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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: ISO-8859-1 + +*** 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 + + + + + + +</pre> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</a></span></p> + +<h1> +STUDIES IN MODERN MUSIC +</h1> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 389px;"> +<a name="Illustration_Frederick_Chopin" id="Illustration_Frederick_Chopin"></a><a name="Chopin" id="Chopin"></a> +<a href="images/frontis.jpg"> +<img src="images/frontiss.jpg" width="389" height="600" alt="Frederick Chopin, from a drawing by Winterhalter." title="" /> +</a> +<span class="caption"><i>Frederick Chopin.</i></span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></p> +<div class="center"><h1> +STUDIES<br /> +IN MODERN MUSIC +<br /> +<small><i>SECOND SERIES</i><br /> + +<i>FREDERICK CHOPIN ANTONIN DVOŘÁK +<br /> +JOHANNES BRAHMS</i></small></h1> + +<p class="p6 center"><small>BY</small> + +<br />W. H. HADOW, M.A.<br /> + +<small><i>Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford</i></small></p> + +<p class="p4 center"><small>FIFTH EDITION</small></p> + +<p class="p4 center">LONDON<br /> +SEELEY AND CO. LIMITED<br /> +<small>38 Great Russell Street<br /> +1904</small></p> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a><br /><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> + + + + +<p class="p4 center"> +Dedicated to<br /> +C. F.<br /> +</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a><br /><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a><i>CONTENTS</i></h2> + + +<div class="center"><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr><td class="contentsdiv">OUTLINES OF MUSICAL FORM</td></tr> +<tr><td><small>CHAP.</small></td><td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td >I.—FACULTIES OF APPRECIATION,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr> +<tr><td >II.—STYLE AND STRUCTURE,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td></tr> +<tr><td >III.—FUNCTION,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="contentsdiv">FREDERICK CHOPIN</td></tr> +<tr><td >I.—WARSAW,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td></tr> +<tr><td >II.—PARIS—AND AN EPISODE,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td></tr> +<tr><td >III.—A LYRIC POET,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="contentsdiv">ANTONIN DVOŘÁK</td></tr> +<tr><td >I.—DAYS OF PREPARATION,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td></tr> +<tr><td >II.—<span lang="de">DURCH KAMPF ZU LICHT</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td></tr> +<tr><td >III.—NATIONAL AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_210">210</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="contentsdiv">JOHANNES BRAHMS</td></tr> +<tr><td >I.—GROWTH,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td></tr> +<tr><td >II.—MATURITY,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_250">250</a></td></tr> +<tr><td >III.—THE DIRECTION OF THE NEW PATHS,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_274">274</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="contentsdiv"><a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a>,</td></tr> +</table></div> +<p class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a><br /><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a><i>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</i></h2> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="List of illustrations"> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">FREDERICK CHOPIN, <i>from a drawing by</i> <span class="smcap">Winterhalter</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Chopin"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">FREDERICK CHOPIN, <i>from a drawing made after death, by</i> <span class="smcap">Graefle</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Chopin2">144</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">ANTONIN DVOŘÁK, <i>from a photograph by</i> <span class="smcap">Duras</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Dvorak">190</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">JOHANNES BRAHMS, <i>from a photograph</i>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Brahms">250</a></td></tr> +</table></div> +<p class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a><br /><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="NOTE" id="NOTE"></a><i>NOTE</i></h2> + + +<p>The following works have been consulted for the +present volume:—</p> + +<p> +Dr Parry—'The Art of Music.'<br /> +<br /> +Sir George Grove—'Dictionary of Music and Musicians,'<br /> +particularly Mr Fuller-Maitland's article<br /> +on Dvořák.<br /> +<br /> +'Life of Chopin,' by Liszt.<br /> +<br /> +'Life and Letters of Chopin,' by Moritz Karasowski.<br /> +<br /> +'Life of Chopin,' by Professor Niecks.<br /> +<br /> +'Chopin,' by Charles Willeby.<br /> +<br /> +'Chopin and other Essays,' by Henry T. Finck.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="fr">'Les trois Romans de Chopin,'</span> by Count Wodzinski.<br /> +<br /> +'Musical Studies,' by Dr Hueffer.<br /> +<br /> +George Sand—<span lang="fr">'Histoire de ma vie.'</span><br /> +<br /> +George Sand—<span lang="fr">'Correspondance.'</span><br /> +<br /> +George Sand—<span lang="fr">'Un Hiver ŕ Majorque.'</span><br /> +<br /> +George Sand—<span lang="fr">'Lucrezia Floriani.'</span><br /> +<br /> +George Sand—<span lang="fr">'Elle et Lui.'</span><br /> +<br /> +P. de Musset—<span lang="fr">'Lui et Elle.'</span><br /> +<br /> +'George Sand,' by E. Caro.<br /> +<br /> +'George Sand,' by Bertha Thomas.<br /> +<br /> +'George Sand,' by Matthew Arnold.<a name="Anchor-1" id="Anchor-1"></a><a href="#Footnote-1" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 1.">[1]</a><br /> +<br /> +Sainte Beuve—<span lang="fr">'Portraits Contemporains.'</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span><br /> +Delacroix—<span lang="fr">'Lettres.'</span><br /> +<br /> +Heine—'Lutetia.'<br /> +<br /> +Henry James—'French Poets and Novelists.'<br /> +<br /> +E. Zola—<span lang="fr">'Documents Litteraires.'</span><br /> +<br /> +<span lang="fr">'Journal des Goncourt.'</span><br /> +<br /> +<span lang="fr">'Une Contemporaine,' by M. Brault.</span><br /> +<br /> +'Antonin Dvořák,' by Dr Zubaty.<br /> +<br /> +'Antonin Dvořák,' by H. E. Krehbiel. (Century, Sept. 1892.)<br /> +<br /> +'Antonin Dvořák,' by J. J. Kral. (Music; Chicago; Oct. 1893.)<br /> +<br /> +'Antonin Dvořák,' by Dr Stecker. (New Bohemian Encyclopćdia.)<br /> +<br /> +E. Chvala—<span lang="de">'Ein Vierteljahrhundert Böhmischer Musik.'</span><br /> +<br /> +'Johannes Brahms,' by Dr Deiters.<br /> +<br /> +'Johannes Brahms,' by Bernhard Vogel.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">'Johannes Brahms in seinen Werken,'</span> by E. Krause.<br /> +<br /> +J. A. Fuller-Maitland—'Masters of German Music.'<br /> +<br /> +Dr Spitta—<span lang="de">'Zur Musik.'</span><br /> +<br /> +Dr Ehrlich—<span lang="de">'Dreissig Jahre Künstlerleben.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde</span> 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.</p><hr class="full" /><p class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="OUTLINES_OF_MUSICAL_FORM_division" id="OUTLINES_OF_MUSICAL_FORM_division"></a>OUTLINES OF MUSICAL FORM</h2> + + +<div class="blockquot"><span lang="la">Non leve quiddam interest inter humanć mentis idola et +divinć mentis ideas; hoc est, inter placita qućdam inania et +veras signaturas atque impressiones factas in creaturis, prout +inveniuntur.</span>—<span class="smcap">Bacon.</span></div> +<p class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a><br /><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></p> + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="I" id="I"></a>I<br /> + +FACULTIES OF APPRECIATION</h3> + + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +their champion, and some <i>Novum Organum</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>dilettante</i> wonder, and bear no hand, +even in our own field, to maintain the cause with +which we profess ourselves in sympathy.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>dilettante</i>, the half-educated amateur, who professes +this Gnosticism of art, and replaces the teaching of +the Church by some mystic subtleties of Ćons and +Pleroma.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +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</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">Rush on a benighted man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And give him two black eyes for being blind;<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +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 ćsthetics. 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. +Ćsthetics, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +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 formulć 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Messiah</i>, to another some complete and perfect +<span lang="de">Volkslied</span>; 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +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 +<i>axiomata media</i> which these wider generalisations +include.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Stanzas written in Dejection</i>, 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 <i>Prospice</i>. 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>. +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.'</p> + +<p>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 ćsthetic 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +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, <i>ipso facto</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The simplest air vibrations may differ from each<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +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 <i>timbre</i> 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 +<i>timbre</i>, 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.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.<a name="Anchor-2" id="Anchor-2"></a><a href="#Footnote-2" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 2.">[2]</a> 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</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Get its sop and hold its noise,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And leave soul free a little.</span> +</div></div> + +<p>Théophile Gautier honestly defined music as <span lang="fr">'le +plus désagréable de tous les sons.'</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +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 <i>a priori</i> law of +acoustics; it is altogether a question of psychology.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +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 <i lang="de">Im wunderschönen +Monat Mai</i>.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +work. Even more recondite effects, like the wonderful +<span lang="la">'voca me cum benedictis'</span> in Dvořák's <i>Requiem</i>, +are <i>quâ</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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, <i>ipso facto</i>, +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +to show that it is, in Aristotle's phrase, 'obedient +to reason.'</p> + +<p>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,<a name="Anchor-3" id="Anchor-3"></a><a href="#Footnote-3" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 3.">[3]</a> 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 +<i>Tristan</i>, the beat of a recurring figure, as in the 'Ride +to the Abyss' of Berlioz' <i>Faust</i>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>Far more important is the influence of association. +There is no reason <i>in rerum naturâ</i> 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 <i>Eroica</i>; 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.</p> + +<p>But it is not in this emotional influence that the +truest laws of musical criticism are to be sought. Its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +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 <i>Journal des +Goncourt</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="de">kapellmeistermusik</i>, 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +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.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h3><a name="II" id="II"></a>II<br /> + +STYLE AND STRUCTURE</h3> + + +<p>'It may be shown,' says Mr Herbert Spencer,<a name="Anchor-4" id="Anchor-4"></a><a href="#Footnote-4" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 4.">[4]</a> '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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>. +And to say they are untrue is to say they are +unscientific.'</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 naďve 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +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 <i>Lenore</i> was written by rule and measure, or +that Berlioz planned his <i lang="fr">Marche au Supplice</i> with a +diagram of the procession at his side.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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, <i>desipere in loco</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +but it ought to choose its place with opportunity, and +regulate its folly by some laws of good behaviour.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="de">Lieder</i>. 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.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 <i>reductio ad absurdum</i>, 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' +<i lang="fr">Symphonie Fantastique</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +is not only our supreme example of physical structure, +it is the type of all human society and all natural order.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><i>Mutatis mutandis</i>, 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +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 <i>Iliad</i>, 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 +<i>Tasso</i>. Take away the compensation, and we get the +misshapen prose of Byron's <i>Deformed Transformed</i>.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +command of formal resource than his brother artists. +Contrasts of <i>timbre</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a><br /><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +with diversity altogether. Look at Heine's <i lang="de">Du bist +wie eine Blume</i> 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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 439px;"> +<a href="images/i_037.jpg" ><img src="images/i_037s.jpg" width="439" height="600" + alt="Musical Examples" + title="" /> +</a><p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Examples</span></p> +</div> + +<p>It is precisely the same with a lyric tune like +'Barbara Allen.'<a name="Anchor-5" id="Anchor-5"></a><a href="#Footnote-5" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 5.">[5]</a> 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.<a name="Anchor-6" id="Anchor-6"></a><a href="#Footnote-6" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 6.">[6]</a> Here the +curve is as broad and simple as that of a <span lang="de">Volkslied</span>, +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +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;<a name="Anchor-7" id="Anchor-7"></a><a href="#Footnote-7" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 7.">[7]</a> 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,<a name="Anchor-8" id="Anchor-8"></a><a href="#Footnote-8" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 8.">[8]</a> and +the opening theme of the Violoncello Sonata in A.<a name="Anchor-9" id="Anchor-9"></a><a href="#Footnote-9" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 9.">[9]</a> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p><p>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 '<span lang="de">Und seinem Heil'gen Geist</span>' from the chorale +in the <i lang="de">Lobgesang</i> 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +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 <i>Hymns +Ancient and Modern</i>. 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 '<span lang="de">Nun danket +alle Gott</span>' is as near perfection as it is possible for +our system to attain.</p> + +<p>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</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0" lang="la">Infelix operis summâ, quia ponere totum<br /></span> +<span class="i0" lang="la">Nescit.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +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 <i>Peer Gynt</i>. +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 <i>Faust</i> opens with a magnificent +phrase, and then degenerates into an anti-climax +of pure irrelevance. The choruses in the +<i>Redemption</i> and the <i lang="la">Mors et Vita</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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,<a name="Anchor-10" id="Anchor-10"></a><a href="#Footnote-10" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 10.">[10]</a> 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.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> +<p>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 <i>Waldstein</i> is soothed and +quieted by the melody of the second subject: how the +bleak majesty of the first theme in the <i>Appassionata</i> +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 <i>Emperor</i> 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 <i>Eroica</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<hr class="minor" /> + +<p>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 <i>Orfeo</i><a name="Anchor-11" id="Anchor-11"></a><a href="#Footnote-11" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 11.">[11]</a> +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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +In other words, it is as deficient in structural coherence +as the preceding method in structural diversity.