00

MY DEAR FR IEND AND FELLOW LABORER

H. E . KREHBIEL

To know what you prefer. instead of humbly say ing‘Amen to

what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept yoursoul nlivc.”-Roaaa1' Lows STEVENSON

PREFATORY NOTE.

THE Study o f Der R i ng des N ibelungen

now appears i n i ts comp l eted form for the first

t ime. Parts o f i t have been pri n ted i n the col

umns o f the New York Tt'

w er, but much , i f not

m ost , o f i t was wri tten express ly for th i s vol

ume. The art i cl es u nder the general head i ng o f

Wagneriana are republ ished from the Tz'

mes.

My thanks are d ue to the ed i to r and the p ro

prietor o f that jou rnal fo r l iberty to t reat these

essays as my personal property. The fi rst and

second parts o f the paper on “ The Evol u t ion

o f Piano Musi c , are taken from l ectu res dc l i v

ered before the students of the New York Col

l ege o f Music. I n i ts comp leted form th is essay

is p ract i cal ly new , and the major port ion o f i t

has not been i n type before. The study o f

Schumann ’s symphon ic m usic was wri tten for

th is v olume.W. J . HENDERSON.

CONTENTS .

A STUDY OF DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN.

"

I .—TheII.—The Philosophy and the Humanity .

III .—Some Objections to Lei t-Mo tiven .

IV.—Comments and Commentators

WAGNERXANA.

I.—The Book of “ ParsifalIl.

III.—The Endurance Of Wagner’

5 Worlts .

THE EVOLUTION OF PlANO MUSIC.

I .—Laying the Foundations .

II.—Development of the Technique .

III .- The Modern Concerto .

IV.—Some Living Players

SCHUMANN AND THE PROGRAMME-SYMPHONY

A STUDY OF “ DER RING DES NI

BELUNGEN.

I . THE STORY.

WHY i s i t that the N ibel u ngen music-dramas ,constructed on methods whol ly Opposed to thosew i th wh ich generat ions Of Opera-goers are fam i li ar

,Often movi ng on p lanes o f gloom and trag

edy,Ofiering none o f the gl it ter and complex

movement O f spectacu lar Operas , frequen t ly i l l us

trated i n m usi c p rol ific i n harshness and d iscord ,have taken such a ho ld on the publ i c m i nd whetever they have had a fai r hearing ?The answer i s s impl e. They are great d ramat ic poems set to music . Wagner was, fi rst ,l as t

,and al l the t ime, a lyric d ramat ist ; and

though th is present epoch,st i l l beari ng i n m ind

the o ld-fash ioned l ibretto , which had l i tt l e or nod ramati c force and no poet i c st rength

,i ns ists

upon est imat ing the val ue o f the man ’s work

ch iefly by h is scores , i t can hard ly be doubted

4 DER RIN G DE S NIBELUNGE IV.

that the futu re wi l l award h im a rank as a librett ist equal to that wh ich he ho lds i n music. The

prophet i s not wi thou t honor i n h i s own cou nt ry. There his d ramas are regarded as greatworks . E l sewhere the exclamat ion O f the ant iWagneri te cont i n ual ly is

,

“ I do not l i ke Wagner’s music.” He sel dom troubles h imsel f t oexpress an Opi n ion as to the l ibretto

,though

the ent i re Wagnerian system rests upon thepropos i t ion that the m usic must be subserv i en tto the book . Operas, such as “ Eu ryanthe

,

”

have succeeded by sheer force o f musi cal excellence i n sp i te O f bad l ibrettos ; bu t th is doesnot shake Wagner’s pos i t ion . I t i s possi bl e tohave mus ic w i thou t a l ibretto ; fu rther thanthat

,i t i s poss ibl e to have m us ic wi th a l ibretto

and noth i ng more,as i n the can tata and o ratorio .

But the momen t we adopt the apparat us Of thetheat re we assume the form O f the drama, andi t i s Obvi ous that Wagner is right i n assert i ngthat wi th the form we must take al so the substance. That the l ove rs o f the operat i c stageare general ly fal l i ng i nto Wagner’s way Of th i nki ng i s i nd icated by the fact that the Operaswhich have attai ned or retained favor O f l ateyears a re those wh ich have d ramat ic l i brettos.Ai da

,

” O tel l o,

” “ The Queen o f Sheba,

"

may be ment ioned among those which hav e

THE STOR Y. 5

ach ieved success ; Faust,” La J u ive

,

” LesH uguenots,

” among those wh ich have kept i t .On the other hand , an Operat i c season wh ichrel i es for i ts attract i veness on

“ Lucia,

” “ LaTrav iata,

” and thei r k i nd,un l ess succored by

the fact i t ious ai d o f some renowned s inger,i s

d oomed to d isaster. There i s noth i ng i n thep lays to i nterest the aud itors

,and i n the p resen t

state Of publ i c taste they wi l l not sit th roughth ree hou rs o f i nan i ty to hear th ree or fou r insp i red n umbers , u n l ess those n umbers are to bedel i vered wi th match l ess e loqu ence.An art work must be v i ewed through i ts de

s ign . TO enter upon the cons iderat ion of anycreat ion o f the human m ind wi th a pre-established host i l i ty to the p lan on wh ich i t i s const ructed , i s not on ly u ngenerous, bu t un j ust.The primary postu l ate O f the Wagner theory isbest expressed i n Haml et’s words : The play’sthe th ing.

” Let us then revi ew the story o f the

N ibelung’s ri ng.

From the womb of n igh t and O f death,says

Wagner,al lowi ng h is myst i cal fancy free play,

“ there Sprang a race who dwel t i n N ibelheim

(Nebe l heim ,the p lace o f mists) , that i s , i n d im

subterranean chasms and caves . They werecal l ed N ibe l ungen . Like worms i n a dead body,they swarmed i n varyi ng, reckl ess act i v i ty,

6 DER RIN G DE S NIBELUN GEN.

th rough the entrai l s o f the earth they wroughti n metals—heated and pu rified them . Amongthem Alberi ch gai ned possess ion o f the brightand beaut i ful go l d O f the Rh ine—the Rheingold—drew i t up out of the depths o f the waters

,

and made from i t,with great and cu nn i ng art , a

ri ng, which gave h im power over al l h is race, theN ibelungen. Thus he became thei r master, andforced them hencefo rth to l abor for him alone

,

and so col l ected the i n est imabl e t reas u re of the

N i bel u ngen,the ch ie f j ewel o f whi ch was the

Tarnhelm (helmet) , by means o f which onecou ld assume any figu re that he chose, andwh ich A lber i ch had compel l ed h is own brother,Regin

,to forge for h im . Thus equ ipped , Ai

berich strove for the mastery o f the worl d andal l that was i n i t The race o f the giantsthe i nsol ent , the m ighty, the primeval racewas d istu rbed i n i ts savage ease ; i ts enormousst rength

,i ts s imp le wi t were not enough to con

tend agai nst Alberich’

s ambi t i ous cu nn i ng. Thegiants saw with app rehens ion how the N ibelu ngen forged wondrous weapons

,w hich

,i n the

hands o f human heroes,shou l d bri ng abou t the

ru i n O f t he gian t race. The race of the gods,

rapid ly ris ing to omn ipotence,made use o f th i s

con fl ic t . Wotan agreed wi th the giants thatthey shou ld bu i ld fo r the gods a cast l e, from

THE STOR Y. 7

wh ich they m ight order and ru l e the worl d i nsafety, but after i t was done the giants demandedthe treasu re Of the N ibel ungen as thei r reward .

The great cu nn i ng O f the gods succeeded i n thecapt u re O f A lberi ch

,and he w as compel l ed to

give the treasure as a ransom for h is l i fe. Thering alone he sought to keep

,but the gods ,

knowi ng wel l that the secret Of h i s power lay i nth is

,took the ri ng from h im . Then he laid a

cu rse upon i t,that i t shou l d prove the ru i n o f al l

who shou ld possess i t. Wotan gave the t reasu re to the giants

,but the ri ng he kept to i nsu re

h is own omn ipotence. The giants , however,forced i t from h im by thei r th reats, and WO

tan yielded at the advi ce O f the three Fates

(Nornen) , who warned h im of the app roach ingdown fal l O f the gods .”

Th is i s VVad ner’s own vers ion O fthat part O f the ibelungen s

_tOry_ On which,

the

t ralogyjs based . Let us go backto the great o r igi nal sou rce O f th i s tal e . I nthe t ransl at i on of the Volsunga Saga, made byEirikr Magnusson and the poet

,Wi l l iam Morris

,

Regi n,son o f H re idmar, and foster-father o f

Sigu rd (Siegfried) , te l ls the you th h is story. Hewas one o f th ree brothers , the other two bei ngFafn i r and O t ter. Regi n h imsel f was a cunn i ngsmith . O tter was a fisherman who l ay on the

8 DER RIN G DE S NIBELUN GEN .

ri ver bank d isgu ised i n an otter sk i n . Fafn i rwas O f the three “ the greatest and grimmest ."

Now,says Regi n , there was a dwarf cal l ed

And ivari !Alberi ch] , who ever abode i n thatforce !waterfall, from the Icel and i c f an ] whichwas cal l ed And ivari

’

s force, i n the l ikeness o fa p ike

,and got meat for h imsel f

,for many

fish there were i n the force. Now,O tter

,my

brother,was ever wont to en ter i nto the force and

bri ng fish a-l and , and lay them one by one onthe bank. And so i t befel l that Od i n

,Loki

,and

Hoen i r, as they went thei r ways , came to And ivari ’s force

,and O tter had taken a salmon and

ate i t s l umbering upon the river bank. ThenLok i took a stone and cast i t at Otter, so that hegot h is death thereby . The gods were wel l conten t wi th thei r prey and fel l to flaying Off theotter’s sk i n . And i n the even ing they came toH re idmar ’s house and showed h im what they

I

had taken thereon he laid hands on them and

doomed them to such ransom,as that they

shou ld fi l l the otter ski n w ith gold,and cover i t

over wi th red go ld . SO they sen t Lok i to gathergol d together for them . He came to Ran !Goddess O f the Sea] and got her net , and went forthw ith to And ivari 's fo rce , and cast the net beforethe p ike

,and the p ike ran i nto the net and was

taken . Then said Lok i

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IO"DER RING DE S N IB ELUIVGE /V.

"

hand and covered up the ha i r therewi th. Then

sang Loki

Go ld enow , go ld enow,A grea t weregi ld , thou hast,

That m y head i n good hap I may holdBut tho u and thy sonAre naugh t fated to thri ve

The b ane shal l i t be o f you bo th .

’

Thereafter,says Regin

,

“ Fafn i r s l ew h isfather and murdered h im

,nor got I aught O f

the t reas u re. And so ev i l h e grew that he fe l lto lying ab road

,and begrudged any share i n the

weal th to any man,and so became the worst O f

al l worms,and even now l i es brood i ng upon

that t reasu re ; but fo r me, I went to the Kingand became h is master-sm ith ; and thus i s thetal e to l d O f how I l ost the her i tage O f my fatherand the weregi ld for my brother.”

Then S igu rd bids Regin,whom the reader

w i l l read i ly ident i fy w i th M ime,to weld h im a

sword that he may do great deeds therewi th .

To wh ich Regi n repl i esTrust me wel l herei n ; and with that same

swo rd shal t thou s lay Fafn i r.”

This sto ry, as wel l as th e others empl oyed toform a grou nd-wo rk for the N ibel ungen Tetralogy ,

Wagner has mod ified to su i t h i s own i ng

THE STORY. 1 1

fi naldec l i n e O f the gods. The ris ing of the cu rta in i n Das Rhei ngo ld reveals the depths o f

the Rhine, with the three Rhi ne daughters,Woglinde, Wellgunde, and Flossh ilde, sport ingi n thei r nat ive e lement. Alber i ch

,the dwarf

,

the And ivari O f the VOlsunga Saga, ascends fo rthe fi rst t ime from the nether gloom of N ibelheim , and , though a subterranean personage,has no t roubl e whatever i n breath i ng and speaki ng i n the watery waste. He is i n fatuated wi ththe beau ty o f the maidens and seeks to captu reone O f them . They el ude h im with tau nts andgibes

,wh ich i nflame h im to fu ry. He revi l es

them bi tterly . Sudden ly a glow breaks th roughthe waters . Look

,s isters

,

” c ries Woglinde,

the wakener l aughs i n the deep.

” The sistersgreet the flam ing t reasu re

,fo r th i s i s the glow of

the wondrous Rh i negold , and shou t together

Rhe i ngol d l Rhe i ngo l d l Leu chtende Lus t !W ie l achs t du so hel l u nd hehr .

Which is,bei ng i n te rpreted , Rh inegold l gl i t

teri ng joy ! How laughest thou , so b r ight andholy. Albe r i ch

,aston ished by the glow

,asks

what causes i t . The maidens i nqu i re where i nthe world he came from that he never heard o f

12”DER RIN G DE S N IBE LUN GE JV.

"

the Rh i nego ld , and they proceed to expat iate oni ts beaut i es and i ts power. ThesL t et t aL .

he shal l befl ightiest O f al l living who can fashF ifi

i on a ri ng from th is gold , _bugtheL add that on ly,“ T H , “

oney bo

th is . Alberich , after a m in ute’s med itat ion

,

shoutsm r me, ye floods Love I renounceforever.” Seiz i ng the gold

,he d isappears i n the

depths bel ow . The maidens d ive,wai l i ng

,i n to

the deeper waters, and the scene changes .I n the backgrou nd i s VValhalla, the new cast l e

bu i l t for the gods by the gian ts. Fri cka, theGoddess Of Marriage

,l i es asleep by the s ide o f

her spouse,Wotan . Between them and the

cast l e l i es the val l ey O f the Rh in e. Wotanawakes and sal utes the new cast l e. Fr i cka re

m i nds h im that he has prom ised the giantsFreia

,her s ister

,the Goddess o f Eternal Youth ,

as the reward O f thei r l abors . Wotan franklyadm its that he never had any idea o f giv ing her

up. She now appears,demand ing protect ion ,

being c losely pu rsu ed by the giants,Fafner and

Fasol t . Wotan tel l s them to seek other guerdon

,as he w i l l not give up Fre ia. Fasol t re

m inds Wotan O f the fact that i t i s dangerousfor h im to break a cont ract . What thou art ,

”

he says,art thou on ly by t reat i es con formabl e,

wel l defined as thy m ight ." The giants i nsist

THE STORY. x 3

on thei r reward . Froh and Donner,the broth

ers O f Freia, i n terpose and threaten v io l ence.Fi nal ly Wotan adm its that he i s forced to keeph is cont ract , bu t h is sp i ri ts ri se when he beholds Loge

,or Loki , approach ing. Loge i s the

cunn ing counsel lo r Of the gods, who i s i n h i sheart p l ott ing for thei r down fal l . He has beensearch i ng for some subst i t u te to Offer the giantsi nstead O f Freia. He final ly te l l s the s to ryo f Alberich’s theft O f the gol d

,and says he

has prom ised the Rhine daughters to speakto Wotan abou t th e ou trage. The giants arealarmed at th is add i t ional power gai ned by thei rnatu ral enem ies

,the dwarfs

,and Loge i ncreases

thei r fears,as wel l as exc i tes the ambi t ion o f

Wotan,by describi ng the wonderfu l power O f

the R i ng o f the N ibel u ngen . The giants decl are that they wi l l accept the Rh i negol d i nsteado f Freia, and carry her o ff to be hel d as hostaget i l l Wotan shal l have decided .

Loge and Wotan descend th rough the cavernous passage to N ibelheim . The scene changesand the caves O f the earth are revealed . Alber i chenters d raggi ng M ime. The latter has j u stmade the wonder fu l ta rn helm which enabl esthe wearer to become i nv is ibl e or assume anyshape. Alberi ch takes the tarn helm awayfrom Mime and d isappears i n a co l umn o f smoke

I 4”DER RING DE S N IBELUN GE IV.

"

after beat i ng h is u nhappy brother. Wotan andLoge a rr i ve , and M ime tel l s them Of Alberich

’s

powe r. The latter retu rns , d r i v i ng h is N ibelu ng slaves befo re h im . He tel l s Wotan andLoge that he wi l l master the whol e world

,and

that even the gods wi l l become h is subj ects.Loge i nd uces Alber i ch to give an exh ib it ion O f

the ta rn he lmet ’s powe rs . The dwa rf changesh imsel f to a se rpent , and then to a toad . Whenhe has accomp l ished the second t ransfo rmat ionLoge sets h is foot on h im

,wh i l e Wotan seizes

the helmet . They bi nd Alber i ch and drag h imaway .

The scene O f act ion i s once mo re the plai nbefore VValhalla. The two gods appear d ragging Albe r i ch . He asks what ransom theydemand

,and they name the gold . He gives

th is read i ly,because he knows where to get

more. Wotan demands the r i ng, and on Alberi ch ’s refus i ng to gi ve i t up

,tears i t from h is fin

ge r. Then the N ibel u ng lays h is cu rse uponthe r i ng and d isappears . The giants app roachw ith Freia . Fasol t demands her ransom and\Votan poi n ts to the hoard . The giants measu re O ff a space as b road and as h igh as the goddess . The ta rn helm has to be th rown in tomake the p i l e good . One l i tt l e c revi ce l ets thel ight th rough

,and the giants demand that the

THE STORY. 15

ri ng shal l be placed there. Wotan refuses , bu tErda (Mother-Earth) r i ses out o f the grou nd ,wa rns h im against the cu rse, and foretel l s thedown fal l o f the gods . She s i nks and Wotantosses the r i ng to the giants

,rel easing Freia.

Alberich'

s cu rse begi ns to Operate at once. Thegiants quarrel . Fafner s l ays Fasol t , and goesO ff wi th the hoard , the tarn helm ,

and the ring.

Wotan is fi l l ed wi th gloomy thoughts,bu t i s in

sp i red w i th the idea O f creat i ng a race O f dem igods who shal l de fend h im agai nst h is enem ies.Donner mounts a rock and swi ngs h is hammer.Black c louds descend : l ightn i ng flashes

,and

thunder peals. The cl ouds d isappear,reveal ing

the a rch o f a gl orious rainbow spann i ng the sil

ver val l ey O f the hau nted Rh ine. Wotan , i n aspeech O f sub l ime maj esty , summons h is w i fe tocome and dwel l w i th h im i n Walhal la

,thus for

the fi rst t ime nam ing the new cast l e. The godsmove toward thei r new abode. The Rh in edaughte rs i n the waters below c tQ_W_ Otan_ tO

resto re thei r r i ng. He bids them cease thei r“

Clam gods and goddesses march t r i

umphantly on the rai nbow i nto Walhal l a as thefinal cu rtai n descends.Th is d rama plays the part O f a “ prol ogue i nheaven . I t i s the key to al l that fo l l ows

,and

I have,therefore

,given i ts sto ry more fu l ly than

16 DER RING DES NIBELUN GEN.

I need to give those o f the other th ree d ramas.My dear fri end and fel l ow-l aborer

,H . E. Kreh

biel,has cl ear ly demonstrated the fact that the

t rue hero O f the tragedy of The N ibel ung'sR i ng ” i s Wotan

,and the rea l p l ot i s concerned

w ith h is st ruggl es to free h imsel f from the inevitable retribu t ion that must fo l l ow a crime. Atthe very outset o f the Rh in egold we behol di n Wotan a t ragic hero

,a v ict im O f remorsel ess

fate. Jealous Of the growth O f the darker powers

,he has Oflered the giants a bribe that he

does not mean to pay. This i s the secret of thewhol e t ragedy. Th is making O f a false promiseis the begi nn i ng Of the down fal l o f the E sir;

fo r Wotan ’s power i s based upon the i nv iol ab ility O f h is word . I t i s th is wh ich causes theaston ishment o f the giants when Wotan bidsthem d ism iss the i dea o f Obtain i ng Freia.What ! " they excla im ,

“wi l l you dare to breaka cont ract ? What you are

,you are by the sa

credness O f con t racts .”

This s i ngl e error is the bas is o f Wotan ’s destruct ion . A br i l l i an t novel ist O f our t ime haswritten these wo rds Th is i s the greatestev i l wh ich l ies i n ev i l

,that the ashes O f past

gu i l t are too O ften the larvae o f fresh gu i l t,and

one c r i me begets a brood wh ich , b rough t tobi rth

,wi l l st rangl e the l i fe i n wh ich they were

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18 DE R RIN G DE S NIBELUNGEN .

wisest o f the earth , rises to warn the god , sayi ng :

Heed my warn ing, 0 W o tan !F lee the c urse o f the ring !

Irret rievable ,Darkes t dest ru c t ion

Wi th i t tho u wil t win .

And before s i nk i ng agai n she says

A day o f gloomDawns for the godly ;

I warn thee , beware o f the ring.

When Erda has sunk i n to the earth once moreWotan is wrapped i n thought . He may nottake the ring away from Fafner

,who now holds

i t , because he i s fo rb idden to use force wherehe has made a cont ract ; bu t he may create arace o f dem i-gods

,one O f whom ,

w ork ing as afree agen t , shal l secu re the r i ng and return i t toi ts right fu l owne rs

,the Rh i ne maidens . Then

for the fi rst t ime he names the new castl e Wal

hal la,and Fricka asks the mean ing of that

name. Wotan rep l i es

What m igh ty i n fearI m ade to m y m i ndShal l

,i f safe to su c cess ,

Soon be m ade c lear to thy sense.

THE STORY. 19

Now,who i s to right a wrong done by

Wotan ? Obv iously on ly th e person whom hehas i n m ind i n th is speech

,a bei ng who is Of h is

own blood . By VVotan '

s seed al one can Wotan ’ss in be atoned . The eth ica l s ign ificance of th i sid ea i s the key to al l that fo l l ows Das Rhei ngold .

” I t i s the on ly apol ogy for the human lyu nho ly rel at ions O f Siegmund and Siegl i nde ; !

and i t i s the explanat ion O f the fai l u re o f thegod ’s pl an th rough the sin O f Siegfried i n D i eGOtterdamm erung, whi ch s in is brought abou tby the mach inat ions O f Alberich ’s son, Hagen .

The sacrifice O f S i egmund is not u nderstood,

I fear,even by many Of Wagner’s adm i rers.

Wotan ’s p lan O f rest i tu t ion th rough a free agen tis good

,bu t the t roubled and hampered god

does not carry i t out success fu l ly. Siegmundi s a fai l u re because he i s not a free agen t

,and

I am no t bound to defendWagner'

s morals. The relationsbetween Siegm und and Siegl inde are outrageous, in spite o f

the logi cal dem and that Wo tan ’s wrong should be atoned forby Wo tan’s blood. It is a pi ty that Wagner could not havefound m eans to avo id this difficul ty. I t is l ike o ther errors, inthat i t leads the erring one stil l farther astray for i t resul ts inSiegfried

’

s marryinghis half-aunt. Siegmund and Siegl inde arechildren o f \Vo tan so 15 Brtlnnhilde ; hence she is their half51ster, and her relation to the ir son , Siegfried, becom es painfully obvious. This comes of deal ing with mytho logies, whichare proverbially im proper.

20“DER RIN G DE S N IBELUN GE IV.

"

i t i s Fricka who,i n her i nd ignat ion at ou t raged

marri age t ies , l ays her finger upon the weakspot i n Wotan ’s p lan . Here i s the passage ’

which exp lai ns the i ssue O f the combat i n D i eWalk ii re

WOTAN .

A hero we needWho , free from the word of the gods,Is loose from the grasp of the i r law .

S uch one aloneCan ac com pl ish the deed

That , though o f need to the gods,May not b y a god be o u twrought.

FR ICKA.

By dense en igm asTho u wou ldst fai n daz e me.

What h igh deeds , then ,Can heroes ac com pl ish

That m ust be gai nsaid to the godsThrough whose wi l l alone they can work ?

It is a curi ous fact that some o f those scenes in which them ost im portant e lements o f the plo t o f the N ibelung tetralogyare ex posed are talky

,tiresom e

,and undramatic. We are to ld

by those whom I call ex treme Wagneri tes that the m usi c sus~

tains the interest . They ought to com prehend that this issimply an adaptation to the ir needs o f the view o f the I tal1an issim i, who contend that the mus i c should be the principal object o f interest al l the t ime. Let us adm i t the truth :Wagner i s som etim es a German dramatist and wri tes talk, talk,talk .

THE STORY. 2 1

WOTAN .

The i r own good courageThou countest as naugh t .

FR ICKA .

Who b reathed th is courage i n them ?\Vhose brightness b reaks from the i r glance ?

Beneath thy shel terG rea t is the i r st rength ,S t i rred by thy spi ri t ,Upward they s t ri ve.

Thou urgest them onwardSO b latan tl y boas tes t thou oft.

With new de ce i tThou wou lds t dece ive m e

By new dev i cesSeek to avo i d m e

But for th is Vo lsungIn vain dost thou plead

In him I find but thyse l f ;From thee alone h is defian ce.

She al so shows her knowledge o f the factthat Wotan p laced the sword i n the t ree i n

Hund ing’s house on pu rpose fo r Siegmund and

then led h im there to get i t and find Siegl i nde.Hence

,when Wotan tel l s Brii nnh ilde the whol e

story o f the the ft O f the Rh inegold,th e en

m ity o f Alberich , and the events preced ing

22”DER RIN G DE S NIBELUN GE IV.

"

D i e Walku re, he concl udes w i th these hOpe~

less words

0 s tress of the gods lO sham efullest need lIn loathi ng seei ngAlways m ysel f

In al l whatsoever I work lBut the o ther , for whom I search,The o ther I never shal l see .

H im sel f m us t the fearless one fash ion,S i n ce I none b u t serfs c an knead.

Brii nnh ilde asks whether Siegmund is not afree agent . Wotan answers that he h imsel fdwel t i n the forest w i th Si egmund and fannedthe flames i n h is breast . He says

I fondl y fan c iedM yse l f to befool,Yet how l igh tly Fri ckaFo und out the lie

To its farthes t depthsShe fathom ed the shame ,

herwi l l to work I was forced.

Brunnh i lde asks i f he wi l l remove h ist ion from S i egmund

,and then Wotan answers

wi th the key-note speech O f the whol e t ragedy.

THE STOR Y. 23

He declares i n despai r that he cannot escapethe consequences o f h is c r ime ; h is efforts arevai n ; he abandons the wo rk , and awai ts but theend . For that Albe r i ch wi l l p rovide . Thisatt i t ude O f \Votan explains the maj est ic d ign i tyO f h is su fferi ng wh i l e i nfl i ct i ng the pu n ishmen t

o n the d isobed ien t Valkyr. She has st r i ven tosave S i egmund

,thereby mak ing a movemen t

toward cont i n u i ng the ex istence o f Wotan ’swrong-doi ng and towa rd fix i ng more fi rm ly uponh im and al l the othe r gods the i nev i tabl e ret r ibut ion that must fo l l ow . Her pun i shment i snot the outcome Of a father ’s w rath agai nst ad isobed ien t ch i ld

,but i s the resu l t O f I'Votan’

s

su rrender to the demands O f that ete rnal just i ce O f wh ich he and al l the other gods are sub

jects.

From th is t ime on to the end Of the t ragedy,

NVo tan stands aside and al l ows the human forcesto have free sway. S i egfri ed knows no Wotanhe knows no god ’s w i l l . He is a free agent .Wotan is a wanderer on the face O f the earth

,

watch ing the p rogress o f events wi th wh ich hei s powerl ess to i n terfere . Alone and as a freeagent

,at the suggest ion O fWo tan

’

s enemy, Mime,S i egfri ed sl ays Fafner . Then wi th the knowledge imparted by the b i rd

,he Obtai ns the Rh ine

gold,seeks and wins B ru nnh i lde. O f h is free

24 DE R RING DES NIBELUNGEN .

wi l l he fu lfi l s Wotan ’s prophecy madec losing scene o f “D i e Walk ii re

He who the poi n tOf m y spear shal l fear

Shallpass not the wal l of fire.

Oh , the i ne ffabl e beau ty o f “ Siegfri ed ! ”

Th is is the immortal ep i c O f the worl d’s youth,

the song Of sp ri ng-t ime,young manhood

,l ove,

and unspeakabl e bl i ss. I t i s th is marvel l ou sfai ry tal e that the Opponents Of Wagner havechosen to rid i cu l e

,because O f i ts tal k ing b i rd

and i ts cumbersome d ragon . Oh,the fo l ly o f

prej ud ice !Behol d young Siegfried grown to manhood

u nder the care O f M ime,the b rother O f Al

be r ich . The dwar f i s aim i ng at the recoveryO f the r i ng

,the tarn helm , and the gold , which

Fafner,now become “ the worst O f al l worms

,

i s guard ing i n a cave i n the forest . Mime proposes to have S i egfri ed s lay the d ragon

,after

wh ich he h imsel f w i l l s l ay S i egfr i ed .

" Butthe poor dwar f cannot weld the swo rd o f Siegm u nd

,wh ich is necessary to h is p lan . S ieg

fr i ed arrives,and after some by-p lay , exami nes

the swo rd wh ich M ime has been forgi ng, andrai l s at i ts weakness. Mime endeavors to cal mh im . Siegfri ed expresses h is d is l i ke O f the

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26 DER RING DE S N IEE I:UNGEN .

dous ene rgy,stands brand ish ing the sword and

shou t ing wh i l e the cu rtai n fal l s .The second act reveals Alber i ch

,the N ibel

u ng, i n the depths O f the forest gl oom nearFafne r’s cave

,await i ng an Opport u n i ty to sei ze

the t reasu re. Mal ice and greed a re breathedthrough the music . The wind rushes th roughthe forest and a d im l ight grows . Wotanenters . Alber i ch and \Votan express thei rhat red O f one another

,the m usic graph i cal ly

i l l ust rat i ng the d ign ity O f the one and the mali ce O f the other. Wotan departs ; A lberi chconceals h imsel f

,and S i egfr i ed enters w i th

M ime. The latte r hopes that both the d ragonand the hero w i l l d i e i n the impend ing combatand departs saying so .

S i egfr i ed,alone i n the fo rest , l i es down under

a t ree Then comes the \Valdw eben”—fo rest

weavi ng—the vo ices O f the woods , O ften playedi n concert . I t is one O f the most maste r lytone-pictu res i n ex i stence . S i egfr i ed wonde rswho h is mother was and how she l ooked . Het r i es vai n ly by means O f a reed fl ute to im i tatethe vo ices Of the b i rds and so unde rstand them .

Fai l i ng i n th is he w i nds a bl ast upon h i s horn,

wh ich br ings the d ragon,Fafne r

,from h is

la i r. S i egfr i ed fears h im not,bu t bold ly at

tacks and s lays h im . The blood spu rts upon

THE STORY. 27

the hero ’s hand and he puts i t to h is l ips . Atonce he can understand the language O f thebi rds. A bi rd tel l s h im to get the t reasu refrom the cave . He enters i t . Alberi ch andM ime appear. The i neffably lovely m u si c becomes harsh and scold ing. The dwar fs quarre land separate as Siegfr i ed ret u rns w i th the r i ngand tarn helmet . Mime comes back and t r i esto i nd uce S i egfr i ed to take po ison wh ich hehas prepared

,bu t the bi rd warns h im

,and

,

moreover,Mime unconsc iously bet rays h imsel f.

Siegfr i ed sl ays h im . Agai n the hero l i es underthe t ree and the voices O f the fo rest speak toh im . The bi rd tel l s h im O f B rii nnh ilde andl eads h im away in search O f her as the curtai nfal l s.The th i rd act Opens wi th po rtentous m usi c .

The awfu l st r i fe between the m ight O f youthand l ove and the powers O f da rkness i s ap

proach ing i ts c l imax . The r i s i ng O f the cu rtai nd isc l oses a rocky mountain . The shadows O fn ight a re on the h i l ls

,and the el ements a re at

war. Wotan appears and i nvokes the goddessErda—O ld Mother-Earth . From her he seeksto know how to save the gods from dest ru ct ion .

She cannot ai d h im,and

,wea ry O f inc reasing

st r i fe,h e renounces the empi re O f the w o r l d .

Siegfr ied ente rs and NVo tan blocks h is way with

28“DE R RING DE S N IEELUNGEN .

"

h is spea r. With a s i ngle b low Siegfr i ed shattersthe spear O f the ru l e r O f the gods

,and destroys

the rewi th the O l d o rde r o f th ings . Crying, I nvai n ! I cannot prevent thee,

” Wotan fl i es.An om inous glow grows upon the scene. Themyst i c powe rs O f natu re array themsel vesagai nst the hero

'

s progress . The st rength Ofmatter gi rds i tse l f to meet the m ight O f sp i ri t .Fi re and smoke ro l l down the mountain t i l l theve ry wo r l d seems ablaze at S i egfr i ed ’s feet .But st i l l that gian t heart knows no fear. Thunderi ng notes Of defiance from h is horn

,he

p l unges i n to the flames and d isappears ; bu tthe echoing notes o f the ho rn retu rn to say thathe i s not vanqu ished .

The sto rm Of fi re s i nks . The gl ory O f thedawn su rrounds the h i l l s and the r is i ng m i stsd iscl ose the nobl e fo rm Of the Valkyr as leep beneath he r sh ield . S i egfr i ed approaches. Thet remendous moment is at hand . He stoopsand cuts the fasten i ngs O f her armo r

,wh ich

,

fall i ng aside,reveal s

,w rapped i n the softest

d rapery,a perfect woman

,nobly planned . The

sou l O f the i nv inc ibl e you th i s t rans fo rmed intothe spi r i t O f the capt i ve

,bu t conque r i ng man .

“ A touch—a k iss— the charm is snapped .

