). + +[33] Professor Niecks' _Chopin_, Vol. ii. p. 197. + +[34] See the Essay on George Sand, in Mr Henry James' _French Poets and +Novelists_. + +[35] There was a short visit to Genoa in the early part of May. + +[36] M. Brault's character can best be gauged from his pamphlet, _Une +Contemporaine_. See also the _Histoire de ma vie_, and George Sand's +letter of Aug. 9. + +[37] See George Sand's letter to Gutmann, May 12. + +[38] 'George Sand was a woman with a woman's ideal of gentleness, of the +"charm of good manners" as essential to civilisation.'--Matthew Arnold, +_Fortnightly Review_, June 1877. See Professor Niecks' _Chopin_, Vol. +ii. p. 200. + +[39] See George Sand's letter to Gutmann, May 12, 1847. + +[40] Liszt declares that the rupture took place at Nohant. If so, this +alternative is settled. + +[41] See Professor Niecks' _Chopin_, Vol. ii. p. 318. + + + + +III + +A LYRIC POET + + +It is intelligible that any attempt to explain the charm of Chopin's +music should provoke some attitude of impatience and revolt. His spirit, +we may be told, is too volatile for our clumsy alembics, too intangible +for our concrete methods of investigation; it eludes our glance, it +vanishes at our touch, it mocks with a foregone failure all our efforts +at description or analysis. The lyric gift, indeed, has always been +allowed a special immunity from criticism. In the larger fields of epic +and drama, the poet turns more directly to ourselves: he bids us +approach, he confers with us, he interprets for our hearing some great +truth of humanity, or some wise and searching judgment of life. But the +lyric poet stands apart, careless of our presence, oblivious of our +attention, pouring out his heart in a transport of purely personal joy +or sorrow, singing because he must, and not because there are any to +listen. Of his voice we may say, in the truest sense of the phrase, that +it is 'not heard but overheard.' Of his thought we may say, with most +justification, that it is self-centred, individual, characteristic. And +hence, in estimating him, it would seem that we are confronted by a +natural dilemma. Either we sympathise with his mood, and therefore +approve, or we fail to sympathise, and therefore stand outside the +limits of fair judgment. + +Upon this conclusion there are two words of comment to offer. In the +first place, the distinction itself is of far less importance in music +than in poetry; for music, as such, has no truth of life or nature to +interpret. When we speak of a symphony as epic, we are merely using a +convenient formula by which we may call attention to its breadth and +scale; we do not imply that it has any story to tell, or any record of +events to communicate. When we call an overture 'Tragic,' we mean that +it can evoke certain undefined impressions of gloom and grandeur; we do +not imply that it contains any outline of a plot or any suggestion of +_dramatis personæ_. No doubt there are in music differences of style, +consequent upon differences of dimension, just as in painting the manner +of a fresco will differ from that of a miniature. But in spirit the +whole art of music is equally subjective: equally intent on expressing, +through a medium of beautiful sound, the psychological conditions of the +composer. It stands in no direct relation to the external world; it +neither observes, nor depicts, nor criticises; its entire function is +the embodiment, so far as embodiment is possible, of an abstract idea. +If, therefore, when we apply the name 'lyric' to a musician, we mean to +lay stress on a certain quality of style, then we are using a term which +does not preclude, but invite, the application of the critical faculty. +If we mean by it a certain temper of mind, then the term ceases to be +distinctive as among musicians, for it belongs to all alike. + +In the second place, it is obvious that musical criticism must attach +itself primarily to questions of form. Grant that the art has room for +certain spiritual distinctions, which bear some remote and shadowy +resemblance to those of the great poets or of the great painters; +grant that we can describe Schumann's prevailing tone as manly, or +Mendelssohn's as tender; that we can notice a want of sternness in +Spohr, and a want of reticence in Berlioz; yet such judgments as these +are always liable to misuse, and, at best, are speedily exhausted. We +cannot imagine ourselves asking of the musicians, as Matthew Arnold asks +of the poets, whether their art contains an adequate criticism of life, +whether it is marked by insight and benignity. We feel at once that such +phrases are inapplicable to music, that they make it too articulate, too +definite, too precise. Again, when we read such a line as-- + + In la sua voluntade è nostra pace, + +there are two separate and distinct sources of our pleasure: first, the +pure serenity of the thought; secondly, the liquid perfection of the +verse. But when we turn to a melody of Beethoven, we find that here the +two aspects are inseparable: that the verse is the thought, that the +embodiment is the inspiration, and that it is virtually impossible to +formulate any test of the one which is not at the same time a test of +the other. The contrast will become still clearer if we take a poem in +which the two qualities are not both present. The epilogue in Browning's +_Asolando_, for example, can hardly be regarded as verse at all: but the +uncouthness which deprives it of any claim to the title of a classic, is +to most readers compensated by the spirit of sturdy courage that +animates it throughout. To this compensation there is no parallel in +Music. We may sometimes condone a fault in a melody otherwise +admirable--the second strain, for instance, in our ballad of 'The +Bailiff's Daughter'--but in so doing we set one portion of the form +against another; we do not set the form as a whole against some external +counterpart. In short, whatever can be said as to the conditions of +vitality in other arts, in Music, at least, it is true that a work is +great in proportion as its form is perfect. + +This perfection of form was Chopin's ostensible ideal. No composer in +the whole history of Music has laboured with a more earnest anxiety at +accuracy of outline and artistic symmetry of detail. We have here 'no +clattering of dishes at a royal banquet,' no casual indolence of +accompaniment; no gap filled with unmeaning brilliance or idle +commonplace: every effect is studied with deliberate purpose, and +wrought to the highest degree of finish that it can bear. Of course, the +thoughts were conceived spontaneously; no man could have written the +poorest of Chopin's works by rule and measure: but before they were +deemed ready for presentation they were tried by every test, and +confronted with every alternative which a scrupulous ingenuity could +propose. It is no small commendation that workmanship so elaborate +should be beyond the reach of any imitator. As a rule, it is the +dashing, daring, impetuous pioneer in Art who distances all followers, +and finds himself, he hardly knows how, on a height that they can never +hope to attain: in this case the climber has planted every footstep with +a careful circumspection, he has employed all his prudence, all his +foresight, all his certain command of resource, and yet, at the end of +the ascent he stands alone. The reason for this is twofold: first, that +Chopin's intuition of style was a natural gift which few other +composers have possessed in an equal degree: second, that he brought +to its cultivation not only an untiring diligence, but a delicacy of +taste which is hardly ever at fault. His limitations are plain +and unmistakable. For the larger types of the art, for the broad +architectonic laws of structure on which they are based, he exhibited +an almost total disregard. His works in 'Sonata form,' and in the +forms cognate to the Sonata, are, with no exception, the failures +of a genius that has altogether overstepped its bounds. Of Choral +compositions, of Symphony, of Opera, he has not left us a single +example. But when all this has been admitted, it still remains true +that he is a great master, great in his exquisite sense of beauty, in +his almost unerring skill, and in the deliberate and reasoned audacity +with which he has extended the range of musical expression. + +Like all modern composers of acknowledged rank, Chopin was strongly +influenced by the popular music of his native country. As a child, he +had been fond of collecting and studying the folk-songs which he heard +at harvest field or market or village festival; they supplied him with +his first models, and in some cases with his first themes as well. In +later life, their impression deepened rather than faded. He always +thought of himself as a national poet: 'I should like,' he told Hiller, +'to be to my people what Uhland is to the Germans.' No doubt the +external qualities of his music are entirely his own: the richness of +harmony, the complexity of figure, the delicate elaboration of +ornament; but the texture which these colour and adorn is essentially of +native growth and native substance. In a word, he made precisely the +right use of national materials, taking them as a basis, and developing +them into fuller beauty by the force and brilliance of his own personal +genius. + +There are three chief ways in which this national influence affected his +work. In the first place, the popular music of Poland, unlike that of +Italy or Germany, is almost invariably founded on dance forms and dance +rhythms. Its gifts to the art of Europe are the Polonaise, the +Krakowiak, and the Mazurka: types which, however widely they may differ +in grade of social acceptance, are all essentially Polish in history and +character. The very ballads of the country have the same lilt and +cadence; they are primitive dances not yet differentiated from the use +of words. They move with recurrent figure, with exact balance of melodic +phrase, with that precise symmetry which is required by a 'Muse of the +many-twinkling feet.' And it is hardly necessary to point out that in +this respect Chopin is a true Pole. More than a quarter of his entire +composition is devoted ostensibly to dance forms; and throughout the +rest of it their effect may be traced in a hundred phrases and episodes. +Grant that his treatment of the rhythmic figures is very different from +the simple _naïvité_ of his models: we are here discussing not treatment +but conception, and in conception his indebtedness to his country is +incontestable. His Mazurkas, in short, bear somewhat the same relation +to the tunes of the peasantry as the songs of Robert Burns to those of +the forerunners whom he superseded. + +A second point of resemblance is Chopin's habit of founding a whole +paragraph either on a single phrase repeated in similar shapes, or on +two phrases in alternation. By itself this practice is primitive almost +to barbarism, and its employment in many of the Polish folk-songs is a +serious depreciation of their artistic value. But when it is confined to +an episodical passage, especially in a composition founded on a striking +or important melody, it may serve as a very justifiable point of rest, a +background of which the interest is purposely toned down to provide a +more striking contrast with the central figure. Of its illegitimate use +a noticeable example may be found in the 'Spring Song,' which, it must +be remembered, Chopin never intended to publish: its true and right +employment will be seen in many of the Mazurkas--such, for instance, +as the first (in F sharp minor), the fifth (in B flat), and the +thirty-seventh (in A flat), which is, perhaps, the most beautiful of +all. In the longer works, which are the more varied in proportion to +their greater scale, we should hardly expect to find examples of a +mannerism which, by its very nature, stands at the opposite pole from +variation: but its influence may be noticed in the short, clear-cut +phrases and exact balance of such compositions as the Scherzo in C sharp +minor. No doubt much of this exactitude is due to an intense desire for +clearness and precision: yet none the less the particular way in which +that desire is satisfied may be regarded as characteristic of the +national manner. Beethoven does not attain the lucidity of his style by +such close parallelism of phraseology. + +Thirdly, Chopin was to some extent affected by the tonality of his +native music. A large number of the Polish folk-songs are written, not +in our modern scale, but in one or other of the ecclesiastical modes: +notably the Lydian, which has its fourth note a semitone sharper, and +the Dorian, which has its third and seventh notes a semitone flatter +than the major scale of Western Europe. Some, again, end on what we +should call dominant harmony; a clear survival of the ecclesiastical +distinction between plagal and authentic. Of this tonal system, some +positive traces may be found in the Mazurkas, the cadences of the +thirteenth, seventeenth and twenty-fifth, the frequent use of a +sharpened subdominant, and the like; while on the negative side it may +perhaps account for Chopin's indifference to the requirements of +key-relationship. Not only in his efforts at Sonata form does he show +himself usually unable to hold together a complex scheme of keys, but in +works of a more loose structure his choice seems to be regulated rather +by hazard than by any preconceived plan. Sometimes, as in the end +of the F major Ballade, he deliberately strays away from a logical +conclusion;[42] sometimes, as in the sixth Nocturne, he forces himself +back with a sudden and inartistic violence; more often he allows his +modulations to carry him where they will, and is so intent on perfecting +each phrase and each melody that he has no regard left to bestow on the +general principles of construction. No doubt some of this weakness was +due to defective training, some, also, to the prevailing spirit and +temper of the Romantic movement. But, in Chopin's case, there was a +special reason beyond. As a Pole, he approached our western key system +from the outside, and although he learned its language with wonderful +skill and facility, he never wholly assimilated himself to the method of +thought which it implies. + +It is quite possible that, in any case, Chopin would have found himself +incapable of dealing with large masses. The want of virility, which has +already been noted in his character, appears beyond question in his +music; leaving untouched all the grace and tenderness, all the rare and +precious qualities of workmanship, but relaxing into an almost +inevitable weakness at any crisis which demands sustained force or +tenacity. When he is at his strongest, we miss that sense of reserve +power, that quiet irresistible force, 'too full for sound or foam,' +which characterises the dignity of the noblest art. He can be +passionate, vehement, impetuous, but he expends himself in the effort. +He can express agitation, challenge, defiance, but he lacks the royal +magnanimity that will never stoop to defy. Even his melody is never +sublime, never at the highest level. Its more serious mood stands to the +great tunes of Beethoven as Leopardi stands to Dante, rising for a +moment on a few perfect lines to follow the master's flight, and then +sinking back to earth under some load of weariness or impatience. + +Take, for instance, the B flat minor Sonata, in which Chopin most nearly +approximates to the 'grand manner' of composition. The first movement, +regarded by itself, is a masterpiece; its exposition clear and concise, +its subjects well contrasted, one for thematic treatment and one for +melody, its free fantasia an admirable example of an established type, +and its recapitulation, though a little too short for perfect balance, a +firm and lucid statement which sums up its results without a bar of +vagueness or uncertainty. Not less complete is the Scherzo, which +develops the simple forms of Mozart and Beethoven without obscuring +their outline, and, despite all its rush and vigour, never allows its +themes to get out of hand or to pass beyond the legitimate bounds of +control. But from this point the value of the Sonata steadily declines. +Schumann undoubtedly hits the blot when he declares that the great +Funeral March ought never to have formed part of the work at all. As a +separate piece it is of incomparable beauty; as the adagio of this +particular Sonata it is wholly out of place. Its key is ill selected in +relation to the rest of the composition; its contrasts of theme bear too +much resemblance to those of the first movement; worst of all, its form +is precisely the same as that of the Scherzo; and these objections, not +one of which affects the movement in itself, are no less than fatal to +it in its present context. The Finale, again, has neither the breadth +nor the dignity requisite for its position. Its structure, though +perfectly clear, is too simple and primitive to justify it as the +fitting conclusion of an important work; and its persistent rhythmic +figure gives it somewhat the air of an impromptu. If we had found it in +the Volume of _Preludes_, we should have felt for it nothing but +admiration; here, its inadequacy is so obvious that the greater part of +critical attention has been distracted from its undeniable merits. In +short, the first half of the Sonata gives promise of a Classic such as, +with one exception, the world had not seen since the death of Beethoven; +the second half, though almost every bar contains something that is +beautiful, is a disappointment and a failure. Icarus has flown too near +the sun, and the borrowed wings have no longer the strength to support +him. + +This want of manliness, moral and intellectual, marks the one great +limitation of Chopin's province. It is, of course, wholly unreasonable +to make it a subject of complaint; we might as well complain of Keats +for not being Milton; or depreciate Carpaccio because the genius of +Titian has the wider expanse. The lines of _Endymion_ are not less +musical because the poem, as a whole, falls below the epic level, and if +they were, we have 'La Belle Dame sans Merci,' and the Sonnets and the +five Odes. The Saint Ursula pictures are not less sweet and gracious +because they lack the majesty of the 'Assumption;' and if they were, we +could solace ourselves with the 'St George' and the 'St Jerome.' And +similarly, if we accept from Chopin what he has to give, we shall be in +no mind to bear malice for what he is forced to withhold. His passion is +so keen and vital, his melody so winning, his love of beauty so +single-hearted, that to demand the sterner qualities is almost an act of +ingratitude. He knows the full secret of that mysterious power--so easy +to feel, so impossible to define--through which music fulfils its +function of suggesting and typifying emotion. He can appeal to our +sensuous nature with a mastery which is almost irresistible, and he +never degrades the appeal into vulgarity or sensationalism. Under his +spell even the display of technical difficulty acquires life and +significance. His Studies, avowedly classed as exercises of dexterity, +stand to those of other writers as pictures to freehand drawing. His +'virtuoso passages' differ from those of Herz, and Hunten, and even +Thalberg, as a pianoforte differs from a barrel-organ. In his lightest +moment he is a poet: graceful in fancy, felicitous in expression, and +instinct with the living spirit of romance. + +There is hardly need to select examples of a gift which he exhibits on +almost every page, yet a few typical instances may serve to concentrate +our attention for a moment on the characteristic features of his melody, +and to show the particular way in which he fulfilled the first requisite +of a composer. Apart from works already considered, some special study +may be given to the two Nocturnes, Op. 37, to the Ballade in A flat, to +the second and third Impromptus, to the wonderful Étude in F minor, +written for Moscheles, and to the fourth, eighth, fifteenth, nineteenth +and twenty-third of the Preludes. These compositions are chosen, not +because they are more tuneful than the rest--that is a question upon +which every hearer must consult his own judgment--but because their +elements of tunefulness seem to be in an eminent degree central and +representative. No doubt many favourites will be found missing from the +catalogue, the Prelude in C minor, the Nocturne in D flat, the more +famous of the Waltzes and Polonaises; they have been purposely omitted, +because, with all their beauty, they only contain tendencies of thought +and manner which the list already exemplifies. As a rule, except for +an occasional _appoggiatura_, Chopin keeps his melody within the +strict limits of the diatonic scale, or of some equally diatonic +ecclesiastical mode, and uses his chromatic effects sometimes for the +accompaniment figure, sometimes for the subsequent thematic treatment. +His tunes, for the most part, are as simple in outline as folk-songs, +and the moods which they imply, whether melancholy, tender, playful or +passionate, are an outcome of the more direct personal emotions. +Sometimes his thought is as transparent as that of a child, and appeals +to our sympathy with all a child's unquestioning and irresistible +confidence. Sometimes he strikes a deeper note with a no less frank, +outspoken freedom of disclosure. And always, whether severe or vehement, +whether gay or dejected, he offers for our admiration the same +perfection of curve, the same delicate balance of rhythm, and the same +plasticity of melodic stanza. + +There are two characteristics in Chopin's music which deserve some +detailed consideration,--first, his sense of harmony; second, his use of +accompaniment figures. No doubt, as standpoints for general criticism, +they are not of parallel importance; the one implies a habit of mind as +a whole, the other denotes a degree of technical skill and technical +efficiency. But in both respects Chopin occupies a position so far apart +from that of other composers--in both his manner is so original, so +unique, so far removed from common or customary ways--that in his work +they assume an almost equal value and interest. Again, in estimating +their worth, we are dealing with a more definite and concrete material +than when we endeavour to outline with words the impalpable spirit of +melody. The tunes of a musician, though they constitute the chief part +of his gift, constitute also that part which least admits of any +profitable discussion; and the very qualities, through which alone they +are susceptible of analysis, can be more easily noted and appraised in +the secondary functions of treatment and elaboration. We cannot gauge +the success of an effort unless we have already ascertained its +intention; and the intention, though not always obscure in melody, is +undoubtedly clearer to trace in the polyphonic scheme by which melody is +supported and sustained. + +Now, when we examine Chopin's harmony, we are at once struck with an +apparent contradiction. We feel that, in its broader aspects, it is +wonderfully pure and lucid, flowing along an established course, +deviating but little from the simpler and more ordinary progressions. +Yet every now and again we come across passages, the sight of which is +enough to make orthodox professors of music 'stare and gasp;'--passages +which seem to break with resolute and unflinching defiance the +elementary rules that stand at the beginning of our text-books. Worst of +all, these apparent solecisms, the commission of which by any other hand +would be wholly intolerable, offer themselves to our notice as though +they were the most natural and regular forms of expression. They are not +obvious slips, like the 'misprint' in the Ninth Symphony; they are not +importations from some alien musical language, like the occasional +extravagances of Grieg or Dvořák; on the contrary, they take our +recognised system of harmonic laws, and literally honour it more in the +breach than the observance. Are consecutive fifths and octaves +forbidden? There is, in one of the Études, a delightful passage, which +consists exclusively of the prohibited intervals.[43] Are consecutive +major thirds justly regarded as harsh and dissonant? Chopin, at his +dreamiest and most contemplative, can employ them with unfailing +effect.[44] Is the dominant seventh a chord which, to all well-regulated +ears, demands instant resolution? The twenty-first Mazurka rejects the +claim, and sends one floating down four bars of chromatic scale with no +hope of rest until it reaches the bottom. And the manner of composition +which these instances exemplify can be traced in plenty of other +phrases, less extreme, perhaps, but not less audacious. In parts of the +fourth and sixth Nocturnes we can find harmonic schemes which it is +probable no other musician would have ever dared to devise, schemes +which set at naught our established distinctions of concord and discord, +which display in unbroken series artifices that are usually kept for +single isolated points of excitement, and which, nevertheless, are as +undoubtedly intentional as they are undeniably successful in their aim. + +There is no shirking the difficulty. Here is a composer who is brought +up on Bach, and whose general sense of harmony is as pure and sincere as +that of his great master. Here are passages, written by him with obvious +care and deliberation, the acceptance of which would seem impossible +without throwing discredit on the harmonic code. And, as climax of +bewilderment, the code is right and the passages are beautiful. It may +certainly appear for the moment as though there were no solution in view +unless we take a despairing refuge in some Hegelian identification of +opposites. + +Now, the impression which harmony produces is that of a third dimension +in Music. It is the element of solidity and substance on which the +melody rests. In a Chorale, for instance, the tune describes a sort of +pattern on the superficies of the work, and the chords sustain and +support it from underneath. And just as certain tunes can give us the +effect of breadth, that is, of wide sweep over their superficial area, +so certain harmonisations give us the effect of massiveness, that is, of +strength and bulk in its substratum. It is not, of course, pretended +that the artistic value of a composition can be summed up in so crude a +metaphor: nothing more is attempted than to represent the one factor in +the case, which is germane to the present purpose. Further, all the +harmonic rules have been devised with a view to making the solid body of +the Music as firm and compact as possible. They deal with the +substratum, not with the superficies; with the perpendicular aspect, not +with the horizontal. The law of consecutives is not held to be broken if +in an orchestral piece a violin phrase is doubled by the violoncello or +the bassoon: such a device gives us the lines of the pattern in +duplicate, and lies altogether outside the material on which the pattern +is superimposed. So in these disputed passages of Chopin. They are not +really harmonic at all, they lie in the same plane as the melody, and, +for their support, imply a separate and distinct scheme of chords, which +the ear can always understand for itself. + +A few examples may help to make this clearer. In the twelfth bar of the +well-known Nocturne in E flat (Op. 9, No. 2), there is a connecting +passage which, when we see it on paper, seems to consist of a rapid +series of remote and recondite modulations. When we hear it played in +the manner which Chopin intended, we feel that there is only one real +modulation, and that the rest of the passage is an iridescent play of +colour, an effect of superficies, not an effect of substance. Precisely +the same impression is produced in the middle section of the sixth +Nocturne, and in the return to the opening theme at the end of the +fifteenth. So it is with these apparent consecutives. They are not +ungrammatical, because, like the Emperor Sigismund, they are 'supra +grammaticam:' they do not defy harmonic laws because they belong to a +different jurisdiction: in a word, they are to be treated not as +harmonisations of their theme, but rather as new forms of melodic +extension. Their real harmony is implied, not expressed: a construction +to be understood from the general context and tenour of the passage: and +it is because the general tenour is unmistakable that these 'sense +constructions' are fully justified. Chopin's harmonic system, in short, +is like a river--its surface windswept into a thousand variable crests +and eddies, its current moving onward, full, steadfast and inevitable, +bearing the whole volume of its waters by sheer force of depth and +impetus. + +Hence it is that of all musicians he is most at the mercy of his +interpreters. Beethoven's _Adelaide_ is 'so beautiful' that not even Mr +du Maurier's tenor 'can make it ridiculous:' but there are few of us who +have not seen Chopin crushed out of recognition in the grasp of some +conscientious and heavy-handed pianist. These surface-effects lose all +their charm if they are played with stress and insistance, if they are +forced down into a third dimension, which they were never intended to +fill. There is much of Chopin's music in which solidity of execution is +as fatal as strictness of time; in which the phrases are essentially +light, wayward, aerial, demanding for their interpretation not only the +most flexible sympathy of feeling, but the daintiest delicacy of touch. +Even Moscheles, great musician as he was, found himself baffled by the +new style. 'Chopin has just been playing to me,' he writes, 'and now for +the first time I understand his music. The _rubato_, which, with his +other interpreters, degenerates into disregard of time, is with him only +a charming originality of manner: the harsh modulations which strike me +disagreeably when I am playing his compositions no longer shock me, +because he glides over them in a fairy-like way with his delicate +fingers. His _piano_ is so soft that he does not need any strong _forte_ +to produce his contrasts: and for this reason one does not miss the +orchestral effects which the German school requires from a pianoforte +player, but allows oneself to be carried away as by a singer who, little +concerned about the accompaniment, entirely follows his emotion.' We of +the present day may express ourselves with more warmth of approbation; +but if we wish to understand Chopin, this is the standpoint from which +we must regard him. + +The second point for consideration is the almost incomparable power +which Chopin displays in his use of accessory figures. By figure, in +this sense, is meant a certain group of notes, having a clearly defined +curve and rhythm, and maintained, with such changes as the harmony +necessitates, through a phrase, or a paragraph, or even a complete +work. In the use of this device there are two difficulties against +which a composer has to contend. On the one hand, the group, if it is to +command any part of the hearer's attention, must exhibit a distinct +character, almost a distinct melody of its own; on the other hand, it +will fail of its purpose unless it is sufficiently plastic to be adapted +to different context and different requirements. Now, it is obvious that +the more allegiance is claimed by the first of these conditions, the +more skill is needed in order to satisfy the second. A figure which +consists merely of simple _arpeggios_ or of plain repeated chords can +suffer any degree of harmonic alteration without loss of continuity; but +as its intrinsic interest is heightened, either by elaboration of curve +or by peculiarity of rhythm, so it becomes more individual, and +therefore, under a change of circumstance, more difficult to adjust. +Thus it not infrequently happens that a composer is forced to remodel +his scheme because the group of notes which he has devised to support +the first strain of his melody proves unsuitable to the next; or because +a curve, that can adequately fill a bar of uniform harmony, may lose all +fitness when applied to a bar in which the harmony changes. In +Schumann's _Widmung_, for instance, the beautiful accompaniment figure +wavers in the third bar, and breaks down altogether in the fourth; not +because the composer wishes to put forward a new pattern, for he retains +the rhythm of the old, but because nothing short of a total alteration +of curve will satisfy the harmonic conditions of the tune. + +But, so far as concerns this particular exhibition of skill, we never +feel that Chopin is at the mercy of his materials. His simplest figures +are interesting, his most elaborate are moulded to his use with an +entire and unhesitating mastery. Under his hand the stubborn edges grow +smooth, the obdurate lines become pliant and tractable, the recurrent +shape preserves its unity without appearing wearisome or monotonous. The +Prelude in F sharp minor (No. 8) is perhaps the most astonishing +instance in music of this particular form of decorative effect; and +hardly less remarkable are the Étude in E flat minor (Op. 10, No. 6), +the Prelude in G major (No. 3), and the Prelude in F sharp major (No. +13). Indeed, Chopin's method of ornament is altogether his own; sensuous +it may be in origin, evoked, at any rate in part, by an imperious +craving for the pleasure of beautiful sound, but yet raised to the true +artistic level by its refinement of taste and its finished accuracy of +detail. It is no small matter that a type of art which appeals so +frequently to sense and emotion should never be either vulgar or trivial +or commonplace; that there should be nothing meretricious in its +sentiment, nothing indolent in its expression; that with every incentive +to a lax and careless Hedonism it should yet maintain an ideal of +unswerving labour. + +So far Chopin's music has been treated from the creative side. It now +remains to add a few words on the peculiar tact and intelligence with +which he employs his medium. In pictorial art this quality is of +acknowledged importance: oil, water, pastel, have their own conditions +and their own limitations, to overstep which is to invite failure; and +it is recognised as an adverse criticism if we can say of an example in +any one process that its effects could have been equally well produced +by another. + +The same law is valid in musical art. The orchestra, the string +quartett, the organ, the pianoforte, are so diverse in tone and so +disparate in character, that they admit no community of treatment, and +hardly even a close community of idea. An arrangement may sometimes be +condoned as a _tour de force_, it may sometimes be allowed as a +preparation or a means of study, but to regard it as possessing +any absolute value is to convict the original work of a serious +imperfection. It is, therefore, a high testimony to the exactitude of +Chopin's writing that it has almost entirely escaped the sacrilegious +hand of the transcriber. Some of the Mazurkas are occasionally adapted +for the voice, one or two of the Nocturnes misused to the service of the +violin or the violoncello: but by far the greater number of Chopin's +compositions are too obviously suited to the piano for any other medium +to be regarded as possible. His very narrowness gave him concentration: +his want of sympathy with all other instruments enabled him to devote +his whole attention to the one that he understood. And, as a result, he +gives us Pianoforte Music which, considered as a pure expression of +technical intelligence, is almost without rival in the history of the +art. No other composer has ever surpassed the unerring judgment to which +we owe these wide-spread _arpeggios_, these wonderful liquid ripples of +chromatic scale, these showers of sparkling notes which fall, as Liszt +said, 'like dew drops' on some bend of phrase or turn of cadence. +Beethoven, of course, understood the piano as fully as he understood +everything else: but since Beethoven's time musicians, and especially +romantic musicians, have a little tended to blur and obliterate these +necessary distinctions, and to merge a due recognition of piano +technique into their overmastering desire for emotional significance. +Hence the fatal error of trying to extract orchestral effects from the +keyboard, an error into which Schumann falls occasionally, and Liszt +habitually, but from which Chopin may be regarded as entirely free. In +a word, he appreciates both the capacities and the limitations of +his material, and, while he draws from it every tone that it can +legitimately produce, he never strains it beyond the due and fitting +bounds of its proper individuality. It may be noted that Mendelssohn had +something of the same gift, but in pianoforte music, Mendelssohn's +thought is shallower than that of Chopin, and, therefore, more easily +kept within its range. Indeed, since 1827, there has been no composer +who could unite such poignancy of feeling with so exact an estimate of +the means at his disposal. + +To sum up, Chopin can claim no place among the few greatest masters of +the world. He lacks the dignity, the breadth, the high seriousness of +Palestrina and Bach and Beethoven: he no more ranks beside them than +Shelley beside Shakespear, or Andrea beside Michael Angelo. But to say +this is not to disparage the value of the work that he has done. If he +be not of the 'di majorum gentium,' he is none the less of the +Immortals, filled with a supreme sense of beauty, animated by an +emotional impulse as keen as it was varied, and upholding an ideal of +technical perfection at a time when it was in danger of being lost by +the poets or degraded by the _virtuosi_. In certain definite directions +he has enlarged the possibilities of the art, and though he has, +fortunately, founded no school--for the charm of his music is wholly +personal--yet in a thousand indirect ways he has influenced the work of +his successors. At the same time, it is not as a pioneer that he elicits +our fullest admiration. We hardly think of him as marking a stage in the +general course and progress of artistic History, but, rather, as +standing aside from it, unconscious of his relation to the world, +preoccupied with the fairyland of his own creations. The elements of +myth and legend that have already gathered round his name may almost be +said to find their counterparts in his music; it is etherial, unearthly, +enchanted, an echo from the melodies of Kubla Khan. It is for this +reason that he can only make his complete appeal to certain moods and +certain temperaments. The strength of the hero is as little his as the +vulgarity of the demagogue: he possesses an intermediate kingdom of +dreams, an isle of fantasy, where the air is drowsy with perfume, and +the woods are bright with butterflies, and the long gorges run down to +meet the sea. If his music is sometimes visionary, at least it is all +beautiful; offering, it may be, no response to the deeper questions of +our life, careless if we approach it with problems which it is in no +mind to resolve, but fascinating in its magic if we are content to +submit our imagination to the spell. And precisely the same distinction +may be made on the formal side of his work. In structure he is a child, +playing with a few simple types, and almost helpless as soon as he +advances beyond them; in phraseology he is a master whose felicitous +perfection of style is one of the abiding treasures of the art. There +have been higher ideals in Music, but not one that has been more clearly +seen or more consistently followed. There have been nobler messages, but +none delivered with a sweeter or more persuasive eloquence. