Scan 57
Musical Courier 1897-11-03: Vol 35 Iss 922, 1897
39 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1lutionary spirit and his art in its strongest aspect was the art of turmoil, of fear, of unrest. The wild ride to the abyss of Faust and Mephistopheles, the mocking "Chorus of Devils" in "Faust," and, on a higher plane, the agony of the "Lacrymosa" in the "Te Deum" are superior, in intensity of feeling and splendor of orchestration, to all similar expressions in modern music. And this intensity of feeling and splendor of orchestration pervades all of Berlioz's compositions; but, because of his mental limitations, he could never portray with equal power, however much he desired to, the calmness, the profound self-control of true religious feeling. Berlioz thought that he reached the point of sublimity in his "Requiem" and in his "Te Deum," but he only really touched it in the Sanctus of the former and in the magnificent final chorus of the latter. His weakness in counterpoint is generally noticeable, although the weakness is often concealed by the rich orchestration. He had not the fine sense of reticence which held him back from extravagance and musical absurdity in those attempts which he made to reach the sublime in choral music. He had the aberrations that often accompany genius. Musically his choral works are seldom firm in structure, but they are magnificent in rhythm and modulation. They are terrible, melancholy and humorous by turns.
3Much of what we have briefly said of Berlioz, as applied to his choral music, applies also to Rubenstein; for, although Rubenstein adheres in the main to classical forms and shows somewhat the influence of Mendelssohn, especially in his earlier works, his fervor, the curious cross rhythms and cross accents and certain peculiarities of orchestration remind one strongly of Berlioz. "The Maccabees," dominated our church festivals and so often, too often, controlled our secular festivals. one of two readings
4Much of what we have briefly said of Berlioz, as applied to his choral music, applies also to Rubinstein; for, although Rubinstein adheres in the main to classical forms and shows somewhat the influence of Mendelssohn, especially in his earlier works, his fervor, the curious cross rhythms and cross accents and certain peculiarities of orchestration remind one strongly of Berlioz. "The Maccabees," dominated our church festivals and so often, too often, controlled our secular festivals. one of two readings
6In this progressive day music of the old-time English school should only be offered occasionally at secular festivals, as illustrating a certain period of choral music and a certain legitimate style which has had its worthy influence, but which cannot be assumed as the only correct model to be placed before the people.
8Schumann, the "champion of romanticism," has left on record his indebtedness to Bach. He writes in 1840: "Mozart and Haydn had only a partial and imperfect knowledge of Bach, and we can have no idea how Bach, had they known him in all his greatness, would have affected their creative powers. I myself confess my sins daily to that mighty one and endeavor to purify and strengthen myself through him." One of the gigues which Schumann wrote is an almost perfect imitation of Bach. But he soon sought out his own artistic form of expression, even in his counterpoint. He did not develop his counterpoint according to classic models from a classically constructed melody, but he composed his theme in the romantic spirit and allowed this theme to develop itself in novel and original harmonies, and he endeavored at the same time to bring his own musical views into harmony with the general system of ancient counterpoint. And although he studied Bach carefully, he gained his knowledge of form by instinct, by his fine sense of artistic proportion. His polyphonic piano style served him in god purpose when he began to write his more serious choral works, and his early following of Schubert prevented him in great measure from overshadowing the vocal parts of his choral works by too rich orchestration.
10American school of musical art, because, for one reason, it would create ultimately the necessary atmosphere in which musical ability might be recognized according to merit and not according to its foreign or non-foreign hall mark.
12The anxiety with which some people look at a singer to find the foreign label reminds us of the wine purchaser's or the cheese buyer's fear. He cannot decide by his own taste, but only by the label. Yet the wine or the cheese, as is well known among dealers, may have been made in this country and only have crossed the ocean to return again properly (?) stamped.
14For our earnest words in behalf of American interests, words which have never excluded equal recognition of foreign artists, we have had the pleasure sometimes of having our motives questioned and even our veracity impugned. But the mills of the gods are slowly grinding up our critics and they grind exceeding small. Testimony comes from all about us to prove the increasing interest in American voices and American musical progress. One bit of testimony, among many others worth reproducing, is a statement from a teacher, who is so fortunately placed as to be able to give unbiased statements. This teacher says in an interview with the Sun: "American voices are the finest in the world. The European teachers admit that. It is America alone that is skeptical. Therefore the singers stay in Europe, where they are honored as they deserve."