”

B rii nnh ilde awakes to sal u te the earth , the sun ,the gods

,and to fal l upon the breast O f her hero

THE STORY. 29

lover, wh i l e the i r voi ces m ingl e i n th e pass ionate st rai ns O f fierce

,overmasteri ng l ove. The

manhood Of S i egfr i ed and the womanhood o f

Brii nnhilde a re accompl ished . The perfect racei s come to ru l e the wo r l d . The O ld gods areto d ie and be fo rgotten .

The final t ragedy Opens w i th a scene i n wh ichthe “ dark fates weave the web Of l i fe an ddeath . The No rns

,the Fates O f northern

mytho logy,wind a rope O f sand and foretel l the

down fal l o f the gods . This scene is frequent lyom i tted i n the pe rfo rmances O f the work . D ram at ically i t is i neffect i ve, though i ts musi c i sr i ch . Siegfr i ed and Brii nnh ilde

,who have been

dwel l i ng together i n the Val kyr’s cave,come

out, and th e woman sends her hero forth i nsearch O f new adven tu res . J ust why she shou l ddo so I have never qu ite u nderstood . I am tol dby supe r i or m inds that i t i s done i n o rder thathe may win a name worthy O f a Valkyr’sreverence bu t when he a rr i ves at the Cast l e O fthe G ib ichungs on the Rh ine

,wh ither he at

once goes,he i s al ready known there as a most

t remendous he ro,though no one except Hagen

,

son O f Alberich and vassal O f King Gunther,i s

acquai n ted wi th the h istory O f h is l i fe . One

must recal l the fact that Siegfried is the greathero i c figu re O f m ed imvalGerman lore i n ord er

30“DE R RING DE S N IBE LUNGE /V.

"

to u nderstand the honor he at once receivesfrom the retai ners O f Gu nther. Hagen hasp roposed to Gunther that when Siegfri ed ar

r i ves,Gutru ne

,the k ing’s s ister (a charming and

m uch-wronged gi r l , by the way) , shal l give h imone O f those magic d ri nks wh ich abou nd i nopera

,and cause h im to fal l i n l ove w i th her .

Then Gunthe r i s t o have B ru nnh i lde as h isqueen . Gut ru ne fal l s desperately i n love w ithS i egfr ied the m i n ute she sees h im and adm in is

te rs the pot ion w i l l ingly. S i egfr i ed i s won andagrees to go th rough the fi re and get Brilnnh ilde,whom he as once forgets

,for Gunther

,with

whom he swears an oath O f brothe rhood . S i egfr i ed puts on the tarn helm and assumes thel ikeness O f Gun ther . He goes to B runnh i ld e,tears from her finger th e r i ng O f Rh inego l dwh ich i n h i s ow n person he had given her

,and

p roc laims her Gunther’s br ide.

I n the second act S i egfr i ed,Gunther

,and

B runnh i lde ar r i ve at Cast l e G ib ichung. As soonas B ru nnh i lde secs S i egfri ed i n h is p roper fo rmw i th the r i ng on h is finge r

,she p roclaims to the

assembly that she has been bet rayed by h im .

S i egfr i ed , st i l l u nder the pot ion’s i nfl uence

,

swea rs he does not know he r . She swears h eis the man who penet rated to her rocky abode.Siegfr i ed says that she is c razy, which assert ion

THE STOR Y. 3 1

temporar i l y al lays su sp ic ion,and the hero goes

on wi th the wedd ing fest i v i t i es attend ing h is

un ion with Gutrune . Gunther, Brunnh i lde, andHagen remai n and dec ide

,on Hagen ’s sugges

t ion,that for h i s t reache ry S i egfri ed must d i e .

B ru nnh i lde reveal s the fact that she d id not

make S iegfr i ed ’s back i nvu lnerabl e,knowing

that he wou l d never t u rn i t on a foe .

I n the th i rd act S iegfri ed is hunt ing on thebanks O f the Rhine . The Rh in e maidens appea r and t ry to get the r i ng from h im . Hekeeps i t

,and they depart foretel l i ng h is impend

i ng doom . Hagen,Gunther, and the vassal s

appear. TO cheerq‘

t-he gloomy Gunther, Siegfried tel l s the story

’

of h is you th . He cannotqu i te recal l h is meeting w i th B ru nnh i lde, andhere Hagen

,whose whol e Obj ect i s to get the

ri ng,the t arn helm

,andr

l

the gold once m ore in toN ibel u ng hands

,steps

“

in with another d r ink ,wh ich makes the hero remember. For the fi rs tt ime Gunther sees the extent O f the t reachery

,

S i egfr i ed at an oppo rt u ne moment i n h is sto ryis stabbed i n the back w i th a spear by Hagen

,

and d ies breath ing the name O f B rijnnh ilde.

The vassal s take up the body and i n st r i ckens i l ence bear i t away over the moon l i t h i l l s to

G ib ichung.

Arriv i ng there Gunther and Hagen quarre l

32f ‘DER RI IVG DE S

over the possessi on O f the r i ng, and the formeri s k i l l ed . B ru nnh i ld e l earns the p lot O f wh ichshe and S i egfr i ed were the vi ct i ms . She causesh is body to be placed on a funera l pyre . Shep roc l a ims h i s greatness

,annou nces the down fal l

O f the gods,and hu r l s herse l f i n to the flames

wi th the corpse. The Rh ine rises , and the fata l1 i ng i s engu l fed by the waters and thus resto redto the Rhi ne maidens . Hagen rushes i nto thewater afte r i t and is d rowned . The flames O f thefu neral pyre ascend to the skies and fi re VValhal l a. Wotan and the gods a re dest royed

,and

the great t ragedy is ended .

I t i s reserved for Brii nnh ilde,who knows the

d read s ign ificance O f the events o f her t ime,to

act the final and c rown ing scene i n the d rama O fdeeds wh ich VVOtan had begun bu t was power l essto fin ish . She i t i s who p uts the to rch to thepyre and fi res \Valhal la . The reign O f the godsends

,and hencefo rward the re i s a new order o f

t h i ngs. The r i ng goes back to i ts right fu lowners and th us i s rest i t u t ion made . ButWotan does not escape ret r ibu t ion . He is thev ict im O f fate and carr i es down the gods withh im i n one general fal l . Thus does th is t remendons t ragedy wo rk i tsel f out, reveal i ng to

us as i ts he ro a god who fo rgot the essent ia lnat u re o f h is godhood , t ransgressed the law by

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II.—THE PHILOSOPHY AND THE HUMANITY.

I DO not propose to enter i nto an extendedd iscuss ion O f the mer i ts O f the t ragedy. I shal ls imp ly poi n t out some featu res O f i ts st rength ,and perchance touch upon certai n defects wh icha re worthy O f considerat ion .

I n Das Rheingol d ” we make our fi rst acquai ntance wi th \Vagner

’

s mytho l ogical adaptat ions i n thei r p r imeval cond i t ion . The godsO f the No rse mythology we re no t immortal

,but

gi fted with ext rao rd ina ry l ength O f days. Thei rfel low-c reat u res i n the wo r l d were i n ferior bei ngs

,always at wa r with them

,but equal ly

gi fted i n respect to l ongevi ty. The t rue mythis a de ificat ion O f a human type . J up i ter andHercu les

,\Votan and Thor, I s is and Osi r i s a re

h uman types ideal i zed and exal ted i nto godhood .

They a re he roi c i n pe rson,essent ia l i n emot ion

,

el ementary i n act ion . Civi l i zat ion tends to ave rage men . A common cu l tu re imposed upona body O f peopl e redu ces el ementary i nequali t ies to a general l evel

,and tends to the con

THE PHILOS OPH Y AND THE Ill/MANI TY. 35

cealment O f i nd iv id ual character i st i cs because i trep resses the d isp lay Of them . Wagner hasshown a fine pe rcept ion Of these t ruths i n h isN ibel u ngen wo rks . The art ificiality O f c iv i l i zat ion is whol ly absent . The fou l is fou l and thefai r is fai r. The spri ngs Of act ion are laid bare.Every personage i s as t ransparent as a ch i l d .

The subst ructu re O f human i ty is u nea rthed . I nWotan we have a large m ind dom inated by thel ust O f power ; i n Alber i ch a smal l one. Logei s the person ificat ion O f p r imal c unn ing andt reachery . And so i t is with each Of the otherpersonages . Every one is a cha racte r i zat ion ,and thei r deeds are i n acco rd wi th thei r hearts.The atmosphe re O f un real i ty wh ich su rrounds

these personages does not mar thei r poet icval u e

,any more than the supe rnatu ral env i

ronm ent O f M i l ton’s arch fiend ma rs his . As

Luci fer imp resses h imsel f upon us as an ideal

i z ed type and the cent ral figu re O f the “Parad iseLost

,so does Loge remai n i n ou r m inds as the

weaver O f the p lot O f the tet ralogy . He standsforth conspicuously as one O f the most i nteresti ng characters i n d ramat ic fict ion , and beyonda quest ion one o f the few fine cha racte r studi es i n Opera . Arou nd h im the events O f thestory O f “ Das Rheingold

,

” the germ Of thewhol e t ragedy

,revo lve wi th a cons istent coher

36 DER RING DE S NIBELUNGEN .

ency that is as adm i rabl e as i t i s u nsu rpassed i nOperat i c l i terat u re. His final words

,whi l e they

assist i n dest roying the compl eteness O f “ DasRhei ngo ld as a play

,a re eminent ly fi tt i ng as

the conc l us ion i n the fi rst act o f a d rama whosech ie f events are yet to come

,and whose founda

t ion he has l aid .

But i n al l p robabi l i ty there is no featu re O fWagner's poet ry that w i l l st r i ke the averagereader w i th more force than h is t reatment O f

the pass ion O f l ove. Let us reconst ru ct th isworld

,

” says Tain e,w r i t ing O f Shakespeare

,

“so

as to find i n i t the impri n t O f i ts Creator. Apoet does not copy at random the mannerswh ich su rround h im ; he sel ects from th is vastmater i al

,and i nvo l u ntar i ly b r i ngs upon the

stage the moods O f the heart and the conductwh ich best su i t h is tal ent . ” Wagner cou l d notb rook the shack l es O f convent ional i ty. Themoods O f the heart and the cond uct wh ichbest su i ted h is tal en t were not those O f moderncou rts and soc iety. I n h is reconst ruct ion O f theworld he fel t that the l im i ts O f establ ished customs were too smal l for h im . He wou ld behampered by no rel igious or social dogmas

,by

no smal l coro l lari es O f c l othes-ph i losophy. E l emental pass ions , free and fierce and blaz ing asthe fi rst su n l ight , were to be the t remendous

THE PHI LOSOPHY AND THE II UMAN I TY. 37

moving forces o f h is d ramas . To d isrobe themO f all the pu rpl e and fine l i nen O f conven ien tcodes and reveal them i n the hero i c and chasteglory O f thei r perfect nakedness he went backi nto the realm O f fabl e

,se i zed upon the shadowy

myths and made them men and women .

The love O f \Vagner’

s el ementary beings is l i kel ightn ing i n i ts s uddenness and fierceness. AsTain e says O f the l ove rs O f the Shakespeareand rama : “ They cannot bu t l ove

,and they

must l ove t i l l death . Bu t th is fi rst l ook i s anecstasy ; and th i s s udden approach O f l ove i s at ranspo rt .” Shakespeare and Wagner a re al ikei n thei r t reatment O f what we cal l l ove at fi rsts ight . The l atter exposes h is idea O f i t i n“ The Flyi ng D utchman

,

” i n “ Lohengri n,

” i nT r i stan and Isol de ;

” and i n the N ibel ungenser i es we have two magn ificent p ict u res O f i t i nthe meet i ng O f S i egmund with S i egl i nde and O f

S i egfr i ed wi th B ru nnh i l de. Siegmund l iesfai nt ing upon Hund ing

’

s hearth . Siegl i nd eente rs

,and

,withou t seeing her

,he c r i es for

water. She gives h im d ri nk . Having fin ished

the d raught , he t u rns h is head , sees her face forthe fi rst t ime

,and gazes long upon her. He

speaks to her :

COO1 is the draugh t Of thy boun t i fu l cup ;Vigor re tu rns to m y to t tering l imbs ;

38 DER RIN G DE S NIBELUNGEN.

My heart is m ade st rong, and m y eyes grow gl adW 1th the gl adness of th ine . Now speak m e the nam eOf the wom an who l i fts m e agai n to l i fe .

S I EGLINDE . Hunding’s the house and I am h is wi fe ;

We l com e art tho u to rest t i l l he comes.

S IEGM UND . Weaponless I and wounded . I pray tha tI b e no t u nwe l com e to Hund ing , thy lord .

S IEGLINDE !an x iously ]. Where thou art wounded nowte l l m e a t on ce.

She Offers h im mead to d r i nk . He begs herto sweeten the d raught wi th her ow n l ips .Then

,consc ious O f the m is fo rtu ne that ever fo l

l ows h im,he wou ld l eave he r. But she bids

h im stay,for she

,too

,is a ch i l d O f sorrow.

Thus i n a few moments mu tual sympathy andconfidence and a h unge r fo r each other’s soci etya re establ ished between them . The st rongernatu re d raws the weaker to i t l ike a magnet.The woman

,havi ng l u l l ed he r husband to s leep

w i t h a d raught O f herbs,retu rns to S i egmund .

She tel l s h im whe re the re i s a weapon wi thwh ich he can meet H und ing i n batt l e . Al

ready she bel i eves i n her sou l that th is i s thehero who shal l d raw i t forth from its oakensheath whence none othe r cou ld take i t . He

Cl asps her i n h is arms . The sp r i ng n ightb reaks upon them i n al l i ts glo ry. The manbu rsts i nto a t r i umphant love-song

,fu l l O f the

THE PHIL OSOPHY AND THE HUMAN I TY. 39

vigo r o f youth,strong with the power O f matu re

pass ion .

Winter storm s have fled i n the sm i le of May,

In glory Of hgh t arises the spr ingWafted w i th wind and wonder along h is wayThrough woods and m eadows that b reathe

S ing.

Nay,

’

tis t ru e,says Rosal i nd there never

was anyth ing so sudden bu t the fight Of tworams and Cae sar ’s thrason i cal brag O f I came

,I

saw,and overcame for you r b rother and my

s ister no sooner met bu t they l ooked,no sooner

looked but they loved,no soon er l oved bu t

they s ighed , no sooner sighed but they askedone another the reason , no soone r knew thereason bu t they sought the remedy .

”

I n “ S i egfr i ed ” we find the pass ion O f l ovet reated agai n i n a s im i lar manner. NO soonerdoes the young hero look upon th e sl eep i ngform O f B rii nnh ilde than he fee l s a th ri l l henever fe l t befo re . Fo r the fi rst t ime i n h is l i fehe i s fr ightened

,and he cal l s u pon h is m othe r.

Then he summons Bru’

nnh ilde to awake. Hek isses her

,c rying :

Thus dri nk I the swee tness o f l i fe from her l ips ,Though dr inking I d i e .

40”DER RING DE S N I BELUN GE IV.

”

She awakes, and i n a s ingl e moment is t ransformed in to a heroi c

,l ove-absorbed woman . To

h im alone,she says

,cou ld she have awakened .

Her love had been a p rophecy,and she had

been h is i n sou l before ever thei r eyes hadmet . The d rama ends w i th one O f the mostt remendous ou tpou r i ngs O f h uman passion evercouched i n language. This

,i ndeed

,i s the

apotheos is O f l ove. The manhood Of Siegfri edand the womanhood O f B rii nnh ilde are aecom

plished . The race has come at l as t that shal lsupersede the s in-st ri cken gods. Human lovei s hencefo rth to be the wel l - spri ng O f existence. I t has been obj ected that Wagner ’sl ove i s a mere pass ion . I n “ D i e Walk i ire

”

and T r i stan there is s uppo rt for th is Object i on ; bu t i n The Flyi ng Dutchman

,

” Tannhauser

,

” D i e Meiste rs i nge r ,” S i egfr i ed

,and

D i e Gotterdammeru ng \Vagner p roclaims i nimmortal tones h i s theory O f l i fe . I t i s thetheory celebrated i n Goethe’s “ Faust

,where

the poet s ings, The woman-sou l ever l eadethu s upward and on.

” Even i n those storiesO f Wagner’s wh ich a re i ndefensible on moralgrou nds th i s theo ry is to some exten t a key tothe personal force O f h is heroi nes . They maystagger bl i nd ly i n to dark ways i n thei r l ove

,

but thei r i nfluence ove r man is always i nsp i ri ng.

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42‘DER RIN G DE S N IBELUN GE IV.

"

t ions and ram ificat ions o f them which morefu l ly accou n t for the phenomena O f reproduct ion i n the m i nd . Cont igu i ty i n space i s aprimary el ement i n the rev iva l O f mental p ictu res . The reco l l ect ion Of the physical appearance O f Lime-Rock Ligh t recal l s the whole o fNewport harbo r. Cont igu i ty O f t ime i s an

othe r primary el ement . As Noah Porter pu tsi t When a si ngl e even t is though t O f wh ichoccu rred upon some day o f my l i fe made memorable by j oy or so rrow

,that even t s uggests the

others wh ich occu rred i n connect ion wi th i tse l f—e i the r befo re or after—t i l l the whol e h isto ryo f the day has passed i n revi ew befo re the eyeO f the m i nd The rel at ion o f cont rast i s subt lyemployed i n th is scene

,but i t i s d iscern ibl e.

The fact that the c i rcumstances which he i s t el at i ng a re so d i fferent from those u nder wh ichhe c laimed the hand O f Gut rune

,must have i ts

i nfluence on S i egfr ied'

s m emo ry . The relat i onO f cause and e ffect is fo rcible here . The whol eh istory O f h is vi cto ry Ove r Fa fne r and h is sub

sequen t u nderstand i ng O f the language O f thebi rd is a ser i es O f powe r fu l causes Of wh ich theeffect was h is d iscovery and love O f B ru nnh i lde.I n fact

,the whol e scene appears to have been

w r i tten w i th the l aw O f red integrat ion i n V i ew.

Th is l aw is that the “ m ind tends to act agai n

TIIE P II I LOSOPH Y AND TIIE HUMAN I TY. 43

more read i ly i n a manner or form wh ich i s simi l at to any in which i t has acted before i n any

defined ex ertion Of i ts energy .

”

Thus we have,as al ready noted

,a powerful

Ope rat ion O f al l the l aws o f associat i on . Cont iguity i n space is suggested by the fi re. Whatwas i n th is fi re ? The mental image o f B ru nnh i lde is at once conj u red up . Cont igu i ty i n t imeis the p roperty O f the whole se r i es o f events.I t is imposs ibl e for h im to remember the doi ngs o f that day w i thou t recal l i ng thei r c l imax.

The relat i ons O f cont rast and cause and effectwe have al ready noted . I n fact the events wereas c losely u n ited as the facts Of that sc i encewh ich Car ly l e ri d i cu les as common-schoo l logic, whe re the t ru ths a l l stand i n a row

,each

hold ing by the ski rts O f the other. ” NO d raugh to f magic cou l d st i l l th e memory thus awakened .

And the poet was he re wonder fu l ly a ided bythe music ian . I nstead O f w r i t i ng new music forthe death O f S i egfr i ed

,Wagne r

,with one O f h is

m ight iest st rokes O f gen i us,has set th is death

scene to the m us i c o f the love d uet betweenSiegfr i ed and B ri innh ilde

,th us tel l i ng us i n the

h ighest language O f emot ion the fee l i ngs thatwere wel l i ng u p i n th e sou l O f the dyi ng hero.The l aws O f assoc iat i on renewed for h im the

scene and i ts heart-th robs , and the orchestra re

44 DE R RING DE S NIBELUNGEN .

veal s for us what is passing i n the i nner man.

The love O f Bru nnh i lde i s once more the movi ng power O f h is l i fe

,and tri umphs over h im even

i n the hou r O f death . I n my early study O f theN ibel u ng t ragedy i t always seemed to me thatan u nhappy blot on th is scene was Hagen ’sp resentat ion to S iegfried O f the d r i nk w i th thej u ice o f an herb i n i t . I f, however, Hagen

’

swords are t o be taken l i teral ly

,i t i s not a blot .

He says—I quote the Met ropol i tan Opera

House l ibretto

Dri nk fi rs t , hero ,F rom m y born

I m i ngled an herb wi th the draughtTo awaken and ho ld thy rem em brance,That pas t th ings m ay b e apparen t .

From th is speech i t i s p l ai n that Wagnerwishes us to u nderstand that S iegfr i ed ’s power O frecal l i ng h is relat ions with Bru nnh i lde had beenl i te ral ly pu t to s l eep by G utrune

’

s pot ion , andthat Hagen i s now adm in isteri ng a d rink to coun

teract the effec t O f the former and “ awakenthe reprod u ct i ve power o f the man ’s m ind . Tobe su re

,th i s i s a n ice poi n t for we may read

i ly wonder why G utrune’

s d r i nk d id not paralyze the man ’s ent i re memo ry

,and not s imply

that part o f i t relat i ng to h is Valkyr bri de,

THE P II ILOS OP II Y AND THE H UAIAN I TY. 45

and we may ask why he cou l d not recal l her i fhe was able to recal l the events l ead ing up to her.But i f we accept the fabl e O f a magi c dri nk ata l l

,we have no right to put fanc i fu l l im itat ions

to i ts powers. I t i s j ust as reasonabl e to bel i evei n a pot ion that cou l d suspend part O f a man ’smemory as one that cou l d pu t the whol e O fi t to s leep . SO we must regard Hagen ’s d r i nkas the an t idote to G utrune

’

s. I t i s adm in is

tered s imply to remove the paralysis O f en

chantmen t from the man ’s m ind,after wh ich

removal h i s memo ry wo rks accord i ng to thelaws O f psychology.

TO ask , howeve r, what had become Of S i egfried ’s m emory O f B ru nnh i ld e d u ri ng the t imeO f h i s u nholy i n fat uat ion for Gut run e is to d i sp lay ignorance O f a wel l-known problem Of psychology. Where an idea has i ts ex i stence whenabsent from a m ind whi ch subsequent ly recal l si t

,i s a quest ion wh ich the experts have not an

swered . D r. M cCo sh,w r i t ing i n h is Scott ish

Phi l osophy Of S i r Wi l l iam Hami l ton,says

What is the state O f an idea when not fal li ng at the t ime under consciou sness ? Th is is

a quest ion wh ich has often been pu t . Thus ,havi ng seen the Crystal Palace Of 1851 , thequest ion i s p u t

,What pl ace has that idea i n my

m ind when I am not prec isely th i nk i ng abou t

46 DER RING DE S NIBELUN GEN .

that Obj ect ? NVe must,O f cou rse

,answer that

the idea can have no ex i stence as an idea whennot befo re the consc iousness. St i l l i t m ust havesome sort O f ex istence . There ex i sts i n them ind a power to rep roduce i t acco rd ing to thelaws o f associat ion .

” And on th is recond i tepoin t that is as far as the ph i l osophers have beenable to go .

I t wou ld be easy to sel ect othe r ep isodes i nthese d ramas as ev idences o f the au thor’s poet i cpowe r. But i t i s u nnecessary. Look ing uponthem as a whole

,and compar i ng them wi th the

O r igi nal Scand i nav ian l egends from which theywere taken by the m i nnes ingers

,we are aston

ished at the manner i n wh ich Wagner has modified them . Accord ing to the m innes i ngersyoung S i egfr i ed had a cloak

,the gi ft O f Alber i ch

,

which made h im invis ibl e. I n Wagner’s handsth is becomes the tarn helmet

,made O f the

Rh ine gold . I t is a poten t factor i n the act ionO f the tet ral ogy

,and S iegfr i ed w rests i t from

Fa fne r with h is s i re ’s weapon,th u s fu l fi l l ing a

pa rt o f h is dest i ny . Again,the m i n nes ingers

cal led S i egfr ied ’s sword Balm ung,and accord ing

to them i t was fo rged for h im by \Vieland,the

Vul can o f the Teuton i c gods . \Vi th Wagne rth is swo rd becomes

,no t the gian t toy O f a fairy

tale,but a t remendous i nst rument i n the hands

THE PHILOSOPH Y AND THE HUMAN I TY. 47

Of fate. I t is the sword o f the hero ’s father andthe gi ft o f Wotan h imsel f. I t is a most importan t part O f Wotan ’s p lans that the brokensword shal l be welded anew and wielded by ahero who has the unm ixed blood Of the Vol

sungs, and who knows no fear With i t he

bri ngs down the k ingdom Of the gods at a s ingl eblow and carves h is way to the consummat ionO f human l i fe .With Od i n orWotan

,at IValhalla i n Asgard ,

dwel t the Valkyrior, or choosers O f the slain .

These Wotan sen t fo rth to the fiel ds O f batt l e tosel ect those who shou ld fal l and l ead them toWalhal la. These s isters O f war

,as they we re

somet imes cal l ed,watched over thei r warr i ors

,

and somet imes l istened to thei r wooi ng. Ledby Skulda, the youngest O f the Fates , theywh i r l ed th rough the d ust and th under O f batt l e

,

foremost i n the fight,with flam ing swords and

an awfu l accompan iment Of meteors and l igh tn i ng. Balder

,the second son O f Wotan

,was the

fai rest O f th e gods,and h is death i s the ch i ef

even t i n Scand i nav ian mytho logy. I t was foreO rdai ned and prophet ic O f the final d isso l u t i onO f the gods . The sto ry O f S i gu rd and the N iflunga i s a separate ep i c i n the elder Edda .

Wagner has made th e heroi ne O f th i s tal e andthe ch ie f O f the Valkyri es one and the same per

48 DER RIN G DE S NIBELUNGEN .

son—a pu re and l ovi ng woman of god-l i ke sou land o f cel est ia l o r ig i n . Where d id he get thematerial for her ? Not from the N ibel ungenLied O f the m i nnes i ngers

,for thei r B rii nnh ilde

i s s imp ly the famed Queen O f Isen land— a wo

man o f match less cou rage and st rength,every

su i tor for whose hand m ust enter th ree contestsw i th her

,and i f vanqu ished su ffer a c ru el death .

NO, th is woman—out l i n ed i n th e Edda- i s madeflesh and blood for u s by Wagne r. S i egfriedand Balder he has mou lded i nto one, and produced fo r u s a personage more real than ei therO f the origi nal s .I n sho rt

,a read i ng O f the stori es of th e Scan

d inav ian bards and those O f the German m instrels shows conc l u s i vely that the human i ty O fWagner’s peopl e i s h i s own . The northernScalds created t remendous myths . The sp i r i tO f thei r poems i s co l ossal . Pass ions and sweetness stood s ide by side

,and were del i neated with

master-st rokes . Lofty sent iment and hero i cdeed were darkened by unspeakabl e c r ime andblack t ragedy. The German bards denudedthese Ol d poems Of thei r glory and made thei rpe rsonages smal l . The heroes and he ro ines O fthe Sagas were eno rmous u n real i t ies ; thoseO f the N iebel ungen Lied were almost p retent ious nonent i t i es . Wagner sei zed upon every

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I I I .—SOME OBJECTIONS TO LEIT-MOTIVEN.

AFTER several years O f honest st udy Of thescores O f Wagne r ’s works

,and afte r repeated

hear i ngs O f pe r fo rmances nobl e i n sp i r i t and ex

ecution, the wri ter i s conv inced that the mostpopu lar Obj ect ion to the “ music O f the fut u re ”

i s the t remendous demands i t makes on the intelligence . The great p ubl i c does not l ike toth ink

,espec ial ly about anyth ing i n the form o f

a d rama . I t i s an O l d sto ry that the Opera hasbeen regarded as a fo rm Of fash ionabl e amusement

,bu t that cond it ion can hard ly be said to

ex ist now . That vi ew O f the Opera i s held by am ino r i ty. Even among the persons who figu reas membe rs o f “ soc i ety ” there are those whotake a thought fu l i n t erest i n the per fo rmance o fa VVagner-music d rama. But they

,l ike others

,

a re d iscou raged by the d iscovery that thoughtfu l i n terest i s no t su ffic ient to enabl e them toa rr i ve at an i ntel l igen t app rec iat ion O f thesemaster-works O f Ou r t ime. They l earn speed i lythat these m usic-dramas requ i re deep and con

SOME OBjE CTI ONS TO LEI T-M OTI VEN . 51

t inuous st udy. I n fact,outs ide O f the fields O f

pol i t i cs and soc io logy, the lyri c creat ions O fRichard Wagner and the ph i losophy O f HerbertSpencer Offer the most cons iderabl e problems i nthe i n tel l ect ual l i fe O f our period . NO subj ect i nthe arts O f pai n t ing, scu l pt u re, or pu re l i terat u rehas arisen wh ich p resents so many ser i ou s art i st i c quest ions as these music-d ramas . They arequest ions wh ich concern not on ly m usi c

,bu t

wh ich reach o ut i n to the general const i t u t i on O fthat abst ract ent i ty known as art

,for as su rely

as certa in qual it i es are common to al l the finea rts

,so su rely does anyth i ng wh ich touches the

fundamental p r i nc ip l es O f one b ranch reach thoseO f anothe r . I t i s not a settled fact that Wagner’sre forms have d istu rbed the general l aws Of artupon wh ich music rests , bu t they are accused O fhaving done so , and hence the scope O f the d iscussion.

The lei t-moti f system,wh ich i s the musical

l i fe-blood O f the fu l ly-developed VVagner-musi cd rama

,appears to be the root O f al l the ev i l

,

for i t i s th i s wh ich makes the demands uponpubl i c thought

,and i t i s th is wh ich is charged

with having t ransformed the operat i c score i ntosymphony wi th decl amatory and pantom im ic accompan im ent. That these cha rges seem to bewel l founded when one fi rst w i tnesses the per

52”DER RING DE S N IBELUN GE IV.

”

formance o f a l ater Wagner d rama is hard todeny ; and that the le i t-mot i f system is notw i thou t grave defects must be admi tted byevery c r i t i c who is not commi tted to spec ialp lead i ng O f the Wagner cause. I t is a p i ty thatanyone i n the pos i t ion O f c r i t i c has ever as

sumed th is e rroneous att i t ude,though i t i s eas i ly

expl icable on the g rou nd that,i n the face O f ig

norant and blatan t Opposition , the minor weaknesses O f Wagner ’s wo rks had to be ignored i no rder that thei r s t upendous excel l ences m ight bep reserved for the good O f art .The charge that the fu l ly-devel oped Bayreuthmus ic-drama is an attempt to subsitute symphony for Opera i s so foo l ish that i t may be d ism issed w ith few wo rds . That certai n themesa re repeated and somet imes subj ected to s ignifican t al te rat ions O f rhythm and harmony

,need

not be den ied . Th is i s the on ly resemblance ofa Wagne r score to a symphony . The work ingout O f themat ic mate r i a l i n the free fantas ia O f asymphony is so d i fferen t i n fo rm and spi ri t fromthe development to wh ich Wagner subj ects h isB rii nnhilde and Siegfr i ed mot i ves that on lya superfic ial or prej ud iced m ind can con foundthem . A far more importan t quest i on is thatwh ich ari ses from the fact that peop le cannotrecogn i ze the des ign o f the various le i t-mot iven

SOME OBJE CTIONS TO LEI T-M OTI VE IV. 53

by simp ly attend ing a performance o f one o f thed ramas . The ext reme VVagneri tes deny that th isi s a fact ; bu t one has on ly to consu l t h is own ex

perience to real i ze that i t i s . Where is the person who has ever at the fi rst hear i ng o f Rhei ngo ld ” been abl e to ident i fy and u nde rstand al lthe l e i t-mot i ven Bu t i f they a re not imm edi

ately and u navoidably i n te l l ig ib le,a re not these

l ei t-mot iven u nd ramat i c That i s the ser i ousquest ion . Is a p layw r igh t wise or sk i l fu l whodemands o f h is aud ience p revi ous home study o fthe p lay about to be w itnessed for the fi rst t imeWou l d we tol erate any such demand i f made byBronson Howard orM r . Pinero A play shou l dbe

,accord i ng to al l accepted laws o f d ramat i c

art,a th ing compl ete i n i tse l f. I t shou l d requ i re

no exp lanatory notes i n the p rogramme and nopreviou s acquain tance wi th its subj ect matter i no rder to be u nderstanded o f the peopl e.” Now

,

the on ly perm iss ibl e form o f opera i s that wh ichcan be rece ived as a (177 1 7a per mus ical—a playexpressed i n m usi c. I f the opera does no t meetthe requ i rements o f a play

,i t is u ndoubted ly not

a perfect art form . The reforms o f Gluck andWagner were designed to remove the art ificia lformu las o f school s wh ich sacrificed t ruth tosensuous beau ty. But i f Wagner demands of usthat we shal l study h is l ibretto phrase by ph rase

54”DER RING DES N IBELUN GE IV.

"

and h is mus ic measu re by measu re at home before going to hea r the Opera , does he not by th iscon fess to a certa i n grave rad ical weakness i n h i ssystem P Some o f W’ agner’s most e loquent andthought fu l advocates take the grou nd that h i sm us ic p rod uces h igh emot ional resu l ts i n thosewho do no t take the t roubl e to l earn the lei t-mot iv en

,and the writer i s prepared

,by persona l

observat ion and experience,to adm it tha t th is i s

t rue. The intel l ect ual grat ificat ion obtai ned froman understand ing o f the mot iven

,say these ad

v ocates,is an added pl easu re. Bu t th is i s an

evas ion . To l isten to W'

agner ’s m us ic-dramaswi thout an understand ing o f the mean i ng O f thel ei t-mot iven is not to j ust i fy h is musical system

,

but to ignore i t . I t is an endeavor to defend thesystem by demonst rat ing that we can get alongw ithou t i t . Th is wi l l not do . NVagner

’

s l e i tmot iven have a pu rpose

,and we must recogn i ze

that pu rpose i n o rde r to app rec iate h i s a rt form .