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[42] The Ballade, which originally ended in F major, was altered to its +present conclusion by an afterthought. See the review of it in +Schumann's _Collected Works_. + +[43] Étude in D flat, Op. 25, No. 8. + +[44] Étude in A flat, without Opus number. + + + + +ANTONIN DVOŘÁK. + + + Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille, + Sich ein Character in dem Strom der Welt. + + GOETHE. + + + + +I + +DAYS OF PREPARATION + + +The village of Nelahozeves lies on the Moldau, about a mile to the north +of Kralup. The clean, well-kept cottages sun themselves upon a slope of +the low hills, or nestle among the trees by the river bank; a tiny +street comes trickling along the shallow dale like a tributary; at its +mouth a great square castle rises on a spur of jutting sandstone and +seems to dominate the very landscape by feudal right. Behind are uplands +of corn and pasture and orchard, where you may idle for half a summer's +afternoon, watching the play of light tremulous among the leaves, the +smoke curling lazily from the cluster of red roofs, and below them the +brown turbid river and the long timber-rafts floating down to the Elbe. + +It is one of the quietest of places: hardly a sound, hardly an animal, +hardly a sign of life. There are a few geese meditating undisturbed in +the roadway, there is a knot of children busy with some inexplicable +game in a corner of waste ground; now and again a couple of gossips come +to fill their shapely wooden cans at the village well, or a slow, +patient ox-cart bears down its fragrant load from the hay-field. For the +rest, everything is fast asleep, secure in a bounteous land that asks +but little labour for the satisfaction of daily needs, and secure, too, +under the government of Prince Lobkowitz, who owns the castle and the +village and half the country-side, and who, though he never comes to +live among his own people, has always administered his territory with +justice and beneficence. + +At the bottom of the street a lane turns across toward the church, +passing on its way a homestead which could take rank with an English +farm-house of moderate pretension. An arched gateway gives access to a +long, narrow court-yard, flanked on the one side by a solid, two-storey +building, white-walled and red-roofed like its neighbours; on the other +by a lower range of offices and storehouses; while at the back, behind +the stable, runs a rough wall, surmounted by a statue of St Florian; +and, carrying the eye upward, through a strip of coarse paddock, to the +hedgerows and cornfields of the higher slope. A sign over the entrance +announces that the place is still the village inn, as it was half a +century ago, when Pán František Dvořák held it in tenancy and served +his customers in the little taproom by the door. + +Among the villagers Pán Dvořák was a person of some consequence. For +one thing, he belonged to a family old and respected--a peasant stock +that had grown and flourished from the earliest times that memory could +record; for another, he had married the daughter of one of the Prince's +bailiffs, and so caught a faint reflection from the remote and +inaccessible glories of the castle. Again, he was butcher as well as +innkeeper, and so represented the centre of village trade, as well as +the focus of village conviviality; and, to crown all, he was personally +popular--a handsome, active youngster of eight-and-twenty, vigorous, +alert, clean-limbed; and a good musician, too, who of an evening would +bring his zither under the great walnut tree and delight his guests with +'Hej Slované' or 'Sedlák Sedlák,' or the new national anthem that was +going to rouse Bohemia against Austrian oppression. It is only natural +that he should figure large in the public gaze, and that there should be +great rejoicings when, on September 8, 1841, the villagers assembled to +drink the health of his firstborn. + +The child grew up into a sturdy, broad-shouldered boy, with brown eyes, +dark complexion, and a tangle of black hair--keen and adventurous in +character, ready to join in any sports that were afoot, and, as +tradition still attests, well able to hold his own in conflict. From the +first he was passionately fond of music--listening in eager enjoyment +when his father played to him, or when, on some lucky day, a band of +wandering musicians would come from Kralup or Prague or even Pressnitz, +and earn itself a welcome at the inn door. Better still were the times +of village holiday, when the street was gay with stalls, and the dancers +wore down the evening sun--Lenka in snowy hood and bright kirtle, Hanik +in jaunty hat, long coat and drab knee-breeches, threading the mazes of +Polka and Furiant until the fiddlers gave in for very weariness. It was +a childhood of simple pleasures and healthy out-door life, full of +colour, full of melody, the first preparation for a brilliant and +honourable artistic career. + +Meantime the more serious part of Dvořák's education was entrusted to +an amiable pedagogue called Josef Spitz, who kept the village school at +the street corner, and who not only taught his new scholar the rudiments +of letters, but, what was more important, gave him his first lessons in +singing and the violin. When he was twelve years old, the boy was sent +to live with an uncle at Zlonic, in the coal country, where there was a +better school and a wider opportunity of study. He had already made some +advance in his two branches of music--enough, at any rate, for him to +have taken the solos in the church choir at home, and to have borne an +efficient part in the local orchestra: now, under the tuition of +Liehmann, the Zlonic organist, he ventured out into new fields, and +learned something not only of organ and piano but of the elements of +musical theory. No doubt the instruction was very imperfect and very +narrow of range, but within its limits it was gratefully accepted; and +the old kapellmeister deserves some honourable mention as having been +the first to discover evidences of unusual capacity in his shy, +simple-hearted pupil. In 1855 came another transference; this time to +Böhmisch-Kamnitz, where Dvořák learned German, and continued his +musical studies with the organist Hancke; and then appeared an obstacle +which seemed likely to block progress altogether. His father had +recently removed to Zlonic in order to open a new shop on a larger +scale; another hand was wanted to carry on the trade; and Antonin, at +the age of fifteen, was told to regard his education as finished, and to +return at once to the real business of his life. + +It is easy enough to emphasise the incongruity of the situation: to +recall Burns the gauger and Keats the apothecary's drudge: to condole +with an artist who, like Fortuny, has to seek inspiration from the +shambles. It is still easier to be wise after the event, and condemn, as +tyrannous and unreasonable, a decision which time has signally refuted. +But there are here two considerations which may serve, in some degree, +to modify judgment. In the first place, the condition of music in +Bohemia was, at this time, entirely different from that in France +or Germany: its outlook far more desperate, its prizes far more +unattainable. Nearly all the posts were held by Germans, and native +talent, unless it could afford the price of expatriation, might readily +find itself reduced to gathering pence by the wayside, or at most, would +earn its reward in some village organistship--scanty, obscure and +ill-paid, with little opportunity in the present and with no hope of +further advance. No one could have foreseen that, within six years, a +national art would spring into sudden and unexpected existence--bringing +with it a means of expression which, in 1856, lay outside the reach of +the most sanguine hope. It may be true that the darkest hour is that +which precedes the dawn; but, for all this, it takes a robust faith to +infer the dawn from the darkness. And, in the second place, the boy had +as yet neither the education nor the material to offer his father any +convincing proofs of genius. So far as we know, he had never written a +note of music, and, though he could play skilfully on two or three +instruments, there was no very great likelihood of his making his name +as a virtuoso. His credentials were the reports of three village +schoolmasters: his attainment was but a promise which the subsequent +career might have failed to ratify. In a word, the capacity was +uncertain, the chances of a career were almost non-existent: surely it +was not unnatural that a plain man, who had no gift of prophecy, should +balance present alternatives and sum them up in favour of competence and +comfort. + +At any rate, whether justified or not, the order was irrevocable. Pleas +and entreaties proved equally unavailing, Hancke's protests fell upon +deaf ears, and at last Dvořák reluctantly prepared to leave Kamnitz +and to sacrifice all prospects of an artistic profession. But before +yielding, he determined to make one more bid for freedom. Hitherto his +father had known him only as an executant: perhaps the case would be +altered if he could present himself as a composer. There were plenty of +people in the country-side who could sing and play; it was little wonder +if, amid that undistinguished crowd, his abilities were unnoticed; but +to write music brings a man to the forefront, and shows a gift which it +may be profitable to stimulate and encourage. He therefore prepared his +last appeal in the shape of an original polka; copied the band parts, +distributed them secretly among the Zlonic musicians, and, after a few +days of breathless anticipation, launched his _coup de théâtre_ for the +conversion of an unexpectant household. It is better to draw a veil over +the performance. The composer did not know that the trumpet is a +transposing instrument: strings and wind contended strenuously in +different keys; there was an agonised moment of jagged and excruciating +discord; and it is not surprising that the family remained unconvinced. +There is some little irony in the disaster, if it be remembered that +among all Dvořák's gifts the instinct of orchestration is perhaps +the most conspicuous. He is the greatest living exponent of the art; and +he was once in danger of forfeiting his career through ignorance of its +most elementary principle. + +After so inopportune a failure, there was nothing left but submission, +and for little short of a year Dvořák set himself with a good grace +to accept the inevitable. But by the spring of 1857 he began to feel +that the position was impossible, and once more assailed his father with +urgent entreaties. There were his brothers--František, Josef, Adolf, +Karel--growing up to take his place in the shop; there was no pressing +need that he should remain any longer at work which he found wholly +uncongenial; he was sure that he could succeed as a musician, and +whether he succeeded or not, his whole heart was set upon the attempt. +At last, after some months of anxious discussion, he carried his point, +and in October set out for Prague--full of hope, full of ambition, eager +to explore a realm of which hitherto he could hardly be said to have +passed the frontier. + +At Prague he entered the Organ School (founded some thirty years before +by a society for the encouragement of ecclesiastical music), and, from +1857 to 1860, worked his way through a period of diligent and laborious +studentship. The difficulties that beset him were even greater than +those that traditionally obstruct the path of genius. At first, no +doubt, his father was able to make him a small monthly allowance; but +even this slender income had soon to be withdrawn, and the boy, at +sixteen years of age, was left to maintain himself by an art of which he +knew little more than the rudiments, in a city which was almost wholly +barren of opportunities. And it was not only the material problems of +food and lodging that pressed him for a solution. He had learned next to +nothing of composition, he was totally unacquainted with the great +classics, he had no books and no money to buy them; even the teaching of +his school seems to have been mainly concentrated upon organ technique, +and to have given little or no assistance in wider fields of study. +Berlioz was poor, but at least he had the library of the Paris +Conservatoire. Wagner spent two years of grinding poverty, but at least +he could compensate them with 'Rienzi' and the 'Flying Dutchman.' Here +is a case in which everything alike is denied--not only recognition but +power, not only the rewards of life but its very appliances. The most +certain confidence, the most indomitable courage, might well have lost +heart at a prospect so dreary and so disspiriting. + +In order to obtain the bare means of livelihood he joined a small band +of some twenty performers, and went about with them, earning a meagre +pittance at the cafés and restaurants of the city. On Sundays he played +the viola at a private chapel, where there was some show of an +orchestral service, and, between his two engagements, contrived to amass +a revenue of rather more than thirty shillings a month. Of course all +systematic study, except at his organ classes, appeared to be out of the +question. He could no more have hired a piano than he could have +purchased the crown jewels; even music paper was a luxury of the rarest +indulgence; and concerts were only attainable, when, now and again, some +good-natured bandsman would see him standing wistfully at the door and +would let him in as a stowaway. But in spite of all discouragements, he +continued his work with unabating enthusiasm, and, in 1860, graduated +at the Organ School as second prizeman of his year. + +By a notable coincidence it happened that the fresh-levied forces of +Bohemian music received their marching orders at almost exactly the same +time. As Dvořák emerged from the training-yard to take his place +among the ranks, there was already assembling a council of war which, +before it rose, should appoint a national leader and proclaim a national +advance. True, another decade was to pass before the new recruit bore +any prominent part in the movement. As yet he was only a trooper, +carrying his marshal's bâton in his knapsack, but bound, nevertheless, +to wait in patient subservience until the fortune of battle gave him his +opportunity. Yet, for all that, the difference made by the winter of +1860 was almost incalculable. It is one thing to idle in barracks with +no cause to defend and no victory to share: it is another to stand at +attention on the outskirts of the field when the front is busy with the +enemy and at any moment an aide-de-camp may ride up with orders to +engage. Hardly in the whole of artistic history shall we find a stranger +chance than that which, against all expectation, brought the two +centuries of bondage to so opportune a close. + +It is beyond the scope of the present essay to describe the national +movement in any detail. There are so many lines of progress, there are +so many conflicting issues, that the task cannot adequately be attempted +from the standpoint of a single art. But, to estimate the music of +Dvořák, it is first requisite that we should understand his relation +to his country, and trace, in however brief an outline, the course of +revolution that culminated in his triumph. He plays so important a part +in the later acts of a patriotic drama, that we may well be excused for +prefacing his entry with some slight epitome of the plot. + +Up to the Thirty Years' War, Bohemia maintained an honourable place in +the fore-front of European civilisation. She was printing books when +hardly any of her neighbours could read them: she inaugurated one of the +greatest religious movements of the Middle Ages: her university took +rank with Paris and Oxford: her teaching was accepted by scholars from +every corner of Christendom. But in 1620 the whole national life came to +a sudden and tragic end--shot down by Tilly's mercenaries at the battle +of the White Mountain. The loss of political independence was followed +by an almost entire cessation of intellectual activity: the language was +prohibited, the literature was destroyed, arts and sciences either +passed into servitude or fled with the 'Winter King' to a distant and +inglorious exile: the voice that was once eloquent in the congress of +the nations died away into silence and oblivion. 'Better a desert,' said +the Emperor Ferdinand, 'than a land full of heretics,' and his order was +followed with only too literal an obedience. For the next hundred and +fifty years the history of Bohemia is a blank page: her highest +achievement to bear the yoke of an alien power, her utmost hope to +forget that she was once a people. + +It is true that, in the latter half of the eighteenth century, a few +Bohemian musicians began to make their appearance: it is equally +significant that, without exception, they left their native land and +tried their fortunes as free-lances in a foreign service. Myslivecek +won his title of 'Il Divino' from the careless enthusiasm of Italy; +Reicha settled in Paris, where his lectures on composition embittered +the early years of Berlioz: Dussek, the greatest of them all, became +frankly German in aim and method: from first to last they turned their +steps across the border in search of a career which their own country +was too fast in prison to afford. It is, of course, idle to reproach +them with a want of patriotism: there was no cause to which patriotism +could attach itself: but none the less we may find in their denial of +their country a conclusive reason for their ultimate failure. They were +men of undoubted gifts--rapid, facile and copious of production, +well-read in the musical learning of their time, fluent of phrase, +prompt of resource, skilful and dexterous in the treatment of their +material; and yet, at the distance of a century, there is only one of +the whole band who is anything more than a name to us. Even Dussek has +but a fading reputation: his work is lost under the shadow of its own +laurels: and for the rest, it is not once in a decade that some student +takes down their dusty volumes from the shelf and marvels at the +misapplied talent and the wasted ability. + +A curious illustration, half pathetic and half humorous, may be found in +the career of Anthony Heinrich. He was born at Schönbüchel in 1781, +served his apprenticeship at Covent Garden, and finally established +himself in America, where, for some five-and-thirty years, he produced a +continuous series of ineffectual compositions. There is an oratorio, +written in ten real parts, and 'scored,' as its author proudly affirms, +'for all known orchestral instruments:' there are symphonies, such as +the Eroica and the Tower of Babel; there are overtures--one to +Washington, another to Niagara, another to the great Condor of the +Andes; there are 'Mythological concerti grossi;' there are scenes +from the Autobiography of a Troubadour; there are songs, studies, +virtuoso-pieces without limit. It should be added that the official +catalogue, which is appended to the excerpts in the National Museum at +Prague, mentions with particular emphasis a concert overture _per recte +et retro_, entitled 'The Advance and the Retreat.' If this incredible +composition was ever written, it says something for Heinrich's +counterpoint, and at the same time explains his total failure to win any +position as an artist. But, apart from this, the explanation lies open +on every page. Here is talent, here is technical skill, here is even +some approach to originality: and the whole is ruined by uncertainty of +aim and by want of earnestness. It all lies on the surface; it has no +character, no stability, no inherent power of growth, and because it has +no root it withers away. + +We may conclude that the first efforts of the Bohemian renaissance were +wholly misdirected and unavailing. The national art was no more to be +created by 'La Consolation' than by mythological concerti grossi and +overtures to the great condor. But in the meantime a small body of +men was beginning at home to collect the scattered ruins of past +achievement, and to lay them in order as the foundation of a more +durable superstructure. Scholars like Dobrovsky set themselves to +regather the language from the valleys and uplands of a rustic dialect: +poets like Tyl and Hálek built up a fabric of literature from the +artless rhymes of the country village: music itself began to stir, to +awaken, to stand on the alert until its time should come. There could be +little organisation, for the citadel was still in the hands of an +adverse power; there could be little publicity, for the work might be at +any moment prohibited by official censorship: but, in spite of all +obstacles and difficulties, the movement gradually took shape and +direction--now hampered by popular indifference, now thrown back by some +political outbreak, never losing heart or turning aside from its +purpose. Yet, before its purpose could be attained, there were two +further conditions to satisfy. Hitherto the pioneers of Bohemian music, +like those of the French language, had conducted their research as +a matter of private interest and private enterprise: before they +could combine into an academy of any mark or moment, they needed a +parliamentary charter, and they needed a Malherbe. In other words, to +encourage the hope of any further progress, it was necessary--first, +that Austria should allow its dependent State a fuller measure of +intellectual freedom; and secondly, that there should appear some man +of sufficient authority and genius to undertake the leadership. + +A sudden turn of the wheel, and the two conditions were fulfilled. In +October 1860 the gift of liberty was granted by Imperial diploma; a few +months later came news that Smetana had resigned his appointment at +Gothenburg, and that he was returning to assume the direction of the +national forces. His arrival was welcomed with an enthusiasm to which +Bohemia had long been a stranger; new hopes were formed, new plans were +discussed, the whole land shook off its lethargy and applied itself +eagerly to the work. For his own part, the leader announced his method +without hesitation. He had no sympathy with the more developed classical +forms: in any case, he found them unsuitable to a music of which the +very foundations were still to be laid: the first need, he said, was to +engage the popular ear, and to show the true value and import of the +national melodies. Bohemia should cut her corner-stone from her own +quarries, and build her art on the peasant tunes in which the whole of +her musical tradition was comprised. The next generation might look to +questions of treatment; the business of the present was to gather +material, and to utilise the abundant store which lay neglected in +every village and hamlet of the country-side. + +It is interesting to see the new Malherbe making his appeal to the +people, and 'finding his masters in language among the porters at the +hay-gate.' But there can be no doubt that, under existing conditions, +his method was the only means of attaining success. The first requisite +for a national art is the establishment of a national speech; and until +this is done in its simplest and most unsophisticated shape, there is no +proper material for the artist to work upon. Of course, the great +structures of sonata and symphony are only developments of the form that +is already held in germ by the folk-song: still they are developments, +and to begin with them is to begin at the wrong end. The same life runs +through the whole course of artistic evolution, but, if there be life at +all, it will trace its origin from its most rudimentary embodiment. + +Again, it was a stroke of good-fortune that Smetana's genius should turn +at once in the direction of opera. Among all means of artistic +expression, the theatre is the most direct and the most comprehensive: +it draws on the resources of literature, of painting, of music; it can +reach a public that has not yet learned to appreciate the separate +forms. The golden age of French poetry began with the Cid; the whole +history of modern music began with Eurydice: in like manner, Bohemia may +date her renaissance from her first school of operatic composers. +In 1862 the Interimstheater was opened; in 1863 came Smetana's +'Brandenburgs in Bohemia,' then followed a long and unbroken series of +dramatic works--tragedy that took its theme from patriotic legend, +comedy that turned to account the picturesque humours of the village +life--all of native growth and of native origin, racy of the soil, +simple, genuine, unaffected. To us, who look upon Prague from the +standpoints of Dresden or Vienna, the music of these men may seem unduly +artless and immature: with Wagner on the one side, with Brahms on the +other, we have little time to bestow on tentative efforts and incomplete +production. Some day we shall learn that we are in error. The 'Bartered +Bride' is an achievement that would do credit to any nation in Europe; +and, apart from its intrinsic value, it claims our interest as the +turning-point of an artistic revolution. There is little wonder that +Smetana has been almost canonised by his people. He was, in the truest +sense of the term, the first Bohemian composer; and, though his country +has one son to whose work she may look with a fuller admiration, she has +none to whom she owes the debt of a more profound and cordial gratitude. + +Such was the cause in which Dvořák found himself enlisted when he +closed behind him the door of the Organ School, and set forth boldly in +quest of a career. At first, no doubt, his part in the movement was +humble enough: he had not yet tried his strength, he had not yet won his +spurs, he had not shown any qualification that could raise him above the +bare level of the rank-and-file. But, in the meantime, his opportunities +of education were gradually widening. A place was offered him in the +orchestra of the Interimstheater, which not only made him a member of +the patriotic party, but threw him into closer relation with its more +prominent representatives; and, from one of these--Karel Bendl, the +composer--he received assistance and encouragement at a time when both +were sorely needed. He was still too poor to buy scores; but now, thanks +to the kindness of Bendl, he was able to borrow them; and his own force +and energy soon recovered the ground that he had lost through the +tyranny of circumstance. Every spare kreutzer was expended on +music-paper; every free hour was devoted to study or composition; for +nearly twelve years there followed a course of training as complete as +the most rigorous self-discipline could make it. In all this period, +nothing is less important than the record of its external events. There +were some whispers of plot and counter-plot after Sadowa: there was some +little excitement when the 'Hussite' riots took place, and Prague was +declared to be in a state of siege; there was an outburst of rejoicing +on the arrival of the second Imperial diploma: but these were mere +matters of political change, which art had by this time grown strong +enough to disregard. Even the history of the Theatre passes for the +moment into a remoter background. The true biographical interest is +centred within the four walls of a meagre lodging, where, day after day, +an obscure student sat poring over Beethoven, in hopes to discover the +secret of that magic style which transmutes all fancies into gold, and +the elements of that unknown elixir which brings to music the gift of +immortal life. + + + + +II + +DURCH KAMPF ZU LICHT + + +The record of Dvořák's earlier compositions is involved in a good +deal of doubt and perplexity. Many of the works were meant simply as +exercises and were destroyed as soon as their purpose had been +fulfilled: some still remain in manuscript: one or two have passed +beyond the reach of conjecture. But at least it appears certain that a +string quintett was completed by 1862, that shortly afterwards followed +two volumes of songs, printed later as Op. 2 and Op. 3, and that in 1865 +came a symphony in B flat (Op. 4),[45] and another in E minor. There is +some mention, too, of a grand opera on the subject of Alfred, the +libretto of which seems to have been taken from an old German almanack; +but the score has long ago vanished into space, and has left behind it +nothing more than the bare title. For the rest, we can only say that +they would serve to illustrate Bacon's allegory of the 'River of Time.' +A few pages of ballad and romance have floated down to us--a dozen +songs, a set of short pieces for the pianoforte, a violin tune with +orchestral accompaniment--and all the more serious production has sunk +on the way. Yet enough is left to give presage of future greatness. +No hand but Dvořák's could have written Blumendeutung or Die Sterne, +or Der Herr erschuf das Menschenherz. The work may be slight of +structure and narrow of range, but from the first it bears clear impress +of its author's own character. + +[Illustration: _Antonin Dvořák_] + +During all this time he seems to have made no attempt at publication or +performance. We can hardly suppose that his silence was altogether +enforced by lack of occasion: his friend Bendl was conductor of the +chief choral society in Prague; his friend Smetana was in supreme +command at the opera: patriotism was searching every corner for +evidences of native genius, and would scarcely have refused him the +hearing that it had granted to Sebor and Roskosny. But as yet he had +nothing ready to offer. His more ambitious efforts appeared, for the +most part, tentative and experimental; the songs, in which alone his +true personality had found expression, were to be kept in reserve until +he had made his mark with a broader line: on all grounds, it was better +to wait in retirement than to injure the cause by a premature display. +Once let him attain to some adequate mastery of his materials, and Fate +might well be trusted to supply him with opportunity. + +At last, apparently in 1871, he was commissioned to write an opera for +the Bohemian Theatre,[46] and accepted the invitation with all the +responsibility that a first appearance naturally entails. He had, +indeed, no little reason to feel responsible. He was now nine-and-twenty +years of age, he had spent two-thirds