</p> + +<p>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 <i>pari passu</i> +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 <span lang="de">kapellmeisters</span> +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Volkslied</span>.<a name="Anchor-12" id="Anchor-12"></a><a href="#Footnote-12" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 12.">[12]</a> +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.</p> + +<p>At the outset there are two possible lines of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +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.<a name="Anchor-13" id="Anchor-13"></a><a href="#Footnote-13" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 13.">[13]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +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.<a name="Anchor-14" id="Anchor-14"></a><a href="#Footnote-14" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 14.">[14]</a></p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Kinderscenen</span> +and the <span lang="de">Poetische Tonbilder</span>. 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +that any real climax of phraseology can be +attained.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Messiah</i>, 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 <i>Henry VIII.</i>, +of <i>Pericles</i>, and of <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +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.<a name="Anchor-15" id="Anchor-15"></a><a href="#Footnote-15" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 15.">[15]</a> It is hardly necessary +to point out that the principle of perfect symmetry +embodied in this form is precisely the same as that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +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 <i>Alcestis</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +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 <i>Eroica</i> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +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.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h3><a name="III" id="III"></a>III<br /> + +FUNCTION</h3> + + +<p>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 <i>Tristan</i>, or +the slow movement in the <i>Fifth Symphony</i>, or the +<i><span lang="la">Missa Papć Marcelli</span></i>. 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 <i><span lang="la">Ars +Poetica</span></i> is a mere <i><span lang="la">Gradus ad Parnassum</span></i>, containing, +it may be, some hints for versification, but leaving +the essentials of artistic conception entirely untouched.</p> + +<p>This objection is only of force if it confines itself to +the bare truism, that inspiration is not a matter which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +ćsthetic 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Madame Bovary</i> 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 <i lang="fr">Contes Drolatiques</i>. +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.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 '<i>Dies Irć</i>' or the '<i>Recordare +Jesu pie</i>.' 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.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="de">Schicksalslied</i> or of the 'Sacrificial Chorus' in +<i>Judith</i>, or the brilliant practical joke of the 'Ćschylus +Motif' in the <i>Frogs</i>. 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.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 ćsthetic 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +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 <i>Emma</i>—'I don't +want my blood curdled, but I like it stirred.'</p> + +<p>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 '<span lang="la">Pro Peccatis</span>' of +Rossini's <i><span lang="la">Stabat Mater</span></i>, 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 <span lang="fr">'Le Roi s'amuse.'</span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +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 <i>Evan Harrington</i>. 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +a balance of alternative issues, and as constantly +make the selection which the hearer finally acknowledges +as the best.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>timbre</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +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' <i lang="de">Schicksalslied</i>.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>a priori</i> 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +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. '<i lang="fr">Voici +quarante ans que je dis de la prose</i>,' says M. Jourdain, +'<i lang="fr">sans que j'en susse rien</i>.'</p> + +<p>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 <i>Jane Eyre</i> 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.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In the third place, there may be enthusiasts who +are still inclined to cry, with Gebir,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Is this the mighty ocean, is this all?'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +submitted to new dynasties and new leaders, yet the +great principles of its constitution are the same now +as in the time of the <i>Odyssey</i>. 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.</p> + +<hr class="minor" /> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +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.</p><hr class="full" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="FREDERICK_CHOPIN_division" id="FREDERICK_CHOPIN_division"></a>FREDERICK CHOPIN</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Like a poet, hidden<br /></span> +<span class="i6">In the light of thought,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Singing hymns unbidden,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Till the world is wrought<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not.<br /></span> +</div></div><p class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a><br /><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<h3><a name="Chopin_I" id="Chopin_I"></a>I<br /> + +WARSAW</h3> + + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +three greatest symphonies: Handel wrote the +<i>Messiah</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Hofkapellmeister</span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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, '<i>Il avait l'esprit écorché +vif</i>,' 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>He was born on 1st March 1809,<a name="Anchor-16" id="Anchor-16"></a><a href="#Footnote-16" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 16.">[16]</a> at the little +village of Zelazowa Wola, near Warsaw. His father, +Nicholas Chopin, was a French <i>émigré</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +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 <i>régime</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>Very little can be ascertained about Chopin's musical +education. We know that his pianoforte teacher<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +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 <span lang="de">kapellmeister</span>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>début</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +friend's estate in Szafarnia, from which the boy issued +to his parents a periodical journal, after the model +of the <i>Warsaw Courier</i>, 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 <i>Ranz des +Vaches</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 Ćolopantaleon, then the +Emperor Alexander, who had come down to Warsaw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +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.'</p> + +<p>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 +Mćcenas. 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<a name="Anchor-17" id="Anchor-17"></a><a href="#Footnote-17" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 17.">[17]</a> 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 <i lang="it">La ci darem</i>, which were published +in 1830 as Op. 2. It was this last-named work which +evoked Schumann's first critical essay, and introduced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Fernando Cortez</i> at the Opera, +revelling in Handel's <i>St Cćcilia</i> at the <span lang="de">Singakademie</span>, +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.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Singakademie</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 <i lang="it">La +ci darem</i> 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 <span lang="de">Kärnthnerthor</span> +Theatre, and on August 11—a memorable date in +musical history—Chopin made his <i>début</i> before a +foreign public.</p> + +<p>Of course there was the usual disaster at rehearsal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>. +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 <i>tuttis</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +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 +<i>claque</i>.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the newspapers speak with a +much firmer tone. The <i>Wiener Theaterzeitung</i> 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 <i>aplomb</i> 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 <i lang="de">Allgemeine +Musikalische Zeitung</i> 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.'</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +his improvisations. The westernmost point of his +travel was Dresden. As a devoted admirer of <i lang="de">Der +Freischütz</i>, he naturally felt an interest in the city +where Weber had been <span lang="de">kapellmeister</span>, 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 <i>Faust</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +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;<a name="Anchor-18" id="Anchor-18"></a><a href="#Footnote-18" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 18.">[18]</a> +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.'</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +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 <i>bravura</i> songs and <i>divertimenti</i> for the +French horn. It seems unlikely that a stage manager +would ever present one of Shakespear's plays +with portions of the <i>School for Scandal</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>soirées</i> 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 <i>début</i> +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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +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.<a name="Anchor-19" id="Anchor-19"></a><a href="#Footnote-19" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 19.">[19]</a></p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h3><a name="Chopin_II" id="Chopin_II"></a>II<br /> + +PARIS—AND AN EPISODE</h3> + + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +regret or apprehension; for the moment, this exile +from his country has succeeded in escaping from his +recent self.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="de">kapellmeistermusik</i> +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 <span lang="de">Kärnthnerthor</span> +Theatre, dinners with his friend Dr Malfatti, a few +criticisms of Thalberg, a few words of enthusiasm for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +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<a name="Anchor-20" id="Anchor-20"></a><a href="#Footnote-20" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 20.">[20]</a> +in which he mourned her downfall remains as one +of the truest and saddest utterances of despairing +patriotism.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +'<i lang="fr">Vive les Polonais</i>' 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>concertino</i>, 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 +<i>début</i> 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,—'<i lang="fr">Me voilŕ lancé.</i>' 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +you are credited with more talent if you have been +heard at a <i>soirée</i> 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.'<a name="Anchor-21" id="Anchor-21"></a><a href="#Footnote-21" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 21.">[21]</a> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<a name="Anchor-22" id="Anchor-22"></a><a href="#Footnote-22" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 22.">[22]</a> and the Variations on Herold's <i lang="fr">Je vends +des Scapulaires</i>, graceful embroideries of an exceedingly +poor texture: while in 1834 came three more +Nocturnes, another set of Mazurkas, a <i lang="fr">Grande Valse +Brilliante</i> (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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +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 '<i lang="fr">un talent de chambre de malade</i>:' Rellstab, +the editor of the Berlin <i>Iris</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>In the spring of 1834, Chopin took a holiday and +went off with Hiller to attend the <span lang="de">Niederrheinische +Musikfest</span> 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.'</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +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 <i>en petit comité</i>—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.'<a name="Anchor-23" id="Anchor-23"></a><a href="#Footnote-23" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 23.">[23]</a> He was in no lack of +money, or of friends, or of reputation, and he was +the last man in the world to—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Beg of Hob and Dick<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their needless vouches,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>or trouble himself because some upstart tribune could +surpass him in popularity.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +knowledge about this new romance. There were a +few pleasant days together, a Valse,<a name="Anchor-24" id="Anchor-24"></a><a href="#Footnote-24" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 24.">[24]</a> improvised at +the moment of parting, and sent afterwards from +Paris, <span lang="fr">'pour Mademoiselle Marie,'</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +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 <span lang="fr">Chaussée +d'Antin</span> was a good deal higher than that in the +<span lang="fr">Boulevard Poissonničre</span>. 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="Anchor-25" id="Anchor-25"></a><a href="#Footnote-25" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 25.">[25]</a> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +been found for discreditable conjectures, for baseless +imputations of motive, and for an ultimate decision +which betrays itself by its eagerness to condemn.</p> + +<p>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;<a name="Anchor-26" id="Anchor-26"></a><a href="#Footnote-26" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 26.">[26]</a> 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. <i>Ex parte</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +cravings of a sensual passion.'<a name="Anchor-27" id="Anchor-27"></a><a href="#Footnote-27" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 27.">[27]</a> Sainte-Beuve knew +her intimately for thirty years, and this is the way in +which he writes about her:—<span lang="fr">'Elle est femme, et trčs +femme, mais elle n'a rien des petitesses du sexe, ni +des ruses, ni des arričre-pensées: elle aime les horizons +larges et vastes, et c'est lŕ qu'elle va d'abord: elle +s'inquičte 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.'</span><a name="Anchor-28" id="Anchor-28"></a><a href="#Footnote-28" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 28.">[28]</a> Delacroix bears +eloquent witness to her devotion and unselfishness:<a name="Anchor-29" id="Anchor-29"></a><a href="#Footnote-29" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 29.">[29]</a> +Heine almost forgets to mock as he bows before the +woman 'whose every thought is fragrant':<a name="Anchor-30" id="Anchor-30"></a><a href="#Footnote-30" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 30.">[30]</a> 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.<a name="Anchor-31" id="Anchor-31"></a><a href="#Footnote-31" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 31.">[31]</a> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +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 <i lang="fr">Histoire de +ma Vie</i> is attested in plain words by no less an +authority than M. Edmond de Goncourt,<a name="Anchor-32" id="Anchor-32"></a><a href="#Footnote-32" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 32.">[32]</a> 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 <i>onus +probandi</i> upon her adversaries.</p> + +<p>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,'<a name="Anchor-33" id="Anchor-33"></a><a href="#Footnote-33" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 33.">[33]</a> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +treats. For the grosser accusations, the best answer +is silence. They are no more worth denying than +the calumnies of <span lang="fr">'Lui et Elle'</span>: indeed, like that +'abominable book,'<a name="Anchor-34" id="Anchor-34"></a><a href="#Footnote-34" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 34.">[34]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>liaison</i> 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 +'<i lang="fr">une sorte d'affection maternelle</i>': 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.