The t rue sol u t ion o f th i s d i fficu l ty can bereached on ly by widen i ng our v iew Of the sub

j cet so that the whol e field o f music i s embracedi n i t . The nat u re o f musi c re fu tes the assump

t ion that any compos i t ion i s to be heard onceand for al l

,as a play m ay be. Musical impres

s ions are fleet ing ; musical thoughts a re el usive.Al l m usic requ i res repet i t ion . Does the world

SOME OBJECTIONS TO LEI T-M OTI VE IV. 55

l i sten to a Beethoven symphony once and nomore ? Not at al l . The t reasu res o f absol u temusic are revealed on ly by frequent per fo rmance ; and the same th ing is t rue o f Opera.“ Fidel i o ” and “O rfeo are no t p layed once andthen done with ; nor are they pu t on for a s ingl erun o f one hund red n ights . So we must v i ewthese Wagner Operas in the l ight o f th is generalcha racter o f musi c . \Ve are to hear them aga i nand agai n

,and at l ast

,by cont i n u al compar ison o f

the tex t w i th the musical sett i ng,arrive at a fu ll

comprehens ion o f the com poser’s mean ing. Th isi s the art ist i c poss ibi l i ty wh ich Wagner con templ ated .

There is st i l l,however

,a d i fficu l ty. Musi c can

a rouse emot ion,and

,i n an i ndefin i te way, also

exp ress i t . NVhere Wagner has s i nned againstthe nat u re o f h is art i s i n h is attempts to make

m usi c exp ress p u rely mental p rocesses . Thereare several mot i ven

,l ike that o f the Compact ,

”

whose mean ing is en t i rely arbit rary. Wagner

has ru led that a certai n combinat ion o f tonesshal l i nd icate for h is hearers the fact that Wotan

is bound by h is cel est ial natu re to st ick to a bargai n . But mus i c i s not the l anguage o f bargai ns

,and no t even so great a gen i us as Wagner

can make i t so . You may learn the i ntendedmean i ng o f th is mot i f and accept i t accord i ng to

50“DER RING DE S NIBELUNGEN ”

the composer’s i n tent,bu t whenever you hear i t

you wi l l,i f you have a fine feel ing for music

,

regard it as a so rt o f musical Volap iik , a manufactured l anguage . I t seems to the wri ter

,then

,

that the l ei t mot i f system,whi l e no t t ru ly d ra

mat ic,i s t ru ly mus i cal ; that i t i s a sat i sfactory

wo rking system for Operat i c music,and that i ts

on ly serious art i st i c defect ar i ses from an abuseO f i t .Accept ing the l ei t mot i f as a defensibl e artfo rm

,everyone m ust be st ruck w ith i ts especial

fi tness for the musi ca l sett ing o f “ Der R i ng desN ibel u ngen .

” I t i s i n the tet ralogy that thep resen t wr i te r finds the h ighest j ust i ficat ion o f

\Vagner’

s system . I n the overwhelm ing revel at ion o f i ts adaptat ion to h is pu rposes i s thestrongest p l ea for i ts ex i stence. The re i s n oquest i on that many o f those composers whohave r isen to the d ist i nct i on i n the fiel d o f Operawou ld have been hampered and d iscou raged bythe rigid requ i rements O f the l ei t mot i f system .

But the t ime has gone by when the wo rl d believ ed i n the inv iol abi l i ty o f any spec ial form .

We do not demand o f the orchest ral composerto-day that he shal l wri te sym phon ies , or el se bec l assed bel ow the man who can produce capel lmeister music i n the establ ished class i c mold .

We have come to u nde rstand that every art ist

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58”DER RING DE S N IBELUN GE IV.

"

i cal specu lat ions on the essent ia l nat u re o f musicas the language o f consc iousness. V i ewed fromthe standpo i n t o f the psychologist

,music is cer

ta inly the l anguage o f the concept and descendsfrom its l o ft i est p u rpose when i t is made to exp ress i deas gathe red th rough sense-percept ion .

NO thought fu l person supposes that Beethovenmeant to photog raph a th u nderstorm i n ThePasto ra l Symphony

,or that Rubinstei n t ri ed

i n h is Ocean Symphony to pai nt the appearance o f the sea u nder va rying cond i t i ons o f

weather. These w r i ters sought to rai se i n thehea rer’s sou l emot ions s im i lar to those raised i nthei r own sou ls by these nat u ral phenomena.SO Wagner t r i es to convey to the hearer th eemot iona l conten t o f S i egfr i ed ’s sou l . And howdoes he do i t ? By wo rki ng out the S iegfr i edmot ive symphon ical ly ? Not at al l ; bu t by sub a

ject ing i t to a s impl e rhythm ica l change wh ichal ters and develops the character o f the melody along the same l i nes as S i egfr i ed

’s characterhas al tered and developed— from l ightness andebu l l i ency to fi rmness and sol id i ty. Th is i s oneo f the art ist i c ach ievements

,so s imp le i n i tsel f,

so st ri k ing i n i ts resu l ts,that convi nce us that

\Vagner was a gen i us,and that for h is p u rposes

h is fo rm was the right one .

I t is not necessary to t race th is p rocess i n

SOME OBJECTIONS TO LEI T-M OTI VE IV. 59

other mot ives. The unb iassed studen t o f Wagner wi l l have no d i fficu l ty i n d iscoveri ng its emp loymen t i n the changes to wh ich the Rhi nedaughters ’ mus ic

,the \Val hal la

,B ru nnh i lde

,and

othe r mot ives are subj ected . The changes arenot always rhythm ical ; frequ ent ly they areharmon ic . I n one case, as has been beaut i fu l

ly shown by Mr. Krehbiel , \Vagner ach ieves aremarkabl e e ffec t by l eav ing the atmosphere o fmodern m usic and p l unging i nto the darknesso f the m ed ize valstyl e . He exp resses the lacko f rest i n the wander ing o f Wotan by a mot ivewh ich has no tonal i ty

,and wh ich is

,nev erthe

l ess,p lai n ly a developmen t o f the NValhalla

theme. The fi tness o f th is fo rm o f musi cal de

v elopm ent for a d rama, which i s i n i tsel f fou rseparate plays to be p layed on consecu t ive days

,

i s u nden iabl e. I t makes the music coheren t andconnected

,j ust as the story is. I t establ i shes a

system o f c ross referen ces wh i ch explai ns mattersto the aud ito r. I t also i s i n i tsel f an argumen tagainst the d ismemberment o f the tet ralogy. I tforbids

,on art i st i c grounds

,not on ly the concert

performance o f excerpts,bu t the ope rat i c per

formance o f any one d rama o f the ser i es apartfrom the rest . These th i ngs may be done onthe ground of exped i ency

,bu t the very musi c it

sel f cri es out agai nst them as s ins agai nst art.

60 DER RIN G DE S NIBELUNGEN .

I t i s beyond doubt that mus ic wh ich is sodeep i n i ts emot ional s ign ificance and wh ich i swo rked out so logical ly i n i ts development doesmake those severe demands upon the i n tel l ectwhich a re u rged agai nst i t . But , on the otherhand

,when the le i t mot i f system i s attempted

i n a d rama where there is no development , or thedevelopment is i l l ogi cal

,as i n Franchetti ’s “As

rael,

” for i nstance,the l e i t mot i ven become me re

l abels,as some prej ud iced persons say Wagner

’sa re. The re is no s ign ifican t deve lopment to theAsrael mot i ve

,because Asrael i s i ncons isten t .

H is mot ive is noth i ng but a fixed formu la,and

has no mo re t rue m usical mean i ng than thoseu nhappy combi nat ions of sounds wh ich Wagnert r i es to make represen tat ive o f purely intellect ual p rocesses . Franchetti

’

s p r i nc ipal mot ivesa re worked to death i n Asrael.

” He makes abal l et out o f o ne o f them . Every aud itor canbecome acquai n ted wi th them i n two hearingso f the opera . They are s impl ic i ty i tsel f. But\Vagner has some mot ives whi ch no aud i tor canl earn from hearing. He must ei the r st udy h isscore at home o r have recou rse to handbooks ,on ly to find that Wagner has had recou rse toarbi t rary fo rmat ion

,and that some o f h is l e i t

mot iven a re,as h is Opponen ts unj ust ly say they

al l a re, mere labels wi thout organ i c con nect ion

SOME OBJECTIONS TO LEI T-M OTI VE IV. OI

with the tex t . They become as algebraic l etters,

and we hear the composer saying,Let x equal

the Gods ’ st ress .”

Here,then , we find the real weakness i n Wag

ner’s musical system . I t i s no t that we mustl i sten to h is d ramas agai n and agai n wi th closeattent ion to the text ere we can l ea rn the meani ng o f h is emot i ona l mot ives , for we have seenthat the fundamental c l aim o f musi c i s to beheard o ften

,bu t i t i s because he has at t imes

st r i ven to make musi c do what is not i n i t spower

,and has thereby i n t roduced i nto h is

works an el ement o f perp lex i ty to the mostsympathet i c and pat i en t l istener.One po i nt more is wo rth not ing : the emo

t ionally t ru th fu l mot ives i n \Vagner’

s works arealways those that are most adm i rabl e as pu remusic. I t i s no t necessary to exp lai n th is statement . Any person who wishes to put i t to thetest shou l d compare the compact mot i ve w i t hthe ren unc iat ion

,for i nstance

,or the Gods ’

st ress w i th the Love , or,i n “ D i e Meister

s i nger,

” the “ Art Brotherhood , as i t is cal l ed ,with the Longing. The b rotherhood o f art isa del ight fu l subj ect to exp ress i n musi c. VVagner’s l e i t mot i f for th is pu rpose w ou ld do j ustas wel l for the B rothe rhood o f Locomot i ve En

gineers, and i t i s m us ical ly far i n fer io r to those

62 DE R RING DE S NIBELUNGEN.

melod ies wh ich do t ru th fu l ly convey to u s theemotions o f Eva

,Sachs , and \Valther. When

one i s con fronted wi th these weaknesses i n IVagne r ’s system

,one feel s l i ke adopt ing the com

fortable pos i t i on , before ment ioned , o f enj oyingthe music w i thou t bothering abou t the l eit mo

t iv en . But they are l ike the ghosts i n Mae

beth they wi l l n ot down at one ’s bidd i ng.

IV.—COMMENTS AND COMMENTATORS.

WAGNER has the proud d ist i nct ion o f beingthe one composer o f our t ime who has given

rise to cont roversy . He has been abused without mercy and praised w ithou t d iscrim inat ion .

Nonsense has been w r i t ten for and agai nst h im .

Some o f h is c r i t i cs have fou nd fau l t w ith h imfor the very th ings wh ich are to h is cred i t othershave p raised h im fo r h is e rro rs. Perhaps nocoun t ry has w on greater d ist i n ct i on for i ts inabi l i ty to v i ew Wagner rat ional ly than England .

Th is is,doubt less

,owi ng to the fact that

Wagner’s l ater wo rks are not fai r ly known i nGreat B r i tai n . Neverthel ess

,I cannot refrai n

from b reaki ng lances wi th two Engl i sh com

m entators, one o f whom bearded Wagner i n h isl a i r.When a man sets up a theory and u ndertakesto make facts agree wi th i t

,he has a hard t ime .

The i nd uct ive m ethod o f reason ing is abso l utei n i ts tyranny

,and always c rushes anyone who

undertakes to pierce its armor. The on ly per

64"DER RING DE S N IB ELUIVGEN.

”

son who has any hope o f su ccess i n sc ience is hewho stud ies facts fi rst and formu lates h is theoryon the resu l ts obtai ned . Precisely the samemethod is to be used i n st udying the works ofg reat masters i n art . The man who begins bysaying

,Wagner was no t a great composer

,

” andthen goes h un t i ng for ev idence to prove h is statement

,i s bou nd to come to gr i e f. He shou ld

begi n by studying the works of Wagner,and

gene ral i zati ons o f an u n impeachabl e natu re wi llcome to h im

,i f he i s a th i nker. As Mr. Krehbiel

wisely said i n one o f h is l ect u res,the on ly way

to find out what Wagner means i s to go toWagner h imsel f—to study h im i n h i s scoresand not to accept second-hand ev idence.S i r Arthu r Su l l i van has set up the theo ry that

Wagne r d id not know how to make a l ibretto,

that he d id not sel ect the p roper k i nd o f material for h is stori es

,and that h is verse i s dog

gerel . This is not a new attack on the gen i us o fBayreu th

,bu t i t is u n usual . The common plan

i s to say that Wagner’s m usi c i s bad

,wh ich is a

hard proposi t ion to uphold . Some o f Wagner’sm usic i s harsh—that i s a safer and su rer assert ion .

I f S i r Arth u r had said some o f Wagner’s libretto-w r i t i ng i s poo r

,he wou ld have taken an un

assai l abl e ground,fo r no one who carefu l ly reads

the book of The Flyi ng Du tchman can fai l to

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66 “DER RING DES NIBELUN GE IV.

"

o f thei r knowl edge and bel i e f,along the l i nes

l aid down by the Greek maste rs . Every reform at ion i n ope rat ic art s i nce thei r day has beenan attempt to escape from the dominat ion o f

mere vocal accompl ishment , and to retu rn to thet rue basis o f the lyr i c d rama. The real grou ndwo rk is to be fou nd i n the plays o f the greatGreek t raged ians

,and thei r sel ect ion o f materia l

does not support S i r Arthu r’s theory.

IEschylus i s general ly cred i ted wi th being thefather o f Greek t ragedy. Strangely enough

,h i s

maste rp iece was a t ri logy,composed o f “Aga

memnon,

” The Choephorae,” and the Eume

n ides,

” i n wh i ch is set forth a c r ime—the mu rdero f Agamemnon— and i ts consequences

,very

much as Wagner te l l s the sto ry o f the thefto f the Rh inego ld and i ts d read i ssue. Like\Vagner

’

s wo rk,th is one contai ns two p lots—one

cel est ial and the other terrest rial—and m ingl esgods and mo rta l s i n the act ion . Moreover, theG reek t raged ian ’s wo rk is whol ly concerned withthose mytho logi cal and l egendary characterswho accord i ng to S i r Arth u r

,are “ essent ial ly

epi c . Fu rthe rmo re,IE schylus, l i ke Wagner,

used h is d ramas not on ly fo r the embod iment o fa nat ional l egend

,bu t also for the propagat ion

o f p ro found mo ral t ru ths . \Vorse than th is,

I‘Eschylus i s bel i eved to have w r i tten a tetral ogy

COMAIENTS AND COAIMENTATORS. 67

on myth ical events , o f wh ich The Seven agai nstThebes i s supposed to be the final d rama .

But IEschylus does not stand a lone as an op

ponen t o f S i r Arthu r’s theo ry . After h im cameEu r i p ides

,his m ighty successor

,who has been

cal led the “ v i rt ual founder o f the romant i cd rama . His method resembles Wagner’s mo rec lose ly than that o f IEschylus d id i n th is : Heendeavo red to make h is heroi c personages morereal

,mo re l ike the men and women o f every-day

li fe . And he helped h imsel f i n a most l iberalmanner to that mytho logi cal and l egendarymatter wh i ch

,accord ing to Su l l i van

,is so t ru ly

ep ic.His Alcest i s d i ffered from the normal type

o f Greek tragedy i n that i t was not fou nded on

one O f the great l egends , but on one of the smal lerep isodes o f mythology. I n the H ippolytus ”

he made use o f one of the stori es relat i ng toArtem is

,a gen u i ne out-and-Out goddess . I n

I on the hero i s a son o f Creusa and the godApol lo

,and one of the characters i s Athena

,who

is al so an important figure i n the Suppl iants .”

The “ Herac l es Mainom enos begi ns w i th theret u rn of Herac l es from Hades

,wh ither he had

been sen t to br i ng back Cerbe rus . His Iph i

gen ia i n Tau ris,

” “ I phigen ia i n Au l is,

” “O res

tes,” and Bacchze al l make use of my tholog

68 DE R RING DE S NIBELUN GEN .

i cal o r l egendary material , i n open defiance o f Si rA rthu r ’s pretty theory .

But the modem s have broken fai th wi th Si rArthu r j ust as ru th l ess ly as the anc i ents ; forwhen Jacopo Peri w rote the fi rst operas

,he del i

berately chose such subj ects as Daphne ” andEu ryd ice,

” and Claud io Monteverde,the

\Vagner o f h is t ime,wrote O r feo .

” And whenGl uck lau nched the fi rst Ope rat i c reformat ion hepu rposely sel ected Eu rip idean subj ects

,Al

cest i s,

” Iph igen ia i n Au l is,

” and Iph igen ia i nTau ri s

,to wh ich he added “ O rpheus . ” I t does

real ly seem as i f no one had any considerat ionfor S i r Arth u r. Even Mozart hel ped h imsel f tothe l egend o f Don Giovann i

,

” Weber to thato f “ Der Fre ischti tz , and Gou nod to that o f

Faust,

” as expanded by Goethe. And evenS i r Arth u r ’ s own Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer Night ’s D ream ,

o f which the materia l

is excess ively myth ical .Al l th is goes to show that i f you des i re to cen

su re a man ’s wo rk you shou l d find the real fau l ts,

not set up a theo ry wh ich has feet o f c lay.

However,S i r Arth u r Su l l i van does no t stand

alone i n h is fol ly. M r. Joseph Bennett can d iscove r mo re fau l ts i n \Vagne r than S i r Arthu r can

,

and make far more r id icu l ous obj ect ions to h i swo rk . I n h is “Letters from Bayreuth he be

COMMENTS AND COMMENTATORS. 69

wai ls i n good set terms Wagner’s l ost Opportu

n ities, and is gr i eved to the hea rt that Verd i d i dnot compose “ D i e GOtterdamm erung. Theaged I tal ian maestro i n h is r ipe years wou ld cer

tainly have w r i tten much fine musi c for the story,

but i t i s almost imposs ibl e to conce i ve o f theGerman master ’s st up endous d ramat i c poem d issociated from h is own V i ta l i z i ng measu res. Mr.Bennett ’s part i cu lar grievance i s that NVagnerd id not wri te more choruses i nstead o f perm i tt i ng Gunther’s vassal s to remain s i l en t so mucho f the t ime. “ I f the warriors may accl aimGunther and Brunnh i lde

,

” he asks,

“ why arethey s i l en t when Hagen k i l l s S iegfr i ed ? Whyno exc lamat ions as the hero ’s body is receivedby the King ’s househo ld ? Above al l , why i sthe stage fi l l ed wi th a c rowd Of d umm ies d u ri ngthe magn i ficen t and moving last scene ? Theabsence of a cho rus here is the very wantonnesso f whim . I t exc i tes an an noying sense o f in

completeness,and makes u s c ry

,even beneath

the roof O f Wagner ’s theat re,Oh for a Verd i ! ’

Alas,poor Joseph ! How shamefu l ly Verd i

has betrayed you r fai th The ardent an t i-Wagneri te m ust have fo rgotten al l abou t “Ai da ”

when he w rote these l i nes. IVhen Rhadamesand A’

i’da a re dying i n the vau l t , the templ e

above is fi l l ed w i th a crowd O f d ummies,

” and

70”DE R RING DE S N IBELUN GE IV.

"

the on ly words u ttered are a few broken express ions o f gri e f from the stricken Amneris . O f

cou rse,poor M r . Bennett cou l d not have fore

seen i n 1876 the d read fu l th ings Ve rd i was goingto do i n O tel lo

,

” bu t i t is a notabl e fact that

when Emel i a ala rms the househo ld after Desdemona ’s m u rder

,the members o f the chorus ne

gleet thei r Oppo rtu n i t i es qu i te as shamefu lly asGunther’s vassals . I t was not Verd i that M r.Bennet t had i n h is m ind

,i t was Don izett i . He

wou ld have cooked up a d uet for Hagen andGunther over Siegfr i ed ’s body

,and wou ld have

sent the dead hero back to the hal l o f the G ib ichungs to the st rains O f a ma rt ia l chorus . Andthen what a mad scene B rtinnhilde wou l d havehad over the b ier ! Spa rgi d ’amaro ” wou ldhave been nowhere

,and she wou ld have had a

cadenza agai nst t ime and a fl ute wh ich wou ldhave fi l l ed the ai r to bu rst i ng w ith ecstat ic bravas. And the cho rus

,i nstead o f figu r i ng as a.

l ot o f d ummies,wou ld have remarked :

Oh , what a fatal even t !Dread fear covers al l !N ight , con ceal the sad m isfortuneW i th thy th i ck , dark ve i l i

I t seems st range that any th i nk ing human bei ng shou ld wri te such puer i l e nonsense about a

COMMENTS AND COIIIMENTATORS 7 I

great d ramati c scene as M r. Joseph Bennett hasw r i tten abou t S i egfr i ed ’s death . Does i t not

st ri ke al l o f us that noth i ng cou l d be so impress ive as the st ri cken speech l essness o f the gr imwarriors who c l uster i n the moon l ight aroundS iegfri ed ’s body ? Cou ld any conversat ion goon except that o f those persons who wi l l doubtl ess struggl e to d iscuss-thei r d inner part i es d u ri ng the blast o f the l ast t rumpet ? \Vhat choralst rai ns cou l d poss ibly be wri t ten that wou l d no tbe an impert i nence i n terposed between S i egfr i ed ’s l ast words and that more than human mus ic

,the death march I t is

,i ndeed

,cu riou s that

M r. Bennett shou l d have chosen for condem na

t ion one o f the h ighest exampl es o f Wagner’s fitness for the product ion o f an immorta l t ragedy.

The same wri ter complains a good deal abou tthe d ramat i c power o f D i e GOtterd

'

ammerung.

He says : Had the master empl oyed ever so

freely th e sp l end id resou rces that l ay ready toh is hand

,i t is doubt fu l whether the dramat ic

power o f ‘GOtterdamm erung’ wou ld not have

pu t the music i n a secondary p lace. Remarks

o f th i s sort show how adm i rably Mr. Bennettsu cceeded i n h is bru t ish determ inat ion to m is

understand NVagner. To al l who know that i t

w as the immovabl e bel i ef o f the master that thebus iness o f the music was to explai n and i l l ustrate

72 DER RIN G DE S NIBELUNGEN.

the d rama, and that i t m ust consequent ly be i nthe nat u re o f th ings subservi ent

,Mr. Bennett ’s

complai n t i s s imply amus i ng. And we are st i llmo re del ighted when he p roceeds to rank thefinal d rama o f the N ibel u ng cyc l us as th i rd i no rder o f excel l ence

,because “ i t p resents l i t t l e o f

novel ty.

”

He cont i n ues th us : Accord ing to a verycarefu l analysi s by Herr v on \Volz ogen, thereare i n ‘Der Ring des N ibel u ngen ’ n i nety d ist i nct mot i vi

,of wh ich th i rty-fiv e belong to

Das Rh inegold,

’ twenty-two to ‘D i e Walk ii re,

’

twenty to S iegfried,

’ and on ly th i rteen to Got

terdamm erung,’ which thu s has

,with smal l te

l i e f,to bear the bu rden o f constant ly repeat

i ng themes al ready heard over and over again .

Now here,gent le reader

,you have a capi tal p lan

fo r est imat ing the comparat ive val ue o f Wagne r's m usic-d ramas . The master adopted a system o f le i t mot i ven , and const ructed the scoreso f h i s operas out o f themes havi ng certai n meani ngs

,ergo

,the wo rk wh ich con tai ns the most

mot i ves has the most mean ings,and is therefore

the best . Thus we ee ctually demonst rate that“ T r i stan u nd Iso lde

,

” which contains a very

Zm alln umber o f l ei t mot i ven,i s one o f the poor

est o f al l the master’s p roduct ions.I n the d rama cal l ed “ Led Astray, after Hec

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74“DER RING DE S N IBELUN GE IV.

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boldness o f a reckl ess,enthus iast i c boy becomes

the t remendous,i rres ist ibl e hero i sm of a matu re,

resol u te , i ndom i tabl e man .

So m uch for these two musi cal l ights o f Engl and . But el sewhere the re a re a few l ess d is

t inguished wri ters who, by jo i n i ng forces, contriv e to keep u p the old con t roversy abou tI tal ian versus German opera. Th is warfare i sa cu rious th ing . I t i s cu rious because the realquest i on i s so o ften obscu red . The real quest ion i s obvious ly th i s : What i s opera ? ”

Given a good work ing defin it ion o f Opera asa standard

,there shou l d be no serious d ifficul

ty i n test ing each spec imen by i t . The resu l twou l d almost certai n ly be that the controversy

,

as between I tal ian and German opera,wou l d be

sett l ed because we shou ld find that some German works were weak and some I tal ian worksst rong. An attempt at a pract ica l defin it i onwas recen t ly made by a New York newspaperw r i ter, who said that Opera was a sett i ng fo rwonderfu l voices and a med i um for the bestowalo f pleasu re th rough the agency o f ent rancingharmon ies . That ’ s abou t what an opera i s intended to be .

” Who intended i t to be that ?Not the I tal ian enth usiasts who i nvented i t

,for

thei r v iews as to the natu re and pu rpose o f

opera are on reco rd . The “ ent ranci ng har

COMMEN TS AND COMME IVTATORS 75

mon ies part o f the defin it ion may at once bed ism issed . The w r i te r ev ident ly meant mel od ies

,for i t i s a wel l-known fact that the advo

cates o f the vocal d isp lay ope ra (“ sett i ng for

wonder fu l vo ices are Opposed to i nt ri cate andchangefu l harmony. The composers who intended thei r operas to be sett ings for wonderfu lvo ices are not qu ite as important as those who

i ntended thei rs to be d ramas w i th music emp loyed to express and i n tens i fy the emot ionsi nd i cated by the text. Here is a l ist o f themost cel ebrated o f each c lass

,the former i n the

fi rst col umn,the lat ter i n the second . The l i st

,

o f cou rse, i s n ot made arbi trari ly, but i s j u st ifiedby musical h isto ry

,by the i nterna l ev idence o f

the composers ’ works,and by the genera l ver

d i ct o f the m usical world

Scarlat t i Per i ,P i c c in i , Mon teverde ,Pergo les i , Lu l l i ,jom elli , Ram eau ,Sacchini , Glu ck ,P aisiel lo , Moz art ,C im arosa, Cherub in i ,M arcel lo

,S pon t i n i ,

Lo t t i,

Bee thovenCaldara

, e ber ,B uonon c i n i , M arschner,G al uppi , M éhul,

76‘DER RING DE S NIBELUNGEIV.

”

Fux , Halevy ,G raun , Gounod ,Hasse , B iz e t

,

Hande l , Wagner,Ross i n i , R eyer ,M erc adante, Sai n t-Saens,Pa c i n i , Massenet,Bel l in i , Lalo ,

Doni z e t t i, R ub i nstein,Meyerbeer, Bo i to

,

Verd i (early) , Pon ch iel l i ,Thomas. Go ldm ark,

Franchetti,Verd i (l ate) .

There may easi ly be a d i fference o f opi n ionas to the p lace o f Handel and Meyerbeer

,bu t

the wri ter bel i eves that he has good grounds forp l ac ing them i n the fi rst c lass . Verd i belongsto th e fi rst c lass by al l h is work up to “Ai da,

”

bu t that Opera and O tel l o certai n ly pu t h imi n the second consequen t ly he is given a placein each l ist . The weight o f the authori ty o f

great music ians seems to be cons iderably i nfavor o f the t rue musical d rama. Count ingVerd i once i n each c lass

,there are six compo

sers i n the fi rst d iv is ion whose operas are performed to-day

,and twenty-one i n the second

d iv is ion,o f whom eleven a re l iv ing. There i s

no l i vi ng composer o f cel eb r i ty st i l l p roduc ing

COMMENTS AIVD COMMENTATORS 77

Operas i n tended to be s imply a sett i ng forwonderfu l voi ces . They a re a l l sacrific ing th eO ld-fash ioned Operat i c form u las and fiorituri toal l eged d ramat ic requ i rements .”

There i s noth ing so absol u tely u nsat is factoryas a contest over art

,becau se where pu rposes

are d iamet r i cal ly opposed i t i s imposs ibl e fort he contend ing part i es to understand one an

other . The VVagnerite says he does not careanyth ing whatever abou t wal t z temp i and sweetmelod i es

,wh ich are as comprehensibl e to a ch i l d

as they are to an old man . He wants d ramat i ct ru th

,and i f an ugly sen t iment i s to be ut tered

,

i t m ust be exp ressed i n d issonan t music ; for tocouch i t i n m ellifluous measu res wou l d be anabsu rd i ty. The ant i-Wagneri te declares thathe goes to the opera for pl easure, and that h i sp l easu re cons ists i n h eari ng beau t i fu l t unesbeau t i fu l ly sung. I t i s a cu r i ous fact—at anyrate

,i t seems to be a fact—that the bona fide

an t i-Wagner i t e n ever goes to a symphony or

chamber-music concert . I f he d id,he wou ld ,

i n order to be consistent,be obl iged to condemn

Beethoven,Schumann

,Liszt

,Chop in

,Brahms

,

Dvorak,Tschaikowsky

,and Rubi nstei n for do

i ng the very same th ing that Wagner d idwrit ing d issonan t measu res when i t su i ted thei rpu rpose to do so . But , as there is no blatan t

78 DER RING DE S NIBELUN GEN.

Opposi t i on to these composers,we are forced to

the concl us ion that the an t i-\Vagnerites do notgo to hear thei r m us ic , or else they are incons isten t

,which is , o f cou rse, i nconce i vabl e.

What is the use o f opposi ng Wagner,i f he i s

s uch a wretched composer ? Why not l et h ims i nk i nto that obscu r i ty wh ich is the inev itable doom of al l fal se art ists Does anyone suppose for a moment that a great metropol i tanpubl ic can be forced to go and spend i ts moneyon a p leasu re wh ich does not p l ease i t ? Thespectac l e o f th ree thousand i ntel l igent c i t i zensof New Yo rk st ruggl i ng for seats or stand i ngroom i n the Metropo l i tan Opera House

,fou r

t imes a week,to hear operas which they do not

l ike , s imply because a few “Wagner man iacs,

as they are cal l ed,proc laim i n the market

p laces that he is the greatest wri ter o f lyri cd ramas that ever l ived

,wou ld be astound ing.

\Vould any amount o f shout i ng and gesticulati ng i nd uce th is p ubl i c to cond uct i tsel f i n a s im

ilar manner w i th regard to the operas o f Michael IVilliam Bal fe ? Not by any means. But ,on the other hand , why shou ld a l over o f them ighty d ramas o f Wagner al l ow h is chol er tor i se when I tal ian Ope ra i s annou nced I s thereno balm i n Gi l ead ? Is there noth ing good i nI tal ian opera

,because i t i s conceived i n a d i ffer

COAIMENTS AND COMMENTATORS. 79

ent sp i ri t and wri tten i n a d ifferen t styl e fromWagner’s works What fo l ly What pueri l i tyto make such an assert ion ! I tal ian Opera hasone mer i t wh ich endea rs i t to th is publ i c

,and

wi th good reason . I t cherishes an art whosel ovel i ness never grows old and whose at t ract ionsnever pal l . “ Age cannot wi ther n or customstal e i ts i nfin ite variety.

” I mean the art o fbeau t i fu l s i ngi ng.

Withou t that art the opera must su rely perish. With i t the Wagnerian art i st can reachreal greatness . What wou l d Sucher, Mal ten ,Lehmann

,and the rest be w ithou t thei r vo ices

and thei r po l ished vocal art Yet al l that thesepeop l e know abou t s inging I taly taught themd i rect ly or i n d i rect ly. I t i s not necessary forthe wri ter to rei terate h is O ften-repeated est imate o f the val u e o f I tal ian methods i n s ingi ng.

Those methods speak for themselves th roughthe med i um o f the marvel lous voices wi th wh ichthe Creator gi fted such s ingers as Patt i and Alban i .There wou ld never be any controversy be

tween Wagner and I tal ian Opera i f the contestants wou l d s imply adm i t the pu rposes o f each .

Wagner st rove to u n ite poet ry,pain t i ng

,act ion

,

and m usic i n one coheren t and v i tal d ramat i c

art . The pu rpose o f the music i s the same as

80 “DER RING DE S NIBELUNGEN .

"

that of the pain t i ng and the act ion—to i l l ust rate and exp l i cate the poem . Th is being so

,i t

i s obvious that al l set forms are i l l ogical for thepu rpose i n hand , and al l mus ic wh i ch does notsac r ifice beau ty to t ruth i s fal se to the composer’s design . The pu rpose o f the so-cal l ed Ital ianOpera i s to produce—first

,l ast

,and al l the t ime

sweet melod ies wh ich can be sweet ly sung. Toth is end the d ramati c poem is so const ructed asto adm it a p l eas i ng variety i n the order of so los ,d uets

,t rios

,quartets

,choruses

,and ensembles,

and the orchest ral port ion o f the work i s t reatedst ri ct ly as an accompan iment to the voices . I fany emot ion demands a harsh and d issonant utterance, i t must be mod i fied i n such a way thati t can be expressed i n song withou t i n ter ferencew i th the p rod uct ion o f a beau t i fu l tone. I nbr i ef, the whol e mach i nery o f the opera o f theLucia,

” La Traviata,

” and Il Trovatore ”

school i s const ru cted for the bus i ness o f t u rning out good s inging.

Now, what is the use o f go ing over the old

argument that one i s a t rue art form and theother an i nto l erabl e hybr i d Verd i has adm ittedthe t ru th o f that a rgument . So have Gounodand Boi to and Reye r and Lalo and Franchett iand Sai nt-Saens and Massenet

,and other con

temporaneous composers,who have demon

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82”DER RIN G DE S NIBELUNGEN .

