Scan 5
Musical Courier 1903-06-24: Vol 46 Iss 1213, 1903
18 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1HOTEL CECIL, LONDON, June 6, 1903.
3The thing we have been clamoring for has at last come to pass, and we have been granted an opportunity of really forming a definite opinion on the work of Richard Strauss. It was, indeed, high time that we had a Strauss festival. During the last few months, it is true, there has been an awakening of interest in his music, but it was inevitable that the progress would be slow, for Strauss' symphonic poems are not things that an orchestra can learn in half a dozen rehearsals. Hugo Görtz has, therefore, done well in taking the bull by the horns. Seeing that it might be years before we should have a chance of making the acquaintance of "Don Quixote," "Macbeth" and "Also sprach Zarathustra," he has brought over the entire Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, with Willem Mengelberg and Strauss himself to conduct it, and he has arranged a series of four concerts at St. James' Hall, at which all the most important of Strauss' works find places in the program. This festival is exactly what was so much needed. It is, of course, impossible for anyone to form an accurate estimate of Strauss' aims and achievements from the isolated performances of a few of his works which have hitherto been accorded to us. It was absolutely necessary that we should have an opportunity of hearing all the more important works played as the composer wished them to be played, by an orchestra which knew them thoroughly. This opportunity has at last been granted to us, and, though the public has not given as liberal support to the concerts as they deserved, the name of Strauss has been so brought before the public and his music has been so discussed that the festival can hardly have failed to do good work by bringing Strauss into prominence and arousing an interest in his work, even among those who did not attend the concerts.
5Up till now we have been constantly hearing the old fallacy propounded that Strauss has no gift for melody, and that he is merely the apostle of ugliness, who delights to break all the rules ever contained in the harmony books from the sheer love of mischief. How utterly false both of these statements are it only needs a very little consideration to show. Careful attention to the songs which have been sung and the orchestral works which have been played at the two festival concerts that have taken place at the time of writing must have made it clear to any unprejudiced observer that Strauss has a wonderful gift for melody when he chooses to exercise it, while any intelligent consideration of his aims and theories must have shown that the effects which to us certainly seem a little discordant at present, though they probably seem little more so than did the effects of Beethoven and Wagner to their contemporaries and critics, are, as a matter of fact, the only legitimate means to attain to a perfectly legitimate end.
7The composer who was not a revolutionary, and who did not attempt to carry music a step beyond the point at which he found it, never yet obtained deathless fame. The position of Strauss it is not, of course, for us to decide. At the present day we are fully justified in hoping that only a small fraction of his life's work is done, and it is, in consequence, obvious that the next generation, which will be able to regard his completed work as a whole, will be better able to decide his position among the great composers of the world. But it is evident enough that Strauss is a revolutionary, and that he is bent on carrying music a step beyond the point at which he found it. He is trying to put into music an element that it never before possessed, and, just as Wagner was compelled to invent totally new formulae when he made up his mind to revolutionize opera, so has Strauss found himself obliged to invent new formulae when he set out on his great work of revolutionizing orchestral music, for, though it is true that he is to a certain extent following in the footsteps of Liszt, it is he who is bringing to their fulfillment the ideas at which Liszt did little more than hint.
9It is largely owing to their total failure to grasp Strauss' aims that his critics fall so foul of his methods. He started out, as I have said, to introduce a totally new element into music—the element of humanity. Up to his time the power of music to express human emotions had been extremely limited. Joy, pain and love could, no doubt, be expressed up to a certain point, but all efforts at characterization were considered hopelessly beyond the scope of the musical art. And, indeed, with the limited means at his disposal, it was absolutely impossible for a composer of the old school to attempt anything like characterization on a large scale. But there could be no possible doubt that the theme is worthy of the art, and that music could find no finer subject if its powers of expression were only equal to the task. It has remained for Strauss to give music the quality in which, till he appeared on the horizon, it was still lacking. He has enlarged its power of expression, and he has enabled it to picture in sound emotions and ideas to which it was formerly impossible for it to give voice. Sometimes he certainly has recourse to ugliness, but, if his theories are to be accepted, as we certainly believe that they are, the bitter must be taken with the sweet, and life must not be painted as a bed of thornless roses. The madness of Don Quixote, the terrible anguish of the dying man, the rasping voices of the Philistines, are not to be depicted by charming and luscious melodies, but are they for this reason to be left entirely out of the picture? If we are to have realism in music we must have the whole thing or nothing, and if it is to be the latter, then music, alone of the arts, must stand still. The whole tendency of modern times is toward realism, and realism that is half hearted is not realism at all. It is owing to their imperfect knowledge of Strauss' aims that so many critics fall foul of him, and it is to be hoped that the present festival will convince some of them of the error of their ways.
11I do not propose to enter at length into the concerts that have so far taken place. As I have already said, the festival is, at the time of writing, only half over, and it will be better to treat it as a whole next week and to be content with a brief record of the first concerts now. The famous Amsterdam orchestra has fully come up to our expectations, and "Till Eulenspiegel," "Also sprach Zarathustra," "Don Quixote," "Tod und Verklärung" and "Don Juan" have been played in a way that proved it to be a highly trained orchestra of great efficiency, and to have an unequaled knowledge of Strauss' music. At each of the two concerts Mme. Strauss de Ahna has given six of her husband's songs in a manner that has fully justified the great reputation with which she came here. The songs included "Das Rosenband," "Wieneglied," "Traum durch die Dämmerung" and an orchestrated version of "Morgen," and her success in all of them was unequivocal. But to these I will revert in dealing with the whole festival next week.
13The revival of "Lucia di Lammermoor" at Covent Garden on Saturday evening is not an event of such intense importance that it calls for more than passing mention, and it will therefore be enough to say that Fräulein Wedekind sang the music of the heroine very nicely and aroused the customary enthusiasm in the ridiculous mad scene, and that Sig. Bonci, M. Journet and Signor Scotti filled other parts to perfection.
15Considerable interest was attached to the performance of "Faust" on Tuesday evening by reason of the fact that Madame Blauvelt made her London operatic début in the part of Marguerite. For some time, of course, she has been well known here as one of the most finished and charming singers on the concert platform. Whether or not she will make as complete a success in opera still, perhaps, remains to be seen. On Tuesday she was obviously handicapped by nervousness, and by the fact that she had not sung in the large house before. Consequently she did not do herself complete justice, and she failed to put forth all the power that we know her to possess. When she has grown more accustomed to her surroundings she doubtless will show her talents in a more favorable light, and it will be better to suspend judgment till another opportunity of hearing her arises. She evidently has talent for the stage, and her acting was so graceful and unaffected that we may expect excellent work from her in the future.
17The week after Whitsunday is always a slack time for concerts, and, except for the Strauss festival, the concert halls have been almost deserted. Indeed, at the time of writing, the only concerts worthy of note that have taken place have been those given by Herr von Zür-Muhlen at the Bechstein Hall and by Willy Burnester at St. James' Hall on Thursday afternoon. It cannot be denied that Herr von Zür-Muhlen's voice has not entirely withstood the ravages of time, and there were moments during his performance of "Die Schöne Müllerin" when its quality was not altogether pleasant. But his interpretive powers remain unimpaired, and his singing of many of the more tender songs was as delightful as ever.
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