</p> + +<p>At first, it is true, they saw but little of each other. +For one reason, the fastidious artist was somewhat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +where they hoped to establish themselves for the +winter.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="fr">petite misčre</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>At Marseilles he stayed for nearly three months,<a name="Anchor-35" id="Anchor-35"></a><a href="#Footnote-35" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 35.">[35]</a> +under charge of Dr Cauvičre, 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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +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 <i>St Anne</i>; 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>salon</i>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +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 <i lang="fr">carte du tendre</i>; +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Gradus</i>, and to tread the whole course of studies +and exercises; but he was far too great an artist<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +to see any finality in a mere Academic precision. +<span lang="fr">'Mettez y donc toute votre âme'</span> was his injunction; +and in all education there is no better rule.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +influences of a bad home.<a name="Anchor-36" id="Anchor-36"></a><a href="#Footnote-36" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 36.">[36]</a> 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,<a name="Anchor-37" id="Anchor-37"></a><a href="#Footnote-37" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 37.">[37]</a> +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +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.'</p> + +<p>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,<a name="Anchor-38" id="Anchor-38"></a><a href="#Footnote-38" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 38.">[38]</a> may, perhaps, be disregarded in spite +of the uncertainty of Professor Niecks. But the +attack on <i>Lucrezia Floriani</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +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—<i lang="la">reclamitat +istiusmodi suspicionibus ipsa natura</i>.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, on the first point we have the clear +evidence of fact. <i>Lucrezia Floriani</i> 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,<a name="Anchor-39" id="Anchor-39"></a><a href="#Footnote-39" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 39.">[39]</a> and either paid, or at least +projected, his usual visit to Nohant in the summer.<a name="Anchor-40" id="Anchor-40"></a><a href="#Footnote-40" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 40.">[40]</a> +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +this side of the case may be regarded as closed. +Whatever may be said about the merits of <i>Lucrezia +Floriani</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +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 <span lang="fr">La Petite Fadette</span>, now charged with the +electric passion of Valentine or Indiana, but at no +time identical with the warm vital air of true experience.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Another winter of illness and inaction filled the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +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.<a name="Anchor-41" id="Anchor-41"></a><a href="#Footnote-41" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 41.">[41]</a> +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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="Chopin2" id="Chopin2"></a> +<a href="images/fp_250.jpg" ><img src="images/fp_250s.jpg" width="600" height="495" alt="Frederick Chopin, from a drawing made after death, by Graefle." title="" /> +</a><span class="caption"><i>Frederick Chopin.</i></span> +</div> + +<p>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 <i>Requiem</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +was sung over the bier, the procession was joined by +almost every man of note in Paris, and at Pčre 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.</p> +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> + + + +<h3><a name="Chopin_III" id="Chopin_III"></a>III<br /> + +A LYRIC POET</h3> + + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +we fail to sympathise, and therefore stand outside +the limits of fair judgment.</p> + +<p>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 <i><span lang="la">dramatis +personć</span></i>. 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.</p> + +<p>In the second place, it is obvious that musical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +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—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span lang="it">In la sua voluntade č nostra pace</span>, +</div></div> + +<p>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 <i>Asolando</i>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>naďvité</i> 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.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, Chopin was to some extent affected by +the tonality of his native music. A large number<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +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;<a name="Anchor-42" id="Anchor-42"></a><a href="#Footnote-42" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 42.">[42]</a> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +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 +<i>Preludes</i>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Endymion</i> are not less musical +because the poem, as a whole, falls below the epic +level, and if they were, we have <span lang="fr">'La Belle Dame +sans Merci,'</span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>appoggiatura</i>, Chopin +keeps his melody within the strict limits of the diatonic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +intervals.<a name="Anchor-43" id="Anchor-43"></a><a href="#Footnote-43" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 43.">[43]</a> Are consecutive major thirds justly regarded +as harsh and dissonant? Chopin, at his +dreamiest and most contemplative, can employ them +with unfailing effect.<a name="Anchor-44" id="Anchor-44"></a><a href="#Footnote-44" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 44.">[44]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p><p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>Hence it is that of all musicians he is most at the +mercy of his interpreters. Beethoven's <i>Adelaide</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +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 <i>rubato</i>, 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 <i>piano</i> +is so soft that he does not need any strong <i>forte</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +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 <i>arpeggios</i> 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 <i><span lang="de">Widmung</span></i>, 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.</p> + +<p>But, so far as concerns this particular exhibition of +skill, we never feel that Chopin is at the mercy of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +effects could have been equally well produced by +another.</p> + +<p>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 <i>tour +de force</i>, 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 <i>arpeggios</i>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="la">'di majorum gentium,'</span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +<i>virtuosi</i>. 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +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.</p><hr class="full" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="ANTONIN_DVORAK_division" id="ANTONIN_DVORAK_division"></a>ANTONIN DVOŘÁK.<br /></h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span lang="de">Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille,<br /> +Sich ein Character in dem Strom der Welt.</span></div> + +<p class="cit"><span class="smcap">Goethe.</span></p></div> +<hr class="chap" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="dvorak_I" id="dvorak_I"></a>I<br /> +DAYS OF PREPARATION</h3> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Among the villagers Pŕn 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">kapellmeister</span> 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.</p> + +<p>It is easy enough to emphasise the incongruity of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i><span lang="fr">coup de théâtre</span></i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +work with unabating enthusiasm, and, in 1860, graduated +at the Organ School as second prizeman of his +year.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +fortunes as free-lances in a foreign service. Myslivecek +won his title of '<span lang="it">Il Divino</span>' 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +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 <i lang="la">per recte et retro</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Again, it was a stroke of good-fortune that +Smetana's genius should turn at once in the direction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>Such was the cause in which Dvořák found himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +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.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h3><a name="dvorak_II" id="dvorak_II"></a>II<br /> + +<span lang="de">DURCH KAMPF ZU LICHT</span></h3> + + +<p>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),<a name="Anchor-45" id="Anchor-45"></a><a href="#Footnote-45" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 45.">[45]</a> 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 <span lang="de">Blumendeutung</span> +or <span lang="de">Die Sterne</span>, or <span lang="de">Der Herr erschuf das +Menschenherz</span>. 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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 428px;"><a name="Dvorak" id="Dvorak"></a> +<a href="images/fp_190.jpg" ><img src="images/fp_190s.jpg" width="428" height="600" +alt="Antonin Dvořák, from a photograph by Duras." title="" /> +</a><span class="caption"><i>Antonin Dvořák.</i></span> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>At last, apparently in 1871, he was commissioned +to write an opera for the Bohemian Theatre,<a name="Anchor-46" id="Anchor-46"></a><a href="#Footnote-46" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 46.">[46]</a> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a><br /><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Meistersinger</span>. 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As yet, however, there was little hope of material +reward. It was still the day of small things in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +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 <span lang="la">'Ave +Maris Stella,'</span> dedicated <span lang="la">'uxori carissimć,'</span> and printed +<span lang="la">'sumptibus et proprietate Emilii Stary.'</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>début</i>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +his work—Wagner made additions to <i lang="de">Tannhäuser</i>, +Weber reluctantly excised an important scene from +<i lang="de">Der Freischütz</i>—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 <i><span lang="la">dramatis +personć</span></i>.</p> + +<p>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 +<i><span lang="fr">tour de force</span></i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Kultusministerium</span>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>The score was sent off to try its fortune in Vienna, +and, by some incredible error, was rejected.<a name="Anchor-47" id="Anchor-47"></a><a href="#Footnote-47" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 47.">[47]</a> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, in 1877, he again made appeal to the +<span lang="de">Kultusministerium</span>, 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 <span lang="de">Slavische Tänze</span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +and disappointment as a man looks back upon his +dreams.</p> + +<p>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 <i><span lang="la">diabolus ex +machinâ</span></i>, 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.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Legenden</span>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +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 <i>motifs</i> 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 +<span lang="de">Kapellmeister</span>, and with all ingenuity of treatment, +could lift it to no higher level than that of a <i>pičce +d'occasion</i>. 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Slavische Tänze</span>; 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Zigeunerlieder</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +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 <span lang="de">Kapellmeister</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>naďveté</i> 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.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span></p> + +<p>Among other notable works published at this period +should be mentioned the set of 'Elegies' (Dumky) for +Pianoforte trio, the three great concert overtures, <span lang="de">'In +der Natur,'</span> '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, '<span lang="de">Der +Wassermann</span>,' '<span lang="de">Die Mittagshexe</span>,' and '<span lang="de">Das Goldene +Spinnrad</span>.' In the same year was published the '<span lang="de">Te +Deum</span>,' 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 '<span lang="de">Die Waldtaube</span>,' +and '<span lang="de">Heldenlied</span>,' and in 1901 the new opera +of 'Roussalka.'</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h3><a name="dvorak_III" id="dvorak_III"></a>III<br /> + +NATIONAL AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS</h3> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The first two of these have never been called in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Again the poet, though he be the spokesman of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +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 '<span lang="fr">Feuilles +d'Automne</span>.' 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 <span lang="la">'cćlum non animum mutat.'</span></p> + +<p>Here an objection occurs. Grant, it will be said, +that the representative arts are in some way affected +by the <i>entourage</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Volkslieder</span> 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 <span lang="de">Volkslied</span>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +employs it with extraordinary ease and mastery, but +he never lets us forget that he is a German.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +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 <i>Cavalleria</i>, for +example, gives us merely the impression of deliberate +defiance, it is not construction but demolition, not +freedom but revolt.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +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 <i><span lang="it">nuova musica</span></i>, developed, +like all new departures, from the consequences +of past achievement, but none the less +turning the stream of tendency into a fresh direction.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Legenden</span>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>abandon</i>, its original tone +of half-humorous assurance. If we compare the +example in the A major Quintett with the traditional<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +melody—either as it appears among the <span lang="de">Volkslieder</span>, +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.</p> + +<p>This feeling for colour and movement, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +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 <i>timbre</i> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +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 <span lang="de">Zigeunerlieder</span>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +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.</p><hr class="full" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a><br /><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="JOHANNES_BRAHMS_division" id="JOHANNES_BRAHMS_division"></a>JOHANNES BRAHMS.</h2> + +<blockquote><p>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.—<span class="smcap">Emerson.</span></p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a><br /><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + + +<h3><a name="brahms_I" id="brahms_I"></a>I<br /> + +GROWTH</h3> + + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span lang="de">Meister der Stadtmusik</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +enthusiasm, he covered reams of paper with +counterpoint exercises and variations. At an early +age he was sent for further instruction to a worthy +<span lang="de">kapellmeister</span> 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 <i lang="de">Neue Zeitschrift</i>. 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 <i>régime</i>. 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 <span lang="de">volkslieder</span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +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. <span lang="la">'Non facultatum inducitur comparatio sed +vić.'