of his life in study and +preparation, he was entering that field in which his country's art had +hitherto reaped the richer portion of its harvest. Besides, he had +recently become acquainted with some of Wagner's work, and was in a +state of intense proselytising enthusiasm on the subject of the Music +drama. The little folk-song operas were pretty enough, and possessed, no +doubt, a true educational value; but the level of public taste was now +sufficiently high to appreciate a more solid and serious form of +composition. In short, the first period of Bohemian music was drawing to +a close, and this commission from the theatre had come, just in the nick +of time, to inaugurate the second. He therefore took for his libretto a +peasant comedy entitled 'King and Collier,' set it on the most elaborate +Wagnerian lines, and, having thus marked in strong relief the difference +between his method and that of his predecessors, went confidently down +to the theatre and distributed the parts for rehearsal. + +There is no great sagacity required to foretell the result. We can +imagine the consternation of Smetana, who looked for a new expression of +the national idiom, and found himself confronted with a fantastic +exaggeration of Meistersinger. We can imagine the dismay of the +soloists, accustomed to melody as simple as that of Mozart, and now lost +in a tangle of declamatory phrases. The music was at once declared to be +wholly impossible, the score was returned with a few disheartening +compliments, and Dvořák went back to his place in the ranks, there to +meditate at his leisure on the incompatibility of alien systems. It was +no doubt unfortunate that his chance should have come to him in a moment +of aberration. His Wagner-worship was but a sudden episode, of which no +trace can be found in the earlier compositions, of which little or no +effect remains in the record of the later work: and it was a sorry jest +of the fates, that offered him a native audience at the one period in +his life when he had forsaken the native tongue. + +But on an apt pupil a lesson, even from Orbilius, is never wasted. Once +recovered from the disappointment, Dvořák realised that he was on the +wrong tack; that he was forcing his genius in a direction to which it +was unsuited; and that if he wished to convince his countrymen, he must +address them not in German but in Slavonic. After all, the recent +disaster was only a parenthesis; an otiose quotation that could be +readily erased: henceforward he would deliver his message in the +phraseology that was its natural embodiment. So, by way of palinode, he +set Hálek's fine patriotic hymn, 'The Heirs of the White Mountain,' a +poem which, in scope and feeling, may almost rank as the counterpart of +Leopardi's 'Italia'; and, in the season of 1873, made with it an appeal +to that national sympathy which his last work had done so little to +conciliate. No choice could have been more happily inspired. The +theme was one of which patriotism was never weary; the strong, manly +verses were already familiar as household words; the music held the +concert-room in breathless attention from the sombre opening to the +great, glorious cadence in the final stanza. There was no longer any +question of his place in Bohemian art. At one stroke the memory of old +failure was obliterated; at one step the patriot passed from obscurity +into the full light of honour and reputation. + +As yet, however, there was little hope of material reward. It was still +the day of small things in Bohemia: posts were few; salaries were +meagre; fame spread but slowly across the mountain barriers by which the +frontier was encircled. But in any case, it was impossible that +Dvořák should remain any longer in his present penury, and at some +time in 1873 he was appointed organist to the city church of St +Adalbert. The change was somewhat incongruous after eleven years' viola +playing in a theatre orchestra, but at least it brought him a more +individual position, opened to him some career as a teacher, and assured +him a stipend upon which he found it possible to marry. A pleasant +indication of altered circumstances is to be found in an 'Ave Maris +Stella,' dedicated 'uxori carissimæ,' and printed 'sumptibus et +proprietate Emilii Stary.' When a man is raised to ecclesiastical +office, the least that he can do is to assume the state and dignity of a +learned language. + +In the winter of 1873 appeared a notturno for strings, followed in the +next year by a symphony in E flat, and the scherzo of a symphony in D +minor. Meantime, the theatre, which had been keeping a watchful eye on +its truant ever since his return to the paths of patriotism, once more +summoned him into its presence, and made amends for past disfavour by +the offer of another commission. For answer, Dvořák took the old +libretto that had shared the misfortune of his _début_, reset it from +beginning to end, and in less than three months, presented to the +directors a new version of the unlucky drama, in which, it is said, not +one bar of the original score was preserved. The feat is one of the most +remarkable in the history of opera. There are plenty of cases in which a +composer has altered or revised his work--Wagner made additions to +_Tannhäuser_, Weber reluctantly excised an important scene from _Der +Freischütz_--but it is one thing to remodel a few details; it is another +to reorganise an entire structure. Some little versatility is required +to set even a song in two different ways; much more to find a new +musical expression for a complete cast of _dramatis personæ_. + +But the most curious part of the story is still to come. The second +version of 'King and Collier' was produced on October 24th, and at once +revealed the fact that its libretto was totally inadequate. The _tour de +force_, in short, had altogether failed, and Dvořák found that he had +only escaped the charge of melody that could not be sung, to meet with +equally galling condolence on a play that could not be acted. No doubt +the music was welcomed with acclamation, especially the overture and the +scene in the collier's cottage, but its very transparency brought into +clearer view the manifest imperfection of the words. It was a thousand +pities, said the critics, that so great a composer should have spent his +genius on a rambling incoherent farce with a poor plot, a hero eminently +unheroic, and a third act merely irrelevant and absurd. He would have +done far better if he had followed the more common-place method of +providing himself with another subject. + +Dvořák, however, was not to be beaten. He knew that his own part in +the work had been satisfactorily played; he could see no reason for +losing his labour; and so, after an interval which was occupied in +further compositions, he set himself to look for a new librettist. In +course of time he met with a poet called Novotny, who had just written +an opera-book for Smetana, called him into collaboration, and produced, +with his aid, a final version of the play in which the first two acts +are considerably altered, and the third replaced by a more adequate +substitute. There can be no doubt that the changes were of vital +improvement. In its present form the intrigue runs easily enough, the +characters are well drawn, the situations are mainly striking and +effective, and the mock trial brings down the curtain on a climax of +fitting irony. But we are here less concerned with a criticism of the +result than with a sketch of the remarkable series of conditions under +which it was effected. An opera of which the text is rewritten and the +music recomposed is a phenomenon sufficiently unusual to demand more +than a passing word of comment. The Irishman's knife, which had a new +blade and a new handle, does not offer a more bewildering problem of +identity. + +It was natural that the fresh interest should bring Dvořák, for the +time, into a more intimate relation with the Bohemian Theatre. By the +end of 1875 he had completed two more operas; one a bright little +village comedy called 'The Stubborn Heads'; one a tragedy in five acts, +on the subject of Vanda, Queen of Poland. The latter is at present +beyond the reach of discussion; even the opera-house at Prague possesses +no copy of the score, and no part of the music has yet been printed, +except the fine gloomy overture. But the former, which, for some reason, +was kept in reserve until 1882, is now easily attainable, and may well +claim a better fate than our indifference has accorded to it. The theme +is simplicity itself. Farmer Vavra has a grown-up son; Widow Rihova, who +lives over the way, has a marriageable daughter; of course they lay +their heads together and decide that their children shall make a match +of it. Unfortunately the young people, who would have liked nothing +better if they had been left to themselves, declined altogether to have +their affections forced, and break out into open mutiny. Vavra +threatens, Tonik defies; Rihova pleads, Lenka snaps her fingers; and +matters have come to a hopeless deadlock when there steps in old father +Rericha the village diplomatist. He has been watching the failure of +authority with sardonic delight, he foretold it from the beginning, but +nobody paid any attention to him; now he takes the two mutineers, +provokes them first into jealousy, then into recrimination, then into a +lovers' quarrel, and finally induces them to plight their troth before +they are quite certain that they have been reconciled. For reasons of +stage policy, the parents are made unconscious accomplices in the plot; +and there is an amusing scene in which Rericha, having lured them into a +couple of unjustifiable flirtations, betrays them to the village, and +has them denounced by an excited chorus. Of the music there is no need +to speak in detail. It is neither great nor meant to be great, but it is +all pleasant and tuneful; a stream of wayside melody that appeals the +more to us for its lack of pretension. The whole work belongs to the +playtime of art: it is a holiday opera, gay, careless and spontaneous, +occupying its hour without a dull bar or a perfunctory phrase. + +Meanwhile, other forms of composition were not neglected. At the +beginning of 1875 appeared a string quartett in A minor; later in the +year followed a serenade in E for stringed orchestra, a quintett in G, +and, greatest of all, a brilliant symphony in F major. It is probable, +too, that we may attribute to the same period the first pianoforte +trio, the first pianoforte quartett, and at least three volumes of small +vocal pieces; but in these, as in other of Dvořák's early works, the +record is too uncertain to admit of any strict chronological accuracy. +He was still a prophet honoured in his own country alone; and his +message, though heard with enthusiasm by his people, had not yet been +published abroad in the ears of Europe. + +However, in 1875, there occurred an event, which not only brought relief +to the daily need, but opened as well a wider prospect of fame and +fortune. Encouraged by the success of his work at Prague, Dvořák +sent in an application to the Pension committee of the Austrian +Kultusministerium, submitted an opera and a symphony by way of +credentials, and received in answer a grant of some thirty pounds; the +first recognition that his genius had won from beyond the border. No +doubt to Imperial munificence the amount was an inconsidered trifle; to +the organist of St Adalbert's it meant first the equivalent of a year's +salary, and secondly the more valuable guerdon of a foothold in Vienna. +The judges who had awarded his prize were among the acknowledged leaders +of musical art; supported by their authority he could hardly fail to +obtain a wider hearing; and if that was once secured the future rested +with himself. The frontier had at last been traversed, and before him +lay the broad fertile plains that were waiting to be conquered. + +To equip himself with a greater freedom, he resigned his post in the +year 1876, and began to devote his life almost entirely to the more +pressing requirements of composition. It was a bold step, for it left +him with a growing household, and an income chiefly dependent upon his +pen; but like all true artists he had the courage of inspiration, and +felt that victory was certain, if he were allowed to maintain his cause +with his own weapons. The immediate result was the creation of a +masterpiece, which, had he written nothing else, would suffice to rank +him among the greatest composers of our time. It may be possible that in +the Stabat Mater there are a few imperfections, that the sterner +qualities are wanting, that some of the phrases are a thought too +ingenious and recondite. But its opulence of melody, its warmth of +colour, its exquisite beauty of theme and treatment, are far more than +enough to condone any real or imaginary defects. With its completion the +music of Dvořák passed out of adolescence into the full vigour of +maturity and manhood. In its achievement the long years of unsparing +labour found at last a befitting reward. + +The score was sent off to try its fortune in Vienna, and, by some +incredible error, was rejected.[47] Perhaps the judges were afraid of +creating a precedent, perhaps they thought that dewdrops of celestial +melody should be either invaluable or of no value, in any case they +withheld their guineas and added another item to the long catalogue of +academic injustice. To Dvořák the loss must have been a serious +matter, for he had now no official position, and his pupils had never +brought any great accession to his revenue, but with his usual sturdy +patience he refused to be disheartened by the mischance, and gathered +his forces into winter quarters, there to make preparation for another +campaign. After all the disaster was but a temporary check; it could +retard his progress, it could cut off his supplies, but it could neither +impair his capacity, nor turn the edge of his resolution. He had already +gained one success at Vienna: next year it should go hard, but he would +match it with a second. + +Accordingly, in 1877, he again made appeal to the Kultusministerium, +offering in defence of his claim the Moravian duets, and a few of the +more recent chamber-works. They arrived at an opportune moment, for +Brahms had just been appointed a member of the awarding committee, and, +under his guidance, there could no longer be any doubt of its decision. +The grant was at once renewed and augmented, the composer was welcomed +with cordial and generous commendation; finally the duets were sent off +to Simrock, franked by a letter of introduction that was more than +enough to secure their acceptance. Back came an answer from the great +publishing house at Berlin--the duets should be printed without delay; +other manuscripts might be despatched for consideration, in the +meantime would Herr Dvořák accept the commission to write a set of +characteristic national dances? To such an offer there was only one +possible response. Before the close of the year the Slavische Tänze were +finished; at the beginning of 1878 they were in print, in a few months +they had roused the whole of Germany to the appreciation of a neglected +genius. Henceforward his reputation was established beyond dispute. Like +Byron, he awoke to find himself famous, and to look back upon the times +of darkness and disappointment as a man looks back upon his dreams. + +Among the other compositions of 1877 may be noted a set of symphonic +variations, and a new comedy, the Cunning Peasant. In the latter Dvořák +was again hampered by his uncritical acceptance of a bad libretto. The +plot is clumsy and ill-contrived, a medley of cross-purposes entwined at +random, and severed in despair; the characters are drawn after a wholly +conventional pattern, the humour is for the most part shallow and +superficial. When Betuska defies parental tyranny, we all know that she +will be rewarded with the suitor that she has chosen for herself. When +old Martin lays a trap for the hero, we all know that the comic valet is +destined to fall into it. When the count appears as a _diabolus ex +machinâ_, anyone can foresee that he will end by blessing the lovers in a +fit of stage repentance. And the incident on which the intrigue is made +to depend, a twilight scene, with three indistinguishable heroines, +forestalls its effect by elaborate preparation, and then only strikes the +spectator as an extreme demand upon his credulity. But Dvořák, like +Schubert, could 'set a handbill to music.' Out of this unpromising +material he has made an opera, which, from overture to finale, sparkles +with the merriest tunes, an opera which altogether disregards the +impracticable requirements of the dramatist, and goes back openly and +frankly to the lyric standpoint. As a play it offers a hundred hostages +to criticism, but then it has already been betrayed by a treacherous +alliance. As a musical extravaganza it is almost irresistible; brightly +written, admirably scored, and charming enough to redeem the most +rigorous of pledges. + +In spite of its text the opera was so favourably received that Dvořák +sent the score to Simrock, who at once printed the overture as a concert +piece, and supplemented it later with a German version of the entire +work. Indeed, during the next few years, the presses were busy with +compositions by the new master, some of them fresh written, some +gathered from the great pile of manuscript that had been accumulating +since 1861. Day after day was filled with correspondence, with proof +correction, with all the numberless details of the printing office: day +after day saw another stone added to the structure that had waited so +long for its foundation. And, beside this, the bare catalogue of more +recent production is in itself a sign of no inconsiderable activity. To +1878 belong the Slavonic Rhapsodies, the serenade for wind, 'cello and +contrabass, the bagatellen, the string sestett in A major, the 149th +psalm, and a host of smaller pieces; next year came the orchestral +suite, and the violin concerto; next year the Legenden, and the violin +sonata in F; next year the Stabat Mater and the great D major symphony. +Even these are but items in the sum, not indications of its total +amount. There is little wonder that Europe should feel itself the richer +for a gift so unexpected and so abundant. + +But Dvořák could not wholly give up to mankind what was meant, in the +first instance, for a patriotic party. The opening of the New Bohemian +Theatre in 1881 recalled him from Legends and Rhapsodies into the full +stir and impetus of national life, and set him once more in the van of +that strange, half-artistic, half-political movement that had found its +type and representative in the 'Heirs of the White Mountain.' The two +works which he wrote this year for the stage have almost the tone of +manifestoes; curiously alike in scope and plan, curiously different in +the measure of their ultimate value. Both make direct appeal to popular +sympathy; both recall some notable period in the history of Bohemia; +both draw their inspiration from melodies that have gained acceptance +among the folk-songs of the people. But here parallel gives way to +contrast. The Husitska overture, founded on a famous battle-song of the +Hussite wars, is a masterpiece which turns to a noble use, one of the +finest themes in Bohemian art--the incidental music to Samberk's 'Tyl,' +takes perforce the poor melody of the national anthem, for which Tyl had +written the words, and so foredooms itself to failure by a fault that is +not its own. Of course in the latter case the choice was inevitable. A +drama which had the revolutionary poet for central figure, could only be +set by _motifs_ that made reference to the best known of his works, and +in Bohemia, as in many other countries, the national anthem has been +accepted by accident, and maintained by force of association. Still, the +comparison of the two results is a lesson of the highest significance. +In Husitska, Dvořák selected a genuine folk-song, and raised it into +a national monument that will stand the test of time. In Tyl he borrowed +the tune of a Prague Kapellmeister, and with all ingenuity of treatment, +could lift it to no higher level than that of a _pièce d'occasion_. It +was perfectly natural that both works alike should obtain an immediate +welcome. They appeared at a moment of crisis; they addressed a sentiment +of loyalty; they stood for the time outside the range of dispassionate +criticism. But to us, who may regard the matter from a purely artistic +standpoint, the difference between them is incalculable. Both are well +written; both have accessory themes of great beauty; both are scored +with all their composer's accustomed skill, but one is built upon the +bed-rock of the Bohemian mountains, the other upon an artificial +basement that only holds together by external support. + +Having once more gained access to the Theatre, Dvořák proceeded to +occupy the position, and in 1882 strengthened it by the production of +Dimitrij, which, among all his operas, is the largest in scale, and the +most dramatic in treatment. He had, indeed, a subject made to his hand. +The romance of history contains no more striking episode than that of +the false Demetrius; a story of heroism and imposture, of honour in +conflict with ambition, of love that betrays a trust, and jealousy that +wrecks a life. Marina's character is one of singular interest and +complexity, torn between allegiance to her nation and loyalty to her +husband, aiding him to usurp the throne which he believes to be his by +right, denouncing him in anger when he uses his power against her +countrymen, watching his assassination on the spot where she had shared +his triumph. Here are no foregone conclusions; no idle displays of +theatrical ingenuity; no stage lay figures clad in traditional garb; the +whole event is a transcript from nature, vivid, real, convincing, and +the more tragic for the cross issue upon which it turns. It may be added +that Dvořák has accomplished his part in the work with unusual care +and anxiety. After the first performance some important changes were +made, notably in the overture, and in the closing scenes, and though +the music has since been printed in its revised form, the composer, +still dissatisfied, has recently submitted it to a new process of +recension. Yet in its earlier shape the score contained passages and +numbers which the world would be the poorer for losing. The most +relentless self-criticism could hardly have bettered the entry into +Moscow, or Xenia's flight, or the great duet in the second act. + +Meantime the curtain was rising upon another scene, which had England +for its stage, and Dvořák himself for its hero. As early as 1879, the +attention of English musicians had been aroused by a performance of the +Slavische Tänze; the interest once excited had steadily grown and +gathered as new works made their appearance; and, in March 1883, the +composer was invited over to conduct his Stabat Mater at the Albert +Hall. His reception was one of the most cordial ever offered by our land +to a foreign artist. The house was crowded and appreciative; the press +for once raised a unanimous voice of approbation; the example set +by London was soon followed by other great centres throughout the +country. No doubt there was something of fashion and novelty in the +movement:--every great stream of tendency carries these attendant +bubbles upon its surface: but at least the current was set in a right +direction, and was destined to maintain its course without swerving. The +lapse of years may have brought us a cooler judgment; it has certainly +brought us a stronger and more reasoned admiration. + +In 1884 the Stabat Mater was repeated at Worcester, where it met with so +brilliant a success, that Dvořák was at once commissioned to write a +cantata for next year's Birmingham Festival. As libretto he took a +Slavonic version of the Lenore legend, a vampyre story, even wilder and +more savage than the famous ballad which Burger wrote, and Scott +translated. It is not, perhaps, a very satisfactory subject for a long +work. There is too much monotony of suffering: there is too much +gloom and terror and pain: a tragedy so unrelieved comes near to +over-straining the sympathy of the spectator. But for all this it offers +certain points of vantage which Dvořák was abundantly qualified to +seize. In setting the words, he wisely treated the musical aspect as +paramount, brought to the task all his resources of rhythm and harmony +and melodic invention, and produced a poem in which horror itself is +made beautiful, and darkness lightened with flashes of electric genius. +Grant that the 'Spectre's Bride' is too long, that it needs compression; +that it loses effect by repetition and redundance; none the less it can +show some of the finest numbers that its composer has ever written, and +with such summits attained, may well look down upon any censure of +inequality. + +A remarkable contrast is afforded by the Oratorio of St Ludmila, which +was produced at the Leeds Festival of 1886. The theme is fertile in +opportunity, the book is written by the first of living Bohemian poets, +the music dates from the centre of Dvořák's richest period, and yet +the whole impression left on the hearer is one of failure and +disappointment. For this our own reputation is chiefly to blame. It is a +matter of common belief abroad, that the only works which can really +attract a British audience are the Elijah and the Messiah; that in them +we find all music comprised, that from them we construct a standard by +which we test the entire range of composition. Perhaps our past history +in some degree justifies the charge; perhaps we have unduly favoured the +two great masterpieces that were written for our country; in any case +the tradition obtains, and St Ludmila may stand as the most salient +example of its effect. The opening chorus is characteristic enough; the +rest is all dominated by the influence of Handel and Mendelssohn; a +labour that is lost by conformity with an alien method, a gift that is +marred by the very means taken to render it acceptable. + +But during all these years, the best record of Dvořák's genius is to +be found in his instrumental compositions. Even the Spectre's Bride is +not of more account than the Symphony in D minor, the Symphony in G, and +the array of chamber-works that reach their climax with the famous +Pianoforte Quintett. To these may be added the trifles of a lighter +mood--waltzes, mazurkas, dainty little sketches for the pianoforte--all +too slight to establish a reputation, but all beautiful enough for its +adornment. At the same time he was gaining strength and experience as a +song-writer. The Zigeunerlieder had already marked a new stage in his +lyric method; they were now followed by three volumes of equal charm and +of a style even more fully developed. Indeed, as we look through the +pages of successful attainment, we are in no mind to cavil because one +effort has missed its mark. Assuredly, there was no lack of power in the +artist who could retrieve a single defeat with so many victories. + +In 1889 he brought out his sixth opera, Jakobin--a sentimental comedy of +a type that held the stage some half-century ago. The play is somewhat +spoiled by a double intrigue, of which it may be said that the less +prominent strand is the better woven. We grow rather weary of Count +Bohus and his peasant-wife; driven from home by an unbending father, +supplanted by a wicked cousin, restored by a reminiscence of early +childhood; but we can all sympathise with the old Kapellmeister who +arranges the castle pageants, and who, on the eve of his cantata, has to +choose a son-in-law between the burgomaster of the town and its only +tenor. + +Later events are of too recent a memory to require any detailed +description. In 1889, Dvořák was decorated by the Austrian Court; in +1890 he was admitted to the Honorary Doctorate at Cambridge; in the same +year, Prague elected him Doctor of Philosophy, and appointed him +Professor of Composition at the Conservatorium. Next autumn he again +visited England, to conduct his Requiem at the Birmingham Festival, and +shortly afterwards accepted the post of Musical Director at New York, +where, with an occasional holiday in Bohemia, he remained until 1895. +During his residence in America he was much attracted by the sweetness +and _naïveté_ of the negro melodies, and, though he never actually +transferred any of them to his own pages, yet in more than one +composition he shows clear traces of their influence. This is +particularly the case with his symphony, 'From the New World' (Op. 95), +so named because it was the first work of his written in the United +States, and with the String Quartett in F major (Op. 96) and A flat +major (Op. 105). In all these the most conspicuous themes are intimately +affected by the 'Plantation Songs,' and it is interesting to note with +what skill Dvořák has absorbed their character into his own style and +method. + +Among other notable works published at this period should be mentioned +the set of 'Elegies' (Dumky) for Pianoforte trio, the three great +concert overtures, 'In der Natur,' 'Carnaval,' and 'Otello,' a quintett +in E flat minor, and a collection of 'Bible Songs,' the words of which +are mainly taken from the Psalms. His last Transatlantic composition was +a cantata, 'The American Flag,' written for the Chicago Exhibition of +1895. Shortly afterwards, influenced, it would seem, by sheer nostalgia, +he resigned his appointment and returned to Bohemia, where he has since +resided; partly in Prague and partly in his country house some thirty +miles away. His restoration to his own country was marked by another +outburst of composition, and in 1896 there appeared the Violoncello +Concerto, the String Quartetts in A flat and G, and the three symphonic +poems, 'Der Wassermann,' 'Die Mittagshexe,' and 'Das Goldene Spinnrad.' +In the same year was published the 'Te Deum,' which had been produced at +the Birmingham Festival of 1894, but the work, in spite of some +brilliant passages, is not one of his greatest and needs here no more +than the bare mention. After 1896 came an interval of silence; doubtless +to be explained by the cares of office at the Prague Conservatorium: +then in 1899 followed 'Die Waldtaube,' and 'Heldenlied,' and in 1901 the +new opera of 'Roussalka.' + +FOOTNOTES: + +[45] This opus number is appended to the autograph score. The Quintett +and both the symphonies are still unpublished. + +[46] See a complete history of this work in the preface to the present +libretto; see also Dr Stecker's article on Dvořák in the new +'Bohemian Encyclopædia.' Both these authorities give 1871 as the date. + +[47] See the biographical sketch of Dvořák, by H. E. Krehbiel, +_Century_, Sept. 1892. + + + + +III + +NATIONAL AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS + + +The statical conditions which aid in the formation of character may +roughly be classified under three principal heads. First, there is the +broad general basis of humanity, the common foundation of thought and +feeling which enables us to sympathise, in some measure, with distant +lands and remote ages. Secondly, there is the individual element, the +particular blend of personal characteristics, the special idiosyncrasy +that marks the difference between one man and his fellow. Third, and +intermediate between the other two, is the debt that we owe to our +nation the long inheritance that our forefathers have accumulated, that +has been put to interest from the beginning of our race, and augmented +by every occurrence in our history. And since art is essentially the +outcome of character, it would seem to follow, that the artist should +display in his work some trace of these three conditions, that his +manner should be affected by causes which belong partly to mankind at +large, partly to his own temper and circumstances, partly to the +distinctive attributes of his people. + +The first two of these have never been called in question. All +criticism admits that art is at once human and personal, that its aim is +to particularise, through the medium of the artist, some ideal or truth +which is universal in its ultimate essence. But the admission of the +national element has been so strenuously attacked, that a few words may +perhaps be offered in its defence; and there could be no more fitting +occasion than the study of a composer whose best work has been devoted +to the service of a national movement. Hence, before beginning any +detailed investigation of Dvořák's method, it will be advisable to +consider, first, what is precisely implied in the statement that he was +influenced by the character of his country, and secondly, whether this +influence was a source of strength or of weakness? + +Now the differences by which national temperaments are distinguished +appear to be such palpable facts, that it is hardly worth while to +assert their existence. In conversation, in travel, in all intercourse +we are constantly being reminded that Europe is divided by frontier +lines, drawn, no doubt, over the surface of a common earth, but for all +that, setting up barriers which are not solely geographical. There is +some intermixture of races, but it only bars the rule with a rare +exception. There is a growing development of breadth and sympathy, but +it only teaches us that the foreign standpoint is as good as our own, +not that it is the same. The human mind, says Bacon, is a broken and +distorted mirror which can but reflect a part of the truth, and +assuredly the part reflected by any individual mind is in great measure +determined by national and social conditions. + +Again the poet, though he be the spokesman of the whole world, is in a +more intimate degree the spokesman of his own country. He has a +particular set of traditions for background, he has a particular +language for vehicle, and both of these give shape and colour to the +abstract ideas which it is his function to express. Wordsworth, for +example, is as purely English as Victor Hugo is French or Goethe German; +each is the embodiment of a national spirit, each make a closer appeal +to his compatriots than to the wisest and most liberal criticism across +the border. And this does not depend upon the mere difficulty of +translation, it is not a question of grammar and dictionary, rather it +is the point of view which seems strange to a foreign reader, which +requires some readjustment before the true focus can be obtained. Nor is +the discrepancy less in the minuter points of rhythm and versification. +The assonances of Calderon are perfectly satisfying to a Spanish ear; to +us they have simply the effect of a false rhyme. Alfred de Musset threw +French literature into a ferment by ending an Alexandrine with the words +'tu es;' we pass over the line without noting anything unusual in its +cadence. In a word, apart from Heine, we shall hardly find an instance +of great poetry which is not saturated with