"

v ictions. He cannot forever be going abou t inqu i ri ng

,

“What i s t rue art ? ” The fu t i l i ty ofan exam inat ion which never reaches any resu l tsi s obvious . Al l that can be asked o f the cri t i ci s that he shal l carefu l ly and w ithou t prej ud ice

v iew both s ides o f the quest ion before form ingan Op i n ion . That

,too, i s a l l that can be asked

o f the publ ic. I f the cri t i c finds that a certai nform of art i s based on fal se pri ncip l es

,but has

many beaut ies,he has no right to c lose h is eyes

to i ts att ract ions . Ne i ther has the non-profess ionalc ri t i c—for every person who goes to theopera is , o f cou rse, a cri t i c i n and for h imsel f.The ardent lover o f Wagner has no right to saythat there is no mer i t i n I tal ian opera. I t i s nott rue. Therefore he has no right to v i ew withcon tempt those who prefer I tal ian opera to German . They l i ke good s i nging and they don ’tcare a rap abou t d ramat i c s ign ificance. Therea re substant ia l argumen ts i n favo r o f a l ove forp u re vocal techn iqu e

,and the l over o f \Vagner

,

i f he is fai r-minded,must recogn i ze them .

I f he feel s that the lover o f I tal ian ope ra i s i na ben ighted cond i t ion o f musi cal taste

,l et h im

calm ly and sens i bly endeavor to exp lai n thegreatness o f Wagner. I f the lover o f I tal ianopera bel i eves that h i s Wagneri te fri end i s i nou ter darkness

,where there is weeping and wai l

COMMENTS AND COMM ENTATORS. 83

i ng and gnash ing o f t rombones,l et h im calm ly

and sens ibly endeavor to explai n the greatnesso f Don i zett i . Let h im l ectu re to h i s Wagneri te fri end on How to l i sten to Bel l i n i .” Bu t ,for p i ty ’s sake

,l et them not go at one another

tooth and nai l,as i f the d iv i ne myster i es o f mu

s i c were to be sett l ed by the ru l es o f the Marqu is o f Queensberry. Exh ibi t ions o f wrath overthese th ings w i l l never convi nce manki nd thatone i s seek ing

,as Matthew Arnold puts i t , t o

“ l earn and propagate the best that i s knownand thought i n the world.

”

WAGNERIANA.

I.—THE BOOK OF PARSIFAL.

”

MR . JOHN P. JACKSON has wri tten an adm irabl e i n t rod uct ion to h is Engl i sh vers ion o f

Wagner's Pars i fal . I n that i nt roduct ion Mr.Jackson has made excel l en t use o f ProfessorTappert

’

s con t ribut ions to our knowl edge o f themaster’s works . I t i s wel l known that the poemo f Pars i fa l was compl eted by Wagner i n thesummer o f 1877, or abou t a year after the fi rs tBayreu th fest ival

,when the N ibel u ng t ragedy

was reveal ed i n its en t i rety. He read i t on September l6th before the del egates from the German Wagner soc iet i es wh ich had made h is d reamo f a Wagner theat re an actual fact. Reverently we sat that afternoon

,

” says ProfessorTappert

,

“ i n v i l l a Wahnfried. I t was an hou rthat can never be forgotten . When the mastercame to the th i rd act

,j ust to the p lace where th e

coffi n w ith T i t u rel ’s corpse is borne i n to the hall

by the Kn ights o f the Grai l,the sun was s ink ing

beh i nd the t rees i n the Hof Garden . His lastbeams

,t rembl i ngly

,l i ke greet i ng Sp i ri ts

,came

88 WAGNE R IANA .

s i l en t ly i nto the room and glorified the scene,

the waves o f l ight rest i ng l ike a hal o arou nd thehead of the composer . ” We can eas i ly imagin ethe effect o f su ch a p ictu re upon those who heardfor the fi rst t ime th is marvel lo us d ramat ic poem .

Accord i ng to Edwa rd Dann reu ther, th is scenewas foreshadowed on May 17th , when the masterread “ Parsi fal ” to a c i rc l e o f fri ends i n O rmeSqua re

,London. The book was publ ished i n

December, 1877. But ,

” says Mr. Jackson ,“ the germ O f the ‘Pars i fa l ’ music-drama wasborn i n Wagner’s m ind m uch earl i er than 1877.

The fi rst port ions were the Abendmah l sceneand the ‘Good F r iday Magic . ’ The latter i sthought to date from the year 1857. ProfessorTappert says : ‘\Vagner tol d me (i n 1877) thati n the fi ft ies

,when i n Z u r i ch

,he took possession

on a Good Fr i day o f a cha rming new house, andt hat

,i nsp i red by the beaut i fu l spri ng weather,

he wrote out the sketch that very day of theGood Fr iday From a letter o f h is toTicli atschek (the teno r) , dated Z u rich , February

9 , 1857, Professor Tappert bel i eves that he isj ust ified i n com ing to the conc l us ion that 1857i s the date to be adopted . The passage i n h i sl etter is quoted by Mr. Jackson , and reads AtEaster I shal l take possess ion o f a very charm ingl i tt l e v i l l a near Z u ri ch

,with a pretty garden , i n

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90 WAGNERIANA.

off eri ng than Parsi fal . I n al l h is works Wagner had preached the gospel o f sel f-sacrifice . I nParsi fa l he retu rned to that beau t i fu l Christ ian mythol ogy from wh ich he had d rawn h is i nsp i rat ion fo r “ Tannhauser and Lohengri n

,

and gave to the world a pass ion p lay beside wh ich

(cons ider i ng the power o f music) even the sacredt ragedy o f Oberamme rgau must seem feebl e.I t was wh i l e co l l ect i ng the material s fo rTannh

’

auser that Wagner read,among other

th ings,the med ie val poem

,Der Wartbu rg

k r i eg,” wh ich led h im to st udy the personal

character o f Wol fram von Eschenbach as wel l asto perce ive the avai labi l i ty o f h is Parz ival ford ramat ic pu rposes. I t i s asid e from our d i rectp u rpose , but extremely i nterest i ng, to note herethe aston ish ing exten t o f the preparatory studi es which Wagner undertook i n approach ing al lo f h is great works , and the fidel i ty wi th whichhe reproduced facts whenever i t was possible.Wol fram von Eschenbach d id actual ly pass theyear 1204 at the Cou rt o f the Landgrave Herrmann O f Thu ringia

,at the Cast l e Wartbu rg

,near

E isenach,where were also (accord i ng to the

poem) Walter von der Vogelweide, Reimar theE l der

,Hen ry of R ispach ,

Hen ry of O fterd i ngen ,and Klingesor von Unger l and . Wol fram figu resi n the \Vartburgkrieg (the VVartburg contest)

THE BOOK OF 9 1

as a legendary personage, bu t i t i s not at al l improbable that he real ly d id take part i n such acontest as Wagner has p ict u red i n Tannhauser.The poet-composer

,at any rate

,has been so

t ruth fu l as to make the character o f Wol fram i nthe Opera cons isten t w i th that o f the real man

,

and to make h im utter sent iments wh ich arei n keep i ng with those o f Wol fram

’

s wri t ings .Bayard Taylor says that he finds sp i r i t ual meani ng sh i n ing th rough the l i nes o f Parz ival I tappears to h im to i ncu l cate the doct r i n e that“ peace o f sou l comes on ly through fai th andobed ience. This i s not far from the doctri n ei n cu l cated by Wagner ’s Pars i fal .” Wol fram ’spoem opens w i th an i nt rod uct ion i n wh ich th emeri ts o f t ru e womanhood are extol l ed i n p reference to mere beau ty. This i s the ve ry hearto f the con t roversy i n the con test o f song i n“ Tannhéiuser,

” and Wol fram takes the sameposi t i on there

,oppos ing Tannhauser’s rash ad

v ocacy o f the del ights o f sensual l ove . I t i s notstrange that Wagner

,whose l i fe-wo rk was large

ly devoted to p reach ing the salvat ion o f manthrough the pu re l ove o f woman

,shou ld have

st ud ied the works o f Wol fram and d rawn fromthem

,fi rst Lohengri n

,and afte rward the sacred

music-d rama Pars i fal . ” I t i s a p i ty that we

know so l i tt l e about Wol fram’

s l i fe. That he

92 WAGAE RIANA .

was a Bavarian is gathered from h is own statement (Stanza 1 2 1 , Li ne 7, Canto G urnemanz

,

and that he was poor and obl igedto subs ist after the p recar i ous fash ion o f mediaevalm i nst rels

,i s to lerably w el l p roved . These and

the few other facts ment ioned are al l that weknow O f h is h isto ry ; bu t h is nobi l i ty O f characteri s establ i shed on foundat ions wh ich cannot beshaken . His great poem remained unpubl i shedu nt i l 1477, when i t was given to the worl d i ntwo vo l umes u nder the t i t l e o f “ Partz i falundTi t u rel .The story o f Pars i fal and h is relat ions wi th

the Kn ights o f the Holy Grai l i s one o f t he

most beaut i fu l o f the tal es o f ch ival resque ro

mance. The romance l i te rat u re o f the med ianva l ages i s d iv ided i n to several cyc l es

,o f wh ich

one i s known as the A rth u r ian . The fivestori es i n th i s cyc l e a re those o f Me r l i n

,Perce

val,the Grai l

,Launcelot

,and Tri stan . The

Pe rceval l egend,with wh ich we a re now con

cerned,rests u pon the G rai l sto ry

,wh ich

,there

fo re,demands o ur fi rst cons iderat ion . I t i s sai d

to have been i n t rod uced i n to Spai n by theA rabs

,w ho

,O f cou rse

,d id no t endow the cup

wi th the sac red powe r o f the Ch r i st ian l egend .

Acco rd ing to Wol fram,Guyot de Prov ins

(flou r i shed 1 190 author o f a poem about

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94 WAGNER/ANA .

o f the tenaci ty o f archaic words among prov i n.

cial peop le, S im rock’

s evidence appears to th ew r i ter to be excel l ent

,espec ial ly when coupl ed

w ith the fact that i n that Provencal vers ion o fthe sto ry on wh ich Guyot ’s poem is u ndoubtedly fou nded , and wh ich therefore an tedatesWol fram ’s

,the grai l i s a cup .

Accord ing to Wol fram,s ixty thousand angel s

who wished to d rive G od out o f heaven madea crown for Luci fer. When the a rchangel M ichael dashed i t from h is head a stone fel l out,and th is became the Grai l . Robert de Borron

,

a t rouvere,born near Meaux

,w rote (abou t

1 170—80) the Provencal ve rs ion wh ich has been

referred to . I t was cal l ed “ Joseph o f A r imathea

,

”or

“The H istory o f the Holy Grai l,

” andi n i t Perceval (Wagner

’s Pars i fal ) was u ndoubtedly ment ioned . Now, how d id th i s hero o f aFrench romance come to be that o f one o f theBri t ish Arth u rian l egends ? And here we a recon fronted w ith evidence that seems to p roveP erceval to have been o f B r i t i sh o r igi n

,for one

w r i te r der i ves h is name from perchen ,a root

sign i fyi ng possess i on,and “ mai l” (i n i t ial ly in

flected a cup , and su rmises that theear l i est fo rm o f the name w as Percheuval,

mean ing cup-holder or grai l-keepe r . Whetherth is be the t rue exp lanat ion of the name or not,

THE B OOA' OF 95

i t st rikes us as being far mo re acceptabl e thanthat wh i ch Wagner made for the pu rpose Of h i sd rama, deriv ing the name from A rabic “ Falpars i ,

” fool i sh pu re one.

The exp lo i ts O f Arth u r were compi led byGeoffrey o f Monmouth . He d ied i n 1 154 , th eyear i n which Hen ry I I . ascended the throne .

Hen ry was o f the house o f Anjou,and u n i ted

u nder h i s scept re the crowns o f England,Nor

mandy , Anjou , and a great part o f Southe rnFrance . I n h i s reign (1 154—89) flou r i shed Walter Map , an Archdeacon O f Oxfo rd . His ch ie fwork , acco rd i ng to P ro fessor Morl ey, cons istedi n i n t roduc ing the Holy Grai l i n to the ro

manees wh ich ex i sted be fore h is t ime,and mak

i ng i t the p i vot a rou nd wh ich they al l revolved .

And here,as P ro fesso r D ippol d notes i n h i s

Great Ep ics o f Med iaeval Germany,

” we havean explanat ion o f th e manner i n wh ich th eFrench and Engl i sh vers ions o f Perceval andthe G rai l l egend became interm ingl ed . Theu n ificat ion o f England and parts o f France un

der one monarch was d i rect ly favo rabl e to sucha resu l t . I t accou nts for the fact , too , that al

most s imu l taneously wi th Robert d e Borron,as

far as we know now,Ch ré t i en d e Troyes w rote

a “ Conte de Graal .” His poem does not givea complete accou nt o f the adventu res o f Perce

96 WAGNER/ANA .

val,and Wol fram

,who mentions h im ,

accuses

h im of having i ncorrect ly to ld the sacred story .

The Grai l romance,as w r i tten by Borron

,

does not ment ion the stone from Luci fer’sc rown , which afterwa rd became the sacred cupused by Ch r is t at the Last Suppe r. Accord ingto t rad i t ion

,Pi late perm itted Joseph o f Ar ima

thea to take the body o f Jesus down from thec ross

,and gave h im “

son vaisseul,” the sacred

cup,i n wh ich Joseph p iously co l l ected the Sav

iour’

s blood,and the lance w i th wh ich the

Master ’s s ide was p ierced . Joseph and h isb rother-in-l aw Bron (subsequent ly d ubbed

“ le

ro i pecheu r wen t westward and the Grai l wast rans ferred to the keep i ng o f Bron

,who became

the head o f the l i ne o f Grai l-warders . Borron ,the reade r wi l l note

,d id not d iscover any black

l et ter manusc r ipt w i th ev idence that h is sover

e ign’

s ancestors we re the warde rs. Bron re

mains on the Cont i nent,whi l e Alan

,h is son ,

sett l es i n B r i tai n,where he becomes the father

o f Perceval . B ron has kept the Grai l and al lknowl edge pertai n i ng to i t profound ly secretfrom everyone save Alan . Pe rceval i s to be theth i rd o f the race to see the Grai l

,bu t after pass

i ng th rough a peri lo us quest . I n the meant imePerceval has become a kn ight o f Arth u r’s roundtabl e

,and starts on h is j ou rney. After var i o us

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98 WAGNER/ANA .

I n Wol fram ’s ep ic Parz ival i s the son o f

Gamuret and Herz olo ide. G am uret i s sl ai n i na tou rnament

,and Herz olo ide, fea r i ng that her

son may meet wi th a sim i lar fate,b r i ngs h im up

i n the forest o f So ltane,i n u tter ignorance o f

ch ival ry. But the you th one day sees threekn ights , whom he takes for angel s . They tel lh im that i f he wishes to become a hero o f ch iv

alry he must go to King Arth u r’s Cou rt . Her

z olo ide,so re at heart

,i s fo rced to yie ld to her

son ’s en t reat ies. Before l ett i ng h im depart,

however, she d resses h im i n the costume o f afool . After some st i rr i ng advent u res he reachesArthu r ’s Cou rt

,where h is man ly beauty com

mands adm i rat i on i n sp ite o f h is st range att i re.The you th becomes a kn ight and does someb rave deeds

,after wh ich he comes to the cast l e

o f an ol d warr i o r named G urnemanz,who gives

h im much i nst ruct i on . Parz ival goes fo rwardagai n and eventual ly a rr i ves at the cast l e o f theGrai l . Here occu rs a scene ve ry sim i lar to thefi rst scene i n the cast l e i n Wagner’s d rama.The sacred lance, d r i pp ing with bl ood , i s carried a round the hal l

,and Urepanse de Joie, the

pu rest o f women,en ters

,bear i ng the Holy

G rai l . The sacred stone i s p laced i n fron t o fthe l o rd o f the cast l e

,whose face shows t hat he

i s su fferi ng great agony,and the feast o f the

THE BOOK OF 99

Grai l takes place . Parz ival asks no quest ionsand l earns noth ing. Befo re depart i ng he seesi n an adj o in i ng room a very aged man (Tit u rel )repos ing on a bed . As he is leaving the cast l ethe next morn i ng he i s sco lded by a kn ight fornot ask ing the quest i on on wh ich depends therecovery o f the s i ck lord o f the Grai l . He afterward l earns where i t i s that he has been .

He retu rns to the Cou rt o f K i ng Arth u r andis admitted to the fel lowsh ip o f the RoundTable. At a feast there appears a woman cal l edCondrie l a Sorciere , o f d read appearance

,the

terrib l e messenger o f the Holy Grai l,who over

whelms Parz ival wi th abuse because he d id notask the quest ion

,and says to K i ng Arth u r

The glory o f the Table R ound ,Its power, far and wide renowned ,By Perc i val has been im paired ,S i n ce he its fel lowship has shared .

At the same t ime Condrie summons theKn ights o f the Round Tabl e to set free themaidens imprisoned i n the magi c Chateau Mervei l l eux . Parz ival renounces the Round Tabl e

,

bel i evi ng h imsel f u nworthy,and departs i n

quest o f the Holy Grai l . He fal l s i n w i th ahermi t named Trevrecent, who tel l s h im thatevery Good Friday a dove descends from heaven

I00 IVAGNERIANA

and places a wafer on the Holy Grai l ,“ by

wh ich the l atter receives the power o f giv i ngeternal l i fe , and p rovid ing its servants wi th a l lk i nds o f meat and d r i nk . Then the herm i tgoes on to te l l h im that Amfortas

,the presen t

King of the Holy Grai l,havi ng yi elded to the

a l l u rement o f forbidden love,had been severe ly

pun ished for h is offence. I n a combat wi th apagan he was wounded by a poisoned lance

,

and s i nce that t ime had been su fferi ng i ntenselyand no one cou ld cu re h im

,wh i l e

,on the other

hand,the s ight o f the Holy Grai l p revented h im

from dying. At last there appeared,the herm i t

cont i n ues , a p rophecy w r i tten on the HolyG rai l , sayi ng that whenever a kn ight Shou ldcome and ask for the cause o f the k i ng ’s su fferi ngs, withou t bei ng rem i nded o f i t

,the k ing

wou l d recover and h is crown devo l ve on thatkn ight .” Thus Parz ival l earns o f h is e rror.He repents, and Trev recent gives h im absol ut i on .

Much o f the poem is now taken up w i th thest ruggles between the good kn ights and thepowers of darkness

,one o f whose ch ief instru

ments is the beaut i fu l woman O rguei l l euse. Shetempts Gawain , bu t he conquers , and frees themaidens imprisoned by the magic ian Klingschor

i n the Chateau Mervei l l eux . Parzi val , i n the

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102 WAGNER/ANA .

who first cal l ed attent ion to th i s beaut i fu l emp loyment O f Schopenhaue r’s idea. I t is unnecessary to speak at l ength o f the sub l ime styl e i nwh ich Wagner has t reated the Grai l supper andthe Good Friday spe l l

,wh ich a re bu t scant i ly

out l i ned i n the origi nal . Nor is i t necessary to

expat iate on the manner i n wh i ch , after t ransferr i ng Gawain

'

s temptat ion to Pars i fal,he has

expanded and ennobled the scene . These d ramat ic p ict u res Speak for themsel ves . How much

,

too,has the poet composer deepened the char

acter o f Kund ry by sl ight ly changing an O ldl egend

,accord ing to wh ich she w as the daughter

o f Herod ias , c ursed for havi ng laughed at thehead o f John the Bapt ist on a charger. Wagnermakes her a woman who laughed at Christ beari ng the cross . Thenceforwa rd

,sm i t ten by H is

glance,She i s cu rsed with laughter, and wanders

th rough the wo r l d i n search o f her Redeemer.After Pars i fal has conquered Kl i ngso r and d isenchanted h is cast l e

,Kund ry

,who has h i therto

known a d iv ided serv ice,seeks to become a vas

sal o f the Grai l . On meet i ng Pa rs i fal agai n,

th is laughter-cursed woman weeps,and st raight

way he bapt i zes her and She i s redeemed . Wolzogen po i n ts out that the u n ion i n Kundry’s natu re o f host i l e and hel p fu l t raits has i ts o r igi n i nthe Ge rman ic Walk i ire myths , and that Wagner

THE BOOK OF 103

has preserved i t fo r d ramat i c pu rposes. The resu l t i s a p ict u re o f emot ional st ruggl e su ch ascannot be su rpassed i n the ent i re l i terat u re o f

the stage. Her ev i l master,Kl ingsor

,i s the

nameless enemy o f the Grai l,

” the ch ie f o f thepowers o f darkness. He has been con foundedwith Klingesorv on U ngerl and , the m i nnes inger.That th is i s a m istake is shown by the fact thatthe latter was a contemporary of Wol fram andcontended agai nst h im i n song at the VVartburgi n 1 204 . The characters o f Trév recent , the holyherm i t

,and G urnemanz , the aged servi to r o f the

Grai l and i nstructor i n ch i val ry,are effect ively

mou lded i nto one by Wagner under the name ofthe second .

Amfortas i s said to have a doubl e symbol ism .

He is the pe rson ificat ion o f that su ffer i ng throughs in wh ich has penet rated even the sacred commun i ty o f the Kn ights o f the Grai l . Al l thecommentato rs say that he al so typ ifies the suf

ferings o f Chri st . Perhaps th is w as Wagner’si ntent ion

,bu t to the w r i te r’s m i nd Amfortas

more beaut i fu l ly symbol i zes the misery broughtupon manki nd th rough yield i ng to the l usts o fthe flesh

,for i t i s Pars i fal who represents the

Redeemer th roughou t the d rama. He repre

sents H im when he i s ano i nted by G urneman z,

when h is feet are washed by the repentan t Ku n

1O4 WAGNER IANA .

d ry,and when he bapt i zes her i n that subl ime

scene wh ich on ly a G od-gi fted gen i us cou ld havedared to p lace upon the modern stage. Butmo re than al l , He su rely is the Redeemer whenHe touches Amfortas wi th the holy spear andbids h im

Be who le, forgi ven , and abso l ved .

After quot i ng Vo l tai re’s l amen t that the empi re o f reason was d r i v i ng “ the ai ry reign o ffancy far away from the earth

,

” Lord VVood

houselee said : I t w i l l requ i re a gen i us o f veryremarkable o rder ever to rev i ve among the polished nat ions o f Eu rope a ferv i d taste for the romance o f l i te ratu re Lord Woodhousel ee d iedi n the year i n wh ich Wagner was born . He cou ldno t fo resee the wonde r fu l use to wh ich Wagnerwas to pu t the fo rgotten lays o f Robert de Borron

,Ch rét i en de Troyes , and Wol fram von Es

chenbach . Johannes Scherr cal l s Wol fram ’sPa rz i va l the fi rst great wo rk O f Germanideal ism

,and V i lmar c lasses i t as a psychological

ep ic by the s i de o f Goethe ’s Faust . I f theseest imates are j ust

,whe re are we to p lace Pars i

fal ,” the i nsp i red d ramat i c Te Deum of Rich

ard Wagner ?

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106 WAGNERIANA.

But to hold that Tri stan and Isolde,or i ts

fateful term inat ion,i s “ S i l ly

,

”is assum ing a

pos i t ion wh ich i s to l erabl e to ne i ther gods normen . The most ad ro i t and wel l-equ ipped Op

ponen t o f Wagner ’s ideas cou ld not demonst rate that proposi t ion wi thout resort i ng to thatimpregnabl e l ogi c wh ich i s doubt l ess the fam i li ar weapon o f the proponent , and wh ich sumsup the be-al l and the end-al l i n one wordbecause.”

Fort unately,the val ue o f T ri stan and

Isolde,

” l i terary,d ramat i c

,t ragi c

,musical

,

mo ral or immoral,i s not a matter for su ch easy

dec is ion . The ext reme Wagne r i tes , whose sel fcontentment i s env iabl e

,have al ready decided

that th i s i s Wagner’s greatest work,and that i t

must l i ve even i f the others Shou l d chance toperish . The Italian issim i bel i eve i n thei r sou l s—i i they can ever find them wi thou t the aid o fa m icroscope—that th is is Wagne r ’s most fiendi sh i nvent ion

,and that i t

,sooner than anyth ing

el se he wrote,must give way to a resto rat ion to

the musical th rone o f those royal t ramps,

“ Semiram ide and Lucrez ia Borgia. TO those noti n terested i n the d iscuss ion o f dramatico-mus ical art the heat o f part i sansh ip so constant lyd isplayed must be somewhat t i resome as wellas su rpris i ng . Thought fu l persons wi l l wonder

A STUD Y IN 107

why music l overs cannot seek for that wh ich ist ru e

,beaut i fu l

,and good i n thei r art w i thou t wax

i ng angry i n the search and those o f l es s cons iderate mood wi l l i nev i tably quote the fam i l iarl i nes wri tten for such occas ions

S t range al l th is d i fferen ce should be’Twix t tweed le-dum and tweed le-dee .

I t i s not my pu rpose at p resen t to d iscussT r istan and Iso lde i n its ent i rety. This t re

mendous t ragedy wou ld fu rn ish material fora vo l ume

,for i t wou ld be d i fficu l t to find an

art work p rod uced by a master gen i us i n su ch alofty and con t i n ued state o f enthusiasm ,

devot ion

,and sel f-abandonment . The l i fe-blood o f

Richard Wagner’

s gen i u s was cal l ed upon toshed i ts brightest d rops for th is ach i evement .The man made u npara l l e l ed demands upon h imsel f and met them with u nsu rpassed efforts .He threw as ide completely and fo rever everyprop and stay o f t rad it ion

,and l aunched h im

sel f upon the fathom l ess sea o f h is ow n originality , cari ng not whether he swam or sank

,bu t

ready to fo l l ow the need l e o f h is theoret i c compass toward the new cou nt ry to wh i ch he believed i t poi n ted . He te l l s us that i n the com

pos i t i on o f th is work he went far beyond h istheori es : but after al l he wen t only wh i ther they

108 WAGNE RIANA .

l ed h im . I t i s given to very few men to see theu l t imate, l ogical ou tcome of a theo ry, whetheri t be o f med i c i ne

,o f art

,or o f cond uct . I t i s

safe to say that Richard Wagner, to i l i ng overthe score o f Lohengri n

,never had a perfect

v is i on o f the “Tristan that was to be. And Im ay be fo rgiven for i nd u lging i n the bel i e f that\Vagn er

,penn ing the i nsp i red pages o f “D i e

GOtterdamm erung, made some al l owance forthe va r i at i on o f that theoret i c compass wh ich i nTristan carried h im ou t o f the t rue cou rse.The d ramat i c weakness o f “ Tri stan andIsol de i s to be fou nd i n i ts second act . Ac

cord i ng to Qu i nt i l ian,i t was the custom o f the

G reek and Roman masters o f oratory to begi nw i th an exo rd i um

,then advance thei r argu

ments wi th the weakest i n the m idd l e,and close

w i th a fo rc ibl e pero rat ion . T r i stan andIso lde i s bu i l t on a p lan resembl i ng th is

,for

i ts weakest d ramat i c argument is i n the m idd l e—the second act . But the pu rposes o f the orato r and o f the d ramat i st a re so d iss im i lar that

the p lans and forms o f the one wi l l not fi l l th erequ i rements O f the other. A success fu l t ragedy begins w i th Fate poi n t i ng her i nexorab lefinger at an i n evi tabl e doom

,and thencefor

ward al l i nc idents in the d rama hu rry the heroand hero i ne toward the catast rophe. At the

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I IO WAGNERIANA .

the sp i ri t o f gl oom wh ich pervades a t ragedy,a re not l i kely to be the accompan iments o f al ove scene

,except i n a state o f cu l t i vated c ivi l

i z at ion so art ificial as to be u n imaginabl e any .

where ou ts id e o f Boston or the famous Concord School . Beyond doubt Swinbu rne madeh is Iseu l t reach the kernel O f the s i t uat ionwhen she checked Tristan ’s scho last ic wooingwi th the l i nes quoted by Mr. Krehbie l

I have heard men s i ng of love a s impler wayThan these wrough t riddles m ade o f n igh t and day.

I n an art i c l e pub l ished i n Scrz'

bner’

s ! Vaga

z z’

ne,W. F. Apthorp u ndertook to Show the

metaphys ical i nfluences wh ich gove rned Wagner i n h is devel opment o f the scheme o f a m u

s ic-d rama to be cal l ed “ Siegfri ed ’s Tod,

” bu twh ich fin al ly became the great Tri logy . Thesei nfluences were fou nd i n the pess im ist i c ph i losOphy o f Arth u r Schopenhauer

,and are those

wh ich operated upon Wagne r’s m i nd i n the construct i on o f “ Tristan and Isol de .” Schopenhaue r’s eth ics demand sympathy for su fferi ng

,

b u t above al l e l se a m ort ificat ion th rough ascet

icism o f the wi l l to l ive. O u r world,accord ing

to th i s ph i l osopher,i s the ve ry worst k i nd o f a

worl d,and the obl i v ious n ight of non-ex istence

A STUDY IN I I I

i s far p referabl e. Sympathy softens su ff eri ng ;ascet ic ism destroys i t by ann ih i lat i ng the w i l lt o l ive. Th is i s a comp lete negat ion o f thesensuous nat u re o f man

,and bears a st rong re

semblance to the Buddhist i c doct ri ne o f N i rvana—the final state o f sain ts made pu re byascet ic i sm

,and t ranslated i nto cel est ial uncon

sciousness. The negat ion o f the sensuous natu re of man for some reason does not appearto be success fu l ly accomp l ished by Tri stan or

I so lde,except i n the latter’s death

,wh ich

,l i ke

the magn ificent su ic ide o f B ru nnh i l d e,takes

p lace when she has noth ing mo re to l ive for.Th is pess im ist i c ph i losophy

,dragged i nto th e

l ove scene by the neck as i t is,wi l l n ot do Wag

ner’s b idd ing. For hearken to the p rayer o fthe l overs a fter thei r l ong-drawn d iscuss ion o fthe ev i l s o f day and glori es o f n ight

O si nk ’ hern iederN ach t der Liebegieb vergessendass i ch lebe .

Which means,Oh

,s i nk down h i ther, n ight of

l ove,and grant me to forget that I li ve.” I f

anyone can reconci l e a wish to forget that he i sal i ve w i th the p resence i n h is sou l o f a t umu l t

uous pass ion o f love, st ronger than honor, d uty,

I 12 WAGNE RIANA .

and friendsh ip , l et h im do so . I t i s on ly theoverwhelm ing sense o f gu i l t

,the un utterabl e re

mo rse fol l owi ng such love that can br i ng abou ta fu l l and per fect negat ion o f the w i l l to l i ve.The d i fficu l ty is that Arth u r Schopenhauer’sph i losophy

,as set forth i n h is p ri ncipal book

,

D i e Wel t al s Wi l l e u nd Vo rstel l ung,i s a sub

jective ideal i sm ,begi nn i ng with the propos i t ion

“ the worl d is my not ion,

” and proceed ingthence to the const ruct i on o f a system tolerat

i ng no real ism, not even that o f a man ’s own

body,wh ich i t regards as noth i ng bu t the w i ll

objectified— the w i l l become not ion or representation. The abso l u te i ncompat ib i l i ty o f su ch asystem Of ph i l osophy with a love l ike that o fTr istan and Mark ’s qu een is not hard to comp rehend .

Nor is i t d i fficu l t to d iscern that featu re o f

Schopenhauer ’s ph i losophy wh ich gave thewhol e an espec ial impo rtance and favor i nWagner ’s esteem . I n Book I I I . o f the workabove ment ioned the metaphysic ian sets fortha theory o f art . Shorn o f i ts ph i l osoph i cal term inology , and presented as p lai n ly as possibl e,i t i s th is : When the human m i nd r i ses from thestudy of the locat i on

,per i od

,causes

,and ten

dencies o f th ings to the und iv id ed exam inat ionof thei r essence

,and when

,fu rther

,th is consida

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1 14 WAGNERIANA .

defender who shou ld d raw i t forth,than

m und snatches her to h is bosom and c r i es

He holds thee fast,

That fr iend for whomWere weapon and wi fe ap po i nted

Deep i n m y bosomB urns brightly the oath

That b i nds m e forever to thee .

After he has cont i n ued i n a s im i lar st rain fo ra few l i nes the cu rtai n fal l s

,the moon l ight

streams i n to the hal l,Siegmund l eads Siegl i nde

to a seat,and si ngs to her that most marvel l ous

o f al l l ove’s l u l lab ies, begi nn i ng :

Winter s torm s have waned’Fo re the s torm s of May ;

In wondrous sp lendorWakens the spring.

NO poet that ever l ived sang a l ove-song w ithmore u nerri ng i nst i nct . Again

,i n Siegfried ,

”

when the young he ro comes at l ast to the firegi rt Valkyr

’

s rock-hewn bed-chamber,he dailies

with no ph i losoph ical d ist i n ct i ons,bu t speaks

ou t straight and t rue l i ke a man :

On rap turous l i psMy eyes look for past ure ;With fathom less th irstMy m ou th is on fire.

A STUDY IN TRI STAN .

"1 15

Not Swi nbu rne, nor Baudel ai re, nor Francoi s

Vi l l on , nor al l the sad,bad

,mad

,glad broth

ers who have made l ove thei r l i fe st udy,cou l d

have wri tten w i th more ce rtai n note . I t i s,then

,because these characters j u st named do

not smother l ove i n ph i l osophy,bu t t reat i t as

a p lai n,u nadu l te rated cond i t ion o f the hea rt

,

wh ich has a lways persistent ly refused to begu ided or i nfluenced by reason

,that they seem

to us to come nearer to being those fu ndamental types for wh ich IVagner wisely sought .When you get right down to the bottom o f thematter

,the ph i l osoph i z i ng o f Tristan and h is

l ady l ove i s almost as absu rd as King Mark’ssermon i z i ng afte r the d iscove ry o f thei r gu i l t .The late Joh n McCullough is cred ited w i th

sayi ng that Ham let was the one part i n whichany good actor cou l d make a h i t i f he wou l don ly attend to the stage bus iness ” and l et themetaphysics alone . Love i s a good deal l ikeHamlet . The metaphysics may be l eft for th ereflect ions o f one ’s hou rs o f sol i t u de. I n act i vep ract i ce the busi ness ” must absorb one ’s ent i reattent i on .