</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Volkslied</span>, 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 <span lang="de">'Liebestreu.'</span> +They may be said to stand to Brahms later writings +as 'Pauline' stands to 'Cleon' or 'Andrea del Sarto.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Herr Intendant</span> +Heinrich Krebs resigned his office in order to succeed +<span lang="de">Herr Hofkapellmeister</span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>About the beginning of 1853<a name="Anchor-48" id="Anchor-48"></a><a href="#Footnote-48" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 48.">[48]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">'ein +erbärmlicher Klapperkasten,'</span> which had lost all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>tour de force</i>, but the general +breadth and vigour of the rendering, and now, after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +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 <span lang="de">Hofintendant</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>rôle</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +of Tyrtćus 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 <span lang="de">Herr Polizeipräsident</span> 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 <i>visé</i> to Weimar.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Neue Zeitschrift</span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Gewandhaus</span>. +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="de">Neue +Berliner Musikzeitung</i>, printed a careful and discriminating +review of the '<span lang="de">sechs Lieder</span>' (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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +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 +<span lang="de">Gewandhaus</span>, 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 <i lang="de">Das Judenthum in der Musik</i> 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.</p> + +<p>But it was not a case of <span lang="la">'tam bonus gladiator +rudem tam cito.'</span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +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 <span lang="de">Gewandhaus</span> +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 <i><span lang="de">Leipsiger Signalen</span></i> +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.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.<a name="Anchor-49" id="Anchor-49"></a><a href="#Footnote-49" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 49.">[49]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +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.<a name="Anchor-50" id="Anchor-50"></a><a href="#Footnote-50" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 50.">[50]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +and expended; now the mint was opened and the +golden currency scattered with a lavish hand. In +1861 appeared the beautiful <span lang="la">Ave Maria</span> 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 <span lang="de">Marienlieder</span>, another +volume of songs, and finally two new sets of variations +for the piano, one on a theme from Handel's +Harpischord lessons, one<a name="Anchor-51" id="Anchor-51"></a><a href="#Footnote-51" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 51.">[51]</a> 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>coterie</i> 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.<a name="Anchor-52" id="Anchor-52"></a><a href="#Footnote-52" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 52.">[52]</a> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +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.</p> +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span></p> + + + +<h3><a name="brahms_II" id="brahms_II"></a>II<br /> + +MATURITY</h3> + + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Kärnthnerthor Theatre</span>, and Herbeck, +recently appointed to an engagement at the <span lang="de">Gesellschaft</span>;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +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 +<span lang="de">Kärnthnerthor</span>, 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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 416px;"><a name="Brahms" id="Brahms"></a> +<a href="images/fp_144.jpg"><img src="images/fp_144s.jpg" width="416" height="600" +alt="Johannes Brahms, from a photograph." title="" /> +</a><span class="caption"><i>Johannes Brahms.</i></span> +</div> + +<p>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 encyclopćdic 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,'<a name="Anchor-53" id="Anchor-53"></a><a href="#Footnote-53" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 53.">[53]</a> +said the <i lang="de">Blätter für Theater Musik und Kunst</i> '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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>The composer, however, soon showed that if he +had for the moment declined in public estimation, it +was only <span lang="de">'pour mieux sauter.'</span> A week later, the +Serenade in D was successfully given by the <span lang="de">Gesellschaft</span>; +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 +<i lang="de">Blätter</i>, 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>i. e.</i>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +any rate, it succeeded in calling public attention to +the work, and preparing, in some measure, for a more +adequate discussion of its merits.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Meistersinger</span>, 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 <span lang="de">Das Liebesverbot</span>.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +may possibly be explained by Brahms' appointment +in June, to the conductorship of the Vienna <span lang="de">Singakademie</span>, +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, <i>e.g.</i>, the <i lang="de">Abendständchen</i>, the +<i>Vineta</i>, the <i lang="de">Wechsellied zum Tanze</i>, and the <i lang="de">Neckereien</i>, +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 '<span lang="de">Wie bist du meine Königin</span>.'</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="de">Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung</i>. 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Soldatenlieder</span>. 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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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),<a name="Anchor-54" id="Anchor-54"></a><a href="#Footnote-54" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 54.">[54]</a> 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 <span lang="de">Liebeslieder</span> +Waltzes for pianoforte duet, with vocal accompaniment, +which appeared early in 1869. Of the +songs, it is only necessary to say, that they include +<span lang="de">Von ewiger Liebe</span>, <span lang="de">Botschaft</span>, <span lang="de">Herbstgefühl</span>, <span lang="de">An ein +Veilchen</span>, and the <span lang="de">Wiegenlied</span>; the two cantatas +have long established their position as the finest male-voice +choruses in existence; and the <span lang="de">Liebeslieder</span>, +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +the experience of a dozen years; the composer was +no longer a <i>débutant</i> 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 <i>Academy</i>, '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.</p> + +<p>In 1871 appeared two new works of considerable +importance. First came the <span lang="de">Triumphlied</span>, 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 <span lang="de">Schicksalslied</span>. It was only natural that +the former should rouse some criticism in the +French papers, which were still chafing at the foolish +humours of <i lang="de">Eine Kapitulation</i>. The shout of victory +however noble and dignified its expression, is always +a little discordant to the vanquished and we may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +almost sympathise with the <i lang="fr">Gazette Musicale</i>, which +ended its review by remarking, in a tone of grave +irony, <span lang="fr">'Et M. Brahms, l'auteur du Triumphlied, est +né ŕ Vienne, prčs Sadowa.'</span></p> + +<p>Of the <span lang="de">Schicksalslied</span>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde</span>. His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +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. <i>Saul</i>, <i>Solomon</i>, <i>Alexander's Feast</i>, the +<i>Dettingen <span lang="la">Te Deum</span></i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="de">Neue Liebeslieder</i>, 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, <span lang="de">'Das sieht jeder +Narr.'</span> Brahms does not belong to the artistic type +that can be readily stirred by an accusation of +plagiarism.</p> + +<p>Such an accusation, however, was shortly to be +repeated in more vehement terms. At the beginning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +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 '<span lang="de">Freude</span>.' 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +with his superb Violin Concerto, second only, in +the record of musical art, to that of Beethoven. +The <i>début</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>ŕ capella</i> 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—<span lang="de">'Was kommt dort von +der Höh'</span>,' <span lang="la">'Gaudeamus igitur,'</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +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</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"> +'Moonlit battlements and towers decayed by time,'</span> +</div></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. <span lang="fr">'Je ne veux pas faire le spectacle,'</span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +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 <span lang="de">Nänie</span> 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.</p> + +<p>The publications of 1882 consist of four volumes +of songs, which range in character from the humour +of the <span lang="de">Vergebliches Ständchen</span> to the poetry, as pure +and contemplative as Wordsworth, of <span lang="de">Feldeinsamkeit</span> +and <span lang="de">Sommerabend</span>. After the Vienna season Brahms +took his usual holiday at Ischl, and there composed +the String Quintett in F and the <span lang="de">Gesang der Parzen</span>, +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +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 <i>Fraser's Magazine</i> once threatened to withdraw +their patronage unless the editor discontinued a farrago +of exasperating nonsense called by the unmeaning +name of <i><span lang="la">Sartor Resartus</span></i>.</p> + +<p>In 1887 Brahms was created a Knight of the +German order, <span lang="fr">'pour le mérite,'</span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +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, '<span lang="fr">ça porte +malheur</span>.' 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>It was in the summer of 1896 that he printed his +last composition, the <span lang="de">Vier ernste Gesänge</span>. 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +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.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h3><a name="brahms_III" id="brahms_III"></a>III<br /> + +THE DIRECTION OF THE NEW PATHS</h3> + + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 ćsthetic +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.</p> + +<p>It is impossible, then, to estimate a composer without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> +have been wholly emotional, and its intellectual basis +was not artistic but mathematical in character.</p> + +<p>The Greek modes were revised by Claudius +Ptolemy, and on the basis of his revisions was +established the system of the medićval 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 '<span lang="la">Missa +Papć Marcelli</span>,' and the '<span lang="la">Ćterna Christi Munera</span>.'</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Meantime, ever since the floodgates had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +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 <span lang="de">Volkslieder</span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 Ćschylus 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +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 <span lang="de">'der der kommen musste:'</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,'<a name="Anchor-55" id="Anchor-55"></a><a href="#Footnote-55" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 55.">[55]</a> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +will show that there are at least two points in which +a possibility of progress may be admitted.</p> + +<p>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 '<span lang="it">buone da cantare e suonare</span>.' +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> +intimate sympathy with him than even the romantic +composers who made him their ostensible pattern +and prototype.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +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</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The outside verge that rounds our faculty.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> +only hear the sequence of movements to pronounce +it inevitable.</p> + +<p>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 <i>a priori</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>naďvité</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> +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;<a name="Anchor-56" id="Anchor-56"></a><a href="#Footnote-56" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 56.">[56]</a> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>But, it may be objected, is not all this insistence +on minutić 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 <i>a fortiori</i>, +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Tragic Overture</i>, and the vigour and variety of such +'Dramatic Lyrics' as <i lang="de">Verrath</i>, or <i lang="de">Entführung</i>, or +<i lang="de">Meine Liebe ist Grün</i>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> +into a statement that Brahms' passion is sane and +manly—a conclusion which we are not in any way +concerned to deny.</p> + +<p>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 Ćschylus 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 <span lang="fr">Orphée aux +Enfers</span>, and that <span lang="fr">La Cagnotte</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Minnelied</span>, there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> +is '<span lang="de">Wie bist du meine Königin</span>,' there is the first +Violin Sonata. Is it simplicity? We may turn to +<span lang="de">Erinnerung</span>, to <span lang="de">Sonntag</span>, 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 <span lang="de">Schicksalslied</span>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <span lang="de">Ćolsharfe</span>, or for +marking an emotional crisis, as in the slow movement +of the Horn Trio, or the close of the stanza in +<span lang="de">Feldeinsamkeit</span>. 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.</p> + +<p>Again, there are two general types of melodic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> +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 <span lang="de">Von +ewiger Liebe</span>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> +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. +<span lang="de">'Was ist das überhaupt für ein Takt?'</span> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<hr class="minor" /> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> +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.</p><hr class="full" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a><i>INDEX</i></h2> + + +<div> +A.<br /> +<br /> +A major Symphony (Beethoven), <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>.<br /> +<br /> +A major Pianoforte Quartett (Brahms), <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.<br /> +<br /> +A minor String Quartett (Schumann), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Dvořák), <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Brahms), <a href="#Page_302">302</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Abendständchen</span>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Academic Overture, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Academy, The, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ćolopantaleon, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Ćolsharfe</span>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ćschylus, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ahle, Johann Rudolph, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Aix-la-Chapelle, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Albert Hall, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Alcestis, the, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Aldrich, T. B., <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Alexander's Feast, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Alfred (Dvořák's), <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung</span>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ambros, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.