Scan 11
Musical Courier 1893-09-27: Vol 27 Iss 707, 1893
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1would astonish people accustomed to attend our oratorio and church choir concerts. These chorus singers deliver from memory the most complex counterpoints, and keep their eyes fixed upon the conductor, eagerly expecting some sign that would aid in giving a most effective delivery of special words or notes.
3The Welsh language does not on paper appear specially fascinating to musical composers, but when it is heard nothing harsh or unpleasant comes upon the ear. Nearly half a century ago, when some fashionable Welsh concerts were first given in London, by a Welsh chorus with a band of about thirty harps, the delight was only equaled by the wonderment.
5The above song has English and Welsh words and is arranged for solo and mixed chorus, with accompaniment for the piano. It is here sufficient to say that it has a pleasant melody with all the elements of popularity.
7Modern Orchestration.
9It is my intention to show how in a comparatively short period of time great and rapid changes have taken place in the construction of the recognized modern orchestra; how the old system of scoring has been overturned either by the process of augmenting the number of instruments already in use, or by the introduction of new ones. For this purpose let us examine certain characteristic works by the composers who are mainly responsible for these new departures.
11I would call attention to a quartet of names whose exalted position has already been definitely fixed by the sternest of critics, Time. It is not their music, but their extraordinary influence upon instrumentation, as well as upon the orchestra itself, which claims our attention. The scores of at least two of them represent the very latest development of the art. The very existence of the first one has been, unjustly, I think, forgotten. Even if it be granted that he is not in the first rank as a composer, we have to acknowledge him as the father of what we may term the "grandiose" school, as the first of the great experimentalists.
13The fame of the Italian, Spontini, has been sadly dimmed by the efforts of his successors—I might almost say pupils—Meyerbeer, Berlioz and Wagner, and his works have as completely vanished from the stage as if they had never been.
15There may be much more "cry than wool" in them; their glittering sonority may outweigh the intrinsic value of the music. Still, the neglect is not entirely deserved, for there is a great deal of sound knowledge to be gained by a study of Spontini. The history of his own personal development from the lightest school of Neapolitan opera, through various stages to the almost overbearing magnificence of his last operas, is in itself instructive.
17"La Vestale," combining as it does a keen appreciation of the dignified grandeur of Mozart and Gluck with the passionate warmth of purely Italian melody, is already full of new and surprising touches of instrumentation, but it is to those works which rightly or wrongly are credited with a leaning toward mere noisy sonority that I would desire to call attention. "Olympia," composed in 1819, although by no means the highest point in respect of "fullness" which he reached, is an example of this kind. Those brilliant passages for the violins, which are so familiar in the pages of Rossini and Auber, those subtle subdivisions of the strings into many parts, which Wagner so frequently employed, are all here. The celebrated passage for subdivided 'cellos in the overture to "William Tell" is anticipated, for we find four solo 'cellos accompanied by the others in "Olympia." In place of the four "Lohengrin" stage trumpets we notice six. Again, a reading of the fine ballet music, with its terrible array of instruments of percussion, viz.: Tam-tams, triangles, tambourines, cymbals and a small army of big and small drums, all in action at once, forces me to the conclusion that already in 1818 every now familiar trick or device calculated to stimulate excitement in the listener was known to and used by Spontini.
19The comic or dialogue operas, "Milton" and "Julie," produced as early as 1804-5, full of charming effects, obtained by the simplest means, are on that account equally interesting.
21The national element in "Der Freischütz" drove Spontini out of Germany, and the success of "Robert le Diable" completely extinguished his popularity in that country. The fact, however, that Wagner himself prepared a performance of "La Vestale" in 1844, which the aged composer directed, proves that the younger master was not forgetful of Spontini's high position among the colorists, if not among the very greatest musicians. Berlioz too had a great admiration for his scores, from which he quotes copiously, and more than once acted as his defender; indeed I am inclined to think that the shaping of Berlioz' and Wagner's lofty aims was considerably influenced by the prevailing sense of the "gigantic" in Spontini. Meyerbeer's elaborate orchestral calculations, his persistent habit of altering and touching up his scores, even at the last available moment, are so well known that the term "experimentalist" is perhaps more applicable to him than any other. Any one of his works taken at random will testify to the enormous value which he attached to unusual combinations, and the inexhaustible patience with which he pursued his search for them.