TIL—THE ENDURANCE OF WAGNER’

S WORKS.

IT i s frequen t ly asse rted by those who are noti n accord wi th \Vagner

’

s i deas of dramat i c musicthat h is wo rks a re s imply sensat i ons of the day

,

and that after a t ime th i s temporary craze wi llpass by and the wo r l d w i l l retu rn to i ts Old l oveo f Neapol i tan Opera. I am not p repared to assert that the world wi l l not t i re o f Wagner. Theconstan t endeavor o f bl i nd pa rt isans to convi ncemusic-l ove rs that he i s the on ly composer worthhear i ng, and that Bach , Mozart , and Beethovenare ant iquated and un in terest i ng

,i s enough to

make the wor l d t u rn agai nst the Bayreu th gen i us . But i t seems to me that there i s roomenough i n the aflection o f the human race fo r a l lthat is good i n music

,and wh i l e I fa i l to see any

d ispos i t ion to forget Wagne r’

s m ighty predecesso rs

,I am equal ly u nabl e to perceive any evi

dence that the wo r l d rega rds h is wo rks as a fancyo f the momen t . They hold thei r possession o fthe stage very fi rmly and are being pe rfo rmed i nmo re pl aces now than ever before . As a p roof

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1 18 WAGNERIANA .

musi c . Th is romant i c Opera , as i ts maker cal l edi t

,was produced at the Roya l Opera i n D resden

on Janua ry 1 1 , 1843 , with Wechte r as the Da te/z

m an and Mme. Schroder-Dev rient as Senta . I thas , therefore, hel d the stage for fo rty-eightyears

,and i ts hol d appears to be qu ite as fi rm

now as at any t ime i n the cou rse o f its ex istence.Let us advance now to Tannh‘auser

,

” whichi s st i l l more Wagner i an . This wo rk was broughtout at the Royal Opera i n D resden on October 20

,1845, and has therefore held the stage

forty-s ix years w i th constant ly widen i ng popu

larity. I t i s to-day one o f the standard operasi n the réperto i re o f the best opera-houses

,and

,

with a good cast,i s a lways su re of a l arge aud i

ence. And next we come to Lohengrin ,” which

may be regarded as fai rly i f not fu l ly i l l ust rat i ngWagner’s d ramat ic p r i nc ip l es . I t was producedat Weimar

,August 28 , 1850, under the d i rect i on

o f Fran z Liszt,with Beck as LO/zengrin,

Mi ldeas Telram nna

’

, Hofe r as the K ing ,Frau Agathe

as Elsa ,and Frau Fast inger as Ortrua

’. I ts popu

larity i s ve ry wide. and i t i s constant ly growing.

Verd i ’s Nabuco ” was p roduced i n 1842,

Mendel ssohn ’s E l i j ah i n 1846, Verd i’s Rigo

l etto i n 1851 , and Gounod’s Faust ” i n 1859.

Nabuco i s dead to the wo r l d . Rienz i hashel d the stage . Mendel ssohn

’s E l ijah is known

ENDURANCE OF WA GNER ’S WORK S. 1 19

throughou t the Engl ish and German-speak i ngparts o f the ea rth . Yet the “ Flyi ng D utchmani s three years o lde r and Tannhauser ” one year.No opera i s better known and more j ust ly ad

mi red than Gounod ’s Faust,

” wh ich con tainssome o f the most fai th fu l d ramat ic mus ic to befou nd outsi de o f Wagner ; yet Rien z i is sev

enteen years O lder,the Flying D utchman

s ix teen,

“ Tannhauser fou rteen,and “ Lohen

gr i n ” n i ne. And the world hears at l east twoo f these works almost

,i f n ot qu i te

,as O ften as i t

hears “ Faust,

”one o f the most popu lar operas

ever wri tten .

As for Wagner’s l ater wo rks,those i n wh ich

h is theories are more fu l ly exempl ified,i t can be

said that they have held the stage a very respectabl e t ime i n sp i te o f constan t voc i ferat i ons on thepart o f thei r opponents that they must soon goto the grave. And to day they are begi nn ing tocarry the war i n to Africa. D i e Meisters i ngerhas planted i tse l f i n the I tal ian camp bes ideRienz i

,

” the Flyi ng Du tchman ,” Tann

hauser,

” and Lohengri n,and there is—O shade

o f Chorl ey —tal k of Tri stan und Isol de .

”

This l ast-named d rama, the ext reme i l l ust rat ion o f Wagner’s bel i e fs , has hel d the stage over

a quarter o f a cent u ry,havi ng been produced i n

Mun ich,u nder the d i rect ion o f D r. von Bu low,

WAGNERIANA.

on J une 10, 1865, with the fol l ow ing cast : Tristan, Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld ; Kuroenal,M itterwurz er; K ing M ark , Z ottm ayer; Isolde,

Mme. Schnorr von Carolsfeld ; B ranga’

ne,Ml l e.

De inet. “ D i e Meisters i nger ” has been beforethe publ i c w i th i ncreas i ng favor s i nce J une 2 1,1868, when i t was b rought out at Mun ich u nderVon B ill ow . And as for the N ibel u ng tetralogy , the crown ing glory o f the lyri c stage

,that

operat i c th i ng which makes the an t i-Wagneri tesshudder

,even that has c l u ng to ex i stence for

fi fteen years,and is growing stronger and more

heal thy every year.The n umber o f operas o lder than Wagner

'

searly works and st i l l performed is su rpris i nglysmal l when one comes to th i nk o f i t, and then umber p reservi ng a wide popu lar i ty is smal l erst i l l . Withou t tak i ng the t roubl e to coun t them ,

one may hazard the guess that there are notmore than twenty-fiv e

,and o f these several

,l ike

Lucia,” Sem i ram ide

,

” and Norma,

” are on lygiven i n se r i ous art i st i c commun i t ies for the pu rpose O i explo i t i ng the spec ia l abi l i t i es o f somegreat vocal i st. I t seems fai r to expect

,then

,as

Wagner ’s earl i er works have kept thei r ho l d sofi rm ly

,that h is later ones w i l l not fai l t o do so.

Let us remember that th is very “ Lohengri n ,”

wh ich i s so melod io us and so popu lar, was wri t

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122 WAGNERIANA.

Wagner,and by h im on ly at a t ime when

, as

yet,he was feel i ng after the styl e wh ich later he

comp letely attained .

I n “ The Flying D utchman,however

,Wag

ner had done wi th I tal ian ism forever. The re i snot a so l i tary measu re i n the work that rem indsone o f the I tal ian stage. Even the b ri sk l i t t l emarch at the end o f the fi rst act is German . I nth is work the futu re Wagner i s p rom ised . Wemeet w i th the powe rfu l decl amatory ar i oso styl e,the i n t imate assoc iat ion O f m usi cal ph rases wi ththe ideas o f the d rama

,the coherent and wel l

fash ioned book,the myth i cal personages

,the

marvel l o us i nst rumentat ion—in short,the ent i re

apparatus o f “ Der Ring des N ibel ungen ” i shere i n embryo

,and i n the m usic-d ramas wh ich

were wri tten after i t an observan t person canvery eas i ly t race the development o f Wagner

’

s

i deas .

THE EVOLUTION OF PIANO MUSIC.

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126 THE E VOLUTI ON OF P IAN O M USI C.

al l parts o f Eu rope. As far back as 1364 we findthat Francesco Land in i , a bl i nd poet and or

ganist, w as i n h igh repute. But the fi rst greatl ight o f th isVenet ian schoo l was Adrian Willaert ,bo rn i n 1480 at Bruges. I t appears

,accord ing

to VVe itz m ann, that he d id not escape the fate

o f modern p ian ists. He had to teach younglad ies who wished to l earn the fash ionabl e in

st rument o f the t im e,the monochord . I n 1529

E l ena, daughter o f the poet Piet ro B imbo, wroteto her father fo r perm iss ion to l earn to p lay.

His rep ly i s happ i ly preserved . He says :

As regards your reques t to b e perm i t ted to learn topl ay the m ono chord , I repl y that be c ause o f your tenderage i t is imposs ib le for you to know that such p l ay ing isfi t o nl y for vai n and frivo lous wom en . I

,however

,de

srre that you shallb e the m os t am i ab le and the pures tgi rl on earth . Mo reover , i t would gi ve you l i t t le pleasure or fam e to p l ay i l l ; b u t , i n order to p lay we l l , youwo uld have to spend from ten to twe lve years i n p raet i ce wi tho ut hav i ng t im e for anyth ing else . Now

,con

s ider whe ther th is wo uld b e worth wh i le . If your youngfriends desi re you to learn to play in o rder to gi ve them

p leasure , say that you do not wish to m ake yoursel fr id i c u lous before them ,

and b e con ten t wi th your se ientific st ud ies and your fan cy-work .

”

To Wi l l aert i s d ue the fi rst movement o f musi ctoward freedom from the old ecc les iast i cal modes,

LA YIN G TIIE FOUNDATI ONS. 127

and h is pup i l, Cypriano d i Rore, went far for

wa rd i n the study o f ch romat ic musi c, publ ishi ng i n 1544 his Chromat ic Madrigals. VVil

l aert ’s fantasi as and ricercar i are for the mostpart fou nded on origi na l themes . I n h i s stri ctly cont rapu ntal mus ic , however, he fo l lows th ecustom of h is p redecessors and uses the cant iferm i o f the chu rch . I n h is t reatment he emp loys the dom inant

,sub-dom inan t, and octave,

and makes much use o f im i tat i on . Wi l laert’s

successors,prev iously ment ioned

,all fo l l owed

h is free styl e , and to thei r u n i ted labors we ow ethe gradua l l iberat i on o f i nst rumental musi c fromthe vocal-ecc l es iast i cal styl e. The fi rst instrumental form to be c l early establ ished was thetoccata

,wh ich

,with i ts qu ick passages

,was de

s igned for the speed i ly van ish ing tones o f thec l av icho rd . The fi rst o f these composi t ions tobe p r i n ted were those o f Claud io Merulo

,a

Venet ian organ ist,publ ished at Rome in 1598,

u nder the t i t l e o f “ Toccate d ’ I n tavolatu red ’ O rgano .

” The t itle, o f cou rse,impl i es that

they were des igned especial ly for the o rgan . Atthat t ime the re was no d ist i nct cl avi chord styl e ,however, and composi t i ons for the o rgan andp iano o f the period were p retty much al ike i nt reatmen t .I n Merulo

’

s toccatas we find some connect ion

1 28 THE EVOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

between the figu red passages,and there i s good

con t rast between the melod ic port ions and thepassage wo rk . Dr. Phi l ip Sp i tta

,i n h is great

Li fe o f Bach , says that Merulo found i n thetoccata a k i nd o f composi t ion i n whi ch he endeavored to gi ve fu l l p lay to the wealth o f tonepossessed by the o rgan by al ternat ing combinat ions o f bri l l ian t runn ing passages wi th sosten utosequences of harmon ies .” The can zona andsonata (o f that period) were developed by Andreaand Giovann i Gabri el l i . I n thei r works themelody became more impo rtant . I n Giovann i 'scan zone we meet wi th i nterest i ng forms

,with es

sentially melod ic s ubj ects a lways form ing thei rfou ndat ions

,and w ith subj ect and coun ter-sub

ject regu lar ly al te rnat i ng. The fugue,wh ich has

become so important a study,was origi nally an

im i tat ion o f the vo ices i n vocal m us ic . Z arlino

ch r i stened i t canon because i t fo l lowed a canon ,or fixed l aw . The ent rance i nto music o f thefol k-song at the t ime o f the Renaissance causeda ri cher development o f these old st ud ies. Thei nst rumental wri ters began to take up the dancefo rms of th e peopl e and to w r i te cou rantes

,

chaconnes,gal l iards

,etc . These composi t ions

we re received w ith favor. Subsequent ly thegiga was added

,and a set o f these dances was

cal l ed a su i te or part i ta .

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130 THE EVOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

teaches the keyboard , shows the pos i t ion of thehand and use of the fingers

,expl ai ns the score

,

and i l l ustrates the necess i ty o f his ru l es by toccatas o r igi nal and selected . I n the second parthe tel l s how to wri te a song

,gives suggest ions

for i mprovis i ng, with exampl es , t reats o f thechu rch tones and the accompan iment of chorals

,and gives some suggest i ons abou t s i nging.

Weitz mann, however, gets a good deal betteri n format ion abou t fingering as i t ex i sted at thatt ime

,and for a cen tury later, from a book wh ich

was publ i shed at Bologna i n 1656, and reachedi ts fi fth ed i t ion at Antwerp i n 1690. I t waswri tten by Lorenzo Penna, organ ist , and i ts t i t l ei s Li Prim i Albori Musical i .” I n i t he l aysdown the fol l ow ing ru lesI n ascend i ng, the fingers o f the right hand

move one after the other—first the m iddle, thenthe ri ng finger

,agai n the m idd l e

,and so on i n

al ternat ion . Care must be taken that the fingersdo not strike agai nst one another. I n descendi ng

,the m idd l e

,fol l owed by the index finger

,i s

used . The l eft hand S imply reverses th is p rocess. The ru l e for the posi t ion o f the hands isthat they Shal l never l i e l ower than the fingers

,

bu t shal l be hel d h igh,with the fingers stretched

out.I n th e fol l ow ing cent u ry

,wh ich bri ngs u s

LAYIN G THE FOUNDATI ONS. 13 1

i n to the days o f Handel and Bach , the fingeringi s no more rat ional . There is an o ld work by J .

F. B . Caspar Majers, publ ished at N u rembergi n 174 1 , and quoted approvi ngly by Matheson .

H e gives the names o f the wh i te keys as c,d , e,

f,g,a,and so on th rough fou r octaves . H e

gives the names o f the black keys al so. I n givi ng h is rul es for fingeri ng he n umbers the th umb0, the i ndex finger 1

,the m idd l e finger 2, and so

to the end . Th is is notabl e as bei ng s im i lar tothe system emp loyed i n th i s country, where thethumb is marked x and the i ndex finger 1 . I nGermany i t i s the ru l e to mark the thumb 1 , theindex finger 2

,etc . Majers

’

s ru l es fo r fingeringare as fo l lows

2ds ascend i ng2ds descending3ds and 4ths

5ths and 6ths

7ths and 8ths

2ds ascend ing2ds descending3ds and 4ths

5ths and 6ths7ths and 8ths

A l i t t l e experiment i ng w i l l show you how

d ifferen t these ru l es are from those of to-day.

i ndex and thumb .

m i ddle and ri ng.

ring and i ndex .

ri ng and th umb .

l i t t le and thum b .

m iddle and ri ng.

m idd le and index .

ring and i ndex .

i ndex and l i t t le.

l i t t le and thum b .

132 THE E VOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

The fi rst rat i onal ru l es are those publ ishedby Emanue l Bach , at Berl i n , i n 1753 ; butthe great Sebast ian Bach ’s fingeri ng was notbound by such absu rd laws as those of Ma

jers’

s.

I t i s worth wh i l e to go back a l i tt l e i n orderto st udy the deve lopment o f the harps ichordstyl e i n Rome

,where we fi rst meet w i th th e

works o f Gi rol amo Frescobald i (159 1He was a great organ ist

,and i n al l o f h is com

pos i t i ons we find fugal w r i t ing,but h i s ricercari

show development of a fixed subj ect,whi l e h is

canzone contai n bits o f choral -l i ke melody.

The pri nc ipal mel ody of the canzona i s alwaysrecogn i zabl e. Agai n , h is capricci i d i ffer materially from those o f his predecessors. The ca

pricc io before h is t ime cons isted of a movementi n common t ime i n wh ich d i fferen t themes weredeveloped

,fol l owed by a second movement i n

t ripl e t ime, sho rter and i n the dance styl e. Anew movement o f fugal character acted as codato the ent i re composi t i on . The capricci i o fFrescobald i are always based on a pecu l iar prelude

,contai n i ng some strik i ng suggest i ons , and

here the composer espec ial ly d ist i ngu ishes h imsel f by the weal th o f h is i nvent ive power andby his t reatment .I n h is “ Capricc io d i D u rezze are exampl es

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134 THE EVOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

i n trod uced for the pu rpose o f bri ngi ngthe compos i t i on to an end .

This b r i ngs us to that poi n t i n th e growth ofthe I tal ian schoo l from which the devel opmento f the c lass i ca l forms o f p iano m us ic are d ist inctly traceabl e . \Ve have seen t hat the tendeney o f the schoo l has been

,fi rst

,to escape

from the fetters o f the ecc les iast i ca l modes andto acqu i re the weal th o f ch romat i cs ; second , tothrow o ff the shack les o f cont rapun tal ru les andcompose wi th freedom o f styl e ; th i rd , to abandon wri t i ng for fou r vo ices an d to compose a

melody wi th subo rd inate yet i ndependent ac

compan im ent ; fou rth , to emp loy con trastedmovements

,and fi fth

,to establ i sh the d i ffe rence

between the techn iqu e o f the o rgan and that o fthe c l avichord and harpsi chord . The man whocompletely establ ished the tendenc ies o f theI tal ian schoo l and fu l ly ach i eved what h is p rede

cessors had attempted w as Domen ico Scarlatt i

(1683—1757)Attempts had been made prev ious to h i s dayto establ ish equal tempe ramen t

,render i ng i t

poss ibl e to p lay i n al l the mode rn keys. Thisend was attai ned by Sca r latt i ’s con tempo rari es,Bach and Rameau . At the same t ime the influence o f the Neapol i tan schoo l o f opera compose rs

,founded by Al essand ro Scarlat t i , father

LAYING THE F 0UNDATI ONS . 13r

of Domen i co,was the ru l i ng power i n I tal ian

mus ic,and the ch ief meri t o f th is schoo l was

the fl uency o f i ts melody . What cou l d be more

natu ral than Domen i co’s endeavor to t ransfer

th is mel ody to the i nst rument o f which he wasmaste r

,and to en ri ch i t wi th al l those techn i ca l

embel l ishments i n wh ich he was an eX pert ?

Th is,then

,i s what Domen i co Scarlatt i aecom

plished . He sett l ed for al l t ime the dom i nanceo f homophon i c m usi c over polyphon ic i n com

pos i t ions for the p iano . Langhans says pert i

nently , i n h is H isto ry o f Music ,” that Scarlatt i

d id not real i ze the s ign ificance o f the sonata,bu t

commended h is composi t ions o f th is c lass to thei nd u lgence o f the publ i c , with the remark that“ i n them not deep design wou l d be found

,bu t

the i ngen ious p l easant ry o f art . I n fact,

”

cont i n ues Langhans ,“ he makes more accoun t

o f techn ics than o f i n tel l ectual contents ; yet byh is appl i cat ion o f the pri ncip l e o f t ripart i t ion

,

prescript ive for the modern sonata,and by a

n umber of effect i ve i nnovat ions o f a techn icalkind

,such as runn i ng passages i n th i rds and

s ixths,the qu i ck stroke o f one and the same key

wi th d i fferen t finge rs , broken chords i n cont rarymot ion fo r both hands , etc . , he l eads us d i rect lyi nto the modern ag e.

” These th i ngs were newand origi nal .

136 THE E Voz UTI ON OF P IAN O M USI C.

\Ve must ret u rn to the i ndefat igabl e Weitz ~

m an n to get a more detai l ed accoun t o f th isman ’s work. The exhaust ive German h istorian says that Scarlat t i ’s compos i t i ons main tai nth roughou t a characterist i c p rinc ipal mot ive

,

sustai ned by a wel l-elaborated bass. The fi rstmovement o f the real sonata form i s ou t l i n ed i nthem . There are two parts

,each of whi ch is re

peated . The first contains the exposi t i on o f thethemat i c material o f the compos i t ion . I t beginswi th the pri nc ipal theme i n the ch ief key

,moves

to a re lated key i n the fo l low ing passage, andc loses wi th a cadence i n the second key. I f thefi rs t part i s i n a major key, the dom i nan t i s usedfor the modu lato ry passage by wh ich the secondpart i s reached ; i f i t i s i n a m inor key, thenthe relat ive major or dominant m i nor is used .

The second part then devel ops the materia l o fthe fi rst

,and modu lates back to the fu ndamental

key,takes up the beginn i ng o f the composi t ion ,

o r somet imes a later passage i n the exposi t ion ,repeats the mot ive o f the fi rst part i n the origi

nalkey, and closes gene ral ly w i th a cadence l ikethat o f the fi rst part . An important pecu l iari tyo f Scarlatt i ’s form

,foreshadowing that o f much

later wri ters,i s that frequent ly i n the modu la

to ry port i on of the fi rst pa rt he i n t roduces a newthought

,or second subj ect , essent ial ly d ifferen t

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138 THE E VOLUTI ON OF P IAN o M USI C.

uable than those o f Albert i . They cons ist o ftwo movements i n the same key

,bu t d ifferi ng

i n tempo . The fi rst movemen t i s the l onger.I t i s i n two parts , the fi rst O f wh ich regu larlycl oses i n the dom inan t o f the ch ie f key. I t i se i ther an al l egro fo l l owed by a shorter movement V i vace, or i t is an ar i a. Somet imes he begins w i th an andante

,fo l l owed by a m inuette

or a giga. Th is composer’s wo rks were st ud iedby the cel ebrated Muzio Cl ement i . Th is m as

ter taught John Field,one o f whose pup i l s was

Alexande r Villo ing, the teacher o f Anton Rub instein .

I t i s necessary now to go back i n order tonote the r ise o f the Engl i sh

,French

,and Ger

man School s . The Engl i sh schoo l o f harpsicho rd p layers and w r i ters w as very importantwh i l e i t l asted

,but i t exerted no great or last i ng

i nfluence on the p rogress o f a rt . The Germanschool

,on the othe r hand

,developed stead i ly

along a wel l-defined path,giv i ng to the world

the wo rks o f Handel,Sebast ian and Eman ue l

Bach,who cl ear ly defined th e sonata form ,

Haydn,Mozart

,and Beethoven

,after whom

came the modern romant ic schoo l . I t seemsmost conven i en t to d ism iss the Engl ish school

before showi ng how the Germans,having l earned

the a rts o f composit io n and per formance o f

LA YIN G THE FOUNDATI ONS. 139

c lav ichord music from the I tal ians,p roceeded

to advance i n thei r ow n character i st ic way. TheFrench school

,wh ich is o f mo re importance than

the Engl ish , wi l l also be cons idered .

I t appears that i n 1550 the re were i n the serv i ce o f Edward V I . , i n add i t ion to s i ngers , pl ayers o f the l u te

,harp

,fl ute

,and rebek

,t rumpet

ers , and d rumm ers , three act ive v i rgi nal p l ayers ,and i n 1575 Thomas Tal l i s and h is famouspup i l

,Wi l l iam Byrd

,were o rgan ists to Queen

E l i zabeth . There had been vi rginal p laying i nEngland long before th is

,however. Even

Hen ry V I I I . was a p layer, and a composer as

wel l,as may be seen by h is “ Pavane

,

” t ranscribed by J . Staffo rd Smith from the Arunde lco l lect ion , and pri n ted i n the Musica Ant iqua .

”

Th is royal composi t i on was much l ike the Ve

netian dances o f the book o f 1551 , and the dev elopm ent o f v i rgi nal mus i c i n England seemsto have been s im i lar to that o f sp innet m usi c i nI taly up to a certai n po in t . I n Queen E l i zabeth

’

s V i rgi nal Book are to be found spec imens o f the w r i t i ng o f Tal l is

,Byrd

,and thei r

con temporar i es,Gi les

, Farnaby , Dr. Bul l , andothers . Among these composi t ions we findfantas ias

,wh ich consisted o f d i fferent mot ives

fo l l owi ng one another i n im i tat i on and fugals tyl e

,pavanes

,gal l iards

,and variat ions on fo l k

140 THE E VOLUTI OIV OF PIAN O M USI C.

melod ies . The fi rst col l ect i on o f v i rgi nal music publ i shed i n England was that known asthe Parthen ia

,

” which appeared i n 16 1 1 . Them us ic was w r i tten by Byrd

,Bu l l

,O r l ando Gib

bons,and othe rs. I t consisted o f twenty-one

p ieces,p r i nted on s ix -l i ne staves. These p ieces

were p rel udes,pavanes

,gal l iards

,one fantasia

i n fou r parts,and the “ Queen ’s Command ,

”

by Gibbons,wh ich was an ai r and variat i ons.

These Engl i shmen were great pl ayers and com

posers i n thei r t ime,bu t they accompl ished l i t

t l e or noth ing i n the development o f our extantform and techn ique. I t i s safe to say that theach i evements o f the French schoo l deservemore carefu l cons iderat ion

,though

,as we shal l

p resent ly see,the development o f p iano musi c

and p iano p laying passed from I taly to Germany in the fi rst hal f o f the eighteenth cent u ry,and was con t in u ed by the great Teu ton i c masters down to our t ime.The fi rst great l ight o f the French c lavec i n

schoo l was Francois Couperi n , the second o f thename

,born 1668, d ied 1733. He was a con

t empo rary o f Jean Ph i l ippe Rameau (1683who w as not only a great Operat i c com

poser,but also a cel eb rated theo r i st . H is

T rai té d ’

Harmon ie,” publ ish ed i n 1722, con

tains ru l es wh i ch form the basi s o f our present

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142 THE EVOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

st i ff,Old-fash ioned

,angu lar movement . His

su i tes a re a sort o f refined bal l et m us ic,and the

movements a re Often d ist i ngu ished by theatrica lt i t l es , such as La Majesteuse,

” “ La Prude,

”

La Flattesse. The uncertai nty o f the form o f

h is su i tes is seen i n the l oose d ist r ibu t i on o f themovements . For i nstance

,one su i te

,the fi fth

(A maj o r) , cons ists o f an al l emande,two cou

ran tes , a sarabande , a gigue , and six rondos,i i i

term ingled with n umbe rs i n free styl e. D r.Spi tta says (

“ Li fe o f Bach,

”v ol. i i . , page 86)

I n sp ite o f th is he never ent i rely qu i ts theground o f the su i te

,forhe keeps to the same key

th roughou t,even when he does not begi n wi th

the u sual p ieces . But i t i s c l ea r that he neverfel t the necess i ty o f weld i ng together the variousconst i tuen t parts to one per fect whol e of manymembers The ch ie f s ign ificance O f Couperin

’

s

su i tes fo r us l i es i n the fact that the great Bachstud ied them and im i tated them . Th is accountsfor some o f the pecu l iar i t ies o f h is compos i t i on si n th is l i n e . Couper i n al so w rote an al l emandefo r two c laviers , which may have had some in

fluence i n p rod uc ing Bach’

s doubl e concert i . I tmay as wel l be added here that Bach wiped out

the uncerta i nt i es o f fo rm in the su i te,and i n th is ,

as i n other depa rtments,establ i shed the mode l

for fu t u re composers . Lou is Marchand (1669

LA YIN G THE FOUNDATI ONS. 143

1732) and h is successo r, Lou is C l aude Daqu i n ,were the other l ights o f the French schoo l .Rameau

,befo re ment ioned

,publ i shed several

co l l ect i ons o f composi t ions for the c lav ier,the

l ast of wh ich,i ssued i n Par i s i n 174 1 , was Troi s

concertos pou r cl avec in,vio lon et basse de v io l e.”

As th is was publ i shed after the t ime when thed evelopment of p iano m usi c had fai r ly passedover i n to Germany

,i t n eeds but to be ment ioned .

There i s an excel l en t ed it ion by no l ess a masterthan Johannes B rahms of some of Couperin

’

s

composi t ions,and other works o f the French

schoo l can be fou nd i n E. Pauer’

s Al te C l avi erm usik and Weitz mann

’

s Gesch ichte des Clav iersp iels.

”

Let us now tu rn to an exam inat ion o f the beginn i ng o f the great Ge rman school . The earlymasters o f th is schoo l st ud ied u nder the I tal iancomposers . I t i s not necessary to enter i nto th i smatter i n detai l

,bu t fo r the benefi t o f those who

wou ld l ike a more extended account than wi l l begi ven here , i t may be said that mater ial i s to befou nd i n Naumann ’s H istory o f Musi c

,

” vol .i . , page 6 12 et seq. ; We itz mann

’

s“Gesch i ch te

des Clav ierspiels , page 34 et seq . , and i n va r ious parts o f Spi tta’s Li fe o f Bach

,

” wh ich mustbe d iscovered by search i ng the i ndex . Thefi rst o f the Germans who st ud ied u nder I tal ian

144 THE EVOLUTI ON OF P IAA'

O IlI L’

SI C.

masters was Gal l us (1550 He is supposedto have been a pupil O f And rea Gabri el l i . Jacob Mei land (1542 Adam G umpeltz haimer

(1560 Ch ri st ian Erbach (1560 HansLeo Hassl er (1564 and Gregor Aich inger

(1565—162 1) al l st ud i ed u nder Venet ian m astersand wrote i n the Venet ian styl e for organ andharpsi cho rd . Mei land , for i nstance, wrote whatNaumann cal l s song -dances

,wh ich were gal

l iards , pavanes, etc . , do cantare e sonare. Hassl er was probably the most tal ented composer o fall these, but h i s best wo rks were canzonetsand mad r igals for voices

,and they became wide

ly popu lar. Many Germans stu d ied i n Rome,wh ither they were d rawn by the fame of Ca r i ss im i and Frescobald i

,and i t i s among the pupi l s

o f the l atter that we find two o f the importan tpredecessors o f Bach . These were Johann Kasper von Kerl (1625—90) and Johann Jacob Froberger (16 10 I t i s not defin i tely provedthat Ker l st ud i ed u nder Frescobald i

,but h is

em inence as an organ ist,together wi th the fact

that he st ud ied i n Rome and the i n ternal ev idence o f h is works , makes i t a safe i n ferencethat he d id so . Froberger, we know ,

wen t toRome on pu rpose to study under Frescobald i .Froberger excel l ed as both organ ist and cem

balist. His wri t i ngs d isp lay the finely devel oped

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146 THE E VOLUTI ON OF P IAN O M USI C.

pos i t i on Froberger stands abou t hal f-way between the no rthe rn and southe rn maste rs. ” Thisi s l ess i n terest i ng to us than the fact that Froberge r was one o f the ear l i est composers o f p rogramme musi c. Dr. Spitta , i n sea rch ing for themode l a fter w h ich Bach bu i l t h is “ Capricc iosop ra l a lontananza del suo fratel l o d ilettissim o

,

”

ment ions Kuhnau’

s six sonatas on b ibl ica l narrat ives and says they d id no t stand alone . Hequotes Matheson

,who decla red that Froberger

cou ld tel l whol e h istor i es on the c lav ier,giv i ng

a rep resen tat ion o f the persons presen t and taki ng part i n i t

,with al l thei r nat u ral characters.”

Matheson says,moreover

,that he possessed a

s u i te by th is composer “ i n wh ich the passageacross the Rh i ne o f Count von Thu rn , and thedanger h e was exposed to from th e river

,i s most

c l ear ly set before our eyes and ears i n twenty

S i x l i t t l e p ieces. ” O f cou rse these attempts atcharacter i zat ion we re im i tat i ons o f the efforts OfCouper i n . The force o f thei r del ineat ion m usthave been much greater than that o f any programme m usic o f our t ime

,i f Matheson speaks

t ru ly. But Matheson had an act ive imagina

t ion .

George Mu ffat 1704) and Hei n r i chFranz von B iber (1648—1705) must be men

t ioned,because the former, i n h is

“ Apparatus

LA YIN G TIIE FOUNDATI ONS. 147

Musico -Organist icus , publ ished at Augsbu rgi n 1695, proved h imsel f to be a greater maste rof bravu ra wri t i ng fo r keyed i nst ruments thanei ther Frescobald i or Merulo

, and because Von

Biber,though a vio l in ist , con tribu ted great ly to

the development o f the sonata fo rm . His wri ti ngs i n th is department Show a wel l-cons ideredcontrast i n rhythm and tempo

,bu t there is none

o f that regu lated d ist ribut ion o f keys wh ich i sdeemed ind ispensabl e to the modern sonata.The immed iate predecessors o f Bach were

organ ists o f great ab i l i ty and renown . Theycan be t raced i n a d i rect l i ne from Jan PietersSweel i nck (1540 a cel ebrated master o f

the Netherlands school . Among the most noted o f them were Samuel Scheid t (1587Hein ri ch Scheidemann (1600 John AdamRei ncke (1623 l722) , D i et r i ch Buxtehude

(1635 and Johan n Kuhnau (1667The th ree last , as the dates show ,

were contem

poraries o f Bach , though older men , and ex er

c ised marked influence on h is development . Hewas acquain ted w ith all th ree pe rsonal ly

,and

made l ong jou rneys i n order to hear Reinckeand Buxtehude play the organ . Rei ncke wasan organ ist pu re and s impl e, bu t Buxteh ude wasal so a fine p layer on the cl av ier and composedsome good music for the i nst rumen t . He ex

148 THE EVOLUTI ON OF PIAN O III USI C.

ce l led i n the free styl e o f w r i t i ng, and h is worksare imbued wi th deep poet i cal feel i ng.

Kuhnau i s more importan t for our cons iderat ion , because he advanced the devel opment o f

the sonata form i n Ge rmany. Some wri tershave hel d that he was the i nven tor o f the sonatafo rm i n many parts

,bu t i t i s more t ru th fu l to

say that he i n t rod uced i t i n h i s ow n cou nt ry.