a national atmosphere, and +even Heine is an exception easily explained, and more easily overstated. + +The rule is equally applicable to painting. When Mr Whistler tells us +that 'there is no such thing as English art,' and that 'we might +as well talk of English mathematics,' we can only suppose that he is +experimenting in paradox, at least we may wait for conviction until we +have found the counterparts of Reynolds and Gainsborough, of Morland +and Constable. The last of these, indeed, may be taken as a crucial +case. There can be no doubt that the Barbizon School was influenced by +his method and example, that in some degree it shared his aim and +followed his style, yet Constable is as English as the 'Excursion,' +Millet as French as the 'Feuilles d'Automne.' The distinctions may be +more subtle than those of language, but they are not more unreal. The +lines of demarcation may be obscured by imitators and copyists, but they +still exist for those who make their art a reality. Even community of +school or subject will do very little to obliterate the inherent +differences of temper; a man may find his teacher in Paris and his model +in Rome, and learn after all that 'cælum non animum mutat.' + +Here an objection occurs. Grant, it will be said, that the +representative arts are in some way affected by the _entourage_ of the +artist, we cannot therefore infer that the same will hold good of music. +They are comparatively material and concrete, they depict the actual, +they stand in direct relation to an external world, but in music we are +dealing with pure abstract form, and the laws of form are universal. +Hence the composer is not bound by national limitations; he stands above +them, 'he alone with the stars;' he is the citizen of an ideal kingdom +where there is one common language and one common scheme of life. To +this it is an obvious answer, that music idealises the natural language +of emotion, and that if the emotional temper differs in separate +countries, the music must differ also. The abstract element is the +paramount need of balance and symmetry, but there are a thousand ways in +which this requirement can be fulfilled, and the method selected by any +school or country will depend upon its own predilections and its own +character. And if the music be true and vital, it will always be found +to embody some phase of the national temperament, it will speak with a +tone and cadence that are unlike those of neighbouring lands, it will +express shades and nuances of feeling which are in some way special to +the country that has given it birth. + +There is little likelihood that we shall ever be able to reduce these +distinctions to phrase and formula, but we may readily observe them by a +comparison of the Volkslieder that obtain among the different races of +Europe. Here we shall find the national idioms in their simplest and +most unsophisticated expression, the direct primary utterance of the +same ideas, which attain a fuller and more developed beauty at the hands +of the great composers. Of course, as the music of a country progresses, +it will advance farther and farther from the Volkslied, it will grow +richer and more complex, it will treat its material by methods which the +artist has inherited, not so much from his nation as from his +predecessors in the art. Yet it still remains true, that the line of +ancestry is continuous, that the course of genealogy may be traced, and +that the masterpiece, with all its finish and civilisation, is of the +same flesh and blood as its humbler compatriot. Again, there are cases +where a composer has naturalised himself in a new home, and has become, +in a sense, bilingual; in all these it will be found that the language +of his birth holds the predominance, and that his new acquirement is +only an added grace. Brahms, for instance, does not treat the Hungarian +idiom in the same way as Liszt, or even as Schubert, he employs it with +extraordinary ease and mastery, but he never lets us forget that he is a +German. + +We may conclude, then, that a composer of genius, if he write simply and +naturally, will express his own character, and in so doing will express +that of his country as well. More particularly will this be true if he +appear during the stir and stress of a patriotic movement, if he be +occupied in constructing a system for the guidance and direction of his +successors. For a time of political crisis not only brings out all that +is best in a man, it also draws him nearer to his people, and makes him +at once more desirous and more capable of serving as its true +representative. And so it has been with Dvořák. If we compare his +melody with that of Smetana, and with that of the Bohemian folk-songs, +we shall find a notable resemblance of thought and feeling, they are all +of one family, of one kindred, connected by a sympathy that the widest +distinctions of treatment cannot annul. No doubt Smetana is often +content to reproduce the methods of the folk-song, while in Dvořák +the curves are made richer, and the designs more complex and beautiful, +still the emotional basis of the one is that of the other, and the +distinctions between them depend partly on the personal element, partly +on the accident of historical position. Smetana came first into the +field; it was his work to gather the stones and to lay the foundation. +Dvořák followed him, and began, with the same materials, to raise a +superstructure. + +Hence it is not a little significant that his few misadventures have +always marked some momentary defection from the national cause. The +first version of 'King and Collier' has long passed beyond the reach of +criticism, but at least we know that it was written in imitation of +Wagner, and that it was unsuccessful. The 149th Psalm is merely a +careful and conscientious expression of German method, and has hardly a +greater value than that which belongs to an Academic exercise. The +Oratorio of St Ludmila is a concession to the supposed requirements of +English taste, and in the record of its composer's works it has almost +dropped out of account. And if we turn for contrast to such achievements +as the Pianoforte Quintett, or the Spectre's Bride, or the D minor +Symphony, we are at once struck, not only with the difference of result, +but with the total difference of character. Here Dvořák is delivering +his own message in his own words, here he attains a native eloquence +that can readily compel our attention. It is surely no extreme inference +that we should here recognise some connection of cause and effect. + +At the same time we must remember that the racial element is only one +among formative conditions, and that it is itself a factor in personal +idiosyncrasy. 'Just what constitutes special power and genius in a man,' +says Matthew Arnold, 'seems often to be his blending with the basis of a +national temperament some additional gift or grace not proper to that +temperament.' And of this we may find a ready illustration in +Dvořák's treatment of the scale, an illustration of double interest, +partly because it shows one of the most distinctive attributes in his +music, partly because even here he stands in direct relation to an +ethnological background. We have already seen that the scale now in use +among western nations was set in course by the Florentine revolution of +1600, and that it spread from Florence to Paris, and from Paris to +Leipsic, until it was finally established by Sebastian Bach. Hence the +music of Italy, France, and Germany grew with its growth, developed with +its development, and constructed by its means a common body of system +and tradition. With all their divergencies of emotional impulse, the +composers of these three countries have this formal point of union, that +they accepted the diatonic scale as their unit, and treated the +chromatic rather as an appenage and an extension. From this followed an +important consequence. For, in the first place, a settled scale is not +only a vehicle for melody, it is also a means of modulation, and this +latter function comes more into evidence as music becomes more complex +and the need of modulation increases. And, in the second place, it is an +essential characteristic of the diatonic scale, that some of its notes +should be more nearly related than others, and that composers who found +their work upon it should therefore acknowledge some modulations as +comparatively easy and natural, some as comparatively remote and +recondite. Of course, as time goes on, we become familiarised with +effects that once appeared violent and extreme, yet even now we +recognise certain relative limitations. Alfio's song in _Cavalleria_, +for example, gives us merely the impression of deliberate defiance, it +is not construction but demolition, not freedom but revolt. + +For obvious historical reasons the growth of this scale system left +Bohemia altogether untouched. She did not enter the field until this +part of the work was completed, she bore no share in the traditions +which its gradual evolutions had established in neighbouring lands. +When therefore she came to the making of her own music, she could look +upon this scheme from outside, she could treat it dispassionately, she +could take it without any of the limitations that had hitherto marked +its course. And in doing so, she produced a result to which the whole +history of music affords no exact parallel. Dvořák is the one +solitary instance of a composer who adopts the chromatic scale as unit, +who regards all notes as equally related. His method is totally +different from that of chromatic writers like Grieg and Chopin, for +Grieg uses the effects as isolated points of colour, and Chopin +embroiders them, mainly as appoggiaturas, on a basis of diatonic +harmony. His 'equal temperament' is totally different from that of Bach, +for Bach only showed that all the keys could be employed, not that they +could be arranged in any chance order or sequence. But to Dvořák the +chromatic passages are part of the essential texture, and the most +extreme modulations follow as simply and easily as the most obvious. In +a word, his work, from this standpoint, is truly a _nuova musica_, +developed, like all new departures, from the consequences of past +achievement, but none the less turning the stream of tendency into a +fresh direction. + +It may at once be admitted that from this cause the music of Dvořák +loses something of strength and massiveness: that it is Corinthian +rather than Doric. But, at the same time, it compensates, at any rate in +part, by a certain opulence, a certain splendour and luxury to which few +other musicians have attained: and, beside this, its very strangeness +constitutes an additional claim upon our interest. We rather lose our +bearings when, in the second of the Legenden, we find a phrase which +has its treble in G and its tenor in D flat; or when, as in the fifth +number of the Spectre's Bride, the music passes from one remote key to +another with a continuous and facile display of resource that is +apparently inexhaustible. Often, too, the devices outmatch the utmost +capacity of our recognised symbols. Mendelssohn's famous crux of 'Fes +moll' would be plain sailing to a composer who, in his third Pianoforte +Trio, writes passages in D flat minor, and B double-flat major, and +other keys of a signature equally undecipherable. And though these +matters may seem trivial enough when they are submitted to the indignity +of our musical nomenclature, we should yet remember that there is +nothing trivial in the habit of mind which they imply. It is to them and +to their like that we owe all the warmth of colour, all the richness +of tone, all the marvellous effects of surprise and crisis that +are so eminently characteristic of Dvořák in his best mood. To an +imagination so vivid as his, the possession of an extended scale was a +priceless opportunity; and he has used it to fill his work with incident +and adventure as varied and brilliant as were ever lavished by the hand +of Scott or Dumas. + +His treatment of the classical forms is much influenced for good by his +long and patient study of Beethoven. In the more highly-organised types +he certainly falls short of his great master: he lacks the perfect +balance that marks the first movement of the Appassionata or the A major +Symphony; as we should naturally expect, he tends rather to restlessness +of tonality and to a page overcrowded with accessory keys. But, in spite +of this, his instinct for structure is real and genuine; it ranks higher +than that of Chopin--far higher than that of Liszt or Berlioz; and his +outline, though not always in complete symmetry, is firmly drawn and +filled with interesting detail. Some of his larger forms are pure +experiments in construction: such, for instance, as the opening movement +of the Violin Concerto, the Finale of the G major Symphony, and the +Scherzo Capriccioso for orchestra: sometimes he founds an entire number +on a single melodic phrase, as in the slow movement of the Second +Pianoforte Trio: more often, as in the F major Symphony and the String +Sestett, he takes the established type and modifies it in some important +particular. But whatever the result, his structure always gives us the +impression of thought and design. He has his own method, and even when +he fails of conviction, he can generally command respect. + +The two forms in which he is most successful are the two most usually +associated with his name--the Dumka and the Furiant. Both of these are +real accessions to musical literature: not because they are new in +conception, for, like all other structures, they descend in direct +evolution from the folk-song, but because they have developed the +primitive type in a new way, and have enriched the existing stock +with a strain of collateral relationship. The Furiant is one of the +national dances of Bohemia, and is frequently employed by Dvořák as a +representative of the scherzo. In adopting it he has, to a great extent, +altered its character; he has enlarged its range, quickened its tempo, +and replaced, with a more vigorous gaiety and _abandon_, its original +tone of half-humorous assurance. If we compare the example in the A +major Quintett with the traditional melody--either as it appears among +the Volkslieder, or, as it is used by Smetana in the Bartered Bride--we +shall see at once that Dvořák has done more than borrow from the +existing resources of his countrymen; that, as a matter of fact, he has +taken nothing but the mould, and has used it for the casting of an +entirely different metal. Even more distinctive is his treatment of the +Dumka or 'Elegy,' a complex form which, like a sonnet-sequence, holds in +combination a series of separate poems. It is here, indeed, that he has +brought his constructive power to its highest attainment. The whole +scheme is of great interest and value: varied without digression, +uniform without monotony, flexible enough to answer all moods and engage +all sympathies. The stanzas admit a sharper contrast than is possible to +the subjects of a 'sonata movement': the key system, though it would be +impracticable on a larger scale, is admirably suited to these brief +moments of concentration: the recurrent themes maintain the organism in +proper balance and equipoise. There is little need to speculate on the +ancestry of the form, though it is worth noting, that a simple instance +occurs in the Serenade trio of Beethoven: whatever its origin, it +acquires in the hands of Dvořák a special significance which is +quite enough to place it among the most notable of his gifts. For +illustration, we may turn to the slow movement of the Pianoforte +Quintett, or to that of the Third Symphony, or to the six Elegies that +have recently been published for pianoforte trio. They are all +beautiful, they are all characteristic, and they fill their canvas with +a most ingenious diversity of design. + +This feeling for colour and movement, which appears partly in his +rhythms, partly in his use of the scale, partly in his preference for +lyric and elegiac forms, may also account in some measure for his +unquestioned and supreme mastery of orchestration. Here at least there +is no counterchange of victory and defeat, no loss in one direction to +balance gain in another; here at least every achievement is a triumph +and every work a masterpiece. Nor has he alone the lesser gift of +writing brilliant dialogue for his instrument, of making each stand out +salient and expressive against a background of lower tone; he is even +more successful in those combinations of _timbre_ which harmonise the +separate voices and give to the full chord its peculiar richness and +euphony. When we think of his scoring, it is not to recall a horn +passage in one work or a flute solo in another--plenty of these could be +found, and in a master of less capacity they would be well worth +recording--but it is rather the marvellous interplay and texture of the +whole that remains in our memory and compels our admiration. Look, for +example, at the Husitska Overture, or the third Slavonic Rhapsody, or +the slow movement of the Symphony in D minor. Hardly in all musical +literature are the orchestral forces treated with such a warmth of +imagination or such unerring certainty of judgment. + +Hence it is not surprising that a great part of his finest work should +be instrumental, and that even his masterpieces of Hymn and Cantata +should be written, more or less, upon instrumental lines. He is always +rather hampered than aided by the collaboration of the poet; his +chromatic style is better suited to strings and wind than to the +peculiar limitations of the human voice; his vigorous rhythms are in +some degree impeded by the slower articulation of the words; his sense +of form finds its most natural expression in symphonic and concerted +music. Again, so far as the distinction is applicable at the present +day, he belongs rather to the classical than to the romantic school; he +is more concerned with producing the highest beauty of sound than with +following, through all its phases, the emotional import of a poem. His +operas are for the most part essentially undramatic, and if they hold +the stage, will survive as displays of pure melody. His great choral +compositions--the Stabat Mater, the Spectre's Bride, the Requiem--stand +in a loose relation to the texts on which they are founded; embodying, +no doubt, the general tendency of thought, but always acknowledging the +melodic requirements as paramount. Even his songs offer no exception to +the rule. It is true that, after the Zigeunerlieder, they undergo a +remarkable change in treatment and elaboration, but although they lose +the shape of the ballad, they are never out of touch with its character. +Nothing, in short, is further from Dvořák's ideal than the imposition +of a programme. He is essentially what the Germans would call an +'absolute musician;' content to express the broad general types of +feeling, and, within their limits, wholly engaged with the special +service of his art. + +This statement requires a word of qualification. The great masters of +pure classical style,--Haydn, for example, and Mozart, and Beethoven, +have, as their predominant gift, the sense of outline, and their sense +of colour, however keen and vivid, is always kept in subservience to the +requisitions of design. As a natural consequence, they are supreme +in the string quartett, which, among all types of composition, +demands purity of line as its first essential. But with Dvořák, +the relation of these attributes is reversed, in him the sense of +colour preponderates, and the demands of pure outline, though never +disregarded, are nevertheless relegated to the second place. Thus, in +his music for strings alone, the Sestett in A, the Quintett in G minor, +the four Quartetts, we feel that he is chafing at the restraints of +monochrome, that he wants the whole palette, that he is always held in +check by the absence of orchestral resources. The result is not that +he writes orchestral music for the strings; he is too true an artist +to fall into this error; but that he writes string music under +difficulties, that he foregoes all the better part of his equipment, +that he is accomplishing a task in which his special gifts have little +opportunity of display. No doubt these works contain passages and even +numbers of great beauty, but as a whole they do not bear comparison with +the Violin Concerto or the Symphonies, or the Carnaval Overture. Here +Dvořák obtains his contrast of tone, here he has the whole gamut of +colour at his command, here he can win the full measure of success from +which he is in part precluded by a severer method. Yet it would be wrong +to class him, for this reason, among the romantic composers. He shares +with them one of the most important of their qualities, but he uses it +for the furtherance of an end that is different from theirs. The +fundamental distinction is one of ideals, and in ideal Dvořák is on +the side of the classics. + +Hence there is no inconsistency in estimating him by the classical +standard. For music is not to be summed up in terms of national language +or personal idiosyncrasy; these are but the necessary conditions +through which is embodied the abstract universal of form. Thus, although +a man can only take rank as an artist if he express his own character +and that of his people, he is only a great artist in so far as he +expresses them in the best possible way. The first spontaneous +conception of melody springs from the emotional temperament of the +composer, and so marks him at once as a member of his particular nation, +its treatment is derived from the intellectual laws of proportion and +balance, and so belongs to the general evolution of the art. This +distinction appears very clearly in Dvořák's work. His melody, taken +by itself, is often as simple and ingenuous as a folk-song, but in +polyphony, in thematic development, in all details of contrast and +elaboration, his ideal is to organise the rudimentary life, and to +advance it into a fuller and more adult maturity. Of course, it cannot +be said that he is uniformly successful. He has little sense of economy, +little of that fine reticence and control which underlies the most +lavish moments of Brahms or Beethoven; his use of wealth is so prodigal +that his generosity is sometimes left with inadequate resources. The +stream is so rapid that it has not always time for depth, the eloquence +so prompt and unfailing that it does not always stop to select the best +word. But, for all this, he is a great genius, true in thought, fertile +in imagination, warm and sympathetic in temper of mind. He has borne his +part in a national cause, and has thereby won for himself a triumph that +will endure. He has enriched his people, and, in so doing, has augmented +the treasury of the whole world. + + + + +JOHANNES BRAHMS. + + + The greatest genius is the most indebted man. A poet is no + rattlebrain, saying what comes uppermost, and, because he says + everything, saying at last something good; but a heart in unison + with his time and country. There is nothing whimsical and fantastic + in his production, but sweet and sad earnest, freighted with the + weightiest convictions, and pointed with the most determined aim + which any man or class knows of in his time.--EMERSON. + + + + +I + +GROWTH + + +Among the many types of character which are developed by the pursuit of +an artistic profession, two stand out salient and extreme:--the artist +militant and the artist contemplative. The former looks upon life as a +crusade; he proclaims his doctrines to the sound of the trumpet and +proves them at the point of the sword: he treats every critic as a +traitor, and every adversary as a Paynim and a miscreant: he invades all +lands, he challenges all strongholds: he shakes the round earth with the +noise of conflict and the shock of contending creeds. The latter is of a +far different temper. To him the service of his cause is occupation +enough: he is content to produce the best that he knows, and cares +little or nothing that others should accept his standpoint: if the work +be good he will let it take its chance of appreciation; if men choose to +fight about its merits, he will watch the struggle from his study +window as a matter in which he has no personal concern. Nothing is +farther from his thought than the establishment of a school or the +leadership of a party: like Plato's philosopher, he finds his reward in +the pleasures of wisdom, and can leave the pleasures of victory to his +self-constituted followers. + +Yet the second is not less sure of immortality than the first. For a +time, no doubt, the din of battle may drown the quieter accents of the +recluse, and the pageantry of war distract attention from the shady +groves and alleys of Academe. The world attaches itself more readily to +persons than to ideas, and rather resents the imputation that it knows +nothing of its greatest men. But there is an inherent vitality in the +best work which can no more be starved by neglect than it can be crushed +by antagonism. Sooner or later the campaign is brought to a successful +issue, and the general returns in triumph through the city gates. Sooner +or later the silent truths find voice and audience, and disciples come +flocking to the feet of the secluded teacher. Wagner, in a word, has cut +his way to fame; Brahms has waited until it set out to seek him. + +A life so placid and equable affords of necessity but little material to +the biographer. True, there is some record of the early years, some +reminiscence of studentship or of the first attempts to formulate and +deliver an artistic message, but, the power of utterance once admitted, +there is little further to narrate beyond the successive occasions of +its exercise. Here, then, is a case in which criticism may concentrate +itself from the outset upon the direct development of the artistic gift. +The career of a great man is only interesting in so far as it gives +fresh insight into his power, or throws fresh light on the influences +that have moulded his character: it is with his work that we are +primarily concerned, and, except in relation to this, all details of +personal joy and sorrow may be dismissed as irrelevant. Incidents of +struggle and mastery, alternations of success and defeat, are worth +noting when they occur, since they leave their mark for good or ill on +the environment, through which the art itself is affected. But where +they are absent we stand face to face with the object of our search, and +may contemplate it, not as embodied in circumstance, but as manifested +in its own pure nature. And further, the unbroken quietude in which +Brahms spent his last thirty-five years may itself suggest a standpoint +from which his work can be estimated. He was the deepest thinker in the +musical history of our generation, and he had no time to bestow on +questions of recognition or reward. + +Like his two great forerunners, he was the son of a musician, and was +brought up from earliest years to the practice of his art. His father, +Johann Jacob Brahms, was a contrabassist in the Hamburg Theatre, who, +after having fulfilled the office of Meister der Stadtmusik in his +native town of Heide, had come to try his fortunes in the orchestra +where Handel had once played second violin. Of his mother nothing is +recorded, except that she was a native of Hamburg, and that her maiden +name was Johanna Nissen. Shortly after his marriage, Johann Brahms +settled down in the Anselar Platz, and there, on May 7th 1833, Johannes +was born. + +It soon appeared that the boy was possessed of unusual capacity. He +learned everything that his father could teach him, he read everything +that he could lay his hands on; he practiced with an undeviating +enthusiasm, he covered reams of paper with counterpoint exercises and +variations. At an early age he was sent for further instruction to a +worthy kapellmeister named Kossel, and in 1845, having left his master +behind him, he was transferred to Eduard Marxsen of Altona, a composer +of considerable merit, whose name has been handed down to us by +Schumann's articles in the _Neue Zeitschrift_. There can be no doubt +that this was a well-directed choice. In addition to the thorough +knowledge of Bach, which had by this time become a staple of musical +education in Germany, Marxsen impressed on his pupil the paramount +importance of a critical study of Beethoven, and thus laid the +foundation of a broader eclecticism than had been attainable by the +composers of any previous age. And, as every artist is in some degree +influenced by the masterpieces from which he takes his point of +departure, it is obvious that the more comprehensive a system of +training, the more perfect will be the balance and unity of the ensuing +work. Something, of course, must be allowed for temperament and +predilection; no course of academic rule would have taught Chopin to +write a symphony or make a contrapuntist of Berlioz; but given a mind +that is wide enough to be in sympathy with divers methods, we can hardly +over-estimate the value of a wise and many-sided _régime_. It is, then, +a matter of no small moment that Brahms in his early studies should have +followed the historical development of the art: first, the volkslieder +and dances which represent its simplest and most unsophisticated +utterance; then the choral writing, in which polyphony is brought to its +highest perfection; lastly, the culminating majesty of structure which +Beethoven has raised as an imperishable monument. To us at the present +day it may seem the most trivial of commonplaces, that a student in +music should pay equal attention to all the supreme types of his art; it +was not a commonplace half a century ago. And the proof, if proof were +needed, is that all the composers of the Romantic period exhibit some +imperfection of method: all, no doubt, playing a definite and valuable +part in the advancement of their cause, but all leaving untouched some +one point of vital importance in the heritage of previous achievement. +In saying this, it is not, of course, necessary to set the genius of +Brahms in the balance against that of Schumann or Chopin. 'Non +facultatum inducitur comparatio sed viæ.' But the fact remains, that +there are in the earlier Masters certain traces of weakness from which +the later is wholly free; and of this fact one reason may be found in a +contrast between the system of Marxsen and the system of Kuntzsch and +Elsner. + +It was in 1847 that Brahms, at the age of fourteen, made his début +before a Hamburg audience. His performance, which included a set of +original variations on a Volkslied, was received with a good deal of +applause, but Marxsen, who had no intention of spoiling a career by +premature publicity, withdrew his pupil after a second trial flight, and +sent him back to a course of training from which he did not emerge for +another five years. This last period of studentship was mainly devoted +to composition, and produced among other works the three Pianoforte +Sonatas, the Scherzo in E flat minor, and several songs, one of which +was the famous 'Liebestreu.' They may be said to stand to Brahms later +writings as 'Pauline' stands to 'Cleon' or 'Andrea del Sarto.' There is +some wilfulness of phraseology, some occasional lapse of expression, but +the beauties are real and genuine, and the whole manner astonishingly +mature and adult. Already these appear in germ some of Brahms' most +notable contributions to structural development, already there is +evidence that he understood, as one alone had done before him, the full +significance of the Sonata form, and the possibilities of its further +extension. Here at last was a composer who could fulfil Berlioz's boast, +that he had taken up music where Beethoven laid it down. + +So passed away a quiet and uneventful boyhood, a time of novitiate and +preparation in which the rules were learned and the discipline endured +that should qualify a postulant for the full investiture of his order. +The conflicts of 1849 left Hamburg almost entirely untouched, and to the +cloistered retirement of the Anselar Platz the year of revolution was +chiefly memorable as that in which Herr Intendant Heinrich Krebs +resigned his office in order to succeed Herr Hofkapellmeister Richard +Wagner, at Dresden. Of the home-life, meanwhile, we can only say that it +was too happy to afford any history. Thanks to the reminiscences of a +few friends, we may recall for a moment a brief memory of the +household:--Johann Brahms, kindly, genial, humorous, full of droll +stories and quaint aphorisms, yet, in more serious mood, inspired with +that intense poetic love of nature which was so distinguishing a +characteristic in his son; Frau Brahms, gentle and affectionate, proud +of her children, yet half afraid of the dangers and temptations to which +an artistic career is liable; and with them the two boys, Johannes, +standing on the verge of a noble and laborious manhood, and Fritz, +whose brilliant promise was soon to be cut short by an early death. But +it is only a glimpse too slight and transitory to do more than intensify +the darkness through which it penetrates. All the rest is veiled with a +silence which, in the personal record of a great life, is the best of +auguries. + +About the beginning of 1853[48] Hamburg was visited by the Hungarian +violinist, Reményi, an eccentric genius with an insatiable passion for +travel, who, in the course of an itinerant life, has carried his +national music as far east as China and as far south as Natal. For the +time, however, he was contemplating a tour of more moderate dimensions, +and being struck with Brahms' playing, suggested that they should +undertake the enterprise together. It was, no doubt, a comradeship of +rather incongruous elements, and the boy, who had never left home +before, must have felt a little strange as he set out beside his eager, +restless, impetuous companion, who only lamented that his wanderings +were confined to a single planet. But the offer came at so opportune a +moment, that there could be no question as to the propriety of accepting +it; and in a few days the pair were travelling southward to see whether +the towns of Germany would open their gates to the new alliance. + +At Göttingen occurred an accident which indirectly altered the whole +aspect of Brahms' position. The piano provided for rehearsal was, of a +kind, picturesquely described by Dr Schubring as 'ein erbärmlicher +Klapperkasten,' which had lost all the voice that it ever possessed by a +long course of university dissipation. Accordingly, the impresario was +summoned, offered the usual apologies, promised to procure a more +adequate substitute for the evening, and returned at the last minute +with a new instrument, which, on investigation, proved to be a semitone +below concert-pitch. It is easy to picture the consternation of Reményi +with an expectant audience, a flat piano, and the 'Kreutzer Sonata' in +immediate prospect. To tune his violin down would be little short of a +personal outrage, but there seemed no other solution, and he was +proceeding with a reluctant hand to slacken his strings when Brahms came +to the rescue and offered to transpose the pianoforte part, which he was +playing from memory, into the higher key. No doubt similar feats have +occasionally been performed by artists of very different calibre, by a +Woelffl as well as a Beethoven, but they have not often been hazarded by +a boy at the outset of his career, when success might pass unnoticed, +and failure would throw back all chances of reputation and livelihood. +It is little wonder that Reményi required a vast amount of persuasion +before he would allow the attempt to be made, and that he was +overwhelmed with astonishment when it ended in a veritable triumph. + +As soon as the concert was over, the two artists were informed that a +member of the audience wished to speak with them, and, on coming +forward, found themselves face to face with Joachim. He had noted the +conditions under which the Kreutzer was given, had admired not only the +_tour de force_, but the general breadth and vigour of the rendering, +and now, after a few words of cordial commendation, he offered to +lighten the rest of their journey by a letter of introduction to Liszt +at Weimar and another to the Hofintendant at Hanover. It was a pity that +Düsseldorf lay outside their scheme; still if Brahms would come back to +Göttingen at the close of the tour, he should have a letter to Schumann +which might prove the most serviceable of the three. That Joachim was +deeply impressed, is evident from a few words which he wrote on this +occasion to his friend Ehrlich. 