<br /> +<br /> +America, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Andrea del Sarto, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Anselar Platz, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Anstey, F., <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Antigone, the, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Antonin, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Arago, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Arbeau's Orchesographie, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Aristotle, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Art (limits of analysis), <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Art of Music (Dr Parry), <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Arts and Sciences (Order of), <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Asolando, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Austen, Miss, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Austin Dobson, Mr, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Austria, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Austrian <span lang="de">Kultusministerium</span>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>-<a href="#Page_200">200</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Austrio-Prussian War, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="la">Ave Maria</span> (Brahms), <a href="#Page_247">247</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="la">Ave Maris Stella</span> (Dvořák), <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +B.<br /> +<br /> +B major Trio (Brahms), <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br /> +<br /> +B flat Sestett (Brahms), <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>.<br /> +<br /> +B flat minor Sonata (Chopin), <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bach, polyphony, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relation to Brahms, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>-<a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">illustrations from, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bacon, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bad Reinerz, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Baillot, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ballades (Chopin), <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Balzac, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Barbara Allen, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Barbizon School, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Barcarolle (Chopin), <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Barcelona, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bartered Bride, the, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Basle, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Beethoven, relation to Chopin, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to Dvořák, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to Brahms, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>-<a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Beethoven, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>-<a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>-<a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Belleville, Mdlle. de, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bendl, Karel, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Berlin, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Berlin Iris, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Berlioz, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Birmingham Festival, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Blätter für Theater Musik und Kunst</span>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Blahetka, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Blanc, Louis, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bluebells of Scotland, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Blumendeutung</span>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Böhmisch-Kamnitz, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bohemia, condition of music in, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">loss of independence, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beginnings of renaissance, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">national movement, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>-<a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bohemian Folksongs, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bohemian Theatre, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bonn, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Brahms, Johannes, birth, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early education, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>-<a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first concert, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tour with Reményi, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Göttingen, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hanover, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weimar, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goes to Schumann at Dusseldorf, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>début</i> at Leipsic, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointment at Lippe Detmold, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">concerts, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first pianoforte concerto, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">serenades, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stay in Switzerland, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goes to Vienna, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>début</i> in Vienna, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first performance of B flat sestett, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relation to Wagner, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointment to Vienna <span lang="de">Singakademie</span>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">concert tour in Germany, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">concert tour in Switzerland, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German Requiem, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hungarian dances, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span lang="de">Triumphlied</span> and <span lang="de">Schicksalslied</span>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed conductor of the <span lang="de">Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde</span>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first symphony, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">doctor's degree at Breslau, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tragic and academic overtures, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">concert tour, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decorations from Germany, Bavaria and Austria, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">made citizen of Hamburg, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">later compositions, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Brahms as composer. The 'fifth landmark,' 281, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relation to Bach, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>-<a href="#Page_286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relation to Beethoven, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>-<a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">further developments of structure, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>-<a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">emotional range, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">melody, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>-<a href="#Page_299">299</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rhythm, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conclusion, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Brahms, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Brahms, Johann Jakob, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Frau, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fritz, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Brandenburgs in Bohemia, the, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Brault, Augustine, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Breitkopf and Härtel, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bremen, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Breslau, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Broadwoods, the, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Brontë, Charlotte, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Browning, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bruch, Max, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bruckner, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Brüll, Ignaz, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bückeburg, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Buda-Pesth, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Burger, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Burns, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Burton, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Byron, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +C.<br /> +<br /> +Calderon, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cambridge, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Carlsbad, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Carlsruhe, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Carnaval Overture, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Carpaccio, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Catalani, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cauvičre, Dr, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cavalleria Rusticana, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cellini, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chapelain, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cherubini, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chiarina, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chopin, Frederick, birth, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early education, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>-<a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first compositions, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visit to Berlin, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first visit to Vienna, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Warsaw, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constance Gladkowska, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">concerts in Warsaw, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves Poland, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">second visit to Vienna, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>-<a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrival in Paris, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">concerts in Paris, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tour in Germany, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>-<a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits to London and Marienbad, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meets George Sand, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Nohaut, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">winter in Majorca, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>-<a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pupils, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of his father, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breakdown in health, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rupture with George Sand, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>-<a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">second visit to England, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Paris, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Chopin as composer. Style, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relation to Polish folk-music, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>-<a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">structure, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">melody, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">harmony, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>-<a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accompaniment figures, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>-<a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treatment of pianoforte, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>-<a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Chopin, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chopin, Nicholas, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chopin, Louisa, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Isabella, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Emily, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Choral Symphony, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chrysander, Dr, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Clary, Prince, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Clementi, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Clesinger, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Coda, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cologne, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Concerto in F minor (Chopin), <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in E minor (Chopin), <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Violin Concerto (Dvořák), <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Brahms), <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in D minor (Brahms), <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in B flat (Brahms), <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">double, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brahms' treatment of, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Congress of Vienna, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Conservatoire, Warsaw, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Paris, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prague, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Constable, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Constance, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Corelli, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Corneille, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Correggio, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Couperin, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cour d'Orléans, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Covent Garden, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cracow, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Crystal Palace, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cunning Peasant, the, <a href="#Page_201">201</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span>Czerny, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +D.<br /> +<br /> +D minor Symphony (Dvořák), <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.<br /> +<br /> +D minor Concerto (Brahms), <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dante, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Danzic, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Darwin, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.<br /> +<br /> +David, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Davidsbund, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Deiters, Dr, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Delacroix, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Der Freischütz</span>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dessoff, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dettingen <span lang="la">Te Deum</span>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Development section, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dietrich, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dimitrij, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dobrovsky, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dorian mode, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dresden, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dryden, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Du bist wie eine Blume</span>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dufay, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dürer, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dumas, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Du Maurier, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dumka, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dunstable, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dusseldorf, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dussek, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dvořák, Antonin, birth, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early training, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recalled from school, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first composition, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enters the organ school at Prague, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">difficulties, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointment in the orchestra of the Interimstheater, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compositions during his second period of study, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first opera, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>-<a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>-<a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Heirs of the White Mountain, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed organist of St Adalbert's, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">second and third operas, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">symphony in F, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">applications to the Austrian <span lang="de">Kultusministerium</span>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns his post at St Adalbert's, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stabat Mater, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Brahms, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span lang="de">Slavische Tänze</span>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Cunning Peasant, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">publication of early works, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Husitska and Tyl, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dimitrij, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first visit to England, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spectre's Bride, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St Ludmila, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">instrumental compositions and songs, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jakobin, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decoration from Austrian Court, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">doctorate at Cambridge and Prague, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Requiem, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointment at New York, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dvořák as composer. National element, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exceptions, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">use of scale, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>-<a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">form, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dumka and Furiant, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">orchestration, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relation to classical style, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dvořák, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dvořák, Frantisek, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Josef, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adolf, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Karel, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dziewanowski, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +E.