16It is our speaking voice that foreigners criticise; not our singing voice. And in regard to the former there will soon be marked improvement, since so many are having their voices trained for speaking—so we are told by many vocal teachers.
18THE MUSICAL COURIER.
20soft and seldom footed dells, a soft moon and dreaming tree leaves. Its tune sinks a shaft into your heart and hot from your heart comes a response; the horizon is low, heaven is near earth and carking life beyond forgotten in the fringes and shadows. Some pages of perfect writing follow, the oboe and the horn in tender converse, and you can never forget those first six bars; all youth, all love is clamoring in them.
22How that slow valse, with lugubrious bassoon and its capering violins in the trio, affects one! A sorrowful jesting, quite in the Russian style. It is a country where the peasants tell a joke with the tears streaming down their faces, and if the vodka is sufficiently fiery will dance at a funeral. The clatter and swirl of the finale is deafening, the motto in the major key is sounded shrill, and through the movement there is noise and confusion, a hurly-burly of peasants thumping their wooden shoes and yelling like drunken maniacs. All the romance, all the world-weariness has fled to covert, and the composer is at his worst with the seven devils he has brought to his newly garnished mansion. It is this shocking want of taste that offends his warmest admirers, and his skill in painting lascivious revelries is more dubious than Hogarth's. Certainly you can never affix the moral tag.
24Tschaikowsky is often possessed by these devils, and then the whole apparatus of his orchestra is shivered and shaken. His chromatic contrapuntal scales on the heavy brass, his middle voices never at peace, the whirr and rush of the fiddles and the drumming and clash of cymbals are the outward evidence of the unquiet Calmuck man beneath the skin of Peter Illitsch. That he can say obscene things I am willing to swear, and his neurotic energy is tremendous. This fifth symphony has its weak points; structurally it is not strong, and the substitution of the valse for the familiar scherzo is not defensible in the eyes of the formalists. But there are moments of pure beauty, and the mixing of hues, despite the Asiatic violence, is deft and to the ear bewildering and bewitching.
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28Just here I would like to make a digression and examine more fully the predecessor of the symphony in Enigma, the fourth in Enigma. It is can sometimes be very Gallic, for Gounod is suggested—a phrase in "Romeo et Juliette"—but is momentary. Musically this first movement is the best of the four, more naive and full of abandon and blood-stirring episodes.
30The second movement in B flat minor andantino in modo di canzona is a tender, sad little melody in eighth notes, embroidered by runs in the woodwind—Cossack counterpoint. It has a sense of remoteness and dreary resignation. It is uncompromisingly Slavic. It is said to be the actual transcription of a Russian bargeman's refrain. This is treated in a variant fashion—the second subsidiary in A flat being delivered by clarinets and fagottes, a middle part più mosso in F, the whole concluding with the fagotte intoning the first melody. Sombre it is and not the equal in romantic beauty of the lulling horn solo in the slow movement of the E minor symphony.
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34The scherzo allegro in F, plucked by the string choir, is deficient in musical depth, but its novel workmanship fixes one's attention. It is called a "pizzicato ostinato," although the pizzicati are not continuous. It is full of a grim sort of humor, and the trio for woodwind, oboes and fagottes is rollicking and pastoral. The third theme—smothered staccato chords for brass with sinister drum taps—is thoroughly original and reminds me of the entrance of Fortinbras in the composer's "Hamlet." The working out is slim but clever.
36The last movement in F is a triumph of constructive skill, for it is literally built on an unpretentious phrase of a measure and a half. It is all noisy, brilliant, interesting, but not of necessity symphonic. The main theme, almost interminably varied, is not new. It may be found in a baritone solo from Mozart's "Escape from the Seraglio," and in a slightly transformed shape it lurks in the romanza of Schumann's "Faschingschwank aus Wien." Tschaikowsky's wonderful contrapuntal skill and piquancy of orchestration invest this finale with meaning.
38In the first movement at times the underlying structure is valse-like. Even though the rhythm may not be triplicate, the skeleton of the popular dance form is unmistakably there. Western ears are sometimes sadly tried by the uncoutch harmonic
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