His fi rst sonata i s i n th ree parts,and is found i n

h is work bearing th is c u r i ous t i t l e The otherpart o f c lav i er exe rcise that i s

,seven parts from

re,m i , fa, or tert ia m inor tone , i n add i t ion to a

sonata i n B wri tten for the spec ia l del ectat iono f l overs o f music .” Kuhnau ’s sonatas do not

d isc lose a form growing out of the use o f two ormore themes or subj ects . They are m onothe

mat ic and consist o f e i ther fugato movements orparts i n th e styl e o f a su i te .Th is bri ngs us down to m usi c wh ich st i l l

figu res i n p iano reci tals. The growth of p ianom usic from th i s t ime i s i n one o f i ts aspects thedevelopment o f the sonata form ,

o f which theh isto ry has been wri tten i n many p laces and is

fam i l iar to most l overs of m usic . But there i sanother aspect o f the evol u t ion o f p iano music,wh ich to my m ind is qu i te as important as thedevelopmen t O f the form . Th is i s the devel opment O f the techn iqu e o f the inst rument . in

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II.—DEVELOPMENT OF THE TECHNIQUE.

IN the h istory of i nst rumental m us ic thereare three great peri ods , not d iv ided by d ist i nctli nes , bu t gradual ly passi ng one i n to the other,and overlapp i ng. These three periods are thePolyphon ic

,the Class i c

,and the Romant ic. I n

the early h istory o f mus ic the musical scholarswere al l ch u rchmen

,and musical l earn ing was

al l expended upon chu rch m usic. Musica lscholarsh ip devoted al l its ene rgies to the prod uct ion o f great works i n cou nterpoint , tillaftera t ime the masses o f the ch u rch became un intelligible. The Luthe ran choral e

,the broad

hymn tune for congregat i onal worsh ip , whichcame i nto p rom inence i n the Refo rmat ion

,con

v inced the fathers o f the Roman Chu rch that as impl e styl e was necessary

,and they took meas

u res wh ich l ed to i ts adopt ion . Abou t the samet ime a band o f Floren t i n e en th us iasts

,i n seek

i ng to resusc i tate the d ramat i c rec i tat ion of theG reek d rama

,gave to the wo r l d the modern

Opera , and i n t rod uced a st i l l s imp ler and more

DEVELOPMENT OF THE TECHN I QUE. 151

beau t i fu l vocal sty l e than had h i therto been

known .

Before these changes took p lace inst rumentalmus ic was noth i ng bu t an echo o f vocal m us ic.The i nst ruments s imply p layed the vo ice parts

O f compos i t ions wri tten for s i ngers . The monochord

,the p iano o f the t ime

,was used for the

home pract ice o f organ ists , and i ts styl e wasborrowed from the organ

,wh ich spoke on ly the

cont rapu ntal accents o f the Chu rch . NVhen v 0

cal m usi c assumed a s impl er styl e, i nstrumentalmus ic went on elabo rat i ng cont rapun tal dev i ces

,

and th is cont rapuntal , or polyphon ic , instrumental styl e reached its per fect ion i n the handso f Bach . In cont rapun tal p laying, i n the S im u l

taneous del i very o f several melod i es,Bach re

mains the model i n the h istory o f music . Hebrought the old styl e Of performance to theh ighest grade o f fin ish ; bu t he was also instrumental i n overthrowing i t

,for i t was d u ring h is

t ime that the cantabi l e styl e o f monophon icp layi ng began to supersede the old fugal manner. The music o f Bach ’s day gives abu ndantev idence o f being i n a state o f t rans i t i on fromo ne period to the other. Al l th rough Handel ’s“ Mess iah ,

” for i nstance , you w i l l find passagesbu i l t on scal es

,l i ke those o f Bach ’s successors

,

mingl ed with passages i n the fugal styl e. I f

152 THE EVOLUTI ON OF P IA IVO M USI C.

the reader w i l l exam ine the tenor ai r,Every

Val l ey,” he wi l l at once perce ive the mean ing

o f my assertion .

Now what causes l ed to the t rans i t ion fromthe polyphon ic , fugal styl e to the cantabi l e o f

Emanuel Bach and Mozart ? The fi rs t wasthe operati c aria . The aria da capo made i tsappearance i n Cavalli ’s “Giasone

,

” wh ich wasproduced i n 1649, and was afterward madepopu lar al l over Eu rope by Alessandro Scarl att i . The aria da capo was a simpl e songfo rm , cons ist i ng o f a melody, a second melody,and a retu rn to the fi rst . Its persp icu i ty and

symmetry pl eased the publ i c,and composers

for the clav i er fel t that i t had emot ional poss ib ilities not found i n the fugal styl e . Ev idenceo f i ts immed iate i nfl uence i s found i n the cl av ichord wo rks

,al ready ment ioned

,of Bernardo

Pasqu i n i (1637 who aimed at a moreflowing and vocal styl e than that o f h is predecessors. The second cause was the completeestabl ishmen t by Domen ico Scarlatt i (16831757) o f the d i fferen ce between the techn iqu eo f the organ and that o f the p iano , as describedi n the previous chapte r. And the th i rd causewas the immense refo rms i n fingering i ntroduced by Johann Sebast ian Bach . H e was

the Moses who led music out o f the ecc l es ias

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154 THE EVOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

Any attempt at rap id i ty wou l d have been destruct i ve o f smoothness and wou ld have resu l tedi n an uneven d istr ibut ion o f dynam ic power and

a consequent d ist u rbance o f the symmetry o f thephras ing. The impu lse which caused p ian iststo break the shack les o f these old ru l es was un

doubted ly the growing i nfluence of romant i c ismi n music . I n the o ld polyphon ic

,ecc les iast i ca l

styl e of composi t ion for the c lav ier,when p ieces

wri tten for that i nstrumen t resembled i n . fo rmand conten t the organ fugues or cont rapu ntalanthems o f the Chu rch

,the p layer was compel l ed

to cu l t i vate a techn i que wh ich wou l d enabl eh im to en u nc iate wi th h is fingers the th ree or

fou r voi ce pa rts i n wh i ch these con t rapu nta lcompos i t i ons were always writ ten . D . Scarl att iestabl i shed the monophon ic or s i ngl e-voicedstyl e o f composi t ion . I n p la i n words, he wroteai rs

,composed o f progress ions o f s i ngl e notes

,

for the right hand wi th accompan iments for thel eft. His styl e o f w r i t i ng was l earned by theGermans

,and Sebast ian Bach

,whose gen i u s

exalted and mou lded anew the ent i re formal ma

terial o f musi c as known i n h is day, eflected in

some of h i s works , such as the Chromat ic Fantas ia and Fugue ,

” an astou nd i ng combinat ion o fthe o l d and new styl es . There are passages inthe composi t i on named which lean far fo rward

DE VELOPMENT OF THE TE CHN I QUE . 155

i n to the presen t and resembl e i n styl e and sp i ri tsome of the dev ices o f Liszt .I n order to perform the new k ind o f m usic

Sebast ian Bach was compel l ed to th row overthe stupid and i l l ogical techn iqu e o f h is p redecessors. His son

,Emanuel Bach

,who was

not a great composer,but whose comprehens ion

and revelat ion of th e gen i us o f the c lavi er eut i t l e h im to an honorab l e posi t i on on the pageo f m usical h isto ry , carri ed the development o ftechn iqu e sti l l fu rther i n h is adm i rabl e searchafter a fine l egato styl e. I n h is epoch-makingbook on

“ The T ru e Manner o f Playi ng theC lav i chord ,

” he says : “ Meth inks mus ic oughtpri ncipal ly to move the heart , and i n th is noperformer on the p ianoforte w i l l s ucceed by

m erely thump ing and d rumm ing or by cont i n

ualarpeggio p layi ng. D u ring the last few yearsmy ch ie f endeavor has been to p lay the p ianofo rte

, in sp i te of i ts defic ien cy i n sustai n ingsou nd

,as much as possib l e i n a s inging manner

and to compose for i t accord ingly. This i s byno means an easy task i f we desi re not to l eavethe ear empty, or to d i st u rb the nobl e simp l i c i tyo f the can tab i l e w i th too much noise.” Th is arto f s ingi ng on the p ianoforte i s st i l l one o f thegreat des iderata o f a lo fty styl e

,and to day no

h igher praise can be awarded to any player’s

156 THE E VOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

touch than to say that h i s cantab i l e made h ishearers forget that the p ianofo rte was not a producer o f sustai ned tones .The who le st ructu re o f modern p iano techn iqu e, which was over a centu ry i n the cou rseo f development

,rests upon the foundat ion o f

the Bach legato ; for from th is came ou r smoothand equal scal e and arpeggio p layi ng, wh ich i sone o f the most sal i en t featu res o f ou r techn ique.A l l the other feat u res o f modern techn iqu e arederived ei ther from th is , or from the v i rt ues ofthe old polyphon ic styl e . The Schumann techn ique i s s imply a rat ional devel opment of abl end ing o f the two styl es . Now l et us seewhe rei n the mechan ical wonder o f Bach ’s revolut ion l i es.Previ ous to h i s day players had used the

fingers i n an outst retched pos i t i on , the th umbhanging down (Fig. I ) . Bach at once per

ceived that th is pos i t iono f the hand was unnat

u ral,that i t robbed the

fingers o f thei r normalpower and l eft a valua

F'G bl e al ly u nemployed . He ,therefore

,began to make as free use o f h is

th umb as he d id o f the other fingers . But themoment that he attempted to use the th umb he

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158 THE EVOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

handed down ru l es . Some o f them have l ivedun t i l our day, for as D r. Spitta says, Thenat u ral tendency o f the thumb to bend towardthe ho l low o f the hand made i t o f adm i rabl e usei n passi ng i t u nder the other fingers

,or them

over i t .” I t was Bach who refingered the scalesi n accordance wi th th is natu ral use o f the thumb .

Now let us see how th i s i n novat ion o f Bach’

srevo l u t i on ized the techn ique o f p i ano p layi ngand the styl e o f mus ical u tteran ce employed byw r i ters for the p iano . As soon as composersfound that the freedom o f the hand faci l i tatedscal e p layi ng

,they natu ral ly began to wri te

extended melod ies based on scal es, a pract iceal ready i nt roduced i n vocal m us ic . The com

plete beau ty of th i s styl e i s found i n the wo rkso f Mozart

,who was the next great p iano com

poser after the Bachs . And we ought to not i cethe i nterest i ng fact that the fondness for scal epassages foste red by Mozart ’s great v i rtuos i ty asa p ian ist i nfl uenced h is o rchest ral styl e andeven h is Operat i c c reat ions. We must rememberthat Mozart ’s ca reer began at the p iano. Eveni n Beethoven ’s t ime the use o f the scal e had not

pal l ed upon composers,and some of the nobl est

thoughts o f the m ighty Ludw i g are bu i l t on sim

p l e scal e passages . O f cou rse i n Beethoven’

sea rly p iano concertos

,when he was st i l l u nder

DE VE LOPMENT OF THE TE CIIN I QUE . 159

the i nfluence o f Mozart’s gen i us

,scal e passages

and the runn ing styl e prevai l , and I th i nk I donot go too far i n saying that there is noth i ng i nthese works which cannot be performed withthe techn ique of Emanue l Bach .

Mozart fo l l owed the theo ry o f EmanuelBach as to the s i nging character o f the p iano.

Jahn says : Mozart ’s musica l t rain ing wasfounded on song—and h is i nc l i nat ions led h im

to song—in a greater degree than was the casew i th h is two predecesso rs. ” Beari ng i n m ind

,

then,the influence o f h is early t ra in i ng as a

p ian ist and h is later developmen t as an operat i ccomposer

,we see the logical tendency of Mo

z art’

s techn iqu e. He demanded o f the pian ist

a perfect l egato, a s ingi ng touch , and an unaf

fected s tyl e. I t i s on record that he said as

m uch , and the i n ternal ev idence o f h is m usi cshows that he pract i sed what he p reached .

H i s beaut i fu l fingeri ng was the resu l t o f a cl osestudy o f Sebast ian Bach and h is son Emanuel . He carri ed fo rward the development o f

the l atter’s techn iqu e, and i s the connect i ng l i nkbetween h im and C l ement i . He demanded aqu i et and steady hand , with i ts natu ral l igh t

ness , smoothness, and gl id i ng rap id i ty so wel ld eveloped that the passages shou ld flow l ike

o il.” H e requ i red the del ivery o f every note,

160 THE E VOLUTI ON OF P IAN o M USI C.

grace,and accen t wi th approp r iate express ion

and taste. He was Opposed to over-rap id i ty o f

execu t i on and to v io lat ions o f t ime. “ Threeth i ngs,

” he said , are necessary for a good per

fo rmer ; and he poi nted to h is head , h is heart ,and h is fingers . Thus we perce ive that fromthe momen t that Bach th rew o ff the shackl eso f the ol d ru l es and made i t possibl e by the u seo f the th umb to p lay scal e passages smooth lyand even ly, the gen i us o f p iano-music composersl ed them i n the d i rect i on o f a s ingi ng styl ebased on the scal e .The next great change i n the styl e o f p ian o

composi t ion and p iano techn iqu e,fo r the two

th i ngs go hand i n hand,came abou t i n the

cou rse o f the supremacy o f Muzio C l ement i

(1752 Th is man was i n some respectsa repet i t i on i n musical h isto ry o f EmanuelBach . He was not a great composer, not evenas good a composer as Emanuel

,and h is m usi c

never figu res i n gene ral concert s i n our day anymore than that o f Bach ’s son ; but he had thekeen insight o f h is p redecessor i n to the natu reand possibi l i t i es o f the i nst rumen t on wh ich hep layed . Given a d i fferent i nst rument i n thehands o f such a man and you wi l l have newresu l ts. Th is i s j ust what took place. Theprime cause o f the vast d i fference between the

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162 THE EVOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

n ique,bu t i t was not art at al l . So the fol l ow

ers o f Clement i have st ri ven to make the p ianoa ri val o f the orchest ra

,for he was the founder

of the schoo l which aims at immense sonori ty and bewi ldering compl exi ty. The V i enna

schoo l aimed at retai n ing the character o f thep iano as a chamber i nst rumen t . The morepowerfu l construct ion o f the Engl ish p ianotempted C l ement i t o develop a larger styl e.Th is cou l d not be reached th rough the s imp l escal e passages and si ngl e-note progress ions o f

Mozart . I f you w ish to get a vol ume o f tonefrom a p iano you must take notes by the handfu l . Consequent ly i n Clement i ’s composi t ionsappear rap id passages i n th i rds

,s ixths

,and oc

taves . Moreover,he w r i t es mo re extended

cho rds and demands o f the p layer a muscu larpower p reviously u nknown . C l ement i , as Ihave said , was a p iano techn ic ian pu re and s im

p l e, and he w rote almost exc l usi vely for h ischosen i nst rument. His exp lorat ion i n to i tsresou rces devel oped a techn iqu e wh ich i s ampl efor the per formance o f everyth i ng i n p iano mus i c up to the death o f Beethoven . I t i s nat u ralthat th is man shou ld have t rai ned John Fiel d

,

the teacher o f Alexander Villo ing, who was theon ly i nst ru ctor o f Anton Rubinstei n .

We have now seen the t ransi t i on from the

DE VELOPMENT OF THE TE CHNI Q (IE . 163

polyphon ic styl e to the mOnOphonic l egato , andwe have seen added to that the use o f cho rdsu ccess ions and the other e lements o f a sonorousand mascu l i ne method . These two styl es arethe foundat ion o f our presen t techn ique , wh ichi s the resu l t o f thei r natu ral and i nevi tabl eu n ion . For i t was not to be supposed thatp ian i sts wou l d rest conten t w i th a d ivis ion o f

styl es based on a d i fference o f i nst ruments .The demand o f the musical worl d for a pianoon which both styl es cou l d be empl oyed wi thequal fac i l i ty and bri l l i ancy was

,o f cou rse

,un

avoidabl e,and the development of m usic com

bin i ng the two styl es was bound to be,i f any

th ing, a s tep i n advance o f the growth o f them eans o f execut ion .

I have said that the techn ique o f C l ement iwas sufl

'

i cient for the performance o f everyth ingup to the death o f Beethoven . The emot iona lconten t o f the m ighty Ludwig’s works i s

,o f

cou rse, far mo re importan t than thei r techn i calpecu l iari t i es . I ndeed

,i n respect o f techn iqu e

,

Beethoven 's sonatas and concertos Show l i tt l eadvance over the works of h is p redecessors.A l l that i s best i n the styl es o f Bach

,Mozart

,

and C l ement i is to be found i n Beethoven ’sworks ; and that which i s d ist i n ct i vely h is ow ni s the sp i ri t rather than the mechan ism . H e

164 THE E VOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

certai n ly d id , however, en ri ch the p iano styl eo f h is t ime by a freer u se o f polyphony than h isi mmed iate p redecessors had m ade. I t was notthe eccl es iast i cal po lyphony o f the contrapun

t ists, bu t a modern i zed k i nd , the growth o f anadaptat ion o f schol ast i c materia l to the needs o fromant i c express ion . The t remendous final e o fthe sonata, opus 1 1 1 , i s an exampl e of Beethoven ’s use of th is styl e. Again

,Beethoven ’s orig

inality i n rhythm demanded o f pian ists i ncreasedatten t ion to the d i stribut ion o f accents ; and toach ieve the des i red effects i t was necessary tobe more carefu l i n devel op ing i ndependence offinger

,a th ing wh ich i n our day is a S ine qua

non of p iano-p laying . Final ly, the maj est i c d ig

n ity o f the m usical u tterance o f these sonatasand concertos cal l ed for a broader and noble rtone-col or and a more d ramat ic phras ing thanhad h i therto been known to the p iano. Eveni n our day, with the superb instruments at ourcommand

,and the en t i re resou rces o f Liszt ’s

wi tchcraft i n tone-col or Open to us, we cannotexceed the requ i rements o f Beethoven ’s worksi n the detai l s o f sono r i ty and vari ety o f col or .This featu re o f the i r techn ical aspect poi n ts

,as

al l thei r other t rai ts do,to the fact that the

ch i ld o f the Bonngasse wrote not for a day, butfor al l t ime.

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166 THE E VOLUTI ON OF P IANO M USI C.

keyboard , and stops wh ich con t rol l ed the act iono f the j acks on the stri ngs. O f cou rse thesecontri vances p rod uced a very l im i ted variety o f

tone e ffects . I have t ried them on a very excellent harps i chord o f the Mozart period , forme r ly i n the col l ect i on o f M . Stei nert , of NewHaven

,and can test i fy that on ly a moderate in

c rease o f tone and richness are Obta ined . I f mymem ory serves me r igh tly

,i n that part i cu lar in

st rument the necess i ty o f moving stops w i ththe hands had been obv iated by the introduct ion o f pedals, wh ich were i nvented by Hayward

,an Engl i shman

,i n 1670. Real p iano and

fo rte pedals fi rst appeared i n 1783, when theywere paten ted by John B roadwood . Natu ral lyp ian ists soon began to make use o f them , andwe find very exp l ic i t d i rect ions for the use o f

the pedals i n Beethoven ’s p iano concerto i n G

and i n the sonatas,opera 10 1 , 106, 109, 1 10, and

1 1 1 . The p iano pedal was extens ively used bythe c lass i c p l ayers

,but i t remained for Chop i n to

Show how both pedal s cou ld be empl oyed al ter

nately or i n combinat ion fo r the product ion ofthe most beau t i fu l effects o f tone-color. Liszt,o f cou rse

,el aborated th is departmen t o f tech

n ique,as he d id al l others . I t i s hard ly neces

sary to rem ind the reader that i n ou r day ed ucated p ian ists u se the pedal s not to obtai n

DE VE LOPMENT OF THE TE CHNI QUE . 167

contrasts o f l oudness and so ftness,but en t i rely

i n the product ion o f tone-colo r. The i nfin i tevariety o f qual i t i es o f tone wh ich contemporaneous art i sts, l i ke D

’

Albert, Rummel , andothers

,get ou t of a p iano i s who l ly d u e to a

combinat ion o f many d i fferen t k i nds o f touchwith changi ng uses o f the pedal s

,employing

somet imes one, somet imes the other, now both ,and agai n nei ther. I t was Chop i n who reveal edthe possibi l i t i es o f the pedal

,Liszt who per

fected the powers o f touch .

The whol e character o f our contemporarytechn ique is the resu l t o f romant ic ism in musi c.I t has come from the efforts o f romant i c wri tersto imbue the p iano with a greater power o f

emot ional u tterance, to make i t a d ramat i c force,and

,even more than that , a personal i ty. C l as

s icism means perfect ion o f form,un fai l i ng

beauty o f thought and u tterance. I t i s th esc ience o f the beaut i fu l i n music . Bu t roman

t icism means personal i ty, characteri zat ion , ind ivid ual exp ress ion , even u n iversal revel at i on ;and i t has no hes i tat i on i n pou ri ng fort h abruptrhythms

,harsh d issonance

,start l i ng progressi ons

,

when these speak the thought o f the composer.The repose and suavi ty

,the seren i ty and the

d ign i ty o f al l that was nobl est i n the age o f

musical sc u l ptu re are exh ibi ted by the romant ic

168 THE EVOLUTI ON OF PIAN O III USI C.

schoo l when requ i red ; but i ts favo r i te moodsare hot

,pass ionate

,change fu l

,and i rres ist ibl e.

For these the u tte rance o f the p iano had to bewidened . The pol ished l egato o f Mozart on ascal e bas i s cou ld not serve al l moods . Therapid th i rds

,s ixths

,and cho rds o f Clement i

were at hand and were needed,as al so was the

broad ph rase and great co lor o f Beethoven .But , with al l these e l ements , the romant ic istscried for more. Sch umann

,Chopin

,and Liszt

-two immortal composers and one the Stan l eyo f the piano—u n locked the t reasu res that l ayconceal ed i n the i nst rument . The fi rst andsecond , hav ing immo rta l c reat ive gen i us to l etl oose

,developed techn ique al ong the l i nes sug

gested by thei r own i nd iv id ual i t i es ; the th i rd ,havi ng great gi fts w i thou t the d i v i ne spark

,de

v eloped techn ique i n a d i rect i on suggested bythe various poss ib i l i t i es o f the i nstrument as i tyie lded up i ts h i therto u nexp lored terri tory toh im .

Schumann ’s ideas d id not at fi rst seem su itedto utterance th rough the med i um of the piano ;yet i t was equal ly eviden t that they were notsu i ted to any other i nst rument nor to the or

chestra. The man spoke h is new thought i n anew l anguage

,to wh ich the p iano had to adapt

i tsel f as best i t cou l d . To speak the new tongue

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170 THE EVOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

ano . I t i s now an accepted fact that masteryo f the Schumann techn iqu e can on ly be acqu i redby means of spec ial exercises not necessary tothe performance of p iano mus i c wri tten beforeSchumann ’s t ime.I f I was asked what on e th ing lay beh ind the

whol e d i fference between Schumann ’s techn iqu eand that o f Chop in

,I m ight answer rhythm .

That wou ld not be stri ct ly t ru e,for no one th ing

accounts for the whol e d iflerence. But the factis that wh i l e Schumann ’s rhythms are st range

,

and Somet imes almost i nsol ubl e,Chop i n pre

ferred forms bu i l t on some accepted rhythm ,

such as the val se,mazou rka

,po lonaise. The

d isgu ise wh ich he th rows around these fo rms i sone o f i dea rather than of techn ique. TheChopi n techn ique

,new

,marvel l ous

,and l earned

as i t i s,never obtrudes i tsel f. This, I th ink ,

w as because i t was ch i efly concerned w ith a re

model l i ng o f th e pri ncip l es o f a beaut i fu l l egatosty l e. Chop in taught us how to play ch romat i cpassages i n doubl e th i rds and other i n te rval sl egato by pu tt i ng the fi fth finger u nder thefou rth and th i rd i n descend ing

,and the th i rd

and fou rth over the fi fth i n ascend ing . H ewrote arpeggios d ispersed i n w ide i nterval s orso i nterspersed w i th passi ng notes that no earl i er ru les o f fingering wou ld apply to them .

DE VELOP/VENT OF THE TECHNI QUE. 17 1

He,therefore

, m ade new ru l es by wh ich thenove l success ions cou l d be performed wi th certain ty. I n other words, i t w as reserved forChop in to final ly revo l ut ion i ze the Bachmethod o f scal e pl aying

,which had hel d i ts

i nfluence i n music even to Beethoven ’s day.

Even the C l ement i techn iqu e d id not b reakth rough the o ld l im i ts ; on the con trary, i t remained with i n them . I ts pri nc ip l es dependedon the const ruct ion o f composi t ions from fivefinger passages

,scales

,and arpeggios. I ts ru l es

requ i red that a fiv e-finger pos i t i on once takenshou l d not be changed u nnecessari ly ; that al lpassages made from Scal es and arpeggios Shou ldbe fingered i n the same way as the scal es andarpeggios when played as exercises ; that thethumb and l i tt l e finger shou ld not be used on

the black keys except u nder ext raord i nary demand . Chop i n overth rew al l those ru l es andi n trod uced methods o f fingering w h ich wou ldhave made Clement i stand aghast

,bu t wh ich

rendered the performance o f the new musi c poss ib l e.Liszt knew al l that Schumann and Chop i n

cou l d teach h im . U s i ng thei r improvements inthe use o f the fingers , together wi th h is own dev i ces

,he set out to make the p iano the r i val o f

the orchest ra i n sonori ty,bri l l i ancy

,and vari ety

172 TIIE E VOLUTI OIV OF PIAN O III USI C.

o f tone. To h im we owe the deep st udy o f thepossib i l i t i es o f the d iff eren t k i nd s o f touch . Heshowed us how to acqu i re the greatest st rengthand power o f d iscrim inat ive emphas is i n the ind iv id ual fingers. He developed the resou rceso f the l oose wrist

,showi ng how i t cou l d be em

p loyed to prod uce eff ects previously unknown .

He taught us to hold i t h igher than had beforebeen the custom and to have i t qu i te flex ibl e

,

yet i n such a posi t ion that the fingers had al lposs ibl e mechan ical advan tage for the prod uct ion o f a powerfu l tone. The ét udes wh ichLiszt composed for the u se o f p iano st udentsare an ep i tome of modern techn iqu e. Theyare a comp l ete revelat ion o f the resou rces o f thei nstrument . I t i s possibl e that the fu t u re maywitness a fu rther development o f piano techn ique ; but the i nst rumen t must fi rst acqu i renew powers . Look ing back over what hasbeen done for the piano by invent ive m inds i nthe last fi fty years

,who can say what the nex t

cen tu ry may produce ? Let u s hope,however,

that one great ev i l wi l l n ot come - the l oss o f

the character o f the instrument .The lesson o f the growth o f p iano techn iqu ei s the same as that taught by the growth o f or

chestral techn ique and of vocal power. Look

ing back over the h istory o f music we find that

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III.—THE MODERN CONCERTO.

THE i nfluence of romant i c ism i n p iano-musicd id not cease wi th i ts effect on techn ique. I tcaused also a revol u t ion i n form . I t broughtabou t a new t reatment o f the sonata idea

,chang

i ng the outward shape and i ntensi fyi ng the ol dsp i ri t o f u n i ty and con t i n u i ty which u nderlay,yet never fu l ly dom inated

,the cl ass i c sonata

form . The new shape grew out o f the old,yet

i s d i fferen t . Both are consp icuous examples ofadaptat ion to ae sthet i c pu rpose. The pu rposeso f the two are d i ffe rent

,yet each origi nated i n

the search after coherence.The development o f mus ical forms i s one o f

the most i nterest ing stud i es i n the realm o f thetone art . The s ign ificance o f the developedform

,however

,i s too o ften m issed i n fact i t i s

a l most whol ly overl ooked by those who wri te

on the subj ect . The techn i cal aspect o f thegrowth is that wh ich seems to i nterest themmost

,and i n thei r considerat ion o f i t they are

l ed away from the more p rofitabl e exam i nat ion

THE M ODERN CON CERTO. 175

o f the emot ional causes wh ich produced thesuccess i ve changes. A performance o f the Bm inor p iano concerto o f Eugene d ’

Albert, withthe l i t t l e giant h imsel f as the sol o p layer, causedthe wri ter to real i ze that there had come to bean almost complete d issoci at ion o f modern ro

mantic thought in music from classi cal forms .That the D’

Albert concerto i s a remarkablecompos i t ion i s a conc l u sion that cannot beavoided when l i sten i ng to i t

,and at i ts end one

is so i nfluenced by i ts v igorous v ital i ty that hei s ready to dec lare that i t ought to l i ve . Onehas a s im i lar feel i ng i n l isten ing to the p ianoconcerto o f R i chard Bu rmeister, one o f thel ovel iest composi t i ons ever produced i n Ameri ca

,

gent l e and d ign ified as a statu e o f D iana,and

d i fferi ng from the D ’

Albert work as D iana’simage from that o f the Farnese Hercu l es . TheBu rmeister concerto i s romant i c i n sp i ri t

,but

l eans toward c lass i ci sm i n fo rm,wh i l e the

D’

Albert composi t ion at once raises the quest ion i n the hearer’s m ind whether the composerhas not stepped beyond the domain of the p iano

,

or o f the concerto,or o f both .

The quest ion i s a natu ral one,bu t i t i s far

eas i er to ask than to answer. As to the domai no f the p i ano

,I do not propose to enter u pon a

d iscuss ion o f that topi c for the reason that we

176 THE E VOLUTI ON OP PIAN O M USI C.

know not what the fu tu re has i n store fo r u s.Nor can I dec ide whether D’

Albert has steppedbeyond the l im i ts o f the concerto . I t i s eas ierfor the metaphysic ian to find answers for thetheories of material ists than for the st udent ofmusi cal p rogress to foretel l at what poin t instrumental composi t ion w i l l find i ts l im its .One th ing appears to be beyond doubt : theD

’

Albert concerto i s i n a d i rect l i n e o f developm ent which has been goi ng forward s i nceMozart ’s t ime

,and wh ich may l ead to the rec

ognition o f a new form d ist i nct from the concerto .

The whol e matter t u rns upon the quest ion ,whether we are to recogn i ze in the contemporaneous form set up by u l t ra-romant i c ists a pu rpose whol ly d i fferen t from that of the conven

t ional concerto. The class i cal concerto wasdesigned to d isp lay the techn ical fac i l i ty o f theper fo rmer and the resou rces o f h is i nst rumen twi thou t sacr ifice o f musical beauty and d ign i ty.

Such a concerto as that o f D’

Albert rel egatestechn ical ach i evements and mus ical beau ty to a

secondary place. I t makes them subserv i entto the u tterance o f thorough ly d ramat ic i deas .

I t el evates the orchest ra to an equal i ty with thep iano

,and almost whol ly dep r i ves the l atter o f

i ts character as a solo i nst rumen t by den ud i ng

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178 THE E VOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

of the concerto’s growth,wh ich concl usi vely

proves that the glori ous boy d id noth i ng o f thesort . Mozart laid the fo undat ion o f the modern

concerto by givi ng us a form absol u tely perfectfor the pu rpose for wh ich i t was designed . Thep u rpose

,however

,i s gone. We no longer aim

at a mere d isp lay o f the power o f an i nst rument

as an expl i cato r and embel l i sher o f i deas wh i chare adm i rabl e whol ly for thei r p u re euphon icbeauty. Ausd ruck der Empfindung —express ion o f emot ion—as Beethoven pu t i t

,i s the

s logan o f con temporaneous mus ic .Mozart made a form wh ich i n and for i tse l f

was beau t i fu l and u nsu rpassabl e. But whenBeethoven came as the cu lm inat ion of the class i cand the father o f the romant i c school

,the form

had to give way to vari at ions made necessary bythe express ion o f new thoughts and the bi rth ofnew pu rposes. These changes i n form havebeen go ing on ever s i nce wi thou t cessat i on

,and

i t i s impossibl e to say where they wi l l end . TheMozart form is not dead . There i s no reason

why i t shou l d be . I f any man to-day des i res towri te a p iano concerto i n wh ich there is to be anexposi t i on o f pu re euphon i c beauty and perfec tsymmet ry

,the per fect fo rm is ready to h is hand .

For h is pu rpose he cannot i n al l p robabi l i ty invent anyth ing better than the Mozart model ;

THE M ODERN CON CERTO. 179

bu t i f he wishes to wri te i n the sp i ri t o f h is t ime ,there i s noth i ng i n the canons o f art to fo rbidh is al teri ng the old form or mak ing a new one .

Al l that art demands o f a form i s that i t shal lbe the best fo r the pu rpose for wh ich i t was deS igned .

I t i s not ou r pu rpose to enter i n to a rev i ew o f

the steps i n the development o f the modern concerto . Those who care to look i nto the matterwi l l find su ffi c i ent i n fo rmat ion wi th i n easy reach .

I t may not be u nprofitabl e, however, to poi n tou t one or two sal ien t feat u res . I n the fi rst p l acemodern composers

,begi nn ing wi th Beethoven

,

have shown a tendency to abandon the ceremon ious i n t rod ucto ry t u tt i , i n whi ch the or

chestra made a pro longed announcement o f thethemes .Again

,Beethoven set the fash ion o f wri t i ng

h is own caden zas,i nstead o f l eavi ng them to the

fancy o f the performer. Furthermore, he i nt roduced the novel ty o f accompanying the cadenza—or at l east part o f it—thereby completelychanging i ts character

,pu rpose, and effect.

Mendel ssohn went fu rther, and placed thecad enza o f h is v io l i n concerto i n the m idd l e instead o f at the end o f the fi rst movement . Al lcomposers

,save one or two

,s i nce Mozart have

developed the orchestral part o f the concerto ,

180 THE E VOLUTI OIV OF PIAN O III USI C.

th us l ead i ng up to the adven t o f gen u i nelysymphon i c produ ct ions l ike D ’

Albert’

s.