<br /> +<br /> +E minor Concerto (Chopin), <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Edinburgh, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ehrlich, Dr, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Eighth Symphony (Beethoven), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Eine Kapitulation</span>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Elegies (Dvořák), <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Elijah, the, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Elsner, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Emotional element in music, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>-<a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>-<a href="#Page_32">32</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Emperor Concerto, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Endymion, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.<br /> +<br /> +England, Chopin in, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dvořák in, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>-<a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Epstein, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Eroica Symphony, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Esser, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Études (Chopin), <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Euripides, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Eurydice, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Exposition, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +F.<br /> +<br /> +F major Symphony (Dvořák), <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Brahms), <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +F minor Concerto (Chopin), <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.<br /> +<br /> +F minor Quintett (Brahms), <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Faculties of musical appreciation, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>-<a href="#Page_15">15</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Faust (Berlioz), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Gounod), <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Goethe), <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Feldeinsamkeit</span>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Félix Meritis, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ferdinand, Emperor, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fernando Cortez, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fes Moll, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fétis, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="fr">Feuilles d'Automne</span>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Field, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fifth Symphony (Beethoven), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Filtsch, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Florentine Revolution, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Florence, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Florestan, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Flying Dutchman, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fontana, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fortuny, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Franchomme, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Franco-Prussian War, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Frank, Dr, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fraser's Magazine, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Freitag, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Freude</span>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Frogs, the, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Function in music, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>-<a href="#Page_69">69</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span>Furiant, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +G.<br /> +<br /> +G major Sestett (Brahms), <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.<br /> +<br /> +G minor Quartett (Brahms), <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>.<br /> +<br /> +G minor Quintett (Mozart), <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br /> +<br /> +G minor Trio (Chopin), <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gabrielis, the, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gainsborough, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Galicia, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gallenberg, Count, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gautier, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="fr">Gazette Musicale</span>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gebir, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Germany, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.<br /> +<br /> +German Requiem, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Gesang der Parzen</span>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde</span>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Gewandhaus</span>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gladkowska, Constance, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Glasgow, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Goethe, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Goldmark, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Göttingen, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gothenburg, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gounod, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Graff, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gray, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Greek music, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Grieg, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Grillparzer, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Grün, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gutmann, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gyrowetz, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +H.<br /> +<br /> +Hálek, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hamburg, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hammerclavier Sonata, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hancke, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Handel, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hanover, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hanslick, Dr, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Haslinger, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hausmann, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Haworth, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Haydn, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hegel, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Heide, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Heine, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Heinrich, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>-<a href="#Page_184">184</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Heirs of the White Mountain, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Heller, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Helm, Dr, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hellmesberger, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Herbeck, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Herbstgefühl</span>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Herold, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Herz, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hiller, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="fr">Histoire de ma vie</span>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Holderlin, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Holland, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Homer, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hoole, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Horn Trio (Brahms), <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hôtel Rambouillet, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hugo, Victor, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Humboldt, A. von, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hummel, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hungarian dances, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hunten, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Husitska, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hymns Ancient and Modern, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I.<br /> +<br /> +I attempt from Love's sickness to fly, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Im wunderschönen Monat Mai</span>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Impromptus (Chopin), <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Imogen, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Indiana, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Inductive method in science, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>-<a href="#Page_4">4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in art, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>-<a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in music, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>-<a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Instrumental music, influence on polyphony, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Interimstheater, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Intermezzo, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Intuitive reason, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>-<a href="#Page_12">12</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ischl, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Italia, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Italian opera-house (Paris), <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Italy, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +J.<br /> +<br /> +Jakobin, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.<br /> +<br /> +James, Henry, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Jane Eyre, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Jarocki, Dr, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="fr">Je vends des scapulaires</span>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Joachim, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>.<br /> +<br /> +John Hielandman, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Josquin, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Jourdain, M., <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="fr">Journal des Goncourt</span>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Judith, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Judenthum in der Musik, das</span>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Jupiter Symphony, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +K.<br /> +<br /> +Kalisz, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Kalkbrenner, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Karasowski, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Kärnthnerthor Theatre</span>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Keats, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Kéler Béla, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span><span lang="de">Kinderscenen</span>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>.<br /> +<br /> +King and Collier, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Kirchner, Theodor, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Klengel, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Kolberg, Wilhelm, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Kossel, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Krakowiak, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Kralup, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Krebs, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Krehbiel, H. E., <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Kreutzer Sonata, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Krzyzanowska, Justina, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Kuntzsch, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +L.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="it">La ci darem</span>, variations on, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Labiche, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lachner, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lamb, Charles, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lamennais, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lanner, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lassus, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Laub, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="fr">Le roi s'amuse</span>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lear, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lee, Nat, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Leech, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Leeds Festival, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Legenden</span>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lehmann, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Leipsic, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Leipsiger Signalen</span>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lenore, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Leopardi, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Liebeslieder</span>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Liebestreu</span>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Liehmann, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lipinski, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lippe Detmold, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Liszt, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Lobgesang</span>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lobkowitz, Prince, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.<br /> +<br /> +London, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lorraine, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lucrezia Floriani, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="fr">Lui et Elle</span>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lulli, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lydian Mode, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lysberg, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +M.