23The vast improvements made in the construction of brass instruments about this time afforded greatly increased facilities, and Meyerbeer was among the very first to realize this fact. Not only are these brass instruments now all furnished with pistons or valves giving the entire chromatic scale, and thus doing away with the necessity of using closed or hand notes, but the agility with which hitherto impossible passages may be overcome very considerably affects their treatment, and alters their complexion. Whole families were invented by the Belgian Sax, viz.: Saxophones (with clarinet mouthpieces), Sax-horns (with metal mouthpieces), Sax-trombones, Sax-tubas, mostly in groups of five—soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone and bass. Military instruments such as cornets-à-piston and the bass-tuba find places in the operatic orchestra. Military music chiefly has benefited by those inventions and improvements, for the prodigality with which they were used at first has been luckily somewhat tempered by better judgment (Meyerbeer had eighteen Sax-horns on the stage in "Le Prophète"). Thus a complete orchestra of brass was added to the main body capable of separate treatment.
25Meyerbeer's scoring is peculiar to himself and full of happy inspirations, indeed the finesse shown in "dressing up" charming melodies to the best advantage is quite remarkable. It is impossible here to do more than point to one representative example. In the "Chorus of Bathers" in "Les Huguenots," for instance, the harps—for which he wrote exceptionally well—and horns bear the responsibility of sustaining the harmony, while the melody of the female chorus is played by the muted first and second violins in octaves. The violoncellos and bassoons keep up a rippling figure. The timpani do duty for the silent double basses. Now on paper this looks like a risky piece of scoring, but the effect is exceedingly good, though it smacks a little of the laboratory.
27It might be imagined that so fully equipped an orchestra could supply sufficiently varied and vivid colors to the boldest tone painter. The system of adding to the number of individual instruments, such as four or six harps, is observable in Spontini and Meyerbeer, but the sword being drawn, the scabbard had to be thrown away. In Berlioz we have to reckon with an isolated personality, the force of whose powerful will and almost reckless lust for innovation have left a deep impression upon the art. His orchestra is a mighty though well regulated machine, which like a "Nasmyth" may either come down with Titanic force, or descend so gently that it may flatten a pin.
29The enormous molds in which most of his works are cast, and his equally imposing ideas, require exceptional means of expression. We have seen the romantic, the fantastic creeping into music, but now the grotesque, the whimsical also enter, and the orchestra is made to shriek and gibber, as well as to utter eloquent speech. It is entirely with Berlioz' extraordinary powers as a virtuoso on his instrument, the orchestra, that we have to deal. It is not too much to say that no master devoted such minute attention to the capabilities and characteristics of each instrument as Berlioz. His flights are made with an assurance which seems like intuition, but they are really the result of deep research and patient study. Moreover, that he had the gift of compelling his thoughts to submit to restraint is evident in his eight overtures. Dramatic, weird and picturesque subjects such as "Lear," "Das Vehmgericht," Byron's "Corsair" fascinated him. The certain amount of licence in form and general treatment observable is only to be looked for in so original a mind. In his overtures the general conformation of the classical orchestra is mostly adhered to; therefore if we wish to realize his special characteristics we must look at those works in which he considered himself entirely free and unfettered.
31I will select for this purpose one of the most extraordinary scores ever penned, viz.: The continuation of the symphonie fantastique called "Lelio, or the Return to Life." It is a combination of recitation with vocal and orchestral music, representing Berlioz in his most refined and delicate moods, as well as in that "Ercles' vein" which the unthinking choose to consider his specialty (or dominant one).
33The first number is a tenor song with the sole accompaniment of a piano. The second is remarkable for many things: The kettledrums tuned to the interval of an augmented sixth; the hand or closed notes for the horns; the delicate chords of the strings pizzicato, which alternate with soft strokes of a tam-tam and large drum. These are surely novel enough.