'Brahms has an altogether exceptional +talent for composition,' he says,--'a gift which is further enhanced by +the unaffected modesty of his character. His playing, too, gives every +presage of a great artistic career--full of fire and energy, yet, if I +may say so, inevitable in its precision and certainty of touch. In +brief, he is the most considerable musician of his age that I have ever +met.' Such an encomium, from such a source, may well have set +expectation on the alert. Since Beethoven, there had been no man +received into the brotherhood with so sincere and hearty a welcome. + +Fortune, however, indignant that her blows had been parried at +Göttingen, determined that they should be felt at Hanover. For a time, +matters went well enough: the first concert was successful; Count Platen +gave every assistance to the friends of Joachim; the ladies of the Court +were roused to enthusiasm by the romantic Hungarian, and charitably +commended the shy, silent German whom they mistook for his accompanist. +Then the police intervened. It appears that Reményi's brother had taken +an active part in the revolt of 1848. It was even whispered that the +violinist himself had played the _rôle_ of Tyrtæus in the outbreak, and +had marched, instrument in hand, at the forefront of an insurgent army. +Clearly so dangerous a firebrand could no longer be permitted to imperil +the safety of the Hanoverian throne, and accordingly there came a +peremptory note from Herr Polizeipräsident Wermuth, followed by a +rigorous examination and a couple of passports for Bückeburg. In vain +Reményi protested that he had no intention of calling his audience to +the barricades, that Bückeburg was the last place in the world which he +wished to visit, and that he had several other engagements in Hanoverian +territory. The sentence of banishment was adamantine, and the utmost +concession that could be obtained was the alteration of the _visé_ to +Weimar. + +This, of course, brought the tour to an abrupt conclusion. Arrangements +had to be cancelled, chances of profit and reputation foregone, and the +end of the journey anticipated before half its distance had been +traversed. However, the concert at Weimar was a fitting climax, and the +cordiality of Liszt made compensation for all disasters. By an odd +chance Brahms had included in the programme his Scherzo in E flat minor, +the most certain of all his compositions to attract the great pianist's +attention, and it is not surprising that he found himself forthwith +enrolled as a leader in the extreme left of the romantic party. We may +here add, that he felt himself from the first in a false position, and +that, a few years later, he formally withdrew his allegiance; but it was +hardly to be expected that he should begin by disowning qualities which +his early work undoubtedly possesses, and which he only outgrew after +further practice and experience. And it is equally intelligible that +Liszt, who looked upon all music from his own standpoint, should +consider Brahms an ally of Berlioz and Wagner, and should value him not +as a maintainer of the old dynasties, but as a fresh embodiment of the +revolutionary spirit. In any case, the misapprehension was of little +immediate importance. Royalist and republican joined hands with mutual +regard, and left to the future all reference to alien ideals, or +divergencies of method. + +After the concert at Weimar, Brahms bade adieu to his mercurial +companion, and set out at once for Göttingen in order to claim the +promised letter of introduction to Robert Schumann. Unfortunately, the +curtailment of the tour had so seriously affected his slender resources +that, on obtaining his credentials, he found himself virtually +penniless, and was compelled to make the rest of his journey to +Düsseldorf on foot. It was a very dusty and travel-worn figure that +presented itself at Schumann's door on the famous October morning; but +however weary the pilgrimage, it was more than rewarded by the event. +Schumann listened to the new composer first with interest, then with +admiration, then with enthusiasm; he broke his rule of silence to praise +'music the like of which he had never heard before'; finally, he issued +in the Neue Zeitschrift a panegyric that rang through the length and +breadth of Germany, and set the whole artistic world upon a strain of +attention. In sure and unfaltering accents he proclaimed the advent of a +genius in whom the spirit of the age should find its consummation and +its fulfilment; a master by whose teaching the broken phrases should +grow articulate and the vague aspirations gather into form and +substance. The five-and-twenty years of wandering were over; at last a +leader had arisen who should direct the art into 'new paths,' and carry +it a stage nearer to its appointed place. + +The first result of Schumann's encomium was a request from Leipsic that +Brahms would go over and play some of his compositions at the +Gewandhaus. Accordingly he made his appearance on December 17, gave the +Sonata in C and the Scherzo in E flat minor, and soon, to his great +disquietude, found himself in the centre of a raging controversy. There +ought, indeed, to have been no dispute in the matter at all. It is +notoriously difficult to estimate at a first hearing new work which is +possessed of any artistic importance: it becomes almost impossible when +the work is not only new but novel, when it stands out of all relation +to the accustomed phraseology of its time. The critics, therefore, would +have done wisely if they had been content to reserve judgment, or even +to acquiesce in the verdict of Schumann, until they had gained the +knowledge requisite for an independent opinion. But to declare that +'Brahms would never become a star of the first magnitude' was, under the +circumstances, an extreme presumption, and to wish him 'a speedy +deliverance from his over-enthusiastic patrons' was little short of an +impertinence. However, if the music was attacked it was also strenuously +defended, and, before the winter was out, the publication of no +less than eight important works had given opportunity for a more +comprehensive survey of their scope and purport. + +At the beginning of 1854 occurred the terrible calamity which brought +Schumann's career to its sudden and tragic termination, and deprived +Brahms at once of his kindest friend and of his most capable adviser. +The intimacy had only lasted for some five months, but it had sprung +into full maturity on the day of its birth, and had run its brief course +in unbroken confidence and affection. It was no relation of master and +disciple, no unequal bond of patronage and subservience: from the outset +the two men had met on equal terms, united in a companionship which the +disparity of their years could not impair. Throughout Schumann's +correspondence of the preceding winter, there is scarcely a page that +does not bear some reference to the 'young eagle': now a word of +counsel, now a good-humoured jest, now a presage of coming reputation. +It was a hard chance that severed so close a tie at the very moment when +promise was yielding its fruition and prophecy passing into fulfilment. + +The spring was mainly spent over the labour of proof-sheets; then came a +short holiday with Liszt at Weimar; then a few concerts of no special +interest or importance. But there could be no doubt that the circle was +slowly widening. In July the _Neue Berliner Musikzeitung_, printed a +careful and discriminating review of the 'sechs Lieder' (Op. 3), and, +about the same time, Brahms received the offer of two official +appointments, one from the Rhenish Conservatoire at Cologne, which he +refused, one from the Prince of Lippe Detmold, which he decided to +accept. His new position, though not of any great dignity or emolument, +contained two practical advantages: the first that it gave him +experience as choir-master and conductor; the second that, at the most +receptive period of his life, it brought him into touch with cultivated +men and women. Besides the work was congenial, the surroundings were as +quiet as he could wish, and the requirements of the court so little +exacting, as to leave him his own master for nearly three-quarters of +the year. There were a few pageants and ceremonials, a few state +concerts during the winter months, and then followed abundant leisure to +study, to compose, and to bring into further growth an organism which +was already marking a new stage in artistic evolution. + +A brilliant success, won at the outset of a career is usually attended +by a natural and obvious danger. The artist has made his mark, he has +won for a moment the capricious attentions of his public, he has been +hailed as an equal by the acknowledged masters of his craft; it is only +human that he should strive to keep himself in evidence, and set all +sail to catch the fitful breeze of popular favour. Add to these +conditions the opportunity afforded by an accident of office; add a +vivid, prolific imagination, and a style which competent judges have +pronounced mature; add, in short, every incentive to production which +circumstance or capacity can supply, and the result is a temptation +which the traditional impatience of genius may well find some difficulty +in withstanding. It is therefore the more noticeable, that the four +years which followed Brahms' appointment at Lippe Detmold, were spent by +him in an almost unbroken privacy. He had, as we know, several other +manuscripts in readiness; two of the chief publishing houses in Germany +had placed themselves at his disposal; new competitors were arising +whose claims would have been felt as challenges by a lesser man. Yet +during the whole of this time he printed but one composition, and +appeared so rarely in public that he might seem to have forgotten his +purpose and foregone his ambitions. In May 1856 he played in a concert +at Cologne, where he was severely censured for including in the +programme so dull a work as Bach's chromatic Fantasia; in December 1857, +he accepted two engagements at the Leipsic Gewandhaus, and took part in +Mendelssohn's G minor Concerto, and the Triple Concerto of Beethoven; +but except on these three occasions, even the newspapers of the time are +silent in regard of him. They had, indeed, other things to occupy their +attention. The storm raised over _Das Judenthum in der Musik_ had hardly +subsided; the great Tetralogy was in process of completion at Zurich; +Rubinstein was filling all Germany with his brilliant masterful +presence; no space could be devoted to chronicling the uneventful annals +of a recluse who for the moment was making no ostensible contributions +to the cause of Art. + +But it was not a case of 'tam bonus gladiator rudem tam cito.' Brahms +had no intention of deserting the arena in which he had won his first +victory and gained his first laurel. Only, like all men whose lives are +dominated by an ideal, he was profoundly dissatisfied with his present +achievement, and he set himself once more to a resolute course of +training in order to complete and perfect his adolescent power with +those gifts of certainty and facility which are only won by steadfast +endeavour. In his early work there is, as Herr Deiters remarks, 'a +certain lavish expenditure of strength,' a careless vigour which shows +itself, not in redundancy--for he is never redundant--but in a disregard +of some necessary limitations, in a disposition to cut Gordian knots of +style which it is better to untie. Had he been content to follow the +path of romance, there would have been no need for him to modify these +tendencies: for romance treats the emotional aspect as paramount, and +cares less for the purely technical problems of form and phrase. But +Brahms was born to restore the classical traditions in music, and for +the maintenance of those traditions something more is requisite than the +almost obstinate force which he had hitherto manifested. In January 1859 +appeared the first fruits of this long and strenuous cultivation. +Hitherto Brahms had given to the world nothing beyond the scale and +compass of chamber music; now, in Schumann's phrase, he 'let the drums +and trumpets sound,' and presented himself at the Gewandhaus with his +Pianoforte Concerto in D minor. Its reception for the moment was most +unfavourable. The audience listened in pure bewilderment, waiting in +vain for the virtuoso passages that it felt a conventional right to +expect; the _Leipsiger Signalen_ dismissed the work as a 'Symphony with +Pianoforte Obbligato,' in which the solo part was as ungrateful as +possible, and the orchestral part a 'series of lacerating discords.' The +fact is that Brahms had turned a new page in the history of concerto +form, and that Leipsic was unable to read it at sight. His only +response, however, was to take the composition to Hamburg, which at once +rallied in defence of its hero, gave him a warm welcome in the +concert-room, and, in the newspapers, opened a battle-royal to which the +conflict of 1853 had been a mere skirmish. If the commercial prosperity +of the town had been threatened, it could hardly have been defended with +more vehement protests or a more determined patriotism. + +No such controversy arose over Brahms' next work--the charming +and graceful Serenade in D which was first given at Hamburg on +March 28. In later days, no doubt, the Vienna press offered some +carefully-balanced criticisms of its style; for the time Germany +yielded to the enchantment, and allowed itself to enjoy, without +afterthought, the sweetness of the melodies and the pellucid clearness +of the form. Indeed, no more salient contrast could be found than +that between the two works with which the composer signalised his +reappearance.[49] Both alike show that he had completely assimilated +the past records of his art, but in the one he uses his knowledge as a +basis for new application, in the other he takes the old types as they +stand without extending their range or enlarging their content In the +Serenade he sums up: in the Concerto he advances. Hence it was not +unwise that he should at once prepare the lighter composition for the +press, and reserve the more serious until the world had grown in +experience, and had made itself more ready to receive him. + +About this time he resigned his office at Lippe Detmold, feeling that +even so slight a chain was a hindrance to the freedom of an artistic +career, and returned for a short period of residence to his native +Hamburg. The prophet, indeed, had achieved some share of honour in his +own country, and the least that he could do was to pay it the +acknowledgment of a visit; beside which his parents were still living +in the old home, there was abundance of theatrical and musical gossip to +interchange, and there was the young Fritz, growing up into an excellent +pianist, who deserved some congratulations on his progress, and some +advice as to his future.[50] But, as the months wore on, they brought +with them the need of a more extended range. Home-keeping youths stand +in a proverbial danger of homely wit, and an atmosphere of comfort and +sympathy, however delightful, is apt to relax and weaken the sterner +qualities. So, in 1860, shortly after the publication of the Serenades, +Brahms again turned his back upon Hamburg, and set out to try his +fortunes afield. + +His first halting-place was the little town of Winterthur, between +Zurich and Constance. German Switzerland had long shown a warm +hospitality to musicians, and a cordial interest in their art; moreover +one of the great Leipsic publishers had an outpost in Winterthur itself, +and the organist there was Theodor Kirchner, the most gifted of +Schumann's pupils, and the most ready to offer a hand of fellowship to +the genius whom Schumann had heralded. In a very short time the new +arrival found himself among friends, and forthwith settled down to work +after his usual undemonstrative fashion. It was not an opulent life, but +it was comfortable and adequate: there were pupils to teach, there were +audiences to delight, and above all, there was Rieter-Bidermann's +printing office as a stimulus to further composition. Yet in truth there +was little need of stimulus. The treasures, accumulated during four +years of self-imposed economy, were only waiting to be coined and +expended; now the mint was opened and the golden currency scattered with +a lavish hand. In 1861 appeared the beautiful Ave Maria for female +chorus and orchestra, the fine sombre Funeral Hymn, the D minor +Concerto, the first two sets of pianoforte variations, and a couple of +volumes of songs and duets; in 1862 followed four exquisite part-songs +for female voices with horn and harp accompaniment, a string sestett in +B flat, the most magnificent piece of chamber music that had appeared +since the death of Beethoven, two books of Marienlieder, another volume +of songs, and finally two new sets of variations for the piano, one on a +theme from Handel's Harpischord lessons, one[51] on the pathetic melody +that had haunted the last sane moments of Schumann's life. Even with +these the record is not exhausted. There still remain the Pianoforte +Quartetts in G minor and A major, which, though not published till 1863, +were certainly written before the end of the previous year. And when we +realise that in all this catalogue almost every work is a masterpiece, +almost every form a development of preceding types, it is hard to see +where, except in the greatest of all composers, we can find a parallel +to the achievement. Schubert, no doubt, could pour a more 'profuse +strain of unpremeditated art,' but art, at any rate in its larger forms, +is the gainer by premeditation. Mozart could fill the accustomed +channels with a more copious stream of melody, but he was content that +its waters should run their course in familiar regions. Here is a man +whose originality never betrays him into carelessness, whose certainty +of touch never degenerates into formalism, whose thought, even in its +deepest and most recondite utterance, is always firmly conceived and +clearly articulated. Such a mastery of phrase and structure is not only +slow of acquisition, but also, in some degree, slow of exercise. It is +impossible that the most eloquent genius, the most elaborate training +should have enabled Brahms to write one of his great chamber works with +the rapid facility that has so often been a mark of the chief composers. +An organism so coherent and so complex is not created by a single flash +of the artistic will. + +By an odd coincidence, the first chapter of Brahms' life may be said to +end with this temporary climax of production. In the autumn of 1862 the +_coterie_ at Winterthur was broken up by Theodor Kirchner's acceptance +of an appointment at Zurich; and Brahms, beginning perhaps to feel that +the place where he dwelt was too strait for him, set himself to find a +wider habitation and a more enlarged sphere of energy. It was in many +ways unadvisable that he should follow his friend. For one thing, Zurich +was hardly central enough to satisfy his requirements, for another, it +was much dominated by the influence of Wagner and Liszt, and the school +which they were taken to represent had never forgiven Brahms his public +defection from its ranks.[52] Besides, he had recently been manifesting +some special interest in the bright rhythms and piquant phraseology of +Hungarian music: one of his first sets of pianoforte variations had been +on a Hungarian theme; the finale of his G minor Quartett was ostensibly +affected by a similar attraction; in other of his more recent works +there were details of style which showed that he had begun to think, +like Schubert, of holding the balance between two artistic languages. +Everything, in short, pointed towards Vienna. It was still the capital +of European music; it possessed traditions from which any composer might +be proud to draw inspiration and stimulus; it contained the most +critical public to which any artist of the time could appeal. There was +no question of alternative; without more ado Brahms 'set his face to the +east,' and, before November, had established himself in the city which +he was afterwards content to call his home. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[48] The account of this episode is taken partly from Ehrlich's +Künstlerleben, partly from an article by Dr Schubring in the Allgemeine +Musikalische Zeitung. + +[49] It should be noted that the first version of the Serenade in A (Op. +16) was also produced in this year and published at Bonn in 1860. +Brahms, however, subsequently withdrew it for revision, and its present +form dates from 1875. + +[50] The Neue Zeitschrift mentions the successful début of Fritz Brahms +at Hamburg in January 1864. + +[51] The Thematic Catalogue gives the date of this work as 1866. But it +must have been published earlier, for it is reviewed in the _Allgemeine +Musikalische Zeitung_ for Sept. 9, 1863. + +[52] See Ehrlich's _Künstlerleben_, p. 156 _n._ + + + + +II + +MATURITY + + +Vienna, in 1862, was entering upon its second period of musical +activity. After the death of Schubert it had suffered something of a +reaction; not, indeed, enough to dim its prestige, but enough to prevent +it from making any considerable addition to its record. Now, however, +the interval of repose was ended, and for the past few years the city +had been gradually rousing itself into fresh energy and fresh +achievement. Among its creative musicians could be numbered many names +of interest: Robert Volkmann, Saxon by birth, Austrian by residence, a +lesser Schumann, whose work had been unjustly eclipsed by his great +compatriot; Goldmark, the epigrammatist of the orchestra, brilliant, +witty and self-reliant; Bruckner, already completing the foundations on +which he has built his strange composite structure of romance and +counterpoint; Ignaz Brüll, fresh from the triumph of his first public +performance; Johann Strauss, who, like his father, had raised dance +music to the level of a fine art, and whose orchestra was still 'worth a +journey to Vienna on foot.' Even higher was the standard of executance. +There were at least three conductors of the first rank:--Esser at the +Opera House, Otto Dersoff at the Kärnthnerthor Theatre, and Herbeck, +recently appointed to an engagement at the Gesellschaft; the chamber +concerts of Laub and Hellmesberger had won European reputations: every +day one could hear a pianist like Epstein, or a violinist like Grün, or +a horn-player like Hans Richter of the Kärnthnerthor, for whose career +renown was prophesying a triumphant future. And for criticism, though +here, as everywhere, could be found journalists who made up in +vociferation what they lacked in knowledge; yet here, as in most places, +the mass was leavened by some genuine exponents of sound principle and +earnest judgment. Ambros lived close at hand, and could sometimes spare +a moment from his historical work to estimate a contemporary; while in +the city itself were Grillparzer, who thirty years before had discovered +Schumann, and Hanslick, who, though something of a specialist and +something of a partisan, has always maintained his standpoint with clear +logic and steady conviction. + +[Illustration: Johannes Brahms.] + +It was into this assembly that Brahms made his way. As yet his +compositions were little known, but there was no musician in Vienna who +had not heard his name or felt some expectation at his arrival. Before +long, introduction had ripened into acquaintance and acquaintance into a +many-sided friendship. Men were glad to welcome a new genius of +conspicuous power and encyclopædic knowledge, who never spoke of +himself, who never wrote a line in his own defence, who never attacked +an opponent or depreciated a rival. Add to this the quiet voice, the +undemonstrative manner, the kindly disposition that expended itself in a +thousand services, the upright honesty that would never stoop even to +conquer, and it is not hard to explain a personal popularity which has +lasted unimpaired to the present day. The artist is too often to be +described, in Mr Stevenson's phrase, as 'a man who sows hurry and reaps +indigestion,' who 'comes among people swiftly and bitterly to discharge +some temper before he returns to work.' It is not a little refreshing to +contemplate a genius who, with all the astonishing amount that he +accomplished, yet found time to enjoy his dinner, to bear his part in +the company of his friends, and to become the sworn ally of all the +children in the neighbourhood. + +His first public appearance took place at a Hellmesberger concert on +November 16, when he played the pianoforte part in his G minor Quartett. +From the outset there was no question about his recognition as a +pianist; the critics were keen-sighted enough to see that the absence of +virtuosity was a merit, and to estimate with full justice the broad +masterly musicianship of the interpretation; but at the same time it +must be confessed, that the first judgment of his composition was +seriously adverse. 'We do not propose,'[53] said the _Blätter für +Theater Musik und Kunst_ 'to condemn Herr Brahms altogether until we +have heard more of his work, but the present specimen will not induce +the Viennese people to accept him as a composer. The first three +movements are gloomy, obscure and ill-developed: the last is simply an +offence against the laws of style. There is neither precedent nor excuse +for introducing into Chamber Music a movement entirely conceived in the +measure of a national dance, and it is much to be regretted that Herr +Brahms should have departed in this matter from the example set by +Beethoven and Schubert.' The criticism is worth quoting as an example of +that dogmatic error which is sometimes allowed to pass current for +certainty. It is of course wholly wrong upon the point of fact. Brahms' +movement follows in perfectly natural development from the Minuet +finales of Haydn, from the Turkish March finale of Mozart, from the +'Alla Tedescas' of Beethoven himself, and even if it did not, even if it +were a new departure in detail, a good deal of analysis would be +required to show that absence of precedent involved absence of +justification. + +The composer, however, soon showed that if he had for the moment +declined in public estimation, it was only 'pour mieux sauter.' A week +later, the Serenade in D was successfully given by the Gesellschaft; on +November 29 followed the A major Quartett, far more favourably received +than its predecessor; fame, once established, gathered and grew with +steady persistence, and at last, in December 1863, opposition itself was +silenced by a magnificent performance, under Hellmesberger, of the +Sestett in B flat. For once the audience was unanimous; the critics +forgot to cavil; even Brahms' old enemy, the _Blätter_, admitted itself +convinced, and, in the first flush of enthusiasm, supplied this +most rigorous of classical compositions with a romantic programme. +'The opening movement,' it said, 'is a walk in spring when the +sky is cloudless and the flowers are blooming in the hedgerows. +The second' (_i. e._, the Air with variations) 'represents a gipsy +encampment--dark-eyed maidens whispering secrets, and afar-off the +subdued tinkle of the mandolin. The third is a rustic dance; and the +fourth--well, we suppose that fourth must mean the journey home.' This +is not remarkably conclusive as an exposition of the Sestett, but it +appears to have been kindly meant, and, at any rate, it succeeded in +calling public attention to the work, and preparing, in some measure, +for a more adequate discussion of its merits. + +Meantime Vienna was shaken to its foundations by another inroad. At the +end of 1862 Wagner appeared, gave two or three concerts in the course of +the winter, and finally established himself at Penzing, where he worked +at Meistersinger, and received his friends with his accustomed Oriental +hospitality. His relation with Brahms appears to have been always of the +slightest. The two composers met occasionally on neutral ground, but +they were never intimate, and it was impossible that they should be +attracted to each other by any real artistic sympathy. Wagner, indeed, +seems to have looked on his great rival as Victor Hugo looked on +Corneille and Racine: Brahms, for his part, was content to avow that he +did not understand the theatre, and that for him the magic of Walküre +and Tristan had no enchantment. It may be that the sense of contrast +gave additional point to a famous and frequently-quoted epigram of the +younger artist. One day Hanslick was rallying him on his anchorite +habits and suggesting marriage as an antidote. 'No,' said Brahms, 'it is +as hard to marry as to write an opera. Perhaps--in both--a first success +might embolden one to try again; but it wants more courage than mine to +make a start.' The mind naturally reverts to an enthusiastic and rather +callow reformer, who had once endeavoured to inculcate a short-service +system of matrimony in an opera called Das Liebesverbot. + +Apart from a fine organ fugue in E flat minor, the only compositions +published in 1863 were the two Pianoforte Quartetts. This sudden fit of +reticence may possibly be explained by Brahms' appointment in June, to +the conductorship of the Vienna Singakademie, a responsible post, which +necessitated a good deal of work, and not a little anxiety. It was for +this body that he wrote many of his smaller vocal quartetts and +choruses, _e.g._, the _Abendständchen_, the _Vineta_, the _Wechsellied +zum Tanze_, and the _Neckereien_, some of which were performed at a +'Brahms' Concert on April 17, 1864, and printed shortly afterwards. At +the beginning of May he was unanimously re-elected to his office; but +finding, as usual, that he had little taste for either the labour or the +rewards of a public position, he resigned in July, and betook himself +once more to his study and his proof-sheets. It is worth noting, as an +example of the influence of environment, that all the works published +during 1864 are vocal. In the spring appeared a setting of the 23d +Psalm, then followed four duets for Alto and Baritone, then three choral +works and three quartetts, and finally, at the close of the year, two +volumes of delightful songs, which end, as a fitting climax, with the +immortal melody of 'Wie bist du meine Königin.' + +The compositions of 1865 include the great Pianoforte Quintett in F +minor and the first two books of Romances from Tieck's 'Magelone.' In +March the A major Quartett was given at Leipsic, with Madame Schumann at +the piano and David to lead the strings; and later in the year, after a +long visit to Theodor Kirchner at Zurich, Brahms undertook a concert +tour on his own account, and made a triumphant progress through +Mannheim, Cologne, where he conducted the D major Serenade, Carlsruhe, +where he played sonatas with Joachim, and Oldenburg, where, in January +1866, he brought out his new Trio for piano, violin and horn. All this +time he was writing with his usual tireless industry, and, in the course +of the next few months, saw safely through the press his Variations on a +Theme of Paganini, his Sestett in G major, hardly inferior to its more +famous predecessor, and his first Violoncello Sonata, a remarkable +example of mastery over a very difficult medium. + +We may gain an indication of Brahms' growing importance in the artistic +world, from the amount of attention bestowed upon him during these years +by the _Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung_. This journal, ever since +Chrysander's occupation of the editorial chair, had gradually won its +way to the forefront of German criticism, and from 1863 onwards it +treated Brahms with a respect that no other contemporary musician either +merited or received. Each of his works in turn was welcomed as an event +in musical history, subjected to an exhaustive analysis, often extending +over two numbers, and discussed throughout with admirable sympathy and +intelligence. Amid our chaos of hasty and ill-considered judgments, it +is not a little reassuring to read such articles as that of Chrysander +on the F minor Quintett, or that of Deiters on the Sestett in G. There +is here no indiscriminate praise, no prejudiced or ill-natured censure, +no evasion of the point at issue under a nebulous mist of semi-poetical +fancies: from first to last, the critic shows a due reverence for genius +and a real attempt to understand the purport of its message. Work such +as this, while it justly reacts upon the credit and position of the +writer, involves also the recognition of a high value in the object to +which it is applied. No great critical essay could ever be written on a +poor or trivial theme. The judge may be as denunciatory as Macaulay, or +as humorous as Mr Andrew Lang; he may call to his aid all the Graces of +Parnassus, or condemn with all the authority of the Stygian tribunal; +but sooner or later the world comes to see that mere denunciation is +barren, and that mere banter is ephemeral. The highest criticism, in +short, means a judicial estimate of the highest merit, and though the +intrinsic worth and splendour of genius can in no way be enhanced by any +act of homage, yet it is well, both for genius and the world at large, +that the act of homage should sometimes be rightly and adequately +performed. + +In October 1866, Brahms made a short concert-tour in German Switzerland, +with Joachim for companion. The pair visited Schaffhausen, Winterthur, +and Zurich, playing everywhere to enthusiastic audiences, but meeting +with no adventure worth recording. The days of flat pianos and officious +superintendents had long gone by, and in the path of two such artists +there were no longer any obstacles to retard progress, or arouse +reminiscence. At the end of November they separated; Joachim to fulfil +an engagement in Paris; Brahms to return for the usual winter season in +Vienna, where, in January 1867, Hellmesberger led the first performance +of the G major Sestett. It is no discredit either to composer or to +audience that the new work was received with more astonishment than +delight. The extremely elaborate polyphony, which is one of its +distinguishing attributes, is probably too intricate to be comprehended +by anyone at a single presentation, and we may infer that the public +actually did not hear the melodies for the simple reason of their +abundance. The complaint of tunelessness which has been brought against +every great composer in turn, usually emanates from a criticism that +cannot see the wood for the trees, and on this occasion it may be noted +that Vienna saved its repute by wisely reserving judgment; and that +Brahms' only repartee was to publish forthwith a delightful set of +four-hand waltzes, in which the top part had the tune and the other +parts had the accompaniment, and everybody was satisfied. + +In March and April, he gave a couple of pianoforte recitals, at which, +as usual, his own works were very sparsely represented. It was at the +former of them, by the way, that he brought out his Paganini Variations, +and, on being enthusiastically recalled, played the Finale of +Beethoven's third Rasoumoffsky Quartett as an encore. Towards the end of +April came two concerts at Pesth, and in the early summer appeared a +fine set of part-songs for male voices, usually known by the title of +Soldatenlieder. But the great musical achievement of the year was the +German Requiem, of which the original six numbers, written, it is said, +as a monument for the Austrio-Prussian War, seem to have been completed +by November. A seventh movement, the exquisite soprano solo, with choral +interludes, was inserted next year in commemoration of a more intimate +and personal sorrow. + +As a preliminary, the first half of the Requiem was given at a +Gesellschaft concert on December 1, and at once visited with a storm of +Theological criticism. It was not a Requiem, said the purists; it was +not even ecclesiastical in tone; it was a sacred cantata, far less +suited to the church than to the concert-room. Even its defenders looked +upon it with some misgiving, and could only plead that it was +'confessionslos aber nicht religionslos.' Now and then the controversy +diverged as on a side issue to consider the music and discuss its +relation to Bach and Beethoven, but, for the most part, critics seem to +have been occupied in pointing out the impropriety of the name, and +raising the equally important objection that there is nothing +distinctively 'German' in the sentiment of the words. However, the world +soon had an opportunity of judging the matter from a more appropriate +standpoint. On Good Friday, 1868, the entire six numbers were performed +in the Great Church at Bremen, to an audience of over two thousand +people, including Joachim, Dietrich, Max Bruch and Madame Schumann. +Representative musicians came from Austria, from Germany, from +Switzerland, from England itself, and the impression that they carried +away with them has steadily gathered and developed into a reverence that +is almost too deep for praise. Grant that there are some genuine lovers +of Music who find the Requiem an unequal composition, which only means +that to them it makes an unequal appeal; the fact remains that there is +nothing in the whole work, unless it be the difficulty of execution, +against which any objective criticism can be directed. 