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Musical Courier 1910-03-02: Vol 60 Iss 9, 1910
75 lines. Read by computer on 25 September 2026. Printed page 26. See the scan on archive.org.
1The notes which lie between the lines and immediately above and below them are seven, and correspond to the seven white keys. The E would thus rest against the second line (or second black key) and the F would attach itself contiguously to the third line (or the first of the triple group of black keys) just as they do on the piano. Thus, the chromatic scale in the Busoni notation would look like this:
3[Music example]
5It is not the purpose of this short review to expose the full workings of the Busoni system, but merely to give the few foregoing examples as an incentive to students and teachers, for further investigation of the Busoni book. They will be amazed at the simplicity and practicalness of his further deductions and suggestions. For instance, such involved notation as the attached (from Mendelssohn's "Spinning Song") would be entirely obviated in the proposed method of Busoni. Note the awkward indication for the left hand crossing, which makes the right hand seem higher than the left on the keyboard treble, and the clumsy notation of the F sharps and F natural, which puts the two notes on the same line and suggest nothing of the rise and fall in pitch and position.
7[Music example]
9In a little epilogue, Busoni says modestly: "Because of its simplicity and clearness, I believe in the practical utility of this Idea of mine, but I would be pleased and grateful to listen to any well considered criticism which might put me on the track of further perfecting my system," etc.
11The Musical Courier's only objection is to Busoni's employment of the antiquated nota quadrata or square headed system of indicating half tones, whole tones, quarter tones, etc. The extra lines made necessary by the half and whole tones become mixed with the staff lines and confuse the eye and consequently the mind. The skill shown by Busoni in overcoming other obstacles should enable him to conceive something new in the way of a time symbol, without harking back to the discarded old way. The square headed notes would never be popular with publishers on account of the larger space they occupy. Condensation is the order of the day.
13OLIVER DITSON COMPANY, BOSTON.
14"Twenty-four Violin Studies in the First Position," by Carl Busch.
16These studies are much more musical than the title might lead one to expect. And there certainly is no reason why purely technical studies should be as unattractive as they usually are, except the author's inability to make them attractive. Teachers will find in this volume of Carl Busch, with the simple piano accompaniments which most violin teachers can manage to play, a collection of melodious pieces that will please the young student, and make the mastery of the technical part no longer irksome. As violin studies these are wholly commendable. As musical compositions they are not free from harmonic blemishes, such as consecutive octaves between the violin melody and the piano bass, and other little flaws that in no way add to, but rather detract from, the value of the work.
18"Excelsior," Ballad for School Chorus, with Baritone Solo, Piano Accompaniment and Organ and Cathedral Chimes ad Libitum. Text by Longfellow; Music by P. A. Schnecker.
20We hope that there are many schools with enough enterprise to learn this ballad of P. A. Schnecker. It is good music of no great depth, and its dramatic manner and variety of expression seem to be just what young persons would feel. As the story of "Red Riding Hood" is to "Macbeth," so is this ballad to the tragedy of the great masters of music. It starts the youngster in the right direction, and not in the wrong path of vulgar comedy, slang, and bad grammar," as the "Harrigan, that's me," which we heard a New York instructor drilling into a hundred little ones last summer.
22Compositions and Arrangements for the Organ. Third Series. Three Preludes, Op. 94, by Carl C. Müller.
24These preludes, in A minor, D major, and E flat major respectively, are notable for the classical purity of the writing, and the serious dignity of the style. The composer has written for the organ, pure and simple. His music is not imitation orchestra arranged for the organ as much of the modern French organ music is; nor is it makeshift for a military band on the march as much American organ music is. Organs are not found in theaters and homes, but in churches. And church-goers should be imbued with devotional feeling, and a quiet, meditative mood, devoid of turmoil and passion. For such an audience are these preludes of Carl C. Müller admirably suited.
26Cantilène, by Alphonse Mailly.
28A pleasing composition in that style so popular in France and Belgium, where romances, cradle-songs, and dances are often written for the organ. Whether such pieces are suitable for the organ is a matter of opinion. But the "Cantilene" of Alphonse Mailly is a faultless piece of writing, both in regard to musical grammar and unity of style. The melody is placed in the pedals, which have only the eight feet flute stop drawn, the bass being in the left hand part of the accompaniment on the swell organ manual. This is a topsy-turvy disposition of the parts that is not very common. But the "Cantilene" is clever, and is musical withal.
30Prelude in B Flat, by Charles Valentin Alkan, Transcribed by H. Clough-Leighter.
32This is a melodious trifle, a bonbon—a romance in the French style, with nothing in common with the classical prelude. As a cello solo in the theater, with a light accompaniment for woodwind and pizzicato strings, it would make a pleasing chant d'amour. It would lie very well on the A string of the cello in the key of F. But as an organ prelude it is wrong in sentiment and movement.
34March in C, by Charles Wakefield Cadman.
36This is a brilliant march of well pronounced rhythm that will serve to play a congregation out of church. But it will not bear close inspection. It is loosely put together, the original "inspiration" of eight measures in length being repeated three times, with long and irrelevant episodes between the repetitions. And there are many grammatical inaccuracies as well. When the couplers are drawn it does not add one iota to the sonority of the organ to double the bass notes in the manuals. There are even consecutive octaves between the bass and the melody. Is this a new organ style C. W. Cadman hopes to establish for organ writers? We fear that the enormous weight of the organ classics will not be overturned by this experiment. Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, Rheinberger, Guilmant, are all on the side of correct part writing. But Cadman is doing so much good in other directions that we are sure of his final victory.