35The third number is a fully scored song for a brigand chief—a profession which Berlioz glorified in music more than once—with cornets, in addition to the trumpets and four kettledrums. Number five is particularly striking, for all the strings are muted, with the exception of the subdivided double basses, which play complete chords (in four parts) pizzicato in the lowest depths. Add to this a harp and a clarinet, muffled in a leather bag, and we have an idea of the combination. Then follows a fantasia on the "Tempest," with chorus and a piano part for four hands, in addition to the eight muted violins, a piccolo, and one flute and one clarinet. Among the niceties of nuance, we may note that the drum part is so carefully marked that the use of the right and left hands is indicated. Beethoven discovered the latent characteristics of the drums, and Berlioz put the discovery to further use by employing a differently tuned quartet of drums with two players. Händel's friend and enemy, Mattheson—speaking of a period in which kettle-drums had not yet been seen either in the theatre or the concert room, but were employed only by the clergy and the cavalry—tells us that these instruments were frequently used (at funeral rites) in sets of four. He adds, dimly enough, "they heighten the effect of the cadences." Verily, there is nothing new under the sun.
37His "Requiem," however, goes beyond all this, since he asks for the largest orchestra ever demanded by a composer. In the "Tuba Mirum," we have four small orchestras of brass instruments, placed at the four corners of the main body. Sixteen trumpets and cornets, sixteen tenor trombones, six bombardons and ophicleides, eighteen drums and three pairs of cymbals, is a tolerably fair demand in addition to the ordinary orchestra. Again, an attempt to give an idea of the vastness of "space" is worthy of mention. Three flutes, playing sustained chords in the highest register, and eight tenor trombones in the lowest, may be classed among the eccentricities of instrumentation. Berlioz' ideal concert orchestra is as follows: Twenty-one first, and twenty second violins, eighteen violas, twenty 'cellos, ten double basses, four harps, two piccolos; the usual wind, with a bass clarinet and four bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, two cornets, four trombones, and a tuba and two pairs of kettledrums with four men to attend them. Berlioz, like Meyerbeer, is eminently practical and considerate in his treatment of the separate instruments—his passages are never unplayable or unsuited to their character. His somewhat excessive demands with reference to the numerical strength of his forces, however, do not permit of the frequent performances of his works, and stand in the way of a complete and popular understanding of them.
39The names of Berlioz and Wagner are generally coupled together, but there is little similarity in their methods—indeed their orchestra differs in many respects. Comparison is difficult, especially as Wagner exhibits a different scheme of orchestration in each of his operas. No two are quite alike. The simplest way to get an insight into these varying methods will be to pass in rapid review his overtures and preludes. The scores of his early ones, "Overture with a Fugue," one in D minor, and one to a play "Columbus," are inaccessible, therefore I must begin with "Rienzi." Now, although Wagner in his own writings dwells upon the fact that Beethoven was the composer who influenced him most in the early part of his career, it is difficult to find traces of that influence. Spontini and Weber are much more in evidence. In this, he resembles the pioneers of the French romantic drama, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas. They professed to work on Shakespearian lines, but little or no Shakespearian is discoverable.
41The "Rienzi" overture is shaped on the familiar lines of Spontini, reflecting his purely Italian melody as well as his noisy instrumentation, formal construction and regulation sequence of keys. The modulations toward the end of the piece may be more daring, but have nothing uncommon about them. The orchestra is not excessively large. A serpent, in lieu of the contra-fagotto, an ophicleide and a battery of two small and one large drum are the only additions. It is a fine specimen of youthful ardor and strength, scored in Spontini's immoderately loud manner.
43The immeasurably superior "Flying Dutchman" overture presents a perfect musical picture of that well-known
45Announcement.
47Mme. ROSA LINDE,
48The Greatest American Contralto,
49Has just been engaged as Prima Donna for the first American Tour of
50HENRI MARTEAU.
51The Great French Violinist.
52Mme. LINDE's own Concert Company may be secured for March and April, 1894, and also for season of 1894-95, by addressing
53R. E. JOHNSTON, Manager,
54BELVEDERE HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY.
55NOTE.—EDWIN M. SHONERT, the Eminent Pianist, will also be connected with Marteau's great tour through America
57FAREWELL TOUR
58OF THE
59OVIDE MUSIN CONCERT COMPANY.
61OVIDE MUSIN, VIOINIST.
62ANNIE LOUISE MUSIN, SOPRANO.
63(BEESIE BONSALE, CONTRALTO.
64F. W. ELLIOTT, TENOR.
65EDUARD SCHARF, PIANIST.
66W. H. STENGEL, BUSINESS MANAGER.
67FABIUS FERAUD, SECRETARY.
69SUMMER ADDRESS (Until September 1st), Malone, Franklin County, NEW YORK.
71WINTER ADDRESS 148 Fifth Avenue, NEW YORK CITY.
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