'You cannot touch +them,' said Heine of some disputed passages in Faust, 'it is the finger +of Goethe.' And as the faults are imaginary, so the beauties are +incontestable. If there be any man who can listen unmoved to the +majestic funeral march, to the serene and perfect melody of the fourth +chorus, to the two great fugues, which may almost be said to succeed +where Beethoven has failed, then he can only conclude that he stands as +yet outside the precincts of the art. It is no more a matter for +controversy than are the poetic merits of the Antigone or the Inferno. +We are not here dealing with a product of the second order, in which +blemishes are to be condoned and qualities set in antithesis, and the +whole appraised by a nice adjustment of the balance. To find a defect +here, is to criticise our own judgment, and to stigmatise as imperfect +not the voice that speaks but the ear that listens. + +The summer of 1868 was spent at Bonn, partly in preparing the German +Requiem for the press, partly in strenuous composition. The only other +works published during this year, were five volumes of songs (Op. 43 and +Ops. 46 to 49),[54] but it seems pretty certain that Rinaldo and the +Rhapsodie from Goethe's Harzreise were written at the same time, and we +may probably add the first set of Liebeslieder Waltzes for pianoforte +duet, with vocal accompaniment, which appeared early in 1869. Of the +songs, it is only necessary to say, that they include Von ewiger Liebe, +Botschaft, Herbstgefühl, An ein Veilchen, and the Wiegenlied; the two +cantatas have long established their position as the finest male-voice +choruses in existence; and the Liebeslieder, though naturally conceived +in a lighter mood, are as dainty as Strauss and as melodious as +Schubert. Finally, there is some slight internal evidence for assigning +to 1868, at least one of the two string quartetts which were printed a +few years later as Op. 51. In any case, whether this assignment be +correct or not, the year's record is one which would do honour to any +artist in musical history. + +After this period of vigorous activity there followed two years of +almost entire repose. In 1869, a couple of concert tours were +projected--one in Holland and one in Russia, but the plans were +abandoned almost as soon as conceived, and meanwhile the only fresh +publications were the first two books of Hungarian dances, which, by an +odd irony of fate, have come to be more intimately associated with +Brahms' name than almost any of his own compositions. It is no longer +requisite to point out that the melodies of all the dances are of +national origin; one alone (the graceful little Csárdás, in A major) +being traditional, and the rest, written by Rizner, Kéler Béla, and +other 'popular' Hungarian composers. But it is worth noting, as an +illustration of critical method, that more than one journal of the time +disregarded the specific announcement on the title-page, and accused +Brahms of plagiarising the tunes which he only claimed to have arranged +in duet form. Of course, the accusation broke down, but equally, of +course, it ought never to have been made. + +It may be remembered that, in 1859, Brahms had emerged from his second +period of studentship with a Pianoforte Concerto in D minor, which at +the time was received with considerable disfavour by its Leipsic +audience. The work had been printed in 1861, and had slept ever since on +the shelves of Rieter-Biedermann, waiting in patience until the public +was ready to appreciate it. Now it seemed as though the hour had come. +The world was wiser by the experience of a dozen years; the composer +was no longer a _débutant_ to be sacrificed on the altar of critical +conservatism; Vienna had shown herself disposed to listen with sympathy +and intelligence. Accordingly the work was recalled from its obscurity, +presented at a Philharmonic concert on January 20, 1871, and, it is +pleasant to add, received with acclamation. No doubt the critics +repeated their old joke, that it was a 'symphony with pianoforte +obbligato,' but the attention with which it was heard, and the applause +with which it was welcomed, gave sufficient evidence that the interval +of education had not been fruitless. 'It is,' says Dr Helm, writing to +the _Academy_, 'the most original production of its composer, except the +Requiem, and the most genial composition of its kind since the days of +Beethoven.' Perhaps 'genial' is not precisely the epithet that we should +most naturally employ, but when a victory is announced it is ungracious +to carp at the terms of the bulletin. + +In 1871 appeared two new works of considerable importance. First +came the Triumphlied, written to commemorate the victories of the +Franco-Prussian war, and produced, together with the Requiem, at +a solemn Good-Friday service in Bremen Cathedral; then, a few +months later, there followed at Carlsruhe, what is perhaps the most +widely-loved of all Brahms' compositions, the exquisite and flawless +setting of Holderlein's Schicksalslied. It was only natural that the +former should rouse some criticism in the French papers, which were +still chafing at the foolish humours of _Eine Kapitulation_. The shout +of victory however noble and dignified its expression, is always a +little discordant to the vanquished and we may almost sympathise with +the _Gazette Musicale_, which ended its review by remarking, in a tone +of grave irony, 'Et M. Brahms, l'auteur du Triumphlied, est né à Vienne, +près Sadowa.' + +Of the Schicksalslied, it is hard to speak without incurring some charge +of extravagance. Perfection is a word of such serious meaning, and of +such loose and careless employment, that a writer may well hesitate to +apply it, even if there be no lighter one that is adequate to the case. +Yet, on the other hand, it is difficult to see how, in the present +instance, any hesitation is possible. The work deals with the most +tremendous of all contrasts:--the pure, untroubled serenity of Heaven, +the agonies and failures of a baffled humanity, the message of peace, +tender, pitying, consolatory, which returns at last to veil the wreck of +man's broken aspirations; and to say that the treatment is worthy of +such a theme, is to announce a masterpiece that has as little to fear +from our criticism as it has to gain from our praise. It is almost +superfluous that one should commend the more technical beauties: the +rounded symmetry of balance and design, the pellucid clearness of style, +the sweetness and charm of melody, the marvellous cadences where chord +melts into chord as colour melts into colour at the sunset. If it be the +function of the artist that he be 'faithful to loveliness,' then here at +least is a loyalty that has kept its faith unsullied. + +After such a climax, it was almost inevitable that there should follow a +period of reaction, and in 1872 no new compositions made their +appearance. As a subsidiary cause we may note that, in the summer of +this year, Brahms accepted the important post of conductor to the +Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. His tenure of office, which lasted until +1875, is marked by the very noticeable frequence of Handel's name in the +programmes of the Society. It has become so much the fashion to regard +our admiration for Handel as a peculiarly British error, that we may +well feel some relief at finding it shared by the greatest and most +essentially German of recent musicians. _Saul_, _Solomon_, _Alexander's +Feast_, the _Dettingen Te Deum_, and the Organ Concerto in D minor, were +all presented in the course of the next two seasons,--a remarkable +record, if we remember that a season consisted of six concerts, and that +the range of selection extended from Johann Rudolph Ahle to Rubinstein +and Goldmark. + +Once established in his new position, Brahms found no further difficulty +in reconciling its duties with the needs of his own productive activity. +During the years 1873-5 he poured out a continuous stream of new works, +including not only many songs, duets, and choruses, but the _Neue +Liebeslieder_, the fine set of orchestral variations on a Theme of +Haydn, and the Pianoforte Quartett in C minor, which, although it +suffers from an almost inevitable comparison, may yet be said to contain +two of the most delightful melodies that its composer has ever written. +It was in this last work that some candid friend pointed out an obvious +structural resemblance to the Finale of Mendelssohn's C minor Trio, and +was met with the placid, if somewhat direct rejoinder, 'Das sieht jeder +Narr.' Brahms does not belong to the artistic type that can be readily +stirred by an accusation of plagiarism. + +Such an accusation, however, was shortly to be repeated in more vehement +terms. At the beginning of November 1876, the Symphony in C minor was +played (from MSS.) at Carlsruhe, and at once attracted a great deal of +attention, not only because it was the composer's first work in this +form, but for the less satisfactory reason that its Finale is based on a +melody curiously similar to that of Beethoven's 'Freude.' To make +matters worse, an enthusiastic Hamburg admirer labelled the new +composition 'A Tenth Symphony,' and so emphasised the resemblance in a +manner which would have been hardly possible to an open antagonism. The +artistic importance of this question will be considered later: at +present it is enough to note, that the resemblance undoubtedly exists, +and that it holds a prominent place in almost all the contemporary +criticisms. Yet, on the whole, the Symphony was favourably received. The +first movement aroused some controversy:--'We cannot make head or tail +of it,' said a Munich correspondent, 'so we suppose that it is a +Symphonic Poem;'--but the Andante, the Allegretto, and even the +offending Finale, appear to have met with a due share of popular favour. +It must be remembered that the opening Allegro is essentially tragic in +character, and that, with the general public, tragedy takes longer than +comedy to win its way. + +As the publication of the Requiem had been followed immediately by a +great outburst of choral works, so that of the first Symphony stimulated +Brahms to further attempts in the great epic forms of the orchestra. In +December 1877, the D major Symphony was produced by Richter at a +Philharmonic concert in Vienna, and in 1878, after a short holiday tour +in Italy, Brahms completed the triptych with his superb Violin +Concerto, second only, in the record of musical art, to that of +Beethoven. The _début_ of this last composition, which took place on +January 14, 1879, was characterised by a very unusual mark of respect +and interest. Not only was it received with a veritable ovation--when +Joachim is playing Brahms that is only to be expected--but at the close +of the concert a large part of the audience remained in the hall, and +constituted itself into an impromptu debating society to discuss its +impressions. This forms a remarkable contrast to the panic flight which +usually follows on the first moment of liberation, and must be taken as +the sign and witness of a more than superficial enthusiasm. Men may +applaud from good-nature, from impulse, from a desire to be in the +fashion; but something stronger than this is required to keep them in +their seats after the performance is over. + +Meantime works of less long a breath were appearing in their usual +copious abundance. In 1876 came the bright genial Quartett in B flat, +then followed a series of songs, duets and pianoforte pieces, then a +couple of motets for mixed chorus and orchestra. In November 1879 the +Violin Sonata in G was given for the first time at a Hellmesberger +Concert, and succeeded almost immediately by the two well-known +Rhapsodies for piano solo, and the second set of Hungarian dances. Of +course, fertility is not in itself a mark of genius--otherwise Raff +would be the greatest composer of the century--but at least it gives +additional opportunity for the marks of genius to appear. And it may be +added that, even in the periods of most rapid production, Brahms hardly +ever shows any signs of haste. If he escapes the self-torture which +drove Chopin day after day to the revision of a single page, it is not +because his ideal is lower, but because his judgment is more robust. + +In 1880 he accepted the degree of Doctor in Philosophy, offered him by +the University of Breslau, and at once set himself, during a summer stay +at Ischl, to write his thesis. A ceremonial of so solemn and academic a +character naturally demanded an unusual display of learning. Symphonies +were too trivial, oratorios were too slight, even an eight-part _à +capella_ chorus in octuple counterpoint was hardly adequate to the +dignity of the occasion. Something must be done to mark the doctorate +with all the awe and reverence due to the Philosophic Chair. So Brahms +selected a handful of the more convivial student songs--'Was kommt dort +von der Höh',' 'Gaudeamus igitur,' and the like--and worked them into a +concert overture, which remains one of the most amusing pieces of pure +comedy in the whole range of music. It was an audacious experiment, and +one which could only have succeeded in Germany. Not even Brahms could +offer, as a Doctor's exercise at Oxford or Cambridge, a work based on +the melodies with which our own studious youth beguiles its leisure +moments. + +Two other compositions appear to have been written at Ischl during the +same summer--the Tragic Overture and the Pianoforte Trio in C major. Of +these the Trio remained for some time in abeyance; the Overture, +together with its 'Academic' companion, was produced at Breslau on +January 4, 1881, and repeated at Leipsic on January 13. It is equally +intelligible that the lighter mood should have won a more immediate +sympathy, and that a mature decision should have reversed the verdict. +In the Academic Overture men met old friends, cracked old jokes, +recalled old memories of the Kneipe, and so rather put themselves out of +court for dispassionate criticism: the Tragic brought them nothing but a +cheerless vision of crumbling steeps and mysterious shadows, of dark +recesses and haunted glades, of + + 'Moonlit battlements and towers decayed by time,' + +through all of which we can fancy Vetter Michel passing with his coat +tightly buttoned and his hat pressed over his brows, only anxious to +escape as soon as possible from the enchanted spot, and return to warmth +and light and good fellowship. At the same time, the Tragic Overture +strikes a deeper note, and though it is not more masterly in structure, +is certainly more poetic in conception. Besides, it owed no factitious +interest to the particular circumstances of its first appearance, and +so, having been treated from the beginning on its own merits, it is the +more likely to endure. + +Other events of 1881 may be dismissed in a few words. At the end of +January the London Philharmonic endeavoured to secure Brahms as +conductor for its coming season; but the offer, like all subsequent +invitations from this country, was immediately declined. 'Je ne veux pas +faire le spectacle,' is the reason which was once given as the ground of +refusal; and, though we may feel a little mortified at the implication, +it is difficult to deny the uncomplimentary truth that it contains. We +have not yet learned to treat genius frankly, and either starve it with +censure or smother it with an irrational excess of enthusiasm. And +further, Brahms was much occupied during the summer, partly in preparing +his two overtures for the press, partly in completing the Nänie and the +new Pianoforte Concerto in B flat. During the autumn came a concert tour +of unusual extent, in which the last-named work was produced at +Buda-Pesth, and repeated at Meiningen, Stuttgart, Basle, Zurich, and +ultimately at Vienna. By this time it had become an article of faith, +that Brahms' concerti showed no claim to their specific title; and, as +the jest of 'Symphony with pianoforte obbligato' had fulfilled its +purpose, the critics struck out a fresh line, and described the new work +as 'chamber music on a larger canvas.' However, the Viennese public was +as indifferent to names as Juliet herself, and received the music +with a cordiality that took no thought of problems in scientific +classification. + +The publications of 1882 consist of four volumes of songs, which range +in character from the humour of the Vergebliches Ständchen to the +poetry, as pure and contemplative as Wordsworth, of Feldeinsamkeit and +Sommerabend. After the Vienna season Brahms took his usual holiday at +Ischl, and there composed the String Quintett in F and the Gesang der +Parzen, both of which were printed in the succeeding year. But the next +real landmark was the third Symphony produced at Vienna in the winter of +1883, and repeated at once in almost every great musical centre in +Germany. It is perhaps the finest, certainly the clearest, of all +Brahms' instrumental compositions for orchestra--forcible and vigorous +in movement, delightful in melody, and, of course, faultless in +construction. 'Now at last,' said a member of the Viennese audience, 'I +can understand Brahms at a first hearing': and, indeed, it must be a +cloudy twilight in which so exact a hand cannot be readily deciphered. +In strong contrast is the fourth Symphony in E minor, which followed +after another period of song-writing. On grounds of true artistic value, +it is almost equal to its predecessor; but it deals with more recondite +themes, it traces more involved issues, and it has consequently been +treated with some of that irrational impatience which is the common fate +of prophets who speak in parables. When it was presented at Leipsic in +1886, the critics protested against it as wholly unintelligible; and +when Reinecke repeated it at the beginning of the next year, the +audience trooped out after the third movement and left the finale to be +played to empty benches. It may be remembered that the subscribers to +_Fraser's Magazine_ once threatened to withdraw their patronage unless +the editor discontinued a farrago of exasperating nonsense called by the +unmeaning name of _Sartor Resartus_. + +In 1887 Brahms was created a Knight of the German order, 'pour le +mérite,' in company with Professor Treitschke, Gustav Freitag, and +Verdi. He had already received the order of 'Arts and Sciences' from the +King of Bavaria; and, two years later, he was admitted by the Emperor of +Austria to the order of St Leopold--the first civilian, it is said, on +whom that distinction has been conferred. Meantime, he brought his list +of works past its hundredth opus number--that goal which Schubert was so +pathetically anxious to reach--with the 'Cello Sonata in F, the Violin +Sonata in A, the double Concerto and the C minor Pianoforte Trio. The +first of these, which was produced by Hausmann in November 1886, at once +aroused a very curious outburst of structural criticism. It was said, +and the statement is still repeated, that Brahms had been guilty of a +dangerous and radical innovation in choosing for his slow movement a key +removed by only one semitone from that of the work as a whole. The +choice was too near in pitch, it was too remote in signature, it broke +the harmonic unity of the composition by a contrast of colour which was +in itself glaring and extreme. But of attacks on Brahms, as of attacks +on a very different master, we may generally say, 'ça porte malheur.' +The so-called 'innovation,' authoritatively condemned as without +parallel in musical literature, may be found in one of Haydn's +pianoforte sonatas, and can hardly, therefore, be criticised at the +present day as hazardous and revolutionary. Whether the contrast be here +successful or not is a matter on which opinions may conceivably differ, +though, after any serious study of the opening movement, they are likely +to concur; but it is surely unfair to accuse Brahms of violating the +classical tradition, unless, indeed, there be a sense in which any stage +of evolution may be said to violate its forerunner. + +In the summer of 1889 Brahms was presented with the freedom of the city +of Hamburg, a gift which affected him more deeply than any splendour of +royal or academic distinction. With its acceptance his public life may +be said to close. He was now fifty-seven; he had spent nearly forty +years of strenuous and honourable work; his dislike of notoriety grew +naturally keener with advancing age; he had no longer any office or +appointment to call him from his beloved seclusion. The occurrences of +the next seven years may be summed up in a few rare concert-tours or +holiday visits. For the rest he lived among his books; reading, editing, +annotating until the creative moment came, and the world was made richer +by a new masterpiece. Within this period he produced about a score of +compositions: an exquisite violin sonata in D minor; a second string +quintett, even sweeter and more melodious than the first; two volumes of +motets, strong, stately and dignified; two concerted works for clarinet, +of which one at least may rank among the chief glories of musical art, +and a whole underwood of songs and pianoforte pieces, that grow and +blossom in the shadow of the larger forest. But even the records of +achievement become more sparse as the years decline. The evening was at +hand, and the day's work drawing to its close. + +It was in the summer of 1896 that he printed his last composition, the +Vier ernste Gesänge. For some little time his health had been giving +cause for anxiety. In the autumn his doctors sent him to Carlsbad in +hope of a cure; then in the early winter appeared symptoms of some +cancerous growth, and the only hope left was for the alleviation of +pain. Yet a few more months he lingered, bearing his death sentence with +the same unselfish fortitude that had marked his life, until on April 3, +1897, the end came and the sufferings were over. With him passed away +one of the noblest figures in all musical history: a great man, generous +and upright, without envy, without arrogance, free from all taint of the +meaner emotions, wholly single-hearted in the service of his ideal. The +happiness which eludes all conscious human pursuit came to him unasked +and unsought; the rewards that he would never stretch a hand to seize +offered themselves for his acceptance. His life was secure from sordid +anxieties, unvexed by the contests and intrigues that have so often +marred an artistic reputation, rich in the love of friends and the +priceless gift of genius. It is not for him that we should mourn, now +that in the fulness of years and honours he has laid his books aside and +turned to sleep. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[53] Shortened from an article in the issue for November 21, 1862. + +[54] To them should be added the last three books of Romances from +Tieck's Magelone, which were not printed until 1868, though they were +almost certainly written some considerable time earlier. + + + + +III + +THE DIRECTION OF THE NEW PATHS + + +As Music is the most abstract of the arts, so it is also the most +continuous. In each successive generation the Poet and the Painter are +confronted by approximately the same facts of nature and life: the truth +of representation which forms an essential part of their work is +relative to an external model which is comparatively unchanging. Thus, +in a certain degree, every age of representative art stands on a level +with its predecessors, and however much it is influenced by traditions +of style, is even more affected by its direct relation to physical +realities. Music, on the other hand, is simply the gradual mastery of a +particular medium by the pure action of the human mind. Its actual +method contains no concrete element at all, and in it, therefore, every +generation must take its point of departure, not from the same universe +which appealed to previous artists, but from the actual achievement +which previous artists have handed down. The Greeks were as keenly alive +to the beauty of music as to that of poetry: to us their poetry is a +delight and their music a bewilderment. To the Italians of the great +artistic period, the charm of music was as vivid as that of painting; +to us their painting is almost a finality, and their music, even in +Palestrina, but the supreme expression of a transitory phase. And this +is not because music is in any sense the youngest of the arts: for such +a theory is refuted by the most casual survey of human history. The real +reason would seem to be, that in the representative arts we have a +series of comparatively independent periods, each manifesting afresh the +attitude of an artistic mind to a fixed world of nature: whereas, in +music, the periods are stages of a continuous evolution, and the whole +environment of the artist is summed up in the inheritance that he +derives from the past. + +This distinction must, of course, be stated not as absolute, but as +relative. For, in the first place, every work of art is the outcome of +its creator's personality, and depends, therefore, on the particular +attributes of his character and temperament. Poetry, like the poet, is +born, not made: painting, even if it borrow its model from nature, must +find its power of vision in the soul of the artist: and music, in like +manner, is worth nothing unless it arises from a true and spontaneous +emotion. The gift of melody, the sense of ideal beauty, the capacity for +genuine and noble feeling, are qualities which cannot be learned or +communicated: they constitute the life of the art, and external forces +can only influence its training. Further, it is idle to speak of the +'representative' artists as unaffected by the general course of æsthetic +history. Only, it is here contended, that their debt to the past is +appreciably less than that of the musician, because their debt to the +present is appreciably greater. + +It is impossible, then, to estimate a composer without special +reference to his historical conditions. For the whole of his work +consists in expressing thought, which he originates through a medium +which he inherits, and, to gauge his success, we must know how the art +stood before it passed into his hands, and to what extent he has +enriched or augmented its resources. There are, therefore, two +questions, and only two, to which musical criticism can address itself: +first, whether the feeling implied by the work is one that commands our +sympathy: second, whether in expressing it the artist has assimilated +all that is best in a previous tradition, and has himself advanced that +tradition towards a fuller and more perfect development. And, as +the former of these questions is the more difficult of the two, we +may perhaps defer it until the latter has received some share of +consideration. + +Now, the primary fact in music is the simple melodic phrase: the +spontaneous, almost unconscious, utterance of an emotional state that is +too vivid for ordinary speech. At first, this music is entirely artless, +for art only begins when the medium is recognised as possessing an +intrinsic interest; then there gradually arises an attempt to make the +phrases more coherent, and so more expressive, until the first landmark +is reached in the establishment of a definite scale-system like +that of Greece. Thus Greek music may be taken as the lowest stage +of organisation in the European history of the art. It was not +unscientific, for it had the modes, with their elaborate subtleties of +diatonic, chromatic and enharmonic, but we may search its records in +vain for any distinctive recognition of musical form. Its effect, to +judge from the allusions in Plato and Aristotle, seems to have been +wholly emotional, and its intellectual basis was not artistic but +mathematical in character. + +The Greek modes were revised by Claudius Ptolemy, and on the basis of +his revisions was established the system of the mediæval church. In it +the claims of the medium began to receive further attention, and the +next step was the gradual elaboration of counterpoint, that is, the +combination of simultaneous voice parts, each independent, but all +conducing to a result of uniform and coherent texture. Starting from the +crude origins of descant and faux-bourdon, the new method steadily grew +and developed, through Dunstable, Dufay, Josquin, and a host of other +great writers, until it reached the second universal landmark in the +magnificent climax of Palestrina. If the ecclesiastical modes had been +final, music would never have advanced beyond the 'Missa Papæ Marcelli,' +and the 'Æterna Christi Munera.' + +But the modes were not final. For certain scientific reasons, into which +it is here needless to enter, they were incapable either of a common +tonality or of a coherent system of modulation. Hence, while the +organisation of harmony could be carried by the ecclesiastical composers +to a high degree of perfection, the organisation of key lay outside +their horizon altogether. And while they were busy, like the schoolmen, +in 'applying a method received on authority to a matter received on +authority,' the unrecognised popular musicians, who had never heard of +Ptolemy, and cared nothing about counterpoint, were writing tunes in +which our modern scale-system begins to make a tentative and hesitating +appearance. It is not too much to say that the dances collected in +Arbeau's Orchesographie come nearer to our sense of tonality than all +the masses and madrigals that contemporary learning could produce. In a +word, the growth of harmony belongs to the Church, the growth of key to +the people. + +Then came the most important dynamic change in all musical history: the +Florentine revolution of 1600. Its ostensible object was frankly +dramatic--the revival of Greek tragedy under such altered conditions as +were implied by the change of language and civilisation: its real +importance was that it destroyed the convention of the modes, and called +tonality from the country fair to the theatre and the concert-room. For +a while, no doubt, the dramatic ideal overpowered everything else, and +even the Church left off writing masses and took to oratorios instead; +but when pure music reasserted itself, it found an entirely new set of +problems waiting for solution. Harmony had to be organised, not on the +basis of the mode, but on the basis of the modern scale, and thus had to +take into account a question of key-relationship which had never fallen +within the scope of the ecclesiastical period. And hence followed a line +of development beginning about the time of the younger Gabrieli, and +passing through the great choral composers of the seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries until the third landmark of our musical history was +attained in the person of John Sebastian Bach. His polyphony, as applied +to the emotional expression of his time, is simply the best of which the +art of music is capable. Given the phrases which he employed as +subjects, the human mind cannot conceive their being treated