The joi n ing o f the th ree conven t ional m ove~

ments o f the concerto was suggested by Beethoven when , for the sake o f avo id ing an i n terrupt ion o f h is thought

,he u n ited the second and

th i rd movements o f the G and E flat maj or p ianoconcertos . Later w r i ters

,notably Liszt

,went

fu rther and j o i ned allth ree movemen ts . Moreover

,the Abbé adopted the p lan

,employed by

Schumann i n h is D m inor symphony,o f carry

i ng forward the themat ic germs o f one movement i nto the next . Liszt ’s A major concerto

,

fo r i nstance, has seve ral connected movementsbu i l t on the same melod i c subj ects th roughout .Some commentators have den ied Liszt ’s con

certos the right to be c lassed as concertos. I tmatters very l i tt l e what they are cal l ed . Theycertai n ly a re not concertos of the same k ind as

Mozart ’s were . The i r obj ect i s w ider,and thei r

shape i s al tered thereby. D’

Albert’

s concerto i sa natu ral ou tgrowth o f the devel opments wehave noted . He has abandoned the i nt roductoryt u tt i

,the separated movements

,the formal

,un

accompan ied cadenza o f the fi rst part,and the

d i fference of themes . His concerto has fou r connected movements i n wh ich the same melod ic

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182 THE EVOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

o f the i nstrumen t , as every one must have realiled wh i l e l isten ing to the p iano performanceso f the last few seasons

,are now beyond the

fondest d reams o f Beethoven and the w i l destimaginat ion o f Mozart. Rubinste i n i n one o f h is

con certos has set forth h i s i dea that the p i ano i sthe equal and the r ival o f the orchestra. Therei s a substant ial foundat ion for th is thought. I npower the p iano yie lds on ly to the boldest fo r

t issimo o f a fu l l modern orchestra. I n feel i ngi t gives way to the v io l i n and ’cel l o , but i n varietyand exten t o f tone-co lor and dynam ic gradat ionsi t su rpasses them .

D’

Albert has employed the sol o i nst rumen tw i th superb effect

,both alone and i n combina

t ions,i n h is B m inor concerto . Some o f h is

passages—for i nstance,those i n wh ich stopped

horns accompany the p iano,are marvel l ous i n

thei r i ntens i ty . AS we said before,the whole

work is s u rpris i ng and masterfu l . I f the ad

vance o f compos i t ions for p iano and orchestradesigned to embody the concen trated and compl ex emot ional feel i ng o f the new rom ant i cSchoo l i s to be al ong the l i ne foreshadowed byBeethoven and developed by Liszt

,there i s

probably no man l iv ing more competent to cond uct the m arch o f progress than that l i t t l e gian t

o f the p ianoforte, Eugene d’

Albert ; and i t i s be

THE MODERN CONCERTO. 183

yond quest i on that the term concerto i s bothfeebl e and i nexpressive. I do not l ike the namesymphon ic poem . I t i s awkward and m isl eadi ng

,yet mus ical nomenclatu re is so barren that

I do not bl ame Liszt for adopt ing such a t i t l e.I t wou ld certai n ly be a more fi tt i ng appel lat ionfo r su ch compos i t ions as that o f D ’

Albert than

concerto .

But by whatever name we may cal l theseworks —and D ’

Albert’

s bei ng i n the d i rec tl i ne o f development wi l l not be the last o f

them—we must recogn i ze the fact that theyopen a fiel d for the piano wh ich no prophetcou l d have foreseen when Scarl att i was defin i ngthe rud iments o f techn ique , or even when Bachwas making those ru l es o f finger i ng wh ich westilladm i re and p ract i se. We have fol l owed i nth i s rev i ew of the evol u t i on o f p iano m usic al ong and marvel lous seri es o f advances. Looki ng back over them we must perceive that thetendency has always been toward greater powerand wider range o f effects i n techn iqu e

,toward

concent rat i on i n ideas and i ntens ificat ion o f

feel i ng. The natu ral resu l ts o f these tendenc i es

,as exempl ified fi rst i n the C l ement i tech

n ique,afterward i n the Sch umann techn ique

,i n

the connected movements o f the G and E flatconcertos o f Beethoven , and later i n the con

184 THE E VOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

t inuous movements and rei terated fundamentalmelody of the Liszt concertos

,are seen i n su ch

a work as the B-minor concert o o f D’

Albert.

From the mountai n spri ng to the sea i s a far

c ry ; but one can t race the ri ver all the way.

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186 THE E VOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

someth ing l ike real appreciat ion . The n umbero f those who can d iscrim inate between meretechn ical bri l l i ancy and rea l m us ical fee l i ng i sconstan t ly growing, and any p ian i st who comesbefore a m usi cal pub l i c at the presen t day i sfa i rly su re o f an i n te l l igen t hear i ng. This is agood th ing for the good p layers

,bu t i t i s man i

festly bad fo r the poor ones. As t ime passesthere i s bound to be l ess and l ess tol erat i on formed iocri ty and l i tt l e p i ty for pretent ious i nca

pacity . The pounders and the m ut i lators m ustgo to the wal l and make room for those who

can Speak d ist i nct ly, beau t i fu l ly, and el oquent lyth rough the med i um o f the most pop u lar soloi nst rument of ou r t ime.Those who do so speak are

,as i nt imated

,the

greatest gai ners from the development o f publ ictaste. The n umber o f persons who can te l l thed i fferences between the p laying o f men l ike

D’

Albert and Von Bu l ow i s mu ch l arger than

i t was a few years ago . Th is has come abou tthrough the energet i c and sel f-rel ian t att i t udeo f music l overs. The peop l e who real ly knowand u nderstand musi c are i n the habi t nowadays o f th i nk ing for themsel ves a good deal .To be su re, they read m uch , and take thei rSchu re or Wolz ogen i n l arge doses , and theyl ook at the newspapers . But they reserve fo r

SOME LI VIN G PLA VERS. 187

themsel ves the l iberty o f tak ing everyth ing on

t rial and com ing to thei r own conc l us ions atl as t. The newspaper comments on cu rren t mus ical events are read by most lovers o f musi c ;but

,as a ru l e

,they serve ch i efly to st imu late the

readers to thought fu l ness and the format ion ofthei r own opin ions. I t i s a good th ing that th isi s so. The benefi t o f crit ic ism is m uch greaterwhen i t i nduces peopl e to th ink i ndependent lythan when i t gains bl i nd adherence.Among contemporaneous pian ists conspicu

ous figures are Von Bu l ow , D’

Albert , Rummel ,Rosenthal

,and—so far as America i s concerned

-Joseffy . D r. von Bu l ow is,perhaps

,greater

fo r what he rep resents than for what he i s. I tmay be that we m ust v i ew someth ing o f h isp resent through the roseate glo ry o f h is past ;bu t stand i ng at the summ i t o f s ixty-two yearso f l i fe and th i rty -n ine years of m usical ex perience, rest i ng upon the lau rels o f t ri umphantv ictory i n the batt l e o f the new German school

,

fi rs t for existence and then for supremacy,

wiel d ing as executant,teacher

,and conductor

an i nfluence wh ich rad iates from Be r l i n to thefou r corners o f the earth

,D r . v on B i l l ow l ooms

up as an i n tense ly absorbi ng personal i ty and aconspi cuously importan t figu re i n the musi ca lp rogress o f the day.

188 THE E VOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

Mori t z Rosenthal i s a p ian ist i c wh i rlwind.

The impression he made on me at a fi rst hearingwas that he l i teral ly paralyzed the sensib i l i t i eso f h is aud ience. S tupefied by such an ex hibi

t i on of techn i cal perfect ion and physical poweras had not been known s ince the springt ime o fRubenstei n , h is fi rst hearers momentari ly forgotthat there was sp i r i t ual i ty i n musi c and wen tmad over i ts bod i ly st rength and beau ty. YetRosen thal ’s p layi ng was far from bei ng devoido f musical feel i ng. Somet imes he was real lye l oquent ; bu t i t seemed that h is e l oqu ence wassporad i c and governed largely by the mood o f

the moment . Th is i s not cons isten t w i th th et rue art i st ’s s i ngl eness o f pu rpose. Again , therewere t imes when Rosenthal showed h igh i ntelligence. His performance o f Beethoven ’s sonatai n E flat major (No . 3) was more sat is factory tothe t rue music ian than most o f h is other work .

He played the composi t ion i n a man ly,st ra ight

forward , honest style , present i ng the themes andthei r development i n a very i nte l l igibl e m anner.I t was a thought fu l interp retat ion

,worthy not

on ly o f an em inent p ian ist,but of a man of cu l t

u re. Again,Rosenthal was somet imes a mu

s icalpoet , as , for i nstance, when he pl ayed Chop in ’s E minor concerto. He had penet rated tothe sou l o f that composi t i on and knew how to

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190 THE EVOLUTI ON OF PIAN O M USI C.

was i t that th is bri l l ian t young p ian ist mostl acked I t was repose

,withou t which no l ofty

art-work is poss ibl e. Techn ical ly th is fai l i ngshowed i tse l f i n a tendency to play manyphrases i n a manner best described by that unp leasan t word “ j erky.

”I’Esthet ically i t showed

i tsel f i n a want of even balance of ideas. Bu tRosen thal i s a th i nker and a st udent ; h is t imew illcome . I agree w i th Hein ri ch Ehrl i ch . Ros

enthal has reached the topmost peak o f vi rt uo sity . There he w i l l sp read h is w ings for fl igh ttoward the sky o f m us ical feel i ng.

Eugene d ’

Albert I have al ready cal l ed thel i tt l e gian t o f the p ianoforte . Here i s a maneven smal l er than Rosenthal , and w ith a techn ique as great as the Rouman ian ’s. To describeRosenthal ’s techn ical abi l i ty wou ld be to summa r i ze the ent i re field o f p iano m echan i cs asknown to the v i rtuos i ty o f to-day. The sameth i ng is to be said o f D ’

Albert, but someth ing i sto be added . There i s a greater man than R o

senthal beh i nd the techn ique. There i s a morei n tense and vi ta l i nd iv id ual i ty

,a deeper and

subt ler temperament,a mo re h igh ly gi fted and

round ly developed i n tel l ect ual i ty. D’

Albert i s

not on ly a great p ian ist , bu t also a great m usi

e ian . He is a th inker, an analyzer, an expl icator. The marvel lous techn iqu e o f the p layer

detai l s o f D ’

Albert’

s styl e . One th i ng,however,

which st ruck me may be wort h not ing. His delicious tempo rubato u ndoubted ly pu zzl es someo f h is hearers. He obeys the sp i ri t , bu t notthe letter, o f Chopin

’s i nj u nct ion to preserve the

tempo wi th the l eft hand , l ett i ng the right some

times run ahead and somet imes l i nger beh i nd .

Whenever the ch ief themat ic u tterance passesinto the l eft hand , D

’

Albert t ransfers the tempornbato with i t . The effect i s st rik ing. At t imesit i s d ramat i c. I t adds to h is work a variety o ffru i t fu l n uances wh ich to the u nt rai ned hearerincrease the complexi ty of h is p layi ng. Butcomplex i ty i s o ften a feat u re o f higher types i na rt as wel l as i n b iol ogy. D

’

Albert’

s supremacyas a performer o f Beethoven ’s concertos mustnot be forgotten . His wonderfu l renderi ng o fthe G major concerto ought to be long remembered by lovers of p iano music . I t was ideal i ni ts perfect ion . I n loft i ness o f concept ion i t wasbeau t i fu l . I n fin ish of techn i cal t reatment i t

was wonderfu l . We hear much abou t the art o f

192 THE EVOLUTI ON OF P IAIVO M USI C.

s i nging on the pianoforte,bu t we seldom meet

w i th a genu i ne exampl e. D’

Albert’

s vocal p resentation o f the second movement o f th is concerto t ransformed the p iano i nto someth ing almosth uman ; and h is t reatmen t of the cadenza o fthe fi rst movement was i n i tsel f an educat ion i np iano-playi ng. His performance o f the Emperor ” concerto was another sp lend id ach i evemen t . The p ian ist d i d not astou nd w ith h i sread i ng, bu t he certain ly moved the heart andfi red the imaginat ion . No one el se whom I haveheard has p layed th is l o ft i est poem of the p ianowi th su ch man l in ess, so l i d i ty, fidel i ty

,and sym

metry.

Yet there i s someth ing lack ing i n D ’

Albert.

He is,o f cou rse, not perfect . The same j ust

n ess o f concept ion and rounded fin ish of p res

entation as he showed i n the Beethoven workswere not always consp icuous i n h is performances.A few quotat ions from Adol f Christ ian i ’s i n terest i ng book on the Pri nc ip l es o f Expression i nPianofort e Pl aying wi l l be i nst ru ct ive here.H e says :“ Tal ent impl ies a pecu l iar apt i t ude for a

spec ia l employment ; hence pian ist i c tal en t imp l ies a pecu l iar apt i tude for that part i cu larbranch o f musical art . A pian ist may

be a great special i st wi thou t being much of a

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194 TIIE EVOLUTI ON OF P IA/V0 M USI C.

comprises more than mechan ism . Mechan ismis merely the man ua l part o f techn ique

,not

requ i ri ng any d i rect i ng thought ; techn ique,however

,requ i res thought . For example : as

to fingering, wh ich p recedes mechan ism ; as totempo , wh ich gove rns mechan ism ; as to force,which qual ifies mechan ism ; as to touch , wh ichennobl es mechan ism .

”

App ly these considerat ions to D’

Albert . I nemot ion he i s pre-em inent . He certain ly hasthe “ power o f conceivi ng and d iv i n ing thebeau t i fu l .” And h is natu ral taste has becomecu l t u red refinement ; h is i nst i n ct i ve d isc rim inat ion sound j udgment . His spec ia l p ian ist i c talen t i s beyond a moment ’s doubt . And h is techn ique is gigan t ic. The on ly one o f Christ iani

’

s

departmen ts i n wh ich D’

Albert i s st i l l l acki ng i s i n te l l igence . He has not yet acqu i redpe rfect sel f-cont rol

,mastery o f emot ion

,and te

pose. He is not always abl e to p reserve thedel icate mental state o f Chop in i n h is fem i n i n emoods. O f Chopin i n h is mascu l i ne moods hei s a superb expl icator. But D ’

Albert’

s fiery ind iv iduality b reaks the bonds o f Chopin

,th e

femal e,at t imes

,and t ranslates the u l t ra-refined

i deas in to a sterner u tterance than befits them ,

and so Shocks our sensi bi l i t i es . We may read i lyforgive h im th is

,for h is t remendous mascu l in i ty

SOME LI VING PLAYEPS. 195

makes h im a grand preacher o f the gospel ac

cord ing to Beethoven . He is ve ry young, andh is bl ood i s hot . The j udgment i s ripen ing, andsel f-con t ro l , mastery o f emot ion , and repose w i l lcome w ith the years . Repose is the consumma

t ion of art ist i c devel opment . I t i s the ch i l d o f

t ime and study. We must not demand i t i n amere youth . He must accompl ish h is development normal ly. To have attai ned mastery o f

emot ion and repose at his age wou ld presupposethe quel l i ng o f the fi re o f you th . D

’

Albert i sal ready great . He wi l l be greater i f the worl d

does not spoi l h im,as i t l oves to spo i l art i sts.

Perhaps the impu lses i n th is l i t t l e man are tool arge to be checked by the world ’s ad u lat ion .

For the sake o f art l et us hope so .

Mr. Joseffy has always impressed the writeras bei ng defic i ent i n el evat ion o f sent iment . Thel im i tat ions o f h is techn ique cannot be at presen tdefined because he has of l ate sought to makecertai n changes i n i ts character . His playingwas formerly d ist ingu ished by crystal l in e pu ri tyand c learness , coupled wi th a del i cacy and neatness wh ich trans fo rmed everyth i ng he touchedi nto a sort o f Queen Mab scherzo . But recen t lyMr. Joseffy has aimed at b readth and power.He is seek ing for a deeper d ramat ic note

,bu t I

am not qu i te su re that he i s j ust ified i n doi ng

196 THE E VOLUTI ON OF P IANo M USI C.

so . I t i s better for the execu t ive music ian to bepe rfect wi th i n a l im i ted field than imperfect outs ide of i t . But i t i s beyond d ispu te that Mr.

Joseffy has gained i n depth and d ign i ty i n thelast ten years

,and h is fu t u re may demonst rat e

that the l i ne o f h is advance has been wisely

chosen . One th ing is certai n he has fai rlyearned a p lace i n the fron t rank o f p ian i sts—a

fact wh ich is more and more fu l ly demonst ratedwhen he i s brought i n to comparison wi th art istsacknowledged to be o f the fi rst order.Th is st udy wou ld be i ncompl ete wi thou t somereference to so nobl e an art ist as Franz Rummel .I con fess w i thou t hes i tat ion that I do not knowj ust where to p lace Rummel . I f i t were not fo ra certai n hardness o f styl e, wh ich obtrudes i tsel fat t imes

,and wh ich seems to me to be the out

come o f an over-elaborate adj ustmen t o f techn icalmeans w i th a v i ew to reach ing j ust the exact eff ect sough t by the p layer, I shou l d putRummel ahead o f al l these pian ists . Perhapshe ought to be placed there anyhow . He cer

tainly i s a great p ian ist and belongs i n the fron trank . H i s developmen t has been notably saneand l ogical . I n former years he was all emot ion . He had no sel f-contro l

,and h is tem

perament fai rly ran away with h im . Al l that i spast

,however. I had the good fortu ne to hear

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198 THE E VOLUTI ON OF P IAN O M USI C.

as wel l as w i th the changefu l natu re o f h i s st rongmoods. But rememberi ng that the p layer buta few years ago had been a creatu re o f u nbrid ledemot ion

,play ing from impu l se rather than idea,

I cou l d not avoid marvel l i ng at the breadth anddepth o f a rt ist i c devot ion which th is growth ,accompl i shed i n th ree years, p lai n ly reveal ed .

Where Rummel seems to me to fal l short o fthe h ighest possi bl e ach i evement is i n the l owest department o f h is art—techn ique. There i sa l ack o f spon tanei ty i n h is tone-col or, beau t i fu las i t o ften i s . The mechan ism is too o ften exposed . The effort o f the player to accompl ishthe des ign of the a rt i st i s bet rayed .

As for D r. Von Bu l ow , the spec ial t rai t o f h isab i l i ty wh ich gives h im h is pos i t i on i s eas i lyd iscern ibl e . I ndeed , i t is frequen tly obtrusi ve.He is the h ighest l iv i ng embod iment of m usicali ntel l igence. He has acqu i red

,i n the most per

feet degree, sel f-cont ro l , mastery o f emot ion , andrepose. I t has been said that he is defici ent i nemot ion . Doubt l ess there i s some t ru th i n th is .The t ime has been when , i f D r. von B ililow hadpossessed as much emot iona l warmth as intelli ~

gence, he wou l d have been the ideal p ian ist, andthe bou ndaries o f piano-playi ng wou ld have beendefined . Happi ly for art and art ists

,the doctor

was cold , and the worl d i s st i l l wai t ing and seek

SOME LI VIN G PLAYERS. 199

ing. Allthe mus ical emot ion wh ich he has i su nder the most compl ete con t ro l o f h is brain .

Personal fee l i ng neve r gets the bette r o f h im .

He is always an obj ect ive player, st r i vi ng to interpret the composer, not h imsel f. Therei n hed i ff ers widely from D ’

Albert , who o ften proj ectsh i s own personal i ty i n too bri l l ian t a l ight uponthe m usical p i ct u re wh ich he i s pai n t i ng . D r.von B i

’

i low i s always an i n terpreter,rev i tal i z i ng

for u s the thoughts o f Bach,Mozart

,Beethoven ,

and Sch umann wi th reve rent ial fidel i ty and aremarkabl e range o f techn ical styl es. To l istento one o f h is reci tals i s to l i ve i n tu rn wi th eacho f the composers on the programme. D r. vonB ill ow gives contemporaneous h uman in terestto dead composers not by modern i z ing them ,

asso many weaker art ists do

,bu t by tak i ng h is au

d ience back wi th h im into thei r t ime.The doctor is fai l i ng i n techn ical power

,but he

i s st i l l a most i nstruct i ve p ian ist . We may be astonished ,

el ectrified,paralyzed by the others ; we

are convinced by the doctor. But l et us remember that wi thou t emot ion the supreme p innacl eo f performance cannot be reached . Experien ce ,deep and thought fu l study

,and ard uous p ract i ce

have made D r. von B ill ow what he is , or ratherw hat he was. But w ith al l h is though t he cannot move a hearer as D ’

Albert orRummel can .

200 THE EVOLUTI ON OF PIAN O III USI C.

I n c los i ng th is brie f v i ew o f the work of somel iv i ng p ian ists someth ing m ust be said o f onewhose personal magnet ism is so great that i tsomet imes obscu res the real nat u re o f h is p layi ng . Ignace Jean Paderewsk i p rod uced a profound impress ion upon al l who heard h im i nboth England and America ; and the impressionwas one wh ich d id cred i t to the mus ical percept ion o f both cou nt ri es. I t seems id l e to rei terate the o ft-repeated asse rt ion that Paderewsk ii s a very great p ian ist , yet i t m ust be repeatedhere for the sake o f the reco rd . Those of uswho sat u nder the magic spel l o f h is performances i n New York , and at t imes l et emotionrun away with j udgmen t

,w ill never forget how

we awoke,as i t we re , on l eav i ng the hal l , and

were consc ious o f vague quest ion ings .Perfect i on

,we reflected

,is st i l l a poet ’s d ream .

We cou ld not l isten even to the A rabian N ights’

entertainments o f Paderewsk i wi thou t repeat ingthe fam i l iar query wh ich the young man o f de

partm ental d i tt i es att r ibu ted to the d isto rtedgen i us of h i s Satan i c Maj esty—“ Is i t art ?And then we t u rned scorn fu l ly upon ou rsel vesand cried

,Away with al l cyn ics Th row c r i t

icism to the dogs ! Let us praise, applaud , andbe merry ; for to-morrow some p iano-manu fact

urer wi l l import a p ian ist who cannot p lay thus .

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202 THE EVOLUTI ON OF PIAN O IVI USI C.

fundamental t rai t o f h is p laying is i ts vocal characte r. When Emman uel Bach said : Du ringthe last few years my ch ie f endeavor has beento play the p iano-forte

,i n sp i te o f i ts defic iency

i n sustai n ing sound,as much as poss ibl e i n a

s inging manner,and to compose for i t accord

ingly ,

” he formu lated the t rue p r i nc ip l e of al li nst rumental performance. Now

, as a matter ofcou rse

,the passages wh ich Paderewski p l ays so

wonderfu l ly on the p iano cou l d not be sung ;bu t he makes them sound as i f they cou l d be

,

and,i ndeed

,were sung. He steeps every com

posi t ion i n a v ocalatmosphere, which causes thep iano to seem an imated by the b reath o f l i fe.The abi l i ty to do th is combines w i th a rare gi ft

o f sympathy, u ncommon poet i c i ns ight , and amarvel l ous facu l ty o f conveying h is own feel ingthrough the med i um o f the key-board to thehearer

,to make Paderewsk i what he is—a man

wi th i n terpretat ive and creat ive i nd ivid ual i ty.

In every art such a being i s p rec ious.

SCHUMANN AND THE PROGRAMME

SYMPHONY.

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206 ROBERT SCH UMANIV.

Schumann i s su rpassed i n emot ional depth, in

tellectual force, and express ive abi l i ty by Beethoven alone.

Emi l Naumann , w hose H istory of Musi c i s

an exhaust ive work and su ffi ci ent ly t ru stworthyas to facts, dec lared h is bel i ef that Robert Sch umann was not a gen i u s. I f he was not

,I am very

doubt fu l as to the ex istence o f more than fou rgen i u ses i n the whole record o f musi c. Theyare Bach , Mozart , Beethoven , and Wagner.The reader w i l l note that th is l i st om its su ch importan t personages as O rl ando Lasso

, Palestri

na, Haydn , Gluck , Mendel ssohn , Schubert, andChopin

,not to ment ion the whol e l i st o f ope ra

t i c composers o f the I tal ian and French school s.Naumann

,however, i s a man o f no m idd l e m eas

u res . Havi ng dec ided that Schumann was

s imply a man o f talen t , he d ism isses h im ,to

gether with Schubert and Mendelssohn,i n a few

scan t pages .I t i s fai r to suspect that a good deal o f the

reason ing wh ich l ed Naumann to make th i sc l ass ificat ion was affected by what H . T . F inckcal l s the worsh ip o f J umboism . I f Fran z Sch ubert was not a gen i us

,then th e u n i versal concep

t ion o f gen i u s as i nsp i red abi l i ty i s fal se. Sch ubert ’s songs are smal l wo rks as compared w ithBeethoven ’s symphon ies ; bu t i t i s cheap eri t i

THE P ROGRAIII III E-S YIlIP II ON Y. 207

cism that measu res the val u e of a pain ter’

s workby the s i ze of h is canvas . There have beenh undreds o f grand operas worth far l ess to theworld than Schubert ’s D ubist d i e Ruh

,or Erlkonig.

” The same comparison can be made i n regard to Schumann ’ssongs .This d igression i s made with a V i ew to Show

i ng that Naumann ’s class ificat ion i s arbi t rary andfool ish . Robert Schumann was su rely a gen i u s

,

and he proves i t i n h is symphon i c wri t i ngs asfu l ly as i n h i s songs and p iano p ieces . Hissymphon ies are as i ncontestably ent i t l ed to therank o f master-songs as i s “ Morgen l ich l euchtend .

” I f there i s one qual i ty m ore poten t thananother i n h is o rchest ral words i t i s that i n tense,concent rated

,and i rres ist i bl e emot ional force

wh ich i s the sou l o f h is songs . And th is emot ional i n tens i ty is not hampered by a lack o f

u tterance. There is no m istak ing Schumann ’smoods , for h is m usical expos i t i on o f them is sol um inous ly eloqu en t that even those u nski l l edi n the l anguage o f m usi c m ust be qu ickened bythei r i n nate warmth . Like Wotan ’s sword i nthe t runk o f the t ree

,they gl ow even upon the

eyes o f the u n i n formed .

I t has always seemed to me to requ i re s ingu laropac i ty to fai l to perce ive Sch umann ’s t remeu

208 ROBERT SCHUMANN .

dous v i r i l i ty. I t reveal s i tsel f most bri l l i an t lyin h is fou r symphon ies , o f which three certa in lydeserve to be c lassed i n the fi rst rank, as secondon ly to the th i rd

,fi fth , seventh , and n i n th o f

Beethoven . Though Schumann u ndoubted lylacked the fert i le i nven t ion and the lo fty s im

plicity o f t hemat ic u tterance possessed by thegreatest o f al l symphon ic wri ters

,he equal l e d

h is predecessor i n earnestness o f p u rpose and i nthe origi nal i ty o f the methods by which hesought to make his pu rposes known . Th is i s abroad assert ion ; bu t i t seems to me that a care

fulst udy of Schumann’s symphon ies wi l l j ust i fy

it. Perceiv i ng, as I always do , th e big human

heart of the man i n eve ry measu re o f h is musi cand fee l i ng at each hearing o f the C major,the Rhen ish and the D m inor the gl oriousmagnet ism o f a sympathy which i t i s the pri v il ege o f music to bu i l d between the qu ick and th edead

,I approach the task o f paying my t ribu te

to the memory of Robert Schumann w i th no

li t t l e fee l i ng. He was the keenest and wisest o fcri t i cs

,a k ing among men and a pri n ce among

composers .Sch umann w as a romant ic i st by temperament

and by the envi ronment o f t ime and s i t uat ion .

Therefore he wrote programme music ; for p ro

gramme music has always been a Special means

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2 10 ROBERT SCH UMANIV.

made to all art . I t i s certai n ly fai r to offer i tagainst poet ry, fict i on

,and the d rama. The

novel ist imagi nes a seri es o f i nc id ents,and by

the force of h is words makes us see them w iththe m ind ’s eye . He tel l s u s what he wishes u sto imagi ne, and we imagin e i t . How much d i fference i s there between h is power and that o f

the composerThe d i fference i s i n the character o f the con

cepts formed by the m i nd . The novel ist cantel l a d i rect sto ry he can name h is personages,and describe the color o f thei r eyes. This i snot i n the power o f musi c. She fi l l s the m i ndw ith broad

,u n iversal imaginat ions rather than

w ith images . To be su re there are persons whoseek for images i n al l m usi c. Among them arethose fanci fulenthusiasts who find the col ors o fthe rai nbow

,the thunders o f the mountai n

storm,the babbl i ng of the meadow -brook

,or

the bel l owi ng of the great deep i n th i s or that

composi t ion . Somet imes i n the carryi ng ou t o fa great p l an the masters have wri tten musi c des igned to con j u re up i n the m i nd images o f externalobjects, bu t to do that i s to put m usi c toi ts l owest use.The h ighest form of p rogramme music i s thati n wh ich the programme is s imply an emot ional

schedu l e . I mean that the composer,hav ing

TIIE PROGRAMME-S YMPHON Y. 2 1 1

st ud ied h is own sou l,and havi ng fou nd that

certai n events i n h is l i fe or observat ion havegiven rise to a t rai n of emot ions, designs h iscomposi t ion to convey some knowl edge o f thatt rain o f emot ions to h i s hearer

,and to p lace h im

i n respons ive sympathy wi th i t. H e says tothe hearer

,Listen to my mus ic and fee l what

! have fe l t . Un l ess I have fai l ed to comprehend h is obscu re l anguage (not made more comprehens ibl e i n Mr. Lawson ’s t rans l at i on) th is i swhat D r. Hand means i n h is “ IEsthet ics o fMusical Art

,

” when he says : We t ru ly cannottel l what every i nd iv id ua l tone i n a p iece o f

musi c says , as is possi bl e i n the case o f thewords o f language

,or even what feel i ng i s ex

pressed in part i cu l ar harmon ies ; but i n thecond it ion o f fee l ing—which i n i tsel f i s not indefin i te the fantasy operates

,and creates and

combi nes melod i c and harmon ic tone-pictu res,

wh ich not on ly represen t that cond i t i on,but are

also,i n themsel ves , val id as representat ions .

Thus,for i nstance

,the feel i ng o f perfect enj oy

ment o f l i fe, o r o f sadness , becomes a p ict u re i na Rondo

,or i n an Adagio , i n wh ich al l i nd iv id

ualsu ccessions o f tones , and forms o f tones, arei n un ison w ith the fu ndamental feel i ng.

”

This, i t seems to me, was the k i nd o f pro

gramme music that Robert Sch umann wrote.

2 12 ROBERT SCH UIIIAN IV.

I t i s not mus ic for the masses , I adm it , thoughSchumann ’s man ly strength i s so p lai n ly t e

vealed i n h is mus i c that even the superfic ial geta certai n p l easu re from h is symphon ies. Butthe rea l mean ing o f Schumann ’s o rchest ral worksis reserved for h i m who can find the key tothei r emot ional basis . Once you have d iscovered the composer’s sched u l e o f feel i ng

, you

have opened up for you rse l f a m i ne o f musicalweal th wh ich

,i t seems to me

,cou l d on ly have

been worked by a real gen i us . Read i ng Sch umann ’s symphon ies th us

,we must perceive that

they are p rogramme music o f the loft i est order,

i n wh ich the essent ia l natu re o f romant i c ism i nmusic becomes at once the ru le o f the i r const ruct ion and the j ust ificat ion o f thei r ex istence .Th is essent ial natu re o f romant i c ism , whichmeans the comp let ion o f an emoti onal c i rcu i tbetween the composer and the hearer, i s theon ly a rgument i n favor o f p rogramme music .I t is the on ly grou nd upon wh ich the sym

phon i c poem and the l e i t mot i f can stand withany hope o f safety . I t i s the ground uponwhich Beethoven p laced h is pasto ral symphonywhen he wrote ove r i t ,

“ mehr Ausd ruck der

Empfindung als Mal erei mo re an expressiono f emot ion than po rt rai t u re. I f we go back tothe earl i est p rogramme musi c we find that i t

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2 14 ROBERT SCH UMANIV.

music how Kuhnau t ried to w r i t e p rogrammemusic o f a p icto r ia l k ind and was u nsuccessfu l .Yet the i n te rnal ev idence o f Kuhnau ’s Worksgoes to show that he had some ideas as to th el i m itat i ons o f h is art . For i nstance

,th e argu

men t o f h is “ Sau l Cu red by David by Meanso f M usi c ” i s th us quoted by D r. Spi t ta : Fi rst,Sau l ’s melancho ly and madness . Second , David ’s refresh ing ha rp-p layi ng . Thi rd , the K ing

’sm ind resto red to peace. D r. Sp i tta describesth i s as real ly wel l made. The themes are characteristic and wel l hand l ed . The g reat poin t ,however

,i n th is and the other sonatas i s th is

S i tuat i ons are sel ected wh ich are characteri zedby the most s impl e and u nm ixed sent iment .I n other words

,Kuhnau somet imes had a d im

percept ion o f the t ruth that on ly broad effectswere attainabl e . The very momen t that one

attempts to pai n t detai l s i n m usic , t ex t becomesnecessary. The domai n o f abso l u te m usic i st ranscended

,and we must have the choral sym

phony,the cantata

,or

,best o f al l , the opera.