<br /> +<br /> +Macfarren, Sir George, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Macaulay, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Madeleine, the, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Magelone, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Majorca, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>-<a href="#Page_131">131</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Malfatti, Dr, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Malherbe, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Malibran, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Malvezzi Theresa, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Manchester, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mannheim, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Marienbad, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Marienlieder</span>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Marliani, Mdme., <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Marseilles, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Marsyas, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Marxsen, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mathias George, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Matthew Arnold, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a><br /> +<br /> +Mazurkas (Chopin), <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Meine Liebe ist Grün</span>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Meiningen, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Meistersinger</span>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mendelssohn, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Merimée, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Messiah, the, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Meyerbeer, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mickiewiez, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Michael Angelo, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mikuli, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Milan, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Millet, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Milton, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Minuet (Haydn), <a href="#Page_48">48</a>; (Mozart), <a href="#Page_49">49</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="la">Missa Papć Marelli</span>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Monteverde, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Moravian duets, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Moresca, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Morlacchi, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Morland, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="la">Mors et Vita</span>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Moscheles, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mozart, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Munich, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Music, inductive method in, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intuitive reason in, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sensuous element in, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>-<a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">emotional element, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>-<a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rational element, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-<a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">emotional basis, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>-<a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">style, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>-<a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">structure, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>-<a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">function, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>-<a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">national element, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>-<a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the five landmarks, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>-<a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Myslivecek, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +N.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Nänie</span>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Natal, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Neckereien</span>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Nelahozeves, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Neue Berliner Musikzeitung</span>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Neue Zeitschrift</span>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>.<br /> +<br /> +New Bohemian Theatre, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.<br /> +<br /> +New York, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Niecks, Professor, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Niederrheinische Musikfest</span>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Nissen Johanna, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Nocturnes (Chopin), <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span>Nohant, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Novotny, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Numa Roumestan, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Nun danket alle Gott</span>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +O.<br /> +<br /> +Odyssey, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Offenbach, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Oldenburg, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Omar Khayyam, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Orfeo, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Organism in music, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in melody, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in harmony, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in style, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in structure, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>-<a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Othello, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Oxford, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +P.<br /> +<br /> +Paër, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Paganini, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Palestrina, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Paradise Lost, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Paris, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>-<a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Parry, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pasta, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pater, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pathétique, Sonata, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pauline, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Peer Gynt, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Penzing, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pčre la Chaise, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pericles, prologue to, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Perpignan, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Persius, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Philharmonic (Vienna), <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pierret, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pixis, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Platen, Count, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Plato, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pleyel, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Poe, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Poland, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Polonaises (Chopin), <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Polonaise-Fantasie, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="fr">Portraits Contemporains</span>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Posen, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Prague, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Preludes (Chopin), <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pressnitz, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Prince Karol, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Prince of Venosa, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Purcell, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Q.<br /> +<br /> +Quartetts (Dvořák), <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Quartetts (Brahms), <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Quintetts (Dvořák), <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Quintetts (Brahms), <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +R.<br /> +<br /> +Racine, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Radziwill, Prince, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Raff, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rameau, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ramorino, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ranz des Vaches variations, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Raphael, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rasoumoffsky Quartetts, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Raven, Poe's essay on, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Redemption, the, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Reicha, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Reinecke, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rellstab, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Reményi, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Requiem (Dvořák), <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Mozart), <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Reynolds, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rhapsodies (Dvořák), <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Brahms), <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Richter, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rieter-Biedermann, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rinaldo, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rizner, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Romantic movement in music, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>-<a href="#Page_286">286</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rome, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Romeo and Juliet, prologue to, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rondo, growth of, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>-<a href="#Page_47">47</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chopin's in C minor, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Roskosny, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rossini, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rouen, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rubinstein, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rue Pigalle, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ruskin, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Russia, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>-<a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +S.<br /> +<br /> +Sadowa, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.<br /> +<br /> +St Adalbert, church of, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.<br /> +<br /> +St Cćcilia (Handel), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.<br /> +<br /> +St Ludmila, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sainte Beuve, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Samberk, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sand, George, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>-<a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>-<a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sand, Maurice, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sand, Solange, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sappho, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sartoris, Mrs, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Saul, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Scarlatti, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Schadow, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Scherzos (Chopin), <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Scherzo Capriccioso, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span><span lang="de">Schicksalslied</span>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Schönbüchel, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Schubert, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Schubring, Dr, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Schumann, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Schumann, Madame, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Schuppanzigh, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Scott, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Scudérys, the, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sebor, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sensuous element in music, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>-<a href="#Page_20">20</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Serenades (Brahms), <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Serenade Trio, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sestetts (Dvořák), <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Brahms), <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Seyfried, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Shakespear, illustrations from, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Shelley, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Simrock, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Singakademie</span> (Berlin), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Vienna), <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Skarbeks, the, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Slavik, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Slavische Tänze</span>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Smetana, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Soldatenlieder</span>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Sommerabend</span>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sonatas (Chopin), <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Dvořák), <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Brahms), <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sonata form, growth of, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>-<a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>-<a href="#Page_291">291</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sonntag, Henrietta, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sophocles, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Spectre's Bride, the, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Spencer, Herbert, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Spitz, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Spohr, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Spontini, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Spring song, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="la">Stabat Mater</span> (Rossini), <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Dvořák), <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Stary, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sleeker, Dr, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Stevenson, R. L., <a href="#Page_252">252</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Strauss, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Structure in music. 44-<a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>-<a href="#Page_291">291</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Stubborn Heads, the, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Stuttgart, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Style in music, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>-<a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>-<a href="#Page_302">302</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Suvorov, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="fr">Symphonie Fantastique</span>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Symphonies (Dvořák), <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Brahms), <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Szafarnia, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +T.<br /> +<br /> +Tacitus, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Tannhäuser</span>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tellefsen, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tennyson, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Teplitz, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Thalberg, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Thirty Years' War, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tieck, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tilly, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tintoret, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Titian, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Treitschke, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Trios (Chopin); 93, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Dvořák), <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Brahms), <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Triple Concerto (Beethoven), <a href="#Page_243">243</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tristan, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Triumphlied</span>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tyl, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +U.<br /> +<br /> +Uhland, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="fr">Une contemporaine</span>; 124, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +V.<br /> +<br /> +Valdemosa, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>-<a href="#Page_132">132</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Valentine, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Vanda, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Velasquez, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Verdi, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Vergebliches Ständchen</span>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Verrath</span>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Vicar of Bray, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Vienna, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>-<a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>-<a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Villon, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Vineta, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Vivaldi, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Virgil, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Voiture, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Volkmann, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Volkslieder</span>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Von ewiger Liebe</span>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +W.