with a more +complete harmonic perfection. + +Meantime, ever since the floodgates had been opened by the audacious +hand of Florentine amateurs, another and more copious stream of tendency +had been flowing along a separate channel. The new tonality had not only +made a great difference in the harmonic aspect of music, it had +virtually opened a new field by suggesting the first possibilities of +form and structure. Composers began gradually to see that the +equalisation of the scales afforded the material for a more perfect and +coherent system of design: modulation became a reality, and with it the +recognition of different tonics in successive paragraphs or cantos of +the composition. They therefore took the simplest effects of contrast, +as presented by the dances and Volkslieder of the people, and proceeded +to develop them into a fuller diversity of organisation. At first, no +doubt, they went on something of a wrong tack: the structural problem +received a divided attention, for polyphony was still regarded as +paramount, but yet in the chamber music of Corelli and Vivaldi, and in +the harpsichord pieces of Scarlatti, Couperin and Rameau may be traced a +continuous effort not only to make the form distinct, but to make it in +some degree progressive. And on the death of Bach, when polyphony had +reached a point from which it seemed impossible to advance, music turned +almost entirely to questions of structure, and for the next two +generations set itself deliberately to perfect the outline of the +sonata, the quartett, and the symphony. This helps to explain the fact, +otherwise inexplicable, that Bach's influence on the latter half of the +eighteenth century was practically non-existent. Partly, of course, we +may account for it by remembering that musical art passed, for a +time, into another country, but it is a still stronger reason that +composition was occupied with another set of problems. The organisation +of harmony is that of simultaneous strains; the organisation of key is +that of successive passages; and it is obvious that the perfection of +the one will afford but little assistance to the development of the +other. And so the line of structural evolution passed through Haydn and +Mozart, until, in the work of Beethoven, it also attained a temporary +climax and culmination. With him, then, the treatment of the musical +medium may be held to have reached its fourth principal landmark. + +After Beethoven came the Romantic School, the historical importance of +which can roughly be epitomised under two heads. First, it widened the +range of emotional expression, and so affected music from the standpoint +of the idea. Secondly, it returned to Bach, and adapted his polyphonic +system to the requirements of the new musical language. But as its +artistic strength was its reverence for Bach, so its artistic weakness +was its neglect of Beethoven. On the polyphonic side it maintained the +old traditions, and even, in some respects, advanced upon them, since +the more 'romantic' the idea to be expressed, the more difficult is pure +polyphony in its expression. But, on the structural side, it was +distinctly retrograde, and either confined itself to the smaller and +more rudimentary forms, or, when it attempted those of a larger scope, +treated them with something of negligence and preoccupation. Berlioz no +doubt took Beethoven for his master, but it was as a poet, not as a +musician. And the other great masters of the school, for all their +genius and their earnestness and their love of beauty, are yet, in +questions of form, but the minor Socratics of our nineteenth century +music, carrying on, each from his own standpoint, some one part of the +previous tradition, but neither interpreting nor advancing its full and +entire content. + +A special word may be said on the relation of Wagner to this general +course of musical development. As a dramatist, he stands in some degree +aloof: his art is a different art, his methods are different methods, +his ancestry may be traced to Shakespear and Æschylus as readily as to +Bach and Palestrina. The explanation of his work is always the dramatic +explanation: his structure is determined not by principles of pure +music, but by the exigencies of the scene. Hence, apart from such a +secondary point as orchestration, it is only in his splendid, reckless, +audacious polyphony that he has really enlarged the treatment of musical +technique. His most enthusiastic followers claim for him that he has +'killed the symphony,' a statement which, though it is radically untrue, +is enough to dissociate him from an art that recognises the symphony as +its crowning achievement. The drama of the future will accept him as one +of its greatest potentates: the music of the future will see in him the +lord of a single province, whose government has in one respect assisted +the consolidation of the others. + +What, then, is required to sum up the tendencies of the present age, and +to bring Music to the fifth landmark in its history. Surely a composer, +who, while he maintains and develops the harmonic traditions of the +Romantic School, shall even more devote himself to the restoration and +evolution of musical structure: who shall take up the classical form +where Beethoven left it; who shall aid to free it from the conventions +which that greatest of all masters did not wholly succeed in loosening; +who shall carry it to a further stage and raise it to a fuller +organisation. And such a composer has appeared. So far as concerns the +technical problem of composition--and it must be remembered that this is +at present the only topic under discussion--the work of Brahms is the +actual crown and climax of our present Musical art. He is in exact and +literal truth 'der der kommen musste:' the man for whom Music has been +waiting. In him converge all previous streams of tendency, not as into a +pool, stagnant, passive, and motionless, but as into a noble river that +receives its tributary waters and bears them onward in larger and +statelier volume. + +Tintoret claimed 'the drawing of Michael Angelo and the colouring of +Titian': Brahms, in like manner, may claim the counterpoint of Bach and +the structure of Beethoven. And not only has he entered into the +inheritance of these two composers; he has put their legacies to +interest, and has enriched the world with an augmentation of their +wealth. He is no mere Alexandrine, no grammarian poet, content to +accumulate with a patient and laborious industry the gifts that have +been lavished by a previous age; the artistic heritage is not won by +right of labour, and its dynasty only falls to these who are born in the +purple. Erudition, in short, may copy the work of Genius; but Genius +alone can develop it. + +Are we to say, then, that Brahms is a more consummate master of his +medium than Bach or Beethoven? By no means; but, in consequence of +their work, his medium is more plastic than theirs. For certain +historical reasons, with which the question of personal capacity has +nothing to do, the key-system of Bach is rudimentary beside that of +Beethoven, and the polyphony of Beethoven less perfect, perhaps, than +that of Bach. To Brahms we may apply Dryden's famous epigram, in which +the force of Nature 'to make a third has joined the other two.' By his +education he learned to assimilate their separate methods; by his +position, in the later days of Romance, he found a new emotional +language in established use; by his own genius he has made the forms +wider and more flexible, and has shown once more that they are not +artificial devices, but the organic embodiment of artistic life. + +It follows, then, to maintain this statement with a few words of +commentary and illustration. And, first, we may take the polyphonic +problem, not only because it has some chronological priority, but +because the system which it implies is more limited and more readily +exhaustible. Now the essential value of Bach's work in this respect is +that, in addition to 'writing free and characteristic parts for the +several voices in combination,' he 'made the harmonies, which were the +sum of the combined counterpoints, move so as to illustrate the +principles of harmonic form, and thus give to the hearer the sense +of orderliness and design, as well as the sense of contrapuntal +complexity,'[55] and since there are no other aims to which polyphonic +writing can be directed, it would seem as though Bach's achievement were +final, as though it left nothing for future generations to add. But a +somewhat closer reflection will show that there are at least two points +in which a possibility of progress may be admitted. + +One is the immense growth of Instrumental Music, which has virtually +brought with it a new material for treatment. Bach's part-writing is +generally vocal in basis, the work of an organist who feels the presence +of his choir and his congregation; even his concerti are not far removed +from the canzonas which were specified as 'buone da cantare e suonare.' +But after him came a generation of composers who recognised and brought +into fuller use the peculiar character and flexibility of the strings, +and thus opened out a new region, which it has been one of the +privileges of Brahms to explore. Thus while, in his organ compositions, +in his motetts, in the choruses of the Requiem, Brahms has closely +followed the methods of Bach (though even here he solves one or two +problems which were left untouched by the earlier master), in such +examples as the two string Sestetts and the Symphony in E minor, he +adapts those methods to a material which he had inherited from a later +ancestry. And here it may be noticed that his simplest accompaniments +are always characteristic. Even the arpeggio figure, which is usually +the easiest and most careless of all harmonic devices acquires in him a +special significance and import. + +The other point is the change in emotional and melodic phraseology, due +partly to the influence of Beethoven and Schubert, partly to that of the +more distinctively Romantic composers. It is quite certain that the +characteristic melody of the eighteenth century is, on the whole, more +susceptible of polyphonic treatment than that of our own time. The +finale of the Jupiter Symphony is, in any case, a stupendous effort of +genius; but take five typical tunes of Liszt or Berlioz, and Mozart +himself could not have dealt with them as he dealt with his own phrases. +The curve of melody has altered in some degree, and thus, while it has +given new effects of beauty, it has become a little less adaptable to +certain of its requirements. No doubt Schumann developed a wonderful +polyphonic system of his own; but even in him we may recognise certain +limits: and, moreover, he stands, in this respect, almost alone as an +intermediary between Bach and Brahms. We are driven, then, to conclude +either that polyphony should grow obsolete, which the most unthinking +audacity can hardly affirm, or that the extreme of Romantic expression +has lost in art what it has gained in poetry. And herein Brahms appears +as a true reformer. His thought is in full accord with the general +poetic conception of our age, but he has selected from its entire range +those particular forms of phrase and melody which are most conspicuously +plastic and malleable. The opening of the A major Quartett is romantic +enough, but it admits of that marvellous piece of contrapuntal imitation +which surprises us in the coda. The Symphony in F major is one of the +least formal of compositions, but the most laborious academician in +music could not compile a more elaborate polyphony than Brahms has here +created. Indeed, there is little necessity to search for instances: they +may be found on almost every page of the concerted or choral works. And, +though it be true that Bach is often curiously modern in idea, though he +frequently stands nearer to us than Handel or Haydn or Mozart, the fact +still remains, that Brahms is in closer and more intimate sympathy with +him than even the romantic composers who made him their ostensible +pattern and prototype. + +So far, then, as relates to the harmonic aspect, Brahms may be regarded +as a real stage in the evolution of Musical Art. There remains the more +important question of his contributions to the development of structure: +in other words, of his relation to Beethoven. The harmonic ideal had +been maintained, in varying degree, by all composers of the first rank, +and herein the traditions of Schumann and Chopin were of distinct and +momentous service to their successor; but the structural ideal had, +since 1830, been allowed to fall into comparative neglect, and in +restoring it Brahms had virtually to do his work single-handed. No +doubt, in short lyric forms, and even in their direct expansion to a +larger scale, the Romantic musicians had shown a considerable mastery of +outline; but in the more complex organism of symphony and concerto, they +had fallen somewhat out of the line of progress, and had diverged from +the methods of the 'Emperor' and the 'A major.' Hence the estimate of +Brahms' position in this matter is of double interest: partly because of +the intrinsic value of key-structure in musical organisation, partly +because the line of development was in some degree broken and +obliterated. + +Now it has been already maintained that the sonata form, in its widest +and most comprehensive signification, represents the highest type of +structure to which the Art of Music has yet advanced. Other instrumental +forms--the romance, the fantasia, the nocturne--are modelled, with more +or less of exactitude, upon sonata movements; and the same is true even +of vocal forms, except in so far as they are influenced by the fugue or +affected by the extra-musical requirements of the words. It is therefore +to works ostensibly in sonata form that we must primarily address +ourselves. And here it may at once be stated that in a vast majority of +the details, Beethoven seems to have reached + + The outside verge that rounds our faculty. + +In the construction of the separate movements, taken as individual +unities, there has been little or no progress since his time, for little +or no progress was possible. We can only say, then, that in this respect +the work of Brahms is as organic as that of his master; and, in saying +this, we are merely propounding a matter of comparative analysis which +can readily be settled by an appeal to facts. It is as true of Brahms as +of Beethoven, that there is in him no redundant phrase, no digression, +no parenthesis, nothing that does not bear some intimate relation either +to its immediate context, or, with more subtlety, to a remoter part of +the subsequent issue. Take, for instance, the rondo tune which opens the +Finale of the B flat Sestett. A careless observer may regard the +beginning of its second stanza as mere padding, devised to fill a gap +until the principal strain recurs. Turn a few pages, and we find that it +was the presage of a complete and important episode which itself is +vital to the structure as a whole. Again, in the first movement of the +same work, if any reader will compare the entry of the second subject +with the corresponding place in Beethoven's Hammerclavier Sonata, he +will see with what accuracy Brahms learned his lesson and with what +consummate skill he applied it. And in all other qualities of organic +structure--in choice of tonal centres, in the relative length +of constituent sections, in perfect balance of exposition and +development--the same line of legitimate succession may be traced. It is +not a question of imitation. Brahms is no copyist, reproducing with +careful fidelity the precise outline of a master's original. In this, as +in his polyphony, he has assimilated the principles of a past method and +has turned them to his own account. + +But for the complete organisation of a symphony, or a sonata, it is not +sufficient that each movement should be structurally exact; they must be +so inter-related as to produce an effect of organism in the whole. And +there are three chief ways in which this inter-relation can be secured. +The first is by unity of emotional effect; by making the whole work tell +the same story, and represent the same general type of feeling. In +Beethoven's Appassionata, for instance, a scherzo would be an +impertinence, in his Eighth Symphony a slow movement would be an +intrusion; for the one is as wholly tragic in character as the other is +light and humorous. The second is by the proper choice of key for each +of the successive numbers; for the selection, that is, among all +possible alternatives, of the tonic note that will give the most +complete and satisfying result. And herein we may confess that we have +one of the few cases in which Beethoven's work was injuriously affected +by convention. Of course, the Seventh Symphony stands almost unique and +unapproachable, a culminating point of structural excellence, but, as a +rule, his scheme, though less homogeneous than that of Mozart, has too +little diversity to be accepted as final. Thirdly, the entire +composition may be held together by a transference of themes, that is, +by the reminiscence in one number of phrases or melodies that have +already been employed in another. Of this device there is hardly any +example in Beethoven until the end of his career, and even then the only +conspicuous instance is the finale of the Choral Symphony. It is, +indeed, the latest-born of all the forces that tend to organisation, and +along its lines the sonata form of the future will probably find the +readiest opportunity of progress. + +If, then, Brahms is the inheritor of Beethoven's method, we may expect +to find a continuity of tradition in his treatment of these three points +respectively. And assuredly the analysis of his work will not disappoint +us. For, in the first place, the poetic unity of his compositions is +beyond dispute. In each of the great concerted pieces, whether for the +chamber or the orchestra, we find one general type of feeling worked +out, it may be, to successive issues, but developed in orderly sequence +from a single source. His cast of mind is usually grave and reflective, +therefore he has for the most part discarded the scherzo, and replaced +it by a movement of more earnest and serious character. His manner of +thought is logical and coherent, therefore his finales, like those of +Beethoven, are not mere light-hearted fantasias, intended to send away +the audience in a good temper, but true conclusions, carefully planned +and adequately presented. Even in such works as the Horn Trio, where the +contrast is probably at its strongest, there is no real obscurity in the +underlying relation; while in the four symphonies, to take the opposite +extreme, we need only hear the sequence of movements to pronounce it +inevitable. + +And as we find an organic unity in the emotional aspect, so we find an +organic diversity in the choice of keys. Except for the obvious +principle, that first and last movements must acknowledge the same +tonic, Brahms admits none of the _a priori_ laws by which his +predecessor was occasionally bound. In other words, he takes as his unit +not the separate movement but the entire series, and selects his keys +for Adagio and Intermezzo with the same structural care as he uses for a +'second subject,' or a 'development section.' Allusion has already been +made to the Violoncello Sonata in F, one of the most marvellous pieces +of successful audacity in all musical form; but hardly less remarkable +is the Symphony in E minor, where the key of the slow movement is +equally unusual, and equally necessary. Indeed, any of the concerted +works will serve for illustration. The choice is sometimes simple, +sometimes recondite, but in all cases it is justified by the event. + +Transference of themes is a device attended by one imminent danger. If +awkwardly employed, it may look like poverty of thought, or at best that +artless _naïvité_ of repetition which is only tolerable in a ballad +literature. But if this danger be avoided, and its avoidance is only a +question of skill, the reminiscence of a previous melody may round off +and complete an entire work in much the same way as the 'Recapitulation' +rounds off and completes a single movement. It has been already said +that Beethoven makes little use of this method. Schumann indicated some +of its possibilities, but Schumann died while the work was still +incomplete, and left its further elaboration to other hands. And though +Brahms is somewhat tentative and uncertain in the matter, though he +leaves room for future advance and future progress, yet at least we may +say that he has explored more of the new ground than any of his +predecessors. In the Finale of the G major Violin Sonata, and in that of +the Quartett in B flat, he is satisfied to carry out the suggestion of +Schumann;[56] but elsewhere, as in the second Symphony and the clarinet +Quintett, he develops them in a new direction, by founding two movements +on thematic variants of the same idea. It is difficult to overrate the +value of these hints for future guidance, though, as yet, they are only +hints, not complete solutions. For, grant that an entire sonata or +symphony can never be called organic in precisely the same sense as its +constituent parts; grant that their analogue is the man, and its +analogue the corporate community; still some further organisation of the +whole is undoubtedly possible, and we may well expect it to follow the +method which Brahms has here indicated. + +In one word, he has completed, for present purposes, the emancipation of +musical form, not by the false freedom of anarchy, but by the true +freedom of a rational code. Artistic progress, like that of the +political commonwealth, has always tended towards the abolition of +purely conventional laws, and to the maintenance and development of +those that are founded upon broad principles of human nature. By Brahms, +so far as we can see, the last links of convention have been snapped, +and the form has now room to grow and expand in perfect liberty. Look, +for instance, at his treatment of the Concerto, which, up to his time, +was the most unsatisfactory, because the most conventional, of all +classical types. He has broken down the unnecessary rule of the three +movements, he has finally overthrown the tyranny of the solo instrument, +he has given the whole form a free constitution similar to that of the +Quartett and the Symphony. And though we be disinclined to regard our +present sonata-form as ultimate; though it may some day develop into a +new type, as it was itself developed from the Partita, yet the very +possibility of future advance depends upon conditions which it has been +the work of Brahms to secure. Hence, to call him a reactionary, as some +writers are fond of doing, is simply to misunderstand his whole relation +to musical art. In all history, there is no composer more essentially +progressive. + +But, it may be objected, is not all this insistence on minutiæ somewhat +pedantic and artificial? Does it really matter whether a concerto has +four movements or three? whether an adagio is in A flat or A natural? +Indeed, is not the whole sonata-form a piece of academic subtlety, and +_a fortiori_, must we not regard its details as points of grammar rather +than points of art? And the critic, whom we are only too probably +supposing, will go on to speak of 'melody beaten out into thematic +gold-leaf,' or will even tell us that there is more music in an +intermezzo, where the composer's thought 'runs freely without +restrictions of form,' than in all the studious ingenuity of codas and +development sections. In short we are asked to believe that beauty is +too spiritual for legislation, and that any attempt to render it +amenable to a code is as futile as the countryman's endeavour to break +Pegasus into harness. + +Now, in the first place, to commend a musician for disregarding the laws +of form is even more unreasonable than to commend a poet for his halting +verses, or a painter for his bad drawing. If by laws are meant +conventions, then the criticism is just in itself, but it does not touch +the point at issue; if natural laws are meant, then the critic has done +no more than express his own personal preference for chaos. The little +pianoforte pieces of Brahms, for example, are charming, not because they +are formless, but because their form is perfect. The only difference +between them and the sonata movements, from which they are derived, is a +difference of development: the underlying principles are identical. In +the second place, it has already been maintained that the sonata is not +an artificial construction, but an organic growth evolved, in +steadily-increasing complexity, from a living origin: and, further, that +its constituent parts represent between them all the general types of +all existing instrumental compositions. Either, then, this conclusion +must be refuted, or the 'academic' view of the sonata must be abandoned +as untenable. And in the third place, if it be demurred that although +some general laws of form are advisable, yet the artist should treat +them with a free hand, and not expend himself on niggling details, then +it is an obvious answer, that this objection rests on a confusion of +thought. The little masters have sometimes to choose between a +superficial facility and an elaboration that smells of the lamp: the +great masters have so assimilated their principles, that exactitude +with them is a second nature. In Tintoret's Miracle of S. Mark, the +twisted rope strands could not have been drawn more perfectly if they +had cost weeks of calculation and measurement: yet each is finished with +a single sweep of the brush. And so again in Brahms this accuracy of +detail is not a matter of diligence, but a matter of insight, +cultivated, no doubt, by past training, but employed at the moment with +a direct and unerring certainty. It may legitimately be questioned +whether perfection of form is not sometimes too dearly bought by a +sacrifice of vigour or originality: if the two can be set in antithesis, +we may understand that a critical judgment should hesitate between them. +But, given vigour and originality, and, in Brahms, no serious writer has +ever denied these gifts, it hardly admits of discussion that the form of +a work is, in some degree, a measure of its artistic value. + +We may conclude, then, that in what has been called the treatment of the +musical medium, Brahms occupies an incontestable position among the +greatest composers of the world. It now follows that we should consider +the character of his ideas, the nature of his melody, and, in a word, +the particular qualities implied in his power of invention and his +emotional standpoint. It is, perhaps, inevitable that we should do this +with something of a prepossession. For, as we have already seen, in +music, form and thought are obverse and reverse of the same set of +relations, and the organism of the one is our best guarantee for the +vitality of the other. Here, at any rate, academic methods are always +imitations, copies which in no way advance upon their pre-existing +model: and thus, if the artistic structure of a work be really living +and progressive, we need have little fear about its artistic function. +But, at the same time, music can adumbrate so many different types of +emotion, that it is worth inquiring whether a given artist has seized +them all, and whether, if he be limited to a part of the field, his +value is affected or impaired by the limitation. + +Now it is sometimes maintained that the music of Brahms is deficient in +emotional sensibility: that it is too sober, too self-controlled, too +intellectual to be really artistic. The composer, like the poet, should +be animated by a 'divine madness and enthusiasm;' he should leave to +philosophy the more cautious attributes of deliberate thought; he has +the free wind of heaven in his sails, and should run before it on a full +tide, neither anxious for his safety nor careful of his direction. But +of two things, one: Either we are to hold that art gains by hysteria and +extravagance, and that its highest climax is a delirium of unrestrained +and riotous passion; or, if this be impossible, we must accept the only +alternative, and admit self-control as a necessary principle. The only +true question at issue, then, must be the measure in which the +restraining influence is to be exercised--the point at which it sets up +its barrier and says, 'Thus far and no farther.' And if we recall the +Titanic strength of Brahms' first Symphony, or the romance of the +_Tragic Overture_, and the vigour and variety of such 'Dramatic Lyrics' +as _Verrath_, or _Entführung_, or _Meine Liebe ist Grün_, we shall +hardly assert that their limit has here been suggested by any timidity +or any lack of emotional force. In short, when confronted with the +facts, the whole attack dwindles into a statement that Brahms' passion +is sane and manly--a conclusion which we are not in any way concerned to +deny. + +But at least, it may be urged, the range of feeling is circumscribed: +there is little humour, little gaiety, little expression of the brighter +and more genial aspects of life. Granted, with a few notable exceptions, +but the same may be said of Æschylus and Dante, of Milton and +Wordsworth. It is merely a relic of primitive barbarism that makes us +look upon music as an adjunct to conviviality, as an appanage to the +'banquet of wine,' as a pleasant emotional stimulus designed for the +amusement of an idle hour. Music is an art of at least the same dignity +as poetry or painting, it admits of similar distinctions, it appeals to +similar faculties, and in it, also, the highest field is that occupied +with the most serious issues. Not that we have any need to undervalue +the charm of its more playful moments: we may enjoy Offenbach in +precisely the same way as we enjoy Labiche; but it is no very extreme +paradox to say that Tristan is a greater work than Orphée aux Enfers, +and that La Cagnotte is on a different literary plane from Lear and +Hamlet. And in like manner, if we are disposed to find fault with Brahms +because the greater part of his work is grave and earnest, let us at +least endeavour to realise how such a criticism would sound if it were +directed against the Divina Commedia, or the Agamemnon, or Paradise +Lost. + +Indeed, it is incredible that anyone should listen to Brahms' melody and +not be convinced. Do we want breadth? There is the Sestett in B flat, +the Second Symphony, the Piano Quartett in A. Do we want tenderness? +There is the Minnelied, there is 'Wie bist du meine Königin,' there is +the first Violin Sonata. Is it simplicity? We may turn to Erinnerung, to +Sonntag, to the later pianoforte pieces. Is it complexity? We have the +Symphony in E minor, the four Concertos, the great masterpieces of vocal +counterpoint. For pure, sensuous beauty, apart from all other +attributes, it is impossible to surpass the Schicksalslied, or the F +major Symphony, or the Clarinet Quintett. Indeed, the difficulty in +Brahms is to find a poor tune or a clumsy passage. No doubt, in work of +such wide scope and extent, there will always be parts that do not +appeal to a given hearer, that represent a mood with which he is out of +sympathy, or contain some form of expression that fails to interest him; +but, at the very lowest, we may say that the mood of Brahms is never +ignoble, and its expression very seldom inadequate. Even the unlucky and +much-abused theme in the third movement of the Clarinet Trio has certain +qualities of style which redeem it from triviality; and in any case it +remains almost a solitary exception--one cankered bud in a whole garden +of delight. + +Here a word may be said on Brahms' indebtedness to the actual melody of +previous musicians. It is indisputable that in his work we sometimes +find phrases, and very rarely complete strains, which recall Beethoven, +or Schubert, or Schumann. But, in the first place, there is seldom or +never any case of direct quotation, the outline of an idea is borrowed +and filled with a new content; and in the second place, a charge of +plagiarism is only serious if it implies poverty of invention. That +one man may steal a horse while another may not look over the hedge, +is, if considered aright, the highest embodiment of abstract justice: +the thief may be your personal friend, in whose honesty of intention +you have every reason to confide, the face at the field-edge may wear +a hang-dog look which fills you with not unnatural apprehension. +And seriously, it is idle to suppose that Brahms adopted these +passages--half-a-score, perhaps, in a list of a hundred and twenty +elaborate compositions--because he felt that his own supply was +running short, and that it must needs be supplemented by a raid over +the border. Plagiarism means either the appropriation of an entire +work, or the embellishment of a poor texture with some patch of purple +that does not belong to the artist. It has nothing whatever to do with +these casual and unimportant reminiscences. + +There are one or two matters of detail in Brahms' melody which it may be +worth while to notice. In the first place, it is conspicuously diatonic, +founded for the most part on the ordinary notes of the simplest scale, +and so indued with a robustness and a virility which is wanting to the +progression by semitones. Besides, he is thus enabled to keep his +chromatic effects in reserve, either for purposes of remote modulation, +as in the Æolsharfe, or for marking an emotional crisis, as in the slow +movement of the Horn Trio, or the close of the stanza in Feldeinsamkeit. +Against this, no doubt, may be set his use of the flattened sixth, which +is so frequent as to be almost a mannerism, but it will be observed that +this appears more often in the harmonisation of the melody than in its +actual statement. It is a point of colour, not a point of drawing. + +Again, there are two general types of melodic curve; one which rises +and falls by a progression of consecutive notes, one which follows +the constituent parts of a chord in arpeggio. As a rule, the great +melodies of the world contain elements of both, with a characteristic +preponderance of the former; and attempts to construct tunes out of the +latter alone, as, for instance, the opening theme of Weber's Second +Pianoforte Sonata, have usually ended in disappointment. But to this +rule Brahms is an exception. In a large number of his themes the +arpeggio predominates, and always with a special interest and a special +personality. Thus, in Von ewiger Liebe, in the Sapphic Ode, in the +Violoncello tune, from the first movement of the B flat, Sestett we have +melodies designed after this pattern which are not only clear and +salient, but strikingly beautiful as well. It will be seen that in all +three cases the same device is employed, a passage from dominant to +mediant, which leaves the intervening tonic untouched, and in this small +matter is indicated the real secret of their effectiveness. Brahms does +not merely take the harmonic notes as they are presented by the simple +arpeggio, he makes selection among them, omitting one and emphasising +another, until he has given character to the whole progression. It is +hardly extravagant to say that there is as much difference between a +chord-tune of Brahms and a chord-tune of Weber as between a well-written +accompaniment figure and an Alberti bass. + +A third feature is the remarkable variety and ingenuity of his metrical +system. The device of cross-rhythm acquires with him an entirely new +significance; it does not defy the restrictions of the bar, but totally +disregards them. In the first movement of the Violin Concerto, for +instance, the measure of three crotchets is traversed by a phrase of +five thrice repeated, the effect of which is a momentary obliteration of +the time signature, and the substitution not of a similar rhythm in +slower tempo, but of an interpolated phrase, which seems to stand wholly +out of relation to the beat: and yet the passage does not project from +the general plane of the movement, as do the famous syncopated chords in +the Eroica, it is woven into the texture, and forms a homogeneous part +of the substance. Again Brahms is fond of placing his melody so that the +stress falls outside the principal accent of the bar, thus baffling the +hearer who feels that rhythm and tempo are really the same, but is yet +conscious that for the moment they do not coincide. It would be an +interesting experiment for any musician, who has never seen the Quartett +in G minor, to write down from dictation the first Pianoforte phrase of +the intermezzo; and an instance even more striking may be found in the +first movement of the Clarinet Quintett, where the string melody seems +to be shifted forward a quaver in advance of the beat, until the solo +instrument sets the passage back in its place, and the discrepancy is +resolved. Here, then, is another reason why the music of Brahms is +difficult at a first hearing. 