Books › Harvard Dictionary Of Music, 1944 › scan 194
Scan 194
Harvard Dictionary Of Music, 1944
10 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1CONDUCTING
3IV. Where the music was characterized by a strongly rhythmic character, where no refinements of tempo or interpretation were implied, as in folk singing, a general stamping of feet or clapping of hands served to attain that unity. Such a method was known to the Greeks, who used wooden shoes for this purpose, or even a sort of clapper hinged to the heel of the shoe. There are classic references, also, to thumb-snapping as a rhythmic device. How early in the history of conducting the baton was adopted it is impossible to say, but it was certainly in use in the sixteenth century. A roll of paper, the violin bow, and the cane have likewise served as implements of direction; and the last mentioned, in particular, was effective in marking the beat by sharp strokes on the floor. It is evident, in fact, that for a surprisingly long period in the history of conducting the performer was not expected to depend solely on his eye. Even after the adoption of the baton, conductors continued to make the beat audible; and this irritating method was doubtless finally abandoned because of popular protests against it which arose certainly as early as the 17th century.
5During that period in which the harpsichord was an important member of the orchestra, small instrumental groups could doubtless depend on its incisive tone for whatever unifying direction was necessary; and it was, indeed, recognized as valuable in preserving a steady beat. The conductor could carry out his direction from the harpsichord or the organ, sometimes removing his hands from the keys for this purpose.
7V. By the 18th century the first violin had acquired so much authority that the responsibility for direction shifted from the keyboard to the violin. During Haydn's visits to London in 1791 and 1794 control of the orchestra was divided between Haydn at the piano and Salomon with his violin. In 1787 Deldevez wrote a textbook with details about the practice of the violin-conductor, a type of which Habeneck (1781-1849) was the last representative. In England the concert-master is still referred to as the "leader," and he enjoys prerogatives and acknowledgments only second to the conductor himself. It is not surprising, then, that in England, as elsewhere in the 19th century, the relinquishment of the bow or the keyboard for the baton in the hand of a single authority was not accomplished without opposition. Spohr created an alarm in London when he first used a baton there, in 1820. By 1850, however, the baton had won universal acceptance. The only modern survival of primitive time-beating was that employed by American college glee club leaders of the previous generation who maintained an almost consistent and mechanical head-nodding throughout the performance. A single hand gesture would have been considered in bad taste; but as the leader was also often the best singer, his vocal contribution was inevitably slight, due to the persistent bobbing up and down of his head.
9With the establishment by the *Mannheim orchestra in the 18th century of refinements which had hitherto been unknown, the career of the conductor as an individual is prophesied. In the 19th century, equipped with baton and with autocratic powers of control, he ceases to be an important participant and becomes the dominating figure. Upon him the spotlight of modern musical attention is now fixed. He has become the personification of virtuosity, surrounded by adulators to whom all other conductors are inferior. His "readings" are authoritative and many a concert goer, it must be feared, is more interested in the attitudes and interpretations of his favorite than in the music itself. Not since the days of the celebrated "song birds" of the 18th century has such partisanship over the relative merits of performance been rife. Obviously, the temptation to the spectacular, to the occasional sacrifice of musical truth, is not to be invariably resisted. But to one who listens objectively, discounting over-praise and occasional lapses from good taste, and who bears in mind the slow physical development of the orchestra as a flexible and a sensitive instrument, and the long submergence of the conductor as the unique controlling force, the modern or-
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.