38"The Little Dutch Garden," Song, by C. Mawson-Marks.
40This is music in the English ballad style, but not a very striking example of that style. The words tell of the "useful and pretty things," such as "heartsease and tomatoes, pinks and potatoes, lilies and onions" that grew in that horti-agricultural Netherlandish plantation. The music is on a poetic level with the lyric, though there is nothing as powerful as onions in it.
42"I Am Thine" (Which Is the Translation of Reinhard's "Nimm Mich Hin," by Leonard Liebling), with Music by Max Liebling.
44This is the kind of song they make in Germany, though this particular example hails from Manhattan Island: It is a spontaneous melody with passion, effectively written for the voice and beautifully accompanied with arpeggios for the piano. Of course the nightingale is one of the links in this chain of lyrics. Indeed, what would a German lyric writer do without "die Nachtigall"? Apart from this bird, which is not conspicuous in New York, the translation is very natural. A good singer can do a great deal with this song. The composer is one of New York's best known musicians.
46Barcarolle in G. Minor, Nocturne in A Minor, Prelude in G Minor, for Piano, by Serge Rachmaninoff.
48The barcarolle requires very delicate playing. A heavy touch, an awkward finger, and the dainty fabric is ruined. For this is not a morning song of lusty gondoliers. It is a night piece. The canals are deserted. A fitful wind from the Adriatic sighs through the sleeping city. One lone and covered gondola glides silently over the waters and is lost in the gloom, and Venice has another mystery! The imaginative listeners for such music are few, and the interpreters thereof are fewer. For this music can easily become monotonous, and the delicate passages might readily sound like bad scales, in the throes of the amateur's execution.
50The nocturne is hardly likely to appeal either to professional or layman. There is nothing particularly distinctive about it. It is merely good music. Tchaikowsky has written more interesting piano pieces, not to mention the nocturnes of a certain F. Chopin.
52The prelude is vigorous—not perhaps with the same vigor that made the famous C sharp minor prelude a household necessity, but still strong, broad, and worthy of the composer. The treatment of the piano has much in common with the prelude we all know. Heavy notes in the lower register are sustained by the pedal while the liberated hands move to after-time chords in the upper part of the instrument.
54All three of these compositions reveal the consummate skill of the composer, who is certainly equipped with ample technic to express any musical complexity his imagination may conceive. We are of the opinion that in acquiring such a technic a composer also vastly improves his style and the quality of his musical ideas.
56THE B. F. WOOD MUSIC COMPANY, BOSTON, NEW YORK, LEIPSIC, LONDON.
58Five Miniature Ballads, a Song Cycle, Words by Olive Christian Malvery, Music by William Y. Hurlstone.
60This music can only be described as pretty. The style is purely lyrical with no dramatic touches to mar the idyllic placidity. They are little seedlings from the parent stalks of Schubert's "Miller's Daughter," "Alinde," with a modicum of Mendelssohn, and an echo of the Arthur Sullivan who wrote "Orpheus With His Lute." In other words, there is no individuality, though no direct plagiarism, to be found in these miniatures.
62The poetess does not eclipse the composer. "Love," of course, has the usual "above" to rhyme with it, and the second personal pronoun is conveniently "you" and "thee," as the exigencies of the versification demand. Yet the sentiment is simple and unaffected. These songs will please those who, happily, can hear without criticising, and listen without ruminating.
64A correspondent asks us if the second note in the twentieth measure of the air "He Was Despised," in Handel's "Messiah," should be A natural, or A flat, and tells us of a variety of opinions on the subject, and conflicting versions of various editions of the work.
66In our opinion the note is A natural, for the simple reason that the passage is in B flat. The phrase "and acquainted with grief" begins the B flat section which lasts for seven measures. The chord on the word "grief" is the third inversion of the seventh on the sixth degree of B flat minor, and the A flat which immediately returns to G flat, in the melody, is merely an embellishment of the G flat, and not at all part of the original scale of E flat. It belongs to the melodic minor scale of B flat minor, which scale has the seventh flattened in descending, and the sixth raised in ascending passages.
68The tonality of B flat being clearly evident, it is unlikely that Handel would write the foreign A flat, for no purpose whatsoever, in his B flat major scale. This, of course, is a modern conjecture based on an harmonic sense that hears music only in our present tempered scale. Handel wrote for the Mesotonic scale, and it is possible that A flat may have had another effect in B flat than it has today. But the Mesotonic scale is heard no more. The tempered scale requires A natural as leading note in the key of B flat.
70Brounoff Lecture-Recitals.
72Platon Brounoff's lecture recitals on Russian music, folk songs, etc., are enjoying merited success. Some time ago he gave the recital in Salamanca, N. Y., and next day the Salamanca Press said, in part:
74Of the numerous concerts and recitals given here under the auspices of the Euterpean Club, none has been a more complete success or has been more appreciated than the lecture-recital last evening by Platon Brounoff, pupil of Rubinstein, lecturer and composer. He was greeted by a large audience, whose interest and favor he won from the minute he took the platform. He is unique; he has a keen sense of humor and a way of putting things that is all his own. His witty comments not only sent the audience into roars of laughter, but also served to bring out points which he desired to emphasize. . . . His illustrations, both vocal and piano, were well worth hearing. . . . He played several of his own compositions, which were received with great enthusiasm.
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