'Was ist das überhaupt für ein Takt?' said +the Viennese critics, after vainly endeavouring to count their way +through a complicated passage, and the inexperienced beginner will often +feel tempted to sympathise with their impatience. But, as we gradually +learn how to thread the intricacies of the phrase, and how to balance +the alternatives that proffer their incompatible claims, we gain a more +lasting pleasure from the intellectual stimulus than can ever be +afforded by glowing harmony or by opulence of tone. And if it be +objected that this is little better than a musical enigma, a mere piece +of child's play below the dignity of a serious art, then the answer is, +that dramatic irony must fall under the same condemnation, for it aims +at precisely the same effect. To confuse the noble with the trivial +employment of artistic illusion, is to see no difference between a play +of Sophocles and a puppet show. + +Lastly, we may notice the rightness and finality which mark the most +characteristic of his phrases. In Shakespear it often happens that we +come across a line where there is nothing unusual in the thought, +nothing recondite in the language, nothing but the simplest idea +exhibited in the simplest words, and yet when we read it we feel at once +that it could have been said in no other way, and that it can never be +said again. And, in his own art, Brahms too has this gift of making +simplicity memorable. For instance, in the opening theme of the F minor +Quintett, there is nothing that can be called a device; the short loop, +by which the second melodic curve picks up the first, is common enough +in music; so is the use of the two alternative leading notes, so is the +repetition of the same emphatic sound on the chief accent of three +successive figures. But no one who has once heard the phrase can ever +forget it: and no one can imagine its being altered by a single note +without serious loss and detriment. In a word, it is inevitable, and +therefore final: a plain statement of a primary truth which remains with +us as a delight when the most elaborate epigrams have passed away into +weariness or oblivion. And in two of the Violin Sonatas, in the A minor +Quartett, in a hundred other works and movements, we shall find that the +first sentences give an equally striking illustration of this power. +Many composers become commonplace when they try to be simple: they can +only seize our attention with an effort, with some special trick of +colour or contrast. Brahms, who has at his command every shade in the +whole gamut of colour, can make an abiding masterpiece with a few +strokes in black and white. + + * * * * * + +In the foregoing analysis, nothing has been attempted except a bare +description of the organism. The mystery of life, the breath of thought +and inspiration, the secret language by which mind speaks to mind,--all +these are beyond our reach, and in dealing with them we should only +confess our ignorance of our own inadequacy. But this at least we may +say, that wherever the divine principle is present, it makes itself +known by the witness of visible signs--by law, by progress, by +inter-relation of parts and unity of function. If, then, we can read the +signs, we may guess at the thing signified: if the words be clear and +consecutive, we may claim that there is a meaning in the sentence. In +music it is possible, as the old Psychologists fabled, that the soul is +the true realisation of the body, the power that moulds and shapes the +organs into their fulness of existence and energy. And thus, though we +can never put into words what we mean by the soul of music, we may yet +point to perfection of body as its evidence. No man will deny that the +art of Brahms is a living force--a genuine, spontaneous outcome of +personal feeling and personal vitality. And, if it be so, the analysis +of its external form may, to some extent, indicate its possession of the +more spiritual gifts. + +That he stands beside Bach and Beethoven is hardly any more a matter for +controversy. All three are poets of the same order--noble, dignified, +majestic--followers of the statelier muses, and of Apollo, who teaches +to men the truths of prophecy. All three are consummate artists, in +whose supreme mastery of utterance the highest message has found fit and +adequate expression; and finally, in all three alike may be seen the +culmination and fulfilment of an epoch in musical history--a climax of +achievement which not only closes the chapter of its own age but renders +possible the further record of the ages, to come. True, the work of +Brahms is still too near us to receive its proper meed of appreciation. +We are not yet so familiar with his method as with that of his two +forerunners: in his speech there is still something new and strange +which now and again baffles our understanding. But all true art is +unfathomable: we see the play of colour upon its surface, and know from +the very richness and glory of the sight, that below are depths which no +plummet can measure. By our century of experience we have learned to +know a little of Beethoven: we shall no more master his secret than we +shall enter into the mind of Shakespear or Goethe. And in like manner, +if we call Brahms obscure, we are imputing our own weakness as the fault +of a man who is too great for us. It is not for nothing that we love +best those of his writings which we have most carefully studied. It is +not for nothing that every decade adds to the number of those who see +in him the highest expression of our present ideal. When music attains +to fuller knowledge and nobler practice, it will grant him a due place +among its foremost leaders, and to us who honour him as a monarch, will +succeed a generation which reverences him as a hero. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[55] Dr Parry, _Art of Music_, pp. 173-4. + +[56] Compare the corresponding movements in Schumann's D minor Violin +Sonata and Pianoforte Quintett. + + + + +_INDEX_ + + + A. + + A major Symphony (Beethoven), 51, 64, 70, 219, 286. + + A major Pianoforte Quartett (Brahms), 253, 255, 285, 296. + + A minor String Quartett (Schumann), 54; + (Dvořák), 197; + (Brahms), 302. + + Abendständchen, 255. + + Academic Overture, 268. + + Academy, The, 262. + + Æolopantaleon, 90. + + Æolsharfe, 298. + + Æschylus, 281, 296. + + Ahle, Johann Rudolph, 264. + + Aix-la-Chapelle, 120. + + Albert Hall, 205. + + Alcestis, the, 53. + + Aldrich, T. B., 64. + + Alexander's Feast, 264. + + Alfred (Dvořák's), 190. + + Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, 100, 235, 247, 256. + + Ambros, 251. + + America, 183, 208. + + Andrea del Sarto, 168, 233. + + Anselar Platz, 231, 234. + + Anstey, F., 65. + + Antigone, the, 260. + + Antonin, 92, 108. + + Arago, 134. + + Arbeau's Orchesographie, 277. + + Aristotle, illustrations from, 9, 10, 21, 22, 70, 278. + + Art (limits of analysis), 75, 133, 150, 243. + + Art of Music (Dr Parry), 283. + + Arts and Sciences (Order of), 270. + + Asolando, 149. + + Austen, Miss, 64. + + Austin Dobson, Mr, 31. + + Austria, 185, 208, 259. + + Austrian Kultusministerium, 198-200. + + Austrio-Prussian War, 258. + + Ave Maria (Brahms), 247. + + Ave Maris Stella (Dvořák), 194. + + + B. + + B major Trio (Brahms), 42. + + B flat Sestett (Brahms), 247, 253, 282, 287, 296, 299. + + B flat minor Sonata (Chopin), 136, 137, 155, 156. + + Bach, polyphony, 278; + relation to Brahms, 283-286; + illustrations from, 20, 30, 40, 45, 66, 68, 70, 86, 161, 168, 217, + 218, 232, 259, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282. + + Bacon, 190, 211. + + Bad Reinerz, 91, 93. + + Baillot, 116. + + Ballades (Chopin), 123, 131, 135, 154, 158. + + Balzac, 67, 134. + + Barbara Allen, 38. + + Barbizon School, 213. + + Barcarolle (Chopin), 137. + + Barcelona, 129. + + Bartered Bride, the, 187, 221. + + Basle, 269. + + Beethoven, relation to Chopin, 155; + to Dvořák, 219; + to Brahms, 286-290. + + Beethoven, illustrations from, 7, 11, 20, 22, 24, 30, 33, 39, 42, + 43, 46, 47, 51-53, 55, 64, 66-68, 70, 72, 80, 97, 98, 106, + 149, 153, 156, 157, 163, 167, 168, 189, 221, 223, 225, 232, + 234, 236, 237, 243, 247, 252, 253, 258, 259, 262, 265, 266, + 280. + + Belleville, Mdlle. de, 107. + + Bendl, Karel, 188, 191. + + Berlin, 94, 95, 102, 110, 115, 200. + + Berlin Iris, 120. + + Berlioz, illustrations from, 21, 29, 32, 33, 106, 120, 149, 180, + 183, 220, 232, 234, 239, 280, 285. + + Birmingham Festival, 206, 208. + + Blätter für Theater Musik und Kunst, 252, 253. + + Blahetka, 100. + + Blanc, Louis, 133. + + Bluebells of Scotland, 46. + + Blumendeutung, 191. + + Böhmisch-Kamnitz, 176. + + Bohemia, condition of music in, 177; + loss of independence, 182; + beginnings of renaissance, 183, 184; + national movement, 184-187, 192, 194, 203, 208, 217, 220. + + Bohemian Folksongs, 215. + + Bohemian Theatre, 191, 195, 204. + + Bonn, 245, 260. + + Brahms, Johannes, birth, 231; + early education, 232-3; + first concert, 233; + tour with Reményi, 235; + Göttingen, 235; + Hanover, 237; + Weimar, 238; + goes to Schumann at Dusseldorf, 239; + _début_ at Leipsic, 240; + appointment at Lippe Detmold, 241; + concerts, 243; + first pianoforte concerto, 244, 261; + serenades, 245; + stay in Switzerland, 246, 247; + goes to Vienna, 249; + _début_ in Vienna, 252; + first performance of B flat sestett, 253; + relation to Wagner, 254; + appointment to Vienna Singakademie, 255; + concert tour in Germany, 255; + concert tour in Switzerland, 257; + German Requiem, 258, 259; + Hungarian dances, 261; + Triumphlied and Schicksalslied, 262, 263; + appointed conductor of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, 263; + first symphony, 265; + doctor's degree at Breslau, 267; + tragic and academic overtures, 267, 268; + concert tour, 269; + decorations from Germany, Bavaria and Austria, 270; + made citizen of Hamburg, 271; + later compositions, 271, 272. + + Brahms as composer. The 'fifth landmark,' 281, 282; + relation to Bach, 283-286; + relation to Beethoven, 287-290; + further developments of structure, 291-294; + emotional range, 295, 296; + melody, 296-299; + rhythm, 300, 301; + conclusion, 302, 304. + + Brahms, illustrations from, 18, 30, 40, 42, 54, 55, 62, 70, 187, + 214, 225. + + Brahms, Johann Jakob, 231, 234; + Frau, 231, 234; + Fritz, 235, 246. + + Brandenburgs in Bohemia, the, 187. + + Brault, Augustine, 137. + + Breitkopf and Härtel, 91. + + Bremen, 259, 262. + + Breslau, 111, 267. + + Broadwoods, the, 123. + + Brontë, Charlotte, 64. + + Browning, illustrations from, 13, 149, 233. + + Bruch, Max, 259. + + Bruckner, 250. + + Brüll, Ignaz, 250. + + Bückeburg, 238. + + Buda-Pesth, 258, 269. + + Burger, 29, 206. + + Burns, 47, 152, 177. + + Burton, 17. + + Byron, 35, 200. + + + C. + + Calderon, 212. + + Cambridge, 208, 267, 272. + + Carlsbad, 121. + + Carlsruhe, 255, 262, 265. + + Carnaval Overture, 224. + + Carpaccio, 157. + + Catalani, 88, 107. + + Cauvière, Dr, 132. + + Cavalleria Rusticana, 217. + + Cellini, 90. + + Chapelain, 133. + + Cherubini, 91, 116. + + Chiarina, 122. + + Chopin, Frederick, birth, 83; + early education, 85-87; + first compositions, 90; + visit to Berlin, 94; + first visit to Vienna, 97; + return to Warsaw, 101; + Constance Gladkowska, 102; + concerts in Warsaw, 105, 109; + leaves Poland, 110; + second visit to Vienna, 111-115; + arrival in Paris, 116; + concerts in Paris, 118, 120, 129, 135, 143; + tour in Germany, 121-123; + visits to London and Marienbad, 123; + meets George Sand, 124; + at Nohaut, 129, 132, 133, 134, 137, 140; + winter in Majorca, 129-132; + pupils, 134, 135; + death of his father, 136; + breakdown in health, 137; + rupture with George Sand, 137-142; + second visit to England, 143, 144; + return to Paris, 144; + death, 145. + + Chopin as composer. Style, 150; + relation to Polish folk-music, 151-154; + structure, 155, 156; + melody, 158; + harmony, 160-163; + accompaniment figures, 164-166; + treatment of pianoforte, 166-168. + + Chopin, illustrations from, 17, 18, 31, 53, 55, 57, 60, 66, 218, + 220, 232, 233, 267, 286. + + Chopin, Nicholas, 83, 90, 94, 121, 126. + + Chopin, Louisa, 85; + Isabella, 85; + Emily, 85, 93. + + Choral Symphony, 38, 160, 289. + + Chrysander, Dr, 256. + + Clary, Prince, 100. + + Clementi, 134. + + Clesinger, 138. + + Coda, 52. + + Cologne, 243, 255. + + Concerto in F minor (Chopin), 105, 106, 123; + in E minor (Chopin), 105, 109, 115, 117, 119; + Violin Concerto (Dvořák), 220, 224; + (Brahms), 266, 300; + in D minor (Brahms), 244, 261; + in B flat (Brahms), 269; + double, 270; + Brahms' treatment of, 292. + + Congress of Vienna, 83. + + Conservatoire, Warsaw, 102, 110; + Paris, 117, 120, 180; + Prague, 208. + + Constable, 213. + + Constance, 246. + + Corelli, 279. + + Corneille, 45, 254. + + Correggio, 60. + + Couperin, 31, 279. + + Cour d'Orléans, 133, 142. + + Covent Garden, 183. + + Cracow, 97. + + Crystal Palace, 272. + + Cunning Peasant, the, 201 + + Czerny, 98. + + + D. + + D minor Symphony (Dvořák), 194, 207, 216, 222. + + D minor Concerto (Brahms), 244, 247, 261. + + Dante, 7, 155, 296. + + Danzic, 93. + + Darwin, 6. + + David, 255. + + Davidsbund, 122. + + Deiters, Dr, 243, 256. + + Delacroix, 121, 133. + + Der Freischütz, 101, 195. + + Dessoff, 250. + + Dettingen Te Deum, 264. + + Development section, 52. + + Dietrich, 259. + + Dimitrij, 204. + + Dobrovsky, 189. + + Dorian mode, 154. + + Dresden, 101, 111, 121, 122, 187, 234. + + Dryden, 283. + + Du bist wie eine Blume, 38. + + Dufay, 277. + + Dürer, 7. + + Dumas, 134, 219. + + Du Maurier, 63, 163. + + Dumka, 220. + + Dunstable, 277. + + Dusseldorf, 120, 236, 239. + + Dussek, 183. + + Dvořák, Antonin, birth, 175; + early training, 176; + recalled from school, 176; + first composition, 178; + enters the organ school at Prague, 179; + difficulties, 180; + appointment in the orchestra of the Interimstheater, 188; + compositions during his second period of study, 190, 191; + first opera, 191-193, 194-196; + Heirs of the White Mountain, 193; + appointed organist of St Adalbert's, 194; + marriage, 194; + second and third operas, 196, 197; + symphony in F, 197; + applications to the Austrian Kultusministerium, 198, 199, 200; + resigns his post at St Adalbert's, 198; + Stabat Mater, 199; + relations with Brahms, 200; + Slavische Tänze, 200, 201; + the Cunning Peasant, 201; + publication of early works, 202; + Husitska and Tyl, 203, 204; + Dimitrij, 294; + first visit to England, 205; + Spectre's Bride, 206; + St Ludmila, 206, 207; + instrumental compositions and songs, 207; + Jakobin, 207, 208; + decoration from Austrian Court, 208; + doctorate at Cambridge and Prague, 208; + Requiem, 208; + appointment at New York, 208, 209. + + Dvořák as composer. National element, 215; + exceptions, 216; + use of scale, 216-219; + form, 219, 220; + Dumka and Furiant, 220, 221; + orchestration, 222; + relation to classical style, 224, 225. + + Dvořák, illustrations from, 20, 21, 33, 60, 62, 64, 160. + + Dvořák, Frantisek, 174; + Josef, 179; + Adolf, 179; + Karel, 179. + + Dziewanowski, 119. + + + E. + + E minor Concerto (Chopin), 105, 109, 115, 117, 119. + + Edinburgh, 144. + + Ehrlich, Dr, 235, 237, 248. + + Eighth Symphony (Beethoven), 32, 64, 288. + + Eine Kapitulation, 262. + + Elegies (Dvořák), 298, 221. + + Elijah, the, 206. + + Elsner, 86, 87, 91, 96, 99, 100, 105, 110, 117, 118, 233. + + Emotional element in music, 21-23, 26-32. + + Emperor Concerto, 43, 286. + + Endymion, 157. + + England, Chopin in, 123, 143; + Dvořák in, 205-208. + + Epstein, 251. + + Eroica Symphony, 22, 33, 43, 55, 184, 300. + + Esser, 250. + + Études (Chopin), 60, 105, 119, 120, 135, 136, 158, 160, 161, 166. + + Euripides, 53, 88. + + Eurydice, 187. + + Exposition, 52. + + + F. + + F major Symphony (Dvořák), 197; + (Brahms), 285, 297. + + F minor Concerto (Chopin), 105, 106, 123. + + F minor Quintett (Brahms), 255, 256, 301. + + Faculties of musical appreciation, 13-15. + + Faust (Berlioz), 21; + (Gounod), 42; + (Goethe), 101, 259. + + Feldeinsamkeit, 269, 298. + + Félix Meritis, 122. + + Ferdinand, Emperor, 182. + + Fernando Cortez, 94. + + Fes Moll, 219. + + Fétis, 83, 118. + + Feuilles d'Automne, 213. + + Field, 120. + + Fifth Symphony (Beethoven), 22, 43, 57. + + Filtsch, 135. + + Florentine Revolution, 44, 216, 278. + + Florence, 217. + + Florestan, 94, 122. + + Flying Dutchman, 180. + + Fontana, 92, 93. + + Fortuny, 177. + + Franchomme, 117, 137, 139. + + Franco-Prussian War, 262. + + Frank, Dr, 17. + + Fraser's Magazine, 270. + + Freitag, 270. + + Freude, 265. + + Frogs, the, 62. + + Function in music, 58, 63-69. + + Furiant, 175, 220. + + + G. + + G major Sestett (Brahms), 256, 257. + + G minor Quartett (Brahms), 249, 252, 300. + + G minor Quintett (Mozart), 39. + + G minor Trio (Chopin), 60, 93, 96, 119. + + Gabrielis, the, 45, 278. + + Gainsborough, 212. + + Galicia, 97. + + Gallenberg, Count, 97. + + Gautier, 11, 17, 134. + + Gazette Musicale, 263. + + Gebir, 73. + + Germany, 122, 152, 157, 200, 217, 232, 235, 239, 242, 243, 245, 259, + 267, 269. + + German Requiem, 258, 259, 260, 262, 265, 272, 284. + + Gesang der Parzen, 269. + + Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, 251, 253, 258, 263. + + Gewandhaus, 240, 243, 244. + + Gladkowska, Constance, 102, 107, 108. + + Glasgow, 144. + + Goethe, 43, 212, 259, 260, 303. + + Goldmark, 18, 250, 264. + + Göttingen, 235, 237. + + Gothenburg, 185. + + Gounod, 42. + + Graff, 105. + + Gray, 81. + + Greek music, 274, 276. + + Grieg, illustrations from, 41, 42, 47, 62, 66, 160, 218. + + Grillparzer, 251. + + Grün, 251. + + Gutmann, 135, 138, 140, 145. + + Gyrowetz, 81, 87, 98. + + + H. + + Hálek, 184, 193. + + Hamburg, 231, 233, 234, 235, 244, 245, 246, 265, 271. + + Hammerclavier Sonata, 53, 63, 67, 287. + + Hancke, 176, 178. + + Handel, illustrations from, 19, 80, 94, 207, 208, 231, 264, 285. + + Hanover, 234, 237. + + Hanslick, Dr, 251, 254. + + Haslinger, 97. + + Hausmann, 273. + + Haworth, 85. + + Haydn, illustrations from, 46, 47, 48, 54, 55, 67, 80, 143, 223, 253, + 264, 271, 280, 285. + + Hegel, 10, 161. + + Heide, 231. + + Heine, 38, 82, 121, 126, 134, 212, 259. + + Heinrich, 183-184. + + Heirs of the White Mountain, 193, 202. + + Heller, 107. + + Helm, Dr, 262. + + Hellmesberger, 251, 252, 253, 257, 266. + + Herbeck, 250. + + Herbstgefühl, 260. + + Herold, 119. + + Herz, 119, 158. + + Hiller, 116, 118, 120, 151. + + Histoire de ma vie, 127, 138. + + Holderlin, 262. + + Holland, 261. + + Homer, 7. + + Hoole, 35. + + Horn Trio (Brahms), 256, 289, 298. + + Hôtel Rambouillet, 133. + + Hugo, Victor, 28, 64, 212, 254. + + Humboldt, A. von, 95. + + Hummel, 96. + + Hungarian dances, 261, 266. + + Hunten, 153. + + Husitska, 203, 222. + + Hymns Ancient and Modern, 41. + + + I. + + I attempt from Love's sickness to fly, 47. + + Im wunderschönen Monat Mai, 19. + + Impromptus (Chopin), 129, 135, 158. + + Imogen, 68. + + Indiana, 142. + + Inductive method in science, 1-4; + in art, 6-8; + in music, 8-9. + + Instrumental music, influence on polyphony, 284. + + Interimstheater, 187, 188. + + Intermezzo, 290. + + Intuitive reason, 10-12. + + Ischl, 267, 269. + + Italia, 193. + + Italian opera-house (Paris), 120, 121. + + Italy, 92, 102, 110, 115, 152, 183, 217, 265. + + + J. + + Jakobin, 207, 208. + + James, Henry, 128, 142. + + Jane Eyre, 71. + + Jarocki, Dr, 94, 95. + + Je vends des scapulaires, 119. + + Joachim, 236, 237, 255, 257, 259, 266. + + John Hielandman, 47. + + Josquin, 277. + + Jourdain, M., 71. + + Journal des Goncourt, 23, 127. + + Judith, 62. + + Judenthum in der Musik, das, 243. + + Jupiter Symphony, 285. + + + K. + + Kalisz, 111. + + Kalkbrenner, 90, 117, 118, 119. + + Karasowski, 83, 89, 95, 105, 114, 125, 139, 140. + + Kärnthnerthor Theatre, 97, 114, 250, 251. + + Keats, 35, 71, 157, 177. + + Kéler Béla, 261. + + Kinderscenen, 49. + + King and Collier, 192, 195, 215. + + Kirchner, Theodor, 246, 248, 255. + + Klengel, 100. + + Kolberg, Wilhelm, 91, 93. + + Kossel, 232. + + Krakowiak, 96, 98, 119, 152. + + Kralup, 173, 175. + + Krebs, 234. + + Krehbiel, H. E., 199. + + Kreutzer Sonata, 236. + + Krzyzanowska, Justina, 83. + + Kuntzsch, 233. + + + L. + + La ci darem, variations on, 93, 97. + + Labiche, 296. + + Lachner, 98. + + Lamb, Charles, 17, 98, 121. + + Lamennais, 134. + + Lanner, 114. + + Lassus, 40. + + Laub, 251. + + Le roi s'amuse, 64. + + Lear, 68, 296. + + Lee, Nat, 35. + + Leech, 20. + + Leeds Festival, 206. + + Legenden, 202, 218. + + Lehmann, 95. + + Leipsic, 122, 123, 217, 240, 243, 244, 246, 255, 261, 267, 270. + + Leipsiger Signalen, 244. + + Lenore, 29, 206. + + Leopardi, 128, 155, 193. + + Liebeslieder, 260. + + Liebestreu, 233. + + Liehmann, 176. + + Lipinski, 107. + + Lippe Detmold, 242, 245. + + Liszt, 83, 86, 87, 92, 118, 133, 136, 140, 167, 168, 214, 220, + 237, 238, 241, 248, 285. + + Lobgesang, 40. + + Lobkowitz, Prince, 174. + + London, 123, 143, 144, 205. + + Lorraine, 85. + + Lucrezia Floriani, 139, 140, 141. + + Lui et Elle, 128. + + Lulli, 209. + + Lydian Mode, 154. + + Lysberg, 135. + + + M. + + Macfarren, Sir George, 29, 30, 272. + + Macaulay, 257. + + Madeleine, the, 145. + + Magelone, 255, 260. + + Majorca, 129-131. + + Malfatti, Dr, 114. + + Malherbe, 185, 186. + + Malibran, 117. + + Malvezzi Theresa, 128. + + Manchester, 144. + + Mannheim, 255. + + Marienbad, 122, 123. + + Marienlieder, 247. + + Marliani, Mdme., 133. + + Marseilles, 132. + + Marsyas, 97. + + Marxsen, 232, 233. + + Mathias George, 135. + + Matthew Arnold, 125, 126, 139, 149, 216 + + Mazurkas (Chopin), 91, 119, 136, 137, 152, 153, 154, 161, 167. + + Meine Liebe ist Grün, 295. + + Meiningen, 269. + + Meistersinger, 192, 254. + + Mendelssohn, illustrations from, 31, 40, 63, 64, 87, 95, 113, 118, + 120, 122, 149, 168, 207, 219, 243. + + Merimée, 79. + + Messiah, the, 11, 51, 80, 206. + + Meyerbeer, 28, 136. + + Mickiewiez, 133. + + Michael Angelo, 43, 168, 282. + + Mikuli, 135. + + Milan, 110. + + Millet, 213. + + Milton, 35, 43, 113, 157, 296. + + Minuet (Haydn), 48; (Mozart), 49. + + Missa Papæ Marelli, 57, 277. + + Monteverde, 19, 44. + + Moravian duets, 200. + + Moresca, 44. + + Morlacchi, 101. + + Morland, 212. + + Mors et Vita, 42. + + Moscheles, 119, 158, 164. + + Mozart, illustrations from, 17, 39, 47, 49, 67, 79, 80, 87, 97, 123, + 132, 156, 192, 223, 247, 253, 280, 284, 288. + + Munich, 115, 265. + + Music, inductive method in, 8, 9; + intuitive reason in, 11, 12; + sensuous element in, 15-20; + emotional element, 21-23; + rational element, 23-25; + emotional basis, 26-32; + style, 35-43; + structure, 44-56; + function, 58, 63-69; + national element, 210-216; + the five landmarks, 276-282. + + Myslivecek, 183. + + + N. + + Nänie, 269. + + Natal, 235. + + Neckereien, 255. + + Nelahozeves, 173. + + Neue Berliner Musikzeitung, 241. + + Neue Zeitschrift, 232, 239, 246. + + New Bohemian Theatre, 202. + + New York, 208. + + Niecks, Professor, 108, 121, 127, 139, 145. + + Niederrheinische Musikfest, 120. + + Nissen Johanna, 231. + + Nocturnes (Chopin), 60, 93, 119, 123, 136, 137, 154, 158, 161, 162, + 163, 167. + + Nohant, 129, 132, 133, 134, 137, 140, 142. + + Novotny, 195. + + Numa Roumestan, 141. + + Nun danket alle Gott, 41. + + + O. + + Odyssey, 74. + + Offenbach, 296. + + Oldenburg, 255. + + Omar Khayyam, 39. + + Orfeo, 44. + + Organism in music, 33; + in melody, 38; + in harmony, 40; + in style, 41; + in structure, 44-55. + + Othello, 69. + + Oxford, 182, 267. + + + P. + + Paër, 116. + + Paganini, 96, 255. + + Palestrina, illustrations from, 40, 168, 275, 278, 281. + + Paradise Lost, 296. + + Paris, 87, 102, 106, 110, 115, 116, 118-123, 125, 131, 133, 134, + 140, 143, 144, 145, 146, 182, 183, 213, 217, 257. + + Parry, illustrations from, 46, 62, 283. + + Pasta, 107, 117. + + Pater, 36. + + Pathétique, Sonata, 39, 47, 51. + + Pauline, 233. + + Peer Gynt, 42. + + Penzing, 254. + + Père la Chaise, 146. + + Pericles, prologue to, 51. + + Perpignan, 129. + + Persius, 79. + + Philharmonic (Vienna), 262, 265. + + Pierret, 126. + + Pixis, 100. + + Platen, Count, 237. + + Plato, 12, 59, 230, 276. + + Pleyel, 120, 135. + + Poe, 29. + + Poland, 83, 84, 110, 116, 152. + + Polonaises (Chopin), 93, 105, 123, 131, 136, 158. + + Polonaise-Fantasie, 137. + + Portraits Contemporains, 126. + + Posen, 93, 96. + + Prague, 99, 100, 111, 175, 179, 184, 187, 188, 191, 196, 198, 203, + 208. + + Preludes (Chopin), 131, 136, 156, 158, 166. + + Pressnitz, 175. + + Prince Karol, 139, 141. + + Prince of Venosa, 19. + + Purcell, 47. + + + Q. + + Quartetts (Dvořák), 197, 208, 224. + + Quartetts (Brahms), 247, 249, 252, 253, 255, 260, 264, 266, 285, 291, + 309, 302. + + Quintetts (Dvořák), 190, 207, 220, 221. + + Quintetts (Brahms), 255, 271, 291, 297, 300, 301. + + + R. + + Racine, 254. + + Radziwill, Prince, 92, 96, 105, 110. + + Raff, 266. + + Rameau, 31, 47, 279. + + Ramorino, 116. + + Ranz des Vaches variations, 90. + + Raphael, 7. + + Rasoumoffsky Quartetts, 43, 51, 55, 258. + + Raven, Poe's essay on, 29. + + Redemption, the, 42. + + Reicha, 183. + + Reinecke, 270. + + Rellstab, 120. + + Reményi, 235, 236, 237, 238. + + Requiem (Dvořák), 20, 60, 208, 223; + (Mozart), 145. + + Reynolds, 202. + + Rhapsodies (Dvořák), 202, 222; + (Brahms), 260, 266. + + Richter, 251, 265, 272. + + Rieter-Biedermann, 246, 261. + + Rinaldo, 260. + + Rizner, 261. + + Romantic movement in music, 53, 155, 233, 280, 281, 283, 284-286. + + Rome, 213. + + Romeo and Juliet, prologue to, 51. + + Rondo, growth of, 46-47; + Chopin's in C minor, 91, 93. + + Roskosny, 191. + + Rossini, 64. + + Rouen, 129. + + Rubinstein, 243, 264. + + Rue Pigalle, 133. + + Ruskin, 30. + + Russia, 83, 84, 106, 113-116, 260. + + + S. + + Sadowa, 188, 263. + + St Adalbert, church of, 194, 198. + + St Cæcilia (Handel), 94. + + St Ludmila, 206, 207, 216. + + Sainte Beuve, 126, 134. + + Samberk, 203. + + Sand, George, 102, 121-127, 129, 131, 133, 136-142, 144. + + Sand, Maurice, 129, 137, 138, 142. + + Sand, Solange, 129, 138, 144. + + Sappho, 79. + + Sartoris, Mrs, 144. + + Saul, 94, 264. + + Scarlatti, 31, 279. + + Schadow, 120. + + Scherzos (Chopin), 123, 129, 136, 153. + + Scherzo Capriccioso, 220. + + Schicksalslied, 62, 70, 262, 263, 297. + + Schönbüchel, 183. + + Schubert, illustrations from, 33, 80, 114, 132, 201, 214, 247, 249, + 250, 252, 260, 270, 284, 297. + + Schubring, Dr, 235. + + Schumann, illustrations from, 19, 31, 39, 53, 54, 57, 72, 93, 107, + 120, 122, 123, 149, 152, 154, 156, 165, 168, 232, 233, 237, + 239, 240, 241, 244, 246, 250, 285, 286, 290, 291, 297. + + Schumann, Madame, 122, 255, 259. + + Schuppanzigh, 98. + + Scott, 206, 219. + + Scudérys, the, 133. + + Sebor, 191. + + Sensuous element in music, 15-20. + + Serenades (Brahms), 245, 246, 253, 255. + + Serenade Trio, 221. + + Sestetts (Dvořák), 202; + (Brahms), 247, 253, 256, 257. + + Seyfried, 114. + + Shakespear, illustrations from, 7, 35, 43, 51, 67, 68, 106, 168, + 281, 301, 303. + + Shelley, 13, 71, 82, 122, 168. + + Simrock, 200, 202. + + Singakademie (Berlin), 94, 95; + (Vienna), 255. + + Skarbeks, the, 83, 84. + + Slavik, 115. + + Slavische Tänze, 200, 205. + + Smetana, 185, 186, 187, 191, 192, 196, 215, 221. + + Soldatenlieder, 258. + + Sommerabend, 269. + + Sonatas (Chopin), 93, 136, 137, 138, 143; + (Dvořák), 202; + (Brahms), 233, 240, 256, 266, 270, 271. + + Sonata form, growth of, 44-56, 286-291. + + Sonntag Henrietta, 107. + + Sophocles, 35, 301. + + Spectre's Bride, the, 206, 207, 216, 219, 223. + + Spencer, Herbert, 26. + + Spitz, 176. + + Spohr, 149. + + Spontini, 95. + + Spring song, 152. + + Stabat Mater (Rossini), 64; + (Dvořák), 199, 202, 205, 223. + + Stary, 194. + + Sleeker, Dr, 191. + + Stevenson, R. L., 252. + + Strauss, 31, 39, 114, 250, 260. + + Structure in music. 44-56, 286-291. + + Stubborn Heads, the, 196. + + Stuttgart, 115, 269. + + Style in music, 35-43, 298-302. + + Suvorov, 84. + + Symphonic Fantastique, 32. + + Symphonies (Dvořák), 190, 194, 197, 198, 202, 207; + (Brahms), 265, 269, 270, 284, 290, 297. + + Szafarnia, 90. + + + T. + + Tacitus, 272. + + Tannhäuser, 195. + + Tellefsen, 135, 143. + + Tennyson, 35. + + Teplitz, 100. + + Thalberg, 114, 158. + + Thirty Years' War, 182. + + Tieck, 255. + + Tilly, 182. + + Tintoret, 282, 294. + + Titian, 12, 43, 157, 282. + + Treitschke, 270. + + Trios (Chopin); 93, 96, 119; + (Dvořák), 198, 200, 207, 208; + (Brahms), 42, 255, 267, 272. + + Triple Concerto (Beethoven), 243. + + Tristan, 21, 57, 254, 296. + + Triumphlied, 262, 263. + + Tyl, 184, 203. + + + U. + + Uhland, 151. + + Une contemporaine; 124, 138. + + + V. + + Valdemosa, 129-132. + + Valentine, 142. + + Vanda, 196. + + Velasquez, 43. + + Verdi, 270. + + Vergebliches Ständchen, 269. + + Verrath, 295. + + Vicar of Bray, 46. + + Vienna, 80, 83, 97-100, 102, 105, 110, 111, 113, 114, 187, 198-200, + 245, 249, 250, 251, 254, 255, 257, 258, 262, 263, 265, 269. + + Villon, 79. + + Vineta, 255. + + Vivaldi, 279. + + Virgil, 35. + + Voiture, 133. + + Volkmann, 250. + + Volkslieder, 11, 38, 46, 214, 215, 221, 233, 279. + + Von ewiger Liebe, 260, 299. + + + W. + + Wagner, 18, 40, 143, 187, 192, 216, 230, 234, 239, 248, 254, 281. + + Waldstein, the, 43. + + Waltzes (Chopin), 115, 122, 136, 158. + + Warsaw, 80, 83, 84, 89, 90, 92, 94, 96, 97, 99-102, 105-110, 113. + + Warsaw Courier, 90. + + Weber, 101, 195, 299. + + Wechsellied zum Tanze, 255. + + Weimar, 87, 237-239, 241. + + Wermuth, 238. + + White Mountain, battle of the, 182. + + Wie bist du meine Königin, 255, 297. + + Wiecks, the, 122. + + Wiegenlied, 260. + + Wiener Theaterzeitung, 100. + + Wiertz, 35. + + Winterthur, 246, 248, 257. + + Wodzinskis, the, 121, 122. + + Worcester, 205. + + Wordsworth, 27, 212, 269, 296. + + Woyciechowski, 102, 104, 111, 113. + + Würfel, 97. + + + Z. + + Zelazowa Wola, 83. + + Zelter, 95. + + Zigeunerlieder, 207, 223. + + Zlonic, 176. + + Zurich, 243, 246, 248, 255, 257, 269. + + Zywny, 85, 100. + + +THE END + + +_Colston & Coy. Limited, Printers, Edinburgh_ + + + + +_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ + + + STUDIES IN MODERN MUSIC. First Series. HECTOR BERLIOZ, ROBERT + SCHUMANN and RICHARD WAGNER. With Five Portraits. Fifth Edition. + Price 7s. 6d., cloth. + +'We have seldom read a book on musical subjects which has given us so +much pleasure as this one, and we can sincerely recommend it to all who +are interested in the art.'--_Saturday Review._ + +'The author is evidently a man of wide reading and artistic cultivation, +and not only that, but a musician of complete equipment as far as +technical knowledge and wide sympathies are concerned.'--_Guardian._ + +'The author of this volume is a Fellow of Worcester College, but there +is no trace of amateurishness in the treatment of his subject, or rather +subjects. On the contrary, he writes with striking thoughtfulness and +breadth of view, so that his essays may be read with much interest by +musicians. It is a remarkable book, because, unlike the majority of +musical treatises by amateurs, it is full of truth and common +sense.'--_Athenæum._ + + + A CROATIAN COMPOSER: Notes Toward the Study of JOSEPH HAYDN. With + Portrait. 2s. 6d. net. + +'A volume full of interest, ethnical as well as musical.'--_St James's +Gazette._ + +'Will be read with interest and profit by all concerned with the study +of music, and especially with the study of the national or racial +elements in musical composition.'--_Globe._ + +'The writings of the author of "Studies in Modern Music" are invariably +distinguished by learning and acuteness, and this little volume is no +exception to a rule which has already placed its author among the +foremost contributors of his time to the musical literature of this +country. There is no need to discuss here the exceedingly interesting +body of evidence which Mr Hadow has brought together in support of his +contention that a composer hitherto regarded as one of the fathers of +German music should rightly be ranked among those of the Slavonic school +with Borodin and Tschaikowsky for their latest offspring. Enough that +the facts and arguments--biographical, ethnical, musical, and so +on--which he addresses are no less plausible than interesting, and well +deserving of the serious attention of all students of the history and +development of music.'--_Westminster Gazette._ + + + + +Recent Publications + + + LONDON-ON-THAMES IN BYGONE DAYS. BY G H. BIRCH, F.S.A., Curator of + the Soane Museum. With four Plates printed in colour, and many + other Illustrations. 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Similarly, on page 174, "Pàn" was changed to +"Pán", and "Frantisek" to "František". + +On page 119, a footnote marker was added to the text (don't care for +money.'[21]) + +Many other variant and alternative spellings have been preserved, except +where obviously misspelled in the original or where one spelling was +more common in the main text. Obvious punctuation and formatting errors +have also been corrected. + +The printed text contained duplicate headings for each division (before +and after each epigraph); in each case the latter instance has been +removed. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Studies in Modern Music, Second Series, by +W. H. 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