<br /> +<br /> +Wagner, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Waldstein, the, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Waltzes (Chopin), <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Warsaw, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>-<a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>-<a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Warsaw Courier, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Weber, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Wechsellied zum Tanze</span>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Weimar, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>-<a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>Wermuth, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.<br /> +<br /> +White Mountain, battle of the, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Wie bist du meine Königin</span>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Wiecks, the, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Wiegenlied</span>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Wiener Theaterzeitung</span>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Wiertz, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Winterthur, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Wodzinskis, the, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Worcester, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Wordsworth, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Woyciechowski, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Würfel, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Z.<br /> +<br /> +Zelazowa Wola, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Zelter, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span lang="de">Zigeunerlieder</span>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Zlonic, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Zurich, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Zywny, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.<br /> +</div> + + +<p class="p4 center"><br />THE END</p> + + +<p class="p4 center"><br /><i>Colston & Coy. Limited, Printers, Edinburgh</i></p><hr class="full" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2><a name="BY_THE_SAME_AUTHOR" id="BY_THE_SAME_AUTHOR"></a><i>BY THE SAME AUTHOR</i></h2> + + +<blockquote><p>STUDIES IN MODERN MUSIC. First Series. +<span class="smcap">Hector Berlioz</span>, <span class="smcap">Robert Schumann</span> and <span class="smcap">Richard +Wagner</span>. With Five Portraits. Fifth Edition. +Price 7s. 6d., cloth.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>'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.'—<i>Saturday Review.</i></p> + +<p>'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.'—<i>Guardian.</i></p> + +<p>'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.'—<i>Athenćum.</i></p> + + +<blockquote><p>A CROATIAN COMPOSER: Notes Toward the +Study of <span class="smcap">Joseph Haydn</span>. With Portrait. 2s. 6d. net.</p></blockquote> + +<p>'A volume full of interest, ethnical as well as musical.'—<i>St James's +Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>'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.'—<i>Globe.</i></p> + +<p>'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.—<i>Westminster Gazette.'</i></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span></p> + + + +<h2><a name="Recent_Publications" id="Recent_Publications"></a>Recent Publications</h2> + + +<blockquote><p>LONDON-ON-THAMES IN BYGONE DAYS. <span class="smcap">By G H. +Birch, F.S.A.</span>, Curator of the Soane Museum. 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With many Illustrations. 6s.</p></blockquote> + +<p>'To read these sparkling, sunny, racy pages is like walking in some flowery pleasance +of Arcadia.'—<i>Daily News.</i></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span></p> + + + +<h2><a name="Events_of_Our_Own_Time" id="Events_of_Our_Own_Time"></a>Events of Our Own Time</h2> + +<blockquote><p><i>A Series of Volumes on the most Important Events of the last Half-Century, +each containing 320 pages or more, in large Crown +8vo, with Plans, Portraits or other Illustrations. Each 5s. +cloth.</i></p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p>THE WAR IN THE CRIMEA. By General Sir <span class="smcap">Edward +Hamley</span>, K.C.B. With Five Maps and Plans, and Four Portraits, +on Copper. Seventh Edition.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p>THE INDIAN MUTINY OF 1857. By Colonel <span class="smcap">Malleson</span>, +C.S.I. With Three Plans, and Four Portraits on Copper. 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Cloth 5s.</p></blockquote> + +<p>'Admirably lucid and well-proportioned.'—<i>Glasgow Herald.</i></p> + +<blockquote><p>AFRICA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. By +<span class="smcap">Edgar Sanderson</span>. With Four Portraits on Copper and a Map. +Cloth, 5s.</p></blockquote> + +<p>'Undoubtedly the best summary of modern African history that we have had.'—<i>Pall +Mall Gazette.</i></p> + + +<p class="center">LONDON: SEELEY AND CO., LTD., 38 GREAT RUSSELL ST.</p> + + + +<div class="footnotes"><h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> + +<ol> +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-1" id="Footnote-1"></a> Originally published in the <i>Fortnightly Review</i> for June 1877, +Reprinted in 'Mixed Essays.'</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-2" id="Footnote-2"></a> See an interesting essay in Dr Frank's <i>Satyrć Medicć</i>. See also +Burton's <i>Anatomy of Melancholy</i>, II. ii. 6, 3.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-3" id="Footnote-3"></a> On this point, see Professor James' <i>Principles of Psychology</i>, chap. +xxv.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-4" id="Footnote-4"></a> <i>On Education</i>, pp. 41-42.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-5" id="Footnote-5"></a> <i>See</i> <a href="images/i_037.jpg">Example A</a>. [<a href="music/Example_A.mid">Listen</a>]</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-6" id="Footnote-6"></a> <i>See</i> <a href="images/i_037.jpg">Example B</a>. [<a href="music/Example_B.mid">Listen</a>]</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-7" id="Footnote-7"></a> <i>See</i> <a href="images/i_037.jpg">Example C</a>. [<a href="music/Example_C.mid">Listen</a>]</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-8" id="Footnote-8"></a> <i>See</i> <a href="images/i_037.jpg">Example D</a>. [<a href="music/Example_D.mid">Listen</a>]</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-9" id="Footnote-9"></a> <i>See</i> <a href="images/i_037.jpg">Example E</a>. [<a href="music/Example_E.mid">Listen</a>] </p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-10" id="Footnote-10"></a> Finale of the A major Sonata, Op. 101.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-11" id="Footnote-11"></a> Quoted in Grove's <i>Dictionary</i>, Vol. ii. p. 501.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-12" id="Footnote-12"></a> 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.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-13" id="Footnote-13"></a> 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.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><a name="Footnote-14" id="Footnote-14"></a> The analysis of the Mozart Minuet may be tabulated as follows:— +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Mozart Minuet"> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">First Part.</span></td><td><span class="smcap">Second Part.</span></td><td><span class="smcap">Third Part.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td>(<i>a</i>) Melody in A major.</td><td> (<i>a</i>) New episode in B minor.</td><td> (<i>a</i>) Repetition of first melody in A major.</td></tr> +<tr><td>(<i>b</i>) Melody in E major.</td><td> (<i>b</i>) The same repeated in A minor.</td><td> (<i>b</i>) Repetition of second melody in A major.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td> (<i>c</i>) New cadence-phrase to dominant of A.</td><td> </td></tr> +</table></div> + +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-15" id="Footnote-15"></a> 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:— +</p> +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Beethoven Piano Sonata in G major"> +<tr><td><i>Prologue or Introduction.</i></td><td> <i>First Canto or Exposition.</i></td><td><i>Second Canto or Development Section.</i></td><td> <i>Third Canto or Recapitulation.</i></td><td> <i>Epilogue or Coda.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>None</td><td>(<i>a</i>) First Subject in G major (bars 1-8).</td><td>(<i>a</i>) Treatment of First Subject, G minor to B flat major (bars 64-73).</td><td>(<i>a</i>) First Subject in G major (bars 124-131).</td><td> Final reminiscence of First Subject (bars 187-199).</td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td><td>(<i>b</i>) Transition modulating to D major (bars 9-25).</td><td>(<i>b</i>) Treatment of Second Subject in B flat major (bars 74-80).</td><td>(<i>b</i>) Transition extended so as to lead back to G major (bars 132-151).</td><td> </td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td><td>(<i>c</i>) Second Subject, consisting of four sections, in D major (bars 26-63).</td><td>(<i>c</i>) Treatment of First Subject in A flat, G minor, F minor and E flat (bars 81-106).</td><td>(<i>c</i>) Second Subject in G maj. (bars 152-186).</td><td> </td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td><td> </td><td>(<i>d</i>) New Episode on dominant pedal of G, and anticipation of First Subject (bars 107-123).</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +</table></div> + +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-16" id="Footnote-16"></a> 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.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-17" id="Footnote-17"></a> 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, <span lang="fr">'les trois premičres Polonaises.'</span> Two of them were composed +in 1827-8 and the third in 1829.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-18" id="Footnote-18"></a> 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 <i>Larghetto</i> in the +score.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-19" id="Footnote-19"></a> See the letter of Sept. 4, 1830, quoted by Professor Niecks.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-20" id="Footnote-20"></a> The so-called Étude in C minor, Op. 10, No. 12.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-21" id="Footnote-21"></a> Letter to Dziewanowski (abridged), Jan. 1833.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-22" id="Footnote-22"></a> Chopin had certainly composed some of these before his arrival +in Paris.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-23" id="Footnote-23"></a> Professor Niecks' <i>Chopin</i>, Vol. i. p. 284.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-24" id="Footnote-24"></a> Valse in A flat, Op. 69, No. 1.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-25" id="Footnote-25"></a> See the pamphlet entitled <i lang="fr">Une Contemporaine</i>, published during +the Revolution of 1848.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-26" id="Footnote-26"></a> Karasowski, Vol. ii. p. 327.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-27" id="Footnote-27"></a> George Sand, by Matthew Arnold. <i>Fortnightly Review</i>, June +1877.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-28" id="Footnote-28"></a> Sainte-Beuve. <i><span lang="fr">Portraits Contemporains</span></i>, i. 523.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-29" id="Footnote-29"></a> Letter to Pierret, June 22, 1842.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-30" id="Footnote-30"></a> '<span lang="de">Alles was sie fühlt und denkt haucht Tiefsinn und Anmuth.</span>' +Heine, <i>Lutetia</i>, 'George Sand.'</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-31" id="Footnote-31"></a> See the letters of Feb. 15 and Ap. 7, 1852, quoted in Mrs Sutherland +Orr's <i>Life of Robert Browning</i>.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-32" id="Footnote-32"></a> <i>Journal</i>, Vol. iii. p. 242 (Dec. 1, 1868).</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-33" id="Footnote-33"></a> Professor Niecks' <i>Chopin</i>, Vol. ii. p. 197.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-34" id="Footnote-34"></a> See the Essay on George Sand, in Mr Henry James' <i>French Poets +and Novelists</i>.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-35" id="Footnote-35"></a> There was a short visit to Genoa in the early part of May.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-36" id="Footnote-36"></a> M. Brault's character can best be gauged from his pamphlet, +<i lang="fr">Une Contemporaine</i>. See also the <i lang="fr">Histoire de ma vie</i>, and George +Sand's letter of Aug. 9.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-37" id="Footnote-37"></a> See George Sand's letter to Gutmann, May 12.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-38" id="Footnote-38"></a> 'George Sand was a woman with a woman's ideal of gentleness, +of the "charm of good manners" as essential to civilisation.'—Matthew +Arnold, <i>Fortnightly Review</i>, June 1877. See Professor Niecks' +<i>Chopin</i>, Vol. ii. p. 200.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-39" id="Footnote-39"></a> See George Sand's letter to Gutmann, May 12, 1847.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-40" id="Footnote-40"></a> Liszt declares that the rupture took place at Nohant. If so, this +alternative is settled.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-41" id="Footnote-41"></a> See Professor Niecks' <i>Chopin</i>, Vol. ii. p. 318.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-42" id="Footnote-42"></a> 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 <i>Collected Works</i>.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-43" id="Footnote-43"></a> Étude in D flat, Op. 25, No. 8.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-44" id="Footnote-44"></a> Étude in A flat, without Opus number.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-45" id="Footnote-45"></a> This opus number is appended to the autograph score. The +Quintett and both the symphonies are still unpublished.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-46" id="Footnote-46"></a> 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 +Encyclopćdia.' Both these authorities give 1871 as the date.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-47" id="Footnote-47"></a> See the biographical sketch of Dvořák, by H. E. Krehbiel, <i>Century</i>, +Sept. 1892.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-48" id="Footnote-48"></a> The account of this episode is taken partly from Ehrlich's +<span lang="de">Künstlerleben</span>, partly from an article by Dr Schubring in the <span lang="de">Allgemeine +Musikalische Zeitung</span>.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-49" id="Footnote-49"></a> 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.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-50" id="Footnote-50"></a> The <span lang="de">Neue Zeitschrift</span> mentions the successful début of Fritz Brahms +at Hamburg in January 1864.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-51" id="Footnote-51"></a> The Thematic Catalogue gives the date of this work as 1866. But +it must have been published earlier, for it is reviewed in the <i lang="de">Allgemeine +Musikalische Zeitung</i> for Sept. 9, 1863.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-52" id="Footnote-52"></a> See Ehrlich's <i lang="de">Künstlerleben</i>, p. 156 <i>n.</i></p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-53" id="Footnote-53"></a> Shortened from an article in the issue for November 21, 1862.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-54" id="Footnote-54"></a> 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.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-55" id="Footnote-55"></a> Dr Parry, <i>Art of Music</i>, pp. 173-4.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-56" id="Footnote-56"></a> Compare the corresponding movements in Schumann's D minor +Violin Sonata and Pianoforte Quintett.</p> +<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor-56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> </li> +</ol> +<br /></div> + +<div class="transnote"> +<h2>Transcriber's Notes</h2> + +<p>Both "Dvořŕk" and "Dvorŕk" were used in this text; both have been changed to "Dvořák". +Similarly, on page 174, "Pŕn" was changed to "Pán", and "Frantisek" to "František".</p> + +<p>On Page 119, a footnote marker was added to the text (don't care for money.'[21])</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up +paragraphs and so that they are next the text they illustrate. Thus the +page number of the illustration might not match the page number in the +List of Illustrations.</p> + +<p>There are five musical examples: the footnote referring to each has links to the musical notation +(Example A); a midi file ([Listen]); and and a MusicXML file ([XML]), which can be viewed in most +browsers, text editors, and music notation applications.</p> + +<p>The printed text contained duplicate headings for each division (before and after each epigraph); +in each case the latter instance has been removed.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Studies in Modern Music, Second Series, by +W. H. 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