Kuhnau ’s desc r ipt ive sonat as gave us Bach ’sCapri cc io sopra la l on tananza del suo fratel l o

d ilett issimo” “ capri cc i o on the absence !de

part u re] o f a l oved brother.” I t has o ften been

said that Bach was the father o f programmem usic

,bu t i n the face of Froberger, Kuhnau ,

THE PR OGRAMME -S YM PHON Y. 2 15

Couperi n , and Knecht, with h is two label ledsymphon ies

,i t wou ld be better to d rop th i s as

sert ion . Those who are unacquai nted wi th th iscomposi t i on o f Bach ’s wi l l find food for reflect i on i n the composer’s p rogramme : The fi rstn umber i s label l ed “ Persuas ion addressed tofri ends that they w i thho ld h im from the j ou rney ;

” the second,A represen tat ion o f the va

ri ons casualities which may happen to h im i n a

foreign cou nt ry ;” th i rd

,

“ A general l amentat ion by friends ; fourth ,

“ The fr i ends,seei ng

that i t cannot be otherwise,come to take l eave ;

fi fth ,“ Aria de post igl ione . ” D r. Sp i tta adds ,

with d ry humor,When the carriage has d ri ven

o ff and the composer i s l e ft a lone,he takes ad

vantage o f h is so l i t ude to wri te a doubl e fugueon the post-horn cal l .” Del ight fu l consolat ion !Can one fai l to d iscern how the whole sp i r i t

o f programme music was m isconceived by themasters o f the fi rst hal f o f the e ighteen th cent u ry

,i nc l ud ing the great Sebast ian ? Kuhnau

d id the most su rp r i s i ng th i ngs,such as wri t i ng

reci tat ive wi thou t words for the c lav ier i n h isvai n efforts to t rans form that modest i nst rumen ti n to a d ramat ic s i nger. Bach must have fe l tthat h is attempt to make the c lav ie r catalogu ethe acc idents that m ight happen to h is brotheri n a fore ign land was a fai l u re. At any rate he

2 16 ROBERT SCHUMANN.

d id not pu rsu e the study o f programme mus ic.I t was not i n the l i ne o f Bach ’s deve lopmen tanyhow .

The t ru th o f the matte r l i es j u st here : Nocomposer can convey a defin ite descript ive c0m ~

m unication to h is hearer i n m usi c . He can re

veal h is mood and reprod uce i t i n the sympathet ic aud i tor ; bu t that is as far as he can go .

He can be gay or sad,calm or stormy

,peacefu l

o r he ro ic , and he can make the bearer share h isfee l i ngs . But the very moment he des i res tosay to h is hearer,

“ I am sad because my on lybrother has gone to China

,

” he must put thatfact i n words. For the hearer’s idea of sadnesson accoun t o f the absence o f a brother m ay bevery d i fferen t from that o f the composer

,and

the former i n that case wi l l fai l to comprehendthe latter. I t is here that a key is needed , ei thero f tex t or of knowl edge o f the causes prod uc ingthe emot iona l cond i t i ons u nde r wh ich the musicwas wri tten . Withou t a key the hearer is ashelp less as he wou ld be i n the presence o f aBayreu th l ei t mot i f d ivorced from i ts text .I f Wagner had written a theme designed to

express the sorrow o f the Vols ungs,and given

i t to u s d issociated from i ts d ramat i c text , w eshou l d recogn i ze i ts marvel l ous melancholy, bu twe cou ld go no fu rther. Here i n l ies the on ly

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2 18 ROBERT S CH UM ANN.

st udy o f the emot ional l i fe o f the composer atthe t ime when they were wri tten . Tel l u s whatBeethoven su ffered or d reamed wh i l e he wroteany one o f these works

,and you have offered us

a key to h is mean ing. To p lay those wo rks i nsu ch a way as to reprod uce i n the bearer someth ing o f the emot i onal l i fe o f the master at thatt ime i s to approach as near ly as any human bei ng can to carry ing out the composer ’s i n tent ion .I t is to v i nd icate the i nfluence o f musi c andto establ i sh i ts sp i ri tual i ty. I t i s to demol ish

the t ranscendent rubbish o f Tolsto'

i‘

on the onehand , and the rhapsod ical id iocy o f rai nbowand sunsh ine d iscovere rs on the other. I t i s toestabl ish the i n tel l ectual i ty o f the tone art andto demonstrate that material ism cannot debasei t .I t i s i n th is Sp i ri t that we must approach the

symphon i c works o f Robert Schumann . Wemust exam ine them i n thei r relat ion to the composer’s l i fe

,and look upon them as i n some

measu re a record o f h is emot ional experi encenot necessari ly wri tten u nder the stress o f theemot ions wh ich they express

,but des igned i n

calmer moments to pai n t the composer’s heartfo r u s . I f there be any notabl e end to be gainedby a cont i n uance o f the c lass i c i nqu i ry i n to thenatu re o f the t rue

,the beaut i fu l , and the good ,

THE PR OGRA I’l/IAIE -S YI

’IIPHON Y. 2 19

then there i s a profi t i n the thought fulst udy ofSchumann ’s m usic .To be su re

,standards o f j udgment vary. One

man says al l m us ic shou l d be beau t i fu l ; bu t hedoes not know what “ beau t i fu l ” is, and heshares th is el ementary ignorance with Thales ,Heracl i t us

,Plato , Ari stot l e, Plot i n us , Si r Wi l l

i am Hami l ton,Rusk in

,Spencer

,Vol ta i re

,D i d

erot, Kant , Wieland , V i scher, Schopenhauer,and Oscar Wi lde

,al l o f whom tri ed to define

the beaut i fu l w i th conspi cuous l ack o f success.Another man—and he

,be i t noted , i s always a

rabid Wagneri te— abides by the d ict um o f JeanJacques Rousseau : La tout est beau , parceque tou t est vrai Wh i ch assert ion crumblesi nto absu rd i ty i n the p resence o f a brown-stonehouse or a canon by Jadassohn . But the Sch umann emot ional p rogramme musi c i s both beaut i fu l and t rue

,and

,measu red by the standard o f

e i ther man , must be p ronounced good , i f notgreat .The composer fel l i n to th i s way o f wri t i ng

early i n h i s career. His great sensibi l i ty, keenand subt l e percept ion

,st rong sense o f humor

,

and v iv i d imaginat ion rendered h im i ncapabl eo f wri t i ng music s imp ly for m usic ’s sake. Hisweal th o f impress ions fou nd utt erance i n whathe wrote. I t p revented h im from succeed ing as

220 ROBERT SCH UMANIV.

a writer i n the sonata form . He cou ld not sh u th imsel f u p w i th i n the boundaries o f a fo rm u l a.He never wrote a great work i n the sonata formunt i l h e saw how that fo rm cou ld be made tobend and yiel d to h is w ishes

, as i t d id i n the Cmajor and D minor symphon ies . But h is p rogramme mus ic for the p iano was a revel at ion .

I t not on ly revea led the tendenc ies and wonderfu l powers o f Schumann ’s creat ive gi fts

,bu t i t

d iscovered to the world n ew possibi l i t i es o f expression i n the p iano . Schumann began h is career as a p ian ist . He understood the i nstrumentand knew how to make i t speak h is language.

That he i nvented for i t a new manner o f speechw i l l be apparen t to every studen t o f the techn iqu e o f th e i nst rument. But he d id more thanthat . He gave the p iano new thoughts to utter. The i nst rument

,which had been a p rat t l ing

babe i n the hands o f Scar l att i,a S i nging boy i n

the hands o f Mozart,a hero and a prophet i n the

hands o f Beethoven,became a poet i n those o f

Schumann .

We may say what we wi l l o f Beethoven’s so

natas—and to the wri ter th ey have always beenthe greatest m usic w r i tten for the p iano—bu t wem ust bear i n m ind that they are great as mus icpu re and S imp l e

,not espec ial ly as p iano m usi c .

Through them the p iano u tters thoughts never

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ROBERT SCH UMAN IV.

shou l d not go far ast ray,probably

,i f we ac

cepted that wal t z as marking the beat o f thecompose r’s own heart ; for i t i s impossibl e t oavoid pe rcei vi ng that the origi nal i ty o f Sch umann ’s m usi c i s the resu l t o f h is constant en

deav or to express h i s own sou l . You can t raceh is attempts th rough such p iano works as theDav idsbtindler

,

” Opus 6 ; Carn ival , Opus g ;Fantasiestucken, Opus 1 2 ;

“ Scenes fromCh i ldhood ,

”

Opus 15 V i en na Carn ival,

”Opus

26 ;“ A l bum for Youth

,

” Opus 68 ;“ Forest

Scenes,

” Opus 82 ; Album Leaves , Opus 124 .

Yet we know that Schumann d id not wish thesecompos i t ions to be accepted as programme m us ic i n the ol der sense. He hel d h is hearer downto no bind i ng sched u l e o f scenes and i nc idents .He p referred to give a t i t l e wh ich h in ted ath i s ideas

,and then l et h is m usi c awaken th e

li earer’

s emotions .That Schumann fel t h is own power, that h ereal i zed that a new fo rce was making i tsel f knowni n German m usic

,can hard ly be doubted . I n

h i s cri t i cal wri t i ngs the composer gave utterancefrequent ly to words o f much s ign ificance. I none place he says : “ Consciously or uncon

sc iously a new and as yet u ndevel oped school i sbei ng founded on the bas is o f th e BeethovenSchubert romant i c ism

,a schoo l wh ich we may

THE P R OGRAIII IVIE -S YI IIPH OA’Y. 223

vent u re to expect wi l l mark a special epoch i nthe h isto ry o f art . I ts dest i ny seems to be tousher i n a per i od which w i l l neverthel ess havemany l i nks to connect i t wi th the past centu ry.

”

His feel i ng that he was dest i ned to be one o fthe s ingers o f th is schoo l is shown i n a l etterwri tten to Moscheles i n 1836, where i n he saysI f you on ly knew how I feel—as though I hadreached the l owest bough of the t ree o f heaven

,

and cou ld hear overhead,i n hou rs o f sacred

l onel i ness,songs

,some o f wh ich I may yet re

veal to those I l ove—you su rely wou ld not denyme an encou raging word .

” Can we not perceive i n these words the yearn ing o f a great soulfor se l f-express ionThe t ime came. St imu l ated by the enthusi

astic reso l ut ion wi th which he entered upon thedefence of allthat was nobl e i n art i n the Neue

Z eitse/Irif t f ur M uS iR, h is i magi nat ion began toembody the i ndefin i te emot ions o f h is sou l . I twas i n the years 1836 to 1839, when he had wel lmastered the rout in e of j ou rnal i st i c l abor

,that

he pou red out those immortal p iano wo rks,in

c l u d ing the Fantasia i n C,the F m ino r sonata

,

Kreisleriana,” and Fasch i ngsschwank

,

” wh ichhave made h is name dear to al l l overs o f p i anomusic. Now he real i zed that he cou l d expressh is i n ner sel f : I u sed to rack my brai ns for a

224 ROBERT S CH UHIANA’.

l ong t ime, he wri tes ;“ bu t now I hard ly ever

scratch out a note. I t a l l comes from w ith i n ,and I often fee l as i f I cou ld go p layi ng st raighton wi thou t ever coming to an end .

” But i t wasi n 1840 that he began to pou r ou t h is heart i n anew manner. I t was i n that year that h is struggl e for the hand of Clara Wieck came to i ts v i ctorious c lose. As the man beheld day after daythe u nshaken stead fastness o f the woman wholoved h im i n the face o f al l oppos i t ion , he fel tthat the p iano

,marvel lous ly as he h imsel f had

i ncreased i ts power O f speech,cou l d not embody

h is emot ions,and he t u rned to the oldest and

most flex ibl e i nst rument,the human voi ce. I n

the year 1840 Schumann wrote over one h und red songs

,o f wh ich the world never t i res and

p robably never wi l l ; for thei r romant i c sel fexpress ion is so broad

,so human , that they wi l l

stand for al l t ime as the sou l-hymns o f men .

The art ist i c developmen t o f Schumann is soi nd ispu tably the resu l t o f h is l i fe up to th ispo in t

,that we are not su rprised at h i s n ext step .

The t umu l t o f young l ove l i fted h im from thep iano to the voice. The consummat ion o f h ismanhood

,i n the u n ion wi th a woman of nobl e

heart and command ing i n te l l ect,l ed h im to the

orchest ra. I n 184 1 he ru shed i n to the symphon ic fiel d

,and composed no l ess than th ree

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226 ROBERT SCHUMANN .

t i t l e,and i t i s general ly SO cal l ed . I t i s fu l l o f

the sp i ri t , the gladness, the buoyancy o f thathappy season , beloved o f poets and music ians.Do you know that wond rous t ime when

spri ng buds i n to summer,when the t im id t inge

o f the hal f-blown leaves bu rsts i n to a trium

phant spl endor o f emerald,when the wi l d orch ids

l i ft thei r heads among the wood land hol l ows,

when the busy h um o f bees begi ns aro und thevi ne-c lad porches

,and the great sun

,rol l i ng i n

dazzl i ng maj esty across ou r deep-bl ue northernSkies

,sends new cu rrents o f l i fe bound ing

th rough the ve ins o f p lants and beasts and menal ike ? I t i s not the “ ea rl y spri ng

,

”o f wh ich

so many youth fu l poets carol , bu t that l aterspring that merges i nto summer, and is the n ewcrowned glory o f the year. I t i s o f such a sea

son that Schumann’s D m inor symphony s ings

—o f such a season,not among the b i rds and

brooks and flowers,bu t i n the i nfin i te u n iverse

o f a man ’s h eart . I t i s Sch umann ’s n upt ialhymn

,the Io t ri umphe o f l ove v i ctorious and

manhood blessed .

I s i t any wonder that th is man,growing, as

we have seen h im grow,with a constant roman

t icism,and an unflagging search after sel f-ex

p ression , shou l d have swept away the barri ers o ffo rm

,and

,wh i l e p reservi ng the general shape

THE PROGRAIIIME-S YMPH ON Y. 227

o f the symphony,have given us a work , nove l

i n appearance as i t was i n fee l ing ? Let us

for i t is necessary—enter for a b r i e f t ime uponthe unhappy busi ness o f analys is . The fi rstth ing that stri kes the studen t o f the score is thet i t l e : Fou rth Symphony : i n t roduct ion , al l egro

,romanze

,scherzo

,and final e i n one move

ment .” We seldom hear th is symphony playedi n one movemen t ; a break i s usual ly made between the al l egro and the romance

,thereby

break ing the flow of the composer’s ideas an ddo ing viol ence to h is i ntent ions. No thoroughlyart ist i c conductor shou ld be gu i l ty o f such awrong. Schumann w rote h i s symphony i n one

movement wi th a pu rpose. I t is, as I have said ,h is nupt ia l hymn , the free, u n trammel l ed out

pou r o f h i s emot ions,and he des i res that the

hearer’s feel i ngs shal l pass,as h is own d id , from

one state to the next wi thou t i n terrupt ion . I na word

,th i s i s the fi rst symphon ic poem

,a form

which is based upon the i rre futabl e assert ionthat there is no break between two success i veemot ional states . Now

,Schumann d id not

rest here ; but he i n t roduced a devi ce wh ich hadnot been used by Beethoven when that mastersaw the need o f u nbroken connect ion betweenh is movements . Th is dev ice has been cal l edpart ia l commun i ty o f theme. I do not l ike

228 ROBERT SCHUMANN.

that appel lat ion i t belongs to a sty l e o f term inology which t reats music as i f i t were a science,not an art . Music i s a fo rm o f poet ry . Let usnot t reat i t as a form o f mechan ics. Schumann ’s part ia l commun ity of theme is nothi ng more nor l ess than an app roach to the l ei tmot ive system . Wagner h imsel f tel l s us

,i n h i s

accoun t o f the composi t ion o f The FlyingD u tchman

,how the convi ct ion dawned upon

h im that the recu rrence o f a thought or emot ionalstate i n the Opera shou ld be made knownby a repet i t i on o f the music i n wh ich i t was fi rstembod ied . Knowing fu l l wel l the eagerness of

commentators to read i n to the works o f art iststh i ngs o f which the art ists themselves neverd reamed

,I m ust adm it that there i s no evidence

o f Schumann’s having ant i c ipated Wagner’s con

e l u s ion but there is abundant i nternal p roof i nh i s m usi c that h is st rong feel ing for d i rect sel fexpression l ed h im to a u sage resembl ing i n p r i n

c iple that o f the l e i t mot ive. The i nt roduct iono f the D minor symphony is made o f th i s theme :

The soft,caressi ng

,yearn ing natu re o f th is

theme i s at once apparen t to every hearer, and

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230 ROBERT S CH UIIIANIV.

ished at the effect p rod uced by such an unprom ~

i s i ng subj ect .” I t seems to me that a music ianso wel l i n formed as Mr. Prou t m ust have writ tenthat sentence wi thou t d ue consi derat ion . Su relythe subj ect i s no more u nprom is ing than thes imple d iaton ic scal e wh ich Beethoven so oftenu sed w ith astou nd i ng e ffect . I t seems to methat S chumann has done what al l great sym

phonists have done : he has taken a s impl emelody and developed i t i n an effect i ve manner.His theme o f rej o i c i ng does

,i ndeed

,echo and

re-echo from al l parts o f the orchest ra,now

th underi ng i n the basses,agai n caro l l i ng with

the fl utes,bu t always swel l i ng h igher and h igher

i n i ts raptu rous u tterance,t i l l at the end o f the

movement we certai n ly are aston ished at theeffect ” and wonder how the composer i s tosp read the w ings o f h is fancy for fu rther fl ight .

One part o f Mr. Prou t ’s analysis (which I amfar from d isp rais i ng) i s wo rthy o f reprod uct ionhe re. He notes that a v igo rous forte conc l udesthe fi rst part o f the al l egro , and cont i n ues bysaying : “ From th is poi n t to the end o f themovement we find noth i ng but what is com

m only cal l ed the free fantas ia . I t wou ld bevery i nterest i ng to find out how many hearerso f th i s symphony have ever not i ced that nei therthe fi rst nor the second subj ect ever recu rs i n

THE PR OGRAIII IIIE -S Y/II PH ON Y. 23 1

the latter part . The music i s al most ent i relyconst ructed o f new mate r ial

,to wh ich the open

i ng ba r o f the fi rst theme most ly serves as anaccompan iment ; and such u n ity o f characte r isgiven to the whol e by th i s means that i t i sdoubt fu l i f on e hea rer i n a hund red has detected the i rregu lar i ty o f the fo rm .

” There a retwo reasons for th is i rregu la r i ty o f form .

”

Fi rst , Schumann’s p u rpose was p lain ly to de

v elop to i ts fu rthest power o f emot ional express iveness h is mot ive o f rej o ic i ng. He sought todo th is not on ly by carryi ng i t th rough a ser i eso f modu lat i ons

,and sett i ng our aud i tory nerves

to v ibrat i ng u nder the i nv igorat i ng shock o f

such foreign tonal i t i es as D flat maj or,bu t by a

process o f variat ion,made fami l iar by Beetho

ven , th rough wh ich , by the add i t i on o f smal lpo rt i ons o f new mater ial

,the origi nal melody

takes on a new fo rm and colo r. Here is the

t reatment to wh ich Schumann,i n h is search

after accents o f joy,subjects h is theme

232 R OBERT SCHUMANN .

He works th is ou t i n such a manner that at theend of the a l l egro i t i s succeeded by th is form :

Now, i f the student o f the score wi l l t u rn to thefinal al l egro (what wou l d u nder ord i nary c i rcum stances be cal l ed the last movement) he wi llfind that h is theme

,pla i n ly a mot i ve of t r i

umphant v icto ry, i s made out o f these twoforms i n th is manner

No. a.

And th is exp lai ns why Schumann d id not fo ll ow the sonata form i n h i s fi rst al l egro and re

peat h is p ri ncipal subj ect i n a th i rd part o f themovement . Having once stated h is mot ive ofj oy, he had no fu rther use for i t bu t to developi t i nto a paean of v icto ry at the end o f the onegrand m ovemen t wh ich const i t u tes the sym

phony .

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234 ROBERT SCH UMAN /V.

Put them i n the same key and try them con

nectedly i n the orde r i n wh ich they stand here,and you wi l l see how beau t i fu l ly one suppl ementsthe other in feel ing as wel l as i n melod ic character. Surely, we must adm i t , rememberi ng thecomposer ’s i nd ispu tabl e attempt to give h is worku n i ty, that h is pu rpose governed the const ruet ion o f these two themes .Again

,havi ng given free rei n to h is expres

s ion o f l ove’s joy and tenderness i n the fi rs tmovement

,he enters immed iately upon the

romanza. Th is i s c l early a serenade beneaththe window o f his bride. That Schumann intended to give i t su ch a character is shown byh is use i n the origi nal score o f the gu i tar , afterward taken out because i t was i neffect i ve i n th emass o f stri ngs . I f Sch umann had w r i t ten th eD minor symphony th i rty years l ater, he wou l dhave used a harp and ach ieved

.

h is effect fu l ly ;bu t he was too c lose to Beethoven to know theval u e o f that imp rovement on the model o f

symphon ic i nstrumentat ion l e ft by the m ightyLudwig . Yet i n h is roman za he cont in ues toexp lo i t h is new t reatment o f symphon i c form i na most touch ing manner ; for immed iately afterthe fi rst en unc iat ion o f the theme o f the serenade ,he recu rs to the yearn i ng mot ive

,th us giving u s

a most eloquent expression o f the feel ings o f the

THE PR OGRAMM E-S YMPH ON Y. 235

s inger beneath the window. H e i s ou ts ide,bu t

he yearns to be at her s ide.Here fo l lows one of the l ovel i est touches i n

the whole work . The yearn ing melody endswi th th is passage

And th is i s succeeded at once by a very beaut iful sect i on i n wh ich the body o f stri ngs p laysthe subj o i ned ai r

,obvious ly formed from the

passage j ust given

And above th is the voice o f a s ingl e v iol i ns i ngs the fol l owing l ovely variat ion

236 ROBERT SCHUMANN .

This i s a marvel l ous work ing out of the yearn.

i ng melody with wh ich the symphony begins,

i s i t not ? How such t reatment as th is revealsu s the c loseness o f Schumann ’s se l f-analysi s andthe fi rmness o f his p urpose to express h is hearti n h is m us ic How thoroughly i t explai ns to ush is recourse to the orchest ra to obtai n adequatemeans for the rep resen tat ion o f the mu l t i tudeo f j oyous and tender emot ions wh ich crowdedh is heart i n the fu l l real i zat i on o f al l h i s hopes !I f th i s is not the tone-poem o f a gen i us

,where

are we to look for oneAfter the romanza the composer passes w i th

out pause to the scherzo . I t has always seemedto me that cond uctors who are reso l ved to i nterrupt the con t i n uou s flow of th is symphony atsome poi n t wou ld better make the break between the romanza and th e scherzo than el se

where The connect ion between these twomovements at the po in t o f contact is l ess marked ,I think , than that between the fi rst two. Thescherzo i tsel f i s t ru e to i ts name. I t i s p l ayfu l and ai ry

,the bad inage o f the l over. But

mark how charm ingly he remi nds the object o f

h is affect ion o f the yea rn ing mood that has prevai l ed i n h is heart so m uch of the t ime. Hedoes i t i n the t ri o

,not by a repet i t ion o f the

yearn i ng melody i tsel f,bu t by a rep roduction i n

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238 R OBERT SCHUMANN.

The ent i re work has always impressed me as

being s ingu l ar ly devo id o f obt rusive evidence o fthe great amount o f thought which a study o fi ts const ruct ion reveal s. I heard i t severalt imes before the most obv ious passages o f repet i t ion forced themsel ves upon my attent ion .The l ess paten t d id not reveal themsel ves except u nder a carefu l study o f the score.After what has been said about th e D m inor

symphony the C major may be d ism issed w ithsho rter considerat ion . Sch umann h imsel f tel l su s that i t was sketched “ du r i ng a period o fgreat physical su ff eri ng and severe mental conflict

,i n the endeavor to combat the d i ffi cu l t i es

o f h i s c i rcumstances—a confl i ct wh ich he saysl e ft i ts t races beh ind i t , and wh ich in fact l ed atl ast to h i s u nhappy death .

” What a flood o f

l igh t th i s explanat ion l ets i n upon the trem en

dous v igor and st ress o f the ent i re work . Howfu l ly i t makes u s understand the d i fference be

tween th is and the Spri ng symphony. We cannot fai l t o be caught and carr ied by the flood

o f power—aggressi ve, m i l i tan t power— in th is Cmajor work

,and here is a sat is facto ry reason for

i ts p resence . T ru ly th is i s the vo i ce o f a great

s inger. I n th is wo rk we see a fu rth er u se o fthe methods o f const ru ct i on employed i n the

D minor symphony. They are no t so el abo

THE PROGRAAI JIE -S YJIP II ON Y. 239

rately carried ou t because the composer’s pu r

pose d id not demand i t . But he does not l oses ight o f h is idea o f repeat i ng certai n primarythemes i n every movement . The sosten uto assai i n th e C maj or i s “ an i n t rod uct ion not tothe fi rst al l egro

,but to the whol e symphony,

”

as S i r George Grove has noted . The callo fthe brass i nst ruments

,which forms the fi rst and

most endu r i ng ph rase i n the open i ng,i s heard

i n the same i nst ruments at the c l imax of the all egro

,agai n at the c l ose of the al l egro

,and lastl y

i n the term inat ion o f the final e,and thus acts

the pa rt o f a motto or refrai n .

” S i r George al sopoi nts ou t that other ph rases o f the i n t roduct ionoccu r later

,and that the theme of the adagio re

t u rns i n the final e. He also specifies the verybeau t i fu l employment o f a subs id iary melody i nthe i nt rod uct i on as the basis o f the second sub

ject o f the fi rst movement . I th in k S i r Geo rgeGrove d id not read between the l i nes here. Theprobab i l i t i es a re that Schumann c reated the twosubj ects o f h is fi rst movement befo re he undertook the composi t i on o f the i n t rod uct ion

,and

th is subs id ia ry melody i n the i n t roduct ion wasderived pu rposely from the second subj ect o f

the movement . This wou ld be more i n acco rdwith the evidences o f deep design wh ich the ent i re symphony contai ns.

240 ROBERT S CH UMA/VA".

I may be pardoned for a momentary d igress ion here to remark that Si r George seems pu zz led to accou n t fo r the scherzo 's two t rios

,and

t im id ly supposes that the composer may havegot the idea from Beethoven ’s repet i t ion o f thet rios i n the fou rth and seventh symphon ies

,or

from “ some ‘cassatio o f Mozart or Haydn .

"

He shou ld have known that i n Sebast ian Bach ’sgreat concerto i n F for so l o v iol i n

,two horns

,

th ree oboes , bassoon , and st ri ngs there i s a m i n uetw ith three t ri os, after each o f wh ich the m in ueti s repeated . And he shou ld also have knownthat Mozart took up th i s idea hal f a centu rylater. I n h i s d ivert imento i n D (Kochel ,there are two m inuets

,the fi rst o f wh ich has

th ree trios and the second two. Th is use o f asecond trio

,therefore , i s not a modern custom

and may be d ism issed .

The matter u nder cons iderat ion is the repeateduse o f the same themes i n d i fferent parts o f thesymphony

,a fash ion wh ich was the m odel o f

the Liszt variety o f p iano concerto , and whichu nquest ionably l ed that wri ter to the i nven t iono f the symphon i c poem . The quest ion may

now be asked , and i t i s ve ry pert i nent , Whetherth is repet i t i on o f themes i s a con fess ion o f weakness on the part o f the composer ? Does i t meanthat he is not abl e to i nven t new melod ies for

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242 ROBERT SCHUMANN .

that he had exp lored the resou rces o f musi c asan emotional l anguage. The character o f th i sC major symphony is, as we have seen , aggress ive, res ist i ng, combat ive. He wrote i t w heni n the heat o f a phys ica l and mental confl i ct.I n the l ight o f th is fact exam in e that b razenph rase wi th wh i ch the symphony begins. Su relyth i s i s a chal l enge, the fan fare of the kn ight enteri ng the l i sts agai nst fate. I t i s stern

,weighty

,

and reso l u te, the expression of the determ inat ion o f a brave and u nyield ing sp i ri t . I t i ss imp ly the Schumann l ei t mot ive

,represent ing

th rough the storm and st ress o f the symphon i cst ruggl e the calm cou rage o f the man . And atthe end to what al one does th i s ph rase gi veway ? To a t ri umphant hymn o f vi ctory

,a pro

phetic v is ion o f the composer whi ch was dest i ned never to be real i zed .

Does th e reade r th i nk these explanat ions fanciful They a re no mo re so than the explanat ions o f Beethoven ’s th i rd and fi fth . They a re

no more so than those o f Wagner’s Walhal la or

“Wande rer ” mot i ves . And the writer does notdeem those explanat ions fanc i fu l i n the l east .They a re l ogi cal ly deduced from substant ialdata . The explanat ions o f Schumann

’

s D m inor and C major symphon ies herewi th given are

ded uced i n the same way ; and a suggest ion i s

THE PR OGRA !WINE-SYMPHON Y 243

offered as to the val u e o f the repeti t ion o f sub

jects. The reader, o f cou rse, wi l l accept i t or

not as he chooses . But I may add th is : Thati t has always been

,s i nce the days o f Bach

,the

Obj ect o f composers to exp ress thei r own sou l s.I ndeed

,the endeavor to do th is can be t raced

back to even earl i er days i n the h isto ry of m us ic. No sooner had the mass o f cont rapuntal

learn i ng wh i ch had been growing for seve ralcen tu ries reached i ts height i n the hai r-sp l i t t i ngand puzzl e-bu i ld i ng o f Okeghem ’s t ime, thanJosqu i n des Pres, his pup i l , sought to imparteuphon ic beauty to h is mus ic ; and bu t l i tt l elater Orl ando Lasso was producing mus ic wh ichnobly expressed rel igious feel i ng

,the on ly emo

t ional u tterance attempted i n the art-music o fthe t ime. Thenceforward compose rs developedthe emot ional e l ement t i l l they reached a comprehens ion o f the great t ru th that they mustl ook wi th i n fo r thei r i nsp i rat i on . As D r.Hen ry Maudsley has i t “ I t is not man ’s fu nct ion to th i nk and feel on ly ; h is i nne r l i fe hemust express or utter i n act i on o f some kindi n word or deed . Musi c i s the composer ’sword

,and by a thought fu l st udy of h is own

mental and emot ional states he bri ngs underh is su rvey the ent i re psych ic experience o f

human i ty . The essen t ial characterist i c o f ro

244 R OBERT SCH UMANN.

m ant ic ism i n m usic i s the ceasel ess endeavor toreveal th is i nner l i fe. I f Robert Schumannw as t ru ly a romant ic i st , as peop l e are i n thehabit o f saying, without much thought abou t i t ,then he was trying to d isc lose h is i nner sel f i nh is m us ic , and the i nsight given by the composer i n to h i s emot ional states at the t ime o f thecomposi t ion o f the D m inor and C major symphon ies j ust ifies the exp lanat ions wh ich havebeen Offered .

“ I t requ i res much t ime to d iscover musi ca lMed iterraneans,

” says epigrammat i c Berl ioz,

and st i l l more to master thei r navigat ion .” I ttook much t ime to d iscover the t rue vocat ion o f

p rogramme music,and there are many whose

eyes are st i l l b l i nded . I t was reserved for Beethoven to Show how the symphony cou ld bemade to u tter the l i fe o f the i nner man . I t was

Sch umann ’s task to teach us a new method o f

symphon ic speech . I suppose the generalj udgment o f cu l t i vated l overs o f mus ic w i l l award

Schumann the second p lace among sympho

n ists ; yet I o ften fee l that the words o f h i s l etter to Kossmaly on another subject wou ld be app l i cabl e to th is. He says I n you r art i c l e onthe Lied ,

’ I was a l i t t l e grieved that you placedme in the second class. I do not l ay claim tothe fi rst , bu t I th ink I have a c laim to a place of

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THE STORY OF MUSIC.

B Y W. J . HENDERSON.

12m o, Orn am en tal Cloth Cover,

M r. Henderson te lls in a clear. com prehensive . and logicalway the sto ry o f the growth o f m odern mu5 1c . ’

1he work is prefix ed by a newly prepared chrono log ical tab le . wh ich W i ll be foundi nvaluable by muS i c al students , and which conta ins many dates andno tes o f impo rtant events that are no t furtherm ent ioned in the te x t.

l' e w conte m porary wri ters on muS i c ha i e a m o re agreeablestyle and few e ven am o ng the renowned and pro found Germans .

afirm er grasp o f the subject. The book. m oreover, “ll! be valuableto the student for i ts re ferences. wh ich form a n ide to the bestl i te rature o f mu m in all language s. lho story 0 the developm ento f re l ig ious music . a subje ct that i s too o ften m ade forb idd ing and

un intere st ing to the general read er. i s here re lated so simply as tointerest and instruct any reader, whether o r no t he has a tho roughknowledge o f harmon ics and an int imate acqua intance W i th the

e st imab le dom inant and the deplorable consecutive fifths . Thechapter o n i nstrum ents and instrum ental forms is valuable fore x actly the sam e reasons .

”—NEW YORK T IMES.

It is a pleasure to open a new book and discover on its firstpage that the clearness and S im ple beauty o f i ts typogi aphy has aharmony in the clearne ss

,d ire ctness

,and restful finish o f the

wri ter’s style M r. Henderson has accompl ished, with ranjudgm ent and skill, the task o f te ll ing the story o f the growth o f the

art o f mu51c W i thout encumbering h i s pages with e x cess o f b io

graph i cal m aterial . He has a im ed at a connected reCi tal. and. for i tssake , has treated o f creat ive epochs and epoch-making works . ratherthan groups o f composers segregated by the acc id ents o f t ime and

space . Adm irable for i ts succ inctness. clearness, and gracefulness o f statement. -NEW YO RK TR I B UNE .

The work is bo th stat i st ical and narrat ive , and i ts spe cialdesign i s to g ive a deta i led and comprehensw e h i story o f the varioussteps m the developm ent o f m us1c as an art . There is a very valuable chronologi cal tab le . wh ich presents im portant dates that couldno t o therwise b e well introduced into the book The cho ice style inwh ich th is book i s wri tten lends i ts added charm s to a work mostimportant on the l i terary as well as on the art ist ic S ide o f music.—Bo sT0N TRAVELLRL

L O N G M A N S , G R E E N , 8: C O . ,

91 -93 F i fth Av enue . N e w Y o rk .